Let’s just break it apart from the mountain: Canelo, Haney and Garcia milking Boxing fans are parched and it’s time for someone to call this circus.
Canelo dragged his act to Saudi Arabia to fight before what? A sea of empty seats and bored oil princes scrolling their phones. Not singing or roar, even a drunk boy in a crowd shouting abuse – just dead air and zombie VIP. Canelo should break his head in Vegas or pack the stadium in Mexico, where people actually care. Instead, we received this overstated Snoosest in the desert full of people who could not replace the blow if they hit them in the face.
Then there is Times Square – where the fans were practically It is hostile Watching Devin Haney Shadowbox for twelve rounds, while Ryan Garcia – king of boxing selfie – hovered around throwing blows, as if he tried not to break his nail. And let’s not forget that Dad Devina Haney off the beaten track, losing his mind, behaving, as if his son was making a boxing masterpiece, smiling and barking, as if he were the godfather of some technical revolution, while the fans were at a distance of one of the nap group.
And William Scull? What for a joke. He spent twelve rounds Launching As if he were in a charity, not a fight for the title of world champion. Without fire, without sand, without intention to make it a war. He just appeared to survive, catch a check and intact teeth. It was not a pretender – it was a moving bulky bag with a passport. Embarrassing.
I will tell you straight – I would take it Drunk, mug, Eddie Hearn-Insult, chaos soaked in beer of a real boxing crowd Above the dead Saudi VIP naps every day of the week.
Give me a lot – the guys shouting for nonsense, they run away in the transitions over who is rushing, who spills the drinks after the seats, shouting “F— DAZN!” AND “Oi Eddie, you ruin this sport!” As long as security moves your arms and allows it to be reproduced. This is boxing. This is a heartbeat.
Yes, last week I left the atmosphere of Tottenham-all Coked-up Wannabe Stone Island Warriors Shadowboxing in the hall, thinking that they are one of the winnings for the filmmakers of the ring. But you know what? I was wrong. I would take Tottenham every day on Saudi Arabia – Just save me barefoot prostitutes, which after the fighting after the fighting. At least he lives inside.
I will take ten pissed hooligans swaying in beer than in the first time Saudi full of influential, too busy transmission of their sushi plates to see that someone hits the face. This crowd of Vegas during the Inoue war? This is how sport was supposed to feel – violent, messy, alive.
Boxing was never to be pure or silent – it was supposed to be a storm. This night Vegas showed how dead these oil cards are.
Enter Naoye Inoue: Save the damn soul of boxing and pulling it out of a coma
Inoue (30-0, 27 KO) not only appeared to win, he came wage war. Yes, he was broken and dropped in the second round of Cardenas (26-2, 14 Kos)-and you know what he did? He smiled, vacuumed and turned the ring in the battlefield.
In the fifth and sixth rounds he was destruction Cardenas with wicked meters, chopping the body, dividing the guard like a surgeon. Seventh round? Cardenas left, swaying, desperately turned the script – Inoue calmly blew him up with his right hand and folded it like a chair. Round eighth? Only the finish – immaculate, cool violence, until the judge had to pull out Cardenas.
Inoue summarized it beautifully: “I like a fight … I kept peaceful and joined.” This is a real warrior-not influential fluff, without tap dance, without running.
Undercard:
Rafael espinosis He examined Edward Vazquez in seven, all gases, without brakes.
Rohan Polanco Fabian Maidan dominated, even dropping him overdue on additional punctuation.
Emiliano Vargas He went out through Juan Leon in two rounds – Savage.
Mikito was drunk He crashed Pedro Marquez five times before the judge pulled the plug.
Art Barrera Jr. Chopped Juan Carlos Guerra Jr. with brutal precision.
Raeese aleem I lived in Rudy Garcia in ten effortless rounds.
Vegas roared like a real city of struggle. Saudi? You could hear a decrease in the pin between yawning.
This is the question: why, to the hell, we still pretend that channel channels, Haney’s master class, Garcia influential parades, and Saudi crowds are the future of boxing-when Inoue just marched to Vegas and gave us blood, chaos and violence on which this sport was built? Wake up. This is what a real fight looks like.
Top trainer and former world champion Robert Garcia has considered the outcome of a fantasy showdown between Terence Crawford and Manny Pacquiao.
The two generational greats reportedly came close to squaring off in 2021, back when Crawford was the WBO welterweight champion and ‘Pac Man’ held the WBA title.
Their unification match never materialised, though, as Pacquiao was scheduled to face Errol Spence Jr before ‘The Truth’ pulled out with a torn retina.
Instead, the Filipino legend ended up losing his WBA title to Yordenis Ugas at a stage when, while still serviceable, he was quite clearly past his best.
Crawford, meanwhile, was hitting top form around this time, just a few fights away from producing arguably a career-best performance against Spence.
He did, of course, manage to stop his welterweight rival in nine rounds, before moving up to 168lbs and becoming a three-division undisputed champion by dethroning Canelo Alvarez last September.
Based on those two performances, coach Garcia has told ESNEWS that he would favour ‘Bud’ to defeat even a prime version of Pacquiao.
“The Crawford that beat Spence – and the Crawford that beat Canelo – would probably beat Manny.”
While Crawford’s prime almost certainly came during his run of eight stoppages at welterweight, it is harder to pinpoint when Pacquiao ultimately reached his peak.
In terms of his most destructive performance at world level, however, many will point towards his second-round finish over Ricky Hatton in 2009.
While facing the ‘Hitman’ at 140lbs, Pacquiao would cement himself as a formidable welterweight champion soon after, dethroning Miguel Cotto with a 12th-round stoppage for the WBO title.
Former world champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk has been left between a rock and a hard place afterhis promotional contract with Zuffa Boxing has been terminated.
The Ukrainian dethroned long-reigning light-heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson in 2018, scoring an 11th-round stoppage that left his opponent with a brain injury.
Gvozdyk then made a WBC title defence before losing to Artur Beterbievwho extended his ruthless surge with a 10th-round finish in their 2019 encounter.
Since that defeat, ‘The Nail’ suffered a unanimous decision loss to David Benavidez in 2024, before entering a perceived 50/50 contest against Radivoje ‘Hot Rod’ Kalajdzic in February.
With both making their Zuffa debut, the two veterans delivered a thrilling battle in which Gvozdyk scored two knockdowns and had built a sizable lead.
In round seven, though, the 39-year-old found himself on the canvas and was ultimately stopped on his feet after getting dropped a second time.
Given his overall performance, one would suspect he had done enough to justify another meaningful opportunity, yet Gvozdyk has since told vRINGe that he will no longer be fighting under the Zuffa banner.
“They terminated the contract in February after a loss. That is, every promoter has the option that if a boxer loses, they have the right to terminate the contract. That’s exactly what they did. After the fight, everyone was saying how great it was. That everything was great. I rested. I started preparing as planned – somewhere around May. And then, around April, they told me I’d received an email terminating the contract.”
This is because his contract has been terminated, while Kalajdzic’s next outing with Dana White’s promotional outfit is confirmed for September 26 against Craig Richards.
As for Gvozdyk, it is difficult to predict what will come next but, at the age of 39, one would suspect that he is close to hanging up the gloves.
Still, he could hardly have been happy to part ways with Zuffa, which also terminated its contract with Robert Meriwether following his defeat to Tony Hirsch Jr in April.
Former British champion and Olympic bronze medallist David Price has assessed whether his countryman, Conor Bennpossesses the necessary hand speed to defeat Ryan Garcia.
The two welterweights will square off at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena on September 12, with Garcia making a first defence of his WBC world title.
It was arguably a career-best performance that saw him dethrone Mario Barrios in February, scoring a first-round knockdown before winning a wide unanimous decision.
But despite coming off this dominant display, Garcia was far less impressive when he returned from a year-long doping ban and lost on points to Rolando Romero in May 2025.
Still, many would argue that the 28-year-old has shown signs of world-class quality, while Benn remains glaringly unproven at the top level.
The 29-year-old has also not fought at 147lbs since 2022, with his last two outings resulting in unanimous decision victories over faded versions of Chris Eubank Jr and Regis Prograis.
Against Eubank, in particular, Benn’s speed seemed a key factor in their two middleweight encounters last year, despite him suffering a points defeat the first time around.
As he approaches this welterweight contest against Garcia, though, former heavyweight contender Price has told The Smith Brothers that he sees Benn contending with an unfamiliar disadvantage.
“I think I [favour Garcia]. Conor Benn’s got great hand speed, but I think [Garcia’s] hand speed could make the difference in the fight.”
Like Garcia, Benn tested positive for a banned substance – clomifene – and was eventually removed from his cancelled 2022 encounter with Eubank.
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