By Norm Frauenheim

Yesterday, today and tomorrow played out on a three-sided weekend last Saturday that summed up what boxing has been, is now and might soon become.

Manny Pacquiao brought the golden-oldie nostalgia. Oleksandr Usyk re-asserted himself as the best of this era and maybe a few others. And Jesse Rodriguez provided another preview at what could be next.

It’s hard to say just who made the biggest statement. Pacquiao’s enduring celebrity dominated the headlines and perhaps contributed to some of the frustration over the scorecards for his majority draw with Mario Barrios, who retained his welterweight title with a second successive draw. Maybe, there’s been some erosion in the 46-year-old Filipino’s skillset, but his likability is intact, as powerful as ever.

“Manny, Manny’’ chants filled the MGM’s Grand Garden Arena like a memorable lyric from an old pop song. I’m not sure he’ll ever be a welterweight champion again, but he’ll always be remembered more than the collection of forgettables among today’s belt-holders.

Pacquiao, who talked about a rematch with Barrios and already is mentioned as a possible challenger for Rolly Romero’s belt, reminds us of what we miss. There’s a huge risk there. He could get hurt. But he’ll fight on, and a Pied Piper-like crowd is sure to follow.

Pacquiao’s immense popularity is matched by what Usyk has in terms of respect for his discipline and smarts. He’s an undisputed heavyweight champion all over again with his stoppage of Daniel Dubois at London’s Wembley Stadium.

It’s not exactly clear what undisputed means anymore. Acronyms get in the way with so-called mandatories and hollow threats to strip. Already, the World Boxing Organization is ordering Usyk to defend its piece of the heavyweight puzzle against Joseph Parker. 

Usyk hasn’t replied and doesn’t have to, of course. It’d be nice if these self-proclaimed ruling bodies quit issuing orders and just showed Usyk some mandatory respect. He’s a great champion, whose unbeaten record over 24 bouts is notable for what it doesn’t include. He’s never had a pro fight in his home country, war-torn Ukraine. Yet, he fights on, winning with an unerring instinct. To wit: He knows what he’s doing.

The stoppage of Dubois in a rematch has generated a lot of talk about how he would have done against the all-time greats in boxing’s fabled division. Even Muhammad Ali’s name has been dropped into the conversation. Who knows? It’s a fun argument, but it’s impossible to compare fighters from different generations.

I’m not even sure he’s the greatest Ukrainian heavyweight ever. Shouldn’t Wladimir Klitschko and brother Vitali Klitschko, now the major of Kyiv, be included in the conversation? I’m sure Usyk himself would mention them. Then again, Usyk knows something about respect for history, Ukrainian and boxing.

It’s not exactly clear what Usyk does next. Parker is an okay fight, but it doesn’t bring anybody to the edge of their seat or to a live-stream audience. At 38 – 39 in January, Usyk will be exiting his prime, a stage that Pacquiao left long ago.

In terms of prime time during last week’s triple-header, there was only Rodriguez, a poised and master tactician who continued to fulfill everything it means to be Super Fly by unifying the 115-pound belt with a 10^th-round stoppage of Phumelele Cafu in Frisco, Texas.

Rodriguez’ victory got less attention than Pacquiao and Usyk, but at one level it was the most significant bout of the three.

At 25, Rodriguez is 21 years younger than Pacquiao, 13 years younger than Usyk. Pacquiao and Usyk are moving on. So, too, is the way we watch boxing. ESPN is leaving ringside with its last Top Rank show Saturday featuring unbeaten Puerto Rican junior-middleweight Xander Zayas against Mexican Jorge Garcia in New York at The Theater in Madison Square Garden.

How we watch, who we watch is about to change.

Enter Bam, a nickname that Rodriguez manages to fulfill nearly every time he answers an opening bell. To be fair, it was hard to judge the Cafu victory. Cafu, a South African, was fighting in the United States for the first time after scoring a notable upset of Kosei Tanaka in Japan for a belt last October.

The circumstances dictated that Rodriguez do more than just win. He had to be brilliant. He was, delivering a methodical beatdown that led to a 10^th-round knockout at Ford Center on the Dallas Cowboys complex.

Short-term, it set up what had already been announced – Bam in a bid for a third Super Fly belt against Fernando Martinez Nov. 22 in Riyadh on a card that includes Phoenix-born David Benavidez in a light-heavyweight defense against Anthony Yarde.

Long-term, it puts Rodriguez a little bit closer to what has been a dream fight for a couple of years. On the pound-for-pound ratings, Rodriguez’ last victory put him within talking – if not striking – distance of Japanese star Naoya Inoue, the current junior-featherweight champion who is a consensus No. 2, second to Usyk.

Rodriguez, who jumped into the pound-for-pound debate with a stoppage last June of accomplished Juan Francisco Estrada in downtown Phoenix on the Suns home floor, is a consensus No. 5 in ratings released this week.

Bam’s victory over Cafu prompted his promoter, Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn, to put him at No. 2, ahead of Inoue, who is not among Hearn’s favorites. He’s ripped Inoue for a resume that – Hearn says – includes weak opposition. His criticism of Inoue might have helped land Inoue’s next opponent, Murodjon Akhmadaliev, Sept. 14 in Nagoya, Japan.

It’s no coincidence that Hearn also represents Akhmadaliev. It’s also no coincidence that Hearn publicly ranks Bam ahead of Inoue. Some early negotiations – opening salvos — have already begun.

A lot still has to fall into place if in fact Bam-versus-Inoue has any chance at ever happening. Inoue is projected to fight Mexican Alan David Picasso, perhaps in December.

Then, there’s Junto Nakatani, a unified bantamweight champion living and training in southern California. Just a couple of months ago, Nakatani had been calling out Bam. But that talk ended, abruptly, after Nakatani stopped Ryosuke Nishida June 8 in Tokyo.

Nakatani-versus-Inoue has been at the top of the want-to-see list for Japanese fans. It’s also at the top of fights most wanted by Japanese promoter Akihiko Honda, known simply as Mr. Honda.

Multiple sources in Japanese media and boxing circles told The Boxing Hour that Mr. Honda told Nakatani to forget about a fight with Bam any time soon. The reasoning is as clear as it is solid. Mr. Honda doesn’t want to risk Nakatani-Inoue, a fight expected to generate record receipts in Japan. In part, that’s an acknowledgement of just how dangerous – how good – Bam is.

The path is still there, if Inoue beats Akhmadaliev, Picasso and then Nakatani. There are doubts he can, in part because of the way he was knocked down by little-known Ramon Cardenas in Las Vegas May 4.

Cardenas floored him in the second round. Inoue went on to win by TKO in the eighth. But there’s talk that Inoue would not have been able to get up if the knock-down punch had been delivered by Nakatani, who’s noted for his power.

Meanwhile, Rodriguez has to beat Martinez and then continue to win as he moves up the scale, first to 118 pounds and then 122.

A lot still has to happen. Last Saturday, a lot did.

NOTES

Thanks to emerging Mesa, AZ junior-welterweight Trini Ochoa (21-0, 9 KOs) for helping kids get ready for school while also helping the old-school boxing gym, Central, in downtown Phoenix (1755 West Van Buren Street) Saturday. Ochoa there (9 am to noon) to sign autographs, pose for pictures, pass out school supplies and help the famed gym raise funds for repairs to fix some vandalism on a mural, a west-facing wall covered with faces and memories from Arizona’s rich boxing history

LAS VEGAS –The chants were back.

But Manny Pacquiao wasn’t, at least not in the eyes of three judges.

The 46-year-old Pacquiao, who seemed to defy middle-age and perhaps the aches-and-pains that come with it Saturday, was left with a controversial majority draw with World Boxing Council welterweight champion Mario Barrios at the MGM Grand.

The controversial scorecards mean Barrios keeps the belt and Pacquiao was denied a chance to make history. The Filipino legend had hoped to become boxing’s second-oldest world champion ever.

“I thought I won,” Pacquiao (62-8-3, 39 KOs) said.

So did a crowd of 13,107 fans, who chanted the familiar “Manny, Manny” before and after every round. But those chants were supplanted by boos when the cards were announced. Max DeLuca had it 115-113 for Barrios (29-2-2, 18 KOs). Both Steve Weisfeld and Tim Cheatham had it, 114-114. The Boxing Hour scored 116-112 for Pacquiao.

Pacquiao, his worldwide celebrity still intact, suggested that his quest in the risky ring will continue.

“I need to continue my training for longer going into a championship fight,” Pacquiao said. “Because of the election I started late, but it’s okay. Of course, I’d like a rematch. I want to leave a legacy and make the Filipino people proud.”

Barrios said he would give Pacquiao another opportunity.

“I’ll do the rematch,” Barrios said. “Absolutely. This was huge for boxing. I’d love to do it again.” 

Expect the controversy to linger. It looked as if Pacquiao was well on his way beating a man 16 years his junior in a tactical, patient execution of the sweet science. He wasn’t the explosive, Bruce Lee-like figure that once blew away Hall-of-Fame names like a force of nature. This was a former Senator, deliberative and still dangerous enough to be a world champion.

Pacquiao’s familiar footwork, including a stutter-step inside, was there. The punch that followed, however,  missed more often than it had when Pacquiao’s power proved to be so lethal against Oscar De La Hoya, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales and Ricky Hatton.

All the while, Barrios looked tentative, cautious perhaps because he was looking into the face of a legendary lion,  or maybe because he didn’t want to go out like Hatton, who waa lifted so high by a Pacquiao knockout punch that you could see the bottom of Hatton’s shoes from ringside. The years have left some lines on that Filipino face. There’s gray in his facial hair.  The punches travel at a slower rate. The explosive dynamic isn’t there anymore.

But the skillset is still solid, tempered by time yet improved by wisdom. Above, he still knows his way around the ring. That has changed. Then again, neither has the judging.

Welcome back, Manny, on a night full of cheers and boos.

Tszyu surrenders, Fundora wins TKO

Blood was expected. There was a trace. In the end, however, there was surrender.

The rematch ended abruptly with Tim Tszyu sitting on his stool after the seventh, perhaps his best round, Saturday night against Sebastian Fundora in front of an astonished crowd awaiting Manny Pacquiao’s comeback against Mario Barrios at the MGM Grand. 

This was the same Tszyu who refused to quit after he suffered a gruesome cut at the top of his head in their first fight.  Then, it seemed as though nothing could stop him from fighting on. This time, however, he didn’t lose much blood from a cut above his right eye. This time, he lost his will.

“That’s one tough m-effer,” Tszyu said as he pointed at Fundora after the surprising conclusion to a much-anticipated sequel.”And I tried to give everything.”

It was decided that everything was just not enough this time. The fight ended on the advice of his corner. His corner must have looked into his eyes and saw that there was no more blood to spill. Suddenly, they saw a fighter exhausted and unable to continue in a fight that raises doubts about the rest of his career

Tszyu’s challenge, a complicated mix of height and geometry, quickly became apparent. Tzsyu’s only path to victory is to step inside against the 6-foot-6 Fundora (23-1-1, 15 KOs), who has the wing span of a gigantic praying mantis. In the first round, Tszyu took that perilous first step. Boom, Fundora saw it and threw a counter-right that dropped Tszyu (25-3, 18 KOs) onto the canvas with a thud.

Emboldened, Fundora, still the junior-middleweight champ, took the initiative in the second, moving forward and forcing Tszyu into what looked to be a tentative retreat. Suddenly, blood appeared over Tszyu’s eye. For him, it had to be an uncomfortable reminder of the bloodletting he suffered in their first bout, won by Fundora in a split decision.

In the third and throughout the fourth, however, Tszyu became more surefooted and appeared to regain his aggressiveness. He also got a little quicker with his punches, effectively rocking Fundora with shots that seemed to take some of the edge and precision out his long punches. Tszyu capitalized. He began to circle , a wary predator. He also began to land throughout the fifth and again in the sixth.

In the seventh, the rematch began to settle into a brawl. It began with Tszyu rocking Fundora with a short right. But Fundora also began to re-employ his reach.

“We’ve been working on that all of the time,” said Fundora, who talked as if he wanted to use his incredible reach throughout the rest of the fight.

But Tszyu and his corner had already seen enough of it.

The seventh round was more than the beginning of the end. 

It was the end.

Pitbull Cruz wins dominant decision

Omar Salcido was a late stand-in, which is another way of saying he probably doesn;t have a chance.

He didn’t.

Salcido, who replaced Angel Fierro Friday, did a lot of things. He endured. He even took Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz into the 10th and final round. But any chance at a huge upset was never really there. Cruz started slowly and then showed all the aggressiveness defined by his nickname with a bullish assault over the final three rounds of a live-streamed bout on the Pacquiao-Barrios card at the MGM Grand.

In the 10th, Salcido ((20-3, 14 KOs) went to his knees. He was also penalized, losing a point for an apparent attempt at an illegal blow.

In the end, it was more than a shutout on the scorecards. Cruz, an interim junior-welterweight champion, won 100-88 on one cad and 99-89 on the other two

After it was over, Cruz (28-3-1, 18 KOs) had kind words for Salcido, who suddenly became his opponent when Fierro was sent to the hospital after a futile attempt to make weight.

“I have ultimate respect for him taking the fight,” said Cruz, who had only contempt for Fierro, whom he called unprofessional. “He’s a good fighter. We’re both champions.’

Figueroa scores decision over Joet Gonzalez

Brandon Figueroa calls himself The Heartbreaker.

Figueroa did that and more Saturday. The heartbreak was suffered by Joet Gonzalez, who continues an up-and-down ride through a career that is 4-4 over his last eight bouts, including successive losses over his last two.

Figueroa (26-2-1, 19 KOs), a former champion at 122 and 126 pounds, appeared to have a slight advantage in size and strength against the star-crossed Gonzalez (27-5, 15 KOs), a Los Angeles fighter who was game yet just no good enough in a featherweight eliminator on the Pacquiao-Barrios card at the MGM Grand.

Throughout the middle rounds, it often looked as if Gonzalez was fighting Figueroa to a standstill. It looked to be close in the ring, but not on two of the three scorecards. Both favored Figueroa 116-112. The third had it 115-113, also for Figueroa, a Texas fighter still in the hunt for another bel

Gary Russell Jr. scores four knockdowns for stoppage win

Gary Russell Jr., more idle than active, still possessed enough power and poise  to dominate, knocking down Hugo Castaneda twice in the second round and again in the sixth enroute to 

Castaneda, a lightweight from Mexico, came roaring back in apparent desperation in the fourth, driving the 37-year-old Russell (32-2, 19 KOs) into the ropes. But a sweeping right hook from Russell, an ex-featherweight champion from Washington DC, ,dropped Castaneda in the sixth. Yet, Castaneda (15-3-1, 11 KOs), ever resilient, continued to march forward, all the while throwing a succession of punches. 

Yet he could never hurt Russell, or even knock him off balance. In the end, Russell power was decisive, including a fourth knockdown in the 10th, ending the fight at 26 seconds of the round

Nothing artistic, but PIcasso wins majority decision

It wasn’t artistic, but Mexican junior-featherweight David Picasso did enough to win and perhaps keep himself in contention for a  possible shot at Naoya Inoue.

Picasso (32-0-1, 18 KOs), who turned down a chance to fight Inoue months ago,  struggled throughout a close 10-round fight against Inoue’s fellow Japanese fighter, Kyonosuke Kameda (15-5-2, 9 KOs), who appeared to mock him in the middle rounds. Kameda dropped his hands, stuck out his chin and shook his rear end.

The gestures proved to be an opportunity for Picasso, who applied fundamentals at MGM Grad., many of which scored often enough for him to escape with a 95-95, 97-93, 98-92 majority decision on the Pacquiao-Barios card.

Mark Magsayo wins one-sided decision

He had a little bit more experience. HIs feet were a little bit quicker. His hands were a little bit faster. 

Little added up to a lot, allowing Mark Magsayo to score efficiently and repeatedly in a one-sided, yet otherwise uneventful decision over Jorge Mata in a junior-lightweight bout Saturday on the card featuring Manny Pacquiao’s comeback against Mario Barrios.

Magsayo (28-2, 18 KOs), a Filipino who briefly held the World Boxing Council’s featherweight title in 2020. began to take control of the bout in the fourth round when he backed up Mata (41-3-2, 13 KOs) with a body-to-head assault. Still, Mata, of Mexico managed to endure, but never much more than that, losing by a wide margin on all three cards — 100-90, 98-92,100-90.   

First Bell: Filipino prospect drops the thunder, wins TKO

It opened with a Filipino beat.

Beat-down

Middleweight prospect Eumir Marcial warmed up the ring for fellow Filipino Manny Pacquiao with a heavy-handed stoppage of Bernard Joseph in a Saturday matinee, hours before Pacquiao would take the stage in his comeback against Mario Barrios at the MGM Grand.

Marcial (6-0, 4 KOs), a 2020 Olympic bronze medalist, dropped Joseph (11-3-1, 5 KOs), of Dorchester MA, in the second and again in the third. A succession of shots in the third thundered throughout the empty arena, ending the bout in a TKO at 1:55 of the round. 

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS — Manny Pacquiao stepped off a scale and looked up toward a corner high above the floor at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. It was a flag that celebrated his legacy. It was also a symbol of a story still unfolding. 

Another chapter awaits, this one as risky as any in the iconic career of a fighter now 46 and still fighting for more more.

The flag was there to mark Pacquiao’s 16th bout at the old arena. After it’s over Saturday night, nobody in the rich history of the historic address near the well-traveled intersection at Tropicana and The Strip will have fought there as often. 

Pacquiao will rank No. 1, one bout more than his old rival Floyd Mayweather and four more than Oscar De La Hoya, who ranks third on the list and perhaps first among the Pacquiao victories that turned him into an enduring Filipino legend. 

The question, of course, is whether the flag will wave goodbye or say hello to another chapter in Pacquiao’s pursuit of history. He’s written a lot of it.

He’s been a champion in eight different weight classes. After a political career that included a run for the Filipino presidency, the Sergeant, Senator and statesman is back in an attempt to become the second-oldest champion in boxing history. 

To pull it off, he’ll have to beat a fighter 16 years his junior (Prime Video on card starting at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT). Thirty year-old Mario Barrios has a belt — the World Boxing Council’swelterweight version — and a fresh face without any of the gray that’s evident in Pacquiao’s facial hair.

On the scale Friday at a ceremonial weigh-in in front of a roaring crowd, Barrios came in at 146.2 pounds looking every much as though he had done the work. His trainer Bob Santos bragged and gestured about a sculpted upper body that suggests no task was left undone. Pacquiao, who was at 146.8 pounds, looked solid, yet far from the Bruce Lee look-alike of a decade ago.

Those different looks — gray-streaked beard and young fresh face — stood in contrast, a stark reflection of all the risks Pacquiao faces. Yet, risk has always been a part of his story. It’s why he fights. Why we watch. 

He took a risk against a bigger and better-known name in De La Hoya in 2008. He blew him away, stole De La Hoya’s celebrity and created his own kind of global stardom. 

This time, however the risk is in the nature of time itself. How much of it has eroded the magnificent reflexes Pacquiao had in his prime? How will he attack Barrios’ superior reach and punches when Pacquiao steps inside. 

There’s a minefield full of questions, the simplest of which might be the one that confronts everybody in the middle-aged demographic. 

Who will get up Saturday morning? The Pacquiao we remember against De La Hoya, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales and so many more? Or will he be just another 46-year-old guy struggling to walk through the aches and pains that come with the years. It’s impossible to say, which makes this fight impossible to pick.

Pacquiao hasn’t fought since his scorecard loss to late stand-in Yordenis Ugas four years ago. Ugas’ youth and slick footwork — combined with some youthful energy — allowed the Cuban to dart in, out and away in a slow, yet deliberate plan that Pacquiao failed to counter.

A key question is whether the middle-aged Pacquiao will have to try to take out Barrios early. Fatigue appeared to be a Barrios’ weakness in a draw with Abel Ramos last November. Ramos was able to catch and hurt him with successive body shots over the last four to five rounds. 

But Barrios (29-2-1, 18 KOs) wasn’t fighting a 46-year-old man. Ramos, an aggressive welterweight from Casa Grande south of Phoenix, is 34.

Nevertheless, Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KOs) is confident that four years away from the ring helped him conserve much of his skillset and energy.

The four years, he said, were a time of healing and re-evaluating what he wanted in life, post-politics.

“I missed boxing,’’ Pacquiao said. “The four years were good. It was good to rest.’’

But time doesn’t rest. It keeps moving forward, stubbornly and in the relentless way that defined the Pacquiao reign from flyweight to junior middleweight. 

Pacquiao stopped most everybody he faced. But not even he couldn’t stop that clock, his biggest opponent in one the biggest risks he’ll face in a many-sided life. 

Pacquiao has made a lifestyle out of doing what people think he can’t. That’s a reason not to pick against him versus Barrios or anybody else he might face if a victory Saturday launches him into another risky date against another young champion. Maybe, a rematch with Mayweather awaits him. Pacquiao is never out of options, promise and potential. 

Against Barrios, however, the question is whether he’s out of time.

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS — Tim Tszyu saw why boxing is called bloodsport. He saw a lot it. All his.

His craft — the inescapable nature of his sport — was defined by his blood in a gruesome fight that left him looking more like an accident victim than the warrior he has chosen to be about 16 months ago in a  split-decision loss to Sebastian Fundora.

Tszyu remembers what he saw. Or, perhaps what he couldn’t.

“I was distracted,’’ he said Thursday, nearly a year-and-a-half after he was cut at the end of the second round at the top of his forehead and at the center of his hairline at Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena in March 30, 2024. “When I went back to my corner, I wasn’t thinking about my fight. I was thinking about the blood.’’

It never quit. 

Neither did he. 

Tszyu fought on, his vision obscured and his focus distracted. But that blood, including the DNA that motivated him to endure through the 12th round, continues to drive him now. He fights on, hoping only that the bleeding won’t resume. Still, he’s hell-bent on risking that and perhaps more in a rematch Saturday that he has pursued since Fundora turned his face into a crimson mask. For more than 10 rounds, he couldn’t see clearly. The clarity of what he seeks, however, has always been there.

“That answers the question of why my corner didn’t stop the fight,’’ Tszyu said of the first bout that ended with Fundora winning on two cards, 116-112 and 115-113. The third card favored Tszyu, 116-112.

Fundora left the ring with two junior-middleweight belts and newfound stardom. Tszyu was left with his first loss and all the stitches.

In the wake of the nasty defeat, there were doubts, many left by a third-round stoppage loss to Bakhram Murtazaliev, who knocked him down four times before his corner surrendered in a stunning stoppage in October, 2024 in Orlando. Suddenly, it looked as if blood and more had been lost on that shocking night against Fundora.

Tszyu went on to scored a fourth-round TKO of Joseph Spencer last April at home in Australia. It was a solid stoppage, but it didn’t exactly stop some of the questions about whether the promises in Tszyu’s career had been stopped, all in one bloody night.

Tszyu, the son of feared Kostya Tszyu, is back in Vegas to say that it hasn’t been.

“I will put together  a different performance,’’ said Tszyu, who will share the stage in a co-main event to a card featuring 46-year-old Manny Pacquiao’s comeback against welterweight champion Mario Barrios at the MGM’s Grand Garden Arena. “A more intelligent one.’’

Tszyu’s bloodied, yet narrow loss to Fundora was preceded by complications. Initially, the opponent was supposed to be Keith Thurman. But Thurman got hurt in training, forcing a late switch. 

Twelve days before opening bell, the skinny, yet NBA-tall Fundora got the gig and the improbable victory that has put him on the fringe of enduring stardom. In part, perhaps, he’s fighting Tszyu a second time to prove that his emergence is more about his skillset and poise than his 6-foot-6 height.

Fundora relinquished a belt, bypassing a mandatory defense against Xander Zayas for a rematch with Tszyu. Against Tszyu, there’s a chance for Fundora to validate his place in the boxing galaxy, even at the risk of more blood.

“Yeah, why not,’’ Fundora said Thursday in a tone that suggested it would not be his blood.

The only promise from both is that their bout will steal much of the anticipated thunder from Pacquiao and Barrios.

“May the best man win, but we just don’t know who the best man is yet,’’ Tszyu said in a matter-of-fact way that says he’s willing to bleed some more to answer that

By Norm Frauenheim

Manny Pacquiao has never faced a risk he’s feared. He came to Los Angeles, then an emerging little guy yet mostly unknown Filipino, to ask Freddie Roach to train him. He beat a much bigger Oscar De La Hoya amid concern that he would get seriously hurt. He’s scored dramatic knockouts and been knocked out, face down. He’s been a Sergeant and a Senator. A Filipino street kid, he ran for President.

From canvas to celebrity, there’s not much he hasn’t seen.

Or done.

Now, he’s poised to make a comeback against Mario Barrios next week at 46-years-old, an age that poses a risk as hard to measure as any. 

Already, he’s repeated a predictable line. Age is just a number, he says. No, it isn’t. Inevitably, It takes its toll, eroding quickness and endurance, destroying tendons and timing. But it’s also sneaky. Nobody ever really knows when or how it’ll arrive to do its damage.

Much of this confrontation with risk on July 19 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand rests in Pacquiao’s ability to beat time to the punch once more. 

George Foreman did it, winning the heavyweight title when he was 45 with a knockout of Michael Moorer in 1994. Bernard Hopkins was 49 when he won his last title, a light-heavyweight belt in 2014. Foreman and Hopkins are the modern examples of what can happen, both powerful reasons to think Pacquiao will, too.

But Pacquiao — remember, he’s done it all — is also the very example of why he won’t. He lost to Yordenis Ugas in August 2021. That was four years ago. Pacquiao was 42, yet had trouble with Ugas’ Cuban elusiveness. Pacquiao lost a unanimous decision and announced his retirement a couple of days later.

I was one of the few to pick Ugas then. Ugas’ footwork and defensive skill just turned Pacquiao’s attempts to catch him into a haphazard exercise — hits-and-miss, mostly miss. It would be easy, too easy, to pick against an even older Pacquiao all over again. 

But the 30-year-old Barrios brings a different style to the ring. Against Abel Ramos last November, Barrios got tired in the later rounds. The slowing Barrios energized Ramos, who launched an aggressive body-to-head assault. In the end, the fight ended in a draw. 

Barrios kept his welterweight belt. Ramos, a tough and competent welterweight from Casa Grande south of Phoenix, deserved a rematch. Still does. But Barrios has shown no interest in a sequel.

Instead, he got Pacquiao and the paycheck that comes with it. Guess here, Pacquiao and trainer Freddie Roach have watched — and watched — the Barrios-Ramos video. 

It’s a roadmap for what Pacquiao hopes to accomplish in the later rounds against the favored Barrios. Barrios might prove to be the perfect dance partner for Pacquiao in this comeback. Call him the wise choice, and wisdom is also a part of getting old. Pacquiao and Roach have plenty of that.

There’s more: Complications in the circumstances leading up to Pacquiao’s comeback in 2021 could have compromised his chances. 

Errol Spence, the original opponent, withdrew eleven days before opening bell because of an eye injury. Enter Ugas. It was a sudden move that must have scrambled Pacquiao’s camp, forcing him to suddenly abandon much of he had planned throughout months of routine in training.

Routine, like wisdom, is also part of the aging process. It gives the aging fighter a chance to meld experience and muscle memory in preparation for the specifics he saw in Spence. The sudden switch to the comparatively unknown Ugas dropped that playbook into the spit bucket. Pacquiao fought Ugas as though he was searching, all in futility.

Against Barrios — by now a known quantity, Pacquiao figures to have an overall plan that will allow him to put his muscle memory back to work. 

Does that mean I’m picking Pacquiao? No. I just think he has a much better chance in this comeback than he had in the last one. It promises to be close, very close. In the end, the real factor is his age, a wild card risky because of the unknowns that will confront Pacquiao with unforeseen challenges, all critical to the fight’s outcome. 

Hatton plans comeback

Ricky Hatton is making a comeback? Of course, he is. Hatton, also 46, announced he’ll be back Dec. 2 in Dubai, is coming through a door left wide open by Pacquiao.

Hatton played a chapter in Pacquiao’s long legendary run. Pacquiao blasted out Hatton, sending him into a never-more orbit with a scary second-round knockout 16 years ago —May 9, 2009 — also at Vegas’ MGM Grand. Power makes its own statement and creates its own future. Pacquiao had plenty of it that night. In part, it’s what we remember about Pacquiao. In part, it’s why we’ll watch his comeback. Is the power still there?

But power is also double-edged. What it gives, it takes away. The lasting memory of Hatton is seeing the bottom of his shoes. That’s how high Pacquiao launched him with his knockout shot. Hatton fought one more time, three years later. 

But it was clear he was finished in 2012 and still should be in 2025. But he had a part in the Pacquiao show, which is about to resume for everybody who was there and still wants to be. For Hatton, hopefully there won’t be an encore.

By Norm Frauenheim

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s arrest on charges of being in the United States illegally just days after a loss to Jake Paul in an exhibition devoid of punches, energy and drama leaves questions about why he was allowed to fight despite an active warrant for his arrest in Mexico for alleged involvement with organized crime. 

According to multiple reports, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services alerted enforcement agencies about Chavez last year, saying he “is an egregious public safety threat.’’ 

Yet, he had reportedly been in the U.S. since January 4, training and licensed by the California Athletic Commission to fight Paul, a popular social-media influencer who beat him by unanimous decision in a state-sanctioned cruiserweight fight last Saturday in Anaheim

ICE agents arrested him Wednesday, while he was riding a scooter in front of his residence in Studio City. Chavez, whose tourist visa reportedly expired in February 2024, is due to appear in court on Monday. U.S. authorities are seeking to deport him, also according to multiple reports.

As of Thursday, there was no public statement from Paul about the arrest of Chavez, who has been linked to the Sinaloa cartel by law enforcement. 

Both Chavez and Paul appeared at promotional events, including news conferences and the weigh-in before the pay-per-view bout streamed live by DAZN. Paul’s company, MVP, was among the promoters.

Chavez, 39, is the son of Mexico’s most enduring boxing legend, Julio Cesar Chavez, El Gran Campeaon Mexicano —The Great Mexican Champion. There are few gyms in Mexico and the U.S. that don’t include a framed photo or rendering of the senior Chavez hanging from one of the battered walls. 

Dad was a feared champion in multiple divisions. His son is a former middleweight champion. But Junior’s boxing history is problematic, despite the powerful name, still a drawing card.

Including the loss to Paul, he’s 3-4 over his last seven fights, including a wild sequence of events that included a loss to Danny Jacobs December 20, 2020 at the Suns home arena in downtown Phoenix. 

First, Chavez had to get an injunction on a ruling against him in Nevada, which had suspended him for not undergoing all of a mandated medical exam. The injunction allowed him to get licensed in Arizona. 

On the morning of the weigh-in, however, he missed weight, coming in 4.7 pounds heavier than the contracted 168. A compromise was reached. Jacobs, a super-middleweight, agreed to fight him at a catch weight, 173. 

The fight itself, however, sparked a near riot among the crowd of about 10,000 fans, who threw beer, cups, a chair or three and other debris into the ring when Chavez quit on the stool, losing a fifth-round TKO. 

Chavez Jr. could not continue, he said, because of a broken nose and a fractured hand. A couple of days later, Chavez posted a video of himself in a hospital bed with his father at his side. 

That video was followed by another one of him celebrating at a Christmas party. The reaction on social media was predictable. There was skepticism. And more anger.

Yet, Chavez fought six more times, including the loss to Paul in an exhibition the saw him backing away and throwing few punches throughout a dreary first eight rounds. 

A few days later, he’s facing what looks to be the biggest fight of his life.

Benavidez agrees to first title defense

In a bit of a surprise, Turki Alalshikh, Prince and promoter, announced Thursday that David Benavidez will defend his World Boxing Council light-heavyweight belt for the fist time against UK veteran Anthony Yarde, sometime in November in Riyadh.

It was thought that the unbeaten Benavidez, a Phoenix-born fighter, would face Callum Smith, instead. Smith said just a few days ago that he believed there had been progress in talks with Benavidez, who was awarded the WBC belt when Dmitrii Bivol relinquished it.

It’s believed that the Benavidez-Yarde winner could be in line for a shot at the unified 175-title pound, which is expected to be up for grabs in a projected third Bivol-Artur Beterbiev fight. 

Beterbiev won the fist one; Bivol won the rematch. Alalshikh says he wants to stage the third fight sometime later this year. But there’s not been much news about talks for Bivol-Beterbiev 3. If there’s a deal and it happens in November, Benavidez-Yarde could land on the card as the co-main.

Benavidez has been turning himself into a Las Vegas attraction. His last four fights have been in Vegas. A fight in Riyadh would be his first outside of the US since a string of eight fights in Mexico early in his career.

By Norm Frauenheim

Deontay Wilder, another example of how heavyweight power frightens and fascinates, will attempt to ensure fans and mostly himself that his defining right is still there, scary as ever.

There’s a body of evidence, powerful in its own right, to doubt it. 

Doubt him. 

Wilder is 39 and coming off a couple of years when he looked a lot older. But his return to the ring, in Kansas Friday night against somebody named Tyrrell Herndon, is attracting attention.

Herndon doesn’t have a chance. At least, he shouldn’t. He’s a 37-year-old San Antonio heavyweight (24-5, 15 KOs), who is 3-0 since Top Rank prospect Richard Torrez Jr. knocked him out midway through the second round in October 2023.

Herndon, stopped in four of his five defeats, looks like the perfect springboard for Wilder’s promised resurrection in Wichita from a 1-4 record over his last five bouts, including a TKO loss to Zhilei Zhang 12 months ago and a unanimous decision to Joseph Parker in December 2023.

The promise is part of the promotion, which is calling the BLK Prime-streamed bout “Legacy Reloaded.” It’s a complicated legacy. Surprising, too. That’s why much of the media and perhaps fans are interested in Wilder’s risky comeback. 

There are stakes, of course. If Wilder does enough to at least show there’s still potential for him to regain a piece of who he was, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn is talking about a fight against faded Anthony Joshua. No telling what promoters would call Wilder-Joshua. “Past Prime Time?” Insert more punch lines here. But you get the idea.

By now, of course, it’s no secret there’s talk that Wilder is shot. 

Even old rival Tyson Fury has come around to saying Wilder should retire. Fury heard some of the same talk, all rooted in a furious trilogy that ended with Fury’s wild win by 11th-round stoppage of Wilder in October 2021. It was a fight as violent as any over the last couple of decades. Wilder was down three times; Fury twice.

In the aftermath, neither was the same. Fury fought five more times, getting a gift decision over MMA fighter Francis Ngannou and losing twice to Oleksandr Usyk in his last two. 

At first, Fury dismissed suggestions that the Wilder trilogy had taken something from him. Recently, however, he’s conceded that it did. Another big paycheck could always change Fury’s plans. He’s known to retire and un-retire at a dizzy pace and all at a price.

In recent comments, however, Fury has said that Wilder should retire for the same reason he’s still retired. They took their best from each other. Welcome inside the ring. That’s the price of admission.

Wilder, who never beat Fury, is perhaps trying to prove his old rival wrong. He insists he has gone to great lengths to re-discover the feared and fearless heavyweight he was on a run that saw him knock out his first 32 opponents.

It was extraordinary, especially for a fighter who never had been expected to do much. He wanted to play football at Alabama, the college powerhouse in Tuscaloosa, his hometown. He thought about basketball and enrolled in a junior college. But he was never a prospect on the field or on the court. Yet, he kept searching. Finally, he walked into a boxing gym. He was 20, ancient by boxing’s amateur stewards.

It was in the gym that he and trainers discovered he could throw a right hand with the kind of leverage only welterweight/middleweight Thomas Hearns had. It was deadly and dynamic. Few knew about it simply because of his age and modest entry to an old craft that has seen it all. 

Wilder, perhaps boxing’s most unlikely heavyweight champion in the modern era, went his own way, in large part because he knew no other way.

He stood alone, an unlikely American to make the 2008 U.S. Olympic team. Then, he won bronze, the only medal won by an American in Beijing. Hence, he called himself The Bronze Bomber, after Joe Louis, who also grew up in Alabama. He entered the pros and suddenly began to unleash a right as lethal as any since Hearns. 

Still, nobody believed. There were questions about his footwork, his defense, his ring smarts. Throughout it all, he continued to beat everyone in front of him until Fury, who halted his historical run with an amazing draw in Los Angeles in December 2019. Fury, the skilled boxer, fought him to a standstill, but not because of that versatile, clever skill set. Fury took the punch. Got up. Endured. 

Only, Fury was able to break the myth and in the process fracture the way that Wilder saw himself. Without the power, there was no Wilder. The draw set up the rematches, both won by Fury who had in the process stripped Wilder of his identity. Over the subsequent years, Wilder says he labored — often in desperation — to repair and restore that identity. 

Now, he insists he has. 

He told Boxing Scene this week that he hired a sports psychologist to repair  broken confidence and perhaps mend an identity crisis. Wilder’s fragile psychology has always been part of his story. 

His emotions — like that right hand — have been there, ever present and a source of who he is. 

Those emotions were also there about a year-and-a-half ago, outside of the ropes and inside a television studio for a reality TV series, The Traitors. It’s a show about friendship and betrayal. Wilder had a role as “a Friend.” But then he decided another so-called friend had betrayed him. He called him “a Traitor’’ and had him banished from the show. Later, Wilder broke down in tears and left the show before the third episode.

It was an emotional scene that fans and media had seen from Wilder throughout his boxing career, especially during the intense rivalry with Fury. A suspicious and angry Wilder alleged that Fury’s gloves had been illegally manipulated in the second fight, won by Fury in a seventh-round TKO in February 2020.

Wilder’s emotions were edgy and evident, there for all to see. It was a Mike Tyson-like moment, also a heavyweight whose mix of remembered power and emotion continue to draw an audience.

Over the years, that mix has been as genuine as it has been volatile. It’s why people watch. They might watch again Friday, just to see if Wilder has rediscovered any of what looked to be lost in fury and taken by Fury.

Benavidez Jr. under suspension for positive cocaine test

Jose Benavidez Jr., is under suspension for testing positive for cocaine  after his stoppage Danny Rosenberger Feb. 1 on the Las Vegas undercard of brother David Benavidez victory over David Morrell.

Jose Benavidez, a former junior-welterweight champion, was also assessed a $3,750 fine. The Phoenix-born fighter, no reading in Seattle, will be under suspension through Oct. 31.

It’s not clear what the suspension will mean to the 33-year-old, who is best known for taking pound-for-pound contender Terence Crawford into the final round of a challenging welterweight date — October 2018 — in Omaha, Crawford’s hometown. Crawford stopped Benavidez in the twelfth.

Benavidez (28-3-1, )19 KOs) is 1-2-1 since then. His victory over Rosenberger was changed to no-contest. Benavidez, a 17-year-old national champion as a Phoenix amateur, will have to undergo a random testing process if he hopes to continue boxing.

The positive test had been rumored for weeks. The Nevada Commission ruled on it June 20.

By Norm Frauenheim

Willy Borchert, an electrician from nine-to-five and a trainer all the time, was a builder. He built a gym. He built fighters. He built a legacy that is fundamental to a city’s enduring and evolving reputation as a fight town.

He’s gone. Borchert died this week, Monday morning, after several years of battling health issues. He was 80. No services are planned.

But the Borchert legacy is there — very much alive — throughout Phoenix, a city with deep boxing roots in neighborhoods across its sprawling landscape. Kids have been skipping rope on sidewalks in front of a downtown barber shop and sparred within corroding hoses for ropes in backyard rings for years. It’s not a game, and it never has been in Phoenix, where it’s craft and culture, a mom-and-pop tradition.

It’s still there, a gritty element in the PHX DNA, in large part because of the way Borchert and his surviving wife, Nettie, sustained it with parental care for more than two decades, throughout the 1980s and into the 90s. 

After working at his day job in the construction of Palo Verde nuclear power plant in Tonopah, Willy came home and proceeded to build an outdoor, ramshackle gym behind the Borchert home between Camelback and Indian School roads, just west of I-17.

Kids in the surrounding neighborhoods noticed. It was a refuge from the mean streets, a place to fight and a place to learn how. 

A teen-aged Louie Espinoza showed up and a few years later became the first Arizona-born fighter to win world title belts, the World Boxing Association’s 122-pound version in 1987 and the World Boxing Organization’s featherweight version in 1989.

At about the same time, in walked Johnny Vasquez, an aggressive and entertaining bantam and junior-featherweight contender who was an amateur rival to Arizona’s reigning name, Michael Carbajal, a 1988 Olympic silver medalist and the state’s only Hall of Famer. 

Carbajal had a street near his downtown home named after him last year. Vasquez called himself The Torch for the fires he set as a teen-aged arsonist. He kept the nickname as a fighter because Borchert taught him how to focus his energies for the fire that was so evident within the regulated ropes.

There was middle/super-middleweight Jesus Ernesto Gonzales, light-heavyweight Earl Butler Jr. and junior-featherweight Ray Martinez Jr., too. Borchert was a teacher, a father figure to rough kids willing to learn. Top Rank noticed, hiring Borchert to be Diego Corrales’ first pro trainer. 

Corrales, who died in a 2007 motorcycle accident, had a troubled past as a kid growing up in Sacramento. Enter Borchert. Corrales, a Hall of Famer, lived and trained at Willy’s Boxing Studio throughout 1996. He fought four of his first five pro bouts in Phoenix before going on to a Hall of Fame career that included the 2005 10th-round stoppage for the lightweight title of Jose Luis Castillo, a wildly dramatic fight which ranks among the best in boxing’s long history.

Borchert taught fundamentals.

In the ring.

And outside of it.

But it didn’t always work. Kids fight for a reason, often to just survive. Some don’t.  

In 1995, Borchert lost the kid he thought might one day be his best ever. He was Geronimo Deciga, who was eight years old when he walked into the gym with Espinoza, his boyhood hero. Deciga went on to win a national Police Athletic League title at flyweight in 1994. He was beginning to train for a jump up to 119 pounds for a bid as a leading contender for the U.S. team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. 

Within the first two weeks of 1995, however, the 16-year-old Deciga was dead, the victim of a drive-by shooting in the 3000 block of West Granada Avenue. In a story for The Arizona Republic, Borchert was heartbroken. 

“Geronimo died in the hospital on life support,’’ Borchert told me. “I put my hand on his leg. I kept thinking he’d wake up, get out of bed and start hitting the bag. I mean, he was always there, always working. But he just laid there, and I couldn’t take it. I thought I was stuck in a bad dream.

“…I don’t know if I can ever get over Geromino’s death. That’ll hurt me forever, I guess.’’

Four-and-half years later, Borchert sold the gym. He and Nettie moved on. But they were never forgotten. In any conversation with Espinoza, Vasquez, Gonzales, Butler and Martinez, Borchert’s name comes up. They’ve never forgotten what he did for them.

It’s been more than 25 years since Borchert left the gym. Left a young fighter’s corner. These days, Phoenix’s reputation as a great fight town has grown. In Phoenix fights featuring rising star Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez of San Antonio, UK promoter Eddie Hearn always mentions how much he likes the Phoenix fan base and its appreciation for the smallest weight classes. 

Phoenix fans, Hearn says, are “educated.’’

They are in large part because of the years Willy and Nettie Borchert were mom-and-pop to tough kids. Willy taught them how to fight. Nettie cooked the meals. Willy’s Boxing Studio was home for many of them. 

Over the last year, the Phoenix market has been lost in a shuffle bought on by Saudi money. But the city’s DNA will survive, meaning PHX will continue to be a destination for promoters. It stays on the map because Borchert helped keep it there.

David Benavidez, the current World Boxing Council’s light-heavyweight champion and ranked among the second five in the latest pound-for-pound debate, continues to identify himself as a Phoenix fighter, even though he lives in Miami and had been training in the Seattle area. 

He wears the PHX logo on the waistband to his trunks. In the media, he’s consistently called a Phoenix fighter. That’s no coincidence. Benavidez grew up not far from Willy’s Boxing Studio, for decades a cornerstone to a city’s reputation for producing fighters who know how to fight.

Who love to fight.

Rest-In-Peace, Willy Borchert

By Norm Frauenheim

It’s on the calendar. It’s on the Netflix schedule. It’s on our mind and in our conversations. 

Canelo Álvarez-Terence Crawford is everywhere but on the map. Las Vegas is the destination. But an intriguing fight, moved around and shopped around for weeks, was still without an address Thursday.

By all accounts, the traveling show wants to land at Vegas’ newest showcase. Allegiant Arena and its 65,000 seats beckon for a Sept. 13 fight compelling because it matches two of the biggest names from different weight classes in a bout that’ll determine the best in a passing generation. Crawford or Canelo? It’s worth watching for lots of reasons. Guess here, lots of people will.

Canelo and Crawford “will finally compete against each other in the fight of the century,” Saudi Prince and primary promoter Turki Alalshikh said in a prepared statement

There have been more than a few of those over the last decade. But you get the idea. A fight sold as the best in a century can’t be staged in a modest setting. It belongs on a big stage. The biggest. In today’s Vegas, that’s Allegiant.

What seems to be simple enough, however, isn’t. Remember, this is boxing, where it’s always hard to connect the dots. 

Here’s why: For now, Allegiant is booked on Sept. 13 with a Nevada-Las Vegas’ home football game against Idaho State. It’s been booked for that date for months. Initially, Canelo-Crawford was going to Allegiant the night before, Friday Sept. 12. But Saturday was thought to be a better fit for the size and potential impact of Canelo-Crawford, an all-time welterweight great and new junior-middleweight against a generational great at super-middle.

After talk of Dallas, Los Angeles and other locales, Vegas became the destination, mostly because of Canelo, who is coming off a dull victory over William Scull in front of a dull crowd in Riyadh on a May weekend when Canelo has traditionally entertained his Mexican partisans on Cinco de Mayo. 

Reportedly, Canelo told Alalshikh that he wanted to go back to his home away from home, this time for another traditional date celebrating Mexican Independence. Canelo gets what he wants. So, Vegas, it is.

But Canelo’s clout within boxing circles might not be there in college football. UNLV is coming off an 11-win season. It is enjoying more momentum than it has in years. Put it this way: The Rebels, who have a renewed future and a new coach in ex-Florida head coach and ESPN commentator Dan Mullen, seem to be growing into their new home. 

They drew 139,747 fans over six games last season, a 28-percent increase from 2023. By SEC standards, that’s still small, but for UNLV it’s the kind of momentum the school might not want to interrupt with a schedule change. Reportedly, Alalshikh and promotional partner Dana White are trying to get UNLV to move off the date. 

According to a lot of media reports, White, the UFC chief, is promoting his first boxing show. In classic terms, perhaps that’s accurate. But White did promote Floyd Mayweather Jr. against then UFC star Conor McGregor in August 2017 at Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. 

It was sanctioned as boxing. Mayweather’s predictable victory — a 10th-round stoppage — added a Rocky Marciano milestone to his official record, putting him at 50-and-0. White knows boxing. Knows mixed martial arts. Above all, he knows promoting.

But boxing and college football are from different cultures. Let’s just say that chaos and control might face each other at the bargaining table, if in fact UNLV is even thinking about moving out of Allegiant on Sept. 13 for a different date or alternate site against Idaho State. 

The game doesn’t figure to be a big draw early in a season full of lofty expectations for UNLV, ranked No. 23 in the Associated Press’ final 2024 poll. But college football is about routine for players/coaches and familiarity for a growing fan base.

Maybe, there will be enough Saudi money for UNLV to move off the date, perhaps to Sept. 12, the day initially planned for Canelo-Crawford. When UNLV announced its updated football schedule in May, one Allegiant game against Hawaii had been moved from a Saturday to Friday, Nov. 22 to Nov. 21.  According to UNLV’s current schedule, a kickoff time against Idaho State has yet to be scheduled, perhaps subject to television.

Amid today’s NIL — Name, Image, Likeness — revolution in college football, Saudi money might be able to secure the services of some prep quarterback seeking seven figures before he moves on to the NFL pay scale.

Then again, maybe not. 

UNLV could tell Canelo-Crawford to go somewhere else. Turns out, there is somewhere else. 

Canelo, Crawford and White could go back to T-Mobile, still available Sept. 13 and reliably familiar, yet somehow not quite as monumental as all of the promise attached to one fight.

By Norm Frauenheim

Vasiliy Lomachenko, complicated and gifted, announced on Thursday what many had expected months ago. He retired. 

Age was a factor. He’s 37. Injuries, including shoulder surgery and at last report a problematic back, were there, too. 

In the end, however, there was a growing sense that his retirement wasn’t just about the clock’s corrosive erosion of a singular skillset or even the inevitable battle with torn tendons and pain left by years of exchanging punches. 

Lomachenko landed more than he ever took. His Hall-of-Fame resume — amateur and professional — is evidence of that. But the ones the two-time Olympic gold-medalist and three-division pro champ took are the ones that leave their own permanent mark in the scars never seen on any won-loss record.

The guess here is that Lomachenko still had some big fights left in him. There was talk about Tank Davis. Fans wanted to see him against Shakur Stevenson. I would have liked to see him in a rematch against Teofimo Lopez, although it’s hard to know exactly who Lopez wants to fight anymore. Ask Devin Haney, who thought he had a reported deal this week to fight Lopez until he didn’t. I also would have liked to see Lomachenko in a rematch against Haney. 

On this scorecard, Lomachenko got handed a lousy decision in a loss to Haney for the lightweight title in May 2023. There was plenty of debate, even outrage about the 115-113, 116-112, 115-113 cards, all in favor of Haney. Some pundits acknowledged the controversy. But, they said, please don’t call it a robbery. Okay, but neither Haney nor many of his supporters called for a rematch, either.

In the fight’s immediate aftermath, there was video of Lomachenko crying in his dressing room. Then, as he walked onto the stage for the post fight-news conference, a hot mike caught his promoter Bob Arum telling him: “You won that fight easy.’’ That’s what I thought too. Then and now. After watching the fight a second and third time, this scorecard still has Lomachenko winning, 116-112.

In looking at the post-fight video, however, something else becomes even more evident, more relevant perhaps to what motivated Lomachenko to announce his retirement on social media Thursday. The fire had gone out. By the time he walked onto the stage for a post-fight newser, he was stoic. Arum was angry. He complained about a Las Vegas fight — Ukrainian-versus-American – that included three American judges. But Lomachenko remained stoic throughout the newser and the following weeks.

Only Lomachenko knows the real answer. And, perhaps, we’ll hear it some day. Still, there was a sadness about his retirement Thursday. He goes into the Hall of Fame, mostly because of his astonishing amateur record more than his pro career (18-3, 12 KOs). As an amateur, the Olympic gold medalist at the 2008 Beijing Games and again in 2012 in London was 396-1. I don’t know who beat him. But whoever you are — where ever you are — please take a bow.

As a pro, however, Lomachenko walks away amid a lingering sense that his career was somehow unfulfilled. That’s not exactly fair. But it’s there, on social media and in the minds of many. It was the stoicism in the face of the controversial loss to Haney, however, that suggests a level of resignation in Lomachenko, who did go on to fight one more time in a dominant stoppage of George Kambosos at Perth in Western Australia.

There just wasn’t much he could do about it. There was also his complicated relationship with his country, Ukraine, then and still now in a brutal war with Russia.

After years of fighting along Ukraine’s eastern border, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion February 2022.  At the time, Lomachenko was attempting to move up the scale from featherweight and junior-lightweight to lightweight. He had fought for his country in the Olympic ring, but there were increasing complaints in social media that he wasn’t fighting for his country in a desperate war. He had appeared in a photo in fatigues as part of a territorial defense battalion for his hometown, Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, a port city in southwestern Ukraine.

But fellow Ukrainians were skeptical, mocking the photo as a public-relations stunt. The criticism grew and — by all accounts — it’s still there. 

It’s a story, best told by journalist/author Sean Nam:

It’s a brilliantly reported story about country, war, religion, patriotism and a fighter with a skillset that has been compared to Muhammad Ali and Roy Jones Jr. I read the long piece, published a year ago, again after getting the news about Lomachenko’s retirement. It’s fair to now wonder if he decided to walk away from the ring because of the pressures he felt — and may still feel — at home. The ring must have felt like a very small — irrelevant — place after the Haney loss. 

Lomachenko cried, but maybe for something a lot bigger than another controversial decision in the boxing business. 

Late last year, Lomachenko’s manager Egis Klimas gave some credence to talk that Lomachenko’s passion for boxing had been extinguished. Klimas confirmed that there were questions about whether the motivation was still there.

In Thursday’s post, Lomachenko talked about his faith and about how he had grown over the last few years from a prideful young man. He thanked his father. He thanked his fans. But, still, there was a stoicism from a man created by conflict within the ring and perhaps changed by a bigger one at home.

By Norm Frauenheim

It wouldn’t exactly be a rematch. Let’s just call it a sequel, Slap 2.

It’s been all but inevitable ever since Caleb Plant slapped Jermall Charlo nearly three years ago in perhaps the biggest slap since Will Smith delivered an open-handed right to Chris Rock’s face at the 2022 Academy Awards.

Neither Smith nor Rock got an Oscar for that one. There was just an apology from Smith and a ready supply of punch lines for Rock’s stand-up rivals. They called it Slapgate, The Slappening and The Slap Heard Round The World. Social-media went slap-happy. Yet, there was no sequel.

But this is boxing where one good slap always sets the stage for another. That’s exactly what a card featuring Plant against Armando Resendiz in the main event and Charlo against Thomas LaManna Saturday in Las Vegas is all about. It’s supposed to be the sequel for later in the year. 

Plant confirmed as much Thursday at a final news conference and throughout the days before first bell at Mandalay Bay on a card streamed live by Amazon Prime.

“I’m going to fight two times this year,’’ said Plant, a former International Boxing Federation super-middleweight champion who will be fighting for the second time since his dramatic scorecard loss to Phoenix-born David Benavidez in 2023, also in Vegas.

When asked if Charlo was the planned opponent for the second fight, Plant said:

“Yes, as long as he takes care of business.’’

On a card with both Plant and Charlo heavily favored, Charlo is the key question. Nobody knows what to make of the former middleweight champion, who last fought an undersized Jose Benavidez Jr. — David’s older brother. Charlo won easily, but only after failing to make weight in November 2023. Charlo came in several pounds heavier than the limit. Sources told 15 Rounds/The Boxing Hour that Charlo paid Benavidez $75,000 for every pound he was over 160.

Charlo, one of boxing’s most prominent prospects a decade ago, has had issues outside of the ring, all of which have fans and pundits wondering about his readiness for an always-prepared Plant. Throughout much of Thursday’s live stream of the newser, both Plant and Charlo appeared to be respectful. There were a few glares. There might have been a couple of words. But not a single slap.

The slap that ignited the rivalry happened after the Terence Crawford-Errol Spence weigh-in July 28, 2023, the day before Crawford’s defining welterweight victory at Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. Plant and Charlo ran into each other in a nearby parking lot. They began to exchange insults. Then, Charlo, Plant said, began pulling on Plant’s beard amid an escalating torrent of obscene insults. That’s when Plant countered, delivering the slap that has generated most of the questions this week.

Those questions are no surprise, at least not for Plant, who addressed them to reporters after the formal portions of the newser.

“I’ve been prepared,’’ said Plant, who returns to the ring more popular than ever after a solid stoppage of Phoenix super-middleweight Trevor McCumby last September on a card featuring Canelo Alvarez’ victory over Edgar Berlanga. “I knew this would happen. I’m on my mark, completely focused on my next opponent. But I also knew that everybody would be asking questions.’’

Charlo knew they were coming, too. Thursday, he mocked LeManna, who was quick to counter with some of his own pointed mockery. LaManna, Charlo said Thursday, was only there because he put him there. Charlo promised to knock him out if he made a mistake or got too close. Other than that, Charlo dismissed LaManna as only an opponent for the beginning of a comeback.

“I need to get some rounds in,’’ Charlo said. “It’s been a while, you know.’’

Charlo also confirmed Plant’s plans beyond Saturday.

“We got bigger things in the future,’’ he said.  

Yes, Plant said.

“We’ve definitely got unfinished business,’’ Plant said in a tone that suggests he’s anxious to slap a finisher onto this rivalry.

By Norm Frauenheim

Staying busy and staying relevant are a couple of fundamentals, both of which will be at the top of Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez agenda on a jammed July 19 when he re-acquaints himself with his Texas fans in a bid to further define himself as boxing’s only Super Fly in a 115-pound unification bout.

Rodriguez won’t exactly have the stage to himself. In a forever balkanized game further fractured by feast-or-famine scheduling, Rodriguez’ will be scrambling for attention on a day when heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk will defend his undisputed title in a rematch against Daniel Dubious at London’s Wembley Stadium and 46-year-old legend Manny Pacquiao will attempt another comeback in his first bout in four years against welterweight champion Mario Barrios in Vegas. 

The mid-summer triple-header is happening amid uncertainty surrounding the whereabouts of the much-hyped Terence Crawford-Canelo Alvarez spectacle,  which at last report is penciled in — keep your eraser at the ready — for September 13 instead of Sept. 12.

As of midday Friday, there was still no announcement of a new location, which originally had been the Raiders home field at Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium. The silence is deafening. Also bewildering, unfair to fans and fighters. Then again, it’s also business as usual, which is to say it’s still a mess.

The good news is that none of it seems to bother the business-like Rodriguez, whose skillset includes just about everything other than distractions bought on by feuding promoters or social media’s trash-talk. 

Simply put: Bam does his job. He did it in a devastating response to non-stop taunts from Sunny Edwards, whom he put on the canvas in a defeated heap in a Phoenix suburb in December 2023. He did it again, this time in response to doubts about his youth and experience against accomplished Juan Francisco Estrada, whom he stopped with a tactical masterpiece last June, also in Phoenix. 

The victory over Estrada launched him into another category. It put him into the middle of the pound-for-pound debate, outside of the Naoya Inoue-Usyk-Crawford perch, yet still within striking distance. 

Staying there — as well as busy — is the task on July 19 when Rodriguez attempts to add the Word Boxing Organization’s 115-pound version of the title to his collection in Frisco TX, about 300 miles up I-35 from his home in San Antonio. 

Rodriguez is fighting somebody named Phumelela Cafu, a South African who will be fighting for the first time in the United States. 

Other than a stunning upset — a debatable split-decision over Kosei Tanaka last October in Japan for the WBO belt, the 30-year-old Cafu (11-0-3, 8 KOs) is unknown. That’s what makes him dangerous. That’s also why many will be watching Usyk-Dubois and Pacquiao-Barrios instead. But that’s also business, something Rodriguez (21-0,14 KOs) has also shown he understands.

Rodriguez is coming off a year when much of his momentum in the wake of his triumph over Estrada has stalled. It’s not his fault. But that, too, is business.

It started when Estrada decided not to enforce a rematch clause. He said he was moving up in weight. Truth is, it was more like moving away. Estrada simply didn’t want to fight Rodriguez again. 

It sent a message, first to Ramon Gonzalez, the best known name in the lightest divisions. Rodriguez’ management couldn’t talk Gonzalez into a fight.

Then, there’s Fernando Daniel Martinez, the World Boxing Association’s 115-pound champion. After Martinez took the WBA title from Kazuko Ioka with a unanimous decision in Japan a week after Bam stopped Estrada, there were reports that there were talks of a unification fight with the Argentine. 

Then, however, Estrada announced he didn’t want the rematch and Gonzalez declined to fight Rodriguez. Instead of Rodriguez, Martinez opted for a rematch with Ioka, which he won by another unanimous decision, again in Japan May 11.

There were other circumstances, still it’s beginning to look as if Rodriguez is a contender for Most Avoided, a title nobody wants. Ask Phoenix-born light heavyweight champion David Benavidez, who futilely chased Canelo Alvarez for years and now is hoping for a real shot at some validation of his World Boxing Council belt in a first defense against the Dmitrii Bivol-Artur Bivol 3 winner.

For Rodriguez, Martinez continues to loom as a possibility. But Benavidez, who was given the WBC belt when Bivol acceded to promotional demands and agreed to a third Beterbiev fight, looms as an example of what he and every other avoided fighter must do no matter what happens:

The job.

Rodriguez, who easily scored a stoppage of Pedro Guevara in support of a Jaron Ennis-featured card in Philadelphia in November, fights on, this time in search of a belt that might give him some leverage with promoters, networks and — above all — fans.

A year ago, there was talk of Rodriguez against Inoue, who is coming off a dramatic stoppage of another San Antonio fighter, Ramon Cardenas in Vegas May 4. Then, Bam-versus-The Monster was a Dream Fight. Still is, but the talk has subsided. 

Inoue, undisputed at junior-featherweight and facing a risky date against Murodjon Akhmadaliev Sept. 14 in Japan, is still talking about a move to featherweight, despite suffering an early knockdown against Cardenas at junior-feather. Inoue’s decision figures to be made by how he does against the dangerous Akhmadaliev.

Even then, however, an all-Japanese fight awaits, Inoue against bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani, who has been training in Los Angeles for a 118-pound unification bout against Ryosuke Nishida June 8 in Tokyo. 

The good news for Rodriguez is that Nakatani continues to say he wants to fight Bam. Nakatani trainer Rudy Hernandez set the stage for one by calling out Bam this week during a media workout at LA Gym.

“Junto beats Bam, 100 percent, within six to eight rounds,’’ Hernandez told The Ring. “We’ll knock him out. I am confident about it, but that’s my opinion. It’s not personal.

“It’s business.’’

Bam’s business, too.

By Norm Frauenheim

Few great careers are complete without a risky comeback or two and, sure enough, 46-year-old Manny Pacquiao is poised to made a second one six weeks after he’s inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

What has been rumored for weeks became official Thursday with an announcement from a Pacquiao spokesman that he’ll face welterweight champion Mario Barrios in his first bout in four years on July 19, probably in Las Vegas.

Why? 

Why-oh-why? 

The question is little bit like a comeback. It’s almost — thank you, Marvin Hagler — inevitable, even if a good answer rarely is.

Pacquiao, boxing’s only champion to win belts in eight different divisions, fought and lost a unanimous decision to Yordenis Ugas in his first comeback August 21, 2021 in Vegas. Mostly, that loss is remembered for his emotional, compelling post-fight news conference. He spoke like a statesman.

The next day, he formally announced his retirement in video posted on Facebook.

“Goodbye boxing, thank you for changing my life,” he said then.

Hello boxing, he said Thursday.

Plans have been in the works for awhile. Thursday’s formal news was preceded by online books posting opening odds earlier this week. That’s always a pretty good bet that a rumored fight is a done deal. Pacquiao is picked to lose to the 29-year-old Barrios, a San Antonio welterweight who opened as a minus-500 favorite. 

I’m only hoping for odds that Pacquiao doesn’t get hurt. That’s the only bet I’d make.

In an interview with Sean Zittel after the fight was announced Thursday, trainer Stephen “Breadman” Edwards said it best. 

Said it for us all.

“I don’t want to see a legend get hurt,’’ Breadman said. 

Too often, however, it’s the risk that sells, and this one figures to sell very well on a busy July 19 that will include heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk-Daniel Usyk 2 at London’s Wembley Stadium and super-flyweight champ Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez in a title unification bid against Phumelela Cafu in Frisco, TX, a Dallas suburb. Reportedly, the Pacquiao-Barrios card will also include Sebastian Fundora-Tim Tszyu 2, a terrific rematch.

But much of the attention will be on Pacquiao, who is just the latest example of how celebrity is a lot more durable than a chin or foot speed. 

Against Ugas, Pacquiao, then 42, looked every bit his age. Perhaps, his power — always the last thing to go — was still there then. 

And now. 

In 2021, however, he was never able to land much of a telling blow against Ugas, a slick fighter and former Olympian educated in Cuba’s elusive style. Barrios, the World Boxing Council’s 147-pound champion, looked vulnerable against Abel Ramos in a surprising draw last November on a card that drew worldwide interest because it featured aging Mike Tyson against Jake Paul. Tyson couldn’t move his feet or his head any more, either. 

Ramos — an aggressive fighter from Casa Grande, south of Phoenix — wore down Barrios, taking him into the final rounds with stubborn pursuit and quick reflexes. Ramos, who deserves a rematch, is 33, 13 years younger than Pacquiao.

That brings us back to the beginning: 

Why?

Why-oh-why? 

Pacquiao, who will be formally inducted to the Hall in Canastota NY June 8,  is as good a story as any. He’s been a people’s champ. Perhaps, The People’s Champ in a boxing history endlessly compelling because of them. 

He was a forgotten kid who fought his way out and off a third-world country’s poorest streets and into the hearts of his fellow Filipinos. 

He transformed himself into a worldwide celebrity, popular enough to become a Filipino Senator and even a Presidential contender. Politics cost a lot of money. Pacquiao— generous to a fault, if that’s possible — has been known to give away much of what he made in the ring to the poorest Filipinos. He bought meals, homes and fishing fleets.

But even the people move on, and now there are signs that has happened to Pacquiao, too. He failed in his second run for a Senate seat. It was announced Wednesday in the Philippines that he did not get enough votes to finish among the top 12 candidates for the Senate’s available seats. 

Pacquiao, the Federal Party’s nominee, finished with 10,208,499 votes, leaving him in 18th place overall. Turns out, he went from 18th in Filipino politics to fifth in the WBC’s welterweight ratings. But that’s a different story for a different day.

The question here is about money. Does Pacquiao have to fight to pay his political bills? We’ll never really know. At heart, he’s still a fighter, still the name that captured hearts In the Philippines and everywhere else. 

Maybe, he’s back just because he wants to re-live the ring moments that made him so captivating. But he doesn’t have to. His legacy is safe, no matter what happens on July 19. Forever, he’s a genuine legend.

That’s why, as Breadman says, we don’t want him to get hurt. 

By Norm Frauenheim

From weird to wow with a futile stop that was a waste of time, it was a weekend ride from gutter to great. 

For a forever fractured sport, there was reason for the usual abolitionists to say it’s dying, dead all over again. Then, there was a sudden resurrection of the stubborn resilience fundamental to a game always at its best when it’s getting up and off the deck.

Hate it or love it, it was all there in a postcard look at a journey that started in Times Square, not far from Madison Square Garden. Ryan Garcia lost and cried, Devin Haney was forgettable and Teofimo Lopez set himself up for a better day. Tank Davis, who is coming off a draw to Lamont Roach Jr, wasn’t there at all. 

They fought as though they would have been a lot more comfortable, if not more effective at the famed Garden, which — like author George Kimball’s original Four Kings (Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran) — emerged from it all with legacies very much intact. 

Then, there was Riyadh and super-middleweight Canelo Álvarez on the road to a September 12 date with former all-time welterweight great Terence Crawford at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium. 

It was perceived to be a tune-up, Maybe, that’s all it was. If so, it should have happened behind closed doors instead of in front of a live-stream audience. There are more exciting sparring sessions in neighborhood gyms than what we saw in Riyadh. Maybe, Canelo was careful not to reveal anything in his decision over William Scull. Or, maybe, there’s just not much left, other than his restored undisputed title. 

Whatever it was, it left a question, a lingering one. Perhaps a damaging one, too. Throughout 12 rounds, there were persistent signs of a decline apparent for a couple of years. From a promotional standpoint, a quick knockout of Scull would have worked. It would have dispelled doubts about Canelo. 

But now they persist, all them fueling skepticism about whether Canelo and Crawford can ever fulfill escalating expectations.

The good news is, yes, they can. 

The proof was delivered on the weekend’s final stop, Las Vegas, where Naoya Inoue and Ramon Cardenas delivered a performance that had it all. 

There was a Rocky moment followed by that up-and-off-the-deck display of grit, which was then complemented by a poised, thorough execution of skill. 

Inoue’s eighth-round stoppage of the unlikely Cardenas in the Sunday curtain-closer to a Cinco de Mayo triple-header was a timely answer to all of the doom and gloom left by the Times Square and Riyadh exhibitions.

There’s no telling whether it’ll be Fight of the Year. A lot of factors go into that one. From this corner, however, it’s already the Most Significant Fight in this year and maybe a few others. 

Above all, it’ll keep some fans in their proverbial seats, at least for awhile. If Inoue-Cardenas had resembled the prior two nights in any way, another erosion in the fan base might have followed.

Inoue-Cardenas reminded us why we watch. Why we’ve been watching. 

It started with Cardenas, a likable San Antonio junior-featherweight who didn’t have any illusions about why he was there. He was the designated opponent for Inoue, heavily favored in what looked like a pound-for-pound campaign stop in his first American appearance in about four years.

But Cardenas promised Inoue a fight. He also said he wasn’t there just to collect a paycheck, which looked to be the only motivation in Times Square and Riyadh.

Cardenas’ proof was delivered by a short left hand that dropped Inoue hard in the second round. Japan’s rising son was dazed — in as much trouble as he been in his otherwise brilliant career. Luis Nery dropped him early, but not with the same concussive power. 

There have been a lot of questions about Inoue in the days since last Sunday. Above all, the knockdown is a reason for Inoue, now 32, to abandon his plans to move to featherweight, up the scale from 122 pounds to 126. He’s been knocked down twice in his last four bouts.

“As long as I can make weight at this division, I will stay in this division,’’ he said after breaking down and stopping Cardenas at 45 seconds of the eighth.

The Cardenas’ knockdown has also been interpreted as a developing vulnerability in Inoue. Maybe.

Maybe, he gets knocked down again by Murodjon Akhmadaliev in Japan on Sept. 14 in another opportunity to make a pound-for-pound statement just a couple days after Canelo-Crawford. 

Thus far, however, a solid case can be made that Inoue is at best at the very moment he appears to be at his most vulnerable. 

Throughout his brilliant 30-0 career, most of the attention has been on Inoue’s comprehensive skillset. Fair enough. But he’s proving to be special because of the way he addresses adversity. 

He fought back from a fractured eye socket, suffered in the second round, in a 2019 unanimous decision over Nonito Donaire. He got up from a first-round knockdown and scored a sixth-round stoppage of Nery in May 2024. Don’t be surprised if gets up, all over again against the left-handed MJ.

Boxing is all about adversity. It’s about getting up. In the here and now, nobody does it better than Inoue, a little guy with unerring instincts and knowhow, both more than enough to keep fans in the seats and him at No. 1 in the pound-for-pound debate. 

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS — It was supposed to be the Naoya Inoue show. In the end, it was.

But the script took an unlikely turn produced by an unlikely fighter, Ramon Cardenas, who for a few seconds looked as if he had pulled off his own Rocky moment.

Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs), an unknown and unheralded San Antonio junior-featherweight, damn near stole the show Sunday night on ESPN.

He didn’t. In the end, Inoue prevailed, doing what he and everybody in a roaring crowd at T-Mobile Arena believed he would. He scored

an eighth-round TKO of Cardenas.

But he had to get up to do it. Cardenas had been portrayed as a bit player in Inoue’s first trip to America in four years. He was there, on the stage a little bit like a punching bag. He was supposed to be part of a planned showcase of Inoue’s dynamic skills.

But apparently Cardenas didn’t read the script. He had his own role to play, and he delivered his opening line in the second round.

He put Inoue down with a left hand. Inoue, who had also been down against Luis Nery, suddenly appeared vulnerable. He was dazed. The crowd was stunned. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum must have been squirming.

This was a moment not in the script.

It was also a moment that said something about Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), still the junior-featherweight division’s undisputed champion. Actually, he said it himself.

“I like to brawl,’’ Inoue said.

Good thing he does. If he hadn’t, he might have lost his prominent place in the pound-for-pound debate.

The brawling proved to be Inoue’s survival instinct. He got up, walked slowly to his corner, and slowly, yet stubbornly, began to break down Cardenas.

“I knew after the second round, I could not get caught by his left hand again,’’ Inoue said. “I didn’t.’’

Instead, he began to measure distance and range. From the third through the fifth, he began to catch Cardenas, who continued with punching exchanges that echoed throughout T-Mobile.

Espinoza retains featherweight title with seventh-round stoppage

He’s a singer. And fighter.

The beat went on for Rafael Espinoza Saturday in the final fight before the Naoya-Ramon Cardenas main event at T-Mobile Arena.

Espinoza stayed unbeaten, hitting every tune and pounding an incoming Edward Vazquez like a drum for six plus rounds for a seventh-round stoppage in a solid defense of his World Boxing Council featherweight title.

The game Vazquez was simply too small for the rangy Espinoza, who entertained the crowd after his with quote and a couple Mexican ballads.

In the opening round, a bulldog-like Vazquez flashed his trademark aggressiveness dodging in, out, under and around Espinoza’s huge advantages in height and reach. 

As the round ended, Vasquez (17-3, 4 KOs), a Mexican-American from Fort Worth TX, brought the crowd to its feet when he backed up Espinoza (27-0 23 KOs), putting the defending champion on the ropes.

In the third, however, it looked as if Vasquez had lost some of the bounce in his feet, allowing Espinoza to to plant and put leverage into his height and reach. He began to catch Vazquez with repeated head-rocking blows.

It was more of the same in the fourth. 

And the fifth. 

Vazquez looked dazed as he walked wearily to his corner after the fifth. Retired Mexican great Mexican great Marco Antonio Barrera, who has been working with Espinoza, smiled  from his ringside seat.

Within a couple of rounds, Barrera could cheer. At 1:47 of the seventh, it was over, Espinoza a TKO winner.

Rohan Polanco dominates, scores excision over Maidana

Too much power. Too many jabs. Too much strength.

Rohan Polanco had too much of everything, overwhelming Fabian Maidana on the Naoya Inoue-Ramon Cardenas card at Mobile Arena.

Polanco (16-0, 10 KOs), a ranked welterweight contender from The Dominican Republic, did all of the stalking in the early moments, repeatedly backing Maidana (24-4, 18 KOs) into the ropes with a jab that was as precise as it was long.

For the next couple of rounds, Maidana looked for a way around, under, that jab. But there was no path through Polanco’s stubborn defense. In the fourth, Madana stepped forward. 

But Polanco was there with a push instead of a punch. Maidana fell flat on his rear end. It was not a knockdown. But it was a sure sign that Polanco was just stronger. In the sixth, a weary Maidana began to slow down. 

Polanco noticed. He smiled, almost mocking Maidana. Then, he unloaded a succession of body blows. It was just a matter of time, Still, Maidana held on, surviving a 10th-round knockdown. A body blow put him on hands and knees. 

Seconds later, there was the inevitable defeat — 100-89 on all three scorecards, a one-sided loss to Polanco.

Photos by Mikey Williams/Top Rank

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS — Naoya Inoue stood on the scale like a politician on the bully pulpit Saturday in his first American appearance in about four years for a bout that looks a little bit like a campaign stop in his bid to gain pound-for-pound supremacy.

Pound-for-pound is nothing more than debate, after all. It’s about gaining supporters and knocking out lingering doubts.

Inoue is expected to do both against likable, yet little-known junior-featherweight challenger Ramon Cardenas, a massive underdog  who insists he’ll prove to be more than a mere prop Sunday in Inoue’s defense of his undisputed 122-pound title at T-Mobile Arena.

“More than anything, I want people to see something they haven’t been able to see yet in the U.S,” Inoue said through an interpreter before he safely made weight, coming in under the junior-featherweight-limit by a slim tenth-of-a-pound, 121.9, also a tenth-of-a-pound heavier than Cardenas.

Those are bold words. Terence Crawford, an all-time welterweight great and America’s best practitioner of the sweet-science craft, is surely planning to introduce a couple of counter arguments of his own in a planned move up to the scale against Mexican super-middleweight Canelo Alvarez later in the year. 

On Sunday, however, Inoue, Japan’s rising son, will have the bully pulpit all to himself in what will be the four-division champion’s 25th successive title defense. 

Inoue’s dominance of boxing’s lightest weight classes has been thorough and reliable, so much so that it’s become expected, if not somewhat forgettable. 

It’s not, of course. In part, Inoue can reawaken America’s impatient, quick-to-forget audience with a showcase exhibition of a skill set still sharp, comprehensive and dynamic as any.

“I’m very motivated to fight in front of an American crowd in a big arena like this, but because it’s during Cinco de Mayo weekend, it feels like I’m playing an away game,” Inoue (29-0, 26 KOs) said a day before the ESPN-televised bout. “So, I don’t know what to expect.”

He can expect skepticism, much of it planted by rival promoter Eddie Hearn, whose noisy criticism of Inoue’s recent string of opponents probably factored into Inoue’s agreement to fight Murodjon “MJ” Akhmadaliev, a feared Uzbek and a former bantamweight champion, next September in Tokyo. 

Against Cardenas, there’s a chance to get an updated look at Inoue and how he might withstand a risky challenge from a dangerous Akhmadaliev.

If there are flaws in Inoue, Cardenas hopes to be the first to expose them.

Opportunities like this don’t come around often, so I had to jump at it,” said Cardenas (26-1, 14 KOs), a 29-year-old San Antonio fighter and Akhmadaliev’s stablemate. “I’ve been mentally preparing to fight Inoue for a long time. I knew I’d eventually get a big fight if I kept winning. And here we are — a shot at the undisputed champion of the world.

“This is Inoue’s first fight in America in four years, so I know he’s motivated to show out. I’m prepared for the very best version of Naoya Inoue.”

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS — Naoya Inoue’s pound-for-pound campaign resumes Sunday in a return to America  against Ramon Cardenas in a T-Mobile Arena fight he calls a good “platform” to exhibit his skillset enroute to a significant September date against Murodjon Akhmadaliev. 

On Friday, Inoue confirmed an announcement on social media from promoter Eddie Hearn that he has an agreement to fight Akhmadaliev later in the year. 

Inoue told reporters that the agreement, announced on X early Thursday, was “written in stone.” According to a Boxing Scene story published on Thursday, Inoue-Akhmadaliev is planned for Sept. 14 in Tokyo.

It looks as if only Cardenas has a chance to rewrite what looks to be indelible. But it’s not much of a chance. Cardenas has power. The likable San Antonio junior-featherweight has poise. According to prohibitive odds, he also has virtually no chance, which also means he has nothing to lose. But he’s here, he says, to perhaps write his own name in stone. An upset of Inoue would do that. Money, Cardenas said, is not his motivation.

“I’m not here to collect a paycheck and that’s what makes me dangerous,” he said Friday during a formal news conference at the MGM Grand.

For Inoue, now 32, the bout looks to be a chance to re-awaken American fans to his comprehensive collection of skill. From power to precision, it’s all there, swift and deadly.

“The ideal situation is to show the American fans my boxing and win with a knockout,” he said through an interpreter at Friday’s news conference. “But more than anything, I want people to see what they haven’t been able to see yet in the U.S.”

Inoue was asked if Cardenas reminds him of any fighter he’s faced. That’s a tough question. said Inoue, who is in a three-way race with heavyweight Oleksandr Usyk and former welterweight great Terence Crawford for the top spot in the pound-for-pound debate.

“Cardenas is a very well-rounded fighter,” Inoue said.”And I think it’s a good platform to show my boxing skills.”

In part, Cardenas is an interesting opponent for Inoue because of his relationship with Akhmadaliev. They’re stablemates at trainer Joel Diaz’ Boxing Academy in Indio, a hot spot in the California desert between Phoenix and Los Angeles.

For Akhmadaliev and fans, how and what Cardenas does against the dynamic Inoue could provide a good look at what might happen in September.

By Norm  Frauenheim

Naoya Inoue has heard the criticism, and it looks as if he has answered with news Thursday from rival promoter Eddie Hearn, who announced on social media that he has a “done deal” for Inoue to fight Murodjon Akhmadaliev.

Hearn, Akhmadaliev’s promoter, said he had an agreement in a message on X Thursday, a few hours before Inoue’s scheduled arrival at the Las Vegas’ MGM Grand for a fight Sunday against Ramon Cardenas at T-Mobile Arena.

There was no immediate confirmation of the agreement from Inoue, the Japanese star who first has to beat Cardenas before he can move on in his quest for pound-for-pound supremacy.

However, Boxing Scene reported a date and place — Sept. 14 in Tokyo.

Inoue, ripped by Hearn for a string of weak opponents, is expected to beat Cardenas. He’s a massive favorite over the San Antonio junior-featherweight. According to some on-line books, Inoue is a 50-to-1 favorite.

Buster Douglas was  a bigger underdog against Mike Tyson in Inoue’s home country in 1990. Douglas, a 42-1 underdog,  stopped Tyson, also in Tokyo, in one of the biggest upsets in any sport.

Translation: It happens, which is perhaps one reason to watch Inoue against Cardenas on an ESPN-televised card scheduled to follow the Los Angeles Dodgers — featuring Japan’s biggest star, Shohei Ohtani — against the Atlanta Braves.

Above all, the reported agreement could heighten interest in Inoue-Cardenas in the curtain-closer to a busy Cinco de Mayo triple-header beginning Friday at Times Square in a New York card featuring Ryan Gracia, Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez.

On Saturday, the weekend’s second chapter plays out with Canelo Álvarez against William Scull in Saudi Arabia for the undisputed super-middleweight title.

Scull, a Cuban living in Germany, might have a better chance than Cardenas. But not by much. Canelo is a 30-to-1 favorite, according to books.

For Canelo, the bout versus Scull is thought to be a tune-up for his projected fight against former welterweight great and newly-minted junior-middleweight Terence Crawford.

Canelo-Crawford also is expected to happen in September, although a specific day has not been reported. There’s been no reported site either, although Las Vegas and Los Angeles have been mentioned. 

If in fact Canelo-Scull is a tuneup, it won’t be the only one this weekend. Inoue against Cardenas would be the second in Hearn’s announced plan for a showdown with Akhmadaliev, a former undisputed champion at bantamweight.

For Inoue, it’s an intriguing tune-up, a many-sided fight that includes an opportunity for him to deliver another combination. https://theboxinghour.com/2025/04/25/naoya-inoue-back-in-the-usa-with-a-chance-at-the-final-say/

Inoue, who is known for his masterful execution of combos, will have the weekend’s final word and perhaps an opening statement on what happens next.

By Norm Frauenheim

Naoya Inoue, whose masterful combinations keep him at the top of the pound-for-pound debate, is back in the United States for the first time in nearly four years this week on the first stop of an itinerary that will give him the last word and perhaps an opening statement.

It all adds up to another Inoue combo, one perfectly timed to reaffirm his claim on the pound-for-pound’s mythical crown. It’s no coincidence, perhaps, that Inoue is planning to deliver a convincing one-two just a few weeks after he turned 32. Inoue, who celebrated the birthday on April 10, is in his prime, yet it’s a prime entering a late stage. On his career path, now is the time to punctuate an unbeaten, four-division title run with a string of dominant performances.

It all begins next weekend with an intriguing Cinco de Mayo triple-header. First, there’s Times Square Friday (May 2) on a New York card featuring Teofimo Lopez, Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia, all three in almost desperate fights to resurrect their pound-for-pound aspirations. Then, there’s a chance Saturday (May 3) to see what Canelo Alvarez still has against William Scull in Saudi Arabia in a perceived tune-up for his projected September showdown with Terence Crawford.

Then, there’s the curtain-closer Sunday (May 4), Inoue — with his pound-for-pound credentials very much intact — against Ramon Cardenas at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. There are loud complaints about Cardenas, just as there were about everybody else beaten by Inoue over the last couple of years. No surprise there. In part, it comes with the rare pound-for-pound real estate occupied by Inoue these days.

But the complaints also are one way to explain Inoue’s astonishing superiority. He’s just been a hell of a lot better than anybody since stopping Nonito Donaire in a 2022 rematch. From this corner, the complaints about Inoue’s opposition sound a lot like those lodged against Crawford, who alongside Inoue and heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk is at the top of the pound-for-pound race. 

Crawford was just a heck of a lot better than anybody he faced, especially at welterweight. That, after all, is why Crawford, who has fought once at junior-middle, is jumping up two weight classes to face Canelo, undisputed at 168 pounds.

But that won’t stop the skepticism. And it shouldn’t. Pound-for-pound contention comes with a burden of proof. Inoue, after all, is a 50-to-1 favorite to beat Cardenas, according to some online books. Buster Douglas had a better chance at beating Mike Tyson in 1990 in Inoue’s home country. Douglas, a 42-1 underdog, beat Tyson in a monumental upset in Tokyo. Maybe, that’s a reason we should watch Inoue-Cardenas. But don’t bet on it.

In his first appearance in the U.S. since a third-round TKO of Michael Dasmarinas in June 2021, however, complaints about Inoue-versus-Cardenas miss what the Cinco de Mayo three-step is really all about. 

From New York to Riyadh to Vegas, it’s a stage-setter. Depending on what happens in Canelo-Scull, the weekend heightens the stakes attached to Crawford-Canelo. In New York Friday, a strong performance by Teofimo, or Haney, or Garcia in Times Square could generate some pound-for-pound time for one or all three in the evolving debate.

In the end, however, the guess here is that Inoue will get the biggest say-so. He’ll use a one-sided blowout of the unfortunate Cardenas to amplify his pound-for-pound claim. Then, he’ll pursue the proof to that claim by moving on to the bigger names promoters, pundits and fans are demanding.

Former junior-featherweight champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev, possibly in September, and unbeaten bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani, also of Japan, in December were mentioned during Inoue’s public workout Wednesday at Westside Boxing Gym in Los Angeles. Beyond that, there’s hope for a dream fight, Inoue against super-flyweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez.

“I don’t know if I’ll make it back to No. 1 with this fight, but with September, December and next year … I hope to get back with those fights,” Inoue told reporters through an interpreter at his media workout. “I’m really looking forward to it. I know it is a legendary day for boxing.’’

A good day for another combo, too.

By Norm Frauenheim

It was a different Ryan Gracia than the one who shocked, outraged and frightened throughout a long-running social-media ride to hell-and-back a year ago. He was composed, thoughtful. There was even a hint of humility. Was it real? Will it last? 

Those are questions only Garcia can answer as he resumes a career interrupted by the craziness that surrounded his date with Devin Haney, a fight preceded by Garcia chugging a beer on the weigh-in scale and one that turned into a virtual accident. It’ll be exactly a year this Sunday, Easter Sunday, since a bout that  included a positive PED test, suspension, lawsuit, reported settlement and repeated denials. The hangover, framed by the questions, lingers.

There were no simple answers last April. There were none this April at a public workout in San Diego Thursday a few weeks before Garcia answers an opening bell for the first time in more than a year May 2 against Rollie Romero in Times Square, about eight miles of roadwork through New York traffic from the scene of his last ring appearance against Haney at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

Garcia, who is coming off a year-long suspension for testing positive for Ostarine, was calm. But will that prove to be only the calm before another storm? The answer to that one rests in what is about to transpire before a card that figures to get more attention for where it is than who is on it. 

For Garcia, it’s a tuneup. For Haney, it is too. He’s scheduled to fight Jose Carlos Ramirez. Teofimo Lopez will also be there in a defense of his junior-welterweight title against Arnold Barboza Jr. Hopefully, the weather will include only punches and no rain. 

“Looking to get the rust off,’’ Garcia said to a circle of reporters before a live-streamed workout at BXNG Club in Oceanside.

Looking to get some answers, too.

Garcia made some news Thursday, repeating that he had an interest in fighting welterweight champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis, the acknowledged best at 147 pounds today. He also mentioned Mario Barrios and Brian Norman.

“I’m excited, but do I want to fight somebody else that would make me feel more like a champion?’’ he said. “Whoever the champions are …any of those guys. I will win the word championship if I beat any of those guys.’’

But, mostly, the Friday night card — the first in a Cinco de Mayo triple-header  including Canelo Álvarez-William Scull Saturday in Saudi Arabia and Naoya Inoue-Ramon Cardenas Sunday at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena — is thought to be a steppingstone to a Garcia-Haney rematch, which is projected for a day in October. The planned sequel is full of immense potential to settle a lot of differences still there after Garcia’s three-knockdown beatdown of Haney in bout later changed to no-contest because of the PED positive.

“I want the Devin Haney rematch, 100 percent,’’ said Garcia, who has virtually disappeared from the wild social-media presence he occupied a year ago. “I need it and I’m going to do it for USADA this time. I want the Devin Haney rematch so bad. I really want it. There’s some personal bad blood there but it’s not going to overrule me but it’s got some extra oomph in there, you know, when you’re fighting and put it on him even more. 

“Then you got Bill’s (Haney’s father and trainer) crazy antics, and he’s constantly talking nonstop, and that makes me want to put a whooping in a little bit more. This is an opportunity to do it again, and I think after that, I’ll put a stamp on that and move forward.”

Garcia’s mention of USADA — a drug-testing agency — is a reference to the Ostarine controversy. Garcia tested positive twice for the substance — an anabolic agent, according to drug testing and New York State Athletic Commission. 

But he denied it after the fight. And he denied it again Thursday.

“I did a lot of things, but for me it was more mental,’’ Garcia said. “Everything was mental. It took a toll on my mentality, because I know I didn’t take steroids or anything like that.

“It was tough for me to overcome that, but throughout the year I got over it, re-focused myself, and got blessed with this opportunity.’’

This time, Garcia denies it without any of the angry histrionics that were there for weeks after the fight.  A year later, Gracia says it a matter-of-fact tone.

Still, it was an acknowledgement that Garcia knows what a lot of people are thinking. Hall of Famer and ringside analyst Roy Jones Jr, expressed it in an interview this week with AKHi TV, a You Tube boxing network. Jones gives a Haney a chance to win the rematch.

“If you (don’t) knock him out when you’re illegal, how you gonna beat him when you’re not illegal?’’ Jones is quoted as saying.

For Garcia, there’s only one opportunity. Only one answer. First, there’s Romero. Then, there’s the projected rematch.

“I felt that this is my chance to come back and show everybody I can really fight,” he said.

By Norm Frauenheim 

It’s not exactly the transaction David Benavidez wanted. Benavidez, an instinctive fighter, was hoping to exchange blows for an undisputed title. Instead, he exchanged light-heavyweight belts in a move that was more about process than punches. It didn’t earn him a purse, but it didn’t cost him a sanctioning fee either.

In acronym-speak, Benavidez got “elevated,” from interim to champion without throwing a single jab in a move that was about as elevating as filing taxes. Few fans care, mostly because not much happened in a World Boxing Council shuffle that saw Benavidez move into a title relinquished by Dmitrii Bivol in about the time it takes to send a text message. 

Only when Benavidez elevates a challenger into mid-air with a furious succession of combinations will anybody really care. Maybe, that happens against Callum Smith. Or Anthony Yarde. Until then, however, Benavidez is confronted by skepticism already attached to what fans dismiss as an e-mail title. But don’t blame Benavidez, who understands the inevitable doubts.

“This is not ideal,’’ Benavidez posted on social media in response to a shuffle before a scheduled purse bid last week.

It’s decidedly not. 

But it’s not surprising, either. 

There had been plenty of talk about Bivol-Benavidez instead of a third Bivol-Beterbiev. Benavidez’ growing fan base is impatient, frustrated that Canelo Álvarez continues to say no to their demands for a fight with Benavidez. The Canelo possibility, if there ever was one, looks to be slim-to-none. But the fans’ impatience for Benavidez in an undisputed showdown has followed him up the scale to light-heavy.  

Nevertheless, it was pretty clear that Bivol-Beterbiev 3 would happen — probably this fall — at the moment Prince and promoter Turki Alalshikh  waved three fingers in the immediate aftermath of Bivol’s rematch victory — a majority decision — over Beterbiev Feb. 22 in Riyadh. 

There are reasonable questions about whether the third will be any different than the first or second. Bivol is a slight favorite to win the trilogy fight. But a draw might be the best bet. They are 1-1, each winning by majority decision by identical scores — 114-114, 116-112, 115-113. If there’s a draw in the third, will Alalshikh  wave four fingers? A fourth fight would only heighten the impatience among Benavidez fans.

For the Phoenix-born Benavidez, the good news is that he has a belt that gives him some leverage in potential negotiations with Matchroom-promoted Smith or any other 175-pound challenger. Still, I’m not sure the WBC did Benavidez any favors when the acronym handed him the title. Then again, it’s not as if the WBC did him any favors during his time as the so-called interim champion at 168-pounds. 

That was supposed to lead to a mandatory shot at Canelo.

It didn’t. 

But a Canelo-Benavidez fight was never ordered. There was no purse bid, no threat to strip Canelo and “elevate” Benavidez. Remember, Canelo gets what he wants. It’s the perk that comes with his celebrity and pay-per-view numbers. Now, he has a rich five-fight deal with Alalshikh. 

First, he’ll fight William Scull in a perceived tuneup on the first Saturday in May in Riyadh. Then, there’s the projected date against Terence Crawford, the all-time welterweight great who is coming up from 154 pounds for a 168-pound date in September. After that, who knows? Let’s just say there’s no mention of Canelo-versus-Benavidez. 

There’s been speculation among fans and media that the WBC moved Benavidez into the light-heavy vacancy left by Bivol in part because it wanted to make up for what it didn’t do at super-middle. Maybe. 

The real devil in the fine print, however, appears to be lurking in a looming battle created by Saudi money. In addition to signing Canelo, Alalshikh  bought The Ring, a century-old publication with a trademark name and its own championship belts.

A couple of years ago, the WBC’s Mauricio Sulaiman dismissed The Ring-sponsored titles. The Ring, he said, was just a magazine. But don’t tell that to Alalshikh. He carries The Ring belt around as though it’s permanently attached to one shoulder. Bivol, the man in the middle, relinquished the WBC belt because Sulaiman and Alalshikh left him no reasonable option.

Bivol has a deal with Alalshikh, who underwrote the first two fights with Beterbiev, according to promoter Eddie Hearn. He had a belt with Sulaiman. What would you do? Take the paycheck or keep the belt? Stupid question.

Sulaiman told ESPN Knockout that Bivol had an $8-million offer to fight Benavidez. He said the Bivol offer for a third Beterbiev fight was $2.7-million. The real numbers are impossible to know. It’s not as if the Saudi contracts are public record. 

Even if the numbers are close, however, it’s safe to guess that Bivol sweetened his purse by choosing Beterbiev instead of Benavidez — who according to Benavidez — dominated Bivol in sparring a couple of years ago.

Benavidez, also caught in the middle, got the consolation prize, a belt — a trophy — that comes with a burden of proof. He has yet to fight for it. 

Like Benavidez said, it’s not ideal. But Benavidez is 28. Beterbiev is 40. Bivol is 34.

Longterm, it is ideal.

Ideal for Benavidez.

By Norm Frauenheim

Canelo Álvarez and Terence Crawford will share a ring and not much else on a projected day in September. In part, the differences are what make their planned fight so intriguing. 

Canelo has a documented advantage on the scale and perhaps another one among fans. Shifting odds, reported here last week https://www.15rounds.com/2025/03/30/canelo-crawford-interest-builds-as-odds-continue-to-favor-canelo/, suggest the public increasingly favors Canelo.

Then, there are the intangibles, hard to define, nonetheless there on social media in a tireless debate that only figures to get noisier by multiple octaves. 

It’s a fight with a genuine chance to remind us that legacy — rendered irrelevant by overuse — can still mean something. Put it this way: Canelo, bigger and wealthier, is fighting to preserve his; Crawford, smaller and less popular, is fighting to guarantee his own. 

It’s not that simple, of course. It never is amid the inherent chaos sure to happen before any conflict. It’s messy, a drama expected to exasperate and entertain. But the stakes are there, clearcut in a fight between two of the best in their generation. A younger one is emerging. Canelo-Crawford represents a passing-of-the torch, that last major bout for fighters who’ll reunite in Canastota NY at a Hall of Fame induction in about five years. The winner of this one can claim to be the best of his day. In a time that will be remembered for a risk-to-reward ratio and fights that didn’t happen, it just doesn’t get much better than that.

On the scale and their resumes, we know the differences. Crawford is unbeaten at 140, 147 and 154 pounds in a reign that includes undisputed titles at junior-welter and welterweight. Canelo has lost twice, going upscale from 154 to 160, 168 and 175 pounds. 

At 168, it’s safe to argue that nobody has ever been better than Canelo. At 147, there’s an argument that Crawford could have been an all-timer, among the best in the fabled welterweight division, good enough to perhaps be a fifth king in the four-sided rivalry so powerfully captured by the late George Kimball in his book, Four Kings, about Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns.

The respective arguments are there, an inseparable part of what is also at stake.

For now, Crawford and Canelo enter the ring with only one thing in common: A victory over Amir Khan. On paper, at least, the Khan fights settle nothing. Both Canelo and Crawford scored sixth-round stoppages over Khan, Crawford winning by TKO in April 2019 at welterweight and Canelo by KO in May 2016 at a 155-pound catchweight.

Crawford knocked down and nearly knocked out Khan in the first round. But the fight ended in controversy. After an apparent low blow, Khan’s corner said he could not continue. Canelo simply overwhelmed Khan in the sixth walking through his punches and knocking him unconscious. Yet, Khan was competitive in the early rounds. 

At the time of stoppage, Canelo trailed, 47-46, on one card. He led 49-46 and 48-47 on the other two. 

Other than the low blow, there was no argument about the scoring for Crawford-Khan. At the time of stoppage, Crawford was on his way to a runaway decision — 49-45, 50-44, 49-45.

In the buildup to Canelo-Crawford, the scorecards figure to be part of the story, an item in the debate. But the two fights were separated by three years. Khan was a different fighter in each. So, too, were Canelo and Crawford, now at the end of their primes. Canelo is 34. Crawford will be 38 on Sept. 28.

In the end, however, there will be a parallel that will further the intrigue and perhaps set the stage for what follows. Floyd Mayweather Jr., a dominant face of the generation before Canelo-Crawford, looms as a significant point of comparison.

Canelo has fought him, losing a decision in 2013 that proved to be a lesson and a milestone for the business-like way Canelo turned himself into boxing’s biggest pay-per-view draw over the next 12 years. Crawford has not fought Mayweather and presumably never will. 

Since Crawford’s singular display of welterweight brilliance in a stoppage of Errol Spence Jr. in July 2023, fans and media wonder at how Crawford, a dynamic finisher at welterweight and still unbeaten, would have done against Mayweather, who retired unbeaten as one of history’s greatest defensive fighters. We’ll never know.

But Canelo-Crawford — who wins and how it happens — figures to produce documented history and an intriguing look about how different eras compare. That’s real legacy. 

By Norm Frauenheim

Date and place remain uncertain, but exploding interest in Canelo Alvarez-versus-Terence Crawford six months before a projected opening bell is already evident in the noisy debate on social media and shifting numbers in the betting line. 

The social-media noise will continue, ad nauseam. But it’s the betting line, an early poll of sorts, that is showing a shift of public opinion toward Canelo. 

Canelo opened as a slight favorite, minus-190. But the odds, the dollars, are moving toward Canelo during the weeks since an 11th-hour deal was struck with Saudi Prince and promoter Turki Alalshikh on Feb. 7. 

This week Canelo is at minus-230. Translated, that means there’s a 66-percent chance he wins a fight as intriguing as any for a bout expected to happen in September in either Las Vegas or Los Angeles. 

The early odds figure to change more, especially during the first Saturday in May when Canelo is expected to reunify the super-middleweight title against International Boxing Federation belt-holder William Scull, a Cuban living in Germany, in a perceived tune-up in Riyadh. 

Canelo figures to win easily, but how easily will be a key factor going into the fight against Crawford, a four-division champion and an all-time welterweight great who is moving up two weight classes.

Increasingly, there’s social-media talk that the smaller, more skillful Crawford can beat Canelo. But the shifting odds say something else. There’s an old line: In a fight between two good fighters, bet on the bigger guy. For now, that’s Canelo. 

According to the latest odds update, Crawford has a 33 percent chance at springing one of the biggest upsets since Manny Pacquiao, then a lightweight champion, jumped to welterweight and scored an eighth-round stoppage of Oscar De La Hoya in December 2008.

Pacquiao weighed in at 142 pounds. De La Hoya, who came down from junior middleweight, was at 145 at the official weigh-in. It looked as if De La Hoya had weakened himself in the battle to make weight. Pacquiao overwhelmed De La Hoya late in the eighth, forcing him to quit before the start of the ninth.

Canelo, already known to tire in the later rounds, won’t have to weaken himself on the scale. According to the agreement, he’ll be at his customary weight, 168 pounds at the weigh-in the day before opening bell. 

It’s up to Crawford, who fought and won a belt at junior-middle (154) in his last bout, to add pounds. The question is how that will affect Crawford, who unlike Canelo does not have a fight scheduled before the projected September bout.

If Crawford can carry the additional weight without draining his endurance or eroding the dynamic resilience in his varied skillset, he’s got a real chance. Canelo has never faced anybody with Crawford’s quicksilver ability to adjust, including a seamless move from orthodox to southpaw and back. 

At 37 — he’ll be 38 on Sept 28, Crawford’s feet might not move with the agility and speed that they did when he was at lightweight and junior-welter. 

If, however, Crawford withstands Canelo’s early power, carries the weight and carries himself into the later rounds, there’s a chance he catches a tiring Canelo with counters from angles the powerful Mexican has yet to see.

On the scale of intangibles, the edge goes to Crawford. There’s charisma in his defiance. Motivation, too. Underdog will be the perfect fit for Crawford in his pursuit of big money and genuine legacy. 

It’s not as if Crawford is coming into what might be his last fight seeking a gigantic payout against a Jake Paul or a Conor McGregor. He’s taking on perhaps the biggest challenge possible against a bigger man, Canelo, who goes into the fight more than just favored.

Canelo is supposed to win. There’s pressure in that role, but it’s one Canelo understands better than any fighter in his generation. 

He’s learned how to counter it and how to use it throughout the years since a milestone scorecard loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September 2013. If social media and shifting odds are any indication, that pressure is just beginning to build.

Best bet:

It’s going to be a hell of a fight.

LAS VEGAS  –It’s beginning to look as if everybody at junior-middleweight is looking up at Sebastian Fundora.

Fundora continued to establish himself as more than just the tallest fighter in the division. He’s also its biggest player, a two-belt champion with a clear path to a chance at winning two more.

“I’d love to be the undisputed champion,” said Fundora (22-1-1 14 KOs), who further secured his place at the top of the 154-pound weight class with a dominant fourth-round stoppage of Choredale Booker (23-2, 13 KOs)  Saturday night in a Prime Vision bout at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena.  “Whoever they have for me next, I’ll be ready. I want the IBF champion Bakhram Murtazaliev, plus Xander Zayas is the WBO mandatory. I also want Errol Spence Jr. We have two belts, we have to defend them, and if anyone is willing to unify, let’s do that too.”

Fundora, a 14-1 favorite, left Booker with very little chance at springing an upset. Booker appeared to be confused by  Fundora’s unusual height. He’s 6-foot-6.

“He’s so big,” Booker said, ” that it really doesn’t matter where he’s at in the ring. With every step, he’s covering a lot of ground.”

Booker simply could not escape Fundora’s NBA-like dimensions. He was always there, ready to block any of Booker’s shots. Meanwhile, there was Fundora’s reach, long and dangerous.

The most immediate threat to Fundora’s two belts — the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization — appears to be Zayas.. The Purto Rican emerged as a leading contender Friday after Terence Cawford relinquished his interim title, which represents a so-called mandatory challenge. It was no coincidence that Zayas was at ringside Saturday. There’s already talk about a Fundora-Zayas bout — Mexican American versus Purrto Rican — in New York.

“I”d love it in New York,” Zayas said. “But I’d go to the moon to fight him.” 

Jesus Ramos scores TKO, possibly puts himself in line for Fundora

Jesus Ramos moved forward and ever closer to shot at a major junior-middleweight title Saturday with poise and patience in a stoppage of Mexican Guido Emmanuel Schramm Saturday.

In the end, it was a powerful statement.delivered by a 24-year fighter from Casa Grande, Ariz. 

The message: Ramos (23-1, 19 KOs) will let neither defeat nor injury stand in his way. 

In his third straight victory since a lone loss to Erickson Lubin, Ramos overcame a hand injury, stopping Sscramm with an overpowering succession of punches at 1:38 of the seventh at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena.”I had some obstacles.,” said Ramos, who might have put himself in line for a shot at the 154-pound titles retained by Sebastian Fundora in a fourth-round stoppage of Choredale Booker Saturday night in title bout after his victory.”I hurt my hand in the third round, but I battled through it. I made a promise, so I had to get him out of there.

“Overall, I felt good. I did what I wanted. I wanted to get him out of there a little earlier, but he’s a warrior. Everything was working, almost too good. That’s where I hurt my hand and I backed off a bit. It was hurting a lot so I kind of boxed a little bit.

“I was joking with my dad that my previous opponent had stopped Schramm so how could he stop him and I don’t? I’m ready for anybody at 154.”

Schramm (16-4-2, 9 KOs), of LOs Angeles, simply didn;t have the strength to keep Ramos off of him. He complained about the stoppage. But if it hadn’t come in the fourth, it would have happened later. It was inevitable.

“I thought the referee stopped the fight prematurely. I was withstanding Ramos’ shots and countering just fine. I wasn’t exposed or defenseless, I just closed up big in order to counter.

“Ramos was dominating, but it was anybody’s fight since I was also hurting him with my shots. I have to let my hands go more and not allow this to happen again. Bring anybody on. I’ll be back and eager to face the best once again.”

“It was hard to get the finish. He has a lot of heart and he displayed it tonight. I tip my hat to him, he’s a great warrior. Hopefully now I can get the winner of the main event next.”

Elijah Garcia win controversial split-decision over Gausha

Elijah Garcia escaped what would have been a devastating loss Saturday, scoring a controversial split decision over Terrell Gausha

In a desperate fight to avoid a second straight loss, Garcia, a 21-year-old Phoenix middleweight, had to get up from a first-round knockdown. Suddenly, it looked as if Gausha might knock the promise out of  Garcia’s future. A crisp right hand sent Garcia, head over heels, onto the canvas. Garcia got up and smiled almost in resignation. He knew perhaps, that the next nine rounds could forever fracture his aspirations.

In the end, he survived, perhaps with consistent aggression and solid body shots. In his won-loss record, it goes down as a victory. But controversy lingers. By definition, a split decision is an argument. 

Judges Don Trella and Zachary Young scored it for Garcia. It was 99-94 on Trella’s card. Young scored it, 96-93. 

On Chris Magliore’s card, it was 95-94 for Gausha. 

The judges’ cards appeared to reflect the unofficial scoring along press row and among the fans at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena. It was split. Some booed. Some cheered. Some scratched their heads in confusion.

“People can think what they want,” said Garcia (17-1, 13 KOs), who had veteran trainer Bob Santos in his corner for the first time. “I went in the ring and fought my ass off against an Olympian. He’s only lost to world champions, and I went in there and beat him. He’s very experienced, very crafty. He was able to do some things that he wanted, but I figured it out as time went on. Whoever thinks I lost, whatever. I won.

“I figured after he dropped me that was the hardest I was going to get hit. I prepared for it 1000%. I don’t control the judges. My job is in the ring. It was a little closer than I thought. For the most part, I controlled the fight. It was a good experience. I am ready for the next one. I never turn down the fight. I’ll fight anybody.”

Like the judges and the crowd, Gausha had a different opinion about what happened. He thought he won 

“I just thought I did what I had to do.,” said Gausha (24-5-1, 12 KOs), a 37-year old fighter and 2012 Olympian who has fought and lost for a world title twice. “The decision is unfortunate, but all I can do is try to regroup and get better.”

After the first-round knockdown, Gausha appeared to steal several rounds with a lury of clean shots in the waning seconds of  subsequent rounds. He repeatedly caught Gracia with uppercuts. But Garcia’s sustained aggressiveness impressed Trella and Young often enough for him to bank a narrow win, a pivotal one that keeps his career on track.

Freddie Rojas wins unanimous decision

It was awkward. Sometimes ugly. But it was also predictable.

Las Vegas welterweight Freddie Rojas did what he had to, scoring a unanimous decision over Maurice Lee Saturday in the final fight before the Prime Video portion of the card featuring Fundora-Booker at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena.

Mostly, Rojas had to stay unbeaten. Mission accomplished with a scorecard victory that pushed his record to 15-0, 13 victories by stoppage. Lee, of Woodland Hills CA, fell to 16-2-2, six victories by stoppage

Alberto Mora wins unanimous decision

Alberto Mora’s skill set included the kind of precision and patience that count on the scorecards.

Sure enough, it was on the cards that Mora (13-0, 10 KOS) , a junior-lightweight from Mexico City, won a one-sided decision –80-72, 77-75 and 80-72 — over ViktorSlavinski (15-4–1, 7 KOs), a Los Angeles fighter who always seemed to be one step and several points behind in the sixth bout of the Fundora-Booker card Saturday

Robert Guerrero Jr. wins quick stoppage

He’s the son of a legend. He has a name that creates impossible expectations. Robert Guerrero Jr., son of a former featherweight and junior-lightweight champion, began to show he might be able to live up to some of them Saturday.

Guerrero (6-0, 3 KOs) wasted little time, scoring a second-round stoppage and staying unbeaten in a lightweight blowout of Sam Armas (6-2, 3 KOs, of Pomona CA, on the Fundora-Booker card. Guerrero controlled the ring and the pace with an authority that was a sure sign of some merging maturity. 

A Junior no more.

POW, Brayan Gonzalez wins TKO

Brayan Gonzalez wore pink into the ring.  Across his trunk’s waistband, it said:

POW.

It was more than a message. The POW was real, delivered at the end of a lethal left hand in a Gonzalez fourth-round stoppage of Justin Marquez on the Fundora–Booker card Saturday at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena.

Gonzalez (3-0, 2 KOs), a junior-lightweight from Phoenix, found his range and target early and often against Marquez (5-2, 4 KOs), a Stockton fighter who struggled to mount any kind of counter

De La Certa wins bantamweight blowout

Alexis De La Cerda had power in his hands. Speed in his feet.

Combine the two and the potent mix was just too much for Sharone Carter, who found himself down and done in a third-round bantamweight blowout in the third bout on the Fundora-Booker card Saturday.

De La Certa (6-0, 4 KOs), of Federal Way WA,  dropped Carter (14-9-1, 3 KOs), of Saint Louis, early in the third and then again in finishing flurry in the final second of the round

Ezequiel Duran gets up to stay unbeaten

is said to be a prospect.

But he had to prove it. He had to get up.

Duran (5-0, 2 KOs) did, displaying a prospect’s chops in a sixth-round stoppage of Canadian Joseph Brown (4-1, 3 KOs) in the second bout on a card featuring Fundora-Booker Saturday. Brown, a rugged junior-middleweight from Vancouver, dropped Duran with a hard shot midway through the fifth.

Duran, of Amarillo TX, quickly rose to the occasion with an aggressive response. He moved forward, throwing punches at a whirlwind rate that forced Brown into a sudden retreat. Duran’s relentless pressure continued in the sixth with a succession of punches that left Brown defenseless and done at 1:54 of the round.

First Bell: Body-shot KO opens the show

The seats were empty. Only an echo filled the building. 

Jursly Vargas produced it, delivering a thundering body shot for a fourth-round knockout of Uhlices Avelino-Reyes in the opener Saturday to a card featuring junior-middleweight Sebastian Fundora’s first title defense against Chordale Booker. Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena

Vargas (5-0, 4 KOs), a stocky lightweight from Rotterdam, worked  inside Aerlino-Reyes’ long, lanky reach. In the third, Vargas’ body blows began to hurt Avellino-Reyes (3-2, 2 KOs), of Omaha. In the fourth, the matinee was over when Vargas landed a nasty uppercut that dropped Avelino-Reye to his knees in the final second of the round.   

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS — For Sebastian Fundora, the view is unobstructed. 

Maybe, even undisputed.

At 6-foot-6, Fundora, a junior-middleweight with NBA dimensions, already has two pieces to the 154-pound puzzle, both of which he is expected to retain in an interesting challenge from Chordale Booker Saturday on Prime Video at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena.

Fundora’s possible path to undisputed was cleared of a challenge Friday with news that Terence Crawford will relinquish his World Boxing Organization title, a so-called interim belt. Crawford’s decision is significant on multiple levels. Above all, it is a sign  that Crawford intends to retire after his looming date with super-middleweight champion Canelo Álvarez in September.

Since a spectacular  stoppage of Errol Spence in July 2023, Crawford, a four-division champion and an all-time welterweight great, has never shown interest in fighting Fundora or anyone other than Canelo. At 37, it looks as if he’s seeking a big-money goodbye to his brilliant career. His lone appearance at junior-middleweight, a narrow decision over Israil Madrimov in Los Angeles in August, was seen as a move — the penultimate bout in his career – toward the big paycheck against the bigger Canelo.

Crawford’s decision Friday prompted the WBO to recommend in a social-media post that Puerto Rican Xander Zayas step up in the ratings and into the challenger’s role for one of the titles Fundora will defend for the first time Saturday.

“Anybody,’’ Fundora told reporters Friday after tipping the scale at 152.8 pounds in a staged weigh-in at a crowded ball room at Mandalay Bay. “Whoever it is. Zayas, Crawford. We’re ready for all of them.’’

Fundora said he has seen Zayas fight a couple of times.

“It would be a good fight, a good Latin fight,’’ said Fundora, who hasn’t fought since he took the two belts from a bloodied Tim Tszyu in a split-decision stunner last March.

At 27, Fundora (21-1-1, 13 KOs) looks to be comfortable and in control at 154. He made weight easily, coming under the limit Friday by more than a pound. He’s a 14-to-1 favorite over Booker, who has an interesting back story. For Booker, the ring is a refuge from trouble. In 2010, he was an 18-year old facing a possible 13 years in prison on multiple gun charges and one charge of possession with intent to distribute.

He wound up spending three years on probation, a sentence that included a message: Change. He did. An improbable victory over the heavily-favored Fundora would mean even more change.

“It would change my life,’’ said Booker, who was at 152.6 pounds Friday in front of a crowd that included family and friends. “I’m extremely confident.’’

It’s a confidence he says he found in his first real training camp. For years, he would spend time in the gym only when he could find time away from his 40-hour-a-week jobs.

“This was the only training camp I’ve had in my time as a professional fighter,’’ Booker said. “There’s no pressure. Only my family and friends think I can win. Everybody thinks I’m going to get killed. But I’m here to show what I can do.’’

Whatever happens, he’s already done plenty.

NOTES: Jesus Ramos (22-1, 18 KOs), of Casa Grande AZ, has been mentioned as a possibility for Fundora if — as expected — Fundora beats Booker. Ramos sat next to Fundora at a news conference Thursday. “Definitely,’’ Ramos said when asked about the possibility. “I’m happy to be here, next to him, so I can get a chance to see how tall he really is,’’ Ramos said. “But, first, I have to win this fight.’’ Ramos was at 155.8 pounds Friday. He faces Mexican Guido Emmanuel Schramm (16-3-2, 9 KOs), who was at 154.6 pounds. …Phoenix middleweight Elijah Garcia (16-1, 13 KOs) comes off his only loss in a pivotal test against former Olympian Terrell Gausha (24-4-1, 12 KOs). Garcia was at 159.6 pounds; Gausha 160.2. 

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS — They sat next to each other like neighbors at one end of the table, linked by geography and the promise that comes with youth. Elijah Garcia and Jesus Ramos are from Arizona, which these days has become a place known for young fighters.

Aggressive fighters.

Ambitious, too.

“I’m here to get better,’’ said Garcia, a 21-year-old middleweight who shares a prominent spot alongside Ramos Saturday on a Prime Video card featuring junior-middleweight champ Sebastian Fundora against Chordale Booker at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Arena.

Getting better sometimes means starting anew. That’s where Garcia (16-1, 13 KOs) finds himself in a fight to reset the table — re-assert his evident potential — against former Olympian Terrell Gausha (24-4-1, 12 KOs) in Garcia’s first fight since a his lone loss eight months ago to Kyrone Davis.

There are always questions about how a fighter reacts to his first defeat. It’s a portal, a test, that few fighters avoid. Unbeaten is unlikely. But dealing with defeat, confronting and overcoming the adversity, is often a true measure of a fighter’s future. Ramos, seated next to Garcia at the AZ end of the table Thursday during a news conference, already understands that. 

Ramos (22-1, 18 KOs), who faces Mexican Guido Emmanuel Schramm (16-3-2, 9 KOs) in a junior-middleweight bout Saturday, has already passed through the portal, scoring successive stoppages over Johan Gonzalez and Jeison Rosario after his lone loss to Erickson Lubin in September 2023. 

“The loss was a blessing in way,’’ said Ramos, a 24-year-old from Casa Grande. “Losing led to a lot of work at getting better all of the time.’’

Ramos talks about the loss as though it is part of the lesson plan for a young fighter. Perhaps, it is. Garcia, who grew up in Phoenix and has a ranch in Wittman, is about to find out. The plan is eight-months long. He left his family and his ranch, moved to Las Vegas and began to work under the guidance of veteran trainer Bob Santos.

Garcia’s life has changed. His corner has changed. His father, George Gracia, had trained him. HIs dad will still be there Saturday, but as the cut man, Elijah said.

“My dad was great,’’ Elijah said. “He got me here. Bob Santos has been there. He is all about winning. Winning, winning, winning.’’

Over the eight months, Garcia said he has developed a strong relationship with Santos, who once trained beloved two-time champion Robert Guerrero.

“For eight straight months, my life has been all about boxing, only boxing,’’ said Elijah, who wore an Arizona Diamondback’s cap and a Wittman T-shirt. “There have been no kids, no ranch. Just boxing. Like I said, I’m here to get better.’’

In Gausha, Elijah Garcia faces a fighter who is 16 years older than him. At 37, Gausha, a US Olympian at the 2012 London Games, has fought for a major title twice, losing both times. Carlos Adames scored a unanimous decision over him last June for a 160-pound belt. He lost a decision to Erislandy Lara for a 154-pound belt in 2017. 

“I respect him,’’ Garcia said. “He’s a good fighter. I could have said no. But I need to fight a good fighter to get better. I’ve got to get better to be a world champion, and that’s always been my dream.

“I had a loss. But that loss is behind me. I can’t do much about it right now. I just have to move on.’’

Start anew.

By Norm Frauenheim –

David Benavidez says he wants to be the Face of the Game. He might have to wait on that one too. 

That’s not his choice. Patience, after all, isn’t exactly a virtue in boxing, which has been defined by the pursuit of paydays ever since prize and fighting became one word. But it’s an inescapable factor in the ongoing emergence of Benavidez. 

He waited on Canelo Álvarez, still to no avail. 

Now, he waits on Dmitrii Bivol.

The current round in the waiting game isn’t exclusive to Benavidez. For now, it’s the state of a game waiting on changes Saudi money has brought. 

And bought. 

There’s talk of moving beyond ruling acronyms and a crazy collection of belts named everything but irrelevant. There’s an agreement for a new league, TKO, although nobody seems to know exactly how that one will be much different than any other acronym.

Nearly a month ago, Benavidez was at ringside in Riyadh for Bivol’s narrow rematch decision over Artur Beterbiev. Benavidez was there as the potential next, the so-called mandatory challenger, for the winner after his solid scorecard victory over David Morrell Feb. 1 in Las Vegas.

Mandatory has been attached to Benavidez’ name for years now. He was in that role, the World Boxing Council’s mandatory at super-middleweight, throughout his futile pursuit of a date with Canelo, undisputed at 168 pounds in everybody’s opinion other than than one acronym, the IBF (International Boxing Federation). 

But mandatory didn’t mean much then. It was never enforced, simply because Canelo’s celebrity and pay-per-view clout comes with prerogatives. Canelo, who intends to re-claim the IBF belt against William Scull during the first weekend in May in Riyadh, fights whoever he wants to.

Benavidez moved up the scale and away from Canelo, in part to create his own career and mostly because he didn’t have much choice. At 28 years old, Benavidez is just getting bigger, perhaps big enough to one day fight at heavyweight.

Whether the move from super-middle to light-heavy changed the meaning of mandatory, however, is still anybody’s guess. 

In the wake of Bivol’s majority decision, the WBC did what it did not do at 168 pounds. It ordered Bivol to defend his 175-pound title against Benavidez, a consensus pound-for-pound pick for the first time since beating Morrell. 

But Saudi Prince and promoter Turki Alalshikh, whose bankroll is redefining boxing’s expectations, announced in The Ring — his new acquisition — that he was not interested. 

That much seemed to be clear at the moment Bivol’s narrow rematch victory was announced. Alalshikh waved three fingers, meaning — of course — that a third Bivol-Beterbiev fight was next. In the wake of the WBC order, however, he said in a somewhat tense declaration that he would not bid on Bivol-Benavidez.

What followed was predictable, perhaps even inevitable in this age of disinformation. There was a social-media report that negotiations for Bivol-Benavidez were underway. That proved to be news to both Benavidez promoter/manager Sampson Lewkowicz and Bivol manager Vadim Kornilov.

Lewkowicz called the report “fake news.” Believe him. After Benavidez blew out ex-middleweight David Lemieux in a third-round beat-down in May 2022 at Glendale, AZ, just a few miles of road work from the Phoenix streets where Benavidez grew up, Lewkowicz told 15 Rounds that talk about a Canelo fight was “fantasy.” It still is.

Then, Kornilov told journalist Dan Rafael of Fight Freaks that there was nothing to reports about Bivol-Benavidez. Bivol was with his family, Kornilov said, resting from a busy stretch that included the majority-decision loss to Beterbiev and the rematch victory, all within five months — October and then February.

In the days after Bivol won the rematch, fans took to social media, calling for Bivol to skip a second rematch with Beterbiev. First, they wanted to see Bivol-versus-Benavidez. It’s a fair opinion, but that’s all it is. Saudi money figures to decide this one. Bivol-Beterbiev 3 looks to be next.

The guess is that a third Beterbiev-Bivol fight will be as close as the first two were. Both were decided by identical scores. If the trilogy fight is a draw, will Alalshikh wave four fingers? A fourth fight for the 40-year-old Beterbiev? 

It’s not clear what that might mean for Benavidez, who already is being mentioned in a possible fight against Callum Smith. Then again, it might mean more of the same.

He’s still waiting, which on one level makes him the only relevant Face of a changing game. Waiting is the only mandatory these days.  

By Norm Frauenheim

Canelo Álvarez, who has never fought anywhere outside of the Western Hemisphere, arrived in New York Thursday, the first step in a journey that will lead him to answer his first opening bell somewhere out of the Americas.

Canelo is not exactly going global. He’s already introduced himself to the world with world-class wealth generated by the rock-and-roll power in his combinations. That beat — beatdown — figures to continue in Saudi Arabia during the first weekend in May against somebody named William Scull, a Cuban with a belt, mostly anonymity and virtually no chance.

At least, the oddsmakers don’t give him one.

His chances at beating Canelo are at 30-to-1. Odds were better that somebody in the audience Thursday knew who Scull was when he arrived at Radio City Music Hall for the newser. Scull wore a red cap, glasses and no name tag. He could have used one. He could have been a tourist looking for a slice of pizza for all anybody knew. Come to think of it, a hungry tourist in New York might have as much of a chance at upsetting Canelo in Riyadh. 

The stakes, after all, are huge in a brand new, four-fight Saudi deal that is supposed to begin with a tune-up, a set-up for a captivating September showdown, super-middleweight Canelo against all-time welterweight great and newly-minted junior-middleweight Terence Crawford at an NFL stadium.

Canelo, a careful pro in the ring and on the stage, didn’t want to talk about Crawford when asked if the Scull fight could risk the projected biggie.

“We don’t have a fight in September,’’ Canelo said during the live-stream. “There is only this fight. Then, we will see.’’

It didn’t take long for Saudi Prince Turki Alalshikh to remind Canelo of the real reason he signed him to a contract in a furious 11th-hour deal last month. 

September 12, Alalshikh said, offering a specific date for Canelo-Crawford on a Friday night at Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, the Raiders home field. Alalshikh told Canelo that he forgot to mention one item: The International Boxing Federation 168-pound belt, stripped from Canelo and then won by Scull in a unanimous decision over Vladimir Shiskin for the then vacant belt last October in Germany.

“I got you, don’t worry,’’ Canelo said, relaxed and smiling, said to Alalshikh.

It was a comment from a fighter in control, a sign that he also expects to be in control and undisputed all over again in May.

“He has only one belt, and that’s mine, too,’’ Canelo said of Scull.

Through an interpreter, Scull acknowledged he’s in a tough spot. He’s the designated fall guy in a bout that Alalshikh is confident will set the stage for a huge money-maker in September. 

“This is just how boxing is sometimes,’’ said Scull, who lives in Berlin.

But, Scull continued through an interpreter, “I’m going to shut up everybody. You’ll see.’’

For Scull, the newser on a New York stage was often awkward. He had never been there. The crowd grew restless when it couldn’t hear him in the early moments. Please, speak into the microphone, Canelo told him. It was Canelo’s show.

The Mexican, still boxing’s pay-per-view star, did say that Scull’s Cuban pedigree could present some problems.  Before his move to Germany, Scull learned how to box in the slick Cuban style, which has won a lot of Olympic medals but frustrates fans and opponents on the professional level.

“It’s going to be difficult, because the Cuban style always is,’’ Canelo said. “He has a lot of skills, but there is nobody else, no other Canelo, out there.’’

Canelo’s experience with Cuban fighters is perhaps defined by a difficult night against Erislandy Lara at junior-middleweight in July 2014 in Vegas. Canelo escaped with a controversial split-decision. Lara landed more punches (107, connecting at 28 percent) than Canelo (97, connecting at 23 percent.) 

The argument is that Canelo’s shots were more effective. Whatever you believe, the fight itself was a dud. The styles simply didn’t mix well enough to produce a fan-friendly fight. It’s safe to say Alalshikh is urging for more. He was talking about a belt when he mentioned “an item.’’ But the genuine item might be a knockout. Canelo hasn’t scored one since 2021.

Maybe, Canelo, now 34,  discovers some of his youthful power in his first fight in a different hemisphere. He concedes the atmosphere will be different. There’s talk that the fight will take place in the morning of May 3 in Riyadh. That way, Canelo’s Mexican fans have a better chance to see the PPV bout on a Cinco de May weekend, one of Canelo’s traditional dates.

“Different for me, for sure,’’ Canelo said.

But, he continued, he felt “most assured that the whole world is Canelo territory.’’

Alalshikh is betting on it.

By Norm Frauenheim

A tank is easy to understand. Gervonta Davis isn’t. He’s more mercurial than his bulldozing, armor-plated nickname ever could be. In the ring and out of it, he’s a dynamic force, often a volatile mix of powerful athletic skill and emotions. Unpredictable and unbeaten.

He’s both, and both are very much in play this week as he resumes his career Saturday at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center in a lightweight title defense against Lamont Roach. Only the fight itself (Amazon Prime, Pay-Per-View) itself is predictable. Expect a blowout of the likable, yet smaller Roach, who enters the ring in possession of a junior-lightweight belt.

“You know who I am,’’ Davis said at a news conference this week when asked for a prediction. “You know what I do.’’

What he’s done is undisputed. It’s hard to argue with 28 knockouts in 30 victories. Knowing who he is, however, isn’t quite as clear as his record, a powerful statement of his pound-for-pound credentials. This week, there were more surprises from Davis. Let’s just start with arrivals. Davis has a habit of keeping promoters and reporters waiting. He’s been late to news conferences about as often as he’s left the ring with another stoppage. 

But Thursday he was on time and respectful. In part, perhaps, that’s because he knows and seems to like Roach (25-1-1, 10 KOs), who grew up in Washington DC. Davis is from nearby Baltimore. They’ve known each other since they were kids in the amateur ranks. In part, also perhaps, Davis knows he can dominate Roach.

On paper, the fight looks to be bridge to bigger dates, the biggest of which would be Shakur Stevenson. If not Stevenson, then maybe emerging Keyshawn Davis, the World Boxing Organization’s new lightweight champion. The opportunities are all there for Tank in a year when he could put himself in contention for the top spot in the pound-for-pound argument currently still led by Ukrainian heavyweight Oleksandr Usyk, all-time  welterweight great and current junior-middleweight champion Terence Crawford and junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue.

From rating to rating, Davis is among the second five. For now. There’s a sense that Davis is better than anyone included among the top 10. Nobody has his finishing power, consistently delivered with predatory instinct and precision. Still, there’s a guessing game about his plans, brought on by his own uncertainty, evident this week on successive days. 

At a live-streamed media workout Wednesday, Davis talked about hopes for a busy year. 

 “I want to say hopefully I got three fights this year,’’ Davis told the moderator about a path that could lead to the top of the pound-of-the-pound debate

The next day, however, Davis wasn’t so sure.

“Yes, it’s good to be in the sport, but sometimes we’ve got to learn ourselves,’’ Davis, now 30 and a father of three,  told Boxing Scene and other reporters Thursday after the formal part of the final news conference.  “I’ve been giving so much to the sport, I don’t take the time to study and learn [myself]. Even if it’s not the sport, I’ve been dishing myself out to other people. I just need time for myself – to grow. And then, hopefully, six months or one year from now, I can come back to the sport and fight these guys.”

Davis has often been compared to Mike Tyson, who on one day would wonder why he’s in the ring and on the next day would talk about how much he loved to fight.  Davis been been called the mini-Tyson for lots of reasons, all also on display this week in the build-up to Saturday’s opening bell. 

Davis was asked about his precise power. He had a Tyson-like answer:

When the big punch lands, Davis said, “It actually feels like a home run, when somebody hit the bat and it’s just right on the target and it goes far. It’s like that. That’s how it feel when you actually hit somebody on the button, you know that you catch ‘em real good.”

Tyson’s description: “I try to catch them right on the tip of his nose, because I try to punch the bone into the brain.’’

From this corner, the guess is that Davis will finish Roach in a way that will include both descriptions — a lot of his own and some of Tyson’s.

But then what? That’s the bigger guess, one for Tank as surely as it was for Tyson.

Top Rank sued

A chill went through the boxing business Thursday at news of a lawsuit filed in California against Top Rank. 

Manager/consultant William Keane is suing Top Rank for more than $25 million in unpaid fees, according to the complaint.

Keane alleges Top Rank President Todd duBoef asked him to secure a deal with alleged Irish gangster Daniel Kinahan for American promotional rights to Tyson Fury, a former heavyweight champion who said he retired in the wake of a rematch loss to Usyk. Fury has acknowledged he has been friendly with Kinahan.

Kinahan, wanted in Ireland for reported money-laundering charges, is reportedly in Dubai.

Top Rank did not comment.

By Norm Frauenheim

Rematches, like sequels, often disappoint just about everybody other than the opposite corners that get a second trip to the pay window. From Sugar Ray Leonard-versus-Thomas Hearns to Bernard Hopkins-versus-Roy Jones Jr., they just happen too late. They reach their past-due date. We waited — and waited — for a second Canelo-Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin rematch and then wondered why. It was a dud, altogether forgettable.

But then, there’s the exception, which in the here-and-now means Artur Beterbiev-Dmitrii Bivol 2 Saturday. Let’s just start with the timing. It’s serves as a lesson. To wit: Immediate and rematch should be inseparable. Remove the immediacy and the sequel goes stale.

Beterbiev and Bivol last fought in October, a light-heavyweight bout won by the narrowest of margins by Beterbiev on scorecards that sparked a debate that over the last four months has sustained interest in Saturday’s sequel (DAZN, pay-per-view) in Saudi Arabia like no advertising campaign ever could. 

The absence of a definitive conclusion on Oct. 12 screamed out for a second opening bell as soon as possible. Beterbiev’s birth certificate suggests that even he isn’t immune from time’s inevitable toll. He’s 40. On any clock, there aren’t many rematches — if any — left in his 21-fight career.

In the sequel, maybe Bivol can rewrite the script, reversing inconclusive cards that had him trailing on two — 115-113 and 116-112 — and in a draw on the third, 115-115. After all, he’s the younger man, six years younger, in fact. But narrow odds late this week suggest the sequel will be as close as the original. Beterbiev is a narrow favorite. It’s somewhat intriguing that Bivol was a narrow favorite in October. Best bet, perhaps, is the 34-year Bivol, who might force a trilogy — a third fight — if he wins and if the middle-aged Beterbiev decides to fight on, or at least fight once more.

Saudi promoter, Prince Turki Alalshikh, has said he’ll try to put together a third fight if there’s a Bivol victory, forcing David Benavidez to wait on his bid for the 175-pound title. After his solid decision over David Morrell three weeks ago, Benavidez is the so-called mandatory challenger, which in acronym speak could mean just about anything. In a promising sign, Benavidez and father/trainer, Jose Benavidez Sr, will be there, at ringside in Riyadh. The Phoenix-born Benavidez and his dad boarded a flight to Saudi Thursday. Saudi money is the only factor that could turn mandatory into reality.

Beterbiev was quoted this week as saying he’d be interested in fighting Benavidez instead of Canelo, the super-middleweight champ is pointing toward a September date against former welterweight great Terence Crawford after a perceived tune up against William Scull during the first weekend in May in Riyadh in May. But whatever Beterbiev said about plans beyond Saturday is irrelevant. Neither Beterbiev nor Bivol is thinking about anything beyond Saturday, the biggest date for both.

“I was happy with the first fight because I won,’’ Beterbiev, a taciturn Russian living in Canada, said Thursday at the final news conference in Saudi Arabia  “There are many things {I learned}. It’s too long to tell you. Let’s talk after the fight.”

Beterbiev’s feared skillset includes everything but a few good quotes, of course. Then again, Bivol, also Russian, won’t ever have his own talk show, either.

“I didn’t win last time,’’ Bivol said Thursday.  “And I really want to win. It’s burning inside of me. I want to change something because I can see where I was wrong at some points. And I want to change it.’’

What Bivol wants, presumably, is more energy over the final three rounds. He was leading on the cards through the first nine. Seemingly, suddenly, his punching power lost some of the edge that kept Beterbiev off him until the tenth. That’s when Beterbiev, the older man, found enough energy to apply just enough pressure to win a majority decision. Still, Bivol goes into the rematch with some momentum. Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) went into the first fight with a perfect record — 20 victories all by stoppage. Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) is the first opponent he’s not stopped. 

Safe to say, Beterbiev will want to prove Bivol is somebody he can stop. The rematch offers him that opportunity.

“For me, for nine rounds, Dmitrii Bivol completely dominated,’’ Bivol promoter Eddie Hearn said Thursday of the first fight. “And yes, Beterbiev did come on strong and win rounds 10, 11, 12. I stand by that Dmitrii Bivol won the fight, but it was a fantastic fight between two great fighters. But it’s done now, it’s over. 

“The great thing for fans and the fighters is we get to run it back. I want to echo what (Bivol manager) Vadim Kornilov said and thank Artur Beterbiev because he is now the champion, he is the hunted and he’s been the hunter for a long time. I just see the look in this man’s (Bivol) eye this week, I see something different. I couldn’t believe how well Bivol took the defeat. No sulking, no moaning, unbelievable mindset from this man. 

“I just truly believe you’re going to see one of the great performances from this man, Dmitrii Bivoll this weekend. I’m very confident that he becomes the undisputed champion. I believe he should have been last time, but now that’s done, that’s over. I expect another fight for the ages between two great champions but for me, I truly believe Dmitrii Bivol will be the undisputed champion this weekend.’’

Which could mean an immediate trilogy.

By Norm Frauenheim

David Benavidez emerges from his victory over David Morrell in more control of his career than ever because of how he dominated often edgy pre-fight appearances, how he fought and how the boxing business changed wildly in the aftermath of the significant light-heavyweight fight.

Benavidez, a two-time super-middleweight once known for being the youngest champion in the history of the division, is moving on and up the scale, both in weight and wisdom. He’s a grown-up.

That’s the simplest way of saying it. Too simple, perhaps, mostly because there’s still a lot of maturing to do for an instinctive fighter who has an unrivaled upside. At 28 years old and just entering his prime, there’s still lots of time to grow into the stardom he foresees and many project. 

Is he already there? No, and that’s good news, promising in part because Benavidez understands where he is — who he is — at this point in his ongoing transformation from an overweight, unknown Phoenix kid with no expectations to one who believes he can be the Face of the Game.

“I’ll be the Face of the Game soon,’’ he said boldly after his unanimous decision over Morrell a couple of weeks ago in front of a roaring, pro-Benavidez crowd at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.

Soon could mean just about anything, of course. There’s a debate about the so-called Face, a mythic title that some have tried to buy and others have tried to steal. For now, at least, it’s fair to argue there is no face. In acronym-speak, it’s vacant. There are choices, but no consensus. The numbers suggest that Canelo Alvarez still gets the nod, despite some support for Terence Crawford, Canelo’s future foe for a projected September date.

The debate is incomplete without at least a mention of Japan’s junior-featherweight whirlwind, Naoya Inoue, the Asian version of The Monster, and heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, a heroic face amid the Ukraine’s desperate war against the Russians. But if you take a well-worn path and follow the money, it’s Canelo, the only prizefighter to consistently crack the top tier of the Forbes’ list of the world’s wealthiest athletes. Over the last year, however, that changed. Usyk and Tyson Fury surpassed Canelo with two heavyweight title fights last year, both won by Usyk. 

According to Sportico last week, Fury’s total for the two fights was $140 million and Usyk  $120 million, placing both in a different income bracket than Canelo, whose 2024 income was reported to be $73 million. Sportico ranked Fury third, Usyk seventh and Canelo 20th among the world’s highest earning athletes last year.

But it’s a good bet that Canelo will re-take his income supremacy among prizefighters in 2025. Fury says he’s retired. But don’t count on it. Also, don’t count on him getting anywhere close to his 2024 income if he makes a comeback. Meanwhile, Usyk says he’ll fight two more times and retire. But no fight figures to pay him anything approaching the pay he collected against Fury. Meanwhile, Canelo has a rich, multi-fight deal with the Saudis

Add that to his documented command of pay-per-view numbers and the risk-reward ratio, and Canelo’s face still belongs on the game for the same reason George Washington’s face is on the dollar bill. That’s still where the value is. That’s also why Saudi Prince Turki Alalshikh, boxing’s new money man, scrambled to sign him to a four-fight contract and away from a Netflix spectacle with showman Jake Paul in an 11th-hour deal five days after Benavidez secured his own place as a prominent factor on boxing’s board of potential moves over the next couple of years. 

The deal left one significant question. To wit: How much longer will Canelo hold the key to the vault? Like everything else amid the constant chaos, it’s impossible to know. Expectations, the business agenda’s glass jaw, is full of repeated examples. One unforeseen punch changes everything. For now, Canelo’s plans include a perceived tuneup in Riyadh during the first weekend in May against William Scull, a Cuban living in Germany who holds a piece of the 168-pound puzzle that the IBF — Irrelevant Boxing Federation took from Canelo. It’s an opportunity to restore some order, restore Canelo’s undisputed status, both in name and fact. 

Barring that aforementioned punch, Canelo’s business plan then takes him to the intriguing September date with Crawford, perhaps in a ring on the Las Vegas Raiders home field at Allegiant Stadium. It’s a fight between two of the best from different weight classes. Canelo has more size and presumably power; the smaller Crawford has more speed and skill. There’s a reasonable argument for either in what looks to be pick-em fight between the best of a their generation.

Age is a factor. For Crawford, the Canelo challenge — and the payday it’ll include — looks to be a career ender. Crawford is 37. He’ll be 38 on September 28. From Jaron “Boots’’ Ennis to Vergil Ortiz, the former welterweight great, who has fought once at junior-middle, has ignored challenges from the young lions.

Then, there’s Canelo. Between Scull and Crawford, Mexico’s pay-per-view star will celebrate a birthday. He’ll be 35 on July 18. He’s talked about retiring when he turns 37. Beyond the planned Crawford date, there are two more fights on his contract with Alalshikh. What happens against Crawford is sure to dictate what happens to the remaining dates. If Canelo loses to the smaller man, maybe he retires. If he wins, presumably he fights on in a scenario that could include Benavidez. 

If nothing else, Canelo’s deal with Alalshikh has revived some of the talk about Benavidez-versus-Canelo, which for years has been No. 1 on the list of fights the fans most want to see. Those fans haven’t forgotten. Benavidez has moved on, onto light-heavy, after years of calling out Canelo in a futile chase that threatened to define him. He continued to hear the question, even on the night after he proved he could stand on his own — define himself on his own terms — against Morrell.

What about Canelo? The question was inevitable, of course.

“I would love to fight Canelo, it would be a massive, massive, fight,’’ Benavidez said. “But, Canelo says he has other things and he says I’m being ‘too mean’ in the way I’m approaching him. I guess I got to work on my attitude.”

Then, it was a joke, almost said as if it was a parting shot. But the Canelo-Alalshikh deal five days later kept the possibility on the table. It depends on the Crawford-Canelo outcome. It also depends on Benavidez’ next move. He’s expected to be in Riyadh next Saturday (Feb. 22) for the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitrii Bivol rematch of Beterbiev’s narrow victory for the light-heavyweight title last October. Benavidez is in line to face the winner. Even that plan is uncertain, however. Father Time, also like that unforeseen punch, can change everything. Beterbiev had another birthday last month. He turned 40 on January 21. Retirement can’t be too far away.

What remains in place, however, is Benavidez’ current place among the fighters who hold the key to boxing’s future. Benavidez, a consensus pick for the pound-for-pound’s top 10 for the first time this month, is there alongside Tank Davis and Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez. He’s younger than Crawford, Canelo and Beterbiev. He’s younger, too, than Inoue, 31, and Usyk, 38.

Meanwhile, Benavidez is just getting started, a still emerging and maturing force who used his comprehensive victory over Morrell as a way to announce he’ll be around for awhile.

By Norm Frauenheim

Surprise, surprise, the Canelo Álvarez-Terence Crawford fight was off. Then, faster than flipping a light switch, it was back on. For the nut jobs gathered in the murky bottom of the social-media cesspool, that was the first sign of a lot more off and on. Sure enough, that’s what followed within a few hours Thursday. Canelo-Jake Paul was on, then suddenly off, in a dizzy sequence of dueling reports, all hard to follow in a sport known more for feints than facts.

Welcome to boxing, once called the red-light district of sports.  Buyer beware, which these days means don’t believe anything you read or hear because it’s about to change.

It all started late Wednesday with a Canelo-Crawford report from The Ring. Suddenly, a fight rumored for about a year and reportedly a done deal for September was suddenly off. Why? Fill in the blanks.

Immediately after news that — for “now” — the reported Canelo-Crawford fight in September on the Las Vegas Raiders home field is off, there were reports that Canelo would fight Jake Paul, who issued a statement Thursday evening, saying “when there is something to announce, we will announce it.’’

Turns out, there was nothing to announce. Instead, there was boxing’s new money man, Saudi Prince Turki Alalshikh, on social media, saying — somewhat cryptically — that Canelo had a four-fight deal for the Riyadh Season. It’s supposed to start on the first weekend in May, but apparently Paul will not be included, despite multiple reports to the contrary earlier in the day.  Meanwhile, The Ring, which Alalshikh recently bought, posted that Canelo-Paul was off. Please, pass the dramamine. It’s hard to know when this messy merry-go-round stops.

Above all, it suggests what everybody already knows. To wit: Boxing doesn’t know what it’s doing. Never has. The difference this week is the chaos. There’s more of that than ever. The best bet — perhaps the only one — is that the chaos will continue, leaving fans and media free to speculate wildly about what to believe and who to mock, what to rip and who to insult.

The best guess in this corner is that an untold amount of money was offered in some furious wheeling-and-dealing between the offs and ons, all in an 11th-hour effort to convince Canelo that he was better off with the Saudis than with a reported bout against Jake Paul. 

The Paul reports were credible, mostly because they made sense.

Canelo, the wealthiest boxer on Forbes’ annual list of the world’s richest athletes, has been more businessman than boxer over the last couple of years. He has employed the risk-reward formula he inherited from Floyd Mayweather Jr., who reportedly became a billionaire boxer by adhering to the ratio.

Paul has been calling out Canelo for years. As an aside, he has never called out David Benavidez, who also had been pursuing Canelo for years before his solid victory at light-heavyweight Saturday over David Morrell. Paul fought MMA star Anderson Silva in a boxing match two-plus years ago in Glendale AZ, just a few blocks from Phoenix streets where Benavidez grew up. 

“You call out Canelo, why not Benavidez?’’ I asked him at the formal news conference.

“I’m not ready for that,’’ Paul said.

He’s not. 

Not then. 

Especially not now.

Canelo, super-middleweight champ and still ranked in the middle of most pound-for-pound ratings, knows that, of course. He also knows that Crawford, an all-time welterweight great still among the top three in the pound-for-pound debate and now 1-0 at junior-middle, is a bigger risk than Paul ever could be. 

Like Benavidez, Paul has never called out Crawford either. 

The risk in either is not worth the reward.

But Paul, whose persona includes an edgy notoriety, has a social-media following that only Gallup can count. His drawing power is also undisputed. A Netflix audience for Paul’s sad spectacle against aging and ailing Mike Tyson on Nov. 15 was reported to peak at 65 million. The live crowd at AT&T Stadium in Arlington TX was announced at 72,300. Factor in all of that and it looked to be a no-brainer. 

The only downside would be the criticism Canelo would inevitably hear if he fought Paul, a novice boxer, instead of the emerging Benavidez or the feared Crawford, who is promoted by Alalshikh.  But the Saudi offer apparently was big, bigger than even the money Canelo might have made in a May date against Paul.

Apparently, the Saudi deal also restores plans for a Crawford fight against Canelo in September. Crawford tweeted Thursday night that he would wait on Canelo to fight a perceived tuneup in May. Super-middleweight belt-holder William Scull, a Cuban living in Germany, Jermall Charlo and Bruno Surface — who knocked out Jaime Munguia in a huge upset — are possibilities for the May date.

But there’s still a caveat. As of late Thursday, there was still no word — yes or no — from Canelo, the reigning Face of the Game. Only his final say-so can stop the chaos, or maybe just ignite a lot more of it.   

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS — David Benavidez did the shuffle, touched the canvas, gestured at fans and his opponent.

He did it all.

He won.

In an often contentious light-heavyweight fight, Benavidez always survived, sometimes dominated and ultimately prevailed, scoring a unanimous decision Saturday night over Cuban David Morrell in front of a roaring crowd at T-Mobile Arena and an Amazon Prime pay-per-view audience.

The bout was called an eliminator, a bureaucratic euphemism that could mean just about anything. Maybe, a shot at 175-pound division’s undisputed title awaits. Maybe, the winner of the Feb. 22 rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dimitrii Bivol awaits.

But Saturday fight was loaded with evidence that Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) isn’t waiting on anybody or anything. He delivered a multi-angled performance that overcame some difficult moments with the kind of resilience that suggests he won’t be eliminated any time soon. 

Against the clever Morrell (11-1, 9 KOs), there were moments when a premature end to all his promises could have been there. He got knocked down late in the 11th when he was off balance and his gloves touched the canvas. Immediately, he rallied, with a furious assault in the round’s final seconds.  Morrell, stunned, reacted a second too late. He popped Benavidez with a counter one second after the bell sounded an end to the round. A one-point penalty was assessed by referee Thomas Taylor.

Would it have mattered? No. Benavidez had a solid advantage on all three scorecards. It was 115-111, 118-108 and 115-111, all for Benavidez. But his quick thinking in response to sudden chaos was a sign of some inexhaustible poise and a stubborn will to fight. It’s what Monsters do, he suggested during an interview in the middle ring immediately after the victory. This Monster is not extinct, despite talk that suggested otherwise.

“He knows that,’’ Benavidez said as he nodded toward Morrell’s corner. “Everybody knows that the Monster is still here. Now he does, too.’’

Morrell had no complaints in the immediate aftermath. He did not rip the referee for taking a point. He did not hurl profanities at Benavidez. They hugged after it was all over..

“It’s OK,’’ Morrell said. “I’m not going to criticize. Thank you, David Benavidez. I want to fight you again. I know I can beat you 

 The violence, promised by promoter Tom Brown, was there — fully locked and loaded — in an explosive fourth round. 

It happened at both sides of the ring, in opposite corners, each neutral only in name. First, there was Benavidez, trapping Morrell in one corner and unleashing punches at a familiar, yet still astonishing rate. Initially, it looked as if Morrell couldn’t tell where the punches were coming from. They rained in on the Cuban from impossible angles. Benavidez was delivering chaos. But  Morrell escaped, stepping to his right along the ropes and into the relative calm of the center ring.

But that calm proved to be an illusion, a little bit like the eye of a storm.

Within seconds, the winds of violence blew Benavidez into the opposite corner. This time, it was Morrell’s turn. With Benavidez’ back up against the ring post, Morrell unloaded a skillset noted for more precision than chaos. One big shot landed, rocking Benavidez’ head back almost as if it were attached to his shoulders by a long, loose spring.

“He hit me, but I thought he would hit harder,’’ Benavidez said.

Translation: Morrell couldn’t take away some of the intangibles that continue to make Benavidez so effective. He always has an answer. They were there Saturday night, at every moment and in every corner.  

Fulton wins, crowd boos

The sequel is never as good as the original.

Stephen Fulton and Brandon Figueroa proved the old line, ad nauseam, Saturday with an oh-so-dull rematch of their first encounter in November 2021.

Then, they did it at super-bantamweight in a bout won by Fulton in a majority-decision. Saturday, they were at featherweight with a World Boxing Council title at stake. But it didn’t matter. Fulton 23-1, 8 KOs) won the belt, scoring a unanimous decision.But there was no celebration. Only boos

On any scale, a restless T-Mobile Arena crowd waiting for the David Benavidez-David Morrell main course  just wanted it to end.

The crowd began booing in the fourth round. The booing continued for the next few rounds before some in the crowd began to chant insults and expletives in Spanish. In any language, Fulton-Figueroa 2 was boring. It also took some air out of the arena after an entertaining junior welterweight bout won by Isaac Cruz over Angel Fierro in the prior bout.

Neither Fulton nor Figueroa was able to mount, much less sustain, any kind of an attack. Fulton landed a powerful right. But not much more from either fighter after that.

In the twelfth, there were finally cheers from a crowd happy only that it had ended

Isaac Cruz wins decision in tough fight for belt named after Israel Vazquez

Israel Vazquez would have been proud.

Isaac Cruz and Angel Fierro fought with some of the heart and much of the same stubborn skill that defined the late Vazquez through 10 competitive rounds for a WBC Aztec belt named after the late Mexican great Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.

In the end, Cruz prevailed, winning a unanimous decision.

Go ahead and argue with the scores — 96-94, 97-93, 98-92, all for the better-known, more popular Cruz.

But there was no argument with the fight. It was a toe-to-toe, back-and-forth battle between two Mexicans. In the end Cruz (26-4-1, 18 KOs) prevailed. Perhaps, he had just a little bit more bite, although the 98-92 didn’t indicate that. It should have.

 But Fierro (23-3-2, 11 KOs) didn’t complain.

“I came here to give the fans a great fight and leave it all in the ring,” he said through an interpreter. “I don’t care about the judges, I care about the fans. But I do hope that ‘Pitbull’ gives me a rematch, because I think I deserve it.”

 With the crowd woofing and the dog still apparent in Cruz, nicknamed the Pitbull, things suddenly changed in the third round. That’s when Fierro let the barking fans and the aggressive Cruz know that he wasn’t going to go away meekly. 

Fierro, of Tijuana, used his advantages in height and reach to catch the incoming  Cruz with a succession of shots that wobbled him. Suddenly, some of that barking began to sound like begging in the pro-Cruz crowd..

Through the next two rounds, Cruz, of Mexico City, would back up Fierro with his power. But the stubborn Fierro always knew where he was. Cruz was moving, always incoming. He knows no other way. Hence, the dogged nickname.

Fierro caught again in the fourth 

And again in the fifth..

By the seventh and eighth, both junior-welterweights began to tire. Cruz didn’t pursue with the same energy. Fierro’s hands and shoulders began to droop, then drop. But in the 1oth and final round, both stood, exchanging blow after blow.

Israel Vazquez must have been smiling.

Ramos wins middleweight TKO, plans to go back to 154 pounds

Losses are lessons.

Lesson learned.

Jesus Ramos applied what he remembered from a painful, controversial loss to Erickson Lubin in his lone defeat and beat Jeison Rosario Saturday at T-Mobile Arena with a definitive finish.

He won by stoppage. This time, he eliminated any chance at a scorecard debate.

“I was hoping for a knockcout,” said Ramos, who plans to go back down to junior middleweight after the 160-pound victory, his second straight win since the Lubin loss.

But he didn’t quibble with the technical part of it, although Rosario appeared to when the referee ended at 2:18 of the eighth round on a card featuring David Benavidez-versus-David Morrell.

By then, Ramos (22-1, 18 KOs), who ended it with a succession of punches — two to the head and two to the body , was in complete control with a thorough body-to-head attack that broke down Rosario (24-5-2, 13 KOs). It also knocked him down in the seventh.

Ramos, fighting out of a southpaw stance, was effective with lead left hands in the opening round and again in the second. Rosario, a former welterweight champion, moved forward, but his advance was repeatedly met by agile combinations, body to head and head to body.

After three rounds, Ramos had landed 38 body punches, according to a ringside computer.. By the fifth, Ramos appeared to be gaining control of the middleweight bout. His fans, many from his hometown of Casa Grande in central Arizona, thought so.

“Ramos, Ramos,” they chanted.

By the sixth, Ramos’ body shots were having an impact — one that echoed through the arena. Rosario’s forward movement began to slow. His hands began to drop. It was an opportunity, and Ramos capitalized with one uppercut after another. Rosario was hurt. In the seventh he was down, dropped by a right-left combination from Ramos.. 

Photo by Ester Lin/Premier Boxing Champions

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS — Words, mostly the four-letter variety, have been exchanged. So have threats, insults and all of the rest. David Benavidez and David Morrell played their roles and memorized their lines. It was boxing theater at its best. And its worst. Promoter Tom Brown promises violence, which of course is exactly what you’d expect in a fight.

By Friday, there wasn’t much left to say. After all, there are only so many four-letter combinations. We’ve heard them all, and none of them have really changed any minds. Benavidez-Morrell was a pick-em fight when it was announced. It was virtually a pick-em fight Friday after both stepped off the scale — appropriately enough — without a fraction of a pound separating them.

Their weights were like their first names. Both Davids came in at an identical 174.2 pounds, safely under the 175-pound mandatory for a light-heavyweight fight Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena that is supposed to lead to a shot at the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitrii Bivol winner on Feb. 22 in Saudi Arabia.

The weigh-in, a staged version of the official one earlier Friday, was perhaps noteworthy for what didn’t happen. There were no blows, not even a shove.

Escalating rhetoric, mostly sparked by Benavidez, at news conferences and public appearances had set off more than a few alarms. A few punches the day before opening bell would not have surprised anybody. But it didn’t happen, mostly because of Morrell.

As the two rivals moved toward center stage for the ritual face-off, Morrell suddenly looked down and stepped back, exiting left and away from an impending storm. It’ll happen anyway, sometime around 8 p.m. (PT) in the Amazon streamed bout.

That doesn’t exactly mean that the two camps were suddenly at peace. They’re not. The evident hostility was there, behind closed doors,  at the official weigh-in in a moment best described by Morrell manager Luis De Cubas. 

Benavidez and De Cubas have been insulting each other all week. There have been allegations about performance-enhancing drugs, a knockdown of Morrell in training camp, money and even hand shakes. According to De Cubas, Friday morning’s chapter of discontent started with an attempted hand shake.

De Cubas said Benavidez arrived at the official weigh-in, offering to shake De Cubas’ hand. De Cubas refused. He said he wouldn’t accept anything — not an apology or anything else — from Benavidez. De Cubas called him a “——sucker” at Thursday’s news conference.

“He called me a thief,’’ De Cubas said.

By the time everybody reached the MGM Grand Garden Arena for the staged weigh-in, Benavidez  was only offering promises of pain and peril for the 27-year-old Morrell, an unbeaten Cuban living in Minneapolis.

“I guarantee that I’ll knock him out,’’ the 28-year-old Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) said to a crowd of a few thousand, most of whom made the drive up to Vegas from Phoenix, Benavidez’ hometown.

The weigh-in crowd was clearly there for Benavidez, who has gone from fat kid to feared fighter in an unlikely ascent to stardom. Fans at the weigh-in identify with Benavidez and the westside Phoenix streets that produced him.

“Benavidez, Benavidez”, they chanted.

Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) heard them. His only answer was a gesture. He blew them kisses. It also might have been his way at telling them to kiss off. He and his corner enter Saturday’s fight confident that they can slow down Benavidez, often a freight train in the late rounds of any fight. The Cuban’s left hand, they say, will do to Benavidez what he guaranteed he’ll do to Morrell. A KO is Morrell’s promise.

Best bet?

Violence.

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS — Two days before opening bell, promoter Tom Brown promises violence. Minutes later, David Benavidez says enough to enrage David Morrell and his manager, Luis DeCubas, pushing Brown’s promise ever closer to reality during a contentious news conference Thursday. 

Benavidez turned up the rhetoric, elevating the potential hostility by several octaves, with everything from profane threats to personal insults during an angry hour in a ballroom at the MGM Grand.

Ordinarily, trash talk at a boxing news conference is a redundancy. It’s all part of the show. Increasingly however, a method in Benavidez’ madness is apparent. It’s in his words, to be sure. But it’s also in his eyes. Again and again Thursday, the Phoenix-born fighter looked  across the table at Morrell and De Cubas with eyes that flashed like sparks off flint. Benavidez, nicknamed The Monster and sounding like one, looks to be serious in the final hours before his light-heavyweight clash with Morrell Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.

The trash talk is like another training session, one that further sharpens the edge on his mind and emotion. Ask him about it, and he acknowledges that the verbal exchanges help channel his energies and maybe his anger, too.

That wasn’t apparent in his last fight, a light-heavyweight debut, a bout with former 175-pound champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk in June. Benavidez won, but without any of the dynamic energy that has been a trademark for so long. He liked Gvozdyk, a quiet and skillful Ukrainian.

“We spoke different languages and we respected each other, unlike this effing guy, who I don’t effing respect at all,’’ Benavidez told The Boxing Hour/15 Rounds as he waved a dismissive gesture toward Morrell’s side of the stage.

One thing became loudly clear at the newser. Benavidez and Morrell understand each other. Both are fluent in profanity. But there were signs that Morrell wanted to insert a little civility to the pre-fight proceedings.

“Peace and love,’’ Morrell, a Cuban living in Minneapolis, said at the end of his first turn at the bully pulpit.

Benavidez reacted to that like a predator pursuing prey.

“Peace and love, what’s the hell is that?’’ Benavidez said. “But I’m not surprised, because I know he’s effing afraid of me.’’

The hostility, sparked by Benavidez, began with a barrage of insults aimed at De Cubas. De Cubas tried to keep his cool as he spoke amid one interruption after another. But it was to no avail. Finally, De Cubas answered, profanity-for-profanity.

“—-sucker,’’ he yelled, throwing out an obscene insult that set the stage for an X-rated show.

It got so bad that Benavidez manager and promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz actually admonished De Cubas.

 “I want to apologize for De Cubas’ behavior,’’ said Lewkowicz, who isn’t exactly known for diplomacy. “We didn’t need anybody to scream. This fight sells it itself.’’

But the screaming continued anyway for an intriguing light-heavyweight bout between young fighters, both entering their primes and both unbeaten. They’re both cocksure, which isn’t exactly the word De Cubas used to describe Benavidez. But you get the idea.

After the newser, De Cubas said he wasn’t surprised at how Benavidez went at him.

“We know all about Benavidez’ bullying and all of that other stuff,’’ De Cubas said in the relative calm just outside the doors to the MGM Grand’s media room. “I knew it was coming. But when you behave like that, it’s because of fear. I saw that fear in him. Look, I think he knows that some time during the fight he’s going to realize that he shouldn’t have taken this fight in the first place.

“He’s complaining about not shaking hands. Before that, there was all this stuff about steroids. But we were the first to agree to VADA testing. There’s always something. Why? Because he’s afraid he’s gonna get knocked out.”

Who’s afraid of who? Brown’s promise suggests that nobody is afraid at all. In part, that’s why he’s forecasting violence.

“At the end of the day, we’re selling fights, right?’’ said Benavidez, who lives in Miami these days yet continues to honor his Phoenix roots with PHX boldly stitched onto the waistband of his trunks. “Would I rather say he’s a good fighter? I’m trying to sell the fight. I’m trying to sell pay-per-views. I’m trying to generate interest because if I don’t say anything, this effing guy’s not going to say anything. People are paying hard-earned money for this fight. 

“They want to see something. Let’s give them something to see.”

Angry words, but they’re also words from a fighter who hopes to be a peoples champ. Perhaps, The Peoples Champ

“I want to be the Face of Boxing,’’ said Benavidez, who on Thursday was a face hard to ignore. 

Harder to silence.