Ryōta Murata vs. Emanuele Felice Blandamura & Daigo Higa vs. Cristofer Rosales González RBR

Again, mayday, repeat, this is no drill - Golovkin vs. Murata in late 2018/early 2019 is ACTUALLY. PRETTY. REALISTIC.

After this debacle, you have to figure Golovkin's patience with Cinnamon Test Crunch has worn thin. He probably isn't as randy for the rematch as he was in the intervening months between their first encounter, and, say, five weeks ago. He'll be looking to go a different route just from spite now, more willing to forgo that payday just to ensure Canelo doesn't get it either, and not wanting anymore of his time wasted on his nonsense. The options, then, for a big marquee event that can sustain his accustomed level of income, are:

• Unify with the interim green belt holder (Jermall Charlo vs. Hugo Centeno Jr. happening next week - neither generates a very substantial purse; neither is much of a draw)
• Unify with the WBO titlist (Saunders vs. Murray happening in 2 months; at the 02 probably a sold-out live gate, would be pretty lucrative overall)
• Unify with the "regular" WBA champ (Murata. Plenty of attractive venue choices that could be filled to capacity: Ariake Colosseum which seats 10k, Yokohama Arena 17k, probably not quite Saitama with nearly 40k, and Tokyo Dome at 55k is a pipe dream - but any of the mid-range ones that seat around the same as O2 could be in play)
• Take on the WBA mandatory (eliminator happening in 2 weeks; rematch with Danny Jacobs or take on undefeated Maciej Sulęcki, who by then would have a pretty good resume with the addition of Jacobs' name)
• Take on the IBF mandatory (Derevyanchenko - all wrong for Golovkin, in terms of risk to reward; don't hold your breath on this)

I'd say he's the second most attractive option, if not tied with BJS.

 

How does Cristofer Rosales vs. Andrew Selby II grab everyone?

If you weren't aware, Selby (who scraped himself off the canvas from a heavy knockdown in the 1st and beat Rosales by UD, in a Pac vs. JMM I "fair world" scenario) is already his #1 contender, the WBC mandatory after beating Maximo López Flores in a final eliminator last October. He's taking on unbeaten French southpaw Vincent Legrand in a fortnight with the vacant Euro title at stake, which ought to raise his stock even more if he were heading into a world title challenge as the Euro champ.

This is honestly best case scenario for Rosales, if you survey the horizon at flyweight. The other champs are:

• WBA - Dalakian. Risky and not a big financial draw.
  
• IBF - vacant. Nietes dropped the belt to move up to super fly chasing paydays. Mthalane vs. Waseem is happening in July but neither is a big moneymaker.
  
• WBO - Sho Kimura. Would kind of make sense as Rosales has already established a presence in Japan with this upset victory over Higa, but I'm not sure Kimura is a bigger name or would draw more of a crowd.

Higa rematch is probably off the whole table; he's a super fly now.

Who else is there? Reveco, Tanaka, Viloria, Thaiyen...after that, you're scraping the bottom of the barrel, and none of those guys would be as handsome a payday as just biting the bullet and returning to Motorpoint Arena (or better yet, have Selby co-feature in the much larger venue in Wales, the gigantic Principality Stadium, piggybacking on the next Anthony Joshua card) even knowing that it will be a tacit forfeiture of his championship, as Selby kind of has Rosales' number. He isn't going to do better in this current division, in terms of cashing out (and I don't think Rosales is a strong enough champ to bank on a long reign to collect interest on smaller-payday defenses), with the landscape what it currently is.

 

I was really hoping Fuji would have a tape-delayed glimpse of some undercard bouts for us, particularly Shawn Oda vs. Roldan Aldea scheduled for six @ lightweight.

"The Cobra" is a scrappy Filipino southpaw journeyman, in other words among the very best sort of fighters to watch. Meanwhile, the young "Sk8er Boi" (yes, unfortunate nickname..) Oda is just 19 and came in on a tear, 7-0 (7) and blasting out tomato cans faster than anyone has ever blasted them out before...

 

Yup. I'm guessing that CST was doing his usual "reluctant to see reality" thing he does when matches go against the way he picked.

Not sure what UTF's excuse was in protesting the stoppage, though. Glad to see I'm not the only person that wasn't gas-lit by this pair acting like it was uncalled for. Higa if he were allowed to go the distance could have been at risk of collapsing into a coma...

 

Regardless of whether he is the best fighter h2h (and he might well be, yeah) there is zero doubt that he's the most lucrative option. I think Rosales' best chance is to rematch him, try and take him out early (he did score that early KD last time..) and if he avenges the loss and makes a successful defense, great, then his reign should be clear sailing for a while...and if he loses, at least he secured himself two career-high purses in a row in Higa followed by Selby II.

Not to be too cynical, and I like Rosales, a lot, but he isn't the sort of guy that should plan on being on top for long. He would be wise to cherry-pick the most profitable choice, even if the stylistic match-up is unfavorable and the risk that he will hot-potato the belt is high.

 

Wow, busier day for pro boxing than I realized in Asia for a Sunday...

Two more in Japan, one in Philippines and one in South Korea. @PinoyProdigy do you know if the GAB is streaming Buray vs. Ministerio anywhere? Waking up this early and chugging a pot of coffee has my appetite whetted for more boxing than just two mismatches. (again really wish Fuji had shown us Oda vs. Aldea, gr...)

 

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Eh, issa nope.

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(also, hope my phrasing taken from Google Translate wasn't too horribly butchered, these guys are probably rolling their eyes like "who tf is this dumb American, why didn't he just message us in English?" )

 

That one looked interesting as well; Nakatani is only slightly older than Oda, twenty as of January.

Seems he got a wide technical decision. Impressive as yes, Andrade is no slouch - he drew with Novoa just a few months after he was dethroned as world champ, and lost a SD to Jesús Silvestre directly after he challenged Hekkie Budler for a world title.