Another week, another Mailbag!
From GreatSouthernCowboy:
Do you think Benavidez will go and relieve Cieslak of his emailed green belt or will he potentially be chasing only the big fights? Benavidez looked way above 200 on the weekend so undoubtedly a large portion of his camp will be based around losing weight.
I could wind up wrong — it’s happened before! — but I’m operating under the belief that the WBC would haven’t have ordered Cieslak vs Benavidez if they didn’t think it would happen, because
there’s nothing to gain for the important people (Benavidez and the WBC) if an order is turned down. It makes one or both look bad.
I think Benavidez wants to get another fight in before facing Opetaia, and that this is the way — “Hey, it was ordered!” — to make Cieslak a bit more palatable as a fancy stay-busy opponent. And one good reason to make sure he fights again before Opetaia is to get another camp in. Have a camp, have a fight, take a little break, go back to camp, have the big fight, the one that might actually be dangerous. He may not be 100% sharp for Cieslak, but would be for Opetaia, or at least would have the much better chance to be.
From geraldmcrew:
Since many are understandably skeptical, do you think Benavidez vs Opetaia actually happens on Cinco de Mayo weekend?
I do, yeah. And more importantly, I think the fight will happen, even it it’s not Cinco De Mayo weekend, but I’m guessing Zuffa badly want to bully their way into that slot, as any promoter would, and if they line up Benavidez vs Opetaia early, then no one else is going to try to interfere, even Canelo.
I think Cinco De Mayo 2027 will either be Canelo or Benavidez vs Opetaia, but the latter fight will happen providing Cieslak doesn’t shock Benavidez.
From Tyler Neves:
Am I crazy, or back in the day did you have to fight for the full version of the title when it went vacant? It seems like every time a belt goes vacant now, someone is automatically elevated to the title holder. Winning a vacant title in the ring was still often the path of least resistance, and there was definitely a lot of politics in who got those opportunities, but I don’t remember titles just being awarded without a fight like, ever before 2020 or so. Is this just like a Mandela effect thing or what?
It’s the big purpose of interim titles, which are so often in circulation even when there’s not any need for one. It makes it so that someone can just be “elevated” now, and a new world title fight can be more promptly scheduled. The reason there are so many world titles in the first place, and that promoters so gleefully worked with four sanctioning bodies (and will occasionally recognize the IBO if they “need” to) is because now it’s pretty easy to have A World Title Fight on basically every card you run. Combine everyone and you have A World Title Fight pretty much every weekend. They think this makes fights easier to sell, because there are bigger stakes. It watered down the idea of A World Champion, but that’s the trade-off.
From daboxingisback:
By the end of 2027 will we have seen a Terence Crawford comeback? Seems inevitable no?
It does, yeah, but I’m really not sure. I’m about 50/50 on that. I can see him doing it, but I can also see all of this being more him amusing himself than we realize. The money will have to be very big. That’s why I’m not sure it can really be Boots Ennis. Ryan Garcia? More likely.
From Boxingjim:
Given Ryan’s love/hate relationship with GBP and the fact that only one fight remains on their agreement, do you foresee them working together beyond that fight, Ryan jumping to the more obvious option in Zuffa, or a third alternative?
Every time Ryan Garcia seems to be done with Golden Boy, he signs a new contract with Golden Boy that extends their time together. I don’t think he and Oscar De La Hoya like each other; I think maybe sometimes they do, for a little bit, but then they don’t again. They’re too similar as people. They are both attention hounds with diva tendencies. And they have both always been like that.
That sort of person can’t really have a lasting, positive relationship with another person that is that much like them, in that way. But there are plenty of other ways to have “too much” in common with someone can be sort of contentious. I’ve known people who reminded me of myself and didn’t like them. I’m sure it’s been the other way around for some of them, too. Getting a sense of one’s own less desirable personality quirks can be unpleasant.
From VeryMadMax:
Don’t you think Isaac Cruz is an overrated fighter whose reputation is largely based on losing a relatively close fight to a one-armed Gervonta Davis?
Hey, bud, that’s Pitbull Cruz to you! Look at the posters!
I think Pitbull is overrated if you want to believe all main events from major promoters feature only the best fighters on that card, but really I think most people who take the time to think about it have a pretty fair sense of what Cruz is and isn’t. He’s a fun fighter to watch generally. He seems fairly popular, not a mega-star or anything but has a fan base, good for headlining a B-show, real nice B-side in a main event against the right A-side, strong addition to any bigger undercard.
Pitbull’s a pretty good fighter with obvious flaws and limitations. He’s made a career out of his strengths. And that’s the work that goes in behind the scenes with boxing, is accentuating strengths and trying to limit the negatives being exposed if someone has any shred of marketability, and he has that shred.
From scooby120:
What’s your take on Canelo vs Mbilli? What are the odds that this is Canelo’s last fight?
It won’t be Canelo’s last fight. If he wins, he’ll fight on. If he loses, I think he’ll want sort of a farewell, that sort of thing has gotten really popular in sports. It won’t be a tour like NBA players do, but at least one final fight, potentially back in Guadalajara, something he’d be heavily favored to win against someone who doesn’t really belong in the ring with even a faded version of Canelo.
I’m torn on that fight, though, and I’ve been looking more and more forward to it as we’ve gotten closer. I don’t think Mbilli is special, but he’s good, and I really don’t know what Canelo is going to be on the night. He’s still sound, tough, thick-necked, I don’t think we see him get knocked out or anything. But can he lose? Yeah. He’s 36 years old. He’s had a lot of tough fights, a lot of tough camps, and at this point, a fair few injuries and surgeries. Time has taken its toll. He’s not who he was even a few years ago, certainly not who he was at his absolute peak, and that guy’s never coming back.
He’s pretty naturally and normally regressed, and I think that he’s probably more physically declined than he lets on or allows to get into the media. When we get to the fight in about six weeks, I might have talked myself into a clearer idea of what I think will happen.
From Victhegoat2022:
Canelo is very close to 70 professional fights, do you think Canelo will be the last fighter of this era and maybe many eras to come, to have that many professional boxing matches, especially I thought elite level, like we all know a journeyman could probably racks up 70 pro fights just losing and coming in for a check but a big chunk of Canelo’s fights have all came at the main event level boxing, is there any fighter today that you think will have that many professional boxing matches?
Among guys who make it really, really big, he might wind up being the last. But there will be good fighters who have that sort of career, and it’ll be someone who has sort of the same start he did, turning pro at 15 and learning on the job in Mexico, more likely than not. Just fighting, fighting, fighting, and by the time anyone knows who they are outside of “local” rings, they’re already over 30 fights in at 19, as Canelo was when he fought Jose Cotto back in 2010.
From Max Wills 2nd:
How damaging was Saturday for Conor Benn? It wasn’t one of those ‘valiant effort’ losses. He got utterly blitzed. His ability was brutally exposed and his commercial appeal presumably diminished. If you’re Dana White, how are you guiding Benn through the remaining four fights on his deal? And how much do you care about the loss, considering you scored a big win over Eddie Hearn and positioned yourself to sign Ryan Garcia once his Golden Boy contract expires?
Well, according to Dana White, Conor Benn is an incredibly special professional fighter the likes of whom he’d never encountered previously, and the sort of fighter around whom you want to build a business and brand.
The Eubank trilogy is there. The other thing about Benn — and you mentioned this in the full question that I edited just for space — is that his fights aren’t really that exciting. The first Eubank fight was, absolutely. Great fight, sort of classic boxing stuff, wasn’t the highest level but what a war of wills and heart and determination. It was everything that people feared it wouldn’t be, basically, and it was fantastic.
But he doesn’t knock people out anymore. Hasn’t since returning in 2023. Zero stoppage wins in that time, even against an old, clearly physically compromised, too-heavy, slow Regis Prograis. I mean what are you gonna build this Benn and Zuffa mega-brand around now? Have him repeat the Rodolfo Orozco and Peter Dobson fights?
I question whether Zuffa “won” much of anything over Hearn, either. It’s like saying Boxxer got a “big win” over Hearn by taking Okolie and Buatsi off his roster. They got the one big fight out of Benn, but now what? Because he got trucked. He looked, by comparison, like a scrub who had conned his way onto that stage. I’m not even trying to tell you how I feel here, but that is the perception the average fan or kinda-fan is going to have. People have been pretty harsh about a lot better performances than Benn put up against Garcia.
I don’t know how you sell him right now, really. And I don’t know if he really has much upside from where he’s been. I think the safest bet is we’ve seen him peak in every way.
From oq:
Why does ODLH keep getting into personal fights with his own boxers? Canelo, Ryan Garica, Vergil Ortiz, and so many others. He is a promoter; shouldn’t he be on good terms with his own clients? You would figure he would learn his lesson after losing Canelo. It simply doesn’t make sense.
It’s his personality. He is the way he is, and he’s been rich and powerful for so long that he can only assume the way he is is the best way to be, always.
From maxxxrockusa:
I’ve noticed a decent chunk of boxing fans are anti-Benavidez. What do you think is going on there? Does he fit into any “top 5 reasons fans turn on a dude” framework you can think of?
I have noticed that sentiment growing, too. With boxing, a fan should have a healthy skepticism of all marketing claims, and whether it was ever true or not, Benavidez and his team have turned “being avoided” into a marketing claim now. It’s happened before, they’re not the first to do that, won’t be the last.
It’s easy to take it at face value and say he’s been “ducked” over and over, by Canelo and Bivol and Beterbiev. Beterbiev offered some push-back to that, and people were happy to pounce on it. There is a sense that Benavidez has had a pretty carefully-selected schedule amid all that talk of “ducks” and what have you.
So what’s true? Is he ducked? Has he been careful about opponent selection? Truth is, I don’t think you really know that until all is said and done and years have gone by, and you have a better sense of these things than you can get in real time. The Opetaia thing is the real test, basically. If he doesn’t go through with that fight, the anti-Benny sentiment will grow. If he does, I think you gotta squash most of it.
From HiImChris:
Feel free to share your top 3 “Oh Sh*T” moments where you got up and screamed.
Mine:
1) Fury getting up against Wilder
2) Mosley catching Floyd and buckling his knees
3) Sergio Martinez KO of Paul Williams
The three that I can recall getting the wildest reaction back when we had get-togethers for big fights even while I was working on the site:
- Marquez knocking out Pacquiao
- The entire Floyd-Victor Ortiz ending, from the headbutt to the KO
- Mosley making Mayweather’s knees do the dip
Pacquiao knocking out Hatton is a contender, too, but Manny had been torching him so bad already that I think it just felt kind of inevitable. Marquez icing Manny, though — woo. That was real sudden, and was against the momentum the fight had at that moment.
From KingSolo123:
Fantasy fight, Kelly Pavlik vs Carl Froch?
Love the idea of that fight. Best vs best, let’s say they can do it at 164, or that Pavlik can do 168 and be at his best, or Froch can do 160 at his best, whatever. The point is, they’re both at their best, they weighed in the same.
I was a real big Kelly Pavlik fan. Even though he’s from Ohio, there was a sort of rust belt, Great Lakes-midwestern sort of pride to seeing that guy upset Jermain Taylor and become the middleweight champion. I liked his style, it was basic, it was simple, it was effective. I liked watching him fight. I rooted for him.
But I’m going with Froch. More tools. Tougher, I think. Better boxer. Took a good shot, which is not to say Pavlik couldn’t have hurt him. But I think Carl had the deeper bag and was just a better fighter. It would be good, though. Froch by clear decision, 117-111 or so.
