🚂 The Blessed Express Returns

November 12, 2021

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Fight With Teddy Atlas Newsletter, your one stop shop for all things combat sports related, brought to you by Teddy and The Fight team.

Every Friday, we bring you:

  • A combat sports news digest with all the headlines you need to know from Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts.

  • Highlights from the podcast and across the fight world.

  • Fight times and information you need to know ahead of time.

  • How to’s and tips for Boxing from Teddy himself.

‎Teddy Atlas and co-host Ken Rideout break down the weekend's fights with Canelo Alvarez knockout of Caleb Plant and the full UFC 268 Usman vs Covington 2 Main Card. Timestamps below.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

6:43 Canelo Alvarez def. Caleb Plant

35:10 What's Next for Canelo

42:34 Terence Crawford…

Fight News From Around The 🌍

The last challenge at 168 lbs?

And then there was one.

Last weekend, Canelo put on a masterclass in how to completely clean out a division, collecting the final piece of his super middleweight collection of belts by knocking out Caleb Plant in 11 rounds.

He did this all whilst being conventionally quite small for the weight, with the champions he faced all naturally bigger than his 5"8 frame:

  1. Callum Smith (WBA & WBC) - 6"3 (now competing at Light Heavyweight)

  2. Billy Joe Saunders (WBO) - 5"10

  3. Caleb Plant (IBF) - 6"1

Canelo has wiped through all the champions of the division, and question marks now hang over whether he should keep campaigning at 168 lbs, or seek challenges higher up in weight.

Enter David Benavidez.

At one point, Benavidez was the youngest world champion in the world and was the youngest world champion in super middleweight history, at only 21.

Now 24, he's lost his belt twice outside of the ring, once for a drug violation and the second time on the scales prior to his fight against Alexis Angulo.

This weekend he looks to show why he is, despite his past mistakes, still one of the most exciting and hard hitting fighters in the sport.

He is a raw talent, and his lack of amateur pedigree shows somewhat. But he's a graduate of the school of world class sparring, having been in camps with the likes of GGG at just 15.

He possesses the punching power to be able to command the respect of Canelo and turn the fight ugly.

Whether he will get the opportunity is another question. In order to keep his name in the running for a shot at the pound for pound king, he'll need to impress this weekend against Kyrone Davis.

Davis was a last minute replacement after Jose Uzcatagui was popped for performance enhancers, and is a very slick operator in his own right, having arguably decisioned 2x champion Anthony Dirrell in his last fight.

Super middleweight is now Canelo's division. There is (literally) no dispute. But it doesn't mean that challengers won't start emerging, and Benavidez might just be the best of the lot.

The Blessed Express comes to town.

Dominant.

That's the only way you can describe Max Holloway's last performance back in January.

He broke the record for significant strikes, landing a record-setting 445 of 774 significant strikes thrown over 25 minutes. The previous record for significant strikes landed was also held by him.

And this wasn't against a grappler. Calvin Kattar was, and still is, one of the best strikers in his division and has a foundation in boxing.

He'll be looking for a similar performance this time out against Yair Rodriguez, another exciting and talented striker who will look to match Holloway on the feet.

This is much easier said than done, with Max's striking being arguably the best across any division, as Teddy attests to below.

Should he be victorious on Saturday night, he'll be looking to line up a trilogy fight against the champion who has beaten him twice in a row, the superb Alex Volkanovski.

Their second fight was much closer than the first, and one that many think that Holloway did enough to win. It all adds extra intrigue to a final, decisive fight at some point in early 2022.

Having said all this, you simply can't look past an opponent who is capable of producing knockouts like this.

Fight ⏰ for this weekend

Boxing: Munguia vs Rosado (Saturday 13th/Sunday 14th)

  • 🇺🇸 Full Card: 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific | Main Event: 11:30pm Eastern/8:30pm Pacific

  • 🇬🇧 Full Card: 2am | Main Event: 4:30am

  • 🇦🇺 Full Card: 1pm Eastern/10am Western | Main Event: 3:30pm Eastern/12:30pm Western

Boxing: Benavidez vs Davis (Saturday 13th/Sunday 14th)

  • 🇺🇸 Full Card: 9pm Eastern/5pm Pacific | Main Event: 12am Eastern/8pm Pacific

  • 🇬🇧 Full Card: 1am | Main Event: 4am

  • 🇦🇺 Full Card: 12pm Eastern/9am Western | Main Event: 3pm Eastern/12pm Western

MMA: Holloway vs Rodriguez (Saturday 13th/Sunday 14th)

  • 🇺🇸 Full Card: 4pm Eastern/ 1pm Pacific | Main Event: 7pm Eastern/4pm Pacific

  • 🇬🇧 Full Card: 9pm | Main Event: 12am

  • 🇦🇺 Full Card: 8am Eastern/5am Western | Main Event: 11am Eastern/8am Western

Don't forget to tune in to the latest episode 🎧

Thanks for being with us and see you next week #BANG💥