Archive for August, 2018

GGG & Canelo Display Their Wares

Tuesday, August 28th, 2018

By William Trillo & Albert Castillo
Photos By Marlene Marquez

With their much ballyhooed rematch less than one month away Middleweight Champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and challenger Saul “Canelo” Alvarez put some 4,000 rabid fans in the seats at The Banc of California Stadium as the two gave us a sneak preview of the coming attraction in Las Vegas on September 15th.

Just looking at the reaction of the fans at the event it’s pretty clear that anticipation is high to see these two settle the score from the draw that left everyone wanting more after their first battle in Las Vegas last year.

When Golovkin was asked about all the talk about Canelo saying he is going to knock him out GGG said, “Everybody wants the knockout! People from his side want him to knock me out. People from my side want me to knock him out. This is boxing! This is sport!”

Not surprisingly, the majority of the house was filled with Mexican fans. What may have surprised people though is the fact that it seemed most of those fans were supporting Golovkin as opposed to their countryman Canelo. “Of course a big thank you to all my Mexican fans to support me on this big day for Mexican people,” said GGG. “I am going to give them a big gift on this day. My talk is the truth, I bring a true style. I do not have problems. This guy Canelo, he has problems because he put himself in a terrible situation. People who know the truth support me, people who like fake guys support him…that’s it! Remember this…I am still the Champion, I have all my belts!”

As noted, Canelo made no bones about it, he plans on taking care of business in a big way come fight night. “Three weeks to go and I am ready! I feel very good and am working very hard, I am close to weight and will make it,” stated Canelo. “I feel I can knock out Golovkin and I am ready to do it. I am going to take advantage of the mistakes he makes and I will knock him out.”

During the interim I was able to talk with GGG’s long time promoter Tom Loeffler about this fight. I mentioned to Loeffler this fight promotion had a completely different feel than their first fight. Loeffler agreed saying,“The feel of the build up to this one is much angrier than the first fight between these two. You’re right! GGG thought he won the first fight. But he didn’t get the decision, he got a draw. But, he is still the champion and he is going for a record number of title defenses. But with all the controversies, the suspension…I think it’s really motivated Gennady to be even more aggressive the second time around. Canelo is predicting a knockout now. Apparently he didn’t like some of the things that GGG said about his suspension and the drug tests. The first fight was a great fight and I think you will see both guys be much more aggressive in the second fight because of all this. I have never seen this rage. GGG is always 100% focused and always trains hard, the hardest training athlete that I have seen, but I see a little extra spark in his eyes. A little extra spark and motivation that he really wants to go in and hurt Canelo in this fight and not leave it into the judge’s hands.”

During the runway interviews I was able to catch this sound bite from Oscar De La Hoya who has more than a vested interest in Canelo. “Canelo is training angry which I love,” said De La Hoya, “He is sparring more rounds, and he is hitting the bag harder than ever before. He knows how to keep his composure but he knows he has to attack! He wants to knock out GGG. To me, that’s music to my ears. Golovkin and his people have been talking so much crap that Canelo may not come out swinging for the fences but he will be more aggressive. He will push back Golovkin, and I know for a fact Golovkin cannot fight going backwards. I just want Canelo to knock him out…that’s it!”

It should be duly noted that Golovkin took the majority of the cheers from the boxing fans in attendance while his nemesis Canelo collected an overwhelming amount of jeers.

It was also pretty clear Canelo was a lot trimmer than he was during the open work out for fight # 1 last year. It is also worthy to note that last year Alvarez could not wait to take his shirt off to show off his chiseled physique but this year he chose to keep the shirt on while working out. You can do with that information as you will.

The anticipation is officially building for this one. Both men look focused and in top shape. With just three weeks to go it’s time to hunker down and get in some final fine tuning for the biggest fight of their respective careers.

Canelo vs. GGG 2 is a 12-round fight for the middleweight championship of the world presented by Golden Boy Promotions and GGG Promotions. Munguia vs. Cook is a 12-round battle for the WBO Junior Middleweight World Title presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Zanfer Promotions. Lemieux vs. O’Sullivan is a 12-round middleweight clash presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Eye of The Tiger Management in association with Murphy’s Boxing. Gonzalez vs. Fuentes is a 10-round super flyweight fight presented by Golden Boy Promotions and GGG Promotions in association with Teiken Promotions and Zanfer Promotions. The event is sponsored by Tecate, “THE OFFICIAL BEER OF BOXING,” Hennessy, “Never Stop, Never Settle,” O’Reilly Auto Parts, Fred Loya Insurance, Interjet, Venom, and Fathom Events. The event will take place Saturday, Sept. 15 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View beginning at a special time of 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT.

“24/7 Canelo/GGG 2” premieres Tuesday, Aug. 28 at 11:30 pm (ET/PT) on HBO. Canelo’s fifth “24/7” appearance and Golovkin’s third, “24/7 CANELO/GGG 2” is the latest installment of the acclaimed franchise that began in 2007.

Limited tickets for Canelo vs. GGG 2 are still available, and are priced at

$5,000, $2,500, $2,000, $1,500, $800, $700, and $500 not including applicable service charges and taxes. There will be a limit of eight (8) per person at the $5,000, $2,500, $2,000, $1,500, $800, $700 and $500 price levels. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call 888-9-AXS-TIX (888-929-7849). Tickets are also available for purchase at www.t-mobilearena.com ;or www.axs.com.

Tickets are on sale for the closed circuit telecast of Canelo vs. GGG 2 at MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, The Mirage and Luxor are priced at $100, not including applicable fees. Seating is general admission at MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay and The Mirage while Luxor will have assigned seats. Tickets may be purchased at any MGM Resorts International Box Office, by phone with a major credit card at (800) 745-3000 or online at http://www.ticketmaster.com/canelovsggg2.

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

A Little Mistake? “Weight” A Minute!

Monday, August 13th, 2018

By William Trillo

After JoJo Diaz defeated Jesus Rojas in a fight that had literally not one ounce of significance whatsoever Diaz let this little pearl of wisdom fly out of his pie hole, “It was just one little mistake that we didn’t make the weight, it was just one little crucial mistake.”

Where do I begin?

JoJo, a little mistake would be that you forgot to pack your mouthpiece in your bag on fight night.

Not making weight for a world title fight is a huge mistake, make no doubt about that.

What makes it an even bigger mistake is that you were given this undeserved title opportunity after getting schooled by Gary Russell in your first attempt at a world title. You didn’t have to fight your way back to title contention but instead were spoon fed this title shot that quite frankly you did not earn or deserve.

As to your statement, “…it was just one little crucial mistake”, it was either a crucial mistake or a little mistake, it can’t be both. Those two words should never be used in the same sentence. For instance one would never use the words Champion and Journeyman to describe a fighter, either he has the goods or he doesn’t! Am I clear?

I have had to address this same situation in boxing too many times recently. That being fighters who get themselves into the position to fight for a title and then show up overweight at the weigh-in and lose any chance at winning a title on the scale.

It’s pathetic and extremely disrespectful to everyone involved including your promoter and more importantly your fans. There are thousands of fighters with half the talent of Diaz who would do whatever it takes to make weight if they were given a chance to fight for championship belt. It’s a smack in the face to those Ham and Eggers as well.

If it were up to me, if a fighter showed up to the weigh-in for a world title fight overweight he would have one chance to re-weigh and if he didn’t make it he would be heavily fined, with most of the money going to the other fighter, and he would not be allowed to fight the next night for any reason.

Allowing these guys to fight and then pretend like everything is just fine afterwards is 100% horse dung and should not be tolerated on any level.

Solution or Problem For Ryan Garcia?

On Friday night after covering the show at The Belasco Theatre in Los Angles it was brought to my attention the Ryan Garcia’s next fight would take place September 1st at Fantasy Springs Casino against Carlos “The Solution” Morales.

The next night at The Avalon Theatre I ran into “The Solution” himself. I couldn’t help but ask him about his upcoming battle with “KingRy”. Flashing his biggest smile Morales confidentially said, “I am going to give that little boy a beating!”

Let the fireworks begin!

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

Trainer Marc Ramsay Talks About His New Champion Alvarez: Game Plan Worked To Perfection

Tuesday, August 7th, 2018

By William Trillo

Don’t look now but Montreal, Canada has become the hotbed for Light Heavyweight World Champions. Three of the four major 175 pound titles in boxing reside in Quebec’s Metropolis. Even more remarkable is the fact that one trainer has tutored two of those champs to the very top. That trainer would be Marc Ramsay. That’s quite an accomplishment for Ramsay who has been working with fighters since 1995.

With the dust having settled after Saturday night’s stunning upset of Sergey Kovalev, Pound4Pound had a chance to speak with Ramsay about the special evening. The first thing I wanted to know is what he thought of the scores of the fight at the time of the stoppage. Personally I thought the scores were a bit wide but Ramsay not only agreed with the judges but revealed it was the way he drew it up on the chalkboard. “I think the scores were okay,” stated Ramsay, “In my corner we had Kovalev ahead 4-2, but we were ready to lose some rounds early to get him into later rounds of the fight. I was expecting that Kovalev would lose more energy in the first six rounds and by round seven we could start putting pressure to target a late stoppage or a decision. But as we put more pressure on Kovalev it was too much for him and the fight was over.”

Because Alvarez wasn’t necessarily known as a big puncher it was all the more shocking to see him demolish Kovalev with what was essentially one huge punch. In the aftermath experts and fans have wondered aloud if this was just a fluke or if Alvarez will carry the kind of power with him as he defends his titles. Ramsay confidently stated, “I think anybody who does not respect Alvarez’s power will go down!”

Lastly I couldn’t help but ask Ramsay what was next for his new Champion Alvarez. Would he battle Montreal’s other 175 pound champs, Beterbiev or Stevenson? Ramsay openly and candidly replied, “Beterbiev and Alvarez will never fight, I am the coach of both of them, maybe a fight with Stevenson. But first we need to respect our contract and give Kovalev his rematch.”

Of the two possibilities I think it’s a lot more likely to see the rematch with Kovalev long before we see Adonis step up to the plate to take on Alvarez. The so-called “Superman” has been ducking him for years; there is no reason to believe he will be changing that tune anytime soon.

In the meantime Ramsay will be taking his charges on a wild ride through a Light Heavyweight division stocked full of world class talent. Look for him and his fighters to produce some memorable battles in the coming year.

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

Krushed By Storm In Atlantic City

Monday, August 6th, 2018

By William Trillo
Photos: “Sugar” Ray Bailey

Not since Hurricane Sandy hit the Jersey shores has such a devastating Storm hit the famed Atlantic City Boardwalk. With one Krushing right hand in round seven Eleider Alvarez took Kovalev out into the deep water and left him there to try to swim out of danger. With no life preserver in sight Kovalev struggled to stay afloat but he was no match for the weight of Alvarez’s barrage of punches. Less than a minute later Kovalev sank to the canvas as a jubilant Alvarez celebrated his championship winning performance.

Honestly I was surprised to find out that at the time of the stoppage Kovalev was comfortably ahead on all scorecards. In my mind the fight was close and after a slow start Kovalev may have started taking command.

But let’s go ahead and take the scores for what they were and give the Champ his just due, fair enough. I can do that. But if you didn’t see Alvarez snapping Kovalevs head back early in the fight with crisp jabs, and if you didn’t see a more than concerned look on Kovalev’s face right away then either you weren’t paying attention or your loyalties to Sergey have skewed your vision.

The ebb and flow of this battle made this a very intriguing fight to witness. In the third and fourth rounds Kovalev began to show the form that made him the dominant force at 175 pounds for so many years. He started laying the leather to Alvarez and was rocking the challenger with his own thunderous barrage. But Alvarez weathered that storm; he did not crumble as so many of Kovalev’s past foes had done. Outside of the fight ending right hand that may have been the biggest blow Kovalev suffered all night.

Whether he was gassed from the swarm of punches he threw in the previous rounds, or was unable to comprehend how Alvarez was still there in round seven, Kovalev seemed to have slowed down more than a bit.

Seizing the moment Alvarez unleashed a thunderous right hand that staggered Kovalev and then put him on the seat of his pants. That one punch was the fight ender. Kovalev rose to his feet but for all intents and purposes the title had already changed hands.

It’s probably not the result they were expecting but after a 4 year hiatus from boxing on The Boardwalk it turned out to be a pretty memorable night in Atlantic City. It’s likely we will be seeing a lot more fights coming back to The Boardwalk.

With a rematch clause in place it could be Alvarez and Kovalev would return to Atlantic City, but I wouldn’t be holding my breath. Sergey will be taking a mandatory 90 day vacation due to the KO loss and now that Alvarez threw a monkey wrench into a possible Bivol vs. Kovalev battle it’s anyone’s guess what is next.

But with a 175 pound division chock full of young stars it’s bound to be a wild ride at 175 pounds over the coming year or two.

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