By Matt Wood: Anyone following World Boxing Association interim welterweight champion Keith Thurman (23-0, 21 KOs) knows he’s being underutilized in the boxing game. He remains undefeated and has stopped ten of his last eleven opponents.
Despite his stellar record and a very fan-friendly style, he has yet to face a top-1o welterweight. Everyone knows his predicament: he’s a high-risk, low reward fighter who currently can’t bring an A-side fan base.
By Matt Wood: Two exciting featherweights will square off for the vacant WBO 126-pound title this month on June 21 in American Gary Russell Jr. (24-0) and Ukrainian Vasyl Lomachenko (1-1). If you’re unfamiliar with these fighters, their records might indicate a lopsided fight with Lomachenko having only two pro bouts under his belt, one of which is a loss, while Russel has steadily stacked up wins as a pro since 2009.
By Matt Wood: In the Marquez-Alvarado conference call Tuesday, Bob Arum gave boxing fans a sliver of hope that the Cold War might be undergoing a thaw, saying that he’s open to working with Oscar de la Hoya. Responding to a question by Boxing Insider’s Sean Crost regarding the possibility of Top Rank and Golden Boy fighters at 140 and 147 mixing it up, Arum replied:
By Matt Wood: Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero hasn’t fought since his loss to Floyd Mayweather last May. If he wanted to take some time off and enjoy his $3 million payday after getting roughed up by the pound for pound champ, that’s perfectly understandable, but that was an entire year ago. Bear in mind that fights need many months to be promoted, so Guerrero could easily have a year and half of rust on him when he next steps into the ring. So what’s he been up to lately?
Well, earlier this year he tried to leave Golden Boy, with whom he has a contract, to pursue a fight with Manny Pacquiao. His team hasn’t been overly vocal on how that was ultimately resolved, but Guerrero signed on with advisor/manager Al Haymon in March, who generally works with Golden Boy promoted fighters, so for the purposes of this article let’s assume Guerrero is staying with Golden Boy. Who should he fight next?
By MATT WOOD: Last weekend, we saw another underwhelming performance by Adrien Broner (28-1), in which he defeated an overmatched Carlos Molina (17-2-1). Perhaps more memorable than the fight itself was Broner’s haughty remark post fight:
“…but at the end of the day, I’m still Adrien the Problem
Broner- the Can Man- anybody can get it- Africans…
I just beat the f*** out of a Mexican…”
Broner was cut off by Showtime’s Jim Gray before he could finish his “thoughts” but the damage had been done. Yesterday, the World Boxing Council suspended Broner until he issues a public apology. The WBC welterweight belt was up for grabs in the main event between Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana, so the sanctioning body must have felt that a strong reaction was in order to demonstrate how non-racist they are.
By Matt Wood: Gennady Golovkin is one boxing’s most promising and exciting new fighters. He had a huge 2013, with four wins that were good enough to earn him Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year. While these fights were convincing enough to get many of us thinking that GGG is the best middleweight in the world, they were over competition that, while admirable, wasn’t great. At 31, he still has his best years ahead of him, but he’s not exactly a young man anymore, and we’d like him to spend his prime putting it on the line and fighting champions, not the Osumanu Adamas of the world.
Golovkin has been quiet lately due to the death of his father and his return to his native Kazakhstan. While we offer him our condolences during this period of mourning, the fan in us can’t help but be wonder what awaits upon his return. With that said, let’s look at where his current trajectory could lead him over the next year.
By Matt Wood: While we look forward to April 12 as the day that brings us closure on Manny Pacquiao, Tim Bradley, and the most controversial decision in recent memory, Top Rank has already put together the next challenge for whoever comes out on top between their two welterweight workhorses.
Juan Manuel Marquez and Mike Alvarado will be in the ring together on May 17 at a catchweight of 143 pounds with the victor facing the winner of Pacquioa-Bradley 2. Those of us familiar with Top Rank’s stable of fighters in the junior-welterweight and welterweight divisions might see this as a fairly logical development, but I have one question for which I can’t find an easy answer: why is Ruslan Provodnikov not in the mix?