The Brutal Efficiency of Canelo Alvarez

Published

2 years ago

November 7, 2021

On Saturday night, November 6, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez scored an eleventh-round knockout over Caleb Plant at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas to secure the fourth and final belt in his quest to become the “undisputed” super-middleweight champion of the world.

Alvarez is widely regarded as the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world and boxing’s brightest star. Three months ago, SportsPro (a London-based company) released a study that listed him as the fourth “most marketable athlete in the world” (behind Simone Biles, Naomi Asaka, and Ashlyn Harris). The next-highest-ranked boxer was Anthony Joshua at #75. The study was keyed to social media metrics. Canelo has close to 18 million followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok and, according to SportPro, has generated more than 578 million impressions on these platforms.

In reality, the list is an indication of potential rather than true marketing power. For example, in 2020, SportPro named Ryan Garcia as the twelfth “most marketable athlete in the world.” LeBron James is now designated as #24. Most people would rather have LeBron’s marketing income than Garcia’s.

Canelo, now 31, turned pro at age 15 and has improved steadily throughout his career. He entered the ring to face Plant with a 56-1-2 (38 KOs) record, the sole loss coming against Floyd Mayweather eight years ago.

“I didn’t have the experience, the maturity,” Canelo said earlier this year about that fight. “I wasn’t the boxer I am today. Very different. That moment hurt a lot. But at that moment, I got to thinking, I’m not going to let this kill my dreams. Someday, I’m going to be the best boxer in the world. And now I am.”

One might add that, at age 15, Canelo was held to a draw by a fighter named Jorge Juarez (who finished his career with an 8-27-3 record). Only an idiot would suggest that this “blemish” on Canelo’s record diminishes his accomplishments as a fighter. The same is true of the loss to Mayweather.

Plant, age 29, came into the Canelo fight with a 21-0 (12 KOs) record and the IBF 168-pound belt around his waist. He has a compelling backstory focused on a hardscrabble upbringing in Ashland, Tennessee, and tells it with great drama.

Canelo wanted Plant’s belt. He’d won his first 168-pound title (WBA) against Rocky Fielding in 2018 and added the WBC and WBO straps against Callum Smith (2020) and Billy Joe Saunders (2021). Becoming a unified champion appealed to him.

When Canelo-Plant was first announced, it was undetermined which network would host the pay-per-view telecast. Canelo had fought his most recent six fights on DAZN with Golden Boy and Matchroom as his promoters. This would be a Premier Boxing Champions card, which meant that Fox or Showtime would handle the pay-per-view and DAZN would be out in the cold.

Most boxing observers expected that Fox would get the nod (as it had with previous Premier Boxing Champions offerings like Fury-Wilder II and III, Pacquiao-Thurman, Pacquiao-Ugas, and Errol Spence’s forays against Mikey Garcia, Danny Garcia, and Shawn Porter). But Showtime sent a “don’t-take-us-for-granted” message to PBC impresario Al Haymon when it went into the Jake Paul business earlier this year, and Canelo-Plant wound up on Showtime Pay-Per-View.

Asked how he felt about changing promoters and networks, Canelo answered, “I just want to fight with everybody and have relationships with all the promoters and do the best fights out there. If I need to fight [on] Showtime with PBC, I’m good. If I need to fight [on] DAZN with Eddie Hearn, I’m good. I’m good with everyone, having a relationship with everybody.”

That made sense. But there was one misstep that Canelo’s team seemed to make in the negotiations for Canelo-Plant. And they’d made it before.

Plant’s purse for fighting Canelo was reported to be $10 million. That number was negotiated in significant measure as a consequence of the purses believed to have been paid to Canelo’s most recent five opponents – Danny Jacobs ($12 million), Sergey Kovalev ($12 million), Callum Smith ($6 million), Avni Yildirim ($2.5 million), and Billy Joe Saunders ($8 million).

This is an area where Floyd Mayweather got it right. There came a time when Mayweather told the world that the belts were largely irrelevant. People were paying to see Floyd Mayweather. If a fighter wanted to fight Floyd, he stood in line and accepted a purse (generally between $1 million and $3 million) that left the lion’s share and more for Floyd.

Canelo’s most recent fight (against Saunders) drew 66,065 paying fans to AT&T Stadium in Texas. There were also 989 complimentary tickets that night for a total attendance of 67,054. Plant’s most recent fight was against Caleb Truax at the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles. Prior to that, he’d fought Vincent Feigenbutz at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. One might also note that Canelo’s two fights against Gennady Golovkin in Las Vegas generated a combined live gate in excess of $51 million.

It has been widely reported that PBC guaranteed Canelo “nearly $40 million” to fight Plant (which was in line with previous guarantees to Canelo for his fights on DAZN). There’s a school of thought that Canelo should be concerned with what he makes, not his opponents’ purses. Still, $10 million for Plant seemed excessive. Had Caleb beaten Canelo, he might have become a $10 million fighter. He wasn’t before they fought and he isn’t now.

The promotion moved into high gear at the September 21 kick-off press conference in Los Angeles. Plant was introduced first and stood on stage facing the audience. Canelo came out next, stood beside Plant, and made a point of not standing in Caleb’s space. Both men were wearing sun glasses. As pre-arranged, they then turned to face each other. Canelo took his glasses off. Plant moved into Canelo’s space, put his hands behind his back, and started jawing. Canelo responded. Plant said something Canelo didn’t like. Canelo gave Plant a two handed shove to the chest, pushing him back. Plant came forward, slapped at Canelo with his left hand, and missed. Canelo countered with a quick jab that jammed Plant’s sunglasses into Caleb’s cheek beneath his right eye and drew blood followed by a slapping right hand.

What caused the blow-up?

Plant later said that it happened “because he’s a bitch.”

Canelo said Plant suggested that Canelo had sexual intercourse with his own mother and noted, “He can say whatever he wants to me but not to my mom. And he swing first. I just push him, but he swing first. Then I do what I do.”

Meanwhile, when it was Plant’s turn to speak, he took the microphone and accused Canelo of being a “cheater.”

In February 2018, urine samples taken from Canelo by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) had tested positive for clenbuterol, a banned substance. Canelo denied wrongdoing, and the amount of the drug in his system was consistent with the inadvertent ingestion of tainted beef. But a boxer is responsible for what goes into his body. Canelo agreed to a six-month suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and paid $50,000 out of his own pocket for year-round VADA testing. There was no admission of wrongdoing on his part. But there was an acknowledgment that clenbuterol had been present in his system. Since then, Canelo has been tested more thoroughly by VADA than any boxer ever, always without complaint and never with an adverse test result.

“Did he get suspended for six months?” Plant asked rhetorically at the kick-off press conference. “Did he test positive? It’s not a ‘well, he said he is’ and ‘he said he ain’t.’ It’s not up for discussion. It’s not what I say. It’s what the commission said. It’s what the banned substance list said. I don’t want this to be in our sport. There’s no room for that in our sport. And you know, he got suspended for six months. So it is what it is. He’s a cheater.”

When it was Canelo’s turn to speak, he looked directly at Plant and said in English, “I just want to say something. You are not on my level. And you will see November 6. You don’t want to find out. I promise you. Thank you, everybody. I see you November 6. You know what I do.”

PBC wisely skipped the ritual, post-press-conference staredown. But thereafter, it sent out promotional material referencing the press conference itself as “epic” (presumably because of the altercation). “Epic” is a word that, in boxing circles, was once reserved for actual fights like Ali-Frazier III in Manila.

Plant was more measured than PBC in characterizing the physical confrontation between the two fighters. “It’s boxing,” he said. “How many times has that happened before us? How many times is that gonna happen after us? People make such a big deal out of that because it’s a headline and a way for you guys to promote whatever videos you all are making or whatever for the fight. But it’s just like, he pushed me; I got one on him; he got one on me; and that was it. I’ve been in worse scuffles than that. So, what’s the big deal, really?”

Title unification was the marketing message during fight week.

“Only five male fighters in the history of boxing have accomplished becoming undisputed champion,” Canelo said. “I want to be the sixth.”

Canelo’s big wins had come against Miguel Cotto, Gennady Golovkin, Danny Jacobs, Sergey Kovalev, and Billy Joe Saunders. Plant’s big wins had been against Jose Uzcategui, Mike Lee, Vincent Feigenbutz, and Caleb Truax. With that as background, Canelo opened as a 7-to-1 betting favorite and the odds moved slightly higher during fight week.

Plant voiced optimism throughout the proceedings:

* “I know that people don’t believe me when I tell them I’m winning on November 6. All those people who tell me that I can’t do something, you live believable lives and you do believable things. I promised myself that I was going to run this all the way to the top with no problem crashing and burning along the way. I set out to live an unbelievable life and accomplish unbelievable things. The people who doubt me are the reason that I’m here.”

* “I can’t focus on what other people say about me. If I listened to the doubters, I wouldn’t even be here. People are going to say what they’re going to say. But I get the final say, and I can’t wait to prove everything in the ring.”

* “The moment isn’t going to be too big for me. The closer we get, the smaller the moment feels.”

Meanwhile, Canelo predicted that Plant wouldn’t last eight rounds and said, “I respect his skills. He’s a good boxer. He boxes well. He’s got a good fast jab, good combinations. He’s tall, and it’s going to be rough in the early rounds. It’s not an easy fight. But I have the skills and I have the experience of being with fighters of all kinds of styles in the ring. I’m very confident that I can do it. Not confident in a bad way; just confident in what I know and what I can do. As the fight progresses, I am going to be able to get him out of there.”

Still, this wasn’t a computer game. Nothing in boxing is preordained. A fighter has to prove himself anew every time he enters the ring. And Canelo knew that.

Now a confession. I didn’t watch the fight live. I’m a big Canelo Alvarez fan. But I don’t like boxing’s pay-per-view model. And with Anthony Dirrell vs. Marcos Hernandez (who now has two wins in his last seven fights) as the chief supporting bout, I decided I’d track Canelo-Plant through online reports and watch it on YouTube afterward rather than spend $79.99 to see it in real time.

At 11:30 PM eastern time, I went online to Boxing Scene to see where things stood. Dirrell had knocked out Hernandez shortly after 11:00 PM. Most likely, it would be a while before Canelo-Plant started. I checked back at 11:50. There was still no indication that the fight had begun. I turned to ESPN.com and read that the ringwalks were underway.

Back to Boxing Scene. Keith Idec scored round one for Plant and gave rounds two, three, and four to Canelo. ESPN was lagging behind on its scorecard but offered several sentences of commentary for each round that it scored.

At the end of eight rounds, Boxing Scene and ESPN each had Canelo ahead 78-74 . . . Then, at 12:39 AM, Boxing Scene reported, “Canelo drops Plant with hard punches in eleventh and then finished him off with another series of big shots to knock Plant down and out with the fight being waved off by the referee.”

Several minutes later, I saw the knockout on YouTube. On Sunday, I watched the entire fight on one of several YouTube postings.

Coming into the bout, Plant had seemed to think that his skills were sufficient that he could will himself to victory. But that was a false hope.

Canelo has a will of iron too. And he’s a professional. He always comes into fights in shape. He’s a superb boxer, seamlessly blending defense with offense. He has a great chin. And now he has “man strength.”

Canelo has carried his power with him – and then some – while moving up in weight. He carries his power late in fights. And trainer Eddy Reynoso brings out the best in him

For most of Canelo-Plant, Canelo was stalking with Caleb in retreat. Plant tried to survive and score points when he could. But he was overmatched. Plan A wasn’t working for Caleb, and there was no Plan B. Canelo was quicker. Canelo hit harder. Canelo’s arsenal was more varied. Canelo took his time. He was disciplined and patient. As the fight wore on, his body work took a toll. Ultimately, he beat Plant into submission.

The end came in round eleven. A left hook followed by a brutal right uppercut (the most damaging blow in the sequence) and another left hook as Plant was sagging occasioned the first knockdown of Caleb’s career. He stopped his fall by thrusting both gloves against the canvas and rose up.

“Do you want to fight?” referee Russell Mora asked.

“Yeah,” Plant answered.

Caleb said it like he meant it. But he had nothing left. Canelo chased him around the ring, pinned him against the ropes, and knocked him down again with three crushing right hands – two up top and the third to the body as Plant was falling.

It was over.

After the fight, the fighters exchanged words of respect in the ring. Then Plant was taken to University Medical Center for observation. As of this writing, he has not commented publicly on his defeat.

As for what comes next, Canelo says that, after four fights in eleven months, his body needs rest. Most likely, he’ll return to the ring on May 7, 2022 (Cinco de Mayo weekend).

Meanwhile, boxing fans have heard a lot in recent years about how Mexican fans have been slow to embrace Canelo in comparison with Julio Cesar Chavez. Sometimes one needs distance to judge the full measure of greatness. Looking back over the past decade, it’s clear that Canelo has established himself as a great fighter. The Mexican people should be proud of him.

Indeed, Canelo might be the greatest fighter to ever come out of Mexico. But when asked to compare himself with other Mexican ring greats, he says simply, “I’m doing my history. Other fighters do their history. I don’t want to compare myself to other fighters. I do things for myself, my history. The goal is to be an all-time great.”

He has already reached that goal. The question now is, “How much better will he get?”

Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book – Broken Dreams: Another Year Inside Boxing – was published by the University of Arkansas Press. In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, he was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Photo credit: Al Applerose

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Thomas Hauser

Thomas Hauser is the author of 52 books. In 2005, he was honored by the Boxing Writers Association of America, which bestowed the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism upon him. He was the first Internet writer ever to receive that award. In 2019, Hauser was chosen for boxing's highest honor: induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Lennox Lewis has observed, “A hundred years from now, if people want to learn about boxing in this era, they’ll read Thomas Hauser.”

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 282: Ryan’s Song, Golden Boy in Fresno and More

Published

46 mins ago

April 26, 2024

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-282-Ryan's-Song-Golden-Boy-in-Fresno-and-More

Don’t call it an upset.

Days after Ryan Garcia proved the experts wrong, those same experts are re-tooling their evaluation processes.

It’s mind-boggling to me that 95 percent thought Garcia had no chance. Hear me out.

First, Garcia and Haney fought six times as amateurs with each winning three. But this time with no head gear and smaller gloves, Garcia had to have at least a 50/50 chance of winning. He is faster and a more powerful puncher.

Facts.

Haney is a wonderful boxer with smooth, almost artistic movements. But history has taught us power and speed like Garcia’s can’t be discounted. Think way back to legendary fighters like Willie Pep and Sandy Sadler. All that excellent defensive skill could not prevent Sadler from beating Pep in three of their four meetings.

Power has always been an equalizer against boxing skill.

Ben Lira, one of the wisest and most experienced trainers in Southern California, always professed knockout power was the greatest equalizer in a fight. “You can be behind for nine rounds and one punch can change the outcome,” he said.

Another weird theory spreading before the fight was that Garcia would quit in the fight. That was a puzzling one. Getting stopped by a perfect body shot is not quitting. And that punch came from Gervonta “Tank” Davis who can really crack.

So how did Garcia do it?

In the opening round Ryan Garcia timed Devin Haney’s jab and countered with a snapping left hook that rattled and wobbled the super lightweight champion. After that, Garcia forced Haney to find another game plan.

Garcia and trainer Derrick James must have worked hours on that move.

I must confess that I first saw Garcia’s ability many years ago when he was around 11 or 12. So I do have an advantage regarding his talent. A few things I noticed even back then were his speed and power. Also, that others resented his talent but respected him. He was the guy with everything: talent and looks.

And that brings resentment.

Recently I saw him and his crew rapping a song on social media. Now he’s got a song. Next thing you know Hollywood will be calling and he’ll be in the movies. It’s happened before with fighters such as Art Aragon, the first Golden Boy in the 50s. He was dating movie stars and getting involved with starlets all over Hollywood.

Is history repeating itself or is Garcia creating a new era for boxing?

Since 2016 people claimed he was just a social media creation. Now, after his win over Devin Haney a former undisputed lightweight champion and the WBC super lightweight titleholder, the boxer from the high desert area of Victorville has become one of the highest paid fighters in the world.

Ryan Garcia has entered a new dimension.

Golden Boy Season

After several down years the Los Angeles-based company Golden Boy Promotions suddenly is cracking the whip in 2024.

Avila

Vergil Ortiz Jr. (20-0, 20 KOs) returns to the ring and faces Puerto Rico’s Thomas Dulorme (26-6-1, 17 KOs) a welterweight gatekeeper who lost to Jaron “Boots” Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis. They meet as super welterweights in the co-main event at Save Mart Arena in Fresno, Calif. on Saturday, April 27. DAZN will stream the Golden Boy Promotions card live.

It’s a quick return to action for Ortiz who is still adjusting to the new weight division. His last fight three months ago ended in less than one round in Las Vegas. It was cut short by an antsy referee and left Ortiz wanting more after more than a year of inactivity in the prize ring.

Ortiz has all the weapons.

Also, Northern California’s Jose Carlos Ramirez (28-1, 18 KOs) meets Cuba’s Rances Barthelemy (30-2-1, 15 KOs) in a welterweight affair set for 12 rounds.

It’s difficult to believe that former super lightweight titlist Ramirez has been written off by fans after only one loss. That was several years ago against Scotland’s Josh Taylor. One loss does not mean the end of a career.

“My goal is to get back on top and to get all those belts back. I still feel like I am one of the best 140-pounders in the division,” said Ramirez who lives in nearby Avenal, Calif.

An added major attraction features Marlen Esparza in a unification rematch against Gabriela “La Chucky” Alaniz for the WBA, WBC, WBO flyweight titles. Their first fight was

a controversial win by Esparza that saw one judge give her nine of 10 rounds in a very close fight. Those Texas judges.

In a match that could steal the show, Oscar Duarte (26-2-1, 21 KOs) faces former world champion Jojo Diaz (33-5-1, 15 KOs) in a lightweight match.

Munguia and Canelo

Don’t sleep on this match.

Its current Golden Boy fighter Jaime Munguia facing former Golden Boy fighter Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in a battle between Mexico’s greatest sluggers next week at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on May 4.

“I think Jaime Munguia is going to do something special in the ring,” said Oscar De La Hoya, the CEO for Golden Boy.

Tijuana’s Munguia showed up at the Wild Card Boxing gym in Hollywood where a throng of media from Mexico and the US met him.

Munguia looked confident and happy about his opportunity to fight great Canelo.

“It’s a hard fight,” said Munguia. “Truth is, its big for Mexico and not only for Mexicans but for boxing.”

Fights to Watch

Fri. DAZN 6 p.m. Yoeniz Tellez (7-0) vs Joseph Jackson (19-0).

Sat. DAZN 9:30 a.m. Peter McGrail (8-1) vs Marc Leach (18-3-1); Beatriz Ferreira (4-0) vs Yanina Del Carmen 14-3).

Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Vergil Ortiz (20-0) vs Thomas Dulorme (26-6-1); Jose Carlos Ramirez (28-1) vs Rances Barthelemy (30-2-1); Marlen Esparza (14-1) vs Gabriela Alaniz (14-1).

Photo credit: Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy Promotions

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Ramon Cardenas Channels Micky Ward and KOs Eduardo Ramirez on ProBox

Published

2 days ago

April 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Ramon-Cardenas-Channels-Micky-Ward-and-KOs-Eduardo-Ramirez-on-ProBox

The Wednesday night bi-monthly series of fights on the ProBox TV platform is the best deal in boxing; the livestream is free with no strings attached! Tonight’s episode was headlined by a super bantamweight match between San Antonio’s Ramon Cardenas and Eduardo Ramirez who brought a caravan of rooters from his hometown in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico.

Cardenas, coached by Joel Diaz, entered the contest ranked #4 by the WBA. He was expected to handle Ramirez with little difficulty, but this was a close, tactical fight through eight frames when lightning struck in the form of a left hook to the liver from Cardenas. Ramirez went down on one knee and wasn’t able to beat the count. It was as if Cardenas summoned the ghost of Micky Ward who had a penchant for terminating fights with the same punch that arrived out of the blue.

The official time was 1:37 of round nine. Cardenas improved to 25-1 with his14th win inside the distance. Ramirez, who was stopped in the opening round by Nick “Wrecking” Ball in London in his lone previous fight outside Mexico, falls to 23-3-3.

Co-Feature

In an upset, Tijuana super welterweight Damian Sosa won a split decision over previously undefeated Marques Valle, a local area fighter who was stepping up in class in his first 10-round go. Sosa was the aggressor, repeatedly backing his taller opponent into the ropes where Valle was unable to get good leverage behind his punches.

The 25-year-old Valle, managed by the influential David McWater, was the house fighter. This was his 10^th appearance in this building. He brought a 10-0 (7) record and was hoping to emulate the success of his younger brother Dominic Valle who scored a second-round stoppage of his opponent in this ring two weeks ago, improving to 9-0. But Sosa, who brought a 24-2 record, proved to be a bridge too high.

The judges had it 97-93 and 96-94 for the Tijuana invader and a disgraceful 98-92 for the house fighter.

Also

In a fight whose abrupt ending would be echoed by the main event, 34-year-old SoCal featherweight Ronny Rios, now training in Las Vegas, returned to the ring after a 22-month hiatus and scored a fifth-round stoppage over Nicolas Polanco of the Dominican Republic.

A three-punch combo climaxed by a left hook to the liver took the breath out of Polanco who slumped to his knees and was counted out. A two-time world title challenger, Rios advanced to 34-4 (17 KOs). Polanco, 34, declined to 21-6-1. The official time was 0:54 of round five.

—

The next ProBox show (Wednesday, May 8) will have an international cast with fighters from Kazakhstan, Japan, Mongolia, and the United Kingdom. In the main event, Liverpool’s Robbie Davies Jr will make his U.S. debut against the California-based Kazakh Sergey Lipinets.

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Haney-Garcia Redux with the Focus on Harvey Dock

Published

4 days ago

April 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Haney-Garcia-Redux-with-the-Focus-on-Harvey-Dock

Saturday’s skirmish between Ryan Garcia and WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney was a messy affair, and yet a hugely entertaining fight fused with great drama. In the aftermath, Garcia and Haney were celebrated – the former for fooling all the experts and the latter for his gallant performance in a losing effort – but there were only brickbats for the third man in the ring, referee Harvey Dock.

Devin Haney was plainly ahead heading into the seventh frame when there was a sudden turnabout when Garcia put him on the canvas with his vaunted left hook. Moments later, Dock deducted a point from Garcia for a late punch coming out of a break. The deduction forced a temporary cease-fire that gave Haney a few precious seconds to regain his faculties. Before the round was over, Haney was on the deck twice more but these were ruled slips.

The deduction, which effectively negated the knockdown, struck many as too heavy-handed as Dock hadn’t previously issued a warning for this infraction. Moreover, many thought he could have taken a point away from Haney for excessive clinching. As for Haney’s second and third trips to the canvas in round seven, they struck this reporter – watching at home – as borderline, sufficient to give referee Dock the benefit of the doubt.

In a post-fight interview, Ryan Garcia faulted the referee for denying him the satisfaction of a TKO. “At the end of the day, Harvey Dock, I think he was tripping,” said Garcia. “He could have stopped that fight.”

Those that played the rounds proposition, placing their coin on the “under,” undoubtedly felt the same way.

The internet lit up with comments assailing Dock’s competence and/or his character. Some of the ponderings were whimsical, but they were swamped by the scurrilous screeching of dolts who find a conspiracy under every rock.

Stephen A. Smith, reputedly America’s highest-paid TV sports personality, was among those that felt a need to weigh-in: “This referee is absolutely terrible….Unreal! Horrible officiating,” tweeted Stephen A whose primary area of expertise is basketball.

Harvey Dock

Dock fought as an amateur and had one professional fight, winning a four-round decision over a fellow novice on a show at a non-gaming resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He says that as an amateur he was merely average, but he was better than that, a New Jersey and regional amateur champion in 1993 and 1994 while a student New Jersey’s Essex County Community College where he majored in journalism.

A passionate fan of Sugar Ray Leonard, he started officiating amateur fights in 1998 and six years later, at age 32, had his first documented action at the professional level, working low-level cards in New Jersey. The top boxing referees, to a far greater extent than the top judges, had long apprenticeships, having worked their way up from the boonies and Dock is no exception.

Per boxrec, Haney vs Garcia was Harvey Dock’s 364^th assignment in the pros and his forty-second world title fight. Some of those title fights were title in name only, they weren’t even main events, but, bit by bit, more lucrative offerings started coming his way.

On May 13, 2023, Dock worked his first fights in Nevada, a 4-rounder and then a 12-rounder on a card at the Cosmopolitan topped by the 140-pound title fight between Rolly Romero and Ismael Barroso. It was the first time that this reporter got to watch Dock in the flesh.

Ironically (in hindsight), the card would be remembered for the actions of a referee, in this case Tony Weeks who handled the main event. Barroso was winning the fight on all three cards when Weeks stepped in and waived it off in the ninth round after Romero cornered Barroso against the ropes and let loose a barrage of punches, none of which landed cleanly. Few “premature stoppages” were ever as garishly, nay ghoulishly, premature.

With all the brickbats raining down on Weeks, I felt a need to tamp down the noise by diverting attention away from Tony Weeks and toward Harvey Dock and took to the TSS Forum to share my thoughts. Referencing the 12-rounder, a robust junior welterweight affair between Batyr Akhmedov and Kenneth Sims Jr, I noted that Dock’s Las Vegas debut went smoothly. He glided effortlessly around the ring, making him inconspicuous, the mark of a good referee. (This post ran on May 15, two days after the fight.)

Folks at the Nevada State Athletic Commission were also paying attention. Dock was back in Las Vegas the following week to referee the lightweight title fight between Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko and before the year was out, he would be tabbed to referee the biggest non-heavyweight fight of the year, the July 29 match in Las Vegas between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr.

The Haney-Garcia fight wasn’t Harvey Dock’s best hour, I’ll concede that, but a closer look at his full body of work informs us that he is an outstanding referee.

—

While the Haney-Garcia bout was in progress, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman threw everyone a curve ball, tweeting on “X” that Devin Haney would keep his title if he lost the fight. Everyone, including the TV commentators, was under the impression that the title would become vacant in the event that Haney lost.

Sulaiman cited the precedent of Corrales-Castillo II.

FYI: The Corrales-Castillo rematch, originally scheduled for June 3, 2005 and aborted on the day prior when Castillo failed to make weight, finally came off on Oct. 8 of that year, notwithstanding the fact that Castillo failed to make weight once again, scaling three-and-a-half pounds above the lightweight limit. He knocked out Corrales in the fourth round with a left hook that Las Vegas Review-Journal boxing writer Kevin Iole, alluding to the movie “Blazing Saddles,” described as Mongo-esque (translation: the punch would have knocked out a horse). After initially insisting on a rubber match, which had scant chance of happening, WBC president Jose Sulaiman, Mauricio’s late father, ruled that Corrales could keep his title.

Whether or not you agree with Mauricio Sulaiman’s rationale, the timing of his announcement was certainly awkward.

Haney’s mandatory is Spanish southpaw Sandor Martin (42-3, 15 KOs), a cutie best known for his 2021 upset of Mikey Garcia. A bout between Haney and Martin has the earmarks of a dull fight.

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