The Finito Q & A – September edition

Now that the Scorpions are the WBC's “honorary ambassadors for peace”, maybe we can finally figure out if all the band members collectively weigh as much as James Toney did for his MMA fight last month.

This pressing questions in the fight game, from Mora’s running to the Scorpions’ rocking:

Q: After all the negative press the fight has received, was Sergio Mora-Shane Mosley really that bad?

A: It depends on how you look at it. In terms of the fight itself, it was pretty terrible until about round ten when Mora finally decided he actually wanted to make a determined effort to win. The last three rounds did have some good action back and forth, so it wasn’t as bad as Manny Paquiao-Joshua Clottey, for instance. In that fight, Clottey didn’t show up for any round at all, and ran constantly just to make it to round twelve. With Mora, his feinting and clinching style was a definite game plan, he just had no offense to go with it. But all in all, it was a lot of Mosley trying to make the fight and Mora trying not to, so it was pretty hard on the eyes.

Q: If it was so one-sided, how did it end up a draw?

A: Because the judges (well, at least two of them) were absolutely awful. I have not yet seen anyone score this fight towards Mora more than 116-112 Mosley except for Kermit Bayless (115-113 Mora) and Lou Moret (114-114), and unfortunately, their scores counted. I had the fight scored 118-110, and there were only two other rounds I thought were close enough to possibly give to Mora. Other than that, there was no way you could give Mora any more than five rounds (4, 7 & 10-12), because he was not competitive in the others. This was not a fight with a lot of close rounds; Mosley clearly did enough to win and got shafted. HBO’s Jim Lampley called the decision atrocious, and he was right.

Q: With all that said, what does this mean for each fighter’s career at this point?

A: For Mosley, everyone will probably consider this fight a victory, if not on the scorecards. Sugar Shane clearly isn’t what he was ten years ago, but he still has world-class skills and a willingness to get in there and fight. For Mora, the thing he now has in common with Clottey is that he won’t see a big stage ever again. You would think with millions at stake if he had won the fight, the “Latin Snake” would have fought like his life depended on it; instead, he fought like his afternoon nap depended on it. Not only did he show up three pounds heavy at the weigh-in, he used none of his natural size and reach advantages to press the action during the bout. I’m not even sure he even threw a meaningful body shot until the second half of the fight. In the post-fight interview, Mora said he respected Mosley too much. Respect for your opponent should never get in the way of being a professional, and now Mora will have plenty of time to think about that on those Solo Boxeo and Friday Night Fights cards to which he’ll now be banished.

Q: Does this fight take any luster off of Floyd Mayweather’s victory over Shane?

A: It shouldn’t. Like I said before, Mosley has seen his best days, but he still fights at the top level and is a Hall-Of-Famer. The fight with Mora was one of those bad stylistic matchups, so you can’t kill Mosley too much for it; besides, Mosley did his best to bring the action and did win for all intents and purposes. Until someone dominates Mosley like that again, you have to consider Mayweather’s victory a significant one.

Q: Speaking of Mayweather, do you think he’s going to fight again now that three felony counts have been brought against him?

A: Apparently you didn’t read last week’s Finito Five. Floyd is not going to be mentioned here unless it’s for some actual in-ring action. Until that happens, I couldn’t care less if he ends up in jail or not.

Q: OK, then back to the PPV. Maybe the main event was terrible, but didn’t the undercard fights (all KO’s) take away some of the stench?

A: Yes! For all the bad the feature fight gave boxing fans, the three fights before it were absolutely thrilling. You’d have thought the French Revolution was in full swing the way the heads were rolling. Daniel Ponce De Leon showed that he’s becoming a real boxer in addition to his awesome power by wiping out fellow featherweight Antonio Escalante in three rounds (back to FNF with Mora, Antonio!). “Vicious” Victor Ortiz won the battle of the “Vicious” nickname by knocking down Vivian Harris four times on the way to a third-round knockout. Ortiz really looks like he’s getting some of that swagger back he lost against Marcos Maidana. And as for 154-pound Mexican redhead Saul Alvarez smoking iron-chinned Carlos Baldomir in round six, what more needs to be said? Baldomir is long in the tooth, sure, but he hasn’t hit the deck in more than ten years, and has certainly never taken a ten-count. With the buzz generated by those fights, fans were chanting Alvarez’ name while Mora was doing all his running during the main event. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that before.

Q: The Top Rank Live card this last Saturday had two fights with world title implications, but the Jorge Arce-Lorenzo Parra jr. feather clash was only in round three by the supposed end of the show at midnight. Many a DVR owner must have been frustrated. What happened?

A: First off, it’s a live sporting event, so DVR users, get used to extending your recording times an hour (or start it an hour early if it happens to be on ESPN!). Secondly, this was just par for the course with Top Rank Live these days. While boxing fans are eternally grateful to Bob Arum for putting these shows on, the production often resembles cable-access programming. If you look at any ESPN or Telefutura show, there are absolutely no more than 22 scheduled rounds of boxing for any given show. Why? Because the fights themselves (barring knockouts, of course) take about 90 minutes, leaving 30 minutes for ring introductions, fight analysis, ads, et cetera. The card Saturday, between Omar Chavez and Humberto Soto’s fights before the main event, totaled a ridiculous 30 scheduled rounds, which would run at exactly two hours for just in-ring fight time. If Chavez hadn’t ended his fight in round four, the show would have lasted almost three hours. Not very good planning by the Top Rank folks.

Q: So the Arce-Parra fight was a draw then wasn’t a draw afterwards, so what did fans miss?

A: What was missed was a complete mishandling of scorecards, which again is indicative of just how messy some of the Top Rank Live shows are. It was bad enough that rounds three and ten didn’t come back from commercial break until a minute into their respective rounds; but when the fight was over, and seemingly in a rush to end the show, an obviously confused ring announcer Lupe’ Contreras just said the fight was a draw and the show ended. No scores, no explanation, nothing. After the fight was over, officials at the fight said the scorecards were added up incorrectly and Arce was the winner. A day or so later, the Culiacan Boxing & Wrestling Commission said the original draw would stand for now, and there’s to be a hearing. So in other words, no one knows who won right now. And given that Arce dominated the fight from pillar to post, I’m not really sure how there can be that much confusion with the result.

Q: Cruiserweight Enzo Maccarinelli got knocked out once again against Alexander Frenkel this last weekend. Why is he still being allowed to fight?

A: He shouldn’t be, at least not for a while. The British Boxing Board Of Control really needs to get on this before something really bad happens to Maccarinelli. Frenkel absolutely crushed him with a left that eventually ended up with doctors giving the Welshman oxygen on the canvas. This is the fourth time in eight fights that he’s been brutally knocked out, so much so it should give his team (Joe Calzaghe’s father, also named Enzo, is his trainer) some pause about putting him back in there. It’s one thing to have a run of getting stopped in fights, but it’s another when those knockouts end with you sleeping on the canvas. The only reason he’s allowed back in the ring every time speaks to how celebrated Maccarinelli was for years in Britian prior to his facing David Haye. Perhaps Maccarinelli should find another line of work before he starts sounding like Tommy Hearns or worse.

Q: Did you see the WBC gave rock band the Scorpions an honorary championship belt? The Scorpions?

A: Yes, I did see that. As if the WBC doesn’t do enough strange things already with their belts and rankings, now apparently Klaus Meine and friends are “honorary WBC ambassadors for peace”, which garners some sort of belt. What in the world the Scorps have to do with boxing (yes, I know they have played at Klitschko fights in the past) or what the WBC has to do with world unity seems is comparable to what Oscar De La Hoya has to do with Antarctic exploration. I suppose, though, when you have four champions in one division and have been known to rank dead fighters, giving rock bands their own belts is not such a stretch. I just hope this doesn't mean that if I ever need to replace my "Love At First Sting" CD, there isn't an extra sanctioning fee that goes along with it!

The Finito Five 8/17/10

Wladimir Klitschko's not making Bernard Hopkins' executioner sign, although he did nearly behead Sam Peter in their rematch Saturday. No matter how much body the Ukranian exposed, Peter just felt like getting a hug instead of throwing a body shot.

More coherent than any video rant, it’s the Finito Five!

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1. Open mouth, insert Mayweather

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OK, I try to be objective in this space every time out, but there comes a time when I have to cut the cord. That’s it. Until he steps into the ring again, I’m officially done with Floyd Mayweather. It’s bad enough he wouldn’t sign to fight Manny Pacquiao earlier this year, but then he throws out a YouTube video so stupid it makes the Flat Earth Society look legit. Never mind his ridiculous, semi-racist rants directed towards the Filipino superstar in which he’s not even smart enough to insult his intended target correctly (uhh, Sushi is Japanese, not Filipino, dummy). Never mind his pathetic yes men agreeing with everything Floyd said to the point that if he told one of them they were owls, they’d probably start hooting. This stupidity we expect from Mayweather. The most galling thing, however, is that he’s calling out the pound-for-pound best boxer in the world (and, believe me, it’s not you, “Money”) as if Pacquiao won’t fight him, when it’s clearly the other way around. At least if you’re going to call someone a chicken, you should at least make sure you’re not the one with the beak. The only reason this video probably even happened in the first place was that Pretty Boy just couldn’t take that Pac-Man was in the news again for an actual, honest-to-God fight and he wasn’t. It’s getting positively tiring to constantly hear news about Mayweather without it having to do with a signed contract for his next bout.

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The difference this time is that Mayweather’s now really stepped in it. Up until now, the Mouth from Grand Rapids could just about say anything he wanted with no repercussions. However, as soon as that video came out, instead of everyone just shrugging off his comments as they usually do, an outcry from fans and Filipino groups alike actually made Floyd issue a weak apology the next day. And make, no mistake, his “I was only playin’ around” excuse was just that. He crossed a line that was beyond just trash talk. If that wasn’t enough, now we find Mayweather back in jail again on charges he stole cell phones from the mother of three of his kids and a possible charge of domestic battery. To be sure, no one knows the facts of this case just yet, but Floyd’s ex-girlfriend did go to the hospital, so something happened. With Las Vegas police saying that Mayweather actually threatened to beat HIS OWN KIDS if any of them called the police, this could get much more ugly before it’s all done. And you know what? As much B.S. as I’ve had to constantly put up with from Mayweather (and as much of a creep as he is, anyway), until he steps into the ring, I couldn’t care less what he says or does. Like I said before, I’m done.

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2. The Montiel/Margarito World Tour

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With most boxers who dedicate their blood, sweat and tears to the fight game, it can usually be said that their lives are boxing. But you would think that even the most dedicated of fighters would like a weekend or two off with their families, like the rest of us working Joes do from our own jobs. Apparently, this doesn’t work for bantamweight Fernando Montiel and welterweight Antonio Margarito, who have seen fit to show up at damn near every fight in North America over the past six months. Just about every Top Rank show that is on TV these days, there’s Margarito in the ring with his smiling Mexican face, while Montiel is in the first couple of rows rocking sunglasses with some hottie at his side. At Giovani Segura-Ivan Calderon, there they were again, and I’m pretty sure they were at Tomasz Adamek-Michael Grant as well, selling cotton candy and popcorn for all we know. Guys, you can have interests outside of boxing; get a hobby! But, alas, there Margs was again Saturday night behind Brandon Rios prior to his fight with Anthony Peterson. Maybe he's just saving up his frequent flyer miles so he can fly somewhere that never heard of Plaster of Paris! As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure I saw Montiel at the bread isle in my local supermarket yesterday. I’m half expecting that when I open up my closet tomorrow, Margarito will be standing there asking me for advice on beating Pacquiao. And whatever advice I would give him, I certainly won’t tell him to go out and plaster Pac-Man…

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3. Still Petered out

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Well, so much for being excited at the Wladamir Klitschko-Sam Peter rematch, huh? There were more than a few fans and scribes alike that thought that perhaps a slimmed down, focused and streaking Peter may give the Ukranian his best test since, well, the last time they fought. If you remember, that was also the last time big Wlad hit the deck and actually was in some serious difficulty. The only difficulty (at least until the tenth round) was remaining interested in the fight itself while watching it. Look, it’s obvious that Klitschko has gotten markedly better since the first time he fought Peter, and wasn’t going to let the Nigerian get in any position that was dangerous. The disappointing thing was that Peter wasn’t doing much to BE dangerous. Unlike his brother, Wladamir is only a few clinches per fight away from John Ruiz territory, and Peter was willing to let the bigger man tie him up and not attempt any work on the inside. For the millionth time, heavweights of the world, YOU WON’T EVER BEAT A KLITSCHKO FROM THE OUTSIDE! You would think that since Wlad has fought every bout essentially the same way for the last ten years, someone would figure out that maybe they need to get inside his reach and work to the body? Peter and his team didn’t seem to have that figured out. Don’t they say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing each time and expecting a different result? In that case, maybe Wlad’s next title defense ought to be in an asylum.

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4. Rios makes a statement, Peterson makes a mistake

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With all apologies to Yuriorkis Gamboa’s excellent featherweight title defense against Orlando Salido, the undercard of HBO’s Boxing After Dark Saturday was the fight with all the intrigue. Undefeated lightweights Brandon Rios and Anthony Peterson were going to tangle, and the winner might be the Next Big Think at 135 pounds. Honestly (including this space here), many thought it would be Peterson, the D.C. phenom who had been kicking butt and taking names along with his brother, Lamont. I guess that’s why they fight the fights, right? Because I’m now a huge fan of Rios, who just laid a beating on Peterson from seemingly out of nowhere. He had Peterson so frustrated, Rios was in danger of not being able to procreate due to Peterson’s 20 or so low blows. “Bam Bam” obviously had a stronger will and mental game than his opponent, and while Rios’ career has shot to the stratosphere, now the questions will start mounting for Peterson. Peterson obviously had more boxing ability, but when it came time to demonstrate it, he quit using his jab and started to get tagged. Despite repeated and easy to follow directions from his trainer Barry Hunter to use that jab, Peterson just wouldn’t do it. Finally, one too many blows south of the border caused referee Russell Mora to disqualify him. While his brother Lamont may have lost to a pound-for-pound world-beater like Timothy Bradley, this was Rios’ first big win of note. The question is whether Anthony Peterson will have another one of his own. He needs to get right before that can happen.

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5. I wouldn’t want to be in this Hatton Wonderland

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When Ricky Hatton more or less stopped fighting after his loss to Manny Pacquiao, there were a handful of boxing people that wondered whether he would be able to resume a normal life. This is a guy that would blow up to damn near 200 pounds when he fought at 140, and it was well-known that Hatton liked the pubs and the good life. It wasn’t so much of a surprise then, that Hatton had been seen over the winter looking more and more like “Hands of Food” Roberto Duran. Many athletes put on weight after their playing days are over. Sadly, it looks like Hatton may have slipped into Johnny Tapia territory. A British newspaper recently published a sobering photo of Hatton snorting cocaine on their front page, a photo that can’t be denied or claimed to have been altered into something it wasn’t. And before everyone cracks any jokes about whether the picture was taken at Joe Calzaghe’s house (c’mon, you know you were thinking about it!), it’s time to realize just how bad it’s gotten for the English “Hit Man”. According to reports, Hatton is now in rehab, as the drugs were only a minor sidelight to a serious drinking and depression problem. So, in other words, the good time, hanging-out-with-his-mates and having a Guinness Hatton is no longer funny, it’s ruining a once-great champion’s life. Here’s hoping Hatton gets it together and comes out of this a better man. Beating addiction will probably a lot tougher than Pac-Man.

Off The Cuff II

The sweat was up and flying several times during the Giovani Segura-Ivan Calderon clash, but "Iron Boy" should have been flying around the ring and not trading with an awesome puncher like Segura.

Now that Labor Day is fast approaching here in the States, it’s time to labor through another round of rapid-fire thoughts about our beloved Sweet Science:

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## Watching the recent Tomasz Adamek-Michael Grant fight, I have to say that there was nothing there that made me think the Polish heavyweight could beat either Kitschko brother. Sure, it was a gutty, gritty performance against Grant, who looks like he should be playing linebacker in the NFL rather then boxing, but it sure wasn’t a cakewalk. Grant had Adamek hurt a couple of times during the fight, and may have won had Adamek not swept the first six rounds. Grant is nowhere near as busy or accurate at Wlad or Vitali, and if Grant can do that kind of damage, Ukranian’s Finest might end the night early for Adamek. Then again, it’s not like the Klitscko’s have been ending much of anything early lately except my interest level.

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## I had to laugh during the fight when Integrated Sports PPV play-by-play nutcase Col. Bob Sheridan kept repeating that Adamek was “just not going to be intimidated by the imposing Michael Grant!” All I could think of was the fact that no one else in the heavyweight division has been intimidated by Grant since about 1999, either. But give Sheridan credit for trying.

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## Seriously, I could write a whole column about Col. Bob’s constant trips to Bonkersville every time he does a fight, and we’ve had two of them to pour over in consecutive weeks. For those not properly trained in Sheridan-Speak, here’s what you need to know:

1. Every fight is the greatest of all time (remember Jacqui Frazier-Laila Ali?).

2. Every fighter is a true warrior, and this is the best division in boxing.

3. The Integrated Sports PPV (or whomever he’s working for at the time) team is just amazing, and it’s simply amazing they haven’t yet cured cancer.

4. If there’s an inconclusive or controversial ending to a fight, every theory from the shooter in the grassy knoll to Machiavellian scheming by Don King’s barber will be put forth until we learn that, yeah, it was just a close fight.

So we need to forget the fact that the good Colonel had Adamek out on his feet in the twelfth round when he wasn’t even close, or the fact that Adamek was putting American heavyweights back on the map (uh, Adamek is POLISH!). He’s just a roller coaster ride, so you just have to go with it at times.

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## Just as any Col. Bob Batman needs his Robin, Benny Ricardo fills the bill nicely as the chief second on the Integrated announce team. His best highlight was in the sixth round of the Giovani Segura-Ivan Calderon flyweight championship fight Saturday, when he said, “These guys don’t even know how to hold!” just as they were, you guessed it, holding. Still, he had one of the funniest lines I’ve ever heard during the same fight, as they panned to bantamweight Fernando Montiel sitting in the crowd with two attractive women on either side of him: “He is the WBO & WBC bantamweight champion. I guess when you’re a champion of two divisions, you get two women like that!” Now that was funny…

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## Speaking of that fight, I can’t for the life of me figure out why in the world Calderon stopped moving in the fourth round and started trading with Segura. Maybe it had something to do with “Iron Boy” fighting in front of his native Puerto Rican crowd, but Calderon had been dominating the fight up until that point. While Segura’s attack was relentless, he wasn’t really connecting until Calderon inexplicably quit moving and, worst of all things he could have done, started to back up instead of going side to side. I’ve heard all the chatter about Calderon being 36 and slowing down, but I still think it came to some bad decision making in the ring that cost him in this one. We’ll see if he does the same in a rematch.

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## It was really refreshing to hear Ring magazine flyweight champion Ponsaklek Wonjongkam show some honesty from a fighter for once when talking about his surprise loss to Diasuke Naito in their third fight. “I had become complacent,” he said, “and I took Naito for granted. Never again.” Maybe that’s what spurred him on to turn a surprise of his own when he shocked undefeated Koki Kemada earlier this year, likely putting him in Canestota. Contrast that with motormouth 140-pounder Hank Lundy on Friday Night Fights last week trying to make every excuse in the book for his loss to John Molina on that same show last month. He was sick that night, the ref messed up, the lights were too bright, the dog ate his homework, whatever. As a fan, you just get sick of it after a while.

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## As for Friday Night Fights, it wrapped up another season Saturday. Even though Teddy Atlas can grate on me and sometimes the matchups aren’t stellar, it really is the best boxing show around. I miss the heck out of Atlas, Brian Kenney and Joe Tessitore, and it makes me actually want freezing January to get here so they can start up again.

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## Yeah, so James Toney got killed in his MMA fight with Randy Couture. Anyone surprised? Yeah, me neither. And for those MMA idiots (just the idiots, not the fans who truly respect ring sports) who say that this proves MMA’s dominance, just keep in mind that Couture beat a guy who hasn’t been a boxing factor in years, didn’t bother to train himself into shape and didn’t train in any of the other fighting disciplines needed to become a good cage fighter. Toney is no more a legit MMA fighter than Kimbo Slice is going to be as a boxer. This was a sideshow, nothing more, and I bet Couture knows that, too.

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## And just to show you MMA isn’t the only place to find complete idiots, I can sure do without stodgy boxing writers denigrating MMA every time they forget to take their Prozac. Jeff Ryan’s constant assertions in the pages of Ring magazine that MMA fighters can’t take a punch is just stupid and petty. I wonder how many of today’s boxers would have great chins if boxing switched to four-ounce gloves like MMA? I bet a six round fight would be considered long. Both disciplines are incredibly challenging, and great athletes and fighters abound in each, and neither is going away. Just deal with it.

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## So Texas gave Antonio Margarito a license to fight Manny Pacquiao. Color me shocked. When there’s promotional greenbacks involved, Jack the Ripper would probably get a license. From the same commission that gave us the first Juan Diaz-Paulie Malignaggi screwjob, I’m not surprised.

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## Anyone else hoping that Pac-Man lays a massive beatdown on Margacheato?

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## So, now that Pacquiao has a dinner date for later this year, any surprise that Floyd Mayweather has climbed out of his cave and seems interested in another fight all of the sudden? I thought “Money” was busy enjoying his summer, but I guess when your rival that you ought to be fighting one-ups you and actually fights, insecurity just won’t let you continue to relax by the pool. It’s almost hilarious if it wasn’t so sad.

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## Oh, and just for the record, the Sam Peter fight with Wlad actually does have me interested. Keep in mind that whenever Peter has been in shape, he’s been pretty dangerous, and he’s been in shape recently. We’ll see what kind of shape the younger Klitschko brother is in after that fight is over.

The Finito Flash – Margarito’s impossible choice, Kessler’s obvious choice

Antonio Margarito may be in shape, but does he have anywhere to fight? California told him to take a walk, but Texas may decide that loaded gloves are only important if they prevent the Cowboys from playing.

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

By now, most everyone has heard that the California State Athletic Commision (CSAC) has denied welterweight Antonio Margarito a license to continue fighting after his plaster-in-the-hand-wraps debacle prior to his fight with Shane Mosley a year and a half ago. That was definitely the right thing to do, and I believe that Margarito probably should be on the shelf for longer than just a year. In fact, I’m still torn as to whether he even belongs back in the ring period. I simply don’t (and won’t ever) believe that Margarito had no idea his gloves were being loaded when he’s been around thousands of wrapped hands, his own or otherwise. Cement in your gloves is about as heinous a transgression as can be done in the Sweet Science, and it should never be taken lightly. Ever.

Having said all that, however, the dog-and-pony show that was put forth by the CSAC in denying Margarito his license defied all logic. From all accounts, Margarito (and his lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli of Ron Goldman fame) had no chance coming into the hearing simply because the CSAC was determined to give Margarito two impossible options. He could admit his guilt (which is what the CSAC had said they essentially wanted him to do), which would probably result in his becoming so radioactive that not even Lady Gaga would touch him with a ten-foot pole. It’s not like you can walk around saying, “Yeah, I knowingly let my trainer put cement in my gloves, my bad. So when’s my next fight?” His second option (which he chose) was to deny any wrongdoing, but in doing so, meant that he would never get the CSAC to reinstate his license. Couple that with the CSAC’s citing some obscure “sparring license” rule that Margarito failed to follow as some further example of his general negligence (yes, because not getting a license that half of California boxers don’t even know about and loading your gloves are in the same place on the egregiousness meter!), and the Mexican was as good as done.

Now, this is not to say I have any sympathy for Margarito, because I don’t. His fighting in Mexico while suspended in the U.S. coupled with his continued association with trainer Javier Capetillo for months afterward was among the stupider things in boxing history. Margarito has made his own bed so many times, he should be working at Howard Johnson. He’s applied for a license in Texas, and if that commission has any decency, they will deny him once again. Still, the CSAC made their case less legitimate by making the proceedings look more like a Boston Legal episode than an actual hearing. Let’s hope it’s the only time this happens.

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Bummer of bummers, it looks like Mikkel Kessler has pulled out of the Super Six super middleweight tournament. Apparently, it had to do with a muscle around Kessler’s eye that sustained repeated damage during sparring, and it has been an issue with the Dane for quite a while. Eye injuries are always a serious thing, whether you’re a boxer on not. Luckily for fight fans, after about a year, he should be back to normal, and can resume a career that excites boxing fans around the world.

Still, what are they going to do with the rest of the tournament? Kessler had a genuinely good shot of making the semi-finals of the tournament if he had beaten Allan Green; with Green’s no-show against Andre Ward, that may have been a good Vegas bet. Adding someone new at this point virtually guarantees that fighter no chance of advancing if Kessler’s points aren’t carried over to them, but is it also fair to give credit for Kessler’s accomplishments to someone just coming in? Probably the only fair way to finish up the tournament is to scrap the third round and just have Andre Dirrell, Ward, Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham start the semi-finals right now. Of course, Green would be left out in the cold, but he was pretty fortunate to be asked in the first place. Besides, why not just make Green-Kessler after Kessler’s eye heals? We wouldn’t have to miss the fight at all then, but obviously the Super Six is making for some strange promotional bedfellows we wouldn’t normally see. That fight being made under normal circumstances may be more of a reach than Floyd Mayweather actually answering a question about Manny Pacquiao this year.

From what it sounds like, Showtime is discussing skipping round three of the tournament, so there’s encouraging news on that front. Even though we may have lost a round of great fights, it’s hard to argue that the Super Six has been anything other than an excellent idea, one which will be remembered for years to come.

This Chad was just plain “bad”

Chad Dawson got in the face of fellow light heavyweight Jean Pascal more often at the weigh-in than he did for most of their fight Saturday. Maybe Pascal's breath was bad enough to scare Dawson from engaging him closely during the bout.

As an observer of boxing for over 20 years now, I can say that there are three things that I firmly believe go into making a boxer who he or she is (and you could probably apply them to any sport, really). Setting aside for a minute any other intangibles that could come into play, these are the three variables:

1. Skill – Whether this is God-given talent or acquired by training, the actually boxing ability of a fighter in the ring.

2. Intelligence – Otherwise known as wisdom or ring smarts, this covers the mental side of the game, from the ability to adapt to getting your opponent to fight your fight.

3. Heart – This is what most fans call the warrior’s mentality, from the journeyman who keeps fighting after being knocked down five times to the champion who summons the will to grind out the last two rounds of a title defense.

Every fighter has varying degrees of each one of these attributes, but here’s one thing that’s for sure: If you’re severely lacking in any one of these areas, but are great in the other two, it will eventually catch up to you.

Want an example or two?

Ricky Hatton has tons of fighting heart and dictated his all-attacking style to just about every opponent he ever faced. However, when it came down to matching skill on skill with the Pacquiao’s & Mayweather’s of the world, he just couldn’t hang and eventually lost. Does that mean he was without skill? Of course not. But as a fighter attempts to ascend the highest rungs of boxing’s ladder, not having one of the attributes at the same high level of the other two will make life difficult, and that’s what happened to Hatton. Too bad there can’t be more than one Ricky Hatton, eh?

A different example would be welterweight Kendall Holt. While “Rated R” has skill beyond compare and a willingness to bring the fight each and every time, he is also very capable of melting down mentally at a moment’s notice. Anyone remember his awesome first couple of rounds against Timothy Bradley last year? Holt could have been in control of the fight and possibly won, but he inexplicably decided to quit throwing punches and using his jab, so Bradley took over. How about the rematch against Ricardo Torres, where Holt wasn’t ready for Torres to start brawling at the opening bell (which is all Torres ever does), and got knocked down twice in the first round before eventually coming back to win by knockout in the same round? Great heart, but Holt could save himself a lot of pain and suffering by keeping his wits about him sometimes.

Which now brings us to the third example, that of light heavyweight Chad Dawson. We know Dawson’s skill is among the very best in boxing, period. We know he is cagey enough to keep world-class fighters like Glen Johnson and Thomasz Adamek off their games and frustrated. But never has Dawson’s heart been truly tested. Never has he had to prove that he wanted it more than the other guy. Never has he had to overcome that adversity that makes so many fighters great.

Against Jean Pascal last Saturday, Dawson showed that he might not have what it takes to bring it at the highest level. And what a disappointment that is.

When it became apparent during the first few rounds that Pascal was going to use his familiar Montreal crowd to bring the fight and wrest the title of best 175-pounder from Dawson, “Bad” Chad was just plain bad. Make no mistake, Dawson is the better fighter by miles, both in terms of skill and ring smarts. But it was apparent early on that Pascal just wanted it way more than Dawson did, to the extent that Pascal was going to keep throwing punches until something good happened. Here’s a guy that suffered three shoulder separations (ouch!) in his second fight with Adrian Diaconu, and still found a way to win.

Dawson, when faced with this situation and opponent, apparently forgot to bring the gasoline with him. Pascal totally dictated the fight, but it was obvious that during the infrequent times that Dawson decided he wasn’t going to fight safety-first, he could really do some damage. Still, there was no energy, no passion to win and really no significant punch output coming at all from Dawson. It wasn’t until the later rounds when he decided to get on his horse that he had Pascal hurt in the ninth and nearly out in the eleventh before an accidental headbutt cut Dawson and caused the fight to go to the cards. At that point, it was too late. Dawson was toast.

The worst part was that it was inexcusable for a guy that was fighting in the challenger’s hometown because he can’t sell tickets in the United States not to lay everything on the line. What did he figure would happen? With the vocal Montreal crowd ooohing and aaahing with every Pascal punch, they would give the decision to the guy from Connecticut? Dawson, unlike crowd-pleasing fighters like Arturo Gatti, has to find a way to keep winning so that HBO and the boxing public will remain interested. With this lousy performance and the lack of any guts, who’s going to flock to see Dawson now? Pascal’s the man at 175, not him. And, although Dawson’s calling for a rematch, a bazillion-dollar fight with Lucien Bute’ is next for Pascal, because the Bute’ matchup is much more interesting, from Canada to Bhutan.

At this moment, Dawson is at a crossroads. He needs to decide whether he has the passion to take some risk and get his crown back, or if he’s going to join the Derrick Gainer’s of the world as just a skilled fighter who plays it too safe to ever be a real factor again.

It may be time for some real heart surgery.

The Finito Five 7/29/10

Welterweight Timothy Bradley says he's ready for everyone from Amir Khan to Manny Pacquiao himself. The difference is, unlike many fighters who call others out, Bradley will actually fight them. He might just give these guys more then they bargained for, as well.

Able to take the shots better than Paul Briggs (imagine how short a column this would be otherwise), it’s the Finito Five!

1. The megafight that’s turning into the megajoke

After a while, one has to wonder just how much blog space need be devoted to a Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather fight that continues not to happen. It was said in this space that no news was good news (and it probably was), but when Top Rank’s Bob Arum started to open up his trap earlier this month and set a deadline of July 17 for Mayweather to agree to the fight, you knew it wasn’t going to happen. With a nice dog-and-pony show disguised as a 3am (EST) press conference that morning, Arum told everyone what we knew already: The fight was off, and Pac-Man was exploring other options. That next option is either “Fists of Plaster” Antonio Margarito or a rematch with Miguel Cotto. Anyone else want to see any of those fights? Yeah, me neither. Margarito really shouldn’t be rewarded with a big payday for his transgressions, and he’s not even licensed in the United States to begin with. Where would their fight need to be in that case? Margarito’s home country of Mexico? That would be stupid. The Philippines? Maybe, but it’s not easy to put on a big PPV event there (not as easy as Las Vegas, at least). With Cotto, that’s already been done, and I haven’t met one boxing fan who thinks the outcome would be any different.

The worst part about these negotiations is that no one can seem to agree on whether the negotiations actually happened in the first place. You have Top Rank saying that they did negotiate with HBO’s Ross Greenburg and Mayweather’s adviser, Al Haymon, while you have Mayweather’s other adviser, Leonard Ellerbe, saying no negotiations ever took place. So everyone’s running around saying this and that, so what does Mayweather have to say? Oh, yeah - nothing. Whenever “Money” has been interviewed about the subject, he deflects the question, saying he’s just enjoying his summer. Thanks, Floyd, but that’s a big slap in the face to your fans and boxing fans in general. It’s pretty obvious at this point that Mayweather has no respect for either. One thing is for certain: If Floyd doesn’t get off his duff and take the Pacquiao fight in the next year, it will forever tarnish that legacy that Mayweather holds so dear. No matter what he accomplished in the ring, 30 years from now it will be the fight he didn't take that will define Mayweather’s legacy.

2. Col. Bob and the new math

Ahh, you’ve got to love an Integrated Sports PPV. Why put up with all the boring professionalism and accuracy of Jim Lampley at HBO or Nick Charles of Showtime (get well, my man) when you can have crazy Uncle Bob and Benny “and the Jets” Ricardo making each fight a two-drink minimum? Well, the titanic heavyweight tilt that was David Tua-Monte Barrett gave Col. Bob a chance to impart his vast boxing knowledge to the masses (when he wasn’t calling Barrett a great warrior enough times that you thought Tua must have been in the ring with Spartacus, anyway). Among the wit and wisdom put forth during the fight:

1. Round 10 is apparently the start of the championship rounds (I guess title eliminators must be nine rounds now).

2. There were millions on the line in the fight (what, did someone have some seven-figure action on Tua at the betting window?)

3. 40 percent of judges disagree on close rounds. (? – I mean, really – ?)

If you didn’t understand that last one, neither did I. He said it at least three times during the main event, and it made about as much sense as Ray Mancini discussing the Crimean War each time. If you take at face value that each close round is 10-9 either way, how can only 40 percent of judges disagree when there are only two ways to vote? Are these 40 percent disagreeing with the other 60 percent or with each other? If he means those 40 percent disagree with each other, then it’s 20 percent voting for fighter X and 20 percent voting for fighter Y, while the other 60 percent must be voting for the ring card girl or something, because otherwise it would be 80-20. Makes the head spin, huh?

3. Timothy Bradley is a bad, bad man

With the aforementioned blather about Pac-Man and Mayweather not fighting and looking for other dance partners, here’s betting that jr. welterweight Timothy Bradley’s phone will not be ringing off the hook. Why, you ask? Well if you saw Bradley’s dismantling of tough Luis Carlos Abregu ten days ago at 147 pounds (he’s a 140-pound titlist), this is a guy who could be giving either of those two big problems. Even though Bradley was unheralded until he went to England and beat Junior Witter a few years ago, he’s showing with each fight that he’s a buzzsaw that won’t easily be beaten. He’s got quite a good package: Fast hands, great work rate, honest power, ring generalship and solid defense. In other words, he’s the most complete fighter at 140 or 147 not named Pacquiao or Mayweather. And most important of all is the fact that Bradley wants it. Bad. He looks like a guy fighting to put food on his table every time he steps into the ring. When you consider the posturing that has taken place over the last year between Manny and Floyd, it’s nice to see someone running around saying “bring ‘em on!” finally. If the megafight can’t be made, let’s hope that Bradley gets a crack at making one of those guys regret not taking the millions.

4. Does the main event or undercard make a PPV worthy?

When I first heard about the rematch between lightweights Juan Diaz and Juan Manuel Marquez, it seemed like a fun action-packed fight that would do HBO proud. Diaz wasn’t going to come out a winner any more than he did the first time, but that’s all right; that’s why I have my HBO subscription. When I found out the fight was on PPV, it suddenly became less attractive. Was this fight really PPV-worthy for $50? While both are really good fighters, Diaz has been coming up short of a big win for about two years now, while Marquez is starting to look a little long in the tooth. The Kelly Pavlik-Sergio Martinez fight deserved to be on PPV more than this fight does. So about the time I became convinced that no one would buy it, HBO then goes and put some excellent fights on the undercard. Daniel Jacobs and Dmitry Pirog at 160 pounds (both undefeated), jr. welterweights Joel Casamayor and Robert Guerrero (a must win for both guys) plus Jorge Linares-Rocky Martinez at lightweight (Linares’ first big fight in the U.S.) all round out a fabulous card before we even get to the main event. HBO’s Greenberg has promised fans card like this for a while now, and it looks like he’s finally delivered. Chances are this PPV might be worth the money far more than any other show in recent years for that reason. Although after seeing such undercard fare as Julio Ceasar Chavez, Jr. and Troy Rowland recently, maybe HBO is figuring that boxing fans have lowered their standards enough to jump at it. Either way, it’s good to have a show where each fight is worth watching.

5. That Danny Green sure throws a mean jab…

Thanks, Paul Briggs, the Sweet Science hadn’t seen an honest-to-God dive in a while, but that void has now been filled. Most boxing fans probably didn’t figure it would be Briggs, he of two actual competitive performances against Tomasz Adamek, that would fold up like a deck chair after one glancing shot to the forehead. For those who haven’t seen it, a mere 30 seconds into the fight, Briggs was (sort of) jabbed in the forehead by Green after partially blocking the punch. It was literally the first punch that Green landed, and Briggs went to his knees like he had a reservation for dinner across town, not even attempting to beat the ten count. While Green went ballistic after the fight (he said his dog had bigger stones than Briggs!), he was seen begging off those comments the next day saying that Briggs did indeed get hit with a punch. And, yeah, Briggs did get hit, but only one of two things are possible: Either Briggs should never have been licensed to fight if he couldn’t take that kind of punch, or he took a first class, Olympic-style dive (I give him a 9.5, by the way). Seems strange that Briggs could survive all that sparring in training, but couldn’t take a punch on fight night, huh? It also doesn’t help Briggs that some big money reportedly came in on Green by first round KO, either. Something smells rotten, and Briggs has forever besmirched himself with this pathetic performance. Way to destroy your name and legacy forever, dummy.

The Finito Q & A – July edition

If this guy (Shannon "punch me harder" Briggs) can get a title shot against Vitali Klitschko, does that mean that Razor Ruddock will face Wladamir next? We can only hope.

This month’s burning fistic questions, from the slow summer to the quick MMA death of James Toney:

Q: So what gives with the slow boxing schedule this summer? It seems there’s been a lack of big fights lately.

A: Welcome to boxing, which while it has no off-season, does tend to take a couple of months off from time to time. It’s true, since the beginning of May, there hasn’t been much except the Andre Ward-Allan Green Super Six fight, and that wasn’t much of a fight. I don’t think it’s anything intentional by promoters, really, it’s just scheduling, and all the big names are in the middle of their next big fight. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if the soccer (oh, excuse me, football) World Cup has something to do with it, especially outside the U.S. With countries practically shutting down for days at a time while their country marches through the tournament, it’s not the best time to be promoting fights. It’s the same reason you don’t see a lot of U.S. boxing shows during the NCAA basketball tournament in March.

Q: What about the big names of Pacquiao and Mayweather? Is all the silence from both camps good or bad for the fight actually happening?

A: At this point, it’s a very good thing. One of the biggest issues during the last set of negotiations was all the carping about blood testing, lawsuits, event sites, you name it. When you’re putting together a megafight like this, with so many variables that each side has to agree on, doing it through the media is not the best way to go. All it did was tick both sides off at various times, so there was too much rancor built up when they actually had to head to the negotiating table privately. Frankly I’m amazed that Golden Boy and Top Rank can even keep it civil after the bad blood the last time around. Still, if everyone (including the fighters) can act like grown-ups here, this can get done and everyone can make a boatload of money.

Q: OK, on to some fights that actually happened this past weekend. Juan Manuel Lopez blew out Bernabe Concepcion in two rounds Saturday too keep his 126-pound belt. Does that mean that his near stumble against Rogers Mtagwa was just a bad night?

A: It was either a bad night or a bad stylistic matchup for Juanma, but if he keeps wiping out really good fighters like Concepcion, that Mtagwa fight gets farther and farther in the rear-view mirror. Much like Lopez’ countryman, Felix Trinidad, he sometimes gets lax and can be hit, which would explain how Concepcion was able to send Juanma to the canvas in the first round after he seemingly had the Filipino just about out on his feet. The flaws in Lopez’ game makes for some high drama, while the dynamite in his fists make for some outstanding finishes. It’s a great combination.

Q: So what happens when Juanma steps in the ring with Rafael Marquez in a few months?

A: You’ve got to like the Puerto Rican in this one. Although Marquez is one of my personally favorite fighters, I’m not sure the Mexican has enough left any more to overcome the offensive onslaught that Lopez is going to bring. If it was 2004, I think Rafa wins, but in 2010, Juanma has too much. I will say, however, that as long as this fight lasts, Marquez will get his licks in, and it won’t be an easy night for either guy.

Q: During the opening fight on Saturday, Showtime shockingly revealed that Nonito Donaire was using Victor Conte, former president of BALCO, as his nutritionist. Is that a smart move?

A: Only if you think that announcing Lindsay Lohan is your AA sponsor is smart. Seriously, there are no other nutritionists in the world better than a guy who plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute steroids? Not only did this Conte’s company nearly take down Sugar Shane Mosley, it’s been linked to some nefarious dealings with Barry Bonds as well as disgraced Olympic athletes Kelli White and Marion Jones. Now granted, Donaire is not as big a name as Mosley or any of those other athletes, but why take the risk? This guy has smeared more reputations than a Kitty Kelly tell-all biography, and he wasn’t even trying! It’s always good to have someone on retainer to help you achieve your best athletic performance possible, but there has to be a more hassle-free option out there than Conte.

Q: Let’s go back to Shobox on Friday night, where the possible rising star matchup of welterweights Mike Jones and Atwone Smith was nuked after Smith lost to Lanardo Tyner. Any chance Jones fights Tyner now? And what does this do to Smith’s career?

A: Well, if you believe Smith’s promoter, Lou Dibella, Smith was very sick leading up to the fight. From the eye test, it did look like Smith uncharacteristically ran out of gas around round six, so it’s probably likely that he wasn’t 100 percent. Tyner showed that he’s the kind of guy you’d better be at 100 percent to fight, because he’ll beat you if you’re not. Still, I don’t think that this will either ruin Smith’s career or get Tyner an automatic shot at Jones. Most likely what will happen is a rematch between the two, while Jones gets a shot at Andre Berto. Either way, we all win, because I’d certainly like to see both of those fights on the same card. Are you listening, Showtime?

Q: German promotional company Universum has decided to make their own YouTube page, posting the company’s recent fights as well as those from years back. Why aren’t more promoters doing this?

A: Honestly, I think it has more to do with how some promoters are organized than anything else. If you have ever seen Universum-Box work, they are very much like a true multinational corporation in how they are run, and they obviously have seen the benefit in giving fans around the world the ability to see their fighters (especially those who can’t get the German telecasts). They have fights with the Klitschkos, Jurgen Braehmer, Sebastian Zbik and Vitali Tajbert, just to name a few. Other promoters, by contrast, seem to think that once a show has aired, nothing more needs to be done with it. This is especially troublesome with large PPV events. With those, we normally get to see a replay of the main event on HBO or Showtime, but the undercard fights tend to disappear into the ether, never to be seen again. Before the Internet, fans rarely got to see those fights unless you knew someone who taped it. You can’t tell me that Top Rank, Golden Boy, and Goossen-Tutor couldn’t do the same thing Universum has done. It’s time for them to get it together. If I can upload my own videos to YouTube, it can’t be too much of a problem for them to do the same.

Q: In a blockbuster announcement on Friday Night Fights, Teddy Atlas said that Vitali Klitschko’s next opponent will likely be Shannon Briggs. Any interest in that?

A: Let’s put it this way – I’d rather walk out to my deck, pull up a chair, grab a soda and wait for the gray aliens to land on my lawn than see any fight with Shannon Briggs. It’s bad enough that the Klitschkos have no one to fight (see Albert Sosnowski), but what the hell has Briggs done since he fought George Foreman back in the 90’s? Grow longer dreadlocks? Even in this horrid collection of sad sacks that pass for heavyweight contenders these days, Briggs isn’t even high up on[I] that[/I] list. What a joke.

Q: So James Toney is going to try his hand at MMA, taking on legend Randy Couture next month. What’s the chance he survives the fight without serious bodily harm?

A: About the same chance that Toney has of passing a Dunkin’ Donuts without snacking on an apple fritter! Seriously, I’m not an MMA fan at all, and I know that Toney’s going to get killed inside of a minute. Bravado is all fine and good, and “Lights Out” has plenty of that, but does anyone seriously think Couture is not out to prove MMA’s dominance by ripping Toney’s head off? It would practically be a disgrace for a decorated MMA guy like Couture to lose to an out of shape rookie like Toney, whose best boxing days have been behind him for about five years now. The people making money on this fight are the two fighters and whatever hospital Toney ends up in afterwards. Humpty Dumpty has a better chance of getting reassembled before Toney does.