STEAK, MASHED POTATO, JUICE AND DESSERT

You have to hand it to the folks at Golden Boy. When the highly anticipated matchup with Marco Antonio Barrera and Manny Pacquaio fell through because of legal problems concerning Pacquiao’s contract, (and some heavy handed wheeling and dealing over the terms of the promotion), they matched Barrera with Juan Manuel Marquez. The two, who are both promoted by Golden Boy, meet Saturday night on HBO PPV for Barrera’s WBC 130 pound title at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

This is another Fight of the Year candidate that, as hardcore fans already know, is a fan’s fight between two Mexican warriors that is long overdue. Barrera, 63-4 (42), and Marquez, 46-3-1 (35), are both 33 years old and it’s now or never. Of course, Pacquiao’s box office magic will be missed, but this fight should do well on its own merits.

Marquez is a brilliant technician in the ring, an excellent counter puncher with good defense. He has missed opportunities for big money fights over the years, either through poor business decisions, or in most cases because the elite fighters ducked him. He’ll be moving up from featherweight, which should not be a factor as he matches up well with Barrera physically.

Barrera has boxed well in recent fights, but showed some evidence of decline in his first fight with Rocky Juarez. In the second fight however, he fought a masterful tactical bout, and thoroughly outboxed Juarez. But, if he so chooses, he probably has a war or two left in him, and that approach may serve him best against the crafty Marquez.

Money is not a motivator for him as much as it is for Marquez. He simply wants to fight the best before retiring. Good for him. If only every titlist held that logic.

PICK: Marquez by unanimous decision.

BELL-MORMECK

In a fight that has somehow slipped under the radar, WBA - WBC cruiserweight champion O’Neil Bell is meeting Jean-Marc Mormeck in a rematch of their January, 2006, fight, one of the top fights of the year. Bell, 26-1-1 (24), won the first bout over Mormeck, 32-3 (22), with a 10th round knockout. The scoring after nine rounds was split, 87-84 and 86-84 for Bell, and 86-85 for Mormeck.

Bell has more power of the two, plus the knowledge that he has already KO’d Mormeck once. He had been training at 220 pounds for the postponed Superfighter Tournament and has to hope that he has dropped the weight without losing strength.

Mormeck started strong in the first fight, the two exchanged bombs in the seventh, and then Bell came on down the stretch, so it is important for Bell to retain his strength if the fight goes deep, or risk losing a decision to the Frenchman, particularly since the fight is being held in the Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret.

The fight will be televised on the MSG Network, and provided to Fox Sports Net for distribution.

PICK: Mormeck by unanimous decision.

MASHED POTATO

WLADIMIR KLITSCHLO-RAY AUSTIN FOR THE IBF HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE, MARCH 10

We’ll make this quick, which is all it deserves. The most competitive part of this one was the coin flip to determine if Austin could wear his choice of Reyes gloves or be forced to wear Klitschko’s choice of Grant gloves. As it turned out, the #1 mandatory challenger Austin really didn’t need any gloves since he didn’t throw anything of consequence.

As for the fight, it consisted of four straight left hooks signed, from Wladimir to Ray with love, sending Austin flying into the ropes and face down on the canvas in round two. Austin was unable to beat the count, possibly snow blinded from the white canvas.

There are only three words for the combination of events that could produce a Ray Austin as a mandatory challenger - What a joke!

I wonder what the HBO suits really think about taking a crew and broadcasting team halfway around the world to Mannheim, Germany, to put on this turkey that took about a half hour in broadcast time, all to appease Klitschko.

JUICE

HOLYFIELD-MADDALONE

Sylvester Stallone deflected some of the spotlight away from Evander Holyfield early this week when the Australian Customs Service charged him with trying to import 48 vials of human growth hormone (HGH) into the country on February 19.

Stallone was briefly detained at Sydney Airport on that date, but later officers raided his hotel room and private jet after members of his entourage were seen tossing items out of their hotel window after the incident at the airport, according to ABS-CBN.

On the plus side, although the maximum fine for the offense is $86,000, “Rocky Balboa” comes out on DVD next Tuesday to add to its $1 billion worldwide take.

As for Evander, he returns to the ring at age 44 with a record of 40-8-2 (26) to face Vinny Maddalone, 27-3 (19), in his quest for another belt before he enters his Viagra years. This one is being held in Corpus Christi, as Holyfield continues his Texas swing, a friendly state willing to license him.

Maddalone is a competitive step backward for Holyfield. Even a diluted Evander should win this one. In his last fight, Evander beat Fres Oquendo in 12 rounds, but he truly looked older and older with each passing round. This fight is 10 rounds, and should be more to Holyfield’s liking.

His once again promoter, Main Events, should be credited for finding a network, CN8, that was willing to televise the fight. It will also be streamed live worldwide on www.CN8.tv, and shown ON DEMAND after the broadcast. Fox Sports carried his last two fights, the second with Oquendo a PPV loser that left Holyfield about a cool $1 million short from his previous promoter, Murad Muhammad. Some might say that they were a little greedy with the PPV concept for that fight.

Holyfield has bigger problems than Maddalone or Muhammad today. His carefully cultivated image as the Christian warrior is bleeding profusely.

Because of his popularity, he has been able to deflect previous criticism. His fans support his title dreams against all logic. When it was announced in 1998 that he had as many as nine children out of wedlock, it might have caused the breakup of his second marriage, but it hardly caused a ripple within his loyal core of fans.

Now Holyfield may be in danger of damaging the good will that he has accumulated over the past 23 years. Holyfield’s name has come up in an ongoing steroid distribution investigation. It’s not that this is the first time that suspicion has been raised. After all the man went from an athletically sculpted cruiserweight to a muscle bound heavyweight seemingly overnight. Two Sports Illustrated reporters also discovered that Holyfield’s heart problem that he supposedly cured through prayer had symptoms consistent with HGH use.

The great writer George Kimball wrote this week that in September 2004, two months before Holyfield fought Larry Donald and was subsequently suspended for showing “diminished skills,” “Evan Fields” was treated by a urologist for “hypogonadism,” or lack of testosterone. The malady, which manifests itself in with several symptoms including erectile dysfunction and decrease in size or firmness of testicles, according to the Mayo Clinic, appeared to be related to Fields’ receiving a supply of testosterone, Glukor, and injection supplies in June, and three weeks later receiving five vials of HGH, all from the same Georgia urologist, according to the Kimball story. HGH is used to raise low levels of testosterone.

But this time the paper trail led directly to Holyfield’s home and phone number.

Sports Illustrated reported on a steroid sting, given inside access by the number of federal and state agencies involved in the operation. On February 27, authorities raided an Orlando pharmacy and a Jupiter, Florida, “anti-aging” clinic, concerned about the sale of steroids and HGH over the internet.

After “sifting through client lists, computers, invoices, receipts and even trash,” names of prominent athletes began to emerge, as well as “Evan Fields.”

In the documents found, in June 2004 a patient named Evan Fields picked up three vials of testosterone and related injection supplies from a Columbus, Georgia, doctor. Investigators noted that Fields shared the same birth date, October 19, 1962, as Holyfield. The listed address for Fields was 794 Evander, Fairfield Ga., 30213, very similar to Holyfield’s address. The SI reporters called a phone number attached on a post-it to the Fields patient file and Holyfield answered.

Holyfield issued an immediate denial to the allegations on February 28, and a second on March 9. In his second statement, located elsewhere on this page, he said that he was conducting his own investigation, which in a strange way reminds me of O.J. Simpson trying to find the real killers.

We won’t discuss the potential health risks associated with taking steroids here. The subject needs further study to determine the long term risks, and honestly the subject is simply over this layman’s head. But, there can be no debate that the use of performance enhancing drugs is cheating. And there is no place in competitive sports for a cheater. And if an athlete is being paid and cheats, he is stealing from those who play by the rules, depriving them of job opportunities.

Holyfield has never tested positive for any illegal substance.

DESSERT

Bob Papa is replacing Fran Charles as the blow by blow announcer for HBO’s Boxing After Dark, effective with the March 24 card. Papa is a veteran announcer who has worked on ESPN 2’s Friday Night Fights and the Versus Network. The HBO line is that Charles’ workload at the NFL Network created scheduling conflicts.

Charles did a dismal job leading the broadcasting team on BAD, which includes Max Kellerman and Lennox Lewis. Kellerman seems to be improving, and in fairness did his best work when Jim Lampley replaced Charles for a night, showing how important it is for a color man to be set up properly.

Lennox as the “Expert Analyst” has left much to be desired, possibly the reason why so many people wanted him to stage a comeback at age 41. No matter what softball question is thrown at him during the telecast, he responds as if he was on another subject. Maybe it’s my imagination, but it seems as if whenever he is given a “yes” or “no” question, he automatically begins with “yes,” before digging a shallow grave.

For now let’s welcome the talented Bob Papa and count our blessings.