Your weekly random thoughts …
• The Kelly Pavlik-Paul Williams middleweight championship fight was a giant tease. Unfortunately, it's off again and unlikely to be rescheduled. First came the knockdown, drag-out negotiations between Top Rank and Dan Goossen during the summer when it looked like the fight would never get done. They finally made a deal for the fight to take place Oct. 3, only to have Pavlik, because of a messed-up left hand from a staph infection and two surgeries, force the fight to be postponed on the eve of the news conference announcing the bout. It took several weeks for them to put the fight back together for Dec. 5, and they finally had a kickoff news conference in September at Giants Stadium. Pavlik's hand still didn't look good, but everyone assured everyone he'd be medically cleared and ready to use the hand to train in early October. It didn't happen.
The infection was gone, but the hand still had not healed properly from the surgeries, and they had to pull the plug again Wednesday because Pavlik has been unable to close his left fist. That might not be a big deal for a normal person, but when the middleweight champ can't make a fist, that's a problem.
Pavlik's team made a serious mistake when it allowed the unhealthy boxer to go through with a fight against Bernard Hopkins in the fall of 2008 only to see Pavlik get thumped in a nontitle match. Trainer Jack Loew wasn't going to let it happen again with a fighter not nearly 100 percent, and he made the call to pull out again. I'm sure it was a tough decision that he agonized over, but it seems to me that it was the right call for the good of Pavlik's career -- even though it's an utter bummer. This looked to be one of the best fights of the year. Now a lot of folks have to go back to the drawing board.
HBO had built its fall schedule around the fight and was in the process of putting together one of its excellent half hour preview shows. Now the network has a gaping hole in its schedule on Dec. 5, which it will fill with another Williams fight, perhaps against Sergio Martinez, but that pales in comparison to a Pavlik fight. Williams and his team also have been immensely inconvenienced. Host casino Caesars Atlantic City was looking for a big boost with a sold-out crowd expected at Boardwalk Hall. That's revenue that simply can't be replaced. Top Rank is probably out at least $100,000 in expenses it already had spent on the promotion. But if Pavlik can't make a fist and can't train, he and his team did the right thing.
• I really feel bad for guys like Joshua Clottey and Carlos Quintana, who were supposed to open the HBO telecast Dec. 5. Now they're out because that was Top Rank's fight, and it won't be involved in a reformulated card. It would be nice to see HBO stick with the fight, but that's not going to happen. Instead, don't be shocked to see the return of heavyweight Cristobal Arreola. And don't be surprised if David Tua faces him. Clottey went from thinking he'd meet Shane Mosley in December (until HBO reneged) to being bumped to an undercard against Quintana to being left with nothing. Quintana was supposed to fight Saturday in Puerto Rico but was taken off the card for the bigger opportunity against Clottey. Now Quintana has nothing, either.
• If there's a silver lining to the cancellation of Pavlik-Williams, it means HBO should have a few bucks left in the budget this year because the reformulated show shouldn't cost the nearly the $3.75 million it was spending on Pavlik-Williams. With some of the leftover money, HBO should pick up the rights to the Dec. 12 Vitali Klitschko-Kevin Johnson heavyweight title fight from Germany, which it has considered but is unsure where the money would come from. The network can get the fight for chump change, and considering the Sept. 26 Klitschko-Arreola fight did the biggest rating of the year for a fight televised in the United States, it's a no-brainer. Speaking of Klitschko, you have to love that he's going to defend his title three times this year, each time against a quality opponent. Not bad for a guy who spent nearly four years in retirement because of injuries.
• If Arthur Abraham could get The Scorpions to play live for his ring walk against Jermain Taylor for last week's Super Six tournament opener, do you think it's too much to ask that Miguel Cotto or Manny Pacquiao get KISS to play "War Machine" as one of them comes to the ring?
• Not that I am rooting for anyone in particular in the Super Six, but it wouldn't be a bad thing to see Carl Froch go far if for no other reason that to see his girlfriend, Rachael Cordingley, regularly during the next 18 months. And, by the way, to those outraged that Andre Dirrell didn't get the nod in a split-decision loss against Froch last week, I laugh. That fight isn't even one of the top 100 controversial outcomes I've seen. There's a difference between a straight-up robbery (Pernell Whitaker-Julio Cesar Chavez) and a close fight where all three scorecards are close and the result could have gone either way. I had it 114-113 for Froch, the difference being the point deduction from Dirrell.
• Antonio Tarver has done what, four Showtime telecasts, including last week's Super Six broadcast? Yes, I think I heard to him refer to Froch as "Crotch," but even with that flub, he's already a better analyst than HBO's Lennox Lewis. Now, if Showtime could just get Gus Johnson to calm down a little bit and stop yelling at me.
• So Danish promoter Mogens Palle, dumped by Mikkel Kessler, sued Showtime in U.S. federal court this week, charging that the network conspired with German promoter Sauerland Event to interfere with his promotional contract in an effort to help Sauerland land Kessler and get him into the Super Six. Somehow, I have a feeling the show will go on Nov. 21, when Kessler will defend his title against Andre Ward in their opening bout of the tournament.
• Memo to everyone involved: What the hell is taking so long to finalize the Shane Mosley-Andre Berto HBO fight? Showtime had an easier time making the Super Six, and that was way more complicated.
• I know Top Rank and HBO are working on a Jan. 23 doubleheader that will feature junior featherweight titlist Juan Manuel Lopez and featherweight titlist Yuriorkis Gamboa, who are headed to a summer showdown if they continue to win. Although I'd like to see Lopez stay at junior featherweight and face Celestino Caballero in a unification fight, I don't have a huge problem with him going to featherweight to challenge titlist Steven Luevano, especially because Lopez apparently is having trouble making weight. I love the idea of Gamboa perhaps facing Rogers Mtagwa in the co-feature after giving Lopez so much trouble in a sensational fight a couple of weeks ago. It certainly would provide a good measuring stick to see how Gamboa deals with him compared to Lopez.
• I'm still in shock over Jorge Linares' 73-second knockout loss to Juan Carlos Salgado. That said, one thing sticks in my mind: When manager/agent Cameron Dunkin, one of the best talent evaluators in the sport, signed Salgado a few years ago, he told me he was the "the greatest prospect I've ever signed." Coming from a guy who manages or has managed a ton of top fighters, including Pavlik, Luevano, Nonito Donaire, Johnny Tapia, Danny Romero, Stevie Johnston and Diego Corrales, that's saying something.
• I liked what I saw from Odlanier Solis, the Cuban heavyweight who won a gold medal in the 2004 Olympics, in his knockout win of Monte Barrett a couple of weeks ago. I know it was only Barrett whom Solis flattened in two rounds, but it was the way he went about it that excited me. I've seen all of Solis' pro fights, and he fought like a typical Cuban amateur in most of them, meaning not aggressive and waiting to counterpunch an opponent who made a mistake. What I liked about his performance against Barrett is that he went after him. Sure, he needs better conditioning, but Solis has talent and power. Top Rank's Bob Arum, who recently signed Solis in a co-promotional deal with Arena Box, was tickled to by Solis' performance, gleefully exclaiming at ringside after the fight, "I'm back in the heavyweight business." As a man who promoted Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, Arum knows what an exciting heavyweight can mean for boxing. When I talked to Arum recently and Solis came up, I mentioned that I'd like to see him fight Arreola. Arum was all over it. "That's the fight I'd love to make," he said. "I would do it tomorrow. We can make it for the Hispanic heavyweight championship! That's a fun fight." I couldn't agree more.
• Condolences to promoter Lou DiBella on the death of the office pet, Bob the Lizard. He lived happily in his habitat for the past nine years and, yes, he was named after Arum. Although the friendly reptile (Bob the Lizard, not Arum) won't be forgotten, a new office pet has succeeded him, Todd the Lizard. And, yes, he's named after Top Rank's Todd duBoef, Arum's eventual successor. And, yes, boxing is a weird little community.
• DVD pick of the week: How about a little heavyweight action? Let's travel back 18 years (Can it really be that long?) to Oct. 18, 1991 in Atlantic City, N.J., where heavily hyped Tommy Morrison, then 28-0, met 1988 Olympic gold medalist Ray Mercer, then 17-0, for a minor title. It was a massive step up for Morrison, who had fought very soft opposition. Although Mercer had fewer pro fights, he had faced significantly better opponents, and ultimately, it showed. Although Morrison had a slight lead on all three cards going into the fifth round, Mercer erased it 28 seconds into the round with one of the sickest knockouts you'll ever see. He blasted Morrison with something like 15 unanswered punches, several of which were flush blows to his face after it seemed Morrison was already unconscious but unable to fall to the floor because he was trapped in a corner up against the ring post. Watching that fight then, and watching it again now, it still looks as if Morrison's head might come off his body.
Dan Rafael
