Category: Sports

Tim Tszyu fight with Keith Thurman was canceled but Sebastian Fundora ended up  the new challenger for the 154 titles.  While Tszyu was already talking about an Errol Spence, Jr. fight, Fundora represents a significant challenge and may even been a tougher opponent than Thurman.  At 6’5”, he had the height advantage over Tsyzu which he used to his advantage in the fight.

Tsyzu, who is the son of Hall of Fame fighter Kostya Tszyu, headlined his first big PPV card on U.S. soils on Prime Video.   Fundora, who was scheduled to fight Serhii Bohachuk, moved up to replace Thruman and for the rest of the story, Brian Mendoza replaced Fundora in fighting Bohachuk.  Bohachuk did in fact do what Tsyzu did, beat Mendoza in a decision.  (Mendoza did stop Fundora in their fight but has now lost two in a row to Bohachuk and Tsyzu.)  Bohachuk dominated the fight and the scorecard reflected that as he won 117-111, 117-111 and 118-110.    He dominated the fight, out landing Mendoza 319-168 punches over the twelve rounds, double the jab and double the power shots and more accurate overall 38 percent to 33 percent.   Bohachuk is now looking to fighting the winner of Fundora-Tsyzu. 

I was not aware ErisLandy Lara was still fighting. Just joking but he is the oldest champion as he defended his WBA middleweight champion with an easy two round stoppage of Michael Zerafa.  He has now recorded three straight knockouts.

Now for the main event as Tszyu tried to find the range against Fundora who established his jab.   Tszyu used his right to the body but shots a right to the head failed to connect. Finally, he connected with a right to snap Fundora head back. The second round saw a double jab from Fundora as Tszyu jab landed in the body and he managed to land a right hand to the Fundora head.  Fundora bleeding from Tszyu shot and after two rounds, Tszyu up 20-18.

Tszyu gets nailed by an accidental elbow, and blood flowing from his scalps blinded him throughout the rest of the fight. Fundora lands shots as blood stream into Tszyu’s eye. Near the end of the round, both fighters trade shots at center ring and Tszyu lands a straight right .  The bloodbath continued for both fighters as Tszyu was still wiping blood from his eyes and Fundora took advantage as after four rounds he was tied on my score card, but he is also a bloody mess.

Tszyu landed right hand to the body but got nailed by hard left from Fundora.  Tszyu partially landed left hand while Fundora lands his shot as Tszyu partial vision is making it difficult to see punches.  He does land a decent left hand and buckled Fundora.   Tszyu starts the six with right hand to the body and these body shots are hard shots, but Fundora is landing stiff jabs.  Tszyu lands body shots with right and left while Fundora used his height and Tszyu blood.  At the halfway mark, Tszyu is up by 58-56 but these are close rounds.

Tszyu right hand lands but Fundora is landing jabs throughout the seventh and eight round as Tszyu blood  making if difficult to see.  The fight was even 76-76 after eight rounds on my card.

The ninth and tenth round saw a similar pattern as Fundora landed jabs and Tszyu landed power shots, but it was close fight as while I had a slight edge for Tszyu, 96-94. It was tough fight for the champion and could have been scored the opposite.

In the eleventh and twelfth round I gave the round to Fundora, and this fight had a pattern in which Fundora landed his jabs effectively while Tszyu landed body shots.  The judges gave a split decision 115-113, 116-112 for Fundora and 115-113 for Tszyu in an upset victory. 

These numbers show the results as Fundora landed more punches and threw more but Tszyu landed more power shots and was the more accurate puncher. Tszyu landed the harder shots and was more accurate but the cut on his scalp reduced his sight and this gave Fundora the advantage with his jab.  For every two plus jabs Fundora landed, Tszyu landed only one. 

This is a fight we can see again since it was close and the judges themselves were not unanimous in who they thought won and the scores tight.

Anthony Joshua scored a brutal KO Win Over Francis Ngannou in a fight that many thought would be competitive, but Ngannou was hoping to repeat the close fight against Fury, which included a Ngannou knockdown of Fury.  A few thought Ngannou should have been declared winner of his bout with Fury but not this fight.  Joshua dominated from the opening bell which included two knockdowns before the final knockout caused by a vicious right hand.  In two minutes, Joshua did to Ngannou what many thought Fury would do. This was a fight between one of the best heavyweights versus an MMA star fighter trying to adjust to boxing. 

Joshua spent the first half of the opening round avoiding Ngannou’s left hooks and then as Ngannou attempted to switch to a southpaw stance, Joshua nailed him with a right hand that sent Ngannou tumbling backward.  Ngannou got up at the count of eight but as the second round began, Joshua sent Ngannou down a second time and then finally a vicious right sent Ngannou down for good.  Three right hands and that dealt the end of Ngannou. 

Joshual came in this fight prepared and took his opponent seriously while Ngannou managed to get a big PPV payday financed by the Saudi’s based on his close fight with Fury.   Joshua treated Ngannou as a newcomer as he exploited his opponent sieve-like defense. 

Right now, Joshua is not in line for a title shot as Fury fights against the undefeated Usyk includes a two-fight contract so that blocks Joshua from any big fight against Fury.

In another fight,  Joseph Parker fought against Zhilei Zhang, a big punching Chinese fighter.  Parker embarrassed Deontay Wilder with an easy decision and against Zhang, he survived two knockdowns in the third and eighth round to win a majority decision.   In the third round, a straight left jab sent Parker down and in the eighth round that he was winning, a Zhang short right sent him down.  Parker landed more punches in eight of the twelve rounds and with the two knockdowns, this was a close fight on the scorecard, a majority decision. 

Parker landed 101punches  to 75 punches for Zhang, and seventy-nine power shots to Zhang 40 power shots. The final score was 114-112, 115-111 for Parker, and one judge 113-113 even.  It was close fight due to the Zhang two knockdowns.  I had it 114-112 but I could see the 113-113 score as well.  Parker boxing skills allowed him to survive.    Parker had beaten two big bangers in Wilder and Zhang.  What should we take from this? 

Francis Ngannou was a good MMA fighter, but he still has a way to go to be an elite heavyweight and Joshua came in this fight ready to rumble.  Maybe a better question is why did Fury did so badly against Ngannou, is this a sign of decline in Fury or did he simply not take the fight seriously?  Parker showed his boxing surviving skills as he got up from two knockdowns to win an important fight against Zhang. 

Shakur Stevenson defeated Edwin De Los Santos in a very boring fight that would have cured insomnia and be quite honest, I lost interest as round and round we saw a pattern of Stevenson jabbing and De Los Santos simply did very little, satisfied to finishing the fight.  Stevenson landed 65 punches over 12 rounds, landing at a 31 percent rate whereas De Los Santos landed 40 punches, landing at a 12 percent rate.  Stevenson landed a little more 5 punches per round and De Los Santos little more than 3 punches per round.   Stevenson had some nagging injuries before the fight, but he did little to excite his own future in getting bigger fights as he was satisfied with jabbing and take no chances.  De Los Santos was the challenger who needed to push the issue and never did.  He seemed too afraid to push the issue and never seemed to be willing to take a chance.  As challenger it was his responsibility to push the issue and he never did.

In the fight before Stevenson vs De Los Santos, Robson Conceicao fought Emanuel Navarette in an exciting fight.  Navarette landed the harder punches and sent Conceicao down twice, but Conceicao landed double the punches and it was a close fight that could have gone either way.   One judge had it 114-112 for Navarette and the other two had it 113-113.   The Navarrete two knockdowns were the difference since two judges had Conceicao winning 7 rounds, but two 10-8 rounds allowed the majority draw.  No knockdowns and we may have had a new junior lightweight champion. 

Conceicao landed nearly ten times jabs than Navarette and that allowed him to dominate punches landed and even had slight advantage of in power punches.  And he won the final round on all the cards.  The difference in the two fights, Conceicao went into the fight to win a championship and he gave Navarrete a battle.  If nothing else, he deserved a rematch.  De Los Santos refused to take chances and he lost the fight unanimously.  Conceicao boxed a tough puncher and took chances.  He was knocked down twice and there was time that it appeared that he would be stopped while he ended the fight with swollen eyes.  And by taking chances, he did not win the championship, but he did manage a majority draw.  And he may get yet another chance to win a title.

PUNCHES	NAVARRETE	CONCEICAO
Total landed	116	213
Total thrown	487	852
Percent	24%	25%
Jabs landed	21	112
Jabs thrown	173	420
Percent	12%	27%
Power landed	95	101
Power thrown	314	432
Percent	30%	23%

PUNCHES	NAVARRETE	CONCEICAO
Total landed	116	213
Total thrown	487	852
Percent	24%	25%
Jabs landed	21	112
Jabs thrown	173	420
Percent	12%	27%
Power landed	95	101
Power thrown	314	432
Percent	30%	23%
— Courtesy of CompuBox

.

Tyson Fury had his battle of the baddest against Francis Ngannou, former UFC champion who was doing his first boxing match at the age of thirty-seven. What should have been an easy match for Fury turned out to be battle of survival as he barely got by Ngannou and even hit the floor in the third round with a Ngannou left hook.  This fight was close on the Compubox data as Fury landed seventy-one punches to fifty-nine, but Ngannou landed more power shots 37-32.  Usually in these matchups, the boxer has the advantage since more Mixed Marital Arts are not allowed to kick or get their opponent to the ground.  So, this is hands versus hands and the boxer has more experienced with just using hands.  Ngannou has been at the top of the UFC heavyweight division, and he was taking on the baddest man in the boxing world.   

I had Fury winning the first two rounds as he landed more punches and even in the second round turned southpaw, to confuse his opponent.  In the third round, Ngannou stunned Fury with a left hook that sent boxing heavyweight champion to the canvas, and I had the third round as the 10-8 round for Ngannou and after three rounds, it was 28-28. Fury acknowledges after the fight, “He’s a very awkward man and he’s a good puncher and I respect him a lot.” 

The fourth round was a pick em which I gave to Fury, but it could easily have gone to Ngannou but the next two rounds, Fury landed some good shots and looked like he might be getting back in control of the fight.  Near the end of the fifth round, Ngannou looked tired.  After six rounds, I had it 58-55 but it could easily have been 57-56.  Ngannou had the better of the next two rounds as he landed some hard lefts and rights.  After eight rounds I had it 76-75 and remember the fourth round was tight so it could be the opposite in favor of Ngannou.

Fury won the last two rounds with some better shots snapping Ngannou head in the ninth round and nice right-hand uppercut in the tenth final round.  I had it 96-93 for Fury.  The official score was 95-94 for Ngannou and 96-93, 95-94 for Fury.  I can understand the 95-94 for Ngannou since there were close rounds and Ngannou showed good boxing skills that surprised Fury as Fury admitted, “”He’s a good boxer. He’s a lot better than I thought he’d be, and he gave me a good fight. … I would like to do it again down the line and I’m sure Francis would like to do it as well.”

Now Fury faces Oleksandr Usyk on December 23^rd, but Fury suffered cuts over his left eye and forehead and now he has less than two months to get ready for the undefeated Usyk.   Fury at time looked confused and uncomfortable as Ngannou showed usual boxing skills and now what will he do?  He signed with the PBL, (Pro boxing league),  and certainly he showed enough skills to box other contenders. 

As for Fury, I wonder if he was surprised by Ngannou, but he stated he trained for 12 weeks so he was in shape, but did he take this fight seriously?  Or did he show vulnerability that maybe Fury is losing a step?  He did not look impressive and certainly he would have to fight better to beat Usyk. 

Iowa is 6-2 but this is the worst 6-2 team in America.  On defense, they have given up only 116 points, 14.5 a game and 31 of those points came against Penn State so they have given up only 85 points to the other seven opponents. On offense, Iowa only scored 156 points for an average of 19.5, considerably lower than what Brian Ferentz needs to keep his job and if you take out 41 they scored against Western Michigan, they only average 16.4 points. 

The reality is that Iowa is at a turning point where it needs to change to keep on top of the better college teams or slip into mediocrity.  Since Brian Ferentz became the offensive coordinator, the Iowa offense has been rather offensive and this year, it has reached a peak in total absurdity as the last four games, Iowa has yet to pass for more than 116 yards. Iowa managed to beat Wisconsin passing for only 37 yards.

The number one quarterback Cade McNamara went out with season ending injury along with top two tight ends, Eric All and Luke Lachey so that didn’t help. Deacon Hill showed that after four games, he is not ready to take over the offense and there has been no improvements over the four games he started and the question is why Joe Labus who did win a bowl game in his only game as starter not given a chance or the Marco Lainez who plays for the scout team.  They couldn’t do worse what is being done now.

Iowa defense has been the key for the past three years, but stagnant offense has kept this team from going to another level.  This year is no different.  Iowa has a chance to win the Big Ten West, but the offense could keep them from winning the Big Ten West.

The question is the future, since Iowa will be in a new Big Ten that includes USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon, teams that emphasize offense.   It was not that long ago, Iowa could occasionally beat Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State but the past three years a wider gulf has arrived between Iowa and the top teams in the Big Ten East.  Their first appearance in the Big Ten championship, Iowa lost a close battle to Michigan State, but their second appearance was complete rout by Michigan.    For Iowa football future, changes have to be made to stay competitive.  The defense is championship caliber and Phil Parker is one of the best defensive coaches in the business but too often over the last three years, his defense has been called to keep Iowa in games while the offense flails.  The past game with Minnesota shows Iowa problem as the offense scored 10 points but it was the defense that kept them in the game and should have won the game when a punt return touchdown called back on a controversial call (or I will say a really bad call).  Iowa was one bad call from being 7-1 but the problem of the offense took away what should have been easy victory into a disappointing defeat.

The question is after the season, will Kirk Ferentz follow through on the deal that stated his son had to average 25 points to keep his job and replace his son as the offensive coordinator ?  If he manages to win the Big Ten West, which is still in reach, it would be a fitting end to a good career and if he is forced to fire his son, why not simply say goodbye?  Both Brian and Kirk would simply move on into the sunset and Brian would find a new job and begin his career anew.  As for Iowa, it might be close to the time that Kirk Ferentz and Iowa part ways and allow Iowa to move forward. 

Kirk Ferentz has had a good career as a head coach, he has won over 200 games as a coach, presently is 10-9 in bowl games, with five victories over southeastern conference foes and two Big Ten West titles.  For the past three years, the question that has arisen is whether Iowa would move forward into the brave new of world of college football and become competitive in this world. With USC, UCLA, Washington, and Oregon added to a league that has Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan, means that Iowa must change its offensive philosophy to become competitive.    And the real question is Kirk Ferentz that guy?

Showtime has now made if officials, it is no longer in the boxing business after this year, and this will not benefit the sport at all.  This leaves a big hole in a network where some of the bigger matches occurred, in particular after HBO left business. 

Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn noted, “A lot of people don’t get on with people in boxing, but you’ve also got to look at the bigger picture. It’s not great news for boxing. It’s just a sign of the future and the sign that the way that content is being distributed and delivered to fight fans, and that is by streaming. We saw that a couple of years ago, we made our own move to build those partnerships and those relationships, but boxing will be worse off without Showtime, as it was worse off without HBO.”

Showtime and boxing lasted 38 years beginning with the fight between Marvin Hagler and John Mugabi and for many years, HBO and Showtime aired the biggest fights, but CBS sports will be the main sports division for Paramount who owns Showtime and there is no plan to air boxing events on CBS sports.  Showtime was synonymous with boxing but no longer.

Hearn point is that boxing is moving to streaming services and we are seeing that of other sports.  ESPN Plus is a streaming service where many sporting events are moving to, among those sports are boxing and DAZN has entered the boxing scene with their streaming. 

Boxer insider Sean Crose observed, “And, in a lot of ways, it’s going nowhere. DAZN will still broadcast fights. ESPN will still broadcast fights. What’s more, other entities are now involved in the boxing industry, entities that may soon become major players. Considering the fact that Showtime wasn’t running much more than pay per view cards in recent months anyway, it’s pretty safe to assume boxing’s fandom will deal with the network’s exit in a healthy manner fairly quickly. Still, there’s unsettling questions that need answering. For starters, will boxing continue to slip further and further away from the American mainstream? Admittedly, streaming is the future, but right now big cable outlets still carry a lot of figurative water. At the moment, only ESPN is currently broadcasting boxing. Who is to say it will continue to at this rate?”

Here is the rub, there are very few sports networks just as ESPN and Fox sports that televise boxing and even Mixed Martial Arts have moved to PPV/Streaming.  The problems for sports like boxing moving toward streaming is that you need to build up your audience and one way is to be on more popular network whether it is ESPN or Fox sports.  Many boxing fans are elderly where cable television is what they prefer to watch their sports  Of course if you buy streaming services, eventually you move away from cable. One of my daughters has moved to streaming and away from cable and she has many different options, but you have been able to find the right services to be able to get boxing matches.   Hearn noted, “Ironically the news comes probably one of their (showtime)  best years in terms of bigger fights, but it’s just the future of a traditional broadcaster doesn’t lend itself, in my opinion, to the audience anymore.” 

In many major sports, the broadcasts give a broader audience a chance to see the big games and big events.  Major sports may move their sports to streaming but they understand that they need to build their audience and put much of their sports events on cable or the more popular streaming services. Boxing may lose that with the move to streaming compared to other sports.   Showtime over the years did not just broadcast the big events but also SHOBOX, the Next Generation where young boxers were given exposures and Showtime had a chance to build an audience for those young fighters as they moved up the ranks.  I remember seeing a young Paul Malignaggi on a ShoBox: The Next Generation in Laughlin Nevada and remember how fast and quick he was. He eventually won championships in two divisions and was featured on many fight cards. One reason for his being featured was that we saw his career from its beginning to its peak. Future fighters may end up being missed.  Years ago, I observed that boxing promoters should work with Mixed Martial arts and come up with their own network, Combat Sports, just like NFL, Tennis, MLB, NBA, and NHL have.  These channels promote their sports and give us the latest on what is happening in sports. 

Sean Crose added, “what’s going to happen to fighters who demand a fortune before they’ll even consider fighting a legitimate opponent.? Will they change their ways, agree to fight at market value, and see if they can bring in the kind of numbers that warrant astronomical fees and pay per view headliners? Or will these fighters continue on with the mindset that using Floyd Mayweather’s business strategy will earn them. Mayweather style fortunes (hint – Mayweather earned enormous sums of money because millions actually wanted to watch his fights)… Lastly, will fighters and their camps decide it’s okay to make bouts with fighters from other camps on a regular basis? Bad as the loss of Showtime is for sport, it means there’s one less political camp to have to please in the current conditions. Premier Boxing Champions, for instance, one of the biggest fighter organizations in the fighting game, is now going to be on the hunt for new broadcasters. If a deal is made where it’s clear PBC fighters will be more easily able to face fighters from outside organizations than it apparently is now, that will be nothing but good for boxing. Of course, other organizations like Top Rank, Golden Boy and Matchroom will have to play by the same rules as PBC if things are to truly improve.”

Sean Crose concluded, “Which leads to the final point – (some) popular fighters, broadcasters, promoters, advisors, and managers will have to simultaneously decide to be reasonable if boxing is to find itself in a better, stronger place. If they don’t, then one of two things will likely occur: Boxing will continue to shrink, or a new breed of savvy, clear-headed fighters will force the business to change. One option would be welcome. The other would provide more of the same.” 

Showtime forgoing boxing is a big blow for a sport that has lost popularity over the past years and even lost ground to Mixed Martial Arts in particular UFC.   How will boxing adopt to this new era and try to grow the sport or will the sport simply implode further to irrelevancy?

Junior Middleweight Tim Tszyu defeated Brian Mendoza to defend his WBO junior Middleweight title as he dominated the second half of the fight.   Tsyzu grinded Mendoza down over twelve punishing rounds and before that he stopped Tony Harrison and followed that up with a one round knockout of Carlos Ocampo before his victory over Mendoza. He was scheduled to fight Jermell Charlo for Charlo belts, but Charlo injured his hands and after it healed, Charlo then went for Alvarez, moving up two division.   In his fight with Mendoza, Tsyzu landed more punches and was more accurate with both his jab and power shots. 

Punch Stats

PUNCHES	TSZYU	MENDOZA
Total landed	120	93
Total thrown	406	433
Percent	30%	22%
Jabs landed	22	22
Jabs thrown	148	208
Percent	15%	11%
Power landed	98	71
Power thrown	258	225
Percent	38%	32%
— Courtesy of CompuBox

Tszyu can deliver with his shots with thudding accuracy, and he ripped Mendoza eyes with cuts over Mendoza’s under right eye and over his left eye.  His best punch was his over right hand, and those punches are delivered compactly with little wasted motion.  At the end of the fight he looked fresh, not tired. The only bout he really wants is to fight Jermell Charlo for all Charlo’s belts and be the man at junior Middleweight just as for a time, his father, Hall of Famer Kostyua Tsyzu was the king of the junior Welterweight.  

Janibek Alimkhanuly  easily pounded Vincezno Gualtieri and now holds two of the Middleweight divisions belts, IBF and WBO middleweight belts.  Now he must find a way to fight Erislandy Lara or Jermall Charlo.  Alimkhaunuly landed four times as many punches as Gualtieri and his punches had more punch.  As the fight progressed, Gualtieri was in survival mode.

Punch Stats

PUNCHES	ALIMKHANULY	GUALTIERI
Total landed	82	22
Total thrown	243	85
Percent	34%	26%
Jabs landed	38	12
Jabs thrown	169	55
Percent	23%	22%
Power landed	44	10
Power thrown	74	30
Percent	60%	33%
— Courtesy of CompuBox

The problem is that Alimkhanuly poses a serious threat to either Lara or Charlo without any significant return on investment and this particular bout was hardly a sellout.  When Gennady Golovkin made his way with spectacular wins and had two close bouts with his first two matches with Alvarez in their trilogy.  Alimkhanuly is still unknown despite winning two belts, but his style is crowd pleasing as he punches with bad intention with every punch.  

If there is no Lara or Charlo in his future, then there is Chris Eubanks, fresh off a victory over Liam Smith and who is a good draw in Great Britain.   Alimkhanuly could developed into a great draw and the future may be close.

Jermell Charlo faces Canelo Alveraz in one of the more intriguing fights as Charlo, the junior Middleweight champion, faced the super Middleweight champion.  My good friend David Martinez was talking upset, but I wasn’t sold that Charlo could beat Alvarez.

Canelo was the bigger fighter and had been fighting bigger fighters for a longer period of time and Charlo was moving two weights class not just one.  Canelo had been one of the elite pounds for pound from Welterweight division and even campaigned as a light heavyweight.  

What Canelo has going for him is his advantage at the higher weight, and he has excellent upper body movement and great power.   Charlo has a high boxing IQ and good boxing skills.  In his second fight with Brian Castano, he switched his strategy and stopped Castano.  Charlo was capable of adjusting but to paraphrase Mike Tyson, “Everyone has a strategy until the first bell ring, and you get hit the first time.”  Certainly, when Charlo started to feel the power of Alvarez, his strategy wasn’t going to work. 

When Floyd Mayweather fought a young Canelo, he out boxed and out thought Alvarez and Alvarez seemed hesitant throughout the bout.  He learned a lesson in fighting Mayweather, and one was to all his instinct and let loose his power.  The Canelo that fought Charlo pressured Charlo and Charlo never fought a fighter with ferocity of Alvarez. 

I thought that Charlo may win a few early rounds, but I anticipate that Canelo power and pressure will take hold for a late round stoppage. 

The fight was one sided and my own score card was more one-sided than the official cards which were 119-108, 119-108, 118-109 whereas I had it 120-107, as the only round that could possibly been ruled in Charlo was the first round in which both fighters landed one punch in a slow round.

From that round, Canelo out landed Charlo every round and overall, he landed double the punches over Charlo, he out jabbed Charlo the boxer and more accurate with those jobs and landed more than double the power shots.  Overall Canelo accuracy was double than that of Charlo and from the second round to the very end, this was a one-way fight in which the bigger Canelo proved too powerful for the junior Middleweight, Jermell Charlo.  Charlo moved up two weight divisions and the difference was self-evident.  Even in the first round saw Charlo retreat to the rope.

The second round saw Charlo start with two jabs, but Canelo jabbed back, and a right hand partially blocked by Charlo had an impact as Charlo retreated.  Third and Fourth round saw Canelo out jabbing the boxer and his right hand pushed Charlo to retreat and by the end of the fourth round, Charlo body language didn’t look good as he looked perplexed.  This pattern repeated itself as Charlo failed to impress Canelo with his own power but found himself retreating.  Halfway through the fight, it was 60-54 for Canelo and CompuBox validate the one-sided nature of the fight as Canelo landed 62 punches to Charlo 29 and Canelo accuracy was 35 percent to Charlo 15 percent.

Charlo took a knee in the seventh round as he got staggered by Canelo’s right.  He got back up quicky, but this fight was essentially over at this point.  While the fight continued for the next five rounds and Charlo proved willing to take Canelo best for twelve rounds, he didn’t have the power to keep Canelo off him.

This was a case of a good smaller fighter unable to punish the bigger fighter enough and while Charlo lasted all twelve rounds, he did little to hurt Canelo Alvarez.  Charlo options is going back to junior Middleweight or become a Middleweight and maybe his brother, Jermall Charlo will take up the Alvarez challenge, but Alvarez probably had his best fight since he defeated Caleb Plant for the unanimous control of the Super Middleweight and there are still fights to be made at Super Middleweight and maybe another shot at the light heavyweight.  Two big fights will be Dmitry Bivol for Bivol’s light heavyweight championship and redeemed his previous loss and heavy hitting David Benavidez for the Super Middleweight championship. There is one fight we don’t need to see, Terrance Crawford versus Canelo Alvarez for a simple reason, he would suffer the same fate as Jermell Charlo but maybe a Crawford versus Charlo for the Junior Middleweight might be worth reviewing.

As for Canelo Alvarez being too old or slipping, not yet and while the talk was about the 33-year-old  Alvarez losing a step, it should be noted that Jermell Charlo is also 33 years old.  Maybe not as many bouts as Alvarez, he has his own wear and tear as well.

Jermell Charlo faces Canelo Alveraz in one of the more intriguing fights as Charlo, the junior Middleweight champion, will face the super Middleweight champion.  My good friend David Martinez is talking upset, but I am not so sure.

Canelo is the bigger fighter and has been fighting bigger fighters for a longer period of time and Charlo is moving two weights class not just one.  Canelo has been one of the elite pounds for pound from Welterweight division and even campaigned as a light heavyweight.  

What Canelo has going for him is his advantage at the higher weight, and he has excellent upper body movement and great power.   Charlo has a high boxing IQ and good boxing skills.  In his second fight with Brian Castano, he switched his strategy and stopped Castano.  Charlo is capable of adjusting but to paraphrase Mike Tyson, “Everyone has a strategy until the first bell ring, and you get hit the first time.”

When Floyd Mayweather fought a young Canelo, he out boxed and out thought Alvarez and Alvarez seemed hesitant throughout the bout.  He learned a lesson in fighting Mayweather, and one was to all his instinct and let loose his power.  The Canelo that fights Charlo will pressure Charlo and Charlo has never fought a fighter with ferocity of Alvarez. 

Charlo is a good boxer and has the ability to make the fight difficult but somehow unless Alvarez starts showing signs of aging as result of his many wars, there will be on upset.  Charlo may win a few early rounds, but I anticipate that Canelo power and pressure will take hold for a late round stoppage. 

Joe Joyce got his second chance at Zhilei Zhang and hoped that he could reverse his previous knock out defeat.   In their first match in April, Zhang dominated Joyce as he connected on 45 percent of his punches and Joyce simply couldn’t compete with Zhang power nor was, he accurate his punches.

The rematch started slowing as Joyce threw jabs and neither fighter did much and between the two, only five punches total landed, but the second round, Zhang did what he did the last time, landed accurate power shots as he landed 36 punches versus 12 punches for Joyce and most of those shots were power shots.  Joyce was stopped in the third round, and he lasted only half as long as the first fight.

Joyce came in the fight 26 pounds heavier and if this was a strategy to add weight to be able to take Zhang power shots, it was a complete failure.  He didn’t add any strength, and this was the heaviest he ever fought.  Zhang was simply too strong for Joyce.  The punches show the story as Zhang connected on more than double the punches and 77 percent of those punches were power shots.

The question is where Joyce goes as he is already 38 years old, and these two losses put him in a bad position.  Before Zhang, Joyce was looked at a coming star and this was highly anticipated rematch with many British fans were hoping Joyce come back but he didn’t.

Zhang is 40 years old and now the question with only one loss, what about Zhang?  Zhang wants his shot at Fury and at his age, there are not too many opportunities left.   It would be interesting to see him match up against Wilder or Joshua.  Wilder and Zhang would be a slugfest and Zhang will be 60 pounds heavier than Wilder. Joshua is a boxer who can stay away from Zhang, but could Zhang finally catch him? 

Zhang is intriguing since at the golden age of 40, he has shown the ability to knock out people and often over the past few years, he was the older fighter in the ring.    Zhang may be in line for a mandatory spot to face Usyk and mention in an interview that he was close to signing a fight with Fury but didn’t transpire since Joe Joyce activated his rematch clause but as he noted, there no barriers to a Fury fight.   Can Zhang find one more big fight?