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.

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-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.