Early on, I thought Martinez was in trouble. Burns was dictating the action with a long jab and right hand. His lack of one-stop-shot power and style reminded me of Winky Wright but busier and more aggressive. Long arms that made for an effective guard kept Martinez hunting for a spot to land in.
But then, at the end of the first, Martinez’ patience paid off and he dropped Burns and all seemed right again for the slugger.
Not so.
Burns instead used the moment to forge himself and push forward. Throwing odd angles and straight shots repeatedly up and down to the head and body took its toll on Martinez who, throughout the fight, began to look like a spent bullet. I can’t tell what round is “Round of the Year,” five or seven. Having that kind of problem with a fight means the fight has got to be great.
Burns was intriguing. He seemed to be lost in the zone, not really looking at his trainer but rather looking beyond into that perfect zone you live in when you are pulling something off well out of your league. His smile before the 11th round said it all; the man was in the middle of a war zone; he was doing well and finding out what all fighters hope to about themselves.
Martinez showed a depth of character that losing cannot diminish. He was absolutely done in the last two rounds and still he was the aggressor and he never stopped trying to get the home run.
The fight showed the difference between relaxed varied punching and the follies of being a power-puncher who doesn’t know the value of an off-speed pitch. Burns kept his form and had a few scary moments because Martinez wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Both men gave it all to both boxing fans and themselves. They should be celebrated and rewarded accordingly. If you haven’t seen it, find it and do so. It’s what boxing is all about.
Felix Sturm was Felix Sturm and Giovanni Lorenzo was who we thought he was. Two guys who could be compelling but just aren’t. I thought Lorenzo might do it early but he was tame and tentative and he lost.
Sergio Martinez, Dmitry Pirog, Gennady Golovkin and Felix Sturm in a round-robin. Let’s do this thing.
Some folks are asking about “Fighter vs. Writer” so I’ll just drop the info here. We’re looking at some interesting partnerships right now while re-tooling the show, upgrading the look and content. It’d be fun to keep going and keep the momentum but right now, this is what’s best as we see what’s next for us.
Finally, I’d like to correct a couple mistakes in my “Tyson/Bowe/Lewis/Holyfield: Timing is Everything” article (http://www.maxboxing.com/news/main-lead/tysonbowelewisholyfield-timing-is-everything).
1) Herbie Hide got KO’ed by Riddick Bowe in six, not a decision. I think I looked at the Larry Donald fight below it, when double checking, which was a decision. Oops. I’m kind of surprised there weren’t more things I had missed.
2) The BoxRec listing for when Tyson-Douglas happened is February 11 when it happened in Tokyo, however, the fight was broadcast here in the States on Saturday night, February 10. Thanks to Steve and a fellow doghouseboxing.com poster named “Scarecrow” for the corrections.
Here we go fight fans, your Monday Mailbag. I’d tell you what’s in it but that’d spoil the fun.
The Rise and Fall of “Fan Man”…
What happen then to the fan man who jumps bowe/holyfield 2? lmao
Nikko
Nikko-
I’m not ashamed to say I Wikipedia’ed this so any quotes are from that source. Yes, that is now a word. I knew the short version of what happened to “Fan Man” but I didn’t know the full back story of the guy.
His name was James Jarrett Miller and he was an avid outdoorsman, parachute and paraglide pilot as well as computer technician and small business owner who was born in Maryland but lived in Henderson, NV for years. He was apparently into extreme sports and fell in love with “power paragliding” in Vegas. He started off with jetpacks and moved to the power glider apparatus that made him famous.
After the Bowe-Holyfield II fight incident where he was knocked out and beaten severely, he was hospitalized and released on $200 bail.
"It was a heavyweight fight," Miller would joke later, "and I was the only guy who got knocked out."
Fox Sports News voted this the #1 "Most Outrageous Sports Moment".
Miller continued his antics dropping in a Raiders-Broncos game in January ’94 at the L.A. Coliseum. In February of that year, he skydived into a soccer match in Bolton, England.
Apparently the FAA warned him that he’d do serious time in a federal pen if he didn’t stop being so freakin’ crazy.
He eventually moved to Valdez, Alaska where he had a small computer business. He was later diagnosed with a serious heart condition and after surgery, moved to Anchorage, Alaska to be near his family, friends and better medical care.
On September 22, 2002, Miller was reported missing. On March 9, 2003 a group of hunters found Miller’s decomposing body hanging from a tree in the remote Resurrection Pass Trail in Chugach National Forest. Suffering from that heart illness and rising medical costs he could not pay after closing his computer business, Miller hanged himself, according to the official ruling on the case. He left behind a pregnant girlfriend who gave birth to a son, Logan, on February 14, 2003.
Yeah, man. “Fan Man” got it worst of all in that group, though one could argue seeing Holyfield still trying to unify the titles is a little bit sadder. Our warriors shouldn’t go out like that. And no one should go out like Mr. Miller, alone in a forest with seemingly no answers.
Rest in peace, “Fan Man.”
Flattery will get you in the Bag…
Gabe, you are my new favorite writer. I have been reading your work for awhile now and this is the best article you have written by far. Steve Kim, Dan Rafael, Tom Hauser, Kevin Iole, They got nothing on you. You actually had me on the edge of my seat. It felt like I was reliving it all over again. Gabe, you got to do these "History Articles" more often. Please!!!
Might I suggest a Timing is Everything article with "Freitas, Casamayor, Corrales, Castillo, Mayweather".
Your the man and keep up the good work,
Don F.
Don, you are too kind, man. I’ll accept the compliment and responsibility of being your new favorite writer but I have to say I’m not in Hauser or Kim’s league and Kevin and Dan do their work with aplomb. I think it comes down to flavors. Kim breaks more stories in his sleep than I do in a year. Hauser is the king of research and logic. Both guys must have every boxing office in the world bugged the way they cull info no one else has or breaking stories.
I was a religious Rafael reader in his USA Today days and I think he does good work over at ESPN. Kevin is as solid a writer as there is and a very friendly man I have regrettably not spent enough time getting to know.
So I accept the compliment but I respectfully disagree. Those guys have a lot on me.
The heavyweights in the ‘90s fascinate me now. It was crazy going back and looking at how it all happened and why.
I got a little criticism about my treatment of Lewis. I kept referring to him as raw and not ready. But you have to remember that it wasn’t until after he lost to McCall that first time that he employed Manny Steward, who was in the McCall corner that night. It was Steward who helped to be more aggressive, to protect that chin, and helped him develop that right uppercut and decent left hook. It wasn’t until they got together that Lewis really came into his own in the Morrison and Mercer fights. Lewis didn’t win his first belt from a champ until he beat Holyfield in the 1999 rematch. McCall II was for a vacant belt and he was awarded his first belt in his street clothes. So I wasn’t being down on Lewis; it was just how he was at the period I covered.
Additionally, there was one more time Tyson and Lewis missed each other and that was in April 2001 against Hasim Rahman. Had Lewis not gotten knocked out, we’d have seen that fight next. Instead, we got it in June 2002, though I have to say, after 1996 and the Holyfield losses, Tyson was pretty up and down and beating him at that point meant less and less. In 2002, when Lewis finally got him, I just felt it was a meaningless fight and more sad than anything.
There was another near miss in there with Tommy Morrison and Lewis. They fought in 1995 but were scheduled to fight in early 1994. Unfortunately, Tommy got iced by journeyman Michael Bentt in one round.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu9nzeTOA-M
That’s what the loss of an eight-million dollar payday looks like. Ouch.
I’m glad you enjoyed the piece, man. That piece you asked for sounds intriguing. The responses have been good so I will have to think about it. One interview I am still tracking down in my place is my first with a fighter in person: an interview with Diego “Chico” Corrales before the third Castillo fight, the day before the weigh-in that derailed that fight. When I find it, I’ll drop that on you guys.
Thanks for reading and take care.
Power to the People…
Gabe,
I hope all is well. I am trying to start a movement of sorts. I have started a blog to serve as an online consumer advocacy tool for boxing fans.
I want it to be the place where boxing fans can voice their opinions and pledge to boycott "bad" fights i.e. Pac-Marg.
Boxing fans are doing themselves a disservice by not acting collectively. I know a lot of fans will follow through with their to boycott the fight if they feel it will make an impact.
http://unitedboxingpayers.blogspot.com/
Please let me know what you think, I would love to get your two cents.
Thanks
Jaime
South City
Jamie, I love it when fight fans take the power for themselves. Now I may not agree with your take on the fight but I think you have the right idea. If fans want to boycott something to let the powers-that-be know they are unhappy with the product they are asked to buy, they should be united in that. I applaud you for taking the time to organize your thoughts and encourage anyone who feels likewise to join you.
I get a lot of emails from angry fans about this fight and that other fighter I’m not writing a word about anymore until he takes a fight of note. One thing they never do is what you just did: organize.
I’ll talk more specially on the fight itself in the next response.
Yup, another Margarito email…
Hey Gabe,
I know you are sick of only getting emails regarding a certain cheating Mexican, a black guy that likes to talk about himself and a happy-go-lucky Philipino, but I saw the documentary "Assault In The Ring" (about the 1983 fight between Billy Collins Jr. and Luis Resto) recently and it put things in perspective for me. I didn’t really like the documentary (Eric Drath staging confessionals around the country with his simple-minded subject was a little sleazy for my taste) so much as I was fascinated by the story itself. The effects loading gloves can have on lives long after the nights those gloves are used solidifies in my mind that it’s by far the worst offense one can perpetrate in the wide world of sports. There’s not only the risk of death but there is risk of losing everything in your life that matters, for the rest of your natural life. I even had a hard time sleeping the first couple nights after watching that documentary.
I wasn’t too indignant when I first heard about the scandal. I know it was wrong but I could have cared less whether Margarito fought again. But now my feelings have changed. I think Margarito knew but I can see a lot of Luis Resto in him. I don’t think I’m insulting the guy when I say he probably isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. He grew up without much of an education and he punches people in the face for a living, I don’t think he’ll be winning a Fulbright scholarship anytime soon. The reason I say that is because I think he was misled. He knew what was in his wraps but I don’t think it was his idea. Once Capetillo started loading his gloves he probably told Margarito that if he stayed quiet about it and he’d have a helluva career. Success, money, a lot of Ws on the old record.
But I would feel a lot better about things if Margarito owned up to his role and was honest about how many times he loaded his gloves previous to that night at the Staples Center. If he doesn’t own up to his role and apologize then I won’t have any choice but to boycott the fight, because I would just be sick to my stomach the entire time I watched it. And for him to tell people at the Pac/Margarito press conference that it’s time to "move on" is absolutely unacceptable. Once you’re caught with loaded gloves you automatically lose the right to dictate to people how they should feel about it, and when they need to get over it.
But I still place more blame on Capetillo. I honestly think he and Panama Lewis (how is it possible that slimy fuck still earns a good living in the fight game?!?! He’s literally one of the worst people in the world!!!) should be dragged out to a dirt field and be beaten to within an inch of their lives with aluminum baseball bats.
Because after seeing that documentary I firmly believe Panama Lewis completely ruined more than one life, and Capetillio tried to completely ruin at least one life, probably many more.
Keep up the good work
Chris from Columbia
P.S.
Thanks for putting me in the bag leading up to the Mosley-Mayweather fight, I was Chris from Argentina then!
Chris-
From Argentina to Columbia, that’s quite a move. I gotta hear that story sometime.
You know what boxing needs right now, that for years the heavyweight division provided? A hero, a leader who will provide a focus to our sport. For years, the heavyweights gave us that with Lewis, Tyson, Bowe and Holyfield. They were giants giving us giant fights. George Foreman, Ray Mercer, Tommy Morrison. These men gave us things to look forward to after Duran, Leonard, Hagler and Hearns left us for good. Roy Jones Jr. hinted at it but didn’t deliver. Oscar De La Hoya carried this sport on his back for years and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. delivered the goods on a regular basis.
What we have now are guys who want to be Oscar De La Hoya or Sugar Ray Leonard but either don’t give us what we want or won’t risk themselves against the best fighters available to them.
In the case of Manny Pacquiao, I believe he could have taken a stand here. Now, I tend to agree with Thomas Hauser’s assertion that we should not ask for Margarito’s permanent ban based on a guess that he knew. There is no evidence he did. I’ve been over this time and again and the way the inserts were hidden and how they were made makes it possible Margarito could not know.
Now if it did happen over the years and plaster wraps were taken off the way a cast is, then yeah, he had to know. But that’s speculation. I deal with facts.
But now Manny Pacquiao says, of course Margarito knew. That I have a problem with. If he thinks Margarito knew, then he thinks Margarito committed the cardinal sin of boxing and as such, if I was him, I wouldn’t reward a cheater like that with a big payday even if that payday included a beating at my own hands. But that’s me.
I’ve never looked to an athlete or a politician or even a priest as a moral center. I tend to go off what my grandparents and father and mother taught me to gauge my behavior. I do get off-track yelling at people on forums or Twitter. But hey, no one’s perfect and in my opinion, those people had it coming.
So again, if I was Manny I wouldn’t do it. If I was Manny, I’d care a bit more about what the fans want and find a suitable opponent like Tim Bradley. I’d set a standard by saying, “Look, this guy ain’t a draw but he’s deserving and near my weight so I will give the fans what they want and do this.” His promoter might hate him for it but at the end of the day, Manny is the guy doing the job that generates a ton of money. Bob Arum promotes him and Top Rank has helped develop him but the position he is in now tells me he should be calling some shots now.
Regarding Resto vs. Collins and the documentary, I agree that the interviews felt a little strange and I’m not sure how influenced Resto was by the proceedings. One thing I will say is that Bob Arum was Collins’ promoter and while it seems odd he would be the guy defending Margarito, his conscience appears clear on the issue. Recently, he told Steve Kim that if he did not believe Margarito he would not be working so hard for him. I believe that.
Like you said, it is up to fans and fight people what to think about Margarito and Pacquiao or even that idiot on Ustream. Apologies or not, it’s up to us to accept and move on or not.
You are right about Javier Capetillo. I think all state boxing commissions should enforce their rules and keep that guy out of boxing. If anyone knew, he did and I don’t buy he did it by accident. For that, he needs to get the hell out of my sport forever.
As for your boycott, see the response before this one and act accordingly.
And Finally...
This YouTube video is just awesome. It’s an examination of the one guy Sugar Ray Robinson avoided, Charley Burley. Thanks to “Bazooka” on the Doghouse Boxing forums for bringing this to my attention.
Boxing fans, this is your moment of Zen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81non05aKX4&feature=related
Have a great week.
You can email Gabriel at maxgmontoya@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/gabriel_montoyaand catch him on each Monday’s episode of “The Next Round” with Steve Kim or tune into hear him live on Thursdays at 5-8 PM PST when he co-hosts the BlogTalk radio show Leave-It-In-The-Ring.com. Gabriel is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
