Boxing News Thread

[heyzel]

Haye’s next opponent not likely to be one of the Klitschko brothers

By William Mackay: Don’t hold your breath waiting for WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-1, 23 KO’s) to face one of the Klitschko brothers in his next fight, because it’s probably not going to be happening soon – if ever. The two sides seem to want different things when it comes to negotiations, and it’s not likely that they’ll agree on a fight before Haye retires next year when he turns 31.


Although Haye would make much more money if he would agree to fight the Klitschko brothers in a 50-50 deal with all the money thrown in the pot for the fight compared to other fights, it’s a fight that Haye seems reluctant to take due to the dangers involved.

As such, Haye has a number of potential opponents for his next fight starting with his mandatory challenger Ruslan Chagaev (27-1-1, 17 KO’s). A fight against would seem to be a nice safe fight for Haye, because the 32-year-old Chagaev is slow, short and not a big puncher. He looked beatable in his last fight against 2nd tier heavyweight Travis Walker on November 19th, beating him by a close eight round decision. However, a fight between Haye and Chagaev probably won’t make nearly as much money as Haye’s recent bout against Audley Harrison. It would, however, be a better fight, but that’s not saying much. Chagaev at least will throw some punches. If he’s able to take Haye’s shots without going down, he could make this a very interesting fight. Haye will have to fight Chagaev sooner or later or else he’ll get his title stripped from him. I doubt Haye will fight him next, though.

A wiser choice would be someone like Tomasz Adamek or Antonio Tarver. Those fights would likely make more money for Haye. The Adamek fight would be risky, because he can punch a little and would be a threat because he actually knows how to fight. For this reason, I have my doubts that Haye will choose to fight him. Tarver seems like a safer bet for the weak-chinned Haye. Tarver is better known in the U.S., and the British public will likely buy anything that Haye serves up gladly without complaint. After all, they happily scooped up tickets and purchased his fight with Harrison in droves despite it being a farce to begin with.

 

[heyzel]

Dibella wants Berto to face Pacquiao next, not Mosley

By Eric Thomas: (Photo Sumio Yamada Lou Dibella, the promoter for World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight champion Andre Berto (27-0, 21 KO’s), thinks his fighter should be the next opponent for WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao rather than someone like 39-year-old Shane Mosley. Bob Arum, the promoter for Pacquiao, has picked out a small number of possible opponents for Pacquiao’s next fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. being the number 1 option and other fighters like Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez and Berto being other backup options. However, it’s looking more and more like Arum is going to select the aging Mosley as Pacquiao’s next opponent should Mayweather fail to speak up and take the fight with Pacquiao – or try to take the fight. As we’ve seen in the past, successful negotiations between Pacquiao and Mayweather aren’t a given.


In an article at Yahoo Sports News, Dibella said “Honestly, I think [Pacquiao-Berto] is a more sellable fight than Shane. What’s the point of Shane? He lost every round against Mayweather. So what’s the point? [Arum is] gonna go to Manny with a few options. We’re not going to price ourselves out, but we’re not chumps.”

To be fair, Mosley-Pacquiao is probably the bigger fight in terms of pay-per-view sales compared to Pacquiao-Berto. Mosley is clearly a better known fighter among the casual fans, because Berto is still pretty much an unknown at this early stage of his career. However, Mosley has looked almost over the hill in his last two fights and is getting up there in age at 39. If the idea for Arum is to make the most money without caring too much about the actual product that boxing fans will be paying for, then Mosley is the way to go because he likely will make more money for Arum and Pacquiao than Berto. But if the goal is to make boxing fans happy by putting on a competitive fight because two blazing fast fighters that would promise to be an exciting bout while it lasts, then Berto vs. Pacquiao is the way to go. It’s the fight that will help Pacquiao win fans, and help boxing by putting on a good product. Ideally, that should be Arum’s number #1 goal, not just making the most money and putting on what would likely be a horrible fight. But then again, Pacquiao has been matched against two consecutive less than ideal opponents in terms of excitement in Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito. If that’s any hint of what Arum will do next, then it’s very likely going to be Mosley that gets picked for a nice easy fight for Pacquiao, but not one that will be interesting for fans to watch other than Pacquiao’s loyal fan base, many of which don’t care whether his fights or competitive or not.

Berto doesn’t seem to be too broken up about the idea of losing out on a fight against Pacquiao, saying “At the end of the day, I’m only 27. I still have Miguel Cotto out there. I still have Shane Mosley out there. It’s whoever my team decides to lineup next. [Pacquiao] has a lot of speed and he has great legs. I think in these last few fights he’s fought a lot of guys who stood in front of him. They were flat-footed, really slow and he just takes advantage of that. I just think there’s a handful of guys who can really keep up. Guys like myself and Floyd Mayweather, maybe Shane Mosley.”

I wouldn’t assume that Arum would match Cotto against Berto either. Cotto is one of Arum’s fighters in his stable, and Cotto isn’t. Arum tends to put his fighters against other Top Rank fighters. When he does match them against other guys outside of his stable, he does when there’s a good chance they’ll win. At that this point in Cotto’s career, I have serious doubts he could be a young fighter like Berto. I think it’s a bad fight for Cotto, and one that I can’t see Arum agreeing to. Mosley is looking bad, so he’s more of an option for Cotto than Berto. As for Pacquiao, I can’t see Arum putting him in with Berto. Arum is mostly matching Pacquiao against slow, stationary fighters nowadays rather than fast ones. Mayweather would be the exception to this rule, but then again he’s different because of the huge upside in terms of money to be made by Arum, Pacquiao and Mayweather

 

[heyzel]

Ward suffers injury in win over Bika, fight with Abraham could be delayed

By Jason Kim: World Boxing Association (WBA) super middleweight champion Andre Ward (23-0, 13 KO’s) suffered an injury to his left index finger in his 12 round unanimous decision over Sakio Bika (28-5-2, 19 KO’s) last Saturday night at the Oracle Arena, in Oakland, California, according to fightnews.com. The injury may delay Ward’s next Super Six tournament fight against Arthur Abraham next year in March 2011. The fight still doesn’t have a venue, but Ward would like for it to take place in Las Vegas, Nevada.


As for his injury, he says there is something floating around in his injured finger. Hopefully, it’s nothing that will require surgery to repair, because that could put the fight with Abraham off until later than March.

Ward wasn’t satisfied with his win over Bika, feeling that it could have been a better performance from him. It seemed as if Ward made the mistake of trying to prove that he could out-rough Bika on the inside, and although Ward did eventually prove to be the tougher fighter in that respect, he made the fight much closer by electing to fight Bika in a roughhouse style of fighting rather than boxing him the way that fighters like Joe Calzaghe and Lucian Bute had done. It may be that Ward didn’t want to be seen fighting a finesse style fight against a tough brawler like Bika. But it was a costly win for Ward, as he suffered cuts over both eyes and his finger injury is perhaps the worst. The cuts are expected to be healed by March 2011, but the finger could take longer.

The good news is that Ward has Abraham to fight next rather than Carl Froch or Glen Johnson. Abraham looked poor in getting dominated by Froch last weekend. This was the second consecutive fight in which Abraham has struggled with letting his hands go. He was also dominated by Andre Dirrell in June, and was beaten in that fight as well. Ward needs to use his boxing skills more for his fight with Abraham and resist brawling at all costs. He needs to stay fresh for the finals of the tournament and not use himself up against a guy like Abraham.

 

[heyzel]

Arum not interested in matching Pacquiao against Marquez, prefers Mosley instead

By Chris Williams: If you were hoping that Juan Manuel Marquez’s win over Michael Katsidis was reason enough for Manny Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum to finally match Pacquiao back up with Marquez in a long-awaited rematch, I’m afraid I’ve got bad news for you. Arum appears to have no interest in putting Pacquiao back in with Marquez, according to examiner.com. Arum doesn’t see Marquez as being popular enough with the average casual boxing fans in the U.S., compared to 39-year-old, badly fading star Shane Mosley. Arum likes Mosley as Pacquiao’s next opponent rather than Marquez, whom he feels isn’t a star in the U.S. nor in his home country of Mexico.


Arum’s first pick for Pacquiao is Floyd Mayweather Jr. That’s the fight that Arum, Pacquiao and his trainer Freddie Roach want most of all. It’s the fight that will make the most money. However, they’ve been unable to make contact with Mayweather by phone and they’re running out of time to select their next opponent. This means that Arum will have to choose his back-up plan, and that’s where the faded Mosley comes in to play.

Arum sees Mosley as better known than Marquez and well respected by Hispanic fans in the U.S. Mosley is probably better known than Marquez due to his big fights with Oscar De La Hoya, Fernando Vargas, Winky Wright, Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. However, there’s no getting away from the fact that Mosley is looking horrible lately and what good is it to put Pacquiao in with someone that’s fight good when he’s been matched against a series of fighters that haven’t been fighting good at the time he fought them in the past two years. Wouldn’t Arum rather give boxing fans a better deal in terms of excitement rather than a better known fighter but one that looks too be totally shot? For me, I think it’s about putting on the best fight because boxing fans are being asked to pay $49 to $55 to watch Pacquiao’s fights.

By giving fans a bad product with fights against guys that are fighting poorly or coming off of recent terrible beatings like Pacquiao’s past opponents Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey, De la Hoya, Ricky Hatton, it puts fans in the position where their not getting the best fights the way I see it. This is a bad economy and you’re asking fans to pay top dollar for a blowout fight. Wouldn’t it be better to put on a good fight, win new fans, and not turn away fans from the sport by putting on a blowout fight like Pacquiao-Mosley? From where I’m from in the U.S, you have to give people what they want in order for them to keep coming back. If you give them a bad deal, they’re often gone forever. So why would Arum want to put Pacquiao in with another apparent mismatch rather than one against Marquez, that promises to be much more competitive.

 

[heyzel]

Marquez says he can fight Pacquiao at 140-142 pound catch weight “Unless he’s too sca

By Chris Williams: After an impressive 9th round TKO win over WBO lightweight interim champion Michael Katsidis (27-3, 22 KO’s) last Saturday night at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada, WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (52-5-1, 38 KO’s) called out Manny Pacquiao at the post fight press conference, saying “I deserve a third fight with Pacquiao but he keeps coming up with excuses why not to fight me. When he fought Margarito, he came in at 144 pounds. We can fight at a catch weight of 142 lbs or 140 lbs. I’m sure he can make the weight unless he’s too scared.”


Pacquiao has been less than eager to get back in the ring with Marquez after winning a controversial 12 round split decision over him two years ago in 2008. I saw the fight and had Marquez winning by two rounds. He badly schooled Pacquiao for most of the fight, and taking away the early flash knockdown of Marquez, I had Marquez winning by a significant margin.

Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer, wants the Pacquiao-Marquez fight, albeit at the full 147 pound weight for the division without a catch weight to accommodate Marquez. That tells you a little something about Roach. It doesn’t like he fancies Pacquiao’s chances if the fight takes place at a weight where Marquez is strong at. Given that Pacquiao fought at 144 for his bout against Antonio Margarito earlier this month, it seems only fair that Pacquiao fight him at 140 pound catch weight. Marquez fights at 135, so if they meet in the middle, that’s 140. Emanuel Steward, the HBO analyst, said that 140 would be a good weight for Pacquiao and Marquez to fight at. So why then would Roach want the fight to take place at 147? It makes it seem like Roach is worried about his fighter’s chances against Marquez.

Marquez wore a shirt at the post fight press conference with the lettering “Marquez beat Pacquiao twice. Pacquiao your next.”

Let’s hope that Pacquiao, his promoter Bob Arum and trainer Roach do the right thing and choose Marquez next instead of 39-year-old Shane Mosley or WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto. If Floyd Mayweather Jr. is the next option for Pacquiao, then I can certainly understand them taking that fight rather than the Marquez bout. It’s a no brainer that Mayweather is the better option, but it’s not likely that Mayweather will take the fight. And even if he does agree to it, I doubt Pacquiao will agree to the random blood testing that Mayweather wants before he’ll fight him. For this reason, I see Marquez as the best option. But he’s also the hardest fight for Pacquiao because of his excellent boxing skills and superb counter punching ability. It’s easy to see why Arum has been slow in trying to match Pacquiao back up with Marquez. A loss for Pacquiao will really hurt his money making ability, and would take away from a latter fight with Mayweather.

 

[heyzel]

Arum: Martinez at 155? Pacquiao is Great, Not Superman

By Lem Satterfield

According to Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum, there is no way, under any circumstances, that he will consider a making a fight between Manny Pacquiao and WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez, at a catch-weight of 155-pounds or otherwise. Arum has a short-list of opponents for Pacquiao's next fight, which includes WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto, three division champion Shane Mosley, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez.

"We're not entertaining Martinez. There is no way that we're entertaining Martinez. Martinez goes into the ring...the weight, this whole weight issue the day before the fight at the weigh-in is meaningless. It's the weight that they go into the ring at. Martinez will go into the ring weighing something like 175 pounds. He would be fighting a guy who would go into the ring -- Manny -- not even weighing 150 pounds," Arum said.

"Manny would be giving away 25 f**king pounds. I'm not going to let my guy do that. One guy would be way too big for the little guy. I've been around for a long time. I was involved in the promotion of Carlos Monzon and Jose Napoles. That was with Monzon being the middleweight champion, and Napoles being the welterweight champion. Monzon was way too big for him and easily beat him [seventh-round knockout in February of 1974.] He was 25 pounds too much. I've got the greatest fighter of all time, but I don't have Superman."

Arum will be in the Philippines by December 14 to celebrate Pacquiao's birthday, and his own. He will present the short-list of opponents, and the monetary benefits associated with each fight, and hopes to have a candidate locked down by December 19.

"My [79th] birthday is Dec. 8, and Manny's birthday is Dec. 17. I hope to have something lined up by Sunday, Dec. 19 when I return from the Philippines," Arum said.

 

[heyzel]

Team USA Bring Home Ten International Medals

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.) – Team USA took part in the second half of their swing through France, November 26-27 at the Four Nations Tournament in Berck Sur Mer, France, and they made their journey a victorious one with 10 medals in the international event. Bantamweight Roman Morales (San Ardo, Calif.) and welterweight Errol Spence (Desoto, Texas) both won gold medals for the United States with the squad grabbing five silver and three bronze medals in France as well.

Morales faced off with France’s Nordine Ait Ihya for the second time in a week at the Four Nations Dual and the American boxer pulled out a victory in the final seconds, winning an 8-7 decision over Ait Ihya. Spence took on a Hungarian foe in his bout and he made it a short night, causing Joszef Toth to retire in the second round of their welterweight bout.

Light flyweight Diego Hurtado (Sparks, Nev.), flyweight John Franklin (Fort Carson, Colo.), light welterweight Pedro Sosa (New York, N.Y.), light heavyweight Jeffrey Spencer (Fort Carson, Colo.), and heavyweight Joshua Temple (St. Louis, Mo.) all took silver in the tournament while lightweight Eric Flores (Ingle, Calif.), middleweight D’Mitrius Ballard (Temple Hills, Md.), and Lenroy Thompson (Uniondale, N.Y.) claimed bronze medals.

Franklin took a 5-2 win over France’s Eli Koniki in their flyweight match-up while Spencer pulled out a tiebreaker victory over Richard Baranyi of Hungary in the final U.S. bout of the opening session. In evening action, Hurtado mounted a late comeback to take an 8-7 win over France’s Jeremy Beccu. Sosa won a second nail biter in the light welterweight contest, earning a 2-1 decision over Ukraine’s Vyacheslav Kyslytsyn. Temple won the final U.S. decision on a 2-2 double tiebreaker, claiming the victory on the judges’ poll edge.

Flores faced a stiff challenge in his lightweight contest, battling 2008 Olympic gold medalist Vasyl Lomachenko of Ukraine. The American boxer dropped a 14-5 decision to the reigning World and Olympic champion. Ballard lost a 9-1 contest to France’s Mathieu Bauderlique while Thompson dropped a close 3-1 decision to Ukraine’s Roman Kapitonenko.

The U.S. team was led by coaches Joe Zanders (Long Beach, Calif.), Barry Hunter (Fort Washington, Md.) and Ray Paxton (Shreveport, La.). Deni Auclair (New Rochelle, N.Y.) served as the Team Manager with Tom Cleary (Cincinnati, Ohio) serving as an AIBA Official and Dr. Ken Kurt (Racine, Wis.) joining the squad as the team physician.

Four Nations Tournament U.S. Results
106 lbs: Diego Hurtado, Sparks, Nev./USA dec Jeremy Beccu, France, 8-7

114 lbs: John Franklin, Fort Carson, Colo./USA dec. Eli Konki, France, 5-2
123 lbs: Roman Morales, San Ardo, Calif./USA dec. Nordine Ait Ihya, France 8-7
132 lbs: Vasyl Lomachenko, Ukraine dec. Eric Flores, Ingle, Calif./USA, 15-4
141 lbs: Pedro Sosa, New York, N.Y./USA dec Vyacheslav Kyslytsyn, Ukraine 2-1
152 lbs: Errol Spence, Desoto, Texas/USA dec Joszef Toth, Hungary, RET-2
165 lbs: Mathieu Bauderlique, France dec. D'Mitrius Ballard, Temple Hills, Md./USA, 9-1
178 lbs: Jeffrey Spencer, Fort Carson, Colo./USA dec. Richard Baranyi, Hungary, (2-2) (4-1 judges’ poll)
201 lbs: Joshua Temple, St. Louis, Mo./USA dec Szabolcs Deel, Hungary, (3-3) (8-6)
201+ lbs: Roman Kapitonenko, Ukraine, dec. Lenroy Thompson, Uniondale, N.Y./USA, 3-1

USA Boxing, as the national governing body for Olympic-style boxing, is the United States’ member organization of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) and a member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC

 

[B-Buzz]

Fedor and Denis Lebedev sparring together on the most infamous playground in Story Oskol
Nothing crazy but thought some of you guys might like to see the best MMA fighter with 12 oz's on against a prospect

 

[heyzel]

Arum: Cotto vs. Chavez Fight is Ruled Out For March

By Rick Reeno

As BoxingScene.com had reported earlier, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. withdrew from this Saturday's fight with Pawel Wolak, scheduled to take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Nonito Donaire's bantamweight bout with former champion Wladimir Sidorenko has replaced Chavez-Wolak as the main event of Top Rank's "In Harm's Way" pay-per-view. Wolak will face Mexico's Jose Pinzon on the show.

Bob Arum, CEO for Top Rank, had planned for Chavez to fight Wolak this Saturday, and if he looked impressive, then Arum was planning to possibly match him against WBA 154-pound champion Miguel Cotto in March.

Considering the recent developments, Arum states there is no shot for Cotto-Chavez to take place in March. He wants Chavez to have a few fights at 154 before he matches him against Cotto.

"I don't think that it would be prudent at this point to put him in with Miguel until he's fought a couple of fights, at least one or ideally two, at 154-pounds. That is accurate, we are not looking towards a Miguel fight until after that happens," Arum said.

One plan that Arum is still considering is a June doubleheader with Cotto facing Antonio Margarito in a rematch and Chavez appearing in the co-feature against former champion Yuri Foreman.

 

[heyzel]

Cotto interested in fighting Sergio Martinez: Will Arum let him?

By Chris Williams: According to the latest boxing news, WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28 KO’s) likes the idea of fighting WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (46-2-2, 25 KO’s). This would be a great fight if Cotto’s promoter Bob Arum would allow him to take the fight with Martinez. However, the chances of that happening are slim and none, and it’s a fight that Arum wouldn’t have the excuse about Martinez being too big for Chavez because there’s only six pounds that separates the two fighters in their respective weight classes. My guess is Arum won’t let Cotto take the fight because of a couple of reasons.


To start with, Martinez doesn’t fight for Top Rank, Arum’s promotional team, and Arum tends to keep his fights in house rather than putting his fighters against fighters that promoted outside of Top Rank. And secondly, Martinez appears to be a lot better fighter than Cotto at this stage in Cotto’s career. If Arum were to put Cotto in with Martinez all that would happen is that Cotto would get beaten up and stopped.

Arum wants to put Cotto in with his highly hyped and totally unproven fighter Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. next year, so I can’t see Arum wanting to match Cotto with Martinez. Arum could still match Cotto with Chavez Jr. after Martinez destroys Cotto, but that might cause fans to be a little less interested in watching the Cotto-Chavez Jr. fight. It really doesn’t matter, though, because Cotto can probably take a 100 beatings and still make short work of Chavez Jr. I see that as an easy fight that Cotto can make at any stage in his career, because Chavez Jr. looks very mediocre and more of a 2nd tier fighter than anyone remotely resembling a #1 contender in the middleweight division. Arum also wants to put Cotto in with Antonio Margarito for a rematch sometime next year after Margarito’s wounds heal from his battle with Manny Pacquiao. It won’t help that fight being made if Martinez totally decimates Cotto and leaves him a physical wreck afterwards for a fight against Margarito.

I do give credit for Cotto for wanting to fight Martinez, but it’s pretty obvious that Arum won’t bless this fight because of how good Martinez is

 

[heyzel]

Emanuel Steward: The Public Won't Buy Pacquiao-Mosley

By Michael Marley

Back when he was a scrawny, teenager in Detroit with big boxing dreams and fascination with hometown heroes named Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson, Emanuel Steward began to have an appreciation for the legend and lore of the sport.

Steward, who was a 1963 National Golden Gloves champion before he became a legendary trainer as the heartbeat of the famed Kronk Gym in Motown, speaks from that sensibility when he proclaims that the next fight for Manny Pacquiao should be a third bout against Mexican sharpshooter Juan Manuel Marquez.

Steward is not a promoter who only has his eye on the financial bottom line.

As an integral part, no make that a moving force, in the historic Sugar Ray Leonard-Thomas Hearns two bouts, Steward thinks that Juan Ma deserves a third crack at the Pinoy Idol.

Steward thinks posterity should be valued as much as profits in this ring rivalry.

Steward also thinks Marquez-Pacquiao III could produce real fistic fireworks, maybe more so than their two earlier bouts.

“I just don’t think the public is going to buy Manny against Shane Mosley right now, not after they saw Shane against Floyd Mayweather and then (Sergio) Mora,” Steward said by phone from Austria where he is fine-tuning Wladimir Klitschko for a Dec. 11 heavyweight title defense against Derek Chisora.

“Manny and Marquez is a big fight now, right now. I believe both Pacquiao and Marquez are their plateaus, at their fighting best, now which should make for a great third fight. If they can’t get together and make Mayweather-Pacquiao, then this is the fight that should be made next for Manny.”

Steward believes that Pacquiao jumping weight divisions and demanding and getting “catchweight” concessions from foes is “all played out by now.

“I think you see Marquez walking around about 138-139 pounds even though he can be 135 pounds two weeks before a fight and then weigh in at 133,” Steward said. “As for Manny, he was only 144 1/2 the day before the (Antonio) Margarito bout so they can work that out.

“Marquez and Manny both have something to prove, something they can only prove against each other.”

The first Leonard-Hearns bout, which took place Sept. 16, 1981, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas the Ring magazine Fight of the year, a wild see-saw battle in which the surprise was Hearns outboxing Leonard and then Leonard outslugging puncher Hearns.

Ref Davey Pearl halted it in the 14th as Leonard swarmed and overwhelmed a wobbly "Hitman."

Though there was talk of a quick rematch, Leonard had eye problems (detached retina) and a few "retirements" before they squared off at the same location in 1989.

There was again plenty of excitrment and a touch of controversy as it ended in a draw which most saw as favoritism for Leonard.

Judge Dalby Shirely called the 12th round a 10-8 round for Leonard. If he had made it 10-9 like his colleagues, Hearns (who had floored Leonard in rounds three and 11) would have won as split decision.

There never was a third bout as Hearns moved up in weight.

Certainly, the public would have bought Chapter 3 but it just never came to fruition

 

[heyzel]

Arum thinks the casual fan doesn’t know Marquez, doesn’t think he’ll be good for Pacq

By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao’s promoter doesn’t think Juan Manuel Marquez is well known enough for a fight between him and Pacquiao to sell big on pay-per-view. Instead of Marquez, which would be a very competitive and exciting opponent for Pacquiao, Arum is looking to put Pacquiao in with 39-year-old Shane Mosley in Pacquiao’s next fight. Mosley is more popular than Marquez, but doesn’t have a huge fan base. He’s probably much more popular than recent Pacquiao opponents Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito, but then again Mosley doesn’t fight for Top Rank as if this moment. Also, Mosley is fighting poorly now, and it looks to be a nice safe fight for Pacquiao and Arum.


Marquez, on the other hand, would have a good chance at beating Pacquiao unless the fight is held at the full 147 pound weight of the welterweight division. If Pacquiao fights Marquez at a nice fair catch weight of 140, Marquez has a great chance of beating him. That, of course, isn’t likely to happen if he were to get picked for Pacquiao’s next fight. He won’t get picked. Marquez is still fighting well, and even if the fight does happen, it will be at 147, where Marquez is simply too small to fight at.

Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer, has already said that’s the weight that Pacquiao will fight Marquez at if he gets selected. There won’t be a meeting at the half way point to accommodate Marquez and make it a more fair fight. But this is really neither here nor there, because Arum won’t be picking Marquez as Pacquiao’s next opponent. Unless Floyd Mayweather Jr. comes out of nowhere to take the fight, it’s going to be the 39-year-old Mosley who gets the call. He’s more popular than Marquez, but he looks to be almost totally shot and it’s not going be a competitive fight from a fan’s perspective.

Hopefully, Arum will discount the fight dramatically to make up for what will likely be a non-competitive fight. Based on how horrible Mosley has been looking in his last two fights, I’d say a Pacquiao-Mosley fight is worth $4.99 and that’s really stretching it. I see it as an exhibition fight between a once great fighter and Pacquiao. It’s not going to be a good fight unless you like watching old guys get beat up. That’s what’s going to happen and the fight will likely sell for $49 to $55. I don’t want to pay that to see a one-way slaughter, do you? They’d have to load up the undercard with every decent fight in Top Rank’s stable for me to want to pay to see this card. I’d have a causal interest in the Pacquiao-Mosley fight, the way people do when they see a car accident on the side of the road.

Arum had this to say in an article at Yahoo Sports News: “The casual sports fan doesn’t know Marquez, as evidenced by the attendance on Saturday. He’s a wonderful fighter and a great young man, but the casual fan doesn’t know Juan Manuel Marquez from Juan Manuel Lopez.”

It’s interesting to see how Arum justifies not putting Pacquiao in with Marquez. If it was the case of Marquez not being popular, how do you explain Arum matching Pacquiao against Clottey and Margarito in his last two fights. Clottey was totally unknown to the casual fans, yet that didn’t stop Arum from putting Pacquiao in wtih him. Of course, Clottey, a fighter who mainly just covers up with a high guard and doesn’t throw a lot of punches, was an easy mark and not much of a threat to beat Pacquiao. And Margarito had lost badly a year earlier and looked terrible in his fight before the Pacquiao. He, too, wasn’t well known among casual boxing fans in the U.S. and had never sold big in the America. Margarito was intensely disliked among boxing fans in the U.S. for his hand wrap scandal a year earlier. What Clottey and Margarito had going for them is that they were both fighters in Arum’s stable, which perhaps the only reason why they were selected. Let’s be clear, neither were likely any more known than Marquez, but they still got the fight. I think it comes down to Marquez being too dangerous for Pacquiao, and that’s the reason I think he’s not going to be picked.

 

[heyzel]

Sergiy Dzinziruk Talks Kermit Cintron Fight, Paul Williams

By Ruslan Chikov

In a conversation with Bleak, undefeated WBO junior middleweight champion Sergiy Dzinziruk confirmed a recent report on BoxingScene.com, which discussed a possible fight between Dzinziruk and former champion Kermit Cintron for early 2011. Dzinziruk says the fight could take place in February or March of next year.

Sergei, is Kermit Cintron a good option?

"It's very good. He's a well-known fighter in America. Cintron's nickname - 'The Killer' - speaks for itself. In 2008, Kermit was a world champion at welterweight but he lost his title to Mexican Antonio Margarito. In his last fight in May of this year, Cintron lost a controversial decision to Paul Williams. I have not signed a contract yet but the fight is tentatively scheduled for February or March of next year"

"Honestly, I want to enter the ring quickly. Over the past two years, I've only had two fights. And that is very low. I have been itching in anticipation of a good fight."

— Speaking of Paul Williams, last year there was talk that you were going to face him. Why did the fight never take place?

- First of all, I was offered as humiliating sum for a reigning world champion. I would have flown with my championship belt to America and fought for a 100 thousand dollars. And the American broadcaster HBO, which was the main donor to the fight, was not enthusiastic about my candidacy. The TV bosses said 'Dzindziruk is not well known in America

 

[heyzel]

Greedy promoters are ruining professional boxing

By Gerardo Granados: Now a day you can watch bouts that neither are competitive nor have good quality skilled fighters involved. What you see is only obvious to the expert eye, average or casual fans will never be able to acknowledge this situation.


Last Saturday I feel ashamed to watch such farce, a supposed to be a championship welterweight fight; the challenger showed no boxing quality skills, yet he was the challenger to the title, not only wasn’t competitive, this guy didn’t have the merits to fight for the welterweight title; he was hit with his guard up high and still got knocked out, is this a contender?

Its like if you have a fully equipped brand new jeep against and old non equipped jeep, both race against each other on a dirt track that ends at the top of a high hill, logic tells the new one will win, that wouldn’t be really competitive but at least you might think that the old jeep has a chance to win. But what if the old jeep race against a fully equipped brand new military Hummer? Promoter will sell this race as a championship race, you will pay for it, at the end there is no real competition and the fans think that the driver of the Hummer must be the greatest driver of all times be cause he always beat old jeeps and new ones; but he never race against other Hummer because his promoter don’t allows him to take the risk of loss. The promoter will allow him to race against other Hummer just in case the other one has flat tires, his engine burns oil and his radiator has several leaks. Soon this driver is called the greatest of all times by his loyal fans whom will be angered if anyone dares to talk against his pure hype idol.

A championship bout must be engaged between two great fighters, but what you got is a good fighter fighting against an average fighter, against who he can look good at beating. The champion isn’t a real champion any more, contenders aren’t top fighters anymore. Boxing fans don’t care if the fight they bought really is worth what they paid for. It is bad enough to read that this boxing fans start to compare this paper title champion against the true historic champions, but its even worst to read articles written by sports journalist supporting this craziness.

Promoters are ruining boxing be cause they only care to make tons of money; they have turned a competition into a show. Sure boxing has always been a business but now TV and PPV have created power funds and structures that limit or extinguish competition as a primal factor to accomplish in professional boxing, now the only thing that matters is to make tons of money; there is nothing wrong in making tons of money, what is wrong is to cheat to put up a farce and to charge a lot of money for it.

If you promote a championship fight and you deliver a fight between a reigning champion against a boxer that doesn’t have a chance to win then it must be considered a fraud.

Why are there too many alphabet titles? Promoters convenience, this allows them to promote countless “title fights” that gives them big revenues. Why are there too many weight divisions? Promoters want money; there should be only 8 weight divisions: fly-bantam-feather-light-welter-middle-light heavy-cruiser-heavy. Why does “champions” keep avoiding dangerous rivals? Promoters must protect their cash cow; they will never risk letting him fight any one that has a real chance to beat the “champion”.

Promoters are creating illusions not real champions, you get a guy that looks impressive against: a less skilled opponent, old past his prime former great fighter, the ones that are shot or the ones that are tailor made for the champ to beat. There are only a few true champions left.

Amateur tournaments are a genuine sport competition; professional boxing is quickly becoming an expensive low quality show; it is no longer a real competition. Let’s just hope no one gets hurt due this mismatch bouts

 

[Tony]

^^^^^LOL dude is talking about Bob Arum and Manny Pacquiao, LMFAO!!!!

 

[2-0-Sixx]

^^that guy is retarded. Promoters aren't the reason why there are tons of weight classes or tons of belts, it's the sanctioning bodies that make that a reality. Like the WBC and it's super and regular and silver and gold belts. They do that so they can charge sanctioning fees on each "champion's" fight.

The more weight classes, the more belts. the more belts, the more sanctioning fees. The more sanctioning fees, more money for the sanctioning bodies.

Promoters aren't as big of a problem as the sanctioning bodies and the networks like HBO/Showtime who approve fights no one wants, although lately for the most part HBO has been doing a better job then they have in years past.

 

[MOREBASS]

Yeah, some of the guys who write those "articles" are idiots. Wouldn't even call them articles, more like blogs.


Although I know Arum's job is to make the most amount of money possible. I don't think Pacquiao-Marquez III would be the flop that he's insisting it would be.


Sure, less than 5,000 people showed up to Marquez' fight last weekend, but then again....Michael Katsidis is a virtual unknown to people other than hardcore boxing fans. Marquez just isn't an A-side fighter, but you don't need one when you have Pacquiao. Another fight with Pacquiao would be at least as big as the Margarito fight, IMO.

People know the history between the 2 fighters, and if they did it in May (Cinco de Mayo weekend) in Vegas...I think it would be huge.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

I don't think Las Vegas on thanksgiving weekend is a good idea for boxing, unless it's pac or floyd. Boxing shouldn't go against two things - football and the holidays.

 

[bigface]

It's not hard to sell a fight between Manny and Marquez. Marquez is the last fighter to give Manny problems in the ring. Stop the BS Bob Arum and make the third fight happen. But I told everyone before the Margarito fight that Manny was going to be fighting old man Mosley because it follows the Pac-Man pattern. Bad beating loss = Manny fighting you. Wake up people..

 

[Tony]

Good call Bigface, you did say he was going to fight Mosley.