The Finito Flash – Valero’s ignominious end, panic for Pavlik also needs to end

Will Kelly Pavlik hoist any more belts in his future now that he's no longer middleweight champion? There are many who think the only thing that Pavlik will be hoisting is a bottle, which is probably unfair to the Youngstown, Ohio, hero (he'll hoist more than just a bottle).

Some quick thoughts about current goings-on in the Sweet Science:

It’s hard to believe that two months ago we were all talking about lightweight superstar Edwin Valero’s impressive bludgeoning of Antonio DeMarco. The thought went that if Valero could get just his visa issues in order, the sky was the limit for him. The man with the Hugo Chavez tattoo had flair, a dynamic style and skills that could take him to incredible heights. With 27 knockouts in as many fights, this guy was a killer inside the ring. Now we know that he was also a killer outside of it.

It’s bad enough that we prematurely lost Alexis Arguello, Arturo Gatti and Vernon Forrest in the last year, but at least those were tragic circumstances that befell our fistic heroes. Arguello may have took his took his own life, but the recent HBO Real Sports piece shed light on the untenable situation that Daniel Ortega’s Sandinistan government put Arguello (who had depression and suicide issues besides) in as mayor of Managua, Nicaragua. But now we hear that Valero not only stabbed his own wife to death last week, but also then hung himself in his Venezuelan jail cell. There’s no amount of explanation of personal demons or anything else that will take the stain of the whole situation.

As reports have now come out, Valero apparently was as brutal in his personal life as he was in his boxing career. Violence against friends and family was not uncommon, nor was alcohol and drug abuse. His mother-in-law recently went on record as saying he used drugs daily and was growing more violent, as well. Valero’s wife, Jennifer Viera was in the hospital for being shot in the leg, then later a punctured lung and broken ribs (Valero was suspected as being responsible for those injuries). Valero was even detained for violence against his own mother last September. Here clearly was a man not in control of himself.

The most sobering part of this whole sad episode is that Valero’s two kids are now without parents because the fighter couldn’t conquer his demons. It especially feels unsettling that we all cheered and loved him so much when he was responsible for so many horrific acts against his own family. It just goes to show how we all have to pay more attention when we root for someone, because that someone might be the last person we ought to support.

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OK, before anyone even thinks of Kelly Pavlik’s next bout, let’s get the gripping and aspersion casting out of the way:

“Pavlik has never really beaten anyone except Jermain Taylor, who’s obviously good at getting knocked out.”

“Pavlik was ducking Paul Williams, and now we see why.”

“That staph infection has made Kelly’s hands brittle, he’ll never have the same punching power again.”

“See? His drinking problems and weight blow-up between fights have finally caught up to him!”

Look, in case anyone forgot, Sergio Martinez may be one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in boxing today, it’s just none of us knew about him until the last two years or so. Martinez has only ever lost to Antonio Margarito and Paul Williams, and many thought he beat Williams (of course, he beat Kermit Cintron, too, but got stuck with that silly draw). So when Pavlik lost a competitive decision to Martinez, it doesn’t mean that he’s finished. As a matter of fact, Pavlik looked like he was in position to win the fight after knocking the Argentinian down in the seventh round. Then the bad cut over his right eye happened two rounds later, and Martinez seized the advantage as any great fighter does. With Pavlik unable to see thanks to a corner that apparently had watched too many Rocky movies and didn’t stop the bleeding (no, don’t cut me, Mick!), he was unable to avoid the barrage that eventually came.

In reality, Pavlik’s biggest faux pas may be that he is no longer a 160-pound fighter, as his trouble making the weight would suggest. He weighed in as a light heavy on fight night, so it may be time for him to head up to Super Six land and ply his trade there. Chances are he won’t get any tougher competition than Martinez. This brings to mind how everyone was ready to bury Marco Antonio Barrera for his two losses Junior Jones, which Barrera seem to rebound from just fine and mae the Hall of Fame, thank you. This is not saying that Pavlik is bound for Canestota, but he is by no means shot or overrated. Great fighters will sometimes lose to great fighters; if they were easy to beat, they wouldn’t be great. Let’s not send Youngstown’s Finest to the scrap heap just yet.

The Finito Five 4/15/10

Wow, look, kids! It's the Real Deal Evander Holyfield in one of his greatest fights - oh, wait, that must have been another picture. This is just a photo of Holyfield punching the shot, wheezing Franz Botha. So sorry.

Fouling less in a month than Roy Jones does in a round, it’s the Finito Five!

1. Berto fights for himself and country

Many a fight trainer will tell you that the Sweet Science has always been more mental than physical, as it is with any sport played at its highest level. While no one was disputing that welterweight contender Andre Berto’s dedication and drive to fight for his friends and relatives who perished in that terrible Haitian earthquake last January, his focus and rustiness would be another matter. When you learn that eight of your relatives died and other members of your family are missing amidst the devastation that was (and still is) Haiti, no one would blame Berto for not having boxing first and foremost on the mind. Heck, Berto even went down there for a week to help with the relief effort, pulling out of a possible career-defining fight with Shane Mosley on the way. Despite doing good and organizing the whole fight night as a de facto fund raiser for the island country, there was still the matter of shaking it all off and getting into the ring. And with the tough, experienced Paul Williams conqueror Carlos Quintana standing in the other corner, it figured to be no easy task.

That’s also what made Berto’s eighth-round smackdown of the Puerto Rican all the more impressive. Yes, Berto looked rusty early and lost the first couple of rounds, but after that point, he got it together and used that blazing hand speed to good measure. Seriously, Floyd Mayweather may have faster hands, but does anyone else have that kind of whack on his punches with that kind of hand speed? Maybe Yuriorkis Gamboa, but that’s about it. Chumps do not beat Quintana, so the guess is that Berto would be a handful for anybody at 147 pounds, even the Mayweather-Mosley winner. Just think what may happen during his next fight when he’s less distracted. The problem just might be that there’s too much risk and not enough reward for a lot of big names to fight Berto; as it is, with the way he looked Saturday, the more he fights for Haiti, the more he’s likely to beat people.

2. How’s my left hook, Andrew Ridgley?

OK, all boxing fans are thankful for the new Top Rank Live show, which brings us (almost) weekly fight cards featuring some of Top Rank’s 8,000 or so fighters they must have signed. Yes, none of us can read the small, supernova-red graphics at the bottom of the screen (is it really round 0?). Yes, most of the fights are broadcast in Spanish while Rich Marotta does the post-fight interviews in English (!). We also have to put up with the constant cut-to-commercial when there’s a knockdown at the end of the round (that ten count’s overrated, anyway). It’s boxing on TV every week and we love it. Still, will somebody at Top Rank can the stupid DJ already? It’s bad enough that he got us all pumped up last Saturday by welterweight Noberto Gonzalez’ ring entrance to AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”, then the DJ inexplicably switched to Wham’s “Careless Whisper” before Mark Melliguen stepped in the ring! Huh? Way to kill the mood, Einstein! Nothing says gladiators going to battle more than a little 80’s pop, huh? Most everyone at the Hard Rock in Vegas probably thought that the song was Melliguen’s entrance music because they didn’t bother to change it until the Filipino was halfway down his ring walk. That’s just not fair. Now if Mr. DJ cranked up the Tubes or the Kajagoogoo upon Gonzalez’ entrance, that would have evened things out a bit. Too bad the crowd would probably leave before anything started, though.

3. Two battles for the aged

What is in the boxing water the last couple of weeks? First we’re all treated to the Fight No One Was Clamoring For, that being the Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones tedious twelve-round foulfest. Just as all of us had gotten that crap out of our system, here comes Franz Botha-Evander Holyfield for the World Geriatric Championship to decide who can dislocate a body part first. At least most people though Hopkins was still an elite fighter, but after seeing his inability to take out a completely shot Jones like he said he would, whether the Executioner still has it (or any of it) is now in real doubt. Boxing fans have always wondered whether Jones’ lack of actual boxing fundamentals would cost him when he lost his athleticism, and it has done so in spades. If he couldn’t foul Hopkins, he couldn’t land a punch. But the Botha-Holyfield fight was arguably worse, as Botha, who couldn’t hold the Real Deal’s jock in his prime, was beating the 47-year old handily until he just ran out of gas by round six and got knocked out by round eight. Botha looked like he needed an oxygen mask in his corner just to make it a couple more rounds. Considering how poorly attended both these fights were and the fact the PPV numbers weren’t even released, why were they put on in the first place? We hear all the time about if it makes money, it makes sense; these didn’t make either. Maybe somebody will finally figure that out and not reapeatedly subject us to it.

4. From the department of Municipal Waste, Pt. 1.

First off, Dan Rafael of ESPN.com carries the boxing torch better than just about anyone, because he’s so unafraid to confront B.S. when he sees it. Such was the case with newly-crowned 140-pound WBC titleholder Devon Alexander, who is nothing but a credit to boxing and a great representative as world champion. Well, apparently that just wasn’t enough for the WBC, who had the audacity to send Alexander a letter saying he should relinquish his title because Alexander merely said he wanted to fight WBO titleist Timothy Bradley. Forget the fact that Alexander never said he wouldn’t fight the mandatory WBC challenger, or that he had not signed anything for a fight with Bradley; just the mention of his doing something other than what the WBC wanted made them pissy enough to tell Alexander to get lost. Wouldn’t you want your champion to prove his greatness by fighting who most consider the top guy at jr. welterweight? The arrogance just boggles the mind. Kudos to Dan to pile all over WBC president Jose Sulaiman and his stupid cronies in a recent article, saying, “The WBC, with so many reprehensible rulings, worthless forced mandatory fights and numerous approved mismatches, is responsible for much of boxing's downfall over the past two decades.” Amen.

5. From the department of Municipal Waste, Pt. 2.

With each passing month, it’s becoming clear that disgraced former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito is trying to make it clear to everyone he’s one of the dumbest guys in boxing. Despite the fact that the California State Athletic Commission has not yet reinstated his license due to his loaded handwrap debacle, he and Top Rank see fit to fight in Mexico on May 8, anyway. Good luck getting that license back in the U.S. again, guys – I’m sure the CSAC won’t take any offense that you clearly ignored their ruling and fought again. Not only that, in a recent statement to reporters, Margarito actually took offense to those disputing his claims that he had NO idea what trainer Javier Capetillo was putting into his hand wraps. "The way I box has always been clean,” he said. “Nobody has a clear idea what happened that night, and now I'm going to show who I am." Uh, yeah, Antonio, we do. The CSAC determined it was plaster of Paris, it was in your handwraps, and it could have killed Shane Mosley had you used them. That’s what that hearing was for, so that we would all know exactly what happened. Your claims of ignorance only make you seem more clueless. So quit being offended that everyone is questioning your integrity, because you brought it on yourself. If you didn’t have Bob Arum at Top Rank still supporting you (they keep enabling him like nothing ever happened), you’d be lucky ever to get another major fight again.

All prospects are NOT created equal

While former U.S. Olympian Demetrius Andrade might have the look of a dangerous pro, the jury is still out on whether he'll be challenging for a world or regional title in a year like some of his Olympic brethren.

Midway through Demetrius Andrade’s tussle with .500 journeyman Geoffrey Spruiell during the opening bout of the last Friday Night Fights did it become apparent that Andrade’s future was not so apparent. Prior to that night, the decorated amateur and U.S. Olympian’s biggest flaw was his lack of competition, with ten pro fights against very limited opposition. Most boxing fans and commentators were in agreement that Andrade should be pushed along a bit faster by his team of David Keefe and father Paul, a la previous Olympians Oscar De La Hoya or Floyd Mayweather. Stardom was in this boy’s future, so let’s get the move on, right?

As a matter of fact, FNF commentator Teddy Atlas reiterated that fact numerous times during the start of the bout. Play-by-play man Joe Tessitore threw in names like Yuriorkis Gamboa and Juan Manuel Lopez as examples of fighters who became ready for world titles quickly by being matched tougher at the start of their careers. Atlas even said that “Boo Boo” should be getting rid of the limited Spruiell within two rounds. The overlying tone was that Andrade’s camp was babying their fighter too much.

The problem with statements like those is that the camp tends to know their fighter best. Perhaps co-promoters Joe DeGuardia and Artie Pelullo knew something the rest of us didn’t, because by the time the gutsy Spruiell reached the fourth, fifth, and finally the sixth rounds, just about everyone was eating heaping plates of crow. Yes, Andrade won the fight, but didn’t look overly impressive in doing so, casting doubts the size of Nicolay Valuev as to whether he was at all ready for a meaningful fight. Sure, the Providence, RI, prospect won every round handily, but in this era of prospects being matched softer and softer, dominating wipeouts are how early careers are measured. Gamboa, for example, may not have shown great defense early, but he sure impressively knocked out the chumps he was facing, even if they couldn’t beat anybody’s grandmother.

Most revealing may have been the back-and-forth between Andrade and his father in between the fifth and sixth round. Andrade actually said to his dad, “tell me I’m the best”, as if he wasn’t sure himself; the senior Andrade responded by confirming that he was the best. Now, could you imagine Teddy Atlas ever saying that to one of his fighters? There’s a better chance of Floyd Mayweather getting a Christmas card from Manny Pacquiao. Perhaps this was just banter between father and son that they routinely make during training, but it sure smacked of a father telling his son what he wanted to hear. And they were probably the only people in the building that believed it.

Now, it might not be fair, but when you consider the aforementioned De La Hoya and Mayweather winning world titles in their 12th and 16th fights, respectively, Andrade looks a long way off that pace. Comparing him in any respect to either of those two Hall of Famers is probably not fair, either. But to whom much is given, much is expected. Prime spots on FNF or Shobox are given out for a reason, and that’s because those fighters are eventually supposed to be main-event attractions, not to mention making man-event money for the networks.

Whether Andrade ever becomes that remains to be seen. He could be the next De La Hoya, but judging from Friday Night’s performance, he also could be the next Francisco Bojado, flaming out before reach the big time. Only time will tell that for sure, so to expect Andrade’s career path to mirror those of his successful forbearers is always a foolish gamble. His boxing future will reveal itself as the months go on; however, whether any of us will be interested in watching it is the larger question. If those struggles continue, the networks may not be so interested in airing it, either.

Then Demetrius Andrade will really need someone to tell him he’s the best.