Power Ranking Every Boxing Pay-Per-View Card in 2014 So Far
For close to a century, Madison Square Garden has been known as the Mecca of Boxing. And last June, the historic venue played host to the top boxing pay-per-view event of 2014 so far, when Miguel Cotto beat Sergio Martinez by Round 10 TKO to become the WBC and lineal middleweight champion.
This hasn't exactly been a great year for pay-per-views. While Floyd Mayweather's first tilt with Marcos Maidana last May proved to be surprisingly competitive and entertaining, there hasn't been a single all-time classic on pay-per-view this year.
And the undercard support has been weak, as well. In 2011, Top Rank included three main event-quality bouts on the Miguel Cotto-Antonio Margarito undercard. Just a year ago, Golden Boy gave fans Danny Garcia vs. Lucas Matthysse on the Floyd Mayweather-Saul Alvarez pay-per-view, which was one of the year's most anticipated fights.
That kind of extra value has been mostly missing in 2014.
6. Floyd Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana II
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After the surprising excitement of last May's competitive bout between Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana, the rematch was almost entirely lacking in tension after the first few rounds. The mid-fight adjustments Mayweather made in the first fight held up in the second go-around, and the rematch ended up as lacking in suspense as Mayweather's fights with Robert Guerrero and Saul Alvarez.
By the middle rounds of the fight, it had become pretty obvious that Mayweather was coasting to victory.
Still, the main event was the best fight by far on this otherwise dismal card. James De la Rosa recorded a big win in decisioning Alfredo Angulo, but I thought the story of that fight had a lot more to do with Angulo's decline than with De la Rosa's emergence.
Mickey Bey captured the IBF lightweight title from Miguel Vazquez in a fight that was even pretty boring to somebody like me who enjoys great defense. And Vazquez got robbed.
But the real absurdity on this card was undefeated WBC super bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz's defense against Manuel Roman. The WBC should frankly be ashamed for sanctioning this matchup as a title fight.
Santa Cruz won by stoppage in Round 2. He's one of the most exciting young fighters in the sport and belongs on pay-per-view undercards. But he needs some more credible opponents.
5. Saul Alvarez vs. Alfredo Angulo
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It's pretty hard for me to even accept Saul Alvarez vs. Alfredo "El Perro" Angulo as a fight worthy of pay-per-view. But after Canelo helped set pay-per-view sales records as an opponent for Floyd Mayweather in September 2013, Golden Boy was understandably anxious to keep the momentum going.
And if enough fans are willing to buy his fights, that means Alvarez is a pay-per-view star, after all. For his own part, Angulo was a perfectly selected opponent to help Alvarez get into the win column in an exciting manner.
El Perro fought gamely, but when the action was waved off in Round 10, it was clearly in the best interest for his long-term health.
The only remotely close fight on the card was Sergio Thompson's unanimous decision over Canelo's older brother, Ricardo. And that fight wasn't remotely as close as judges Patricia Morse Jarman and Burt A. Clements had it, at 95-93.
Jorge Linares and Leo Santa Cruz were both impressive, earning important decision victories by near shutout over Nihito Arakawa and Cristian Mijares, respectively.
4. Saul Alvarez vs. Erislandy Lara
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To judge by some of the comments I've read online, I suspect I enjoyed the showdown between Saul Alvarez and Erislandy Lara more than most people. It was hardly a thriller, but to me there was a lot of tension in waiting round after round to see if Canelo would finally catch up to Lara, or if Lara would finally launch a sustained counterattack.
It felt a lot like watching a pitcher's duel in baseball, punctuated by some brilliant defensive plays that take away big hits.
Still, I'll concede it lacked the kind of sustained action that fans are hoping for when they shell out pay-per-view dollars.
The undercard featured the successful return to action of three-division champion Abner Mares, who won a unanimous decision over Jonathan Oquendo. In a competitive, if not thrilling, fight, Mauricio Herrera earned a majority decision over Johan Perez.
Francisco Vargas put his name in the conversations at 130 pounds by pounding former star Juan Manuel Lopez for a Round 3 TKO. The best fight on the card was not on the pay-per-view broadcast but featured on Showtime Extreme, as undefeated Japanese bantamweight sensation Tomoki Kameda won by Round 7 stoppage over Pungluang Sor Singyu in a war.
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3. Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley
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Only the early rounds of Manny Pacquiao's rematch with Timothy Bradley provided much true excitement. By the middle of the fight, the Filipino star had the fight well in hand, with Bradley looking uncharacteristically sluggish after setting an aggressive pace in the early rounds.
Of course, given the bizarre scoring of their June 2012 fight, nobody was taking anything for granted until the cards were read. But this time the judges got it right, awarding Pacquiao a unanimous decision.
This was one of the better pay-per-view undercards of the year. Raymundo Beltran stayed on track for an eventual lightweight title fight by handling his business against the game Arash Usmanee, who had come up from 130 pounds on a mere few days' notice.
Former title challenger Bryan Vasquez stayed relevant at 130 pounds by besting Jose Felix Jr. by unanimous decision.
In the best fight on the card, Jessie Vargas stayed unbeaten and handed Khabib Allakhverdiev his first defeat in a grinding war. It made Vargas the WBA "regular" champion at light welterweight. I don't think much of that as a title, but the win was the biggest of Vargas' career and proves he's a major player at 140 pounds.
2. Floyd Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana I
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Marcos Maidana earned this spot against Floyd Mayweather on pay-per-view by beating the crap out of Adrien Broner last December to claim the WBA welterweight title. But despite the popularity of El Chino, pretty much nobody thought he would make for a close fight with the pound-for-pound king.
But Maidana used his aggressive, brawling style to make things uncomfortable for Mayweather during much of the fight, especially in the first half. His fast pace covered up for a lot of his punching inaccuracy and made many rounds difficult to score.
Prior to the cards getting read, I was pretty sure Mayweather had won a close decision. But I was by no means certain. And it had been more than a decade since there was so much uncertainty at the end of a Mayweather bout.
Mayweather escaped with a majority decision, but it was close enough to warrant a rematch, just the second of his long career.
The undercard fights were decent and relevant. Mayweather protege J'Leon Love outhustled the rugged Marco Antonio Periban. Broner got back in the win column in his 140-pound debut against Carlos Molina. And Amir Khan turned in a convincing decision against tough veteran Luis Collazo.
1. Miguel Cotto vs. Sergio Martinez
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While this fight was less competitive than Floyd Mayweather's first battle with Marcos Maidana, the excitement level was higher. Miguel Cotto exploded to floor WBC and lineal middleweight champion Sergio Martinez three times in Round 1 and turned in the signature performance of his career en route to winning by Round 10 TKO.
It was a historic night, as Cotto became the first four-division world champion ever from boxing-rich Puerto Rico.
The energy level when Cotto fights in Madison Square Garden is always electric. When the Puerto Rican national anthem is performed, between 15 and 20 thousand voices join in. Every move the future Hall of Famer makes is cheered wildly.
It was the ideal venue for such a big night.
The rest of the card was very good. Rising middleweight contender John Jackson looked set to cruise to a decisive victory over veteran Andy Lee in the early going before getting caught by a big punch that knocked him out cold in Round 5.
Late replacement Javier Francisco Maciel gave Jorge Melendez all he could handle and picked up a majority-decision win. And Marvin Sonsona avenged the only loss of his career with a split-decision victory over Wilfredo Vazquez Jr.
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