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25 Things I Learned in May

27efbe3d5d1c09da698467cc65a74591-getty-80927082ml010_ricky_hatton__medium Let's take a look back on what most of us can agree was hardly boxing's most exciting or eventful month, but one that I feel was still fairly memorable. Maybe because I watch all this stuff, good or bad. I don't know.

  1. 27,000 people will pay to see a glorified sparring session if it involves Oscar de la Hoya in Los Angeles. But 55,000 will pay to see Ricky Hatton make a comeback against an old, faded Juan Lazcano in Manchester. Advantage: Hatton.
  2. A lot of weirdos will never stop wanting to see Mike Tyson fight. Or accept the fact that he's 41 years old, fat, and just wants to live his life in peace and occasionally attend a big fight.
  3. Tickets didn't sell so hot for the Kelly Pavlik-Gary Lockett bout on June 7 because of George W. Bush. Thank you, Bob Arum.
  4. MMA fans will react much more harshly to a horribly questionable officiating decision than will boxing fans, it seems. I'm part of the MMA fan sect that thought the Kimbo Slice-James Thompson bout on Saturday night was a little...curious, to say the least. But referee Howard John Foster did Ricky Hatton just as big of a favor on May 24 when he stopped the bout at precisely the moment Lazcano might have looked to stop Hatton, so that Ricky's shoe could be tied. For about a minute and a half. Is this perhaps a product of us being so desensitized to fighter favoritism that we just accept this crap happening? It was deplorable and Foster should at the very least be fined. Also amazing how the Hatton camp has nothing to say regarding that matter, but if you ask them will still whine over Joe Cortez. Because he made Ricky lose to Floyd, not the vast gulf in talent.
  5. Speaking of MMA, Gary Shaw is willing to muck up the waters in not just one sport, but two. Thanks for that, Gary. Maybe just stick with boxing, where we've grown accustomed to your garbage.
  6. Zab Judah and his father, Yoel, will deny rumors of a temper tantrum. Or, wait, will they? Did they? Did anyone really deny it, or did they just yell at Dan Rafael for having the gall to report a grown man smashing his arm through glass in a tift with his dad? Either way, Zab lost out on a payday and a big upset chance.
  7. Dan Goossen has become so desperate to stage major fights in this Top Rank/Golden Boy-dominated era that he's willing to run with Rahman-Toney II, a fight that is clearly irrelevant, features two washed-up fighters and one disgrace to the sport, and has absolutely no one yearning to see it again. It wasn't even any good the first time, and the world has changed quite a bit since then.
  8. Anthony Mundine will say anything for a reaction. "I won't let a Christian beat me" -- good thing he's not fighting Mikkel Kessler again, then. He'd turn out to be a liar, too.
  9. As much as Golden Boy or anyone else might talk about how great it is when the best fight the best, you're still going to get situations like the current Casamayor-Campbell-Diaz thing, wherein Richard Schaefer makes a point to note that Casamayor will make more money to fight Diaz than he would to fight Campbell (he's guaranteed $610,000 to fight Nate after Don King won the purse bid). It's also worth noting that Golden Boy offered $571,000 for the purse bid, and if they had won, absolutely Nate and Joel wouldn't fight. They wouldn't go for a half of $571K each. That would be ridiculous. Good show, Richard.
  10. Long, elaborate hair extensions are never, ever a good idea for a fighter on fight night. Paulie Malignaggi learned his lesson. And to his credit, he makes no claim whatsoever to it being anything less than a stupid decision that he greatly regrets. 
  11. HBO can be pressured by boxing fans. Dan Rafael referred to them as "thin-skinned" when it comes to criticism. After not initially scheduling a "Countdown" show for Cotto-Margarito, they have bent to public demand and are going ahead with one. Which is a good thing, since it was ridiculous to not do everything possible to sell what promises to be a phenomenal fight, after doing a show (and a great show, at that) for something as one-sided on paper and practice as de la Hoya-Forbes.
  12. Showtime cannot be pressured by boxing fans. Onward with Antonio Tarver and the suddenly vile Vernon Forrest!
  13. Junior Witter will never escape the confines of his home country.
  14. Pound-for-pound, Cristian Mijares just might be as good as anyone in the sport right now. Maybe a bold statement, and yeah he's taken on some cans in his title reign, but when faced with top competition (Arce and now Alexander Munoz), he puts the issue to rest.
  15. Stevie Johnston is beyond finished. I really hope he decides that it's just time to end it before something bad happens to him, because he's a great dude. The same goes for Chris Byrd, who seems to be slightly reconsidering what we all assumed was an obvious retirement after he was manhandled by Shaun George.
  16. I didn't really think about it before the Mosley-Judah date came up and I had to find another way to get my combat sports fix for the night, but we haven't had to pay for a major PPV since Marquez-Pacquiao II, and we won't pay for one until Pacquiao-Diaz on June 28. That's not so bad, huh?
  17. There is no "d" in Richar Gutierrez's name.
  18. James Kirkland is a bad, bad man.
  19. Manny Pacquiao is better at boxing than his sparring partners. This is news, if you search the 'net enough. Pacquiao Fever is pretty engrossing stuff.
  20. In a world of smack talkers, David Haye is working his way up the pound-for-pound list with quotes like, "Heavyweight boxing at the moment is a disgrace. You've got one fat guy fighting an even fatter guy. I'm going to show those fat slobs what real boxing is."
  21. Even with the vast improvements in the sport in late 2007 and early 2008, we're still going to be prone to blackout sort of periods like this.
  22. If you rank Timothy Bradley as the No. 1 contender after a rather suspect 21 pro fights, and he beats Junior Witter to win the WBC title, suddenly that justifies the ranking, according to the WBC. Of course, anyone with half a fart of a brain will tell you that it, indeed, will not in any way ever justify the ranking of Bradley as No. 1 contender, or excuse the ludicrous idea of Bradley facing Jose Luis Castillo in March to determine that post, which never happened because of Castillo. I'm happy for Timothy Bradley (and hopeful we never have to endure Bradley-Witter II), but come on. The WBC was more than a little bit off.
  23. Fight of the month? Not something learned, obviously, but how about Ruslan Provodnikov v. Brian Gordon on the Byrd undercard? Great little six-round scrap where both guys brought all they had.
  24. Even someone as good as Yuriorkis Gamboa runs into someone that'll take all their best shots.
  25. The guard is ever-so-slowly changing in boxing. Hatton and Oscar looked entirely unspecial against overmatched opponents, Witter lost to a prospect, Byrd is absolutely finished in every way, etc.

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What I learned in May

If you tell the security guard that you are Press before a press conference, you’ll be let in.

by CRAZEDANG1280 on Jun 2, 2008 12:28 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

haha

"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum

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Bad Left Hook

by SC on Jun 2, 2008 12:40 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

A couple of corrections...

I’m afraid that you are more than a little off with some of your comments. Firstly you are quite clearly one of those americans who believe that bad decisions only happen against your fighters. Ricky Hatton’s lace came undone, therefore the referee had no option but to stop the fight to get it tied up. To suggest otherwise is beyond ridiculous, and shows a clear lack of grip with the rules of the sport.

Secondly, Bradely is well deserving of a place at or near the top of the rankings. Light Welter is currently a weak division, and by beating arguably the best in it at the moment in Junior Witter, Bradley has showed he is amongst the elite. Of course, if he gets beaten next time out, he will drop down the rankings again, but at the moment he deserves to be where he is. Every knowledgeable and respected boxer rating system has him very near the top, The Ring has him at 3, and boxrec at 5. His ranking is far more justifiable than those of Malignaggi, Castillo and Demetrius Hopkins, who are there on past fame and style more than anything.

by greathayemaker on Jun 3, 2008 12:53 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Yes, the Ring has him at 3 NOW that he beat Witter. I also would have him top five NOW. That doesn’t mean he earned a mandatory challenger shot prior to his win. And the win does not justify the ranking. I’m happy for him that he succeeded because he’s a nice guy and a good young boxer, but my point was pre-Witter, not post-Witter. Obviously he deserves his ranking NOW. But he was every bit as weak a mandatory as Gary Lockett is this coming Saturday—both are better than the absolute bottom of the barrel title challengers we occasionally see Chris John fight (or even Mijares’ defense against Franck Gorjux, which was laughable). Bradley’s win over Witter was a pretty massive upset for a reason.

The lace didn’t need to be tied at that exact moment. There is a leniency that officials will use in situations like this. It is highly unlikely that Ricky Hatton is legitimately going to trip over his shoelace in this situation. At a crucial moment, such as this, things like glove tape and shoelaces aren’t exactly the most important thing in the fight.

I like Ricky Hatton and I’m not blaming him for it; I think Howard John Foster did a crap refereeing job.

Now all this aside, please recognize I’m just discussing. You’re more than entitled to think I’m wrong at any point about anything. Sometimes I am. I am not Pope Scott the Infallible, nor do I believe myself to be.

One more thing about Bradley: I would have ranked him ahead of Castillo (who isn’t even a 140-pound fighter to me at this point) and Hopkins before he beat Witter, too. I’ve never been terribly impressed with Demetrius and JLC is just not an option.

"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum

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Bad Left Hook

by SC on Jun 3, 2008 1:12 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

oh

And thank you for signing up and posting!

"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum

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Bad Left Hook

by SC on Jun 3, 2008 1:14 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Realise that my post might have come accross as a bit combative, to be honest I was just searching for articles on the Williams v Airich fight, and saw this one was linked to it for rubbish reffing decisions which made me a bit unhappy. I disagree strongly that Lazcano was going to stop Hatton at that point, he hurt him at other points in the fight and couldn’t stop him then either. In any case, the rules make no allowance for the referee to decide whether to stop the fight based on what the state of either fighter is, and there was nothing wrong with Foster’s decision. If I were Lazcano fan, I might have been a bit unhappy, but would have accepted it as the correct decision, and just one of those luck things that this game so often hinges on.

Also regarding Cortez, he had a terrible night when Ricky fought the pretty boy. HOWEVER, even the most rabid of the hitman’s fans would not claim that he was the difference in the fight. We saw enough to know that Mayweather is a class above, but that should not mean that Cortez gets away with such a such a one sided display. What annoys brit fans most about Cortez is that he clearly sees himself as someone participating in the match, which is surely the last thing a ref should be doing. That and his obsession with his image as a celbrity in his own right, and all that “Firm but I’m fair” rubbish (yeah right!). Incidentally, I thought he had a good night on the Hopkins v Calzaghe fight, because he clearly decided he was NOT going to get involved, but he came in for just as much criticism on this side for the complete contrast with the way he reffed Hatton Mayweather.

And regarding Bradley, I see your point, but the alphabet titles have strange ranking systems, and in a way the result of the Witter fight does vindicate the decision to have him as mandatory. Argument would be that they just saw his talent earlier. I had actually seen quite a bit of Bradley before hand and thought he was going to be a very tough challenge for JW, and was worried that he could well walk away with it, but for some insane reason no one over here seemed to be taking him seriously.

So who would you have had ranked ahead of Bradley before he beat Witter?

by greathayemaker on Jun 3, 2008 2:28 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

I’m also not saying I’m certain that Lazcano was going to stop Hatton, but he had a chance and Hatton was reeling a bit. The rulebook agrees with you; that doesn’t mean things like this don’t happen. I mean, the Major League Baseball rulebook basically forbids catchers blocking home plate, but catchers do it all the time and no one calls them for it. We don’t disagree about the rules, I just thought it was a poor time to intervene, and that Foster (or any other ref) could have allowed for the fight to continue until Hatton clinched up or something like that. Which he most likely would have done. I also did truly think Foster allowed Hatton more than ample time for the shoelace to be tied, which was more bothersome, really.

The alphabet rankings are a farce, that’s really my only point. I agree Junior had to fight someone, but anyone on earth claiming that Tim Bradley was “No. 1 contender to the junior welterweight championship” was living a lie.

Prior to Bradley beating Witter, I think I would’ve probably had Hatton, Junior, Malignaggi, Torres and maybe Holt or Kotelnik as my top five. Right now I’d go Ricky, Paulie, Torres, Holt and Bradley, with Witter at six. You can certainly argue against Paulie due to his last two outings, but I give him the benefit of the doubt against N’dou because he injured his hand mid-fight.

I think American fans largely started buying into the hype of Junior Witter as the only real challenger for Hatton at 140 because all we really got to deal with as far as Junior went was his own talking, his own hype, and tape of his fights. I mean when he waxed Vivian Harris he looked great. He looked awful against Bradley. I thought Bradley had a small hope against Junior, but that ultimately savvy and experience would prevail. Instead Witter just looked old and slow. I know I bought into Junior. I would’ve put money on him to beat Ricky before the Bradley fight. That’s why the fight, I suppose.

Also, back to Foster, his performance is a drop of a rain in an ocean compared to the mess that was the Williams-Airich fight. It really doesn’t bother me as much as it might have seemed. I think he made a small mistake; days later we get to see a real idiot of a referee, so perspective helps.

"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum

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Bad Left Hook

by SC on Jun 3, 2008 3:09 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

expanding on Tim Bradley

I didn’t really make clear my pre-Witter thoughts on Bradley, which I might as well since what else am I doing?

I thought he was good young fighter, rising contender, probably needed a couple more fights against good opponents before he fought someone like Witter. Turns out he didn’t. Actually I still think that fight was more Witter doing nothing than Bradley doing anything special, outside of the one big right hand that dropped Junior.

I saw him like I see Andre Berto, really, a good young fighter just past prospect status but not quite full-blown contender status. If Berto was awarded a title shot tomorrow against Cotto or Floyd or Quintana, I’d find it just as puzzling.

"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum

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Bad Left Hook

by SC on Jun 3, 2008 3:12 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Mate, any baseball analogy is gonna be completely lost on me. If you can manage a rugby, cricket or football (sorry, “soccer”) one, I’ll be fine.

And I don’t think that Bradley did anything spectacular against Witter, but what he did do was turn up with a pitch perfect gameplan, and had the discipline to execute it perfectly. Against a fighter who had some adaptability, he might have come unstuck, but it has long been a criticism of Ingle gym fighters that they do not have a back up plan. Junior is a master at counter punching, all Bradley did was feint, wait for Junior to bite on the feint, then counter the counter so to speak. Witter ain’t over rated, he’s just a one trick pony, but most of knew he was there to be taken by a guy with the right gameplan.

Not sure about Berto though… Time will tell. He’s built like a monster for his weight, but he’s looked a bit slow at times. Exciting fighter though, so I’ll wish him the best.

And I don’t rate feather fisted Paulie. Not convinced he could break an egg. Realise I’ve just set myself up for him to deliver the performance of his life and shut Hatton out later this year, but I honestly don’t see that happening.

Also noticed that you don’t seem to have a huge opinion of Hatton on another article. Can you just tell me, was the first time you saw Hatton when he beat Tszyu? Cos there are two definitive stages to Ricky’s career, before Tszyu and after Tszyu. He changed his style to win the belt, and he never quite managed to change it back, and I also thing that he took too much damage it that fight to ever be his old self again.

by greathayemaker on Jun 3, 2008 3:22 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

nah

I am familiar with pre-Tszyu Hatton, though I profess it was largely AFTER the Tszyu fight that I got to see him. I think I’d seen him fight once or twice prior to the Tszyu fight. I just think he’s gotten a little old, fast, thanks to the way he’s fought since then. He’s not the first or last fighter to do so. Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera (two of my favorites) also got old fast and young. I really like Ricky, though I think he’s never been a great boxer. But at his best, he won on muscle, guts and loads of toughness, and that can be just as good.

"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum

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Bad Left Hook

by SC on Jun 3, 2008 4:43 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

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