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HITS and MISSES: Celebrating Terence Crawford and More
HITS and MISSES: Celebrating Terence Crawford and More
With football season in full swing across the nation, boxing traditionally has to take a backseat to what has become America’s favorite pastime over the last half-century or so. Still, there’s no season for boxing. Rather, it might be more correct to say that boxing’s season is always in full swing, so there were plenty of big fights this weekend to watch in the United States.
Here are the latest HITS and MISSES from another weekend on the boxing beat.
HIT: In Celebration of Terence Crawford
Terence “Bud” Crawford has been one of the best fighters in the world for years now. He was the lineal champ at 135, undisputed at 140, and now holds one of the 147-pound belts. That places Crawford at the top of many pound-for-pound lists, and he absolutely deserves that kind of adulation.
Crawford, 33, from Omaha, Nebraska, completely dismantled former welterweight titleholder Kell Brook, 34, from England, on Saturday night. Where it took middleweight champ Gennadiy Golovkin five rounds to stop Brook four years ago and welterweight champ Errol Spence 11 rounds to do the same three years ago, Crawford stopped Brook in just four.
As special as that seems, it could be more special that Crawford might finally be getting his wish to fight other top welterweight stars soon. Crawford seems miffed enough at his promoter Bob Arum for not getting him fights against other top stars to do something about it, and that could mean “TBC” is headed to PBC. In fact, when I asked him about that very move last week, Crawford did not deny it could happen.
Arum and Top Rank have done their job with Crawford. But if they can’t get him the fights he wants against someone like Spence or Manny Pacquiao, it makes sense for Crawford to find someone who can.
MISS: Baffling Decisions by ESPN
The Top Rank on ESPN card featuring Crawford vs. Brook was a case study in baffling decisions. The first head-scratcher was how fight fans had to wait for a college football game to be completely over before ESPN would show the boxing match on any of its many channels and streaming options, even though Florida was beating Arkansas by 27 points at the end of that game.
Next, imagine being one of the coveted mainstream sports fans ESPN was hoping would stick around for the big boxing march and being presented with the completely avoidable mess that was Joshua Franco vs. Andrew Moloney 2.
After that fight was stopped, ESPN inexplicably tried everything in its power to bully Nevada Athletic Commission officials into agreeing with its collective opinion that Franco’s swollen eye was due to a punch and not a headbutt.
That meant instead of moving on to any other kind of meaningful content that might create more boxing fans, the producers kept their cameras trained on NAC officials while ESPN’s talking heads sitting nearby (Joe Tessitore, Tim Bradley, and Andre Ward) tried every single kind of dysfunctional and manipulative trick in the book to sway NAC executive director Bob Bennett, referee Russell Mora and replay referee Robert Byrd into conforming to ESPN’s will.
It was ugly, rude, and dangerous.
It was ugly because it boiled down to Bob Arum and the billion-dollar television network he cut a deal with ganging up on three single human beings assumedly doing the best job they could.
It was rude because ESPN overstepped its bounds by a large margin in deciding it knew better than the NAC on how things should be ruled.
It was dangerous because it shows just how far the company has fallen away from broadcast journalism into the world of content marketing.
HIT: Everything About Katie Taylor vs. Miriam GutierrezÂ
Katie Taylor is one of the best fighters in the world today, and she showed her class in her title defense against Miriam Gutierrez on Saturday. Taylor, 34, from Bray, Ireland, is great at just about everything inside a boxing ring. Gutierrez, 37, from Madrid, Spain, isn’t, but she entered the fight with an undefeated record and the attitude that she wanted it to stay that way.
Still, what made the fight a joy to watch was seeing both women ply their trades as best they could. Taylor looked sharp, and she continually had Gutierrez in serious trouble. But the Spaniard never wavered. There were plenty of avenues driven into her by Ireland’s favorite boxing champ, and any of them could have led her to give up in the fight. She never did.
After the 10-round decision win for Taylor over Gutierrez, Taylor’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, almost immediately started talking about Taylor facing MMA legend Cristiane Justino aka Cris Cyborg next in a women’s version of the 2017 superfight spectacle between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor.
Most people in boxing seem to hate those types of fights. I love them. They’re great for the boxing champ because it’s big money on a bright stage. They’re great for boxing because they expose the sport to MMA fans who might become the same in boxing. They’re great for boxing writers because people seem to like to read about them.
MISS: Two-minute Rounds for Women’s Boxing
Women’s boxing matches being limited to two-minute rounds makes just about as much sense as adding a weight class in between the cruiserweight and heavyweight division.
Of course, we can thank the World Boxing Council (WBC) for both of these ideas. But leaving this whole “Bridgerweight” situation behind right now in hopes that ignoring it will simply make it go away, I think it’s time to revisit the WBC’s 2014 ruling that limited women’s boxing to 10, two-minute rounds.
Two-minute rounds are holding women’s boxing back. It keeps the more skilled fighters like Taylor from separating themselves as much as they could from their opponents on fight night, and there hasn’t been anything beyond some seriously vague language from the WBC about why women can’t fight for three minutes.
Moreover, their female counterparts in MMA already fight the full five-minute rounds just as the men do, so there’s no good reason female boxers can’t fight three-minute rounds.
HIT: Eddie Hearn Marching Women’s Boxing ForwardÂ
Women’s boxing has come a long way, and Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing card on Saturday featuring wins by undisputed lightweight champion Taylor, WBC junior lightweight titleholder Terri Harper and rising junior featherweight contender Rachel Ball proves the best is probably yet to come.
Hearn deserves credit for recognizing Taylor’s star power was legit after she turned pro and that it could continue to grow larger across the world. He also deserves props for consistently featuring women on his fight cards and doing so in premier positions.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank via Getty Images
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Stephen Fulton Nips Carlos Castro in a Prelude to Canelo vs Berlanga
In his first fight back after being dominated and stopped by pound-for-pound king Naoya Inoue in a fight for super bantamweight supremacy in July of last year, Stephen Fulton nipped upset-minded Carlos Castro, improving to 22-1 (8) in his first start as a featherweight. The verdict was split, with Fulton prevailing by 96-93 and 95-94 with the dissenter favoring Castro 95-94. The decision seemed fair although not in eyes of the predominantly Mexican crowd which booed the decision.
This was an entertaining 10-round fight between two evenly-matched 30-year-old campaigners. Long-time Phoenix resident Castro (30-3) put Fulton on the deck in round five with a counter right hand and Fulton rode his bicycle to shed the cobwebs as the round played out. But the Philadelphian, with new trainer Bozy Ennis in his corner, recuperated well and had a strong sixth round.
In round eight, Castro buckled Fultonâs knees with another straight right, but was unable to press his advantage. The bout served as the âmainâ prelim to the four-fight PPV card.
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In a welterweight contest slated for â10,â Mexico Cityâs Ricardo Salas, a 6/1 underdog, scored a second-round stoppage of Roiman Villa. The end in this slam-bang and all-too-brief skirmish came at the 2:06 mark of round three when Salas, fighting off the ropes, nailed Villa with a perfectly-placed, short right hand. Villa went down for the count.
Salas, whose de facto manager is the ubiquitous Sean Gibbons, improved to 20-2-2 with his 15th win inside the distance. From Colombia by way of Venezuela, Villa (26-3) was making his first start since being stopped by Boots Ennis in July of last year.
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In the opener on the PBC YouTube channel, super featherweight Jonathan âGeoâ Lopez, a 21-year-old Pennsylvania-born southpaw, won a wide 8-round decision over rugged San Antonio campaigner Richard Medina. Lopez pitched a shutout, winning 80-71 on all three cards, but this was hardly a stroll in the park for him.
Lopez, who improved to 17-0 (12), simply had too much class for Medina. A 20/1 favorite, the Eddy Reynoso-trained boxer hurt Medina at the end of round seven and put him on the canvas in the final round with a straight left hand, but Medina (15-3) kept on plugging away and maintained his distinction of never being stopped.
Also
In an off-TV fight, super middleweight Bek Nurmaganbet, a 26-year-old Kazakh, won his eighth straight inside the distance, improving to 12-0 (10) with a second-round stoppage of SoCalâs Joshua Conley (17-7-1).
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Rocky Hernandez Improves to 36-2 with a Controversial TD in Hermosillo
Matchroom was in northwestern Mexico tonight in the city of Hermosillo for a card that aired on DAZN. In the featured bout, super featherweight Eduardo âRockyâ Hernandez was awarded a technical decision over Thomas Mattice when the bout was halted by the ringside physician at the start of the seventh round because Hernandez had severe cuts around both eyes. The first cut, over his right eye, developed in round four. Replays showed that the second cut, over his left eye, was caused by a right uppercut. However, in the eyes of veteran Texas referee Mark Calo-oy, the damage was caused by an accidental head cut. That sent the bout to the scorecards where Hernandez was deemed the victor by tallies of 59-55, 58-56, and 58-55 per ring announcer David Diamente who had trouble reading the results submitted to him by a boxing commissioner.
Hernandez, who turned pro at age 15 in Mexico City, is best known for his rumble with defending WBC 130-pound title-holder OâShaquie Foster. Rocky was leading that fight with 30 seconds remaining in the final round when the roof fell in on him. He trained for tonight’s bout at the DLX and Top Rank gyms in Las Vegas under Kay Koroma and Brandon Woods, the latter of whom trains Trevor McCumby. Neither Koroma nor Woods was in his corner tonight.
It was the first fight outside the U.S. for Clevelandâs hard-luck Thomas Mattice who had won five straight heading in and appeared to be turning the bout in his favor. Mattice declined to 22-4-1.
Semi-wind-up
Twenty-four-year-old Hermosillo knockout artist Sergio Mendoza showed that he is a rising force in the flyweight division with a third-round stoppage of stocky Ensenada southpaw Angel Ramos. Mendoza crumpled Ramos with a short left uppercut in round two. Ramos attempted to rise, but it became a moot point when the match was waived off.
Mendoza improved to 24-0 with his twenty-first knockout. Ramos, a 12-year pro whose career has been slowed by injuries, falls to 30-2-2.
Also
A 10-round super middleweight contest that shaped up as a slugfest proved the opposite. Local product Julio Porras (12-0, 8 KOs) won a wide decision in a snoozefest over Venezuelan import Isaac Torres who had won all 10 of his previous fights by stoppage, none of which lasted beyond six rounds.
Torres turned timid after Porras decked him with a left hook in the second frame. He fought off his back foot for the reminder of the bout, seemingly content to simply last the distance. The scores read 100-89 and 99-90 twice.
It was hard to get a good read on Porras who trains in Seatle with David Benavidez and Diego Pacheco, but at age 22 he appears to have a bright future.
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Avila Perspective, Chap. 296: Canelo vs Berlanga and More
Avila Perspective, Chap. 296: Canelo vs Berlanga and More
Never underestimate the Mexico versus Puerto Rico rivalry.
Undisputed super middleweight champion Saul âCaneloâ Alvarez of Mexico has fought Puerto Ricans before and should know it is never easy. But this time he chose to toe the line against a young hungry Boricua.
Will this fight be his reckoning?
Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) defends the WBA, WBC, and WBO titles against Edgar Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) on Saturday Sept. 14, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Â PPV.com along with Jim Lampley will stream the loaded TGB Promotions card. Itâs also on DAZN and Amazon Prime.
Mexicoâs Canelo has been the face of boxing ever since Floyd Mayweather officially retired. And though he lost to Mayweather in 2013, the dividends from that experience have boosted the redhead to a skill level not seen since Salvador Sanchez.
Not many Mexicans or Puerto Ricans fight at super middleweight. So, this is a first for the rivalry at this weight class. But in the lower weights war has been ongoing between the two countries for decades.
My up-close introduction took place with Wilfredo âBazookaâ Gomez against Sanchez in Las Vegas in August 1981. At the time the Puerto Rican was considered the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world with 32 wins and 32 knockouts.
Gomez was a Mexican killer and dispatched two future Half of Fame fighters in Carlos Zarate and Lupe Pintor. Only Sanchez could beat the Boricua and he was an underdog to the mustached fighter from Santurce, Puerto Rico when they met.
Never underestimate anyone.
Now Berlanga is attempting to do what no other Puerto Rican has been able to accomplish in defeating Canelo.
Itâs a big task for the taller fighter.
âI could be the face of Puerto Rican boxing after Saturday night,â said Berlanga, 27, who hails from Brooklyn, New York.
The taller Berlanga has yet to face anyone that compares to Canelo, Heâs defeated contenders like Jason Quigley and Padraig McCrory who formerly held the IBO light heavyweight title. But a killer like Alvarez heâs never faced before.
But heâs eager to find out.
âThis is the opportunity of a lifetime for Team Berlanga,â Berlanga said at the press conference.
As a professional fighter he needs to take the opportunity.
âWeâre gonna make history and become legends,â said Berlanga.
Alvarez has been in this situation dozens of times before. Heâs heard all the rhetoric and the boasts and the predictions over the years. After facing the likes of Mayweather, Miguel Cotto, Gennady Golovkin and so many others, heâs almost immune to the itchy nervousness of potential danger.
The Mexican champion has his jacket of confidence woven over the years from dozens of battles endured since the age of 15. Now heâs 34 and has he passed his limit?
âI always put 100 per cent into my fights and into training, no matter who Iâm fighting. Itâs the same mentality every fight. This is no exception,â said Alvarez, who is fighting on Mexican Independence day for the 11th time in his career.
This, however, is different. This is Mexico versus Puerto Rico and the history between the two countries is fraught with upsets and fierce bloody battles in boxing that have mesmerized the boxing world.
Berlangaâs trainer said it best:
âBelieve me, we are grateful to Team Canelo for the opportunity, because itâs the opportunity to knock the king off the throne,â said Marc Ferrait. âas I told Edgar, heâs not going to want to give it to no Puerto Rican, and if we think Canelo doesnât have it, oh heâs coming. We want the best of him.â
Itâs power versus power. All it takes is one punch.
Other Bouts
WBA middleweight titlist Erislandy Lara (30-3-3) defends against Philadelphiaâs Danny âSwiftâ Garcia (37-3) in the semi-main event at T-Mobile Arena. Itâs been four years since the Cuban southpaw faced elite competition. Now 41, does he still have it?
Garcia, 36, a former welterweight and super lightweight world titlist, has only fought once above 147 pounds but found success when he defeated Jose Benavidez at 153 pounds two years ago.
Both are experienced, skilled and dangerous.
Super middleweight contenders Caleb Plant (22-2) and Trevor McCumby (28-0) meet in a 12-round clash for the interim WBA title. Whenever Plant fights there is always extra personal incentive thrown in. McCumby knows it.
âI just go in there and handle business,â McCumby said.
Plant seems eager to return to the ring.
âWeâll see on Saturday,â said Plant.
Another former world titlist performing is Rolly Romero (15-2, 13 KOs) meeting Manuel Jaimes (16-1-1, 11 KOs) in a super lightweight match set for 10 rounds. Itâs the first time I recall seeing Romero against someone bigger. Interesting.
A super bantamweight battle between former unified world titlist Stephen Fulton (21-1) and Carlos Castro (30-2, 14 KOs) is set for 10 rounds in a featherweight match. Fulton was stopped by Japanâs Naoya âMonsterâ Inoue a year ago. Heâs eager to return.
Fights to Watch
Thurs. DAZN 5 p.m. Ardreal Holmes (15-0) vs Hugo Noriega (10-2).
Fri. DAZN 5 p.m. Eduardo âRockyâ Hernandez (35-2) vs Thomas Mattice (22-3-1).
Sat. DAZN 3 p.m. Roiman Villa (26-2) vs Ricardo Salas (19-2-2).
Sat. PPV.COM, Prime ppv, DAZN ppv 5 p.m. Saul Alvarez (61-2-2) vs Edgar Berlanga (22-0); Caleb Plant (22-2) vs Trevor McCumby (28-0); Erislandy Lara (30-3-3) vs Danny Garcia (37-3); Stephen Fulton (21-1) vs Carlos Castro (30-2).
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