Fonfara Gets By
In a fight that struggled to hold my attention span, Andrzej Fonfara beat Doudou Ngumbu in a 12 round decision. At first the fight was decent because Ngumbu was taking it to Fonfara and making a fight of it but as the fight wore on I kept waiting for Fonfara to make some kind of adjustment and he never really did. You would think that coming off an exciting title fight against Adonis Stevenson, Fonfara would have wanted to go out and make a statement to get a rematch or at the least another shot at a champion but he really didn’t. It was more of a ho-hum kind of effort and it did not make me want to see him in with a champion anytime soon. Hopefully his next fight can show some improvements and the killer instinct he had against Stevenson.
Tomoki Kameda Gets the Win
I must admit that this fight was very underwhelming for me. I expected Kameda to go in and get a statement win against a solid opponent in Alejandro Hernandez but the fight turned out to be more of a bore than anything. It was partly because of Hernandez’s hesitancy to throw punches because he did not want to receive punches but Kameda still didn’t adapt very well to the turtle shell defense. Kameda seemed to be affected by a cut in the later rounds and it looked like he may have gassed out a little bit as well. Nonetheless he still got the win quite easily it seemed. However one judge somehow found a way to award Hernandez the fight by a round and even the other 2 judges had the fight close. Unless judges have started counting the punches not thrown and the number of blocked punches per round, I don’t see how the fight was anywhere near close. Then again at the end of the fight Hernandez was raising his hands in victory as if he had won and knew something that the rest of us didn’t and it seems he was right.
Another Week, Another Floyd Issue
Floyd Mayweather made the news this week for 2 things actually. First there was a video with one of his promotion’s fighters (or not?), Luis Arias, attempting to confront Floyd about his release from his contract. As the story goes J’Leon Love called Arias in the middle of the night to tell him that he was released from his contract with Mayweather Promotions and Arias decided that he wanted to hear it from Floyd himself so he went and asked him and Floyd basically blew him off. The underlying issue is that Arias is friends with the Rahman brothers who are suing Floyd and Floyd doesn’t like it. Either way it is just more drama for Mayweather. My advice to Arias is to drop both Floyd and the Rahman’s as friends all together. 2 friends their friend + 1 friend who kicks you to the curb for being friends with people he doesn’t like = 0 friends. I’d get as far away from all of them as I could Luis.
The second thing that had Floyd in the spotlight is the Las Vegas law enforcement is reportedly trying to get Floyd banned from strip clubs because he can’t follow the rules and treat the women properly. The owners of the clubs however say that this is not true and the Floyd is one of the best customers. Both of these incidents have nothing to do with boxing and just continue to add a negative light on a man who is seen primarily in a negative light. I know Floyd does good things like feeding the homeless and giving to charity but all these negative issues week after week just erase all thought of any good that he does. I hope this upcoming week he can manage to get a good story out there about boxing so that we can have something worthy to talk about but who knows.
Rigo Moving Up?
Early in the week there were rumors of Guillermo Rigondeaux possibly moving up to 126lbs to get big fights with the likes of Jhonny Gonzalez and Vasyl Lomachenko. But according to Gary Hyde, Rigo’s manager, that is not the case. When I first read the story I was impressed and hyped about Rigo possibly moving up and challenging himself but after reading Hyde’s comments I went back to not being interested in seeing Rigo fight. It’s not that Rigo has to move up or that he is not a good fighter. It’s that he is in a division in which he is clearly the best and he doesn’t want to challenge himself by moving up 4lbs to get big fights. Furthermore he wants to get paid a lot of money to fight guys we know he is going to beat and he has a horrible style to watch. If he wants to get the big money he has to move up plan and simple. If not he needs to stay in his division and fight the champions there for a reasonable purse. For him there is just no way to have his cake and eat it too with the way he is going.
Manny’s Looking Dangerous Huh
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have heard this song and dance before every Manny Pacquiao fight and in the last 5 years I haven’t seen it. Arum and Roach put on a sales pitch that says all the things we used to see from Pacquiao when he was tearing up the ranks and in the ring we haven’t been getting that. The only person I respect and want to hear from in that camp is Manny. I don’t believe anything that anyone else says or does. Pacquiao is a great fighter and he very well could be hurting the likes of Mike Jones in sparring but Jones isn’t the greatest person to use as an example of someone you hurt. Last time I checked he has been KO’d in his last 2 fights. I’d find it more surprising if Pacquiao wasn’t hurting Jones. The way I see it Pacquiao is going to truly have his hands full with Chris Algieri when they fight and at this point it is a pick em fight for me. If Pacquiao doesn’t worry about getting a KO and keeps his work rate up he can beat and possibly KO Chris. But if he looks for that knockout blow he will get thoroughly out boxed and probably lose a decision.
Hopkins Versus Kovalev Pick
I can remember talking to Tha BoxingVoice’s Nes & Beeb and telling them about how after the Shumenov fight, I will not pick against Hopkins anymore because he keeps proving me wrong. I mean I had him losing to Pavlik, Trinidad, Shumenov, Dawson and Jermain Taylor. That is a sub 500 record folks. It just seems that whenever I think he is going to lose he ends up winning. Whenever I think he is going to get old he doesn’t. He fights in the old man style and outsmarts his opponents with his craft and trickery. His active thinking mentality has him one step ahead of the opponent at all times. He takes only minimal risks while easily enforcing a strict hit and move style that befuddles his usually younger and even more athletic foes. So how in the world could anyone let alone me, pick anyone but Hopkins in this fight? I tell you how. Because he is fighting Sergey Kovalev. That’s why. The power punching Russian that we haven’t seen in the ring since the likes of Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. The man who crushes his opponents and makes title contenders ball up in the fetal position as they succumb to his fierce power. That’s right peeps. I’m picking Kovalev to beat Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins this Saturday in Atlantic City. We will know by early Sunday morning if I am a genius for my pick or just another big dummy like I have been in the past. Either way I just want a good fight.
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 7pm (EST) or catch the podcast to get more insight and opinions on the world of boxing.
