Diego’s Spit Bucket: A Clumsy Come-Hither for GGG-Martirosyan and More

The Spit Bucket is your weekly source of random thoughts, opinions and comments about the Manly Art, compiled by TSS boxing writer Diego Morilla. Follow us every week at #SBatTSS and @TSSboxingnews

Somewhere Beyond the Sea

We hear a lot about Mexico vs. Puerto Rico, or Argentina vs. Colombia, or… well… real Mexicans vs. California Mexicans. But there’s a rivalry flying under the radar that is about to get real pretty real soon. Yes, it’s the Caspian Sea rivalry, a bitter dispute between former members of the old Soviet Union in the Caucasus region. That’s where Gennady Golovkin (born in Karaganda, Kazakhstan) and Vanes Martirosyan (born in Abovyan, Armenia) come from, and that’s presumably one of the very few and rather weak selling points for a fight between this unlikely couple.

After all, there’s gotta be something you can use to promote a fight between a guy who made his career at 154 and has been inactive for the better part of two years and one of the most devastating punchers in all of boxing who has even been discussing a possible jump to super middleweight. And on short notice, to boot.

Size, experience, record, recent activity and just plain ol’ common sense point towards another GGG win, perhaps with another highlight-reel knockout against a fighter who has not yet been stopped. So what do you do to boost the chances of this fight not being a complete failure at the box office? Find a dormant regional rivalry (knowing the area and its history, I am pretty sure some of GGG and Martirosyan’s folks have faced each other in the battlefield at some point in the last 800 years) and twist it into a personal beef between the two. Martirosyan has said that he will “pack the place with Armenians,” a not very difficult task given that the StubHub is a stone’s throw from Glendale, an Armenian stronghold in California. With some luck, we’ll have yet another rivalry to talk about in boxing for years to come.– Diego M. Morilla

Canelo’s Beef with GGG Gets Real

Speaking about “funny ways to promote a fight” and “beef getting personal,” let’s talk about Abel Sanchez. What’s with that beef-eating, sanctimonious hidden message in that video promo for a well-known sports apparel brand? If you haven’t seen it, here it is:

“Superhuman power requires a special ingredient…and it’s called hard work,” says Sanchez, while he digs into a rather tasty looking piece of meat. Quite obviously, the whole thing is a cheap shot at Canelo Alvarez and his claim that the level of clenbuterol found in his blood in two consecutive drug tests was due to the presence of this substance in Mexican bovine meat. But let’s break this down a bit further: you lost a big payday, you’re pissed about almost wasting weeks, if not months, of training and now being forced to fight someone else for less money, and you feel like gloating a little bit and showing off for your fans. We’re good up to that point. But at some point in the future, someone is going to sit across that table from you, and there will be a completely different type of beef on the table. I am talking about the negotiation for the eventual mid-September Canelo comeback fight against GGG, of course, and how pointless antics like this one may predispose your already embattled foe to look elsewhere for a payday in which he is the main course, and not the other way around. You feel me?

I still feel Canelo will look to fight GGG in September, of course, but if a few silly antics like this one rub His Frecklesness the wrong way and he decides to make someone else a millionaire, please remember that we warned you about it here first. Revenge is a dish better served cold – or medium rare, in this case. — Diego M. Morilla

Oscar De La Hoya Involved in Yet Another Sex Scandal

It looks like it’s trouble time for Oscar De La Hoya once again. The Golden Boy Promotions promoter and former multiple champion appears to be involved in another scandal. According to a story in England’s Daily Mail, two women are attempting to extort him by demanding two million dollars to avoid posting a video in which he appears to be making sexually explicit poses.

The report claims that De La Hoya met these two models through an Instagram dating service and after exchanging a few messages he invited them to an apartment in Pasadena, California, where a kitchen appliance ended up becoming an important prop during an afternoon of sex that the ladies in question took the trouble to capture on video. Or so goes the story.

Sources close to the conflict have indicated that the FBI is on the case already, but this has not been confirmed. The scandal exploded when celebrity agent Kevin Blatt said that he had a copy of the video in his possession. “I was contacted by someone who claimed to be an Instagram model, and she put me in touch with another lady,” said Blatt, who expressed that he had watched about 30 minutes of a sex video in which De La Hoya allegedly appears. “I’ve received a few similar videos, but this one is extremely embarrassing.”– J.J. Álvarez

 “Prince” Cuadras, Suspended and Awaiting a Hearing

The rematch between Francisco “El Gallo” Estrada and Carlos “El Príncipe” Cuadras has fallen like a house of cards. It was being planned to take place in Mexico a few days after the end of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but it is officially off. Why? Cuadras has been suspended by the WBC due to a possible doping case that required the intervention of the sanctioning body, where the fighter is expected to appear in order to clarify the situation. However, there are doubts related to this subject, because WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman expressed that the fighter didn’t really fail any tests nor tested positive after his bout, this time a defeat at the hands of Puerto Rico’s McWilliams Arroyo back in February. “He has been suspended for failures in the protocol of banned substances. He is out of the world rankings and the matter is being taken care of.” According to a report by ESPN, however, the Cuadras case may be related to a presumed case of recreational drugs and not a performance-enhancement drug case. – J.J. Álvarez

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