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 dominant display by Sergey Kovalev, a look at the leading candidates for Fighter of the Year, what the future holds for Bernard Hopkins, a preview of Wladimir Klitschko's heavyweight title defense on Saturday, and much more. Without further ado, check out the latest observations from the Boxing Observer, David Kassel.
Sergey Kovalev has established himself as the leading candidate for Fighter of the Year. Wow! All I can say is, "What a performance!" In all honesty, I predicted Bernard Hopkins to win a close decision over Kovalev on Saturday, but I wasn't surprised to see Kovalev win. Hopkins has proven the doubters (including myself) wrong so many times that it was hard to pick against him. What I am surprised by is the ease at which Kovalev dominated Hopkins. To not lose a single round and completely stay focused on the game plan when the possibility of a knockout was within his reach showed Kovalev has experience far beyond what his record indicates. Other than Hopkins, Kovalev's most notable victories were against Nathan Cleverly and Gabriel Campillo. With this win, Sergey Kovalev has established himself as not only the best light heavyweight in the world, but also as the leading candidate for Fighter of the Year.
Adonis Stevenson needs to step up to the plate, but I doubt he will anytime soon. The other man to hold a major title at 175lbs is technically considered the lineal champion because he beat Chad Dawson, but, looking at that now, one has to wonder if that is still the case. Dawson's career has taken a nosedive, Kovalev dominated Hopkins, and Stevenson's resume, while better than Kovalev's until last night, isn't exactly top-of-the-charts impressive. Stevenson's most impressive wins have come against Dawson (which was impressive at the time), former champion Tavoris Cloud, and Andrzej Fonfara. Stevenson's December title defense against twice beaten Russian Dmitry Sukhotsky should end in an early knockout for the champion. I'm not sure about the network contractual situations of both Stevenson and Kovalev, however, I do know that Kovalev is signed with Main Events Promotions, and HBO has been very good to him, so it would be difficult to imagine him jumping ship to Showtime, especially now. On the flip side, Stevenson was being treated very well on HBO before signing with Al Haymon and jumping ship to Showtime (his fight with Fonfara and December's fight with Sukhotsky are both Showtime-aired events). Yet, I don't believe Stevenson is contractually obligated to Showtime (however, I could be incorrect about that). If a Stevenson vs. Kovalev fight doesn't happen in 2015, I would expect Stevenson to face Jean Pascal in Montreal or give Bernard Hopkins another chance to win a light heavyweight title at the age of 50. I just don't see a Kovalev unification happening, and that's a damn shame.
Who are the other leading candidates for Fighter of the Year? Other than Kovalev, several fighters have the potential to take the crown in 2014, which will make for an exciting final month and a half. The obvious choice would be Chris Algieri if he can upset Manny Pacquiao next Saturday night. Other fighters with an excellent opportunity include: WBC flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez (who makes the 2nd defense of his title and fights for the 4th time this year next Saturday in Japan), 21-year-old, WBC light flyweight champion Naoya Inoue (who makes the jump up 2 weight divisions on December 30th to try and dethrone long-reigning WBO super flyweight champion Omar Narvaez), and long shots WBO lightweight champion Terence Crawford (who defends his title for the 2nd time this year on November 29th against Ray Beltran) and WBA featherweight champion Nicholas Walters (who announced his presence on the world stage in May by dominating former champion Vic Darchinyan, only to follow it up with an absolute drubbing of Nonito Donaire last month).
The other obvious fight that fans want to see in 2015 is Sergey Kovalev vs. Andre Ward. That fight is as mouth-watering as it sounds and has a real chance of coming to fruition, but I don't think it will happen unless it takes place at a catchweight. While it isn't marketable enough for pay-per-view, numerous venues throughout the country would sell that event out.
Where does Bernard Hopkins go from here? Other than retirement (which I believe is not going to happen considering Hopkins took Kovalev's best shots and remained standing throughout the fight), the best options for Hopkins are Stevenson and Andre Ward. Another fight to not completely rule out of the realm of possibility is a pay-per-view showdown with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (especially if a Chavez Jr. vs. Carl Froch fight cannot be negotiated). There are still so many big money possibilities for Hopkins. Even though he doesn't need the money, Hopkins is still a major draw in the sport and still loves to compete at the highest level. Don't count out the old man just yet.
Wladimir Klitschko may be facing his toughest challenge in a long time on Saturday. Yes folks, undefeated Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev (who is ranked as the #2 heavyweight in the world behind Klitschko) is as good as advertised (although he hasn't received much publicity in the United States). While I'm not sure it will be enough to defeat the heavyweight champion of 8 years, this fight should be more competitive for Klitschko than has been the case with opponents in past years. Kudos to HBO for televising this fight as well! A heavyweight title fight, no matter the champion or location in the world, should be televised for all to see. Let's just hope should Klitschko win, he doesn't call out Shannon Briggs. I would retract my previous statement about all heavyweight championship fights needing television exposure if Klitschko gave Briggs a shot at the heavyweight title.
Welcome to the party, Sadam Ali! Other than Kovalev, the undefeated 26-year-old, ex-Olympian put together, by far, the best performance of the weekend in dominating world-ranked welterweight Luis Carlos Abregu. The Brooklyn native, whose professional career has gotten off to a slow start, stepped up to the plate and knocked one out of the park in the biggest step up of his career on Saturday night, stopping Abregu in the 9th round of their welterweight attraction. Ali has now positioned himself as a legitimate contender to every fighter in the division with his speed, power, and athleticism. As a Golden Boy promoted fighter, Ali can fight pretty much anyone in boxing because this was the first Golden Boy vs. Top Rank, non-purse bid fight to take place in a long time (Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Gary Russell Jr. was a fight that was sent to purse bid). The 147lb division is arguably the deepest in boxing. Being from Brooklyn, maybe Ali's next fight should be against fellow Brooklyn native, and former world champion, Paulie Malignaggi, or against another former world champion, and Brooklyn native, Zab Judah. Let's put that fight together at Barclays Center as the co-feature to Peter Quillin vs. Daniel Jacobs. Sounds like a money-making event to me!
Another "Welcome to the party" goes out to welterweight Jose Zepeda. His 1st-round KO of former world title challenger Victor Cayo was not shocking, but rather extremely impressive. The southpaw landed a stiff jab to stun Cayo and followed it up with a short left hook around Cayo's guard to make it an early night. Don't be surprised to see Zepada back in the ring before year's end or by January or February of 2015.
Amir Mansour recorded a Knockout of the Year candidate on Saturday night! His right hook sent Frederic Kassi face first onto the canvas where Kassi was out cold. Kassi remained on the floor for a couple of minutes before being helped up, seemingly okay.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to see Felix Sturm vs. Robert Steiglitz, but I hear it was phenomenal! The all-German affair ended in a draw, so I'm going to have to check the fight out on YouTube.
Here's to a great career, and hopefully the end, for Tomasz Adamek! Adamek was defeated by Artur Spzilka in Poland on Saturday. Adamek does not need to continue fighting and made a huge payday fighting in his native country. Another Knockout of the Year candidate took place on the undercard of this bout as Michal Syrowatka took out Michal Chudecki in the 1st round with a vicious right cross after a short right hook.
What is the matter with Adrien Broner? If you didn't see the bizarre video he posted last week, it's extremely difficult to take it seriously. One of two things is going on with Broner: 1) he truly is suicidal, in which case I hope he gets the help he needs ASAP, or 2) he is trying to keep himself relevant in the public spotlight because we haven't heard much from him lately. If the 2nd reason is the case, I expect an announcement about his career soon (but only after a few more childish videos surface from Broner). One thing looked almost certain in that video, Broner did not look to be in a sober frame of mind.
Each week, I feature an email from a fan on Observe and Fight. This week's email comes to us from Syed Zulfiqar-ul-Azam regarding Gennady Golovkin and Andre Ward...
"Hi Mate, I am a huge Golovkin and Ward fan as both have accomplished a lot in both the amateurs and the professional ranks. They have taken on whoever has been in front of them and have won in dominating fashion, either knockout or a 12 round whitewash. Now on every site, facebook page or blog I'm on I hear that Ward would be the hardest test for Golovkin and that is a fight that needs to be made and I totally agree, but then off the back of that I see Golovkin receive a lot of hate for not wanting to move up yet and his team is protecting him. As far as I can see Golovkin still has a lot of work to do in the middleweight division and the top 5 don't want to come near him yet he is still the most active A Level fighter in the sport. On the flip side not only is ward been ridiculously inactive since the Super Six one of his opponents came down in weight to fight him and another didn't really deserve the opportunity. Why does Ward get a pass for being inactive and dismissing a move up in weight where there are ample challenges for him since he's wiped out 168 yet Golovkin gets a huge amount of criticism for being active and chasing the big fights to clean up 160 then move up? Sorry for the essay. I was just wondering whether you agree and what your views are on this? Cheers"
No worries. Thanks for the question. Honestly, I believe Golovkin is taking a lot of criticism because of the exposure he has received, yet he has not fought a current top-5 middleweight (Cotto, Martinez, Quillin). However, Daniel Geale was a Top-5 guy when he fought him and he made him look like a C-level fighter. I think Golovkin is suffering from the same problem Floyd Mayweather has. When you are so much better than everyone else, and you continue to make it look easy, people are going to say you haven't fought anyone. It's truly not his fault that none of the top middleweights are itching to get in the ring with him. He can only control whomever is willing to fight him. As for him not moving up in weight, I think the situation needs to be ideal (such as a big money fight with Ward, Froch, or Chavez Jr.). Otherwise, it's not worth it from a financial perspective. Golovkin is making big money right now against guys he knows he can easily dispose of. Why risk that unless it's for a massive payday. As for Ward, his inactivity has as much to do with his lawsuit against his promoter than anything else. That's the reason he hasn't fought in a year. Once that gets cleared up (although it doesn't appear to be anytime soon), he should be in the ring soon. Also, Ward has received some criticism for cleaning out the 168lb division and not moving up to 175lbs to challenge some champions there. Between the two fighters, if one of them should have moved up by now due to lack of competition, it should have been Ward. Golovkin still has to prove himself against the top guys at 160. Ward already beat everyone at 168.
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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