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Mythical Dave’s Thoughts of the Week: Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Holly Holm, Miesha Tate and the Increasing Popularity of the UFC; Canelo Alvarez and Oscar De La Hoya Continue to Avoid Gennady Golovkin; Remembering Marvelous Marvin Hagler and John “The Beast Mugabi and Peyton Manning Retires

Hagler vs Mugabi

By Dave “Mythical” Siderski

I am not a fan of the UFC or the MMA in general. That said, it was hard not to pay attention to the coverage of UFC 196 last week, featuring Conor McGregor Vs Nate Diaz and Holly Holm Vs Miesha Tate. Both matches ended in upsets with Diaz scoring a submission victory over McGregor and Tate scoring a win by  choke out over Holm in the final round.

As a boxing fan, I am envious of many of the things that the UFC is doing right. Instead of subjecting their fans to substandard pay per views like Mayweather-Berto or Canelo-Khan, they put two of the biggest stars in their sport, McGregor and Holm, together on the same card and matched both of them with dangerous opponents. In contrast to boxing’s 17 weight classes and 88 alphabet soup champions, (yes I did count them), the UFC has 8 men’s weight classes and 1 champion for each. Once upon a time, it was like that in boxing. Now don’t get me wrong, I love boxing’s history and tradition too much to become a UFC/MMA convert. That said, I do understand why it’s become the preferred combat sport among many fans, especially younger ones.

Oscar De La Hoya Weighs in Canelo Vs “GGG”

Speaking of what’s wrong with boxing, Oscar De La Hoya’s comments last week about a potential match between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin were not encouraging. De La Hoya was quoted by “Fight Hub” as saying:

“Obviously, when you have a superstar like Canelo, and when you have someone like Golovkin, who thinks he’s a superstar. [Golovkin] is a great fighter obviously, but he’s not a superstar yet. Can he get there? Obviously, he’s a tremendous fighter, but when you have a superstar like Canelo and a fighter like Golovkin, negotiations can get a little dicey, a little complicated.”

Unfortunately, De La Hoya is probably right that Canelo has more draw power than “GGG” at this point in time. Golovkin’s most recent PPV matchup with David Lemieux which was a failure at the box office. It’s obvious that Oscar and Canelo intend to milk this advantage for all it’s worth. Not only is he insisting on a catch weight of 155 lbs., reportedly he’s also looking for a 90-10 purse split. Seriously????? Are you flipping kidding me???? In the end, I think neither Oscar nor Canelo want any part of the ass whipping both know would be in store at the hands of “GGG”. In the meantime, please stop referring to Canelo as the so-called the lineal Middleweight champion! Until he faces a legit opponent at the 160 weight limit, he hasn’t earned it.

This Week in Boxing History: Marvelous Marvin Hagler Vs John “The Beast” Mugabi

It’s hard to believe 30 years have passed since Marvelous Marvin Hagler faced John “The Beast” Mugabi. Marvelous Marvin was riding on the crest of his spectacular third round knockout victory over Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns the previous April. His opponent, Mugabi, was truly was a “Beast”, having destroyed 25 consecutive opponents by stoppage. As feared as Mugabi was, he was viewed as far too crude for Marvelous One at the time.

However, Mugabi gave as good as he got as Hagler was finally showing the wear of 65 professional fights and a decade spent battling the best of the Middleweight division. The fight was even after five rounds. Hagler, showing the heart of a champion, stepped up the pace in round six walking through Mugabi’s best shots and staggering ”The Beast”. This became the turning point in the fight. Hagler systematically wore him down over the next several rounds and stopped him in devastating fashion in round 11.

The night of March 10, 1986 represented the last truly special moment in the ring for both men. The following April, Hagler went on to lose a bitterly disputed decision to Sugar Ray Leonard and retired in disgust afterward. Mugabi did briefly hold a world title at JR Middleweight but also suffered devastating stoppage losses to Duane Thomas, Terry Norris and Gerald McClellan which finished him as a world class fighter. Both men left the best of themselves in the ring that night.

It’s Official: Peyton Manning Has Retired

My first reaction to this one was: “Well it’s about time”. Peyton’s silence about his future over the past month led to speculation and rumors that he was actually considering coming back for one more season. This would have been a colossal mistake on his part. Anyone who watched him over this past season could see that he no longer has it. Manning image has taken a hit as of late with recent allegations of sexual harassment stemming from his time as a student-athlete at the University of Tennessee along with speculation of possible HGH use. I don’t know what did, or didn’t, happen in these instances but one thing is beyond dispute; Peyton Manning is one of the top 3-5 greatest NFL quarterbacks who ever played the game.

Ok fans that’s it for this week. More to come next week.

Peace out boxing fans!

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