WEEKEND RECAP, THOUGHTS AND ADDRESSING THE MYTHS

April 23, 2024

Simon Ruvalcaba

So with the boxing buzz still occurring from this past weekend’s action, I was waiting to see what the blog opinion was still buzzing about. In lieu of tonight’s ‘Punchline’ podcast, which I’m sure will detail the buzzing threads? I wanted to address this weekend’s action, give my thoughts and also kill some myths that I hear about constantly when reading blogs.

First, what a fight Saturday night at Madison Square Garden! Those in attendance should feel very honored to have been there! It was a great fight between Lomachenko and Linares that brought out the best in both men and asked questions of the two warriors that now have answers! In Linares, he is a quality elite fighter in the sport, take away the part of his career a few years ago when he got disinterested with the sport and considered retiring? We saw the best of Linares Saturday night, he proved himself, but also proved how real and how good Lomachenko really is. Now to address my thoughts on what is being said amongst boxing fans:

IT WAS THE BLUEPRINT ON HOW TO BEAT LOMACHENKO:

Well, Lomachencko does have 1 loss on his record, so to say that he is unbeatable is a myth in itself, but in that one defeat you saw Lomachencko start off slow against Orlando Salido and come on strong to almost pull off a 12th round stoppage? So it is a myth to think that pressure is the way to fight and beat Lomanchenko based on the gained experience in his lone defeat.

To say Linares showed the ‘blueprint’ on how to beat Lomachenko is not true either. It only showed that you have to be Jorge Linares and do the things that he does as good as he does them, which you tell me who in boxing is another Linares? Lomachencko to me is in his prime, and the way to stop a great fighter in his prime is going to require alot of skill with a bit of luck and circumstance? Think Buster Douglas that had the extra motivation of dedicating the fight against Mike Tyson to his Mother who passed away during his training camp, on top of Tyson not training as if he had a serious title defense in front of him.

To beat Lomachenko, you are going to have to be the fighter of your dreams and be 100 percent the best fighter you can possibly be with your best style, and on top of that, Lomachencko is going to have to be a little less then 100 percent, maybe a cut or midfight injury type of scenario? At his absolute best, Lomachencko will break down and wear out any fighter and any style in my opinion, But any fighter can lose on any given night. Which then brings up another question? is there any fighter that can beat Lomachenko twice? You have to assume anyone defeating him today would have a rematch clause, and it’s tough for me to imagine anyone today accomplishing the feat of beating Lomachenko a 2nd time considering how well he adapts to any style?

So what is next for Lomachenko? I think the next mega fight is clearly Mikey Garcia? With Garcia fighting Easter and Loma possibly facing Ray, I think they both get past those bouts and move towards a showdown with each other? Mikey’s timing would be capable of catching Loma coming in as Linares did, but is he going to waste too many rounds looking for that one counter? Is there anything that Mikey can do to offset Loma’s gameplan? I can’t find a quick answer, but I feel Lomachenko would come in more careful against Mikey and there are things in the Loma arsenal that could offset Mikey’s skills? Either way, that is the next great showdown to look forward to down the road!

NEW STAR IS BORN IN THE 154 POUND DIVISION:

When Felix ‘Tito’ Trinidad got his first title shot against Maurice Blocker June 19, 1993, most experts thought that Trinidad was going to be a champion sometime in the future, some just didn’t think it would be this time as he may have been stepping up too big, too soon? When Jaime Munguia stepped in to replace Liam Smith and fight Sadam Ali, much of the thoughts where similar to that night with Trinidad.

Munguia certainly put those critics to bed with his dominating performance and one sided victory. The victory when referring to the blogs is being overshadowed by a few things.

FIGHT WAS UNFAIR, MUNGUIA IS TOO BIG?:

While seeing the two fighters in the ring and the size difference, it looked like these two fighters where in different divisions. Munguia weighed 1 pound less at the weight in, and only 1 pound more on fight day than Ali. Being a 6 foot Jr. Middleweight should be no punishment for Munguia. For anyone that thinks that day before weigh ins was an issue in this fight, the only issue was that it was a bad style match up for Ali, but Munguia would be awkward for anybody. To put in perspective the whole weight and when the weigh ins are, it has been a part of boxing for years, and it was actually a safety measure that moved weigh ins to the day before a fight. In a recent interview with former champion Tony “The Tiger” Lopez, he gave his opinion (INTERVIEW LINKED HERE)

Certainly you can’t blame or fault Munguia for being as tall as he is and being able to make the weight limit that he does. A blame and shame you certainly could put on is with the Nevada State Athletic Comission. They denied Munguia as a credable opponent for Triple G while approving a pro debuter against Floyd Mayweather? There certainly isn’t a clear line drawn as to  what or who the NSAC see’s as credible or worthy of competing in their State? All in all, last weekend continues boxing’s rise in stock and fan appeal and I hope that promoters continue to work together to bring the fans great fights! Perhaps it would be lucrative for someone to serve as a ‘liason’ promoter or network, that can bring two parties together for a compromised deal?

 

About the Editor

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *