It’s an extremely rare, if not implausible occurrence when a coin lands vertically as opposed to the customary heads or tails.
The sports world is by no means immune to the eccentric persona wave, whereby a fighter is more pomp than punch.
Most in the fight game will agree that the time and effort put into the gym are what is most important, while the actual match is but the final straw. Still, entirely too much emphasis is put upon the “0” in professional boxing.
The ability to maintain an undefeated record as well as cruise into the proverbial setting sun unblemished is by no means a sign of the peak of Olympus.
Get out the red pen right now because both Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Adrien “About Billions aka the Pugilist Formerly Known as The Problem” Broner suffered loss number one in 2013. Canelo lost to perhaps the greatest of our generation, while Broner got caught with his pants too high. For most, the Alvarez loss to Floyd Mayweather, Jr. was not as unexpected as Broner’s defeat at the hands (or gloves) of Marcos “El Chino” Maidana.
Are we to think or believe that each man is at a crossroads of sorts so early on in their respective careers?
Each of these two combatants works under the same promotional banner and they have both been shoved into the collective limelight before either has reached their twenty fifth birthday. Courtesy of Tom Casino / SHOWTIME There’s been more than enough with the “make or break” nonsense that continues to float around these two boxers.
Alvarez’s September 2013 bout with Floyd was about one thing and one thing only: the Yankee dollar. Last fall, Golden Boy Promotions decided to put Adrien Broner’s pay TV marketability on hold and went on to provide San Antonio, Texas with a stellar card from top to bottom.
Furthermore, the evening’s Showtime telecast wasn’t subject to a fifty dollar (or more) sticker price. By contrast, Canelo’s unsurprising (to many) loss to “Money” Mayweather carried one of the highest PPV costs to date. Do yourself a favor and closely examine the next advertisement for a pay TV fight. You’ll see that its corresponding rate is the “suggested retail price”. In other words, it’s a product and we are but the hungry consumers.
Will the thought of Canelo’s comeback fight on March 8 entice the average boxing fan to pony up about the equivalent of a tank of gas in today’s world in order to see him fight?
He wasn’t pay TV worthy, it would seem until he fought the biggest name in the sport. His bout with Mayweather, Jr. was too costly on every business side to not be on pay per view. However, his next scheduled outing versus Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo is an unfair swipe at the average consumer.
$59.95 for this?
The undercard had better be a notable one.
On one side of the argument, perhaps it means that Angulo will get a career high payday for a career which involved unfathomable incarceration on various immigration violations. “El Perro” really has cut his ring teeth to get forward in boxing on programs such as ESPN’s Friday Night Fights as well as various HBO and Showtime telecasts.
Courtesy of SHOWTIME
No one doubts Alvarez’s talent, but the push tactics placed upon him were not fair to the kid from Jalisco state.
That’s why another loss on his ledger wouldn’t necessarily doom his career.
The unfair attention put on Canelo isn’t completely his fault, although Adrien Broner’s career took off for more reasons than his boxing exploits.
Mexico is a boxing crazed nation and many within the land of the Tri Color aren’t quite ready to accept Saul Alvarez as the best in the land. Give him time. While he’s been unfairly marked as the next big thing, Broner seemed to have no issues with being seen as Floyd Mayweather’s welcomed doppelganger.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery until you lose.
If “AB” beckons his dad to brush his hair but no one is around to see it, then does he still do it?
His December loss to Marcos Maidana kicked him out the BCS, I mean BoxRec rankings of the pound for pound variety.
Why?
Canelo lost to the best and didn’t fall much and parts of their respective records were both subject to the “fight somebody” type of eyeballing prior to their most recent outings. They’ve been wrongly tagged as the next respective faces of boxing. Who says one is necessary?
Various methods of promotion are what put these fellows in a small rut where after their initial defeats, another loss could spell the end.
Really?
There’s several other names that are on their collective ways up. Names such as Garcia (two of them), Golovkin, Stevenson and Kovalev.
Are we to think on American shores that Deontay Wilder is the next (80’s version) Mike Tyson even though his biggest test may still be far off?
A bit premature, isn’t it?
So, why the stress and more so the need for Canelo and Broner to be boxing’s dual headed menace? Not to worry.
It’s not their fault that they were each disposed of on global TV.
Many boxing writers and sports fans alike summarily came to the same conclusion. Canelo walked into a bear trap and Broner had it coming to him.
Courtesy of Tom Casino/ SHOWTIME
To some, the sight of Adrien being knocked to the canvas and get up with spaghetti legs was worth the extra ten bucks on their cable bill.
As for Canelo, well…..even Vegas had him as a prohibitive underdog. A lot of folks thought he’d win and that Floyd’s time was up.
The house wins either way.
