Retired fighters should stay retired.

Recently there’s been an influx of retired boxers announcing they either want to return to professional boxing or want to do exhibition matches. Some of the more notable names among them are Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and James Toney. All of these former fighters are over 50 now and have had punishing careers where they fought well beyond their prime. I personally don’t want too see them in the ring again even in exhibition matches as theres no need for them to take more punishment in the ring.

Mike Tyson coming back has a lot of people hyped up but the reality is he was washed up in 2005 and he’ll be even more washed up now. He can look good on the pads and he’ll keep looking good on them until the day he dies but he no longer has it in him to compete with active heavyweights. If he wants to do an exhibition match to raise money for charity then let him do it but don’t expect him to look anything like he used too.

I really don’t want James Toney coming back as he slurs a bit when he talks now and his career carried on for too long as it is. It would be a bad idea for him to come back but luckily I don’t think hes serious in coming back.

If i’m honest we need to stop entertaining these retired fighters that say they are going to comeback. All of them are huge names for good reason but its time for them to settle into life after boxing and let the new generation of fighters make a name for themselves. Them constantly being talked about in the media downplays how good the current fighters are and also hinders them in becoming true stars. Floyd Mayweather has recently come out and said he would never return to boxing and that hes going to become a trainer which I think is a great thing for him to do. Hes carried boxing for the last 10 years and now hes letting the new generation get their shine while still being involved in the sport even if its no longer in the ring.

Top 15 fighters at Super Lightweight.

Following on from my top 15 fighters at Super Welterweight i’ll now go through my top 15 at Super Lightweight.

Number 15 is Mario Barrios who is currently 25-0 but hasn’t achieved all that much. He currently holds the WBA regular title after a controversial decision over Batyr Akhmedov. Hes not the greatest fighter but hes good enough to be in the top 15.

Number 14 is Lewis Ritson who looked good last time out but also showed why hes unlikely to be a champion. He can still get better but i’m not especially high on him as a prospect or a contender.

Number 13 is Pablo Cesar Cano who is on a good run right now with a win over Jorge Linares. Hes had setbacks in his career but is progressing through the ranks at a good pace now.

Number 12 is Shohjahon Ergashev who I think is the best prospect in the division. I think he’ll be contending for titles soon and I expect him to win a world title. Hes a devastating puncher who if given the right opportunities could become a star.

Number 11 is Arnold Barboza Jr who has been steadily putting in good performances as hes stepped up the competition recently. He’ll fight for a title in a year or so and has a good chance of winning one if he keeps progressing as he is.

Number 10 is Jack Catterall who has put together a good domestic resume and will be fighting for a world title soon. His career has stalled as hes waited for his mandatory position which might mean he isn’t as sharp when he comes back. I don’t think he beats any of the current champions.

Number 9 is Rances Barthelemy who has had some success at Super Lightweight but is perhaps more suited to other weights. His last fight was at Lightweight but i’m not sure if that is a permanent move or not.

Number 8 is Jose Zepeda who had a very close fight with Jose Carlos Ramirez and beat Jose Pedraza. Hes a solid fighter who could still win a world title in my opinion.

Number 7 is Robert Easter Jr who has moved up from Lightweight and beat Adrian Granados. Hes a former champion at Lightweight and could potentially do the same at Super lightweight however I think his best days are behind him.

Number 6 is Viktor Postol who is a very good fighter however is getting older at this point. Hes had a few good wins recently and will be fighting Jose Carlos Ramirez next.

Number 5 is Ivan Baranchyk who is a former champion who will be too physical for most fighters at Super lightweight. I don’t know if he’ll win another title but hes a fun fighter.

Number 4 is Maurice Hooker who lost in a unification at Super Lightweight recently. Hes a good fighter but I also didn’t think he looked great in that fight and I’ve not been overly impressed with him throughout his career.

Number 3 is Regis Prograis who is a very good fighter who I had beating Josh Taylor when I watched their fight live. Hes supposed to be fighting Maurice Hooker next which will get him right back into the title picture.

Number 2 is Jose Carlos Ramirez who is an excellent fighter that has a long career ahead of him. He has a good resume and the only reason I have him second is because i think Josh Taylors resume is slightly better.

Number 1 is Josh Taylor who is also a very good fighter though he does get hit a lot and I think that will catch up to him at some point.

Top Ranks plan for Shakur Stevenson and Michael Conlan

Mike Coppinger has reported that sources have told him that Stevenson will be fighting Rafael Rivera in his next fight. This event is supposed to be taking place in Las Vegas behind closed doors on June 9th however there hasn’t been an official announcement yet. I’m not sure this event will actually go ahead as its under a month to go and it still hasn’t been announced and while that doesn’t matter with no tickets to be sold you would think the boxers would need 8 weeks to prepare. While the boxers could have been told a few weeks ago it is improbable that they have been able to get any sparring done and with how Bob Arum has talked about the virus i’m surprised that hes rushing back so quickly.

I thought instead of just repeating the same thing that every other website is doing with the Stevenson news I’d go over what I think the plan is for Stevenson and Conlan over the next few years.

Stevenson will have this easy defense of his title before moving up to 130 pounds where he will fight someone like Andrew Cancio before going after one of the champions. I think its likely that he ends up getting a vacant WBO shot at some point after Jamel Herring moves up as hes a big super featherweight and has talked about wanting to be a two division champ. He’ll then get given fighters he can beat but have a decent name such as Masayuki Ito, Miguel Roman among others. This is going quite far into the future so I could get it completely wrong but Top Rank are very good at moving their people around and beefing up their resumes with low risk fights.

I’m only mentioning Conlan because hes one of the main reasons I think Top Rank will pressure Stevenson to move up. Conlan is a big draw and so Top Rank want him to get a world title so they can get him to headline at Madison Square Garden on St Patricks day which will make them a lot of money. Hes very highly ranked by the WBO right now and if Stevenson vacates then he would fight for the title and with Top Ranks relationship with the WBO they would be pretty much able to choose his opponent. They are obviously trying to get him a vacant title shot and have no confidence in him beating Stevenson which is why that fight never gets talked about even though both are with Top Rank.

Once Conlan wins the vacant title he’ll reel off a few defenses versus lower tier opposition before getting a gift decision over a decent fighter and moving up a division while blaming the weight cut for his performance. At this point who knows what happens as really Top Rank have done their job as soon as they manage to gift him a world title later this year.

This is one of the more obvious plans that Top Rank has made and most people that are involved with boxing understand what is going to happen. I’m not a fan of people being maneuvered into getting a vacant title shot but I can also admire the absolute machine that Top Rank is and how they get fighters who aren’t world level and make them into world champions through clever match making.

The lightweight division is overrated.

Many people believe that lightweight is one of the best divisions in boxing because of the amount of talent there but i’d like to disagree. I won’t dispute the fact that the division holds a huge amount of talent but as of right now none of them are fighting each other and so compared to other divisions the lightweight isn’t that good. Whats the point of having lots of talented fighters in a division if none of them are going to fight each other.

Some of the top fighters like Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez will move up to Super Lightweight soon which will deprive the division of some of its best new fighters. Lomachenko is likely to move down a division as hes not big for the weight and without those three fighters the division really isn’t that great.

If all of the top fighters actually fight each other then i’ll say its a good division but as of right now its a boring division because all people do is talk about the match ups that can be made but months later they still haven’t fought. At this point its boring to talk about the division and yet its one that fans and writers focus on all the time.

Demetrius Andrade unable to get a big fight.

Andrade has been a champion at middleweight for over a year now but still hasn’t been able to land himself a big fight. Truthfully he hasn’t been able to get a big fight in his career at all which considering hes been a champion of some sort or another since 2013 is insane. Hes on the same platform as the two biggest names in the middleweight division(Canelo, Golovkin) but hasn’t been able to entice either into the ring. An offer was sent to Jermall Charlo which would have been a big fight but he turned it down for some reason even though he has no big names to fight at middleweight either.

I think Andrade can’t get a big fight for a few reasons. One is that he has an awkward style and can be a hard nights work for anyone. Two is that he doesn’t bring a huge payday and hes not really a name to casual fans so the top guys like Canelo and Golovkin would rather fight more known fighters. In Golovkins case he clearly wants to have a few easy fights then fight Canelo for the third time for a big payday and then retire and I don’t blame him. Hes given everything to the sport only to be robbed of his greatest victory in that first Canelo fight.

This leaves Andrade in a holding position where he has lack lustre defences against opponents that aren’t on his level which has given him a reputation among boxing fans of being boring and not fighting anyone good. People like to forget that he was scheduled to fight Billy Joe Saunders which would have been a relatively big fight but Saunders popped dirty in a drug test and that opportunity was taken away from Andrade. Saunders was then given a chance to get his belt back and fight Andrade but instead decided to go up a weigh class and fight for a vacant title.

I don’t see Andrade getting a big fight anytime soon and its likely that he’ll lose to someone like Liam Williams or some other younger fighter who is just coming up before he gets his big opportunity.

UFC 249 was a success so will boxing be back soon?

All eyes were on the UFC last night as they staged the first major sporting event since the world was put on lock down. I think many people including myself felt that it was a little early to start staging events and also wondered why the UFC would risk Tony Ferguson versus Khabib by putting Tony in a risky fight beforehand. Tony lost so I was correct about the second part but overall the event went smoothly without any major catastrophes.

A fighter on the card did test positive before his fight which is both a bad and good sign. Its a bad sign because he potentially exposed all of the other fighters and clearly some people that are scheduled to fight in the future will have the Corona Virus no matter how many measures are taken. Its a good sign because it shows that the testing in place is good and they found out he had the corona virus before he fought.

For now the event was a success though if in a few weeks fighters start to test positive it will be looked at as more of a disaster than a success as it will set back the return of sports as people get more cautious again.

I think that boxing will start to be scheduled again regularly behind closed doors now that its been shown it can be done and that at least in America certain governors will allow it to happen.

Expect Callum Smiths next fight to be disappointing.

Callum Smith has had a disappointing time after winning the World boxing super series. When he came out of that tournament he was regarded as the clear number one in the division and was expected to go into big fights. Instead he took time off to be with his new child which is fine but after that he faced Hassan N’Dam who isn’t really a super middleweight and wasn’t even that great at middleweight. His next fight was John Ryder who was mandatory challenger which is a good fight but the problem is that most feel he clearly lost that fight and got a gift decision.

With all that in mind you’d hope that his next fight would be versus someone good but I think its unlikely. Smith turned down the chance at a Canelo fight because he didn’t think the money was good enough and now he will probably never get the chance to fight Canelo again which is a shame. Hes not going to get a unification next as all the other champs have their own plans such as Billy Joe Saunders fighting Canelo. He also won’t fight Daniel Jacobs next as Jacobs has said he wants one more fight before he fights for a title at super middleweight. It doesn’t sound like Smith wants to give Ryder a rematch so it seems he’ll have another relatively easy fight while he waits for the “big fights” which never seem to happen for him.

Hes lost all momentum after winning the world boxing super series and needs a big fight soon otherwise he’ll end up like Khalid Yafai who while being a champion was forgotten about and then when he stepped up in class he was utterly destroyed. Perhaps Smith knows that without his title he has very few options like Yafai does right now because neither are that popular or sell tickets so promoters are less likely to back them.

3 Fight plan for : Miguel Berchelt

This will be sort of similar as my one to watch pieces where it will be a long lasting series that goes through many different fighters. The inaugural piece will be about one of my favorite fighters right now Miguel Berchelt.

Berchelt currently holds the WBC Super Featherweight world title which means he has a lot of good options going forward. I’m going to be realistic for my three fights as its just wishful thinking that his next three fights would all be against the other champions.

The first fight should be versus Oscar Valdez who has recently moved up to the weight and is the number one contender for the WBC. This is an excellent fight and also most likely the biggest fight that Berchelt would have been involved with. This fight was already rumored to be happening so we might actually see this happen.

The second fight of the three fight plan would be versus Jamel Herring the WBO champ. This should be an easy fight to make as both are signed to Top Rank and will be available to fight each other if they win their intermediate bouts before hand. Herring is a good champion who is huge at the weight which may give Berchelt problems but boxing is all about challenging yourself and he should take the fight if he can. Herring has shown he can be hurt in fights but is also a very good fighter who has one of the more underrated jabs in boxing in my opinion.

The third fight should be versus Andrew Cancio who’s a top 10 guy at Super Featherweight. He came from no where to stun Alberto Machado and take his world title though officially its the WBA’s “regular” title which means it doesn’t really count. He beat a very good opponent in Machado though and is a popular fighter and one of the bigger names in the Super Featherweight division. He also recently signed to Top Rank which means the fight will be easy to make.

If these three fights happen in the next year or so It’ll really add to Berchelts legacy and solidify his run at 130 pounds which is currently the best of the active champions.

Mariusz Wach versus Kevin Johnson confirmed for June 6th

While I want boxing to come back I can’t say that i’m excited for this match up or that I wanted to see it. Johnson was supposed to be retired but I guess hes coming back for a fight or two due to the Corona Virus. Wach hasn’t been near the top of the division for a while and isn’t anything more than a gatekeeper at this point. Its a PPV for some reason and I personally won’t be paying for it. Hopefully some better fights get announced soon as this isn’t really one that anyone is looking forward too.

What does Daniel Jacobs need to do to be in the hall of fame.

Daniel Jacobs is a big name in the sport but as of right now is known for losing close decisions to both Canelo and Golovkin. He does however have a good resume at middleweight and is a champion in his own right.

Currently his best win is Sergiy Derevyanchenko who while not being a world champion is a very good fighter who arguably beat Golovkin. I wouldn’t argue if people said Peter Quillin was his best win but i’d shade it to Derevyanchenko because of what he did after Jacobs beat him.

He currently holds wins over 5 former world champions though not all of them were champions at middleweight where he was campaigning. He has notable wins over Sergiy Derevyanchenko, Sergio Mora x2, Peter Quillin, Ishe Smith, Maciej Sulecki and Caleb Truax. This is a decent run of wins at middleweight but also not nearly enough to be in the hall of fame currently. He still lacks a marquee win that would really secure him a spot. His other notable fights at middleweight were versus Canelo Alvarez, Gennadiy Golovkin and Dmitry Pirog all of which he lost.

In his last fight he moved up to Super middleweight where he fought Julio Cesar Chavez Jr who is a good name but doesn’t really add anything to his resume at super middleweight especially with how seriously Jr takes the sport.

To be inducted into the hall of fame I think he needs to win a title at super middleweight and then needs to unify and also get himself a big win over someone like Canelo. He can’t really go on a long unbeaten run at super middle after winning a title because hes 33 and also clearly isn’t the number one guy in the division so it doesn’t mean as much. I think its quite hard to argue him being in the hall of fame even if he wins a title at super middleweight because he was never the number one guy at middleweight and lost to the three best fighters he faced. For me he has to prove himself to be the best at super middleweight for him to be considered for the hall of fame however I expect if he wins a title at 168 pounds he will get in due to him having big fights in America which is where most of the voters live.