While 2020 was a challenging time for the entire world, sports gave us an escape from the troubles of life. Boxing especially delivered some extremely entertaining competition. In the year of 2020 we got the return of GGG and Canelo Alvarez, Tyson Fury took down the Bronze Bomber, Deontay Wilder, Teofimo Lopez upset Lomachenko, and that’s just scratching the surface. However, while all of these fights were huge and entertaining, the best fight of 2020 came on October 3 when the southpaw, Jose Zepeda, took on the power punching Ivan Baranchyk in the Top Ranked bubble at the MGM Grand. There is something special about fights like this one. They do not resemble a normal boxing match but rather a war. Shades of Gatti vs. Ward and Bradley vs. Provodnikov exist within this battle.

The excitement started with the first punch as Baranchyk wasted no time. His first punch, a powerful left hook, landed flush on Zepedas face. Baranchyk continued with powerful hooks and an aggressive approach to the first round, which proved successful as Baranchyk knocked Zepeda down twice in the first round. While he did go down twice, Zepeda did not seem to be hurt at all and came back firing in the second round.

In the opening seconds of the second round, Zepeda caught Baranchyk with his back turned and sent him to the canvas, however, the referee did not rule Baranchyk down even though his gloves did touch the ground. Zepeda did make up for the uncalled knockdown by delivering a volley of punches that sent Baranchyk to the ground without question. Baranchyk shot back up and right back into the fight. Zepeda then landed several shots to Baranchyk’s head, backing him up in the process. Then, in a surprising turn of events, less than thirty seconds after he got knocked down, Baranchyk landed a short right hook and sent Zepeda down to the canvas. Zepeda was able to get back up quickly and continue the fight. The round ended with both fighters trading shots and Baranchyk displaying his strenght by shoving Zepeda into the ropes.

Within two rounds, just six minutes of boxing, there had been four knockdowns. Neither fighter looked hurt, but Zepeda began the third round having been sent to the canvas three times. Both fighters had landed a similar amount of punches, Zepeda with 21 and Baranchyk with 23. With a 3-1 knockdown advantage, Baranchyk was clearly up in the score cards. However, the way this fight had gone so far, the score cards would not matter.

The third round started a bit slow, but quickly picked up the pace as the two fighters trade blows. Then, at the two minute mark, Zepeda landed several left hands to the head a Baranchyk and sent him to the ground yet again. However, just as he had the first time, Baranchyk stood up just as soon as he hit the canvas. Despite the knock down, Baranchyk continued his barrage of power punches. The third round ended with both fighters still standing, but both had gone down multiple times and even the great Timothy Bradley, who was on commentary, was wondering how the two men were still standing.

The forth round began as most of the others, a slow start that quickly picked up as Baranchyk look for a knockout with every punch and Zepeda continued to be methodical in his shot selection. After a few exciting exchanges, Zepeda finally landed a strong left hook to the head of Baranchyk sending him down to the canvas once again with 21 seconds left in the round. Baranchyk had now been sent to the canvas three times and despite a heavy left hand thrown at the end of the round, Baranchyk finally looked hurt.

The fifth round saw a recovered Baranchyk come out swinging. However, despite Baranchyk’s aggressive aproch, Zepeda was more accurate and faster. Zepeda looked to be in control of the round until, with 36 seconds left, Baranchyk landed a hard right hook on Zepeda’s head, sending him crashing into the corner. Baranchyk pursued the knockout but was stopped when the referee ruled it a knockdown and began the eight count. Zepeda looked to be ok and was ready to continue. The two fighters squared up and with 17 second left in the round Zepeda threw two punches. The first was a soft left hook that did not land. The second was a powerful right hook that landed flush on Baranchyk’s chin and sent his limp body crashing to the floor. The fight was immediately stopped and Jose Zepeda was declared the winner.

This fight was a battle that no one will forget. With the winner being knocked down four times and a knockout for the ages, it is easy to see why of all the huge fights 2020 had to offer this one was named fight of the year. This fight was truly a battle to be remembered.

The NBA is back for its 2020-2021 season and the two LA franchises are returning as two of the best in the western conference. Both believe they can claim LA, both believe they are worthy of this years championship, and one of them already has one. The Clippers and Lakers face off tomorrow, opening day of the NBA season, as the second game of the season. Both teams are running it back with familiar stars, but have also brought in some new faces.

With Kawhi Leonard and Paul George at the helm, the Clippers came into the 2019-2020 season with high expectations. Many people picked them to take the NBA title last year and with Kawhi and LeBron battling it out for the soul of LA, fans were on the edge of their seats. However, the Clippers did little other than disappoint last season. Rumors of chemistry issues spread, especially between the stars of the team and their coach, Doc Rivers. This however did not stop the Clippers from achieving regular season success and going into the playoffs as the second seed in the west, right behind the Lakers. The Clippers handled the seven seeded Mavericks and moved on to face a tough Denver Nuggets team in the second round.

With a 3-1 lead over Denver, the battle for LA seemed to be destined to come to a head in the western conference semi-finals. The Nuggets had other plans. Lead by Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets made a historic comeback and knocked the Clippers out of contention in a thrilling seven game series. The collapse forced the Clippers to make some tough decisions and everyone expected them to have a big off season.

The Clippers fired coach Doc Rivers and hired LeBron’s former coach Ty Lou. They also made some moves on draft night which sent Landry Shamet to Brooklyn and replaced him with Detroit’s Luke Kennard, who offers the Clippers some much needed perimeter shooting and just all around great shooting. The Clippers did not do much in the offseason. They opted to let sixth man Montrezl Harrell go and picked up Kawhi’s former Toronto team mate Serge Ibaka. This will be a big upgrade. Not only will Ibaka provide solid scoring and rebounding for the team, he will provide veteran leadership to the Clippers locker room. As the supposed leader of the team, Kawhi Leonard has seemed to struggle in the area of leadership. Bringing in some one like Ibaka could seriously help with locker room chemistry, which is something the Clippers definitely struggled with last year.

Even with those few moves, the Clippers offseason was far from a success. Rumors hit quickly during free agency that the Clippers were looking to acquire a star point guard. The primary targets seemed to be former Clipper Chris Paul, Russel Westbrook, and the champion guard from across the hall, Rajon Rondo. Obviously things did not go the Clippers way as all three of those players have found new homes outside of LA. What many expected to be a busy offseason for the Clippers turned out to be a couple of small victories with several missed opportunities.

The Lakers, however, were the complete opposite of their LA counterparts. They finish last season as the number one seed and cruised to the NBA finals were they beat the Cinderella Miami Heat to win it all. After winning a championship, most teams would run it back the next season, believing that they would be good enough to make another run the following year. But the Lakers didn’t do that. Not only did they make some big moves, they some how got better.

The Lakers actually lost several key players. Dwight Howard, who rebuilt his reputation with the Lakers and provided a spark off the bench, now finds himself with the 76ers. Rondo, who was a key facilitator for the Lake Show, is now with the Hawk in Atlanta. Danny Green, Avery Bradley, and Javale McGee, all of which were excellent key players for the Lakers, have all found new homes in the NBA. At first it seems like a very bad offseason for the Lakers. They lost five players who were vital to the 2019-2020 championship season. It looks pretty bad, until you look at who they acquired.

The biggest signing the Lakers made was not necessarily great because of the player but because of the meaning behind it. As mentioned above, the Clippers did not make Montrezl Harrell a focus in the offseason, allowing him to leave. He signed with the Lakers. While Harrell is a great player and a fantastic sixth man, the Lakers taking away a key player for the Clippers is a big power move in the battle for LA. Harrell will provide strong minutes for the Lakers off the bench and is a blow to the confidence of the rival Clippers.

The Lakers also replace Rajon Rondo with a player who has been called a younger version of Rondo in Dennis Schroder. While Schroder doesn’t bring the veteran presence that Rondo did, Schroder gives the Lakers a younger and more skilled player at the guard position. Markieff Morris also resigned with the Lakers. Morris played in every game during the Lakers championship playoff run and proved himself as a valuable asset to the Lakers team. The Lakers also resigned Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who had one of the best seasons of his career last year. KCP was extremely valuable on offense and shot 38.5% from three-point range.

Even with all of the signings, the Lakers needed more. They lost two centers in Dwight Howard and Javale McGee, leaving the team with out much depth at the center position. They fixed that by signing Toronto center Marc Gasol. Gasol will give the Lakers a big rebounding presence inside and will also be able to spread the floor with his three-point shooting. Last year Gasol shot 38.5 percent from three and averaged 6.3 rebounds.

With LeBron James and Anthony Davis leading a team that is even better than last years championship team, it is hard to imagine anyone in the west stopping their return to the finals. The Lakers seem to be far better than their LA rivals. While the Clippers were active in the offseason, the pieces that they brought in make them only slightly better than before. The Clippers main issue is their chemistry. With a new coach and new players entering the rotation, this will be their biggest challenge off the court. The odds seem to be in favor of the LA Lakers.

The Battle for LA will continue tomorrow, December 22. The two teams will face off on TNT at 9:00 pm following the Nets season opener against the Warriors.

Boxing superstars Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez did not disappoint in their return to the ring. Both fighters dominated their opponents with GGG showing off his tremendous power and Canelo giving boxing fans yet another reason to call him the best pound for pound fighter in the world. GGG was able to retain his IBF middleweight title and Canelo walked away from the ring with three new belts to add to his trophy case.

The first fight saw Golovkin take on Polish boxer Kamil Szeremeta. While most people believed that GGG was an easy favorite, there was talk about whether or not he had lost a step. The 38-year-old wasted no time in proving those rumors wrong. He scored four knockdowns before the referee called a stop to the fight before the eighth round. However, due to the lack of quality boxing GGG faced in Szeremeta, many people are still skeptical, wondering if Golovkin’s flawless victory was a result of his skill or his opponents lack there of. The real test will come in Golovkin’s fights to come. Many expect him to fight much tougher opponents, such as Jermall Charlo. With a third fight with Canelo Alvarez expected to come in the next year, Gennady Golovkin will receive much more difficult opponents as his skill and age continue to be tested.

Canelo Alvarez faced a more difficult challenge as he took on Callum Smith the day after GGG’s win. Despite being the challenger, Alvarez entered the fight as the favorite. The fight only justified the favoritism. Alvarez erased Smith’s seven inch height advantage by pushing inside and keeping Smith against the ropes. He utilized his strong uppercuts to split Smith’s guard and took the fight to Smith’s body beautifully. The fight statistics only further proved the Mexican boxer’s dominance. Alvarez landed forty-three percent of his punches and fifty-seven percent of his power punches. Smith was able to last all twelve rounds of the fight, but ultimately lost by unanimous decision, a result that no one argued.

Alvarez’s win delivered him the two titles that Smith once claimed, the WBA super middleweight title and The Ring super middleweight title, as well as the vacant WBC super middleweight title. While a GGG trilogy fight is expected by some and would be a big money maker, Alvarez expressed his intent to unify the super middleweight division.

“I want all the belts and it doesn’t matter who is there,” said Alvarez.

Alvarez did, however, say that he would take a fight against GGG, saying that he will “fight against the best.” The two fighters seem destined to clash in the ring for a third time, but with Canelo being a promotional free agent and looking to unify at super middleweight, it could take longer than fans would hope for.

Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez, two fighters whose names became synonymous with each other during their two fights in 2017 and 2018, are making their return to the ring today and tomorrow. Both fighters will be fighting for the first time in 2020. Golovkin will defend his IBF middleweight title when he takes on the 21-0 Polish boxer Kamil Szeremeta today, while Alverez will take on 27-0 English boxer Callum Smith in a fight that sees three titles up for grabs on Saturday.

Golovkin’s fight against Szeremeta is a mandatory fight, meaning if he were to refuse to fight he would be forced to vacate his IBF middleweight title. While Szeremeta’s 21-0 record may appear to make this a great matchup, many are questioning whether or not he deserves to be fighting for a title. Yes, he is undefeated. However, only 5 of Szeremeta’s 21 victories have come by way of knockout and there have been questions about the quality of his opponents. While it is clear that the 38-year-old Golovkin has been on the decline since his brutal knockout of Kell Brook in 2016, having a draw and a loss to Canelo Alvarez on his record, most fight analysts feel that Golovkin will win this fight comfortably. Golovkin is coming into the fight with a 40-1-1 record with 35 of those 40 wins coming by way of knockout. It’s safe to say that if Szeremeta is able to beat Golovkin it would be a massive upset and potentially a career ending loss for the champ.

While Golovkin will be defending his title, Canelo Alvarez will be attempting to claim several. On Saturday, December 19, Alvarez will take on Callum Smith, the current WBA super middleweight champion and The Ring super middleweight champion. Also on the line is the vacant WBC super middle weight title. Canelo Alvarez, who comes into the bout with a record of 53-1-2, is no stranger to championship fights. He made history in his last fight when he defeated Sergey Kovalev for the WBO light heavyweight title and became a four-division champion. Despite the fact that Smith is coming into the fight as the champion he is the underdog in this scenario. If he were to beat Alvarez, who many regard as the best pound for pound boxer in the world, it would a big upset.

However, just because Smith is the underdog does not mean he is a slouch. Smith brings a 7-inch height advantage over Alvarez and while his two title defenses have not been extremely impressive, he is still a champion. Smith also has experience with Alvarez as he was present when his brother, Liam Smith, lost his WBO junior middleweight championship to Alvarez in 2016. While Smith has admitted that he did not perform well in his title defenses, he seems to have embraced the opportunity to fight Alvarez. This fight will, no doubt, be the biggest fight in Smith’s career.

While neither of these upcoming bouts are the final Golovkin Alvarez trilogy fight that most fight fans have been wanting, it will be nice to see two of the best in the business back in the ring. Both fights will be streamed live on DAZN and will be available in over 200 countries. The Golovkin vs. Szeremeta card will begin today at 5:00pm ET and the Alvarez vs. Smith card will begin on Saturday at 8:00pm ET.

My predictions:

Golovkin vs. Szeremeta: Golovkin wins by KO in round 4.

Alvarez vs. Smith: Alvarez wins by TKO in round 9.

As the Los Angeles Lakers attempts to claim their seventeenth NBA Championship against LeBron James’ former team the Miami Heat, its time to stack the two up and see who comes out on top. The Lakers come into this series bringing two of the best players in the league in LeBron James and Anthony Davis. With a cast of seasoned veterans behind them in Rajon Rondo, Dwight Howard, Danny Green, and others this team is riddled with talent and experience. Miami brings something very different to the table. Led by the talented veteran Jimmy Butler, the Miami Heat are a mixed bag of young and old players. Running the floor are veterans of the game like Butler, Iguadola, and Dragic. Running with them are young, break out talents such as Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo. Together they form a scrappy squad who has defied the odds time and time again in the NBA bubble.

The number five seeded Heat come into this series the same way they have in every series, as the underdog. In every 2020 playoff series they have been the lower seed, but every time they have come out on top. They swept the number four Pacers and then went on to take down the unstoppable Greek Freak and his number one ranked Milwaukee Bucks. They then faced the Boston Celtics, a tough defensive team with an incredible amount of offensive talent. But just as they had before, the Miami Heat prevailed, led by the hot hands of Goran Dragic, Tyler Herro, and Bam Adebayo.

The Lakers, however, have performed to expectations. They handled the first two rounds with ease, taking down Portland and Houston in five games, and while their series with the Nuggets was closer than it appeared, the Lakers still took the series in five as well. James and Davis have been excellent through the playoffs. LeBron has proven that he is still one of the best players in the league, averaging near a triple-double in the playoffs with 26.7 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 8.9 assists. Anthony Davis is in the midst of the deepest playoff run of his career and while the pressure is on, it hasn’t fazed him. Davis has averaged 28.8 points and 9.3 rebounds in the playoffs. He even nailed a game winning three against the Nuggets to put the Lakers up 2-0 in the series. Along with them comes a group of solid scorers and defenders. The Los Angeles Lakers are a team of overwhelming talent and experience.

In order the capture their fourth title, the Heat will have to overcome many obstacles, the first of which is their lack of experience. The only players on the Miami team that have finals experience are Andre Iguadola and Udonis Haslem, who hasn’t played in these playoffs. Iguadola will have to take a large leadership role in order to prepare his team for the upcoming series. Then again, these finals are unlike any that have come before so experience may not matter as much.

Miami will also have to be at their best defensively. They have faced some prolific scorers in these playoffs in the form of Giannis Antetekounmpo and Jason Tatum, but they have yet to face anything like LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Butler and Iguadola will undoubtedly take on LeBron, being the elite and proven defenders that they are. Iguadola has a lot of experience guarding James as they met manyz times in their battles with the Warriors and Cavaliers. However, Davis may be more of a concern for the Heat due to the fact that he will be Bam Adebayo’s main responsibility.

While Adebayo has proven himself to be an excellent rim protector during the playoffs, the competition he has faced at center has been nothing compared to Anthony Davis. Davis is not only fast, agile, and an excellent ball handler, but he is a threat from anywhere. He is a 36.6% three-point shooter and will post you up just as easy has he will cross you over. Bam will also meet fierce opposition defensively as Anthony Davis was named a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year. While Davis may not have a easy time going up against Bam, Adebayo will most certainly have his hands full .

The Heat have several x-factors coming into this series. The first is a 20-year-old rookie named Tyler Herro. In game three he finished with 22 points and followed that up with a 37-point performance. He had five three-pointers in game 4 and appeared to score with ease against a tough Celtics defense. The second is Miami’s point guard, Goran Dragic. The Heat tend to feed the hot hand and for the first two games of the Celtics series that was Dragic. He led the Heat in scoring in the first two games with 29 points in game one and 25 points in game two. Dragic continued his high level offense, scoring 22 points or more in four of the six games against the Celtics. The third, of course, is Bam Adebayo. Throughout the playoffs Bam has averaged 18.5 points on 57.1% shooting and 11.4 rebounds. His scoring a rebounding ability will be a vital part of the upcoming series.

Los Angeles has some more obvious x-factors. The Lakers supporting cast has performed well. KCP has averaged 9.9 points and Rojon Rondo has joined LeBron in the assist game, bringing an average of 7.2 assists per-game. Dwight Howard has provided valuable minutes off the bench, something that wasn’t even thought of as possible since his departure from Houston. However, Kyle Kuzma seems to be the biggest question for this Lakers squad. Every championship team needs those super stars. The players that will lead the team, be prolific on offense, and fight hard on the defensive end. But every championship team needs that third man. That player who can pick up the slack and provide solid minutes on the offensive and defensive side of the floor. That has to be Kyle Kuzma. He has not been great in these playoffs, averaging 10.5 points per-game. However, if Kuzma can pick it up and have a few break out games, he will cause some real problems for the Heat.

This will be an interesting series to say the least. LeBron will face his former team that brought him his first NBA title in an effort to claim his first as a Laker. Anthony Davis and Jimmy Butler, two elite players in the NBA, will attempt to hold up their first title. The Heat will face an overwhelming amount of talent while the Lakers will take on a young and gritty team. The NBA Finals will begin on Wednesday and will be aired on ABC at 8:00 p.m.

My pick: Los Angeles Lakers in 6.

No one gave the Mississippi State Bulldogs much of a chance in their first game of the 2020 college football season. The team was coming off a sub-par 6-7 2019 season and a Music City Bowl loss to Louisville. On top of that the Bulldogs had brought in a new head coach in Mike Leach and a new quarter back in KJ Costello. With no spring football to help this team adjust to their new offense or their new quarter back it looked like an easy win for the defending national champion LSU Tigers.

However, the Tigers had some problems of their own. Despite coming off of a 2019 dream season in which they finish with a perfect record and took home a National Championship, COVID-19 and the NFL draft had taken a tole on LSU football. Fourteen total players from the 2019 roster were drafted in the NFL draft. Players were also given the chance to opt out of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Several of them took that option as others left the team in different ways. When it came down to it the LSU Tigers football team entered training for the 2020 season with a total of thirty one players from the 2019 championship roster gone, including seven offensive linemen, five defensive linemen, and five linebackers. Despite the loss of so much of their team, the Tigers still came into their first game against the unranked Mississippi State Bulldogs as the number six ranked team in the country and LSU fans were excited to start the season.

That excitement would, however, dwindle as Mississippi State’s new “air raider” offense got going. Mississippi State’s star Running Back, Kylin Hill, who last season had 242 rushing attempts for 1350 yards, had only 7 attempts for 34 yards. However, on Saturday Hill lead the team in receptions with 8 catches for 158 yards. Even more impressive was Mississippi State’s new quarter back, KJ Costello. In his SEC debut, Costello completed 36/60 passes and passed for 623 yards, which set the record for most passing yards by an SEC quarter back in a single game. In addition Costello had five touchdowns in the game. Two more stand outs on the offensive end were wide receivers Osirus Mitchell and Javonta Payton. Mitchell racked up seven receptions for 183 yards while Payton finished with six receptions for 122 yards.

All-in-all not having spring football to fine tune the offense didn’t appear to be a problem for the Bulldogs. Other than a couple of turnovers and several faulty snaps, Mississippi State’s offense look solid and cohesive. Quarter back and wide receiver chemistry didn’t seem to be an issue either as Costello had a total of ten different targets, six of which had two or more receptions.

The Mississippi State defense also came ready to play. The Tigers were held scoreless in the first quarter and LSU’s new quarter back, Myles Brennan, was sacked seven times. In fact, LSU’s offense only scored one touchdown in the first half.

The Mississippi State Bulldogs pulled off a historic upset, beating the number six ranked LSU Tigers 44-34 in Death Valley. As of now the Bulldogs stand as the number 14 team in the country while the Tigers have fallen out of the top 25. next week LSU will be away as they face Vanderbilt at 6:30 p.m. while Mississippi State will take on Arkansas at home at 6:30 p.m.