Boxing

[upperdeck]

what happened to the kid a couple years back who started with the long knock out streak?

 

[SWC75]

what happened to the kid a couple years back who started with the long knock out streak?

Berlanga, (mentioned in posts above). 16 straight one-round knockouts followed by 5 straight decisions. Weird.

https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/760625

 

[SWC75]

I missed this one amid all the football games. I expected Canelo to win despite evidence in recent fights of a decline because he's been the light heavy champion and Jermell was the junior middle champion and both Carlos have a rather pedantic, statuesque style while Canelo is constantly busy and is a a good defensive fighter.

The fight went the distance and was totally one-sided in the scoring, although the highlights in the above clip look a lot better than the Crawford-Spence fight, which was a total beat-down.

Now the question, (perennially), what is Canelo's next move. Is there any point to his fighting the other Charlo brother, Jermall, a middleweight champion, (the twin brothers agreed to campaign in different weight classes so they wouldn't have to face each other). Originally, this fight was to be with Jermall but it was switched to Jermell because, according to Jermall, more money could be made if Canelo beat Jermell and the Jermall sought revenge.

One wonders what Jermelle felt about that scenario. Maybe Canelo should have fought them both at once, or done 6 rounds with one and 6 rounds with the other. Canelo: “I never thought about it. They said that the other Charlo was not ready, and that they want [Jermell] Charlo. I said, ‘Okay, bring whatever, I don't care.'”

 

[ssbriefcase]

I watched it. I put $ on Canelo by KO. My reasoning was Charlo moving up 2 weight classes is one thing. Moving up 2 classes to fight a fighter like Canelo is nuts. It was very surprising to all of us watching that Charlo actually lasted the whole fight. He took a body blow and knelt down, 2nd time he's ever been down.

So it wasn't Crawford-Spence (hardly any are), but it was a beatdown, and never any type of flurry from Charlo. Even Crawford tweeted out basically that it was sad on Charlo's behalf, he didn't even try to win, he just tried to survive. I couldn't agree more. Charlo didn't bring anything especially when he should've at the beginning rounds. As soon as he felt Canelo's power he turtled, and Canelo made it clear he didn't respect Charlo's punches at all. It was boring, and never in doubt.

Canelo won't be fighting Jermell imo. He's had some serious mental issues going on. Not to mention he's not that different, and I'd guess and would put a lot more $ on, the same result. Probably going to be Benavidez.

 

[SWC75]

This just popped up on You-Tube. Two rather famous guys, early in their careers:

 

[SWC75]

First HBO, now...

Showtime exiting boxing after nearly 4 decades

Showtime, which has been a fixture in the sport's programming for 37 years and aired some of the game's biggest fights, will exit boxing programming at the end of 2023.

www.espn.com

 

[TheHaze315]

Biggest bet of the year for me so far, Tyson Fury by tko tomorrow at -160. If he flatlines him I’ll be sick lol.

 

[SWC75]

I guess we'll never get Wilder-Joshua. Maybe they were never that good to begin with.

Parker upsets Wilder via unanimous decision win

Joshua dominates as Wallin's corner stops fight

Anthony Joshua busted up Otto Wallin's nose and eyes in a strong performance that forced Wallin's corner to stop the bout before the start of Round 6.

www.espn.com

 

[ssbriefcase]

I guess we'll never get Wilder-Joshua. Maybe they were never that good to begin with.

Parker upsets Wilder via unanimous decision win

Joshua dominates as Wallin's corner stops fight

Anthony Joshua busted up Otto Wallin's nose and eyes in a strong performance that forced Wallin's corner to stop the bout before the start of Round 6.

www.espn.com

After the build up, I can’t believe how bad both fights were. Very boring. Wilder is done, Wallin I have no idea how he got there, he’s got nothing to note. And I’m just laughing at the new hype after for Joshua. It’s Lucy pulling the football all over again. “He’s back!” I somehow missed the Bivol fight, I see it went UD

 

[ssbriefcase]

Late report, but I went to the Benevidez v Andrade fight. We had the best seats in the house besides the 2 directly in front of us (I’d never want floor seats). Row 2 seat 1,2. Dead center of the ring.

Sat the entire time next to Eric Priest, signed to Golden Boy 13-0. He was the nicest kid ever. We talked and had fun the whole time, discussing strategy and his management etc. He had a 1st round tko 2 weeks ago, his manager is trying to sign a deal to fight Mosley Jr.

The atmosphere was incredible, surrounded by everyone, fighters etc. Timofeo López sat directly in front of me. Just the comraderie and ribbing between the fighters was entertaining in itself. The fight ended how we wanted with Benevidez winning against a game opponent.

 

[bpo57]

This just popped up on You-Tube. Two rather famous guys, early in their careers:

Pryor pressed the action more than other fighter I could ever remember. The amount of talent in the lightweight/welterweight divisions back in the 1970s/1980s was insane.

 

[SWC75]

Pryor pressed the action more than other fighter I could ever remember. The amount of talent in the lightweight/welterweight divisions back in the 1970s/1980s was insane.

You can look at that fight and see something of Hagler-Hearns a decade later.

 

[SWC75]

Meanwhile "The Monster" has cleaned up on the junior featherweights. How far up can he go and still be a monster? Max Kellerman suggested a super fight at a catch weight between Inoue and Lomachenko at a catchweight. Could that ever happen?

Can anyone compete with Naoya 'The Monster' Inoue?

Naoya Inoue has won the undisputed championship in two different divisions. Can he be beaten?

www.espn.com

 

[SWC75]

Missed this one last night, Joshua looks like his old self but these MMA guys sometimes turn out to be paper tigers when they have to limit themselves to boxing. But Fury didn't do nearly so well against him.

 

[ssbriefcase]

Missed this one last night, Joshua looks like his old self but these MMA guys sometimes turn out to be paper tigers when they have to limit themselves to boxing. But Fury didn't do nearly so well against him.

Missed it as well. I thought judging by Ngannou's fight with Fury that he might be legit, must've just been a style matchup thing. Well, we get Fury v Usyk May 18th. Can't stand the fights in Saudi though. A lot of good fights coming down the pike. I'm not including Canelo's fight in that. I think the well is running dry on Canelo's career, he's fighting 1 interesting fight to 4 I have no interest in.

 

[SWC75]

Missed it as well. I thought judging by Ngannou's fight with Fury that he might be legit, must've just been a style matchup thing. Well, we get Fury v Usyk May 18th. Can't stand the fights in Saudi though. A lot of good fights coming down the pike. I'm not including Canelo's fight in that. I think the well is running dry on Canelo's career, he's fighting 1 interesting fight to 4 I have no interest in.

I've read Canelo is going to fight Jaime Munguia and then Edgar Berlanga. I've always thought it strange that Munguia is 43-0 (34KOs) and yet went four years without any of the alphabet soup titles, (he was WBO - the worst of the organizations, if there is a 'worst' - light middleweight champ from 2018-2019 and just won the WBC supermiddleweight title last year). I thought, if he's knocking all these guys out, why isn't a champion of something? And Berlanga is the guy that started his career knocking out 16 straight guys in the first round , then won 5 straight decisions before getting a 6th round knockout in his last fight. It makes you wonder where they dredged up those 16 guys.

I think Canelo can still handle them. But people will wonder: Why isn't he fighting Benavidez?

 

[SWC75]

The Spring, (once it really gets going), looks good on ESPN's schedule of meaningful fights:

• April 20: Brooklyn -- Title fight: Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia, 12 rounds, for Haney's WBC junior welterweight title
• May 4: Las Vegas (Prime PPV and DAZN PPV) -- Title fight: Canelo Alvarez vs. Jaime Munguia, 12 rounds, for Alvarez's super middleweight undisputed championship
• May 6: Tokyo (ESPN/ESPN+) -- Title fight: Naoya Inoue vs. Luis Nery, 12 rounds, for Inoue's junior featherweight undisputed championship
• May 11: Perth, Australia (ESPN/ESPN+) -- Title fight: Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. George Kambosos Jr., 12 rounds, for the vacant IBF lightweight title
• May 18: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Title fight: Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury, 12 rounds, for the undisputed heavyweight championship
• May 25: Leeds, England (ESPN+) -- Josh Taylor vs. Jack Catterall, 12 rounds, junior welterweights
• June 1: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Title fight: Dmitry Bivol vs. Artur Beterbiev, 12 rounds, for the undisputed light heavyweight championship
• June 29: Glendale, Arizona (DAZN) -- Title fight: Juan Francisco Estrada vs. Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez, 12 rounds, for Estrada's WBC junior bantamweight title

Boxing schedule

Want to know what fights are on the horizon? Check out the boxing schedule for 2024.

www.espn.com

I think Haney will clobber Garcia. Munguia finally gets a big fight against a (fading?) Alvarez. Inouye and Lomachenko are worth watching no matter who they are fighting, (Max Kellerman would like to see them in a 'catchweight' fight). Usyk-Fury and Bivol-Beterbiev may finally come off. I don't know about the other two but I'll probably watch them. too.

 

[ssbriefcase]

CNY movie about boxing legend Carmen Basilio steps back into the ring

The Boxing Hall of Famer won three titles, including a 1957 fight with Sugar Ray Robinson.

www.syracuse.com

 

[SWC75]

CNY movie about boxing legend Carmen Basilio steps back into the ring

The Boxing Hall of Famer won three titles, including a 1957 fight with Sugar Ray Robinson.

www.syracuse.com

Who could play Carmen? (DeNiro is too old - why didn't Scorsese make a movie about Carmen instead of that bum LaMotta?)

 

[ssbriefcase]

Don't know if anyone else watched the blood bath of Tim Tszyu vs Fundora last week? It's the bloodiest fight I've watched in at least a decade. Tsyzu got a major cut on the top of his head in the 2nd round that wouldn't quit gushing, he couldn't see pretty much after that. I can't believe Fundora won, but both had some very obvious limitations. Can't wait for a rematch of that one. I can't imagine Tszyu losing the rematch.

As SW mentioned before, there's some great fights coming up this spring/summer.

 

[SWC75]

Interesting article from ESPN:

How a 16-fighter boxing tournament would play out at 140 pounds

We look at a possible bracket with the best 16 fighters between 135 and 140 pounds.

www.espn.com

For years I've advocated that boxing switch from hereditary alphabet soup half titles to yearly tournaments to determine each year's champion. I prefer the idea of 8 fighter fields in 10 divisions, (the 8 traditionals plus cruisers, who I would call 'Middle heavyweights' and the top division, which would be the 'Superheavyweights'. You'd have the quarterfinals in the spring, the semis in the summer and the finals in the fall. Nobody ducking anybody anymore. Fighters and their managers would have join in to get the big money because the tournament would be what people care about.

Oh, and I think Stevenson would emerge as the winner int he above tournament.

 

[SWC75]

Just watched Jared Anderson vs. Ryad Merhy on ESPN. ZZZZZZzzzzzz... The commercials were more exciting. Anderson is supposed to be the 'next big thing' in the heavyweight division. Merhy didn't want to be there and just leaned on the ropes in a 'peek-a-boo' stance. Anderson pecked away at him for 12 rounds. Th fan were booing and Fury and Usyk, if the were watching were laughing.

Anderson needs, (among other things), a PR guy. He was just arrested by police after a 120MPH chase. He came out for the theatrical entrance, (I'm tired of them), dressed like a race car driver. Dumb.

 

[SWC75]

I watched Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia tonight. I felt Haney was going to out-box Garcia, who had been knocked out by Tank Davis. Both were basically lightweights and the taller Garcia more of a welterweight but if Davis could beat him, so could Haney. Haney's not really a knockout guy so I was looking for a decision. They were familiar with each other, having split 6 amateur fights. Garcia came in at 143 pounds so Haney's 140 pound title was safe.

Garcia came out like a tiger and knocked Haney backwards with his left hook. But Haney wasn't really hurt and after the first minute, he settled into concentrate on his jab and an occasional lunging combinations. I gave Garcia the first round because he landed the biggest punch but it looked like Haney had established control of the fight and I gave him the next 5 rounds.

Then came what will be a highly controversial 7th round. Garcia again rocked Haney with a left hook but this time, Haney went down on his pants. He later said he was more shocked than hurt. Then the ref, who was entirely too active in this fight, often interrupting the action, deducted a point from Garcia for hitting on the break. Doesn't he get a warning first? Haney went down two more times in that round but in both cases it looked like Garcia wrestled him down, trying to buy two fake knockdowns. He got a 9-8 round so I had him behind 64-67.

In the 8th round, Garcia failed to follow up on his advantage but Haney failed to do anything to turn the fight around. I decided to score that one 10-10. Haney never again established his jab, so he stopped winning rounds. Ryan had a good flurry early in the 9th and won that. He then scored another knockdown of Haney in 10th. That wasn't because of a left hook: it was series of direct punches that came right down the pipe. the same thing happened in in the 11th round and it seemed inevitable that Garcia was going to knockout Haney, whose defensive capabilities seemed to have totally deserted him.

Garcia was now ahead on my sheet, 106-104 but decided to spend the 12th round clowning with bolo punches and shaking his but t while sticking his chin out. He made no attempt to finish Haney off and left it to the judges, always a dumb move. It almost burned him as one judge had the bout even at 112-112. But the other two had it solid for Garcia, 114-110 and 115-109. I had it 115-114. Anyway the right guy won: three knockdowns to none is pretty convincing.

Haney's not down and didn't even lose his title. This could make him an even more appealing opponent for the many good fighters in the 135-140 area, as he still has a reputation but appears vulnerable. Garcia's stock will rise but I think his future is among the welterweights.

 

[ssbriefcase]

First of all I have to say something about Barboza v McComb. That was the biggest robbery I've seen in a bit. I guess they didn't want the Irishman to get the W, when he very clearly controlled the entire fight and connected the most, controlled the ring, and won. Oh well.

After seeing Garcia missed weight, I thought there was no way he had a shot. Remembering how Haney looked against Loma, vulnerable. He looks like he forgot how to defend which was what he was known for, and then without the punching power, it's not a good look. I mean when Ryan repeatedly turned his back on him, and he had free shots to his liver, he couldn't even take advantage, and that's bad news for Haney.

I'm wondering if Stevenson is the best defender in the sport now a days? Garcia is a one trick pony who doesn't seem to be getting better at boxing, and he's a head case. We'll see what happens next. The month of May has some good fights, can't wait.

 

[SWC75]

The "not possible" fight just become not possible again - for a while:

Beterbiev injured, title bout vs. Bivol postponed

Artur Beterbiev has suffered a knee injury in training and his June 1 showdown against Dmitry Bivol for the undisputed light heavyweight title has been postponed.

www.espn.com