Sherdog Boxing: The Weekly Wrap

Fuc k the Mayweathers, except Senior and Roger.
There is no peace here kid.
Step up or step down.

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) August 29, 2018

Menayothin Passes Mayweather with 51st Win, But Floyd’s Too Busy Fighting with Conor to Notice

Thai strawweight title holder Wanheng Menayothin defeated Pedro Taduran by unanimous decision, moving him to 51-0, one win more than Floyd Mayweather’s vaunted 50-0 record. As impressive as this is, Menayothin does not have the prestige nor the résumé of Mayweather, which may be why Floyd did not seem to be bothered by the victory. Floyd was however, bothered by a Twitter slight from Conor McGregor.

When asked about the upcoming McGregor-Nurgamedov fight, Floyd had nothing but good things to say about his former opponent, calling him “a tough competitor” and “a warrior” before saying that he would love to have McGregor train at the Mayweather Boxing Club. McGregor was not pleased with the invitation and responded on twitter by saying “F— the Mayweathers, except Senior and Roger. There is no peace here kid. Step up or step down.” What “Jazzy” Jeff Mayweather did to Conor, we may never know, but the beef escalated from there with the usual May-Mac garbage, like Floyd talking about how easily he beat Conor and Conor showing pictures from the fight with captions of all the MMA moves he could do to Floyd in that situation.

Floyd has teased a move into MMA in the past, a move that will never happen, but Menayothin’s 51st win may provide a way for “Money” to justify a return to the boxing ring rather than the Octagon, and McGregor’s recurrent trash talk may justify his return as his opponent for Number 51.

Showtime and Premier Boxing Championship Agree to 3 Year Partnership

Showtime signed a deal with the Premier Boxing Championship to continue their partnership for the next three years, a move which will garner Showtime “a significant expansion” of live boxing programming beginning in 2019. This was a pivotal move, with ESPN investing heavily in boxing, as well as the slow rise of boxing based streaming services like DAZN and Klowd TV.

Speaking of DAZN, they will be airing the fight between Japanese middleweight and 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist Ryota Murata, and Minnesota’s Rob Brant. While a good fight, the most interesting thing about the matchup is that it will be shown on DAZN in Japan, and likely on ESPN+ in the United States (Bob Arum already has a deal in place). Whether this means DAZN and ESPN are willing to work together is notable given the PBC-Showtime deal, and a sign that HBO needs to figure something out if they don’t plan on treating the Sweet Science like they recently did their “adult” content, abandoning it entirely as a relic of the past.

Kovalev Exercises Rights to Immediate Alvarez Rematch

After his shocking seventh-round knockout loss to Eleider “Storm” Alvarez, many questioned what the future had in store for Sergey Kovalev. Well, we now know that Kovalev will exercise the “rematch clause” in his contract and take an immediate rematch against the 34 year-old Colombian. This is an intriguing fight full of interesting plotlines, like if Alvarez got lucky in a fight Kovalev was likely controlling, if Kovalev is as shot as many experts believe him to be, and how many different storm-based metaphors boxing writers will be able to muster for their articles.

While the prospects of Dmitry Bivol fighting Eleider Alvarez had fans excited after they both won on HBO, this rematch rules that fight out. Bivol’s manager says the Russian will return in December, but with most of the big names booked will likely be forced to face another fringe contender and wait for the winner of the Kovalev-Alvarez rematch.

Linares Moves to Super Lightweight to Face Abner Cotto September 29

After his impressive, but ultimately title losing performance against Vasyl Lomachenko, Jorge Linares is moving up to super lightweight to take on Abner Cotto. Although Linares will be the favorite in the fight, moving to 140 is an odd move. Linares had held the lightweight title, and knocked Lomachenko down in a fight that he was doing very well in. Staying at lightweight and working toward a Lomachenko rematch would make the most sense, but maybe he knows something we don’t -- like how good Lomachenko really is.

World Boxing Super Series Names its Cruiserweight Roster

The World Boxing Super Series is returning to the cruiserweight division, a weight class where Oleksandr Usyk last won the tournament in July. Usyk is not returning -- he’s facing Tony Bellew once the details are all worked out -- but the man who he defeated in the finals, Latvia’s Mairis Braidis is, and will be the tournament's number one seed. He will face Germany’s Noel Mikaelian. The No. 2 seed is Cuba’s Yunier Dorticos, who will face Poland’s Mateusz Masternak. The number three seed is Poland’s Krzysztof Glowacki who will face Russia’s Maksim Vlasov, while Russia’s four seed Ruslan Fayfer will face American Andrew Tabiti.

While none of these guys are household names yet, before winning the Muhammed Ali trophy not many people had heard of Oleksandr Usyk either, so this tournament could be one that makes stars rather than attracts them.

Jermain Taylor Arrested….Once Again, Charged with Domestic Battery…..Once Again

On Wednesday, Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor was arrested after he allegedly punched a woman, held a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her. While this sounds familiar, it is not a repeat story. Two weeks ago, Taylor had charges of domestic battery dropped after the woman who accused him stopped complying with the police. In that case, he was also accused of threatening the woman’s life.

Jermain Taylor needs help. He has a long, post boxing rap sheet that includes things like shooting his own cousin. This is a man that has a problem with violence that seems to only be getting worse as he moves further and further away from the boxing spotlight and shows no signs of stopping. I don’t know if Taylor needs to see a head trauma specialist, a psychologist or the inside of a prison cell, but the Jermain Taylor story is heading for a bad ending. And for a man who beat Bernard Hopkins twice, was once the unified middleweight champion of the world and should be a heroic icon to the kids of Arkansas, that would be a real, but all too familiar shame.