REAL COMBAT MEDIA WEEKLY BOXING REPORT – “Split Decision Edition“
By Zo Crooks,Real Combat Media Chicago Boxing Correspondent
Welcome to another weekly edition of the Real Combat Media Boxing Weekly Report “Split Decision Edition”. We have a lot to cover this week! Did Floyd “Money” Mayweather make his final appearance against Andre Berto? PBC Coverage featuring Errol “Da Truth” Spence Jr., Peter Quillin, Adonis “Superman” Stevenson and more from last week. Also the latest on news and notes in the world of the squared circle!!!!
Come wit’ me…HAIL MONEY…run quick see…Money Mayweather stepped into the squared circle for possibly the last and final time against Andre Berto Saturday night at the MGM Garden Arena. While most looked at this as easy pickings for Mayweather, the truth is this…Berto is no easy pickings, he is a two-time world champion, and he is freakishly athletic. However as usual Mayweather picked Berto apart in an easy unanimous decision victory making it 49-0 for champ. It’s crazy because Money May is almost 40 years old and his hand speed was on another level than Berto’s. There is no one in the welterweight division nor the super welterweight division that could beat him. Plain and simple.
Was this Mayweather’s final bout ever??? I would say yes and no. Let’s look at a couple of things. Mayweather’s nickname is “MONEY”! That alone could always leave the door open for business. His Showtime/CBS deal has been completed. Money May is now a free agent! That means he could negotiate and deal on a far different level than before. He could position himself to fight one last time or maybe two and make stupid loot in doing so. I won’t go into specifics but put it like this…a man of control now how more of it!!!!
Secondly, the record of 49-0 set by Rocky Marciano can finally be broken. With Money May tying the record with his victory over Berto he could break it next year on another PPV showing. A rematch with Manny Pacquiao or the winner of Miguel Cotto vs Canelo Alvarez would be a great matchup to break the record. Even a matchup with Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, or Kell Brook would be cool.
The Undercard of Mayweather/Berto was on point!
Luck of the Draw….In the co-main feature of the night Orlando Salido and Rocky Martinez fought to a draw! Hmmmm….not really. In the most anticipated bout of the night Salido and Martinez faced off again, revisiting their match from April in which Martinez edged out Salido in a decision victory that possibly was fight of the year. Fast forward to Saturday night at the MGM Grand. The second fight between the two was just as good as the first. The second round was nuts…first Salido dropped Martinez, although replays show that he stepped on his foot, and then Martinez dropped Salido with a right hand. Salido pressed the action for most of the fight even rocking Martinez in the seventh round. Salido body work was also on display as he attacked the body of Martinez all night long. I just knew Salido had it in the bag until I heard the judges scorecards. A DRAW??? WTF! I looked at the punch stats and Salido landed 285 punches while Martinez landed 189. Something needs to be done about the judging in these bouts because clearly Salido had it in the bag. Well that just sets up a trilogy!
Jack the Ripper…..Badou Jack retains the Super Middleweight Belt against George Groves. Jack dropped Groves at the end of the first round. Jack outboxed Groves that night to earn the victory. Jack landed the more cleaner effective punches with Groves missing the target often. Groves thought he earned the victory but it didn’t happen. Jack is now 1-0 in title defense fights and Groves is now 0-3 in title defense fights.
Jonathan Oquendo defeated Jhonny Gonzalez by majority decision. This was Oquendo’s biggest fight of his career as he pulled off the victory against Gonzalez in a very close fight. This was Gonzalez’s second fight at Junior Lightweight but it was a good one. Gonzalez dropped Oquendo in the first round with a left uppercut and Oquendo came right back in the second round and dropped Gonzalez with a right hand. This was a great action packed fight to open the Showtime PPV event.
PBC was in full effect!!!!
Saturday Sept. 12th
Kid Chocolate in the house….Peter Quillin dismantled Michael Zerafa of Australia on Saturday night’s PBC Card that took place at the Foxwoods Resort in Mashantucket, Connecticut. Quillin just beat the boy up…taking him out in the fifth round with Zerafa leaving the ring on a stretcher! The super middleweight bout was contracted at 163 lbs. Quillin came in at 160lbs but rehydrated to 182 lbs while Zerafa came in at 162 lbs and rehydrated to 168.5 lbs. WOW!!! Well this finally sets up the matchup that most people wanted to see with Quillin vs Daniel Jacobs on December 5th.
Charlo dog-walked K9….In the co-main event on the card Saturday night Jermall Charlo took the collar (belt) off of Cornelius “K9” Bundrage. This bout was originally scheduled for July but Bundrage suffered a cut over his eye delaying the fight until Saturday September 12th. I don’t know if the 11 month layoff for Bundrage played a part in his performance but Charlo wasn’t playing at all! He dropped Bundrage in the first round with a vicious overhand right. That set up 3 more knockdowns enroute to a third round KO of Bundrage. Charlo straight mauled dude! “AND THE NEW…..” Good work Charlo.
Easy work!….Marcus Browne defeated Gabriel Campillo in the light heavyweight matchup. Browne (16-0 12 KOs) of Staten Island, New York is a 2012 U.S. Olympian. The hot NY prospect dropped the veteran Campillo with a wicked right hook to the body that dropped him to his knees. He followed that up with another right hook to the body that repeated the procedure and the referee stopped the bout. It only took 55 seconds for Browne to handle his biz!!!
Friday Sept. 11th
Superman vs Kryptonite….Adonis Stevenson straight beat Tommy Karpency’s ass! Friday’s PBC Card on Spike TV took place in Toronto, Canada. This bout was a total mismatch! I’m surprised that Karpency made it to the third round. Stevenson was killing him with the left hand. Karpency barely made it out of the second round after he was dropped and made it to the corner. Now I just hope that the Sergey Kovalev vs Adonis Stevenson fight can be made. Politics as usual…
“You can’t handle Da Truth!!!”… My man Errol “Da Truth” Spence Jr. stopped South African Chris van Heerden in eight rounds. Spence merked that boy all night. Spence’s stiff jab caused van Heerden’s left eye to swell. In the fourth round Spence knocked van Heerden’s mouthpiece out for the second time in the fight causing the referee to deduct a point from van Heeden for losing his mouthpiece. Then Spence dropped van Heerden with a right in the seventh round and then again with a left to the body. This kid Spence is truly “Da Truth” ! Hands down the hottest prospect in boxing. He wants to face the top opponents in his division….the question is do the the top opponents want to face him!
WORD IS….
Money May scandal broke out last week….if you haven’t heard Thomas Hauser of SB Nation dropped a bombshell article on the sports world entitled, “Can Boxing Trust USADA?” on September 9th, three days before Mayweather was set to take on Andre Berto. The article goes into the testing methods of USADA and how Money May took an IV before the fight with Manny Pacquiao. You can read the article by following this link http://www.sbnation.com/longform/2015/9/9/9271811/can-boxing-trust-usada. To me two things stick out. For one Money May followed protocol and didn’t break any rules or guidelines with USADA. The real problem exists between the Nevada State Athletic Commission and USADA and their communication. Money May has been cleared by NSAC with no wrong doings. Secondly it’s about the timing of this article. This all took place back in May so why wait so long to drop the bomb? It was the timing in which this article dropped making this deliberate as hell. That’s truly a malicious act. The video that I have seen breaking all of this down is on YouTube by Karceno. Please follow the link here: https://youtu.be/2EjXCWmO3fI There has been beef between Hauser and Mayweather for quite some time now. Hauser is a die-hard Muhammad Ali fan that seems to have a disdain for Money May. Enough of the bs!!!
LATEST STATEMENTS FROM THE SCANDAL
Berto went out like a punk! I hate poor sportsmanship and Berto displayed that. Instead of taking his loss like a “G” he goes out and criticize Money May and the way that he fought. Berto stated that he didn’t know that he needed track shoes to fight Money May, but if he knew how to cut off the ring properly he wouldn’t need track shoes. Furthermore when Money stood in the pocket with Berto he still couldn’t do shit with him! Floyd was just the superior boxer and he know it. I have a lot of respect for Berto and has even credited him on many occasions for his fighting abilities, but it’s sh#t like this that piss me off. Just take your number (49) and your check and chill fam!!!
“I’ve been A-1 since Day 1….BOO-BOO!!!” Demetrius “Boo-Boo” Andrade returns to the ring October 17th in a junior middleweight bout against Dario Fabian Pucheta. Boo-Boo hasn’t fought since June 2014. It’s been a minute but I’m excited to see him return.
Tim Bradley believes Teddy Atlas will have him ready for his upcoming bout against Brandon Rios on November 7th. It’s been well documented and talked about with Bradley and Joel Diaz splitting up not too long ago. Now Bradley goes into a bout for the first time in his pro career without Diaz. It will be odd seeing that but I believe it will be a great fight either way.
Amir Con…ooops I mean Khan is still talking shi# as usual. Don’t get me wrong I like Khan but sometimes you just have to shut the f*&% up and do something! “Mayweather is afraid of my speed”. Come on man….I truly believe it would’ve been Khan in the ring Saturday instead of Berto, but Khan just talks too much. He needs to focus on Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, or KELL BROOK!!! At this point it seems as though he just wants a payday! If that’s the case then I feel you but just be real about it!!!
Anyway…that’s my time. If you have any questions that you want answered in the report you can email me at [email protected] or hit me up on twitter @Zomanystylez or Facebook at Zo Crooks.
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