Notebook: Canelo-GGG III judges and referee assigned, and they're familiar
Inoue-Butler undisputed bantamweight title fight; WBC extends Fury deadline; Love to top homecoming card on DAZN; Wood-Lara announced; Quick hits; Show and tell
A note to Fight Freaks Unite readers: I created Fight Freaks Unite in January 2021 but Thursday marked one year since it also became available for paid subscriptions for additional content — and as a way to help keep this newsletter going and for readers to support independent journalism. If you haven’t upgraded to a paid subscription please consider it. If you have already, I truly appreciate it! Also, consider a gift subscription for the Fight Freak in your life.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission this week appointed the judges and referee for the third fight between undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez and unified middleweight titlist Gennadiy Golovkin, who is moving up in weight for the trilogy fight with his bitter rival, and two of the judges are awfully familiar with the two fighters.
At its monthly meeting, the commission approved Nevada’s Dave Moretti and New Jersey’s Steve Weisfeld, both regarded as among the best judges in the sport. They both scored Alvarez a 115-113 winner in the extremely close rematch for Golovkin’s unified middleweight title in September 2018.
Moretti also worked their first fight in September 2017 and had Golovkin winning 115-113 in a fight that was officially a split draw and massively controversial because most had GGG winning.
The third judge appointed for the trilogy fight was Oklahoma’s David Sutherland, who has never judged a previous Alvarez or Golovkin bout.
Moretti will be judging his third consecutive Alvarez fight and 13th overall. It will be his third Golovkin fight — all three fights with Alvarez. Weisfeld will be judging his third consecutive Alvarez fight and sixth overall.
The referee will be Nevada’s Russell Mora, who will be working his third consecutive Alvarez fight and fifth overall. Mora was also the third man in the ring for Alvarez’s decision loss to light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol in May and his 11th-round knockout of Caleb Plant to become the undisputed super middleweight champion in November.
Mora also refereed Alvarez’s 11th-round knockout of Sergey Kovalev to win a light heavyweight title in 2019 and a ninth-round knockout of Jeferson Luis Goncalo in Cancun, Mexico, in 2009, when Alvarez was a prospect.
The fight will be Mora’s second GGG fight but first in more than a decade. He refereed Golovkin’s first-round knockout of Milton Nunez in an interim middleweight title bout in Panama in 2010.
According to the Nevada commission Mora will be paid $10,000 for his night’s work and each of the judges will earn $8,000.
Mexico’s Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs), 32, and Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs), 40, a Kazakhstan native fighting out of Santa Monica, California, meet on Sept. 17 (DAZN PPV and PPV.com, $84.99) at T-Mobile Arena, the site of their first two controversial fights, in Las Vegas.
Inoue-Butler undisputed title fight?
Three-belt bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue and WBO titlist Paul Butler are nearing a deal to meet for the undisputed 118-pound title.
The fight would take place on Dec. 13 in Inoue’s home country of Japan and stream live in the United States in the early morning on ESPN+, a source with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite.
While the WBC, whose title Inoue holds, announced the fight on Friday, the source said while Inoue has agreed to terms, Butler’s deal had not yet been closed as they haggle over money.
There has never been an undisputed champion in the division in either the three- or four-belt era. The last undisputed champion was Panama’s Enrique Pinder, in the two-belt era, when he won a 15-round decision over Rafael Herrera on July 29, 1972 to take his WBC and WBA titles. He was undisputed until January 1973, when the WBC stripped him for failing to defend against Rodolfo Martinez.
On June 7, three-division champion “Monster” Inoue (23-0, 20 KOs), 29, knocked out Nonito Donaire in the second round of their rematch to retain his IBF/WBA belts and take the WBC title. He said after the fight he wanted to fight for the undisputed title next and Butler (34-2, 15 KOs), 33, of England, also said he was interested and willing to travel to Japan for what would be a career-high payday.
Butler has won eight straight fights, most recently a unanimous decision over late replacement Jonas Sultan for the vacant WBO interim belt on April 22 in England, after which he was elevated to the full titleholder. That was because John Riel Casimero was stripped after twice pulling out of defenses against Butler, the mandatory challenger.
BetUS Boxing Show
If you missed the BetUS Boxing Show live at 1 p.m. ET on Friday on YouTube, please check out the replay (and also subscribe to the YouTube channel). We previewed and picked the two main fights on Saturday’s Top Rank/ESPN card: the Jose Pedraza-Richard Commey junior welterweight main event and the heavyweight co-feature between heavyweight prospect Jared Anderson and Miljan Rovcanin. We also took viewer comments and questions on various boxing topics. Watch it here and enjoy:
Fury deadline extended
With Tyson Fury repeatedly saying that he is retired and having vacated The Ring magazine heavyweight title — but not the WBC belt — the organization recently asked him to let it know what he plans to do and set Friday as the deadline.
However, on deadline day the WBC extended it for a week due the death of one of Fury’s cousins.
“The World Boxing Council, acknowledging the tragedy which happened in the Fury family and in respect of their grief, has decided to extend one week until Friday, September 2nd the official decision of Tyson Fury regarding his status as heavyweight champion.”
Although Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs), 34, of England, says he is retired, he is also seeking offers for an undisputed championship fight with three-belt titleholder Oleksandr Usyk in the wake of his decision over Anthony Joshua in their rematch last Saturday. Besides retaining his three sanctioning organization belts against Joshua, Usyk also claimed The Ring title Fury vacated a few days before the fight.
Love homecoming
Junior welterweight contender Montana Love will headline in his hometown of Cleveland when he faces Stevie Spark on Nov. 12 on DAZN at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Matchroom Boxing announced on Friday.
Love has boxed at that arena once before when he knocked out former junior welterweight titlist Ivan Baranchyk in the seventh round on the undercard of Jake Paul’s rematch with Tyron Woodley last August.
Now, Love (18-0-1, 9 KOs), a 27-year-old southpaw, who has had other hometown fights, steps into his first main event to defend his regional 140-pound belt against Spark (15-2, 14 KOs), 25, of Australia, whose signing with Matchroom Boxing was announced earlier this week.
“From neighborhood hero to superstar — Cleveland we did it baby,” Love said. “This is something I dreamed of as a kid. I’m looking forward to putting on a superstar performance. I need everybody in my city to come out. Let’s defend the land.”
In Love’s last fight he and Gabriel Valenzuela exchanged knockdowns in Love’s unanimous decision — 114-112 on all three scorecards — on the Canelo Alvarez-Dmitry Bivol undercard on May 7 in Las Vegas.
Spark, who will be boxing in the United States for the first time, has won three fights in a row since a third-round knockout loss to contender Tim Tszyu 13 months ago.
“I’ve been working very hard for a lot of years for this moment,” Spark said. “I have the best team in the world who I can’t thank enough for making this possible. I’m looking forward to exploding into the international boxing scene with a spectacular win. The American boxing fans are in for a treat, as I believe they will love my all-action style.
“We respect the fighter Montana Love is. He is highly credentialed but that’s why we took this fight. We are coming prepared, and we are coming to win. Come Nov. 12, there will be no Love!”
Ruiz-Ortiz preliminaries
Former heavyweight titlist Charles Martin will face Devin Vargas in an eight-round fight on Sept. 4 at Crypto Arena in Los Angeles, Premier Boxing Champions announced.
The bout highlights the non-televised portion of the card (Fox Sports PPV and PPV.com, 9 p.m. ET, $74.95) headlined by the WBC semifinal heavyweight title eliminator between former unified heavyweight titlist Andy Ruiz Jr. and former two-time title challenger Luis “King Kong Ortiz.
Martin (28-3-1, 25 KOs), 36, of Carson, California, saw a three-fight winning streak end on New Year’s Day when Ortiz stopped him in the sixth round of a shootout in which he dropped Ortiz in the first and fourth rounds and Ortiz knocked him down twice in the sixth round.
Toledo, Ohio, native Vargas (22-7, 9 KOs), 40, who was a 2004 U.S. Olympian, is 2-3 in his last five fights and coming off a fourth-round knockout loss to Zhang Zhilei in November 2020.
In other preliminary action: flyweight Juan Garcia (10-0-2, 7 KOs) faces Gilberto Mendoza (19-13-3, 19 KOs), in a four-rounder; Anthony Cuba (4-0-1, 3 KOs) faces Oscar Perez (5-0, 4 KOs) in a six-round lightweight bout; junior featherweight Anthony Garnica (9-0-1, 5 KOs) meets Anthony Casillas (8-2, 4 KOs) in a six-rounder; junior welterweight Jesus Carrillo (10-7-2, 4 KOs) will appear in an eight-rounder; and lightweight Kel Spencer (1-0, 0 KOs) will be in a four-rounder.
Wood to defend vs. Lara
Leigh Wood will defend the WBA “regular” featherweight against Mauricio Lara on Sept. 24 (DAZN) at Motorpoint Arena in Wood’s hometown of Nottingham, England, Matchroom Boxing announced.
The fight will take place because WBA president Gilberto Jesus Mendoza went back on his word. As part of it’s title reduction policy that has gone on for more than a year, the WBA ordered featherweight “super” titlist Leo Santa Cruz and Wood to meet in a mandatory fight earlier this year. The sides agreed to negotiate and then Santa Cruz’s team sought an exception for him to instead face Rey Vargas in an all-Premier Boxing Champions unification fight.
The WBA denied the request and insisted on Santa Cruz-Wood, and scheduled a purse bid. The camps then told the WBA that they had made a deal and asked for the purse bid to be canceled with a fight date and venue forthcoming.
Then, suddenly this week, the WBA reversed course and approved Santa Cruz-Vargas and Wood-Lara, again breaking its rules because Lara is not ranked by the WBA.
The fight will be Wood’s second defense and first since his ultra dramatic 12th-round comeback knockout of Michael Conlan, whom he ejected from ring and onto the arena floor with the final flurry on March 12 at the same arena.
Wood (26-2, 16 KOs), 34, was down in the first round, dropped Conlan in the 11th and was trailing on all three scorecards in the final round before scoring the knockout to culminate a fight of the year contender.
“I maybe have a handful of fights left and I want them to be my biggest,” Wood said. “I want to be tested. I’m filling arenas now and I want to keep that momentum going. Every fight should be a step forward, not backwards. Mauricio Lara is dangerous but high risk, high reward, I’m confident I can do what Josh Warrington couldn’t do and get the job done.”
Lara (24-2-1, 17 KOs), 24, of Mexico, came out of obscurity in February 2021 when he traveled to England and shockingly dominated and knocked out two-time featherweight titlist Josh Warrington in the ninth round of a massive upset. They fought to a second-round technical draw in a rematch later in 2021 that ended when Lara was cut over his left eye by an accidental head butt and unable to continue. He has won his only fight since via third-round knockout of Emilio Sanchez on March 5.
“This is the opportunity that I have worked so hard for and I am not going to miss it,” Lara said. “I am aware that Leigh Wood is a great fighter, but no one is going to take away the possibility of me becoming a world champion. I'm going to England for the third time and it's like I’m fighting at home.”
The card will also include:
Lightweight Maxi Hughes (25-5-2, 5 KOs), 32, against former featherweight titlist Kid Galahad (28-2, 17 KOs), 32, in an all-British 12-rounder. Galahad is moving up two divisions and will be fighting for the first time since losing his featherweight title in his first defense by sixth-round upset knockout to Kiko Martinez in November.
Hannah Rankin (12-5, 3 KOs), 32, of Scotland, will defend her WBA junior middleweight women’s title against former junior lightweight titlist Terri Harper (12-1-1, 6 KOs), 25, of England, who had her last fight at lightweight but is moving up three divisions, from 135 to 154 pounds.
Quick hits
Weights from Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card on Saturday (10 p.m. ET): Jose Pedraza 139.8 pounds, Richard Commey 138.8; Jared Anderson 241.4, Miljan Rovcanin 230.6; Richard Torrez Jr. 225.4, Marco Antonio Canedo 215.8; Tiger Johnson 141.8, Harry Gigliotti 140.6; Efe Ajagba 232.2, Jozsef Darmos 239.2; Jeremiah Milton 245.6, Nick Jones 217.2; Kelvin Davis 141, Sebastian Gabriel Chaves 142.6; Frevian Gonzalez 135.8, Gerardo Esquivel 135.6; Abdullah Mason 135.2, Angel Rebollar 133.6; Dante Benjamin Jr. 174.2, Leandro Silva 175. Also: The Haven Brady Jr.-Manuel Guzman fight was canceled after Brady missed the 128-pounds contract weight by 3 pounds.
Blue-chip lightweight prospect Keyshawn Davis (5-0, 4 KOs), 23, of Norfolk, Virginia, who claimed a silver medal at the last summer’s Tokyo Olympics, now has an opponent for his eight-rounder in the co-feature of unified junior lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson’s hometown defense against Robson Conceicao on Sept. 23 (ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET) at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Davis, who is coming off a dominating sixth-round knockout of Esteban Sanchez on April 30 on the undercard of Stevenson’s unification victory over Oscar Valdez in Las Vegas, will face Omar Tienda (25-5, 18 KOs), 34, of Mexico. Tienda has won seven fights in a row by knockout and only been stopped once (in 2013). Davis was supposed to fight in July but the bout was scrapped when he became ill.
Heavyweight Murat Gassiev (29-1, 22 KOs), 28, a former unified cruiserweight titlist from Russia, knocked out Carlouse Welch (21-3-1, 18 KOs), 42, of Atlanta, with a single right hand to the side of the head in the first round on Friday in Belgrade, Serbia. Almost nothing had happened before Gassiev landed the shot, which dropped Welch flat on his back. He barely beat the very generous count from referee Holgen Weimann, who then waved it off at 1 minute, 20 seconds. The fight was only Gassiev’s second since a near-shutout decision loss to Oleksandr Usyk when they met in a four-belt unification fight for the undisputed cruiserweight title in July 2018 in Moscow. After the loss, Gassiev moved up to heavyweight but has fought just three times, in October 2020, in July 2021 and Friday.
Dmitry Bivol, who upset Canelo Alvarez in May to retain the WBA light heavyweight title and next will face unbeaten former super middleweight titlist and mandatory challenger Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (44-0, 30 KOs), of Mexico, on Nov. 5 (DAZN) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, met with Sadyr Zhaparov, the president of Bivol’s birth country of Kyrgyzstan on Thursday as part of a ceremony to highlight his boxing success. Although Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) has lived for most of his life in Russia, he has been training in Kyrgyzstan.
Main Events announced it has re-signed junior middleweight Ismael Villarreal (12-0, 8 KOs), 25, a two-time New York Golden Gloves champion from the Bronx, who on July 30 scored his most notable win. He scored two knockdowns and stopped then-unbeaten LeShawn Rodriguez in the sixth round on the Danny Garcia-Jose Benavidez Jr. undercard at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. “One of the best parts of having a fighter like Ismael in your stable is that he treats every fight like it’s a title fight and you know he’ll be in phenomenal shape,” Main Events CEO Kathy Duva said. “He’s a true professional with an old school work ethic and excellent mental strength that will take him places in this sport. It won’t be long before he moves up the rankings.”
Show and tell
The long-awaited mega fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao to unify welterweight titles in 2015 shattered every combat sports revenue record, including overall revenue (more than $600 million), domestic pay-per-view subscriptions (4.6 million) and live gate ($72,198,500). Two fights following Mayweather’s win over Pacquiao, he ended a two-year retirement to face UFC star Conor McGregor, who crossed over to boxing for the mega event Mayweather said would be his final fight. It was a monster and settled in second place behind Mayweather-Pacquiao for those records. It grossed more than $600 million in total revenue (but less than Mayweather-Pacquiao), sold 4.3 million domestic PPV buys and did $55,414,865.79 in ticket sales. Mayweather registered a dominating 10th-round knockout in the junior middleweight bout at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and walked away 50-0. I was ringside to cover the fight, which was on Aug. 26, 2017 — five years ago on Friday. Here is one of the various site posters in my collection.
Inoue photo: Naoki Fukuda
Please upgrade your subscription here: https://danrafael.substack.com/subscribe
Thank you so much for your support of Fight Freaks Unite!
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danrafael1/
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanRafael1
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DanRafaelBoxing
Golovkin has never been easy money for any fighter and he damn sure ain't comin jus for a payday, that's ludicrous.
Inflation apparently hasn’t hit the boxing referee market, as it seems mega-fight referee purses have been $10k since the Tyson days.
As for the Wood-Lara event, that’s a more entertaining fight than a washed up LSC anyway, and since I never once figured the WBA will do anything it’s supposed to, it’s hard to clutch my pearls over this decision. Let’s stop applauding them when they do what they’re supposed to, which provides cover for this kind of criminal bullshit.
And the undercard is very odd… Eddie seems to have decided weight classes don’t matter as long as he can put to “names” together… Galahad and Harper are likely to find out that they do matter, and probably painfully so.