Book it now: We have our 2011 Unintentionally Funny Moment in Boxing Award winner already with the above video. Nothing else could possibly compare. Not in the “universe” or “galaxy” could there be such a “star” candidate for the award as that clip. Surprisingly, the clip is loaded up with wild hyperbole, too. And bad production values. And everything wrong. It’s truly awful, but it’s also so bad you can’t stop watching it.
So let’s talk about this “Star Power” welterweight fight and related things.
- Between Floyd Mayweather, Jr. venting his persecution complex when he’s not being strangely placid and Victor Ortiz alternating between his weird aww-shucks thing and unintimidating tough-guy thing (Vic: you don’t get toughness points by saying you were “going to smack” Floyd), this fight is going to be marked by some of the most awkward trash talk ever, if it keeps up like this. It’s like two teenagers kissing for the first time. HBO 24/7 starts Aug. 27, y’all.
- When Mayweather vented his persecution complex at the first news conference, he claimed — falsely — that he never said Manny Pacquiao was on steroids. Several news outlets reported this very matter of fact. But when someone is flat out lying, you really should make a point of calling them on it in the story. A simple fact check would have been a good thing.
- Mayweather’s in hot water with yet another alleged assault. Le sigh. And he tried to avoid giving a deposition in the Pacquiao lawsuit, but no luck.
- HBO is reportedly bringing to bear all of Time Warner’s assets for Mayweather-Ortiz, although it’s not clear what the specifics of that are. Top Rank’s Bob Arum said that HBO is doing the same in a bid to win back Pacquiao’s next fight from Showtime and CBS, against Juan Manuel Marquez. This is potentially a pretty big development, or it could be an incremental gain like with the Showtime/CBS deal — the specifics matter here.
Now, on to some non-Floyd related Quick Jabs, like a preview of the rest of the weekend’s schedule, some family feuds healing up and more.
Quick Jabs
Outside of the weekend’s big heavyweight fight, which we’ve previewed to a ridiculous degree, there isn’t much, but the Friday Night Fights main event on ESPN2 is pretty good. Mark Melligen and Sebastian Lujan are two welterweights on the edge of the top 10, and both fight in pleasing styles, so we could get a slugfest with a touch of meaning. On TeleFutura tonight, Golden Boy rolls out a couple of its blue chip prospects, junior welterweight Frankie Gomez and junior featherweight Randy Caballero. Then, Saturday, new fan favorite flyweight Hernan Marquez fights on Fox Sports Net/Fox Deportes against Edrin Dapudong. Already today, flyweight champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam has scored a unanimous decision win over Takuya Kogawa. Hopefully Edgar Sosa — also fighting this weekend — is truly up for Pong next, since it’s time he fought a legit opponent…
I hate to take issue with an old “Ring Theory” spar mate, but this was a bit too soon for my tastes…
Because I’m fond of Jermain Taylor, I really don’t want him to return to the ring. I look at it like I do Juan Diaz’ aborted return — yeah, he might have some boxing left, but it’s probably not enough to beat anyone of real quality. Taylor’s situation is also more dangerous because of how often he was so savagely knocked out. And it’s especially strange that he’s apparently wanting to make his return at middleweight, since it wasn’t so long ago that he claimed he couldn’t make middleweight anymore…
If the Mayweather-Ortiz trash talk is marked by a particular awkwardness, the Brandon Rios-Urbana Antillon trash talk for their lightweight clash is marked by a good deal of line-crossing. First, Rios called Antillon a “faggot.” Then, this past week, Antillon said Rios’ wife has the testicles in their family, ticking off Rios. As if this fight wasn’t already so exciting on paper, they now have intense hatred for one another. It should be a good one. (Oh, and Rios’ trainer Robert Garcia is a particpant in a fairly extended family feud, but there was a bit of a thaw in it this week. Good news. I hate to see boxing families feuding with one another, for some reason.)…
If the Mayweather-Ortiz and Rios-Antillon trash talk has a weird sort of flawed appeal, there is absolutely nothing, and I mean nothing, wrong with welterweight Paulie Malignaggi trash talking Devon Alexander hilariously while swimming in the ocean in Italy. Enjoy the below comedy.
Mike Tyson remarried his wife. Maybe this dude finally is settling down…
Junior middleweight Saul Alvarez’ recent fight was watched by 30 million people in Mexico. That’s nearly as good an audience as anything gets down there. Based on recent U.S. TV ratings, it might seem Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. was the more popular fighter. But when you take into account Mexico, Saul is probably winning the overall race…
Not that we haven’t covered the whole Wladimir Klitschko-David Haye heavyweight bout enough, but the idea that British boxing regulators were thinking of taking disciplinary action against Haye over this joke is ludicrous. I’m not saying that people shouldn’t have to face consequences for things they say. But I prefer the American way: market pressures. There’s no need for any government to get involved over a joke like that, or any joke I can imagine.
