• Floyd Mayweather Jr. didn't take nearly enough grief for not making weight for Saturday's fight with Juan Manuel Marquez. Missing weight happens from time to time for fighters. It's never good, but, alas, it happens.
However, what really ticks me off is the way this one went down. I truly believe Mayweather, who was 146 pounds, never had any intention of making the contract weight of 144. Ever. Not from the day the deal was done in late April until the time he stepped on the scale Friday.
He treated Marquez like a chump and got away with it by paying him a few extra bucks. But, really, what is $600,000 when Mayweather stands to earn eight figures even after paying Marquez and paying off more than $5 million in IRS debts, especially when all indications are that the pay-per-view is going through the roof and likely will crack 1 million buys? Mayweather also disregarded the Nevada State Athletic Commission's request for a bout contract (which lists the weight) to be filed in a timely fashion. Instead he waited until just minutes before the weigh-in.
Why do you think the contract weight was kept such a secret for the entire promotion, even though I did my own digging and got the contract weight correct from day one? Because Mayweather never intended to make it. Still, nobody from the promotion would speak about what the weight was on the record until Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, with his back to the wall, had no choice but to address it after the weigh-in debacle.
The whole weight thing was fishy from the outset, and then the weight was suddenly changed from 144 to 147 at the last minute to accommodate Mayweather. Golden Boy, Marquez's promoter, did its fighter a disservice by not protecting him in any way all in the name of not upsetting Mayweather, the prima donna. Better not upset the star because he stands to make Golden Boy a lot more money than Marquez on future fights. Even though Golden Boy doesn't have an official promotional contract with Mayweather, it does have a relationship with him going forward.
HBO was also complicit in weight-gate, simply looking the other way and never insisting that a basic fact of the promotion it supported to the hilt be announced to the public, especially when the media asked for it time and again. I've covered boxing for close to a decade. I don't remember a single fight in which the weight was kept a secret despite repeated requests.
Now, did two pounds make the difference between Mayweather winning and losing? Probably not. But that still doesn't make it right for him to run roughshod over everyone, and it sure wasn't right for everyone around him to facilitate the fraud. Mayweather should have been a professional about it and made the weight.
It was one thing for Mayweather to select Marquez, the lightweight champion and a much smaller man, as his comeback opponent. But for Mayweather to give himself an even greater advantage against a man who weighed 142 pounds, seven more than he had ever weighed for a fight in his life, showed no class.
If Mayweather wonders why he hasn't gotten more credit for his lopsided victory over Marquez, he need only look in the mirror.
By the way, if there's a silver lining to Marquez losing, and losing badly, it might be that thousands of young Mexican boxing hopefuls won't ever drink their own pee given how poorly that whole thing worked out.
• It was a bad night for Marquez, but an even worse one for his trainer, Nacho Beristain, who went 0-2 on the night. In addition to Marquez, Beristain also trains Vicente Escobedo, who was outclassed by Michael Katsidis in their lightweight bout.
• I've always been an admirer of Shane Mosley because he's always had a lot of class on top of his great talent. But I thought he showed no class by getting in the way of Mayweather's postfight interview on the pay-per-view, no doubt egged on by fellow Golden Boy partner Bernard Hopkins, who couldn't keep himself out of the camera frame if his life depended on it. Mosley has been making desperate call-outs for months. First it was a rematch with Miguel Cotto, then Manny Pacquiao and now Mayweather. He's calling out everyone other than the dude he might actually fight, Andre Berto. There's a time and place to do what Mosley did and it's not 30 seconds after Mayweather won his fight. He did deserve at least a few minutes to enjoy his moment. Maybe Mosley has been hanging out too much with Kanye West?
• There's been a lot of talk about a rematch between Juan Diaz and Paulie Malignaggi after the hometown decision Diaz got in Houston when they met Aug. 22. HBO, which did the fight, was interested enough in the rematch of the excellent fight that the network met with Malignaggi and promoter Lou DiBella a few weeks ago and told them to their face it wanted to do it again. But there's a difference between genuinely wanting to do a rematch and lip service. How else to explain HBO's offer this week of only $750,000 for a Dec. 12 card? That's the same amount HBO paid last time even though the rematch is much bigger after all the publicity the first fight received. And instead of a co-promotion between Golden Boy and DiBella, it would be solely a Golden Boy-promoted card as part of its output deal with the network or a makeup call to Golden Boy for handling potential Mosley and Hopkins dates like hand grenades. Under the terms offered, don't count on a rematch.
• I think Golden Boy's signing of prodigy Jorge Linares is the best in company history so far.
• The first time a news conference was planned to announce the Kelly Pavlik-Paul Williams middleweight championship fight, it was called off the day before because of Pavlik's staph infection and the fight was left in limbo. Now, they'll try it again. Pavlik promoter Top Rank and Williams promoter Dan Goossen are planning a Sept. 29 news conference at the New York Giants practice facility in New Jersey to formally announce the fight is back on for Dec. 5 in Atlantic City. It's about time.
• I had a Showtime camera crew at my house this week to tape an interview for a preview show it is producing on the upcoming Super Six World Boxing Classic. Spending a half hour talking about the tournament got me even more pumped up for it to start. The three opening-round fights are Arthur Abraham-Jermain Taylor and Carl Froch-Andre Dirrell on Oct. 17 and Mikkel Kessler-Andre Ward on Nov. 21, and there's not a bad match in the bunch. But if I had to pick, I am most interested in the Kessler-Ward showdown.
• Gotta give a big thank you to Scott Ghertner, who handles media relations at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. I've worked with him on dozens of fights over the years and he's always been a huge help. But last Saturday night he went above and beyond the call of duty to help me out during the Mayweather-Marquez undercard when the wireless in the Grand Garden Arena crapped out. Now, if only he could get the Ms. Pacman game back into the press room for big fights.
• Paging Sergio Martinez.
• Organizers of the Nov. 7 Nikolai Valuev-David Haye heavyweight title bout struck a deal with mandatory challenger John Ruiz to step aside. Why didn't I think of paying Ruiz not to fight years ago?
• So, Ricardo Mayorga is suing Don King and wants to participate in mixed martial arts. I can't see either working out too well for Mayorga. He's a buffoon.
• I've got nothing against Rocky Juarez. In fact, I like him. He's a good guy and an honest fighter. But after six title shots, I don't think I need to see him another one, at least for a while.
• DVD pick of the week: Got a few DVDs of older fights recently from a buddy of mine, so I've been watching. One of them I especially enjoyed. It was from May 23, 1981, at famed Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The CBS telecast (those were the days!) featured Wilfred Benitez, four fights removed from his welterweight title loss to Sugar Ray Leonard, challenging Maurice Hope for a junior middleweight title. It was a good fight that Benitez was controlling when he knocked Hope cold with a right hand against the ropes in the 12th round of the scheduled 15-rounder. It was a spectacular knockout. Benitez knew it was over, grinning widely as Hope fell to the canvas. The victory gave Benitez a championship in his third division. He would successfully defend the title twice, including a win against Roberto Duran, before losing it via tight decision to Thomas Hearns.
Dan Rafael
