It’s the Good Life: Intriguing Bouts Ahead (August – November)

None but an incurable optimist would dare proclaim otherwise: it’s been a tough summer for us boxing fans. All-too-frequent monetary disputes and freak injuries appeared to double their incidence, ultimately leaving the sweet science barren for the warmer months.

But as of now, I am free to hoist my writing talents, pull them over my shoulder and (from the journalistic vantage point offered by my publication) announce the wider world: “Worry not, for your suffering is at an end! (although terms and conditions do apply)”

The reader, being entitled to ask questions without censor, is bound to glance askance and ask: “But George, you prodigal son, you, what prompts you to prophesize?”

Let me lay it all out for you:

August, arguably the weakest of these four months, contains a few intriguing cards that, whilst not of mainstream appeal, will go a long way to deciding who gets the future title shots and who is ripe for retirement.

It all began interestingly enough, what with Bradley-Campbell and the Alexander-Witter undercard. Although mildly disappointing, it sets future bouts up rather nicely. Here’s what we have to look forward to:

August 15 hails the beginning of the end (or maybe the end of the end) for the great Roy Jones Jr, who is slated to face Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy. Both men were seriously mauled by Joe Calzaghe at some point, and both have encountered hard times; Jones knows that, despite being the “Fighter of the 90’s” and a perennial pound-for-pounder, he has little choice but to retire if he loses again. Being bettered by Lacy would offer incontrovertible proof of his diminishing skills and likely prompt an exit from the sport. “Left Hook”, on the other hand, needs to get past Jones in order to earn another title shot in any division. A defeat would send him spiraling into the reputation of being a gatekeeper at best, and an anonymous former champ at worst. Should be a decently entertaining scrap.

A week thereafter, on August 22, we have a similar scenario: two former champions, attempting to rebuild their reputations and jockey for title challenger positions. This time, I’m talking about Juan Diaz and Paulie Malignaggi. Diaz, the former linear lightweight champion, is just getting back into the mix after suffering two defeats in his last three outings (to Nate Campbell and the great JuanMa Marquez). Malignaggi, still reeling from the beating Hatton gave him less than a year ago, is looking for a major coup in upsetting Diaz and thus paving the way to more lucrative fights. The victor will most likely win a belt over the next twelve months. The loser will have a couple of years’ worth of work simply to ascend the ranks again. Once more, we should have a good, technical fight on our hands.

That same week, on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights season finale, we will be treated to an interesting undercard that is still being finalized, but will most likely contain Juan Urango against Randall Bailey for the IBF 140 lb strap and Clinton Woods versus Tavoris Cloud for the IBF light heavyweight belt. Don’t miss it on the 28^th!

This takes us into the month of September, where we are greeted by several upcoming matches that will go a long way to resolving some in the ever-expanding list of questions pertaining to a variety of celebrated pugilists.

First up (on the 12^th), we have stay-busy bouts for Mikkel Kessler and Andre Ward, both of whom will compete in the Super Six World Boxing Classic, facing each other on November 21. It’s fairly safe to say that neither will encounter any serious resistance from Gusmyl Perdomo and Shelby Pudwill (the Dane facing the former, and Ward the latter). In fact, Pudwill has only defeated two fighters with a winning record in 26 bouts, while Perdomo may some day exhibit an actual pulse for Kessler to try and work against.

September 12 is D-Day for another three fairly reputable men (in underlined font):

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr faces Jason LeHoullier in the hope of proving his talent to a wider audience, and emerging from his father’s shadow. Although not an impending barnburner, the bout provides intrigue galore into Chavez Jr and the extent of his ability.

Ivan Calderon is also at a crossroads. After being held to a technical draw by Rodel Mayol as the result of a cut from an unintentional headbutt, Calderon plummeted in the mythical pound-for-pound standings, which had almost-unanimously showed him to be in the top ten. Now, he gets his rematch, and is fired up to silence his critics, who claim that, at age 34, Caledron no longer has the impeccable defensive game that has defined him for his entire career. Truth be told, Calderon wasn’t looking all that great even before his cut, so it will be interesting to see how he readjusts.

Cristian Mijares is sort of pissed off; no doubt about it. First, he gets upset by Vic Darchinyan, and loses his top ten pound-for-pound status. Then, he loses his next fight against … wait for it … Nehomar Cermeno. Never heard of him? Neither had I. In any case, Mijares got his rematch and is hoping to win his opponent’s WBA bantam title. A loss here will spell “early retirement” for the 27-year-old, who has looked nothing like his former self this past year. Tune in on September 12 to see if he gets his groove back.

Following this D-Day spiel, we get a weeklong break, before the eagerly anticipated HBO PPV card of September 19, which features Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr – a step-up in weight for the Mexican bomber and a challenging welcome back bout for the recently un-retired Mayweather. The articles on this will come flowing thick and fast as the fight draws closer, so there’s no point in detailing all of the intricacies of the situation in this article.

On the undercard, we have the rematch of Chris John and Rocky Juarez, who fought to a controversial draw in Houston (Juarez’s hometown) for John’s WBA featherweight title earlier this year; John relishes the prospect of facing Juarez in front of an impartial audience, whilst Juarez is on the precipice of the mainstream recognition that has eluded him for so long.

To fortify the undercard, HBO is also giving the ultra-talented Zab Judah a spot, either against Matthew Hatton (Ricky’s younger brother) or another welterweight contender. Judah has always been interesting, if a bit frustrating, to watch, but I suspect he has plenty of fights left in the tank, if he can keep his head on straight (which, more often than not, he can’t).

Following the pay-per-view extravaganza, boxing enthusiasts will tune in to a bizarre, if slightly comical, match-up in the heavyweight division. Cristobal Arreola will face Vitali Klitschko on September 26. *pause for laughter*

Yes – hard punching Arreola, big belly and all, up against the Zeus-lookalike elder Klitschko. It has all of the makings of a mismatch; but the Mexican slugger has a puncher’s chance against the Ukrainian monster, which is more than can be said of any non-Klitschko on the face of the planet. Hey – that’s good enough for me!

Folks – this brings us to the month of October, which (in all honesty) is more of an opening act for the jam-packed November. Nonetheless, it still contains a fair share of interest-piquing fights.

First off, we are indebted to Top Rank for a PPV event on the tenth, which, although not finalized, contains exciting fighters such as Yuriorkis Gamboa, Oldlanier Solis, Juan Manuel Lopez and Vanes Martirosyan. Statistically speaking, the night should feature a couple of good KO’s and some slick boxing; from a geographic standpoint, chances are that if you’re an inhabitant of planet Earth, then Top Rank has someone in their stable who might interest you by virtue of some ethnic/nationalistic similarity. Hence, you might just find a new pugilist to follow this October 10!

A week removed from this Top Rank event, we are treated to Showtime’s first Super Six World Boxing Classic doubleheader, on October 17. This consists of two matchups: Arthur Abraham vs. Jermain Taylor and Carl Froch vs. Andre Dirrell, which will air in close succession on Showtime.

Following this worldwide trip, we shall take a three-week break, thus carrying us into November, where we are thrown right back into the mix with two evenly-matched bouts in the first weekend. First, the heavyweight title fight of Nikolay Valuev and David Haye (which, if nothing else, will provide the audience with gales of laughter as the six-foot Haye tries to pound the seven-foot Valuev into submission). Second, we have the light heavyweight rematch between “Bad” Chad Dawson and Glen Johnson, which will likely determine the next opponent of Bernard Hopkins, for THE RING’s belt.

A week thereafter, we arrive at the piece de resistance HBO PPV event of the Fall schedule – the November 14 bout between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto! Once again, the column inches on this one will pile up over the coming weeks and months, so elaboration beyond the names of the combatants is not required here. Look for an early preview of the fight sometime in late August.

Following the fight for pound-for-pound supremacy, the first round of the World Boxing Classic will draw to a close, also on Showtime, on November 21 in a contest between Mikkel Kessler and Andre Ward.

And, as the month of November winds down, we are privy to one more exciting brawl, this time between Romanian Lucian Bute and Mexican badass Librado Andrade, who will stage a rematch of sorts, following a controversial first fight for Bute, who, whilst winning handily, was dropped with a few seconds remaining in the twelfth round, only to rise after a notoriously long count, which was punctuated by referee Marion Wright telling Andrade to go back to his neutral corner. With both men seeking to bury some demons, and Bute’s IBF super middleweight belt up for grabs, we should be in for a thriller!

So, this concludes our boxing schedule between August and November. Please be sure to revisit the blog for updates on each fight, and more boxing news!

Remember, you can follow me on Twitter by clicking here!

Or, you can send me a question or comment to pureboxingpress@gmail.com!

Pacquiao Agrees to Cotto Fight - Bob Arum Wins in Advance!

Bob Arum of Top Rank Promotions has pulled off the coup of the decade after wrapping up the paperwork for a fight between two of his most prized boxers – pound for pound sensation Manny Pacquiao and highly-rated welterweight titlist Miguel Cotto.

The stablemates (who are both promoted by Arum) have agreed to face each other on November 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas at a catchweight of 145 pounds. In so doing, Top Rank has put together a fight whose gate receipts will border the ten million dollar mark, and which will hope to sell well north of half a million pay-per-views. Since the bout is only for one title and involves only one promotions company, Arum has just scored a major victory in securing what is almost certain to be the biggest PPV event of the fall.

The reason I will focus on economics in this particular piece (rest assured there will be numerous follow-ups of the boxing variety) is the scenario I will put forth for your reading pleasure:

Let’s say that gate receipts total 9 million dollars (as most sell-out fights at the MGM Grand do). And that, as per Bob Arum’s estimate, PPV numbers match the Hatton-Pacman fight at circa 900’000. The calculation is thus:

(54.99 * 900’000) + 9’000’000 = $ 58’491’000

For those of us who aren’t all that great with numbers, that borders sixty million dollars, of which Arum, being the sole promoter here, keeps somewhere between a quarter to a third. Let’s call it a decent 30%. That means roughly seventeen million, all for Top Rank Promotions!

Arum has yet to announce the exact purse split, but I’m willing to bet that it’s in the ballpark of 60:40 in favor of Pacman. That means that Pacquiao, whose career earnings are close to $50 million, will make close to 25 million, regardless of the result.

Notably, the fight will be for the WBO welterweight title, which means that 3% of the purse goes to the World Boxing Organization as a sanctioning fee. This, however, still leaves Cotto with about 15 million dollars – by far the biggest payday of his career!

A number of boxing enthusiasts and journalists will blast Pacman for turning his back on “Sugar” Shane Mosley and his offer to split the purse 60:40 and fight at 140 lbs. Not I – if only for the reason that both Pacman and Arum would have been worse off, from an economic standpoint, as well as a boxing one.

First and foremost, Mosley is not as great a draw as Cotto. The latter has a huge following in New York and is idolized by Puerto Ricans all over the world. “Sugar” is popular in L.A. but was never a major PPV attraction. Pacquiao – Mosley would not have sold more than three quarters of a million pay-per-views, and as such would only have yielded about fifty million dollars, of which Bob Arum would have kept 30% of 60% (the rest would have gone to Mosley and Golden Boy Promotions, who handles the fighter’s business). By the same calculation as above, Arum would have made ten million dollars – forty percent less than by throwing Cotto into the mix.

Additionally, Pacman’s belt would have been at risk, as would his pound-for-pound status against a highly dangerous and seemingly-ageless Mosley (who, admittedly, lost to Cotto but beat Margarito after the Tijuana Tornado had pummeled the Puerto-Rican star into submission).

Of all permutations, Arum could not have come out looking any better. Whether the same can be said for both of his fighters, we will not know until after November 14.

"Sugar" Shane Mosley and his Great Dilemma

The Staples Center was fuller than it had ever been. Hordes of boxing fans had descended upon the arena to see one of the most intriguing welterweight matchups of the decade. But "Sugar" Shane Mosley could not be bothered with that just now - he had a very important item of business to take care of, and could afford no distractions.

The bell sounds, indicating the start of the ninth round, with Mosley and Margarito tapping gloves as they come out of their respective corners. Sugar Shane stalks the Tijuana Tornado, landing combinations to the Mexican's granite chin with an otherworldly speed. Mosley has his opponent on the ropes continually and proceeds to up the ante forty seconds in. Margarito crumples under the barrage and referee Raul Caiz steps in to wave the fight off.

Calm as you like, Mosley turns his back to his bruised-and-battered opponent, raises his arms above his head, and proceeds to bow to each section of the crowd, as though nothing of note had just occurred.

But something big happened that night. Something so big, that Mosley has had to wait six full months in order to even contemplate his next move. What happened was that the 37-year-old version of Sugar outsmarted, outfought and outlasted a prime Antonio Margarito, who had been tagged as the best welterweight in the world.

In the course of one night, Mosley went from generally being regarded as "washed-up" to being WBA world champ in his division, and the RING's number one rated contender. Members of the press who had been howling about a mismatch, fearing for Mosley's safety in the face of "hell-in-short-pants" Margarito were left staring, mouth-agape, at a bizarre twist of the laws of time.

In this fairy-tale ending, however, the hero is not permitted to ride off into the sunset with the woman of his dreams (ironically, Mosley's wife filed for divorce a week before the Margarito match). This is the world of boxing, and our heroes must be back to entertain us until they slur their words or until the public has some new icon to look up to. Mosley, being a fighter at heart who has never attempted to avoid any boxer at all, was eager for a shot at pound-for-pound champ Manny Pacquiao, or the awkward-and-highly-regarded Paul Williams, or a unification against Andre Berto, or a rematch with the outstanding Miguel Cotto.

The problem is this - Mosley represents a tremendous risk in exchange for minimal reward. If he were beaten by any of the above, the public is liable to claim that Mosley is too old to be relevant. Pacquiao, Williams, Berto and Cotto know that Sugar Shane still presents a formidable challenge, even at an advanced age. As such, they would much rather take easier routes. The deal is this:

As of right now, Cotto is otherwise preoccupied. He has already beaten Mosley, in 2007, in a close decision. Junito has been in wars with the Mosley-dethroned Margarito (which he lost via TKO) and with Joshual Clottey (in which he won a narrow decision) and is currently negotiating with Pacquiao. After all the punishment Miguel Cotto has taken in two of his last three fights, the last thing he wants to do is rematch with a fierce Mosley, who would no doubt give him fits. He would much rather take the pound-for-pound fight against Pacman, which represents less of a risk, profesionally speaking, and more money.

Similarly, Pacquiao is looking to take the easy road in order to retain his mythical crown for just a bit longer. After sending Oscar de la Hoya and (hopefully) Ricky Hatton into retirement in his last two outings, the Filipino master will be looking to take on more big names from the 135-147 lbs bracket. However, he will only do so on his own terms, with regard to both the financial aspect and the catch-weight. Pacquiao vs. Mosley could have taken place somewhere above 140 and below 147, but Roach was reticent to get the fight made; truth be told, Mosley hasn't been under 147 lbs since 1999. I think that asking him to make 143 is an insult, especially when you consider the fact that Manny had no problem fighting Golden Boy at 147. When asked about this discrepancy, Roach replied:

"Yeah - but Mosley isn't Oscar."

Which is his way of saying: "I know Manny'll get beat at 147. We gotta drain Mosley a lil bit."

With that, Mosley danced around Pacman for a little, trying to persuade him to take the fight, and even agreeing to the catch-weight and whatever split of the purse the Filipino may have wanted. Truth is this: Manny will only fight Mosley if it's the last possible option. Hence the ongoing negotiations with Cotto, which, last I heard, weren't going too well, on account of Cotto grumbling about making anything below 145 lbs. As a countermeasure, Pacquiao has been whispering about Mosley agreeing to 143. That's option one.

Between options one and two, it is only correct that we talk about Paul Williams, who has had a Mosley-like difficulty in finding willing opponents (the infinitely admirable Winky Wright being the sole exception). Sugar has explicitly stated that he would not like to fight The Punisher, but I'm fairly sure that, in the right conditions, he would. To cement this view, the news broke a couple of days ago that Mosley was done chasing Pac, and wanted Berto, Williams, Cintron or Clottey. Any of these fights would be intriguing, but none more so than the Williams bout. The Punisher, who has an 82-inch reach (Mike Tyson had 71 by comparison), is highly skillful and would cause big, big problems even for the prodigiously-gifted Mosley.

Much like the Pac-Sugar connection, Sugar-Punisher will only be on in the most extenuating circumstances. Now, back to business:

Option two for Mosley is Andre Berto, with whom Golden Boy Promotions has begun to negotiate. First of all, this would present a unification of the WBA and WBC belts, which is always significant. Secondly, it would show the world what Berto, who is an undefeated former Olympian and amateur standout, is made of. Problem with Berto-Mosley is this: it wouldn't sell well. I mean, Mosley has a decent following in LA, but Berto's fought two of his last four bouts in Biloxi and Tennessee - indicative of a chronic disinterest on behalf of the public.

Oh, and of course, Berto might wind up being completely overmatched here. I mean, he barely got by Luis Collazo, in a fight which I scored a draw. Mosley damn near shut the man out a couple of years ago. It is also possible that Berto will break out of his shell and stun the world, commencing a reign of terror atop the talented welterweight ranks. But it's less likely than a Mosley win over Margarito looked about ten months ago. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

In any case, I sincerely hope that Pacquiao makes up his mind about who he wants to fight - and soon. Him and Cotto can go at it this November, around the time when Mosley and Berto would be facing off. The winners can be paired up, or enter the post-Marquez Mayweather sweepstakes. The possibilities are near-endless. And most of them are mouthwatering.