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 a recap of Canelo vs. Lara, the announcement of Mayweather vs. Maidana 2, the return of Guillermo Rigondeaux, and much more. Without further ado, check out the latest observations from the Boxing Observer, David Kassel.
Canelo wins, but Lara should blame himself for the loss. Do not call this fight a robbery. That would be a disgrace to boxing. The judges only agreed on rounds 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9. The only robbery was Levi Martinez's score of 117-111. The final ShoStats had Canelo landing 97/415 total punches. Lara landed 107/386 total punches. However, for the last time, boxing is scored on a round-by-round basis. Lara simply did not let his hands go enough when he had the opportunity. And he had plenty of opportunities to do so. I don't remember Lara throwing more than a 3-punch combination at any point in the fight. While the round-by-round punch statistics have not fully been released, Lara threw 246 jabs, 55 of which landed. 63.7% of Lara's punches thrown were jabs. If you go back and watch the fight, most of those jabs were lazy jabs and range finders to try and setup another shot (usually the straight left hand). Does that seem like enough to win a fight? The problem is that Lara rarely threw that punch after the jab when he had the opportunity. There were so many times that Lara went what seemed like 10-15 seconds at a time without throwing a punch. Canelo, on the other hand, threw 232 power shots. 55.9% of Canelo's shots were power shots, meaning even though he only landed 9 of 183 jabs, he was using the jab to setup his combinations. When Canelo got the chance to throw combinations, he did. That is what lost Lara the fight.
For the record, I scored the bout a draw, 114-114. I had no problem with a judge giving it to either fighter 115-113, but if you go back to my Twitter handle timeline, @BoxingObserver, I predicted Lara's demise starting after the 3rd round and referenced it a few more times during my round-by-round scoring. After the 3rd round, I stated, "29-28 Canelo. I think the judges are going to kill Lara for simply not throwing." After the 4th round, "If the fight stays at this pace and Lara loses he'll have nobody to blame but himself for not letting his hands go." After the 6th round, "58-56 Canelo halfway through the fight. I don't see Canelo fading late and Lara is not active enough." I was seeing what the two judges who scored the fight for Canelo were seeing. If Lara threw more, he wins the fight hands down.
Chris Algieri beat Ruslan Provodnikov using Lara's style against Canelo with ONE MAJOR DIFFERNCE! If you go back and watch both fights, both Algieri and Lara stayed on the outside of the ring and circled around the entire fight. The difference was that when Algieri was circling, he was throwing punches and thwarting Provodnikov in his tracks. What that did was lower Ruslan's punch output and didn't allow his offense to get going. Lara circled, but didn't throw, and Canelo was able to get inside and hit Lara with some vicious body shots, which did slow Lara down some later in the fight. Lara lost because he didn't throw enough punches. Plain and simple.
Canelo Alvarez got credit for his body attack, and that's a rare thing to see. Canelo only landed 24 shots to Lara's head, but he landed 73 body shots, most of which were left hooks to the body. Most of the time, that type of body work is not enough to win a fight. In this case, though, because of Lara's inactive offense, the body attack of Canelo was on full display. Lara had no answer for the left hook to the body, and it was clear that Canelo stuck with his plan. If Lara had been a bit more active on offense, Canelo's body attack may not have been so clear for the judges to score.
Mayweather vs. Maidana 2: Mayhem was officially announced. The fight will take place September 13th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Other than a fight with Amir Khan, which would have best taken place in the U.K., this is currently the best option if Mayweather is dead set on fighting once more in 2014. There are still plenty of people screaming that Maidana was robbed, and this fight, in my opinion, will look a lot different than the first fight. Maidana is going to bring to the table a very one-dimensional style. Mayweather, on the other hand, is going to fight a much smarter fight and, from my viewpoint, make Maidana look like a fighter who is completely over-matched. The media tour begins today, but I'm wondering how much better this fight will do on pay-per-view than the estimated 850,000 buys the first fight in May produced. The undercard has to be stacked if this PPV will produce over 1 million buys. The fighter I would LOVE to see on the card, and it shouldn't be difficult to make this happen, is Keith "One Time" Thurman.
I thought Abner Mares' return was exactly what he needed. Yes, Mares was involved in the most boring fight on the card Saturday night, but after the gauntlet Mares had run through since 2010 (Yonnhy Perez, Vic Darchinyan, Joseph Agbeko (2), Eric Morel, Anselmo Moreno, Daniel Ponce De Leon, and Jhonny Gonzalez), he deserved something other than a brawl. Jonathan Oquendo is no slouch, but Mares did not allow himself to get sucked into a war, and while it wasn't aesthetically pleasing, it was just the thing Mares needed to show himself, under new trainer Virgil Hunter, that he could play defense along with having a strong offense. Mares is still the same guy with the same heart, but as he gets older, he is going to need to fight smarter or he won't last long in professional boxing. Virgil Hunter may be the answer to Mares' longevity.
Mauricio Herrera vs. Johan Perez proved to be the fight of the night! Congratulations to Herrera for finally getting over the hump and winning a big-time fight. He deserved that victory and is now in line for a major title shot (even though he holds an interim title). I wouldn't mind seeing him face Adrien Broner (if Broner wins his September 6th bout against an opponent to be determined) in the near future since it looks like Danny Garcia will move up to welterweight after his August 9th fight with Rod Salka.
What an American debut for Tomoki Kameda! His 7th round left hook shot to the liver of Pungluang Sor Singyu is a definite Knockout of the Year candidate. Kameda, the youngest of the 3 fighting Kameda brothers, may have the highest ceiling of them all. Expect to see him again on American television, especially because he is currently suspended from fighting in Japan. As for Singyu, I would love to see him back on TV anytime. He was entertaining as hell.
Congratulations to Rances Barthelemy for officially claiming his status as IBF junior lightweight champion! After controversially having his win changed to a no-contest following his knockout victory over Argenis Mendez in January, Barthelemy left no doubt Thursday night in the rematch. Barthelemy, though still a relative unknown, is a major player in the 130-lb. division. Michael Farenas is currently the top contender to Barthelemy's title.
I think it's time for Juan Maunel Lopez to call it a day. While round 3 of his battle with Francisco Vargas is a Round of the Year candidate, JuanMa looked punch drunk, and his corner was absolutely correct in halting the bout. Vargas has a big future ahead of him as well, and he is a very big guy for a 130-lbs. I would love to see him face someone like Omar Figueroa, at lightweight, in the future. JuanMa, though, needs to hang 'em up, or he might suffer severe brain damage down the line.
Another fighter who looks finished is Jeff Lacy. Lacy had absolutely no business being in the ring with Humberto Savigne, Thursday night. Also, how can Lacy claim that the fighter he stepped in the ring with was not the same fighter who stepped on the scales at the weigh-on?
Speaking of drunk, did Mike Tyson seem loopy to you during his interview with Jim Gray, Saturday night?
Guillermo Rigondeuax is getting completely shafted by HBO. The unified 122-lb champion returns Saturday, in Macau, as the co-feature to Zou Shiming. Rigondeaux, who is in the Top-10 on just about everyone's pound-for-pound list, defends his title against Sod Looknongyantoy in what should be another easy win for Rigondeaux. HBO (or should I say HBO2) has decided not to televise the fight, instead allowing UniMas to air the fight on tape-delay. Rigondeuax has been completely disrespected by his promoter, Top Rank, and HBO over the past couple of years and becomes a promotional free agent after Saturday's fight. Rigondeaux's manager, Gary Hyde, posted the following on Facebook Saturday, "WBA WBO and Rings Magazine world champion Guillermo Rigondeaux Vs WBC world champion Leo Santa Cruz in a massive unification of three titles on the Mayweather Maidana undercard. That would be a dream fight right now. Let's get to work. Rigo will be promotional free next Saturday." Don't be surprised one bit Rigondeaux signs with Al Haymon and winds up fighting Santa Cruz in a unification. I would also love to see that fight on the Mayweather vs. Maidana 2 undercard. Santa Cruz has already been told he is likely to appear on that undercard.
Each week, I feature an email from a fan on Observe and Fight. This week's email comes to us from Johnathan Melendez on what is next for both Canelo and Lara...
"Dave, regardless of the crappy outcome, since Lara clearly won that fight, it doesn't seem like Canelo is going to give Lara a rematch. Who will Canelo fight next? And who will Lara fight next?"
First off, I don't see how anybody with a pair of halfway decent eyes could say that fight was a robbery. As I stated earlier, I scored the fight a draw, but had no problem with the judges scoring one round more for either guy. The only robbery was 117-111. Secondly, to answer your question, Oscar de La Hoya has stated he is interested in a Canelo vs. James Kirkland showdown. That could very well be next. Another option is WBO junior middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade, so Canelo could go after a title belt. As for Lara, he is represented by Al Haymon, so I'm sure he will be back in a big fight soon. Andrade could be an option for Lara as well. There are so many options for both guys since the division is loaded. However, don't expect to see Canelo vs. Miguel Cotto until 2015.
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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