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…

News and Views: The Marquez-Vazquez weekend

Israel Vazquez provides the crowd with a McDonald's Fillet-O-Face courtesy of his scar tissue and Rafael Marquez' punches. Thankfully, it looks like there won't be a best of five in this series.

Some thoughts on the recent happenings in the world of the Sweet Science:

News: Rafael Marquez knocks out Israel Vazquez in the third round of their featherweight clash Saturday after two hellacious cuts render Vazquez unable to see.

Views: This is why, even as a huge fan of both guys, I did not want to see this fight. There’s a reason it took both guys over a year to fight again after they completed their awesome trilogy in 2008. Vazquez, especially, looked very shaky his last time out against Angel Priolo last October; for that matter, Marquez certainly didn’t look like the pound-for-pound world-beater he was when he beat Jose Francisco Mendoza either, and that was a year ago. It was obvious to all but the blind that their three fights together had taken too much out of them, and to expect some kind of war this time around was fool’s gold. When Showtime analyst Antonio Tarver (who is really solidifying his place as the best ex-fighter doing color commentary today) took one look at Vazquez’ left eye and said it looked ready to open up prior to the fight even starting, you knew this one wasn’t going very far. The fight was barely two minutes old when that eye opened up, and Marquez (who was always the more skilled of the two) had more than enough to get Vazquez out of there two rounds later. Add yet another cut on Vazquez’ other eye in the third round from a headbutt, and the valiant Mexican just couldn’t see. The gruesome cut that Vazquez sported after the fight looked like it was done with a machete or something. The outcome was not satisfying at all and was actually a little sad, which is what I was afraid would happen.

News: While there was talk of a fifth fight between the two after the fight (the series is tied at 2-2), Vazquez’ manager, Frank Espinosa, said Israel would likely have to retire instead.

Views: Finally some smart talk from someone who genuinely cares about his fighter. At the very least, Vazquez will need major reconstructive surgery on that right eye just so he won’t look like he spent 20 years in the WWE. Given that prospect, why put him in the ring again? It’s too great a risk. He made a lot of money during his career, and no one is disputing his place as one of the great Mexican warriors in the history of boxing; we’ll remember his three fights with Marquez forever. How excruciating must it have been for his family to watch Vazquez’ face get carved up like a Christmas turkey? Sometimes, enough is enough, and it looks like it’s time for Vazquez to call it a career. There’s nothing more to prove between he and Marquez; they’ve both proved their greatness whether they do another thing in the sport or not.

News: On the undercard, bantamweights Yonnhy Perez and Abner Mares battled to a spirited draw.

Views: Anyone else excited about the 118-pound division these days? We already have Fernando Montiel, Vic Darchinyan, Hozumi Hasegawa and Joseph Agbeko at the top of the division, and now you can add both Perez and Mares to the mix. Yes, Perez did look like he was in trouble at the end of the fight (and the Finito had it 116-112 Mares), but Perez made it a fun scrap to watch and landed quite a few shots of his own. There were several close rounds, so the draw was a pretty good call. Not only is this one begging for a rematch, but you wouldn’t mind seeing either guy in with the names mentioned above instead, either. While each fighter has great skills, both have enough flaws that would make any combination of those matchups fun to watch. The biggest hurdle that Perez and Mares faced was getting a lot of TV time; that really shouldn’t be a problem from here on out.

News: Ruslan Chagaev decisions Kali Meehan to garner the WBA’s mandatory challenger to new titleist David Haye.

Views: So let me get this right: Chagaev gets destroyed by Wladamir Klitschko and loses his title, so now he gets to fight Kali Meehan (who’s ranked #1 by the WBA for some inexplicable reason) and get another shot? You would think that any organization would look at that beat down and decide that Chagaev needed to win a few more fights to get back in the title picture. No, friends this is the WBA! Instead, Chagaev gets to earn another shot by beating a guy who’s best known for losing every significant heavyweight fight he’s ever had. It’s just silly at this point, and it makes me wonder why fighters take these sanctioning bodies and their titles seriously. Yeah, sure the gold looks nice to carry into the ring, but by charging thousands every fight just to keep it, that belt seems just a tad overpriced. No wonder “Money” Mayweather told the WBA (stands for We’re Beyond Asinine, I think) to take a walk rather than pay the sanctioning fee for Shane Mosley’s title.

News: Manny Pacquiao is diagnosed with a mild stomach ulcer Monday.

Views: Between running for Congress in the Philippines and having to negotiate with Floyd Mayweather, I’m surprised the man doesn’t guzzle Tums by the box! Seriously, though, many Pac-Man fans have always worried that he’s spreading himself too thin with all the commitments he has going on. Between politics, fighting, movies, ads, charities and everything else, he makes the Dos Equis’ “Most Interesting Man In the World” look like a burger flipper at White Castle (heard their burgers will give you ulcers, too). We all want Pacquiao to be thrilling the boxing world for years to come, but he may need to dial it back a bit if he’s going to jeopardize his health. He needs to be a threat to his opponent’s health, not his own.

The Finito Five 5/20/10

It's not known where Amir Khan ate Saturday night, but he sure had plenty of Italian earlier that evening. Khan showed that he was adept at swarming the "Magic Man" with punches as Malignaggi usually is with his opponents.

With even more letters (really, just a few more) than Krzysztof Wlodarczyk - Giacobbe Fragomeni II, it’s the Finito Five!

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1. Amir Khan do it

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All right, no Monday-morning quarterbacking here, you just didn’t see Amir Khan looking this good, did you? Going into Saturday night’s 140-pound clash of British import Khan and the always exciting (if sometimes unpredictable) Paulie Malignaggi, there weren’t a whole lot of boxing fans or scribes predicting the domination that Khan laid on the NYC native. As a matter of fact, as good as Malignaggi looked last time out in avenging his suspect loss to Juan Diaz, there were more than a few who thought that Khan might be in for a rude awakening. Though the only knock on Khan was a possible suspect chin (exposed inside of a round by Breidis Prescott a couple years back) and no one figured that feather-fisted Malignaggi would be able to test it, Khan had never faced anyone of Malignaggi’s considerable skills. At this point, the “Magic Man” might be the division’s ultimate gatekeeper. Beat him, as Miguel Cotto and Ricky Hatton did, you show yourself to be on the elite level; lose to him, as Edner Cherry, Juan Diaz and Herman Ngoudjo did, you’ve shown you’re not quite there.

If that’s the true litmus test, let it now be said: Khan has arrived. While Malignaggi has lost before, he never was beaten at his own game, which Khan was able to do in spades. He got off before Malignaggi, hit him harder, more often, and sometimes, almost seemingly at will. “King Khan” obviously has been paying attention to his trainer Freddie Roach, because his overall offensive and defensive game is miles above where it was around the Prescott loss. It just goes to show that even the best of talents can improve their ring skills, and it pays off like Lookin’ at Lucky did in the Preakness that same day. Malignaggi, however, looked more like Super Saver, beaten down and beaten up to the point that he was contemplating retirement after the fight. That seems premature; he’s still too entertaining and can beat too many fighters for that. It just looks like Khan might be one of those that will beat a whole mess of really good fighters before he’s done.

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2. Worst choppers ever, Part 2

Last time out at the Finito, it was chronicled just how shockingly (and I mean like the first time you heard Mike Tyson speak shockingly) terrible Mikkel Kessler’s mom’s teeth were. If you study the tape of the Kessler-Carl Froch fight carefully, you can see several startled witnesses covering their children’s eyes at ringside as Mrs. Kessler opened her mouth. As frightening as it was for all of us, none of us were prepared for the sequel, as Amir Khan’s dad, Shah Khan (who’s Amir’s mom, Chaka Khan, then?), flashed a gap-tooth that you could fit an honest-to-God Concord grape into. Seriously, that space was big enough that you could see the man’s actual tonsils through it. And you thought eyes were the window to the soul! What’s the deal with the lack of orthodontistry in the boxing community? Perhaps there should be a doctor at ringside during fights, then an orthodontist in the locker room after the fight to check out the fighter’s relatives. Just an idea.

3. Victor Ortiz returns to “Vicious” form

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Anyone who had a chance to watch “Vicious” Victor Ortiz’ last two fights (a KO over Antonio Diaz and decision against Hector Alatorre) wouldn’t have been wrong in thinking that Ortiz lost his killer instinct when he got knocked out by Marcos Maidana. Certainly, the Diaz fight was against a fighter who’s likely finished, and Allatore was a journeyman that Victor just couldn’t seem to pull the trigger on. The thought was that Maidana might have knocked the fight out of the 23-year old, as Ortiz both looked and talked like a guy who didn’t know if he wanted to be a fighter going forward. It was surprising then, that Ortiz roared back to form in beating Nate Campbell from pillar to post over ten rounds to stake his own claim at jr. welterweight. Now Campbell, who is 38, might be as done as Diaz was, but Ortiz acted as if he wanted this one, throwing harder and with more purpose than the aforementioned last two forays into the ring. At his best, Ortiz can be a don’t-go-to-the-fridge type of fighter, but it may always be mental with him, much like Kendall Holt’s Sybil-like ring performances lately. Let’s hope that Victor remains “Vicious” from here on out, because he will be headlining cards and exciting boxing fans for years to come if he can just keep the focus he had against Campbell.

4. The fight that never was, and the rematch that won’t happen

There are two type of no-contest bouts in boxing: those victories that get nullified due to some pre or post-fight shenanigans, and those that are stopped early due to some strange circumstance and never get off the ground. With the first type, at least, there is usually a complete fight to judge whether said shenanigans would have changed the outcome of the bout. The second kind, however, leaves everyone wanting to know what could have happened, and we all too rarely seem to get an answer. For three rounds, the Paul Williams-Kermit Cintron jr. middleweight tussle was anything but, as both fighters didn’t establish much offensively. Then, of course, just as they started to throw some actual punches in round four, a strange tie-up caused Cintron to fall out of the ring an onto a table, injuring himself too severely to continue. Now, because of the stupid California rules that say the fight can go to the scorecards after only three rounds (not the usual four), Williams won, but clearly there was nothing decided here, right? Wrong, as now boxing fans will never get to find out what happened, as the Williams camp is taking the win and splitting. Maybe this was karma for Cintron’s weak draw against Sergio Martinez (and there are some that have said Cintron should have lobbied harder to continue after his fall), but how can Williams and promoter Dan Goosen not even talk about a rematch? Now they’re acting like the “Punisher” had some kind of quality win, and are just moving on to greener pastures. Come on. This fight decided nothing, and boxing fans deserve to see how it would have played out. It’s not like Williams was handing it to Cintron before he took his spill, anyway. Williams struggles enough to garner fans as it is; he doesn’t need to do this kind of cut-and-run job.

5. Bet you know if Sonny Liston was really hit with that punch, too, Teddy

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Teddy Atlas is half the reason boxing fans love ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights so much, with his passion, expertise and experience covering all aspects the fight game. Lately, though, Atlas seems to have taken his predilection for getting into fighters’ heads to a new and inappropriate level. First, two weeks ago, he insinuated that Shane Mosley might have lost so decisively to Floyd Mayweather because it was his first fight off steroids. If that wasn’t speculative enough, he then insinuated a week later that it was possible that Kermit Cintron was looking for a way out when he was carted off on a stretcher after a fall out of the ring against Paul Williams. While both of these scenarios could certainly be true, Atlas, who is no journalist, had absolutely no concrete information to back this up other than his spurious “I’ve been around, and I’ve seen how a lot of fighters act” schtick. While he does have a knack for seeing things in fighters like all trainers do, most of what he said flies in the face of actual logic. Forget that Mosley has actually [I]lost[/I] a handful fights since he would have allegedly been taking PED’s. Forget that Cintron had to have known he had no chance to beat Williams by begging out of the fight when it was stopped. Those are just logical scenarios that get in the way of all the insinuation. Teddy needs to stick to the action in the ring, and leave the journalism to the journalists.

The Finito Q & A – May edition

Even though Sugar Shane had Mayweather reeling in the second round, from that point on it was Floyd who reeled Mosley in like a fish.

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This month’s ten burning questions, from Mayweather’s straight right to Mikkel Kessler’s mother lack of straight teeth:

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Q: Pretty impressive performance by Floyd Mayweather in beating Shane Mosley this weekend. Surprised that he dominated so thoroughly after nearly hitting the deck in the second round?

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A: I wouldn’t say surprised, because most of us figured he may have had this in him, we just never had the opportunity to see it. That probably speaks more to “Pretty Boy’s” talent and career as a whole than anything else. Still, when Mayweather was rocked for the first time anyone can remember (and if you don’t believe he was one more right from tasting canvas, check the video again), he responded like the Hall of Famer he’s going to be. He took Mosley, who is going to Canestota someday himself, apart from that point on, and by the end of the fight Sugar Shane was out of gas and out of answers. Except for perhaps the first Vernon Forrest fight, Mosley’s never been in that position. It was simply an excellent performance against the welterweight champion.

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Q: But what about Mosley being on the downside of his career? Surely this might have been a different fight had it happened eight years ago?

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A: That may be the case, but for once, you can’t hold that against Floyd. He took on the Ring Magazine 147-pound champ, and beat him, simple as that. Besides, no one’s going to know if Mosley is shot until he fights a couple of more times. If he comes back looking like he did against Margarito, then it looks more impressive for Mayweather. If Mosely’s next fight is a shellacking like he took against Miguel Cotto, then we’ll know his best days are behind him. Either way, Mayweather took on a real welterweight, which is what he always needed to do and will have to continue going forward.

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Q: So does this now usher in an era of Mayweather fighting the best in and around welterweight?

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A: Not so fast, my friend. I’m still convinced that Mayweather was damn sure he had Mosley right when and where he wanted him, because that’s how “Money” makes fights. Whether it was the year-plus long layoff, overtraining due to his winter training camp in preparation for the Andre Berto fight that never happened, or simply that he was 38, Mayweather took this fight knowing that he would have some kind of advantage. He could have fought Mosley just about any time in the last decade, and the fact that he took this fight now was a calculated move. Mayweather may talk a lot of nonsensical crap, but as far as business goes, he’s no dummy.

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Q: Will that mean Mayweather won’t fight Manny Pacquiao until he thinks he has Manny at his weakest point?

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A: Yes, something like that. Whether it’s Pacquiao running for elective office in the Phillipines, perhaps doing another movie, or becoming Emperor of Manila, there’s every chance that Pac-Man might have a period of inactivity or suffer in his training due to having so many irons in the fire. Believe me, team Mayweather is watching this. Even if Manny agrees to the Olympic-style drug testing, I don’t think we’ll see the fight with Mayweather actually happen until Floyd sees some kind of flaw in Pacquiao’s armor. It may just be perceived on Mayweather’s part, but it will need to be there before the contracts are signed.

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Q: How about the media coverage surrounding the event? It seems like a lot of mainstream media were actually talking about and covering the fight.

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A: The coverage was welcome, and should make boxing fans feel good to be boxing fans again. While it’s hard for me sometimes to listen to non-boxing people talk about the Sweet Science without cringing, the mainstream media really did a fair and honest job of covering the fight as the event it was. For once, all the talk was about the action in the ring and not about how boxing is dying sport. That was refreshing, and nice to see. Hopefully, this will be a trend that continues.

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Q: Going back ten days or so, looks like your streak continued in the Super Six tournament. What did you see in Kessler that made you think that he’d beat Carl Froch?

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A: Well, put simply, I went with the home team on this one. I figured it would be a close fight, and it was that; the raving Danes (would that be a fantastic name for a punk band or what?) filling a packed house gave him a shot in the arm, I believe. Besides, Kessler has never had two bad fights in a row, and he bounced back from the loss to Joe Calzaghe pretty well. So after Andre Ward dusted him up, you had to figure that Kessler would be ready and desperate, although Froch actually fought much better than he did in his win against Andre Dirrell in the first round of the tournament. Look, one thing that’s becoming apparent is that anyone can beat anyone in the Super Six, there are NO easy nights. Ward had better watch out against Allan Green next month.

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Q: So what was more surprising to watch, Froch’s humble response to his first loss or Kessler’s mom’s awful teeth?

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A: While Froch actually giving credit to Kessler post-fight after sounding like Floyd Mayweather’s understudy for the last year was surprising, Kessler’s mother and her Choppers of Doom have to win this one. Seriously, Mikkel? You’re the biggest athlete in the whole damn country, make millions of dollars (or kroners), and your mom’s mouth looks like the Carlsbad Caverns? Get her some orthodontistry, dude! Man, I bet it wasn’t hard for her to keep the kids in line whenever she flashed those things in anger. Don King’s hair just told me that it relinquishes its title as Freakiest Thing In Boxing for as long as Kessler’s career lasts. Yikes.

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Q: Since Fernando Montiel went to Japan and lifted a bantamweight title from Hozumi Hasagawa with a stunning fourth-round KO, would that qualify as the upset of the year so far?

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A: Maybe not the upset of the year, but perhaps the surprise of the year. If anyone remembers, Montiel hasn’t exactly looked like a world-beater in his last few fights, and Hasagawa hadn’t lost since he was fighting four-rounders. Montiel just crushed Hasagawa with a massive left hook in the fourth round, and the Japanese fighter was absolutely out on his feet (somebody actually saw him on Queer Street having a beer, I hear). Great win for Montiel, but this one is begging for a rematch, because it was a single punch that changed the fight. Given that fighters from North America and the Orient don’t fight much (it was fortunate this fight ever happened in the first place), don’t be surprised if that doesn’t materialize, unfortunately.

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Q: Showtime’s Shobox play-by-play man Nick Charles announced on last Friday’s telecast that his cancer is back, and he’ll have to take another leave of absence from the show. This really isn’t a good sign, is it?

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A: No, cancer the first time or the tenth time never is. He beat it once, so we know he’s a fighter, and I think I speak for the boxing public when I say I hope he does it again. There’s no better ambassador for the sport or sports in general, for that matter. Charles is class all the way, adds a smooth professionalism to any broadcast he’s been a part of and is liked by just about everyone. I can remember him all the way back to the extra-curly haired CNN days; I sure wish we get to see on camera once again with that short-haired chemo look, because that would mean he’s returned from being down once again. Go beat this cancer again, Nick, and hopefully, this thing won’t need a trilogy.

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.