BoxingScene’s Midweek Mailbag: Are Cinco de Mayo fights worth watching?

Published Fri Mar 21, 2025, 4:00 AM

In this week’s mailbag, we tackle your thoughts on the three shows over Cinco de Mayo weekend (headlined by Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. William Scull, Ryan Garcia vs. Rolando Romero and Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas), as well as this weekend’s main event involving Sebastian Fundora vs. Chordale Booker, Kenshiro Teraji’s stature following his come-from-behind win in a war with Seigo Yuri Akui, and whether Luis Alberto Lopez should be fighting again after suffering a brain bleed last year.

Want to be featured in the mailbag? Comment or ask a question in the comments section below. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity. We also may select readers’ comments from other BoxingScene stories.

NOT EXCITED FOR SEBASTIAN FUNDORA-CHORDALE BOOKER

Unfortunately, Sebastian Fundora-Chordale Booker doesn’t move the needle at all. Fundora should’ve never been given a title opportunity against Tim Tszyu immediately after getting knocked the fuck out by Brian Mendoza, let alone the title he was gifted after getting beat up, then elbowing the fuck out of Tszyu.

-El_Mero

Lance Pugmire’s response: The industry opinions are widespread on Fundora. Your points have credence and it feels like Fundora – as a unified junior middleweight titleholder – should be participating on a more important stage than this one against a compelling contender (“Chordale Booker can parlay forgiveness, freedom to world title”) that many mainstream fans had never heard of.

Fundora has fully embraced his position, speaking in boastful terms during a recent interview we did about his position as the best fighter in a deep weight class. At 6-feet-5½ with an 80-inch reach, he has supporters, including Booker and rugged contender Serhii Bohachuk. The proof will be seen starting Saturday night. Has Fundora’s talent elevated along with the new lofty position, or is he viewed as still susceptible to the division elites?

KENSHIRO TERAJI IS EXCITING BUT DOESN’T HAVE MUCH LEFT

(Note: We paired two comments together for this mailbag entry.)

It's a shame that most fans don’t pay attention to these lighter weight classes. Kenshiro Teraji is definitely one of the most exciting fighters around today. He only delivers fights at this level. Although I think his defense is a bit sloppy, his jab is excellent. Seigo Yuri Akui deserves credit, too (“Kenshiro Teraji seals last-ditch stoppage of brave Seigo Yuri Akui”). I didn’t think he was at Teraji’s level.

-GilbertMag

I don’t really think Kenshiro has much left at the top level. Fights like the ones he was in with Akui are great to watch but do take chunks out of your career, and the lighter fighters age faster, too.

-Dorrian_Grey

Lucas Ketelle’s response: It is a shame most fans in the United States don’t watch the lower weights, but it is also a refuge for the hardcore fight fan. Teraji is an interesting case. He is a beloved, skillful slugger who gets hit far too much, like you pointed out. He isn’t the all-time great Naoya Inoue is, and Inoue himself hasn’t fully crossed over to the U.S. despite his talent and praise from know-it-all boxing people. So Teraji naturally will be behind Inoue.

Now add his weight class – flyweight – which isn’t a mainstay of the U.S. market, as Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez both had to enter into the junior bantamweight division to get their notable fights. Teraji is here for a good time, not a long time. He gets hit too much to have longevity, and his recent performance over Akui showed his gift and his curse. He is fun to watch, but every fight could be his last great night at this point.

MISMATCHES IN THREE MAIN EVENTS ON CINCO DE MAYO WEEKEND

“Boxing’s most loaded weekend in years.” (“Munguia-Surace II, Jack-Rozicki, Bakole-Ajagba added to Canelo-Scull May 3 card”) Is this some kind of joke? None of the fights is must-see. This is barely a “stream it for free” card. Naoya Inoue is winning his fight (“Naoya Inoue’s next fight is set: Ramon Cardenas on May 4 in Las Vegas”) by KO on his card. Ryan Garcia is knocking out Rolly on his card (“Ryan Garcia-Rolly Romero, Devin Haney-Jose Ramirez and Teo Lopez-Arnold Barboza set for Times Square”). Is there one 50-50 fight the entire weekend?

-wrecksracer

Owen Lewis’ response: In defense of my esteemed colleague Lance Pugmire, who wrote the “loaded weekend” line, he didn’t say the weekend was “loaded with 50-50 fights.” The weekend is loaded with notable fighters, though. Naoya Inoue, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, Teofimo Lopez, Martin Bakole and Jaime Munguia, plus others, all fighting on the same weekend, is not a bad slate! Heck, the presence of both Inoue and Canelo alone might be enough to justify Pugmire’s line.

Like you seem to be, I’m drawn to 50-50 fights myself, and I often get irritated at the promotions for lopsided matchups involving a star. I’d rather fighters’ stories get told and amplified than listen to promoters prattle on about knockout percentages and firefights when one guy is a -5000 favorite (as Inoue is against Ramon Cardenas on DraftKings, for the record).

Still, it’s not a joke at all to call a weekend packed with so many high-profile boxers “loaded.” Sure, these fights could be more well-matched, as is the case with almost any fight. But I’d argue that Inoue is must-see against a heavy bag at this point in his career, I’m curious how Canelo will look with a possible Terence Crawford bout looming, and though the likes of Garcia and Lopez can be insufferable outside the ring, they’re usually compelling within the ropes.

I’ll be rolling my eyes right along with you as promoters inevitably promote Canelo-William Scull as an intriguing matchup, but a slate can still be stacked with talent without necessarily being stacked with evenly-matched fights.

GOOD UNDERCARD FOR CANELO-SCULL STILL DOESN’T JUSTIFY PRICE TAG

Except for the Canelo-Scull main event, these undercard bouts are all decent fights that will entertain most boxing fans. But they still don't make the event an OK pay-per-view. I am not sure I would even pay $25 for this card. By the way, fuck Canelo and his god-awful ego trip. I look forward to him retiring and I will be cheering for Scull. I do wonder if Badou Jack has any gas in the tank. His boxing smarts have helped him become a champ in a shallow cruiserweight division, but time catches up to you inevitably – thinking of how Hopkins was knocked out by Joe Smith.

-lilacp

Owen Lewis’ response: I’m with you. The storylines and matchups are compelling enough – Martin Bakole and Jaime Munguia hunting redemption, Bruno Surace seeking a second shocker. I share your concerns about Jack – his six-fight winning streak can’t hide the fact that he’s 41 and has been off for more than two years. Chances are that this undercard delivers in at least one fight, though, so I’m not too upset with it.

But no two ways about it: Canelo-Scull is a truly terrible fight, maybe even worse than Canelo-Berlanga. Canelo’s last five opponents are worth recalling – a 40-year-old Gennadiy Golovkin, an undersized Jermell Charlo, a hopeless mandatory in John Ryder, and overmatched foes in Munguia and Edgar Berlanga.

At any moment during this run, Canelo could have sought a fight with David Benavidez – a fight that the entire boxing world was begging for – and almost certainly gotten it. Instead, Canelo insisted on fighting five (now six) straight no-hopers, and all he produced that’s worth putting in the time capsule in my eyes is a couple of exciting rounds against Munguia and a blindingly fast left hook that dropped Berlanga.

I am legitimately interested in the idea of Canelo-Crawford, and I won’t disrespect a future Hall of Famer who has had a legitimately great career by trying to hound him into retirement. I do agree with you that Canelo is on an ego trip, however, and I think that’s done his fans and fellow fighters a disservice. I spent $90 to watch Canelo-Munguia, didn’t feel it was worth it, and the Canelo-led pay-per-views since have provided even less reason to part with significant sums of money.

The good news is there are plenty of top fighters who consistently entertain against tough opponents, and nobody is making you buy the Canelo-Scull pay-per-view. Maybe we’ll be opening our wallets come September.

TOO RISKY, TOO SOON FOR LUIS ALBERTO LOPEZ TO RETURN

Luis Alberto Lopez had a brain bleed and should at least give it some time to think if he wants to continue, never mind fight again after less than eight months (“Manager: Luis Alberto Lopez’s return ‘will tell us what we need to know’”). Fans of Lopez think it would be nice if he were still in the sport, but he shouldn't risk his health like this. He could have died in the aftermath of the fight against Angelo Leo.

-J.C. Superstar

Ryan Songalia’s response: I’m right there with you. This sport is dangerous enough when competitors have no history of serious injury. When it comes to head injuries in boxing, I don’t believe in taking chances. Boxers are people, and you’re going to be alive a lot longer than you’re going to be fighting.

Whenever I think of subdural hematomas, I think about Baby Joe Mesi, who suffered one following his 2005 win over Vassiliy Jirov. Leading on all of the scorecards, Mesi went down three times in the final two rounds, with the first one coming on a shot to the back of the head. Mesi was denied a license from the Nevada State Athletic Commission, but he eventually was allowed to fight in places like Rhode Island and Michigan. Without the big state commissions willing to license him, it was more or less the end of his career as a significant fighter.

Lopez could conceivably receive a license to fight in another state, but I’d rather a fighter retire one fight too soon than one fight too late. At just 31, he has a long life ahead of him. Hopefully he sees the bigger picture and can find peace with what he’s accomplished, which is significant.