Boxing News Thread

[heyzel]

Arum: Pacquiao to fight Marquez in November

By Dan Ambrose: After tonight’s mismatch between Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s) and the 39-year-old shot-looking Shane Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KO’s) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, Bob Arum, the promoter for Pacquiao, said that he’s looking to match Pacquiao against 37-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez (52-5-1, 38 KO’s) on either November 5th or November 12th of this year. Arum met with Marquez earlier on Saturday to discuss a fight with him and Marquez.

The Mexican fighter will now review the offer and make a decision soon. If Marquez decides not to take the fight, the next option will be for Pacquiao to fight WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (27-0, 11 KO’s). Bradley’s contract with Gary Shaw is set to expire today, Sunday. And if that fight can’t be made, which is hard to believe, then a fight between Pacquiao and IBF light welterweight champion Zab Judah will be the next option.

The Marquez fight is likely going to happen next, though, as Arum really wants that fight, as does Marquez. The one thing about this fight is the timing. It’s more than a little disappointing that the fight will be taking place three years after the last fight between the two fighters, as Marquez isn’t the same fighter he was back in 2008, when he lost a controversial 12 round split decision to Pacquiao. They also fought in 2004, a fight that resulted in a 12 round draw. But to fight Marquez now, the fight would have to be held at a catchweight for it to be even remotely competitive. Pacquiao has packed on a lot of muscle since there last fight and has basically out-grown Marquez.

Besides the size factor, Marquez is now nearing 40, and he’s not the same fighter he was back in 2008. It’s nice that they’re finally thinking of fighting Marquez, but like the bout against Mosley, it’s too bad that it took until they were both on the decline before Pacquiao would fight them. Perhaps a better fight than Marquez, Bradley and Judah would be a fight against Victor Ortiz or one of the other welterweights, such as Andre Berto or Mike Jones.

Bradley will be too small to fight at welterweight, and presumably, that’s what he would be expected to do. The same goes for Judah. Although he once fought at welterweight for a number of years, he showed again and again that he wasn’t suited for that weight in loses to Carlos Baldomir, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey. Putting Judah in with Pacquiao would be a terrible mismatch, even worse than the Pacquiao-Mosley bout, which was a mismatch on paper going into the fight.

 

[heyzel]

Arum says the crowd booed Pacquiao-Mosley because Mosley wasn’t engaging enough

By Chris Williams: Bob Arum, the promoter for WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s), was in fine form after Pacquiao’s ridiculously one-sided 12 round unanimous decision win over Shane Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KO’s) on Saturday night in trying to explain away why the boxing fans loudly booed the fight from the 4th round until the 12th.

Instead of seeing the boos as a product of Arum’s bad match-making of putting Pacquiao in with a fighter that was clearly showing signs of being an over-the-hill fighter in 39-year-old Mosley, Arum put a different spin on it, saying that the fans booed because Mosley wasn’t engaging enough on offense. You think?

Of course, that’s why the fans booed, but what do you expect? If you pick a guy that is struggling and hasn’t won a fight in two years like Mosley, naturally you’re going to get an opponent that will likely not put in a good performance and will look like he’s just trying to survive and not get knocked out. For the boxing fans that paid a lot of money to see the fight at ringside and the ones that paid $55 to see Pacquiao-Mosley on pay-per-view, they weren’t happy to see Mosley not looking to engage. But this is what you get when you choose a guy mainly because of his name value rather than his ability.

Mosley would have been perfect for Pacquiao five or more years ago, but not now. It was academic that Mosley didn’t have the talent to beat Pacquiao after Mosley’s last two fights against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Sergio Mora. Mosley lost badly to Mayweather and then was given a gift 12 round draw with Mora last September. Arum thought that Mosley looked bad because of Mora’s style. However, if you look at that fight, Mosley looked exhausted early on and unable to pull the trigger in the same way that he couldn’t pull the trigger in the Mayweather and Pacquiao fights.

Mosley did little in last night’s fight with Pacquiao, only occasionally throwing shots. He was knocked down hard in the 3rd and that seemed to take all the fight out of him. Mosley would come alive every once in a while, responding to the boos but it was often near the end of the round and often because the crowd was really letting him have it with the boos. I don’t blame Pacquiao for any of this. He merely fought the guy that Arum wanted him to. Pacquiao tried his best against a reluctant fighter.

 

[heyzel]

Roach: I think Mosley needs to retire

By Jason Kim: 39-year-old Shane Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KO’s) put in his third consecutive poor performance last night, losing by dismal lopsided 12 round unanimous decision to Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mosley looked gun-shy throughout the fight, throwing few punches and mostly just trying to avoid Pacquiao and clinch with him. As such, Mosley ended up losing by the scores of 119-108, 120-108, and 120-107.

Freddie Roach, the trainer for Pacquiao, said after the fight that it may be time for Mosley to hang up the gloves and retire. Roach correctly pointed out that Mosley looked to be there just to survive and not to try and win the fight.

Roach said this at sport.stv.tv: “I don’t think he [Mosley] tried to win this fight. I think he just tried to survive and when you get to that point in boxing, it’s time to call it a day.”

Mosley seemed to lose any fight he had in him after getting hurt in the 3rd and knocked down by Pacquiao. After the knockdown, Mosley rarely did much and just seemed to be more intent on dodging and ducking Pacquiao’s shots. To that end, Mosley did a great job, because he had Pacquiao missing often and hitting air. The only thing that Mosley needed was to let go of some of his own shots and there would have been a fight. Unfortunately, Mosley looked as shot and timid as he did in his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his 12 round draw with Sergio Mora last year. There was no change at all from those fights, which is why you have to wonder why Mosley was selected by Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum for this fight. Arum had to know what he was getting by choosing Mosley, because he displayed the same lack of ability in both of his last two fights before last night’s fight. It may have been better for Arum to have selected someone that could actually still fight rather than choosing a fighter on his way to the scrap heap.

 

[heyzel]

Sergio Martinez likely to move back down to junior middleweight to chase Pacquiao

By Eric Thomas: Sergio Martinez (47-2-2, 26 KO’s) is reportedly considering moving back down in weight to the junior middleweight division to compete at that weight and be close to where he could possibly try and get a fight with Manny Pacquiao. Martinez, 36, captured the WBC/WBO middleweight titles last year with a 12 round decision over then champion Kelly Pavlik last April. However, the big fights haven’t happened at that weight and Martinez has had to settle for bouts against Paul Williams and Sergiy Dzinziruk.

Martinez was hoping to get a shot against the winner of the June 4th bout between WBC middleweight champion Sebastian Zbik and challenger Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. However, the interest in Martinez going for that option died recently when news came out that if Chavez Jr. wins the fight, he will likely be WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto’s next opponent in September. This pretty much takes any real interest in Martinez staying at middleweight because there isn’t any big named fighters at that weight anymore now that Arthur Abraham and Pavlik have moved up in weight.

Martinez previously held the WBC junior middleweight interim title. If Martinez can move back down in weight, he would be within striking distance of a fight with Pacquiao. And if his promoter Bob Arum decides never to put Pacquiao in with Martinez, then he can always go after WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez or Cotto. Unless Martinez starts to get old and show weakness, it’s unlikely that Arum will let him fight Cotto. Martinez would likely knock Cotto out and Arum probably doesn’t want to risk putting Cotto in with Martinez and have that happening. So, the odds of Martinez getting fights with Cotto and Pacquiao are probably very, very small. When you’re as good as Martinez, guys don’t want to fight you even if you fight in their weight class. They’d rather take on easier targets and then complain that there isn’t anyone out there that’s competitive.
Share and Enjoy:

 

[heyzel]

Arum says it’s hard to find competitive opponents for Pacquiao

By Dan Ambrose: Bob Arum, Manny Pacquiao’s promoter, says that it’s hard to find competitive opponents for Pacquiao to fight after he easily beat 39-year-old Shane Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision in front of 16,000 fans at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Many of the fans weren’t happy with the lack of competitiveness of the fight and booed loudly after many of the rounds.

In an article at USA Today, Arum said “When you analyze everything out there, it’s very, very difficult to get somebody who can be very competitive.”

Arum could be right but he at least could look in the direction of some of the younger fighters instead of picking out nearly 40-year-old fighters like Mosley, who hadn’t won a fight since beating Antonio Margarito in January 2009. The signs were there for Arum before the fight that Mosley wouldn’t be competitive, as he showed that he was having problems in his last two fights. Arum should have seen that and chose to stay away from matching Mosley against his fighter Pacquiao. Arum would do well to consider putting Pacquiao in with guys like Victor Ortiz instead of aiming Pacquiao at 38-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez. That’s who Pacquiao will likely fight next. Arum wants a third fight between Pacquiao and Marquez, but the fight won’t be competitive if it’s held at 147, because Pacquiao would be much too big for the smaller Marquez. 147 is where the fight will likely be held, meaning we’ll be seeing another mismatch in the near future involving Pacquiao. Marquez wants a catchweight but don’t count on him getting one. He doesn’t have the pull to push for and get a catchweight.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. would be the perfect opponent for Pacquiao, but with the two fighters so far apart in terms of money and possibly drug testing, a fight between them seems almost impossible.

Besides Maweather and Ortiz, a fight between Pacquiao and unbeaten welterweight contender Mike Jones would be a great fight. Jones may not have a lot of experience against upper tier fighters, but at least he would let his hands go and fight hard for as long as it lasts. Andre Berto would be another good opponent. He just lost to Ortiz but it was a great fight and with his power and speed, he would make it a lot more interesting than Mosley did.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

marquez is requesting a catchweight fight with pacquiao, he wants around 143-144 pounds. bob arum is going to send a revised contract over.

marquez also is going to fight David Diaz this summer in Mexico, promoted by JMM himself, then the plan is to fight pac in Nov.

 

[Tony]

Then why don't Pacquiao fight against Ortiz (who is coming off of an impressive victory)?

 

[2-0-Sixx]

Golden Boy (not going to happen). Ortiz aint ready anyway

Amir Khan is saying Timothy Bradley is signing with Top Rank this week and he'll be fighting pac next, so I'm not sure who it will be.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

another day another court case


Floyd Mayweather Jr. Sued Over Bouncer Being Choked

By Edward Chaykovsky

The legal hits continue for Floyd Mayweather Jr. According to the Las Vegas Sun, the boxer is now facing a lawsuit in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas. Nightclub bouncer Clay Gerling filed suit claiming that an unidentified bodyguard working for Mayweather roughed him up when the boxer was asked to present indentification on January 2 at Drai’s at Bill's Gamblin' Hall & Saloon on the Las Vegas Strip.

In the suit, Gerling claims that he asked Mayweather and others in his group for identification to enter the club - when a Mayweather bodyguard began to rough him up and choke him. The suit notes head and neck injuries. Last week, Mayweather was accused in a criminal complaint of threatening security guards in his Southern Highlands community south of Las Vegas.

Mayweather also has two other criminal cases pending, which includes a guard who claims Mayweather poked him in the face over a parking ticket, and the most serious matter invloves the mother of Mayweather's children, who claims the boxer roughed her up after an argument in her home.

 

[heyzel]

Haye looks incredibly nervous at Klitschko press conference in Germany

By Scott Gilfoid: Picture credit: Public Address/Stefan Hoyer – If you’ve seen clips from today’s press conference between WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-1, 23 KO’s) and IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) from Hamburg, Germany, you might have noticed how incredibly nervous Haye looked. Not only was Haye looking usually nervous but Haye’s voice was cracking and he seemed to be trembling with fear.

As he normally does, Haye had a lot of loud boasts to make how Wladimir was an overrated fighter and such, but Haye’s nervous presentation didn’t match his words. It was like a guy laughing while giving a funeral eulogy. Haye was totally unbelievable with what he was saying. I thought for a second he was going to have a nervous breakdown and start crying at one point. If you compare how Haye looked in this press conference with the ones that he had with past Haye opponents Audley Harrison, John Ruiz and Monte Barrett, it was like night and day.

Here is some of what Haye said at today’s press conference with Klitschko: “He wears big shoulder pads in his gown and picks guys who suit him perfectly but I’m not fooled. For the first time he’s fighting someone who’s healthy; he normally picks people who are injured or coming off a long layoff. I’m a prime athlete in my peak coming off a nice long streak of spectacular victories.”

Haye’s “spectacular victories”, as he mentioned, are wins over John Ruiz, Barrett, Audley Harrison and Valuev. That’s sad. I wonder what Haye considers to be un-spectacular victories?

I sure hope Haye settles down in tomorrow’s press conference in London. I don’t want to see the guy have a nervous breakdown before the fight even starts. We already had Haye bail twice before on the Klitschkos, I hate to see him bail for a third time.

 

[heyzel]

Wladimir says Haye doesn’t deserve the 50% purse split

By William Mackay: Picture credit: Public Address/Stefan Hoyer – IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) sees his July 2nd opponent WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-1, 23 KO’s) as a media creation, a fighter that has made a name for himself by abusing him in the media to get his name known. Wladimir says he doesn’t feel that Haye has earned the right for him to get 50% of the purse split for their fight given the quality of fighters that Haye has fought in the past to get to this point.

Speaking with BBC Sport, Wladimir said “David Haye gets 50% of the deal. I don’t think he deserves it with his performances in the past, but the man has been promoting himself insulting the Klitschko brothers in an abusing and disrespectful ways. I hype won’t be for nothing. I hope this fight will happen. My game plan hasn’t changed in the past two years. I will jab, jab, grab as he has been describing for 12 long rounds, but long for David Haye. I hope he won’t give up between rounds like other opponents did. And I hope he won’t get knocked out too soon. I plan on knocking him out in the 12th round.”

Wladimir has made no secret of his desire to punish Haye slowly for 12 rounds by methodically jabbing him over and over again and turning his face into a reddened mass of blood and swelling tissue. Haye says he’s not going to let Wladimir do this, but it’s going to be tough to avoid getting hit with Wladimir’s jabs even if Haye runs more than he did in his controversial 12 round decision win over Nikolay Valuev in 2009. Wladimir is good at picking off a moving target with his jab and Haye isn’t exactly light on his feet. He’s going to get hit a lot by Wladimir’s jabs unless Haye can stop Wladimir early. A lot boxing experts think that Haye has to knock Wladimir out early or his chances of success drop off dramatically once the fight goes past the five rounds. By then, Haye will have taken a lot of punishment and his face will likely already be swelling up from Wladimir’s powerful jabs. Wladimir has the best jab in the division and it’s more like a power punch than a jab. Haye won’t last long with Wladimir jabbing him.

Haye has to do a great job of promoting this fight because it may be his last shot before retirement. To maximize would could be his last payday, Haye has to talk as much as possible to get people interesting in watching this fight.

 

[heyzel]

Steward: Pacquiao has slipped a bit; Mayweather would beat him

By Dave Lahr: The great trainer Emanuel Steward saw Manny Pacquiao’s recent fight with Shane Mosley last weekend and came away from it thinking that Pacquiao is starting to lose his physical skills. It didn’t take a great trainer like Steward to point that out, though, because it’s painfully clear just by looking at Pacquiao that he’s starting to slow down as a fighter. The old legs aren’t moving his small frame around the ring like it used to.

The jumping in and out is no longer a part of Pacquiao’s game. He’s now someone that plods around the ring and has trouble cutting off the ring. Pacquiao never was very good at cutting off a ring, but with his wheels slowing down on him, it’s really noticeable now more than ever. When the legs go there isn’t much time left unless you keep matching Pacquiao against soft old guys or ones that have been pounded on already and slightly stunned when they enter the ring.

Here is what the outstanding trainer Steward had to say about Pacquiao at eastsideboxing.com: “I think Manny Pacquiao has slipped a little bit. He’s had a lot of hard fights and when you have 50 fights, regardless of what type of fights, usually there is little bit of wear and tear…recent fights where [his] opponents have been very, very carefully selected. It’s an unbelievable marketing job on the part of Top Rank…His fights as a welterweight have been very carefully picked and these weight stipulations like welterweight but not 147 or junior middleweight but not 154. You know, but I can’t blame him or his promoters. If they can do that and get away with it it’s great.”

Yes, I agree Steward that Pacquiao is showing wear and tear. It happens. A fighter gets old, loses there legs and starts looking sloppy. He’ll get away with it as long as he’s carefully matched but if they put him in with a guys like Victor Ortiz, Sergio Martinez or Andre Berto, I see Pacquiao getting knocked out.

“I would give Floyd [Mayweather] the edge,” Steward said. “I think he’s bigger than Manny is and I think his boxing techniques would be a problem for Manny and Floyd would capitalize on Manny’s bad position sometimes when he throws punches.”

I completely agree with Mr. Steward. Mayweather would pound Pacquiao and make him look bad.

 

[heyzel]

Pacquiao vs. Bradley in November

By Jason Kim: According to the latest boxing news, WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s) will be facing unbeaten WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (27-0, 11 KO’s) in November rather than Juan Manuel Marquez. Amir Khan, a close friend of Pacquiao’s, said on his facebook page that Bradley will be signing with Top Rank soon and he’s going to be the one that Pacquiao fights next, not Marquez. This is interesting because Bradley has the speed to give Pacquiao a good fight.

Marquez will then likely be facing Zab Judah for his International Boxing Federation (IBF) light welterweight title rather than facing former lightweight champion David Diaz on July 2nd, which was the fight that Marquez was talking about having as a tune-up for a third fight with Pacquiao in November. It’s unclear why Bradley would be getting the shot against Pacquiao next unless Marquez wasn’t willing to agree to his pay percentage or the lack of a catchweight for a fight against the now bigger Pacquiao.

Bradley, 27, is coming off of a 10th round technical decision win over Devon Alexander in January. Bradley has been talked about as a potential opponent for Khan. However, the money that was offered to Bradley recently to fight Khan, $1.3 million, wasn’t to Bradley’s liking and he decided to bypass the Khan fight and look in another direction. Bradley is considered to be the best fighter in the light welterweight division by many boxing fans. A fight with Khan was supposed to help determine for the time being who the perceived best fighter in the division is. But a fight against Pacquiao would be a much better option for Bradley then taking smaller money to fight Khan.

Pacquiao defeated Shane Mosley last weekend by a one-sided 12 round decision. The fight was a disappointing one, as Mosley ran and held for much of the fight and looked to be reluctant to mix it up with Pacquiao. Additionally, Pacquiao looked slower than usual and appeared to have lost a step or two compared to his past performances.

 

[heyzel]

Nonito Donaire take on Jorge Arce next?

By Dallan O’ Donnell: After impressing greatly on the undercard of the Pacquaio-Mosley fight and almost stealing the show from the main event, Jorge Arce has put himself right in the mix to take on boxing’s most promising fighter in Nonito Donaire.

Arce beat the previously unbeaten Wilfredo Vasquez by TKO in the final round to claim the WBO super bantamweight championship to become a two weight world champion, having previously held the WBO super fly-weight title. A fight with Nonito Donaire would be the pinnacle of a long and distinguished career.

Donaire is currently the WBO/WBC bantamweight champion and the hottest property in boxing. Both fighters have great knockout power with Donaire having knocked out 18 of 26 opponents and Arce having beaten 44 of 57 by knockout so it should be an explosive bout. Both are crowd pleasers and Arce has the typical Mexican warrior mentality constantly on the attack with little or no defence whilst Donaire resembles his idol and fellow countryman Manny Pacquaio, boasting ferocious hand speed and power to boot.

Donaire is the younger man at 28 while Arce is 31 and although this would be the toughest test of his career, he should come through to move on to even bigger things. Hopefully this fight can be made as it would draw a huge crowd and could even be a fight of the year contender if they both come to the ring showing recent form.

 

[heyzel]

Mosley unsure about retiring, says he’s going to enjoy the fruits of his labor

By Chris Williams: With a terrible performance put in for his lopsided loss against Manny Pacquiao last weekend in Las Vegas, 39-year-old Shane Mosley is now going to reward himself by taking a vacation. As for retirement, Mosley says “I will think about it.” It’s doubtful that Mosley will retire with guys like WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan lurking out there making noises about wanting to move up in weight to the welterweight division in the near future.

Mosley’s name is one of the fighters that Khan has mentioned for a big fight. It’s unclear whether Khan would be interested in fighting Mosley after the performance he put in with Pacquiao, but my guess is he probably will be interested because it would be a safe fight for Khan. If Khan is fighting guys like Paul McCloskey, who few people had ever heard of before Khan fight him in April, then a bout against a shot-looking Mosley is something that Khan might jump at.

Mosley had this to say after the fight: “I want to have a vacation, relaxation, enjoy the fruits of my labor.” It’s hard to understand how you would want to take a vacation after a bad performance like the one that Mosley put in. Some fighters would be upset with themselves if they put out a bad effort and would want to get back in the ring immediately to start working on fixing what went wrong. With Mosley, it was more of a situation where he just failed to engage. It wasn’t that Pacquiao was doing anything other than taking the fight to Mosley. It seemed like Mosley tasted Pacquiao’s power and decided he didn’t want anymore of it after getting knocked down in the 3rd.

 

[heyzel]

Mayweather did a better job against Mosley than Pacquiao

By Eric Thomas: In analyzing how Floyd Mayweather Jr. did against Shane Mosley in his one-sided 12 round decision win last year in May and comparing it to Manny Pacquiao’s victory last night in Las Vegas, I’ve come to the conclusion that Mayweather did a much better job against Mosley than Pacquiao. It’s not even close. Other than the one punch where Mayweather was briefly hurt in the 2nd round, he dominated Mosley and was rarely hit him in the fight.

In contrast, Pacquiao was hit a number of times by Mosley and looked quite sloppy, slow and ordinary. This wasn’t the fight that Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach wanted. Roach was hoping to get a knockout win from Pacquiao to try and show how much better Pacquiao is than Mayweather and hoping, in turn, that Mayweather would want to fight Pacquiao. But I think Pacquiao failed in impressing against Mosley. Pacquiao had a low connect percentage in the fight and missed often with hard shots.

The accuracy was badly missing from Pacquiao’s punches last night against Mosley. Mayweather was much more accurate and missed few punches against Mosley. Mayweather was more like a surgeon, whereas Pacquiao was like a duck hunter shooting a scatter gun. To be sure, Pacquiao got the job done like Mayweather, but not nearly as pretty and impressive.

It looks to me like Roach’s dream of Pacquiao impressing more than Mayweather failed miserably with Pacquiao clearly not doing as good as Mayweather. The excuses that have come afterwards about why Pacquiao looked so bad – leg cramps and over-trained – are rather empty. They don’t cover up the reality of the situation that Pacquiao struggled against Mosley and didn’t look good.

 

[Tony]

LMFAO.... Pacquiao choosing to fight Mosley is backfiring!! LOL....

Bigface, where are you at...... you're right on bro!

 

[bigface]

Tony-I told you this fight will answer a lot of questions. Manny can't hit a moving target and his footwork is not all that good. He has no defense either.

 

[Tony]

It's funny because when we make valid points, we get called retards, etc.....

Then when Heyzel posts what boxing experts have to say and they match our points, those who called us names disappear like magic.

 

[bigface]

LOL.. That is funny as hell. We're the dickriders but the Manny fans can't admit that dude looked like a fish out of water with a little movement. Manny let a 39 yr old man cut his punch output in half. Manny can't even cut off the ring for god sakes.