The Hottest Boxing Storylines for the Week of February 28
A pretty dead month (at least in terms of in-ring action) concluded Saturday night with three significant fights featuring some of boxing's biggest names and brightest young stars.
Terence Crawford smashed Hank Lundy on Saturday night to retain his 140-pound championship.
We ponder whether the win proves Crawford is ready for the big time.
Next, we look at Carl Frampton's split-decision win (should've been unanimous) over Scott Quigg to unify featherweight titles and ask whether Frampton won or Quigg lost the huge all-U.K. fight.
Also on Saturday, Leo Santa Cruz stopped Kiko Martinez in a (predictable) barnburner that was mostly one-sided.
We look at what he must do next to become a (bigger?) star.
All that, plus we have the latest on Deontay Wilder's fight with Alexander Povetkin possibly heading to Russia and whether Vasyl Lomachenko and Nicholas Walters will do battle in the spring.
These are the hottest boxing storylines for the week.
Is Terence Crawford Ready for the Big Time?
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Is Crawford ready for the big time?
You'd better believe it.
The Omaha, Nebraska, native, who was making his first appearance under the bright lights of New York City, patiently waited for an opportunity to strike and blasted out Lundy in Round 5 in front of a large crowd, many of whom made the trek from the nation's heartland to see him perform on the big stage.
Crawford looked every bit the star fighter that his managers and network have made him out to be over his past several fights. Lundy was game, landing some nice combinations in the early rounds before getting blasted and pummeled into submission.
It was a competitive fight, but the talent gap was huge.
HBO's Max Kellerman stated on the post-fight broadcast that Bob Arum will next look to match Crawford with former world champion, and human brick wall, Ruslan Provodnikov in what would be an interesting skill-versus-will matchup.
That's a good test (Provo is no walk in the park for anybody) and would position Crawford for bigger contests down the road, which could include Manny Pacquiao, should he beat Timothy Bradley in their rubber match and elect to continue fighting.
We might yet get a chance for that torch to be passed to Crawford, one of the most purely talented fighters (if not the most talented) in boxing today.
Did Carl Frampton Win, or Did Scott Quigg Give It Away?
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This is a tough question to answer.
Frampton won the fight clearly, if not in an exciting or aesthetically pleasing style.
He boxed efficiently, if doing the minimum, over the first seven rounds, building himself a large and, as it turns out, insurmountable lead on the scorecards, while Quigg bounced cluelessly around the ring with his hands in his pockets.
He seemed to be completely swallowed by the moment, which, to be fair, was immense, and it cost him big time.
How in the hell judge Levi Martinez arrived at 115-113 for Quigg should be the subject of an investigation and perhaps a Netflix original series on incompetence in sport. It's hard to award a guy seven rounds of a fight when he didn't even begin to try until Round 8. That was an atrocious card.
Quigg simply did nothing over the first half of the fight, and he should be kicking himself in the rear for that.
He came on late and seemed to have Frampton in some trouble during his late-round rally, hurting his man in Round 11 before coming out without any urgency in the final frame and dropping what should've been a unanimous decision.
Those are the breaks when you have nobody to blame but yourself.
The bottom line is neither guy stood out.
Frampton did his job by boxing, and it's hard to blame him for the stinker that wafted into the streets of Manchester, England, but we'd love to have seen how things would have played out if Quigg had brought his fighting mentality from the opening bell.
Can Leo Santa Cruz Finally Become a Star?
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Santa Cruz has the look and feel of a potential superstar, and the type of vicious, violent beatdown that he delivered to Martinez on Saturday night underscores both his promise and the problems that have plagued his career.
Martinez came to fight. He didn't back down (he was too brave by half) and took his pound of flesh before finally succumbing to the younger, stronger man and his withering assault. The fight was fun and exciting, but the result was predictable.
It was a nice win, but it doesn't really move Santa Cruz's career trajectory forward all that much.
Martinez was a blown-up fighter who was stopped even more impressively by Quigg last year.
What comes next for Santa Cruz will be crucial.
Frampton's win over Quigg could position the newly unified super bantamweight champion for a crack at Santa Cruz, should the Brit elect to move up in weight. That's a fight the Mexican whirlwind expressed interest in earlier in the week, per Keith Idec of Boxing Scene.
Al Haymon, who manages both Santa Cruz and Frampton, also has several other potentially attractive options, including fellow featherweight titlists Gary Russell Jr., Jesus Cuellar and Lee Selby.
Fighting any one of those guys would do wonders for Santa Cruz, so he can finally put the naysayers out to pasture and live up to his massive potential.
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Is Deontay Wilder Heading to Siberia?
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Wilder, the WBC heavyweight champion and American boxing superstar, looks like he'll be heading to Siberia for his mandatory title defense against Povetkin, a former titlist, in what will be a highly anticipated bout.
That's because Russian promoter Andrey Ryabinsky won a purse bid this past week for $7.15 million, which entitles him to pick the date and location of the fight. The bid was better than $2 million more than that of Lou DiBella, who promotes Wilder on a fight-by-fight basis.
It's not the first time Ryabinsky, a billionaire, has outbid the opposition to host a big fight. He bid a whopping $23 million in 2013 to force then-champion Wladimir Klitschko to travel to Russia for his defense against Povetkin.
Dan Rafael reported Saturday that, contrary to rumors, Wilder would not vacate his title and would be willing to take his show on the road for the 70 percent of the purse to which he is entitled as champion. Those comments came from DiBella.
In the past, Povetkin (who has fought all of his fights overseas, mostly in Russia and Germany) has been open to the possibility of fighting in the United States, but it would be a real surprise. Forcing a champion out of his comfort zone?
You take any advantage you can get.
Make all the Rocky jokes you want, even if Wilder is the one more (size-wise, at least) approximate to supervillain Ivan Drago.
We could be heading to Russia.
Can Lomachenko vs. Walters Deliver?
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Mike Coppinger of USA Today reported last week that WBO featherweight champion Lomachenko and former titlist Walters have verbally agreed to a bout on April 30.
That would be one of the most exciting fights to be made in the sport this year, so long as everything gets cinched up and no snags come along that delay or derail the fight.
Coppinger also dropped an interesting tidbit on his podcast.
Veteran promoter Bob Arum, who has done exclusive business with HBO for quite some time now, is interested in taking the fight across the street to Stephen Espinoza and Showtime.
HBO apparently isn't interested in the bout (why?) which could lead to a rekindling of the Top Rank-Showtime relationship for the first time since Manny Pacquiao faced Shane Mosley on pay-per-view in 2012.
That's almost as fascinating a development as the fight itself. Whether it's just a ploy by the sometimes-surly Arum remains to be seen. It's possible he's just trying to kick HBO in the rear with his threat and get the network to buy the fight.
Lomachenko was a decorated amateur before jumping to the pro ranks and tying a record as the fastest fighter to capture a world championship. He's fought a string of overmatched foes since dropping his second contest against veteran Orlando Salido.
Walters dropped his 122-pound title on the scales and was absolutely robbed of a decision win over Jason Sosa his last time out, in a fight that was scored a draw against all common sense.
Let's hope this doesn't fall apart near the finish line.
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