This Thursday, like every Thursday, I ask you to pull up a seat alongside my bulging, bulbous sack and watch me shoot a load of gooey, salty truth right into the faces of boxing’s purveyors of ignorance. This week, we have questions/comments regarding Canelo’s next, Shakur’s “retirement,” and Fury-Usyk.
Shakur Retires? Yeah, Right
Hi Paul.
I’m sure you saw that Shakur Stevenson retired. He was frustrated by the politics of boxing and retired after seeing that the WBO arranged for Emanuel Navarrete to fight Denys Berinchyk for their vacant lightweight title. I understand the frustration, but there’s no reason to go out like that. Do you see this retirement sticking?
– David from Ft. Myers
Hey David.
Are you being serious? What do you think? Is Shakur gonna get a part-time job at Taco Bell while waiting on his application at UPS to be reviewed? Give me a break. His retirement will last as long as Teofimo Lopez’s. Stuff like this is a testament to why fighters need to stay away from social media unless they can really and truly take deep breaths and self-edit before firing off whiny remarks. I also understand his frustration. He didn’t get the title fight. He didn’t get the Lomachenko fight. He didn’t even get Kambosos. He’s got nothing on the horizon and, realistically, nothing big in the works. And his promoter, Top Rank, seems to be disinterested in pushing him all that hard right now. But he has nobody to blame for all of this but himself. His fight with Edwin De Los Santos in November was so lousy, so brutally dull and lacking in fire that nobody, anywhere, is all that excited about anything he may have coming up. The mocking and joking that came as a result of his “retirement” spoke volumes. Nobody cared that he’d be gone and even his die-hards were nowhere to be found. All of that should be a wake up call to a fighter with elite skills but, apparently, a raging case of entitlement. The kid needs to fight like he’s actually fighting and put some entertainment behind his skill. If he’s only showing up to collect paychecks and championship trinkets with half-assed efforts, why should the fans care about him? And if the fans don’t care about him, how can he expect to get the big fights and big opportunities?
Fury vs. Usyk Prediction
Hey Magno.
I know you’ve gone on record in the past saying that Fury beats Usyk. Are you still rolling with that pick? Did Fury’s showing against Ngannou change your mind at all? For me, February 17 can’t come fast enough. I’m really looking forward to this one. For the record, I have Usyk taking a close UD to snatch WBC’s strap.
– Damon
Hey Damon.
Yep...still picking Fury. He looked bad against Ngannou-- disinterested and out of shape and nowhere near the right state of mind. He’ll be sharper against Usyk, although it could be argued that fighters losing that “right state of mind” tend to never fully recover it. We’ll see. But I’ve never been all that high on Usyk as a heavyweight, at least not as high as other media people who would chug a beer mug full of his spit bucket water if they were allowed to. Fury won’t have to do a whole lot to keep ahead of Usyk-- jab, right hand, and tie up when close. I wouldn’t call this an easy fight or a one-sided pairing by any stretch of the imagination, but I’d say that victory or defeat is in the hands of Tyson Fury.
For the record, though, I’m still not entirely sold on this fight even happening this February 17. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if a Fury training camp “injury” suddenly popped up.
Canelo’s Fighting Who?
Hi Magno.
WTF am I seeing on Twitter about Canelo Alvarez fighting Jermall Charlo and then Terence Crawford this year? Canelo can go to hell if he ducks David Benavidez. That’s all I’m saying. Jermall is shit. David has earned his shot. Canelo has lost all my respect!
– Mario G.
Hey Mario.
Keep in mind that all of that Jermall/Crawford talk came from one Twitter post from someone whose only bit of credibility comes from his gig at ESPN Deportes. Most likely, even Canelo doesn’t know what his plans are just yet. I’m sure a lot of ideas are being kicked around for his two dates, but nothing’s been decided as far as anyone really knows. Fighting Jermall Charlo, especially, would be an uncharacteristically dopey choice from the usually savvy Team Canelo, especially seeing how poorly Jermell performed against Alvarez last September (and given Jermall’s clear and recently present personal issues).
I agree, though, that the Benavidez fight needs to happen, if not in May, then in September. It would look really, really bad for Canelo if he doesn’t make that fight happen. REALLY bad.
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.