(Danny Garcia, left, Lamont Peterson trainer Barry Hunter, right; via PBC on Twitter)
Hope you’re enjoying your week sandwiched between good boxing weekends. We’ll have more on this upcoming weekend as the week goes on, but maybe you didn’t like how this past weekend played out. You might have missed some things!
We had a fun Friday Night Fights card, a quality ShoBox card, a subpar NBC main event, sure, but a decent undercard, a nice fight on pay-per-view and, finally, every cruiserweight in the world delivering either big knockouts or solid bouts.
We’ll section it off by the NBC card, the cruiserweights and Roman Martinez-Orlando Salido, then leave the rest for you to consider via the links above.
The NBC Card
It was a legitimately close fight, that Danny Garcia vs Lamont Peterson bout, and while Peterson deserved the decision according to almost everyone, Peterson also made it close for reasons that still confuse everyone. He seemed to think he was outboxing him early, which, why? He said he didn’t feel Garcia’s punches, so why not pressure him the way he did in the late rounds where he clearly dominated him? Peterson is a nice fighter, but one who rarely has done a better job of being competitive than doing enough to definitively win, Amir Khan victory aside. He can make a dent at welterweight or do some good things by staying put, but he needs to adjust his mentality in some ways. The funny thing is, there are multiple lines of evidence that Garcia also thought he lost, like this, and also this:
Since, Garcia has said you can’t win a fight by running, so, OK. Also, he thinks he might still fight at junior welterweight, where he’s the champion. That’s odd, since he blamed not moving up to welter for some of his struggles. It’s clear that Garcia’s reputation is on a lengthy decline from its 2013 heights, although it must also be said that some saw this as a very tough match-up for him. It’s worth putting Garcia’s accomplishments in perspective. He’s rarely won a fight dominantly, a reflection of his general all-around abilities and lack of any standout qualities.
Switching topics, slightly, to the overall show Saturday night: Ratings were down from the first NBC show, which is predictable for a few reasons, some of them similar to the reasons ratings for CBS were down, throwing in some NASCAR as competition. But 3 million people is still a fuck-ton of people watching boxing by today’s standards, and winning the 18-49 age bracket is big for a sport that has struggled to capture a youthful demographic. This Kevin Iole column is worth reading about Al Haymon, the mastermind of the “Premier Boxing Champions” series, even if it defends him in places I wouldn’t. Haymon’s media blackout grows increasingly untenable as he exerts an increasing amount of control over the sport as a whole.
As for the undercard: Peter Quillin-Andy Lee was a nice scrap, and a draw that some didn’t think should’ve been one if not for a ruling of a 3rd round knockdown of Lee that was more of a trip. That’s fair, although I thought Quillin arguably scored a knockdown at the very end of the 1st that wasn’t counted. Quillin missing weight means he probably ought to move up, although he says he intends to stay at middleweight. Lee could still face Gennady Golovkin if he wants, for a nice price; or Billy Joe Saunders; a rematch with Quillin seems unlikely given a dispute over the location. Lastly, the ref in the Quillin-Lee fight had a hilarious moment here:
The Cruiserweight
Mostly this is just some videos. You’ll want to watch the knockouts for sure, which might make year-end Knockout of the Year lists.
Rakhim Chakhiev took out Valery Brudov real bad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7tiT_kG_Js&ab_channel=BestBoxingFightsHD
But this one might top it, just because of the opponent. Francisco Palacios went 24 reasonably close rounds with Krzysztof Wlodarczyk. Dmitry Kudryashov just iced him in the 1st; he’s a puncher to watch out for. Kudryashov also took out Juan Carlos Gomez in one round.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQJDkex74mo
Victor Emilio Ramirez vs Ola Afolabi got some Fight of the Year buzz over at Reddit.
https://youtu.be/NzPD4yToK10
And Denis Lebedev and Youri Kalenga went some hard rounds, too. After all this, the division’s top 10 ended up looking pretty different via the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board. Also look at what the hell they’re wearing at the end of the fight. What th’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MLsDIGLro0
Rocky Martinez Vs Orlando Salido
Martinez-Salido didn’t live up to its own Fight of the Year hype but it was still pretty action-packed — knockdowns, point deductions, good exchanges. Martinez clearly outboxed Salido, overall, so a rematch doesn’t seem necessary. But Salido wants one and has a rematch clause, so he’ll get one. Martinez had flirted with moving up to lightweight, but he’ll stay at junior lightweight for at least the rematch, it would seem.
Either way, both these guys belong in the regular mix in their divisions for big fights. It’s too bad this one had to be on PPV and up against the NBC card. HBO, Showtime, “Premier Boxing Champions,” give these guys some calls.
