Heading into the fourth battle between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, it wasn’t hard to find fans who said they were less than enthused about the match.
We’d seen it before after all.
No one was saying that when the fight ended.
This month, we get a clash for the super middleweight crown between two men who couldn’t settle their business one division lower:
09/17: 168 - Saul Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KO, Lineal/WBA/WBC/IBF/WBO) vs. Gennady Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KO, WBA/IBF @ 160)
There remains debate about what happened in their first two fights. The draw in their first encounter raises the stronger ire, leaving this series at worst tied in the minds of many fans. Can Golovkin, now 40, get the official victory that ices his likely Hall of Fame career?
And how does Alvarez perform coming off a defeat at light heavyweight to Dmitri Bivol?
It’s the biggest fight of the month. Could we get one more candidate for Fight of the Year?
Let’s hope everyone gets a winner they can agree on this time. If not, it should still be a hell of a show. So should a classic women’s card one week earlier.
Grudge Matches in Greenwich
In a year that already gave us Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano, September will have five unification matches on the women’s side of the sport. Ranging from strawweight to middleweight, a banner year of women’s boxing continues and no card this month will be bigger than what’s going down in the UK at the O2 Arena:
09/10: 160 - Claressa Shields (12-0, 2 KO, Lineal/WBA/WBC/IBF) vs. Savannah Marshall (12-0, 10 KO, WBO)
09/10: 130 - Mikaela Mayer (17-0, 5 KO, IBF/WBO) vs. Alycia Baumgardner (12-1, 7 KO, WBC)
Shields lost only one fight as an amateur on the way to a pair of Olympic Gold medals. That woman is Marshall and the trash talk has been pretty good. Talent rosters can be thin past welterweight but Shields hasn’t shied away from anyone and Marshall’s competition has picked up decidedly in her last few fights. Can Shields outbox Marshall or will the bigger puncher, with the home advantage, prevail?
Don’t be surprised if another fight on the card steals the show. The chatter has been just as wicked for the Mayer-Baumgardner unification clash. It’s the biggest fight to date for either combatant and the styles could mesh for a really fan friendly affair.
Additional Title Fights in September
Men
09/03: 115 - Juan Francisco Estrada (42-3, 28 KO, Lineal) vs. Argi Cortes (23-2-2, 10 KO)
09/03: 108 - Hector Flores (20-0-4, 10 KO) vs. Sivenathi Nontshinga (10-0, 9 KO); vacant IBF
09/17: 115 - Jesse Rodriguez (16-0, 11 KO, WBC) vs. Israel Gonzalez (28-4-1, 11 KO)
09/23: 130 - Shakur Stevenson (18-0, 9 KO, Lineal/WBC/WBO) vs. Robson Conceicao (17-1, 8 KO)
Women
09/03: 154 - Natasha Jonas (11-2-1, 8 KO, WBO) vs. Patricia Berghult (15-0, 3 KO, WBC)
09/03: 126 - Erika Cruz (14-1, 3 KO, WBA) vs. Jelena Mrdjenovich (41-11-2, 19 KO)
09/08: 105 - Yokasta Valle (25-2, 9 KO, IBF) vs. Thi Thu Nhi Nguyen (5-0, 1 KO, WBO)
09/24: 154 - Hannah Rankin (12-5, 3 KO, WBA) vs. Terri Harper (12-1-1, 6 KO)
09/24: 126 - Amanda Serrano (42-2-1, 30 KO, WBC/WBO) vs. Sarah Mahfoud (11-0, 3 KO, IBF)
Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, a member of the International Boxing Research Organization, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
