CANELO, EUBANK-BENN 2, AND THE TIMES SQUARE CARD || FIGHTHYPE.COM

Every week here at FightHype, I pull out my gigantic, bulbous, bulging sack and give truth-minded boxing fans a gander. This week, I shoot ropes of truth all over comments/questions regarding Canelo, Eubank-Benn 2, and the Saudi NYC card.

Ring Magazine Boxing in NYC

Hey Magno.

Just wanted to touch base with you on this Friday’s card in Times Square. I won’t be buying it, but I will be watching it, if you catch my drift. For me, there are three ok fights, but none of them are really main event PPV worthy. 

In my humble boxing opinion, Teofimo Lopez beats Arnold Barboza by close decision. Devin Haney beats Jose Ramirez, also by close decision. Ryan Garcia stops Rolly Romero inside of 8. 

We’re not going to see anything really exciting or shocking, just a night of Friday Night Fights-level fights packaged together as a PPV. 

What say you, Paul? Let’s hear your thoughts on this card.

— Damon

Hey Damon.

I get what you’re saying and I fully endorse. 

Yeah, in a perfect world, these would be Friday Night Fights main events or HBO/Showtime co-features. Plus, it’s all a little pointless when you realize that these are all prelims and that anything good coming from this card will be shipped off to Saudi Arabia.

But, just talking about the fights:

Ryan Garcia will murder Rolly Romero, decapitate him. It’s going to be ugly and quick, whether Garcia’s juiced up or not. I’d be surprised if it gets past the first round, absolutely shocked if it gets past 3. That’s how much of a stylistic mismatch I think it is. 

Devin Haney may have picked the wrong type of fighter for his comeback bout. Ramirez is on the decline and nowhere near as physically talented as Haney, but he’s tenacious and he brings pressure. Haney’s been off a year and his head can’t be right after the way he was manhandled by Garcia. I still have to go with Haney, just because of the disparity in talent, but I would not be surprised in the least if Ramirez gave him some scares and, also, if he managed to pull off the upset. 

I don’t care much about Teofimo-Barboza, mostly because I don’t think that highly of Barboza. He’s alright, but that’s it. Teofimo shows flashes of brilliance amid a mass of confused thinking, insecurity, and, sometimes, delusion. But there’s nothing to suggest that Barboza can beat even a marginally focused Teofimo. I have Lopez by decisive unanimous decision. 

Canelo: MIA on Fight Week

Paul.

Is Canelo’s fight this weekend being kept a secret or something? There’s been no buzz and almost no promotion. Granted, he’s fighting William Scull in a stinker, but he’s still Canelo. Turki is paying this man $100 million and not bothering to promote the fight? I don’t get the strategy of stacking two PPVs back to back, spending all your time promoting one, but no time promoting the one with the bigger star. What am I missing? Make it make sense.

— TJ

Hey TJ.

It’s not making sense to you because, well, it DOESN’T make sense. None of this makes sense if the goal is to grow the sport. But, as I’ve been telling people for awhile now, the Turki/Saudi plan is about advancing the Saudis’ personal agendas and NOT about growing the sport. If anything, staging three pay-per-views in an 8-day period is burying the sport by frustrating those who actually do care to watch   the fights. 

All of this is just loss-leader promotion for bigger events planned to take place on Riyadh Season cards in Saudi Arabia or for the benefit of Riyadh Season initiatives. 

Having those Times Square fights the day before the Canelo card in Riyahd is just vanity. It’s for the benefit of the monarchy. It’s to showcase their importance by staging events in New York. 

As for the Canelo fight?

Canelo was purchased as a gift to the Crown Prince. This Scull fight has no significance beyond that and they don’t care one bit if it hemorrhages money. There’s also the belief that whatever’s lost now will be made up with the US-hosted Canelo-Crawford fight in September, but I think they’ll be very wrong about that. 

So, I guess once you realize the real motives and realities behind these odd business decisions, all of this DOES make sense. 

Eubank-Benn 2?

Mr. Magno.

I think we can all agree that the Chris Eubank vs. Conor Benn scrap was a marvelous one. I also believe that the right man had his hand raised at the end. But the debate I’ve been having is whether there’s a need for a rematch. Turki Alalshikh has already said that there will be a rematch, so I suppose it’s all a moot point, but I still say everyone would be better served if both men moved on and forward with their careers. 

Where would you fall in this debate?

— Muhammad 

Hey Muhammad.

I’m just going to come out and be blunt (surprise, right?). Competitively, I don’t think there’s much “moving on” that either can do, at least when it comes to big, meaningful fights. 

Eubank could possibly be fluffed up and fed to Canelo and Benn could, conceivably, pick up a paper welterweight title. But the ceiling on both is pretty low. Going along with this series is the best bet for both. 

Saturday’s fight was entertaining for what it was, but let’s be honest with ourselves here. The only thing we saw was a dehydrated fringe-contending super middleweight barely beat an extra hydrated second or third-tier welterweight. Nothing was really proven, no “classic” was documented.

If we’re talking money fights– winnable money fights– then the only way to go is towards a part 2 and maybe part 3. 

Got a question (or hate mail) for Magno’s Bulging Mail Sack? The best of the best gets included in the weekly mailbag segment right here at FightHype. Send your stuff here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com.