By Michael Byrne: Austin Trout and Steve Cunningham were both on the losing side on Saturday night, with Trout losing his ‘0’ and USS finding himself glued to the canvas. However, they can both draw some big positives from their losses. Both men spoke well in their ring interviews after their defeats: Trout was incredibly humble, and Cunningham was honest and accepting.
Trout could have complained about the ‘hometown’ judging, especially the 118-109 verdict, but instead decided to accept his defeat and praise Canelo. Presumably, he is not sat at home looking for a ‘man-in-the-hat’ on the replays. Cunningham could have complained about Tyson Fury being anything but gentlemanly, but instead managed to make Fury look even more dishonorable by showing how a gentleman really should act.
Trout lost the fight against Canelo because he lacked power. He was able to hit Canelo often enough (although Canelo’s movement, particularly from the waist, was surprisingly impressive!) but unable to even make him flinch, unless of course you count Canelo’s head-rolls as flinches.
When Canelo landed on Trout, the head would properly snap back and Trout would be forced to move backwards. Trout looked like a potential superstar after outpointing Cotto, but Canelo has halted that dream, at least for the moment. Trout needs to stay active if he wants to stay relevant. A victory over a ‘name’ will keep him on the radar and allow him to call out other champions. One such route could be something like a victory over Gabriel Rosado (if he gets past J’Leon Love in May) and then call out the winner of Smith-Molina – straight back to the top. He might have suffered his first defeat on Saturday night, but it shouldn’t keep him down.
Cunningham lost the fight to Fury because he was 210lbs. That is not a modern-day Heavyweight. Julio Cesar-Chavez Jr. has stepped into the ring at a similar size to Cunningham. With Fury being 45lbs heavier than him, he was never going to be able to last 12 rounds, even in his super-conditioned state. He has no future in the glamor division, but he still has options if he can get back down to Cruiserweight. He could go wild and call out Antonio Tarver, and destroy the old man if he got the fight; he could call out Marco Huck, and even though Huck won’t go near him again he will make Huck look bad and himself look good; he could shout for a fight with Lebedev and outbox him for 12 rounds ; or he could go for a big American dust-up with ‘Fast’ Eddie Chambers or even BJ Flores. He might have seen his sixth defeat on Saturday night, but USS is one of those increasingly rare admirable warriors who consistently fight the best.
To Trout and Cunningham – fantastic performances on Saturday night, and the boxing public hopes to see you soon!
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