Whenever I begin to hear Boxer X is ?the most avoided fighter in boxing,? I think of Evander Holyfield taking $4 million less than his handlers were holding out for to face Mike Tyson the first time. If you want to avoid being avoided, take short money and bet on yourself.
The latest allegedly ?most avoided fighter in boxing? is WBA-WBC middleweight champion Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin. That, at least, is the excuse being used to justify putting him on an HBO pay-per-view nothing title defense against a journeyman Canadian opponent named David Lemieux Oct. 17 at Madison Square Garden.
Frankly, there?d be more interest if he was fighting Mario Lemieux, who is also Canadian and about as dangerous to GGG as his namesake.
The boxing mavens who desperately keep searching for the next great fight and the next great fighter ? even when there?s no evidence of the one and little of the other ? have jumped on Lemieux as somehow being a dangerous puncher against whom Golovkin?s 33-0 record is at risk. If he?s at risk against Lemieux, Golovkin should try hockey.
Golovkin is as much at risk facing David Lemieux as Floyd Mayweather Jr. is facing Andre Berto, which is to say he?s more at risk crossing the street than crossing paths with Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs).
That hasn?t stopped many of the mavens from postulating about Golovkin?s willingness to take such a ?risk? however. What risk?
What I have always loved about boxing is that, at its core, the best practitioners mostly tell the truth. Promoters do not, and neither do networks functioning as promoters, but this is understandable. After all, they are P.T. Barnum. They?re in sales and marketing, not matchmaking.
Matches the ilk of Golovkin-Lemieux should be seen by boxing writers for what they are: busy work. Lemieux, some say, is on an admirable nine-fight win ?streak? since losing back-to-back fights to mid-level talents Marco Antonio Rubio and Joachim Alcine four years ago. Well, those fights have been against seven nobodies and two journeymen, albeit one who briefly held a ?title.?
The significant part of Lemieux? record is not the 34 (wins) or 31 (KOs) but rather the 2 (losses). The loss to Alcine is a case in point. It was Alcine?s only victory during an eight-fight ?streak? in which he went 1-6-1. What was that about being a ?risk? again?
To his credit, during an interview with ESPN, Golovkin?s trainer, Abel Sanchez, was asked about Lemieux? ?punching power.? His response to was to say he?s no Curtis Stevens! And this fight is on pay-per-view? It should be on ?we?ll pay you? to view.
This may be the only way his handlers can get Golovkin a payday he?ll accept, but he would be better served fighting for less on free TV to get himself some real exposure than foisting Lemieux off as a pay-per-view worthy opponent.
Lemieux has two common opponents with Golovkin: Gabriel Rosado and Rubio. Lemieux stopped Rosado in 10. Golovkin beat Rosado to a pulp, forcing his corner to throw in the title in the seventh round.
As for Rubio, he stopped Lemieux in seven rounds. Golovkin KO?d Rubio in less than two.
Risk? Really?
The fact is a middling rematch between Antonio Tarver and Steve Cunningham was watched in roughly 705,000 homes because it was on free TV. Golovkin-Lemieux, at any price, will be lucky to do half that. How does this serve ?the most avoided man in boxing?? It doesn?t because the people avoiding him are primarily paying customers.
Golovkin will be making his 14th title defense when he faces Lemieux. He has looked impressive in most of those fights but he hasn?t fought anybody terribly impressive. If Lemieux provides any risk at all to Golovkin it is this: People may start to figure that out.
Not the Wilder side
WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder faces a powder puff himself when he makes his second title defense vs. unknown Frenchman Johann Duhaupas on promoter Al Haymon?s Premier Boxing Champions NBC prime-time card Sept. 26 in Birmingham, Ala.
About the best thing you can say about this fight is it?s free so it will draw an audience. If Wilder (34-0, 33 KOs) does as expected, which is quickly turn Duhaupas (32-2, 20 KOs) into a French pastry, it may convince some observers he is a threat to the real champion, Wladimir Klitschko, because at 6-foot-7, he is imposing and can punch.
Yet Wilder?s only significant win came in January over then-WBC champion Bermane Stiverne, who he dominated him to win the title. This will be his second fight in Birmingham since that victory and it?s the right place for this kind of ?opponent? ? away from too much public scrutiny.
This fight is akin to Wilder?s beloved Alabama football team scheduling Southwest Louisiana.
DiBella on a spree
It?s nothing like Haymon signing contracts with nearly 200 fighters, but Lou DiBella went on a little signing spree of his own last week as he tries to corner the market on Ukrainian talent.
DiBella signed a half dozen fighters in a week beginning with undefeated light heavyweight prospect ?Hot Rod? Radivoje Kalajdzic (19-0, 12 KOs) of Bosnia, Ukrainian amateur legend Pavlo Ishchenko (294-23 as an amateur), undefeated Ukrainian lightweight Valentyn Holovko.
The former HBO executive also signed two American prospects, Michigan junior welterweight Nick Givhan, Maryland cruiserweight Alex Guerrero and Dominican Yenifel Vicente.
This flurry of activity, DiBella said, is as much a declaration of his own independence from Haymon as an effort to corner the Ukrainian market, where he already had co-promotional deals with four other fighters.
?I got to stay in business,? DiBella said. ?I?m trying to assert my independence a little and remind people I?m not just a Haymon guy. These Ukrainian kids are some of the best fighters in the world.
?The most talented kids are coming from the Ukraine. They?re coming to the U.S. to make a better life. That?s always been the boxer?s story. It?s why they fight.?
DiBella is particularly high on Ishchenko because his extensive amateur experience internationally makes him more ready to fight professionally than most 22-year-olds.
?A kid with over 300 amateur fights is not a 20-fight process to get into contention,? DiBella said. ?Eight fights and I think he could be ready to fight for a world title.?
Short jabs
Is Roy Jones Jr. punchy?
Last week while in Russia for a fight, Jones asked Russian president Vladimir Putin for a Russian passport so he could more easily do business in the country. Putin replied if he spent a ?significant? part of his life in Russia it could be done. Maybe Jones needs to talk to someone at the U.S. State Department. According to the U.S. Consulate General in Russia, ?A person who acquires a foreign citizenship by applying for it may lose U.S. citizenship. In order to lose U.S. citizenship, the law requires that the person must apply for the foreign citizenship voluntarily, by free choice, and with the intention to give up U.S. citizenship.?
Time for Jones to do what he once did best: back pedal. . . .
Terence Crawford, the Boxing Writers Association?s 2014 Fighter of the Year, will announce tomorrow that he will make his first defense of the junior welterweight title he recently won in his hometown of Omaha, Neb., Oct. 24 vs. Dierry Jean (29-1, 20 KOs) on HBO. His scintillating ninth-round KO of then-unbeaten champion Yuriorkis Gamboa last year has made Crawford (26-0, 18 KOs) one of boxing?s bright young stars. . . ..
Canelo Alvarez and WBC middleweight titlist Miguel Cotto launch a four-city promotional tour tomorrow in Los Angeles to pump up the volume on their Nov. 24 fight. That one will actually be worth buying. . . .
While Mayweather-Berto may not be much of a fight, the Sept. 12 undercard is solid. WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack (19-1-1, 12 KOs) makes his first title defense vs. George Groves (21-2, 16 KOs), whose only losses came to Carl Froch; WBO junior lightweight champion Roman Martinez (29-2-2, 17 KOs) puts his title at risk in a rematch with four-time world champion Orlando Salido (42-13-2, 29 KOs) and former three-time world champion Jhonny Gonzalez (58-9, 49 KOs) defends his 130-pound title belt vs. Puerto Rican Jonathan Oquendo (25-4, 16 KOs). . . .
It looks as though an old-time local brawl for it all will take place Dec. 5 at the Barclays Center when Brooklynites Danny Jacobs (30-1, 27 KOs) and Peter Quillen (31-0-1, 22 KO) square off for the WBA middleweight title Jacobs presently holds. Quillen, the former WBO champion, is coming off a surprise draw with Andy Lee. Quillen failed to make the 160-pound weight limit that night. Both men suffered knockdowns and Lee retained his WBC title. The only roadblock is Quillen?s already agreed to Sept. 12 tuneup vs. Michael Zerafa on CBS. I wouldn?t worry about that if I was Jacobs, or Quillen. . . .
Although DiBella is branching out again, he remains a believer in Haymon?s PBC business plan, which is basically to flood the free TV market with regular fights. ?Al has 180 fighters,? DiBella said. ?He needs people to fight them. I?m not averse to doing business with anyone, but the fact is Haymon is creating more opportunities for a lot of fighters. There are so many people hating on Haymon it is ridiculous, yet there are more shows and more opportunities for more fighters than there has been in years.
?How is that bad for boxing? Or for boxers??
