Does this look like a man who's ready to tackle the octagon? For once, MMA & boxing fans both can have a laugh over James Toney's latest attempt to resurrect his faded career.Bigger than Pac-Man-Clottey in Texas Stadium , it’s the Finito Five!
1. Alexander makes his 140-lb statement
When you look around the jr. welterweight division, the names of great fighters abound. Timothy Bradley, Ricky Hatton, Marcos Maidana, Amir Khan, Nate Campbell and Paul Malignaggi are just a few of them. While many didn’t know where St. Louis’ Devon Alexander fit into that mix, his statement eighth-round KO of the extremely tough Juan Urango showed that he does indeed belong. While the boxing public has raved about Alexander’s in-your-face style, power and toughness, his signature win over Junior Witter didn’t convince everyone. Many thought that the British Witter was used goods, and that Bradley had already beat the fight out of him back in 2008. With Urango, however, here was a guy that had only ever lost to Andre Berto and Hatton. The Columbian is also built like an NFL linebacker (as a Detroit Lion’s fan, I’d like to be the first to give him a tryout), has excellent power, durability and is just one of those fighters who you have to defeat in order get to the elite level at 140 pounds. Given Urango’s bludgeoning of Randall Bailey in the Friday Night Fight’s finale last year, it figured to be test for Alexander.
Truth is, until the knockout, Urango did test “Alexander the Great”. Alexander landed quite a bit early and showed great range with his uppercut, but was unable to get the big guy out of there. Urango actually bounced back by round five, and was landing some good shots of his own. If Devon couldn’t get Urango to the canvas, it figured to be a long night, win or not. Then, out of seemingly left field, Alexander unleashed the fury, just leveling the Columbian with an uppercut that sent him down to the canvas, then finishing him off with a second helping. That kind of punch and that kind of power will do some major damage at 140 or 147, so it’s worth seeing what he might do against any of the names listed above. Either way, Alexander has proven that he can beat whom he needs to beat; now we’ll see if he can beat those that are supposed to beat him.
2. I know that’s not Corey Haim you’re staring at in the tenth row…
Ring card girls are part of boxing. A good part. A very good part, in fact. Nothing like juxtaposing two guys beating the crap of each other with a woman parading around in next to nothing. We’re all staring at her, and she knows it. The question is, what the hell is she staring at? Not sure if you’ve noticed, but watch the next Top Rank Live show, and vex yourself while trying to figure out what these girls are looking at. What are you talking about, you ask? Just watch them before and after fights; with fighters and entourage parading around the ring right in front of them, these girls keep staring into space like no one’s even there. They don’t seem to stare at anything, and it’s honestly pretty creepy. I don’t know if this is standard ring-card girl training (at the Ring-Card Girl Academy in Las Vegas, natch), but these girls are much better smiling and winking at people rather than looking like an extra in Zombieland. After getting a DQ win, featherweight Andres Romero did two back flips literally a few feet in front of one ring-card girl, who didn’t even blink, flinch or otherwise pay any attention to it. Man, when doing back flips over a girl gets you only a blank stare, all guys are in trouble!
3. The Mayweather-Mosley bout starts with its own low blow
While everyone will have a chance to digest Joshua Clottey’s Chance Of a Lifetime bout against Manny Pacquiao this weekend (what is he, Rocky Balboa or something?), also in the public eye were Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley, who will have their own business in May. While no one’s forgetting the fight that should have been made with Pacquiao, “Money” Mayweather taking on a legit 147-pounder has everyone intrigued, and rightly so. However, one would figure that after all the random steroids testing wrangling in his negotiations with Pacquiao, surely Mayweather fighting a guy who has admitted to using steroids himself unknowingly (part of the BALCO scandal in the U.S.) would be fodder for some prefight trash-talk. Oh no, instead it was Floyd claiming that Mosley may be fighting because he’s lost money in his recent divorce. Forget that Mayweather came out of retirement himself for thinly-veiled money reasons of his own (the IRS can be very persuasive), just going there was enough to get “Sugar” Shane riled up. Now, instead of just having a promising matchup, boxing fans will likely get treated to a real grudge match. It makes you wonder, though, if Floyd manages to alienate everyone around him, who will give his Hall Of Fame introduction speech? God help us if it’s Floyd, Sr. or uncle Roger – that will be the first speech with more beeps than words.
4. Darchinyan meets his match (sort of)
At 115 pounds, there’s nothing more dangerous than a Vic Darchinyan left hand, which has ended the hopes of many a fighter. Even if the Armenian is never going to be the second coming of Ricardo Lopez, his sheer will and power have won out every time with only two exceptions (Nonito Donaire and Joseph “King Kong” Agbeko). So it was to everyone’s surprise that the unheralded Rodrigo Guerrero managed to not only take Darchinyan’s best punches, but also actually make it to the end of the fight. Keep in mind those who have gone down to Darchinyan’s power: Christian Mijares, Jorge Arce, Dmitry Kirilov and Irene Pacheco. None of those top guys could survive, but somehow Guerrero did, absorbing huge punishment in the process. While the outcome was never in doubt, and the “Raging Bull” turned in an outstanding performance, give Guerrero credit for doing something that many better fighters have not. Unfortunately, this is one of those beatings that may end Guerrero’s career early (he only had 14 fights coming in). Darchinyan, however, should now have bigger fish to fry; if he is moving up to 118, a rematch with Donaire needs to happen. While Donaire landed a great punch in an upset three years ago, it’s time to see if that was a lucky shot or if the “Filipino Flash” is the better man. Boxing fans sure would like to know.
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5. MMA must stand for Many Meals Available
Why does it seem lately that the only thing the MMA & boxing have in common is that washed up fighters in each sport think they can try the other? Of course, fans of both sports tend to think the other is child’s play, but that’s just about as accurate as a Ricardo Mayorga right hand, which is to say not at all. Speaking of Mayorga, since he has no career left in the Sweet Science, now he thinks he can ply his smoking, trash talking Nicaraguan self in the octagon. Same with Shannon Briggs, who seemingly can’t figure out why he hasn’t gotten a shot against the Klitschkos when he couldn’t get by Sultan “What, me, Hepatitis?” Ibragimov, is also going MMA. And, yes, now James Toney has been going the rounds with Dana White and UFC in the last couple of weeks. It has been reported that White did offer Toney an actual contract after Toney confronted White after UFC 108. While that may look like a ridiculous move by White, Toney actually turned the contract down after he asked for one in the first place. Chances are Toney thought that UFC stood for Unlimited Food Court, for which his ever-increasing poundage would be tailor made.
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