The Biggest Reason to Be Excited About Boxing's Top Remaining 2014 Fights
It's been a slow couple of weeks in the boxing world, but it's getting set to heat up once again.
There are plenty of big fights remaining on the 2014 calendar, and we'll get you set up right with all the reasons you have to be excited.
Big names will be in action in big fights, and you can be sure for an upset or two.
That's just boxing.
These are the biggest reasons for you to be excited about all the big fights remaining in 2014.
Donaire vs. Walters: A Proving Ground Fight
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Nonito Donaire and Nicholas Walters will both enter their October 18 WBA Featherweight Championship clash at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, with something to prove.
Donaire, once a rising pound-for-pound star, has fallen on some hard times of late. He dropped a disastrous decision to Guillermo Rigondeaux in a unification bout last April, and he’s looked thoroughly unimpressive in his two fights since.
He needs to show that the lack of fire and closer-than-expected calls in his last two bouts—both where he was heavily favored—were aberrations and not signs of precipitous decline.
Walters, an undefeated slugger who holds the “regular” WBA belt as opposed to Donaire’s “super” title, is taking a huge step up in class for this one. Even a somewhat diminished Filipino Flash is better than anyone he’s seen so far.
He’s got huge punching power—20 of 24 victories inside the distance—but he is a little raw when it comes to the finer points of the sweet science, leading some to believe he can be outboxed.
This fight is the definition of a proving ground for both men.
Either Donaire will reestablish himself as one of the top players in the lower-weight divisions, or Walters will have a coming out party as a potential new star.
Golovkin vs. Rubio: Can Marco Antonio Break the Streak?
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The last 17 men to step into the ring with Gennady Golovkin have seen their night end well before the scheduled distance of the fight.
Nobody has survived to hear the final bell since some guy named Amar Amari made it through eight rounds in 2008.
Golovkin has been a wrecking ball since, stopping all of his foes early with exceptional power and brutality.
The next man in the queue is veteran Mexican contender Marco Antonio Rubio on October 18 at the StubHub Center.
There is very little drama about the ultimate outcome of this fight.
A Rubio upset would be monumental, and the primary question is really just how many rounds he can survive the Golovkin onslaught.
Daniel Geale, a former middleweight champion in his own right, succumbed in three rounds this past July, getting knocked out by a shot Golovkin threw in the midst of eating one of his own. It was highlight-reel stuff, and it showed that GGG can destroy even a top-10 middleweight.
Rubio might last longer than that if he’s smart and able to stick to the outside for long enough, but the odds of him hearing the bell at the end of Round 12 seem remote.
Hopkins vs. Kovalev: Has the Alien Bitten off More Than He Can Chew?
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Quick poll.
How many of you expected Bernard Hopkins, at 49 years old, to risk life and limb by stepping in with Russian knockout artist Sergey Kovalev?
If you raised your hand, you’re most likely lying.
Few, if any, expected Hopkins vs. Kovalev to happen.
The combination of boxing’s cold war, the availability of a less threatening and comparably lucrative foe—Adonis Stevenson—and just plain common sense seemed to indicate this was a no go.
But Hopkins, as is his way, decided to look well outside the box and jump ship to HBO for a unification showdown with the feared puncher on November 8 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Kovalev has knocked out his last nine foes—23 stoppages in 25 victories—with the majority of those coming in the first three rounds. He’s found it increasingly hard to secure quality opponents, especially after Stevenson left HBO for Showtime earlier in the year, but he reeled in a biggie here.
Hopkins is a physical marvel who has kept himself in impeccable shape throughout a career that has now spanned four decades.
Every single time we felt he had bitten off more than he could chew—Felix Trinidad, Antonio Tarver, Kelly Pavlik—he silenced the critics and put on a dominant show.
But he’s never faced anyone as physically threatening and dangerous as Kovalev.
Nobody should be surprised if The Alien turns in another virtuoso performance—he’s earned the right for us to expect the unexpected—but could this be the time that he truly did bite off more than he can chew?
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Klitschko vs. Pulev: Is Wlad in for a Real Fight?
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Wladimir Klitschko hasn’t even been challenged in the ring in almost a decade.
He’s made 16 consecutive defenses of the world heavyweight championship—holding at least a share since beating Chris Byrd in 2006—and hasn’t once found himself in any danger during his reign.
That’s definitely a good thing for the towering Ukrainian, but the lack of drama produced by the heavyweight division in the last decade or so hasn’t been good for fans or the sport.
The big boys were once the glamour division of boxing. When the heavyweight title was contested, it was a sporting event that wasn’t confined to just boxing. But we haven’t had that in quite some time.
Klitschko’s latest foil in an attempt to inject some drama into the realm of the big men is undefeated Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev on November 15 in Germany.
Pulev is certainly better than the Alex Leapai’s and Francesco Pianeta’s of the world, but it remains to be seen if he has the goods to truly make a challenge for the title.
Klitschko is extremely difficult to fight.
He jabs, grabs and forces his weight onto opponents to tremendous effect, even if it comes at the price of questionable legality.
To beat him, you need to find a way inside his long jab and other tactics to land power shots, but boy is that not easy.
Pulev isn’t a pushover by any means, but it takes a special fighter to handle this type of task, and we just don’t know if he’s that guy.
We'll find out next month.
Pacquiao vs. Algieri: Is This a Trap Fight for the Pac Man?
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Give Bob Arum some credit.
Not only did he predict that Chris Algieri would beat Ruslan Provodnikov, but he said he’d like him to face Manny Pacquiao when he did.
Arum proved to be spot on with both of those claims.
Algieri took down Provodnikov despite suffering two first-round knockdowns and a right eye that swelled shut in the first half of the fight. It was one of the gutsiest performances you’ll see from a fighter, and it proved his mettle.
Whether he can do the same against Pacquiao, for years one of the sport’s top pound-for-pound fighters, is a very different question.
There are a few things about this fight that make it more intriguing than most mainstream fans and media give it credit for being.
How motivated will Pacquiao be?
He looked great in settling the score with Timothy Bradley in April, but he had reason to be highly motivated for that bout, having suffered a ludicrous loss in their first fight.
Can he get up for a fight against Algieri?
The Huntington, New York, native is a solid technical fighter with a good jab, movement and size. Stylistically this could turn out to be much more difficult for Pacquiao than most expect.
And if he’s not all-in, we could see the makings for an upset.
Pacquiao should win, but lots of things should happen but don’t.
Fury vs. Chisora 2: Will It Be Repeat or Revenge?
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You can call Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora the bad boys of British heavyweight boxing.
Both men are brash, loud and have the ability to rub people the wrong way.
In fairness, Del Boy has tamed his act a bit—it was hard not to after the David Haye fiasco—while Fury remains as brash as ever.
Or maybe that’s unfair.
Fury is just a supremely confident guy, but it can sometimes border on conceit.
But that type of thing sells, and these guys genuinely have some animus toward each other. This is a huge fight, as the winner will emerge as the No. 1 contender for the WBO Heavyweight Championship, and that means a likely shot at Klitschko, should he dispose of Pulev.
Fury took a wide decision from Chisora in 2011, capturing the BBBofC and Commonwealth Heavyweight Championships, but the two men are set to do it again on November 29.
This bout was originally scheduled for the summer, but Chisora had to pull out after injuring his hand in training.
The added few months of hype have probably helped the bout in reality.
Can Fury repeat his performance from three years ago? Or will a newly refined and recommitted Chisora hand the towering big man his first loss?
And can either become a true contender for the heavyweight crown?
Canelo vs. Clottey: Can Alvarez Avoid a Stumble?
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Saul Alvarez returns to HBO with a December 6 non-title bout against former welterweight contender Joshua Clottey in Texas.
The fight, in and of itself, isn’t particularly sexy or exciting, but it paves the way for bigger fights next year that are.
Canelo, who is widely expected to win, has reportedly asked his promoter Oscar De La Hoya to secure him a pay-per-view date on Cinco de Mayo weekend next year, presumably to face Puerto Rican icon Miguel Cotto.
But first, he must not stumble against Clottey, a once-promising contender who has clearly passed his better days as a professional prizefighter.
The New York-based fighter has the chance to screw up the plans of a lot of people, but it just doesn’t seem likely unless Canelo stumbles and badly.
Canelo has had his share of tricky stylistic matchups of late, and it seems that Clottey will be built for him to look spectacular on the path to a more lucrative night of fights in May.
Don't expect many people to be pulling for Clottey, a genuinely good guy and fighter.
He's just in the way of the train.
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