Should Minimum weight be removed?

I have been thinking recently that Minimum weight doesn’t serve much of a purpose. Any fighter that fights at minimum weight wouldn’t be undersized at Light Flyweight so why not get rid of minimum weight and make the talent pool at Light Flyweight deeper. Minimum weight world title fights are rarely broadcast on major TV networks and barely anyone knows who the champions are. It just seems like a way for the sanctioning bodies to get more money, surely there wasn’t some huge demand for minimum weight to be created especially considering that it currently only contains 236 active fighters. Light Flyweight which is the next weight class up has double the amount of fighters.

The problem with the division is its not needed and just creates more champions in boxing. Very few fighters that start at minimum weight want to go on long reigns there. Its a title to be picked up perhaps defend once or twice and then dropped before moving up in search of harder challenges.

If it is to continue being a division then the champions have to start unifying otherwise it will continue to stagnate.

In my opinion Minimum weight should be removed with all of its fighters moving up to Light Flyweight. This would deepen the talent pool at Light Flyweight which may get more people interested in the division. It would also help as currently when you watch a minimum weight title fight it often doesn’t feel like a title fight at all due to having a small crowd or just the skill of the challenger.

David Benavidez and why he has the most potential out of everyone at 168 or 175

David Benavidez is already a two time Super Middleweight champion however didn’t actually lose his belts in the ring. He was effectively stripped of his title because he tested positive for Cocaine and wasted a bit of his career. This won’t be a problem however as hes only 23 and shouldn’t be in his prime yet. I’d like too see him be active now and hopefully unify after one or two defenses. The fact hes already a world champion at the age of 23 leaves him with so much time to build a great resume.

The Super Middleweight division which he is in doesn’t really have a big name yet though with Canelo moving down it soon will. Benavidez could establish himself as a force in the division if he was to beat fellow titlist Caleb Plant or any of the other champions. I would especially like him against Callum Smith as both of them are massive super middleweights and I don’t want to risk one or the other moving up and losing the potential fight. Callum Smith also needs to get a big fight soon as his career has really stalled and David Benavidez is the best fight for him. Hopefully the fight would be in the UK at the O2 but I can also see it likely taking place in America.

If Benavidez continues to build his resume in the super middleweight and light heavyweight division then he could become the main guy at these weight classes as due to his age he’ll be able to fight this generation of champions and also the next couple waves as well.

Its always good too see champions that are young because it means they can make a significant impact on the sport. If you become a champion at 30+ its harder for you to make an impact as you only have a few years of fighting at the top level normally. It wouldn’t surprise me if we see Benavidez headlining PPV’s five years down the line and really bringing attention the Super middleweight and Light Heavyweight.

Hopefully he can be dedicated to boxing and give us some great fights versus other champions over the coming years and create himself a good legacy.

Fights I want too see at Heavyweight in 2020

This time i’m going to go over 3 heavyweight fights I want too see beyond the obvious ones of Fury versus Joshua etc.

The first fight i’d like to see is Oleksandr Usyk versus Dillian Whyte. I think this fight would firstly be entertaining and secondly would be a great test to see how good Usyk is at heavyweight. If Whyte beat Usyk it would be the best name on his resume and people would have to respect him for taking hard fights. I don’t see this happening seeing as Usyk should be fighting Joshua at the end of this year but if Joshua versus Fury happens perhaps we could see Usyk versus Whyte in the meantime.

The second fight I want too see at heavyweight is Luis Ortiz versus Andy Ruiz Jr. This would be a great match up and would also put the winner right back into title contention. Ortiz is a highly skilled operator with good power and if he can fight for 12 rounds without getting exhausted I see him beating Ruiz. I think Ruiz needs another big fight to keep his name in the mix and this would be a great opponent for him. The loser of this fight will likely retire though Ruiz could easily carry on it just depends on if hes got the motivation to do it.

The third fight I want too see at heavyweight is Robert Helenius versus Oscar Rivas. I think this could be a good match up stylistically as Rivas would be trying to explode into range and throw big shots while Helenius would be on the back foot trying to counter like the Kownacki fight. These are both very underrated fighters and I think both of them deserve another big fight instead of just sitting on the sidelines.

I’m going to go through all of the divisions over the next few weeks as with no live boxing its getting harder and harder to find topics to write about. I’m determined to write at least one piece a day and hope to be creative with what i’m posting as well

Rene Alvarado the comeback king.

Rene Alvarado is someone that a few years ago you would have called a gatekeeper and perhaps started to question whether he should think about hanging the gloves up. Fast forward to now and hes on an eight fight win streak and has claimed the WBA regular title at super featherweight. That regular title should really have been upgraded to become the full world title but the WBA instead gifted Leo Santa Cruz a vacant title shot.

Alvarado’s comeback story is quite inspiring as hes gone from a guy whos used as a gatekeeper for prospects to becoming in my eyes the true WBA super featherweight champion of the world. Hes picked up significant wins over Roger Gutierrez, Denis Shafikov and Carlos Morales. His best win so far was his victory over Andrew Cancio where he was a big underdog and very few people picked him to win. He dominated Cancio to the extent that he was retired by his corner before eight rounds had passed. His win over Cancio was surprising because in their first fight Cancio actually stopped Alvarado and so people expected with Cancio’s recent form that he would stop Alvarado again.

I hope Alvarado gets more big fights in the future and continues to play his part in this era of the super featherweight division. If Leo Santa Cruz moves up hopefully he gets upgraded to be full champion so that he can unify.

Kenshiro Teraji versus Pedro Guevara : A review

I’m going to start doing more fight reviews due to the lack of boxing going on. I thought I’d start with a fight I recently watched and thought was interesting.

The first four rounds saw some back and forth action with Teraji being out worked and countered by Guevara for the most point. Guevara really came to win and looked like he had worked out Teraji early on and may box his way to a 12 round decision. After four rounds the scores were announced and Teraji was down on all three cards.

This seems to have woken him up as he shifted into a new gear and started ripping aggressive combinations into Guevara who didn’t seem to have an answer. There was some great action and Teraji looked close to breaking Guevara down at some points but the Mexican stood strong even though he was being beaten up.

In the last couple of rounds Guevara started to make an argument for himself in the rounds but even if the judges were generous it was too little to late. Guevara showed good heart but didn’t have an answer to Teraji going through the gears. Teraji boxed well and overcame a rocky start to make his first defense. He can be a little bit of a slow starter however I also think its partly because hes working out his opponents and once he does he normally starts to dominate the fight.

I had Teraji winning 116-112 but would also be fine with 115-113. I can’t see a draw or a win for Guevara though he was very close to pulling it off if he had just kept the early success up a bit longer. This was a good solid win for Teraji over a former champion in which things didn’t go all his way but he didn’t crumble. Guevara can also be proud of how close he came to winning and how much he pushed the younger champion.

Daniel Dubois versus Joe Joyce would have taken place today.

The much hyped all British heavyweight clash would have taken place today and I would have been in attendance. Unfortunately because of the Corona Virus the event has been rescheduled to July 11th. I will still be attending as long as the Corona Virus has calmed down however I expect it to be rescheduled yet again as I think people underestimated the Virus. I’m looking forward to the whole card and mostly just looking forward to seeing live boxing again. I would have picked Dubois to win before and I think with Joyce having an almost year lay off that it will benefit Dubois even more.

Kevin Lerena the dark horse of the cruiserweight division.

Kevin Lerena is a 25-1 Cruiser-weight from South Africa who has been making steady defenses of his IBO Cruiser-weight title since 2017. Hes also a southpaw which may make many hesitate to fight him. In the last two years hes emerged as a top 10 Cruiserweight and could have a big impact on the division going forward. Hes currently racking up defenses of his IBO title and building a decent resume with names like Firat Arslan, Sefer Seferi and Dmytro Kucher. Hes very active which I think is one of the best qualities a boxer can have as ring rust can be a huge problem and if your active you also get well known by fans.

I think hes starting to get recognised as a threat in the Cruiser-weight division and while he’d be the underdog against most of the top 5 I wouldn’t count him out versus any of them.

He was supposed to be fighting Kai Robin Havnaa next who is like a lot of Lerena’s opponents undefeated. I think he would likely stop Havnaa but hopefully the fight gets rescheduled anyway and Lerena carries on his campaign through the Cruiser-weight division.

Fres Oquendo still ranked 15th by the WBA at heavyweight.

Oquendo despite not fighting since 2014 is still ranked by the WBA at heavyweight which seems completely insane. The reason he is still ranked is because legally he has the right for a world title shot. For one reason or another he still hasn’t gotten the money or his title shot as the WBA ordered Chagaev to fight someone else. They’ve kept him in the rankings so that once it all legally gets sorted out he can be given a title shot but it just shows how bad the WBA and sanctioning bodies in general are. Oquendo is now 47 and I do wonder that if he gets the money hes owed if he’ll even want to get a title shot at the regular version of the belt.

Fighters that will benefit from this break.

While this break from boxing will not help a lot of boxers for certain ones this could be a hidden blessing.

The first fighter that this could help is Deontay Wilder who was supposed to be fighting Tyson Fury in the summer. That fight has been cancelled which gives Wilder more time to make adjustments to win the third fight. The longer he has the more he will be able to work on his boxing and a gameplan to beat Fury. It also gives Fury more time to go off the rails again which is another added benefit for Fury.

Erroll Spence will also benefit as it will put more time between his car accident and the next time he fights which is always a positive. He may still have a few lingering affects and the extra months off may help him significantly as training is hard and you wouldn’t want to make a pre existing injury worse.

The last fight is Gary Russell Jr and this is mostly because he doesn’t have to make any excuses for only fighting once a year. He was supposed to be going up in weight this year anyway so this extra time will help him adjust to whatever weight class he goes too. I’m not a big fan of how the WBC belt has been held hostage for so many years and I either want him to get properly active or vacate and let someone actually defend it more than once a year. He is the worst case of wasting your career that I have ever seen if i’m honest.