The Biggest HITS and MISSES from Boxing’s Latest Weekend

The Biggest HITS and MISSES from Boxing’s Latest Weekend

It was another slow weekend in boxing, from an American-centric perspective anyway. All eyes were pointed to the upcoming Super Bowl between the two best teams in the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. But there was still enough boxing to watch over the weekend around the world so long as one committed to doing it.

Here were the biggest HITS and MISSES boxing’s latest weekend.

HIT – Clay Collard’s Huge Upset of Previously Unbeaten Prospect 

Nobody expected middleweight Clay Collard (pictured on the left) to defeat Raymond Guajardo on Saturday night during the PBC on FS1 preliminary card at Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Miss. Heck, I’m not even sure Collard expected to win since he was so adamant beforehand that it would be his last boxing match before trying his hand at the Professional Fighters League MMA tournament later this year. But Collard, who formerly appeared in the UFC, dominated and stopped Guajardo in the second round in a terrific slugfest. It was an amazing and unexpected performance. Now Collard has way more opportunities than he would have before, and Guajardo has a ton of stuff to work on before moving on to his next fight. Boxing is the theater of the unexpected, and Collard-Guajardo was exactly the type of fight that makes the sport such a joy to behold each and every weekend.

MISS – Celebrity Pro Boxers Who Don’t Know How To Box

Technically, YouTuber Anesongib’s first-round knockout loss to fellow internet celebrity Jake Paul happened on Thursday evening at Meridian at Island Gardens in Miami, Fl., but since the card was so long and drawn out by DAZN for some reason, it lasted into the wee hours of Friday morning in some time zones. That makes it fair game for comment here. DAZN and promoter Eddie Hearn have a huge stake in celebrity boxing matches right now because it means they can sell more DAZN subscriptions to the masses. It’s not a bad grift (as grifts go), especially since everyone involved in it seems to know what it is and why they’re doing it. But it’s one thing to let the likes of Jake Paul, older brother Logan Paul and rival YouTube phenom KSI throw hands without headgear. It’s quite another thing to include Anesongib, who is one of the worst boxers I’ve ever seen in my entire life. It’s clear he didn’t do any serious training or even learn how to hit a heavy bag before his encounter with Paul. Subscriptions or not, there’s no good reason to ever let anyone with that kind of poor skillset into a professional boxing ring.

HIT – Fox’s Super Bowl Commercials for Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury 2 PPV

There they were, two undefeated heavyweight boxers, basking in the glory of their very own Super Bowl commercial. That was quite the sight to behold, especially in 2020 which most people would admit is far removed from boxing’s glory days. Look, the first fight only sold 325,000 PPVs last year, and historically most rematches, no matter how good they are, don’t outperform the original. But this one has the chance to certainly do that. With the might of both Fox Sports and ESPN behind it and the intriguing storyline of the split draw last year, Wilder vs. Fury 2 should turn out to be the biggest heavyweight fight in recent history. Will the buy rate reach 2 million like promoter Bob Arum claims? Not even close. But it’s nice to see the promoters and TV networks involved in the massively important heavyweight bout doing every single thing they can to sell it to the general public.

MISS – Rumble in the Jungle 2?  

It looks like famed boxing promoter Don King decided to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Rumble in the Jungle in the least celebratory way possible: by leveraging its namesake for a vacant cruiserweight title bout between Ilunga Makabu and Michel Cieslak. This isn’t to discredit either fighter involved in what turned out to be a solid fight for one of the legitimate world titles in boxing. But Muhammad Ali’s eighth-round knockout over previously undefeated heavyweight menace George Foreman in 1974 was one of the most celebrated and important fights in boxing history. There was certainly a way to promote the Makabu-Cieslak event on its own without dragging such a pristine piece of boxing lore into the mix. Still, Makabu scored the important win and now adds another interesting storyline to the oft-overlooked cruiserweight division. It’s not nearly the most popular weight class in boxing, but it typically produces high-quality fights.

HIT – Crafty Cuban Welterweight Yordenis Ugas Getting Semi-Huge Spotlight 

Maybe it wasn’t strange in the grand scheme of things for boxing’s Saturday night to be so light on action. It was Super Bowl weekend, after all, and all eyes were pointed toward the NFL. But Cuban welterweight Yordenis Ugas walked down Mike Dallas to score a seventh-round stoppage in an important bout for the 33-year-old welterweight, and it was nice to see him positioned in a place where all eyes in boxing would have to be pointed toward him. Ugas scored the win in the main event of the PBC on FS1 in Mississippi.

Ugas seems like the odd man out in the PBC’s cadre of welterweight stars, but he probably shouldn’t be. Shawn Porter barely got past Ugas via split decision last year in a fight some people believe Ugas deserved to win, and the crafty boxer is likely to play spoiler someday soon against the PBC’s bigger celebrities at 147. Ugas has won 10 of his last 11 fights. Someday he’ll be pitted against the likes of Porter, Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia or Errol Spence, if anything since the PBC seems so against letting them fight each other enough times by now to tell the complete story. But Ugas is legit. When he gets those fights, don’t be surprised to see him play the role of spoiler.

Photo credit: Stephanie Trapp / TGB Promotions

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