(Pacquiao left, Margarito right; credit: Chris Farina, Top Rank)
There’s a not-as-cut-as-usual-looking Manny Pacquiao, weighing in yesterday at a slight 144.6 to Antonio Margarito’s 150. It’s not surprising that Pacquiao would come in under 150; it’s surprising how far. He’s emphasizing his speed, but I wonder if that’s too bad a starting point for him. We’ll find out soon enough.
That and some other Pacquiao-Margarito leftovers consume the bulk of this edition of Quick Jabs, because the fight has dominated boxing’s headlines, good and bad.
Quick Jabs
I’m not sure how many versions of the apology we’ve heard from the Margarito camp about the whole Parkinson’s gag. 1. We didn’t know he Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach had Parkinson’s. (Surely they did.) 2. Robert Garcia: I don’t do that kind of thing. (He was the person who pointed to Brandon Rios doing the shaky imitation.) 3. Margarito: The video was edited to make it look like I was making fun of Roach. (Actually, the video was edited to make it look like you WEREN’T making fun of Roach. Et cetera et cetera. I guess the main thing is that Roach forgave them, but there’s a sense that the true character of this crew was revealed by all this — that when busted, Margarito shifts blame and claims not to know things…
Disgraced trainer Javier Capetillo has spoken out after a long silence. I don’t believe a thing he says, but as always, I’d rather hear from someone than not. So, kudos to Doug Fischer for scoring the interview, which you can read here…
Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum says Shane Mosley is a promotional free agent and could be Pacquiao’s next opponent. Mosley has fought under Golden Boy, where he’s a partner. Golden Boy’s boss, Richard Schaefer, won’t comment. The quickly-declining Mosley wouldn’t be near the top of my list for future Pacquiao opponents, but Mosley is a name so don’t be surprised if this happens (and don’t be surprised if it’s just another Golden Boy partner threatening to leave only to stay)…
Nelly is performing tonight. Don’t know why. Mexican fighter vs. Filipino fighter — what kind of audience do you think will be there? A bunch of Nelly fans?…
Pacquiao said tonight won’t be his last fight…
The aforementioned Parkinson’s gag video is just the latest in what has been a series of actions that never would happen in the kind of journalism I practice by day, and probably not anywhere but boxing journalism. Fanhouse wouldn’t have edited, then removed, the video of a news-making event, i.e., Margarito’s camp mocking Roach. Dan Rafael wouldn’t have flatly stated Kelly Pavlik had a drinking problem without presenting evidence or citing sources. Thomas Hauser wouldn’t have been able to quote people anonymously and without evidence alleging illegal behavior by HBO. Steve Kim would’ve been fired for mocking Mosley’s divorce after Mosley approached him with a correction request. A member of Maxboxing’s staff wouldn’t be allowed to be listed as a member of “Team Margarito” in a news release. Bernard Fernandez wouldn’t have been allowed to boycott Pacquiao-Margarito; although, he’s more columnist than reporter, so maybe he would’ve — but most boxing reporters are also columnists who express their opinions constantly anyway, something also wouldn’t happen in most other lines of reporting. These are just incidents from the last few weeks, really, because they are legion. Increasingly, it’s clear that there ARE no journalistic standards in boxing journalism, and those (like myself) who strive to enforce them are beating an imaginary horse. I’ll continue to critique boxing journalism, though. Somebody’s gotta…
And, by the way, as I continue to dabble in boxing journalism myself, I’m sure I’ll make my own mistakes. I’m still unclear on what the best course of action was when Paul Williams’ trainer George Peterson told me not to write about sparring when I visited their camp. There’s no parallel I can think of where I witnessed something with my own eyes in the day job and was asked not to write about it. I honored the request, and was assured by a couple boxing journalists that this wasn’t out of the ordinary. But something that happens a lot in my boxing reporting experience is that events transpire in a way that catch me off guard, so I’m not prepared for them. It’s a wacky world, boxing journalism. Nobody’s perfect. All of the people I critiqued above — all of them have at least some value and do good work. Their job is not easy…
You know the video of that middleweight bout between Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam and Avtandil Khurtsidze? The Boxing Bulletin posted the footage. I’ve been too busy writing about Pacquiao-Margarito to get to it yet, but I will soon enough…
More online boxing: BoxingChannel.com has big plans…
Saul Alvarez will fight welterweight Lovemore N’Dou Dec. 4, and HBO Latino will air it. Once again, if you want the full range of boxing offerings in the United States, you need access to Spanish-language networks…
Super middleweight prospect Edwin Rodriguez is sparring with Carl Froch in advance of his fight with Arthur Abraham, per a news release. Smart on both sides…
Praise be Ricardo Lois for always giving the Nielsen ratings of boxing matches.
Round And Round
The Juan Manuel Lopez Ducking Chronicles feature the featherweight asking “Who is he?” of Celestino Caballero. JuanMa, you see, only wants big names. Big names like… Olivier Lontchi? Sergio Manuel Medina? Other people Lopez has fought since Caballero called him out?
David Tua’s team says that a fight with heavyweight Evander Holyfield is possible for 2011. I’m usually asking for a fast-forward button, but this one requires a freeze frame.
Another heavyweight bout coming up: Ruslan Chagaev gets back into action against Travis Walker Nov. 19.
(Round and Round source: BoxingScene)
