Boxing News, MMA, UFC, Manny Pacquiao, Mayweather
Boxing News, MMA, UFC, Manny Pacquiao, Mayweather
The big week is finally here. For the first time in five years, regular people will care about boxing for a day or two. They may even stop by this site. To ensure no visiting literary critics go away dissatisfied, then, we’ll begin with a quote attributed to an Oscar not named De la Hoya.
“All bad poetry is sincere,” said Oscar Wilde.
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Turns out many prizefighters and their hangers-on are actually sharp business minds. Sometime between the morning’s run, the afternoon’s heavy bag and the evening’s sparring, these pugilists accumulate imaginary credits towards a master’s degree in business administration. That’s what they want us to believe. Their supporters shout it on message boards and in mail bags.
Oscar de la Hoya is an exception. Unlike most of his half-naked peers, De la Hoya sought the acumen of an actual player in the business world, someone whose resume showed more than Chief Towel Boy or Extreme Sycophant. De la Hoya found Richard Schaefer. De la Hoya will be solvent long after others declare bankruptcy. But at what cost?
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When I began my working career years ago, the owner of the company was well known for sharing the Yiddish saying, “A fish stinks from the head, not from the tail,” with management employees who had problems in their area of responsibility. The message was clear and remains with me today – Don’t blame your people for following your failed policies. I mention this because it reminds me of the situation with HBO in their apparent decision to fire Larry Merchant, or not to renew his contract, if you prefer, after 29 years of loyal service.
Peers and boxing fans always ask why I am picking Oscar De La Hoya to beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 5 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Most experts are picking Mayweather, the logical choice.
The “Boys,” “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather, and “The Golden Boy,” Oscar De La Hoya, are finally about to meet on May 5 after months of anticipation, hype, media speculation, non-stop publicity, and more hype. In late January the remaining 5,400 seats not held by the promoters or casinos for the fight to be held at the 16,000 MGM Grand Garden Arena went on sale and sold out in less than three hours. Almost 11,000 seats were held back for the promoters and the casinos.
15rounds.com was recently allowed inside the walls of the US Karate & Boxing Gym in Hayward, California, where two highly ranked brothers, Nonito and Glenn Donaire are training for upcoming bouts on May 12th. WBC #3 rated junior bantamweight contender Nonito Donaire Jr. took time out, prior to his workout, to discuss his upcoming bout and the current state of his boxing career.
In the 1994 film “The Shawshank Redemption,” Andy Dufresne takes a small rock hammer –about the weight of a sparring glove – and slowly bores through the wall of a northern New England prison. Eventually Andy manages to overcome the prison’s wall with time and pressure. This Saturday night when we turn on HBO’s “Boxing After Dark,” we might consider the lesson of Andy Dufresne’s persistence.
You hear it all the time: MMA is taking customers away from boxing.
No. Boxing is taking customers away from itself. The biggest complaint from friends is that once the final bell rings, they never know who is going to walk away with the decision.
My worst boxing nightmare is over. Ruslan Chagaev defeated Nikolai Valuev by majority decision, 114-114, 115-113, and 117-111 in Stuttgart, Germany, to take the WBA heavyweight title. (Actually the scores are immaterial here. There have been so many bad decisions in Germany that it’s become almost an accepted fact that foreign fighters compete there at their own risk. Chagaev, a native of Uzbekistan, resides in Hamburg, Germany, and has fought 15 of his 24 career fights in Germany, all 15 since November 2003. Valuev, from St Petersburg, Russia, has fought in Germany 13 times since August 2003. So possibly there was a stand-off in the judge’s bias.)
As someone who has covered boxing for over 14 years, it has been an honor to report on Bernard Hopkins.
Bob Arum and Top Rank impressively put together that rarest of commodities last Saturday – a pay per view card that was actually worth the investment. The event, “Blaze of Glory,” was designed to feature international superstar Manny Pacquiao, which it did quite splendidly, but unlike most showcase PPV’s this one was entertaining from top to bottom.
SAN ANTONIO, TX – The next time pundits and promoters imply that Las Vegas and Los Angeles are the only western cities worthy of pay-per-view shows, boxing fans can toss this Davy Crockett quote at them: “You may go to hell and I will go to Texas.”
On January 24, Vitali Klitschko announced his return to the ring to attempt to recapture the WBC heavyweight title and immediately set off a maelstrom of charges and counter charges between his camp and that of Samuel Peter and Oleg Maskaev. The daily twists and turns drove the media and fans crazy as almost every day at least one of the players or their respective managers and/or promoters had a tasty quote to be distributed.
Golden Boy Promotions is not stupid. President Oscar De La Hoya, CEO Richard Schaefer and matchmaker Eric Gomez were smart enough to know a terrific fighter when they saw one in Rocky Juarez, and that’s why Juarez is now fighting under the Golden Boy banner.
On the surface, I could have put my notes on a post-it. Joe Calzaghe stopped Peter Manfredo Jr. by a third round TKO and that’s that. No surprises. Calzaghe was just far too quick, had superior skills, and the fight ended as expected.
Every serious boxing fan going to Las Vegas for May 5, raise your hand. Oh. Fewer than expected. And those of you planning to watch “The World Awaits” on pay-per-view? OK. That’s better. Anybody going to be in San Antonio this Saturday?
Time to address that.
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This Saturday, April 7, Joe Calzaghe, 42-0 (31), defends his WBO super middleweight title for the 20th time over a span of almost 10 years against reality star/fighter Peter Manfredo Jr., 26-3 (12). The fight will be held at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, with attendance expected to be close to 40,000, the largest indoor event ever held in the United Kingdom.
At one point in his career, Diego Corrales was tops in the hearts of boxing writers and fans of the game everywhere. He had his miraculous 10th-round technical knockout victory over Jose Luis Castillo in May 2005 to thank for that. Comebacks don’t get any better than Corrales’ did in that fight. Any losses he may have had before that meant nothing at that point, because that win was as incredible as they come.
During his turbulent life and career, Bobby Czyz was a popular fighter, his fan base including many women as well as men. He was a good looking, intelligent, well spoken athlete who earned his nickname, “Matinee Idol,” honestly.
There’s never a bad day to write about boxing in the Southwest. Here in Arizona, we have a finicky but dedicated army of aficionados, a target demographic of Mexican fans to make promoters’ mouths water, plenty of intrigue, an excellent local matchmaker and a small community of prizefighters pleasing to their audiences. Still, this weekend’s days were better than most.
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