The Hottest Boxing Storylines for the Week of January 25
The big in-ring story coming out of this weekend was the ease with which Brandon Rios decisively took the rubber match of his trilogy with Mike Alvarado on Saturday night.
Rios was clearly the better, more focused and determined fighter. He ripped vicious combinations from the minute the bell rang and didn't take a step back for the full three rounds his foe stood up to the heat.
Alvarado looked like a shell of himself. You see this happen a lot in boxing. Sometimes, a guy loses it, and sometimes, the wars just catch up to him. Whatever the case was with Alvarado, he needs to do some serious thinking about whether he needs to lace them up again.
We examine the fallout of Saturday's anticlimactic finish to a great rivalry.
Next we look at some news involving boxing's biggest stars.
Would Mayweather-Cotto II be a disappointment?
Can James Kirkland shock Canelo Alvarez?
And then we cover the latest on Jermain Taylor, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and the budding Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury feud.
These are the hottest storylines in boxing.
The Revitalization of Brandon Rios and the Fall of Mike Alvarado
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Rios decimated longtime rival Alvarado on Saturday night, putting a decisive end to their trilogy just a few miles from his rival’s hometown.
There was nothing close, competitive or even compelling about the fight.
Rios looked like a fighter who turned back the clock or found the magic bullet. He put his punches together in vicious combinations, peppering Alvarado with hard shots at a blistering pace over all three rounds.
It was vintage Rios, doing what he does best—fight.
Alvarado clearly wasn’t prepared for the onslaught; he was unsure of whether to box or fight. While he was making up his mind, or whatever he was doing in there, Rios just kept chopping away, dropping him in Round 3 with a big uppercut and prompting a stoppage in the corner between rounds.
Coming into the fight, all the talk was about settling one of boxing’s most brutal rivalries.
And that’s important, but the stakes were even higher for a pair of fighters who had reached the top, only to fall on tough times and tumble back down the mountain.
Rios looked better than he has in years. He’s now right back in the conversation for big fights. His action style and compelling personality guarantee that he’ll get one.
Alvarado, on the other hand, is clearly done. He can deny that all he wants, and you always respect the heart of a fighter, but hopefully someone in his life can convince him the time to walk away is now.
While he still can.
Would Mayweather-Cotto II Be a Disappointment?
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You have to think that anything but a long-anticipated showdown with Manny Pacquiao would be viewed as a disappointment for Mayweather by boxing fans and media. The two have engaged in the longest fruitless courtship in boxing history, and the fans, those who still have interest, have gotten more and more fed up with everyone party to this not happening yet.
Not to call this fight too early, but it would appear that those of you who are still holding out hope that the near-mythical matchup will take place this year should begin letting yourselves down easy.
The first shoe has already dropped.
Miguel Cotto allowed a Golden Boy Promotions-imposed deadline to pass last weekend, killing any chances of a fight with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in May.
Surprising?
You better believe it.
Many in the know of the boxing business treated a Cotto-Canelo clash as a foregone conclusion, and the sudden collapse was pretty shocking. Alvarez will instead face big puncher James Kirkland, per Dan Rafael of ESPN.com, in either Las Vegas or San Antonio, Texas.
Talk immediately shifted to the hows and whys of the situation, leading to the proverbial "aha" moment.
Rafael tweeted last week that strong chatter indicated that a Mayweather-Cotto rematch was “imminent.”
In a radio interview later in the week, Mayweather confirmed that Pacquiao negotiations were still ongoing, but the subtext of his comments didn't leave a ton of room for optimism.
That pretty much sounds like Mayweather vs. Cotto is coming soon to a theater near you.
So, what’s wrong with Mayweather-Cotto II?
Only that it’s not Mayweather-Pacquiao I.
Mayweather defeated Cotto handily in 2012, but you’d be hard-pressed to argue that the Puerto Rican middleweight champion hasn't improved since.
A rematch does make sense from a historical and legacy viewpoint for the pound-for-pound king.
He would be fighting a guy he beat in a competitive but not terribly close fight, giving himself a chance at a world title in a sixth weight class. More significantly, a win would give him simultaneous world championships in three weight divisions, something only done by the great Henry Armstrong—albeit with far fewer divisions and available titles.
Right, so what’s the problem?
It’s just not the fight that fans want.
Can James Kirkland Burst Canelo's Bubble?
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Canelo isn’t getting the fight that he wanted, but he’s not taking a soft touch either—far from it.
Canelo has agreed to terms on a May 2 fight with knockout artist James Kirkland. The fight will be televised by HBO and will either land in a Las Vegas venue or at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
With Mayweather likely to fight on the same date, potentially against Pacquiao—insert gasp—or Cotto, it would appear Texas is the better option. Canelo’s fight with Austin Trout drew a record crowd to that venue in 2013, and his natural drawing power there makes it a logical fit once again.
Kirkland has been mentioned in the past as a possible foe for Canelo, and the 30-year-old, who is a Texas native, presents a dangerous and intriguing style matchup. This is his opportunity of a lifetime.
Three of Canelo’s last four bouts—Trout, Mayweather and Erislandy Lara—have been against tricky, technical fighters. It wasn’t easy, but he got decisions over Trout and Lara and lost a wide decision to Mayweather.
The last time he faced a slugger, he brutalized Alfredo Angulo over 10 one-sided rounds. He’s due an opponent who will stay of him all night and not make him chase.
Kirkland has some serious pop on his punches, but legal troubles have derailed his career at times when he appeared on the verge of breaking through. He hasn’t been in the ring since a vicious knockout of Glen Tapia in Atlantic City, New Jersey, late in 2013.
Still, until proved otherwise, he remains a tremendous offensive force in the ring, and Canelo can’t afford to underestimate him.
Expect this fight to fly under the radar, particularly if Mayweather announces his intentions soon, but don’t miss it.
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Has the Clock Run out for Jermain Taylor?
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Back in October, yours truly postulated that current IBF middleweight champion Jermain Taylor had no business stepping through the ropes for a title opportunity against then-champion Sam Soliman.
The comments section blew up, with several people egregiously accusing this writer of hoping Taylor got hurt just so the crux of the article was proved correct.
That's an incorrect assumption, and you’d have a hard time not concluding by this point that we’re dealing with a person with serious problems who shouldn’t be in the ring.
Taylor, at the time a former undisputed 160-pound champion, had a documented history of brain injuries suffered in brutal knockouts and was facing charges (since filed) in the shooting of his cousin in Arkansas.
He won the fight, somewhat improbably regaining a slice of the middleweight title after Soliman was injured on a knockdown.
Things have spiraled out of control since.
Taylor’s latest woes once again involved possession of a firearm.
The 36-year-old was sent back to jail for violating the terms of his bail stemming from the August shooting incident, after pointing a gun at a man’s head and threatening to shoot three small children at an Arkansas parade on Monday.
Taylor’s promoter Lou DiBella, per Francisco Salazar of BoxingScene.com, expressed concern over the fighter’s mental state after another arrest. He said that both he and Taylor's management team, including Al Haymon, viewed fighting as a secondary concern.
Earlier, Taylor had pulled out of a middleweight title defense against Sergio Mora with a rib injury.
It’s clear, after yet another incident involving a gun, this one with small children, Taylor should be focusing his attention on getting his head straight and not boxing.
Hopefully, for his sake, that's what happens.
Are Chavez Jr. and Top Rank Headed to War?
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Former middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. will return from a nearly yearlong absence on April 18, maybe, per Rafael, taking on former light heavyweight title challenger Andrzej Fonfara.
The bout is likely to end up on either Showtime or as a featured bout on Haymon’s new NBC series, Premier Boxing Champions.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This fight might never see the light of day.
Chavez Jr., who signed with Haymon earlier in the year, is currently embroiled in a legal battle with career-long promoter Top Rank over the status of his contract.
The promotional company claims that Chavez Jr. has one fight remaining on his deal, which the fighter disputes.
Bob Arum, who heads Top Rank, is currently suing in Nevada court to enforce the contract and force the son of Mexico’s greatest boxing champion to fight one more time under his banner. He has promised to do everything in his power to stop this fight.
Arum and Haymon have a toxic—being generous—relationship, one that has contributed to the derailing of many a good fight, including Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.
Chavez Jr. was originally believed to be the prime target for super middleweight champion Carl Froch, but the Brit recently injured his elbow and will be out of action until the summer.
And by that point, we might still be dealing with this legal mess.
Chavez Jr. vs. Fonfara is a solid matchup on paper, but will it come to pass?
That’s up to the lawyers.
Is Wilder vs. Fury the Next Great Heavyweight Rivalry?
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Welcome to the next golden age of heavyweight boxing.
OK, that might be an exaggeration, but it’s nice to finally be talking about the big boys without the subject being Wladimir Klitschko’s jab-and-grab style or lack of compelling challengers.
Wilder captured the WBC Heavyweight Championship last Saturday with a dominant unanimous-decision win over Bermane Stiverne. He showed that he wasn’t a one-trick pony, boxing and moving effectively against a foe who could stand up to his power shots.
Fury is a brash, often vulgar British behemoth who earned mandatory status with the WBO by defeating Dereck Chisora in a rematch last November. He’s stated in the past that he feels Klitschko is afraid to fight him and immediately jumped on Wilder’s case in the days since his title victory.
Fury, per Edward Chaykovsky of BoxingScene.com, had this to say:
"Just like to say congrats to [Deontay Wilder] on becoming new WBC champ! If we fight you won’t last six rounds, I wasn't impressed at all! Let's go? I Honestly think [Deontay Wilder] will avoid the furious one and fight some bums instead of keeping the heavyweight buzz going. Let's set it on fire?? I'll rip your heart out and feed it to you chump!
"
Well, Mr. Fury, you should probably work on expressing yourself better. It's not good to hold those feelings inside so much.
Whether Wilder will take the bait remains to be seen. He seems like a good bet to face recognized champ Klitschko sometime before the year is out, assuming the Ukrainian giant can get past undefeated Bryant Jennings in April.
Would Haymon risk his new heavyweight champion in a risky fight before the biggest opportunity of his life? That's questionable.
But, if he does, we could have the next intriguing heavyweight rivalry on our hands.
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