Pavlik - Miranda could be a barnburner
The real fight on Saturday night is Kelly Pavlik and Edison Miranda, which many consider to be a title elimination showdown, says Dan Rafael.
MEMPHIS -- Both middleweight champ Jermain Taylor and challenger Cory Spinks, a junior middleweight titlist moving up in weight for a 160-pound title shot, have proven to be among the best boxers in the world.
Neither, however, has a track record of producing exciting fights. The same can't be said, however, for top middleweight contenders Kelly Pavlik and Edison Miranda, which is why many consider their title elimination showdown on Saturday night's undercard (HBO, 10:15 ET) to be the real attraction at the FedEx Forum.
While Taylor (26-0-1, 17 KOs) is a significant favorite against Spinks (36-3, 11 KOs) to retain his title for the fourth time, Pavlik (30-0, 27 KOs) and Miranda (28-1, 24 KOs) bring the best hope for a barnburner. They have serious power, shaky chins and entertaining styles, which is why few expect anything less than a high-contact fight ending in a knockout.
HBO, realizing that Taylor-Spinks has snoozer potential, paid premium money compared to what it pays for a typical co-feature: $1.5 million.
The network is high on both fighters. Miranda will be making his third appearance on HBO since December and Pavlik will be making his second of the year.
"[People] may not know who is going to win that fight. They may have an opinion one way or the other, but every single one of you knows it is going to be a great fight," Pavlik promoter Bob Arum said at Thursday's final news conference. "No playing around. No jiving. No chess match. A great fight, so people say, 'We've seen entertainment.' Those are the kinds of fights we need in boxing to survive if we're are going to match the stuff that is being presented all the time by UFC and the other mixed martial arts people. We need action, we need entertainment and Pavlik and Miranda is exactly what we have."
The fighters know there are high expectations for their bout, the survivor of which will become the mandatory challenger for the winner of the main event.
"You have two top middleweights, legitimate middleweights that can punch, and nobody wants to see that kind of stuff that's been happening in main events recently," Pavlik said, alluding to a string of less-than-stellar HBO fights. "I'll be trying to set records for most punches thrown per round."
Miranda, who loves to trash talk as much he loves to fight, saved most of his venom for Taylor, but he did get off a few bombs at Pavlik.
Realizing that the other big event this weekend in Memphis is the annual barbeque festival, Miranda, 26, of Colombia, said through a translator, "Edison Miranda is going to have barbeque. And then I'm going to barbeque Kelly Pavlik. He's a great fighter, but I'm in another league, the big leagues. I want to please all of my fans with a giant knockout of Pavlik. Baseball fans expect a home run, my fans want a knockout."
Pavlik said Miranda's threats and an endless stream of press releases didn't bother him.
"A lot of it is amusing," said Pavlik, 25, of Youngstown, Ohio. "A lot of people ask me if I let that get to me. No. It's boxing. I look at it like he has no self confidence. He's a little worried and trying to get in my head. I think he does that with a lot of fighters, which is why you see them start going backwards when they fight him. As far as letting it bother me, I don't pay any attention to it."
Miranda later turned his attention to Taylor, pounding the podium and taunting the champion.
"When I take the crown from him, I will hire him to be my sparring partner," Miranda yelled.
Moments later, looking at Taylor, he said, "How about Cory Spinks fighting Kelly Pavlik (on Saturday) and Edison Miranda fighting Taylor for the same amount of money. Can you accept that?"
When it was Taylor's turn to speak, the normally laid back champ exploded in a 10-minute tirade, aimed mostly at Miranda, who he is not even fighting.
"You want to be No. 1? There's nothing wrong with that," Taylor said in the most animated outburst of his career. "Get yourself a suit, comb your hair, look like a champ. Now translate that for him!"
Taylor, in a suit to Miranda's more casual look, wasn't done.
"I'm standing up here undefeated," he said. "I'm No. 1. I don't do all this talking. I'll just step to you and punch you in the mouth. I don't do all this banging on the podium. If you gonna fight, you step to them and punch them in the mouth. I don't play. I take it serious. These guys are good, but they ain't got that dog in them."
"What you just heard is the real Jermain Taylor," said Emanuel Steward, his trainer. "He's the meanest man I've ever trained in my life. I'm having to hold him back to keep him from going over there and beating up Miranda right now."
If the card turns out to be as entertaining as the newsconference -- which featured the all-time highlight of rival promoters Arum (with Pavlik) and Don King (representing Spinks) high-fiving each other -- it will be a good night for boxing.
Pavlik and Miranda intend to do their parts.
While light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright have been on their national media tour this week promoting their July 21 HBO PPV fight at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Golden Boy matchmaker Eric Gomez has been trying to construct the undercard.
According to Gomez, two of the fighters from Golden Boy's sizeable stable who could land on the televised portion of the show are former junior middleweight titlist Kassim Ouma and junior welterweight contender Demetrius Hopkins (Bernard's nephew).
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Ouma lost a decision to Taylor in December and initially said he planned to stay at 160 pounds. But Gomez said Ouma has changed his mind and plans to return to junior middleweight.
"We're trying to get him an interesting match," Gomez said. "He wants to fight. We want to get him in there and get him a good win."
One possible opponent is Sergio Martinez (39-1-1, 20 KOs), who is coming off an impressive victory against Saul Roman in an April elimination fight.
"We made him an offer and I'm waiting for his people to get back to me," Gomez said.
One fight that was being considered for the undercard was a match between bantamweight titlist Jhonny Gonzalez and junior bantamweight contender Jose Navarro, a 2000 U.S. Olympian.
However, according to Navarro promoter Lou DiBella, Navarro rejected the bout because he prefers to remain at junior bantamweight, where he hopes to win a title before moving up in weight.
Navarro has come up short in two title shots, although one of them is widely considered one of the worst robberies in years.
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• HBO analyst Larry Merchant, the conscience of the network's boxing coverage for 30 years, could be working his final show when he calls Saturday night's Taylor-Spinks fight. Merchant's contract expires at the end of the month and he arrived in Memphis without a new deal in place, although the sides have been negotiating for months. However, never in his career has a new deal come down to the wire. HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg appears to be trying to push Merchant out even though he remains at the top of his game, perhaps because Merchant is in his 70s and Greenberg, who hired him decades ago, wants a younger broadcast team. Part of HBO's latest non-starter offer to Merchant is to send him back to the minor leagues to call fights on the network's secondary series "Boxing After Dark," a move Merchant has no interest in. Greenburg wants to promote Max Kellerman into Merchant's role as lead analyst on "World Championship Boxing" and HBO PPV telecasts. • ESPN and the Tournament of Contenders, the promotional company responsible for "The Contender" reality series, are expected to announce shortly that they have reached an agreement for a third season of the popular show. Season 1 aired on NBC before it moved to ESPN. The new season will air for 10 weeks beginning in September and will feature fighters in the super middleweight division. One tweak for the forthcoming season: Viewers can expect to see more of the five-round bouts that end each show. In past seasons, the fights were heavily edited.
• Middleweight Sergio Mora, who won the first season of "The Contender," could have been challenging champion Jermain Taylor on Saturday night, but pulled out of the fight when it landed in Memphis because he was unhappy that it was taking place in a city Taylor calls his second home. Instead, plans are in the works for Mora, who hasn't fought since last summer, to face perennial contender Raymond Joval on July 13 on ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights" for far less money than he would have earned to fight Taylor. The probable venue is the Galen Center on the campus of the University of Southern California. Mora promoter Jeff Wald and Joval promoter Joe DeGuardia are working out the details.
• It will soon be decision time for Floyd Mayweather Jr. Which WBC title does he want to keep -- the junior middleweight belt he won from Oscar De La Hoya on May 5 or the welterweight title he still owns? According to Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather's best buddy and close adviser, he hasn't made a decision yet. "No decision, no discussion," Ellerbe told ESPN.com. "We haven't even talked about it." Since the win, Mayweather has not really taken a break while making numerous appearances across the country. The WBC said it will send Mayweather a letter asking him for a decision. He will have 15 days to decide from the receipt of the letter. Whatever he decides, Mayweather will still hold the Ring magazine welterweight title. • So how is Mayweather celebrating his victory against De La Hoya? Apparently by giving away wads of the $20 million or so he earned in the biggest grossing fight in history. According to Las Vegas nightlife Web site spyonvegas.com, Mayweather spent an evening last weekend at the nightclub Body English inside the Hard Rock, where he "made it rain as he flurried fists of cash onto the crowd below." In other words, Mayweather, who likes to talk about the enormous amounts of cash he carries, threw some of it to the club patrons. If you are in Memphis this weekend for Taylor-Spinks, perhaps he'll toss some money your way. Mayweather is planning to be in town, according to Ellerbe.
• Junior lightweight champ Juan Manuel Marquez is tentatively scheduled to return on HBO PPV Sept. 15 in his first title defense. Marquez outslugged Marco Antonio Barrera on March 17 to win the 130-pound title. Marquez's opponent has not been decided, but Barrera has been offered a rematch and is weighing his options, according to Golden Boy matchmaker Eric Gomez. If Barrera doesn't take the fight, it is possible that Marquez could have a rematch with featherweight titlist Chris John. John, who owns a tight decision victory against Marquez, would move up in weight. • Lightweight contender Nate Campbell has agreed to be co-promoted by One Punch Productions and Don King, according to Terry Trekas, One Punch's director of boxing operations. One Punch had been Campbell's lone promoter. Campbell is the mandatory challenger for titlist Julio Diaz, but the mandatory is not due until November. However, King is interested in matching Juan Diaz, his unified beltholder, with Julio Diaz. Campbell would fight on that undercard with the winners of the two bouts meeting each other next. Before that potential card, Campbell is slated to headline "Friday Night Fights" (ESPN2) July 6 in Tampa against an opponent to be named. • Golden Boy is making plans to reschedule the Oscar Larios-Jorge Linares interim featherweight title bout for July 6 on Telefutura, but not if HBO has its way. The bout originally was supposed to take place on HBO's May 26 "Boxing After Dark" card. However, main event fighter Joan Guzman, who was supposed to face lightweight brawler Michael Katsidis, withdrew because of a hand injury and the card was postponed. HBO is talking about trying to reschedule the card for June 30 and would like to keep it intact. Guzman-Katsidis also could be rescheduled for Aug. 11, in which case HBO would have to look for another opening bout. • Junior middleweight bomber Joel "Love Child" Julio (31-1, 29 KOs), fresh off a two-knockdown, first-round knockout of Mauro Lucero on ESPN2's "Wednesday Night Fights" in an undercard bout, will return to headline the July 11 card against an opponent to be named in Los Angeles. The invitation-only card is being held in conjunction with the annual ESPY Awards. • Golden Boy announced the signing of lightweight contender Jose Armando Santa Cruz (24-2, 13 KOs), a former interim titleholder, and bantamweight Néstor Rocha (17-0, 5 KOs). Both fighters defected from Golden Boy rival Top Rank. "We are very excited to be working with two Los Angeles-based fighters," said Golden Boy vice president and matchmaker Eric Gomez in making the announcement. "We will work hard to help them reach their goals."
• Rising heavyweight prospect Alexander Povetkin (11-0, 9 KOs), the 2004 Olympic super heavyweight gold medalist, is continuing his ambitious schedule. Povetkin, who already has faced quality competition through his first 11 bouts, next faces Canada's Patrice L'Heureux (20-3, 12 KOs) in Bamberg, Germany on May 26. A victory in that bout will propel Povetkin, 27, into a June bout with longtime contender Monte Barrett (31-5, 17 KOs), who gave then-titlist Nikolai Valuev a solid fight last fall. "After winning everything as an amateur, I am eager to be successful as a professional fighter, too," he said. • Flyweight contender Giovanni Segura (17-0-1, 13 KOs), one of the most exciting smaller fighters in boxing, faces Colombia's Cesar Canchila (22-1, 17 KOs) on June 8 (Telefutura) in Gary, Ind., in a title elimination fight. The winner will be in line to fight for a vacant world title.
• Always looking to reload his stable of fighters, promoter Gary Shaw signed four undefeated fighters from Puerto Rico. Joining Shaw's company are featherweight Orlando Cruz (12-0, 6 KOs), junior middleweight Emanuel Gonzalez (7-0, 3 KOs), junior featherweight Victor Fonseca (4-0, 2 KOs) and lightweight Fernando Torres (2-0, 1 KO). "These young men are real fighters and when I saw them in action in Puerto Rico I couldn't wait to sign them," Shaw said in announcing the signings. "They fight with a real hunger and with real power. They train hard and they fight harder. They have real talent and great amateur pedigrees. I cannot wait to show them off on all my future cards." Can't get enough of Rafael's wisdom? Check out his hard-hitting blog that keeps boxing Insiders informed about the latest happenings in boxing. |
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"I've still got a lot of things to do in my career and over the next few years you will see the best of me to achieve them. I want Jermain Taylor because I love taking on and beating the top Americans. They bring the best out in me. Just ask Jeff Lacy. Mikkel Kessler is in my sights because he's claiming to be the best in the division and I will happily relieve him from his two titles. Plus a burning ambition is to become a two-weight world champion and I want Bernard Hopkins at light heavyweight." -- Super middleweight world champion Joe Calzaghe, on the fights he wants in the immediate future.
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