Boxing Weekend Preview: Canelo OUT!, Karim Mayfield, Erislandy Lara, Julian Williams in action
Canelo Alvarez withdrawals from Golovkin PPV
In news that was expected, Canelo Alvarez withdrew from his pay-per-view fight with Gennady Golovkin on May 5th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada after two failed drug test for clenbuterol. Alvarez, who will get his disciplinary action for his failed tests on April 18th in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission seemed doomed from the start after his multiple failed tests.
Golovkin will now look to fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena more than likely against Golden Boy Promotions Irish middleweight Spike O’Sullivan. It isn’t the sexiest fight, but it is what it is.
Most experts believe Canelo will serve a six-month suspension meaning he could fight in September on Mexican Independence Day, but at the same time, the strict Nevada commission has not been keen on the general public predicting what would happen up until this point.
The lasting impact of this is the fact that Canelo’s legacy now is stained with one ugly incident being one of the highest profile fighters ever.
Sources close to the bout say that the May 5th bout will remain a pay-per-view with Golovkin manning the helm as mentioned above probably taking on Spike O’Sullivan, one might wonder if a major Ryan Garcia fight as well might be added in order to merit the pay-per-view asking price.
Also, will this spell the end of Canelo at HBO?
Karim Mayfield Promotes SF card
photo: Lukie Ketelle
Beloved San Francisco professional boxer in the welterweight division, Karim “Hard Hitta” Mayfield will return to action this Saturday, April 7th at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, CA against Gaku Takahashi, a game and durable southpaw who trains at the prestigious Wild Card Boxing Gym in Hollywood, CA.
Mayfield is not just headlining the bout, but also promoting it as well as his Hard Hitta Promotions is working in association with Humboldt Boxing and Roy Englebrecht. For Mayfield, a veteran of the sport who saw most of his prime of career being avoided by top fighters is now looking to change that as he is able to dictate terms on the business side of things.
Mayfield’s brother, Sahleem Tindle was violently killed by the BART police just outside of the West Oakland BART station in January of this year. Mayfield is dedicating this fight to his brother as well as looking to use his platform a professional boxer and role-model to young people in his community to spark change.
The co-main event will see San Francisco, CA’s own, Willie Shaw Jr. back in the ring against Sean Gee. Shaw is a very hard-hitting lightweight who trains out of Hit Fit SF with Jairo Escobar as well as cross-trains with Mike Neal of Real Neal Sports in Martinez, Ca. Shaw is an undefeated fighter with plenty of experience who is looking to get his name out there in the boxing world.
Popular San Francisco, CA middleweight Ricardo Pinell will face game journeyman Enrique Gallegos in a six-round bout.Heavyweight Andres Salas of South San Francisco, CA will be in action against Tamis Long in a four-round bout as well as Lennard Davis, who now trains with Brian Russell, father of cruiserweight Mikey Russell, will face pro debut Julio Rizo of Hayward, CA as well as the professional debut of R.J. Magayanes.
The card was put together by matchmaker Andy Nance
For more information visit http://www.hardhittapromotions.com/events.html
Lara vs. Hurd
Two world champions at the junior middleweight division will be in action as WBA super welterweight champion Erislandy Lara fights IBF super welterweight champion Jarrett Hurd at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas, Nevada in a unification bout broadcast nationwide on Showtime, Saturday night.
Lara, a potential hall of famer has spent the majority of his career defeating top level opposition as well as making mandatory title defenses as most are not keen on facing the stellar super welterweight. Lara has faced the best fighter in the division at the time in Canelo Alvarez in a bout many felt that Lara won, Lara has defeated a list of respectable fighters, but the main takeaway from Lara’s career is avoidance. Lara is the fighter that no one is excited about fighting unless you get paid well and even then fighters look for other option.
My only concern with Lara in this bout is I feel he could make welterweight making him one of the smallest super welterweights in the division.
Hurd, on the other hand, ran the gauntlet to win a world title as he beat Frank Galarza, Oscar Molina, Jo Jo Dan, Tony Harrison and Austin Trout in consecutive bouts. The Harrison bout earned him his IBF super welterweight title and despite losing the majority of the fight Hurd picked up late and got the stoppage win.Hurd is a fighter who wins his fights in the gym as he comes in much bigger than his opponents and though he is not very technical, he fights not unlike Margarito using size and pressure to win bouts, typically by stoppage.
The interesting question of this bout is the following: is Lara to small for Hurd? Lara is light years ahead of Hurd in terms of talent, but the question is can he handle the plodding puncher in Hurd?
Truax vs. DeGale
James DeGalturnednd a volunteer title defense of his IBF super middleweight title into a loss to Caleb Truax in the UK. Truax is now giving DeGale a rematch in Las Vegas, Nevada, a somewhat tradition unlike any other, when boxers are upset the immediate course of action tends to be a rematch, that is what is happening.
Traux, a class act and veteran tough guy from Minnesota is now looking to secure his legacy as more than just a rugged boxer who pulled off an upset to win a world title, Truax wants to cement his reign at the super middleweight division. Truax does one thing well and that one thing is pressure, something that DeGale arguably has not shown the prowess to hand at the upper echelon.
DeGale, on the other hand, has looked pretty much awful since beating Andre Dirrell to win the title as he barely scraped by in most of his outings struggling against “Porky” Medina and losing on everyone, but the judges’ scorecards against Badou Jack, when they fought last January. DeGale is essentially looking like a diminished fighter who is trying to prove doubters wrong by turning back the clock against the man who took his title.
The bout is more about what does DeGale have left as Truax, has overachieved at this point and if he wins again, he will secure a highly likable legacy in the sport of boxing, whereas a loss would have DeGale contemplating what to do next.
Truax also does one thing that DeGale doesn’t like and that applies pressure. DeGale has struggled in his last few fights when his foes have put pressure on him, will that trend continue?
Julian Williams vs. Nathaniel Gallimore
In full disclosure, I really like Julian “J-Rock” Williams as a person and will make no bones about it that I am slightly biased. Williams, a super welterweight from Philadelphia, PA, is looking to be next in line to fight the winner of Lara vs. Hurd, which also serves as the main event this card is placed on.
Williams to me lives and dies by his jab, which might be the best in boxing. Williams has a jab that snaps his opponent’s head back and makes them reactive as opposed to offensive when he is at his best. Williams likes to turn bouts into tactical maneuvers with heavy punches mixed in.
Nathaniel Gallimore is a hard-hitting fighter, who came up the hard way defeating Justin DeLoach and Jeison Rosario in order to get himself into this opportunity. Gallimore is not known for his boxing skills per say, but he wants you to trade with him as he taunts you and tries to land an overhand right. Gallimore in many ways reminds me of a flasher version of a fighter some might remember, Joshua Clottey.
Sergio Mora vs. Angulo
A friend of ITRBoxing.com, middleweight Sergio Mora will fight Alfredo Angulo in a legends type undercard match. The bout will serve to see how much both fighters have left in the tank at this point in their career and the winner will go on to get a big money fight.
Xavier Martinez, Ava Knight
Two decorated Northern California fighters signed to Mayweather Promotions will be in action the undercard as well as Sacramento, CA’s Xavier Martinez, trained by boxing legend Ray Woods, will return to action, as well as Chico, CA’s women’s world champion Ava Knight. They will both fight before the televised portion of the card.
Aaron Coley fights for title in Africa
Middleweight Aaron Coley of Hayward, CA fights for his first title in Africa this weekend against Paul Valenzuela Jr. in a 12-round fight. Coley, a top professional fighter from the Bay Area, has recently started training with Kris “Lightning” Lopez in Oakland, CA as well as training strength and conditioning with Bryant Sharifi of Perform for Life.
Esparza headlines LA Fight Club
2012 U.S. Olympian Marlen Esparza will headline Friday’s LA Fight Club card from the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles, CA, which will be televised by Estrella TV. Esparza has not faced the toughest level of competition in her professional career, but as a decorated amateur, we’re interested in seeing her when she steps up in competition. The logical next step will be against Seinesa Estrada, who headlined the previous LA Fight Club card from the same venue.
Esparza and Estrada have been at odds with each other in the media and the two have the same promoter, Golden Boy Promotions. It seems only natural this bout will serve as a way to compare the two fighters
Hector Tanajara, Pablo Rubio Jr.
Top prospect super featherweight Hector Tanajara Jr. of the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy and a promising fighter, who should find himself in title contention next year. For those who look watching fighters develop, Tanajara is one worth watching. Tanajara Jr. fights in the same division as Ryan Garcia for those who don’t know.
The ever-likable super bantamweight Pablo “The Shark” Rubio Jr. will open the card. Rubio who is co-managed by former NBA star Metta World Peace trains at the historic Maywood Boxing Club and looks to make name for himself in the lower weights.
Fight Club OC
Fight Club OC returns Thursday night with a smaller than usual card at The Hanger in Costa Mesa, CA, perhaps since SOCA fights promoter Roy Engelbrecht has helped with Karim Mayfield’s show in San Francisco as well as 360 Boxing Promotions card a week ago as well.
The card features three boxing matches with the rest being MMA bouts. The card is headlined by Gloferson Ortizo of nearby Santa Ana, CA.
Jhonny Gonzalez
Former world champion Jhonny Gonzalez will fight in Mexico against an opponent Marlyn Cabrera, who only has one loss. Since losing to Gary Russell Jr and Jonathan Oquendo, Gonzalez has spent his career in Mexico.
Gonzalez’s wife made the news last year when she broke a female wrestling arm in a pro wrestling bout, to read about click here.
Janiel Rivera
Minimum weight Puerto Rican fighter Janiel- Riveria, whom I met in Fallon, Nevada, years ago, will fight on Saturday in Puerto Rico as part of Miguel Cotto Promotions card.
Tony Yoka
2016 super heavyweight gold medalist Tony Yoka will be back in action this week in Paris. Yoka trains out of Virgil Hunter’s gym in Hayward, CA.
Yesica Bopp
Tyler McCreary
Roc Nation Sports Tyler McCreary will look to keep his perfect record alive as he fights at the Grand Victoria Casino in Rising Sun, Indiana. McCreary not unlike a lot of these fighters is a young fighter I met backstage at the first Andre Ward bout in Oakland promoted by Roc Nation Sports as he was there in support of Sonny Fredrickson.
Brandon Robinson headlines card
Super middleweight Brandon Robinson will be in action this Friday at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA, as he takes on Oscar Riojas. Robinson lost his professional debut and has gone on to win nine straight bouts, eerily similar to a Hall of Famer from Philly named Bernard Hopkins. Though we would not compare Robinson to the Philly legend, Hopkins, it is always fun to point out a storyline for the casual observer headling into this card on Friday that is well worth a watch.
Mayorga
In more so sad news, Ricardo Mayorga will be fighting again. The well past his prime veteran will be in action in Texas in a fight that the aging veteran seemingly needs more than he wants as this appears to be a fight s
