Hello fight fans and welcome to another Thursday gathered around my bulging sack, waiting on my weekly load of gooey, salty truth. This week, we have questions/comments regarding GGG, Berlanga, Tank-Ryan, and the possible death of Wilder-Ruiz.
GGG/Berlanga/Tank-Ryan
Hi Paul.
Hope you and your family are doing well, a couple of questions for this week´s mailbag:
-Are we ever going to see GGG back? It seems he is pretty disinterested in fighting nowadays, I know his DAZN contract was supposed to be 6 fights and he has only had 5. I know Lara was appointed his WBA mandatory, but he is on the PBC side.
-As a fan (pretty sure Berlanga does not care), I dont like him signing with Matchroom. We all know he is only signing because he can potentially fight Canelo, but other than that I don’t see any decent opponent at the Matchroom side that can create a good fight. I know this translates to now being part of DAZN, but the way ODLH runs his mouth lately it is difficult for me to envision Berlanga fighting Munguia.
– Lastly, do you still think Tank vs Ryan wont happen?
Best regards.
– Miguel
Hey Miguel.
I’ll tackle these in order.
– I’ve always been “keeping it real” when it comes to Gennadiy Golovkin talk (Often the only one doing so among the mass of fawning GGG cheerleaders in this media of ours). Golovkin has spent the last decade of his career swimming in entitlement and that’s not going to change any time soon. He’ll only be motivated to fight the “right” kind of fight for him, which means only a big-money blockbuster against a very exclusive short list of opponents. And with Canelo off of it, that short list has, pretty much, no names on it at the moment. Honestly, I was surprised that he vacated his IBF belt and turned down the mandated Esquiva Falcao fight. It would’ve been a safe, comfortable way to end his DAZN deal. As he’s learned many times in the past, he wouldn’t have taken too much flak for this choice of opposition. I can only imagine that there was no way even the simps at DAZN would allow such an impossible-to-market bout for their guy and, at the same time, they didn’t want the fight going to purse bid where they would probably lose him for a contest that may be his last.
The WBA has ordered him to face Erislandy Lara and, while this is more marketable than a Falcao fight and it gives him a chance to add another name to his resume (albeit a diminished name), I wouldn’t be surprised if he vacates the WBA title in refusing this bout as well. I don’t think there would be an issue in making Golovkin-Lara from the PBC side because, realistically, Lara is at the end of his run and has limited options right now, anyway. The problem would be in DAZN selling this fight, turning over enough to cover Golovkin’s guarantee, and dealing with the fact that if Lara’s side just holds out for another week or so, until the February 23 deadline, they could force a purse bid and have a legit shot at bringing the fight to Showtime/PBC.
I don’t see where Golovkin goes from here, but it’s a strong possibility that he might head back over to the UK to fight Liam Smith or stay “in-house” to face Jaime Munguia next. A “step-aside” payoff to Lara could also be part of the plan for the immediate future.
– Berlanga chose Matchroom entirely because of Eddie Hearn’s closeness to Canelo. Period. He can make more money for a Canelo fight than what he can make in all the other bouts in his multi-fight contract, put together. The only way I see him fighting Munguia before he gets a Canelo shot, is if Canelo retires or falls off a ladder and breaks his back or something. Expect Berlanga to be matched soft until he can get that Canelo bout. But this could certainly be one of Matchroom’s (and, by connection, DAZN’s) patented boxing mistakes, too. The kid, IMO, has not responded well to his move up in class in recent fights and his skills seemed to have grown stagnant (and regressed in some areas). Berlanga may very well get beat before he can get Canelo and I don’t trust Hearn’s matchmaking to get him to that golden goose fight.
– I wouldn’t count on Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia for April 15. I’ll be optimistic in saying that there’s a 50-50 chance of it happening on that date.
For me, what makes me doubt that we’ll get Tank-Ryan when promised has nothing to do with contracts or negotiations. It has everything to do with the volatile, unpredictable nature of both fighters.
Davis has a court date on hit and run charges scheduled for today, by the way, that could result in him seeing some prison time. Even if he gets off without seeing any jail time, there’s no guarantee that another batch of trouble won’t wind up at his feet. Garcia, meanwhile, has a history of injury/mental health issues pulling him away from scheduled fights. Even though he insists that he’s burning for this Davis challenge, there’s still a pretty good chance, IMO, that life trumps desire and something may come up to pull the kid away.
I hate to be a downer on all of this and I definitely do hope that I’m wrong, but there’s a lot that could go bad between now and April. I’d hold off on purchasing any plane tickets or reserving any hotel rooms right now.
Wilder-Ruiz?
Hey Magno.
Not too long ago they were talking about Deontay Wilder vs. Andy Ruiz like it was a done deal. Now, Wilder is talking a two-fight deal with Francis Ngannou and Ruiz will probably be fighting Filip Hrgovic for the interim IBF title. What happened? Can we get Wilder-Ruiz back? It would’ve been a good one.
– T.
Hey T.
There were media rumors about Wilder being unhappy with the money offered for a Ruiz fight and exploring other options, including a deal to face Francis Ngannou. It goes without saying, though, that any and all media reports these days should be taken with the appropriately sized grain of salt. The IBF has ordered Ruiz-Hrgovic to go to purse bid, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Ruiz has to follow through and fight Hrgovic. We’ll know Ruiz’s plans soon enough and that should tell you how close or far apart the idea of a Wilder fight is. I also liked Wilder-Ruiz and I hope it can get made. But if Wilder can nab an Ngannou fight for the huge money that would come along with it, who could blame him for detouring away from Ruiz?
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.