The Hottest Boxing Storylines for the Week of September 29

It was another less-than-stellar week for boxing’s pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather.

What type of trouble has the boxing superstar stirred up this time?

Has Canelo Alvarez’s move to HBO spoiled the relationship between Golden Boy Promotions and Showtime?

And how will this impact the fighters currently working with both?

Next, we shift our attention to upcoming action.

Can Jhonny Gonzalez continue his surprising resurgence on Saturday night?

And can Bermane Stiverne and Deontay Wilder finally give fight fans a legitimate challenger to the reign of Wladimir Klitschko?

All this and more in the hottest boxing storylines for the week.

Did Floyd Mayweather Damage Showtime's Reputation?

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Mayweather hasn’t had the best couple of weeks.

Sure, he knocked off Marcos Maidana and settled all doubts in their rivalry, but it’s been a cascade of bad news since.

There was the news of rifts within The Money Team business empire, with Floyd himself discussing the possibility of splitting with longtime friend and confidant Leonard Ellerbe.

Then Canelo Alvarez picked up his ball and left the playground, shuffling over to HBO to line up as a direct rival for Mayweather’s traditional pay-per-view dates.

And then, as if this all wasn’t enough, Mayweather was forced to appear before the Nevada State Athletic Commission to answer charges relating to unsanctioned fights in his gym and drug use in his home during training camp for Maidana.

The scenes were captured on Showtime’s program All Access, which purports to give an inside look at the real world of fight preparations.

But Floyd says not so.

Mayweather defended the unsanctioned fights—including a 31-rounder that raised particular concern in the commission—and drug use as being part of the staged reality of the program, which is designed to sell fights.

Basically, he told us what we already knew.

Like the WWE, All Access might be enjoyable to watch, but it’s staged. Or, putting it another way, it’s fake.

At least, that’s what Mayweather told the commission.

Should that come as a shock to fans who watch?

Not at all.

People who watch—for the most part—understand that they’re buying into an interpretation of reality and not the actual reality itself. It’s not unscripted, or uncut or anything of the sort.

It’s, like Floyd said, a dramatization designed to drum up interest and drive sales on PPV.

But you can bet that Showtime wasn’t thrilled with Mayweather coming right out and saying that in a public forum. 

They have yet to comment on his apparent letting the cat out of the bag.

Will Golden Boy/Showtime Relationship Be Damaged?

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Oscar De La Hoya and Stephen Espinoza don’t seem terribly fond of each other at the moment, and it has everything to do with Canelo’s move from Showtime to HBO and the negotiations that preceded it.

Canelo signed a multi-fight deal with HBO last week, giving the network exclusive control over one of boxing’s young blue-chip attractions.

The deal was met with predictable animus at Showtime, with Espinoza accusing De La Hoya of being deceitful and reneging on a verbal agreement to keep the cinnamon-haired star on his network.

His words were the strongest yet indicating a serious rift between the network and promotional company, each of which was largely responsible for the other’s success over the past two years.

HBO cut ties with Golden Boy last March after seeing De La Hoya take many of his bigger talents to Showtime. The move proved a boon for Espinoza, and it gave him the ability to make exclusive use of a talent-laden stable of fighters which mixed young rising contenders and established veteran champions.

That led to matching Canelo with Floyd Mayweather in boxing’s richest fight last September, among many other lucrative and intriguing fights. 

With the Mexican superstar now playing for a different team, you can understand why Espinoza is upset and possibly worried.

Canelo is zeroing in on a May date with Miguel Cotto, and that will bring about a high probability that Mayweather will need to skip or move his traditional Cinco de Mayo weekend fight to avoid being swamped at the box office.

The question may seem obvious, but with many Golden Boy fighters still with Showtime, how much will this complicate their relations and ability to make good fights?

Can Jhonny Gonzalez Continue His Late-Career Run?

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Gonzalez came out of left field to upset Abner Mares last summer and recapture a share of the featherweight title with a stunning first-round knockout.

That Gonzalez won at all was surprising—most felt he was on the downswing while Mares was ticking upward—but the shocking brutality of the stoppage is what made it really stand out.

Mares hasn’t really been active since, cancelling a rematch with Gonzalez due to injury, and he looked like damaged goods in his last fight.

Gonzalez, on the other hand, made a successful defense against little-known Clive Atwell in May, and he’ll defend against former champion Jorge Arce in Mexico on Saturday night.

Arce is clearly past his best days, but the fight remains significant in Mexico and matches two exciting punchers capable of ending the night with one shot.

Besides, didn’t everyone feel Gonzalez was shot before he blasted out Mares and resurrected his career?

You can never say never in boxing, especially with power the last thing to go.

The question, however, is: How much of a punch can Arce still take?

It has to be enough to stand in there with Gonzalez, or he'll be heading toward retirement.

Again.

Can the Bronze Bomber Become the Next Big American Heavyweight?

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The heavyweight division has been devoid of legitimate challengers for some time now, and it’s quite possible that we’re overrating both Stiverne and Wilder as a result.

The desperation to see someone—anyone really—emerge as a legitimate challenger to Wladimir Klitschko’s dominance has led fans and media to back some pretty spurious contenders over the years.

But can’t we all hope that either Stiverne or Wilder is different? The two men will meet to help shake out that question in December after reaching agreement and preventing a purse bid.

Stiverne captured the less-than-meaningless WBC Heavyweight Championship with a second consecutive knockout of Chris Arreola in May. The belt has no value because anyone with any sense of the sport realizes that Klitschko is the man, and the WBC belt crowns a paper champion.

This type of thing happens all the time, but it changes nothing.

All it practically does is assure the holder of a future opportunity at the real champ.

Wilder is the mandatory challenger for the title, and the Bronze Bomber has laid waste to every big man that has stepped through the ropes with him. He sports a perfect 100 percent knockout ratio, but his competition level hasn’t been stellar.

On the way he’s picked up a massive amount of hype as the next great American heavyweight hope. That could be a blessing or a curse, and recent history suggests the latter.

Stiverne is a big step up, and the Canadian-based Haitian champion packs a pretty substantial wallop in his shots as well.

This has all the makings of a proving-ground type of fight, and the winner will emerge as the clear top contender to Dr. Steelhammer’s reign.

Can Anselmo Moreno Recover?

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“Chemito” Moreno—for years one of the best technical fighters in the sport you’ve never heard much of—shockingly lost his bantamweight championship to unheralded Juan Carlos Payano on Friday night in Mesquite, Texas.

The 29-year-old Panamanian had held the title since his decision win over Wladimir Sidorenko in 2008, and he'd made 12 successful defenses before Friday night.

Payano suffered a pretty ugly cut in Round 2 from an accidental headbutt, and by Round 6, referee Luis Pabon called a halt to the contest.

With six full rounds scored, Payano was declared the winner via technical decision.

Moreno hadn’t been beaten since moving up in weight and losing a foul-filled affair to Abner Mares in a world-title challenge in 2012.

But that loss was understandable, if not excusable, and recovering from this type of defeat is going to be far more difficult.

Moreno wasn’t exactly in high demand before the loss.

His style is awkward and ugly at times, and there’s a reason he’s rarely mentioned among the big names between 118 and 122 pounds.

You don’t defend your title against unknowns in rodeo arenas by accident.

Chemito needs to get back on the horse as quickly as possible. He's said that he won't be pursuing a Payano rematch and will instead jump to 122 pounds because his body didn't feel comfortable making weight.

There are a lot of significant fights up there, but it remains to be seen whether or not Moreno can secure one.