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NOTES FROM THE BOXING UNDERGROUND: THE WELTERWEIGHT UNDERCURRENT

By Paul Magno | April 23, 2018
NOTES FROM THE BOXING UNDERGROUND: THE WELTERWEIGHT UNDERCURRENT

With the welterweights experiencing a logjam at the very highest level, the division is moving along just fine below the top four or five.

Adrien Broner and Jessie Vargas put on a spirited twelve-round show on Saturday at the Barclays Center, fighting to an honest, ernest draw. Both fighters, who came into this bout with bruised reputations, accounted well for themselves and definitely raised their stocks.

If Terence Crawford gets past Jeff Horn this June, Crawford will rightfully be regarded as an “elite” at 147. If Horn beats Crawford, he gets thrown into the top 5 mix. 

Manny Pacquiao and Lucas Matthysse will fight this summer in a contest that will either see Pacquiao work his way back into the deep end of the welterweight talent pool or Matthysse emerge as a legitimate presence in the division.

Amir Khan is back to active duty and talking big about huge plans in the works.

Josesito Lopez returns this Saturday against Miguel Cruz. Jamal James has taken a step forward in the division. Devon Alexander and Victor Ortiz kept themselves at least somewhat relevant with their recent draw. Omar Figueroa and Adrian Granados, matched against anyone, are sure to make for compelling fights. Carlos Molina is back. Over in the UK, Bradley Skeete, Frankie Gavin, and highly-regarded prospect Josh Kelly are also around. 

There’s a lot happening at welterweight, even if Keith Thurman remains perpetually injured and Errol Spence, Shawn Porter, and Danny Garcia keep themselves in suspended animation while waiting on Thurman.

Of course, it would be nice if things would work themselves out and we’d get the top fights with the top stars. But boxing fans rarely get everything they want, when they want it. At least SOMETHING interesting is happening and, who knows, from all this undercurrent of activity maybe another elite will emerge. 

Quick (S)hits: 

-- And about Adrien Broner’s supposed racist post-fight interview comment? It’s funny how the people complaining about Broner’s Mexican/chicken and rice comment tend to be the same ones who pretty much laugh off Sergey Kovalev’s entire history of racist deeds. Spare me the fake outrage.

-- Is it any mystery why fearsome “I fight anyone” middleweight beasts seem to conveniently forget that Jermall Charlo exists? Yeah, last Saturday’s blowout of Hugo Centeno Jr. was hardly a KO of Marvin Hagler and the battering of Jorge Heiland nine months ago in his middleweight debut was not a Bernard Hopkins-level feat, but Charlo, at worst, is a top five middleweight. In my less than humble opinion, he’s already the best middleweight in the world and just waiting on Triple G to stop chasing junior middleweights. 

-- Ironically enough, though, Golovkin may end up avoiding Charlo the way Sergio Martinez avoided Golovkin. Whether one cares to admit it or not, boxing is a business of risk assessment and nobody—regardless of how fearsome they are portrayed by their own publicity—will take on massive risk for small reward. Golovkin has a Canelo rematch waiting for him after smashing through Vanes Martirosyan on May 5 and a lucrative UK trip to meet WBO titlist Billy Joe Saunders on deck after that. The WBC, which bent over backwards to get Golovkin a title shot as soon as he started paying them a sanctioning fee, will NOT make the same push for Charlo. So, that means that we’re talking at least another 18 months before anyone official will even discuss the possibility of Charlo fighting for the title. I doubt the “hardcore” fans who cried and whined about the champs ducking Golovkin will raise the same fuss over Charlo being ducked.

-- Seeing the way Gervonta Davis tore through Jesus Cuellar kinda makes one reassess how ready he may be for a shot at Vasyl Lomachenko. Cuellar is Cuellar and Lomachenko is Lomachenko, but it’s clear at this point that Davis is an elite at 130 and, at 23 years of age, still at least three years away from his physical prime, he has tremendous potential—if he can avoid self-made drama in his life (but that’s a big if).

-- I thought Carl Frampton would have an easier time with Nonito Donaire. Frampton won decisively enough on Saturday, but it wasn’t the “exclamation point” victory I was anticipating. In terms of full potential and general “upside,” he’s been all over the board—sometimes looking like an elite-level star and sometimes looking just a step up from “solid.” 

-- Amir Khan’s 40-second KO of Phil Lo Greco was the one-sided slaughter everyone thought it would be. It was nothing more but an empty payday and a glorified infomercial for the rest of Khan’s Matchroom deal (which will be a total bust if a Kell Brook bout doesn’t materialize).

Got something for Magno? Send it here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com

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