By Norm Frauenheim –

Showtime was at ringside before Canelo Alvarez was born, yet its imminent exit from boxing isn’t much of a surprise. It is however, a warning for a battered, balkanized business forever at odds with itself.

Only boxing is killing boxing. It’s an old line that bears repeating in the wake of the announcement this week that the network will televise one, maybe two more cards, including David Benavidez’ Nov. 25 super-middleweight date with Demetrius Andrade in Las Vegas.

Benavidez is 26, a face of boxing’s emerging generation. It’s fair to guess that the Phoenix-born fighter and former-two-time champion assumed that Showtime would always be there. He grew up with it. Throughout his unbeaten career, it was part of the show. 

But it’s exit, predicted for years, leaves questions about what awaits him, his rivals and their generation of fans.

Showtime has been fundamental to their hopes and expectations. It brought the money. But if Benavidez beats Andrade, will enough of that be there for a projected Canelo-Benavidez blockbuster next year, post-Showtime?

That’s just one question, emblematic of the many that boxing never really considered amid all the speculation that the network was approaching its final bell.

Rumors were there last month throughout the fight-week build-up for Canelo’s one-sided decision over Jermell Charlo, also on Showtime. By then, however, it was too late for any substantive change. After all, Showtime’s exit from boxing was predicted in 2018.

That’s when Top Rank’s Bob Arum said Showtime would eventually follow HBO and leave boxing.  

“Showtime does not belong in boxing,’’ Arum said.

Arum made the comment to reporters before Canelo’s majority decision over Gennadiy Golovkin on Sept 15 in a 2018 rematch on HBO. Twelve days later, HBO announced it was throwing in the towel, finished after 45 years.

“I mean, they’re wasting the stock holders money by doing boxing matches,’’ Arum said then.  “They should invest in entertainment because HBO realizes they’re in a dogfight with Disney, with Netflix, and so every dollar that they can conserve to put into entertainment, they need desperately.

“Showtime has to become aware of that fact, but the only way they’re going to survive is with good entertainment, because unfortunately when you do boxing, you open and close the same night.’’

Showtime’s exit became inevitable last January with Paramount+, a streaming service and a sure sign of change in philosophy – a move toward long-running shows.

Rather than one night of boxing or a live concert, Arum said, HBO and Showtime can only compete with shows that can draw an audience week after week, night after night.

“And five years from now, the linear platform won’t mean bleep,’’ Arum – aligned with ESPN since 2017 — said five years ago. “Everything will be streaming – everything. Entertainment, sports, everything will be streaming.”

Bingo.

However, either boxing didn’t listen. Or, it just assumed the good times would never end. Or, it did what it has always done. To wit: Grab the fast buck and move on.

Fighters with little name recognition made big money. The younger generation began to look upon Floyd Mayweather’s brilliant career as the model.

Throughout his long-running deal with Showtime, Mayweather did more than follow the risk-to-reward ratio to the top of the pound-for-pound debate. He rode it straight to the top of Forbes’ list of the world’s wealthiest athletes. He was No. 1 in 2018.

What could go wrong? Plenty. There was only one Mayweather. He made unprecedented money, pre-stream. But that risk-to-reward formula left an assumption that the money would never end. The Showtime exit is a sign that it will.

It’s still hard to say what impact that might have on a possible Benavidez-Canelo fight, a bout that fans have wanted for a couple of years.

It leaves a further question about the chances of a projected Terence Crawford-Errol Spence rematch of Crawford’s singular performance in a stoppage win in July, also on Showtime.

The sad aspect to the Showtime exit after 37 years is in the timing. 2023 has been one of boxing’s best years in some time. Under Stephen Espinoza’s guidance, it staged a comeback.

For years, there has been doom-and-gloom — persistent talk about an eroding fan base. But Showtime began to rediscover that audience, first in April with a reported 1.2 million pay-per-view customers for Tank Davis’ blowout of Ryan Garcia.

Then, there was Crawford-Spence. The welterweight fight had been talked about for years. Then, there were negotiations, misinformation and even a reported fight date — Nov. 19 2022. In the end, however, there was only futility.  Talks broke down in October.

Fans were outraged. More than a few editions of the boxing-is-dead theme were written, including one in this corner.

But Showtime persisted. The fight got made and it delivered a sensational moment from Crawford on July 30. 

The fight did fewer PPV numbers — a reported 700,000 — than Davis-Garcia. The number was solid. But, above all, Crawford-Spence delivered a message: The business had a pulse.

Still does.

But is anybody listening?

By Norm Frauenheim –

It’s a Thanksgiving weekend fight, a main event between David Benavidez and Demetrius Andrade and a Holiday date projected to lead to a possible fight with Canelo Alvarez.

Sorry for the Thanksgiving reference, but it could set the table for what might be the biggest fight in 2024, which is planned for another May 5 celebration, Cinco in Mexico and Canelo de Mayo in Vegas

But there were no thanks for Canelo Thursday.

There were questions, of course. Follow the money. In boxing, that means follow Canelo.

“F— Canelo,’’ Andrade said Thursday in the first formal news conference announcing his super-middleweight fight with Benavidez at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay on Nov. 25, the Saturday after Turkey day.

Even without the Canelo intrigue, it’s an interesting fight, especially for Benavidez, who has formally changed his nickname since he overwhelmed Caleb Plant in a punishing late-round assault in a scorecard victory last March.

Benavidez used to call himself El Bandera Roja, The Red Flag, as in warning. But the Phoenix-born fighter, who will be 27 on December 17, has outgrown that one. By now, the warning is well-known enough to make some – perhaps even Canelo – wary.

Now, Benavidez calls himself “El Monstruo,” The Monster. That’s how he was introduced at Thursday’s newser in Los Angeles. In part, it’s what Mike Tyson called him more than a year ago. In fact, Tyson called him The Mexican Monster. But Benavidez simplified it, stripping it down to a scary simplicity. Trick or treat, he sees himself as The Monster, no nationality needed.

Canelo seems to have his own name for Benavidez. When asked about him after his one-sided decision over Jermell Charlo a few weeks ago, he used the same language that Andrade did Thursday.

“I don’t effing care,’’ Canelo said more than once.

Subtract the effing and that’s pretty much what Benavidez said about Canelo Thursday.

“I’m not worried about Canelo,’’ said Benavidez, who went on to say that only the Andrade fight concerned him.

On several levels, it was the right thing to say, of course. In tone, however, it was a different Benavidez, more pragmatic and perhaps a lot wiser. For a couple of years, he was always calling out Canelo with volumes of unabridged trash talk.

But the talk only seemed to anger Canelo, whose celebrity and documented pay-per-view number gives him all the leverage. He put Gennadiy Golovkin on ice, denying him a third fight until it was too late for GGG. Why? Maybe, because GGG angered him when he accused Canelo of being a user after a positive test for clenbuterol.

Silence on Canelo looks to be a smarter negotiating tactic. Besides, there’s only Andrade for now.

Lose to him, and Benavidez likely says goodbye to a chance at big money and a share of legacy. The oddsmakers like Benavidez to beat Andrade, a 35-year old former junior-middleweight and middleweight champ who will be fighting at 168 pounds for only the second time.

Benavidez, who will make his second appearance on Showtime pay-per-view, opened as a solid favorite, minus-320, which means he’s given about a 78 percent chance at winning.

Andrade, however, has a chance in part for skills that many say Benavidez does not have. Andrade has an Olympic pedigree. That means footwork and a high ring IQ. A fighter with an educated skillset say the critics, including ESPN analyst Tim Bradley, who says the 2008 Olympian’s footwork could lead to an upset.

“That’s why I’m taking this challenge,’’ Benavidez said. “I want to shut everybody up.’’

However, Benavidez dad, Jose Benavidez Sr, continues to talk, buoyed perhaps by his son’s powerful dominance, especially over the last four rounds.

“I think David stops him in the eighth round,’’ Jose Sr. said.

That would say it all.

NOTES: Initially, Benavidez-Andrade was headed to San Antonio, according to multiple sources and reports. It was moved to Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena within the last week. The move makes sense. Benavidez’ fan base is Phoenix, his hometown. Vegas is a lot closer to Phoenix than San Antonio. 15 rounds talked to some Benavidez fans. They said there’s a better chance of them traveling to Vegas than San Antonio on Thanksgiving weekend. Tickets went on sale Thursday.

There have been several reports that Benavidez’ older brother, Jose Benavidez Jr. will fight middleweight champion Jermall Charlo on the undercard. However, that bout has yet to be announced.

By Norm Frauenheim –

Other than heavyweight and perhaps welterweight, there’s no division that has had a bigger impact on boxing than middleweight. The names tell the story. Hagler, LaMotta, Hopkins, Zale, Monzon, the original Sugar and so many more.

Suddenly, however, it’s a weight class without a face. More mediocre than middle. The top of The Ring’s 160-pound rating is blank. A division without definition. The title is vacant, an empty lot in what used to be historical real estate.

Some of that might begin to change next week, October 14. A title unification between Janibek Alimkhanuly and Vincenzo Gualtieri is scheduled for Rosenberg, Texas.

It’s an ESPN fight. But a Houston suburb is a long way from Vegas, Los Angeles or New York. There’s a reason for that. Few know Janibek, the World Boxing Organization’s champion. Nobody knows Vincenzo Gualtieri, the International Boxing Federation’s belt holder. These guys need name tags. They have titles, but no name recognition.

Janibek is probably today’s best middleweight. He’s powerful and aggressive enough to be scary. But the Kazak is unknown, a reason perhaps that he continues to be ranked by The Ring and ESPN behind the widely known Gennadiy Golovkin, the 41-year-old fellow Kazak who relinquished his 160-pound titles last March, about six months after his forgettable scorecard loss at 168 pounds to Canelo Alvarez in a trilogy fight. For all anybody knows, the next time we see GGG might be at his Hall-of-Fame induction.

Then, there’s Gualtieri. Gualtieri answers an opening bell somewhere other than his home country, Germany, for the first time next week.

Chris Eubank, a much better-known middleweight contender from the UK, probably put it best weeks after his stoppage of Liam Smith in August. He was asked about fighting Janibek or Gualtieri.

“I don’t know who they are,” Eubank told Sky Sports. “And I’m in the game. So, the general public are not going to know who these guys are, which means it’s hard for them to tune in.’’

I bring all of this up because the fabled yet faded middleweight division is desperate for a fighter who has at least some name recognition. Enter Elijah Garcia.

There was a lot of controversy about Canelo’s decision over Jermell Charlo last Saturday on Showtime at Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. But there were no complaints about Garcia’s dynamic stoppage of Armando Resendiz in the opener to a pay-per-view card that drew an audience reportedly between 650,00 and 700,000 customers.

Garcia delivered the best performance on a card that otherwise generated lots of social-media flak, mostly directed at Charlo, who appeared to be there only for a paycheck. For Garcia, there were cheers from a crowd that increasingly likes what it sees. It was the third straight time that Garcia, now 16-0 with 13 knockouts, has opened a pay-per-view show. It’s been an introduction that fans haven’t seen from Janibek, much less Gualtieri.

It’s also been an introduction that has created an appetite for more from Garcia, who has been adept at using social media since his amateur days. Potentially, his ongoing emergence is welcome news for a division fighting to reverse a slide into anonymity.

For Garcia, it’s an opportunity. The 20-year-old Arizona fighter, who grew up in Phoenix and has a ranch in Wittman, is known for a bold goal. Repeatedly, he says he wants to be a 21-year-old champion. He’s in the right place to pull that one off.

“I want to be a mandatory for a title pretty soon,’’ he said after delivering a beautiful combo – a left-handed body shot followed by a seamless right to the body then head in an eventual eighth-round stoppage of Resendiz. “I’ll be 21 in April and I’m gonna keep taking it one step at a time.’’

Garcia is clearly on the fast track. But that comes with a dilemma. Too fast is a risk. Janibek might be unknown. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t dangerous.

Garcia told 15 Rounds before the Canelo-Charlo card that he would want at least one more fight before a shot at a major title.

“I think I’m getting better every single fight and I think it starts in the gym,’’ he then said after the card. “I’m getting back in the gym on Monday. I just have to keep getting better every single fight, take it one step at a time, fight harder opponents and I’ll get that world title.’’

For now, Garcia will have to wait on the unpredictable collection of haphazard rankings by the acronyms. This week, he’s at No. 7, according to the IBF, which has vacancies at both No. 1 and No. 2. The WBC (World Boxing Council) puts him at No. 6 for a title held by the troubled and ever unpredictable Jermall Charlo, Jermell’s twin brother who reportedly will fight Arizona-born Jose Benavidez Jr. on Nov. 25 on a card projected to feature his brother — super-middleweight contender and Canelo possibility David Benavidez — against Demetrius Andrade.

Meanwhile, Garcia, No. 9 by The Ring, is suddenly at No. 2 by the notorious WBA (World Boxing Association) for a title held by Cuban Erislandy Lara, now 40.  Lara is expected to fight Danny Garcia.

In the WBO ratings, he’s No. 13 for the title held by today’s most feared middleweight, Janibek.

Add it all up, and Garcia’s ambitious goal looks doable, made possible by a young fighter who is introducing himself and maybe re-introducing an old weight class to fans.  

LAS VEGAS –Welcome back, Canelo Alvarez.

A perceived slide was interrupted, if not halted altogether, Saturday night with Canelo’s thorough  victory over Jermell Charlo in front of a Showtime pay-per-view audience and a roaring crowd at T-Mobile Arena.

Other than a knockout, Canelo did it all. He didn’t  tire in the end. He reasserted his documented power, forcing Charlo to take a knee with a huge right hand in the seventh. He had Charlo and his doubters in retreat throughout 12 rounds.

For months, the argument was that Canelo’s 18-year career in the prize-fighting ring was over. It was as if somebody had jammed Canelo’s skillset into a barrel and shipped it to the dump. But there were signs throughout the last week that Canelo had redefined himself, his body and his career.

“Nobody is going to beat this Canelo,” he said .

The one-sided scores — 118-109, 119-108, 118-109 — were just one measure of how dominant Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs) was in his fight to stop the slide. Charlo (35-2-1, 15 KOs) simply had no chance.

“I don’t make excuses for myself,” Charlos said. “it is what is is.”

One question will linger. Charlo, an undisputed champion at junior-middleweight, was fighting for the first at super-middle, a division Canelo has long ruled.

Charlo jumped two weight classes. He was feeling super-middleweight power for the first time. The question will be there until Canelo faces a true super-middleweight. That might be David Benavidez, the unbeaten super-middleweight from Phoenix.

First, Benavidez has to beat Demetrius Andrade. 15 Rounds confirmed with promoter Tom Brown that Benavidez will fight Andrade on November 25 in San Antonio. The World Boxing Council aso is planning to address Canelo’s next mandatory defense at its convention in November in Uzbekistan, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman told 15 Rounds. The Benavidez-Andrade winner might get a mandatory shot at Canelo. 

But nothing is ever certain. Welterweight champion Terence Crawford, the undisputed pound-for-pound No. 1 after his blowout of Errol Spence, has talked about facing Canelo at a catchweight. Crawford was in the crowd Saturday.

“We can;t rule on what we don;t know,” Sulaiman said. “We can only deal with the facts.”

For now, here’s one:

Canelo is back.

Lubin wins unanimous decision for a fight that only earns boos

A firefight was the promise. But there was no fire. Not much of a fight, either. Instead there were boos.

A gathering crowd for the Canelo Alvarez-Jermell Charlo fight Saturday night turned into a storm of discontent at a bout that had been projected to be a significant junior-middleweight match.  

But the Erickson Lubin-Jesus Ramos bout was a dud in the final Showtime pay-per-view bout before Canelo-Charlo at T-Mobile Arena.

For 12 rounds, Ramos (20-1, 16 KOs) moved forward, chasing a backpedaling Lubin (26-2, 18 KOs). If it weren’t for ropes that kept him in the ring, Ramos would have been chasing Lubin down the Vegas Strip. Lubin would not engage.

But he did enough backpedaling to convince the judges. All three scored it in his favor. It was 115-113, 116-112 and 117-111. All for Lubin. The decision was unanimous. So was the crowd’s discontent.

Lubin looked surprised when the scores were announced.  Ramos, a 22-year-old Arizona fighter from Casa Grande, looked
stunned. After Lubin  stopped backpedaling enough to be interviewed in the ring, his answers couldn’t be heard above the roar of boos.

“I’m one of the top dogs,” he said after a dog fight.

Meanwhile, Ramos was left to deal with one of boxing’s lessons. Lousy decisions are like scars. Everybody has one.

“I’ll move on and deal with this loss,” said the young fighter who came into the ring  amid expectations that he had a chance to be one of boxing’s next great champions.

All he has now is a loss. And maybe a lesson. 

Barrios scores decision over a bloodied Ugas

In the end, it belonged to Mario Barrios, who scored a decision — unanimous and contentious — over Yordenis Ugas Saturday night on the Showtime pay-per-view telecast of the card featuring Canelo Alvarez-versus-Jermell Charlo at T-Mobile Arena

Barrios (28-3, 18 KOS), a San Antonio welterweight, scored two knockdowns of Ugas (27-6, 12 KOs), a Cuban best known for ending Manny Pacquiao’s legendary career.

A left jab put Ugas down in the second. He was down again in the twelfth. Twice, the ringside doctor looked at his bloodied eyes. Each time, the fight was allowed to continue. But there was never much of a chance that Ugas could win. By  A lucky punch? Maybe.

But Barrios had too much energy and more precision in his punches. Ugas was just hanging on for an end that would go against him. It did.  He lost on all three cards, 118-107, 117-108, 118-107..

Elijah Garcia delivers TKO victory in his “toughest” fight

There were questions in the beginning. Then, there were lessons, sharply delivered and still there to learn. In the end, there was some perfection.

For emerging middleweight Elijah Garcia, still a student of the game, it was a fight full of just about everything. From aspirations to possibilities, it was all there.

 Above all, Garcia (16-0, 13 KOs) stayed unbeaten and on track to accomplish an ambitious goal with an eighth-round TKO of Armando Resenediz Saturday in the first Showtime pay-per-view bout on the card featuring Canelo Alvarez-Jermell Charlo Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.

“It was really a hard fight,” said Garcia, a 20-year-old Arizona fighter who wants to be a 21-year-old middleweight champion. “It was my toughest, yeah 100 percent.”

They’ll get tougher. A lot tougher. There’s no other way to get to that middleweight title. But he’s still there, perhaps on the fast track, mostly because of what he continued to prove. His power is deadly and he sustains it. Without it, he might be dealing with his first defeat.

But it was alway there and always accurate enough  to stagger, stun and then wear out the gritty Resendiz (14-2, 10 KOs). 

The Phoenix born left-hander, who continues to wear 602 — the PHX area code — stitched onto the belt buckle of his trunks — set the tone in the opening round, buckling Resendiz at the knees with a big left hand.

But Resendiz, stubborn and brave, would not go away. For the next few rounds, Resendiz tirelessly moved forward and relentlessly threw straight-handed punches. They landed, again and again. The evidence was in the reddening skin around Garcia’s eyes. Garcia was dropping his hands, especially his left.  Sometimes, it was down at his hip. It was risky against Resendiz. Against a middleweight champion, it could be deadly. A lesson still to be learned.

For now, Garcia’s power prevails. Within Resendiz’ busy style, there was no counter for it . There was only an inevitable end and It came at about two minutes of the eighth round, delivered by a sequence of punches that were a thing of beauty. Garcia put together three punches, almost seamlessly. First, Gracia landed a left to Resendiz’s body. Then, he followed with a right to the body. Then, there was the finishing touch, a right to the head. It was all done with a certain rhythm that ended in Resendiz crashing to the canvas.

About 30 seconds later, referee Tony Weeks saw a dazed and defenseless Resendiz. Wisely, Weeks ended it at 2:33 of the eighth round of a fight that included a statement, punctuated by three perfectly delivered punches that summed up Garcia’s potential.   

Frank Sanchez wins fourth-round stoppage

Frank Sanchez has more than just heavyweight power. He’s a quick thinker.

He had to be against Scott Alexander Saturday night on the Caneo Alvarez-Jermell Charlo card Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.

Alexander (17-6-2, 9 KOs) of Los Angeles, quicky showed that he was more than just another opponent. He threw a head-rocking right hand, a wake-up call in the first round 

Sanchez’ response was immediate. The merging contender from Cuba countered with his own right, staggering Alexander with a blow that delivered a preview of what was to come. 

In the second round, Sanchez (23-0 16 KOs) knocked down Alexander. In the fourth, he did it again. But this one finished Alexander, who was slow to get up and wobbly when he did, a loser by TKO late in the fourth

Gausha wins majority decision

Terrell Gausha took another step  toward turning his loss to Tim Tszyu into a fading memory.

He beat KeAndrae Leatherwood.

But it wasn’t easy.

Gausha (24-3-1, 12 KOs) a middleweight from Cleveland, found himself caught up in a slow-paced bout with an awkward Leatherwood (39-1, 13 KOs), of Tuscaloosa AL, in an eight-round middleweight bout on the card featuring Canelo Alvarez-Jermell Charlo.

A cautious Leatherwood was content to hold , but never engage Gausha. That made the fight hard to score.

Gausha, an Olympian who lost a unanimous decision to Tszyu in March 2022, won a majority decision. He was a 78-74 winner on two cards. The third judge scored it a draw.

Oleksandr Gvozdyk back with quick KO

Former light-heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk says he’s ready for Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev.

He won’t get an argument from Isaac Rodrigues.

In his third comeback fight this year, Gvozdyk (20-1, 15 KOs) continued to work on restoring his world-class skills with crushing second round knockout of Rodrigues (28-5, 22 KOs) in the the third fight on the Canelo-Charlo undercard, Gvozdyk, a Ukrainian, is working his way back after he retired following a punishing loss to Beterbiev in October 2019 in Philadelphia.

Rodrigues’ 22 stoppages suggested that he might be dangerous. He wasn’t. Midway through the second, Gvozdyk, who calls himself “The Nail”, hammered him with a couple of precise punches. Rodrigues, of Brazil, had to be helped out of the ring. Middleweights fight to forgettable draw

It was a draw. Dull,too

A crowd might been bored by a forgettable middleweight bout between Abilkhan Amankul (4-0-1, 4 KOs), of Kazakhstan, and Joeshen James (7-0-2, 4 KOs) , of Sacramento, in the second bout on the Canelo-Charlo card. But there was nobody at T-Mobile to bore.

One card favored Amankul, 39-37. On the other two, it  was, yawn 38-38.

First Bell: Canelo-Charlo card opens with crushing KO

Call it a power lunch.

Gabriel Valenzuela brought all the power, He opened the show about six hours before the Canelo Alvarez-Jermell Charlo main event Saturday. He dropped Yeis Gabriel Solano three times. Nobody noticed.That’s because nobody was there for the matinee opener to a 12 fight card at T-Mobile Arena.

It was over when Valenzuela (27-3-1, 17 KOs), of Mexico, sent Solano (15-3, 10 KOs), of Colombia, crashing onto the canvas, a knockout victim at 2:33 of the sixth round. An unconscious Solano remained on the canvas, surrounded by echoes, for several seconds until hs cornermen helped up and out of the ring.

By Norm Frauenheim –

LAS VEGAS – It was only a show, but a big audience saw plenty.

Canelo Alvarez promises he’s back and – at first glance – it looks as if he’s not kidding.

Canelo stepped on the scale for a staged weigh-in Friday, looking a lot like the old Canelo, or at least the one who dominated pay-per-view sales and pound-for-pound debates before his upset loss to Dmitry Bivol.

Canelo’s work in the gym was evident in a redefined upper-body. Only after opening bell Saturday against Jermell Charlo will anybody know whether Canelo has redefined his career.

But a sculpted look was a sign he’s serious about halting an apparent decline that began with a scorecard loss to Bivol at light-heavyweight and continued with forgettable victories at super-middle-weight over Gennadiy Golovkin and John Ryder.

“The size factor is no matter here,” said Canelo (59-2-2, 39 KOs), the undisputed super-middleweight champion said after stepping off the scale a day before opening bell for his bout at T-Mobile Arena with Charlo (35-1-1, 19 KOs), undisputed at junior middle.  “I did that before and I felt good. So, it’s gonna be a great fight, and I’m ready for anything.’’

Both fighters were lighter than the super-middle mandatory, 168 pounds. Both were reported to be at 167.4 pounds at an official, Nevada State Athletic Commission weigh-in Friday morning behind closed doors at the MGM Grand.

A few hours later, they moved outdoors and onto a stage at an outdoor pavilion in front of T-Mobile. A big crowd was waiting. So were the beer vendors.

It was 96 degrees under an afternoon sun in the Nevada desert. The fighters did the sweating and some of the swearing.

“I’m a bad m-effer,’’ Charlo said.

The crowd did the drinking.

It also did the cheering, all for Canelo. Nobody is quite sure what had happened to him, post-Bivol. For a crowd full of the Canelo faithful, however, Friday’s show re-affirmed hopes that he’s back.

Betting odds suggest that he will be against Charlo on a Showtime pay-per-view card (5 pm PT/8 pm ET).

Late Friday, Canelo continued to be about a 4-to-1 favorite over Charlo, who is jumping up two weight classes. In his first fight at 168, there are questions about whether Charlo can endure Canelo’s punching power throughout the scheduled 12 rounds.

There’s also speculation about the condition of Charlo’s left hand. He suffered a reported fracture in the hand last December, eventually forcing him to withdraw from a key date with Tim Tszyu.

“I don’t speak on those things because, I don’t want to make an excuse for myself,” Charlo said to reporters Wednesday after the final news conference. “I want to go in there and be a dog.”

Also, Charlo has not been the non-stop trash talker most fans remember and expect. The bad m-effer has almost been polite. In part, he says, that’s because he hasn’t been around his notorious twin brother, Jermall Charlo.

“Just don’t got that noise in my head,’’ he said.

No noise, no chance? That’s just one question for a fight that on Friday, at least, hinted at an answer in some redefined body language from Canelo Alvarez. 

By Norm Frauenheim –

LAS VEGAS – Process and patience, routine and roadwork are at the beginning of any young fighter’s career. Jesus Ramos has done them all. Does them all. He’s made the weight and run the miles. The demanding lifestyle never changes a whole lot. Cheat the routine and you cheat the craft.

Ramos, a quiet 22-year-old, practices that craft, one he learned in the desert town of Casa Grande between Phoenix and Tucson. It’s a farming community known for some ancient Native American ruins. Mostly, it’s known for unforgiving summers. Phoenix is hot. Casa Grande is hell.

Ramos has emerged from that cauldron, tempered by an environment as unforgiving as his chosen profession. Try and cheat the desert at midday in July, and it’ll kill you. Cheat the craft, and it’ll beat you.

Place and profession, they are inseparable in Ramos, a fighter who seems to have an innate understanding of who he is, what he wants and what he can and can’t control in a game ruled by chaos. Break it all down, and it leaves only himself.

Perceptions change. Popularity moves up and down like mercury in thermometer. For Ramos, however, there’s the process, ongoing and now on the brink of another challenge Saturday night against experienced junior-middleweight contender Erickson Lubin in the co-main event on a Showtime pay-per-view card featuring Canelo Alvarez-versus-Jermell Charlo at T-Mobile Arena.

“I’m here to showcase my talent,’’ said Ramos (20-0, 16 KOs, who made weight Friday, tipping the scale at 153.4 pounds. “I’ve seen a lot of people say that I don’t have a lot of ring IQ.

“So, I’m looking to show that and other dimensions to my game. It’s going to be a new Jesus Ramos. It’s not really about exposing Lubin, but more about exposing my talent.’’

The new Jesus Ramos? More like the evolving Jesus Ramos. He’s just figuring out how good he is. He was called a prospect just a few months ago.  

“Now, I think of myself as a contender,’’ he said.

So, too, does everybody else. His sudden emergence is the reason he’s featured in the last fight on the pay-per-view (5 pm PT/8 pm PT) before the Canelo-Charlo show. There’s a sense, a buzz about Ramos. He looks as if he’s the real deal, a future star in a game searching for new blood.

It’s appropriate, perhaps, that he’s on a card expected measure whether the game’s long-reigning star, Canelo, has begun to fade. That, however, is just one of the many things Ramos can’t control. He can only beat Lubin (25-2, 18 KOs), who was also at 153.4 pounds Friday.

Lubin praises Ramos. But he also warns that the Arizona fighter is getting ahead of himself in so-called eliminator bout expected to earn the winner a shot at a junior-middleweight title.

Lubin, now 27, was once a young lion. He was 22, confident and very sure of himself. But that’s when Charlo beat him, knocking him out in October 2017. History, Lubin promises, is about to repeat itself.

“I took the Jermell Charlo fight at 22 and Jesus Ramos is doing the same thing, daring to be great by fighting somebody like me,’’ Lubin said. “I know he comes ready to fight, but I feel history repeats itself in my favor.’’

Ramos doesn’t exactly think in terms of history. He’ll leave that to Canelo. For him, it’s more about the resume. He needs an impressive entry, one that would qualify him for a job, a role as a challenger for a middleweight title.

“It’s really important that I dominate, because Lubin is so tough’’ Ramos said. “He’s given guys like Stephen Fundora a lot of trouble. It would be a big statement, a big win for my resume.’’

It’d also be another answer to questions about Ramos’ IQ, within the ropes and outside of them. He’s always learning, a fundamental part of a never-ending process forged by place and profession.

By Norm Frauenheim –

LAS VEGAS – Rounds in the gym are done.

Thursday, it was time for rounds – and more rounds — with the media for Elijah Garcia, who has moved swiftly through the prospect stage and graduated into a contender.

That graduation was confirmed by his promoter Tom Brown during an undercard news conference for Saturday’s Canelo Alvarez-Jermell Charlo fight at T-Mobile Arena.

Showtime’s pay-per-view telecast begins with Garcia (15-0, 12 KOs) against Armando Resendiz (14-1, 10 KOs) n a fight expected to do more than just warm up the audience with an opening act.

Brown expects it to create possibilities. Garcia-versus-Resendiz is a step toward a New Year.

“The winner of this fight will fight for a middleweight world title in 2024,’’ Brown said in introductory remarks in a crowded ballroom at the MGM Grand.

That, perhaps, wasn’t news to Garcia, one of two Arizona fighters on a pay-per-view card including Casa Grande junior-middleweight Jesus Ramos against Erickson Lubin in the co-main event.

Brown’s promotional plan aligns with Garcia’s goal to be a 21-year-old world champion.

It’s ambitious. Garcia is 20. He’ll be 21 next year, still an apprentice in a lot of other crafts. But that apprenticeship looks to be another completed round in Garcia’s emerging resume. Garcia’s career is taking off in terms of name-recognition and possibilities.

But all contenders are enrolled in the next step, a kind of finishing school for champions. The burden of proof is always there. What have you done for me lately?

Now, it’s up to Garcia to deliver that proof, that answer, against a 24-year-old fighter known for his toughness.

“I know Armando comes in shape, and he’s really strong,’’ said Garcia, who grew up in Phoenix and has a ranch in Wittman. “He throws a lot of punches, so I have to control the pace.

“You saw in his last fight what happens when he controls the pace. So, I’m definitely not going to let that happen.’’

Garcia is cool and confident. Both are there in his demeanor, whether at work within the ropes or on a stage with reporters. Both also are signs of an emerging craftsman ready for his next job. He’s prepared for the punches. And prepared for the questions.

He’s learning. Always learning, a task that ends only for former champions. From prospect to aspiring champion, one thing never changes. The student always has to be there.

“I try to choose the best opponent every time,’’ the student in Garcia said. “Armando was on the top of the list, because he’s gonna give me the experience I need. He’s gonna prepare me for the world title. I want to get better, each and every fight.’’

There’s only way to do that. The perennial student isn’t afraid of a lesson plan that includes some honest self-criticism.

“I don’t think my last performance was my best,’’ he said. “I started a little slow. But I’m gonna prove that I’ve got more experience than I showed.

“I’m a new class fighter and I’m gonna show I’m on a different level.’’’

By Norm Frauenheim –

LAS VEGAS – It’s a fight at the crossroads.

Canelo’s crossroads.

Where it’ll take him is just about anybody’s guess. There’s right. There’s left. And there’s nowhere, or at least no more. Canelo Alvarez has answered 63 opening bells over the last 18 years.

The 64^th is significant, but not for the way it’ll sound. Canelo has been answering opening bells the way the rest of the world answers its morning alarm. They’ve been his lifestyle, his 9-to-5 routine. It’s hard to imagine what he’d do – who he’d be – without one.

But Jermell Charlo is there, promising to end the only thing Canelo has ever known Saturday night in a Showtime pay-per-view bout at T-Mobile Arena. Charlo looms as an unlikely threat to undo that Canelo identity.

Canelo, perhaps, will prove just how unlikely. All the documented data suggests that’s what will happen.

Charlo, an undisputed champion at junior-middleweight, is jumping up two weight classes in a bid to upset Canelo, undisputed at super-middle.

Charlo has been idle for more than a year. Above all, he’s never been subjected to the pressures that accompany the kind of stage occupied by Canelo for so long.

“He’s gonna feel it,’’ Canelo said at a news conference Wednesday in a crowded ball room at the MGM Grand. “It’s hard to explain it, but it’s just something different. He’s not used to being in there with a fighter like me.’’

That begs a question, one that served as something of a promotional theme ever since the fight was announced in the summer months.

After all of those opening bells and subsequent punishment, just who is Canelo? The same fighter he believes himself to be? Still the aggressive finisher who stopped a then-feared Sergey Kovalev in the 11^th round in November 2019?

Or is he at the end? It’s too easy to suggest that Canelo’s career is at the precipice. Still, there are signs he’s preparing for life after he answers that last bell. He’s selling his own brand, VMC, of Tequila cocktails. In and around his hometown, Guadalajara, he has his own line of gas stations, Canelo Energy.

Energy, of course, is one of the factors in Canelo’s perceived decline. Over his last three fights, there’s just been none of it in the late rounds. By the seventh or eighth, Canelo is running on empty.

Maybe, it’s just been a question of conditioning or injuries, especially to his left hand.The hand, he said, is fine, back to what it was following surgery.

But if that energy crisis continues Saturday night, the career is problematic.

Potentially, it could put a fatigued Canelo in jeopardy against a fighter, Charlo, who is known for staging the late assault. Charlo, a lot like possible Canelo foe David Benavidez, gets on a roll over the final three to four rounds

Canelo promises he’ll have the right counter to whatever Charlo plans to deliver.

“I never overlook any fighter,’’ said Canelo, who switched up his usual routine with a training camp at altitude in the Nevada mountains near Reno. “I know what he brings and I’m ready.

“I’ve been in there with all types of fighters. He hasn’t experienced this kind of level of fight. You will see and you will learn.’’

Throughout Wednesday’s newer, there were moments when he sounded like the fighter known worldwide today as simply Canelo. He finds motivation. He uses it. He remembers Charlo for criticism of his skillset.

“He never believed in my skills.” he said. “…Now, I have the opportunity to show my skills.’’

Charlo, known for crazy trash talk earlier in his career, has said little to annoy Canelo. If anything, the Houston fighter has been cautiously complimentary. Wednesday’s news conference was notable for all the slurs that weren’t said and all the shoves that were deliver. By boxing standards, it was polite.

Only a lion might complain.

Charlo likes to think of himself in lion-like terms. They are lionized, stitched across the front of  his caps and shirts.

“I’m an effing lion,’’ he roared during the news conference.

Canelo smiled.

“I don’t know what animal I need to be,’’ he said.

Probably the animal he used to be.    

Depending on the pundit doing the autopsy, Canelo Alvarez is – or isn’t — in decline.

It’s a story line that has become Canelo’s motivation and almost a theme for the promotion of his Sept. 30 date with Jermell Charlo on Showtime pay-per-view at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.

Canelo has endured his share of controversy. But not much adversity. Within the ropes, at least, he’s never been knocked down. Some believe those same ropes saved him from a trip to the canvas in 2010, Canelo, then 19, rebounded, bouncing off ropes at Vegas’ MGM Grand like a projectile from a slingshot.

A first-round assault from Jose Cotto, Miguel Cotto’s brother, put him there, in peril yet never finished.  He went on to win a ninth-round stoppage. It was a moment that summed up a career with few missteps.

Since then, nobody has been able to knock him off his feet. Not Gennadiy Golovkin. Not Floyd Mayweather. Not Dmitry Bivol.

Through 63 fights, Canelo has remained upright, always surefooted, throughout nearly two decades in a place full of chaos, cheap shots, slick spots and accidents.

Boxing is a sucker for the drama that transpires when a fighter gets up, off the deck to win. Yet, it has never seen Canelo in that moment. He loses. But he never falls.

Yet, an evident decline, starting with a scorecard loss to Bivol in May 2022, has fellow fighters, rival trainers and pundits wondering whether Canelo’s career is where he was 13 years ago: Off-balance and held up by only the ropes.

Maybe. A week before opening bell, time looms as a bigger question than Charlo. For Canelo, age is only a number on his birth certificate. He’s 32, still standing and squarely within the middle of the traditional window defined as prime time.

Instead, the relevant measure is 18 years. That’s how long he’s been a prizefighter, swapping punches and punishment for paychecks.

He’s been there, in harm’s way, longer than Aaron Rodgers, whose 17 years as an NFL quarterback suffered a career-threatening injury to an Achilles tendon a few weeks ago in the opening moments of his debut with the New York Jets.

Betting odds, at least, continue to suggest that Canelo will get his career off the metaphorical ropes this time with a victory over Charlo, whose power at junior-middleweight might not be there at super-middle.

As he has for the last couple of years, Canelo might tire in the later rounds. But everything in his long career says his durable defense will keep him there, throughout the scheduled 12 rounds. 

The prevailing bet is that the fight will go to the scorecards. But that leaves a prevailing question: Can Charlo win a decision? The promotional tag for the fight is Undisputed. Charlo is the undisputed champ at junior-middle; Canelo is undisputed at 168. There’s some fear that Undisputed will be a huge dispute if it goes to the judges.

Canelo, currently about a 4-to-1 favorite, figures to be the overwhelming favorite among fans in front of an expected capacity crowd at T-Mobile. 

Charlo can win, even if it’s close, but only if he forgets about the judges, says his former trainer, Ronnie Shields.

“That’s the biggest problem,’’ Shields said during a Zoom session with reporters. “But going in, you can’t think about that. Just go in to win rounds, round after round.

“Charlo has to make sure he wins rounds convincingly. You won’t win close rounds against Canelo.’’

Shields picks Charlo to win by split decision. Charlo, he says, has an edge, especially late.

“Charlo is one of the few fighters who holds his power throughout the whole fight.,’’ Shields said.” You don’t get too many of those.’’

You don’t get too many decisions over Canelo, either. For Charlo, the question is whether the power will be decisive enough – early or late – to do what no one else has: Knock down Canelo.

By Norm Frauenheim –

Microphones become megaphones. Humble turns to hype. If noise is a way to measure a fight, Canelo Alvarez-Jermell Charlo is a biggie.

Opening bell is still a couple of weeks away, but the talk got a lot louder this week at media workouts, first with Charlo at home in Houston and then Canelo at altitude near Lake Tahoe.

Charlo turned it up a decibel or ten, saying that a victory over the favored Canelo on Sept. 30 at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena on Showtime pay-per-view would ensure him of a place alongside the greats.

“If I accomplish this massive goal, it’ll be hard to top,’’ Charlo said on the live-stream. “I’ll be in the record book with the greats of boxing for a long time.”

Move over Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Roberto Duran and Marvin Hagler. Make room for a fifth King.

Charlo, undisputed champion at junior-middleweight, has never been shy, of course. He argues he’s already done enough to be in the Hall of Fame. I guess that means Dmitry Bivol is already in that book of greats and enshrined in the Canastota Hall. I mean, didn’t Bivol beat Canelo about 17 months ago?

In 21 fights, Bivol is unbeaten. In 37 bouts, Charlo has one loss and a draw. Bivol, a light heavyweight, can’t call himself undisputed, a claim defined by a so-called four-belt era. But who knows when four belts become five belts, then six belts? Belts, all attached to sanctioning fees, are like dollars. They’re inflationary.

Amid Charlo’s hyper-ventilating, however, there was a reflective moment.

“I would’ve fought Canelo years ago, and it probably wouldn’t have been as big as it is now,’’ he said.

The bout, at super-middleweight, is magnified in all ways by Canelo, undisputed at 168 pounds. There’s everything and everyone that the Mexican star and reigning pay-per-view draw brings to the ring. Now, there’s more. There’s evidence of a decline in Canelo’s career. It’s no secret

It’s a decline that started with – and because of — Bivol. Forgettable victories over Gennadiy Golovkin in a second rematch and journeyman John Ryder followed. Each of those only raised more questions. 

It all adds up to adversity Canelo hasn’t faced since his loss to Floyd Mayweather a decade ago. On Thursday, Mayweather’s scorecard victory happened exactly 10 years ago — Sept. 14 2013.

The Mayweather loss, however, happened when Canelo was young, 23. He isn’t anymore. He’s 33, a primetime age that really doesn’t reflect the punishment he’s endured. It’s been inevitable. Cumulative, too.

I thought of Canelo when I saw Aaron Rodgers tumble onto the turf Monday night with a torn Achilles tendon after only four snaps as the New York Jets new quarterback and long-awaited savior.

The 39-year-old Rodgers is a 17-year NFL veteran. Canelo, six years younger, has been boxing professionally for 18 years. Despite their difference in age, Rodgers and Canelo are old men on the career clocks that measure wear and tear in two dangerous sports.

At the moment of Rodgers’ injury, it almost looked incidental. But it wasn’t. It was potentially career ending, a symptom of the vulnerability almost built into the end of any long run. Only Father Time is unbeaten.

Time, more than Charlo, looks to be Canelo’s real challenge. He’s under contract with PBC for two more fights after Sept. 30.

He says he might fight until he’s 37. At camp Wednesday, he sounded like the vintage Canelo, the fighter who always arms himself with motivation that comes more from alleged insults than accurate punches.

Canelo said he remembers how Jermell and his twin brother, Jermall, questioned his ring skill about five years ago. He said this fight is a chance to prove them wrong.

“I never forget, no,’’ Canelo said.

Never is one thing Canelo and time have in common. It never stops.

By Norm Frauenheim –

History has always motivated Canelo Alvarez. He fights to make some. Now, it looks as if he’s fighting not to become some.

The 33-year-old Mexican, the pay-per-view star of his generation, enters the ring for the first bout in another rich deal in three weeks amid uncertainty about his career. What’s left?

Against Jermell Charlo on September 30 at Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena in a Showtime pay-per-view bout, the task is to reverse a decline that isn’t exactly a secret anymore. His fans have seen it. Those close to him talk about it. Only he can reverse it.

But skepticism is everywhere, enough of it to wonder whether Charlo can spring an upset that would raise inevitable questions about Canelo’s future.

Five years ago, Charlo wouldn’t have been perceived as a threat. The junior-middleweight, 154-pound champion is jumping up a couple of weight classes to face Canelo, who has all of the relevant belts at 168-pounds. Charlo has been idle for more than a year. His last fight was a stoppage of Brian Castano in May 2022. He’s spent his career at junior-middle.

Those are documented items on a resume that should make Canelo the overwhelming favorite. For now, they are still enough to persuade the betting public. When news of the fight was disclosed in July, most betting services had Canelo at minus-280, meaning there was a 69.7-percent chance of a Canelo victory.

A couple of months later, Canelo is at minus-310, meaning his chances at winning have improved to 75.2 percent.

Canelo has fought and won at heavier weights, including a defining late-round stoppage of once-feared Sergey Kovalev in 2019. He’s busier.

Yet, the uncertainty persists. It was there in a virtual news conference Wednesday with prominent trainers Ronnie Shields, Bob Santos, Calvin Ford and Robert Garcia, who like everybody else witnessed Canelo struggle through his last three fights.

There was the scorecard loss to light-heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol, also in May 2022. A dull decision in a long-awaited third fight over Gennadiy Golovkin followed. Then, there was another forgettable decision over journeyman John Ryder.

When asked for a pick, there was a split decision from the trainers.

Shields picked Charlo. “I think, Jermell wins by split decision,’’ said Shields, his former trainer, who still trains his twin brother, Jermall.

Santos, the 2022 Ring Magazine’s Trainer of the Year, leans toward Canelo “55-45” in a fight he says will end in a KO.

Ford, Gervonta Davis’ trainer, didn’t pick a winner. Like Santos, however, he foresees a knockout. “Somebody is going to sleep,” Ford said. “I don’t know which one, but someone is going to sleep.”

Garcia, whose resume also includes Trainer of the Year, picks Canelo, yet foresees different scenarios in which either can win.  “This is a tough one to pick,’’ Garcia said. “If Canelo wins by knockout, I think it’s under eight rounds. Late rounds is where Charlo could actually stop Canelo. If it goes the distance, I think Canelo edges a decision.”

There’s consensus about only one thing: Charlo has a chance, mostly because nobody knows whether Canelo’s last three fights are an aberration or evidence of an irreversible decline.

A key to the younger Canelo’s emergence was a willingness to learn from defeat. He was a 23-year-old student when he was schooled by then 36-year-old Floyd Mayweather.

A decade later, there are questions about whether a long career has eroded Canelo’s physical capacity to learn and rebound from Bivol, only his second loss in 63 fights.

In an effort to resurrect the fighter who was there against Kovalev, Canelo has altered his preparation. He moved his training camp to the mountains near Reno. He’s working at altitude, a sign that he hopes to eliminate fatigue that was evident late in each of his last three fights.

“It’s gonna be one of those challenges that Canelo will need to be in top shape for,’’ Garcia said. “The size won’t matter. I’m pretty sure when it comes to fight night, they’ll be around the same weight. It’s gonna be very competitive and I can’t wait.

“Everyone says that Canelo is one of the hardest working fighters they’ve ever seen. But Canelo hasn’t looked that good his last couple of fights. That is a reason to give Charlo a really good chance. Charlo is not gonna hold back.

“You can train to the best of your abilities, but sometimes your body just doesn’t respond as well. Canelo may be training as hard as ever, but he’s had 18 years as a professional fighter.

“I still pick him to win the fight, but I don’t think it’s gonna be easy.’’

History never is.

By Norm Frauenheim –

Arizona’s early identity was once defined by a Chamber of Commerce kind of acronym – the five Cs – that stood for Copper, Cattle, Cotton, Citrus and Climate.

Somehow, Cactus, Canyons and Crazy – as in growth – got left out. Like AZ itself, however, it’s a changing acronym, which means at least one more C.

C, for Contenders.

That one might evolve to mean Champions, but that depends on David Benavidez, Jesus Ramos and Elijah Garcia.

Average age: 26.66 years old. Garcia, of Phoenix, is 20. Ramos, of Casa Grande, is 22. Benavidez, also of Phoenix, is 26, a senior only in terms of experience.

Time belongs to all three. Their prime approaches, a strong sign that the state’s emergence as a primetime boxing market will continue.

Phoenix likes to brag about its status as a major-league market. Add boxing – forever confined to the so-called fringe in other cities — to a list that includes the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL.

There are some questions about the NHL. At times, the Coyotes look as if they’ll melt away faster than ice in 120-degree heat. But boxing has moved into the arena that the Coyotes left.

It’s a working example of Rodney Dangerfield’s old joke, but with a twist. Went to a fight the other night and a hockey game broke out, Dangerfield cracked. The twist: The fight has replaced the hockey. At least, it has in Glendale.

At Desert Diamond Arena’s last card on August 12, Top Rank opened up some upper-level seats to accommodate the demand for Emanuel Navarrete’s dramatic decision over Oscar Valdez Jr. in a Fight-of-the-Year contender. More than 10,000 roared throughout 12 rounds of the junior-lightweight fight.

It was another sign of AZ’s place in real estate otherwise limited mostly to Las Vegas, New York and Los Angeles.

Multiple reasons explain the state’s emergence. The population has exploded, including the Mexican and Mexican-American dynamic, the key demographic in boxing’s fan base.

But there’s more. From Hall-of-Famer Michael Carbajal in the 1990s and Louie Espinoza, Zora Folley and Jimmy Martinez before him, boxing has always been part of AZ. Gyms dot the Phoenix landscape like potholes. There are heavy bags hanging from tree limbs in backyards. There are kids skipping rope on sidewalks outside of downtown barber shops. There are rings inside of old churches and abandoned storefronts.

Fifteen years ago, Benavidez, Ramos and Garcia were among those kids. They, like the market, have emerged, almost on parallel paths.

Of the three, Benavidez is the best known, mostly because of his long, still futile, pursuit of a showdown with Canelo Alvarez, the unified super-middleweight champion.

As of Thursday, Benavidez, who lives and trains in Seattle these days, was still in talks for a deal to fight Demetrius Andrade later this year.

Meanwhile, Benavidez, who fights with Phoenix stitched across the back belt of his trunks, can only continue to win while waiting on Canelo.

The Mexican pay-per-view star has a date with Jermell Charlo on Sept. 30. He’s also talking about a fight with welterweight Terence Crawford, who left no doubt about his pound-for-pound dominance in a stunning stoppage of Errol Spence Jr., a month ago.

Crawford, too, is talking about fighting Canelo at a catch weight. First, however, he’s obligated to fight Spence in a rematch.

As expected, Spence exercised his contractual right to a rematch, according to multiple reports Thursday.

No news yet on date or site. No news either on the weight. After Crawford’s one-sided victory at 147 pounds, Spence said he would want the rematch to be at 154.

Meanwhile, nobody is talking about Benavidez.

But, again, Benavidez has time. His prime awaits. Canelo or no Canelo, his future is still very much intact, probably at light-heavyweight. He says he’ll fight three more times at super-middleweight before moving up the scale in perhaps a goodbye to Canelo, whose primetime appears to be slip, slip-sliding away.

While Benavidez continues to train and hope for a big payday against Canelo, he and the AZ connection are sure to be there throughout the build-up for Canelo-Charlo.

Ramos and Garcia will make that angle inescapable. Both will be featured on the Showtime pay-per-view undercard – Ramos (20-0, 16 KOs) against contender Erickson Lubin (25-2, 18 KOs) at junior-middleweight and Garcia (15-0, 12 KOs) against Armando Resendiz (14-1, 10 KOs) at middleweight.

Ramos and Garcia appeared together on the same stage Tuesday at a news conference in Los Angeles. For the first time, they’ll appear together on a PPV card.

For both, it’s another fight in a year that has brought them to prominence. Already, both are ranked among the top contenders by the various sanctioning bodies.

Ramos, currently as hot as any prospect in boxing, is ranked among the first five at 154 pounds.

Garcia, who continues to wear the 602 Phoenix area code across the front of his waistband, is among the top 10 at 160.

“This has been the biggest year of my life,’’ said Garcia, whose goal is to be a 21-year-old world champion “It’s been crazy, a snap of a finger and I’m blowing up.’’

For Ramos, Lubin represents another step in a process he hopes will further prepare him for his chance at a major title.

“I’m going to take a lot from fighting Lubin,’’ Ramos said. “After this fight, I’ll be a different fighter. …

“”Whatever I have to do to win, I’m ready for. I’m here to dominate. I want to make a statement, and in order to do that, I have to dominate. That’s the plan.’’

While watching Garcia and Ramos share a stage, I could only wonder whether they might share a ring one day, maybe on a card featuring Benavidez in his prime.

A lot more would have to happen for that one to become a plan and then an opening bell. Above all, they’d have to keep winning, enough for each to win a major belt. For now, at least, they’re close enough in weight.

From A to Z, they’re also products of a market place poised to add another champion or three to its legacy of Cs.

By Norm Frauenheim –

Oleksandr Usyk is going into a fight against Daniel Dubois while talking about Tyson Fury.

If that sounds confusing, it is.

Then again, this is the heavyweight division, often as exasperating as it is entertaining.

“I need him,’’ Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) said of Fury in an interview with the BBC just a week before risking his heavyweight titles against Dubois (19-1, 18 KOs) Saturday (ESPN+, 5 pm ET/2 pm PT) in Wroclaw Poland, not far from Usyk’s war-torn home in the Ukraine.

Usyk is right, of course. No showdown with Fury leaves Usyk with an incomplete resume. At 36, there’s not much time left for Usyk to punctuate his career with the fight that could define a legacy. He wants to be remembered.

“People will talk about our fight for 20, 30, 40 years,’’ he said. “We need to fight.’’

The division, boxing’s old flagship, needs them to fight, too. But the inability to put together a deal is a many-layered sign that the unpredictable Fury just isn’t interested. He’s been there before. He came roaring back with a memorable trilogy against Deontay Wilder. The third fight was wild, a violent five-knockdown epic a couple of years ago.

Then, it was a celebration of what the heavyweight division was.

And still can be.

The inherent power was there. So, too, was the danger, the risk to both Fury, the winner, and to Wilder, the loser left on the canvas in an exhausted, broken heap midway through the eleventh. Loser and winner, each paid in ways still impossible to imagine.

Since then, Wilder has fought once, scoring a quick KO of Robert Helenius Now, he says he’s in talks with Anthony Joshua, who seems to be in a perpetual search to re-discover the guy who retired Wladimir Klitschko in April 2017.

Fury has fought twice, first scoring a sixth-round stoppage of Dillian Whyte and then a 10^th-round TKO of Derek Chisora. Both were as predictable as they were forgettable.

Now, Fury, still the World Boxing Council’s champion, has an off-beat bout scheduled with MMA power striker Francis Ngannou on October 28 in Saudi Arabia. Ngannou will have Mike Tyson in his corner. But none of Evander Holyfield’s skill will be there.

For Fury, it’s another chance at some sports-wash money. It’s also a way to avoid another bout that would likely include a further toll, a physical price hard to calculate. Fury has said he suffered a couple of concussions against Wilder. Fury, of course, says a lot of things. He’s a lousy-lounge act. But the concussions are believable. Fury-Wilder 3 was a concussive fight for both.

Usyk, the best cruiserweight champion ever, is an undersized heavyweight, especially by today’s NBA-like standards. But his skillset is comprehensive and disciplined. The mindset is a mix, both fearless and clever. Combine skill and mind, and Usyk represents a real test of what’s left of Fury.

It’s not clear Fury wants to take that kind of risk anymore. He’s talked retirement. He even insisted that he was retired in 2022. That lasted for a few weeks. It was funny, but it also suggests he’s not sure whether he still wants to fight.

In part, that might explain why Usyk and Fury couldn’t agree to a 50-50 purse split for a fight in London. Usyk has three of the belts; Fury has one. Fifty-fifty sounds fair. But Fury reportedly demanded the lion’s share. When he didn’t get it, he cracked jokes, insults and then scheduled one of those awkward MMA-boxer bouts for money big enough to be a Phil Mickelson wager.

Usyk promoter Alexander Krassyuk told Boxing Social he will continue to pursue a fight with Fury. That, of course, hinges on an expected Usyk victory over Dubois. Usyk was at 220.9 pounds and Dubois at 233.2 at Friday’s weigh-in.

Krassyuk is confident the money will be there, probably in Saudi Arabia. But Fury’s willingness to risk belts, body and brain once more?

“That’s the only thing pending,’’ Krassyuk said. “If he’s ready, then he’s ready.

“If he’s not, then there’s nothing we can do about it and no money in the world can buy his consent.”

By Norm Frauenheim –

Canelo Alvarez has always had a testy relationship with critics. The super-middleweight champion, who has a mean counter in the ring, is quick to angrily counter anyone who delivers a pointed question at a news conference.

But criticism can be an ally. It’s beginning to sound as if Canelo has realized that much in the face of questions about an evident decline in his rich career.

Yes, he hasn’t been at his best, he said in Beverly Hills CA Wednesday in the second coast-to-coast news conference this week.

“We’ll see if it’s true that I’ve lost a step,’’ Canelo said twenty-four hours after a newser in New York. “We’ll see. I understand what the people said, and I agree.

“I didn’t look my best in my last two fights, but I know why and I’m ready for this fight. We’ll see what happens. We’re going to see something different.’’

Something different might actually mean somebody familiar. For about a year-and-a half, the punishing domination that defined Canelo hasn’t been there.

It was gone in sluggish performances in victories over Gennadiy Golovkin in a third fight and then a so-called tune-up against John Ryder.

It’s a decline that began with a scorecard loss to light-heavyweight champion to Dmitry Bivol in May 2022.

It’s easy to over-analyze anything said or done at a boxing news conference. But Canelo’s surprising acknowledgement is sign that he’s taken a hard look at himself. To wit: Decline is hard to reverse if self-denial stands in the way.

The real genesis of Canelo’s brilliant career happened because of a scorecard loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September 2013.

It was a majority decision. Truth is, it was a one-sided loss, a majority embarrassment. Canelo heard the criticism, especially from his Mexican fans.

He sifted through that defeat for the lessons it left. He then went back to work, transforming himself into the pound-for-pound, pay-per-view star who – from this corner – was at his dominant best in an 11^th-round stoppage of former light-heavyweight king Sergey Kovalev in November 2019.

There’s been a lot of money and public adulation ever since. Through it all, an increasingly-insulated Canelo grew increasingly-impatient with criticism.

Through it all, he also might have suffered an inevitable erosion in his physical reflexes. Endurance has become a huge issue.

He tires in the later rounds, a problem that could be a critical factor against Charlo, a junior-middleweight champion who looked like the bigger man in face-off photos from Beverly Hills and New York.

That evident fatigue is a reason, perhaps, that Canelo continues to sidestep calls for him to fight David Benavidez. As of Thursday, the Phoenix-born super-middleweight was still in negotiations for a fight later this year with unbeaten Demetrius Andrade, a 35-year-old lefthander.

Benavidez is reportedly still in play for a shot at Canelo, if both win. Benavidez is a PBC fighter. Canelo’s fight with Charlo is the first in a three-fight deal with PBC. The deal can be done. But it’s still not clear whether Canelo wants a fight that fans have been demanding for at least a couple of years.

It depends on Charlo. Does Canelo beat him? If he does, how does he perform? If fatigue continues to be an issue, Benavidez could be a big problem.

There are moments when Benavidez looks to be inexhaustible. His energy appears to be at its highest in the later rounds.  Think of a snowball going down a steep hill. It only gains momentum and usually ends in a dangerous avalanche that buries anything, anyone in its way.

In this week’s newsers, Charlo said something that could have been said by Benavidez

“My whole career has kind of been all about chasing Canelo,’’ Charlo said.

For Benavidez, that chase might be getting closer to an end. If Charlo beats Canelo, it’s virtually over. Instead, it then might become Benavidez-versus-Charlo.

Canelo is expected to win. He opened as a 2-1 favorite over Charlo in early July. According to some betting sites, the line has been pushed to 4-1. It’s a bet, perhaps, that the old Canelo will remerge, maybe a step slower but still smart enough to know how to adjust.

Canelo-Charlo card to feature best of AZ

From A-to-Z, 22-year-old junior-middleweight Jesus Ramos and 20-year-old middleweight Elijah Garcia are two of boxing’s best prospects.  

AZ’s emerging combo will give the Canelo-Charlo undercard some real punch.

Ramos (20-0, 16 KOS), of Casa Grande south of Phoenix, faces Erickson Lubin (25-2, 18 KOs), of Orlando, 15 Rounds has confirmed. Ramos withdrew from a scheduled bout on the Terence Crawford-Errol Spence card on July 29 because of a hand injury.

The Lubin date will be Ramos’ second at junior-middle. He made his debut at 154 pounds in an impressive stoppage of Joey Spence on the undercard of Benavidez’ decision over Caleb Plant on March 25 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.

Garcia (15-0, 12 KOs), of Phoenix, will face Armando Resendiz (14-1, 10 KOs), of Mexico. Garcia has been penciled in for the card for several weeks. But his opponent wasn’t named until this week in a Boxing Scene report from the New York news conference.

Garcia is coming off a decision over Kevin Salgado on the April 22 card featuring Tank Davis’ stoppage of Ryan Garcia at Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.

Both the Ramos-Lubin and Garcia-Resendiz bouts are scheduled for the pay-per-view portion of the Showtime telecast.

Iron Boy card set for Saturday

The AZ boxing market stays busy Saturday night with promoter Robert Vargas’ latest Iron Boy card at Celebrity Theatre, just east of downtown Phoenix.

Junior-welterweights Trini Ochoa (15-0) of Mesa, and Miguel Zamudio (45-17-1), of Mexico, are scheduled for the main event.

In his last bout, Zamudio got stopped by Lindolfo Delgado, who won a decision last Saturday in the co-main event on a card featured by Emanuel Navarrete’s unanimous decision over Oscar Valdez Jr. in a Fight-of-the-Year contender at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, west of Phoenix.

First bell is scheduled for 5 p.m. (Arizona time).

GLENDALE, Ariz. – It was promoted as if it was the beginning of a rivalry. There was talk of history.

Emanuel Navarrete-versus-Oscar Valdez Jr., looked as if it could be the next Erik Morales-Marco Antonio Barrera.

It wasn’t.

It was all Navarrete, who retained his junior-lightweight title Saturday night with a unanimous decision over Valdez in an ESPN-televised bout Saturday night before a roaring crowd of 10,246 at Desert Diamond Arena.

Navarrete scored early and scored often to rule the cards – 116-112, 118-110 and 119-109.

Valdez battled back, time and again, but his evident aggression didn’t do much to impress the judges.

In part, that was because Valdez never had enough power to really hurt Navarrete. (38-1, 31 KOs). The first sign of that was there in the closing seconds of the second round. Valdez (31-2, 23 KOs) delivered a left hand.

The blow landed and echoed throughout the arena. But Navarrete reacted with what almost looked like a sly smile. It said: You can’t hurt me.

In the end, Valdez couldn’t. In the end, that’s why Navarrete walked away, still the World Boxing Organization’s 130-pound champion.

“I feel happy to have been part of this card and in this next great chapter of Mexican boxing history,’’ said Navarrete, who retained a title he won in a controversial stoppage of Australian Liam Wilson in February, also at Desert Diamond. “I am happy and appreciate Oscar for the great fight that we delivered.”

It was a great fight, closer perhaps than the scorecards indicated. Even some history might have played out in a ferocious 10^th, a round as good as any in 2023. Navarrete and Valdez went back and forth. The crowd went wild. For three minutes, It was as if the fans were witnessing a remake of the first Barrera-Morales fight.

But Navarrete’s long looping punches, superior reach and busy work rate were always there, always the prevailing factor. Valdez simply couldn’t get to him, especially with his signature punch, a counter left.

Meanwhile, Valdez paid with a nasty injury. Late In the fifth round, a dark mark appeared beneath his right eye. It was big enough to be a target. And that’s what it was for Navarrete, who for the next seven rounds turned the eye into a grotesque mess. By the 12^th, Valdez was virtually a one-eyed man. It was serious enough perhaps for the ringside doctor or the referee to end it after about the eighth or ninth.

But nothing – not Valdez’ closing eye or Navarrete’s predatory precision – would interrupt the bout’s momentum. Valdez and Navarrete promised blood, guts and guile. They delivered, especially over the last three rounds.

From 10^th to 12^th, the fight was a mix of desperate and dramatic. Valdez was hurt. But he had been hurt before. He’s known in part for a night in March 2018 when he sustained a fractured jaw midway through a featherweight fight. For six, maybe seven rounds, he spit up blood onto rain-swept canvas in Carson, Calif.

Then, he was strapped to a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance. He was beaten up, but he was the winner by unanimous decision.

The blood from his eye Saturday night was a sign that he might repeat that epic. But he didn’t. Five years and lots of bruising fights later, Valdez, now 32, could not overcome the injury or the 28-year-old Navarrete.

After it was all over, the wounded Valdez left the ring and hugged a friend as if he was in tears. He had said before the fight that victory over Navarrete meant the world to him. His world collapsed Saturday night.

“I’m sorry I disappointed everyone,’’ said Valdez, who heard chants of “Oscar “Oscar” from fans who made the trip up to Glendale from his Mexican hometown of Nogales, just south of Tucson. “I feel terrible. I wanted to give you all a great fight. I hope you enjoyed the fight. I hope to return strong.”

After he entered his dressing room, a broken Valdez collapsed onto a stool. Video shows him hugging his dad, Oscar Valdez Sr. and all-time Mexican great Julio Cesar Chavez. They tried to console him. But there was little consolation. The defeat hurt Valdez more than the battered eye. Tears mixed with the blood.

It’ll take a while for Valdez to regain his strength and confidence. It’s not clear how long it’ll take for the eye to heal. Then, he’d probably have to fight a tune-up, test the eye and himself – before there could be any reasonable talk of a rematch.

By then, Navarrete might have moved on to title unification bouts against the other junior-lightweight belt holders. Late Saturday, Navarrete was even asked about still another jump in class to lightweight against emerging pound-for-pound star Shakur Stevenson.

For both Valdez and Navarrete, there were questions after the bloody battle. For Navarrete, there were options, possibilities.

For Valdez, there was only defeat

Delgado wins easy, but hears only boos

Lindofo Delgado remained unbeaten. Remained unliked, too

Delgado (18-0, 13 KOs), a slickly-skilled junior-welterweight from Mexico, scored most of the points and got all of the boos after winning a dull unanimous decision over fellow Mexican Jair Valtierra (16-3, 8 KOs) in the final bout before Valdez-Navarrete.

The restless crowd was anxious for the kind of fireworks it expected in Valdez-Navarrete. But there was none from Delgado, who was content to play it safe in an otherwise dominant scorecard victory.

Richard Torrez scores first-round stoppage

Richard Torrez has been learning some new footwork in the dance studio lately.

He danced all over Willie Jake Jr.

Torrez (6-0, 6 KOs). a heavyweight from central California and an Olympic silver medalist, needed very little time to do a number on his latest dance partner, finishing Jake within 90 seconds of the opening bell.

Torrez landed a beautifully-delivered right hand as he stepped back. It landed and Jake (11-4-2, 3 KOs) fell forward. Seconds later at 1:22 of the first, he was finished, a loser by TKO.

 “It’s great to be back in the ring after so much time off,” Torrez said. “There are still things we need to work on, and I know that. We’re going back to the gym tomorrow. It’s up to my team to decide when my next fight is. They tell me to jump, and I say, ‘How high?’ 

“I’m just excited to follow the process.”

Emiliano Vargas flashes star power, wins second-round stoppage

Emiliano Vargas was born with a well-known name. Add some charisma and punching power to the name, and he possesses all of the elements for stardom

Stardom began to look imminent Saturday.

A huge crowd had already arrived, filling the lower bowl of the Arena when Vargas (6-0, 5 KOs) entered the ring. Then, it roared when it witnessed what he did. Vargas, the youngest son of retired great Fernando Vargas, blew out Jorge Luis Alvarado (3-6-1, 2 KOs)

With a sudden burst of power, Vargas put Alvarado in a place he’d never been: On

the canvas. Then, Vargas went southpaw and delivered successive shot, finishing him for TKO win at 2:17 of the second,  

Rest of the Navarrete-Valdez Undercard 

The undercard’s crosstown rivalry belonged to Sergio Rodriguez (8-0-1, 7 KOs), who left little doubt about who’s the best middleweight in Phoenix. In the second round, Rodriguez dropped Ayala (9-4-1, 3 KOs), also of Phoenix, with a powerful right that sent him crashing down. The back of his head bounced off the canvas. Still, Ayala got up. He was hurt. A few seconds later, he was finished. He went down again, forcing the referee to end at 1:02 of the round.

It wasn’t exactly a clash of titans, but Antonio Mireles (8-0, 7 KOs), a heavyweight from Des Moines, finished it with authority.  He pinned Dajuan Calloway’s Butterbean-like upper body up against the ropes. Already weary, the 391-pound Calloway (7-3, 7 KOs) , of Cleveland, looked defenseless. The ref ended it at 1:48 of the sixth round.

First Bell: Welterweight Ruvalcaba opens show with second-round TKO 

 It was the opener. It didn’t last long.

Four minutes and 11 seconds after first bell, the first fight on the ESPN card featuring Navarrete-Valdez was over.

Riccardo Ruvalcaba (9-0-1, 8 KOs) , a welterweight from Ventura CA. scored three knockdowns, flooring Adrian Orban (6-4, 4 KOs) , of Hungary, with a liver shot in the opening round. 

Orban was on the canvas two more times in the second, prompting the referee to end it just as a crowd of fans entered the air-conditioned arena after a long wait in 112-degree temperatures on the hot sidewalks surrounding the building.

By Norm Frauenheim

GLENDALE, Ariz. – The Emanuel Navarrete-Oscar Valdez Jr. fight is a tough call, so tough that neither Marco Antonio Barrera nor Erik Morales will pick a winner.

Navarrete-Valdez has been marketed as a possible successor to the Barrera-Morales trilogy, an iconic rivalry in Mexican boxing.

It’s no coincidence that both Barrera and Morales have been a big part of the promotion. They were featured in the ESPN promo, Hecho en Mexico.

They were on the stage at the formal news conference Thursday.

Barrera sat next to Valdez (31-1, 23 KOs), the challenger and a slight betting favorite tonight (7 p.m./ ESPN) at Desert Diamond Arena.  Morales sat next to Navarrete (37-1, 31 KOs), the World Boxing Organization’s junior-lightweight champion.

“It’s complicated,’’ Morales said Friday after both fighters made weight, although Navarrete needed two trips to the scale to make the 130-pound mandatory. Valdez was at 129.8.

It’s complicated, perhaps, because of the divergent styles.

Navarrete, long and lanky, is awkward. His punches come from all kinds of angles, all with great velocity.

If one is a trademark, it’s his uppercut. If it travels through Valdez’ upraised gloves, splitting his disciplined defensive posture, it could end, then and there.

However, Navarette’s long, often wild-swinging style opens him up to a precisely-delivered hook.  Valdez’ left is one of the best in the business.

Navarrete got dropped by a right hook from little-know Australian Liam Wilson in the fourth round last February, also at Desert Diamond. He got up and won by ninth-round TKO, but only after he spit out his mouthpiece, forcing a controversial 27-second delay.

Complications are Morales’ way of saying anything can happen. Either fighter can win.

But there’s friendship, too.

“They are my amigos,’’ Barrera said through an interpreter. “I’ve talked to both. I like both of them a lot. I just can’t pick a winner.’’

Barrera was at Valdez’ side as they stepped onto the stage for the weigh-in. Morales was alongside Navarrete, who spent some of his time training at Morales’ gym in Tijuana.

“The winner will be the public,’’ said Barrera, who might have a future as a politician.  

By Norm Frauenheim –

TEMPE, Ariz. — – Oscar Valdez Jr. looked to his right. Looked to his left.

He was surrounded by the history he witnessed and the history he still hopes to make.

To his left, there was Marco Antonio Barrera. To his right, there was Erik Morales.

Barrera and Morales, the historical faces of a defining chapter in Mexican boxing, were there Thursday on a stage on either side of Valdez and Emanuel Navarrete in a Tempe ballroom for a news conference, a platform perhaps for the next chapter.

“Just having Morales and Barrera here says something,’’ said Navarrete, who didn’t have to say much more.

Expectations are huge for Saturday night when Valdez and Navarrete will meet in an intriguing junior-lightweight fight on the other side of Phoenix in Glendale at the Desert Diamond Arena.

In terms of ferocity and drama, the Barrera-Morales trilogy nearly a quarter of century ago stands alone. It’s the example, the Mexican model for blood, guts and guile.

Don’t expect an exact remake. Neither Valdez (31-1, 23 KOs) nor Navarrete (37-1, 31 KOs) was foolish enough to promise that.

But the blood and guts, they vowed, will be there in a ESPN showdown for the World Boxing Organization’s 130-pound belt, which was won by Navarrete last February in a controversial stoppage of Liam Wilson, also at Desert Diamond.

For both, the promotional link to Barrera-Morales is an opportunity to make their own history. Each will pursue it with a key element that has been missing so far.

Like Morales and Barrera, Navarrete and Valdez look as if they could be partners in the kind of long-term rivalry that turns forgettable into memorable.

“For me, this fight means the world,’’ said Valdez, who mentioned Julio Cesar Chavez, Ruben Olivares on a long list of Mexican legends. “With all of these great names, it’s been my biggest dream to be on that imaginary list. What I’ve done so far is not much.’’

What he’s done includes titles at a couple of weights. He’s a former featherweight champion. He a former junior lightweight champion. It’s the former part that bothers him. Motivates him, too.

He got blown out by Shakur Stevenson, losing his 130-pound version of the championship puzzle. There’s no shame in that. Stevenson is well on his way to pound-for-pound prominence. He might be a step below Terence Crawford and Naoya Inoue. But Stevenson doesn’t figure to be there for long.

Still the defeat, a one-sided decision in January 2022, haunts Valdez, a Mexican Olympian who was born in Nogales and still has family in Tucson. It was his first defeat. Still his lone loss

It’s been painful, maybe even more painful than his epic victory over Scott Quigg on a rainy night in an outdoor ring in Carson, Calif., in March 2018.

Quigg broke his jaw midway through the bout. Quigg was three pounds heavier than the featherweight limit at the official weigh-in the day before opening bell. Management told Valdez not to fight. But Valdez said no way. He came to fight, and fight he did.

But he paid for his stubborn will. He also won a unanimous decision on a long, chilly night. For most of the bout, the blood from his shattered jaw spilled from his mouth and onto the canvas in front of his stool. Despite the rain, the blood stain was still there about an hour after he had been carried out on a stretcher.

It was a moment when you wondered whether Valdez would ever answer another opening bell. He did, of course He’s about to answer one more.

“You can send Valdez to the canvas, you can break his jaw, but still he comes at you,’’ Navarrete said.

Valdez has fought eight times since that epic night. He’s gone 7-1, losing to Stevenson and then beating Adam Lopez in a rematch last May.

I asked him after that news conference Thursday, what hurt more? The loss to Stevenson or the broken jaw?

“Good question,’’ Valdez said. “The thing about the broken jaw was that the fans were still there for me. They were applauding me. They were wishing me well. They were telling me to get well. They were telling me they couldn’t wait see me in the ring again.

“After losing to Shakur, I was kind of alone. I had a lot of questions. I had to work my way through that by myself. I’m better for it now. But it was tough.’’

Nothing much about Valdez’ stubborn resilience surprises his manager, Frank Espinoza, anymore. He’s seen him get up. He’s seen him endure. He’s also seen him get caught up in too many close fights. But about his will, Espinoza has no doubt.

“Hey, a broken jaw is really painful,’’ Espinoza said. “But I’m not surprised that losing is more painful than a busted jaw for Oscar.’’

Put it this way: Valdez’ jaw healed. Only a victory will correct the record and maybe make some history.

By Norm Frauenheim –

GLENDALE, Ariz. – It’s a boxing market built on the lightest weight classes.

It started with Michael Carbajal and was enhanced last December by Juan Francisco Estrada’s narrow decision over Ramon “Chocolatito” Gonzalez for the super-flyweight title last December.

Down scale has always been upscale in the Phoenix area and that figures to continue on Dec. 16 when Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and Sunny Edwards fight in a flyweight unification bout at Desert Diamond Arena in suburban Glendale on Dec. 16.

15 Rounds confirmed reports by International Boxing News and Boxing Scene that DAZN plans to stage the fight at Desert Diamond.

As of Thursday, the bout was still not included in the arena’s listings. Also, the Arizona Boxing & MMA Commission was still not aware that DAZN was planning to stage the bout at Desert Diamond, which will be the site Saturday of an ESPN card featuring Oscar Valdez Jr.-versus-Emanuel Navarrete for a junior-lightweight title.

However, there has been speculation that Edwards-Rodriguez was headed to Arizona ever since they agreed on the deal.

Location, location, location. The Phoenix metro area is the right real estate for Edwards-Rodriguez. Promoter Eddie Hearn saw that in December when a crowd of more than 9,000 showed up at Desert Diamond for Estrada-Chocolatito.

Little guys often get buried on bigger cards in cities like Vegas or Los Angeles. But the Phoenix crowd knew who Estrada and Chocolatito were. It also knew what they were doing throughout 12 close rounds, which ended with Estrada winning a majority decision.

Turns out, many in that crowd were sons and daughters of Carbalal fans, the first American junior-flyweight to be promoted in a major way by Top Rank throughout most of his Hall of Fame run from 1988-through-1999.

The bout will be Rodriguez’ second in the Phoenix area. Rodriguez (18-0 13 KOs), of San Antonio, scored a unanimous decision over Carlos Cuadras in February 2022 at the Footprint Center, the Suns home arena in downtown Phoenix.

Edwards (20-0 4 KOs), of London, will be making his first appearance in the United States. He holds the International Boxing Federation’s 112-pound title. Rodriguez is the World Boxing Organization’s flyweight champion.

By Norm Frauenheim –

Risk & Reward was the message on Terence Crawford’s T-shirt at a weigh-in last Friday.

Then, it was subtle.

Nearly a week later, it’s big.

Pay-per-view numbers for the Showtime telecast of Crawford’s masterful triumph in a ninth-round stoppage of Errol Spence Jr. Saturday are evidence that risk & reward can work together instead of against each other in making fights.

Initial reports from Dan Rafael’s Fight Freaks Unite and Boxing Scene five days after the welterweight bout put the pay-per-view number at 650,000 buys. It could climb to 700,000. The reports are based on anonymous sources. There are conflicting reports of 550,000.

But either number is a success, especially for Crawford, who had never generated more than a reported 200,000 for a pay-per-view appearance.

Multiple people attached to the Crawford-Spence promotion in Las Vegas last week told 15 Rounds that 500,000 was the break-even point. The live gate at Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena was a reported $21 million. The crowd was announced at 19,990.

Spence and Crawford could each collect more than $20 million each.

Crawford’s T-shirt said it all.

It was a subtle twist, a rewrite of the ratio that had been paralyzing the business for years. It was risk-to-reward.

It worked for Floyd Mayweather, a boxer-banker who retired unbeaten and used the ratio to become the world’s richest athlete with huge paydays that included Manny Pacquiao in 2015 and mixed-martial-arts celebrity Connor McGregor a couple of years later.

The ratio became the model for the generation that followed. What worked for Mayweather, however, didn’t work after him.

Increasingly, the reward factor outweighed the risk. In effect, it became risk-versus-reward instead of risk-to-reward. It paralyzed the game, turning it into an exasperating never-never land. There were fights demanded by the market, yet most never got past the bargaining table and into the ring.

A sure sign of a business breakthrough was delivered on April 22 with Tank Davis’ stoppage of Ryan Garcia. The PPV number for that one was reported to be 1.2 million. The live gate, also at T-Mobile, was reported to be $22.8 million.

The 136-pound bout – Garcia was finished by a body punch in the seventh — didn’t compare to Crawford’s singular performance in knocking down Spence three times. Showtime will replay the telecast Saturday (9 p.m., ET/PT). But Davis-Garcia reawakened a market, one still willing to reward real risk.

Nearly three months later, Risk & Reward were there.

First, on a T-shirt.

Then, in the ring.   

Valdez, Navarrete ready for AZ showdown

Oscar Valdez Jr. wraps up his training camp in Lake Tahoe, expecting a tactical challenge from unorthodox Emanuel Navarrete on August 12 at Desert Diamond Casino in Glendale AZ.

“We all know that Navarrete has an awkward style,’’ said Valdez (31-1, 23 KOs), a former two-division champion.  “We might not have the perfect sparring that can emulate his style.

“But we try to imitate him in the mitt work and strategy. He’s not your typical fighter that throws straight shots.”

Valdez is a slight betting favorite over Navarrete, a fellow Mexican and a former featherweight champion who moved up the scale and won the World Boxing Organization’s junior-lightweight belt in a difficult fight against unknown Liam Wilson, also at Desert Diamond.

Wilson, a late stand-in from Australia, knocked down Navarrete in the fourth round of a controversial fight on Feb 3, also at Desert Diamond.

Navarrete spit out his mouth piece. He gained some time to recover as the referee retrieved it. Navarrete went on to batter Wilson, scoring a ninth-round TKO of the tough Aussie.

“Winning this fight would boost my career significantly,’’ Navarrete (37-1, 31 KOs) said from his camp in San Diego. “Personally, I would feel complete. What has been missing in my career is precisely a victory against someone like Valdez. It would fill me with pride to be part of such an iconic fight between Mexicans and come out victorious.”

Both fighters are well-known in Arizona. Valdez, a former Mexican Olympian who went to school in Tucson, is poised to fight for the sixth time in AZ.

Navarrete will fight for the third time in the state.

LAS VEGAS –It’s always been what Terence Crawford said it was.

It’s his era.

This Bud is forever.

Terence “Bud” Crawford delivered the proof – definitively – Saturday with a devastating ninth-round stoppage of Errol Spence Jr. in front of a T-Mobile Arena crowd that roared, first in disbelief and then in just plan admiration.

At his best, Crawford has been The Sweetest Scientist of his generation. But the proof was always elusive for the welterweight from Omaha, a midwestern city in a state known more for college football, wheat and Warren Buffett than boxing.

“Nobody believed me,’’ Crawford said in a ring crowded with his fans, officials and cops.

They do, now.

Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) was at his scientific best, breaking down fighters in a way nobody ever has. Spence (28-1, 22 KOs) had never been knocked down. Crawford floored him three times, once in the second and twice in the seventh.

Crawford’s many – now former – critics often complained about his resume. The question was always:

Who have you fought?

Spence and his trainer, Derrick James, asked exactly that question just a few days before opening bell.

But he dominated Spence as much as he has everyone else in his era. Perhaps, more so.

To wit: Crawford found himself in tougher fights against Shawn Porter and Jose Benavidez Jr. Porter’s dad threw in the towel after 10 rounds. Benavidez didn’t fall until the 12^th and final round.

Dominance defines Crawford, explains his era. He’s been so dominant that it’s almost hard to believe. Until now.

“It means everything because of who I took the belts from,’’ said Crawford, who added Spence’s three belts, giving him an undisputed four for the second time in his career. “They tried to blackball me. They kept me out. They talked bad about me. They said I wasn’t good enough and I couldn’t beat these welterweights.

“I just kept my head to the sky and kept praying to God that I would get the opportunity to show the world how great Terence Crawford is. Tonight, I believe I showed how great I am.”

There was no argument from Spence, who fought for only the third time since his scary auto accident.

“My timing was a little bit off,’’ Spence said.  “He was just the better man tonight.

“He was just throwing the hard jab. He was timing with his jab. His timing was just on point. I wasn’t surprised by his speed or his accuracy. It was everything I thought.

“We gotta do it again. I’m going to be a lot better. It’ll be a lot closer. It’ll probably be in December and the end of the year. I say we gotta do it again. Hopefully, it will happen 154 (pounds).”

Their contract includes a rematch clause. But Crawford’s dominance might erode the public demand for a sequel.

It was apparent in the second round. Crawford threw a left hand. Then a jab. Then a precise combination. Spence was down, down for the first time in his career. He looked confused. Defeat was on his horizon for the first time.

Seven rounds later, defeat was reality.

In the seventh, Crawford dropped Spence with a counter. He dropped him again with a right hook set up by an uppercut to the body.

It was just a matter of time. That time arrived in the ninth. Referee Harvey Dock looked at Spence, bloodied in the face and standing unsteady legs. Dock ended at 2:32 of the ninth.

“It was a good stoppage,’’ Crawford said.

It’s been an even better era..

Isaac Cruz wins split decision

Isaac Cruz is built like a boulder. He moves like one.too. He tirelessly pursues, picking up momentum from round to round like a stone moving down a slight incline. Don’t get on his way. Giovanni Cabrera did. Punishment was the price.

Somehow, Cabrera stayed upright. Somehow, he survived.

But he lost anyway, losing a debatable split-decision to the stronger, more aggressive Cruz Saturday night in the last fight before the long-awaited Crawford-Spence main event.

Two judges scored it for Cruz, 114-113 and 115-112. A third judge, Glenn Feldman had it 114-113 for Cabrera. Fledman’s score was announced first. The crowd groaned. But there was no outrage this time. Just questions.

“I thought I dominated the first,” Cruz (25-2-1, 17 KOs), of Mexico City, said through an  interpreter.

So did the crowd. But Cruz, who put himself in line for a shot at lightweight champion Tank Davis, hurt himself by holding in the eighth round. He was penalized a point. He also could never knock down the game Cabrera (21-1, 7 KOs, who is trained by Hall of Famer Freddie Roach.  

Repeatedly, Cruz fired menacing shots from a crouch. Lefts and rights from all angles were launched as Cruz seemed to spring up and forward at the taller Cabrera. A couple of the shots, successive left, landed and echoed throughout an arena that was beginning to fill up with restless anxious for the Crawford-Spence showdown.

40-year-old Nonito Donaire loses bid for another title

It was a Filipino hello. And a Filipino goodbye

A T-Mobile Arena crowd welcomed back Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao as a fan at about the same time it prepared to say goodbye to Nonito Donaire as a fighter.

It was a moment, a slice of Filipino history, that transpired late in a  Donaire loss to Mexican Alexandndro Santiago for the World Boxing Council’s bantamweight title in a pay-per-view bout Saturday on the Spence-Crawford card.

Doniare, certain to be a Hall of Famer, didn’t say he would retire in the immediate aftermath of a unanimous-decision defeat.

“I love the sport tso much,” said Donaire, a 116-112, 115-113, 116-112 loser.  “But I’ll have to go back, talk to wife and see what’s next.”

A long twelve rounds was evidence that very little is left. Donaire (42-7, 28 KOs) looked every bit his age. He’s 40. He had hoped to become the oldest bantamweight champion ever. But Santiago proved repeatedly that it’s a younger man’s sport. Santiago (28-35, 14 KOs) displayed more energy and quicker feet.  

He made Donaire look almost stationary. The middle-aged Filipino no longer had the energy in his legs or feet to set up the Donaire power that still echoes over his many many years in the ring.

Yoenis Telez wins third-round stoppage

He was the stand-in. He also was the last one standing.

Yoenis Tellez, a substitute for injured junior-middleweight prospect Jesus Ramos of Casa Grande AZ, delivered power that surprised Sergio Garcia and then beat him Saturday in the Showtime pay-per-view opener on the Errol Spence-Terence Crawford card at T-Mobile Arena.

Tellez (6-0, 5 KOs), a Cuban, rocked Garcia (34-3, 14 KOs) with a right hand set up by a glancing left. Garcia’s knees buckled. It looked as if he might go down. But he caught himself and quickly sprung back up. This time, Telez was there to meet the Spaniard with anotherleft tnat  put him down.

Again, Gracia jumped up .But he had an uncertain look in his eyes as referee Robert Hoyle counted. Then, Garcia stumbled  as he tried to walk to his corner. That’s when Hoyle ended it, a TKO at 2:02 of the third round.

Steven Nelson remained undefeated with a 10-round unanimous decision over Rowdy Legend Montgomery in a super middleweight fight.

Nelson, 167.8 lbs of Omaha, NE won by scores 100-90 and 99-91 twice and is now 19-0. Montgomery, 166.8 lbs of Victorville, CA is 10-5-1.

Jose Salas stopped Aston Palicte in round four of their 10-round super bantamweight.

Salas dropped Palicte to a knee in round four. Palicte got to his feet, but the fight was stopped at 1:30.

Salas is now 13-0 with 10 knockouts. Palicte is 28-8-1.

Jabin Chollet wins second-round TKO

Jabin Chollet probably broke more of a sweat after the fight than he did during it.

Chollet (8-0, 7 KOs) headed out,  back into Vegas”s meltdown heat, after some quick work, a second-round stoppage  of Michael Portales (3-2-1, 1 KO) in a lightweight bout on the non-televised portion of the Spence-Crawford card Saturday at T-Mobile.

The overmatched Portales, of Hayward CA, was simply too small for Chollet, of San Diego. 

Demier Zamora wins easily, scores a scorecard shutout of Buzolin

He calls himself The War Machine. But there was no war Saturday. More like maneuvers.

Las Vegas lightweight Demier Zamora (12-0, 9 KOs) had all of the right ones, out-maneuvering Nikolai Buzolin (9-5-1, 5 KOs), of Brooklyn NY,  throughout eight rounds for a shutout decision in the third fight on the Crawford-Spence card. 

DeShawn Prather scores knockdown, wins narrow decision

Only a knockdown separated DeShawn Prather from Kevin Ventura .

A fifth round knockdown of Ventura allowed Prather to escape with a narrow victory in a welterweight fight Saturday afternoon about six hours before the Spence-Crawford showdown for the undisputed welterweight title at T-Mobile..

Prather (16-1, 2 KOs), of Kansas City, got a unanimous decision, 57-56 on all three cards against Ventura (11-1, 8 KOs), of Omaha.

First Bell: Spence-Crawford card off to a hot start

On the streets, there was no way to avoid the 112-degree heat. Inside T-Mobile Arena, there was no avoiding Justin Viloria.

Viloria (3-0, 3 KOs) got the Errol Spence-Terence Crawford show off to a hot start in a Saturday matinee, scoring a fourth-round stoppage of Pedro Borgaro (4-1, 2 KOs) in a junior-lightweight bout.

The aggressive Viloria, of Whittier CA, went on to land successive shots. By the fourth, a tiring Borgaro, of Mexico, looked defenseless. At 41 seconds of the round, referee Robert Hoyle ended it.

By Norm Frauenheim 

LAS VEGAS – They are dangerous men. They’re engaged in what Mike Tyson once called the hurt business. But on the eve of hostility, they didn’t threaten each other.

They shook hands.

Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr., Brothers In Arms, reached across a scale Friday on a stage at T-Mobile Arena like partners, both agreeing to inflict the violence inherent to the business so aptly defined by Tyson.

By boxing’s modern standards, it was another unusual moment in what promises to be the biggest welterweight fight in years Saturday night on Showtime pay-per-view.

The last time two elite fighters stood on either side of a scale in Vegas, there was some unscripted drama. Devin Haney reached across with both hands, delivering a shove that sent Vasiliy Lomachenko tumbling on to the edge of the stage.

It was intended to generate attention and that’s what it got before Haney’s controversial unanimous decision over Lomachenko in late May.

But that shove was just more of the stuff that makes boxing look like another screaming exhibition of redundant outage.

Enter Crawford and Spence. They‘ve been trying to shove the business in another direction. It all depends on what happens in their much-anticipated fight for the 147-pound division’s undisputed title. Nobody is going to invest $84.99 in the pay-per-view to watch them shake hands.

Those hands are trained to hurt. Trained to spill blood. That’s why we watch. The danger is part of the attraction. But Crawford and Spence have been acting as if they know that. They know themselves. They know their audience.

Mostly, they know their craft and they don’t intend to dirty it up with trash talk or a pro-wrestling-like gesture.

Before the handshake, Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) leaned over and spoke to Spence (28-0, 22 KOs). What did he say?

“Nothing much, other than we’re about to make history,’’ said Crawford, who was a quarter of a pound lighter (146.75) at the staged weigh-in than he was at the official one Friday morning. “Best man wins.’’

That didn’t sound like the ever-defiant, often-angry Crawford, who got into a testy exchange with a Spence fan at a news conference Thursday. The fan mocked Crawford, who reacted profanely. It was if the fan was mocking more than just Crawford. He was mocking his craft.

From Crawford, the edgy counter was a rhetorical shove. He shoved that fan into silence.

Through it all, there has been some compelling byplay between Crawford and Spence. A deadly rivalry is at play between these Brothers-In-Arms. But only they can settle it.

They like to argue about who played the biggest role in making sure the fight happened after it looked as if the possibility was dead in the wake of failed negotiations last fall. Before their handshake, Spence said he offered thanks to Crawford.

“I said thank you for helping make this happen,’’ said Spence, who was two-tenths of a pound heavier (147) at the staged weigh-in than he was at the official one. “Of course, I was the one who made it.

“Hey, this is Spence-Crawford, not Crawford-Spence.’’

Who’s first or second  won’t matter if the welterweight partnership delivers a singular performance that fulfills expectations and enhances a deadly craft.

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS – Just when it sounded as if not much more could be said about Terence Crawford-versus-Errol Spence Jr., more was.

A lot more.

The last formal news conference at T-Mobile Arena took an unexpected turn Thursday. There was trash talk. It wouldn’t be boxing without at least some.

But this edition turned nasty with exchanges between fighters and fans from each of their camps.

At one point, it was punctuated by a racial epithet from Crawford, who used the N-word in an angry response to a Spence fan who had mocked his chances at beating Spence Saturday for the undisputed welterweight title.

“You ain’t gonna do nothing,’’ Crawford said to the fan. “You a (expletive), doing all that talking.’’

Initially, it was thought that the profane exchange was fueled by family members, who were at opposite ends of the seating arrangement in front of a stage on the floor at T-Mobile.

But Spence said the fan was not part of his family.

“He’s not a cousin,’’ Spence said. “He’s from Dallas.’’

Spence, who grew up in  the Dallas area, said Crawford went too far.

“He was definitely going a little too far,’’ Spence told reporters after the formal part of the news conference. “I mean, his people were saying stuff to me. I just smiled.’’

It wasn’t clear why emotional fans were even allowed to attend. The volatile moment – spontaneous combustion at a staged news conference – was sparked by the fight’s magnitude and escalating tensions as the opening bell nears.

Also, Crawford, who is known to be defiant, has never been afraid of confrontation. He has often said that he had a problem with his temper when he was younger.

The controversial language also stood out for another reason.

There was no real trash talk between the fighters themselves. Their mutual respect has been there since the fight was resurrected after it looked as if it would never happen in the wake of failed negotiations last fall.

Their mutual respect throughout the many media appearances doesn’t surprise Stephen Espinoza, Showtime’s President of Sports and Event Programming.

“If it’s Errol Spence, you’ve got to respect him,’’ Espinoza said just days before the pay-per-view bout. “If it’s Terence Crawford, you’ve got to respect him.’’

They do.

But fans and family put a different twist into the equation for a long-awaited fight that – for the last couple of months — has sold itself.

Even the trainers, Brian “BoMac” McIntyre for Crawford and Derrick James for Spence – got into the act Thursday.

McIntrye mounted the bully pulpit and said: “Comes a time when you can’t hide. War Time, War Time, War Time.’’

Then, it was James’ turn. He looked at McIntyre, a super-heavyweight who appears ready to go sumo.

“My chant is this: Time to Eat, Time to Eat,’’ James said. “Reason I’m saying this is he (BoMac) hasn’t missed a meal in years.’’

James and BoMac then went on to exchange a few more shots. James suggested that Crawford’s lofty pound-for-pound status and lone belt – The World Boxing Organization’s version of the 147-pound title – was manufactured against questionable opposition.

“Who you fought,?’ James said as he looked at Crawford.

Finally, BoMac just said:

“Shut the eff up.’’

On a hot afternoon when a news conference was about to go off the rails, that was the best suggestion of all. 

By Norm Frauenheim –

Errol Spence calls it the strap season. Maybe, it is. Suddenly, title belts count for something more than just another sanctioning fee. These days, they even count as a new chapter.

It’s called the four-belt era. It’s a crowded one, a chapter that looks a little bit like a messy closet full of belts, one indistinguishable from the other.

WBC or WBA or IBF or WBO, it’s hard to know – or care — about the difference between the acronyms, which is reason enough to just hang them all on to one rhetorical hook.

That’s why there’s a strap season in Spence’s closet. He’s has questioned their value. Yet, their significance is there, perhaps now more than ever for his long-awaited welterweight showdown with Terence Crawford July 29 at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena in a Showtime pay-per-view bout.

It’s a chance to win all four for the first time in the fabled history of the 147-pound division. Maybe, just that will add some clarity to boxing messy proliferation of belts and weight classes during an era when there are almost more of both than there are prize fighters.

Then again, clarity in boxing is another way of saying clear as mud. There will be five-belt, six- belt and 12-belt eras if people keep paying the fees.

But Spence’s strap season is a pragmatic summation of an ever-chaotic game. Spence has long pursued legacy, despite the outrage last fall over news that talks with Crawford had failed.

“This is what I’ve always wanted,’’ he said Thursday before a media workout in Las Vegas. “It’s the only fight I’ve ever wanted.’’

I can confirm that. Four years ago – almost to the day, Spence appeared at a news conference with Shawn Porter before Manny Pacquiao’s victory over Keith Thurman at Vegas’ MGM Grand in July 2019.

After the newser, I saw Spence, standing alone behind a makeshift stage. I asked him about Crawford. He told me then that Crawford was the fight he wanted.

He promised it would happen.

Promise delivered.

But the path to that long-envisioned fight hasn’t been easy. Instead, there were times when it looked as if it just wouldn’t happen. There was Spence’s scary auto accident in Dallas in October 2019, not long after his narrow scorecard victory over Porter in Los Angeles.

He was out of the ring for more than a year. But, please, don’t say he was inactive, a word straight out of boxing’s fractured language. He was active all right, actively fighting for his life. Fourteen months later, he scored a unanimous decision over the accomplished Danny Garcia in front of a hometown crowd in Dallas.

Then, there was a date with Pacquiao in August 2021. But an eye injury forced him to withdraw. Spence was rushed into surgery for a torn retina in his left eye within two weeks of opening bell. His chance at adding a victory over one of history’s legends was denied. Late stand-in Yordenis Ugas went on to upset Pacquiao. Spence was left with only more questions

Still, he continued to pursue what he had envisioned. He beat Ugas, scoring a 10^th-round TKO for a third strap In April 2022. In retrospect, that was the strap that made the date with Crawford inevitable.

Crawford, too, is hunting straps. If he takes Spence’s three and adds them to his own, he’ll set some four-belt history. Crawford would become the first to win undisputed titles in two divisions. He was a four-belt champion at junior-welterweight.

“This fight is happening at the right time,’’ Crawford said at his media workout Wednesday, also in Vegas. “All the belts are on the line, so there’s even more to fight for. What better way to have this fight than to have it for the undisputed welterweight title?”

Crawford has been a slight favorite ever since the fight was announced. His quicksilver versatility, speed and ring IQ are just three reasons. Another reason, however, is the simple fact that Spence has answered only two opening bells – Garcia and Ugas — since the auto accident.

Spence trainer Derrick James was asked Thursday whether he was concerned about ring rust.

“He’s been training,’’ James said. “in between, he’s been sparring. In the fight itself, he’ll have to adjust to Terence’s speed. But that’ll happen over a few rounds.’’

There’s a theory that Spence might be able to break down Crawford with prolonged pressure. He’s bigger than Crawford. Presumably, he’s stronger, too. But there’s more.

A few weeks ago, there was a virtual media session with Porter, former welterweight champion Kell Brook and two respected trainers, Virgil Hunter and Stephen “Breadman’’ Edwards.

Spence’s auto accident was part of the discussion. Has he completely recovered? Are there lingering affects?

The insightful Edwards had his own take. He said he believed Spence had learned from the accident. He said he might be better because of it.

On July 29, Spence might prove to be the survivor.

Only a survivor figures to win this one, one of the best welterweight fights in any season. 

By Norm Frauenheim –

It’s an unlikely partnership in an unforgiving business for blood and bucks. Maybe some legacy, too. Mostly, it’s still a surprise, an opening bell few expected to ever hear.

Yet, Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. are moving closer to their July 29 pay-per-view date, a welterweight bout as intriguing as any in years.

It’s no secret that stakes are enormous for both fighters and a battered business. The real impact hinges on what happens in the long-awaited Showtime bout at Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena.

Narrow odds continue to slightly favor Crawford. But bet on just about anything in a fight few foresaw in the wake of failed negotiations and a lot of finger-pointing.

That’s all gone. At least, there was no rancor apparent in the last appearance of Crawford and Spence in a virtual news conference Wednesday.

They were businessmen – Crawford talking in a measured, unemotional tone and Spence wearing fashionable glasses that made him look like a CEO in command of a corporate board room.

For now, mutual respect is evident. There were rhetorical shots, but only at pundits and social media’s noisy army. In a trash-talking game, however, respect doesn’t do much for ticket sales.

The April 22nd box-office and Pay-Per-View success (1.2 million buys) of Tank Davis-versus-Ryan Garcia was proof of that. The talk was better than the fight – Davis, a TKO winner over Garcia, who has more words than skills.

As of Friday, Crawford-Spence tickets were still available in every category for a fight announced on May 22. Early sales were reportedly brisk, but most of the tickets – priced from $519 to $2,000 — went to brokers, who are betting that interest in Crawford-Spence will heat up.

Guess here, it will. But there might be lingering skepticism from fans, especially the casual crowd which hasn’t forgotten the abortive talks last fall. Negotiations were an on-again, off-again roller coaster. Misleading and often inaccurate reports from the media didn’t help.

Repeatedly, you could hear fans and pundits say they’d believe it only when both are gloved up, in the ring and echoes of an opening bell fill the arena.

Fair enough. But believe it. This one is on the horizon, approaching like a summer storm.

From this corner, it’s refreshing not to hear, ad nauseam, the trash talk. Spence and Crawford respect each other for documented reasons. They’re both unbeaten and both accomplished in ways that Ryan Garcia was not.

Trash talk is language used by the frightened or the foolish. Crawford and Spence are neither. Crawford, pragmatic and always edgy, summed up the build-up to July 29.

Yes, he said, there’s mutual respect. Yes, he said, Spence is an important business partner at this, a late stage in Crawford’s brilliant career. But don’t be misled, he said.

“We’re not friends on fight night, absolutely,’’ Crawford said. “I’m friends with Shawn Porter. You saw what happened. I knocked him out (10^th-round TKO, September 2021).

“I’m friends with Ray Beltran. You saw what happened. I beat him (unanimous decision, November 2014).

“I’m not friends on fight night with somebody who is there to do whatever to take me down, take my life.’’

That’s business.

Crawford-Spence undercard update

Emerging Jesus Ramos Jr, an unbeaten junior-middleweight from Casa Grande AZ and probably the best prospect from Arizona since David Benavidez, withdrew from the undercard because of a hand injury. He was scheduled to fight Sergio Garcia.

With the withdrawal, Nonito Donaire-versus-Alexandro Santiago was added to the card. It had been scheduled for July 15. Donaire and Santiago will fight for a vacant bantamweight title.

Meanwhile, Garcia stays on the card in a fight against prospect Yoenis Tellez instead of Ramos.

By Norm Frauenheim –

Terence Crawford-Errol Spence Jr, a fascinating fight embedded in the public imagination for years, is generating lots of ideas about how it will unfold, yet no idea about how it will end.

That much was evident Thursday in a virtual news conference featuring Shawn Porter and Kell Brook — retired welterweights beaten by both — and respected trainers, Virgil Hunter and Stephen “Breadman” Edwards.

The imagined scenarios were unlimited. So, too, was the insight. In the end, however, there was only one agreement. 

With opening bell on July 29 just a few weeks away, Porter, Brook, Hunter and Edwards agreed – for now — not to pick a winner.

“I don’t have a pick,’’ said Porter, a former two-time 147-pound champion who lost a 10^th-round TKO to Crawford in November 2021 and a split-decision to Spence in September 2019. “I don’t know who is going to win this fight.

“This is what boxing truly is.’’

Truly, true.

It’s why Crawford-Spence has been at the top of the public’s most-wanted list for so long. It also explains why there was so much frustration last fall at news that negotiations had fallen apart.

But the frustration is gone, supplanted by the fascination. There haven’t been too many high-level, high-wire fights during an era ruled by Floyd Mayweather’s risk-to-reward ratio. The formula mitigated the risk, much of the drama and most of the compelling reasons to watch.

Too many fights were easy to pick. Crawford-Spence isn’t.

“I don’t have a pick right now,’’ said Edwards, who was in the corner for Caleb Plant in a tense scorecard loss to super-middleweight contender David Benavidez in March. “That’s the honest truth. I think we’re going to have the Fight of the Century. ‘’

The Century is still young. It’s only 23-years old, still enough time for fights forever etched into history. There was Diego Corrales’ 10^th-round TKO of Jose Luis Castillo in a 2005 epic.

About 21 months ago, there was one that will be remembered as wild, even by the heavyweight division’s extreme standards. Tyson Fury’s crazy, up-and-down 11^th-round KO of Deontay Wilder was buckle-your-seatbelt crazy  

The last 23 years are not a lost era. Still, they are dogged by the one fight seen by more people than any other. Mayweather’s 2015 decision over Manny Pacquiao, also in a welterweight bout, fell short. Before opening bell, It was much hyped and it’s been much derided ever since.

There’s a suggestion – perhaps a prayer — Crawford-Spence can deliver a performance that will close the book on that lingering disappointment.

From Breadman’s perspective, both Spence and Crawford have qualities that remind him of a more celebrated era. He foresees a performance that won’t disappoint.

“I don’t see either guy choking up under the bright lights,’’ he said. “Both guys seem to have that clutch gene. 

“…Every time, I’ve seen one of these guys’ backs against the wall, they up the ante, raise the stakes.’’

Breadman says the fight will make fans want more. That means a rematch. But Breadman meant more than just that.

“I think the casual fan might say: ‘There’s not enough action,’ ‘’ Breadman said. “But for the purist, you’ll see some great, great stuff. It will become a classic.

“I think this one is one I wish was 15 rounds, because I think both guys are 15-round fighters and would have flourished in a 15-round era.’’

The winner? It depends.

Depends, perhaps, on how the bigger Spence rehydrates the week before opening bell at Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena, says Hunter, who was Andre Ward’s trainer.

Depends, maybe, on how Crawford adjusts to a blistering desert summer in Nevada after training at altitude in the Colorado mountains, Hunter also says.

“It’s going to come down to very small margin,’’ said Brook, a former 147-pound champion stopped by Crawford in a fourth-round TKO in November 2020 and knocked out by Spence in the 11^th round of a punishing bout in May 2017.

The calculating Crawford, Brook says, possesses a precision that can result in dangerous accuracy. It has a snap, Brook says of a Crawford punch that lands like a whip.

“Very sharp and snapping puncher,’’ said Brook, who won a majority over to Porter in August 2014.

Spence is more fundamental. Once Spence starts to move forward, he can run you over, he says.

“A grinding and thumping kind of power,’’ said Brook, who has felt Crawford’s dynamic snap and Spence’s grinding thump.

“That’s the difference,” Brook added.

Maybe, the drama, too. For now, that’s the only pick.

Valdez-Navarrete Update

 Emerging lightweight Raymond “Danger” Muratalla hopes to take another step in his swift ascent against fellow Mexican Diego Torres Aug. 12 on the ESPN-televised card featuring Oscar Valdez Jr.-versus-Emanuel Navarrete for a junior-lightweight title at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale AZ, Top Rank announced this week.

Muratalla (18-0, 15 KOs) calls himself Danger, a nickname that reflects his unbeaten record, which includes 12 stoppages in his last 13 bouts. He’s also Busy.

He faces an equally dangerous Torres (17-0, 16 KOs) in his third fight in 2023.

 “I couldn’t be more excited to get back in that ring on such a great card,’’ Muratalla said. “I can’t wait to put on another great performance for the fans. I believe this is my time now, and I will continue to show the hard work that’s being put in.”

Muratalla has the momentum. Torres hopes to halt it.

“Fighting against another undefeated fighter is something that I was looking for,’’ Torres said. “It is my way of showing that I am made for this, and I am here to achieve great things.

“I am not afraid. I’m going to give it my all and come out with a great victory.”

Muratalla-Torres has been added to a card also scheduled to include  Richard Torrez Jr. (5-0, 5 KOs), a silver medalist for the U.S. at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, against Willie Jake Jr. (11-3-2, 3 KOs) in a six-round heavyweight bout. 

By Norm Frauenheim –

It’s a fight that has already exceeded expectations. Terence Crawford-Errol Spence Jr. got made. There was a deal just a few months after one looked to be impossible.

It’s the beginning of a bout loaded with the potential to deliver a classic and maybe more.  An agreement that emerges from a never-never land littered with all of boxing’s usual complications makes just about anything look possible.

Maybe even some history.

A historical parallel, at least, has been introduced and figures to be at the cutting edge of the promotional pitch throughout the month-long build-up before opening bell on July 29 at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.

It’s no ordinary parallel. Nothing about Sugar Ray Leonard-Thomas Hearns in September 1981 on a Vegas summer night up the Strip from T-Mobile at an open-air arena behind Caesars Palace was ordinary. It was extraordinary in almost every way. It was a masterpiece, perhaps the best fight in boxing’s modern – and messy — history.

For more than four decades, it’s a fight that has stood alone, unmatched for its artistry and ferocity. There’s never been an encore, and the guess from this corner is that there never will be.

That corner of history belongs to Leonard-Hearns in a drama that saw the fighters switch styles. Leonard, the boxer, became the puncher, scoring a late TKO of the puncher, Hearns, suddenly the boxer. It was a different time, the end of an era when championship fights were scheduled for 15 rounds instead of 12.

In this era, Hearns would have won a 12-round decision. He was leading on all three cards going into the 13^th. Then, however, he was stopped suddenly and definitively after Leonard heard and heeded a warning from trainer Angelo Dundee.

“You’re blowing it, son, you’re blowing it,’’ Dundee said. 

Leonard flipped a switch — finesse to ferocious – mounting a blitzkrieg burst of violence that left Hearns exhausted and beaten along the ropes at 1:45 of the 14^th.

Can history repeat itself? It hasn’t. Not even Hearns and Leonard could in a 1989 rematch that was about eight years too late. Each beyond their prime, they fought to a draw. It was oh-so forgettable. Often, it’s not remembered at all, mostly because of the powerful memory of their first fight, a boxing monument if there ever was one.

Leonard-Hearns, the golden oldie, is still the model. Maybe, Crawford-Spence is the remake.

“This fight is really as big as it gets,’’ Tom Brown, president of TGB Promotions, said on June 14 in New York as he formally announced the bout in the second of coast-to-coast news conferences. “We have the best two fighters in the world, unbeaten and in their prime.

“We haven’t seen fighters with skills like this since Sugar Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns.”

There’ll be some debate about that. Leonard was 25, Hearns 22. Crawford is 35, Spence 33. Leonard and Hearns were just entering their prime. Crawford and Spence are leaving theirs.

Over the last four decades, there’s been research, nutrition and technology that allows athletes to extend their careers.  

Maybe, Crawford and Spence still have some prime time that Leonard and Hearns didn’t. But this isn’t Olympic swimming. It’s boxing. A single punch on July 29 or forty-two years ago can still end a career.

Still, some potential elements are in place. Crawford enters the biggest welterweight bout in his generation as the boxer. At opening bell, he’ll play Leonard’s role. Yet, his power also has turned him into one of today’s few real finishers. His 39-0 record includes 30 stoppages.

The bigger Spence has the Hearns role. His feared power is an ever-present threat, yet his boxing skill is evident, especially in three of his last four fights – scorecard victories over Mikey Garcia, Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia.

For Crawford and Spence, there’s a chance to do what Leonard and Hearns didn’t. Leonard and Hearns didn’t turn their all-time bout into a rivalry. They were finished by the time they got to the rematch. Leonard was 33, Hearns 30 in their June 1989 sequel, a bout fought at a 164-pound catchweight, also at Caesars Palace.

The Crawford-Spence agreement includes a rematch clause. If their promised classic happens, the prediction is that there’ll be rematch later this year.

But first they’ll have to deliver in a way that Floyd Mayweather’s 2015 decision over Manny Pacquiao didn’t. The Mayweather-Pacquiao dud, also at welterweight, didn’t exceed any of the inflated expectations. The disappointment lingered like a lousy hangover for years.

Mayweather-Pacquiao is also history, a lingering lesson and a more recent reminder about what not to repeat.

Guess here, Crawford-Spence won’t be Mayweather-Pacquiao. It won’t be Leonard-Hearns, either. In a fabled weight class, it’s a fight suddenly intriguing for one reason. During an era when so many big fights don’t get made, this one is about to happen.  

Call it the opening possibility, perhaps the first of many that haven’t been seen for far too long.

Jesus Ramos poised for next lesson

Jesus Ramos, of Casa Grande AZ, is beginning to look like the hottest prospect to emerge from Arizona since super-middleweight contender and two-time former WBC champion David Benavidez.

Ramos (20-0,16 KOs) hopes to embellish his credentials at junior-middleweight against Spanish veteran Sergio Garcia (34-2, 14 KOs) in a scheduled 12-round bout on the pay-per-view portion of the Showtime telecast of Crawford-Spence.

It’s a fight that could put Ramos in position to challenge Tim Tszyu or unified junior-middleweight champion Jermell Charlo.

 “With a victory, I believe I could get into the top five, or at least the top 10,’’ the 22-year-old Ramos said Thursday during a virtual news conference.

Ramos, who is coming off a seventh-round stoppage of Joey Spencer on the undercard of Benavidez’ decision over Caleb Plant on March 25, says each fight is a lesson plan.

“I’m doing things at my own pace,’’ he said. “Each fight is an opportunity for me to learn something. Seeing different styles is the perfect way for me. It’ll help prepare me for whenever my moment comes.’’

By Norm Frauenheim

PHOENIX, AZ — Trevor McCumby takes the second step in a comeback Saturday night at Celebrity Theatre.

The 30-year-old McCumby hopes to pick up where he left off against Rodolfo Ezequiel Martinez on an Iron Boy Promotions card.

In May, McCumby (26-0, 20 KOS) kicked off his comeback, scoring a solid stoppage of Vicente Rodriguez, also at Celebrity. Rodriguez, a super-middleweight from Argentina, was finished in the fifth after McCumby landed a lethal left to the body.

Not much is known about Martinez (44-10-3, 16 KOS), also an Argentine who hasn’tfought in more than two years. Over his 58-fight career, he’s fought at middleweight, super-middle and light-heavy.

McCumby, a Chicago-area native now of Glendale AZ and a light-heavyweight prospect five years ago, is back with plans to fight at super-middleweight.

Twelve fights are scheduled for the Iron Boy card. First bell is scheduled for 6 p.m., Arizona time.

By Norm Fraueneim –

Last week, there was a question. Is Canelo Alvarez listening?

This week, there’s an answer.

No.

It’s a definitive no, delivered by Badou Jack, who spoke for impatient fans in a restless, yet evolving marketplace.

Jack, a sudden entry in a search for a fall foe, withdrew from the Canelo lottery and left Jermall Charlo as the only option after getting an offer that would have made him fight at about 20 pounds lighter than his current division, cruiserweight. It also included a deadly rehydration clause.

That’s not an offer. It’s an outrage, but also no surprise. In a column headlined by the aforementioned question, Canelo’s offer was predicted:

Jack, nobody’s fool, did more than just say no, however. He ended his twitter reply with this:

“Canelo let’s give the fans what they want to see and fight David Benavidez.”

Jack repeated what has been said, ad nauseam, for a couple years. Yet, Canelo ignores the refrain. Jack called for Canelo to fight Benavidez on Monday. On Thursday, there was news that Canelo ignored him and just about everybody else all over again. 

Instead of Benavidez, he’ll fight the seldom-seen Charlo on Sept. 16, according to a twitter report from ESPN’s Mike Coppinger.

After his last few fights, Canelo wore a crown that symbolized his long reign. But his silence about anything Benavidez is turning him into the proverbial king with no clothes. You can speculate as to why.

Maybe, he fears the younger Benavidez’ abundant energy late in a long career when Canelo’s measured performances are characterized by fatigue in the late rounds.

Maybe, he’s angry at the trash talk from Benavidez and his trainer/father, Jose Sr. Canelo’s documented pay-per-view power has allowed him to dictate. He wants praise, not insults. Try to bully Canelo and he’ll walk away, angry and defiant. Maybe, that’s why it took so long for a third fight with Gennadiy Golovkin.

Maybe, all of the above. Maybe, not.

Maybe, it changes.

But time isn’t exactly on Canelo’s side any more. Patience is quickly draining through the hourglass in a marketplace that is moving on. There are abundant signs that there’s business beyond Canelo.

It was there in April with Tank Davis’ stoppage of Ryan Garcia in a pay-per-view bout that drew a reported 1.2 million customers.

On July 29, there’s the long-awaited Terence Crawford-versus-Errol Spence Jr. Crawford and Spence continued negotiations after talks failed last October.

It’s still uncertain whether they’ll be rewarded with numbers even close to Davis-Garcia. Still, there’s good news in the attempt. It’s simply says they’re responding to a market demand, one of many. For now, it looks as if Canelo is only trying to satisfy himself.

Benavidez never heard from Canelo on an offer for a September fight from Benavidez promoter/manager Sampson Lewkowicz. Reportedly, the deal was potentially worth as much as $60 million. From Canelo, however, it was met with just more of the same:

Silence.

The Phoenix-born Benavidez is now talking about fighting Jamie Munguia or David Morrell. Morrell had been the original plan. Contrary to some reports, however, David Benavidez says there’s no tentative date or final deal.

Meanwhile, Morrell has started to sound a lot like Benavidez. Morrell is trash-talking him, through a publicist, in an attempt push him into a bout.

Long-term, Canelo’s moves are a signal for Benavidez to move up, from super-middleweight to light-heavy. That’s where his future is. Where his prime is. `

On the Benavidez clock, it makes little sense to wait anymore on Canelo, who will turn 33 on July 18 and then enter the next stage of his long career against Charlo on a PBC deal that reportedly includes two more fights, May and September in 2024.

An agreement for two more Canelo fights, both next year, could mean just about anything.

But Benavidez can only judge it from what he already knows. To wit: Canelo won’t fight him. There’s no other way to interpret what Canelo has done since the Benavidez-Canelo possibility entered the public conversation. Repeatedly, the undisputed 168-pound champion finds another way to avoid him.

The latest example: Charlo.

Charlo, a middleweight belt holder, hasn’t fought in two years. He’s never fought at super-middleweight. Yet, he’ll fight Canelo instead of Benavidez, the World Boxing Council’s so-called mandatory challenger and a former two-time WBC champion. From virtually every conceivable corner, there’s no reasonable explanation for it.

Before Thursday’s news, Canelo’s sometime promoter Eddie Hearn told several media outlets that Charlo was next. In almost the next breath, Hearn went on to say it wouldn’t be a competitive fight. With that kind of recommendation, who’s going to buy?

From Benavidez’ perspective, there’s only one conclusion. For the sake of his career, he has to assume Canelo won’t fight him, now or next year.

For years, Benavidez has been chasing Canelo as though that one fight will define him.

Now, he’s forced to think about a career without Canelo. At 26, he’s got lots of time to do exactly that: Re-define himself according to his own terms.

Move on. A lot of fans already have.

By Norm Frauenheim –

It’s been a good week to be a fight fan, which is another way of saying the business is staging an overdue comeback with fights that matter.

Front-and-center, Terence Crawford-versus-Errol Spence Jr. in a July 29 bout formally introduced this week at coast-to-coast news conferences, first in Los Angeles and then New York.

In a year full of evidence that an audience is still there, Crawford-Spence represents what looks to be the best in a surprising comeback from widespread doom-and-gloom last fall.

First, there were a reported 1.2 million pay-per-view buys for Tank Davis’ stoppage of Ryan Garcia.

Then, there was news that Teofimo Lopez’ entertaining decision over Josh Taylor Saturday drew boxing’s biggest cable/network audience this year. According to Nielsen, it peaked at 980,000.

The sudden spike adds up to a rebound few saw in the immediate aftermath of news in late October that Crawford and Spence couldn’t reach a deal for what could be a welterweight classic. But they stayed at the table, amid mixed reports about how the talks were going.

Then, however, there was the million-plus PPV milestone for Davis-Garcia on April 22.

A month later, Crawford-Spence had a deal.

The marketplace had spoken.

The message: For the right fight, there’s an audience.

But not everybody got the message.

Canelo Alvarez, boxing’s lone pay-per-view draw since Floyd Mayweather Jr., is still searching for an opponent. It’s an ongoing process, ever-changing and a reflection of uncertainty that stands in stark contrast to a fan base sure about what it wants.

It wants Canelo-versus-David Benavidez. No secret there. For about as long as fans and  fighters have been calling for Crawford-Spence, there’s been an escalating demand for Canelo-Benavidez. 

Canelo and trainer/manager Eddy Reynoso have resisted, trotting out a litany of reasons at every turn.

Canelo has said Benavidez’ resume didn’t measure up. He said he didn’t want to fight fellow Mexicans. Benavidez, of Phoenix, has a Mexican dad and an Ecuadorian mom.

Canelo hasn’t blamed climate change. Not yet, anyway. But you get the idea. Over the last few weeks, any chance Benavidez had at fighting Canelo seems to have come.

And gone.

All over again.

Benavidez promoter and manager Sampson Lewkowicz had been publicly campaigning for a fall date with Canelo. He was reportedly offering Canelo a deal potentially worth more than $60 million. But Reynoso said he never got Lewkowicz’ message. Didn’t get that marketplace message either.

Lewkowicz, who offered $50 million a couple of years ago,  went on to tell South American media that Benavidez would move on and pursue a dangerous date with emerging super-middleweight David Morrell, a Cuban living in Minnesota. Morrell had always been Benavidez’ plan.

Besides, it was clear that Canelo had already altered his plans. There was no movement in reported negotiations for a rematch of his loss to light-heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol. Now, there are questions about whether there was ever any substantive talk.

Over the last week, Jermall Charlo, who holds the World Boxing Council’s middleweight belt, and Badou Jack suddenly landed on Canelo’s short list, according to ESPN.

The 33-year-old Charlo hasn’t fought in two years. He’s been struggling with mental issues, according to WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman.

Meanwhile, Jack is a cruiserweight champion. He beat Ilunga Makabu in February to win the WBC’s 200-pound title in Saudi Arabia. Negotiations are reportedly underway for a fight in October, also in Saudi.

Problem is, Canelo, the undisputed super-middleweight champion, has never been heavier than 174.5 pounds, light-heavy. Some kind of crazy catchweight would have to be negotiated.

It’s hard to imagine that any state commission, ruled by traditional safeguards, would sanction a fight forcing Jack to be at 20 to 25 fewer pounds than he was for his last bout — 198.5 in February.

But this is Saudi, as in sportswash money. The Saudi role in the controversial LIV-PGA golf deal is just more proof that almost nothing is ever off the scale. Only the money is. Canelo, an avid golfer himself, might get in line for his own share of the sportswash.

But would it satisfy the market demand for significant fights?

Has there been any clamor for Canelo against a middleweight beltholder who hasn’t answered an opening bell in two years?

Any demand for Canelo against a cruiserweight champion in a bout turned gimmicky by crazy weight restrictions?

No.

No.

And no.

That’s what a resilient market is saying in numbers amplified by an audience suddenly back on pay-per-view, cable and network.

The message: Ignore it at your own peril.

By Norm Frauenheim –

There’s not much Teofimo Lopez won’t say these days. He’s a shock jock in a concussive business, one that has seemingly heard it all.

The latest came at a news conference not long after Lopez said he wants “to kill” Josh Taylor Saturday night. In so many words, it’s been said before by Deontay Wilder and many more.

Often, it’s hyperbole, an unnecessary exaggeration in an already deadly game.

But, no, Lopez apparently wasn’t exaggerating. Then again, it wasn’t exactly clear what he meant either

“Aim for death for that’s where life begins,’’ he said Thursday before a contentious ESPN (7 p.m PT/10 p.m. ET) fight for Taylor’s junior-welterweight title in The Theater at New York’s Madison Garden.

Taylor (19-0, 13 KOS) laughed, then said “OK, no comment.’’

Lopez (18-1, 13 KOs) went on, doing what he does best. He talked.

“I think it’s a good one,’’ he said as he gestured like a sidewalk preacher at Taylor and Top Rank host Mark Shunock. “You aim at death for that’s where life begins. Everybody is scared of death. I don’t know why. We all gonna die.

“But at least if I die, I’m dying for something that means something, that’s gonna last forever. That’s what greats are all about. Something that you don’t really know.

“I mean, this is what we all about. Remaking history, making history and giving the fans, giving the kids – the youth – a good thing to follow on. They need that. They need that motivation, that they know they can do it too

“The only way they can. There’s earth, there’s man and, in between that, you bring the realization within yourself. From the heavens.’’

On stage, there were awkward glances. In the audience, there were awkward laughs. What on earth? From the heavens, no answer to that one.

“Listen, at the end of it all, everybody can laugh, do whatever the f— they want,’’ Lopez said just as Shunock turned and tried to address Taylor. “But it’s just me and him, this fighter.’’

The baffling, uncomfortable moment just left further questions about Lopez. As a fighter, he has struggled ever since his upset at lightweight of then pound-for-pound leader Vasiliy Lomachenko on October 2020.

He suffered a first-round knockdown in November 2021 against Australian George Kambosos Jr., who went on to upset him by split decision in front Lopez’ hometown fans in New York. Lopez, who suffered from a respiratory condition, loudly complained about the decision. Kambosos called him delusional.

In December, he got knocked down by unknown Spaniard Sandor Martin before winning a debatable split decision, also in New York. After the fight, a hot mike caught him asking himself:

“Do I still got it?’’

It was a question rooted in self-doubt. A crisis in confidence, a fighter’s identity in peril.

Since then, he talks and talks as though he’s trying to convince himself as much as his skeptics. He has ripped ESPN commentators Timothy Bradley and Andre Ward.

Bradley, he says, doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame. Bradley will get inducted into the Canastota Hall Sunday after working the Lopez-Taylor fight.

He talks about seemingly everything yet ignores that anguished question he asked himself seven months ago.

It’s an answer that Taylor might deliver definitively and painfully. The odds make Taylor a slight favorite despite questions surrounding his controversial decision over Jake Catterall in his last outing.

But the pundits are one-sided. In a poll conducted by The Ring, the pick-to-win was unanimous. And perhaps devastating.

Twenty for Taylor, 0 for Lopez, a lonely man in a desperate fight for a victory that would speak for itself.

Valdez-Navarrete set for AZ

As expected, Oscar Valdez-versus-Emanuel Navarrete is set for Desert Diamond Arena August 12, Top Rank announced this week.

“I’m excited to return to the ring, especially because it’s for a world title against ‘Vaquero’ Navarrete” said Valdez (31-1, 23 KOs) a two-time champion from Nogales who went to school in nearby Tucson. “Being a world champion is something that I always dreamed of. I already did it two times, and this is yet another opportunity.

“So, I’m excited and prepared both mentally and physically for this new opportunity. And I like that it’s between two Mexicans, because it’s a win-win for Mexico. It’s a guaranteed war when there are two Mexicans in the ring.”

Navarrete won the World Boxing Organization’s vacant junior-lightweight title in a dramatic ninth-round TKO of Australian Liam Wilson, a late-stand-in for an injured Valdez, last December at Desert Diamond.

 “After so much time, this fight will finally take place,’’ Navarrete (37-1, 31 KOs) said. “Obviously, I am 100 percent motivated because Valdez is still a big threat, and a fight against him could possibly be the start of a new Mexico-versus- Mexico rivalry like the one between (Marco Antonio) Barrera and (Erik) Morales.”