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Shawn Porter vs. Danny Garcia: A Family Affair
BY LUIS CORTES III — Boxing history is littered with mixed results when one examines the relationship between fathers and sons.
BY LUIS CORTES III — Boxing history is littered with mixed results when one examines the relationship between fathers and sons. Recently father-son (trainer-fighter) relationships have become more prevalent in the sport. In the past, during the period known as the “Golden Age” of boxing, a father tended to surrender his sons upbringing as a fighter to a trainer that had an undeniable reputation for his knowledge of the craft, a trainer that was more of a community fixture. It allowed the father to remain out of the business and remain just that, the father.
On Saturday night Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter will battle for the vacant WBC welterweight championship. They will provide the latest chapter of the father-son, trainer-fighter dynamic that has become commonplace. What hasn’t become commonplace is for this deeply personal relationship to be a successful one at the elite level, thus making this fight on the biggest of stages with what could be a career defining victory for the winner a special one.
In New York at the kickoff press conference for the fight, Angel Garcia (father-trainer of Danny Garcia) and Kenny Porter (father-trainer of Shawn Porter) sat down and addressed their special bond with their fighters and sons. It was an interesting look at just how these two men have groomed their sons for the position that they are currently in. It also showed that although their methods and relationships may be different with their sons, they are actually similar.
One of the striking things that were discussed during the interview was their sons future and just how their careers would come to an end. Kenny Porter stated the following: “I’ve been working on Shawn’s exit strategy since he was two years into being a pro. I have talked to him about the different levels in his career. The first stage and the second stage, so he’s about five minutes from being done right now. This could be his last fight. That’s when I become a father again because outside of the ring it’s my job to make sure he’s protected. I’m the one in control of the situation cause I’m his manager. I’m under contract as his trainer and he re-signed with me. So I’ll hold him out as long as I gotta, I’ll leave him on the shelf if that’s what’s best for his life and health.”
These comments started somewhat of a stir during the build-up of the fight. Many people offered their opinion that Kenny Porter sounded like many of the domineering father-trainers from the past, their overbearing attitude becoming the catalyst for the relationship to sour and eventually be damaged beyond repair.
This past generation of fighters at the elite level provided two prime examples of the overbearing father figure almost stunting the growth of a future Hall-of-Fame fighter. Roy Jones Jr. and Floyd Mayweather Jr. both had issues early on in their careers dealing with their fathers as trainers that were unable to separate the business from the personal emotions that one has when dealing with one’s child; that age- old feeling that father knows best. Meanwhile, duo’s like Jack and Shane Mosley along with Felix Trinidad Sr. and Jr. both were able to maintain a solid relationship. At least in the public’s eyes, they could keep business and family apart as they strived forward accomplishing greatness.
In contrast to Kenny’s statements, when asked the same question Angel Garcia said, “Danny’s the boss, I’m just vice-president. I give him advice and he takes my advice. Danny is a smart businessman.” With that, instant contrasts were made, that the relationship between the Garcia’s was more akin to that of the Mosley’s and the Trinidad’s, while the Porter’s seemed to have an impending feeling of unrest.
One can see how these comparisons can be made from this one interview alone. However a deeper dive into their relationships allows for us to see that there are always two sides to a relationship, with the third side being the truth. Shawn Porter offered a peek into his feelings about the statements his father made.
“Like he said in the interview, it was my decision to start boxing. Our relationship has always been the same since we started. It’s always operated the same way. I’m my own man, but as life progresses things will change a little. I have a seven month old baby and I’m getting married soon, so I have my own family now. I’ve always allowed God to lead me in my relationship with my father. That’s why deep down in my heart it’s always been the feeling that I wouldn’t fight without him. From a business standpoint though, hey, those might be tough conversations to have in the future. We will do what we always do, talk about it at length and make a decision.”
At the recent Danny Garcia media workout in Philadelphia, Angel continued to address his relationship with his son. “The day I was diagnosed with cancer I told Danny that if anything happened to me and I died for him to keep going with his career. He told me ‘no dad’, I’ll retire. We have a bond. I’m in the ring with Danny spiritually. I’m his extra pair of eyes. We’re not perfect, we have our issues, but we know how to talk about it and solve the issue.”
For his part, Danny Garcia views his relationship with his father in a similar fashion. “Every day is not a good day, every day isn’t a bad day when it comes to father and son, but I feel like me and my dad have more of a friendship. It’s always been that way with us even from the beginning. We laugh together and we cry together. It’s not perfect, but like I said before, when it’s time to lock in, we lock in. Like after the fight; if I eat a piece of cake he’ll say, ‘hey, you’re a fighter, you can’t eat that.’ We laugh about it and then he’ll say ‘enjoy it.’ At the end of the day, I’m a grown man and he knows that and he believes in me.”
Whatever your opinion may be regarding the style or type of relationship the Garcia’s and the Porter’s share as a father-son, fighter-trainer, one thing is indeed undeniable: They are both successful. You get the sense that both fathers as the head trainers well understand at its core the ways needed to push their son. It’s a type of external motivation that another trainer wouldn’t be able to inspire.
Both Kenny and Angel made it clear during the taped interview that as fathers they are able to separate being a father from a trainer when it’s time to get to work preparing for a fight, that their sense of competition kicks in when round one begins and it helps them deal with the fact that their son is getting hit by another trained athlete.
So although the tones of the two fathers are different when they talk about working with their son, their approach to achieving success through hard work, dedication, and preparation towards the craft of boxing makes them more similar than different. After all, it’s those basic similarities that will have fight fans watching this Saturday night to see who will regain a world championship…or which style of father-son relationship will take one step closer to a unification showdown in 2019.
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Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh
Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh
Oleksandr Usyk left no doubt that he is the best heavyweight of his generation and one of the greatest boxers of all time with a unanimous decision over Tyson Fury tonight at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But although the Ukrainian won eight rounds on all three scorecards, this was no runaway. To pirate a line from one of the DAZN talking heads, Fury had his moments in every round but Usyk had more moments.
The early rounds were fought at a faster pace than the first meeting back in May. At the mid-point, the fight was even. The next three rounds – the next five to some observers – were all Usyk who threw more punches and landed the cleaner shots.
Fury won the final round in the eyes of this reporter scoring at home, but by then he needed a knockout to pull the match out of the fire.
The last round was an outstanding climax to an entertaining chess match during which both fighters took turns being the pursuer and the pursued.
An Olympic gold medalist and a unified world champion at cruiserweight and heavyweight, the amazing Usyk improved his ledger to 23-0 (14). His next fight, more than likely, will come against the winner of the Feb. 22 match in Ridayh between Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker which will share the bill with the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Fury (34-2-1) may fight Anthony Joshua next. Regardless, no one wants a piece of Moses Itauma right now although the kid is only 19 years old.
Moses Itauma
Raised in London by a Nigerian father and a Slovakian mother, Itauma turned heads once again with another “wow” performance. None of his last seven opponents lasted beyond the second round.
His opponent tonight, 34-year-old Australian Demsey McKean, lasted less than two minutes. Itauma, a southpaw with blazing fast hands, had the Aussie on the deck twice during the 117-second skirmish. The first knockdown was the result of a cuffing punch that landed high on the head; the second knockdown was produced by an overhand left. McKean went down hard as his chief cornerman bounded on to the ring apron to halt the massacre.
Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs after going 20-0 as an amateur) is the real deal. It was the second straight loss for McKean (22-2) who lasted into the 10th round against Filip Hrgovic in his last start.
Bohachuk-Davis
In a fight billed as the co-main although it preceded Itauma-McKean, Serhii Bohachuk, an LA-based Ukrainian, stopped Ishmael Davis whose corner pulled him out after six frames.
Both fighters were coming off a loss in fights that were close on the scorecards, Bohachuk falling to Vergil Ortiz Jr in a Las Vegas barnburner and Davis losing to Josh Kelly.
Davis, who took the fight on short notice, subbing for Ismail Madrimov, declined to 13-2. He landed a few good shots but was on the canvas in the second round, compliments of a short left hook, and the relentless Bohachuk (25-2, 24 KOs) eventually wore him down.
Fisher-Allen
In a messy, 10-round bar brawl masquerading as a boxing match, Johnny Fisher, the Romford Bull, won a split decision over British countryman David Allen. Two judges favored Fisher by 95-94 tallies with the dissenter favoring Allen 96-93. When the scores were announced, there was a chorus of boos and those watching at home were outraged.
Allen was a step up in class for Fisher. The Doncaster man had a decent record (23-5-2 heading in) and had been routinely matched tough (his former opponents included Dillian Whyte, Luis “King Kong” Ortiz and three former Olympians). But Allen was fairly considered no more than a journeyman and Fisher (12-0 with 11 KOs, eight in the opening round) was a huge favorite.
In round five, Allen had Fisher on the canvas twice although only one was ruled a true knockdown. From that point, he landed the harder shots and, at the final bell, he fell to canvas shedding tears of joy, convinced that he had won.
He did not win, but he exposed Johnny Fisher as a fighter too slow to compete with elite heavyweights, a British version of the ponderous Russian-Canadian campaigner Arslanbek Makhmudov.
Other Bouts of Note
In a spirited 10-round featherweight match, Scotland’s Lee McGregor, a former European bantamweight champion and stablemate of former unified 140-pound title-holder Josh Taylor, advanced to 15-1-1 (11) with a unanimous decision over Isaac Lowe (25-3-3). The judges had it 96-92 and 97-91 twice.
A cousin and regular houseguest of Tyson Fury, Lowe fought most of the fight with cuts around both eyes and was twice deducted a point for losing his gumshield.
In a fight between super featherweights that could have gone either way, Liverpool southpaw Peter McGrail improved to 11-1 (6) with a 10-round unanimous decision over late sub Rhys Edwards. The judges had it 96-95 and 96-94 twice.
McGrail, a Tokyo Olympian and 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, fought from the third round on with a cut above his right eye, the result of an accidental clash of heads. It was the first loss for Edwards (16-1), a 24-year-old Welshman who has another fight booked in three weeks.
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Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?
Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?
In professional boxing, the heavyweight division, going back to the days of John L. Sullivan, is the straw that stirs the drink. By this measure, the fight on May 18 of this year at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was the biggest prizefight in decades. The winner would emerge as the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999 when Lennox Lewis out-pointed Evander Holyfield in their second meeting.
The match did not disappoint. It had several twists and turns.
Usyk did well in the early rounds, but the Gypsy King rattled Usyk with a harsh right hand in the fifth stanza and won rounds five through seven on all three cards. In the ninth, the match turned sharply in favor of the Ukrainian. Fury was saved by the bell after taking a barrage of unanswered punches, the last of which dictated a standing 8-count from referee Mark Nelson. But Fury weathered the storm and with his amazing powers of recuperation had a shade the best of it in the final stanza.
The decision was split: 115-112 and 114-113 for Usyk who became a unified champion in a second weight class; 114-113 for Fury.
That brings us to tomorrow (Saturday, Dec. 21) where Usyk and Fury will renew acquaintances in the same ring where they had their May 18 showdown.
The first fight was a near “pick-‘em” affair with Fury closing a very short favorite at most of the major bookmaking establishments. The Gypsy King would have been a somewhat higher favorite if not for the fact that he was coming off a poor showing against MMA star Francis Ngannou and had a worrisome propensity for getting cut. (A cut above Fury’s right eye in sparring pushed back the fight from its original Feb. 11 date.)
Tomorrow’s sequel, bearing the tagline “Reignited,” finds Usyk a consensus 7/5 favorite although those odds could shorten by post time. (There was no discernible activity after today’s weigh-in where Fury, fully clothed, topped the scales at 281, an increase of 19 pounds over their first meeting.)
Given the politics of boxing, anything “undisputed” is fragile. In June, Usyk abandoned his IBF belt and the organization anointed Daniel Dubois their heavyweight champion based upon Dubois’s eighth-round stoppage of Filip Hrgovic in a bout billed for the IBF interim title. The malodorous WBA, a festering boil on the backside of boxing, now recognizes 43-year-old Kubrat Pulev as its “regular” heavyweight champion.
Another difference between tomorrow’s fight card and the first installment is that the May 18 affair had a much stronger undercard. Two strong pairings were the rematch between cruiserweights Jai Opetaia and Maris Briedis (Opetaia UD 12) and the heavyweight contest between unbeatens Agit Kabayal and Frank Sanchez (Kabayel KO 7).
Tomorrow’s semi-wind-up between Serhii Bohachuk and Ismail Madrimov lost luster when Madrimov came down with bronchitis and had to withdraw. The featherweight contest between Peter McGrail and Dennis McCann fell out when McCann’s VADA test returned an adverse finding. Bohachuk and McGrail remain on the card but against late-sub opponents in matches that are less intriguing.
The focal points of tomorrow’s undercard are the bouts involving undefeated British heavyweights Moses Itauma (10-0, 8 KOs) and Johnny Fisher (12-0, 11 KOs). Both are heavy favorites over their respective opponents but bear watching because they represent the next generation of heavyweight standouts. Fury and Usyk are getting long in the tooth. The Gypsy King is 36; Usyk turns 38 next month.
Bob Arum once said that nobody purchases a pay-per-view for the undercard and, years from now, no one will remember which sanctioning bodies had their fingers in the pie. So, Fury-Usyk II remains a very big deal, although a wee bit less compelling than their first go-around.
Will Tyson Fury avenge his lone defeat? Turki Alalshikh, the Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and the unofficial czar of “major league” boxing, certainly hopes so. His Excellency has made known that he stands poised to manufacture a rubber match if Tyson prevails.
We could have already figured this out, but Alalshikh violated one of the protocols of boxing when he came flat out and said so. He effectively made Tyson Fury the “A-side,” no small potatoes considering that the most relevant variable on the checklist when handicapping a fight is, “Who does the promoter need?”
The Uzyk-Fury II fight card will air on DAZN with a suggested list price of $39.99 for U.S. fight fans. The main event is expected to start about 5:45 pm ET / 2:45 pm PT.
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Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year
Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year
The Dec. 14 fight at Tijuana between Jaime Munguia and Bruno Surace was conceived as a stay-busy fight for Munguia. The scuttlebutt was that Munguia’s promoters, Zanfer and Top Rank, wanted him to have another fight under his belt before thrusting him against Christian Mbilli in a WBC eliminator with the prize for the winner (in theory) a date with Canelo Alvarez.
Munguia came to the fore in May of 2018 at Verona, New York, when he demolished former U.S. Olympian Sadam Ali, conqueror of Miguel Cotto. That earned him the WBO super welterweight title which he successfully defended five times.
Munguia kept winning as he moved up in weight to middleweight and then super middleweight and brought a 43-0 (34) record into his Cinco de Mayo 2024 match with Canelo.
Jaime went the distance with Alvarez and had a few good moments while losing a unanimous decision. He rebounded with a 10th-round stoppage of Canada’s previously undefeated Erik Bazinyan.
There was little reason to think that Munguia would overlook Surace as the Mexican would be fighting in his hometown for the first time since February of 2022 and would want to send the home folks home happy. Moreover, even if Munguia had an off-night, there was no reason to think that the obscure Surace could capitalize. A Frenchman who had never fought outside France, Surace brought a 25-0-2 record and a 22-fight winning streak, but he had only four knockouts to his credit and only eight of his wins had come against opponents with winning records.
It appeared that Munguia would close the show early when he sent the Frenchman to the canvas in the second round with a big left hook. From that point on, Surace fought mostly off his back foot, throwing punches in spurts, whereas the busier Munguia concentrated on chopping him down with body punches. But Surace absorbed those punches well and at the midway point of the fight, behind on the cards but nonplussed, it now looked as if the bout would go the full 10 rounds with Munguia winning a lopsided decision.
Then lightning struck. Out of the blue, Surace connected with an overhand right to the jaw. Munguia went down flat on his back. He rose a fraction-of-a second before the count reached “10,”, but stumbled as he pulled himself upright. His eyes were glazed and referee Juan Jose Ramirez, a local man, waived it off. There was no protest coming from Munguia or his cornermen. The official time was 2:36 of round six.
At major bookmaking establishments, Jaime Munguia was as high as a 35/1 favorite. No world title was at stake, yet this was an upset for the ages.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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