Andrei Arlovski, Henry Cejudo to Make Boxing Debuts?

by Luke Thomas on Nov 19, 2008 11:47 AM EST in News Comment 5 comments

That's one contention being tossed around. Notable quote:

Gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic wrestler Henry Cejudo is spending time working out in a Phoenix boxing gym, and may ultimately transform into fighting atop a roped-off canvas, my friend Norm Frauenheim (formerly of the Arizona Republic) writes on 15rounds.com.

...

Although a future deal with Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions would seem a natural, company matchmaker Eric Gomez said he hasn't yet scouted Cejudo.

On a side note, Gomez said Golden Boy is angling to stage a fight featuring MMA heavyweight and ex-UFC champion Andrei Arlovski in boxing. Arlovski will first fight MMA star Fedor Emelianenko on Jan. 24 in Anaheim, but he's trained with famed boxing trainer Freddie Roach and is expected to make his boxing debut later in 2009, Gomez said.

"Freddie's very high on him, he's been sparring with Juan Carlos Gomez," Gomez said. "We'll see where it goes."

For folks not familiar, Gomez is now the WBC mandatory challenger to Vitali Klitschko's heavyweight strap. Gomez has had some missteps in his career, but is arguably a top 10 heavyweight in the world. If Arlovski is sparring well with Gomez, that portends success for any future ventures in boxing. And as it's been discussed many times over, that's also good for MMA insofar as technical legitimacy is concerned if a recognized talent can crossover into boxing and compete at the highest level.

As for Cejudo, it's disheartening to hear he'd rather make a move towards boxing than MMA giving his unreal wrestling pedigree. He's literally the youngest American to ever win an Olympic wrestling medal. There was word that Henry and his wrestling standout brother Angel were potentially making their way towards MMA, but it appears those rumors were not accurate. Oh well. We still have Ben Askren and King Mo.

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Not that I could be bothered to actually read the article, but doesn’t it stand to reason that Cejudo may be training boxing for MMA? He’s presumably got a great ground game already, so why not focus on stand up at this point? Maybe he just feels that’s the better avenue to entry into the sport than signing on with an Arizona Combat Sports or Team Takedown, teams known for transitioning amateur wrestling standouts into Mixed Martial Artists.

by Brett Jones on Nov 19, 2008 1:32 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

AA probably has the skills to compete in a weak HW division in boxing. My question would be his chin. No doubt many of the top guys have better boxing strikes than Tim Sylvia, so what would happen when he catches one?

http://eliotmarshall.com/

by BJJDenver on Nov 19, 2008 2:58 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

AA

i think arlovski would be fine if he catches one. you know in boxing they get a ten count or a standing 8 count unlike mma where a fighter can pounce on a fallen opponent. i dont THINK a.a has benn knocked cold, but i could be wrong. just think in the 2nd sylvia fight, after aa got caught by tim, if tim would have been made to back up and a.a. would have had 10 -15seconds to recover, he probably would have survived that round b/c there was’nt much time left. i think if a.a somehow beats fedor (a big if, but im rooting for him) then i think he should stick to mma exclusively. if he loses then he can try boxing.

by bdw on Nov 19, 2008 5:10 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

ya, very good points.

http://eliotmarshall.com/

by BJJDenver on Nov 19, 2008 5:50 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Henry Cejudo too small for MMA?

The guy fought at 121lbs in the Olympics. I think if he were bigger he would definitely move into MMA where he has all the natural advantages. Wrestling does not translate well into boxing at all. They are two totally different sports with different emphasis.

by rainmaker6 on Nov 19, 2008 8:40 PM EST reply actions 0 recs