IT’S SHOWTIME!

Hey Doug,

Hope you and your family are doing well. As a father and husband I respect and feel the joy you have with regards for your family.

I have a few questions that have me scratching my head. Even if this doesn’t make the bag I’d love a response. If it does, this will be my second time making the cut.

1. Can a champion of one belt be the mandatory challenger for another? I know Gennady Golovkin is the WBC middleweight mandatory challenger but he is also the interim champ which makes him mandatory. But in the case of say 140 how come Terence Crawford isn’t mandatory for Viktor Postol or vice versa? I could go on but I’m sure you get where I’m going.

2. Showtime announced some good fights. What are your favorites? Any predictions?
3. We both like Keith “One Time” Thurman but he hasn’t looked all that great lately. I once thought he’d handle Shawn Porter but I’m now 50-50…can you talk me off the ledge?
4. MM time. Sorry if you’ve answered these before.
   Pacquiao vs Valero at 135
   Hatton vs Provodnikov at 140
   Canelo vs Trinidad at 154
   Canelo vs De La Hoya at 154

Peace. – Preston, Minneapolis, MN

Thanks for kind words for my family and for sharing your thoughts and questions. I’ll answer them in order:

1.) Right now only the WBC’s interim beltholder can be regarded as the mandatory challenger for a WBC champ; likewise with the WBA’s “regular” titleholder, which can be the mandatory challenger for the WBA “super champ.” Golovkin, who holds the WBA and IBF middleweight titles, is the only champion of rival sanctioning organizations that is recognized by the WBC, and that’s because he holds the WBC’s interim title as you noted (and pays a sanctioning fee to do so). Historically speaking, the four major sanctioning organizations (WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO) do not recognize each other’s titleholders. (For example, you won’t find WBO middleweight beltholder Billy Joe Saunders anywhere in the WBC’s or WBA’s 160-pound top-15, but Chris Eubank Jr., who Saunders beat in November 2014, is rated No. 4 and No. 2 respectively.) I guess the alphabet groups figured out a long time ago that there more money in having separate titleholders than one undisputed champ.

2.) Showtime presented a pretty sweet Spring and Summer lineup on Friday. Kudos to the network. It’s nice to have Showtime back in the business of making major boxing matches. My favorites (in order of their scheduled appearances) are: Charles Martin-Anthony Joshua (April 9), Deontay Wilder-Alexander Povetkin (tentatively May 21), Keith Thurman-Shawn Porter (even though it’s on CBS – June 25) and Leo Santa Cruz-Carl Frampton (late summer). There are some good co-features in that mix, including the Selby-Hunter and Mares-Cuellar featherweight matches. Early predictions: Joshua grabs the IBF heavyweight strap with a late TKO, Povetkin annexes the WBC title via close (perhaps controversial) decision, Thurman edges Porter on points in a disappointing fight (in terms of sustained action) and Santa Cruz outpoints a very game Frampton by split decision.

3.) I can’t talk you off the ledge. It’s been a couple years since Thurman has “One-Timed” anyone of note and he’s got his heavy hands full with Porter. I’ve always viewed this an pick-’em fight and the inactivity of the welterweight standouts will probably impact Thurman more than it will Porter (because I view the Floridian as the boxer that relies more on timing).

4.) Your mythical matchups (yes, I’ve answered these before, but who’s keeping score?):

Pacquiao vs Valero at 135 – Valero by mid-to-late stoppage in a sensational fight that features numerous knockdowns and wobbly moments from both dynamic southpaw boxer-punchers.

Hatton vs Provodnikov at 140 – Hatton by close but unanimous decision in a brutal bloody battle that leaves the faces of both junior welter pressure fighters looking like raw hamburger.

Canelo vs Trinidad at 154 – Tito by late TKO in a competitive fight.

Canelo vs De La Hoya at 154 – The 2001-2002 junior middleweight version of De La Hoya by decision; Canelo by decision against the 2003-2007 junior middleweight version of The Golden Boy.

PBC-YA LATER?

Doug,

After a slow year with not a lot of anything competitive from Al Haymon’s stable of show ponies, Friday’s announcement was a pleasant surprise as it looks like he’s finally willing to get them out on the track and race them a little.

That being said, is the fact that all of these fights are on SHO a death knell for the PBC brand? In my opinion, the PBC was an interesting experiment but I think poor matchmaking and too many shows on too many networks made it an uphill battle, and the time-buy format turned out to be a killer from a business perspective. The only optimistic spin I can make is, maybe Al’s putting a bunch of fights on SHO in the summer to save war chest money for a big PBC push in the fall? What say you?

Personally, I’m most excited for Canelo-Khan. I think Khan’s going to fill out well and it’s going to turn into a great speed vs power match up. I actually went to the Canelo-Khan presser on my lunch break. By virtue of being a spiffy dressed white fella, I at first got directed to the press line up (I think I was actually standing in front of RingTV’s own Mitch Abramson). I kept my mouth shut to see if I could ride that train all the way into the press section. Alas, they were checking credentials and apparently getting published in the mailbag multiple times isn’t good enough to be counted as “press.” Still glad I got to see it though. I think Canelo needs to work on his English more. That translator stuff isn’t a good look if you’re gonna be the next mega star stateside. – Sean McDonough

You were at the Canelo-Khan NYC presser? Why didn’t you holla at me? I was there! I was completely loopy from jet lag and sleep deprivation but I was physically present. Next time don’t be a stranger. (I’ll let you take my place at the media roundtable or in front the camera.)

Anyway, you pose a good question: Is the fact that all of these fights are on SHO a death knell for the PBC brand?

I think “death knell” is an over dramatic description of what is happening with the PBC at this stage of 2016. But I think it’s obvious that Haymon’s organization was not able to keep the same schedule of monthly shows on NBC, Spike and ESPN that it started in 2015. (The first Spike show, Broner vs. Theophane, is April 1; the first NBC show, the Spence-Algieri/Glowacki-Cunningham doubleheader, is April 16; and the first PBC on ESPN isn’t due until June.)

It made sense to move a significant number of matchups to Showtime because it saved the PBC money and the subscription cable network has many hardcore fans among its subscribers and a long history of producing world-class boxing events.

The only optimistic spin I can make is, maybe Al’s putting a bunch of fights on SHO in the summer to save war chest money for a big PBC push in the fall? What say you? One can only hope this is the case. It will be interesting to see which big fights land on Showtime and which fall within the PBC platform on the “free” or basic cable networks. Showtime doesn’t want to be “used” to set-up significant fights for other networks (apart from CBS). For example, the talked about Badou Jack-James DeGale super middleweight unification bout is supposed to be on Showtime (which is showcasing both beltholders on an April 15 card). Regardless of what network Haymon partners with, he needs to pull the trigger on some mega-matches before the end of 2016 in order to have any hope of surviving through 2017. (For instance, if Wilder beats Povetkin and Fury gets by Klitschko, he should do all he can to make a Fury-Wilder showdown because of the money it would generate.)

Alas, they were checking credentials and apparently getting published in the mailbag multiple times isn’t good enough to be counted as “press.” That’s crazy. It should be!

Still glad I got to see it though. I think Canelo needs to work on his English more. That translator stuff isn’t a good look if you’re gonna be the next mega star stateside. I agree 100 percent. Canelo understands English and can speak it about as well as GGG does (maybe better). Golden Boy needs to push him past his shyness for the sake of his future marketability.

BOXING VS MMA

Doug,

I enjoy boxing and MMA, although I prefer boxing. If money were not an issue, I would watch as much of each as I had time for. But with a limited budget, they both compete for my money, especially when it comes to pay-per-view.

And lately, MMA has been winning the battle for my wallet. Why is that? Well, I think the reason is pretty simple. MMA makes the best matchups in every weight class, while boxing does not.

Just to make sure that I wasn’t being unfair to boxing, I did a little research. I took a look at the MMA rankings on sherdog.com and noticed that the top 2 contenders have fought in all 8 weight classes. When I went through the Ring Magazine rankings for boxing, the results were not as encouraging. The top 2 contenders have only fought each other in 4 of boxing’s 17 weight classes. Granted, a lot of these matchups are difficult to make due to promotional issues, but that alone does not excuse 4 for 17.

Unfortunately, as long as we view things like the Mayweather-Pacquaio 5-year “marination” a success because it generated a lot of pay-per-view buys, things won’t change. Because while a 5-year marination can generate a lot of pay-per-view buys in the short term, the wait is going to turn off a lot of people from the sport in the long term. – Ryan

No doubt about it. We’ll find out this year and next if boxing has learned a lesson from the Mayweather/Pacquiao pay-per-view era (2007-2015). If it takes the sport too long to make potential mega-bouts, such as Canelo-GGG or Fury-Wilder, the industry obviously isn’t paying attention to the demands of its consumers and will, thus, continues to lose fans. If the industry tries to pass off sub-par matchups, such as Cotto vs. Kirkland, as PPV events or tries to push elite fighters into the pay-per-view spotlight before they are ready (as it did with Golovkin-Lemieux, and might do with Sergey Kovalev vs. Andre Ward), it did NOT learn any valuable lessons from the May-Pac letdown or past PPV failures.

However, making for a successful boxing PPV event is not as simple as matching the top two fighters in a specific division. What’s just as important as matching the best (arguably more so) is building promising fighters into attractions. The “Bad Blood” PPV promotion that pitted Oscar De La Hoya vs. Fernando Vargas in 2002 wasn’t a huge success because they were both beltholders and the top two 154 pounders rated by THE RING, it was a blockbuster because The Golden Boy was masterfully brought up by Top Rank and El Feroz was developed into a ticket-selling ratings grabber by Main Events – and the fighters did their part to challenge themselves along the way and cultivate loyal fan bases with their polar-opposite personalities/styles. (It didn’t hurt that they legitimately hated each other.)

If you look at THE RING’s junior middleweight rankings today, you’ll see Erislandy Lara in the No. 1 spot and Austin Trout in the No. 2 slot. Both veterans are skilled and accomplished but there is NO FREAKIN’ WAY you could get anyone to pay to watch them fight again. We know it’s a bad style matchup because of the first bout and neither was developed in a manner that would have cultivated dedicated fan bases. (And while Trout is a nice guy, it doesn’t help that Lara has the personality of an egg plant.)

GERMAN BELTHOLDERS, TOP 5 COLOMBIANS

Hi Dougie,

How are you?

How can German boxers get away with never having tough mandatories? How can Braehmer get away with fighting an endless stream of fighters whose parents haven┬┤t even heard of them?

And it┬┤s the same story for Arthur Abraham (when he was at 160 and post-super 6), Stieglitz, Sebastian Sylvester and if Sturm ever fought anyone decent he got bummy decisions.

Do the German promoters have some sort of under the table deal with the sanctioning bodies?

And lastly, who are your top 5 Colombian boxers of all time?

Thanks. – Adam, Bogota

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Adam.

Do the German promoters have some sort of under the table deal with the sanctioning bodies? No, they have over-the-table deals with German networks, which enables them to keep their major titleholders busy and to pay them quite well. The WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF want a piece of that German pie through sanctioning fees. They aren’t in a hurry to match the German beltholder with a world-rated badass (unless that badass is a bigger star who keeps busy in his home region).

How can Braehmer get away with fighting an endless stream of fighters whose parents haven┬┤t even heard of them? Because of the scenario I just spelled out and because most of the WBA’s top-10 light heavyweight contenders don’t recognize him as the real WBA champ, that distinction rightfully belongs to Sergey Kovalev. (And it’s not like the WBA 175-pound rankings if packed with world-beaters.)

And it┬┤s the same story for Arthur Abraham (when he was at 160 and post-super 6), Stieglitz, Sebastian Sylvester and if Sturm ever fought anyone decent he got bummy decisions. I disagree with you in regard to Sturm and Abraham. Yeah, Sturmy has had his share of hometown decisions (he was also on the s__t-end of one back in 2004 when he lost his WBO 160-pound belt to De La Hoya) but since he stopped the undeserving Ronald Hearns in a title defense in February 2011, he’s mostly fought top-10 rated middleweights/super middleweights (Matthew Macklin, Martin Murray, Sebastian Zbik, Daniel Geale, Sam Soliman, Darren Barker, Robert Stieglitz and Feder Chudinov). He didn’t deserve to keep his belt against Macklin and Murry in my opinion, but he lost close bouts to Geale, Soliman and Chudinov (in the first bouts) that could have gone his way. And Stieglitz, who Abraham has fought four times since the Super Six, was a major titleholder. Paul Smith, who he fought twice, was rated by the WBO; and Murray was a three-time middleweight titleholder who had been rated by THE RING. His next opponent, Gilberto Ramirez, is undefeated and rated No. 4 by THE RING at super middleweight.

And lastly, who are your top 5 Colombian boxers of all time?

1.) Antonio Cervantes – Two-time WBA junior welterweight champ during the 1970s who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1998

2.) Rodrigo Valdez – WBC/WBA middleweight champ during the ’70s

3.) Miguel “Happy Lora” Lora – WBC bantamweight titleholder during the 1980s

4.) Fidel Bassa – WBA flyweight titleholder during the late ’80s

5.) Jorge Eliecer Julio – WBA and WBO bantamweight beltholder during the 1990s

BOXERS BECOMING PUNCHERS

hi doug,

it was quite a boring weekend for boxing (another one…) and i take this opportunity to ask you a question on which i have personally no reply.

the previous weekend in a very good fight jessie vargas stopped sadam ali who was undefeated and in his previous fight he also very badly rocked tim bradley who had never been stopped.

while i was watching the fight the french commentators were saying that vargas seemed to be punching with decent power which was somewhat contradictory to his previous showings that he was a very light hitter.

usually you have many punchers knocking out everybody at the early stage of their career and sometimes struggling to knock people out at the highest level where many guys have decent chins.

this makes it even more surprising that some boxers such as vargas who hardly knocked anybody in their career (vargas had 9 kos out of 25 wins)start to knock out people at the highest level.

what could explain that suddenly a guy with no power starts to hurt people at the highest level?

would you have an explanation for that? and would you have any other examples of boxers hardly knocking out anybody who suddenly seemed to become powerful punchers?

pleased to have your views as i am clueless on what could be the explanation. keep up the good work. – chris from france

The things that keep a hardcore boxing fan up at night. LOL. Thanks for sharing your strange obsession with me, Chris.

I can’t think of any example of a light-punching boxer suddenly becoming a powerful puncher, but I think it’s a mistake to consider Vargas a “powerful puncher” based on the final seconds of Round 12 of the Bradley fight and his recent stoppage of Ali.

Bradley was simply caught with a punch he did not see at the end of the a fight that he thought he had in the bag. It happens in boxing. And although Vargas was able to drop and seriously hurt Ali with the same sneaky overhand right I think it’s a little early to consider him the next “Hit Man.”

Just because Ali was undefeated going into the Vargas doesn’t mean he had a world-class chin. He had been rocked against journeyman earlier in his pro career (John Revish wobbled him in the eighth and final round of their 2011 bout that was televised on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights) and the few heavy handed opponents he had faced, such as Luis Carlos Abregu, were crude and lacked the punching technique that Vargas brought into their title bout.

I covered Vargas at the very start of his pro career (before he was fighting on TV) and I can tell you that he always had heavy hands. Back then he was a welterweight pressure fighter in the mold of Antonio Margarito or Leo Santa Cruz, and if he didn’t stop his opponents he beat the s__t out of them. I did the call (along with Mario Solis) of Vargas’ first televised bouts, which were part of Golden Boy’s first club series (“Fight Night Club”) that took place at Club Nokia in L.A. Vargas, still under the tutelage of his first trainer Roger Mayweather, scored stoppages in three of his four appearances (his ninth, 11^th, 12^th and 14^th pro bouts) and he was matched with sturdy fighters. Watch him go about his business against experienced, durable and very game veteran Ernesto Zavala (who now trains fighters under Freddie Roach), 21-4 at the time.

Roger encouraged Vargas’ to be a come-forward fighter due to the young man’s natural aggressiveness (and solid whiskers). However, when Vargas left Mayweather Promotions he brought on De La Hoya’s old trainer Robert Alcazar, who wanted him to box and jab more on his toes like the Golden Boy. I think Vargas’ punching power suffered during the transition of styles. Playing musical chairs with trainers over the past few years didn’t help Vargas settle on a ring identity, however, the near KO of Bradley was a wake-up call or a reminder that he can indeed crack.

I think, going forward, we’re going to see a more aggressive and offensively confident version of Vargas, which will probably result in more stoppage victories.

LOMA, P4P RANKINGS, MYTHCIAL MATCHUPS

Dougie,

Loving your work as usual and I’m glad you had a wicked time in Manchester for the Frampton vs Quigg fight. Us Brits love our boxing and can create a party atmosphere like no other nation!!

My reason for writing is the non-inclusion of Vasyl Lomachenko on the Ring P4P list. I realise that you have a panel that decide these rankings, but I’d be interested to see how many of you would put him in.

I’m guessing that one of the arguments against is the fact he has only had 5 pro fights, but, his boxing ability, footwork, movement, lightening combinations and shot selection is so underrated.

What are your thoughts on Lomachenko, and do you see him as on the verge of the P4P rankings?

Mythical matchups:

Calzaghe vs Froch 168lbs

Mayweather vs Pacquiao in 2008 (after Pac beat De La Hoya)

Prince Naseem Hamed vs Guillermo Rigondeaux at Featherweight

Kell Brook vs Floyd Mayweather 147lbs

Keep it real. – Pete Nightingale, Northampton, United Kingdom

I’ll try, Pete. And I hope to make it back to the UK real soon.

I think Lomachenko is an elite-level boxer possessing sublime natural talent/athleticism and the all-around world-class boxing ability that you noted. I do believe that he’s close to breaking into THE RING’s Pound For Pound Rankings but he needs a defining victory against a respected opponent. So far, a decision over Gary Russell Jr. is the best win of his pro career. If Loma can beat Nicholas Walters at 130 pounds I guarantee that THE RING Ratings Panel will bring his name up as a potential pound-for-pound player.

Your mythical matchups:

Calzaghe vs Froch 168lbs – Calzaghe by close maybe majority decision

Mayweather vs Pacquiao in 2008 (after Pac beat De La Hoya) – I think Mayweather would have had a little too much for the early welterweight version of the PacMan. If you recall, he went from 130- and 135-pound title bouts to weighing in as a tiny welterweight against a drained De La Hoya by the end of 2008. He didn’t come into his own as a junior welter/welterweight until 2009. I’d go with Mayweather by decision in 2008. (I only favor the 2009-2010 version of Pacquiao over Floyd at 147.)

Prince Naseem Hamed vs Guillermo Rigondeaux at Featherweight – Hamed by one-punch KO by the middle rounds.

Kell Brook vs Floyd Mayweather 147lbs – Mayweather at his best at welterweight outpoints Brook, but if they fought now, I’d favor Special K.

THE MYTHICAL MATCHUP KING

Doug,

Long time reader. First email I have sent. Big fan of your bag.

I love reading the mythical match-ups and, by and large, agree with almost all of your assessments. Realistic and unbiased.

One thing I have noted over the years is that Joe Calzaghe does not ever seem to have been mythically beaten. I apologise now if my research has been flawed but I have had a look back through as many mail bags as I can and you seem to give him the nod in all of them.

As a proud Welshman and big fight fan, I feel that Joe would have beaten (or had a very good chance at beating) any other fighter at SMW. He had a rare blend of talents. An incredible motor and ability to throw 1,000 punches a fight (quantity has a quality of its own…). Great ring craft and footwork. Underrated power that made every fighter think twice about going after him and change their game plans (look at Jeff Lacey and RJJ’s faces after their fights).

What do you think then…

Mythical Match-up:

Joe Calzaghe vs anyone else at SMW

Ryan – U.K.

Thanks for finally sending an email to the mailbag column, Ryan. Don’t let it be your last.

Regarding Calzaghe’s awesome record in my mythical matchup picks, what can I say? I favor him over most former super middleweight champs because of the physical attributes that you noted in your email but mainly due to his proven ability to adapt to a variety of boxing styles (and his ability to adapt during hard fights as he did with the then-undefeated Mikkel Kessler).

However, I don’t believe that he was unbeatable at 168 pounds. For example, I would pick the prime super middleweight version of Roy Jones Jr. to beat Calzaghe. There are also great middleweight champs that I think would beat him if they fought at 168 pounds, such as Carlos Monzon and Sugar Ray Robinson (natch!).

But nine out of 10 super middleweight mythical matchups, I’m probably gonna go with Joe.

Email Fischer at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @dougiefischer