Sure, Tomasz Adamek was only fighting a faded 41-year-old Andrew Golota, but he looked terrific in his move up to heavyweight Saturday. The cruiserweight champ, outweighed by 42 pounds, took it to Golota from the outset and laid a beating on him in Lodz, Poland, en route to a fifth-round TKO in the most heavily hyped fight in Polish history.
Adamek scored two knockdowns -- in the first round and in the fifth round -- before unloading on the helpless Golota to force the stoppage later in the fifth round.
While Golota (41-8-1, 33 KOs) is surely finished at this point with yet another nonperformance in a big fight, Adamek is fighting very well right now. The best thing for him is that he has options. He can stay at heavyweight or return to cruiserweight to defend the lineal title. Is there a future fight with Wladimir Klitschko or Vitali Klitschko in his future? Both Klitschkos were willing to give former cruiserweight champ David Haye a shot until he punked out against both of them. Why not Adamek? Perhaps a fight with the winner of the Roy Jones-Bernard Hopkins rematch at cruiserweight?
Adamek (39-1, 27 KOs) and his promoter, Kathy Duva of Main Events, will weigh the options. They won't make any rash decisions; rather, they'll see where they can make the biggest fight for the most money.
Adamek likely will return to fight in his adopted home base of Newark, N.J., in early February, but in which division he'll box hasn't been determined. Here's some of what Adamek and his team had to say after the victory:
• On the magnitude of the fight: "I will never forget this moment, fighting in front of almost 17,000 Polish fans against a Polish legend that went through many great battles. It was a meaningful night for me. By beating Andrew Golota I made a statement about my power. I wanted to show how good I can be as a heavyweight. I got hit couple of times pretty hard, but I was never in danger. Looks like my iron chin will work for me in a higher weight class also."
• On scoring the knockout: "I never treat any fight as something personal and it was the same this time. I did not plan to knock Golota out. It was not my intention. After the first knockdown, I knew I could hit him at will. I paced myself in Round 2 and 3, waiting for the right moment to up my tempo. [Trainer] Andrew Gmitruk was telling me to not get too cocky. I remembered this every minute I was in the ring. It was not easy win, regardless of the outcome. I had to be careful not to get hit by this powerful 260-pound man. It worked."
• On fighting as a heavyweight: "I hope I proved to everybody that I can be 215 pounds and be effective as a heavyweight. But my foes in the cruiserweight division should not be too happy yet. If the major television outlets will offer great fights, I will be back and knock out those guys too."
• On his future: "I will go back to the U.S. in couple of days, maybe enjoy myself for couple of weeks and then eagerly await the next challenge. It's in my nature not to be lazy for too long. I love my home, wife and two daughters, but after a while I miss the ring. I want to thank everybody who believed in my skills and determination. I never had a doubt about the outcome of this fight. I want also to thank Andrew for accepting this fight. He helped me realize my dream of becoming a heavyweight."
• Here's some of what Gmitruk had to say about his pupil after the victory:
"I knew this fight would look this way. To be honest, after the first knockdown this fight was over. It was just question of time. Adamek will use every weakness of his opponent so mercilessly. It was painful to watch. Tomasz used Golota's slowness to do exactly what we were talking about in training. Tomasz hit Golota with a lot of body shots and just peppered him with combinations when Golota was getting tired. Adamek was very calm and composed. I think this is the biggest change in his style of fighting. He picks when to attack in the best possible moments, never leaving his rival a chance to react. He is not going into unnecessary brawls. We were working on this, but I'm not sure this is something you can teach. He just has it. Golota wanted to tear Adamek's head off and was not pacing himself. He fought exactly like we thought he would."
• Here's what Duva thought of her company's franchise fighter:
"It wasn't just that Tomasz Adamek knocked out Andrew Golota; it was the way he did it. Watch the highlights. He showed power and speed. He showed he has a heavyweight punch and incredible combinations. Adamek made a statement. And from the texts I started getting directly after the fight, the boxing world is taking notice."
"We are going to assess all of our options in the coming weeks. Basically we are interested in the most money we can make. We have cruiserweight options and we now have heavyweight options. I couldn't be happier for Tomasz."
• 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.
"Fight Night Club" is staying open for business. It's just moving to a different television network for its second season.
The Golden Boy Promotions monthly boxing show in the nightclub atmosphere of Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles will return in 2010, but it will move from Versus to Fox Sports Net for its second season, Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer told ESPN.com on Tuesday.
"The show will be back," Schaefer said. "We have finalized a deal with our partners at [venue owner Anschutz Entertainment Group], and we are in the process of finalizing a deal with Fox Sports Net. We have tremendous support from our sponsors. They are also interested in our second season, and more sponsors will be jumping on."
"Fight Night Club" features mostly Southern California-based Golden Boy prospects, as well as fighters to whom the company essentially offers tryouts, fighting in competitive four- and six-round bouts in an intimate atmosphere. The show aired four episodes from July through September on Versus, and Schaefer said Versus declined to pick it up for a second season. But he stressed the company and network have a good relationship, as evidenced by Versus working with Golden Boy on a higher-profile card on Dec. 2 that will be headlined by pound-for-pound star Bernard Hopkins against Enrique Ornelas.
Besides the 12 shows in Los Angeles next year, Schaefer said Golden Boy could do as many as 36 "Fight Night Club" cards because AEG -- which owns a minority stake in Golden Boy along with its arenas around the world -- and Fox are interested in putting on similar cards in other markets.
"There is some interest from our partners at AEG and Fox to maybe do that kind of show in other markets as well," Schaefer said. "AEG owns about 55 venues. They have one in Dallas, which would be perfect for these kinds of cards. We would do the same concept, like 'Fight Night Club Texas.' They have a Nokia Theatre in New York, so maybe we will go there as well."
Schaefer said he and Hopkins, a partner in Golden Boy, have talked about doing perhaps six shows in his hometown of Philadelphia.
"There are a lot of young kids who want to fight and develop a local following in these different markets, and we want to go there," Schaefer said. "They would all be televised on Fox Sports Net. These are not the kinds of events you make a lot of money on, if any. But they are the kinds of events you do to invest in the sport. It's definitely not a big moneymaker. It's an investment in boxing on Golden Boy's part."
Among the prospects featured on the cards have been junior lightweight David Rodela, junior featherweight Ronny Rios, featherweight Charles Huerta, junior welterweight Karl Dargan and lightweight Luis Ramos.
Thankfully, Jermain Taylor is out of the Berlin hospital after suffering a 12th-round knockout against Arthur Abraham in their opening bout of the Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament on Saturday.
Taylor, who suffered a severe concussion and short-term memory loss, will remain in Europe for a planned vacation with his wife.
"I want to thank all my fans and those concerned and let everyone know I'm doing just fine and feeling good," Taylor said in a statement. "I want to congratulate Arthur Abraham on his victory and wish him well in the tournament. Right now my plans are to relax and enjoy my vacation in Europe with my wife, Erica."
Taylor did not make any statements about his future in the Super Six, although many believe he will withdraw after suffering his fourth loss, including his third bad knockout, in his past five fights. If Taylor remains in the tournament, he would face Andre Ward in the spring.
Lou DiBella, Taylor's promoter who arrived back in the United States on Sunday, is happy Taylor is OK.
"All of us at DiBella Entertainment are grateful that Jermain is feeling better after fighting his heart out on Saturday night," DiBella said. "Jermain showed his warrior spirit after working tirelessly to approach the fight in the finest shape of his career. Happily, with the doctor's blessing, he has been released from the hospital and is presently relaxing in Europe. This is the best news we could've received."
Abraham, who next faces Andre Dirrell in early 2010, was also relieved that Taylor was released from the hospital.
"I was very sorry when I heard about him spending the night in the hospital," Abraham said. "I want to defeat my opponents in the ring but I do not want to harm them. The health is the most important thing and I am very happy that Jermain is doing fine. It was an honor to fight him. I hope I get some time off from coach Ulli Wegner. Now that I know that Jermain is OK, I can start to celebrate my success -- but only for a couple of days before I begin my preparation for Dirrell."
Although nothing has been officially determined regarding the status of Jermain Taylor going forward in the Super Six World Boxing Classic in the wake of his brutal 12th-round knockout to Arthur Abraham on Saturday night in Berlin, it won't come as any surprise if Taylor drops out.
After suffering his fourth loss in his past five fights, including three by punishing knockout, Taylor is hospitalized in Germany suffering from a severe concussion and short-term memory loss. He is expected to remain there for several days, according to his promoter, Lou DiBella.
Frankly, Taylor probably should not continue in the tournament for the good of his health.
Kelly Pavlik relieved Taylor of the middleweight championship on a scary seventh-round knockout in September 2007. Three fights later, Carl Froch rallied for a big knockout win to retain his super middleweight belt with 14 seconds left in April in a fight Taylor had been leading. And then Abraham, seemingly en route to a routine decision victory, landed a flush right hand to Taylor's chin and put him to sleep yet again.
Taylor's next fight in the tournament's Group Stage 2 would be in the spring against Andre Ward followed by a fall Group Stage 3 fight against Mikkel Kessler. Taylor, the longest shot to win the six-man modified round-robin when the field was announced, would certainly be an underdog in both fights with little chance to reach the semifinals.
All along, Showtime has mentioned Allan Green -- who, like Taylor, is promoted by DiBella -- as a possible first alternate in the event a fighter dropped out of the tournament.
Under the master contract for the tournament, it is Showtime's call when it comes to designating any replacement fighter, who would enter the tournament with the same number of points earned by the tournament's lowest point-earner through the same number of bouts as the departing fighter. That would mean if somebody replaces Taylor, he would enter the field with 0 points. The four highest point-earners advance to the semis.
For what it's worth, Showtime also has the contractual right to continue the tournament without naming a replacement.
Green is a solid contender, but looked terrible in his last fight when he won a lethargic decision against Tarvis Simms on Oct. 2, a fight Showtime televised on "ShoBox" as a way to keep Green warm in the bullpen in case he was needed for the tournament. But his performance certainly didn't turn any heads or help his case that he should be the clear choice as a replacement.
However, Dan Goossen, who promotes Ward, had an interesting idea about how to pick a replacement if one is needed.
Along with Seminole Warriors Boxing, Goossen co-promotes Edison Miranda, who owns a clear 2007 unanimous-decision victory against Green. Miranda has also faced two tournament entrants and gone 0-3. He faced Abraham twice, losing a highly controversial decision to him in a middleweight title bout in 2006 and getting knocked out in a super middleweight nontitle fight in the 2008 rematch. In May, he lost a decision to Ward.
What Goossen proposed to me Sunday was that Green (29-1, 20 KOs) and Miranda (32-4, 28 KOs) hook up in a rematch to determine a replacement (if one is needed) on the Nov. 21 Showtime telecast featuring the Kessler-Ward Super Six fight in the main event.
It's not the worst idea I've heard, even though Miranda has already lost to a third of the field. But why should Green get a pass into the tournament when Miranda owns that clear decision against him?
Although Miranda is a limited fighter, one thing's for sure: He has the power to knock anyone out and he makes fun, exciting fights, which is what we all want to see in the tournament.
Miranda, who is now being trained by Goossen's brother, the underrated Joe Goossen, is scheduled to fight Francisco Sierra (20-2, 19 KOs) on Thursday in Lemoore, Calif. Dan Goossen said he'd like to have Miranda go through with the fight and then do a rematch with Green next month.
Under his family's guidance, Ward trained for years with a focus on the 2004 Olympics. His discipline paid off with a gold medal and a coveted place in the Super Six World Boxing Classic. Tags: Boxing
Legendary boxing writer Steve Farhood talks about the upcoming Super Six World Boxing Classic and the convergence of six of this generations most talented boxers: Andre Ward, Arthur Abraham, Carl Froch, Jermain Taylor, Mikkel Kessler, and Andre Dirrell. Tags: Boxing
So just who is the favorite to win Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic, the modified round-robin tournament involving six elite super middleweights that will play out over the next 18 months or so and hopefully give us a series of outstanding fights?
Do you like Mikkel Kessler, the experienced titleholder from Denmark, who has fast hands, good power and terrific skills?
How about the other titleholder in the field, England's Carl Froch, who has great heart, good power, an excellent chin and pure confidence?
Do you think either of the young American rising stars, 2004 Olympic medalists Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell, both blessed with great speed, can make up for their lack of experience with their tremendous quickness and skill?
What about former undisputed middleweight champ Jermain Taylor, who has fallen on hard times but has a tremendous resume that includes two victories over the great Bernard Hopkins?
And then there is former middleweight titlist Arthur Abraham, the knockout artist who gave up his belt to move up in weight to take a shot at the bigger guys.
I've said all along that Kessler deserves to be the favorite. However, I also look at Ward and Dirrell as having serious shots to win because of their youth, speed and ring intelligence.
Really, you can argue that any of these guys has the talent to win, although let's be honest -- it is hard to see Taylor coming all the way through. But with so many even matches, so many good storylines and so many fights that figure to be action-packed, this tournament is one of the greatest things to happen in boxing in many, many years.
The fun all starts with the first two bouts of the tournament Saturday night (Showtime, 8 ET/PT), when Froch defends his title against Dirrell in England and Abraham hosts Taylor in Germany.
Danny Sheridan, the renowned sports handicapper I used to work with when I was covering boxing for USA Today, has set the odds for each fighter in the tournament as well as the line for the Group Stage 1 bouts.
He makes Abraham (30-0, 24 KOs) and Kessler (42-1, 32 KOs) 1:1 co-favorites to win the whole shootin' match.
Sheridan lists Froch (25-0, 20 KOs) 2:1 against winning the tournament, while Dirrell (18-0, 13 KOs) and Ward (20-0, 13 KOs) face 5:2 odds. It's no surprise that he lists Taylor as the biggest underdog at 10:1.
In Saturday's bouts, Abraham, according to Sheridan, is a 13:5 favorite over Taylor, and Froch is a 3:2 favorite over Dirrell. I agree with him that Abraham should beat Taylor, but I like Dirrell in the mild upset.
The third fight of Group Stage 1 pits Kessler against Ward in Ward's hometown of Oakland, Calif., on Nov. 21. Sheridan has Kessler as the 3:1 favorite.
Ward and Kessler will be watching Saturday's bouts with interest. Eventually, Kessler will have to face Froch and Taylor as the tournament progresses, and Ward will meet Taylor and Dirrell.
"Overall, of course, I'm pulling for the Americans in each bout," Ward said. "I don't think anyone has given any of the three of us much of a chance to get past the first round with a victory.
"With Jermain Taylor and Arthur Abraham stylistically, I don't think Abraham is going to put a whole lot of pressure on Taylor in the later rounds. I think Jermain has worked on his stamina problems and will be well prepared for the later rounds in this fight. I just feel like Jermain is the bigger, stronger man. If Jermain fights a disciplined fight, he should also come out of the first round with a victory."
As for the second half of Saturday's doubleheader, Ward also is picking the American.
"In the Dirrell-Froch fight, I feel that if Dirrell fights a disciplined fight and continues to do what he's been doing in the ring, but does it better because this is another level of competition, I don't see why he won't walk away with the victory," Ward said.
Kessler, who will attend Abraham-Taylor, wasn't as strong in his opinion.
"I am looking forward to seeing the Abraham-Taylor fight live in Berlin," Kessler said. "The key words of the fight are power versus intelligence as I see it -- Abraham as raw power and Taylor as the smart, intelligent fighter. Hopefully, the fight will promote the Super Six tournament as it should be promoted. That counts as well for the Froch-Dirrell fight later that night in Nottingham.
"Froch-Dirrell is experience versus the eager of youth. Froch is known for his stamina and ability to return when everything is against him. Dirrell is a super talent -- he is young, but has already proven his position in the division. He is difficult to fight because he is changing styles all the time. Again, this is a fight that is hard to predict."
When I was in New York last week for the outstanding Juan Manuel Lopez-Rogers Mtagwa fight, I had a chance to talk with former junior middleweight titlist Raul Marquez, who was one of the announcers for the pay-per-view telecast. He also happened to have faced Taylor and Abraham during his career. He fought Taylor when Taylor was on his rise to the title and was stopped by him in the ninth round of a tough fight in 2004. After that loss, Marquez went 6-0-1 in his next seven fights. Then came a sixth-round TKO loss to Abraham, who battered Marquez into retirement 11 months ago.
Marquez likes Abraham over Taylor, and you have to respect his opinion because of his own experiences with them.
"When me and Jermain fought, he was near his prime," said Marquez, who also said he thought Abraham would emerge as the tournament winner. "But that was a long time ago. He's had a lot of tough fights since then and he isn't what he used to be, especially after Kelly Pavlik knocked him out. Abraham is so strong and hasn't had those wars. I think Abraham can wear Jermain down and win it late."
Everyone has an opinion on the tournament. Let's see how it all plays out. One thing, however, is practically certain -- it's going to be a blast.
Here are a few things that I've heard in recent days, plus your weekly random thoughts …
• Nothing is finalized yet, but Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer told me the other day that when Bernard Hopkins takes his planned December tune-up fight in anticipation of a rematch with Roy Jones Jr. in the first quarter of 2010, he'll probably face Enrique Ornelas. By the way, for those wondering why Jones didn't pull out of his December fight with Danny Green in Australia after he agreed to the rematch with Hopkins, it's pretty simple: Jones is due a payday of about $4 million to fight Green. For that kind of bread, I wouldn't have pulled out either.
• A few weeks ago, heavyweight Kevin Johnson pulled out of Saturday night's Top Rank pay-per-view undercard fight in New York against 2004 Cuban Olympic gold medalist Odlanier Solis. The reason was legitimate: He had been offered a Dec. 12 shot at titleholder Vitali Klitschko. Now that Klitschko is safely through his title defense against Cristobal Arreola, Klitschko-Johnson is just about finalized. In any case, when Johnson fell out of the Solis fight, he was replaced by former title challenger Fres Oquendo. Then on Monday, Oquendo also pulled out. Top Rank spokesman Lee Samuels told me the reason was that Oquendo was scheduled for a mandatory court appearance this week in Chicago because of legal trouble he faces. That put Top Rank matchmaker Brad "Abdul" Goodman in the bind of trying to find a suitable replacement on short notice for a fight that would be on pay-per-view. But Goodman, as usual, handled it. He got New Yorker Monte Barrett, a former title challenger, to accept the fight on Wednesday. That's a tremendous save. Frankly, Solis-Barrett should be a much more entertaining fight than Solis-Oquendo anyway.
• So Roger Mayweather skipped a recent court appearance in Las Vegas related to the battery charges he faces for allegedly beating a female boxer half his size and now has a warrant out for his arrest. I had two thoughts when I heard the news. First: What the hell was he thinking? The second thing was that I should be ashamed of myself for putting "Roger Mayweather" and "thinking" in the same thought.
• Shannon Briggs announced his comeback last week, David Tua scored a crushing second-round knockout the other day, and Oliver McCall and Lance Whitaker are scheduled to fight Oct. 23. Let's party like it's 1997!
• You might remember Top Rank's Bob Arum promising over and over that he would put on a stellar undercard for the Nov. 14 Miguel Cotto-Manny Pacquiao HBO PPV. Apparently, however, Arum doesn't remember his vow, because the undercard rots. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. against Troy Rowland and the potentially horrific Daniel Santos-Yuri Foreman junior middleweight title bout do not a stellar undercard make. At least the Alfonso Gomez-Jesus Soto Karass welterweight fight should be fun, although it's not very meaningful. Next thing you know, Arum will be promising a stellar undercard for a fight in a stadium in Macau.
• Only a couple of weeks until Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic begins with Arthur Abraham-Jermain Taylor and Carl Froch-Andre Dirrell. Who else is psyched?
• One of the reasons I like welterweight prospect Antwone Smith, who looked excellent dismantling Henry Crawford on "ShoBox" last week, is because he has earned everything he's got. Smith has fashioned his record by fighting real opponents, not by having an overprotective manager or promoter feed him one stiff after another to pad his record.
• Three of my favorite prospects to keep an eye on: welterweight Saul Alvarez, junior featherweight Roberto Marroquin and junior middleweight Omar Henry.
• Somebody had the audacity to put a fight between Hector Camacho Jr. and Yory Boy Campas on pay-per-view this month. They should give me $24.95 to watch that crap.
• A light heavyweight title rematch between Jean Pascal and Adrian Diaconu is on tap for Dec. 11 in Montreal, with a possible co-feature of Kendall Holt against Herman Ngoudjo in a junior welterweight eliminator. Somebody has to get that card on American television. Even if it's pay-per-view, count me in.
• So the Kelly Pavlik-Paul Williams middleweight championship fight has finally been officially announced for Dec. 5 on HBO. All I can say is that it's about time and I can't wait.
• I wouldn't mind seeing Juan Manuel Marquez face Ricky Hatton.
• I am looking forward to the return of Israel Vazquez on Saturday.
• Paging Alexander Povetkin. Ditto for Sakio Bika.
• I got a release from Don King touting his Oct. 31 card in Las Vegas, which is headlined by bantamweight titlist Joseph Agbeko against Yonnhy Perez. Neither guy is very well known, but I think that's going to be one helluva fight. However, King also has added a heavyweight bout between Ray Austin and DaVarryl Williamson to the untelevised undercard. King sure knows how to make pointless and crappy heavyweight fights, doesn't he? And just how in the world did this become some sort of WBC eliminator? Stuff like that makes me ill.
• Gotta give a shout-out to Dougie Fisher and Mike Rosenthal from Ring magazine's Web site. Can't thank them enough for their humongous technological save in the press room after the Klitschko-Arreola fight. Thanks, guys.
• Thailand's Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym was very impressive in his recent third-round destruction of Bernard Dunne in Ireland to win a junior featherweight belt. If you didn't see it, look for it on YouTube. Excellent performance.
• Perhaps it's a little off topic, but it's my blog: I picked up the new CD of my favorite rock band, KISS, when it was released Tuesday. After waiting 11 years for a disc of new music from the group, it was worth the wait. It rocks. And I'm a little torn. On Saturday night, I'll be at the Juan Manuel Lopez-Rogers Mtagwa Top Rank PPV card at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York. At the same time that the fights are taking place, KISS will be rocking the house in the main arena. That hurts.
• DVD pick of the week: I'm still going through some DVDs of older fights I recently received from a friend of mine, and picked out some Thomas Hearns action. This one was from Phoenix on April 25, 1981, and featured a young "Hit Man" doing damage. Hearns made the second defense of his welterweight title against tough Randy Shields. It was two fights before Hearns' epic showdown with Sugar Ray Leonard and Hearns was on his game. Shields, who had previously been beaten by Leonard, Wilfred Benitez and Pipino Cuevas (whom Hearns had knocked out to win the title), was very tough. He fought with a lot of spirit but took a beating. Hearns had a big lead on the scorecards and had battered Shields, whose eyes were swelling, in the 12th round. Finally, following the 12th, Shields' corner called off the fight, which was scheduled for 15 rounds. This was a 22-year-old Hearns in his prime. It was a thing of beauty.
It will be nice to have Israel Vazquez back in the ring.
After 19 months on the sideline since the end of his epic junior featherweight championship trilogy with Rafael Marquez, and multiple eye surgeries to repair a torn retina in his right eye, Vazquez is ready to return to action Saturday night.
"Boxing fans have waited a long time to see Israel Vazquez back in action, and we're excited to have him headlining here in front of his hometown fans in Los Angeles," said Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya. "Israel is without question one of the best fighters in the world, and he's looking forward to proving himself once again in the coming months, beginning with this fight."
It's hard to predict what Vazquez, who turns 32 on Christmas Day, will have left after so many grueling fights, the serious eye injury and the long layoff. Whatever he has left, Saturday's fight should provide some sort of gauge, even though he's not facing a formidable opponent.
Having vacated the 122-pound world title, Vazquez (43-4, 31 KOs) is moving up to the 126-pound featherweight division and can't wait to get into the ring for the 10-rounder against Colombia's Angel Priolo (30-7, 20 KOs) -- loser of six bouts in a row fighting between flyweight and bantamweight -- at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles.
"I'm coming back because I love the sport," said Vazquez, who won the second and third fights with Marquez. "I feel really good physically and mentally. The best way I can prove to the media and my fans that I've recovered from my injury is to go out and win, and that's what I intend to do. I'm in great shape. I've trained really hard and I'm confident that I will beat Priolo. I've practiced a lot more defense and movement using angles, and I'm ready."
Rudy Perez, Vazquez's trainer, said they emphasized defense during their time together in the gym preparing for the fight.
"He's really hungry and confident for this fight, and that makes his whole team confident in him," Perez said. "I've been with him for [six] weeks and we are ready to fight. We have been working on his defense and you will see the new Vazquez."
The fight will be televised on the HBO Plus service throughout Mexico, Latin America and South America as part of Golden Boy's monthly series. However, Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer told me he has been trying to find a domestic outlet for the card. Schaefer said HBO Plus, which owns the rights, tried to work out a deal with ESPN Deportes, but when it didn't work out he acquired the rights.
"We have reached out to several interested parties and will see what we can structure," Schaefer said, admitting that time was running short.
He said one of the possibilities was coverage on Fox Sports en Español, which would certainly be better than nothing.
If Vazquez wins and looks OK, Schaefer said the possibility of a fourth Vazquez-Marquez fight -- which has been discussed on and off since the conclusion of the third fight -- would be revisited.
It's former lineal heavyweight champion (and former beltholder) Shannon Briggs.
Briggs (48-5-1, 42 KOs) hasn't fought since losing an alphabet belt to Sultan Ibragimov in a dreadful fight in June 2007, but the 37-year-old wants to give it another go. His promotional contract with Don King has expired, and he's hooked up with manager Ivaylo Gotzev. Briggs' return is scheduled for Oct. 17 in Phoenix. His opponent is not set yet, but it could be 41-year-old journeyman Macellus Brown (26-17-1, 21 KOs) in the eight-rounder, Gotzev told me Thursday.
Briggs' fight is on a card that includes the previously announced return of former cruiserweight champ Vassiliy Jirov (37-3-1, 31 KOs) against Dominique Alexander (18-7-1, 9 KOs).
One of the interesting elements of the Briggs-Gotzev union is that they were on opposite sides in November 2006 when Briggs drilled Sergei Liakhovich, Gotzev's fighter, in the 12th round to win a title. Now, they're working together and hoping for an eventual shot at Vitali Klitschko.
"When I was sitting ringside watching the mostly boring Vitali Klitschko-Cris Arreola match [last week], I had a vision," Gotzev said. "I saw Shannon Briggs facing Vitali in a very exciting battle. And that's the goal we have in mind. We want to see how Vitali feels when he's looking at an opponent, eye to eye, who can punch harder and faster than he can."
Crazy as it sounds, that fight probably would sell well in Europe because Briggs still has a pretty big name compared to most of the other opponents Klitschko could fight.
Briggs has had so many disappointing performances in his career despite his talent and charisma. But in this horrid heavyweight era, his return might spice things up, at least a little bit.
"I'm the last American-born heavyweight champion and I'm going to be the next," Briggs said. "You have to be able to hurt these guys. I'm the only one big enough, strong enough and experienced enough. Emanuel Steward has said many times that I'd be a very dangerous opponent for [Vitali or Wladimir Klitschko]. Tell me who? Who is out there with the right stuff to take these guys down besides me? People are tired of watching the Klitschkos. They want to see faces busted open. That's what boxing needs to be a dominant sport again. That's what I do."
Gotzev, who also manages former titlist Samuel Peter, sounded awfully excited about hooking up with Briggs.
"I'm in the business of moving my guys and putting them back on top," he said. "I will hear from the haters and naysayers, but we are here to prove them wrong."
He said the expiration of Briggs' contract with King will allow them to make fights a lot easier than with him involved.
"Now we can make some fights happen," Gotzev said. "We want Vitali. We're gonna prove ourselves. He's going to be fighting on a regular basis to prove himself."
Briggs and Gotzev got together at the suggestion of a friend of Briggs'.
"A friend of mine suggested we hook up because he's a young go-getter and he hustles for his fighters. We hung out and I like his energy," Briggs said.
Briggs said his time off has helped him him recharge (although we'll believe that when we see it).
"When I lost the title in '07, I had walking pneumonia," Briggs said. "I wasn't prepared. It wasn't a smart move for me to defend the title in that condition. If you look at the heavyweight champions of the last few years, other champions have been allowed postponement after postponement. I was forced to fight with pneumonia. This time off was to recharge and heal from the pneumonia. I'm ready to rock and roll now."
As in any sport, boxing has its big-market teams -- promoters who are flush with cash and more willing (and able) to take risks signing fighters. There also are the small-market teams -- promoters who need to carefully evaluate every signing and make sure each makes economic sense when every dollar counts in a tight market.
In the United States, promoter Bob Arum's Top Rank and Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy are the big-market teams. They are good at what they do, and can afford to sign the top amateur stars and throw lucrative promotional contracts at big-name free agents. When they miss on a fighter, it's not nearly as crippling as when a smaller promoter blows it.
Promoter Lou DiBella has taken the smaller-market approach, looking for hidden gems who might pay big dividends down the road for his DiBella Entertainment.
DiBella always has been a good judge of talent, going back to his days as the chief boxing programmer for HBO's boxing franchise. In June, he landed a pair of talented, crowd-pleasing fighters who flew a bit beneath the radar but have major upsides. On Friday, they'll get national television exposure on Showtime's "ShoBox: The New Generation" (11 p.m. ET/PT).
While established super middleweight contender Allan Green faces Tarvis Simms in the main event, two of DiBella's lesser-known -- but potentially just as important -- fighters will get a chance to strut their stuff on the undercard of the tripleheader.
I'm talking about welterweight Antwone Smith (16-1-1, 8 KOs) and super middleweight Marcus Johnson (17-0, 14 KOs). Smith is in tough against fellow prospect Henry Crawford (22-0, 9 KOs), while Johnson is in more of a showcase fight against Victor Villereal (8-3-2, 4 KOs).
"I don't have a giant operation like Top Rank and I don't have a lot of advantages that Golden Boy has," DiBella said. "I have to be smart. I get along great with Bob and [Golden Boy CEO] Richard Schaefer, but they are not the only games in town. You have to keep your talent pool going. By signing guys like this, I am definitely adding quality fighters and depth. I did the same thing when I quietly signed guys like Yusaf Mack and Deandre Latimore. These are guys who can compete at the highest level and have already been built up. I'm looking for bang for the buck. If you can add a diamond in the rough who has talent to fight at the highest level, you're ahead of the game. Marcus was a top-level prospect who languished. Antwone earned his way to be a top prospect. Both guys have a ton of talent and are just babies in their early 20s."
Smith is only 22 but already has a lot of experience. Often the so-called opponent in his bouts, the Miami fighter disregarded the odds and just kept winning, including pulling several upsets on ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights." In February, for example, he outpointed undefeated and favored Norberto Gonzalez, and followed that victory by outpointing (rather easily) Richard Gutierrez in May.
DiBella had seen Smith a few times and liked him, and was happy to learn he had no promoter.
The first time DiBella saw Smith was in 2007, when he lost a debatable six-round decision to the house fighter, Ed Paredes.
"He was robbed in that fight and I kept following him," DiBella said. "I was super-impressed with his performances, and then with what he did against Gonzalez and Gutierrez. He was a free agent because he was treated as an opponent. I didn't view him as an opponent. I viewed him as the prospect. In this marketplace, where it's expensive to develop a kid from 0-0 and there aren't platforms for an 0-0 kid to be seen, picking up a guy like Antwone Smith, who had four good wins in a row on ESPN2 and is still a baby, I can get that kid some attention. He can potentially do some big things."
Johnson, a 23-year-old from Houston, was a tremendous amateur and has unlimited professional potential. He was a U.S. national champion, but just missed the 2004 U.S. Olympic team when Andre Ward beat him in the Olympic trials finals and went on to win a gold medal. Johnson signed with promoter Don King, which was a terrible mistake. As he does with all his young fighters, King buried him. He never spent a minute trying to promote Johnson, who wound up deep on undercards with no television exposure and no buzz.
Johnson contested his last fight for King in September 2008, then waited and waited for his contract to expire. All the while, DiBella had his eye on him. When Johnson's deal was up, DiBella and Antonio Leonard signed him to a co-promotional contract.
After such a long layoff, DiBella got him a fight Aug. 22, and he knocked out Matt Gockel in the first round in Houston on the Juan Diaz-Paulie Malignaggi undercard. Now, in just his second fight with DiBella, he's going to be on television.
"With Marcus, I need to get the kid exposure and remind people why he was so highly touted a few years ago," DiBella said. "For me, Marcus and Antwone are significant signings. They are strategic signings. I had my eye on Marcus for a long time because I knew his contract was running out."
The fighters seem equally as excited to be with DiBella as he is to have them.
"Being with Lou DiBella is going to help dramatically," Johnson said. "He's going to push to get my name out there and get me recognized. He will get me a title shot. I have moved a lot slower than I had hoped. Now we are taking a new step towards bigger and better things."
Said Smith, "It hasn't been easy, so it feels good to have someone in my corner helping me out. Who better than Lou DiBella?"
The fighters needed a promoter to give them the attention nobody else would, and DiBella believed both talented fighters made sense for his company to sign.
Everybody at Showtime, as well as boxing fans everywhere, wants to see "ShoBox" announcer Nick Charles healthy and back in his usual place at ringside as soon as possible. But while Charles is fighting his toughest battle against bladder cancer, Showtime has tapped Curt Menefee to fill in as the blow-by-blow announcer for the remaining "ShoBox" cards this year.
Menefee is best known for his role as the studio host for Fox's NFL coverage, in which he tries to keep control of Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Michael Strahan every Sunday.
He ought to have an easier time with far less zany boxing analysts Steve Farhood and Antonio Tarver. (Although that Farhood can get a little out of control sometimes when taking viewers behind the numbers!)
Al Bernstein, the color analyst on "Showtime Championship Boxing," has filled in for Charles on recent "ShoBox" cards, but Menefee will take over with a tripleheader in Newkirk, Okla., Friday night (11 ET/PT). The card features super middleweight Allan Green against late substitute Tarvis Simms -- who replaced Victor Oganov, who has a shoulder injury, a few days ago -- welterweight Antwone Smith against Henry Crawford, and super middleweight Marcus Johnson taking on Victor Villereal.
"It's an honor to be offered this role and to join the Showtime sports family," Menefee said. "As a boxing fan, I feel as though I just scored a knockout victory. After watching the network for decades, I am honored to be a small part of the tireless and talented Showtime Sports team."
Although excited about the opportunity to call boxing, Menefee has Charles on his mind as well.
"I started as an intern at CNN in Atlanta in 1984 when Nick and Fred Hickman were the hosts," Menefee said. "It is difficult to hear what Nick is going through. I am pulling for him in this fight."
Menefee, whose role with Fox's football crew won't change, has some boxing experience: He has called three cards for the international feeds of Top Rank-promoted cards. And he's looking forward to working with Farhood.
"To have the opportunity to work on the 'ShoBox' series with a historian like Steve Farhood is like taking a master's degree course from the professor who wrote the textbook," he said. "I can't wait to get started."
LOS ANGELES -- It's been an eventful few days here. I arrived Thursday morning (grrrrr, no upgrade) to cover Saturday night's Vitali Klitschko-Cristobal Arreola heavyweight title fight, having still not really recovered from last week's trip to Las Vegas for the Floyd Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez fight, followed by the trip home to Virginia on Sunday and then the quick turnaround to L.A.
But I'm here and I've been busy.
On Thursday night, I went to the Golden Boy-promoted "Fight Night Club" show that aired on Versus. Club Nokia, which hosts the monthly show in the downtown L.A. Live complex, is right down the street from my hotel. More on the show later, but while I was there I spoke with Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer and Bruce Binkow, who said I should check out the company's office building, which I had never been to before. I liked the idea and planned to visit on Friday.
I was up early Friday morning to do my weekly chat with the Fight Freaks at 9 a.m. PT. Knocked out more than two hours with the Freaks, who were a bit more rambunctious than usual. The return of Mayweather will do that.
Then I met my L.A.-based agent for lunch at a restaurant down the street from my hotel. Afterward, he dropped me off at the Golden Boy building a few blocks away. I am glad I went, as I witnessed a historical scene. More on that in a minute.
Golden Boy owns the entire building. Besides its impressive suite of offices on the third floor, it rents out the rest of the building to various tenants. Schaefer said it's at 98 percent occupancy and that Golden Boy generates substantial revenue from the building, which is blessed to have its own parking garage -- huge for downtown L.A. The offices are palatial and awesome.
There is Oscar De La Hoya memorabilia and posters everywhere. Most impressive is the giant glass case in the front of the office that houses De La Hoya's 1992 Olympic gold medal as well as the assortment of title belts he won during his pro career. Each individual office is also loaded with various promotional items and memorabilia from Golden Boy-promoted fights. The one office with virtually nothing boxing-related in it is the huge one in the corner at the end of the hall. That one belongs to De La Hoya and is decked out in wood-finished bookcases and old fashioned leather couches and a giant desk. Very nice.
OK, now the highlight of the visit. After Schaefer finished a call with HBO's Ross Greenburg, I sat down with Schaefer at a conference table in his office (lots of incredible memorabilia in there) to shoot the bull a little. He looked like the cat that had swallowed the canary.
He said, "I have to show you something but you can't write it yet." I reluctantly agreed and had no idea what he was about to tell me. He got up, walked over to his desk and grabbed a piece of paper and put it down in front of me. It was the signature page of a boxing contract that Bernard Hopkins had signed ratifying an agreement to fight Roy Jones in the first quarter of 2010. Hopkins had signed on Thursday. Schaefer then signed on his signature line right in front of me.
I knew the sides had been discussing the fight, but seeing the actual signature was startling. I told Schaefer I was impressed that he had gotten Hopkins to sign, but that I had been down this road too many times in the past 10 years to believe the fight was happening until both sides had signed.
He immediately got John Wirt, the CEO of Jones' Square Ring, on the phone. He then had his assistant, the lovely Nicole Becerra, fax Wirt their side of the contract. Minutes later, Schaefer's fax started buzzing. Out came the same signature page but this one with signatures from Jones and Wirt. I was a little in shock. Schaefer put down both signature pages in front of me. I jotted down in my notebook, "Friday, 2:58 p.m. PT, Roy Jones signs to fight Hopkins. Jesus."
I told Schaefer this was a big story. He asked me to give him a little bit of the afternoon so he could so he could let Hopkins know it was done, and then he said he'd call me and go on the record about the fact that a deal for a rematch 16 years in the making had been completed.
Still a bit in shock, I left the office and walked the five or six blocks back to my hotel. Even though I couldn't write it yet, I was pretty psyched. I had to tell someone, so I called my wife to tell her what I had just seen.
I had an appointment at 4 p.m. to tape an interview at another hotel for HBO for it's forthcoming countdown show that will preview the Dec. 5 Kelly Pavlik-Paul Williams middleweight title fight. Just as the car picking me up to bring me to the interview arrived at my hotel, Wirt called me to tell me he was opening a 16-year-old bottle of wine to celebrate the deal. While I was talking to Wirt, Schaefer buzzed in to tell me all was clear, that both fighters knew the other had signed and that he would go on the record with the story.
Here's the problem: I was now in a sedan being driven to the HBO interview and couldn't write because I was not with my computer. But I wanted to get it out. So on my way to the interview, I tried to reach my editor, Darius Ortiz. It was late on the East Coast and I couldn't reach him. So I went to Plan B. I called the ESPNEWS desk and spoke with Nancy Cooney, one of the editors. I told her what I had and she agreed it was a big deal. I gave her the basic information and within minutes it was scrolling on the Bottom Line across all the ESPN platforms. I then proceeded to dictate a couple of hundred words of a story to her that she then forwarded to the ESPN.com editors to post on our site within a few minutes.
When I arrived at the HBO interview, I apologized for being a few minutes late but explained the reason: Jones-Hopkins II had just been finalized before my eyes.
After the interview, I was driven back to my hotel and went to work on a more detailed story. I spoke on the record to Schaefer and Wirt and then got in touch with Jones, who was as thrilled as I have ever heard him about a fight. I didn't have any luck reaching Hopkins, who wasn't answering his phone. But I had more than enough to write a quote-filled story as ESPNEWS played on my hotel room television with the breaking news scrolling across the bottom of the screen constantly.
Now, a few more things about my trip to Los Angeles:
• Not long after I checked in to the hotel on Thursday, it was time to go to the weigh-in. Because heavyweights don't have to make a specific weight, it was done a day earlier than usual for the sake of an extra photo opportunity and an extra day of promotion. Considering how the ticket sales have lagged for this fight, the promoters needed all the help they could get. They admitted that they were hurt by last week's overwhelming coverage of Mayweather-Marquez.
I ran into Arreola, trainer Henry Ramirez and strength coach Darryl Hudson in the hotel. Arreola, who was with his wife and daughter, was very relaxed and in a playful mood. He signed some autographs and posed for a few photos with some fans hanging around in the hotel lobby. The Arreola team offered me a ride over to the weigh-in in their van.
Once we were in the van, Arreola played jokester. He pulled off his shirt and pulled out the weight vest that he originally weighed in wearing to mock himself and the criticism of his conditioning. He had a great sense of humor about it. He put on the vest and then put his T-shirt back on and said I shouldn't tell anyone because he wanted it to be a surprise. I laughed and didn't argue.
• After the weigh-in, I returned to the hotel to work on the Arreola feature I wrote for Friday. But then I took a break and went to the "Fight Night Club" show. It was a good club card with a lively crowd. What a fantastic venue for a small show. Just outstanding. The crowd was into the fights. The ring is small and on a stage and it was a fun time. I thought Karl Dargan, a promising junior welterweight, looked very good in winning a well-matched fight with Renell Williams. Also enjoyed seeing lightweight prospect Luis Ramos, one of manager Frank Espinoza's most promising youngsters, win the main event against journeyman Cristian Favela. After the show, I chatted for a few minutes with Hopkins, who calls the fights on Versus. I mentioned I liked what I saw from Dargan because Hopkins has known him since he was a kid. Dargan is a cousin (or nephew, can't remember which, quite frankly) of Naazim Richardson, Hopkins' longtime trainer. He also trains Dargan. I mentioned that I thought Dargan fought a lot like Hopkins and he agreed but said the kid needs to keep his chin down a bit more.
• Came back to the hotel and was up way too late finishing my Arreola story before the early rise for what would be a very interesting Friday. The back-to-back West Coast trips with a few days home sandwiched in between has left my internal body clock completely haywire.
• 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.
When Cristobal Arreola (27-0, 24 KOs) challenges heavyweight titleholder Vitali Klitschko (37-2, 36 KO) on Saturday night (10 ET, HBO) at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, he'll be looking to make more history than just winning one of the belts.
Arreola, who is from Riverside, Calif., is Mexican-American and quite aware of the storied history of Mexicans in boxing. But for all the star fighters the country has produced, there has never been a heavyweight champion from Mexico -- or even one of Mexican descent.
Arreola aims to become the first.
"I'm going to make him a pop-culture question," Arreola said. "'Who did Cris Arreola beat to become the first Mexican-American heavyweight champion of the world?' I'm honored by this, and it's not just the opportunity. It's history. It's hard for me to even describe."
Henry Ramirez, who trains the 6-foot-4, 250-pound Arreola, added, "Cristobal is ready to fight. He's ready to make history."
Six past Mexican greats weighed in through translators and via e-mail on Arreola's chances to pull off the upset:
• Julio Cesar Chavez: "It is always good that a fellow countryman tries to accomplish some feat in boxing. If Arreola defeats Klitschko, he will go down in history as one of the big surprises."
• Pipino Cuevas: "It is a great opportunity and it should be taken advantage of. I hope Arreola wins. He has a hard punch, and he cannot be ruled out. But the current champion, Klitschko, has more power in his fists than any other fighter. It is a very tough fight for Arreola, but if he wins, all the success will be for him."
• Humberto "Chiquita" Gonzalez: "We will be paying a lot of attention to what Arreola does against Klitschko. I find it very difficult for Cris to win this bout. However, we should not forget he is an undefeated fighter and he has a hard punch."
• Erik Morales: "It is a real event [for] Mexican boxing. Moreover, if Cristobal wins the title, it will be the cherry on top of the cake in the history of Mexican boxing, as we have had great fighters in almost all the weight divisions, but in this one -- which is the most difficult division in boxing -- we had never had a great fighter."
• Ruben Olivares: "The fact that boxers like Arreola have the opportunity to fight for the title is very good, so that we know if he is capable of winning it or not. If Arreola wins, that will have a great impact on boxing, which is what we are waiting for. Arreola must show he has the balls, just like a real Mexican fighter does."
• Carlos Zarate: "It seems to be a difficult bout for Arreola, but taking his record into account, he has probabilities to win, as Klitschko has already fought a lot. If Arreola wins, it will be something shocking. Imagine! The first Mexican to win a heavyweight world title. He could become an idol in Mexico."
I'm headed to my virtual home away from home, the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, on Wednesday (got the upgrade) to cover the Floyd Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez fight, but before I hit the road, here's some stuff I've heard over the past few days:
• Was in touch with Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer over the weekend regarding Saturday's HBO PPV undercard. Of course, Zab Judah was supposed to fight Antonio Diaz in the televised opener, but Judah bailed for no good reason, leaving Golden Boy in a tough spot just a couple of weeks before the show. The company first tried to find a new opponent for Diaz, then looked around for an entirely new fight and then considered going with just three televised bouts. Ultimately, Schaefer said Golden Boy decided to elevate the featherweight match between Orlando Cruz and Cornelius Lock to television. "We could have gone with the three fights but felt that it makes sense to add Cruz versus Lock," Schaefer said. It could be a decent scrap, albeit not the most meaningful fight ever. One of the key reasons it wound up with the coveted TV slot once Judah-Diaz fell out is because Lock is one of Mayweather's fighters. The other two bouts are stellar: the Chris John-Rocky Juarez featherweight title rematch and a very interesting lightweight fight between Vicente Escobedo and Michael Katsidis.
• Also talked to manager Frank Espinoza and he filled me in on two of his fighters. He told me that former junior featherweight champ Israel Vazquez, who returns as a featherweight Oct. 10 in Los Angeles after a 19-month layoff caused by eye injuries following his epic trilogy with Rafael Marquez, will face Angel Antonio Priolo. Priolo has lost six in a row fighting at flyweight and bantamweight. But, hey, if anyone deserves a bit of a soft fight it's Vazquez, who needs to see where he is at after such a long layoff and so many hard fights. Incidentally, Vazquez's fight will be televised on HBO Plus, which is HBO's Latin American arm, for which Golden Boy supplies monthly cards that are not televised in the United States unless you have an illegal satellite dish hooked up. Espinoza also mentioned that Martin Castillo, a former junior bantamweight titlist, will have his second fight since ending his retirement. Castillo is scheduled to fight German Marez on a small show in Mexicali, Mexico, on Sept. 25.
• Top Rank's Bob Arum, Todd duBoef and Carl Moretti were in New York on Friday and met with HBO executives Ross Greenburg and Kery Davis. One of the things to come out of the meeting was the promise that welterweight Joshua Clottey would get a spot on the televised undercard when the Kelly Pavlik-Paul Williams fight is rescheduled for Dec. 5. That's a makeup call from HBO, which promised to televise Shane Mosley against Clottey on Dec. 26 and then changed its mind. They also talked about a possible Jan. 23 "Boxing After Dark" doubleheader from Puerto Rico, which would be headlined by Puerto Rican junior featherweight titleholder Juan Manuel Lopez in the first bout of a two-fight deal with the network. They talked about a possible match with unified titlist Celestino Caballero, who has relentlessly called out Lopez for the past few months. Top Rank said it's willing to make the match, although from what Caballero promoter Leon Margules told me, he has yet to be contacted by Top Rank. The other fight discussed for the card was a featherweight unification bout between Yuriorkis Gamboa and Steven Luevano. The idea would be for Lopez to face the winner of Gamboa-Luevano in an HBO main event in June on the eve of the annual Puerto Rican parade at Madison Square Garden in New York. Lopez and Gamboa, of course, first have to win their fights on Oct. 10 at the MSG Theater.
• Spoke to promoter Gary Shaw at length on Sunday night and he filled me in on the Tim Bradley-Lamont Peterson junior welterweight title bout, which Shaw won the right to promote with a $575,000 purse bid. Shaw, who promotes Bradley, had protested the WBO's order that the split of the purse bid should be 60-40 in interim titleholder Peterson's favor because of a bizarre WBO rule that stipulates that if a fighter goes to the other man's home country (or in this case, hometown), he gets the bigger slice of the pie. Because Shaw is putting the fight on at the Agua Caliente resort in Rancho Mirage, Calif. (Bradley's neck of the woods), Peterson was supposed to get the lion's share. Then the WBO amended the decision and gave Bradley 50-50 when Shaw protested. However, there is conflicting language elsewhere in the WBO's messy rules essentially saying that in a fight such as this one (a titleholder versus an interim titleholder) the way to figure out the split is based on a formula that takes into account the last three purses for each fighter. Bradley, who is a titleholder with extensive exposure on Showtime, has been paid far more than the emerging Peterson in recent fights. "We went through an appeals process," Shaw said of a teleconference that included, him, Bradley co-manager Cameron Dunkin, Bradley co-manager and attorney Michael Miller, WBO representative John Duggan and Moretti, who was representing Peterson promoter Top Rank.
Ultimately, the WBO ruled in favor of Bradley and gave him an approximately 75-25 split based on his last three purses compared with Peterson's.
Also, the card has been moved from Dec. 5 to Dec. 12, Shaw said. The reason, he said, was "because it worked better for Showtime and Agua Caliente. And I did it because it worked better for Cameron as well."
It "worked better" for Showtime because now it won't compete head-to-head with a much bigger fight on HBO, the rescheduled Pavlik-Williams bout. It certainly helps Dunkin, who also manages Pavlik and now can attend both important fights.
Shaw also said he had finalized the Vic Darchinyan-Tomas Rojas junior bantamweight championship fight for the co-feature after making a deal with Rojas promoter Fernando Beltran.
• Promoter Jeff Wald, who should have a TV sitcom made about his life called "Off the Wald," told me that cruiserweight Troy Ross, who won "The Contender" last season, returns Oct. 3 in Montreal. No opponent yet.
• Condolences to promoter Lou DiBella on the death of his beloved dog, Brooklyn. As a pet owner and animal lover myself, I know how hard that is to handle. Pets are part of the family.
• HBO's boxing executives -- namely Ross Greenburg and Kery Davis -- must have really big headaches right about now.
They're having all kinds of problems (an understatement) with a variety of dates and fighters, some of which they brought upon themselves with indecision.
The problems started when the Kelly Pavlik-Paul Williams middleweight championship fight, HBO's biggest non-pay-per-view bout of the fall, was postponed from Oct. 3 because of Pavlik's staph infection. With Pavlik on the mend, the bout has been tentatively re-scheduled for Dec. 5, which caused the dominoes to fall.
That move forced Shane Mosley off Dec. 5, when he thought he'd face Andre Berto in a welterweight unification fight or defend against Joshua Clottey at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. It turned out that HBO's 2009 budget was too drained to pay for Mosley-Berto, so Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer, Mosley's promoter, and Clottey promoter Top Rank cut a deal for Mosley-Clottey.
It looked like the fight would land on Dec. 26 in Los Angeles. It seemed so sure the fight was happening, Clottey hired veteran trainer Miguel Diaz and made plans to train in Las Vegas instead of his usual base in New York.
Somewhere along the line, HBO got cold feet about going the day after Christmas, which was smart. In more than 30 years of televising boxing, HBO has never done a fight that close to the holiday. In fact, it purposely avoids the holiday week, as it should.
So with Dec. 26 out the window, HBO is trying to persuade Mosley to move to Jan. 30, where the bout with Berto can be revived because the 2010 budget will be flush with cash.
If only things were that easy. Here's where it gets a little complicated.
Berto and his promoter, Lou DiBella, do not want to wait that long to fight. Berto hasn't fought since May and, at 26 and nearing his prime, doesn't want such a long layoff, and I can't blame him.
On top of that, if he waits he risks being stripped of his belt by the WBC, which has ordered him to either make a mandatory or an allowance to unify with Isaac Hlatshwayo, with whom DiBella made a deal after the Dec. 5 fight with Mosley couldn't be finalized.
Berto and DiBella are fine with fighting Mosley in late January, but want to be able to take a fall fight with Hlatshwayo first. However, HBO can't/won't give him a date to do it.
So now DiBella is in a quandary: Make Berto sit until late January to fight Mosley (a big favorite) or cross the street to Showtime for two easier fights. I'm told DiBella would get a date for Berto-Hlatshwayo this fall with one caveat. If Berto goes to Showtime, it would be part of at least a two-fight deal under which the second fight ideally would be against the winner of the Timothy Bradley-Lamont Peterson junior welterweight title bout, which Showtime plans to air Dec. 5.
HBO is also trying to smooth things over with Top Rank with regard to Clottey. In order to make things up to them for bailing on Dec. 26, HBO is in the process of working things out so Clottey can have a televised bout on the Dec. 5 Pavlik-Williams undercard.
Now to the other issue with Jan. 30. Schaefer is also in a bind. His other veteran star fighter, Bernard Hopkins, had already been tentatively scheduled by HBO for the date (likely against cruiserweight champ Tomasz Adamek or Chad Dawson). The date is a big deal for Hopkins, who wants to fight in the same month in which he turns 45, and I'm told he's really ticked off about possibly being bounced into February.
Schaefer, who apparently had been told initially that HBO would go Dec. 26 with Mosley, is in the difficult spot of having to play umpire between Mosley and Hopkins, who are now vying for the same date. Hopkins has been out since dominating Pavlik in October. Mosley hasn't fought since destroying Antonio Margarito in January.
Tylenol, anyone?
• For recent major fights, HBO has gone the "24/7" route to build interest in big pay-per-view bouts and put its 30-minute countdown shows on the backburner. But the countdown show is back -- probably. If Pavlik-Williams comes off Dec. 5, as tentatively planned, I'm told the network will produce a countdown show. That's great, especially because it's for a non-PPV fight.
• The bout I was most looking forward to on Top Rank's "Latin Fury 12" on Oct. 10 was the heavyweight fight between undefeated Odlanier Solis and Kevin Johnson. I said "was" because the fight is off. Johnson and promoter Joe DeGuardia scrapped the bout (for the second time) even though they had committed to it. Top Rank's Bob Arum gave them his blessing to bail for a pretty good reason: Johnson is at the top of the list to challenge titleholder Vitali Klitschko on Dec. 12 in Germany. Klitschko and his team are that confident that he'll beat Cristobal Arreola on Sept. 26. Like a lot of people, I am looking forward to Klitschko-Arreola. It should be an entertaining scrap while it lasts. But let's be honest -- is anyone actually picking Arreola to win? Arreola knows nobody is picking him and he's very cool about it. He says he'll shock the world. I do admire his honesty and the fact that he doesn't get mad in the slightest about his big underdog status. He's an easy guy to root for and if he does pull the upset, it would be absolutely huge for American heavyweight boxing and a real bummer for Johnson.
• With the Floyd Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez promotion in high gear because the fight is Sept. 19, and Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao kicking off their media blitz this week in anticipation of their Nov. 14 showdown, it means the two fights will duke it out for attention on Monday in Los Angeles, where media events are planned for both fights. I am told HBO is not too happy with Cotto-Pacquiao promoter Arum for going against next week's fight. It will be interesting to see how the Los Angeles-based media covers both events, and which will receive more attention.
• It won't be part of Showtime's televised card, but there's a pretty interesting match between prospects on the undercard of the Andre Ward-Shelby Pudwill fight on Saturday night. It pits junior welterweights Mike Dallas, Jr. (9-0-1, 2 KOs) and Vincent Arroyo (9-0, 6 KOs). Steve Nelson, who manages Arroyo, said Arroyo was turned down by a variety of opponents until Dallas accepted him when former titleholder Freddie Norwood fell out of the bout. It's shame the fight isn't on TV. It would have made for an excellent "ShoBox" opener.
• I can't say I disagree with amateur boxing officials reducing the number of weight classes for international competition from 11 to 10. There are too many divisions. I wish professional boxing would do the same thing and eliminate three or four of the 17 divisions, at least. However, I don't think the elimination of an amateur division should have been done to simply make room for women's boxing in the 2012 London Olympics, which is what happened. If organizers want to add women's boxing, fine. But don't do it at the expense of the men. What it means is that the total number of male boxers who fought in the 2008 Beijing Games, 286, will be reduced to 250 in order to make room for 36 female boxers. I don't agree with that at all, especially since women's boxing does not have even close to the participation of men's boxing around the world. The new structure goes into effect beginning with international competitions next September.
• Paging Joel Casamayor.
• Now that Wladimir Klitschko is on the shelf probably until the spring because of a shoulder surgery, it means he won't be facing mandatory challenger Eddie Chambers before the end of the year, as had been in the works. I hope Chambers, a fighter who relies on his sharp skills and hand speed, won't just sit on his ranking waiting for the shot. I think he'd be best served by having at least one fight between now and then. Sure, it's a risk, but in this instance it could serve him well as long as he is matched properly. Unfortunately, I suspect he will sit and wait for the fight.
• It's nice to see some fighters retire and never look back. Former bantamweight champ Paulie Ayala (35-3, 12 KOs), one of the most likable people you could ever meet in boxing, retired in 2004 but has stayed close to the sport he loves. Now, Ayala will enter the promotional side of things when his company, Paulie Ayala Productions, promotes its first show in his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, on Oct. 10. "I'd like to give Texas boxers the same opportunity that was given to me, to reach their goals," said Ayala, 39, who had two great fights with Johnny Tapia and Bones Adams, as well as slugfests with Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera. Best of luck to a good guy in his new endeavor.
• Got a note from Lester Bedford saying he signed crowd-pleasing junior featherweight contender Antonio Escalante of El Paso, Texas, to a managerial deal. Bedford, a stalwart of the Texas boxing scene whose Bedford Agency has managed and marketed more than 100 boxing events through the years, did wonders guiding the career of former titleholder James Leija. I'll bet he'll do a great job with Escalante, an exciting fighter who deserves a title shot.
• When flyweight titlist Daisuke Naito defends against popular countryman Koki Kameda on Nov. 29, it may go down in history as the most watched fight in Japanese history. It might not mean much to fight fans in the United States, but it will be massive in Japan.
• DVD pick of the week: With heavyweight James Toney fighting for the first time in nine months on Saturday (on the untelevised portion of Showtime's card), I thought I'd watch one of Toney's classic fights. He's one of the most gifted fighters of our generation, even if he wasted a lot of his talent by not always being fully prepared for every fight. But he was at his best April 26, 2003, at the Foxwoods resort in Connecticut. I was ringside for what was one of the best fights I've ever covered. Hadn't watched it for awhile, so into the archive I delved for his slugfest with Vassiliy Jirov. It was a tremendous battle, one of the best in HBO's "Boxing After Dark" history. Although Toney claimed a somewhat wide unanimous decision to win the cruiserweight title, most observers felt the fight was on the table in the 12th round. Toney trainer Freddie Roach thought so also, imploring Toney in dramatic fashion to "put this guy on his ass" before the round started. Sure enough, Toney dropped Jirov in the final round of a great fight.
There are still two episodes remaining in HBO's "Mayweather/Marquez 24/7" series, which is building up to next Saturday night's Floyd Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez pay-per-view fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, but already the network is getting started on its next batch of "24/7" episodes.
The acclaimed series (winner of seven well-deserved Sports Emmy Awards) has undergone a subtle name change for the next fight, for which it will take fans behind the scenes during the fighter training camps. This one will be "24/7 Pacquiao/Cotto," which was made official Thursday at the Yankee Stadium news conference that kicked off the press tour for the much-anticipated Miguel Cotto-Manny Pacquiao welterweight title bout Nov. 14, also at the MGM Grand.
The new four-episode series debuts Saturday, Oct. 24 (10:15 p.m. ET/PT), with the remaining episodes premiering Oct. 31 (11 p.m. ET/PT), Nov. 7 (9 p.m. ET/PT) and Nov. 13 (9:30 p.m. ET/PT). Once again, the final episode will air the night before the fight, which will allow HBO to cover what figures to be a festive weigh-in Friday afternoon.
"The '24/7' franchise provides an engaging and accurate look into the lives of boxers as they toil and sacrifice to get ready for a huge showdown in the ring," said Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports. "Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto are dynamic individuals in and out of the ring, and our cameras will be there to capture all the drama prior to their fall face-off."
Pacquiao has been featured on the show before in the lead-up to his big bouts against Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton. Cotto, however, will be on the show for the first time.
One request, however, to HBO: Please, no more shots of a fighter drinking his own urine, as we saw last week with Marquez.
Like many of you, I've been watching HBO's "Mayweather/Marquez 24/7" on Saturday nights as the program builds up to the Sept. 19 pay-per-view fight between the returning Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez. Mayweather remains cartoonish in the way he presents himself (or at least the way his scenes are edited). But we've been there, done that in previous editions of "24/7." I mean, how many times can you listen to Mayweather brag about his money and mansion, say he's the best and fib about his IRS issues without becoming ill?
At least seeing him on roller skates was something new, right?
But easily the most memorable moment through the series' first two episodes came from the other camp. It was watching Marquez's, um, interesting choice of beverage in the second episode. Even more disgusting than watching Marquez eat some of his purchase of 25 raw quail eggs (which he referred to as "turkey boogers") from a cup with a spoon was watching him drink his own urine.
Yes, his own urine. Does this mean we should refer to him as boxing's Whiz Kid?
Anyway, there's nothing like a camera shot of a man walking into the can with a glass and unzipping, followed by a quick cut to him walking out, sitting down on a chair and hoisting a glass of fresh pee in all of its glistening yellow glory … then downing it like a Coke on a summer afternoon.
I wish I was kidding. It was actually disturbing.
Ace publicist Fred Sternburg, who is not working on this promotion but has yet to encounter a subject he can't crack a joke about, summed up the series' jumping-the-shark moment perfectly: "Now we know why the promotion is called 'No. 1.' It's a good thing it wasn't called 'No. 2.'"
While I'm on the subject of Marquez's choice of beverage -- which he said he has been drinking during training camp for the last five or six fights, supposedly to ingest additional nutrients (whatever) -- I thought maybe I'd pack an extra travel mouthwash to give him at the news conference next week in Las Vegas.
A few more thoughts on "24/7":
• I've lost count of the number of F-bombs Marquez's trainer, Nacho Beristain, has dropped, but I appreciate the honesty of the subtitles HBO uses for the Spanish-speaking Beristain. You don't get that kind of translation accuracy on a media conference call.
However, I wish HBO would also use subtitles for Roger Mayweather and Floyd Mayweather Sr. If anyone can understand what the hell they're saying, there might be a job for you in the CIA working as a code cracker.
• I don't know about you, but it seems as though every time I see a segment from Mayweather's camp, somebody is wearing a "Mayweather Promotions" shirt or a sign for the company has been strategically placed in view. And with every piece of promotional material I receive and on every conference call I join, I keep hearing about Mayweather Promotions this and Mayweather Promotions that. Here's the problem: Mayweather Promotions is not a licensed promoter, according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, nor will it be in time for this fight.
• What's with "24/7" and grooming? In a previous edition of the series, we got to see Freddie Roach get a haircut. This time we got to see Mayweather receive a pedicure. I'll never get that minute back.
• One other TV boxing item for you: Although parts of it were a bit cheesy and painfully scripted, I thoroughly enjoyed Tuesday night's episode of "Shaq Vs." on ABC, in which 7-foot-1, 320-pound Shaquille O'Neal faced 5-10, 160ish-pound Oscar De La Hoya in a five-round exhibition match, taped a couple of weeks ago at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. Next week, Shaq will swim against Michael Phelps, which will certainly be a lot less painful than getting smacked around by De La Hoya, who won a unanimous decision. No scores were announced, but it looked like De La Hoya got the legit decision against the self-proclaimed "Manny Shaquiao." Love that nickname.
Although they wore headgear, big gloves, fought in a 24x24 ring and boxed four two-minute rounds with a one-minute fifth round, it seemed like both guys were going at it pretty hard, although it is unlikely that De La Hoya, who was trained by Bernard Hopkins, was going full blast. I did notice a little bit of swelling on De La Hoya's face, because Shaq, who was trained by Roach, did land some nice jabs. In any event, it was a fun hour of television. It also further convinced me that De La Hoya eventually will get the hunger again and come out of retirement for at least one more fight.
His answer to one of the questions in his postfight interview was telling: "Let's say I decide to come out of retirement … I think every other fight would be easy" compared with the one against Shaq.
Sowing the seeds?
• One other thing on my mind: There has been much written elsewhere on the Internet about how Shane Mosley will be fighting Joshua Clottey on HBO on Dec. 26 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. But you haven't seen me write a news story on it yet, and many of the Fight Freaks have questioned why. Pretty simple: I write news stories when there is real news backed by facts, and the fact is that HBO isn't on board yet with a Mosley-Clottey fight scheduled the day after Christmas. That means there currently is no fight, which means there is no story. Trust me: If and when the fight is a go, I will write about it.
Did you miss Roy Jones' dominant 10th-round stoppage of Jeff Lacy in Biloxi, Miss., on Aug. 15? The fight was the main event of a small pay-per-view card put on by Jones' company, Square Ring, so chances are most of you did.
But you are in luck. ESPN Classic, which aired a number of classic Jones and Lacy bouts in the week leading up to the light heavyweight fight, will air replays of the entertaining match.
The first will be Saturday at 10 p.m. ET, with another replay on Monday at 10 p.m. ET.
Although Jones (54-5, 40 KOs) is 40, the former four-division champ and longtime pound-for-pound king looked as good as he has in years, as he easily took apart the 32-year-old Lacy (25-3, 17 KOs), a former super middleweight titleholder.
Other than Jones' strong performance, keep an eye on his corner while you watch the replay. You'll see his father, Roy Jones Sr., long estranged from Roy Jr., but acting as his head trainer for the first time since early in his pro career.
The victory set Jones up for a likely early December fight at cruiserweight against Danny Green in Green's native Australia, which would be Jones' first fight outside of the United States since he was robbed of the Olympic gold medal in the 1988 Games in South Korea.
From 1980 until 1996, promoter Bob Arum's Top Rank provided ESPN with a weekly live boxing series, aptly named "Top Rank Boxing."
It was a successful exclusive partnership that helped put ESPN on the map in the early 1980s and provided Top Rank with a steady stream of revenue and an important outlet for its fighters, many of whom would go on to greater glory.
After a rough split with the network, Top Rank hasn't done a boxing show on ESPN in many years. Top Rank didn't really want to and ESPN didn't really want Top Rank.
They went their separate ways. Top Rank got heavily involved in the Hispanic marketplace and thrived catering to Spanish-language television. ESPN created ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights" and opened things up to numerous promoters.
But time heals all wounds, which is why Top Rank and ESPN have broken the ice and are discussing the possibility of doing shows again, as part of "Friday Night Fights."
Mind you, ESPN isn't going to turn over "Friday Night Fights" to Top Rank again for an exclusive deal. But at least they're talking about some shows thanks to a good relationship between ESPN programmer Doug Loughrey and Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti, who recently joined Top Rank and brought a wealth of relationships in the business with him after stints working for Lou DiBella, Kathy Duva's Main Events and Madison Square Garden.
"Carl is talking to ESPN about maybe us doing a few dates next year," Arum said. "We're not looking for the big exclusive deal. We're happy to program two or three fights for them. Give us the dates. If you're unhappy, don't do any more business with us."
Although Arum's deal with ESPN was a successful one for more than a decade, it was the exception. Exclusive deals between networks and promoters are usually a disaster.
Don King parlayed his control of Mike Tyson into an exclusive deal with Showtime for a long stretch in the 1990s, and the network's boxing was a mess. It was loaded with way too many Frankie Liles and Fabrice Tiozzo fights, or fights with stars such as Felix Trinidad and Terry Norris knocking out hobos in total mismatches.
Golden Boy's recent output deals with HBO and ESPN have also raised eyebrows because of too many weak fights. Its eight-fight date guarantee this past season on "Friday Night Fights" -- given because it helped lock in big-money sponsor Tecate -- generated one bad card after another.
Exclusive deals give a network little leverage to insist on the best fights because the promoter already has the dates and license fees locked in, and there is very little incentive for the promoter to put his top guys at serious risk.
One of the worst exclusive deals was the partnership between Top Rank and Versus, which lasted two nearly unwatchable years from 2006 to 2008.
The bad taste from that series has all but killed boxing on Versus, which has limped along with sporadic cards since the end of the deal. Everything I hear from industry insiders indicates that once Versus burns off a couple more obligation cards, live boxing on the network is dead.
You can blame Arum for it.
Arum used to defend his series, which included way too many pointless fights, utter mismatches and dose after dose of D-level heavyweight Tye Fields. Finally, Arum offered the mea culpa when I talked to him on Wednesday and our conversation turned to the discussions with ESPN.
At that point I brought up the Versus train wreck and was surprised by Arum's comments.
"It was inexcusable. We went off on the wrong track. It just didn't work. It was our fault," Arum said. "I blame ourselves. I am not asking ESPN for a lot of dates. I want two or three, and if I'm running it into the ground like I did on Versus, then that's it, don't do business with us again.
"Somehow, some way we went off the track. We started off good with Versus. We had Kelly Pavlik on against Bronco McKart, which was a good fight. Then we went south. I'm the first to admit it. I agree with you. I'm not disputing it."
Arum said he'd like to put the Versus deal behind him and focus on getting back on English-language cable. Top Rank certainly has a vast stable of fighters at all levels who would fit perfectly on ESPN2 when "Friday Night Fights" returns in January.
Top Rank also has the deepest group of Hispanic fighters, who would also fit in well now that "Friday Night Fights" is simulcast in Spanish on ESPN Deportes, a growing network that counts boxing among its highest-rated programming.
"We're not looking for a long-term commitment from ESPN," Arum said. "Let's see what we can do. But I ain't coming to them saying, 'Will you buy this fight or that fight.' We're past that. Give me a couple of dates and let us program them. You like them? Fine, give us a couple of more. That's what we do on [Spanish language] TV Azteca, and look at the great fights we're doing. Give us two dates and after the first one, you don't like what we've done, you cancel."
If you've seen any of Arum's Azteca cards, they have usually been solid. Last week's show, for example, featured welterweight Jesus Soto Karass against Edvan Dos Barros. It was a highly entertaining slugfest. Also on the card was top featherweight prospect Mikey Garcia, who was tested against Carlos Rivera in another good fight. It was typical of Top Rank's Azteca cards.
Arum added that he thought he would also be able to deliver sponsors for next year. He named Corona and Tecate as possibilities.
"They're doing business with us now," he said.
On the ESPN side of things, Loughrey acknowledged that he and Moretti are talking, although he stressed there is no deal.
"We are just talking," he said. "There is no confirmed number of shows, but I would love to bring Top Rank back in. It's been a fractured relationship for years. So Carl and I have talked and said, 'Let's look and see if we can do some fights next year.' Hopefully, there will be the opportunity."
I spent most of the past week bobbing in the Caribbean on a Disney family cruise (shameless plug for ESPN's parent company -- it was excellent), where my 6-year-old niece Elaina and 4-year-old nephew Noah were far more concerned with having their photos taken with Mickey Mouse and Goofy and with showing me how they can swim than they were about anything going on in our cartoon world of boxing.
So I was a bit out of the loop for a few days. However, now that I am caught up, there's plenty to discuss:
• I was disturbed, but by no means surprised, to hear that the WBC's new/pathetic "diamond belt" for catchweight fights will be at stake for the first time when Miguel Cotto faces Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 14, in addition to Cotto's WBO welterweight belt. Naturally, WBC president for life Jose Sulaiman made a breathless announcement of the decision, which was, of course, approved by his banana republic's board of governors in one of their famous unanimous votes. Sulaiman noted that the WBC "will not charge a sanction fee on this extraordinary occasion." As the corner drug dealer might say upon your first score: The first one's always free.
• Anyone who reads my blog regularly -- or even only once in a while -- should be acutely aware of my disgust for the WBA because of its gazillions of titles. Take your pick: super title, regular title, interim title, recess title, super unified galactic title, etc. … I have never been shy about my opinion. So you can imagine my surprise when a few days ago while I was on the cruise, I checked my e-mail and found one from Gilberto Mendoza Jr., second banana at the WBA. The e-mail was titled: "Happy Birthday!!!" The message from Mendoza said simply: "Just a quick note to wish you a happy birthday! Take care." I had no idea that he knew when my birthday was or cared, but I did take the opportunity to write back: "How about as a gift to me you abolish all the interim titles and super titles for the good of boxing?" I was surprised to receive the e-mail. I am not surprised that I haven't received a response.
• Kudos to the California State Athletic Commission for doing the right thing and changing the official outcome of junior welterweight titlist Tim Bradley's Aug. 1 defense against Nate Campbell. Instead of a third-round TKO, it was correctly changed to a no-contest because four rounds were not yet complete and it was clear to everyone other than referee David Mendoza that Campbell's eye injury was caused by an accidental head butt, not a punch as Mendoza ruled. Ultimately, the change is housekeeping. Bradley still dominated and will move on to bigger and better things, while Campbell, although he was having a bad night, at least will have the stain of a wrongful TKO loss expunged from his record. And we all move on. However, had instant replay been available for use in California, it wouldn't have taken three weeks for a ruling.
• Speaking of Bradley, I was a bit surprised to hear that he had signed with manager Cameron Dunkin. Not because Dunkin isn't a good manager. He's one of the top guys in the business, with a long history of handling top fighters, including a stable that presently includes Kelly Pavlik, Nonito Donaire, Steven Luevano and blue-chip prospect Matvey Korobov. Adding Bradley to that mix is a coup for Dunkin. I was surprised because Bradley is co-promoted by Gary Shaw, with whom Dunkin had a terrible falling-out last year when Dunkin spearheaded Donaire's jump to Top Rank and James Kirkland's jump to Golden Boy. This ought to be very interesting to watch.
• If there is justice in boxing, Juan Diaz will go to New York and fight Paulie Malignaggi again, this time at 140 pounds in a 20-foot ring with neutral officials, and HBO will buy the fight.
• About the nicest thing I can say about the horrific 118-110 scorecard turned in by Texas homer judge Gale Van Hoy (who should have his judging license revoked) in Diaz's undeserved decision against Malignaggi is that it was better than the scorecards turned in by Frank Lombardi and Ron McNair, the two blind mice who scored in favor of lightweight Joel Casamayor in a split decision victory against Jose Armando Santa Cruz in New York in 2007 and the ludicrous 120-108 shutout scorecard rendered by Doug Tucker in favor of Jose Navarro in a clear-as-day loss to Cristian Mijares in their 2008 junior bantamweight title fight in Las Vegas.
• It's not all that often I agree with Shaw, but I did agree with this, which he said to me following Diaz-Malignaggi: "Who in their right mind will come to Texas to fight [Diaz]? It is one thing to have the home field advantage with the fans. It is another thing to know you need a KO twice to win. My prediction: No more big fights for Diaz at home, unless someone is desperate for money, and doesn't care about winning."
• Ahmet Öner, who heads German promoter Arena Box, was shot Tuesday night in Hamburg as he was leaving the office of a business associate. Two men fired at him three times in the parking lot. Öner was hit in the left leg, had surgery to remove the bullet and says he's OK. "I have been attacked before, but this was the first time somebody cowardly ambushed me in the dark to shoot at me," said Öner, who has made his share of enemies. "I hope it will be the last time as well." I had two thoughts when I heard the news. 1. Glad to hear Öner is OK. 2. Note to self: Remember how after the Shane Mosley-Antonio Margarito fight in January in Los Angeles you sat down with him for a drink? Maybe that wasn't such a good idea.
• It's a bummer that "Friday Night Fights" is done for the season and on hiatus until January. But if you're going to go out, might as well do it in style, as the ESPN2 series did this week with an outstanding doubleheader featuring two entertaining title bouts. Tavoris Cloud used his youth and strength to win a clear unanimous decision against gutsy Clinton Woods to claim a vacant light heavyweight belt, and junior welterweight titlist Juan Urango got off the deck from a hard knockdown to drop Randall Bailey three times en route to an 11th-round TKO in a terrific fight. I hope we see more FNF cards like this in 2010.
• I thought the feature piece HBO produced to pay tribute to Alexis Arguello, Arturo Gatti and Vernon Forrest was outstanding. I had to grab a hanky before it was over.
• I'm told that HBO offered $750,000 for a welterweight unification bout between Andre Berto and Isaac Hlatshwayo, which the Berto camp scoffed at. That, of course, won't please HBO. But here's the problem: HBO created the high expectations because it has been so drastically overpaying for Berto's fights the past few years in a marketplace where nobody else would likely pay half of what HBO has. This is what happens when HBO creates a false marketplace.
• I am looking forward to Saturday night's premier of HBO's "Mayweather/Marquez 24/7." One can only hope that there's at least one shot of Floyd Mayweather Sr. at a drive-thru or of Roger Mayweather buying groceries.
• I thought Robert Guerrero looked as good as he ever has in his junior lightweight title victory against Malcolm Klassen. I'd love to see him face Humberto Soto, a fight Guerrero's manager, Shelly Finkel, is interested in making.
• DVD pick of the week: Who doesn't love a great heavyweight knockout? I do, so I dug into the archive for a fight from Jan. 15, 1990, in Atlantic City, N.J., in which George Foreman devastated Gerry Cooney. In the 20th fight of his ballyhooed comeback after 10 years in retirement, Foreman faced Cooney, who was coming off a 2½ year layoff after a knockout loss to Michael Spinks. Still, Cooney was by far the most dangerous opponent of Foreman's comeback, and Big George made a slew of believers by blowing Cooney away. He knocked Cooney's mouthpiece out in the first round but was also wobbled by a left hook. But in the second round, Foreman dropped Cooney with a series of clubbing right hands, and then, as soon as the fight resumed, Cooney walked into a flush left uppercut and ate a big right hand, knocking him down and out for several minutes. It was Cooney's last fight. In the second title shot of his comeback, Foreman would eventually regain the heavyweight championship in dramatic fashion against Michael Moorer four years later.
Sixteen years have passed since Roy Jones Jr. won a ho-hum yet clear unanimous decision against Bernard Hopkins to claim the middleweight belt vacated by James Toney when he moved up to super middleweight.
It wasn't a memorable fight, as Jones claimed a boring victory that all three judges scored 116-112. As big as Jones and Hopkins would both become, the fight wasn't the mega-event it might have been a decade later. Instead, they fought outdoors in the rain on May 22, 1993, at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., on the undercard of Riddick Bowe's heavyweight championship defense against Jesse Ferguson.
Even so, all these years later Jones-Hopkins still is a front-and-center topic as the two stars approach the finish line of obvious Hall of Fame careers. The fight is always there as part of the back-and-forth Jones and Hopkins have waged for most of this decade whenever talk of a rematch comes up, even 16 years later.
Keep in mind, even though it seemingly took forever for a Sugar Ray Leonard-Thomas Hearns rematch to come off, only eight years passed between their first and second fights.
Since Hopkins knocked out Felix Trinidad to become undisputed middleweight champion in late 2001, a rematch with Jones has been talked about regularly.
Had Trinidad beaten Hopkins, the plan was for the in-his-prime Trinidad to move up and fight Jones, then the light heavyweight champion. (Jones and Trinidad finally met in 2008, when the faded Jones easily dominated the completely shot Trinidad in a lopsided decision.)
Instead, it was Hopkins who routed Trinidad in 2001 to win the undisputed middleweight title. Since then, Jones-Hopkins II has come close to being made more times than I can remember.
I remember once when it was really close, about five years ago, when Hopkins called me at home at about 7 in the morning and woke me up to talk about the fight, ask my opinion about some of the economics being bandied about and gauge my interest in the match.
Kery Davis of HBO tried for years to shepherd the rematch into reality, but each time it was either Jones or Hopkins who was out of his mind in terms of his financial demands.
On one famous HBO telecast in 2002 during which Hopkins and Jones each defended his title in a split-site doubleheader, they had a memorable back-and-forth immediately following Hopkins' knockout of Carl Daniels and just before Jones would get into the ring to knock out Glen Kelly in spectacular fashion.
Now, once again, there is some renewed interest in the fight, even if it's not nearly as serious as it has been at other times.
Hopkins is looking for a fight, and there are serious discussions going on for him to meet cruiserweight champ Tomasz Adamek on Jan. 30, pending HBO knowing what its 2010 boxing budget will be. To a lesser extent, there has been some discussion of Hopkins facing the winner of a Nov. 7 rematch between Chad Dawson and Glen Johnson.
But Jones is always there, too, especially after he looked so good in a lopsided 10th-round destruction of Jeff Lacy on Aug. 15.
The performance got Jones back to his old, talkative self.
"Manny Pacquiao is at the top of the [pound-for-pound] list and is a great fighter, but even he has not displayed a better hook," Jones said. "Bernard Hopkins can't throw three or four hooks at one time, and he is not as entertaining to watch [as] I am right now. The Roy Jones that was in the ring [against Lacy], no one could beat. Roy Jones is back."
A few days ago, Hopkins was on Calvin Murphy's radio show in Houston, where he was promoting Golden Boy's Juan Diaz-Paulie Malignaggi HBO card. One of Jones' buddies heard Hopkins on the show and had Jones call in. It turned into something of an on-air negotiation that went like this:
Hopkins: Money has been the issue for the past 10 years with us.
Jones: How much will you give me?
Hopkins: I will make it a 60-40 split.
Jones: How about 60 to the winner and 40 to the loser?
Hopkins: Now you want to make a contest out of it. I don't need Roy Jones. It could wind up in the judges' hands and you never know what will happen.
Jones: You pick the judges.
Hopkins: If Roy Jones will take 40, we can get it done before the year is out. But if not …
Jones: He already has an "L" on his record from me, and he is trying to make me take 40 so he can prove that I am the lesser man. But if we make it 60 to the winner and 40 to the loser, I will take my chances with that.
Hopkins: Do you think I would make more money fighting Roy Jones than I would a young stud like Adamek or Dawson?
Jones: Bernard doesn't want to fight me. Why would he want to fight me? He's having fun now at this point in his career. He doesn't want to take that gamble.
Hopkins: Is Roy willing to go on record to take 40 percent, win, lose or draw?
At that point the show producer suggested a winner-take-all match.
Jones: That's even better for me.
The producer interjected again, asking if Hopkins was still on the line.
Jones: No. When you said winner-take-all, you ran him off the phone. He's been doing that to me for five years now. He disappeared. That's what happens to me every time.
Another chapter in the rematch that never was and probably never will be.
How about an update on some fighters and fights being discussed?
MOSLEY-BERTO or MOSLEY-CLOTTEY
Let's start with welterweight champ Shane Mosley, whose desperate search for a fall opponent has been agonizing. Talks have centered on titlist Andre Berto. More recently, former titleholder Joshua Clottey entered the picture.
Although Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer and Berto promoter Lou DiBella both told me they have the structure of a deal in place, they just don't have enough money from HBO, which offered about $3.2 million. That, of course, could change if the Kelly Pavlik-Paul Williams fight is not rescheduled before the end of the year because HBO would have a few bucks laying around from that unused $3.75 million it put up, which could help close the gap on Mosley-Berto.
DiBella isn't holding his breath, which is why he has a deal in place for Berto to unify belts with Isaac Hlatshwayo as a reasonable backup plan. However, DiBella can't get an answer on the fight from HBO and he told me he needs to know early next week or he'll lose Hlatshwayo, who is under his own time constraints from the IBF as far as asking for an exception to face Berto.
Schaefer, meanwhile, told me that Mosley is fighting Dec. 5 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, be it against Berto or Clottey.
"I have confirmation [from HBO] and I locked in Dec. 5 for Shane at the MGM," Schaefer said. "We definitely have Shane Mosley from the MGM on the fifth. We are discussing if it will be Berto or Clottey. I talked to Bob Arum about Clottey and I'm still having conversations with Lou about Berto."
Dec. 5 looked like a potential date to reschedule Pavlik-Williams, but Schaefer insisted that it belongs to Mosley.
"I'm sorry Pavlik-Williams was postponed, but Shane wanted to fight earlier in the year and HBO said the earliest they could do it was December, so I talked to Shane and convinced him to wait until December," Schaefer said. "I'm not going to get off that date. That's not right. You don't play those games. Pavlik-Williams is a great fight, but it's not my problem that it got postponed. The MGM moved things around to accommodate us."
Schaefer said if he can't find more money to finish the Berto fight, it would take less money to finalize Clottey.
"I can make a deal with Bob, no problem," he said. "They're willing. I can get that fight done in an hour. The fact is Shane Mosley is fighting Dec. 5."
Arum told me that Clottey will take the fight and that they're just waiting for Schaefer to say the word.
"Clottey has accepted the fight and for reasonable money for whenever the date happens to be," Arum said.
ADAMEK-HOPKINS
The other star fighter Schaefer is trying to line something up for is light heavyweight Bernard Hopkins. While Hopkins is out there spouting off about a possible fight with Williams (don't hold your breath) in the event the Pavlik fight is not rescheduled, and continues to jaw back and forth with Roy Jones for about the 10th year in a row about a rematch (that ship has sailed), the real meat and potatoes talks center on a showdown with cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek, whom Hopkins vociferously called out in February, saying he wanted a historically significant fight. This would be one because a Hopkins victory would give him a legitimate championship in a third weight class.
According to Schaefer and Main Events chief Kathy Duva, Adamek's promoter, the fight can be made. But like Mosley-Berto, they need a bit more money from HBO to get it done. I'm told HBO is offering $3 millionish for the fight and that Hopkins wants HBO to up the offer to $3.5 million.
"HBO came back with a number and it was not acceptable," Schaefer said. "Kathy and I have negotiated the percentage split, but it only works if HBO comes up with the number and HBO is telling me they cannot commit to any number until they lock in their budget for next year. [HBO senior vice president] Kery Davis said he'll get back to me. So far, he hasn't."
After hearing about comments from Hopkins saying that the reason he thought the deal wasn't completed yet was because Duva was looking to protect her company's No. 1 fighter and attraction, Duva contacted me.
She said that was simply not true. She said Main Events "has agreed to Golden Boy's terms. We have agreed on all the material terms -- the split, the site, everything."
The date would be Jan. 30 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., where Adamek has been drawing crowds for his past few fights. The split between Hopkins -- who turns 45 on Jan. 15 -- and Adamek would be approximately 60-40 in Hopkins' favor.
"Bernard will only agree to a deal if we can get the number," Schaefer said. "If HBO comes to that number then I believe we have a deal. But if HBO doesn't come up with the number, we don't have a deal."
"Hopkins won't commit to the fight because he wants more money from HBO and HBO is not yet prepared to give him what he wants," Duva said. "They have told us that they are waiting on their 2010 budget. I understand why we are being held up. But I start to have a problem when Hopkins says we are ducking him. We have agreed to terms. He hasn't. We would love to do the fight. This would be so huge."
Most likely, the fight can be made when HBO Sports gets its budget parameters for next year, but it probably has to be sooner than later because Main Events and Adamek don't want to be left without a fight in the event HBO doesn't come through.
That's why Ziggy Rozalski, Main Events' Polish partner on Adamek, continues to work on a proposed Polish super fight between Adamek and heavyweight misfit Andrew Golota.
"I can't ask my guy to cancel a proposed fight for October until we know we have a fight with Hopkins," Duva said. "At some point there will be a point of no return. The Golota fight is not done, but plans are in motion. It's not what I want to do, but if there is no Hopkins fight, that's how Tomasz can make money."
The other issue Duva faces is from the IBF. Adamek is the lineal and Ring magazine champion (in other words, the real champion), but he also holds the IBF title and has a mandatory due with former titlist Steve Cunningham, whom he beat in one of 2008's best fights.
According to Duva, Cunningham left longtime promoter Don King, claiming breach of contract (like most of the fighters who dump King). She said Main Events is talking to Cunningham and they are planning to work together.
She said Cunningham and Adamek understand there is no television money available until early next year to make their rematch, so they're willing to wait. If Adamek-Hopkins is finalized, Adamek would give up his IBF belt and Cunningham would fight for the vacant title in early 2010.
"I can either make a deal for Cunningham to fight Adamek or for Adamek to fight Hopkins and Cunningham can fight for a vacant title," Duva said. "Everyone is OK with that."
But she needs an answer from HBO.
Incidentally, Duva said if Adamek-Hopkins is finalized she'd like to match Cunningham with Matt Godfrey, the next available contender, for the vacant belt on the Jan. 30 HBO undercard.
"I think putting Cunningham on the undercard makes a lot of sense. He's an action fighter," she said. "He was in a great fight with Adamek."
Duva also said she and promoter Russell Peltz are going to work together on his hot Philadelphia welterweight prospect Mike Jones, whom she envisions on a "Boxing After Dark" undercard with Cunningham-Godfrey on top if it can't be made for an Adamek-Hopkins undercard.
"Mike Jones is the kind of prospect we want to work with," said Duva, who has a close relationship with Peltz. "HBO seems to finally be interested in him."
If Adamek-Hopkins does not come off, Duva said HBO has indicated that it would be interested in doing the Adamek-Cunningham rematch.
VALERO-SOTO
Another fight on Arum's mind is a match between lightweight titlist Edwin Valero and junior lightweight beltholder Humberto Soto. If you've seen either guy fight, you know it has the makings of a terrific slugfest.
Arum wants it to be the co-feature on Nov. 14 on the Miguel Cotto-Manny Pacquiao HBO PPV card at the MGM Grand.
"We believe we will be able to make Valero against Soto," Arum told me this week. "That's the fight I want to make."
A few weeks ago, Arum said he hoped to make the match eventually but would probably have each man in separate Nov. 14 bouts. Now, he's changed his mind.
"What changed was I didn't want to do separate opponents because then I have (expletive)," he said. "They should fight each other."
Arum had to convince Fernando Beltran, his partner on Soto and Valero, to support the fight. "My argument to him was, 'Look at the landscape. If Manny beats Cotto, the winner of Valero-Soto could very well be the next opponent for Manny,'" Arum said. "I think Manny fighting the winner at 140 pounds would still do 400,000 or 500,000 [pay-per-view] buys coming off this fight and that is enough to feed everybody."
Before Arum can finalize the fight, Valero needs to be licensed in Nevada. That process is expected to start next week, now that Nevada has amended a rule and will now allow fighters who have suffered a cerebral hemorrhage to apply for a license.
"If he's licensed, it looks like we can make the fight," Arum said. "To do it on the undercard of a big match like [Cotto-Pacquiao] is tremendous."
This whole Kelly Pavlik-Paul Williams postponement/cancellation is a mess. I just hope the fight comes off this fall, even if it looks a little shaky.
After a long, tough negotiation, one of the year's great fights was supposed to be announced at a formal news conference Tuesday afternoon in New York. Pavlik's manager, Cameron Dunkin, and much of Top Rank's staff were already there awaiting the arrival of Pavlik and the Williams camp.
Then, on Monday afternoon came word that the bout was postponed, according to Top Rank. Promoter Bob Arum and Dunkin said Pavlik had a staph infection on a knuckle on his left hand (something he supposedly has been dealing with for months) and that the bout would be delayed. At first, Top Rank announced it would be pushed back to Nov. 21 (a date it had cleared with HBO and the venue, Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.). Then it was amended to Nov. 21 or a date in early December.
On the other side, Dan Goossen, Williams' promoter, who was not too pleased. The first he heard about the Nov. 21 date was from a reporter. It sounded fishy because anyone who glances at the boxing schedule -- I keep a very detailed one for ESPN.com -- would know that Goossen is promoting the Mikkel Kessler-Andre Ward super middleweight title bout on Showtime on Nov. 21.
It's a major fight that is part of Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic. Obviously, Goossen isn't going to promote another major fight against himself. That would be bad business and damaging to Showtime, which is paying a lot of money to Goossen for Ward's next four fights -- one tuneup and a minimum of three tournament fights.
When I called Goossen to ask about his take on moving Pavlik-Williams to Nov. 21 or into December, he was noncommittal and kept referring to the fight being "canceled."
When I asked him about being amenable to Williams facing Pavlik in December, he was measured in his response.
"Paul last fought in April, and we all want him back in the ring in October because he can't just sit around. He needs to fight," Goossen said. "We have no problem fighting Kelly Pavlik. We never have. That's who we all wanted to fight, but it might have to wait until next year. Does it makes sense for us to say we'll do the fight in December when we don't know if Pavlik will show up and we don't know the extent of his problems?"
Arum, on the other hand, assured me it would all be worked out this week, though it's pretty clear Arum himself isn't pleased with Pavlik.
He and Dunkin both said Pavlik missed at least three doctor's appointments and that the fighter didn't finally see a physician until just hours before he was supposed to leave for New York. Why would a world champion with a multimillion-dollar fight in front of him miss three appointments to have his hand checked? Remember, Pavlik makes his multimillion-dollar living with his hands.
It seems like very odd behavior and, quite frankly, highly unprofessional.
It took a lot to get the sides to agree on the fight. It would be a shame to see it go down the drain.
• I hope all boxing fans keep Showtime broadcaster Nick Charles in their thoughts as he battles Stage IV bladder cancer. He's one of the truly nice guys in the business. About the only thing he loves more than boxing is his family.
• I find it sad that Chad Dawson and promoter Gary Shaw went out of their way to get the WBC to sanction Dawson's Nov. 7 rematch with Glen Johnson for an interim title, going so far as to travel to Mexico to kiss the ring of WBC president-for-life Jose Sulaiman. Dawson, after all, once threw his WBC title away because he was being forced into a mandatory defense against Adrian Diaconu instead of being allowed to take a more lucrative and much-higher profile fight against former champ Antonio Tarver.
And what do Dawson and Johnson need a low-rent interim belt for anyway? It won't make them more money -- the fight is already set to be televised on America's biggest boxing platform, HBO -- and in fact will only cost them more money in sanctioning fees. If either Dawson or Johnson wants the WBC title, he should fight its legitimate titleholder, Jean Pascal. Dawson-Johnson II may be a strong fight between two championship-level guys, but somebody else already has the belt. The WBC, of course, can always find a way around reality. It shouldn't have sanctioned the interim-title fight, but I have come to expect nothing from the WBC when it comes to rational thinking. For the WBC, it means an extra payday and that is all that matters.
• If you missed "Tyson" in theaters, the DVD was released Tuesday. If you are at all interested in Mike Tyson, it is a must-see documentary. Director James Toback, with full cooperation from Tyson, does a remarkable job of chronicling the youngest heavyweight champion's life and career, from Tyson's frank and often raw perspective. An often-emotional Tyson narrates the entire movie, which features a terrific soundtrack, fight highlights and Tyson discussing the good, the bad and the ugly.
• Oscar De La Hoya "fought" Shaquille O'Neal this week in Las Vegas for an episode (airing Sept. 8) of Shaq's new television series "Shaq Vs.," in which O'Neal -- who ingeniously called himself "Manny Shaquiao" -- competes against athletes in their own sport during his NBA offseason. They used 16-ounce gloves and wore headgear during a five-round bout that took place in a large 24x24 ring. Shaq, who is 7-foot-1, 320-plus pounds, was "trained" by Freddie Roach. De La Hoya, who is 5-10 and probably weighed around 160 pounds, had Bernard Hopkins in his corner. Although I saw some video of the match on the Internet, I have no idea how it turned out. But I'll say this: If De La Hoya won, I can hear him now saying that he felt refreshed and invigorated and that it made him decide to end his retirement.
• I know Jeff Lacy is a shell of what he once was, but am I wrong to have been at least a little impressed with the way Roy Jones took him apart the other night?
• I still have a bad taste in my mouth after watching last week's horrible mismatches on "Friday Night Fights." Golden Boy can do better and deserves the criticism it has received for putting on such a woeful card, one that looked terrible on paper and was worse in reality. But ESPN, which shouldn't have turned down a solid fight between Danny Garcia and Tim Coleman for the eight-round opening fight, also deserves some of the blame. The fans deserved better than the embarrassment of a card. At least FNF should finish on a high note Aug. 28, when two title bouts will be featured: Juan Urango defending his junior welterweight title against Randall Bailey and Tavoris Cloud facing Clinton Woods for a vacant light heavyweight trinket.
• As much as I like Paulie Malignaggi, I think he's in big trouble against Juan Diaz on Saturday night.
• Bernabe Concepcion's way-after-the-bell cheap shot against Steven Luevano was one of the most egregious fouls I have seen this side of a certain ear bite.
• David Haye sure has been quiet lately, hasn't he?
• Middleweight prospect Peter "Kid Chocolate" Quillin (20-0, 15 KOs), who hasn't fought in 11 months, in part because of a hand injury, was due back in the ring Wednesday night in New York on a small card promoted by Winky Wright and Cedric Kushner. But Quillin hurt his hand sparring last week and the card was postponed until Sept. 30. I like Quillin as a prospect. You just have to hope that the injuries don't totally derail his career.
• Paging Guillermo Jones.
• DVD pick of the week: The official announcement this week that Michael Katsidis would face rising contender Vicente Escobedo on the televised undercard of the Floyd Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez pay-per-view Sept. 19 got me in the mood to watch the always-crowd-pleasing Katsidis in action. So into the archive I went, back to March 22, 2008, when Katsidis challenged Joel Casamayor, then the reigning lineal lightweight champion. Although Katsidis lost via 10th-round TKO, it was one of the most exciting fights of the year as Casamayor scored two knockdowns in the first round and Katsidis scored a knockdown in the sixth round. Katsidis was ahead on two scorecards entering the 10th round, when Casamayor knocked him down again and then finished him in a sensational slugfest.
• As much as I've punished the awful WBA for its title lunacy (not to mention pitiful rankings), did you really think I would allow the dastardly WBC to escape my wrath for its latest attempt to further destroy boxing?
The WBC, which also loves having multiple so-called champions in the same division (although not nearly as much as the WBA), now has yet another belt it wants to hand out -- for a fee, of course.
And get this -- it won't even represent any particular weight division. Instead, the WBC, in an effort to drum up more sanctioning fees, has invented something called the "WBC Diamond Championship," which WBC president Jose Sulaiman describes (presumably with a straight face) as "an honorary championship exclusively for fights between elite boxers."
Translation: "How can we at the WBC muscle in on the action and grab a few bucks when superstars fight in catchweight bouts? How about we just make up some phony title to attach to the match?"
(And, by the way, one would think that any championship fight should be between elite boxers, right?)
Undoubtedly, the first fight the WBC will be trying to squeeze cash out of is the one between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez, who are fighting Sept. 19 at 144 pounds without a title at stake.
Sulaiman said this new trinket was "approved by a unanimous vote of the WBC Board of Governors, and will actively participate to keep boxing as great as ever with new and exciting formats for the fans."
Translation: "We think boxing fans are stupid and we can make more money with this."
By the way, Sulaiman's "unanimous votes" have about as much credibility as the results from the recent Iranian presidential election.
Sulaiman went on to say, "The WBC believes that this belt will play a very important role in modern boxing as the fights between elite boxers called 'catchweight' fights have not been a complete success due to the fact that the advertising is only done for fans to know who is the best between two fighters and nothing else is at stake. The WBC will propose that the promotion renders homage to the two greatest fighters of such division, as they will be showcased in the belt."
Translation: "We'll do anything to make a buck, even something this stupid. Please, please, please, promoters and fighters -- give us your money!"
In conclusion, Sulaiman said, "I am very proud of this step taken by the WBC, as it will be in benefit of improving boxing, in benefit of the boxing fans of the world, as well as promoters, television and everybody involved in the sport of boxing."
Translation: "There's a sucker born every minute."
• Let's give credit where credit is due to promoter Gary Shaw. He has been criticized (including by me) for grabbing casino money and doing very little to help build a fan base for light heavyweight Chad Dawson. That's why, for example, Dawson fought in front of puny crowds in Las Vegas for his two fights with Antonio Tarver. Neither fight belonged there, and the pathetic gate receipts proved it. However, Shaw is taking a risk (because there are no financial guarantees) and bringing Dawson's Nov. 7 rematch with Glen Johnson to the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.; Dawson is from Connecticut. I hope Shaw and his staff get the word out so the risk pays off with a rocking crowd for an excellent fight. One downside, however, is that my pals at the WBC, which already has an active, uninjured titleholder in Jean Pascal, is sanctioning the fight for an interim title. Just what the world needs. Hey, at least it's not for the "Diamond Belt."
• The WBC hasn't limited itself to only interim titles and this "Diamond Belt" crap. Its rankings are equally disgusting. Take a look at the newest heavyweight rankings for just one example of how out of touch with reality they are. In another sign of the Apocalypse, the WBC ranks journeyman Ray Austin No. 2, meaning he looms as a possible mandatory challenger for the winner of the Vitali Klitschko-Cristobal Arreola bout. Isn't it bad enough that Austin already got one thoroughly undeserved title shot from the IBF and was obliterated by Wladimir Klitschko in two rounds in 2007?
• How about a few fights I hope happen: Tomasz Adamek versus Bernard Hopkins; Celestino Caballero versus Juan Manuel Lopez; any combination of fights between Timothy Bradley, Amir Khan and Devon Alexander; Edwin Valero versus Humberto Soto; and Hozumi Hasegawa versus Joseph "King Kong" Agbeko.
• There's supposed to be a purse bid Monday for Daniel Santos' junior middleweight mandatory title defense against Yuri Foreman. I think watching the bids be unsealed will be more exciting than the fight.
• Speaking of Santos-Foreman, you know a week can't go by without the wretched WBA making another horrific decision. The latest one is that it will sanction an Aug. 30 fight in Osaka, Japan, for an interim junior middleweight belt. Santos is supposed to defend against Foreman, but, hey, it's the WBA, so why not schedule yet another title bout in the same division? It's so much fun, right? In this case, the atrocity pits Japan's Nobuhiro Ishida (20-5-2, 7 KOs) against Marco Avendano (27-6-1, 19 KOs) of Venezuela in a rematch of a split decision Ishida won in December. Never mind that both fighters are utterly obscure and that neither journeyman even remotely deserves a title fight -- or even a title eliminator. But that doesn't matter, because the WBA won't be satisfied until it gives out multiple belts in all 17 divisions. After that happens, I'm sure the WBA will begin to create even more divisions so it can manufacture more garbage titles.
• We've got two pay-per-view cards Saturday, both priced at $34.95. One is headlined by Roy Jones Jr. against Jeff Lacy, and the other has Nonito Donaire against Rafael Concepcion. Have to be honest. Neither card really does much for me. As much as I like Donaire, I think he'll win easily. Other than the Steven Luevano-Bernabe Concepcion co-feature, the two other TV bouts are pathetic, especially when being asked to pay for them (Mark Melligen-Ernesto Zepeda and Anthony Peterson-Luis Arceo). Jones-Lacy would have really interested me about four years ago. The rest of the card is nothing to write home about: Danny Green versus Julio Cesar Dominguez in a cruiserweight fight I couldn't care less about, cruiserweight B.J. Flores facing a blown up and shot super middleweight in Epifanio Mendoza, and lightweight Verquan Kimbrough facing Jason Litzau, which figures to at least be decent. Ho hum.
• In case you missed it, the International Olympic Committee announced this week that women's boxing will be added to the schedule for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Great. Now, we can bash the horrendous scoring system twice as much.
• And in case you missed this one, former junior featherweight and featherweight titleholder Oscar Larios announced his retirement from boxing. He should have called it quits after suffering a brain bleed in a brutal loss to Jorge Linares in Las Vegas in July 2007. Instead, Larios fought five more times. I'm glad he's seen finally the light. He made a lot of terrific fights, and I wish him well in the next phase of his life.
• I love HBO's "24/7" reality show as much as anyone, but I also miss the excellent 30-minute previews for its biggest fights. Since Kelly Pavlik-Paul Williams is the biggest fight on the fall schedule that doesn't have a "24/7" scheduled, I'd love to see "Countdown to Pavlik-Williams," but I won't hold my breath.
• DVD pick of the week: Instead of thinking too much about the old, faded Jones who fights Saturday night, I decided to delve into the archive to see him in better days. I wanted to see the electrifying Jones who dazzled every night out. So I went back to Feb. 2, 2002, in Miami, where Jones scored the knockout of the year. Granted, he was facing the less-than-stellar Glenn Kelly in one of the many horrible mandatories HBO put up with. But, still, it was Jones in his dominant light heavyweight championship form. Jones won every second of the fight before scoring an absolutely spectacular seventh-round knockout in which he went to the ropes, put his hands behind his back, juked to the right, to the left and back to the right again before unleashing a right hand from behind his back that cracked Kelly on the chin and knocked him down for the third time and out. That's the Jones I want to remember.
The fall boxing season just went from really good to great now that it includes the "The Ghost" facing "The Punisher" for all the middleweight marbles.
The Kelly Pavlik-Paul Williams middleweight championship showdown, agreed upon Tuesday and scheduled for Oct. 3 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., is just what the ring doctor ordered: an honest-to-goodness championship fight between two elite American fighters in their primes, with an outcome that is somewhat in doubt.
It doesn't hurt that Pavlik and Williams are both likable guys outside the ring, and bring the heat every time they step into it.
The fight adds a gem to an already formidable fall schedule on HBO. After a duller-than-dishwater summer, the fall "season" begins Sept. 19 when Floyd Mayweather makes his return to face Juan Manuel Marquez on HBO PPV. If Golden Boy finalizes the terrific undercard it has in mind -- a Chris John-Rocky Juarez rematch, Michael Katsidis against Vicente Escobedo, and Zab Judah-Antonio Diaz -- it will be a show truly worth the $49.95 asking price.
HBO will keep the momentum rolling with the Vitali Klitschko-Cristobal Arreola heavyweight title bout Sept. 26 in Los Angeles. It's one of the few exciting heavyweight fights in the sport. Pavlik-Williams will follow a week later.
For its "World Championship Boxing" card Nov. 7, HBO has another worthy fight, the rematch between light heavyweights Chad Dawson and Glen Johnson. Their first bout was a fight of the year candidate in 2008. The sequel should be another good one. Exciting junior middleweight Alfredo "Perro" Angulo is on the televised undercard, and he always makes fights fun.
One week later, on Nov. 14 on HBO PPV, we'll see what I consider to be the biggest fight of the year: pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao against welterweight titlist Miguel Cotto. Top Rank's Bob Arum is promising a top-notch undercard. Let's all hold him to it.
And two weeks after that, on Nov. 28, HBO has the rematch between super middleweight titlist Lucian Bute and Librado Andrade from Montreal, where Bute always packs them in. After the drama at the end of Bute-Andrade I, I am looking forward to the rematch.
All that, and HBO has yet to schedule its December fights.
And don't forget about some A-level Showtime fights that further strengthen a spectacular fall schedule, including the first three matches of the Super Six World Boxing Classic: super middleweight titlist Carl Froch against Andre Dirrell and Arthur Abraham against Jermain Taylor on Oct. 17, and titleholder Mikkel Kessler against Andre Ward on Nov. 21.
As pretty as that lineup looks, I am most happy to see the deal between Pavlik promoter Top Rank and Dan Goossen, Williams' promoter, finally get done. It looked awfully shaky there for a while as they went back and forth for weeks haggling over every dime.
Ultimately, sanity prevailed.
Top Rank's Todd duBoef showed immense patience in working through the deal. Had Arum, Top Rank's boss, handled the talks, you just know he would have gone off the deep end at some point and blown it with one of his classic outbursts. DuBoef was calm and cool and let it play out, holding firm on some aspects of the deal (a rematch clause for Pavlik and the gate money) while slowly upping the guarantee to Williams' side from about $1.25 million to a final number of more than $1.9 million.
Goossen, who had asked for $2.5 million plus 50 percent of the gate, held firm as long as he could and got Top Rank to continually raise its offer until finally getting to a number he could live with. It's a fair number.
Pavlik and his managers, father Mike Pavlik and Cameron Dunkin, also get credit, because each time Top Rank raised its offer, they knew some of the money was coming out of their pockets.
I know Dunkin was getting frustrated with how long it took to make the deal, so frustrated that alternative plans were being seriously explored. Dunkin was looking at a possible smaller fight for Pavlik on a Top Rank PPV card against Peter Manfredo, while duBoef and Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer had already reached a preliminary agreement for Pavlik to fight Winky Wright in the event the Williams bout fell apart.
Had talks broken down, Pavlik might have wound up on a small PPV card in his second consecutive bout, which would have rendered him largely irrelevant. Williams might have wound up sitting for the rest of the year, unless Showtime were to have suddenly swooped in and given him a date for a lesser fight.
It didn't happen that way, in large part because of HBO, which sometimes is criticized for how it handles its budget and schedule but today deserves nothing but praise. Quietly and firmly behind the scenes, HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg and senior vice president Kery Davis wouldn't give in and accept anything less than the best fight -- which has happened at times in the past.
But not this time. (I hope that lasts.)
Believe me, the Pavlik and Williams camps both tested the limits, asking HBO about alternative plans if their fight wasn't finalized. Goossen would have been happy to make Williams against junior middleweight titlist Sergei Dzindziruk on HBO. Top Rank would have been fine with doing the Wright fight for Pavlik on HBO or pay-per-view.
But HBO, which is putting up a generous $3.75 million for Pavlik-Williams, just wouldn't go there. It never knuckled under. HBO refused to tell either side that if Pavlik-Williams wasn't put to bed, it would have a fall date waiting for either fighter. The message sent to both sides was that if they weren't fighting each other, there would be no Plan B for the rest of 2009.
In the end, the promoters, managers and fighters got the message loud and clear and made the fight.
And in the end, fans got a giant non-pay-per-view fight in the heart of what should be a fabulous fall.
Since the day the Miguel Cotto-Manny Pacquiao showdown was announced in late July, I have been inundated with questions about when tickets will go on sale for the Nov. 14 superfight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and how much will they cost. I've also been asked repeatedly about whether Cotto's welterweight title will be at stake.
Now, I have the answers.
Top Rank announced Monday that tickets for the fight -- dubbed "Firepower" -- will go on sale Monday, Aug. 17 at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT.
They are priced at $1,000, $750, $500, $300 and $150 (not including applicable service charges). Ticket sales in the $1,000, $750, $500 and $300 ranges are limited to 10 per person. The $150 tickets are limited to two per person, with a total ticket limit of 12 tickets per person. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000 or go to www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.
Cotto (34-1, 27 KOs) and Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KOs) will meet at a contracted maximum weight of 145 pounds. There has been quite a bit of discussion about whether Cotto's WBO welterweight title will be on the line.
Pacquiao, the reigning lineal junior welterweight champion after knocking out Ricky Hatton in the second round in May, and trainer Freddie Roach want the title at stake because a victory would give Pacquiao titles in a record seven weight classes (flyweight, junior featherweight, featherweight, junior lightweight, lightweight, junior welterweight and welterweight).
Cotto has been reluctant to put the title up because he is coming in under the division limit of 147 pounds. However, at 145 it's still a welterweight fight, so logically the belt would be at stake. Nontitle bouts are only fought when a titleholder is heavier than the division's maximum weight limit.
But whether Cotto balks or not, the belt is going to be at stake, somebody closely involved in fight told me Monday. Whether Cotto will give up the title or be stripped and Pacquiao will fight for the vacant belt is unclear. Cotto could also just defend the title (which is what he should do). Whatever scenario plays out, my source said the title will "definitely" be at stake at least for Pacquiao. So if he wins, he'll get the belt and all the Pacquiao worshippers can rest easy. Your man can make history.
I'm no huge fan of all the alphabet titles, but there is an exception to every rule and this fight is it. Keep this in mind -- without the title on the line, it's still a must-see fight between two of boxing's best and most exciting fighters. But I'd like to see Pacquiao have a shot at the statistical milestone of winning titles in seven divisions even if all the titles in today's era have watered things down. That said, if it was so easy to win titles in seven divisions wouldn't everyone be doing it? Fact is, nobody has ever done it and I'd like to see Pacquiao at least have the opportunity to set the record and for Cotto to do his best to keep him from doing it.
Anyway, back to the tickets for a minute. Top Rank spokesman Lee Samuels told ESPN.com that there would be "under 5,000" tickets available in the public sale. The rest of the approximately 10,000 tickets are earmarked for Top Rank customers, the fighter camps, the MGM, fight sponsors and HBO (which will televise the bout on HBO PPV for $49.95 if you can't get tickets).
Top Rank is using some of its tickets for a promotion on its Web site in which you can buy tickets ahead of the public sale. If you register at http://www.toprank.com/Secure/SignUp/ you will be e-mailed a link and code to purchase tickets up to 48 hours before the they go on sale to the public.
There will also be a four-city media tour to promote the bout. It kicks off Sept. 10 with an open-to-the-public news conference at Yankee Stadium. On Sept. 12, the tour moves to Cotto's hometown in Caguas, Puerto Rico, where there will be another public event. Then it's off to San Francisco, where there will be a public event at AT&T Park on Sept. 13 following the Giants game. The tour concludes with a press-only event Sept. 14 in Los Angeles.
As a small child, Devon Alexander dreamed of winning a world title. He finally fulfilled that dream on Aug. 1 by easily beating former titleholder Junior Witter. He made the awkward Brit quit in his corner after the eighth round of their junior welterweight title bout in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
So happy after accomplishing his lifelong dream, Alexander slept with his new belt.
It was right there on the pillow next to him.
"I propped it up on one of the pillows on my bed in the hotel room and I woke up with a big, ol' smile on my face," Alexander said. "That's when it really sunk in that I was a champion, when I saw that belt on the pillow next to me. It was great. I realized everything I have worked for had paid off."
Alexander (19-0, 12 KOs) is young (22), exciting to watch and has a big smile to go with an appealing personality. He's ready to conquer the boxing world.
Across the pond, England's Amir Khan (21-1, 15 KOs) also accomplished his goal of winning a world title when he claimed a version of the junior welterweight title by dominating Andreas Kotelnik en route to a lopsided decision victory July 18.
Khan (21-1, 15 KOs) is also just 22, exciting to watch and has a big smile to go with an appealing personality. He, too, is ready to conquer the boxing world.
So when Kevin Cunningham, Alexander's ridiculously underrated trainer and manager, read some quotes from Khan on the Internet saying how much he wanted to come to the United States to make his name, it got Cunningham thinking about how great a showdown between Alexander and Khan would be.
Speaking to Sky Sports in England, Khan said he wasn't interested in fighting countryman and former 140-pound king Ricky Hatton or long-faded Mexican star Erik Morales, two opponents that have been suggested. Instead, Khan said his preference is to fight in America.
"I'd like to fight in the States -- next fight or the one after," Khan told Sky Sports. "Now I'm the world champion, I think it would be great to fight on American TV to let the Americans find out who Amir Khan is. That's the next step for me, exposing myself in America, and that's what we are working towards now."
That was music to Cunningham and Alexander's ears.
"We would welcome the challenge," Cunningham said. "If Amir Khan wants to come to the United States we would fight him in our next fight. He says he wants to fight in America and fight other champions. Well, Devon is American and one of the other champions. It would be a great fight to watch, two young champions, both good kids, both stepping up to the plate and unifying titles instead of picking old guys to fight. We'd love to unify with Amir Khan."
Indeed, it would match two of boxing's emerging stars, both fast and flashy fighters with strong amateur pedigrees.
Cunningham said Don King, Alexander's promoter, told him he was talking to Khan promoter Frank Warren to see if there was any interest in setting up the fight -- or at least a plan to get to it.
Khan, of course, probably will be saddled with a mandatory in his next fight against Dmitriy Salita.
"So give Salita his mandatory shot and let Devon do a fight on the same card and then they can fight each other next," Cunningham said. "HBO or Showtime should be interested in doing something like that. Wouldn't they want to set up a unification between these two young and exciting stars?"
It sure sounds like a great idea to me. I think Alexander has star potential and have since the first time I saw him fight -- when I was ringside for his fourth pro bout in Chicago in 2005. Although Khan suffered an upset first-round knockout loss to Breidis Prescott in 2008, I have also been high on Khan, who I named ESPN.com prospect of the year in 2007.
An Alexander-Khan fight also sounds good to Alexander.
"I would definitely love that. I love competition, plus [fighting Khan] would be for another belt," said Alexander, who received a key to his hometown of St. Louis last week from Mayor Francis Slay in honor of his accomplishment and for "setting a tremendous example for young people in his hometown by stressing the importance of education, citizenship and physical fitness."
"I haven't seen Khan fight, but I have heard good things about him," Alexander continued. "I'll fight whoever, but we can fight. I feel so comfortable that I have a good team and that we had the perfect game plan against Witter. I just want to fight again as soon as possible. I'm young, I didn't suffer anything drastic [against Witter] and I have a lot of energy. I'm ready to go. I'd fight Khan, of course. We've had a lot of names pop up -- Nate Campbell, Juan Diaz, Zab Judah, Marco Antonio Barrera. Those type of names. For me the sky is the limit. I will just train hard. This belt motivates me to train even harder for whoever I fight."
• Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer has come East to make deals. When it comes to closing a deal, Schaefer is one of the best in the business. The former Swiss banker is a no-nonsense, put-your-cards-on-the-table kind of guy who seems to enjoy the art of the deal even more than sitting back and watching the fight he negotiated.
So Schaefer is in New York on Thursday and staying through Friday, looking to wheel and deal.
"I have about 70 percent of my time blocked for boxing and the other 30 percent to work on some real-estate deals and something in financial services and banking we may get involved in," Schaefer told me before his first meeting Thursday morning.
Besides meeting with HBO's Kery Davis (who programs boxing for the network) and Mark Taffet (who runs the pay-per-view department), Schaefer hopes to make strides on significant fights for two of Golden Boy's cornerstone fighters: Shane Mosley and Bernard Hopkins.
First up is a meeting with Lou DiBella that may finalize a fight between welterweight titleholders Mosley and Andre Berto. They've been stalled over the money for a few weeks, but there's nothing like a face-to-face meeting to get the ball rolling again.
"We've had conversations about Mosley and Berto, so the main topic with Lou is to see if we can get it done," Schaefer said.
Schaefer said the date HBO is holding in anticipation of a deal is Dec. 5. He said the fight would probably take place in Las Vegas, although Schaefer said there is also interest from a Caribbean island (which he wouldn't name) to host the fight.
Schaefer will also meet with Main Events CEO Kathy Duva in an effort to make a January fight between Hopkins and cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek. Hopkins, the former middleweight and light heavyweight champ, called Adamek out in February, but the deal fizzled when the offer Hopkins insisted Schaefer extend was so low as to be laughable. Now it seems as though Hopkins and Schaefer are serious about making it happen.
"Kathy has a position and we have a position and nothing really happened last time," Schaefer said. "And I don't think HBO was really ready to step up then. Now I think it's different. So we'll see. I made a commitment to meet with Kathy in person and see what we can do."
Knowing Schaefer as well as I do, I'd be pretty surprised if he didn't get at least one of the fights done. I think there's a good chance he'll leave New York on his way to making both of them, which would be great for his fighters and even better for fight fans.
• Top-level live boxing on Versus looks to be about done. Other than two more club shows that the network will air before the end of the year under a deal with Golden Boy, Versus will burn off the remaining live card it owes Tournament of Contenders from its deal to broadcast "The Contender" reality series. The Sept. 17 show will be headlined by a decent junior middleweight main event featuring former titlist Verno Phillips against former welterweight titlist Carlos Quintana, according to DiBella, who is doing the show with TOC's Jeff Wald. The co-feature will pit "Contender" runner-up Ehinomen Ehikhamenor against ticket-seller Dewey Cooper in a cruiserweight fight in Primm, Nev. Decent show, but certainly nothing to get too excited about. Versus could have been a huge player in boxing but bungled it from the beginning with a misguided exclusive contract with Top Rank. If this is the way it's going to end, what a shame.
• Whatever happens between Vitali Klitschko and Cris Arreola when they fight for a heavyweight title Sept. 26 in Los Angeles, I know one thing: At least Arreola took the fight, instead of running away like David Haye did.
• You know how you can tell Manny Pacquiao has crossed over into the mainstream? I was watching a WWE show Tuesday night, and during the main event -- ECW champion Christian's excellent title-retaining extreme-rules rematch against former champ Tommy Dreamer -- announcer Matt Striker referred to one of Christian's blows as "Manny Pacquiao-like." You gotta love that.
• That Roger Mayweather, he's a class act, huh?
• Forget about the proposed Allan Green-Sakio Bika super middleweight fight on the Sept. 19 Floyd Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez HBO PPV undercard. DiBella told me Green passed on the fight and instead will fight Oct. 2 on DiBella's "ShoBox" card on Showtime. (He'll face Victor Oganov.) DiBella's newly signed prospects, light heavyweight Marcus Johnson and welterweight Antwone Smith, will also appear on the tripleheader. Green, of course, is on top of Showtime's list in case somebody falls out of the Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament that begins Oct. 17, so the move probably makes sense. Though Green will make less against Oganov than he would against Bika, Oganov is an easier fight and he keeps Showtime happy at the same time.
• It's not done yet, but I have been led to believe by more than one source involved in the talks that the proposed Oct. 3 HBO fight between middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik and Paul Williams is inching its way toward being finalized. I hope it gets done. It's a tremendous fight.
• I thought the promotional spots Showtime unveiled last weekend for the Super Six World Boxing Classic were terrific. Watching them made me wish the tournament started tomorrow. I also thought Antonio Tarver, who had what amounted to an audition as an analyst on last week's "ShoBox" telecast, was pretty darn good. He doesn't have much left to give in the ring, but he could have a second career behind the mike.
• Golden Boy signed former junior welterweight titlist Vivian Harris this week. Why, you ask? Your guess is as good as mine.
• I wonder if referee David Mendoza has had a chance to review the tape of the Timothy Bradley-Nate Campbell fight. If he can bring himself to view it, I'm sure he would admit he made the wrong call on the head butt that brought an end to the fight, which was ruled a TKO win for Bradley instead of a no-contest. That said -- and I know Campbell had an eye injury, and I've always liked and respected his willingness to fight anybody -- let's be honest: Campbell basically quit after the third round. It seemed he was hoping to get the no-contest call even though Mendoza had already ruled (albeit wrongly) that a head butt caused his cut. Can you imagine Arturo Gatti -- whose memory Campbell honored by entering the ring to his music and by wearing a Gatti shirt -- ever bailing on a fight in the same situation? The answer is no.
• Sultan Ibragimov retired last week. Yawn.
• DVD pick of the week: I haven't seen a really good heavyweight fight in quite awhile, and I was in the mood. So into the archive I went for an underrated classic: It was April 1, 2006 in Cleveland, where Sergei Liakhovich and Lamon Brewster engaged in an all-action slugfest for 12 bruising rounds on Showtime. Liakhovich, who was coming off a 16-month layoff, survived a knockdown in the seventh round to win the decision and claim a title in a rousing brawl. However, neither man was ever the same. Brewster took more than a year off, battled serious eye injuries and was pulverized in a rematch with Wladimir Klitschko in his return. Liakhovich has fought only twice since, losing his title via 12th-round knockout to Shannon Briggs and then getting wiped out in a lopsided decision against Nikolai Valuev.
When Showtime announced the Super Six World Boxing Classic last month, one thing most boxing folks and fans agreed on was that the round-robin tournament featuring six top super middleweights was a fabulous idea, but one that certainly would have some bumps along the road during the 18-month trek from the Oct. 17 opening bouts to the final.
The tournament hasn't started yet, but already there could be -- I repeat, could be -- a problem.
And I'm not talking about the fact that titleholder Mikkel Kessler and Andre Ward, who are scheduled to meet in their opening bout Nov. 21, are taking so-called "tune-up" fights on a special edition of Showtime's "ShoBox" on Sept. 12.
Naturally, there is the possibility that Kessler could lose or get hurt against mandatory challenger Gusmyl Perdomo. Ditto for Ward, who faces the likely nonthreatening Shelby Pudwill (who once was knocked out by John Duddy in one round at middleweight). You just never know what's going to happen when the bell rings.
Outside the ring, however, there also could be trouble brewing.
Mogens Palle, who has promoted boxing in Denmark for more than 50 years, is not letting go of Kessler so easily, even though Kessler dumped Palle after a 10-year run together and recently signed with German powerhouse promoter Sauerland Event just before the tournament became official.
Palle is threatening to sue everyone under the sun for interfering with what he believes is a valid promotional contract with Kessler.
"I've been biting my tongue for too long, and now I want to set the record straight about Kessler, about the pirate promoter Sauerland Event and the pirate cable TV network Showtime," Palle said. "I am suing or will sue Kessler, Sauerland and Showtime. I will pursue my breach of contract and other legal claims against all of these parties and some others who have interfered with my existing and ongoing exclusive promotional contact with the WBA super middleweight
champion.
"Showtime's Ken Hershman never called me about putting Kessler into the Super Six tournament that Showtime and other [European] networks are financing. Clearly, Hershman and Showtime purposely and knowingly interfered with my promotional contract when Sauerland got together with them."
Palle claims Kessler signed a three-fight extension with him but ran out on him without honoring their deal.
"It is all written down in the contract that I have the exclusive right to promote three more Kessler bouts," Palle said. "Obviously, those rights are extremely valuable. But I am going to fight Kessler, Sauerland, Showtime and any others involved in such contractual interference in every court and in every country I need to. It's not only about money; it's also about principle."
Palle compared the situation to that of a fight in which the referee tells each boxer to protect himself at all times.
"When Sauerland and the interfering TV network Showtime work together, all boxing promoters and managers are advised to do the same, to protect their contractual rights," Palle said. "I am just doing what Showtime would do if someone interfered with and ran off with one of their popular television shows, with any program they have legal rights to. I wish Kessler continued success in the ring. But, in a court of law in Denmark and in the United States, the contract that
Kessler intelligently and freely signed and agreed to will prevail."
When Sauerland signed Kessler, it announced that his contract with Palle was up and that he was free to look for a new promoter.
Chris Meyer, the general manager of Sauerland Event, told ESPN.com, "Neither Mikkel, we or Showtime have violated any rights. Kessler is with Palle in Danish court for quite a while, and we have reviewed his attorney's contentions that no contract exists between Palle and Kessler. Palle can sue whomever he wants. But it does not give him any options or any rights over Mikkel Kessler at all. He simply does not have a valid contract with Kessler."
Regardless of the threats of litigation, Showtime is moving forward with the tournament. It even unveiled its first promotional spots touting the tournament during its two boxing telecasts over the weekend.
Hershman, who came up with the idea for the Super Six and runs Showtime's boxing programming, wouldn't address Palle's complaint, offering only, "We don't comment on litigation."
Maybe it's best that we are left with our memories of the incredible trilogy because a fourth fight between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez is just not in the cards right now, if ever.
For the past couple of months, it looked like they would add another chapter to their historical series of fights, but now it looks unlikely.
They faced each other three consecutive times in junior featherweight championship fights between March 2007 and March 2008 with each fight more action-packed than the previous one.
Marquez stopped Vazquez in the seventh round of the first fight. Vazquez gained revenge with a sixth-round knockout in the rematch, which was the 2007 fight of the year. In the third installment, Vazquez won via split decision in a fight that came down to the last round and was named 2008 fight of the year.
It's not unreasonable to declare their trilogy the greatest in boxing history. The stakes were that high and the action that non-stop and that good.
Vazquez has not fought since the 2008 victory over Marquez because of eye injuries, but was cleared to fight in early May.
Marquez was off for 14 months before returning in May for a third-round knockout of Jose Francisco Mendoza in Mexico in a shake-off-the-rust fight.
But Thursday, both sides were faced with the cold, hard reality that a fourth fight posed too great a financial risk for an uncertain reward.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, who co-promotes Vazquez, had been trying to work out a deal under which Vazquez and Marquez would meet in a nontitle featherweight fight Oct. 17 in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand, which he had already reserved.
The plan was to make it the headliner of a Golden Boy pay-per-view card because Showtime, which televised the trilogy, was not interested in doing a pay-per-view and unwilling to break the bank to put it on the network. And Showtime would be competing against itself if it televised the fight on Oct. 17, the date the network is televising the first two bouts of its much-anticipated super middleweight tournament.
HBO was also out of the picture because it has major pay-per-view events Sept. 19 (Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Juan Manuel Marquez) and Nov. 14 (Miguel Cotto-Manny Pacquiao), and it didn't want to flood the schedule, nor was it interested in getting involved at the end of a rivalry that is so closely identified with Showtime, its chief competitor.
As much as Schaefer tried to crunch the numbers and make sure that both fighters were well paid, it just didn't work. He was facing the problem of trying to get 10 pounds of dirt into a 5-pound bag.
Schaefer was hopeful on Wednesday, saying that he was "talking to the necessary parties to put this deal together. Both fighters want it and it's a matter of finding the right structure."
Frank Espinoza, Vazquez's manager, told me Wednesday that he and Vazquez wanted the fight, simply reiterating the stance they've had since the third fight ended. Schaefer had also been talking to Marquez's co-promoters Jaime Quintana and Gary Shaw. Everyone was interested in making the fight.
But after running the numbers yet again, Schaefer met Thursday with Espinoza and talked with the Marquez side and delivered the news: He couldn't make the deal work without taking a significant risk. There would be no fourth fight, at least not in the fall.
"The money is just not there," Schaefer told me Thursday. "Sandwiched between those other two big pay-per-view shows and in the middle of the World Series, when we could have the Dodgers and Angeles involved (and thereby taking a ton of media coverage away from the fight on the West Coast), it just didn't work. So I informed everyone that I'm not going to do it. It was just too big of a risk. I hope the fight will eventually happen."
Espinoza told me he understood where Schaefer was coming from, but he was still disappointed.
"I think there were a lot of factors and the risk was too high," he said. "It was a big gamble because we don't know what it would do on pay-per-view and Golden Boy would have to put up a lot of money. I don't know if it would have worked or if there would have been enough pay-per-view buys, especially because without Showtime or HBO, they would have to do their own production. It didn't make sense. We're disappointed. Now I'll just have to see what the next step is for Israel. I'm going to swallow hard on this a little bit. Oct. 17 isn't going to happen. Now I'm going to have to sit down and talk to Israel and we'll move on from there."
Where Vazquez and Marquez move on to, however, is anybody's guess.
The handlers of middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik and Paul Williams, who holds an interim junior middleweight belt but can campaign at welterweight, junior middleweight or middleweight, are trying to hammer out a deal for the two fighters to meet in the fall.
So, naturally, they're hammering each other in the grueling negotiating process, which is limping along because of serious differences.
HBO, which is trying to referee the talks, is holding Oct. 3 for the fight, which would be one of the most significant of the year, not to mention a probable crowd pleaser between two of America's best fighters.
It would take place in Atlantic City, N.J., where Pavlik is a proven attraction. Thousands of his loyal followers from Youngstown, Ohio, filled Boardwalk Hall for his three fights there, including his dramatic championship victory against Jermain Taylor in 2007, a blowout defense against unknown Gary Lockett 13 months ago and a nontitle loss to Bernard Hopkins last October.
However, there are vast differences in what each side wants for a fight that blew up once already last year, mainly because of the acrimonious relationship between Top Rank boss Bob Arum and Williams' adviser Al Haymon.
With neither fighter having a more significant opponent available for the fall, they've turned to each other again. I've talked to various folks involved in the fight and am told that HBO is offering a $3.75 million license fee for the bout.
In addition, Arum is not directly involved in the discussions, nor is Haymon. Instead, Top Rank President Todd duBoef is handling the talks with Williams promoter Dan Goossen. Arum told me he was happy to be out of this one and just to get updates from duBoef.
My sources tell me that Top Rank offered the Williams side a package of $1.55 million, but Goossen asked for $2.5 million plus 50 percent of the gate. Top Rank countered by raising the offer to $1.75 million plus a lesser piece of the gate.
Back and forth they go.
DuBoef didn't want to go into detail but acknowledged that they are having difficulties coming to terms.
Goossen said he is hopeful the fight will be made.
"It's a good fight for boxing, for the fighters, for HBO and for the fans," he said. "I know everyone will have their opinions on who should get what. This is about doing a fair deal for all sides. If we can reach that kind if accord, it's a fight that will attract a lot of attention. We're sitting here always looking for the biggest fight and something Paul and everyone would like to have. But you're always looking for something that is fair in our eyes, not necessarily what is fair to a reporter or fan.
"This is a tough business and you want equitable deals. We know Pavlik brings a lot to the table, but Paul does also, so it's a matter of hashing out the deal. I believe we are on the right track because both fighters want the fight, which always helps out. Between Top Rank and myself, we are having constructive conversations, which usually leads to getting something done."
Of course, it is good that both sides say they want the fight. However, it seems to me that the onus is on Williams and his team.
They are the ones who constantly cry out that Williams is the most feared man in boxing and that no big names are willing to fight him. Pavlik, the champion and the proven draw, is not only willing to fight him but offering him, by far, the most money he's ever been offered for a fight in his life. It's quite a reasonable offer.
On top of that, duBoef did tell me that Top Rank is not seeking any options on Williams' future fights, only a standard rematch clause, which is the normal course of business in non-mandatory situations.
Haymon certainly should understand about options and rematch clauses. He extracted financial participation in two future Pavlik fights after he knocked out Taylor, and even got a rematch clause despite the fact that Pavlik was the mandatory. Because Pavlik was the mandatory challenger for Taylor, Top Rank and Pavlik were under no obligation to give the options or the rematch clause, but they wanted the fight badly and wanted it as quickly as possible. So they gave in.
Sometimes in boxing, when the other guy has something you want, you have to suck it up and take a deal you don't love.
If Williams really wants the fight, if he really wants to be middleweight champion and really believes he can win the fight, it's a no-brainer for his team to get the deal done.
Williams is certainly the biggest fight out there right now for Pavlik, but there are other opponents waiting in the wings. Fighters such as Winky Wright (who lost to Williams earlier this year) and Sergio Martinez are at the top of the list and, from what I am told, are willing to take the fight for a lot less than what Williams is being offered.
I admire Goossen, Haymon and Williams for trying to get the best deal possible. There's nothing wrong with hard negotiating. I just hope they don't overplay their hand.
• If Antonio Margarito wants to get his boxing license back in the United States, he sure is going about it the wrong way. While I was watching Top Rank's "Latin Fury 10" pay-per-view Saturday night, I saw Javier Capetillo in the dressing room preparing junior flyweight titlist Giovani Segura, who would go on to successfully defend his belt in the co-feature. Capetillo, of course, is the disgraced trainer banned in the United States because he loaded Margarito's hand wraps with an illegal plaster-like substance before a January fight with Shane Mosley in Los Angeles. The cheating was caught before the fight started and Margarito was forced to have his hands re-wrapped. Later, Margarito and Capetillo both had their licenses revoked in California for the egregious infraction.
Segura's fight took place in Mexico, where Capetillo is allowed to work because Mexican officials wrongly do not recognize license revocations in the U.S. I can't blame Capetillo for continuing to work where he is allowed. But what was really disconcerting was that Margarito was with Capetillo in Segura's dressing room. He was also with the trainer and boxer in the ring before and after the fight. Margarito hopes to reapply for a license when he is allowed to early next year, and will have to go before the California commission at that point for another hearing.
If Margarito truly didn't know that Capetillo had loaded his hand wraps, as he claims, wouldn't he be angry at Capetillo? Don't you think he'd be keeping his distance? Don't you think he would have dumped him by now for trying to cheat, causing his license to be revoked and severely damaging his career?
Instead, Margarito is still with Capetillo, making it even more difficult to believe his weak story that he didn't know what the trainer was doing. If I'm on the California commission and responsible for deciding whether Margarito gets his license back, the scene of him being so chummy with Capetillo certainly disappoints me, erodes any shred of credibility his story has and makes it difficult for me to vote in favor of relicensing him. By hanging around with Capetillo, Margarito is sending the wrong message to California regulators, as well as many of the folks who would like to give him the benefit of the doubt but find it almost impossible.
• Heavyweight titleholder Vitali Klitschko isn't just sitting around lamenting the fact that David Haye ran from a Sept. 12 fight they had agreed upon. Instead, I'm told by some of the folks involved in the fight that Klitschko is close to a deal to meet Cris Arreola in an HBO fight Sept. 26 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the same arena where Klitschko had his classic slugfest with Lennox Lewis and later stopped Corrie Sanders to win a vacant title. I think Klitschko-Arreola is a far more interesting fight than Klitschko-Haye, because I think Arreola has a better chance of winning. I also think the bout could draw a huge crowd given that Arreola is a Mexican-American from Southern California and would be bidding to become the first fighter of Mexican heritage to win a heavyweight title.
• After Haye turned tail and ran from Wladimir Klitschko (June 20) and then Vitali (Sept. 12) to sign for a Nov. 7 fight against Nikolai Valuev, I received a lot of questions from the Fight Freaks during last week's chat asking whether HBO, which Haye blew off by backing out of both fights, would be interested in televising Valuev-Haye. So I asked HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg about it. His answer was short and sweet: "We have no interest in a Valuev versus Haye fight." I don't blame him one iota.
• So HBO isn't interested in Valuev-Haye. But I also hear HBO simply isn't interested in a rematch between cruiserweight champ Tomasz Adamek and mandatory challenger Steve Cunningham, who waged a tremendous battle in December in one of the best fights of 2008. I think HBO, which hasn't televised the fight of the year since 2004 (Marco Antonio Barrera-Erik Morales III), is missing the boat on this one big-time.
• You have to give a little credit to "Friday Night Fights" programmer Doug Loughrey, who makes do with a miniscule budget for the ESPN2 series: The Aug. 28 season finale should send the show out with a bang this year. It features two title bouts that seem competitive: Juan Urango will defend his junior welterweight belt against Randall Bailey, and Tavoris Cloud will face Clinton Woods for a vacant light heavyweight title. There have been plenty of good fights on FNF over the years, but not cards with two title bouts that both appear interesting. It's easily the best card the series has had in years.
• Only 11 weeks until Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic starts. Let's hope Mikkel Kessler and Andre Ward both make it through supposed tuneup fights in September so the tournament isn't wrecked before it begins.
• Even when the abominable WBA does something that makes sense, it screws up. In this case, it finally stripped heavyweight Ruslan Chagaev of his ludicrous "champion in recess" title. After all, he was no longer in recess, having fought twice in six months (in February and June). There was also the little matter of Wladimir Klitschko beating the stuffing out of him in a brutally one-sided shellacking June 20, even though the silly "recess" title was not at stake. But just when you want to try to give the WBA a sliver of credit, you can't. The reason: The WBA made Chagaev its No. 1 contender, which is mind-blowing in its stupidity. Maybe I need to send a DVD of the Klitschko fight to the geniuses at the WBA offices. Those who run that circus need to view it again and see the joke of a No. 1 contender get absolutely laid to waste. If the WBA wanted to leave him in the top 10, fine. No. 1? Just another day in the WBA's bizarro world.
• And while I'm on the onerous subject of the WBA, how about this one: For no apparent reason, featherweight titleholder Chris John was promoted to "super champion," even though he hasn't unified a title, as is the WBA's rule for crowning a "super champion." It also promoted "interim champion" Yuriorkis Gamboa to "regular champion." Swine flu is more appealing than the WBA.
• Let's hope sanity prevails and Paul Williams and his team don't blow the fight with Kelly Pavlik because of their outrageous demands.
• I've been following junior welterweight Devon Alexander since he turned pro. I'm really looking forward to seeing if he can beat former titleholder Junior Witter in a Showtime fight Saturday night and win the vacant title. Since day one I've believed Alexander would win one someday, and I love his chances this weekend.
• I enjoyed the first installment of Golden Boy's "Fight Night Club" on Versus, and now it's back for the second of four scheduled monthly episodes from Club Nokia at L.A. Live on Thursday night (10 ET). The series is designed to bring boxing back to downtown Los Angeles while giving younger fighters a chance to make a big impression in evenly matched bouts. There are three fighters -- all of whom had solid amateur careers and are managed by Frank Espinoza -- to watch out for on this week's card: lightweight Luis Ramos Jr. (11-0, 6 KOs), lightweight Carlos Molina (7-0, 3 KOs) and featherweight Ronny Rios (5-0, 2 KOs). Golden Boy recently signed all three.
• Contrary to reports, there are no plans for cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek to move up to heavyweight to fight Polish countryman Andrew Golota, according to Adamek promoter Main Events. I have only two words: thank goodness.
• DVD pick of the week: Another week, another passing of a former champion. In this case, it was former welterweight and junior middleweight champ Vernon Forrest, who was murdered Saturday night in an apparent robbery attempt. Naturally, I was compelled to go into my archive for a Forrest fight, and I picked his first meeting with Mosley, then the recognized welterweight champ and No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter. It was Jan. 26, 2002, at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, where the former amateur rivals finally met as professionals. Forrest had upset Mosley in the Olympic trials to seal a spot on the 1992 team and had his number in the pros as well, beating him twice. But it's their first professional bout that stands out. Mosley had never been knocked down until Forrest floored him twice in the second round (following a nasty accidental head-butt that Mosley got the worst of). Forrest almost knocked him out again in the 10th round and cruised to the lopsided unanimous decision. The inspired performance was the high point of a career and life cut far too short by needless violence.
Arturo Gatti's second home was New Jersey, where he more or less became an unofficial pro sports franchise because he fought so many of his most memorable fights in Atlantic City and drew packed houses whenever he laced up the gloves.
Gatti, who was allegedly strangled to death by his wife July 11 while on vacation at a resort in Brazil, was buried July 20 in Montreal. More than a thousand mourners turned out to pay their respects, including the staff from Main Events, which promoted Gatti for his entire career; promoter Lou DiBella, who had a longstanding friendship with Gatti going back to his days as the chief boxing programmer for HBO; and Micky Ward, who shared the ring with Gatti for three epic fights in one of boxing's greatest trilogies.
Many of Gatti's fans and friends couldn't make the trip to Montreal for the funeral, but because he meant so much to so many in New Jersey, where Main Events is based, there will be a public memorial Thursday night.
Main Events has invited friends and fans to attend a memorial Mass in Gatti's honor at 7 p.m. at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church, which is located at 3026 John F. Kennedy Blvd. in Jersey City.
"Since it was not possible for so many of Arturo's friends and fans in the U.S. to attend his funeral, we think that it is only right to give them the opportunity to celebrate Arturo's life and pay their respects," said Pat Lynch, who managed Gatti for his entire career and considered him a member of his family. "Arturo was much more to me than a business associate or even a friend. I am humbled and honored by the fact that he considered me to be his second father. I don't know if I will ever get over losing him."
Kathy Duva, who heads Main Events, thought it was only appropriate to give Gatti's fans a chance to pay their respects in the state that adopted him.
"Arturo Gatti was a living legend whose passion in the ring was exceeded only by his great loyalty to the people he truly loved and cared for," she said. "Words are inadequate to describe the unspeakable sadness of losing him this way. On [Thursday] his friends and fans from the area will have the chance to come together to grieve and remember Arturo not only as a boxing icon, but as a great friend."
Top Rank's Carl Moretti, who worked for Main Events for many years followed by a stint with DiBella, was close to Gatti and made the trip to Montreal to attend the funeral.
At the end of the service, Moretti found himself in line with Ward as mourners walked past the casket and paid their respects. Ward and Gatti were ring rivals but had become close friends by the time their trilogy ended, so close that Ward even served as Gatti's trainer for his final fight against Alfonso Gomez in 2007.
As Ward walked past the casket, he stopped and tapped it with two light left hooks, his best punch.
"Micky turned to me and said, 'I got him one more time,'" Moretti said. "I said to him, 'Yeah, but you know he's going to get you back when you get to heaven.' We just had a little laugh on a sad day."
As promoter Lou DiBella put it: "In the economic world we live in today, if you can go somewhere to make a big event, you have to look at it. If they're talking millions of dollars in a soccer stadium, you have to look at it."
That's the scenario that could send welterweight titlist Andre Berto to Turkey to face Selcuk Aydin if Berto doesn't wind up making a deal to fight titleholder Shane Mosley, said DiBella, who promotes Berto.
DiBella said Arena-Box promoter Ahmet Öner, who promotes Turkey's Aydin, has contacted him about putting together the fight at a stadium in Istanbul.
"They've got to come up with millions, but Ahmet is working on it on his end," DiBella said. "The Turkish government would be involved. I guess they want to bring a big championship fight there. Ahmet said he'll get back to me."
"We are working to make it happen," Öner told me in an e-mail. "It is not easy because Turkish TV is paying, but not like HBO for a boxing event. The government is really interested, but we will see how big."
DiBella said Berto (25-0, 19 KOs) is willing to go overseas -- without the support of HBO if necessary -- to make his fourth defense "if the money is substantial and we have assurances from the WBC about the neutrality of the judges and referee. Andre would be going into a sold-out place where everyone is rooting for him to get killed. But if the money is good enough, he'll go. Andre is a professional. Ahmet is talking about substantial money. When he talks about substantial money, I listen."
Berto has a mandatory due against Luis Collazo, whom he edged via close decision in January, but there are issues making the rematch because HBO is not going to substantially increase what it paid for the first bout and Collazo wants more for himself than the entire license HBO is willing to pay, DiBella said. But DiBella said Berto-Aydin would be worth enough money "that it would allow us to pay Collazo to step aside. Aydin is the next mandatory after Collazo anyway, so we'd be flipping the order and paying Collazo for it."
DiBella said he's spoken to Collazo promoter Don King, who was receptive about the possible scenario.
Aydin (19-0, 15 KOs), a 2004 Olympian like Berto, earned his spot as the next mandatory challenger (and won the vacant European title) with an exciting ninth-round knockout of Jackson Bonsu on July 11. It was a terrific fight and Aydin would be a handful for Berto.
DiBella said he is considering Aydin because talks for a fight between Berto and Mosley have gone nowhere.
"I haven't gotten an offer other than what I already turned down from Golden Boy," DiBella said. "It was $750,000, less than we've been paid for our last few fights and the kid [Berto] isn't taking less to fight Mosley than he has for other defenses when this is much bigger fight."
DiBella said that if Berto goes overseas, he has a suggestion for Mosley -- for him to fight another of DiBella's fighters, former welterweight titlist Kermit Cintron, who would love the fight.
• Although the way David Haye and trainer/manager Adam Booth went about snubbing Vitali Klitschko in favor of Nikolai Valuev was underhanded and unprofessional, it may turn out to be a smart move because Haye has a way, way, way better chance to beat Valuev than Klitschko. After all, Valuev couldn't deal with the movement of the ancient Evander Holyfield, who is much slower, much older and not nearly the puncher that Haye is.
But the way Haye dealt with Klitschko was pathetic. Had Haye simply taken one deal over the other without all the drama, that would be one thing. No problem.
Instead, he strung Klitschko along for weeks while talking crap about him -- and his brother, Wladimir Klitschko, before bailing on him, too, last month -- only to double-deal behind his back and then pull out of a fight that had been agreed upon. I talked to Booth, and frankly, I didn't believe him when he said they didn't have a deal. His story sounded like the dog had eaten his homework. I've followed this process every step of the way, and I believe Klitschko's team of Bernd Boente and Shelly Finkel when they say they had a deal. Say what you want about them, but they are professionals, they've negotiated a zillion fights, and they made a compelling case that the deal was done.
The ironic thing here is that Haye, who hasn't fought since November, against a faded Monte Barrett, has never accomplished anything of note as a heavyweight to have deserved a title fight in the first place -- except run his mouth and make himself look like a fool. He had fights with both Klitschkos on a silver platter. There are a lot of heavyweights who would give anything for a shot at one of them. Haye had a chance at both and blinked twice, punking out and running away like he was scared. Ultimately, Haye only talked the talk and couldn't bring himself even to try to walk the walk.
• I was told this week that serious talks have been rekindled for a fall fight between middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik and Paul Williams, with HBO making a very strong offer. The question is, will the two camps, who don't exactly get along well, be able to agree on the split? We shall see, but my fingers are crossed because it's a great fight -- certainly a lot bigger than anything else either guy can legitimately make.
• We've all known for the past month or so that Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao were headed for a fight, but I still got a rush when the expected news was confirmed. I was awfully happy to talk to Top Rank's Bob Arum the other day and hear the fight was on. Based on the early comments I've heard from people around the boxing industry, a few things are clear: First, it's a huge fight, probably the biggest boxing pay-per-view of 2009. Second, there isn't anyone I can find who doesn't think it's going to be a sensational fight, whoever wins. Third, there is a big split on who people think will win, which should add to the intensity of the promotion (which will be called "Firepower"). I'm also excited because HBO is planning a "24/7" series to follow the buildup to the fight. When you match two of the best fighters in the world, both of whom have huge fan bases and make action-packed fights, everybody wins. This fight is great for boxing.
• Cotto and Pacquiao will meet at 145 pounds, which was divulged right off the bat without any nonsense when the fight was announced. The same can't be said for the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Juan Manuel Marquez fight, which will take place at a maximum of 144 pounds, even though nobody associated with the promotion has the stones to say so on the record for fear of upsetting the prima donna, Mayweather. The pointless secrecy gives off the impression that there is something suspicious about the fight -- never a good thing for a promotion.
• Who wants to bet that Pacquiao-Cotto will do better on pay-per-view than Mayweather-Marquez? I wonder what the impact of that will be when it comes time to make Pacquiao-Mayweather, should both win their upcoming bouts.
• One fight Arum mentioned to me as a possibility for the Cotto-Pacquiao undercard is a lightweight title match between Edwin Valero and junior lightweight titlist Humberto Soto, who plans to move up in weight. That's a can't-miss fight.
• Now that Pacquiao-Cotto has been announced for Nov. 14, I wonder if Shane Mosley finally understands that he isn't going to get a fight with Pacquiao in the fall, no matter how much he begs, no matter how many ridiculous press releases his handlers send out and no matter how much weight he says he's willing to drop. Time to move on, Shane.
• I received a press release from the fine folks who work for promoter Lou DiBella informing me that Kermit Cintron would love to fight Mosley in the fall. After reading about half of it, I yawned and then pressed the delete button.
• You know how Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. pulled out of Saturday's fight against Jason LeHoullier on Top Rank's "Latin Fury 10" because of a rib injury? Well, as I have come to find out, that is only true if the definition of "rib injury" is "nowhere near 154 pounds a week before the fight."
• I absolutely love Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic and can't wait for the opening matches. I love all three fights that make up the first group of bouts, which will take place before the end of the year: Arthur Abraham-Jermain Taylor, Carl Froch-Andre Dirrell and Mikkel Kessler-Andre Ward. But my favorite is Kessler-Ward.
• My, how things can change quickly. Just 10 months ago, Amir Khan was knocked out (and knocked out hard) in 54 seconds by Breidis Prescott in a shocking upset. Last week, Prescott suffered his first loss in an upset to Miguel Vazquez. The following night, Khan reached the pinnacle by dismantling Andreas Kotelnik in a lopsided decision to win a title. I thought the timing was an interesting coincidence.
• Speaking of Vazquez-Prescott, I have to give props to Sergio Mora. While sitting in with Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas for an early round during the main event of last week's "Friday Night Fights," Mora picked the unheralded Vazquez to pull the upset against big favorite Prescott. Mora said he had sparred with Vazquez and did an excellent job explaining his reason for the pick. Maybe there's a place somewhere for Mora as an analyst?
• HBO's "Real Sports" is one of my favorite shows, but I especially love it when it features a boxing story. On the latest edition, which premiered Tuesday and will replay regularly through early August, correspondent Mary Carillo delivers an outstanding feature on trainer Freddie Roach and his battle with Parkinson's disease.
• Paging Joan Guzman. … On second thought, given his eyesore style, forget it.
• If former heavyweight titlist Samuel Peter -- who recently signed with Top Rank and is looking to get his career going again -- is motivated and in shape and throws punches, I think he can still do damage. At 28, he's still one of the youngest heavyweight contenders out there.
• Welterweight titlist Andre Berto is one of the good guys in boxing. At 25, he is mature beyond his years and giving back to his community. Berto, who has made good money but no seven-figure purses, nonetheless is donating $10,000 to the Citrus Center Boys & Girls Club in his hometown of Winter Haven, Fla. Berto, who spent much of his childhood at the club, will also speak to the kids at the ceremony Friday. "The Boys & Girls Club was like a second home for me as a kid," Berto said. "I want these kids to see that if they work hard enough, they can make their own dreams come true, just like I have. I have been blessed through boxing, and I want to share some of my blessings with the Boys & Girls Club and Polk County." Good for him.
• I think the proposed fight between Berto and Selcuk Aydin is very interesting. Aydin is a rough, tough customer who has solid power and a good chin. Berto is a lot faster, but if it happens, it won't be a walk in the park for either guy.
• In a reminder of just how serious every fight is, from the four-round preliminary to the 12-round championship main event, Marco Antonio Nazareth died Wednesday, four days after suffering a brain injury during a fourth-round TKO loss to Omar Chavez in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He was 23. Chavez, one of the fighting sons of Julio Cesar Chavez, had won a closely contested four-round decision against Nazareth in April 2008, and this was a scheduled six-round rematch. It wasn't a particularly brutal fight, and although Chavez got the stoppage, Nazareth was on his feet and attempting to punch back when the referee intervened. You just never know what will happen when a fighter is taking punches to the head. Condolences to Nazareth's family and friends.
• DVD pick of the week: I wasn't sure what to watch this week, so I perused my database of fights. One I hadn't viewed in years caught my eye, so I dug into the archive for it. It was an ABC-televised brawl from Aug. 18, 1990, at Bally's Las Vegas. It lasted only one round -- 2 minutes, 57 seconds, to be exact -- but was like a light version of the first round of the classic Marvelous Marvin Hagler-Thomas Hearns brawl. In this shootout, Nigel Benn, making the first defense of his middleweight belt, and Iran Barkley came out with guns blazing and didn't stop firing until the fight was over. Benn dropped Barkley in the first minute, but Barkley collected himself enough to come back and hurt Benn. Then Benn rallied himself and dropped Barkley twice more before it was called off because of the three-knockdown rule that was still being used at the time. It was short but oh-so-sweet.
The WBA, headed by Gilberto Mendoza Sr. and his top lieutenant and son Gilberto Mendoza Jr. , is trying to destroy boxing. At least it appears that way when you look at what a joke its titles have become.
They have become such an absolute farce that even somebody like me, who follows boxing closely, sometimes has a hard time keeping track of all the nonsensical so-called world title belts the WBA has been doling out at an alarming rate.
It almost reminds me of the ladies at Costco who hand out various samples to customers on a busy Saturday afternoon.
As bad as the other sanctioning organizations are, the WBA has reached such repulsive depths that the others can't touch it right now. Apparently there is no level of absurdity for which the WBA won't strive, because it seems quite possible that by the end of the year, it will have multiple titleholders in every division.
It already has "regular" titleholders in all 17 of boxing's weight classes. But, this being the WBA, you also have to account for the "interim" and "super champions," not to mention the "champions in recess" that the organization loves so much.
Besides the 17 titleholders, the laughable WBA also has:
• Four super champions (Shane Mosley at welterweight, Juan Manuel Marquez at lightweight, Celestino Caballero at junior featherweight and Vic Darchinyan at junior bantamweight).
• Four interim titleholders (Marcos Maidana at junior welterweight, Yuriorkis Gamboa at featherweight, Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym at junior featherweight and Nehomar Cermeño at bantamweight).
• Two champions in recess (heavyweight Ruslan Chagaev and junior flyweight Brahim Asloum).
The junior featherweight division actually has three titleholders, with Caballero and Poonsawat joining "regular" titleholder Bernard Dunne.
So that's 27 fighters in 17 divisions who parade around with WBA belts. Sadly, that isn't the end of the utter madness -- because the more so-called champions, the better. Actually, the more so-called champions, the more money that flows into the WBA's greedy hands because too many promoters, fighters and managers are too dumb to see what a racket this is. And shame on the networks that buy fights only because they are being contested for these spurious titles.
On Saturday, the WBA disgrace will continue when Urbano Antillon faces Miguel Acosta for the vacant interim lightweight belt, which will make for three lightweight titleholders.
But wait, there's more.
On Aug. 15, Nonito Donaire and Rafael Concepcion will meet for the vacant interim junior bantamweight belt, meaning there will be three so-called WBA champions at 115 pounds. On the same night, in a different city, Francisco Rosas will face Juan Carlos Reveco for the vacant WBA interim strawweight title.
On Sept. 5, Luis Concepcion will fight Omar Salado for the vacant WBA interim flyweight title.
When the winner of Concepcion-Salado is declared, the WBA will have a ludicrous 31 so-called champions.
• Could the super middleweight division be any hotter? Although Showtime locked up six of the top super middleweights for its "Super Six World Boxing Classic," that doesn't mean there aren't a bunch more quality fighters in the 168-pound division. It's actually one of the deepest divisions in boxing.
So since HBO plans to televise the rematch between titleholder Lucian Bute and Librado Andrade -- two clear-cut top-10 super middleweights -- on Nov. 28, I thought that if HBO wanted to put together its own six-man tournament, it could do one that certainly would rival Showtime's for depth and quality.
HBO won't do it, but just for fun, here's who I'd put in it: Bute and Andrade (whose rematch would be one of the opening-round matches), titleholder Karoly Balzsay, Sakio Bika, Allan Green and middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik, who, like Arthur Abraham in the Showtime tournament, would move up from 160 pounds. Not a bad field, huh?
Check this out, too: Showtime's group of Mikkel Kessler, Carl Froch, Jermain Taylor, Andre Ward, Andre Dirrell and Abraham includes two titleholders (Kessler and Froch) and carries a combined record of 161-4-1 with 117 knockouts. The list of fighters for my fantasy HBO tournament also includes two titleholders (Bute and Balzsay) and has a combined record of 163-7-2, 124 knockouts. Pretty similar. Just food for thought.
• I'm not sure whether there is a plan for this, but I certainly hope that some way, somehow, CBS, a sister network of Showtime, finds a way to get involved in promoting, marketing and advertising the Super Six. That would be huge for boxing.
• For weeks, promoter Lou DiBella has been telling me how much Sergio Martinez wants to fight Pavlik, who is without an opponent for the fall at the moment. I think that would be an interesting fight, although a very tough assignment for both guys.
• Bantamweight titlist Hozumi Hasegawa of Japan is one of the most underrated fighters in the world. He won his belt from long-reigning titlist Veerapol Sahaprom in 2005 and has made nine mostly dominant defenses against quality competition, including winning six defenses by knockout. Among them are a knockout of Sahaprom in a rematch and last week's very impressive first-round destruction of American Nestor Rocha.
• When Shane Mosley finally realized he wasn't going to get Manny Pacquiao in the fall, he instructed Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer to try to make him the best fight possible. Some of the candidates Schaefer mentioned were Andre Berto, Joshua Clottey, Kermit Cintron, Zab Judah and Paul Williams. If my vote counts for anything, I would prefer the Berto fight.
• Boxing definitely can learn a lesson from UFC in the highlight department. After last week's UFC 100 pay-per-view card, everywhere I looked, I saw replays of Brock Lesnar's second-round stoppage of Frank Mir in the main event of the card. Highlights of the fight, including the stoppage, were repeated over and over on "SportsCenter" as well as ESPNEWS and elsewhere. In boxing, however, the biggest fights don't get adequate coverage in large part, I believe, because nobody is allowed to show highlight footage other than the less-than-scintillating clips HBO PPV provides. So if you have a sensational knockout like when Pacquiao put Ricky Hatton to sleep in the second round of their fight in May, you won't get the money shot. HBO says that is because it pays for the exclusive right to air the replay a week later and that supposedly is sacred. I understand HBO is protecting its investment, but it's time to get in the real world. A week delay used to work before the dawn of the 24-hour news cycle and the Internet. Now, anyone who wants to see the fight can watch it on YouTube within minutes of it concluding. It's time to free the highlights for the good of the sport.
• Bantamweight titlist Joseph Agbeko is an exciting fighter. His wins against Vic Darchinyan, William Gonzalez and Luis Perez all were entertaining fights, especially the slugfest with Gonzalez. Yonnhy Perez became Agbeko's mandatory challenger in a terrific fight in May when he knocked out Silence Mabuza in the 12th round. I dare say Agbeko-Perez is a classic waiting to happen.
• Anges Adjaho should be up for an Oscar with the way he faked being hit by a punch when he was down last week against Antonio DeMarco in their lightweight title eliminator. How about a fight between Adjaho and Francisco Lorenzo, who pulled a similar pathetic stunt in his first fight last year with Humberto Soto and sadly was rewarded with a disqualification victory he didn't deserve? At least Adjaho got what he deserved. He was counted out while lying on the deck faking being hurt.
• I am still in a bit of shock over the death of Arturo Gatti, whom I loved. But I have found a bit of joy in watching some of his classic fights over the past week. I also smiled when I thought about a fantasy match that could perhaps play out in the heavens: Gatti against fellow warrior Diego "Chico" Corrales, who also died way too young. They fought in the same weight divisions, fought with a similar never-say-die attitude and had a knack for the miracle comeback. I don't know who would win the fight, say at 135 or 140 pounds, but I know this: It would be exciting, and both of them would fight until the bitter end trying to win and thrilling the fans along the way.
• DVD pick of the week: How could it be anything other than a Gatti video this week? I watched a bunch of his fights from my archive, but if I have to pick one, I'm going with the first fight with Micky Ward. Even though Gatti lost a majority 10-round decision in the opening bout of their epic trilogy, it probably was the best action fight of Gatti's career, which is saying a whole lot. The ninth round was perhaps the best round of the trilogy and one of the best in boxing history. They met May 18, 2002, at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, and believe it or not, it was one of only two Gatti fights I didn't cover in person from the time I started covering boxing full time in early 2000 through the end of his career in 2007. I came down with a bad flu a couple of days before the fight and couldn't travel. I watched the fight with a fever and wash cloth on my head, half-dead on the bed in a guest room in my old townhouse. After seeing the heart Gatti and Ward both showed in that fight, I kind of felt like a wuss for having let a little ol' flu bug keep me from being ringside.
In May, I wrote that hell may have frozen over because I agreed with the WBC on something. In that instance, I sided with the banditos for stripping junior middleweight titleholder Vernon Forrest of their title because of his blatant ducking of interim titleholder and mandatory challenger Sergio Martinez, who clearly deserved to fight for the full-fledged title.
Now, to my shock, I find myself agreeing with the WBC for the second time in three months. Crazy, huh?
In this case, I was delighted to hear from WBC president Jose Sulaiman that his organization was going to stay out of the way when it came to Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic, the super middleweight tournament that was officially unveiled this week.
"The WBC extends its full official authorization to the tournament and will absolutely cooperate and actively participate in any matter that may need our collaboration," Sulaiman said.
In the tournament, six of the top 168-pounders will meet in a series of fights in a round-robin over the 18 months beginning in the fall, with the top four advancing to the semifinals on a points system.
The exciting event includes WBC titleholder Carl Froch (hence Sulaiman's interest), WBA titleholder Mikkel Kessler, former undisputed middleweight champ Jermain Taylor, Arthur Abraham (who gave up a middleweight belt last week to join the party) and 2004 U.S. Olympic medal winners and rising contenders Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell.
Part of the deal the fighters and promoters agreed to with Showtime contained very specific language that explicitly says the tournament bouts take precedence over a mandatory defense, although Kessler will be permitted to make his overdue mandatory against the extremely undeserving Gusmyl Perdomo, probably in early September.
Although the tournament would have gone forward even without Sulaiman's blessing, it made sense for him to back the event, so I'm not going to make the WBC out to be a bunch of saints. But at least it got on board without any issues.
Froch holds the organization's title, while Ward, Froch and Taylor are its top 3 ranked contenders. Although Kessler holds a belt from a different organization, he has a relationship with the WBC because he used to hold one of its belts.
"I am personally very proud to see that under the leadership of Showtime, some of the most important promoters of the world will work together in what promises to be a very interesting series of fights involving the best fighters in the division," Sulaiman said. "The WBC has been very closely associated with most of them, and we are certain that the ultimate winner will be a hero to the world.
"To my dear promoters and friends, Gary Shaw, Lou DiBella, Mick Hennessy, Dan Goossen and Wilfried Sauerland, and to the managers of all the fighters, please accept my congratulations for making this happen. Boxing needs to stand up and make great events like this, which can only be accomplished with unity, reciprocity and hard work."
Although I generally disagree with Sulaiman on whether grass is green or the sky is blue, it's hard to disagree with that sentiment, even though the reasons for the WBC's decision probably have much more to do with business and the sanction fees that will roll in than anything more pure.
The death of Arturo Gatti on Saturday hit the boxing community very, very hard. He was a special fighter who provided fight fans (and writers) with more thrills than anyone in recent years. Fight after fight, he left it all in the ring.
He may be gone, but we will always have our memories and videos. ESPN Classic ran a marathon of classic Gatti bouts on Sunday night. Now, HBO, which was Gatti's home for all of his important fights, will honor the beloved fighter, who fought on the network 21 times and was one of its cornerstones from 1995 until his retirement in 2007.
When I traded e-mails with HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg on Saturday afternoon after we had heard about Gatti's untimely death at age 37, I mentioned that I hoped the network would pay tribute to him. Greenburg wrote back and said it certainly would, and he didn't waste any time.
HBO announced Monday that it will commemorate Gatti's career with replays of all three fights in his epic trilogy with Micky Ward on Friday and Saturday. The first and third fights both won fight of the year honors and the second fight was also pretty darn good.
The three fights -- Gatti won the second and third -- will air on the HBO2 service at 9 p.m. ET/PT Friday and at 10:15 a.m. ET/PT Saturday on the main HBO service. The three fights will air consecutively on both days. The trilogy will also be available on HBO On Demand from July 20 to Aug. 16.
Ward won the first thrilling slugfest by decision on May 18, 2002. That fight featured the now-legendary ninth round. Gatti took decisions in the Nov. 23, 2002, rematch and June 7, 2003, finale, which also marked Ward's retirement fight.
Get your DVRs and DVD recorders ready, and maybe even a few tissues.
The official news conference to formally announce Showtime's historic six-man super middleweight championship tournament won't happen until Monday afternoon at New York's famed Madison Square Garden, but news of the tournament -- which will feature Mikkel Kessler, Carl Froch, Arthur Abraham, Jermain Taylor, Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell -- is already eliciting strong reaction throughout boxing.
As far as I can tell, all of it is positive save for a few quibbles, the most common of which is, "Why isn't Lucian Bute in it?"
Still, everyone I have heard from seems to grasp the near-impossible task that Showtime, boxing chief Ken Hershman in particular, has pulled off.
It's hard enough to get two fighters with the same promoter to agree to a big fight. It's almost impossible to get six fighters with five promoters spread across the globe to agree to a series of 12 fights over 18 months. Yet, Showtime somehow did it. Hershman and his staff deserve a pat on the back, as do the promoters, fighters and their managers.
Might something come up to throw this tournament off track? Undoubtedly there will be issues. We'd all be foolish to think it will come off without a hitch. But at least it will start with the best of intentions.
Fight fans will win. Showtime and its international broadcast partners will win. And the six fighters, who all claim to want to fight the best, will get that opportunity. And somebody, maybe even more than one from the bunch, is going to emerge from this thing as a global boxing star.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer promotes super middleweight contender Librado Andrade of Mexico, who is due to face Bute, the Canadian-based Romanian titleholder, in a rematch this fall. Schaefer would have liked to see invitations for Bute and Andrade. But even though they weren't invited, he still praised Showtime for its efforts in putting the tournament together.
"I think it is great news for the sport of boxing when another network [other] than HBO steps up to the plate and puts together a series of terrific fights," Schaefer said. "It helps everyone involved in boxing. The winner here is the fight fans. What I particularly like [is] how all these promoters can work together. This is what I always hoped for. I truly hope that nobody will criticize in any form this great concept and [these] fights. I hope that Showtime is going to use its access to CBS to put together some sort of reality programming to introduce these relatively unknown fighters to a wider audience and make them household names.
"I see, as well, tremendous sponsorship opportunities with in-store activations if CBS would put their reach behind it. This can truly be an event of global significance. They have a Danish fighter, a German, Americans, a Brit. [It] would have been great to include a Canadian/Romanian and a Mexican, but again, no criticism, just praise."
• First things first: I love the idea of the six-man super middleweight tournament being spearheaded by Showtime. I wish other divisions had similar plans. Imagine the kinds of fights we'd see if there was one at welterweight or junior welterweight?
If the Showtime round-robin at 168 pounds is finalized, I think it might be the biggest boxing story of the year.
For those who missed my July 4 blog (yeah, I've been known to work holidays) on the tournament, it's a nine-fight round-robin of pre-determined bouts followed by semifinals and a final. The tournament would commence in October and finish in May or June of 2011. Fighters will fight at least three times, with the top four advancing to the seeded semifinals on a points system.
The tournament includes six of the top names in the division: titleholders Mikkel Kessler and Carl Froch, former middleweight champ Jermain Taylor, rising contenders Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell and middleweight titlist Arthur Abraham, who would dump his belt at 160 pounds and move up in weight to participate. It has the potential to be very exciting for everyone involved, including boxing fans around the world.
Showtime is working hard to get it all wrapped up with the hope of staging a kickoff news conference Monday in New York. That's not a lot of advance warning, but hopefully everyone who needs to sign paperwork will in time. But when you're dealing with six fighters and five promoters spread across four countries, things can get complicated. It's no wonder Showtime boxing honcho Ken Hershman hasn't found time to respond to media inquiries, even with a "no comment."
From what I hear, there are a few issues holding up the announcement. One is the promotional status of Kessler. He has been in a legal battle with Danish promoter Mogens Palle, who has been working on a settlement that would see German promoter Sauerland Event, which also handles Abraham, take over Kessler's contract. But it's not done yet.
There are also more mundane issues, such as the travel. Besides a New York news conference, Showtime also wants media events in Europe next week and there has been some bickering over who will foot the bill for such expensive last-minute overseas travel. These big deals really do come down to the minutiae sometimes.
Talking to various sources and hearing how this thing is unfolding is sort of like watching sausage get made. At the end of the day, most people don't really care about that. They just want to eat it.
Boxing fans, I believe, just want to see the fights happen.
I've heard some criticisms here and there, however. Some have wondered why Taylor, who is 1-3 in his past four, including two knockout losses, was invited to participate. That's fair. Some have railed against the exclusion of titleholder Lucian Bute. Some have asked why isn't it an eight-man single elimination tournament?
Those are all legitimate questions, but nothing is perfect. Tournaments are hard to put together. This one is ambitious, and I will be thankful if it comes off even close to the way it is outlined in the master contract.
• For the record, Don Majeski, an agent for Bute and his promoter, InterBox, told me that Bute did not reject an invitation to the tournament as some have said. He said Bute was never invited. If that's true, it's a travesty.
• I always thought that Wladimir Klitschko would have knocked out David Haye had their June 20 fight come off. Haye, unfortunately, pulled out on short notice. Now it looks like Haye is going to fight for Vitali Klitschko's title Sept. 12 instead. Guess what? I think Vitali will smoke Haye even easier than I thought Wladimir would have.
• Now that Shane Mosley has returned to reality and plans to fight this fall (having finally realized he isn't going to get Manny Pacquiao), I have this funny feeling he will wind up facing Zab Judah. Just a feeling.
• Seems like Floyd "Money" Mayweather ought to change his nickname to "Needs Money." According to public records obtained by The Associated Press, Mayweather is millions in debt. Mayweather's tax issues have been an open secret, but seeing the specific numbers was still surprising. The AP's report paints a pretty harsh portrait of the fighter, who has been known to travel carrying tens of thousands of dollars in a paper bag (I've seen it), and who brags about his supposed wealth. But according to the report, he owes the IRS $6.17 million, not to mention $193,000 in back taxes to New Jersey, $9,400 to three homeowners' associations, $3,900 to a contractor who did work in his home and even $320.10 to his garbage collector. Come on, man, at least pay the trash man! Mayweather is a tremendous fighter, and maybe he legitimately misses the competition and the roar of the crowd. But anyone who believes that money isn't the driving reason for him coming out of retirement is crazy.
• Heavyweight contender Eddie Chambers was in tremendous condition for his impressive win last week against Alexander Dimitrenko. If only he had been in that kind of shape when he fought Alexander Povetkin, who handed him his only loss.
• Here are a few guys I'd like to see get some exposure (or even more exposure) on American television: Jorge Linares, Marcos Maidana, Fernando Guerrero and Jean Pascal.
• The clowns at the WBA are at it yet again. Once again, they'll have three so-called champions in the same division, which means triple the sanctioning fees. It must be a great gig when you can get into three different pockets and be paid three times for the same thing. The latest abomination is courtesy of the lightweight division, where Juan Manuel Marquez reigns as the "super champion" and Paulus Moses is the "regular champion." On July 25 the horrific hat trick will be completed when the winner of the Urbano Antillon-Miguel Acosta bout is declared "interim champion." It's an absolute disgrace and a farce. Why is it that anyone still takes this wretched organization seriously?
• So how are those big plans for Tavoris Cloud coming along?
• I am quite intrigued by the Aug. 15 heavyweight fight between American Kevin Johnson and Cuban Odlanier Solis, both of whom are undefeated and risking a lot. One question, though: Why is this fight on a Top Rank pay-per-view card, especially one featuring Filipinos? A fight like this belongs on HBO's "Boxing After Dark."
• So Johnny Tapia is back in jail. I'm just shocked.
• Welterweight Delvin Rodriguez has been a staple of ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights" for years. Isaac Hlatshwayo has also appeared on the network, including his upset of Nate Campbell. So it is particularly disappointing that their Aug. 1 fight for a vacant world title (and a rematch of last fall's exciting draw) won't be seen on ESPN2. The only American television for the bout will be regional cable. But if any fight ought to be on FNF, Rodriguez-Hlatshwayo II is it.
• I'm still totally bummed that Andreas Kotelnik's junior welterweight title defense against Amir Khan next week in England is not being televised, even on pay-per-view, in the United States.
• DVD pick of the week: There was a time when important fights were a staple of network television. I miss those days, but fortunately I have many of those old matches in my archives. So I went back to Sept. 3, 1988, in Atlantic City, N.J., for a fight that would absolutely be on HBO or Showtime if happened today. Back then it was an afternoon fight on ABC. It was Meldrick Taylor against Buddy McGirt. Taylor was a 21-year-old prodigy four years removed from winning an Olympic gold medal. McGirt was an experienced veteran riding a 10-fight winning streak and making his second junior welterweight title defense. Taylor, however, had the faster hands and harder punches. He outboxed McGirt and wore him down. Finally, Taylor notched the 12th-round TKO when McGirt trainer Al Certo jumped in the ring to save his man, who was cut, getting tagged with ease and clearly out of gas. Less than two years later, Taylor would lose the title in his unification match against Julio Cesar Chavez.
Welterweight champ Shane Mosley fought the good fight in trying to convince pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao to fight him this fall.
He launched a vigorous campaign to get Pacquiao into the ring, enlisting his publicists to battle on his behalf with a series of press releases. He had his business partners at Golden Boy Promotions, Oscar De La Hoya and CEO Richard Schaefer, fighting for him. De La Hoya even made phone calls to select media members to plead Mosley's case.
Mosley also made all sorts of concessions in a bid to entice Pacquiao to fight him. Mosley said he'd ask for only 40 percent of the money and was willing to agree to a contract weight somewhere in the low 140s to appease the smaller Pacquiao.
But nothing worked because Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, with no disrespect to Mosley, had designs on another fight for Pacquiao. Arum is moving forward with plans to match Pacquiao with his other big star, welterweight titlist Miguel Cotto. Arum says he is close to making the deal under which Pacquiao and Cotto will meet Nov. 14 in Las Vegas on HBO PPV.
Mosley has now come to the realization that if he wants to fight before the end of the year, he'll have to find another dance partner. Pacquiao and Cotto (who already owns a close decision win against Mosley, who would like a rematch) are unavailable, and unretiring former pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. is fighting lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez on Sept. 19 (in a fight rescheduled from July 18 because of Mayweather's rib injury).
Schaefer called me Monday afternoon to announce that Mosley was moving on.
"Our offer to Pacquiao is off the table," Schaefer said. "We're moving on. Shane was like a volcano, and he gave me my marching orders to go get him another fight. Now, I will be talking to some of these other names in the weight class. I'm going to be talking to HBO first and seeing what names they have in mind. But it is apparent that Shane will be returning live on HBO later this year. Eventually he will be the last man standing, and those other guys will have to fight him if they want to be the best."
Schaefer got in one more dig at the other stars -- Pacquiao, Cotto and Mayweather -- before moving on, however.
"He looked sensational [in January] when he knocked out Antonio Margarito," Schaefer said. "He looked so good that it hurt him to get one of these big guys. After the Ricardo Mayorga fight, they were interested because they felt he was an aging star. After the Margarito fight, Shane looked like an emerging star and they didn't want to fight him."
Mosley knocked Mayorga out in the final seconds of the 12th round last fall, but hadn't looked all that sharp before the stunning conclusion. Against Margarito, Mosley looked awesome.
"Shane called me earlier [Monday] and said that's it, he's had it," Shaefer said. "He's not waiting around anymore. He said, 'This guy [Pacquiao] is obviously scared of me. So let's move on.' Sugar Shane Mosley's career has not been built around Pacquiao. He already has a legacy of greatness. But eventually a Mayweather or Cotto or Pacquiao will need him. That day will come."
Schaefer, by the way, is promoting the Mayweather-Marquez fight, so he didn't really give Mayweather much grief for bypassing Mosley in favor of a lightweight.
Still, with Mosley moving on, it leads to the obvious question: Who will he fight in the fall?
The various names Schaefer mentioned as potential opponents were titlist Andre Berto, whom Mosley was close to making a deal with before the Margarito fight was finalized; Paul Williams, who has been dying for a fight with Mosley about as badly as Mosley was dying for one with Pacquiao; former undisputed champ Zab Judah, who had a fight canceled with Mosley about a year ago after Judah's infamous shower door incident; and former titlist Kermit Cintron, who was also scheduled at one time to face Mosley before a falling out with one of his former promoters killed the fight.
"There are obviously names and opportunities out there," Schaefer said. "Shane made it clear what he wants, and now I have to go get it done. I really fully endorse Shane's decision to fight and not to wait for Pacquiao. He's shown a lot of patience. Some people feel he humiliated himself by offering himself up to Pacquiao. But he really wanted this fight and was willing to make major concessions. For whatever reason, it didn't happen, and life goes on."
In late 2002, I flew to South Florida to visit my grandmother for the 90th birthday party our family threw for her. She lived in a retirement community in Deerfield Beach, maybe a mile from promoter Don King's office building, which you can't miss because of the massive American flag that flies out front.
Newly inducted Hall of Fame matchmaker Bobby Goodman was still working for King at the time, and he knew I was going to be in town. One afternoon, he invited me over to the office for a look around and to chat boxing. King wasn't scheduled to be in that day, but just before I was about to leave, he arrived. I was summoned to his upstairs office.
For the next two hours or so, King proceeded to give me another tour -- this one way more detailed -- of the entire compound. Hanging on the walls all over the place were photos of fights King had promoted along with photos of the High-Haired One himself with a who's who of celebrity company. King stopped at virtually every single photo on every single wall and explained to me when and where each was taken and the context in which it was shot. There were photos of King taken all around the world with American presidents, other famous politicians, foreign heads of state, athletes, movie stars and famous musicians. You name him or her and there was a photo of King with that person. It was quite an enjoyable afternoon. King was low-key and in a storytelling mood. There was no bombast or hyperbole. That afternoon gave me a view of King that I had never seen before.
There was one photo that was more special to King than most of the others. It is one of King with Michael Jackson. Instead of hanging in King's office, the photo of him with the King of Pop -- taken circa 1983 at Jackson's house in Los Angeles -- is at King's home.
King has been friendly with the Jackson family for many years. He promoted the Jacksons' Victory Tour in 1984, which reunited the Jackson 5. He also brokered Michael's huge endorsement deal with Pepsi that resulted in the famous television commercials.
Like millions around the world, King was saddened by Jackson's recent death at age 50.
"I was shocked and saddened when I learned of Michael's passing, and I shared the pain of Joseph and Katherine Jackson, without whom there never would have been a Michael Jackson, and their sons and daughters," King said.
At the request of the Jackson family, King flew to Los Angeles on Monday to attend Tuesday's memorial service.
King said that his Showtime-televised boxing event at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla., on Saturday night -- which is headlined by bantamweight titlist Joseph Agbeko against junior bantamweight champ Vic Darchinyan -- also will serve as a tribute to Jackson.
"One never knows how they will react to something like this, and I found it hard to do media interviews or even issue a statement," King said. "Like so many other people around the world, I have been trying to find a way to remember this musical genius, who I loved and was a good friend of mine. My next boxing event is on [Saturday], so I have decided to pay tribute to him there in any way we can think of."
King has a massive video library of his fights, but it also contains some rare, behind-the-scenes video footage of him with Jackson and Jackson's family from about the time of the Victory Tour. King said he plans to play the footage on the big screens at the fight card.
"The Jackson 5 was black America's first family when they arrived on the scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s," King said. "Then everyone in America came to embrace them as their own. They were groundbreaking in that regard. America's first family today, the Obama family, is part of a transformation in America that began with the Jackson family."
Since Joe Calzaghe left the super middleweight division at the end of 2007 for two fights at light heavyweight and then retirement, the 168-pound division has been without a king, although there are several interesting and exciting fighters and potential matches in the weight class.
Showtime, of course, has been heavily invested in the division, broadcasting a number of significant bouts at 168 over the past year or so. It has also looked to the future of the division, which is one of the reasons it televised last week's Arthur Abraham middleweight title defense from Germany knowing full well that Abraham is on the verge of moving up in weight.
Now, Showtime is taking an even bigger plunge, and if the network's boxing chief, Ken Hershman, pulls off an audacious and ambitious plan, we will see the crowning of a new king in the division after a series of high-profile bouts between the fall and mid-2011.
Hershman is working hard to finalize a stunning six-man round-robin tournament involving most of the key fighters in the division: Carl Froch, Mikkel Kessler, Jermain Taylor, Andre Ward, Andre Dirrell and Abraham, who would move up in weight.
Showtime didn't respond to requests for comment, but I've been doing my own digging and have talked to multiple sources involved in what will be one of the most significant events in boxing in recent years.
If this thing comes off -- a big if -- it could be spectacular.
Keep in mind that tournaments are awfully hard to keep together. Anyone remember HBO's 1980s heavyweight tournament? But if everyone signs off on this one, they'll be committed on paper to a series of fights against predetermined opponents (except in the semifinals and finals).
The beauty of this tournament is that it's not an elimination tournament. Just because a fighter loses does not mean he is out of the competition. On the contrary. His career will go on and he will have a chance to regenerate himself for good money against another fighter in the round robin. Win or lose, each fighter will fight on, collecting points based on how their fights go. I'll get to the particulars on that in a minute.
Here are the details as I know them, and keep in mind that not all of the promoters involved, including Gary Shaw, Lou DiBella, Wilfried Sauerland, Dan Goossen and Mick Hennessy, have officially signed off yet.
The first two bouts are tentatively scheduled for Oct. 10 with Froch, of England, defending his belt in the United Kingdom against American rising contender Dirrell. There has been some talk of a Froch-Kelly Pavlik fight on HBO in the fall, but that seems unlikely now. Entering the tournament makes a lot of sense for Froch, who has been unable to attract big TV money in his home country.
On the same telecast, but in Germany, Abraham is supposed to move up in weight to face former middleweight champ Taylor, who was knocked out by Froch in the 12th round of an April super middleweight title challenge. It's a tough way for Taylor to make his return, but he can make a statement by beating Abraham.
The third fight in what is supposed to be a 12-bout tournament would see titleholder Kessler, who has been bogged down in a dispute with promoter Mogens Palle, come to America and defend against Ward on Nov. 7. Presumably, that bout will take place in Ward's hometown of Oakland, Calif., or in that region. Presumably, Kessler will have settled his differences with Palle or gone to another promoter.
The fourth bout is supposed to take place Jan. 30 in America with Abraham facing Dirrell. Abraham has long wanted to campaign in America, so this also makes sense.
The next fight, taking place in March 2010, would be Froch against Kessler in either the U.K. or Kessler's native Denmark.
The sixth fight would match Ward and Taylor in the United States in April or May 2010. There is also a possibility of Ward-Taylor and Froch-Kessler taking place on the same date with Showtime doing a split-site show.
Fight No. 7 would pit 2004 U.S. Olympic gold medalist Ward against teammate and bronze medalist Dirrell in July or August 2010 in the United States.
The eighth fight of the tournament would match Froch and Abraham, also in July or August 2010 in Europe. It also might be paired with Dirrell-Ward on another split-site show.
In September 2010, Kessler would face Taylor in the U.S. in the final bout of the preliminary matches.
The semifinals are slated for January 2011, with the final, to be held in the U.S., penciled in for May or June 2011.
The way fighters will advance to the semifinals is by collecting points. A fighter will get two points for a victory, with an additional point given for a knockout. One point is awarded for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss.
The four fighters with the highest point totals advance to the semifinals and will be seeded based on who has the most points. The fighter who has racked up the most points faces the fighter among the four semifinalists with the fewest points. The No. 2 and No. 3 point earners face each other in the other semifinal.
And what if there is a tie in points at the semifinal stage? Easy. If two fighters who have already faced each other are tied, the winner of that bout will be the one to advance to the semis. If there is a tie between fighters who have not fought, the guy with the most stoppage wins in the tournament advances. If there is still a tie, they'll go to the official scorecards of each fighter's tournament bouts and add them up, with the leader advancing. If the ties continue, the ultimate decision will be made with a coin flip.
Hershman has been very thorough -- and secretive -- in this whole process. But, from what I understand, he made at least one trip to Germany to meet with Abraham's handlers. He also worked closely to get Al Haymon, the adviser of Taylor and Dirrell, on board before getting their promoters involved.
Hershman has come up with contingencies in the event of a no contest, a positive drug test and even if a fighter fails to make the 168-pound limit. There are also contingencies in the event of a draw in the semifinals, not to mention language in the contract that addresses everything from sponsorship revenue sharing to ticket allotments.
Hershman has also covered himself in another critical area, that of mandatory obligations of the titleholders. They won't get in the way. By entering the tournament, the fighters and their promoters expressly agree that the tournament takes precedence over a mandatory bout, although a mandatory could take place if it's within the context of the tournament.
If it all comes off, it will be a miracle. But the concept is exciting and you have to figure we'll see some good fights before somebody inevitably falls out. Showtime, of course, has a mechanism in place to replace a boxer who falls out of the tournament.
Showtime is going to play this up big, which it should. There will be at least four kickoff news conferences scheduled for New York, London, Copenhagen and Berlin. Los Angeles might also be added. While the fighters are in New York for that media event, they are obligated to participate in a Showtime video and photo shoot in order for the network to assemble what it needs for what figures to be a heavy marketing and promotional campaign.
By the way, there is one glaring omission from the tournament: titleholder Lucian Bute of Canada. He's scheduled to face top contender Librado Andrade in a fall mandatory fight, a bout that Golden Boy won the purse bid for last week with an offer of $1.211 million, which beat the $1.195 bid from Bute promoter InterBox.
The first time they met, Bute beat Andrade in a controversial fight that Showtime aired. From what I am told, Showtime wanted Bute in the tournament but his handlers wouldn't commit to the tournament format. So be it.
Meanwhile, it remains to be seen what Golden Boy, which promotes Andrade, is going to do with the fight. It's a bit too rich to be on a pay-per-view undercard, and it also makes absolutely no sense as an HBO fight, given the network's total disinterest in the 168-pound division. Of course, HBO is closely aligned with Golden Boy, so I guess it might do it for that reason.
But Bute-Andrade II is only one fight and, frankly, not really a big one at that.
The big ones would be on Showtime. It's made a serious commitment at 168 pounds. Between the recent bouts it has aired and the plans for this incredible tournament, Showtime has the division locked up, and fight fans will be the happy beneficiaries of its smart game plan.
Shane Mosley's disappointment notwithstanding, the big fight of the fall -- welterweight titlist Miguel Cotto against pound-for-pound king/junior welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao -- remains on track.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum intends to finalize the HBO PPV bout for Nov. 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. It's going to be huge, but it's just not done yet.
These things take time, especially when Pacquiao is half a world away in the Philippines. But Arum doesn't seem concerned. He told me last weekend when I was in Atlantic City, N.J., covering his "Latin Fury 9" pay-per-view card that things on the Cotto side were agreed to in principle and they were just ironing out the "the small stuff."
Arum apparently isn't too concerned about working things out with Pacquiao, either, because he took off Wednesday for a two-week European vacation.
Last week, Arum met with Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz in Las Vegas and delivered him an offer to take to Pacquiao. Although nobody wants to say anything publicly, it is believed that Pacquiao would receive at least a $12 million guarantee plus a generous upside on the pay-per-view sales and other considerations.
Koncz was supposed to return to the Philippines on Sunday to meet with Pacquiao to discuss the proposal, but he wound up staying in the United States a little longer than expected and won't leave until Friday.
Koncz said that once he arrives in the Philippines, he'll meet with Pacquiao. So far, Koncz likes what he sees in the offer.
"I'll relay the offer to Manny when I get to the Philippines, but we're in the same ballpark with [Arum]," Koncz told me from Las Vegas on Wednesday. "I was pleasantly surprised with the offer. But it's a negotiation, so we probably won't accept the first offer, but we're not far off. The talks I had with Bob were good. So I will bring Manny the offer. We'll probably counter, but I think it will get worked out. We're really not that far off. I can't say for sure, though, because Manny makes that decision, but I think it looks good. This is the fight Manny says he wants."
The weight for the fight hasn't been set in stone, but it's going to be either 144 or 145 pounds. Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach told me he would be OK with 145 if necessary. Arum said he thought Cotto would be able to safely make 144 based on what his nutritionist said.
Either way, a fight of this magnitude isn't going to fall apart over one pound. The folks at Top Rank are so confident that the fight will happen that they are already having internal discussions about the undercard, which could include junior lightweight titlist Humberto Soto and junior middleweight prospect Vanes Martirosyan, who was impressive in his sixth-round knockout of Andrey Tsurkan on last week's "Latin Fury 9" undercard.
I figure once Arum is back from vacation, it won't be too long until an official announcement for the fight is made.
Wednesday's news of the death of Hall of Famer and former three-division champion Alexis Arguello at age 57 hit the boxing world hard.
The sport had lost one of its all-time greats, and flyweight titleholder Nonito Donaire had lost one of his heroes. Donaire is a huge fan of Arguello.
"When I found out, I was kind of sad. I mean, that's Arguello," Donaire told me over the phone from Las Vegas, only hours after the announcement of Arguello's untimely death. "He was a gentleman of the game. One thing I learned from him was to be a gentleman."
Donaire (21-1, 14 KOs), born in the Philippines and living in California, was in Las Vegas for a news conference to formally announce Top Rank's "Pinoy Power 2" pay-per-view card on Aug. 15 at the Hard Rock.
In the main event, Donaire will face Panama's Rafael Concepcion (13-3-1, 8 KOs) for a vacant interim junior bantamweight title. Donaire currently holds a flyweight title, which he won with a spectacular fifth-round knockout of Vic Darchinyan in 2007, but he is on the verge of giving it up in order to move up to junior bantamweight, where he contested many of his fights before beating Darchinyan for the title.
Although we discussed his upcoming fight, Donaire really wanted to talk about Arguello. He said he was "crushed" by his death.
Donaire's father and uncle were serious Arguello fans, and it rubbed off on him as a kid. Now he has a collection of Arguello fights that he watches regularly. "Every one of his big fights," Donaire said proudly, adding that he also has collections of fights of other "old-school fighters," such as Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran.
"My father and uncle were big fans of Arguello," Donaire said. "When I was in the process of learning to throw the hook, my dad would show me Arguello's moves. He throws his hook at an angle, almost like an uppercut, and that's how I throw my hook, because of Arguello. My dad taught it to me that way."
It was that left hook that knocked out Darchinyan in Donaire's biggest victory.
"We watched Arguello on tape and we would go over it," Donaire said. "I remember being very young, maybe 11 or 12, and my dad saying, 'This is how Arguello throws his hook.'"
Donaire never had a chance to meet Arguello, "but I was a big fan. I felt so sad when I heard he had died. He's not only a great fighter. I got a lot of things from him. He was a gentleman, and that always stuck with me. That's what I always try to be. He was just an incredible fighter. Rest in peace, Arguello."
It was a little past 9 a.m. on Wednesday when I went downstairs to my office and began my day, like I always do, by checking my e-mail. I had one from an editor in Bristol that contained an Associated Press urgent news bulletin that simply read:
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) -- Managua Mayor Alexis Arguello, former boxing champion, found dead at his home.
An awful way to start the day, especially when it's the death of one of your favorite fighters. According to reports out of Nicaragua, Arguello, 57, had been suffering from depression and shot himself in the chest.
The horrible end to his life, however, won't change how millions felt about him. He was the favorite fighter of millions of Nicaraguans and others, like me, who appreciated his tremendous skill and crowd-pleasing style inside the ring and his friendly nature outside of it.
Arguello was truly a great fighter who could do it all. He was a master tactician, he could punch, he was tenacious and skilled. And his countrymen so loved him that he carried the Nicaraguan flag at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was elected mayor of Managua, the capital of his country, later in the year.
Arguello had been a controversial figure in his country for fighting with the Contras against the Sandinista government in the 1980s, before eventually joining the party for his run for mayor.
Whatever the personal demons he fought -- Arguello struggled with alcohol and drugs, and had talked openly of his suicidal thoughts -- and whatever his political ideology, I admired him for what he did inside the ring and for how he behaved toward me the few times we met.
I was fortunate to have done so several times in recent years. Arguello was always a gentleman. When talking to him, it was sometimes hard to imagine this was the same killer I saw in the ring on television and on the tapes and DVDs I've watched over and over.
The last time I saw Arguello was in May 2008, ringside at the Oscar De La Hoya-Steve Forbes fight in Carson, Calif. Arguello walked over to the press area to mingle and chat before the fight. Afterward, he returned to offer his two cents on De La Hoya's performance, which he didn't think was particularly good despite De La Hoya's decision victory.
The tributes to Arguello came quickly.
Top Rank's Bob Arum, who promoted many Arguello fights: "We at Top Rank are very saddened to learn about the death of Alexis Arguello. Alexis was one of the world's greatest fighters and champions. More importantly, he was a real man, true gentleman and loyal friend. He will be greatly missed."
Edward Brophy, the executive director of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, where Arguello was enshrined in 1992: "Alexis Arguello was a first-class fighter and a first-class gentleman. The Hall of Fame joins the boxing community in mourning the loss of a great champion and friend."
The Hall of Fame in Canastota, N.Y., will fly its flags at half-mast in memory of the great champion.
If you made a list of the top 10 fights in boxing history, his epic first battle with rival Aaron Pryor would have to be on it. They waged 14 rounds of unforgettable warfare at the highest skill level the sport had to offer. Entering the Nov. 12, 1982 bout at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Arguello was the heavy fan favorite. A former featherweight and junior lightweight champion, and the reigning lightweight champion, Arguello was attempting to become the first fighter in boxing history to win titles in four weight divisions.
Standing in his way was Pryor, the undefeated junior welterweight champion. They produced an all-time classic, ending only when Arguello, slumped against the ropes and taking a pounding, could take no more, prompting the referee to jump in and stop the fight in the 14th round.
Ten months later, Pryor stopped Arguello in the 10th round of their rematch. Who could forget the scene of Arguello, a beaten man, sitting on the canvas and taking the full count, knowing he simply could not beat Pryor?
But Arguello, who finished his extraordinary 27-year career with a record of 82-8 (including 65 knockouts), should certainly be remembered for far more than his losses to Pryor, memorable though they were.
As a longtime collector of boxing videos, I have gone out of my way over the years to obtain a number of Arguello fights.
Of my many thousands of fights on tape and DVD, the first Pryor-Arguello fight -- a mint DVD of the original HBO telecast -- has been watched a lot. I said to a friend this morning, after hearing the news of Arguello's death, that if it were possible to wear out a DVD, that one would be. But there are others that I'm happy to have in my collection, including fights with Andy Ganigan, Rey Tam and the first fight with Alfredo Escalera, whom Arguello knocked out in the 13th round to win the junior lightweight title. Believe it or not, all three of those bouts I just mentioned were on network television. Arguello's regular fighting schedule and exposure on the broadcast networks are what helped him become such a fan favorite.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back upstairs to pull out some of those videos.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- The reach of Michael Jackson, who died Thursday at age 50, was worldwide. All the way to the African country of Cameroon.
That's where Olivier Lontchi grew up before moving to Montreal, where he relocated to as an adult to pursue his professional boxing career.
Lontchi (18-0-2, 8 KOs) will challenge Puerto Rico's Juan Manuel Lopez (25-0, 23 KOs) for a junior featherweight title Saturday night in the main event of Top Rank's "Latin Fury 9" pay-per-view, and Jackson's music will be part of Lontchi's motivation.
Lontchi grew up as a huge fan of Jackson and his music. So devastated by the passing of the King of Pop was Lontchi that he made a special request to the Top Rank technical crew producing the show.
"Lontchi came up to me [Friday] morning and specifically asked Top Rank's technical crew to download as many of Michael Jackson's songs as possible to play in his locker room [Saturday] night for inspiration," Top Rank publicist Lee Samuels said. "Michael Jackson is his all-time favorite artist, and Olivier is making his ring entrance to Jackson's 'Thriller' music video. I wouldn't be surprised if he moonwalked into the ring."
Samuels said the video will be projected on screens inside the Boardwalk Hall ballroom where the fight will take place.
Samuels added that the DJ Top Rank hired to keep the fans entertained between rounds and bouts will rely on a heavy dose of Jackson's music in tribute.
Hopefully, the card itself is a "Thriller," and not "Bad."
On the other side of the country, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where Jackson lived and had been rehearsing at the arena this week for his upcoming soldout concerts in England, there is an HBO boxing card on Saturday night.
Junior welterweights Victor Ortiz and Marcos Maidana meet for a vacant junior welterweight belt in the main event. Golden Boy will honor Jackson with a traditional 10-bell count. Also, Golden Boy's David Itskowitch said that the company will request that all of the fighters on the card walk out to Jackson songs.
One very brief press release sent to media across the boxing world by German promoter Wilfried Sauerland and a couple of quotes in the Russian media on Wednesday set off a near frenzy with the supposed news that heavyweight titlist Nikolai Valuev, who is co-promoted by Sauerland, and fellow titleholder Vitali Klitschko had agreed to fight.
A few days earlier, Klitschko was freed from a nonsensical mandatory defense against Oleg Maskaev when he won a binding arbitration case against the WBC and Maskaev that allowed Klitschko to make an optional defense.
Valuev, meantime, had seen his May 30 defense against Ruslan Chagaev implode 24 hours before the fight because Chagaev had tested positive for hepatitis B and was ruled ineligible to fight by the Finnish commission, although he was allowed to fight three weeks later in Germany. Klitschko's baby brother, Wladimir Klitschko, smashed Chagaev to smithereens over 10 lopsided rounds in their heavyweight championship fight.
On the surface, the possibility of a Vitali Klitschko-Valuev unification fight made some sense. Then came the release that stoked the fire. "Please find attached two quotes regarding a potential fight between WBA heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev and WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko," the release read.
And then there were the quotes.
One was attributed to Valuev: "It is true. We want to make it happen."
The other, to Sauerland: "I know of a phone conversation between Niko and Vitali. That is why I spoke to Vitali about a potential fight when I met him last weekend at Boris Becker's wedding. I will get in touch with Vitali in the next days."
Then came the reports out of Moscow, which fanned the flames. Russian media outlets quoted Valuev as saying, "I've talked to Vitali on the phone recently and we agreed to meet each other in a ring. As far as the dates, we're talking about the end of September or early October."
There's only one problem: It's not true.
Incensed by the Sauerland press release and Russian media reports, Klitschko manager Bernd Boente called me Wednesday from Germany to express his outrage and set the record straight.
"It's nonsense," Boente told me. "Sauerland is always doing the same thing, negotiating through the media. We have not talked to them. Valuev has called Vitali and asked him if he was interested in the fight, but he said there was no reason to negotiate with him because behind him it is Sauerland and Don King who make the decisions. Valuev can't make decisions.
"Anyway, we are at this moment not interested in Valuev because it is not financially interesting. The WBA title is of no interest to us because Wladimir beat the WBA champion [in recess, Chagaev], who beat Valuev. And because of that, there is no interest. And to deal with Sauerland and King is horrible. We are interested in other fights and names who would be more interesting to boxing fans and the media. We think fights with David Haye and Chris Arreola are way more interesting fights. We do not appreciate that Sauerland is trying to negotiate through the media. We are not interested. Vitali is not interested."
Boente said Valuev had his chance at a Klitschko. After Valuev-Chagaev II fell apart and then Haye backed out of his fight with Wladimir on three weeks' notice, Valuev was offered a chance to face Wladimir on June 20 and turned it down.
"He had his chance to fight Wladimir for the title and he showed he had no heart," Boente said.
Boente suggested that Valuev ought to make his mandatory defense against John Ruiz and "then we will see what is next."
Boente said he has been in touch with Haye trainer and manager Adam Booth about a possible fight with Vitali in the fall. Boente also said that Shelly Finkel, the American adviser to the Klitschko brothers, has talked to Arreola adviser Al Haymon.
Valuev attorney Pat English backed up Boente's claim that there is no deal for the fight.
"My understanding is that shortly after the Chagaev fiasco, Nicolai and Vitali spoke, originally on an entirely different topic. During the conversation, one said to the other that they would like to fight and the second agreed that it would be a good idea," English said. "As of now that is the extent of it. There is no deal."
English added that Valuev would like to fight Vitali in a unification match at some point, but "interest in a fight is far from a done deal."
• I was thinking of pulling out of this blog because I have a sore hand from so much typing. But in light of all the fight postponements and cacellations this summer, I thought I'd just suck it up for the Fight Freaks.
It's been a rough few weeks in boxing with so many fights getting called off or delayed, mainly because of injuries. I've never seen a spate quite like it in almost a decade on the beat.
The biggest bummer, of course, was Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s rib injury, which spoiled his July 18 return against Juan Manuel Marquez and left a gaping hole in the summer schedule: not to mention the postponement of another four episodes of HBO's terrific "24/7." The fight is off until at least Sept. 19.
The other summer bummer was a back injury to David Haye, who bailed on his June 20 heavyweight championship fight with Wladimir Klitschko on three weeks' notice. The conspiracy theorists among us don't buy Haye's injury. They believe he pulled out because Setanta, the subscription television network in England that he had a contract with and the only source of his purse for the fight, was teetering on bankruptcy, and Haye was worried he wouldn't get paid. Sure enough, the network failed this week. Whatever the real reason Haye pulled out, he didn't fight and that was a downer.
Three weeks earlier was the Nikolai Valuev-Ruslan Chagaev heavyweight title-fight debacle that forced the bout to be called off on 24 hours notice. Fortunately, Klitschko and Chagaev, both in need of a dance partner, found each other. But fight fans still lost a good one.
There were other bummers as well. Andreas Kotelnik's infected tooth forced his junior welterweight title defense against Amir Khan to be delayed three weeks (from June 27 to July 18). Saturday's Top Rank "Latin Fury 9" pay-per-view card lost its top two fights when the Kelly Pavlik-Sergio Mora middleweight title fight went down the tubes (either because of a Pavlik staph infection or a contract dispute with Top Rank, depending on who you believe) and the co-feature of bantamweight titlist Fernando Montiel and Eric Morel was called off because of a Montiel hand injury.
Then, a few days ago came the news that featherweight titlist Chris John was suffering from a blood disorder, which forced him out of a rematch with Rocky Juarez on Saturday, reducing the HBO card to a single fight.
All of that, and it's still only June.
• I was a bit disappointed that Juarez, not his manager, trainer, promoter or HBO, turned down the opportunity to fight Saturday against willing late substitute Mario Santiago, after John bowed out. According to Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, Juarez elected to sit out the high-profile card because he didn't want to fight a southpaw on short notice. That's Juarez's prerogative, but it's a poor excuse, especially when you consider that Santiago would have entered the ring having not fought for one day shy of a calendar year and surely would have been a bit rusty. With TV dates in short supply for the rest of 2009, I don't see a slot left in which Juarez can fight, certainly not on HBO, whom you can be sure isn't too thrilled with him right now. He has disappointed too many times in big spots, and convincing HBO to do the John rematch in the first place was a bit of a reach. Juarez's cautious approach to Santiago is much like his approach has always been in the ring: playing it a bit too safe and a bit too passive to get over the hump, going 0-4-1 in world-title bouts.
• OK, so maybe Klitschko's flawless destruction of Chagaev wasn't overly exciting, even if it was ruthlessly effective. Hey, at least it was a lot better than Klitschko's fight with Sultan Ibragimov.
• I'm not sure what the future holds for cruiserweight contender B.J. Flores in the ring, but I thought he did a very solid job as the analyst for ESPN Classic's coverage of Klitschko-Chagaev.
• Our buddies over at the World Boxing Association are at it again. As if one "champion in recess" weren't enough -- Chagaev holds that joke title, even after being smashed to bits by Klitschko -- the WBA boys have quietly elevated interim junior flyweight titlist Giovani Segura to full titleholder and demoted Brahim Asloum to recess status. The madness will never end because, apparently, you can never have enough champions in recess.
• We all owe the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport a huge debt. Sanity prevailed when it sided with Vitali Klitschko over the WBC and Oleg Maskaev in binding arbitration, and refused to order Klitschko to make a worthless mandatory defense against the wholly undeserving Maskaev. Instead, Klitschko is free to take an optional defense. That means we'll likely get to see him fight Cris Arreola or Haye. I don't give either much of a shot against Klitschko, but at least neither fight is a retread. Either fight would be more interesting than seeing Klitschko face Maskaev.
• I have an idea that I think might help Shane Mosley land the fight with Manny Pacquiao he so desperately wants. Instead of allowing Oscar De La Hoya, Mosley's promotional partner and biggest advocate, to build a case with the media, why doesn't De La Hoya just fill up another briefcase full of cash and give it to Pacquiao to get him to sign? It worked once before, didn't it?
• I kinda miss Fernando Vargas.
• I really enjoyed last week's Jean Pascal-Adrian Diaconu fight and love the fact that Versus picked it up to broadcast to the American TV audience. I hope Versus does more fights like that. It could fill a real void. Pascal has been in some exciting fights in the past couple of years. If Chad Dawson defeats Glen Johnson in their fall rematch, I'd be very interested to see Dawson against Pascal in a unification fight.
• Paging Sakio Bika. …
• When Top Rank's Bob Arum told me the other day that he wants to eventually match Yuriorkis Gamboa, his latest signing, with Juan Manuel Lopez, it made me happy.
• Here's something you don't see too often: I think the undercard fight on the July 10 "Friday Night Fights," which features a match between light heavyweight contenders Shaun George and Chris Henry, is better than the main event of cruiserweight sMatt Godfrey and Shawn Hawk.
• Junior flyweight titlist Edgar Sosa is on a terrific run. His fifth-round, body-shot knockout of Carlos Melo last week was a thing of beauty. Sosa is the epitome of a late bloomer. I'd like to see him in a unification fight with Ivan Calderon.
• I wish Showtime was televising the Steve Cunningham-Wayne Braithwaite cruiserweight eliminator that's on the undercard of its July 11 show.
• How's this for a blast from the past? Former light heavyweight contender David Telesco is making a comeback July 16.
• DVD pick of the week: We all know about the famous great fights of the past decade. Diego Corrales-Jose Luis Castillo might be the best fight of all time. We also saw epic trilogy of Arturo Gatti-Micky Ward, Marco Antonio Barrera-Erik Morales and Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez. I've watched all of those fights over and over, and I was in the mood for a lesser-known but still-sensational slugfest that I hadn't viewed in awhile. So into the archive I went for the first battle between South Korea's Injin Chi and England's Michael Brodie, who met in Manchester, England, on Oct. 18, 2003. They waged a thrilling, grueling and bloody battle for a vacant featherweight title in which neither man would take a backward step. In the end, it was rulled a majority draw, with two judges having it 113-113 and the third having it 114-112 for Chi. Six months later, they met again in the same ring and Chi got his title, stopping Brodie in the seventh round of a fight that had a more definitive result but not nearly the memorable action of the first encounter.
While Top Rank promoter Bob Arum spent part of Thursday in Los Angeles trumpeting his July 25 "Latin Fury 10" pay-per-view -- which is headlined by Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and will include the Top Rank debut of electrifying interim featherweight titleholder Yuriorkis Gamboa -- he was also at work on two other fronts.
Arum, of course, promotes three of boxing's most significant fighters in pound-for-pound king and junior welterweight champ Manny Pacquiao, welterweight titlist Miguel Cotto, and middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik.
I talked with Arum the other day, and he provided updates on all three of them.
As you should all know by now, if you are even a remote boxing fan, Arum is trying to tidy up a deal for Pacquiao and Cotto to fight Nov. 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on HBO PPV.
The deal is moving forward, Arum said.
"I'm negotiating with both camps. It's the usual process," Arum said.
Arum said he has been in regular touch with Cotto's lawyer since Cotto's hard-fought decision win against Joshua Clottey on Saturday at New York's Madison Square Garden, where Pacquiao sat next to Arum and indicated midfight that he wanted Cotto next.
"We have a number of points we are talking through, but nothing that's deal-breaking," Arum said. "Everything looks great."
As for the Pacquiao side, Arum said Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz is flying in from the Philippines to meet with him Sunday in Las Vegas. Arum said he plans to present a deal to Koncz, who will take it back to Pacquiao.
"I'm moving forward in an attempt to have this fight happen," Arum said.
One of the key points -- besides the financial breakdown, of course -- is the weight. Arum said that Cotto is willing to come below 147 pounds and that the contract maximum would wind up at 144 or 145. Stay tuned on that.
There is some minor concern that the brutal cut Cotto suffered over his left eye against Clottey could delay the fight, but Arum said it would be OK. Cotto needed 20 stitches in two cuts but said that the doctor said he should be good to spar around the end of September.
When Arum co-promoted Pacquiao's May 2 victory against Ricky Hatton, the pay-per-view fight was shopped to Showtime before Arum and Golden Boy settled on HBO. In the case of Cotto-Pacquiao, which Arum would control by himself, he said HBO PPV has dibs based on the deal he made with the network to carry Cotto-Clottey.
Arum said part of the discussion with HBO was the production of a "24/7" series for Cotto-Pacquiao. "That would be part of our deal," Arum said.
On the Pavlik front, Arum and the champ have agreed to a contract extension, which appears to have made everyone happy. Contract issues are what forced a planned June 27 fight against Sergio Mora to be called off. Pavlik did have a staph infection in his hand, which was cited as the reason for the cancellation, but it wasn't serious enough to call off the fight. It did, however, provide Top Rank with a good cover story.
Nonetheless, Arum and HBO are now talking about a two- or three-fight deal for Pavlik, which would start in October, with a possible unification fight against Felix Sturm, who would first have to win a July 11 fight in Germany against Khoren Gevor. Top Rank and Universum are in talks.
"I'm waiting to hear from HBO on the money," Arum said, noting that the target date for the fight is Oct. 3 in Atlantic City, N.J.
A second fight on the Top Rank/HBO radar would come in early 2010. The opponents HBO would take -- and fights Arum said he'd like to make -- include middleweight titleholder Arthur Abraham (the fight I want to see) or a move up in weight to face super middleweight titlist Carl Froch. Top Rank and Abraham promoter Sauerland Event have already talked quite a bit about getting to a Pavlik-Abraham showdown. Before a Pavlik fight can materialize, Abraham has a June 27 defense against Mahir Oral and then has a mandatory due against Giovanni Lorenzo, which would take place in the fall.
For all of Arum's plans for Pavlik, he may have an issue with Mora and promoter Jeff Wald of Tournament of Contenders. Their side claims to have a contract for the fight with Pavlik. Don't expect them just to walk away without some considerations.
You can say what you want about the decision in last week's Miguel Cotto-Joshua Clottey fight. Some folks thought Clottey won; more people I have encountered since the fight thought Cotto won. I had it 116-111 (like one of the official judges) for Cotto, and have no doubt in my mind that he was the rightful winner of the fight, which I watched closely from the middle of Row 1, just a few feet from the ring apron.
When I got home, I rewatched the fight twice on my DVR, and there was one round in the middle of the fight that I scored for Cotto that I might consider changing to a Clottey round. But whatever you think of the decision, one thing I think we can all agree on is that Cotto showed immense heart in a fight against an excellent opponent.
That was a bad, bad cut over Cotto's left eye, incurred from an accidental head butt in the third round. We've seen it happen too often in recent fights: A guy suffers a cut and finds a way out in order to walk away with a technical decision or a no-contest. Yeah, I'm talking to you, Robert Guerrero and Hasim Rahman. But not Cotto. He easily could have said he wasn't able to see after the fourth round, when it became an official fight, and gone to scorecards for a technical decision. He led 39-36 on all three cards after four rounds. Had Cotto waited until after the fifth, he still would have been ahead 48-46 on all three cards. After the sixth, it was 58-55 across the board. But Cotto, despite blood flowing freely throughout, toughed it out like a fighter is supposed to -- and deserves everyone's respect for it.
I've covered 17 of Cotto's 35 fights from ringside and seen the rest on video. He never has given anything less than 100 percent or done anything but fight like a professional is supposed to, no matter what adversity he has faced. People seem to forget that sometimes.
• I thought referee Arthur Mercante Jr. did an excellent job for Cotto-Clottey. There were some touch-and-go moments when the fight could have gotten out of hand, but he kept control and got it right when he ruled that the cut over Cotto's left eye was caused by an accidental head butt instead of a punch. Good job.
• The fans at Cotto-Clottey -- almost all of them rooting for Cotto -- showed a lot of class by giving Manny Pacquiao, who was ringside for the fight, a rousing ovation when he was introduced to the crowd. I liked that, especially because many of them knew that Pacquiao very likely would be Cotto's next opponent if he beat Clottey. If Bob Arum finalizes Cotto-Pacquiao, it's going to be sensational. As for Clottey, even though he lost, he gained a lot of exposure and respect. That one loss did more for him than any other fight in his career, win or loss.
• Which do you think gave HBO more bang for its buck: the May rematch between Chad Dawson and Antonio Tarver, which cost about $3.2 million, or last week's tremendous battle between Cotto and Clottey, which cost HBO about $2.65 million and tied for the network's best boxing rating of the year? Hey, at least HBO bought the fight. Showtime didn't even bother to make an offer. I'm just sayin'.
• Hmmmm. Maybe it's just a coincidence that Floyd Mayweather Jr. suffered a rib injury, causing his July 18 fight with Juan Manuel Marquez to be postponed, when the fight was dead at the box office. I'm not surprised the fight died at the MGM Grand ticket window because, right or wrong, it was perceived as a mismatch by most -- not to mention that fights in Las Vegas in the brutal heat of the dead of summer usually are a disaster. So Mayweather can heal up and watch from the sideline as Cotto and Pacquiao make their deal to deliver a fight that fans will be truly excited about. I doubt they're going to have any trouble selling pay-per-view subscriptions or MGM Grand tickets for that one.
• Middleweight Daniel Jacobs is 16-0 -- soon to be 17-0 when he beats George Walton on ESPN2 on next week's "Friday Night Fights" -- and one of the best prospects in boxing. He has a crowd-pleasing style, a friendly demeanor outside the ring and maturity beyond his 22 years. He's also from the same Brooklyn neighborhood that produced Mike Tyson and Riddick Bowe. In other words, Jacobs is very promotable. So for the life of me, I wish I knew why Golden Boy hasn't made any effort whatsoever to promote him in his hometown. Other than an untelevised spot on the Joe Calzaghe-Roy Jones undercard at Madison Square Garden on a card Golden Boy was only peripherally involved in, Jacobs has fought almost exclusively on the West Coast (including six fights in Las Vegas and four in California). His fight with Walton is the main event in, of all places, Tucson, Ariz. It's fine to expose a young fighter to different audiences, but at some point you need to build a fighter's hometown fan base. So far, Jacobs has no hometown fan base because he doesn't fight at home.
• I was schmoozing with newly inducted International Boxing Hall of Famer Larry Merchant the other day. Impressed with what he has seen so far from Russian middleweight prospect and 2008 Olympian Matvey Korobov, Merchant said he could envision a significant fight between Korobov and Paul Williams in a few years. Later in the day I talked to Arum, Korobov's promoter -- the same man who fell in love with Merchant's idea for the Pacquiao-Oscar De La Hoya fight. So I mentioned it to him, and Arum liked it. "It could be," Arum said.
• It may not be the biggest fight in the world, but I am looking forward to seeing junior featherweight titlist Juan Manuel Lopez back in action next week against Olivier Lontchi. It's not because I think so highly of the match, it's because I think Lopez is exciting and could the next superstar Puerto Rican fighter.
• We all know Top Rank is one of the most powerful promoters in boxing. Literally. Does it have an impressive lineup of big punchers or what? It promotes Pacquiao (37 KOs in 49 wins), Cotto (27 KOs in 34 wins), Lopez (23 KOs in 25 wins), Kelly Pavlik (31 KOs in 35 wins), Edwin Valero (25 KOs in 25 fights), and it just added Yuriorkis Gamboa (13 KOs in 15 fights) to its roster. That's a Murderers' Row of big hitters.
• Just how many fights are going to be canceled or postponed? In just the past three weeks we've seen four major fights either canceled or delayed because of an injury or illness: Nikolai Valuev-Ruslan Chagaev, Wladimir Klitschko-David Haye, Andreas Kotelnik-Amir Khan and Mayweather-Marquez. At least Klitschko and Chagaev found each other and will fight for the heavyweight championship on Saturday. And don't forget: It's live at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN Classic. (Shameless plug.)
• Nice of promoter Don King to finally put tickets on sale Thursday for the July 11 fight between bantamweight titlist Joseph "King Kong" Agbeko and junior bantamweight champ Vic Darchinyan. Nothing like giving yourself only 24 days to sell seats for a big arena like the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla., which isn't exactly a boxing haven. At least King did one thing that makes sense: For a change, he priced tickets extremely well. Tickets are priced at $75, $40, $25 and $10 with a few "golden circle" seats for $200. It's an excellent card, and at that those prices it's definitely worth attending if you're in the area. I think this is the sleeper fight of the summer.
• If Bernard Hopkins, the No. 1 contender in the Ring Magazine light heavyweight rankings, is going to retire, I wish he would announce it so that the fall rematch between No. 2 Chad Dawson and No. 3 Glen Johnson can be for the vacant Ring Magazine belt.
• Don't forget: Versus has live coverage of what should be an excellent fight Friday night, when light heavyweight titlist Adrian Diaconu defends against fellow Montreal resident Jean Pascal. There will be 20,000 at the Bell Centre for the first title match in history between Montreal fighters. It should be quite a scene.
• I got a press release this week in which former junior welterweight titlist Vivian Harris announced that he is a free agent now that promoter Gary Shaw has given him the release he'd been asking for. My initial reaction: Who cares?
• I don't really have much interest in a rematch between junior flyweight champ Ivan "Iron Boy" Calderon and Rodel Mayol, who fought to a six-round technical draw last week on the Cotto-Clottey undercard. I'd much rather see Calderon face somebody like Edgar Sosa in a unification bout. They are clearly the two best in the division and the fight would have the additional intrigue of being another chapter in the storied rivalry between Puerto Rican and Mexican fighters.
• DVD pick of the week: When I got the news this week that Top Rank was moving Jorge Arce's fight with Fernando Lumacad from its card on Saturday in Mexico to next Saturday's pay-per-view show in Atlantic City, N.J., it got me thinking about Arce, one of the most exciting fighters of the past several years. So into the archive I delved for the one Arce fight that stands out above all others. It was March 19, 2005, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where Arce and Hussein Hussein waged a memorable battle on the HBO PPV undercard of the first Erik Morales-Pacquiao fight. Arce showed huge heart as he fought with a deep gash on the bridge of his nose. Hussein also took incredible punishment in the bloody, toe-to-toe battle until he could take no more as Arce won the flyweight title eliminator via 10th-round TKO. Often this great fight is overshadowed by the classic main event.
In any campaign, it always helps to have the big gun ready to fire. When Barack Obama was going head-to-head with John McCain last fall in the fight for the White House, Obama brought out some heavy ammunition when he needed a boost on the campaign trail. That's when he pulled the ace out of his sleeve, and dispatched former president Bill Clinton to make some key appearances for him.
That's sort of how it is right now for Sugar Shane Mosley, who needs all the help he can get in his own rough battle to land a big fight and has been surprisingly elusive since his masterful knockout performance of disgraced Antonio Margarito in January. It was a victory that gave Mosley a title, pushed him back to the top of the welterweight division and gave him a big lift on the various pound-for-pound lists.
Mosley desperately wants to fight pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao in the fall. He wants it so badly that he said he is willing to drop down into the low 140s to make the fight with the junior welterweight champ. He also said he'll ask for only 40 percent of the fight purse.
But Pacquiao and his promoter, Top Rank's Bob Arum, still haven't bitten. They seem much more interested in making a November fight with Miguel Cotto, Arum's other star fighter. Cotto won a bloody and highly competitive split decision against Joshua Clottey on Saturday to retain his version of the welterweight crown. Pacquiao sat ringside with Arum and told him during the fight, in which Cotto struggled at times, that he wanted to fight Cotto next.
Arum has been making plans to put that match together.
So, Mosley is pulling out the biggest gun of all: Oscar De La Hoya, his former ring rival (Mosley beat him twice), promoter and partner at Golden Boy Promotions.
De La Hoya called me from his home in Puerto Rico on Tuesday to make his case that Mosley should get a fight with Pacquiao ahead of Cotto, but he made it clear his goal was not in any way to disrespect Cotto. He watched Cotto's fight and had nothing but good things to say about him.
"It was an excellent fight, and I thought Miguel Cotto showed a lot of guts," De La Hoya said. "He showed he is really one of those warriors that never gives up."
But De La Hoya also wants to see Mosley get Pacquiao first.
"We don't want to take anything away from Cotto because he's a great fighter," De La Hoya said. "But Shane Mosley is now heading into that place as that most feared fighter on the planet. People don't want to fight him, especially Pacquiao. Shane is the top guy at welterweight, and I don't see why or how Cotto can come down in weight. He struggles to make 147. You have Shane wanting to come down a few pounds to accommodate Pacquiao and Cotto not really wanting to do that. Everybody is avoiding Shane. I don't care who you are -- Manny, Miguel Cotto, Floyd Mayweather -- if you want to be the best welterweight, you have to fight Mosley. The biggest fights out there for Pacquiao are Mosley and Floyd Mayweather. There's no doubt."
Mayweather is out for now because of an injury, and plans to reschedule his postponed July 18 fight with Juan Manuel Marquez for Sept. 19, at the earliest. That leaves Mosley as the next most lucrative option for Pacquiao, according to De La Hoya.
"Manny wants a huge event and he wants most of the pie, so to make all the money you are asking for, then fight that fight with Shane," he said.
De La Hoya questioned whether a Cotto-Pacquiao fight could satisfy both fighters financially.
"Pacquiao wants to make the big dollars, and if Cotto decides to take the fight, he'll have to make big dollars," De La Hoya said. "I just don't see the numbers being there. Pacquiao can fight the best welterweight, Shane Mosley, and make the most money doing it. Shane has been in big pay-per-view fights. He knocked out Margarito. It's a way bigger fight."
I can certainly appreciate De La Hoya's dogged defense of his guy. Mosley is the No. 1 welterweight right now because he destroyed Margarito, who last summer knocked out Cotto (albeit in a tainted victory because many believe Margarito cheated by using loaded hand wraps).
Cotto owns a decision victory over Mosley in their November 2007 title fight, so there is certainly merit in him facing Pacquiao.
One thing I am sure of is that a Pacquiao fight against either guy would be an exciting fight that would score big on pay-per-view.
So, I can see why Arum wants to make Cotto-Pacquiao. He would control the entire promotion (rather than having to clear anything with Golden Boy), and he will satisfy the thirst of his top two fighters for a big fight.
If Cotto-Pacquiao is indeed made, De La Hoya said Mosley will move on.
"He's not going to sit for the rest of the year. Shane has his options," De La Hoya said. "You have the young ones coming up, like (titlist) Andre Berto and Paul Williams. That's the character Shane has. We all know he fights the best fighters out there. If the big-name fighters don't want to fight him, what else are you going to do? Shane is always willing to fight anybody, so we would fight one of those other guys."
Remember, before Mosley-Margarito was finalized, Mosley was very close to fighting Berto in January. Williams is another guy few top fighters want to fight. If Mosley can't get Pacman to dance with him in the fall, Berto would make sense. So, too, would Williams, whose promoter, Dan Goossen, has been calling on Mosley to face "The Punisher."
After being routed by Paul Williams on April 11 in the most one-sided loss of his career -- by far -- middleweight Winky Wright said what many fighters would have said at that moment.
With a stiff upper lip, Wright said he would brush off the loss and return.
"This is definitely not my last fight. I'm definitely coming back," Wright said that night after the fight at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. "I had a long layoff, and I am not waiting that long again."
Of course, it sounded reasonable, but you never know in the heat of the moment whether it's true. After all, at age 37, Wright is no spring chicken in this sport. The former undisputed junior middleweight champ had entered the fight coming off a loss to Bernard Hopkins and an ensuing 21-month layoff.
If Wright had faded away for another 21 months or longer, few would have been surprised. He had a terrific career and is a probable Hall of Famer. He won multiple belts, beat Shane Mosley twice, battered Felix Trinidad, earned a draw with a prime Jermain Taylor for the middleweight championship in a controversial result and spent years near the top of the pound-for-pound list.
But Wright, with the loss to Williams a couple of months in the rearview mirror, still has every intention of coming back -- and doing it quickly.
I talked to Wright (51-5-1, 25 KOs) the other day, and he said he is working with Golden Boy Promotions to finalize a spot on the big July 18 HBO pay-per-view card headlined by Floyd Mayweather Jr. against Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The opponent being discussed by Golden Boy matchmaker Eric Gomez is Enrique Ornelas (28-5, 18 KOs), certainly a reasonable opponent for Wright to face.
In his past fight in October, Ornelas gave a good account of himself in a split-decision loss to Marco Antonio Rubio in a middleweight title eliminator on the Hopkins-Kelly Pavlik undercard.
"It's a definite possibility," said Wright, who was in Orlando, Fla., with his family at the NBA Finals. "I'll be glad to fight that guy and hope to do that fight, but we don't have nothing signed in ink. But I'll be glad to get right back and show everybody it's not over. I fought a real good opponent in Paul, and he did what he had to do to win it. I'll get a few fights and show the world I am back.
"We just gotta wait for Golden Boy to come back, and we can get it done. I'm ready to get back in the ring. I'll just be glad to get back and show the fans I'm still here."
Wright knows of the reputation he has earned for pricing himself out of fights during the past few years, so he made it a point to tell me repeatedly, "If this fight doesn't happen, trust me, it is not going to be because of the money."
He added that besides continuing to fight, he is serious about his fledgling Winky Promotions. Damian Ramirez, Wright's buddy, is overseeing work for a small show in New York on Aug. 19 at an upscale nightclub. Ramirez said they were working with promoter Cedric Kushner and that his fighter, middleweight prospect "Kid Chocolate" Peter Quillin (20-0, 15 KOs), out of action because of a hand injury, would fight in the main event.
NEW YORK -- Joe Calzaghe was back at Madison Square Garden on Friday, but he wasn't back to fight.
In November, Calzaghe took center stage at the Garden for the first time in his career by easily outpointing Roy Jones Jr. to retain the legitimate light heavyweight world championship. A few months later, Calzaghe (46-0, 32 KOs) retired, walking away undefeated and having won world titles in two divisions. He was also the dominant super middleweight champion from 1997 to 2007 before moving up in weight and outpointing Bernard Hopkins on a close split decision to win the light heavyweight title. In all, Calzaghe was 24-0 in world title fights and arguably the greatest fighter in the history of Wales.
But Calzaghe's visit to MSG was strictly for pleasure as he, along with his longtime girlfriend, the lovely Jo-Emma Lavin, made the trip from Wales and attended the Miguel Cotto-Joshua Clottey weigh-in.
Their appearance at the weigh-in was just a side trip. Calzaghe's real reason for being in town was to accept the Boxing Writers Association manager of the year award later on Friday night, which he did with class at the annual soiree.
For the last two years of his career, Calzaghe took over his own management from longtime manager and promoter Frank Warren (it's OK in the UK to serve as both manager and promoter, but it's not allowed in the United States), with whom he eventually had a bad falling out. In fact, they are in court now fighting over millions that Calzaghe claims Warren owes him.
Calzaghe reminded the audience during his acceptance speech that the biggest fights of his career -- Mikkel Kessler in November 2007 and his 2008 fights with Hopkins and Jones -- happened to be the ones that were made when he was his own manager.
Good point, actually.
Calzaghe plans to stick around for the Cotto-Clottey fight, which, surprisingly, will be the first fight he will attend since his own against Jones.
Calzaghe looked happy and fit in retirement and not at all restless to return to the ring after fighting since he was a child and having a 15-year pro career.
"Maybe the atmosphere will kick in, you never know," Calzaghe said, joking with me that maybe he'd get the bug to fight again.
But then he looked over at the scale Cotto and Clottey were about to step on to and said, "Then I look at that and I say, 'no thanks.' I'm through making weight."
Calzaghe, 37, did look in good shape and he said he still works out regularly. He trained some with Jo-Emma, who ran the London Marathon in April. He even hits the mitts about once a week with his father and lifelong trainer, Enzo Calzaghe, at the gym where Enzo trains his stable of fighters. But Calzaghe assured me he was not doing it with the thought of a comeback in the back of his mind.
"I like to stay in shape and I still love the sport," he said. "It's in my makeup to work out. I have been doing it since I was 9, so I still hit the pads."
Calzaghe said there have been a few times he did think, at least in passing, about another fight.
"But who would I fight? I have nothing to prove," he said. "I am undefeated, I was champion for 11 years and champion in two weight classes. That is my legacy. Besides, my kids don't want me to fight. [Jo-Emma] doesn't want me to fight. I'm proud of what I achieved. I'm glad I fought Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins and finished how I wanted to. I am completely satisfied with what I accomplished and I didn't get smashed up. I'm still lookin' good."
Although he said he isn't going to fight, Calzaghe did say he will always remain involved in boxing. His fledgling Calzaghe Promotions has put on one show and has plans for others. Maybe if he finds the right fighter, Calzaghe will be back in the Garden ring some day -- as the promoter, not the fighter.
• So let me get this straight: Just two weeks after the horrible accidental death of his 4-year-old daughter, Exodus Tyson, Mike Tyson got married? Tyson got hitched for the third time -- to Lakiha Spicer, who is not the mother of the toddler -- in Las Vegas last Saturday night. I know people mourn in different ways, but doesn't the timing strike you as extremely odd? How do you go from the death of a child, the saddest of all days, to marriage, which is supposed to be the happiest of days, in just two weeks?
I'll be the first guy to wish Tyson nothing but the best in his new marriage. I really do hope things work out for him. But it just seems that for the former heavyweight champ to get married so quickly after the worst tragedy a parent can suffer means this union appears doomed before it has really even started. I hope I'm wrong, but Tyson's marital track record is poor. He has admitted to cheating regularly, and his first wife, actress Robin Givens, accused him of physical abuse. Old dogs generally don't learn new tricks.
In 2005, over the course of a few days before his fight in Washington against Kevin McBride, which turned out to be Tyson's final bout, I conducted two lengthy interviews with him in which we covered numerous subjects.
One of the topics we covered was marriage. Tyson was divorced from Givens and Monica Turner, and said he had no plans to marry again, admitting that he was a bad husband. Here's what he told me in 2005:
"Robin and me, we were two young kids who never should have been married in the first place. Deep down inside, [Turner] is still a little angry about the whole situation. I respect that. She divorced me. I give up. I lost. They beat me. They won. They got me good. I know I was a dog and I wasn't behaving well. I got myself together now, and it's too late. [Divorce makes] you feel like you are a failure. What's wrong with me? No one can get along with me. I can't get along with anyone."
• Although I don't have a strong opinion one way or another, I understand HBO's decision not to pick up the June 20 Wladimir Klitschko-Ruslan Chagaev fight. It comes down to money, and HBO is in no mood to spend a lot of it for a fight in Germany (meaning no live U.S. prime-time telecast) that few have high expectations for in the ring, even if the bout is significant. If HBO spends its cash on this fight, there won't be anything left for a better Klitschko fight in the fall, or some other big fight. I don't love the decision, but I get it and respect it after Klitschko's intended opponent, David Haye, pulled out because of an injury. At least we'll get to see the fight here in America. It will broadcast live on ESPN Classic.
• Remember that grand announcement in May 2008, when Haye signed with Golden Boy Promotions and his company, Hayemaker Productions, signed a lucrative exclusive deal with Setanta Sports in the United Kingdom? How's that working out? Haye has fought exactly once (against the faded Monte Barrett), got injured last week and pulled out of the championship fight with Klitschko, and Setanta is headed for bankruptcy any minute now. So much for the best-laid plans. So much for a heavyweight savior.
• Here are three rematches I'd like to see: Tomasz Adamek-Steve Cunningham, Chad Dawson-Glen Johnson (which is all but a done deal for the fall) and Andre Berto-Luis Collazo.
• It will be a pleasure to see junior flyweight champ Ivan "Iron Boy" Calderon back in the ring Saturday night when he defends his title against Rodel Mayol on the Miguel Cotto-Joshua Clottey undercard.
• It seems unlikely to me that Bernard Hopkins will fight this year.
• Doesn't it seem like Shane Mosley has basically resorted to begging for a fight? It's kind of sad.
• There was a bit of excitement in some quarters with the announcement that the WBC had ordered an elimination match between hot super middleweight contenders Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell, medal-winning U.S. teammates at the 2004 Olympics. However, while it's a fight to look forward to in the future, it isn't going to happen now just because some alphabet organization mandated it. Economically, it makes no sense for either guy at this point. Maybe in a year or two. I hope it does happen eventually -- just not when one of them is past his prime, like the last showdown between U.S. Olympic teammates, when Jermain Taylor easily beat a fading Jeff Lacy last fall.
• Daniel Santos. What a waste of talent.
• I don't care how many times he loses in a big fight, there's still only one Ricky Hatton.
• Typical Don King. He has a July 11 Showtime card featuring an excellent main event between bantamweight titlist Joseph "King Kong" Agbeko and junior bantamweight champ Vic Darchinyan, but with a month to go before the fight, he still hasn't officially announced the venue or ticket availability. Great way to promote.
• I watched the video from the pro debut of George Foreman III, one of the sons of the great former champion. Foreman scored a first-round knockout against the utterly pathetic Clyde Weaver, who was easily one of the worst fighters I have ever seen. That said, how great would it be if Foreman actually developed into a top heavyweight? It's a long shot considering he's already 26, but it would be fun.
• If Gerry Penalosa got hit in the face with a cinder block, I'm still not sure he would go down.
• Condolences to lightweight contender Joan Guzman, who lost his mother to brain cancer.
• Now that Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez are moving out of the junior featherweight division, the fight I want to see to crown a new champion is Juan Manuel Lopez versus Celestino Caballero.
• I'm not sure how far he's going to go, but Mexican welterweight Saul Alvarez is as crowd-pleasing as any young fighter I've seen in a long time. Alvarez (27-0-1, 20 KOs), is only 18 and already drawing considerable attention in Mexico. He has fought only twice in the United States, but I think it's only a matter of time until he comes stateside more regularly. If you like aggressive fighters who aren't afraid to get hit and also have some skill, you'll like Alvarez. His ninth-round knockout of Jefferson Goncalo last weekend was a thing of beauty.
• I was very impressed with undefeated Russian heavyweight prospect Denis Boytsov, who destroyed Taras Bidenko in Germany last week.
• DVD pick of the week: I still remember it like it was yesterday, but seven years have passed since I spent a wild week in Memphis that culminated on June 8, 2002, with a fight few ever thought would actually come to fruition. After years of buildup, the signing of a complex deal between HBO and Showtime to match their stars, and one news conference featuring a brawl and a leg bite that nearly killed the fight, Lennox Lewis and Tyson finally -- finally! -- met for the heavyweight championship. Even though the fight wasn't at all competitive, I still pull out the DVD from time to time because it was such a huge fight, one I will never forget. When I watch it, I can still feel how hot it was inside the Pyramid that night. Lewis, who, fairly or unfairly, needed to face Tyson to validate his career, delivered a crushing beating to the former champion, finally authoring a bloody eighth-round knockout. It was appropriate to watch Lewis' legacy-sealing victory this week, given that he'll be inducted into the International Hall of Fame on Sunday (along with my good buddy Larry Merchant, among others). Lewis would have made it even without beating Tyson, but there would have been a gaping hole on his résumé.
Former lightweight titlist Paul Spadafora has certainly had enough drama to last him a lifetime. His legal problems have been well-documented, most of them stemming from an incident in which he shot the mother of his child (she lived and they reconciled for a short time) and served prison time.
And Spadafora has admitted to a drinking problem that has undoubtedly taken its toll. There also have been injuries.
The legal issues prompted a two-year layoff from mid-2004 to mid-2006. And after Spadafora (41-0-1, 16 KOs) finally returned, he fought just once each in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
The amazing part is that the Pittsburgh Kid is still undefeated. The lone blemish on his record was the draw in a 135-pound unification fight with Leonard Dorin, a terrific and bloody battle on HBO that took its toll on both men.
Now a junior welterweight, Spadafora has had a number of bouts scheduled over the past year or so that were eventually called off because of injuries. He's scheduled to fight again on June 24 in his hometown of Pittsburgh against Ivan Bustos (27-12-3), a journeyman from Argentina.
What will be new for Spadafora is that he has hired 2008 Hall of Fame inductee Pernell Whitaker to train him.
"I'm looking forward to working with Paul, and I know I can add to his game," Whitaker said.
Whitaker, a former four-division champion (135, 140, 147 and 154) now trying to launch a second career as a chief second, surely will understand Spadafora's style. When he fought, Whitaker also was a guy with little power who relied on defense and smarts to get the job done.
"Pernell was one of my idols growing up, and I know we are going to make a good team," Spadafora said.
Like Spadafora, Whitaker has also had enough drama in his life to last forever. He also knows the difficulties of trying to stay sober, having struggled with a drug problem for years. Besides working on boxing together, maybe Whitaker and Spadafora can help each other continue to stay clean. Now wouldn't that be a great story if Whitaker could help lead Spadafora back to a title?
• I always figured if David Haye pulled out of his June 20 fight with Wladimir Klitschko it would be because he blew out his jaw from talking so much smack, not because of a different injury.
Haye had already annoyed Klitschko more than any of his other opponents because of his disrespectful rhetoric and over-the-line T-shirt that showed him holding the severed heads of Wladimir and his heavyweight title-holding brother Vitali Klitschko. This pullout surely won't dampen Wladimir's desire to pummel Haye.
The Haye camp hopes to reschedule the fight for July 11, although Klitschko, who has already been out of the ring since December and only waited until June in the first place because of Haye, would like to fight someone on June 20.
There's nothing like an injury to send the heavyweights scrambling like roaches when the lights come on. Numerous heavyweights inquired about the possibility of filling in for Haye. They ranged from the logical (Ruslan Chagaev, whose own heavyweight title bout with Nikolai Valuev has been called off) to the laughable (Roy Jones) to the horrific (John Ruiz) to the shot in the dark (Odlanier Solis, Chazz Witherspoon, Brian Minto and Kevin Johnson).
• Try as he might, we all know Shane Mosley isn't going to get a fight with Manny Pacquiao. Trainer Freddie Roach isn't going to allow it unless he can force Mosley to suck all the way down to 142 pounds, which would make Mosley a walking dead man.
• Who knows if mandatory light heavyweight challenger Tavoris Cloud will ever win a world title. But Cloud can rest assured that he and his team have won something even more prestigious already: A full scholarship to the Winky Wright School of Boxing Business. Their decision to press their mandatory status and pass on a spot on the HBO-televised undercard of Chad Dawson-Glen Johnson II in the fall (a fight that would have paid Cloud more than $100,000) was absurd. The fight guaranteed Cloud would get the next title shot on HBO (probably for at least $500,000) as long he and Dawson both won. Instead, when Cloud and Co. declined the offer, Dawson vacated his belt and will fight Johnson anyway. Cloud will wind up fighting for chump change, likely against Clinton Woods, for the vacant belt. If Cloud wins, there is no defense for him worth nearly what a Dawson fight would have paid him and no guaranteed spot on HBO. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.
• Can we get some more episodes of "Legendary Nights" from HBO already? It's time.
• If welterweight titlist Andre Berto was going to get a shot at one of the big three -- Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto or Mosley -- he'd have to take it. But since I don't see any of those fights realistically happening in his next fight, I'd like to see him give Luis Collazo a rematch.
• What happened to boxing on Showtime? There was no "Showtime Championship Boxing" in May or June. There is no "ShoBox" scheduled in June or July at this point. Doesn't that make Showtime calling itself "America's No. 1 Boxing Network" look pretty dumb?
• I'm really disappointed that there is no American television outlet for the June 27 Andreas Kotelnik-Amir Khan card in London, not even on pay-per-view.
• I really like the idea of the Juan Diaz-Paulie Malignaggi fight that is in the works for HBO on Aug. 22. That is a true crossroads fight if there ever has been one. Both guys desperately need the victory and I think it will be a good fight.
• If anyone thinks Victor Ortiz is in easy when he faces Marcos Maidana on June 27 on HBO they are sadly mistaken.
• How can you not be happy for Israel Vazquez after he was medically cleared to fight?
• It was a terrible call by Ring Magazine to drop undefeated junior flyweight champion Ivan "Iron Boy" Calderon from its pound-for-pound rankings, especially when someone as undeserving as Celestino Caballero is in the top 10. Calderon has been off since August 2008 because of an injury, and he has a title defense scheduled against Rodel Mayol next week on the Cotto-Joshua Clottey undercard. Typically, fighters on my ESPN.com rankings and Ring's are allowed a year of inactivity before they are removed, longer if the layoff has been caused by an injury. Shouldn't Ring have waited to see how Calderon fares next week? Vazquez and Rafael Marquez both retained their pound-for-pound positions on Ring's list despite more than a year of inactivity. Vazquez is idle because of a specific injury, but Marquez did not have an injury that kept him out. It's inexcusable for Calderon to have been dropped.
• Felix Trinidad, who still has delusions of a $15 million payday for a rematch with Bernard Hopkins, suffered a fracture in his right wrist during a basketball game in Puerto Rico recently. When Trinidad is better, I hope he keeps playing hoops instead of thinking about boxing.
• Three months ago, one of the most exciting potential fights on the horizon was a match between junior middleweight sluggers James Kirkland and
Alfredo Angulo, rising contenders moving up the rankings at the speed of light. How times have changed. Kirkland, already a convicted felon, now sits in jail on gun charges that threaten to keep him behind bars for a long time. Angulo suffered his first loss in a disappointing performance against Kermit Cintron last week.
• Memo to Jermain Taylor, who was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest Memorial Day weekend while partying in Miami: Next time a cop tells you to move your car, just keep your mouth shut and do it.
• This is not a misprint: promoter Lou DiBella has signed Isiah Thomas. I did a double take when I saw the news release. No, the New York promoter didn't sign the man who helped drive my beloved New York Knicks into the ground as one of the all-time worst coaches and general managers in NBA history. Not that I would have minded seeing him take a few punches to make up for all the heartache he caused Knicks fans. Actually, DiBella was touting that he had signed a Detroit light heavyweight with the same name but no relation to the former Pistons star. The fighter Thomas (3-0, 3 KOs) is only 20, had a solid amateur career and has won all of his fights in the first round.
• There was a boxing card in Baltimore last week. One of the fights scheduled on the club show was a welterweight fight between Tim Coleman and Jason Thompson. The fight was canceled at the weigh-in because Thompson was 165 pounds, 18 over the contractual weight. Now I don't know about you, but don't you think Thompson knew at least a couple of weeks before the fight that he had no prayer of making weight? Don't you think maybe he should have let someone know he was going to be a super middleweight? We're not talking a pound or two over the limit in a close call. We're talking about 18 pounds! Sort of makes Jose Luis Castillo look good.
• DVD pick of the week: I was in the mood for this one, so I dipped into the archive and went back to Dec. 2, 1992, to Tortoli, Italy, where Kennedy McKinney and Welcome Ncita put on one hell of a fight. When they met, McKinney, a 1988 U.S. Olympic gold medalist, was one of the more exciting smaller fighters of his day, and Ncita was a fine champion from South Africa making the seventh defense of his junior featherweight belt. It was a rousing battle, but McKinney was trailing on all three scorecards entering the 11th round. Ncita had him pinned along the ropes when, out of nowhere, McKinney unloaded a short right hand that caught Ncita dead on the chin for a spectacular knockout. McKinney scored an improbable comeback as Ncita went down flat on his back, spread eagle in the center of the ring. Sixteen months later they met in a rematch. It was another excellent fight that McKinney won, this time via majority decision.
Can the Nikolai Valuev-Ruslan Chagaev heavyweight title saga get any worse? Well, of course it can. This is the WBA we're talking about.
Besides the back-and-forth news releases from each camp blaming the other side for the cancellation of last week's title rematch, and the inevitable lawsuits that will follow, how about this to depress you even more: If the WBA strips Chagaev of his laughable "champion in recess" title, which it should considering he tests positive for hepatitis B about every other day, like he did last week the day before his rematch with Valuev, guess who probably will get the next mandatory shot at Valuev?
It hurts to even write this, but, yes, it's John Ruiz, our old hug-loving friend who must have some compromising photos of WBA officials with the special treatment the organization has given him for more than a decade.
In the latest of the many Ruiz news releases that infect my in-box on a regular basis, I found this quote from him extraordinary:
"The WBA has to stand by its rules and order a purse bid for Valuev to fight me for the WBA heavyweight title and strip Chagaev. This is the third time he hasn't been able to fight for one reason or another. In baseball he'd be out. How many chances is the WBA going to give this guy?"
How many chances is the WBA going to give Chagaev? Excuse me? What about Ruiz? In Ruiz's past 18 fights since September 1998, 16 of them have involved the WBA, be it in world title fights, eliminators or regional title fights. And even though Ruiz lost five of them (it really should be six losses, but the result of his title bout with James Toney became a no contest when Toney tested positive for steroids after the fight) and received a draw in another, the WBA stupidly kept Ruiz propped high enough in its horrendous rankings to be in position to get another title opportunity he didn't deserve.
Forget about Chagaev. How many chances should Ruiz, who is 2-3 with that no contest in his past six fights, get? Now, he's demanding an immediate purse bid for a mandatory against Valuev, who beat him last summer. Oh, boy. The world is waiting for that one isn't it? And it just might get it because of a WBA ruling in February that said of the champion in recess: "If Chagaev should incur another injury or other impediment that would prevent him from defending against the champion, he will vacate whatever title he may hold and will be correspondingly lowered in his ranking."
That would open the door for Ruiz, whose fights stink so bad he's all but been banned by HBO and Showtime. It's impossible to take the WBA seriously anymore between the toxic disaster its heavyweight title has become and the avalanche of silly interim champions, regular champions, super champions and champions in recess it names seemingly almost every day. The next nail in the coffin is when it mandates Ruiz to fight for its heavyweight title yet again, which you know is coming. Isn't enough enough already?
By the way, it doesn't get better after that. The next guy in line for a shot? The not-so-legendary Kali Meehan, who has zero merit as a title challenger. Since the day Lennox Lewis discarded the WBA heavyweight title like the piece of garbage it has become so he wouldn't be forced into a fight with Ruiz, who was totally undeserving at the time, it has been an utter mess. The lone exception was when then-pound-for-pound king and light heavyweight champion Roy Jones moved up in weight and whipped Ruiz to win the title before quickly giving it up.
After Jones vacated, guess who got to fight for it? Ruiz, coming off that lopsided defeat, of course.
If you think there will be a clean resolution to the heavyweight mess involving titleholder Nikolai Valuev and so-called "champion in recess" Ruslan Chagaev in the wake of the cancellation of Saturday's rematch, guess again.
Chagaev's team is threatening a lawsuit, so it could get awfully ugly.
In case you haven't been following the situation -- and I wouldn't blame you if you weren't, because it's so utterly maddening -- Valuev and Chagaev were supposed to meet in Helsinki, Finland in a rematch of Chagaev's title victory in April 2007.
It was the third time the rematch had been scheduled. On two other occasions, Chagaev had fallen out -- once with an Achilles injury and once because of Hepatitis B. Chagaev has battled issues with his bloodwork for years, but because he had pulled out twice and was facing another long layoff, the WBA handed him the nonsensical title of "champion in recess" and Valuev beat John Ruiz for the vacant belt in August 2008.
Finally, it appeared as though Valuev and Chagaev would meet again Saturday night to bring some closure to their rivalry from hell, once and for all. The fighters had even weighed in, and when a weigh-in takes place and the guys are on weight -- and this one was a formality because they are heavyweights -- fights are rarely called off. But not in this case. Finnish authorities claimed that Chagaev, who did make it to the ring for a tune-up fight in February against Carl Davis Drummond, had a problem with his blood test. Valuev, who is promoted by Germany-based Sauerland Event, was offered the option of going through with the fight if he was inoculated. However, according to Chagaev promoter Universum, Valuev never got back to the officials with a decision, so the fight was called off.
(Can you really blame Valuev for not wanting to take a chance by fighting a guy who tests positive for hepatitis? Obviously it was a serious situation, because by calling off the fight Valuev gave up a $1,547,928 purse; Chagaev lost out on $1,266,486).
Now, the WBA has said it will make a decision within a week on what happens next. But that didn't stop Universum from releasing a statement detailing its position, which included the threat of litigation, a prospect that might be more interesting in this case than the fight itself.
As far as Chagaev is concerned, he was fit and ready to fight.
"I'm healthy," he said in a statement. "I have no doctor attesting to any danger of infection. So I would box Valuev today, tomorrow or whenever. I'm very disappointed and can't understand this decision. I'm fit and ready."
Here is Universum's statement:
"Universum Box-Promotion has presented the WBA with medical proof that Ruslan Chagaev does not have the infectious disease hepatitis, but only a hepatitis antigen [a substance that prompts the generation of antibodies and can cause an immune response]. Ruslan Chagaev's blood values have been examined for many years regularly -- by measuring methods which are substantially more sensitive than that of the Finnish lab which carried out the blood test that the organizers used to support the refusal to fight.
"Universum also provided the WBA with evidence that Ruslan Chagaev's blood values are unchanged for many years and are safe. They are invariably below the international standard from which the hepatitis disease is considered infectious. Ruslan Chagaev's current blood values also correspond to those which he had in the first fight against Nikolai Valuev in April 2007. The fight at that time was promoted by Sauerland Event under the supervision of the Austrian Federation in Stuttgart and if there was any doubt about these blood values, it would have been mentioned then. Therefore, like the first time, there is no reason to call off the fight.
"The Finnish Federation explained in [Saturday's] hearing that they have not prohibited the fight, but wanted Nikolai Valuev to agree to a passive protective inoculation [immunglobuline] within 24 hours of the fight. A decision from Valuev was not communicated. Against this background, Universum Box-Promotion reserves the right to take legal steps."
Universum also offered a statement from Chagaev's physician, Dr. Michael Ehnert. I'll save you the scientific mumbo jumbo. Here's the important part: "It's clearly demonstrated that the Hepatitis B that Ruslan Chagaev recovered from in 2006 is currently not identified as infectious. There is definitely no danger for him or his opponents."
Shane Mosley is one of the best fighters in the world. He's the guy who destroyed Antonio Margarito with ease in a January shocker to win a welterweight championship and stamp himself as the top 147-pounder on the planet for the second time in his career.
That fight did huge business as well, drawing an arena-record crowd to the Staples Center in Los Angeles and generating strong ratings on HBO.
So why is it that Mosley can't find a dance partner for a big fight?
When Floyd Mayweather Jr., who retired last year and vacated the welterweight title when he did so, announced he was returning, he opted to fight the lightweight champion, Juan Manuel Marquez.
Miguel Cotto, who owns a close, exciting victory against Mosley, elected to fight the dangerous Joshua Clottey on June 13, although he could have offered Mosley a rematch. I'm not in any way knocking the Clottey fight, which I love. I'm just saying that it means a Cotto-Mosley rematch is out of the picture for now.
Manny Pacquiao knocked out Ricky Hatton on May 2 and hasn't committed to his next fight yet, but Top Rank's Bob Arum, Pacquiao's promoter, has said numerous times that they are looking at Cotto if he beats Clottey.
Of course, a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight looms as a mega-event. If that happens, neither man would be available to face Mosley.
Mosley could pursue fights with Paul Williams or Andre Berto, as long as Berto beats Juan Urango on Saturday night, but neither presents Mosley with a fight all that big or lucrative.
But Mosley is trying not to get discouraged about the situation. He went on "SportsCenter" last week to call out Mayweather should he defeat Marquez on July 18. Mosley is also interested in fighting Pacquiao.
One of the biggest issues in that fight is the weight. Mosley is a former 154-pound champion and the reigning 147-pound champion. Pacquiao, whose first title came at 112 pounds, won the 140-pound title from Hatton. In his only welterweight fight, Pacquiao sent Oscar De La Hoya into retirement in December in what was supposed to be a one-shot deal for Pacquiao in the 147-pound division.
Mosley, however, says he is not going to let weight stand in the way of a fight with Pacquiao, so he is willing to make concessions.
For the first time, Mosley said he is willing to drop below 147 pounds and meet Pacquiao at a catch weight.
"I want it to be known that I want to fight Pacquiao and I want to fight him now," Mosley said. "I'm willing to meet at a catch weight to make that happen. I know this is what [Pacquiao trainer] Freddie Roach wants as well, as he has previously stated this to press. I am the best fighter in boxing and I am ready to reclaim the title of No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter."
Mosley didn't make it clear how low he would be willing to drop, but you have to figure he would need to make at least 144 pounds. Mosley weighed 146 for a few welterweight fights, but hasn't been lower than that since 1999, when he made his last lightweight title defense at 135 pounds.
If you ask me, I'd love to see Mosley get Mayweather. I've wanted to see that fight since back in the day, when Mosley was lightweight champion and Mayweather was junior lightweight champion in the late 1990s. But I also really want to see Pacquiao-Mayweather, which is easily the biggest fight boxing has to offer. It would match the pound-for-pound king (Pacquiao) against the guy who gave it up by retiring but never lost it in the ring (Mayweather). I hope that fight happens and that Mosley is waiting for the winner.
Unfortunately, Mosley may have to take a smaller fight between now and then.
I've been asked quite a few times by the Fight Freaks for updates on two controversial fights and the status of the ensuing protests and investigations that followed.
One was the horrendous decision rendered in the Nikolai Valuev-Evander Holyfield heavyweight title bout in December. The other was the protest lodged by promoter Don King on behalf of Marco Antonio Barrera in the wake of his fifth-round technical decision loss to Amir Khan on March 14.
Here's the latest:
After Valuev's nonperformance against Holyfield, the Russian giant was given a ridiculous majority decision victory. There was an outcry of robbery, and the WBA was supposed to investigate. But isn't that like the bank robber investigating the crime? Anyway, the WBA hasn't said a word about it's "investigation." Frankly, I don't really care.
I do know this: Holyfield, still pathetically eyeing another title shot, is scheduled to be ringside Saturday night in Helsinki, Finland, for Valuev's defense against so-called "champion in recess" Ruslan Chagaev. Holyfield is obviously trolling for a shot at the winner.
Incidentally, Valuev weighed in Friday at 315 pounds while Chagaev was 225½.
However, the fight is in jeopardy. Chagaev may have a medical issue, according to his promoter. It is reportedly hepatitis, which had previously forced him out of another fight. If he falls out, either Australian fringe contender Kali Meehan or American former titleholder Lamon Brewster will replace him. Both are scheduled for undercard fights.
As for Barrera's hopes of a rematch with Khan, they're up in smoke. The WBO, which oversaw the bout because one of its regional lightweight belts was at stake, has ruled that Khan doesn't have to give Barrera a second fight and that the result of their bout will stand, according to Khan promoter Frank Warren.
If you recall, Barrera suffered a ghastly gash along his hairline in the first round of the Khan fight. Blood poured down his face until the fight was stopped after the fifth, when it was sent to the scorecards for a technical decision. However, had the fight been stopped at any time before the end of the fourth, the bout would have been ruled a no-contest. Barrera's cut was no worse in the fifth than it had been in any of the first four rounds.
King asked the WBO to declare the fight a no-contest and for Khan, who is scheduled to challenge junior welterweight titlist Andreas Kotelnik on June 27, to be ordered to give Barrera a rematch. The WBO rejected both requests this week. Even if the WBO ordered a rematch, the edict would hold no weight and Khan likely would have declined it -- especially because he's going to fight for another organization's world title in a different weight class.
According to a statement released by Warren, "as the result of the contest is within the jurisdiction of the host commission [the British Boxing Board of Control], they determined that the rules of the contest had been followed and there was no error by the referee in stopping the contest."
Although I thought the fight should have been stopped earlier and been ruled a no-contest, I don't see any reason for a rematch given how dominant Khan was. I have no doubt it would have gone the same way even if Barrera hadn't been cut.
• Maybe hell has actually frozen over. Perhaps, if you look out the window, you'll see pigs flying. My reasoning: I actually agree with something the WBC has done. Better print out this blog post as proof, because it doesn't happen often.
The WBC finally stripped Vernon Forrest of its junior middleweight title last week for his failure to make a long-overdue defense against deserving interim titlist Sergio Martinez. It was the right move. Forrest tried to avoid the fight multiple times when Martinez was ready, willing and able.
Forrest and Martinez had agreed to terms for an Aug. 1 bout on Showtime, but I never really believed it would happen. Of course, Forrest eventually pulled out. He claimed the same rib injury that also prevented an April tune-up fight would prevent him from facing Martinez in August. I'm not saying Forrest isn't legitimately injured. But if he's hurt, it couldn't have happened at a better time, because he simply never wanted to tangle with Martinez. Too little reward for too much risk, and at this late stage of his career Forrest knows a loss spells the end for him in terms of big paydays.
But you didn't think I would agree entirely with the WBC, did you? In stripping Forrest of the belt, it also gave him the silly and ludicrous title of "ambassador of peace and good will in the world through sports." Huh? Whatever. Maybe someday the WBC will appoint an "interim ambassador emeritus of peace and good will in the world through sports in recess." In giving Forrest the pointless title, it also gave him the opportunity to face Martinez as soon as he is able to fight, with the stipulation that Forrest would be entitled to 55 percent of the money in the event of a purse bid. The financial split should favor Martinez, not Forrest. Even when the WBC does something right, it shoots itself in the foot. Guess it doesn't really matter. We all know Forrest isn't ever going to fight Martinez.
• Deepest condolences to Mike Tyson and his family regarding the death of his 4-year-old daughter, Exodus. Of all the things Tyson has been through in his roller coaster of a life, this figures to be the toughest thing he will ever endure. Hang in there, Mike.
• Unless Kelly Pavlik or Arthur Abraham suddenly wants to fight Paul Williams, I'd love to see Williams take on Martinez. If that fight happens, the winner would be, in my opinion, the best junior middleweight in the world.
• If Alfredo Angulo knocks out Kermit Cintron on HBO Saturday night, I hope the referee will count it this time -- unlike referee Frank Santore Jr., who brutally blew the KO call when Martinez drilled Cintron in February.
• I don't know about you, but I'd actually be willing to pay to watch my ESPN pal Brian Kenny interview Floyd Mayweather Jr. about boxing for an hour. Their interview/debate on SportsCenter last week was as good as it gets. I just needed more than the 13 minutes it lasted.
• So, Edwin Valero turned down $200,000 to fight a stiff of his choice on Top Rank's July 25 pay-per-view card because it wasn't enough money and he wants only a big fight. Allow me to be the first to congratulate Valero on sealing valedictorian honors at the Winky Wright School of Boxing Business.
• Promoter Gary Shaw told me the other day that the WBO decided against sanctioning a fight between junior welterweight titlist Timothy Bradley and Joan Guzman, which would have taken place Aug. 1 on Showtime. I'm not entirely sure whom Bradley will fight next, but I wouldn't mind seeing him against Nate Campbell. I'm sure it would be a better fight than Bradley against Guzman.
• Although they were clearly forced into it because there's nowhere else to go, I was happy to hear that Chad Dawson and promoter Shaw are negotiating a rematch with Glen Johnson, with whom Dawson has unfinished business. And if the fight does come off, let's give HBO some credit for exerting enough pressure to get it done.
• Example No. 14,367 why boxing ain't dead, no matter what so many clueless general sports columnists and commentators seem to think: Top Rank announced that it already has sold more than 12,000 tickets to the June 13 welterweight title bout between Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey at Madison Square Garden. I'm really looking forward to the fight. By the time fight night arrives, there will be way more than 12,000 on hand. Madison Square Garden is going to rock.
• Top Rank's Bob Arum loves to blow smoke up everyone's rear end about putting on a fight at a major outdoor stadium and about doing a big fight in Macau. He talks about both seemingly all the time, and neither ever happens -- the latest example being a proposed Aug. 22 card headlined by Nonito Donaire at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Imagine how excited Arum would be by the prospect of a fight at a massive stadium in Macau?
• As is a common occurrence every few months, promoter Mike Acri announces a Paul Spadafora comeback fight against an opponent to be announced. Equally common is the follow-up announcement I expect any day now -- that the fight has been called off.
• So which is more common: The announcement of a Spadafora fight that doesn't happen or an Arum-proposed stadium bout or Macau event that never materializes? Publicist Fred Sternburg, who handles a lot of PR for Top Rank events and Acri, recently suggested that the next announcement might be that Spadafora is going to fight at a stadium in Macau.
• I was encouraged by the news that heavyweight contender Cris Arreola has hired strength and conditioning coach Darryl Hudson to help him get into shape. I just hope the move works out better than James Toney's hiring of Billy Blanks a few years ago.
• Whether 2008 U.S. Olympic heavyweight bronze medalist Deontay Wilder ever becomes a champion or a star remains to be seen. But even if he doesn't, he already has been an asset to boxing. Thanks to Wilder's lobbying efforts on behalf of a bill to establish a boxing commission in his home state of Alabama, Gov. Bill Riley signed into law the Alabama Boxing Act on May 20, which will establish the body to oversee professional bouts in the state. Now Wilder will be able to fight there. Good for him.
• Joining Mikkel Kessler on the increasingly crowded milk carton: Daniel Santos, David Tua and Jorge Linares.
• I'm not going to sit here and advocate for the fight, but I will say this: As long as Roy Jones Jr. and Jeff Lacy are going to keep fighting, I have no problem with them doing it against each other. It's a hell of a lot more interesting than seeing Jones smash a faded Omar Sheika or Lacy engage in a life-and-death struggle with Otis Griffin. That said, I think the fight should come with a stipulation that the loser must retire.
• James Kirkland still is behind bars, and I'm still totally bummed about him potentially throwing away a promising career.
• Billy Graham, former trainer for Ricky Hatton, is suing him for more than $1 million, claiming he's owed unpaid training fees. Graham trained Hatton for his whole career, until he was fired following Hatton's fight with Juan Lazcano in May 2008. Seems to me the court fight between them is going to be a whole lot more competitive than Hatton's fight earlier this month against Manny Pacquiao.
• DVD pick of the week: If Hatton getting smoked in two rounds by Pacquiao was the worst performance of his career, what was his best? I watched it when I dipped into the archive and went back to June 4, 2005 and the MEN Arena in Manchester, England. That's when and where Hatton -- a hungry, rising star -- met Kostya Tszyu, the well-respected future Hall of Famer and long-reigning junior welterweight champion. Hatton, with the hometown crowd on his side in the middle of the night (to accommodate Showtime's live TV coverage in the U.S.), bullied and battered Tszyu until he quit on his stool after the 11th round. It was the coronation of a new 140-pound king in Hatton, who reigned until Pacquiao destroyed him. Tszyu, while never officially announcing his retirement, hasn't fought since.
Although I enjoy "American Idol" and "Dancing with the Stars" as much as anyone, the best reality show on television, by far, is HBO's "24/7."
Besides having television's best theme music and perfect narration from Liev Schreiber (I could listen to him read the phone book), on no other show could you possibly see these priceless moments portrayed in such entertaining fashion -- and have them relate to a huge upcoming fight: Oscar De La Hoya passing gas, Floyd Mayweather Sr. making Kool-Aid and eating a taco in his car while driving, Ricky Hatton showing off his butt in a thong, Freddie Roach getting a haircut, Enzo Calzaghe borrowing a New York street musician's guitar and playing for him, Roy Jones Jr. emotionally watching the election night announcement in Times Square that Barack Obama had won the presidency, rap star 50 Cent riding a Segway through Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s mansion, and Roger Mayweather shopping for Thanksgiving groceries.
So it was great news when HBO made it official this week that it would follow the buildup to the July 18 Mayweather Jr.-Juan Manuel Marquez fight (which will be contested at a maximum weight of 144 pounds, despite some recent reports to the contrary) with a four-episode run of the Emmy award-winning series.
This will be the sixth time HBO's cameras will be embedded in the training camps for a big fight. The half-hour show -- with no commercials! -- is simply addicting.
New episodes will debut on three consecutive Saturdays (June 27 at 9:30 p.m. ET, July 4 at 9:45 p.m. and July 11 at 10 p.m.), with the finale scheduled for Friday, July 17 at 9:30 p.m. -- the day before the HBO PPV fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. It will the second consecutive instance that the finale will air on a Friday, which will allow the producers to squeeze in important footage of that day's events, including what should be a raucous weigh-in.
As good as the show is, it's at its best when it features Mayweather Jr., who is coming out of a year-plus retirement for the fight and will star in the show for the third time. Love him or hate him, he makes "24/7" must-must-see TV.
"We're dealing with one of the great reality stars in television," HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg told me Wednesday morning. "Floyd is compelling, and it's exciting to bring him back. [Our producers] will get that 2 a.m. wake-up call when he wants to go out jogging. You never know where you'll end up with Floyd."
(Incidentally, a lot of Fight Freaks have been asking me when tickets for the bout go on sale. The answer: Friday at 1 p.m. ET. Price points: $150, $300, $600, $750 and $1,000.)
Besides the training for the fight, watching the Mayweather family dynamics on "24/7" is fascinating. The family has some issues, to put it mildly. The relationships between Floyd Jr., uncle and trainer Roger, and father Floyd Sr. are complicated, but the show has given us a feel for them in past installments. Now that Floyd Sr. and his son are talking again, it should make this new batch of episodes even more interesting.
Other than a brief reunion before Floyd Jr. fought De La Hoya (which was also captured on "24/7"), father and son have been estranged for most of the past decade. Floyd Sr. and Roger also have a rocky relationship.
In recent weeks, Floyd Jr. and Floyd Sr. have been spending time together. They've talked and worked out, although Roger remains the head trainer. Seeing all three Mayweathers on screen together figures to produce television magic again.
Maybe this reunion will be longer-lasting than the previous one. Hopefully it will be, considering that the elder Mayweather recently divulged that he is fighting sarcoidosis, a disease that diminishes his lung capacity. As Hatton's trainer for the May 2 fight with Manny Pacquiao, Mayweather Sr. saw his ailment detailed on "Pacquiao/Hatton 24/7."
"It's clear Floyd Sr. wants to reach out to his family," Greenburg said. "He and Floyd Jr. have been spending a lot of time together, and if it continues I'm sure we'll see that in the show."
I'm also looking forward to seeing the inside of Marquez's camp and the father-son-like relationship between Marquez and longtime trainer Nacho Beristain.
Even though the personalities of Marquez and the rest of his team are not nearly as outgoing as those of Mayweather and his team, as Greenburg says, "Everyone has a story to tell."
"We've started to learn about some of the odd training habits of Marquez down in Mexico," he said. "We'll be bringing an entire crew down there for what will amount to three weeks. Apparently, he's into eating strange things. He has some odd dietary habits. There will be some surprises out of his camp. He does some things that will make for dramatic television."
Although Mayweather-Marquez came a little out of the blue, Greenburg said there never was any hesitation about doing another set of "24/7" episodes.
"I don't think we'd be doing this if it wasn't Floyd and [didn't have] his impact on the medium. '24/7' began with Floyd, and he brings so much to the party. This is his venue," Greenburg said. "He's such a natural. It would almost be criminal not to do '24/7' for this fight. He's too much of a reality star. People are salivating to see this guy again on a weekly basis. And with his family, it's the boxing version of the Osbournes."
Greenburg said ratings for the show have been outstanding. By slotting episodes either before or after fights and moving episodes to Saturday nights, "we doubled our ratings from De La Hoya/Pacquiao to Pacquiao/Hatton," he said. "The show is certainly hitting its stride right now."
Which is why I can't wait for the new series to start already.
There's always a fight here or there that I really wish would find its way on to an American television network. One of them on this summer's schedule is the bout between light heavyweight titlist Adrian Diaconu and Jean Pascal.
I know I'm not alone in the desire to see it. Based on the numerous comments and questions in my Friday afternoon ESPN.com chat that have asked specifically about the American television situation for that fight, there are plenty of Fight Freaks who also want to see it.
Guess what? I have great news for you: Versus has picked up the rights to the June 19 fight at Montreal's Bell Centre and will televise it live at 9 p.m. ET. The two-hour telecast, which unfortunately will butt heads with the ESPN2 "Friday Night Fights" card headlined by featherweight Fernando Beltran Jr. against Monty Meza-Clay, will also include cruiserweight Troy Ross' first bout since he won the "Contender" tournament. Get those DVRs ready.
I had heard some rumblings about Versus picking up the card over the weekend, and the network confirmed it with me Monday morning.
It's great news. With some excellent shows late last year, including the epic Tomasz Adamek-Steve Cunningham cruiserweight championship fight in December, Versus finished 2008 strong. But this year has been awfully dry, with the network's only live boxing show being "The Contender" finale. Picking up Diaconu-Pascal was an intelligent decision. The network owes promoter Tournament of Contenders at least two more cards this year and was going to put on a proposed fight between interim cruiserweight titlist Ola Afolabi and Ross on June 20. But that went by the wayside because of Afolabi's visa problems.
Because Ross was moved to the June 19 card and is co-promoted by Tournament of Contenders and Yvon Michel, who also promotes Pascal, it made perfect sense for Versus to move up its date by one day and jump to the June 19 card in Montreal, where 20,000 figure to fill the Bell Centre to cheer for the fighters, both of whom have adopted the city as their hometown.
For my money, Diaconu-Pascal is going to be a terrific fight with a lively atmosphere in one of the biggest matches in Canadian history. Diaconu (26-0, 15 KOs), a 2000 Romanian Olympian, is as rugged as they come. In the handful of his bouts I've seen, he has been an action fighter who likes to mix it up. Pascal (22-1, 15 KOs), who is from Haiti but represented Canada in the 2004 Olympics, also makes good fights. His competitive decision loss in December to Carl Froch for a vacant super middleweight belt was a ferocious battle and a fight of the year candidate. In his return from the loss on April 4, Pascal scored a sensational fifth-round knockout of Pablo Zamora Neives.
Montreal's two leading promoters, Michel and InterBox, which promotes Diaconu, have teamed up for the first time in order to co-promote this fight, which they say will be the first world-title bout between Quebec-based boxers.
"I am a man who enjoys a real challenge, and have never backed away from the best boxers in the light heavyweight division," Diaconu said when the fight was announced earlier this month. "I wish the same were true for them. I am taking Jean Pascal extremely serious. We are both very thirsty for victory. There will be no gifts in that Bell Centre ring. I will have the best preparation of my career for this fight. It is an honor for me to be fighting in this historical championship fight between two local boxers. I will do everything to win in front of my fans and to prove that I am a true champion."
Said Pascal: "I am extremely proud and excited to be a part of this megafight. Thanks to this fight, my name will forever be engraved in the history of Quebec boxing. I know this will be a rough, tough and challenging battle, but all I have done in my career up to this point has prepared me well."
Montreal figures to be pumped up by the time fight night rolls around. Thankfully, those of us in the States will also be able to get in on the fun.
• It's easy sometimes to get caught up in the bad news in boxing. This boxer was arrested. That boxer is punch-drunk and broke. And that one is in a contract dispute with a promoter he accuses of ripping him off. It does get old, which is why it's nice when we get to hear about a feel-good story such as Juan Diaz's.
The former lightweight titleholder has been one of the best fighters in the business for the past several years. He won his first world title from Lakva Sim at the tender age of 20 in 2004, then won unification fights against Acelino "Popo" Freitas and Julio Diaz in 2007 to earn three major belts before losing them to Nate Campbell in 2008.
All the while, Diaz, 25, was attending college part-time at the University of Houston-Downtown, working toward a degree with an eye toward life after boxing and the hope that one day he'll attend law school. Someday, he might even run for mayor of Houston.
On Sunday, Diaz (34-2, 17 KOs) will graduate from college with a bachelor's degree in political science at the university's commencement festivities at Minute Maid Park in Houston.
"This feels like I'm becoming a world champion for the first time; it's that big of an accomplishment to me," said Diaz, who studied and attended classes during the down time between his fights. "After going through school all of the years, it feels like a huge burden has [been] lifted off of my back. I'm going to take the rest of this year and next year to focus on boxing and see where it takes me, but I'm also going to take the LSAT review course and apply to law school so that I always have that as an option in the future."
Willie Savannah, Diaz's manager, has always supported Diaz's quest for his degree. Savannah has told me many times that had the juggling act between school and fighting gotten to be too much, he would have insisted Diaz drop boxing and focus on his studies.
"When Juan turned pro, he made it clear he wanted to go to college, and I insisted on it from the beginning," Savannah said. "I've always told him he could be whatever he wanted to be, and I'm more proud of him than words can express. He has never slacked off from school and has continued to excel in boxing and school, breaking records in both. I love him like he's my son and think it's really important for all boxers to learn from Juan and to earn a college education so they have a plan after boxing is over."
Amen.
• I know middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik withdrew from a scheduled June 27 fight with Sergio Mora and Top Rank said it was because Pavlik had a staph infection on his hand. This week, Pavlik told his hometown newspaper, The Vindicator of Youngstown, Ohio, that his hand was fine, he was well enough to fight and he had signed his contract for the bout but Top Rank called off the fight anyway. Something is fishy here, big time. I've been around this business long enough to know that if something doesn't smell right, it's probably rotten. If you ask me, the fight being called off has way more to do with some sort of promotional contract dispute between Top Rank and Pavlik than it does with any sort of hand issue.
• If anyone is wondering why Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez have been steadily dropping in ESPN.com's monthly pound-for-pound rankings, it's simply because they haven't fought for more than a year. As much as I respect their abilities and accomplishments, no fighter has the right to remain on the pound-for-pound list indefinitely. You must fight to maintain your position. If they come back strong after their epic trilogy, which I sure hope they do, you can be sure they'll move back closer to the top.
• I think Juan Manuel Lopez is a win or two away from being on that pound-for-pound list.
• I wish Manny Pacquiao could fight every month.
• I read Thomas Hauser's outstanding piece on the Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton fight on www.secondsout.com and absolutely loved one of his anecdotes from Pacquiao's dressing room after he had knocked Hatton cold with one punch in the second round. Hauser wrote that someone handed Pacquiao a cell phone, which turned out to be a call from David Diaz. Pacquiao, of course, smashed Diaz to win a lightweight belt last summer, but they had become friendly during the promotion and have stayed in touch. According to Hauser, Diaz told Pacquiao, "I'm so happy. On all the advertisements for the fight, they've been showing me on television, lying face down on the canvas. Now they've got a better knockout to show." Pacquiao responded with laughter, saying, "Thank you, brother." That's great stuff.
• Let's suppose Amir Khan claims a junior welterweight belt from Andreas Kotelnik when they meet June 27. If that happens, how huge would a Khan-Hatton fight be in England? HUGE.
• I was more excited for Pacquiao-Hatton, but I'm looking forward to next week's Season 8 finale of "American Idol." Since the Fight Freaks ask for my predictions on everything, here's one for you: I'm going with Adam Lambert to win the title over Kris Allen. Lambert has been by far the best contestant all season, week in and week out. He's also my mom and my wife's favorite.
• Who else is psyched for the June 13 Miguel Cotto-Joshua Clottey fight? It's a terrific match on what should be a huge night for HBO, which will be in the midst of a free preview weekend (for those cable systems that elect to participate). Preceding the fight on the East Coast will be the television premier of the best of all the Batman films, the blockbuster "The Dark Knight." That all but guarantees a monster rating for the fight. If I weren't going to be ringside, you can be sure I'd be in front of the TV for both. (I loved "The Dark Knight.") Who do you like in Cotto versus The Joker?
• Here's one scenario I can see playing out: Cotto beats Clottey, Floyd Mayweather Jr. beats Juan Manuel Marquez on July 18 and Cotto winds up fighting Pacquiao in the fall. Mayweather takes off the rest of the year (because he really doesn't want to fight Shane Mosley), then fights the Cotto-Pacquiao winner in early 2010. It could happen.
• Although the WBC insists heavyweight titlist Vitali Klitschko make a ridiculous mandatory defense against Oleg Maskaev, the Klitschko camp is fighting it. From what I'm told, Klitschko's people are so confident they'll win their case that they already have started negotiating a potential fall defense against Cristobal Arreola. Just food for thought.
• Roy Jones Jr. is behaving like a chicken with its head cut off. He's talking about this fight with Jeff Lacy, that rematch with Clinton Woods, going to Australia for a fight with Danny Green or maybe even facing one MMA fighter or another. It's really pretty sad. The bottom line is that Jones is out of big fights. Fighting on independent pay-per-view cards is an economic disaster, and the networks and American public simply no longer have any interest in a 40-year-old fighter who is, sadly, a million miles away from his best days.
• Apparently, Mikkel Kessler has taken Winky Wright's place on that milk carton.
• DVD pick of the week: As much as I love a good slugfest, I also can appreciate the art of the sweet science -- especially when the practitioners are among the greatest of all time. So I delved into the archive and went back 19 years ago this week to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. It was May 19, 1990, when an in-his-prime Pernell Whitaker outboxed another all-time great, Azumah Nelson, to win a clear unanimous decision and retain his unified lightweight belts one fight before becoming the undisputed 135-pound champion. Whitaker had a lot of big wins in his career, but I consider this one of his best. Nelson, who is enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame with Whitaker, was 32-1 at the time and the reigning junior lightweight champion. He hadn't lost in eight years -- having been defeated only on short notice by the great Salvador Sanchez in an epic featherweight championship fight -- but Whitaker dazzled against him.
For the past two weeks I've been asked constantly about the pay-per-view numbers for the May 2 Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton fight, boxing's biggest fight of the year so far.
The eagerly anticipated showdown was promoted wonderfully. There was great buzz all week in Las Vegas and an electric atmosphere inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena on fight night, not to mention a spectacular second-round knockout victory for Pacquiao.
However, the period at the end of the sentence -- the pay-per-view buys -- has been missing because Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who co-promoted the event with Golden Boy Promotions, refuses to disclose the figures for reasons that are beyond me.
He sure gave me an earful about it this week while dropping several words that wouldn't be appropriate for an ESPN.com blog. In the one statement he made that I can quote, he said (loudly), "We did very well. Everyone involved in this event did a good job, but it's nobody's business what the numbers are but ours and the fighters. I'm not gonna release the figures."
For whatever reason, Arum doesn't want to give them out, nor will he allow his partners at Golden Boy or HBO PPV to disclose them. What does he have to hide, anyway?
However, being a resourceful kind of guy with pretty darn good sources in the boxing business and television industry, I got the number, Arum's secrecy be damned. From what my sources tell me, the fight sits at about 825,000 domestic pay-per-view buys with the likelihood that when they're all counted, the total will reach 850,000 or more.
That means the fight generated almost $50 million from the American pay-per-view, a huge number that doesn't even take into account the pay-per-view figures from Hatton's turf in the United Kingdom, where the fight easily could have done 1 million buys. Nor does it take into account the live gate of $8,832,950 or the closed-circuit ticket sales of $575,750 in Las Vegas alone. There's also a pile of cash from the rest of the closed-circuit and international television sales, a seven-figure license fee from HBO for the delayed broadcast rights, sponsorship money and merchandise revenue.
How big was Pacquiao-Hatton? If you take away heavyweight pay-per-views involving Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield as well as the Oscar De La Hoya fights, it's the second-best ever. Only Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s victory against Hatton in December 2007 did more business, generating 915,000 domestic buys.
The bottom line is that Pacquiao-Hatton was a massive success, something Arum should be proud of instead of trying to hide, especially because this was the first big fight of the post-De La Hoya era. I stopped trying to figure Arum out a long time ago, but his decision on this topic makes no sense.
At a time when many have questioned what would become of the boxing business in the wake of the retirement of De La Hoya, the all-time pay-per-view king, Pacquiao-Hatton answered the question with an emphatic, "Yes, there is still life in this business."
When a 140-pound fight in which neither participant is American can do a number like 850,000, especially in the midst of a brutal recession, it's celebration time. And it's not the end, either. A whole series of fights involving Pacquiao and Mayweather can get the public excited and generate big numbers. With Mayweather out of retirement and set to face Juan Manuel Marquez on July 18, you can bank on another fight that will generate in the 500,000-buy range. And, eventually, when Pacquiao and Mayweather finally meet in the fight the public is already demanding, I believe it may rise into the 1.5 million-buy stratosphere.
Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer and HBO PPV chief Mark Taffet acquiesced to Arum's insistence that official numbers not be released on Pacquiao-Hatton, but neither of them is happy about it. I don't blame them. They want to talk up their success, not be muzzled.
So without disclosing the figures, Taffet did say, "Pacquiao-Hatton was a true megafight and establishes Manny Pacquiao as a true pay-per-view star. Most importantly, with Pacquiao-Hatton, Mayweather-Marquez and the great possibilities of matchups in the 140- and 147-pound divisions, we are entering a very exciting period for boxing fans and the sport."
Taffet is right, even if that wacky Arum doesn't want to acknowledge it with facts and figures.
Super middleweight Andre Ward has the biggest fight of his career coming Saturday night. That's when he will face the most notable opponent of his career, dangerous puncher Edison Miranda, in a scheduled 12-rounder on a special edition of Showtime's "ShoBox: The New Generation" (9 ET/PT).
I think Ward should win the fight if he boxes the way he's capable of boxing. He is the better boxer. He has far superior speed. He throws straighter punches. He's naturally bigger. And he's smarter in the ring. But Miranda, who can get awfully careless with his defense, possesses tremendous power and fearlessness in the ring. He is always dangerous and loves to mix it up. So you never know what might happen if he's able to land a flush shot.
There's also more pressure on Ward (18-0, 12 KOs), the only American boxing gold medalist at the 2004 Olympics, because the 25-year-old will be fighting at home in Oakland, Calif., for the first time as a professional when he takes on Miranda at the Oracle Arena.
Still, Ward doesn't rattle easily. He always seems calm, cool and collected -- and he was no different when the discussion turned to his hometown debut.
"Fighting in your backyard could either be a gift or a curse," Ward said. "I've never been one to get caught up in the lights, camera, action and that whole deal. I don't really get caught up in the hoopla before the fight. I'm just a steady kind of person. I'm steady and I'm consistent in terms of the way I approach each fight. Whether I'm fighting in the Olympics or I'm fighting at Tachi Palace [in Lemoore, Calif., where he fought his previous match in February], it doesn't matter. I have a job to do.
"I've been preparing for nights like this since I was 9 years old. I can't let fighting in my hometown detour me in terms of my focus. Trust me, there's going to be a lot of energy in the building. I think a lot of people in Oakland are excited about this, and I'm going to deliver."
Adding to the luster of fighting at home, Tuesday was declared "Andre Ward Day" in Oakland by Mayor Ronald V. Dellums.
Dellums' proclamation:
"Whereas, we salute Andre Ward for his steadfast commitment, his vision and his perseverance in pursuit of prominence in the field of boxing; and his current ranking as an undefeated professional fighter and an Olympic gold medalist; and …
Whereas, we applaud his devotion to the sport, his exemplary sportsmanship and we appreciate his unwavering desire and compassion for the prize-fighting profession as well as his strength as an ambassador to the sport, serving as a role model to millions of young men and women in Oakland and beyond; and …
Whereas, we congratulate Andre Ward for passionately accepting his call to worship and for continuing to give honor to his faith; and we proudly welcome him home for his professional debut in Oakland."
Now, Ward just needs to go out and perform as he's capable of doing. A few more fights, and we might be looking at a world champion. If that happens, Dellums probably will be back, this time offering up a key to the city.
• How about these new lyrics to the Ricky Hatton song? "There's only one Ricky Flattened!" If he decides to continue fighting -- which you know he will -- who wants to bet he'll drop trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. faster than Mayweather can order lunch at the Taco Bell drive-thru? (If you don't get it, you missed the terrific "24/7" on HBO.)
By the way, how utterly stupid does Mayweather Sr. look now after all the smack he talked about Manny Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach? And how genius does Roach look after predicting the outcome exactly? (He said Pacquiao by knockout inside three rounds, and Pacquiao starched Hatton in the second round.) By most accounts, the Mayweather-Hatton union was a disaster during training camp, even though they did a pretty good job of keeping it quiet until just a few days before the fight. Hatton and the others in the camp didn't exactly treat Mayweather well, but Mayweather didn't show much class, either. He spent most of the promotion telling everyone he was the greatest trainer in the world while disrespecting Roach by calling him "Freddie 'The Joke Coach' Roach." After Mayweather's man got destroyed, guess he's the real joke of a coach, huh?
• For a change, Hatton's British fans actually showed some class by not booing during the American national anthem. Except for their previous disrespect shown to the American anthem, Hatton's fans really are amazing. They travel halfway across the globe and energize an arena like no other fans on earth. They even make Hatton's weigh-ins special events with more electricity than many fights.
• How's this for shocking: David Diaz was more competitive against Pacquiao than Oscar De La Hoya or Hatton.
• So Floyd Mayweather Jr. announced he was coming out of retirement. I'm shocked.
• Speaking of Mayweather Jr., maybe I'm just cynical, but I have to believe he knew exactly what he was doing when he opened the door for promoter Don King to try to sign him. By bringing King into the mix, Mayweather gained significant leverage with Golden Boy and got himself a better deal. The fight with Juan Manuel Marquez is fine, but let's keep it real: Wouldn't it be nice if Mayweather actually fought a true, prime welterweight? While Mayweather is looking down the scale for his second consecutive opponent, Pacquiao has consistently looked up the scale for his.
• So just who is going to fight Shane Mosley, the apparent odd man out among the big welterweight fights being made -- even though he's the champ?
• I guess Mayweather Jr. and Zab Judah, one-time ring rivals, are buddies again. At Mayweather's insistence, Judah will fight on the undercard of his July 18 match with Marquez. Hanging out at strip clubs together in Las Vegas must be the key to their male bonding.
• The only one with less class than Mayweather Sr. is his brother Roger Mayweather, Floyd Jr.'s trainer. During the news conference to announce the Marquez fight, Roger stepped to the podium and spent most of his time trashing legendary trainer Angelo Dundee for no apparent reason rather than talk about his nephew's comeback fight. It was disgusting and uncalled for.
• Congrats to HBO, which won four sports Emmys for previous editions of "24/7" among its eight total trophies on April 27. HBO, which won one award for "De La Hoya/Pacquiao 24/7" and three for "Calzaghe/Jones 24/7," deserves to pick up another batch next year for "Pacquiao/Hatton 24/7," which was terrific. The fourth and final episode was excellent, but what was most impressive was that by delaying it until the day before the fight (previous final episodes had always run on the Thursday night before the fight), the producers got in footage and narration of the electrifying weigh-in from Friday afternoon, just a couple of hours before the final cut had to be delivered to the network. Nobody does it better than HBO. The network is planning another batch of episodes during the buildup to Mayweather-Marquez.
• While I was in Las Vegas for Pacquiao-Hatton, I ran into Genaro Hernandez, the former junior lightweight champ, at the weigh-in. When he was active, Hernandez was one of my favorite fighters. And having gotten to know him in the years since I started covering boxing, you won't meet a better guy. Last fall, Hernandez was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare kind of soft tissue cancer. He had been very sick and his weight had dropped to 120 pounds, 10 less than he had fought at as a champion a decade ago. But the good news is that Hernandez has been told by his doctor that his treatment worked and the cancer is gone. Even though "Chicanito" still looked a bit frail and his hair hasn't grown back yet, he said he was feeling OK. He had a big smile on his face, which was great to see.
• Anyone think Jermain Taylor has gotten a good night's sleep in the past two weeks?
• Here's a not-so-glamorous moment from the life a boxing writer: A middle-of-the-night drive to catch a 6 a.m. Sunday flight (at least I had the upgrade) from Hartford, Conn., back home to Washington after the Carl Froch-Taylor fight at Foxwoods on zero sleep. I made my flight thanks to my main man Alex "Yanksalex" Dombroff. Gotta give him props for the hour-plus ride through the back roads of Connecticut from the casino to the airport. That Frappuccino stop at 4:30 a.m. was about as clutch as it gets.
• The super middleweight division is hot right now, which is one of the reasons, in case you hadn't noticed, that Showtime is so heavily into the division. The network has been featuring numerous super middleweights of late, including Froch, Taylor, Lucian Bute, Librado Andrade and Allan Green along with up-and-comers Andre Dirrell and Andre Ward, who faces Edison Miranda in a very interesting fight May 16. I think what Showtime is doing is smart -- getting into a deep division so it can televise a series of strong bouts in the weight class.
• So now junior middleweight titlist Vernon Forrest wants out of a proposed Aug. 1 Showtime fight with interim beltholder Sergio Martinez. If Forrest does pull out -- the mandatory is way overdue, and he has been ducking Martinez worse than we're all ducking swine flu -- he ought to be stripped of the title. Time for Forrest to put up or shut up.
• As exciting as boxing can be, we also need to remember that there is a human toll sometimes. Condolences to the family and friends of Benjamin Flores and former heavyweight champion Greg Page. Flores died this week at age 25, five days after suffering injuries in a junior featherweight bout with Al Seeger last week. Page was 50 when he died April 27 from complications from the brain injury he suffered in a March 2001 bout with Dale Crowe. Page had been partially paralyzed since the fight and had suffered a stroke.
• I'm really hoping the proposed match between Yuriorkis Gamboa and Celestino Caballero happens.
• How great is Gerry Penalosa's chin? I'm not sure Antonio Margarito, with his loaded gloves, could knock him out.
• It was great to see bantamweight Abner Mares back in action on the Pacquiao-Hatton undercard after recovering from a serious eye injury suffered last fall. Hopefully, he'll reach his full potential without the eye causing him any more difficulties.
• This one is off-topic, but it had to be done. Today is my mom's birthday, so happy birthday, Michelle Rafael.
• DVD pick of the week: This one never, ever gets old. I could watch my DVD of the Showtime bout every week. But four years ago, on May 7, 2005, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo waged the single greatest fight I have ever seen. It was a privilege to be ringside for one of the best fights in boxing history. They traded toe-to-toe for the entire fight in what was already a classic by the time they reached the 10th round of the lightweight unification bout. The 10th round, one of the greatest ever, sent the fight into legendary status as Corrales survived two rough knockdowns (helped, no doubt, by spitting out his mouthpiece twice) to rally for the improbable TKO victory in the final minute. It was jaw-dropping stuff. Fights simply get no better. It turned out to be Corrales' final victory. He lost his next three (including a rematch) and, sadly, two years to the day of the fight, Corrales died in a motorcycle accident. It's an anniversary I never forget.
LAS VEGAS -- Back in late February, Bernard Hopkins called out cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek, insisting he wanted to move up in weight and challenge for that title. Talks began and then quickly fizzled for a proposed HBO bout in July when Hopkins played Adamek for a chump by insisting that he and his promoter, Main Events, be paid no more than a flat $500,000 fee, laughably low for a fight that would generate millions more than that.
Adamek and Main Events rightly told Hopkins to take a hike and moved on to other business. He'll instead defend the championship July 10 against an opponent to be determined, probably on Showtime. HBO previously rejected a terrific fight between Adamek and former light heavyweight champ Glen Johnson, a fight not in Showtime's budget.
Hopkins, meanwhile, is still trolling for a fight, even though he'll tell anyone who listens that he doesn't really care if he fights again and that if he does, it's because of the money.
He said it again on Wednesday at the MGM Grand in the media center for the Saturday night's Ricky Hatton-Manny Pacquiao fight, which Hopkins is helping promote in his role with Golden Boy Promotions.
But as it always is with Hopkins, it's about him. So even though the international media was on hand for Hatton and Pacquiao, Hopkins turned to the conversation to himself.
He went on and on about how he doesn't have to fight, that he's done it all, but that if he does fight he has a certain number of dollars he will fight for or else he won't fight -- as if anyone cares about that threat. If he doesn't want to fight, fine. He can retire again and be done. If he wants to fight, that's also fine. But Hopkins was going on and on about how he's done this, done that, needs to make this much money, is owed this, is owed that. Blah, blah, blah.
Frankly, I've heard it all before. I got tired of his verbal diarrhea and walked away.
Later in the day, Richard Schaefer, the CEO of Golden Boy, told me that Hopkins had a new target: super middleweight titlist Carl Froch of England, who is coming off Saturday's sensational comeback knockout of Jermain Taylor with 14 seconds left in the fight. Taylor, of course, owns two decision wins against Hopkins at middleweight.
"Bernard Hopkins is interested to fight Froch. Why not? He just knocked out Jermain Taylor," Schaefer said. "[Golden Boy matchmaker] Eric Gomez spoke to [Froch promoter] Mick Hennessy and Mick is interested. They only want big fights. Bernard Hopkins is a big fight for them."
At least the silliness of a possible rematch with Felix Trinidad seems to have died down. Schaefer said maybe he could make Froch-Hopkins for sometime in July.
"What I have to do is discuss it with Bernard and HBO," Schaefer said, admitting he was unsure if Showtime had any rights to Froch following the Taylor fight. My sources tell me that Showtime, indeed, has a first/last option on Froch's next fight.
If the fight happened, Schaefer said it would be at super middleweight for Froch's title. Hopkins would drop down from light heavyweight, where he has fought for the past few years since moving up from middleweight and skipping the super middleweight division.
"Bernard told me he would do it at 168, so I'm going to try to make it," Schaefer said, adding that Hopkins might even be willing to go to England for the fight.
"O2 Arena in London," Schaefer said. "It would be big."
Sure, it sounds reasonable and is an interesting fight, although not as interesting as one with Adamek or Chad Dawson. But it will prove difficult to make. A fight in England means an afternoon HBO broadcast in America. When HBO does live fights from Europe, the price it pays is far less because it's not live in prime time.
Good luck to Schaefer in making the fight with Froch and satisfying Hopkins' financial demands. It's not like Froch brings a pile of British TV money to the table, and his side isn't going to fight Hopkins for chump change. The British networks paid exactly nothing for live coverage of the fight with Taylor. Only at the last minute did Hennessy manage to get less than six figures from ITV to show a taped replay.
In theory, Froch-Hopkins is a reasonable fight but they haven't even seriously discussed money, and that's always when it gets difficult with Hopkins. Just ask Adamek.
Apparently, HBO didn't learn from passing on the Carl Froch-Jermain Taylor fight, which turned out to be just the sort of dramatic, compelling, exciting prizefight many of us expected it to be on Saturday night.
HBO had been involved with Taylor for his entire career, but when its contractual obligation to him was over after his victory against Jeff Lacy last fall, it let him walk away without making any effort to buy the mandatory fight with super middleweight titlist Froch. Sure, HBO had some interest in Taylor if he was facing Mikkel Kessler or, say, Winky Wright in a rematch. But those fights were not happening. Froch was.
Fortunately, Showtime had an available date on its schedule, pursued Froch-Taylor and wound up with a terrific show this past Saturday night. It was an excellent fight. Froch was down early and losing the action fight when he scored a very dramatic, come-from-behind knockout with 14 seconds left in the bout. It pretty much doesn't get any better than that if you like watching boxing.
In recent weeks, the promoters for cruiserweight champ Tomasz Adamek and former light heavyweight champ Glen Johnson have been pitching that fight to HBO. Showtime, which did have some interest from what I am told, simply didn't have an available date this summer to do the fight. HBO did in July but formally passed on it Monday and may wind up not doing a live fight in July at all. (By the way, HBO also passed on Adamek-Roy Jones, and that's a good thing.)
HBO's move really didn't surprise anyone involved with Adamek or Johnson because they had seen the writing on the wall. After John Duddy's upset loss to Billy Lyell on Friday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., the venue where Adamek promoter Main Events puts on regular cards and the building where Adamek-Johnson would have taken place, Main Events announced to the crowd that Adamek's next defense would indeed take place there on July 10 against an opponent to be named. July 10 is a Friday and not the HBO date that was under discussion.
So Adamek won't be facing Johnson, unfortunately, because HBO didn't think enough of the fight.
Whomever Adamek fights it will be a less costly match than one against Johnson, and it likely will be on "ShoBox," the series Adamek fought on when he knocked out Johnathon Banks in a February defense. Main Events and Showtime are in talks.
Adamek-Johnson would have been a tremendous fight in my opinion, but instead of putting on a significant and exciting fight in a crowded building filled with Adamek's fans, HBO would rather brush off a fight that could be finalized in five minutes in order to throw a lot more money at a potential fight later, like one between Bernard Hopkins -- who called out Adamek and then lowballed him with a laughable offer -- and light heavyweight titlist Chad Dawson.
Dawson, of course, first needs to beat Antonio Tarver in a May 9 rematch, another fight HBO is radically overpaying for.
Now, there's nothing wrong with Dawson-Hopkins as a fight, one that the Dawson side would love to have and one that, with a victory, would help further cement Dawson as the future of the light heavyweight division. But there's no way it would provide the action of an Adamek-Johnson fight or draw the same kind of crowd. And let's not forget that Hopkins has said over and over that he has no intention of fighting Dawson. At age 44, Hopkins doesn't want to mess around with a prime 26-year-old handful like Dawson. Who can blame him?
But that won't stop HBO from trying to make it happen. If it does, fine. But take this to the bank -- the fight will cost HBO at least three times as much money as Adamek-Johnson, which would have cost about $1 million. And take this to the bank also: It will provide a lot less bang for the buck.
When Kendall Holt lost his junior welterweight belt April 4 in a unification bout with Timothy Bradley, who knew his month could get worse?
On Friday it did. The 27-year-old Paterson, N.J., native and single father pleaded guilty to a money laundering charge in New Jersey. The charge stemmed from drug deals made his then-manager Henry Cortes, who pleaded guilty to far more serious charges in February.
Holt's role? He picked up bags of money involved in the drug deals, which he knew about, and delivered the cash to Cortes.
Holt's decision wasn't the smartest one in the world, but at least he's fessing up to his misdeeds and could have the charge dismissed if he successfully completes a court program. Hopefully, Holt learns his lesson.
Here is the text of Holt's statement about the situation as released by his attorney, Patrick English:
"[Friday] I entered a conditional plea to conspiracy to commit financial facilitation of criminal activity. I write that the plea is conditional because, pursuant to agreement with the prosecutor's office, I am also applying to the Pretrial Intervention Program. It is my understanding that the plea will be held and if I successfully complete the Pretrial Intervention Program the plea will not be entered on to my record.
I want to explain the circumstances so there is no misunderstanding. I was requested on several occasions by my former manager, Henry Cortes, to deliver cash to him. Once, at his request, I did so. I should have known, given the people involved, that the money was the result of illegal activity.
In fact, I should have just refused to transport the cash. I did not refuse, and that leads me to where we are today.
It is very important that everyone know that I was not a part of my former manager's distribution of drugs. I did not transport, possess, or distribute drugs. I had no part in my former manager's activities in this regard, and it is not alleged that I did. Further, I never profited from the crime with which I was charged, nor is it alleged that I did. I succumbed to the request of my former manager to transport money, with no gain to me at all. My limited involvement is reflected in the fact that I have been given the opportunity to apply for the Pretrial Intervention Program.
I have been and will continue to be completely cooperative with the prosecutor's office, and I would like to thank them for the courtesies they have shown me.
Sometimes in life people are asked to do things which they should decline to do. I should have declined but did not. I am truly sorry for that, and count this among life's lessons.
I intend to move on and put this matter behind me. I do not intend to answer any questions about this incident as I believe that this statement covers all that is necessary and must go forward rather than back."
• I've been hearing rumblings of a Bernard Hopkins-Felix Trinidad rematch at 168 pounds being discussed for the fall. What a bad, bad joke of a fight that would be. Hopkins crushed Trinidad in 2001 and remains a top fighter. But Trinidad, who hasn't fought since being dominated by Roy Jones in January 2008, is a spent bullet with nothing left. Even if they can make the fight, which I sort of doubt, why would anyone on earth pay 5 cents to see such an utterly uninteresting and pointless rematch? There is that old saying, though, about a sucker being born every minute.
• Next week's Ricky Hatton-Manny Pacquiao fight can't get here soon enough.
• Condolences to the family and friends of Stanley Levin, the boxing-loving attorney who considered Jones to be a member of the family. Levin, of Pensacola, Fla., died last week at age 70. He was one of the good guys in boxing, a generous man whose word was his bond. He was never a guy you'd see out front doing a lot of talking. Behind the scenes, however, especially with regard to Jones' career, Levin made things happen. He was Jones' co-manager for much of his career, along with his brother, Fred Levin. They were voted co-managers of the year in 1995 by the Boxing Writers Association of America. Levin, recognizable by his neck brace, stayed with Jones until the earlier part of the decade, when they went their separate ways, in part because he was disappointed in some of Jones' business decisions and because of his frail health. I always liked Stan the Man. One time, when I was covering Jones' HBO PPV fight against Eric Harding in New Orleans in September 2000, I spent a good part of fight day with him. New Orleans was getting crushed by thunderstorms that day and lightning streaked across the sky nonstop. I had a pretty darn good view of the lightning storm because Levin invited me several hours before the fight to his suite at the top of the hotel where we were staying to watch HBO's afternoon "KO Nation" card featuring Winky Wright-Bronco McKart II. It was just the two of us. We watched the fights, watched the storm and talked boxing. Those were good times.
• It seems unlikely, but I'm still holding out hope that HBO or Showtime decides to buy the proposed Tomasz Adamek-Glen Johnson cruiserweight championship fight this summer. I don't think it can be anything less than a crowd-pleasing action fight between aggressive fighters with great chins and never-say-die attitudes in the ring. It's the epitome of a fans' fight.
• What on earth was James Kirkland thinking?
• I have to say I was thoroughly impressed by flyweight titleholder Nonito Donaire's fourth-round TKO of Raul Martinez last week. Donaire is darn good and deserves pound-for-pound list consideration. I was also impressed with Brian Viloria, who dethroned junior flyweight titlist Ulises Solis with an 11th-round knockout on the undercard of the entertaining Top Rank PPV card. Finally, Viloria put it all together against a quality opponent.
• So anyone out there willing and available to fight Paul Williams?
• Nikolai Valuev and Ruslan Chagaev are finally going to meet May 30 in their mandated heavyweight title rematch. Yawn.
• The lunacy of some fighters never ceases to amaze me. The latest example comes from virtual unknown Tavoris Cloud, whose lone claim to fame is a nice knockout of faded Julio Gonzalez on Aug. 8, 2008, on ESPN2. Since then, Cloud (19-0, 18 KOs), the mandatory challenger for titleholder Chad Dawson, has not fought. Yet, suddenly, he popped up this week with a silly open letter demanding a fight with Dawson, one which he is already mandatory for. How ridiculous is that?
• Besides all those bogus interim titles, champion in recess designations and super titles, is the IBF junior lightweight title the most pathetic belt in boxing today or what? Since Marco Antonio Barrera was forced to give it up in late 2005, four men -- Cassius Baloyi, Gairy St. Clair, Mzonke Fana and Malcolm Klassen -- have held it and it has changed hands five times in eight bouts with seven of the fights taking place in South Africa, which apparently has become IBF 130-pound central. Nobody has made it through two successful defenses either. Klassen is the latest to hold the title in the seemingly never-ending round-robin, having regained it last Saturday from Baloyi.
• Just a quick note of congratulations to one of boxing's more colorful characters, England's Frank Maloney, who is celebrating 25 years as a promoter this week with a small card in London. Maloney, who always seems to enjoy wearing outfits decorated with Britain's Union Jack, has managed or promoted the likes of former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, former cruiserweight champ David Haye and former featherweight titleholders Paul Ingle and Scott Harrison.
• Congratulations to HBO Sports, which picked up 18 nominations for the 30th annual Sports Emmys. Many of its nominations were for boxing-related programming. "Joe Louis: America's Hero Betrayed" was nominated for outstanding sports documentary. "De La Hoya/Pacquiao 24/7" and the network's various countdown specials were nominated for outstanding sports series/anthologies. "De La Hoya/Pacquiao 24/7" was also nominated for the Dick Schaap writing award. "Calzaghe/Jones 24/7" garnered four nominations for edited sports special, editing, camera work and post-produced audio. HBO's "Ring Life" Internet series was nominated in the outstanding new approaches to sports programming category. Congrats to HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg and his entire staff. Awards will be handed out Monday in New York.
• DVD pick of the week: I've been on a bit of an '80s binge having received a handful of classics from a friend I trade with, so this week I went for one of those bouts. It was June 27, 1987, in Montreal when 21-year-old Matthew Hilton faced tenacious Buster Drayton. Hilton dropped Drayton in the first round and it looked like it was going to be a quick fight. Instead, it was a 15-round slugfest. But Hilton, younger and quicker, won the unanimous decision to claim a junior middleweight title in front of his adoring fans and become the first Canadian to win a world title in 44 years. And you didn't need cable to watch the fight or need to spend cash on a pay-per-view. It was live on ABC and called by Jim Lampley in his pre-HBO days.
We all know Floyd Mayweather's comeback is imminent. The about-to-unretire superstar, who vacated the welterweight championship and his unofficial status as the pound-for-pound best in the world when he announced his retirement last summer, has authorized adviser Al Haymon to field fight offers, and Haymon has done just that.
It's no secret that Haymon and Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer are discussing a July HBO PPV fight that would pit Mayweather against lightweight champ Juan Manuel Marquez. There have also been conversations between the Mayweather camp and HBO about a network fight against a lesser opponent, but those talks apparently have not gone very far because Mayweather's asking price is a bit more than HBO wants to spend.
Whenever and whomever Mayweather fights, he is coming back. That isn't going to surprise anyone. But here's something that probably would surprise many: Mayweather making his comeback with promoter Don King at his side.
It sure would spice things up a bit, I know that. And if you listen to King crow about the prospect, it's a distinct possibility. Nobody knows how to entice a fighter to sign with him better than King does. He's the master, and the master and Mayweather have spent a lot of time together in the past few days, much to the chagrin of Haymon and Golden Boy, who don't want Mayweather anywhere near King, according to one of King's confidants.
So when I talked to His Hairness on Tuesday afternoon, King sounded like the cat that was in the process of swallowing the canary.
"Floyd is here in Florida. He came to see me," King said. "I love Floyd. I think Floyd is the only marquee name out here now. We'll see what happens."
I could imagine King smiling from ear to ear during our talk, but he wasn't spilling any beans on the particulars of his conversations with Mayweather. However, he made it clear that he was interested and had big plans for Mayweather if something can be worked out.
I almost got the sense that Mayweather was at his side while we were talking, and that King was putting on a show for him.
"I put him in a hotel, but he's come over to my house for a barbecue and a chat and some fun," King said, barely containing his glee. "Floyd's a great fighter. He beat Oscar De La Hoya, he beat Ricky Hatton. He beat them all."
Um, so, Don … how did Mayweather just happen to wind up in your office and at your house?
"He just popped in," King said smoothly. "We're having fun and we'll get down to serious business in a few days. He's been here for a few days, and every day we talk. We had this great barbecue over at the house. We were eating some pork ribs and some lamb chops. Mmmmm, it was good. Floyd's having fun right now and I'm so very glad he's spending some time with me."
For the past few years, King hasn't exactly set the world on fire with the sort of big events he had become so closely associated with. He has promoted fewer and fewer cards, thinned his once massive stable of fighters and dramatically reduced the number of employees at his Deerfield Beach, Fla., compound.
In fact, lately there has been a distinct feeling throughout the boxing business that, at 77, The High-Haired One isn't even in the game in a serious way anymore. Instead, it seemed like he was playing out the string of an epic career.
But one thing I have learned in nearly a decade of knowing the man and covering him and his fights: You never -- and I mean never -- count out Don King.
He once wooed Hasim Rahman with a duffel bag of cash. He has won over many a fighter with his money and magnetism, and what better way for King to get back into serious business than by signing Mayweather?
"He's really talented, not a fly-by-night," King said. "The man is a scientific boxer and a great talent. He's a tremendous star, and I would take him to new heights if I were to promote him. I love any talented guy. I promoted Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Mike Tyson, Larry Holmes. Those guys had talent. So now Floyd comes to see me. What a dynamic team we would be if this should come to pass. I don't have him yet, but when he gets around to committing himself, we'll shock the world. If it comes to pass, great. Right now, we just checkin' out the landscape."
Oh my, what a landscape it would be if King and the man they call "Money" teamed up.
• I have said and written many times that we should enjoy Oscar De La Hoya because someday he would be gone from the ring. Now he is, so I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did. Here are a few more thoughts on the Golden Boy's career in the wake of his retirement earlier this week:
There has always been much debate about the outcome of some of De La Hoya's fights. For the record, I thought he was robbed against Felix Trinidad and in the rematch with Shane Mosley. I thought he got a gift against Felix Sturm. And I thought that the judges got it right in his fights with Pernell Whitaker and Ike Quartey.
I think the best De La Hoya ever looked was in his 1996 first fight with Julio Cesar Chavez, whom he stopped in the fourth round to win the junior welterweight championship. The De La Hoya who fought that night was about as perfect as he would ever be in his career.
The biggest victory of De La Hoya's career to me was his 11th-round knockout of steroid-enhanced Fernando Vargas in 2002. It was a terrific fight in which De La Hoya survived some rocky moments against a bigger, stronger man and came back for the ultra-satisfying knockout victory in a grudge match. It was one of the most electric nights I've ever had at ringside and the call HBO's Jim Lampley made at the end of that fight is an all-time great one.
De La Hoya's sixth-round knockout of Ricardo Mayorga in 2006 to win a junior middleweight belt (his final pro title) was also a really exciting performance, even though Mayorga was made to order for him.
Even though De La Hoya was stopped by a body shot from then-undisputed middleweight champ Bernard Hopkins in 2004 and lost a split decision to then-pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2007, both of which took place when he was way past his best, he deserves credit for his better-than-expected performances. I didn't think he had a prayer to win either bout, but he gave the much bigger Hopkins one of his toughest fights until the knockout and performed well against Mayweather, who was the best fighter in the world when they met.
De La Hoya deserves more credit than he gets for several of his wins, including the ones against Miguel Angel Gonzalez (1997), Genaro Hernandez (1995) and Rafael Ruelas (1995).
De La Hoya easily outpointed Gonzalez in his only junior welterweight title defense. Gonzalez was 41-0 and a former lightweight titleholder when they met. He was considered an extremely dangerous opponent and perhaps on the verge of greatness in his own right. De La Hoya took him apart.
Hernandez was 32-0-1 and had been a well-respected junior lightweight titleholder when he challenged for De La Hoya's lightweight belt. De La Hoya also took him apart, badly breaking his nose and forcing him to quit in the sixth round. Ultimately, Hernandez lost only twice in his career -- to De La Hoya and in his final fight when he lost the junior lightweight title to Mayweather.
Ruelas was a strong puncher who was 43-1 when they met in a battle of Southern California rivals. Lots of people were picking Ruelas. De La Hoya annihilated him in two rounds.
It's unfortunate that so many people rag on De La Hoya because he lost some fights over the final few years of his career. Those are the same people who are absolutely clueless about all the quality victories he rang up before the Trinidad fight.
• Hey, at least when Evangelista Cotto threw a cement brick at his nephew, Miguel Cotto, he didn't try to cover it up with gauze, tape and a boxing glove.
• Speaking of Antonio Margarito, if he's so innocent in the whole plaster of Paris hand wrap scandal wouldn't you think he'd be upset with his trainer, Javier Capetillo, who wrapped his hands with the illegal substance and got him into this mess? You'd think so, yet Margarito hasn't fired Capetillo or said one thing against him. Sure, Margarito didn't know. Uh huh.
• Do yourself a favor and catch a replay of this month's episode of HBO's "Real Sports." The profile of Ann Wolfe, the openly gay former women's champion now training rising star James Kirkland, is riveting. Reporter Andrea Kremer's piece is Emmy-worthy. Frankly, I wished it was longer.
• There are some of us (guilty as charged) who have gotten on HBO's case for passing on the Carl Froch-Jermain Taylor fight and praised Showtime for buying the April 25 super middleweight title bout. Regardless of which network is airing it, at least boxing fans in the United States can watch what I think is going to be an excellent fight. Here's the real shocker, however. It is not being televised in Froch's native England, which is absolutely mind-boggling. Most of Froch's fights have been televised in his home country, which has at least three networks that regularly televise boxing these days (Sky Sports, Setanta and ITV). Yet when Froch crosses the pond for the biggest fight of his career for his first title defense against a big-name opponent, nobody is going to show it. For shame.
• As always, I really enjoy HBO's "24/7." Last week's debut episode of the four-part series counting down to the Ricky Hatton-Manny Pacquiao fight really got me excited for May 2. HBO's producers are second to none when it comes to boxing. But just one thing: Did I really need the extended look at Hatton wearing a thong? Let's just hope in Saturday night's second episode there is no scene of Freddie Roach or Floyd Mayweather Sr. getting massages.
• Top Rank is trying to put together a fight for its July 25 "Latin Fury" pay-per-view card between lightweight titlist Edwin Valero and Amir Khan destroyer Breidis Prescott. I love it.
• As much as I love the proposed Valero-Prescott fight, the best fight of the summer is July 11 on Showtime when bantamweight titlist Joseph "King Kong" Agbeko faces junior bantamweight champion Vic Darchinyan. Can you say classic waiting to happen?
• Before Yuriorkis Gamboa's bout with Jesus Rojas on "ShoBox" on Friday night he said, "Fighting for a world title in my 15th fight is very exciting, but I always had a dream, a goal, to fight for the title within two years of turning pro and it is almost two years exactly." Too bad the title Gamboa is fighting for is nothing but a cheap knockoff that means little. He's fighting for the pointless WBA interim featherweight belt, a strap made available only because the organization wants the sanction fee and couldn't care less about anything else. Last time I checked, Chris John owned the title, was not injured and was active. So, of course, the WBA sanctioned an interim title bout. Gamboa is an electrifying young talent, but if he and his people really believe he's a champion if he wins the fight, they're insane.
• OK, so what big name from welterweight to middleweight is going to step up and fight Paul Williams? A show of hands? Nobody. That's what I thought.
• I'm pretty psyched to see the Andre Ward-Edison Miranda fight on May 16.
• Now, I'm not fan of the avalanche of bogus world titles and other such nonsense, but one thing I do think is kind of cool are the state titles. They can effectively be used to get a local boxing community behind an event while not making the fight look as though it is some huge match. So even though I'm not all that familiar with Daniel Sostre or Tommy Rainone, I found myself at least slightly intrigued when I read a news release from promoter Bob Duffy about their May 8 fight in Plainview, N.Y., in which Sostre will defend the New York State welterweight title in an eight-rounder.
• DVD pick of the week: This one never gets old, even 24 years after the fact. Marvelous Marvin Hagler's third-round knockout of Thomas Hearns in Las Vegas to retain the middleweight championship on April 15, 1985, remains one of the great fights of all time. It was pure action from start to finish. The first round alone was as exciting as boxing can ever possibly get. The fight is short, so I will confess: I watched it three times in one sitting.
LAS VEGAS -- Oscar De La Hoya is going to play coy until the very end, slipping the questions like he sometimes dodged incoming punches.
Boxing's biggest star plans to announce at a news conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday whether he will fight on in the wake of the December demolition administered to him by Manny Pacquiao, or retire and bring the curtain down on a remarkable career in which he won a 1992 Olympic gold medal, professional titles in six weight divisions and became the highest-grossing star in boxing history.
I believe De La Hoya is going to retire, and good for him. At 36, with a family, all the money he could ever need, successful business interests, and a Hall of Fame career, there's no point to fighting anymore except at the risk of damaging his health and legacy. It's not like De La Hoya is suddenly going to start beating top-echelon fighters again. He hasn't done that for years despite his popularity.
Besides, if De La Hoya isn't retiring, why the big, fancy news conference just to say you're going to fight when you don't even have an opponent lined up? Believe me, if he had an opponent lined up, or a date set aside or a venue on hold, the news wouldn't just leak out. It would rocket out.
De La Hoya, in Vegas because Golden Boy Promotions is co-promoting tonight's Paul Williams-Winky Wright card at Mandalay Bay, sat down with a few media members for about a half hour in the media center Friday afternoon to tease us about his plans.
"I'm excited because people will be shocked," he said, flanked by business partner and close friend Richard Schaefer. "You know I've always fought the best. That's all I'm going to say."
I have no idea what De La Hoya meant with that opening remark, but his comments became no more clear, so I asked him if he could be more specific. He couldn't.
"I haven't been this excited since winning the gold medal. It's a major move in my career," he said. "It's strategic and well-thought out. I've been thinking about this and it's firm. People ask me if I'm going to retire, and I didn't want to base my decision on my last performance because emotions are riding so high or so low after a fight, you don't want to make a decision like that. You don't want to think about it that night. You want to make an intelligent decision."
I asked De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs) why he even had to make a decision? Plenty of fighters take long periods off -- a lot longer than the few months it's been since De La Hoya's last fight -- and just see how they feel after a year or more. There is certainly no absolute need for De La Hoya to make a grand announcement other than he may be getting tired of the questions from fans and media everywhere he goes.
"I just felt I had to [make a decision]," he said. "My fans want to know. But my decision is based solely on how I feel, not how Richard feels, not how my wife feels. How I feel. I've had input from tons of people. Obviously, I'm going to pay more attention to people who are closest to me, but I literally was asking people in the street: 'Should I retire or should I continue?' It was split. 'Enjoy your family.' That was the No. 1 response from most people."
De La Hoya, who said he has the Pacquiao loss saved on his DVR but has never watched it, sure looked in shape. He said he weighed about 152 pounds and had recently gone to the gym. But he also said not to read too much into that because he would always keep himself in physically good condition.
He said his decision would not be based on the health of Golden Boy Promotions, either. With De La Hoya's name and Schaefer's business acumen, Golden Boy has emerged as one of the most significant promotional outfits in the world.
"There's no pressure whatsoever," De La Hoya said about the concerns for his company. "Golden Boy Promotions is a machine on its own. It's a company that is paving the way for the future of the sport."
De La Hoya said he paid attention to the hoopla surrounding quarterback Brett Favre, who stayed a season too long when he played one last forgettable season with the New York Jets instead of bowing out gracefully after a storybook retirement from the Green Bay Packers.
"I was thinking so much about Brett Favre. He retired and came back. Why?" De La Hoya asked.
Whatever the Golden Boy does on Tuesday, he said he is comfortable and firm with the decision.
"If I did decide to retire, I'm content with my career," he said. "I'm content with what I've accomplished. As an athlete who's very competitive, you always want more, but in the back of your mind you think about all the wins and what you've accomplished. That's what makes it so difficult. Whatever decision I announce on Tuesday will be the right decision for me."
• I had a bad night on Wednesday, as did many others in the boxing industry whom I spoke with. That's when the news began circulating that Artie Curry, one of the best people you could ever know, in boxing or out, had been found dead in his New York apartment. He was 49.
Ninety-nine percent of boxing fans have never heard of him and wouldn't recognize him if they were sitting next to him at a fight, but he was a vital cog at HBO, where he served as the manager of HBO Sports talent relations. That means that Curry was the liaison between the fighters and their camps and the network, and he often represented HBO Sports at charity functions and in its community outreach programs. In reality, he was a lot more to a lot of people.
The Harlem-born Curry was an HBO lifer, working his way up after starting in the mail room when he was 20 in a job that gave him direction after a difficult upbringing in which he was primarily raised in foster care. His mother was murdered when he was a toddler. His father, whom he once told me he had met only once in his life, was an alcoholic who died from too much booze. Artie's life changed for the better when he was adopted as a teen and again when he found a job at HBO, where some important people took him under their wing. He was befriended by, among others, former HBO boxing executives Seth Abraham and Lou DiBella, who considered Curry one of his best friends.
I had already heard the news when DiBella called me Wednesday night. He was devastated and in tears. I was close too. Larry Merchant was practically in shock over his death, but still found the right words to sum things up: "I guess it's true, only the good die young."
Fight after fight, city after city, year after year, I spent time shooting the bull with Curry and our friend Tim Smith of the New York Daily News. Artie and I talked about more than boxing. We talked about life in general. He never had a bad word to say about anyone. He was just a great person and a down-to-earth guy. He'd give you the shirt off his back and buy you a beer at the same time.
He loved boxing, loved the fighters and loved HBO. He was one of Roy Jones' best friends. Lennox Lewis, Arturo Gatti, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and many others fighters also considered him a friend, a person they could talk to about anything. I also considered Artie a friend. Saturday's Paul Williams-Winky Wright HBO fight in Las Vegas just won't be the same without him, as will all the HBO fights from here on out. He will be sorely missed.
• For years, there has been an uneasy relationship between welterweight star Miguel Cotto and his uncle/trainer Evangelista Cotto. The dysfunction in the family at times makes the Floyd Mayweather Sr.-Mayweather Jr.- Roger Mayweather relationships look normal.
Evangelista also trained another nephew, Jose Cotto (Miguel's brother). Their rocky relationship took center stage during a nationally televised bout in May 2007, when they nearly came to blows between rounds. During the incident, Miguel, who was sitting in the front row, climbed up on the ring apron to play peacemaker and separate them. Jose hasn't fought since that fight, a draw in a lightweight title eliminator.
Whatever the issues between Miguel and Evangelista, Cotto was winning and they didn't mess with what was working, no matter how difficult it was. Cotto eventually lost (although he rebounded in his last fight) and, finally, things have clearly gotten out of hand between them.
It all boiled over Wednesday afternoon when the men came to blows during a training session in Puerto Rico. The cops are investigating the incident.
Apparently, a disagreement over where Cotto would train for his June 13 fight with Joshua Clottey ignited the dispute. According to sources, Miguel wanted to train in Florida while Evangelista wanted to remain in Puerto Rico, where he has several other fighters that he trains. Whatever the cause for the dispute, Cotto fired his uncle and Evangelista responded by punching his nephew in the face and cutting his nose, according to media reports in Puerto Rico.
As the story goes, Miguel left the gym, but it didn't end there. Evangelista later showed up at his house, where Cotto-Cotto II took place with Evangelista throwing a cement brick at Miguel. It missed, but crashed through the window of his 2009 Jaguar. The men came to blows for a second time, this time with other family members there to try to break them up. Evangelista had to go to the hospital for treatment for an undisclosed injury.
Cotto later issued a statement about the incident in which he acknowledged it and confirmed that he had fired his uncle, but said he would continue training for the Clottey fight.
Talk about drama. Obviously, Cotto will need a new head trainer. What surprises me about all of this is that it took so long for their relationship to blow up. It's too bad, but stuff happens. Besides, I don't care what the issues are, you don't mess with a man's car.
• So now what do we do with Antonio Margarito and trainer Javier Capetillo in the wake of the disclosure that the hand wraps seized by the California State Athletic Commission prior Margarcheato's fight with Shane Mosley in January tested positive for the primary elements of plaster of paris, namely sulfur and calcium?
Margarcheato and Capetillo are both already banned from boxing in the U.S. for at least a year after California revoked both of their licenses. It's not long enough.
According to California's forensic evidence, they committed the mortal sin of boxing by attempting to cheat in such a potentially life-threatening manner.
Maybe they will appeal. Maybe they will still seek to have a fight outside of the U.S., such as Mexico, where officials couldn't give a damn about our rules. Whatever happens, they are both tarnished for life and deserve an even more severe punishment than has already been doled out.
Now, I am no scientist but I do know that having plaster of paris on your fists during a fight would certainly be extremely dangerous for an opponent. A boxer's hands are already dangerous enough. Turning them into rocks is a chilling thought. Sulfur and calcium simply do not belong anywhere near hand wraps. That they were there can be no accident.
Margarcheato can claim all he wants that he had no idea what was in his wraps, which means, at best, he's ignorant. At worst, he's a criminal. I've talked to numerous fighters since the incident. To a man, they told me that a fighter knows what is on his hands.
Capetillo has offered the pitiful excuse that he grabbed the wrong pads out of his work bag and that it was a "mistake" that he put the tainted pads into Margarcheato wraps. I bet the dog also ate his homework, too. If you really believe it was a mistake, I've got some Enron stock to sell you.
Why would Capetillo even have those sorts of dirty pads in the first place? The whole thing stinks.
I know no proof has been offered, but it's hard to believe that Margarcheato's gloves were not loaded during his vicious late-fight beat down against Miguel Cotto over the summer. Frankly, I believe he cheated against Cotto. Maybe he also cheated against others. Every one of his wins is now tainted.
Cotto feels the same way, telling El Nuevo Diaz in Puerto Rico, "They attacked not only me, but my health. God only know how many [times] they used it, with Mosley, me and before me. They must bear the full weight of the law. During my career, I have received punishment in a number of fights, and I've never been so swollen as I was when I left the fight with Margarito. In the heat of battle everything felt normal, but my face didn't say the same thing. And for a few weeks afterwards half my face was swollen. Like I've said, the case of [trainer] Panama Lewis was exactly the same and he was suspended for life."
Lewis wound up doing jail time for removing the padding from Luis Resto's gloves before his 1983 fight with Billy Collins. Resto also did time. Margarcheato and Capetillo should be thankful they're not behind bars.
• Promoter Lou DiBella might want to keep his prospects away from "ShoBox" fights in Oklahoma. DiBella got his third undefeated prospect bumped off on a "ShoBox" card in Oklahoma on Saturday when junior middleweight Harry Joe Yorgey knocked out Ronald Hearns. Previously, junior featherweight Gary Stark suffered his first loss -- albeit a highly controversial decision -- to Mike Oliver in February 2007, and super middleweight Jaidon Codrington, one of the hottest prospects in the sport at the time, was drilled by Allan Green in 18 seconds in November 2005. "Let's just say we're not Sooner fans," Carl Moretti, DiBella's right-hand man, joked with me the other day.
• I know I am not alone in this thinking, but I believe the April 25 fight between super middleweight titlist Carl Froch and Jermain Taylor is going to be sensational. I still scratch my head wondering why HBO insanely passed on the bout but am happy that Showtime realized how good it could be and anted up.
• I distinctly recall Top Rank's Bob Arum saying after Kelly Pavlik's rematch victory against Taylor, which did poorly on pay-per-view, that he wasn't going to put Pavlik on PPV again for a while. So what has happened? Arum has put two of Pavlik's last three bouts on PPV, and his next fight on June 27 against Sergio Mora will also be on PPV. Going on PPV, especially when two of the bouts are on Top Rank's own small cards, isn't doing anything to help Pavlik grow his fan base beyond his Ohio roots.
• Is it me or is "The Battle of East and West," which is what Top Rank's Arum named the Ricky Hatton-Manny Pacquiao fight, the single worst title ever given to a fight? Love the fight. Despise the name.
• You all know I love Edison Miranda's crazy trash talk but sometimes it is just too much. Take this quote, for example, from a recent news release issued on his behalf, in which Miranda called out the winner of the April 25 Froch-Taylor super middleweight title bout. In part, Miranda had this to say about Taylor: "Jermain, you have avoided me for long enough." Excuse me? Taylor avoided Miranda? Perhaps Miranda doesn't recall but he got knocked out and destroyed by Pavlik in a title eliminator for the right to face Taylor, who was committed to facing the winner. It happened to be Pavlik, whom Taylor fought and lost his title to. Taylor never avoided Miranda. Miranda just couldn't take care of his business to earn the shot.
• OK, so now that Winky Wright is finally going to get back to work next week when he faces Paul Williams, maybe his spot on the milk carton goes to Mikkel Kessler.
• I'm looking forward to Golden Boy's "Lightweight Lightning" pay-per-view card on Saturday. I think all four televised bouts -- Edwin Valero vs. Antonio Pitalua for a vacant title, Michael Katsidis vs. Jesus Chavez, Carlos Hernandez vs. Vicente Escobedo and Julio Diaz vs. Rolando Reyes -- have a chance to be entertaining. For the record, I'm going with Pitalua in the upset in the main event.
• Now that injured featherweight titlist Steven Luevano has had to withdraw from his defense against Bernabe Concepcion on the Hatton-Pacquiao undercard, I love Top Rank's idea to bring junior lightweight titlist Humberto Soto right back after his four-round demolition of Antonio Davis last week.
• Promoters Main Events and Russell Peltz, who are close because Peltz also serves as Main Events' matchmaker in addition to running his own company, are talking about a fight I find very intriguing. They'd like to do a summer match on Showtime's "ShoBox" featuring exciting Philadelphia welterweight prospect Mike Jones (17-0, 15 KOs) against Paterson, N.J., prospect Henry Crawford (21-0-1, 9 KOs). That's a terrific fight and the winner will have made a solid statement. I love the fact each side is willing to gamble that its guy wins.
• Besides looking forward to Saturday's "Lightweight Lightning" pay-per-view boxing card, I am even more psyched for WrestleMania 25 on Sunday. In the four biggest matches on the blockbuster card, I'm going with Randy Orton to regain the WWE title from Triple H; John Cena to recapture the World Heavyweight title in his triple-threat match with Edge and Big Show; Undertaker to extend his WrestleMania record to 17-0 by beating Shawn Michaels; and Jeff Hardy to prevail in his extreme rules/family feud match with brother Matt Hardy. (Maybe brothers Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko should watch that one?)
• DVD pick of the week: I love big punchers. So when a friend of mine, with whom I regularly trade DVDs, sent me several fights from the 1980s a couple of weeks ago, I made sure to request that he include something of Julian Jackson. In his heyday, there was no bigger knockout artist than The Hawk. One of the fights I received was Jackson's first defense of his junior middleweight belt against Buster Drayton in Atlantic City, N.J., on July 30, 1988 and televised on CBS. (Remember those good old days?) It was a slugfest from the start as they traded hard shots all the way. Drayton went down on the left hook in the second round, but it was nothing compared to the left hook he would eat in the final seconds of the third. Jackson cracked him with the left and Drayton fell -- seemingly in slow motion -- flat on his back in the center of the ring. Jackson knew the fight was over and, as Drayton fell, Jackson hoisted his right arm and then pointed to the canvas as if to direct Drayton's picturesque fall. Terrific fight and awesome knockout.
At last, the Wladimir Klitschko-David Haye heavyweight title fight is on, and not a moment too soon. Frankly, I was getting tired of the constant "it's on, it's off" nonsense. So I was delighted to get a call Wednesday evening from Klitschko and his manager, Bernd Boente, telling me the good news -- that the fight was set for June 20 in Europe (and will be televised live that Saturday afternoon on HBO in the United States with a prime-time replay).
I expect it to be a good fight for as long as it lasts, which I don't think will be too long. There's no way it's going 12 rounds, and, in my opinion, Klitschko will win by knockout. But more important, it's the first time in ages that there is a heavyweight fight to look forward to in a division ruled by Klitschko and his older brother and fellow titleholder Vitali Klitschko.
The Klitschkos are clearly the class of the division. I don't think you will find much argument about that from anyone, except maybe those involved with titleholders Nikolai Valuev and Ruslan Chagaev, who share the lunacy of the WBA's heavyweight title mess. Unfortunately, Wladimir (with two belts) and Vitali (with one) have very few fights on the horizon that look like they can get the public, at least in America, really excited.
The Haye fight is definitely a step in the right direction for Wladimir, but because Haye is British and his exposure in America has been extremely limited, it's not that big of a fight to the American public, even if it will be a big deal in Germany and England.
Vitali, despite a nearly four-year retirement, has outclassed his two opponents since returning to the ring, with a brutally one-sided TKO against Samuel Peter in October and a slightly less dominant performance against Juan Carlos Gomez last month. Now, Vitali owes a mandatory defense to unworthy Oleg Maskaev, a match met worldwide with a collective yawn.
Wladimir has been utterly dominant since a fluky 2004 TKO loss to Lamon Brewster. Since that loss, Wladimir has won 10 in a row, with seven knockouts, including beating four undefeated fighters, avenging his defeat to Brewster and unifying two belts.
He has simply been cleaning out the division for the past few years. Wladimir's dance card is more interesting than Vitali's, with the fight against former cruiserweight champ Haye to be followed by a mandatory defense at the end of the year against Alexander Povetkin -- as long as Klitschko beats Haye and Povetkin beats American Jason Estrada on Saturday.
Wladimir against Haye is certainly interesting. The Povetkin fight is also decent. Neither are anything special, however.
Contender Cris Arreola, if he gets past Jameel McCline on April 11, also figures to get a title shot against one of the Klitschko brothers the next time either fights in the United States. However, none of the matches I'm reeling off here is a truly huge fight, the kind that can get a casual sports fan talking about boxing's marquee division the way people once talked about fights involving Mike Tyson or Evander Holyfield not all that long ago.
There is only one heavyweight fight that can lift the moribund division, create massive worldwide interest and generate tens of millions of dollars in the process.
Klitschko versus Klitschko can make the heavyweights relevant again.
I've known the brothers since 2001, and they have never wavered from their stance about fighting each other. They are asked all the time about it, and always they say they'll never fight each other. They say they don't want to upset their mother. They say their boxing dream was to hold titles simultaneously, which they now do. Their goal has never been to fight each other to identify the best heavyweight in the world and in the family.
I can certainly respect that. Blood is thicker than the heavyweight title. But the heavyweight division needs them to fight so that there can be one people's champion. I wish they would reconsider.
Although the really big junior welterweight fight comes May 2 on HBO PPV, when champion Ricky Hatton defends the lineal championship against pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao, there's an excellent 140-pound fight Saturday on Showtime (10:45 p.m. ET/PT) in which titleholders Timothy Bradley Jr. and Kendall Holt will meet in an evenly matched bout to unify their alphabet belts. I think it's going to be a good, tactical fight with the potential for fireworks because both men possess solid power and can be drawn into battle.
While Bradley and Holt meet in the main event, the televised undercard fight is interesting in its own right. It pits super middleweight contender Librado Andrade against Vitaly Tsypko in an elimination bout. The winner gets a mandatory title shot against belt holder Lucian Bute, the darling of his adopted hometown of Montreal.
One of the things that makes Andrade-Tsypko interesting is that it will take place at the Bell Centre in Montreal, which happens to be the site of Andrade's memorable loss to Bute, who defended his belt against Andrade with a decision victory in October.
Although Bute won a clear decision, there was controversy because Andrade nearly knocked Bute out in the waning seconds of the fight. There are a lot of folks who saw that fight who believe Bute got a little home cookin' from referee Marlon Wright, whose delay in the count perhaps saved Bute from being knocked out.
To Bute's credit, he has said all along he would be happy to give Andrade a rematch. He said it right after the fight and he said it again after his March 13 knockout of Fulgencio Zuniga.
I figure a lot of the boxing fans who show up at the Bell Centre to watch the live fights Saturday will be there to see Andrade-Tsypko so that they can see whom their hero will fight later in the year.
Andrade, who wants a rematch with Bute, knows that to get it he must beat Tsypko (22-2, 12 KOs), a decent fighter known best for his two fights with Jeff Lacy, the first of which was a no contest and the second of which Tsypko lost on a hard-fought decision.
Heading into Saturday night's fight, Andrade (27-2, 21 KOs) answered a few questions for Showtime. Here's what he had to say:
Question: What do you know about Tsypko?
Andrade: The only thing I know and hope is that he doesn't run too much. If he doesn't run, then I'll be OK. If I don't have to chase him all around the ring, I'll be fine. My coach watches tape of all the fighters. I don't like to do it. I don't like to know too much. It gets into my head the weaknesses of my opponents and it can play tricks with your mind.
Question: The Montreal fight fans are very knowledgeable and actually cheered for you when they showed you on the big screen at Lucian Bute's last fight there. How did you become so big in Montreal?
Andrade: It started with my fight against Otis Grant in 2006 [a seventh-round TKO]. I started training in Montreal before the holidays, came back, but have actually been back in Montreal since Jan. 17. I've always just been welcomed there. There are boos at times, but there are more cheers than there are boos. The fans there just want to see a good fight. They are not going to just go after the hometown fighter. They are such a good crowd. They seem to recognize me all the time whenever I'm out in public.
Question: Are you surprised you are fighting in Montreal and on Showtime again?
Andrade: I'm very, very surprised. I really thought we were going to fight in the Ukraine, where Tsypko is from. I was prepared for that. It's just really a credit to my management team and my promoters at Golden Boy Promotions to get this fight there. They've really done a great job with me and given me an opportunity to really get my name out there.
Question: You are from La Habra, Calif., near East Los Angeles, and are signed with Golden Boy. Do you speak much with Oscar De La Hoya?
Andrade: We talk from time to time. I've trained with him for about two months in the past. We have a good relationship. It's not like a buddy-buddy relationship. He's real nice when I have to deal with him, but as my promoter he's basically dealing with my management team.
Question: Did it take a long time to get over your controversial loss to Bute?
Andrade: No, I got over it right away. I accepted it and moved on. They keep saying he made a mistake, but I don't think he did. He fought a good fight. He was beating me the entire fight. I did come out feeling like a winner in that fight. I fought the way I wanted to fight and finished like I wanted to finish, but I ran out of time. But I accepted it right away. I can only ask for one more chance to fight him, and I think I will get it. I want to fight him to clear up this mess.
Question: What are some things you like to do outside of the ring when you're not training or preparing for a fight?
Andrade: I like to just be at home and relax with my family. I just miss home so much. I think about it all the time. I'm going to be moving back to California after this fight, to where I started at the La Habra Boxing Club, and I can't wait to get back on a normal schedule and routine like I'm used to.
Lightweight Amir Khan is a wanted man. You know why? Because he's viewed as vulnerable in the wake of a first-round knockout loss to Breidis Prescott in September and because he brings money to the table, a lot of it.
There are three notable opponents that could be in his near future: Marco Antonio Barrera in a rematch, Edwin Valero and David Diaz.
The 2004 British Olympic silver medalist continued his comeback from that shocking loss to Prescott with a five-round technical decision win against the great (but smaller) Barrera on March 14 in a fight Khan dominated. However, as good as Khan looked, you have to wonder what might have happened had Barrera not been saddled with a brutal (and I do mean brutal) cut on the left side of his forehead from an accidental head butt in the first round.
As Jim Watt, broadcasting for Sky Box Office, said of the cut during the fight, "I don't know that any cut man can stop that. I mean that's like something you would expect in a road accident. That's horrendous. It's long and it's deep. You saw the impact when the heads clashed. That's as bad a clash of heads as I have seen in all my years in boxing, and the damage, I don't reckon they can do anything with that."
Watt was right. The cut never stopped bleeding, and Barrera's face was covered with blood throughout the fight. But rather than stop the bout before the end of the fourth round, which would have meant it would go down as a no-contest, referee Dave Parris allowed it to continue into the fifth. With the bout official, it was stopped and sent to the scorecards. Khan won the lopsided technical decision and Barrera went to the hospital for 33 stitches.
Arguing the bout should have been stopped sooner and been a no-contest, Barrera promoter Don King filed protests this week with the British Boxing Board of Control and both of the alphabet bodies that sanctioned the fight for regional titles in the hopes of getting Barrera a rematch.
"Amir Khan is in possession of a tainted victory," King said. "The referee and doctor should have stopped the fight immediately after that incredible, accidental clash of heads. That they allowed the fight to continue with Barrera competing at a huge disadvantage goes against everything that's designed to protect the health and safety of boxers, the good of the sport and uphold the traditions emanating from the Marquis of Queensbury rules.
"Marco Antonio Barrera should not lose any of his position and stature to this travesty of justice. He should not be punished for what was beyond his control. He fought like the great Mexican champion he is with valor, courage and honor while those charged with ensuring a level field of competition failed the sport and the fighter greatly. They endangered his health and safety and every other boxer who follows him into the ring hereafter if this error in judgment is not corrected. … Barrera needed a seeing-eye dog to make it back to his corner from the first round, but the officials let it continue."
Whether Barrera (65-7, 43 KOs) gets his rematch remains to be seen, because the Khan camp is talking about other opponents such as Valero or Diaz.
Bob Arum, who promotes both of them, is tight with Khan promoter Frank Warren and told me this week that he and Warren are talking about the matches.
Arum said Diaz (34-2-1, 17 KOs) was being considered for a fight with Khan (20-1, 15 KOs) in July. Diaz is a gritty fighter and former titleholder who has been out of action since a ninth-round knockout loss to Manny Pacquiao last June. He's a lot slower than Khan and not a big hitter but still would make for a reasonable opponent. Arum said Diaz is back in the gym after recovering from knee surgery.
Valero, a former junior lightweight beltholder, faces Antonio Pitalua for a vacant belt April 4 on Golden Boy's all-lightweight pay-per-view card in a fight Arum is not involved in. However, if Valero wins, Arum said, he could be headed for England to defend against Khan in the fall.
"Frank and I have talked about those fights, and we can do either or both," said Arum, who spent time with Warren on a recent trip to England. "Obviously, Valero has to win the title for that one to work out. Frank is a close friend of mine, and if we can do good business together, why not?"
Khan, obviously, is susceptible to punchers and Valero (24-0, 24 KOs) is one of the best in the business, but Arum said that Freddie Roach, who trains Khan, is OK with the fight because "he doesn't think too much of Valero."
When I was in Houston last month to cover the Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz lightweight championship fight, Bernard Hopkins, there in his role with Golden Boy Promotions, pulled me aside. He wanted to talk about his desire to move up to cruiserweight and challenge champion Tomasz Adamek.
It sounded like the perfect fight for both men, and several times during the few days we were in Houston, Hopkins and I talked about the fight. He seemed really into it. He was animated and anxious for Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer to return from an overseas trip so that he could contact Adamek promoter Main Events to negotiate the bout.
"Adamek is definitely a threat. He has ability and he's world champion," Hopkins told me in Houston. "It would be a big challenge. I've never fought that heavy [200-pound division limit], so there's a risk. This is a junior heavyweight fight. I can't ever match up with Wladimir Klitschko, so this would be my fantasy fight. This is the closest I'd get to a heavyweight championship fight.
"It would be Adamek's biggest purse. I think things could be worked out. I know what is going on with the economy. I see this as an HBO fight, but we could make this a big event, a great East Coast fight. He has a good fan base. So do I. It's a perfect fight for both of us."
A week later, Hopkins co-hosted ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights" and reiterated his desire for the bout to Brian Kenny. Adamek and his team were also very interested in a fight that would be the biggest fight either boxer could make.
Sadly, however, the fight is dead.
Schaefer and Main Events owner Kathy Duva told me the fight, which they were talking about for July 11 on HBO at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., died Tuesday because negotiations were so far apart that it made no sense to continue discussions.
(One quick note: Although HBO was prepared to pay $3 million-plus for the fight -- this, according to Duva but denied by Schaefer -- July 11 wasn't set in stone because HBO had not officially made it available. The network, like everyone else, is waiting for the near-certain return of Floyd Mayweather Jr., who may want to fight live on HBO on that date. That said, despite HBO's offer, I never got the feeling the network had its heart in the fight.)
In any case, it's unfortunate that we won't see Adamek-Hopkins, because it was a really interesting fight. Based on the ample feedback I've received from readers, many of you also thought it was a really good fight.
It figured be good in the ring because Adamek is never in a bad fight. The idea was to hold the match in Newark, N.J., where Adamek is a big draw in the Polish community and which isn't far from Hopkins' hometown of Philadelphia, so there would have been a terrific atmosphere. The fight also had important historical implications because a Hopkins win would give him a legitimate championship in a third division at age 44, and because an Adamek win would give him a huge name on his résumé and likely send Hopkins into a second (and probably permanent) retirement.
Now it's down the drain. From where I sit, and with no dog in the fight, the blame falls squarely on Golden Boy and Hopkins.
When I spoke to Duva on Wednesday morning, she told me that the deal came down to this: Golden Boy offered a mere $500,000 flat fee (which is ridiculous) to buy Adamek's services, meaning Adamek and Main Events would each be paid out of that fee while Golden Boy and Hopkins would keep the rest of the revenue. Duva said she and Schaefer estimated the fight would net between $4 million and $4.5 million.
Main Events expected to co-promote the bout and to split the money on a percentage basis, which it would negotiate. Duva said she asked for a 60-40 split in Adamek's favor, although she said that she was willing to work with Schaefer on the split.
To me, a percentage split was the only way to make a fight like this, one in which both fighters bring something significant to the table. Maybe they would have been able to make a percentage deal, maybe not. But for Hopkins to insist on paying Main Events $500,000 without recognizing Adamek's obvious value makes it seem he was just taking Adamek and Main Events for suckers. According to Duva, Main Events and Adamek split more than $500,000 for his defense in Newark last month, an eighth-round knockout against the relatively unknown Jonathan Banks. Obviously, a fight with Hopkins would generate way, way more money. Adamek and Main Events certainly should share in it.
Duva said Golden Boy wouldn't even consider a percentage deal, instead wanting to treat her side merely as an expense without regard for Adamek's value to the fight. While Hopkins brings his famous name and HBO money to the table, Adamek also brings a lot. He brings the title, which Hopkins wants. He brings significant foreign television money. And he brings a substantial gate because of the crowd he attracts to the Prudential Center, a venue solely developed by Main Events. A fight with Hopkins would probably generate a gate in excess of $1 million.
"The only offer they made was to give us $500,000," Duva said. "I didn't even take that seriously. They wanted all the control even though they were going for the champion, the guy who sells all the tickets and the guy who isn't 44. We weren't going to do the fight in a casino. We were talking about going to Newark, a market we built. We're not going to a casino for a site fee. Those tickets don't just sell themselves. My people get out there and work really hard to sell the tickets. We're not just going to turn over our market to Golden Boy and take a seat at the fight."
When I asked Duva if she thought Golden Boy was treating Main Events and Adamek like chumps with their offer, she said, "Either that, or they didn't really want to make the fight."
Duva said she was surprised by Golden Boy's unwillingness to come off the weak flat-fee offer.
"Richard told me that Hopkins said if you want to have a split, we can't do the fight," Duva said. "It's astonishing. Either Richard doesn't want to make the fight or Hopkins is out to lunch on his expectations. Half a million is silly. Tomasz generates that on his own against regular opponents. I told Richard come up with what you think is an equitable split or tell me what Hopkins wants and we'll buy you out."
Duva said she approached the negotiations with an open mind even though she hasn't always been happy with the way Golden Boy does business. She said when her fighter Joel "Love Child" Julio fought Golden Boy's James Kirkland on HBO's "Boxing After Dark" on March 7, the only way she could get the fight made was to give up options on Julio, an almost unheard-of practice in a nontitle fight or a fight in which neither boxer is a substantial economic force.
"That's what it has come to. That's how powerful they are," Duva said. "Everybody has to do that, or they don't get on 'Boxing After Dark' anymore, since Golden Boy has most of the dates. I had to bite the bullet and give them the options or I couldn't get Julio the fight. So I did it. Maybe that's why they thought I was a chump when we were talking about [Adamek-Hopkins]. What I think is that Bernard thought HBO would pay, like, $6 million for the fight, which wasn't going to happen."
Duva said she would have no trouble lining something else up for Adamek. She said she's talking to Showtime and also has lucrative options in Poland.
Schaefer stuck to his guns on the offer, saying he believed that Adamek and Main Events should have jumped at the opportunity to fight "a 44-year-old legend."
"I think we have a different philosophy," Schaefer said. "If you have a fighter gaining momentum like Adamek and you have the opportunity to fight a 44-year-old legend, you should jump at it. If not, go on and keep fighting the Bankses of the world. I respect their decision, I respect Adamek and Kathy. No animosity. It just didn't work out. Bernard, he feels this is the deal he wants to do, then so be it. At this point of Bernard's career, if he can't get the deal he wants, he just won't fight."
I couldn't disagree with Schaefer more. When there are millions on the table and Adamek is responsible for generating so much of it, he deserves to share in the payoff. The opportunity to fight someone of Hopkins' stature is not enough on its own without a legitimate financial gain.
Schaefer didn't sound too disappointed that the fight won't happen.
"I felt like the way Bernard dominated Kelly Pavlik put the exclamation [point] on his career," he said. "The Bernard Hopkins masterpiece painting is finished, as far as I am concerned. A fight with Adamek would just be like changing around the frame. But if that fight doesn't happen and the painting is going to stay the way it is, I love that masterpiece."
Maybe Hopkins will fight again. (Please, no Roy Jones rematch talk. That ship sailed a long time ago.) Maybe he won't. But he had his chance at making more history by fighting Adamek.
Hopkins blew it because he was greedy and tried to take advantage of Adamek, much in the same manner that Hopkins has always railed against his past promoters for trying to take advantage of him before he finally made it big.
Next time Hopkins is watching a fight, maybe he should think about that.
Now that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is back from his vacation, he's been busy at work trying to finalize various fights. Two of the most notable are Kelly Pavlik's middleweight title defense against Sergio Mora, which will take place on pay-per-view in July, and a welterweight unification match between Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey, which will take place on HBO on June 13 -- the eve of the annual Puerto Rican Day parade in New York -- at Madison Square Garden.
Well, Cotto-Clottey moved one step closer to fruition on Friday.
I got a call in the afternoon from Vinny Scolpino, who manages Clottey (in addition to bantamweight titlist Joseph Agbeko and middleweight Ossie Duran), and he told me that their side was done.
I asked him if that meant their deal had been signed and he said it had been. Now, Arum has to tidy up with Cotto's side, but that should not be too difficult.
Scolpino said Clottey and he were happy to have the fight.
"Joshua has been looking for a big fight like this and he's really pumped up for it," Scolpino said. "I think it's going to be a great fight. Joshua will be ready."
Scolpino didn't disclose the financial terms of the deal but he did offer, "In this economy, we can't complain. We're happy with our deal. It was a fair deal."
Boxing fans should be happy with the fight and with HBO for putting up the money. Cotto-Clottey is an even-money match between two of the best in the division. The fact that it will be at MSG with a raucous crowd will make it even better.
• More insanity from the represensible WBA: Chris John is the WBA featherweight titleholder. He is an outstanding fighter. He is not injured. He defended his title Feb. 28 in a tremendous fight against Rocky Juarez. And John is not a unified titleholder, the excuse the WBA uses to make a fighter a so-called "super champion" before crowning a "regular champion" in order to grab a second sanctioning fee in the same division. But now, in an even more obvious and desperate attempt to line its pockets, the WBA is sanctioning a fight between Yuriorkis Gamboa and Jose "Cheo" Rojas for a so-called vacant featherweight belt (or interim belt) April 17. Last time I checked, John was the non-injured, non-unified beltholder and was not behind on his mandatory obligation. The WBA should be ashamed of itself yet again, but as we all have learned, it has no shame. Frankly, John and his people ought to sue the WBA for fraud. This is absolutely despicable.
• If HBO and Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer actually pull off the proposed June 27 "Boxing After Dark" card of John-Juarez II, Sergei Dzindziruk-James Kirkland and Andreas Kotelnik-Victor Ortiz, I'm giving somebody a kiss.
• Oleg Maskaev certainly doesn't deserve his status as the mandatory challenger for the winner of Saturday's Vitali Klitschko-Juan Carlos Gomez heavyweight title bout, but he's a nice guy with an apparent hidden talent for poetry. After knocking out journeyman Rich Boruff last Saturday in the first round of a stay-busy fight (although apparently not too busy), Maskaev reiterated his desire to face Klitschko, whom he once stopped in the amateurs, with a poem his team circulated to the media:
Don't act like a child, doing trick or treat
Just comply with the WBC order, for us to meet
I stopped you in the first round, when we last fought
Now to avoid me, you want to go to court
Stop acting like a chicken, that is full of fright
Act like a man, and let's settle it in a fight.
Maybe Maskaev and noted poet/trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. ought to work together?
• I recently watched the trailer for the new Mike Tyson documentary -- simply called "Tyson" -- by director James Toback, and it looks phenomenal. Tyson cooperated with the production of the film, which received acclaim at the Cannes and Sundance film festivals. It opens in limited release on April 24. If you're interested in Tyson, the trailer is definitely worth a look.
• Memo to Robert Guerrero: Get a copy of the Amir Khan-Marco Antonio Barrera fight to see how a fighter is supposed to act when he suffers a cut. Guerrero could certainly take a lesson from Barrera.
• Last Saturday's Khan-Barrera pay-per-view was definitely worth the $24.95.
• Has any fighter recently ranked in the pound-for-pound top 10 fallen as quickly as Cristian Mijares? He went from being a unified junior bantamweight titleholder who looked unstoppable against quality competition to losing two fights in a row. What the heck happened?
• HBO stands for Home Box Office, but on April 11 they should change the name to Home Boxing Office. What a night it's going to be for boxing fans as the network turns over its airwaves to the sweet science for all of prime time. At 8 p.m. ET is the premiere of "Thrilla," a documentary about the third Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier heavyweight championship fight, a savage bout that many believe is the single greatest fight in boxing history. At 9:30 p.m. ET, the first installment of "Pacquiao/Hatton 24/7" airs. It is followed, at 10 p.m. ET, by a live "World Championship Boxing" doubleheader featuring two interesting fights: First, heavyweight contender Cristobal Arreola takes a step up in competition against Jameel McCline, then Paul Williams faces Winky Wright in the middleweight main event. If you live on the West Coast, you get to start with the live fights at 7 p.m., immediately followed by "24/7" and "Thrilla." In whatever order you watch them, it's a helluva night for fight fans.
• I'm a little disappointed in Edison Miranda. The big puncher and even bigger trash-talker fights in London on Friday night, and I have yet to hear him pop off once about his opponent, Joey Vargas.
• Roy Jones fights Omar Sheika on Saturday night on pay-per-view, in case anyone cares. Just thought I'd remind you since there has been virtually no promotion for the card, which features only two boxing matches and a bunch of MMA fights that I couldn't care less about.
• If Andre Dirrell is going to keep getting slots on Showtime, isn't it about time he fights somebody with a pulse? It's not like the gifted fighter can't handle it. I mean, how long can he live off a win against Anthony Hanshaw?
• Now that Joe Calzaghe has won his lawsuit against promoter Frank Warren and stands to collect a few million bucks, doesn't it seem less likely that Calzaghe will fight again?
• I think it's safe to say at this point that Enzo Maccarinelli simply has no chin. It's also safe to say that Ola Afolabi adds some intrigue to the cruiserweight division.
• Don't you think Johnathon Banks is kicking himself right about now? Instead of Afolabi, Banks had the opportunity to face Maccarinelli for a cruiserweight belt for a $240,000 payday under the terms of promoter Frank Warren's winning purse bid. But after the fight was postponed a couple of times (including once because of Banks' own injury), Banks instead took a February fight with Tomasz Adamek, a much more difficult opponent, for $40,000 and got knocked out. It was a horrible decision by Banks and poor management by Emanuel Steward.
• DVD pick of the week: They say time heals all wounds, but it doesn't really. Because even with the passage of 10 years, the decision in the first Lennox Lewis-Evander Holyfield heavyweight championship fight still stinks to high heaven and still ticks me off. The fight was at Madison Square Garden on March 13, 1999 -- a decade ago last week -- so I dipped into the archive to look at a fight I haven't been able to watch for years because it so bothers me. But I did it for the sake of this blog. You know what? It's still horrific. Holyfield held two belts and Lewis held the other as they met for the undisputed championship. Lewis won easily, or so I and just about everybody else thought. However, the judges got it really, really wrong. Stanley Christodoulou had Lewis winning 116-113, but even that was too close. Larry O'Connell had it 115-115, a thoroughly hideous scorecard. But Eugenia Williams rendered perhaps the worst scorecard in boxing history, finding seven rounds to give Holyfield for a score of 115-113. After Jimmy Lennon Jr. announced the scores, HBO's Jim Lampley summed it up perfectly, uttering a line that has resonated in my head for a decade: "Lennox Lewis has just been robbed of the heavyweight championship of the world."
Maybe it's just bravado or maybe they really believe it, but heavyweight contender Juan Carlos Gomez and his team sound awfully confident that Gomez will dethrone titleholder Vitali Klitschko.
Gomez (44-1, 35 KOs) is the mandatory challenger for Klitschko (36-2, 35 KOs) and they will meet in Stuttgart, Germany, on Saturday in the first live heavyweight title bout in ESPN history (5 p.m. ET).
Based on the way Gomez and his camp are talking, ESPN viewers are in for the crowning of a new titlist.
This is Klitschko's first defense since knocking out Samuel Peter in October to reclaim his old belt after a four-year retirement. While Klitschko has done very little talking, you can't get Gomez or his handlers to shut up about the fight. While Klitschko has done very little to promote it, at least to Americans, Gomez promoter Arena-Box Promotions has blanketed my e-mail box day after day with boasts and promises and information about the show.
So, first let's hear from Gomez, a former cruiserweight titleholder and Cuban defector who is based in Germany. He, of course, is predicting victory.
"I have never been this well-prepared and this fired up for a fight," Gomez said. "Vitali will be surprised to see what I am capable of. He thinks he can beat me up? I say it will be the other way around. I will destroy the legend of Vitali Klitschko.
"I am a natural born boxer. I have been in the ring since I was 8 years old. I have been world cruiserweight champion for four years. I am more experienced than Vitali though I am younger and faster than him. And I know exactly what to do in the ring. I will be too fast and too much to handle for the robot. Of course, I know that he can punch -- but he will not even see me and you cannot hit what you cannot see."
Also ultra-confident in a Gomez victory is Orlando Cuellar, Gomez's trainer who knows a thing or two about upsets. He trained Glen Johnson for his shocking knockout victory against Roy Jones. So let's hear what Cuellar has to say.
"I remember that Glen was the 7-to-1 underdog at that fight," Cuellar said. "I didn't care and we kicked Roy's ass. The odds may be similar this time -- and again I couldn't care less. Let the fans and so-called experts say and think whatever they want. We will give our answer in the ring. And Klitschko doesn't stand a chance."
Let's not leave out Mo Klatten, Gomez's conditioning coach, who also weighed in on the fight.
"We know that we've done our job very well," he said. "Juan didn't miss one single session and has always been on time. He did everything I asked him to. I have never seen a fighter as disciplined and focused. Juan got what it takes, and after all the work we've done, he will be able to go 12 rounds at extremely high speed. Vitali will be surprised at what is coming towards him. Vitali is definitely stronger than Juan and punches very hard. But Juan knows that and will be aware that Vitali doesn't hit him. From what I've seen in training, I call it a decision win for Gomez."
And last, but certainly not least, we have to hear from Ahmet Öner, the outspoken head of Arena-Box Promotions. He's as blunt as anybody you'll ever meet in boxing and not afraid to speak his mind.
"This will be no walk in the park for Vitali like his so-called fight against Peter," Öner said. "Nobody should think that Juan is just going to Stuttgart for a big payday. He is going there to fight and win. He is determined and ambitious and he found his old speed again.
"Lots of people -- especially members of team Klitschko -- think that they have already won this fight. They think the only question is whether Vitali will knock Juan out in five, six or eight rounds. And they are already planning the next steps. Let them talk about future fights. We don't care. In fact, this might even be Juan's big chance. I talked to lots of boxing experts in Germany and all over the world, and although the odds are still against Juan, I feel that the public opinion is changing. People recognize that Juan takes this fight very serious and that he will be well-prepared. And nobody who really knows boxing questions his abilities. You must not forget that he held the cruiserweight title for four years. He has never lost an important fight. His sole loss was a fluke against Yanqui Diaz when he hadn't trained but partied a lot instead. Vitali on the other has lost his world championship to a southpaw before when retiring against Chris Byrd."
Gomez and crew have talked the talk. Can they walk the walk?
Even though it's raining here in Northern Virginia, it's still a great day. Earlier this afternoon, I watched with great pride as my alma mater, Binghamton University, handily defeated the University of Maryland-Baltimore County in the America East conference tournament final to advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time.
The Bearcats have come a long way since I was a student (and one of the few who regularly attended games between 1988 and 1993) and later the beat writer covering the team for the Press & Sun-Bulletin, the local newspaper (and that's when the Bearcats were the Colonials and in Division III).
I also have a friend coming over to watch this afternoon's Marco Antonio Barrera-Amir Khan card on pay-per-view. Now, that's what I call a quality Saturday.
But besides all that, it was quite a busy Friday night and Saturday in boxing. Here's what I've heard since Friday's notebook was published:
• Things in boxing can change swiftly. Take, for example, the makeup of the May 2 Ricky Hatton-Manny Pacquiao HBO PPV undercard, for which Top Rank and Golden Boy are responsible. Steven Luevano will still defend his featherweight belt against Bernabe Concepcion in a Top Rank fight and red-hot junior middleweight James Kirkland will still be on in a Golden Boy fight (possibly against Michael Walker). The fourth slot was supposed to pit a Top Rank fighter against a Golden Boy fighter. The plan had been to match undefeated junior welterweights Mike Alvarado (Top Rank) against Lucas Matthysse (Golden Boy). But that fight isn't going to happen, at least not on this PPV card. Top Rank wants to keep Alvarado on the televised part of the card, but won't get its way. Instead, Top Rank and Golden Boy will each put on a prospect in a four-rounder. At least that's what Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer told me Saturday morning. Top Rank will go with middleweight Matvey Korobov (the 2008 Russian Olympian who I can't get enough of). Schaefer said he'll likely put on junior middleweight Erislandy Lara, the exciting Cuban defector and 2005 world amateur champion. Golden Boy and Arena Box Promotions co-promote Lara.
But Schaefer could also use another of Golden Boy's prospects, perhaps lightweight Adrien Broner or heavyweight Deontay Wilder, both of whom fight Saturday night in Cincinnati. I feel bad for Alvarado, who is ready for the bright lights of a big PPV card. I know Top Rank wanted him on, but it's out of TR's hands.
• Schaefer also told me about another card that has me really pumped. I reported Friday that Golden Boy and HBO were working on a June 27 "Boxing After Dark" card on which Kirkland and junior welterweight Victor Ortiz, the 2008 ESPN.com prospect of the year, could challenge for world titles -- Kirkland most likely against Sergei Dzindziruk and Ortiz likely against Andreas Kotelnik. Golden Boy has made offers for both fighters to German promoter Universum. As a doubleheader, that is a great show. But Schaefer told me the card likely will expand to a tripleheader and take place at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The third fight on the show? A rematch between featherweight titlist Chris John and Rocky Juarez, who fought to a sensational draw Feb. 28 in Juarez's hometown of Houston. I thought John clearly won, but it was such a terrific fight a rematch makes all the sense in the world. "This is Rocky's last chance," Schaefer said. "If Chris John wins we have another hot fighter and the next logical fight would be unification with Luevano." If Schaefer can finalize all three of these fights, you're looking at perhaps the card of the year.
• Schaefer also said Don King had called him from England, where he is with Barrera (whom Schaefer used to promote). According to Schaefer, King said if Barrera defeats Khan, he wants to talk about a rematch with lightweight champ Juan Manuel Marquez, who is with Golden Boy. Marquez outpointed Barrera in a competitive fight in 2007.
• Golden Boy matchmaker Eric Gomez, who had the Jorge Barrios-Carlos Hernandez bout, set for the April 4 "Lightweight Lightning" pay-per-view undercard in Austin, Texas, fall apart when Barrios suffered a broken upper jaw during sparring, nailed down his replacement fight Friday night. Gomez told me he was able to secure Golden Boy prospect and 2004 U.S. Olympian Vicente Escobedo to step in to face Hernandez. That means Escobedo's scheduled April 30 bout against Kevin Kelley, which was going on an untelevised Don Chargin-promoted card in Sacramento, Calif., is off, although it could be rescheduled for later in the spring or summer, Gomez said. It's a great move for Escobedo, who will get more exposure on the pay-per-view against a former titleholder than he would get facing another ex-titlist with no television.
• When Vitali Klitschko defends his slice of the heavyweight title against Juan Carlos Gomez next Saturday (ESPN's first-ever live heavyweight title bout, by the way), there will be a couple of familiar names on the undercard. I was sent the official bout sheet for the show in Stuttgart, Germany, and appearing on the card are a pair of heavyweights who lost title bouts to fellow heavyweight titleholder Wladimir Klitschko, Vitali's younger brother. They are former titleholder Chris Byrd and Tony Thompson. Byrd, whom Wladimir easily beat in 2000 and 2006, is fighting for the first time since May 2008, when he dropped down to light heavyweight and was smashed by Shaun George over nine lopsided rounds. Byrd is scheduled for an eight-round cruiserweight fight. Thompson, who was knocked out by Wladimir in the 11th round in July, was one of Vitali's sparring partners in his camp for the Gomez fight. Part of the deal to spar with him was a spot on the undercard, Dan Goossen, his promoter, told me.
Since Joe Calzaghe left the super middleweight division behind for light heavyweight and then retirement, the 168-pound division has been without a king.
Denmark's Mikkel Kessler, whom Calzaghe dominated in their 2007 megafight, later regained a belt and is viewed by many as the No. 1 guy. But he has been fighting with his promoter and has no bouts on the horizon. When he has fought, he has faced woeful opposition.
England's Carl Froch also holds a belt after winning one that Calzaghe vacated, and he is set for his first defense April 25 on Showtime. He'll face former undisputed middleweight champion Jermain Taylor, who is now at super middleweight, and another fighter who could someday rule the division.
Another of the titleholders is Karoly Balzsay of Hungary. He claimed his belt in January from Denis Inkin, who previously had won another of Calzaghe's vacant titles. Balzsay will make his first defense April 25 in Germany.
With so much upheaval in the division since Calzaghe's exit, Lucian Bute is the longest-tenured titleholder. The Romanian-born, Montreal-based Bute claimed his belt via a spectacular 11th-round knockout of Alejandro Berrio in October 2007 and has made two defenses: a punishing 10th-round stoppage of former middleweight titleholder William Joppy in February 2008 and a decision win against quality contender Librado Andrade in October. Their fight was tinged with controversy because of Andrade's near knockout of Bute in the final seconds of the fight. Many believe that referee Marlon Wright's slow actions during the knockdown helped Bute survive.
Bute will return from that near calamity to make his third defense against rough Fulgencio Zuniga (who lost a competitive decision to Inkin for a vacant belt in September). They'll meet on Friday at the Montreal's Bell Centre, where Bute will fight his 11th consecutive bout. Showtime, which also covered Bute-Andrade, will have live coverage in the U.S. on a special edition of "ShoBox: The New Generation" (11 p.m. ET/PT).
Showtime also will air Froch-Taylor next month and has been televising bouts involving Andre Dirrell and Andre Ward, two of the rising stars of the division. The network has made it clear it wants to be heavily involved in the talent-rich 168-pound division.
With a few more notable victories, Bute could separate himself from the pack of hopeful super middleweight kings. Heading into Friday's fight, he answered a few questions for Showtime. Here's what Bute had to say:
Question: How important is Friday night's fight to you and the people of Montreal?
Bute: Montreal has become my second native land. I came here to fight my pro debut and just fell in love with the people and the culture. We're going to keep bringing the major, major championship fights to Montreal because I know the main thing that we are doing here is selling out, and that is something not too many promoters can do in other places. This is a tough time for many with the economy where it's at, but boxing still remains an important part of everyday life in Montreal.
I like being on Showtime, and I like being on TV. That's the way you build up to the big fights. You have to make your name in America. To make the big money, you have to be involved in the big fights, and Showtime and "ShoBox" are giving me that opportunity now.
Question: Do you feel like fighting in Montreal gives you a clear-cut advantage in your fights?
Bute: When you are fighting at home, there are some slight advantages, but once that bell sounds, there is no one that can help you but yourself. Sure, the arena is packed, and they are screaming your name, but no one can help you. You are all by yourself, and you have to perform. Between the ropes, there is no more advantage.
Question: What do you think about Zuniga?
Bute: I've been watching Zuniga's fights on tape, especially his last three fights. Of course, I saw his fight against Denis Inkin. It was a really, really close fight, and I even thought Zuniga won the fight. But the fight was in Germany. I do think that if that fight was in America that Zuniga would have been declared the champion.
I also have watched his fight three years ago against David Lopez, who like me is a southpaw. He was beating him until the final round, when Zuniga knocked him out. That just shows me how much heart Zuniga has. He will never quit in a fight, especially a title fight. I also saw his fight against Victor Oganov. I feel like I've got the speed on my side. I've got the boxing ability, and I will make sure we will keep fighting on my level. At my level, speed kills.
Question: Can you compare Zuniga to your last opponent, Librado Andrade?
Bute: They are a little similar. I would say that Andrade is a busier fighter and physically a little bit stronger. In fact, probably quite a bit stronger. But on the second punch, Zuniga is probably quite a bit stronger. He has more power on every single punch than Andrade does.
Question: Many call your win over Andrade controversial because of what happened at the end of the fight. What are your thoughts about the way the fight ended?
Bute: I think it was not a mistake on my part. I just got so tired in that last round. A 126-pounder could have knocked me out, I was so tired. I learned from that experience. When I went down, there were four seconds left in the fight, so all I needed to do was stand up. There were eight seconds when I got to one leg. Whether the ref told Andrade to go back to his corner or not, it's irrelevant because with just four seconds left in the fight, I knew he couldn't hit me anymore. So I think the referee did the right thing.
Question: Would you like to fight Andrade again?
Bute: Absolutely. It's a must. We have to fight again. Hopefully he will win his mandatory fight against Vitali Tsypko [April 4 at the Bell Centre and also on Showtime], and he will be my next opponent for the fall. We need to settle this. I need to do this, and he also deserves it.
• I know times are tough economically, but I believe Saturday afternoon's Integrated Sports pay-per-view card (4 ET) from Manchester, England, is worth the $24.95 asking price. The main event is as much of a crossroads fight as you
