Weekend Recap 5/2/25-5/4/25
Written by Greg on 5/7/25
The weekend from the gods turned into a weekend of diarrhea from eating that fettuccine alfredo you bought from the street vendor operating out of a stolen grocery cart with a hand written sign on the inside of Miller Lite 12 back that says “Good Pasta”. I will try to write summaries of these fights in between butt clenching shuffling to the toilet.
Friday 5/2/25 in Times Square, New York City on DAZN PPV
Rolly Romero Rolls Ryan Garcia
What Happened:
Ryan Garcia (24-2) made his highly anticipated return to the ring after a suspension for PEDs and a year of out of the ring antics that put him in the spotlight of boxing and social media. Ryan “King Ry” made his entrance to the ring in Times Square in a Batmobile. This was the high water mark of the night for him.
In the second round Rolly Romero (17-2) caught Garcia with a double left hook and sent Garcia crashing to the mat. After that knockdown it looked like Garcia was scared to open up and throw any offense. Rolly boxed smartly and stuck to a disciplined gameplan, which we don't see from him often. He had enough power to cruise to an easy win over Garcia with just the idea he might hit him with another left hook. Just an abysmal performance from Garcia that puts the highly anticipated rematch against rival Devin Haney in peril. This fight did something remarkable, it ended in the top 6 fights in the last 40 years for the fewest punches thrown. Yay!
Devin Haney Runs Scared to a Boring Win over Ramirez
What Happened:
If Ryan Garcia did nothing to make us excited about seeing the Garcia-Haney rematch, Devin Haney (32-0) told us he wants nothing to do with it. Devin Haney’s return to the ring after a year off after taking a beating from the PEDed up Garcia. This was his opportunity to show that he was not gun shy of getting into exchanges and that the last fight was just a blip on the radar. He had the perfect opponent in front of him, a slow footed Jose Ramirez (28-3).
Instead we were forced to watch Haney run a 5K fun run inside the ring. There was no action at all. This fight also registered in the top 6 fights for the lowest number of punches thrown in the last 40 years. The mega fight rematch between Garcia and Haney is essentially dead. Both fighters will need to show they can entertain before the fans come back to watch them fight.
Teofimo Lopez Dazzles
What Happened:
Teofimo Lopez (22-1) was the only fighter who seemed to know he was fighting on Friday night. He looked levels above a very good Arnold Barboza Jr (32-1). Teofimo was the Teo we have seen when he has had a big challenge in front of him. He fights to the level of his competition. We had incredible footwork, angles, almost dancing while slipping punches to throw a counter punch so casually that it looked insultingly easy for him. The only slight knock on this fight would be that Teofimo could have gone after Barboza with more offensive onslaughts and gotten him out of there in the late rounds.
Saturday 5/3/25 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on DAZN PPV
Canelo Alvarez vs William Scull Was a Boxing Fight?
What Happened:
You thought Garcia-Romero and Haney-Ramirez were boring fights? Canelo said “Hell no! I am the face of boxing. Hold my cervesa!” Canelo Alvarez (63-2-2), I guess fought William Scull (23-1)? And I guess Canelo got the win. This fight’s crowning achievement was that IT WAS THE LOWEST AMOUNT OF PUNCHES LANDED OF ANY 12 ROUND FIGHT IN THE LAST 40 YEARS. Canelo landed 55 punches. That’s it. Scull was running around the ring with his hands up just happy to get a payday. This was an embarrassment all around.
Immediately after the fight we got the announcement that Canelo would be taking on one of the Pound for Pound Kings, Terance “Bud” Crawford (41-0), in a mega fight in September in Las Vegas. Canelo’s craptacular performance will add more intrigue to this match up as we eventually start breaking it down and seeing if Bud can do the near impossible moving up almost 21 lbs to beat the face of boxing.
Munguia Gets Revenge Against Surace
What Happened:
I previewed this fight saying that Jaime Munguia (45-2) is always fun to watch because he is a reckless, all offensive minded fighter. Well, after being KOed by the pillow puncher Bruno Surace (26-1) last year, Munguia decided he would be defensively sound and box. This was an okay fight as Munguia cruised to an easy victory to avenge his loss to Surace. Surace did, however, reinforce that he belongs in that top 15 range at Super Middleweight.
Badou Jack Squeaks Out Victory Over Mikaelian
What Happened:
Sweden’s Badou Jack (29-3-3) kept his aging career going at the age of 40 against late replacement opponent Noel Mikaelian (27-3). This was a fairly entertaining fight that had spurts of excitement. At the end of the day, Jack defended his WBC Cruiserweight title and will look to cash in against one of the top dogs in the division.
Bakole vs Ajagba Ends in Head Scratching Draw
What Happened:
Martin Bakole (21-2-1) was supposed to be the second coming of George Foreman. The idea was for him to get back his boogeyman status against Efe Ajagba (20-1-1) after Bakole stepped in as a late replacement almost 3 months ago against Joseph Parker and caught a loss.
What happened was we saw Bakole come in at 300 lbs again and Ajagba prepared to fight a bigger, slower man. I thought Ajagba fought an incredible gameplan. He was moving laterally and then stopping, sitting down on punches and cracking Bakole. At multiple points in this fight Bakole completely stopped moving, stood in the center of the room and begged Ajagba to come to him. It gave off big time Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz II vibes when Ruiz got super fat and couldn’t move around the ring. I thought Bakole had 2, maybe 3, good rounds. Outside of that, Ajagba had the performance of his career. It's a shame the judges thought they needed to give Bakole a get out of jail free card here with a draw. We will probably see this fight again but unless Bakole gets down to the 280 range I see Ajagba winning the rematch.
Sunday 5/3/25 in Las Vegas, Nevada on ESPN+
Inoue Saves Cinco de Mayo Weekend
What Happened:
The Japanese Monster, Naoya Inoue (30-0), returned to the US after 4 years of mega fights in Japan. After a Friday and Saturday of dreadful boxing, all eyes turned to Inoue to deliver a performance to save boxing's biggest weekend. Thankfully his opponent Ramon Cardenas (26-2) came ready to roll the dice and shock the world. In the second round Cardenas nearly did the impossible when he knocked Inoue down in the 2nd round with a monster left hook. This was the second time being down in Inoue’s career but this time he was legit hurt. Inoue was able to survive the round and as only all time great fighters can do, he recovered and went on the offensive. Cardenas was throwing monster left hooks that were just missing Inoue’s chin again, but as the rounds went on Inoue kept making the right adjustments and got into a rhythm. In the 8th round he got the TKO of Cardenas after multiple rounds of pure dominance and beat down.
We are witnessing an all time great fighter right now. We need to appreciate Inoue while he is still fighting. There won’t be another one like him for a very long time.
Espinoza Shows He is for Real in Brawl Against Vazquez
What Happened:
Rafael Espinoza (27-0) may be one of the biggest paradoxes in all of boxing. He fights at featherweight, 126 lbs, but stands 6’1 and has 74” reach. For comparison that would put him around the same reach of cruiserweight who top the scale at 199 lbs. So with the massive height and reach advantage you would assume he fights on the outside and doesn’t let his opponents get close to him. Wrong. Espinoza prefers to get into a phone booth and brawl with the smaller opponents. Edward Vazquez (17-3) came to fight on Sunday and put in a valiant effort. In the end Espinoza was too tough, too mean and too well conditioned for him. At one point Espinoza landed 4 or 5 massive uppercuts in a row.Espinoza is someone we will be keeping our eyes on to see if he stays at 126 to see if Inoue makes the move up. Otherwise there are a ton of compelling fights to be made at 130 and up.