Boxing: The Week in Review

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Floyd MayweatherEvery week, there are numerous topics that even hardcore fans, not to mention casual fans, cannot keep up with. Well every week, I’ll be here to help you catchup with the sport of boxing, going over the previous weekend’s results, as well as some of the hot breaking news topics that fans are talking about. So with that being said, let’s get right into the boxing week in review.

Last Week’s Results

The biggest fight of the weekend involved light-heavyweight Champion Sergey Kovalev, as he easily took care of business and did away with Nadjib Mohammedi with an early third-round KO. But as easily as he made it look, people will still be looking past it at possible 2016 matchups against either Andre Ward or Adonis Stevenson.

On that same undercard at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Jean Pascal squared off against Yunieski Gonzalez. By most observers, Gonzalez not only won this fight, but won it by a solid margin of about seven rounds to three, however, Pascal got the very controversial decision with the scores being 96-94 on all three judge’s cards. He now will look towards a possible rematch with Kovalev.

The last result of much significance last weekend also took place in Vegas in the Palms Casino. In that contest, Beibut Shumenov ended up beating B.J. Flores by a unanimous decision 116-112 on all cards in the cruiserweight division.

Mayweather Undercard Taking Shape

Early rumors of Errol Spence Jr., being on Floyd Mayweather’s September 12th undercard, have seemed to have died down with Keith Thurman declining the fight. With that said, the rumored undercard still seems pretty good.

One of the fights of the year from April, Orlando Salido vs. Rocky Martinez looks like it will be the main fight on the undercard. Another fight said to be on the card is the postponed fight of Badou Jack vs. George Groves.

Other fights that are being talked about on the undercard are Jose Pedraza vs. Jhonny Gonzalez as well as Ishe Smith vs. Vanes Martirosyan. It appears that even though people may not be happy with Mayweather choosing Andre Berto, the undercard will definitely be a treat for the fans.

GGG-Lemieux is Real and Spectacular

On Saturday, boxing fans got an early Christmas present as Gennady Golovkin vs. David Lemieux was finalized and will take place October 17th in NY at the World’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden, and will likely be broadcasted on HBO PPV. A fight like this with two of the biggest punchers in and around their division can’t end in any way but in spectacular fashion.

Not only is the main event expected to be a good show, but the undercard is also starting to look like a show of its own. The best boxer in the world you may not know, Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez will be on the undercard against either Giovani Segura or McWilliams Arroyo. Chocolatito was on the Golovkin-Monroe Jr. undercard in California when he stopped Edgar Sosa in round two.

One other rumored fight that is close to being placed on that undercard is Bryant Jennings, in his first fight after facing Wladimir Klitschko, squaring off against undefeated, hard punching, southpaw heavyweight Luis Ortiz. This will be a good test for both fighters as they try to get another title shot.

Canelo-Cotto Inches from the Goalline

As said last week, it appears that everything in the negotiations between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Miguel Cotto seem to be ironed out except the date and location. A new contender for the site entered last week, and it will take the prize as Mandalay Bay now appears to be the likely destination for the fight and is scheduled to take place on November 21st. It sounds like the deal is in place, and they are just awaiting the announcement of the Floyd Mayweather fight before making this one official.

The Garcia Family talks…..A LOT

This week boxing YouTubes were on fire as Angel Garcia, Danny Garcia’s father, went off on topics such as cherry picking, Gennady Golovkin, Oscar De La Hoya, as well as some other non-boxing topics.

Danny Garcia, who will be fighting Paulie Malignaggi this weekend in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center, also had some things to say this weekend.

“I feel like after (Floyd) Mayweather there’s nobody but me, I feel like everyone’s gunning after me now. I feel like how he feels. They gotta fight me to become big now. It took Mayweather 18 years to become a big icon like that. I’m seven years in the game, and people are already talking about Danny fighting Mayweather, so I feel I’m moving at a good pace.”

Future Fights:

Adonis Stevenson vs. Tommy Karpency – Not really much to see here, but I wanted to get this out of the way before we get to the good possible fights. However, at least it was made official this week.

Timothy Bradley vs. Brandon Rios – This was a bit of a surprise dropped by the CEO of Top Rank Boxing, Bob Arum when he spoke to Tha Boxing Voice this week. Most thought Bradley would be facing Sadam Ali on the talked about “Dubai” card.

Terence Crawford vs. Dierry Jean – After losing to Lamont Peterson, Jean has gone 4-0 with three stoppages and now gets another shot at a world title. Crawford, who needed to get back in the ring, should be able to shake off any ring rust he may have gotten since only fighting once since last November.

Carl Frampton vs. Scott Quigg – This is where it gets interesting. Frampton is rumored to be going to 126 pounds to get a fight with Vasyl Lomachenko, but he said he would not only fight Quigg, but fight him in Manchester, but he must be the “A-Side” of negotiations. Quigg, wants to fight Frampton, but has been in deep negotiations with Nonito Donaire to fight either in Dubai or Manchester.

To add to this, Group Managing Director of Matchroom Sport, Eddie Hearn, seems like he is trying to negotiate a two-fight deal between the two so they can have a home and home advantage. No matter what happens, and whoever fights who, between Frampton, Quigg, Donaire, and Lomachenko, we’re sure to have some big time fights and isn’t that what really matters?