The Hottest Boxing Storylines for the Week of January 15
The 2017 boxing slate is off to a tremendous start!
Badou Jack and James DeGale went life and death for 12 epic rounds Saturday night at the Barclays Center with the fight ending in a fair draw. You could have scored the bout (fairly) for either man in a contest that set the bar for Fight of the Year.
On the same card, uber-prospect Gervonta Davis graduated to world champion status with a colossal knockout of Jose Pedraza. We ponder whether Davis will be 2017's breakout star.
Also, Canelo Alvarez has finalized his pay-per-view bout with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Is this ploy the official end of the post-Floyd Mayweather Jr. era?
Speaking of which, we'll also check in on the latest ridiculousness between Mayweather and UFC star Conor McGregor and Manny Pacquiao's fight with Jeff Horn.
These are the hottest boxing storylines for the week!
Did Jack-DeGale Set the Bar for Fight of the Year?
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See what happens when the best fight the best?
Jack and DeGale engaged in a high-level affair Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, that exceeded expectations even if it ended in a somewhat unsatisfying (though defensible) majority draw.
The judges scored the contest 114-112 for DeGale and 113-113, 113-113.
Both men hit the canvas in a bout that saw each retain his 168-pound title.
Jack went down in the opening round.
A straight left hand with less than 30 seconds remaining in the stanza put the Sweden-born Jack, who is promoted by Mayweather, on the mat and staked DeGale to an early lead on the scorecards.
But the fight got closer from there, and it was DeGale who needed to survive a furious final round where he was knocked down and badly hurt. It was scintillating stuff, and a rematch should be mandatory, though the weight—Jack is almost certainly heading to light heavyweight—might keep that from happening.
And with that, the first major boxing card of the new year produced a contest that will set the (extremely) early bar for 2017 Fight of the Year honors.
Whether it holds up or not remains to be seen, but 2017, and in particular Showtime, is off to a great start.
Does Canelo-Chavez End the Post-Floyd Era?
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After weeks of speculation, Canelo and Chavez Jr. finalized plans Friday for an all-Mexican superfight May 6 on HBO PPV, per Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. No site has been determined as of yet, but the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas or AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, seem likely.
The fight will take place at a contracted catchweight of 164.5 pounds. That's nearly 10 pounds heavier than Canelo has ever fought in his career, and it will require Chavez, who has publicly struggled with weight in recent fights, to take his training seriously to avoid another embarrassment at the scales.
He hasn't fought that low since weighing in at 158 pounds for his middleweight title fight with Sergio Martinez in 2012.
It's difficult, but we need to separate the event from the fight.
Canelo, Mexico's biggest current star, and Chavez, the son of its greatest fighter of all time, seemed destined to cross paths at some point in their careers. They took the long road, and the timing and circumstances aren't what we all hoped, but this is a big event.
But it's an insulting fight to the fans, as Oscar De La Hoya (Canelo's promoter) promised boxing that with the cinnamon-haired star at the pinnacle of the sport, things would be different from the Mayweather era, of which he was critical.
This fight is the embodiment of everything De La Hoya promised the fans would be gone in the post-Floyd era.
It's a money grab by a fighter who has insisted to everyone with a camera that he isn't a middleweight when it comes to Gennady Golovkin (the opponent that fans really wanted to see Canelo face) but then signs on to face a guy who will be a light heavyweight on fight night.
Can This Mayweather-McGregor Story Just Go Away?
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Let's call this the story that just won't go away but that we all wish would.
TMZ (h/t Keith Idec of Boxing Scene) reported last week that UFC President Dana White offered Mayweather, the now-retired former pound-for-pound king in boxing, and McGregor, the reigning UFC lightweight champion and the current biggest star in MMA, $25 million apiece for a boxing match.
That number was reported to not include PPV revenue splits or other sources of income that would come from what would be a blockbuster event. You'd have to figure that the upside would be immense and far in excess of that purse guarantee.
Mayweather, who earned about $300 million alone for his 2015 fight with Pacquiao, laughed off the offer and responded to White with some choice language.
“Ha! He’s a f--king comedian,” Mayweather said of White and his offer, per Idec.
Mayweather also told Brian Campbell of ESPN earlier in the week that he would require a nine-figure payday to consider coming out of retirement to face McGregor.
It's kind of telling that the fight so many of us are talking about right now is between a retired champion who seems more interested in the promotional angles of boxing and his new gentleman's club in Las Vegas and a fighter who has never professionally boxed.
Maybe if we close our eyes it'll just go away?
Is Pacquiao-Horn a Sleeper Fight?
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Many of you probably had the same reaction when you heard that Pacquiao, one of boxing's pound-for-pound best fighters and a future Hall of Famer, will defend his WBO Welterweight Championship April 22 in either Australia or the United Arab Emirates against unbeaten contender Jeff Horn, per Rafael.
That reaction likely consisted of popping on your laptop and shuffling over to BoxRec to figure out exactly who and what a Jeff Horn is and why he's landed such a big fight.
Bob Arum, who promotes Pacquiao, was impressed with Horn's performance against Ali Funeka on the Joseph Parker-Andy Ruiz Jr. undercard in December and says he has the style and personality to make things interesting.
"I thought he was a really rugged guy. He's a good fighter," Arum said, per Rafael.
"Does he beat Manny? Probably not, but he's going to give him a good fight. He has a very pleasing personality."
Horn is a good fighter, and he has a lot of potential to get even better. It's not as bad a fight as you might have initially thought. Just because you don't know a guy doesn't mean you should dismiss him out of hand.
You shouldn't sleep on him.
He's not going to beat Pacquiao—he's not there yet—but he's going to give a good account of himself, and, after all, anything can happen.
Will Davis Be 2017's Breakout Star?
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Davis turned in a star-making performance Saturday night by knocking out previously undefeated Jose Pedraza to claim the IBF Super Featherweight Championship in the main support bout for Jack-DeGale.
The 22-year-old, who is nicknamed "Tank," showed great composure and all the physical tools necessary to put him into the running to be 2017's breakout star.
The end came in the seventh round when Davis put Pedraza on the deck with a vicious right hand. The Puerto Rican rose from the mat but was in no shape to continue, and referee Ricky Gonzalez stepped in to call a halt.
It was a good stoppage.
Davis looks like a guy who can be a marketable star.
He's a talented fighter with a backstory (he emerged from a rough part of Baltimore) and has the backing of Mayweather as his promoter. That should provide continued opportunities going forward, even if the comparisons need to stop immediately.
And if he keeps turning in these types of performances, the demand will only grow.
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