Mikey Williams/Top Rank
As the ESPN broadcast from the MSG Theater signed off on late Saturday night (technically Sunday morning) and threw it to SportsCenter, it officially ended their relationship with Top Rank which began in 2017. As Bob Arum told me years ago, ''nothing ever changes, nothing ever really stays the same."
'the Bobfather' doesn't seem all that concerned about the state of the company he founded decades ago. For him, this is just part of the business. There is plenty of speculation as to where they will end up. Top Rank is a resilient company, they will be back somewhere in what is an ever changing boxing landscape.
Currently their roster includes the likes of Naoya Inoue, Junto Nakatani, Brian Norman, Keyshawn Davis, Teofimo Lopez, Janibek Alimkhanuly, Artur Beterbiev, O'Shaquie Foster among others. (For the record, all these boxers are listed on their website.)
Mikey Williams/Top Rank
Some of their younger talent was on display in their ESPN swan song. Some thoughts on what we saw...
- In the opening bout, junior welterweight hopeful, Emiliano Vargas, kicked things off in style by starching Alexander Espinoza in 42 seconds with a perfectly executed pull counter right hand. Vargas (15-0, 13 Kos) seemed to almost freeze Espinoza as he struck him. It was such an eye-opening shot that it actually led off SportsCenter that immediately followed the fights.
Vargas checks off a lot of boxes: he's telegenic, he's got the lineage, an entertaining style and Mexican-American. He just oozes promotability. But Vargas seems like he came right out of central casting, and he's a very well-spoken and well-mannered individual.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnJaPsbTLMo&t=1s
But lets keep things in perspective, he's still just 21 years old and it's not like he's facing any monsters at this point. To put this into perspective, his father (Fernando) at that same age was tangling with the likes of Winky Wright, Ike Quartey and Felix Trinidad. This was something that the ultra precocious and 'Ferocious' Vargas insisted upon to his handlers. But a few years ago as his Emiliano began his journey, he made it clear to me that he simply would not allow his son to be moved that quickly.
Mikey Williams/Top Rank
The younger Vargas said, “I’m just a Mexican kid trying to make it to the top. Twenty-six years ago, my father fought here, and history repeats itself. If I could be half as great as my father was, I’ll make it a long way.
'el General' has fought three times this year going just a total of five rounds. Whenever he gets back out there you'd like to see him get tested a bit more and put in some hard, tough rounds under his belt. Regardless, there's a lot to like here with this young man.
- Then on the semi-main of this telecast, Bruce Carrington was paired off versus Mateus Heita for the interim WBC featherweight title. Carrington is a guy who believes he's destined for great things. But right now he's getting a bit frustrated by the usual machinations that hold up certain fights and titles. Personally, I'm a fan of 'Shu Shu', he's a well-schooled technician who has a good head on his shoulders.
Carrington dominated on the cards (119-109 twice, and 120-108) but he left you wanting just a bit more at the end. Heita was a strong and sturdy sort, but Carrington chipped away and started to soften him up a bit in the middle rounds. This is one of the things l really like about his game, he can box from the outside and also work comfortably inside the pocket. As we got into the late rounds, you kept waiting for him to create that big eye-opening finish. Unfortunately, that crescendo never came.
Mikey Williams/Top Rank
Which is what Tim Bradley was getting at during the fight. For him to truly become a guy that is in demand and to put the public pressure on the featherweight belt-holders to face him, Carrington had to do more than just win a lopsided decision. In the past, Carrington scored KO's that were buzz-worthy. Here, it was just a fizzle. Again, it was Vargas highlights that SportsCenter aired, not his.
Afterwards, Carrington called out WBO champion, Rafael Espinoza, who was ringside. If it were up to me (and it's not), I'd make this match-up the first main event on the new network/platform that Top Rank ends up on.
"I’m ready. I’ve been calling out all the champions. They already know. I see {Rafael} Espinoza in the crowd. I want to fight him. I want to fight Nick Ball. I want to fight Stephen Fulton," stated Carrington.
- Then the finale featured the bout between Xander Zayas and Jorge Garcia for the vacant WBO junior middleweight title. It was a full circle moment here as Zayas made his pro debut back in 2019 as part of the undercard in Reno, Nevada on ESPN+, and throughout his development has been featured prominently on the network.
Zayas was the youngest signing ever by Top Rank at the age of 16, and now at age 22 he is a owner of a major world title belt as he clearly out-pointed 'Chino' Garcia by the scores of 116-112, 118-110 and 119-109. His boxing skills and footwork were simply too much for the awkward Garcia, who mostly flailed away with his punches while falling off balance. While they landed occasionally, they never landed consistently enough to really trouble Zayas.
"Boxing 101. I had to box my way to victory,'' he explained. "I knew that if I stood in front of him that I’d be fighting his fight. So, I did everything behind the jab. The jab was the key to victory, and we showed that today."
Mikey Williams/Top Rank
While he's a solid boxer, the power has not really developed with him. 'Tito' Trinidad he is not. That's OK, but you wonder how he'd handle the upper echelon in the division. You can say he's still young, but generally punchers are born, not made. But you wonder how much that weight cut to 154 is impacting his overall performance. After an obligatory soft easy first title defense, it wouldn't surprise many to see him make the move up to middleweight.
But from prospect to champion, Zayas made the journey on ESPN. Now, we wait to see where he and the rest of the Top Rank stable will be seen.
