Tha Boxing Voice Week in Review

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    box_g_pac_b1_300x200Pacman Gobbles up Algieri

    Manny Pacquiao easily beat down Chris Algieri in Macau, China in what was a case of one fighter being several levels above the other. Pacquiao scored 6 knockdowns (although 2 were really slips) against a fighter in Algieri who lacked a reasonable game plan and ability to adjust in the fight. An even bigger problem was that Algieri has zero power on his punches and could never earn the respect of the Pacman. Pacquiao did what he was supposed to do short of getting the KO and while many people are saying the Pacquiao of old is back, I say hold your horses on that one. Let’s face it, Algieri is nowhere near on an elite level or even above average. He has the power of a 5 year old girl with 2 broken arms and fights going backward which diminishes his power even more. He also has never fought anyone close to as good as Pacquiao. This fight served the purpose that Bob Arum wanted it to serve. To make Pacquiao look like a monster. The odds makers and the diehard fans already knew this and hopefully the casual fans realized it too once the fight began. Until Mayweather either retires or has signed the contract to fight, then Arum is going to continue to give Pacquiao as many soft touches as possible so that they don’t lose the possibility of the Mayweather fight happening. It is what it is.

    Is Algieri out of the Cage yet?

    Can someone please go release Algieri from the damn cage? Please! The most entertaining part of the fight between Pacquiao and Algieri was when HBO’s Max Kellerman was interviewing Algieri’s trainer Tom Lane in the corner during the fight. Lane is telling Kellerman that he is keeping Algieri in the cage and he is planning to unleash him in the next round so that he can put Pacquiao to sleep meanwhile the Pacquaio lands the best punch of the whole fight and not only floors Algieri but seriously hurts him. This particular moment will live in boxing infamy for years to come. It showed that the game plan that Lane and the team came up with was not only bad but was downright comical. There is nothing wrong with being confident but being overconfident and downright arrogant will get you in trouble with anything in life but in boxing it can get you punched in the face and hurt badly. I guess nobody ever told Lane that it is easier to hit something in a cage than it is to hit a moving target. Hopefully he learns from now on and doesn’t lock Algieri in the cage for so long.

    Vargas & Demarco Put on a Show

    The first fight of the night on the Pacquiao-Algieri undercard turned out to be the best. Jesse Vargas and Antonio Demarco fought a very good slugfest that served as Vargas’ first fight with his new trainer Roy Jones Jr. Vargas showed very good speed and clearly won the fight while showing a damn good chin and better boxing abilities. Vargas is now being mentioned to face Pacquiao or Danny Garcia next and while I think he and Garcia would be a very good pick em fight, I think he is way to hittable for Pacquiao and Pacquiao would probably KO him inside of 9 rounds. Garcia on the other hand is not nearly the fighter or puncher that Pacquiao is and is not as active, which would give Vargas a big opportunity to out punch him and possibly beat him. Nonetheless both guys put on a good show and I am eager to see both in the future.

    Lomachenko Showed a Little bit More

    Lomachenko may not have fought a world beater on Saturday night but he showed a whole lot in clearly beating up a fighter who had never been knocked down or beaten in such a decisive manner. What was even more impressive was that he hurt his left hand in the middle of the fight and had to switch up his stance to finish the fight. While we knew he had skill and a multitude of tools in his tool belt we didn’t know he could fight through this type of adversity and he passed the test with flying colors. I will go on record now saying that I will take Lomachenko over Rigondeaux at 126 lbs due to the fact that they both have great boxing skills but Lomachenko is a way better inside fighter and he has a chin where as Rigo has been hurt and put down before. I will also pick Lomachenko over Walters at this point due to his speed and chin advantage. My only toss up would be Jhonny Gonzales because of his power and durability. No matter who he fights next I will be glad to watch and I think most fans will too.

    Emperor Roman Gonzalez Reigns Supreme

    Earlier in the week Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez took on Rocky Fuentes in what was a very good fight and he showed why he should be on everyone’s pound for pound list. He has an 85% KO ratio and he is an all action fighter that has very good boxing skills to include a good defense. Gonzalez deserves to be put on a Mayweather or Canelo undercard immediately. Instead of giving us Love, Bey or Jack, Mayweather should give us Gonzalez and let the world see the talent and skill that this man possesses. If not Floyd then Golden Boy or Top Rank should put Gonzalez on their undercard of the big fights so that he can get the exposure that he truly deserves. To me Gonzalez is an emperor of boxing and deserves to be on the biggest stage along with the likes of Mayweather, Pacquiao, and Canelo and I hope he starts getting his due in the very near future.

    UK Card

    The only 2 fighters that impressed me on the UK card were Anthony Joshua and James DeGale. The main event of Cleverly and Bellew underwhelmed and George Groves looked as if he didn’t want to be there. Luckily DeGale and Joshua saved it for me. Joshua is looking more and more comfortable in every fight and he completely destroyed Michael Sprott inside of a round. Rumors of a future Kevin Johnson fight will be a good step forward for him and a decent test. If he can KO Johnson he will show that he is even further ahead of where we think he is. As far as DeGale goes, he was a bit sloppy but he is showing more and more power in each fight and he knocked out a fighter in Marco Antonio Periban that had never been knocked out before. At this point he will give Froch a very good fight that he could easily win and he may even be able to give Ward a decent fight if he ever returns.

    Another Round of Fight Week Mayweather Talk

    Every Pacquiao fight Arum and Roach always have to bring up the Mayweather fight to try and sell the pay per view and it doesn’t work. They get all the casual fans in an uproar and believing the hype about Mayweather being scared and what not but don’t believe the hype people. In a few months they will select another subpar opponent for Pacquaio and say Mayweather never wanted to fight. It’s always the same song and dance with Arum and Roach and it never amounts to much of anything. Once Mayweather retires I am curious to see how they try to sell Pacquaio’s fights and who is avoiding him. I have always liked Pacquaio and I like to watch him fight but I just wish he was surrounded by people with better character than those 2. In all honesty I don’t even really want to see that fight next. I want Mayweather to fight Cotto for the middleweight championship of the world while Pacquiao can fight whomever he likes (Thurman if Arum has the fortitude) and then for the last fight of Mayweather’s contract they can fight each other. That way either Pacquiao can KO Mayweather in the last fight and possibly end the debate or Mayweather can outbox Pacquiao in a masterful performance to possibly end the debate or they can just fight a good competitive fight. Regardless of the outcome all roads would lead to a second fight that would make them even more money and possibly get a trilogy for the fans. Either way until it happens we will just have to wait and see as the unrivaled hype continues to grow.

    That’s all we got for this week but that is by far not all there was to talk about. Make sure that you catch the Boxing Voice weekly radio show live every Thursday and Sunday starting at 7 pm (EST) or catch the podcast to get more insight and opinions on the world of boxing.