Boxing Notes

Catching up on a few notes from the boxing world before the weekend's bouts and first, a big shout out to Vincent Samano, who I was fortunate enough (More on this during the road trip posts) to meet in Akron.
Vince made a special visit to meet me and I loved talking to him about the fight game.
What a great guy and I only wish I had more time to talk about the past greats in the game.

Ramon Malpica did send me his picks for the two fight card on ESPN from Top Rank before I left town and I ran out of time to post them for the boxing challenge.
Ramon (and I) each picked the winners correctly, but I'm not going to add them to the total for the challenge.
As boring as the main event was (Gilberto Ramirez winning a dull unanimous decision over Roamer Angulo to retain his WBO super middleweight belt), the co-feature was about as good as you are going to find as Alex Saucedo defeated Lenny Zappavigna in the sixth round when Zappavigna's corner tossed in the proverbial towel midway through the stanza.
The term "War" is somewhat overused in boxing, but it is accurate in this case with both fighters badly hurt during the fight and both fighters battling through awful cuts, the title eliminator to determine the mandatory contender for newly crowned WBO junior welterweight champion Maurice Hooker has a legitimate case for fight of the year- it was that good.

James DeGale decided to vacate his IBF super middleweight title rather than face the interim champion Jose Uzcategui in a mandated bout.
Uzcategui was elevated to the full titleist and mandated to fight Caleb Plant in his first defense.
The exciting Uzcategui won the interim strap with a pounding of Andre Dirrell, who retired in his corner in February and looks to me to be entering his prime.
Plant, on the other hand, has defeated just one top 30 fighter (a decision over Porky Medina), is one of the more boring fighters to see, in my opinion, is a creation of Al Haymon's PBC, where Plant dates PBC reporter Jordan Hardy and is a thoroughly undeserving challenger.
As for DeGale, as much as I'd like to hit him for ducking Uzcategui, I understand why he gave the title up as he has a possible bout with the winner of the WBSS super middleweight final between George Groves and Callum Smith for far more money than Uzcategui and roughly the same risk.

The second year of the World Boxing Super Series will have American television with Eddie Hearn's streaming service DAZN.
This year, the WBSS will feature three weight classes with bantamweights, junior welterweights, and another division to be determined.
I wonder about the long-term viability of DAZN as sooner or later there comes a breaking point for all consumers for extra channels etc and DAZN is expected to be in the range of 20-25 dollars a month, more than Showtime and far more than ESPN+.

I've been critical on occasion of Golden Boy Promotions, but give them credit for caring somewhat about boxing fans and their wallet with an agreement to show cards on Facebook.
Their first event looks to be a pretty decent one with WBA "regular" (Yuck) featherweight champion Jesus Rojas defending his minor trinket against Joseph Diaz, who recently lost a decision to WBC champion Gary Russell on Showtime.
I always like when quality shows are available for free as that is how the interest in the product grows.
To me, boxing lost its way in the 1990's when the sport went away from the networks and moved almost exclusively to premium cable and pay per view.
Returning and using various different avenues to have their products find their way to the eyes to any potential fans is always a great idea.

I'm going to try to return with a road trip post tonight...