So the biggest boxing story this side of the Atlantic is that former 2-weight "World Champion" David Haye (I have always refused to accept his illegitimate WBA Heavyweight title reign) will be facing former world title challenger Dereck Chisora on a card licensed by the Federation Luxembourgeoise De Boxe. The card, dubbed "License to Thrill" may well excite some of the casual fans who two well known names, though sadly, from my point of view it's a disgusting cash grab by 3 men who have shame this sport numerous times over the years.
Firstly you have the public face of the bout and Chisora's "manager" Frank Warren. Warren has been described as a human fish and has seen many professional relationships fall apart including relationships with former IBF Light Welterweight champion Terry Marsh (who was tried for an assassination attempt on Mr Warren) and former 2-weight world champions Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe. In fact in recent months alone we've seen former Olympic Gold Medal winner James DeGale and current Light Heavyweight contender Tony Bellew having soured relations with Mr Warren.
Whilst Warren won't technically be the promoter of the bout he appears to be the man at the fore front of the bout. He's the man who owns a major stake in the TV channel that will be showing the bout (Box Nation) and he's also the man who appears to be doing the promotional work for the bout, including the announcement and the press conference for the bout earlier this week.
In recent months there have been a lot of rumours about Warren being unable to pay fighters (or at very least unable to pay in a reasonable time frame) and he has in the past declared a company bankrupt when Joe Calzaghe sued him. Yet he has managed to maintain a BBBofC (British Boxing Board of Control) license much to the disgust of many in the sport.
Second you have Dereck "Del Boy" Chisora, a fighter who courts controversy like no other in Britain. Chisora has bitten opponents (Paul Butlin), kissed opponents at a weigh in (Carl Baker), slapped an opponent at a weigh in (Vitali Klitschko), spat an opponents second (Wladimir Klitschko) and came in hugely over-weight for one of the biggest fights of his career (against Tyson Fury). Chisora has also been found guilty of crimes and is a man who really needs to be "taught" a lesson by serving a lengthy ban, not by effectively being out of the ring for 6 months, the general time a fighter at this level is out of the ring.
Thirdly you have David Haye a man who bored the pants off fans by throwing only a handful of punches over 12 rounds against Nikolai Valuev then followed that performance up with 2 rounds of nothing against Audley Harrison who was visibly crapping his pants and then again bored us senseless with his bout against Wladimir Klitschko before complaining about a sore toe.
As well as Haye's embarrassing "sore toe" he's also embarrassed himself with his mouth, claiming he was "the saviour of the heavyweight division" (amongst others), with his shirts (the infamous one of him holding the Klitschko brothers severed heads) and of course his actions which included throwing a tripod at Chisora earlier this year.
Sadly whilst the media may be going crazy over this bout it's nothing more than a farce that may end up making boxing a bigger joke than it already is. The introduction of the Federation Luxembourgeoise De Boxe into Britain could well lead to a second "British title" which means we could end up effectively having a very messy British title scene (much like the current world title scene with the WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF titles). If we end up with multiple British titles and a split in professional British boxing, on your head be it Mr Warren, Mr Chisora and Mr Haye, it's an obvious cash grab by the 3 of you and you should all be ashamed.
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
Friday, 4 May 2012
Sugar Shane the man with a golden name?
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.
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.
Friday, 2 March 2012
Boxing's new unfortunate name?
Sometimes boxers for some reason just have names they shouldn't. The most obvious example is the always fun Eric Crumble whose record has become a thing of mockery on many boxing forums, though he was a man who lived up to his name and (excuse the pun)...crumbled. Now though he may have a rival in the form of American Cruiserweight D'Quan Morgan...yes his name starts with "DQ".
Although D'Quan Morgan has yet to be DQ'd in a bout (going 1-0-1, 1 so far) the headlines write themselves for all us boxing writers who are waiting for the day we can open up the treasure chest of puns based on his name.
http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=573103&cat=boxer
Although D'Quan Morgan has yet to be DQ'd in a bout (going 1-0-1, 1 so far) the headlines write themselves for all us boxing writers who are waiting for the day we can open up the treasure chest of puns based on his name.
http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=573103&cat=boxer
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Have Box Nation dropped the ball (again)
In Germany this evening we have one of the first stand out cards of the year with the following fights:
Ruslan Chagaev (27-2-1, 17) v Kerston Manswell (22-3, 17)
Denis Boytsov (29-0, 24) v Darnell Wilson (24-13-1, 20)
Rakhim Chakhkiev (11-0, 9) v Alexander Kotlobay (21-2-1, 15)
Juergen Braehmer (36-2, 19) v Jose Maria Guerrero (29-2-1, 11)
The card also features Ina Menzer, Vitali Tajbert, Firat Arslan, Marcel Meyerdiercks and the debut of Evgeny Tishchenko (a 6'5 Cruiserweight). To me this is a card that should be getting shown on British TV. Sky have a good excuse not to show it, they have Carl Frampton's card on instead (nowhere near as good but it does have British interest) though a "specialised" boxing channel which is instead showing repeats hasn't got an excuse at all.
Now I have been incredibly harsh (harsh but fair) on Box Nation since it started but for the "Home of Boxing" not to be picking up THIS card is a disgrace (a big disgrace). Boxnation promised it's subscribers 2 cards a weekend though this weekend has given it's loyal and paying customers NOTHING new (unless you count Steve Bunce's talk show "new", personally I can't stand the jumped up fat man). If you are a paying customer you must be annoyed that they haven't picked up this card, especially considering they didn't have anything on last Saturday either.
In fact (unless I'm making a counting error somewhere) Boxnation have only covered 3 shows all year (and we are 4 weeks into the year), that is less than 1 show a week..in fact rather than paying £1.25 a show as first advertised, the customers have paid £3.33 a show. So when one like this comes along why didn't they do everything they could to snap up the rights? A card like this is genuinely worth £3.33 to boxing fans, many other cards aren't. Here we have 4 interesting fights, a number of former world champions (Chagaev, Arslan, Braehmer, Tajbert and Menzer) and a number of future champions the card is genuinely stacked.
Last weekend Boxnation gave us a single card on Friday night with Derry Matthews facing unheralded Emiliano Marsili for the IBO. The main event was one of the best fights of January (genuinely good fight) but the under-card was a complete joke which saw the chief support being Steve Harkin v Jason Ball in a bout that looked like it could have been 2 drunks outside the Red Lion on a Friday night. I really cannot fathom how that Harkin v Ball fight ever made it's way near TV it was indefensible and shows all the skill levels of some untrained drunks (despite that it was entertaining for all the wrong reasons).
Thankfully it seems I'm no longer the only one sick of the channel promising the world but delivering nothing. Earlier this week James DeGale seemed to say (quite clearly) that he and Frank Warren were done, Frankie Gavin publicly complained about the money he had been offered to fight Jason Cook and the upcoming Tony Bellew v Danny McIntosh fight saw the purse bids won by Dave Caldwell instead of Bellew's promoter Warren. To say the least these have been interesting developments.
Ruslan Chagaev (27-2-1, 17) v Kerston Manswell (22-3, 17)
Denis Boytsov (29-0, 24) v Darnell Wilson (24-13-1, 20)
Rakhim Chakhkiev (11-0, 9) v Alexander Kotlobay (21-2-1, 15)
Juergen Braehmer (36-2, 19) v Jose Maria Guerrero (29-2-1, 11)
The card also features Ina Menzer, Vitali Tajbert, Firat Arslan, Marcel Meyerdiercks and the debut of Evgeny Tishchenko (a 6'5 Cruiserweight). To me this is a card that should be getting shown on British TV. Sky have a good excuse not to show it, they have Carl Frampton's card on instead (nowhere near as good but it does have British interest) though a "specialised" boxing channel which is instead showing repeats hasn't got an excuse at all.
Now I have been incredibly harsh (harsh but fair) on Box Nation since it started but for the "Home of Boxing" not to be picking up THIS card is a disgrace (a big disgrace). Boxnation promised it's subscribers 2 cards a weekend though this weekend has given it's loyal and paying customers NOTHING new (unless you count Steve Bunce's talk show "new", personally I can't stand the jumped up fat man). If you are a paying customer you must be annoyed that they haven't picked up this card, especially considering they didn't have anything on last Saturday either.
In fact (unless I'm making a counting error somewhere) Boxnation have only covered 3 shows all year (and we are 4 weeks into the year), that is less than 1 show a week..in fact rather than paying £1.25 a show as first advertised, the customers have paid £3.33 a show. So when one like this comes along why didn't they do everything they could to snap up the rights? A card like this is genuinely worth £3.33 to boxing fans, many other cards aren't. Here we have 4 interesting fights, a number of former world champions (Chagaev, Arslan, Braehmer, Tajbert and Menzer) and a number of future champions the card is genuinely stacked.
Last weekend Boxnation gave us a single card on Friday night with Derry Matthews facing unheralded Emiliano Marsili for the IBO. The main event was one of the best fights of January (genuinely good fight) but the under-card was a complete joke which saw the chief support being Steve Harkin v Jason Ball in a bout that looked like it could have been 2 drunks outside the Red Lion on a Friday night. I really cannot fathom how that Harkin v Ball fight ever made it's way near TV it was indefensible and shows all the skill levels of some untrained drunks (despite that it was entertaining for all the wrong reasons).
Thankfully it seems I'm no longer the only one sick of the channel promising the world but delivering nothing. Earlier this week James DeGale seemed to say (quite clearly) that he and Frank Warren were done, Frankie Gavin publicly complained about the money he had been offered to fight Jason Cook and the upcoming Tony Bellew v Danny McIntosh fight saw the purse bids won by Dave Caldwell instead of Bellew's promoter Warren. To say the least these have been interesting developments.
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
Speak out Steve!
I've never been a big fan of Steve Bunce and his over-hyper nature when he has been on TV or even his writing for that matter. At the moment Mr Bunce works basically as the face of subscription TV channel "Box Nation" hosting not only his own weekly magazine show but also featuring on near enough every live card the channel has so far shown.
Personally I feel that Steve often comes across much like a child who has been eating sweets all day then been told to sit on TV. His hyper-activity and crazy rants are often misconstrued as enthusiasm for the sport rather than one mans love affair with his own vocal chords and more tellingly his views are all to often see through. Be it Bunce's pro-British stance or negative views towards certain fighters (notably a rant on Ismayl Sillahk) his opinion is shouted out at the TV...much like a fan of the sport. In fact it's because Steve is a fan of the sport that I'm writing this entry on the blog. First and foremost Steve comes across as a genuine fan, he shares his views an awful lot and comes across as unprofessional as a result. If you will he's a fan and then a journalist, not a straight journalist.
Because Steve Bunce strikes me as a fan of the sport I need to make a public plea, can EVERY British Boxing fan urge Steve to speak out. Bunce is one of the men who has a solid voice on Box Nation and is also one of the fans of the sport, he of all people should know what WE, the fans want to see, we want to see the same thing he wants to see. WE boxing fans, want to see good, 50-50 fights, not mismatches, not cynical attempts to cash in on a fighter and no over the top hyperbole to sell a fight.
Recently we've all heard that unbeaten Nathan Cleverly (23-0, 11), the WBO Light Heavyweight Champion of the World will defend his title against the almost unknown Tommy Karpency (21-2-1, 14). Box Nation will be showing this fight live and yet EVERY boxing fan you can find is happy to tell you that this isn't a fight they want to see. The 25 year old Karpency has shown that he isn't the sort of quality that a world challenger needs to be, he has suffered losses to journeyman Rayco Saunders and former Cleverly victim Karo Murat as well as a draw with journeyman Demetrius Davis, he has yet to beat a fighter of any note at all. Now whilst it's fine for Frank Warren (Nathan Cleverly's promoter) to try and hype the fight, it would be awful for Bunce to push the fight as a good one. If Bunce attempts to pull the wool over our eyes we should just give up with the guy as he would sadly have proven he lacks the integrity that boxing fans deserve.
So again, I call on the boxing world to tell Bunce to Speak out!
Personally I feel that Steve often comes across much like a child who has been eating sweets all day then been told to sit on TV. His hyper-activity and crazy rants are often misconstrued as enthusiasm for the sport rather than one mans love affair with his own vocal chords and more tellingly his views are all to often see through. Be it Bunce's pro-British stance or negative views towards certain fighters (notably a rant on Ismayl Sillahk) his opinion is shouted out at the TV...much like a fan of the sport. In fact it's because Steve is a fan of the sport that I'm writing this entry on the blog. First and foremost Steve comes across as a genuine fan, he shares his views an awful lot and comes across as unprofessional as a result. If you will he's a fan and then a journalist, not a straight journalist.
Because Steve Bunce strikes me as a fan of the sport I need to make a public plea, can EVERY British Boxing fan urge Steve to speak out. Bunce is one of the men who has a solid voice on Box Nation and is also one of the fans of the sport, he of all people should know what WE, the fans want to see, we want to see the same thing he wants to see. WE boxing fans, want to see good, 50-50 fights, not mismatches, not cynical attempts to cash in on a fighter and no over the top hyperbole to sell a fight.
Recently we've all heard that unbeaten Nathan Cleverly (23-0, 11), the WBO Light Heavyweight Champion of the World will defend his title against the almost unknown Tommy Karpency (21-2-1, 14). Box Nation will be showing this fight live and yet EVERY boxing fan you can find is happy to tell you that this isn't a fight they want to see. The 25 year old Karpency has shown that he isn't the sort of quality that a world challenger needs to be, he has suffered losses to journeyman Rayco Saunders and former Cleverly victim Karo Murat as well as a draw with journeyman Demetrius Davis, he has yet to beat a fighter of any note at all. Now whilst it's fine for Frank Warren (Nathan Cleverly's promoter) to try and hype the fight, it would be awful for Bunce to push the fight as a good one. If Bunce attempts to pull the wool over our eyes we should just give up with the guy as he would sadly have proven he lacks the integrity that boxing fans deserve.
So again, I call on the boxing world to tell Bunce to Speak out!
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Fight of the year? More like Year of the Fights
2011 has been a treat for boxing fans, and seriously you may have seen some stinkers, or felt slightly ripped off about certain things (Wladimir Klitschko v David Haye for example, or the judging in a number of notable fights) but you'll almost certainly have seen some amazing fights. Part way through the year there was a thread on the amazing Budweiser Boxing forum that started talking about the best fights of 2011...I took the thread a bit further than a short list and did more of a...long list...and since then have added more fights, and here is the long list for 2011's fight of the year:
Acosta v Rios
Arce v Vazquez Jr
Berto v Ortiz
Concepcion v Marquez
Lee v McEwan
Lopez v Salido
Maidana v Morales
Odom v Omotoso
Robles v Silva
Rodriguez v Wolak
Berto v Zaveck
Ceda v Narvaez
DeMarco v Sanchez
Murat v Campillo II
Froch v Johnson
Iwasa v Yamanaka
Lujan v Melligen
Mitchell v Murray
Macklin v Sturm
Appleby v Walsh
Aaron v Webb
Diaz v Kennedy
Miranda v Viloria
Chavez Jr v Zbik
Geale v Sylvester
Guerrero v Katsidis
Jamoye v McDonnell
John v Yordan
Lopez v Lundy
Robinson v Sexton I
Chisora v Fury
Conyers v De La Rosa
Antillion v Rios
Crolla v Watson
Gonzalez v Sierra
Gutierrez v Palacios
Hovhannisyan v Marquez
Hernandez v Keb Baas
Lara v Molina
Robinson v Sexton II
Barrett v Tua II
Coleman v Paris
Cotto v Mayorga
Arce v Nongqayi II
Frankel v Molina
Gomez v Granados
Huck v Nakash
Huerta v Martin
Lemieux v Rubio
Martirosyan v Roman
Firtha v Fury
Hasegawa v Gonzalez
Cleverly v Bellew
Molitor v Gauthier
Theron v Cote
Angulo v Kirkland
Aspera v Silvestri
Vincente v Gonzalez
Porpramook v Yaegashi
Arce v Angkotta II
Helenius v Chisora
Martinez v Castaneda
Murray v Sturm
Murray v Rios
If you've missed any of these, make you sure you try to catch them, they are full of action, bombs and in some cases a fair bit of controversy. If you are a fight fan you need to have watched at least half of these!
Acosta v Rios
Arce v Vazquez Jr
Berto v Ortiz
Concepcion v Marquez
Lee v McEwan
Lopez v Salido
Maidana v Morales
Odom v Omotoso
Robles v Silva
Rodriguez v Wolak
Berto v Zaveck
Ceda v Narvaez
DeMarco v Sanchez
Murat v Campillo II
Froch v Johnson
Iwasa v Yamanaka
Lujan v Melligen
Mitchell v Murray
Macklin v Sturm
Appleby v Walsh
Aaron v Webb
Diaz v Kennedy
Miranda v Viloria
Chavez Jr v Zbik
Geale v Sylvester
Guerrero v Katsidis
Jamoye v McDonnell
John v Yordan
Lopez v Lundy
Robinson v Sexton I
Chisora v Fury
Conyers v De La Rosa
Antillion v Rios
Crolla v Watson
Gonzalez v Sierra
Gutierrez v Palacios
Hovhannisyan v Marquez
Hernandez v Keb Baas
Lara v Molina
Robinson v Sexton II
Barrett v Tua II
Coleman v Paris
Cotto v Mayorga
Arce v Nongqayi II
Frankel v Molina
Gomez v Granados
Huck v Nakash
Huerta v Martin
Lemieux v Rubio
Martirosyan v Roman
Firtha v Fury
Hasegawa v Gonzalez
Cleverly v Bellew
Molitor v Gauthier
Theron v Cote
Angulo v Kirkland
Aspera v Silvestri
Vincente v Gonzalez
Porpramook v Yaegashi
Arce v Angkotta II
Helenius v Chisora
Martinez v Castaneda
Murray v Sturm
Murray v Rios
If you've missed any of these, make you sure you try to catch them, they are full of action, bombs and in some cases a fair bit of controversy. If you are a fight fan you need to have watched at least half of these!
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.
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