Canelo: The fans of the world want me to face Cotto

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) isn’t shy about letting people know how badly he wants a fight against WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) on Cinco de Mayo on May 2nd. Canelo believes that a fight against the 34-year-old Cotto is something that all of boxing wants to see. He may be correct to a certain extent.

There are a lot of fans who want to see that fight take place. However, there are still major question marks about Canelo’s talent level after his three step up fights against Austin Trout, Erislandy Lara and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Even if Canelo beats Cotto, he’s still going to have a lot to prove against other fighters like Gennady Golovkin.

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Froch ordered by IBF to start negotiations with DeGale

The International Boxing Federation (IBF) sent out a letter to IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (33-2, 24 KOs) on December 31st, ordering him to start the negotiation process with his IBF mandatory challenger James DeGale (20-1, 14 KOs). If Froch fails to do this then the IBF will strip the 37-year-old Froch of his IBF title and then order #7 IBF Andre Dirrell to face DeGale for the vacant IBF strap.

Froch has been holding out for a fight against former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, because Froch believes that he’s a fighter popular enough for him to fight on pay-per-view in the United States. Chavez Jr has promotional issues with Top Rank, and it doesn’t look as if Froch will be able to get that fight with him anytime soon.

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Mayweather-Pacquiao back and forth negotiations

Manny Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz says he’s still in negotiations with Floyd Mayweather Jr’s management for a fight between the two fighters. Mayweather has made an offer, and Konz, with the help of Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum, has made a counter offer to Mayweather. Unfortunately for the fans, we don’t know what Mayweather’s starting offer was and what the counter offer is from Arum and Konz.

It’s hard to imagine that Mayweather’s offer was a substantial one though because he doesn’t see Pacquiao as being in his class, and he’s well aware that Pacquiao’s pay-per-view numbers have been dropping in the last two years. Pacquiao losses to Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez don’t help matters either.

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2014/2015 Reviews & Previews: Nicholas Walters, Guilliermo Rigondeaux, Leo Santa Cruz, Vasyl Lomachenko, Sergey Kovalev, Adonis Stevenson, & Jean Pascal

(Note: In the fourth installment of a week long breakdown, boxing scribe Vivek “Vito” Wallace analyzes where today’s top fighters stand, and whether or not 2015 could be the year many of them fall. This week long analysis will cover over 30 top fighters from around the world)

GUILLERMO RIGONDEAUX

For the best boxer of this era to rise from the Cuban ranks, 2014 was far from eventful. After a stunning 2013 that saw him defeat both Donaire and Agbeko, 2014 saw him destroy an unknown fighter in China, and forcibly scrape himself off the canvas twice against an unknown fighter in Japan. Definitely not the level of competition you’d like to see from a fighter none as “boring”.

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Boxing robot overcomes two knockdowns to systematically destroy mere Japanese human

Anyone who stayed awake through the encounter between boxing’s most avoided robot, Guillermo Rigondeaux, and mere human, Hisashi Amagasa, would have been delighted to see Rigondeaux get knocked down twice and visibly hurt in round 7.

The start of the fight was typical Rigondeaux, an incredible display of balance, poise and posturing that would be heralded by the Royal Ballet School, but had everyone else nodding off more then a room full of junkies. There’s only so much “sweet science” I could marvel at before my mind wondered and started thinking about why the Japanese decided to count up to 3 minutes instead of down, and why so many in the crowd were wearing respiratory face masks.

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2014’s Fight of The Year? Juanma Lopez and Daniel Ponce de Leon gave us a mini-classic back in March

Maybe the short and sweet, not to mention terrifically entertaining battle 130-pounders Juan Manuel Lopez and Daniel Ponce de Leon gave us this year should win the slugfest of the year distinction. Both men, their careers quite literally on the line, swapped leather, and traded knockdowns, in a manner befitting two prizefighters with everything on the line.

You may have other fights in mind as your choice or choices for 2014’s FOTY, but lovers of a dramatic, hi-octane rumble with swiftly shifting momentums and a ton of fierce leather exchanged in just a handful of minutes will show as much affection and appreciation to this one as I do.

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Boxing’s Best of 2014

In what turned out to be a somewhat lackluster year for the sport, there were some bright spots for boxing fans in 2014. The validation of stars like Sergey Kovalev, Terence Crawford and Nicholas Walters. The rejuvenation of Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao. The continued rise of Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. This writer decided to share some of his favorites from the past twelve months below (check out the videos to see more). Let’s take a look at the pugilistic best of the year that was.

Montero’s “Rising Star”: Nicholas Walters

The “Axe Man” is one boxer who truly lives up to this nickname. He kicked off his year by chopping down former titlist Vic Darchinyan in Macau, then chopped down former pound for pound star Nonito Donaire in Los Angeles. The bilingual bomber can also box, as he showed a top-notch jab in his dismantling of Donaire. Fighting in a loaded featherweight division, the Jamaican native built most of his career in Panama and is fluent in Spanish. A consummate professional with a humble attitude and plenty of charisma, the sky is the limit for Nicholas Walters.

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2014/2015 Reviews and Previews: Terence Crawford, Bernard Hopkins, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Carl Froch, Lucas Matthysse, Peter Quillin, & Erislandy Lara

(Note: In the third installment of a week long breakdown, boxing scribe Vivek “Vito” Wallace analyzes where today’s top fighters stand, and whether or not 2015 could be the year many of them fall. This week long analysis will cover over 30 top fighters from around the world)

TERENCE CRAWFORD

Despite a somewhat uneventful 2014 in the sport, the one golden talent which served as a silver-lining with platinum potential was Omaha, Nebraska’s Terrance Crawford. Coming into the year few knew his name. By the time it ended, few could forget it! The emergence of Terence Crawford onto the scene has been a breath of fresh air. In what was once considered a limited selection of fans, suddenly, the African American base around the world has a talent to root for that does more fighting than flaunting (money), and more taming than talking!

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Leo Santa Cruz vs. Abner Mares possible for April

A fight between former three division world champion Abner Mares (28-1-1, 15 KOs) and WBC super bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (28-0-1, 16 KOs) is a possibility for April of 2015, according to Steve Kim. This would be a good fight, and it would partially make up for Santa Cruz’s mismatch against Jesus Ruiz (33-5-5, 22 KOs) on January 17th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ruiz is ranked #14 WBC in the featherweight division. Ruiz appears to be an easy mark for Santa Cruz after his last easy fight against an overmatched Manuel Roman last September.

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If Cotto vacates his WBC title without facing Golovkin his legacy will be tarnished, says Sanchez

WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto may end up vacating his WBC title rather than facing interim WBC 160lb champion Gennady Golovkin. Cotto’s adviser Gaby Penagaricano talked recently about Tim Bradley being a bigger fight for Cotto than Golovkin. If that indeed is the direction that Cotto will be going in if he can get by Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in May, then we could see Cotto either vacating or having his WBC title stripped from him by the WBC.

Of course, the WBC may end up not enforcing the mandatory and letting Cotto take additional optional defenses besides Canelo, who isn’t ranked in the top 15 in the middleweight division.

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