Exceedingly Random Thoughts About, Um, Boxing

No time for fancy column titles like “Quick Jabs.” Just straight to all-out action, baby:


The talk of Herman Ngoudjo being robbed against junior welterweight belt-holder (140 lbs.) Paulie Malignaggi is a little inflated, donchathink? Yes, the judge who scored it 117-111 is on crack. But there were a lot of toss-up rounds. Settle down, everyone — nobody’d be crazy to give it to either Malignaggi or Ngoudjo.
Showtime’s bounced back a little from 2007, it’s true. I especially like the April 12 light heavyweight (175) fight between Glen Johnson/Chad Dawson and the featherweight (126) showdown Feb. 29 between Roberto Guerrero and Jason Litzau. One’s a classic “legit veteran”/”talented up and comer” match-up and the other’s a brawl with skill.
Floyd Mayweather, Jr. can’t rap very well. I don’t give him an F-, though. Maybe a D-.
No, Miguel Cotto probably can’t beat Mayweather. Probably nobody can. Still, it’s a bit of a toss-up for me whether Cotto is the more dangerous welterweight (147) for Mayweather or the rangy, active, fast Paul Williams is. Cotto did have trouble with Shane Mosley, but so would’ve Mayweather, at least a little. Mayweather’s faster and a better boxer than Cotto, sure. But Williams just doesn’t seem as savvy as Cotto, and he’s clearly not as experienced. Either way, I wanna see Cotto try more than I want to see Williams. He’d be the biggest puncher Mayweather would face since Diego Corrales.
I’m glad the cold war between The Ring and Maxboxing has spilled over into more open border skirmishes. The Ring actually recently mentioned Maxboxing by name, which I haven’t seen it do before. Nothing like a flame war between incredibly smart boxing aficionados.  Time to goad it on: Maxboxing, I heard The Ring was saying bad things about Antonio Margarito and Edwin Valero behind your back. The Ring, I heard Maxboxing saying bad things about Golden Boy Promotions behind your back.
Speaking of ugly feuds, that Larry Hazzard-New Jersey Athletic Control Board dispute is heating up. Next stop: Court.
There’s probably some genius to making us wait for Oscar De La Hoya’s decision about who’s going to fight in May. But I’m sick of it.
Seriously, is there any way at all to get Manny Pacquiao to focus on his 130-pound fight with Juan Manuel Marquez? Manny, forget about Ricky Hatton 10 pounds higher — there’s a chance you’ll be beaten by a guy your own size, one who didn’t work his way up from 106 pounds like you did.
Never get optimistic about Bernard Hopkins doing something he says he will, but at least he’s moving in the right direction toward a light heavyweight fight with Joe Calzaghe.
If anything stops the ascendancy of gifted lightweight (135 lbs.) and prospective superstar Amir Khan, I’m going to bet on.. well, speeding tickets.
Thursday at 9 p.m. comes the first airing of the HBO preview show for the 170-pound fight between ring legends Roy Jones, Jr. and Felix Trinidad. I’m still not sure what to make of this one. But I guarantee the preview show will be mighty entertaining and have my mouth watering anyway.

About Tim Starks

Tim is the founder of The Queensberry Rules and co-founder of The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (http://www.tbrb.org). He lives in Washington, D.C. He has written for the Guardian, Economist, New Republic, Chicago Tribune and more.

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