For years now welterweight has been the centre of attention in the boxing world. Big names such as Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao amongst others have lured fighters from 135-140 and 154 to alter their natural weight to compete in the biggest events in the sport for huge exposure and enormous paydays.
In boxing now the best thing that can happen to a fighter is to land a fight with Mayweather. Win or lose they are guaranteed the biggest purse of their careers.
UK heavyweight Dillian Whyte fought his first decent heavyweight in Marcelo Luiz Nascimento (17-8-0 15KO) on 7th February 2015. Whyte made short work of the Brazilian heavyweight in getting him out of there in the second round.
Whyte has not been getting the same attention as Anthony Joshua, but is a decent prospect in his own right. This was the fastest Nascimento had been stopped and should propel Whyte into some better fights. I think this is the kind of performance which give him and his team the confidence to pursue some better opposition.
Anthony Joshua has had a fast paced career so far in the pro ranks. Ten fights in his first year as a pro, all wins by knockout. The level of competition has been on a steep rise also, rising from unknown fighters to serious journeymen type opponents in the very first year. It is likely that he will be fighting Kevin Johnson in his next two fights and this is the kind of guy who Dereck Chisora, Manuel Charr, Tyson Fury and Alex Leapai are fighting well into the prime of their careers. Joshua is expected to become the first man to stop Johnson in that fight.
The trainer for ‘Triple G’ Gennady Golovkin called out Andre Ward and his team in a recent interview with FightHype. In the interview he said that Ward shouldn’t mention Golovkins name is they were not willing to put money on the table in the form of a fight offer. Andre Ward is the guy who has Jay-Z in his corner and is generally regarded as the A side in the fight due to his victory in the super-six tournament so it is down to him to contact Golovkins people and start negotiations for the fight.
I do understand the problems Golovkin and his team are facing as the fighter has become a victim of his own success. In the destruction of each and every opponent they have faced, they have scared off the top names in the business.
Brandon Rios (33-2-1 24KO) is in a good place in the boxing world right now after a surprisingly quick dispatching of rival fighter Mike Alvarado in January. This fight was a bit of an anticlimactic finish for what was a good trilogy, but nevertheless has left Rios with a good choice of opposition for his next fight.
As always the welterweight division has a long list of names which would be good fights for Rios including a bout with newly crowned IBF champion Kell Brook or a boxer vs brawler type matchup with former champion Timothy Bradley who seems to have a stalled career after his first loss and draw in 2014. Another interesting fight, which would be ideal, but is also unlikely would be a catch-weight bout with the winner of Provodnikov vs Matthysse in another war.
Robert Garcia, brother and trainer of two weight world champion Mikey Garcia has said that the return is planed for this year and should take place before April.
Mikey has been out of the ring since his unanimous decision over Juan Carlos Burgos in January of 2014 meaning he has now been inactive for over a year and this could be fourteen or fifteen months by the time he is active again.
Whether or not ring rust could be a factor in his return is unknown at this stage but it wouldn’t be the first time a prospect came back from a layoff and was not the same fighter. Nevertheless it is good that his team and Top Rank seem to have resolved their issues and are getting the fighter back in the ring.
In 2012 Peter Quillin won the WBO middleweight title and defended it three times before vacating in 2014. His WBO mandatory challenger was Matt Korobov who was undefeated in 24 contests with 14 knockouts and Quillin opted to vacate the title rather than face his mandatory.
Andy Lee then got the opportunity and surprised everyone by pulling off the upset in a thrilling knockout comeback in the sixth. Now that Korobov is out of the picture and the title rests with Andy Lee who has been stopped twice previously in his career, Quillin wants back into the title picture and is being given a shot at Lees newly aquired title. My question is, why are the WBO allowing this?
In a recent interview with Fighthype, Danny Garcia made it clear that Lamont Peterson would not beat him in their bout scheduled for April 11th 2015. In the interview Garcia pointed to Petersons two losses in the past at the hands of Lucas Matthysse and Timothy Bradley as big indicators as to what was going to happen. Garcia also mentioned the fact that he was undefeated and had never even be knocked down in his twenty-nine fight pro career.
Certainly this is one of the best matchups to be made in the 140lb weight class, but how much of a chance does Peterson really have in this fight? The interviewer asked if Peterson had the power to trouble Garcia and Danny replied by saying ‘I don’t think he has power.’
In an interview with IFL TV, Eddie Hearn can be quoted as saying ‘of course we want the Mayweather fight, but I am not going to start shouting it out because I think we have to do more to get it.’
In the half hour interview with IFL TV Eddie Hearn discussed many things including British fighters Amir Khan, Carl Froch, James DeGale and George Groves, but he also discussed the future of his fighter Kell Brook who will be coming back from a stab wound to defend his IBF title against Jo Jo Dan on the 28th March 2015.
David Price has been making news again with talk of a world title opportunity coming somewhere between 12 and 24 months time. He has said that his fight against little known Irineu Beato Costa Jr is the first step on a road to his deserved world title shot.
This talk has to be seen as nonsense at this point as he has not done anything since his back-to-back knockout losses to Tony Thompson to suggest he is able to fight at world level. He also does not have plans in the works to put him on the map as a contender in the heavyweight division.