It's hard to escape the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor buildup, but this week has brought a somewhat unexpected piece of news coming out of McGregor's training camp.
Paulie Malignaggi left McGregor's camp last week after a photo circulated around social media that has Malignaggi on the canvas during a sparring session he and McGregor had. That photo made it seem like Malignaggi suffered a knockdown and angered Malignaggi. The former world champion has been very vocal on social media, imploring McGregor's camp and UFC to release the full footage of the sparring session, insisting that he had McGregor's number during the sparring sessions.
The boxing Hall of Fame retirement tour continues with Juan Manuel Marquez and Timothy Bradley announce their retirements. The two boxers are probably best known for their rivalry against Manny Pacquiao, but for completely different reasons.
On this week's Fightful retrospective, we take a look at the exciting Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas Hearns battle from 1985 that many fans still remember fondly to this day, plus more is covered in this week's Fightful Boxing Newsletter.
Fightful Boxing Newsletter (8/10) Table of Contents:
- McGregor Malignaggi Drama (Page 2)
- Heavyweight Title Scene Mess (Page 3)
- Juan Manuel Marquez, Timothy Bradley Retire (Page 4)
- Weekend recap (Page 5)
- Results from the world of boxing (Page 6)
- Official Fightful Rankings (Page 7-8)
- Other news in boxing (Page 9)
- Latest on AIBA (Page 10)
- Fightful Boxing Retrospective: Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas Hearns (Page 11)
McGregor-Malignaggi Drama
It wouldn’t be a Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight without a week of controversies taking place.
Of course with the undercard of the biggest pay-per-view perhaps in combat sports history not fully announced, somewhat inexplicably with a little more than two weeks remaining, the big news this week comes from McGregor’s training camp and the departure of sparring partner and former world champion Paulie Malignaggi,
Malignaggi left the camp this past week in Las Vegas after Dave Fogarty, one of McGregor's photographers, posted this photo below, which has sent social media into a frenzy.
The two fighters had been sparring in order to help McGregor prepare for his August 26 fight against Floyd Mayweather.
There had been reports of the two fighters getting into an intense sparring session. The sparring got so wild at times that former referee Joe Cortez, who had been hired to referee the sparring sessions, said he has had to keep both fighters under control and separate the two of them.
Regarding the sparring session from August 2, Malignaggi said McGregor shoved him down to the ground, but there were no knockouts in the session. There was also a photo of Malignaggi sporting a bruised face towards the end of their sparring session, but said that was to be expected.
"There was a pushdown yesterday," Malignaggi said on August 2. "Conor on the inside, he can get a little rough. He shoved me down, you know, but no knockdowns. Obviously, 12 rounds, you're gonna see there's a mark on my face. Very, very hard work for both of us. I was starting to get in a groove in the middle rounds, starting to land some good shots. Conor really came on strong in the end. It was back and forth."
After social media blew up with the picture of him on the canvas, Malignaggi posted a statement, which can be seen in the tweet below, announcing that he would be leaving the McGregor camp.
Before Malignaggi's statement was posted, the former welterweight world champion had urged people with the footage of the sparring session to release the uncut and unedited footage.
Although McGregor’s camp has been the talk of the fight for the past week, this really shouldn’t surprise people that have followed either fighter's careers. Both are very outspoken and abrasive individuals who have tremendous pride in their sport. Something was bound to happen.
Malignaggi had said that he didn't have time to rest after flying to Las Vegas for the sparring session. I find it weird that McGregor insisted on having Malignaggi spar the whole 12 rounds on that day instead of having him switch partners every few rounds or so, as is usually the case when helping a boxer prepare for a fight.
“I am not one of the other sparring partners. Nobody knows who the other sparring partners are. Everyone knows who I am. When you put up a picture of me in sparring, the media rush comes to me and I have to answer questions that I don’t want to deal with,” Malignaggi said on “The MMA Hour” earlier this week.
Malignaggi has stated that McGregor "got some pop in the left hand." Malignaggi retired from boxing earlier this year after a near 17-year career that saw Malignaggi win the IBF junior welterweight and WBA welterweight world titles. Malignaggi's skills deteriorated tremendously in the past couple of years and was nowhere near the world champion that he was five years ago.
What this past week cemented was the fact that this fight is nothing more than an anomaly and calling it a boxing match is technically correct, but it's not something that boxing should really pay too much attention in regards to the "supposed impact" it will have depending on the results.
Any fans that said they would tune out of boxing because of this fight already had one foot out the door and this spectacle is nothing more than an excuse to finally be out of the boxing fandom.
Anybody calling this fight a sham and a disgrace for the sport must be aware that boxing was always a spectacle for the mainstream audience for many decades. Throughout the chaos the past month has brought ue to this fight, not once did I hear of people recollecting Shaquille O'Neal's boxing matches against Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley on television on O'Neal's "Shaq vs." series, which only ran for two seasons.
The only differences between the two instances is that Shaq's fights were exhibitions, had shorter and less rounds, and wasn't on pay-per-view. Other than that, what is really the big deal about Mayweather vs. McGregor. If the fans' problems is that a mixed martial artist is crossing over to boxing and getting a massive payday by fighting a Hall of Famer, therefore hurting the sport's reputation, then why wasn't the same applied with James Toney's crossover into MMA in 2010?
Simple, because MMA and boxing fans were smart enough back then to look at the fight as an attraction. It's a crossover match that seldom happens. It will not hurt the sport in the slightest, outside of the loss in pay-per-view buys for the Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin fight. Long term, this will not have any negative impacts.
I don't want to say that this is an extremely elaborate ruse to make a McGregor vs. Malignaggi fight happen, but then again, Mayweather is fighting McGregor, so nothing should really shock anybody in boxing.
Heavyweight Title Mess
With Wladimir Klitschko retiring, Anthony Joshua is now free to fulfill the WBA and IBF’s wishes and fight their respective mandatory challengers, Luis Ortiz and Kubrat Pulev.
What no one is really talking is the unbelievable mess the world heavyweight title scene.
So I have provided the following timetable recapping the last two-and-a-half years’ worth of news at the top of the heavyweight title scene.
January 2015: Deontay Wilder and Bermane Stiverne go the distance and Wilder captures the WBC heavyweight title, becoming the first American to capture a world heavyweight championship in eight years. Meanwhile in Europe, it has been roughly two months since Klitschko knocked out Pulev to retain the WBA, IBF and WBO titles. Right around the same time Wilder defeated Stiverne, Klitschko and Bryant Jennings were closing on a deal to meet in April of that year, which would wound up being Klitschko’s last victory.
February 2015: In the O2 Arena in London, Tyson Fury defeated Christian Hammer to retain the WBO International heavyweight championship. Fury, now the WBO’s mandatory challenger, calls out Klitschko, setting up a fight that would change the landscape of boxing’s heavyweight division for years to come.
Spring-Early Summer 2015: The three main players not counting Fury (Klitschko, Wilder and Joshua) are all in play during this time period, each racking up win after win after win, setting up the eventual Klitschko vs. Fury fight.
Late 2015: Fury has done the unthinkable and defeated Klitschko, ending his reign as champion. Fury now owns numerous world titles after Wilder and the WBC are together. The IBF would end up stripping the title off of Fury. On December 2015, the IBF stripped Fury of its title, as the contract for the fight against Klitschko included a rematch clause, precluding Fury from facing the IBF's mandatory challenger, Vyacheslav Glazkov. Fury had held the IBF belt for only 10 days.
Summer 2016: Fury and Klitschko are supposed to have a rematch, but numerous injuries have postponed the fight. As the summer ends Fury fails a drug test which would be the downfall of Fury's career as his titles would end up being stripped
December 2016: With the WBO title vacant, the governing body decided to have Joseph Parker and Andy Ruiz Jr. fight for the title. In front of his home fans of New Zealand, Parker defeated Ruiz to win his first world title. With Klitschko, Joshua and Wilder busy with their world title fights, Parker would then spend most of 2017 busy fighting his own mandatory challengers.
April 2017: The torch is passed and Joshua is the new WBA heavyweight champion after stopping Klitschko in the 11th round of one of the greatest world heavyweight matches of all time. Joshua defended the IBF title in that fight, which would end up being the last fight in Klitschko's illustrious career. Fast forward several months later and Klitschko formally announced his retirement which is where we stand today.
To summarize the current heavyweight championship scene: Joshua is both the WBA and IBF champion, Wilder is the WBC champion and Parker is the WBO champion. Hughie Fury is the WBO mandatory challenger, Stiverne is the WBC and mandatory challenger, Pulev is the IBF challenger and Ortiz is the WBA mandatory challenger.
On Wilder’s stance, Wilder said at the start of the year he would like to unify titles with Parker, but has stated in recent months that he wants to have the big money fight with Joshua. Wilder also said he would also fight Ortiz if he doesn’t get to fight Joshua.
The problem is, Wilder isn’t allowed to fight either of those fighters because he’s obligated to fight Stiverne again by the WBC and Ortiz is ordered to fight Joshua.
On Joshua’s stance, Joshua would prefer to fight Pulev first, but the WBA issued their mandatory challenge first and the WBA is incredibly impatient because they want to sort out their world heavyweight title scene.
One other key factor is in play for the WBA: Fres Oquendo. Oquendo is still technically owed a world heavyweight title match by the WBA and should Joshua decide to fight Pulev first, the WBA could in fact strip Joshua of the heavyweight title and instead have both Oquendo and Ortiz fight for just the WBA title, getting rid of the “super” and “regular” labels and have one heavyweight champion.
The WBA has been trying for the past couple of years to get rid of the numerous world titles per weight class (an all-too common complaint from fans that has actually hurt the sport’s credibility and devalued the titles) and the WBA’s “regular” heavyweight championship has been vacant for quite some time.
Juan Manuel Marquez, Timothy Bradley Retire
Mexican boxing superstar Juan Manuel Marquez is set announce his retirement after more than 20 years of active competition. On the other side, Timothy Bradley has also announced his retirement, continuing a somewhat unusual trend of great boxers retiring in the past month.
Marquez is probably best known for his four-fight rivalry against Manny Pacquiao, in which two of those fights headlined pay-per-views that had more than a million buys. After failing to defeat Pacquiao in his first three attempts (two losses and a draw), Marquez got his revenge in the fourth and final encounter when he knocked out Pacquiao towards the end of the sixth round.
Marquez has not fought since beating Mike Alvarado in 2014 to win the WBO International welterweight title. Marquez had been trying to secure a fight against Miguel Cotto, another boxer who has won a world title in four different weight classes. Negotiations had been taking place since last year, but the two sides could not agree to a weight.
There was interest from Marquez's side to still have the fight against Cotto in late 2017 after Cotto's upcoming fight against Yoshihiro Kamegai for the vacant WBO junior middleweight title. Marquez was set to compete in a fight soon, but his return was delayed as Marquez needed more time to train.
If this indeed is the end of Marquez's career, the 43-year-old will retire with a 56-7-1 record. Marquez has won world titles at featherweight, super featherweight, lightweight and junior welterweight.
Bradley's health has not been 100 percent at times since his 2013 fight Russian slugger Ruslan Provodnikov, a fight that Bradley won via unanimous decision and retained his WBO welterweight title. That fight, according to Bradley, left residual damage on Bradley for several weeks.
“A few weeks after the fight, I was still affected by the damage that was done,” Bradley said at the time. “My speech was a little bit off. I was slurring a little bit. But after about two months, I cleared up and I have my wits about me now.”
Bradley is also best known for his trilogy fights against Pacquiao, which started with a highly controversial first fight in 2012, in which Bradley won via split decision. Pacquiao would go on to win the next two fights in the series, in 2014 and 2016, respectively. The 2016 fight against Pacquiao was the last fight Bradley has fought in.
Some of the many opponents Bradley has defeated include Pacquiao, Provodnikov, Marquez, Devon Alexander, Brandon Rios, Lamont Peterson, Joel Casamayor and Jessie Vargas, all former world champions. Bradley would retire with a 33-2-1 (1 NC) record, having held the WBO and WBC light welterweight and WBO welterweight titles.
His fight against Provodnikov would end up being one of the most entertaining fights in the last few years, but it also highlights the dangers that boxing could bring. In recent years, Bradley had served as a boxing commentator on ESPN boxing telecasts, being a part of the three-man broadcast team for Pacquiao's loss to Jeff Horn and will definitely continue to be on that role since he and fellow broadcast partner and former trainer, Teddy Atlas, do have good chemistry at times and does know the divisions that he has fought at very well, which is always good to have on a boxing commentary team.
Both Marquez and Bradley fought each other in 2013 and what many would think is one of the better matches of that year and was a moderate success for HBO. The fight drew 375,000 buys on HBO PPV and 13,111 in attendance at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, drawing a live gate of $2,998,950. Bradley unleashed a flurry of offense in the final round which actually won him the fight in the scorecards. Bradley won the fight via split decision (116-112, 115-113, 113-115) to retain his WBO junior welterweight title.
2017 has been an extremely good year for boxing in terms of fights and financial success, but it has seen a number of Hall of Fame boxers retire in an unusually short amount of time. Within the past month or so, guys like Bradley, Marquez, Klitschko, Fury (for good this time it seems), Robert Guerrero, Takashi Miura and Takashi Uchiyama announced their retirement from the sport, but the reasons for each boxer retiring is almost completely different from one another.
Other fighters like Miguel Cotto are also set to retire very soon so 2017 might just be the year with the best retiring class in recent memory.
Weekend Recap
One of the biggest future stars in boxing, Vasyl Lomachenko, proved his dominance at the top of the 130-pound division with his latest performance. In terms of ratings, Top Rank experienced the highs of having boxing fights on ESPN with Manny Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn and now experienced massive lows with the ratings from Lomachenko's most recent fight on August 5.
Lomachenko's recent title defense win over Miguel Marriaga drew about 728,000 viewers on ESPN and ESPN2, which is a little more than 100,000 viewers less than Lomachenko's last fight, which was on HBO.
A big reason why the fight drew such a low rating is because the fight, which was originally scheduled for Saturday, August 5 at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN, started more than 30 minutes late because the Pro football Hall of Fame Ceremony ran way over and forced the beginning of the card to be switched over to ESPN2. Top Rank’s doubleheader eventually switched over to ESPN, which is watched by more viewers than ESPN2, but the Lomachenko vs. Marriaga fight did not start until nearly 12:20 a.m. ET on Sunday.
Lomachenko's last fight prior to the move to ESPN saw the WBO junior lightweight champion defeat Jason Sosa. That fight against Sosa had a peak audience of 886,000 and an average viewership of 832,000 on April 8.
Top Rank's boxing card from Australia, which saw Manny Pacquiao lose to Jeff Horn on ESPN, had a peak of 4.4 million viewers, averaging 3.1 million viewers across the ESPN networks. ESPN's next major boxing card will be the historic junior welterweight unification fight between Terence Crawford and Julius Indongo, where all four major world titles (WBA, WBO, WBC and IBF) will be on the line, on August 19, so that fight will be a much better indication as to whether or not boxing can thrive under ESPN.
Lomachenko vs. Marriaga likely lost hundreds of thousands of viewers due to the extremely late start and channel change which turned off viewers. The fight wasn't going to be beat Pacquiao's fight numbers, but this was a significant step down. It also didn't help Lomachenko and Top Rank's hopes for a high rating because fans knew Marriaga will not pose a significant challenge to Lomachenko.
Purses on the contracts per the California State Athletic Commission for ESPN card are the following: Vasyl Lomachenko receives $750,000, Miguel Marriaga gets $50,000, Raymundo Beltran gets $100,000 and Bryan Vasquez gets $10,000.
Vasyl Lomachenko defeats Miguel Marriaga, TKO, Round 7: This fight pretty much went exactly as almost everyone thought this fight would go. Lomachenko was on a completely different level than Marriaga and no one seriously gave Marriaga a chance to even make this a competitive fight. But that is not to say Lomachenko had fought flawlessly. Marriaga landed some good punches in around the third round and Lomachenko was even cut early in the fight, but it did not deter Lomachenko from what is unquestionably one of the more dominant performances of 2017. Lomachenko looks primed to return to ESPN in December, but his opponent could in fact be Guillermo Rigondeaux, who has been in a war against Lomachenko on social media and Rigondeaux is desperate to fight the junior lightweight champion.
Raymundo Beltran defeats Bryan Vasquez, MD (96-94, 96-94, 95-95): Beltran lands a great win on ESPN, putting him one step closer to get a green card and become a permanent citizen in the United States. It's a great story for Beltran, who looked great in this fight and actually dominated the fight more than what the scorecards seem to indicate. Beltran also had to deal with Vasquez, who was a little more than a pound over the 135-pound lightweight limit. Beltran now looks to potentially challenge for a world title next year, perhaps the WBO title since he is the highest rated available boxer after Felix Verdejo, the mandatory challenger, and Terry Flanagan, the champion, finally get to fight, whenever that date would be.
Showtime Boxing main event from August 4:
Claressa Shields defeats Nikki Adler, TKO, Round 5: Shields has officially become a women’s boxing superstar with this win. In just four fights, Shields is now the unified super middleweight champion. Shields looked like a seasoned veteran while Adler didn't even make a dent on Shields, which is kind of ironic since Adler was the champion heading into this fight and Shields hasn't been fighting at the professional level for even a year. It's a great win for Shields, who is now one of the faces of the sport, but the fight does present a clear problem: the extreme lack of depth at Shields' weight class. While not taking away from Shields' victory, it's hard to imagine anybody challenging Shields anytime soon, but that could be a blessing in disguise. After all, Ronda Rousey was in a similar boat in the UFC and has become a transcendent star due to her dominance.
The rest of the results from the ESPN and Showtime cards will be in the “results from the world of boxing” section in the next page.
Results in the world of boxing:
August 8: Piazza Santa Lucia, Syracuse, Sicilia, Italy
- Michelino Di Mari defeats Lorenzo Cali via PTS
- Gianluca Conselmo defeats Csaba Stir via PTS
August 7: Nuo Hotel, Beijing, China
- Ya Hong Yu defeats Gretel de Paz: UD (60-54, 60-54, 60-54)
- Zhang Tan defeats Suwicha Ratidet: UD (60-53, 59-54, 60-53)
August 6: Aioi Hall, Kariya, Aichi, Japan
- Hiroki Yajima defeats Akihiro Toya via SD
- Takashi Igarashi defeats Adundet Saithonggym: TKO, Round 5
- Toma Kondo defeats Kabereen Yuya via UD
- Shuto Takase defeats Genki Nakano via MD
- Kazunori Takai defeats Yuki Ohmori: TKO, Round 4
- Katsuki Matsuura defeats Yuki Matsuda: TKO, Round 2
- Yusei Nagai defeats Takefumi Higashi via UD
- Mammoth Kazunori defeats Nagare Mizutani: KO, Round 2
- Toshina Shiomi defeats Sachiko Kondo via MD
August 6: L-Theatre, Osaka, Osaka, Japan
- Ken Osato defeats Sho Nagata via UD
- Tenta Kiyose defeats Nirun Baonok: KO, Round 1
- Yuta Uetani defeats Kompichit Sor Sarawut: KO, Round 1
- Noboru Osato defeats Yukio Imahashi via UD
- Daisuke Inoue defeats Daijiro Yuki: TKO, Round 5
- Koji Tsurumi defeats Shion Tamada: TKO, Round 3
August 6: Barangay Saint Felomina, Iligan City, Lanao del Norte, Philippines
- Richard Claveras defeats Noel Adelmita: TKO, Round 4
August 6: National Indoor Stadium, Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania
- Ibrahim Class defeats Rojas Masamu: KO, Round 4
August 5: Estadio F.A.B., Buenos Aires, Distrito Federal, Argentina
- Marcelo Fabian Caceres defeats Guillermo Ruben Andino to retain the interim WBC Latino middleweight title: TKO, Round 9
- Jonathan Wilson Sanchez defeats Javier Alberto Mamani: TKO, Round 1
- Nicolas Emiliano Paz and Rodrigo Jonathan Martinez fight to a draw via PTS
- Ramon Matias Lovera defeats Matias Alberto Reinoso: (38-37, 38-38, 40-36)
- Matias Daniel Olivera defeats Fernando Ruben Montoya: UD (38-36, 38-36, 38-36)
August 5: Club Social y Deportivo El Porvenir, Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Brian Damian Chaves defeats Carlos Andres Chaparro via UD
- Ana Romina Guichapani defeats Elizabeth Britos via UD
- Cristian Daniel Antonio defeats Martin Orlando Rocha via SD
- Juan Hernan Leal defeats Lucas Samuel Martinez: TKO, Round 2
- Luciano Francisco Baldor defeats Pablo Jose Paz via MD
- Reuquen Cona Facundo Arce defeats Sergio Gabriel Quintana: TKO, Round 1
- Miguel Garcia defeats Claudio Javier Chavez via UD
August 5: Asociación Cultural y Deportiva Libertad, Don Bosco, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Martin Nicolas Sosa and Genaro Daniel Nozzi fight to a majority draw (38-38, 37-39, 38-38)
August 5: Club Union, Ezpeleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- August 5: Hernan David Perez defeats Ezequiel Osvaldo Benitez: UD (39-37, 40-36, 40-36)
August 5: Trinidad, Beni, Bolivia
- Marcelo Antonio Gomez defeats Henry Castedo: TKO, Round 2
- Jorge De Jesus Romero defeats Jose Luis Rojas: TKO, Round 4
August 5: Barrio El Bosque, Barranquilla, Colombia
- Alys Sanchez defeats Liliana Palmera to win the WBA World female super bantamweight title: SD (95-94, 94-95, 97-92)
- Jeovanis Barraza defeats Victor Gonzalez: KO, Round 1
- Yolis Marrugo Franco and Glenis Cardona fight to a majority draw (77-75, 76-76, 76-76)
- Yeis Solano defeats Manuel Palomino: KO, Round 3
- Luis Diaz defeats Yeison Cohen: KO, Round 7
- Rodrigo Ramirez defeats Victor Berrio: MD (57-57, 58-56, 58-56)
- Jermin Padilla defeats Wilman Contreras: MD (58-54, 59-55, 57-57)
- Yeifer Valencia defeats Julio Gomez: KO, Round 1
- Jaime Villegas defeats Jonathan Moran: KO, Round 1
- Alexis Rivera defeats Francisco Marimon: UD (39-37, 39-37, 40-36)
August 5: Essen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
- Shokran Parwani defeats Frank Bluemle to win the vacant World Boxing Federation International cruiserweight title: KO, Round 5
- Oezlem Sahin defeats Sandy Coget to retain the Universal Boxing Organization (UBO) and World Boxing Federation Intercontinental female minimumweight title via UD
- Sergej Vib defeats Sandro Luetke Bordewick to win the vacant German International lightweight title: TKO, Round 7
- Hasan Kurnaz defeats Rojhat Bilgetekin: TKO, Round 3
- Patrick Korte defeats Davit Gorgiladze: TKO, Round 3
- Susan Kolukisa and Maiken Sieberger fight to a draw on PTS
- Ali Kiydin defeats Muhammed Ali Durmaz: TKO, Round 1
August 5: Tesco Supermarket, Szeged, Hungary
- Szilveszter Ajtai defeats Richard Kokai: TKO, Round 2
- Valentina Keri defeats Jasmina Nad via PTS
- Eva Bajic defeats Klaudia Vigh via PTS
- Eniko Tiringer defeats Martina Horgasz via PTS
- Richard Baba defeats David Kasas: TKO, Round 3
- Andor Filo defeats Radovan Radojcin via PTS
- Imre Simon defeats Bela Dukai via PTS
- Robert Halas defeats Bojan Zarkov via PTS
- Jozsef Ajtai defeats Patrik Major: TKO, Round 2
- Djordje Markovic defeats Mate Berta: TKO, Round 2
- Roland Sener defeats Rudolf Devald: KO, Round 1
August 5: NSCI Stadium, Worli, Mumbai, India
- Neeraj Goyat defeats Allan Tanada to retain the WBC Asian Boxing Council welterweight title: UD (118-110, 119-109, 119-109)
- Vijender Singh defeats Zulipikaer Maimaitiali to retain the WBO Asia Pacific and WBO Oriental super middleweight title: UD (96-93, 95-94, 95-94)
- Pardeep Kharera defeats Wanphichit Siriphana: RTD, Round 2
- Dharmender Grewal defeats Isaac Slade: UD (59-54, 60-53, 59-54)
- Akhil Kumar defeats Ty Gilchrist: RTD, Round 2
- Jitender Kumar defeats Thanet Likhitkamporn: TKO, Round 2
- Kuldeep Dhanda defeats Sachin Bhot: UD (40-36, 39-37, 39-37)
- Asad Asif Khan defeats Larry Abarra: UD (39-37, 39-37, 40-36)
August 5: Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
- Ryo Akaho defeats Yuta Saito to retain the Japanese bantamweight title: TKO, Round 9
- Tatsuya Yanagi defeats Masashi Noguchi via UD
- Yuki Iriguchi defeats Ryohei Takahashi via SD
- Ryuta Otsuka and Ryuta Wakamatsu fight to a draw on PTS
- Shuya Masaki defeats Phutthiphong Rakoon: KO, Round 3
- Kai Chiba defeats Ikuro Sadatsune via UD
- Haruaki Kamiya defeats Buncha Natheekeereekan: KO, Round 3
August 5: Saemto Restaurent, Chuncheon, South Korea
- Heuk San Lee defeats Sung Jin Go: Round 5
- Joo Hyun Jung defeats Elbert Guardario: UD (79-75, 79-74, 79-74)
- Min Jang defeats Ji Hoon Ahn: KO, Round 1
- Kyung Jong Yuh defeats Young Chan Kim: MD (39-38, 39-37, 38-38)
August 5: Sabang Gym, Danao City, Cebu, Philippines
- Cris Ganoza defeats Garry Rojo: KO, Round 2
- Jhun Ryan Quimbo defeats Rey Labao
- Ken Jordan defeats Anthony Galigao: KO, Round 2
- Dennis Guibao defeats Wilbert Rota: TKO, Round 3
August 5: Coliseo Ecuestre Municipal, Fajardo, Puerto Rico
- Emmanuel Rodriguez defeats Giovanni Delgado to retain the WBC Latino bantamweight title: RTD, Round 4
- Subriel Matthews defeats Luis Alberto Pelayo: TKO, Round 2
- Bernardo Lebron defeats Rolando Rivera: UD (60-54, 60-54, 60-54)
- Jonathan Lopez defeats Bryan Elias Candelario: TKO, Round 1
- Nelson Colon defeats Waldemar Perez: TKO, Round 2
- John Ortiz defeats Oscar Omar Marrero: MD (38-38, 39-37, 39-37)
August 5: Palacio de Deportes José María Martín Carpena, Malaga, Andalucía, Spain
- Luca Giacon defeats Sam O'maison to retain the IBF International super lightweight title: TKO, Round 6
- Ronny Landaeta defeats Jose Miguel Fandino to retain the Spanish super middleweight title: TKO, Round 2
- Catalin Paraschiveanu defeats Aristides Quintero: KO, Round 5
- Salvador Heredia defeats Jose Osado via UD
- Samuel Molina defeats Ignasi Caballero: TKO, Round 2
- Brandon Oertel defeats Iago Barros via MD
August 5: Holiday Beach Club, Benalmadena, Andalucía, Spain
- Jose Manuel Lopez Clavero defeats Jorge Vallejo to win the vacant Spanish super welterweight title via UD
- Mikael Mkrtchyan defeats Dato Nanava via UD
- Cesar Nunez defeats Sandro Jajanidze via UD
- Alvaro Terrero defeats Carlos Caicedo: TKO, Round 6
- Jose Torrisco defeats Mikheil Gogebashvili: TKO, Round 1
- Ion Costin defeats Reynaldo Cajina via UD
August 5: Microsoft Theater, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Vasyl Lomachenko defeats Miguel Marriaga to retain the WBO World super featherweight title: RTD, Round 7
- Raymundo Beltran defeats Bryan Vasquez to retain the NABF and WBO-NABO lightweight title: MD (96-94, 96-94, 95-95)
- Arnold Barboza Jr. defeats Jonathan Chicas: UD (78-72, 77-73, 76-74)
- Esquiva Falcao defeats Norberto Gonzalez: UD (80-72, 80-72, 80-72)
- Artemio Reyes defeats Steve Marquez: KO, Round 4
- Maxim Dadashev defeats Jose Marrufo: KO, Round 8
- Andy Vences defeats Eliseo Cruz Sesma: KO, Round 3
- Erick De Leon defeats Adones Aguelo: UD (60-54, 60-54, 59-55)
- Mikaela Mayer defeats Widnelly Figueroa: KO, Round 1
August 5: Claridge Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA
- Zhilei Zhang defeats Nick Guivas: TKO, Round 1
- Derrick Webster defeats Lamar Harris: TKO, Round 2
- Prince Badi Ajamu defeats Edgar Perez: UD (79-73, 80-72, 80-72)
- Mike Hilton defeats Willis Lockett: UD (60-54, 58-56, 60-53)
- Shady Gamhour defeats Jessie Singletary: KO, Round 1
- Tahlik Taylor defeats Lamont McLaughlin: KO, Round 1
August 5: Marina Bay SportsPlex, Quincy, Massachusetts, USA
- Aleksandra Magdziak Lopes defeats Lisa Noel Garland via UD
- Derek Silveira defeats Michael Clark: RTD, Round 6
- Chris Traietti defeats Nicholas Lavin to win the vacant USA New England cruiserweight title via UD
- Carlos Gongora defeats Larry Smith: TKO, Round 5
- Brandon Montella defeats Mike Sawyer: TKO, Round 2
- Paddy Irwin defeats Demetrius Thomas: TKO, Round 3
- Mike O'Han Jr. defeats Daniel Amaro via UD
August 5: Convention Center, Waco, Texas, USA
- Manuel Rey Rojas defeats Jose Arturo Esquivel: UD (80-72, 80-72, 80-72)
- Fernando Garcia defeats Carlos Trevino: UD (60-54, 60-54, 59-55)
- Rey Trujillo defeats David Cordova: UD (39-36, 39-36, 39-36)
- Ayanna Vasquez defeats Shurretta Metcalf: UD (40-36, 39-37, 40-36)
- Alexas Rosas and Joe Sombrano fight to a majority draw (38-38, 38-38, 39-37)
- Gabriel Resendez defeats Michael Coronado: UD (40-36, 39-37, 39-37)
- Deandrew Lewis defeats Jeremy Hall: UD (40-35, 40-35, 40-35)
August 5: Lakeland Events Center, Lakeland, Florida, USA
- Andre Byrd defeats Viktor Kulakovski: TKO, Round 2
- Patrick Cenoble defeats Phillip Penson: MD (57-57, 58-56, 59-55)
- Amron Sands defeats Julio Melendez: TKO, Round 1
- Iron Alvarez defeats Kelvin Pizzaro: TKO, Round 2
- Fernando Martinez defeats Ashot Mnatsakanian: UD (40-36, 40-36, 39-37)
- Ivan Franco defeats William Fauth: TKO, Round 1
August 5: Meadows Racetrack & Casino, Washington, Pennsylvania, USA
- Leemont Johnson defeats Marcus Neal via UD
- Darrius Flowers defeats Ryan Covert: TKO, Round 1
- Jordan Morales defeats Ivan Hernandez: TKO, Round 4
August 5: Gimnasio Vertical El Dorado, Petare, Venezuela
- Leiryn Flores defeats Endrimar Pirona to retain the Venezuelan light flyweight title: TKO, Round 4
- Frank Rojas defeats Jorge Oliveros: TKO, Round 2
- Luis Alberto Rios defeats Jorge Gonzalez: KO, Round 3
- Johan Gonzalez defeats Elvis Franco: TKO, Round 1
- Felipe Lares defeats Elio Gonzalez: TKO, Round 1
- Milner Marcano defeat Carlos Duran: TKO, Round 1
August 4: Salon Tattersall, San Isidro, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Maria Cecilia Roman defeats Carolina Raquel Duer to rIBF World female bantamweight title: SD (95-94, 96-94, 94-96)
- Mauro Maximiliano Godoy defeats Gabriel Fernando Punalef Calfin to retain the Argentina (FAB) super lightweight title: TKO, Round 1
- Jeremias Nicolas Ponce defeats Martin Nicolas Matamala: UD (60-53, 59-54, 60-53)
- Nicolas Melogno defeats Matias Raimundo Diaz: UD (40-37, 39-38, 40-37)
- Iara Altamirano and Jennifer Mendoza fight to a split draw (39-37, 39-39, 37-39)
August 4: Centro Social y Deportivo Brinkmann, Brinkmann, Cordoba, Argentina
- Jairo Alejandro Tosoratto defeats Lucas Pereira: UD (39-38, 39-37, 39-38)
August 4: Polideportivo General Paz, Cordoba, Cordoba, Argentina
- Rodrigo Del Grecco defeats Sergio Mauricio Carabajal: UD (40-36, 40-37, 39-38)
- Sebastian Martinez defeats Matias Eliezer Carmona via SD
- Leandro Gabriel Rojo defeats Claudio Andres Luquez: UD (40-38, 40-36, 39-38)
August 4: The Melbourne Pavilion, Flemington, Victoria, Australia
- Jayde Mitchell defeats Ainiwaer Yilixiati to retain the OPBF and WBA Oceania interim super middleweight title: UD (99-91, 100-90, 100-90)
- Gaige Ireland defeats Shaun Thomas to retain the Australia - Victoria State lightweight title: TKO, Round 5
- Jake Carr defeats Adili Abulimiti: TKO, Round 7
- Joel Camilleri defeats Ben Nelson: TKO, Round 1
- Tej Pratap Singh defeats Paitoon Jaikom: UD (40-36, 40-36, 40-36)
- Benny Horra and Matthew Smith fight to a split draw (39-37, 37-39, 38-38)
- Shane Hasler defeats Jackson King: TKO, Round 2
- Day Ferguson defeats Jade Cook: SD (37-38, 39-37, 39-37)
August 4: Norths, Cammeray, New South Wales, Australia
- Isaac Buckley and Josh Jenkins fight to a draw on points
- Nick Howard Bath defeats Ray Thompson: TKO, Round 3
- Victor Odindo defeats Steven Bell: TKO, Round 2
- Troy O'Meley defeats Aphichat Koedchatturat: UD (40-36, 40-36, 40-36)
August 4: Canaleddus Beach Club, Quartu Sant'Elena, Sardegna, Italy
- Alessandro Goddi defeats Giorgi Jincharadze: TKO, Round 7
August 4: Tatanka Club, Caserta, Campania, Italy
- Sergio Romano and Tamas Kozma fight to a draw on PTS
August 4: Arena Azteca Budokan, Nezahualcóyotl, México, Mexico
- Alberto Alejandro Morales Bautista defeats Rafael Jimenez via SD
- Genaro Eduardo Garcia defeats Daniel Peralta via UD
- Jose Angel Rojas defeats Sergio Flores via SD
- Cristian Gonzalez defeats Jair Mejia via MD
- Raul Zeferino Barron Perez defeats Ivan Ortiz Hernandez: TKO, Round 4
August 4: Hotel Veneto, Panama City, Panama
- Alexander Duran defeats Manuel Largacha via UD
- Gilberto Pedroza defeats Johnny Garay via UD
- Ivan Matute defeats Addir Sanchez: KO, Round 3
- Eva Guzman defeats Zuseth Hoyte: KO, Round 1
- Damian Rodriguez defeats Juan Carlos Gonzalez: TKO, Round 3
- Michael Gardener defeats Cristian Vega: KO, Round 1
- Juan Huertas defeats Nelson Guillen: KO, Round 2
- Leosdan Nunez defeats Alexander Armuelles: KO, Round 1
August 4: Circus, Sochi, Russia
- Issa Akberbayev defeats Yuriy Barashian: TKO, Round 2
- Narek Abgaryan defeats Achiko Odikadze: TKO, Round 5
- Vladimir Sarukhanyan defeats Maxim Churbanov: TKO, Round 3
- Manvel Sargsyan defeats Karoly Gallovich: KO, Round 1
- Nikol Arutyunov defeats Soso Abuladze: UD (60-52, 60-52, 60-52)
- Islam Dumanov defeats Eldorbek Sayidov: UD (60-54, 60-54, 60-54)
- Yury Trogiyanov defeats Artur Zemlyanyi: TKO, Round 6
- Gor Yeritsyan defeats Andrei Dolhozhyieu: TKO, Round 4
- Aram Avagyan defeats Alexander Saltykov: TKO, Round 4
- Rafael Stepanyan defeats Ivan Lysytsa: TKO, Round 4
- Gamzat Gazaliev defeats Nikita Belyaev: KO, Round 1
- Samvel Barseghyan defeats Doston Ramziev: UD (40-36, 40-36, 39-37)
- Artem Oganesyan defeats Dmitry Antipov: TKO, Round 1
August 4: Far East Square, Singapore, Singapore
- Nor Rizan defeats Piched Chianawa to win the vacant WBC Asian Boxing Council Continental bantamweight title: KO, Round 9
- Will Chope and Zakaria Bin Ismail fight to a split draw (38-38, 37-39, 39-37)
- Theena Thayalan defeats Rocky Irawan Sikumbang: UD (40-36, 40-36, 40-36)
August 4: 14 Hope Street, Cape Town Gardens, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
- Said Zungu defeats Zeug Kazadi via UD
- Mnikelo Mangqobe defeats Asemahle Konde via UD
- Lazola Jikazana defeats Sadiki Dumba via MD
- Banele Tuswa defeats Didier Nyembe via MD
August 4: Cala Millor, Son Servera, Islas Baleares, Spain
- Fernando Heredia defeats Diego Jair Ramirez via PTS
August 4: Samut Prakan, Thailand
- Thiranan Matsali defeats Waldo Sabu to win the vacant WBC Asian Boxing Council Silver bantamweight title via UD
- Nick Frese defeats Wellem Reyk to win the vacant WBC Asian Boxing Council Silver welterweight title: KO, Round 2
- Nawaphon Kaikanha defeats Renzo Sithchuangmun: TKO, Round 3
August 4: MGM Grand Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, USA
- Claressa Shields defeats Nikki Adler to become the unified WBC and IBF female super middleweight champion: TKO, Round 5
- Jesse Angel Hernandez defeats Vladimir Tikhonov: TKO, Round 5
- James Smith defeats Yaqub Kareem: KO, Round 1
- Domonique Dolton defeats Antonio Chaves Fernandez: Ud (60-54, 60-54, 60-54)
- Antonio Urista defeats Serdar Hudayberdiyev: MD (58-56, 57-57, 58-56)
- Jarico O'Quinn and Jose Elizondo fight to a majority draw (56-56, 55-57, 56-56)
August 4: Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, California, USA
- Mauricio Herrera defeats Jesus Soto Karass: MD (95-95, 96-94, 96-94)
- Vyacheslav Shabranskyy defeats Todd Unthank May to win the vacant WBC United States (USNBC) light heavyweight title: RTD, Round 7
- Jonathan Navarro defeats Angel Sarinana: UD (79-72, 80-71, 80-71)
- Marvin Cabrera defeats Esau Herrera: UD (59-55, 59-55, 60-54)
- Niko Valdes defeats Jaime Solorio: UD (60-54, 59-55, 59-55)
- Ricardo Sandoval defeats Antonio Rodriguez: UD (60-54, 60-54, 59-55)
Fightful Boxing Rankings:
Pound-for-pound
- Andre Ward
- Gennady Golovkin
- Canelo Alvarez
- Vasyl Lomachenko
- Mikey Garcia
- Terence Crawford
- Keith Thurman
- Roman Gonzalez
- Guillermo Rigondeaux
- Leo Santa Cruz
Heavyweight
- Anthony Joshua
- Deontay Wilder
- Joseph Parker
- Luis Ortiz
- Kubrat Pulev
- Dillian White
- Jarrell Miller
- Andy Ruiz Jr.
- Dominic Breazeale
- Charles Martin
Cruiserweight
- Oleksandr Usyk
- Denis Lebediev
- Murat Gassiev
- Krzysztof Glowacki
- Mairis Briedis
- Krzysztof Wlodarczyk
- Marco Huck
- Firat Arslan
- Tony Bellew
- Yunier Dorticos
Light heavyweight
- Andre Ward
- Sergey Kovalev
- Adonis Stevenson
- Nathan Cleverly
- Oleksandr Gvozdyk
- Sulliva Barrera
- Artur Beterbiev
- Eleider Alvarez
- Juergen Braehmer
- Joe Smith Jr.
Super middleweight
- James DeGale
- Gilberto Ramirez
- George Groves
- Anthony Dirrell
- Andre Dirrell
- Jose Uzcategui
- Chris Eubank Jr.
- Tyron Zeuge
- Callum Smith
- Juergen Braehmer
Middleweight
- Gennady Golovkin
- Canelo Alvarez
- Daniel Jacobs
- Jermall Charlo
- David Lemieux
- Billy Joe Saunders
- Andy Lee
- Hassan N’Dam
- Ryota Murata
- Sergiy Derevyanchenko
Light middleweight
- Erislandy Lara
- Jermell Charlo
- Demetrius Andrade
- Jarrett Hurd
- Julian Williams
- Austin Trout
- Erickson Lubin
- Liam Smith
- Jack Culcay
- David Benavidez
Welterweight
- Keith Thurman
- Errol Spence Jr.
- Danny Garcia
- Shawn Porter
- Manny Pacquiao
- Jeff Horn
- Kell Brook
- Jessie Vargas
- Lamont Peterson
- Lucas Matthysse
The rest of the rankings are in the next page.
Light welterweight
- Terence Crawford
- Mikey Garcia*
- Julius Indongo
- Viktor Postol
- Antonio Orozco
- Eduard Troyanovski
- Rances Barthelemy
- Adrian Granados
- Ricky Burns
- Sergey Lipinets
Lightweight
- Jorge Linares
- Mikey Garcia*
- Terry Flanagan
- Robert Easter Jr.
- Anthony Crolla
- Luke Campbell
- Dejan Zlaticanin
- Raymundo Beltran
- Denis Shafikov
- Felix Verdejo
Junior lightweight
- Vasyl Lomachenko
- Miguel Berchelt
- Gervonta Davis
- Jezreel Corrales
- Francisco Vargas
- Orlando Salido
- Robinson Castellanos
- Jason Sosa
- Jhonny Gonzalez
- Masayuki Ito
Featherweight
- Leo Santa Cruz
- Carl Frampton
- Gary Russell Jr.
- Lee Selby
- Abner Mares
- Oscar Valdez
- Scott Quigg
- Jesus Cuellar
- Joseph Diaz
- Claudio Marrero
Light featherweight
- Guillermo Rigondeaux
- Jessie Magdaleno
- Nonito Donaire
- Moises Flores
- Hugo Ruiz
- Rey Vargas
- Marlon Tapales
- Julio Ceja
- Yukinori Oguni
- Ronny Rios
Bantamweight
- Shinsuke Yamanaka
- Jamie McDonnell
- Zhanat Zhakiyanov
- Ryan Burnett
- Juan Carlos Payano
- Zolani Tete
- Lee Haskins
- Luis Nery
- Takoma Inoue
- Liborio Solis
Light bantamweight
- Naoya Inoue
- Roman Gonzalez
- Srisaket Sor Rungvisai
- Jerwin Ancajas
- Khalid Yafai
- Carlos Cuadras
- Juan Francisco Estrada
- John Riel Casimero
- Rau'shee Warren
- Luis Concepcion
Flyweight
- Kazuto Ioka
- Donnie Nietes
- Daigo Higa
- Zou Shiming
- Juan Carlos Reveco
- Moruti Mthalane
- McWilliams Arroyo
- Francisco Rodriguez Jr.
- Komgrich Nantapech
- Andrew Selby
Light flyweight/Strawweight
- Milan Melindo
- Kosei Tanaka
- Knockout CP Freshmart
- Jose Argumedo
- Ken Shiro
- Ryoichi Taguchi
- Tatsuya Fukuhara
- Hekkie Budler
- Pedro Guevara
- Wanheng Menayothin
* Since Mikey Garcia's future is yet to be determined, I decided to put him in both the lightweight and light welterweight rankings until Garcia makes a decision in what weight class he will compete next.
Other news in boxing:
1. With the World Boxing Super Series fast approaching, former British boxing superstar Carl Froch, in an interview with Press Association Sport, believes George Groves, the top-seeded participant in the super middleweight tournament, is a slight favorite to win the eight-man tournament. Groves is also the WBA “super” super middleweight champion.
2. Former world champion Juan Manuel Lopez will be fighting fellow countryman Jayson Velez in their native Puerto Rico. That fight will take place on September 30 and Universal Promotions and Black Tiger Promotions have come together to stage the card. Velez recently fought in Mayaguez, knocking out Giovanni Caro.
3. The vacant WBO intercontinental light heavyweight title will no longer be vacant after September 16 when Anthony Yarde and Ryan Ford will fight for the title on London. That fight will be on the Billy Joe Saunders vs. Willie Monroe Jr. undercard where Saunders is defending his WBo middleweight title. For those wondering, that card will happen before the Canelo vs. GGG pay-per-view begins, giving fans a chance to watch both main events.
4. Julius indongo has been stripped of the IBO junior welterweight title on August 7, likely due to the fact that Indongo did not want to pay the sanctioning fees that came with holding the IBO belt. It makes sense since he and Crawford, holders of two major world titles each, already have to pay more than $100,000 each in sanctioning fees ahead of their August 19 fight where the WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF titles will be unified on ESPN.
The IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO and IBO typically take 3 percent apiece from the purses of a champion and challenger when those organizations sanction a title fight. In cases of boxing stars such as Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao and Canelo Alvarez, those sanctioning bodies often negotiate lower fees for title fights because those highly paid stars aren’t willing to pay 3 percent from their eight-figure purses.
5. Speaking Crawford vs. Indongo, Dillian Whyte will be fighting on the undercard when he faces relatively unknown boxer Malcolm Tann. Whyte has been one of the leading contenders for a world heavyweight title opportunity sometime in late 2017/early 2018 at the earliest.
Latest on AIBA
The AIBA, boxing's international amateur governing body, is now deep entrenched in its little civil war, with some in the Executive Committee wanting to oust president Wu Ching-Kuo after allegations of financial mishandlings, leaving the organization deep in debt worth tens of millions of dollars.
The committee tried to have president Wu out of the organization and tried to take matters into court in Switzerland, where the AIBA global headquarters reside. Well, a Swiss court rejected the urgent provisional management shakeup.
The organization tried to have its president and implement a provisional committee to oversee operations until a new president is named. Since the Swiss courts rejected the motion on August 7, any change at the top of the amateur governing body will wait until a proper hearing is conducted. Wu’s Executive Committee has passed a motion of no-confidence against his leadership and had asked Swiss courts to approve a temporary administration, accusing the president of financial mismanagement
“The Swiss court has announced today (Monday) its decision to reject the requests for urgent provisional measures,” AIBA said in a statement. "The court has decided that the condition of extreme urgency was not fulfilled.”
AIBA’s executive committee meeting in Moscow last month passed the no-confidence motion, claiming that the body was on the brink of bankruptcy. The organization’s headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland were closed for a week following the no-confidence vote, before reopening on August 2.
Executive committee member and Wu rival Pat Fiacco of Canada told AFP last week that AIBA had racked up debts worth 15 million Swiss francs ($15 million, 13.1 million euros). Fiacco said they wanted Swiss justice to take “provisional measures” until October or November when an AIBA board meeting will vote on the no-confidence motion. Wu has meanwhile charged his rivals with trying to pull off “a military coup”, and insists the organization is on sound financial footing.
According to the statement, the Lausanne court saw no reason to rush through emergency measures, which means Wu's regime as AIBA president will remain for a good while until the hearings are done. Liliane Beuggert, a spokeswoman for the Lausanne court, said a ruling on the case is not expected until September at the earliest, with the hearing taking place next week.
“A hearing is scheduled on 17 August 2017, at the occasion of which the parties and their legal counsels will be heard. A decision on provisional measures will then be rendered by the court,” the statement said. “This decision maintains the status quo and AIBA will therefore keep functioning in full accordance with its statutes."
In the meantime, AIBA said it was focusing on organizing the next World Boxing Championships in Hamburg from August 25 to September 2. Unfortunately, the news of this will cast a large cloud on the world championships. It's very hard to imagine that this will mean that Boxing will be out of the rotation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and even the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
The AIBA did say it will take down two male divisions for the upcoming Olympics, but add two more female weight classes. In terms of the total number of boxers participating, the AIBA did say the number of boxers competing in the Olympics overall will be the same as in the last Olympics back in 2016.
Fightful retrospective: Hagler vs. Hearns (April 15, 1985)
Taking a break from the Mayweather-McGregor fiasco, this week's Fightful's retrospective takes a look at one of the most exciting middleweight title matches of all time between Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns. Hearns, the unified middleweight champion, fought Hagler, who was the top rated middleweight boxer up to that point in what would probably be the greatest short boxing match in history.
In what is certainly the 1990s equivalent of Canelo vs. GGG, Hagler vs. Hearns was a barnstormer that pitted arguably two of the best pound-for-pound boxers of their times.
The amazing part of this war was how short it was. Clocking in at a WWE Brock Lesnar-Bill Goldberg match of 7:52, the match had been described as the most exciting eight minutes in the history of boxing.
This fight, which could be seen in the video below, was suggested to me by @vgmightyp on Twitter. If you want to see a fight being featured on the Fightful Boxing Retrospective section, you can participate either in the comments section below, in the Fightful boxing forums, or Tweet me @CarlosToro360
Round 1: Right off the bat, Hagler tries to attack the body with a jab. Hearns throws various left hooks, which don't really land on Hagler. Hearns eventually lands a right hook at Hagler after Hearns is on the ropes and then lands a body shot on Hagler. Hagler is in trouble early after Hearns starts landing a flurry of short punches, mostly uppercuts to Hagler's body. Hagler is hurt and as he is getting his body hit left and right, he clinches with Hearns to try and stop the punishment. Following the clinch, Hagler lands a solid left hook and ducks under Hearns' left hook. Both men exchange punches and Hagler lands a hard left. Hagler is on the offensive now as he has Hearns on the ropes. Hearns is now moving around in the ring, tagging Hagler with right jabs. Hagler is now landing numerous jabs. Hagler lands a hard right hand to Hearns' face. Hearns lands a good right hand to Hagler's body. Hagler now is cut after eating a couple of punches from Hearns. Hagler is now landing a few hard right hands that hurts Hearns and has him on the ropes. Hagler is attacking the body once more as Hearns tries to box his way out of this predicament and eventually gets out.
Fightful scored round 1 for Hagler 10-9
Round 2: Hagler starts off with a lead left and both men are exchanging punches, but not really landing much. Hearns tries to land a few jabs, then a right hand. Hearns remains moving across the ring and is switching stances throughout the round. Hagler stuns Hearns momentarily, but not much happened as a result of that. Hearns is now trying to land the left hook, but doesn't have much luck doing so. Hagler is stalking Hearns, throwing the occasional body shot here and there. Hearns head movement throughout this round has been great as he's able to avoid a couple of punches upstairs from Hagler midway through the round. Hearns misses a weak hook and Hagler counters with a good left hand. Hagler lands a right jab well. Hagler misses a left hand by a country mile and both men are back to exchanging blows. Hagler's cut opens up even more, but still finds a way to land an effective left hand to Hearns. Hearns is trapped in the ropes and Hagler lands a flurry of body shots as the round ends.
Fightful scored round 2 for Hagler 10-9
Round 3: The commentators are right when they say that this is a street fight. Hagler tries to attack Hearns' body, but the challenger is still moving across the ring. Hearns lands a four-punch combo, but Hagler tries to trap Hearns to the corner again, but instead the two clinch. The referee calls time as Hagler's cut is getting worse. The ring doctor looks at hagler for a very quick second and the fight resumes. Hagler goes to work on Hearns' body, but Hearns is still able to bounce back from all the punishment he's been receiving. Hearns eats a right hand from Hagler and looks hurt, runs away and even turns his back to Hagler. Hagler pounces on Hearns, knocking Hearns down. It looks like Hearns is not able to beat the count, but he gets back up at nine, but the referee knows Hearns can't continue and Hagler is still the middleweight champion.
Watching this fight has me worried a bit for Canelo vs. GGG. Seeing the similarities of the circumstances between Hagler-Hearns and the September 16 fight, it's hard to imagine Canelo and Golovkin having a similar fight. That's not to say they aren't capable of having a historically great fight. Golovkin is one of the sport's best knockout artists while Canelo has proven time and time again that he is a very hard puncher and has incredible technical fundamentals that translate to a very good fight.
If Canelo-GGG is anywhere as exciting as Hagler-Hearns, then the sport will benefit greatly and could help further revitalize boxing's popularity among casual fans and mainstream audiences.
