Mr. Tyrone Harris (left) is back on the teevee tonight, coming off his upset knockout win over lightweight prospect Marvin Quintero (right) in 2009. His team says Harris finally found his focus, so let’s see if it carries over on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights this evening when he takes on another 23-year-old, power punching Ji Hoon Kim. Other than the Pinoy Power/Latin Fury pay-per-view, it’s about the only thing happening over the next few days, although the next episode of Showtime’s documentary series on its Super Six tournament debuts Monday night, too.
That leaves us with the Quick Jabs in the headline, plus others besides. Like the ongoing saga of the boxing kangaroo flag, the latest news of trouble for Antonio Margarito, Evander Holyfield and Jorge Barrios, what Manny Pacquiao and Sen. Dianne Feinstein have to do with one another and all sorts of other fights that are in the works. And more.
Quick Jabs
It’s a news headline when mouthy super middleight Edison Miranda DOESN’T trash talk someone, and he’s saying really nice things about Lucian Bute in advance of their April fight. Is this him turning over a new leaf? Is it him catching hell for talking big and then getting knocked out? Don’t get me wrong, sportsmanship is wonderful, but I want the old hilarious trashtalking “Pantera” back…
If you’ve been paying attention, Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley and/or their representatives have begun making their cases for why they’ll win their welterweight showdown against one another on May 1, and while I don’t usually get into that kind of thing this far out, it’s pretty interesting. Per BoxingScene (note the usual warning on clicking on BoxingScene links) Mosley makes the case that he’s stronger, which I agree with; he makes the case that he’s faster, which I don’t agree with. Fast enough to catch Mayweather, perhaps, but not faster. He also reminds how he imitated Mayweather for Oscar De La Hoya’s camp before their 2007 fight, saying he knows Mayweather’s tendencies. Meanwhile, Roger Mayweather, Floyd’s uncle/trainer, makes the case that Mayweather’s smarter, which I agree with; and he makes the case that Mosley has trouble with technical boxers and has trouble adjusting, which I kind of agree with. Mosley did have trouble with Vernon Forrest and Winky Wright, but he did beat De La Hoya, and all of those people were bigger than him. I also wonder if Nazim Richardson will help him with the adjustment problem…
More importantly, Mayweather and rapper Rick Ross have “squashed” their “beef.” I’ve heard that terminology a million times, but I didn’t realize how gross it sounded until just now…
It’s probably all kinds of tempest in a teapot, but really, what’s not to like about Australia continuing to be able to display its big old boxing kangaroo flag in the Olympic village? Oh, you can say the design sucks or whatever, but I think the world is a better place when boxing kangaroos are displayed prominently…
Junior middleweight Alexander Abraham, the brother of Arthur, is retiring from the sport. I guess that means he’ll end up being most famous for the punch he allegedly threw at Miranda as he recovered from the KO Arthur delivered in their rematch. I kid. He said he was having trouble with his brain parts, and it’s always a good idea to retire if that’s the case. Meanwhile, Jaidon Codrington — last seen studying to be an accountant — says he’ll be returning to the sport, but as a light heavyweight. I can’t endorse this, given how shot Codrington looked in his last fight. Stick to the accountant gig, Jaidon, while you still have the brainpower left to do it…
Is it possible that everyone who thinks Roy Jones-Bernard Hopkins II will bomb — a light heavyweight rematch well past its expiration date — is wrong? Doug Fischer makes an intelligent, reporting-based case that it won’t. I remain skeptical that it’ll do much business, but I’m less skeptical after reading about the 100 media members that showed up to their mock debate to promote the fight…
According to Antonio Margarito’s expected March 13 opponent, Carson Jones, the state of Texas has made the right call for once and turned down a license for the big cheating welterweight. Whatever its reason for doing so, I’m glad Texas has backed away from this, and I’m glad about the strong position taken by the Association of Boxing Commissions that Margarito should do more than a year’s time away from the sport for trying to load his gloves…
Boxers Behaving Poorly (notice how I evade the copyright on that by David P. Greisman), part 1: Jorge Barrios’ toxicology report came back clean, so now the Argentian lightweight only has to deal with charges like manslaughter, hit and run, etc. etc. Part 2: Heavyweight Evander Holyfield’s wife has taken out a protective order saying he punched her for insufficiently loving God, and by the way, he’s done it before — but defended his “character.” As with all this stuff, these are just charges, and a protective order has an even lower bar of evidence, but both stories are just too weird not to pass along…
Rich Marotta’s radio show is ending its run. I wasn’t a listener — I tend not to get my boxing info from the radio; just one of those things — but I know a lot of people were. The good news is that it’s because Marotta will be too busy calling all those Fox Sports Net cards, and both the cards and Marotti have been pretty good so far. Better than Gus Johnson, whom I was willing to give a chance on Showtime but who has failed to impress me. (Sorry, Gus. You can argue that Mayweather is better than Pacquiao, as you did this past weekend, but the mere fact that Mayweather is undefeated isn’t good enough. Heavyweight Nicolay Valuev was undefeated for longer than Mayweather, and I doubt anyone would make the case Valuev was better than either Mayweather or Pacquiao)…
On Valentine’s Day, Pacquiao is doing a Valentine’s Day “fan day” in L.A., where he won’t be doing a kissing booth (so far as I know) but will be getting a “plaque of commendation” from California Democratic Sen. Feinstein. It’s rare when politics and boxing overlap, and rarer still when my two lives — intelligence reporter, boxing blogger — overlap, but I got a kick out of this because I talk to the senator fairly frequently, since she’s the chairwoman of the Intelligence Committee…
The German boxing promoting giant Sauerland, as part of its television deal with ARD, is requiring strict drug tests of boxers, including — if past practices of the NADA are taken into account — random blood withdrawals. I still honestly have doubts about the sincerity of Mayweather’s push for such testing in the collapsed Pacquiao fight as a “clean up the sport” bid, but I’ll give him credit either way: His doing that has put the issue of steroids in boxing on the frontburner in ways it wasn’t before, and maybe it will result in positive change…
It being the 20-year anniversary of James “Buster” Douglas’ upset knockout of Mike Tyson, you can find upset lists aplenty on the Internet this week. It’s a good history lesson. Jeremy Schapp also had a good take…
Man alive, does the WBC love handing out trinkets. I wonder how much they charge Miss WBC Russia in sanctioning fees. At any rate, I can’t say I was disappointed to look at the results of the Miss WBC competition from 2009. Behold Miss WBC Oksana Semenisina. Like the proverbial stopped clock, even the WBC gets things right every now and then.
Round And Round
With Amir Khan-Juan Manuel Marquez falling through for May 15, Khan-Paulie Malignaggi now looks like the likelier option for the two junior welterweights. Fine by me. As for Malignaggi’s previously discussed dance partner, welterweight Andre Berto, he’s now looking at fighting Carlos Quintana — a fight I heartily endorse — or Kendall Holt (what’s the preoccupation with junior welters, Andre?).
Paul Williams has a probable date, May 8, but he still doesn’t have a specific opponent. Kermit Cintron, Luis Collazo and James De La Rosa are all in the running at welter, and I’m interested in them in that order. Williams has maintained a pretty grueling schedule, and Cintron and Collazo are live bodies in particular; De La Rosa is more of an unknown. I’m also down with him getting in the mix at welter. Real down with it. Williams against Mosley, Mayweather or Pacquiao is a better fight to me than Williams-Kelly Pavlik at middleweight, and I know that’s blasphemy — I just have real doubts about his ability to handle middleweight power, especially big middleweight power like Pavlik’s. He says he’s most comfortable at 147, and I’m in favor of boxers being able to fight at the weight where they’re most comfortable.
If you’re thinking bantamweight Fernando Montiel will fight the winner of Eric Morel-Gerry Penalosa or Nonito Donaire next, you should know that Montiel is looking at Hozumi Hasegawa, who himself is looking at divisions to the north. It’s an unrequited love triangle.
Everyone wants to beat up Anthony Mundine this week, no matter what division they’re in, and especially if they’re from Australia. Lovemore Ndou, a welterweight, does. Danny Green, a cruiserweight, does, in what would be a rematch. (And relatedly, Sakio Bika, a super middleweight, wants a piece of Green.) We already knew Michael Katsidis, a lightweight, does. Hand it to Mundine — he’s made himself popular, in a perverse kind of way. Now if only he’d fight somebody.
Don King wants to put on a March 19 cruiserweight-centric show headlined by Steve Cunningham-Matt Godfrey. I love the idea. The cruisers remain an interesting division to me, and anything that bolsters the 200-pounders is good news. The show would be on DonKingTV.com, too, or else maybe Fox Sports Net. Also March 19, ESPN2 will be broadcasting Deandre Latimore-Sechew Powell II at junior middleweight.
With Margarito off the Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey undercard March 13, the main headlining undercard bout will be a lightweight fight between Humberto Soto and David Diaz. I don’t doubt it’ll be a decent TV scrap, but I’m getting tired of Soto being presented to us as a future opponent for so-and-so only to fight someone else. And it’s not quite up to snuff for an undercard fight on a pay-per-view of that magnitude.
Jorge Linares might fight Carlos Hernandez in March in Venezuela at lightweight. Strikes me as a stiff test of Linares at lightweight — he’s reportedly had trouble making 130 pounds — but I’m not sure what’s in it for Hernandez, who probably ought to be hanging up the gloves.
John Duddy-Jimmy Lange may be a go for the June 12 Miguel Cotto-Yuri Foreman undercard; both fights are junior middleweight bouts. Duddy and Lange are both popular regional white attractions (Duddy NYC, Lange D.C.) who typically fight in a fan friendly fashion but aren’t considered to have real big futures, so I don’t see why not. Just so long as it’s not the main undercard fight, a la Soto-Diaz.
(Round and Round sources: Fightnews; BoxingScene; ESPN)
