There is a God (and he isn’t a WBO official)

Thank God the Maccarinelli/Alvarez fight isn’t happening (due only to Alvarez having high blood pressure).

Had this fight gone ahead for the WBO title, it would have been a farce. Alvarez had already been stopped in 4 by Alexeev last year, making the likelihood of a KO win for Enzo pretty much guaranteed.  Any “punchers chance” Alvarez may have had is tempered somewhat by the fact that all  but one of his 9 KOs in 11 wins was against a novice opponent with a losing record.

His “best” win meanwhile, came against Emesto Zamora, who now has a losing record. To date, Zamora has been stopped in 13 of his 17 losses. Entering his WBO Latino “title” fight with Alvarez, Zamora was 2-8 in his last 10. Those two wins were against opponents with a combined 0-8 record. (For the record books, they are now a combined 0-18).

Yet that Latino title is basically what gave Alvarez his #15 world ranking – at light heavyweight. And so the fact that Alvarez was struggling to make 200lb appears indicative of just how out of shape and unprepared he would have been.

Yet despite this, the promoter for this “fight” (Sports Network) had no qualms about pitting the (with all due respect)  hapless Alvarez in with Enzo. The WBO – frighteningly, one of the closest things we have to a governing body in the sport – were clearly happy to accept this match-up.

The whole thing smacks of desperation, and the need – desire? – to put money and contract requirements before fans.