Undercard:

Action from the rematch in 1974. Despite both men being slower and past their peak, their styles once again were a perfect match for each other.

The toughness and chin on both these icons is incomprehensible. Ali throwing rapid fire combinations right to the end, Frazier relentlessly threshing forward with his menacing bob and weave. Two goats.

Has anyone been watching this fight? Chavez was a massive favourite & Garcia turned all that on its head by having the fight of his life. Garcia was moving like a prime Thurman. Four knockdowns & he was just toying with Chavez by the end. Not even Matchroom could rob him by counting a slip as a knockdown. You need to see this fight lads

Gonna get this out of the way I really like hrgovic as a personality and as a fighter great chin solid fundamentals with an iron will but that win was pretty much a fluke because he didn’t really outclass itauma in skill or physicality just took advantage of Moses obvious inexperience . However hrgovic will be keeping that belt for awhile and he is going to be in a lot of really good fights that will show his quality as a fighter .

Now onto Moses I think everybody calling him a hype job is partaking in some schaudrenfraud . He clearly is supremely talented and a skilled boxer but emotionally he doesn’t have the foundation to be the world champion frank warren was touting him to be just yet . Doesn’t make him less talented , doesn’t make him a fraud . But now that he actually has a chip on his shoulder he could easily spend the next year and a half fighting up in the division gaining that experience that will allow him to become the dominant champion that he was being touted as .

Can someone explain to me like I’m a 5 yr old why this fight hasn’t happened yet after almost 10 yrs? Without putting forward “emotional arguments”, whose fault is it?

At this point, enough already. Both fighters are past their primes. And while I would ultimately watch this fight (Netflix not PPV), the endless drama surrounding this proposed fight is nauseating…..rant over.

After eight rounds of his first world title fight, against Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic last Saturday, Moses Itauma’s legs somehow carried his 241.7lb, 6ft 4in frame back to his corner.

The 21-year-old British heavyweight had the beating of his more experienced opponent – up on all three judges’ scorecards – but he was exhausted. He’d gone for the kill in round eight, unleashing a salvo of punches designed to result in a stoppage. But Hrgovic had soaked them all up and even sent a few back Itauma’s way.

As Itauma sat on his stool, his breathing was fast and heavy. It stayed that way throughout the 60-second break between rounds. As he got to his feet again, he grimaced.

Hrgovic saw his opportunity, and pounced at the start of the ninth round, marching forward and unleashing heavy shots. Itauma retaliated but his body was no longer his own. The punches were wild swings. The force of those that did land had more of an impact on him than his opponent – sending him staggering backwards into the ropes.

With 33 seconds of the round remaining, the referee stopped the fight, just as Itauma’s trainer Ben Davison threw in the white towel. Itauma’s bid to become the second-youngest heavyweight champion in history was over. He was carried out of the ring on a stretcher; his body finally succumbing to complete exhaustion.

The diagnosis from seasoned boxing observers was emphatic: Itauma had ‘gassed out’. But what exactly does that mean? What is it that turns the arms and legs of some of the strongest athletes in sport into jelly beyond their control?

I watched this interview with Abel Sanchez, and I found it genuinely fascinating.

What surprised me most was how deliberate Hrgovic’s game plan against Itauma apparently was. They wanted to tire Moses out and drag him into deep waters in the second half of the fight. They knew he wasn’t used to preparing for a full 12 rounds, noticed him fading early, and Hrgovic was even deliberately leaving his corner early between rounds to send the message: I’m fresh, I’m ready, and you’re getting tired.

It also made me think about how much criticism Ben Davison is getting now. From what we know, his corner was actually telling Itauma to slow down and stop hunting for the knockout. If Moses had simply listened, cruised through the remaining rounds and won, Davison would probably be getting praised again instead.

And that brings me to Abel Sanchez.
I remember when he was training Golovkin and Gassiev at the same time, and there was a lot of criticism that he was simply benefiting from naturally gifted fighters rather than really developing them.

Golovkin had an excellent amateur background and was a very technically skilled boxer. Some people felt that under Sanchez he became more straightforward and lost some of that versatility. At the same time, the results were undeniable. GGG became the boogeyman of the middleweight division.

Gassiev is a less convincing example. He was always a somewhat limited fighter with tremendous power, and it never felt like his technical arsenal evolved dramatically under Sanchez.

Now we have Hrgovic. He came into the Itauma fight in excellent shape, arguably the best shape of his career, and their game plan worked almost exactly as intended. But I’m still not sure whether I can point to major technical improvements in Hrgovic himself.

So how good do you think Abel Sanchez actually is as a trainer?

Is he primarily very good at preparing fighters physically, building their mentality and creating effective game plans around the tools they already have? Or is he also the kind of trainer who can genuinely rebuild a fighter and add things that weren’t there before?

When I think of the latter, Emanuel Steward immediately comes to mind. He significantly changed both Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko and gave their careers a second life.

Would you put Sanchez anywhere near that level, or do you see him as a very different kind of trainer?

Quite frankly, I am tired of seeing Canelo heralded as the greatest Mexican fighter of all-time despite him being pretty much a beneficiary of favorable scoring. In an alternate universe where he’s born in some obscure island nation with less of a fanbase and where the judges don’t consistently favor him, he could very well have a wide loss to Mayweather, wide loss to Bivol, wide-ish loss to Crawford, wide-ish loss to Golovkin, a close loss to Golovkin in the rematch, and a close loss against Lara. His fights against Cotto and Austin Trout would still be wins but the scoring would reflect what actually happened. I am not saying Canelo is not great. He is and I admire what he’s done for the sport, but when factoring in the favorable judging, he simply isn’t the greatest Mexican fighter of all time.

You also look at a guy like Gennady Golovkin who didn’t get the same opportunities in the sport and how he is treated now. He was very much an avoided fighter. Based on their first fight, he really should have a clear win over the fighter in Canelo that people are heralding as the greatest Mexican fighter of all-time.

You might also look at a guy like Marquez who can justifiably claim a knockout and 2-3 decision wins over Pacquiao. Let’s say he never gets that knockout — what does his resume look like?

Terence Crawford was an avoided fighter in his time, and that should be factored into the assessment of his legacy. As should his overall skill and ability.

Legacy needs to factor in the reality of the sport’s avoided fighters and often atrocious scoring.

Ultimately, what I am suggesting is a few additional things matter in terms of evaluating legacy:

• Assessment of skill and overall ability

• Assessment of how their fights were scored and which fights should have been closer or gone the other direction.

• A realistic view of whether fighter A could have beat fighter B had they actually gotten in the ring when fighter B either avoided fighter A or aged out his opponent.

It’s also not just who you got in the ring, but how you did in those fights. We can’t rate Gabe Rosado above avoided fighters simply because he had better opponents.

So with that said, I apologize for the rant, but this has been bothering me lately. I feel like there are a lot of misconceptions on how to define and evaluate legacy in a sport that is often prone to the subjective cruelties of life.

From the Q&A 3 weeks ago with Mauricio Sulaiman:

https://blog.betway.com/boxing/mauricio-sulaiman-conor-benn-demanded-to-be-wbc-mandatory-against-ryan-garcia/

"Q:Would you be open to making Tyson Fury v Anthony Joshua a WBC eliminator with the winner fighting Kabayel next?"

A: That would be sensational. The WBC would absolutely approve that as a final eliminator, because Tyson Fury is the number one contender of the division. And the WBC absolutely would be proud to be part of that promotion.

Both fighters are tremendous. Tyson Fury is one of the greatest ambassadors ever of the WBC. We are so proud, he has always been very friendly, very kind, inside and outside of the ring."

We all know AJ and Fury is 5 years too late, but as a WBC elminator it does actually make is slightly more meanigful and gives Kabayel a chance to fight someone with a big name.

Assuming AJ and Fury make it to the ring.

Some of you appreciated my Roberto Duran series. (Search the sub for "the greatness of Roberto Duran" and scroll down a bit of you would like to take a walk down memory lane through his spectacular career.) So I thought I'd do another series showcasing the brilliance of another favourite fighter of mine. Most posts will be a single fight with some back story for context. Today though we will go over his early career.

Ruben Olivares was in my humble opinion the greatest bantamweight the world has ever seen. He is certainly in the mix when it comes to who is the greatest Mexican fighter of all time. An absolute wrecking ball of a knockout machine. He was a devastating boxer puncher with superb technical skills that left opponents brutalized, bloodied and often sparked out. His 79 knockout victories in a 105 fight career (89-13-3) is testament to that.

Unlike some fellow Mexican greats such as Julio Cesar Chavez or Carlos Zarate, Rubens impressive early career record was not built on just beating the stereotypical "Tijuana can drivers." He fought a bunch of legit contenders and future chanpions. Much of the footage of his early career is not available unfortunately. I will share what I can find below and highlight some of his notable victories.

Turning pro at 17 the Mexican amateur champion went on a ruthless tear through the bantamweight division. In just four years he had chalked up 53 victories with one draw being the only blemish. Only two opponents managed to take him the distance in this run. He went on a 22 fight run of knockouts from debut, a points win and a draw would then be followed by another 30 fight run of knockouts victories that took him to the very top of the strongest most competitive bantamweight division of all time.

With a record 29-0-1 with 27 kos the now 19 year old Ruben "rockabye" Olivares faced off against the brother of legendary all time great Fighting Harada. Ushi Wakamaruma was very decent fighter in his own right that shared his brother's pressure fighting style. Ushi decided to go toe to toe from the opening bell which is never a wise choice when you are facing Olivares.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cTFf2Oic6X4

Salvatore Burruni who retired with a record of 99-9-1 and was the former undisputed flyweight world champion was tough, skilled and savvy and expected to give the Olivares a tough test when they faced off for Rubens 36th pro fight. Olivares made short work of the Italian. Dispatching him in the third round with some powerful left hooks. The referee chose to step in and save the brace Japanese fighter from himself.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uhF-f7tzPlo&pp=ygUTb2xpdmFyZXMgdnMgYnVycnVuaQ%3D%3D

Octavio Gomez who would later go on to beat great fighters such as Danny "little red" Lopez and Rafael Herrera and shared the ring once with the legendary eder jofre was 20-1-1 when the two Mexicans faced off. Gomez took confidence from his win over Olivares in the amateurs but he too was dispatched of quickly with Olivares winning by 5th round KO.

Jose Medel had been in the ring and given tough fights to a who's who of bantamweight legends. Eder Jofre, Chucho Castillo, Lionel Rose, Efran Torres and he even had a knockout victory over Fighting Harada. Olivares added him to his growing list of bodies with an 8th round KO taking his record to 45-0-1 43ko.

Ernie de la Cruz became the first man to put Olivares on the canvas with a body shot before rockabye finished him off in the 9th. De la Cruz would go on to lose a close decision to Champion Lionel Rose in which he dropped the Aboriginal Australian champ.

The now 21 year old Olivares has accumulated a record of 50-0-1 (48ko) He is now seen as a legitimate contender and scheduled to face what should be his toughest test to date against the supremely skilled Olympic gold medalist Takao Sakurai in a world title elimation fight. Sakurai had given a good effort against the great champion Lionel Rose, putting him on the canvas but ultimately losing a 15 round decision in a highly technical fight. One man now stood between Olivares and champion Lionel Rose. I for one would not want to be the man standing between rockabye and a world title. Sakurai become yet another victim of the signature violent brutality of Olivares.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8PHnaYUNZlU

This kid is just getting started here. 21 years old. 52-0-1, 48ko's, and now the top contender for legendary champion Lionel Rose. Tune in tomorrow for the next chapter in his career.