Boxing News Thread
- Thread starter heyzel
- Start date
better picture
http://es.justin.tv/pikabia#/w/1811327120
great fight on the undercard! they goin at it bout to knock each other out lol
http://es.justin.tv/pikabia#/w/1811327120
great fight on the undercard! they goin at it bout to knock each other out lol
damn, old man is retarded...
FLOYD MAYWEATHER SR : "That’s what the whole thing is about anyway—him taking the test and him going to the Philippines! Every time a fight happens he goes to the Philippines and then he comes back! Why in the hell would anyone go to the Philippines?! For what?! Every time there is a fight he goes to the Philippines! What are you going to the Philippines for?!"
FLOYD MAYWEATHER SR : "That’s what the whole thing is about anyway—him taking the test and him going to the Philippines! Every time a fight happens he goes to the Philippines and then he comes back! Why in the hell would anyone go to the Philippines?! For what?! Every time there is a fight he goes to the Philippines! What are you going to the Philippines for?!"
Oscar: Golden boy and top rank will make history together.
Oscar De La Hoya
Adrien bronner vs gamboa or juanmanuel Lopez
And of course Floyd money mayweather vs manny paquiao
We have Guerrero the ghost vs bam bam rios
We have Lucas Matisse vs this kid they have from Denver at 140
We at golden boy just want to make the best fights happen and want to work with everyone.
Golden boy and top rank will make history together in making all these great fights happen.
Oscar De La Hoya
Adrien bronner vs gamboa or juanmanuel Lopez
And of course Floyd money mayweather vs manny paquiao
We have Guerrero the ghost vs bam bam rios
We have Lucas Matisse vs this kid they have from Denver at 140
We at golden boy just want to make the best fights happen and want to work with everyone.
Golden boy and top rank will make history together in making all these great fights happen.
Saul Alvarez targeting Cotto and Mosley next, not Chavez Jr.
By Dan Ambrose: The talk of WBC light middleweight champion Saul Alvarez (38-0-1, 28 KO’s) facing WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (43-0-1, 30 KO’s) in a catchweight fight at 158 pounds was shot down by Alvarez, who reportedly said he’s not looking to fight Chavez Jr. now.
Instead, the 21-year-old Alvarez is interested in facing WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (36-2, 29 KO’s) or 39-year-old former three division world champion Shane Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KO’s).
Bob Arum, the promoter for Chavez Jr., is very interested in matching Chavez Jr. up with Alvarez as soon as possible. Arum realizes how big this fight would be in Mexico and no doubt wants to capitalize on this as soon as possible. It would be the biggest opportunity for his fighter Chavez Jr. to get a big payday before he gets beaten by someone else popular.
However, Alvarez doesn’t seem to have much interest in taking on the much bigger Chavez Jr. right now.
It would be a difficult fight to make anyway because of the two different promotional companies involved – Golden Boy Promotions, who promote Alvarez, and the Top Rank promoted Chavez Jr. But the catchweight of 158 lbs clearly favors the 6’0″ Chavez Jr. compared the 5’9″ Alvarez, who only recently moved up to 154 lbs. With Chavez Jr. coming into his last fight weighing a huge 180 lbs after rehydrating, Alvarez would be facing a small cruiserweight in Chavez Jr.
I think Alvarez would still win, but what’s the point? Chavez Jr. really needs to move up in weight because he clearly isn’t a middleweight anymore. It’s going to be interesting to see his trainer Freddie Roach and conditioning coach Alex Ariza trying to get him down to 160 for his next fight against Peter Manfredo Jr. in November. I can see Chavez Jr. barely making the weight and then ballooning back up to 180 lbs after the weigh-in.
A fight against Cotto is a good one for Alvarez. That’s the best he can hope for in the division right now. His two contenders Alfredo Angulo and Vanes Martirosyan are dangerous threats to him, but aren’t well known among causal boxing fans in the United States. That won’t be a big fight.
Fighting Mosley is the much less appealing bout for Alvarez, but would still bring in bigger ratings than if Alvarez were to fight Angulo and Martirosyan. Alvarez would beat Mosley at this stage in Mosley’s career because he appears to be completely shot. Mosley might make it interesting for a couple of rounds, but that’s about it.
By Dan Ambrose: The talk of WBC light middleweight champion Saul Alvarez (38-0-1, 28 KO’s) facing WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (43-0-1, 30 KO’s) in a catchweight fight at 158 pounds was shot down by Alvarez, who reportedly said he’s not looking to fight Chavez Jr. now.
Instead, the 21-year-old Alvarez is interested in facing WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (36-2, 29 KO’s) or 39-year-old former three division world champion Shane Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KO’s).
Bob Arum, the promoter for Chavez Jr., is very interested in matching Chavez Jr. up with Alvarez as soon as possible. Arum realizes how big this fight would be in Mexico and no doubt wants to capitalize on this as soon as possible. It would be the biggest opportunity for his fighter Chavez Jr. to get a big payday before he gets beaten by someone else popular.
However, Alvarez doesn’t seem to have much interest in taking on the much bigger Chavez Jr. right now.
It would be a difficult fight to make anyway because of the two different promotional companies involved – Golden Boy Promotions, who promote Alvarez, and the Top Rank promoted Chavez Jr. But the catchweight of 158 lbs clearly favors the 6’0″ Chavez Jr. compared the 5’9″ Alvarez, who only recently moved up to 154 lbs. With Chavez Jr. coming into his last fight weighing a huge 180 lbs after rehydrating, Alvarez would be facing a small cruiserweight in Chavez Jr.
I think Alvarez would still win, but what’s the point? Chavez Jr. really needs to move up in weight because he clearly isn’t a middleweight anymore. It’s going to be interesting to see his trainer Freddie Roach and conditioning coach Alex Ariza trying to get him down to 160 for his next fight against Peter Manfredo Jr. in November. I can see Chavez Jr. barely making the weight and then ballooning back up to 180 lbs after the weigh-in.
A fight against Cotto is a good one for Alvarez. That’s the best he can hope for in the division right now. His two contenders Alfredo Angulo and Vanes Martirosyan are dangerous threats to him, but aren’t well known among causal boxing fans in the United States. That won’t be a big fight.
Fighting Mosley is the much less appealing bout for Alvarez, but would still bring in bigger ratings than if Alvarez were to fight Angulo and Martirosyan. Alvarez would beat Mosley at this stage in Mosley’s career because he appears to be completely shot. Mosley might make it interesting for a couple of rounds, but that’s about it.
De La Hoya: Ortiz was just warming up against Mayweather when he was hit with a cheap
By Dan Ambrose: Oscar De La Hoya thinks that his fighter former WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz was just warming up in his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. last weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. De Hoya says Ortiz’s momentum was cut short by the cheap shot that Mayweather landed in the 4th round when referee Joe Cortez was looking outside of the ring instead of at the two fighters.
De La Hoya said this on his twitter: “Watched the Ortiz fight again, and I have to say Ortiz was coming on. It was only the 4th round and Ortiz was letting his hands go. He [Ortiz] was just warming up putting Mayweather on the ropes, then the cheap shot came [from Mayweather] along and the ref [Joe Cortez] was looking at someone ringside. Ortiz wanted to make it a street fight, not an unfair fight. I’m not trying to sell, I’m just saying that at 24-years-young, Victor was going to come on strong. 4 rounds, you are just warming up.”
De La Hoya feels that the fight was still up in the air at the time that Mayweather tagged Ortiz with a two-punch combination while the referee Cortez was distracted and looking at the ringside timekeeper. To be sure, Ortiz was coming on in the 4th round and looked powerful at the time he headbutted Mayweather in the excitement of the moment. Had the headbutt not stopped the action, it might have ended much differently. I’m not sure if Ortiz would have won or not, but he was clearly coming on at that point in the fight and looked to be having his best round.
The referee seemed to cause confusion by saying “Let’s go” when the two fighters were far apart on the opposite sides of the ring inside of bringing them together in a more traditional way and telling them to resume action up close. But what seemed to confuse Ortiz even more was when the referee turned away from the action and stared at the timekeeper for a prolonged period of time instead of what was happening in front of him in the ring.
By Dan Ambrose: Oscar De La Hoya thinks that his fighter former WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz was just warming up in his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. last weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. De Hoya says Ortiz’s momentum was cut short by the cheap shot that Mayweather landed in the 4th round when referee Joe Cortez was looking outside of the ring instead of at the two fighters.
De La Hoya said this on his twitter: “Watched the Ortiz fight again, and I have to say Ortiz was coming on. It was only the 4th round and Ortiz was letting his hands go. He [Ortiz] was just warming up putting Mayweather on the ropes, then the cheap shot came [from Mayweather] along and the ref [Joe Cortez] was looking at someone ringside. Ortiz wanted to make it a street fight, not an unfair fight. I’m not trying to sell, I’m just saying that at 24-years-young, Victor was going to come on strong. 4 rounds, you are just warming up.”
De La Hoya feels that the fight was still up in the air at the time that Mayweather tagged Ortiz with a two-punch combination while the referee Cortez was distracted and looking at the ringside timekeeper. To be sure, Ortiz was coming on in the 4th round and looked powerful at the time he headbutted Mayweather in the excitement of the moment. Had the headbutt not stopped the action, it might have ended much differently. I’m not sure if Ortiz would have won or not, but he was clearly coming on at that point in the fight and looked to be having his best round.
The referee seemed to cause confusion by saying “Let’s go” when the two fighters were far apart on the opposite sides of the ring inside of bringing them together in a more traditional way and telling them to resume action up close. But what seemed to confuse Ortiz even more was when the referee turned away from the action and stared at the timekeeper for a prolonged period of time instead of what was happening in front of him in the ring.
Khan wonders why he was criticized for facing Judah, and Maidana wasn’t for fighting
By William Mackay: IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan is wondering why he took a lot of criticism for fighting the aging past his best Zab Judah while WBA regular light welterweight champion Marcos Maidana (31-2, 28 KO’s) didn’t receive any criticism for fighting the non top 15 ranked Russian Petr Petrov (29-3-2, 13 KO’s) last Saturday night at the Sociedad Alemana, Villa Ballester, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Khan said this on his twitter: “Maidana fought last night and won by KO. Well done! But the guy [Petrov] he fought wasn’t even [ranked] in the top 50 [at light welterweight]. Y [Why] is it when I fought [Zab] Judah, who was 4th in the world, I got criticized.”
It’s easy to explain. Maidana had no time to find anyone of quality because his opponent Robert Guerrero injured his shoulder. Petrov was the best fighter they could get on short notice. There are few quality fighters willing to step in and face Maidana with only a couple of weeks to prepare. Maidana also didn’t want to take on a dangerous opponent with that little time to get ready. As such, it’s completely understandable that Maidana chose to fight Petrov.
As for why Khan took criticism for fighting Judah, it’s because a lot of boxing fans saw Judah as a shot fighter. Boxing fans wanted Khan to fight a rematch with Maidana and or Breidis Prescott. Instead of fighting those guys, Khan fought Paul McCloskey, a weak puncher last April. That was seen as a cherry-picking move by a lot of fans, because the Maidana and Prescott fights would have given Khan a lot more positive press and more attention than picking out McCloskey, who fans had little knowledge of and who had little chance to beat Khan because of his lack of power.
Khan then followed that fight up with taking on the aging Judah, and looked terrible in his controversial 12 round decision win over Lucas Matthysse last year and then in his recent win over Kaizer Mabuza. Judah hadn’t looked good since beating 2nd tier fighter Jose Armando Santa Cruz in July 2010.
So if Khan wonders why he took criticism for his win over Judah and Maidana didn’t for his fight with Petrov, it’s likely because of Khan’s reluctance to fight the dangerous opponents – Matthysse, Maidana and Prescott – that boxing fans want to see him facing instead of the guys that are being fed to him by his promoters at Golden Boy.
By William Mackay: IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan is wondering why he took a lot of criticism for fighting the aging past his best Zab Judah while WBA regular light welterweight champion Marcos Maidana (31-2, 28 KO’s) didn’t receive any criticism for fighting the non top 15 ranked Russian Petr Petrov (29-3-2, 13 KO’s) last Saturday night at the Sociedad Alemana, Villa Ballester, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Khan said this on his twitter: “Maidana fought last night and won by KO. Well done! But the guy [Petrov] he fought wasn’t even [ranked] in the top 50 [at light welterweight]. Y [Why] is it when I fought [Zab] Judah, who was 4th in the world, I got criticized.”
It’s easy to explain. Maidana had no time to find anyone of quality because his opponent Robert Guerrero injured his shoulder. Petrov was the best fighter they could get on short notice. There are few quality fighters willing to step in and face Maidana with only a couple of weeks to prepare. Maidana also didn’t want to take on a dangerous opponent with that little time to get ready. As such, it’s completely understandable that Maidana chose to fight Petrov.
As for why Khan took criticism for fighting Judah, it’s because a lot of boxing fans saw Judah as a shot fighter. Boxing fans wanted Khan to fight a rematch with Maidana and or Breidis Prescott. Instead of fighting those guys, Khan fought Paul McCloskey, a weak puncher last April. That was seen as a cherry-picking move by a lot of fans, because the Maidana and Prescott fights would have given Khan a lot more positive press and more attention than picking out McCloskey, who fans had little knowledge of and who had little chance to beat Khan because of his lack of power.
Khan then followed that fight up with taking on the aging Judah, and looked terrible in his controversial 12 round decision win over Lucas Matthysse last year and then in his recent win over Kaizer Mabuza. Judah hadn’t looked good since beating 2nd tier fighter Jose Armando Santa Cruz in July 2010.
So if Khan wonders why he took criticism for his win over Judah and Maidana didn’t for his fight with Petrov, it’s likely because of Khan’s reluctance to fight the dangerous opponents – Matthysse, Maidana and Prescott – that boxing fans want to see him facing instead of the guys that are being fed to him by his promoters at Golden Boy.
Maidana fires back at Khan: You’re running scared of me
By William Mackay: Earlier today, IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan asked on his twitter page why WBA light welterweight champion Marcos Maidana didn’t receive any criticism for fight against Petr Petrov last weekend while Khan took massive stick for facing Zab Judah recently.
Maidana answered back on his twitter, saying “Cause you run scared for me, that’s why. For the Queen’s fans. It’s not me talking about here, she always start mentioning my name and I’ll always answer every-time she does.”
As you can tell, Maidana have a lot of respect for Khan. The reason is because Khan wants no part of a rematch with Maidana, even though Khan took a terrible battering in his 12 round decision win over Maidana last December in a fight that was picked as the fight of the year. Usually when you get a fight as exciting at the Khan-Maidana fight was, both fighters want to get back in the ring and fight a rematch. Maidana wants to, but Khan doesn’t want to fight Maidana again. Instead, Khan has faced Paul McCloskey and Zab Judah since then. Neither of those fights were anywhere close to being as exciting as the Maidana vs. Khan fight, and they were never expected to be. No one thought McCloskey-Khan would be competitive, and it wasn’t. That was a fight that Khan wanted instead of Maidana. And Judah only had a knockout chance to win going into his fight with Khan, because Judah’s workrate has dropped off significantly in recent years.
The Khan-Maidana fight was controversial as it was, because of the referee Joe Cortez constantly breaking the action in the last three rounds when Maidana had Khan hurt. Before then, Cortez was pretty much staying out of the way of the two fighters. However, when Khan was hurt and taking punishment, Cortez picked the absolute worst times to break up the action when a hurt Khan was taking severe punishment by Maidana along the ropes. Had Cortez just let Maidana continue to work, it’s possible that Maidana would have knocked Khan out.
By William Mackay: Earlier today, IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan asked on his twitter page why WBA light welterweight champion Marcos Maidana didn’t receive any criticism for fight against Petr Petrov last weekend while Khan took massive stick for facing Zab Judah recently.
Maidana answered back on his twitter, saying “Cause you run scared for me, that’s why. For the Queen’s fans. It’s not me talking about here, she always start mentioning my name and I’ll always answer every-time she does.”
As you can tell, Maidana have a lot of respect for Khan. The reason is because Khan wants no part of a rematch with Maidana, even though Khan took a terrible battering in his 12 round decision win over Maidana last December in a fight that was picked as the fight of the year. Usually when you get a fight as exciting at the Khan-Maidana fight was, both fighters want to get back in the ring and fight a rematch. Maidana wants to, but Khan doesn’t want to fight Maidana again. Instead, Khan has faced Paul McCloskey and Zab Judah since then. Neither of those fights were anywhere close to being as exciting as the Maidana vs. Khan fight, and they were never expected to be. No one thought McCloskey-Khan would be competitive, and it wasn’t. That was a fight that Khan wanted instead of Maidana. And Judah only had a knockout chance to win going into his fight with Khan, because Judah’s workrate has dropped off significantly in recent years.
The Khan-Maidana fight was controversial as it was, because of the referee Joe Cortez constantly breaking the action in the last three rounds when Maidana had Khan hurt. Before then, Cortez was pretty much staying out of the way of the two fighters. However, when Khan was hurt and taking punishment, Cortez picked the absolute worst times to break up the action when a hurt Khan was taking severe punishment by Maidana along the ropes. Had Cortez just let Maidana continue to work, it’s possible that Maidana would have knocked Khan out.
Brilliant Mayweather Jnr beats Manny any day of the week
By Babatis Banda: Thank God, this fight has not happened yet, and has provided boxing lovers with something to talk about for hours unending every day of the week. If this fight had taken place already, it would have been not so interesting to watch either Floyd or Manny fight again.
Reality is that, both of these fighters will sell their fights with people hoping to see the biggest fight happen between the two. This delay benefits the two fighters economically, as they are able to sell fights irrespective of who it is they are facing. It is also true that the unmade fight has kept interest in boxing alive.
In reality, and because people have argued for a long time, and have gotten accustomed to their beliefs overtime, they have tended to miss the truth or the ability to analyze issues with a clear mind. When the fight between Floyd Mayweather Junior and Manny Pacquiao finally happens, many people will be disappointed because expectations have grown with time. The disappointment will be because this fight will not even be a close call.
The reason why the fight won’t be a close call is simple. Floyd’s fighting style is enough reason why Manny losses against Floyd any day of the week. It is now obviously known, that power alone will not take out Floyd. It is almost a fact that sheer brilliance will take out Manny. Irrespective of the views that some people hold over the Floyd Versus Ortiz bout, clear lessons were learnt. Power alone is not enough to deal with the skills of Floyd Mayweather.
Facts are that, Floyd is better endowed with fighting skills over a wider range. Facts tell us also that Manny is blessed with power and endurance. On that night, people will open their eyes and wonder why they never saw it the way it is. Manny is smaller, and may not even be as powerful as some of the fighters Floyd has beaten. A good reference is the young Ortiz. Floyd is not a stationary target, never moves in predictable lines. Floyd is far from the likes of Magarito and Clottey. Floyd is years away from the Oscar De Lahoya that faced Manny.
Manny will fall short with his combos because of the shorter reach and that Floyd has better reflexes to side-step or smoothen the punches on his arms or roll with them. Floyd is dead accurate, never wastes energy and will methodically break down Manny, piece by piece until either the referee or Manny’s corner say enough. Floyd can choose to fight on the back-heel and counter punch, or indeed, force the action. Any which way, it is difficult to see Floyd losing, it is difficult to see how Manny would beat Floyd, excerpt the hope that lies in hope. Any day of the week, Floyd can beat Manny hands down.
By Babatis Banda: Thank God, this fight has not happened yet, and has provided boxing lovers with something to talk about for hours unending every day of the week. If this fight had taken place already, it would have been not so interesting to watch either Floyd or Manny fight again.
Reality is that, both of these fighters will sell their fights with people hoping to see the biggest fight happen between the two. This delay benefits the two fighters economically, as they are able to sell fights irrespective of who it is they are facing. It is also true that the unmade fight has kept interest in boxing alive.
In reality, and because people have argued for a long time, and have gotten accustomed to their beliefs overtime, they have tended to miss the truth or the ability to analyze issues with a clear mind. When the fight between Floyd Mayweather Junior and Manny Pacquiao finally happens, many people will be disappointed because expectations have grown with time. The disappointment will be because this fight will not even be a close call.
The reason why the fight won’t be a close call is simple. Floyd’s fighting style is enough reason why Manny losses against Floyd any day of the week. It is now obviously known, that power alone will not take out Floyd. It is almost a fact that sheer brilliance will take out Manny. Irrespective of the views that some people hold over the Floyd Versus Ortiz bout, clear lessons were learnt. Power alone is not enough to deal with the skills of Floyd Mayweather.
Facts are that, Floyd is better endowed with fighting skills over a wider range. Facts tell us also that Manny is blessed with power and endurance. On that night, people will open their eyes and wonder why they never saw it the way it is. Manny is smaller, and may not even be as powerful as some of the fighters Floyd has beaten. A good reference is the young Ortiz. Floyd is not a stationary target, never moves in predictable lines. Floyd is far from the likes of Magarito and Clottey. Floyd is years away from the Oscar De Lahoya that faced Manny.
Manny will fall short with his combos because of the shorter reach and that Floyd has better reflexes to side-step or smoothen the punches on his arms or roll with them. Floyd is dead accurate, never wastes energy and will methodically break down Manny, piece by piece until either the referee or Manny’s corner say enough. Floyd can choose to fight on the back-heel and counter punch, or indeed, force the action. Any which way, it is difficult to see Floyd losing, it is difficult to see how Manny would beat Floyd, excerpt the hope that lies in hope. Any day of the week, Floyd can beat Manny hands down.
Ellerbe: No Mayweather-Ortiz rematch
By Chris Williams: Leonard Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather Promotions, has ruled out a rematch for Victor Ortiz against WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. It’s not going to happen because there’s no interest in the fight, says Ellerbe in an interview at fighthype.com.
“No rematch,” Ellerbe said. “There’s no public outcry for a rematch because Floyd didn’t do anything illegal.”
Besides that, there’s no interest from boxing fans to see Mayweather beat up on Ortiz again, period. It wasn’t like Ortiz was competitive or anything. The fight was one-sided with Mayweather teeing off with straight right hands and left hooks. In the 3rd and 4th round, Mayweather began to throw combinations and things were starting to look really bad for Ortiz.
In the 4th, Ortiz seemed to come apart mentally when he was unable to connect with his big shots when he had Mayweather with his back against the ropes. It was at this time that Ortiz speared Mayweather with his head, leading to Ortiz losing a point from the referee. The fight ended as soon as the action resumed when Mayweather took Ortiz apart with a two punch combo to put him on the canvas for the 10 count.
Now that Ortiz realizes that there isn’t going to be a rematch, he can focus his energy in trying to get other guys like Manny Pacquiao or Andre Berto fight to him. Maybe Ortiz will do better next time out against one of those guys. But he had his chance against Mayweather and he blew it. That was the only shot Ortiz will get, and he messed up. There’s no do-overs. That was Ortiz’s 15 minutes of fame and he froze under the lights.
By Chris Williams: Leonard Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather Promotions, has ruled out a rematch for Victor Ortiz against WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. It’s not going to happen because there’s no interest in the fight, says Ellerbe in an interview at fighthype.com.
“No rematch,” Ellerbe said. “There’s no public outcry for a rematch because Floyd didn’t do anything illegal.”
Besides that, there’s no interest from boxing fans to see Mayweather beat up on Ortiz again, period. It wasn’t like Ortiz was competitive or anything. The fight was one-sided with Mayweather teeing off with straight right hands and left hooks. In the 3rd and 4th round, Mayweather began to throw combinations and things were starting to look really bad for Ortiz.
In the 4th, Ortiz seemed to come apart mentally when he was unable to connect with his big shots when he had Mayweather with his back against the ropes. It was at this time that Ortiz speared Mayweather with his head, leading to Ortiz losing a point from the referee. The fight ended as soon as the action resumed when Mayweather took Ortiz apart with a two punch combo to put him on the canvas for the 10 count.
Now that Ortiz realizes that there isn’t going to be a rematch, he can focus his energy in trying to get other guys like Manny Pacquiao or Andre Berto fight to him. Maybe Ortiz will do better next time out against one of those guys. But he had his chance against Mayweather and he blew it. That was the only shot Ortiz will get, and he messed up. There’s no do-overs. That was Ortiz’s 15 minutes of fame and he froze under the lights.
Khan: Mayweather’s last few opponents picked the wrong gameplan
By William Mackay: IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan thinks that Floyd Mayweather’s last few opponents have used the wrong approach to beating him. Khan says there is a way of beating Mayweather but he isn’t saying what that is right now. Khan is saving that nugget for when he faces Mayweather in the future, possibly as early as next year.
“There’s only one way of beating him [Mayweather], and his last few opponents all picked the same game plan, which was wrong, Khan said on his twitter. “Love me or hate me, I’m gonna get to the top whatever I have to do to get there.”
Mayweather’s last three opponents – Juan Manuel Marquez, Shane Mosley and Victor Ortiz – have all used different game plans, and they still ended up losing. They didn’t use the same game plan. Ortiz tried to slug and was beaten; Marquez tried to box and was soundly beaten, and Mosley tried to do both – box and slug – and was easily beaten.
There’s no mystery about what Khan will do in a fight against Mayweather. Khan will run and jab just like he did in his fight with Marcos Maidana. You can expect Khan to throw flurries every once in a while and do a long of grabbing of Mayweather’s head and/or neck to try and pull him out of position to where Khan can then tag him.
If the referee is doing his job and not asleep a the wheel, Khan will be penalized for the head and neck grabbing of Mayweather. But that’s pretty much how Khan will be fighting against Floyd. There is absolutely no mystery about what Khan will do, and he’s doomed for failure. If the referee doesn’t penalize Khan for grabbing Mayweather around the head or neck, look for Mayweather to retaliate with some shots when Khan is off guard. We could then see another quick knockout for Mayweather.
By William Mackay: IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan thinks that Floyd Mayweather’s last few opponents have used the wrong approach to beating him. Khan says there is a way of beating Mayweather but he isn’t saying what that is right now. Khan is saving that nugget for when he faces Mayweather in the future, possibly as early as next year.
“There’s only one way of beating him [Mayweather], and his last few opponents all picked the same game plan, which was wrong, Khan said on his twitter. “Love me or hate me, I’m gonna get to the top whatever I have to do to get there.”
Mayweather’s last three opponents – Juan Manuel Marquez, Shane Mosley and Victor Ortiz – have all used different game plans, and they still ended up losing. They didn’t use the same game plan. Ortiz tried to slug and was beaten; Marquez tried to box and was soundly beaten, and Mosley tried to do both – box and slug – and was easily beaten.
There’s no mystery about what Khan will do in a fight against Mayweather. Khan will run and jab just like he did in his fight with Marcos Maidana. You can expect Khan to throw flurries every once in a while and do a long of grabbing of Mayweather’s head and/or neck to try and pull him out of position to where Khan can then tag him.
If the referee is doing his job and not asleep a the wheel, Khan will be penalized for the head and neck grabbing of Mayweather. But that’s pretty much how Khan will be fighting against Floyd. There is absolutely no mystery about what Khan will do, and he’s doomed for failure. If the referee doesn’t penalize Khan for grabbing Mayweather around the head or neck, look for Mayweather to retaliate with some shots when Khan is off guard. We could then see another quick knockout for Mayweather.
The Curse of the Super Six
By Steve Kim, MaxBoxing (Sept 27, 2011) Doghouse Boxing
What circulated around the Worldwide Web on Thursday was made official on Andre Ward's official Twitter account (@andreward) that night regarding the WBA super middleweight champion’s bout versus Carl Froch in the finals of Showtime's “Super Six” tournament:
"Bad News: I sustained a cut in sparring a few hours ago...flew to LA to see the Doc. I got 7 stitches. I will let you know the new date soon"
Y' know, there have been some notable curses in sports, from the “Curse of the Bambino” (which the Boston Red Sox expunged in 2004), the “Curse of the Billy Goat” (now perhaps the “Curse of Steve Bartman” for long-suffering Chicago Cubs loyalists), the “Electronic Arts Curse” (which seems to hit every NFL who gets the honor of being its gaming cover boy for the season…be very careful, Peyton Hillis) and being a top pick of the Clippers (which has no moniker other than simply being called a “Clipper”). No curse is as alive and well as the one afflicting this super middleweight scrum, which has seen its share of snafus since its inception in 2009.
From the withdrawals of Jermain Taylor, Mikkel Kessler and most suspiciously, Andre Dirrell, this tourney has seen more than its share of bad luck. It almost seems appropriate that this last bout be delayed from its original date of October 29th.
Showtime’s Ken Hershman, who came up with the revolutionary modified round-robin, told Maxboxing he had an ominous feeling on Thursday. "I sort of had a suspicion when I got this call from my secretary that it was urgent, could Dan Goossen (Ward's promoter) talk to me? And once you're in the promotion part of the fight, you're talking about marketing and P.R. - there are no emergencies. The only real urgent calls you get are these. I sort of steeled myself for the inevitable, that there was some kind of injury. It's part of the sport. You go with it and you gotta deal with it and you can't get yourself into too big of a frenzy of it."
For those conspiracy theorists out there, “Fight Camp 360” cameras were present as Ward suffered his injury (For more on this situation, here's Gabe Montoya's story on the cut suffered by Ward: http://www.maxboxing.com/news/promo-lead/andre-ward-suffers-a-mystery-cut-super-six-final-postponed).
Moving forward, Showtime now looks to reschedule this event, which was to take place originally at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
"We're looking at options. We're looking at things towards the end of the year and trying to squeeze things in," said Hershman. "There's not a lot of good options. As you saw from the dust-up connected to December 3rd (http://ringtv.craveonline.com/blog/169288-arum-vows-retaliation-against-golden-boy-showtime-)- which in my mind is a fairly non-event to such a huge conflict with Top Rank- you can see how challenged the dates are because we didn't set out to counterprogram anyone. It's not our intent. Now we're even more against it because we have yet another big, important fight to slot in somewhere."
Looking ahead, Showtime has its “Championship Boxing” telecasts scheduled for November 5th (Lucian Bute vs. Glen Johnson and Robert Stieglitz vs. Mikkel Kessler) and December 3rd (Abner Mares vs. Joseph Agbeko II). Meanwhile, HBO/HBO PPV has shows scheduled for every week in November and December 3rd and the 10th. OK, you figure that November 12th has to be ruled out since that's Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez III, right? "I'm not telling you anything. We're not ruling out anything," said Hershman, laughing at the thought.
But the process of rescheduling postponed bouts means making sure a lot of separate pieces come together. Hershman explains, "In an injury situation like this, you gotta first assess the nature of the injury, the degree of impairment, when training can resume and then, sort of back into the date that you can first start looking for an opportunity to slot the fight. Then you have another guy on the end of it, right? So you gotta talk to him, then you have to try and find a venue and a date on the network. So it's all of those moving parts that have to come together and as you sort of near the end of the calendar year, you have to budget issues to take into consideration too. Because if you move this fight into next year, it sounds like a simple thing, you're moving a big license fee into next year- which may impair the other things that you were doing for next year, so it's already budgeted for next year. It's taken into account and it's the end of the year. There's not a lot to replace it. We don't necessarily give that up."
Just looking ahead, the only week where this fight will not conflict with an HBO telecast is December 17th, which is a week or so before Christmas, the very same weekend last year when Showtime broadcast the first go-round between Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal. Hershman admitted that he hoped for Ward-Froch to be stay in the same location, the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
The latest delay to the “Super Six” will bring about the chorus of skeptics who portend this format, while great in theory, isn't so good in reality. That critique seems to be a tad unfair because regardless of the hiccups, the “Super Six” has brought us some good fights (Kessler-Froch, for instance), boxers who have been exposed (Arthur Abraham) and ascended to potential stardom (Ward and Froch) and a very good finals match-up. Perhaps you don't need a tournament bracket to achieve this in the future but in regard to the 168-pound division, it provided a framework for all this to take place since 2009.
"As I've said, if you take the tournament layer off of the “Super Six,” you just got lots of great fights and great in and out of the ring drama," said the “Czar” of Showtime's boxing franchise. "And yeah, there're injuries but injuries happen everywhere, happen in every sport, happen in every walk of life for people. So it's just something you contend with. But this tournament, as I've said, it's had its moments, had its ups and downs but there was no shortage of drama- and why wouldn't you want drama? It's exciting. It's interesting, challenging. It's difficult. That's what it is.
"And again, whoever comes out at the end of this [will be a star]- whenever the end is- it'll just be a few more months."
SCHEDULE
Here's a look at the November and December schedules for HBO and Showtime:
November 5th: Bute vs. Johnson, Stieglitz vs. Kessler (Showtime)/Alfredo Angulo vs. James Kirkland (HBO)
November 12th: Pacquiao vs. Marquez III (HBO PPV)
November 19th: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Peter Manfredo (HBO)
November 26th: Adrien Broner vs. TBA
December 3rd: Miguel Cotto vs. Antonio Margarito II (HBO PPV)/Abner Mares vs. Joseph Agbeko II (Showtime)
December 10th: Amir Khan vs. Lamont Peterson (HBO)
As referenced in Satterfield's story, Bob Arum was none too happy about what he believes is blatant counterprogramming by both Showtime (who he was rather cozy with in the first half of 2011) and his archrivals at Golden Boy Promotions. What really bothers Top Rank is not only did they move their card with Nonito Donaire from November 5th to October 22nd ( which will be on HBO) to accommodate Showtime, they say that their past agreements with the network forbade them from counterprogramming and that Showtime themselves didn't adhere to such stipulations.
When asked about Arum's statements, Hershman stated, "I was surprised. I was very surprised. I didn't think it was appropriate. It is what it is."
That said, WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios will no longer be on Showtime on December 10th and instead will be moved to the Cotto-Margarito II undercard at the Madison Square Garden in New York the previous week.
As for the seemingly thawing “Cold War” between Top Rank and Golden Boy…well, with Golden Boy leaning on AEG to get the Nonito Donaire-Omar Narvaez fight out of the Home Depot Center in Carson and now this, I wouldn't expect talks between the two regarding Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Saul Alvarez- or other potentially great fights- to go very far.
The more things change, the more they stay the same...
WOO-HOO
One of the reasons why adding Rios to the December 3rd show is integral is that the WBA bantamweight bout between “Runnin'” Rico Ramos and Guillermo Rigondeaux will no longer be a part of that card (http://www.boxingscene.com/arum-on-ramos-rigondeaux-mishap-brandon-rios---44170)
A few thoughts:
- Did anyone really think that an Al Haymon fighter was going to appear on a Top Rank show?
- This is interesting…so Dan Goossen really thought that Ramos was to receive $225,000 for himself? OK, maybe he did but based on that number, for Ramos to receive that kind of money now, a purse bid of right around $500,000 will have to be put in for that to occur. Now, would anyone in his right mind put anywhere near that type of money up for that track meet?
- Yeah, I know, Ramos-Rigondeaux is one of those “skillful” and “important” fights some folks yearn for but the 98 percent that watch this sport are the winners here. Now, in place of Ramos-Rigondeaux, we get a fan-friendly fighter who is must-see TV every time he laces them up. The only downside is - and this was mentioned to me on Twitter- fans inside the Garden lost their piss/food/smoke break with the loss of Ramos-Rigondeaux.
Still, this here is a win-win situation for everybody involved- except Goossen, who may now have to put up his own money for a fight there may not be much demand for. You can call this addition by subtraction (and then addition by addition).
FIRE SALE
While Lou DiBella keeps telling everyone that his show on Saturday featuring middleweight champion Sergio Martinez and Darren “Come on down!” Barker is doing well at the box-office, you have to wonder just how well. On Friday, it was announced by DBE that anyone with a proof of purchase of tickets for the cancelled fight on October 29th (which DBE had nothing to do with) will receive a 30-percent discount for this weekend’s card, in addition to a discount for firefighters and policemen.
I wouldn't say they couldn't give Martinez-Barker tickets away but they sure are going through some unusual measures to get people to buy them. For Barker, maybe at 30 percent off, the price is right (Yeah, horrible pun. I couldn't resist) but in addition to being a fight that is thought to be obviously lopsided (Barker is a steep, steep underdog), Martinez, for all his talents, is nowhere near a draw. And his representatives still haven't figured out that fighting twice a year on HBO isn't the way to build a star or enough of a cache to lure the likes of Miguel Cotto into the ring.
It's interesting but I keep hearing how Martinez is “important” (another Harry Hardcore catch phrase) for HBO and how he needs to be showcased. Well, if he's so “important,” why doesn't anyone except a very vocal minority (that to their credit make up the crowds that come to his events in half-filled ballrooms) seem to give a damn about him?
Meanwhile, Martinez’s promoter seems to be pontificating on every subject (from mandated blood tests for Victor Ortiz should he rematch Andre Berto to his predictions on a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight). Maybe he should focus more on his clients’ activities and this upcoming promotion.
FINAL FLURRIES
Jorge Arce, ol' man (bloody) river just keeps flowing, doesn't he?...By the way, if DiBella is an agent of change, is random Olympic-style testing for Martinez-Barker available?...Maybe it's just me but I thought the bout between Vicente Escobedo was a lot closer than the scorecards had it (for Escobedo). @InSwiderBox tweeted that Escobedo-Juarez wasn't so much a crossroads match but a cul-de-sac bout...I though the post-fight “24/7” for Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz was excellent. I hope HBO does more of these in the future for their big pay-per-view bouts...Speaking of which, some of the stuff said by Ortiz in the aftermath, well, leaves me scratching my head a bit...Ortiz and Oscar De La Hoya will be having a conference call with reporters this week to talk about the fight. Uh, isn't this about a week late?...Call Life Alert; the Red Sox have fallen and they can't get up!...Once again, the September Heisman Trophy goes to Denard Robinson of Meatchicken...Based on strength of schedule, LSU is my top team... Is Clemson this year’s Auburn? Tajh Boyd is for real and Sammy Watkins is a freshman star...Folks, I told you months ago; the Buffalo Bills are a team to contend with in 2011 and I think the Detroit Lions are for real...
By Steve Kim, MaxBoxing (Sept 27, 2011) Doghouse Boxing
What circulated around the Worldwide Web on Thursday was made official on Andre Ward's official Twitter account (@andreward) that night regarding the WBA super middleweight champion’s bout versus Carl Froch in the finals of Showtime's “Super Six” tournament:
"Bad News: I sustained a cut in sparring a few hours ago...flew to LA to see the Doc. I got 7 stitches. I will let you know the new date soon"
Y' know, there have been some notable curses in sports, from the “Curse of the Bambino” (which the Boston Red Sox expunged in 2004), the “Curse of the Billy Goat” (now perhaps the “Curse of Steve Bartman” for long-suffering Chicago Cubs loyalists), the “Electronic Arts Curse” (which seems to hit every NFL who gets the honor of being its gaming cover boy for the season…be very careful, Peyton Hillis) and being a top pick of the Clippers (which has no moniker other than simply being called a “Clipper”). No curse is as alive and well as the one afflicting this super middleweight scrum, which has seen its share of snafus since its inception in 2009.
From the withdrawals of Jermain Taylor, Mikkel Kessler and most suspiciously, Andre Dirrell, this tourney has seen more than its share of bad luck. It almost seems appropriate that this last bout be delayed from its original date of October 29th.
Showtime’s Ken Hershman, who came up with the revolutionary modified round-robin, told Maxboxing he had an ominous feeling on Thursday. "I sort of had a suspicion when I got this call from my secretary that it was urgent, could Dan Goossen (Ward's promoter) talk to me? And once you're in the promotion part of the fight, you're talking about marketing and P.R. - there are no emergencies. The only real urgent calls you get are these. I sort of steeled myself for the inevitable, that there was some kind of injury. It's part of the sport. You go with it and you gotta deal with it and you can't get yourself into too big of a frenzy of it."
For those conspiracy theorists out there, “Fight Camp 360” cameras were present as Ward suffered his injury (For more on this situation, here's Gabe Montoya's story on the cut suffered by Ward: http://www.maxboxing.com/news/promo-lead/andre-ward-suffers-a-mystery-cut-super-six-final-postponed).
Moving forward, Showtime now looks to reschedule this event, which was to take place originally at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
"We're looking at options. We're looking at things towards the end of the year and trying to squeeze things in," said Hershman. "There's not a lot of good options. As you saw from the dust-up connected to December 3rd (http://ringtv.craveonline.com/blog/169288-arum-vows-retaliation-against-golden-boy-showtime-)- which in my mind is a fairly non-event to such a huge conflict with Top Rank- you can see how challenged the dates are because we didn't set out to counterprogram anyone. It's not our intent. Now we're even more against it because we have yet another big, important fight to slot in somewhere."
Looking ahead, Showtime has its “Championship Boxing” telecasts scheduled for November 5th (Lucian Bute vs. Glen Johnson and Robert Stieglitz vs. Mikkel Kessler) and December 3rd (Abner Mares vs. Joseph Agbeko II). Meanwhile, HBO/HBO PPV has shows scheduled for every week in November and December 3rd and the 10th. OK, you figure that November 12th has to be ruled out since that's Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez III, right? "I'm not telling you anything. We're not ruling out anything," said Hershman, laughing at the thought.
But the process of rescheduling postponed bouts means making sure a lot of separate pieces come together. Hershman explains, "In an injury situation like this, you gotta first assess the nature of the injury, the degree of impairment, when training can resume and then, sort of back into the date that you can first start looking for an opportunity to slot the fight. Then you have another guy on the end of it, right? So you gotta talk to him, then you have to try and find a venue and a date on the network. So it's all of those moving parts that have to come together and as you sort of near the end of the calendar year, you have to budget issues to take into consideration too. Because if you move this fight into next year, it sounds like a simple thing, you're moving a big license fee into next year- which may impair the other things that you were doing for next year, so it's already budgeted for next year. It's taken into account and it's the end of the year. There's not a lot to replace it. We don't necessarily give that up."
Just looking ahead, the only week where this fight will not conflict with an HBO telecast is December 17th, which is a week or so before Christmas, the very same weekend last year when Showtime broadcast the first go-round between Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal. Hershman admitted that he hoped for Ward-Froch to be stay in the same location, the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
The latest delay to the “Super Six” will bring about the chorus of skeptics who portend this format, while great in theory, isn't so good in reality. That critique seems to be a tad unfair because regardless of the hiccups, the “Super Six” has brought us some good fights (Kessler-Froch, for instance), boxers who have been exposed (Arthur Abraham) and ascended to potential stardom (Ward and Froch) and a very good finals match-up. Perhaps you don't need a tournament bracket to achieve this in the future but in regard to the 168-pound division, it provided a framework for all this to take place since 2009.
"As I've said, if you take the tournament layer off of the “Super Six,” you just got lots of great fights and great in and out of the ring drama," said the “Czar” of Showtime's boxing franchise. "And yeah, there're injuries but injuries happen everywhere, happen in every sport, happen in every walk of life for people. So it's just something you contend with. But this tournament, as I've said, it's had its moments, had its ups and downs but there was no shortage of drama- and why wouldn't you want drama? It's exciting. It's interesting, challenging. It's difficult. That's what it is.
"And again, whoever comes out at the end of this [will be a star]- whenever the end is- it'll just be a few more months."
SCHEDULE
Here's a look at the November and December schedules for HBO and Showtime:
November 5th: Bute vs. Johnson, Stieglitz vs. Kessler (Showtime)/Alfredo Angulo vs. James Kirkland (HBO)
November 12th: Pacquiao vs. Marquez III (HBO PPV)
November 19th: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Peter Manfredo (HBO)
November 26th: Adrien Broner vs. TBA
December 3rd: Miguel Cotto vs. Antonio Margarito II (HBO PPV)/Abner Mares vs. Joseph Agbeko II (Showtime)
December 10th: Amir Khan vs. Lamont Peterson (HBO)
As referenced in Satterfield's story, Bob Arum was none too happy about what he believes is blatant counterprogramming by both Showtime (who he was rather cozy with in the first half of 2011) and his archrivals at Golden Boy Promotions. What really bothers Top Rank is not only did they move their card with Nonito Donaire from November 5th to October 22nd ( which will be on HBO) to accommodate Showtime, they say that their past agreements with the network forbade them from counterprogramming and that Showtime themselves didn't adhere to such stipulations.
When asked about Arum's statements, Hershman stated, "I was surprised. I was very surprised. I didn't think it was appropriate. It is what it is."
That said, WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios will no longer be on Showtime on December 10th and instead will be moved to the Cotto-Margarito II undercard at the Madison Square Garden in New York the previous week.
As for the seemingly thawing “Cold War” between Top Rank and Golden Boy…well, with Golden Boy leaning on AEG to get the Nonito Donaire-Omar Narvaez fight out of the Home Depot Center in Carson and now this, I wouldn't expect talks between the two regarding Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Saul Alvarez- or other potentially great fights- to go very far.
The more things change, the more they stay the same...
WOO-HOO
One of the reasons why adding Rios to the December 3rd show is integral is that the WBA bantamweight bout between “Runnin'” Rico Ramos and Guillermo Rigondeaux will no longer be a part of that card (http://www.boxingscene.com/arum-on-ramos-rigondeaux-mishap-brandon-rios---44170)
A few thoughts:
- Did anyone really think that an Al Haymon fighter was going to appear on a Top Rank show?
- This is interesting…so Dan Goossen really thought that Ramos was to receive $225,000 for himself? OK, maybe he did but based on that number, for Ramos to receive that kind of money now, a purse bid of right around $500,000 will have to be put in for that to occur. Now, would anyone in his right mind put anywhere near that type of money up for that track meet?
- Yeah, I know, Ramos-Rigondeaux is one of those “skillful” and “important” fights some folks yearn for but the 98 percent that watch this sport are the winners here. Now, in place of Ramos-Rigondeaux, we get a fan-friendly fighter who is must-see TV every time he laces them up. The only downside is - and this was mentioned to me on Twitter- fans inside the Garden lost their piss/food/smoke break with the loss of Ramos-Rigondeaux.
Still, this here is a win-win situation for everybody involved- except Goossen, who may now have to put up his own money for a fight there may not be much demand for. You can call this addition by subtraction (and then addition by addition).
FIRE SALE
While Lou DiBella keeps telling everyone that his show on Saturday featuring middleweight champion Sergio Martinez and Darren “Come on down!” Barker is doing well at the box-office, you have to wonder just how well. On Friday, it was announced by DBE that anyone with a proof of purchase of tickets for the cancelled fight on October 29th (which DBE had nothing to do with) will receive a 30-percent discount for this weekend’s card, in addition to a discount for firefighters and policemen.
I wouldn't say they couldn't give Martinez-Barker tickets away but they sure are going through some unusual measures to get people to buy them. For Barker, maybe at 30 percent off, the price is right (Yeah, horrible pun. I couldn't resist) but in addition to being a fight that is thought to be obviously lopsided (Barker is a steep, steep underdog), Martinez, for all his talents, is nowhere near a draw. And his representatives still haven't figured out that fighting twice a year on HBO isn't the way to build a star or enough of a cache to lure the likes of Miguel Cotto into the ring.
It's interesting but I keep hearing how Martinez is “important” (another Harry Hardcore catch phrase) for HBO and how he needs to be showcased. Well, if he's so “important,” why doesn't anyone except a very vocal minority (that to their credit make up the crowds that come to his events in half-filled ballrooms) seem to give a damn about him?
Meanwhile, Martinez’s promoter seems to be pontificating on every subject (from mandated blood tests for Victor Ortiz should he rematch Andre Berto to his predictions on a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight). Maybe he should focus more on his clients’ activities and this upcoming promotion.
FINAL FLURRIES
Jorge Arce, ol' man (bloody) river just keeps flowing, doesn't he?...By the way, if DiBella is an agent of change, is random Olympic-style testing for Martinez-Barker available?...Maybe it's just me but I thought the bout between Vicente Escobedo was a lot closer than the scorecards had it (for Escobedo). @InSwiderBox tweeted that Escobedo-Juarez wasn't so much a crossroads match but a cul-de-sac bout...I though the post-fight “24/7” for Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz was excellent. I hope HBO does more of these in the future for their big pay-per-view bouts...Speaking of which, some of the stuff said by Ortiz in the aftermath, well, leaves me scratching my head a bit...Ortiz and Oscar De La Hoya will be having a conference call with reporters this week to talk about the fight. Uh, isn't this about a week late?...Call Life Alert; the Red Sox have fallen and they can't get up!...Once again, the September Heisman Trophy goes to Denard Robinson of Meatchicken...Based on strength of schedule, LSU is my top team... Is Clemson this year’s Auburn? Tajh Boyd is for real and Sammy Watkins is a freshman star...Folks, I told you months ago; the Buffalo Bills are a team to contend with in 2011 and I think the Detroit Lions are for real...