Saturday’s Fight Will Answer a Lot of Questions about Errol Spence

Published

8 years ago

May 22, 2017

THREE PUNCH COMBO — This coming weekend, star prospect turned contender Errol Spence Jr. (he’s the one on the left) takes a massive step up in competition when he faces IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook. Spence has the looks of a potential superstar, but questions remain. We will find out a lot more this weekend as to whether the hype surrounding Spence is real.

There is no doubt Spence is immensely gifted with natural talent that is just not seen that often in boxing. He possesses very fast hands and his combinations flow very smoothly, often times overwhelming his opponents who can’t match his speed. Spence is well schooled with a strong amateur background and has honed his skills in his 21 fights as a pro. He will work behind a sharp right jab from the southpaw stance and has devastating power in both hands. It is easy to see why so many in the sport are so high on him.

But there are questions. In Spence’s ninth pro fight, he took his first step up in competition in facing Emmanuel Lartey in a scheduled eight round fight. At the end of round seven, Lartey hurt Spence with a right hook. Fortunately for Spence, the punch came right at the end of the round as he was legitimately wobbled. Spence more or less went into a prevent defense in the eighth and final round as he appeared to be still feeling the effects of that punch. After that fight, some in the sport wondered about his chin. Since facing Lartey, Spence has not faced anyone who was considered to be any sort of puncher.

Another big question facing Spence is how will he respond when things don’t go his way? With the exception of the moment against Lartey, Spence has not faced any adversity in the ring as a pro. Spence has basically been able to control the ring against his opponents and do pretty much as he wanted.

Kell Brook is a big welterweight. He is a heavy handed puncher with good skills. His hands aren’t as quick as Spence’s, but he has decent hand speed. This is going to be a fight for Spence that will answer a lot of questions. This fight could be for Spence what the Diego Corrales fight was for Floyd Mayweather Jr….or this could be the night that Errol Spence gets exposed.

The Near Term Outlook For Terence Crawford and Gary Russell Jr.

Terence Crawford and Gary Russell Jr. each scored dominant stoppage victories on Saturday. Crawford outclassed the skilled Felix Diaz in impressive fashion and Russell easily dispatched the tough Oscar Escandon. Both Crawford and Russell are seeking bigger fish and both may get much bigger fights the next time they are in the ring.

Crawford would love a fight with Manny Pacquiao and the payday that comes with such an event. However, Pacquiao’s management team at this time appears to view such a fight as too risky for their charge. So such a fight is unlikely, at least in the near future.

At ringside for Crawford’s performance on Saturday was IBF and WBA super lightweight champion Julius Indongo. Though a bout with Indongo is possible for Crawford, there are issues with making this contest. First, Indongo is not a big name. Crawford has fought good fighters but no big names and badly needs a name on his resume to help build his marketability. Second, Indongo may have to deal with a mandatory of his own in Sergey Lipinets. Indongo could always vacate the belt or attempt to work a deal with Lipinets but it is a complication. Finally, Crawford put on quite a bit of weight post weigh-in and a move up to welterweight may be happening sooner rather than later which would cross Indongo off the opponent list.

If Crawford goes to welterweight, there are plenty of name options available. One such option would be Timothy Bradley. Bradley crosses off all the marks as to what Crawford and his team would be seeking in an opponent. Bradley is a big name in the sport and the fight would certainly garner a lot of attention. It is a fight that can help build Crawford’s marketability and a win would firmly put him in superstar status. With such a status, he brings more to the table when seeking the bigger fights such as one with Manny Pacquiao. I think Bradley will be the top option for Team Crawford and I suspect we see such a match materialize sometime later this summer or in the fall.

Even more so than Crawford, Gary Russell Jr. needs a big name next time out. With the exception of Vasyl Lomachenko, the talented Russell has fought mostly lower level opposition. As a matter of fact, Escandon was easily the second best opponent Russell has faced in his career.

Russell is aligned with Al Haymon who has many of the top featherweights in his stable, so making a big fight for Russell should be easy to accomplish. One Haymon featherweight who also needs a big fight is IBF champion Lee Selby. Selby, who has fought most of his career in the United Kingdom, has made it clear he wants a fight in the United States and a unification fight with Russell certainly fits that criterion. This bout would garner plenty of attention in both the US and the UK and the winner would be positioned for big money fights down the road in a stacked featherweight division. It is a fight that seems very likely to get done for later this summer or early in the fall.

Expect to see Terence Crawford and Gary Russell Jr. competing on a much bigger stage the next time they enter the ring.

The Use of Instant Replay in Boxing

I have brought this topic up before but an incident that occurred this past weekend bears once again on the issue of using instant replay in boxing . Most other major sports utilize replay and it is time for boxing to do the same.

The system I propose is similar to the challenge system utilized in both the MLB and NFL. When the technology is available, the corners of each fighter will be allowed one challenge. They can challenge the ruling of whether a cut was caused by a punch or head butt or whether a knockdown was legitimate. The challenge must be made by the designated corner man to a commission official within a reasonable time. The commission can flat out ask the corner man if he wishes to challenge and a decision must be rendered by the corner man at that moment.

As with other sports, the video evidence must be indisputable to overturn the ruling of the referee. If the corner wins the challenge, they are allowed one more challenge during the course of the bout. If the corner loses the challenge, they would be out of challenges for the remainder of the contest.

In the case of a knockdown being challenged, the referee would instruct the judges to turn in two different scorecards if the decision were still being reviewed prior to the start of the next round. The first would be the card scoring the initial ruling of the referee and the second would be the card if the ruling were overturned.

Such a system keeps the flow of the bout going without interruption. It also limits the use of replay to just those crucial moments so it is not overdone. And it put the onus on the corner and not the referee or commission as to when the technology will be used.

In Saturday’s bout between Raymundo Beltran and Jonathan Maicelo, Beltran was ruled to have been knocked down by Maicelo in the first round. However, clearly it was not a punch that caused Beltran to go down, but instead an accidental head butt. In this instance, Beltran’s corner would have made motion for a challenge and a ruling would have been quickly made, probably before the round even ended. Due to the ruling however of a knockdown, HBO’s official scorer Harold Lederman scored the round 10-8 for Maicelo and I suspect the judges had it the same. If the ruling were overturned, at worst it would have been a 10-9 round for Maicelo and there would have been a good chance that the round instead would have gone to Beltran 10-9, a three point swing and could have had a major impact if the fight had gone to the cards.

Referees are human and do make mistakes. Instant replay technology is used in other sports to make sure that correctable errors do not happen. It is time for boxing to get in line.

Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel.

contender errol spence

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

Matt Andrzejewski

Related Topics:Boxing Errol Spence Jr Gary Russell Jr.Julius Indongo Kell Brook Matt Andrzejewski Terence Crawford The Sweet Science Timothy Bradley TSS

Up Next

Loews Santa Monica Hosts the Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation Fight Card

Don't Miss

Watching Mayweather Pilot Gervonta Davis’s Career Will Be Fascinating

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

Published

11 hours ago

April 18, 2025

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-322-Super-Welter-Week-in-SoCal

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).

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

TSS Salutes Thomas Hauser and his Bernie Award Cohorts

Published

3 days ago

April 16, 2025

TSS Press

TSS-Salutes-Thomas-Hauser-and-his-Bernie-Award-Cohorts

The Boxing Writers Association of America has announced the winners of its annual Bernie Awards competition. The awards, named in honor of former five-time BWAA president and frequent TSS contributor Bernard Fernandez, recognize outstanding writing in six categories as represented by stories published the previous year.

Over the years, this venerable website has produced a host of Bernie Award winners. In 2024, Thomas Hauser kept the tradition alive. A story by Hauser that appeared in these pages finished first in the category “Boxing News Story.” Titled “Ryan Garcia and the New York State Athletic Commission,” the story was published on June 23. You can read it HERE.

Hauser also finished first in the category of “Investigative Reporting” for “The Death of Ardi Ndembo,” a story that ran in the (London) Guardian. (Note: Hauser has owned this category. This is his 11^th first place finish for “Investigative Reporting”.)

Thomas Hauser, who entered the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the class of 2019, was honored at last year’s BWAA awards dinner with the A.J. Leibling Award for Outstanding Boxing Writing. The list of previous winners includes such noted authors as W.C. Heinz, Budd Schulberg, Pete Hamill, and George Plimpton, to name just a few.

The Leibling Award is now issued intermittently. The most recent honorees prior to Hauser were Joyce Carol Oates (2015) and Randy Roberts (2019).

Roberts, a Distinguished Professor of History at Purdue University, was tabbed to write the Hauser/Leibling Award story for the glossy magazine for BWAA members published in conjunction with the organization’s annual banquet. Regarding Hauser’s most well-known book, his Muhammad Ali biography, Roberts wrote, “It is nearly impossible to overestimate the importance of the book to our understanding of Ali and his times.” An earlier book by Hauser, “The Black Lights: Inside the World of Professional Boxing,” garnered this accolade: “Anyone who wants to understand boxing today should begin by reading ‘The Black Lights’.”

A panel of six judges determined the Bernie Award winners for stories published in 2024. The stories they evaluated were stripped of their bylines and other identifying marks including the publication or website for which the story was written.

Other winners:

Boxing Event Coverage: Tris Dixon

Boxing Column: Kieran Mulvaney

Boxing Feature (Over 1,500 Words): Lance Pugmire

Boxing Feature (Under 1,500 Words): Chris Mannix

The Dixon, Mulvaney, and Pugmire stories appeared in Boxing Scene; the Mannix story in Sports Illustrated.

The Bernie Award recipients will be honored at the forthcoming BWAA dinner on April 30 at the Edison Ballroom in the heart of Times Square. (For more information, visit the BWAA website). Two days after the dinner, an historic boxing tripleheader will be held in Times Square, the logistics of which should be quite interesting. Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez share top billing.

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

Mekhrubon Sanginov, whose Heroism Nearly Proved Fatal, Returns on Saturday

Published

3 days ago

April 15, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Mekhrubon-Sanginov-whose-Heroism-Nearly-Proved-Fatal-Returns-on-Saturday

To say that Mekhrubon Sanginov is excited to resume his boxing career would be a great understatement. Sanginov, ranked #9 by the WBA at 154 pounds before his hiatus, last fought on July 8, 2022.

He was in great form before his extended leave, having scored four straight fast knockouts, advancing his record to 13-0-1. Had he remained in Las Vegas, where he had settled after his fifth pro fight, his career may have continued on an upward trajectory, but a trip to his hometown of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, turned everything haywire. A run-in with a knife-wielding bully nearly cost him his life, stalling his career for nearly three full years.

Sanginov was exiting a restaurant in Dushanbe when he saw a man, plainly intoxicated, harassing another man, an innocent bystander. Mekhrubon intervened and was stabbed several times with a long knife. One of the puncture wounds came perilously close to puncturing his heart.

“After he stabbed me, I ran after him and hit him and caught him to hold for the police,” recollects Sanginov. “There was a lot of confusion when the police arrived. At first, the police were not certain what had happened.

“By the time I got to the hospital, I had lost two liters of blood, or so I was told. After I was patched up, one of the surgeons said to me, ‘Give thanks to God because he gave you a second life.’ It is like I was born a second time.”

“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could have happened in any city,” he adds. (A story about the incident on another boxing site elicited this comment from a reader: “Good man right there. World would be a better place if more folk were willing to step up when it counts.”)

Sanginov first laced on a pair of gloves at age 10 and was purportedly 105-14 as an amateur. Growing up, the boxer he most admired was Roberto Duran. “Muhammad Ali will always be the greatest and [Marvin] Hagler was great too, but Duran was always my favorite,” he says.

During his absence from the ring, Sanginov married a girl from Tajikistan and became a father. His son Makhmud was born in Las Vegas and has dual citizenship. “Ideally,” he says, “I would like to have three more children. Two more boys and the last one a daughter.”

He also put on a great deal of weight. When he returned to the gym, his trainer Bones Adams was looking at a cruiserweight. But gradually the weight came off – “I had to give up one of my hobbies; I love to eat,” he says – and he will be resuming his career at 154. “Although I am the same weight as before, I feel stronger now. Before I was more of a boy, now I am a full-grown man,” says Sanginov who turned 29 in February.

He has a lot of rust to shed. Because of all those early knockouts, he has answered the bell for only eight rounds in the last four years. Concordantly, his comeback fight on Saturday could be described as a soft re-awakening. Sanginov’s opponent Mahonri Montes, an 18-year pro from Mexico, has a decent record (36-10-2, 25 KOs) but has been relatively inactive and is only 1-3-1 in his last five. Their match at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California, is slated for eight rounds.

On May 10, Ardreal Holmes (17-0) faces Erickson Lubin (26-2) on a ProBox card in Kissimmee, Florida. It’s an IBF super welterweight title eliminator, meaning that the winner (in theory) will proceed directly to a world title fight.

Sanginov will be watching closely. He and Holmes were scheduled to meet in March of 2022 in the main event of a ShoBox card on Showtime. That match fell out when Sanginov suffered an ankle injury in sparring.

If not for a twist of fate, that may have been Mekhrubon Sanginov in that IBF eliminator, rather than Ardreal Holmes. We will never know, but one thing we do know is that Mekhrubon’s world title aspirations were too strong to be ruined by a knife-wielding bully.

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!