It's Monday. Welcome back for another edition of Observe and Fight, The Boxing Observer's compilation of observations and random thoughts from the week that was in boxing. Get caught up on some of the most recent events you may have missed out on, including the announcement of Floyd Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana, two world titles changing hands over the weekend, the return of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., a preview of this weekend's Canelo Alvarez vs. Alfredo Angulo pay-per-view main event, and much more. Without further ado, check out the latest observations from the Boxing Observer, David Kassel.
Floyd Mayweather made the correct decision picking Marcos Maidana as his opponent. It seems like old news already, since it happened late last Monday evening, but Floyd Mayweather's decision to pick Maidana as his opponent on May 3rd was the correct one. Of the candidates up for the award of winning the "Mayweather Sweepstakes", Maidana deserved the fight more than Amir Khan. I've said it a million times. Maidana deserved it more, but Khan would have been the more competitive fight. We're going to see almost a replica of the fight we saw in September between Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez. The difference is, Mayweather will win this fight easier than the Canelo fight because Maidana is a bit slower than Canelo. I'm still going to pay to see it, and I'm not down on the fight because I've accepted the fact that Mayweather is light years ahead in talent than anybody else, but I hope they stack the undercard like they did in September with Danny Garcia vs. Lucas Matthysse.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. redeemed himself with his excellent performance on Saturday night. I would be hard-pressed to find anyone in boxing with a better chin than Chavez Jr. I had Chavez Jr. winning the first fight between he and Vera, 96-94. However, Saturday night's performance was much more convincing and did not leave any controversy. Bryan Vera is a very tough customer, but he is not an elite super middleweight. I can't think of the last time Chavez Jr. was in the ring with an opponent at least as big as he is. To be honest, there aren't many super middleweights out there who are as big as Chavez Jr. Julio is going to be tough to beat, even at 168 pounds, but I'm a bit concerned how his power is going to compare against a true super middleweight. Maybe a fight with Andre Ward isn't as far away as we think. I'm a bit perturbed that Chavez Jr. called out Sergio Martinez after the fight. Martinez has enough to worry about. Also, did anyone else find it weird that Chavez Jr. was able to easily switch from Spanish to English in the middle of his post-fight interview with Max Kellerman?
How about giving Bryan Vera a shot against Gennady Golovkin? I don't see why not. Vera is tough as nails, and if Chavez Jr. is a likely candidate to face Golovkin at some point, why shouldn't Vera, a man who took Chavez Jr.'s best shots and still didn't go down, get a chance at the man whom some view as an unstoppable force? Vera is a natural 160-lb fighter anyway. If Gabriel Rosado got a chance at Golovkin, Vera, a true middleweight, deserves a chance, and it would be an action-packed affair.
Speaking of Golovkin, our thoughts and prayers are with he and his family. Golovkin's father recently passed away, and with customs and traditions in Kazakhstan, the mourning period is 40 days. Golovkin will not be facing Andy Lee on April 26th, which means his next scheduled bout has been pushed back to a later date. This also means he will most likely not be fighting 4 times this year. In situation's such as this, boxing is placed on the backburner as family should always come first.
Orlando Salido may have defeated Vasyl Lomachenko, but I believe Lomachenko came out as the true winner Saturday night. Yes, Lomachenko lost to Salido, but he proved something I didn't know he had. Sure, Lomachenko's team could have handled the situation a bit differently. A more experienced professional team may have placed a re-hydration clause in the contract, which would not have allowed Salido to come into a featherweight fight (126 lbs) weighing what a welterweight weighs (147 lbs). Yes, there were mistakes made, but I was extremely surprised at Lomachenko's conditioning in the fight. I predicted Salido to win the fight, but I thought he would win it in the late rounds because Lomachenko would not be able to withstand the pressure from the, now former, champion (Salido forfeited his title on the scales during the weigh-in by not making weight). However, as the fight wore on, Lomachenko looked like the stronger fighter and almost knocked Salido out in the 12th, and final, round. Don't be surprised one bit to see Lomachenko fighting for that same world title (since it is now vacant) in his next fight. After Saturday night, I have no doubts Vasyl Lomachenko is going to be a future world champion and will be around for a long time. As for referee Laurence Cole, I think enough has been said about him in the past that I don't need to say anymore. His performance in the ring speaks for itself. It's just one more reason the state of Texas should be ashamed of its athletic commission.
Terence Crawford did exactly what everyone thought he was going to do. Congratulations to Crawford for going to Scotland and completely dominating Ricky Burns to take the WBO lightweight title. Crawford looked spectacular and it was hard to see where the judges could give Burns anything more than 2 rounds (which they did of course). Crawford is going to be one of the toughest outs in the lightweight division because he showed another dimension to his game on Saturday. We knew he could box, but I thought he did a fantastic job during the exchanges in the fight. Let's see a title unification between Crawford and the IBF lightweight champion, Miguel Vazquez, next! Both fighters are promoted by Top Rank, so it shouldn't be a difficult fight to put together.
Arthur Abraham completely rejuvenated his career on Saturday. I'll be the first to admit it. I wrote Abraham off over a year ago, but he showed the heart and determination I didn't think he possessed anymore. Abraham didn't seem interested in boxing anymore and only seemed to be collecting paychecks. However, his performance in the trilogy fight against Robert Steiglitz showed "King" Arthur still has the goods. I had a raw feeling in my stomach when the ring announcer said, "We have a split decision," but justice prevailed and Abraham, who is already a big-name fighter in the United States, put himself right back in the mix. The question from here is where does Abraham go? Abraham is scheduled to make the first defense of his title on May 31st, so I'm guessing it will be in Germany if the plan is already in place. I doubt it will be a difficult test since it is only 3 months away. If anyone is going to be upset about Abraham cashing out and taking an easier fight in Germany instead of going to the United States or England to face a tougher test, just think about the money involved. In Saturday night's fight, Steiglitz made $2.35 million. Abraham made approximately $800,000. Neither guy would make that type of money fighting outside of Germany, and Abraham will certainly make well over $1 million for his next fight if he stays in Germany. Unless he fight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., I doubt Abraham will find anywhere, outside of Germany, that will pay him more.
All Access: Canelo vs. Angulo was one of the best preview shows I have ever seen. Like most of you out there, anytime a preview show for any fight comes on television, I'm watching it. I like to see what fighters are like outside the ring, and cameras following around are a great representation of fighters' lives. But this preview show felt a bit different. Over the last few years, fans have seen Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao more times than I can count. Recently, Showtime produced an All Access between Adrien Broner and Marcos Maidana which was rather dull. HBO produced a 15-minute preview show of Chavez Jr. vs. Vera 2 which was also lackluster. Both HBO and Showtime have tried to do a tremendous job in building up other fighters by giving them their own platforms. However, at no time has either network devoted a preview show for two fighters coming off a loss. When Canelo was on All Access for the Mayweather fight, the spotlight was on Mayweather. Canelo was the B-side. This time, while Canelo is the A-side, both fighters are in the same situation, and both readily acknowledged that fact. On top of that, Canelo showed a bit different side of himself since he is coming off a loss. On the flip side, most of us have only seen Alfredo Angulo give interviews in the ring after fights. Most of the time he seems very stoic. On All Access, the cameras did a fantastic job of showing another side of "El Perro," a side that I certainly didn't know he had. Angulo is a very engaging personality, and watching this episode of All Access made me anticipate this fight as much as I did watching the 24/7 episodes of Mayweather vs. Ricky Hatton. It's great to see networks and promoters starting to build up other fighters again because boxing is certainly not going anywhere.
Canelo will not be the aggressor on Saturday night. Alfredo Angulo will be the one to come straight forward in the main event. Look for Canelo to use his speed and upper body movement to effectively counter-punch all night and look for a stoppage. Counter-punching will win Canelo this fight. Standing "Toe-to-Toe" will not.
Maybe Mayweather Promotions and Miguel Cotto Promotions can stage a fight card between their two stables. Let's be honest about it here folks, in my opinion, Mayweather Promotions fighters are not elite (although I believe Luis "Cuba" Arias can be special one day), and Cotto's fighters are not very good at all. Cotto's talent stable (with the exception of Jayson Velez) is very weak. Mayweather has a solid stable, and a couple of potential future world champions given the right title opportunity, but the difference is that Mayweather seems to be pushing his fighters into the spotlight a bit too quickly. Announcer Steve Farhood made mention of it, and I agree with him. I know Mayweather came up the hard way and won a world title against Genaro Hernandez in his 19th professional fight, but Mayweather has to realize that there is only one Floyd Mayweather. It's like when Wayne Gretzky tried to coach an NHL team, but couldn't understand why his players couldn't do what he was able to do. It's like Michael Jordan expecting the Charlotte Bobcats to win 6 NBA Championships because he was able to do so. Chris Pearson had a tough customer in front of him, and I thought he did win a close decision (even with the knockdown) against Lanardo Tyner, but he wasn't ready for that fight. Badou Jack suffered a devastating blow with his 1st-round knockout loss. J'Leon Love did dominate, but his competition level was weak. I admit it. I have been critical of promoters bringing fighters along slowly because it makes fighters seem better than what they are. However, looking at the strategy, maybe it's not such a bad thing to allow young fighters to see every style against lesser competition until they actually step up because every fight is a learning experience. Very few fighters are going to win world titles in under 20 fights, and I feel Mayweather Promotions, while paying their fighters well, may be hurting their fighters chances of world title success in the future because they are rushing them. I guess only time will tell.
Boxcino delivered once again this past Friday. It started with the lightweights, but the middleweights came to play on ESPN with 3 of the 4 quarterfinal bouts ending in knockouts. It seemed that the middleweight fights had more mismatches than the lightweight, but at least fans were gifted with 3 solid KO wins. Sports are so much more interesting when athletes are faced with a one and done scenario. I always have been, and always will be, a fan of elimination tournaments.
Why hasn't Peter Quillin's name been mentioned lately? Quillin likes to stay busy and he last fought Gabriel Rosado in October. I would love to see Golden Boy Promotions, and Al Haymon, shell out some serious dough to bring IBF middleweight champion Felix Sturm over to New York City and stage a HUGE middleweight unification between the two fighters. Quillin is a must-watch fighter, and this would catapult him into Sergio Martinez/Gennady Golovkin middleweight status because he would hold 2 of the 4 major middleweight belts should he defeat Sturm.
I finally got the chance to watch the full fight between Tommy Coyle and Daniel Brizuela. All I can say is "WOW!!!" If you haven't seen it yet, it is definitely in the lead for Fight of the Year. Make sure to check it out.
Another "Upset of the Year" candidate took place Saturday night. Mexico's Pablo Cesar Cano suffered a nasty gash in between his eyebrows by a devastating straight right hand from Fernando Angulo, causing the fight to be stopped in the 9th round. Because the cut was caused by a punch, Angulo was awarded a TKO victory.
Each week, I feature an email from a fan on Observe and Fight. This week's email comes to us from Anthony H. regarding Amir Khan's decision to pass on a title shot against Devon Alexander because he didn't want to risk losing a potential bout with Floyd Mayweather...
"Wasup Kassel? I see Khan is really kicking himself in the butt right now for not taking that Alexander fight. I feel that Khan did this to himself. I don't think he can step outside himself and see what everybody else sees. 1st, he is with a new trainer, Virgil Hunter, that understandbly has made Khan better defensively but less explosive, and that was Khan's it factor and what made him so fan friendly. 2nd, he had a fight with Julio Diaz where he didn't look good at all in that fight. 3rd, he drop out the fight with Alexander for no reason at all except that he was scared he might lose the fight and lose his chance against mayweather, and that right there shows no heart and cowardiness. He had plenty of time to train from December till May for the Mayweather fight and if he would of beat Alexander there would be no question as to who would be fighting Mayweather. Like we say from where I'm from "SCARED MONEY DONT MAKE NO MONEY." But I do see redemption for Khan to fight Mayweather in September only if he can put his pride to the side and that would be to fight Adrien Broner on the undercard of the Mayweather fight. Help expose him, build the fight up for September, and he would make more money only if he beats Broner. He just needs to learn patience. The fight will happen only if he stops crying all the time. What are your thoughts!!!"
I agree with you, Anthony, that Khan shot himself in the foot by not taking the Alexander fight. Khan is certainly a bigger name than Marcos Maidana, and if he had beaten Alexander (which Shawn Porter ended up doing), it would have been an easy choice because it still would have been a unification fight for Mayweather. Now, Khan is left wondering what could have been and realizes that he has to actually FIGHT his way into a spot with Mayweather. As far as redeeming himself, I don't see Khan fighting Broner on the Mayweather undercard (although I think it would be one hell of a fight). Now, I don't have any inside knowledge about the situation. I've heard Abner Mares is going to face Takashi Miura. I've also heard rumblings that Jermell Charlo could be on the card as well (although that is unconfirmed). That leaves one spot left, and it will probably be the co-feature fight. The reason I don't think Khan will face Broner is because I believe Broner is being steered toward going back down to 140-lbs., while Khan wants his next fight at 147-lbs. Therein lies the problem. At the end of the day, money talks, so anything is possible. I think it's more likely to see Broner fighting on the Mayweather undercard than it is to see Khan. I think a Khan fight would sell more tickets and produce the same amount of viewers as a Broner fight would if they both had separate dates. Therefore, if one of those two guys end up on the Mayweather undercard, my guess is it would be Broner, maybe fighting the likes of Lucas Matthysse. Khan might be better served to headline his own show a week or two before May 3rd and potentially build toward a September showdown with Mayweather. Again, though, I have no knowledge of the internal, behind-the-scenes negotiations going on. That's just my opinion.
That's all I've got for this week. Email any questions or comments to dkassel@fighthype.com and I will answer them throughout the week. Your email may be featured in the next "Observe and Fight." Follow me on Twitter @BoxingObserver, and be sure to "Like" The Boxing Observer on Facebook.
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