Ring Observer Boxing by Scoop Malinowski
I stopped watching Canelo Alvarez years ago because all his “fights” look like fake choreographs with hired patsies who can’t resist the free payday to spar soft. The Canelo franchise has been milking the public for years.
Last night he supposedly fought again, winning a dreadfully dull sparring session against the latest polite hired patsy, some guy named William Scull.
Nothing happened, the patsy came to survive and, from what I read, Canelo didn’t bother to cut off the ring and try to go for a KO. Maybe Canelo can’t do it anymore, he’s just bluffing through these business events to keep milking boxing fans out of their hard-earned money.
Years of phony fights don’t make a fighter better, only tough, REAL fights do that.
Now Canelo is already promoting his next business event vs Terence Crawford. But who knows if that will be real or another boring sparring session. You know, Crawford hasn’t had a payday in over a year and it’s certainly plausible he has agreed to play soft with the boss for that final jackpot payday. $25m plus for a soft sparring exhibition at age 39 makes a lot of business sense.
Does anybody really expect a real fight between two guys over age 35 who are both multi-millionaires, who would both prefer to play a soft fight instead of a Foreman-Lyle type brawl which could leave one or both combatants with permanent brain damage.
The writing is on the wall. It’s time for Canelo to get the hell out of boxing, his time is over. It’s been over for years.
The big question is who will become the next face of boxing? Who will become the next franchise attraction? Right now, nobody comes to mind. And that is a bad sign for boxing’s future because boxing, like all sports, is a star-driven business. And without a star, boxing is in trouble.
