Last Week in Boxing: Boxing Needs Canelo to Keep His Promises
Last Week in Boxing: Boxing Needs Canelo to Keep His Promises
Cynicism runs deep down to the core of every boxing fan who bothers to pay the slightest attention. And that isn't by accident -- it's an earned weariness.
Cynicism runs deep down to the core of every boxing fan who bothers to pay the slightest attention. And that isn't by accident -- it's an earned weariness. In the squared circle, gloom is almost always followed by doom. For well over a century, from your granddad's heyday through the present, boxing has been dirty all the way to the bone.
Today, more than almost any period in history, the sport hangs precariously on precipice between success and complete economic implosion. We make fun of the "sky is falling crowd," of those who claim boxing is taking in it's last desperate gasps of air. But in our hearts, we know it to be true. Boxing may not be dead, but it needs something more than triage to survive as a gift to our children.
It's against this cheerful backdrop that Saul "Canelo" Alvarez plies his trade. And, in Canelo's world at least, the business of blood, guts and brain trauma is booming. In spite of boxing's struggles, AT&T Stadium announced a crowd in excess of 50,000 -- bigger than any UFC card this year -- all present and accounted for to cheer on the Mexican boxing hero of the hour.
The throngs in Arlington, Texas, cheered from the opening bell to the final one, aware the muscular ginger-haired star was fighting for some sort of world title, the particulars not at all important to anyone. They were there, not for a championship bauble, but for a championship aura. They were there for Canelo.
Liam Smith was simply never competitive. He was too vertical, too flat-footed, not dynamic enough offensively or defensively, and not athletic enough to even own a puncher's chance. He has significant deficits in virtually every category that matters in a boxing ring, and it showed. He was systematically dismantled by the better man.
Boxing writers tend to be more cynical than most, and in the aftermath, the reactions ran the gamut from mildly approving puff pieces to expletive-riddled rants relating to the overall quality of the pay-per-view card and main event. The basics of why Smith and Alvarez fought are agreed upon by all parties and are an excellent starting point:
HBO had no interest in killing its golden goose, and thus all three parties -- fighter, promoter, network -- agreed on the plan of action. Depending on their attachment to the promoter/network dynamic in play, commenters generally found themselves either apologizing for the bout or lashing out against it.
In this case, the critics are right.
Fans deserve more and the sport needs it, whether promoters and television executives see it or not. Canelo vs. GGG is the cleansing fire we require to erase the lingering stench of the Mayweather era. Canelo is a singular star in a universe gone dark. He claims he wants to face the best, including Golovkin. We need him to be the man he claims to be -- a man who owns his words and stakes him claim to boxing immortality.
Notes
Today, more than almost any period in history, the sport hangs precariously on precipice between success and complete economic implosion. We make fun of the "sky is falling crowd," of those who claim boxing is taking in it's last desperate gasps of air. But in our hearts, we know it to be true. Boxing may not be dead, but it needs something more than triage to survive as a gift to our children.
It's against this cheerful backdrop that Saul "Canelo" Alvarez plies his trade. And, in Canelo's world at least, the business of blood, guts and brain trauma is booming. In spite of boxing's struggles, AT&T Stadium announced a crowd in excess of 50,000 -- bigger than any UFC card this year -- all present and accounted for to cheer on the Mexican boxing hero of the hour.
The throngs in Arlington, Texas, cheered from the opening bell to the final one, aware the muscular ginger-haired star was fighting for some sort of world title, the particulars not at all important to anyone. They were there, not for a championship bauble, but for a championship aura. They were there for Canelo.
Liam Smith was simply never competitive. He was too vertical, too flat-footed, not dynamic enough offensively or defensively, and not athletic enough to even own a puncher's chance. He has significant deficits in virtually every category that matters in a boxing ring, and it showed. He was systematically dismantled by the better man.
Boxing writers tend to be more cynical than most, and in the aftermath, the reactions ran the gamut from mildly approving puff pieces to expletive-riddled rants relating to the overall quality of the pay-per-view card and main event. The basics of why Smith and Alvarez fought are agreed upon by all parties and are an excellent starting point:
- Alvarez is a big star capable of selling tickets and PPVs on his own.
- Smith is a sentient collection of bones and meat, who, prior to Saturday evening, was billed as a claimant to the Super Welterweight/Light Middleweight championship of the world.
- In addition to being such a claimant, ex-WBO Champ/Protein Collection Liam Smith was not tied down to any specific contracts or agreements that would prevent him from being able to participate in a world title contest against Canelo on HBO.
- Smith is nowhere near Alvarez's level as a boxer, making a contest against him particularly appealing for Alvarez's camp and Golden Boy. Canelo had options to make him more money (Manny Pacquiao, Gennady Golovkin), but they came either with increased risk or increased difficulty of being made. Easy money is the best money.
HBO had no interest in killing its golden goose, and thus all three parties -- fighter, promoter, network -- agreed on the plan of action. Depending on their attachment to the promoter/network dynamic in play, commenters generally found themselves either apologizing for the bout or lashing out against it.
In this case, the critics are right.
Fans deserve more and the sport needs it, whether promoters and television executives see it or not. Canelo vs. GGG is the cleansing fire we require to erase the lingering stench of the Mayweather era. Canelo is a singular star in a universe gone dark. He claims he wants to face the best, including Golovkin. We need him to be the man he claims to be -- a man who owns his words and stakes him claim to boxing immortality.
Notes
- Hozumi Hasegawa and Shinsuke Yamanaka both won by stoppage, popping a healthy crowd in Osaka, Japan. Hasegawa's win over Hugo Ruiz almost certainly locks up a International Boxing Hall of Fame entry, while Yamanaka's KO of Anselmo Moreno ended a fight of the year candidate, pier-six brawl of a fight.
- Going from those master classes in toughness to Oleksandr Usyk's cruiserweight title victory over Poland's Krzysztof Glowacki was a bit like moving from driving a Lamborghini to a Audi E4. Sure, the E4 is a solid handling road car and extremely well built. But after the adrenaline rush of the little guys, seeing Usyk (twice as large as Hasegawa and with a 100 percent KO ratio entering) box circles around Glowacki and avoid exchanges was an enormous letdown.