The Hottest Boxing Storylines for the Week of March 8

So what'd you think, fans?

Premier Boxing Champions hit the ground running Saturday night on NBC with a pair of high-stakes bouts.

Did Keith "One Time" Thurman show that he's boxing's new breakout star? Did Adrien "The Problem" Broner once again cause problems for himself after a convincing but somewhat unexciting victory?

Also, we recap Zou Shiming's disappointing night in Macau before turning our attention to the week ahead.

Did Miguel Cotto make the right call in jettisoning Top Rank for Roc Nation Sports? And can Jean Pascal become the man to finally solve Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev? 

Let's get right to the questions, and maybe even offer a few answers.

These are the hottest boxing storylines for the week of March 8.

You know what just got a whole lot shorter?

That line of people not willing to buy stock in Thurman as the next big thing in boxing's talent-rich welterweight division.

One Time had a terrible 2014 marked by injuries and shoddy matchmaking, but he started 2015 with a bang by dominating an overmatched Robert Guerrero in the main event of NBC's Premier Boxing Champions on Saturday night.

Guerrero demonstrated an almost otherworldly amount of guts and determination, continuing to press forward and attack despite taking a massive amount of punishment, but Thurman's power, precision and skill level were too much. 

Thurman dropped Guerrero hard in Round 9 and was seemingly on the verge of ending the fight, but the Ghost fought back, even winning over the crowd, who chanted his name loudly by the final bell. 

We use the phrase "star-making performance" a little too often in boxing, but this was a legitimate star-making performance for the Florida native, who successfully defended the largely meaningless regular WBA welterweight championship. 

Thurman did exactly what he said he'd do, charging across the ring to attack at the opening bell, overcoming a tough, determined former world champion and doing so with a grotesque swelling above his left eye.

So now what? 

Thurman is a young lion, and he'd make the perfect foil for Floyd Mayweather's final fight, assuming the pound-for-pound king gets by Manny Pacquiao and doesn't necessitate a rematch. 

That potential fight suddenly got a whole lot more interesting. 

Anyone not interested?

Didn't think so.

No. 

But first, let's talk about the actual fighting in the ring.

Broner simply outclassed John Molina Jr., a tough and rugged but limited fighter known for his penchant for the dramatic. The Problem was faster, using a newly refined jab to disrupt and keep his man at bay and avoiding most of his foe's wild power punches. 

Was it a great fight? Not really, but like Broner pointed out post-fight, he did what he needed to do in order to get a convincing win and move toward a possible world-title opportunity in a fourth weight division.

With that out of the way, let's move on to one of the most overblown boxing controversies in recorded history.

Broner, who was suspended by the WBC for making "racially insensitive" remarks after beating Carlos Molina last May, largely handled himself with class before, during and after the fight. We say that because it hasn't always been that way for the brash and sometimes over-the-line character from Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Which brings us to the controversy.

After beating Molina (Carlos, that is), Broner had this to say, per Scott Christ of Bad Left Hook:

"Anybody can get it. Afri-Cans, I just beat the f--k out of a Mexi-Can."

That was what got him suspended by the WBC. 

After beating Molina on Saturday night, Broner made similar comments, just without the vulgarity.

It's worth noting, once again, that the "can man" routine has been something Broner has used in one form or another for years. This would of course be no reason to continue using it if his comments were indeed racially insensitive, but that at the very least doesn't seem to be Broner's intention.

Obviously, a group of people being offended by something would be enough for a lot of people to stop saying it, and Broner choosing to ignore them is risky at best.

Kovalev, aptly nicknamed "The Krusher", has blown through every opponent placed in his path since emerging into the mainstream with a four-round "krushing" of Nathan Cleverly to win a light heavyweight title in 2013.

His nine-fight knockout streak was broken in a 12-round bludgeoning of ageless wonder Bernard Hopkins last November, and Adonis Stevenson notwithstanding, you’ll find few people who don’t consider him the best fighter at 175 pounds.

That's the type of street cred you earn when you fight the best fighters on a consistent basis and don't avoid them.

The next man in his path? Former undisputed light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal, on Saturday night in Montreal.

Pascal’s run of light heavyweight supremacy was cut short by Hopkins, and then a slew of injuries limited him to just two fights in two years.

His most recent comeback saw him take a huge all-Montreal battle from Lucian Bute in convincing fashion to resurrect his career.

Pascal’s last fight was a no-decision against Roberto Bolonti, who embarrassed himself by acting like he got clubbed by a prime Mike Tyson on a slightly late hit and earned a no-decision and a paycheck.

The big question here is: Can Pascal do anything to stop Kovalev from making him victim No. 27?

You can’t totally dismiss his chances. He’s a smart fighter who has a tricky style, and he’s never been down or stopped in his career.

But he’s also never been in there with a fighter as powerful or vicious as Kovalev.

Pascal won’t give it away, but it’d be very surprising to see the Krusher not leave Montreal with his three belts in his suitcase.

Cotto, the lineal and WBC middleweight champion, will return to the ring in June, fighting under a new promotional banner.

ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael reported last week that the Puerto Rican legend has signed a multi-fight promotional agreement with Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports.

The move comes as something of a surprise, given Cotto’s close personal relationship with Top Rank and its president Todd duBoef, with whom he has worked on all but two of his fights, and the still unproven ability of Roc Nation to successfully manage fighters.

The company, which only broke into the boxing business last August, has made a few big splashes, recently signing super middleweight champion Andre Ward and now Cotto, but its ability to navigate the sordid world of boxing remains an open question.

As does this business decision, at least from a boxing standpoint.

Cotto’s move was greeted with derision and strong words from Top Rank— and from duBoef in particular, who accused the future Hall of Famer of unprofessional conduct for ignoring phone calls and emails.

“I'm disappointed in their conduct across the board. People can make business decisions and I may not agree with it, but I'll tell you what, when you talk about a relationship, conduct is everything,” duBoef said, per Steve Kim of BoxingScene.com.

“You don't act that way if you know how to handle relationships and it's in your DNA to be professional.”

The particular source of duBoef's animosity appears to be Cotto’s handling of the negotiations for a huge fight with Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

DuBoef claims that the fight would’ve paid Cotto in the neighborhood of $10.5 million before sweeteners were added in from additional sources of revenue, but that after declining the fight Cotto’s people stopped returning calls and emails.

That’s the business side of boxing, but with Top Rank seething and high-profile fights—with Timothy Bradley and Brandon Rios, among others—seemingly off the table, who the heck does Cotto fight?

Gennady Golovkin is the fight that fans want, but Cotto seems to have less-than-zero interest.

“We don’t know yet,” Cotto said, per ESPN.com's Dan Rafael, when questioned whether he was even interested in considering the Golovkin fight. “Everything I do will be the best for me. That is what I will do. If that is fighting Gennady Golovkin, I will do it. If not, he can take the middleweight title. He can take it.”

GGG is Cotto’s mandatory fight, and that sounds an awful lot like he’ll vacate the belt before facing the Kazakh wrecking ball.

What does that leave us?

Cotto vs. Cornelius “K9” Bundrage, anyone?

Yikes.

Shiming was unsuccessful in his first challenge for a world title on Saturday night, dropping a wide unanimous decision to IBF flyweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng at the Venetian Resort in Macau, China. 

Talk about putting a damper on what was supposed to be a coming-out party for the two-time Olympic gold medalist who has helped make boxing a mainstream sport in China.

Ruenroeng was dropped in Round 2, a questionable call at best, but dominated most of the fight with his left jab.

It was ugly, sloppy and definitely not aesthetically pleasing for the crowd who came to see their national hero capture a world championship in just his seventh professional fight after a long and successful amateur career.

Shiming looked well out of his depth for large portions of the bout. He was in there with an opponent who had much more experience—having taken the title from Rocky Fuentes and successfully defended it against Kazuto Ioka and McWilliams Arroyo—and didn't have any chance to establish offensive rhythm. 

So what does this prove?

For one thing, there were always many detractors who questioned Zou's ability to successfully acclimate to the professional ranks. He's just days away from his 34th birthday, and while he's shown some improvement, he's always had the look of guy who was more marketing tool than legitimate upper-tier fighter. 

He's drummed up tremendous interest in China, a huge, largely untapped market for boxing before Top Rank began investing heavily, and maybe that's his ceiling. 

If so, you could certainly do worse.

Ruenroeng isn't a world-beater himself; he's the type of opponent who was chosen specifically because it seemed the path of least resistance to a world title. 

Shiming will make a quick return to the ring, but it's possible that we've already seen his peak.