Boxing News Thread
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Paris vs. Judah eliminator will take place on a future NBC Sports Card
@danrafaelespn
Dan Rafael
The @SUPERJUDAH vs. Vernon Paris eliminator will take place on a future @Main_Events NBC Sports Net card. #boxing
danrafaelespn Dan Rafael
Today @Main_Events won purse bid for @SUPERJUDAH-Vernon Paris for IBF No. 1 at 140. Main Events bid $70,112, Don King bid $51K. #boxing
@danrafaelespn
Dan Rafael
The @SUPERJUDAH vs. Vernon Paris eliminator will take place on a future @Main_Events NBC Sports Net card. #boxing
danrafaelespn Dan Rafael
Today @Main_Events won purse bid for @SUPERJUDAH-Vernon Paris for IBF No. 1 at 140. Main Events bid $70,112, Don King bid $51K. #boxing
KELLY PAVLIK HEADED TO CALIFORNIA TO TRAIN WITH ROBERT GARCIA
By John McCormick
JM: Kelly, there have been rumors circulating that there is a possibility you will be making a comeback. Is there any truth to those rumors?
Kelly Pavlik: “Yes there is. I am leaving tomorrow to go to California to start training with Robert Garcia. He has a great stable, and he is a great trainer. I am going to start my career over, make some different moves, and see what happens.”
JM: What are your thoughts on Robert Garcia as a trainer?
Kelly Pavlik: “He has done a lot with a lot of fighters. He has done a lot with Antonio Margarito and Brandon Rios obviously. He is a great trainer. I look forward to training with him and learning something different. I am not taking anything away from Jack Loew, he was a great trainer. I can’t say that he got me to where I was at. I got me to where I was at. Jack Loew is a good trainer. I am just looking forward to getting to work.”
JM: Will you be campaigning at middleweight for your comeback or are your days at middleweight done?
Kelly Pavlik: “Middleweight is done. For now, at least for my next fight I will be having a new nutritionist, and we’ll see how that goes. As far as right now, I will not be fighting at 160. I’m too big, and it is almost impossible to make that weight. I came down from 195 and I am 6’1” ½ almost 6’2” to make 160.”
JM: I recently watched your fight with Sergio Martinez again. The middle rounds were definitely going your way until you were cut in the later rounds. I know that there was a rematch clause in the contractual agreement for that fight. Why wasn’t the rematch with Martinez pursued?
Kelly Pavlik: “That is a very good question and I am glad you asked that. There are two reasons that the rematch with Martinez never happened. One was I could never make 160 again. Second of all, Martinez never agreed to come to a catch weight of 165 for the rematch. I went up to 170 to fight Bernard Hopkins, and then came back down to defend my title. Martinez never agreed to the catch weight. It wasn’t the cut that was a factor in me losing against Martinez. That cut might’ve been a problem due to the fact that I couldn’t make weight, I was drained, and I had to be hooked up to an IV the day of the fight. You have to understand that I hit a wall, and there was nothing I could do about it. I was winning the middle rounds and I was actually up. He fought smart, and he cut me. I am not taking anything away from Sergio Martinez, but if that was Kelly Pavlik 100% he might’ve been knocked out by the tenth round. If Martinez would’ve fought me at 166 or 167 I would’ve knocked him out in a heartbeat. For real.
JM: Now that you might be fighting at 168, which is a very talent dense division, who are some of the fighters at 168 that you are looking forward to fighting?
Kelly Pavlik: “To be honest with you, all of them. I went up to 170 to fight Bernard Hopkins. Everyone was saying that I was afraid to fight Paul Williams? No, Paul Williams was the one that turned the fights down with me. I didn’t turn down a fight with Paul Williams to go fight Bernard Hopkins at two weight classes above. I am ready to fight anybody at the top level in the super middleweight division. Right now, Andre Ward is a great fighter. He isn’t a big puncher, but he is a great fighter. There are a lot of flaws that he has, but overall he is a great fighter. If you told me tomorrow to go fight Carl Froch, I’d fight him. Bute is a great body puncher, but that’s the only thing he has. He has no power. If you watch him while he punches to the head, he is horrible. He wins by counter punching. He comes straight in, and throws a left uppercut to the body, that is the only thing that he has. The super middleweight division is filled with talent. I fought Jermain Taylor, and look what Taylor did to Carl Froch. He was beating Carl Froch so bad that he could’ve taken two knees, and still could’ve won. It is what it is, and I keep my mouth shut. Things are said, and all of a sudden Kelly Pavlik is the bad guy for some reason. I seem to be the only one talked about in the news. I am not doing 90 days in jail like Mayweather but I guess I’d be better off hitting my wife.”
JM: Did you see Jermain Taylor’s recent comeback? If so, what did you think about it?
Kelly Pavlik: “No, I didn’t see the fight but I read the articles on it. I am glad for Jermain. The kid has taken a beating, and I am not saying this because I beat him twice but I have a lot of respect for the man. He was a great fighter. Like I said, he was beating Carl Froch for most of the fight; he was beating Arthur Abraham for most of the fight. He just seems to have a hard time in the later rounds. One thing that I think Jermain Taylor needs is a better strength and conditioning coach. It has nothing to do with a trainer; he just needs a new strength and conditioning coach. I am glad for him that he has come back and did well. I heard about them doing CAT scans and MRI’s on his head, and that has me worried. I love the kid, and I think he is a great person overall. I am worried if he has a head problem, and maybe he should just hang them up. Jermain is smart with his money; he isn’t like Floyd Mayweather blowing his money. I think he should just hang them up. At the same time, if he is medically able to fight, and he wants to let him do it. God bless him. If anyone is thinking about a possible third fight with me and him, the answer is no. There is no need to fight a third fight with him. First of all, we went to war both times, so why the hell would I want to fight him for a third time? (laughs)”
JM: Any closing thoughts for the fans?
Kelly Pavlik: “For the fans that jumped off the bandwagon, it reminds me of a Tim Tebow thing. Tim Tebow was the greatest quarterback this year. He went on to have three bad games, and everyone jumped off the bandwagon, and said he couldn’t do it anymore. For me, my thing is this: whoever jumped off the bandwagon can stay off. Don’t ever come back on. Once I come back and start doing my thing, stay off. It’s funny how I become the bad guy but Floyd Mayweather punches his wife 14 times in the face, gets arrested, and sentenced to 90 days in jail and nobody really criticizes him for it. I hit a lamp post. I seem to be the talk of every boxing and media outlet. Everyone is saying Kelly Pavlik hit a lamp post and got arrested for a DWI. That wasn’t even a DWI. I guess I was better off going to punch my wife in the face 14 times and get arrested for domestic violence, and I probably wouldn’t have been criticized as much. I’m glad to know that people care about me so much and that I am the one always being talked about. For my true fans that stayed behind me, I appreciate it. Stay tuned because I will be right back. I am coming back, I am going to put on a show, and I am going to silence the critics. That is what I am going to do.”
By John McCormick
JM: Kelly, there have been rumors circulating that there is a possibility you will be making a comeback. Is there any truth to those rumors?
Kelly Pavlik: “Yes there is. I am leaving tomorrow to go to California to start training with Robert Garcia. He has a great stable, and he is a great trainer. I am going to start my career over, make some different moves, and see what happens.”
JM: What are your thoughts on Robert Garcia as a trainer?
Kelly Pavlik: “He has done a lot with a lot of fighters. He has done a lot with Antonio Margarito and Brandon Rios obviously. He is a great trainer. I look forward to training with him and learning something different. I am not taking anything away from Jack Loew, he was a great trainer. I can’t say that he got me to where I was at. I got me to where I was at. Jack Loew is a good trainer. I am just looking forward to getting to work.”
JM: Will you be campaigning at middleweight for your comeback or are your days at middleweight done?
Kelly Pavlik: “Middleweight is done. For now, at least for my next fight I will be having a new nutritionist, and we’ll see how that goes. As far as right now, I will not be fighting at 160. I’m too big, and it is almost impossible to make that weight. I came down from 195 and I am 6’1” ½ almost 6’2” to make 160.”
JM: I recently watched your fight with Sergio Martinez again. The middle rounds were definitely going your way until you were cut in the later rounds. I know that there was a rematch clause in the contractual agreement for that fight. Why wasn’t the rematch with Martinez pursued?
Kelly Pavlik: “That is a very good question and I am glad you asked that. There are two reasons that the rematch with Martinez never happened. One was I could never make 160 again. Second of all, Martinez never agreed to come to a catch weight of 165 for the rematch. I went up to 170 to fight Bernard Hopkins, and then came back down to defend my title. Martinez never agreed to the catch weight. It wasn’t the cut that was a factor in me losing against Martinez. That cut might’ve been a problem due to the fact that I couldn’t make weight, I was drained, and I had to be hooked up to an IV the day of the fight. You have to understand that I hit a wall, and there was nothing I could do about it. I was winning the middle rounds and I was actually up. He fought smart, and he cut me. I am not taking anything away from Sergio Martinez, but if that was Kelly Pavlik 100% he might’ve been knocked out by the tenth round. If Martinez would’ve fought me at 166 or 167 I would’ve knocked him out in a heartbeat. For real.
JM: Now that you might be fighting at 168, which is a very talent dense division, who are some of the fighters at 168 that you are looking forward to fighting?
Kelly Pavlik: “To be honest with you, all of them. I went up to 170 to fight Bernard Hopkins. Everyone was saying that I was afraid to fight Paul Williams? No, Paul Williams was the one that turned the fights down with me. I didn’t turn down a fight with Paul Williams to go fight Bernard Hopkins at two weight classes above. I am ready to fight anybody at the top level in the super middleweight division. Right now, Andre Ward is a great fighter. He isn’t a big puncher, but he is a great fighter. There are a lot of flaws that he has, but overall he is a great fighter. If you told me tomorrow to go fight Carl Froch, I’d fight him. Bute is a great body puncher, but that’s the only thing he has. He has no power. If you watch him while he punches to the head, he is horrible. He wins by counter punching. He comes straight in, and throws a left uppercut to the body, that is the only thing that he has. The super middleweight division is filled with talent. I fought Jermain Taylor, and look what Taylor did to Carl Froch. He was beating Carl Froch so bad that he could’ve taken two knees, and still could’ve won. It is what it is, and I keep my mouth shut. Things are said, and all of a sudden Kelly Pavlik is the bad guy for some reason. I seem to be the only one talked about in the news. I am not doing 90 days in jail like Mayweather but I guess I’d be better off hitting my wife.”
JM: Did you see Jermain Taylor’s recent comeback? If so, what did you think about it?
Kelly Pavlik: “No, I didn’t see the fight but I read the articles on it. I am glad for Jermain. The kid has taken a beating, and I am not saying this because I beat him twice but I have a lot of respect for the man. He was a great fighter. Like I said, he was beating Carl Froch for most of the fight; he was beating Arthur Abraham for most of the fight. He just seems to have a hard time in the later rounds. One thing that I think Jermain Taylor needs is a better strength and conditioning coach. It has nothing to do with a trainer; he just needs a new strength and conditioning coach. I am glad for him that he has come back and did well. I heard about them doing CAT scans and MRI’s on his head, and that has me worried. I love the kid, and I think he is a great person overall. I am worried if he has a head problem, and maybe he should just hang them up. Jermain is smart with his money; he isn’t like Floyd Mayweather blowing his money. I think he should just hang them up. At the same time, if he is medically able to fight, and he wants to let him do it. God bless him. If anyone is thinking about a possible third fight with me and him, the answer is no. There is no need to fight a third fight with him. First of all, we went to war both times, so why the hell would I want to fight him for a third time? (laughs)”
JM: Any closing thoughts for the fans?
Kelly Pavlik: “For the fans that jumped off the bandwagon, it reminds me of a Tim Tebow thing. Tim Tebow was the greatest quarterback this year. He went on to have three bad games, and everyone jumped off the bandwagon, and said he couldn’t do it anymore. For me, my thing is this: whoever jumped off the bandwagon can stay off. Don’t ever come back on. Once I come back and start doing my thing, stay off. It’s funny how I become the bad guy but Floyd Mayweather punches his wife 14 times in the face, gets arrested, and sentenced to 90 days in jail and nobody really criticizes him for it. I hit a lamp post. I seem to be the talk of every boxing and media outlet. Everyone is saying Kelly Pavlik hit a lamp post and got arrested for a DWI. That wasn’t even a DWI. I guess I was better off going to punch my wife in the face 14 times and get arrested for domestic violence, and I probably wouldn’t have been criticized as much. I’m glad to know that people care about me so much and that I am the one always being talked about. For my true fans that stayed behind me, I appreciate it. Stay tuned because I will be right back. I am coming back, I am going to put on a show, and I am going to silence the critics. That is what I am going to do.”
Arum and Pacquiao, the disgusting reality of the sport
January 11th, 2012
By Babatis Banda: From the time Mayweather junior came out of his voluntary retirement to face Manny Pacquiao, so many things have happened and many of them, plainly annoying. So much has been said and so much has been written about the two fighters and about the two ever fighting each other.
Many a time, Pacquiao has been painted as the gentleman against the rogue character, one Floyd Mayweather junior. In my eyes, Pacquiao has not lived up to this perspective, as he has time and again not lived up to the occasion by showing that he is the gentleman.
Since the postponement of Floyd’s incarceration to allow him to fight in May, It looks like Manny’s team has grown even colder feet. They were taken by surprise by the postponement as this was a perfect and legit way to avoid having to fight Floyd without losing face.
Now we are having a whole load of excuses from Arum, and Manny seems content to hide behind Arum’s behaviour. Arum was initially concerned that Manny’s cut needed more time, over six months to heal. We have heard Manny say that his cut is just fine. Arum turned around and said he was waiting to be contacted by Mayweather’s people, an action which does not show urgency and interest on his part. We also heard Pacquiao’s personal assistant Michael Koncz saying that Manny will only fight Floyd end of May, but knowing exactly the predicament Floyd is in with the law. Koncz understands very well that end of May is practically impossible for Floyd as he needs to turn himself in early June.
Another excuse has surfaced, a lot of Pacquiao’s fans and indeed Manny himself said that he does not fight for money, but his fans. We are told that fighting on May 5 has financial implications to the point that Arum wants a stadium built for this bout. Now this is confusing, money has become an issue even when Arum and Pacquiao would still make their biggest take from this fight at the MGM. What about the cost of erecting a whole new arena to host this event?
I can only say that Arum and Pacqiuao are indeed, a disgusting reality of this sport.
January 11th, 2012
By Babatis Banda: From the time Mayweather junior came out of his voluntary retirement to face Manny Pacquiao, so many things have happened and many of them, plainly annoying. So much has been said and so much has been written about the two fighters and about the two ever fighting each other.
Many a time, Pacquiao has been painted as the gentleman against the rogue character, one Floyd Mayweather junior. In my eyes, Pacquiao has not lived up to this perspective, as he has time and again not lived up to the occasion by showing that he is the gentleman.
Since the postponement of Floyd’s incarceration to allow him to fight in May, It looks like Manny’s team has grown even colder feet. They were taken by surprise by the postponement as this was a perfect and legit way to avoid having to fight Floyd without losing face.
Now we are having a whole load of excuses from Arum, and Manny seems content to hide behind Arum’s behaviour. Arum was initially concerned that Manny’s cut needed more time, over six months to heal. We have heard Manny say that his cut is just fine. Arum turned around and said he was waiting to be contacted by Mayweather’s people, an action which does not show urgency and interest on his part. We also heard Pacquiao’s personal assistant Michael Koncz saying that Manny will only fight Floyd end of May, but knowing exactly the predicament Floyd is in with the law. Koncz understands very well that end of May is practically impossible for Floyd as he needs to turn himself in early June.
Another excuse has surfaced, a lot of Pacquiao’s fans and indeed Manny himself said that he does not fight for money, but his fans. We are told that fighting on May 5 has financial implications to the point that Arum wants a stadium built for this bout. Now this is confusing, money has become an issue even when Arum and Pacquiao would still make their biggest take from this fight at the MGM. What about the cost of erecting a whole new arena to host this event?
I can only say that Arum and Pacqiuao are indeed, a disgusting reality of this sport.
Arum: I want to hear Mayweather is willing to fight on June 9th, and then we can put a fight together between him and Pacquiao
January 11th, 2012
By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum isn’t showing much interest in being flexible for Floyd Mayweather Jr. help put a mega fight together between Pacquiao and Mayweather.
Arum wants Mayweather to try and go back to court to see if he can get yet another delay so that Pacquiao can fight Mayweather on June 9th. In other words, it just looks like Arum is stringing Mayweather along by playing games. He’s tactically shoeing him away but without saying it. Arum is rejecting Mayweather but he’s doing it in a sly way.
Arum told the Los Angeles Times that he’s be “Willing to chip in for lawyer’s fees to get that date moved again so a June 9 bout could occur. June 9 is perfect. May 5 is out. That’s impossible. I want to hear that they’re willing to move to June 9. Then we can sit down and work a deal.”
Technically, Arum isn’t saying no to the fight, but he’s setting it up to be so hard for Mayweather to get the fight that he’ll very likely fail when he tries to get a further delay, and Arum can then say ‘Oh well, maybe next time we can do this when you get out of jail.’
That’s really interesting because according to Dan Rafael, Arum was prepared to let Pacquiao fight on May 5th when Mayweather was supposed to be in jail during that time. Arum wanted to match Pacquiao up against Juan Manuel Marquez in a rematch on Cinco de Mayo. However, Arum suddenly came up with a different date in June after Mayweather got a delay of his 90-day jail term and was now available to fight on May 5th.
Asking Mayweather to now go back to court and try and get another delay because it suits Arum’s plans just doesn’t seem like a person that is serious about wanting to make this fight. I doubt Mayweather will get another delay on his jail term, and why Arum needs more time is beyond me.
Arum is moving the line further and further away the closer Mayweather gets to try and make the fight. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Arum moved the date even further back if Mayweather was able to get his jail term delayed yet again. I think Arum has another opponent that he wants to match Pacquiao up against and Mayweather doesn’t fit in with his plans, so he’s going to make it hard for him by setting him up in difficult situations like this.
January 11th, 2012
By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum isn’t showing much interest in being flexible for Floyd Mayweather Jr. help put a mega fight together between Pacquiao and Mayweather.
Arum wants Mayweather to try and go back to court to see if he can get yet another delay so that Pacquiao can fight Mayweather on June 9th. In other words, it just looks like Arum is stringing Mayweather along by playing games. He’s tactically shoeing him away but without saying it. Arum is rejecting Mayweather but he’s doing it in a sly way.
Arum told the Los Angeles Times that he’s be “Willing to chip in for lawyer’s fees to get that date moved again so a June 9 bout could occur. June 9 is perfect. May 5 is out. That’s impossible. I want to hear that they’re willing to move to June 9. Then we can sit down and work a deal.”
Technically, Arum isn’t saying no to the fight, but he’s setting it up to be so hard for Mayweather to get the fight that he’ll very likely fail when he tries to get a further delay, and Arum can then say ‘Oh well, maybe next time we can do this when you get out of jail.’
That’s really interesting because according to Dan Rafael, Arum was prepared to let Pacquiao fight on May 5th when Mayweather was supposed to be in jail during that time. Arum wanted to match Pacquiao up against Juan Manuel Marquez in a rematch on Cinco de Mayo. However, Arum suddenly came up with a different date in June after Mayweather got a delay of his 90-day jail term and was now available to fight on May 5th.
Asking Mayweather to now go back to court and try and get another delay because it suits Arum’s plans just doesn’t seem like a person that is serious about wanting to make this fight. I doubt Mayweather will get another delay on his jail term, and why Arum needs more time is beyond me.
Arum is moving the line further and further away the closer Mayweather gets to try and make the fight. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Arum moved the date even further back if Mayweather was able to get his jail term delayed yet again. I think Arum has another opponent that he wants to match Pacquiao up against and Mayweather doesn’t fit in with his plans, so he’s going to make it hard for him by setting him up in difficult situations like this.
Tarver: Haye needs to fight me and the winner gets Vitali
January 11th, 2012
By William Mackay: Former IBF/WBA/WBC light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver (29-6, 20 KO’s) has been trying to work an angle to get a big payday fight against IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko for the past year with no luck.
Now the 43-year-old Tarver is trying to work his magic on a fight with WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, and Tarver believes the best way to accomplish that is for him and former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye to fight with the winner facing Vitali. So, essentially Tarver sees their fight as an eliminator for the prize of facing the 40-year-old Vitali.
Tarver told thesun.co.uk “I believe Haye should fight me because of what I’m bringing to the table – a real giant reputation in the sport of boxing…If Haye can’t beat me then he doesn’t deserve Vitali and if I can’t beat him then I don’t deserve Wladimir.”
Tarver goes on to say that Haye has completely ignored his challenges and he sees that as evidence that Haye is threated by the danger that Tarver presents for him. I guess that’s one way of looking at it if you’re seeing it from a positive self-love type of outlook. But perhaps a more realistic view is that Haye doesn’t see Tarver as someone that can bring in more than a tiny handful of fans and Haye doesn’t waste time fighting guys that can’t draw flies.
That’s why he’s only focusing on the Klitschko brothers because they fight in front of sold out 50,000 + stadiums in Germany. Tarver would likely have to settle for a lot smaller figure in the U.S for one of his fights. I’m sure he would draw well if Haye did him a big favor and fought him, but then again Haye could fight anyone in the U.S and it would still draw well. It doesn’t take Tarver for a fight involving Haye to do well. Haye is only looking for one or two fights before he hangs up the gloves for good and both of those fights involve he Klitshko brothers, not Tarver.
The 43-year-old Tarver says “Let’s see who really belongs in the ring with the Klitschko brothers. A fight between Haye and me will be a giant springboard for the winner, with the Klitschkos waiting.”
I think Tarver’s feet aren’t firmly on the ground with his expectations. I just don’t see a high demand for a Haye-Tarver fight. I’m sure that there would be some interest there but not a really high interest due to Tarver’s age and his lack of fights at heavyweight. I think Haye would take a lot of criticism for fighting someone that old and who has lost two out of his last four fights.
My guess is Tarver will never get a fight with Haye and not because Haye is afraid of the guy. There’s just no value-add for a fight like that. It would be a huge step backwards for Haye, back to before he was a heavyweight in terms of competition. Haye is on the shut down mode. He’s made his money and doesn’t have a load of ambition to really try and accomplish anything like a lot fighters. He’s more into just getting a payday at this point. A fight with Tarver isn’t something that Haye will even consider because it won’t bring the kind of money he can get in these big stadium fights against the Klitschkos. Moreover, when you fight and older guy like Tarver, it puts you in a no-win situation. If Haye beats Tarver, people will say ‘So what, he’s an old guy and he fought of his career at light heavyweight.’ But if Tarver beats Haye, then it’s all over. There won’t be anymore paydays for Haye, so it’s not even worth it in the first place. Haye’s pretty easy to read and that’s how the guy would likely see someone like Tarver. Not worth the trouble and not enough money.
January 11th, 2012
By William Mackay: Former IBF/WBA/WBC light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver (29-6, 20 KO’s) has been trying to work an angle to get a big payday fight against IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko for the past year with no luck.
Now the 43-year-old Tarver is trying to work his magic on a fight with WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, and Tarver believes the best way to accomplish that is for him and former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye to fight with the winner facing Vitali. So, essentially Tarver sees their fight as an eliminator for the prize of facing the 40-year-old Vitali.
Tarver told thesun.co.uk “I believe Haye should fight me because of what I’m bringing to the table – a real giant reputation in the sport of boxing…If Haye can’t beat me then he doesn’t deserve Vitali and if I can’t beat him then I don’t deserve Wladimir.”
Tarver goes on to say that Haye has completely ignored his challenges and he sees that as evidence that Haye is threated by the danger that Tarver presents for him. I guess that’s one way of looking at it if you’re seeing it from a positive self-love type of outlook. But perhaps a more realistic view is that Haye doesn’t see Tarver as someone that can bring in more than a tiny handful of fans and Haye doesn’t waste time fighting guys that can’t draw flies.
That’s why he’s only focusing on the Klitschko brothers because they fight in front of sold out 50,000 + stadiums in Germany. Tarver would likely have to settle for a lot smaller figure in the U.S for one of his fights. I’m sure he would draw well if Haye did him a big favor and fought him, but then again Haye could fight anyone in the U.S and it would still draw well. It doesn’t take Tarver for a fight involving Haye to do well. Haye is only looking for one or two fights before he hangs up the gloves for good and both of those fights involve he Klitshko brothers, not Tarver.
The 43-year-old Tarver says “Let’s see who really belongs in the ring with the Klitschko brothers. A fight between Haye and me will be a giant springboard for the winner, with the Klitschkos waiting.”
I think Tarver’s feet aren’t firmly on the ground with his expectations. I just don’t see a high demand for a Haye-Tarver fight. I’m sure that there would be some interest there but not a really high interest due to Tarver’s age and his lack of fights at heavyweight. I think Haye would take a lot of criticism for fighting someone that old and who has lost two out of his last four fights.
My guess is Tarver will never get a fight with Haye and not because Haye is afraid of the guy. There’s just no value-add for a fight like that. It would be a huge step backwards for Haye, back to before he was a heavyweight in terms of competition. Haye is on the shut down mode. He’s made his money and doesn’t have a load of ambition to really try and accomplish anything like a lot fighters. He’s more into just getting a payday at this point. A fight with Tarver isn’t something that Haye will even consider because it won’t bring the kind of money he can get in these big stadium fights against the Klitschkos. Moreover, when you fight and older guy like Tarver, it puts you in a no-win situation. If Haye beats Tarver, people will say ‘So what, he’s an old guy and he fought of his career at light heavyweight.’ But if Tarver beats Haye, then it’s all over. There won’t be anymore paydays for Haye, so it’s not even worth it in the first place. Haye’s pretty easy to read and that’s how the guy would likely see someone like Tarver. Not worth the trouble and not enough money.
Arum says he’s still waiting for Mayweather or one of his representatives to contact him about a fight
January 10th, 2012
By Jason Kim: Bob Arum says he still hasn’t been personally contacted by either Floyd Mayweather Jr. or one of his management representatives about putting a fight together. Since he’s not hearing from any of them, he’s not buying that they’re really indeed interested in fighting.
On Tuesday, Mayweather sent a tweet out on his twitter account, calling Pacquiao out for a fight on May 5th and calling him a “Punk.” It was understood that there should be some kind of contact from either Mayweather one of his team members to Top Rank to start the ball rolling to negotiate the fight. However, Arum is saying that he hasn’t received a call and it appears he’s not going to life a finger to call himself until he receives a call or text message.
Arum told abs-cbn news.com “Until Mayweather officially authorizes a representative to negotiate with Team Pacquiao, it’s all nonsense and innuendo.”
If Mayweather wants Golden Boy Promotions to negotiate for him with Top Rank, then he’s going to have to advise Arum that they have permission to do so before he starts the negotiation process.
Hopefully, Mayweather isn’t waiting for Arum to make the first move because it sounds as if Arum isn’t going to do that. Maybe he’s been burned too many times and is jaded from the experiences. In that case, Mayweather will have to make the call himself of have his personal adviser make the call. It’ll be sad if the fight doesn’t get made because no one is making the phone calls.
January 10th, 2012
By Jason Kim: Bob Arum says he still hasn’t been personally contacted by either Floyd Mayweather Jr. or one of his management representatives about putting a fight together. Since he’s not hearing from any of them, he’s not buying that they’re really indeed interested in fighting.
On Tuesday, Mayweather sent a tweet out on his twitter account, calling Pacquiao out for a fight on May 5th and calling him a “Punk.” It was understood that there should be some kind of contact from either Mayweather one of his team members to Top Rank to start the ball rolling to negotiate the fight. However, Arum is saying that he hasn’t received a call and it appears he’s not going to life a finger to call himself until he receives a call or text message.
Arum told abs-cbn news.com “Until Mayweather officially authorizes a representative to negotiate with Team Pacquiao, it’s all nonsense and innuendo.”
If Mayweather wants Golden Boy Promotions to negotiate for him with Top Rank, then he’s going to have to advise Arum that they have permission to do so before he starts the negotiation process.
Hopefully, Mayweather isn’t waiting for Arum to make the first move because it sounds as if Arum isn’t going to do that. Maybe he’s been burned too many times and is jaded from the experiences. In that case, Mayweather will have to make the call himself of have his personal adviser make the call. It’ll be sad if the fight doesn’t get made because no one is making the phone calls.
Ball now in Pacquiao’s court
January 10th, 2012
By John F. McKenna (McJack): Marketing genius and WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KO’s) has successfully painted World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s) into a corner by calling him out on his twitter account and challenging him to step up and fight him.
Mayweather had been scheduled to begin his 90 day jail sentence at the Clark County Detention Center last Friday on January 6. Mayweather’s attorneys however were able to delay the start of his jail term until June 1st. The argument his attorneys used was that Mayweather had already reserved the MGM Grand Arena for May 5 to fight an unspecified opponent. They argued that a Mayweather fight on that date would bring in over $100 million into the economy of Las Vegas. The judge bought the argument and granted the delay in the start of Floyd’s jail sentence.
By calling out Pacquiao through his Twitter, Mayweather succeeded in once again putting the Pacquiao camp back on their heels. Ever since the delay of his jail sentence Top Rank CEO Bob Arum seemingly has come up with one excuse after another to avoid the Pacquiao – Mayweather fight.
Pacquiao on the other hand seems only too willing to engage Mayweather, possibly around the end of May. One of the arguments Arum used was that the cut Manny suffered in his November fight with WBO/WBA lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (53-6-1, 39 KO’s) needed more time to heal. But Manny indicates that the cut will not be a problem. Another argument Arum used was that the MGM Grand was not large enough to handle the anticipated live crowd. That argument too fails to hold water since a temporary stadium could apparently be constructed in the time frame needed.
Pacquiao has indicated that he will let it be known to Arum that he wants the Mayweather fight next. Pacman’s willingness to accept a smaller percentage of the revenue also attests to his desire to fight Mayweather. Arum has been saying for the past couple of weeks that Manny himself will decide who he fights next. But, as Pacquiao’s promoter it is clear that Arum has considerable leverage in Manny’s decision as to who he fights.
The ball is now in Manny Pacquiao’s court and he is in the position, as difficult as it may be that he needs to overrule his promoter Bob Arum. His legacy is now at stake and ultimately if the Mayweather fight never happens he will receive the bulk of the blame long after Arum is gone.
January 10th, 2012
By John F. McKenna (McJack): Marketing genius and WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KO’s) has successfully painted World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s) into a corner by calling him out on his twitter account and challenging him to step up and fight him.
Mayweather had been scheduled to begin his 90 day jail sentence at the Clark County Detention Center last Friday on January 6. Mayweather’s attorneys however were able to delay the start of his jail term until June 1st. The argument his attorneys used was that Mayweather had already reserved the MGM Grand Arena for May 5 to fight an unspecified opponent. They argued that a Mayweather fight on that date would bring in over $100 million into the economy of Las Vegas. The judge bought the argument and granted the delay in the start of Floyd’s jail sentence.
By calling out Pacquiao through his Twitter, Mayweather succeeded in once again putting the Pacquiao camp back on their heels. Ever since the delay of his jail sentence Top Rank CEO Bob Arum seemingly has come up with one excuse after another to avoid the Pacquiao – Mayweather fight.
Pacquiao on the other hand seems only too willing to engage Mayweather, possibly around the end of May. One of the arguments Arum used was that the cut Manny suffered in his November fight with WBO/WBA lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (53-6-1, 39 KO’s) needed more time to heal. But Manny indicates that the cut will not be a problem. Another argument Arum used was that the MGM Grand was not large enough to handle the anticipated live crowd. That argument too fails to hold water since a temporary stadium could apparently be constructed in the time frame needed.
Pacquiao has indicated that he will let it be known to Arum that he wants the Mayweather fight next. Pacman’s willingness to accept a smaller percentage of the revenue also attests to his desire to fight Mayweather. Arum has been saying for the past couple of weeks that Manny himself will decide who he fights next. But, as Pacquiao’s promoter it is clear that Arum has considerable leverage in Manny’s decision as to who he fights.
The ball is now in Manny Pacquiao’s court and he is in the position, as difficult as it may be that he needs to overrule his promoter Bob Arum. His legacy is now at stake and ultimately if the Mayweather fight never happens he will receive the bulk of the blame long after Arum is gone.
Ellerbe: Mayweather is serious about offer to Pacquiao
January 10th, 2012
By Chris Williams: Leonard Ellerbe, one of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s advisors, says that Mayweather is dead serious about his offer he made earlier today to fight WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao on May 5th in Las Vegas.
Mayweather said to Pacquiao on his twitter “Manny Pacquiao, I’m calling you out. Let’s fight May 5th and give the world what they want to see. Step up, Punk.”
Ellberbe backed that up, saying to Dan Rafael on ESPN “You heard him.”
However, none of this means anything if Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum won’t unleash Pacquiao to let him out to take the fight. Arum has been holding Pacquiao back for the past couple of year putting him instead with one Top Rank stable fighter after another. Pacquiao has done Arum a lot of favors by facing Arum’s fighters from his Top Rank stable and making a lot of money for them while at the same time saving Arum from having to deal with other promoters for these in house fights.
Mayweather doesn’t have very much time before he has to start serving his 90-day jail term. He was able to get a delay until June 1st, so he needs Pacquiao to fight him in early May in order to keep him from being pushed to the deadline of his jail term.
As of now, Arum is meeting with Pacquiao in the Philippines to decide on Pacquiao’s next fight. Arum wants nothing to do with Mayweather for Pacquiao’s next fight and is still looking at four names – Timothy Bradley, Miguel Cotto, Lamont Peterson and Juan Manuel Marquez. Arum has ruled Mayweather out as an opponent because he feels Pacquiao won’t be ready to fight in May because he needs more time for his cut to heal from the Marquez fight, even though cuts rarely need more than six months tops for them to be completely healed. In this case, Arum feels Pacquiao’s cut, which didn’t seem at all, needs seven months. It seems mighty suspicious that Arum is using this as a yet another excuse to keep Mayweather from fighting his No.1 moneymaker Pacquiao.
Arum told ESPN writer Rafael “I want to make sure Manny’s cuts are healed. We won’t fall under this kind of pressure. June is more likely for Manny’s fight, not May. I don’t even know if Mayweather will be licensed before he serves his time.”
Does that seem like someone who wants to make a fight? Arum appears to be just grabbing any excuse just to keep Pacquiao away from Mayweather
January 10th, 2012
By Chris Williams: Leonard Ellerbe, one of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s advisors, says that Mayweather is dead serious about his offer he made earlier today to fight WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao on May 5th in Las Vegas.
Mayweather said to Pacquiao on his twitter “Manny Pacquiao, I’m calling you out. Let’s fight May 5th and give the world what they want to see. Step up, Punk.”
Ellberbe backed that up, saying to Dan Rafael on ESPN “You heard him.”
However, none of this means anything if Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum won’t unleash Pacquiao to let him out to take the fight. Arum has been holding Pacquiao back for the past couple of year putting him instead with one Top Rank stable fighter after another. Pacquiao has done Arum a lot of favors by facing Arum’s fighters from his Top Rank stable and making a lot of money for them while at the same time saving Arum from having to deal with other promoters for these in house fights.
Mayweather doesn’t have very much time before he has to start serving his 90-day jail term. He was able to get a delay until June 1st, so he needs Pacquiao to fight him in early May in order to keep him from being pushed to the deadline of his jail term.
As of now, Arum is meeting with Pacquiao in the Philippines to decide on Pacquiao’s next fight. Arum wants nothing to do with Mayweather for Pacquiao’s next fight and is still looking at four names – Timothy Bradley, Miguel Cotto, Lamont Peterson and Juan Manuel Marquez. Arum has ruled Mayweather out as an opponent because he feels Pacquiao won’t be ready to fight in May because he needs more time for his cut to heal from the Marquez fight, even though cuts rarely need more than six months tops for them to be completely healed. In this case, Arum feels Pacquiao’s cut, which didn’t seem at all, needs seven months. It seems mighty suspicious that Arum is using this as a yet another excuse to keep Mayweather from fighting his No.1 moneymaker Pacquiao.
Arum told ESPN writer Rafael “I want to make sure Manny’s cuts are healed. We won’t fall under this kind of pressure. June is more likely for Manny’s fight, not May. I don’t even know if Mayweather will be licensed before he serves his time.”
Does that seem like someone who wants to make a fight? Arum appears to be just grabbing any excuse just to keep Pacquiao away from Mayweather
Arum concerned that Mayweather won’t get licensed to fight in Nevada
Floyd Mayweather Jr.By Michael Collins: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has come up with another reason why he’s reluctant to match his fighter Manny Pacquiao, pointing out that Mayweather may not receive his boxing license to fight in Nevada by the Nevada State Athletic Commission before May 5th due to Mayweather’s criminal case.
Mayweather’s 90-day sentence was delayed until June 1st upon arguments from his attorneys that he stands to make a lot of money for his May 5th fight for himself and for Nevada.
Arum told ESPN.com “I don’t even know if Mayweather will be licensed before he serves hit time.”
It appears Arum is using the shotgun approach to excuse making for not putting his cash cow fighter Pacquiao in with Mayweather. Arum’s other excuses have to do with Pacquiao’s cut needing more time to heal. Arum feels seven months is needed for this particular cut, not the normal six months. Having seen Pacquiao’s cut, it didn’t look that bad at all compared to some of the really ones I’ve seen that healed up just fine with the customary six months.
Mayweather will almost surely have to meet with the Nevada Commission due to his conviction and criminal case. However, it’s hard to imagine that the Nevada Commission would say no to licensing a hugely popular fighter like Mayweather when he could potentially bring in millions of badly needed dollars to the Las Vegas, Nevada community for a fight against Pacquiao or anyone else for that matter. The Nevada Commission won’t shoot themselves in the foot by denying Mayweather his license.
It’s surprising that Arum would even bother to use this as an excuse not to match Pacquiao up with Mayweather because it seems so weak. Arum previously worked overtime to get his fighter Antonio Margarito licensed to fight Pacquiao and was willing to take the fight all the way to Texas just to make the fight happen. Margarito was previously denied licensing by the Nevada and California Commission. This shows that when Arum wants to put a fight together, he’s not going to let licensing issues prevent it from happening.
Floyd Mayweather Jr.By Michael Collins: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has come up with another reason why he’s reluctant to match his fighter Manny Pacquiao, pointing out that Mayweather may not receive his boxing license to fight in Nevada by the Nevada State Athletic Commission before May 5th due to Mayweather’s criminal case.
Mayweather’s 90-day sentence was delayed until June 1st upon arguments from his attorneys that he stands to make a lot of money for his May 5th fight for himself and for Nevada.
Arum told ESPN.com “I don’t even know if Mayweather will be licensed before he serves hit time.”
It appears Arum is using the shotgun approach to excuse making for not putting his cash cow fighter Pacquiao in with Mayweather. Arum’s other excuses have to do with Pacquiao’s cut needing more time to heal. Arum feels seven months is needed for this particular cut, not the normal six months. Having seen Pacquiao’s cut, it didn’t look that bad at all compared to some of the really ones I’ve seen that healed up just fine with the customary six months.
Mayweather will almost surely have to meet with the Nevada Commission due to his conviction and criminal case. However, it’s hard to imagine that the Nevada Commission would say no to licensing a hugely popular fighter like Mayweather when he could potentially bring in millions of badly needed dollars to the Las Vegas, Nevada community for a fight against Pacquiao or anyone else for that matter. The Nevada Commission won’t shoot themselves in the foot by denying Mayweather his license.
It’s surprising that Arum would even bother to use this as an excuse not to match Pacquiao up with Mayweather because it seems so weak. Arum previously worked overtime to get his fighter Antonio Margarito licensed to fight Pacquiao and was willing to take the fight all the way to Texas just to make the fight happen. Margarito was previously denied licensing by the Nevada and California Commission. This shows that when Arum wants to put a fight together, he’s not going to let licensing issues prevent it from happening.
Floyd Mayweather Senior: “I think Bob Arum is doing the right thing by keeping Pacquiao away from little Floyd before he gets his head tore off!”
by Geoffrey Ciani (Exclusive Interview by Jenna J & Geoffrey Ciani) - This week’s 155th edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio featured an exclusive interview with boxing trainer Floyd Mayweather Senior, whose son Floyd Mayweather Junior is arguably viewed as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world today. Mayweather shared his opinions on a variety of topics, including the Bob Arum and Manny Pacquiao situation, potential fights for Floyd Junior against Saul Alvarez or Miguel Cotto, the upcoming rematch between Andre Berto and Victor Ortiz, Amir Khan’s upset loss against Lamont Peterson, Freddie Roach, Pacquiao-Marquez III, and more! Here are some questions and answers from that interview:
JENNA J: Alright ell Floyd, the first thing first thing I got to ask you, it recently came out that your son will no longer be going to jail as originally planned on January 6. He now will be going to jail in June, which makes him open to fight on May 5. What were your thoughts when you heard this news?
FLOYD MAYWEATHER SENIOR: That was good. I mean you know, he’s doing just like a good American with what he’s doing, because hey! All it is, he’s going to pay his debt still. Whatever debt they got for him, he’s still going to pay the debt but he’s also distributing something to the state of Las Vegas. He’s doing a lot for the economy.
JENNA: Yeah there’s been a lot of talk now about who your son’s going to fight now on May 5, and one thing that seems to be very clear is—
MAYWEATHER: It’s very clear that Pacquiao is scared and is not going to fight my son! So that right there is already laid to the side. He’s not going to fight Pacquiao on the 5th—trust me!
JENNA: Now that’s a question I have for you. It seems Bob Arum actually had May 5 open as a possibility if it was Marquez, but all of a sudden when your son became available for that date it became—
MAYWEATHER: He doesn’t want it! He don’t want it! They already know that Pacquiao’s going to get his ass whopped! They already know that. It’s so plain to see a blind man can see it.
JENNA: But Floyd, do you think maybe that’s the promoter doesn’t want the fight more so than the fighter?
MAYWEATHER: The fighter don’t want the fight either! If you ever heard Pacquiao, he might say he’s going to beat somebody but you never heard him say one word about fighting Floyd. You never heard him say one thing that was anything negative about Floyd, because that’s a fight he doesn’t want anyway. He don’t want that. So nobody is even talking about it. I mean everybody is talking about it, but as far as him promoting it by saying hey, I’ll whop it! I’ll knock him out in this kind of round. Little Floyd has said one thing: take the test! That’s it! Take the test. He will never take the test, because if he takes the test Floyd will put him to rest. That’s it.
JENNA: Flolyd the reason why I asked you whether it was the promoter or the fighter was because just the other day Manny Pacquiao actually came out in the press and said that the fight he wants is actually a fight with your son. He said he’ll actually take less money and do whatever drug testing it is. When Bob Arum goes to him, he said he’ll tell Bob that that’s the fight he wants. Do you believe him?
MAYWEATHER: Well good! Good! If he said that, that’s good! But you know what? Bob Arum ain’t going to let that happen. Bob Arum is going to stop him. You know Pacquiao, I never heard that he said that yet but somebody else did say to me that he said something similar to that. If he said that, that’s what the whole world would want to see anyway! The whole world wants to see that, so that’s why Bob Arum will never let that happen. I think that’s the fight that Floyd needs to close everybody’s mouth and shut everybody up! Then he can walk off because he beat everybody and there will be no one else to beat now. So I think that’s how he should do it, but at the end of the day Bob Arum got himself in a financial situation so I’m pretty sure that he ain’t going to let Pacquiao fight Floyd right now. Bob Arum knows Pacquiao can’t whop Floyd just like Pacquiao knows he can’t whop Floyd. As a matter of fact, the world knows he can’t whop little Floyd now after that fight that he fought with Marquez. The way he got his ass whopped with Marquez, no way he whops little Floyd. Little Floyd whopped Marquez every round. Marquez destroyed him! So what do you think is going to happen? I mean be real!
JENNA: Oh yeah! It is definitely a fight where I favor your son without a doubt! But I have to ask you now, if it’s not Manny Pacquiao the big option that people are talking about is that Saul Alvarez. I’m curious if you see your son going to 154 for that?
MAYWEATHER: I think that fight would be good. Alvarez right now does not have enough experience to whop little Floyd right now. Don’t get me wrong! He’s a big puncher, and you know you can hit anybody and get anybody out. But overall, I can’t see him doing nothing to win. Because you know what? He just doesn’t have enough experience right now to be fighting little Floyd. I mean little Floyd would beat him up and make him look like a fool. He’s 21 years old with no experience and he’s just now beginning to feel the life of all this big action and how it comes. All little Floyd would do is set him like he did with Victor Ortiz, and there it is! That’s all that’s going to happen. I’m just telling you right now. I think that’s a bad fight for Alvarez, and I talked to my son the other day, I talked to him Friday and he was telling me that he had Cotto in mind.
JENNA: Really? So if it was not Alvarez and it was actually Miguel Cotto, how would that fight be different? I mean how would that be different from taking on Alvarez, and taking on a Miguel Cotto?
MAYWEATHER: I think little Floyd can whop Cotto too, but I think Cotto would be a more credited type of fighter than someone like Alvarez. He’s got experience, he knows about the championship rounds, and you know he’s even fought in big fights. I think he can give Floyd a little more of a problem than Alvarez. I think little Floyd would just pick Alvarez apart. I’m being honest with you with that. I don’t see him as having a chance. Anybody’s got a chance! I’m not going to say he don’t have a chance. He’s got a puncher’s chance if he’s got anything, but with him punching it don’t mean nothing if you can’t find nothing to hit. So I still think he’s going to be in limbo when it comes to beating Floyd.
JENNA: Alright now Floyd, honestly in your opinion, if you had to pick between one of those three guys—Alvarez, Pacquiao, or Cotto—what fight would you want to see next for your son?
MAYWEATHER: To be honest, I would want to see Pacquiao if he do it like my son says and takes the test. That’s the fight I want to see. I want to see the fight. I really don’t care to see the fight, because I already know what’s going to happen with the fight, but the whole thing is I want the fight to happen just for the people. So they can see for their own selves. They even got t-shirts out about, “Run Floyd, Run Floyd” from Pacquiao. Hey! They got them t-shirts out! Let’s see if he can do what the t-shirts say, because the whole thing is Pacquiao—I ain’t even got to tell you! Pacquiao ain’t got a prayer. That’s all I got to tell you. He did all that praying when he was fighting against Marquez when he was getting his ass beat every round. He came back and got on his knees and prayed. He might well step up for this, because he ain’t going to have any need to bend down because if he bends down one time he won’t be getting up.
GEOFFREY CIANI: Floyd going back to Bob Arum, it seems like he doesn’t want to put Pacquiao in the ring with Floyd, but in your—
MAYWEATHER: That’s been obvious!
CIANI: In your opinion, though, who do you think Arum is protecting? Do you think Arum is protecting himself? Or do you think he’s protecting Pacquiao?
MAYWEATHER: Whoever he’s protecting! He’s protecting his pockets and he’s protecting Pacquiao! He’s protecting his pockets! I mean don’t get me wrong! He ain’t doing nothing wrong by protecting his pockets! I mean who in the hell wants to just throw money out of their pockets and not have no gain behind it? My thing is I think Bob Arum is doing the right thing by keeping Pacquiao away from little Floyd before he gets his head tore off! That’s all that’s going to happen anyway! He’s going to smash it! He don’t have a prayer. You know what I mean? I’m just telling you. It would be funny just to see little Floyd the way he’ll play with Pacquiao—dancing around him, feinting, timing, and hitting him whenever he wants to hit him. That’s the kind of fight you’re going to see. It ain’t no fight to me to see, because I already know what time it is. I’ve been telling everybody for the longest what time it is. To me, I can care if I see it or didn’t see it. It ain’t going to make no difference. It’s going to be the same result. The result is going to be the same.
CIANI: Well Floyd, going back to your son, you mentioned before Saul Alvarez and Miguel Cotto. Does this mean you think that your son will go back to 154 for the first time since he fought Oscar?
MAYWEATHER: At this pace with what’s going on, with what’s going on right now he can go back to 154 and fight someone like Alvarez. He can go right to 154 and fight Alvarez. He didn’t look real big to me on TV to me. Alvarez, I never seen Alvarez person to person, but when I had seen how short Alvarez was, I don’t see him having too much of a chance of doing nothing! I mean he’s got power. You know he’s got power, because he’s strong and he’s built stocky from the ground. But hey! He ain’t got the Q’s that it takes to get the job done. So you know right there, if he wants it on the same platform that Bob Arum is standing on, De La Hoya is standing on it too. He needs to get off that platform and give Alvarez more schooling, because I’m just saying from the standpoint he’s out of his league. He just now got into the elite championship rounds to see what’s going on. He ain’t like that right now.
CIANI: I wanted to get your opinion on your son’s last opponent, Victor Ortiz. He’s having a rematch with Andre Berto, and I’m curious—do you think we’ll see a repeat of the first fight there, or do you think that Berto might be able to beat Victor?
MAYWEATHER: Well right now I’m going to be honest with you. Sometimes when people get knocked out like my son did Victor Ortiz, believe it or not he might not even be the same fighter that he was before. I think that’s going to play a part, and I don’t know if Berto is going to get a chance to get the punches off like he could with little Floyd. I don’t think he’s going to be that stupid anymore. I don’t think Victor Ortiz is going to be that stupid any more as far as doing what he did with my son, sitting up there and wanting to make love, and wanting to get married, and wanting to be friends and partners and sitting around hugging and stuff. Hey! I don’t think that Victor Ortiz is going to do that again. So I think it’s going to be a pretty good fight as far as it goes.
CIANI: Cool. Well Floyd I also wanted to get your opinion. A lot of people were surprised with Amir Khan’s last fight.
MAYWEATHER: I wasn’t surprised.
CIANI: You weren’t surprised?
MAYWEATHER: I mean you know I’m just saying that, look man! Amir Khan, when he comes down I don’t know what’s going on man, because Amir Khan! You know like I said before, they’re catching them all right, right now. Just like Marquez caught Pacquiao right, I think Amir Khan probably went through the same type of trap, thinking he can do this without that.
CIANI: Now regarding Khan, he said after the fight Pacquiao had with Marquez he thought Marquez won the fight, and—
MAYWEATHER: He didn’t lie about nothing! He told the truth! I believe the same thing! What do you believe?
CIANI: I had the fight a draw.
MAYWEATHER: Well a draw. Well, I—can you please do me a favor? Can you continue the job that you’re doing but start looking at fights a little bit closer, and if you don’t get out of the game! But I’m just telling you though, I haven’t seen one person yet that told me Pacquiao beat Marquez! None! Nobody! It was no draw! It was a clean fight right there, and it was a one-sided fight.
CIANI: Well the question I wanted to ask you Floyd, is I think Freddie Roach said he would welcome a Peterson fight for Pacquiao, which kind of conflicts interests. Khan wants a rematch with Peterson, and now Roach is saying—
MAYWEATHER: Let me tell you this! He wants to get back. See, I already know what time it is why he wants to get back with Peterson. See everything that’s going on, we already know that there is something in the tank. We already know that Pacquiao ain’t going to be the same Pacquiao when he fought Marquez last. He’s going to be a much stronger guy, a much harder puncher, take a better punch, and is a fighter that comes forward and you can’t hurt him. He’s probably going to be that type of guy now. You know. I’m just saying. That’s where I’m looking for him to be. If he wants to fight Peterson, he’s going to beat Peterson. Of course he’ll beat Peterson if he comes back like I said. I’m going to tell you right there. I’m not really concerned about that. I’m more concerned about my son and what he says about Pacquiao taking the test. But whatever he does with Peterson that’s going to be on him. But I believe he’s going to go back and beat Peterson’s ass. I don’t think he can whop Peterson for real. I think he will beat him, but I don’t think he can beat him for real.
CIANI: Well do you think if Pacquiao does wind up fighting Peterson, that this could cause turmoil between Khan and Roach?
MAYWEATHER: It don’t make no difference anyway! I’ve been hearing that they’ve been having, and my thing is that I’ve heard—I don’t know. I’ve been hearing that it’s been a little different in the gym anyway about different things, about Amir Khan saying things about that what we said about that thing that we have said that where we had litigation. I’m just saying that they’re saying that Khan is saying some things about what Pacquiao has been doing. He said some things too, like I heard that he said that Marquez beat Pacquiao’s ass when they fought. I heard he said that, too. Right now I think there is some dislike in their camp right now. I don’t think that camp is going as smooth as they say.
JENNA: In all of the appearances you’ve had on this show, one of the things you’ve continuously said is that you believe that Freddie Roach is a joke of a coach. I have to ask you something about his recent results. He’s had three of his fighters in title fights perform, let’s say, not at their best, or get stopped, or lose. He had Jorge Linares. He had Manny Pacquiao against Juan Manuel Marquez, which I personally scored for Marquez.
MAYWEATHER: Thank you!
JENNA: And then we also had Amir Khan. That’s three fighters. Three fighters, what do you think is happening with that? Why do you think all of a sudden Roach is having trouble with his top fighters?
MAYWEATHER: Look at here. I’m going to tell you like I was just telling him. He was trying to say the fight was a draw. There ain’t no way. I told him you don’t know boxing if you’re going to call that fight a draw. You don’t know boxing. You don’t know what you’re looking at. Continue to just write papers and keep asking me questions that you want to ask me. I’m going to let you know what I feel, and what I believe, and what I see, and what I know. That’s what I’m going to do with it. But you are so correct. You are very correct. But I’m going to say this right here, that all of this stuff that’s happening, what’s happening is I think myself personally—I believe! This is my belief, just like people can believe what they want to believe. You can’t stop nobody from believing what they want to believe. If I say I don’t believe it, that don’t mean I don’t believe it. But the whole thing is, all of these losses that are coming down, I think the people are trying to come down off some things and then that’s when you find yourself in trouble. You know what I mean? The only reason I’m saying that is if he goes back right now, and you’re talking about Pacquiao fighting Peterson—Pacquiao’s going to beat the hell out of Peterson right now, but I know he can’t really beat Peterson! You understand me. He can’t really beat Peterson, but he will if he comes back and fights Peterson right now because it’s just something that they know that they had right now in all the fights. They know they got to prove something or Pacquiao’s all the way out the door. So you know, like I said before, I was talking about Bob Arum. That’s his little bank and it’s about to go broke. The bank is about to go broke now. If you ain’t got now bank, then you ain’t got no money. So you know what time it is.
JENNA: Alright Floyd, I have one final question for you and this is one that I need to get your perspective on. Your son is going to end up going to jail for 90 days in June. That’s when he’ll be going away. You yourself have spent a little bit of time away before back in the early 90s. My question to you is what’s that adjustment going to be like for your son? What’s the biggest adjustment that a person makes, that a fighter or a former fighter going from civilian life to being locked up?
MAYWEATHER: It’s got to do with your character, and the way you go into the jail house and the way you come out of the jail house. It’s all going to be about your character anyway. I think he has to make some adjustments about the way he carries himself in there. You cannot carry yourself in a rude, badly, manly type of way in a jail house because you got all kinds of outlaws, crooks, murderers, and people will stab you in the back or whatever. You got every kind of thing that you’re looking for in the jail house. It’s there and it’s ready to strike at any time. Believe me! I was in the jail house for three and a half years. I was in prison but I almost got into it a few times and I could probably still be in the jail house right now, because my hand is considered as a lethal weapon. I could have ended up, even though I’m in there with criminals, if I hurt a criminal real bad, you know hey! Then there’s another penalty that I got to pay. So I’m just saying that my son has to learn to walk a straight line, and follow the rules, and do like he’s supposed to do. If he does it just like that, he’s going to come out the way he went in. But if he don’t with all of that yipping and yapping, and hollering and screaming—people like that, and I know because I’ve been in there. I’ve been in the holding house and everything, where a dude hit a dude in the head with a weight. A big old weight, he hit him in the head with it. The dude was asleep. So I’m just trying to tell you all kinds of stuff happens. I’m pretty sure they’re going to have him in exile. I’m pretty sure they’re going to have him somewhere by himself though, but still! You know. I think it’s more worse than me to be an exile by myself in a cell, I don’t care if you’re just reading a book or looking at TVs. The sh*t gets boring and it’s not good. So I just hope that he does what he’s supposed to do and he comes out alright, because at the end of the day between me and my son, he’s still my son at the end of the day. When he goes in there he’s going to be my son, and when he comes out he’s going to be my son. That’s just the way it is.
by Geoffrey Ciani (Exclusive Interview by Jenna J & Geoffrey Ciani) - This week’s 155th edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio featured an exclusive interview with boxing trainer Floyd Mayweather Senior, whose son Floyd Mayweather Junior is arguably viewed as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world today. Mayweather shared his opinions on a variety of topics, including the Bob Arum and Manny Pacquiao situation, potential fights for Floyd Junior against Saul Alvarez or Miguel Cotto, the upcoming rematch between Andre Berto and Victor Ortiz, Amir Khan’s upset loss against Lamont Peterson, Freddie Roach, Pacquiao-Marquez III, and more! Here are some questions and answers from that interview:
JENNA J: Alright ell Floyd, the first thing first thing I got to ask you, it recently came out that your son will no longer be going to jail as originally planned on January 6. He now will be going to jail in June, which makes him open to fight on May 5. What were your thoughts when you heard this news?
FLOYD MAYWEATHER SENIOR: That was good. I mean you know, he’s doing just like a good American with what he’s doing, because hey! All it is, he’s going to pay his debt still. Whatever debt they got for him, he’s still going to pay the debt but he’s also distributing something to the state of Las Vegas. He’s doing a lot for the economy.
JENNA: Yeah there’s been a lot of talk now about who your son’s going to fight now on May 5, and one thing that seems to be very clear is—
MAYWEATHER: It’s very clear that Pacquiao is scared and is not going to fight my son! So that right there is already laid to the side. He’s not going to fight Pacquiao on the 5th—trust me!
JENNA: Now that’s a question I have for you. It seems Bob Arum actually had May 5 open as a possibility if it was Marquez, but all of a sudden when your son became available for that date it became—
MAYWEATHER: He doesn’t want it! He don’t want it! They already know that Pacquiao’s going to get his ass whopped! They already know that. It’s so plain to see a blind man can see it.
JENNA: But Floyd, do you think maybe that’s the promoter doesn’t want the fight more so than the fighter?
MAYWEATHER: The fighter don’t want the fight either! If you ever heard Pacquiao, he might say he’s going to beat somebody but you never heard him say one word about fighting Floyd. You never heard him say one thing that was anything negative about Floyd, because that’s a fight he doesn’t want anyway. He don’t want that. So nobody is even talking about it. I mean everybody is talking about it, but as far as him promoting it by saying hey, I’ll whop it! I’ll knock him out in this kind of round. Little Floyd has said one thing: take the test! That’s it! Take the test. He will never take the test, because if he takes the test Floyd will put him to rest. That’s it.
JENNA: Flolyd the reason why I asked you whether it was the promoter or the fighter was because just the other day Manny Pacquiao actually came out in the press and said that the fight he wants is actually a fight with your son. He said he’ll actually take less money and do whatever drug testing it is. When Bob Arum goes to him, he said he’ll tell Bob that that’s the fight he wants. Do you believe him?
MAYWEATHER: Well good! Good! If he said that, that’s good! But you know what? Bob Arum ain’t going to let that happen. Bob Arum is going to stop him. You know Pacquiao, I never heard that he said that yet but somebody else did say to me that he said something similar to that. If he said that, that’s what the whole world would want to see anyway! The whole world wants to see that, so that’s why Bob Arum will never let that happen. I think that’s the fight that Floyd needs to close everybody’s mouth and shut everybody up! Then he can walk off because he beat everybody and there will be no one else to beat now. So I think that’s how he should do it, but at the end of the day Bob Arum got himself in a financial situation so I’m pretty sure that he ain’t going to let Pacquiao fight Floyd right now. Bob Arum knows Pacquiao can’t whop Floyd just like Pacquiao knows he can’t whop Floyd. As a matter of fact, the world knows he can’t whop little Floyd now after that fight that he fought with Marquez. The way he got his ass whopped with Marquez, no way he whops little Floyd. Little Floyd whopped Marquez every round. Marquez destroyed him! So what do you think is going to happen? I mean be real!
JENNA: Oh yeah! It is definitely a fight where I favor your son without a doubt! But I have to ask you now, if it’s not Manny Pacquiao the big option that people are talking about is that Saul Alvarez. I’m curious if you see your son going to 154 for that?
MAYWEATHER: I think that fight would be good. Alvarez right now does not have enough experience to whop little Floyd right now. Don’t get me wrong! He’s a big puncher, and you know you can hit anybody and get anybody out. But overall, I can’t see him doing nothing to win. Because you know what? He just doesn’t have enough experience right now to be fighting little Floyd. I mean little Floyd would beat him up and make him look like a fool. He’s 21 years old with no experience and he’s just now beginning to feel the life of all this big action and how it comes. All little Floyd would do is set him like he did with Victor Ortiz, and there it is! That’s all that’s going to happen. I’m just telling you right now. I think that’s a bad fight for Alvarez, and I talked to my son the other day, I talked to him Friday and he was telling me that he had Cotto in mind.
JENNA: Really? So if it was not Alvarez and it was actually Miguel Cotto, how would that fight be different? I mean how would that be different from taking on Alvarez, and taking on a Miguel Cotto?
MAYWEATHER: I think little Floyd can whop Cotto too, but I think Cotto would be a more credited type of fighter than someone like Alvarez. He’s got experience, he knows about the championship rounds, and you know he’s even fought in big fights. I think he can give Floyd a little more of a problem than Alvarez. I think little Floyd would just pick Alvarez apart. I’m being honest with you with that. I don’t see him as having a chance. Anybody’s got a chance! I’m not going to say he don’t have a chance. He’s got a puncher’s chance if he’s got anything, but with him punching it don’t mean nothing if you can’t find nothing to hit. So I still think he’s going to be in limbo when it comes to beating Floyd.
JENNA: Alright now Floyd, honestly in your opinion, if you had to pick between one of those three guys—Alvarez, Pacquiao, or Cotto—what fight would you want to see next for your son?
MAYWEATHER: To be honest, I would want to see Pacquiao if he do it like my son says and takes the test. That’s the fight I want to see. I want to see the fight. I really don’t care to see the fight, because I already know what’s going to happen with the fight, but the whole thing is I want the fight to happen just for the people. So they can see for their own selves. They even got t-shirts out about, “Run Floyd, Run Floyd” from Pacquiao. Hey! They got them t-shirts out! Let’s see if he can do what the t-shirts say, because the whole thing is Pacquiao—I ain’t even got to tell you! Pacquiao ain’t got a prayer. That’s all I got to tell you. He did all that praying when he was fighting against Marquez when he was getting his ass beat every round. He came back and got on his knees and prayed. He might well step up for this, because he ain’t going to have any need to bend down because if he bends down one time he won’t be getting up.
GEOFFREY CIANI: Floyd going back to Bob Arum, it seems like he doesn’t want to put Pacquiao in the ring with Floyd, but in your—
MAYWEATHER: That’s been obvious!
CIANI: In your opinion, though, who do you think Arum is protecting? Do you think Arum is protecting himself? Or do you think he’s protecting Pacquiao?
MAYWEATHER: Whoever he’s protecting! He’s protecting his pockets and he’s protecting Pacquiao! He’s protecting his pockets! I mean don’t get me wrong! He ain’t doing nothing wrong by protecting his pockets! I mean who in the hell wants to just throw money out of their pockets and not have no gain behind it? My thing is I think Bob Arum is doing the right thing by keeping Pacquiao away from little Floyd before he gets his head tore off! That’s all that’s going to happen anyway! He’s going to smash it! He don’t have a prayer. You know what I mean? I’m just telling you. It would be funny just to see little Floyd the way he’ll play with Pacquiao—dancing around him, feinting, timing, and hitting him whenever he wants to hit him. That’s the kind of fight you’re going to see. It ain’t no fight to me to see, because I already know what time it is. I’ve been telling everybody for the longest what time it is. To me, I can care if I see it or didn’t see it. It ain’t going to make no difference. It’s going to be the same result. The result is going to be the same.
CIANI: Well Floyd, going back to your son, you mentioned before Saul Alvarez and Miguel Cotto. Does this mean you think that your son will go back to 154 for the first time since he fought Oscar?
MAYWEATHER: At this pace with what’s going on, with what’s going on right now he can go back to 154 and fight someone like Alvarez. He can go right to 154 and fight Alvarez. He didn’t look real big to me on TV to me. Alvarez, I never seen Alvarez person to person, but when I had seen how short Alvarez was, I don’t see him having too much of a chance of doing nothing! I mean he’s got power. You know he’s got power, because he’s strong and he’s built stocky from the ground. But hey! He ain’t got the Q’s that it takes to get the job done. So you know right there, if he wants it on the same platform that Bob Arum is standing on, De La Hoya is standing on it too. He needs to get off that platform and give Alvarez more schooling, because I’m just saying from the standpoint he’s out of his league. He just now got into the elite championship rounds to see what’s going on. He ain’t like that right now.
CIANI: I wanted to get your opinion on your son’s last opponent, Victor Ortiz. He’s having a rematch with Andre Berto, and I’m curious—do you think we’ll see a repeat of the first fight there, or do you think that Berto might be able to beat Victor?
MAYWEATHER: Well right now I’m going to be honest with you. Sometimes when people get knocked out like my son did Victor Ortiz, believe it or not he might not even be the same fighter that he was before. I think that’s going to play a part, and I don’t know if Berto is going to get a chance to get the punches off like he could with little Floyd. I don’t think he’s going to be that stupid anymore. I don’t think Victor Ortiz is going to be that stupid any more as far as doing what he did with my son, sitting up there and wanting to make love, and wanting to get married, and wanting to be friends and partners and sitting around hugging and stuff. Hey! I don’t think that Victor Ortiz is going to do that again. So I think it’s going to be a pretty good fight as far as it goes.
CIANI: Cool. Well Floyd I also wanted to get your opinion. A lot of people were surprised with Amir Khan’s last fight.
MAYWEATHER: I wasn’t surprised.
CIANI: You weren’t surprised?
MAYWEATHER: I mean you know I’m just saying that, look man! Amir Khan, when he comes down I don’t know what’s going on man, because Amir Khan! You know like I said before, they’re catching them all right, right now. Just like Marquez caught Pacquiao right, I think Amir Khan probably went through the same type of trap, thinking he can do this without that.
CIANI: Now regarding Khan, he said after the fight Pacquiao had with Marquez he thought Marquez won the fight, and—
MAYWEATHER: He didn’t lie about nothing! He told the truth! I believe the same thing! What do you believe?
CIANI: I had the fight a draw.
MAYWEATHER: Well a draw. Well, I—can you please do me a favor? Can you continue the job that you’re doing but start looking at fights a little bit closer, and if you don’t get out of the game! But I’m just telling you though, I haven’t seen one person yet that told me Pacquiao beat Marquez! None! Nobody! It was no draw! It was a clean fight right there, and it was a one-sided fight.
CIANI: Well the question I wanted to ask you Floyd, is I think Freddie Roach said he would welcome a Peterson fight for Pacquiao, which kind of conflicts interests. Khan wants a rematch with Peterson, and now Roach is saying—
MAYWEATHER: Let me tell you this! He wants to get back. See, I already know what time it is why he wants to get back with Peterson. See everything that’s going on, we already know that there is something in the tank. We already know that Pacquiao ain’t going to be the same Pacquiao when he fought Marquez last. He’s going to be a much stronger guy, a much harder puncher, take a better punch, and is a fighter that comes forward and you can’t hurt him. He’s probably going to be that type of guy now. You know. I’m just saying. That’s where I’m looking for him to be. If he wants to fight Peterson, he’s going to beat Peterson. Of course he’ll beat Peterson if he comes back like I said. I’m going to tell you right there. I’m not really concerned about that. I’m more concerned about my son and what he says about Pacquiao taking the test. But whatever he does with Peterson that’s going to be on him. But I believe he’s going to go back and beat Peterson’s ass. I don’t think he can whop Peterson for real. I think he will beat him, but I don’t think he can beat him for real.
CIANI: Well do you think if Pacquiao does wind up fighting Peterson, that this could cause turmoil between Khan and Roach?
MAYWEATHER: It don’t make no difference anyway! I’ve been hearing that they’ve been having, and my thing is that I’ve heard—I don’t know. I’ve been hearing that it’s been a little different in the gym anyway about different things, about Amir Khan saying things about that what we said about that thing that we have said that where we had litigation. I’m just saying that they’re saying that Khan is saying some things about what Pacquiao has been doing. He said some things too, like I heard that he said that Marquez beat Pacquiao’s ass when they fought. I heard he said that, too. Right now I think there is some dislike in their camp right now. I don’t think that camp is going as smooth as they say.
JENNA: In all of the appearances you’ve had on this show, one of the things you’ve continuously said is that you believe that Freddie Roach is a joke of a coach. I have to ask you something about his recent results. He’s had three of his fighters in title fights perform, let’s say, not at their best, or get stopped, or lose. He had Jorge Linares. He had Manny Pacquiao against Juan Manuel Marquez, which I personally scored for Marquez.
MAYWEATHER: Thank you!
JENNA: And then we also had Amir Khan. That’s three fighters. Three fighters, what do you think is happening with that? Why do you think all of a sudden Roach is having trouble with his top fighters?
MAYWEATHER: Look at here. I’m going to tell you like I was just telling him. He was trying to say the fight was a draw. There ain’t no way. I told him you don’t know boxing if you’re going to call that fight a draw. You don’t know boxing. You don’t know what you’re looking at. Continue to just write papers and keep asking me questions that you want to ask me. I’m going to let you know what I feel, and what I believe, and what I see, and what I know. That’s what I’m going to do with it. But you are so correct. You are very correct. But I’m going to say this right here, that all of this stuff that’s happening, what’s happening is I think myself personally—I believe! This is my belief, just like people can believe what they want to believe. You can’t stop nobody from believing what they want to believe. If I say I don’t believe it, that don’t mean I don’t believe it. But the whole thing is, all of these losses that are coming down, I think the people are trying to come down off some things and then that’s when you find yourself in trouble. You know what I mean? The only reason I’m saying that is if he goes back right now, and you’re talking about Pacquiao fighting Peterson—Pacquiao’s going to beat the hell out of Peterson right now, but I know he can’t really beat Peterson! You understand me. He can’t really beat Peterson, but he will if he comes back and fights Peterson right now because it’s just something that they know that they had right now in all the fights. They know they got to prove something or Pacquiao’s all the way out the door. So you know, like I said before, I was talking about Bob Arum. That’s his little bank and it’s about to go broke. The bank is about to go broke now. If you ain’t got now bank, then you ain’t got no money. So you know what time it is.
JENNA: Alright Floyd, I have one final question for you and this is one that I need to get your perspective on. Your son is going to end up going to jail for 90 days in June. That’s when he’ll be going away. You yourself have spent a little bit of time away before back in the early 90s. My question to you is what’s that adjustment going to be like for your son? What’s the biggest adjustment that a person makes, that a fighter or a former fighter going from civilian life to being locked up?
MAYWEATHER: It’s got to do with your character, and the way you go into the jail house and the way you come out of the jail house. It’s all going to be about your character anyway. I think he has to make some adjustments about the way he carries himself in there. You cannot carry yourself in a rude, badly, manly type of way in a jail house because you got all kinds of outlaws, crooks, murderers, and people will stab you in the back or whatever. You got every kind of thing that you’re looking for in the jail house. It’s there and it’s ready to strike at any time. Believe me! I was in the jail house for three and a half years. I was in prison but I almost got into it a few times and I could probably still be in the jail house right now, because my hand is considered as a lethal weapon. I could have ended up, even though I’m in there with criminals, if I hurt a criminal real bad, you know hey! Then there’s another penalty that I got to pay. So I’m just saying that my son has to learn to walk a straight line, and follow the rules, and do like he’s supposed to do. If he does it just like that, he’s going to come out the way he went in. But if he don’t with all of that yipping and yapping, and hollering and screaming—people like that, and I know because I’ve been in there. I’ve been in the holding house and everything, where a dude hit a dude in the head with a weight. A big old weight, he hit him in the head with it. The dude was asleep. So I’m just trying to tell you all kinds of stuff happens. I’m pretty sure they’re going to have him in exile. I’m pretty sure they’re going to have him somewhere by himself though, but still! You know. I think it’s more worse than me to be an exile by myself in a cell, I don’t care if you’re just reading a book or looking at TVs. The sh*t gets boring and it’s not good. So I just hope that he does what he’s supposed to do and he comes out alright, because at the end of the day between me and my son, he’s still my son at the end of the day. When he goes in there he’s going to be my son, and when he comes out he’s going to be my son. That’s just the way it is.
More updates on the Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao Drama
Floyd Mayweather JrBy Vitali Shaposhnikov: As the Mayweather Jr. and Pacquiao drama escalades, so do the various statements from the respective teams. The potential of fight has not only become one of the most anticipated and sought after, but also the most convoluted in terms of speculations and assumed lies.
The core question for why this fight has not yet happened and why it is being avoided is: who is stalling the fight? Is Bob Arum trying to hang on to his cash cow for as long as he possibly can? Is Manny Pacquiao trying to avoid Mayweather Jr. for whatever reason? Or is maybe Floyd all talk and no walk? Nobody has the real answer, and I can promise you, nobody will ever know.
Looks like the people from TMZ got in touch with Freddie Roach, and he has informed them that Manny Pacquiao could finally decide if Mayweather Jr. will be his next opponent in May within the next 48 hours (http://www.tmz.com/2012/01/11/manny-pacquiao-floyd-mayweather-fight-freddie-roach/#.Tw5KeYGz-_0). Roach also seemed to be personally hurt by Floyd calling Manny a “Punk” in his recent Tweet update: “He should look in the mirror. He’s been ducking us for 2 years,” said Roach.
On another note, according to PhilBoxcing.com (http://philboxing.com/news/story-65092.html) Manny Pacquiao and Michael Koncz both voiced the fact that it is Mayweather Jr. they hope to fight in May: “We are not ducking the fight. From a business perspective we are not going to throw away an additional $30-$40 million. Be a man (Floyd) and step up to the plate. Fight at the end of May and the fight is done.”
Bob Arum, of course, had his own word to throw around, saying “They have already agreed to fight Robert Guerrero on May 5. They feel that if they blame Manny and myself for the Pacquiao-Mayweather not happening and therefore they are fighting Guerrero and that somehow the public will excuse them and buy the Mayweather-Guerrero fight. That is stupid. Nobody is going to buy the fight unless they believe it's a good fight. The fact that I did this or Manny did that is not going to make a guy buy or not buy a Mayweather-Guerrero fight.”
Arum also touched on his previous point of building a proper venue for such a big event: “They want to grab some quick bucks fighting a non-dangerous opponent, go to jail if Mayweather has to, come out and then go right into a big fight with Manny Pacquiao. They know we got to have time to build that outdoor stadium because that can bring to the bottom line an additional $30-$40 million. That becomes a big percentage of the total estimated gross.”
I have to say, it is very hard to argue with Arum on this specific topic of having the right venue for one of the most important fights in boxing history. A fight in Las Vegas, in any of the current available arenas, would leave too many people without a ticket to the fight. Any arena, of any imaginable size, would undoubtedly sell out in a matter of minutes. So, since each fighter expects to get paid around $100 million for their bout, there needs to be somewhere for the money to come from.
As far as his comments on Mayweather Jr. and his next opponent being Robert Guerrero, seems like Arum is either truly confused, or just ran out of things to say. If the fight was indeed good to go, we would know about it. Guerrero himself would have already started to self promote his fight, and pop up in the news all over the place. Is there a possibility of that fight happening? Sure, there most definitely is, but it has not yet been finalized.
I wonder what the day will bring tomorrow…
Floyd Mayweather JrBy Vitali Shaposhnikov: As the Mayweather Jr. and Pacquiao drama escalades, so do the various statements from the respective teams. The potential of fight has not only become one of the most anticipated and sought after, but also the most convoluted in terms of speculations and assumed lies.
The core question for why this fight has not yet happened and why it is being avoided is: who is stalling the fight? Is Bob Arum trying to hang on to his cash cow for as long as he possibly can? Is Manny Pacquiao trying to avoid Mayweather Jr. for whatever reason? Or is maybe Floyd all talk and no walk? Nobody has the real answer, and I can promise you, nobody will ever know.
Looks like the people from TMZ got in touch with Freddie Roach, and he has informed them that Manny Pacquiao could finally decide if Mayweather Jr. will be his next opponent in May within the next 48 hours (http://www.tmz.com/2012/01/11/manny-pacquiao-floyd-mayweather-fight-freddie-roach/#.Tw5KeYGz-_0). Roach also seemed to be personally hurt by Floyd calling Manny a “Punk” in his recent Tweet update: “He should look in the mirror. He’s been ducking us for 2 years,” said Roach.
On another note, according to PhilBoxcing.com (http://philboxing.com/news/story-65092.html) Manny Pacquiao and Michael Koncz both voiced the fact that it is Mayweather Jr. they hope to fight in May: “We are not ducking the fight. From a business perspective we are not going to throw away an additional $30-$40 million. Be a man (Floyd) and step up to the plate. Fight at the end of May and the fight is done.”
Bob Arum, of course, had his own word to throw around, saying “They have already agreed to fight Robert Guerrero on May 5. They feel that if they blame Manny and myself for the Pacquiao-Mayweather not happening and therefore they are fighting Guerrero and that somehow the public will excuse them and buy the Mayweather-Guerrero fight. That is stupid. Nobody is going to buy the fight unless they believe it's a good fight. The fact that I did this or Manny did that is not going to make a guy buy or not buy a Mayweather-Guerrero fight.”
Arum also touched on his previous point of building a proper venue for such a big event: “They want to grab some quick bucks fighting a non-dangerous opponent, go to jail if Mayweather has to, come out and then go right into a big fight with Manny Pacquiao. They know we got to have time to build that outdoor stadium because that can bring to the bottom line an additional $30-$40 million. That becomes a big percentage of the total estimated gross.”
I have to say, it is very hard to argue with Arum on this specific topic of having the right venue for one of the most important fights in boxing history. A fight in Las Vegas, in any of the current available arenas, would leave too many people without a ticket to the fight. Any arena, of any imaginable size, would undoubtedly sell out in a matter of minutes. So, since each fighter expects to get paid around $100 million for their bout, there needs to be somewhere for the money to come from.
As far as his comments on Mayweather Jr. and his next opponent being Robert Guerrero, seems like Arum is either truly confused, or just ran out of things to say. If the fight was indeed good to go, we would know about it. Guerrero himself would have already started to self promote his fight, and pop up in the news all over the place. Is there a possibility of that fight happening? Sure, there most definitely is, but it has not yet been finalized.
I wonder what the day will bring tomorrow…
Vitali Klitschko Says One Person Prevented A Rematch Between He And Lennox Lewis: Lewis’ Mother!
Vitali KlitschkoBy James Slater: Ever since the ultra-exciting, bloody and not to mention controversial 2003 battle between defending heavyweight king Lennox Lewis and challenger and current World Boxing Council (WBC) king Vitali Klitschko, there has been talk of what would have happened had a rematch taken place.
Fans to this day argue how Lewis, now long since retired, should have given Klitschko a return, seeing how he only managed a TKO win due to horrific cuts “Dr. Iron Fist” had picked up in the brawl. Lewis was behind on all three judges’ scorecards at the time of the enforced corner retirement of Klitschko (at the end of the 6th-round) and to many experts the champ look exhausted.
Vitali has ever since claimed Lewis verbally promised him a rematch, but that he soon opted to retire without granting him one. The 40-year-old was in London this week for the press conference duties his upcoming fight with Brit Dereck Chisora demanded, and he again spoke about the Lewis fight - a fight some say was the last great world heavyweight title fight.
Klitschko revealed that one person and one person alone prevented a Lewis-Klitschko II: Lewis’ mother, Violet!
“I have a dream to fight Lennox. I think about that fight often, it was my biggest one,” Vitali said. “Lennox promised to give me a rematch. He invited me to come to London to talk person to person. I came, and it was Lennox and his mum. I spoke for about 30-minutes; his mum scanned me from top to bottom. I flew back to Germany and he rang me and said he would not fight - the decision of his mum.”
Of course, this is just Vitali’s version of the story and there may have been more to it than that. Still, Violet Lewis was without a doubt a big part of the Lewis story, with Lennox’ mother constantly by his side during his fighting days. Maybe she did advise her son not to have anything further to do with the giant from Ukraine?
But what would have happened had the two fought an immediate rematch? Klitschko fought again six months after the June 2003 battle, his atrocious cuts healed. This would likely have been the timeframe we would have expected for a rematch then. Would Lewis, who was originally training for Kirk Johnson, have been in better shape for a rematch? Or would Klitschko, his confidence even higher after having done so well in June, have been too strong, too determined and too young for the ageing “Lion?”
Personally, I think Lewis would have worked off a few pounds (he came in at just over 256 for the first fight), worked on his strength and endurance game and managed to pound out a close 12-round points win in a return.
But that’s just my opinion. For all the continued speculation as to what would have happened in a part-two, it seems we have Lennox’ mother to thank!
Vitali KlitschkoBy James Slater: Ever since the ultra-exciting, bloody and not to mention controversial 2003 battle between defending heavyweight king Lennox Lewis and challenger and current World Boxing Council (WBC) king Vitali Klitschko, there has been talk of what would have happened had a rematch taken place.
Fans to this day argue how Lewis, now long since retired, should have given Klitschko a return, seeing how he only managed a TKO win due to horrific cuts “Dr. Iron Fist” had picked up in the brawl. Lewis was behind on all three judges’ scorecards at the time of the enforced corner retirement of Klitschko (at the end of the 6th-round) and to many experts the champ look exhausted.
Vitali has ever since claimed Lewis verbally promised him a rematch, but that he soon opted to retire without granting him one. The 40-year-old was in London this week for the press conference duties his upcoming fight with Brit Dereck Chisora demanded, and he again spoke about the Lewis fight - a fight some say was the last great world heavyweight title fight.
Klitschko revealed that one person and one person alone prevented a Lewis-Klitschko II: Lewis’ mother, Violet!
“I have a dream to fight Lennox. I think about that fight often, it was my biggest one,” Vitali said. “Lennox promised to give me a rematch. He invited me to come to London to talk person to person. I came, and it was Lennox and his mum. I spoke for about 30-minutes; his mum scanned me from top to bottom. I flew back to Germany and he rang me and said he would not fight - the decision of his mum.”
Of course, this is just Vitali’s version of the story and there may have been more to it than that. Still, Violet Lewis was without a doubt a big part of the Lewis story, with Lennox’ mother constantly by his side during his fighting days. Maybe she did advise her son not to have anything further to do with the giant from Ukraine?
But what would have happened had the two fought an immediate rematch? Klitschko fought again six months after the June 2003 battle, his atrocious cuts healed. This would likely have been the timeframe we would have expected for a rematch then. Would Lewis, who was originally training for Kirk Johnson, have been in better shape for a rematch? Or would Klitschko, his confidence even higher after having done so well in June, have been too strong, too determined and too young for the ageing “Lion?”
Personally, I think Lewis would have worked off a few pounds (he came in at just over 256 for the first fight), worked on his strength and endurance game and managed to pound out a close 12-round points win in a return.
But that’s just my opinion. For all the continued speculation as to what would have happened in a part-two, it seems we have Lennox’ mother to thank!
Roach: I don’t know if there is enough time to promote a Pacquiao vs. Mayweather fight if it takes place on May 5th
January 11th, 2012
By Chris Williams: Trainer Freddie Roach has his doubts about whether there is enough time left before May 5th to negotiate a mega fight between his fighter Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. and then properly promote the bout.
Roach thinks it’s pushing it to have a fight that soon with all the things that would need to be done.
Mayweather wants the fight to take place on May 5th, and has already booked the MGM Grand arena in Las Vegas, Nevada for the fight. However, Roach doesn’t know if it’s a doable situation, telling USAtoday.com, “I don’t know about the time period. I don’t know if there is enough time to promote it correctly….We’ve been chasing this guy for two years.”
Well, it’s still January and that gives Roach and Bob Arum four months to promote the fight and get Pacquiao ready. If that’s not enough, then how did Arum do a rush job with the Antonio Margarito fight? He had to shop states just to get Margarito licensed because he had lost it due to the handwrap scandal.
If Arum was willing to go through all the trouble to find a state to license Margarito, then he shouldn’t have any problems with working quickly to put together a huge fight with Mayweather. The thing is Roach makes it seem it’s no big deal to put the fight off for another 10 months but believe me something else will pop up then as well, and we’ll likely have similar complaints from Roach and/or Arum why a fight can’t be made.
It’s funny that Roach says that they’ve been chasing Mayweather for two years. They had the chance to fight Mayweather in 2010, but Pacquiao wanted a 24 day cut off period for the random drug tests for performance enhancing drugs. Who’s fault was that the fight didn’t get made? That’s kind of unheard of for someone to be asking for a large test free period like that before a fight. The fight could have been made right then and there had there been some give on Pacquiao’s part.
January 11th, 2012
By Chris Williams: Trainer Freddie Roach has his doubts about whether there is enough time left before May 5th to negotiate a mega fight between his fighter Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. and then properly promote the bout.
Roach thinks it’s pushing it to have a fight that soon with all the things that would need to be done.
Mayweather wants the fight to take place on May 5th, and has already booked the MGM Grand arena in Las Vegas, Nevada for the fight. However, Roach doesn’t know if it’s a doable situation, telling USAtoday.com, “I don’t know about the time period. I don’t know if there is enough time to promote it correctly….We’ve been chasing this guy for two years.”
Well, it’s still January and that gives Roach and Bob Arum four months to promote the fight and get Pacquiao ready. If that’s not enough, then how did Arum do a rush job with the Antonio Margarito fight? He had to shop states just to get Margarito licensed because he had lost it due to the handwrap scandal.
If Arum was willing to go through all the trouble to find a state to license Margarito, then he shouldn’t have any problems with working quickly to put together a huge fight with Mayweather. The thing is Roach makes it seem it’s no big deal to put the fight off for another 10 months but believe me something else will pop up then as well, and we’ll likely have similar complaints from Roach and/or Arum why a fight can’t be made.
It’s funny that Roach says that they’ve been chasing Mayweather for two years. They had the chance to fight Mayweather in 2010, but Pacquiao wanted a 24 day cut off period for the random drug tests for performance enhancing drugs. Who’s fault was that the fight didn’t get made? That’s kind of unheard of for someone to be asking for a large test free period like that before a fight. The fight could have been made right then and there had there been some give on Pacquiao’s part.
Sergio Martinez and HBO patch up differences, Martinez-Macklin to be televised by HBO
January 11th, 2012
(Photo by DiBella Entertainment/Ed Diller) By Allen Fox: Former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (48-2-2, 27 KO’s) and HBO apparently have settled whatever issues that were between them judging by some of the comments that Kery Davis, Senior Vice President of Programming at HBO Sports, had to say about Martinez during Wednesdays’ press conference to promote the March 17th fight between Martinez and Matthew Macklin (28-3, 19 KO’s) at the Madison Square Garden in New York.
Davis said “Sergio Martinez has become must-see television and he is recognized as The Middleweight Champion of the World…Sergio recognizes that not only is it important to win, but to win entertainingly, which is great for boxing but outside of the ring is really where the magic begins with Sergio. Not only is he handsome and intelligent, but he is a great humanitarian and we couldn’t be happier to have him as one of the faces of HBO Boxing.”
Davis sure was spreading on this, wasn’t he? It sounds like Davis making sure he keeps Martinez at all costs for HBO. That makes sense because Martinez is far and away the best fighter in the middleweight division right now. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. may bring in better ratings for HBO than Martinez due to Chavez Jr. inheriting fans from his famous father, but Martinez is the best fighter in the division and will likely easily beat Chavez Jr. if the two ever fight.
Martinez had been angry with HBO for them not agreeing to televise his title defense against #1 challenger Sebastian Zbik. To please HBO, Martinez fought the guy they wanted to see him fight instead Sergiy Dzinziruk. That fight was televised by HBO. However, the World Boxing Council took the opportunity to then strip Martinez, give the title to Zbik and then set it up to where Zbik had to defend his belt immediately against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., the son of boxing legend Julio Cesar Chavez. It didn’t work out well at all for Martinez because Chavez Jr. subsequently beat Zbik and ever since then, Martinez has been frozen out by Chavez Jr. and his promoter Bob Arum for a rematch, even after the WBC ordered it. Instead of the Martinez-Chavez Jr. fight happening next month, Chavez Jr. fights Marco Antonio Rubio after asking and getting permission from the WBC to bypass Martinez.
Martinez said recently that he was considering leaving HBO to fight on Showtime instead. However, it looks like Davis has patched everything up judging by his comments and the fact that the Macklin-Martinez fight is scheduled to be televised on HBO.
January 11th, 2012
(Photo by DiBella Entertainment/Ed Diller) By Allen Fox: Former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (48-2-2, 27 KO’s) and HBO apparently have settled whatever issues that were between them judging by some of the comments that Kery Davis, Senior Vice President of Programming at HBO Sports, had to say about Martinez during Wednesdays’ press conference to promote the March 17th fight between Martinez and Matthew Macklin (28-3, 19 KO’s) at the Madison Square Garden in New York.
Davis said “Sergio Martinez has become must-see television and he is recognized as The Middleweight Champion of the World…Sergio recognizes that not only is it important to win, but to win entertainingly, which is great for boxing but outside of the ring is really where the magic begins with Sergio. Not only is he handsome and intelligent, but he is a great humanitarian and we couldn’t be happier to have him as one of the faces of HBO Boxing.”
Davis sure was spreading on this, wasn’t he? It sounds like Davis making sure he keeps Martinez at all costs for HBO. That makes sense because Martinez is far and away the best fighter in the middleweight division right now. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. may bring in better ratings for HBO than Martinez due to Chavez Jr. inheriting fans from his famous father, but Martinez is the best fighter in the division and will likely easily beat Chavez Jr. if the two ever fight.
Martinez had been angry with HBO for them not agreeing to televise his title defense against #1 challenger Sebastian Zbik. To please HBO, Martinez fought the guy they wanted to see him fight instead Sergiy Dzinziruk. That fight was televised by HBO. However, the World Boxing Council took the opportunity to then strip Martinez, give the title to Zbik and then set it up to where Zbik had to defend his belt immediately against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., the son of boxing legend Julio Cesar Chavez. It didn’t work out well at all for Martinez because Chavez Jr. subsequently beat Zbik and ever since then, Martinez has been frozen out by Chavez Jr. and his promoter Bob Arum for a rematch, even after the WBC ordered it. Instead of the Martinez-Chavez Jr. fight happening next month, Chavez Jr. fights Marco Antonio Rubio after asking and getting permission from the WBC to bypass Martinez.
Martinez said recently that he was considering leaving HBO to fight on Showtime instead. However, it looks like Davis has patched everything up judging by his comments and the fact that the Macklin-Martinez fight is scheduled to be televised on HBO.
Sergio Martinez: Pacquiao and Chavez Jr. are puppets of Arum
January 11th, 2012
(Photo by DiBella Entertainment/Ed Diller) By Chris Williams: Former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez sees Manny Pacquiao and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. as a couple of puppets, unable to make decisions on their own and just following along with whatever their promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank tells them to do.
Martinez thinks that Chavez Jr. and Pacquiao are cowards for letting their promoter make the decisions for them, and thinks they should speak up for themselves as far as who they want to fight next.
Martinez this today at Wednesday’s press conference as quoted by ESPN.go.com: “This is an act of cowardice by Manny and Chavez. They say only what the promoter says. I’m my own man. I would never ask the permission of my promoter. If you want the fight, take the fight, don’t say ‘My promoter,’ that’s coward talk, both of them. Chavez and Pacquiao are puppets of Bob Arum…Chavez Jr. will never fight me.”
Martinez is right about both Pacquiao and Chavez Jr. deferring to Arum about the opponents they want to fight. Chavez Jr. openly admits that he doesn’t do the choosing and he doesn’t seem to be eager to resist Arum in the careful matchmaking that he’s been doing for the son of the Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez Sr.
With Arum’s help, Chavez Jr. has been able to capture the World Boxing Council middleweight title over Sebastian Zbik. If Arum weren’t in the picture, we might have seen Chavez Jr. fight Sergio Martinez before he was stripped of his title and Chavez Jr. would have lost that fight without a doubt. He’s a good fighter but isn’t at the same level as Martinez.
Pacquiao tends to fight the guys that Arum picks out for him. You see that with Pacquiao fighting Arum’s Top Rank stable fighters Antonio Margarito, Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey. Arum doesn’t just put Pacquiao in with his own guys. Recently, Arum spotted 40-year-old Shane Mosley, a fighter on the downside of his career, and chose to put Pacquiao in with him in a safe fight that made Pacquiao a lot of money.
Now Pacquiao is looking to fight one of Arum’s four fighters picked out for him –Timothy Bradley, Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Cotto and Lamont Peterson. It’s thought that the two leading candidates are the biggest proven moneymakers of the bunch, Marquez and Cotto. One of those fighters will almost surely get matched up against Pacquiao next in June.
January 11th, 2012
(Photo by DiBella Entertainment/Ed Diller) By Chris Williams: Former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez sees Manny Pacquiao and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. as a couple of puppets, unable to make decisions on their own and just following along with whatever their promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank tells them to do.
Martinez thinks that Chavez Jr. and Pacquiao are cowards for letting their promoter make the decisions for them, and thinks they should speak up for themselves as far as who they want to fight next.
Martinez this today at Wednesday’s press conference as quoted by ESPN.go.com: “This is an act of cowardice by Manny and Chavez. They say only what the promoter says. I’m my own man. I would never ask the permission of my promoter. If you want the fight, take the fight, don’t say ‘My promoter,’ that’s coward talk, both of them. Chavez and Pacquiao are puppets of Bob Arum…Chavez Jr. will never fight me.”
Martinez is right about both Pacquiao and Chavez Jr. deferring to Arum about the opponents they want to fight. Chavez Jr. openly admits that he doesn’t do the choosing and he doesn’t seem to be eager to resist Arum in the careful matchmaking that he’s been doing for the son of the Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez Sr.
With Arum’s help, Chavez Jr. has been able to capture the World Boxing Council middleweight title over Sebastian Zbik. If Arum weren’t in the picture, we might have seen Chavez Jr. fight Sergio Martinez before he was stripped of his title and Chavez Jr. would have lost that fight without a doubt. He’s a good fighter but isn’t at the same level as Martinez.
Pacquiao tends to fight the guys that Arum picks out for him. You see that with Pacquiao fighting Arum’s Top Rank stable fighters Antonio Margarito, Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey. Arum doesn’t just put Pacquiao in with his own guys. Recently, Arum spotted 40-year-old Shane Mosley, a fighter on the downside of his career, and chose to put Pacquiao in with him in a safe fight that made Pacquiao a lot of money.
Now Pacquiao is looking to fight one of Arum’s four fighters picked out for him –Timothy Bradley, Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Cotto and Lamont Peterson. It’s thought that the two leading candidates are the biggest proven moneymakers of the bunch, Marquez and Cotto. One of those fighters will almost surely get matched up against Pacquiao next in June.
