Rios-Chaves And Kovalev: 12 Rounds Of Thought

My initial thoughts on a bad night for boxing.  Jessie Vargas defeats Anton Novikov by unanimous,  but controversial decision… Sergey Kovalev dismantles Blake Caparello… and Brandon Rios escapes with a disqualification win over Diego Chaves.  

Round 1:  Another night of fights… Another loss for boxing.  

Round 2:  So I basically wasted an hour of my life… an hour I will never get back… by taking the time to watch the bout between Jesse Vargas and Anton Novikov.  What was the point? A close and good scrap reduced to pointless by the result.  

Round 3: 118-111, 118-111 and 117-111 for Vargas… Thank you Anton Novikov for your participation in Saturday night’s bout… you’ll receive a consolation prize… you never had a chance.   

Round 4:  The pattern of bad judging has already opened the window for the perception of “pre-conceived judging”… and results like Vargas-Novikov are going to make it even more difficult to shut.  

Round 5:  Sergey Kovalev is an absolute monster in the ring.  He’s right behind Gennady “GGG” Golovkin for me as most exciting fighters to watch.  Fascinating personality as well.  

Round 6:  Kovalev has such a naïve confidence in his power… he has zero regard for what’s coming back at him.  It’s remarkable and so exciting to watch.  

Round 7:  Pre-mature stoppage = yes… Result inevitable = yes… Am I bitter because I didn’t get to see more of “Krusher” Kovalev = yes.  

Round 8:  I loved the post-fight interview with Bernard Hopkins.  That’s how you build intrigue for a fight! We need to see more of this! 

Round 9: I’m worried about Hopkins… Sergey is a different monster.  I would actually favor Hopkins over Adonis Stevenson… but Kovalev is another story.  Hopkins picked Felix Trinidad apart, but Hopkins was the bigger and stronger man.  Pavlik was bigger but didn’t have the ferocity that Kovalev possesses.  Sergey Kovalev is too big, too strong and too powerful for Hopkins… it’s gonna be a rough night in November for the Alien.  

Round 10: Brandon Rios – Diego Chaves… another wasted hour of my life.  Thank you Vic Drakulich.  Guess you and Harvey Dock (ref for Jennings-Perez) are auditioning for Mayweather-Maidana 2… 

Round 11: This fight was rough… ugly… gritty… basically everything I expected it to be.  Rios got the better of it inside and Chaves controlled it from a distance.  This was a very close fight… and a pretty good one as well.  Referee Vic Drakulich severely overreacted to the ruggedness of the fight… and in turn, didn’t allow the fighters to handle it like two warriors inside the ring.  

Round 12: The first point deduction on Chaves was pre-mature and more importantly, created a snow-ball effect.  The first point deduction on Rios was a make-up call.  The fight was ugly, no doubt… but this isn’t Paulie Malignaggi vs. Mauricio Herrera… these are two rough and rugged brawlers. Let them fight!! 

Chaves was ahead on the scorecards at the time of the disqualification.  What’s most disappointing to me was the behavior of Brandon Rios.  You’re “Bam Bam”… Mr. Tough Guy… and you’re crying to the ref countless times about being fouled? Complaining about holding when you’re putting your head in his face? Then when he does the same, you’re complaining even more? 

I think Rios was frustrated with the way Chaves adapted… In the 3^rd round, Chaves knew he couldn’t win on the inside… he used distance to land some heavy shots and control the fight from the outside.  Rios knew it was close… and used Vic Drakulich to his advantage.  For Vic to allow Brandon Rios to influence him into disqualifying Chaves at a moment where Chaves did absolutely nothing wrong is preposterous.   Brandon Rios has entered the Robert Guerrero class of “out of sight, out of mind” for me.  I look forward to seeing Diego Chaves fight again… A bad night for boxing. 

Follow me on Twitter: @RLMalpica