Okay. Here’s another edition of my (in)famous Quick (S)hits, where I give you a little bit of everything on my boxing plate over the last few days. Enjoy...or not:
– Teofimo Lopez was in a showcase Saturday night in Miami and it played out much better than the showcase Top Rank tried to give him four months ago against Jamaine Ortiz. This time around, they gave him Canada’s Steve Claggett, who, unlike Ortiz, is genetically incapable of being a style-mucking spoiler. Claggett came forward, fought bravely, and was there to be hit, outworked, and, eventually, beaten. There was no mystery to the Canadian’s game and that was precisely the point. Lopez would’ve won some nice publicity points for himself if he could’ve stopped Claggett. Let’s face it, Michael Jackson-dancing to the ring and back flips after the fight are nice, but people want to see knockouts and general devastation. They’d also prefer not to see showcases on prime ESPN air time with fighters who are supposed to be stars. I’m wondering if Teofimo can be all that happy, too, working his way through showcases while many of his contemporaries have already headlined multiple big-buck pay-per-views.
– How can you say something salty and negative about that Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez performance versus Juan Francisco “El Gallo” Estrada in Phoenix? Easy. More people should’ve been able to see that fight live on TV. Having a fight like this-- that we ALL knew would be good-- hitting the main stage at nearly 1 AM eastern time was boxing stupidity and short-sightedness at its finest. Yeah, I get that this is the “on demand” generation, where people can go back and watch programming at their leisure and I also get that the organizers were working to accommodate the live gate audience in Phoenix. But there’s nothing quite as energizing and fan-building as watching en electrifying ring performance play out in actual time where the element of surprise pushes “impressive” to “holy shit, this is fucking amazing!” The thousands in attendance at Footprint Center would’ve still made the fight and would’ve still been just as enthused for the main event if it took place two hours earlier. Boxing does a shitty job of being accessible to new fans and this fight was just another example of that. The bossmen should stop their single-minded focus on selling to the already-sold and start working at getting fan-friendly fighters like Bam into the line of sight of casual-curious fans, so we can actually build a base for the future.
– As for Bam’s actual ring performance? What can I say? Superbly brutal, just like fight fans like. People will try to diminish the win by pointing out Estrada’s age (34) and the fact that he was coming off about 19 months of inactivity, but that was an A+ showing from Rodriguez. And even if “El Gallo” WAS diminished, Bam did exactly what you’re supposed to do against a guy who should be taken out. No fooling around and playing it safe, he went for the kill and kept coming for it. At 24, there’s a lot of future ahead of this kid.
– Devin Haney has been named “Champion in Recess” by the WBC. For those who need a translation, this was Haney finessing his way into a long layoff while still being able to hold on to a title because: 1) He didn’t like the financial terms of Top Rank’s winning bid for his 140 lb. defense against Sandor Martin (about $2.4 million total, with about $1.5 million going to him) and 2) He’s still licking his wounds-- mental and psychological-- from an embarrassing loss to Ryan Garcia and needs a big break to get his shit back together.
– With this next fight potentially being Shakur Stevenson’s last under Top Rank contract, it look like it’s time for one of Bob Arum’s patented “let’s make the outgoing guy look bad” fights. Forget all the big recent talk from Arum about getting a blockbuster fight for Shakur. By all accounts, Shakur is leaving for a shot at greener pastures and either some actual big fights as a free agent or some of that ridiculous money mark money from DAZN/Matchroom, where he’ll be fighting Euro-stiffs for the next couple years. Make no mistake about it, though, Arum is matching Shakur against Artem Harutyunyan to make him look bad and Artem’s just the guy to do it. The Armenia-born German resident is tough, tenacious, and just savvy enough to nullify an opponent’s plans. He also doesn’t make a lot of exploitable mistakes. In other words, he’s a spoiler. He’s not built to beat Shakur, but Artem might be right there in Shakur’s face, pushing forward, making things a bit sloppy and doggedly refusing to be discouraged. This was targeted matchmaking with the intent of delivering a sour farewell party.
– Well, all that NEW Four Kings hype from a few years back looks kind of ridiculous now. Who were the NEW Four Kings, anyway? Gervonta Davis, Teofimo Lopez, Devin Haney, and Ryan Garcia? At some point, Shakur Stevenson was then wedged into the conversation. The one common truth through all of it, though, is that the call back to Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Roberto Duran, and Marvin Hagler was utter bullshit. The REAL Four Kings fought each other nine times (check my math, historians) over the span of nine years. The NEW Four Kings have fought each other a total of twice in nearly four years-- and only because an overmatched Ryan Garcia fumbled his way into that Tank Davis mugging and then hustled his way into mugging Haney. And when/if there are other NEW Four King fights, they’ll probably be fairly underwhelming since, IMO, Haney is/was overrated and Teo and Ryan are wildly inconsistent head cases. Meanwhile, Tank’s not fighting any of them, unless Ryan volunteers to get beat up again.
– Notice how none of the usual boxing media goons are screaming on social media about how that August 3 Saudi card in Los Angeles is an “HBO card, not PPV,” like they do before every PBC card? Um, maybe it could have something to do with a bias-- a bias spurred on by the fact that most are taking pay checks from PBC’s direct competition? Hmmmm…Listen, that August 3 card is decent. But you could easily make the “That’s an HBO card” argument with that event. Crawford-Madrimov, Pitbull-Rayo, and Anderson-Bakole would actually be a sub-par HBO or Showtime triple-header. So, let’s be a little consistent with our outrage here.
– Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois is officially set for September21 and Eddie Hearn’s Saudi overlords were kind enough to allow him to stage it in the UK. Thank you, Your Excellency, sir. The bout will be for the trash bin IBF title recently relinquished by Oleksandr Usyk. Whatever. It should be alright as a fight between runners up, though.
Got something for Magno? Send it here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com