I feel like it was just the other weekend that I was saying how bantamweight Silence Mabuza was making his return to elite competition after a couple setbacks in entertaining fights against Rafael Marquez, but I guess that got pushed back or sumpin, cuz all a sudden that fight is THIS weekend. I like Mabuza. You might even say I’m a member of “Club Silencio.” He’s fighting Yonnhy Perez in what would be a good fight to watch if it was televised anywhere. South African boxing fans, make sure you YouTube that thing! It should be a nice fight on a weekend where the schedule has two good HBO fights, along with one fight on television in Europe that has me feeling like I was wearing beer goggles when I previewed it.
Here’s what else you’ll find in this edition of Quick Jabs, besides the stuff in the headline: Israel Vazquez returns, officially; Top Rank feuds with Kelly Pavlik according to Kelly Pavlik’s team but not Top Rank; Chris Henry, allegedly on PCP, says “don’t tase me bro;” and fights in the works for Manny Paquiao, Timothy Bradley, Joel Casamayor, YURIORKIS GAMBOA! and someone whose last name is “Oral.” [UPDATE: Also, the headline and the info in the first graf about a fight in Europe is already wrong, since the fight IS off according to a news release, one of many twists and turns in the Ruslan Chagaev story of late. See below.]
Quick Jabs
You may have seen some phony debate about whether pound-for-pound king Pacquiao has ducked black fighters throughout his career. It is ridiculous how quickly people play the race card in boxing. Honestly, the only top black fighter Pacquiao COULD have fought but didn’t was Nate Campbell, and I’m betting if Pacquiao had stayed around lightweight for more than one bout, he would have fought him. And that is the grand total of top black fighters Pacquiao hasn’t fought. Of the four opponents that Pacquiao’s team wants him to look at fighting next, two are black, and Pacquiao himself has openly pined (which we’ll get to more in a second) for a fight with Floyd Mayweather, Jr., a black man. Here’s how desperately people are reaching when they try to indulge in this “Pacquiao ducks black fighters” debate: The article about it on BoxingScene used Pacquiao’s “ducking” of Joan Guzman as an example of how Pacquiao may have ducking fighters who are LIKE black fighters, since Guzman isn’t black, so, um, that’s the most bone-headed idiocy I’ve ever seen on that site, I think. The writer doesn’t assume Pacquiao is ducking black fighters, by the way, just that he’s avoiding certain KINDS of fighters, which is ridiculous, again, if you look at two of the four fighters he might face next…
Repeatedly, Pavlik and his team keep hinting at problems with Top Rank, Pavlik’s promoter, and this week the love was declared lost. Repeatedly, Top Rank boss Bob Arum keeps saying there’s no friction in response. If I was Pavlik and his team, I know I’d be peeved at Arum, who absolutely helped Pavlik get to the promised land of stardom then dropped the ball once Pavlik was there. One independent pay-per-view makes sense, but two, and the second is against Sergio Mora in a terrible style match-up, then he calls that fight off when you don’t want him to? Pavlik wants to fight the best, and he wants to be on HBO, and he wants to make the money. He was in the wrong when he pressed for a Bernard Hopkins fight for those reasons, but Pavlik, the middleweight champion, wants to fight Arthur Abraham, the next highest-ranked fighter in the division. That fight may still happen late in 2009, but if it doesn’t — Abraham doesn’t think he can make middleweight much longer, and the Mora fight has to be rescheduled, which pushes the timetable back — Pavlik and his people should consider departing. The only question is whether Pavlik et al signed the contract Arum says they did, and considering how opposite both sides’ stories have been of late, I wouldn’t bet on that contract being a done deal…
Israel Vazquez has been cleared medically to return, which is good news — for boxing fans who no doubt miss his all-action style, and for Vazquez. The picture at the right is how I feel about it. He’d had some eye surgeries that were foreboding for his career’s future, but the Californy commission has given him a thumbs up. He’ll return as a featherweight, which means we’ve got another Ring magazine vacancy coming soon, since Vazquez was the clear champion at junior featherweight…
In case you were wondering whatever became of the Marco Antonio Barrera protest to the WBO of how his fight ended with fellow lightweight Amir Khan — a 1st round head butt that could have ended the fight right away instead went to the 5th round, which is conveniently when Khan was in position to win a decision on the scorecard rather than a “no contest” ruling — the answer is “nothing.” The fight result will stand, and Barrera will get no rematch. Again, I don’t think Barrera was treated fairly in that fight, but I doubt anything would have been difference if he had. I just pass it along because some readers here have stronger opinions on this than I do…
Another boxer who’s essentially without recourse is welterweight Kermit Cintron. The Sweet Science has a nice piece about the difficult position his lawyer is in while trying to get to the bottom of whether Antonio Margarito — banned from boxing in the United States for at least a year after getting caught with loaded gloves in January — cheated in either or both of the fights in which Margarito beat Cintron. I won’t summarize it, or point to any highlights — it’s just recommended reading…
Oops! The Daily Telegraph reported the “exclusive” that Ruslan Chagaev was pulling out of his boring lame heavyweight rematch with Nicolay Valuev because of hepatitis, and that Kali Meehan would take Chagaev’s place. Then, a few hours later, Chagaev and Valuev had a weigh-in for the fight. The best part is that the Telegraph said Chagaev was “sensationally withdrawing” from of the fight. Joke #1, sarcastic: But isn’t everything Chagaev does “sensational?” Joke #2, ironic: The only sensationalism here was that of the Telegraph’s reporting. [UPDATE: OK, so the Telegraph did get it right, approximately. The fight IS off tomorrow, according to a news release posted at BoxingScene, but Meehan won’t be stepping in and the whole show is cancelled. Chagaev failed to pass his Finnish physical, it seems. Apparently, he still has the hepatitis. WILL FILE CONSTANT AND CONTINUOUS UPDATES ON THIS VERY IMPORTANT AND EXCITING FIGHT or who am I kidding, I could care less other than for its humor value.]…
So Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr., who is rich and wants you to know it (except for him owing all that money to the IRS or getting his house robbed of tons of expensive jewelry or unloading stretch SUVs on eBay) is being sued because his record label (suppressing giggles now) Philthy Rich Records signed an artist named Freck Billionaire (giggles… escaping… mouth) and Mr. Billionaire’s old company says Mayweather did them wrong. You’ll never guess what Billionaire’s old label wants out of Money’s label Philthy Rich: money…
Two interesting new pairings on the boxer/trainer front: 1. Mini-TQBR fave cruiserweight Steve Cunningham has begun training with Nazim Richardson, who may be the best trainer in the game except arguably Freddie Roach. Cunningham is already plenty smart, but he did get a little foolish in his bout with Tomasz Adamek last year, so Richardson will inevitably make him smarter. 2. Anne Wolfe, robbed of her prized charge James Kirkland as the junior middleweight sits in jail awaiting trial for assorted alleged misdeeds, will be getting a chance to train another junior middleweight, Grady Brewer, the former winner of The Contender. Brewer is a downgrade, but he’s not a bad commodity an
d the important thing here is that Wolfe, who proved herself as a trainer with Kirkland, gets to stay in the game, and deservedly so. I am so whole-heartedly behind the idea of a woman trainer who’s won her acclaim on the merits getting to continue practicing her craft in a sport that can be a teensy bit of a boys club…
Two interesting developments on the boxer/promoter front: 1. Featherweight YURIORKIS GAMBOA! is now going to be co-promoted by main promoter Arena Box and Top Rank, it seems, which is weird because at various times I thought Gamboa was being co-promoted by some other people. Fellow Cuban Odlanier Solis, a heavyweight, is doing the same thing. Either way, I hope it’s good Top Rank (developing Miguel Cotto, Pavlik, others) not evil Top Rank (letting Pavlik languish, screwing over former Margarito opponent Cotto) that manages Gamboa’s career here. 2. Talented super middleweight Mikkel Kessler, whose career has gotten a little dusty, is going to be tied up for a little while longer now that he is going to court with his promoter Team Palle…
I know I defend the Ring belts above all others, but there’s no system that’s perfect. One thing they do — and a lot of people do it, actually, which I totally don’t understand — is that they’ll drop someone in the ratings for absolutely no good reason. Consider the aftermath of junior featherweight Toshiaki Nishioka’s knockout of Jhonny Gonzalez last weekend. Here’s the ratings change, and here’s how it was explained: “Nishioka entered the rankings at No. 8 on the strength of his KO of Gonzalez, who falls from No. 8 to No. 10. Nishioka’s debut forces out Rendall Munroe (No. 9 last week) and advances Ricardo Cordoba from No. 10 to No. 9.” So explain to me why, all a sudden, Cordoba has leaped over Munroe in the ratings? Munroe hasn’t been inactive; he just fought someone this month. Cordoba hasn’t done anything this month to show he deserved to be ranked higher than Munroe. (And why is Gonzalez staying in the top 10?) There is no reason to drop Munroe below Cordoba at this juncture that I can envision. None…
Light heavyweight Henry recently had to go all “don’t tase me bro” after police were told he’d been going crazy on angel dust. Angel dust is a bad drug, man. Stay away from that stuff.
Round And Round
So Pacquiao, as alluded, has said he only wants the winner of the July 18 Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez fight, and that he’s less interested in fighting Shane Mosley or Cotto. I’m with him. The winner of that fight is the best opponent for him in every way. Mosley and Cotto? Those are freaking awesome fights for Pacquiao, too, they just don’t have the sizzle of Pacquiao against the only man who could make a claim to calling himself the best pound-for-pound other than him, and that’s the winner of Mayweather-Marquez. Additionally, Mayweather and Marquez are more his size, what with Pacquiao being the junior welterweight champion and Mosley and Cotto being naturally bigger welters. Is Pacquiao hurting his negotiation position with the winner of Mayweather-Marquez by narrowing his options? Maybe. But I’m of the mind that Pacquiao, who’s been daydreaming of a life in politics and was more than willing to walk away from negotiations with Ricky Hatton until he got his way, won’t settle for anything less than 50-50 with Mayweather, assuming he’s the winner, and if the alternative is a lesser fight or no fight at all, that will be fine with Pacquiao.
Gamboa-Celestino Caballero at featherweight is reportedly a no-go now. There was a dispute with the networks over how much it would cost. Too bad. Interesting fight.
Junior welterweight Bradley is focusing now on a fight with Campbell, a bout I really like between two smart, gutty boxers. The only issue is Campbell’s promotional status with Don King. The talk is of Campbell doing one more deal with King as they await a resolution of their conflict, which sounds like a smart way to do it.
Also at junior welterweight, there was some talk of Junior Witter and Devon Alexander fighting on the Showtime undercard of the bantamweight Vic Darchinyan-Joseph Agbeko July 11, which have been one of the best double-headers of the year. Witter-Alexander is still on course, just not for that date.
Former lightweight champion Joel Casamayor has returned to training after a back injury, but his two potential opponents, Juan Diaz in August or Edwin Valero in September, have some issues. Casamayor’s manager says Diaz doesn’t want to fight him in August, which I find hard to believe; Diaz just fought the guy (Marquez) who knocked out Casamayor in his last fight, and Diaz fared much better than Casamayor did. Valero, of course, isn’t licensed to fight in the United States outside of Texas because of a head injury that hasn’t appeared to affect his career, so the fight probably can’t happen in Vegas the way Casamayor’s team apparently wants.
Cruiserweight champion Adamek is taking a tiny bit of flack for fighting a no-hoper named Bobby Gunn in his July 11 bout, but I’m in favor of it. Here’s why. Adamek has clearly tried to make bigger fights — with Bernard Hopkins, for instance, and Glen Johnson. Then, when that didn’t work because the networks were strangely disinterested, he was going to fight at least a decent cruiserweight, Matt Godfrey, for less money. But then Showtime changed its mind on airing that fight, too, which meant Adamek had failed to get a second-tier opponent whom he could afford without television money. So what should he do? In the old days — the days everyone really wishes would come back — top fighters stayed busy between fighting the best competition. Adamek is doing just that, and his rabid fans in New Jersey will no doubt be the beneficiaries, as will his sharpness in the ring when he does finally get that big name. My only complaint with Adamek is that I wish he’d focus on a rematch with Cunningham, but on the whole, you can’t fault Adamek for taking this fight, at this moment.
Welterweight Carlos Quintana has pulled out of yet another Friday Night Fights gig with an injury, this one June 5. I know these things are unavoidable sometimes, but man, if I’m FNF, I’m getting mighty impatient with Quintana screwing up my schedule.
Did you see how junior middleweight Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. wants Mosley? If I’m Mosley, I take that easy money while I wait for the Pacquiao/Marquez/Cotto/Mayweather guys to figure out their next move.
While Abraham awaits Pavlik, he’s going to be fighting June 27 against someone whose last name is “Oral.” I just have to point that out because I’m totally juvenile.
(Round and Round sourcing: ESPN; AFP; BoxingScene; Fightnews; [London] Times Online)
