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by Cliff Rold - It must have been horrible in the days before the internet.
Hardcore fight fans for years read about fights overseas. They only saw bits of the action. Fighters like Roberto Duran and Carlos Monzon were easy enough to find. Much of the rest of the world…well, there was always Ring Magazine. Tape trading in the 1980s helped to close the gap.
Today, the world is always a click away. On short notice, fans can find out an intriguing card they didn’t expect to see will be a click away on a Saturday afternoon. Online outlet WatchESPN.com (1 PM EST/10 AM PST) will be providing access to just such a card from Monaco this weekend.
Two particular contests set to air stand out. One builds perfectly on the momentum of last weekend’s HBO main event. Another sets up mere possibility. In both, we are likely to get some answers about the direction of two different weight classes.
The former takes place at Middleweight and dovetails perfectly with last Saturday’s latest Gennady Golovkin walkover. Golovkin, after losing critical time in his early years stuck in the tornado that was the undoing of Universum Promotions, is finally fulfilling his professional promise. He’s putting butts in seats, his TV numbers are good (relative to what passes for good in the US), and he’s knocking out contenders.
It might not say much for the current depth at Middleweight that Marco Antonio Rubio still counted as a contender, but he did. In three of his last five starts, the WBA titlist Golovkin has walked through Rubio, Matthew Macklin, and former unified titlist Daniel Geale. The credentials are starting to catch up to the eye test.
That doesn’t make a crack at lineal World Champion Miguel Cotto an immediate option. In the absence of a chance to place history’s crown on his mantle, Golovkin has to keep finding contenders to build his case. He’ll have his eyes on the main event here.
The UK’s Martin Murray (28-1-1, 12 KO) is heavily believed to be next in line for Golovkin with a February date in Monaco making the news rounds. Murray is a credible opponent. There are those who believe each of his two career blemishes could have been a win. [Click Here To Read More]
Hardcore fight fans for years read about fights overseas. They only saw bits of the action. Fighters like Roberto Duran and Carlos Monzon were easy enough to find. Much of the rest of the world…well, there was always Ring Magazine. Tape trading in the 1980s helped to close the gap.
Today, the world is always a click away. On short notice, fans can find out an intriguing card they didn’t expect to see will be a click away on a Saturday afternoon. Online outlet WatchESPN.com (1 PM EST/10 AM PST) will be providing access to just such a card from Monaco this weekend.
Two particular contests set to air stand out. One builds perfectly on the momentum of last weekend’s HBO main event. Another sets up mere possibility. In both, we are likely to get some answers about the direction of two different weight classes.
The former takes place at Middleweight and dovetails perfectly with last Saturday’s latest Gennady Golovkin walkover. Golovkin, after losing critical time in his early years stuck in the tornado that was the undoing of Universum Promotions, is finally fulfilling his professional promise. He’s putting butts in seats, his TV numbers are good (relative to what passes for good in the US), and he’s knocking out contenders.
It might not say much for the current depth at Middleweight that Marco Antonio Rubio still counted as a contender, but he did. In three of his last five starts, the WBA titlist Golovkin has walked through Rubio, Matthew Macklin, and former unified titlist Daniel Geale. The credentials are starting to catch up to the eye test.
That doesn’t make a crack at lineal World Champion Miguel Cotto an immediate option. In the absence of a chance to place history’s crown on his mantle, Golovkin has to keep finding contenders to build his case. He’ll have his eyes on the main event here.
The UK’s Martin Murray (28-1-1, 12 KO) is heavily believed to be next in line for Golovkin with a February date in Monaco making the news rounds. Murray is a credible opponent. There are those who believe each of his two career blemishes could have been a win. [Click Here To Read More]
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