After an impressive KO victory over a game, but overmatched Liam Smith for the WBO light heavyweight title, Canelo Alvarez proved that he has taken the boxing baton from Floyd Mayweather Jr. No, I’m not suggesting that Alvarez has ascended to the pound-for-pound throne. Nor am I insinuating that Alvarez has reached Mayweather’s level from a technical perspective. However, it’s clear after drawing more than 50k fans to the AT&T stadium in Dallas to watch him fight ‘that guy from Britain’ that Alvarez has now become boxing’s most bankable star. He’s also become the sport’s latest frustrating businessman.
Smith entered the ring as a 12-1 underdog. His biggest victory leading to the Alvarez fight was against Predrag Radosevic. Who, you ask? Exactly. Still, Alvarez abandoned his self-made 155-pound division and actually made the welterweight limit (154 pounds) in order to add Smith’s WBO strap to his trophy case.
Meanwhile, fans continue to clamor for a middleweight showdown between Alvarez and “Triple G” Gennady Golovkin. Alvarez and his promoter Oscar De La Hoya have been ducking and dodging Golovkin in the name of business. In May, Alvarez vacated his WBC middleweight title in order to avoid a mandatory fight against the hard-hitting Golovkin. Since Alvarez is the bigger star, the leverage of being the A-side was more important than the honor of defending the title against the best opponent available. Sound familiar?
Instead of giving fans the fight they want to see, Alvarez has taken two easy fights in a row against Smith and the vastly undersized Amir Khan. Even the fight against Miguel Cotto was a relatively safe choice for Alvarez as Canelo was simply too big and too strong for the aging star. The opponents for Golden Boy’s golden boy are almost always much smaller, much older or simply not on a world-class level. It’s time for Alvarez to stop milking his devoted fan base and taking easy fights. It’s time for him to challenge himself and to prove himself worthy of the big bucks and adoration.
Fighters who get in the ring four or five times per year can afford three of those fights to be against bums. However, when a boxer is only in the ring twice per year, three or four consecutive easy fights means two years of yawning for fight fans.
De La Hoya and Alvarez have stated that a matchup against Golovkin is in the cards, but all signs point to late-2017 at the earliest. Canelo’s broken thumb and what’s likely to be a contentious negotiation process could push it back further. The whole plan seems to be very Mayweather-esque in that Golden Boy seems content to bore boxing fans out of their minds until they are willing to mortgage the house for a good fight just to stop the torture. That’s essentially what happened with the whole Mayweather vs Pacquiao saga. We’re all witnessing it once again.
Mayweather staying retired
Speaking of Mayweather, the ‘Money’ man has announced that he will stay retired. Mayweather had been flirting with the idea of a match against UFC superstar Conor McGregor. McGregor has been calling out Mayweather for months, suggesting he could defeat the former five-division champion in a boxing match.
The brash claims prompted Mayweather to initiate discussions with Showtime executives on the plausibility of making the fight happen. Between Mayweather’s standing $100-million dollar demands to step into the ring, McGregor’s UFC contract and the unlikelihood that fight fans would shell out money big-money for a circus fight, it was always unlikely that the matchup would ever happen. It shows that even in retirement, it’s hard for Mayweather to pass up an easy win.
Kaepernews not disappearing anytime soon
After yet another unarmed black man was shot by police, the story of Colin Kaepernick’s ongoing protest of the national anthem is not going away anytime soon. This time, it was Terence Crutcher being gunned down, with his hands up, in the middle of the street by police officers in Tulsa, Ok. With every new death of black Americans at the hands of police officers, the message behind Kaepernick’s protest is validated and pushed back into the forefront of the news.
Of course, the All Lives/Blue Lives Matter crew continues to be bitter and blinded by anything Kaepernick-related. When ESPN analyst Ryan Clark went on Mike & Mike wearing a Kaepernick jersey, the Twitter trolls went into a hissy fit. Enraged sports fans called for Clark’s job, called him names, told him to “move on” and suggested that he just focus on sports. Nevermind the fact that they were criticizing him for wearing a sports jersey on a sports-related TV show.
The hypocrisy was almost as stomach-turning as what happened to Elijah Scott. Scott, a 16-year-old Kroger employee, was sent home from work for wearing a Kaepernick jersey on “NFL Gear” day. Kroger employees are encouraged to wear NFL attire to work on Sundays, but Scott was told to leave and change after a customer complained about his “disrespectful” jersey. According to TMZ, the supermarket chain has apologized toe Elijah and promised to pay for the time missed, as if $16 bucks can make up for discrimination and humiliation in the workplace.
Kaepernick-haters better get used to the new face of black American protest. Blaine Gabbert struggled mightily against the Carolina Panthers in the 49ers 46-27 Week 2 loss. Gabbert was solid against the Rams in Week 1 (partially due to the Rams’ punt-fest) but threw for two interceptions and completed just 47% of his passes against the Panthers. After two games, Gabbert’s 5.8 yards per attempt are next-to-last among NFL starters. The only QB with a worse YPA is the Rams’ Case Keenum at 5.7. The Rams have yet to score a touchdown in two games. Vinnie Iyer of The Sporting News believes it’s only a matter of time before Kaepernick wrangles the starting job away from Gabbert. Considering Chip Kelly’s penchant for shuffling QBs, I agree that it’s only a matter of time before Kap is back under center. Whenever it happens, expect to see the heads of self-anointed patriots to explode from sea to shining sea across America.
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