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 the 30-day weigh-in result for Canelo Alvarez, a number of world titles switching hands in tremendous action over the weekend, the return of Gennady Golovkin, a preview of this week’s exciting fights, and much more. Without further ado, check out the latest observations from the Boxing Observer, David Kassel.
Canelo looked in solid shape at 166.8 lbs, but will draining himself to 152 lbs. work against him? Canelo looked fantastic for his 30-day WBC weigh-in (Mayweather walks around under the junior middleweight limit and weighed in at 150.8 lbs.), but he doesn’t look like he has much else to lose. I know the week of the fight Canelo will probably lose about 5-6 lbs. in water weight, and when he rehydrates, he’ll be weighing about 165-170 lbs. on fight night, but will that be a detriment or an advantage? Personally, I would love to see Canelo come into the fight against Mayweather around 163 lbs. on fight night. Canelo’s speed is underrated (because Mayweather is so fast), but if he balloons up to 170 lbs., as he did against Austin Trout, it will work against him. Canelo is going to have the power advantage in the fight. There is no question about that. He needs to use all the speed he can muster because power means nothing unless you can use it. Only about 4 weeks left and we’ll see whether Canelo will make an idiot out of most boxing “experts” and shock the world.
This weekend may not have brought us well-known names, but the action was unbelievably remarkable. I’m still kicking myself for not making the 3-hour drive to Chicago and U.S. Cellular Field for ESPN Friday Night Fights. I knew it had the chance to be special, but I had no idea how electric the atmosphere was going to be. I could feel the energy through my television. I can only imagine what it was like in person. ESPN did an outstanding job with the entire telecast, and it was a genius idea to replay the first fight between Artur Szpillka and Mike Mollo, from February, which only aired online at ESPN3. It was a great lead-in to what we knew was going to be a heavyweight slug-fest. I would rather watch those two fight on network television than watch what I know is going to be a terrible affair in October between Wladimir Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin. In the televised co-feature, Adrian Granados didn’t make it look pretty, but his 6th-round TKO win over Mark Salser was sure as hell entertaining. The main event certainly didn’t disappoint either as Andrzej Fonfara came from behind to defeat former light heavyweight champion Gabriel Campillo. Fonfara is now the IBF #1 contender for the title, but Fonfara isn’t good enough yet to defeat current champion, Bernard Hopkins. However, if Karo Murat were to somehow defeat B-Hop in October, I’d give Fonfara a fighting chance to capture his first world title. Either way, awesome job by ESPN and the entire city of Chicago for coming out and supporting world-class boxing.
Saturday night was no snooze-fest either. Let’s start with the new WBO light heavyweight champion of the world, Sergey Kovalev. I called it a few weeks ago. I thought Kovalev would give Cleverly problems and present him angles he hadn’t seen before. However, I didn’t expect Cleverly to engage with Kovalev as much as he did. I’m not saying if Cleverly’s game plan had been different he would have won the fight, but he would have stood a much better chance than trying to stand and trade with a guy known for his tremendous punching power. I know HBO is already trying to hype Kovalev vs. Adonis Stevenson (assuming Stevenson gets past Tavoris Cloud, September 28th, which is a big if in my opinion), but I have a much better idea and a much more entertaining fight. Why not have Kovalev come back against WBA light heavyweight champion Beibut Shumenov. Shumenov, who hasn’t fought in over a year, is well known for his all-action, come forward style and will clash well with Kovalev. Shumenov likes to throw over 1,000 punches per fight. Let’s put him in against a power-puncher and see if he can withstand the punishment Kovalev will dish out. That’s a Fight of the Year candidate for sure!
Congratulations to Darren Barker on winning his first world title. The Londoner is going to have a long list of names waiting to try and knock him off the throne, but it looks like he will defend against his mandatory, former champion Felix Sturm. The fight should take place in Barker’s home country, but I hope that Barker doesn’t decide to take a huge amount of money to fight in Sturm’s home country of Germany. Either way, Barker deserves all the money he is about to get.
Kiko Martinez is a must-see fighter and the new IBF junior featherweight champion. The Spaniard had been waiting for his chance at a title shot and he certainly made the most of it by knocking out Jhonatan Romero on Saturday night. Martinez’s pressure was simply too much for Romero to take and Kiko is now a major player in a talent-rich division. Because Martinez is neither promoted by Top Rank or Golden Boy, he is truly open to face whomever he can next. It looks like he wants to stay on HBO because he called out Nonito Donaire after the fight, and while I think that would be a decent scrap, I would much rather see him face the man who defeated Donaire in his last fight, 122-lb kingpin Guillermo Rigondeaux. It will be the classic boxer vs. puncher match-up and I believe Rigondeaux may have a tougher time keeping Martinez off of him than some others may think. HBO needs to make this match-up because they say Rigondeaux is a boring fighter. Well, here’s a champion in Martinez who is never in a boring fight and will make Rigondeaux fight. It’s a solid fight on paper and it should get done.
Did anyone catch Stephen Smith’s one punch, right uppercut knockout of Gary Buckland? If you didn’t see it, go to YouTube and find it. It was a sneaky punch which did some serious damage. Buckland was out before he hit the canvas.
Thomas Dulorme is ready for another world-class step up. We didn’t learn anything new about Dulorme with his 8th-round TKO over Frankie “Gato” Figueroa on Saturday night. Dulorme was never in serious trouble, and he seems to have bounced back nicely from his 2012 knockout loss to Luis Carlos Abregu. Dulorme needs to get back in with a big boy in his next fight. It doesn’t need to be a world champion, but it does need to be someone who will test his chin and his heart. Dulorme has all the physical tools to make it to the top, and if he can bounce back from that loss, I have no doubt he will win a world title.
Another world title changed hands in Mexico on Saturday. Takashi Miura took the WBC super featherweight title away from Sergio Thompson on Thompson’s home turf. That’s never an easy feat to accomplish, which speaks to the fashion of Miura’s win. It was a back and forth affair, but Miura, who floored Thompson twice (Miura was also knocked down once), was in control for much of the fight. The 130-lb division isn’t very deep, but some of the top fighters in the division hail from Japan, so I expect Miura to make his first defense in a Japanese super-fight.
In news that was overlooked from the weekend, Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz triumphantly continued his comeback. Diaz destroyed Adailton De Jesus in 5 rounds. Diaz, who still needs a solid step up before contending for a world title, looks like he is rejuvenated after taking an almost 3-year layoff from the sport. Diaz actually seems to be in better shape physically as well. I’m not sure who he’ll face next, but Diaz should be ready to step up to an HBO bout in his next fight. The lightweight division is wide open. Is anyone else up for a Juan Diaz-Yuriorkis Gamboa fight on the undercard of Bradley vs. Marquez?
Giovani Segura is back as well. Segura scored a dominant, knockout win over Jonathan Gonzalez in Puerto Rico on Saturday night. Segura is ready to avenge his losses against Edgar Sosa and Brian Viloria. I will be watching whenever he steps back in the ring no matter what.
What a shocker, Gennady Golovkin vs. Curtis Stevens is going to happen. Stevens turned down an initial offer made to him of $300,000 for the fight, but Golovkin’s trainer, Abel Sanchez, confirmed to SI that the fight has been agreed upon to take place at Madison Square Garden on November 2nd. More power to Stevens for earning every last penny he will receive for this fight, but I can’t imagine he got much more than the initial offer. Maybe I’m wrong, but money is money, so I’m not one to judge.
Shane Mosley vs. Anthony Mundine is a terribly boring affair waiting to happen. Of course, when this fight happens, I will watch it, but nobody is going to leave this fight feeling the winner will go on to win a world title. Mosley is past his prime and Mundine is trying to talk himself into a major payday in America. Rest assured, this fight will not be entertaining.
We’ve got lots of boxing this week, starting tonight! The new Fox Sports 1 network debuts its first ever boxing show tonight as middleweight Daniel Jacobs continues his remarkable comeback from cancer against Giovanni Lorenzo. Friday Night Fights’ season finale brings us “Iron” Mike Tyson’s first plunge into promoting as Argenis Mendez puts his IBF 130-lb title on the line against Arash Usmanee, and Claudio Marrero goes for a vacant featherweight title against Jesus Andres Cuellar. Those are just the appetizers for Saturday night. Arthur Abraham returns to the ring in his home country of Germany. Omar Narvaez puts his junior bantamweight title on the line in Argentina against Hiroyuki Hisataka. The main event on Saturday is a Showtime-televised event. The televised co-feature has Leo Santa Cruz looking to win his first 122-lb world championship against current WBC champion, Victor Terrazas. The main event will be another slug-fest as WBC featherweight champion Abner Mares puts his title on the line against Jhonny Gonzalez. We should have another great weekend of fights ahead of us.
Maybe Vitali Klitschko is going to retire after all. In case you missed the news, Klitschko, who suffered a hand injury forcing him to delay, even further, an announcement for a scheduled title defense against Bermane Stiverne, is planning on running for President of the Ukraine in 2015. I’m no expert on politics, but it would seem to me that running for President of an entire country would take more time than would allow for training. Have we truly seen the last of Vitali Klitschko in the ring?
Each week, I feature an email from a fan on Observe and Fight. This week’s email comes to us from R.J. regarding his impression of Deontay Wilder…
“I’m still not sold on Deontay Wilder, HE DOESN’T have the skills to compete with a guy who KNOWS how to box. Liakhovich was long in the tooth and the seizure he had after he was punched tells me he’s taken too many and it’s time for him to quit before he ends up with permanent – neurological damage and seizures, if that’s not already the case.”
I still won’t pass judgment on Wilder until he goes some rounds. If he doesn’t go rounds, it means he is continuing to win. If he is not going rounds, more than likely it’s because he is knocking guys out before anyone can get a serious read on him. I think his power is unmistakable, and he can knock out anyone in the heavyweight division if given the opportunity. Two things he has which will serve him well are speed and a killer instinct. He is clearly a finisher, but I think people are underestimating his speed. Opponents know what he is going to throw, and he is still able to land it. Eventually, Wilder will face a guy who can box and that’s when I think we’ll see how effective his jab is. He is going to have a size and reach advantage over practically everyone he faces. I still believe Wilder is going to knockout the winner of Mitchell vs. Arreola, and I still don’t think Bryant Jennings can handle Wilder over 10 rounds. I still contend that Wilder is the best America has to offer. By the way, Liakhovich is out of his wits for claiming Wilder knocked him out due to illegal blows behind the head. 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.
