BECAUSE I’m still a bit salty over the lack of mainstream coverage over good important fights in boxing over the weekend, allow me to share with you some insights from those fights.
Hopefully, some interest can be generated and people will actually talk about good, real fights rather than some boxing exhibition bull-crap featuring Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Logan Paul.
EUBANK. The son of a legend, Chris Eubank Jr. took care of business by pounding out a unanimous decision victory over Marcus Morrison.
It was Eubank’s first chance to strut his wares since hooking up with the legendary Roy Jones Jr. (a rival of his father though they never fought).
Jr. had a very strong first half, showing off his superior hand speed and power. There were times it looked like he could close the show, but he would let his feet off the gas pedal. In the second half, Morrison (23-4, 16KOs) put on a better show but was still no match for Eubank’s superior firepower.
I can’t really make out an appreciable difference between the pre-Roy Jones Jr. fighter and the present one. Eubank (30-3, 22KOs) still doesn’t do well against movers and nobody will mistake Morrison for a Willy Pep so I guess the jury is still out on whether this is a better version of Eubank than the one who succumbed to Matt Koborov in December 2019 due to an injury.
BIVOL. WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol of Russia successfully fended off the spirited challenge of Craig Richards to emerge victorious via unanimous decision.
Of itself, the fight might not assume paramount significance since neither is a household name. But if you add Canelo Alvarez, the biggest name in boxing today, to the mix, then you will get some interest.
To recall, when Alvarez briefly made a foray into the light heavyweight division last year when he defeated Sergey Kovalev, many wondered if he would stay at that division to unify the belts.
Bivol’s name came up as one of the current champions who would match up well with the shorter, smaller Canelo, but of course, we know that the latter opted to move back down.
This Sunday, Alvarez will be facing off against a formidable opponent in the undefeated Billy Joe Saunders and Bivol is a potential opponent for the victor of this matchup,
RUIZ. Former world champion Andy Ruiz was successful in the comeback trial when he beat perennial world title contender Chris Arreola via unanimous decision, but not without a scare.
To recall, Ruiz was defeated by Anthony Joshua in their rematch and he had vowed to get in proper shape for this comeback.
Ruiz did come in smaller and lighter but it seemed like this took a toll on his punch resistance as he was knocked down once by Arreola and got rocked several times.
Now I am not a sports nutritionist or a doctor obviously, but my sports columnist duties sometimes require me to delve deeply into topics about weight loss, muscle mass and the like.
Ruiz came in as a smaller version of himself and it didn’t look like any musculature in his body changed at all. That means he must have lost all his weight dieting and doing cardio and neglected muscle building. For me, that’s a no-no and it looked like he lost weight the wrong way.
With a record of 38-7 and 33KOs Arreola packs a decent punch, but I doubt this version of Ruiz can hold up against Joshua should they go for a rubber match.
VERBATIM. “Did he win? Fine. But don’t tell me you’re only going to give me two or three round. **ck that! “—Chris Arreola (www.talksport.com)
LAST ROUNDS. Are on two lovely ladies, Kristy Pepito and Vivian Bacolod, who recently celebrated their birthdays. Cheers!