I have absolutely no good reason for linking to this comic other than that it’s funny and enthralling. It has nothing to do with boxing whatsoever, although a bit of “fishrage” might be helpful in the ring. I simply didn’t have a good way to start off this week’s column, short of complaining about some of your wonderful comments disappearing amid the herky-jerky technical difficulties I mentioned. I figured this would be the squirt of frosting down your throat before you take your medications.
To the Jabs! Quickly!
Quick Jabs
Will Manny Pacquiao shut up about fighting Floyd Mayweather, Jr. if it makes the welterweight bout more likely to happen? Apparently not. “Mayweather wants too much money,” “Mayweather is scared fight me” — it’s that kind of stuff that helps poison the environment for a deal getting signed. On balance, Pacquiao’s the “good guy” in this situation, but everyone would be wise not to forget that Pacquiao is a raging egomaniac in his own right who is more than willing to do destructive things to prevent a fight from happening…
Promoters Gary Shaw and Bob Arum have had some words for each other recently, and I’m inclined to back up Shaw on this one. Arum said Pacquiao won’t fight Timothy Bradley because “he hasn’t been promoted so that he’s lie a household name where he could be a viable pay-per-view opponent.” Answered Shaw:
“Timothy Bradley is more known than Joshua Clottey [promoted by Arum], so Bob is being disingenuous when he says Bradley is not a household name,” Shaw said; Pacquiao fought Clottey in March. “Joshua Clottey was anything but a household name. Joshua Clottey is not even from the U.S.
“What Bob should have told you is he prefers to fight his fighters against his own fighters, so if one gets knocked off, he’s got the other fighter. Why is he talking about a rematch against Miguel Cotto or a fight against (Antonio) Margarito, who isn’t even licensed? He is not talking about fighting other fighters. There would be a lot of interest in a Bradley fight, but I can’t make Bob fight my fighters.”
Arum has gotten much worse about this of late. Maybe the next item offers some prospect for change?…
Thomas Hauser recently penned a profile of Todd DuBoef, the man who would replace Arum as boss at Top Rank. The profile is ultimately sympathetic — any profile headlined “Todd DuBoef and the Future of Boxing” is going to be — but it’s an encouraging turn from Hauser’s work on Top Rank, as it takes a not uncritical eye to the company. It also is a much-needed profile of one of the people who could soon enough be among the handful of the most important people in the sport, and features him talking at length about some of his interesting and good ideas. Of course, if DuBoef is effectively running the company now, it means he might be responsible for the idea of making Pacquiao-Cotto II or something, so that’s worrisome…
Another sorta pro-Arum item: He called the WBC’s trend of awarding “silver belts” “a joke.” Good for him. Then he said he accepted it for tomorrow night’s Latin Fury headliner because it didn’t cost him “anything,” although actually it cost him a “few thousand dollars,” but that was OK with him because he might need WBC boss Jose Sulaiman someday. I’m sure the WBC doesn’t like having their belts called a joke. The best-case scenario here is that Sulaiman retaliates, then Arum and Sulaiman get in a protracted feud that leaves the WBC weakened. Who would’ve thought Arum’s temper had the potential to be useful?…
I’m not saying it’s an obvious call, but I do disagree with Ring’s decision not to rank Andre Ward #1 at super middleweight ahead of Lucian Bute. Doug Fischer makes the anti(ish)-Ward case here, and I’d like to counter it. I do place a fair amount of value on a marquee win. Ward has one, over Mikkel Kessler, and Bute does not. Ward’s best win, over Kessler, came over someone who was in some people’s pound-for-pound top 20 at the time. Bute’s best win, over Librado Andrade, came against an opponent that wouldn’t have been in the pound-for-pound top 50, maybe even top 100. Bute’s next best wins — over Sakio Bika and, I dunno, Edison Miranda — are only a touch better than Ward’s other two best wins, over Allan Green and Miranda. The additional depth on Bute’s resume simply doesn’t overtake Ward’s best win by a long shot, in my estimation…
The man Kessler beat in his last fight, Carl Froch (Fischer can dismiss Kessler if he wants, but Froch was the #2 super middle until Ward’s rise, and Kessler’s win over Froch enhances Ward’s win over Kessler) can’t shut the hell up about how he got robbed. Honestly, as long as Froch is fun to watch in the ring, I’ll be a fan. But man is he ever a fucking baby about that loss. For the last time, Carl, almost everyone thought you lost, and those who don’t thought it was close. Shut up, stop making an idiot of yourself and do what Kessler did after the Ward loss and regain your rep inside the ring…
Speaking of the Super Six tournament, Eric Raskin writes a nice mathematical take here on Ward, Kessler and Froch, et al. It’s recommended reading…
Sad news, this: Junior middleweight James Kirkland and trainer Ann Wolfe, who make a great team in the ring and outside it, are apparently feuding. The nature of the feud is a bit vague, as detailed here, but manager Cameron Dunkin is hopeful it can be worked out. I’m hopeful he’s right to be hopeful…
One of the big manager names to rival Dunkin, Al Haymon and so forth — Shelly Finkel — is leaving the business of managing boxing. He said he’s fed up with the politics. Yeah, if you’re fed up with politics, boxing managing is probably not the business for you. He leaves behind a list of boxing free agents, which you can read about here…
Other manager/trainer/promotional biz: Golden Boy boss Richard Schaefer said they’ve straightened out the rocky managerial situation for junior welterweight Marcos Maidana, which is a good thing for fans of the South American power puncher who still are stinging from his pullout of the Bradley fight; welterweight Zab Judah is getting Eddie Mustafa Muhammad as a trainer, something he probably needs given his tendency to tune out father Yoel, which Yoel to his credit recognizes; and Freddie Roach is adding yet more fighters to his stable. One or two more fighters to go, and Roach will train everyone…
Another reason to like Atlantic City: They’re erecting a statue to Leavander Johnson, the boxer from AC who lost his life in the ring in 2005.
