Off The Cuff

Not only does Rafael Marquez carries a mean right hand, but apparently a mean right leg to score goals in the World Cup. Are those three fingers for your last hat trick?

Because absolutely NOBODY asked, it’s time for the Finito to go off the cuff with some musings on the Sweet Science:

## Just to give you an idea of how any fight with the Klitschko brothers excites me these days, I just now got around to watching Vitali’s tenth-round TKO of Albert Sosnowki, and the fight was over three weeks ago. Did you know that between the two brothers, they have stopped exactly one guy (Wlad over Ray Austin in ‘07) inside of six rounds since 2005? Yes, I know Vitali didn’t come out of retirement until 2008, but it still underscores a major point: While the heavyweight division has a complete dearth of viable challengers, the Klitschkos just don’t press the issue enough to make exciting fights. Mike Tyson may not have beaten the best era of heavyweight contenders, but his passion for wiping people out made us all tune in whenever he fought.

## And if you still don’t think that the heavyweight challenger pool isn’t as bad as I’m saying, watch Vitali keep his left hand at his hip constantly when he’s not throwing a jab for an entire fight. You think he’d get away with that against someone like Lennox Lewis or Riddick Bowe without getting decapitated with an overhand right? Sadly, though, there’s not anyone good enough to do it these days.

## Since Miguel Cotto took down the game Yuri Foreman ten days ago, there’s been about a million opinions thrown out here and there regarding Arthur Mercante, Jr.’s decision to continue the fight after a towel was thrown in the ring. Look, according to the rules in New York, Mercante was well within his rights to continue the fight. However, if the corner wants to stop the fight (and yes, I know there was some confusion about that), the referee should stop it barring any real reason not to. It was obvious that Foreman blew his knee out and couldn’t effectively move out of the way of Cotto’s punches, and I’m sure that was the corner’s thinking. They know their fighter better than anyone, and they might have seen something that Mercante had no way of knowing. A referee should respect the corner’s wishes in that matter.

## Speaking of Cotto, good performance by him. You can really tell the difference a top-notch trainer like Emanuel Steward can make. But for a guy from Detroit, wearing some almost-Yankee looking pinstripes as your ring attire when you’re a Detroit Tiger fan is pretty weak.

## How funny was it hearing the crowd yell “Ole’!” after every huge swing and miss by Jesus Iribe against Ivan Calderon Saturday? “Iron Boy” really should have been a matador, because that guy knows how to make ‘em whiff at some air, even against a very competent fighter like Iribe.

## Who at Top Rank fell asleep at the switch by putting rising 115-pound uber-prospect McWilliams Arroyo in with the equally adept Takashi Okada? Normally, fighters like Arroyo are fed guys with 4-10 records that fight when they’re not driving a semi to Phoenix, not another prospect with some actual ability. Okada looked like the guy on the rise, and Arroyo looked like the Iced Road Trucker. Whoops!

## You know, I am really glad that ESPN3 (ESPN’s online streaming component) gives us replays of Friday Night Fights whenever we want, but wouldn’t you think they would at least stream the whole show? I was streaming the show from a couple of weeks back, and it started right at the Brad Soloman-Kenny Galarza fight, lopping off the first fifteen minutes of the show! All the Cotto-Foreman prefight talk, Teddy Atlas’ predictions plus an interview with Dan Rafael were all cut out. I had to watch the rest on my DVR when I got back home. Kinda defeats the point, doesn’t it, ESPN?
## So let me get this right: Carl Froch thinks he can’t get a fair shake if they have his next Super Six fight with Arthur Abraham in Abraham’s home country of Germany, so the only fair thing to do is have the fight in Froch’s native England? Myopic much, Carl?

## Just to get it out of the way, Andre Ward over Allan Green by decision.

## I’m still not sure what to think about either guy after Vanes Martirosyan took apart Joe Green on the Cotto-Foreman undercard. While I think Martirosyan looked about a hundred times better than in his last (questionable) win against Kassim Ouma, Green was just terrible. I was just stunned to see Green, who’s normally an aggressive fighter, just look lost and ineffective nearly the entire fight. Whether that means Martirosyan is that good or Green is not anything close to what we thought remains to be seen. This might be one of those fights we’re going to have to wait and see to figure out whether this bout was an anomaly or a sign of things to come.

## Well, in case anyone was wondering whether junior fly Carlos Tamara’s title-winning victory against Brian Viloria was the start of something big, please turn in Tamara’s performance against Luis Lazarte as State’s evidence. All credit to Lazarte for finally winning a title after his 30th attempt, but there’s a reason Lazarte hasn’t won an alphabelt before now. Lazarte mostly bull rushes his opponents while swinging too widely, so the top of the division can handle him. The fact that Tamara couldn’t deal with that (use a jab already!) tells probably tells us all we need to know.

## Nice to hear that Steve “U.S.S.” Cunningham signed with Sauerland Event and had a successful debut against Canadian Troy Ross last week. Too bad Cunningham had to go all the way to Germany to find a promoter that recognized his talent. This guy makes for some really good fights.

## How surprising was it to see Rafael Marquez score Mexico’s first goal in the World Cup against host South Africa in their 1-1- tie last Friday? I didn’t think he had any time to train with the Mexican national team while he was preparing for his fourth fight with Israel Vazquez, but apparently he’s that good. Of course, I’m assuming they’re both the same guy, but how many guys named Rafael Marquez can there be in Mexico, right?Paging John Smith…