The Hottest Boxing Storylines for the Week of May 24
Let's call this the nearly all-Brit version of the hottest storylines in boxing.
It's fight week!
We take a look at Amir Khan's showdown Friday night on Spike TV against former junior welterweight titlist Chris Algieri.
Is Khan overhyped against the underdog Algieri? And what are the chances of an upset?
It looks like Gennady Golovkin could finally be on the verge of securing the big fight that has eluded him during his meteoric rise to the top of boxing's middleweight division.
Carl Froch, anyone?
We'll also take a look at Kell Brook's upcoming title defense and where it could lead him next, and we'll give props to James DeGale for his title-winning victory over Andre Dirrell on Saturday.
Oh, and we'll look at Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. too.
Let's get right to it.
Is Khan vs. Algieri a Match of Overhyped vs. Underdog?
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Khan, love him or hate him, is a very talented fighter.
He's got blazing-fast hands and has shown defensive improvements since bringing head trainer Virgil Hunter on board after suffering back-to-back losses against Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia.
But he also seems to overvalue his position in the sport by quite a bit.
Khan has made chasing pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather a full-time job over the past couple of years, and it's made him look really bad. It's made him look desperate for attention and increasingly reluctant to take chances in the ring.
He's won four straight since being tattooed by Garcia, but only one of those fights—his win over Alexander that should've taken place a year prior for a world title—came against someone even close to top-shelf status in the sport.
Chris Algieri is the next man up for Khan Friday night at the Barclays Center.
The Huntington, New York, former kickboxing and junior welterweight boxing champion is used to the underdog role by now. He's played it in at least his last three fights with a good degree of success.
Algieri was knocked down twice in the opening round by Ruslan Provodnikov last June at the Barclays before rallying for a close decision win. That win was made all the more impressive by the fact that Algieri fought nearly the whole way with a completely shut right eye.
That win propelled him to a disastrous showing against Manny Pacquiao in Macau, which prompted a switch in trainers to veteran former world champion John David Jackson.
Algieri is comfortable in the underdog role, and he's a much more talented fighter than he showed against Pacquiao.
Khan's constant looking ahead is going to come back to bite him one of these days, so could a determined underdog foe like Algieri be the one to smash all the hype?
Is Carl Froch the Fight Gennady Golovkin Needs?
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Yes.
Simple enough?
Golovkin has convinced a large segment of the mainstream boxing public that his "big drama show" is enough to place him among the very best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, but some naysayers will remain holdouts until GGG conquers an elite foe.
Fair enough.
That could be coming sooner than we all thought.
Froch would certainly meet that criteria, right?
ESPN.com reports that Froch's promoter, Eddie Hearn, has opened negotiations for what could be the fighter's swan-song fight against Golovkin at Wembley Stadium.
"I've now spoken with Carl directly about this and he is interested. I only want him to take it if he's genuinely motivated because it is a high-risk fight," Hearn said, per ESPN.
Hearn says he wasn't initially sold on the fight, but that Froch convinced him because he's "crazy that way" and wants to see how he could deal with Golovkin's massive power and pressure.
That's a tall task for any fighter, even as GGG will have to come up in weight to 168 pounds in order to make the fight a reality, something he's willing to do.
Froch vs. GGG at Wembley would be a massive event, packing 80,000 people once again into an iconic venue for a high-level fight between two pound-for-pound combatants.
This is exactly what Golovkin has been missing.
Froch?
He could probably take an easier path, but he gets much credit for picking out the biggest, meanest dog in the yard for what's possibly his last fight.
Would a Win Propel Kell Brook to a Big Welterweight Showdown?
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Brook defends his IBF Welterweight Championship against compatriot Frankie Gavin Saturday night at the 02 Arena in London. It will be his second defense of the crown since coming across the pond last summer and taking it from Shawn Porter at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
Gavin is a solid domestic-level fighter, but it's not hard to see why most people are taking this as something of a soft touch for Brook on the way to bigger and better things.
Brandon Rios, fresh off his best performance in years in the final chapter of his rivalry with Mike Alvarado, would likely be the next man up over the summer for whoever walks out of London with a 147-pound belt around their waist.
Hearn told Edward Chaykovsky of BoxingScene.com that a deal was expected to be reached shortly for the winner of Brook-Gavin to face Rios, and Rios' manager Cameron Dunkin told USA Today (h/t Dan Ambrose) that it could take place on August 8 on HBO.
Brook's strong technical boxing ability against Rios and his wild, slugging ways could be a fun style matchup.
But the possibilities don't end there.
Mayweather remains on the prowl for a final opponent.
Could he be enticed by the big money guaranteed by a London showdown against Brook at Wembley?
Brook would obviously shelve Rios if that call came.
Juan Manuel Marquez, the four-division champion and future Hall of Fame fighter, has also expressed a desire to challenge for Brook's welterweight gold.
Manny Pacquiao, should he elect to continue fighting after shoulder surgery and a deflating defeat, also could be a possibility.
Bob Arum told Chris McKenna of the Daily Star (h/t BoxingScene.com) that he could see Brook and Pacquiao locking horns once the Filipino returns to action.
So for Brook, it's just like Al Davis used to say:
Just win baby!
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Did the Judges Get It Right in DeGale-Dirrell?
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DeGale made it much harder than he needed to over the second half of the fight before escaping with a deserved historic decision win over Andre Dirrell to become the first British fighter to win both an Olympic gold medal and a boxing world championship.
Dirrell was knocked down twice in the second round of the fight but rallied strong down the stretch to make the scorecards at least somewhat close heading into the final two rounds.
For some inexplicable reason, DeGale, who captured gold at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games, abandoned the activity level that got him two knockdowns and built a big lead in the middle rounds. He began fighting with his hands in his pockets and seeking to land one big shot at a time.
That allowed Dirrell, who was unsuccessful in his previous challenge for a world championship—a split decision against Froch over five years ago—to work his way back into the fight by stringing together combinations whenever DeGale lingered along the ropes and was inactive.
DeGale got back to what worked in Rounds 11 and 12 to make up his margin of victory.
The judges definitely got this one right, even if judge Alan Davis, who scored it 117-109 for the Brit, either didn't watch the fight or didn't know what he was watching.
That card was atrocious, but luckily it wasn't a factor in the decision.
It was a good, competitive fight, and both men had their spots, but the verdict was clear and correct.
DeGale deserves credit for his win, and Dirrell will remain a factor in an evenly-matched division.
Can Another New Trainer Resurrect Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.?
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Chavez Jr. looked well out of his depth—not the first time—in being pounded and dropped before quitting on his stool against Andrzej Fonfara on April 18 in the main event of a Showtime-televised card at the StubHub Center in suburban Los Angeles.
Everything about the performance reeked.
Chavez looked out of shape, coming way up in weight, disinterested and ultimately had his own "no mas" moment when he was knocked down in Round 9 and refused to answer the bell for Round 10.
The Mexican fans, who had packed the StubHub Center in hopes of seeing a fighter with the most famous last name in Mexican boxing history make good, instead turned their vitriol on their former champion.
The boos and beer cascaded down upon the ring—it was quite a scene—as Chavez left in disgrace after an odd interview in which he said he felt he won the fight, despite quitting in his corner.
It seemed like the Chavez train—long criticized for being more hype than real promise—had officially stopped at the last station, but, with marketing in boxing being everything, apparently we were all wrong.
Miguel Rivera of BoxingScene.com reports that Chavez Jr. could fight in Texas on July 18 against Marcos Reyes (33-2, 24 KO). The venue and television networks have not yet been finalized, and the fighter claims that negotiations are still ongoing.
Chavez, per Rivera, also is parting with his trainer Joe Goossen after just one fight.
He tweeted on Sunday morning that Robert Garcia would be taking the reins to run his next camp.
Can Garcia get anything more from Chavez that Freddie Roach and Goossen couldn't?
That'll be the $64,000 question.
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