Notebook: With Bivol up first, Canelo says, 'I don’t care about the fight with Golovkin'
Injured Andrade out of Parker fight; weekend recap podcast; Jake Paul next fight date; Davis-Romero PPV undercard; Quick hits; Show and tell
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LAS VEGAS — As pound-for-pound king and undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez prepares for his return to light heavyweight to challenge titleholder Dmitry Bivol in an effort to claim a title in the 175-pound division for the second time, he is understandably not interested in discussing the much bigger fight on the books as long as beats Bivol.
Alvarez will face Bivol on Saturday (DAZN PPV and PPV.com, 8 p.m. ET) at T-Mobile Arena and as long as he wins, his next fight is also set.
It will be a third fight with rival Gennadiy Golovkin, against whom he is 1-0-1 in two highly controversial decisions in middleweight championship fights in 2017 and 2018, on Sept. 17 — Mexican Independence Day weekend — at a site to be determined.
Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs), 40, a Kazakhstan native fighting out of Santa Monica, California, took care of his hurdle into the fight on April 9 in Saitama, Japan, where he knocked out Ryota Murata in the ninth round to unify two middleweight titles. If Alvarez beats Bivol, GGG would move up to super middleweight and challenge Alvarez for his 168-pound crown.
With Bivol on his mind, Alvarez claimed he did not watch Golovkin’s fight with Murata, just highlights.
“I didn’t watch the fight,” Alvarez told a few boxing reporters during a recent video conference to discuss the Bivol fight. “I watched the highlights, but I don’t watch that fight yet. But he did what he was supposed to do.
“I’m not impressed. But he looked good, he looked strong. But I’m never impressed. So, I’m never impressed about him. I know what he do, and I know he’s a strong fighter. I know what kind of fighter he is, but I’m not impressed because I know.”
Pressed for the reason he only watched highlights, Alvarez was forceful: “I never watch the fights. Never, never.”
Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs), 31, of Mexico, previously rebuffed strong efforts by DAZN and former promoter Golden Boy to make a third fight with Golovkin and issues surrounding it were key factors in a lawsuit he filed against both entities that led to him becoming a promotional and broadcast free agent.
But earlier this year, Alvarez agreed to the third fight as a part of a two-fight return to DAZN and Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, beginning with the fight against Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs), 31, of Russia.
Alvarez said he finally accepted the third with Golovkin because he wants to give boxing fans a fight they have been asking for.
“I’m 100 percent focused on Bivol, but I don’t care about the fight with Golovkin,” Alvarez said. “I’m 100 percent focusing on the Bivol fight, and then we’ll see. But the people want to see that fight, right? That fight will be for the people.”
Injured Andrade withdraws
Demetrius Andrade injured his right shoulder in a sparring session and has been forced to withdraw from his vacant WBO interim super middleweight title bout with Zach Parker, Andrade manager Ed Farris told me on Sunday.
Andrade, the reigning WBO middleweight titlist, who was moving up in weight for the bout, was scheduled to face Parker in the main event of a Queensberry Promotions card on May 21 at Pride Park Stadium in Derby, England.
Queensberry Promotions announced Monday the fight was postponed.
Farris said Andrade initially hurt his shoulder about a month ago in sparring.
“He got a shot to dull the pain and he continued to work out,” Farris said. “I went to see him last week and he sparred that night and I noticed he was sparring differently, at a different stance. I said what’s going on here?”
Read the rest of the story with more details that I wrote for Big Fight Weekend here: https://bigfightweekend.com/news/shoulder-injury-forces-demetrius-andrade-out-of-may-parker-bout/
Weekend recap podcast
On the Fight Freaks Unite podcast we did a full recap of Shakur Stevenson’s huge win over Oscar Valdez to unify junior lightweight titles, key undercard fights and undisputed women’s lightweight champion Katie Taylor’s epic battle with Amanda Serrano. Please give it a listen here and don’t forget to like and subscribe:
Jake Paul ring return
Now that Jake Paul’s co-promotional effort for the Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano women’s super fight have concluded, he announced on social media on Sunday his own ring return.
“I’m back. August 13th,” Paul tweeted.
Paul (5-0, 4 KOs), a 25-year-old novice cruiserweight, in addition to being a promoter and YouTube personality, is coming off a sensational one-punch sixth-round knockout of former MMA star Tyron Woodley in their rematch in December in Tampa.
After the fight, Paul said he would take a break from the ring but now he is back, although the details of who he will face and where the fight will take place are not set. His last two fights, both against Woodley, headlined Showtime PPV cards.
Although Paul has yet to face an actual boxer. His fights have been against Woodley, another former MMA star in Ben Askren, retired NBA player Nate Robinson and social media personality Ali Eson Gib.
Davis-Romero PPV bouts
Mayweather Promotions and Showtime announced the undercard for the Gervonta Davis-Rolando Romero card that will take place May 28 (Showtime PPV, 9 p.m. ET) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and it is led by Erislandy Lara.
Lara, a former junior middleweight titlist, will defend his secondary middleweight belt for the first time against massive underdog Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan. Lara (28-3-3, 16 KOs), 39, a southpaw and Cuba native fighting out of Houston, moved up to middleweight last May and knocked out tremendously overmatched Thomas LaManna in the first round to claim the vacant WBA “regular’ belt.
“I’m ready to get back in the ring and show the fans that I’m still a world class fighter,” Lara said. “Gary O’Sullivan has proven to be a tough opponent for everyone he’s faced, and his only losses are to champions. I’ve been in many great fights and it will be no different when I step into the ring at Barclays Center.”
O’Sullivan (31-4, 21 KOs), 37, of Ireland, will be coming off a one-year layoff and has lost every time he has stepped up in opposition, three times by knockout. He was stopped by Jaime Munguia in the 11th round in 2020, David Lemieux in the first round in 2018 and Chris Eubank Jr. in the seventh round in 2015. He lost a near-shutout decision to Billy Joe Saunders in 2013.
“I’ve had some setbacks, but I’ve gone back to the drawing board, regrouped, righted some wrongs and kept pushing forward,” O’Sullivan said. “I’ve always known that one day the chips would fall in my favor. I’m coming to rip that belt back to Ireland and hear the words, ‘And the new!’”
The two 10-rounders on PPV:
Junior middleweight prospect Jesus Ramos (18-0, 15 KOs), a 21-year-old southpaw from Casa Grande, Arizona, will face Luke Santamaria (13-2-1, 7 KOs), 24, of Garden Grove, California. Ramos will be seeking to avenge a decision loss Abel Ramos, his uncle, took against Santamaria in February. That was Santamaria’s second upset decision in a row. He also defeated former two-division world titlist Devon Alexander in August 2021.
Junior lightweight Eduardo Ramirez (26-2-3, 12 KOs), 29, of Mexico, will face Miami-based Puerto Rican Luis Melendez (17-1, 13 KOs), 24, in the opener.
Quick hits
As former unified heavyweight titlist Anthony Joshua and Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn sort out the specifics of when (likely July 23) and where (probably Saudi Arabia) Joshua’s rematch with three-belt titlist Oleksandr Usyk will take place, Joshua is poised to remain with Sky Sports for his United Kingdom broadcast rights, a source with knowledge of the discussions told Fight Freaks Unite. No deal is done, but Joshua has been with Sky Sports for his entire career and regularly done big business on Sky Box Office, its pay-per-view arm. However, he became a broadcast free agent following his September loss to Usyk. A couple of months earlier Matchroom’s deal with Sky expired and Hearn moved all Matchroom events to DAZN in the U.K. Joshua was the one Matchroom fighter outside the parameters of the deal and has had interest from Sky and DAZN.
Mathew Macklin, the former middleweight title challenger, was stopped last week from flying from England to Las Vegas to work as part of the Sky Sports broadcast team covering the Oscar Valdez-Shakur Stevenson card for British television. The reason is because of his association with Daniel Kinahan, the accused organized crime kingpin, whom the United States recently sanctioned and placed a $5 million bounty on. Macklin and Kinahan are (or were) close friends and co-founded management and promotional company MTK Global in 2012, although Macklin sold his share of the company in 2017. It shuttered last month when the U.S. sanctioned Kinahan, making it illegal for people and companies to do business with him.
Top lightweight prospect Frank Martin (15-0, 11 KOs), 27, a southpaw from Indianapolis, announced on social media that his next will take place on the undercard of Jermall Charlo’s middleweight title defense against Maciej Sulecki on June 18 (Showtime) in Houston. Martin has looked particularly impressive in his last two fights, a fourth-round destruction of Romero Duno on Jan. 1 on the Luis Ortiz-Charles Martin undercard and a shutout decision over Ryan Kielczewski in August on the Manny Pacquiao-Yordenis Ugas undercard.
Show and tell
Shakur Stevenson was quite impressive in his dominant decision over Oscar Valdez to unify the WBO and WBC junior lightweight titles, as well claiming the vacant Ring magazine title, on Saturday in a fight I covered at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Stevenson remained undefeated, handed Valdez his first loss and established himself as the clear No. 1 in the world at 130 pounds. I happen to think Stevenson is a pound-for-pound talent who is going to be a significant force in boxing for the foreseeable future. So, I was quite happy to add a mint full ticket from the fight to my collection.
Canelo-GGG photo: Tom Hogan/Golden Boy; Andrade photo: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing; Paul photo: Nick Levya/Showtime
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Canelo on the 3rd Golovkin fight: "But the people want to see that fight, right? That fight will be for the people.”
The people wanted that fight 3 years ago and there's no reason why it couldn't have happened other than Canelo not wanting to fight Golovkin again.
Golovkin is 40 years old now and seems to have declined from even the less than prime level he was when 36/37 and all of a sudden it's now okay for Canelo to fight him "for the people" - just how stupid does he think we are?