Boxing in 2024

Happy new year, fight fans. Any optimism for bouts or fighters out there? The flagship fight for the sport is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and correct me if I’m wrong but it’s surely going to be a disappointment. Here’s why I think that.
Fury has been past his best for so long but has managed to hide it with hand-picked second tier opposition whom he can simply bully. He’s out of shape and needs injections in his elbows regularly as well as his thin legs after carrying between twenty and thirty stone for so long are nearly gone.
The pathetic outbursts against Usyk and the assertions of superiority were the desperate egotistical bleats of a charlatan. Wilder? One of the most hyped boxers in history. Wallin, exposed as mediocre. And humiliated by a man who hadn’t boxed professionally before. And this guy is talked of as a top ten or twenty all time great?!

Even he must know know that to beat Usyk he needs to show some fleet-footed movement as he will not win by attempting to rag doll him;Usyk has such a ring iq that he will be one step ahead that if Fury tries to walk him down.he will look like a lumbering oaf.

Sadly I no longer care about there being a British champ because on merit Fury has no right to call himself undisputed. When Lennox achieved the feat twenty odd years ago it was the culmination of years of hard work and I was right there with him sharing his joy. But now I simply want the better fighter to win and that’s Oleksander Usyk.

Anyway, I guess there are proper fighters to support, like Naoya Inoue . For those who still take an internet in the sport, don’t pay up for the Saudi funded insults, let’s support the real warriors not cheesy selfish dossers like Fury. Rant over!

Talking of proper fights, I think these two would top my list for 2024, if you know of two better fights than these, please let me know?

Murodjon Akhmadaliev  vs  Naoya Inoue
David Morrell Jr  vs  David Benavidez

I won’t give Inoue fighter of the year for 2023 but I might consider him for 2024 if he beats the heavy handed Uzbek, whose opponents react with incredible discomfort when he lands even glancing blows. He’s an absolute beast, I’d like to see how Inoue would handle his suffocating pressure. He cuts off the ring very well and cuts his opponents down like a tree, picking his precise shots to inflict maximum damage while finding openings at will. He can fight off the backfoot too and is elusive as hell. The sky might just be the limit. At last an Inoue fight we can get our teeth into

The hype behind David Morrell Jr  lately is unreal-
‘The Carlos Monzon of this era’ or ‘The new Roy Jones and I don’t say that lightly’ just two things I saw just before Christmas. So can he do it against a big opponent? Forget Canelo, that’s the real fight at super middleweight

Derek Smalls wrote:Happy new year, fight fans. Any optimism for bouts or fighters out there? The flagship fight for the sport is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and correct me if I’m wrong but it’s surely going to be a disappointment. Here’s why I think that.
Fury has been past his best for so long but has managed to hide it with hand-picked second tier opposition whom he can simply bully. He’s out of shape and needs injections in his elbows regularly as well as his thin legs after carrying between twenty and thirty stone for so long are nearly gone.
The pathetic outbursts against Usyk and the assertions of superiority were the desperate egotistical bleats of a charlatan. Wilder? One of the most hyped boxers in history. Wallin, exposed as mediocre. And humiliated by a man who hadn’t boxed professionally before. And this guy is talked of as a top ten or twenty all time great?!

Even he must know know that to beat Usyk he needs to show some fleet-footed movement as he will not win by attempting to rag doll him;Usyk has such a ring iq that he will be one step ahead that if Fury tries to walk him down.he will look like a lumbering oaf.

Sadly I no longer care about there being a British champ because on merit Fury has no right to call himself undisputed. When Lennox achieved the feat twenty odd years ago it was the culmination of years of hard work and I was right there with him sharing his joy. But now I simply want the better fighter to win and that’s Oleksander Usyk.

Anyway, I guess there are proper fighters to support, like Naoya  Inoue

Think Fury's win away to beat Wlad for the title deserves more respect......Think beating a still decent unbeaten Wilder after being out of the sport for a while deserves respect too.......Find it absurd calls that Wilder was a Charlatan when he beat Ortiz twice and Stiverne twice and we had the likes of Valuev and Charles Martin as champions.

If Fury comes out against Usyk the way he did in Wilder 2......The greatest footwork in the world won't save Usyk and he is 35+ anyway.

I get your frustration but Ngannou was a fight Fury took for granted like Ali v Leon Spinks...It's happened throughout time though Fury is to blame.

Tunney beat an old Dempsey twice and hovers around the top 20...........So Wlad away......Wilder x 3 and a mandatory against a resurgent drug cheat in Whyte should put Fury close.

Whether you like it or not.

Chechen wrecking ball, Artur Beterbiev, destroyed Callum Smith via 7th round KO to retain his IBF/WBC/WBO light heavyweight titles.

Total mismatch. And you’ve got to question how Smith, on the back of getting humiliated by Canelo Alvarez - beat two bums at 175 to “earn” a shot at Beterbiev…

Anyway all Russian showdown next between Beterbiev and Bivol. The latter being the only one to have a chance of beating Beterbiev at 175.

Mikaela Mayer was unfortunate Saturday..........Gave her six rounds out of ten comfortably against "Hall of famer for some reason" Natasha Jonas....The girl that couldn't beat Harper or true HOFer and Irish queen Katie taylor before thay found a remote belt she could win.....

Little bootlick Spencer Oliver scored it for Mayer too but was glad Natasha Jonas won because she works hard..

Reminds me of Jim Watt

"That scorecard is a shame on Boxing and a disgrace".......and

"I've got Floyd ahead of Ricky but lets hope the Judges are watching something else"

Some robberies are good folks remember that.

Got thirty minutes? Good discussion on the super middleweights and Canelo.   ProBox TV: Teddy Talks- Who’s On Top Of The 168 LB Division

Fury v Usyk reportedly postponed until the summer, due to Fury being cut in sparring

Fury obviously knows he's in no shape to take on Usyk.

It is an Otto Wallin type cut - real nasty and deep and below the  eyebrow.    Yes lots of people said Tyson Fury would find some way of getting out of the fight, but not with the huge amount of Saudi funds and investment behind it all - and not with a deep nasty cut.   It makes me think that one of the tactics Usyk had planned for is to stop Fury with cuts.  Wallin showed Fury was vulnerable but nobody else had been able to cut Fury remotely like that - except whoever was his sparring partner.   This would have been the last week of heavy training and sparring - the last week before the fight is normally focussed on recovery and maximising energy storage.

Tyson Fury was more or less in shape when he faced Ngannou.   He said he would take Usyk to court if Usyk wasn't ready for Dec 19 2023.  However Ngannou bruised Fury's face but I think it was more the bruising to Fury's ego with Fury wanting to take time off over Christmas, that pushed the unification fight back to Feb 17.

No name Bertie wrote:It is an Otto Wallin type cut - real nasty and deep and below the  eyebrow.    Yes lots of people said Tyson Fury would find some way of getting out of the fight, but not with the huge amount of Saudi funds and investment behind it all - and not with a deep nasty cut.   It makes me think that one of the tactics Usyk had planned for is to stop Fury with cuts.  Wallin showed Fury was vulnerable but nobody else had been able to cut Fury remotely like that - except whoever was his sparring partner.   This would have been the last week of heavy training and sparring - the last week before the fight is normally focussed on recovery and maximising energy storage.

Tyson Fury was more or less in shape when he faced Ngannou.   He said he would take Usyk to court if Usyk wasn't ready for Dec 19 2023.  However Ngannou bruised Fury's face but I think it was more the bruising to Fury's ego with Fury wanting to take time off over Christmas, that pushed the unification fight back to Feb 17.

Needs to stop wasting everybodies time and retire......Pain in the rectum...

He can fight Jake Paul in September instead and his loser fans can purchase it like they purchased Chisora 3.

Let Usyk and AJ rule the divison......Oh and please take your embarrassing Dad with you.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Let Usyk and AJ rule the divison......

You had me until this point. Usyk beat AJ twice... Comfortably too. Not a chance AJ is ruling this division anytime soon

Got a new date. 18th May.

Fury has officially delayed the fight twice, and unofficially many more times, but if he delays it this time he'll have to pay £9.25m to Usyk.

With the images of the cut it was being suggested that it would take about 3 months to fully heal so that Fury could start training / sparring again in May with the fight in July - but apparently not.  With the quickness of the new date agreement this suggests that the entire Feb 17 card will be scrapped and no interim fight for Usyk.

Carl Froch's take on it was a) Sparring revealed Fury to be sloppy - getting caught by an uppercut / elbow - rather than keeping it at distance.   Sparring should mimic the fight and this sparring session revealed Fury to be sloppy and Usyk would have taken advantage of this.   b) Unprofessional by Fury and his trainer - not wearing the appropriate guards this close to the fight.

You have to ask why he is not protecting himself, with all that dosh at stake. It doesn’t make sense at all that he’s getting in to a brawl in sparring so late in the day. It’s not as if Team Fury are amateurs.

Call me cynical but is that not the exact same cut he got in the Wallin fight?

Soul Requiem wrote:Call me cynical but is that not the exact same cut he got in the Wallin fight?

If it is, maybe it's a sign of weakness rather than something deliberately manipulated?

Derek Smalls wrote:You have to ask why he is not protecting himself, with all that dosh at stake. It doesn’t make sense at all that he’s getting in to a brawl in sparring so late in the day. It’s not as if Team Fury are amateurs.

From the clip he is wearing a headguard to be fair.

Cuts happen, it's just ironic that he's now guilty of the same thing he berated David Haye for when Haye v Fury got cancelled

That eye is worse than Tyrell Biggs vs Bey........and when Biggs went in with Tyson four months later it opened up straight away..

This fight won't happen in May......

Timewaster Tyson needs to go away......You're not a Top 20 ATG Heavy....

Off you go buddy....Go fight some local butcher with a big social media account and get the half-brains that bought Chisora 3 to get you a 20 million purse.

If Lopez is struggling with Ortiz......He can forget Haney.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:If Lopez is struggling with Ortiz......He can forget Haney.

To be fair after seeing him struggle with Sandor Martin I wrote him off against Taylor but he won that quite easily. He was pretty good against Lomachenko and Commey but then woeful against Kambosos, the talent is clearly there but the desire seems to be lacking.

Soul Requiem wrote:

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:If Lopez is struggling with Ortiz......He can forget Haney.

To be fair after seeing him struggle with Sandor Martin I wrote him off against Taylor but he won that quite easily. He was pretty good against Lomachenko and Commey but then woeful against Kambosos, the talent is clearly there but the desire seems to be lacking.

Taylor....Martin.....Ortiz were all decisions and close.....Haney is better than all of them...

Anything can happen sure.........But it's hard to see.

Usyk should pack it in now. Getting old and his legacy is stronger than Fury the Flounderer’s.

Anyone else watching the TNT show? Good win for McCann tonight in defence of his Commonwealth Super-Bantam title. He looked pretty sharp for the first half of the fight, but clearly sloppier in the latter rounds and I don't think he looked quite as great overall as 'Fletch', Bunce and Woodhall are saying. Always in control but took a few defensive liberties later on and went a bit slapdash.

Strand will look back and lament how timidly he fought for long stretches, because he had success when he let his hands go in the home stretch, and was answering McCann with his straight right with good timing on occasions. Did well to get through being floored and hurt in the second round, but spent much of the remainder looking like a guy who was happy to settle for going the distance, and nothing more.

Five rounds in and Joyce, despite winning them all, is looking horrendous here. If Ali was any kind of puncher he'd likely have been sparked by now. His defence is absolutely appalling, which we've always known, but if anything his technique, accuracy and slowness are worse than ever.

286 lb is just way too heavy, too. He's so cumbersome.

A bad portent for him that he thinks power is the way forward for him. Size doesn’t always transmute into knockout power as everyone knows. You’ve got to wonder what kind of strategist he is and whether he has anyone in his team with an ounce of nous.

Sad fact is the time for Joyce to go back to basics was a long, long time ago, if he were to fulfill his potential…
he is now surely heading into Danny Williams territory, meaning he carries on his career to rapidly diminishing returns and possibly brain damage. The punishment doled out by Zhang was enough to take years off a fighter.

The guys got a silver Olympic medal and a career that went very well but fell at the last hurdle but there is no shame in that. There’s no route back in to top-tier status for him.

Anyone else catch William Zepeda beating the snot out of Maxi Hughes at the weekend?

I've always liked Hughes ever since I saw him fight in the flesh at Coldwell's Pride of Yorkshire show a decade ago (damn, time really does fly!). Obviously he's a fighter with limitations, but let's not forget it's only last summer he should have got a verdict over Kambosos.

Not seen a display of body punching like the one Zepeda dished out to Hughes for quite some time. Maxi deserves a lot of credit for taking as much punishment as he did without hitting the canvas or turning his back for those four rounds, but he was in hopelessly over his head.

Zepeda's got the classic Mexican style but his gas tank is exceptional and his accuracy and variety of shots is pretty solid, too. He can be got at and hurt, but that requires punching with him, and that's a risky business. I can't see Stevenson wanting any part of that risk as Zepeda's profile as of right now just doesn't seem that enticing, mind you. But I'd love to see Zepeda in some bigger and better fights now.

88Chris05 wrote:Five rounds in and Joyce, despite winning them all, is looking horrendous here. If Ali was any kind of puncher he'd likely have been sparked by now. His defence is absolutely appalling, which we've always known, but if anything his technique, accuracy and slowness are worse than ever.

286 lb is just way too heavy, too. He's so cumbersome.

The only fight for Joyce now....Is Dubois...Wins that he can get a shot at the fractured title scenario post Usyk-Fury.

Maybe Sheikh Head Chopper can stick it on one of his Heavy bills this year......Maybe he can stick ever present stinker Parker in with someone that can retire him too.....

Joyce.....You can't fight at a high pace at 286.........Tubbs, Page and Witherspoon were called slobs at 240 and Joyce isn't that much taller.

So Jimmy Flint hands Campbell Hatton his first (official!) professional defeat, winning a UD in their 10-rounder.

Hatton's nowt but a bar room brawler without a decent punch, but I'll give him some credit tonight - he did show commitment, fitness and courage in there, and it was a very enjoyable brawl to watch if you just take it for what it is (a Central Area-level contest). He looked as if he might hit the deck once or twice in the final few rounds, but took his lumps and rallied back every time.

Flint was just that little bit classier (not saying much given how crude Hatton is) and though it looked like he might get outworked at times, I think his body punching took something from Hatton and allowed him to close the stronger of the pair.

A fun fight, and ironically Hatton deserves much less of a kicking for this loss than he does for some of his victories.

Well, that's a statement from Dalton Smith - not that he won, but how he won.

He got Zepeda at a good time, admittedly, and probably shop-worn from the hard fights against Ramirez, Baranchyk and Prograis, but nevertheless I wasn't expecting him to get Zepeda out of there as early as he did. Very purposeful with the shots he chose to throw and easily handled a guy in Zepeda who used to trade on being rough and tough.

A very decent win for someone just starting to establish their contender credentials. 140 is a very good division at the moment, mind you. He's got his work cut out to land a legitimate world title unless one or two guys move up. But he's putting himself in the picture.

88Chris05 wrote:Well, that's a statement from Dalton Smith - not that he won, but how he won.

He got Zepeda at a good time, admittedly, and probably shop-worn from the hard fights against Ramirez, Baranchyk and Prograis, but nevertheless I wasn't expecting him to get Zepeda out of there as early as he did. Very purposeful with the shots he chose to throw and easily handled a guy in Zepeda who used to trade on being rough and tough.

A very decent win for someone just starting to establish their contender credentials. 140 is a very good division at the moment, mind you. He's got his work cut out to land a legitimate world title unless one or two guys move up. But he's putting himself in the picture.

He keeps calling out Azim.........But BOXXER have so little in the way of talent it won't happen..

BOXXER really do seem a waste of time..

The Tszyu/Fundora fight has again highlighted a flaw in the rules of boxing much like Mitchell/Linares years ago. Both fights hinged on cuts not caused by a punch, the fight yesterday should have been stopped almost straight away as should the Mitchell fight.

Personally think Clarke has been unlucky to only get a draw there (and this is coming from someone who thought Wardley was going to do a number on him). In terms of clean punching and effective aggression, Clarke was the boss throughout that fight, round five aside. Which in part explains why Wardley's got a trifle nose and a closed eye, whereas Clarke looks relatively unscathed in comparison.

Wardley was fantastically courageous to withstand that damage without going into pure survival mode or folding (hard, hard lad) but he produced very little in terms of clean and accurate work in the second half of the fight as he began to flag. That point deduction in the seventh seemed a little unnecessary and another reason why Clarke might feel a little aggrieved.

88Chris05 wrote:Personally think Clarke has been unlucky to only get a draw there (and this is coming from someone who thought Wardley was going to do a number on him). In terms of clean punching and effective aggression, Clarke was the boss throughout that fight, round five aside. Which in part explains why Wardley's got a trifle nose and a closed eye, whereas Clarke looks relatively unscathed in comparison.

Wardley was fantastically courageous to withstand that damage without going into pure survival mode or folding (hard, hard lad) but he produced very little in terms of clean and accurate work in the second half of the fight as he began to flag. That point deduction in the seventh seemed a little unnecessary and another reason why Clarke might feel a little aggrieved.

Problem with the scoring again...A judge had it Clarke 115-112.....With a point off and a knockdown against him it means the Judge had it 8-3 to Clarke..

Bananas..

Such sad news about Willie Limond, who has died aged just 45. I'd heard the other day that he'd been taken seriously ill, but nevertheless it's still a shock when you hear these horror stories.

A British and Commonwealth champion in his own right, but of course he's probably best remembered for a fight he lost, when he came desperately close to upsetting the rising Amir Khan all the way back in 2007.

God bless him and his loved ones.

Gutted to hear about Willie Limond. Always seemed like a decent bloke. A lot of fighters with nice words to say about him. He was in some entertaining fights. RIP Willie

spencerclarke wrote:Gutted to hear about Willie Limond. Always seemed like a decent bloke. A lot of fighters with nice words to say about him. He was in some entertaining fights. RIP Willie

Won a British title which as an outsider looking in gives him more respect than all this Alphabet international crap.....

Saw him lose to Khan so I can't really judge him......But must have been a good fighter and sorry his journey ended shorter than it should have done..

Canelo on PPV for UK subscribers scandalous. At least that’s what someone just said the YouTube comments. It is pretty galling I agree. I think Dazn could have given us this one for our loyalty and patience. It’s a good fight but Canelo isn’t giving the fans what they want. Don’t think I’ll buy it on priciple while Canelo continues to con the fans and not give us the fight the sport is demanding. He can fight whoever he wants of course but it’s the WBC not stripping him that’s ruining the sport

Herman Jaeger wrote:Canelo on PPV for UK subscribers scandalous. At least that’s what someone just said the YouTube comments.  It is pretty galling I agree. I think Dazn could have given us this one for our loyalty and patience. It’s a good fight but Canelo isn’t giving the fans what they want. Don’t think I’ll buy it on priciple while Canelo continues to con the fans and not give us the fight the sport is demanding. He can fight whoever he wants of course but it’s the WBC not stripping him that’s ruining the sport

Shame on Canelo after fighting Mayweather, Cotto, Callum Smith, Bivol, BJS, Golovkin x3, Plant..From 154 to 175.......While everybody eulogises over the Kazakhian fraud that fought stiffs at 160 for years.......Not having the bottle to move up 8 pounds.....and before some donut mentions Hagler staying at 160.....They didn't have a thriving 168 division back then....

Mayweather was smaller(though Canelo was drained admittedly) and lost; Cotto smaller and post Margarito, Smith BJS and Plant good but not great, Bivol quality and lost; aged Golovkin a year and still lost the first one, won the second one good win, Golovkin past his best in third fight

You think that record is good enough for Canelo to act like he’s bigger than the sport? I don’t, personally

I really enjoyed the Barthelemy-Ramirez fight. Did anyone else catch it?

For six or seven rounds it looked a potential Fight of the Year. Was too dominant in Ramirez's favour after that stage for it to be considered as such, but a good fight nonetheless.

I do have a soft spot for Ramirez. Got a bit of Ricky Hatton about him, although I definitely find his fights more enjoyable than Hatton's for the most part. He was clueless against Barthelemy's left for a while and it was a proper crisis point in the third, but to be fair in the home stretch of the fight he settled into his boxing well and, as ever, his combination punching between head and body, conditioning and work rate was top notch. Very good effort by Barthelemy who looked like he might pull the upset for a while, but who ran out of steam a little and, to be fair to Ramirez, who couldn't respond when Ramirez started measuring himself a bit more.

Said it before but Light-Welter is a cracking division right now, and those all-action wins against Commey and Barthelemy along with his crowd-pleasing style mean that Ramirez is still a good opponent for anyone in that weight class.

I was hoping Dulorme could give Ortiz a few rounds, alas he couldn't. I'll take Ortiz to beat Tszyu when that fight happens in August, though. Always thought Ortiz was a talent at Welter (didn't understand why everyone was / is raving about Ennis while simultaneously ignoring him) and I remember saying back in 2021 / 2022 that if Crawford couldn't get the Spence fight, I'd be really impressed and intrigued if he had the 'nads to go after an up and comer like Ortiz, albeit that was never likely at the time.

But with Crawford eyeing honours at 154 now (assuming he gets past Madrimov, which might not be easy) we might just see it at Light-Middle, if Ortiz can finally get the breakout win he needs against Tszyu.

Herman Jaeger wrote:Mayweather was smaller(though Canelo was drained admittedly) and lost;  Cotto smaller and post Margarito, Smith BJS and Plant good but not great, Bivol quality and lost;  aged Golovkin a year and still lost the first one, won the second one good win, Golovkin past his best in third fight

You think that record is good enough for Canelo to act like he’s bigger than the sport? I don’t, personally

You can make excuses for every single fight that ever happened if you wanted. Smith and Saunders were top quality fighters, the former didn't really perform admittedly but Alvarez had to be at his absolute best to get the better of BJS. I don't know if it's a modern phenomena or not but Benavidez seems to get elevated because he's not fought Alvarez rather than anything else.

Canelo Munguia would have been ten times bigger if Canelo had defeated Benavidez first. Would have been huge Mexico v Mexico a real party, but Canelo starting to leave a bitter taste in the mouths of a lot of fans

Canelo is fighting Munguia up next, a legitimate opponent whereas Benavidez is fighting a post retirement Oleksandr Gvozdyk next, hmmm.

Brings nothing to the table. Haha the irony. Benavidez brings more than money could ever buy.  A shot at greatness.  I’d wager people might actually start talking about Canelo as a great fighter if he could beat Benavidez in fashion. Just go with it,  imagine finishing with Benavidez and then let’s say Morrell Jr.  And then if he won those two, go for the unthinkable with Beterbiev. Munguia’s a good fight though, bit quicker than Golovkin?, could get good this one the second half of the fight

Alvarez is already great. Four weight champion, unified at middleweight and undisputed at super middleweight, his legacy is already assured.

Interestingly you've ignored that Benavidez is fighting Gvozdyk next, surely he should be fighting someone better?

Yeah but does undisputed actually mean you’re that dominant at that particular weight, or can it sometimes just be more to good timing?

Josh Taylor lost or came close to losing two straight after Ramirez, and Calzaghe retired just two fights after becoming undisputed

I will say this though Truss is right, Taylor definitely edged Prograis and the Catterall fight was actually a lot tighter than was made out. You could say he’s only ever lost one comprehensively to Lopez. Looking forward to the rematch

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:

Herman Jaeger wrote:Canelo on PPV for UK subscribers scandalous. At least that’s what someone just said the YouTube comments.  It is pretty galling I agree. I think Dazn could have given us this one for our loyalty and patience. It’s a good fight but Canelo isn’t giving the fans what they want. Don’t think I’ll buy it on priciple while Canelo continues to con the fans and not give us the fight the sport is demanding. He can fight whoever he wants of course but it’s the WBC not stripping him that’s ruining the sport

Shame on Canelo after fighting Mayweather, Cotto, Callum Smith, Bivol, BJS, Golovkin x3, Plant..From 154 to 175.......While everybody eulogises over the Kazakhian fraud that fought stiffs at 160 for years.......Not having the bottle to move up 8 pounds.....and before some donut mentions Hagler staying at 160.....They didn't have a thriving 168 division back then....

I’m glad you didn’t mention Kovalev in that list. That fight was a joke. I think the Russian was paid a bonus not to go too rough with him. I’ve never cared for Canelo. I think there’s something off about him. I think GGG gets paid too little respect. An old fashioned champion that just goes about his business, no silly and dangerous catchweights.

Par for the course, a couple of the scorecards were too wide and the DAZN commentary was absurdly biased in his favour, but Canelo was worth his victory over Mungia at the weekend. I've never been a Canelo fan or all that much of an admirer of his skills at the best of times, but based on recent performances I do think he's noticeably on the slide.

Mungia hit him with three or four shots in succession on multiple occasions and he took a long while to get going. Ultimately, though, his power could always move Mungia more than vice versa and he could take advantage of the openings Mungia gave as he started to feel the pace just slightly and fail to change what he was doing once Canelo got a read on it.

Meanwhile, though he had to recover from that maiden knockdown of his career, I don't think Inoue's claims to being the best fighter in the world took any kind of hit the other night as he beat Nery. That first round aside (and though it was a clean knockdown, it's not as if Inoue was badly hurt or had to hold / go into survival mode afterwards) he absolutely took Nery apart. Power, speed, unpredictability, accuracy etc. etc. - it was all there as we've become accustomed to seeing with Inoue.

He's been so dominant lately that I suspect in some quarters there'll be an overreaction to that knockdown (already seen a few fans online saying he must be packing glass in that chin), mind you. After that first round it was a beatdown with Nery being way too casual with his defence and never knowing how to stop Inoue's right hand, which he could throw from anywhere, at any time, as a lead or a follow up and could even double up.

Alvarez has turned out to be a better fighter than I expected, the failed drugs test and the decisions against Golovkin do negatively impact his legacy however. A lot was made about the decisions against Trout, Lara and Cotto but aside from the wideness of the cards I felt he deserved to win all three. One thing that doesn't get mentioned and again it might be the previous perception of being a weight bully with Caneloweight but he is a fairly small super middleweight, 5'8" makes him the shortest top tier 168lber I can think of.

Inoue is a force of nature, still maintain he would have lost to Donaire a couple of years earlier. A lot of the online hate he gets comes from the tribal Filipino contingent who must be the absolute worst set of boxing fans imaginable, the casual homophobia they spout non stop is pathetic. The baseless criticisms range from fighting in Japan but why would a Japanese superstar fight anywhere else for less money, then there's Casemiro who I really do not rate and would be easily dismantled.