Boxing Challenge: Canelo Decisions GGG

    Canelo Alvarez dominated the first two-thirds of the fight and held off a late Gennady Golovkin rally to win a unanimous decision to retain the world super middleweight title Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Alvarez kept a curiously reticent Golovkin from throwing more than his jab until late in the fight and Golovkin looked every bit of a fighter that saw openings but was simply too slow to fire and take advantage offensively.

Golovkin did win three of the final four rounds on my card and the fourth could have gone to either fighter but never seriously troubled Canelo, who was content to sit on a lead and cruise home.

The decision was closer than I expected with two scores of 115-113 and one at 116-112 (my score was 117-111 for Canelo) and other than the tenth round, I didn't see any other round that was difficult to score.

It almost had the feel of judges "trying to make things right" from the first two fights by giving Golovkin any close rounds.

I compare it to the second fight between Marco Antonio Barrera where Barrera was felt to have beaten Morals in their first fight and so much was made of it that the judges went overboard for Barrera in the second fight and arguably gave the fight to Barrera when Morales likely deserved the edge.

For Golovkin, I think he should consider retirement.

GGG does have something remaining but as in his win over Ryota Murata, it's taking him far too long to get started and against the top fighters in his weight class (es), GGG could be giving away rounds at the beginning of fights that will eventually cost him against a fighter below his level.

Besides, I really don't see a big money fight for him as he just lost to the champion at super middleweight and while he could return to middle to defend his WBA and IBF titles, the only semi-attractive fight might be a unification bout against WBC champion Jermall Charlo and even that has lost some shine with GGG's loss and Charlo's inactivity along with questionable opposition.

WBO champion Janibek Alimkhanuly would be for GGG as Golovkin once was for Sergio Martinez, Miguel Cotto, and Canelo himself- a high risk for a very low reward.

As for Canelo, the natural fight is against David Benavidez, although some will think Jermall Charlo with others pushing for Demetrius Andrade.

Benavidez at least tries to stay active while Charlo and Andrade have fought some less than distinguished challengers and while that may not be completely their fault in all cases, I'd like to see either beat a solid contender before a Canelo chance.

Canelo will likely activate his option for a rematch against WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol but Bivol has to get past mandatory contender in undefeated former WBO super middleweight king Gilberto Ramirez and that's far from an easy affair for Bivol.

Should Ramirez upend Bivol in what would be a mild but not massive upset, Canelo vs Ramirez in an All-Mexican battle would make all the sense for the long-rumored Canelo attempt to break the boxing attendance record for one fight in Mexico City.

I'd also wonder why Canelo has been outworked down the stretch in each of his last two fights?

Is it possible that we have seen the best that Alvarez may have had to offer in the ring and a slow decline could be starting now?

It's a fair question and one to consider.

In fights that I have not watched as of this writing

Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez retained his WBC junior bantamweight title over Israel Gonzalez via unanimous decision in what has been reported as a very good fight that was closer than the scorecards would indicate.

Super middleweight Ali Akhmedov was reported to have won every round of his ten-rounder against warhorse Gabriel Rosado.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 159 Pts (3)
Ramon Malpica: 139 Pts (5)

Vince Samano: 128 Pts (4)

Boxing Challenge: GGG Stops Murata

    Due to not having watched everything, I will be writing about the Japanese card only in this post and will write about the other events later tonight.

From Saitama, Japan, Gennady Golovkin survived a strong attack from Ryota Murata over the first five rounds and controlled the fight thereafter before stopping the Japanese star in the ninth round.

The victory added the WBA middleweight title to that of the IBF championship that Golovkin already owned and set up a fall third fight against Canelo Alvarez, assuming that Alvarez wins his May fight against WBA light heavyweight king Dmitry Bivol.

Murata gave Golovkin plenty of problems in exchanges over the first five rounds and landed many body shots that Golovkin surely felt, including a third-round punch that appeared to affect Golovkin a bit.

However, Murata's attack slowed just as Golovkin began to get his gears running smoothly which led to Golovkin landing the better punches to both the head and the body in the sixth and seventh rounds, including a right hand in the sixth that sent Murata's mouthpiece flying from his mouth.

Murata appeared to be running on fumes and Golovkin hurt him in the eighth and I thought there was a chance that the fight could end in the corner.

Golovkin stepped up the workrate in the rate and sent Murata retreating around the ring in the ninth with Murata in deep trouble along the ropes for most of the round.

Finally, GGG landed a strong straight right that dropped Murata to his knees with the corner throwing in the towel before Murata could rise.

I had Golovkin leading 78-74  after eight rounds but if you had Murata a point closer I wouldn't quibble.

For Golovkin, he fought well enough to raise the intrigue of some for the third fight against Canelo but he also raised some concerns about his ability to take shots to his body.

If you feel them from Ryota Murata, you certainly will be vulnerable to those from Canelo Alvarez.

Golovkin's style is likely always going to be a problem for Canelo Alvarez like Ken Norton's was for Muhammad Ali.

Golovkin's jab is a power jab, not one to create distance like recent opponents of Canelo like Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant and he has the power that Canelo will have to respect that others have lacked.

Still, it's clear that GGG has lost some speed as Canelo moved into his prime, and Canelo will have to be the clear favorite going into the fight.

Assuming Canelo wins, he would finally have his clear win, and to most that will be enough.

However, keep this in mind- when Canelo defeated Miguel Cotto to win the middleweight title and dodged Golovkin for nearly three years, then-promoter Oscar De La Hoya kept claiming that Canelo "Needed time" to mature to the division before fighting the supposedly bigger (they have the same reach with Golovkin holding three inches in height) Golovkin.

Canelo is the fighter that is larger now and I'm not sure that the size factor will matter an extra than it could have then.

Canelo Alvarez will be remembered as a great fighter but even more than the judging in both fights and especially the first fight and even more than Adelaide Byrd, discerning boxing historians will always remember Alvarez putting GGG off for three years before their first to try to "age him out" and insisting on Golovkin, who thrived on fighting often, fighting less by hanging potential dates that could be ruined by cut eye etc, and after the second fight (I'll place the rematch waiting a year due to Clenbuterol aside), making Golovkin wait another four years for a third fight- that will be the historical cross that Canelo Alvarez will have to bear.

We will never know how Canelo Alvarez would done against a prime Gennady Golovkin because either Alvarez and his various promoters never would allow it to take place.

That's boxing for you.

In the co-feature, exciting WBO flyweight champion Junto Nakatani battered and bruised Ryota Yamauchi for eight rounds before the merciful ending in the eighth round.

The 5'7 southpaw nailed Yamauchi with huge shots in the first two rounds and swelling around the eyes of Yamauchi combined with a broken nose gave the challenger a beaten look even before the fight had reached its halfway point.

I had Nakatani leading 69-64 before the ending.

Nakatani might be the best flyweight in the world but with his height, he could do well with a rise in weight, and should he take advantage of a WBO rule that allows a champion of theirs to move up in weight and immediately become the mandatory challenger, Nakatani could face countryman Kazuto Ioka in what would a huge domestic fight in Japan for Ioka's junior bantamweight title.

Boxing Challenge-This total does not include the Saturday evening bouts.

TRS: 48 Pts (4)

Vince Samano: 44 Pts (1)

Ramon Malpica 40 Pts (2) 

Boxing Challenge: Golovkin crushes Szeremeta

 Hollywood, Florida was the scene, for some unknown reason, for the awaited return of Gennady Golovkin and although the opponent was weak in mandatory challenger Kamil Szeremeta, Golovkin's performance was not.

Golovkin knocked Szeremeta to the floor on four occasions (rounds one, two, four, and seven) and was seldom smacked in return before the fight was concluded with Szeremeta not being permitted to continue after the seventh round.

Golovkin did indeed look like the GGG of the past in retaining his IBF middleweight title and most of his reviews for the win were glowing, but the tough, but inept Szeremeta was in no way a top contender and he looked like a child yelling at a water hose to stop squirting him without moving to turn off the faucet against the jab and hooks fired at him by Golovkin.

For Golovkin, he showed that it's plausible that he may have been ill in his close decision victory over Sergey Dereyvanchenko and that he would have more than an average chance of defeating Canelo Alvarez, Demetrius Andrade, or any of the other rumored bouts for him in 2021.

As for Szeremeta, he is the latest in what is a growing list of uncompetitive IBF mandatory challengers in the sport.

The IBF may have the fairest manner of determining their mandatory contenders, as they qualify four fights and place the winners against each other to fight for the first and second spot in their rankings, with the winners facing off to be named the first or second contender.

The winners of those fights are supposed to fight each other for the mandatory spot, which basically gives a fighter three fights in a row where they are told who they are supposed to fight with all the promotional mess that comes with that.

Many fighters don't want to put up with that and fighters from around the world see this process as a way to move up the rankings, so they will participate.

If a fighter is supposed to fight in an elimination fight, a fighter many times advances up the rankings without fighting and that is how the IBF arrives at so many undeserving fighters in the mandatory position.

So the IBF does follow its own rules, which more often than not the WBA, WBC, and WBO do not, the problem is that the process is a flawed one.

The co-feature was an excellent fight in the super middleweight division with undefeated and untested fighters Ali Akhmedov and Carlos Gongora squared off and exchanged punches often over the twelve rounds.

Akhmedov got off to a strong start and rocked Gongora in the second and built a lead on the cards.

Gongora began to compose himself and turned the tide in the second half of the fight with several strong exchanges between the two fighters.

I had the fight even after ten, but Akhmedov put together a strong eleventh and led by one point on my scorecard entering the final round.

Akhmedov led on all three of the official cards as well and seemed to be the stronger fighter, but when the bell rang, Akhmedov immediately looked like a fighter with nothing left and Gongora went for broke against his exhausted opponent.

Two knockdowns later, Gongora had a come from behind shocker and should find himself in some if not all of the sanctioning bodies ratings.

This was the type of grinding battle that prospects need to step forward against top fifteen competition, but it's also a fight that takes a lot out of the winner and loser, so who knows what each fighter left in the ring in this one.

The other fight from Hollywood was a real snoozer as super middleweight contender John Ryder dominated, but didn't dazzle in winning all ten rounds against journeyman Michael Guy.

Ten rounds of not very much action and hopefully Ryder returns against better opponents in the future.

In a pay per view for some reason, former WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez wore veteran Alfonso Lopez and then dropped him with one right hand in the tenth round to score the knockout.

I had Ramirez well ahead after nine rounds (88-83), but the aging Lopez landed occasionally and fought hard in defeat.

Ramirez, who might rank near the top of fighters that have done the most damage to their career alone, remains undefeated but has fought only two journeymen in the last two years in slipping down the light heavyweight ratings.

In addition, with his former promoter Top Rank promoting Artur Beterbiev with the WBC and IBF titles at 175 pounds, and the favorite to win the vacant WBO title in February in Joe Smith, Ramirez may be relegated to these types of fights because he may have no other options.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored six points on the evening.

I lead the boxing challenge 183-173.

Boxing Challenge: Golovkin slips by Dereyvanchenko

Photo: Scott Levy MSG Photos

Boxing saw another great fight Saturday and while you can quibble over who won a fight that could have gone either way- one thing is clear- the once-feared machine that was Gennady Golovkin is no more as Golovkin won a close unanimous decision over Sergey Dereyvanchenko to win the vacant IBF middleweight crown at New York's Madison Square Garden.

Golovkin seemed to be detached from the fight even as he prepared in his dressing room and during the fight, DAZN was reporting that Golovkin had been ill and may not have been at peak form.
An illness may have been involved, but don't allow it to take away from the tremendous effort from Dereyvanchenko, who lost his second close decision for the vacant IBF title, having lost a split decision to Daniel Jacobs for the title after it had been stripped from Golovkin.

The evening started strong for Golovkin with the first-round knockdown and in then the second round, a left hand ripped a bad cut over the right eye of Dereyvanchenko in a cut that could have stopped the fight, had the corner of Dereyvanchenko not been able to patch their fighter together enough to continue.
The ridiculous part was the decision by referee Harvey Dock to rule that the cut was caused by a headbutt when replays clearly showed that there was no headbutt at all.
New York does not use replays for such decisions and had the fight needed to be stopped, the fight would have been decided on the scorecards rather than Golovkin ruled the rightful victor.
Thankfully, that didn't happen and fans were rewarded with an excellent battle that saw Dereyvanchenko landed more punches than GGG over the course of the fight, was able to keep Golovkin a step behind and in what was a key in the fight- used his jab to not only stop Golovkin from using his jab, but back Golovkin up, which rarely has happened in his career.
I had Dereyvanchenko ahead after ten rounds, but in two action rounds, I thought Golovkin won the final two rounds to win by one point.

Dereyvanchenko's loss to Golovkin was eerily similar to his loss to Daniel Jacobs- both fights were 114-113 on my card for the eventual winner, in both fights Dereyvanchenko suffered flash knockdowns in the first round, which would cost him a draw (on my card) and in both fights, Dereyvanchenko hurt his opponent badly (against Golovkin, it was the fifth round, against Jacobs it was the second round), but could not score a knockdown to even the lost point from his knockdown.
Still, the difference was that Dereyvanchenko was doing this against the great Gennady Golovkin, not just the very good Daniel Jacobs.

In the end, a rematch would seem to be in order after Golovkin seemed to have the edge by being the 'name fighter' after being on the other side of that coin against Canelo Alvarez, but in more irony, Golovkin may decide to avoid a rematch to move to bigger fights.
In boxing, the aggrieved party one day can often be a businessman the next and bigger paydays could
come elsewhere for Golovkin, who was reported to have decided to quickly come back early next year to dispose of his IBF mandatory defense, which could be Dereyvanchenko, but is more likely to be the top available contender, which by their most recent rankings would be Kamil Szeremeta of Poland, who won a squash match on the undercard.
Even if Golovkin was inclined to consider a rematch, Dereyvanchenko's camp is associated with the PBC and with the raised stature of Dereyvanchenko after such a high profile battle, PBC could decide to match him with their only top middleweight in opponent-starved WBC champion Jermall Charlo.

No matter who you agree or disagree with on who won, I think it was pretty clear that it was a one-point fight (Two of the cards had Golovkin winning 115-112, which I thought was too wide) either way.
Either you liked the heavier shots of Golovkin, had the rounds 6-6 and the knockdown swung it Golovkin's way or you thought the Dereyvanchenko work rate was more effective with Dereyvanchenko winning seven of the twelve rounds, losing a point for the first-round knockdown and winning by the same one point.
Either score would be very reasonable and since the fight was that close, it could hardly be a robbery as a few are claiming.

Unless you buy the illness excuse, Gennady Golovkin was not the same fighter at 37 years of age as in the past and from his body language, he didn't seem to be a fighter burning with love for the game at any time before and during the bout.
It's possible that the greatness of Golovkin may have been left in those rings in Las Vegas against Canelo and he may have left his passion there as well with his fire extinguished not by Canelo Alvarez in the ring, but by the pair of Canelo Alvarez and Oscar De La Hoya outside the ring, where they avoided him at his peak, waited until he looked to be a bit vulnerable (after Daniel Jacobs lasted twelve rounds), insisted the fight be held in Las Vegas where Canelo had benefited from a very arguable decision against Erislandy Lara and used the often-awful judge Adalaide Byrd with one of the worst big fight scorecards ever to deprive GGG of the first fight, which he clearly won and then made him wait a year for a rematch.
When you deal with all those issues- all of which are sadly par for the course in boxing, it's easy to lose interest, especially when despite those problems, you have still been very well compensated and you don't need to fight, should you prefer not to.

The best way for Gennady Golovkin to leaving boxing might have been on that September night in 2018, where he could have emulated Marvin Hagler and walked away thinking you got me, but you will get me no more.
Keep your rematch money and your stipulations, leave close to your prime with many thinking you won both fights and almost everyone not associated with Golden Boy or a Canelo fanboy believing you easily won the first and go home.
That's how I would have liked to have seen it end for GGG, but in boxing, those endings seldom wind up occurring and unless Golovkin was ill last night, I don't see this ending well.
Canelo Alvarez could decide to fight a slowed Golovkin now to establish superiority once and for all or it could be another contender that finishes what Dereyvanchenko started, but the fighter that will enter Canastota on the first ballot wasn't fighting in Madison Square Garden last night and seems unlikely to return.

The undercard was filled with uncompetitive blowouts that aren't even really worth mentioning with former IBF junior welterweight champion Ivan Baranchyk stopping Gabriel Bracero in four, super middleweight Ali Akhmedov blasted out uncompetitive Andrew Hernandez in the first round, and junior middleweight Israil Madrimov knocked out Alejandro Barrera in five.
All results were pretty much expected and didn't accomplish much other than showcasing talents for future fights.

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica eight to six in points.
I added my points from wins from Madirmov (Three with bonus round point), Akhmedov and Baranchyk (Two each ) and Golovkin (One).
Ramon earned points from Golovkin and Madrimov (Two each) and Akhmedov and Baranchyk (One each).
The season points stand at 239-208.

IBF strips Canelo Alvarez

Boxing continues to shoot itself in the foot as the IBF stripped Canelo Alvarez of their middleweight title for a failure to sign a contract to face their number one contender in Sergey Dereyvanchenko.

Alvarez has now moved from having three of the four major titles this summer (WBA, WBC, and IBF) to holding only one of their legitimate  championships (WBA), since the ridiculous Oscar De La Hoya stamp of approval for the WBC to give Alvarez their even more ridiculous "Franchise" title that does not have any mandatory contenders and cannot be lost, even if Alvarez loses in the ring.
There will be lots of blame to pass around and I'll be doing so shortly, but the biggest worry of all is when you read between the lines of Oscar De La Hoya's whining press release, where De La Hoya vaguely threatens to have his fighters refuse to fight for any of the IBF championships.
If you combine De La Hoya/Golden Boy's possible refusal to fight for IBF title, the PBC seemingly on their way to refusing to recognize the WBO ( It took me many years to reluctantly do that), the road to making big fights between rival promoters could be hitting a major roadblock shortly.
Think about it this way, what is the main carrot that makes big fights?
It's not money, top fighters get that with in-house title defenses and are often willing to wait for big dollars which often come with larger risk.
It's often not public demand either, as the wait for Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao showed with both fighters not facing off in their prime,
It is often championships-one fighter against the other for who is truly the best (the dollars for such a fight doesn't hurt either) and we are entering a space that may begin to erode even that as an incentive.
When promoters can begin to brush off a fighter by not recognizing the title he holds, the argument for needing to decide the "true world champion" can be brushed aside easily.
"Why should I fight him to decide, I hold the "real" title, he doesn't hold one that I deem important", therefore rendering the need to unify and the excuse to avoid an anticipated fight is easy to find.

I'm not always a fan of sanctioning bodies, more often than not, they sway between ignorant and corrupt with a large dose of ridiculous tossed in for taste, but fighters need to fight for something.
If there were no titles, no trophies in team sports, what would they play for and more importantly why would they or we care about their games?
Anyone can watch a local pickup game anywhere, so why play if nothing is on the line?
A fight is just a fight after all, why pay to watch someone fight someone else without anything on the line?

Could there be a better sanctioning body?
The WBA has too many title belts, the WBC creates special titles with special privileges for fighters they like, the WBO rates Top Rank fighters far earlier and higher than they should and the IBF ratings are often bad as they attempt to be fair worldwide, they overrate fighters unproven against world-class opponents.
However, for now, we have little choice other than to try to encourage them to correct these errors as any new body would just be another belt unless all the promoters agreed to make them that title the elite championship and make sure they support it- And that just isn't happening.
For all the issues with the alphabet boys, the IBF is the one that is the fairest.
They at least follow their rules, which is more than I can say for the others, and for all their problems with ratings and often weak mandatory contenders, they have a program plotted out on how things are done and for the problems that come with that, they follow their standards.

And that leads us back to Mr. Alvarez and his promoter Mr.De La Hoya.
Mr.Alvarez, who in the eyes of the majority of boxing followers is at best 0-1-1 vs Gennady Golovkin and many (myself included) have him losing both fights, has decided to rest on his dubious win/draw and avoid a Golovkin rematch, which is not only the biggest fight that Alvarez can find, it's the main reason that DAZN doled out so many dollars to sign him to the largest contract in sports.

Team Canelo dodged Golovkin, to begin with by fighting the likes of Amir Khan, Liam Smith, and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, all while "encouraging" Golovkin to fight less so an injury wouldn't delay a potential fight.
While that was on Golovkin, what wasn't was after a draw that almost everyone thought he lost, was the "tainted beef" excuse for Alvarez's failing a PED test and then after winning a controversial decision in the second fight (The second fight was far closer than the first to be fair), to strut around as "champion" and attempt to make Golovkin jump through hoops such as "win a belt" to order to "give the people the fights they want", which is a De La Hoya fallback mantra used often.
The Alvarez management wanted so badly to avoid Golovkin they even gave up their treasured September date for 2019 because they couldn't find anyone that DAZN would approve of other than Golovkin or WBO champion Demetrius Andrade, who is tremendously talented, if not exciting and would be a real threat to decision either Alvarez or Golovkin.
Don't forget the speed that GBP/Canelo accepted the WBC's ridiculous "franchise" title, even if it cost him their real title with as that title won't force Alvarez to fight anyone including their then-minor champion Jermall Charlo.
All of this to fight who they wish without responsibility for quality opponents.

I'm not going to hammer Alvarez too much for his battle with the IBF over not fighting Sergey Dereyvanchenko, who is a top ten contender, but since his close split decision loss to Daniel Jacobs for the same IBF title stripped from Gennady Golovkin, has fought only one time, a unanimous decision over Jack Culcay and likely shouldn't be the mandatory challenger for Alvarez, although he is a far better fighter than De La Hoya claimed in his whiny statement.
Canelo's team did try to fight Dereyvanchenko, mainly because it would have been yet another reason to sidestep GGG, even taking less money from DAZN to have them sign off on this fight if it didn't have the clause that they must face Golovkin next and Derevyvanchenko promoter Lou DiBella with "advisor" Al Haymon did pull this same stunt with Golovkin, which is negotiating but delay a deal in order to hope the bigger draw isn't satisfied and vacates/strips the title, which their fighter then fights for.
The IBF could have seen that Alvarez was negotiating in good faith and given them a small time extension to attempt to get the fight signed and that was a mistake on their part, especially when you consider the history of DiBella/Haymon in similar situations, but it's tough to feel too sorry for Canelo/GBP considering their history of machinations.

So, where do we stand?
Dereyvanchenko will get his second chance to fight for the vacant IBF title, but he likely won't like the opponent in the second-ranked Golovkin in what should be a strong action fight and one that might make Golovkin look very good.
Golovkin with a win can pick up a title, which would take away another excuse from GBP for avoiding a third fight.
The IBF looks like an organization that might be too rigid for its own good, although I'll take that over the other three, who apply their rules on an "as needed" basis depending on the situation and who is involved.
Canelo Alvarez tried to do the right thing in fighting his mandatory, but after dodging Golovkin with more stipulations and ducks than in an episode of Duck Tales, it's tough to feel too sorry for him and who knows when he fights again and against who.
DAZN wants quality fights and I'm willing to bet that there are some questions inside the Canelo camp on whether they should have accepted going into business with an entity that wants to tell them who to fight and may have checkmated Oscar De La Hoya and his plans to keep Canelo active, but yet avoid the person that might have his number- no matter the scorecards of a few judges.

And for boxing, yet another loss for a sport that takes a step back with each step forward.

Boxing Challenge:Golovkin Rolls,Valdez cruises

The main events on the competing networks Saturday night ended as expected, but who truly knows what the future brings for either of the two victors.

DAZN's top pairing saw the return of Gennady Golovkin for the first time since his controversial majority decision loss to Canelo Alvarez that the majority of boxing observers feel that he won, yet many wondered what Golovkin has left at 37 years of age after two tough fights against Alvarez.

We received a few answers to a few questions, but not the main answers, which are- Will Oscar De La Hoya and Canelo Alvarez agree to a third fight and will it be next in the fall and just what Golovkin will have in the tank for that bout?
Golovkin proved that he can still punch and that he will run over anyone below the top level as he showed with his fourth-round knockout of Canadian Steve Rolls at Madison Square Garden.
Rolls fought well and even won the second round on my card, but you felt the similarities to past Golovkin wins- Rolls was being walked down and the boom was coming, the question was how would Rolls respond?
The response was not great as one Golovkin left hook crashed home in the fourth round and sent Rolls face down to the canvas and after an attempt to rise ended in failure, it was time to look forward.
GGG predictably called for Canelo, Oscar De La Hoya predictably trolled with a shot at the quality of Rolls (Like Rocky Fielding was Joe Calzaghe in Canelo's return) and told GGG to win a belt (only the WBO belt of Demetrius Andrade isn't with Canelo) and he'd "consider" the third fight.
It may not be up to Team Canelo as DAZN's President John Skipper reportedly wants that fight next and he isn't paying Canelo for Rocky Fielding's or Golovkin for Steve Rolls'.
I'd bet on what Skipper wants he will get and despite the public posturing of arguably the biggest troll in boxing, the guy that writes the checks is likely to get what he wants and after Anthony Joshua's loss to Andy Ruiz on his platform, Skipper may not want to gamble on waiting until the spring for both guys to win (and not get beat up) their next fight.

ESPN and Top Rank countered with Oscar Valdez defending his WBO featherweight strap with a unanimous decision over gutsy but outmatched Jason Sanchez in Reno Nevada.
Valdez scored a fifth-round knockdown and dominated from thereafter, although Sanchez would occasionally battle back with a right hand or two, the challenger, who was taking a large rise in competition, simply couldn't compete with the champion, who almost finished Sanchez off in the final round and just missed scoring the stoppage.
I scored Valdez a 118-109 winner and the talk after the fight wasn't a unification fight with the winner of IBF champion Josh Warrington against mandatory contender Kid Galahad later this month or recently signed by Top Rank, former champion Carl Frampton.
Instead, the discussion was of a move up to junior lightweight and WBC junior lightweight champion Miguel Berchelt.
I'd think that a match against the new WBO champion at 130 pounds and fellow Top Rank promotee Jamel Herring would be a better bet for success, but I'd be fine with Berchelt-Valdez.
I'd prefer Valdez-Warrington or Valdez-Frampton to that, but I could live with Berchelt-Valdez.
I'd favor Berchelt in that one, but Valdez certainly has a solid chance of victory.

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica four points to three on the strength of calling the round of Gennady Golovkin's knockout.
I moved my lead to 141-127.

Boxing Challenge

Only two fights in the boxing challenge this week as the undercards for both main events (DAZN and ESPN) are underwhelming.

The biggest fight is the return of former middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, who fights for the first time since his controversial two fights vs Canelo Alvarez that saw GGG draw and lose a majority decision, against undefeated Canadian Steve Rolls.
The bout will be the first for Golovkin under new trainer and former cruiserweight contender Johnathan Banks, who trained Wladimir Klitschko after the death of the great Emanuel Steward.
Banks replaces Abel Sanchez, who had trained Golovkin since Golovkin's move to the United States years ago and it'll be interesting to see if any small refinements have been made to Golovkin's game under Banks.
This isn't really about Rolls either, who hasn't faced anyone that could even remotely consider a contender and only a ShoBox win over Demond Nicholson in 2017 coming close to being a name on the record and Golovkin can understandably be given a squash match after the Canelo fights and to chip some rust off.
After all, Canelo had an "enhancement match" in his first post-Golovkin match against softer than custard chinned Rocky Fielding, so there is nothing wrong with Golovkin doing the same, I only wish that he would have done so far sooner and should GGG get rid of Rolls quickly, I'd even suggest another similar, if mildly tougher foe before a projected fall third fight vs Alvarez.
Is the object to prepare Golovkin to defeat Canelo with perhaps a new wrinkle to help the judges see better, errr add to the picture? Or is it simply to be more active to bring to the table what "lost" the first two fights?
That's about the sum of the interest in this one unless Rolls fools us all and takes Golovkin the distance.

ESPN and Top Rank counter-programs with Oscar Valdez defending his WBO featherweight title against Jason Sanchez.
Valdez fights for the second time since his broken jaw against Scott Quigg and looked impressive in his return win over Carmine Tommasone in February.
Sure, it was a soft touch, but Valdez needed one of those after tough fights against Miguel Marriaga, Genesis Servania, and Quigg along with the broken jaw.
As for the undefeated Sanchez, who really knows what the New Mexico native brings to the ring?
Sanchez has fought one fighter with a record that you would call impressive, a unanimous decision last October over then-undefeated Jean Carlos Rivera, who then lost his next fight, has fought just one scheduled ten rounder (the Rivera win) and has fought some of the worst opponents that a recent challenger for a title has faced.
Sanchez's second best win is 13-6-2 Daniel Olea and in his last six fights, Sanchez has fought fighters with records of 58-46-2, 3-35-4 (yes three wins), 1-8-1, and 12-27-2.
In other words, he's a completely blank slate and it'll take a cosmic leap for Sanchez to pull this upset.

Thanks for the nice comments on the Five Punch Combination.
I think I'm going to continue it, it helps me get my boxing thoughts out in lieu of the old podcasting days!
Thanks again!

In the Boxing Challenge, I lead R.L.Malpica 137-124.

Super Middleweights. 12 Rds
Gennady Golovkin vs Steve Rolls
R.L: Golovkin KO 5
TRS; Golovkin KO 4

WBO Featherweight Title 12 Rds
R.L: Valdez KO 7
TRS: Valdez KO 6

The best fight no one saw and rewatching GGG-Canelo

Early yesterday morning at 3 AM, while most of the country slept, I was treated to live coverage of what might be my selection for the fight of the year from Nagoya, Japan as Kosei Tanaka defeated Sho Kimura via majority decision to take the WBO flyweight crown from Kimura.
I had Kimura a 115-113 winner, but so many of these rounds were close, I had no problem with the decision going Tanaka's way.
I can only hope that we see a rematch between the two and that it is soon!

I watched the HBO replay of the Gennady Golovkin-Canelo Alvarez match and I didn't have a lot of change in my scorecard other than my original card of 116-113, (7-4-1 in rounds), moved to 115-113
as I decided that the round that I scored even when I watched the first time, should have been given to Canelo when I wanted to make a decision one way or the other.

That means on my card, I gave every close round to Canelo Alvarez and I still have Gennady Golovkin as the winner.
The wrong man (Alvarez) won a close, exciting fight, and even though the operative word is close. the result still meant the wrong team lost.
In baseball, a game can be exciting and well-played and wind up 3-2 as a close game, but the winner is still the winner and the loser can be proud of the effort and performance, but they still are on the short end of the scoreboard

As for HBO's broadcast.
Normally, I'd say the less said the better, but this was a special kind of broadcast- as in the type that should have featured Vince McMahon and Bruno Sammartino extolling the virtues of Ricky Steamboat as Jesse "the Body" Ventura pointed out the positives of whatever nasty bad guy happened to be pounding a hapless performer at this particular minute.

All of that sounds like a writer's hyperbole, but here's the issue for me.
HBO didn't have a Ventura to represent Golovkin.
Jim Lampley tried to call it down the middle, but as the blow by blow man's job to always be fair, Lampley isn't offering analysis of why things are happening or how he sees the fight developing, his job is to describe what is happening.
Even still, Lampley appeared to be (during the fight) to trying to thread the needle that his network has set up involving their last true cash cow that the one-time bully of the boxing business has remaining in a time of spreading boxing back into various platforms and didn't always seem to call it as it happens.
Lampley would somewhat redeem himself (although his saying the round 12 that almost all scored for Golovkin was difficult to score- it was not) with his editorial on his "Fight Game" show that talked about the various problems in boxing that come to light whenever these decisions in big fights pop up, but sometimes these statements come too little and too late for an audience that feels ripped off and cheated of the ending that observers feel should have happened.
Even still, Lampley dropped Golovkin completely out of his top five in his "Pound for Pound" despite the controversy to lift Alvarez to third.
While I certainly could understand Alvarez being rated over Golovkin because of the official win, dropping him out of the top five seems like a stretch, especially behind Mikey Garcia, who has been more workmanlike than wizardlike in his two most recent wins.

For the small issues, one might have with Lampley, who is being pushed for his longtime position as the best blow by blow man in the game by Brian Kenny of DAZN, the far more serious issues are in the color analyst roles in which are receiving more vitriol than any commentators in boxing than I can remember in years.

Roy Jones Jr has always been a commentator that was more about promoting himself than one skilled in analyzing the fight in the ring, but his work of late seems to have transitioned into a role of providing "Roy/Pensacola/More Roy" stories and rooting for the fighter that HBO has the most interest in.
That's part of what HBO has always wanted in the role through the years moving from Ray Leonard to George Foreman to now Jones and freelancer Andre Ward, so that's nothing new as far as the expectations from the front office.

The surprise has been the transition from the sage writer Larry Merchant to Max Kellerman.
Kellerman was thought of by many (including myself) as being the natural successor to Merchant and despite a slightly clumsy replacement process, Kellerman's knowledge of the history of the sport was thought to be a great fit.
It hasn't turned out that way as Kellerman's affinity for a certain type of boxer that has existed dating back to his first exposure on ESPN has turned into what has become an out and out bias against fighters that not only have a different style but ones that actually fight against fighters of Kellerman's preferred style.
Kellerman has become so strident and blatant in his rooting for these fighters (Most notably Andre Ward, who he feels compelled to mention multiple times in each fight, whether Ward is announcing the bout or not) that it is becoming a massive hindrance to the broadcast and a major repellent to the audience.
While I was a fan of Kellerman and still would not at all knock him for a lack of knowledge of the sport that he covers, Kellerman has become part of the debate-oriented television style that has become so prevalent in both sports and news coverage.
Kellerman's opinion usually does not divert from those of Jones, but he seems to be looking for a reason to shout and exchange with- even if his usual foils at ESPN are nowhere to found.
The foil seems to have become the viewer, who often seems to wish that they could rail back at Kellerman.

HBO once had the best of almost everything in boxing production from graphics, talent both on and off the screen, and the best of the boxers themselves.
Now, the Network of Champions seems to have slipped past their prime like a once-great boxer that keeps trying to survive through gimmicks and guile against younger and more innovative opponents that read Showtime, DAZN, and ESPN on their marquee's.
It's always sad to watch any athlete go on past their prime and continue with nothing left.
It's almost as sad to see a once-great network do the same... 

A time honored tradition- the house fighter wins the close ones

I usually start with the Ohio State recap on Saturdays and allow the boxing weekend to lead off next week.
However, with yet another controversial decision for the Middleweight title, I decided to get my thoughts down on "paper" now as Canelo Alvarez dethroned longtime WBA and WBC champion Gennady Golovkin via a majority decision in Las Vegas.

It's not only that I thought the wrong fighter ( I had Golovkin winning the final three rounds to break open an even fight to win 116-113, 7-4-1 in rounds) won and not about the decision really, I can see how someone could score a 7-5 win for Alvarez as there were some close rounds,
I would disagree with that take, but I can see how you'd arrive at it, but the frustrating thing is that it rarely (every once in a huge while) goes the way of the non-house fighter, which means it usually goes the house fighters way if it is reasonably close.
That after all, is the "Time-honored tradition of the business" (remember Vince McMahon drumming that phrase into heads after the Montreal screwjob with Bret Hart?), if you want to beat the house fighter for sure- you better knock him out and for all of the power of Gennady Golovkin, in 24 reasonably close rounds, he never once turned on the gas and went for the one option that they could not take victory away from him.
If I could change one thing about these fights and it might not have been as effective, I would like to have seen Golovkin go after Canelo, not worry about scoring points, stalk him like a tiger and see if that would have gotten him out of there.
That reminded me a little of Roberto Duran as he rose in weight, he was more technically proficient than as a lightweight perhaps, but the animal that Duran was at 135 was never more.
Golovkin's change didn't come with a rise in weight, it came with a rise in competition in matches against Daniel Jacobs and Alvarez and it almost seemed like he was too civilized to paraphrase Mickey in Rocky III.
I would like to have seen That Golovkin against Canelo and take my chances.

Canelo Alvarez was the boxer, not the aggressor in the first fight, and was the fighter that won many late rounds to earn a draw in a bout that almost all observers thought was a charge that could best be described as too little, too late.
In the rematch, Canelo was much more aggressive and came forward to engage far more often in winning more early rounds before losing most of the later rounds.
Yet. in both cases, whether he was aggressive or defensive, whether he was building a lead or commanding a late run, it was Alvarez that received the benefit of the doubt, not Golovkin.
How can a fighter win against the tide, when there is no consistency in what the judges are rewarding?
Other than rewarding the promoter's fighter that is. that is almost always consistent and you can generally count on that.

This fight really reminded me of the first (and only) Marvin Hagler-Ray Leonard contest and not in the ring because this fight was more entertaining than Hagler-Leonard.
Where it reminded me of Hagler-Leonard was outside the ring.
Hagler's management was determined to get as much money as possible from negotiations for their fight and basically gave Leonard everything else, rounds (12 instead of the then-still used 15), size of the ring because Hagler and his team had been the outsider, the B-side throughout their career and how they proved they had "made it" was for their guy to out-earn the "Golden Boy" (Ray Leonard was Oscar De La Hoya before we knew who he was) for the fight and instead gave every advantage to Leonard, essentially not giving their fighter the best chance to win.

Golovkin and his promoter Tom Loeffler took a different direction with the same result.
Like Hagler, it was Golovkin that was the workhorse, beating fighter after fighter, being avoided by the best and actually seeing the peak of their fighter being wasted against lesser fighters while the best of the game ducked their man (Hagler was ducked for years by three different champions in Hugo Corro, Vito Antuofermo, and Alan Minter until mandated to get his shot while Golovkin held a title but never could get Sergio Martinez or Miguel Cotto in the ring).
Loeffler's moves in any rematch were to gain some of the advantages back- Golovkin earned a larger purse share (45 percent this time) than in the first fight, he had more control over the selected referee and was able to have the right of first refusal of the judges chosen, but what Loeffler didn't realize or maybe he did and figured if his man didn't take the other fighter out, he was going to lose anyway, so why not have the best chance in theory, if not execution.

This is why after such problems making the rematch, Canelo's PED suspension and despite Golovkin still holding two titles, Alvarez still held most of the cards- he was the draw, he had the promoter and he had the power.
And that is why I don't believe there will be a third fight right away or even at all -Golden Boy Promotions now holds all the cards, Canelo didn't want to fight peak GGG and he arguably lost twice to the 35 and 36-year-old models of him, if there is a 3rd fight, it will be years down the road far after the peak of Golovkin is just a memory on YouTube.
Oscar De La Hoya used Ray Leonard's M.O for his career and now uses it for Canelo- Only offer rematches when you lose (or Draw), if you win, no matter how it is pulled off it's onto new things.
Which is why if there is a third fight, it will be years away with GGG being considered a non-threat, remember that the only reason Thomas Hearns was given his rematch with Leonard was after being knocked out by Iran Barkley and was thought to be washed up?
Roberto Duran was given his chance for redemption nine years later when he had slowed to the point of having little chance against quicker fighters although he was still capable of surprising wins against fighters that didn't move around the ring.

And the final parallel to Marvin Hagler for Gennady Golovkin for me?
When I heard the decision (I watched the fight a few hours later), I instantly thought of Marvin Hagler and how he handled losing a dubious decision- he walked away and beat Ray Leonard for good in the only way that he could.
He passed on oodles of dollars for a rematch and walked away-never to fight again.
The ultimate screw you to Ray Leonard, boxing and its rigged game, I'm not giving you any further memories and I'm not giving you the chance for one more chance to do it again- no matter how much money you give me to do it.
I'd love to see Gennady Golovkin do just that as the final link to Marvin Hagler and in the background, you can play the standard song for such occasions- My Way.
Golovkin has made plenty of money and despite these two fights with Alvarez that most feel that he won, the feared destroyer is in the past and now that his undefeated record is gone, there really is no reason to stay, I'd like to see him just walk away.

Sidebar, someone out there (far more talented in creating videos than I) needs to put Golovkin highlights to My Way and during the crescendo, have his reactions to the Canelo decisions and when the song slows show GGG walking to the locker room. (I wish I was as talented in execution as I am in ideas)


In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored eight points.
Ramon scored three points for Jaime Munguia's three-round squash match against Brandon Cox (Bonus point for calling the round), two for Friday's win by Jose Ramirez in a terrific fight against Antonio Orozco that deserved more of my attention here, and for David Lemieux's one punch devastation of Spike O'Sullivan and one for Roman Gonzalez's win.

My eight came via these avenues; three from Gonzalez's fifth-round KO (bonus point for calling the round), two each from the Ramirez and Munguia wins, and one from the Lemieux victory.

I lead the challenge 141-119.

Golovkin stripped of IBF title

A stunning decision was ruled today by one of boxing's sanctioning bodies as the IBF took away its middleweight championship from Gennady Golovkin.

While this all circles around to Canelo Alvarez's PED or "tainted beef" suspension (depending on whom you believe), I still think that even though the IBF made a mistake in stripping Golovkin, Team GGG made the bigger errors.
GGG promoter Tom Loeffler didn't pursue a May fight vs IBF mandatory challenger Sergey Dereyvanchenko after the questionable decision to force a Cinco De Mayo bout for Golovkin, even if it meant a soft touch in inactive career junior middleweight Vanes Martirosyan, who Golovkin easily trashed in two rounds.
Fighting Derevyanchenko then would have lifted a mandatory obligation, would have been a likely win (although a tougher fight) and they would have continued with all three titles to move onto the next hurdle.
Loeffler did pay the IBF $20,000 to not strip Golovkin for fighting Martirosyan but did not agree to the IBF's stipulation that Golovkin faces Dereyvanchenko next.
That's understandable considering the possibility of a Canelo rematch, but with Golovkin's recent demand for purse parity (another mistake in my opinion), that bout seems to have fallen through and now with one of the four belts being vacant, a prospective bout against WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders seems a bit anticlimactic.

The IBF seems a bit haughty here and will lose some dollars for their ham-handed handling of the matter as either a Derevyanchenko or his opponent for the vacant title as champion. will mean a far lighter sanctioning fee than Golovkin's defenses, so they'll take a hit as well.
They also look bad as Derevyanchenko's representatives didn't ask to have Golvokin stripped-they asked to force Golovkin's next fight against their fighter and only strip if that fight didn't happen.
The IBF could save some face here with a ruling that the title is vacant, but Golovkin could fight for the title against Dereyvanchenko, should he agree by a reasonable date, say 30 days.
I still have my doubts that happens considering the body would likely dictate the terms for the fighters purses, but it still would be a good P.R. move.

This does give Golovkin options for his next fight without a standout contender for the bout as now it seems that we are back to the beginning of few (except Dereyvanchenko) really wanting to face GGG, but what about the IBF's prospects?
Their rules state that they will offer the fight to each contender below Dereyvanchenko in order until someone accepts the fight.
The possibilities start strong but quickly roll downhill with Daniel Jacobs getting the first crack.
Jacobs has been offered the B-side for the Canelo Alvarez return, so that would trump the IBF unless Oscar De La Hoya is simply strongarming Golovkin with Jacobs as a backup plan.
Editor's Note: Both Dereyvanchenko and Jacobs are both trained by Andre Rozier making a bout between them even more unlikely.
Jermall Charlo is Golovkin's number one contender in the WBC, but I can see Charlo trying to grab a belt and try to build his name for a future big fight, so that could happen.
Demetrius Andrade would be next and he's a talented guy but isn't always exciting and I can't see many being thrilled about that one, although I'd find it interesting.
If all those pass-look out as the rest of the top ten are Euro's Tommy Langford (untested) and Martin Murray (0 for 4 in title bouts), unknowns Rafael Berajan and Kamil Szeremeta and recent loser to Daniel Jacobs in Luis Arias.
Considering that Billy Joe Saunders' title claim was often ridiculed, I cannot imagine the winner of Derevyanchenko against anyone south of Andrade getting anything more than an "also holds a belt"
mention by boxing media.

In the end, everyone here loses- Golovkin loses a title and becomes less likely to gain his long announced goal of all four titles. Derevyanchenko loses a larger payday, although he's more likely to win a title now, the IBF loses as now they will likely have the least recognized champion and the followers of boxing lose as well because it will take a while for this mess to clear itself up.
Only in boxing...

Back later with the Cavaliers loss to the Golden State Warriors in game three...

Boxing Challenge: GGG returns, Bellew finishes Haye.

Gennady Golovkin's return to action didn't last as long as it takes to bake a potato. but the ending was spectacular as ever as Golovkin retained his three middleweight titles with a second-round crushing of Vanes Martirosyan in Carson, California.
The IBF didn't sanction the fight as a title defense, although the title would have been ruled vacant had Martirosyan won, but Golovkin took a punch or two in the first before the finishing in the second that left Martirosyan prone on the floor.

The less said the better about this one, now the speculation begins whether Golovkin will face Canelo Alvarez in September.
If Golovkin wants to keep the IBF title, he will have to face Sergey Dereyvanchenko next and Golovkin has claimed for years that he wants all four belts and being stripped of one is a step back for that goal.
However, the dollars aren't even in the same universe for that fight compared to the Canelo rematch, but I don't think we will see that rematch in September anyway.
I cannot imagine that Golden Boy Promotions will have their cash cow fight Golovkin off a one-year layoff and what I think will happen will see Canelo's comeback against a softer opponent, most likely Spike O'Sullivan with Golovkin taking care of his IBF mandatory in Dereyvanchenko-possibly even on the same card.
To me, that makes sense and covers bases for both parties- Canelo gets a fight to chip the rust off and GGG gets to keep a title belt (or attempt to).

In London, Tony Bellew looks to have finally finished the career of David Haye with a fifth-round knockout in their rematch of Bellew's win in 2017.
Bellew knocked Haye down twice in the third before finishing Haye off in the fifth.
I had Bellew winning every round, although Haye was throwing punches, it appeared to me that he couldn't sit down on his punches and the Achilles injury that he suffered in the first fight didn't appear to be healed as he was forced to throw his punches off the front foot.
Bellew was calling for Andre Ward after the fight (No thanks), but a better fight might be Bellew against the Oleksandr Usyk-Murat Gassiev winner for the unified cruiserweight title.
Bellew left the division as the WBC's "Champion in Emeritus" which means he can cash in a title shot whenever he asks for it, so that could happen.

On the Bellew-Haye undercard, Emmanuel Rodriguez knocked Paul Butler down in the first and cruised to a unanimous decision to win the vacant IBF bantamweight title.
Only Rodriguez could win the title as Butler failed to make the weight and I had Rodriguez a 119-108 winner.

On Friday on ESPN, highly touted prospect (much of it on social media by himself) Ryan Garcia took a step up in competition against former world title challenger Jayson Velez and won a unanimous decision.
Garcia looked strong early but visibly weakened later in his first time going ten rounds against the tough but smaller Velez.
I had Garcia a 98-92 winner, but I'm not sure what the hurry is with Golden Boy pushing Garcia so quickly and these calls for fighters like Gervonta Davis would be a huge mistake for Garcia.
Garcia needs a few more fights against fighters that are on a similar level to Velez before anyone should even think about a title challenge or a fight against a top five level opponent.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored six points on the weekend.
Ramon received two points each from wins by Emmanuel Rodriguez and Gennady Golovkin and one each from Ryan Garcia and Tony Bellew.
My six came from two-point wins from Golovkin. Rodriguez and Garcia.
I lead the challenge 81-67.

Golovkin-Alvarez Draw-Boxing Challenge

Photo: Getty Images

I had a big weekend filled with things going on in and out of the sports world, so I'll be here catching up with everything over the next few days.
Not sure how much coverage I am going to do on the Ohio State win over Army, but if I have time to watch, I'll have a few notes.


The Boxing Challenge continued with a huge fight filled with garbage around it.

In the main event, Gennady Golovkin finally got his time on the main stage and retained his WBA/WBC/IBF middleweight titles after his fight with Canelo Alvarez was scored a draw.
I had Golovkin a 116-112 winner and most scores I've seen were similar, but my notes had two rounds as close so I could see a 114-114 draw as one judge scored.
The problem was the godawful 118-110 score for Alvarez, which was so bad that you cannot believe it.
Byrd's score was excused by the chairman of the Nevada State Athletic Commission as a "bad night", so despite a less than sterling track record-she'll be back in the future.

The biggest issue with last night, well behind the draw and Adelaide Byrd was the awful undercard, which featured three boring bouts that did nothing to attract new fans on an evening that gave new watchers a chance to become followers.

Oscar De La Hoya and his Golden Boy Promotions so often get passes from many in the boxing media-I for one am tired of that.
De La Hoya used his position to duck Gennady Golovkin for years as promoter of Canelo Alvarez and then on a night where the fight everyone wanted to see delivered a good battle, De La Hoya gave them featherfisted Joseph Diaz, De La Hoya's cousin Diego and disappointing prospect Ryan Martin in a combined 32 boring rounds that saw no knockdowns scored.

Diego De La Hoya's win over Randy Caballero looked better on paper than it turned out in the ring, which happens sometimes in boxing-they cannot all be winners, after all, but still, a promoter should be able to figure out that on the biggest stage that the sport had to offer, you need to put exciting fights together.

Instead, the promotion took the lazy way out, figuring that the pay-per-view buys were there anyway, so why bother to spend money on bigger fights?
The answer should have been this- If we want to save money and not pay for "bigger" fights, at least put together exciting fights.
Golden Boy did neither in a major failing.

The less I say about those fights the better, but the Diaz and De La Hoya unanimous decision wins gave Ramon Malpica and I each four boxing challenge points.

In Europe, two fights of interest were challenge features.
The WBO middleweight title (the only one not held by Gennady Golovkin) was defended by Billy Joe Saunders of England with a unanimous decision win over Willie Monroe Jr.
Monroe had been knocked out by Golovkin a few years back, so this was seen as a way for Saunders to look good.
I haven't watched it yet, so not sure about how he looked.
Two points for Ramon and me for the Saunders win.

The other bout was the beginning of the World Boxing Super Series tournament in the super middleweight division as second seed Callum Smith won a unanimous decision over Erik Skoglund.
Smith dominated the overmatched Skoglund as expected and dropped him in the eleventh round.
I scored Smith a 117-110 winner as Smith advances to fight the winner of Jurgen Brahmer and Rob Brant's fight next month.
Ramon scored two points for Smith's win compared to my one.
The Challenge stands at 129-115 in my favor.

Boxing Challenge

The boxing challenge continues with the fight-BOXING fans really wanted to see rather than the "fight" last month as Gennady Golovkin defends three of the four middleweight titles (WBA,WBC and IBF) against Canelo Alvarez,who holds the lineal 160 pound title after his win over Miguel Cotto in 2015.
I'm as pumped for this as I've been all year!!

The undercard is nothing to get excited about,but I put two of three on the challenge anyway as Joseph Diaz faces Rafael Rivera (a late replacement) in a WBC featherweight eliminator and Diego De La Hoya faces former IBF bantamweight champ Randy Caballero in what is being hyped as junior featherweight grudge match.

The BC has two fights from Europe as well this week as the "other" middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders defends his WBO title against former Golovkin KO victim Willie Monroe Jr and the first bout in the World Boxing Super Series super middleweight tournament as second seed Callum Smith of Great Britain tackles his picked opponent in Sweden's Erik Skoglund.
Saunders needs to look good after just one blase' performance in the almost two years since winning his title vs Andy Lee,if he wants a big money bout against the Golovkin-Alvarez winner.
I think a Golovkin win makes such a bout inevitable as he wants all four belts,but a Canelo win and another dull Saunders performance makes a Canelo-Saunders bout doubtul.
As for Callum Smith,he's a heavy favorite to dispatch the undefeated,but untested Skoglund,who doesn't appear to be a good puncher even against the limited opposition that he has faced.
The winner will face the winner of Germany's Jurgern Braehmer and the only American in either tournament Rob Brant,who fight in October.
I lead the challenge 122-107...

WBA/WBC/IBF Middleweight Titles 12 rds
Gennady Golovkin vs Canelo Alvarez
R.L:Golovkin Unanimous Decision
TRS: Golovkin KO 10

Featherweights 12 rds
Joseph Diaz vs Rafael Rivera
Both:Diaz Unanimous Decision

Jr.Featherweights.10 rds
Diego De La Hoya vs Randy Caballero
Both:De La Hoya Unanimous Decision

WBO Middleweight Title.12 rds
Billy Joe Saunders vs Willie Monroe Jr.
Both:Saunders Unanimous Decision

World Boxing Super Series Super Middleweight Quarter-Final.12 rds
Callum Smith vs Erik Skoglund
R.L:Smith Unanimous Decision
TRS:Smith KO 8

Missed a few...

I've missed a few days,haven't had much to say,but I'm starting to get motivated again.

I have a few things planned for the next few days to a week such as the return of the TRS boxing rankings,a forgotten superstar and some other things in the pipeline.

For now,a few things of note..

The Browns didn't receive the return of Josh Gordon as the NFL turned down his request for reinstatement.
I'm not sure if Gordon had failed to live up to the terms of reinstatement or not,but one thing is clear-the NFL hits potheads far harder than they do than they do other miscreants that have done far worse during the years...

The bidding and battling has begun for the Gennady Golovkin-Canelo Alvarez middleweight championship fight in September.
The leaders are thought to be Las Vegas and Dallas with New York not out of the running.
If it's Dallas,it's an intriguing thought to consider a possible Dallas trip for the fight.
Don't bet on it,but you never know!!

I also want to use some downtime from live baseball to not only stay ahead of the upcoming schedule,but to get some of the results of the first six weeks or so of the graphing season noted,so look for a signing front soon!

Finally,a note to those that wanted an "outsider" to "clean up Washington".
Donald Trump's behavior is an embarrassment to our country and has lived up to my fears in electing him- a egomaniac that that goes awry at the mildest criticism.
It's much more than that of course and I certainly am not pining away for Hillary Clinton,but he has proven to me what he is-a corrupt businessman with overrated deal making skills that has discovered that running the government is not like running a business-In a business,the guy at the top has the final say,that's not the case in government-you have to be able to work with others and Trump simply cannot.
I have both good friends and people that I respect that voted for Trump and/or believed in the "outsider" mantra,so I'm not throwing stones at his voters,but I cannot imagine anyone thinking that he is anything but an abject embarrassment to our country.
The big winner in all of this? George Bush-who incredibly looks not nearly as awful as the current President.
I would have never imagined typing those words this soon or ever!!

Back later tonight with what I think will be a Forgotten Superstar.
.

Canelo dominates Chavez-Boxing Challenge

A quick wrapup of the boxing weekend for the challenge with Fightheads to discuss the biggest news in the game-Gennady Golovkin vs Canelo Alvarez.

But first,Canelo Alvarez did his part for this fight as he twirled a shutout on all three judges cards and mine (120-108) over an emaciated and ineffective Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in Las Vegas.
Less said about this card the better,so let's do the recap and the points.
Ramon Malpica and I each earned two points for the Alvarez unanimous decision win,that really only proved two things-
One:When ESPN is leading off Sportscenter with boxing-you have a PPV hit in the making!
Two:For all the shortcomings that Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has-a bad chin isn't one of them.

I didn't see the other undercard fights,so no scoring there.
David Lemieux pounded overmatched Marcos Reyes for ten rounds,but couldn't stop the journeyman,which he really should have been able to do.
Ramon and I each scored one point for the Lemieux win.

Ramon earned two points to my one as Lucas Matthysse returned after a long hiatus to stop the usually durable Emmanuel Taylor in five rounds in his move to the welterweight division..

Joseph Parker didn't look great in his first defense of his WBO heavyweight title with a unanimous decision over Razvan Cojanu,who was a past sparring partner of Parker's.
I scored Parker a 119-109 winner,but he didn't show me much that made me think that he would be a threat to Anthony Joshua.
Ramon and I each added one point for the Parker win.

Ramon scored six points to my five on the weekend and closed my lead to nine points at 58-49.

Golovkin decisions Jacobs-Boxing Challenge

Three fights from Madison Square Garden for the boxing challenge saw Ramon Malpica and I each score three points on the evening and I maintained my two point lead at 29-27.

The main event saw Gennady Golovkin score a unanimous decision over Daniel Jacobs to retain his WBA,WBC and IBF middleweight titles.
Golovkin knocked Jacobs down in the fourth round,but seemed to have Jacobs in far more trouble in the ninth round before time ran out in the stanza.
I had Golovkin winning 116-112 (7-4-1 in rounds with Jacobs losing a point for the knockdown),which seems to be a little wider margin than most and even a few thinking Jacobs had won.
Give Jacobs lots of credit for a determined effort and fought far better than I had expected,but his unprofessional behavior in skipping the IBF mandatory weigh-in on the day (had Jacobs won,the IBF belt would be vacant) in order to blow up to the light heavyweight,if not cruiserweight division by the start of the fight shows that weigh-in formulas still need to be tweaked in order not to be taken advantage of.
Golovkin looked vulnerable in the eyes of some and people are looking at his age (35) as a likely factor,but I see another factor-activity.
Golovkin has been a fighter that has thrived on fighting four times a year,fought only twice last year and had been off six months since his last fight against Kell Brook.
Wrap up inactivity,a little bit of age and a larger and better opponent than expected and you have a recipe for a good fight and why some people could see Golovkin as being ripe for a defeat.
Perhaps now Canelo Alvarez and more likely Oscar De La Hoya might be ready to sign that contract vs Golovkin should they get by Julio Cesar Chavez Jr....

In what will be a contender for fight of the year,Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez lost his first fight in his career and his WBC junior bantamweight title in an absolute war to former champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai via a majority decision.
Gonzalez was knocked down in the first round and suffered a large and ugly cut over his right eye from a Rungvisai head butt in the third.
Rungvisai would be penalized a point in the sixth for head butts and the pair spent most of the second half of the fight sending each other careening around the ring in a violent dance that had the crowd screaming.
Roman Gonzalez was a great fighter at his previous weight classes,but seems to have reached "the wall".
The wall is the point for great fighters where their greatness is caught up with by their rising weight and counter balances their skills with the larger fighters they are facing.
In other words-the weight eventually makes a great fighter a very good one.
I scored Gonzalez a 114-112 winner (7-5 in rounds,with Gonzalez losing a point for the knockdown and Rungvisai a point for the head butt).
Most had Gonzalez winning with a few for Rungvisai,but I wouldn't put this into the robbery section.
It was a close fight that demands a rematch,but that won't be next as Carlos Cuadras,who beat Rungvisai for the title before being the first to show some smudges on the previously shiny finish of Gonzalez before losing that title in their bout last year,will be the mandatory challenger next for Rungvisai.
Cuadras won a unanimous decision over David Carmona before the two main events.
I didn't have a chance to see that fight,but it was reported to be less than thrilling.

Ramon and I each scored one point for the Golovkin win and two for the unanimous decision by Cuadras.
Both Ramon and I each picked Roman Gonzalez for no points.

For more on this news filled weekend-listen to Fight Heads tomorrow night for more opinions and talk...

Boxing Challenge-GGG dries up Brook

The boxing challenge moved on with a big boxing weekend.
I earned ten points to Ramon Malpica's seven to boost the overall lead to 106-87..

We each earned two points for Gennady Golovkin's fifth round stoppage of Kell Brook.
Give Brook lots of credit for taking the fight and for coming to fight,but he was overmatched and undersized and Golovkin clearly was breaking him down physically (broken eye socket) and his corner did the right thing in saving their fighter,who could still be a terrific fighter in 147 and 154 pound action.
As for Golovkin,who retained his WBA,WBC and IBF belts,the WBA is asking for Daniel Jacobs next and hopefully the political powers (HBO and PBC) can come to an agreement to get that fight in the fall.

Roman Gonzalez won the WBC Jr.Bantamweight title from Carlos Cuadras with a unanimous decision nod.
Cuadras fought well and had he set down a little more of his punches,might have prevailed.
I scored Gonzalez a narrow 115-113 winner,but we might have seen the weight where Gonzalez transitions from great to very good.
It happens to all fighters as they move up,their power lessens and their greatness dims just a bit.
I added two points for the Gonzalez victory with Ramon adding one.
The undercard fight on HBO saw Jesus Soto-Karass surrender in his corner after round eight against Yoshihiro Kamegai.
The bout was entertaining enough,but Kamegai was clearly ahead on the cards.
Might be time for Soto-Karass to consider hanging the gloves up.
Ramon picked Kamegai and added one point,while I picked Soto-Karass to win.

The best fighter that you may not have heard kept his IBF Jr.Welterweight title as Eduard Troyanovsky blew away Keita Obara in two in Moscow.
Troyanovsky might be the next star in the making from Russia,if he gets some U.S. exposure.
I earned two points for the win and knockout with Ramon getting one for the win

On the Golovkin-Brook undercard,we each earned two points for Lee Haskins unanimous decision win over Stuart Hal for Haskins IBF Bantamweight crown,but I added one to Ramon's zero for Johnriel Casimero's 10th round stoppage of Charlie Edwards to retain his IBF Flyweight title.

Podcast:Crazy year,GGG-Brook and Females in baseball

The podcast talks about this crazy year,gun violence,Golovkin vs Brook and Females in baseball....

Golovkin drills Wade-Boxing Challenge

The boxing challenge moved on with three expected victories and R.L.Malpica and I each adding five points to our total to make the score 44-35....

The biggest fight of the weekend saw Gennady Golovkin drop Dominic Wade three times in two rounds before Wade was counted out.
Golovkin's win enabled him to keep his two middleweight belts and as impressive as his dispatching was-his post-interview basically calling out Canelo Alvarez to either fight him or "bring him the belt" was quite priceless.

It took a gritty effort from McWilliams Arroyo in order to last the distance with WBC flyweight champ Roman Gonzalez,but he was able to hear the final bell.
I gave Arroyo the first round,but no more as Gonzalez won on my card 119-109.
Gonzalez said he was going to fight one more fight at 112 pounds before a move up to 115 and junior bantamweights,
Hopefully,that fight will come against WBA/WBO champ Juan Francisco Estrada to unify three of the four belts in a rematch of a great fight when Gonzalez defended his light flyweight title against Estrada...

Nonito Donaire stopped Zsolt Bedak in the third round in the Philippines to retain his WBO junior featherweight title in the weekend's other title fight....

TRS Boxing Awards

The time is here for the first annual TRS boxing awards.
I didn't do a round of the year as so many do on these types of things.

Fighter of the year:Gennady Golovkin.

Many gave this award to Canelo Alvarez,but as exciting as his win over James Kirkland was,it was over a limited fighter and I'm always hesitant to give an award based off of one fight (decisioning Miguel Cotto).
Golovkin added the IBF title with a KO of David Lemieux along with stoppages over Willie Monroe Jr and Martin Murray in a three fight season.
Hopefully,GGG can get Canelo in the ring for a megafight before 2016 ends and not at catchweights either..

Fight of the year:Lucas Matthysse vs Ruslan Provodnikov
This bout looked on paper to be a war and it was just that.
Matthysse took a majority decision that I scored a draw.
As I've said before-If you don't like Ruslan Provodnikov and his heart-this isn't the game for you..



Knockout of the year
Canelo Alvarez KO 3 James Kirkland
Kirkland's chin may not be the best,but his aggressiveness and punch can never be questioned.
Alvarez exposed the former with a knockout that spun Kirkland around and left him supine on the canvas.

Prospect of the Year
Errol Spence
Spence narrowly earned the nod over Puerto Rico's Felix Verdejo.
Spence just might turn out to be the mainstream star that Al Haymon's Premiere Boxing Champions badly needs....

This was a little shorter than usual because of a family issue at home that was a distraction.
I'll do better next year-Promise!