Boxing Round-Up: The Weekend That Was

Boxing Round-Up: The Weekend That Was

By Rachel Aylett

Although this week saw the return of GGG, boxing at Madison Square Garden no less, it was a low-key affair due to the lack of quality of his opposition. Canadian Steve Rolls was a former national amateur champion but had made no impact whatsoever as a professional. In fact, he did make an impact on Saturday night, landing cleanly several times on the head of the former unified world champion.

One punch in the second round, the final one of a 1-2-1 combination, almost knocked Golovkin’s head off his shoulders. Of course, GGG prevailed with a typically brutal fourth round knockout.

Afterwards, there was only one name on the lips of Golovkin – Canelo. It is expected that the trilogy fight will take place in September and you would imagine it will be on Mexican independence day weekend.

Having watched this latest effort from GGG, I am becoming more and more convinced that he is in slow decline. I am one of the many that thought Golovkin won both fights against Canelo. However, as things stand, I can see Canelo genuinely winning the third fight without requiring any help from the judges.

The other big card of the weekend was Top Rank’s Reno show, headlined by WBO featherweight champion Oscar Valdez. The Mexican had his second “gimme” defence in a row against untested Jason Sanchez. Although the latter tried hard he was outclassed by Valdez in losing a 12-round decision. Although the judges gave Sanchez a couple of rounds I thought they were being generous and had Valdez pitching a shut-out.

Afterwards, Valdez stated he would like to stay at featherweight but that weight-making might force him to move up. What’s the betting that now Top Rank has gifted Jamel Herring the WBO belt up at super-feather, they now throw him under the bus in favour of the more marketable Valdez? Look for this match to be made in the next few months. Watch this space!

On the subject of “gimmes”, as stated, Oscar Valdez’ last two defences have been against Jason Sanchez and Italian Carmine Tommasone. I can’t think of two less deserving world title challengers than these. Oh, actually, maybe I can.

Some of the WBO’s title challengers in recent times include: Roamer Angulo, Habib Ahmed, Razvan Cojanu, Walter Kautondokwa, Brandon Cook, Gary Corcoran, Mikkel Lespierre. I mean, who are these people?? Fighting for a world title used to be an honour reserved for top contenders. No longer it seems. The WBO was the last of the four major governing bodies to be generally recognised. I wish we had continued to ignore them.

Also on the Top Rank card was Brazilian Olympic gold medallist Robson Conceicao. He went to 13-0 (6 kayos) with an 8-rounds points victory. Conceicao is 30 years old and was a star-studded amateur.

Alongside his Olympic success he left the unpaid ranks with a sackful of medals. Why then is he not being moved on? His opposition is very poor, particularly when compared to the progress being made by Michael Conlan and Shakur Stevenson, Top Rank’s two other high profile Rio Olympians.

This organisation has proved more than willing to move their fighters quickly – if they feel they are good enough. With regards to Conceicao, that can only leave us with one obvious answer.

Conceicao was one of three top Brazilian amateurs to turn professional after the Rio games. With this country’s paucity of success in the sport, aside from Eder Jofre and Acelino Freitas, it looked highly likely that either Conceicao or one of the Falcao brothers would surely break through.

However, with no sign of progress from Conceicao and Yamaguchi Falcao having recently tasted his first defeat, hopes for this trio are fading fast. The lack of success from this fight-mad country has long baffled me. I can only think that if anybody has an interest in participating in combat sports in Brazil they immediately go into MMA. If anybody has any other theories, please let me know!

The final word of the week is reserved for Matchroom middleweight prospect Nikita Ababiy. He scored his fifth straight early knockout at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night and looks absolutely sensational so far.

Only one of those five opponents has made it out of the first round. Matchroom may have a future star on their hands – and boy do they need it after their recent setbacks.