Archive for May, 2018

With The Draw, Adonis Can
Keep Milking The System

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2018

By William Trillo

As defined by UrbanDictionary.com
Milking The System: thinking that life owes you a free ride…
using every excuse in the book to get what you want…

Like most of the boxing community, including the majority of his hometown fans in Montreal, I was hopeful that Badou Jack would be the “Kryponite” that would rid us all of the blight that has become Adonis “Superman” Stevenson. Outside of GYM promoter Yvon Michel and maybe, and I do mean MAYBE, his manager/advisor at PBC, it’s doubtful anyone would miss the often inactive Light Heavyweight Champion.

Just check out this text message conversation I had shortly after the fight from a very connected to boxing friend who was looking for the result of the fight:

Boxing Friend: Hello Bill, did Jack win already?

Me: It’s freekin’ close, scores are coming.

BF: Really? Did he (Jack) look good?

Me: Here it comes…Majority Draw.

BF: WOW!!

Me: Yup. Stupid Adonis keeps his belt.

BF: Sh*t

Me: Jack had him and blew it…but in the 8th or 9th round Adonis hit Jack with a freaking hard body shot and after that Jack was not as aggressive…it really hurt him.

BF: I bet it did…well it will be another big payday for these guys.

Me: Yup

BF: Was it a good fight?

Me: It started pretty lousy but got good in the end.

BF: Oh man, well that means they will get another day in a rematch. Who do you think has the advantage based on this fight?

Me: If Jack would have started earlier he would have beat Adonis. He waited too long and gave away a lot of early rounds.

BF: OK…yeah…it might be because he was cautious with Stevensons power…but finding a way to neutralize the power could help win early rounds.

Me: Yes…that is what it was…he was waiting for Adomis to get tired. It almost worked, but he waited too long….and then that one body shot…

BF: And that’s all it is? After all this time and drama with Stevenson and he is still the champ…SH*T!

Me: Tell me about it…I KNOW!!

BF: Now Adonis will talk like he is the greatest fighter and not fight for another year!

ME: Yup

BF: And now he will be the longest reigning champion! Hahahaha! You know he is second right behind GGG for longest reigning champ?

ME: Yup

BF: This sucks!

Me: Yup…it sure does.

My well connected friend hit the nail on the head. Adonis will milk the system for another year or more and spew some unintelligible rant about how he is the greatest fighter in the Light Heavy Division. In the meantime he is already using this draw as his open door to duck the winner of Kovalev vs. Alvarez as he will try to sell the rematch with Jack as the “Real” title fight at 175.

That’s BS and everyone in boxing knows it, but thanks to a pathetic game plan by Jack we are going to have to somehow swallow the inevitable rematch.

And yes…I put the onus of the blame on Badou. Reports coming out of Montreal early this month had Adonis barely training at all. Stevenson himself admitted after the fight he only had a three week training camp. If Jack can’t beat a guy with less than a month in the gym then he might want to reconsider taking another fight at 175.

For that matter, the best punch Jack landed all night was flush on the chin of an unsuspecting referee and the ref shook off that blow without so much as a wobble. If Jack can’t drop the ref with his best shot to the jaw, how in the world does he expect to put a dent in anyone at 175 pounds?

So…every time you hear Adonis opening his pie hole over the course of the coming year, (if not longer), remember to save a good portion of your angst for Jack who is just as responsible for this mess as anyone.

For the record, in my “always humble” opinion, I believe the judges got this one right as neither guy did enough to win. Unfortunately for us, that means Stevenson gets to keep his clutches on the strap.

The truth is….given this outcome of a draw, I would have rather had Adonis win the fight and then be forced to fight the winner of Kovalev vs. Alvarez or go away, with the latter being the preferred choice.

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

StubHub Hubbub

Tuesday, May 8th, 2018

By William Trillo

As defined by Dictinary.com
Hubbub: a loud, confused noise, as of many voices: tumult; uproar.

On any other Cinco De Mayo post fight report I would be commenting on the boxing festivities that took place in Las Vegas. As we know those plans were scrapped along with a gnawed on T-Bone (allegedly). Trutfully speaking although the shows lack of enormity had most boxing fans seeing Red, I was happy to hit the comfort of my own bed when the proceedings came to a grinding halt.

In the aftermath I am already tired of hearing that Triple G proved nothing by demolishing an inferior opponent. Given the situation I applaud him for going on with the Mexican Holiday show and giving the fans another look at his dominance at 160 pounds. Haters need not respond, I will hear none of it.

As it turned out we had back to back boxing from California that combined to put some 13,000 butts in the seats. There were no fights of the year on either card, but we did learn a few things.

In no particular order here is what this weekend taught us:

Vanes Matirosyan has nothing to be ashamed of.

Ryan Garcia is far from ready to display his wares in a world title fight.

Jayson Velez looked like he was there to perform but not there to win.

With his victory Spike O’Sullivan is the odds on favorite to get the next shot at the idle Canelo.

Cecilia Braekhus was less than impressive in her stateside and HBO debut.

Ryan Martin is far from a Blue Chip.

Max Kellerman can ask some really stupid questions.

The Canelo clone is good for a laugh.

Cyborg is frightening.

The “Me Too” movement is embarrassed by woman’s boxing.

The fans at StubHub are a tough crowd and will let the boo’s fly if they disapprove. (See Garcia, Braekhus and Kellerman).

I should have eaten two of those bacon wrapped hot dogs those cart vendors sell after the show.

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

He Who Laughs Last…Laughs Last

Saturday, May 5th, 2018

By William Trillo

It’s an image that was burned into my memory that I just can’t erase. That was just seconds after the Golovkin/Canelo post fight press conference was brought to its conclusion. Golden Boy brass and Canelo himself all turned to each other let out a huge tandem laugh. I found it appalling but was glad I caught it on film.

Only moments before the press conference came to its end those same aforementioned sat in front of the media with their poker faces on trying to look as glum as possible. The truth is they were all bursting with laughter inside….make no mistake about that.

Fast forward eight months to the Golden Boy press conference that announced Canelo would pull out of the Golovkin rematch and suddenly those long faces were the real thing, no one was giggling inside. Canelo’s Clenbuterol ingestion cost them one of the biggest paydays in the history of boxing and left Golden Boy basically speechless.

Who’s laughing now?

As GGG prepares to head into the ring with late substitute Vanes Matirosyan tonight the best Canelo can do is stick to his claim that he gobbled down tainted burritos…now that’s funny!

On a not so humorous note GGG stated in a recent interview that he believes there is but a slim 10% chance that a rematch with the Red Headed Mexican will take place.

Considering GGG conceded everything in the negotiations for the rematch only to have Canelo pull out of the fight due to his own indiscretions, it’s easy to assume Team GGG won’t be so compliant the next time around.

In response to that Golden Boy’s Eric Gomez spewed out one of the best one-liners of the week when he said that the reason Golovkin said what he did is because he believes Triple G is afraid of Canelo.

Seriously? That’s a real knee slapper.

All kidding aside the fact of the matter is as follows: If GGG is successful in his defense of his titles tonight against Matirosyan he will be in the driver’s seat for any and all negotiations with Golden Boy and Clenelo.

It’s clear Golden Boy had the upper hand in all the negotiations leading up to the scrapped rematch but after this botch job that led us down this crooked (take term literally) road, there is no way Golovkin nor Tom Loeffler should allow Team Tainted Meat to dictate any terms….no, not one.

Not so funny anymore, is it?

On a side note, if there is gonna be any Cinco De Mayo celebrating at Team Golden Boy I would advise them to stick with the Ceviche and stay away from any Red Meat Fajitas……seems pretty simple to me.

And oh by the way…the next time you pull a fast one on the boxing public you might wanna wait until you get behind closed doors to burst out in laughter and pat each other on the back.

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