Boxing - great upcoming fights

[Luv2Phuket]

On 26/04/2022 at 16:13, Luv2Phuket said:

For example, let's say Franco and Bam both win. That sets either of them up to fight Chocolatito, but they're NOT going to fight each other. Whoever doesn't get Chocolatito is left looking for a "name" opponent.
 

Had a chance to chat with Robert Garcia (trains both Franco and Bam) last weekend. Depending on how the Franco vs Estrada and Bam vs SSR fights go, I think "the plan" may be for Bam to drop back down to 112. He can make it pretty easy and just moved up to 115 when the Cuadras fight came up. He was less than 110 for his fight immediately before the Cuadras fight.

[Luv2Phuket]

I really enjoyed this somewhat bittersweet article about Arum:

https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/33779143

I was lucky to be one of the guys at the dinner that night at Piero's. Thankfully, the writer left out the part about Arum busting my balls as a guy "who goes to Thailand every other month, fucks the shit outta Thai hookers and comes back with these crazy Thai dick pills"! 555

[SilverSlugger]

What's everybody think of Shakur Stevenson? I watched his fight last week, he's really quick but the fight wasn't so entertaining. 

[Luv2Phuket]

I think Shakur is a special talent - brilliant ring IQ, serious speed and incredible defense.

Unfortunately, those do not always add up to entertaining fights!

I think he's a lot like one of his mentors, Andre Ward, who fought in plenty of stinkers. Winning is always going to take precedence over style points.

 

[bgtp]

9 hours ago, Luv2Phuket said:

I think Shakur is a special talent - brilliant ring IQ, serious speed and incredible defense.

Unfortunately, those do not always add up to entertaining fights!

I think he's a lot like one of his mentors, Andre Ward, who fought in plenty of stinkers. Winning is always going to take precedence over style points.

I agree. Stevenson does look special. Do you think he stays at 130 much longer? I don’t find him boring at all because I enjoy watching his skill set. But with his style, when he’s in a one-sided fight such as this, it’s not gonna be the most fan-friendly as @SilverSluggerpointed out. Getting away with the ‘stiff arm’ tactic as much as he did this fight didn’t help in this regard either.

[Luv2Phuket]

2 hours ago, bgtp said:

I agree. Stevenson does look special. Do you think he stays at 130 much longer? I don’t find him boring at all because I enjoy watching his skill set. But with his style, when he’s in a one-sided fight such as this, it’s not gonna be the most fan-friendly as @SilverSluggerpointed out. Getting away with the ‘stiff arm’ tactic as much as he did this fight didn’t help in this regard either.

We were talking about during and after the fight. Most of the time, Shakur would "disguise" the stiff arm as a lazy jab that he left there a little while. It's hard tp penalize that.

Ref called him on it every time he opened up his palm though, because then it clearly was not a jab.

I think he stays at 130 to try to either unify all 4 of the titles or maybe fight Loma (who is more suited to 130 than 135).

One of the other champs at 130 (IBF champ Ogawa) fights in Cardiff, Wales on June 4. He's with Hearn/Matchroom, so that one may not be too easy to make.

The WBA champ, Roger Gutierrez, is with Golden Boy. It may not be too hard to make that fight, but Gutierrez would be destroyed by Shakur. Put it this way: I ran it through BoxRec's "what if" tool, which shows projected odds if 2 guys fought. Odds were 93%/5% in favor of Shakur (I guess 2% chance of a draw). I ran Ogawa, as well, and it came back 78%/19% in favor of Shakur.

The lure to go up to 135 is the young fighters there for a big fight -- Kambosos, Haney, Tank Davis, Ryan Garcia. The problem is, I would expect most of those fighters to be going to 140 soon. Teofimo Lopez has already said he is now at 140; Ryan Garcia's last bout was at a 139 lb catchweight. These are big guys who struggle to stay at 135.

If Kambosos beats Haney -- which would not be a huge surprise to me; could see that fight going either way -- I think he stays at 135, and two very attractive fights for him would be either Loma or Shakur (Ryan Garcia would be a this big money fight, but I think Loma or Shakur would be easier to make).

If Haney beats Kambosos, there is a rematch clause, then I think Haney has agreed to fight Loma, so Shakur not in the picture there for a while.

I'm not a Tank Davis fan, but that could be the most intriguing fight for Shakur. I think Shakur would box the shit outta Davis, BUT Davis has the most one-punch power of any of those guys. Who knows what happens if he catches Shakur flush?

[bgtp]

What a fight between Charlo-Castano last night. I enjoyed it more than their first. It's always special when you have the top two in a division fighting each other, but even moreso when their styles mesh for a great fight that lives up to the hype. I wonder who's next for Charlo with all the mandatories, etc. Castano still remains much-watch whenever he's fighting imo.

Ennis continues to impress. Hope he gets a big fight soon. No real Marquee fights this coming week, but there's Benavidez-Lemieux and Alimkhanuly-Dignum headlining cards. I figure the favorites will win, but you never know. I like Alimkhanuly and hopfully picking up a trinket in this one will lead to a real title shot.

[Luv2Phuket]

REALLY regret that I missed the Charlo/Castano fight. I don't have Showtime and my Firestick was freezing too much to make it watchable. Sounds like a great one.

"Boots" is a baaaaaaaaad man!

I don't know if/when he will get a shot at Crawford or Spence (or the winner if they fight each other), but I think he's ready for it. If Crawford beats Spence, I could him possibly going up to meet Charlo at 154. That's NOT gonna happen with Spence, as they're both trained by Derrick James.

Quick side story of Derrick. We go back to when I was starting out in boxing as an inspector in Dallas and he was fighting in Dallas. He moved to Las Vegas, and I came out here for a fight and took him with some comp tickets we got. He's a good dude! Any way, Derrick sees an actor and says to the other boxer with us "that's the guy from 'Sparks'" and he gets me to take a photo of him and the actor. I had NO idea what "Sparks" was....but the actor turned out to be Terrence Howard. I found the photo a few years ago and sent it to Derrick.

Going back to Boots, he and Vergil Ortiz are both EXCELLENT prospects at 147. While I would love to see them fight each other, it ain't gonna happen until there is a World title belt on the line. Neither fighter's management would let a fight that dangerous (for both of them ) happen unless its for a World title.

Egis Klimas introduced mew to Janibek before he turned pro - said he was going to be a World champ. That could happen on Saturday. I'll be working that one (look for the fat bald guy in the ring).

No offense to my Canadian brothers on PA, but Lemieux gets smoked by Benavidez. Lemieux can still pop, but, as they like to say, "there are levels to this shit" and Benavidez is on a higher one. 

BIG upset in France yesterday, as highly touted heavyweight Tony Yoko got soundly beaten by (now) 18-1 Martin Bakole. 

Evan Holyfield also got KTFO in a fight in which he was a like a 45-1 favorite.

 

[bgtp]

8 minutes ago, Luv2Phuket said:

BIG upset in France yesterday, as highly touted heavyweight Tony Yoko got soundly beaten by (now) 18-1 Martin Bakole. 

I watched that. Those scorecards … wtf … one judge had it a draw ???

OK, I’ll look for you on TV 555

[Luv2Phuket]

Another good one on Saturday night:
Artur Beterbiev vs Joe Smith in a Light Heavyweight unification bout. Broadcast on ESPN+ and on Sky Sports.

These guys are both devastating punchers, so I don't expect it to last too long....but it should be brutality in purest form while it does! 555

I'm not even seeing an over/under listed on it, but the prop bet that it goes the distance is paying off at 3 to 1 (I would not waste my money on that! 555)

More good news for me -- just found out that I will be in San Antonio to do a fight on the undercard of Bam Rodriguez vs Srisaket Sor Rungvisai on June 25.

I met SSR at a convention 5 years ago and HAD to get a photo with him -- I always show it to Thai girls but 90% have no clue who he is. One TG showed it to her Dad, though, and he was a big fan. 

I'm always excited to work a fight, but even more so when it's on the same card as a bout I was looking forward tp watching. Plus, I get to tack on a visit to see my Mom at the end of the weekend. Pretty damn sweet!

 

 

[bgtp]

9 hours ago, Luv2Phuket said:

Another good one on Saturday night:
Artur Beterbiev vs Joe Smith in a Light Heavyweight unification bout. Broadcast on ESPN+ and on Sky Sports.

These guys are both devastating punchers, so I don't expect it to last too long....but it should be brutality in purest form while it does! 555

I'm not even seeing an over/under listed on it, but the prop bet that it goes the distance is paying off at 3 to 1 (I would not waste my money on that! 555)

More good news for me -- just found out that I will be in San Antonio to do a fight on the undercard of Bam Rodriguez vs Srisaket Sor Rungvisai on June 25.

I met SSR at a convention 5 years ago and HAD to get a photo with him -- I always show it to Thai girls but 90% have no clue who he is. One TG showed it to her Dad, though, and he was a big fan. 

I'm always excited to work a fight, but even more so when it's on the same card as a bout I was looking forward tp watching. Plus, I get to tack on a visit to see my Mom at the end of the weekend. Pretty damn sweet!

I'm really looking forward to Beterbiev-Smith on Saturday, too. That San Antonio card is stacked. Enjoy seeing it live. I'd like to see Srisaket win, but am concerned about his lack of recent actvity. His last fight was more than a year ago and that was a stay-busy fight that ended in the third. His last 'real' fight (against Estrada) was more than three years ago and now he's 35 years old. 

Turns out we're getting a decent card here in central Florida the night before, June 24, featuring a world title fight, Gonzalez-Barriga (WBO jr flyweight). We get a decent amount of fight cards here with the large Puerto Rican population, but world title fights might happen locally about once a year. Co-main features a fighter I'm curious to see, Axel Aragon Vega. Vega is only 4′ 9″, but was giving Kyoguchi a good fight last year on the Chocolatito-Estrada undercard before breaking his hand causing an injury stoppage loss. Kyoguchi looked great in his fight this past Friday and most have him as the number one guy at 108.

What did you think of Inoue's performance? I assume he is going to go for undisputed at 118 first, but can't help but think of the possiblities at 122.

 

[Luv2Phuket]

I watched the Inoue fight while in Australia - VERY impressive win!

Donaire is 39, but I still think he's the 2nd best 118 lb fighter in the World....and the Monster went through him like he was whipped cream! Donaire's only other stoppage loss was a 2014 beatdown from Nicholas Walters at 126 (too high a weight for Nonito and Walters was a huge 126 lber).

Side note: Walters hasn't fought since he was embarrassed in 2016 by Loma (quit on stool after 7th round).

Inoue vs Stephen Fulton at 122 is an intriguing fight! That said, I think Inoue makes a run at unifying 118 before he moves up. Frankly, Paul Butler is just keeping that 4th belt warm for him.

I was not surprised that Fulton won wide vs Danny Roman. Roman is a nice guy, and he has achieved a lot through hard work and determination. Fulton is just on another level, talent-wise.

There is talk of Gonzalez trying to unify vs Kyoguchi, assuming he takes care of business on June 24.

[Luv2Phuket]

DAMN! Beterbiev is scary AF!

Wish I had put more un the "Under 8.5 rounds"!

I have worked some Joe Smith fights in the past - he's pretty fucking tough. For Beterbiev to blow him out like that really impressed me.

[bgtp]

@Luv2Phuket hope you had a good trip to Texas. Bam was very impressive once again and I'm looking forward to seeing who he fights next. SSR plans to keep fighting, no talk of retirement yet. Turned out to be an evening of pretty one-sided fights, but that's how it goes sometimes.

I see there's a big fight between little men in Thailand this month. WBA minimumweight champ Knockout CP Freshmart defends against former WBC titleholder Wanheng Menayothin on July 20 in Chonburi. Would have been nice if they fought each other earlier when they could have unified. I seem to remember you saying you worked one of Wanheng's fights before. I saw him fight in Chonburi back in 2016. Pretty easy location to get to from either Pattaya or Bangkok for a day trip. I like how all the big boxing matches in Thailand are generally held on weekday afternoons ... TIT as they say.

[Luv2Phuket]

Bam's performance was VERY impressive! That said, part of me wonders what SSR has left in the tank. I'd like to see how his next fight goes. Cuadras was definitely shot and the fight with Bam was his last "payday."

Consistent with what he has told me, Robert Garcia was quoted in some articles as saying he wants Bam to go down to 112, and maybe even 108. You rarely see guys going down, but Bam's brother (Joshua Franco) holds another tile at 115. They're not going to fight each other and each fight one takes at 115 is a fight the other cannot take.

Speaking of Franco, the WBC is pushing Estrada to fight Chocolatito next, threatening to strip him if he does not. Meanwhile, the WBA is ordering Estrada to face Franco. Gossip I heard was that Estrada did not want to fight Chocolatito, but the money is so much better, that is the direction he likely goes.

I worked Wanheng's fight in Chonburi 2014 when he won the title. It was the most brutal conditions I have ever experienced ringside - by the time the fight ended, the only part of my shirt that was not soaked with sweat was about a small dot between a couple of buttons. They had big banners up that cut off all air flow in/around the ring. Just brutal!

That said, I would kill for another free trip to Chonburi! 5555

[Luv2Phuket]

Big fights on tap now are Usyk/AJ 2 and Canelo/GGG 3.

I'm curious on Usyk/AJ 2 - I don't think Joshua can fight a worse fight than he did the first time, but Usyk is talented and as fundamentally strong as just about any fighter.

I think Canelo does what he has said he will do, and put GGG into retirement. I thought Canelo won the 2nd fight (although closely). I think he has gotten better and GGG has gotten almost 4 years older (now 40). GGG looked good vs Murata....but Murata is many levels below Canelo.

Canelo is going off at -425, though, and I'm not sure it's worth laying that kind of coin.

Spence/Crawford looks like ti may NEVER get done, but my book has Crawford at -125. If the fight is signed, I'll be on that like a fat farang on cake. Spence is an excellent fighter, but Crawford has a chip on his shoulder and is one of -- if not the -- best I have seen.

[Harry Brown]

1 hour ago, Luv2Phuket said:

Big fights on tap now are Usyk/AJ 2 and Canelo/GGG 3.

I'm curious on Usyk/AJ 2 - I don't think Joshua can fight a worse fight than he did the first time, but Usyk is talented and as fundamentally strong as just about any fighter.

I think Canelo does what he has said he will do, and put GGG into retirement. I thought Canelo won the 2nd fight (although closely). I think he has gotten better and GGG has gotten almost 4 years older (now 40). GGG looked good vs Murata....but Murata is many levels below Canelo.

Canelo is going off at -425, though, and I'm not sure it's worth laying that kind of coin.

Spence/Crawford looks like ti may NEVER get done, but my book has Crawford at -125. If the fight is signed, I'll be on that like a fat farang on cake. Spence is an excellent fighter, but Crawford has a chip on his shoulder and is one of -- if not the -- best I have seen.

 

That would be a great fight to watch, hoping it happens.

[Luv2Phuket]

Call me a sexist pig or a perv (both are true!), but the Savannah Marshall/Claressa Shields fight just got a lot more interesting when Marshall said during a "face off" that they used to fuck!

I've been involved in boxing for about 25 years....and this is the FIRST TIME I have heard that one!

[bgtp]

3 hours ago, Luv2Phuket said:

Call me a sexist pig or a perv (both are true!), but the Savannah Marshall/Claressa Shields fight just got a lot more interesting when Marshall said during a "face off" that they used to fuck!

I've been involved in boxing for about 25 years....and this is the FIRST TIME I have heard that one!

I'll likely give it a watch Saturday afternoon our time. Got Haney-Kambosos rematch later that day. Since I like to support Thai boxers, I'm interested in the Jason Moloney-Nawaphon co-main even if I think the Thai will be outclassed. I think the winner gets a title shot and with Inoue saying he'll move up after the Butler fight, it will be interesting to see what happens at batamweight after he leaves.

For a while there, it sounded like I'd be watching Crawford-Spence in Pattaya in November, but things have gone quiet again on that one. Meanwhile the lower weight divisions continue to deliver. Kyoguchi-Kenshiro (the top two at 108) on November 1 is must see to me. It's going to be carried by ESPN+ and the undercard looks solid. I can't wait for Chocolatito-Estrada 3. I still think they're the top two at 115 even if neither holds a belt currently. Also at 115, there's talk of Ioka-Franco unification on NYE in Japan. Superfly is the gift that keeps on giving. Any other fights on the schedule perk anyone's interest?

[Luv2Phuket]

The Franco/Ioka unification sounds like it is a go.

Chocolatito/Estrada will always be worth watching - even after they're retired! 555

I think you're right about the Thai kid fighting Moloney - think he'll put up a tough fight, but I don't see him winning.

Problem with Crawford/Spence is the same as always - $$$$

[bgtp]

On 14/10/2022 at 03:52, Luv2Phuket said:

Problem with Crawford/Spence is the same as always - $$$$

So now we get Crawford-Avanesyan instead 555

I ended up watching yesterday’s card from Japan at The Sportsman on Suk Soi 13. Solid card overall and great main event. What was nice is that you had the two guys who were the consensus top two in the division meet and it wasn’t until they fought that you realized one was clearly better than the other. With Spence and Crawford, we may never know.

[Luv2Phuket]

1 hour ago, bgtp said:

So now we get Crawford-Avanesyan instead 555

I ended up watching yesterday’s card from Japan at The Sportsman on Suk Soi 13. Solid card overall and great main event. What was nice is that you had the two guys who were the consensus top two in the division meet and it wasn’t until they fought that you realized one was clearly better than the other. With Spence and Crawford, we may never know.

Somebody is WAAAAAY over paying Crawford for that Avanesyan fight. Word is he is is getting 8 figures and at least $5 million is already in his account.

If somebody is gonna pony that up for Avanesyan, I can't really blame him for telling Spence and Haymon to fuck off.

Some interesting stuff going on in the lower weight classes - Bam Rodriguez gave up his 115 lb title to move down to 112 lbs.; unification between his brother Joshua Franco and Ioka at 115; Nakatani moving up to 115 and likely will fight the winner; Donaire wants to come down to 115 to fight for a title; Chocolatito and Estrada about to fight at 115 (now for the World title that Bam gave up - would like to see Donaire vs that winner); Inoue likely to move to 122 after he beats Paul Butler (no disrespect to Butler, but if that gets into the 3rd round, I'll be surprised), which will open up all 4 titles at 118.

Loma wants Haney, but I gotta say, I think that the version of Loma that fought the other night (rusty from being out of the ring and on the battle lines in Ukraine) loses to Haney, and I KNOW that version would lose to Shakur Stevenson. Frankly, I think Stevenson is the best at 135 and he hasn't even had a single fight at that weight yet.

Speaking of 135, they keep dangling Tank Davis vs Ryan Garcia in front of us. Supposedly, the only issue that remains is who will broadcast it....well...duh! That was always going to be the huge sticking point - DAZN isn't letting their top star fight elsewhere and Haymon/Showtime isn't going to let Davis fight on DAZN. Sine it's PPV, maybe they can work something out? Supposedly 136 lb. "catchweight," although I don't see how Garcia can make 136.

[bgtp]

Yeah, I saw the musical chairs at 112-115. Bam looks great, yet had to work harder than most folks expected in his last fight. Some will think he might have gotten a bit of a break with older versions of Cuadras and SSR. Now, he fights for a vacant title against Cristian Gonzalez who I honestly know little about (Boxrec has him at #20 in their crazy points system). Thing is, he’ll be willing to fight the top guys later, so I’m fine with it. Bam against Edwards would be good.

Nakatani won last night in his 115 debut. He’s only 24, so another young one to watch. I thought it strange when Donaire dropped back down to 118 a few years ago, but he ended up the second best guy in the division behind only The Monster. That’s pretty darn good IMO. Now, he wants to drop down to 115. I can’t think of anyone else doing something like that at any age let alone 39. Guess he figures that’s where the bigger names are. Bivol-Ramirez will be during middle of the night for me here in Thailand. I forgot it was in Abu Dhabi and was thinking it’d be a Sunday morning fight here.

 

[Luv2Phuket]

In 2015, I was ringside when Nonito lost to Nicolas Walters, who was a big 126 lbers. At that time, they were saying Nonito just couldn't make 122 any more. I was int he Philippines for his next fight, where he came back down to 122, and it took a lot for him to get there. For fighters to go down in weight while getting older - especially mid-30s and above - is almost unheard of.

I was shocked when he got down to 118. I would be REALLY surprised if he can get down to 115 - te last time he fought at 115 was 2010.

Bam moving down was expected. Robert Garcia told me they were going to do it. He moved up from 108 to 115 because the Cuadras fight came up at the last minute. He stayed there to fight SSR and his last opponent, but he would never fight his brother, and having both in the same weight class necessarily took opportunities away from each other.

Bam and his brother are both VERY nice, respectful young men. Nonito is a great guy. I haven't worked one of his fights in years, but he always remembers me and is gera to talk to. I had a chance to catch up with him in Puerto Rico last week (and with Bam) - always great to see those guys.

[Luv2Phuket]

Speaking of Puerto Rico, I met Joe Joyce for the first time there. Another nice guy.

I knew he was a big guy from seeing his fights, but you just can't grasp what a fucking mountain of man he is until you are standing next to him. I am 6'2" and 250 (desperately trying to get to 249! 555)....and he absolutely dwarfed me! I felt like a 12 year old standing next to him. Just freakin' massive.

Boxing conventions are always fun because of the fighters who show up. Usyk was there the whole time, taking photos and signing stuff. Joyce, Nonito, Bam, Navarrette, Orlando Salido, a bunch of Puerto Rican and female fighters (Serrano, Shields, Baumgardner, Crews). Almost all fighters I have dealt with out of the ring have been incredibly nice.

I regret not getting photos with Joe Joyce and Usyk. I was at the same table for dinner with Navarrette (moving up to 130 to fight Oscar Valdez for vacant title) and Salido. Neither speaks much English and the band was loud as fuck, so can't really say we had a conversation.