The TQBR Hall of Excuses for Losses has had some hallowed entrants in recent years. We got “The cameraman knocked me out” (Travis Kauffman). There is “I had diarrhea” (Joshua Clottey, and, now, Ray Nahr). And then there’s the reigning best excuse, “My dad told me he loved me” (David Tua). Today, we have another inductee — “Hair gel got in my eye“:
Former champion Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. wants an immediate rematch to avenge the only loss of his career. On Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Vazquez was stopped in the twelfth round by Mexican veteran Jorge Arce. Vazquez’s co-promoter Felix “Tutico” Zabala says his boxer is not willing to take the fight anywhere, even in Mexico. He said Vazquez had vision problems after some kind of gel, possibly from Arce’s hair, got in his eye.
As with all inductees, this excuse might or might not be valid. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that it’s HILARIOUS.
A lot of stuff that might fall into Quick Jabs this week has already been covered via other blog entries that you should check out if you haven’t yet (not to mention Scott Kraus’ thought-provoking item just below this one), so the Quick Jabbing this week will be short.
Quick Jabs
We start with a fast rundown of the weekend schedule, outside the Showtime main event Saturday and today’s British bout that we’ve already covered: On ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights this evening is an interesting crossroads bout between junior welterweights Julio Diaz and Kendall Holt, two fighters I like and who have had up-and-down careers. Due to when the cards begin tonight time-wise, you should be able to catch that show and the ShoBox prospect-oriented card, which features two potentially competitive bouts — first, for lightweight Sharif Bogere (Raymundo Beltran) and second, for featherweight Gary Russell Jr. (Dat Nguyen), with a third less-competitive-seeming bout featuring arguably the most talented American heavyweight, Seth Mitchell. I don’t know why Golden Boy is counterprogramming itself and its prospects on ShoBox with a TeleFutura show, but it is, and that show doesn’t matter. Then, Saturday, Fox Deportes airs Jorge’s brother Francisco trying for the millionth time to win a title, this time against Hugo Ruiz’ interim bantamweight strap. Also Saturday, bantamweight Cristian Mijares takes a replacement opponent, and the “not as fat as usual twice in a row” heavyweight Chris Arreola is in action on the untelevised Showtime undercard, taking a reasonable bout with Nagy Aguilera as he works himself back into contention…
I’m just about sick of talking about Manny Pacquiao this week, but whenever there’s a fight featuring the dude (or, back when Floyd Mayweather fight, that dude) there’s inevitably a lot to news energy going that way. That means there’s much to discuss So, for starters, Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum says he expects the Shane Mosley fight to do more than 1.3 million pay-per-view buys, which sounds like a viable figure and would be the most Pacquiao ever did. We’ll examine that figure in-depth when it’s finalized, but whatever the reasons for the figure, 1.3 million-plus is pretty obviously a success…
I simply don’t see how Arum loses his fight with Golden Boy to line up a welter catchweight bout for Pacquiao with Juan Manuel Marquez. Pacquiao is too big a financial engine for Golden Boy to be able to take advantage of its matching rights. Arum offered a $10 million rematch clause to Marquez if he wins, which is something Golden Boy can’t do for any of its current fighters without some 100 percent assurance of a Marquez loss, or else it’d be breaking its own back. And if Golden Boy gets ultra-ballsy and matches that, Arum will be able to counter with yet more financial largesse, because Pacquiao is the biggest active cash machine in boxing…
On NPR, Frank Deford asks, “Pacman: Last of the Great Boxers?” To which I answer, “No, stupid.” They’ve said that kind of thing about everyone since Jack Dempsey. If you don’t understand boxing and you’re still one of the people out there swooping in occasionally to declare the sport dead, you really, sincerely, honestly need to stop living in the past and STFU…
Mosley must’ve decided his reputation wasn’t in enough of a ditch following his putrid outing against Pacquiao, so he decided to dig a little deeper by implying that Pacquiao was on performance enhancing drugs. Coming from Mosley, who was one of the athletes caught up in the BALCO scandal, it goes one layer deeper than the usual ignorant assertion that seems so popular with boxers out there, including, after Mosley spouted off, Ishe Smith. I always hesitate to imply motives in absence of them, but the degree to which professional boxers seem so eager to accuse Pacquiao of being on some kind of illicit juice is such that I think jealousy has to be considered. Also, Mosley’s team says he had blisters on his feet for the fight. Didn’t keep him from running away, though, did it? It’s sad that Mosley’s career, once something to celebrate, is ending in multi-disgrace…
All signs point to Antonio Margarito’s boxing career being done, with his eye unable to heal from the beating Paquiao gave him last year. Again: I do not wish severe physical harm upon anyone. But I absolutely can be pleased that Margarito, who got caught with loaded gloves in 2009, probably won’t fight again — even if I wish he hadn’t gotten such a nice paycheck post-cheating…
Light heavyweight Bernard Hopkins’ racial remarks about Donovan McNabb are the kind of thing that keep me from being a real fan of his. I derive some enjoyment from the notion that he’s only going after McNabb cuz McNabb wouldn’t be his friend. McNabb’s response is appropriate. Also, someday, I hope boxing people get over this notion that touching gloves with your opponent is a “sign of submission,” as Hopkins asserted about Mosley. Mosley touched gloves with Margarito all fight long as he was blasting the hell out of him all over the ring. It doesn’t mean anything, most of the time, other than an exhibition of sportsmanship…
Power couple break-up! Wladimir Klitschko-Hayden Panettiere was fun while it lasted, complete with awkward questions about how such a tiny girl could got it on with the giant heavyweight champion of the world, and that actual dwarf hanging around, and the silly clothes…
Did you know I was quoted as an “expert” in Ring Magazine’s July issue, talking about the aforementioned Klitschko and his fight with David Haye, alongside real experts like Al Bernstein and Steve Farhood? You should go pick up the issue. And that’s not the only reason. TQBR’s Mike Coppinger also makes an appearance, as he frequently does, this time writing a feature on featherweight prospect Javier Fortuna…
Welterweight Victor Ortiz has come a long, long way from the depths he found himself in following his loss to Marcos Maidana. Now, victorious over Andre Berto, Kansas’ governor named a day after him. The Ortiz story is one of the most interesting in boxing right now…
It’s too bad that the Paquiao-Mosley spotlight sucked up so much energy that the BWAA awards got virtually no press attention, and odd, given all the press that was there. The consensus Fighter of the Year, Sergio Martinez, would have benefited from the exposure, which the middleweight champ well deserves. Unfortunately, wearing this crazy purple costume gets him attention for the wrong reasons (Just teasing, Sergio. We love you no matter what you wear, buddy. Photo credit — Amir Khan’s PR team, with Khan obviously being the fellow standing next to Martinez):
