Boxing News Thread

[heyzel]

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez next fight – Chavez jr. ?

By, Juan Lara [Amateur boxing analyst.]

Undefeated WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Canelo Alvarez (36-0-1, 26 KO’s) is looking for a new Opponent. Much has been said about Saul Canelo Alvarez and unbeaten middleweight contender Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Who is facing WBC middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik on June 4th. These two Mexican boxers are in an avoidable collision course. A fight Between Saul Alvarez and Chavez jr. would be a huge in Mexico and both boxers are well respected and considered celebrities.

The two factors that could probably stop the fight form taking place is Chavez Jr. Losing to Zbik in June, which is very possible due to the fact that Chavez Jr. Looked very dolled in his last fight against Billy Lyell. And the second Major factor is Top Rack President Mr Bob Arum. Who will likely want to keep Jr. From facing Saul Canelo Alvarez, who most likely beat Chavez Jr.

These two Mexican boxers are in an avoidable collision course and Saul Alvarez is the more talented of the two. I just Hope that boxing promoters don’t take too long to make it happen for us boxing fans. Who would win Between Saul Canelo Alvarez and Chavez jr.

 

[heyzel]

Mayorga: Good fighter, great self promoter

OS ANGELES – Ricardo Mayorga is 4-4 in his last eight fights. He hasn’t beaten an elite opponent near his prime since his back-to-back victories over Vernon Forrest in 2003. His record is a pedestrian 29-7. Clearly, at 37, he is no longer the fighter he was.

Yet here is, about to face the popular Miguel Cotto in a high-profile – and lucrative -- fight Saturday night in Las Vegas on pay-per-view television.

To what can we attribute that? Easy: His mouth.

The street-wise Nicaraguan won’t go down as one of the greatest fighters of his time, although he was a damned good one, but the trash talker par excellence might have no peer in his era when it comes to self promotion.

You decide whether it’s real or an act – or a little of both.

“He’s the best I’ve ever seen,” said Emanuel Steward, Cotto’s trainer. “He gets me mad at press conferences. There are no limits. He gets up and starts talking about what he’ll do to your wife or your friend. He’ll say your mama’s ugly. And he’s serious.

“It may be part hype but I think he also believes it. Either way, it’s very effective.”

Is it real?

I was in Mayorga’s dressing room before he fought Fernando Vargas in 2007 for a story I working on. He was very quiet, very serious during the time leading up to the fight, in part because he was focused on the fight and in part -- I believe -- because it's his nature.

altWhen cameramen came into the room a few minutes before his ring walk, though, he changed completely. His eyes came to life, he became animated and he spewed amusing nonsense for several minutes as onlookers laughed.

Then, when the cameras went off, he went back to the silent fighter of a few minutes earlier.

The point? He knows what to say and when to say it to maximize impact, to sell himself and the fight to amused fans. Mayorga is a born trash talker but clearly this is something to which he has given a lot of thought.

“I think it was real in the beginning,” said publicst Alan Hopper of Don King Promotions, which has handled Mayorga for much of his career. “I think he really thinks, ‘I’m the tough guy from streets of Managua.’ He would try to intimidate opponents before he went into the ring.

“But after he started to make a lot of money, he started to realize he’ll make even more money if he talked more. So he kept doing it. Now he's a sort of a legend in the Spanish-speaking community.”

Mayorga can go too far, probably his way of trying to get under the skin of his opponent.

For example, Mayorga directed nasty comments directly to Cotto’s mother at news conferences in New York and Puerto Rico. He said to her in Puerto Rico: “You’re suffering is almost over. You won’t have to watch your son get beat up the way he did against Antonio Margarito and Manny Pacquiao anymore, because I’m going to retire him once and for all.”

Cotto is protective of his mother, particularly since the recent death of his father. He didn’t appreciate Mayorga’s antics.

In Los Angeles, during the final news conference before heading to Las Vegas, Mayorga continued to bait him. Cotto stared straight ahead straight faced as Mayorga ranted and raved, though, refusing to buy into it.

And when it was his time to speak, Cotto made it short and sweet. He called Mayorga an “idiot.”

Cotto wouldn’t acknowledge Mayorga’s unusual ability to market himself in a sport in which most participants talk with their fists and not their mouths, self-promoters like Muhammad Ali and Naseem Hamed being the exceptions. He said, “No one really wins when he acts like that.”

But Cotto did reveal that he has seen another side to Mayorga, one that even he believes is evidence that the crazy Nicaraguan isn’t necessarily so crazy.

“The first thing he did a few minutes ago when he entered the door,” said Cotto, who ran into Mayorga before the news conference in L.A. began, “was come to the table and say hi to everybody here ... in a gentleman way. I think he just tries to sell himself.”

Will Mayorga admit that, thus blowing his cover?

He wouldn’t do so in the dressing room before the Vargas fight. I asked him while his hands were being taped whether his schtick is nothing but part of a grand marketing campaign to land him big fights and earn him a fortune.

He paused, looked at me and would only say through a translator: “I’m crazy. I was always crazy.”

He was more forthcoming at the L.A. news conference, though. I asked him the same question.

“God gives us talents and abilities and we exploit them the best we can,” he said. “That’s my response to that. Don King is a better promoter than (Cotto’s promoter) Bob Arum. And certain fighters are better promoters than other fighters.

“... I’m not that crazy or sick in the head. I just like to mess around. I’m happy. In the circus, for example, every clown has his role. I play the crazy role because I like it.”

And because it works.

 

[heyzel]

Two of boxing's finest promoters shun HBO's treatment of sport

LAS VEGAS — They are twin lions in the winter of their years ... prowling one of the toughest jungles in sports ... stalking a surprising adversary a continent away.

They were down and dirty rivals during the glory years of Ali and Frazier, Duran and Leonard, Trinidad and De La Hoya.

For decades, Don King and Bob Arum, like Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, made each other better at what they did simply because each had the other to push him harder. They are both 79 years old and now, suddenly, Bob Arum and Don King have come together in a grand alliance as co-promoters.

Arum has Miguel Cotto and King had Ricardo Mayorga in the main event at the MGM Grand on Saturday night. But this is about a lot more than this fight between two ferocious punchers.

Listen to the two of them and they will tell you that this is about survival. They have put together a fight between two guys whose best years are behind them but who will fight like hell for as long as this thing goes because that’s what they do.

But the survival on their minds yesterday went far beyond the two fighters. They were asked about the rumor that gathers legs with each passing day of an impending event that could rock all of boxing.

It has become common wisdom, both internally and outside of HBO, that Ross Greenburg, the president of HBO Sports, and Kerry Davis, a vice president within that arm of the parent company, are on their way out.

Fueling the immediacy of that suggestion is the fact that Richard Plepler, co-president of HBO, and Michael Lombardo, the man to whom Greenburg reports, are completing a fact-finding mission about why the network’s entire boxing program is in such disregard.

They question the competence and boxing knowledge of HBO Sports.

Much of the problem deals with the fact that Greenburg gives out dates to certain promoters, most notably Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Productions, without a specific fighter or fight as part of that contract.

Since Golden Boy is not loaded with quality fighters, it is widely believed within boxing that people within Greenburg’s orbit have encouraged other fighters to sign with Golden Boy.

Yesterday, Arum and King said flat out that they believe Greenburg has not only harmed his own network but blame him for much of the disarray in which boxing finds itself.

‘‘In the beginning before HBO moved into so many areas, boxing,” says Arum, ‘‘led the way. Boxing became the HBO brand. Now boxing has trashed what that stands for.

‘‘Are you saying that HBO has been bad for boxing,” I asked them.

‘‘Absolutely, and bad for the public as well,’’ King says.

‘‘You sound as though this is personal.’’

‘‘Absolutely,” he said. ‘‘They want to get rid of promoters like Bob and me. That’s what this is about. They want to let advisers come to them with a fight and then they hire a promoter at an outrageous price who doesn’t put anything into the promotion. no publicity.

‘‘We are fighting to take back the business and put it back in the hands of professionals. That’s why this fight in on Showtime, which is owned by CBS, and the CBS-TV network will promote as will 160 of its radio stations. They gave us billboards in Times Square and Sunset Boulevard.”

‘‘Well, here’s why we got together,” Arum interjected.

‘‘First, we both needed a fight.

‘‘Second, this is a good fight. HBO Sports might not understand that, but when two guys go toe-to-toe it’s what boxing is about and this is what boxing fans, who are very smart, know without being told.

‘‘ These people (HBO Sports) enable a boxing ‘adviser’ like Al Haymon to negotiate deals for guys nobody would buy tickets to see but that fits into the way they run their business.

‘‘What we are saying is not about HBO, the parent company. There are brilliant people running it. It’s about HBO Sports and HBO Sports has trashed this sport. Don and I are fighting for survival. This fight is the first step. It will generate terrific excitement when they go toe-to-toe. You asked me about a change in HBO Sports and until or unless it happens I cannot comment on that, but I will say this:

“They (HBO Sports) want promoters whom they can tell when to fight and where to fight and control it. You don’t make great fights that way. You can’t be lazy and arrogant. You have to work like hell. So in this fight we are going to take this business and put it back in the hands of the promoters and the public where it belongs.’’

Incompetence and laziness are things they cannot be accused of.

The same cannot be said of HBO Sports.

 

[heyzel]

King, Arum still at it after all these years

LAS VEGAS – Don King clasped his fingers in front of him and bowed his head. For a second, one of the world’s most loquacious men was silenced. The 79-year-old boxing promoter is trying to drum up interest in a fight between the World Boxing Association super welterweight champion, Miguel Cotto, and the zany Ricardo Mayorga.

Cotto and Mayorga are set to fight Saturday in the main event of a pay-per-view card at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and the payday of all the principals – Cotto, Mayorga, King and lead promoter Bob Arum – depends on the success the promoters have in convincing enough people to drop $50 for it.

Neither Don King (foreground) nor rival promoter Bob Arum (back) is ready to retire.
(Mark Lennihan/AP)
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Mayorga is an 8-1 underdog; there’s a fight on HBO between Sergio Martinez and Sergiy Dzinziruk opposite their pay-per-view; and there will be several NCAA basketball conference finals on television competing for viewership. It’s an uphill battle for the longtime rival promoters, who have set out on something of a barnstorming tour to discuss their careers in the hope it generates interest in their fight.

They’re recounting tales of four decades of pitched battles against each other, where the fights outside of the ring were often fiercer and the stakes frequently higher than those in it. King tells the story of the time he was in the New York apartment of legendary ex-heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali’s manager, Herbert Muhammad, trying to convince Muhammad to agree to an Ali fight against George Foreman.

While King was in the apartment making his presentation, Arum showed up to discuss an Ali-Jerry Quarry fight. Unbeknownst to Arum, King hid in the bathroom while Arum made his pitch, emerging after Arum left to seal the deal.

“And I was paying for the damn apartment,” Arum said, with mock indignation.

King cackles as Arum laments the lost opportunity, but it’s not long before King is eerily quiet. King promoted Roberto Duran for a large portion of Duran’s early career, but when Duran was beaten by journeyman Kirkland Laing on Sept. 4, 1982, King thought Duran’s time had come to an end.

“I cut him a check for $100,000 and told him it was time to retire,” King said.

But Duran was just 31, and despite having lost three of his previous five, he wasn’t even close to being ready for retirement. Arum swooped in, signed Duran and quickly matched him with one of his young champions, Davey Moore.

Moore was 24 and just 12-0, but he held the WBA super welterweight belt – the same title Cotto will defend on Saturday. Moore wanted to beat a name opponent to establish his bones as a big-time champion, and urged Arum to make a fight with Duran.

Arum devised a grandiose plan. He planned to put on a doubleheader featuring Duran vs. Moore in the main event with a lightweight title fight involving champion Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini on the undercard. He’d bring the card to South Africa, where his friend, Sol Kerzner, owned a casino, and would pair it with a concert by Frank Sinatra. The legendary singer, a big fan of Mancini, was eager to do it and Arum dubbed the event “The Chairman and the Champions.”

Then, disaster struck – or so Arum thought. Mancini broke his collarbone during training and couldn’t fight. When Mancini was out, so too was Sinatra. And Duran-Moore wasn’t a big enough bout to headline.

Arum moved the fight to New York’s Madison Square Garden and, acting on a tip, spent all of his advertising money in Spanish-language media outlets. Stunningly, the card sold out and ticket takers had to turn buyers away.

Even better for Arum, Duran was masterful in decimating Moore, winning the title and rebuilding his career.

“I learned a very important lesson,” King said. “Never again would I tell a guy it was time to retire.”

Neither King nor Arum is ready to retire. Arum, also 79, remains on top of the game, with his company the dominant promoter in the sport. King has fallen on hard times and doesn’t have the deep stable he once did, but he’s only one fight away from being back in the mix.

And so, King made an impassioned case for a Mayorga victor, while Arum excoriated a reporter he felt didn’t believe in the fight.

When Arum called King to offer Mayorga the Cotto fight, King was on the verge of signing a deal to have Mayorga fight in Germany against Felix Sturm. He jumped at the opportunity to work again with Arum, believing it would be a better promotion and could, ultimately, lead to a mega-payday against Manny Pacquiao.

When Arum called King to offer Mayorga the Cotto fight, King was on the verge of signing a deal to have Mayorga fight in Germany.
(Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

Mayorga smokes and drinks and is unpredictable in the best of times. King has frequently been at his wits’ end with Mayorga, but Mayorga can punch and anyone who can punch always has a chance. So when Arum offered a title shot at Cotto, King got stars in his eyes and began to calculate.

Cotto is an attacking fighter who will wade toward Mayorga, making it easier for Mayorga to land that one punch. And if Mayorga could land it, well, it could lead to a fight with Pacquiao. King knew he had to accept Arum’s offer.

“I was seduced, but I knew what [Arum] was thinking,” King said. “ ‘I’ve got a crazy man on my hands here. Cotto can walk through this guy and if it goes past three, four rounds, he ain’t going to make it.’ I recognize that myself. I’m handicapped, but when you’re sitting on the curb watching the cars go by, you have to find something to do.

“So I said, ‘OK,’ and we got this fight together. But I told him, ‘Bob, I’m going to be honest with you: This guy may not even get to the ring, but I’ll make every effort to get him there.’ It’s been hell, honestly.”

But in the introductory news conference two months ago, Arum said if Mayorga were to defeat Cotto, he’d be in the mix for a fight with Pacquiao. That was all Mayorga needed to hear. It gave him great motivation to train, which he hasn’t always done.

Mayorga is as unpredictable as any fighter in recent boxing history, but his midsection is ripped and he looks like he’s worked hard to prepare himself. It’s because he believes that he’ll get a shot at Pacquiao by beating Cotto, King said.

“Bob stimulated this boy, Mayorga, by telling him he could get Pacquiao – and [Mayorga] believed him,” King said. “I had been telling him the same thing, but when he heard it from me, it was like he thought I’d say anything. You have to understand something that is basic and fundamental in people of color: A white man could tell a lie and it’s believable; the black man could tell the truth and it’s questionable. When Arum said that, it was over.

“He doesn’t know it, but he signed his own sentence for Cotto because [Cotto] will be iced. It ain’t going to be like you predict it to be. The odds are 8-1. … The thing about it is, it’s war – because he’s going to beat Cotto because what he really wants is Pacquiao. And Bob here convinced him it was true, that he could get him.”

King is on a roll and Arum just lets him plow ahead. Arum has harsh words for nearly all of his other competitors – he singles out Golden Boy Promotions and Gary Shaw Productions among those with little innovation, in essence just opening the doors and hoping the crowds roll in – but is heaping praise upon King.

They’ve fought their battles over many decades. Once, when Arum was promoting the Marvin Hagler-Sugar Ray Leonard fight, King tried to climb into the ring to congratulate Leonard even though he had nothing to do with the fight. He’d done it once before in an Arum-promoted event, getting into the ring at an Ali-Leon Spinks bout. Most of the world believed King promoted it because he appeared on television in the ring after the bout.

So nine years later – after Leonard edged Hagler in 1987 – Arum spied King trying to enter the ring yet again.

“I grabbed him by his suit coat and I tore the coat, trying to yank him back and keep him out of the ring,” Arum said. “I don’t think I ever paid him for tearing it, but I wasn’t going to let that happen to me again.”

Years before, King kept Arum out of the ring – but he didn’t have to tear his sport coat to do it. After King convinced Muhammad to put together the Ali-Foreman fight and go to Zaire, he asked Zaire president Mobuto Sese Seko to have Arum banned from the country.

Arum couldn’t get into Zaire to make a play on Ali, and King put on the bout that became known as “The Rumble in the Jungle” – one of the biggest fights in the second half of the 20th century.

Arum shook his head.

“We’ve had some battles, haven’t we?” he said directly to King, who nodded his head in agreement.

They could have waxed nostalgic for hours, but neither man is that way. It wasn’t long before they were bounding out of the room in the bowels of the MGM Grand and heading to the lobby. An arrival ceremony was being held for Cotto and Mayorga, and Arum and King had talked enough.

“Come on,” Arum said to King. “We’ve got a fight to promote.”

 

[heyzel]

Pernell Whitaker: "I think I like Pacquiao the best out of all of them

nterview with Hall of Fame boxer Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker (40-4-1, 17 KOs) who was a four division champion. hitaker spoke his career and also shared his opinions on Manny Pacquiao, Julio Cesar Chavez, and more! Here is what he had to say:

On making the transition from boxer to trainer:

“For me? I mean I’m not a fighter or a trainer, I’m a scientist. I know the science of boxing and I don’t have an opinion. I got facts!”

On what it’s like being a trainer as opposed to being a fighter:

“I mean I haven’t really missed anything. It’s good to be on the other side and to see someone else go out there and present your style and add it to what it is with their own and be successful doing it. I’m not trying to do anything but help fighters to see. You know you can’t be Pernell Whitaker. There are no more Pernell Whitakers in our. I can only teach you the things that work for you and you only for your particular body. So you can forget me trying to teach you how to be like Pernell Whitaker because I don’t think I will be able to do that. You just got to be your own fighter and just believe and trust what I tell you.”

On which performance best defined his career:

“All of them! Every single fight I’ve ever laced up a pair of gloves in thirty years was special to me. I have no one fight I can pick out and go down the catalogue and pick which one of these guys fought the best. Every fight was important. Every fight was a great fight for me.”

On whether he had a single most memorable moment of his career that jumped out over the others:

“No and you guys probably would know that because every fight I ever had, even if it had controversy itself and it looked good itself. Every fight that jumped out at me was a good fight, was a great fight for me. I don’t know about the opponents but it was great for me.”

Regarding some of his more controversial fights:

“Every fight that I ever had that had anything to do with controversy was controversial. It wasn’t just a couple, but a fight’s a fight. I don’t complain about them. I don’t look back at them.”

His views on today’s top star in boxing like Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Junior:

“Well I think I like Pacquiao the best out of all of them personally myself. He’s more consistent as a fighter fighting good in the ring competing. He’s the one that stands out. I don’t know about a whole lot of other fighters. If you try and bring up names to me I’d have no clue because I really haven’t been following.”

On how he feels he would have matched up in a fight against Manny Pacquiao:

“Now you want me to go back talking and start sounding crazy? I have no clue. I haven’t watched him that much, but to me he is still a great fighter. If you’re asking me whether Pacquiao can beat me or not obviously I’m going to say no. I don’t think that they can beat Pernell Whitaker. There are no more Pernell Whitakers. Put it that way. That’s all it is.”

On what he considers to have been his best asset he brought into the ring during his peak fighting days:

“You guys probably watched me in the past and knew every time I stepped out there into that ring I gave 100% and every performance I put on showed something different and whatever it was, you guys used to call me a showboat and now you’re calling me the best pound-for-pound. So I have no clue how to satisfy you guys. You know not to say I’m glad to be out of the sport. I’m glad I did compete and competed very, very well. Like I said, the thing that you guys used to see when you called me a showboat, now guys do it and you think it’s the most positive thing on the planet. I will just say this. I had a great time in the boxing ring.”

His views on Julio Cesar Chavez as a fighter:

“Chavez was a great fighter. He was a great, great fighter. When I competed against him it was big. That was one of the good fights of mine, that along with the other fifty.”

His views on his fight against Oscar De La Hoya and the judges scoring:

“I was having so much fun in that boxing ring that night. Oscar is a good friend of mine and it’s not personal or anything. It’s never personal. I just thought I had done enough to win the fight. I had done a lot more to win than to let it get away from me. That’s fine. Like I said it wasn’t the first time I had been in a fight that was controversial like that. So I don’t look back at it. I don’t regret anything I’ve done. People just see it differently. Another thing is guys just wanted to see me lose one time. In my time nobody ever actually outboxed me or beat me so they were just waiting to see somebody get it done. The only person I think that got it done on me where it was just close enough to get away from me was Trinidad. So that’s the closest fight I ever had that I think was close enough to get away from me. The rest of them I think I won.”

On what it was like to make the decision to retire from professional boxing:

“Well my shoulder jumped out of place for some reason and that was just a sign I think that came from above and said enough is enough. Like I said I had to stay out for a year after breaking my jaw against Trinidad so when I decided to come back and tune up after a year layoff and my shoulder went out then that was enough. That was it. I thought that was enough and I thought the time had come. I had no regrets on letting it go. I’m not chasing no glory or anything. I think I had done enough to solidify myself.”

On who gave him the toughest match in his entire career:

“The toughest match? Every fight I have ever been in was tough. Fights are no tougher than what you make them. I try and make fights as easy as possible. I show guys how to make these fights as easy as possible. If you want to fight a tough fight then it’s easy to fight a tough fight, but if you just want to make the fight as easy as possible then there is a way to do that. So I don’t think I ever put myself in a position where I was in a tough fight. All of my fights, actually, I thought were very easy and win them.”

On how he first started using the nickname “Sweet Pea”:

“That’s the name they gave me when I was about 9 years old. I was just in the boxing ring and I had on my boxing shoes “Sweet Pete” and they misquoted it and as “Sweet Pea” and I couldn’t get it changed out of the papers so I just went with it and ever since then it stuck and it stayed with me and I guess it just grew on me, but it started when I was 9 years old.”

Regarding his favorite fighters when he was coming up in the sport:

“I had no favorite fighters. I had none, none whatsoever. Everybody liked Muhammad Ali. So he’s the greatest of all time but me personally, I have no particular one fighter that sticks out. I have my own style. Everything that I had done in that boxing ring was original. It was all mine. Everything I had done in that ring was original and done by Pernell Whitaker. It was done by Pernell Whitaker. It was designed by Pernell Whitaker only. I copied nobody’s style. I had my own. People want this style but they can’t have it.”

On how he would ultimately like to be remembered by boxing fans:

“I like the way remember me now, as one of the greatest fighters ever, as the best defensive fighter ever probably. I mean I would say that I’m the best defensive fighter ever. If you got somebody you know that’s better, please! I want to hear somebody tell me a name. Give me a name who could be better?”

On the current Olympic boxing format and the way Olympic boxing in America is seemingly in decline:

“Hey, it’s taking a lot out of boxing the way they score the amateur boxing now. I guess they do it to try and make it more competitive for other countries. I guess the United States and Cuba were more dominant than all of the other countries and winning all of the Gold Medals and they wanted to find ways for some of these other countries to win and that’s the format they came up with. Now I don’t even follow it. I couldn’t keep up with that computer system so there was no sense in me following it.”

Regarding some of his experiences during his amateur boxing career:

“Oh, that was my best! I think my amateur career was better than my whole professional career and everything else, because amateur boxing is all about having fun. It was just fun. You’d be with your teammates and you get to meet other people from different countries and you’re competing. It wasn’t business. It was just having fun and boxing.”

His views on the crowd from some of the top names from the amateur class of 1984:

“All of those guys were just fun guys. They were fun to be around. They were just fun guys around other guys looking for fun. They would be eating and sleeping and laughing and joking together. You can’t make that up.”

On whether he is currently working with any other fighters besides Zab Judah:

“I’m not working with anybody right now. If guys want to work with me then they can try and find me some kind of way, but I’m not working with anybody right now other than Zab. I only really want to work with one person at a time. I can’t be two or three places at the same time right now.”

On what he wants to say to all of his fans and supporters:

“Thank you for all of the support you’ve given me throughout my 30 years and tune in on March 5 and we can all have fun together. Thank you very much!”

 

[heyzel]

Mike Tyson: My love of pigeons kept me from killing someone

WHEN his four-year-old daughter died in a tragic accident, Mike Tyson's mind turned to violence - and murder.

Fury descended on the former world heavyweight boxing champion as he tried to come to terms with the loss of little Exodus.

But the man known across the globe as Iron Mike kept himself from going off the rails after the terrible accident in 2009 - thanks to his love of pigeons.

Trying to deal with the pain, Tyson, 44, revealed: "After my daughter died, I had two choices.

"One was to go out and kill some people, the other was to start a new life."

Exodus died after getting tangled up in a cord on a home treadmill exercise machine.

Her loss forced him to wake up to the person he had become.

He said: "Iron Mike is dead. I am a different person today.

"I have eight children. I don't think I was ever a good father. I was living in a fog. I don't recognize the boxer Mike Tyson any more. I am better today.

"But I need to prove myself every day.

My daughter continues to live through me."

He became a vegan, losing more than nine stones as he took control of his life.

He said: "You need to endure it. If you can't do that you are finished. I am in God's hands.

"I have learned to be insignificant. We all are. Dust in the universe.

"I was insecure and jealous. I had very little self-confidence, but a big ego.

"And I have learned that it's the action, not just the talk, that will move you forward in life.

"I don't want to be a father that can't get out of bed in the morning because I am hung over. I want to break the cycle."

His pigeons are key to the turnaround, just as they calmed him growing up in crime-ridden Brownsville, New York.

His dad left his mum Lorna, his brother and sister when Tyson was two. The family, who had lived in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighbourhood, were forced to move to a cheaper place in Brownsville when Tyson was 10.

As a kid, he was ridiculed for his high-pitched voice and lisp.
mike tyson Image 3

As he chats about a new documentary series for Discovery Channel, which starts this Friday in the UK, Tyson revealed: "I have loved pigeons since I was nine. They were my escape.

"I was fat and ugly. Kids teased me all the time. The only joy I had was pigeons."

It was the death of one of his birds that turned Mike into a fighter. One of the neighbourhood bullies confronted him as he carried his birds home. The attacker grabbed one, twisted its head off and sprayed its blood all over him.

Tyson said: "That was the first time I threw a punch."

But boxing hadn't found him yet. Crime soon did. By 13, he had been arrested 38 times, ending up at the Tryon School for Boys in Johnstown, New York.

At the school, Tyson's emerging boxing ability was discovered by Bobby Stewart.

After his mum died when he was just 16, Tyson was left in the care of boxing manager and trainer Cus D'Amato, who would become his legal guardian.

D'Amato turned Tyson into a fighting machine. The boxer competed at the 1981 and 1982 Junior Olympic Games and won two gold medals.

He made his professional debut aged 18 in March 1985, defeating Hector Mercedes in a first round knockout.

Of his first 28 professional fights, he won 26 by a knockout, 16 in round one.

Tyson was hit with yet another blow when D'Amato died in 1985. The following year his prot›g›, aged 20, became the youngest heavyweight champion ever when he beat Trevor Berbick to win the WBC belt.

He became the undisputed champion of boxing in 1988 but out of the ring Tyso on was becoming a mess. After losing his titles to Buster Douglas in a huge upset in 1990, he was jailed for three years in 1992 for raping Desiree Washington, 18.

He ruined his reputation further in the title fights of 1996 and 1997 with Evander Holyfield. The rematch was stopped after Tyson bit both of Holyfield's ears. A piece of one was found on the ring floor later.

His last big fight was against Lennox Lewis in 2002, which he lost. He found solace in his pigeons.

He said: "When I lost to Lewis I got on a private jet and came straight to my coop and sat with the birds all day."

In 2003, he filed for bankruptcy. The boxer who had made £245million from his fights had spent or lost it all.

In 2007, he was briefly jailed and given probation for drug possession and driving under the influence of cocaine.

He hit rock-bottom with Exodus's death two years later.

Today, Tyson admits he does not like what he sees when he looks in a mirror.

"I see a joke, a sad figure, somebody who was pretty stupid," said the ex-boxer, who still looks fearsome thanks to the tribal tattoo on his face.

"I never used to be able to see this. I had to go through life pretending to be macho.

"I had no feelings for others, I had no compassion for others. I was trained to be that way. I was empty."

Despite everything he has gone through, he has no regrets.

"I want to regret things I did, I really do," he said. "But I can't. I need to grow as a human being. With that comes the acknowledgement that I need to live with my mistakes.

"Life does not give you a free ride. Sometimes you need to go through hell.

"I went through hell - and I survived."

So is there any of the old Mike Tyson left? He said: "If you push me in a corner, I will bite you. I am working on my temper. I am working on getting better.

"But it's still a long way to go."

Today, he finds contentment in his family. His third wife Lakiha Spicer gave birth to his eighth child, Morocco, in January.

Tyson said: "Happiness is screaming children running through the house. Or being with my pigeons.

"We need to learn to let go. The essence of happiness is to let go. Nothing is forever."

:: Taking on Tyson is on Discovery Channel on Fridays from March 11 at 9pm.

 

[heyzel]

Boxing: "Wladimir will be fit"

David Haye has no doubt that it will be Wladimir Klitschko - and not his brother Vitali - who will line up against him.

Haye has finally agreed a deal to put his WBA title on the line against IBF/WBO holder Wladimir on June 25 or July 2.

But it was confirmed on Monday that should the abdominal injury that has twice forced Wladimir to pull out of fights with Dereck Chisora fail to heal, Vitali will step in.

"I don't expect that," Haye told Sky Sports News. "With me he's going to take his training very seriously, he's going to make sure that there's going to be no injuries that can affect this fight.

"And if there is any problem then his brother's going to jump in.

"But I've got a feeling whatever injury Wladimir has or is carrying will be fine by the time he gets in the ring with me."

He continued: "I think that's the biggest fight in the world. He's the guy who's ranked number one by a lot of experts, he's got the Ring Magazine belt. He's the guy I'm going after.

"If for some reason Wladimir isn't able to compete on that night then his brother should step up. I think that's the fair thing to do.

"First up is Wladimir, then his brother."

The fight was expected to be held in Germany, where the Klitschkos have a huge following, but the their manager Bernd Boente revealed today "two or three" other venues are being considered.

A British venue was never an option, though.

"He's the kind of guy who likes it his own way," said Haye. "He's used to calling the shots.

"I don't believe he would have fought me in the UK, even if we'd found a venue that he'd generate more money in.

"I had to concede that the only way he's going to fight me is in Germany.

"He said it was a deal-breaker if he had to come into the ring second. Okay, whatever.

"I conceded a lot of things because I know as soon as I get him in a ring with me, I'm going to knock him out."

Earlier, Boente told Press Association Sport: "It is not 100% that it's going to be in Germany.

"The stadiums in Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen and Kaiserslautern are available and very interested in staging it.

"But there are two or three other options that we are exploring in other countries. Honestly, that is only to maximise revenues.

"In the end it is not about home advantage or whatever. That is a key understanding between Adam (Booth, Haye's manager) and myself. Adam is with me in the driving seat, we will discuss these things together.

"I can't tell you where they are but they are all in Europe - but not England.

"Las Vegas and the United States was never an option because this fight has to be prime time in Europe, especially because the fight is pay-per-view. It will be around 10.15pm English time, 11.15pm German time. That is what we are looking for."

Boente revealed the contract is a simple one-fight arrangement, with a general understanding that Haye would fight one brother first and then the other in the autumn, before his planned retirement in October.

 

[heyzel]

Sugar Ray: 'I slipped in Ecklund fight

oxing great Sugar Ray Leonard has attempted to put 33 years of in-fighting between himself and real-life The Fighter character Dicky Ecklund to rest - by revealing the truth about the end of their 1978 bout.

The boxing champ has rarely spoken about the fight, which he was expected to win early - but, after appearing as himself in Mark Wahlberg's boxing movie, he has decided it's time to address one of the boxing world's most-talked about moments.

Pundits still argue over whether Ecklund knocked the undefeated champ down in his first big fight, or whether Sugar Ray slipped in the ring and fell.
Advertisement: Story continues below
Christian Bale as Dick Ecklund in the critically acclaimed movie, <i>The Fighter</i>.

Christian Bale as Dick Ecklund in the critically acclaimed movie, The Fighter.

Now, Leonard tells Access Hollywood Live, "I slipped and I remember that like it was yesterday. It was a tough fight. No one thought much of Dick Ecklund but he was tough, he was unorthodox, and in the mix of things I threw a right hand and I slipped back and, boom, he walks over me."

Sugar Ray won the fight by decision after Ecklund took him all the way and established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the boxing world - but he still refuses to accept his punch didn't send the champ to the canvas.

Whenever he's asked about the incident in the ring, Leonard says, "He just smiles

 

[heyzel]

Abraham vs. Ward: Arthur on the verge of elimination from the Super Six tournament

By Scott Gilfoid: My how things have gone down hill for former IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (32-2, 26 KO’s) in the Super Six tournament. At one point in October 2009, Abraham was the leader in the tournament after knocking out Jermain Taylor and was considered by some boxing fans as the fighter to beat. I knew they were wrong. And now here we are in 2011 with Abraham having been schooled by the talented Andre Dirrell and beaten afterwards by Carl Froch, who studied Dirrell’s blue print in how to beat Abraham.

On May 14th, Abraham will be limping into the semifinals of the Super Six tournament against the best fighter in the tourney in undefeated Andre Ward (23-0, 13 KO’s) in their clash at the Home Deport Center, in Carson, California. It’s pretty much academic at this point that Abraham is going to get dominated badly by Ward, and beaten by a lopsided 12 round decision without winning one round.

Abraham has a great chin and excellent defensive skills, which is why he’ll be able to make it to the end of the one-sided fight without getting knocked out. But look for this to be a sickeningly one-sided fight with Abraham getting tattooed with shots from start to finish. I don’t know that Ward will make this look as impressive as the performance that Dirrell put on, but Ward will make it almost as impressive.

The advantage that Ward has that Dirrell didn’t is that he’ll have a heads up to any of Abraham’s tricks in case he decides to tee off with a shot if Ward happens to slip on the canvas or be out of position. Ward will have eyes on the back of his head and will be prepared for anything that Abraham might do or throw in the fight.
Share and Enjo

 

[heyzel]

Haye says after he humilates Wladimir, Vitali will want to avenge the defeat

By Dave Lahr: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-1, 23 KO’s) thinks that WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (41-2, 38 KO’s) will want to avenge the loss of his brother IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) after Haye destroys him in their upcoming fight in June or July.

Haye said this at the sun.co.uk: “When I humiliate Wladimir, take his belts, hurt him physically and mentally, Vitali will have to put this monster who destroyed his brother in his place.”

I hate to say this but that’s exactly how this is all going to play out. Haye is just too quick, too strong and too tough for Wladimir on the inside and that’s where their fight is going to be fought. Wladimir isn’t going to be able to fend off Haye with his jabs more than a few seconds before he’s in close pounding Wladimir with power shots in the 1st round. I think this fight might not even make it into the 2nd because Haye has a much superior inside game than Wladimir.

Hugging and holding won’t work for Wladimir in this fight. It’s going to get him knocked if he tries his clinching games with Haye. After Wladimir’s gets knocked out by Haye, Vitali is going to get angry and want revenge for his family. Vitali will end up hurting himself by trying to knock Haye out. You have to fight smart to beat Haye, and take a certain amount of punishment. While I think Vitali can take Haye’s shots on the short terms, he’ll not be able to land his own punches and will end up tiring out and getting hurt like he did in his loss to Chris Byrd in 2000.

 

[heyzel]

Donaire vs. Moreno in May: Nonito also interested in Kameda and Agbeko-Mares winner

By Jason Kim: WBC/WBO bantamweight champion Nonito Doniare (26-1, 18 KO’s) has a fight scheduled on May 28th against the lanky WBA Super World bantamweight champion Anselmo Moreno (30-1-1, 10 KO’s) in a unification bout. Donaire also wants to fight WBA bantamweight champ Koki Kameda (24-1, 15 KO’s), who recently captured the WBA regular bantamweight belt by defeating Alexander Munoz by a 12 round unanimous decision last December.

Besides that, Donaire also wants to fight the winner of the April 23rd bout between IBF bantamweight champion Joseph Agbeko and Abner Mares in Showtime’s bantamweight tournament. In other words, Donaire wants to stick around and unify all the bantamweight titles before moving up in weight to the super bantamweight division. It might take Donaire all of 2011 and good portion of 2012 before he realizes his dream.

It might be better off to move up in weight after the Moreno fight rather than wasting precious time beating up fighters that the boxing public don’t even follow. Kameda might be a good fighter but few boxing fans in the U.S, other than hardcore fans, have even heard of him. If Donaire wants to be a star, fighting guys like Kameda, Agbeko and Mares isn’t the way to do it. Donaire needs to move past the super bantamweight division completely and then look to fight Juan Manuel Lopez or Yuriorkis Gamboa before they move up in weight from the featherweight division.

 

[heyzel]

Lopez-Salido: Juanma slowly building to a future Gamboa fight

By Dan Ambrose: Bob Arum is taking his time in matching up his two stars WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez (30-0, 27 KO’s) and WBA/IBF champion Yuriorkis Gamboa (19-0, 15 KO’s) in a fight. Instead of putting them in with each other, Arum is looking to slowly build up the fight for the future. The problem is that neither fighter is taking on anyone good enough to make them anymore popular than they already are.

Lopez, 27, is getting older and facing one of Gamboa’s retreads, Orlando Salido (34-11-2, 22 KO’s) in his next fight on April 16th at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente, San Juan, Puerto Rico. It’s difficult to understand why Lopez is being matched up against Salido, a fighter who just beaten by Gamboa. It’s like tossing away four months of Lopez’s career because not only was Salido just beaten, but he’s not someone that boxing fans ever talk about.

Having Lopez beat a guy that was just defeated by Gamboa seems kind of crazy to say the least. After Lopez gets finished beating up Salido, Arum is going to match Lopez back up with Rafael Marquez for a rematch. They fought last year in November with Lopez stopping the 35-year-old Marquez in the 8th round. I don’t see any point in a rematch taking place. That fight too seems like a waste of time for Lopez, but it looks like Arum is counting on the fight making money by attracting Mexican fans of Marquez who might want to see him fight. He’s going to lose because he’s too old now to beat a guy like Lopez. Hopefully, Arum doesn’t wait too long to put Gamboa and Lopez in together because if and when either them loses, the cash-out fight will be lost. Gamboa can be beaten anytime, and so can Lopez. They both have shaky chins.

 

[heyzel]

Mayorga predicting 4th round TKO of Cotto on Saturday

By Dan Ambrose: You got to love the way that Ricardo Mayorga is working WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto ahead of their fight this Saturday night at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mayora has already gotten the better of Cotto at all of their press conferences with his gift for gab, and he’s now predicting a 4th round knockout on Saturday against Miguel. I’m not sure if Mayorga will stop Cotto that quick, because Cotto will probably be running in the early part of the fight and trying to keep away from Mayorga.

But I do see Mayorga catching up to Cotto, busting him up badly, and then putting him out of his misery by around the 9th or 10th rounds. Cotto is more of a eight-round fighter nowadays and once his fights get into the later rounds, he runs out of gas and takes a a beating. He didn’t have a chance to run out of gas in his last fight because he was taking on one of his promoter’s fighters Yuri Foreman, who came into the fight with a bad knee.

Once Foreman’s knee gave out completely, Cotto was off the hook and out of danger of running out of gas. Mayorga will hang in there, punishing Cotto and pressuring him in each round. And by the 9th or 10th, Cotto will be exhausted and bleeding from a number of areas around his eyes. At that point I see Mayorga getting a stoppage win. Cotto is dangerous in the early rounds when he’s fresh. However, Mayorga can take a lot of punishment and return fire.

Cotto is probably going to ruin his best chance at winning by moving too much while he’s fresh and still capable of scoring a knockout. Once Cotto does stop running in the later rounds, he won’t have much left to do anything but get knocked out. I agree with Mayorga that he’ll be knocking Cotto out, but not in the rounds that he’s predicting. Cotto will prolong the fight with his movement.

 

[heyzel]

Chavez Jr vs Zbik Clash Heads To Los Angeles on June 4

BoxingScene.com was advised that Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.'s (42-0, 30KOs) upcoming fight with WBC middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik (30-0, 10KOs) is going to take place in Los Angeles, California. Several venues are being considered for the fight. The fight was previously going to land in either Mexico or Las Vegas. HBO is going to televise the fight.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

Pernell Whitaker: "I think I like Pacquiao the best out of all of them

Says something that the greatest defensive fighter of all time, and one of the greatest fighters overall of all time, thinks pacquiao is the best and likes him more than floyd.

 

[heyzel]

Dawson vs. Diaconu on Hopkins-Pascal undercard on 5/21

By Eric Thomas: Former two-time light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (29-1, 17 KO’s) will be facing 32-year-old Romanian slugger Adrian Diaconu (27-2, 15 KO’s) on the undercard of the light heavyweight clash between champion Jean Pascal and 46-year-old challenger Bernard Hopkins on May 21st. Dan Rafael is reporting that Dawson and Diaconu’s promoters have made a deal for the fight.

The bout will be shown on HBO, and Dawson-Diaconu will be on first. If Dawson wins, he’ll face the Hopkins-Pascal winner. Diaconu doesn’t have the same guarantee if he wins. It’ll be up to the winner of the fight if they want to take on Diaconu. It’s not likely that Pascal will waste his time fighting Diaconu considering he’s already fought and beaten him twice. The boxing public likely won’t be able to stomach watching Pascal fight and beat Diaconu yet again. Hopkins wants to move on and take on IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute, so he’s not going to want to fight Diaconu either.

This is neither here nor there, because the 6’1″ Dawson will likely dominate the 5’9″ Diaconu without too many problems. Dawson was supposed to be fighting a rematch with Pascal now because he had a rematch clause in his contract with Pascal from their fight last August. Pascal was allowed to have one fight in between the rematch, and that was satisfied by his fight with Hopkins. The WBC messed things up by ruling that Pascal must give Hopkins an immediate rematch because their fight ended in a controversial 12 round draw.

Hopkins was dropped twice in the fight but dominated most of the other rounds. In addition, HBO preferred to put on the Hopkins vs. Pascal rematch rather than showing Pascal vs. Dawson II. Neither fight were particularly interesting to watch, but the Pascal-Dawson fight was especially boring because Dawson failed to let his hands go until the 11th, when he had Pascal hurt and was having his way with him.

The two fighters collided heads during the 11th and Dawson was badly cut. The referee jumped in immediately and the ringside doctor stopped the fight rather than letting Dawson’s corner try to stop the blood flow between rounds. Had the referee not jumped in, Pascal might have been stopped in the round.

Dawson-Diaconu is a decent fight, but not really a good test for Dawson. Diaconu was just schooled by Pascal and there are a number of better fighters that could have been chosen for Dawson than this guy. This will be an easy fight for Dawson. At least he’ll get a shot against the winner of the Hopkins-Pascal fight. Either way, Dawson will do well because he wants revenge against Pascal, but he also wants to fight Hopkins. Bernard hasn’t been eager to fight Dawson for some reason.

 

[bigface]

Pernell Whitaker- said that Mayweather would be the best if he was more active. Nice try 206. Whitaker is just trying to get Judah a big fight with Marquez, Manny, or Mayweather. Can't you see the games everyone is playing to get a big fight. Praise Manny and bash Mayweather maybe Arum will get me a fight. Talk a lot of shit about Mayweather like Mosley did and maybe Mayweather will fight me next. Shit is getting boring get in the ring and entertain the crowd by beating up people and you will get a big fight. I would like to see Judah vs Marquez thou that would be a good fight..

 

[heyzel]

Alexander vs. Matthysse scheduled for June 25th

By Jason Kim: The HBO showdown between recently beaten light welterweights Devon Alexander (21-1, 13 KO’s) and Lucas Matthysse (28-1, 26 KO’s) is tentatively scheduled for June 25th, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.

This is a fight that both Alexander and Matthysse want, as does HBO. Alexander, 24, was recently beaten by WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley in January by a disappointing 10th round technical decision. Alexander was hurt by a hard head butt from Bradley in the 10th, and because of the pain that Alexander was in from the clash of heads, the ringside doctor opted to stop the fight at that point.

However, Alexander was having problems with Bradley’s better inside game and seemed to be weakening as the fight wore on. Alexander looked pretty poor in the fight and for him this was the second consecutive bad outing. He looked bad in beating Andriy Kotelnik by a questionable 12 round decision in August 2010 while fighting in front of a home crowd in Saint Louis, Missouri.

Alexander has turned out to be a disappointment in terms of having a less than crowd pleasing style of fighting. HBO unfortunately owes Alexander one more fight, hence this is where the Matthysse fight comes in. You can expect that if Alexander doesn’t look a whole better in this fight compared to how he’s been looking, this may be the last we see of Alexander on HBO for a while.

Matthysse, 28, has looked excellent in his last three fights, stopping Rogelio Castaneda Jr in the 1st round, losing a controversial 12 round split decision to Zab Judah while fighting in Judah’s home town last November and then destroying DeMarcus Corley in an 8th round TKO eight knockdown performance last January.

The loss to Judah was one where you could easily say Matthysse was the real winner, because he dominated the fight from the 4th round on, knocking Judah down and completely dominating him in the second half of the fight. It was one-sided after the 4th.

However, Matthysse was fighting in Judah’s home down and it might have taken a knockout for Matthysse to have gotten a win in that fight.

Alexander will have problems with Matthysse’s pressure and power, because Alexander doesn’t hit hard and does poorly when pressured. Matthysse will look at the Alexander-Bradley fight and note that Alexander fell apart under the pressure from the light hitting Bradley.

 

[heyzel]

Mayweather receives postponement for felony case until 4/28

By Jim Dower: Undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. received a postponement on Thursday for his felony case involving Mayweather allegedly hitting/threatening his ex-girlfriend and stealing her cell phone.

The felony case has been postponed until April 28th – three days after another one of Mayweather’s cases go to trial for misdemeanor battery charges for allegedly hitting a security guard at the entrance of Mayweather’s gated community.

The felony charges are quite serious for Mayweather, as he could get as much as 34 years in prison if found guilty of the charges.

 

[heyzel]

Maidana vs. Morales: Erik in serious trouble in this fight

By William Mackay: If you’re a fan of 34-year-old Erik Morales (51-6, 35 KO’s), you might not want tune in on April 9th when Morales faces Marcos Maidana (29-2, 27 KO’s) at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Morales may have been a good fighter many years ago but he’s now aged to the point where he’s a B level fighter going up against one of the best punchers in the light welterweight division in the 27-year-old Maidana.

Morales is hoping to beat Maidana and then use the victory to try and get bigger fights and hopefully yet another fight against Manny Pacquiao, who he defeated back in 2005. Morales subsequently was beaten in his two rematches with Pacquiao, however. The chances of Morales beating Maidana are pretty slim, about as good as someone winning the lottery.

The problem the Morales has is that he’s barely beating the 2nd tier opposition he’s been facing since he made his comeback in 2010. Indeed, I had Morales losing two out of his three fights to Jose Alfaro and Francisco Lorenzo. To have any chance against Maidana, Morales would have to be looking good and dominating his opposition. The fact of the matter is Morales is looking pretty horrible and is winning decisions that are incredibly questionable. No doubt it helps being a famous fighter.

However, Morales won’t be able to beat Maidana by another questionable decision. This fight is going to be under a microscope on April 9th, as it’s going to be shown on HBO. If Morales is to win this fight, he’s going to have to out-slug Maidana and hope that his chin can hold up under the big shots that Maidana is going to be hitting him with all night.

Morales won’t be holding and running from Maidana the way that Amir Khan was in his recent narrow decision over Maidana. And there probably won’t be a referee working the fight that separates Maidana and Morales when Morales is taking punishment on the ropes, like the Khan-Maidana fight.