Sherdog Boxing: The Weekly Wrap

James KinneenJul 27, 2018


A few weeks back, we reported that Floyd Mayweather was getting sued for no showing a Nigerian club but allegedly keeping the money they sent him. This week was no better for Floyd’s checkbook, as a California appeals court ruled a defamation lawsuit against him could go forward. The lawsuit was brought forward by his ex-girlfriend Josie Harris, after he told Katie Couric she was on drugs during a 2015 domestic incident in which he “restrained her.”

This week also saw Floyd renew his battle with onetime friend, rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson. The fight renewed when Mayweather called Jackson a snitch on Instagram, which led Jackson to share the police report from Mayweather’s domestic assault. However, the feud hit an apex when Jackson accused Mayweather of being the cause of a woman’s murder.

Jermell Charlo Accused of Choking a Woman


Unfortunately, old domestic incidents by retired fighters weren’t the only run-ins with the law in boxing this week. Undefeated junior middleweight Jermell Charlo was charged with one count of felony domestic violence, after he reportedly choked a woman in May.

Danny Garcia’s Fight Against Shawn Porter Booked For September


But, there was some good news this week. Danny Garcia’s fight with Shawn Porter was booked for Sept. 8 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Both guys most recently lost to Keith Thurman, but Porter bounced back by knocking out Andre Berto and Garcia bounced back by stopping Brandon Rios. The fight will be shown on Showtime.

Billy Joe Saunders to Fight Demetrius Andrade


Another fight that is happening, although no date has been given, is the bout between undefeated middleweights Billy Joe Saunders and Demetrius Andrade. Saunders was last seen cruelly embarrassing David Lemieux, while Andrade was last seen taking a decision over Alantez Fox. All credit should go to Saunders, who is by far the bigger star and was recently in talks to fight “GGG” if the rematch with Canelo fell through.

Superfly 3 Adding Fighters Daily


Everybody’s favorite boxing series named after a 1970s blaxploitation film has announced a few names being added to its third edition. Mexico’s Juan Fransisco Estrada will be fighting, but no opponent has been announced. Ditto for Japan’s Kazuko Iota, who has also not yet had his opponent named. One fighter who does know who his opponent will be is Donnie Nietes, who will be facing his fellow Filipino Aston Pilicte. Nietes is unbeaten since 2004, and has continually moved up in weight from strawweight to junior flyweight and to flyweight. Their fight will be for the vacant belt Naoya Inoue abandoned.

Canelo Blames Only Himself for Eating Bad Meat


Canelo Alvarez blamed himself for eating tainted meat, which caused his positive test for Clenbuterol and led to the cancellation of his rematch with GGG last year. He believes it was his fault for not knowing about Mexico’s tainted meat problem, saying “It was a mistake and nothing more. I did not to educate myself about this problem in Mexico. It was my mistake and I will not repeat it. ‘After what happened to me, I’ve taken a lot of precautions. Really, too many precautions, I think extreme. ‘To the extreme of not eating meat, I walked away from meat.”

The whole saga has a strange irony, in that many people were introduced to GGG by the memes that showed him as a simpleminded destroyer, whose favorite food was simply “meat.” One guy who isn’t buying the tainted meat excuse is the always blunt Bob Arum, who thinks Canelo is going to get knocked out now that he isn’t on PEDs.

Mikey Garcia Wants Spence, Not Lomachenko


Mikey Garcia, who fights Robert Easter Jr. on Saturday, said this week that he wants a fight with Errol Spence Jr. at 147 (Garcia fights at 135) not with Vasyl Lomachenko because, "I want to see the biggest challenge and he happens to be the biggest challenge right now. I think that's a tougher fight for me than a Lomachenko [unification] fight. Lomachenko fight for me would be an easier fight.” A fight with Spence would involve Garcia jumping up two weight classes, an idea his father and his trainer are both vehemently against. It’s hard to see that fight happening when the Lomachenko fight is so much more sensible, but this is boxing so who knows?

Richardson Says Wilder Might Be the Hardest Hitting Heavyweight Ever


And finally, highly revered trainer Naazim Richardson, who has worked with fighters such as Bernard Hopkins and Shane Mosley, made waves this week by saying something that would get you labeled a “casual” on most message boards. Richardson said that Deontay Wilder “might be the best heavyweight puncher in history.” While this may seem blasphemous, and immediately led fans to scream the names of Earnie Shavers, George Foreman, Mike Tyson and Joe Louis at him, his rationale was interesting:

Essentially, he argued that every other heavyweight has been better overall than Wilder, and that Wilder has basically only been using his power to become the heavyweight champion of the world, or as he said “The reason I say that is this: they were all better fighters than him….“They all had better attributes than him. Deontay didn’t have any of that when he started winning and defending world titles. He just hit you. I mean, he f**king hit you.” He has also faced much weaker competition, but if in a few years he has he knocked out Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury then we can revisit the topic.