Boxing Challenge: Canelo Cuts Down Plant

    Canelo Alvarez knocked out Caleb Plant in the eleventh round to add the IBF title to the other three titles that he already held entering the fight and become the undisputed super middleweight champion.

Plant, like Billy Joe Saunders before him, did have some early success boxing off his back foot as Alvarez started in his usual slow manner against world-class opponents.

But I didn't think the fight was as close as some did (on Twitter, I saw some that had the fight very close and even an occasional person that had Plant leading into the eleventh) and with Alvarez continuing to attack and pound Plant to the body, it appeared that the biggest question would be could Plant make it to the final bell.

Canelo knocked Plant down with a snapping right uppercut and after Plant rose courageously but hurt, Canelo chased Plant around the ring with Plant running away with a hop that brought to mind the hop of Joe Frazier just before he was stopped by George Foreman in 1973 and fired a volley of shots that sent Plant tumbling to the floor where the fight was then stopped.

I had Alvarez ahead 97-93 at the time of the stoppage.

For Canelo, he has several options for his next fights and all are of interest.

Should Canelo decide to work with PBC, a fight with David Benavidez would be a guaranteed crowd-pleaser and Benavidez has the size of Plant combined with the power Plantt lacks, so that would be a fight I'd love to see.

PBC also could offer a match with WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo, but Charlo has been more interested in talking about strong competition than actually fighting them.

Still, the cash-in for a Canelo fight would likely be too much for Charlo to turn away.

Canelo seems to like Eddie Hearn and Matchroom but their top option would be a third fight with IBF middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin and Canelo seems to have next to no interest in that.

WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade would love a shot but he's a mover and Canelo may want to face someone that will exchange with him after fighting boxers in Saunders and Plant in his last two fights.

Matchroom could also offer WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol but Bivol isn't the most exciting fighter and unless Bivol wants to drop to 168 or Canelo wants to rise to light heavyweight, that's unlikely.

Should Canelo be willing to work with ESPN/Top Rank, the fight that many fans would love to see is a fight against WBC and IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and might be the biggest test of all-a naturally larger man and the best puncher in the division.

This may be the most unlikely fight to make as Canelo's track record shows that while he is willing to fight everyone, he will do so when at his best advantage as he did making Golovkin wait for both their first fight and second affair.

WBO light heavyweight champion Joe Smith is another big puncher that might make a fun fight against Canelo and wouldn't run from him but Canelo's boxing skills would likely be too much for Smith.

As for Plant, while he proved he did have world-class skills, his lack of competition didn't prepare him well for a fight of this magnitude and I would guess he will go back to PBC for lopsided affairs.

Plant against David Benavidez would make sense with two talented young fighters but Plant wasn't interested in putting his fight with Canelo in jeopardy so I can't imagine Benavidez putting his chance in peril now.

My best bet would be almost used up veteran Anthony Dirrell, who scored an undercard win against journeyman Marcos Hernandez, for Plant's next foe.

Dirrell likely won't catch Plant, would give him a few lessons that Plant should have already learned, has a recognizable name, and someone Plant would likely defeat. 

Boxing Challenge

     The boxing challenge is very light this week as the only fight is the world super-middleweight title unification between WBA/WBC/WBO champion Canelo Alvarez and IBF champion Caleb Plant.

The Alvarez-Plant fight is the only fight because the promoter (PBC ) has put on arguably the worst undercard for a PPV event in years and none of those are challenge-level fights.

I've been critical of Caleb Plant, not due to his boxing skills but because of his poor level of competition and his less than exciting style.

Plant's one victory of note, his title-winning effort over Jose Uzcategui, hasn't aged well with Uzcategui losing his fight following his loss to Plant and in that fight, while I thought Plant won clearly (7-5 and scored two flash knockdowns) Plant tired badly and lost the final five rounds to Uzcategui.

Plant then defended his titles against three of the softer challengers you will ever see (Mike Lee, Vincent Feigenbutz, and a badly faded Caleb Truax) and didn't seem interested in facing anyone that was a threat (David Benavidez fights for PBC and a win over Benavidez would have taken the weak competition factor off the board).

In other words, it seemed that Plant didn't want to fight anyone that had a chance to beat him because he wanted to keep his belt because the end game was that Canelo Alvarez was going to eventually need his title and Plant would cash in.

If that was the strategy, it paid off with a ten million dollar purse, but what it didn't do was prepare Plant to win that fight.

Here are the problems for Plant- Canelo is the bigger puncher, a comparable boxer (in his own style), has faced far tougher competition, is familiar with the big fight atmosphere, has a proven chin (Not saying Plant has a bad chin, just that we still don't know yet), proven stamina, and has been given the benefit of the doubt in every close fight of his career.

And Plant will have to fight off the back foot, hope he has improved his stamina, win seven rounds backing up, and then pray that the judges give him the benefit of the doubt.

Add it all up and it seems impossible.

Still, they fight the fights for a reason and anything can happen but the most likely scenario sees Plant moving from the start, winning a few of the early rounds and the fight is close at the halfway point.

Then Canelo Alvarez begins to stem the tide and Plant begins to tire as Canelo begins to hammer the taller fighter to the body and finishes him in the second half of the fight.

Remember another rule in boxing that rarely has an exception- If you aren't interested in fighting anyone of quality, someone has a reason to avoid them and it's usually that the fighter in question is being protected because their team has a good reason to fear.

In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 142-123

Unification WBA/WBC/WBO- IBF Super Middleweight Titles. 12 Rds 

Canelo Alvarez vs Caleb Plant

R.L:  Alvarez KO 3
TRS: Alvarez KO 9

PPM

  The PPM moves into November with plenty of pigskin.

Last Week; 8-6 

Overall: 75-50

College

Ohio State over Nebraska 42-24

Fresno State over Boise State 31-28

Houston over South Florida 34-14

Middle Tennessee State over Western Kentucky 38-36

N.C. State over Florida State 27-20

Coastal Carolina over Georgia Southern 45-17

Alabama over LSU 45-21

Oregon over Washington 37-17

Games of the Week

Texas A&M over Auburn 35-32

UTSA over UTEP 34-26

Pro

Bengals over Browns 27-17

Saints over Falcons 23-16

Game of the Week

Rams over Titans 35-21

Browns release Odell Beckham

    The Cleveland Browns announced the worst kept secret in sports on Friday as the Browns released wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr reportedly after negotiating terms with the wideout to lessen the hit on Cleveland's salary cap for the in-season release.

Beckham played in six games this season, catching seventeen passes for 232 yards and without a touchdown.

Beckham's best games were against the Bears in week three (five catches, seventy-seven yards) and in a week six loss to the Cardinals (five catches, seventy-nine yards), but his noted lack of chemistry with Baker Mayfield never improved and after a video released by Beckham's father showed multiple clips of Mayfield missing an open Beckham by overthrowing him (expect to see videos of every other Browns receiver make similar videos if the argument is overthrown passes) and not throwing the ball to him at all.

Beckham was acquired by the Browns by the John Dorsey front office in 2019 when Dorsey traded first and third-round draft picks along with safety Jabrill Peppers to add what was thought to be an impact performer on the outside.

Beckham caught 74 passes for 1,035 yards and four touchdowns in his first season in Cleveland in the only year of the Freddie Kitchens era but caught only twenty-three passes and three touchdowns in seven games in 2020 before tearing his ACL.

Beckham never seemed to mesh with Baker Mayfield and every game that the two played together was likely to see a few of Mayfield overthrows, Mayfield not seeing an open Beckham, an attempt to find Beckham on a pass play intended to get Beckham into space that he never seemed to find, and occasional lack of effort by Beckham to catch the ball.

The Browns were reported to have received several trade offers for Beckham at the trade deadline but Cleveland decided to try to straighten out the differences with Beckham and then the video was released by Beckham Sr.

Here's my take- Plenty of blame to spread around.

Beckham deserves some blame for his occasional diva-like behavior, lack of effort unless getting the football in the volume that he wanted, and for not settling things with his father and apologizing for the stress created for the franchise.

Baker Mayfield deserves some blame because he did miss Beckham many times per game if you combine overthrowing him and not throwing to him at all. and he didn't exactly cool things down with his media outing on Wednesday.

Kevin Stefanski deserves some blame as his offense doesn't favor star wideouts.
Look at the Viking's wideouts in Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs and their numbers before Stefanski as offensive coordinator in Minnesota, during his tenure, and then numbers after leaving his offense.

Stefanski is a coordinator/play-caller that hasn't always made the best use of wide receivers in his offense and he hasn't done a good job integrating Beckham into his offense in Cleveland.

Andrew Berry deserves some blame because if things were so bad with Beckham in the locker room, that the video posted by Beckham's father shouldn't have mattered and he should have taken the best offer available,

Berry's late decision meant the Browns received nothing for Beckham now and the release means the Browns will not receive a compensation pick when Beckham would have left for free agency following the season.

All of four of these gentlemen are deserving of criticism and you can even argue that the Browns shouldn't have released Beckham at all as even a reduced Beckham's production is unlikely to be equaled by any of Donovan Peoples-Jones, Rashard Higgins, and Anthony Schwartz.

And it does seem that the Browns felt the damage to the culture from Beckham's father yet didn't mind when Emily Mayfield (Baker's Wife) chimed in on Instagram a few weeks back.

In the end, the differences may have been too much for the Browns and Beckham to come to an agreement and straighten things out.

But I'm not sure the Browns gained anything today and they may have split an already divided locker room. 

Buster Posey retires

    After a return to the game that could possibly boost his case for induction to the Hall of Fame, San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey is reported to announce his retirement tomorrow according to The Athletic.

Posey bounced back from an injury-plagued 2019 that forced him into hip surgery and missed the 2020 season due to the Covid-19 with a 2021 season that put Posey in line for another possible Silver Slugger award, which would be his fifth in his career to lead the surprising Giants to over 100 wins.

The thirty-four-year-old Posey finished 2021 with a .304 average with 18 homers, 56 RBI, and an OPS of .889 which was the second-highest of Posey's career.

Posey's accolades in leaving the game at only 34 are many: Rookie of the Year, MVP, four (and maybe five) Silver Sluggers, a Gold Glove, a batting title, two Comeback Player of the Year awards, two defensive player of the year awards, and caught three no-hitters.

The announcement comes before Monday when the Giants were expected to officially pick up a team option for twenty-two million for 2022 to keep Posey in San Francisco.

Buster Posey became the face of the Giants franchise for a dozen years as the top position player for the franchise since Barry Bonds.

And that face helped bring San Francisco their first title since arriving in Calfornia in 1958 in 2010 with two more added in 2012 and 2014.

Posey's somewhat early retirement makes me wonder how Posey will fare in the balloting for Cooperstown when his time on the ballot.

Buster Posey is the first catcher in MLB history to hit over .300 in their final season and Posey is one of only two players (Pete Rose) to have won the Rookie of the Year, the MVP, and won three World Series championships.

Baseball Reference's numbers crunchers rate Posey fourteenth among catchers in baseball history and only three of those thirteen ahead of him are not in the Hall (Joe Mauer, who has yet to appear on the ballot, Thurman Munson, and surprisingly Gene Tenace).

Mauer being a contemporary of Posey is ahead of Posey in the overall ratings, but their career numbers are very close except that Mauer has a bit over 600 hits more than Posey and that can be attributed to a longer career.

I would think that if you believe one player is deserving, then the other should receive your vote as well, but the voting for Cooperstown often evades such logic so I wouldn't be surprised if one had more trouble getting into the HOF than the other.

What may work against him is 1,500 career hits over only a dozen seasons and while I would be surprised if Posey made the Hall on the first ballot, I do believe that he will eventually be inducted into the shrine.

Posey stated at his retirement press conference that he planned all along to empty the tank for 2021 and his excellent season wasn't enough to change his mind to return for 2022 even if it meant an added twenty-two million dollars to the bank account and you have to respect that Posey wants to go out on top.

As for the Giants, I would imagine that this will be the time for Joey Bart to step up and assume the role that he was drafted for as the long-term replacement for Buster Posey behind the plate.

Bart only made six plate appearances in 2021 for the Giants, spending his season with AAA Sacramento, where he hit .294 with 10 homers and 46 RBI for the River Cats.

I haven't made it a secret that Buster Posey has been my favorite player of the decade that I wasn't fortunate enough to meet.

Most of the players that I root for are players that I met on the minor league/autograph circuit and Posey skipped the AA Eastern League as he moved quickly through the minors as he moved from the Giants High A San Jose to their then-AAA team in Fresno.

What I liked about Posey was that he always seemed to be a player that gave his all on the field yet did so in a manner that did so in the team concept, not in a look at me way that showcased him as an individual. 

Likable and a little goofy as someone not afraid to poke fun at himself to show some personality in various commercials, Buster Posey was an easy player to root for and considering his heart in two comebacks that either of which would have ended the careers of many players, fans admired the grit that he showed in returning to the field and prospering when he did so.

Buster Posey played hard, battled through adversity, and ended his career with one final great season.

One cannot beat that for a final season to cap off a career.

Boxing Challenge: Ennis, Zepeda score First Round KO's

 The boxing weekend saw one mild surprise and two top contenders score impressive first-round knockout wins against good opposition.

The most meaningful fight ended with an upset as Radzhab Butaev surprised Jamal James with a ninth-round knockout to take the minor welterweight title held by James and earn a mandatory chance at WBA champion Yordenis Ugas.

Butaev pressured the 6'2 James throughout the fight and held a slight lead on my scorecard (77-75) entering the ninth round before beginning to hurt James and with James against the ropes, referee Celestino Ruiz stopped the fight.

It was a little premature in my opinion as James was stung a bit but not badly dazed.

Butaev will get a title shot against Ugas or Eimanis Stanionis for the full WBA title.

The WBA has ordered Ugas-Stanionis with the winner to face Butaev but Ugas has asked for an exception to face WBC and IBF champion, Errol Spence.

Should the extension be granted, Stanionis and Butaev could fight each other for the mandatory fight for a Ugas-Spence winner but if it is not granted Ugas has threatened to vacate the WBA belt to fight Spence anyway, which would result in Stanionis-Butaev for the vacant title. 

The co-feature saw the most feared welterweight in the sports as Jaron "Boots" Ennis blew Thomas Dulorme out in one round.

Ennis knocked Dulorme down with a left hook followed by a right hand and Dulorme rose and tried to fight off Ennis but seconds later would be felled by a combination that he couldn't rise from and was counted out.

For Ennis, it was another impressive performance that will make few interested in fighting him, even champions such as Errol Spence and Terence Crawford.

Ennis is rated in the top six by all four organizations but not higher than third by the IBF and its very possible that Ennis may have to wait until 2023 and be a mandatory challenger to get a title shot, which is too bad because other than answering chin questions, which haven't been an issue thus far, Ennis looks to be as strong of a young contender as I've seen in quite a while.

In New York City, junior welterweight contender Jose Zepeda crushed Josue Vargas in one round of a grudge match after a pre-fight buildup that saw punches and kicks exchange from both men and their camps.

Zepeda dropped Vargas in the first round with a left and with Vargas badly hurt, Zepeda battered Vargas into a corner and fired away relentlessly before the referee ended the fight.

Zepeda is ranked second by the WBC and might be placed in fights like these for a while as he waits for  Josh Taylor to vacate his four titles.

No boxing challenge as we didn't get choices, due to a miscommunication. 

Steelers Drop Browns 15-10

    The Cleveland Browns offense was offensive enough to one's senses as the Browns lost a shockingly awful 15-10 decision to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Cleveland.

D'Ernest Johnson ran for a ten-yard score it in the third quarter for the only touchdown the Browns would score and Nick Chubb lead the runners with 6 yards.

The now 4-4 Browns will travel to Cincinnati next week to battle the Bengals.

Brownie Bits

1) Look, I'm going to try to be level-headed and not make this about Baker Mayfield, who didn't throw an interception and threw for 225 yards but when your season is disappointing and your supposedly high-powered offense isn't scaring anyone- that is where things start.

2) Once again, when forced to sit in the pocket, Mayfield is consistently high with his throws and disrupts the offense.

An example comes on the game's first drive, Austin Hooper is wide open and where is the ball?

Over this head, Hooper is forced to leap for it, can't come down with it, and to the Mayfield Kool-Aid drinkers, it is on Hooper.

Sure, he likely should have caught the ball anyway, but Mayfield's throw made an easy play a more difficult play and why add difficulty?

3) Mayfield generally is effective rolling to his left and not his right but this season Mayfield isn't rolling to the left.

Perhaps teams are taking that away from him and maybe it's Kevin Stefanski trying to protect the shoulder but the one thing that Mayfield is comfortable and effective doing has essentially been taken from the offense.

4) This is taken from Jason Lloyd of The Athletic and gives facts and stats to an opinion I've held of Mayfield from the start-the inability to throw the football downfield bites them in the final drives of the game.

"Mayfield and the Browns again faced the exact situation I referenced after the loss to the Chiefs in the opener: trailing by one score or less in the last four minutes of the game. In those instances throughout his career, Mayfield is 33 of 62 for 401 yards, four touchdowns, and five interceptions. The five picks are tied with Sam Darnold as the most by any quarterback in that situation since 2018, Mayfield’s rookie year, and his passer rating is 61.3. The Browns are 3-11 in those situations".

5) The receivers aren't blameless.

Jarvis Landry is the most reliable receiver Cleveland has and he lost a key fumble with six minutes to go and then on the final drive, Landry dropped two more passes.

Everyone can have a bad day but Landry's second half was not only bad but unexpectedly bad.

6) Odell Beckham isn't the player that the Browns traded for.

I know this ranks under no kidding but he lacks the explosiveness that he once had to take a 12-yard slant to the end zone and he seems to be picking his plays to give a better effort.

Beckham caught a screen pass in the first quarter and wasn't targeted again until the pass that Mayfield threw over his head and was bailed out by a roughing the passer call.

I think both guys deserve some brickbats for that- Mayfield for the lousy throw and Beckham could have tried a bit harder to reach the football.

7) An offense based around the tight ends lacks the explosive difference-maker that the offense needs.

Austin Hooper drops more than he did in Atlanta and falls down when he does catch it (Is it possible to be negative in yards after catch?), Harrison Bryant seems to have potential but he's not physical and athletic as the elite players are and David Njoku has the ability to be that player but never the consistency.

8) Nick Chubb didn't have a great game, but when the other team camps eight and occasionally nine players in the box because they don't respect the downfield passing game, I suppose that will happen.

Chubb never let that affect his play and despite his being, at less than 100 percent Chubb is still giving his top effort.

9) And for all that I've written about Baker Mayfield's average play, I won't question his effort or his toughness.

To have an injury as he does and still play shows that he cares and has plenty of toughness.

I'll never knock him on that issue.

10) I also can't get past for all of the disciplines that Kevin Stefanski preaches that this team does so many brain dead mistakes.

Rashard Higgins with a false start in Steeler territory?

And how many boneheaded dumb personal fouls will Ronnie Harrison going to commit before he wakes up.

11) I couldn't let this go by without mentioning the absolutely idiotic fake field goal rollout called by Pittsburgh with kicker Chris Boswell resulting in Boswell being smashed by Jordan Elliott and missing the remainder of the game.

This left Pittsburgh without a kicker and forced the Steelers to try two-point conversions after both of their second-half touchdowns with both conversions failing.

Those failures could have cost the Steelers the game, had the Browns scored on their final drive.

Why teams get cute with the only position on the field that you don't carry a backup on the active roster and can win or lose you a game is beyond stupid.

12) Is this end of the Browns?

No, not considering even at 4-4 and last in the division, they are only one game out in the win column and a win in Cincinnati this Sunday would place them back into contention.

However, it may be time for Kevin Stefanski to decide a few things.

How can the Browns best relieve the clogging in the box that defenses are resorting to stopping Nick Chubb and the short passing game?

Is it better to use a damaged Baker Mayfield or a healthy Case Keenum, No matter the opinion of Mayfield after Stefanski's statement earlier in the week that Mayfield would start as long as he wanted to?

Can Stefanski as play-caller be as creative on the fly as he is on the planned play calls on the Browns first possessions?

Can the possible loss of Jack Conklin at right tackle again be adequately replaced to protect Mayfield?

All of these are legitimate questions and all of these may hold the keys to the Browns final nine games.