World Boxing Super Series Season 2 – Quarterfinals

The best development in boxing in the last few years has to be the introduction of the World Boxing Super Series – eight man, single elimination tournaments in various weight classes, with competitions taking place around the world.

The first season of WBSS featured two weight classes – super middleweights and cruiserweight. The cruiserweight tournament in particular was completely stacked – all four major belts were involved, meaning the winner of the tournament would be undisputed champion. By winning the tournament, Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk put his name at the top of pound-for-pound lists and created a legacy of perhaps the best cruiserweight in history.

The super middleweight field was much weaker, but the eventual winner (the UK’s Callum Smith) firmly etched his name into the minds of boxing fans around the globe as a real champion with an impressive knockout of countryman George Groves in the final. Both tournaments were successes, and to the great pleasure of boxing fans worldwide, the tournament was quick to announce a second season – this time featuring three weight classes (cruiserweights, super lightweights, and bantamweights). The quarterfinals have been completed, so let’s take a look at where things stand in all three tournaments.

BANTAMWEIGHTS

The bantamweight tournament in some ways feels like it’s going to be an inevitable crowning of “The Monster”, Naoya Inoue, the young Japanese prodigy who is wreaking havoc in the lower weight classes. That said, the bantamweight tournament sported a strong field with three major titleholders: you had Inoue join titleholders Ryan Burnett, Zolani Tete and Emmanuel Rodriguez. Joining those four was veteran fighters Juan Carlos Payano and Nonito Donaire (moving back down to bantamweight in the twilight of his career), and two unproven low seeds in Mikhail Aloyan and Jason Moloney. Here’s how the first round went down:

RESULTS:

Oct. 7: Naoya Inoue (Japan) KO1 Juan Carlos Payano (Dominican Republic)

Inoue has torn through just about every opponent he’s ever fought, and he made an immediate impact in his quarterfinal matchup against the veteran Payano, brutally knocking him out in a KOTY contender. Find the replay to find the beautiful footwork, shot placement and brutality of the knockout combination that ended this fight just as it was getting started. You could almost see Payano’s brain hit the back of his skull and turn his lights out. Absolutely brutal, and scary for the rest of the field.

Oct. 13: Zolani Tete (South Africa) UD12 Mikhail Aloyan (Russia)

STW Scorecard: Tete 115-110 Aloyan

Tete is a tall, lengthy and skilled boxer, the current WBO titleholder and difficult style matchup for anybody. Aloyan, conversely, is a small, compact Russian who had a decorated amateur career but came into this fight completely unproven, with just four fights. The two did not create a lot of buzz in their matchup, as their styles meshed into a slow, uninspiring snoozer in this unanimous decision win for Tete. After starting quickly and scoring a R1 flash knockdown, the South African fighter puts most of the fight in cruise control. Both fighters lost points (Tete for elbowing, Aloyan for holding) as the end of the fight devolves into a grapple fest. Aloyan won’t be much of anything as a professional, as whatever skill he has is negated by the fact that he doesn’t much power in there. You’d hope to see better from Tete moving forward – he’s either not the truth, or fights to the level of his competition. Time will tell.

Oct. 20: Emmanuel Rodriguez  (Puerto Rico) SD12 Jason Moloney (Australia)

STW Scorecard: Rodriguez 116-112 Moloney

A couple of undefeated up and comers here, although Rodriguez holds the IBF bantamweight belt. Moloney gave a good account of himself and was incredibly game, but was a half step slower and less accurate throughout. Rodriguez was precise and skilled, showing good schooling and an athletic disposition. Moloney left it all in there and had a nice rally late, but too little too late in my mind. Scorecards were a bit closer than I thought, 7-5 Rodriguez x2 and one 7-5 Moloney card. Deserved win for Rodriguez, who has his hands full in the next round with Inoue.

Nov. 3: Nonito Donaire (Phillippines) RTD4 Ryan Burnett (Northern Ireland)

STW Scorecard: Donaire 38-37 Burnett

The biggest upset of the quarterfinal round of the WBSS saw the veteran Donaire take Ryan Burnett’s WBA title off of him in Glasgow after the Northern Irishman suffered a freak back injury (turned out to be a torn oblique) after whiffing on a punch in the 4th round. After a tight back and forth beginning that saw an intriguing matchup of the slower but still powerful Donaire trying to hunt down the quicker, more accurate Burnett, it was a disappointing way to end the fight, and Donaire didn’t do much celebrating to have won in such a strange way. That said, Donaire now finds himself holding a bantamweight belt and moving on to face South Africa’s Tete, a matchup – based on the first round – you have to feel Donaire can win. There is, however, a Monster lurking on the other side of the bracket, and one that many Donaire fans might be nervous to see him in the ring with.

SUPER LIGHTWEIGHTS

This is my favorite of the current tournaments going on, mainly because we have two burgeoning, up and coming stars involved in Scotland’s Josh Taylor and the USA’s Regis Prograis, and is genuinely a tournament without a heavy favorite. Either of those two could win, but their potential finals matchup is thrilling. Neither has an easy path to the finals either, as the rest of the tournament was made up of either experienced, tough opponents without a big name (Terry Flanagan, Kiryl Relikh, Eduard Troyonovsky) or young, unproven and largely unbeaten fighters with an element of danger to them (Ryan Martin, Ivan Baranchyk, and Anthony Yigit).

Oct. 7: Kiryl Relikh (Belarus) UD12 Eduard Troyanovsky (Russia)

STW Scorecard: Relikh 115-113 Troyanovsky

This was a close fight, though not necessarily a great fight. Relikh, the WBA titleholder in the divison, was the stronger puncher and much more of the come-forward guy, with the Russian backing up and trying to pick him off coming in. The back half of the fight belonged to Troyanovsky, as he started to get timing down and a progressively more exhausted Relikh seemed to run out of ideas and just come forward with no plan. All three scorecards were 7-5 to Relikh for the deserved decision, but neither man looked great here. Relikh is all grit and heart, and comes forward and throws big punches, but he is cursed with a lack of power. That said, his only two losses came on questionable decisions and he’s going to be a tough out for Regis Prograis in the next round. Speaking of…

Oct. 27: Regis Prograis (USA) UD12 Terry Flanagan (England)

STW Scorecard: Prograis 119-108 Flanagan

Prograis, the young, flashy New Orleans boxer, has on the come-up just blown everybody out of the water. He’s shown crazy power, highlight reel KOs and an exciting style with an at times troubling lack of defense. His quarterfinal matchup saw him in tough with Terry Flanagan, who lost his belt (the only one not in this tournament) in his previous matchup to tricky boxer Maurice Hooker. Flanagan is no joke for a first round matchup. He’s a tough veteran who knows what he’s doing, and Prograis’ dominance here should be nothing to sneeze at. Those disappointed that he didn’t get a knockout fail to appreciate the work the young American put in, as he beat his veteran opponent to the punch at every step, drilled him with a heavy KD in R8 and overall proving himself to be a cut above – and not just a big puncher.

Oct. 27: Ivan Baranchyk (Belarus) TKO7 Anthony Yigit (Sweden)

STW Scorecard: Baranchyk 68-64 Yigit

‘Beast’ is the most fitting way to describe Ivan Baranchyk. The man is a walking muscle, just a relentless come forward pressure fighter with little skill but a lot of sadasm. Yigit put forth his best effort but was hopelessly overpowered, as at every turn Baranchyk was up in his grill not allowing him to breathe. The doctor stopped this fight after the seventh after Yigit’s eye exploded in a disgusting hematoma that looked awful. Baranchyk isn’t the greatest fighter in the world but he’s a tough matchup. Taylor-Baranchyk might be my favorite semifinal matchup in all three weight classes.

Nov. 3: Josh Taylor (Scotland) TKO7 Ryan Martin (USA)

STW Scorecard: Taylor 60-54 Martin

Going in, I thought this was an underrated matchup. Taylor is one of the rising stars in the sport, a polished young fighter who shone brightest when actually matched tough – with impressive wins over fellow prospect Ohara Davies and Viktor Postol (and nobody looks impressive against Postol).  Martin is an extremely athletic, unbeaten young fighter (his nickname was literally ‘Blue Chip’), trained by Abel Sanchez and someone that looked like a promising fighter at one time. He’d been unconvincing in his stepup fights (most notably a disputed decision against journeyman Francisco Rojo on the GGG-Canelo 1 undercard).

I was wrong. Taylor was many levels ahead of Martin. Martin could not get off, looked afraid of the moment and barely threw any punches, content to nervously let Taylor box his ears off and dominate him in every way. In R6, Taylor turned it up and started really putting a beatdown on Martin, who was bleeding and seemed defeated. Martin found a way out in the very next round, taking an accidental rabbit punch and using that as an excuse to go down, the referee somewhat awkwardly stopping the fight. It was a strange stoppage but Martin wasn’t upset about it at all, seemingly glad to just get out without getitng too hurt. The Josh Taylor train moves on, and now he must fight a Belorussian animal in Baranchyk.

 

CRUISERWEIGHTS

As good as the season one cruiserweight tournament was, the second season in this division has been a bit mystifying. Why the WBSS decided to run back this weight class immediately is anyone’s guess – the last season featured all four major belts, while this one features none. This year’s cruiserweight crop features two also-rans from the last season (albeit good ones) in Mairis Breidis and Yunier Dorticos, established veteran Kryszstof Glowacki, up and comer Andrew Tabiti and four guys even the most hardcore boxing fan has never heard of. It does not have last season’s champion (who has all of the belts) nor last season’s runner up (Murat Gassiev) and thus feels kind of like an also-ran tournament with limited relevance. Some good fighters here but it just doesn’t feel…important. The best you can get from this tournament – because even a lower level a tournament is better than no tournament – is some good fights and action, and sadly, the quarterfinal round didn’t have much of that either.

Oct. 13: Andrew Tabiti (USA) UD12 Ruslan Fayfer (Russia)

STW Scorecard: Tabiti 116-111 Fayfer

Tabiti is a fighter who seems like he has the goods to be a star – he’s handsome, well spoken, sculpted and powerful looking. He’s also, to this point in his career, been an absolute bore to watch. His most impressive win to date was a decision win over an over-the-hill Steve Cunningham on the Mayweather-McGregor undercard, a fight that was so boring that it threatened to set boxing back 15 years given the amount of casual eyeballs that were on that fight. Tabiti went into the Russian’s backyard on this one, and managed to outpoint him despite fighting tentative, doing more posing than actual fighting. Fayfer was nothing but a jab and grabber and didn’t do much other than hold. Brutal fight, one of the worst of the tournament thus far.

Oct. 20: Yunier Dorticos (Cuba) UD12 Mateusz Masternak (Poland)

STW Scorecard: Dorticos 115-113 Masternak

The best fight of the cruiserweight quarterfinals saw power puncher Yunier Dorticos hang on for a really close win over Masternak, a limited but tough fighter who managed to take Dorticos’ early power shots and survive to nearly steal one from the Cuban big man late. Dorticos is a fighter who I’d have put as my favorite before the tournament started – he got knocked out late in a competitive fight in last season’s semifinals, a fight that was one of the best fights I saw in 2018 – but he didn’t look great in this one. He was getting caught with shots, never had Masternak seriously wobbled. You wonder if either Masternak was better than expected or if Dorticos lost something in the ring that night in his war with Gassiev. Time will tell, as he has an interesting matchup against the flashy and talented but underwhelming Tabiti.

Nov. 10: Kryzysztof Glowacki (Poland) UD12 Maksim Vlasov (Russia)

STW Scorecard: Glowacki 118-110 Vlasov

Competitive but clear, this was a pretty entertaining scrap between the veteran Glowacki and the little known Vlasov, who was game and gave it his all but didn’t have enough for the former titleholder. The fight really got cooking down the stretch when Vlasov hurt Glowacki badly and Glowacki fired a hail mary desperation overhand punch that somehow landed flush and knocked Vlasov back, allowing Glowacki to recover. Good effort from Vlasov, but Glowacki moves on.

Nov. 10: Mairis Briedis (Latvia) UD12 Noel Mikhailin (Germany)

Alright, look. I watched almost every single semifinal matchup. This fight took place on a night where I had a wedding to attend, and came on DAZN after the way more relevant and interesting Tony Bellow-Oleksandr Usyk card. I meant to watch it on replay but only heard that it was A) a garbage fight and B) a garbage robbery decision, so I can’t bring myself to spend an hour of my life watching it. The word on the street is that Breidis, last year’s semifinalist and the man who gave Usyk his closest fight in last season’s tournament, didn’t look good and was gifted a questionable decision against his unknown opponent in a fight with a lot of grabbling and very little action. He moves on to face Glowacki in the next round, and if he doesn’t have his shit together, we could see him lose that one.

 

 

 

 

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The Best Fights of 2018 + More Musings

I know you’re supposed to do this at the end of the calendar year but fuck it I’m inspired today so I’m doing this today. There’s a lot of boxing ahead of us – November and December looked STACKED – but here’s some of my random thoughts from what has been an interesting and awesome year to be a boxing fan.

STREAMING IS HERE TO STAY

I don’t have cable – I watch my TV through my Roku. This is the greatest time to be a boxing fan that I can remember. Between subscriptions to YouTube TV, DAZN, Showtime and ESPN+, I’m paying like $50 and can get any fight I want. I don’t have to find a dodgy Russian website illegal stream of fight cards that give my computer an STD, and I can watch all of the fights I want and replays in glorious HD.

HBO is out of the fight game, which is a shame in the sense that their production was the best in the business – but their streaming game was fucking terrible. Their app, HBO Go, didn’t offer fights live, and on top of that, didn’t get the replays up on the app until the Tuesday after fight night. Three days later! Compare with the Showtime app: live streaming for every fight card, the full fight card up on the app the morning after if you missed it live. It’s not close, and that failure to adapt (along with other factors) showed you how uncommitted the network was to the sport and how behind they were. That’s why Showtime has my monthly subscription money, and HBO doesn’t. On that note..

 

DAZN HAS BEEN REALLY FUCKING GOOD

Knocking on wood that this continues, but DAZN has been AWESOME. Great quality streams, awesome shoulder content around boxing, replays immediately, high production in their live fights. They are actually showing background pieces on undercard fighters instead of just talking about the main event fights and dismissing the action in front of you. Their content is compelling, they’re making waves in terms of the fighters they’ve signed (Anthony Joshua, Canelo Alvarez, the World Boxing Super Series) and it seems like they have at least one if not more fight cards every single weekend. Easily the best $10/month I’m spending right now as a fight fan. I don’t know how they’re making money, but here’s hoping things continue and they aren’t just putting on a pretty face for their first year in business here.

MY FAVORITE FIGHTS OF THIS YEAR

Feb 3 – Murat Gassiev KO12 Yunier Dorticos

(STW Score: Gassiev 105-104 Dorticos)

I had this fight closer than most, but this WBSS cruiserweight semifinal (also a unification bout) was great from start to finish. Just two high class, skilled dudes who can also punch going at it. I don’t think there was a clinch in the entire match. Dorticos was getting work done early but Gassiev invested to the body, which made a huge difference down the stretch as the Cuban seemed to gas badly in the last few rounds. Gassiev truly looked dominant towards the end there, and the stoppage was nasty and emotional. Dorticos shed some tears after the fight, and you truly felt like he left everything in the ring. This was, for my money, the best fight in the first season of the Super Series, which has been a phenomenal addition to the sport. Gassiev would go on to get swept on the cards in the final by Oleksandr Usyk in a virtuoso performance, but as far as action goes you couldn’t top this semifinal and I came away impressed with both guys. Dorticos is returning for the second season of the tournament, and I’ll be rooting for him.

 

Feb 24 – Srisaket Sor Rungvisai MD12 Juan Francisco Estrada

(STW Score: Sor Rungvisai 115-113 Estrada)

Super fun fight on the back of another hugely successful SuperFly card on HBO – the third one, like the third Godfather, was trash, but this one was a worthy sequel to the first. Just a high level superfly matchup, with the big, come forward Thai destroyer against the classy, experienced and accurate Mexican. It was action from the start, and Rungvisai showed real skill to go along with his power, which ultimately made the difference in the fight. It was back and forth with both guys having moments, Estrada at one point decided he was good to take punishment as long as he got his own shots in, which made it a fun fight. Some hard rounds to score here, especially down the stretch, but I think the Thai fighter got the deserved decision here.

March 3 – Deontay Wilder TKO10 Luis Ortiz

STW Score: Wilder 84-85 Ortiz

I’ve been rooting for Deontay Wilder for years now. I think having a big, scary looking American heavyweight champion who knocks everybody out is a great thing for the sport Stateside, and though he’s crude and not graceful in there I’ve long held out hope for his punching power and personality to make him a star. He’s been building on this and has held a world title for a couple of years, but he never really had that name on his resume that truly gave him respect from hardcore boxing fans and thus he never has gotten the big push that would make him a mainstream star. His best win, prior to 2018, was his title fight against Bermane Stiverne, a decision victory that looked less and less impressive with time as Stiverne got fatter and fatter (Wilder actually wound up rematching and stopping an out of shape and demoralized Stiverne in an unnecessary rematch in late 2017).

It wasn’t through lack of trying – Wilder had lined up fights in Russia with respected heavyweight Alexander Povetkin before the Russian popped for PEDs, and then the same thing happened with Cuba’s Ortiz, an old but respected power puncher, a big dude with major pedigree and skills. Frustrated at the lack of a name on his record, Wilder signed up yet again to fight Ortiz in 2018, and came out with his signature career win and respect to boot.

After a porous opening four rounds in which nothing really happened and nobody really got going (though Ortiz probably was nicking the rounds), things went down in Round 5 in a back and forth heavyweight WAR. Wilder nailed Ortiz in the fifth and dropped him, seeing the Cuban get up and survive albeit on shaky legs. In Round 7, things truly got real, as Ortiz hurt Wilder BADLY and the American looked dazed and confused and like he might go down. He stayed on his feet, but just barely – looked like he was one shot away from being ended right there and then. He took another round or so to recover, but then lands that great equalizer of his in Round 9 – a huge right hand that’s got Ortiz wobbly. In Round 10, Wilder lands that big right hand again, drops him twice and closes the show. I watched this in a room with some non-boxing diehards and they LOVED IT. Great for the sport and happy for Wilder, who takes on the gypsy king Tyson Fury in December next. Huge year for Wilder if he comes out of it with wins over Ortiz and Fury – possibly challenge Anthony Joshua for the best resume at heavyweight, and hopefully challenging Joshua in the ring in the biggest fight the sport can offer.

March 10: Oscar Valdez UD12 Scott Quigg

(STW Score: Valdez 115-113 Quigg)

LOVED this fight and the heart Quigg showed in this one. The young Mexican titleholder is an all-action, come forward fighter, but he’d never been challenged like this before. Quigg completely blew weight and came in HUGE for this ESPN-televised bout, and the weight discrepancy showed as Quigg was enormous in there and was really doing a ton of damage with his shots to the smaller Valdez. Valdez was game, even though at the end of Round 5 he got hurt bad and broke his jaw, gushing blood out of his mouth. Quigg just came forward and applied pressure, and Valdez answered back. By the middle of the fight, Quigg’s nose was broken along with Valdez’s jaw and Valdez’s corner wasn’t even removing their man’s mouthpiece in between rounds due to how much blood was leaking form his mouth. Fight of the year candidate in my opinion. Valdez showed crazy heart against a guy who could have been 2 divisions higher than him. The official scorecards were a little wide for my taste but overall damn impressive from the Mexican champ, even though he probably shortened his career by taking this one and hasn’t been in the ring since as he recovers.

April 7: Jarrett Hurd SD12 Erislandy Lara

STW Score: Hurd 116-111 Lara

Erislandy Lara is an extremely talented boxer that is either in absolutely terrible fights (he tends to be OK with boring points decisions when he has his opponent outclassed) or in awesome barnburners (his bout with Alfredo Angulo was low key extremely entertaining). In this one, Lara’s style meshed perfectly with Jarrett Hurd’s come forward terminator impression and it made for an awesome, compelling matchup. Hurd just comes forward and comes forward, and Lara had his hands full just trying to keep the huge American off him for the entire fight. Both guys had their moments and hurt each other, and the rounds were pretty close.

The championship rounds made the difference in this one. Hurd stayed busy and stayed right up Lara’s ass (figuratively), keeping him close by and mauling him while Lara tried to counter and show heart, fighting with a bad cut over one eye. With 30 seconds left, Hurd nails him with a right hand and drops him. Dramatic finish to this fight – with that knockdown, Hurd took the scorecards and the belts. Great Showtime matchup and great result for boxing (Lara as a champ had a less than inspiring reign). Hurd is one to watch moving forward – he’s huge for the division and absolutely relentless. Can’t see him in a lot of bad fights.

April 28: Isaac Dogboe TKO11 Jessie Magdeleno

STW Score: Dogboe 96-92 Magdeleno

Ghana’s Isaac Dogboe put himself squarely on the world scene with a big year this year, none bigger than this performance on ESPN where he came off the canvas after a first round knockdown to stop a tough, skilled opponent in Magdeleno. Both guys came out swinging and Dogboe really separated himself in the latter half of this one as a crazy little man who isn’t afraid of a firefight. One of the most exciting fighters to come on the scene in 2018,

 

May 12: Vasyl Lomachenko TKO10 Jorge Linares

STW Score: Lomachenko 86-84 Linares

Ukraine’s Vasyl Lomachenko has been touted by many as the top pound-for-pound boxer in the world, and a lot of that is due to the dominance he has exhibited in wiping away every opponent he’s faced over the past few years. Most of his fights aren’t even close, and his habit of getting seasoned professionals to get so discouraged that they quit on their stools was almost more impressive than if he had one-punch KO’d them. Linares gave him a true challenge though – despite Loma being much faster than Linares (no easy task, as the Venezuelan has fast hands himself), Linares truly held his own in this one, even dropping Lomachenko on his ass in Round 6 when the Ukrainian somewhat recklessly came lunging in. After a great back and forth and scintillating 10th round, Linares all of a sudden crumpled to the ground and couldn’t get back up. I literally thought he hurt his leg as I couldn’t see what happened live, but on replay you could see that Lomachenko landed a perfectly placed, nasty AF liver shot that just shut down Linares’ body immediately. Great, fun, high level chess match with an awesome ending.

 

June 23: Josh Taylor UD12 Viktor Postol

STW Score: Taylor 114-113 Postol

Josh Taylor, the great Scottish hope, is a really promising young super lightweight, a fun to watch and classy boxer who has turned heads in recent years and is one of the favorites in the upcoming WBSS season 2 tournament. Before he got into the tournament and got the respect of the boxing public at large, though, he had to get through tough veteran Viktor Postol.

Postol, a solid, tall and awkward fighter from Ukraine best known for falling short in a matchup against Terence Crawford, is a real challenge. He doesn’t have popularity and thus Taylor had much more to lose than gain in taking him on, and Postol proved to be really tricky in this one. It was a close fight, in which Postol did well when he kept a medium distance, whereas Taylor did better on the inside and at range. While Taylor won his rounds more impressively as the harder hitter, Postol stayed in the fight by controlling the tempo behind a consistent jab. Taylor got a huge knockdwon in Round 10 from a a big left hand counter shot, but the veteran Ukranian stayed in it and surprised Taylor with his aggression after being hurt. While maybe not the fight of the year, a high level chess match and great performance from a young prospect make this fight worthy of watching. On my scorecard, the knockdown made the difference and broke a 6-6 tie in rounds, but the judges disagreed as they all had Taylor winning widely. Watch it for yourself and decide.

 

July 28: Dillian Whyte UD12 Joseph Parker

STW Score: Whyte 114-111 Parker

After a long string of less than inspiring performances and horrendous-to-watch bouts, including a snoozer of a unification fight against Anthony Joshua in the spring, I had given up on Joseph Parker as a fighter worth watching. He’s skilled and talented but his spoiler style and lack of true power does not make for exciting TV. Well, this one was sloppy and fun and then some, as Whyte managed to draw Parker into more of a war than he was used to. Knockdowns, point deductions, action, drama and momentum swings – this fight had it all. Parker almost erased a big deficit by winning the last few rounds, including hurting Whyte in Round 12 and forcing the big Brit to barely hang on to survive to take a decision. Maybe not Lomachenko-level artistry on display in this one, but it sure was fun.

 

August 4: Eleider Alvarez TKO7 Sergey Kovalev

STW Score: Alvarez 55-59 Kovalev

I am biased on this one as I was there live in Atlantic City to watch it go down, but this fight was maybe the upset of the year and a total blast. Kovalev, the Russian destroyer who had only been defeated by one of the greats in Andre Ward, was expected to blow past longtime contender Eleider Alvarez on his way to a unification matchup with young puncher Dmitry Bivol, fighting on the co-feature bout this same night. Alvarez wasn’t having it. Though Kovalev won the first half of the fight on the cards, Alvarez was taking Sergey’s best shots and kept coming, gambling that Kovalev’s famed lack of conditioning would catch up to him if he didn’t finish the fight early. He gambled correctly. A huge shot in the 7th Round put Kovalev on queer street and though he tried to get up, Alvarez was accurate and merciless on the finish. Well worth a watch for sure, and it’s tough to think of a bigger upset this year than this one, especially as Alvarez was not thought of as a power puncher coming in.

September 14: Jose Ramirez UD12 Antonio Orozco

STW Score: Ramirez 116-110 Orozco

Look, this wasn’t the highest level of talent in a boxing match that you’ll ever see, and it wasn’t even really a close fight or ever in doubt. But what it was, was a tremendous display of action and balls. The two guys came out swinging and never stopped, and Ramirez had Orozco seriously dropped and hurt as early as Round 4. Somehow, Orozco survived to give a great account of himself. Not a fight that was close, but one in which I came out impressed with both guys. Orozco’s got a lot to be proud of in this loss, and I’d love to see either of these boxers fight again. Ramirez has talent and potentially could be seen in some higher level matchups – I don’t think he’ll ever top pound-for-pound lists but I do think he’ll be in some fun fights.

 

September 15: Canelo Alvarez MD12 Gennady Golovkin

STW Score: Alvarez 114-114 Golovkin

Ah yes, the big one. The biggest fight of the year was also one of the best, as Alvarez and Golovkin went toe-to-toe in their rematch and delivered on the sport’s biggest stage. Neither guy backed down, both landed huge shots, and it was a fight deserving of its billing. They are both greats and future Hall of Famers.

Some notes in terms of the scoring, here, since that seems to continue to be a hot topic of conversation. I’m a Golovkin fan boy (just look at these blog archives). I scored the first fight a draw, but thought if you had to pick a winner, you’d have to pick GGG. I wouldn’t have a problem if you gave the first one to GGG, I would have had a hard time seeing any more rounds for Canelo than the ones I gave him. In this second fight, I felt the other way. I also scored it a draw, but felt like Canelo was the deserving one here. Canelo changed the script and came forward all night, leading the dance and building up a big lead on the scorecards. Unlike the last fight, it was GGG who came on strong to close and make this a close fight. In my mind, a draw was a fair result the first time around (marred by the criminal 118-110 scorecards judge Adelaide Byrd gave Canelo) and a draw would’ve been the fairest the next time around, but I don’t have qualms in Canelo being given the decision by a hair here. Either way, we spend too much time talking about judging and scorecards, and not enough time talking about just how high-level, action packed and dramatic both of these fights were. These are two guys who left it all out there. Respect to both men here.

There’s 12 matches that I found compelling this year. If you missed any of them, they’re worth going back to see. If the last few months of the year lives up to its billing, 2018 will truly be remembered for a great year (and I’ll have to write an addendum to this in January).

Did I miss anything? Disagree with any of these? Let me hear about it.

 

 

World Boxing Super Series: Quarterfinal Recap

Boxing needs more tournaments. There’s no question about it – the lack of a governing body for the sport results in most boxing matches sort of feeling random. Fighters operate as individual businesses, with four major belts (and a million more minor ones) in each division, not obligated to fight anybody really, various networks and promoters warring with each other and looking out for only their own best interests. It’s the biggest problem in the sport. The sports’ biggest fights can come too late or not at all – Mayweather-Pacquiao was served to us five years too late, Canelo Alvarez waited for Gennady Golovkin to age before he was comfortable taking him on, and the two clear best heavyweights in the world (Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder) are pussyfooting around each other and will no doubt fight at least one B-level contender again each before stepping in with each other.

That’s what makes the tournament format so enticing for boxing fans – in a single elimination, you can look ahead to matchups without guessing who is going to be next in line. That’s why so many boxing fans were excited when the World Boxing Super Series was announced early in 2017 – it took some of the best fighters in two divisions (cruiserweight and super middleweight), seeded eight fighters, and had them fight each other in a single-elimination style tournament to sort who the best man is.

Listen, it’s not come without it’s faults. The WBSS was unable to find a real U.S. broadcasting partner for the quarterfinal round – most of the fighters are European and likely their asking price was higher than American networks were willing to pay for unknown fighters. The super middleweight tournament is missing a lot of the top fighters in the division (though they nailed the cruiserweight pool). That said, the quarters were really interesting and are setting up some great matchups. Let’s take a look back at the quarterfinal round.

 

THE CRUISERWEIGHTS

 

Oleksandr Usyk (Ukraine) TKO10 Marco Huck (Germany)

STW Scorecard: Usyk 89-81 Huck

Usyk, the betting favorite in the cruiserweight bracket, is a tall, skilled up-and-coming boxer that has potential to be the dominant force in the cruiserweight division overall. The undefeated Ukrainian is dangerous as he moves better than most everybody in the division, has the length to bother most guys and is an incredibly well-schooled fighter. He’s not a fighter with dynamite in his fists but he does get stoppages mainly on volume and accumulation on punches, which results in a lot of late stoppages. Huck is an old warhorse of the division, a former titleholder on the wrong side of 30 and having been in one too many wars – still, an experienced opponent and an interesting first opponent for the cruiser favorite.

Usyk started the match off behind the jab, staying on his bicycle keeping Huck away with his movement. Though Huck had his moments early in the fight, Usyk’s huge advantage in length really made a difference as his tentpole jab continually bobbleheaded Huck. In the 8th round, Usyk hurt the veteran German with a big shot that snapped Huck’s head back violently. Huck then wrestles him to the ground in a desperation move, and while Usyk is on his knees, Huck tries to go for the dirty punch, causing him a point deduction and getting Usyk really angry. For the next two rounds, Usyk fights mad – and you won’t like him when he’s mad. In the 10th Usyk knocks a clearly hurt Huck against the ropes and for about 30 seconds just unloads a barrage of nonstop punches as Huck just tries to survive. The referee steps in and stops the match there, perhaps a tad early, but Huck was so far down on the cards and with really no way to win the fight.

 

Mairis Briedis (Latvia) UD12 Mike Perez (Cuba)

STW Scorecard: Briedis 116-111 Perez

I’ve always liked Perez – the former heavyweight is a tweener in size in that he’s small for a heavy but big for a cruiser, but he was always a skilled, strong puncher. He seemed genuinely bothered by the tragedy that occurred following his match with Magomed Abdusalamov in 2014, and his career seemed to stall a bit following that fight. Breidis, a cruiserweight titleholder and a big name in the division, was fighting at home in Latvia.

This was a sloppy match, with a ton of grappling from both guys, particularly from Perez. It made some rounds hard to score. Breidis did a nice job of getting one or two quick shots in, and then they would clinch, get seperated, and then go again. Not a lot of clean shots landed at all, and the ref was all wrong in the match – getting involved when he doesn’t need to, not getting involved when he does. Perez was clearly frustrated coming downt he stretch. Both fighters were docked points during the match (Perez in the third for a head butt that opened a decent cut, Briedis in R10 for excessive holding), and it wasn’t pretty or a classic by any stretch of the imagination. Still, Briedis earned his chance to move on and will face Usyk in a very interesting semifinal matchup.

 

 

Yunier Dorticos (Cuba) KO2 Dmitry Kudryashov (Russia)

STW Scorecard: Dorticos 10-9 Kudryashov

In this fight, which was randomly held in San Antonio, you had guaranteed fireworks going in. Two guys that know how to punch, two KO artists, getting in the ring together, you just knew they weren’t both walking out. Kudryashov came in the much more limited of the two in skill, but with a shot just due to his crushing power. Dorticos had the edge and skill but had big power himself, so the question was what would happen when you put them both in the squared ring across from each other.

Well, we learned pretty quickly. After a relatively cautious opening round, in which Kudryashov looked strong but slow and Dorticos finding some success with some hooks on the side, the second round turned into an immediate firefight. Dorticos found something here and just started unloading – the Russian really didn’t move his head at all, and Dorticos pounced on that. In the middle of the round, Dorticos landed a nasty right hand to the side of the head that dazed his opponent and followed it up with another one that just finished him. He went down hard, was wobbly as shit and near crosseyed and could not beat the count. Great knockout.

Murat Gassiev (Russia) KO3 Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (Poland)

STW Scorecard: Gassiev 20-18 Wlodarczyk

Gassiev is a young power puncher in the division with loads of promise and nasty power. Wlodarcyk is an older guy who has been fighting at the top of the division for years, but had been pretty inactive in the past couple of years. This fight was not close.

Gassiev impressed from the start. After a somewhat cautious opening in which Gassiev still separated himself, the Russian began landing more significant shots and controlling the action by just applying consistent pressure. Wlodarczyk really has nothing. In R3, Gassiev walks him against the ropes, sneaks in a powerful short left uppercut and then follows that up with a left hook to the liver. Wlod goes down like a mannequin, face down. Total wipeout. Gassiev now faces Dorticos in the next round in a guaranteed fireworks matchup.

THE SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHTS

 

Callum Smith (England) UD12 Erik Skoglund (Sweden)

STW Scorecard: Smith 114-113 Skoglund

Well then. This was a fight that Smith was supposed to win, as the big Brit was seeded first and thus had perhaps the clearest path to the final in a bit of a weaker tournament. That said, he underwhelmed here in a close unanimous decision victory, and displayed some serious weaknesses.

Both guys started off pretty cautious – Smith landing some bigger, more effective shots but Skoglund being the busier man. Neither guy really lands too much here. Smith takes an early lead, though a close one, towards the beginning. Disappointingly, not a lot is separating these two but Smith probably punches a little harder as the bigger man. Skoglund has some success mid rounds and scoring behind his jab – the Swede is boxing nicely but it’s apparent that he doesn’t have the power to hurt Smith, hwo really isn’t doing enough for me. Have Skoglund taking a bunch of rounds in a row here but they are admittedly close. Smith’s nose is bleeding and that seems to bother him as he’s fighting cautiously and with a look of worry on his face.

In the 11th Smith hurts Skoglund with a right hand and the wobbled Skoglund has to take a knee. That opens Smith up as he sense his foe is diminished but Skoglund manages to survive the round. In the 12th, Smith came out frustratingly conservative, though he did edge the round. He wins the bout, but is far from impressive here.

Juergen Braehmer (Germany) UD12 Rob Brant (USA)

STW Scorecard: Braehmer 119-109 Brant

This was probably among the most unknown of the first round matchups. Braehmer is an experienced veteran, but he’s older than shit, and has been inactive recently. Brant is a little-known young, untested fighter out of Minnesota, who talked a nice game and touted big-name sparring partners and a trainer ahead of this fight, his big chance to make an impact on the international scene.

Well, we got the least interesting (and probably most predictable) version of this fight, as Brant took himself to Germany and showed himself to be far below the level of Braehmer. Braehmer was the better fighter in every way, and Brant was unwilling to lay it all out there in hopes of a hail Mary, giving the German an easy near-shutout decision win. Brant blows his shot and likely will sink back to obscurity/journeyman status, while Braehmer gets to extend his career a little further as he faces the vulnerable Callum Smith next bout up.

 

Chris Eubank Jr (England) KO3 Avni Yildirim (Turkey)

STW Scorecard: Eubank Jr. 20-17 Yildirim

Chris Eubank Jr. has superstar potential in this sport. The son of the famed former British boxing champion has the looks, the trash talk and the power to potentially become a big name in this sport. He came up short in a title shot a couple years back against Billy Joe Saunders (a disputed decision in a fight I actually scored a draw) and since has gone back to the drawing board and built up a reputation for stopping guys and building his name.

Yildirim was a complete unknown out of Turkey, and the most he contributed to making this fight interesting was having his manager make headlines by going off in an embarrassing fashion at the pre-fight presser. The fight itself was a total blowout. Yildrim just started off by following Eubank around with his hands plastered to his head while Eubank bounced a consistent jab off his forehead upstairs, ultimately scoring a knockdown with 30 seconds left int he first round.

The second round was just two guys winging punches at each other, in a fun display that Eubank consistently got the better of. In the third round Eubank just came out fucking swinging. He was a little wild with his looping shots but Yildirim didn’t have the skill set to counter him. He kept throwing these crazy hard power shots and eventually caught him with a right-left combo right int he face and knocked him down hard. The ref stopped it immediately which was a little weak as he didn’t even try to let him get up but Eubank was another class for sure.

George Groves (England) KO4 Jamie Cox (England)

STW Scorecard: Groves 29-28 Cox

I’ve always liked George Groves, though he’s had a strange career. After making it to the big time by fighting two huge stadium fights against Carl Froch (both competitive, exciting losses), his career’s been up and down. He flashes major skillsets and has won a belt in the division but at times seems really unsure of himself and someone who can get in his own head. Cox came into this fight a total unknown, at least to me.

This was a fun one. Groves, as usual, is a decent fighter though just sloppy and unsure enough to give his opponent some openings. A ton of punches are thrown here – Cox not really doing damage but he’s really game in there and threw about five billion punches in round 2. Most of them are missing but Cox definitely recognizes that he can only win with a knockout so that’s what he’s going for.

In the third round Groves begins to separate himself and show his class, especially when the fight goes on the inside. Cox has no idea what to do when the fight gets there other than hold ineffectively. Finally, in the fourth round Groves drops Cox for the predictable KO as Cox’s ‘knockout or bust’ strategy turns up bust and the world gets to so Eubank Jr-Groves, a major British fight and perhaps the biggest single bout in terms of name recognition across the two tournaments.

 

WBSS SEMIFINAL MATCHUPS

Cruiserweights

Oleksandr Usyk (Ukraine) vs. Mairis Breidis (Latvia)

Yunier Dorticos (Cuba) vs. Murat Gassiev (Russia)

Super Middleweights

Callum Smith (England) vs. Juergen Braehmer (Germany)

Chris Eubank Jr. (England) vs. George Groves (England)

 

Weekend Recap: HBO’s SuperFly lives up to the hype

2017 has been an incredible year for boxing. Knockout, big matchups, mainstream fights – it’s been everything the previous couple of years wasn’t. Let’s take a look at this past weekend, starting with the much-hyped HBO ‘SuperFly’ card, which lived up to all of the excitement it promised.

HBO’s card featured three fights in the super flyweight division, and included five of the division’s top fighters. It was an impressive card that promised action, and boy, did it deliver.

Carson, California (HBO)

Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (44-4-1 40 KO) KO4 Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez (46-2 38 KO)

Boxing is truly a cruel sport. Nicaragua’s Chocolatito, one of the few fighters in the smaller weight divisions to truly break through in the U.S. thanks to the backing of HBO, was a mainstay on the pound-for-pound rankings in the past couple of years. He had risen from a minimumweight fighter in the mid 2000s to take titles in four weight classes, coming as high up as 112 pounds. That said, he been showing potential signs of aging throughout the past couple of years as his power stopped carrying up in weight. He went from stopping tough opponents like Edgar Sosa and Brian Viloria as he started fighting on HBO to struggling a bit with McWilliams Arroyo to pulling out a close, contested decision against Carlos Cuadras. These were all good fighters and tough opponents, but Gonzelaz didn’t look the dynamo that had people putting him at #1 in the sport.

Last March, Gonzelz defended his title against Thai challenger Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, and he found himself in unfamiliar territory. Sor Rungvisai was bigger than him, tough, and walked through most of his punches. Gonzalez went down in the first round, suffered head clashes that made him bleed profusely, and he ultimately lost a close but disputed decision (I scored their first fight a draw, for what it’s worth).

Heading into the immediate rematch on Saturday night, Chocolatito was the favorite, even though the Thai fighter had the belt. In a stunning turn of events, Sor Rugvisai blew out Chocolatito from the opening bell. Gonzalez had strange body language from the get go, looking depressed in the corners between rounds, even though he was competitive through three rounds as the fighters met in the middle of the ring and traded punches.

It all went to shit for Chocolatito in Round 4. Sor Rungvisai caught him with a nasty combo in the first minute of the round, which folded the Nicaraguan champion and sent him down to the canvas hard. This was no flash knockdown – Chocolatito peeled himself off the ground but his body language told the whole story. He was badly hurt.

To his credit, he went out like a warrior. When he got up, he went straight to his Thai opponent and tried to trade his way back into it. Results were predictable – Sor Rungvisai hit him with a right hand that was so full power that every vein in his arm was bulging out as he threw it – and with that, Gonzalez was done, his eyes looking like they were fighting back tears of disappointment as he lay sprawled on the cavs looking straight up in the air. He didn’t rise for a couple of minutes as the doctor checked him out, a truly brutal way for the champion to go.

Let’s give Sor Rungvisai his due – he’s the rightful champion, and looked strong, confident and powerful in there. He dominated Chocolatito from the opening bell. But let’s pour one out for a great career in Chocolatito.

Naoya Inoue (14-0, 12 KO) TKO6 Antonio Nieves (17-2-2, 9 KO)

Japan’s Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue is a titleholder who has made waves overseas by steamrolling through quality opposition. At just 24 years old, he’s already on some people’s pound-for-pound list, and has put together a string of dominant performances in recent years. The only recent fight of his to go the distance was his May 2016 unanimous decision win over the tough David Carmona in a fight where Inoue injured his right hand and fought multiple rounds basically one handed. Saturday night was his U.S. and HBO debut, the first time American boxing fans had a chance to see him on a non-YouTube stream with yelling Japanese commentators.

Inoue didn’t disappoint, as he looked absolutely dominant beating up his limited opponent, to the point the Nieves spent the 5th and 6th rounds just running and trying to survive. You could tell that Nieves didn’t want to be there and though he was tough, the fight probably went a couple rounds too long. I don’t think we learned much about Inoue – he’s already beaten better competition than this – but it was a nice introduction to a guy I hope we get a chance to see more of.

Juan Francisco Estrada (36-2, 25 KO) UD12 Carlos Cuadras (36-2-1, 27 KO)

STW Scorecard: Cuadras 114-113 Estrada

In the opener of the SuperFly card, the two Mexican fighters fought an entertaining, fun and close battle that may have been the fight of the night. Though I scored it by a point to Cuadras, all three judges gave the fight to Estrada by that same slimmest of margins (114-113) and I have no problem at all with the decision, as multiple rounds were very hard to score. The two fighters, both of whom gave Chocolatito hell in previous fights and walked into the night looking for a rematch with the Nicaraguan star, proved to be a great style matchup. Cuadras, the bigger and more solid of the two, started off strong and really dominated the first few rounds of the fight with his activity and volume punching. Estrada stayed patient and began sneaking in hard, snapping shots in between Cuadras’ combinations, and started turning the tide and having success in the middle rounds of the fight. After a back and forth couple of rounds, Estrada dropped Cuadras HARD in the 10th as Cuadras got caught napping leaving an exchange. That knockdown proved to be the difference in the cards and I can’t argue with that giving Estrada the win.

I will say – I had the fight even going into the 12th round,  with all of the momentum favoring Estrada. I fully expected him to continue his dominance but he seemed to get tentative in the round and didn’t close as strongly on a clearly weary Cuadras as I’d have liked to see, and Cuadras snuck in some decent shots in the final minute of the round. I wobbled between scoring it even (and thus, scoring the fight a draw) but guilt in doing that got the best of me so I nicked it to Cuadras.

The winner of this fight in theory gets a shot at Sor Rungvisai’s belt. Regardless of who they fight, these guys are fun as hell to watch and I look forward to seeing more of either of them.

Berlin, Germany (World Boxing Super Series)

Oleksandr Usyk (13-0, 11 KO) TKO10 Marco Huck (40-5-1, 27 KO)

I am super excited about the World Boxing Super Series – which is staging two tournaments in two different divisions (super middleweight and cruiserweight) – in an elimination-style format. It has high-level, quality boxers participating, and the shame is that it doesn’t yet have a U.S. broadcast partner, so American boxing fans are forced to try to find online streams to see these fights. Here’s hoping they figure this out.

This was the first fight, a quarterfinal matchup between Ukraine’s Usyk and Germany’s Huck. Usyk may be the tournament favorite in the cruiserweight divison, a incredibly tall, skilled boxer who may not have thudding power but lands so precisely and sharply that he tends to stop guys on accumulation alone. Huck, a veteran and former champ in the division, came into the fight the obvious underdog and on the clear downslide of his career but still is a feisty veteran.

The fight played out about as expected – Usyk came out behind the jab, boxing and keeping Huck away from him using movement and that long jab. Huck was competitive in R3 until Usyk jumped all over him and did some damage. Huck got a nice shot in about halfway through R4 but Usyk came back with a nice combination that rocked Huck’s head back. Usyk was just too good and his arms are way longer – his size was making a big difference.

In the 8th, Usyk snaps Huck’s head back and hurts him badly, sending him reeling. Huck then wrestled the Ukranian to the ground and while there on his knees, he goes for a dirty chopping punch to the back of his head. The punch misses, but it was such a cheap shot that the ref took a point away immediately. The usually measured Usyk then starts fighting pissed off and starts really doing damage. In R10, Usyk knocks a clearly hurt Huck against the ropes and for about 30 seconds just nonstop throws punches as Huck merely tries to survive. Ref steps in and stops it – maybe a tad early, but Huck was so far down on the cards and really had no hope to win, so no problem here with the stoppage. Usyk moves on in the tournament and will fight the winner of Mairis Breidis and Mike Perez.

Las Vegas, Nevada (Showtime)

David Benavidez (19-0, 17 KO) SD12 Ronald Gavril (18-2, 14 KO)

STW Scorecard: Benavidez 114-113 Gavril

On Friday night in a special edition of Showtime Championship Boxing, we got another look at one of boxing’s growing prospects in Arizona’s Benavidez, a 20-year old super middleweight who hits like a truck. After an impressive showing in May where he knocked out veteran Rogelio ‘Porky’ Medina in an absolute firefight, Benavidez was riding the hype train all the way to this match, which was for the vacant WBC title.

His opponent was Romania’s Gavril, an unheralded boxer with a solid record fighting under Floyd Mayweather’s TMT banner, who was matched with Benavidez after original opponent Anthony Dirrell pulled out. Most commentators thought the young American would wipe the floor with Gavril, but that didn’t prove to be the case at all.

Benavidez got off to a strong start, as he entrenched himself in the middle of the ring with Gavril circling around him. Gavril had himself a nice second round, outlanding and scoring well. Then Benavidez took over for a few rounds with effective power shots. He really swings hard and hits with serious power. Gavril started bleeding pretty hard around R4 as Benavidez turned it up. I had Benavidez up through six though a lot of rounds were close and Gavril gave a good account of himself.

In round 8, Benavidez started looking very tired and started fading. His punch form started deteriorating and his punches didn’t look like they were as powerful as earlier in the fight. He seemed to be wading through deep waters for the first time in his young career, as he had found an opponent who he couldn’t put away early. R10 was fun and close with Gavril edging it until Benavidez hurt him at the end, and in R11 Benavidez started summoning some more energy and hurting Gavril, who was gassing and trying to hold for the first time in the fight.

In the final round, Benavidez was winning with effective combos on an exhausted Gavril and then with 45 seconds left he got caught lazily coming in and chasing a combination with a counter shot he walked right into and he dramatically went down. Super, super dramatic end to the fight. It was a close one, and a tough test for the young prospect, but I do think he deserved the decision.

J’Leon Love (23-1-1, 13 KO) TD Abraham Han (26-3-1, 16 KO)

STW Scorecard: Han 77-76 Love

J’Leon Love, once a relatively highly touted TMT ‘prospect’, is a shitty fighter who’s best trait is that he looks kind of like Tupac Shakur. In his first fight in over a year he fought journeyman Han and got outfought for much of the fight as he just wasn’t active enough or good enough to look any kind of good. In the 8th round, the two came together for one of the worst head clashes I’ve ever seen, as a monstrous cut opened on Han’s head and he just started pouring and pumping out blood, and was really hurt. That ended the fight and it went to the scorecards. Two of the judges scored it a draw while one had one of the worst scorecards in recent memory, a washing in favor of Love. The TMT fighter was lucky to escape with a draw here, but showed nothing really to make him a watchable fighter.

On this note, boxing should consider their technical stoppage rules. Currently, if the fight has to be stopped due to an accidental headbutt like this one, judges are required to score the round. In this one, it happened in the first minute of R8, and nothing of note had happened yet. I scored the round 10-10 for this reason, but it looks like all judges did score the round, and that affected the outcome. Shitty way for a guy to take a draw like Han did. I’d be good never seeing Love again.

Caleb Plant (16-0, 10 KO) UD10 Andrew Hernandez (19-7-1, 9 KO) 

STW Scorecard: Plant 100-90 Hernandez

Caleb Plant seems like a nice guy with a heartbreaking backstory, but he just isn’t an impressive prospect to me. He always seems to be in with subpar opposition and he doesn’t exactly blow the doors off the guys he’s in with – every Plant fight seems to be the same. Plant was levels better technically in this fight, fighting a dude who is both not good and who took the fight on a week’s notice. Hernandez just got blown out, and he toughed out some pain, but Plant never stepped on the gas pedal, showed crazy power, or really looked like he’s anything other than a good technical fighter with a low ceiling. Just not that impressed with him in general, and do not think he’s a world-level fighter.

Career Trajectory: Miguel Cotto

36-year old Miguel Cotto is in the midst winding down a long and storied career. The Puerto Rican fighter achieved true Pay-Per-View star status during his peak, participated in some great fights, and put himself at the top of the boxing world for years. He’s a lock for the Boxing Hall of Fame, and he deserves to be. After his most recent bout, he said he was retiring after one last fight later this year. To give context on one of the biggest stars of his generation, I decided to go back through the last decade or so and follow his career trajectory to take a closer look at how strong his boxing resume really is.

Cotto had some great years in the mid-2000s, especially 2007. To his credit, he continued to fight in relevant fights for years, but looking back he really did have some smart matchmaking, and lost nearly every time he stepped up in class as he got older. That said, he’s among many boxing fans’ favorite fighters for good reason – he made an entertaining scrap. Note that for some fights I only have my scorecard to go on, and for others I have full notes, but it’s fun to look back at one of recent history’s most entertaining careers.

Let’s go down the Cotto rabbit hole, starting in 2006:

June 10, 2006: Miguel Cotto UD12 Paulie Malignaggi

STW Scorecard: Cotto 116-111 Malignaggi

 

Before Malignaggi became the good boxing announcer/terrible person that he is today, he was a light-punching but talented technical fighter who made himself a solid career despite not being able to punch his way through tissue paper. Malignaggi gave a good account of himself in this fight, broadcast on HBO, as a prime Cotto flashed that wicked left hook and power punching that battered Paulie around the ring, including a knockdown in R2. I gave Malignaggi 4 rounds in a spirited effort, but Cotto was just way too much for him here.

 

December 2, 2006: Miguel Cotto TKO6 Carlos Quintana

STW Scorecard: Cotto 48-45 Quintana

Few times has Cotto looked more dominant in his career than this fight against fellow Puerto Rican Quintana. After starting a little slow with the spirited Quintana winning 2 of the first 3 rounds on my card, HBO rightfully was salivating over how powerful Cotto looked, as he battered Quintana around the ring in R5, knocking him down twice as Quintana barely hung on to end the round. His corner through in the towel, and Cotto looked like a true force.

 

June 9, 2007: Miguel Cotto KO11 Zab Judah

STW Scorecard: Cotto 98-90 Judah

Am skipping Cotto’s stay-busy title defense against Oktay Urtel here. Cotto totally dominated the talented Judah here on HBO. After giving the first, feeling-out round to Judah, I had Cotto sweeping the fight (with a point deduction in the third), and really starting to beat him up later in the fight, including a knockdown in R9, before stopping him cold in R11. Very impressive Cotto performance here.

 

November 10, 2007: Miguel Cotto UD12 Shane Mosley

STW Scorecard: Cotto 116-112 Mosley

2007 may have been Cotto’s high point as a boxer – back-to-back wins over Judah and Mosley are certainly nothing to sneeze at. This was a really fun fight, Cotto’s first on PPV. Cotto started off looking the stronger man and taking Mosley’s shots well, but Mosley had a really nice rally in R9 and R10 to get back in the fight and get the crowd hyped. Cotto however, recovered well in the championship rounds and took both of them in my card to take the deserved victory. There were a few close rounds (2, 7, 9) but overall Cotto earned what may have been a career-best victory.

April 12, 2008: Miguel Cotto TKO5 Alfonso Gomez

STW Scorecard: Cotto 50-42 Gomez

In Cotto’s return to HBO after his huge win over Mosley, he fought the way overmatched Gomez and steamrolled him. He scored knockdowns in rounds 2,3 and 5 with his power and pure boxing skill before the referee mercifully stopped the fight between rounds. A stay-busy fight for sure – but one in which Cotto looked great.

July 26, 2008: Antonio Margarito TKO11 Miguel Cotto

STW Scorecard: Margarito 97-93 Cotto

Ah, the infamous Cotto-Margarito bout. At the peak of his career, Cotto runs into a Mexican buzzsaw in the hard-punching Margarito, who continually moved forward through all of Cotto’s shots like a zombie all night long, systematically breaking down the Puerto Rican and giving him a beating that Cotto perhaps never quite fully recovered from. This became controversial later on as Margarito got busted in his next fight with illegal hand wraps, but at the time, the relentless Margarito overcame Cotto’s skill advantage to just beat the everloving shit out of Cotto, doing real damage from R7 on. Cotto wound up taking a knee and throwing in the towel in the 11th, and he couldn’t be blamed for doing so. Rough night for Cotto, especially after such a strong run.

February 21, 2009: Miguel Cotto TKO5 Michael Jennings

STW Scorecard: Cotto 40-34 Jennings

After taking a few months to recover from his beating at the hands of Margarito, Cotto made his return in an easier fight against the untested Jennings. Jennings, in way over his head, mostly tried to avoid Cotto’s power from the get go. He tried to stay out of range as Cotto sporadically landed the left hand, patiently beating him down by R3. Cotto hurt Jennings badly in R4 starting with a left to the head and then put him down twice with nasty lefts to the body. Jennings barely survived the round. He managed to make it through most of the 5th but took a knee after a wicked body shot from Cotto. Ref waved it off, not seeing enough to let the fight go on.

 

June 13, 2009: Miguel Cotto SD12 Joshua Clottey

STW Scorecard: Cotto 114-113 Clottey

 

Now this was an interesting fight for Cotto as he took on a much-avoided, strong fighter in Ghana’s Clottey. R1 was nip and tuck close with Cotto maybe a little ahead when, just before the end of the round, Cotto scored a key knockdown on a jab. That, at least on my scorecard, would be the difference in the fight. HBO’s announcers had Clottey doing well early, but I have Cotto up 4-2 (+ 1 KD) after the first half of the fight on just pure activity. In R4 Cotto began bleeding badly, hard round to score but thought he finished strong. In R5 Cotto body slammed Clottey, who was leaning on him in a clinch, and Clottey looked a little hurt, taking some time to resume the fight. In R7 and R8, Clottey was absolutely kicking Cotto’s ass. Cotto rebounded a bit in R9 but I still had Clottey taking it. Going into the last three rounds, I had it even, meaning taking 2 of the final 3 would give either fighter the win. Cotto looked hurt and winded going into those rounds, but Clottey absolutely blew this fight by becoming too inactive down the stretch, especially in rounds 10 and 11. He had this fight and lost it more than Cotto won it. A decision either way would have been fair, but Cotto deserved the razor thin decision in my mind. Clottey would later embarrass himself and effectively end his career with a total non-effort on PPV against Manny Pacquiao, but this was a huge missed opportunity for him.

 

November 14, 2009: Manny Pacquiao TKO12 Miguel Cotto

STW Scorecard: Pacquiao 108-99 Cotto

Gotta give Cotto credit – he didn’t waste too much time challenging a top level fighter a little more than a year removed from his huge beatdown against Margarito. This was Pacquiao at the height of his powers, and you forget how damn impressive he was during this time. This turned into a blowout on the scorecards, but it was a massively entertaining fight that was closer than the cards made it out to be, as Cotto had a couple rounds that were going his way that he lost at the end due to a knockdown (3 point swings).

R1 Manny started kind of slow, with R2 a close one but Manny taking it with a stronger finish. Pac got a KD to win R3 10-8 even though Cotto clearly won the rest of the round. R4 was incredible – it was a GREAT round for Cotto throughout and then Pac knocks him down (and hurts him) with 20 seconds left – wow. Cotto came back to edge R5 but Pac just started crushing him in R6, after which Cotto just started losing rounds, his face swelling up and getting on his bike just trying to survive. The second half of the fight was a systematic beatdown, and the ref showed mercy stopping it in the 12th. More of a reflection on just how good Pac was rather than a referendum on Cotto. Why Pac was a superstar, and Cotto was a star.

 

June 5, 2010: Miguel Cotto TKO9 Yuri Foreman

STW Scorecard: Cotto 79-73 Foreman

This was a weird fight – Cotto found a soft touch with a belt to come back against. Foreman really was never on the level of Cotto, and it showed right away as Cotto just outjabbed and outfought him early at Yankee Stadium on HBO. Foreman had a solid R4, landing with his right hand, but he slipped towards the end of the round and that might have aggravated a leg injury (he came into the fight with a brace on his knee). Cotto returned to outboxing the limited Foreman and in R7 Foreman completely blew his knee out, falling down twice and limping around the ring but showing a lot of heart to continue to trade despite the fact that he could barely move. In R8 a towel threw in, looked like Foreman’s corner was stopping it, but in a totally bizarre scene the ref didn’t want the fight stopped so he kicked everyone out of the ring and restarted. Did Foreman no favors though, as in R9 he took a nasty body shot from Cotto that dropped him and the ref finally stopped it. Just a weird fight.

 

March 12, 2011: Miguel Cotto TKO12 Ricardo Mayorga

STW Scorecard: Cotto 108-101 Mayorga

This is kind of the stage of his career where Cotto sort of got deliberate with his matchmaking. He fought an over-the-hill Mayorga in this fight on Showtime PPV and going in nobody gave the brash, trash talking Nicaraguan much of a chance. Cotto was the much better fighter technically, but R2 Mayorga managed to land some big shots. He’s fun to watch – in R3 he gets crazy, runs into the corner and yells at Cotto to come at him, but he still loses the round. That turns out to be a theme – Mayorga continues to talk and pose but lose rounds. In R7 he managed to land some good shots that seemed to affect Cotto but otherwise he didn’t have much success. Cotto hurt him pretty badly in R12 and Mayorga quit right there and then himself.

December 3, 2011: Miguel Cotto TKO9 Antonio Margarito

STW Scorecard: Cotto 89-82 Margarito

Cotto’s revenge fight on HBO PPV. Margarito, who since his big win three years prior was in a terrible downward spiral, taking an ass beating from Mosley and suffering through a suspension after the hand wrap scandal, was coming off just a total sustained beating against Pacquiao in which Pac broke his orbital bone and likely injured his eye beyond repair. The eye was a major storyline prefight (the commission even had an eye specialist ringside) and turned out to be a major part of the fight itself.

Cotto started the fight moving and boxing as Margarito did his usual come-forward zombie routine. R3 was really fun as Cotto stands and trades – Margarito already bleeding badly from that right eye. Cotto is the more skilled of the two and clearly landing the cleaner punches but Margarito just keeps coming forward. Cotto doing some major damage in R6 as Margarito’s eye is really compromised and he can’t seem to see out of it. After a couple of rounds of looking closely at the eye, the doctor stops the fight after R9. Even though it was a compromised Margs, must have felt good for Cotto to get his revenge.

 

May 6, 2012: Floyd Mayweather UD12 Miguel Cotto

STW Scorecard: Mayweather 116-112 Cotto

Cotto gets his big money fight against Mayweather on HBO PPV (Mayweather’s last HBO fight) and actually makes a good account of himself. Floyd starts off masterfully as usually – Cotto can’t land a clean shot at all and Floyd is peppering him with some nice shots. After dropping the first four rounds, Cotto found some success in R5 by muscling Floyd into the ropes – fun round. This is a relatively close fight – it’s tactical and not a barn burner but fought at a really high level. For a Floyd fight, especially at this stage in his career, it’s pretty entertaining. Cotto had a nice middle of the fight – I had him winning rounds 5,6,8 and 9 – but Mayweather pulled away at the end and even looked like he hurt Cotto in the final round. Nice performance from Floyd, but Cotto gave a good account of himself as well.

December 1, 2012: Austin Trout UD12 Miguel Cotto

STW Scorecard: Trout 116-112 Cotto

2012 was a tough year for Cotto as he took his second consecutive loss of the year when he challenged Austin Trout for a junior middleweight belt coming off his loss to Floyd. The first thing you notice as the fight starts is that Trout is way, way bigger than Cotto. Tough style matchup for the shorter man. Trout is effective using his length early to keep Cotto at the end of his jab in the first two rounds, even stunning Cotto a bit in R1. In R3 Cotto managed to get Trout to the ropes and though Trout countered nicely at times it was a tough one to score – I gave it to Miguel. Cotto got to him in R4, getting in some nice hooks at close range. Cotto finds a nice rhythm here in the early rounds – I have him up 4-2 after six rounds.

In R7, Trout turns the tide and never looks back. He pops his jab out and starts controlling the action, really picking him apart (though not really hurting him). He stuns Cotto a bit at the end of R10 and really dominates R11. The 12th was a fun round as the crowd started getting loud and into it with both guys sensing urgency and swinging, and Trout maybe getting the better of it a bit.

I had Trout sweeping the second half of the fight as Cotto just got outboxed and couldn’t seem to get anything going. Decent scrap though. The official scorecards were a little wide, but Cotto storms off in a huff like a huge sore loser. Really bad look for Miguel post fight – very ungraceful loss for him here. A low point in his illustrious career for sure.

 

October 5, 2013: Miguel Cotto TKO3 Delvin Rodriguez

STW Scorecard: Cotto 20-18 Rodriguez

After back-to-back losses to Trout and Mayweather, Cotto took nearly a full year off, coming back a weight class higher to take on the journeyman Rodriguez and with Freddie Roach in his corner. They tried to sell this as a new, more offensive-minded fighter, but what it really was was a good veteran fighter dominating a limited opponent, stopping him in R3. This is another transition in the career of Cotto, as he competed at a higher weight class and began cherrypicking opponents.

June 7, 2014: Miguel Cotto TKO10 Sergio Martinez

STW Scorecard: Cotto 90-77 Martinez

This fight- which I went to live – made me sad. Martinez was at this time the lineal middleweight champion defending his title, approaching 40 years old and had given the sport a handful of years where his star shined bright in good, entertaining fights, making himself into a star (though not a superstar) and giving himself a HOF-worthy run at middleweight. He had notably struggled in his last couple of fights with injuries, and came into the fight having had two knee surgeries and been inactive for about a year. Cotto was the smaller man stepping up in weight, and the two met at Madison Square Garden to duke it out.

Turns out Martinez was cashing out, in what would be his final fight. He just had nothing for Cotto, who looked great, though it was a little hard to judge as Sergio was badly, badly compromised from the jump. His leg was unstable and he could barely move. Cotto came out quick and aggressive and Martinez just couldn’t handle it, getting knocked down three times in the first round alone. Cotto continued his assault as the rounds wore on, and Martinez showed heart to stay in it, but Cotto just dominated him every second. Cotto scored another knockdown in R9 when he caught Sergio with a jab coming in. After the round, his corner tells him his knees aren’t working and they have to stop it, ending the champion’s career. Great performance from Cotto, but with, unfortunately, an asterisk.

 

June 6, 2015: Miguel Cotto TKO4 Daniel Geale

STW Scorecard: Cotto 30-27 Geale

A less than impressive win for Cotto. After winning the lineal middleweight title from a one-legged Martinez, Cotto weight drained Australia’s Geale to the point that he posed nearly no danger and looked like a zombie on fight night. Cotto never really was challenged in this one as his hook found a home on the drained Geale and he stopped him easily in 4 rounds. This was a cynical one from Cotto.

 

November 21, 2015: Canelo Alvarez UD12 Miguel Cotto

STW Scorecard: Alvarez 117-111 Cotto

This was an exciting one on paper, a fight on HBO PPV between the veteran Cotto and the young star Alvarez. Ultimately it wound up being a nice scalp for Alvarez, who boxed well in a tactical affair as it really seemed like their size difference (Canelo having a 10+ lb weight advantage on fight night) made a huge impact as none of Cotto’s shots seemed to hurt Canelo at all. Thought it was a pretty clear Canelo win, with Cotto taking only rounds 1,4 and 9, but it wasn’t boring. This gave Canelo the lineal middleweight title. After this fight, Cotto took nearly two years off.

August 26, 2017: Miguel Cotto UD12 Yoshihiro Kamegai

STW Scorecard: Cotto 119-109 Kamegai

After nearly two full years out of the ring, Cotto returned this past August in a card that, unfortunately for Cotto, had to compete with the Mayweather-McGregor spectacle, meaning that the only people who watched this fight was the fighter’s respective families and the HBO broadcasting team assigned to cover this. Cotto has called this his second-to-last fight and it was a good test to see how much Cotto had left.

Turns out, he has enough at this level to look good. Cotto dominated this fight – I gave Kamegai R1 on aggression and then scored every other round for Cotto. The Puerto Rican landed at will all night, bloodying up Kamegai while moving backward as the Japanese man came forward like a horror movie zombie. Cotto landed so hard that Kamegai’s chin would often end up over his shoulder looking in the other direction, but Kamegai just keeps coming forward and taking it. I started wondering if they should stop it as early as R7, but Kamegai survives the rest of the fight, which was way too repetitive and one sided to be that interesting. Cotto remains in a different class from the C-level competition, and looks like he still has something to offer if he does indeed retire after his next fight.

NBA Summer Preview: Southeast Division

Again, we are having a guest writer in for some fun, easy NBA summer team previews.  I have no inside knowledge whatsoever and these are just meant to give an idea of where teams are at as a whole as we head into draft and free agency season. This is part 2 of the series – click below for previous versions:

• Atlantic Division

 

Miami Heat

• 2015-16 record: 48-34
• Finish: 3rd place, eliminated in second round
• Team Leaders
  • Scoring: Chris Bosh (19.1)
  • Rebounds: Hassan Whiteside (11.8)
  • Assists: Goran Dragic (5.8)
  • Blocks: Hassan Whiteside (3.7)
• Restricted free agents: Tyler Johnson
• Unrestricted free agents: Luol Deng, Gerald Green, Udonis Haslem, Joe Johnson, Amare Stoudemire, Dwyane Wade, Hassan Whiteside, Dorrell Wright
• Draft picks: None

Last season overview: The Heat may have been the 2nd most talented team in the Eastern Conference last season, with a veteran group that included Bosh, Wade, Deng, Dragic and the midseason acquisition of Joe Johnson. Unfortunately, Bosh missed the second half of the season with serious medical issues. Despite that, Wade’s craftiness and a nice boost from Dragic along with the improved play of Whiteside got the team past the Hornets in the first round and saw them push the Raptors to 7 games before running out of gas.

Summer outlook: With most of their team as free agents, and no draft picks, it’s a big summer for the Heat. Wade isn’t expected to go anywhere, though you never know. Hassan Whiteside will likely look for a max contract and will be a hot commodity around the league – expect him to be the biggest decision the Heat make this summer. With the number of free agents and the uncertainty around Chris Bosh’s future, this team could either look exactly the same or completely different next season – it very much remains to be seen.

Atlanta Hawks

• 2015-16 record: 48-34
• Finish: 4th place, eliminated in second round
• Team Leaders
  • Scoring: Paul Millsap (17.1)
  • Rebounds: Paul Millsap (9.0)
  • Assists: Jeff Teague (5.9)
  • Blocks: Paul Millsap (1.7)
• Restricted free agents: Mike Muscala
• Unrestricted free agents: Kent Bazemore, Kirk Hinrich, Kris Humphries, Al Horford
• Draft picks: 21st, 44th, 54th

Last season overview: The Hawks regressed slightly from their monster 2014-15 season last year, falling into status as a good but not great team that never really had a shot to win the title. They have a strong starting five (Horford/Millsap/Korver/Bazemore/Teague), a mix of veteran and young talent and a team focused approach to the game, but they never really felt like much of a threat. They took out the Celtics in six games in the first round and then promptly got swept out the playoffs by the Cavs.

Summer outlook: Another team with some decisions, the Hawks are seeing a couple of key pieces (Horford/Bazemore) become unrestricted free agents. There’s also been much speculation around a Teague trade for quite awhile now, given the emergence of backup guard Dennis Schroder. Very curios to see what they decide to do.

 

Charlotte Hornets

• 2015-16 record: 48-34
• Finish: 6th place, eliminated in first round
• Team Leaders
  • Scoring: Kemba Walker (20.9)
  • Rebounds: Marvin Williams (6.4)
  • Assists: Nicolas Batum (5.8)
  • Blocks: Marvin Williams (1.0)
• Restricted free agents: Troy Daniels, Jorge Gutierrez
• Unrestricted free agents: Nicolas Batum, Tyler Hansbrough, Al Jefferson, Courtney Lee, Jeremy Lin, Marvin Williams
• Draft picks: 22nd

Last season overview: The Hornets overachieved by any measure last season – Walker turned in a Most Improved-worthy campaign, Williams finally fulfilled some of his potential, and free agent signings Batum and Lin outperformed expectations. Coach Steve Clifford ran a tight ship and the team played the right way. They lost a four way tiebreaker for third place and wound up with the 6 seed, giving the Heat all they could handle before losing on the road in Game 7 to get eliminated in the first round.

Summer outlook: The Hornets have a lot of decisions to make as well this summer, with some major players hitting unrestricted free agency. Their priority will likely be Batum, who really made major steps in an advanced role this season.

 

Washington Wizards

• 2015-16 record: 41-41
• Finish: 10th place, missed playoffs
• Team Leaders
  • Scoring: John Wall (19.9)
  • Rebounds: Marcin Gortat (9.9)
  • Assists: John Wall (10.2)
  • Blocks: Marcin Gortat (1.3)
• Restricted free agents: Bradley Beal
• Unrestricted free agents: Alan Anderson, Jared Dudley, JJ Hickson, Nene, Ramon Sessions, Garrett Temple, Marcus Thornton
• Draft picks: None

Last season overview: The Wizards were one of the league’s bigger disappointments last season. After making a 2nd round playoff run in 2014-15, the east side Dubs took a huge step back, getting off to a slow start to the season and playing catchup the rest of the way, ultimately falling short of the playoffs. Coach Randy Wittman lost his job over it, and an overall ugly campaign for a veteran team and a lack of draft picks this summer leaves them with a murky future.

Summer outlook: The Wizards will look to lock up Beal, John Wall’s talented but oft-injured running mate, to a long term deal this summer. They also will look to make a franchise-altering pitch to free agent and hometown kid Kevin Durant, but failing that, hard to see where they go from here.

Orlando Magic

• 2015-16 record: 35-47
• Finish: 11th place, missed playoffs
• Team Leaders
  • Scoring: Nikola Vucevic (18.2)
  • Rebounds: Nikola Vucevic (8.8)
  • Assists: Elfrid Payton (6.4)
  • Blocks: Nikola Vucevic (1.1)
• Restricted free agents: Dewayne Dedmon, Evan Fournier, Andrew Nicholson
• Unrestricted free agents: Brandon Jennings, Jason Smith
• Draft picks: 11th, 41st, 47th

Last season overview: The Magic were a talented, exciting, young and flawed team that made strides and took the next step towards getting better last season. Their young talent – Vucevic, Oladipo, Payton, Fournier, Hezonja, Gordon – is a strong collection that has a bright future, and though they missed the playoffs, they showed flashes of real potential.

Summer outlook: After a very strange parting of ways with coach Scott Skiles after just his first season, former Pacers head coach Frank Vogel comes in to make his mark. It will be interesting to see where they go from here and whether they continue to build by having their young talent develop, or whether they look to turn some of their assets into veteran players to start winning now. Either way, this is a team that looks ready to start to make that next step.

 

NBA Summer Preview: Atlantic Division

Have a guest writer in today to dust off the ol’ NBA team summer previews just for fun here.  I have no inside knowledge whatsoever and these are just meant to give an idea of where teams are at as a whole as we head into draft and free agency season.

Atlantic Division

Toronto Raptors

• 2015-16 record: 56-26
• Finish: 2nd place, made Eastern Conference Finals
• Team Leaders
  • Scoring: DeMar DeRozan (23.5)
  • Rebounds: Jonas Valanciunas (9.1)
  • Assists: Kyle Lowry (6.4)
  • Blocks: Bismack Biyombo (1.6)
• Restricted free agents: Terence Ross
• Unrestricted free agents: Bismack Biyombo, DeMar DeRozan, James Johnson, Luis Scola, Jason Thompson
• Draft picks: 9th Pick, 27th Pick

Last season overview: Coming off their best season in franchise history, the Raptors have some work to do. After a strong regular season led by All-Stars Lowry and DeRozan, the Raptors had an up and down playoff run, looking bad at times and good at times as they struggled to get past two overmatched opponents in a pair of 7 game series wins against the Pacers and Heat in the first two rounds. In the conference finals they found themselves unable to hang with LeBron James’ Cavs, getting escorted out in six games, though they left their home floor to a standing ovation from their adoring and passionate crowd.

Summer outlook: This is a franchise on the up and up, but they have some big decisions to make, primarily with center Biyombo and All-Star DeRozan. DeRozan had a big season, but struggled in the playoffs with ineffective shooting as a low-percentage volume scorer. He might command the max, but is he worth it? Biyombo is an interesting case as well, a raw but athletic 23-year old center who stepped up bigtime in the playoffs. He may have earned himself some big money.

 

Boston Celtics

• 2015-16 record: 48-34
• Finish: 5th seed, lost in first round
• Team Leaders
  • Scoring: Isaiah Thomas (22.2)
  • Rebounds: Jared Sullinger (8.3)
  • Assists: Isaiah Thomas (6.2)
  • Blocks: Amir Johnson (1.1)
• Restricted free agents: Jared Sullinger, Tyler Zeller
• Unrestricted free agents: Evan Turner
• Draft picks: 3rd, 16th, 23rd, 31st, 35th, 45th, 51st, 58th

Last season overview: The Celtics overachieved last year with a hard-playing roster of role players under coach Brad Stevens, scrapping their way to a solid record and a four-way tie for third place. Tiebreakers saw them lose homecourt advantage in the playoffs and they were outplayed by Atlanta, eventually losing in six games in the first round. Still, the emergence of Isaiah Thomas as a team leader, Jae Crowder as a top-tier glue guy and their other players made this last season a success, and for a team that’s building assets they have positioned themselves very well moving forward.

Summer outlook: The Celtics are in a great position and will be expected to be active this summer. Their stockpiling of draft picks is paying off this year, but a team can only bring in so many rookies, so look for them to dangle some of their picks in trying to pry talent off of other teams – particularly with that 3rd pick they got from Brooklyn.

 

New York Knicks

• 2015-16 record: 32-50
• Finish: 13th place, missed playoffs
• Team Leaders
  • Scoring: Carmelo Anthony (21.8)
  • Rebounds: Carmelo Anthony (7.7)
  • Assists: Carmelo Anthony (4.2)
  • Blocks: Kristaps Porzingis (1.9)
• Restricted free agents: Cleanthony Early, Langston Galloway
• Unrestricted free agents: Arron Afflalo, Lou Amundson, Kevin Seraphin, Lance Thomas, Sasha Vujacic, Derrick Williams
• Draft picks: None

Last season overview: The Knicks were up and down last year (mostly down), with a few bright spots here and there, most notably the play of Latvian rookie Kristaps Porzingis, who showed a nice offensive game, hustle and the possibility of becoming a franchise cornerstone down the road.

Summer outlook: Having no draft picks hurts pretty bad, as the Knicks had to give up their #7 selection to Denver. But with Porzingis in the mix, there is hope, as the Knicks need to hope their big market status and Phil Jackson running the show starts making them an attractive destination for free agents again. Anthony isn’t getting any younger, so look for them to make some moves to try to get better quickly.

Brooklyn Nets

• 2015-16 record:  21-61
• Finish: 14th place, missed playoffs
• Team Leaders
  • Scoring: Brook Lopez (20.6)
  • Rebounds: Thaddeus Young (9.0)
  • Assists: Jarrett Jack (7.4)
  • Blocks: Brook Lopez (1.7)
• Restricted free agents: Markel Brown, Willie Reed
• Unrestricted free agents: Wayne Ellington, Sergey Karasev, Shane Larkin, Thomas Robinson, Harry Sims, Donald Sloan
• Draft picks: 55th

Last season overview: Woof. The Nets suffered though a rough season with a banged-up roster of journeymen and fringe NBA players, never having either hope to be competitive this year or much to look forward to for the summer with them owing their pick to Boston. The worst and lowest point is probably over for them, but it will take them years to rebuild. They’ve started their changes by bringing in first-year head coach Kenny Atkinson and former Spurs assistant GM Sean Marks to turn this ship around, but it’s going to take some time to get back to respectability.

Summer outlook: This is a team without a ton of options at the moment – they don’t have a team quite ready to compete to land the big free agents, and they don’t have a significant draft pick to bring in a rookie. You wonder if they look to trade some of their veterans – Lopez, Young, Jack – for young talent as they look to rebuild.

 

Philadelphia 76ers

• 2015-16 record: 10-72
• Finish: 15th place, missed playoffs
• Team Leaders
  • Scoring: Jahlil Okafor (17.5)
  • Rebounds: Nerlens Noel (8.1)
  • Assists: Ish Smith (7.0)
  • Blocks: Jerami Grant (1.6)
• Restricted free agents: Isaiah Canaan, Christian Wood
• Unrestricted free agents: Elton Brand, Ish Smith
• Draft picks: 1st, 24th, 26th

Last season overview: After a third straight year of tanking to play the lottery odds and attempt to rebuild through high picks by not even attempting to win, the ownership in Philly finally got sick of losing and parted ways with GM Sam Presti, whose rebuilding plan was taking hits due to bad luck, injuries to young players and just a general ugliness feeling to a franchise that wasn’t even trying. Okafor and Noel looked like capable players, if immature, and Ish Smith provided a spark plug once he came onboard midseason. But overall, this is a team that will likely look much different in a couple years than it did last season.

Summer outlook: The Sixers finally saw some dividends out of losing as they landed the first pick in the draft lottery a few weeks ago, giving them that coveted first pick they’ve been targeting for years. With the Colangelos on board now running the team, expect the team to make a push at getting much better very quickly. The team has a lot of young talent and assets – now it needs to convert that into wins.