My sister can't wrestle...

But you should see her box!

Sorry about the late post, but we have a big fight tomorrow night… GGG v Canelo: Part 2… And I am excited about it.

The only sports I watch religiously are college football and boxing.  So these fall Saturdays where we have a full slate of games, and then a prize fight later that night are ideal for me.  I am going to make a crispy pork shoulder, drink red wine, watch boxing and college highlights until 2 AM, and then explain to my kids that God doesn’t mind when daddy sleeps through mass on Sundays in the fall.

Plus, I don’t know if you see what’s going on in our society nowadays, but I think God is either dead, or she’s taken a little sabbatical.

September continues to be jam packed with quality matchups after a very good undercard and main event this past Saturday where Shawn Porter earned a unanimous decision over Danny Garcia for a vacant welterweight title.  For those who missed it, Garcia was more accurate, but just didn’t stay busy enough over 12 rounds.  According to Compubox, even though Danny landed on 36% of his total shots thrown to Shawn’s 24%, Garcia threw almost 300 LESS punches over the course of the fight.

With the victory, Porter set himself up for a possible unification fight with Errol Spence Jr., who was ringside and seems eager to unify unless he can find a bigger payday somewhere else.

I like this trend of seeing potential opponents sitting ringside… Deontay Wilder did it a couple weeks back at the Fury fight.  It seemed a bit staged, but last weekend you could tell Spence was there looking not only to promote.  He was also there looking for an edge.

Never been a huge baseball fan, so I haven’t been excited all summer about anything that wasn’t on a plate or in a glass, but if they can keep these decisions clean going forward, I am getting excited for boxing again.

Speaking of NOT keeping boxing clean, I rewatched GGG v Canelo: Part 1 last night, and I still have a big problem with that DRAW.  The press up to tomorrow’s fight is showing evenly weighted clips of both fighters landing blows, but Golovkin clearly controlled the middle rounds of that fight, and it wasn’t even close.

Then, I went back to the scorecards because even though I knew Adalaide Byrd inexplicably scored it 10 rounds to 2 for Canelo, it was the third judge who really banged Gennady in the ass.

So we’ll throw out Byrd’s card on the left and chalk it up to the fact maybe women just shouldn’t judge boxing matches.

Unless of course…

Then, Moretti on Card #2 got it right with scoring it 7 rounds to 5 in favor of Golovkin.  As a result, Dave Moretti is the only judge from the original fight invited back to judge Part 2.

Now look to the far right, on Card #3, and Don Trella goes 6 and 6 for the unfathomable DRAW.

I really don’t think you’ll revisit the first fight before tomorrow night, but if you want to YouTube it, just rewatch the 7th round… A round Judge 3 awarded to Canelo, but a round that was in reality the strongest Gennady fought that night.  A round that was so obviously for Golovkin that even Byrd gave it to him… And (as we established before) she’s a fucking moron.

This isn’t a “hot take”, but if you look at nothing but the scorecards and the Compubox numbers, I think everyone will agree the DRAW decision in GGG v Canelo: Part 1 was a fucking disgrace.

But that was then, and this is now.  Boxing needed that DRAW to further the career of Alvarez after his loss to Mayweather, AND to guarantee the opportunity for a rematch.  A rematch where the judges will hopefully be picked over with a fine-toothed-comb… And, I think the fine-toothed-comb hope is more likely to come to fruition after all of the recent outside-the-ring controversy surrounding the rematch.

Quick recap- Part 2 was supposed to take place this past Cinco De Mayo, but Canelo tested positive for the banned substance Clenbuterol.  Clenbuterol had shown up in drug tests for many Mexican athletes in recent years because of meat contamination in the country, and Alvarez said Mexican sausage contamination caused his positive test.

I don’t know if I buy it.  Alvarez was suspended, GGG took a fight versus a can of soup in May just to stay fresh, and the rematch was rescheduled for this weekend.

This may appear to be a no harm/no foul scenario, but even though it seems like Canelo has been fighting for 30 years, he is still a young man (28).  Whereas Golovkin is 35, and a six month delay means the world to a fighter who is over 30 and aging in dog-years.

I watched Gennady beat Daniel Jacobs in March of last year.  You could already see that distinct lag boxers get almost overnight once they reach 33 or 34.  He was still effective versus Jacobs, but just didn’t have that speed to close off the ring and corner his opponent for power punches.  It was the first time in his career GGG had to go 12 rounds.  Even though Golovkin’s constant forward pressure and effective jab lead to a unanimous decision victory, it ended his 23 fight knockout streak which dated back to November 2008.

So, what I am trying to say is: Canelo really fucked Gennady with this whole tainted sausage debacle, and it changes the whole mindset for this fight.

GGG is usually a cool and calculated assassin, but he has gotta be angry this time around… Both for the robbery DRAW in Part 1 AND the unneccessary delay of Part 2.

You can’t fight angry against a counterpuncher like Alvarez.  You have to fight smart and counterpunchers typically have the advantage in rematches.

So if Golovkin is on tilt and has a sense of urgency to NOT go the distance because of his justified distrust for the judges, then he leaves himself open to a fighter that is younger, faster, and has stronger legs.

Canelo’s reputation took a hit after this whole suspension, but he is still that unicorn of a fighter who is both young AND experienced.  His name is Saul Alvarez, and he has red hair and freckles.  Growing up in Mexico with a Jewish first name, red hair, and spots on your face that looks like someone threw dog shit at you threw a screen door, is not easy for a kid.  So Saul took on the nickname “Canelo” (which is Spanish for “cinnamon”), and started fighting when he was 13.

You don’t see many 28 year olds that already have a record of 49-1-2.

My Final Prediction- I would love to see Golovkin send Canelo’s head through the fucking ropes, crashing right into De La Hoya’s smug smile…

BUT if Alvarez’s conditioning isn’t too negatively affected by the lack of “accidental steroids” this time around, AND if he can stay off the ropes (where GGG’s right hand loves to fly), then I like Canelo Alvarez as an underdog (+125) in a split decision.

Enjoy the fight.

Take a report.

-Large