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No frills — just some fights in the works, one involving the man above, some others involving the guys in the headline and some others involving some other dudes too.
Golden Boy Promotions has some ideas for Adrien Broner's next fight — Amir Khan, Devon Alexander, Victor Ortiz, Robert Guerrero. Those four welterweights are in varying degrees of linking up with each other, so I say make the Marcos Maidana bout. Broner himself is keeping an open mind on fighting anywhere from 135 to 147.
Tyson Fury's team is making a crazed 80-20 split demand for a British heavyweight clash with David Haye, who is at least as much of a draw as Fury, just eyeballing it. That's either an absurdly bad negotiating ploy, or that's Fury saying he doesn't really want the fight. He shouldn't want the fight, really, because he'll probably get blasted. But since it would've been a fun promotion and a big money bout, it's too bad if he's trying to get out of it.
This talk of Danny Garcia rematching with Zab Judah sounds legit. If he goes through with it, he will take a hammering with fans over ducking Lucas Matthysse, the man against whom he could become the true champion of the junior welterweight division. He deserves to take a hammering for it, if it happens. It seems so obvious, but because there are skeptics of this principle, it needs to be restated: Most of the time, fans do want to see the best vs. the best. If Garcia punks out, even though Garcia-Judah was a financial success the first time, I'd be willing to bet Garcia-Judah II takes a box office hit because of the Matthysse duck.
HBO has given Carl Froch four options for his next fight, all of them tasty: Andre Ward, Gennady Golovkin, Mikkel Kessler, Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. The Golovkin fight is probably the most tasty, style-wise and because Golovkin's power is unproven at 168 the same way Froch's chin is extremely well-tested there. If Golovkin slices through Matthew Macklin Saturday night, then Froch would be more than a test — it would be a serious match-up. Second for me would be the Kessler trilogy, for reasons previously stated, followed by Chavez and then Ward — not because I think Froch would do any better against the true champion, but because Ward-Froch II would be a match-up of the two best men in the division and Froch has earned a second chance if he wants one. Froch might not feel the need to be on HBO for his next fight, by the way, so these are just four options, not the only ones.
The talk about Nonito Donaire's next fight has been all over the place, but the latest talk seems to center on a rematch with Vic Darchinayan. It's overdue, but it also makes sense with Donaire maybe needing to reestablish himself before rematching junior featherweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux. With Darchinyan having reestablished his own career somewhat, it's a good time for the fight.
Middleweight champion Sergio Martinez wants the winner of the Floyd Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez fight, and while it makes sense for Martinez, there are some tricky things about it. With Mayweather's abandonment of the concept that catchweight fights are a grave evil, he'd probably insist that Martinez come down to 152, and it might already be hard enough for Martinez to get down to 154. The Canelo fight is probably more doable. Martinez has previously insisted that Canelo would have to come up to 160 but if Canelo beat Mayweather I wouldn't imagine Martinez could insist on a damn thing, what with Canelo having all the economic leverage in the world.
Hey, here's a fight that's actually happening, instead of just being talked about! Lightweight Ricky Burns is going to fight Raymundo Beltran Sept. 7. That's a really nice one. Both are top 10 at 135 and the styles ought to mesh well. Hopefully Epix or WealthTV or someboy will pick it up.
Ishe Smith-Carlos Molina at 154 on July 19 on Showtime has been postponed with Smith citing an injury. I like both fighters just fine despite some fans not liking their styles, but it's not a fight I NEED, so I can wait. Badou Jack-Farah Ennis at super middleweight and Mickey Bey-John Molina were maybe going to happen on July 19 on that card, too, and since they're decent enough bouts maybe the card can still go on.
Round-up of OK heavyweights: Dereck Chisora and Malik Scott are engaging in some Broner/Paulie Malignaggiesque classy trash talk, with Chisora saying he was going to "slave" Scott and Scott calling Chisora a "faggot." If this makes you more excited about the July 20 bout, more power to you, I guess. Prospect Deontay Wilder vs. Siarhei Liakhovich is on for Aug. 9, and as much criticism as the bout has gotten, I'm so underimpressed by Wilder that I think it might be too soon. The other issue, though, is that it's supposed to be the main event of a Showtime tripleheader, which is a "Huh wha?" kind of situation. Magomed Abdusalamov said he'd happily take an 80-20 split for Haye or Fury, plus also Seth Mitchell; I like Abdusalamov-Mitchell decently, or even Abdusalamov-Fury. Lastly, the Kubrat Pulev-Ruslan Chagaev planned meeting is off because Chagaev has other plans. Pulev isn't very popular with opponents these days. I guess alphabet belts aren't important to all the fighters all the time, yeah?
Paul Spadafora has turned down a junior welterweight bout with Thomas Dulorme, and though his camp is trying to say they didn't, even by their own account they did. They said no. They can act like they were making a business decision based on the fight being on HBO Latino and the money being low, but "no" was their answer. And even if the money wasn't all that good, Spadafora is 38 and probably won't get another chance like that. Hope you feel good about this one a few years from now, Spaddy.
Olusegun Ajose-Hank Lundy is booked for the July 19 edition of Friday Night Fights. Both junior welterweights need a win to prove they're contender-worthy. Both have appealing styles. It's about as good as it gets for an ESPN2.
The Jorge Arce retirement nobody believed is already over as of Sept. 21, when he'll meet up with junior featherweight Akifumi Shiomoda. My lack of surprise doesn't make me feel any better about it.
(Round And Round sources: BoxingScene, ESPN, Pittsburgh City Paper)
