Erislandy Lara Santoya (25-3-3) boxed Brian Carlos Castano (15-0-1) to a puzzling draw last Saturday at the … continue
The “semi-final” label attached to this fight may be taking some of the glamor and luster away. The WBSS tourney has proved to be a great platform for premium boxing and has matched the best against the best, a rarity in our sport.
WBA cruiserweight champion Yunier Dorticos (22-0) from Cuba fought Russian boxer Dmitry Kudryashov (21-2) in San Antonio, Texas in a quarterfinal of the WBSS tournament with the WBA title on the line. The WBC Silver Title held by the Russian was not at stake.
The Triple G vs. Canelo showdown dwindled into a Big Drama Draw instead of the ‘show’ expected from a “Mexican style” fighter and a Mexican proper fighter. The champion who was labeled as one of the most avoided boxers needed a defining fight to meet fans expectations.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. made his professional debut 21 years ago and wasn’t a novice even then, he was a schooled and proven amateur with Olympic silver for credentials. He started as a super featherweight and grew up to (super) welterweight. This time the fight is contracted at light middleweight or 154 lbs., a comfortable limit considering the two years of inactivity/retirement for the boxing superstar.
Conor McGregor has some amateur boxing background but no official boxing fights to his name. He is an MMA phenomenon stretching his skills from 145 lbs to 170 lbs and has provided exciting fights garnished with foul language to keep the masses exhilarated. His strength as a martial artist is striking, especially hand strikes and he excels in his stand-up game against all comers in MMA.
The worst type of body shots land below the belt. A good body shot always hurts even when it’s legal and it hurts worse and longer than the usual head bang. Head punch KOs that cause unconsciousness are not perceived as very painful, if at all, while body shots keep the recipient awake and provide clean unobscured pain.
This week’s schedule is packed so tight with cruiserweight bouts that some good ones will probably be overlooked. Tonight’s card in Moscow which was supposed to be headlined by the heavyweight showdown between Deontay Wilder and Alexander Povetkin will go on with three cruiserweight bouts now headlined by Denis Lebedev. Beibut Shumenov will fight Junior Wright in Las Vegas with the WBA title at stake. There were two other interesting fights in the same weight class preceding the mainstream shows that deserve to be mentioned and were well worth watching.
Boxing has seen its fare share of ludicrous and irresponsible match-ups in the past but recently the outrage has become the norm. One mainstream title is being passed around without any regard of rankings, weight limits and boxers’ safety. Money can’t buy health.
The WBC middleweight title has become the black sheep of boxing. It is an illustration of the turmoil and disorder in the industry.
The WBC middleweight title has been kidnapped for ransom. Back in 2014 Miguel Cotto, an outstanding welter/super welterweight, caught a huge break when he was chosen to relieve ailing warhorse Sergio Martinez from his middleweight title. It is not clear how he qualified for a title fight at middleweight without having ever fought in this weight classs. He had lost his super welterweight title to Austin Trout and after that fought and TKOed Delvin Rodriguez in a non-title super welterweight bout. It would appear he was handpicked to succeed Sergio Martinez who was 39 at the time with a history of serious injuries and retired after the fight.
The fight will take place on May 7 at the Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany. Both boxers have been European champions before and both are managed by Sauerland. They have one more thing in common – each has lost a title fight to a Klitschko brother. Chisora went 12 rounds with Vitali Klitschko while Pulev was stopped by Wladimir in the 5th.
The European title meant a lot in the past when there was only one world champion. The European champion automatically earned the right to challenge the world champion. With the division and multiplication of the world championship, the European championship lost its ground and digressed into a minor trophy with insignificant commercial value. There is still only one European title but unlike the amateurs, the pros care little about it.