If you’re a fan of boxing then Saturday should have been a boxing binge as boxing was all over the place with Arthur Abraham winning, Terrance Crawford going into England and put a beating on Ricky Burns, Orlando Salido comes in overweight and beats one of the most hyped Olympian gold medalist in a long time, a guy that was fighting for only his second pro bout and finally….Julio Caesar Chavez Jr gives his fans a “I told you so” fight as he looked fairly sharp in his decisive win over Vera.
Well, where should I start?
Salido, nothing makes me more sick to my stomach than a fighter failing to make weight, especially a former Champion. Salido like so many before him has made a mockery of what being a professional boxer is and to top it off he came in the ring at 145lb?! A 19 pound weight increase in 24 hours.As the veteran with the pedigree Salido has, he should have won last night, hell, he should have put a clinic on a the 1-0 fighter, regardless of his amateur background. Hype is a mother sometimes.
Hats off to Terrance Crawford to going overseas and putting the heat on Ricky Burns. While many felt that Burns has eluded the inevitable over the last year by some questionable decisions, Crawford squashed any thought of a robbery by simply dominating Burns for every round. It was a good fight to start off the evening. It will be interesting to see who they match Crawford up agains next.I think a John Molina fight would be interesting but maybe Gamboa, seeing as he has not fought in almost a year.
While I was not able to catch the Abraham fight, but since his appearance on Showtime’s all access Boxinf 360 during the Middleweight tournament, King Arthur was one of the more entertaining guys on the show and so I pull for him a bit now.
Last but not least, Chavez Jr.
What is there to say? I liked his style when he was with Roach. He seemed to not lean over as much as he has done lately, he used his reach a bit better and his jab was laser sharp but alas last night he looked like he knew he was the better fighter than Vera, even on his off night 6 months ago, so when Chavez Jr is a little disciplined he should beat Vera 9 times out of 10. Last night Chavez Jr was on. He looked like he actually put work in the gym and it paid off as he beat Vera fairly convincingly. While this is not to say Vera did not have his moments, Vera just could not sustain his momentum against the better fighter. No shame, Vera earned himself another nice payday against Chavez Jr and gets his name in the mix for some money fights, no shame in that. It was a little interesting to hear Chavez Jr makes statements of his next opponents. Who wouldn’t want to see a Golovkin vs Chavez Jr fight? If anyone was in Vegas for Chavez Jr. vs Martinez knows that Chavez can sell tickets….however against Vera that was not the case so who knows, but the Golovkin hype is about as high as you can get. Strike while the iron is hot.
The 1st of March was a good weekend for boxing fans and it looks to continue this upcoming weekend when Canelo Alvarez looks to get back in the winning column against the heavy handed Alfredo Angulo.