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Avila Perspective, Chap. 203: Canelo-GGG 3 and More

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 203: Canelo-GGG 3 and More

Prizefighting in the middleweight division is best described as ferocious throughout boxing history from Bob Fitzsimmons to Harry Greb to Sugar Ray Robinson to James Toney.

Middleweights long have been boxing’s fiercest warriors and capable of ending a fight with a single blow, even against heavyweights.

On Saturday we see yet another example with Mexico’s redhead warrior Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs) defending the super middleweight world championship against Kazakhstan’s Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. DAZN pay-per-view will stream the Matchroom Boxing card.

Over the past 10 years the two middleweights have bludgeoned foes in their own differing methods until they finally met each other in the prize ring back in September 2017. They did it again a year later, but it’s taken four years to resume the battle and this time at super middleweight.

They seem to disdain each other.

“He is not a nice guy,” said Alvarez when asked his opinion on Golovkin. “He fools you.”

Over the years Golovkin has taken indirect jabs at Canelo with accusations of PED use and lack of popularity among Mexicans. It’s a primary reason that it took four years to get them back in the ring.

Mexico’s Alvarez has always taken the road of accepting stout challenges that others refused. Despite being only 5’8” in height, the redhead eagerly met many of the best fighters of the last 20 years. He began fighting professionally at age 15 and in his third pro bout defeated future lightweight world champion Miguel “Titere” Vazquez by split decision.

Triple G took the amateur route and won middleweight silver in the 2004 Olympic Games in Greece the same year America’s Andre Ward won gold. Then he signed with a European promoter and was shoved to the back of the room in favor of German fighters. K-2 Promotions saw him perform, signed him, and he was brought to America.

Golovkin has always fought at middleweight even in the amateurs. As a pro he bludgeoned his way to victory under the guidance of Abel Sanchez and his Mexican style boxing.

Mexican-born Canelo Alvarez thrived under his pressure style fighting until he met Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013. That forced the Guadalajara team to evolve to a boxer-puncher style that led him to world titles in the super welterweight, middleweight, light heavyweight and super middleweight divisions. No other Mexican fighter can claim to be a four-division world champion. Not even the great Julio Cesar Chavez.

That irks fans about Canelo.

Chavez is adored and revered by Mexicans, many who never actually saw him fight. Canelo is strangely seen as someone who fought easy fights despite clashing with Mayweather, Miguel Cotto, Daniel Jacobs and Sergey Kovalev.

When Golovkin mentioned Canelo’s lack of popularity among his own people it seemed to spark intense bitterness in the Mexican redhead.

Back in 2017, their first fight ended in a draw with Golovkin on attack mode and Canelo in a hit and move style. Their second fight saw Canelo stand toe-to-toe with Golovkin and emerge the winner. That was four years ago when Alvarez was 28 and Golovkin 36.  Age is now a factor.

Golovkin no longer trains under Abel Sanchez’s guidance and Alvarez is coming off a loss. But still, these are the two most ferocious middleweights of their era and a world awaits the outcome once again. This time at super middleweight. That’s Canelo’s territory and he owns all the belts at the moment.

“I feel it’s the biggest fight for boxing right now. I feel strong, I feel ready,” said Golovkin. “We’re both professional athletes. In the ring we shall show who is better.”

Its one thing Alvarez agrees on.

“I’m happy to be back in the ring. I lost my last fight but we’re men and we’re back,” said Alvarez talking about his lost to Dmitry Bivol last May. “I have a strong opponent in front, an intelligent foe and nothing in life is easy. It’s going to be difficult but it’s what I want.”

Bam is Back

One meteoric star featured on a Matchroom card yet again is WBC super flyweight titlist Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (16-0) who quickly returns again and this time faces Mexico’s Israel Gonzalez (28-4-1) in a title defense on Saturday in Las Vegas. It’s Rodriguez’s third fight in seven months.

Gotta make that money.

“I want to solidify that I’m Fighter of the Year,” said Rodriguez, 22, at the Thursday press conference. “This fight is going to turn me from a star to a super star. They’re going to remember this fight forever.”

Rodriguez wowed fans when he stopped Thailand’s feared Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in the eighth round of their title clash last June. It’s only been three months and Bam is back in the ring. He’s a hungry fighter.

Bam and his brother Joshua Franco hold two of the four major super flyweight world titles. Franco has the WBA version.

Jake Paul in LA

Jake Paul officially announced in Los Angeles on Tuesday that he will fight MMA legend Anderson “Spyder” Silva on Oct. 29, in Phoenix, Arizona. The cruiserweight boxing contest will take place at Gila Arena and be shown on Showtime pay-per-view.

It could be the biggest “social influencer fight” so far.

“It’s my toughest fight,” admits Paul.

One thing Paul has in his favor is his solid chin and big punch ability.

Silva, a former MMA great, also boxed and showed off his pugilistic skills with a solid victory over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. He’s an experienced pro fighter with knockout power and experience in pacing himself in a fight. His one drawback is a weak chin. It’s a solid and interesting match up sure to entice fans to attend the eight-round match or watch in on television.

Another advantage Paul possesses is an innate ability to promote a fight with fiery talk or hype. It’s a rare quality not often found in the boxing world.

“I respect the man, but I’m still going to knock him out,” said Paul.

LA Influencer-driven card disappoints

Last week another influencer fight card took place at the Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles and no one showed up.

What did it prove?

Despite multiple participants possessing millions of social media followers, that alone does not guarantee large attendance or viewers.

Promoters think millions of followers mean lots of business. It doesn’t. Many of these influencers buy their followers and many others have worldwide followers who like their content but do not like boxing.

Another example was prize contender Ryan Garcia who has millions of followers on social media and his promoter counted on those resulting in ticket buys. They did little promoting and ignored the usual methods of newspaper and web site coverage and sadly discovered social media numbers do not translate to ticket buyers. Only 7,000 fans showed up at Crypto.com Arena this past July. They expected something near 18,000.

Fights to Watch

Fri. ESPN+ 4 p.m. Arslanbek Makhmudov (14-0) vs Carlos Takam (39-6-1)

Sat. DAZN ppv 5 p.m. Saul Alvarez (57-2-2) vs Gennady Golovkin (42-1-1); Jesse Rodriguez (16-0) vs Israel Gonzalez (28-4-1); Ali Akhmedov (18-1) vs Gabe Rosado (26-15-1); Ammo Williams (11-0) vs Kieron Conway (18-2-1).

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Mercito Gesta Victorious Over Jojo Diaz at the Long Beach Pyramid

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LONG BEACH, CA.-Those in the know knew Mercito Gesta and Jojo Diaz would be a fight to watch and they delivered.

Gesta emerged the winner in a super lightweight clash between southpaws that saw the judges favor his busier style over Diaz’s body attack and bigger shots and win by split decision on Saturday.

Despite losing the main event because the star was overweight, Gesta (34-3-3, 17 KOs) used an outside method of tactic to edge past former world champion Diaz (32-4-1, 15 KOs) in front of more than 5,000 fans at the Pyramid.

The speedy Gesta opened up the fight with combination punching up and down against the peek-a-boo style of Diaz. For the first two rounds the San Diego fighter overwhelmed Diaz though none of the blows were impactful.

In the third round Diaz finally began unloading his own combinations and displaying the fast hands that helped him win world titles in two divisions. Gesta seemed stunned by the blows, but his chin held up. The counter right hook was Diaz’s best weapon and snapped Gesta’s head back several times.

Gesta regained control in the fifth round after absorbing big blows from Diaz. He seemed to get angry that he was hurt and opened up with even more blows to send Diaz backpedaling.

Diaz targeted his attack to Gesta’s body and that seemed to slow down Gesta. But only for a round.

From the seventh until the 10th each fighter tried to impose their style with Gesta opening up with fast flurries and Diaz using right hooks to connect with solid shots. They continued their method of attack until the final bell. All that mattered was what the judges preferred.

After 10 rounds one judge saw Diaz the winner 97-93 but two others saw Gesta the winner 99-91, 98-92. It was a close and interesting fight.

“I was expecting nothing. I was the victor in this fight and we gave a good fight,” said Gesta. “It’s not an easy fight and Jojo gave his best.”

Diaz was surprised by the outcome but accepted the verdict.

Everything was going good. I thought I was landing good body shots,” said Diaz. “I was pretty comfortable.”

Other Bouts

Mexico’s Oscar Duarte (25-1-1, 20 KOs) knocked out Chicago’s Alex Martin (18-5, 6 KOs) with a counter right hand after dropping him earlier in the fourth round. The super lightweight fight was stopped at 1:14 of the round.

A battle between undefeated super welterweights saw Florida’s Eric Tudor (8-0, 6 KOs) emerge the winner by unanimous decision after eight rounds versus Oakland’s Damoni Cato-Cain.

The taller Tudor showed polished skill and was not bothered by a large cut on his forehead caused by an accidental clash of heads. He used his jab and lead rights to defuse the attacks of the quick-fisted southpaw Cato-Cain. The judges scored the fight 80-72 and 78-74 twice for Tudor.

San Diego’s Jorge Chavez (5-0, 4 KOs) needed less than one round to figure out Nicaragua’s Bryan Perez (12-17-1, 11 KOs) and send him into dreamland with a three-punch combination. No need to count as referee Ray Corona waved the fight over. Perez shot a vicious right followed by another right and then a see-you-later left hook at 3.00 of the first round of the super featherweight match.

Photo credit: Al Applerose

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Jojo Diaz’s Slump Continues; Mercito Gesta Prevails on a Split Decision

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At age 30, Jojo Diaz’s career is on the skids. The 2012 U.S. Olympian, a former world title holder at 126 and 130 pounds and an interim title holder at 135, Diaz suffered his third straight loss tonight, upset by Mercito Gesta who won a split decision at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, CA.. The scoring was strange with Gesta winning nine of the 10 rounds on one of the cards and only three rounds on another. The tie-breaker, as it were, was a 98-92 tally for Gesta and even that didn’t capture the flavor of what was a closely-contested fight.

Originally listed as a 12-rounder, the match was reduced to 10 and that, it turned out, did Diaz no favors. However, it’s hard to feel sorry for the former Olympian as he came in overweight once again, having lost his 130-pound title on the scales in February of 2021.

Diaz also has issues outside the ropes. Best elucidated by prominent boxing writer Jake Donovan, they include a cluster of legal problems stemming from an arrest for drunk driving on Feb. 27 in the LA suburb of Claremont.

With the defeat, Diaz’s ledger declined to 32-4-1. His prior losses came at the hands of Gary Russell Jr, Devin Haney, and William Zepeda, boxers who are collectively 83-2. Mercito Gesta, a 35-year-old San Diego-based Filipino, improved to 34-3-3.

Co-Feature

Chihuahua, Mexico super lightweight Oscar Duarte has now won nine straight inside the distance after stopping 33-year-old Chicago southpaw Alex Martin in the eighth frame. Duarte, the busier fighter, had Martin on the deck twice in round eight before the fight was waived off.

Duarte improved to 25-1-1 (20). Martin, who reportedly won six national titles as an amateur and was once looked upon as a promising prospect, declined to 18-5.

Other Bouts of Note

New Golden Boy signee Eric Tudor, a 21-year-old super welterweight from Fort Lauderdale, overcame a bad laceration over his right eye, the result of an accidental clash of heads in round four, to stay unbeaten, advancing to 8-0 (6) with a hard-fought unanimous 8-round decision over Oakland’s Damoni Cato-Cain. The judges had it 80-72 and 78-74 twice. It was the first pro loss for Cato-Cain (7-1-1) who had his first five fights in Tijuana.

In the DAZN opener, lanky Hawaian lightweight Dalis Kaleiopu went the distance for the first time in his young career, improving to 4-0 (3) with a unanimous decision over 36-year-old Colombian trial horse Jonathan Perez (40-35). The scores were 60-52 across the board. There were no knockdowns, but Perez, who gave up almost six inches in height, had a point deducted for a rabbit punch and another point for deducted for holding.

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‘Big Baby’ Wins the Battle of Behemoths; TKOs ‘Big Daddy’ in 6

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Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne weighed in at a career-high 277 pounds for today’s battle in Dubai with Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller, but he was the lighter man by 56 pounds. It figured that one or both would gas out if the bout lasted more than a few stanzas.

It was a war of attrition with both men looking exhausted at times, and when the end came it was Miller, at age 34 the younger man by nine years, who had his hand raised.

Browne was the busier man, but Miller, whose physique invites comparison with a rhinoceros, hardly blinked as he was tattooed with an assortment of punches. He hurt ‘Bid Daddy’ in round four, but the Aussie held his own in the next frame, perhaps even forging ahead on the cards, but only postponing the inevitable.

In round six, a succession of right hands knocked Browne on the seat of his pants. He beat the count, but another barrage from Miller impelled the referee to intervene. The official time was 2:33. It was the 21st straight win for Miller (26-0-1, 22 KOs). Browne declined to 31-4 and, for his own sake, ought not fight again. All four of his losses have come inside the distance, some brutally.

The consensus of those that caught the livestream was that Floyd Mayweather Jr’s commentary was an annoying distraction that marred what was otherwise an entertaining show.

As for what’s next for “Big Baby” Miller, that’s hard to decipher as he has burned his bridges with the sport’s most powerful promoters. One possibility is Mahmoud Charr who, like Miller, has a big gap in his boxing timeline. Now 38 years old, Charr – who has a tenuous claim on a WBA world title (don’t we all?) —  has reportedly taken up residence in Dubai.

Other Bouts of Note

In a 10-round cruiserweight affair, Suslan Asbarov, a 30-year-old Russian, advanced to 4-0 (1) with a hard-fought majority decision over Brandon Glanton. The judges had it 98-92, 97-93, and a more reasonable 95-95.

Asbarov was 12-9 in documented amateur fights and 1-0 in a sanctioned bare-knuckle fight, all in Moscow, entering this match. He bears watching, however, as Glanton (18-2) would be a tough out for almost anyone in his weight class. In his previous fight, at Plant City, Florida, Glanton lost a controversial decision to David Light, an undefeated Australian who challenges WBO world title-holder Lawrence Okolie at Manchester, England next week.

A 10-round super featherweight match between former world title challengers Jono Carroll and Miguel Marriaga preceded the semi-windup. Carroll, a 30-year-old Dublin southpaw, overcame a cut over his left eye suffered in the second round to win a wide unanimous decision in a fairly entertaining fight.

It was the sixth straight win for Carroll (24-2-1, 7 KOs) who elevated his game after serving as a sparring partner for Devin Haney. Marriaga, a 36-year-old Colombian, lost for the fourth time in his last five outings, declining to 30-7.

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