As we all should know by now, Thursday’s are all about my bulging, bulbous sack and exploring the gooey, salty truth within. So, sit back, close your eyes, and brace yourself for the money shot of wisdom coming your way. This week, we have questions/comments regarding Canelo’s next move, Terence Crawford’s status at ESPN, and whether Canelo-Spence is “for real.”
Next For Canelo
I don’t have a DAZN subscription or a smart TV. So I opted to watch the Canelo vs Jacobs fight in theaters for 20 bucks (same as DAZN subscription since it jumped up from 10 bucks).
I enjoyed the fight, to me it did look like Jacobs got a taste of Canelo’s speed and power and decided to fight cautiously so that he would make it to the last bell. There was only one round where Jacobs did attempt to take it to Canelo, but once Canelo started swinging back Jacobs became timid again. He lost that fight and it wasn’t even close. For Juan Manuel Marquez to have Jacobs winning that fight was more absurd then Timothy Bradley thinking he ever beat Manny Pac.
I noticed DAZN playing the HBO card… promoting GGG more than any fighter that was actually fighting that night. They kept insinuating GGG was next for Canelo, but Canelo has been clear for months, he wants all the belts. [Demetrius] Andrade fights in June, I don’t see where the hurdle is for him fighting Canelo in September for the undisputed title. Can someone explain to me why that would not be next?
When I saw Andrade fight I didn’t see a fighter that could beat any of the top 160 pounders. So in my estimation Canelo steamrolls Andrade, becomes undisputed at middleweight and likely wins fighter of the year.
-- Twitter@Corp_Vision_IV
Hi IV, I wouldn’t disagree too much with anything you just said.
DAZN’s exaltation of Golovkin had a sad, desperate feel to it, like in mid-90’s pro wrestling when the WCW signed a faded Hulk Hogan to a monster deal and paraded him around like some sort of super-hero savior. The 2019 Gennady Golovkin is not the 2014 Gennady Golovkin (and a case could be made that even the 2014 Golovkin was not really the 2014 Golovkin being blown by the boxing media every single moment of every single day because, well, he hadn’t fought anyone who could even remotely challenge him at that point). Even at his best, Golovkin was “just” a very good offensive fighter who drew ratings on a par with other top stars. He was never a PPV success on his own, never someone who could move the needle—except when he was tied as a dangerous B-Side to Canelo Alvarez. I can’t imagine him having any real impact at DAZN, beyond the draw of a third Canelo fight, which, as you pointed out, is not necessarily a priority for Canelo despite the portrait being painted throughout the entire Canelo-Jacobs telecast.
DAZN would be smart to put GGG against Demetrius Andrade for the WBO middleweight belt (after GGG curb stomps no-hoper Steve Rolls on June 8, of course). They could then hype the hell out of Canelo-GGG 3 being the ultimate battle for all the belts. It’s no guarantee that Golovkin beats Andrade, but he probably would and having that belt would make a part 3 with Canelo easier to put together. It’ll also give DAZN one more “big” fight out of their too-big 6-fight deal with the 37-year-old Golovkin.
As for Canelo-Jacobs, neither fought with the urgency one would expect from high-end stars in a high-stakes fight. I’ve broken down the fight elsewhere, a couple of places already, so I won’t do it again, but this fight didn’t deliver on any level. Actually, given the star power involved and the hype pushed out there, it would be fair to say it sucked.
Terence Crawford, Loss Leader?
Would you say that Terence Crawford is a loss leader for Top Rank? The more and more I look at how he’s being handled and paid, he’s like a platform to show off Teo [Teofimo Lopez], Shakur [Shakur Stevenson] and talk about Lomo [Vasiliy Lomachenko]. Nothing happening at Top Rank seems to be supportive of Bud. Not the matchmaking, not the announcers, not the promoting. It’s just a placeholder to highlight other things Top Rank has going on.
-- Shae Pinckney
Hi Shae.
If Crawford’s a loss leader, I don’t think it was by ESPN’s design. If Crawford has become just a platform for showing off other assets, I think that just fell into being. My semi-educated guess is that Arum sold ESPN on Crawford as a generational talent with Sugar Ray Leonard up-side and top dog status in one of the sport’s historical glamor divisions. What he didn’t tell them is that he’d be fighting shadows and heavy bags if he couldn’t manage to pilfer some of the 147 lb. talent currently working elsewhere.
I think Top Rank and ESPN are making an effort to hype Crawford and sell him to the public, but for whatever reason, they’re just not as enthusiastic about it as they are with Lomachenko and now with Fury. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it’s some intentional strategy, but, whatever the case, Crawford’s best interests are NOT being served at ESPN currently. Yeah, he became a bigger star since his deal with TR and ESPN, but he deserves bigger and more.
Canelo-Spence?
Mags. What the fudge is up with this Errol Spence-Canelo Alvarez talk? The superfight nobody’s asking for. Tell me this is just publicity and fake news because fighting each other would be a big waste of everyone’s time when there are plenty of fights for both within their own weight classes. Once Alvarez fights Boo Boo [Andrade] and Golovkin (again) and after Spence fights Crawford and Thurman, then we can revisit this nonsense. Not now.
-- Damon
I have to think that floating Spence’s name out there is 99% publicity from Team Spence, although I’m sure they’d take the fight if the money men started taking it seriously. I do think it makes sense for many reasons, but you’re right about there being so many other fish to fry out there. I’d watch, though-- and so would everyone else. So, I guess that’s, ultimately, the most important thing in whether a fight can (or should) be put together
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