An Autumn in Russia for Atlas

Atlas says, "I never strayed from my reason; my reason was he wasn’t ready. So I can’t speak for anyone else, to be honest with you. My only question was- was my fighter ready? It’s my responsibility to make a decision based on whether or not he’s ready. I thought with more fights, he had a better chance to win- it’s that simple. You look at a guy and you say, ’It’s a big fight; it’s a money fight. Can he get better? Will he get better with more experience?’  If the answer is no- and we’re in the real world here; we’re in a tough business- sometimes the practical, responsible thing to do is, ’Alright, let him make the money; let him take a payday right now. He’s not going to get any better.’ He may never get this opportunity to get this kind of fight. 

He added, "I thought he would get better and I thought that the responsible thing to do, the thing from my standpoint was to give him a chance to get better, to get him a chance to get more fights. He’s been mandatory for two years and he’s fought like two, three times."

Well, it’s actually been four but the point stands; a guy with just 19 professional outings in six years as a pro isn’t ready to compete at the highest levels of the sport.

"Let him have the proper opportunity to win the fight," continued the trainer. "Let him have a better chance when he steps in that ring; let him know he’s truly ready. Not hoping that he can get lucky. Hoping to be fortunate, hoping that something could go his way. No, let him go in there with the experience he should go in with, knowing that he can have a good chance of controlling his destiny that night and winning that fight, which will be the biggest of his life."

This plan sounds good in theory but it wouldn’t have gone anywhere without the compliance of Povetkin. In general, fighters don’t always see the forest for the trees.

"He trusts me," said Atlas, who says that Povetkin is probably the easiest client he has ever had. "He believes I am looking out for what’s best for him. He believes that I’m evaluating what is the best path to give him the best career and the best opportunity to have a positive career and have an opportunity in this case to win a world title. He has trust in that; I think that trust is something that I take very seriously. Look, it doesn’t mean at the end of the day that it’s a guarantee that we’re going to get everything that we want. The only thing it means is that I believe this was the right move and the right direction for him right now. That it will give him the best opportunity to be successful."

Just recently, Atlas staged what amounted to a live scrimmage in a private setting against former heavyweight titlist Bruce Seldon in New Jersey. "I wanted to give him a glorified sparring session with all the bells and whistles of a real fight and it’s a training session," explained Atlas, of this fight which had the feel of a sanctioned fight. "At the end of the five-week training camp, we rented an arena, used small gloves, no headgear; we had a doctor there, a weigh-in; we had a judge. We had everything."

So how did it go?

"It validated, at least for me- and, at the end of the day, I’m the one who has to make the decision. I gotta live with it and be accountable for it- that I think maybe I made the right decision foregoing Klitschko right now," stated Atlas. "Because, at the beginning, he [Povetkin] was a little tight, a little tentative; he was thinking more than he was doing; he was waiting for things to happen more than he was making things happen. Which I think experience will allow him to do that. [In] the early rounds, he wasn’t as good as he was later on. He got better as the rounds went on. The fourth round, he would up dropping Seldon a couple of times and the training session was stopped."

Soon Atlas will be rejoining his boxer in Russia.

"We’re going to have to leave real quick," he says, "I’ve thought about bringing him over here to start the training. Only because I’m choosing the quickest route, the quickest fight. They called me yesterday, ’Teddy, do you want October 2^nd or October 30^th?’ It would’ve been easier [to do the later date]; I could’ve hung out a little bit."

While in the States, Povetkin trains in New Jersey, going back and forth between gyms in Red Bank and Middleton. When the calendar year turns to 2011 and Atlas resumes his ESPN2 duties, he will return. Meanwhile, Atlas who is big football fan (and whose son now works in the scouting department for the Cleveland Browns) will miss the bulk of the NFL regular season. Who knows; maybe they have DirecTV over there and he can get the NFL season package.

"We’re going to find out. We’re going to see if I can find a satellite, maybe on top of the Kremlin."

TOMMY BOY

Kathy Duva and Main Events better be careful. If they keep drawing the way they did on Saturday night with Tomasz Adamek (over 10,000 lively partisans) she’ll never secure a date on HBO.

But seriously, in watching the pay-per-view, you could just feel the passion and energy inside the Prudential Center long before the popular Pole stepped in the ring against Michael Grant. But just think about what has taken place in boxing over the previous three weeks. You had consecutive shows in major metropolitan markets (St. Louis, Montreal and Newark) that were well-attended and provided a great night of entertainment (which is a key element in all this but unfortunately forgotten by most decision-makers in this industry) and were all staged by real promoters and they didn’t involve the usual suspects- and you know who I’m referring to.

Coincidence?

I think not.

OCT 2^ND 

October 2^nd was shaping up to be one of the busiest in many moons as Showtime has the continuation of the “Super Six” when Carl Froch faces Arthur Abraham in Monaco and Main Events returns to the Prudential Center with Zab Judah. Lou DiBella was planning to stage an HBO-televised card on that date as well, which was a proposed tripleheader with Andre Berto, Celestino Caballero and Sergiy Dzinziruk.

But there were a few snags. Berto- the WBC “welterweight champion of 140-pounds”- is looking at the possibility of being stripped if he doesn’t face his mandatory, Selcuk Aydin. But I’m hearing that if he gets Andriy Kotelnik, his title will be kept intact. Why? Because it turns out that Don King co-promotes Aydin and he signed Kotelnik to a contract before his fight with Devon Alexander (This oughta teach anyone a lesson about ever counting out King, who still obviously still plays a mean game of chess). As for the possibility of Philly’s Mike Jones, while there is a groundswell of support for him to face Berto, not only would Berto get stripped of his belt but there is talk of Jones facing Jesus Soto-Karass on the Manny Pacquiao undercard on November 13^th in Dallas. 

Realistically, this seems to be the move to make for Jones; he still may not be seasoned enough for Berto and one of the knocks on him is that he hasn’t been given all that much exposure up to this point. Back to Berto, another possibility is a unification bout against the winner of the bout between Rafal Jackiewicz and Jan Zaveck, who fight for Zaveck’s IBF title on September 4^th in Slovenia.

Whatever happens, I’m told this show will most likely move to November, with HBO not wanting to program any boxing during the baseball playoffs.

REMATCH?

Not really sure what’s going on as it relates to the rematch between Sergio Martinez and Paul Williams. There are some who believe that it will get done and take place on November the 20^th. But every time I try and get confirmation from Dan Goossen, I never get my calls returned (which I have to say, has really hurt my feelings. Dan, if you’re out there, hit me back!). I heard from one source that the Williams camp is still out there looking for a welterweight fight.

But if Martinez-Williams does take place, it will land on the aforementioned date but not Atlantic City, as originally planned. Why? Because the big convention center is booked that night with a Justin Bieber concert. And let’s be real; Bieber’s dress rehearsals would out-draw any Williams fight. Hey, the kid’s popular.

GOLDEN PROMISE

I read with more than just a bit of bemusement, Oscar De La Hoya’s pleas for Juan Manuel Marquez to face Manny Pacquiao on November 13^th and not Antonio Margarito in Cowboy Stadium in Dallas. He stated to a small group of reporters on a conference call that it’s what the fans want and the right thing to do.

That’s a fair point.

However, in that vein, if it’s about doing what the fans want and what’s right for the sport of boxing, shouldn’t Golden Boy have done their part to help make a proposed junior welterweight tournament a reality? And also, please don’t shove Bernard Hopkins down the public’s throat anymore because the last thing the vast majority of fans want is another lousy “execution.”

Just saying.


FINAL FLURRIES

There’s a good chance that Kelly Pavlik will also be on the Pacquiao undercard...For the record, the main event on Saturday night in Montreal at the Metropolis is Edner Cherry vs. Omri Lowther, which is a pretty good fight on paper, at least...I heard the CSAC is so incensed over Atlas’ unlicensed fight between Povetkin and Seldon that they are demanding that trainer Robert Garcia come in to their next meeting so they can badger him some more...Gary Shaw wouldn’t mind having Dzinziruk, the reigning WBO 154-pound beltholder face Erislandy Lara but only if he gets options and it’s on a non-Golden Boy card...I’m looking forward to the upcoming edition of the “Fight Night Club” presented by Golden Boy at the Club Nokia that features prospects Ronny Rios and Antonio Orozco. I’ve been told that 2008 Olympian Bastie Samir, who had been bogged down by immigration issues in Ghana, is making his return on this card...The postponement of the September 18^th bout between “JuanMa” Lopez and Rafael Marquez is just another buzzkill in a year filled with them...Joel Julio is what they call in baseball the “quadruple A” player. He can dominate the minor leagues but can’t find success at “The Big Show.” That’s Julio, who can beat all the second and third-tier guys but has come up short in his biggest bouts...Seriously, I think the Bengals will be very good this year. Not only because of their star-studded offense but because that same defense is fast and aggressive...And I look for the Raiders- yes, the Raiders- to be vastly improved. Not having JaMarcus Leaf improves them by at least two or three games...LeGarrette “The Blount Bomber,” I have to say, has a good right-hand and he isn’t afraid to pull the trigger...Yeah, I don’t think Albert Haynesworth and the Redskins will last the year...So Antonio Cromartie- the Evander Holyfield of cornerbacks- is claiming that HBO had him do a second take as he rattled off his children’s names? So “Hard Knocks” is just like “24/7”? Still love the show- and Rex Ryan...The latest edition of “The Main Event” features HBO’s Jim Lampley (and yes, I ask him about his “BANG! BANG! BANG!” call) and IBF light heavyweight king Tavoris Cloud...I can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com and I tweet at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. We also have a Facebook fan page atwww.facebook.com/MaxBoxing.