There are some snazzy match-ups in the works right about now, one of which is one of the biggest fights that can happen in boxing anywhere. There are, per usual, some bouts that are falling to the wayside. Not all dance partners are so eager sometimes.
Here’s just what’s been in the news for the past week:
Round And Round
Miguel Cotto vs. Canelo Alvarez — the aforementioned “one of the biggest fights that can happen in boxing anywhere” — is reportedly one step closer for this fall on HBO pay-per-view after the two men agreed to fight at 155 lbs. These two are always messing around with catchweights. Normally they don’t bother me, catchweights, but these guys are serial offenders about just a pound or so, and the middleweight championship is on the line, and it would be just swell if they went ahead and fought at 160.
Abner Mares-Leo Santa Cruz was a super-hot match-up a year or two ago, and then Mares went and got knocked out by Jhonny Gonzalez and has been mediocre since, while Santa Cruz has burned through any goodwill by taking on a series of no-hopers. That said, it’s a fight that still has a little juice, and it’s probably the best fight possible for both featherweights. The winner gets back some of the love he once had. No network yet, but it’ll be part of the “Premier Boxing Champions” series, which likely means, for a fight of this magnitude, CBS/ABC/NBC or Showtime.
After teasing us with the notion that he wanted Gennady Golovkin, Carl Froch now says James DeGale is ahead of him. Look, Froch-DeGale is a big, big U.K. super middleweight show, so nobody would’ve blamed Froch if he had said all along that DeGale was his preference. By bringing up Golovkin then backtracking, he comes off as just the latest boxer trying to avoid “GGG.”
It’s not that Kell Brook-Brandon Rios is a bad fight at all; it ain’t. It’s just that there are better natural opponents for both men, i.e. Brook-Amir Khan at 147 and Rios-Ruslan Provodnikov at 140ish. Brook and Khan match up well as two quick U.K. boxers and Rios-Provodnikov is a sluggers’ dream. Right now, the negotiations for the September bout are reportedly held up over a rematch clause.
The promoter of light heavyweight Sergey Kovalev, Kathy Duva, said that there are real talks for a fight against super middleweight champion Andre Ward in the spring. This is a great fight. Imagine, by the way, how insane boxing Twitter would go if Ward fought and beat Golovkin in the fall then did the same to Kovalev one fight after, given the hardcore followings of the respective parties.
Vasyl Lomachenko, having turned his nose up at the best possible fight for him, Nicholas Walters, is now eyeing Lee Selby. Nothing would be better than Lomachenko-Walters, but Lomachenko-Selby is a mighty fine fight in its own right.
We’re on track for Lucas Matthysse-Viktor Postol (140 pounds) in September, then Matthysse wants Manny Pacquiao after. Postol is no walkover, but if Matthysse wins a Pacquiao fight wouldn’t be out of the question; Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach has said everybody on his team still wants Floyd Mayweather, but they don’t think they can get him without a resounding win against a tough opponent, and Matthysse would qualify.
All sides are on board with Timothy Bradley facing Sadam Ali next at 147, which could be a very competitive match-up between a potentially fading pound-for-pounder and an up-and-coming talent, respectively. It’s certainly more realistic for Bradley than all the junior middleweight and middleweights Bradley keeps calling out.
For the love of God, what matchmaker would make Vanes Martirosyan-Ishe Smith (154 lbs.) for any reason other than sadistic impulses toward an audience? And yet, it might happen in “late summer.”
(Round And Round sources: BoxingScene, FightHype, Los Angeles Times)
