Six Round Stare Down Part II

As a third of the year has already passed, boxing has had no shortage of interesting stories.  It's what makes the sport so intringing and somewhat spontaneous... the element of surprise in and out the ring.

With so many questions about a sport dominated by public opinion, I teamed up with Shawn Heimberger of Thoughts of R.S. to tackle the hottest questions and storylines in boxing today.  We both presented each other three questions, with each set published on our respective pages.

Six Round Stare Down Part II:

Round 4 – How do you see Canelo vs. Lara playing out?

Shawn - I can see two scenarios; the exciting one and the likely one.
The exciting one is Lara comes to fight like he did against Angulo, an
exciting brawl breaks loose and Alvarez wins a close decision.
The more likely one is Lara outboxes Canelo, showboats a bit, is less
than exciting and pays the price as the judges award a close but
unpopular nod to the more aggressive Alvarez.

R.L. - I’m with you on that one, except, I see Canelo winning decisively either way… Lara hasn’t won me over.. and maybe this is the fight he does it, but I don’t see it.  If Lara wants to brawl, Canelo dominates… if he wants to box, he’ll lose 8-4. 

Round 5 – After Mayweather-Maidana, who do you see winning the Floyd "Sweepstakes" to be his September opponent?

Shawn - It's Amir Khan assuming he gets by Luis Collazo.
Not that Khan's deserving-he isn't, but Mayweather will be halfway into
his 6 fight Showtime contract and even though he's fought two top
notch fighters, (I don't count Robert "Thanks Richard Schafer"
Guerrero), neither were the type of outgoing personality that Khan is.
Floyd will love the attention that Khan will bring from the U.K. and
the media and he'll love fighting a guy that is weak jawed and gives
him a chance to score his first KO of a guy that is paying attention
in seven years...

R.L. - I don’t see Khan getting past Collazo on Saturday night, so call it a blessing in disguise… Once Khan is out the picture, Money May will have to go back to the drawing board and figure out which fight makes the most sense.  Is it Collazo?  Highly doubt it… Thurman/Porter? No way.. too much risk and not enough reward yet.  So who then? I would say that the most likely opponent for September will be Danny Garcia.  I’m not thrilled about that match-up, but there really isn’t anyone else, unless Floyd moves up.  My other theory, is if Miguel Cotto takes Sergio Martinez’s middleweight title on June 7^th, don’t be surprised if Miguel is Floyd’s next opponent in a rematch.  

Round 6 – Which of the following heavyweights has the best chance to dethrone Wladimir Klitchko? Bermane Stiverne, Deontay Wilder or Bryant Jennings….

Shawn - Deontay Wilder.  Not that I'm sold on him. We have yet to see what happened when someone
fights back, but a Stiverne bout likely winds up very similar to the
Povetkin bout with a lot of grappling and holding with the larger man
always winning that war. Jennings? Just another smaller heavyweight that is overcome by the
physical advantages held by a Klitschko.  Neither Stiverne or Jennings can reach Klitschko and test that chin.  Theoretically,Wilder could...

R.L. I agree on Wilder… he has the power and size to be a disruption to Wladimir’s reign.  The question remains on whether he can take a punch, but hopefully in the next year we’ll get our answer.  Stiverne is easily the most skilled of the aforementioned heavyweights and may be able to hang with Klitchko, but he’d be eating right hands all night from the champ.  

For rounds 1-3 click here: Six Round Staredown Rounds 1-3