Left-Hook Lounge Mailbag: Mayweather & Canelo’s Star Power, Pacquiao vs Canelo, & Arreola’s Future!

canelo222Chauncey 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!

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Myths about Mayweather-Canelo

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1. Floyd will KO Canelo. Did I miss something or did Money May suddenly become Mike Tyson? The idea is hinged upon Alvarez’ apparent lack of stamina and that Mayweather will pound out a late stoppage. Knockouts aren’t always the result of physical force but of intention to use that force.

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.

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The Nightmare Arreola Takes Shape – 38-year-old Rafael Marquez can’t do it anymore

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The evidence was clearly visible. Former champion and future hall of famer Rafael Marquez exhibited telltale behavior long before he was put down in the ninth round. Prior to the TKO stoppage, Rafael wandered off to the wrong corner at the end of at least two rounds! He tried to make it look like he did so intentionally. But, as we later found out, his brain wasn’t functioning properly.

Up until that point the fight still appeared close. One judge and Showtime analyst Steve Farhood had the fight a draw. After the stoppage, doctors didn’t like what they were seeing. As a result, they had a stabilizing collar placed around Rafael’s neck, placed him on a gurney and rushed him to the hospital.

The punch that caused Rafael’s problems was a straight right from Efrain Esquivias. It wasn’t a particularly hard punch, but it was timed right and was accurate.

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Patrick Nielsen dominates Majewski, P4P#1 Cecilia Braekhus stops Castillo

Patrick031ad6 Photos: Wende – Patrick Nielsen (20-0, 9 KOs) defended his WBA Intercontinental Middleweight Title and added the WBO Intercontinental belt to his collection by defeating Patrick Majewski (21-2, 13 KOs) in Frederikshavn, Denmark on Saturday night. The 22-year-old knocked down the “Machine” in the fifth with a left to the chin. The judges scored the fight 119-108, 119-108 and 118-109. “This was the best performance of Patrick´s young career,” promoter Nisse Sauerland said. “He dominated Majewski and showed his superior boxing skills. The future certainly is bright for Patrick.”

Said Nielsen: “I am very happy with my performance. Majewski was a tough opponent, but my coach Joey Gamache had prepared a very good plan. I am very happy about the result.”

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Arreola Destroys A Game Mitchell – Wilder Or Stiverne II Next?

Chris Arreola vs Seth Mitchell(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.

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Can Chris Arreola Do the Same Thing to Deontay Wilder?

Chris Arreola vs Seth MitchellChris 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.

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Chris Arreola retires Seth Mitchell in One of a doomed showdown

Chris Arreola vs Seth Mitchell(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.

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Chris Arreola stuns Seth Mitchell with first round knockout and Esquivias stops Marquez in nine

Chris Arreola vs Seth MitchellINDIO, Calif. (Sept. 7, 2013) – Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola made short work of Seth Mitchell, dispatching the younger fighter in just 2-minutes 26-seconds of round one in the main event of Saturday’s SHOWTIME BOXING: Special Edition from Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, Calif. In the co-feature, Efrain Esquivias stopped Mexican legend Rafael Marquez in the ninth round of their 10-round junior featherweight bout.

Arreola of nearby Riverside, Calif., came into the fight feeling that Mitchell was out of his league. And he proved it.

A well-conditioned and poised Arreola landed a clubbing right hand in one of the first exchanges of the bout. Mitchell was stunned and already on wobbly legs. Following a push down, and moments later a clean knockdown, veteran referee Jack Reiss halted the action late in the round as Mitchell was unable to defend himself against the power punches of “The Nightmare”.

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Deontay Wilder: Arreola’s afraid of me; he’s already running

Chris Arreola vs Seth MitchellUnbeaten heavyweight Deontay Wilder (29-0, 29 KO’s) can already smell fear coming from Chris Arreola (36-3, 31 KO’s) now that he’s in a position where Golden Boy Promotions is trying to match him up against him. Arreola destroyed Seth Mitchell (26-2-1, 19 KO’s) in a 1st round TKO in Indio, California.

Deontay saw the fight he’s licking his chops at getting Arreola in the ring to face him, and he’s hoping Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions will be able to get Arreola to accept the fight.

Oscar sent out a twitter message to Showtime to see what they thought of the idea of Arreola and Deontay mixing it up. There’s no question they’ll go for the idea, especially after the God awful mismatch they televised tonight between Arreola and Mitchell.

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Ricky Burns – Ray Beltran ends in draw

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In what amounts to be the robbery of the century, WBO Lightweight champion Ricky Burns (36-2-1, 11 KO’s) was awarded a 12 round draw against Raymundo Beltran (28-6-1, 17 KO’s) at the Scottish Exhibition Centre, in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. The judges scored were 115-112 for Burns, 115-113 for Beltran and 114-114 even.

It was a total robbery for sure, as Beltran clearly deserved the win. Burns held all night long, and the referee didn’t life a finger to stop it. Why the referee allowed Burns to get away with nonstop holding in every of the fight is the big question.

I don’t know how on earth a judge could actually give Burns the victory in this fight of even a draw, yet that’s exactly what happened. I had a feeling this was going to happen, and I know it was going to make Burns look bad as heck. Getting a gift draw only makes Burns looks bad, especially given all the holding that he was allowed to get away with.

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