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Back to Boxing
By Steve Kim (Sep 1, 2008) Photo © German Villasenor

Y'know what I used to hate as a kid? It was the middle part of August - during your summer vacation - and you'd start to see the 'Back to School' commercials on television. Whether it was for school supplies at Thrifty's (remember them?) or school clothes at Mervyn's (remember them?), just seeing those ads gave you a knot in your stomach. It was a feeling of impending doom that was upon you.

Staying up all night, sleeping in till about noon, swimming all afternoon and hanging out would be coming to an end. But what really irked me was the fact that these commercials seemingly came out sooner and sooner each year. I mean, they couldn't even let you enjoy the last month of your summer vacation, as they put those awful reminders in constantly during 'The Andy Griffith Show' reruns. They were more annoying than those 'Head-On' commercials.

But now, what used to be nirvana for me - the period between July and August - are the dog days of summer. Oh, don't get me wrong, I love the warm weather and wearing flip-flops and shorts every single day, but c'mon, I live in Southern California. There really isn't much of a fluctuation in our weather. I basically get to wear flip-flops and shorts about 300 days a year.

What I really miss though is boxing. Because while this sport doesn't have traditional seasons like the other professional sports, they do have periods of time where the promoters and networks decide that staging shows isn't the best idea, which is perfectly understandable. If I was a decision-maker I wouldn't put on an event versus the Super Bowl or Final Four either. And it's a belief in the boxing world that in the late summer months - where studies have shown that the number of television viewers declines across the board - big-time boxing takes a bit of a hiatus. With 2008 being an Olympic year, most of August really became a dead zone.

But guess what folks? As your kids start going back to school (poor bastards) and we turn our calendars to September, we get our boxing back. Forget the holiday season; with boxing and football starting up again, this is the most wonderful time of the year.

This is what we have to look forward to in the immediate future....

- September 6th: Michael Katsidis vs. Juan Diaz, Rocky Juarez vs. Jorge Barrios (HBO): If there's a fight that can take 'Fight of the Year' honors from Vazquez-Marquez III, it's this one. It doesn't matter one iota that both guys are coming into this fight with losses; this will be a barnburner. Let the leather fly, and get the Enswell ready.

Houston will have no problems on this night.

- September 13th: Nate Campbell vs. Joan Guzman, Tim Bradley vs. Edner Cherry (Showtime): A classic 'fight fans’ fight' for the lightweight belts. I see this as a 50-50 fight which has an interesting contrast of styles. Bradley is a bright young titlist, making the first defense of his WBC 140-pound title. Cherry always makes for good TV

- September 13th: Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Joel Casamayor, Sergio Mora vs. Vernon Forrest (HBO PPV): Not a bad card, but again, does this particular weekend just have to be a pay-per-view show, every single time?

By the way, there's also the USC-Ohio State clash on at about the same time on ABC. Anyone that has a three-TV set-up, let me know.

- September 27th: Shane Mosley vs. Ricardo Mayorga, Andre Berto vs. Steve Forbes (HBO): The main event should be fun while it lasts, while Berto shows once again that being a part of the HBO (the Haymon Boxing Organization) has its privileges.

- October 4th: Sergio Martinez vs. Alex Bunema, Yuriorkis Gamboa vs. Marcos Ramirez, Alfredo Angulo vs. Andrey Tsurkan (HBO): The second installment of Gary Shaw's 'Night of Rising Stars' should provide some fireworks and fun. 'Boxing After Dark' should be about showcasing young up and comers, and I think this pretty much fits that criteria.

- October 11th: Chad Dawson vs. Antonio Tarver, Sam Peter vs Vitali Klitschko (Showtime): Dawson-Tarver is finally taking place and it's the kind of matchup I love, the old guard taking on a talented upstart. But cross your fingers on Peter-Klitschko, you never know when Vitali will pull up lame.

- October 18th: Kelly Pavlik vs. Bernard Hopkins (HBO PPV): It’s the fight nobody really wanted, but it’s happening because, quite frankly, they have no other options as of this moment. Will Pavlik be the man to decisively beat Hopkins into retirement?

- November 1st: Antonio Margarito vs. TBA (PPV): OK, this one you may want to write down in No. 2 pencil, because as of now, it's not really clear who 'the Tijuana Tornado' is facing, where he'll be facing him, and just who will be distributing this telecast.

But outside of that, this is a go.

- November 8th: Joe Calzaghe vs. Roy Jones (HBO PPV): Another edition of the Senior Tour for $49.95. Believe it or not, I actually think RJ is a live dog in this one.

- November 15th: Jermain Taylor vs. Jeff Lacy (HBO): Former teammates on the 2000 US Olympic team duke it out. It says here that Taylor is a stone-cold lock to beat 'Left Hook', who retired for about 15 minutes to squeeze out another $50,000 on his purse.

- November 22nd: Ricky Hatton vs. Paulie Malignaggi (HBO): Anyone get this sense this could turn out to be a really awkward, ugly fight? Not really too much to say about this, except, geez, a thousand bucks for ringside seats? Are they serious?

- November 29th: Paul Williams/Chris Arreola (HBO): The who, what, when and where are still to be determined for this duo.

- December 6th: Manny Pacquiao vs. Oscar De La Hoya: Yeah, yeah, I know some of you detest this fight. I know some others are talking of boycotting it, but I really find it hard to believe that this event won’t do big business (I'm saying in excess of 1.5 million pay-per-view buys).

Hey, it beats seeing De La Hoya-Mayweather II, doesn't it?

PAC-DLH

From what I'm told there will be a six city press tour for De La Hoya-Pacquiao that will begin on October 1st and will hit New York, Chicago, Houston, San Antonio, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

And yes, there will be a '24/7' for this fight on HBO.

JONESZALES

Mike Jones continued his rise by impressively halting Juliano Ramos in six rounds last Friday night on Telefutura at the New Alhambra in Philadelphia. Jones is now 15-0 with 13 knockouts.

He certainly seems to have all the requisite tools for success in this game: size, speed, technique and good power. If he can take a punch, he will be a welterweight to watch in the very near future.

FINAL FLURRIES

Bob Arum says he plans on having Yuri Foreman as part of the November 1st pay-per-view show underneath Margarito. My question is, why subject your loyal Mexican fans to that? Don't they deserve better?....Matt Godfrey-Emmanuel Nwodo ended up being a pretty good scrap, didn't it?....Who says Los Angeles doesn't have a pro football team? Just watch USC. They look like a machine....My lock of the week, Tennessee to hammer UCLA on Monday night at the Rose Bowl. It's going to be a rough '08 for the Bruins....I'll say it right now, Chase Daniel of Mizzou is as good as any college quarterback today - but of course, that doesn't mean best pro prospect....I think it's time for WBC/WBA jr. bantamweight king Cristian Mijares to become a regular staple on either Showtime or HBO....I understand that Rashad Holloway drew a pretty good crowd in Cincinnati this past weekend as he halted Junior Ramos in four rounds. Boxing needs more guys like 'The R' who can sell tickets in their hometown....I think ESPN360 is a great service; it's like having another TV when it's working properly, but the Miami-Southern Charleston webcast on Thursday night was a debacle. It was like watching a stream from 1998 on a dial-up connection......

For Questions or Comments
E-Mail Steve: k9kim@maxboxing.com

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