A critical look at the past week in boxing
GOOD
Roman Gonzalez told me before his unanimous-decision victory over Julio Cesar Martinez on Saturday that conditioning has been the key to his success.
Unusual fitness undoubtedly has played a role in his ability to steamroll elite opponent after elite opponent for more than a decade, a period in which he has dominated four divisions. His motor has become legendary. For example, according to CompuBox, he threw a fight-high 129 punches in the 12th and final round against Martinez (18-2, 14 KOs).
It’s much more than that, though. His ability to consistently land precise, hard punches at a high rate while avoiding them himself – even against his best opponents – has left observers agog since he first caught the world’s attention.
Gonzalez (51-3, 41 KOs) landed 50.7 of his power shots on Saturday, which is impressive. And get this: 244 of his last 249 punches landed were power shots.
The only flaw in his performance – if it can be called that – is that he was unable to take out Martinez, a current flyweight titleholder who moved up in weight for the fight. That was a more a product of the Mexican’s conditioning and toughness than any deficiency on Gonzalez’s part, though.
And remember: “Chocolatito” continues to fight at a pound-for-pound level at 34, an age when most fighters his size are well into retirement.
Is he the same fighter who crushed everyone in his path at 105, 108 and 112 pounds between 2008 and 2016? No. At the same time, his experience and that astounding conditioning have allowed him to remain one of the best fighters in the world.
Could that have been any more obvious on Saturday? Let’s enjoy him while we can.
BAD
You have to feel for Martinez.
The WBC flyweight beltholder, who agreed to face Gonzalez six weeks before the fight after Juan Francisco Estrada pulled out, entered the ring at Pechanga Arena San Diego with designs on becoming a pound-for-pound force.
The protégé of Canelo Alvarez, who had been so dominating himself, left the ring wondering what sort of superhuman being it was that so rudely derailed his grand plans.
Of course, there is no shame in losing to one of the greatest little fighters of all time. That’s what Chocolatito is. And Martinez can take pride in his ability to go 12 rounds with him, although he took a lot of punishment in the process.
He also deserves credit for never giving up. He continued to throw dangerous combinations until the final bell. He landed 21 of 56 punches in the final round, his highest numbers in both categories.
Martinez’s problem is the same one that almost every opponent of Gonzalez has had: As good as he is, he just isn’t good enough to compete with a truly great fighter.
I imagine Martinez will move back down to 112 pounds and successfully defend his title one or two more times. He’ll then move back up to 115 and most likely collect a belt or two at that weight, as long as doesn’t cross paths with Gonzalez again or fight Estrada or Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.
That trio fights at a level Martinez is unlikely to reach.
WORSE
The heavyweight division was pulsating not long ago. Now it’s in a wait-and-see mode.
In spring of last year it appeared that Tyson Fury would finally meet countryman Anthony Joshua in the biggest-possible heavyweight fight, which had the boxing world salivating. Then a series of events changed everything.
An arbitrator ruled that Fury must honor a rematch clause in his second fight with Deontay Wilder instead of facing Joshua, which produced a classic Fury-Wilder fight in February 2020. No big heavyweight fights happened between then and September of last year.
That’s when former cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk upset Joshua to win three of the four major belts and put the Fury-Joshua showdown on ice again.
Now what?
Fury is set to defend his title against mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte on April 23 in London, which is a huge fight in the U.K. but not anywhere else. Whyte, a decent heavyweight, doesn’t resonate in the U.S.
Joshua had planned to fight Usyk again but that isn’t going to happen anytime soon because Usyk is involved in a bigger fight, against Russian invaders intent on ravaging its European neighbor.
Joshua now has no fight in the works and only recently settled on working with trainer Angel Fernandez, although we’ll see whether that’s permanent. Wilder, arguably the No. 3 heavyweight in the world, also has nothing planned at the moment.
So heavyweight fans are going to have to be satisfied with the Fury-Whyte fight and then be patient.
RABBIT PUNCHES
Jose Ramirez (27-1, 17 KOs) on Friday bounced back nicely from his loss to Josh Taylor, easily outpointing veteran Jose Pedraza (29-4, 14 KOs) in Fresno, California. Ramirez gambled by agreeing to fight Pedraza, one of the more polished technicians in the sport. However, he fought well down the stretch to win a one-sided decision and re-establish himself as one of top 140-pound contenders. His next fight could be for a belt if Taylor moves up to 147 pounds, as he evidently plans to do. I doubt that Ramirez will reach pound-for-pound status but he’s a good fighter who will almost certainly win another title or two. Pedraza? I still believe in his ability. However, he has struggled against his best opponents. His four losses have come against Gervonta Davis, Vasiliy Lomachenko, Jose Zepeda and now Ramirez. And none of those fights was particularly close. He might’ve hit a ceiling. … Richard Torrez, the 2020 Olympic heavyweight silver medalist, made his pro debut on the Ramirez-Pedraza card. The Californian stopped Allen Melson (6-4, 3 KOs) in two rounds in a fight that proved nothing because of Melson’s size (5-foot-10, 201.75 pounds) and lack of ability. However, one objective of a debut is to get it over with. Mission accomplished. It will be interesting to see how Torrez evolves. He’s relatively small himself, 6-2, around 230 pounds. That could be a problem against some of the behemoths that currently roam the division. Torrez has unpolished ability, punching power and a good chin, though. Stay tuned.