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Sergey Kovalev Will Have More Than Blake Caparello On His Mind August 2nd

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When WBO light heavyweight title hold Sergey Kovalev 24-0-1 (22) defends his title this Saturday night in Atlantic City against Blake Caparello 19-0-1 (6), he’ll be fighting two opponents at the same time. In the ring he’ll be looking to take Caparello out as quickly as possible, and in the eyes of boxing fans, his performance will be compared to middleweight Gennady Golovkin’s signature win last weekend, when he stopped challenger Daniel Geale in the third round.

Kovalev, like Golovkin, has an impressive knockout record and can really punch. In fact, along with Golovkin, Kovalev is one of the top five best punchers in boxing today. Sergey is one of the most exciting and highly touted fighters in the world and is looking for that marquee fight to convince boxing observers that he is truly the real deal. Kovalev isn’t as polished or refined as Golovkin technically, but he fights even more aggressively and brings a mean streak and attitude to the ring every time he fights. It’s easy to glean from his demeanor that he truly doesn’t give a damn about anybody he fights once the bell rings. He has the utmost confidence in his ability and power to hurt his opponent and as former great “Smokin” Joe Frazier used to say, “Get the job done.”

Golovkin looked terrific last week and its doubtful Kovalev will stop Caparello with a beautiful counter right or as efficiently as Golovkin did Geale. However, while he may not look as sophisticated in ending the fight as Gennady, he’s every bit as destructive and dangerous. And that’s what he has to be against Caparello, destructive. With Golovkin looking so precise and powerful in getting rid of Geale, he’s become the new flavor of the month in professional boxing. Only, Golovkin is no flavor of the month fighter and will probably be the main man in the middleweight division for the near future.

Based on the notoriety and attention that Golovkin has garnered in less than a week, it’s another layer of proof in how much boxing fans love to watch punchers. Floyd Mayweather, who is a great technician and boxer, turned pro in 1996. But he never participated in a fight that fans really cared about until he fought a declining and washed up Oscar De La Hoya 11 years later. Guillermo Rigondeaux just might be the best combination of speed, style and class in professional boxing today, but all you hear about him is he isn’t exciting because he doesn’t tear guys apart like a prime Manny Pacquiao used to do.

Punchers don’t have to be smooth and quick as long as they end fights in a memorable fashion. Most fans don’t appreciate the genius or greatness of a Rigondeaux, and it took them 11 plus years to care about and appreciate Mayweather. When fans see a fighter down or concussed it doesn’t take much of a boxing aptitude to understand what happened. They like dramatic endings that aren’t tarnished by inept scorecards submitted by a few boxing judges.

Right now Golovkin is winning the perception battle between the two “catch n kill” style attackers. It’s doubtful that Kovalev can surpass him regardless of how he looks in taking Caparello apart Saturday night. That being said, Kovalev is probably in the better position of the two of them to earn some impressive signature wins down the road. Granted, the light heavyweight and middleweight divisions aren’t loaded with a plethora of outstanding opponents for either of them to face. But at least the light heavyweight division has two in Bernard Hopkins 55-6-2 (32) and Adonis Stevenson 24-1 (20). And that would be two more credible foes for Kovalev to solidify his stature against than Golovkin has at middleweight. If Kovalev can win impressively this weekend, hopefully there will be enough eyes watching that it will put some heat on both Hopkins and Stevenson to step up and fight him. I think it’s fair to say that Stevenson, to this point, has been reluctant to make the fight with Kovalev. And I haven’t seen Hopkins, who attends all the big fights, jumping in the ring to challenge Kovalev after his fights have ended. And Kovalev is fighting in Bernard’s back yard, Atlantic City, this weekend. Let’s see if Hopkins shows up and starts issuing challenges to Sergey. Remember, it was Hopkins who strongly urged Shane Mosley to jump in the ring and challenge Floyd Mayweather after he beat Juan Manuel Marquez. The ploy worked and Mosley ended up being Mayweather’s next opponent.

If Kovalev were to fight Hopkins, who at nearly age 50 has never been beaten up or stopped, and stopped him, Golovkin couldn’t buy that kind of credibility unless he moved up and stopped Andre Ward. And if Kovalev beat Hopkins, how big would a fight be between him and Stevenson? It would be huge and receive monumental attention.

Sure, Miguel Cotto is the lineal middleweight champ, but he’s a former junior welterweight title holder who was defeated conclusively by former featherweight champ Manny Pacquiao five years ago. Beating Cotto in four rounds would look good on Golovkin’s record but nobody is going to be declaring his greatness afterward. Or should I say nobody that knows anything worth knowing about boxing will. That leaves Mayweather, but he’d have to cut off his arm to make a fight with him a reality, so forget that.

Alvarez has said that he’d fight Golovkin, but I bet he fights Cotto first. And Golovkin beating Alvarez, or Carl Froch or Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. won’t eclipse Kovalev if he goes through Hopkins and Stevenson fighting at his natural weight.

Right now, Golovkin is winning the perception contest and is ahead of Kovalev in the eyes of most fans. But we don’t know if he really is the better and more dominant fighter and puncher. Neither has yet faced a special opponent. However, Hopkins is out there for Kovalev and he’s much more than special. And if Sergey beat Stevenson, who is a legitimate ox and puncher at 175, that would be even sweeter icing on the cake for Kovalev. In addition to Hopkins and Stevenson, Kovalev has the potential options of fighting Ward and Froch (both those guys definitely will be moving up). That gives him more meaningful –meaningful in a purely fistic sense–opportunities than are available for Golovkin. Kovalev has four “must see” fights in front of him for purists. I’m not sure that Golovkin has more than one or, at most, two.

Boxing fans should be thankful that we have a few years in front of us to watch two “catch n kill” attackers like Golovkin and Kovalev fight other contenders and challengers, as they keep their eye on each other in trying to one up the other for fan acceptance and stature.

Frank Lotierzo can be contacted at GlovedFist@Gmail.com

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Skylar Lacy Blocked for Lamar Jackson before Making his Mark in Boxing

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Skylar Lacy, a six-foot-seven heavyweight, returns to the ring on Sunday, Feb. 2, opposing Brandon Moore on a card in Flint, Michigan, airing worldwide on DAZN.

As this is being written, the bookmakers hadn’t yet posted a line on the bout, but one couldn’t be accused of false coloring by calling the 10-round contest a 50/50 fight. And if his frustrating history is any guide, Lacy will have another draw appended to his record or come out on the wrong side of a split decision.

This should not be construed as a tip to wager on Moore. “Close fights just don’t seem to go my way,” says the boxer who played alongside future multi-year NFL MVP Lamar Jackson at the University of Louisville.

A 2021 National Golden Gloves champion, Skylar Lacy came up short in his final amateur bout, losing a split decision to future U.S. Olympian Joshua Edwards. His last Team Combat League assignment resulted in another loss by split decision and he was held to a draw in both instances when stepping up in class as a pro. “In my mind, I’m still undefeated,” says Lacy (8-0-2, 6 KOs). “No one has ever kicked my ass.”

Lacy was the B-side in both of those draws, the first coming in a 6-rounder against Top Rank fighter Antonio Mireles on a Top Rank show in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and the second in an 8-rounder against George Arias, a Lou DiBella fighter on a DiBella-promoted card in Philadelphia.

Lacy had the Mireles fight in hand when he faded in the homestretch. The altitude was a factor. Lake Tahoe, Nevada (officially Stateline) sits 6,225 feet above sea level. The fight with Arias took an opposite tack. Lacy came on strong after a slow start to stave off defeat.

Skylar will be the B-side once again in Michigan. The card’s promoter, former world title challenger Dmitriy Salita, inked Brandon Moore (16-1, 10 KOs) in January. “A capable American heavyweight with charisma, athleticism and skills is rare in today’s day and age. Brandon has got all these ingredients…”, said Salita in the press release announcing the signing. (Salita has an option on Skylar Lacy’s next pro fight in the event that Skylar should win, but the promoter has a larger investment in Moore who was previously signed to Top Rank, a multi-fight deal that evaporated after only one fight.)

Both Lacy and Moore excelled in other sports. The six-foot-six Moore was an outstanding basketball player in high school in Fort Lauderdale and at the NAIA level in college. Lacy was an all-state football lineman in Indiana before going on to the University of Louisville where he started as an offensive guard as a redshirt sophomore, blocking for freshman phenom Lamar Jackson. “Lamar was hard-working and humble,” says Lacy about the player who is now one of the world’s highest-paid professional athletes.

When Lacy committed to Louisville, the head coach was Charlie Strong who went on to become the head coach at the University of Texas. Lacy was never comfortable with Strong’s successor Bobby Petrino and transferred to San Jose State. Having earned his degree in only three years (a BA in communications) he was eligible immediately but never played a down because of injuries.

Returning to Indianapolis where he was raised by his truck dispatcher father, a single parent, Lacy gravitated to Pat McPherson’s IBG (Indy Boxing and Grappling) Gym on the city’s east side where he was the rare college graduate pounding the bags alongside at-risk kids from the city’s poorer neighborhoods.

Lacy built a 12-6 record across his two seasons in Team Combat League while representing the Las Vegas Hustle (2023) and the Boston Butchers (2024).

For the uninitiated, a Team Combat League (TCL) event typically consists of 24 fights, each consisting of one three-minute round. The concept finds no favor with traditionalists, but Lacy is a fan. It’s an incentive for professional boxers to keep in shape between bouts without disturbing their professional record and, notes Lacy, it’s useful in exposing a competitor to different styles.

“It paid the bills and kept me from just sitting around the house,” says Lacy whose 12-6 record was forged against 13 different opponents.

As a sparring partner, Lacy has shared the ring with some of the top heavyweights of his generation, e.g., Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte. He was one of Fury’s regular sparring partners during the Gypsy King’s trilogy with Deontay Wilder. He worked with Joshua at Derrick James’ gym in Dallas and at Ben Davison’s gym in England, helping Joshua prepare for his date in Saudi Arabia with Francis Ngannou and had previously sparred with Ngannou at the UFC Performance Center in Las Vegas. Skylar names traveling to new places as one of his hobbies and he got to scratch that itch when he joined Whyte’s camp in Portugal.

As to the hardest puncher he ever faced, he has no hesitation: “Ngannou,” he says. “I negotiated a nice price to spend a week in his camp and the first time he hit me I knew I should have asked for more.”

Lacy is confident that having shared the ring with some of the sport’s elite heavyweights will get him over the hump in what will be his first 10-rounder (Brandon Moore has never had to fight beyond eight rounds, having won his three 10-rounders inside the distance). Lacy vs. Moore is the co-feature to Claressa Shields’ homecoming fight with Danielle Perkins. Shields, basking in the favorable reviews accorded the big-screen biopic based on her first Olympic journey (“The Fire Inside”) will attempt to capture a title in yet another weight class at the expense of the 42-year-old Perkins, a former professional basketball player.

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Mizuki Hiruta Dominates in her U.S. Debut and Omar Trinidad Wins Too at Commerce

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Japan’s Mizuki Hiruta smashed through Mexico’s Maribel Ramirez with ease in winning by technical decision and local hero Omar Trinidad continued his assault on the featherweight division on Friday.

Hiruta (7-0, 2 KOs), who prefers to be called “Mimi,” made her American debut with an impressive performance against Mexican veteran Maribel Ramirez (15-11-4) and retained the WBO super flyweight world title by unanimous decision at Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif.

The pink-haired Japanese southpaw champion quickly proved to be quicker, stronger and even better than advertised. In the opening round Ramirez landed on the floor twice after throwing errant blows. On one instance, it could have been ruled a knockdown but it was not a convincing blow.

In the second round, Ramirez again attacked and again was met with a Hiruta check right hook and down went the Mexican. This time referee Ray Corona gave the eight-count and the fight resumed.

It was Hiruta’s third title defense but this time it was on American soil. She seemed nervous by the prospect of getting a favorable review from the more than 700 fans inside the casino tent.

For more than a year Hiruta has been training off and on with Manny Robles in the L.A. area. Now that she has a visa, she has spent considerable time this year learning the tricks of the trade. They proved explosively effective.

Though Mexico City’s Ramirez has considerable experience against world champions, she discovered that Hiruta was not easy to hit. Often, the Japanese champion would slip and counter with precision.

It was an impressive American debut, though the fight was stopped in the eighth round after a collision of heads. The scores were tallied and all three saw Hiruta the winner by scores of 80-71 twice and 79-72.

“I’m so happy. I could have done much more,” said Hiruta through interpreter Yuriko Miyata. “I wanted to do more things that Manny Robles taught me.”

Trinidad Wins Too

Omar Trinidad (18-0-1, 13 KOs) discovered that challenger Mike Plania (31-5, 18 KOs) has a very good chin and staying power. But over 10 rounds Trinidad proved to be too fast and too busy for the Filipino challenger.

Immediately it was evident that the East L.A. featherweight was too quick and too busy for Plania who preferred a counter-puncher attack that never worked.

“He was strong,” said Trinidad. “He took everything.”

After 10 redundant rounds all three judges scored for Trinidad 100-90 twice and 99-91. He retains the WBC Continental Americas title.

Other Bouts

Ali Akhmedov (23-1, 17 KOs) blasted out Malcolm Jones (17-5-1) in less than two rounds. A dozen punches by Akhmedov forced referee Thomas Taylor to stop the super middleweight fight.

Iyana “Roxy” Verduzco (3-0) bloodied Lindsey Ellis in the first round and continued the speedy assault in the next two rounds. Referee Ray Corona saw enough and stopped the fight in favor of Verduzco at 1:34 of the third round.

Gloria Munguilla (7-1) and Brook Sibrian (5-2) lit up the boxing ring with a nonstop clash for eight rounds in their light flyweight fight. Munguilla proved effective with a slip-and-counter attack. Sibrian adjusted and made the fight closer in the last four rounds but all three judges favored Munguilla.

More Winners

Joshua Anton, Tayden Beltran, Adan Palma, and Alexander Gueche all won their bouts.

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 309: 360 Promotions Opens with Trinidad, Mizuki and More

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 309: 360 Promotions Opens with Trinidad, Mizuki and More

Best wishes to the survivors of the Los Angeles wildfires that took place last week and are still ongoing in small locales.

Most of the heavy damage took place in the western part of L.A. near the ocean due to Santa Ana winds. Another very hot spot was in Altadena just north of the Rose Bowl. It was a horrific tragedy.

Hopefully the worst is over.

Pro boxing returns with 360 Boxing Promotions spotlighting East L.A.’s Omar Trinidad (17-0-1, 13 KOs) defending a regional featherweight title against Mike Plania (31-4, 18 KOs) on Friday, Jan. 17, at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif.

“I’m the king of L.A. boxing and I’ll be ready to put on a show headlining again in the main event. This is my year, I’m ready to challenge and defeat any of the featherweight world champions,” said Trinidad.

UFC Fight Pass will stream the Hollywood Night fight card that includes a female world championship fight and other intriguing match-ups.

Tom Loeffler heads 360 Promotions and once again comes full force with a hot prospect in Trinidad. If you’re not familiar with Loeffler’s history of success, he introduced America to Oleksandr Usyk, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and the brothers Wladimir and Vitaly Kltischko.

“We’ve got a wealth of international talent and local favorites to kick off our 2025 in grand style,” said Loeffler.

He knows talent.

Trinidad hails from the Boyle Heights area of East L.A. near the Los Angeles riverbed. Several fighters from the past came from that exact area including the first Golden Boy, Art Aragon.

Aragon was a huge gate attraction during the late 1940s until 1960. He was known as a lady’s man and dated several Hollywood starlets in his time. Though he never won a world title he did fight world champions Carmen Basilio, Jimmy Carter and Lauro Salas. He was more or less the king of the Olympic Auditorium and Los Angeles boxing during his career.

Other famous boxers from the Boyle Heights area were notorious gangster Mickey Cohen and former world champion Joey Olivo.

Can Trinidad reach world title status?

Facing Trinidad will be Filipino fighter Plania who’s knocked off a couple of prospects during his career including Joshua “Don’t Blink” Greer and Giovanni Gutierrez. The fighter from General Santos in the Philippines can crack and hold his own in the boxing ring.

It’s a very strong fight card and includes WBO world titlist Mizuki Hiruta of Japan who defends the super flyweight title against Mexican veteran Maribel Ramirez. It’s a tough matchup for Hiruta who makes her American debut. You can’t miss her with that pink hair and she has all the physical tools to make a splash in this country.

Mizukii Hiruta

Mizukii Hiruta

Two other female bouts are also planned, including light flyweight banger L.A.’s Gloria Munguilla (6-1) against Coachella’s Brook Sibrian (5-1) in a match set for six rounds. Both are talented fighters. Another female fight includes super featherweights Iyana “Right Hook Roxy” Verduzco (2-0) versus Lindsey Ellis (2-1) in another six-rounder. Ellis can crack with all her wins coming via knockout. Verduzco is a multi-national titlist as an amateur.

Others scheduled to perform are Ali Akhmedov, Joshua Anton, Adan Palma and more.

Doors open at 4:30 p.m.

Boxing and the Media

The sport of professional boxing is currently in flux. It’s always in flux but no matter what people may say or write, boxing will survive.

Whether you like Jake Paul or not, he proved boxing has worldwide appeal with monstrous success in his last show. He has media companies looking at the numbers and imagining what they can do with the sport.

Sure, UFC is negotiating a massive billion dollar deal with media companies, as is WWE, both are very similar in that they provide combat entertainment. You don’t need to know the champions because they really don’t matter. Its about the attractions.

Boxing is different. The good champions last and build a following that endures even beyond their careers a la Mike Tyson.

MMA can’t provide that longevity, but it does provide entertainment.

Currently, there is talk of establishing a boxing league again. It’s been done over and over but we shall see if it sticks this time.

Pro boxing is the true warrior’s path and that means a solo adventure. It’s a one-on-one sport and that appeals to people everywhere. It’s the oldest sport that can be traced to prehistoric times. You don’t need classes in Brazilian Jiujitsu, judo, kick boxing or wrestling. Just show up in a boxing gym and they can put you to work.

It’s a poor person’s path that can lead to better things and most importantly discipline.

Photos credit: Lina Baker

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