Activity matters; Paul-Tyson: good and bad; Canelo-Munguia expectations; don't underestimate Haymon; Crawford's tough spot; Charlo situation; what I pine for; 5 dream fights; Ryan Garcia issues
As for underestimating Al Haymon at my own "peril", this guy has taken the deepest pool of talent in the sport and run it into irrelevance. You mention the inactivity pandemic in boxing, and he's the leading cause of it! He has young fighters that topped prospect lists 3-4 years ago that fight 1 time a year, and has placed a paywall before every fight of even moderate significance PBC puts on.
Big props to him for shitting the bed on a 3 fight deal with Canelo that became a no fight deal and is now a 2 fight deal with the last one having to be shared with DAZN... this didn't take cunning, this took an implosion on Al's part. He doesn't appear to know what he's doing anymore.
I don't think I underestimate Al Haymon; he's washed up and shouldn't be defended for the mess he's made.
The Canelo fight is shared between Amazon and Dazn like you stated and I don't get why DLH doesn't get any praise. Without him the fight doesn't get made. Without DAZN the fight doesn't get made due to GBP deal with Munguia. Obviously DLH should do what's best for his fighters but this smells like Canelo/Amazon/GBP/DAZN made a deal. I wonder how long until Amazon realizes they don't need PBC and can work directly with TMT, TGB promotions, etc.
I've read but no official confirmation from the fighters themselves Paul and Tyson is an exhibition. I'm not hating on Tszyu/Cotto at all but Hatton/Cotto was there to be made. Could've done insane money at MSG with the Brits flying over. We have different definitions of quality I guess Dan.... Monroe Jr was coming off ESPN FNF boxcino tourney, wade was coming off ShoBox where he went life and death with Sam Soliman and I cab go on and on with 90% of GGG'S record.
April coming soon and nothing announced by PBC. Two weeks from the Tszyu/Thurman. Enter "PBC" in the Amazon app "Search Bar", NOTHING. Not even a short promotional video.
Has anyone formally announced the third event yet? It's supposed to be Davis-Martin (PPV...again) right? Skipping the month of April after going almost 4 months without shows, all PPV... sounds awesome.
A few items to comment on as you covered a lot of ground in this post.
I don't understand why Canelo is fighting Mungia and not Benavidez, unless he's worried about Benavidez' size and power. Love Canelo, but this one has a bad look. He says he's not fighting Mexicans and Munguia is from Tijuana; Benavidez is half-Ecuadorian, but this is a dumb conversation. Canelo was asking 'What belt does Benavidez have?' - Munguia has no belt. He wanted the other 168 pounders to fight each other first, and Benavidez fought Plant and Andrade, emerged victorious. Canelo's fight with Charlo was a farce - we need to be giving Canelo a lot of heat on this. All this jumping around weight classes, rumors of Crawford (who should fight Ennis for all the reasons I'm listing here), the other Charlo ........ whatever happened to the fighter holding a championship belt defends it against the contenders in their weight division? Marvelous Marvin Hagler - he just fought, dominated his turf, set the example. Crawford at least progressed in a logical way until this latest craziness -- Gervonta Davis and Crawford, Canelo and Crawford, both Charlos at the same time? Boots Ennis is the number one contender, he's earned a shot, that's how it should go. It's not honorable by either Canelo or Crawford, and Canelo looks particularly disingenuous when it comes to Benavidez.
The Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker rebirths are nothing short of miraculous, and it couldn't happen to two better guys. Joshua is a deep thinker, committed to some inner standard that is hard to read sometimes, and in Ben Davidson he may have found the key to his best self. Joshua's meltdown after Usyk II was emotional, disconnected, raw ........ can't blame him, he gave what he could and fell short and he had his moment. But he's had a career of respect, of not snapping back at Dillian Whyte or Jarrell Miller or Deontay Wilder -- Joshua is after a different legacy, he wants to stand tall as a man of principle, and now that he's got a new fire, a laser focus, maybe he'll shock the world. Joseph Parker is a family man, always aware of what's expected of him, and I was shocked to learn he just turned 32, he's been around and fought so much. So Joyce exposes DuBois, Joyce KOs Parker in a hellacious fight, Zhang exposes Joyce (who was way overrated), and Parker comes back to expose Zhang (also overrated). Parker is the least flawed of all of them and he's coming into his own now. Class act, a few others should take notice, including his friend Tyson Fury.
Dream fights: Sugar Ray-Mayweather is the one I hope is on PPV in Heaven when we're all up there; how about Pacquiao-Arguello at 130 lbs, and Hagler-Carlos Monzon, The Assassin vs The Psychopath -- and my all-time trash-talking battle, weeks of non-stop ego inflation, an extravaganza of global politics and clever ring strategy: Muhammad Ali - Tyson Fury in some unexpected place like Mongolia or Uruguay, and for good measure, the undersized but takes-no-shit Mills Lane is the referee. Let's get it on!
I think it's okay to just ignore Jake Paul. He's one of a string of English speaking charlatans in the internet age who get a disproportionate amount of attention. As for an actual boxer with talent in Stanionis, his problems all began when he agreed to step aside to allow Spence - Ugas. Hopefully he's learned his lesson there.
Love the random thoughts, Dan!
As for underestimating Al Haymon at my own "peril", this guy has taken the deepest pool of talent in the sport and run it into irrelevance. You mention the inactivity pandemic in boxing, and he's the leading cause of it! He has young fighters that topped prospect lists 3-4 years ago that fight 1 time a year, and has placed a paywall before every fight of even moderate significance PBC puts on.
Big props to him for shitting the bed on a 3 fight deal with Canelo that became a no fight deal and is now a 2 fight deal with the last one having to be shared with DAZN... this didn't take cunning, this took an implosion on Al's part. He doesn't appear to know what he's doing anymore.
I don't think I underestimate Al Haymon; he's washed up and shouldn't be defended for the mess he's made.
The Canelo fight is shared between Amazon and Dazn like you stated and I don't get why DLH doesn't get any praise. Without him the fight doesn't get made. Without DAZN the fight doesn't get made due to GBP deal with Munguia. Obviously DLH should do what's best for his fighters but this smells like Canelo/Amazon/GBP/DAZN made a deal. I wonder how long until Amazon realizes they don't need PBC and can work directly with TMT, TGB promotions, etc.
I've read but no official confirmation from the fighters themselves Paul and Tyson is an exhibition. I'm not hating on Tszyu/Cotto at all but Hatton/Cotto was there to be made. Could've done insane money at MSG with the Brits flying over. We have different definitions of quality I guess Dan.... Monroe Jr was coming off ESPN FNF boxcino tourney, wade was coming off ShoBox where he went life and death with Sam Soliman and I cab go on and on with 90% of GGG'S record.
April coming soon and nothing announced by PBC. Two weeks from the Tszyu/Thurman. Enter "PBC" in the Amazon app "Search Bar", NOTHING. Not even a short promotional video.
Has anyone formally announced the third event yet? It's supposed to be Davis-Martin (PPV...again) right? Skipping the month of April after going almost 4 months without shows, all PPV... sounds awesome.
Tank Martin is not official but likely for a date in June.
The only ones that Dan has reported are Tszyu, Canelo, Benavidez, and Tank.
But only canelo and tsyzu have dates/locations I believe.
Stanionis vs. Boots is the fight to make. It's not too complicated.
A few items to comment on as you covered a lot of ground in this post.
I don't understand why Canelo is fighting Mungia and not Benavidez, unless he's worried about Benavidez' size and power. Love Canelo, but this one has a bad look. He says he's not fighting Mexicans and Munguia is from Tijuana; Benavidez is half-Ecuadorian, but this is a dumb conversation. Canelo was asking 'What belt does Benavidez have?' - Munguia has no belt. He wanted the other 168 pounders to fight each other first, and Benavidez fought Plant and Andrade, emerged victorious. Canelo's fight with Charlo was a farce - we need to be giving Canelo a lot of heat on this. All this jumping around weight classes, rumors of Crawford (who should fight Ennis for all the reasons I'm listing here), the other Charlo ........ whatever happened to the fighter holding a championship belt defends it against the contenders in their weight division? Marvelous Marvin Hagler - he just fought, dominated his turf, set the example. Crawford at least progressed in a logical way until this latest craziness -- Gervonta Davis and Crawford, Canelo and Crawford, both Charlos at the same time? Boots Ennis is the number one contender, he's earned a shot, that's how it should go. It's not honorable by either Canelo or Crawford, and Canelo looks particularly disingenuous when it comes to Benavidez.
The Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker rebirths are nothing short of miraculous, and it couldn't happen to two better guys. Joshua is a deep thinker, committed to some inner standard that is hard to read sometimes, and in Ben Davidson he may have found the key to his best self. Joshua's meltdown after Usyk II was emotional, disconnected, raw ........ can't blame him, he gave what he could and fell short and he had his moment. But he's had a career of respect, of not snapping back at Dillian Whyte or Jarrell Miller or Deontay Wilder -- Joshua is after a different legacy, he wants to stand tall as a man of principle, and now that he's got a new fire, a laser focus, maybe he'll shock the world. Joseph Parker is a family man, always aware of what's expected of him, and I was shocked to learn he just turned 32, he's been around and fought so much. So Joyce exposes DuBois, Joyce KOs Parker in a hellacious fight, Zhang exposes Joyce (who was way overrated), and Parker comes back to expose Zhang (also overrated). Parker is the least flawed of all of them and he's coming into his own now. Class act, a few others should take notice, including his friend Tyson Fury.
Dream fights: Sugar Ray-Mayweather is the one I hope is on PPV in Heaven when we're all up there; how about Pacquiao-Arguello at 130 lbs, and Hagler-Carlos Monzon, The Assassin vs The Psychopath -- and my all-time trash-talking battle, weeks of non-stop ego inflation, an extravaganza of global politics and clever ring strategy: Muhammad Ali - Tyson Fury in some unexpected place like Mongolia or Uruguay, and for good measure, the undersized but takes-no-shit Mills Lane is the referee. Let's get it on!
I agree boxing jim
I think it's okay to just ignore Jake Paul. He's one of a string of English speaking charlatans in the internet age who get a disproportionate amount of attention. As for an actual boxer with talent in Stanionis, his problems all began when he agreed to step aside to allow Spence - Ugas. Hopefully he's learned his lesson there.