That’s Saul Alvarez’ girlfriend, TV reporter Marisol Gonzalez, maybe the new queen of boxing WAGs. I was all right with Alvarez before, but now I COMPLETELY HATE HIM.
Quick Jabs, anyone?
Quick Jabs
For the first time in his life, Floyd Mayweather has apologized for something. That rant of his caught him some serious hell, more than anything he’s ever done, and call me cynical but I have to think he was worried about sponsors like AT&T and Reebok abandoning ship. Even then, I’m glad he apologized. It’s the right move. One thing that bothers me about it, though, is that he only addressed the racist nature of his remarks. Calling someone a “faggot,” I guess, doesn’t warrant a specific apology. In America, too many people still consider being a homophobe a lesser sin than being a racist, as if there was some difference in hateful stereotyping of an entire class of people. The other part of his apology that annoyed me is that he’s still talking about beating Pacquiao, but I don’t see no name signed on the dotted line, and he’s had two chances to put it there…
Condolences to promoter Bob Arum for the death of his son…
Everyone’s sick of talking about Antonio Margarito, his loaded wraps and whether he should have been licensed to fight Pacquiao, so I’ll keep this short. Below is a video of trainer Freddie Roach, along with this link, which collectively add up to Roach saying Margarito should have been banned for life; that what he did was attempted murder; and that he doesn’t believe Margarito’s claim that he didn’t know about the bad wraps. To date, I haven’t heard anyone call him a “whiner,” “moralist,” or “sanctimonious crybaby.” (h/t friend of the site the legend.) Next, here’s reporter Kevin Iole declaring that he’s spoken to several sparring partners of Margarito — later, he said they made the claims off the record — who are convinced he loaded his gloves, which amounts to yet more evidence that the Shane Mosley fight wasn’t a one-time mistake. Next, here’s Joe Roche of 411Mania offering an eloquent defense of his right to report on Pacquiao-Margarito despite his objection to the fight, and turning down that opportunity. And finally, here are two pieces about affiliated parties regarding why they allowed Pacquiao-Margarito to go forward.
Friend of the site and contributor Alex McClintock recently wrote a good piece for Ring’s website about the media’s role of late in fostering animosity between Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank Promotions, and BoxingScene’s Jake Donovan responded here. Donovan’s reply is not of the hysterical variety — I can tell you from my interactions with the man that I think he’s a reasonable chap, and independent of that, he does great work. But I thought his response warranted a response. The major gist of his complaint is that Ring’s site, by publishing Ring owner/GBP president Oscar De La Hoya’s criticism of Top Rank and its fighters, has had its own role in fostering that animosity. Donovan is totally right. I made much the same point in the past. However, I think he missed the idea of that particular piece: It was narrowly focused on the most recent set of negotiations. I’m not of the view that McClintock or Ring should have had to revisit the publication’s own role at an earlier moment in time that the piece didn’t discuss or examine. Nor am I of the mind that Ring has no right to report on the journalism of other publications because of its own sins, not that Donovan said that explicitly. Any number of major publications — like my hometown Washington Post — have reporters devoted to covering the media industry and columnists devoted to critiquing it, and no one would argue that Ring or The Washington Post are perfect. (A more minor quibble. I think Donovan also missed another idea of the piece: It wasn’t that BoxingScene or anyone else didn’t have the right to quote anything a promoter said on the record. The question was whether a publication SHOULD quote EVERYTHING a promoter says on the record, or whether the publication should exercise discretion on when and how it does so)…
Not to make this the Alex McClintock edition of Quick Jabs, but he figures into this one, too. There’s been a wide array of reporting about Mikkel Kessler dropping out of Showtime’s super middleweight tournament. First, Kessler announced that he’d had the eye injury for a while, but should be back next year. But Michael Marley, his former publicist, reported that Kessler’s career is, in actuality, most likely over. Then came a report at The Boxing Truth about how Kessler was guaranteed a winner at the shot of the Super Six, and Carl Froch said that Kessler will retain a form of the title he vacated where he’ll be guaranteed a shot at whoever has it when Kessler gets healthy. Finally came Iole’s column claiming skepticism of the injury altogether, which he explained to me here as related to Kessler skipping ahead to the winner of the tournament. It’s impossible to know what’s true under the circumstances. But another friend of the site/contributor, Carlos Acevedo, raised a valid point about whether Iole should have raised the allegation against Kessler sans evidence. Alex made his own valid counterpoint about whether Iole, as a columnist-slash-reporter, is entitled to express his view on the matter. I’m still not sure where I come down on it. I see why Iole would be skeptical based on the reasons he cites, but I’m not thinking I would’ve stated my case so strongly as he did since I’m no doctor…
For my foreign friends who don’t get to see Showtime’s Fight Camp 360 documentary series about the Super Six, I attach it below. The episode is rich with little touches that reveal character, like Andre Ward watching a replay of his bout and slightly smiling at what Showtime’s commentators said about him, or Froch’s lady laughing way too loud. I honestly think the series has, at this point, eclipsed HBO’s wonderful 24/7. If you aren’t watching Fight Camp 360, you’re missing out.
Speaking of well-done documentaries, Sundance has been airing the film “Kassim the Dream,” about junior middleweight Kassim Ouma. I have some minor quibbles — like the fake commentary on some of his fights earlier in the film — but it has some powerful moments where Ouma talks about his past as a child soldier in Uganda, and in other spots, too. I highly recommend it…
According to Roach, light heavyweight Chad Dawson’s team has sought him out to train him for his next bout. Roach is great, but it’s a bad idea. Eddie Mustafa Muhammad has done well with Dawson, but he’s the 26th trainer or so for Dawson in his career and at some juncture he just needs a stable team…
Hey, maybe if Mayweather loses his AT&T sponsorship, junior middleweight Sergio Mora and junior welterweight Victor Ortiz can step their game up. The pair is already doing an AT&T spot in advance of their appearances on a Sept. 18 pay-per-view, and given some of the criticisms of the card, they’ll probably be seen by more folk in those AT&T commercials than by people who buy the PPV. But it’s great to see any boxers “cross over” like that, all sarcasm aside. Say what you will about Golden Boy, but they’ve shown a knack for getting corporate sponsors involved…
The boxing + politics beat only I seem to care about: a candidate wisely airs a boxing-themed ad about an opponent who was severely physically beaten last year while intervening in a domestic dispute; and an extended, humorous boxing gag by Wonkette about California senator Barbara Boxer…
It was a bad weekend of scoring for some judges working a card in Mexico. Two different results had to be altered. Is it any wonder we have so many complaints about boxing judging? Many judges can’t even fill out their cards right…
I’ve been remiss in my weekend preview duties, and we’ll go over what I missed at some point in the next couple days. But Saturday’s the biggest day on the slate anyway, and here’s what we’ve got. There’s a middleweight title bout between Felix Sturm and Giovanni Lorenzo that airs on ESPN3.com at 3:30 p.m. ET. It’s an intriguing bout — Sturm is the superior technician, but Lorenzo has some power and held up very well against Sebastian Sylvester in his first title challenge. Later tonight, on Fox Sports en Espanol, junior lightweight Jorge Solis and junior flyweight Omar Nino defend their belts in somewhat token defenses. Rocky Martinez defends his own junior lightweight belt against Ricky Burns in a somewhat more competitive bout. Borderline top-10 welterweights Jan Zaveck and Rafal Jackiewicz engage in a rematch of their first, close fight. And flyweight Julio Cesar Miranda and junior flyweight Luis Lazarte defend their title straps in yet more token defenses…
Lastly, here’s a video of former heavyweight Andrew “The Foul Pole” Golota participating in Poland’s version of Dancing With the Stars. The video doesn’t show it, but immediately afterward, he punched her square in the crotch. (Just having some fun, Andrew. You cut a nice rug, and where did all that hair on your head come from?)
