In this week’s mailbag, we tackle your disappointment in several things – the undercard for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford, Dmitry Bivol saying he needs surgery after delaying the third fight with Artur Beterbeiv for so long, Jaron “Boots” Ennis’ first foe at junior middleweight, Omar Trinidad’s level of opposition – as well as your lack of surprise that heavyweight Michael Hunter and promoter Don King are at odds with each other.

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.

What a way to blow the fight of the year/decade with a weak undercard (“Callum Walsh-Fernando Vargas Jnr set as co-main to Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford”).

-Lefty0616

David Greisman’s response: So far, the three fights announced for September 13 underneath the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez-Terence Crawford main event are Walsh vs. Vargas in a battle of unbeaten junior middleweight prospects; Christian Mbilli vs. Lester Martinez in a clash of super middleweight contenders; and developing lightweight Mohammed Alakel vs. John Ornelas.

It’s definitely not the best undercard for the biggest event of the year – available for free to Netflix subscribers, with the combined marketing heft of both Netflix as well as the parent company of the WWE and UFC.

But here’s the thing: This show isn’t just for us. 

And sad to say, but the general public doesn’t need the biggest fighters on the undercard, if they even tune in to the undercard. 

In an ideal world, this show would capitalize on – and captivate – its captive audience. The undercard fighters would get “the rub” and would gain fans; there would be a coattail effect, growing the fan bases for fighters akin to how the shows in Montreal and Quebec City featuring Lucian Bute, Jean Pascal and Adonis Stevenson built an appetite for the future stars on their undercards.

Or, if we’re being truly idealistic, more of these casual viewers watching these big events would go on to watch boxing more regularly.

I’ve yet to see that happen to a significant extent.

The biggest fights have been like the Super Bowl. People will tune in because it is a cultural event. Think of how huge the events were featuring Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather, Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao, and Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor. The sport didn’t grow.

Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul was even bigger than those events, viewed live by 65 million households globally (a household can have more than one person watching). The co-feature – the second fight between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano – had nearly 50 million international households.

But when the time came for Taylor and Serrano to wrap up their trilogy on Netflix earlier this year, their main event averaged close to six million viewers. That’s a great figure. The United States accounted for more than four million of those viewers, making it the second-highest audience for women’s sports in America in 2025. 

It’s still a fraction of the number that tuned in early for Tyson-Paul last November – perhaps because they had heard about the great co-feature – and enjoyed the amazing war that was Taylor-Serrano II.

None of the bouts announced so far have anywhere near as strong a selling point for this September 13 undercard as Taylor-Serrano II. Not to the non-boxing fan. Not even to the casual boxing fan. This is my (side) job, and the best I can say is that while I’m interested in what happens in Walsh-Vargas and Mbilli-Martinez, I’m far from inspired.

DMITRY BIVOL’S SURGERY DOESN’T HOLD UP TO SCRUTINY

So Dmitry Bivol has been injured for 10 years but only decides to get an operation the week where criticism against him intensifies? Hmmm… great timing and not suspicious at all. 

Secondly, why did he enter into rematch talks for a trilogy fight with Artur Beterbiev to be held in Russia when he was injured? Why not disclose it and then resume talks later. Instead, he ghosted at the negotiation table. 

Thirdly, he said he was injured months ago, but why did he just have surgery now? Was he waiting for an NHS appointment or something? Can he not afford to go private like other millionaire athletes? Why didn't he do this before? 

Finally, why wasn't Turki Alalshikh told about this? Why weren't the sanctioning bodies told about this? They would have given him an exemption. Why did he get stripped AND drop a belt AND avoid David Benavidez, who was his WBC mandatory? Why go through all that only to sideline yourself in the end with no money and no opponent? 

-CasperUK

Owen Lewis’ response: I get the sense from Bivol’s statement that he tried to avoid having surgery, but his back injury reached a point that demanded it. I’d guess that he did intend to fight Beterbiev for a third time, thinking he’d be capable, then backed out as surgery seemed less and less avoidable.

Bivol vacated the WBC title in April, which may not seem like too long ago – but seems plenty of time for a back injury to go from manageably painful to a constant impediment. My answer to your last question, then, is that I think Bivol felt he needed to prioritize his physical welfare ahead of the fights he had on the table.

Though I disagree with your suspicions, I certainly see where you’re coming from. Bivol could have avoided any criticism by announcing his injury earlier, if not his surgery. Instead, Bivol’s social media activity over the past couple weeks amounted to some smiley vacation content and a story wishing a happy birthday to “@turki,” overlaid with a picture of Alalshikh. 

My first instinct was to say that Bivol or his team don’t bother with social media much. But they’d have to be seriously out of the loop to not understand the developing narrative, that Bivol was aging out a borderline geriatric Artur Beterbiev: his comments were littered with references to the spoiled trilogy. Maybe there’s more to the story than we know, maybe Team Bivol just royally dropped the ball. If they did, they can’t say the conspiratorial comments are coming from nowhere.

JARON ENNIS CAN DO BETTER THAN UISMA LIMA

Bozy Ennis needs to stop coddling his youngest son and start allowing him to become a man. This is getting embarrassing (“Jaron Ennis heading back to Philadelphia to fight Uisma Lima in junior middleweight debut”). This only goes to show that he doesn’t believe that his son is at the elite level yet or as good as everyone believes. He has developed enough. Jaron is a 28-year-old, grown-ass man. He no longer needs you to hold him by the hand anymore. So let the kid grow up. 

-champion4ever

David Greisman’s response: It’s understandable that boxing fans want to see Jaron “Boots” Ennis in bigger fights given how many years he was pushed as the future of the welterweight division.

When the two biggest stars at 147lbs departed, there was a power vacuum left behind by Terence Crawford and Errol Spence. We didn’t get a fight between Ennis and Brian Norman Jnr. The sole step up in class for Ennis was his final hurrah at welterweight, when he dominated Eimantas Stanionis to unify two world titles and capture the Ring Magazine championship.

So now that Ennis has shown just what he can do against a certain tier of opponent, it’s understandable that boxing fans want to see him continue to step up. And it was enticing to imagine who he could face in this packed junior middleweight division, where the names include titleholders Sebastian Fundora, Bakhram Murtazaliev and Xander Zayas, as well as contenders such as Serhii Bohachuk and Vergil Ortiz Jnr.

Lima doesn’t carry similar name recognition. He is 14-1 and fell short against Aaron McKenna in 2023, losing a wide decision.

But Grey Johnson of BoxRec makes a compelling case that Lima isn’t as bad a choice of opponent as others think:

“Uisma Lima's combined opponent record of his last four fight (all wins) were 66-1, but, yeah, sure, bad fighter,” Johnson posted on X. “[I] will accept apologies when he’s standing after 12 like I said [Karen] Chukhadzhian would (TWICE). He's going to be competitive, just like Chukhadzhian was, and he’s a better offensive fighter – and Boots is coming to his weight class. I think it’s going to be a good fight. Also, his win over [Shervantaigh] Koopman in South Africa is more significant than anything Karen Chukhadzhian did before the first Boots fight.”

But as boxing observer Mark Ortega responded, it’s still a letdown that Ennis-Lima is an elimination bout for a shot at the WBA title currently held by Terence Crawford (Yoenis Tellez has the interim belt). The WBA has Ennis ranked No. 2 and Lima at No. 10.

“I’m having a hard time understanding how [Lima] is in a final eliminator given I doubt the other eight dudes passed on the fight,” Ortega wrote.

(Abass Baraou is ranked first, while numbers 3-9 are Pavel Sosulin, Jesus Ramos, Magomed Kurbanov, Caoimhin Agyarko, Israil Madrimov, Andreas Katzourakis and Isaac Lucero.)

I defer to Johnson, who has seen far more of Lima than I have, on his qualifications. And I agree with Ortega’s point. But I otherwise have no issue with the fight.

Oleksandr Usyk’s first bout at heavyweight was against Chazz Witherspoon before he ratcheted up the level of difficulty to Dereck Chisora and then a shot at Anthony Joshua for three world titles. Of course, Usyk had also just wrapped up a stellar run at cruiserweight, and so he could be forgiven for taking a step back in quality while getting used to his new weight class.

Ennis is dipping his toes into the waters at 154, but he also hasn’t built up a bunch of goodwill with boxing fans. Some of the fights that haven’t happened aren’t his fault. Some people think he’s otherwise been ducking other top competition.

They wanted better than Lima for Ennis’ first fight at junior middleweight. It’s incumbent on Team Ennis to win impressively on October 11 in Philadelphia and then choose wisely for his first foe of 2026.

WHEN WILL OMAR TRINIDAD FACE SOMEONE WITH A PULSE?

Omar Trinidad fights nothing but handpicked bums. Totally padded record. Apparently his team doesn't really have confidence in him.

 -wildman

Lucas Ketelle’s response: I disagree that Trinidad’s record is padded; it is a different path. He is taking a blue-collar route not unlike another L.A. fighter, Daniel Roman. 

Two years ago, Trinidad fought Adan Ochoa, a tough up-and-comer, and beat him in a local rivalry bout. Viktor Slavinskyi and Mike Plania served as veteran experience as he awaits a title shot. 

Yes, he might lack that marquee 50-50 fight, but he is developing fight by fight. Not bad for a fighter who started his career with a draw. When Trinidad gets to the next level, he will surprise some people because he is tough, ready and willing. In the next two fights, he should get an opportunity to prove himself. 

MICHAEL HUNTER CAN BLAME HIMSELF AS MUCH AS DON KING

At this point if you still work with Don King and get fucked, that’s on you (“Don King looks to stop Michael Hunter and Jarrell Miller fighting on September 11”). I can’t think of anyone in the boxing world who has that kind of reputation as King or who has been sued as many times as King. Buyer beware – this product comes with no warranty, except that it is guaranteed that it will fuck you over. 

-alexjust

David Greisman’s response: King’s reputation doesn’t just precede him. It has pretty much been his reputation for two decades now, to the point that a young writer named David Greisman penned a column 19 years ago for this very website noting that light heavyweight Tomasz Adamek had filed a lawsuit against King while heavyweight Larry Donald was asking for his release.

Yet fighters continue to sign with King and then allege that he’s not living up to the terms of their agreement. It’s the boxing business equivalent of the famed meme: “‘I never thought leopards would eat MY face,’ sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.”

But when you’re Adrien Broner, Blair Cobbs, Hunter or some of the other formerly notable names in his stable – and it’s hard to say who’s fighting under the Don King banner, given that his own website doesn’t even have the standard list in an easily accessible location – it’s possible to put yourself in their shoes for why they make the same mistake that others did.

Their careers are on the downswing. They’re free agents and likely not getting attention from other promoters, or the offers they did receive weren’t what they were seeking. And then King comes along and makes promises. To these fighters, something is better than nothing. Yet they wind up with a promoter who has no mainstream television or streaming dates –  admittedly, there are plenty of promoters like that – but who also seems more intent on keeping his fighters on ice between King’s rare events rather than farming them out on other promoters’ shows.

On a side note, it’s comical that Hunter is even ranked No. 1 by the WBA and in line for a shot at one of its three – yes, three – world titleholders. Hunter lost in April 2024 to Artem Suslenkov. Of course, when BoxRec lists “IBA Pro” bouts like Hunter-Suslenkov in a separate tab, it’s easy to think that Hunter is otherwise unbeaten since his 2017 loss to Oleksandr Usyk at cruiserweight.

Hunter rebounded with a shutout of the 23-1 Cassius Chaney in June 2024 and then stopped the 10-10-1 Christian Larrondo Garcia last December. That has somehow landed him a potential title shot. And to King, having a share of the heavyweight crown has always been a way for him to remain relevant, even if in some minor fashion, in the boxing business.

 

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.