Billy's Boxing Blog

By William Trillo

The dust still has not settled since Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vacated his middleweight title. The stories and Memes are out there in full force and none of them shed a good light on the decision to vacate his title. Most believe the decision was made in order to stay as far away from Gennady Golovkin as possible. He also left boxing fans who were hoping for the 160 pound superfight twisting in the breeze.

That being said, Pound4Pound has taken another look at the ramifications of “Canelo’s” defection. We hope you enjoy this parody video:

Check out www.Pound4Pound.com for all the latest boxing news.

By William Trillo

Less than two weeks ago WBC Middleweight Champ Saul “Canelo” Alvarez stood in the ring after knocking out Amir Khan with one punch. With a giddy Oscar De La Hoya standing behind him “Canelo” began to taunt multiple 160 pound belt holder Gennady “GGG” Golovkin who was standing on the ring apron. Through an interpreter when asked about fighting “GGG” Alvarez said, “Like we say in Mexico, We don’t F..k around! We don’t come to play in this sport, I don’t fear anyone! Like I said in the last fight, RIGHT NOW!! I will put on the gloves again.”

11 days later Golden Boy and Canelo sent out a press release where “Canelo” stated, “After much consideration, today, I instructed my team at Golden Boy Promotions to continue negotiating a fight with Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin and to finalize a deal as quickly as possible. I also informed the WBC that I will vacate its title.”

Looks like Alvarez needs an interpreter again.

Allow me…

“After a long discussion with Golden Boy Promotions today my team told me that I am their “Meal Ticket” and there is no way they are going to allow me anywhere near Triple G. I will throw my belt in the garbage can. It is pretty obvious I am Oscar’s “Cash Cow” so you can expect this charade to go on for quite some time.”

“Canelo” has been getting torched on social media since the statement was made, and rightly so. At the end of the day it is the fighter who should have the final say on who he fights and who he doesn’t. So in that aspect Alvarez is guilty of ducking Golovkin, it is an undeniable truth.

That being said, the people that “Canelo” call his team are most likely the real culprits here. I mean, c’mon, Alvarez is bringing in fans and more importantly cash to the promoter at a rapid clip and there is no way they are going to jeopardize that money making machine, not right now anyways. Most likely not for a very long time. As long as they can feed “Canelo” blown up 147 pounders with questionable chins and sell it to the fans they will keep force feeding boxing this trash.

Yes, it was a fun Cinco De Mayo weekend but that was mostly because there was an anticipation in the air for a real Dream Fight if Alvarez came out victorious. With GGG in the house it seemed like maybe for once we would get a fight with two Mega Star fighters in their prime. That was our hope.

Now it looks like we will have to wait while “Canelo” lines the pockets of everyone on his team while he takes on a string of second rate talent. It won’t be until we see a visible slowdown in GGG that Alvarez will be allowed to face him.

No doubt everyone at Golden Boy knew they were going to take some serious heat once their statement was made public, and they were right. Boxing fans deserve way better than this, their anger is justifiable on every level.

I will close with some lines from Elton John’s song titled “Meal Ticket”:

And I gotta get a meal ticket
To survive you need a meal ticket
To stay alive you need a meal ticket
Feel no pain, no pain
No regret, no regret
When the line’s been signed
You’re someone else
Do yourself a favor, the meal ticket does the rest……

Check out www.Pound4Pound.com for all the latest boxing truth.

By William Trillo

As some of you may know as soon as the fight between WBC Heavyweight Champ Deontay Wilder vs. Alexander Povetkin became official I went on record saying I will not believe this bout will take place until I see them both standing in the ring answering the opening bell in Russia. My contention at the time was that Wilder would at some point find a way to back out of the fight, either choosing to vacate the title or pulling up lame at the post. Not in my wildest dreams did I think Povetkin would be the cause of this fight getting postponed and/or cancelled.

But, when a drug test of Alexander “The Ingrate” came up dirty last week it put an end to the chances of Wilder finally getting in the ring with a formidable foe. As it turns out Povetkin went all Maria Sharapova as his test came back with traces of the PED meldonium.

I will spare you the details of what the drug is supposed to do and cut to the chase, he got busted cheating and the right decision was made by the WBC…it’s a crying shame.

That turbulence felt by jets last week across the Atlantic was not from foul weather but rather it was from the collective sigh of relief released by Team Bum Squad who got the news of the failed as they were en route to Europe. “Whhhhheeeeeewwww, that was a close one.”

Officially this fight was postponed by the WBC but Wilder management is claiming the fight is cancelled. It’s just a matter of time before they find their next bottom feeder to “defend” their belt against.

Wilder vs. Povetkin will NEVER happen, trust me on this.

In the meantime Wilder is claiming he is so disappointed that this fight did not take place because he wants to prove he is the best of the best in the heavyweight division.

Be careful what you wish for Deontay.

If you haven’t noticed your advisor/manager/promoter Al Haymon is cashing out his heavyweight stable in rapid fashion at the hands of the new IBF Heavyweight Champion Anthony Joshua. First it was Charles “Rowan and” Martin in a laughable display that lost him his ill-deserved belt and next up is Dominic “Needs a Bra”-Zeale. The saggy chested one has as much of a chance as Martin did, which means he won’t last 3 rounds. All the while Haymon is pocketing (cashing out his stable) a small fortune off British promoter Eddie Hearns bank account.

The writing is clearly on the wall, Wilder may be in for a huge surprise when he is ordered by Haymon to fight Joshua before the end of the year.

For most boxing fans who were looking to see Povetkin dismantle Wilder, the chance of him facing Joshua gives them hope they may see Wilder finally get in the ring with someone other than a Palooka.

That being said hear me loud and clear…Alexander Povetkin is a cheater who got caught in the act. I personally don’t care if I ever see him in the ring again.

Check out www.Pound4Pound.com for all the latest boxing truth.

By William Trillo
Photos: Naoki Fukuda – WBC

This past weekend in Las Vegas was easily the best Cinco De Mayo boxing celebration the city has seen in almost a decade. Well, at least in my humble opinion it was. From the free outdoor show outside the T-Mobile Arena on Friday night to the inaugural boxing show held the next night in front of over 16,000 fans this was definitely one for the books. This was a fight fans weekend, this was the fighter’s weekend. If you don’t mind I would like to share a few of my personal highlights.

At some point in the early stages of Canelo vs Khan I saw Amir hit Canelo flush on the chin with a carefully placed shot. Canelo didn’t blink but instead got the same look on his face after Alfonso Gomez hit him like that back in 2011. The look was not quite a smirk but you could see Canelo was somewhat amused. Soon thereafter Canelo threw caution to the wind and attacked Khan with little or no fear of getting hurt. Two rounds later Khan was flat on his back after a right hand put him to bed early.

Now I know why Virgil Hunter was wearing sunglasses inside the venue on Saturday night. It was because he made a fool of himself telling Canelo he needed to face GGG next. Nice way to deflect the obvious, that being explaining that horrific game plan he drew up for his soon to be rendered unconscious pupil. Five body punches over six rounds? Really? Five? I’m sorry but outside of Andre Ward who could have made it to the top with just about any trainer in California, what has Hunter really done? Angulo? Khan? I’m not impressed.

Before anyone think that Canelo vs. GGG is coming to a theatre near you check out this morning’s report by Daniel Cloutier. Golden Boy’s plans for Canelo do include unifying the 160 pound title, but there is a catch……….

Glen Tapia had no chance against David Lemieux on Saturday night. He was doomed the second he made the decision to leave the 154 pound ranks and move up to middleweight. Tapia is as tough as they come but fighting like he does at 160 pounds is going to get him hurt. Good job by his corner for saving Tapia from himself before the Montrealer really did some damage on him.

If I am grading Frankie Gomez after his unanimous decision victory over Mauricio Herrera I give him a C- at best. Herrera looked like a fighter who had no energy during the fight, yet Gomez could not muster up the energy to stop the lifeless Herrera. Poor job by Gomez no matter how you slice it. When Freddie Roach said Gomez was the next Pacquiao I am sure he was making reference to Bobby not Manny.

Curtis Stevens exposed Patrick Teixeira for being nothing but smoke and mirrors, plain and simple. I say it’s safe to assume we never see the Brazilian fighter again. Good….I was never going to be able to figure out how to pronounce his name anyways.

Did you see the main event of the fight on Friday night? Lightweights Marvin Quintero and Petr Petrov literally broke each other’s faces. I’m not kidding. Sources told me they were actually in the same hospital room when the grim news was confirmed. They both suffered broken cheek bones. That will be a lot easier for Petrov to take as he came out of the war victorious.

I am told the appearance by Andre Ward at a local Las Vegas shoe store on Saturday was uneventful at best. Not since Al Bundy from Married With Children has one person single handedly driven away that many prospective shoe buying clients.

Check out www.Pound4Pound.com for all the latest boxing news.