Errol Spence Jr. – Here Comes the Next Big Thing in Welterweight Boxing

This fighter has the look of someone who knows what's about to go down.

When I say Errol Spence Jr. will be the next big thing in boxing, people will say I don’t know what I’m talking about. He's too green. He hasn't fought any of the big names.  But if the topic is Errol Spence Jr., they will be wrong. 

He’s 26 years old but has the ring maturity of a fighter of much longer standing. What does this mean?  It means he sees and understands immediately what the other fighter is doing.  There is no waiting period.  There is no ‘feeling-out.’ He knows what to do and immediately gets to doing it. Which is destroying. 

Errol Spence Jr. has a record of 21-0 but he’s knocked out 86% of his opponents. This puts him into the category of a slugger but watch him and you’ll see he’s a lot more than that.  He has a great sense of ring space, of positioning, that thing which boxing commentators call “ring generalship.” 

It is true he has not been rushed along but victories over his last two opponents are instructive.  His punching power comes from both hands in punches both economical and accurate.  He stunned Leonard Bundu with a classic left uppercut (Spence Jr. is a southpaw) and later KOd his man with the same uppercut followed by a hard right hook.

Never in a hurry, Errol Spence Jr. knows that his opponents will fall under an accumulation of blows if they last more than a few rounds.  It is perhaps that he knocks people out too soon that is his greatest vulnerability (if that can even be said to be a weakness b/c who doesn’t want to go home early?)

Some people have said that Errol Spence Jr. looked good only if his opponents stood in front of him.  Enter Chris Algieri.  Whatever may be said of Algieri, he is athletic, hard to hit, comes to win rather than to lay down, and had acquitted himself decently against top talent like Manny Pacquiao.  Spence Jr. looked like that ideal boxer-puncher guy as he stalked Algieri, beat him down with thudding punches, and forced the end of the fight early – something that Pacquiao couldn’t do.

In the same vein, Keith Thurman couldn’t get rid of Leonard Bundu whereas Spence Jr. did – and in bone-crushing style. 

I don’t really adhere to the so-and-so did such-and-such to whatever boxer and therefore one may draw a conclusion about a different fight. It’s more something to talk about rather than a yardstick with which one can gauge fights. Every fighter is different and every fight is different. It’s boxing, reknowned for its dangers and one-punch upsets. 

My point is that Errol Spence Jr. is the real deal, a throwback fighter and legit tough-guy (albeit with an engaging public demeanor for a kid 26 years old).  They are in different weight classes but I’m putting him up there soon to follow my other two favorite ‘new big things in boxing’ – Gennady Golovkin (36-0) and Saul Alvarez (48-1) .   

Tyson Fury: Running to the Ends of the Earth to Avoid Fighting Vladimir Klitschko

I was promised a private interview session with Britain’s engaging and entertaining World Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury but all I got was this holograph.  I shouldn’t be surprised that Tyson Fury was a no show because everyone’s having trouble finding Tyson Fury.

Oh, he showed up for his surprise birthday part with family and friends, but the quickly disappeared.  Several real heavyweight boxers are looking for him. First in line former Heavyweight Champion Vladimir Klitschko (remember him?) had a special kind of date with him on July 9 after Fury stole the title from him in a lackluster sloppy fight that looked like what happened in a mosh pit. 

I’m sure Vladimir Klitchko regrets being bored that night he lost the title. Bored or drugged, I don’t know which, but likely he felt he didn’t have to train to defeat a long tall string bean who knew how to scuffle and smother but not to fight.  The judges awarded the decision to the elated Fury who is working hard to stay elated forever by being unavailable for anything but fun being heavyweight champ.

Surely, Fury realizes the impossibility of his position. And why shouldn’t he hold the title as long as she can even if it means wearing disguises and traveling only at night so that other fighters can’t find him. 

So I ask the Holograph Tyson Fury why he doesn’t get it over with.  He points at his foot.  “You see this? A bunion?  You know what happens if you risk the title by going into the ring with a bunion.” 

But you keep delaying, and you pop up once in a while like a jack-in-the box in the oddest places talking about what a great fighter you are.  And then you were so frightened that you were said to be taking performance enhancing drugs.  But no fights? 

Are you waiting for the 40 something Klitchko to pass away from old age?  And look, there are lots of young fighters just waiting for you since you claim Klitchko will be a cakewalk. 

   “What about Deontay Wilder?” I ask.

Ah, Alabama!  What? Alabama.  Who wants to go to Alabama?  Oh no, I protest, Deontay says he will fight you in Buckingham Palace if you wish, or Picadilly Circus, or under a streetlamp in Brixton.

To name just two.  C’mon man, give it up.  We’ve heard of running but that usually refers to inside the ring running.  You run like a space traveler, dude. You got lucky. We like you and you’ve had your five minutes in the spotlight. What I have against what you’re doing is that you’re holding up the careers of a lot of good people.

Let’s get it on, Tyson Fury. The curtain’s down. You have to know it’s time to exit stage left.

Beware Tall Skinny-Boy Boxers: Thomas Hill vs. Marco “Madman” Hernandez – Super Welterweights

I’m trying to catch up on my boxing after being so busy with other less important things having to do with paying the rent. While much attention is given to the big fights upcoming (hopefully), I get almost as much enjoyment out of watching boxers who are up and coming and those who had or have solid careers but did not rise to huge media attention. 

I’m talking about guys like Hammerin’ Hank Lundy and Breidis Prescott for the latter, not to exclude many other great ones, just that these two just now popped into my mind. There are so many that I respect because they have been successful in the hardest sport in the world.

 Many are not called to the sport and these become either disinterested or critics, but of the many who are called to the sport, few will be chosen to ascend to the Realm of the Boxing Gods.  That doesn’t mean they couldn’t wipe the rest of us out in about two seconds.

I’ve talked some trash on occasion, having learned from the likes of James Toney (best of the trash talkers imho), but I try not to.  Seems to me the only people entitled to trash  talk even journeyman or beginning boxers are those who have actually survived the ring.

It’s okay to have your favorites – whether it’s Canelo or GGG –  or Adonis Stevenson vs. Kovalev – or Andre Ward vs. anyone, but I don’t appreciate these people who bust on one or the other saying the one is weak and scared, the other is going to beat the ass of the other like a rented mule. It’s all bullshit – anyone who has gotten that far in boxing is in a place few people know anything about.

Therefore I am a boxing fan, only a boxing fan. I know where I fit in the world of boxing. I watch it with a great deal of admiration, trepidation, and edification. Meaning I like it, appreciate the dangers, and learn from it.

I’d recorded some fights I didn’t have time to watch and now I’m catching up. A very interesting fight I watch today featured Thomas Hill of Milwaukee but fighting out of Vegas and Marcos “Madman” Hernandez of Fresno, California. Fresno is a long time fight town whether people know it or not and Hernandez has that kind of mentality, you know. Life’s a struggle – keep fighting therefore and have a good time doing it.

His opponent, Thomas Hill, was also undefeated. Both fighters had seven victories, and both were light on KOs. Hernandez went into the fight with one, and Hill with none, but both guys were undefeated and had a lot to lose. Hill had some good sparring partners and teachers at Mayweather’s gym, and the announcers seemed to think he’d have the edge.

The fascinating thing about Hernandez is the way he uses a 4-3 combination, something he used effectively in three or four earliest rounds and then intermittently throughout to the 8^th and final round. The fight announcers, especially Sergio Mora, were criticizing Hernandez for shooting the uppercut (4) and then a left hook (3).  Mora felt Hernandez it was too dangerous leading with a right uppercut and said he was throwing it from too far out but it was working and Hill was getting tagged regularly with the combination. I think Mora was right in his theory but wrong in its practice, as so many things are in boxing.

Hernandez started to flag in maybe the 5^th and 6^th rounds and Hill put together some of his really blazing fast 1-2-1-2 body attacks but then Hernandez crew (his dad is the trainer) woke him up and he went back to work.  Two good fighters, and both have futures if they wish to remain focused on the sport, but the unanimous decision was right in giving Hernandez a big edge.

Another interesting thing about the super- welterweight bout was that both fighters were tall – Hill being 6 foot 1 and Hernandez being 6 foot even. Beware tall skinny boys with fast hands and big hearts.

Andre Berto Stuns Victor Ortiz with 4th Round #KO

It was supposed to be Victor Ortiz' proof that he was a boxer first and a celebrity slash movie star second but it didn't turn out that way. Berto launched Ortiz to the canvas with a big right uppercut and followed it up with a barrage of punches for which Ortiz had no answer.  He made it to his feet to the count of nine and referee Jack Reis would have let him continue except that Victor Ortiz wasn't in the mood for talk.  He didn't answer when the ref asked him if wanted to continue and Reis stopped it.

The harder working Berto looked stiff in the early rounds and seemed to be struggling to find the range when Ortiz, a southpaw, scored a flash knockdown that set Berto on his ass looking surprised. Berto was in great shape and it seemed to embarrass him more than bother him.   He described the knockdown as an event from which he would have to play 'catch-up.' It took about one more round to get the measurement right and in the fourth round, the welterweight Berto delivered the shots that stopped Ortiz. 

It wasn't a big action fight but it was interesting in its way for the reason that Ortiz has not been a very active fighter. He said in the post fight interview he had gone at his training with renewed determination  during the training camp. It did look that way in the early rounds as Ortiz surprised Berto by being on his toes and moving well.  That wasn't the way he started his career and it seemed to baffle Berto for a little while but not for long enough. The outcome of the match reminded me of that old fighter meme -- you play at some sports, you don't play boxing.

So I hope Victor Ortiz has a nice TV-film career.  He's a guy who had a lot of boxing promise but never delivered. Maybe he can play a boxer in a film.

Archie Moore Says: Time to Make the Gennady Golovkin VS. Canelo Alvarez Fight

Many people may not know of or remember a great fighter named Archie Moore -- aka "The Mongoose." Still others may not know that old Archie fought well into middle age, and that he fought middleweights to heavyweights and was about 44 years old when he lost to young up and coming Rocky Marciano.  He had about 219 pro fights. 

But who knew that Archie Moore liked to recite Shakespeare?  I don't know if this was one of Archie's favorite quotes but it might have been:

There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries...

It means there's a time for things, and if you don't seize the time and the opportunity that is there, you will lose the moment and you will forever wallow in your failures and what might have been.  Will this be the fate of champions Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez?

This is the fight the entire world wants. It's the fight GGG wants, and it's the fight Mexico wants, and I have no doubt it's the fight Canelo wants. Both fighters seek greatness and legacy. Perhaps it is more appropriate to say that both fighters, already having attained greatness, now seek legacy.

What's in the way of such a fight this year? Youth and pounds. Golovkin is age 34, a brutal and stalking puncher who seems inescapable. His KO record says it all. One could point to his record and say there are few great names on it but that is only minutiae. Look at the KO record. Do you imagine that, where any other boxer was concerned, that he could knock out almost EVERY journeyman fighter he's faced? Truth to tell, mostof GGG's opponents, just like his latest victim Wade, were not regarded as journeyman fighters until they were knocked out by the Krusher from Kazakhstan (Yeah, I know Kovalev is the Krusher but think about it). 

What I'm saying is that you're a boxing media hero when you go up undefeated against somebody like Golovkin or Alvarez. After you get KOd, they speak of you as a journeyman fighter. It's complete B.S. because you're still something that 99 percent of the people in the world cannot even hope to aspire to. Alvarez beat the great Miguel Cotto. Now Cotto is a 'journeyman' fighter? LOL -- you get in there with him then. David Lemieux is a journeyman fighter after GGG destroyed him? You try it.

Another reality: Golovkin has fought anyone who was put in front of him and few people wanted to be put in front of him even as he had a ravenous appetite for any opponents.  But the age -- I hate it when old age beats a fighter. Golovkin wants the fight now, this year if possible. If it happens when he's 38 or even 36 or 35, it won't count as much as it does now.

Canelo Alvarez, the "Cinnamon" Mexican is a great fighter now. I think the battle for the 'next big thing' is between Canelo and GGG.  I also think Canelo's promoter is right in saying his true weight is 154 pounds. He's also 25 years old. So you have the prospect of a fresh guy who has not yet reached the height of his man strength physicality and skills but is on the cusp of it, riding a wave of victories (one loss only to Floyd Mayweather Jr. ) which includes high explosive bomber James Kirkland. I mention Kirkland only because people don't really get what happened in that fight. I'm not sure I can explain it effectively either but that night I saw something in Canelo Alvarez that was in the best tradition of the sport which, when combined with is skills, heritage, and training, signals both greatness and legacy.

My conclusion isn't anything you didn't think of already. Catch weight. Both fighters give something up.  Both fighters are big draws already and will be gargantuan later for I'm sure it will be a battle which screams of rematch.  Even split of the purse. If anyone gets too greedy, it means they don't want the fight. I don't see greedy being a big part of it. I think everyone wants this fight more than any other.  Make the fight now, after Canelo dispatches Amir Khan. I uses the word 'dispatches' instead of 'destroys' because I have grown to admire Khan for his heart and his manner more than anything else (he's fighting 2 weight classes up from his normal weight). 

Make the Canelo Alvarez v. Gennady GGG. Golovkin later in 2016. It would be perfect for November.

Wide Open Heavyweight Division: Deontay Wilder KOs Artur Szpilko in Nine Rounds

Watching the Deontay Wilder v. Artur Szpilko fight last night, I was struck by how many people are still doubters about Deontay Wilder. The reasons for doubting him are rational enough but you can't argue logic.Logic little to do with boxing.

Wilder started late in the boxing game, no doubt about that, but he's a gifted athlete, not just another lumbering heavyweight.

 Other people have questioned Deontay Wilder's"chin" but without acknowledging that he took big punches from guys like Bermane Stiverne before destroying him.

Does anyone question Stivernes "chin" as the result?  The whole business about "chin" is overcooked hype designed to psyche opponents. There's a bit of truth in it, but the fact is that any single one of the best heavyweights can be dumped onto the canvas if they get hit flush by even a good journeyman Heavyweight. That's why they teach you defense.

As for defense, Pzilka was positively brilliant throughout the fight, doing exactly the right thing in taking away Deontay Wilder's power. Aside from the constant head and upper-body movement, he continuously changed angles, giving a different look every second.  He used the small tight spaces to great advantage, and as someone said, Ronnie Shields had imparted the right wisdom to his fighter.  But if you watched any of Wilder's previous fights, you knew that the bullet would eventually come with its speed and flat trajectory.

Deontay Wilder may have started late in the boxing game but he's a very athletic puncher.  The ninth round shot that made Artur Szpilko look like he'd been hit by a sniper's round was going to happen sooner or later. It was lightning fast, had great leverage on it, and landed while Pzilka punched the air.

Pzilka was great, and he's mentally tough enough and smart enough to know that these things happen in boxing. He's disappointed, sure, but his fans have nothing to be unhappy about.  Pzilka's stock will rise as people recognize that Wilder is on his way to be a dominant champion.

 My previous writing about Wilder is that he would jump for joy when Tyson Fury beat a lackadaisical Vladimir K. That was the worst fight I'd seen in a long time. Vlad was so lazy I was glad he lost to an unimpressive Tyson Fury who flailed away with windmill punches that looked he was beating the dust out of a rug.

 I'm glad Fury made a million or whatever, but the delirium in the division is that Fury is holding a major belt. Fury won't be holding the belt for long, though he might get the comedy award. He showed up at the Wilder - Pzsilka fight to taunt Wilder at the end but apparently needs to brush up on his trash talk. No Britisher has so far been able to dethrone American fighters in trash talk, and maybe Tyson Fury could get James Toney to give him lessons. As it was, it looked like he was retreating and cowering on the sidelines before a charged up Deontay Wilder.

The delirium (my own especially)  of a wide open heavyweight division subsided a bit when I realized Klitscho had a rematch clause in there.  If Vlad decides to work out, and if Vlad still has the desire to win, Fury will return the belt to him straightaway.  If THAT Klitschko shows up, it is a danger for everyone facing him.

So here's my bottom line. Klitschko v. Wilder is the matchup I"m looking for but it's by no means guaranteed. Wilder has a mandatory with Povetkin and there are many people who think Povetkin will be even harder than illusive bad boy Pzsilka.  Povetkin went twelve with Klitschko but lost a decision. Sticking around that long marks him as no tomato can.

So I'm going out on a limb to say Wilder will beat Povetkin to face Klitschko (who will take back his title) at the end of 2016. Out on a limb, I say, because there's a new shadow hanging over the division.

No one will believe me when I mention Luis Ortiz 24-0 with 21 (TWENTY ONE) KOs.  I watched him defeat good Philly boxer Bryant Jennings with a stunning knockout.  Ortiz is yet another Ortiz so you might not have noticed but the guy I'm talking about is a very big man, a very motivated Cuban defector to the U.S., and can throw fast stunning combinations (Southpaw) with the punching power of an Ernie Shavers.

 The Heavyweight division has been the Rip Van Winkle of boxing for too many years but finally it's come back to life. Now if only the promoters and the money men don't interfere with progress.

But hey, that's my hit on it. I'd be interested in other opinions. Tell me where I'm wrong.