Archive for September, 2016

The Mail Pouch: Hat Trick By McGarry

Saturday, September 24th, 2016

By William Trillo

Looks like good ol’ McGarry has more to say about this exciting boxing month. This guy is on a roll with three successive weekend Mail Pouch submissions.

Allow me to step back and allow Mc Garry to give us his view on the fights coming from Manchester today.

Dear Mr. Trillo,

Today is the third Saturday in September featuring world class boxing. This time, it’s a lightweight world title unification fight between WBA champion Anthony Crolla and WBC champion (and Ring Magazine) Jorge Linares. The fight takes place in Crolla’s home town, Manchester.

The visitor is a three-weight world champion and has fought in the UK before. That was against Kevin Mitchell is a very exciting scrap that saw both guys visit the canvas before a severe swelling over Mitchell’s eye left him unable to box beyond the tenth round.

At the time of that fight in May of last year, Anthony Crolla was preparing for his first fight since a near fatal injury almost brought an end to his career. Several months before, Crolla had spotted a couple of burglars trying to break into a neighbour’s house. While trying to stop them, Anthony had his skull fractured by a concrete block and suffered several other serious injuries. And yet just seven months later, he was fighting for a world title and leaving the ring with a hotly disputed draw against Darleys Perez on his record.

Since then, Crolla has won a rematch with Perez and had a successful defence against the hard hitting Ismael Barroso. In both cases, he followed a game plan to perfection and ended the bouts early with sickeningly-hard body shots.

Meanwhile, the visitor from Venezuela has won his last nine fights. That said, he hasn’t fought in 11 months, so ring rust may be a factor. His opponent will be well aware that Linares has been stopped on the three occasions he has lost in the ring. Also, Kevin Mitchell was probably the best opponent Jorge faced in the nine fight streak, and that was an awfully close affair. Crolla is definitely better than Mitchell was. Has Linares slipped since then?

My prediction: this is a very good match between two excellent lightweights. A good argument could be made for either to walk away with the win. I think the key difference is Crolla has learned the lessons from his first world title fight – he channels the energy lift he gets from fighting at home into a much more disciplined performance than for his earlier scraps and follows a well thought out plan to the letter. His body shots are now as good as any high profile fighter in the sport today, and they could wear the Venezuelan down in a war of attrition. Crolla to win a narrow margin on points.

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

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The Power Of Cinnamon

Monday, September 19th, 2016

By William Trillo

I must admit I can’t argue with the drawing power of The Cinnamon Kid (AKA Canelo). With some 51,000+ fans packed into that Texas Stadium this past weekend it’s pretty clear Canelo is a surefire ticket seller. It’s also undeniable that his power shots to the head and body are equally impressive. You can confer with Liam Smith on that matter.

What is in question is his propensity to get hit and what will happen if and when GGG should land the same type of shots on Canelo that Smith was connecting with all night. Until that fight with Golovkin is consummated that will be the million dollar question.

Although Canelo never really answered when he will be allowed to face GGG he did make a claim that they had offered Golovkin up to three times the original purse to fight him. An offer that Canelo says was flatly turned down. Other than the fact that they admit there have been ongoing negotiations, no one from GGG’s team would confirm or deny the lofty claim.

Until the fight comes to its fruition boxing fans will have to sit and wait as this boring game of chess plays itself out. The sooner the better for all parties concerned.

Doing a little research today I found out that the spice Cinnamon is not only an odor neutralizer but it also can cure an upset stomach. You can do with that information as you will, but I bet you know what I am thinking.

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

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The Mail Pouch: McGarry Part 2

Saturday, September 17th, 2016

By William Trillo

Last week we heard from reader David McGarry in regard to a big month of boxing and this week our faithful reader has given us more thoughts on the boxing landscape. This time his focus is on Canelo vs. Smith in a bout that has Smith’s WBO 154 pound title at stake. McGarry pulls no punches as he predicts what fans will see tonight. We hope you enjoy this letter to the Mail Pouch.

Dear Mr. Trillo,

This is the second Saturday in September featuring a world class boxing event. Liam “Beefy” Smith defends his WBO light middleweight title against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in Dallas. The challenger is a heavy favourite, and a lot of commentators in America have dismissed the event as a mismatch. I think they’re wrong, and while Alvarez may win fair and square, he will have to be at his very best to do so. Beefy has been chasing this fight for over a year, and has had a lot of time to study his opponent and prepare for him.

Smith is the bigger man. While it’s true he hasn’t fought anyone as good as Canelo before, he is used to sparring world class opponents on a regular basis, so it’s unlikely the Mexican will surprise him in terms of speed or power. Training for this fight seems to have gone well, and the champion seems relaxed, confident and ready. His key weakness is a lack of speed which leaves him vulnerable to counters. His main strength is a relentless bullying style that mixes punches to body and head.

Alvarez appears to have lost weight in a more controlled fashion than for some of his recent fights. He doesn’t look bloated like he did against Cotto and Khan. If he rehydrates carefully after the weigh in, he should be a bit faster and sharper than usual and that will give him a crucial advantage.

Beefy will probably look to press the action, and Canelo may spend most of the rounds on the ropes and looking to counter. If the challenger is able to land those counters, he will win most of the rounds and may even score a knockout in the later rounds. If Smith is able to push Alvarez back and land hooks to the body then the Mexican is in serious trouble and in danger of getting stopped.

Scoring this fight objectively may be difficult because the crowd will be almost 100% backing the challenger. They will make a lot of noise every time their guy appears to be doing something good, and this is not easy for a judge to block out.

My prediction: Golden Boy cannot afford to have their main asset to lose this fight. Smith will have to win practically every round very clearly or get the stoppage if he wants to go home with his belt. I think it will be a close fight that goes the distance and while Smith will probably win 6-8 rounds thanks to effective aggression and body punching, the scoring will go against him.

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

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Sometimes You CAN Win For Losing

Monday, September 12th, 2016

By William Trillo
Photos: Mathroom Boxing (Golovkin vs. Brook)
Chris Farina (Gonzalez vs. Cuadras/Kamegai vs. Soto Karass)

Over this past weekend boxing fans were treated to some very gritty and gutsy performances inside the squared circle. The grits and guts were supplied by Kell Brook, Carlos Cuadras and Jesus Soto-Karass. The common denominator for these three warriors is that they came up on the short end in their respective contests inside the squared circle.

Contrary to the opinion of some who think a loss is a death sentence, I have always been of the thinking that a loss can be the very best thing for your career if you learn from it and never make the same mistakes again.

For Brook and Cuadras this would be the first time they tasted defeat. With the right mindset both men should return to become Champions again. For Karass, this is not the first time he lost, but hopefully it will be the last time.

Brook

I think most of us can admit when this fight was first announced we were sure Kell had ZERO chance to harm Golovkin. As we know now we were wrong. For the time he stood toe to toe with GGG we can all now agree that Brook’s performance is worthy of note and every 154 pounder on the planet should be afraid, very afraid.

I am also pretty sure most of us would admit that when the fight was brought to an abrupt halt we thought his corner acted too quickly and should have let their man fight on. But…now that we know GGG literally crushed Brook’s face and he will require surgery to put it back together, we can agree the right decision was made when the surrender towel came flying in.

When Kell returns I would like to see him start his tear in the 154 pound division with the Charlo brothers. Brook would destroy both of these guys inside of 6. I expect that like the rest of their stable the Charlo’s will head for the hills and try to avoid Brook like the plague.

Cuadras

Let me say that I am of the opinion that the judges got it right in the Los Angeles Main Event on Saturday night. That being said, Cuadras has nothing to be ashamed of. He gave every ounce of himself in this war on Saturday night. He came up short and left without his belt but I am positive he will not only return but will be in another title fight soon. In fact, most are saying this fight was worthy of a rematch and I do agree with that. The fight was close and I have never seen anyone put so much hurt on Gonzalez.

This one screams for a rematch.

Karass

When Karass got hurt immediately in round one I thought this rematch with Kamegai was going to end quickly. But as always Karass found a way to get through that first troubling round and fight on to show the fans why this fight deserved the rematch. As tough as he was though, Kamegai just seemed to be a bit sharper with his punches all night. Karass was hurt a couple more time but refused to quit. Jesus is truly one fighter who would die in the ring before he rolled over. But the writing was on the wall after eight and like the corner in the Brook fight, the Soto-Karass corner did the right thing and did not let this fight go any farther. It was the right thing to do.

Truthfully, Jesus Soto-Karass has given the fans nothing but his 100% best throughout his career. A career by the way, that has seen and beaten some of the biggest names in boxing. Just when it appeared his career was over and he was sent packing by his promoter and he was picked up by Golden Boy and surprised everyone with some very fine performances. But now it looks like he is in the twilight of his career and if he chooses to retire we should all stand and applaud the warrior for a job well done.

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

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The Mail Pouch: GGG vs. Brook

Saturday, September 10th, 2016

By William Trillo

With the big fight day upon us we are glad to dip into the Mail Pouch and take a look at one of our most loyal readers, David McGarry, has to say about the big fight in England. McGarry gives his thoughts on the battle and what he expects to see. Although we have not always seen eye to eye, I think this time he has pretty much hit the nail on the head. Thanks for the insight David. I am sure our readers will appreciate your pre-fight view.

Dear Mr. Trillo,

This could be the best month for boxing in years, and today we have the first of four big promotions. In London, Gennady Golovkin is defending (some of) his world middleweight titles against Kell Brook. On paper, this should be a very easy night’s work for the champion. He’s considered almost invincible, and most of the top middleweights seem scared to face him. His devastating punching power, ruthless efficiency at cornering his opponents and a granite-like chin should make tonight a foregone conclusion against an opponent who is moving up two weight divisions. And yet…

GGG has looked distinctly unwell these past couple of days. His drawn cheeks, lack of muscle tone and a dullness in his eyes suggest he is far from 100% at the time when it matters most. The fact that he and his team left straight after the final press conference and the weigh in without stopping to talk to boxing writers and fans could be a sign Team GGG is really worried, perhaps for the first time since their guy won a world title. By contrast, Brook looks better than ever and is clearly up for the biggest test of his boxing career.

The champion should still be the heavy favourite for this bout, but on the day of the fight it is possible to see a way his challenger could win without being accused of being delusional. A boxer who enters the ring in bad shape will always have problems with stamina. The longer a fight progresses, the weaker he will become. Golovkin will be at his most dangerous in the first three or four rounds. He will want an early night and will go looking for the knockout.

Brook has to find a way to avoid GGG’s attacks. Jabbing and running won’t work against an opponent who is probably the best in the world at cutting a ring off. Brook has to hope he can hit Golovkin cleanly with punches that earn his respect while keeping clear of the champion’s shots. He must resist the temptation to try and rush GGG and try to catch him early. Even in his (possibly) weakened state, the champion is a much harder puncher and an exchange suits him much more than Brook. Kell needs to throw two or three punches at a time then move away, and keep up his work rate.If Gennady really is suffering from an illness or injury, this will affect him much more in the second half of the fight, and that is when Brook should try to pile on the pressure.

Despite all that I’ve written so far, I think Brook will try to match Golovkin in the early rounds and will come undone. It will be exciting while it lasts, and GGG may even be rocked for the first time as a world champion, but the natural middleweight will bite down and walk through the hurtful punches to land a knockout blow. My best guess is it will all be over in the third or fourth round.

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Tom Loeffler Q & A: Chocolatito vs. Cuadras

Monday, September 5th, 2016

By William Trillo

This coming weekend in Los Angeles Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, (45-0, 38 KO’S) will take on WBC Super Flyweight World Champion Carlos “El Principe” Cuadras, (35-0-1, 27 KO’s). Gonzalez, the consensus Pound For Pound best fighter in the world has big goals ahead of him in this fight, both figuratively and literally.Pound4Pound spoke to K2 Promotions Tom Loeffler about the magnitude of this fight and what it means to Chocolatito.

Pound4Pound: Could this be one of those matchups where both fighters are defined as great, like Leonard and Hearns, Ali and Frazier?

Tom Loeffler: This is definitely a career defining fight for both fighters. For Roman it’s to achieve a milestone that his idol Arguello wasn’t able to achieve with a title in a 4th division and for Cuadras to be able to beat the top P4P fighter would put him on top of the boxing world.

P4P: Roman has mentioned Arguello many times. What part did Arguello play in the development of Roman?

TL: Arguello was his idol and a big inspiration for him to train hard and reach the success that he has now, while staying grounded with his success.

P4P: He has also talked about winning the 4th title that Arguello wasn’t able to. How important is that to Roman?

TL: For Roman it is important to do as well as he can in each fight, regardless of the circumstances. It is the biggest fight of his career headlining HBO and the Forum. Naturally fighting for a title in a 4th division is an historic event and a goal that Roman would be happy to achieve, but he is more focused on beating Cuadras than everything else

P4P: What about the significance of this fight being at the Forum. There’s history there.

TL: There’s a lot of history of fights at the Forum, especially with Arguello fighting there before, he is very comfortable there in his 3rd fight at the Forum.

P4P: In beating Arroyo, after the fight Roman said:”It was a very difficult fight. Arroyo moves very well. He knows how to avoid the punches. I wanted to fight him, I wanted to roll him and catch him with counter punches, but it was difficult because he moved quite a bit.” Cuadras is a master at moving and using the whole ring. He also has very good upper body and head movement. If Roman had trouble hitting the elusive Arroyo, how will he deal with Cuadras, a much better fighter?

TL: Arroyo has a very difficult style and was very well prepared. He knows that Cuadras also moves a lot, it is his job to cut off the ring and slow Cuadras down. With the preparation this time in Big Bear Lake, he feels even stronger now than before.

P4P: Cuadras has fought whole career at 115, and is the naturally bigger man? Will the move up in weight be a factor?

TL: Cuadras is clearly physically much bigger, so Roman has to use his speed, power and boxing skills to take away the advantage of Cuadras size.

P4P: Just curious, but I read where Roman came into the ring for last fight weighing 126. If true, does that indicate to you he can easily go up a weight class & be strong?

TL: Roman should be very strong at 115 as he was big for 112 divisions, with the right preparation he will be strong at 115 as well.

P4P: What about Cuadras’ offensive skill set. What potential problems do you see there for Roman.

TL: Roman has to be careful as Cuadras is the bigger guy and a great boxer, Roman will have to cut off the ring and pick his shots to break down Cuadras.

P4P: How do you see this fight playing out?

TL: This looks to be a very even fight for the first 6 rounds, after that it will depend on who has the better preparation and stronger will in order to take control after that.

Thank you!

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