By Norm Frauenheim-
Thanksgiving gives way to Black Friday. After dashed hopes and some of the usual suspects, it’s hard to know which day best sums up the state of the game as it enters the last month of a troubled year.
First, a few thanks:
Thanks to the Oleksandr Usyk and Vasyl Lomachenko. For a world watching the Ukraine’s desperate war against Russia’s unprovoked assault, they help define a heroic country with an inexhaustible will to fight. Throughout Usyk’s smart, poised split-decision over Anthony Joshua in August, countrymen and comrades were never far away.
Thanks to the women. For one night in April, there was a fight not complicated by contentious negotiations. It also wasn’t another overpriced exhibition from wannabes or retirees. Katie Taylor’s split decision over Amanda Serrano at Madison Square Garden was real, the Event of the Year if not the Fight of the Year.
To Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr., thanks for nothing. Their failed negotiations after weeks of a rumored done-deal is the Upset of the Year. It upset everyone.
It’s time to move on, time to shop for some solutions. On the remaining calendar, there are still some promising dates:
· Saturday, entertaining Regis Prograis returns to the world stage in a bid for another 140-pound belt Saturday against Jose Zepeda in Carson, Calif.
· A week later (December 3) in Glendale Arizona, Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez and Juan Francisco Estrada complete their compelling trilogy at 115-pounds, Super Fly in class and legacy.
· On December 13, undisputed bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue continues his bid for pound-pound supremacy against Paul Butler in Japan.
In each, there’s a chance to move on — if not beyond — and into a New Year. Still, the last year includes lessons worth remembering. The biggest comes from an unlikely source. Within the ropes, Dmitry Bivol scored the Upset of the Year with his decision over Canelo Alvarez in May.
Alvarez moved up in weight, from 168 to 175 pounds, to fight Bivol. It was a risk. Yet, Canelo underestimated the risk.
Underestimated Bivol, too.
That’s easy to do. Bivol is as understated as he is unknown. He’s also a Russian. That meant there was a reasonable argument that he should not have been allowed to fight Canelo in Las Vegas or any other place. Kyiv Mayor and ex-heavyweight champ Vitali Klitschko and his brother, retired heavyweight champion, Wladimir, voiced their opposition to the fight for weeks on social media.
It’s hard to imagine that Bivol could ignore it. He has family in Saint Petersburg. But he didn’t talk much about it. He referred to himself as simply a boxer, a prize fighter. He adhered only to what he could do within his craft. Not much else he could do. Turns out, he did so brilliantly, out-boxing Canelo in every way.
Then, he moved on without a word or gesture that included bravado. He didn’t brag. He didn’t posture. He said he only did what a bigger man is expected to do. Then, he went on, stamping himself as a leading contender for Fighter of the Year, with another masterful decision over Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez in November.
Now, there’s plenty of talk about a rematch, most of it coming from Canelo, who is reportedly anxious to wipe away the tarnish on his pursuit of legacy. It would be big money for Bivol, although it’s safe say that the lion’s share of the total purse would still go to Canelo, boxing’s top draw.
Yet during an interview with the DAZN Boxing Show, Bivol suggested that money is not the biggest factor in his thinking. He also concedes that boxing’s balkanized politics are a factor. Eddie Hearn promotes him. Hearn rival Bob Arum promotes Artur Beterbiev, who holds more belts and most of the cards in the light-heavyweight division.
Still, Bivol makes it sound as if legacy is priceless. That’s a quaint notion in a business eroding because of its adherence to the risk-reward ratio.
A fight with Beterbiev for the undisputed claim on light-heavyweight, he suggests, looms larger in his mind than a career-high payday.
“Of course, for my legacy, it’s better to fight for another belt,’’ Bivol said. “I’ve made 10 defenses. Of course, I want more. I want to feel that I fight for something else, not just defend my title.’’
It sounds like a plea for a new beginning, a resurrected way of doing business. The fans want more, too. Thanks, Dmitry Bivol.
