Oh me oh my did this week get busy fast. One day comes news that so-and-so’s fighting thus-and-such, then the very next damn day so-and-so’s fighting thus-and-so instead. Therefore, there’s lots to get to in this edition of Quick Jabs (you might even call it an avalanche –>) one day before YURIORKIS GAMBOA! returns to the ring on ESPN2. Yeah, he’s still frustrating, but I really look forward to seeing my favorite prospect fight again.
Besides the subjects in the headline, we’ll touch on some fights that aren’t falling through and, rather, are in negotiations; an unexpected bit of major media love for Andre Berto; and the possibility that Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton will land on Showtime, with tie-ins to CBS. In fact, let’s start there. And we’ll hit each item really fast-like, because there is so very, very much to hit.
I have my doubts that Pacquiao-Hatton for Hatton’s real junior welterweight (140 lbs.) championship belt will end up on Showtime, but Top Rank, Pacquiao’s promoter, is plotting to give HBO a little competition for the pay-per-view rights. The plot, according to Top Rank’s Bob Arum, would be to have CBS, Showtime’s parent company, air something like the preview shows they do on HBO, then have Showtime handle the PPV. I’m in favor of the concept — Arum and I are on the same page as far as getting boxing back on network television, and CBS’ presumably aborted experiment with mixed martial arts leaves an opening — but I simply don’t see why CBS would want to consume its airtime on an ad for a show that will cost $50. It’s valuable stuff, network airtime. They’d have to be awfully convinced Pacquiao-Hatton would do gangbusters business. Still, this talk is better than no talk. Keep at ’em, Bob…
Along those lines, Arum’s flights of fancy appear only to be getting more numerous, and repeating themselves. For a long time, every fight he was promoting was going to end up in Macau. Lately, he’s gotten really fascinated with Dubai, where he said Pacquiao-Hatton might end up. I’m alternately annoyed and impressed by this Arum crazy talk. On one hand, it’s tiresome having to respond to every one of his cockamamie schemes; on the other hand, that he prompts responses here and everywhere speaks to his ability as a promoter to get people talking. On one hand, it’s flustering when he gets my hopes up for one of his devilish plots; on the other hand, it’s impressive that he has the energy to dream up so many of them at his age. That he delivers on something like a quarter of them is what makes him one of the top promoters on the biz; if he delivered on something like half of them, he’d be a demigod whom I would thank daily. But because so many of Arum’s ideas go astray, for the rest of this column today, I shall mark any item that comes from his fevered imagination with an ARUM CRAZY TALK CAVEAT alert…
Antonio Margarito vs. Shane Mosley on Jan. 24 is doing blockbuster ticket business. Because of the gate demand, they’re opening up the rafters at the Staples Center for the two welterweights with SoCal followings. The tickets, by the way, start at $25, and there are fewer absurdly priced tickets for this event than usual. So let’s see: Two fighters can make some very nice nine-figure paydays outside Vegas in a region where they have local followings and more people get to see the fight, creating more fans who might want to come see boxing in the future, assuredly enriching promoters along the way. Why doesn’t this kind of thing happen more often?…
This item’s the first of several in a series that will bear the label FIGHT CANCELLATION WARNING. (I’m into the labels today.) One of the best fights on the early 2009 ledger is the junior bantamweight (115 lbs.) bout Feb. 7 between sluggers Vic Darchinyan and Jorge Arce, but according to a press release from the Darchinyan team earlier this week that hasn’t been rebutted, Arce hasn’t made his 30-day weight check-in. That makes this more a FIGHT CANCELLATION WARNING? than anything, because Arce’s team hasn’t spoken anywhere I can find, but it’s credible because Arce was saying several fights ago he was having trouble making 115 pounds and was thinking of moving up. Let’s hope Arce can pull off the trick one last time and still have his health. In the meantime, you know Darchinyan had a taunt at the ready: “Do you know the weigh to San Jorge?… Maybe he should switch to sugar-free lollipops to facilitate his weight loss? I just hope Jose Luis Castillo isn’t his nutritionist! All I want is a level playing field. Rules are rules and they should be enforced equally for both sides.”..
FIGHT CANCELLATION WARNING?/BOB ARUM CRAZY TALK CAVEAT: In the same weight class, another great 2009 first quarter match-up is in jeopardy. Fernando Montiel’s March bout with Nonito Donaire is apparently in trouble because either A. Montiel is having trouble making weight and/or B. Montiel might want to move up to bantamweight (118 lbs.) to fight Eric Morel for a vacant title belt that would be vacated by Gerry Penalosa, who’s a potential opponent for a more lucrative bout at junior featherweight (122 lbs.) with Juan Manuel Lopez. Donaire could end up fighting Raul Martinez or Jose Lopez for Montiel’s own hypothetically vacated junior bantamweight title belt, and none of those fights — Donaire-Lopez/Martinez, Montiel-Morel, Penalosa-Lopez — are anywhere near as good as Donaire-Montiel, if you ask me. I’m starting to get a little depressed, because there are several more warnings ahead…
FIGHT CANCELLATION WARNING, with a side of “fight being made”: I feared Vitali Klitschko-David Haye for May, in what would be the most promising heavyweight bout in years, was too good to be true, but there’s a silver lining in it apparently falling through. Klitschko’s decided he wanted to defend his title strap against mandatory challenger Juan Carlos Gomez in the spring, reportedly, and as such Vitali against Haye is at minimum delayed. The silver lining here I mentioned that little brother Wladimir may end up fighting Haye instead, which I think is a better bout for all parties involved. Talks are happening, so keep your fingers crossed. That also means Wladimir against Chris Arreola will be delayed, too, which is a double lining of silver, since Arreola may one day be ready for Wladimir but as of now is just an exciting heavyweight who needs to work on his skills and conditioning…
FIGHT CANCELLATION WARNING, January edition: Bad month so far on fight pull-outs, starting this weekend. Heavyweight Odlanier Solis on ESPN2 Friday was to fight Owen Beck, but no. Instead he’s fighting Kevin Burnett, who made fans here last year by surviving a near-knockout on ESPN2. Good save, ESPN2. ESPN2 had a nice junior middleweight (154 lbs.) bout scheduled Jan. 16 for Carlos Quintana, against Eromosele Albert, but Quintana screwed up his ankle. Now, Albert will do a rematch with his last opponent, Ossie Duran, whom he fought to a draw in what I understand was an entertaining bout. Another good save, ESPN2. One night later on HBO, junior middleweight prospect Joe Greene has pulled out of his scheduled step-up bout with Sergio Martinez because of kidney stones. No word on whether the bout will be replaced, but Greene’s team has said it will probably be rescheduled because of rumors they heard that Martinez was having trouble making weight. I like Greene, and Martinez, for that matter, but I still think this is too steep a move up for Greene, so my hope is that the fight doesn’t happen until Greene gets some more seasoning. Lastly, although I wasn’t totally looking forward to it, O’Neil Bell’s heavyweight debut Jan. 14 has been delayed for “personal reasons,” and for all the comedy value I’ve gotten out of his hatchet-hurling ass, it’s becoming clear after a year or two of being erratic that Bell is a t
roubled dude. He should get well — whatever he has — before focusing on his boxing career again…
Let’s break up the big old block of text, and depressing stuff, with a weird video. Videogum explains it here — be prepared to be freaked out:
OK, everyone suitably freaked out? Back to the boxing news.
You should know that Oscar De La Hoya has no interest in fighting junior middleweight semi-prospect Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., according to De La Hoya’s promotin’ partner at Golden Boy, Richard Schaefer. That settles that. It’s mildly depressing that De La Hoya hasn’t decided to end his career, but still, you gotta admit, De La Hoya-Chavez, Jr. not happening is more like good news than anything. I hope you feel better now…
Say, let’s stick with the good news. The already-nice Feb. 28 HBO broadcast of Juan Manuel Marquez defending his lightweight (135 lbs.) championship belt against Juan Diaz just got an excellent confirmed undercard bout: Chris John vs. Rocky Juarez. The talented John has spent his whole featherweight (126 lbs.) career avoiding America, and got a questionable decision win in his native Indonesia over Marquez a few years back, and now he’s going to Texas where Texan Juarez has reeled in his own questionably favorable scorecards. Juarez would be one of the best opponents of John’s career, so the combination shows some long-absent balls. Could this set up Marquez-John II? It could, although Marquez appears hell-bent on chasing Pacquiao to whatever weight class he has to for a trilogy fight. John-Juarez is an upgrade from Juarez against Steve Luevano, I think, which was the bout that had been discussed a mere day or two before John-Juarez was confirmed. Folk in Texas could be treated to James Kirkland on the undercard, too. Oh, you lucky Lone Star-staters…
ARUM CRAZY TALK CAVEAT: Remember that good welterweight bout between Josh Clottey and Kermit Cintron that couldn’t find a home? It could, according to Arum, end up on the Feb. 21 Top Rank pay-per-view of the bounceback fights for middleweight (160 lbs.) champ Kelly Pavlik in Ohio (where he’s reportedly going to sell out the joint — see what I mean?) and welterweight Miguel Cotto (who’s now going to battle in Madison Square Garden instead of Atlantic City for the unusual two-city card). Additionally, so could lightweight prospect Anthony Peterson, against Julio Diaz, in what would be a very nice step-up bout for Peterson or very nice bounceback fight for Diaz, and at any rate a quality match-up. And there could be others on the card besides. For, like, $29.95. Which is a shockingly good deal. If it happens. Please note the caveat…
Super middleweight (168 lbs.) Jermain Taylor is still searching for a date after HBO stupidly turned down a fight for Carl Froch’s title belt that would have been a really nice-looking fight. Showtime, though, may take it instead, and they should. If they don’t, Taylor’s other potential opponents are, in order of desirability, Andre Ward (2000 Olympian vs. 2004 Olympian, prime fighter vs. up-and-coming fighter); Glen Johnson (deserving of a quality bout, but probably too big at light heavyweight [175 lbs.] for Taylor); or Roy Jones, Jr. (you’ve got to be kidding me). Ward, too, is looking at a list of potential opponents besides Taylor — in order of desirability, Allan Green, Sakio Bika, Fulgencio Zuniga and Jones, Jr., who’s really the only bad one on the list, not that I would totally blame Ward for trying to pick up Jones’ scalp at this point in his career…
Did you see the big feature on promising young welterweight Andre Berto in ESPN the magazine? It even got a little tease on the cover. It’s recommended reading — they followed him around for five years. Check it out here…
Back to the fights-in-the-works talk (I told you it was a busy week). It looks like Junior Witter and Devon Alexander could square off for some version of some junior welterweight belt, but never mind the crap belt. That’s an intriguing speedy vet/speedy prospect match-up right there…
ARUM CRAZY TALK CAVEAT: Yuri Foreman, the world’s most boringest boxer, may challenge Daniel Santos for his junior middleweight belt. It normally wouldn’t get much of a mention here, but that means Santos, a fighter I like very much, may be back in action soon. If ever a fighter’s career was plagued by a sporadic fight schedule, it’s Santos’. But there’s no date attached to the news…
A bit of youngsters-on-TV business: Golden Boy’s trying to line up a March 7 HBO card featuring its hottest young fighters, including maybe 2008 Prospect of the Year candidate Victor Ortiz against some other junior welterweight; maybe Kirkland against an unnamed opponent; and maybe junior lightweight (130 lbs.) Robert Guerrero against Nicky Cook in another very nice match-up. Then, in April, ARUM CRAZY TALK CAVEAT, Juan Manuel Lopez may get some HBO love, against Penalosa — unlikely, word is — or some other tough opponent, because everyone realizes Lopez needs some rounds after three straight 1st round knockouts. But the networks were cool to Gamboa vs. Celestino Caballero in Cabellero’s move up to featherweight. Any guesses why? That seems like a good bout to me, honestly. So Caballero, the vet, apparently will defend one of his junior featherweight belts against some mandatory opponent or the other. Lastly, Shobox makes its 2009 debut on Jan. 16 with a pair of undefeated featherweights, Leolino Miranda and Orlando Cruz, squaring off…
Any big Ruslan Chagaev fans out there? No? Oh well. If you want to the talented but injury-prone heavyweight’s Feb. 7 bout in Germany, at least you have the option of watching it on pay-per-view via the team at Integrated Sports…
Lastly, say goodbye to Steve Albert as a blow-by-blow announcer at Showtime Championship Boxing — for the most part — as he goes part-time and is replaced by Gus Johnson. You can hear Gus at his excited best in the below clip.
(Sources: The Los Angeles Times; news releases; BoxingTalk; ESPN; PhilBoxing; BoxingScene; Videogum; YouTube)
