After a weekend of upsets including a changing of the guard in the heavyweight division last week, we have a full week of boxing news at our door step. For you informative enjoyment, here is your latest edition of Around the Ring:
- Nelson Named new King – After Ken Hershman announced his leaving as executive vice president of HBO sports a couple of weeks ago, the most important network in boxing announced his successor in Peter Nelson. A Harvard graduate, Nelson has been with the network since mid-2011. He takes on his new responsibilities immediately and in a recent interview said that all promoters who are willing to work with HBO are welcomed alluding that a return to the network of Al Haymon and his brood might be forthcoming. Haymon and company were ceremoniously banned from HBO by Hershman as one of his first edicts when he took the corner office at the network.
- “Canelo”-Cotto a Bust – According to some online sources, The Pay-Per-View buys for last month’s mega fight between newly crowned WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Miguel Cotto were around 650K. Far away from the 1.5M promoter Oscar De La Hoya was predicting and much farther away from what Roc Nation, who handled Cotto, prediction of two million buys. Goes to prove that neither one of them are as popular as Floyd Mayweather Jr or even an ailing Manny Pacquiao. If only Jay-Z would have twitted about the fight.
- Final Hurrah – Mexican legend Juan Manuel “Dinamita” Marquez has been threatening with coming back to the ring for over a year. He has not laced up a pair of gloves in a professional fight since May of 2014 when he defeated Mike Alvarado at the Forum in Los Angeles. He announced recently although not set in stone, if he does come back, he would like to do it on Cinco De Mayo weekend in Mexico City. He mentioned he is training lightly but if he decides to come back, he would intensify his workouts at the Romanza Gym with Nacho Beristain.
- “Money” Goes For Record – Even though retired, Floyd Mayweather Jr will attempt to break another record in boxing this upcoming Friday in Russia. He will try to hold the most attended public workout in history. What other records does “Money” hold? How about the fighter with the biggest purse in history, 230 million dollars against Manny Pacquiao, and again along with Pacquiao, the most PPV sales with 4.6 million.
- Guevara to Protest Result – Former WBC light flyweight champion Pedro Guevara announced he and his team will be protesting the split decision announced last Saturday night in Japan in his fight against Yu Kimura. Scores were 115-113 twice for Kimura and 117-111 for Guevara. The Mexican will look for an immediate rematch to try to recapture his title but will look for the rematch to be in a neutral site. He emphatically said he will not return to Japan to face Kimura. The protest will be filed with the World Boxing Council, or WBC, who sanctioned the fight.
