Oscar and Canelo Announce Themselves As Present and Future Leaders in the Fight Game

Published

11 years ago

September 30, 2014

We fightwriters sometimes err in focusing too much on the business side of things, I think. While we are focusing on the power plays, and rifts and cold wars and thaws and suits and behind the scenes machinations, the majestic acts of the supremely talented and yes, courageous, athletes sometimes get under-reported.

But other times, as, I think, now, we get it right when we’re training our eyes, ears and keyboards on the business side of the red-light district of the sports world. Here in our favorite section of real-estate, we find such a delightful and sometimes infuriating and repugnant batch of characters as we would in any red light district. This melange of the motley and magnificent lends itself to be studied, dissected, discussed more so than is so in any other sporting realm.

That focus on the behind the scenes business, and the characters involved was on my mind during the intimate media luncheon held on the 14th floor of the HBO offices on 42nd St. in NYC, on Tuesday. Specifically, my thoughts were running to not as much the fighter who was there holding court, answering queries from the informed and aggressive media corps present, Canelo Alvarez, but the promoter who’d walked arm in arm with him from Showtime, where he’d been doing his thing for his last five fights, Oscar De La Hoya.

De La Hoya, I told you a few times since he’d exited rehab, and got back in the game which had long been his life, maybe too much so, maybe in a way that distracted him from other matters, of family, of emotional wellness, is not to be underestimated. Don’t assume, I wrote a few times, that because he’s admitted to various indiscretions, that some of the same attributes that served him well as a Hall of Fame fighter, a champion in six weight classes, a fighter who gravitated toward the sternest challenges, and not toward the most exploitable loopholes, that De La Hoya won’t be able to right his personal ship.

It looked to me like he was a proud captain of that vessel, as he sat next to Alvarez (44-1-1, with 31 KOs), the 24-year-old Mexican who is positioning himself as the present and future leader of the sport, after signing a new deal with HBO, terms not disclosed.

Right away, I put it to Oscar, before we got to Alvarez, who will glove up on HBO regular Dec. 6, likely against Joshua Clottey. What does this deal signify? Is it intended as an alert, a strong signal to Bob, to Floyd, to Richard, to Al, whoever…I’m a player, I’m THE player, I’m in the top slot as promoter as I was as a fighter?

The 42-in-February- year-old drew guffaws when he admitted that he decided to never fight again, just that very morning, after he ripped off a shirt, flexed in the mirror, and the mirror told him no mas. He said that the promotional sphere was to be his next chapter, and answered with savvy that people frankly haven’t been giving him credit for having.

“Just like the focus was always at hand when my job was fighting, if I was fighting Fernando Vargas, I wasn’t focusing on my next fight, who I lost or beat prior to that fight, I was focusing on the job at hand. With Canelo, I kept my eye on the ball, on the prize, the job at hand. What the fighter was asking me, what the best move would be for the future of Canelo Alvarez. I wasn’t listening to third parties, I wasn’t paying attention to anything that was going on outside of Canelo. Which made it easier for me to take care of business. I didn’t do it for no other reason but to look out for his best interest.”

Smart take. Do I fully believe the guy? No. He’s a competitor. Beyond that smile, toothy, A-grade on its best day, he can and has and did act in a manner which, I think, can hang with a Bob Arum, or a Don King. He told us that, and surprised many folks, when he sifted offers, and spurned the one from Stephen Espinoza, and took the one from KenHershman. How that plays out, we shall see, in the next few months, and into next year, when more players, the Roc Nations, and the Haymon Boxing’s seek to deepen their imprint on the fight game.

Oscar, smartly planting seeds and watering them, came back to that POV, that he’s there to serve the fighters, get the best deals for them, and nothing else. “Fighters don’t work for me, I work for the fighter,” he said.

Being a good fightwriter, hell, being a good writer in lots of areas, it helps if you can read between the lines. Is it possible that a message is being sent right there, a presentation of compare and contrast, was being thrown out there? Absolutely…pray tell, can you think of anyone who, conversely, people postulate might be working to their own benefit, and not fashioning deals which serve the best long term interests of people who they advise? I bet you can; but savvy Oscar was not going to burst a relationship bubble by going there. Yes, he can indeed get er done in the smoke filled back-rooms, as well as center ring, or so it seems.

Alvarez too got peppered. He will likely be fighting Joshua Clottey, a not untalented but infrequently active boxer, on Dec. 6. The Mexican too was in message mode; Oscar spoke up for him and declared him the current leader and the future driver of the sport, and Canelo concurred. No, he didn’t mean to pick a fight with Floyd Mayweather when he said he would be the man to own those all-important dates for Mexican boxers, Cinco de Mayo and Mexican Independence Day. No offense to Floyd, he implied, but bottom line…those dates are mine. We can play chicken if you want, he seemed to say, but I ain’t budging.

A fight with Miguel Cotto in maybe May seems like a nice option, and oh yes, in the not too distant future, a crack at middleweight star Gennady Golovkin is on his to do list, maybe in a year, or two.

Maybe my main takeaway on Alvarez was: he doesn’t see himself as a second fiddle guy. This guy plays lead guitar, he’s got the groupies who buy the PPVs, and he ain’t no warmup act.

Indeed, he did want to separate himself from the pack, give himself room to breathe and grow away from Mayweather, he said. “My goal in boxing is to be number one,” Alvarez said.

Oscar, once again seeming to say it without saying it, as a smart politician does, as it leaves him wiggle room should events warrant, basically said that Canelo is Golden Boy’s number one focus, and no, I don’t think we see Golden Boy doing promoter work for a Mayweather fight in the near future.

And on the subject of Mayweather, Canelo gave his longest answer to any query when I asked him if he didn’t think he needed to beat the man, to be the man. Does he want to get another crack at Floyd, and beat him, so he can physically usurp him from his throne? “No,” he said, as GBP VP Eric Gomez translated. “That’s not important.” Floyd avoids risk to such a degree, and fights hard maybe ten percent of a round, that his fights are too boring, Canelo said. No need to engage in such a dreary waltz, he said.

Oscar again sent a signal, lol, which he says he didn’t send, when speaking about his ex pal Richard Schaefer. They had been in mediation talks, and it was progressing, the ex fighter said. “But we hit a wall,” he said. “We were making progress and then hit a wall.” Lawsuit against Schaefer is still in play. Message: I finish my fights…

Later, I gave Oscar another in to make a loud stamping sound. Does it look to him like Haymon Boxing is readying to become another sort of entity, one that will be in direct competition with Golden Boy, and the Roc Nations, and such. Oh, Oscar did a bit of Alpha Promoter Male posturing when he said he didn’t see Roc Nation as an entity to threaten a Golden Boy, as music is their thing, and boxing hasn’t been. No, the Cali-based dealmaker said, he isn’t thinking about what shape the Haymon squad may take in 2015, he’s just focused on making the most compelling bouts now. Again, it was the smart politician answer. Fully truthful? Impossible to say, but the one Hillary Clinton would have given…

After the peppering session, Oscar seemed jazzed. “I liked that,” he said, grinning widely, pointing at me, indicating that he liked parrying some solid launches. Message: he’s all in, this is not a job for him, he’s in his element. He said he’s readying a re-launch of his personal brand, and will be firming up many charitable endeavors moving forward.

My last read of the whole deal, Canelo to HBO, and him and Oscar at HBO: if he continues to work towards having the fights fans want get made, then I’m in step with Oscar. That’s what I want, I’m a fan first, who happens to write about this addictive sphere we all adore and loathe.

Your thoughts, my informed and passionate friends. Talk to me…

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Michael Woods

Gabriela Fundora KOs Marilyn Badillo and Perez Upsets Conwell in Oceanside

Published

7 hours ago

April 20, 2025

David A. Avila

Gabriela-Fundora-KOs-Marilyn-Badillo-and-Perez-Upsets-Conwell-in-Oceanside

It was just a numbers game for Gabriela Fundora and despite Mexico’s Marilyn Badillo’selusive tactics it took the champion one punch to end the fight and retain her undisputed flyweight world title by knockout on Saturday.

Will it be her last flyweight defense?

Though Fundora (16-0, 8 KOs) fired dozens of misses, a single punch found Badillo (19-1-1, 3 KOs) and ended her undefeated career and first attempt at a world title at the Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, California.

Fundora, however, proves unbeatable at flyweight.

The champion entered the arena as the headliner for the Golden Boy Promotion show and stepped through the ropes with every physical advantage possible, including power.

Mexico’s Badillo was a midget compared to Fundora but proved to be as elusive as a butterfly in a menagerie for the first six rounds. As the six-inch taller Fundora connected on one punch for every dozen thrown, that single punch was a deadly reminder.

Badillo tried ducking low and slipping to the left while countering with slashing uppercuts, she found little success. She did find the body a solid target but the blows proved to be useless. And when Badillo clinched, that proved more erroneous as Fundora belted her rapidly during the tie-ups.

“She was kind of doing her ducking thing,” said Fundora describing Badillo’s defensive tactics. “I just put the pressure on. It was just like a train. We didn’t give her that break.”

The Mexican fighter tried valiantly with various maneuvers. None proved even slightly successful. Fundora remained poised and under control as she stalked the challenger.

In the seventh round Badillo seemed to take a stand and try to slug it out with Fundora. She quickly was lit up by rapid left crosses and down she went at 1:44 of the seventh round. The Mexican fighter’s corner wisely waved off the fight and referee Rudy Barragan stopped the fight and held the dazed Badillo upright.

Once again Fundora remained champion by knockout. The only question now is will she move up to super flyweight or bantamweight to challenge the bigger girls.

Perez Beats Conwell.

Mexico’s Jorge “Chino” Perez (33-4, 26 KOs) upset Charles Conwell (21-1, 15 KOs) to win by split decision after 12 rounds in their super welterweight showdown.

It was a match that paired two hard-hitting fighters whose ledgers brimmed with knockouts, but neither was able to score a knockdown against each other.

Neither fighter moved backward. It was full steam ahead with Conwell proving successful to the body and head with left hooks and Perez connecting with rights to the head and body. It was difficult to differentiate the winner.

Though Conwell seemed to be the superior defensive fighter and more accurate, two judges preferred Perez’s busier style. They gave the fight to Perez by 115-113 scores with the dissenter favoring Conwell by the same margin.

It was Conwell’s first pro loss. Maybe it will open doors for more opportunities.

Other Bouts

Tristan Kalkreuth (15-1) managed to pass a serious heat check by unanimous decision against former contender Felix Valera (24-8) after a 10-round back-and-forth heavyweight fight.

It was very close.

Kalkreuth is one of those fighters that possess all the physical tools including youth and size but never seems to be able to show it. Once again he edged past another foe but at least this time he faced an experienced fighter in Valera.

Valera had his moments especially in the middle of the 10-round fight but slowed down during the last three rounds.

One major asset for Kalkreuth was his chin. He got caught but still motored past the clever Valera. After 10 rounds two judges saw it 99-91 and one other judge 97-93 all for Kalkreuth.

Highly-rated prospect Ruslan Abdullaev (2-0) blasted past dangerous Jino Rodrigo (13- 5-2) in an eight round super lightweight fight. He nearly stopped the very tough Rodrigo in the last two rounds and won by unanimous decision.

Abdullaev is trained by Joel and Antonio Diaz in Indio.

Bakersfield prospect Joel Iriarte (7-0, 7 KOs) needed only 1:44 to knock out Puerto Rico’s Marcos Jimenez (25-12) in a welterweight bout.

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‘Krusher’ Kovalev Exits on a Winning Note: TKOs Artur Mann in his ‘Farewell Fight’

Published

1 day ago

April 19, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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At his peak, former three-time world light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev ranked high on everyone’s pound-for-pound list. Now 42 years old – he turned 42 earlier this month – Kovalev has been largely inactive in recent years, but last night he returned to the ring in his hometown of Chelyabinsk, Russia, and rose to the occasion in what was billed as his farewell fight, stopping Artur Mann in the seventh frame.

Kovalev hit his peak during his first run as a world title-holder. He was 30-0-1 (26 KOs) entering first match with Andre Ward, a mark that included a 9-0 mark in world title fights. The only blemish on his record was a draw that could have been ruled a no-contest (journeyman Grover Young was unfit to continue after Kovalev knocked down in the second round what with was deemed an illegal rabbit punch). Among those nine wins were two stoppages of dangerous Haitian-Canadian campaigner Jean Pascal and a 12-round shutout over Bernard Hopkins.

Kovalev’s stature was not diminished by his loss to the undefeated Ward. All three judges had it 114-113, but the general feeling among the ringside press was that Sergey nicked it.

The rematch was also somewhat controversial. Referee Tony Weeks, who halted the match in the eighth stanza with Kovalev sitting on the lower strand of ropes, was accused of letting Ward get away with a series of low blows, including the first punch of a three-punch series of body shots that culminated in the stoppage. Sergey was wobbled by a punch to the head earlier in the round and was showing signs of fatigue, but he was still in the fight. Respected judge Steve Weisfeld had him up by three points through the completed rounds.

Sergey Kovalev was never the same after his second loss to Andre Ward, albeit he recaptured a piece of the 175-pound title twice, demolishing Vyacheslav Shabranskyy for the vacant WBO belt after Ward announced his retirement and then avenging a loss to Eleider Alvarez (TKO by 7) with a comprehensive win on points in their rematch.

Kovalev’s days as a title-holder ended on Nov. 2, 2019 when Canelo Alvarez, moving up two weight classes to pursue a title in a fourth weight division, stopped him in the 11^th round, terminating what had been a relatively even fight with a hellacious left-right combination that left Krusher so discombobulated that a count was superfluous.

That fight went head-to-head with a UFC fight in New York City. DAZN, to their everlasting discredit, opted to delay the start of Canelo-Kovalev until the main event of the UFC fight was finished. The delay lasted more than an hour and Kovalev would say that he lost his psychological edge during the wait.

Kovalev had two fights in the cruiserweight class between his setback to Canelo and last night’s presumptive swan song. He outpointed Tervel Pulev in Los Angeles and lost a 10-round decision to unheralded Robin Sirwan Safar in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Artur Mann, a former world title challenger – he was stopped in three rounds by Mairis Briedis in 2021 when Briedis was recognized as the top cruiserweight in the world – was unexceptional, but the 34-year-old German, born in Kazakhstan, wasn’t chopped liver either, and Kovalev’s stoppage of him will redound well to the Russian when he becomes eligible for the Boxing Hall of Fame.

Krusher almost ended the fight in the second round. He knocked Mann down hard with a short left hand and seemingly scored another knockdown before the round was over (but it was ruled a slip). Mann barely survived the round.

In the next round, a punch left Mann with a bad cut on his right eyelid, but the German came to fight and rounds three, four and five were competitive.

Kovalev had a good sixth round although there were indications that he was tiring. But in the seventh he got a second wind and unleashed a right-left combination that rolled back the clock to the days when he was one of the sport’s most feared punchers. Mann went down hard and as he staggered to his feet, his corner signaled that the fight should be stopped and the referee complied. The official time was 0:49 of round seven. It was the 30^th KO for Kovalev who advanced his record to 36-5-1.

Addendum: History informs us that Farewell Fights have a habit of becoming redundant, by which we mean that boxers often get the itch to fight again after calling it quits. Have we seen the last of Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev? We woudn’t bet on it.

The complete Kovalev-Mann fight card was live-streamed on the Boxing News youtube channel.

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 322: Super Welterweight Week in SoCal

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2025

David A. Avila

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Two below-the-radar super welterweight stars show off their skills this weekend from different parts of Southern California.

One in particular, Charles Conwell, co-headlines a show in Oceanside against a hard-hitting Mexican while another super welter star Sadriddin Akhmedov faces another Mexican hitter in Commerce.

Take your pick.

The super welterweight division is loaded with talent at the moment. If Terence Crawford remained in the division he would be at the top of the class, but he is moving up several weight divisions.

Conwell (21-0, 16 KOs) faces Jorge Garcia Perez (32-4, 26 KOs) a tall knockout puncher from Los Mochis at the Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, Calif. on Saturday April 19. DAZN will stream the Golden Boy Promotions card that also features undisputed flyweight champion Gabriela Fundora. We’ll get to her later.

Conwell might be the best super welterweight out there aside from the big dogs like Vergil Ortiz, Serhii Bohachuk and Sebastian Fundora.

If you are not familiar with Conwell he comes from Cleveland, Ohio and is one of those fighters that other fighters know about. He is good.

He has the James “Lights Out” Toney kind of in-your-face-style where he anchors down and slowly deciphers the opponent’s tools and then takes them away piece by piece. Usually it’s systematic destruction. The kind you see when a skyscraper goes down floor by floor until it’s smoking rubble.

During the Covid days Conwell fought two highly touted undefeated super welters in Wendy Toussaint and Madiyar Ashkeyev. He stopped them both and suddenly was the boogie man of the super welterweight division.

Conwell will be facing Mexico’s taller Garcia who likes to trade blows as most Mexican fighters prefer, especially those from Sinaloa. These guys will be firing H bombs early.

Fundora

Co-headlining the Golden Boy card is Gabriela Fundora (15-0, 7 KOs) the undisputed flyweight champion of the world. She has all the belts and Mexico’s Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1, 3 KOs) wants them.

Gabriela Fundora is the sister of Sebastian Fundora who holds the men’s WBC and WBO super welterweight world titles. Both are tall southpaws with power in each hand to protect the belts they accumulated.

Six months ago, Fundora met Argentina’s Gabriela Alaniz in Las Vegas to determine the undisputed flyweight champion. The much shorter Alaniz tried valiantly to scrap with Fundora and ran into a couple of rocket left hands.

Mexico’s Badillo is an undefeated flyweight from Mexico City who has battled against fellow Mexicans for years. She has fought one world champion in Asley Gonzalez the current super flyweight world titlist. They met years ago with Badillo coming out on top.

Does Badillo have the skill to deal with the taller and hard-hitting Fundora?

When a fighter has a six-inch height advantage like Fundora, it is almost impossible to out-maneuver especially in two-minute rounds. Ask Alaniz who was nearly decapitated when she tried.

This will be Badillo’s first pro fight outside of Mexico.

Commerce Casino

Kazakhstan’s Sadriddin Akhmedov (15-0, 13 KOs) is another dangerous punching super welterweight headlining a 360 Promotions card against Mexico’s Elias Espadas (23-6, 16 KOs) on Saturday at the Commerce Casino.

UFC Fight Pass will stream the 360 Promotions card of about eight bouts.

Akhmedov is another Kazakh puncher similar to the great Gennady “GGG” Golovkin who terrorized the middleweight division for a decade. He doesn’t have the same polish or dexterity but doesn’t lack pure punching power.

It’s another test for the super welterweight who is looking to move up the ladder in the very crowded 154-pound weight division. 360 Promotions already has a top contender in Ukraine’s Serhii Bohachuk who nearly defeated Vergil Ortiz a year ago.

Could Bohachuk and Akhmedov fight each other if nothing else materializes?

That’s a question for another day.

Fights to Watch

Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Charles Conwell (21-0, 16 KOs) vs. Jorge Garcia Perez (32-4, 26 KOs); Gabriela Fundora (15-0) vs Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1).

Sat. UFC Fight Pass 6 p.m. Sadriddin Akhmedov (15-0) vs Elias Espadas (23-6).

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