Don't follow boxing very often, but you want to know the gist of Saturday's mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez? Follow boxing all the time, and want one place that rounds up all the links about the junior middleweight showdown you could ever want? This Ultimate Guide to the Sept. 14 pay-per-view event known as "The One" is for you, no matter what kind of fan you are.
(Saul Alvarez rides horse shirtless, bareback, on Showtime's All Access)
We begin, as always, with our work, which has you covered from most angles. I started us off with an evaluation of the significance of Mayweather-Alvarez, competitively and commercially. Patrick Connor co-hosted a roundtable of blogging All Stars — such as they are — on Queensberry Rules Radio. Alex McClintock previewed some of the undercard, the promotional schedule and the rest of the week's boxing schedule. I previewed the big undercard bout, Lucas Matthysse-Danny Garcia, and Jeff Pryor weighed in as well. I brought you the keys to the main event in two parts. Mr. Connor returned to mathematically estimate the chances of Mayweather-Canelo winning year-end awards. Dominic Farrell dropped by to give the ginger perspective on Mayweather-Alvarez. I provided a final preview and prediction of the main event. And the entire staff, at Mr. McClintock's behalf, gathered to answer a few questions about the PPV.
Sometimes, seeing the fighters in action is a good introduction. Too bad Showtime can't bring itself to produce a "Greatest Hits" clip like HBO does for its big events, because those HBO "Greatest Hits" round-ups do just about as good a job as telling the story of a fighter in the ring as anything else. That said, All Access does a reasonable job of telling the fighters' stories outside the ring, all episodes of which and a variety of other materials are available at Showtime's YouTube channel and on cable/satellite On Demand. And the two fights I posted below — the most recent fights of each man — give a pretty strong sense of where each fighter is today between the ropes. Peruse the full records of Mayweather and Canelo at BoxRec for a fuller understanding of their in-ring careers.
Interested yet? It's going to cost you if you want to buy the PPV via Showtime. It's running $65 for standard definition and $75 for HD, another escalation of all-time PPV prices by "Money" Mayweather, who isn't shy about taking your cash and then bragging about it. On the other hand, it's not that out of line with the inflation of the prices of other goods, and the quality undercard almost makes it worth it. Additionally, the various cable and satellite services are, from what I've heard, offering a variety of give-backs. My horrible, horrible provider, Xfiniity, is giving away three free months of Showtime to customers who don't already subscribe, so check with your sure-to-be-better provider for whatever deals they might be offering. Also, if you need a shit-ton of oil, you can buy a bunch of a specific kind of Valvoline at O'Reilly Auto Parts and get as much as $35 back, so that's pretty cool. Maybe not as cool as the beer-buying giveaways of old, but then, I don't own a car and I drink a lot of alcohol. There's another way to do it cheaper — go to your local theater, soak in the community experience, and pay $27. To figure out whether and where this is an option for you, click here. The fight itself and the closed circuit TV showings in Las Vegas are fully booked, based on my investigation, but if you are really into it I'm sure you can find some scalpers on your own. (While we're taking a walk on the wild side, here's some betting analysis from our friend Tom Craze over at BLH.)
The start time for Mayweather-Canelo is 9 p.m. Well, the card anyway. The main event is unlikely to begin before midnight. If I were you, I'd be in position around 11 p.m. at the latest, if you're only concerned with that fight. Because Matthysse-Garcia is so damn good, I'd be in extra-safe position before then, even.
Ah, the mainstream media. The New York Times continues its preoccupation with the entourages of fighters, not that it lacks entertainment value or insight. USA Today has gotten very SEO in its coverage, not that I can blame them, but here are a bunch of articles about Mayweather and his botched coffee orders. The Wall Street Journal, via the always reliable Gordon Marino, turns in an excellent analysis of Mayweather's defense. The Associated Press uses the weight debate as a way in to the bout. Here's the part where I dog out The Washington Post for not caring about boxing: Dear Washington Post, you retain elements of a great newspaper and all but why not cover one of the biggest events in sports right now, which would presumably attract some hits or something, and why are you unique amongst the top media outlets not to cover the biggest boxing matches? The New York Daily News has parted ways with Tim Smith, but still has Mitch Abrahamson, who offers this story on the financial dynamics of the PPV. ESPN has been all over the damn place covering the fight, from "the sport is dead" to "the sport is dead after this" to "this is the fight to save boxing" but ultimately their Fight Credential is a worthy hub, and Grantland has had several worthy items. Yahoo says a lot of things, but I mainly agree with the notion that Alvarez handled himself well at the weigh-in in shrugging off Mayweather's attempts to get him to hold some random-ass belt with him, which was as much about mind games as photo ops.
You want some boxing prediction roundups? Then you shall have them.
We leave you, as we always do, with comedy jokes. Our friends at Tha Boxing Voice put together this video of the insane father/trainer of undercard fighter Danny Garcia ranting and raving to the tune of his son's horrible rap song. The highlights, for me, is the bit about loving God juxtaposed with "Yeah I love the strippers" and the exaggerated cackle.
