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REAL COMBAT MEDIA WEEKLY BOXING REPORT – “Split Decision Edition“

Zo-Crooks

By Zo Crooks,Real Combat Media Chicago Boxing Correspondent

 

Welcome to another weekly edition of “Split Decision”.  We try to keep you informed on what’s going on in the world of boxing and more.  It’s been a wild and crazy two weeks….from Brandon Rios retirement after his fight with Timothy Bradley to the upset of the year with Ronda Rousey vs. Holly Holm.  We also have the fight of the year candidate with Edwin Rodriguez vs. Michael Seals and word on “Big Bro Money Mayweather and “Lil Bro” Adrien Broner, as well as news on Guillermo Rigondeaux, Oscar De La Hoya writing letters and ish, and fight week featuring Miguel Cotto vs. Canelo Alvarez!  

 

Holm sweet Holm….Some would consider this the upset of the year but I don’t.  I knew going into this match Saturday night that Ronda Rousey (12-1) was in trouble.  They say that styles makes fights and this was no different.  Holly Holm (10-0) held multiple belts in boxing and is also undefeated in mixed martial arts.  Rousey lost more than her “0” family….she lost her aura of invincibility.  She had that Mike Tyson effect going into fights in which most fighters lost the bout before it even started because of that fear factor!  Holm wasn’t at all intimidated by Rousey, in fact she was quite composed and ready.  Holm kept the fight on the outside by boxing Rousey’s head off.  When Holm did get tangled up with Rousey she would break free and kept the fight on their feet.  Holm also used great footwork while popping that straight left in Rousey’s mouth.  I knew the fight was over when Holm won the first round.  Rousey never lost a fight nor a round in her MMA career.  What makes fighters great is their ability to adjust in the most uncomfortable situations.  This is what made Floyd Mayweather TBE!  He always made adjustments.  I wasn’t surprised to see Rousey get beat but I was surprised that she didn’t make the adjustments.  In the second round Rousey was winded and off balance which led to her demise.  It’s one thing to lose but another to get laid down.  Holm is no joke!  She fought with the perfect game plan and if a rematch happens we will see the same results.  Now we will see what Rousey is truly made of!  Congrats Holly Holm!  #ANDTHENEW!!!!!

 

Biloxi Blues….PBC put on a show this weekend in Biloxi, MS.  In a possible FOTY candidate Edwin Rodriguez and Michael Seals put on a show in the main event.  Rodriguez (28-1, 19 KOs) came out and dropped Seals (19-1, 14 KOs) in the first thirty seconds.  Seals got up and got his composure enough to turn around and drop Rodriguez thirty seconds later!  Two knockdowns in the first minute!  They went back and forth until Seals dropped Rodriguez again right before the end of the first round.  Rodriguez went back to his corner woozy as hell.  Had he got caught like that earlier in the round it might have been over for Rodriguez.  The second round didn’t disappoint neither.  With less than thirty seconds left in the second Seals was dropped again.  He made the count and barely out of the round.  Rodriguez went ahead and finished the job at the beginning of the third round to earn a TKO victory.  

The co main event resembled the main event.  Thomas Williams Jr. (19-1, 13 KOs) came out firing and dropped Humberto Savigne (12-3, 9 KOs) a minute into the 175lb match.  Savigne beat the count and regained his composure and dropped Williams Jr. a minute later.  Savigne also won the first round.  However the second round was different.  Williams Jr. caught Savigne with a vicious right-left combo that dropped him again.  Savigne made the count but Williams Jr. finished him off for a second round TKO.  

 

Change is good….In Timothy Bradley’s first fight with new trainer Teddy Atlas he looked good!  Bradley had been with trainer Joel Diaz his whole career until this summer when the two decided to part ways.  Now with Atlas in his corner Bradley looks refreshed.  That was very evident in his fight with Brandon Rios a week ago.  In making his first defense of his 147 title belt, Bradley was faster, threw better combinations and his footwork has improved.  Although Rios doesn’t look the same since his fight earlier this year against Mike Alvarado, he still put up an effort.  After being inactive since the fight with Alvarado looked to have struggled with his conditioning and dedication.  He was overweight by .02 pounds and then rehydrated to 170lbs.  You can either say that this was the best Bradley ever or the worst Rios ever.  Either way Bradley stopped him in 9 rounds.  The crazy part is no one has ever seen Rios stopped before…especially by a body shot.  After the fight an emotional Rios decided to call it quits!  Time will tell though if the combination of Bradley and Atlas will continue to bring out the best in him, but for now it looks like he made the right decision.  

 

Hard Rock life….This weekend on ShoBox former WBC Heavyweight Champ Bermane Stiverne returned to action against journeyman Derric Rossy at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas this weekend.  This was his first fight since losing the WBC Heavyweight Title to Deontay Wilder in January and it wasn’t easy!  Stiverne (25-2-1 21 KOs) got dropped in the first round by a Rossy right hand.  Stiverne got up and got it together to edge out Rossy (30-11 14 KOs) by a close unanimous decision.  Stiverne had to work off some rust.  He didn’t look the same and maybe age, 37, and or ring inactivity caught up to him.  Stiverne came into the bout at 245 lbs which is 15 lbs more than he did for the Wilder fight.  Stiverne was taking some massive shots from Rossy but got the judges nod in the end.  

The main event on the ShoBox Card featured Jarrett Hurd, 25, of Accokeek, Maryland against Frank Galarza, 30, of Brooklyn, NY. in a scheduled ten round junior middleweight bout.  I like Hurd (17-0 11 KOs) in this fight!  He looked really sharp and placed his punches well against Galarza (17-1-2 11 KOs).  He dropped Galarza at the end of the fourth round with a nice uppercut.  Galarza has never been knocked down in his career up until that point.  In the sixth round Galarza walked into another uppercut from Hurd and this time the referee stepped in to stop the action.  Keep an eye out for Hurd…dude has major potential!

 

WORD IS…..

It’s fight week in Vegas!  In what is hailed as the second biggest fight of the year, Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto is set to take on Mexico’s Saul Canelo Alvarez this Saturday November 21st on HBO PPV at the Mandalay Bay In Las Vegas, NV.  This fight is the most anticipated bout since Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.  This fight is said to be a 50/50 bout with some saying that Cotto will win while others choose Alvarez.  I don’t know because I am up in the air on this one too.  Cotto brings more experience and Alvarez more youth.  Cotto has looked good under Roach and Alvarez has improved since his loss to Mayweather.  These Mexican/Puerto Rican wars go deep and this is no exception.  I got my money on Cotto though!  Either way I can’t wait until Saturday night!!!!

 

It was all good just a week ago….The relationship between “Big Bro” Floyd Money Mayweather and “Lil Bro” Adrien Broner hit a snag last week.  It all started when Broner said “F#$% TMT”!  The video went viral fast!  Broner never said anything negative towards Mayweather but still Money took offense to the remark!  Mayweather sat down with Ben Thompson of Fighthype.com and did an interview addressing the Broner remark.  Money Mayweather didn’t hold back his feelings either!!!  You can read the interview here http://www.fighthype.com/news/article22379.html.  Pretty much Money just said that AB needs to grow up.  Well AB didn’t like the shade and responded with a video.  AB didn’t hold back his feeling neither, stating that the move by Money Mayweather was some “Gay sh@#”!  You can see the video here https://youtu.be/kv7s_rV7T2E.  I honestly hate to see this beef but I see both point of views from each man.  People need to stop the dumb shit though stating that this is staged for a bout between the two in 2016.  Mayweather is not coming out of retirement and if he did, what does he have to gain against Broner?  It’s not worth it for either fighter.  I hope they could patch things up and settle this behind closed doors!  That’s what brothers do!!!

 

Speaking of Mayweather, Oscar De La Hoya wrote an open letter to Floyd. The letter which appears in the December issue of Playboy Magazine was crazy as hell.  De La Hoya took major shots at Mayweather.  This is just some of the things that he said towards Mayweather….”You did it. You made it to the 49-0 mark, a milestone that you like to say only the great Rocky Marciano reached but that was actually achieved by others, including my idol Julio Cesar Chavez — but who’s counting,” De La Hoya wrote. “And now you’re retiring. Again. (The first time was after our fight in 2007.) This time you say it’s for real. You’re serious about hanging up the gloves. On to bigger and better things. So I’m writing to you today to wish you a fond farewell. Truth be told, I’m not unhappy to see you retire. Neither are a lot of boxing fans. Scratch that. MOST boxing fans. Why? Because the fight game will be a better one without you in it.”  WOW!  To me De La Hoya sounds bitter and scorn.  If the fight game doesn’t miss him then why does his name still come up?  De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao, even Ronda Rousey drops Mayweather name often.  Must be the MONEY!!!!  LOL.  If I was Oscar I would just shut the f*&% up and worry about that $100,000 bet he made with Jay Z for the Cotto vs. Alvarez fight!  

 

Guillermo Rigondeaux has signed with Roc Nation Sports and will be featured on the undercard of Cotto vs. Alvarez.  Rigondeaux will face Drian Francisco in a scheduled 10-round junior featherweight bout that will be the second televised fight on the HBO PPV card from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The fight will be the first of the promotional deal Rigondeaux signed with Roc Nation Sports, which will co-promote him with nominal promoter Caribe Promotions.  Rigondeaux is taking the place of Andre Ward, who vacated his super middleweight title  on Thursday to make his impending move to light heavyweight official. In the first fight of a three-fight HBO contract, Ward was scheduled to fight Alexander Brand in the Cotto vs. Alvarez co-feature but withdrew last week because inflammation in his right knee kept him from training properly.  

 

Let me get this out family…Im not going to say that Ronda Rousey is not a great fighter because she is.  This weekend shows you how hard and brutal combat sports can be!  Holly Holm came in with a great game plan and it was nothing Rousey could do about it.  Point blank period.  If they fought again it would be the same shit different toilet!  When the media builds up a champion up the fall is much harder.  The media made Rousey seem invincible.   The continuous coverage on ESPN and other sports networks and most recently the cover of Ring Magazine!  After just 12 UFC fights she was the best fighter EVER!  “Ronda Rousey could beat Floyd Mayweather!”  REALLY!!!!  So she can walk out of an octagon and  into the squared circle and beat everyone there too? Wow! Ann Wolfe, Laila Ali, Christy Martin and other women who have dedicated their life to boxing/combat sports?  Either one of the mentioned would have torn Rousey head off!  Again I am not here to bash Rousey in no way shape or form, nor am I here to discredit her amazing accomplishments.  I’m just stating the facts.  I shouldn’t have to mention the name Cris Cyborg!!!  Now that fight with Cyborg is not going to hold as much weight as it did before now that Rousey has taken that L!  My problem with Rousey is simply HUMILITY!  Your work ethic should always show your humility and respect towards the sport.  Work on your entire craft.  When your takedowns and ground game are not on point then work on your stand up game!  Say what you want about Money May but that MF trains like he don’t have a damn dime and it shows in the ring.  When one thing isn’t working he can make the adjustments and force you to fight his fight!  Saturday showed that you can’t do that yet!  Hopefully this will show you who you truly are in and out of the octagon.  Stop talking so much shit and work on your craft and hopefully you will get back to being a champion…a better champion too!

 

That’s my time fam!  If you have any questions or comments your want to be answered/addressed in the article shoot me an email at [email protected] or hit me on twitter @Zomanystylez or facebook at Zo Sincere Boxing!  Holla back!

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