Podcast: Canelo Alvarez interview ahead of defense vs. Berlanga
Inoue-Doheny recap; weekend preview; news of the week; Erik Morales and Mike Tyson fight anniversaries and memories
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It may be a slow weekend for fights but we have a packed show, including my interview with superstar Canelo Alvarez as he heads into his unified super middleweight title defense against Edgar Berlanga on Sept. 14. We also recapped undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue’s defense against TJ Doheny; previewed WBA strawweight titlist Thammanoon Niyomtrong’s defense against Alex Winwood; covered several news items of the week; and looked back on the anniversary of significant fights involving Erik Morales and Mike Tyson.
Here is what’s on the show (in order):
Recap of Inoue’s workmanlike seventh-round knockout of Doheny on Tuesday in Tokyo. We assess the performance, discuss his future and also recapped the very entertaining co-feature in which Yoshiki Takei won a very close decision over Daigo Higa to retain the WBO bantamweight title.
Preview of Niyomtrong’s 12th title defense as he fights in Perth, Australia, the hometown of 2020 Australian Olympian Winwood, who is looking to make Australian boxing history with a victory.
My interview with Canelo, during which we covered several topics: Enjoying training camp; thoughts on being stripped of the IBF title and losing his undisputed status; his response to the talk from many that he carried Jaime Munguia in the later rounds of their May fight so as not to embarrass a fellow Mexican by knocking him out; why he selected Berlanga as his opponent; what the Mexico-Puerto Rico rivalry means to him; having his fight compete with a UFC pay-per-view at the new Sphere in Las Vegas; his take on the back and forth between him and Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh and not making a deal with him to face Terence Crawford; does he want to go to light heavyweight again and who he thinks is his big future fight.
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Discussion of the wild Tuesday of IBF purse bids with Matchroom Boxing shockingly losing the Jaron Ennis-Karen Chukhadzhian bid and No Limit Boxing winning the Janibek Alimkhanuly-Andrei Mikhailovich purse bid by only $1,000 over Top Rank.
The WBO’s order for featherweight titlist Rafael Espinoza and former titlist Robeisy Ramirez to meet in a mandatory rematch.
Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh following through on his plans to lower pay-per-view prices with the Anthony Joshua-Daniel Dubois event on Sept. 21 being priced at only $19.99.
Official announcement that IBF junior middleweight titlist Bakhram Murtazaliev and mandatory challenger and former WBO titlist Tim Tszyu will fight Oct. 19 in Orlando, Florida, in the main event of the first non-PPV PBC on Prime event.
Top Rank’s announcement of the Norfolk, Virginia, homecoming for Keyshawn Davis against Gustavo Lemos on Nov. 8 on a card that will also feature two of Davis’ brothers and WBO welterweight titlist Brian Norman’s first defense against Derrieck Cuevas.
Boxxer’s announcement that up-and-coming junior welterweight Adam Azim will headline against Ohara Davies on Oct. 19.
Memories on the 27th anniversary of when Morales knocked out fellow Hall of Famer and Mexican great Daniel Zaragoza in the 11th round to win the WBC junior featherweight title, the first world title of Morales’ great career, and send Zaragoza into retirement.
Memories on the 28th anniversary of when Tyson scored a dubious first-round knockout of Bruce Seldon to win the WBA heavyweight title in a fight many thought Seldon took a dive in, causing national outrage from pay-per-view buyers.
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We bring you the preview each Friday and the weekend recap each Monday. Let me know what you think of the podcast by leaving your comments.
Alvarez photo: Esther Lin/PBC
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