Archive for March, 2018

Jaw Dropping Performance By Oscar Valdez; Fight Manager Frank Espinoza “Weighs In”

Monday, March 12th, 2018

By William Trillo

The rumblings started early on Saturday…Scott Quigg had no intentions of stepping on a scale. It was just a day earlier that Quigg came in three pounds overweight and threw away his WBO Featherweight title shot against the champ Oscar Valdez.

Quigg lost his chance at a title but after being fined the fight was allowed to take place. The problem now was just how much would he weight come fight time? That question was not going to get officially answered. That meant Valdez could have chose not to fight him and not suffered any consequences outside of the fact he would not be collecting his payday purse.

Valdez would have none of that and no matter the “stay safe” advice he might have been given Valdez took the warriors route and said he wanted to fight Quigg that evening.

That decision gave boxing fans one heck of a thrilling and bloody battle that truly was a lot closer than the wide unanimous decision score in favor of Valdez revealed. Along the way Valdez suffered a fractured jaw for his trouble. As Top Rank’s Lee Samuels stated, “This was a brutal fight!”

I spoke with Valdez manager Frank Espinoza on Sunday. Of course he was thrilled with the heart and courage of his young champion who came out victorious, but he also expressed concern for a system that may need a bit of tweaking for the safety of the fighters.

Said Espinoza, “Oscar showed he is truly a world class champion against Quigg and the rest of the division needs to take note. Oscar came into the ring that night at 135 pounds and Quigg came in at 142 or more. After coming in three pounds overweight on Friday Quigg was not willing to re-weigh on Saturday, yet Oscar being the champion he is was willing to fight on. You saw the result, Oscar came out on top but he suffered a broken job while facing a much bigger man. The safety of all fighters needs to be taken seriously. I hope the commission will take a look at this situation and change their rules to make it mandatory for fighters who come in overweight the day before the fight to have to re-weigh on fight day with no exceptions. We have to keep the fighters safety in mind.”

I agree with Espinoza. Fighters these days are making it a calculated habit to not make weight in order to have the upper hand come fight night. One only has to look back at Salido vs. Lomachenko or Castillo vs. Corrales 2 to know a few pounds can make all the difference in these high profile fights.

I too hope all boxing commissions will take a look at this situation and adjust their rules to not only make it an even playing field for the fighters but more importantly protect the fighters who trained their butts off in the gym in order to comply with the contracted weights.

Nothing less should be accepted.

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

Canelo Dirty Drug Test Is A Meaty Issue;
GGG: “I Just Want A Level Playing Field, Boxing Is A Dangerous Sport!”

Tuesday, March 6th, 2018

By William Trillo
Photo-Chop: Bret “The Threat” Newton

We are barely a week out from the Kick Off press conference that announced the Cinco De Mayo rematch between Gennady Golovkin vs. Canelo Alvarez and controversy has already reared its ugly head. Simply put, Canelo tested dirty for the banned PED Clenbuterol. The drug can burn fat, build muscle and improve performance. It’s pretty easy to understand the concern. In the body of a world class boxer the drug known in athletic circles as “Clen” can be a deadly proposition.

Early Monday afternoon Golden Boy Promotions sent out a press release that among other things stated, “As part of the voluntary testing program that Canelo Alvarez insisted on ahead of his May 5 fight, one of his results came back positive for trace levels of Clenbuterol, consistent with meat contamination that has impacted dozens of athletes in Mexico over the last years….Upon receiving this information, Golden Boy immediately notified the Nevada State Athletic Commission and Gennady Golovkin’s promoter, Tom Loeffler…..”

Pound4Pound reached out to Loeffler later in the day to see if GGG had made any comments about the failed drug test. According to the 360 Promotions chief Tom Loeffler, Golovkin said, “Gennady says he just wants a level playing field for both fighters as boxing is a very dangerous sport. That is why Abel has insisted on testing for GGG fights, to make sure there is no question as to GGG’s tremendous punching power or his conditioning in Big Bear.”

I then mentioned to Loeffler that chat rooms and message boards across the internet where crying “Bull”, (pun intended), to the claim that Canelo must have gotten that dose of Clenbuterol while ingesting some tainted Mexican meat.

Loeffler quipped, “That seems to be the opinion of a lot of people.”

In Canelo’s defense the Golden Boy press release quoted Alvarez who said, “I am an athlete who respects the sport and this surprises me and bothers me because it had never happened to me. I will submit to all the tests that require me to clarify this embarrassing situation and I trust that at the end the truth will prevail.”

At this point it’s hard to imagine this will put the Block Buster Event in any jeopardy and barring Canelo being served up another plate full of Clenbuterol Carne Asada it’s doubtful any of his upcoming tests will show any signs of PED’s and the fight will go on as planned.

If I was running the show down South pollo y pescado would be the main dish of choice until Team Canelo make their way north of the border.

Really?

The most anticipated fight of the new millennium and you want to play around with tainted meat stories? Just giving you the benefit of the doubt, have you not seen this same story in Mexico often enough for you to be just a tad more careful than this?

Good Grief!

We have literally two months to go for these guys to settle the score. Let’s hope this is the last we hear from either camp for the next few weeks.

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

I Have A Few Questions

Monday, March 5th, 2018

By William Trillo

In my always humble opinion that was about as interesting a weekend in boxing as we have had this year. I am sure you would have to agree. While Showtime and HBO were busy playing dueling networks, New York boxing fans had to decide which event would satisfy their palates. It was an evening of Championship boxing that had social media on fire when all was said and done. After digesting the fights and contemplating what fans had to say on message boards I have a few questions I would like someone/anyone to answer. Please!

Wilder vs. Ortiz

Has there ever been a more technically unsound Heavyweight Champion in the history of the game?

What was with the thirty second break Wilder got at the start of the round after Ortiz almost decapitated Deontay in the previous round? Has anyone ever explained that?

Is it just me or does the fact that Wilder was ahead on all scorecards at the time of the stoppage, (identical scores by the way), seem absolutely absurd?

Is trying to compare what Wilder did against Ortiz to what Joshua accomplished against Klitschko seem ridiculous at best? I mean, y’all are aware Wladimir Klitschko will go down as one of the greatest Heavyweight Champions of all time, correct? And you do realize he defended his unified titles a record 15 times in a row right? As for Ortiz, he tested dirty for performance enhancing drugs and was suspended…you are aware of this minor detail, right? Now tell me how you compare the accomplishments please.

Uzcategui vs. Dirrell

Has Virgil Hunter ever taken an established world class fighter and made him better?

Kovalev vs. Mikhalkin

What happened to Kovalev in the post fight interview? Has anyone ever seen him so unsure of himself?

I know Sergey has had a life changing revelation but this new improved version seems a bit too passive for me. Can we just have “Krusher” back please ?

Bivol vs. Barrera

I agree Bivol is a talented fighter but don’t ya think HBO was going a bit overboard with their shill job?

Did they really say he was a Golovkin/Lomachenko hybrid? That’s one heck of a tall order. Do you think they are putting a bit too much mustard on the hot dog?

Was it really necessary to show highlights of Bivol’s KO over Sullivan during the Main Event? Don’t you think that’s extreme overkill?

OK, maybe most of those questions are a bit rhetorical, but that’s what’s on my mind.

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