WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (26-0, 14 KO’s) thinks his opponent WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) won’t be able to make the right adjustments when things don’t go his way this month in their fight on April 20th at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Trout sees Canelo as being someone that has only gear and can’t adapt to different situations, especially when all of a sudden he is getting out-boxed for the first time in his career. Canelo badly wants to beat Trout because he defeated his brother Rigoberto Alvarez two years ago in winning an easy 12 round unanimous decision to capture the vacant WBA junior middleweight title in 2011.
The World Boxing Council updated their rankings this week and installed Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KO’s) as their number #2 contender at 147. This is a clear move to put Khan in line for a title shot against WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. because there’s no other way of looking at it. The WBC has positioned Khan for Mayweather and it seems like that’s a fight that the WBC wants because why else would they rank a fighter whose career is sinking at the moment.
Light flyweight Zou Shiming (1-0) got his career off to a good start with a four round unanimous decision on Saturday night in beating Valenzuela (2-2-1, 1 KO’s) by a four unanimous decision in a fight that was pretty much one-sided from start to finish at the Cotai Arena, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China. Shiming used his jab and fast hands to land at will against the more limited Valenzuela. Zou had Valenzuela hurt from a left hand in the 2nd, but he didn’t have the power to add to it. The judges scored the fight 40-36, 40-36 and 40-36.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is going with WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s) to get past WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KO’s) next week in their fight on April 13th at the Radio City Music Hall in New York, New York. Mayweather is picking the 30-year-old Donaire to defeat by knockout.
HBO broadcaster Harold Lederman doesn’t see WBA light middleweight champion Austin Trout (26-0, 14 KO’s) having much of any chance this month in his fight with WBC light middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1, 32 KO’s) on April 20th at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Lederman thinks the 22-year-old Canelo will overpower Trout and get an easy knockout win. I imagine Lederman is putting Trout in the same class as light welterweight Josesito Lopez, who Canelo just annihilated in five rounds last September.
Heavyweight Audley Harrison (31-6, 23 KO’s) says it’ll be over for him if he loses to the 27-year-old Deontay Wilder (27-0, 27 KO’s) on April 27th on the undercard of the Amir Khan vs. Julio Diaz fight at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Audley, 41, has talked about retiring in the past but he always sticks with it after he gets knocked out.
Note: The “Road to Donaire-Rigondeaux” special replays today (Apr. 4) on HBO2 at 6:15 p.m. ET/PT.
Media Day Workout Report – The Theater at Madison Square Garden will once again host Major Boxing action when Philadelphia’s Heavyweight pride Mr. Steve “USS” Cunningham enters the ring on April 20th, under the big lights for a 12 round face-off with the English giant, 24 year old Tyson Fury.