“Steamin” Josh Beeman defeated Carlos “The Dragon” Candelario, Jr. by a majority decision in their four round light welterweight fight by two scorecards of 38-37 and one scorecard of 38-38. This fight was a tale of two halves with Candelario, Jr. dominating the first two rounds, attacking the body well, backing up Beeman and Beeman having trouble landing his punches.
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Mayweather’s First Battle With Castillo – The Only Real Blueprint On How To Defeat “Money?”
Maybe Oscar De La Hoya has got it wrong, and his close (in the opinion of some, not in the opinion of many others) but losing fight with superstar Floyd Mayweather is not the real example of a blueprint on how to defeat the 44-0 master. Maybe – and it’s testament to Floyd’s greatness that we have to clutch at straws in such a way – we have to go back to the night of April of 2002, and Mayweather’s tough, close and gruelling encounter with Mexican warrior Jose Luis Castillo to find anything approaching a genuine blueprint on how to beat him.
It’s certainly interesting that Mexican fighters have given Mayweather his toughest tests (Castillo and Mexican/American De La Hoya being right at the top of the short list) and maybe Saul Canelo Alvarez will have studied both fights in his preparations for “The One,” which is now just days away.
Left-Hook Lounge Mailbag: Mayweather & Canelo’s Star Power, Pacquiao vs Canelo, & Arreola’s Future!
Chauncey N. (Oakland Park, FL): The last couple weeks you’ve given your thoughts on “All Access” Mayweather vs Alvarez. Since you went light on the Social Media this week, I’d like to know what your thoughts were on this recent episode and what stood out to you most between the two camps?
Vivek (ESB): I think the first and second episodes were classic. From the music selection to the production angles, I thought they were both very solid pieces of work. While there were a few things that stood out to me in this recent episode, overall, to be quite frank, I could have done without it. I never really felt the fight needed much effort to sell, but suddenly, it’s being somewhat oversold. The Mayweather car collection was fab, the ladies were fly, and Canelo’s Big Bear mountain shots over sizzlin’ Churrassco steak after the wind sprints were cool; but we fell in love with these men after seeing them fight. Let’s just say that I’m ready to see them fight!
Myths about Mayweather-Canelo
Floyd is a master technician and that fighting mindset doesn’t allow him to take unnecessary chances, especially at a higher weight where there has yet to be evidence that he is capable of stopping a bigger man. Mayweather can certainly punch; he would have never achieved such heights is he couldn’t. But don’t expect him to suddenly pull power out of his bag of tricks because that’s one element of his game that has rarely been considered special.
2. Canelo needs to pressure Floyd to win. For a long time I wondered what could be the benefits of the Mayweather style of mitt work: that rhythmic slapping that looks pretty but wouldn’t appear to be of much use in a real fight. It wasn’t until I saw Andre Berto and David Haye working the mitts that I figured it out.
Arreola Destroys A Game Mitchell – Wilder Or Stiverne II Next?
(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) Chris Arreola came into last night’s fight with Seth Mitchell wearing a robe that had written on it “you don’t play boxing.” A clear dig at Mitchell’s attempts to transfer his physical skills from the football pitch to the boxing ring, Arreola’s statement was borne out – in quite devastating style.
Looking as focused as can be, Arreola wasted no time testing Mitchell’s chin and pretty soon the writing was on the wall. Mitchell ate plenty of leather in a short period of time and he was all over the place, hurt bad and clumsily trying to hold on. Arreola, though, would not be denied.
Can Chris Arreola Do the Same Thing to Deontay Wilder?
Chris Arreola just did what most of us expected. He stopped Seth Mitchell in 1 easy round. It was over so fast that it proves absolutely nothing. No real surprise here. Mitchell simply isn’t that durable and it showed again. While the victory probably doesn’t prove much in the grand scheme of things, Arreola just gained some momentum. This is especially true if you consider how poorly he fared in his previous fight against Stiverne. The celebratory pushups by Arreola were probably a bit much, but this was Chris’s biggest win in a long time, or at least his flashiest and most explosive win under a televised spotlight. He had reason to be happy. He actually even appeared trimmer and thinner than he has in years. Dare I say he almost looked like a fit professional prizefighter. Arreola finally seems to be picking up the pieces and putting them back together, something he promised to do after losing to Vitali but never did.
Chris Arreola retires Seth Mitchell in One of a doomed showdown
(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) The fight ended quickly and so did heavyweight Seth Mitchell’s career as a prospect. 31 year old prospects with KO defeats on their record are not a bizarre concept nowadays. Chris Arreola deserves his encouragement for winning and if this was an eliminator of sorts, the right man advanced to the next level. I am not sure this was a boxing match though and I’ll give my grounds for doubting the obvious.
The fight started with Arreola looking to land his heavy hands on what turned out to be a stiff defenseless strongman (boxer) and Chris did so without losing his cool. The new svelte version of Chris not only tidied up his vocabulary but he cleaned up his act as well. Seth Mitchell was frozen and his upper body rigid as if he was expecting a rendezvous with the freight train. He was prepared to use his superior core strength against Arreola’s right hand.
After The Gloves Come Off: Jack Peterson
The former British Heavyweight and Light-Heavyweight champion retired after losing to German Walter Nuessal for the third time in February of 1937. He was only 26 years old which is very young for a talented boxer to retire; in fact some boxers have been known to have their professional debut at an age later than the Welsh man was when he retired. Despite only being a professional for some five and a half years Peterson had missed falling into the trap of saving some of his hard earned ring earnings and opened a sports shop in Bury which became successful.
Isaac Ekpo fired up for WBO Super Middleweight world title fight October 19 against Robert Stieglitz
Ghana based Nigerian slugger, Isaac Ekpo is expressing delight at landing a shot at the WBO Super Middleweight title but has quickly got down to fervent training ahead of his big night against incumbent champion, Russian born German, Robert Stieglitz on October 19 at the Messehalle, Leipzig, Sachsen, Germany.
Ekpo, 22-1, 16 KOs, managed by the Ghana based syndicate, Landmarks Promotions and Management is excited at chance to realize the childhood dream of following in the footsteps of Nigeria’s greatest boxers by becoming a world champion. He has vowed to put up his best in the bid to successfully wrestle away the world title when he steps into the ring in Germany.
But 30 year old Ekpo, nicknamed Grenade is not getting ahead of himself, acknowledging the huge task facing him against the experienced Stieglitz (45-3, 26 KOs) in what will also be the first fight outside Africa for the Nigerian who has fought all over West Africa.
Arreola vs. Mitchell: Will the pre-fight emotions spill into Saturday’s fight?
You can call Cristobal Arreola a lot of names. The fact is no matter what version shows up he always brings a sturdy chin to the table, something Arreola will try to expose in his opponent Seth Mitchell. Come Saturday night one man will stay on major premium television. The other will be reduced to gatekeeper of an already weak division especially domestically.
When breaking down a Chris Arreola fight the first thing that comes to mind is weight.
On his way up as a prospect who graduated to contender Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola was an all action brawler that threw fluid accurate punches with power to boot.