Congrats to Maravilla on an outstanding career. A great guy in the ring and out. If he'd risen to the top a little sooner, we'd be talking Hall of Fame.
Sucks for GGG, but the guy still has some decent options for this year. As others said, he could try and fight Heiland for the WBC strap (if in fact the WBC decides to strip Cotto). That's a very winnable fight, but I don't really rate Heiland that much and he has no name value.
GGG could also try to fight Lee if he defeats Sanders (which I'm not sure if he will). This is the best route to take, imo. Good money fight (especially in New York), Lee's a name and has stated his willingness to fight GGG in the past.
GGG could also try to get the winner of the IBF battle between Lemieux and N'jikam. GGG better hope that Lemieux wins though, because N'Jikam has never wanted any part of him. Unfortunately, all of these options depend on what if scenarios, which means GGG might be stuck fighting the Moras of the world. Not the worst outcome in the world, but disappointing considering how close to the top of the division GGG is.
I don't really know why you would say that they're unmarketable. Both fighters have been on TV enough and have been in enough exciting fights to where what they do in the ring sells itself. So long as each guy continues to get TV exposure, isn't too beat up from this fight and can continue to win against some good (aka top 10-15) opponents, their brand will build. Gatti showed that you don't necessarily have to be elite to be a big draw.
Top Rank and Golden Boy have enough good fighters at 140 to where I think Haymon's stable fighting them is irrelevant, especially if Garcia moves up in weight. Crawford, Vargas, Postol, Soto, Benavidez and Herrera are all good fights and fairly meaningful ones too.
I don't think their lack of English is a minus either. If marketed properly, their lack of English could even be turned into a plus (like Golovkin's broken English).
Quillin has played himself pretty bad every chance he has gotten. Whether it's been interviews, vacating belts, not making weight or simply not performing that well, this dude's done it. I really hope Kid Chocolate gets his act together because he has talent and still has some decent options available to him, even now.
He could fight Jacobs in an all-Brooklyn showdown. That would be a decent money fight and should be a very easy fight to make, even if Jacobs' strap doesn't really mean anything. Quillin could also try to land a shot at the winner of the IBF belt (if N'Jikam wins). He could also keep himself in the mix against a beatable name like Mora or Soliman. Whatever he does, he better be smart about it from now on because he's in danger of being rendered irrelevant without ever having lost a fight.
Poor Oquendo. Dude has got to be one of the unluckiest fighters active today. Guy should have wins against Byrd, Toney, Mormeck and Holyfield and would've had a win against Tua if he hadn't gotten careless.
That being said, I don't have any sympathy for him in this case. I can't see why Chagaev's team would offer $1 mil with a rematch clause for a fight of this caliber. Fres got paid $225,000 for fighting for a worthless trinket (which was too much money to begin with). This just sounds to me like Oquendo is sour and wants to get another decent payday. Sorry Fres, I'm not buying it.
I'm not one of those people buying a ticket on the Al Haymon express. I think (so far) he's been more or less like any power player that's ever come along in boxing. Al's done some good things in and for the sport, but also some not so good things.
That much to say, Rigo signing with Haymon would be a very good move for his career. Both LSC and Martinez are Haymon fighters, so those matchups would be very doable. After all, if Haymon gets the super bantamweight king, an LSC loss shouldn't really worry him. Haymon could also bring some extra money to the table to entice Frampton and/or Quigg to take Rigo on.
I don't really understand the criticism of Rigo hurting PBC's image. Rigo has demonstrated he can be exciting when matched with opponents possessing the right attributes (like Amagasa's size advantage or someone like Martinez's come forward style). If and when Rigo plays it conservative, it's his opponent's job to figure out a way to successfully engage him. With more money behind him in Haymon, Rigo will be able to have suitable style matchups made available to him, as well as better opponents that can "figure him out."
I do think Rigo should try to fight before September, though. Even if it's against a mediocre opponent, it's better than being inactive and potentially stepping in against a top level guy.
Kudos to both guys for taking this fight. As awesome as this fight's going to be, I hope Lucas and Provo are able to have productive careers afterwards. This looks like one of those fights that could physically ruin both guys.
I understand the criticism of Ward and no doubt a lot of it is deserved. After all, the last time Ward was "coming back" he ended up going stealth mode. Still, I don't really see how anyone thinks he could not need a tuneup, especially with 168 being as competitive as it is at the top. I do think, however, that Ward should be quiet about things and just do what he has to do.
Fight a durable fringe contender, get some rounds in, get the win, take less money, take lower level TV coverage and get back to being pound for pound. Nobody cares about your contract drama, they only care if you can still fight.:soapbox:
I feel bad for both Stevenson and Kovalev, as it seems to be almost entirely because of their advisers/promoters missteps that this fight hasn't happened already. First, Stevenson's team overplayed their hand by trying to haggle with opponents who had other good fights available to them (aka Hopkins and Pascal).
Now Duva's overplayed her hand by insisting on making Kovalev Stevenson's mandatory, instead of letting the continued (and loud) negative public criticism against Stevenson bring his team to the negotiating table.
The holding of an early purse bid is irrelevant, imo. Even if the purse bid was held along regular guidelines, her team and Stevenson's would still have to work out the network problem. That's the exact same spot they would be at if Kov wasn't the mandatory challenger, with more negotiating time to boot. Main Events, HBO and Haymon all need to grow up and get stuff done because both of their fighters' reputations are taking a hit.
Not a terrible fight and possibly the best fight that could be made for Bradley given the difficulty involved in negotiating other big fights at welterweight right now.
Would definitely rather see Tim against Porter, but I can't see a Haymon-Arum agreement being worked out there and I think Hearn would insist on having Bradley travel to the UK to fight Brook. Bradley could do it and win (he beat Witter over there, who was a better fighter than Brook is right now, imo), but I don't know if Bradley is super keen on making the trip.
Bradley-Rios should be entertaining, but Bradley is a cut above Rios. So long as he relies on what he's good at (boxing, not slugging) I think he wins a wide UD. If Bradley slugs, I think he still wins, but in a much more difficult fashion.