James Kirkland Probable Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez Opponent for September 15 Bout
May 30, 2012
James Kirkland will likely be Saul "Canelo" Alvarez's opponent on September 15 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nev. for the WBC junior middleweight title. He would be replacing original opponent, Paul Williams, after his devastating motorcycle accident, according to Boxing Scene.
Kirkland's legal advisor, Michael Miller, told Boxing Scene:
We got that done an hour ago (getting Kirkland cleared by the doctor). Now it's a matter of making sure the risk is worth the award. Richard (Shaefer) and I are working towards a deal as you write this.
The risk Miller mentioned is having Kirkland fight right after being cleared to return to action earlier than expected after having surgery on his right shoulder, as he was originally slated to make a return in October.
With a few replacements that would be considered as legit opponents for Alvarez (40-0-1, 29 KOs) to face next, Kirkland (32-1, 27 KOs) fits the bill and will give Canelo a valid test in the ring.
In a career that has been put on hold two different times due to separate prison stints, Kirkland boasts a solid record and is looking to get the marquee win that will take his career to the next level.
If Kirkland can get his fight game back to 100 percent after hurting his shoulder about two months ago in his strange disqualification win against fellow junior welterweight contender Carlos Molina, he would arguably be Alvarez's toughest opponent to date.
To avoid a disaster in the ring, Kirkland must avoid the slow start he had against Molina and come out ready to give it all from the opening bell, or it could be a bad night for him.
If Alvarez can dominate Kirkland in their speculated fight and show just how talented he is, even bigger foes should be in his future, including the main fighter Canelo wants to square-up with, pound-for-pound king, Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Paul Williams in Motor Cycle Accident: Likely Paralyzed from Accident
May 28, 2012
Earlier this afternoon news broke that Paul "The Punisher" Williams, a former multiple title holder, has been in a motorcycle accident in Atlanta Sunday morning. According to WRDW 12 news, he is now in the hospital prepping for surgery to try and stabilize the healthy half of his spine.
Nothing is really clear about his condition right now, but it seems that Williams may be paralyzed from the waist down.
There is no doubt now that the pay-per-vew fight between him and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez will be called off.
This is very heartbreaking news as Williams was on his way back into boxing.
A former champion with a record of 41-2-0 with 27 KOs, he holds victories over notable opponents such as Sergio Martinez, Antonio Margarito and Ronald Wright.
He revived his career with a controversial decision win over Erislandy Lara, and a dominating win over Nobuhiro Ishida, the man who defeated James Kirkland.
This is also coming at the heel of news that former boxing start Johnny Tapia was found dead in his home yesterday.
It is a very sad time for boxing. No way does Paul Williams deserve something like this to happen to him. Hopefully his surgery goes well and he has a fast and successful recovery.
My heart goes out to him and his family.
Saul Alvarez vs Paul Williams: Fight Card Could Be a Night of Mexican Warriors
May 23, 2012
In what may shape up to be a very successful pay-per-view, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez will be defending his WBC title against former titlist Paul "The Punisher" Williams. Williams will be the toughest challenge of Alvarez's career. Without a doubt, this fight will produce a night of fireworks.
While the main event is already an intriguing matchup, the undercard will also be a topic of interest. This is Alvarez's first pay-per-view and Golden Boy Promotions would be wise to make it as appeasing as possible to not only casual fans but hardcore boxing fans as well. Alvarez is not at the point in his career where he can successfully carry the card by himself.
Late last night, Oscar De La Hoya was tweeting about the possibilities for the card come Sept. 15. From what he was saying, he's looking to turn the event into a real spectacle. Here are a few of his tweets regarding the pay-per-view:
I'm thinking rematch with linares and yeyo who is fighting this Saturday on @FOXDeportes
From what Oscar was saying, this card is starting to look very appealing. Also, the fact that the card will probably be stacked with Mexican fighters during Mexican Independence weekend will only help the pay-per-view sell.
The possible fights so far look good. Johnny Gonzales vs. Ponce De Leon will be a fan friendly title fight that will undoubtedly rile the fans up.
The rematch between Thompson and Linares will be interesting as Thompson blasted Linares in the second round of a very surprising upset. The winner of this rematch will possibly challenge Antonio Demarco for his title.
Finally, any fight with Maidana is a good fight that has a very high chance of ending in a knockout. The only thing that can make this card even better is if Golden Boy somehow got Victor Ortiz to rematch Marcos Maidana.
Only time will tell what will happen with the card, but so far it's looking very promising. Golden Boy Promotions already shocked us all by making this fight, so the possibility that they make this card is pretty good.
Who knows, maybe Canelo will be the third fighter who is able to break the one million pay-per-view barrier besides Pacquiao and Mayweather.
Saul Alvarez vs Paul Williams Official: Pay-Per-View Fight to Be on Sept. 15th
May 22, 2012
There was talk and rumors happening around the boxing community that Saul "Canelo" Alvarez will possibly be facing off against Paul "The Punisher" Williams. According to The Ring Magazine, the fight has officially been inked for Sept. 15th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on pay-per-view.
This is huge news as not only will it be Canelo's first time headlining his own pay-per-view as the main event, but this may also be the toughest challenge in the young man's career.
Paul Williams may not be the man he used to be, but he's tall, has a long reach and can really put the pressure on other fighters. Shane Mosley, despite losing by a wide margin, seemed to irritate Canelo at some points with his pitty-pat punches. In his fight against Jose Cotto, Canelo had to survive the onslaught of Cotto's punches in the first round of their fight.
Paul Williams is a completely different beast than those two fighters and will make Canelo work for a win. He will keep pressure on Canelo throughout the fight as he has averaged almost a thousand punches thrown per fight in his last two fights.
In his fight against Erislandy Lara in 2011, he threw 1047 punches, and in his fight against Nobuhiro Ishida in 2012 he threw 934 punches.
Throwing more punches might be key for Williams winning the fight as sometimes activity can win fights. That's supposedly how Williams won his controversial decision over Lara last year.
Golden Boy deserves major props for creating this fight, as Canelo is one of their most protected fighters (as shown by his last five fights since winning the belt) and this is a huge step up in competition. They must be looking to do huge numbers with this pay-per-view because if they had chosen James Kirkland instead of Williams, then this fight might not sell as well.
Boxing: Canelo Alvarez vs. Paul "The Punisher" Williams Set for September 15
I think that this will be a great fight, and I place the odds at about even money.
It's going to be fascinating to see if Canelo can deal with the high work rate and length of Paul Williams. Will he be able to get inside on the 6'1" windmill that is "The Punisher"?
I'm also really happy to see Canelo and Golden Boy Promotions take some risk and throw their biggest young star into the lion's den against an opponent that he isn't at all guaranteed to beat. Too often, young fighters are matched very soft in an attempt to build them up and pad their record.
Well, in this case, Canelo will be facing an extremely live opponent, and there's a serious danger that he'll lose his "0" come Mexican Independence day.
The good thing for Canelo is that even if he loses, boxing fans and reporters will respect his willingness to face the top fighters in the world. He'll be 22 years old when the fight takes place, so a loss won't break him at all.
As for Paul Williams, this fight is his chance to get back into the picture of the pound for pound top 10.
He's looked shaky in recent years, after suffering a devastating KO at the hands of Sergio Martinez (I was at the fight, it was ridiculous) and a highly controversial decision against Erislandy Lara.
If he can win this fight, his career is rejuvenated. If he loses, it's back to square one for the Aiken, South Carolina native.
This fight promises to be a good one, as they both aren't afraid to trade shots and both have really solid power. I wouldn't be surprised if this was a Fight of the Year candidate.
So, overall this is a great fight for boxing, and props to Canelo and Golden Boy Promotions for taking this fight. It promises to be a tough, grueling fight that either man can win. That's the type of fight that is good for boxing.
It's no secret that Golden Boy Promotions wants to navigate Canelo into a potential mega fight with undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. sometime in the future. Rushing him too soon, though, would almost surely produce a loss. Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer has taken it upon himself to try and delay until the young superstar is ready.
There's no doubt that Canelo is the future star for Golden Boy and potential pay-per-view golden egg who can produce massive numbers long after Mayweather Jr. and Pacquiao are gone. That's why Golden Boy has been building him up by featuring him on the televised undercard of Mayweather fights.
Now, it seems that Golden Boy is ready to put their plan into motion. The plan is to have Canelo headline his very own pay-per-view card on September 15th.
No opponent has been set in stone, but Golden Boy have been in contact with James Kirkland as a potential foe. This is good because Kirkland would be one of Canelo's toughest challenges to date. What Kirkland lacks in defense, he makes up for in blistering offense.
However, this fight might not happen because Kirkland is currently out due to a shoulder injury that might not heal up in him for a September bout with Canelo. The WBC tried having an eliminator between Vanes Martirosyan and Erislandy Lara, but Martirosyan backed out of the fight because he felt the WBC wouldn't guarantee him a title shot even if he won.
If Kirkland isn't ready, a name that Schaefer tossed around was former pound-for-pound king and world titlist Paul Williams.
This would probably be a more interesting fight, although he hasn't really done anything to earn this shot. Then again, what do most guys do to earn their shots other than having a name?
If this fight were to happen, I expect it to be an even tougher fight for Canelo. We'll see how Paul Williams' work rate does against Canelo's patience.
Williams' name recognition also makes a lot more sense from a pay-per-view sales standpoint, more so than lesser-known James Kirkland.
Miguel Cotto Not Retiring, Hopes to Return to the Ring Before End of the Year
May 10, 2012
On May 5th, Miguel Cotto (37-3 30KOs) put on the performance of his career when he battled Floyd Mayweather Jr. (43-0 26KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. His WBA belt and WBC Diamond junior middleweight belt were on the line, but he fell well short in a crushing unanimous decision loss.
At the end of the fight, fans were worried about Cotto's state as he left the ring without giving a post-fight interview and seemed disappointed with the fight. There were rumors swirling around that Cotto may be retiring, and his uncle said hoped that his nephew Miguel would consider retirement. His uncle hoped that Miguel would considered walking away from it all with a record-high purse while he still could instead of retiring when he couldn't fight any longer.
Cotto fans should be happy to hear that Miguel Cotto doesn't plan on retiring just yet. According to an interview he gave to El Nuevo Dia, he actually hopes to return to the ring before the end of the year.
Miguel stated that he was very proud of his performance against Mayweather last Saturday, and acknowledges that it was his best performance of his career.
He then went on to say that he's capable of fighting two to three more years. He also said he attributes a lot of his success to his new trainer, Pedro Diaz.
Cotto said he will take several weeks off to rest before saying he longed to return to the ring and hopefully could do so before the end of the year.
This is great news as his stock surely rose with his fight against Mayweather, and a lot of fight fans are eager to see what else Cotto can do in the ring.
Demetrius Andrade Needs to Step Up His Level of Opposition
May 8, 2012
Moving through labels of “prospect,” “contender,” and “champion” is an often long and arduous process. For 2008 U.S. Olympian and former World Amateur Champion Demetrius Andrade, the time to make the leap to true contender status by facing a better quality of opposition is now.
Andrade (17-0, 12 KOs), 24, has all the physical tools you look for in a prospect: naturally endowed speed, good fundamentals, knockout power, patience, and world-class pedigree. Sometimes the pressures of being an American Olympian lead to unrealistic expectations and the assumption of guaranteed future world champion status. Some fighters implode under the pressure (Ricardo Williams Jr., for instance), while others, like Andre Ward, rise to the occasion and become the next generation of boxing stars.
With the London Summer Olympics looming, it has almost been four years since Andrade represented his country at the pinnacle of amateur boxing. To be fair, Andrade’s underwhelming opposition is more a product of the young fighter’s promoters and managerial teams matching him soft. But maybe they are on to something. It does not seem that long ago that fans were imploring Andre Ward to step up his level of opposition. We all know how that turned out.
Andrade was last seen obliterating Rudy Cisneros (12-3, 11 KOs) of “Contender” television fame in an utter mismatch where Cisneros was knocked cold at the end of the first round.
Despite fighting an opponent who had only fought once since 2009, there was a lot to like about Andrade’s poise in the ring. Andrade showed a stiff southpaw jab that created openings for sweeping left hooks to both the head and body. He varied his attack and was, most impressively, able to score a concussive knockout by exploding forward with a right hand, left hook combination after being forced backwards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB5zMfasWEE
I am going to give Andrade’s handlers the benefit of the doubt in how they are building him towards an eventual title shot. What follows is a short list of the three types of opponents I would like to see Andrade fight as soon as his next outing.
Opponent Type: An aging, former champion who still has a pulse.
The Prototype: Joachim Alcine (33-2-1, 19 KOs).
Had Alcine not turned back the clock and defeated Canadian prospect David Lemieux, this would be a terrible example. Alcine showed tremendous confidence and poise in the Lemieux fight, and his style and punch output was awkward enough to the point where he should present Andrade with gimmicks he has not seen before. Alcine is experienced but does not present the threat of a big puncher. Also, he has been brutally knocked out twice—the first time by Daniel Santos in an unsuccessful title defense, and more recently by Mexican brawler Alfredo Angulo.
As a former light middleweight titlist, Alcine would certainly present a step up in class, and he would give Andrade the chance to shine because of his suspect chin.
Opponent Type: A rugged brawler.
The Prototype: Alfonso Gomez (23-5-2, 12 KOs).
Gomez is a rugged fighter with a solid chin. Still, he can be hurt, as seen when Saul “Canelo” Alvarez tagged him in the sixth round of their fight, leading to a TKO stoppage. Gomez has moved up the ranks by beating faded former champions (Arturo Gatti, Jose Luis Castillo) and holds some good wins against the likes of Jesus Soto Karass.
More impressive is that it took six rounds for “Canelo” to solve the Gomez puzzle, and his fight with Alvarez was close and competitive up until the stoppage (which might have been a tad premature). Gomez would pressure Andrade and force him to fight moving backwards. Even though I feel Andrade would ultimately stop Gomez, a fight like this would force the American to dig deep for the duration.
Opponent Type: A true prospect tester and defensive ace.
The Prototype: Ishe Smith (23-5, 11 KOs).
Smith is coming of a nice stoppage win against Ayi Bruce, and the tactical Las Vegan would undoubtedly present the stiffest test for Andrade. While I doubt a matchup like this would be made, defeating a fighter of Smith’s caliber is essential if Andrade wants to become a champion.
Smith is an enigma. He is supremely talented, a defensive wizard, and has never been down or stopped. While he let fights against the likes of Sechew Powell, Joel Julio, and Daniel Jacobs slip through his grasp because he was not busy enough, Smith seems to have learned from his mistakes. His punch output has increased dramatically in recent fights, and he employs a devastating body attack that would test Andrade’s savvy unlike any previous opponent.
Smith arguably won his fight against Fernando Guerrero, and he holds quality wins against Pawel Wolak, Randall Bailey, and David Estrada. Given how Andrade’s handlers have traced his career path, a fight against the likes of Smith seems more plausible after a few more bouts. A fight like this would test whether Andrade can adapt and alter his game plan against a veteran who knows how to make mid-fight tactical adjustments.
Considering that Andrade has already whitewashed Grady Brewer (29-14, 16 KOs) via clear decision, it is time to increase his level of opposition and see if he can make the leap to becoming a true contender.
Miguel Cotto's Blueprint to Beat Floyd Mayweather: What Worked and What Didn't
May 6, 2012
Floyd Mayweather (43-0, 26 KOs) had just a bit too much for Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KOs) to handle in most rounds of their crowd-pleasing fight last night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nev.
In prevailing by scores of 118-110 and 117-111 (twice), Mayweather, 35, exhibited a seldom-seen facet of his game: the ability to dig in and get the better of a bigger man in close-quarters fighting. Rarely before his fight against Cotto, 31, had Mayweather been willing, or required, to sustain and commit to so many heated exchanges.
While Cotto acquitted himself admirably and made every round competitive, the claims that we might have seen the first signs of Mayweather possibly losing a step or the definitive blueprint for how to beat “Money” are premature.
If we did get a “blueprint” last night, it is one that only reveals how to make a fight against Mayweather competitive. So, what did we learn?
Cotto came forward with purposeful aggression and seemed intent on working the body. Mixing up combinations prevented Floyd from landing as many clean, unanswered counter punches as he usually does.
Cotto was especially effective when he pinned Mayweather on the ropes and crowded the now eight-time world champion in five weight divisions.
Ring generalship was obviously crucial in Cotto being able to corner Mayweather, so it was peculiar when Cotto started dancing and firing from the outside towards the middle rounds.
HBO analyst and Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward astutely pointed out how this was Cotto at his least effective and that he was better served coming forward and crowding Floyd with body shots and suffocating in-fighting.
Steward also mentioned in his post-fight analysis that Cotto did not commit strongly enough to using his jab and moving in behind it. In a preview article for this fight, I mentioned how Cotto’s keys to victory would be moving in behind a stiff jab and then pounding away to the body.
While Cotto was able to do this to a certain extent, the inability of his jab to disrupt Mayweather’s flow enabled Floyd to plant himself and counter reasonably well.
What Cotto had to hope for was using his jab to get Mayweather off-balance to create openings; unfortunately, this never fully materialized.
Still, the times Cotto was able to get close made the bout thrilling in a way Mayweather fights usually are not because he so routinely outclasses his opponents.
So, did Cotto demonstrate a clear strategy that, dare I say, someone like Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KOs) could use to beat Floyd Mayweather?
In a word: no. Effectively cutting off the ring, sustained body punching, and the use of a strong jab are indeed the best ways to challenge Mayweather. And we must give Miguel Cotto his due for showing the class and skill of a great champion.
Still, what made the fight so exciting was Mayweather’s willingness to engage and adapt to his opponent’s style. The reason we have become accustomed to seeing Mayweather so routinely dominating his opponents without getting a shiner or bloody nose is because they are usually intimidated by his aura.
For some reason, recent foes have decided to posture and try to outfox and out-quick Mayweather, which is obviously a recipe for disaster because Floyd is the most polished defender in the game.
In a bout where Mayweather’s adversary finally came to fight and was not scared, it was inevitable that Floyd would have to absorb more punches and get involved in two-way exchanges. This is boxing, after all.
Anyone thinking that Cotto’s ability to tag Mayweather shows that Floyd might be slowing down was not paying attention to the fight’s narrative. The way it played out called for Floyd to brawl a bit, and the adaptability he showed was frighteningly effective.
What should actually scare future Mayweather opponents is how collected he is under fire. Mayweather’s attack was so varied—lead right hands, jabs, left hooks—and his uppercut constantly made Cotto pay when the Puerto Rican abandoned his jab while moving forward.
More disconcerting for those who want to see Mayweather lose is how Floyd was able to rock Cotto and was never in any significant danger himself.
In fact, when you break it down, the most noteworthy aspect of last night’s bout was how Mayweather efficiently dealt with someone who applied constant pressure.
What Cotto ultimately showed—other than the true class that will one day make him a Hall of Fame fighter—is how to force Mayweather to fight you, and we should all thank the Puerto Rican star for refusing to back down.
After what was a very exciting bout between the still-undefeated, Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto , Money May had the spotlight squarely on himself, as Cotto reportedly went to the hospital after the bout, and missed all the post-fight interviews...
