Canelo and GGG, that's a big one, and these guys are both working this routine about,
“We will not leave it in the hands of the judges,” and the reason was the judges had
screwed the first fight up so colossally bad.
They tried to steal it from Triple G.
They did steal the win from him.
I mean, coming into the draw was outrageous, but you guys will of course remember the Adalaide
Byrd situation, which wouldn't have had people’s feathers up quite as much if there was a repercussion,
right?
The coverup is always worse than the crime.
So when Nevada came to her defense and covered for her, that's when you really had the talking
point, which now as time goes by the bettors all lost their money, the integrity of boxing
was called in, but those are really short-lived memories.
But you do remember the controversy.
Even though you may not have remembered what her scorecard was or even the name Adalaide
Byrd, you will remember that there was controversy.
So to use part of that storyline to build into the narrative, Triple G, who’s been
more outspoken about it than Canelo, has said, “I cannot leave it in the hands of the judges.
They already tried to rob me once.
I'm going back to the same jurisdiction.
I can't let that happen again.”
Now, that is just talk.
That is just marketing.
So as soon as GGG said it, well, then Canelo’s got to come out and go, “I'm not going to
leave it in the hands of the judges.
I'm going to knock this guy out,” and they’ve had some fun with it.
But they're both lying.
Both of them have a certain amount of energy.
Both of them know they need to spread that energy over 12 rounds.
Both of them know the opponent can go 12 rounds and withstand their onslaught for 12 rounds
because the opponent has already done it.
So they're not going to be looking for the kill.
They're going to be using and saving that energy.
The kill may come, the knockout may come, but they won't be looking for it and I don’t
have a problem with that.
I really don’t.
The entire narrative of finished fights, I think that you can have some fun when both
guys are looking to finish fights, when neither guy is trying to play it safe.
Those fights aren't as fun to watch.
But we don’t have to see the actual finish.
We just need to see guys trying to finish, meaning they're using their energy, they're
using their power, they're using their strategy.
They're not holding back.
They're not playing a round t system.
They're not laying on top and trying to hold the other one down – body, body, head.
They're trying to use power, the other guy’s got his defenses, and now you have a back-and-forth
battle.
But in boxing, more particular than MMA, it's a bit of a snoozefest anyway.
And this isn't me coming out
I'm going to watch the fight, I look forward to it and I like boxing a lot.
But it is a little bit of a snoozefest in terms of both guys only have two weapons:
You got a left hand, you got a right hand.
And you can only hit two parts of the body: You can hit him in the stomach, you can hit
him in the head, right?
The torso or the head, maybe a better way to say that.
So it's a little bit limited.
And then when they do a boxing card, it's top-heavy.
There is no featured card.
There is no standout promoted co-main event or main card.
It's top-heavy in the main event.
So when you put up with the treacherous evening that is known as a night of boxing that even
a live ticketholder will not show up to because it is like watching grass grow—they only
come in for the main event—when you take that all into consideration, listen that focus
group of the live arena that only shows up for the main event because everything else
is so painfully boring to watch, that trickles over to the home viewer as well, which trickles
over to me.
Which means, if I'm going to give up that and that night and part with my money, I'd
like to see a few minutes.
I would like to see a few minutes.
If it ended in a first-round knockout, it would kind of ruin my night a little bit.
Now what do I do?
I was planning on sitting an hour aside to watch this fight.
So, different perspective you guys don’t have to share, but that's where I come from.
I wouldn't mind watching this fight go, particularly the first fight.
I really like the first fight between these two.
We can talk about the controversy all we want and I think that we should—there was controversy
and it's fair, and it helped to drum up interest in this rematch—but the actual athletic
competition between these guys was great.
And even though GGG won that fight without question, without the crookedness and incompetence—the
record books will reflect that this rematch—even though that is true, Canelo
had some fantastic moments.
Canelo all of a sudden late in the fight decides to put his foot down on the gas for reasons
unknown.
If he just went for broke and then realized, “Hey, I got a little bit more energy and
I'm finding my target”—so as you guys remember, there were four rounds in there
Canelo was finding the body, he was marching forward, he was setting him up upstairs, coming
back to the body, b-b-b-boom, touch him upstairs, boom, boom, back to the body.
You guys remember that?
Really great moments.
GGG had to deal with it.
He had to use that footwork, use that speed, come back to his jab, b-b-b-b-boom, get his
own combinations going.
It was a great fight.
It was a lot of fun.
If I had my druthers, I would get 12 more rounds of that.
If I could make my choice right now, it has to be that.
It has to be that.
I'm not talking about a Pacquiao and Mayweather situation where it's 36 boring minutes.
I'm talking about fun, guys getting out there and getting busy.
You know, we used to get that in boxing in the greatest era with the true four horsemen.
The true four horsemen: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, and Duran.
Any way you wanted to slice that four-way dance, you were going to get some fun.
And GGG and Canelo have already given us 36 minutes of action, 36 minutes of fun.
Made us wait for the fight, made us see the drama.
There is a talking point and not a lot has been made of it, but it's the fact that Canelo
failed his drug test and there is the other question of, did he go straight?
If he went straight, there's not going to be a lot to see here.
It will be a different fighter.
It will affect him physically and it will affect him psychologically.
So we'll see what happens.
I never remember that story in full.
I can't remember what it was he tested for.
I remember him saying, “Ah, there's some confusion and I didn't do it,” and wasn’t
he the one that said, “Maybe I ate some weird meat somewhere and there was like some
weird science where you could show if you ate a certain meat you get…” right?
Oh, that is exactly what it was, that Mexican meat.
That's exactly what it was.
Something goofy.
But nobody’s really made anything about that, so I don't know that I will either.
I don't know that I will either.
If the boxing people aren't, and they're more in the know of this, I think I'm going to
let it go, too.
I think we're going to have a good fight.
It's going to be a good boxing match.
I haven't gotten to see a good boxing match in a long time.
Biggest drama I've seen in boxing all year, all year ever since Floyd and Connor, for
me that I saw, but it's when that goofball Harper jumped out of the ring one second in
and just walked off.
The hottest topic in boxing that I can remember in all of 2018.
GGG actually fought at some point in 2018, the night Canelo pulled out.
I can't remember who he fought.
I don’t mean to slight that opponent, but…
Anticipation of boxing, it's just a slower bill, just a lot more things that seem to
have to come together, and as many as that may have sounded negative it was meant as
a positive because all those things are coming together.
They're coming together tomorrow night and I'm pumped for it.