A lot of attention is being paid lately to fights that aren't even going to happen, and I'm kind of tired of dedicating posts to Oscar-Manny and Calzaghe-Pavlik, so let's just do sort of a round-up and throw other stuff in, too. I hate August -- what a terrible boxing month this is.
#1: "If Manny doesn't win this fight, you can keep my money."
Trainer Freddie Roach has gone ahead and lost his damn mind, I think. Manny Fever has driven "Coach" down the Lunatic Highway. He's out there, man.
Roach has gone on record as saying that he's so sure that Pacquiao would beat de la Hoya that he's willing to put his ten percent (reportedly) up if Oscar were to defeat Manny. That is crazy. That is sort of awesome.
A lot of people think Freddie is just bluffing to get the big payday; I really don't. Roach is hypersensitive about boxers and injuries and guys retiring before something goes wrong for them, as you would expect he would be. He thought maybe David Diaz should retire after his loss to Pacquiao. He says B-Hop should retire. He probably thinks Oscar should retire. And he'll almost certainly try to push Pac to an earlier retirement than most would expect, because he cares about these things.
So if Freddie Roach is pushing this hard to get this fight made, I really have to think he's for real. He really believes Manny would take Oscar out.
Now, do I really think Freddie's going to offer up 10% of what the Golden Boy folks are estimating as a $15 million payday for Manny? Sheeeeeeiiiiiit.
Speaking of David Diaz, the same linked column above says that Diaz would pick Pacquiao "easy" over Ricky Hatton should those two fight, and I hope they do next year. That'll be a global phenomenon of a scrap.
I also have to agree with Diaz, who has been nearly in love with Pacquiao ever since Manny whipped him in June. If there is a more humble, nice guy in boxing than David Diaz, I really can't think of who it would be. There are a lot of nice guys, but Diaz is funny, has a sense of humor, doesn't kid you about who he is, and never has a cross word.
Dan Arritt of the Los Angeles Times is hearing from Richard Schaefer that we're hardly just down to Sergio Mora as a potential opponent for Oscar de la Hoya's g**damn farewell bout on December f***ing 6th, for the love of God just name an opponent already...
In fact, one of the names Schaefer says will be given serious consideration is "Sugar" Shane Mosley, one of Oscar's main partners in Golden Boy Promotions. It'd be an OK fight by me. I think Shane probably tears Oscar up at this point, though I doubt he knocks him out. For one thing, Oscar's tough, man -- seriously. Shane's power isn't what it used to be, either. And third? Unless Oscar is literally in serious physical danger that anyone on earth could see, no referee in this world is going to stop Oscar de la Hoya's final fight on a TKO. And Oscar's D is too good to get banged up that way.
Frankly, this has been my favorite idea they've had, period. Cotto seemed too rugged and young, Margarito is too big and rough, Pacquiao is too small, I don't want to pay money to see Sergio freaking Mora, and the Mayweather rematch seemed like a really boring exhibition.
Oscar-Shane III? There's some legit unfinished business there, though I don't like the way that Schaefer is hyping it as "Did Shane take steroids? Did he not? Let's settle it in the ring!"
I mean, what kind of business partner drags a colleague through the mud like that, you know? Shane has denied these charges, vehemently. Any self-respecting businessman who is doing business with Shane would back his play. Schaefer is using it to plant the seed of doubt. I think that's kind of scummy.
The other great part is Arritt towing the Golden Boy line with this one, re: Margarito: "De la Hoya has stated he will never fight a Mexican because of the backlash he has received in the Mexican community."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOK, listen -- Oscar got the backlash for being a pretty boy in a culture where machismo is the thing. Erik Morales didn't record a fluffernutter album, you know? Also, beating up an old Julio Cesar Chavez didn't sit well with a LOT of them. I know Mexican boxing fans that do like Oscar, but they didn't like the Chavez fights because, as one of my friends put it, "It was like an execution, man. We all knew Chavez was old." At the very least, the second fight was beyond unnecessary.
He also fought Vargas, which was a personal thing and was a great fight and a great rivalry and Oscar beat him down in the end.
PLUS, SERGIO MORA IS FREAKING MEXICAN. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO SAY HE'LL NEVER FIGHT A MEXICAN WHEN ONE OF THE GUYS POSSIBLE IS FREAKING MEXICAN?
#3: Calzaghe doesn't pay attention to Pavlik comments -- clearly.
OK, bear with me on this one.
Joe Calzaghe is claiming that he has twice been denied when offering fights to Kelly Pavlik. Oh, please follow me, because I find this one particularly delicious. I am almost foaming at the mouth to rip into this idiotic idea.
First time: "We actually tried to get Pavlik after the Jeff Lacy fight and he declined."
OK, got that one?
Second time: "We asked him again after he won the middleweight title and he declined again."
Right. Alright. Sure. Let's go. Let's say I believe Calzaghe.
If they tried to get Kelly Pavlik to face them right after the Lacy fight, we're talking about a 24-year old Kelly Pavlik that was fighting the likes of Fulgencio Zuniga, Bronco McKart and Lenord Pierre. OK fighters, yes, and he was knocking them out, I know. But let's not pretend that anyone past hardcore fans knew who the hell Kelly Pavlik was, AND let's not pretend that anyone would have taken Kelly Pavlik seriously as a challenger to Joe Calzaghe at that point in time. Pavlik was a young fighter working his way up; Calzaghe was a long-standing champion.
PLUS, Pavlik was a middleweight with no signs of wanting to move up past that. Calzaghe had been fighting at super middle for years and years.
The second time? After he won the middleweight title. I remember Joe being complimentary of Kelly's performance against Taylor and inviting him over to Wales for the Kessler fight, which I thought was classy.
Still, though, we're talking about a just-crowned champion that was bursting through the ceiling. So Calzaghe wanted to fight him then? And again, Pavlik is supposed to step up from middleweight at the drop of a hat after just becoming middleweight king?
Now, though, Joe says that Kelly Pavlik hasn't done enough to fight him instead of Roy Jones.
So...the 24-year old, unproven, barely-tested middleweight Kelly Pavlik WAS worthy of a fight with Joe Calzaghe, but proven middleweight champion that just beat the ever-loving crap out of Calzaghe's stablemate Kelly Pavlik IS NOT worthy of a fight with Joe Calzaghe?
Yeah, let that roll around.
