Welcome to a slightly deflated post-Valentine’s day Sack. But don’t think for a second that, even with a less-than-prodigious bulge, I still can’t let loose with a mighty load of wisdom. So, here it comes:
Wilder-Ortiz: Fair or Foul?
Hey Paul!! Hope all is well?!
I’m looking forward to this Wilder vs Ortiz, which on paper looks great. My only concern is the testing. They say the medicine that Ortiz is taking is also use to mask peds. So my question now is since it’s approved for him to take the blood pressure meds doesn’t it give him an open door to juice at will because his medicine will mask what he’s taking? Well I just hope we get a great fight which it should be. I think we will see a cautious fight out of Wilder like he showed the first Stiverne fight, where he works behind his jab and waits for the opportunity to catch Ortiz, who will be a very dangerous fighter for the first 3 rounds and after that I feel Wilder will take him in deep waters and drown him. My prediction-- TKO by Wilder by the 9th.
-- jay cee
Wouldn’t it be great to say that you have confidence in the sanctioning body to strike that balance between the health of the fighters and the tilting of the playing field? Of course, though, there is ZERO confidence in the ability of the WBC to ensure anything other than sanctioning fees being collected on time. The truth is that we will have zero idea whether Ortiz is juiced up on anything in this fight. But, really, it may not matter. I’ve already gone on record as saying that this fight may not be on the up and up. That’s just my suspicious nature (and the take of a handful of very knowledgeable old school boxing people). I sincerely hope that if Ortiz crumbles to the canvas like an imploded smokestack, it comes from an actual punch and not a left-right combo to the glove and earlobe. If everything is on the level, Wilder could probably do to Ortiz what he did to Stiverne in their first bout (and there were some doubts about whether THAT one was a legit contest as well). Ortiz is skilled and has decent hand speed for a big man, but he’s no hunter or mover. If Wilder scuttled around the ring, picking at Ortiz with his long arms from a distance, he should be able to win like that. But the jaded cynic in me says that Ortiz is gonna get tapped early, look for a soft spot on the canvas, be “unable” to continue, and then find himself booked in a number of PBC undercard bouts for disproportionately large paydays in the coming year or two.
The Future of the Middleweights
Magno. I’m looking forward to the Golovkin v. Canelo rematch, but I’m also looking forward to what happens after in the middleweight division after the top dog is established. Saunders, Jacobs, Charlo. So much talent. How do you see 160 in a post GGG-Canelo world?
-- Peter Sanchez
I still hold firm that Jermall Charlo is already the best middleweight in the world, but I don’t see him getting a shot at the winner of Canelo-Golovkin any time soon. It’ll be interesting to see how Charlo fits into the championship picture. Saunders, I feel, will implode and get back to being who he is-- a talented fighter who can’t maintain enough discipline to stay at the elite level. He’ll go back to fighting no-hope Euro-middleweight paper contenders by the end of this year. I sure hope I’m wrong, though. Jacobs will probably get the winner of Golovkin-Canelo and he’ll lose, then move up to 168. Let’s also not forget Demetrius Andrade, who can be as good as any of them if/when he gets serious and gets some career momentum going. I don’t see the winner of Golovkin-Canelo facing any of the real top challenges and, as a result, I think the middleweight title gets split up into four pieces again.
No Love for American Fighters
Yo, Paul. Love the truth slinging my brother. I know you talked about this before and I sure as hell been talking about it online with boxing fans. But why is it the case that we don’t support our American grown fighters? Other countries support their own and we support our American athletes in other sports. What’s up with this?
-- M
American fight fans have become jaded. It’s also the media’s fault. The boxing media, at its highest levels, is owned by the major promoters. And none of the major promoters currently have any marketable, crossover-friendly American talent. So, they push the foreign talent. But then there’s another factor. Most of the top American talent is currently aligned with Al Haymon and Haymon is persona non grata with the big promoters, so he is persona non grata with the media puppets as well. And then there’s a guy like Terence Crawford, who IS with the “right” promoter, but is caught up in the fact that American fans have been conditioned to reject their own.
Magno’s Favorites
Here’s a good one. Since you don’t believe in pound4pound lists and don’t do them, how about you share with us your ten favorite fighters to watch? A top ten Magno list.
-- Sergio
This was a tough one to put together and it’s going to poke some holes into theories some have regarding my “favorites" or those I supposedly “hate." Here you go, in order from 10 down to 1:
10. Badou Jack
9. Sergey Kovalev
8. Manny Pacquiao
7. The Charlo Brothers
6. Gennady Golovkin
5. Orlando Salido
4. Juan Francisco Estrada
3. Errol Spence Jr.
2. Mikey Garcia
1. Terence Crawford
Got a question or comment for Magno? The best of the best gets printed right here, every Thursday, in Magno’s Bulging Mail Sack. Send your stuff to: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com