By Sishaq: Ever since his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in which he delivered an … continue
By Sishaq: As the old saying goes father time is undefeated. And because of that win streak we must bid adieu to the era of Floyd “Money” Mayweather. Those of us lucky to be alive were witnesses to a special athlete who was groomed to be nothing more in life except a world class boxer.
By Sishaq: Floyd Money Mayweather and Conor Notorious McGregor (no, that’s not a typo) are scheduled to fight Saturday, August 26, 2017 in Las Vegas, NV for boxing supremacy. Boxing purists have been up in arms scowling the fact Conor has never been in a professional boxing match and doesn’t stand even a chance to land a single punch, let alone make it past the first round on Michigan native’s self-described, The Best Ever (TBE). They laugh out loud at the ridiculous notion Conor can take punches from a real boxer, especially one who has been a champion for 20 years. They point to the fact in 2013, Floyd shutout an up and coming boxing star, Canelo Alvarez, whereas in 2013 Conor McGregor was training to become a plumber! In other words, too many leaks in his faucet to be taken seriously.
By Sishaq: Having since returned from the Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Amir ‘King’ Khan mega-fight and watched the replay on TV the following are a few observations. First, congratulations to Canelo on a sensational KO victory. He not only did what was expected of him but he showed improvements in his boxing skills. I was pleasantly surprised at his agility and the robust use of angles. I was equally impressed with his game plan of going exclusively to the body round after round after round just to setup an out-of-rhythm head shot.
With all of that said, however, there is one issue that needs to be highlighted. As the A-side of the fight Canelo absolutely had every right to dictate terms, such as making the title fight at the Canelo- catch weight of 155 lbs., instead of the full middleweight 160 lbs.
By sishaq: Boxing enthusiasts are starting to get excited about the upcoming ‘Fight of the Century’, between Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. and the magnificent Manny Pacquiao. Although we’re all still recovering from PTSD since riding shotgun on a roller-coaster of negotiations that took longer than WWI to end, as the saying goes all is fair in love and war.
Unfortunately, the buildup hasn’t produced much of either since neither side is making any bold predictions or talking trash to amplify the tensions as one would have liked (where’s Prince Naseem when you need him?).
By sishaq: Many boxers will claim they will take on any fight out there but business sense dictates it’s best to avoid certain boxers like the plague.
Among the “avoided” – GGG, Keith Thurman, Guillermo Rigondeaux. These boxers present ultra-high risk but ultra-low reward. Get beaten by any of them and you simply become a statistic, in the unlikely event you beat them your stock doesn’t necessarily rise higher.
Either way these fighters do not generate enough public interest presently to make financial sense which is why many opposition promoters avoid them altogether. However, in my opinion all three are on the verge of breaking out of the middle tier and into super stardom. Time will tell as we don’t yet know what future bouts will catapult these elite athletes into the upper stratosphere.
By sishaq: There are only a handful of boxers who have been able to elevate the intrigue and excitement of a fight simply by the anticipation and execution of their ring entrance.
There are merely four athletes that are head and shoulders above the rest in the history of the sport, all with an innate ability to attract loyal fans as well as loathing critics. The first two, Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, didn’t require any props or celebrities to augment their entrance because both had a intimidating presence, natural gravitas and an overwhelming aura.
Every word, emotional feature, facial expression and body language was carefully analyzed by fans from the curtain to the catwalk. Based on the fighter appearing angry, uncharacteristically relaxed, stone-faced focused or sadistically jovial it could suggest the level of ruthless punishment forthcoming the opponent.
By sishaq: By now many hard-core boxing junkies and casual fans are aware Floyd Mayweather Jr. has a May 5 fight date approaching in the desert of Las Vegas, NV. What’s odd is that it’s late February and an opponent has still yet to be named.
Mayweather asked his fans to pick either Amir Khan or Marcos Maidana, and though the latter had the early lead the tide turned when day turned to night in the US and night turned to day in the other parts of the world thus allowing Amir Khan’s fans to make him leapfrog past Maidana and win the popular vote. This is consistent with Khan’s broad international appeal and further evidence the PPV interest has international reach and not just by domestic audiences.