The best fights in 2018?

Wanted: No agendas. No brand-building. No marinating. No promoter/network politics. No B.S.

Mikey Garcia vs Jorge Linares.

I hope Golden Boy and Linares are not bullshitting about making this fight happen. Eric Gomez sounded serious about no excuses for Mikey to take the fight. But I just read an article quoting Linares as saying, “I think we are more than 90% sure that the fight can take place in 2018". OK. When in 2018? Gomez mentioned January 2018, but also mentioned February as well as March 2018.

The clock is running on Mikey’s career after having taken two and a half years off due to Bob Arum’s arrogance and greed. Mikey wanted three fights this year. He got two, albeit they were both the ’right’ fights. The earlier he fights in 2018 the better, so he can optimize his remaining prime years by squeezing in as many paydays as possible. He is the most avoided fighter in boxing, so the time it takes to put his fights in place is considerable. A March 2018 fight limits Mikey to three fights in 2018. If it goes in January, he can thrill us four times in 2018.

Golden Boy sees a vulnerable commodity in Linares. Jorge was once a bad motor-scooter, trouble for anyone in whichever weight class he resided in. Speedy of both hand and foot with good power and tremendous accuracy. But he cuts like Jerry Quarry and he’s had a ton of tough fights and has been tagged a lot, being especially susceptible to leather in the later rounds. The boy is a tired old man now with one huge final hurrah left in him. Going to war with Mikey Garcia gives him a career best payday and a shot at extending his career somewhere other than the outskirts of Tokyo.

Luke Campbell exposed Jorge as tired and slowing down. Linares started fast, but then got old. You know he’s showing his age when a white fighter starts beating him to the punch... repeatedly. So Golden Boy sees the writing on the wall and wants a big pitcher of milk out of him now against Mikey rather than getting a small glass of milk out of Jorge from another bout in England in which Linares is now likely to lose. Straight cash out move.

I predict Mikey Garcia will send Linares back to Japan with a horrific old-fashioned ass-whupping. To put this fight in perspective, imagine a Broner vs Linares fight. Linares is just way too small and doesn’t hit hard enough to even entertain a fight with Broner. But still they wish to put Jorge in with Mikey Garcia. Raw meat at the end for Jorge and a continued Roberto Duran caliber run for Mikey Garcia, the best Mexican fighter on the planet, if not the best fighter in the world, period. If I were a promoter I would pay Mikey Garcia a multi-million dollar signing bonus and get on that runaway train of beatings he is certain to dish out on a legendary run to icon status. You will get super-rich and so will Mikey.

The Mexicans and Mexican-Americans hated that Canelo ran from GGG. Chavez Jr. shamed the Chavez name. That leaves a huge void. The Hispanic fans are absolutely dying for a talented hero with balls that comes to fight. Garcia has boxing in his blood, possesses a helluva punch, speaks English and fluent Spanish. He’s intelligent, speaks extremely well, is a good looking fellow, and is a bad-ass in any ring. And don’t forget that fabulous hair!

Mikey Garcia vs Terence Crawford

No. Though this would be the best fight boxing could make in 2018, it won’t happen. Terence is riding Brother Bob’s glider to the welterweight championship this summer to be won over Horn or whoever has that old PacMan crown at the time. A potential Mikey Garcia vs Crawford fight would be best served--for the fans--at around 142 pounds. With Crawford at 147 it will be at least 2019 before they clash. Most likely after Spence whips Terence in the fall 2019, or after Thurman and Terence rumble in January of 2019.

Santa Cruz vs Mares

No. Santa Cruz vs Mares is not one of the best fights of 2018. Let’s be honest. Mares is close to being a midget at featherweight.

He had to duck his head and throw wild overhand rights to even get near hitting Leo in their first fight. The fact is Mares got his ass kicked big-time in the first fight. Why the media has let the promoters get away as hailing it as a barn-burner worthy of a rematch is a testament to the lack of great matches actually being made instead of this re-heated pap. Abner got smashed 373 times according to CompuBox and only landed 227 of his own punches. Hell, I can at least count. Mares got blasted with 146 more blows than he hit Leo with. Man, whenever someone cracks somebody 150 more times than he himself gets hit, that is a blow-out! Yeah, I said it. The two scores that had Leo winning 117-111 were right on the button. The draw scorecard was retarded. But it got the promoters an opportunity for a rematch they will foist on the Mexican boxing fans draped in a night of beer-drinking and celebrating, so everybody wins something... I guess.

Canelo vs Triple G.

I’ll believe it when I see it. Canelo ran most of the night in their fight. Canelo had never ran from a fight, until he got swarmed by GGG. Lara didn’t deserve to get a win vs Canelo because he ran, much like Alvarez did vs GGG. Shame on Canelo, Oscar and Eric. The fans in the arena had boos cascading down on the ring when the results were read. Did Canelo land some combinations and good hard shots? Of course. But he also fought off his back foot most of the night, and basically fought scared. Yeah, I said it. Canelo got bullied and played the role of running like a little girl. GGG ignored the body and still dominated the fight. Shame on boxing for swallowing that horrendous decision. Shame on Golden Boy and shame on Canelo for pretending he deserved the draw, if not an outright win.

That being said, Golden Boy knows there will be hell to pay if GGG gets robbed twice in a row, so I highly doubt they toss Canelo in with GGG in 2018. Canelo now knows without a doubt who the boss in that ring was and so does Golden Boy. No matter how shills such as Lampley and Kellerman lobby for the audience to believe Canelo was putting on a tremendous show, the real fans, including Mexican Canelo fans, know what time it is. Canelo got his ass kicked and if he dares to try his luck again, he would be forced to run again and hope for mercy from the business minded boxing commission in Las Vegas who appoints the judges. Hey, Canelo. Show some balls and fight like a man. Or run and shame your country again like you did the last time.

Keith Thurman vs Errol Spence

"One-Time" Thurman is on the mend. After a tune-up bout, he needs to face Errol Spence. Spence is all up in his Koo-Aid on every media platform known to man. He is constantly calling out Thurman and the perception grows that Keith fears Spence. No, not in the sense that Keith is quaking in his boots, as pro fighters rarely are scared to get down and dirty as they have been fighting most of their lives, both on the street and in the gym. But rather in the sense that Thurman has seen what Spence did to Algieri and especially what he did to Kell Brook.

Algieri got hammered back into his unopened cage and Brook got the broken eye-socket treatment same as he got from GGG, whilst Thurman went to the wall vs Shawn Porter and couldn’t even snuff out a little fella like Danny Garcia. The eye test tells me Garcia doesn’t even belong in the ring with Spence. That’s a disaster waiting to happen. And since Danny doesn’t even want any of Porter, he damned-sure don’t want none of Spence; so there’s that.

I believe pride and a huge purse will put "One-Time" and Spence in the ring at the very end of 2018. That way Keith can milk a spring tune-up fight and along with another easy summer win against a no-threat "contender’ that gets him a couple of decent paydays to go along with his big Spence purse in December. Enjoy it Keith. After the thrashing you get from Spence, there will be no red-hot demand from the public to see "One-Time’ two times.