A couple of years ago we were all, "OMG HBO Boxing is in trouble..." Now, they have all of the awesome fighters again thank sweet Jesus Christ. The production quality and level of commentary is not even comparable. I could live with a Kellerman for Bernstein switch but god damn. Awesome to have Kovalev back next weekend
Two cards tonight, but only one matters. Beibut Shumenov vs B.J. Flores, Saturday, 9:00 PM ET, NBC Sports Net, Las Vegas. What even is this fight? A guy who, through chance/favoritism/outright corruption once held a light heavyweight “world title” (Shumenov, 15-2, 10 KO) takes on a guy who does more commentating than fighting and isn’t particularly good at either (Flores, 31-1-1, 20 KO). Pick who you dislike least, I guess (I choose Shumenov). As an added bonus, boring featherweight Rico Ramos is on the undercard. Sergey Kovalev vs Nadjib Mohammedi, Saturday, 10:00 PM ET, HBO, Las Vegas. Feared light heavyweight puncher Kovalev (27-0-1, 24 KO) takes on virtually unknown Frenchman Mohammedi (37-3, 23 KO) in a bout he’s certain to win, barring some kind of disaster. Fellow light heavyweight Jean Pascal (29-3, 17 KO) is on the undercard in a comparatively competitive fight with unproven Cuban Yunieski Gonzalez (16-0, 12 KO).
Floyd's lowest numbers in years. He wins in normal fashion, but does lose a few early rounds to a fresh Berto. Floyd haters come out and say he is slowing down. Floyd announces at some point that this May is his last fight. He goes for 1 more pay day. 1 more promotional tour. It gets a lot of steam like Maidana 2 did. And he gives this pay day to Khan or Pac. Not GGG. Typical Floyd fight and he goes 50-0.
Dang, thought I heard PBF/Berto was going to be on CBS... not a PPV I'd want to spend money on. But if it's really his last... It won't be.
I didn't because I really thought they would have to fight 2 times or ideally 3. This was before the showtimes contract, but that helped even more. It all set up perfect and Floyd was going to make me look like a fortune teller itt, but Pac fucked it all up. Imagine if Pac and him went at it hard and it was controversial. Lower the cost of the PPV for the 2nd fight and they would do the same numbers. Oh well. I can only hope Pac comes to LA to train in November and starts a big campaign to fight Floyd but I'll be just as happy with Amir.
Wow, I might have to look into getting tickets for that one. Been waiting for a reason to attend my first fight in person.
So the PPV schedule for the fall looks like this. Worth keeping in mind when deciding whether to buy Floyd's fight when you've got two good ones in back-to-back months after. August: Mayorga-Mosley 2 ($49.99) September: Floyd-Berto October: GGG-Lemieux November: Canelo-Cotto.
For whatever reason, they're trying to sell that trash Mayorga-Mosley PPV on the same night as Leo Santa Cruz-Abner Mares, so no one's going to buy it. Agreed on September though.