It’s Monday. Welcome back for another edition of Observe and Fight, The Boxing Observer’s compilation of observations and random thoughts from the week that was in boxing. Get caught up on some of the most recent events you may have missed out on, including Golden Boy Promotions’ astounding offer to Miguel Cotto, Magomed Abdusalamov’s health, the returns of Mikey Garcia and Nonito Donaire, a preview of Andre Ward’s fight Saturday night, and much more. Without further ado, check out the latest observations from the Boxing Observer, David Kassel.
Is Golden Boy’s $10 million offer to Miguel Cotto an overplay to get on top of HBO? If Cotto is making $10 million, Canelo will be making even more. Golden Boy will still earn a hefty sum because this fight will be major. However, one has to believe that if Golden Boy is able to sway Cotto away from HBO, Showtime will have 3 of the top 4 pay-per-view stars in boxing (outside of Manny Pacquiao). In the end, I feel Cotto will still choose to go the route of facing Sergio Martinez. I think it is a safer fight because Martinez will be a bit easier for Cotto. After the Martinez fight, Canelo will still be available for possibly an even larger payday for Cotto.
Manny Pacquiao still has some fight left in him. Brandon Rios, even though he is coming off a loss, is still a very game, dangerous opponent for Pacquiao to return against. Based on episode 1 of 24/7, Pacquiao seems to be the only one who has gotten over the knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez. The closer this fight gets, the more excited I am to see it. Rios is coming to apply pressure and retire Pacquiao, but Pacquiao may still have just enough left in the tank to rise once again.
It’s great to see promoters, fighters, and fans showing their support for heavyweight Magomed Abdusalamov. This is truly one of the better parts of boxing. Even HBO gave a shout-out to the fund started for Abdusalamov. He remains in a coma on life support and one can only hope he is able to make a recovery to a full, healthy life.
Mikey Garcia may be the best fighter in the lower weight classes in boxing. Rocky Martinez was game coming into the ring, yet he was no match, not surprisingly, for Garcia. There is absolutely zero competition for Garcia at 130 lbs. The name, Yuriorkis Gamboa, was brought up after Garcia’s victory Saturday night. The fight would do big numbers, but it would ultimately end with another knockout victory for Garcia.
Nonito Donarie still seems a bit unsure of himself after his win over Vic Darchinyan. Donaire has always been an honest and humble fighter. On Saturday night, he looked like a fighter who had been away from boxing for almost a year. I don’t see the same confidence in Donaire since his loss to Guillermo Rigondeaux. I think Donaire needs one more fight before the rematch with Rigondeaux takes place, but I don’t see Donaire fully regaining his confidence until he conquers Rigondeaux.
Demetrius Andrade is a serious player at 154 lbs. Andrade may have been knocked down against Vanes Martirosyan, but you will be hard pressed to find another fighter at junior middleweight with more boxing skills than Andrade (other than Floyd Mayweather). Andrade has yet to be in a fight against an elite level fighter, and he needs to take on a Top-10 junior middleweight. Because Andrade is not signed with HBO or Showtime, the world is open for possibilities, like the winner of Austin Trout vs. Erislandy Lara.
Andre Ward returns this weekend to take on Edwin Rodriguez. I expect Ward to take about 2-3 rounds to shake off the ring rust stemming from a 14-month layoff due to shoulder surgery. Ward is still the 2nd-best fighter in boxing, and Rodriguez will find out why on Saturday night. It should be an easy night’s work for Ward.
Tomasz Adamek vs. “Czar” Glazkov should be a heavyweight fight worth watching on Saturday. I highly recommend you check it out because it takes place in the afternoon on NBC. Even if you don’t have cable, you still have the chance to watch this fight.
The Prizefighter heavyweight tournament on Thursday features James Toney. How serious can we really take the Prizefighter heavyweight tournament if James Toney is involved? Come on, man!
Daniel Ponce de Leon makes his return on Saturday night. He is rarely in a boring fight, and I don’t expect Saturday night to be any different, in Mexico, against Joksan Hernandez.
Don’t forget about Monday Night Fights between Fidel Maldonado Jr. against Luis Ramos Jr. Also, we’ll see the return of Fernando Guerrero. Should be another solid night of fights.
Each week, I feature an email from a fan on Observe and Fight. This week’s email comes to us from Paulo P. regarding the potential for a Floyd Mayweather vs. Sergio Martinez fight…
“Hey I am a huge fan of this site. I always come on the site everyday to check out boxing news. Anyways I have a question to ask you. Do you think mayweather will fight sergio martinez in one of his next four fights? A lot of people, including my cousin, said that martinez is too big for mayweather but when he rehydrates after a fight isn’t he around 175. If martinez does rehydrate around 175 then is about the same as canelo when he rehydrates after a fight. The only diffrence I can see between canelo and martinez is that martinez might be a little bigger, a little more powerful and more slicker. I think the middleweight division is the final frontier for mayweather and I think he would beat martinez based on his skills. After that I think it would be ridiculous if mayweather would fight an andre ward because I think he would be way too big for mayweather. At least sergio martinez fought at junior middleweight and now campaigns at middleweight. Just watching the fight with canelo I was amazed on mayweather used his intelligence to beat a bigger canelo. Just watching that performance makes me think he can beat martinez. What do you think? Do you think he should face martinez? Do you think martinez would be too big for mayweather? If the hypothetical fight does take place that at what catchweight would it take place at? Like roger mayweather says ‘weight don’t win fights skills do.'”
I definitely think Martinez is still an option for Mayweather, but it won’t be until 2015. Martinez is under contract with HBO right now, and HBO is trying to make a fight between he and Miguel Cotto. If the fight happens, it might take place at a catch-weight, however, Martinez has stated, in the past, he would come down to 150 to face Mayweather or Pacquiao. Since he said that, it leads me to believe that the fight will take place at 154. It all depends on whether or not Martinez keeps winning. If he beats Cotto, and then maybe goes on to beat GGG, then it definitely happens if he doesn’t re-sign with HBO. If he loses, then it’s irrelevant. A lot of factors still TBD. I still like Mayweather in the fight though. Martinez is close to 39 and his body is already showing serious signs of breaking down.
That’s all I’ve got for this week. Email any questions or comments to [email protected] and I will answer them throughout the week. Your email may be featured in the next “Observe and Fight.” Follow me on Twitter @BoxingObserver, and be sure to “Like” The Boxing Observer on Facebook.
