Will we be getting a double dose of Floyd Mayweather Jr back in the sport? Plus a titleholder fails a drug test, Teddy Atlas rejoins the game, Canelo’s potential next move, and more.
- Mayweather x2 – First, apparently 41 year old pound for pound legend Floyd Mayweather Jr’s return to the sport to rematch Manny Pacquiao is going to be a two fight comeback at minimum. At least it will be according to the man himself. Floyd is now saying that he is going to take a tune up in Tokyo, Japan before meeting the Filipino legend for the second go around that no one is asking to see. Working the rust off makes some sense and Floyd will certainly make some money abroad too. This warm up fight would push the Pacquiao rematch to 2019 too for what that is worth, meaning the two men would be even older for the rematch. The last time Floyd fought an actual boxer was over three years ago when he met Andre Berto in his supposed retirement fight in 2015.
- Benavidez Fails – Young super middleweight titleholder David Benavidez has failed an out of competition drug test for cocaine through the WBC Clean Boxing Program. Benavidez has been inactive while sorting out some promotional issues after trying and failing to sign with Top Rank. This won’t help as a suspension could be incoming. I don’t really know what to expect to be honest though as the WBC has not been running this program for long enough to really have established much of a precedent here. The plan for a while has been for Benavidez to defend against Anthony Dirrell, but that will likely be delayed even further now if it ever happens at all. Dirrell is looking for a big fight and then retirement, so he may move on to something else.
- WBA Vomit – Let’s get this one out of the way quickly. The WBA owes well past his prime, 45 year old former heavyweight contender Fres Oquendo a title shot as the result of a law suit settlement a while back now. The WBA has about 57 belts in each division it calls world titles and for once that works in our favor given that we don’t have to watch Anthony Joshua waste his time by laying him out quickly. One of the other heavyweight titleholders for the WBA is fringe contender Manuel Charr and that fight was for the 29th in Germany. Except now it isn’t as Charr has apparently failed a drug test. The saga of Oquendo trying to get his last title shot continues, I guess.
- December Canelo – Reports are that Canelo Alvarez, fresh off his narrow win in his mega rematch with GGG, is looking for a quick return in December given that he missed his May date and likes to fight twice a year. De La Hoya is targeting the fifteenth and throwing names like David Lemieux and Jermall Charlo around, but I think it will pretty obviously be the limited, in house Canadian power puncher rather the the young PBC up and comer. HBO still thinks Canelo owes them a date and while Golden Boy disputes that, they do seem to still want to work with the premium network so it will probably end up with them. Short notice tells me it will be a PPV again, but I’m speculating. The fifteenth is the rumored targeted date for now.
- Gvozdyk-Atlas – Oleksandr Gvozdyk has a surprising new trainer for his upcoming title fight with Adonis Stevenson. 62 year old outspoken analyst and part time trainer Teddy Atlas is stepping up to take the role. I must say this is a pretty random move. The Ukrainian has been having great success with Marco Contreras and Atlas has been retired for years outside of a brief stint with Timothy Bradley. The official reason for the move was due to Oleksandr looking for individual attention in the gym according to his manager, but I can’t help but to wonder if there isn’t more too it. Either way, we’ll have to wait and see how this one works on December 1st when the Ukrainian goes for his first world title on Showtime.
- DAZN Team – Finally, Saturday marks the launch of boxing on new to the US streaming service DAZN when the Joshua-Povetkin card kicks it off. We now know the commentary team American fans can expect to be listening to at the opening bell. Veteran commentator Brian Kenny will have the play by play while in ring legend Sugar Ray Leonard will have color commentator duties. From those two names alone, it is very clear that DAZN is putting serious money into their production values. I do have my reservations about the team though. I’ve always really enjoyed Brian Kenny and he had some truly memorable moments on ESPN2’s much missed Friday Night Fights series, but the vast majority of the time he was up on the studio rather than calling fights live. I have no idea how he will perform in the more active function. As for Sugar Ray, I’ve never found him to be a particularly compelling voice in any of his stints. He’s one of the biggest names of all time, but he doesn’t seem to have a lot offer on the mic. Still, getting these guys is unquestionably great for the legitimacy of the upstart even if they don’t end up gelling.
