Does Sergey Kovalev deserve Fighter of the Year for 2014?

Recently, ESPN named Terence Crawford as their Fighter of the Year for 2014 due to his wins over Raymundo Beltran, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Ricky Burns. However, only the Gamboa fight was truly interesting to watch, and the Burns fight really proved nothing given how poor Burns has looked since then.

Gamboa is really a pumped up featherweight who had no business fighting in the lightweight division against a fighter the size of Crawford. The Crawford-Beltran fight was not an interesting fight to watch due to Crawford’s constantly clinching each time Beltran would get in position to throw a punch. It was not great television, believe me.

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The Khan Job

Growing up watching Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Julio Cesar Chavez, Sr., Pernell Whitaker, and a whole host of other great fighters, it is truly agonizing to watch the sport of boxing become a spectacle; not unlike “Dancing with the Stars”. Fighters avoiding their toughest foes and boxing promoters creating a circus-like atmosphere just to boost pay-per-view sales.

Love him or hate him, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. has set the tone for the new breed of fast-talking, cocky, self-promoting fighters. What separates Mayweather from most of his emulating peers is a tremendous skill set and dedication to his craft. Many of today’s young boxing stars lack the skill set to match their boastful banter.

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Carl Froch vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr close to being finalized for 3/28

IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch is on the verge of getting his dream fight against former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr on March 28th in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight is close to being finalized, according to the Express.co.uk. Froch, 37, will have his two titles on the line for the fight unless Chavez Jr has problems making weight, which is a distinct possibility given his recent track record.

Out of all the fighters that Froch could have selected for the fight, he chose Chavez Jr despite the fact that he’s not a belt holder at super middleweight and he’s never actually fought a true 168 pound fighter from the division. This will be Chavez Jr’s first fight against a real super middleweight.

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De La Hoya eager to make Cotto-Canelo fight

While it’s looking like the May 2nd fight between WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez might not get made, Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions is still very eager with hope that the fight can still get made. De La Hoya believes the Cotto-Canelo fight is the second biggest fight that can be made behind only the Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Manny Pacquiao fight.

De La Hoya believes that a fight between Canelo and Cotto will attract a lot of women. It’s unclear just how many women it would attract and why. Presumably, De La Hoya feels that the Cotto-Canelo fight would attract a lot of women because of the 24-year-old Canelo. However, if the women that the fight attracts don’t live in the United States then it really won’t matter that it’s attracting women, because the idea is for the fight to bring in a ton of pay-per-view buys on HBO.

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Floyd Jr will KO Khan, says Jeff Mayweather

If WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr winds up facing Amir Khan in early 2015 instead of Manny Pacquiao, Mayweather’s uncle Jeff Mayweather sees Floyd knocking Khan out. He sees Khan as being no problem for Khan because he believes the British fighter still has a chin problem that has followed him pretty much his entire pro career.

Khan’s adviser Al Haymon hasn’t matched him against a puncher since his 4th round knockout loss to Danny Garcia in 2012, so it’s really not surprising that Khan has been able to thrive since then in four fights against non-punchers.

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Adonis Stevenson vs. Andrzej Fonfara 2 an option for 4/4

While Sergey Kovalev and Jean Pascal are on crash course for a fight on March 14th, WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (25-1, 21 KOs) could be facing a retread opponent in Andrzej Fonfara (26-3, 15 KOs) on April 4th. This is a fight that Stevenson’s promoter Yvon Michel is thinking of putting together for April.

Stevenson already beat Fonfara last May by a 12 round unanimous decision, so the fight doesn’t really make a heck of a lot of sense. Showtime would be the one that would make the ultimate decision, because the fight will be televised on their network.

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Golovkin: I’d move up to 168 for PPV fight against Chavez Jr

WBA Super World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (31-0, 28 KOs) says he’d be willing to move up to super middleweight (168 pounds) for a pay-per-view fight against the likes of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. However, Golovkin says it would have to be for a pay-per-view fight against an opponent that is a pay-per-view fighter.

Golovkin says wouldn’t be interested in moving up to 168 to fight Andre Ward, because he doesn’t see him as a PPV type of fighter. In other words, Golovkin only wants to move up to super middleweight against a big name for big money on PPV. He’s not just going to move up in weight to face someone without a large fan base.

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Roach: Mayweather is in love with the zero on his record

With a fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao a possibility in early 2015, Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach is starting to show how badly he wants that fight. Roach is talking about how Mayweather’s legacy will be marred if he chooses to retire without fighting Pacquiao at least once. Roach thinks Mayweather doesn’t want to fight Pacquiao because he’s afraid of suffering the first loss of his career.

The interesting thing about this is Roach admits that it was probably Pacquiao’s side that was at fault for a fight between him and Mayweather not taking place in 2010 due to the blood testing that Mayweather wanted.

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Austin Trout Talks 2015, Anthony Mundine and More

Fresh off his stoppage victory over Luis Grajeda almost a fortnight ago, former WBA junior middleweight champion Austin ‘No Doubt’ Trout (28-2, 15 KOs) is keen to get back in the world title picture in the new year.

Speaking to Australian radio station SEN1116 on Monday, Trout is keen to rematch either or both of the two fighters who delivered his first career losses in 2013, Saul Alvarez and Erislandy Lara. He states “we want to climb and go forward. I’m trying to get to the level I was back in 2013 but except we are going to erase those losses and take wins…We’re trying to get back to (the) world title and we’re trying to get back to the big names.”

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Terrance Crawford: Fighter of the Year

Undefeated World Boxing Organization`s (“WBO”) Lightweight Title Holder, Terrance “Hunter” Crawford (25-0, 17 KOs) went from a rather unknown up and coming contender to a potential superstar in 2014 as he obtained a world title from Ricky Burns and then successfully defended it twice against two great pugilists, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Raymundo Beltra, which makes him my 2014 Fighter of the Year.

Crawford traveled to Glasgow, Scotland in March and beat up two-division world champion, Ricky Burns, who was making his fourth title defense. Despite fighting the biggest bout of his career and being a long way from his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, Crawford showed no signs of being shy in the big moment. He proved to be no match for the tough and experienced Burns as he controlled the fight and effectively landed whatever he wanted, especially from the outside, en route to a twelve unanimous decision victory, despite fighting in Burns` backyard.

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