It’s bad enough that WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez — a legitimate box-office monster who has yet to meet an opponent who can actually beat him — is fighting Alfonso Gomez on Sept. 17. For a guy who is supposedly a “world champion,” Alvarez’s selection of Go mez as a championship opponent leaves a lot to be desired.
But that WBC middleweight champ Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. — Canelo’s competition for pu gilistic glory in their native Mexico — is fighting Ronald Hearns on the same day is worse. Hearns, the son of future Hall-of-Famer Thomas “Hitman” Hearns, is nothing more than a name.
It’s not that Hearns lost to WBA middleweight champ Felix Sturm by seventh-round knockout in his last fight. Sturm is a respected world champion who was fighting in his backyard. It’s that, in 2009, Hearns was destroyed by Harry Joe Yorgey. The same Yorgey who was annihilated by Alfredo Angulo later that year.
Not to be too hard on Hearns, who has showed nothing but guts and dedication over his seven-year career. But he is not a championship-caliber fighter. And Chavez Jr. has no business selecting him as a challenger if he has any hopes of being taken seriously.
The Chavez Jr. brain trust is taking this hastily-arranged fight in Culiacan against the advice of its own promoter, Top Rank’s Bob Arum. A Nov. 19 defense against Peter Manfredo Jr. — not exactly Sugar Ray Robinson, but an upgrade over Hearns — is on the line.
There has been talk of Canelo and Chavez Jr. sharing a ring in the future. But, until one or the other — if not both — actually fight a live body sometime in our life span, that fight is a joke.
Mora mess
What’s odd about last week’s Abner Mares-Joseph Agbeko debacle — in which referee Russell Mora looked on like a deer in the headlights as Mares racked Agbeko with countless low blows — is that, beforehand, Mora was regarded as a good referee.
Right now, Mora isn’t even regarded as the best referee in his own house. His performance last week was abysmal.
Kudos to Nevada State Athletic Commission chairman Keith Kizer for putting things in proper perspective. Basically, Kizer is sending Mora back down to the minors. It will be a long while before Mora officiates a big fight. In fact, it may never happen again.
Boxing loses
It certainly cannot be good for boxing that FOX and UFC agreed to a seven-year deal that will put MMA fights on network TV, as well as on FX, Fuel TV and FOX Sports Net.
That UFC and its savvy president Dana White are picking up network TV dates in prime time shows that they get it. In order to grow, you have to be seen. And to be seen, you have to go to a free network.
Simple as that.
Boxing began its slow decline into a niche sport when the major networks stopped televising fights in the early 1990s. When the masses found they had to pay for something they once could see for free, they pretty much abandoned ship.
Now, boxing is paying the price for more than a quarter- century of pay-per-view and premium channel nonsense. That the sport is still breathing, and at times flourishing, has more to do with the freakish popularity of Manny Pacquiao than anything else.
If UFC does well ratings-wise, maybe one of the major networks will try to counter with boxing. But it’s doubtful. Boxing doesn’t have a guy like White looking after its best interests. And until that happens, it will continue to flounder.
Matthew Aguilar may be reached at [email protected].
