It’s been a while since we’ve scoured the boxing news into small sized quick (S) shots. And what better time to do it than this week, when the news cycle slows and the medium struggles a bit “meh?”
So let’s start (S) hitting…
– I’ve been looking forward to Montana Love-Stevie Spark on DAZN since it was signed. Spark isn’t as bad as he looks, and Love isn’t as good as he’s been hyped. And in nearly six rounds on Saturday night, I haven’t been disappointed. The favorite had his moments, despite being dropped by a pair of Spark’s right hands in the second round. Love’s hand speed and all-around raw ability is evident, even if it’s sometimes muted by distraction and haste. Fans saw a bit of the best and a little bit of the worst of Montana Love in this matchup.
Then Love was head-butted in the eye in the sixth round. He appeared to be finding his way out of the fight harder than expected as he lamented not being able to see the doctor in the ring. When the doctor didn’t wave to the fight and instead gave him another minute to see how things went with the cut, he then proceeded to disqualify himself by throwing a The Spark charges hard via the top cord. While it wasn’t exactly a WWE-style top-string launch, it was clear he intended to do it and even more clearly he completely disregarded referee David Fields’ effort. to stop him from dragging the Australian out into the ring.
All in all, it’s been a loss for the Cleveland-born, who has fought in his hometown for the first time since scoring a breakthrough stoppage-time win over Ivan Baranchyk in August 2021 on the Jake extra card. Paul-Tyron Woodley. Love came to the ring when Michael Jackson was on a King of Pop-themed walk, but left the ring as Tito Jackson– a visible presence on the second floor.
In a junior weight class that is starting to fill up with senior talent, Love has now had two uneven performances – this DQ loss and a lackluster effort to Gabriel Valenzuela on the lower card Canelo Alvarez-Dmitry Bivol (where he was also dropped in the second round).
DAZN will probably book a Love-Spark rematch (because they mistake Love for star matter and want to wash away the stench of failure) and Love will probably find its way to secure points and boring. But that won’t change the fact that the guy isn’t high level matter.
– Janibek Alimkhanuly-Denzel Bentley on ESPN on Saturday night was as interesting as I thought it would be. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. By default, the WBO middleweight champion, Alimkhanuly of Kazakhstan is a man of great skill and capacity. Unfortunately, being really, really competent doesn’t necessarily make for a compelling TV.
Bentley of the UK is the British middleweight champion, but only the UK’s regional talent. He did what he could against the better boxer, but lost every round (although the two referees somehow scored the match at 116-112, eight rounds into four).
Promoter Bob Arum tried to play the old “He’s so scared…no one wants to corner him” with Alimkhanuly, but that tactic only works with one beast (like fellow Kazakh Gennadiy Golovkin) . No one buys but anyone, anywhere is shivering in their shoes at the prospect of fighting Alimkhanuly. If anything, the other top middleweight contenders just don’t want to mess with a guy no one cares about.
The authoritative but monotonous unanimous decision on Saturday in front of a superior Bentley won’t interest anyone more than Alimkhanuly. Like I said on Facebook as the rounds dragged on– Give this guy some steroids or something.
— Compliment Floyd Mayweather for winning another bundle on Sunday for an exhibition with YouTuber Deji Olantunji, another competitor I hadn’t heard of before signing on to take on the former world champion 5 of the Hall of Fame. Of Mayweather’s five fights, only Logan Paul has the “name”. Love him or hate him, you have to admire the hustle and bustle of battling unknown entities and getting a bigger reward than most active fighters get in elite level competitions.
– Terence Crawford is unnamed when it comes to the mysterious hedge fund guys who are said to have offered him and Errol Spence a $25 million guarantee, each, to fight each other. This makes me think that maybe they are the same shadowy fantasy Middle Eastern characters who have consistently provided Bob Arum with hundreds of millions of dollars for Pacquiao-Mayweather, conveniently, whenever does Arum advertise a Pacquiao Indoor Ranked match that DIDN ‘ T involves Mayweather.
– Speaking of Errol Spence… WBC is “ordering” a match between him and former player Keith Thurman, now the unification of Crawford is no longer available. order. LAUGH. From a PBC perspective, WBC “ordering” an internal Spence-Thurman match is like someone “ordering” me to sleep with half-naked, hot, writhing Shakira in my bed. On the business front, this is a significantly better fight for the Al Haymon-run boxing company, and it comes with less behind-the-scenes negotiating drama and risk all around. Spence-Thurman wasn’t a bad fight by any stretch of the imagination, but, yes, it wasn’t.
– Tyson Fury’s fight in a YouTube interview with British YouTuber True Geordie is an instant classic (look for it) and a bit of a lesson for those who really claim to be journalists in boxing. True Geordie messed with Fury for picking Derek Chisora as his opponent to defend his title on December 3, and Fury didn’t handle it well, throwing insults and fumbling to end the conversation. video. The YouTuber is definitely not a journalist or even a real “boxing guy”, but he’s braver than any other guy/girl who specializes in interviewing boxers. It’s not enough to hold the mic and capture everything a boxer says at face value, let’s ignore every bit of fluff and nonsense. There must be some value to the information you receive. It can’t be all public relations. Well, if you “try” you will probably never get another interview with that boxer or any other boxer competing under the same ad/network banner. But what if EVERYONE “did it hard?” Everyone in the sport is going to be held accountable for the shady shit and we’re going to clean up a lot of boxing messes. The boxing media has lost the inherent power of the press and now serves no purpose. They don’t benefit the fans. It takes a YouTuber to show how things SHOULD be done.
– By the way, I don’t have much problem with Fury-Chisora 3. Fury has the right to a gimme and a wallet between blockbusters. However, I could see some people falter when he was faced with someone he had defeated twice before. Picking Chisora is expected to create an unnecessary stain in the Tyson Fury event. His people can choose any number of fallen and will sell out a football stadium with ease.
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