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Boxing From An Odd Angle
by Marty Mulcahey (February 18, 2003)
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I had a full plate of boxing last week, unlike the burnt offerings which my wife served up as Valentine's dinner. Two of the biggest names in boxing gave interviews that I have to comment on, plus there were five different boxing shows. The only regular boxing network that took the week off was Showtime. This could be excused, since they had their hands full trying to find a laser tattoo removal service in Vegas.
Did you read the Roy Jones interview in Esquire magazine? Roy, RJJ, Super Roy, or whatever the heck he is calling himself now, must have popped an emotional gasket during the interview. Roy spewed venom in all directions during the Q&A. For instance, Roy did some playa hatin' on Oscar. "Oscar De La Hoya can kiss my ass. The Golden Boy. Guaranteed, I'd beat him and two or three more of those motherf******s in the same day." I can sympathize with Roy on this one. Jones must have seen the PPV price Oscar is trying to charge for his 'fight' with Campas.
Roy, showing more emotion than he ever did in the ring, went on to say; "I saw a lot of guys with egos. They would try to hide something that ain't there. Then I would tear their asses up and they weren't the same no more." Hmmmm, really Roy? The careers of Eric Lucas, Bernard Hopkins, Virgil Hill, Thulane Malinga, and Montell Griffin did not seem to be affected. They all went on to win versions of the world title, or register solid wins after a loss to Jones. The others were not good enough to have real boxing careers before, or after they met RJJ. Felix Trinidad is the model of a boxer destroying careers in Roy's lifetime.
In his interview with ESPN, Roy said he did not have to travel to Germany to go fight Michaelzewski because he was the one who had all the title belts. Roy conveniently forgets that Dariusz held three of the four (WBA, IBF, and WBO) titles, but gave up the WBA & IBF titles since they meant nothing to him. All of the American press made fun of Lennox Lewis for, figuratively, picking the WBC title belt out of the trash can, so Roy could be held to twice the ridicule.
Let's switch over to Oscar, who said some pretty hypocritical things in an interview with Fightnews.com. Oscar had an interesting answer for interviewer Bret Newton when asked about fans who attend fights which Oscar promotes. "We're pricing these tickets at a low cost, and that's what people want. They want to pay for cheap seats, have a great deal, and watch great fights. That's just the way it was in the day." Funny how Oscar is considerate of fans when he is promoting Jose Navarro's career. Yet, Oscar wants to charge people PPV prices for HIS glorified sparring session against Yori Boy Campas. You can't have it both ways Oscar.
Oscar also spoke about the Shane Mosley negotiations. "Him and his father are in their own world. They're trying to call shots here where they have no leverage whatsoever. It's not fair. It's just not fair, because there's a lot of bigger names and better fighters I could fight at this point." Like who? Winky Wright, Vernon Forrest, Don King's Ricardo Mayorga? Good luck getting 12 million versus those boxers. Take a poll, and see if they have more appeal for fans than Mosley. Or will Oscar & Bob Arum trot out Fernando Vargas again? Talk about beating a dead horse.
Four division champion Pernell Whitaker was thrown in jail again after being arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol last Friday night. This could be cause for a reversal of his probation, and send him behind bars for four years. Whitaker better hope his legal defense team is as good as his defense was during his prime. Jail is no place for a man nicknamed "Sweet Pea".
The Arab News reported that Naseem Hamed and his entourage got lost (with many other worshippers) in Saudi Arabia while on their pilgrimage to Mecca. Hamed and his people were guided onto the right path by Saudi Boy Scouts. One of the Scouts stated, "We immediately directed him to his camp, as we were saying goodbye to him, he expressed his appreciation and praised the excellent work in directing the lost pilgrims". As I am writing this, HBO officials are dressing up as Saudi boy scouts to lure Hamed back into a boxing ring.
Jeff Fenech showed class by refusing to become another enabler of Mike Tyson's manic ways. Fenech left the Tyson camp last week and flew back to Australia after it became obvious the people around Tyson were distracting the former champ. Fenech was quoted in the Sydney Sunday Telegraph, "Of the last six or seven days I was there, we trained twice. It drove me mad, and I feel really sorry for the guy." How ironic is it that Fenech, who came all the way from Australia as a friend (not a paid hanger on), is the only person who stood up to Mike Tyson about his training habits.
Since Tyson has, again, proven himself to be less reliable than my wife paying a credit card bill on time, will Vitali Klitschko creep back into contention for a title shot with Lennox Lewis?
My boxing viewing got off to an early start last week, as I tuned in to watch Kingfish boxing on Fox Sports World Tuesday night. The show started with Emanuel Burton knocking out Tomas Barrientes in the first round. Barrientes must have studied at Zab Judah's school for the equilibrium challenged. One punch had Barrientes floundering across the ring like he was part of amateur night at a Whirling Dervish show.
The main event featured Ricky Quiles boxing his way to an easy 12 round decision over Arturo Urena. Let me give you an idea of the kind of boxer Quiles is. They smear vaseline on his back, to make sure that he does not get rope burn from sliding along the ropes all day.
On Thursday night, I tuned in to another Boexo De Oro on HBO Latino, courtesy of Oscar De La Hoya. I called the El Paso AARP to report a case of elder abuse after watching the introduction for the first bout. Alas, it was too late to stop the 26 year old Kelson Pinto from easily knocking out an 42 year old Richard Savage in the second round. Do you want to know how old Savage is in boxing terms? He fought Carlos Zarate for Christ's sake..... yes that Zarate!
I tabbed Pinto as having the potential to win a championship in an article last year, so I am disappointed with the opposition he was fed on Thursday. Pinto stood a head taller than Savage, the staredown reminded me of the Sylvester Stallone vs. Ivan Drago scene in Rocky IV. I am still concerned with Pinto's high cheek bones and jutting eyebrows, they are much like perennial bleeder Raul Marquez's. They could have a tendency to cut when he faces an opponent who could reach high enough to hit him in the face. Savage was definitely not that guy.
If Pinto does win the world welterweight title, it will make him the second boxer whose name can be traced to a type of horse. Carlos Palomino, who the welterweight title in the 1970's, is the other. I don't hold out much hope for a boxer with the last name of Shetland making it a threesome.
I have a conspiracy theory that Oscar De La Hoya is scheduling knockouts in the first bout of these telecasts to get more face time. Invariably after an early kayo, they trot Oscar over to have a conversation with Mario Solis and Ricardo Lopez. You can almost see Ricardo thinking, "If I weighed 50 pounds more, I would have knocked this guy out."
In the main event, Juan "The Hispanic Causing Panic" Lazcano continues to rack up wins in search of an elusive title shot. Lazcano looked very good in beating up the game, but outclassed Danny Rios. Lazcano is not a superlative boxer, but at times it looked liked Garry Kasparov vs. The Kentucky checkers champion. Lazcano is rated in the top three of the IBF, WBA, and WBC. So let's hope he gets that title shot soon. Lazcano should be rewarded for coming up with that nickname alone.
On Valentines day, I sat down to watch my favorite crew of broadcasters ham it up for the ESPN cameras. The team of Kenny, Kellerman, Atlas and Papa was almost enough to make me forget about the wife complaining of how I ignored her on Valentine's day. What is she complaining about? I bought her the 2003 Knockout Kings video game. Some women just don't appreciate the thought that goes into a gift like that, guess I will have to play it until she is done sulking.............. and sharpening the knives.
I would have skipped the mostly women's boxing show, if it were not for the studio segments I would miss out on. I was rewarded by watching Chris Smith show awkward skill in knocking out the usually durable Sam Garr. As I was watching Garr get force fed right hands, I kept asking myself, "How can Garr not time those lunges of Smith's?". All credit to Smith, he got the job done and I hope to see more of him in the future.
During the second female fight on ESPN2, the protective breast padding of one of the fighters kept slipping upward. At times, it looked like it was going to fall out. What is the proper etiquette in a situation like this? Should the male referee halt the fight to shove the breastcup back into position, as he would with the foul protector on a man? You make the, politically correct, call.
The trio of Atlas, Papa, and Kellerman also hosted a new segment called 'Toe to Toe', where each gives their opinion of a certain subject. This week's topic was on women's boxing, and all three noted that women's fights tend to be more exciting than men's fights. They also noted it was because their skill level had not reached the proper level, in most cases, yet. I would have pointed out that women only fight two minute rounds, which enables them to expend more energy in making the round exciting. Maybe the subject bored me, but I still prefer 'To the Max' over this new feature.
The HBO show on Saturday featured two upsets of varying proportions. First, Ricardo Williams Jr. of Cincinnati lost in a shocker to Juan Valenzuela, which was followed by another Cincinnati fighter, Tim Austin, losing in a mild upset to Raul Marquez.
Newsflash: Mexico 2 - Cincinnati 0. Cincinnati sports has not taken a beating like this since..... well, since the Bengals last took to the football field.
In the first fight, Juan Valenzuela proved that will can overcome skill when skill has not properly trained. Ricardo Williams is still a good prospect, and early in the fight showed a defensive style which came right out of the James Toney textbook. Unfortunately, Williams also attended the James Toney school of body sculpting. It is a sad fact that Williams has become more known for a reluctance to make weight than boxing skills. Let's hope he learned a lesson from this loss. Until further notice, it is goodbye HBO, hello ESPN2 for Williams.
The scoring for the Valenzuela vs. Williams fight seemed a bit odd to me. I scored it as a one point victory for Valenzuela, while the judges scored it 98-92, and 97-93 twice in favor of Valenzuela. In my opinion, the scores reflect the lack of prestige Lou Dibella brings to the Las Vegas table at this time. If Williams were one of Bob Arum, or Don King's big prospects, I believe the scores would have been much closer. Williams might have still lost on the cards, but not as decisively.
In the main event, Rafael Marquez joined his brother, Juan Manuel, in the ranks of world champions. Marquez & Austin gave the viewers an excellent back and forth fight, that could have ended in victory for either man. It might be time for Austin to move up in weight, while Rafael is on his way to clearing out the bantamweight division. The fight, also, gave hope for future title challengers, as both men looked vulnerable during portions of the bout. Mark this fight as another in a long line of Boxing After Dark thrillers. HBO needs to give Boxing fans a "Best of Boxing After Dark" DVD package, just as they do for Sex in the City, Oz, or The Sopranos.
HBO is getting the Ring championship more and more, as their graphics clearly reflect. After Marquez's win, a graphic showed Rafael as a "Titleholder", instead of world champion. I wonder if this trend will hold true if Roy Jones defeats John Ruiz? Or does Jones' contract stipulate he be called supreme ruler of the heavyweight realm in case he beats Ruiz?
Good News! Boxing will return to free TV. NBC has decided to run three consecutive weekends of boxing beginning May 3rd. Just to let the fans know, we can thank Ken Schanzer (President of NBC Sports), and Kathy Duva (Main Events) for getting the deal done. Some of the boxers being considered for the shows are Kermit Cintron, Nate Campbell, Rocky Juarez and Francisco Bojado. I would suggest Emmanuel Lucero be added as well, as he made for excellent viewing on ShoBox last year. If you want to thank the good people at NBC, send an E-mail to sports@msnbc.com. As well as the higher ups, like The Senior director at NBC Sports, Cameron Blanchard at cameron.blanchard@nbc.com.
Book Alert: The 2003 'The Ring Boxing Almanac' is now available. I picked mine up at Borders book store (yes I can read), and it is definitely worth the five bucks. You should be able to find it hidden somewhere among the 50 wrestling magazines.
The Klitschko brothers make our boxers giving more than punches to the head feature for a second time. This time the brothers were featured guests at a dinner for "Cinema For Peace'', which is part of the "Berlinale", the most famous film festival in Europe. The Klitschkos mixed with celebrities like Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Roger Moore. Proceeds from the gala event benefit the UNICEF project "Children In War Regions.''
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E-Mail Marty Mulcahey at fivedogss@msn.com
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