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It’s been awhile since we diced up boxing information hunks into bite-sized Fast (S)hits morsels. And what higher time to try this than this week, the place the information cycle is sluggish and the battle slate was considerably of a “meh?”
So, let’s get to (S)hitting…
– I used to be low-key wanting ahead to Montana Love-Stevie Spark on DAZN because it was signed. Spark shouldn’t be as unhealthy as his skinny resume appears to be like and Love is not so good as he’s been hyped to be. And for nearly six rounds on Saturday night time, I used to be not dissatisfied. The favourite had his moments, regardless of being dropped by a pair of Spark proper fingers within the second spherical. Love’s hand pace and all-around uncooked potential is obvious, even when it’s typically muted by lapses in focus and urgency. Followers noticed a little bit of the most effective and a bit extra of the worst of Montana Love on this bout.
Then Love obtained lower over the attention by way of headbutt within the sixth spherical. He appeared to be on the lookout for a means out of the tougher-than-expected battle as he lamented his incapability to see to the ringside physician. When the doc didn’t wave off the battle and, as a substitute, gave him one other minute to see how issues went with the lower, he then proceeded to get himself disqualified when he threw a hard-charging Spark excessive rope. Whereas it wasn’t precisely a WWE-style launch excessive rope, it was clear that he meant to do it and even clearer that he utterly disregarded referee David Fields’ efforts to cease him from pulling the Aussie exterior the ring.
All in all, this goes down as a loss for the Cleveland native who was preventing in his hometown for the primary time since notching a breakthrough stoppage victory over Ivan Baranchyk in August of 2021 on the Jake Paul-Tyron Woodley undercard. Love got here to the ring as Michael Jackson in a King of Pop-themed ring stroll, however left the ring as Tito Jackson– a transparent second tier presence.
In a junior welterweight division that’s beginning to be crammed with high-end expertise, Love has now turned in two straight uneven performance– this DQ loss and a lackluster effort towards Gabriel Valenzuela on the Canelo Alvarez-Dmitry Bivol undercard (the place he was additionally dropped within the second spherical).
DAZN will most likely e-book a Love-Spark rematch (as a result of they mistakenly see Love as star materials and wish to wash away the stink of a defeat) and Love will most likely faucet his solution to a secure and boring factors win. However that gained’t change the truth that the man shouldn’t be elite-level materials.
– Janibek Alimkhanuly-Denzel Bentley on ESPN Saturday night time was each bit as entertaining as I believed it might be. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. WBO middleweight champ by default, Kazakhstan’s Alimkhanuly is expert and mega-competent. Sadly, being actually, actually competent doesn’t essentially make for compelling TV.
The UK’s Bentley is a British middleweight champ, however is UK regional level-talent, solely. He did what he might towards the higher fighter, however misplaced each spherical (regardless of two judges one way or the other scoring the battle 116-112, eight rounds to 4).
Promoter Bob Arum has been attempting to play the previous “He’s so feared…no one needs to battle him angle” with Alimkhanuly, however that tactic solely works with a beast (like fellow Kazakh Gennadiy Golovkin). No one is shopping for that anyone, wherever is shaking of their boots over the prospect of preventing Alimkhanuly. If something, different high middleweights simply don’t wish to hassle with a man who no one cares about.
Saturday’s competent, however monotonous unanimous choice win over an overmatched Bentley gained’t make anybody care extra about Alimkhanuly. As I mentioned on Fb because the rounds dragged on– Get this man some steroids or one thing.
– Kudos to Floyd Mayweather for making one other bundle of cash on Sunday for an exhibition towards YouTuber Deji Olantunji, one more opponent I’d by no means heard of earlier than signing on to battle the Corridor of Fame 5-division former world champ. Of Mayweather’s 5 exhibition bouts, solely Logan Paul had a “title.” Love him or hate him, it’s important to admire the hustle of preventing unknown entities and getting an even bigger payoff than most energetic fighters get for elite-level contests.
– Terence Crawford ain’t naming names relating to the mysterious hedge fund guys who supposedly provided him and Errol Spence $25 million assured, every, to battle each other. This makes me suppose that possibly they’re the identical shadowy fantasy land Center East figures who stored providing Bob Arum tons of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} for Pacquiao-Mayweather, conveniently sufficient, each time Arum was selling a Pacquiao in-house High Rank battle that DIDN’T contain Mayweather.
– Talking of Errol Spence…The WBC is “ordering” a bout between him and former titlist Keith Thurman, now {that a} Crawford unification is off the slate. Ordering. LOL. From a PBC perspective, the WBC “ordering” the in-house Spence-Thurman battle is a bit like somebody “ordering” me to sleep with a half-naked, in-heat Shakira, writhing seductively on my mattress. Enterprise-wise, this can be a considerably higher battle for the Al Haymon-run boxing firm and it comes with a lot much less behind-the-scenes negotiating drama and all-around threat. Spence-Thurman shouldn’t be a foul battle by any stretch of the creativeness, however, yeah, it’s not THE battle.
– Tyson Fury’s meltdown throughout a YouTube interview with British YouTuber True Geordie was an instantaneous basic (look it up) and a little bit of a lesson for individuals who truly declare to be journalists in boxing. True Geordie went exhausting on Fury for his number of Derek Chisora as an opponent for his December 3 title protection and Fury didn’t deal with it properly, hurling insults and fumbling to finish the video chat. The YouTuber is most positively not a journalist or perhaps a actual “boxing man,” however he was braver than any of the fellows/gals who make a full-time gig of interviewing fighters. It’s not sufficient to carry a mic and take every part a fighter says at face worth, leaving each little bit of fluff and nonsense unchecked. There needs to be some worth to the data you’re getting. It may well’t be all public relations. Yeah, in case you “go exhausting,” you’ll most likely by no means get one other interview with that fighter or any of the fighters competing beneath the identical promotional/community banner. But when EVERYONE “went exhausting?” Everybody within the sport could be held accountable for shady shit and we’d get plenty of boxing’s messiness cleaned up. The boxing media has forfeited the inherent energy of the press and now serves zero objective. They’re of zero profit to the followers. It took a YouTuber to point out how issues SHOULD be finished.
– By the way in which, I don’t have that a lot of an issue with Fury-Chisora 3. Fury’s entitled to a gimme and a wallet-padder between blockbusters. I can see, although, the place some could balk at him going through a man he’s already overwhelmed decisively twice earlier than. Selecting Chisora makes for an pointless shit stain on a Tyson Fury occasion. His individuals might’ve picked any variety of fall guys and would’ve offered out a soccer stadium simply as simply.
Acquired one thing for Magno? Ship it right here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com
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