The Finito Five 9/25/09

Floyd Mayweather had all the right moves against former 135-pounder Juan Manuel Marquez, but will he take those moves and fight Shane Mosley, who is a natural 147-pounder?

Back like Pretty Boy Floyd, it’s the Finito Five!

1. Mayweather is money while Mosley looks to cash in

Floyd Mayweather grates on a lot of boxing fans. The trash talk, the false bravado, the legal and IRS troubles, the ducking of fighters his own weight. Well, likable or not, Pretty Boy Floyd is one of the greatest talents of a generation, perhaps second only to Roy Jones (who also has known to frustrate a boxing fan a time or two himself). As great as Juan Manuel Marquez is, and he will have a plaque in Canestota, he was reduced to a no-hoper just a few rounds in by the superb fistic acumen of Mayweather during their welterweight clash Saturday night. Marquez likely has never seen hands that fast at 130 pounds, let alone at 147. Mayweather just moved out of the way of the Mexican’s punches, then countered with a couple of his own; this dance went on for all twelve rounds, interrupted only when Mayweather scored a knockdown in round two. Marquez was out landed by almost 200 punches, scoring only 69 of his own. Although most expected Floyd to win, the sheer dominance and lack of ring rust was astonishing nonetheless. Give it to Marquez for going the distance, but this was a squash from the word go.

As a matter of fact, the most intriguing part of the fight might well have been the post-fight interview, where Ring Magazine welterweight champion Shane Mosley stormed the ring, calling out Mayweather with a little help from HBO’s Max Kellerman. Mayweather, who shook hands with Mosley, then proceeded with the standard line of my promoter makes my fights, I just fight – as if Floyd had no say in the matter. While Mosley is obviously just looking for a dance partner, as he has had none for some months now, it is doubtful that the fight would ever happen. Say what you will, but Mayweather doesn’t like to fight true 147-pounders, and Mosley has been there for quite some time. The size difference between Mayweather and Marquez was stark, and Mayweather’s prima donna move of coming in two pounds heavy disadvantaged Marquez even more. Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto and Mosley will not have just moved up from 130 pounds, so it will be interesting to see what “Money” does from here.

2. HBO needs to invent a Mayweather-to-English dictionary

HBO’s 24/7 series is always a welcome addition to any superfight, giving fans unmatched insight into each fighter’s camps prior to the main event. Mayweather-Marquez 24/7 was no different, complete with Marquez drinking his own urine and eating raw quail eggs as his preparation and training regimen. Yes, before you ask, we’ll never look at Marquez kissing his wife the same way again. The big gripe was, though, all the Spanish speakers on the program had English subtitles; where were the subtitles for Roger and Floyd Mayweather, Sr.? Seriously, has anyone understood a complete sentence either guy has said in the last ten years? These two make Ozzy Osbourne sound like William F. Buckley! Listening to Roger pontificate about Sugar Ray Robinson, it was unclear whether he thought Robinson was the greatest fighter of all time or an egg salad sandwich. Was it too many headshots for both guys during their careers? Hard to say, but if they showed up at a rehab clinic and merely opened their mouths, they’d likely get admitted right away.

3. Undercard musings

It’s always welcomed when a PPV event such as Mayweather-Marquez has quality undercard fights making it worth the $50 price tag (OK, maybe not worth that much!). In this case, there were two good ones. First, Michael Katsidis, huge tattoo on his back and all, tattooed fellow lightweight Vincente Escobido in a fight that surprised a fair number of people. Although the fight was more competitive than many Internet and newspaper reports have said, Katsidis was still too tough and determined for the overwhelmed Escobido. Look, Katsidis fights the same way every fight; to hang with him, you have to match his work rate and intensity for twelve rounds, and land the more telling shots. Escobido didn’t, and he lost. Also on the card, featherweight Chris John finally got the unanimous decision he deserved over Rocky Juarez after that gift draw in February. Not sure how one judge had it 119-109 for John after Juarez, like he always does, came on after his one millionth slow start and had John holding on for dear life in the final minute of the fight. Man, imagine what Rocky could do if he could manage to win an early round or two! We might be saying, “Manny who?”

4. Shobox rules the roost once again

Does anyone remember HBO’s KO Nation show? Yeah, that was HBO’s answer to Showtime’s new Shobox program, both meant to showcase up-and-coming talent facing off against each other. While KO Nation was complete with dancing girls, fireworks, and hip-hop music, Shobox simply focused on putting together great fights. Well, we know how that turned out (KO Nation didn’t last a year), and last Friday’s Shobox continued to remind fight fans why it’s always worth tuning in. Bantamweight Chris Avalos will soon be must-see TV because this guy is never in a bad fight. His fourth-round KO of Giovanni Caro was a real smoker from the first bell, as both fighters traded so much leather, you would have thought they were breaking in their gloves on a new heavybag. Avalos’ final right hand looked like it was going to remove Caro’s head from his shoulders. That fight was followed by heavyweight Tony Grano’s upset KO of Travis Kauffmann, also in round four. Kauffmann hadn’t yet fought any real competition, but he soon had Grano taking a left on Queer Street at the start of round four. Grano then smartly hit him low and spit out his mouthpiece, giving himself valuable time to recover, then pressed the attack on Kauffmann, taking him out after a furious assault. Kauffmann certainly didn’t see it coming, and neither did the audience. But that’s Shobox; they understand that good matchmaking likely makes for a good result, even if the fighters aren’t top-shelf. Here’s hoping the show lasts another ten years, with Nick Charles back and cancer-free.

5. Bad boxing decisions are evidently not good for one’s health

Teddy Atlas famously once said about his heavyweight pupil Michael Moorer that if he ever had a heart attack, he would blame it on having to train the former champion. While that might seem a little farfetched, try telling that to British boxing promoter Frank Maloney, who apparently did have a heart attack during the heavyweight fight between John McDermott and Tyson Fury on Sept. 11. It’s not known when the actual heart attack occurred, but if it was anytime around when clueless referee Terry O’Connor raised Fury’s hand after Fury got his rear end handed to him by McDermott over ten rounds, it would be understandable. It’s another argument completely why British boxing lets the referee decide the fight (which will be discussed in an upcoming Finito), but at least Maloney braved the possible Big One for a classic postfight quote. “He didn’t even have a mask on,” Maloney said of O’Conner. “Dick Turpin (famous English highway robber of the 1700’s) at least wears a mask when he robs you.”

The Finito Q & A – September edition

Roy Jones may have dressed like a pirate prior to his fight with Jeff Lacy, but he at least lived up to his Captain Hook moniker during their the twelve round fight. Lacy looked more like Black (and blue) Bart after the bout.

Tackling the most pressing questions the fight game has to offer:

Q: Three blogs since the start of July? Just what the hell were you doing all summer?

A: Sorry about that. Truth is, I spent most of my summer moving, which was longer and more arduous than expected. Let me tell you, after not having moved for eight years, I can’t believe how much worthless crap I’ve acquired in that time. Just boxing magazines alone (I still really miss Bert Sugar’s Fight Game, by the way) made me realize my back isn’t what it used to be in my 20’s. Besides, with the dearth of good fights this summer, I guess I don’t feel bad taking the summer off - the promoters apparently took it off, as well.

Q: OK, back to boxing, you slacker. Whatever happened to Roy Jones not fighting past 35?

A: Well, apparently Roy is not Lennox Lewis. Remember, Bernard Hopkins said he’d retire at 40, as well. The lure of the money and accolades are too much for most fighters, and judging from Roy’s dismantling of Jeff Lacy, he’s still pretty good for 40 years old.

Q: So Roy Jones is back to being the old Roy Jones, then? He said as much in the postfight interview.

A: Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Jeff Lacy is completely shot, even though he looks like a greek god. Although Roy still has good hand speed, Lacy has zero power at 175, as evidenced by the flush headshots he landed on Roy that Jones barely noticed. If that was Chad Dawson or Carl Froch landing those shots, Jones would likely be in a heap on the canvas. As long as Roy takes on this sort of opposition (like Danny Green, his next reported fight), he can fight for a few more years yet.

Q: Going back a few weeks, just how bad a screw job did Paulie Malignaggi get against Juan Diaz?

A: Not the worst I’ve ever seen, but pretty bad nonetheless. Unfortunately, the way Malignaggi fights, he’ll always go the distance, and the law of averages will say he’ll be on the business end of a broomsticking a few times. Still, when he basically explained prior to the fight exactly how he’d get screwed, and it happened exactly that way, that’s not good for boxing. What this does is seriously hurt Diaz’ ability to bring big fights back to Texas, because no one outside of the state will trust that commission.

Q: You’ve been all over Julio Ceasar Chavez, Jr. in previous blogs. Does his smoking of Jason LeHoullier finally convince you Junior is for real?

A: Look, I never said JC Jr. wasn’t talented; I just need to see him in a real fight. His supporters claim that flattening LeHoullier, who has a sturdy chin, inside of a round shows how good Chavez has become. While all of that is fine, let’s now get in the ring with Felix Sturm or Anthony Mundine. It’s time we see what Chavez can do against top ten guys – we already know what he can do with mid-level opposition. Otherwise, if all he’s going to do are these PPV fights, who cares how good he is or isn’t? Unless it’s against real competition eventually, it’s a moot point.

Q: So how lucky was Fernando Montiel to escape his fight against Alex Valdez with a technical draw Saturday night on the Chavez undercard?

A: Let’s put it this way, he must have made a quick trip to Ireland on Friday to kiss the Blarney stone. How “Cochulito” managed to escape the beating he was taking from Valdez without losing would make Harry Houdini proud. Of course Montiel got help from some incompetent officiating by referee Jesus Salcedo, who decided that after Montiel got cut in the first round by an obvious punch, he just didn’t need to inform anyone whether it was caused by a punch or not. It was an interesting scene after the fight ended in round three due to the cut, because no one had any idea what Salcedo had actually ruled. It was first called a technical draw, then changed to a KO win for Valdez, then back to a draw after the commission said they made a mistake. Valdez and his team were understandably ticked off; Montiel was just lucky he looked so terrible and got away with it.

Q: And what about Ivan Calderon and Rodel Mayol going to a second straight technical draw due to another cut on Calderon’s forehead? Weird, huh?

A: If styles make fights, the styles between these two 108-pounders make for a busted Calderon forehead. The only difference was the first fight was stopped in round six, this one in round seven. This time around, though, I thought that Calderon was headed towards putting this one away, had it gone the distance. Still, if you had gone to Vegas and bet this result, you’d be able to buy the arena for the third fight between these two!

Q: Andre Ward and Mikkel Kessler took care of business in their tune-ups, and are ready to face each other in November. So, are you excited for the Super Six tournament?

A: Are you kidding? This is the coolest thing to happen to boxing since Compubox! Man, think about it; Arthur Abraham-Jermain Taylor and Carl Froch-Andre Dirrell next month, followed by Ward-Kessler a month later. That’s some serious talent on display. Showtime really hit the jackpot with this one, which they routinely seem to do. They may not have the budget HBO does, but quick, name the bad fights you’ve seen in the last two years on Showtime Championship Boxing – it’s a short list. The network has really done boxing fans a favor here.

Q: After watching the Mayweather-Marquez 24/7 series so far, what do you find harder to fathom - that Marquez drinks his own urine, or that Roger Mayweather wants “to be good people”?

A: Well, these are two different things. We have video evidence of Marquez drinking his own urine; as for the other, Mayweather can desire to be the Eiffel Tower, but I’ll believe it when I see it. Sorry (and maybe I sound like everybody’s grandfather here), but you can’t have gone to jail for assault on your son’s grandmother and be up for yet another assault and be on the good person list. The whole Mayweather clan is about as likeable as swine flu.

Q: You know this would have to be asked sooner or later – do you buy Marquez’ assertion that he drinks his urine to recover his lost vitamins and proteins?

A: That’s like picking through the garbage in case you left some edible food in the trash bag, isn’t it? You certainly can do it, but it’s much easier to go to the store and get new food. Urine is a waste product for a reason; if there are vitamins and proteins lost, then get take some Centrum and eat a freakin’ turkey sandwich! It’s much easier and tastier. Unfortunately, as much as I have loved Marquez for years, whenever I see him now, the pee drinking will be the first thing I think of. Hope he gets an endorsement deal out of this from Scope or something. Yeesh.

Antonio Margarito and Top Rank just don’t get it

You would think this scene between Antonio Margarito and his trainer Javier Capetillo would never be seen again; to this point, however, Margarito has not fired the trainer who supposedly put plaster in his gloves without his knowledge.

Two weeks ago this Saturday, with more than a few last-minute rearrangements, Top Rank’s Latin Fury 10 Pay-Per-View event commenced. The scheduled main event featuring Julio Ceasar Chavez, Jr. against Jason LeHoullier had to be scrapped due to a rib injury to Chavez (although there were reports rib and everything else was way over the 154-pound limit). In its place, Miguel Acosta’s upset of Urbano Antillon at lightweight took the top spot, a rather unexpected and exciting scrap that ended up with Antillion losing via TKO in the ninth round.

However, it was the fight prior to the main event that had everyone talking.

Up and coming 108-pounder Giovani Segura pounded out a solid defense of his jr. flyweight title against Juanito Rubillar, which was expected. Perhaps unexpected was not only the appearance of disgraced trainer Javier Capetillo in Segura’s corner, but also of the fighter supposedly so greatly wronged by Capetillo, one Antonio Margarito.

And it wasn’t as if Margarito accidentally tripped over a tanning Capetillo by the hotel pool in Puerto Vallarta, either. Not only was Margarito in Segura’s dressing room and in his corner, he actually appeared to be with Capetillo, talking with fighter and trainer both, acting as if he was part of the entourage.

How could Margarito show up with Capetillo on an internationally televised Top Rank telecast, you ask? Wasn’t Margarito claiming up, down and sideways that he had no knowledge of the plaster put in his gloves by Capetillo during his fight with Sugar Shane Mosley earlier this year? Now that Margarito is banned from boxing in the United States for a year and likely more, shouldn’t he want to punch his trainer out for ruining his career and reputation?

Guess not.

The whole production stunk so badly, it was a wonder the fight didn’t take place in a port-a-john. There was so much brain fade going on, you almost have to break down the stupidity piece-by-piece:

1. Antonio Margarito

Let’s just ignore the obvious questions above, and assume for a minute that Margarito is actually still friends with Capetillo, and is not mad with him because they were both in on the plaster wraps against Mosley. If Margarito wanted everyone to believe his lie about being innocent, why in the hell would he be anywhere near Capetillo, especially on TV? It makes his story look like a complete sham! Just for appearances, if nothing else, he should be miles away from Capetillo so he could get his boxing license back. Sure, Capetillo would take the fall, but at least Margarito would have a boxing future. Does he think the California Athletic Commission doesn’t watch Pay-per-view boxing or something? How is Margarito going to explain his chumminess with his trainer, who he hasn’t yet even fired? If Margarito were smart, he’d be off TV and off anyone’s radar until his hearing next year.

2. Javier Capetillo

Apparently, Capetillo couldn’t care less whether his fighters box in the States or not, especially since he won’t be there. Instead of taking his medicine and hoping not to end up like Panama Lewis (unable to work another fighter’s corner ever again), Capetillo continues to work fights as if nothing has happened. Since he can work in Mexico (which is a whole other ridiculous subject), his doing so is essentially thumbing his nose at California’s ruling, making it almost a certainty that he will never be reinstated north of the border. If he wants to decide to do that himself, that’s fine, but it’s asinine to think this won’t affect his fighters and their paydays, which are likely bigger in the U.S. If he really cared for Margarito, he’d tell his fighter to stay the heck away from him. He’s either not smart enough to figure that out, or he really doesn’t care what happens to his fighter’s career.

3. Top Rank

The worst part of this whole debacle is that Top Rank actually gave the go ahead for Margarito and Capetillo to be on the telecast together! Seriously, did they think no one would notice, or did they just not care? It was awful enough listening to Bernard Osuna (who’s becoming this generation’s Col. Bob Sheridan) and Raul Marquez (who I expect better from) heap platitudes and compliments on Capetillo as he worked the corner, making almost no mention of how disgraced the man is in boxing circles. The fact Margarito was there didn’t seem at all strange to anyone, either. Maybe since Bob Arum and Top Rank was paying their salaries, that was to be expected; Arum, however, should know better. If Capetillo and Margarito aren’t bright enough to stay away from each other, Arum, who is a smart businessman, should have told them to make like John and Kate (without the 8). You would think Arum would do everything possible to make sure Margarito gets reinstated, therefore making more money for Top Rank. Instead, they televise the ill-advised reunion for the entire world to see.

If nothing else, it will be interesting to see all three parties standing before the California Athletic Commission next year. Watching Margarito explain how he’s still close the man who essentially ruined his boxing career, a fact he cannot deny thanks to his promoter putting it on TV, should be captivating. It sure looks like not only that Antonio Margarito won’t save himself from himself, neither his trainer nor his promoter will, either.

The Finito Five 7/15/09

Bantamweight Joseph "King Kong" Agbeko celebrates a hard-fought victory over Vic Darchinyan Saturday. Despite what Agbeko and promoter Don King intimated after the fight, referee Tommy Kimmons is not a member of Darchinyan's family nor does he get a monthly stipend from the Armenian.

This week’s mid-summer thoughts from a strawweight brain…

1. King Darchinyan gets Konged

Even the most hardcore boxing fans were unsure of what was coming from Joseph “King Kong” Agbeko prior to his first headlining fight against former flyweight ruler Vic Darchinyan Saturday night. Although his only loss was a disputed one to Wladamir Sidorenko five years ago, half of his fights had been against fighters with less than five total bouts, most in Africa. And this was Vic Darchinyan, who has demolished everyone he’s stepped into the ring with not named Nonito Donaire. While Doniare is a top ten pound-for-pound fighter, Darchinyan was at least top twenty; with all the hype surrounding Agbeko, how would he look? The answer was nothing short of superb, as he took apart the Armenian over twelve tough rounds; Agbeko actually beat up Darchinyan worse than even Donaire, and had Vic looking like he met a plate glass window at 90 m.p.h. by fight’s end. While Darchinyan landed some good shots, they never seemed to hurt the Ghanaian at all. Considering how Darchinyan recently picked apart the excellent Christian Mijares, Agbeko clearly beat a very dangerous fighter. Agbeko will soon find his way into the pound-for-pound rankings with another win like this one.

While the greatest of all apes has shown to be clearly on the upswing, what to make of Darchinyan now? Although Vic is usually a ridiculous loudmouth prior to any fight he’s in, he did own up to his performance afterward and admit that he had not done enough to win. Most boxing people think coming up in weight hurt him, as Agbeko has been a natural bantamweight his whole career, and Darchinyan’s flyweight power didn’t translate so well at the heavier weight. That may be, but Darchinyan has never shown any ability to adjust within a fight; he just tries to get in and eventually land the huge left. While that has worked in the past, bigger, better fighters won’t fall for that so easily. Darchinyan will need a more complete game if he wants to continue to be a factor at bantamweight or above.

2. Don King lives in a reality different from the rest of us

As tough and foul-filled as the fight between Agbeko and Darchinyan was, only Don King could somehow find a conspiracy against his winning fighter. Oh yes, before the scorecards were even so much as tabulated (and they were a little too close), Captain Hairdo was in the corner telling Agbeko how he had to fight two opponents that night: Darchinyan and referee Tommy Kimmons. Now, granted, Kimmons made a horrible knockdown call in the seventh round after Darchinyan pushed Agbeko to the canvas and grazed the back of his head on the way down, but these things happen in boxing, as well as in all sports. To hear King tell it, Kimmons had $100 large on Darchinyan, and was dead set on a vacation in St. Croix after the fight. Agbeko may be King Kong, but it was monkey-see, monkey-do afterwards, too, as Agbeko kept carping about Kimmons to the press until everyone was sick of hearing it. Sure, Don, like all those fifty cuts on Darchinyan’s face were caused only by punches! One thing we learned from the fight is that both guys like to use their heads, so enough of that talk. Besides, Agbeko’s biggest opponent upcoming might well be King’s ability to bury fighters with inactivity. We’ll see who ultimately wins that battle.

3. The heavyweight division gets interesting? Really?

Just when I start groaning and moaning about the lack of anything exciting in the heavyweight division (oh, like in the last Finito Five, perhaps), Eddie Chambers rises up from the ashes and gives us something to talk about! After the entirely too-heavy Chambers showed up in the 220’s against equally fat Sam Peter in March, a slim, trim 208-pound version stepped into a German ring 10 days ago to face the formidable Alexander Dimitrenko. And this lighter version was entirely too fast for the Klitschko-clone Dimitrenko, who at 6’7”, figured to do to Chambers what we’ve seen in so many Klitschko fights, where the bigger man pummels the smaller one. Chambers, however, has hand speed that many middleweights would kill for, and he thoroughly flummoxed his larger opponent, so much so that Dimitrenko was just trying not to get popped by punches he never saw coming. Now, Chambers had has weight and focus problems before, but if he can get his act together, this could be a preview of what he might do to either Klitschko brother (yes, I said it!). Now, no one’s saying Dimitrenko is a Klitschko, but wouldn’t it be interesting to see what Chambers would do against them? My guess is at the very least, it would be no easy night for Wlad or Vitali.

4. Winning is just for losers

During any fight, fighters are often criticized for not doing enough to win. Some criticisms are realistic, some are not, but most fighters give it their best to try and win. Then there was Antonio DeMarco’s lightweight victory over Benin’s (that’s in Africa, for those who failed geography) Anges Adjaho, where both fighters decided that winning was secondary to looking like a total idiot. DeMarco, who had previously talked about bringing the fight, punishment, Mexican warrior, this and that, had Adjaho seriously hurt at least twice in the fight (after the Mexican did almost nothing in giving away the early rounds) and inexplicably took his foot off the gas each time. This allowed Adjaho to subsequently win rounds, and actually pull ahead in the fight. If that wasn’t bad enough, the African then decided to throw all of that into the trash; as he was rocked a third time and knocked down by DeMarco in round nine, Adjaho decided he’d been hit illegally while he was on the canvas. I guess it didn’t matter to him that referee Tellis Assemenios correctly ruled the punch was prior to Adjaho’s knee touching and started to count the knockdown, Adjaho then turned face down on the canvas and acted like he’d just come down with botchulism. Umm, Anges, the referee was still counting… So when the confused Assemenios reached ten and the fight was over, Adjaho jumped up (he’s healed – praise the Lord!) in protest. What in the world did he think Assemenios was counting for? The number of ring-card girls he’d like to go home with? If the referee is counting, you better get up, whether you agree with it or not; it’s not like he’ll restart the fight for you after some coffee and discussion. So DeMarco got a win he probably didn’t deserve, but Adjaho certainly deserved it less. Yeesh!

5. Two that were taken from us far too early

While the time in and around July 4th is a great time of celebration here in the States, the two weeks since the beginning of the month have not been very celebratory for boxing fans. On the 1st we lost perhaps the greatest featherweight of a generation, Alexis Arguello, apparently by suicide. As if that wasn’t hard enough to deal with, there was Friday’s tragic death of Arturo Gatti, perhaps the greatest warrior of this or any other generation. It has come out since then that Gatti was perhaps murdered by his Brazilian wife while on vacation in the country, adding even more sting to an already grieving boxing public. The hardest part of all this is that all we want to do is remember the great thrills these two gave us. Arguello fought before my time, but his videos of his legendary fights with Aaron Pryor and Alfredo Escalera still show the greatness of “The Explosive Thin Man”, a man who would dominate so many in the division even today. And Gatti, of course, with a warrior’s heart, was almost never in a bad fight; packed with last-minute power and a desire to win despite the odds, he thrilled any fan that was lucky enough to see him fight. His trilogy with Mickey Ward will forever be part of boxing history. Even though these two fighters had retired, they were both great ambassadors to the sport, albeit with demons that they tried so hard to overcome. That may be what made them so dear to boxing fans. They will be sorely, sorely missed.

What to do when Victor isn’t the victor

While junior welterweight Victor Ortiz has the looks and the style of a champion, does he have the heart? As his fight against Marcos Maidana showed, he's definitely not in Kansas anymore.

Ten days ago, Golden Boy Promotions sent their can’t-miss prospect, junior welterweight Victor Ortiz, into a Los Angeles ring to face Marcos Maidana. Although Maidana is a skilled fighter that gave Andreas Kotelnik all he could handle recently, his tendency to brawl made him the perfect candidate for the first main-event level fight featuring Ortiz. He would get some tough rounds from Maidana for sure, but Ortiz’ boxing skill would tell in the end. HBO cameras were there, complete with Ortiz’ riveting story about overcoming abandonment by both parents and lavish network hype prior to fight time. This would be the fight to showcase the Kansan’s step up to the big time, to possibly make Ortiz the name that carries the PPV torch for Golden Boy into the future. Shane Mosley’s not get any younger, you know.

Just one problem. Ortiz didn’t win.

Not only did he not win, Ortiz somehow got knocked out by the rugged Argentinean after sending him to the deck three times. Worse then that, when faced with Maidana’s unrelenting pressure in the sixth round, Ortiz appeared to quit, shaking his head and walking away from referee Raul Caiz, who, for some reason, didn’t stop the fight then. As Ortiz was cut from a punch, Caiz had the ringside doctor look at the cut, and upon his recommending the fight be stopped, nary a word of protest was heard from Ortiz. While this had to have Golden Boy’s Oscar De La Hoya and Bernard Hopkins already disappointed, the postfight interview with Max Kellerman had to make both ex-champions wince.

One of Ortiz’ great charms is his candor, but in speaking to Kellerman, he said things that no one wants to hear from their upcoming fistic stars. While Ortiz started with the usual “it wasn’t my night” and “I just quit while I was ahead”, he then added the curious “I want to be able to speak well when I’m older”. As much as boxing fans berate fighters who sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher due to hanging on too long (Evander Holyfield, anyone?), that statement sounds like a guy who isn’t willing to get hit. Ortiz then shocked everyone by saying, “We’ll see what happens from here on out. I’m young, but I don’t think I deserve to get beat up like this. I have a lot of thinking to do.”

Does that sound like the next Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler or Tommy Hearns? It sounds like someone who is destined for a college classroom, not boxing superstardom.

And here Golden Boy’s situation becomes very tricky. As with Alfredo Angulo a few weeks back, young fighters often hit a bump in the road. The greatest fighter in the world, Manny Pacquiao, took a couple of humbling losses (one a knockout) earlier in his career before hitting superstardom. In most cases, fighters will show a desire to learn from the mistakes, get better, and hunger to get a crack at the next opponent. This is not the realm of journeymen, who often will quit in fights knowing they’ll have to get in the ring several more times that year to make a living. For rising stars like Ortiz, the hunger should be constant. When it’s not, then the huge investment Golden Boy has made in the young man’s career has everyone on high alert.

So going forward, does Golden Boy cut bait with a guy who may not have the desire to become world champion? They can’t run him out there again when there’s a chance he could take a few punches and lose the will to tough it out. Boxing is a rough business, and outings like Miguel Cotto’s nip-and-tuck battle with Joshua Clottey recently are more the usual way a fighter has to win fights at the top level. Without that willingness to sacrifice, fighters who take the easy way out become remembered infamously by the boxing public. De La Hoya knows this, so he’s got to gauge Ortiz and his desire to continue his career. There’s too much six-figure money being doled out to be unsure of anything when fighters walk out to the ring on fight night.

So while Ortiz has a big decision to make, so does Golden Boy.

The Finito Five 6/26/09

Ruslan Chagaev takes a seat during Saturday's Ring Magazine Championship fight with Wladamir Klitschko. Chagaev needed more time to sit and think, as he barely dented the Ukranian's armor in any of their ten rounds.

This week’s Finito Five is guaranteed hepatitis-B free!

1. The heavyweight division fails to surprise again

Well, that Wladamir Klitschko – Ruslan Chagaev tilt was a real shocker, wasn’t it? Who would have guessed that this fight would look exactly the same as every other Wlad fight since the Ukrainian fought Sam Peter going on four years ago? Oh, sure, there were some who had touted Chagaev’s undefeated record as somehow being an adequate substitute for the originally scheduled bout with David Haye, but all Chagaev proved is that he and Sultan Ibragimov are the same fighter. For those who didn’t see the fight, here’s the recap: Klitschko jabs, jabs, jabs, falls asleep for awhile, then jabs, jabs, throws a right hand that lands flush; all the while, Chagaev stands around at distance wondering why he’s getting peppered so much. The next punch to either Wladamir or brother Vitali’s body will be the first. It’s hard to say whether Chagaev was too cautious or too inept to do that, but not doing so was a recipe for disaster. By the tenth round, there was really no point in continuing the fight, whether Chagaev was cut or not.

With over 60,000 packing Veltins Arena in Germany and a flawless performance by Klitschko, it’s hard to argue Saturday night was anything but a resounding success. However, this is starting to feel like the Julio Ceasar Chavez, Jr. tour; until Wlad steps into the ring with someone that the boxing public views as a legitimate threat (and Chagaev sure wasn’t that), these fights just come off as the Klitschko Saturday Showcase. Maybe it’s just me, but for all the impressive performances against Hasim Rachman, Ray Austin, Sam Peter and Calvin Brock, what I still remember is Corrie Sanders wiping out Klitschko in two rounds. Wlad needs opponents who don’t appear out of their league all the time; otherwise, he’ll just be viewed as the best fighter of a terrible era.

2. ESPN is the Worldwide Leader in aggravation Pt. 1

With all the self-aggrandizement of Floyd Mayweather, ESPN has long been grating enough (they should call the show SelfCenter) to watch. However, there are a few shining stars within the cloud of self-importance in Bristol, and the Friday Night Fights crew is one of them. Joe Tessitore, the play-by-play voice, is top-notch, and while color man Teddy Atlas can get preachy, his knowledge of the fight game is unparalleled. And, with the Klitschko-Chagaev fight being commentated on from the U.S., one would think the “A” crew would get the assignment for ESPN Classic. Oh no. Instead, fans in the States got sometimes-FNF studio host Robert Flores & sometimes-fighting cruiserweight BJ Flores. Are you kidding me? What were Tessitore & Atlas (or even Brian Kenney) doing? Did they have a bar mitzvah to attend or something? No offense to Robert Flores, who’s probably a nice guy, but he’s so bland, he could make a striptease from Angelina Jolie seem unexciting. B.J. Flores is not a bad color man for his young age, but the two Flores’ called the whole fight like they were casually sitting on their living room couch. I could swear I heard BJ snacking on some pretzels during the sixth round! For the heavyweight championship of the world, you really should have the championship broadcast team.


3. The 175-pound division gets a little more interesting

The light heavyweight division is becoming more and more the one to watch. With an already great fight between Carl Froch and Jermain Taylor in the books and a Chad Dawson-Glencoffe Johnson rematch looming, Jean Pascal and Adrian Diaconu added to that list with a scintillating bout Friday in Montreal. Pascal, who had been outpunched by Froch earlier this year, came back strong, punishing the talented, tough Diaconu and proving that he’s got to be taken seriously. And, as good as Pascal was, the Romanian-born Diaconu was coming on at the end of the fight, and some felt that if he had started that earlier, Pascal would have lost. A rematch between these two might be on the horizon, but it’s clear that any combination of fights between any of the above six boxers would be must-watch TV. Pascal may keep his hands too low, but he has some great hand speed for his weight. A matchup between he and Johnson, who throws a ton of punches himself, would be an awesome fight whether Johnson wins or loses against Dawson. Here’s hoping it happens.

4. ESPN is the Worldwide Leader in aggravation Pt. 2

As stated earlier, ESPN already had me bent sideways with the appearance of the Flores brothers. So you can imagine how my blood boiled when I turned on the TiVo Monday to watch Friday Night Fights, only to find that the College World Series (baseball) was on! And, no, the game was not running late, it just was shown and FNF was not. Come to find out, apparently some scheduling difficulty had pushed the college game later, and, with no advance notice, ESPN just decided to move FNF from ESPN2 to ESPN Classic. Nothing like screwing with the boxing fans out there, huh? And ESPN has a history of doing this. Does anyone remember how they famously started their FNF 10th anniversary show (which they had been promoting all summer) an hour earlier than scheduled last fall without announcing anything? If anyone wanted to see who the Fighter of the Decade was (Emmanuel Augustus, rightly chosen), too bad – if you tuned in at the scheduled start time, you had already missed it. With all the 14 channels ESPN has now, you would think they could find some other network with poker reruns on which to move the baseball game. If it wasn’t for ESPN360, I wouldn’t have been able to watch, it period.

5. Lamps hits that time of the month

OK, Jim Lampley has been doing boxing so well for so long, many times boxing fans give him a free pass when he starts to get a little emotional during broadcasts. But even then, there are times when Lamps passes into creepy territory that makes you feel like the first time your parents gave you the birds & bees discussion. Prior to Miguel Cotto’s fight with Emmanuel Clottey, Lampley described how Cotto, who has been through a lot with his family recently, was crying while talking about his father to reporters. Cotto’s dad then came over and hugged him, which was surely a touching moment. However, Lampley started describing this as a “graphic demonstration of true, honest man-love”. Ewww. Fathers and sons can love each other, but a graphic demonstration of man-love is what you find in airport bathrooms, isn’t it? Just tap your foot, right? As if that wasn’t weird enough, Lampley started to well up at the end of the broadcast merely describing Cotto’s gutsy effort to come back and win the fight. It’s one thing for him to mist up after the death of a fighter or some tragedy, but now he can’t seem to keep it together just doing his closing monologue. Lamps better make sure Harold Lederman (who is a pharmacist in his spare time) brings the Midol for the next HBO telecast!

Canvassing the fight game for a better solution

Ring canvasses like this have become all too common in boxing. How many logos do we need to be reminded that the New York Daily News is sponsoring the event?

It was an event that every boxing fan dreams of. A packed Madison Square Garden teeming with thousands of fight fans on Puerto Rican Day in New York City. HBO and major press coverage buzz all week. A fight card featuring Matt Korobov & Ivan Calderon, headlined by the much-anticipated welterweight showdown between Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey. And, to top it off, a great nip and tuck fight going all twelve rounds with Cotto squeaking out the win despite a bad cut that he bravely fought through. The stands packed full of Cotto’s Puerto Rican brethren made for an electric atmosphere. The best of boxing, right?

Well, thanks to something that is symptomatic of the worst in boxing, we almost never got to see it.

In round five, Clottey tried to clinch with Cotto near one corner of the ring. Although it has been described as a tackle, Cotto more or less pushed Clottey off of him. This move sent Clottey airborne, then spinning down to the canvas; it was immediately apparent that the Ghanian had injured his knee. Unfortunately, referee Arthur Mercante, Jr. didn’t get a clear look at the situation, as he had tripped on a ring photographer’s camera a couple of seconds before Clottey hit the canvas. Mercante allowed Clottey to take a few minutes to recover, but for the next few rounds, Clottey was a one-legged fighter. Cotto regained control of the fight at that point. Luckily, as the rounds wore on, Clottey was able to shake off the injury and continue (even winning rounds in the process), so the injury was not serious enough to warrant a stoppage of the action.

Further replays showed, however, that the injury was actually caused by Clottey slipping on a Tecate logo as he landed. This caused a subsequent WWE-like flop to the canvas. On that one bad leg, Clottey would continue to slip on the ring logos several times the rest of the way, sometimes on that same bad knee. Although Cotto didn’t have as much trouble, he did lose his footing a couple of times during the fight as well.

Which begs the obvious question: Why are these ridiculous canvas designs allowed to continue?

On the ring itself, there were four Tecate logos in each corner, with a fifth logo taking about a third of the entire canvas in the middle. There was an AT&T logo above that, plus a Madison Square Garden logo below. So out of the whole ring canvas, only each side of the large center logo could be found any free space. Making matters worse, the paint obviously had no grip to it, as many times as both fighters slipped during the bout. Although neither fighter complained about the canvas afterward (they were both far more worked up about the judge’s decisions), it was brought up by the HBO announce team during the telecast.

The question is, then, why does boxing continue to allow this to happen? With all the medical precautions that are taken with boxers, from the examinations and weigh-ins before fights to the ringside doctor, paramedic team and ambulance during, it seems crazy that these unsafe canvases are largely ignored. If I can buy a resin additive to put in paint at my local hardware store, explain to me how Top Rank is unable to do the same, especially with their million-dollar promotion at stake? I’ve seen fights where the canvas was so slippery, a referee took a Coke from ringside and poured it on the canvas logo. How utterly minor league does that sound? Just imagine the NHL not using a Zamboni between periods of hockey, and having the officials pouring water from a cup to clean up ruts in the ice. It never would happen, would it? Worth billions of dollars, the NHL has standards that all arenas need to follow to protect their players.

Boxing needs this as well. It is understandable that promotions need all the advertising revenue possible, but there should be a limit as to how much ring space can be used for advertising, uniform throughout the sport. Also, these commissions need to test the canvas prior to fight time with water, sweat or any other elements that a fight would have to make sure there’s no threat of injury. If a commission was to declare a ring unfit for fighting, you can well bet promoters would respond with some alacrity. With all that commissions do already, this doesn’t seem like a lot more to ask. The last thing anyone in boxing needs is for a great career to be cut short due to a torn ACL caused by something as stupid as slippery canvas.

Boxing is a dangerous sport by its nature, and those who step into the ring already risk so much to ply their trade. With all the steps made over the years that have made the sport safer, it’s time to make that first step on the canvas a safe one, too.