By Yannis Mihanos: Human curiosity is the great instigator in this what if scenario that usually materializes in PlayStation games and Hollywood films, the one and only Floyd Mayweather Jr. meets the one and only Conor McGregor next Saturday night on August 26 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Floyd Mayweather of boxing meets Conor McGregor of UFC.
By Yannis Mihanos: The Manny Pacquiao I once knew used to be a tireless unstoppable force of nature leading his opponents to complete exhaustion. The Manny that I now see has changed not necessarily for the better. Pacquiao’s defeat at the hands of Australian champion and now new welterweight champion Jeff Horn earlier this month on July 2 was an unsuspected one and yet whoever watched that fight was kind of expecting it.
By Yannis Mihanos: The first match between Andre “SOG” Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) and light heavyweight world champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) ended in controversy with Kovalev fuming about robbery after Ward won a 12 unanimous decision on points on November 19 last year in Las Vegas, Nevada.
By Yannis Mihanos: Kell Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) defends his IBF welterweight title tonight against unbeaten American Errol Spence Jr. (21-0, 18 KOs) at Bramall Lane in Sheffield, England. Last September, Brook was pummeled by a much stronger opponent in middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in losing by a 5th round knockout on September 10 at the O2 Arena in London, England. Many boxing fans were surprised by Brooks decision to fight Golovkin. It was a completely unsuspected one.
By Yannis Mihanos: After 2 years of waiting, the boxing fans finally get what they want with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) facing IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0, 33 KO’s) in a massive showdown on September 16th.
Often promoters make things difficult in boxing, they look through it from the eyes of the businessman. They would protect their fighters as they would protect their investments and of course they would take minimal risks.
By Yannis Mihanos: We are just hours away from this important middleweight division unification fight between Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and Daniel Jacobs in the Mecca of Boxing at the Madison Square Garden, New York.
IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) is facing his biggest challenge and threat so far and for WBA champion Daniel “Miracle Man” Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) is the same situation. They are both in the danger zone: where a champion gets to fight another champion.
By Yannis Mihanos: Some fighters aim high in terms of title and achievement while others just target big money fights and do whatever it takes to go there. They are lured by what it is offered to them and do the adjustments. They bulk up or they trim down to fit wherever the big money is available.
But it doesn’t always work as expected, since his arrival in the welterweight division, Adrien “the problem” Broner (33 Wins-2 Loses) has experienced problems.
By Yannis Mihanos: Before going up at the light Heavyweight division, Andre “SOG” Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) had to stay on the sidelines for a considerable period of time.
This was a difficult time but also the only way to get out of a nasty contract agreement. Contracts often tie fighters to do things they don’t want to do, to get fights not so appealing to them.
By Yannis Mihanos: If history teaches us something is mistakes that people do and how to do our best to avoid them. The trick to best retirement is to retire when people still need you. Look for example Floyd Mayweather Jr, he is more than a year retired and people still cannot stop thinking about him and demanding for him to return.
When people don’t need you anymore, it means you have gone way over the hill and turned yourself to obsolete.
It ain’t pretty when you lose especially when you have just announced your retirement. Many fighters wish to finish at a high note but only a few can realize it.
By Yannis Mihanos: What is his secret of Bernard Hopkins? Staying there and hanging tough with the big guns of boxing, fighting against people much younger. It surely takes something special to do it.
Hopkins might never have had that blinding speed or amazing fist strength but he had things that many others failed to have at a consistent daily basis: self-discipline, and mastery of a mind that could turn anytime and anything into a weapon.