Kangaroo fight videos are too depressing. Koalas are now the Australian marsupial combatants of choice. They sound like geese squawking, and they don’t seem capable of doing much damage. The above video features a koala on the right who is the Bernard Hopkins of the koala fighting world — he’s a sneaky fouler, over and over again. For more Koala Kombat vids, try here.
For news about humans fighting, plus a little dab of analysis alongside it, read on.
Quick Jabs
Two of Golden Boy Promotions’ major shareholders have fled, because they’ve received no return on investment. GBP went big with it early on, but there was always a suspicion that some of its more ambitious plays were fool’s gold. That doesn’t mean GBP can’t remain a viable promoter, but some of its grander ambitious are surely now dashed, and probably started their demise when Richard Schaefer and GBP parted ways…
Top middleweight Gennady Golovkin did the year’s second-best premium TV boxing ratings last weekend against Marco Antonio Rubio, more in line with the numbers he did against Curtis Stevens than the dismal figures he did against Daniel Geale. The Geale rating looks a little bit more like a fluke now, and Golovkin also sold a truckload of tickets fighting on the West Coast. He poses an interesting dilemma for HBO and the fans. As long as people keep flocking to watch him against no-hopers, there’s little incentive for HBO to match him harder and at a higher price; on the other hand, the fans keep showing they’re happy with what they’re getting out of him, so who’s to say they care all that much if the match-up situation changes? They will, presumably, eventually, tire of Golovkin beating guys like Rubio. And it’s an encouraging sign that Golovkin’s next fight will be against Martin Murray; at least that’s a step closer in the right direction, as he’s arguably the most qualified opponent of Golovkin’s career yet. There’s talk of finding him a pay-per-view level opponent next year, which would point in the direction, of, say, super middleweight champion Andre Ward, or Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. I’m skeptical, given Golovkin’s return on price and reward, and the political situations of some of his potential bigger opponents, that we’ll get that level of opponent that soon…
Golovkin’s card-mate from last weekend, Nonito Donaire, is talking about continuing his career but at a lower weight. It’s long been clear that Donaire’s arbitrary weight-leaping was to his detriment and would catch up to him eventually, with his less-than-ripped physique evidence that he was artificially blown up. The other thing that’s been hurting him, of course, has been his questionable dedication to the sport. The knockout loss to Nicholas Walters seems to have clued him in to the former; if he gets clued into the latter, too, watch out. He showed against Walters he has more than enough left in the tank to contend, even operating with two disadvantages…
We missed this, but it adds to our suspicion that the “Floyd Mayweather didn’t leave a tip” story was bunk. A denial by the venue in question isn’t conclusive proof, to be sure, just more cause to doubt the original tale. What happened in his gym with that extended sparring session and whether it was all fake, as Mayweather claimed, is looking more like Mayweather was lying, after two of the Rahman family members involved have filed suit. It already looked a good deal like he was lying. Certainly, “reality” shows like Showtime’s All Access are rarely “real” in the strictest sense of the word. But it just so happened that the things Mayweather said were fake — the absurdly long sparring session, the pot in his house — were things that would’ve gotten him in trouble with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Now the commission’s token “We’ll take your word for it, Floyd, swell!” brand of oversight looks all the more foolish. Maybe they shoulda talked to more than just Floyd, huh?…
Heavyweight Luis Ortiz is the latest fighter to fail a drug test. The explanations offered so far are not especially convincing, although I’ll fully admit that I’m skeptical of any explanations for failed tests…
Top Rank’s Bob Arum claims that he’d like to feature junior welterweight Ruslan Provoknikov more, but that his promoter is “difficult.” Without the other side of the story, it’s hard to access whether there’s anything to that claim, and it’s amusing that Arum (or any one who’s a professional boxing promoter) might suggest that there’s something wrong with promoters making money off fighters. It’s still newsworthy enough to mention here…
We leave you with a big knockout from this weekend by heavyweight Alexander Povetkin of Carlos Takam. It’s at approximately 2:18.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFeYawsTdxw
