We all know that in boxing your name can mean more than your real worth and in the past few years it seems that for Sugar Shane Mosley that is all he has. The former 3 weight world champion started his career with an excellent run of 38-0 whilst also winning the IBF Lightweight and WBC Welterweight titles between 1993 and 2001. He had legitimately become one of the genuine pound-for-pound fighters of the era and whilst it's true that he was lucky to get the win over Oscar De La Hoya in 2000 he was competing with some of the best in the world.
In the following decade or so however Mosley has been unable to ever get near the sort of success he once had and has gone 8-7-1-1 since knocking out Adrian Stone way back in July 2001. Losses to the likes of Vernon Forrest (twice), Winky Wright (twice), Miguel Cotto, Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao are nothing to be ashamed for but the manner of the losses, especially to Pacquiao and Mayweather showed that Mosley is a fighter that is there for the taking. In fact Mosley is so show I'd not be shocked to see the horribly over-rated Saul "Canelo" Alvarez stop Mosley who is 0-2-1 in the last 3 years!
Whilst it's not unheard of for former champions to be getting undeserved chances (Jose Antonio Aguirre being another notable example) this is merely taking the mick now a days. Since the victory over Stone Mosley is 2-7 in world title bouts (or 3-7 if you include interim title fights) and at 40 years old someone needs to stop giving him these chances. Maybe it will take a KO loss to Canelo to make him think twice. Saying this however I personally would love for Shane to land a bomb on Canelo and burst that hype bubble.
In a similar "story" we've read that Mikkel Kessler will be facing Allan Green in a bout for the WBC Silver Light Heavyweight title. As with Mosley we've no idea how Green is managing to get yet another title opportunity. Green was beaten in 2 of his last 4 bouts with 1 of those losses coming in a very undeserved world title bout (where Green joined the Super 6 and faced Andre Ward) and yet he's being "rewarded" with another world title bout at a higher weight? Sorry but when will this sport start taking it's self seriously again?
I've given up ranting about robberies (which we see on a weekly basis) but I won't stop ranting full stop.
Showing posts with label Saul Alvarez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saul Alvarez. Show all posts
Friday, 4 May 2012
Thursday, 1 December 2011
Canelo the fraud?
When it comes to boxing superstars it's obvious that both Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao and Floyd “Money” Mayweather are by far the two biggest names. The third most popular fighter in the world however is quite likely to be Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, the 21 year old Mexican who currently holds the WBC Light Middleweight title and has an unbeaten record of 39-0-1 (29KO's). Whilst the young, red headed fighter is popular and a real emerging star of Mexican boxing, he has left some fans with real doubts.
“Canelo” turned professional aged just 15 and won his debut via 4th round TKO and in fact would pick up a number of KO's early in his career despite struggling against Miguel Vazquez (the current WBC Lightweight champion) and scoring a draw against Jorge Juarez. Between 2005 and 2008 Canelo would pick up a number of easy wins before stepping up his opposition and beating guys like Gabriel Martinez, Raul Pinzon and Larry Mosley.
It was maybe in 2010 that the major first questions were asked of Canelo as he beat up the much smaller Jose Miguel Cotto. It wasn't just that Canelo had effectively been matched with a guy several weights smaller than himself but he was also visibly shaken when Cotto caught him in the opening round and seemed to open up questions regarding Canelo's chin. Although Canelo would weather the storm and eventually stop Cotto it was a worry that he was even shaken.
In 2011 however bigger and more revealing questions have been asked about both Canelo's opponents and his out of the ring character. Whilst Canelo has won a world title, he did face the smaller Matthew Hatton to win the title, and in 2 of his 3 defences since he has faced smaller men (both Alfonso Gomez and Kermit Cintron are natural Welterweights). It seems to be a bit of a pattern of Canelo's career, facing smaller men. To date his “best” wins have all been against smaller men (Vazquez, Cotto, Hatton, Gomez, Cintron) though it seems that it's not just in the ring that he likes to pick on the little man.
If stories are to be believed then Alvarez, a man who fights at 154lbs beat up the much smaller Ulises “Archie” Solis (who fights at 108lbs) due to Solis getting close to Canelo's ex girlfriend. This resulted in Solis suffering a broken jaw (broken in 3 places), losing several teeth and having bruises. Whilst this case does seem to be heading towards court Canelo has denied the attack (pointing the finger at one of his brothers), if found to be guilty the long term damage to Canelo's career may be massively damaging. The worrying thing about the story though is that WBC president Jose Sulaiman is quoted as saying “We at the WBC will pay the expenses on the damages that Ulises ‘Archie’ Solís has received not knowing who caused these damages”, a bit strange that the WBC would offer to pay Solis' damages regardless of whether they knew who caused it or not. If the WBC are making this payment, do they maybe know something that Saul Alvarez isn't telling us?
Whilst Canelo has the world at his feet, he may end up being one of the fighters who becomes a true “bad boy” of the sport, or gets a reputation as either a hot head (something we've seen from him in a number of fights) or a man who will only fight smaller men. Until Canelo faces a true threat (and there is a number of them out there) such as Carlos Molina, Erislandy Lara, Lukas Konecny, James Kirkland or even Javier Maciel there has to be doubts about his ability to fight someone who isn't smaller.
Is Canelo a fraud? It's hard to say either way, though it's obvious that he's yet to really face a solid threat his own size. Whilst I'd lean towards him being over-rated it's hard to say just how long he will remain at the top. If he continues to face relative nobodies and smaller men he could easily remain at the top until he grows grey and WBC president Jose Sulaiman passes away due to old age. If he however fights the best fighters out there I'll be honest, I don't see his reign lasting long at all.
“Canelo” turned professional aged just 15 and won his debut via 4th round TKO and in fact would pick up a number of KO's early in his career despite struggling against Miguel Vazquez (the current WBC Lightweight champion) and scoring a draw against Jorge Juarez. Between 2005 and 2008 Canelo would pick up a number of easy wins before stepping up his opposition and beating guys like Gabriel Martinez, Raul Pinzon and Larry Mosley.
It was maybe in 2010 that the major first questions were asked of Canelo as he beat up the much smaller Jose Miguel Cotto. It wasn't just that Canelo had effectively been matched with a guy several weights smaller than himself but he was also visibly shaken when Cotto caught him in the opening round and seemed to open up questions regarding Canelo's chin. Although Canelo would weather the storm and eventually stop Cotto it was a worry that he was even shaken.
In 2011 however bigger and more revealing questions have been asked about both Canelo's opponents and his out of the ring character. Whilst Canelo has won a world title, he did face the smaller Matthew Hatton to win the title, and in 2 of his 3 defences since he has faced smaller men (both Alfonso Gomez and Kermit Cintron are natural Welterweights). It seems to be a bit of a pattern of Canelo's career, facing smaller men. To date his “best” wins have all been against smaller men (Vazquez, Cotto, Hatton, Gomez, Cintron) though it seems that it's not just in the ring that he likes to pick on the little man.
If stories are to be believed then Alvarez, a man who fights at 154lbs beat up the much smaller Ulises “Archie” Solis (who fights at 108lbs) due to Solis getting close to Canelo's ex girlfriend. This resulted in Solis suffering a broken jaw (broken in 3 places), losing several teeth and having bruises. Whilst this case does seem to be heading towards court Canelo has denied the attack (pointing the finger at one of his brothers), if found to be guilty the long term damage to Canelo's career may be massively damaging. The worrying thing about the story though is that WBC president Jose Sulaiman is quoted as saying “We at the WBC will pay the expenses on the damages that Ulises ‘Archie’ Solís has received not knowing who caused these damages”, a bit strange that the WBC would offer to pay Solis' damages regardless of whether they knew who caused it or not. If the WBC are making this payment, do they maybe know something that Saul Alvarez isn't telling us?
Whilst Canelo has the world at his feet, he may end up being one of the fighters who becomes a true “bad boy” of the sport, or gets a reputation as either a hot head (something we've seen from him in a number of fights) or a man who will only fight smaller men. Until Canelo faces a true threat (and there is a number of them out there) such as Carlos Molina, Erislandy Lara, Lukas Konecny, James Kirkland or even Javier Maciel there has to be doubts about his ability to fight someone who isn't smaller.
Is Canelo a fraud? It's hard to say either way, though it's obvious that he's yet to really face a solid threat his own size. Whilst I'd lean towards him being over-rated it's hard to say just how long he will remain at the top. If he continues to face relative nobodies and smaller men he could easily remain at the top until he grows grey and WBC president Jose Sulaiman passes away due to old age. If he however fights the best fighters out there I'll be honest, I don't see his reign lasting long at all.
Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Saul Alvarez v Julio Cesar Chavez Jr
The title of this entry reads like the biggest money fight outside of Pacquiao v Mayweather though it's not an entry about the two men facing off, well not directly anyway. Saul "Canelo" Alvarez is seen as Mexico's darling of boxing, he is a young, charismatic ginger haired kid who at just 21 years old holds a record of 37-0-1 (27) and is the current WBC Light Middleweight champion. Canelo is seen by some in the sport as the next big Pay Per View name and the guy that could help reinvigorate the fans.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr is seen as the complete opposite, to Canelo, despite similarities including an unbeaten record (43-0-1, 1NC (30)) a WBC title (Middleweight) and also being Mexican, he's largely disliked. Whilst Alvarez is seen as the next big thing, Chavez Jr is seen as a bit of a fraud, a fighter who is living on his father's great name in the sport and doing little to deserve his chances on HBO.
I have for a while, been a JCC Jr defender, feeling that he's taken a lot of stick from fans for being over-hyped despite being described as "useless" and "clueless" yet he's a funny one. JCC Jr certainly has entertaining fights, his fight with Sebastian Zbik was exciting and really fun to watch and at least beat a fighter in their division for his title. If pushed it would seem the fraud is Canelo.
I know some readers may now be fuming but lets just look at it fairly.
Canelo managed to get a vacant "world title fight" against Matthew Hatton, in a division that Hatton wasn't campaigning in, whilst Chavez had to beat reigning title holder Zbik. (1-0 Chavez, I'm sure you agree)
Chavez will be making his next defence against former world title challenger Ronald Hearns whilst Canelo will be facing former title challenger Alfonso Gomez. The difference is that Gomez challenged for the Welterweight title and will be challenging for the Light Middleweight title, Hearns lasted 7 rounds with Felix Sturm at Middleweight, the same division he will be challenging Chavez. (Another for Chavez)
An often said comment about Chavez is that he was lucky to beat Carlos Molina though this is the Molina who just gave Kermit Cintron a whooping and was unlucky to only get a draw with Erislandy Lara. More recently Canelo was lucky to beat Francisco Villanueva, a guy who was 5-17-2. In fact Canelo also struggled to beat Lightweight (yes, Lightweight) champion Miguel Vazquez in Miguel's debut (3-0 Chavez)
When you look at things a bit more than simple their name and physical traits it seems pretty obvious, that Chavez is a bit more of a real deal than "Canelo".
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr is seen as the complete opposite, to Canelo, despite similarities including an unbeaten record (43-0-1, 1NC (30)) a WBC title (Middleweight) and also being Mexican, he's largely disliked. Whilst Alvarez is seen as the next big thing, Chavez Jr is seen as a bit of a fraud, a fighter who is living on his father's great name in the sport and doing little to deserve his chances on HBO.
I have for a while, been a JCC Jr defender, feeling that he's taken a lot of stick from fans for being over-hyped despite being described as "useless" and "clueless" yet he's a funny one. JCC Jr certainly has entertaining fights, his fight with Sebastian Zbik was exciting and really fun to watch and at least beat a fighter in their division for his title. If pushed it would seem the fraud is Canelo.
I know some readers may now be fuming but lets just look at it fairly.
Canelo managed to get a vacant "world title fight" against Matthew Hatton, in a division that Hatton wasn't campaigning in, whilst Chavez had to beat reigning title holder Zbik. (1-0 Chavez, I'm sure you agree)
Chavez will be making his next defence against former world title challenger Ronald Hearns whilst Canelo will be facing former title challenger Alfonso Gomez. The difference is that Gomez challenged for the Welterweight title and will be challenging for the Light Middleweight title, Hearns lasted 7 rounds with Felix Sturm at Middleweight, the same division he will be challenging Chavez. (Another for Chavez)
An often said comment about Chavez is that he was lucky to beat Carlos Molina though this is the Molina who just gave Kermit Cintron a whooping and was unlucky to only get a draw with Erislandy Lara. More recently Canelo was lucky to beat Francisco Villanueva, a guy who was 5-17-2. In fact Canelo also struggled to beat Lightweight (yes, Lightweight) champion Miguel Vazquez in Miguel's debut (3-0 Chavez)
When you look at things a bit more than simple their name and physical traits it seems pretty obvious, that Chavez is a bit more of a real deal than "Canelo".
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