dope /dōp/
A noun derived from slang in the hood. It means something or someone is ?excellent?, ?great? or ?exceptional?.
The Superbowl LI match-up between the Patriots and Falcons is a dope ass game.
When Star Wars: ?The Last Jedi? comes out near the end of 2017, we know the turn out will be dope even if the movie isn?t (?It will be.? Yoda voice).
These particular fighters, in all of the months between, will be dope to watch in boxing this year.
*** *** ***
VASYL LOMACHENKO
The A.I. prototype of the ring known simply as ?Hi-Tech?, seems almost an Apple droid creation for boxing. Bob Arum, in the twilight of his promotional life, no doubt wants to see this special fighter in special fights.
What?s cool about witnessing the origins of genius, is knowing you?ll see its magic grow against things designed to make it fail.
New Golden Boy signee Yuriokis Gamboa would be target practice. Does Bob want to see Loma against former Top Rank star Mikey Garcia (see below), in a grudge match of sorts? Maybe. What about a match-up against Felix Verdejo? Possibilities galore exist for a fighter who?s set the bar impossibly high in just eight fights.
What I do know is that by the end of this year, Lomachenko would be strong enough to humiliate Manny Pacquiao as he once did Oscar De La Hoya. His quest for iconic superstar status starts in April, probably against WBC super featherweight boss Francisco Vargas (who defends against Miguel Berchelt on Saturday night).
GENNADY ?GGG? GOLOVKIN
With him, you already know somebody?s gettin KTFO, TKO?d, gonna quit ? or ? just maybe, that someone?ll fuck around and beat his ass. Keith Thurman may have shouted, ?If you can beat me, beat me!!?, but nobody quite embodies those words in action like Triple G.
He?s very straight forward. Everything he does in the ring, is done with tremendous belief and conviction. Not only that? he?s calm about it, while striking in the most savage way. Understand when GGG faces Daniel Jacobs at Madison Square Garden on March 18, Jacobs will be better than the version who melted ?Kid Chocolate? Peter Quillin.
And he?s still likely to lose very badly after fighting very bravely like everyone else who faces Golovkin.
To sell a fight with Canelo, I still believe he needs to have at least one common PPV star opponent with the Mexican superstar. I?d be surprised if Miguel Cotto isn?t lined up next.
KEITH ?ONE-TIME? THURMAN
Keith Thurman is the type of guy who would run into the middle of a cornfield with an approaching tornado if his WBA welterweight belt was out there. How do we know this? Because that?s what he did in primetime on CBS last June against Shawn Porter.
Thurman cares about boxing and its history, if you watch and listen to him talk. He didn?t walk around in a cool Ali t-shirt ? in honor of the near 40 year network TV absence of boxing since ?The Greatest? ? for attention, he did it out of real respect.
There?s not a man fighting that I respect more than Keith Thurman, and on March 4 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn against WBC welterweight champion Danny ?Swift? Garcia, you?ll witness a dude that?s 100% do-or-die.
ANTHONY JOSHUA
Joshua seems to have this Lennox Lewis presence about himself in a Mike Tyson kind of way. He?s regal and stately but will ?eat? your children. It feels as if this was the fighter we waited for during the Wladimir Klitschko era (which officially ends April 29, when Joshua demo?s Klitschko). When he meets WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, it will really feel like a world event and the crowning achievement of a new king.
ERROL SPENCE JR.
The suspense is starting to get out of hand with Spence. I mean, wtf is going on with his next fight? Is IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook trying to duck him? Brook ducked the question? then Barclays itself, after watching buddy James DeGale survive Badou Jack at Barclays on Jan 14. Perhaps Kell knows Spence would destroy him inside of six.
I watch ESP and see a southpaw Sonny Liston at welterweight, and quite possibly, the most destructive fighter of this generation. I don?t think any welterweight today or tomorrow (at least right now) can beat him.
So will someone schedule another f*cking fight? Its already a shame he?s overlooked pound-for-pound, but he can?t get back on TV? When all he did was six million views on NBC last summer against Leonard Bundu?
SAUL ?CANELO? ALVAREZ
Canelo ?is? Golden Boy, and he?s going to beat JCC Jr. into a bronze pi?ata on Cinco de Mayo. At last, an event between two popular Mexicans that actually makes sense without ?Money?.
But let?s be real here? this is an all Mexican version of Rocky Balboa vs Ivan Drago, where Rocky (Canelo) is super gifted and Drago (Chavez Jr.) is spoiled and super average.
Canelo has been working on his physical strength and endurance, aiming to test it against the punching bag that is JCC Jr., before finally facing and unleashing his total prime on Golovkin. I have a feeling that awesome fight will be at Madison Square Garden, and NYFights will be in the building.
CARL FRAMPTON
This is boxing?s can?t-miss-badass, which he?ll prove again tonight by dominating and stopping Leo Santa Cruz short of 10 rounds.
Their July 30 encounter was hell on wheels and the best fight of the year, but this one won?t be at all. Both reasons have everything to do with Frampton.
Styled after his former world champion countryman/handler Barry McGuigan, the WBC featherweight champion comes after your ass from start to finish. Plus, it feels like he?s loaded with inspiration from all of Belfast everytime he laces em up.
He was adamantly against the idea of Guillermo Rigondeaux because he?s ?so f*cking boring? and lacks fan interest, but under the right promotion it works. At this stage in Rigo?s career (considering what I saw from the Cuban great in 2016), Frampton stops him.
MIKEY GARCIA
Many fans don?t understand what kind of problem WBC lightweight champion Dejan Zlaticanin is for Garcia. When they meet tonight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the former 2-division world champion faces a powerful upgrade from faded former featherweight champ Elio Rojas last summer.
So? When Mikey is forced to brutally dispatch Zlatty (as he will be), he?ll become ?The Man? at lightweight, and, an in-demand A grade action fighting world champion. Again. I ran into Terence ?Bud? Crawford at Pacquiao/Vargas in Vegas, who said he?d ?love to fight? Mikey Garcia.
That is as natural a superfight that can be made this year, meaning Top Rank should find a way to get that fight done on PBC if it has to. Crawford/Postol had no build-up. If Arum was willing to make Pacquiao vs. Broner with Al Haymon, then he can make that one for boxing.
GERVONTA ?TANK? DAVIS
Way before bombing Jose Pedraza on Jan. 14 at Barclays for the IBF super featherweight belt, Tank?s body language roared at his foe: ?You?re not better than me.? That will magnify the greater his opponent, which means we?re in for some classics with this new star.
Hopefully, Gervonta fights (at the very least) twice more this year. Considering the dimensions unveiled against Pedraza, ideas form on his next challenge. Exposing Pernell Whitaker wannabe Tevin Farmer might be a good look.
Maybe Floyd Mayweather decides to go after rugged vet Orlando Salido, but a confrontation with Jersey?s own WBA titlist Jason Sosa would be hot in Brooklyn.
LORENZO ?TRUCK? SIMPSON
He?s only 16 years-old, but for the better part of 10 years, he?s been a man among boys and the father of men in the ring.
?Truck?, the nation?s best amateur fighter, hails from a gritty place in Baltimore. A place where pigeons? the rats of the sky, will blend in with others of the worst kind, on dark streets he walked as a somewhat abandoned child prodigy.
But now, 9 national titles, 11 belts and an amateur record of 163-2 (when last we spoke) later, Simpson will probably redefine amateur boxing.
Seasoned pro ability with power ? in addition to a brutal six days a week training regimen while maintaing close to a 4.0 GPA, Truck is one to watch this year.
The independent media doesn?t cover the great amateur like we?re capable of, because the mainstream media doesn?t cover the great pro boxer like it used to. Lorenzo Simpson is the most decent fighter I?ve ever spoken with and something worth writing home about.
