Also in this edition of Quick Jabs: HBO makes an overdue foray into selling younger fighters; Marco Antonio Barrera returns; and Israel Vazquez simultaneously awes and worries me.
The Rest Of Your Weekend Preview
Sean’s already hit the Joe Calzaghe-Roy Jones Jr. light heavyweight (175 lbs.) bout, so check that out here. ESPN on Thursday did a little preview and chatted with Calzaghe. Calzaghe said Jones is still pretty good these days even removed from his glory years. “I thought he was a great fighter. I loved watching him fight. I wouldn’t say he’s has good as he once was, but he’s looking to prove everyone wrong on that.” Calzaghe also said he likes the idea of being considered the #1 pound-for-pound fighter alive should he beat Jones, but doesn’t worry about it. “It’s not for me to decide. It’s a mythical title… I’m just happy being the best fighter in the world at my weight.” Jones, in a clip speaking with reporters, damned the fight with faint praise, saying it’ll be “the best fight you’ve seen since the next president came in.” Not if the rest of the weekend’s bouts have anything to say about it.
Today, Don King Productions had a show over in China. The headliner was heavyweight Andrew Golota, whose reputation was on one of its longest rebounds in a career filled with embarrassments and comebacks. He was fighting Ray Austin, last seen getting obliterated by Wladimir Klitschko, but Austin fought Sultan Ibragimov to a draw once. One never knows which Golota will show up, and the one that showed up got knocked down in the 1st round then apparently hurt his arm and quit. Word is he was getting hammered, but a BoxingScene.com commenter said of Golota’s injury “that elbow was flopping around everytime he tried to throw it.” Marco Antonio Barrera made his lightweight (135 lbs.) debut — actually, he was a little over the limit — in his comeback fight against an anonymous opponent and won. I’d prefer it if Barrera had stayed retired, but not in the “he’s gonna get hurt” kind of way. More the “he’s on the decline and there’s nothing left for him to prove, plus anything he might try to prove probably won’t work” kind of way. Also, heavyweights Jameel McCline and Mike Mollo, who’ve had recent “might have been” kind of losses, duked it out with McCline scoring the decision win, and previously neglected top DKP prospect Devin Alexander (junior welterweight, 140 lbs) won. Click here to see Golota pose creepily with a panda.
Also today, gofightlive.tv is hosting a few bouts, none of which are particularly intriguing, but there are some recognizable names on the ledger — like headliner Kevin Johnson, a talented if somewhat frustrating heavyweight — and since it’s free, no reason not to check it out if you’ve got nothing going on with your Friday night.
Lastly, Saturday brings the previously postponed middleweight (160 lbs.) title defense of Arthur Abraham. It’s on pay-per-view at a relatively affordable $25, which makes it tempting, plus it transparently has a nifty poster. Abraham is ascending most lists of the pound-for-pound best in the sport. The challenger, Raul Marquez, is one heck of a good news story, but he showed more willpower than talent in upsetting gifted prospect Giovanni Lorenzo to get the title shot. Lorenzo could punch, but I give Marquez very little chance of withstanding the blows of Abraham. That said, he’ll give a game effort, and his come-forward style could make for a compelling action fight.
Quicker Quick Jabs
Shane Mosley has dumped his dad as a trainer once again, and is looking to hire Nazim Richardson, the trainer of light heavyweight Bernard Hopkins. It’s a pretty savvy pick. Nobody thinks all that highly of Mosley’s dad as a trainer. And Mosley’s going to need a little defensive expertise (something Richardson apparently has been able to communicate to Hopkins) and an ultra-intelligent gameplan (the kind Hopkins usually has) if he hopes to defeat fellow welterweight (147 lbs.) Antonio Margarito in a fight that’s in the works for January…
After the classic third Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez bout (junior featherweight, 122 lbs.), I detailed the scope of some of the wounds suffered by Vazquez: badly cut eyes that required 60 stitches, a twisted knee, a medical suspension from fighting in California for two months. Now the WBC reports that Vazquez is recovering from two surgeries to repair a detached retina. At the same time I increasingly admire the heart those two men showed in fighting each other — no matter what happened, neither way was anyone going to back down — I truly, deeply fear for their safety should they fight each other again. Really…
Staying with the WBC: The sanctioning organization wants to collect 1 percent of Manny Pacquiao’s purse for his welterweight mega-bout Dec. 6 with Oscar De La Hoya, merely because Pacquiao holds one of the WBC’s belts at lightweight (135 lbs). Why the WBC should have the claim to any money from fights that aren’t for its belts is absolutely beyond me…
Staying with Pacquiao: The top man in the whole sport says he’s inspired by Barack Obama’s win, and that the chant around training camp is Obama’s — “Yes we can.” Jones, too, said the Obama win was inspirational, and that he’s going to bring “change” to the ring Saturday night against Calzaghe. I’m all for the intersection of politics and boxing, but, um, those are both stretches. (Speaking of — Joe Mesi lost his bid for a legislative seat in New York)…
More WBC: Vernon Forrest has been given an extension for the purse bid to defend his 154-pound belt against Sergio Martinez, because, the WBC said, of some promotional scheduling conflicts in the Forrest camp. It’s still unclear to me whether Forrest is interested in this fight, but I guess the fact that it’s going to purse bid is a sign that it is likelier than not…
Dr. J’s kid is climbing in the ring Friday night to make his pro debut at 30-something. There’s not much interesting to say about this, really, since there’s no chance the younger Erving will have an impact on the sport, but it was in the news, so I thought I’d mention it. Um. Dr. J’s my all-time favorite basketball player? You could spend a good half-hour on YouTube just watching the dude…
On the Pacquiao-De La Hoya undercard, star-in-training Juan Manuel Lopez will likely fight Bernabe Concepcion. That is perfectly acceptable opponent for Lopez…
There are some pretty strict warnings about reusing stuff on the Fightnews.com website, or I’d just post this myself, but there’s a fantastic picture of Gary Shaw getting a head massage here. It’s hilarious. The look on his face…
Debuting Nov. 10 is an HBO digital series on up-and-coming boxers. More of this, please. Older fighters are really dominating the sport’s attention right now, and while they’ve often earned it, it’s a trend that doesn’t help boxing in the long-term. Whatever HBO can do to build up younger fighters, it should do. First up is junior welterweight Dmitriy Salita, picked more for his back story than his potential, I suspect, and on deck is heavyweight Chris Arreola. Check out the trailer here.
(Sources: Fightnews.com; ESPN.com; BoxingScene.com; Boxingtalk.com; news releases)
