Ring of Fire: Golden Boy Targets Moreno, Nakash Gets Big Chance, and More

Let's do a little here-and-there stuff we either haven't talked about here, or is just coming up.

Golden Boy Targeting Anselmo Moreno for Four-Fight Deal

Golden Boy Promotions is trying to sign bantamweight titleholder Anselmo "Chemito" Moreno to a four-fight deal with $1.2 million, but the Panamanian has not yet committed. There are also some roadblocks. Moreno's manager Roberto Grimaldo, with whom Moreno reportedly has a less-than-amicable relationship these days, is trying to stand in the way of a deal. He bashed Moreno and his wife in the Panamanian news, for which Moreno wants an apology, and he also says that he won't go to Golden Boy without Grimaldo's blessing. Golden Boy wants the deal done by Monday.

Obviously, Golden Boy is working with several motives here. For one thing, Moreno's a good fighter, but he's also not really marketable in any way. He's not exciting in the ring and doesn't have a natural fanbase in the States. They want an opponent for Nonito Donaire, of course. Donaire-Moreno was being worked on by Top Rank before Nonito bolted for the competition, and Moreno was said to be demanding an incredibly high purse. But if both are under the Golden Boy banner, it's probably a lot easier to make that fight.

The date for that fight was targeted as May 28 on HBO, which would seem doable right now for both if the deal gets done by Monday, but the Donaire situation between Golden Boy and Top Rank isn't pretty, and is getting uglier on a personal level. Bob Arum told Examiner.com's Michael Marley that Rachel, Nonito's wife, dresses like a tramp, (or in Bob's kind words, is "all tarted up" compared to Jinkee Pacquiao, who dresses "like a lady"), which was pretty well out of line. Arum also said that Nonito did "no buys" on pay-per-view, and has no connection to the Filipino audience. Those points are fine.

Anyway, it's not clear yet whether or not Donaire will be available in May, for Moreno or anyone else. But this is an interesting development. Golden Boy has Donaire and Abner Mares, two bantamweight stars, but past them they only have 35-year-old Eric Morel on their roster. Morel would be fine fodder for Donaire or Mares, but probably not worthy of a TV headline role. And it never hurts to sign talent, anyway. Moreno is talent.

Ran Nakash to Face Marco Huck

After Giacobbe Fragomeni pulled out of his April 2 fight with Marco Huck, a mad dash was on to find a decent replacement. Sauerland Event has installed 32-year-old Israeli Ran Nakash as the opponent for Huck next Saturday.

Nakash is not young as a prospect, and his record of 25-0 (18 KO) is very, very soft. He has split his career between Israel and the northeastern United States, chiefly the famous Blue Horizon in Philadelphia. But this is a massive, massive step up in competition. Go look at his record -- there's no one even remotely close to Huck's level. Realistically, I don't expect this to be a competitive fight at all, but I also didn't expect much from the aged, small, and worn-out Fragomeni, so all in all it's a perfectly acceptable replacement fight. Word is that Nakash was already training and has had a legitimate camp, but that's word from Huck in a Sauerland release, so grain of salt.

Potshots

• If you'd like to read a story about an interesting man, check out this piece on George Walker from the Daily Mail. If that headline doesn't pique your interest, you can probably move on.
• Cristobal Arreola will be fighting Nagy Aguilera off-TV on the 5/14 card in Carson, CA, headlined by Ward-Abraham. The word going around is that Arreola is in better shape. We'll see.
• This happened last week, but we never mentioned it here: Beibut Shumenov has sued Goossen Tutor Promotions, his American handlers.
• Same old Cedric Boswell, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Well, except for him actually getting a fight that he really desires. At this point, why NOT have Boswell fight a Klitschko? Vitali fought Sosnowski and Briggs last year. Is Cedric Boswell really worse?
• I beg you not to read the Yahoo! comments because as usual it's a cesspool of the highest order, but I found it kind of funny that Manny Pacquiao decided Twitter was not for him after meeting some backlash over his "political career."
• WBN has a nice piece on Rocky Fielding, suddenly known fighter.