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Vinny’s Views: A Look at the Remainder of the Boxing Calendar for 2017 & Big Slam to the Alphabet Soup Title Organizations!

By Vinny “Glory Days” Lucci

As golfers might say, “ready to finish up the back nine.” With two thirds of the year behind us media and fans alike brace for the back nine of boxing calendar with four months left. The spectacle of Mayweather, JR. Vs McGregor is behind us and event of the year just ahead in the long waited showdown between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez for middleweight supremacy and bragging rights to boxing’s biggest attraction extent which oddly doesn’t leave much left on the table considering so many high profile names are calling each other out.

First up, time to dispel internet rumors over the generosity of old rivals Floyd Mayweather, JR. and Manny Pacquiao concerning Hurricane Harvey. While Floyd was on scene handing out care packages the reported 200 million dollar donation to charity has been as “slightly” exaggerated as Mark Twain’s death when he was still writing long hand. Ditto Manny’s 50 million dollar act of kindness. While he did donate 100 million to the poor of the Philippines after his loss to Mayweather, JR. there has been no confirmed contribution this go round. With a huge entourage it would be wise if Pacman kept a keen eye on his finances as he has surly entered the twilight of his career. Fascinating research had both men quoting same humanitarian modesty word for word.

Speaking of Pacquiao, last week he had to pull out of his contract rematch clause with WBO champion Jeff Horn of Australia. First time around Ringside Report scored fight 117-111 for the former champion. Senate duties prevented Pac from being able to train for fall return.

Heavyweight king Anthony Joshua is being mandated to meet his IBF number one contender Kubrat Pulev this October 28th after his promoter said a November date fell through. His unification match against WBC champion Deontay Wilder must be put on hold until all mandatory obligations are met. In 2018, Joshua is penciled in by WBA to rebuke the challenge of their number one contender Luis Ortiz. Wilder himself must first give Bermane Stiverne who holds a number one ranking a chance of reclaiming the belt Deontay lifted off him in 2015. Considering both champions have granite bodies with hairline cracked chins neither fighter is a sure bet not to be exposed by a ten count. HBO PPV

The light heavyweight landscape has gone to sleep with no immediate plans for Andre Ward, Sergey Kovalev and Adonis Stevenson. Luckily the emergence of Badou Jack after his fifth round beat down of Nathan Cleverly has added a new gun and more dimension to the 175 pound ranks.

Undisputed junior welterweight champion Terence Crawford just vacated the IBF belt he liberated off Julius Indongo who was allowed to bypass his number one contender Sergey Lipinets. Crawford inherited the responsibility with little time to rest, or negotiate the challenge on paper. To ease the stress and timetable commitment on his camp he vacated the strap since there is no fanfare clamoring for the match. As media speculates when Terence will rise to welterweight ranks it’s a safe guess he’ll make at least one more defense considering he hasn’t abdicated all the alphabet trinkets he eposes at 140 pounds.

Actually, the formidable 147 pound roster is noticeably missing in action. While all the big names have kept relevant in media there are no signs of the big guns capping off the years end. Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia, and Keith Thurman have no immediate plans on contracts. Newly crowned IBF champ Errol Spence, JR. has promised a December return but no opponent has been chosen. He also is calling out the winner of Golovkin/Alvarez. I hope he takes a cue from Kell Brook’s ledger and forgets boredom and focuses on his own division not delusions.

While talking about quiet war fronts even Barclays of Brooklyn New York will be quiet after next month’s showcase of Erislandy Lara defending his WBA light middleweight title against one Terrell Gausha with no big names destined for marquee this winter.

As September 16th inches closer and rabid fans speculate which warrior will emerge from the desert victorious remember this. The tempo and success of either boxer will be predicated on footwork, timing and distance, not power.

On the same night Billy Joe Saunders will be fighting the useful Willie Monroe, JR. in England. David Lemieux who is ranked second in division took a pass in hopes of securing a fight with winner of Vegas card in near future.

The big bouts are about to sizzle out like the last bottle rocket on the fourth of July so be prepared to whole heartedly embrace the few standouts left. September 9th Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez has a return match with Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in hopes of winning back his WBC super-flyweight title. The first match was held back in March at MSG and Ringside Report covered it ringside. This horrific decision was second only to Pacquiao/Horn. While I never believed Roman was “the” best boxer pound for pound as Max Kellerman wanted the world to believe, he was still top ten and deserved more respect than judges showed him that night. Bout to be hosted by HBO.

Possibly the last hurrah of the year is wunderkind Vasyl Lomachenko penciled in at Madison Square Garden on December 9th, opponent TBA. The two candidates are Guillermo Rigondeaux and Orlando Salido. For avid readers who might not be hard core fans, Vasyl tangled with Salido in only his second pro bout while his adversary had no less than 56 fights on his resume. The bout was an ugly affair where Salido fouled the novice upstart over a hundred times and was never punished by the referee. Still in all, Lomachenko fared better on punch stat but was edged out on a split decision. If this rematch is made, Orlando won’t hear the final bell. Juxtaposed in styles, Rigondeaux will bring his pugilistic elegance ring center to match skills against rival matrix Vasyl. Hopefully both bouts get made in tandem with the one on back burner placated no later than April.

The Vinny Factor:

Maybe it’s just me but every year I despise the alphabets more than ever. Bad enough every division is broken down to quarter champions diluting the very concept of “champion,” we also have narcissist promoters with lack of consciences tagging the silly IBO moniker on bouts and trying to pass it off as a championship match. Now these greedy bastards have added prefixes like Silver, Super, Regular, Intercontinental, and Interim. What the hell is next? Decaf?

Stay tuned…

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