by
Bowie V. Ibarra
With the exception of the opening title snoozefest, the fight card 'The One' with the Mayweather/Canelo main event was a great night of boxing that once again put the outstanding boxing skills of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. on display. Here's some notes from the night.
INTERNATIONAL BOXING FEDERATION JR. MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT
CARLOS MOLINA/ISHE SMITH
-- The MOLINA/SMITH IBF Jr. Middleweight title fight was garbage. I showed up at the bar in the middle of this fight, and these guys looked like shit.
Listen, I give them respect for getting to where they are in their respective careers. Hell, I couldn't go 12 rounds of boxing. I couldn't get out of round one. But Jesus, these dudes looked like I might have after a round of boxing. They were slow and seemed gassed out halfway through their title fight.
Maybe it was nerves, or both blowing their load early in their big appearance, but I was not impressed. Neither looked like they wanted the title. And even though Carlos Molina looked more like Alfred Molina, congrats to Molina for taking the decision.
WBA/WBC LIGHT WELTERWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT
DANNY GARCIA vs. LUCAS MATTHYSSE
-- Now these two dudes, on the other hand, looked like they were fighting to free their family from the grips of a shady promoter who had them tied up in the back. Both these guys brought the fire from the word go. When it was all over, Danny Garcia had shut one of Matthysse's eyes and knocked him down once, bringing the victory to his camp.
THE ONE
FLOYD MAYWEATHER, JR. vs. SAUL 'CANELO' ALVAREZ
-- C'mon. You already know it was 'Monster Heel vs. Babyface' in this main event matchup. I'm not going to lie, I was hoping Mayweather would finally be humbled by the Mexican phenom. But truth is, I really just hoped it would be competitive.
And it sure was. I don't think going as far as saying it was a complete blowout is anywhere near the truth. It was competitive. Canelo stuck in there and gave it his best. But the science, skill, and experience of Mayweather was too much for the young star even Mayweather called 'The future of the sport'.
Canelo could not catch the elusive Mayweather, saying his punches weren't hard and more about getting those points on the card. Canelo was very patient from round one, and tried to solve the Mayweather boxing riddle to no avail.
And as usual, when round four rolled around, Mayweather turned up the heat and started testing Canelo. Though Canelo passed the early tests, the pressure Mayweather applied later and the mounting frustration of not being able to hit the champ throughout, put Mayweather on the winner's side of the cards.
-- There was one particular round where I thought Canelo got hurt. There was one point in the late rounds where Canelo just stood on the ropes, hands up, and made no effort to fight back. But when he finally responded, Mayweather just stepped away.
-- Gina Carano was in attendance at the fight. That was cool to see. I guess she's more of a 'movie star' than 'MMA star' these days.
-- Mayweather put the fight on cruise control in the 12 round. There was no need to put himself in danger, as he had already won the fight by then.
-- A judge had the match tied. I could see that. Look, I honestly don't see six rounds that Mayweather completely dominated. I saw four, maybe five that could have gone to Canelo, especially in the opening rounds, and maybe one or two late. But I'm not a judge at ringside, I was a drunk at a bar. And if Mayweather or anyone wants to complain about putting a matches decision in the hands of a judge, you should really be complaining at a fighter not finishing the fight and leaving it in the judges hands. Don't blame the judges for doing their job subjectively.
-- For those who say Mayweather's a boring fighter, c'mon now. It's like the dudes that say the science of jiu-jitsu/grappling is boring in MMA. And though there's some truth to that, the real thing you should be looking at is the science behind it. Boxing will always be more exciting than the ground game of an MMA match because of the nature of the sport, and watching Floyd dodge and counter was breathtaking.
The object of boxing is to cut a dude's face, punch them until their face starts swelling and they can't see to fight, or give a dude a concussion. You can't blame Mayweather for being the best at avoiding those fates and being the best at it. His skill and speed is super-human.
In the end, it was still a great fight. And that was probably the last real opponent for Mayweather, because there's no one left out there. Pacquiau's done, and there's no one else that's going to challenge him in his last four fights whose even close to being ready for him. Mayweather might be a sonovabitch, but he's got a Ph.D in the science of boxing.
And speaking of outspoken boxers, a boxing champ calls out an MMA champ in the story, "Pit Fighters: Double Cross". Who wins the Boxing vs.MMA matchup? You'll have to read it to find out.
'Pit Fighters: Baptism by Fire' and 'Pit Fighters: Double Cross' are combat sports-themed books that features fights from the early days of MMA, and plenty of underground money fights. You've got to check them out, and they're available on Kindle or paperback today.
BOWIE V. IBARRA is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuster. His latest story, 'Tejano Star and the Vengeance of Chaplain Skull' is a Tex-Mexploitation superhero story in the tradition of 'Machete' and 'Black Dynamite'. Get it in paperback or Kindle today.
Bowie earned a BFA in Acting and MA in Theatre History from Texas State University. Network with Bowie for updates and news at his official website, ZombieBloodFights.com.
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