Tomato Cans: St. Patty's Day Edition

by SC on Mar 17, 2008 1:59 AM EDT in News

Photo © Ed Mulholland

Happy Amateur Night, everyone!

The scoring for Manny Pacquiao's win over Juan Manuel Marquez is going to be hotly debated for a long time, I reckon. And it seems like there are a lot of people favoring Marquez. Both myself and my BLH colleague Kevin Gonzalez scored it for Marquez (114-113 for me, 115-112 for Kevin), as did Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole (115-112), ESPN.com (114-113), and Boxing Scene's Cliff Rold (115-112).
It's not going to happen any time soon, and frankly by the time it could, Marquez is going to be a pretty old man, so I'm not getting myself excited for or even too interested in a third fight. But it's deserving of another one. Then again, what if Marquez won a tight decision? Do they fight again?
I can't blame Bob Arum for wanting Pacquiao to go on to other things. For one thing, a fight with David Diaz is a very smart business move for Top Rank, the company that controls both fighters, will rake in all the cash from the event, and it's a fight Pacquiao should absolutely win. Diaz is about as unspecial as a "champion" can be. With the win, they are free to make a big fight in Macau featuring Pacquiao. It's business. What can you do?
Though everyone will still want to talk about Jermain Taylor taking on Roy Jones, Jr. later this year, it looks like both might have a tune-up for each other in the works. Lou DiBella talking with Don King about Taylor fighting Ricardo Mayorga sounds insane to me, but it'd be...interesting, I suppose. As for Jones, he attended a fight overseas recently where Markus Beyer returned with an eight-round sweep of Murat Mahmudov, a year and a half after Beyer's loss to Mikkel Kessler.
Beyer and his management team are wrangling for a fight with Jones, who was very complimentary of Beyer's performance and of the show in general. Jones was particularly impressed with Cuban heavyweight prospect Odlanier Solis. Beyer, a 36-year old southpaw, would likely pose no serious threat to Jones, as he simply isn't big enough and doesn't have much punching power. For Beyer, it would be a nice way to make a payday. For Jones, a nice way to stay active and winning.
Remember when Floyd Mayweather, Jr. was going to fight Cory Spinks in 2006? Good God. And speaking of Spinks, am I the only one that's going to put myself through a streaming webcast of Spinks against mandatory challenger Verno Phillips? I just can't pass Spinks up. I feel that to appreciate the good fights, you gotta see the Spinks and Tarver fights.
As great as it is that ESPN Classic is picking up the April 19 cruiserweight bout between Tomasz Adamek and O'Neil Bell -- which should be a hell of a fight if they both live up to their past reputations -- isn't it too bad that it's taking place the same night as Hopkins-Calzaghe?
Zab Judah is already talking a big game for his fight against Shane Mosley. You know, the biggest concern I have about that fight being a PPV headliner is that Mosley is going to be relied on to carry the buyrate for most of the country. Can he do that? As great as he is, and as big of a star as he is, I question his drawing power. I question Zab's anymore, too. It's been a long time since anyone considered Judah among the best in the division, except maybe the guys at Boxing Talk, Judah's dad, and Inspectah Deck.
Felix Sturm is scheduled to defend the WBA middleweight title again, this time against Jamie Pittman (16-0, 7 KO) on April 5. The Australian Pittman has never fought anyone who approaches being anybody. Given that Randy Griffin earned and was promised a rematch against Sturm, one now has to question Sturm and his management team and their guts. I think Sturm is a quality boxer, but he's fast becoming a total paper champion. He is not close to Arthur Abraham, let alone Kelly Pavlik.
Since a fight with Demetrius Hopkins was never actually signed or scheduled, Junior Witter is left sitting around again. Ricky Hatton will fight Paulie Malignaggi if both win on May 24, which will take all the 140-pound headlines. Who can Witter fight? Timothy Bradley doesn't stand a chance against Witter, who is far too good for Bradley at this stage of the young star's career. Sadly, that looks like it could be Witter's next fight.
If you're Wladimir Klitschko, who do you choose to fight next? Sloppy but determined American Tony Thompson, or technically gifted but totally overmatched Russian Alexander Povetkin? If Povetkin gets the shot, expect Klitschko to manhandle the former Olympian. if it's Thompson, expect either a four-round massacre or a 12-round bore.
Isn't it strange how few TV shots Ricardo Torres gets?
Guess who's currently listed as next in line for Edwin Valero? Somebody named Israel Hector Enrique Perez, who is about as legit a world title contender as Jamie Pittman. Valero's situation makes it tough to get him top contenders, but it's all a little much for me at this point. Valero against anyone who is a real top name could possibly result in Valero's myth being utterly debunked, so don't expect it any time soon.
Anyone heard anything about Vic Darchinyan lately?
The May 17 "Latin Fury" pay-per-view will be headlined by a super flyweight title unification between Alexander Munoz and Cristian Mijares, instead of Munoz against Jorge Arce. Probably a good idea for those that like watching Arce, as Munoz on paper was another guy that was going to beat the hell out of him, as Mijares did last year.
Why is it so hard to get Ulises Solis to fight Ivan Calderon? Does either side really think there's more money to be made with fights against Nelson Dieppa and Juanito Rubillar?

0 recs | Comment 4 comments

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Decision Makings

That Marquez-Pacquiao was intense. But you're right that scoring is going to be debated for decades. I taped the fight... saw it for the third time this morning. I don't know. When I first saw it it seemed either Pacquio won or its a draw again. The on Yesterday... I gave it to Marquez. This morning... I gave it To Marquez again. So yeah it seems pretty far off. Other than that it was a great follow up after his brother's exciting match-up.

Judah-Mosley... I am having a tough time understanding why this is on PPV. The Oscar fight coming up isn't. Eventhough it is probably still a Golden Boy promotion it would be hillarious if the PPV image quality is porno camera quality.

by CRAZEDANG1280 on Mar 17, 2008 10:14 AM EDT 0 recs

I think that is the reason

because the Oscar fight (and Calzaghe/Hopkins) is on 'regular' HBO, Mosley/Judah can't fit on the schedule, and had to go to PPV. Maybe they can change things up and put on a legit undercard. you'd think they'd have to.

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Mar 17, 2008 11:09 AM EDT up 0 recs

Klitschko

I think from Klitschko's perspective, it's a no-brainer to take Povetkin. The better question is why would Povetkin want to take this fight now?

Either way, especially if Vlad wants us to forget his last fight, he needs to work more than he did last year. So if a Thompson fight can be made quickly, then do it.

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Mar 17, 2008 11:12 AM EDT 0 recs

Tomato Cans

I'm intrigued by Mosley-Judah, but I'll say this: I don't think the typical bullshit HBO PPV undercard is going to fly for me this time. Unless there's a couple of fights I'm interested in, I'll probably pass on it. And I can already say that I expect Mosley to win handily.

Felix Sturm is, and always has been, a paper champion. He fought a beautiful fight against an Oscar de la Hoya who had no business being at 160. I think he won that fight. But, aside from a bloated DLH, he hasn't fought anyone. He got knocked out by a 55-year-old Javier Castillejo (who he later beat in a rematch) and he had a draw against Randy Griffin.

The thing about Sturm, really, is that he's not a crowd-pleaser. He's a boxer instead of a puncher, and he has a terrific jab, but he's not all that quick. Meaning that his boxing style doesn't quite resemble that of some of the most 'watchable' boxers in the game, like Mayweather or Calderon.

And speaking of Calderon, I'll say this: He's been looking to unify ever since the Cazares fight, and it hasn't happened because of Solis. That said, Scott, I actually believe that Calderon will make about the same amoutn of money, if not more, fighting Nelson Dieppa than he would've made against Solis. Unfortunately, Calderon-Solis was not about to get picked up by any of the big networks, not as a headliner, at least. He's fighting in Puerto Rico, on a regional PPV Card, against another Puerto Rican ex-champ who's coming off a big win against Alex Sanchez. Even though Sanchez shouldn't be anywhere near a ring these days, Dieppa-Sanchez did very well: sellout crowd, good TV money. Unfortunately (again), I don't think Calderon could sell as many tickets in any other place in the world. In Puerto Rico, this will definitely be a sellout crowd, and it'll do well on PPV.

Last, it seems to me that Torres doesn't get any TV slots because his Colombian promoters are awful businesspeople.

by Kevin Gonzalez on Mar 17, 2008 1:59 PM EDT 0 recs