Since boxing was relatively light this past week, there seemed to be not much to talk about and I anticipated this to be entry to be rather short. While this blog entry will be short, that doesn’t meant that there was a lacking of drama over the past week surrounding “The Sweet Science”. With that being said, here’s my wrap-up of what happened this week.
1. Ricky Burns Has All the Heart in the World, but Was More Than Lucky to Retain His Title – In watching Ricky Burns split decision draw with Ray Beltran on this past Saturday in Glasgow, Scotland, Burns (36-2-1, 11 KO’s) benefited from home cooking. Beltran not only out-boxed Burns, but out-fought Burns and showed to have more power hurting Burns on more than one occasion. In fact Beltran (28-6-1, 17 KO’s) put Burns down on his back in round eight courtesy of a left hook. Yet, for all of his efforts, all Beltran could muster was a draw (115-113 Beltran, 115-112 Burns, 114-114 even), setting social media on fire screaming outrage complaining how Beltran was robbed. I for one happen to agree with those set off by the decision. In the aftermath of the fight it was discovered that Burns suffered a broken jaw in the contest and was fight with pain from round 2 on. Respect must be given to Burns for his bravery,showing grit and toughness fighting on when he could have quit. However, given the questions raised about Burns in the aftermath of his strange stoppage over Jose ”Chelo” Gonzalez this past May, this performance will further fuel the critics of Burns. While the first concern is Burns jaw which was surgically repaired on Sunday, in the future, Burns must restore his lost reputation as this is the second below average performance in a row.
2. Chris Arreola Destroys Seth Mitchell and is Now In Line For Another Shot at the Heavyweight Title – In analyzing this fight on my show last week, I didn’t have a clue on who would win this bout. Arreola (36-3, 31 KO’s) was coming off a loss to Bermane Stiverne this past April. Not only did Arreola lose, he lost by decisive margin and beaten up suffering a broken nose in the process. Mitchell (26-2-1, 19 KO’s) for his part was coming was coming off of a rematch decision win over Johnathon Banks this past June in a fight that stunk on ice. On Saturday in Indio, California Arreola stepped forward early forcing the pace. Arreola hurt Mitchell early with a right hand and pounced until putting Mitchell down with a series of rights and left hands. A follow-up assault forced referee Jack Reiss to step in and call a halt to the bout. This was a case of Mitchell’s weak chin being exposed (again) and as a result, Arreola is in line for a shot at Vitali Klitschko’s WBC Heavyweight title. Arreola was stopped by Vitali in 2009, yet there are rumors that Vitali is close to retirement. If Vitali indeed does decide to call it a day, look for Arreola to fight Stiverne in a rematch for the vacant title. Another thing was exposed about Mitchell and proved one of my theories, football players who make a transition to boxing never succeed. Just because you’re big and got muscles bulging out all over the place, it’s doesn’t mean that you can all of a sudden jump into the ring and fight. Just name me of an ex-football player (especially and ex-college and/or NFL player) who has been very successful in boxing? I’ll wait…
3. It’s Time For Rafael Marquez To Retire – Look, Marquez has had a great career. He had a great four fight trilogy with Israel Vasquez that will last in the memories of contemporary fight fans forever, but he’s done as a boxer. In his 9th round TKO loss Efrain Esquivias on the undercard of Arreola – Mitchell, the former great Marquez showed himself to be a shell of a the fighter that won world titles at Bantamweight and Super Bantamweight. Esquivias is not a world beater, yet had more pep in his stop and quicker to the draw. After the fight Marquez was taken to the hospital for observation and was later diagnosed with suffering a broken right orbital bone. In short, it’s time for the once great Rafael Marquez to call it a career and retire.
Now that this weekend’s action is out-of-the-way, it’s time to start focusing on the mega-bout between “Canelo” Alvarez and Floyd Mayweather on September 14 as well as the undercard bout between Danny Garcia and Lucas Matthysse. Finally, it’s almost here and I am pumped. Alvarez – Mayweather is arguably the biggest bout in boxing since De La Hoya – Mayweather in May 2007. This fight is so big that there will be not one, but two episodes of The Pound 4 Pound Boxing Report this week, including a special live post-fight show immediately after the conclusion of Alvarez – Mayweather. That’s right people, we’re going all in! Let the hype and the talk begin and to quote the Hall of Fame referee Mills Lane, “Let’s Get It On”!!!