LIKE MIKE: Is Floyd Mayweather the Michael Jordan of Boxing?

Published

9 years ago

April 21, 2014

Is Floyd Mayweather the Michael Jordan of boxing?

According to Showtime boxing boss Stephen Espinoza, indeed he is.

“I think we’re going to appreciate Floyd more several years after he retires than maybe we do now,” Espinoza told The Sweet Science. “We all know, at his level of skill, it’s a challenge to find fighters that we think are going to be competitive. To me, he’s Michael Jordan.”Jordan led the NBA’s Chicago Bulls to six world championships. He was the best basketball player of a generation, earning five Most Valuable Player awards, ten All-NBA First Team designations, ten scoring titles, six NBA Finals MVP Awards, and a multitude of other honors during his playing career, which lasted from 1984 to 2003.

“There was a point when no one was going to stop Mike,” said Espinoza. “John Starks wasn’t stopping Michael Jordan. Bryon Russell wasn’t stopping him. Byron Scott wasn’t. Nobody could stop him. But nobody said, ‘We aren’t going to watch him because he’s too good…it’s too easy. We know the Bulls are going to repeat this year.’ No one said that.”

Espinoza said watching a Mayweather fight was akin to appreciating Jordan during his prime years: “This is an opportunity we have to see Jordan before he retires.”

Mayweather’s next bout is against upstart contender Marcos Maidana May 3 at the MGM in Las Vegas, Nevada. The bout will air live on Showtime PPV. Maidana upset Adrien Broner in 2013 to earn the Mayweather gig, and will be a huge underdog come fight night. Still, he was certainly the best choice of Mayweather’s likely options for the fight in that he absolutely pummeled the previously undefeated Broner in a fight very few thought he could win.

Unlike Mayweather, of course, Jordan was forced to face and defeat the best and most deserving contenders of his generation. Among the notable all-time greats Jordan defeated for NBA titles are Magic Johnson, Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley, Gary Payton and Karl Malone.

Unlike the NBA, boxing is not set up under one controlling entity. Where the NBA has a play-off system, boxing has a constant churn of competing promotions. Among other things, this has kept Mayweather from being able to face all the best fighters of his generation. Most notably, of course, is Manny Pacquiao.

“I don’t really doubt the fact that both Mayweather and Pacquiao want the fight right now. And to be clear, I know for a fact because of my prior work [legal advisor to Golden Boy Promotions] and my current work [Showtime VP], that Floyd Mayweather very much wanted the fight and has very much wanted the fight to happen since 2009.”

The reasons why the superfight has never been made depends on which side you ask. For his part, Espinoza says he knows for certain Mayweather has always wanted the fight. “Now, he’s also been very clear about certain issues of fairness and propriety and his personal feelings about Top Rank over the years, and these all play a role in this, but fundamentally if you ask me, does Floyd want the fight? He always has.”

Espinoza didn’t lay blame on Mayweather, but he didn’t pass the buck to Pacquiao either. “I can only assume that Manny, for his part, probably feels the same because he is an accomplished fighter. So, I don’t fault the fighters.”

I couldn’t help but ask if Espinoza was as sick of the Mayweather-Pacquiao topic as everyone else in the boxing world seems to be. Honestly, I only asked him about it since I’d never talked to him before and felt it was my duty, in a way, to ask what readers might want to know. His answer was not what I expected. “No one ever asks me about it anymore, so I’m happy to address it,” said Espinoza, surprisingly. “It’s funny, I don’t get too many opportunities to address it head on. Everyone just reprints what Bob Arum says…”

Regardless of the Mayweather-Pacquiao debacle, Mayweather has faced and defeated an impressive list of fighters during his undefeated career, including the late Diego Corrales, Ricky Hatton, Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez and Miguel Cotto. Moreover, since he made the leap over from HBO to Showtime, he’s gone 2-0 against two good fighters. The more impressive of those two wins was against previously undefeated junior middleweight titlist Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, one of the brightest young stars in the sport. Mayweather beat Alvarez rather handily over 12 rounds, but the 23-year-old Mexican rebounded nicely by pulverizing tough slugger Alfredo Angulo earlier this year in 10.

Next up for Alvarez is another huge test: southpaw stylist Erislandy Lara, a fighter many have proposed might actually be one of Mayweather’s most dangerous possible future bouts. His Cuban style is not easily solved and he has good enough power to make fighters who choose to walk him down pay dearly.

“One thing that I don’t think Canelo gets enough credit for is his willingness to fight anybody,” Espinoza said. “This is the second time in a relatively short period of time that he chose voluntarily [to fight] a guy who no one else is lining up to fight and one that maybe isn’t in his best financial interest. I think maybe because of his popularity, people underestimate his pride and his heart and the fact that he wants to fight the toughest guys out there even if it is not in his financial interest necessarily to do so.”

Thinking of the possibility of Mayweather-Lara, should the latter get by Alvarez, I asked Espinoza if Lara was a hard sell. “I don’t think Lara is a hard sell. When I said ‘not in his financial interest’, I was referring more to the [Austin] Trout fight. Canelo had Mayweather sort of looming in the background [then], and why take that risk for an awkward, left-handed fighter that wasn’t a big money payday?”

So, I reasoned, might Lara work his way into being a viable opponent for Mayweather should he have a good showing versus Alvarez? And could Showtime see Mayweather-Lara as a worthwhile promotion? Espinoza seemed to think so.

“Yeah, I know ‘Cuban’ has sort of, in some circles, become a bad word when it comes to boxers, but I don’t think that’s a fair characterization. Lara was very aggressive and very entertaining in the Angulo fight. That was a fight no one was bored by and it wasn’t just because Angulo was pressing the action. We knew when we made Lara-Trout that it might not be the best style matchup, but it was two top guys and a fight that needed to be made. The styles didn’t mesh particularly well, but that to me doesn’t take away from his long-term attractiveness as an opponent.”

So who knows? Maybe like Jordan’s last great years with the Bulls, two seasons which culminated in two world championships against the Utah Jazz’s John Stockton, Karl Malone and Bryon Russell, Lara will someday soon present Mayweather with a real and difficult challenge, too — a final test of his greatness.

Jordan prevailed in the end.

Might Mayweather, too?

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Kelsey McCarson

Canelo-Charlo Gets All the Ink, but Don’t Overlook the Compelling Match-up of Gassiev-Wallin in Turkey

Published

5 hours ago

September 26, 2023

Arne K. Lang

Canelo-Charlo-Gets-All-the-Ink-but-Don't-Overlook-This-Compelling-Match-in-Turkey

Canelo-Charlo Gets All the Ink, but Don’t Overlook the Compelling Match-up of Gassiev-Wallin in Turkey

The eyes of the boxing world will be on Las Vegas this Saturday where Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez risks his four super middleweight title belts against unified 154-pound champion Jermell Charlo. Earlier that day at a luxury resort hotel in the city of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, there’s a heavyweight match sitting under the radar that may prove to be the better fight. It’s an intriguing match-up between former world cruiserweight title-holder Murat Gassiev and Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin, a bout with significant ramifications for boxing’s glamour division.

Gassiev (30-1, 23 KOs) and Wallin (25-1, 14 KOs) have only one loss, but those setbacks came against the top dogs in the division. Gassiev was out-boxed by Oleksandr Usyk back in the days when both were cruiserweights. Wallin gave Tyson Fury a world of trouble before losing a unanimous decision.

Since those fights, both have been treading water.

Gassiev

Gassiev was inactive for 27 months after his match with Usyk while dealing with legal issues and an injury to his left shoulder. He is 4-0 (4 KOs) since returning to the ring while answering the bell for only eight rounds. The only recognizable name among those four victims is German gatekeeper Michael Wallisch. After stopping Wallisch, Gassiev was out of action for another 13 months while reportedly dealing with an arm injury.

A first-round knockout of Carlouse Welch, an obscure 40-something boxer from the U.S. state of Georgia on Aug. 26, 2022, in Belgrade, Serbia, was promoted as a title fight. The sanctioning body was the Eurasian Boxing Parliament (insert your own punchline here). Gassiev followed that up with a second-round knockout of former NFL linebacker Mike Balogun who came in undefeated and was seemingly a legitimate threat to him.

Although he has yet to fight a ranked opponent since leaving the cruiserweight division, Gassiev — a former stablemate of Gennady Golovkin who has been living in Big Bear, California, training under Abel Sanchez – is one of the most respected fighters in the division because he has one-punch knockout power as Balogun and others can well attest. The rub against the Russian-Armenian bruiser is that he is somewhat robotic.

Wallin

Otto Wallin, a 32-year-old southpaw from Sweden who trains in New York under former world lightweight champion Joey Gamache, fought Tyson Fury on Sept. 14, 2019 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. There was a general feeling that the Swede would be a stroll in the park for Fury, but to the contrary, he gave the Gypsy King a hard tussle while losing a unanimous decision.

Wallin is 5-0 since that night beginning with victories over Travis Kauffman (KO 5) and Dominic Breazeale (UD 12), but his last three opponents were softer than soft and all three lasted the distance. In order, Wallin won an 8-round decision over Kamil Sokolowski, who was 11-24-2 heading in, won a 10-round decision over ancient Rydell Booker, and won an 8-round decision over Helaman Olguin. His bout with Utah trial horse Olguin was at a banquet hall in Windham, New Hampshire.

It isn’t that Wallin has been avoiding the top names in the division; it’s the other way around. His promoter Dmitriy Salita reportedly came close to getting Wallin a match with Anthony Joshua whose team had second thoughts about sending Joshua in against another southpaw after back-to-back setbacks to Oleksandr Usyk.

Gassiev vs Wallin is a true crossroads fight. Both are in dire need of a win over a credible opponent. At last look, Gassiev, who figures to have the crowd in his corner, was a 3/1 favorite.

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Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

Published

2 days ago

September 24, 2023

David A. Avila

Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

LONG BEACH, Ca.-A cool autumn night saw welterweights and minimumweights share main events for a MarvNation fight card on Saturday.

Ukraine’s Eduard Skavynskyi (15-0, 7 KOs) experienced a tangled mess against the awkward Alejandro Frias (14-10-2) but won by decision after eight rounds in a welterweight contest at the indoor furnace called the Thunder Studios.

It was hot in there for the more than 600 people inside.

Skavynskyi probably never fought someone like Mexico’s Frias whose style was the opposite of the Ukrainian’s fundamentally sound one-two style. But round after round the rough edges became more familiar.

Neither fighter was ever damaged but all three judges saw Skavynskyi the winner by unanimous decision 79-73 on all three cards. The Ukrainian fighter trains in Ventura.

Bustillo Wins Rematch

Applerose2

In the female main event Las Vegas’ Yadira Bustillos (8-1) stepped into a rematch with Karen Lindenmuth (5-2) and immediately proved the lessons learned from their first encounter.

Bustillos connected solidly with an overhand right and staggered Lindenmuth but never came close to putting the pressure fighter down. Still, Bustillos kept turning the hard rushing Lindenmuth and snapping her head with overhand rights and check left hooks.

Lindenmuth usually overwhelms most opponents with a smothering attack that causes panic. But not against Bustillos who seemed quite comfortable all eight rounds in slipping blows and countering back.

After eight rounds all three judges scored the contest for Bustillos 78-74 and 80-72 twice. Body shots were especially effective for the Las Vegas fighter in the fifth round. Bustillos competes in the same division as IBF/WBO title-holder Yokasta Valle.

Other Bouts

In a middleweight clash, undefeated Victorville’s Andrew Buchanan (3-0-1) used effective combination punching to defeat Mexico’s Fredy Vargas (2-1-1) after six rounds. Two judges scored it 59-55 and a third 60-54 for Buchanan. No knockdowns were scored.

A super lightweight match saw Sergio Aldana win his pro debut by decision after four rounds versus Gerardo Fuentes (2-9-1).

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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Tedious Fights and a Controversial Draw Smudge the Matchroom Boxing Card in Orlando

Published

3 days ago

September 23, 2023

Arne K. Lang

Tedious-Fights-and-a-Controversial-Draw-Smudge-the-Matchroom-Boxing-Card-in-Orlando

Matchroom Boxing was at the sprawling Royale Caribe Resort Hotel in Orlando, Florida tonight with a card that aired on DAZN. The main event was a ho-hum affair between super lightweights Richardson Hitchins and Jose Zepeda.

SoCal’s Zepeda has been in some wars in the past, notably his savage tussle with Ivan Baranchyk, but tonight he brought little to the table and was outclassed by the lanky Hitchins who won all 12 rounds on two of the cards and 11 rounds on the other. There were no knockdowns, but Zepeda suffered a cut on his forehead in round seven that was deemed to be the product of an accidental head butt and another clash in round ten forced a respite in the action although Hitchins suffered no apparent damage.

It was the sort of fight where each round was pretty much a carbon of the round preceding it. Brooklyn’s Hitchins, who improved to 17-0 (7), was content to pepper Zepeda with his jab, and the 34-year-old SoCal southpaw, who brought a 37-3 record, was never able to penetrate his defense and land anything meaningful.

Hitchins signed with Floyd Mayweather Jr’s promotional outfit coming out of the amateur ranks and his style is reminiscent in ways of his former mentor. Like Mayweather, he loses very few rounds. In his precious engagement, he pitched a shutout over previously undefeated John Bauza.

Co-Feature

In the co-feature, Conor Benn returned to the ring after an absence of 17 months and won a unanimous decision over Mexico’s Rodolfo Orozco. It wasn’t a bad showing by Benn who showed decent boxing skills, but more was expected of him after his name had been bandied about so often in the media. Two of the judges had it 99-91 and the other 96-94.

Benn (22-0, 14 KOs) was a late addition to the card although one suspects that promoter Eddie Hearn purposely kept him under wraps until the week of the fight so as not to deflect the spotlight from the other matches on his show. Benn lost a lucrative date with Chris Eubank Jr when he was suspended by the BBBofC when evidence of a banned substance was found in his system and it’s understood that Hearn has designs on re-igniting the match-up with an eye on a date in December. For tonight’s fight, Benn carried a career-high 153 ½ pounds. Mexico’s Orozco, who was making his first appearance in a U.S. ring, declined to 32-4-3.

Other Bouts of Note

The welterweight title fight between WBA/WBC title-holder Jessica McCaskill (15-3-1) and WBO title-holder Sandy Ryan (6-1-1) ended in a draw and the ladies’ retain their respective titles. Ryan worked the body effectively and the general feeling was that she got a raw deal, a sentiment shared by the crowd which booed the decision. There was a switch of favorites in the betting with the late money seemingly all on the Englishwoman who at age 30 was the younger boxer by nine years.

The judges had it 96-94 Ryan, 96-95, and a vilified 97-93 for Chicago’s McCaskill.

In the opener of the main DAZN stream, Houston middleweight Austin “Ammo” Williams, 27, improved to 15-0 (10) with a 10-round unanimous decision over 39-year-old Toronto veteran Steve Rolls (22-3). All three judges had it 97-93. Rolls has been stopped only once, that by Gennady Golovkin.

Photo credit: Ed Mulholland / Matchroom Boxing

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