Golden Boy split with Richard Schaefer Good for Boxing

Now that Richard Schaefer has left Golden Boy the boxing world will be shaken to the core and good will come.  A new injection of energy and life into boxing matchmaking.  New fights WILL happen.  Fights that were impossible before.  It will include big names like Pacquiao,  Bradley, Canelo and Marquez.  I think it was good timing maybe better if it happened earlier.  More excitement is about to hit us boxing fans.  Imagine the possibilities as this sorts itself out.

Khan Brilliant in Domination of Collazo

Amir Khan proved he is at the top of the welterweight division with the best of them by shutting out and dominating Luis Collazo.    There is no doubt that this Khan can beat Floyd Mayweather.  He knocked Collazo down 3 times and won every round displaying incredible patience and composure.  He has more to learn but has already come a long way under new trainer Virgil Hunter.

Watch Mayweather versus Maidana

This is an interesting card with Mayweather,  Khan and Broner.   Even though the fights may not be competitive there is some serious name talent in the ring.  It's worth checking it out in my opinion and I will be ordering it.  If Khan wasn't on the card I would NOT order this ppv but he makes it worth it in the end.

Mayweather locks down on gloves

The Mayweather camp have accused Robert Garcia and team Maidana of cheating.  Using horse hair gloves that aren't as soft as foam padding.  Eventually they came to a resolution.  Team Robert Garcia tested positive for steroids when Brandon Rios drugged up for Pacquiao and still got smoked.  I wonder if there will be any other funny business witg team Ariza/Garcia possibly desperate to counter Floyd's mind games.

Paulie Destroyed by Porter

Paulie Malinaggi was beaten up badly for the first time in his career.  He felt like he was hurt badly for the first time in his career.  He didn't want to fight.  Sean Porter showed a new dimension that Paulie didn't expect him to have.  It was brutal.  I felt bad for Paulie.  I think Porter has moved up to another level with this win.  He is a dangerous guy.  Both Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao were small guys who moved up.  Porter is a big guy who moved down.  All the small guys who moved up now need to think twice about being welterweights.  Manny and Floyd can do it but not everyone.  They are legends.  Let's see how this changes the landscape.

Hopkins dominates Shumenov

Bernard Hopkins was masterful against Beibut Shumenov in winning a split decision and knocking him down once.  Hopkins is a legend and ageless wonder who is showing Floyd how to get it done by fighting and beating nothing but the best in his division.  He called out Adonis Stevenson next which is a huge fight between the top two light heavyweights in the world.

Kovalev needs step up

Sergei Kovalev now won't have Hopkins, Shumenov,  Stevenson, or Jean Pascal as options on HBO with the most recent move looking like Pascal.  The light heavyweight division has moved to Showtime.  Kovalev doesn't have a big name on his resume so this is a concern.  Kathy Duva needs to pull a rabbit out of the hat to keep this guy relevant.

Pacquiao Dominant in win over Bradley

Manny Pacquiao has Tim Bradley's number.  After 2 fights this is clear.  Bradley claimed to have hurt his leg which could have affected him again in the second fight, however, no matter what he does he is either close or losing to Manny when it comes to rounds of boxing.  Manny was the new more cautious fighter he's been lately but there were bursts of aggression and he didn't take any significant parts of rounds off enabling him to do enough to easily win the fight.  Now the talk of Mayweather will start up again as Manny is back up into the top 5 and probably top 3 in the world pound for pound.  Whether Floyd wants a legacy or not is another question.

Khan may be making Mistake with Collazo

Once again Amir Khan is throwing caution to the wind and fighting a bigger heavy handed puncher.  Luis Collazo is a lifetime welterweight and Khan has never fought that high.  He had better options.  Khan could have fought Bungu in the UK.  At least that guy is ranked in the top ten and would have been a better match up.  Khan brings the money and should make the calls.  He's giving these guys pay days and chasing Mayweather.  Mayweather's best win is an under weight Juan Manuel Marquez.  Mosley and De La Hoya were past their prime.  He doesn't have long lasting historical significance as a great.  Khan should be looking to build his own resume versus chasing someone else.

Stevenson has Good Fights Ahead

He may have left Kovalev with HBO but Stevenson took more money to go to Showtime wisely.  The Kovalev fight is always there but looking impressive isn't enough to get Kovalev a title shot.  Kovalev needs to do more.  His resume hasn't earned the shot at Adonis Stevenson.   Bernard Hopkins' has.  It's pretty simple.   Although I do see these two fighting if Kovalev can win impressively against Jean Pascal.  Stevenson will then fight him regardless of if Adonis beats Hopkins or not.

Mayweather gets another layup

The pound for pound list has Tim Bradley, Manny Pacquiao, Sergio Martinez all in and around Mayweather's weight class yet remarkably he picked a guy no where near this list to fight next.  Even Canelo went after Martinez after losing to Mayweather.  As good as his ability to dodge and avoid conflict is in the ring, it's even better outside the ring.  He is above the politics.  He can make fights but chooses to take his ball and go home.

Manny Pacquiao Tim Bradley most interesting fight this year

Pacquiao Bradley will be the most meaningful interesting fight of the year when it comes to pound for pound supremacy.  Given that all the other fights don't involve top 5 pound for pound guys.  Mayweather is not fighting a top guy (as usual), Sergio Martinez isn't,  Canelo isn't top ten himself and ain't fighting no one in that league, Marquez isn't either.  Once again Pacquiao refuses to fight no one but the absolute best.

Provodnikov, Mayfield and Alvarado win big

Danny Garcia's loss was a big win for Provodnikov, Mayfield and Alvarado who each did far better with Herrera.  This further accentuates some problems with Golden Boy and their fighters advisors / management trying to manufacture stars.  Sometimes those stars aren't actually that good.  For example, Top Rank fighters rank highly on pound for pound lists relative to Golden Boy fighters  which could become a problem eventually.  Garcia's win was a sham and unfortunate  for poor Herrera who is a solid talent.

Garcia gets gift decision over Herrera

Danny Garcia was given a gift decision in his home town.  Mauricio Herrera embarrassed Danny Garcia making him miss almost everything and smashing him for 12 rounds.  Dan Rafael was the only one I saw that didn't have Herrera winning.  He had it a draw (blindness).  Another boxing fix is complete.  Paulie called the fix on air.  Mauricio is amazing and deserves the rematch.

These blind decisions are ruining the sport.  More oversight is needed.

Amir Khan Suffers Troubling Loss

Amir Khan did some strange things in his loss to Danny Garcia.  He demonstrated he could out box Garcia easily and then started to let loose and take chances.  It eventually cost him the fight.  It's strange to see such a talented fighter not actually try to win.  Strategy, coaching, advice are all things Khan needs most at this time.  He needs a Floyd Mayweather like take no chances attitude towards boxing.  Khan is not a brawler.  He never was.  He needs to go back to the sweet science that got him to where he is.  He can out box just about anyone in the game and should put laser like focus on that and only that from now on.  With absolutely no exceptions, he needs to rely on his speed, timing and unmatched boxing skills if he expects to become a star like he always wanted to.

Anderson Silva running out of challengers

Anderson Silva has proven that he has an uncanny almost magical way of pulling out wins even when he is not able to dominate every aspect of a fight.  That is what he did against Chael Sonnen.  Anderson is good everywhere in a fight - even though he may not be the best.  He is great standing and keeping distance, solid in the clinch and very good on the ground.  It's hard to beat someone like that because eventually you will have to spend some time standing with him and he will beat you if you do that.  If you are great standing up he has enough to beat you in the clinch or on the ground.  There aren't too many challengers left at middleweight since Anderson defeated Sonnen.  The only way Anderson loses now is if he beats himself by not being prepared or losing motivation which is possible given how long he has been winning.  More importantly, how easily he has been winning.  The second Sonnen fight was easy - make no mistake that Silva was never in trouble.  The first fight may have woke him up.  Let's see how long that lasts.

UFC 148 Preview

Tonight is UFC 148 including the much anticipated rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen.  Chael Sonnen was banned after the first fight due to steroids, however, he has been granted an exemption to use steroids in this fight against Anderson Silva.  I think, for me, the steroids make this an interesting fight.  Anderson is big, strong, extremely quick and talented.  I really do think the only way to make an interesting fight with him is to get a very strong wrestler on steroids - enter Chael Sonnen.  I see this fight being competitive early and Anderson doing better in utilizing his vast skill set.  Chael knows only to do one thing and he will do it just like the last fight.  I anticipate Anderson's take down defence to be much stronger to counter Chael's aggression as well.  Expect a close fight with either a close controversial decision (think Bisping-Sonnen) or Silva winning via TKO or submission in the middle to late rounds.

UFC 147 Shows Quality of Product Slipping

The UFC used to be about top notch fights top to bottom.  I never thought I'd see the day but now we have a card with not a single good fight.  Even worse it is on PPV.  UFC 147 features two well past their prime fighters going at it in the main event with Wanderlei Silva against Rich Franklin.  In my opinion, this card is a big miss.  We need a card with JDS, Anderson Silva and Jon Jones fighting on it.  We need top notch product quality but what we have seen lately shows that the product is diluting.  This is a shame.

What did Bob Arum have to do with the Bradley Pacquiao decision?

Based on recent comments by world renowned boxing trainer Teddy Atlas on ESPN recently, there was a suggestion that Manny Pacquiao's contract with Bob Arum may have been ending and having Bradley win a decision would guarantee having Manny sign on again with Arum to get the rematch.  Was a coincidence that Bradley was heavily promoting the rematch even before the first fight?  Did Teddy mean that Arum somehow could have paid off the judges?  This is clearly the shadier side of boxing if anything at all.  It's scary to think about these types of scenarios but really the only thing that went wrong in this supposed plan is that Manny utterly destroyed Bradley.  Even a novice could see that - really there's no way the judges could have screwed this up.  Unless they were rewarded to I suppose.  Too bad that we'll probably never know the truth.

Manny Didn't Show His Killer Instinct Against Tim Bradley

Manny Pacquiao demonstrated that he has lost his killer instinct against Bradley.  Although he completely outclassed and destroyed Bradley proving he was by far the superior fighter, he lost the decision and did seem to get a bit bored at the end of the fight.  Instead of going all out for the kill and knock out which was easily possible, Pacquiao went soft and let Bradley survive.  Pacquiao was fighting a child - it was literally man against child in some ways but he let up a bit thinking it was too easy and he had it in the bag.  Assuming other factors weren't at play this could have cost him the decision.

I give Bradley credit for not throwing in the towel despite being bludgeoned.  There was a moment in the fight when Bradley's coach asked him if he wanted to continue and Bradley didn't respond very clearly but must of said "yes" since they didn't stop the fight.  I give Bradley huge credit for taking a beating and surviving until the end.  He was still standing and got huge gift for it.  This should be a lesson for those fighters who ever question toughing it out until the end.