That right there is some video on the Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez trilogy, in case the fourth installment doesn’t do much for you and you want to revisit the awesomeness that was I through III. You can watch them all, in full, right here.
The ol’ day job kicked my ass this week, but late or no, Quick Jabs must go on. So go on it shall.
Already this week, Vic Darchinyan was in action, winning some bantamweight belt or the other with a big wide decision over Eric Barcelona (is that his porn name?) despite breaking his left hand in training camp, which is… no fun. I’m with Maxboxing’s Steve Kim on this one — good on Darchinyan to stay busy. He’s taken his foot off the gas a little after a ridiculous 2008 and 2009 schedule, though, so maybe it’s time for him to get back in there with some bad ass, and he’s interested in the winner of Yonnhy Perez-Abner Mares this weekend. That would qualify.
Also, Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym defended his junior featherweight belt with the obligatory soft opponent, and said he’d be moving his short behind up to featherweight with the backing of new promoter Golden Boy, where the action is thick and heavy. And junior middleweight Ryan Rhodes defended whatever belt he has, too.
Oh, and I missed this one last weekend: Per BoxingScene, light heavyweight Gabriel Campillo got back into the win column, which is where he deserved to be anyhow after his “loss” to Beibut Shumenov. I honestly think somebody needs to give Campillo at least one more television bout and all the money that comes with it, because if not for some bad judging he’d be back on TV somewhere. So, my bad, Campillo, for missing your fight.
Are there other Jabs, besides those in the headline? You bet. Let’s make ’em Quick. But we’ll save the Round and Round — fights in the works — for tomorrow.
Quick Jabs
What’s on the rest of the schedule for this week, besides the Showtime card: Friday night action aplenty, for starters. On ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights, I’ll get my long overdue first look at popular lightweight banger Ji-Hoon Kim, who’s fighting in a title eliminator against Ameth Diaz, who’s got the cool nickname “Cloroformo” (translates to “chloroform,” I’m guessing) but I’ve only seen get beaten easily by Joan Guzman. On the undercard, junior welterweight banger Ruslan Provodnikov, whom I also haven’t had a look at, fights Emmanuel Augustus, who’s well past his best days or else I’d be celebrating “The Drunken Master” bringing his wacky ways to TV. Over on Telefutura, junior welterweight prospect Sharif Bogere headlines. Also in action Friday: heavyweight Shannon Briggs and “OK, fine, you’re the greatest” junior middleweight prospect Demetrius Andrade….
Then there’s the Saturday night action. What shapes up as a modestly interesting heavyweight eliminator for David Haye’s belt, Ruslan Chagaev-Kali Meehan, goes down in Germany. Junior middleweight prospect Shawn Porter headlines a PrizeFightTV/GoFightLive webcast that’s free, so that’s totally awesome. Also on Saturday: assorted prospects on the affordable Vazquez-Marquez IV undercard, like junior welterweight Carlos Molina, welterweight Freddy Hernandez and junior lightweight Ronny Rios (word is 10,000 might show for this one live, so they should get a helluva show); Contender grads Peter Manfredo Jr. and Joey Gilbert, both middleweights; and another GoFightLive card…
This week brought a bit of a retirement bug around. After last weekend’s beatings, junior welterweights Paulie Malignaggi and Nate Campbell are both thinking about it, reasoning that they don’t want to become “opponents,” and that’s a perfectly dignified way to think. I have had my gripes with both men at times but I ultimately love them both, up to and including their big mouths, which were entertaining even when discussing retirement. Heavyweight Nicolay Valuev is just frustrated, per BS. He’s trying to get a fight against Odlanier Solis for some title eliminator, but there’s a bunch of belt politics involved, and he may retire rather than wait around. You know how sometimes people say “but the belts are good for the fighters?” No they’re not. Not in the end…
The crowded junior welterweight ranks may get one thicker, since Humberto Soto is thinking of going there. Mainly I don’t care what division he fights in as he finally freaking fights somebody worth a real damn, instead of continuing to talk about fighting someone worth a damn then fighting some fringe contender instead. That’s OK, isn’t it? To fight someone worth a damn instead of just talking about it?…
Earlier this week I particpated in a rather extensive roundtable on what makes a pound-for-pound king. It’s interesting to hear all the different viewpoints, even if I came away thinking most people don’t ponder this topic very rigorously. But kudos to the dogged Chris Robinson for compiling it all…
ESPN’s Dan Rafael noticed something interesting the other day: Oscar De La Hoya, boxing promoter, isn’t promoting much boxing these days. His company, Golden Boy, certainly is. But Oscar himself isn’t around. Despite his questions, it ends up remaining a mystery why not, but it has the feel of a real mystery, not some trumped up b.s…
The latest rumors about who might replace Lennox Lewis on HBO’s broadcasting team include promoter Lou DiBella and trainer Naazim Richardson, although I can’t seem to find my original source of both tidbits. Both would be fine fits, but if they want to get that “perspective of the former boxer” in there, Campbell (already excellent in his guest spots) and Malignaggi (could be good if he could keep from talking so fast) may soon become available…
Of course, HBO might not fill the slot at all. Lewis said he was of the mind that budget cuts were partially to blame for why he was let go, and the aforementioned Kim mentioned to me that been hearing rumblings of HBO budget woes himself. This HBO budget woes thing the last couple years has legitimately resulted in the network passing up on good shows, so please already HBO get a handle on this — don’t overpay people for no reason, so you can use your money wisely for more shows and thus attract more viewers and and and…
Ah, but it’s nice that HBO won all those Sports Emmys for its boxing programming. I had a lot of problems with “Assault in the Ring,” but it had its redeeming aspects, so I guess I can’t quibble with it winning without having seen what it’s up against.
