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Cat’s Corner: 1/18/16 Monday Mailbag

Lou Catalano answers questions from boxing heads in this weeks edition of Cat’s Corner: Monday Mailbag. Topics include Deontay Wilder, Mike Tyson and more!

Monday Mailbag

Well Showtime certainly brought out the “A” game, didn’t they? Holy hell. That broadcast was a trainwreck from start to finish. I guess this is an improvement on 2015, since they basically aired no boxing at all last year. I do enjoy watching the Alien Pod that took over Jim Gray’s body in 1985 give interviews, especially with Mike Tyson.

Jimmy Lennon Jr. started things off by announcing the Martin-Glazkov fight as being for the “IBAF” title, which as far as I know, doesn’t exist. Then Tyson used the word “commenserly.” Then a guy tore his ACL. Then they let a drunken Tyson Fury enter the ring after the Deontay Wilder fight. They should pay Fury to get stumble-drunk hammered during every fight and then just walk into the ring and start yelling at people. Viewership would skyrocket.


From Tim,

Q: As casual boxing fan, Mayweather was the face of boxing. I always wished someone would knock the shit eating grin off his face, and put him in his place. He was just too good, and smart in managing his career. With Chocolatito emerging, can this guy take boxing forward as a sport?

Roman Gonzalez will certainly help take boxing into the future, but he’ll be a small (terrible pun) piece of the puzzle. Mayweather (along with Manny Pacquiao) became the face of boxing after Oscar De La Hoya retired. But he was simply the face that mainstream media locked onto. Boxing will have those one or two guys the media focuses on, with several others there for the hardcore fans.

Chocolatito falls into the latter category. While he’s incredibly talented and fun to watch, it will be extremely difficult for him to crack his way into the mainstream. He fights in a weight class that goes largely ignored, and he speaks no English. But a guy like Canelo Alvarez, who despite not speaking English, is hugely popular, can take the baton Mayweather and Pacquiao leave behind.

Gennady Golovkin can do it as well, provided somebody actually steps up to fight him. I wouldn’t bet on that happening until he starts to show some kinks in the armor. Nobody wants to walk into a situation that is almost guaranteed to end with a psychotic Kazakh stalking you until he successfully cracks your skull open unless they get paid.

Mayweather played the heel card. He made zillions of off people who wanted to see him get drilled. Now, certainly he played it up, but he’s not DeNiro — I’m not sure how much of his personality was an act. I’m also not convinced that he’s gone. If I were a betting man, I’d figure on him coming back for a fight this September. I hope I’m wrong — I think it’s time for both he and Pacquiao to walk away. It’s likely that neither will until it’s much too late.

But people were predicting the death of boxing once De La Hoya left. But like always, the sport remained intact. There’s always somebody.


From Brian,

Q: If Mike Tyson in his prime (before the prison time, face tattoos, and pet tigers) and Evander Holyfield fought, who do you think would win and would any body parts have been lost or was that something he picked up from the tattoo artist in prison?

Mike Tyson in his prime was just pure fury. He had an utterly frightening combination of hand speed and lethal power. He butchered everything in his path. Holyfield possessed neither the power nor the speed Tyson had. But if they fought 100 times, Holyfield would win every fight. Holyfield not only walked around with a chin made of the finest titanium, but he had more grit and was technically more proficient.

He also had the ability to do something most of Tyson’s opponents couldn’t — he could back him up. Tyson was a shark, but he had difficulties when he wasn’t coming forward. Buster Douglas provided the blueprint, and Holyfield followed it perfectly. He could take all of Tyson’s punches, but Tyson couldn’t handle all of his.

He beat up the bully, and I think he would have done it every time. I do think Tyson would have sparked pretty much every Heavyweight in this god-awful era.


From Ryan,

So… that was KO of the year, right?

You’re referring of course to Deontay Wilder’s absolute detonation of poor Artur Szpilka from Saturday night. If you haven’t seen it, it’s right here. Wilder looked iffy before that; Szpilka was giving him some problems. But for all of his faults, and I’m still not convinced he could beat an elite heavyweight (if such a thing exists anymore), his right hand is a goddamn mortar shell.

Yes, that will be KO of the year. The 2016 knockout of the year happened two weeks in. If someone does something better than that, I can’t even imagine what that would look like, outside of somebody being projectile-launched into Al Haymon’s lap. That would actually be awesome.

Next week: Danny Garcia, Robert Guerrero, and a little Kova-luv…

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