Unfinished Business with the Pittsburgh Kid

By Mike I.

Unless you are a very casual boxing fan or a huge fan of Logan Paul’s, no one was shocked Floyd Mayweather beat him easily in their recent bout. However, any hardcore boxing enthusiast, loyal to boxing was shocked he didn’t knock him out in two or three rounds.

It can be debated that Floyd is getting older, or Paul was so much bigger and younger, despite being completely out matched experience wise. No matter the circumstance, there is no other reason Floyd did not destroy Paul other than he just carried him for multiple rounds. Many could say there are all kinds of reasons for that, but in the end, that seems to be what he happened in this bout.

There is literally video of Mayweather hitting Paul and holding him up to keep him from hitting the canvas. What may be the real reason that Floyd looked like a king cobra playing with a little mouse instead of looking like a Jack Russell Terrier viciously nipping away at an awkward and confused St. Bernard is simple:  Paul was just no challenge for the greatness of Floyd.

This bout looked more like a glorified sparring session than a bout of any quality. Although it looked like a sparring match with Paul, there was an actual sparring match years ago with another Paul. That Paul is Paul Spadafora. Known as “The Pittsburgh Kid,” his roots in the tough fight city of Pittsburgh was where Spadafora became one of the purest boxers of Floyd’s time.

Spadafora is the one fighter who would be a challenge for Floyd. Spadafora was one of the true greats of Floyd’s time, and whipped him handily in a sparring session some time back. That sparring session was recorded and the footage leaked on the internet. This footage made the boxing world curious, as it was rumored the Floyd camp was even interested in giving Paul a shot at him to set the record straight about who the better fighter was.

Unfortunately, Spadafora had multiple problems outside the ring, and to promoters and matchmakers, the fight must have seemed like too much of a risk as the contest never happened. Now Spadafora is in boxing exile.

For anyone saying, “Well that was just a sparring session,” or, “Floyd was out of shape for that session,” I respond with this: Floyd is never out of shape, and there was a rumor that Floyd said this sparring session made him commit to never be out of shape again. So, if there is nothing to fear now and he is always in shape, what does he have to worry about now?

Some may ask why Floyd would risk his undefeated record for a guy who blew his chance with Floyd years ago because of his bad behavior outside of the ring. The simple answer is it is not worth it. Yet, Floyd is a special athlete, and I think for him there can be special rules in place for a potential matchup between Spadafora and Mayweather. Seeing how Floyd breaks the rules all the time with these crossover fights, who is to say what the rules need to be right?

My proposed rule for a decision in a potential showdown with Spadafora is if by some chance Floyd loses to Spadafora, the loss will be expunged from his record. This would make it worth Floyd’s time to even consider a guy who is a risk in more ways than one. I’m confident Floyd would have his hands full with Spadafora. The main thing that makes this interesting is the footage of Spadafora beating Mayweather up round after round in that sparring session years ago.

To be clear, I am not mad that Floyd is making a mockery or circus out of boxing. Boxing has always been a bit of a circus and has always had crazy circumstances around it. Jack Dempsey, arguably one of the most famous boxers in history, went around the country to bars and asked owners to let him fight the troublemakers in the bar simply for a steak dinner and some whiskey in return. It is hard to think Floyd is doing something to diminish the respectability of boxing. As Mike Tyson said about the bout on Logan Paul’s podcast, “How low could boxing go? Boxing can only go up. You can’t take it any lower.”

I agree with Mr. Tyson. Boxing can only go up, and one way for that to happen would be a fight between Floyd and a respectable fighter who Roy Jones started fighting after a comeback to the ring, Paul Spadafora. To paraphrase Mr. Tyson in that same Logan Paul podcast interview, he said things like crossover matches can broaden the public’s horizons about boxing, and it can show the sport as a skillful art form.

Now that Floyd has maybe done that with this last bout, maybe he could take it even one step further and show people the real art boxing is and bring the guy who is the other true pure boxer of his time to the main stage with him, so they can show the world in style the real beauty of the craft. However, if he continues to literally carry opponents like he did with Logan Paul, then I don’t see how he is showing the public the beautiful side of boxing. Maybe that is just me though.

Another point for a Mayweather vs. Spadafora fight is that it would be a dream come true Spadafora, and Floyd would be giving the mainstream public and hardcore boxing fans alike a great show. Spadafora, who has the potential to be a modern-day “Cinderella Man” with a victory, has a history worth looking into. After losing his father at a young age, having a mother who really wasn’t able to support him, and having multiple alleged problems with drugs alcohol and with the law, Spadafora was still one of the most talented, yet unrecognized fighters of Floyd’s time. If there is one thing boxing fans love more than a great match up between two greats, they love a great comeback story. That comeback story potential is there for Spadafora, who is a walking, talking comeback story.

That being stated, if there is nothing to fear now that Floyd is always in shape, and we have this special rule for Floyd remaining officially undefeated despite the outcome, what does he have to worry about?

Boxing fans just want to see the guy who may have quite literally whipped Floyd into shape for the rest of his career, and they want to see how much of a fluke that really was. I will tell you this:  Even if it wasn’t a fluke, Floyd adjusts in the middle of rounds and throughout fights. He has one of the highest ring IQs of all-time, so no matter what, Spadafora will have the fight of his life on his hands against Floyd.

In closing, I urge Floyd to give boxing fans one last show in a fight against the one guy of his era who needs a shot more than ever. That will give us the type of fight worth paying the money people put out for the Logan Paul fight. 

Paul Spadafora (Photo Courtesy of BoxRec)

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"TANK NEEDS TO GROW SOME NUTS" GARY RUSSELL SENDS MESSAGE TO TANK & MAYWEATHER FOR FUTURE FIGHT

Video by Luis A. Cortes III

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Snips and Snipes with Eric Armit

By Eric Armit

Manny Pacquiao

Manny Pacquiao once again illustrated his drawing power with his fight against Adrien Broner reportedly drawing 400,000 + PPV hits. Not the sort of figures he was drawing at his peak but still a very high return. He was guaranteed $10 million for this fight but will obviously earn a great deal more when the final figures for the gate etc. are taken into account. It is incredible to think that the wonder fighter from the Philippines won his first world title more than 20 years ago. He is 18-4-2 in world title fights and at 40 is still performing at the highest level. Surely one of the most remarkable fighters in the history of boxing. It’s a pity that this was for the secondary WBA title not the real title. The real champion Keith Thurman returns with a title defense this weekend. As for Broner he showed just how delusional he is as he was convinced he had won a fight where he threw less punches, landed less punches and rarely took a step forward. He has entertained in the past but it may be that his days as deserving of PPV status are over.

Of course the talk immediately turned to another fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr but it was stated that Mayweather was retired and was not interested in another fight with Pacquiao-but don’t rule it out.

Why should Mayweather take on Pacquiao when he can earn $10 million for blowing away a 20-year-old Japanese kick boxer/MMA fighter Tenshin Nasukawa in less than three minutes. The most amazing thing is that people actually paid to see this farce. It brought to mind something that happened a good few years ago. I went with my wife to see the irreverent and slightly mad comic genius Spike Milligan in a play. It was still the tradition then that the national anthem was played after every cinema and stage performance and you stood throughout the anthem. As the play finished there seemed to be no sign of the national anthem being played so we hesitantly got to our feet ready to leave. At that point Milligan emerged from behind the curtain in a scruffy overcoat and flat cap carrying a tin whistle. He proceeded to give a reedy wavering version of the anthem on the tin whistle. We were undecided. Ok it was the national anthem but being played on a tin whistle. However tradition ruled and we stood until Milligan finished. He looked at us, shook his head and said “If you’ll stand for that you’ll stand for anything!" That’s how I feel about those who paid for Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor and Tenshin Nasukawa.

Oleg Usyk 

Whilst the heavyweight division is currently focused on who Anthony Joshua will fight in April and the return match between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury the shadow of Oleg Usyk hangs over the division. The unbeaten Ukrainian will have his next outing in the USA on either the 18th or 25th of May but no opponent nominated yet. Surely Usyk will fight for the heavyweight title later this year.

From the sublime to the ridiculous

The WBA has ordered Manuel Charr to defend their secondary heavyweight title against Fres Oquendo. They were to have fought in September last year but Charr tested positive for a banned substance and the fright was cancelled. Initially Charr was suspended but not stripped off his title. There was no indication Charr intended to have a representative present for the testing of his B sample but he challenged that fact that he did not have someone there for the B test. The WBA backed off and as Charr was clean in subsequent tests-and he would have to have been stupid not to be-the WBA decided that his suspension had expired and he could return provided he defended against Oquendo within 60 days and the winner of that fight must fight the winner of a fight between their interim champion Trevor Bryan and Jarrell Miller even though there is no indication that a fight between Bryan and Miller will take place. Oquendo of course has not fought since July 2014. The Charr vs. Oquendo fight  is now set for March 23rd in Cologne. Thought I would give you date and place so that you could ensure you were somewhere else doing something else that night.

Michael Wallisch 

German heavyweight Michael Wallisch also gave a positive test after his losing effort against Christian Hammer in December and no news yet over his B sample. That fight was a farce. In the fourth round their heads collided and Wallisch went down and the referee  counted him out. A 30 or 45 days suspension from fighting for the knockout? No instead they decided Wallisch should not have been counted out so they pretended the original fourth round never happened and restarted the fight with another fourth round and Wallisch was counted out again in the fifth! Hammer’s reward is a date with Luis Ortiz in New York on March 2nd.

Canelo vs. Jacobs

The Saul Alvarez vs. Daniel Jacobs fights looks a really attractive one. Jacobs is a totally different fighter style-wise to Gennady Golovkin and it is a fight Jacobs could win. It looks as though David Lemieux may also appear on the 4 May show. The Canadian will be fighting for the first time since he fainted from dehydration which led to his fight with Tureano Johnson being cancelled

Jose Ramirez vs. Jose Zepeda

Jose Ramirez’s defense of his WBC super lightweight title against Jose Zepeda also looks a good one. Ramirez is 23-0 and making the second defense of his title. Zepeda is 30-1 with the loss coming when he dislocated his shoulder in a fight against Terry Flanagan for the vacant WBO lightweight title in 2015. On the same show Ray Beltran will be having his first fight since losing his WBO lightweight title to Jose Pedraza in August. He meets the 19-0 Hiroki Okada and in a featherweight ten rounder. Genisis Servania 32-1 faces 21-0 Carlos Castro. Ramirez will be auctioning some items of his boxing equipment  to raise funds for a Community Cancer Institute which is a great gesture.

Don King 

I said that Broner was delusional but Don King seems to be going the same way. He is warning what Bermane Stiverne will do to English heavyweight hope Joe Joyce when they meet in London on the undercard to the exciting James DeGale vs. Chris Eubank Jr fight on February 23rd. Let’s be clear this is a 40-year-old vastly overweight fighter who is having his first fight since being floored three times and stopped inside a round by Deontay Wilder in November 2017. King can talk a fight up but can Stiverne still walk the talk? 

Interested in money?

Of course. Lou DiBella won the bidding for the Jack Culcay vs. Sergiy Derevyanchenko final eliminator for the IBF title. DiBella ‘s bid was $425,515 and as Culcay is the higher of the two in the IBF ratings he gets 65%  $276,000 and Derevyanchenko 35%  $148,930. I can’t see Culcay winning this one.

Pacquiao vs. Broner Undercard

Two fights had to be scrubbed from the undercard of the Pacquiao vs. Broner show when Filipino Jhack Tepora and Nicaraguan Carlos Buitrago came in ridiculously over the contract weights. Tepora was 5.5lbs over and Buitrago 6lbs over. It must have been obvious well in advance of the day of the weigh in that they would never make the weight but somehow no one spotted this so one fight was cancelled and the other saw a last minute substitute step in. Surely some check weights would have revealed this earlier. The WBC recently announced a number of initiatives to combat this very thing by laying out a complete weight check schedule to be followed. As it stated that for this to work they needed the collaboration of the promoters, manager, trainers etc. and without that it is just a very good idea with little hope of it being taken on board which is a great pity but at least the WBC are trying to tackle the problem which no one else appears to be doing.

Marcus Browne and the 2012 US Olympic Boxing Team

With his victory over Badou Jack, Marcus Browne became the fourth member of the US Team at the 2012 Olympics to win a version of a world title alongside Errol Spence, Jose Ramirez and Rau’shee Warren. Not bad for a team that failed to win a single medal and with Spence being the only one to get as far as the quarter-finals. In addition from the team Dominic Breazeale, Mike Hunter, Terrell Gausha, and Joseph Diaz have challenged for world titles leaving Jamal Herring as the sole member not to win or challenge for a title and he is 19-2 with three good wins in 2018 so it is still possible that he will join the others in fight for or winning a title. It will be interesting to see what happens with the Class of 2016 where Shakur Stevenson’s silver was the only medal in male boxing the USA won in Rio. From the above it appears that the USA does not know how to produce medal winners in Olympic boxing but can turn under-achieving amateurs into professional champions.

Somehow it just doesn’t seem fair 

A few years back in the AIBA World Series of Boxing the British Lionhearts found themselves facing the Ukrainian Otamans. The Ukrainian team won 4-1 but then it was fairly strong it contained Vasyl Lomachenko, Oleg Usyk, and Olek Gvozdyk!

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Mayweather vs. Nasukawa: Who's Next? Pacman or a Bear?

By Matt Ward

In case you missed it... Or couldn't find a free place to stream it:

Floyd Mayweather and Tenshin Nasukawa's Multi-Million Dollar Purse Exhibition Match -

Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao Part II... Or a Bear Part I?  

This "bout" caused a lot of people in and around the sport of boxing to wonder who will be Floyd's next opponent? This "interest" was only increased with Manny Pacquiao's decisive victory over Adrien Broner (aka Floyd Mayweather Light/Diet Floyd Mayweather) last weekend. This writer would like to go on the record stating, who cares? At best, we will see Floyd get back in the ring with Manny Pacquiao for the second installment of their "too little, too late" matchup from 2015. At worst, we will see Floyd step into the ring with a bear... Sorry Not Sorry, Chuck Wepner (we still love you, big guy!). 

Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki Part II? 

All I could think of the entire fight was this gem featuring two legends... One from the world of boxing, the other from the world of professional wrestling... Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki. The only difference between these two "fights" was one pair of men didn't walk away with millions of dollars each!

Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki - June 26, 1976

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Snips and Snipes with Eric Armit

Senator John McCain (1936-2018)

It was sad to read of the death of Senator John McCain. He was a genuine war hero and twice a Presidential candidate but for myself his most relevant influence was through his work to clean up boxing through the development of what came into law in America as the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, which had a huge impact on boxing in the USA. The stated purpose of the Act was, “protecting boxers from exploitation, sanctioning organization integrity reforms, and requiring public interest disclosures to state boxing commissions…….  to remedy many of the anti-competitive, oppressive, and unethical business practices which have cheated professional boxers and denied the public the benefits of a truly honest and legitimate sport." The impetus for the whole process that resulted in the Ali Act can be said to have been an IBF title fight back in 1992. The then IBF middleweight champion James Toney won a split decision over Dave Tiberi in Atlantic City. It was seen by many as a disgraceful robbery of Tiberi. His local Senator instituted an investigation and the testaments given sparked John McCain’s decision to push for changes in how boxing was run in the USA, and particularly the promoter/boxer relationship and the influence of sanctioning bodies.

I had a minor role in that I had a number of phone calls from a researcher working for the Senator asking me how the “slave” contracts between Don King and his fighters worked and on how the “options” system worked. I explained that under the contracts King put in place there was a clause that said that as long as the boxer was in the world ratings then his contract with King would be automatically renewed. That effectively meant that for the whole of a fighters peak years he could not fight for any other promoter than Don King without King’s permission. I remember an instance in my time with the WBC ratings committee when we took out a prominent King promoted African boxer on the basis of his inactivity which would have made him a free agent. However, when I presented the ratings to the Convention, King’s influence was sufficient for the rating to be overturned and the fighter returned to the ratings and back under King’s control.

I explained that with options it was customary for the promoter of the world champion to insist on options on the services of the challenger so that if the challenger won then he was under contract to fight only for that promoter unless the promoter decided to sell some or all of the options to another promoter. The usual number of options was three-sometimes less-sometimes more. In addition, the purse for each option was an integral part of the option and those purses were inevitably below market value. As an example a champion might get $100,000 for the title defense and the challenger $50,000. If the challenger won the price included in his option and instead of $100,000 that could tie him to receiving $50,000 for each of his three title defenses. If the promoter had no market for the new champion then he could sell the options to promoters who could. A typical example was when Charlie Magri unexpectedly lost his WBC flyweight title to Frank Cedeno in his first defense. The British promoter had no way of making money out of his options on the Filipino but a Japanese promoter was anxious to get his fighter Koji Kobayashi a shot at the WBC title so he bought Cedeno’s options from the British promoter.

Naturally there was some watering down of the proposed Act before it was passed but it remains an important milestone in the way boxing is administered in the USA, and had a ripple effect that led to other countries reviewing their own processes and procedures.

The Ali Act was only a small part of the work Senator McCain did in his time in government but boxing owes him a great debt of gratitude RIP Senator John McCain.

Senator John McCain (1936-2018)

Thai Boxing

This has been a memorable week for boxing in Thailand as Wanheng (Chayaphon Moonsri) won his 51st fight. He can’t yet be said to have beaten Floyd Mayweather’s record as what makes Mayweather’s total of 50 wins significant is that his record is for winning every one of his 50 fights in his career. In order to surpass Mayweather’s record Wanheng has either to retire now with 51 wins or have some more fights and win them also before retiring. If Wanheng continues to box and loses then he still has a great record but there are plenty of better records with just one or two losses on them.

The other milestone for a Thai fighter will probably be achieved by the time you read this. The 41-year-old former WBC bantam and super featherweight champion Sirimongkol Singwancha (Sirimongkhon Iamthuam) has a 95-4 record and on Saturday 1 September will have fight No 100 in a twenty-four-year career. I am not sure if any other Thai fighter has reached that total. He started out as a super flyweight and in fight No 100 will be trying to win the Thai light heavyweight title. Between losing his WBC super feather title to Jesus Chavez in 2003 and losing a fight to Uzbek Azizbek Abdugofurov for the WBC Asian Boxing Council middle weight title in February he coincidentally won 51 fights in a row. He is taking no chances in fight No 100 as his opponent is Ugandan Muhammad Nsubuga with a 0-6 record! (*EDITOR'S NOTE - Iamthuam defeated Nsubuga by KO*)

That Sirimongkol vs. Nsubuga contest is typical of many abysmal matches in Thailand. Two weekends ago, Tajik boxer Abdul Buranov lost to WBC No 3 flyweight Noknoi (Nare Yianleang). Their respective records before the fight were Noknoi 66-5 and Buranov 0-3. In his four fights Buranov’s opponents records have been 64-5 (Noknoi), 21-1, 15-2, and Noknoi again with 66-5.

Flag of Thailand

World Boxing Super Series (WBSS)

Can’t help but be disappointed that the WBSS are going to do another cruiserweight series. Let’s face it this is a competition for the also-ran or never ran. Mairis Breidis, Yunier Dorticos, Krzys Glowacki, Marius Masternak, Maksim Vlasov, Andrew Tabiti, and Noel Gevor are all good fighters. Russian Ruslan Fayfer in unbeaten but it was the knowledge that it could end up with Olek Usyk fighting Murat Gassiev that made the original so interesting and this tournament has no such star attraction.

Murata vs. Brant 

It always seemed likely that the WBA would have to stand by the results of the purse bids-or should I say bid as there was only one-for the Ryota Murata vs. Rob Brant fight for their secondary middleweight title. If they had not done so, but instead allowed Murata to fight Jason Quigley then the lawyers would have had a field day. Murata fights Brant in Las Vegas on 20 October and you can be sure that Bob Arum will be looking to get Quigley a fight with the winner or look for some other way to get the unbeaten Irishman a title shot.

Kyotaro Fujimoto

Japan has only one fighter in the world ratings and that is Kyotaro Fujimoto. The WBO have him at No 7 on the basis of his winning their Asia Pacific title. His opposition has been very modest at best, certainly not enough to be rated above Bryant Jennings or Dereck Chisora-but he is. They are not taking any chances with him. He is due to fight on 25 September with the name being bandied about of Thai Suthat Kalakek, a former OPBF super middleweight title challenger, who lost his last fight to a 6-0 novice. Hope they come up with something better than this for a world rated fighter.

Kyotaro Fujimoto - Photo BoxRec.com

Jorge Barrios

Former WBO super featherweight champion Jorge Barrios has applied to the Argentinian Boxing Federation for a licence to fight again. Now 42, Barrios was recently released from prison after serving three years and seven months for homicide and culpable injuries. When driving his car he ran down and killed a twenty-year-old pregnant woman and left the scene of the accident. He has served the sentence that they gave him but four years for what he did seems wholly inadequate.

Jorge Barrios - Photo BoxRec.com

August Boxing Deaths 

Boxing lost two former fighters from different countries with the deaths in the month of August of Charley “White Lightning” Brown and Argentinian Farid Salim. Brown won his first 23 fights before losing to Harry Arroyo for the IBF lightweight title in 1984. His career really faded downhill from there but he scored wins over Alfredo Escalera, the 25-0-1 Frank Newton and the 18-0 Louis Burke on his way to the title shot. He also fought Harold Brazier, Saoul Mamby, Greg Haugen, Johnny Bizzarro, and Ralph “Tiger” Jones. After more than 60 amateur fights in Salim’s first pro fight in June 1958 his opponent Santos Galvan suffered an injury and died after the contest. Despite that, Salim continued his career and went 27-0-2 including winning the Argentinian middleweight title. In his first fight in the USA, he outpointed Ted Wright and also scored a win over Joey Giambra but lost to the wonderfully named Yama Bahama, Wilbert McClure, Joey Archer, and Ruben Carter. RIP Charley and Farid.

Farid Salim - Photo BoxRec.com

-Eric Armit

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Thanks for the Memories

I'm sure that over the course of the past four days you have read plenty of takes about what transpired last Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. For this writer when I heard that Miguel Cotto would be fighting Sadam Ali in his farewell fight I must admit that originally I thought to myself why bother trying to attend. However, as the fight drew closer a serious bout of nostalgia took over and thankfully I was able to make the trek from Philadelphia into the Big Apple.

The reason for my case of nostalgia was the fact that back in 2004 I received a message from the now defunct company Ricoqui. At the time they were in charge of running the official website for super contender Miguel Cotto. In what would become my introduction into writing about the sweet science, I was named the official writer for the site. This granted me access to the sport at its highest level. As a result, trips to New York and the Garden from 2005 until the end of the site in 2009 became a welcomed norm.

As I entered the arena one last time to cover the final fight of Miguel Cotto, the occasion itself became a moment for yours truly to reminisce on the true meaning of what was about to take place. You see this fight was more than just the end of a Hall of Fame career. Years from now 2017 will be known for several things, including the year when many of one generation’s star fighters decided to call it a day in the sport.  This Cotto-Ali fight would come to represent most likely the final instance of this taking place in the year of generational swing. (Aside from Manny Pacquaio, who has more than just one foot out the door.) As the cross blend fights between the young lions on the rise and the last generation’s champions took place. It didn't exactly hit me that this was indeed the eventual changing of the guard.

However, that is what made last Saturday night even more special. As I took in the crowd, which was larger than I thought it would be, the fight unfolded in the manner in which it did. A serious realization took hold of me of the strides that I have been able to make within the sport as a writer since the first time covering Cotto in the Garden back in 2005. Writing for Miguelcotto.com allowed me the access to parlay and take advantage of opportunities to advance in this field. As I continue to progress and as the sport continues to push forward,  the career of Miguel Cotto will always symbolize the foundation of whatever else I will achieve in the future.

As for the fight, Sadam "Wonder Kid" Ali did what he, his team, and a few folks thought he could do. Congratulations to him for seizing his opportunity, achieving his dream, and fulfilling one of his goals. The cherry on top for him had to be when his supporters and team carried him on their shoulders out the front door of the Garden. I must admit it was a cool site to witness. I'm not one for snapping pictures or social media, but that scene was definitely worthy.

Miguel Cotto fought valiantly, but in the end he looked his age. Fighters can get old over night and Cotto, even though Ali is a much tougher opponent, clearly was different fighter between his comeback in August and this night in December. When I think of December 2nd and Miguel Cotto, I'll always think back to 2006 and his fight in Atlantic City when he captured the WBA welterweight championship. He beat Carlos Quintana into submission that night. On the other side of the coin, December 2nd, 2017 was clearly the end.

His punches looked slower than molasses and while he never had a fast jab, it was  his timing on the jab that helped keep Shane Mosley at bay during their super fight and his best career victory ten years ago. On this night, even prior to the injury, Ali while caught with it a few times saw mostly everything coming his way, including the devastating Miguel Cotto left hook.

I turned to other writers and said, "win, lose or draw, this really should be it for him.  I don't want him to ever come back and force us to remember the shell of what he was." Ali, again to his credit, took advantage of this fact and was even able to land a variation of the one punch (aside from that Pacquiao left uppercut that almost decapitated Cotto) that seemed to be the shot that always almost put him out, the right hand.  A right hook from DeMarcus Corley, several straight rights in exchange from Ricardo Torres, looping rights from Mosley and Mayweather, and hooks and jabs from Austin Trout, were always the shots that controlled the often undersized wrecking ball that was Miguel Cotto. Sadam Ali simply joined this group and used the punch to put an exclamation point on his performance.

In victory Sadam Ali is no longer just the "Wonder Kid," he is now a World Champion. With the closing of Miguel Cotto's career and this generation, the sport of boxing can now look forward towards the future.  So let's all turn the page together and enjoy the ride that awaits.

-Luis A. Cortes III

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Dustin's Corner: Floyd Mayweather Retires from Boxing after Retiring McGregor

Finally...

The People’s Red Head has come back to The Weigh-In!

Saturday night marked the mega fight between Mayweather and McGregor. Hopefully the readers will forever remember what they were doing when the pay-per-view stopped working. We imagine the next generation will be telling their grand-kids about the passing of Michael Jackson, 9-11, President Trump’s election, and how pay-per-view went out during Saturday’s mega fight.

Regardless of what the feelings were leading up to the fight, Mayweather did not disappoint. Once the fight got underway, it was a different Mayweather than we are used to seeing. Hats off to McGregor who gave it his all, until expending all the energy he had to give.

As many suspected, Mayweather gave the early rounds to McGregor. It appeared, as per usual, Mayweather spent the first three rounds downloading McGregor’s attack. To his credit, in the early rounds, McGregor gave Mayweather everything he could handle. If you listened carefully, you could hear Vegas sports books quaking in the early rounds.

Mayweather then began to focus on the body and left McGregor looking shaky in round 7. His earlier investment of body work paid off in round 10. Round 10 was all Money. Mayweather walked McGregor down forcing referee Robert Boyd to call a stop to the action.

Many individuals felt the stoppage was premature. To that, we say two things: why are you wasting time on other sites over The Weigh-In, and seriously, there was no need for the fight to continue. It was apparent that McGregor’s tank was empty and there was no need for him to take unnecessary punishment.

Hopefully fans enjoyed the fight. It was clear McGregor put in the work and he looked terrific. However, Mayweather’s experience was really on display. Boxing fans everywhere get bragging rights that the sport prevailed. One cannot help but wonder if we will see another crossover fight in the future.

I will close with this; Mayweather forgot to send out invites to his after party. For this, we will forgive him, but it still hurts. We cannot even get McGregor to spit in our direction, and I am Irish. In all seriousness, a thank you to both for putting on a great show.

The People’s Red Head Out!

- Dustin Johnson, The People's Red Head

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Now Back to Boxing...

In case you have been living under a rock for the last couple of days, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (50-0) defeated Conor McGregor (0-1) via a tenth round TKO this weekend in Las Vegas. The crafty veteran capitalized on McGregor's endurance problems during the second half of the contest. Kudos to McGregor for looking far better than most boxing analysts thought he would, even against an aging Mayweather. Now we can only hope that this was the first and last time we see McGregor in the boxing ring...

Now that the Mayweather vs. McGregor weekend is over, we can get back to boxing. The next big fight coming up this year is a middleweight title unification contest between Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (49-1-1) and Gennady "GGG" Golovkin (37-0) on September 16th in Las Vegas. The winner of this contest will sit on top of the middleweight division, a division that has had a number of tough and popular fighters pass through its ranks in recent years.

Alvarez is coming off of a May unanimous decision victory over the son of a Mexican boxing legend, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Canelo's only loss came at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013. Golovkin, who is undefeated, most recently won a close fight via unanimous decision over Daniel Jacobs at Madison Square Garden in March.

Stay tuned to The Weigh-In Boxing Blog and Podcast over the next few weeks for more information on this bout and undercard!

MW 

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Gervonta Davis Fails to Make Weight

Gervonta Davis (18-0, 17 KOs) came in two pounds over the 130 pounds limit on Friday at the weigh-in, in Las Vegas for his title defense against challenger, Francisco Fonseca (19-0-1, 13 KOs). This is not the first time that Davis has had trouble making weight. Prior to his title defense against Liam Walsh in May, he needed three attempts to make weight. Although the fight will still take place tonight on the Mayweather vs. McGregor undercard, Davis has been stripped of his IBF Junior Lightweight Title. If Fonseca defeats Davis, he can still be crowned the new IBF Junior Lightweight champion.

This seems to be just another chapter to the "soap opera" that will finally end this evening. I am very disappointed to see a young and talented fighter fail to make weight in a fight that may turn out to be the most viewed of his career. I truly hope that Davis bounces back from this setback, and learns a lesson in the importance of making weight... Especially in title fights!

MW 

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"Huge" Weekend for Boxing

Well "fight" fans, we are officially on the home stretch to the spectacle that has overshadowed the great fights of the year, as well as those on the horizon, Mayweather vs. McGregor... If you plan on purchasing the pay-per-view, then you are in for a solid undercard of boxing, and a main event that will bring together the worlds of boxing and MMA for the first (and probably not the last) time in history. If you are going to tune into this mega circus, that means that you are going to miss a great card on HBO.

The HBO card features future Boxing Hall of Famer, Miguel Cotto (40-5) in what is being billed as his final bout against Japanese star, Yoshihiro Kamegai (27-3-2), for the vacant WBO World Super Welterweight Title. Unfortunately, this competitive matchup will hurt in the viewership department due to poor scheduling by the Cotto camp and HBO. It is important to note that Cotto went on the record recently to say that he never considered moving this fight to appease Floyd Mayweather. The Cotto vs. Kamegai card also features a very exciting matchup between Rey Vargas (29-0) and Ronny Rios (28-1) for the WBC World Super Bantamweight Title.  

Now back to the Mayweather vs. McGregor circus' card... The seven-bout card kicks off with three non-televised preliminary bouts, one of which is a bout between two women making their professional debuts. The main card starts at 9 PM EST, and features three title fights that include familiar names from the world of boxing. The bout I am most looking forward to is the WBA Light Heavyweight Title fight between Nathan Cleverly and Badou Jack. Cleverly is coming off of a October 1, 2016 RTD victory over Juergen Braehmer. Jack most recently fought to a MD draw against James DeGale in January. The undercard also features Mayweather Promotions' rising star, Gervonta Davis, and 41-year-old former world champion, Steve Cunningham. I highly recommend tuning in for the undercard, because the fights will likely blow away the main event! 

Below is the breakdown of the full Mayweather vs. McGregor card: 

Preliminary Card - 

Juan Heraldez (12-0) vs. Jose Miguel Borrego (13-0) - Welterweights

Kevin Newman (7-0-1) vs. Antonio Hernandez (9-1) - Super Middleweights

Savannah Marshall (Pro Debut) vs. Amy Coleman (Pro Debut) - Women's Super Middleweights

Main Card - 

Floyd Mayweather Jr. (49-0) vs. Conor McGregor (Pro Debut), Light Middleweights

Gervonta Davis (18-0) vs. Francisco Fonseca (19-0-1), IBF Super Featherweight Title

Nathan Cleverly (30-3) vs. Badou Jack (21-1-2), WBA Light Heavyweight Title

Andrew Tabiti (14-0) vs. Steve Cunningham (29-8-1), USBA Cruiserweight Title

MW

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Dustin's Corner: Why Terence Crawford is Winning More than Charlie Sheen Ever Dreamed Of

Finally, The People’s Red Head has come back to The Weigh-In!

He may not be banging 5 pound rocks, or be an Adonis, but he is doing something very important, winning! Terence Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs) made boxing history Saturday night in Lincoln, Nebraska, defeating Julius Indongo by third-round knockout to unify all four world titles in the junior welterweight division. Hopefully you were not too busy watching Mayweather-McIrish press conferences. Can we take a moment to truly marvel at what Mr. Crawford has accomplished? Crawford’s accomplishment marks the first time a boxer has unified all four belts since 2005.

All this writer wants to know is who is on board now? Crawford has somewhat quietly dominated the competition to end up at a stunning 32-0. Crawford may just be all things that are good. He fights out of his home state of Nebraska and he just plain wins. I used to live in Omaha, Nebraska, for a short stint. Let me tell you, redheads are welcome there if any of you are interested. However, I made a huge mistake, I know where Mr. Crawford trained, and I should have probably tried to bottle his sweat and sell it on the boxing underground black market; I am pretty sure that is a thing, but we do not fact check people.

A brief breakdown of the fight, Crawford as usual, was all business from the first bell. Crawford scored a knockdown in the second round. I for one thought Indongo was done, but what heart, he appeared to recover, and answered the bell for the third round.  In the third, Crawford delivers a hook that would have tucked lesser men into bed, wearing a onesie. This hook retried Indongo for the night and forever cemented Crawford’s place in history.

Fans, please get at me. What do you think of Crawford’s achievement? What is next for Crawford? I know that I for one would like to see Crawford head into the UFC and challenge the biggest name. Wait a minute, I am being told that has been done already, damn it! We will have to wait and see what the future holds for Mr. Crawford, but no doubt, this writer will remain giddy with excitement.

*Thank you to Boxrec.com for statistical analysis used in this article.

- Dustin Johnson, The People's Red Head

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8-Ounce Gloves

The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) has approved a request from the Mayweather and McGregor camps to change the size of the gloves from 10-ounces to 8-ounces just days before their August 26th circus in Las Vegas. This change came after both camps discussed and argued over the size of gloves to be used in the contest for the past few months. I have read a few articles and posts from people from the worlds of boxing and MMA who believe that this change will favor UFC star, Conor McGregor.

Some analysts consider this move to smaller gloves a foolish request from the Mayweather camp because their boxer's last knockout came in 2011 against Victor Ortiz. Furthermore, Mayweather has openly discussed his "brittle fists" to members of the media. Despite these factors, I still see Mayweather as the favorite because of his far superior boxing skills and defense. Mayweather will simply have to avoid big shots from McGregor, which I am confident he can and will. In regards to the NSAC, I'm very surprised to see this body make a change to the size of gloves this close to the bout. In my opinion this move plays right into the "soap opera" that is Mayweather vs. McGregor, and leaves me asking myself, what's going to happen next?

What do YOU think of this change to the size of gloves used in Mayweather vs. McGregor? Tell us in the comments section of this post!

MW

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