Crunch time for Josh Taylor and Teofimo Lopez in New York
Plus, remembering the great heavyweight champ Jack Johnson
Two fighters with something to prove clash at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden this weekend. Josh Taylor’s last outing came over a year ago when he posted an uncertain victory over Jack Catterall. The Scotsman has been disappointingly absent ever since.
Lopez, meanwhile, has been battling his own mental demons outside of the ropes as much as opponents within. At his prime he was a confident finisher and strong puncher. If he can recapture those instincts, at Taylor’s 140-pound wheelhouse, then he will be a huge problem. Even though Taylor only holds the WBO super-lightweight title, the former undisputed king will seek to reinforce his status as the main man at the weight.
Now mixing with bigger, stronger guys than at lightweight, Lopez has been audibly asking his corner team during fights if he still has “it”. This would be his mojo, his power, his wow factor at the top level. 13 months after defeating Vasyl Lomachenko, Teofimo lost to George Kambosos and his career began to unravel.
Even if he cannot score a win over Taylor, the man who once seemed destined to take over boxing and become a flagship performer will need to provide an entertaining performance in defeat or some will start writing him off altogether.
Losing to the best fighter in a weight class carries no shame, unless he is blown away or suffers an in-fight meltdown. A conclusive domination for Taylor will enhance the ‘Tartan Tornado’s’ pound-for-pound credibility, adding yet another name to his already glowing record. As is the current norm in boxing, both men have been inactive.
If Lopez can stitch everything together on the night then he has a real chance of scoring a victory on this ESPN headliner (live on Sky Sports in the UK/Ireland). Lopez has made some pretty unsavoury comments in the build-up regarding his intentions, but this kind of talk is usually brushed off as self-motivational waffle, designed to add some edge and risk to proceedings.
Stylistically, Taylor brings nice variation to the ring. He can swarm on the inside or step off and box at range. Smothering Lopez with hooks and uppercuts, pounding head and body, Taylor will need to avoid stepping off at mid-range without working. This is where Teofimo will look for success with his sharp single shots.
That said, Lopez will probably need to ditch any overt posturing and throw punches in bunches rather than solo efforts. Regis Prograis had some joy in his WBSS final clash with Josh - letting the hands go, throwing combinations.
Overall, I fancy Taylor to use his strength, engine and experience to overcome some hairy early moments and work towards a points win or possible late stoppage over the man of Honduran stock. Lopez comes out throwing bombs early, trying to decapitate opponents before settling into a groove. Both men are proud warriors who won’t back down easily. Therefore, expect a war for as long as it lasts.
Who have YOU got winning this one?
THE ANNIVERSARY OF JACK JOHNSON’S DEATH
The great Jack Johnson died some 77 years ago on June 10th, 1946. Known as the ‘Galveston Giant’, Johnson refused to play by the rules of his era, spending much of his time gallivanting with white women, enjoying his wealth and driving cars at ridiculous speeds. It was the latter that killed him. Plunging his race car into a telephone pole while testing the acceleration limits in North Carolina. It was a fitting way to go for a maverick entertainer, in his late 60s.
Boxing at the turn of the 20th century, prizefighting was a whole different beast. Johnson grew up fast in the rough-and-tumble underground circuits where only the strong survived. His parents had both been slaves and the Jim Crow laws were in full effect, dictating the political temperature of the time. Johnson pushed all that aside and did things his own way.
Jailed on different occasions, for breaking rules on interracial bouts and later for crossing state lines with a female companion at his side. After defeating the final “Great White Hope” James J Jeffries, a string of Johnson’s later bouts came in Europe and Latin America as he dodged around the First World War, unwelcome in his own country.
Johnson shields his eyes from the sun in Havana after Jess Willard KO
Jack Johnson paved the way for a new generation of African-American boxers to power through and take their overdue world title shots. He was an exceptionally talented fighter. Fast, skilful, intelligent. The Texan knew how to play with boxers in the ring and play with the minds of the media away from the squared circle.
I’ll close this section by just picking up on a couple of points. Firstly, Johnson chased and harassed the champions of the day for his shot at the heavyweight title. Eventually Tommy Burns lifted the “colour line” and fought him. Johnson beat Burns in Australia in 1908 to become the first ever black heavyweight champion. However, as fighting white contenders was more lucrative, Jack drew his own colour line for a period and refused to entertain some of the more dangerous black contenders lining up for their shot at glory.
Also, it is often suggested that the deeply prejudiced James J Jeffries would never have stood a chance against Johnson. This comes mostly off the back of Jeffries’ own admission following their 1910 bout that he would never be able to touch Johnson, even in his prime. While I don’t think Jeffries would’ve beaten Johnson, he was inactive for years and seriously out of shape when he eventually agreed to the fight.
The Jeffries who initially ducked Johnson and retired in 1905 was a powerful physical specimen. Strong and fit. Had that version pushed aside his own personal views (widely circulated views of the day it must be said) and fought his number one contender, it would’ve been an interesting physical battle between two very good fighters. But not a mismatch as some have suggested.
MORE BOTHER FOR BAZINYAN
Back up to the present day and there was some decent action in Canada last week. Each and every time I see rising contender Erik Bazinyan in the ring, he provides more cause for concern. Headlining the exciting Thursday night ‘Eye of the Tiger’ shows on ESPN, Bazinyan packs out a decent crowd and makes for entertaining contests, but he is fairly limited.
The ridiculously wide scores (two judges totalled 98-92 in his favour) did not tell the full story as Bazinyan struggled with the guile of Mexico’s Jose Macias. Ranked highly at world level, the Armenian native would be cannon fodder for any competent challenger or champion.
Bazinyan aside, there are a couple of tasty prospects making their respective journeys along the undercards. Wilkens Mathieu improved to 3-0 with his second career knockout. Mathieu still has some stylistic issues to iron out but he’s only 18 and can punch. The same can be said for Colombia’s Jhon Orobio who blitzed Rey Gutierrez. Orobio, 19, is part of the Marc Ramsay stable.
Meanwhile, Thomas ‘The Ghost’ Chabot barely scraped past Luis Lopez and seemed disappointed with his overall display. The game is also up for former world champion Alberto Machado. Once a celebrated future star over at HBO, Machado’s weakness to the body was ruthlessly exposed by Andrew Cancio and opponents ever since have revisited that same spot. Steve Claggett was the latest to erase Machado, after three rounds of face-forward assaults. Claggett is fit, strong and durable. All things Machado has struggled with in the past.
NUTHOUSE NOTES
Gervonta Davis is in trouble for failing to adhere to the terms of his bail. Skipping away from coach and mentor Calvin Ford’s residence, Davis has been temporarily thrown behind bars. Hopefully this is just an aberration and not the start of an Adrien Broner-style regression that will seriously hamper his career. Rather than digging ditches while under lock and key, Davis has been commenting live and exclusively from his prison cell, criticising the judge’s decision to punish him.
The date of August 26 seems set in stone now for Oleksandr Usyk’s fight against Daniel Dubois in Poland. Thankfully Usyk is keeping busy while Tyson Fury continues to fiddle about instead of actually fighting. As for the fight itself, it’s hard to make a case for Dubois who can hit hard but is pretty fragile. Usyk’s promoters reckon there will be over 40,000 in the stadium on fight night which will create an incredible atmosphere.
Photo Credit: TalkSport
Jaron Ennis takes a much needed step-up in class on July 8 when he faces Roiman Villa in a Showtime headliner. Villa upset Rashidi Ellis to climb his way up the rankings. Ennis holds the IBF interim belt but his talent goes beyond that bauble. This fight will take place in Atlantic City. Villa will force Ennis to fight, rather than Boots’ last opponent, Karen Chukhadzhian, who was extremely negative.
A week earlier, Jared Anderson goes in with fellow-unbeaten heavy Zhan Kossobutskiy. The tidy southpaw may mess Anderson around for a while but he’ll likely be too small to cause any significant danger, much like George Arias who Anderson extinguished in three rounds. I watched Kossobutskiy box in Belarus during the lockdown and he has skills. Some have suggested he lacks big power, but with 18 KOs in 19 wins he will be hoping to make a significant dent in ‘Big Baby’.
Thanks for reading! Drop a little heart or even a comment if you get a minute. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Speak to you all next week…
About Steve: Experienced boxing writer, author of 8 books and podcaster of over 400 eps. 15+ years in the sport. Covered hundreds of shows for newspapers and Boxing News magazine. Chief video script writer for Motivedia channel and BN+. For enquiries: stevenwellings1982@gmail.com.
Jaron Ennis' story is one of the weirdest in boxing. 30-0, 87.1% KO rate at Welterweight. Why is he still relatively unknown? Can only presume he'll get a crack at Spence/Crawford eventually.