Breaking down a boxing fans/journalists pound for pound list by James Le Blanc

floyd20By James Le Blanc: As this subpar year of boxing comes closer to an end I have read some interesting pound for pound lists lately; some I respected and others frustrated me deeply. P4P lists are a “What have you done for me lately” contest.

When boxers decide to take an extended period away from the ring they lose part of the right to say they are still the best. Dan Rafael removes a fighter from his list if he has been inactive for over a year and I agree with this practice. An example of a fighter that has been recently removed from Dan’s list would be Andre Ward, and early next year (unless he fights soon) Mikey Garcia. We judge fighters based on their performances, and level of opposition.

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2015 Boxing’s best year in decades?

floyd74By Wilmar Patino (Boxing’s Finest) Wrapping up the year of 2014 we had many ups and downs seeing a lot of mismatches along the way. This is Boxing and mismatches tend to be a part of the sport. Yet we have some great fights already confirmed and some stellar match ups that look more promising than ever for the year of 2015. There’s a lot of excitement surrounding the sport for the upcoming year and I’d like to have us all take a look and discuss the upcoming bouts. 2015 Has the potential to be the best year in boxing in decades for a few reasons lets revise that now.

Starting off with Floyd Mayweather Jr vs Manny Pacquiao because it has the most potential to bring the sport to the forefront once again and has the most significance in the sports history today. Of course this is a huge fight that will break records and generate unmatched revenue for a long time to come. The hype behind this bout is obvious and fans have been waiting for too long. I won’t say more than that because this topic has been exhausted by every media outlet and journalist for years. What I will say is that 2015 seems the most likely year the fight will take place if ever.

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The Bullets, Part 1: Canelo, Cotto, PacMan, Golovkin & Much More

cotto88888By Kevin Pasquale: In my previous article for this site, I waxed poetic on the “who, why, and what if” on Money & Manny finally getting in the ring together. If that fight comes to pass, then there will be more to say at that time—maybe enough to write another article.

But moving in a different direction, let’s do this: A bunch of bullets & random thoughts on boxing. Easy to read, and better yet, we can look at a lot of stuff in a minimum of time. So, to begin:

· – Hate to start on a negative note, but wow, what is up with Jermain Taylor?

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Canelo wants Pacquiao, Mayweather and Cotto, says De La Hoya

canelo76By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya says that not only does his fighter former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez want a fight against Miguel Cotto in early 2015, but he also is highly interested in facing Top Rank fighter Manny Pacquiao as well as Floyd Mayweather Jr in a rematch.

De La Hoya believes that Canelo is poised to become boxing’s No.1 pay-per-view star once Mayweather and Pacquiao hang up their gloves, and he thinks that Canelo will be the top star for at least 10 years.

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De La Hoya expects Cotto-Canelo to draw over 1 million PPV buys on HBO

canelo67By Dan Abrose: Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya is confident that the proposed May 2nd showdown between WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) will bring in over 1 million pay-per-view buys on HBO, and give the two fighters the biggest paydays of their careers.

The Cotto-Canelo fight likely won’t do nearly as well as when the two fighters each fought Floyd Mayweather Jr . However, they’ll be getting a much bigger purse split in facing each other than they did against Mayweather, and that ultimately could mean a bigger payday for them if the fight does as well on HBO PPV as De La Hoya seems to think it will.

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Abel Sanchez: Canelo will fight Golvokin, Cotto will not

bengggabel102813By Jesse James: Abel Sanchez, the head trainer of WBA “Super” and WBC interim Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, believes Canelo Alvarez will fight Golovkin if he beats Cotto. Sanchez believes Cotto will not fight Golovkin if he wins. Canelo has stated multiple times he will fight Golovkin and isn’t afraid, even Oscar De la Hoya stated that Canelo is indeed interested and that fight is a possibility next year.

As for Miguel Cotto the current WBC and lineal Middleweight champion, there hasn’t been much interest in fighting Golovkin next providing that he beats Canelo sometime next year. The only talk of a Golovkin bout came from his trainer Freddie Roach.

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De La Hoya thinks Canelo-Cotto is fight boxing fans want to see, not Mayweather-Pacquiao

canelo90By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya says that the fight that boxing fans are craving to see right now is a clash between WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) rather than Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr.

De La Hoya thinks that the Canelo-Cotto fight can bring in over 2 million pay-per-view buys despite the fact that neither Canelo or Cotto have proven themselves capable of drawing above 300,000 PPV buys when they were the A-side of a PPV card.

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Macklin wants to face Miguel Cotto in Dublin if he beats Heiland

macklin3434(Matthew Macklin seen here getting pounded by Sergio Martinez) By Scott Gilfoid: #6 WBC, #10 WBA, #13 WBO Matthew Macklin (31-5, 20 KOs) is in position to become the mandatory challenger to World Boxing Council middleweight champion Miguel Cotto if Macklin beats little known #4 WBC Jorge Sebastian Heiland (24-4-2, 12 KOs) in their fight next month on November 15th at the 3Arena, in Dublin, Ireland.

Macklin might beat Heiland, which isn’t saying much because he’s not a great fighter, but the odds of Macklin getting a title shot against Cotto are very slim in my view. Cotto would take some much criticism from boxing fans if he were to fight Macklin instead of Golovkin.

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Bradley could fight Canelo-Cotto winner, says Arum

bradley677By Dan Ambrose: Rather than Gennady Golovkin getting the winner of next year’s mega fight between Saul “Canel” Alvarez and Miguel Cotto, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says that his fighter Tim Bradley (31-1, 12 KOs) could very well be the one that faces the winner of Cotto-Canelo instead of the hard hitting Golovkin. Arum says that Bradley wants that fight, and he feels it’s an easy one to make.

The big question is how would the tiny 5’6” Bradley be able to compete against sluggers as big and as powerful as Cotto or Canelo? There’s also the question of whether Bradley would even deserve the fight. Unless the Canelo-Cotto winner is going to vacate the WBC middleweight title, they’d be defending it against a welterweight instead of a middleweight.

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Golovkin beats Rubio, calls out Cotto

golovkin433By Dan Ambrose: WBA Super World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (31-0, 28 KOs) put World Boxing Council 160 pound champion Miguel Cotto on notice that he wants to fight him next following Golovin’s impressive 2nd round knockout victory over the usually strong-chinned Marco Antonio Rubio (59-7-1, 51 KOs) on Saturday night in front of 9,323 fans at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

Rubio went down in the 2nd from a left to the head by Golovkin. The fight was then stopped at 1:19 of the round.

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