Miguel Cotto looks to have gotten tattooed more than once this year, as Manny Pacquiao attempts to add another on Cotto's face. Whether he can do this to Floyd Mayweather is the question being asked by boxing fans now.More heavyweight musings from a strawweight brain…
1. Pac-Man proves he’s worth the “Money”
It has been said more than once that the difference between a great fight and a super fight is this: A great fight is one that boxing fans look forward to, while a super fight is an event that everyone looks forward to. And given pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao’s awesome beat down of Miguel Cotto in their welterweight PPV headliner Saturday, the resulting showdown with Floyd Mayweather will definitely hit “super fight” status. There have been few fighters in this current generation that can carry both power and hand speed up through multiple divisions, but the Filipino dynamo seems to defy the odds more and more with each fight. Against Cotto, a true welterweight (are you listening, Floyd?), Pacquiao was too quick, too strong, and generally too imposing for Cotto, who is himself normally the ring general. While Cotto did land some good shots and displayed some incredible heart to make it to round twelve, there was no doubt from about round six on who the victor would be. Yes, perhaps referee Kenny Bayless could have let Cotto last the final round, but the Puerto Rican had already proven his toughness by that point. This was Manny’s night.
Now let the clamor for the Mayweather showdown begin. While both fighters have not actually said they want to fight the other by name, there’s too much money and legacy at stake for it not to happen. This fight would be similar to Hagler-Leonard or Toney-Jones, a true bout for the ages, one that would cement the winner’s place in boxing history forever. And with good-guy Manny versus Mayweather, the Man Everyone Loves To Hate, Bob Arum can sip margaritas and work on his tan, as little promotion as this fight will need. And unlike Mayweather-De La Hoya, these are two Hall Of Famers fighting while both are in their primes. As former referee Mills Lane would say, let’s get it on!
2. “Bad” Chad Dawson is bad only at the box office
Pity Chad Dawson. Here’s a guy who is one of the best fighters in the world, the legitimate 175-pound world champion, a family man who never gets in trouble, and a general bright spot for the city of Hartford, Connecticut. Throw in a dominating performance in his rematch against Glen Johnson ten days ago in his hometown, and he should have the world at his feet. Unfortunately, the math is just not working out right now for Dawson. Less than 5,500 fans showed up at the XL Center (capacity of 16,000), and it was not a vociferous crowd at all, many times voicing their displeasure at Dawson’s lack of killer instinct. While he did dominate Johnson, who now looks to be closer to retirement than not, Dawson played it very safe, never once looking like he was going in for the kill. That may be Dawson’s biggest problem; since stepping up to the highest level at light heavyweight, he fights more like Ghandi and less like Genghis Khan, although he has 17 knockouts in his 40-plus bouts. He’s a terrific fighter, but boxing is also the entertainment business, which is the reason fighters like Paulie Malignaggi and Cory Spinks have to be matched correctly, because they’re not killers, either. The Johnson fight was made simply because there wasn’t much clamor for Dawson fighting anyone else; Dawson simply headlining a fight card isn’t reason enough to get excited. Until he finds his inner Arturo Gatti, it doesn’t look like that will change anytime soon.
3. Dawson shows that he protects himself at all times
You know how bad it really is for “Bad” Chad? While some boxers over the last decade have been known to shill themselves out for Goldenpalace.com or Bodog on their bodies, Dawson’s lack of stroke couldn’t even get him one of those unsavory gigs. Instead, he gets Condomdepot.com on his trunks! Yes, someone in the marketing department thought it was a stroke of brilliance (oh, was that pun intended?) to let the light heavyweight champion with four, yes count ‘em, four kids hawk condoms on the back of his shorts. The problem is, all those kids are completely legit and planned – what a waste! Now the real get would be to have Evander Holyfield with his nine (!) illegitimate kids to wear some Condom Depot gear at his next fight. Lord knows when Evander and his mom were eating their burritos at Taco Bell, they should have been talking condoms, not condiments.
4. David beats Goliath to the sound of heavyweight indifference
So after more or less ducking both Klitschko brothers, it was time for former cruiserweight champion David Haye to finally get his heavyweight title against seven-foot Nicolay Valuev. The problem is, it’s a bit like marrying Khloe’ Kardashian instead of Kim – although you can say you married a Kardashian, it’s not really all that impressive. Haye did do enough to beat the giant Valuev, but he didn’t turn in a particularly fantastic performance, which almost nobody does against the Russian. Valuev is so slow that anyone with enough guts and talent to work their way in will usually beat him easily; Haye definitely had enough of both to get it done. However, while he can claim he’s a heavyweight champion now, everyone knows whom he still has to beat. Boring fights like this won’t sell a lot of tickets, as evidenced by this fight being in Germany and not in Haye’s home country of England. If Haye wants to back up his bevy of trash-talk regarding the Klitschko’s, he actually needs to step in the ring with Wlad or Vitali eventually. Haye’s next mandatory for his belt is John Ruiz, who’s getting his 312th crack at a heavyweight title. At the rate boxing fans avoid Ruiz like H1N1, Haye better start getting the Klitschko fires stoked again very soon.
5. Z Gorres gets a win in life
With the deaths of Arturo Gatti, Vernon Forrest and Alexis Arguello, the bright light has been shining on some of boxing’s harshest realities lately. Luckily, we all avoided another one after Filipino 118-pounder Zeta Gorres appears to be OK after his frightening collapse two weeks ago. The scariest part, however, was that he actually won his fight over Luis Melendez, and only was in serious trouble when he was knocked down in the last 30 seconds of the fight with a left. He hit his head on the ropes, but was able to make it back up and seemed fine. Once the scores were read, he just collapsed, one of those collapses that boxing fans hope they never see, the one that signals real trouble. After being rushed to the hospital to remove pressure on his brain, he was put into a coma for 24 hours. As of this writing, he looks like he’ll recover, but his career is certainly done. It’s hard to believe that the fighter who fought Vic Darchinyan to a draw took one bad punch from a journeyman in a tune-up fight, and now he’ll never set foot in a ring again. The good thing is he will still be able to see his wife and four children, which truly is bigger than any boxing win he could have ever had.
No comments:
Post a Comment