It's nearly time for the big fight here on Saturday evening. Let's do some deck-clearing from the past week that isn't Manny Pacquiao vs. Brandon Rios. Above, there's Corey Erdman with a feature where R.A. The Rugged Man renders judgment on the rap skills of Adrien Broner and Danny Garcia. It's amusing. It's not the only amusing video herein.
Quick Jabs
Thomas Hauser has a terrific story here on what went wrong in the Mike Perez-Magomed Abdusalamov bout. I'm not complaining about the piece one bit, but @Tabaschritar on Twitter asked why an ambulance trip for Mago would've delayed the start of the main event, and I can't claim to understand that one part. New York could be facing a lawsuit from Mago's wife over the handling of the situation. There was a brief ray of hope in Mago's condition when he was out of his medically induced coma, but then he was put back under when his condition worsened. In another piece, Alec Kohut picks a bone with the point of view offered by our Alex McClintock and others on the whole Mago situation. I ain't mad at Kohut — I like Alec — but I differ very much with his premise. Unless he's a mind reader, he doesn't know who really cares and who doesn't. Or, perhaps, he's getting into a broader discussion about egoism and how nobody who does anything aimed at being "moral" is doing anything other than making themselves feel better, and that's a much longer discussion. I can only speak for myself here. I love boxing, but it is not a relationship where I embrace all of its flaws. Sometimes, boxing turns my stomach, and this Mago situation is one of them. I understand there's danger in the sport, but there is danger in so many things in life that we appreciate anyway. I don't crave the kind of danger where I watch a fighter dance with death or permanent injury in a bout. I care when it happens; I don't want to see anyone hurt like Mago was. I understand grave or fatal injury as a consequence of the sport sometimes, but where the risk of that scenario can be minimized, I care to see it minimized, and will campaign to the best of my capabilities to see it minimized…
This would be an example, though, where I've observed none of the kinds of warning signs or problematic decisions we saw with Mago or Frankie Leal — the two brain surgeries Jose Carmona endured after being stopped by Jorge Arce, whom many (myself included) wish had stayed retired for his own health. I have not watched the fight yet myself, but I've seen no complaints about the stoppage being too late or anything. Fortunately, and perhaps because the fight was stopped appropriately, Carmona's life doesn't appear to be at risk. His career, though, could and perhaps should be over. It would be harder to stomach if more than his career was up for question. Along the same lines as Arce, neither Jeff Lacy nor Jermain Taylor need to return to the ring. Both are anyway. "World Fighting Championships" is behind the Lacy return. Golden Boy Promotions is behind the Taylor return. Neither should be…
Keeping it real depressing like for one item longer: ESPN's "Outside the Lines" will examine the life and death (by gunshot) of Hector "Macho" Camacho at 8 a.m. Sunday ET on ESPN2 and 9 a.m. on ESPNEWS. OTL does its share of top journalism, so I'd expect the feature to be worth your while…
Remember how a while back Floyd Mayweather kept saying Top Rank only cared to float the possibility of a fight with Manny Pacquiao to sell whatever Pacquiao's latest bout was? To be honest, I thought both sides played that game, but that Top Rank's Bob Arum this week was discussing Mayweather-Pacquiao at all this late in the game when everyone knows the window is closed for the maximum monetary potential of that fight is enough to damage some of Top Rank's claims of ever having wanted to make the bout. No, kids, Mayweather-Pacquiao won't happen…
Super middleweight champion Andre Ward, recently out of the promoter feud muck, is right back in it again. This will not help his cause of fighting more frequently, since he's an injury risk already and a promoter feud will only slow him up. That, in turn, will hurt his chances of becoming the pay-per-view attraction he wants to become. The man Ward beat two fights ago, light heavyweight Chad Dawson, is now a promotional free agent, although I'm not sure he needs to be. Gary Shaw got him on TV more than many fans thought he deserved to be under terms that were generous. Maybe a different promoter can build him into the grassroots attraction Shaw never could, but as much as I was more OK with Dawson than most, he doesn't exactly inspire that kind of grassroots passion…
David Haye can't beat the injury bug, and now might have to retire. If he does, we'll be left wondering what more he might have accomplished if he hadn't been so inactive. A mouthy, quick, powerful and chinny heavyweight is a fun heavyweight, and he did get some work done at 201+, although his biggest career achievements were at cruiserweight, where he became lineal champion. The showing against heavyweight champ Wlad Klitschko was a disappointment, but he could've made some noise at the sub-Klitschko level for as long as he could still fight at a top level. Alas, his body has repeatedly betrayed him…
Lou DiBella seems to simultaneously believe that it's ludicrous to count out middleweight champion Sergio Martinez and to expect him to face his top contender, Gennady Golovkin. An unimpressive interview, Mr. DiBella…
It hasn't been a stellar week for objective boxing journalism, exactly, but what week is? Biased, one-sided reports are the norm rather than the exception, which is part of why I've shirked the kind of regular critiques of the boxing media I once offered; you should just go ahead and assume that it's all pretty bad, and I'll save my breath for egregious incidents. This week, however, stood out. First we had Ray Markarian carrying one of Ward's belts to the ring. Then we had Elie Seckbach using his mighty camera to avenge the wrongs done against the stable of trainer Robert Garcia. Then we had Radio Rahim posting the wholly unnecessary three-plus minutes of praise for Top Rank's food and such. I've met Elie and find him friendly. I don't know the other two men and have nothing against them personally. There's not much to learn from any of this other than "Don't forget the boxing media is loaded up with agendas," but at least the Radio Raheem clip is kinda funny, and Elie's antics were also humorous.
