Three Punch Combo: Bold Predictions for 2018 and More

Published

7 years ago

December 18, 2017

THREE PUNCH COMBO — The end of the year is upon us and it is time to look forward to what could happen in 2018. Every year there are at least a few surprises that seemingly come from nowhere in the sport. For example, this year we saw a landmark broadcast deal involving Top Rank and ESPN. So what surprises could be in store for 2018?

The 175-pound division is deep and seemingly getting deeper by the minute. There are a lot of big fights to be made and probably several will occur in 2018. But what about the bout that has eluded the division for years? Could 2018 finally be the year we see Adonis Stevenson step up to face Sergey Kovalev? If a few chips fall into place, the ingredients are finally there for this fight to take place toward the tail end of the year.

The main reason this fight has not taken place yet is Stevenson. One of the last fighters trained by Emanuel Steward (the Kronk Gym maker of champions died in 2012), Stevenson has avoided Kovalev for years, content to feast on inferior opposition while making good money defending his belt in Canada. But a few things are changing. For one, PBC does not have the same outlets that it did in the past where quality control was not always a concern. Stevenson, to make the money he commands, must fight on premium cable with the only realistic option being Showtime. And though Showtime did telecast Stevenson’s last bout against Andrzej Fonfara, a bout widely considered a mismatch, they disney princess bouncy castle are apparently reluctant to give Stevenson that luxury going forward. Hence, we may see a Stevenson defense against Badou Jack on Showtime in the first part of 2018 which would represent far and away the toughest test for Stevenson since he won a 175-pound belt in 2013.

If he beats Jack, Stevenson will then be looking down the barrel at facing some of the young, hard hitting, skilled opponents that have come on the scene. He won’t be able to revert back to the likes of Dmitry Sukhotskiy or Tommy Karpency because Showtime will have no interest.

So if Stevenson, who turned 40 in September, is going to have to face a dangerous opponent, he will probably pick the one that economically makes the most sense. And guess which fighter could now be on his radar? Yes, Sergey Kovalev.

Kovalev has a planned fight in March and can probably get away in that contest with someone like Joe Smith. It is a dangerous fight for Kovalev, but one that he’d still be substantially favored to win. If Kovalev wins, he is looking down the barrel at the same situation as Stevenson. And that is a high risk, low reward opponent.

There is animosity between the camps of Stevenson and Kovalev, but boxing economics will outweigh these concerns. The options are simple. They can face someone like Artur Beterbiev, Oleksandr Gvozdyk or Dmitry Bivol for a six figure payday or face each other for seven figures. It is risk/reward scenario and even Stevenson is bound to come to his senses to finally make the fight we have all wanted to see for years.

Second Bold Prediction

In 2017, we saw big changes in the televised coverage of boxing in the United States. Top Rank struck gold with an output deal with ESPN. Golden Boy Promotions also scored an output deal with ESPN. Online streaming of boxing cards took off and gave fight fans a new platform to watch bouts that were previously inaccessible.

Quietly too, Al Haymon’s PBC venture started to drift in a different direction. Haymon lost some television partners and produced fewer shows on the outlets he still had in place. PBC went back toward putting their bigger fights on Showtime. A big question in the sport is what will PBC look like in 2018?

My second bold prediction for 2018 is that in the first quarter of the year we get a major announcement from PBC. Say what you will about Haymon but he is always thinking big. With only a handful of cards under the PBC banner on the schedule so far in 2018 (all on Showtime), something is coming and that something will be huge. Remember too, Haymon still has a lot of fighters whom he serves as an advisor and needs to get these fighters regular work.

My guess is that Haymon is working on a big output deal. It will involve one network and follow the traditional model in the sport where that network pays a license fee to broadcast boxing cards. It may or may not involve a network from his previous buy time agreements, but whatever it will be, that network will partner with Haymon similar to what ESPN is doing with Top Rank. That means a commitment from the network which Haymon did not always have under the previous buy time arrangements and also mean more quality control for the cards that are broadcast.

In addition, it has long been speculated that at some point Haymon will delve into online streaming and I expect him to launch his own online streaming platform in 2018. This would be an avenue where he could keep fighters busy. It would be more suited to showcase upcoming prospects as well as involve tune-up fights for more seasoned veterans. The UFC is doing something similar and expect Haymon’s online platform to be molded in the same manner.

Haymon is a very smart man and knows he needs to counter what Top Rank and others did in 2017. Expect Haymon to do so in the first part of 2018 with a major announcement that will shake up the boxing world.

Remembering a Forgotten 122-Pound War

December 19^th marks the 20^th anniversary of the classic battle between “Prince” Naseem Hamed and Kevin Kelley. The bout was a war that featured several knockdowns and was instantly proclaimed by Larry Merchant as the “Hagler-Hearns of the featherweight division.”

However, an equally exciting bout took place on the undercard between Junior Jones and Kennedy McKinney. Jones (44-2, 26 KO’s) held a 122-pound title and was coming off two huge wins against future Hall of Famer Marco Antonio Barrera. McKinney (32-2-1, 18 KO’s) was a former Olympic gold medalist but had to this point fallen short of expectations. This was expected to be a solid match of two skilled boxers but turned into something entirely different.

The first round did start out as a boxing match with both Jones and McKinney working behind a left jab. They each also found a home in spots for sharp right hands behind the jab. But toward the end of the round, a shootout began with both slugging it out at the bell.

The slugfest that started at the end of the first continued as the bell sounded to start round two. Both landed some big shots but it was Jones who was busier and landing the cleaner and harder shots. He even momentarily wobbled McKinney with a left that landed with about a minute remaining in the round. All in all, it was a big Jones round but he also unloaded a high volume of punches with maximum effort.

The two continued to trade bombs into the third. About halfway through the round, Jones landed a big right hand that put McKinney on the canvas. McKinney would rise a bit shaken and Jones would jump on him seeking the end. Jones unloaded the kitchen sink but was unable to hurt McKinney during the follow-up barrage. As McKinney began to regain his wits, he started to throw and land right hands in between Jones’ punches. It was thrilling action and the round ended with both appearing to be on shaky legs.

Jones had unloaded a huge amount of power punches in the first three rounds and appeared to be sucking for air as the fourth commenced. McKinney began to find a home for a short, quick, well-timed right hand that landed flush on Jones’ chin on several occasions. With the tide swinging, McKinney threw one of those short quick rights as Jones was coming forward looking to throw a right of his own. McKinney’s landed first with full leverage and Jones collapsed to the canvas. Hurt and exhausted, Jones arose but had no legs and fell forward to the canvas again. Referee Wayne Kelly did not hesitate to stop the contest at this moment, awarding a TKO win to McKinney.

Because of what happened in the main event, many fans quickly forgot about the action they witnessed in the McKinney-Jones fight. But it was a truly special bout and deserves to be recognized on this, the 20^th anniversary of the contest.

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

Published

1 day ago

July 25, 2024

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-289-East-L.A.-A-Fight-Town-Claressa-Shields-and-More

Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

East Los Angeles has long been a haven for some of the best fighters around if you can keep them out of trouble. For every Oscar De La Hoya or Seniesa Estrada there are thousands derailed by crime, drugs or drinking.

Boxing has always been a favorite sport of East L.A. Every family has an uncle or two who boxes.

On Friday, 360 Promotions’ Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) fights Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1) in the main event at Commerce Casino, in Commerce, CA. UFC Fight Pass will stream the fight card.

The City of Commerce used to be part of East L.A. until 1960 when it incorporated. It’s still considered to be part of East Los Angeles, but informally.

Plenty of fighters come out of East L.A. but few make it all the way like De La Hoya and Estrada. Will Trinidad be the one?

The first world champion from East L.A. or “East Los” as some call it, was Solly Garcia Smith back in the late 1800s. Others were Richie Lemos, Art Frias and Joey Olivo. There is also 1984 Olympic gold medalist Paul Gonzalez.

Once again 360 Promotions brings its popular brand of fights to the area. On this fight card includes two female bouts. One features Roxy Verduzco (1-0) the former amateur star fighting Colleen Davis (3-1-1) in a featherweight fight.

All that action takes place on Friday.

Elite Boxing

The next day, also in East L.A., Elite Boxing stages another boxing card at Salesian High School located at 960 S. Soto Street in the Boyle Heights area of East Los Angeles.

Elite Boxing has promoted several successful boxing cards at the Catholic high school grounds. The area is saturated by many of the best eateries in Los Angeles. Don’t take my word for it. Check it out yourself and grab some of that delicious food.

Boxing has long been a favorite sport of anyone who lives in East L.A. It’s a fight town equal to Philadelphia, Brooklyn or Detroit. There’s something different about the area. For more than 100 years some of the best fighters continue to come out of its boxing gyms. Some will be performing on these club shows.

For tickets or information go to www.eliteboxingusa.com

Claressa Shields in Detroit

Speaking of fight towns, pound-for-pound best Claressa Shields who won two Olympic Gold Medals in boxing, moves up another weight division to tackle the WBC heavyweight world champion Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse on Saturday, July 27, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

DAZN will stream the heavy-duty fight card.

Shields (14-0) cleaned out the super welterweight, middleweight and super middleweight divisions and now wants to add the big girls to her conquests. She will be facing Canada’s Lepage-Joanisse (7-1) who holds the WBC belt.

The last time Shields gloved up was more than a year ago when she fought Maricela Cornejo. Don’t blame Shields. She loves to fight. She loves to win. The last time Shields lost a fight was in the amateurs and that was three presidential administrations ago.

Shields doesn’t lose.

I wonder if Las Vegas even takes bets on her fights?

The only fight she may have been an underdog was against Savannah Marshall who was the last opponent to defeat her. And that was in 2012 in China. When they met as pros two years ago, Shields avenged her loss with a blistering attack.

Don’t get Shields mad.

Perhaps her toughest foe as a pro was in her pro debut when she clashed with Franchon Crews-Dezurn in Las Vegas. It was four rounds of fists and fury as the two pounded each other on the undercard of Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev in November 2016.

That was a ferocious debut for both female pugilists.

Assisting Shields on this fight card will be several intriguing male bouts. One guy you should pay special attention is Tito Mercado (15-0, 14 KOs) a super lightweight prospect from Pomona, California.

Many excellent fighters have come out of Pomona including Sugar Shane Mosley, Shane Mosley Jr., Alberto Davila and Richie Sandoval who just passed away this week.

Sandoval was best known for his 15-round war with Philadelphia’s Jeff Chandler for the bantamweight world title in 1984. Read the story by Arne K. Lang on this link: https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/featured-boxing-articles-boxing-news-videos-rankings-and-results/81467-former-world-bantamweight-champion-richie-sandoval-passes-away-at-age-63 .

Fights to Watch

Fri. UFC Fight Pass 7 p.m. Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) vs Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1).

Sat. ESPN+ 12:30 p.m. Joe Joyce (16-2) vs Derek Chisora (34-13).

Sat. DAZN 3 p.m. Claressa Shields (14-0) vs Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse (7-1), Michel Rivera (25-1) vs Hugo Roldan (22-2-1); Tito Mercado (15-0) vs Hector Sarmiento (21-2).

Omar Trinidad photo by Lina Baker

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Arne’s Almanac: Jake Paul and Women’s Boxing, a Curmudgeon’s Take

Published

3 days ago

July 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Arne's-Almanac-Jake-Paul-and-Women's-Boxing-a-Curmudgeon's-Take

Jake Paul can fight more than a little. The view from here is that he would make it interesting against any fringe contender in the cruiserweight division. However, Jake’s boxing acumen pales when paired against his skill as a flim-flam artist.

Jake brought a 9-1 record into last weekend’s bout with Mike Perry. As noted by boxing writer Paul Magno, Jake’s previous opponents consisted of “a You Tuber, a retired NBA star, five retired MMA stars, a part-time boxer/reality TV star, and two undersized and inactive fall-guy boxers.”

Mike Perry, a 32-year-old Floridian, was undefeated (6-0, 3 KOs) as a bare-knuckle boxer after forging a 14-8 record in UFC bouts. In pre-fight blurbs, Perry was billed as the baddest bare knuckle boxer of all time, but against Jake Paul he proved to have very unrefined skills as a conventional boxer which Team Paul undoubtedly knew all along. Perry lasted into the eighth round in a one-sided fight that could have been stopped a lot sooner.

Jake Paul is both a boxer and a promoter. As a promoter, he handles Amanda Serrano, one of the greatest female boxers in history. That makes him the person most responsible (because the buck stops with him) for the wretched mismatch in last Saturday’s co-feature, the bout between Serrano and Stevie Morgan.

Morgan, who took up boxing two years ago at age 33, brought a 14-1 record. Nicknamed the Sledgehammer, she had won 13 of her 14 wins by knockout, eight in the opening round. However, although she resides in Florida, all but one of those 13 knockouts happened in Colombia.

“We found that in Colombia there were just more opportunities for women’s boxing than in the United States,” she told a prominent boxing writer whose name we won’t mention.

The truth is that, for some folks, Colombia is the boxing equivalent of a feeder lot for livestock, a place where a boxer can go to fatten their record. The opportunities there were no greater than in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1995. It was there that Peter McNeeley prepped for his match with Mike Tyson with a 6-second knockout of professional punching bag Frankie Hines. (Six seconds? So it would be written although no one seems to have been there to witness it.)

Serrano vs Morgan was understood to be a stay-busy fight for Amanda whose rematch with Katie Taylor was postponed until November. Stevie Morgan, to her credit, answered the bell for the second round whereas others in her situation would have remained on the stool and invented an injury to rationalize it. Thirty-eight seconds later it was all over and Ms. Morgan was free to go home and use her sledgehammer to do some light dusting.

The Paul-Perry and Serrano-Morgan fights played out in a sold-out arena in Tampa before an estimated 17,000. Those without a DAZN subscription paid $64.95 for the livestream. Paul’s next promotion, where he will touch gloves with 58-year-old Mike Tyson (unless Iron Mike pulls a Joe Biden and pulls out; a capital idea) with Serrano-Taylor II the semi-main, will almost certainly rake in more money than any other boxing promotion this year.

Asked his opinion of so-called crossover boxing by a reporter for a college newspaper, the venerable boxing promoter Bob Arum said, “It’s not my bag but folks who don’t like it shouldn’t get too worked up over it because no one is stealing from anybody.” True enough, but for some of us, the phenomenon is distressing.

—

The next big women’s fight happens Saturday in Detroit where Claressa Shields seeks a world title in a third weight class against WBC heavyweight belt-holder Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist, undefeated in 14 fights as a pro, Shields is very good, arguably the best female boxer of her generation which makes her, arguably, the best female boxer of all time. But turning away Lepage-Joanisse (7-1, 2 KOs) won’t elevate her stature in our eyes.

Purportedly 17-4 as an amateur, the Canadian won her title in her second crack at it. Back in August of 2017, she challenged Cancun’s Alejandra Jimenez in Cancun and was stopped in the third round. Entering the bout, Lepage-Joanisse was 3-0 as a pro and had never fought a match slated for more than four rounds.

Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse

True, on the women’s side, the heavyweight bracket is a very small pod. A sanctioning body has to make concessions to harness a sanctioning fee. Nonetheless, how absurd that a woman who had answered the bell for only 11 rounds would be deemed qualified to compete for a world title. (FYI: Alejandra Jimenez was purportedly born a man. She left the sport with a 12-0-1 record after her win over Franchon Crews Dazurn was changed to a no-contest when she tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol.)

Following her defeat to Jimenez, Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse, now 29 years old, was out of action for six-and-a-half years. When she returned, she was still a heavyweight, but a much slender heavyweight. She carried 231 pounds for Jimenez. In her most recent bout where she captured the vacant WBC title with a split decision over Argentina’s Abril Argentina Vidal, she clocked in at 173 ¼. (On the distaff side, there’s no uniformity among the various sanctioning bodies as to what constitutes a heavyweight.)

Claressa Shields doesn’t need Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse to reinforce her credentials as a future Hall of Famer. She made the cut a long time ago.

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Former World Bantamweight Champion Richie Sandoval Passes Away at Age 63

Published

4 days ago

July 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Former-World-Bamtamweight-Champion-Richie-Sandoval-Passes-Away-at-age-63

Richie Sandoval, who won the WBA and lineal bantamweight title in one of the biggest upsets of the 1980s and then, not quite two years later, suffered near-fatal injuries in a title defense, has passed away at the age of 63.

News circulated fast in the Las Vegas boxing community on Monday, July 22, the grapevine actuated by a tweet from Hall of Fame matchmaker Bruce Trampler: “Boxing and the Top Rank family lost one of our own last night in the passing of former WBA bantamweight champion Richie Sandoval. It hurts personally and professionally to know that Richie is gone at age 63. RIP campeon.”

Details are vague but the cause of death was apparently a sudden heart attack that Sandoval experienced while visiting the Southern California home of his son of the same name.

Richie Sandoval put the LA County community of Pomona, California, on the boxing map before Shane Mosley came along and gave the town a more frequently-cited mention in the sports section of the papers. He came from a fighting family. An older brother, Albert “Superfly” Sandoval, became a big draw at LA’s fabled Olympic Auditorium while building a 35-2-1 record that included a failed bid to capture Lupe Pintor’s world bantamweight title.

Richie was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic boxing team that was stranded when U.S. President Jimmy Carter (and many other world leaders) boycotted the event as a protest against Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan.

As a pro, Sandoval’s signature win was a 15^th-round stoppage of Jeff Chandler. They fought on April 7, 1984 in Atlantic City. Chandler was making the tenth defense of his world bantamweight title.

Despite being a heavy underdog, Sandoval dominated the fight, winning almost every round until the referee stepped in and waived it off. Chandler, who was 33-1-2 heading in and had avenged his lone defeat, never fought again.

Sandoval made two successful defenses before risking his title against Gaby Canizales on the undercard of Hagler-Mugabi in the outdoor stadium at Caesars Palace. In round seven, Sandoval, who had a hellish time making the weight, was knocked down three times and suffered a seizure as he collapsed from the third knockdown. Stretchered out of the ring, he was rushed to the hospital where doctors reduced the swelling in his brain and beat the odds to save his life. This would be Richie’s lone defeat. He finished his pro career with a record of 29-1 (17 KOs).

Bob Arum cushioned some of the pain by giving Richie a $25,000 bonus and offering him a lifetime job at Top Rank which Richie accepted. And let the record show that Arum was good to his word.

A more elaborate portrait of Richie Sandoval was published in these pages in 2017. You can check it out HERE. May he rest in peace.

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