Hello there! This is the first edition of the BLH Mailbag, something we’ll be running on Fridays going forward. There will be a new Feed post weekly looking for your questions for the week, so check back on Monday or Tuesday for that!
As I mentioned in the first post asking for questions, here’s the idea:
- I don’t claim to be any sort of insider with the “scoops” and what have you! Boxing media has about 2.5 of those left, the entire game has changed significantly, that’s just a fact.
- This is more about discussion with all of us than me pretending I’m some genius who knows everything and is right about every idea. This is about just plain old talking boxing with each other.
Let’s have some fun with it, and thank you to everyone who asked questions!
From PaulMFightFan:
Which undercard fight on the Rolly/Teo fight are you most interested in? The undercard has taken a bunch
of flack, but I’m excited to see Utria (especially after he won the Saudi tournament) vs Mercardo and Cuban banger vs Veron.
Yeah, I also don’t think it’s as bad as some believe, but I also have the low standards for boxing PPV undercards because (1) I’ve paid attention to what they’ve really been in the last 20 years, and it’s usually about like this, and (2) I can be sold on something as simple as “I want to see Utria on this stage.”
I think I’m going with Yoenli Hernandez vs Veron, though, because I really like Hernandez. And I am interested to see Utria against Israel Mercado. Santillan-Russell might be competitive, at least, maybe even an entirely good fight. The matchups are decent — that’s a big thing for me. They’re not absolutely dead certain to be uncompetitive, boring mismatches.
From Boxingjim:
Do you think Fury-AJ in NYC is as bad as most are making it out to be? Of course the fight belongs in the UK, but one can argue that being at MSG elevates it in terms of a more global event. What say you?
I’m not British, no matter how early I get up to watch the Premier League every week or how many times I re-watch “Detectorists,” so I cannot speak from the perspective of a British fan who would have bought a ticket to Wembley or Tottenham or even Cardiff to see this huge, all-British heavyweight clash.
But I still think it stinks, and I just don’t know if being at MSG elevates the fight from a global perspective, because neither Fury nor Joshua are particularly big stars over here, and it’s not for lack of trying on the Tyson Fury side. I just don’t think Fury connects with American fans much, his style’s not exciting to watch most of the time and I don’t know if his personality clicks here like it does there. The way he’s charismatic is not that compelling to Americans, I think. He is something of a celebrity there, I don’t think he really is here. And Joshua’s only fought over here twice, once he lost to the fat guy* and the other time was against Jake Paul after the bloom had come off the “Jake Paul in boxing” rose.
(*Fair or not, and anyone who knows, knows that it’s unfair to Andy Ruiz when he’s at his best to dismiss him as “the fat guy,” but that was and usually remains the perception of the average, more casual fan.)
I get it, though, in a cold business sense. They can run it at a time that maximizes the global audience, however limited that audience may be outside the UK, and generate the most money out of streaming deals and/or PPV. I was never certain that the fight would actually be in the UK, however much it should be, but I would have bet on Riyadh — where they can run anything at any time of day or night that they want — ahead of New York.
It doesn’t belong in New York and I don’t think New York actually makes the fight bigger. But boxing is promoted more soullessly than ever before, and it had already gotten pretty bad.
From Sunzshock:
Who is your favorite fighter ever and why?
Indeed an easy one for discussion, as Sunzshock noted, and one I think is fun to talk about now and again because we’ve been here for 20 years now and we always have new people coming around with whom I haven’t had this discussion during a live post or whatever.
My favorite fighter ever is Israel Vazquez. He wasn’t my first favorite fighter; I started paying attention to boxing in the late 80s and early 90s, and just gradually became a bigger fan over time. Stuff like ESPN Classic showing old fights helped to fill in some gaps along the way, too, but I think my first favorite fighter that I thought of like that was probably Evander Holyfield, if I really try to think back. Then Shane Mosley came along, and something about him really drew me in. Lightweight Shane was just a beast, I loved the way he fought, I loved the way he’d get meaner when he got hit. That’s a trait, it turns out, that would be shared by a lot of my favorite fighters over the years.
Erik Morales was probably my favorite fighter after that, going from the 90s into the 2000s, and then came Israel Vazquez. Obviously starting BLH in 2006 made me watch even more boxing, and my old favorites had seen their better days, and Vazquez became my favorite active fighter.
Vazquez is my favorite fighter, Vazquez-Marquez is my favorite trilogy (I do not acknowledge the fourth fight, it’s like a Mass Effect: Andromeda deal for me), Vazquez-Marquez III is probably my favorite fight I’ve ever covered live for the site. And he’s more than just that trilogy, too. His fight with Jhonny Gonzalez was incredible, his fight with Oscar Larios was terrific, and he was just my favorite type of boxer, a guy who has pretty high-level boxing skill but also is pure warrior.
Again, that’s a common trait with pretty much all my favorite fighters, the ones I like watching best. Seems obvious, but I’ve known loads of people who really love watching the great technicians, that’s what does appeal most to them, or some people who really can’t get into anything but the heavyweights, which I’ve grown to understand and accept is fine. Anyone who wants to watch any kind of boxing should be more welcomed into the fold, I think. This is not a sport that can afford gatekeeping. The mythical “casuals” are not coming back in droves and we’ll need to be ready for when the PIF loses interest in boxing the same way they seem to have lost interest in their Newcastle “project.”
From GodzillaHolmes:
Who wins at 140, Teofimo Lopez or Arturo Gatti?
See, now this is the sort of fantasy fight I really like thinking about. Ali vs Tyson and loads of others have been discussed to death, there’s not a lot to add in there. But Teofimo vs Gatti? Now there’s one to think about that I never have before.
I’m going with Gatti, and I don’t want that to seem like I’m a hater re: Teofimo, or that I believe all the fighters from where I was younger with more hair and fewer bills are better than the ones I watch now. I don’t even think Gatti was better than Teofimo, but he’d make it a pure fight at some point, probably by the middle rounds. I will always pick a guy like Gatti, with the mental fortitude he had in the ring, over a guy like Teofimo, who I’ve seen get irked and flustered into such a state that he’s lost fights he really should have won, and was lucky to win some he probably deserved to lose.
Gatti was beatable, he lost fights, and he was thrashed by guys like Mayweather and Oscar, but I’m not gonna compare Teofimo to Mayweather or Oscar no matter how many divisions he picks up belts in, either. He’s not that level, even at his best. I’m going with Gatti. He’d have to bleed for it, but when wasn’t he willing to do that?
From Chacap:
Any thoughts on whether we ever see some of the remaining PBC-era stars again (i.e., the Charlos and Gervonta)? I would expect the Charlos to try for one more cash out fight each but a lot less certain on Tank.
I do assume we’ll see all of them fight again, but I increasingly think there’s a real chance we also might not. Jermall is the one I’d be most confident in seeing again because he did intend to fight, he just had the visa thing. But it’s been three years since Jermell fought and Tank obviously has his own litany of issues outside the ring.
Now to ask another question to myself and all of you off of this one: Do you think we’ll ever see any of them in a good fight again? I would lean no. The PBC folks can keep pretending it’s still 2018 all they want, but it’s not. Thurman and Spence got absolutely bodied this year. Most of those guys are retired willingly.
It’s an era that has come and gone and they just did not develop enough talent behind the roster they had when they set out to take over boxing with all their great new ideas like Hans Zimmer theme music. The more you think about it, the harder it is to find any real, long-lasting positives of the entire PBC operation.
From majordanby:
Do you think Errol Spence is a HOF’er? What about Tyson Fury, Joshua, and Wilder?
As far as whether or not I think they’ll all make the Hall of Fame, yes, I do. And given the resumes of many who are in boxing’s Hall, I think they all more or less deserve it, sure. You can argue about Wilder the easiest, I think, because the resume is so-so, but he was a big star for the era and obviously the Hall voters tend to consider that, too.
No sports Hall of Fame is what some fans imagine it to be. Willie Mays is not the standard for the baseball HOF, Michael Jordan is not the standard for the basketball HOF, Ali is not the standard for boxing. Drop down two or three notches from those guys and you still haven’t reached the actual standard. Boxing’s Hall has Arturo Gatti and Barry McGuigan, among others, and I do not mean that as shade toward them. I’m happy for them and for their legacies, they were damn fighters even when you’re only comparing to the best, great when comparing to the vast majority of those who have been pro boxers, and they had incredible nights in the ring. That’s how I take Halls of Fame, basically — I’m happy for anyone who does get in, and my only arguments are about those I think deserve it but haven’t been enshrined.
From DaveGG:
Your top five middleweights, not based on accomplishment, just who you think are 1 to 5 based on potential / ability.
Carlos Adames, as long as he stays in the division, has to be in that top five right now. The potential isn’t any higher than what he’s shown, I don’t think, but the ability deserves it. Aaron McKenna is good, honestly I think he’s better than I thought he was going to be. He’s no brawler or KO artist, but he’s got a real fighter’s mentality, which adds a lot to his game.
I’m legitimately excited about Yoenli Hernandez and Amari Jones, and Jones has the higher potential ceiling because he’s notably younger. I really like Jesus Ramos, too; he’s been sort of lost in the shuffle because PBC just has not been what it used to be, but his one loss to Erickson Lubin shouldn’t have been a loss, and that was at 154 anyway. Ramos’ win over Shane Mosley Jr wasn’t special but it was really solid, and he’s still just 25. There’s upside remaining there. I think he’s kind of a sleeper at 160 right now, and he shouldn’t be, but that’s been the PBC situation.
From Seanv:
Do you think the talent pool in female boxing will get deeper? We have the top fighters but at most weight classes it just feels like the talent pool is quite shallow.
I do, but it’s going to take time. Like, it’s going to take years more. Many years more. The women’s side of the sport is very lucky to have a backer like Jake Paul, because I’ve seen the way the established promoters operate, and I think almost all of them would have fully cut bait by now on what they saw as an “experiment” that wasn’t producing the immediate results these short-term-focused carnies always want, outside of the handful of real top stars like Claressa Shields and Katie Taylor.
It’s going to take years more because young women having such access to high-level training and high-level amateur tournaments and whatnot, starting from their childhoods, is still a pretty new thing. It’s not going to happen overnight, but I believe we’ve seen obvious, substantial improvement in women’s pro boxing since 2012, when the women first boxed at the Olympics, and since 2016, when most of those women from the first couple Olympics decided to try pro boxing. Compared to what it was before, it’s already far better, but yeah, now we’ve kinda seen everything the 2010s era of women can produce in the pros.
I don’t think the depth of women’s pro boxing will ever match the depth on the men’s side, at least not in my lifetime. Even if you adjust to say that women’s boxing as we know it today really started in 2016-17, they’re just decades behind that curve, that’s a reality. But it can and should get better, yes. Patience will be key. Modern boxing promoters do not make a habit of having much. And that’s why Jake Paul and MVP have been legitimately so important to women’s boxing, and women’s boxing will need them to stay in the game.
From Spanno:
How do you think Errol Spence vs Terence Crawford would have gone, if they had fought before Spence’s life-changing accident?
I think Terence Crawford would have always beaten him, but not so one-sided as what we ultimately got in our real world. We’ve seen Terence have closer fights against guys who do not have the ability Errol had at his peak. I think Crawford would have won a decision in a much cagier fight that had moments of real fireworks. And I think it would have been a fantastic fight, too.
From BigGeorgeJab:
Will Naoya’s next fight be at 122 or 126 and who do you think he fights? Really open to anyone.
Naoya’s never seemed all that interested in going to 126 to me but obviously I might be wrong, or maybe his mind will change if I was right before. I just don’t know why you’d hang around fighting guys like TJ Doheny and Ye Joon Kim if you were looking for further challenges. He was already established undisputed at 122 by then. And I’ve always had the feeling that 126 is going to really be pushing it if he goes up there.
He’s an excellent boxer, but every great fighter below heavyweight has limitations for how high they can go in weight and still be great. Mayweather, Pacquiao, De La Hoya, Marquez, Donaire — all the modern greats who have traveled up so high from where they started have hit a wall at some point, even if they were winning. An exception is Terence Crawford, and at the same time I don’t think he’d have ever put a toe in the water at 168 to fight someone other than Canelo, it was about style matchups, timing, risk vs reward. Same with Mayweather’s fights at 154.
I’d be happy to see him fight Bam or rematch Nakatani and stay at 122, and if I had to pick right now, I’d say he stays at 122. I think he can win a belt at 126; I don’t think he can go undisputed at that weight. I look at Rafael Espinoza and that seems like a nightmare for Inoue. A 6’1” guy with a 74-inch reach who can box and isn’t just some awkward guy living off his unusual height and reach? I love Inoue, but that’s a crazy ask of him.
I’ve said this before, I do not like one result of the division-hopping that has become so common, which is fans starting to demand that top fighters keep moving up in weight until they find someone who will beat them simply because they’ve pushed their bodies too far to keep being who they really are.
From AstralTraveller:
Initial thoughts on the (alleged) Navarette/Foster fight? Outcome, tactics, possible undercard fights, etc. I’m a fan of both and I’m trying not to lose my liquid too early in the lead up, in case boxeo rears its ugly head and the fight falls through, but I think this could be a fantastic fight that turn into a physical battle with some veteran tactics on display.
I love that fight. I really think it’s 50/50. Both guys are beatable, but they’re both really good at what they do. I think it becomes a fight about imposing will, which is an easy thing to say about any fight, of course, they kind of all are that, but there are levels of difficulty in getting it done. And I think both these guys will go in with clear ideas of what they want to do, and then have to adjust. So it’s also about adjustments. Which is another obvious thing to say.
I’d probably go with Vaquero right now, but there are definitely ways I can see Foster winning that fight, maybe even dominating at points.
From oq:
Do you think Sheeraz agrees to fight Janibek, or will he get out of it/drop belt in hopes of a Canelo payday?
Hard to say, because I’m not convinced Canelo’s going to come back and beat Mbilli. A prime Canelo would beat Mbilli, I don’t doubt that, but the one we have now is 36, hasn’t fought in a year, got kinda cooked in that bout with Bud, took more time off than he usually does — like, he can say what he wants, but I’ll believe he’s coming back with the confidence and mentality of The Old Canelo, rather than An Old Canelo, when I see it. And maybe he will, but also maybe not. Every year with the silk pajamas is another one closer to the night when he loses to someone who isn’t headed to the Hall of Fame like Floyd, Bivol, and Bud. And GGG but that’s a whole other chat.
If Canelo wins, I could see Sheeraz and Turki handling the situation and getting the unification fight approved without him having to drop the belt. And what am I gonna do here, feel bad for Janibek? He shouldn’t be getting any automatic shot to begin with, but the WBO have been a joke with the Janibek situation the entire way.
Let’s do one (1) as an off-topic question!
From johnny_o:
How did you become a Spurs fan and how did you get into “soccer” in general?
I’d always liked the sport, or at least never disliked it. I would watch World Cups, I’d always try to get into MLS more but it just never quite took. But it was Euro 2020, which took place in 2021, that really got me into it. The matches were all on here in the States, they were happening midday, I work from home — it just clicked into place there.
As for becoming a Tottenham fan, I knew what I wanted to follow most closely, or at least try first, was the Premier League. I thought “Tottenham” sounded cool, basically. I didn’t really know about the history, but then when I learned, it made sense for the type of teams I have picked to support over my life (Lions, Pacers, Cubs, Blackhawks aside from that stretch where they won Cups). I tuned in for the 2021 season opener where Japhet Tanganga was an absolute monster and shut down Man City’s attack in a 1-0 Spurs win and I was hooked. Nuno Espirito Santo was the manager in his debut with the club.
A lot of things changed from there! Conte and Ange and Thomas Frank and De Zerbi with the blips of others since, Kane leaving, Son leaving, and so on. But I have missed maybe three Spurs matches, probably all in the Carabao Cup, since then. I own the ugliest Richarlison kit there’s ever been and I cherish it.
The reason it has stuck is because I love the atmosphere of the matches, I love the crowds, I love that passion. If you’ve talked to me about boxing over the years you know I get amped up when you can really feel it on fight night, that buzz, that excitement, the “big fight feel” that boxing does better than any sport.
And I love that the fans, including myself, are going to care all the way through the season. Over here, if the Kansas City Royals or Sacramento Kings or Cleveland Browns reek, the fans might care a little, but it’s not the same, and by comparsion, team owners really don’t. Because what’s the big deal? You go again next season. If you suck too much in what-we-call-soccer, over in Europe they tell you you don’t get to play in that league anymore until you get your act together a little better. That’s hugely refreshing to me. I’d seen it with other fans, but then last year when Spurs had a genuine threat of relegation, I got to feel that. I cared deeply that they manage to finish 17th. You give up on the dream of competing and just want to have that chance to go again next season.
