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MAGNO'S BULGING MAIL SACK: A GLARING DOUBLE STANDARD, MY CANELO-GGG PICK, MORE

By Paul Magno | June 21, 2018
MAGNO'S BULGING MAIL SACK: A GLARING DOUBLE STANDARD, MY CANELO-GGG PICK, MORE

It’s Thursday. Here’s my sack. It’s bulging with soon-to-be shared analysis, insight, whimsy, and hate speech. So, sit back and grab a handful of Kleenex because here comes the good stuff:

Double Standard?

What’s up Paul, 

I’ve noticed a lot of media drumming up Spence v. Crawford talk after their recent performances. We all know the political bullshit they would have to overcome in order to make this fight a reality, and I wholeheartedly think it should be made. My only issue is that the same media members who speak of this dream matchup completely ignore the idea of Loma v. Mikey. Both fights have the same promotional obstacles and would likely produce the same high quality matchup between pound for pound elite fighters. Yet only the young black fighters are being pushed towards one another. Loma while immensely talented and able, will be given the path of least resistance. He’ll fight no hoper after no hoper, and an occasional champion past his prime while Spence and Bud, both younger than Loma, will be forced to square off in their primes. The double standard and bias in matchmaking is blatant, fans should not continue to ignore it. We should only accept the best vs the best PERIOD. Please share your thoughts as you so masterfully do. 

Thanks! 

-- David 

Hi David.

There is clearly a bias when it comes to how certain fighters are portrayed and how some are allowed a lot more “flexibility” when it comes to who they fight and how. For instance, do you think Errol Spence, as beloved as he currently is, could get away with a Golovkin-like 8 years of soft touches because the guy he really wants to fight won’t fight him? Please. Likable or not, they’d be stringing him up after 18 months of easy blowouts. Lomachenko will be given much more of the benefit of the doubt when it comes to why certain fights are not being made. I’m not saying that he’s being a slacker at the moment, but it’s clear that he could be for a much longer time and under much less scrutiny than if an African American fighter tried it. This is going to piss off a lot of people, but it all boils down to the archetypes and prejudices inside the mind of the boxing media (which, like it or not, controls the narratives in the sport). White fighters are portrayed as tough, hard-working, overachieving warriors who want to kick ass first and foremost. Black fighters are portrayed as athletically blessed, but a bit shifty, and duckers at heart who need to be pushed towards challenges and/or enticed into taking them with big paydays. Mayweather made a fortune playing to that dynamic. Fighters like Crawford consciously avoid that path and are promptly marginalized or flat-out forgotten. It beats me how this is going to change and how we start convincing fight fans to support their own domestic talent, but a big first step is to start calling BS on the media and those who allow the double standards to exist.

Canelo-Golovkin 2: Who Wins?

Magno.

Now that we got the nonsense out of the way, Canelo-GGG 2 is signed and soon to be delivered. I have to go with Golovkin in the rematch because he did win the first fight and I don’t see Canelo doing anything better this time around. He’s too good to be KO’d I think. He’ll run and survive if he gets hurt, but I see GGG winning a unanimous decision with real scoring this time because of all the pressure from last time. Who’s your pick? Why?

-- Ian K.

Oh Ian…have you learned nothing? The nonsense is just beginning. Expect more anticlimactic bullshit from Canelo-GGG part 2 and then even more for the eventual part 3. 

But, just for shits and giggles, let’s assume that this will be a real fight. I see this playing out a lot like Ward-Kovalev. In the first fight, Ward felt Kovalev’s power and was a bit tentative. In the rematch, though, surviving Kovalev’s best gave Ward some extra confidence. He fought less tight and was able to employ a more coherent, more effective strategy. 

I see the same happening in Canelo-Golovkin 2. Canelo has taken Golovkin’s best shots and he proved to himself that he could outbox and clearly beat Golovkin for long periods of time. This will help him, confidence-wise, in the rematch. Golovkin is an outstanding offensive fighter, but I don’t see him employing anything new this time around and I don’t see him being anything other than what he always is. The judges may be too easy to give Golovkin the benefit of the doubt when it comes to close rounds because of the manufactured controversy about the scoring last time. That’s a real concern for this rematch. Because then, if that happens, it sets up a part 3.

Magno’s on the Top Rank Payroll

Your [sic] fucking awful. A real talentless hack. I never read anything from anybody in boxing media who know [sic] less about boxing than you. You going to piss on Errol Spence because of his MANDATORY title defense but you give wet blowjobs to Terence Crawford every chance you get? Your [sic] obviously on the Top Rank payroll getting good Bobfather money for promoting his fighter. Your [sic] a disgrace.

-- Anonymous

Who “pissed” on Spence? In Monday’s Notes from the Boxing Underground column, I wished aloud that Spence wouldn’t have wasted his time with a no-hoper when he’s capable of so much better. It was actually a “pro-Spence” piece. For the life of me, I can’t see how people could not be fully in agreement. Who argues IN FAVOR of a lesser quality product? At this stage of his life and career, it’s a complete waste of time for a uniquely talented fighter like Spence to waste a big night like Saturday’s with a bout where the outcome was so predictable. And judging from his post-fight press conference remarks, Spence actually agrees with me.

No, Wait…Magno’s on the Haymon Payroll

Magno. Now we know for sure you’re on the Haymon payroll with the way you sugarcoated the Spence slaughter against a guy he shouldn’t have been fighting. How come you don’t give anyone else that kind of free pass? Oh, it’s not his fault, it’s a mandatory defense for the IBF. Seems to me like you give a lot of fighters static for their fight choices even if they’re mandatory. Keep taking that money tho. But when Haymon goes bankrupt, your gravy train is done and by then all your credibility will be gone. Nobody will hire you. You did this to yourself.

-- James C.

You people really need to make up your mind as to whose payroll I’m on. Or maybe I’m on multiple payrolls. Either way, the checks have clearly not gotten to me yet and I could really use some of that sweet, sweet filthy lucre—this “paid off” writer has been eating scrambled eggs and beans the last three days for lack of funds.

Got a question (or hate mail) for Magno’s Bulging Mail Sack? The best of the best gets included in the weekly mailbag segment right here at FightHype. Send your stuff here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com.

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