Boxing News Thread

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Sugar Shane Mosley: “I knock people out. I got pretty good punching power, even Floyd

by Geoffrey Ciani - This week’s 81st edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio featured an exclusive interview with former three division champion Sugar Shane Mosley. Earlier this week news emerges that Mosley will be squaring off against Sergio Mora on September 18 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Mosley is coming off of a unanimous decision loss against Floyd Mayweather Junior back on May 1. Mosley spoke about that fight, his upcoming fight with Mora, his future plans, and various other aspects of the current landscape in boxing. The following is a complete transcript from that interview.

Jenna J: Anyways guys, it's time for our forth guest of this week’s show, he is the former WBA welterweight champion, he is none other than Sugar Shane Mosley. Hey there, Shane.

Sugar Shane Mosley: Hey, how are you doing?

Jenna: I’m doing fine. We’re happy to have you back on the show.

Mosley: Thank you. It’s good to be back on the show, thank you..

Jenna: Shane, it was announced that you’ll be facing off against Sergio “The Snake” Mora on September 18 at the Staples Center in LA. How do you feel about this match-up?

Mosley: I feel it’s going to be a good match-up. Being that Sergio beat Vernon Forrest one time before and Vernon’s got the victory back, he’s a worthy opponent. It’s going to be a great fight at the Staples Center and all the fans will see my comeback fight. It will be great.





Jenna: Now Sergio Mora has not fought at this weight class since his rematch loss to the late great Vernon Forrest. What things do you see yourself having to do to share the same success that Forrest had against him?

Mosley: Well, I think that I have to use a lot of movement, he’s a little bit bigger, good movement, speed and power, and using my advantage of experience.

Jenna: Your last bout, Shane, was obviously against the pound for pound number one guy in the sport, that would be Floyd Mayweather Junior. Can you tell us a little bit about that bout and how you feel it went?

Mosley: Floyd won a unanimous decision. I had some pretty good moments in the fight where he got a couple of good shots in but for the most part it was his night and he was victorious.

Jenna: In the second round of that fight you had him hurt and it looked like you might be able to stop him. Did you think you had him at that moment?

Mosley: Yeah, I thought I was one punch away from it being an early night but he was able to get out of the way and survive. He was able to get himself back together and outbox me.

Jenna: Now Shane, you’re moving back up to the 154 pound division for this fight with Mora. Why did you decide to return to this weight class?

Mosley: Just to get in the ring again and get a fight. I mean I was going for a fight with Andre Berto but we couldn’t work out the financial stuff. We couldn’t get that together so we didn’t make that fight happen. So this fight right here with Sergio Mora, he’s a good contender and actually won The Contender and it’s going to be a great fight in LA. He’s from LA, I’m from LA, so it’s another LA fight.

Jenna: When you look at the 154 pound division, who do you see out there as someone you would like to match up with if you are successful against Mora?

Mosley: Well you have Sergio Mora, you have Sergio Martinez, you have Miguel Cotto, there’s a possible match-up with Pacquiao if Floyd and Pacquiao can’t make it happen. So there’s a match-up with Pacquiao. There’s a few guys out there who I can tangle with.

Jenna: Would you consider a rematch with Miguel Cotto to be your main focus at this weight class?

Mosley: There would definitely focus there because everybody would like to see that type of fight, a rematch between me and Miguel. It’s kind of hard sometimes because we have different promoters. Sometimes it’s hard to match it up. Also, there’s a rematch with Margarito. I’d fight Cotto or Margarito. I mean there are a lot of round robins I can be in there with at that weight class.

Jenna: Well Shane, we’re also joined by my co-host Geoff Ciani. Geoff.

Geoffrey Ciani: Hi Shane. It’s a pleasure to have you back “On the Ropes” again.

Mosley: Thank you.

Ciani: Speaking to your jump to 154 and some of your possible fights there, I’m wondering, do you consider this move to 154 a permanent move where you’ll fight the rest of your career there or would you still consider fighting fights at 147 if the right fights were available?

Mosley: Yeah, I mean if the right fight was available I can see myself fighting at 147. It’s not that I can’t make the weight. I can make the weight. I think I get away with a lot moving up to 154 or heavier weight classes because of the punching power that I carry. I’m able to nullify a lot of the weight with the punching power. I think that’s an advantage for me.

Ciani: Now Shane, I want to return to your last fight for a couple of questions here. I’m curious, I think that you as a fighter you usually have a pretty good idea of how badly you have an opponent hurt when you catch him with some good shots, and you definitely caught Floyd with some good shots there. How badly did you think that you had him hurt during that round?

Mosley: I think he was one punch away from being knocked out.

Ciani: You appeared to be a little bit uncharacteristically winded it looked from my untrained eye. Did you get a little tired in that fight and if so, do you think that the long layoff you had between the Margarito fight and that fight may have had a bigger impact on your performance than you would have imagined?

Mosley: No, I wasn’t fatigued or tired at all whatsoever. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was the leaning on my neck. It got real tight and then I couldn’t throw any punches after that. I wasn’t tired. Physically, I wasn’t tired. I was just tight from all the leaning on my neck, from being on my neck, and I guess that’s what happened and I think it happens to a lot of fighters so that’s part of boxing. I wasn’t prepared for that tactic.

Ciani: Now do you think that perhaps maybe you would have been a little bit better prepared for Floyd if the fight with Berto that you were supposed to have in January had gone through had it not been for the earthquake in Haiti?

Mosley: I mean there are a lot of different excuses you can come up with. I thought I was prepared very well. That night wasn’t my night. I landed the shots I needed to land, I just couldn’t finish it off and Floyd did an excellent job of recovering and doing what he needed to do to win the fight. Like I said, the only thing that happened was if you look at the tape, there was a lot of jumping on my head and my neck and a lot of that. That’s what I didn’t work for. I didn’t work for preparing my neck for that type of fight, which I should have, because I watched him to do it to a lot of other fighters but that’s down on me. That was my mistake and he benefitted from that and he won.

Ciani: Was there anything about Floyd that surprised you that night?

Mosley: No, I pretty much thought that was going to be Floyd. It was a fight, again, that I knew exactly what to do and what not to do with him. I thought I would be a lot more successful with what I wanted to do. Like I said, that one thing that was in the fight, that’s what happened. When you’re in the middle of the fight you can’t say oh I want to rest my neck because I can’t throw punches. It was something that he did and he was successful with it. That’s all a part of fighting.

Jenna: Shane, we were talking before about some of the matches you could have at the 154 pound weight class but ultimately, what fight are you most interested in getting?

Mosley: Well, Sergio Martinez is the middleweight champion. Then you got Pacquiao that’s out there. There’s Cotto, there’s Mararito again, and Winky Wright’s still looming out there. There’s a lot of different fights that can be fought that people might want to see. I’m in the equation and I’m not done yet. I’m not finished. I’m ready to go out there and do my thing and entertain the people and the fans.

Jenna: Now Shane, you turn 39 years old by the time you face Mora. How much longer do you see yourself fighting?

Mosley: Until I feel I don’t want to do it anymore. I mean I might be fighting at age 45 like Bernard. I don’t know yet. I got to get some money back into my pocket and stuff like that. I still have the physical ability, I still have the know-how, and I still can beat these top fighters so I’m going to keep on fighting until I can’t do it anymore.

Jenna: Alright, now let’s talk about the sport for a second. You obviously mentioned Pacquiao before and the fight that everyone wants to see now is a fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather. From everything you’ve seen in the negotiations that they’re going through and your negotiations, of course, with Floyd—do you think that fight will happen?

Mosley: Well, I don’t know. I haven’t really heard from Floyd and what he wants to do and Pacquiao it seems like has some health problems over there in the Philipines, so none of these guys look like they’re getting ready to get in the ring anytime soon. There can be a fight maybe sometime in mid-2011 before they decide to start getting ready for or decide to even fight. By then I might even have two fights. We’ll see what happens. I don’t know. It’s very questionable whether this fight will happen or can happen at this point.

Jenna: After having faced Floyd Mayweather Junior, how do you feel Pacquiao would do against him?

Mosley: You know styles make fights. Pacquiao has good hitting power and southpaws tend to give Floyd more problems than right handers. With Pacquiao being a lot smaller, Floyd might be able to stay away and outbox him but Pacquiao is like a little Tasmanian Devile and he throws a lot of punches so it’s going to be a very tough assignment for Floyd to stay away. It can go either way. It’s going to be a great fight, a top notch fight.

Jenna: Alright Shane, if I put you on the spot right now, if you had to pick the winner—I know it’s a tough fight, I know you think it could go either way—who would you think would take it down?

Mosley: Honestly, I couldn’t even tell you. I couldn’t tell who it can be because like I said styles make fights. The success that Floyd had with me in some of the exchanges he might not have that same success with Pacquiao because Pacquiao’s a lot shorter and can slip under a lot of stuff and Pacquiao is a southpaw. There are different things in the equation that Floyd doesn’t like and Pacquiao can give him a lot of problems with. I’m not saying that Pacquiao is a better fighter or that Floyd’s a better fighter, it’s just that different styles make the fight. That type of style for both fighters, it’s going to be an exciting fight to watch. It’s a fight just to watch so I couldn’t say whether Floyd’s going to win or Pacquiao’s going to win. If I had to choose, I’d just watch and see.

Jenna: Alright now I brought this up before and I said if you’re successful against Mora, who would you go to next and you mentioned Sergio Martinez. Now he’s actually currently the middleweight champion. Let’s say a fight can be made with him. Would you consider fighting him at that weight class to make the fight happen?

Mosley: Yeah, I mean he’s the middleweight champion. We’ll probably fight at a catch weight, 155 or 156 or something like that. We’ll work it out. I’m sure he’s available and willing to fight. Actually, he was willing to fight me at 60-40. That was surprising to me that I could get a 60-40 fight with Sergio Martinez but I couldn’t get one with Andre Berto. That was shocking to me.

Ciani: Shane I’m wondering, going forward, are you still planning on working with Naazim Richardson in your upcoming fight with Mora?

Mosley: Definitely. Definitely, he’ll definitely be in the corner. He’s an outstanding coach.

Ciani: Now what you say are some of the things that Naazim has been able to do to help your game evolve? After you were already an established champion, a great fighter for all these years, a lot of times fighters kind of get stuck in their ways. What about Naazim was able to help your game progress even at your age with all the time you’ve already had in the sport?

Mosley: Well it’s bringing me back to the basics of things. He’s a younger coach and it’s kind of like going back in time, especially with the ways that he’s just training and getting you out of that rut of just doing the same old things. We’re doing different things. The younger guys come up learning to do different things. So it’s not like he’s teaching me anything different, we’re just doing different things, new things. It’s all based on the style of fighting I like to fight and the way I like to fight. That’s what’s making me seem like I’ve changed or not changed or whatever. It’s just different things, it’s a new feel.

Ciani: Now Shane, you mentioned earlier and I hadn’t actually thought of that possibility, but you mentioned that Winky Wright is floating around in that weight area and that he’s still actively looking for fights. I hadn’t thought of that, but is a third fight with Winky something that you would be interested in?

Mosley: Well I mean it might be something that I would try. I mean not exactly right now, right now, but that would be a possibility. Winky’s also a great legendary fighter. He’s 154-160. He can definitely get into the mix with all this stuff. I like his style and the way he fights. He’s a tough competitor and he always comes to fight. Definitely I could see him in the mix of all of us coming together and fighting. It would be great.

Ciani: Another name mentioned Shane a couple of times here was Miguel Cotto and I was wondering, (1) what you thought of his last performance against Yuri Foreman and (2) what you think about the pairing between him and Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward?

Mosley: Miguel Cotto looked very good. I liked watching it. He’s moving good and he’s pressing good. It’s like he was rejuvenated. It’s the type of style fighter that he’s fighting that didn’t have much punching power but at the same time he looked very good. I liked what I had seen. Working with Emanuel Steward, I mean I guess it’s a plus. He’s a Hall of Fame trainer, he has a lot of tricks, and he knows a lot of different fighters and times so I’m sure that Miguel is going to benefit a lot from Emanuel Steward.

Jenna: Shane, touching back a little bit about your career, the biggest fight to ever place at the Staples Center was the fight between you and Oscar De La Hoya at 147 and it’s a fight that people still talk about. Can you tell us a little bit about that match-up you had with him?

Mosley: It was an exciting fight. We fought as kids and we grew up in the same neighborhood. He’s from LA, I was a little further down but we used to go to the same gyms and spar together and stuff like that. It was a great match-up. We both knew each other so when we got in there we knew what to do. We knew how to bring it on. He gave a little and I gave a little and it went back and forth and was just a great fight. The people were there, the energy in the crowd was great. There were a lot of celebrities and fans. The Staples Center has always been good to me even with Oscar and Margarito.

Jenna: You ended up fighting him again though three years later. Obviously the first fight was close, but some people consider this fight to be a little bit controversial. When you look back at it and view it on tape, how do you feel about the bout?

Mosley: Actually I thought the first fight was more of a unanimous decision and maybe the second fight could have been a split decision because it was a very close fight that second one. It could have went either way. Oscar did a good job of boxing and moving and didn’t really press as much. It was definitely a closer fight I think than the first one, but scoring is different and judges see different things so what do you do.

Jenna: Now when people talk about Oscar of late, some seem to think he should come out of retirement and fight again because of how dominant Pacquiao’s been since defeating him. Do you think he should make a return to the ring, and if he does, would you be interested in having a third fight with him?

Mosley: No, I mean we’re partners now in Golden Boy. I wouldn’t care one way or another, but I don’t think that a third would mean anything for him or whatever. He’s been away from the game for so long that might not be a good idea. I think that it’s truly up to him if he has the love in his heart and he really wants to be dedicated and work out every day and go to the gym. The thing is he’s gotten comfortable being a promoter and just enjoying his kids and doing stuff like that. I don’t know. It’s up to him to say. It’s a personal decision that one person has to make with himself whether he wants to be a fighter or not.

Ciani: I was wondering Shane if you’ve been following the Super Six super middleweight tournament and if you have been following it I was wondering if you could just give us some general impressions you’ve had about it.

Mosley: I watch it here and there. I like all of the guys, actually. It’s pretty much a good tournament. I mean Andre Ward is doing very well, and Andre Dirrell, I watched a couple of his fights. Arthur Abraham, he was doing well but I guess it was controversial when he fought Andre Dirrell. Arthur Abrahma’s a very hard puncher, very strong. I think it’s coming along pretty good. I like it. There’s a lot of great young talent in that tournament.

Ciani: So far in that tournament, Andre Ward is ahead on the leader board. He scored two impressive victories. He of course beat tournament favorite Mikkel Kessler in round one and now a couple of weeks ago he just had another dominant effort against Allan Green and he looks like the man to beat right now. I’m wondering from your perspective as a superstar in the sport, do you think Andre Ward has the potential to cross that threshold and become a superstar in his own right?

Mosley: Definitely. He has the charisma, he’s very well spoken, he’s a student of the game. He definitely loves the sport of boxing. I definitely think that he has the ability to cross over into superstardom. He has it all. So I think this fight is only going to elevate him to the next level and if he keeps fighting these tough fights, eventually we’ll have another superstar.

Ciani: Would you be interested, Shane, if there was a tournament like this somewhere in the weight range you’re fighting, like say 154 now. Coming up, if something like that could be put together at 154 would that be something you’d be interested in participating in?

Mosley: Yeah, I’d participate it in. With all the top junior middles it would be kind of hard for our weight class I think because I think more money is involved, more financials. With me, Cotto, and a few others, but it could be something that we could look into.

Jenna: Alright Shane, well we have just a couple of more questions before we let you off the line and back to your fight with Mora, and I mentioned before how you’ve seen his fights before at 154, but what do you think is the most important thing you need to do to be successful against him?

Mosley: I think my punch production with him and to make sure I’m not just standing there in front of him to throw a lot of punches at me and be hit. That means moving a little bit. I just can’t be flatfooted where he can move around and box and potshot and stuff or throw a lot of combinations which he likes to do. Like I said, he’s a little bigger and he’s a good fighter so I have to be very careful.

Jenna: Now he only has one career loss and he’s never been knocked out. Do you think you could be the guy to do it?

Mosley: Well, that’s what I do—I knock people out. I got pretty good punching power. Even Floyd was almost a victim of that, so we’ll see. I mean I believe I can knockout anybody if I get in the ring with them and hit them right.

Jenna: Looking back on your career, to this point, what do you consider to be your most satisfying experience in the ring?

Mosley: Well I think the best fight would have to be with me and Oscar. That’s the one that kind of made me, if you will, who I am today and I know the fans enjoy Oscar’s fights and stuff along with mine. I think that’s the most rewarding fight, if you will, for both fighters.

Jenna: Finally, is there anything you want to say to all your fans out there and the listeners of On the Ropes Boxing Radio?

Mosley: I’d just like to thank my fans for being great loyal fans. Continue to watch my fights. I’m still here and I’m going to be here for awhile, so thank you for being great fans.

Jenna: Alright, well it was a pleasure talking to you again Shane and we wish you the best of luck on September 18 against Sergio Mora.

Mosley: Take care, I appreciate it. Thank you.

Ciani: Thanks Shane. Good luck!

Mosley: Alright, thank you. Bye bye.

 

[heyzel]

Emanuel Steward: “Whenever you think of Tommy Hearns, you think of Ray Leonard”

Exclusive Interview by Geoffrey Ciani - On September 16, 1981, WBC welterweight champion Sugar Ray Leonard squared off against WBA champion Tommy Hearns in what would become one of the greatest fights in boxing history. The back and forth action-packed encounter was awarded ‘Fight of the Year’ honors by Ring Magazine, and for good reason. This was a match that had built up for years in the imagination of fight fans and when demand peaked and the two finally squared off it was an encounter that had exceeded all expectations. The nature of the fight, which had more twists and turns than a Hollywood thriller, was almost surreal.

Tommy Hearns jumped out to an early lead by controlling the action and stalking Leonard. In round six, Leonard landed a great left hook that immediately shifted the momentum of the contest. Hearns was nearly out on his feet but he managed to persevere and regained his footing. By round nine, Hearns had changed strategies and began boxing Ray with great success. In a bizarre turn of events, Hearns had become the boxer and Leonard the stalker. After twelve full rounds, Hearns had regained control of the contest and appeared to be on his way to victory. That is when Leonard’s head trainer Angelo Dundee gave his now famous words of encouragement, “You’re blowing it now, son. You’re blowing it.” Halfway through the thirteenth round Leonard’s accumulation of punches caught up with Tommy and he was hurt by a good right hand. In the fourteenth, Ray smelled blood and went in for the kill prompting referee Davey Pearl to call a halt to the contest..

I was recently afforded the opportunity to discuss this fight with Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward. In addition to developing and training Tommy Hearns, Emanuel was also good friends with Ray Leonard which provides him with a rather unique perspective as pertaining to this famous rivalry. Steward shared his personal experience and insight surrounding this event and the warriors who made it happen. Here is what he had to say:

On training Tommy Hearns as an amateur boxer:

Well, Tommy first came to the gym when he was about ten years old I guess and he was just one, at that time, of many little junior boxers I had. I had a boxer named Bernard Mays who like in ’72-’73 was the talk of the town. As a result Tommy’s mother, like all of the mothers, brought all of the kids who were ten, eleven, twelve or thirteen to my gym because it was known that I was a guy who spent a lot of time with little junior boxers.

He was just an ordinary kid for the most part. Of the top junior boxers we had, he might have placed about number five or six or maybe less at the time. But the thing that made him unusual is he would come every day whether he had a good workout or not. Oftentimes he wouldn’t do that well, and he would catch a bus, a long bus, sometimes two buses, from the opposite side of the town with his little brother, John. All of a sudden you began to notice when he went to the tournaments he would lose, but he would lose in the semi-finals or the finals. I found out that one of the reasons was he was growing. When a guy is growing like he was each year, he may move up one new weight division but he’ll pick up maybe another inch or two in height. Therefore, he still doesn’t really get the real strength because the strength is like donated or sacrificed for the growth.

He lost in the finals to Aaron Pryor in 1976 in Miami which was a very proud loaded tournament. Michael Dokes I think was there and Ray Leonard and a lot of talented fighters—probably most of the guys who made the Olympic teams in ’76. He lost in the finals to Aaron Pryor who was a little stronger and a little more experienced. Right after that in the Miami paper Angelo Dundee, when they asked him out of all the fighters he saw which one impressed him the most in the tournament, he said, ‘The young skinny kid from Detroit’. He said that’s the one that impressed me the most and I had to go with him, even though he lost. In fact, Angelo and I were just talking about that when we were down in Tampa together when I was training Miguel. He came to the gym and we were speaking about that.

Anyway, he then lost in the National AAU to Howard Davis and then in ’77 it seemed like everything came together. It was the first time that he didn’t get any taller, he moved up to 139 and in the semi-finals of the National Golden Gloves he defeated, stopped in fact, the guy who he had lost to two years earlier named Ronnie Shields who was the defending champion. So he stopped Ronnie Shields in Hawaii and then he went on to win the National Golden Gloves. A few months later he won the National AAU Championship. He was seventeen.

On Tommy Hearns’ professional debut:

Who was the first guy to meet him in the ring and congratulate him after he wins the National AAU, and I happen to have the picture here today still, but Sugar Ray Leonard. Then he turned professional. That was in May that he won the National AAU in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He was eighteen on October 18, 1977 so he turned professional the day after Thanksgiving, which I think was November 25. Ray Leonard came in to help build up the hype. You know he was very popular, and I really appreciated that because he left his family and spent Thanksgiving here in Detroit.

Tommy fought the next day, scored a knockout in the second round, and Ray was right there congratulating him. Afterwards we had a little after party at a friend of mine’s house. We went to a Denny’s restaurant and he and Tommy were laughing and joking. Tommy was eighteen and I think Ray was about twenty-one or twenty, and Tommy just turned eighteen. Never in my wildest dreams did I have any idea that these two would be fighting in a few years against each other in one of the most famous series in boxing.

Sparring sessions between Hearns and Ray Leonard:

Shortly after Tommy turned professional, Ray was fighting a guy named Floyd Mayweather Senior. So Dave Jacobs, who was Ray Leonard’s amateur trainer, had gotten very close to me as a friend. He said, “Hey Steward, can Tommy come over and box with Ray?” to help him, because they got a similar style. I said, “Okay”. So I let Tommy go by himself over to Maryland to box with Ray Leonard and he stayed at Dave Jacobs’ house. Dave called me up after they had boxed the first day. He said Tommy and Ray boxed in front of a jam packed crowd of people at the gym because Tommy was the National AAU Champion and Golden Gloves Champion. So naturally, all of those guys in Washington came to see the workout. He said, “It surprised me, but believe it or not Tommy outboxed Ray”. He said, “I was shocked because nobody’s ever outboxed Ray, but he actually outboxed Ray”. I think they boxed again and after that Tommy came home in a few days but he never said anything about the workouts.

On fans creating the hype for a mega fight between Hearns and Leonard:

I would go to Ray Leonard’s fights because Ray was always very close with me and he would invite me to come to his fights. After his fights I began hearing that the crowd was always saying, “You look good Sugar Ray, wait until The Hitman’s going to get you, blah, blah, blah” and the same thing with Tommy. Every time Tommy started winning, you could hear the same thing in the crowd and I realized that this fight was starting to build up between these two. I was going to see both fighters. Naturally with Tommy I’m there for all the fights, but also I would go to attend Ray’s fights. Then after one of his fights I went to Maryland and me, him and his then wife, Juanita, and Janks Morton sat in the living room watching the fight, and critiquing all of his fights and mistakes and so and so.

Pretty soon, here in Detroit even though Tommy is a big Detroit favorite, there were a lot of fans Ray Leonard made when he trained here in ’76 to make the Olympic Team, and because he won the Eastern Regional Olympic Trials here. So when they fought, a lot of fans were even heckling Tommy. So it was a fight you could see was building. You didn’t have to create it—it created its own self.

It got to be inevitable that the fight was going to be made. Once, when Tommy was fighting a guy named Pedro Rojas, Angelo Dundee came in to supposedly check out Tommy. Tommy knocks the guy out in the first or second round. Angelo said, “Well I guess came to see nothing, but I don’t think they should fight now because it will be a bigger fight later on”.

Tommy Hearns defeated Pipino Cuevas for the WBA welterweight championship:

It was on a Saturday afternoon, and I’ll never forget. It was really a big, big personal victory for me because when Tommy turned pro right after his eighteenth birthday I had my little scrapbook. I thought I was going to get a TV deal or something because he was the hottest amateur fighter in 1977. He was Amateur Fighter of the Year. In ’76 he was just a little too young, he lost to Howard and to Pryor but he won everything in ’77, the AAU, the Golden Gloves. I think he was undefeated in about three international contests. So I went to New York with my little scrapbook to meet Howard Cosell, and I went to CBS but everybody laughed at me. So I came in and just scraped up my own money and tried promoting all of my own fights here.

Then to see this dream come true, with him fighting for the title right here in Detroit and to come out and win the title. The Mayor, Muhammad Ali, everybody was there. And to win it the way he did, because a lot of people said I was crazy rushing him into this. When he won the title, in the afternoon early in the day we were at the hotel room and we were watching the TV on CBS and we saw Aaron Pryor win his championship in Cincinnati and then we had our fight coming up. Tommy said, “Well Aaron won his so I got to win mine”.

We knocked out Pipino Cuevas. I never expected anything like that. To knock a man like that out in two rounds who had never even been off his feet. The whole city went crazy. They watched his whole growth from starting off as an amateur and they had followed all the way through when we were drawing big crowds here. The whole city just went crazy. In the middle of the afternoon people were just running around in the street and celebrating. I just couldn’t believe that my little small skinny kid that I had been with was the champion of the world. It was a great feeling for me because I believed in him and nobody else at the time believed in him. It all happened so quickly.

Negotiations for the fight between Hearns and Leonard:

I guess Ray was boxing a guy named Larry Bonds in Syracuse. It must have been around ’81. I spoke to Mike Trainer and told him I think it’s about time we’re going to have to make that fight. The public has demanded it. Mike agreed so instead of going to the hotel where the host hotel where all of the press was hanging out because word was out that I was coming in to make the fight with Mike Trainer, we just meet at the airport in Syracuse in a little coffee shop. There was a guy who was just getting into professional boxing who wanted to learn how boxing negotiations went. He was a friend of mine who I had met through his amateur fighter Alex Ramos. His name was Shelly Finkel.

So I told Shelly, “We’re going to be meeting Mike Trainer. Since you want to see how big deals are made, why don’t you meet me.” I invited him to come and a guy came along with him. It was another young guy who was just starting to work with a thing called HBO which happened to be Ross Greenberg. I never knew that until about a year ago when Ross told me he was the other guy. Mike Trainer, myself, Janks Morton and there was a young lawyer named Greg Reed who was writing a book about the business of boxing so I just grabbed him when I was leaving and said he could go with me. The entire negotiation I don’t think went over thirty minutes. I was back on the same plane that I flew in on when I came back to Detroit. That was at that time the biggest I guess negotiations. At that time it broke all the records. It was interesting that we could make the fight so easily because the public had made the fight, and we put all egos aside. The financial part was made very easy and quick and we didn’t have to go dealing with networks or promoters or anything because Tommy was free and Ray was free. That was on a Saturday. On Tuesday I got the actual contract exactly as we had agreed verbally from Mike Trainer. I met with my lawyer, John Noonan, who looked at it and that’s how we made the fight.

The publicity tour leading up to the big fight between Hearns and Leonard:

Then we started the publicity tour. I don’t think I remember anyone having a publicity tour before that, going to the different cities and threatening each other and all of that stuff here, but I knew all that time it was going to be a very , very, very tough fight because in that gym everybody loved Ray Leonard. Even though Tommy was our fighter, Ray Leonard trained there in ’76 for the Olympics I think for maybe a month. Everybody had so much love for Ray there. To some degree it was getting to be like bragging rights, local bragging rights between the Maryland and DC guys and the Detroit guys so a lot of emotions started building up as the fight was being made and I knew going into the fight that it was going to be a tough, tough fight though.

On training Tommy and the days leading up to the fight:

Tommy was sparring with the best sparring partners, Caveman Lee, Dujuan Johnson, Milton McCrory, Marlon Starling. In fact, he broke Marlon Starling’s jaw when Marlon came in to spar with him. Marlon was giving him some good boxing, too. They were really going at it hot and heavy and the next day he came into my room after training and told me that his jaw was hurt.

Going into the fight, the tension and the nervousness all started building up and then there got to be really a lot of anger by the time the fight really had taken place. Tommy was training and it was the only time in his whole career that he and I had arguments and a lot of friction. The fight was just so big at that time and everyone was naturally trying to get close to him and telling me he should be running the camp like Ali really ran his camp. Angelo wasn’t really the boss, and he should be doing this. Then we had the night before the fight, instead of me staying with him, he went out there having a big party, a celebrity party, a pre-fight party with everybody. I learned so much from that that after that I can have a suite in my contract and he had a suite, but I stayed in the same room with Tommy. We stayed right there in the same place. I learned you have to be close with your fighter and know what he’s doing all the time.

He went into this diet stuff making sure he was going to make the weight eating a lot of tuna fish, cottage cheese and stuff. He wanted to make sure he was in good shape. We went running in the morning at 7:30, and then in the evening I had a look at him and there he was with all the guys doing a second run. His weight was down, and we had announced we were going to quit sparring at a certain time. I think about four days before the fight or a week before or whatever, and Tommy insisted on sparring seven rounds just a few days before the fight with Caveman Lee and Dujuan Johnson. It was just he wanted to make sure he was in shape, leaving no stones unturned as we say.

Tommy Hearns weighing in at 145 pounds for the fight:

Ray was a little bit more relaxed in training. He was more experienced at pacing himself. I remember him saying when he took a few days off he would go swimming and relax, but he had been in bigger fights—the fight with Duran, which was a big huge fight already. So he had a little more experience in big fights and didn’t have all the anxiety. When we weighed in, Tommy was 145. I said, “Oh my God”, and I couldn’t check his weight the day before that because he just said he didn’t want to be bothered with checking his weight. That’s when I’ve learned, you can’t be away from your fighter. You have to stay right there all the time with him. Nobody knows what’s going into his mind as well as what he’s eating.

When he was 145 Ray and everyone looked like they were shocked because they figured he would have a problem making the weigh because if you ever remember that fight, Tommy was a skinny welterweight. In a lot of the other fights he was a big welterweight but that fight, that little fine line that you’re body can maybe make it to 147-146, but when you started getting to 145, and I think we had to weigh in the day of the fight, too. It’s just sometimes your body gets to that certain point and you can’t go beyond that because you start crossing the lines, like crossing state lines from New Jersey to Pennsylvania. Maybe you just went across the road a little bit or maybe ten feet, but it’s a whole new set of rules, the body changes and everything when you get too light.

Sugar Ray Leonard versus Tommy Hearns, September 16, 1981:

From that, we came in the fight doing good and I saw him get hurt in the about the sixth round or something. They were having an exchange and I noticed he got caught with a short left hook and I never saw him hurt in his career. I saw that every time he would throw a right hand, it would be like there was some kind of way Ray was catching him with the hook. So we changed plans. After he had gotten hurt I said, “Look, we’re going to have to change strategies”. Because of his amateur background where he was a great boxer we resorted to change strategies. I said, “Let’s go back to the amateurs, we’re going to have to go back and start boxing” and he never really could throw his right hand good because for whatever reason, Ray would kind of catch him with a hook when he threw the right hand.

Ray had problems with Tommy, because Tommy could box well and he had a little move where just when Ray would be getting set to try to finish him, Tommy would throw a right hand and move off to the right at the same time almost turning it into like a right jab. That little one step move kept Ray from getting his rhythm together. But when I’ve watched that fight, I’ve only watched it three times because it’s painful for me, it was really a phenomenal display of beautiful boxing techniques on two great, gifted, coordinated athletes and they got a chance to give a demonstration on everything in boxing—the movement, the head, the body, the jabs, the in and out, combinations, ring intelligence.

As the fight went on, I was really worrying a lot because I know Ray Leonard. In addition to being an extremely talented fighter, and I worked his corner in a few international matches when I was on the US National Coaching Staff, so I said, “Oh my God”. Going down the stretch I knew it was going to be rough because Ray Leonard has always been a tremendous finisher. Even in the first fight with Duran, I thought he won that fight. All of the problems he had early in that fight, but he finished up the last three rounds blazing away and as an amateur that was one of his strong points so I knew we were going to have some problems going down the stretch.

I think about the twelfth or thirteenth round Tommy had like come back on the scorecards and was, I think, winning. The crowd was all into him and at one point he even waved to the crowd when he came back. Everybody was so excited about the fact that he came back in the fight, but I was nervous. I was not feeling good because I was still concerned about the weight, which I knew was definitely way too light, and also knowing that Ray Leonard was going to be coming. I just knew Ray. I knew it was going to be a strong, strong finish by Ray, and I didn’t know if we were going to be able to hold up. So I was never that confident.

Then it seemed like it was the twelfth round. I was talking to him and his head like just dropped for a minute like when a car just runs out of gas and I realized he didn’t have enough carbohydrates or calories to burn up and it was going to be rough. Ray came out there and did what he was supposed to do which was always his tradition. Ray’s a very physically strong guy. He looks small and all of that, but he’s one of those I call gifted guys like a little gymnastics type of guy. Those guys are so well coordinated and have tremendous strength, and in most of his fights you never saw him get too muscular. He was always physically strong. In some of his fights in the amateurs when I was coaching him, he actually went out and resorted in the last parts of the fight to physically what just we call “dogging the guy” because he could do that. Even though he looked like a baby face, he was an extremely physically strong little tough guy when he wanted to be.

Tommy, when I saw him get hurt, and everyone was talking about it was one punch—it really was no one punch, it was just Ray came on and was just too strong for him. When the fight was stopped, I never complained. A lot of people said oh you should have complained, he was ahead on points. I knew it was over. Tommy barely could walk back to the corner. He couldn’t have made it any further. It was really strange. I was looking at his face, not one scratch on his face. Ray’s eye was still swollen up really bad from those punches he had taken, mainly those right hands, and jabs I guess. Tommy didn’t have a mark on him still but he was totally drained. He was finished. He didn’t have the strength to hold up and Ray came on strong, and Ray could do that for almost twenty rounds if he had to. That’s one of his greatest assets. In addition to all the super talents that he had as a boxer, it was still that tremendous physical strength that he could call on and the stamina going down the stretch.

The Rematch and the Aftermath:

It’s strange that we’re speaking about this, because just last Wednesday when we were being honored, Ray , Freddie Roach and I, at an affair in Beverly Hills. He was in the ring and he acknowledged with the microphone that his two roughest fights he had were with Tommy Hearns. He said, “I won the first won, and I definitely lost the second fight. Regardless of what the judges said, I lost the second fight”. That’s the only time I’ve ever known of a fighter that has publically acknowledged that he lost a fight, so I have a lot of respect for him for that. But it was the type of a fight that if one guy had a good round you know the other boxer’s going to be coming at you the next round. Ray had the same attitude. He was telling me, “If I had a good round with Tommy Hearns, I knew Tommy was going to come stronger the next round”.

That’s what made both fights really. We all talk about the first one, but the second was really a doozy. When the bell rang, Ray was blazing away and he had Tommy hurt in the twelfth round. They would always make great fights because of the styles. Ray was saying that “In both fights if you added all the rounds together, Tommy always outboxed me still—he always won more rounds”, but Ray’s great stamina and determination is what brought him through the first fight, and really even though almost everybody, and I feel Tommy won the second fight, but still, when the bell rang Ray was very strong again in that twelfth round.

With those guys, because of their make-up, as soon as one guy had a good spot the other guy’s coming back. That’s what made those special. They were coming back and forth in the same round. In the first fight, Ray is having a tough fight, then he gets Tommy hurt and for two rounds he beats the hell out of Tommy from pillar to post. Then Tommy comes back in the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth. He takes over again and then Ray comes storming back again and stops him. In the second fight you could see the same thing. Even the rounds where Ray went down, he wound up blazing away in those same rounds.

So it’s just two guys that had the determination that they refused to lose and whenever they could feel defeat trying to slide in they would just freak out and go crazy. That’s what made the Ali and Joe Frazier fights. Great fights are made by the mindsets of the boxers. Not so much the skill level, the skill level can be phenomenal with a lot of guys but they just don’t have that mindset and determination to win and even if they think there’s any doubt that they may have possibly lost a round they would just panic and anxiety would set in.

The Possibility of a Third Fight:

I was always interested in that fight, but I don’t think Ray wanted it at the time. I don’t recall exactly what happened, but I definitely wanted to see that fight like a lot of people. Even if we lost, still, I feel sometimes there are certain fights that the public really deserves.

On how future historians will view Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns:

I think their careers will definitely be intertwined. You know I was telling Tommy, I said, “You know, in your case you had a great career—all of the knockouts of Cuevas, and Duran, James Shuler, Roland—but still your most notable fights, your signature fights are going to be the Leonard fight and Hagler”. I said one thing you have to do, since we couldn’t get the Hagler rematch, was “beat Ray Leonard”. So when the second fight came even though it was officially called a draw, that is what redeemed Tommy Hearns’ career and credibility with nearly everybody and the general public I would say.

Whenever you think of Tommy Hearns, you think of Ray Leonard. It’s funny, you could have fifty or sixty fights but it’s always in a boxer’s career, it’s one or two fights that really will be the only thing that will be remembered when time goes on. It’s unfortunate, but that is the reality. It’s like one of the things that happened with Alexis Arguello and Aaron Pryor. Alexis was a great fighter, but whenever you mention his name you think of Aaron Pryor. I mean it’s like he had none of those other great fights that he had in all of those divisions. Ray will have the luxury of being remembered for the Hagler and the Hearns fight, but I think more so it will be for the Hearns fight because it was such great drama and it was a phenomenal fight that went back and forth. Whenever one guy had a great round the other guy was going to come back the next round. If you think of Tommy Hearns, you’ll think of Ray Leonard. Hagler and Hearns, because of the wilder excitement of that fight, but all around, when you just think of Hagler you don’t necessarily think of Hearns that much all the time, but those two, Tommy and Ray, will forever be linked together just like Ali and Frazier.

Similarities between Hearns-Leonard and Pacquiao-Mayweather:

Well with time, things have become a lot more complicated now. I mean the things today with blood testing, and so many charges of this or that, and Pacquiao suing Mayweather for slander. It’s just a different time, but I think the fight should be made and will be made. But it was a lot easier then because at the time when we made our fight, we didn’t have to speak to anyone about it. Trainer and I met. I was the one that spoke for Tommy, I was his manager and Mike was the guy representing Ray Leonard and we sat down, made a deal, and agreed to it. Fighting was just simpler. Everything now is just so much more complicated.

Then we got to check when one promoter may not get along with the other promoter and because of that, that’s a major problem. Then when the fight’s made, one promoter has to make sure how much he makes compared to the other promoter, and there is fighting over the foreign TV rights, and then sometimes one guy may be with Showtime and another guy’s with HBO, which we had that problem which made it difficult for Lennox and Mike that time. But times have changed and everyone is fighting to try and get some edge but at that time it was much simpler.

What made Tommy and Ray such a great fight was it was two guys who gave a great display of everything. I mean Tommy being out on his feet in the sixth round, and battling his way back for the next six rounds to try and regain control, Ray coming storming back all out again. Even during the rounds themselves, at one point one guy would have a good spot and then the other guy would come back right away. It was just a really great fight and you don’t see that today. The fighters today, everybody’s fighting except for a few guys, a lot of them are fighting safety first fights. They land, they fight intelligently, they don’t want to take risks. It’s just a little bit of a different type of fight. Aside for Manny Pacquiao, and that’s what makes him such a popular fighter I think.

Everything is more complicated now, and at that time you had two guys who were both balanced boxers, punchers, technicians, great amateur backgrounds, and all of the elements of a great fight. Then you had the element of Ray being so closely identified with people here in Detroit from where he stayed and trained at the Kronk Gym in ’76 and then Tommy spent a lot of time back and forth in Maryland so Tommy even had a lot of friends from Ray’s hometown. It was just one of those really great situations and you just don’t get that anymore. You had even the two cities. In the amateurs, it would always be Kronk fighters in the finals would always have their hardest fights with the guys from the DC area. So it was just like a carryover from the amateurs where it was Kronk against the DC guys for a lot of finals and the National Championships.

But you don’t have that today. None of these guys are really like that. Pacquiao’s got his Filipino thing and that’s about it. It’s a fight that I think is going to be made because the public is going to make it happen.

On how he believes Hearns and Leonard would fare in today’s welterweight division:

Beyond any doubt I think they would dominate. I think Tommy and Ray are superior fighters than the fighters today in the welterweight division.

Final Thoughts:

I was just glad to be a part of it for those two fights. They were two of the best fights I saw where it was a great display of all around talent—superb boxing skills, punching skills, determination, guys both coming back after they would be hurt and knocked down. Even in the third or fourth round when Ray was knocked down by Tommy, if you look at it at the end of that round he actually came back and won that last part of that round even. So it was just that type of a fight where you were on pins and needles if you were working in the corner because even though you may have a good round or a good spot you know that automatically triggers the other guy to come back again.

As time has moved on, it’s hard for me to realize that next year will be thirty years since the first fight. To see these guys when they are together, when I saw Ray which was last week, he still looks like he could make 147 and Tommy weighs about 175 which is lighter than when he fought his cruiserweight fights. They’re good friends. One of the greatest things is when they have events and they have both of them there together. People love it. In Mayweather’s last fight with Mosley they brought both of them out and they were extremely popular with all of the press and the media. You couldn’t get Ali and Joe Frazier to do that too much, because the hostility was still there between those guys, but Tommy and Ray have a lot of respect for each other.

 

[heyzel]

Wouldn't this be Super for the Six?

By Paul Strauss: It's always fun to speculate about upcoming fights, and to test theories about who is really the best. Records are examined to see if there's padding. Height and reach can be a be factor. Punching power often is the significant ingredient. Timing, speed, chin whiskers, the referee and on and on are of consequence. Other things that make it enjoyable are the difficulty in predicting the importance of intangibles such as mental preparedness, heart, outside influences, i.e hometown crowd, negative publicity, personal problems and a gamut of others. Sometimes it's just a hunch. Take a shot picking winners of the next round of the Super Six..

This is how things stand right now:

Andre Ward's record is as follows: Mikkel Kessler = Dec Win 2 pts. Allan Green = Dec Win 2 pts Andre Dirrell ? Total = 4 pts.

Arthur Abraham's record is as follows: Jermain Taylor = KO Win 3 pts. Andre Dirrell = DQ Loss = 0 pts. Carl Froch ? Total = 3 pts

Mikkel Kessler's record is as follows: Andre Ward = Dec Loss = 0 pts. Carl Froch = Dec Win = 2 pts. Allan Green ? Total = 2 pts

Carl Froch's record is as follows: Andre Dirrell = Dec Win 2 pts. Mikkel Kessler = Dec Loss = 0 pts. Arthur Abraham ? Total = 2 pts.

Andre Dirrell's record is as follows: Carl Froch = Dec Loss = 0 pts. Arthur Abraham = DQ Win = 2 pts. Andre Ward ? Total = 2 pts.

Allan Green's record is as follows Andre Ward = Dec Loss = 0 pts. Mikkel Kessler ? Total = 0 pts.

Here's an interesting scenario for the next round of bouts.

. Let us start with a shocker. Andre Ward gets upset by the similarly talented boxer Andre Dirrell. In his first two fights, Ward was successful because he was able to out speed and out box his two opponents. Dirrell is equally as fast, and might even transition to the southpaw stance better than Ward. Ward was able to get inside with Kessler and Green to smother their punches, and to punish them with his own short shots. His ducking and weaving presented them with a head problem. Specifically, Ward's was always lower than theirs and meant the top of his head was often in their chest or face. That will prove more difficult with Dirrell, who has very good foot speed and agility. Dirrell will have to use a lot of feints and demonstrate he has a great jab, as well as stamina. If Ward lunges in with his head down, Dirrell will need to catch him with upper cuts and put a follow up shot behind it. The pressure Ward will bring will be intense for the underdog. Dirrell will have to prove his mettle both physically and mentally. Up to now Ward has proven his mental toughness. He has been to the big show several times, and has always come out victoriously; whereas, Dirrell came up a bit short in his first attempt in Nottingham. Also, Abraham fans think their man was coming on strong, and would have gotten to Dirrell. Howvever, go with a big upset and pick Dirrell. That would tie Ward and Dirrell at 4 pts.

Carl Froch is a supremely confident, strong fighter, and he sincerely believes he is going to stop King Arthur. However, Froch will find it very difficult to penetrate the King's defenses. In trying to so, he will take foolish chances by taunting him (hands down) and make unorthodox movements in hopes of opening up the King. Instead, those foolish efforts will leave him exposed and out of position, which will prove costly. Like the old saying goes, anyone King Arthur can hit, he will stop. Froch has proven to have a very good chin, but not against someone who hits like the King. Look for a KO win here for King Arthur, which will launch him back into the lead with 6 pts.

Mikkel Kessler is back on the winning track, and looks to derail newcomer Allan Green right out of the tournament. He watched intently as Ward nullified just about everything Green tried to do which wasn't much. He believes he has learned the necessary lessons to beat The Ghost. However, Kessler doesn't have Ward's speed or boxing ability and might find it difficult to get a passing grade. He doesn't move his head nearly as much as he should, nor does he step off to the side after punching to get out of the way of counters. If he repeats that pattern against Green, waive zn dag, tot ziens to the Dane. Green looked bad against Ward, but he can still send the KO punch by ex[ress delivery. Mikkel might wonder what happened to that gentle zephyr replaced by the cannonball express. Look for another upset. This time it will be a knockout victory for Green and 3 big pts.

If this scenario proves correct, then we would be losing Kessler and Froch. Not many would have predicted that before the start of things.

The least likely of these projections seems to be Dirrell's upset over Ward. If there really is a zone that athletes get into, Ward is in it. He seems to be seeing punches better than just about anyone else, and he is like a juggernaut getting stronger as he rolls along. Hence, we might see a tie at 6 pts each for Ward and Abraham, with Green a distant third. When Ward and Abraham meet, there will be no DQ, and there won't be any fading down the stretch by Ward. There's a good chance Ward will turn the King's earmuffs into so much useless fluff

 

[Johnny Truelove]

An older, wiser, better Judah

Gone are the gold chains, the diamond-studded mouthpiece and bad-boy persona.

Former junior welterweight and welterweight champion Zab Judah is no longer the brash, sometimes reckless youngster who demolished opponents with exceptionally fast hands and punching power.

That fellow was disposed of more than a year ago. Judah is now a 32-year-old man with a young son, Zab Jr., and an entirely new outlook on life. He has matured.

The process began nearly two years ago when Judah left his native Brooklyn, N.Y., and moved to Las Vegas. No longer surrounded by negative influences, Judah began to shed all trappings of his big-city lifestyle.

"No diamonds," Judah told ESPN.com. "I took out my teeth and everything. Mentally, I'm different. I have a son now; he's 17 months old.

"I had to ask myself: 'What kind of vision are you showing your son?' He's going to grow up thinking, 'Oh, it's just cool to be cool, be bad, have diamonds and girls.' I have to show him something different. I have to set my life at a different pace."

The motivation he gets from raising his son has helped steer Judah to get more from his boxing talents than title belts. To achieve this goal, Judah returned to his pro boxing roots -- partnering with Main Events, the New Jersey-based promotion company where he began his professional career.

With Main Events president Kathy Duva at his side, Judah is not only looking to regain the greatness that made him a champion 140-pound fighter, but to further develop his own promotion company -- Super Judah Promotions.

"One of the reasons Zab decided to come back to Main Events is that we agreed to work with him together as partners [with Super Judah Promotions] in this promotion," Duva said. "It's very important to Zab to play that role, to learn the business, to become more aware of the decision-making process. We are very happy with the way this is working out."


Judah, the fighter and promoter, will display his talents Friday against a determined Jose Armando Santa Cruz at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. The bout, which will be fought at a catchweight of 143 pounds, will air on ESPN2 at 9 p.m. ET.

Fight fans can expect to see a different-looking Judah, who owns an eye-opening 38-6-0 record with 26 knockouts. There won't be a large entourage accompanying him into the arena, which was often the case previously. Only those individuals directly involved in his business affairs get to tag along now.

Nor will he rely solely on his physical talents to succeed. Judah is a smarter fighter inside the ring; he now dictates the pace of a bout -- boxing when he wants, slugging when he deems it necessary. Opponents will have to adjust to him, not the other way around.

Judah has worked extra hard on every aspect of his game and vows the proof will be evident Friday. Chalk it up to maturity.

"I had to buckle down, train, prepare, get my mind ready, get my body ready," Judah said. "I will get in there and show the world that I have the best jab, the best left, my skills are not to be messed with.

"Come Friday night I'm going to show y'all a great show. I promise."

Santa Cruz isn't convinced Judah will be able to keep that promise. He has goals of his own and intends to accomplish them.

While the Michoacan, Mexico, native has spent most of his fighting career at lightweight, Santa Cruz has recently found success just north of the 140-pound limit.

He has won each of his past two bouts, both by early stoppage, fighting at 143 pounds. The victories have bolstered Santa Cruz's confidence, but he knows Judah represents a major step up in competition.

A win will give Santa Cruz a much-needed career boost. He took no shortcuts while preparing for this fight and intends to shock the boxing world.

"I'm a hungry fighter too," Santa Cruz (28-4-0, 17 KOs) told ESPN.com. "I know he's a really good fighter, but that motivates me more.

"I know he really trained hard for this fight; he will give his all. He's one of the best fighters in the world. If I beat him it will be a great accomplishment for me. It will get me ranked."

Judah's handlers expect an impressive performance that will get him in the junior welterweight title conversation. With Judah focused on the 140-pound division, Duva has already begun working diligently to secure a title shot in the not-too-distant future.

Duva believes having the highest-profile fighter in the division will make her job easier. Her goal is to keep Judah busy; his is to keep winning.

"Our plan with Zab is that he's told us he wants to move down to junior welterweight, a division that gets an awful lot of attention," Duva said. "There are a lot of fighters in that division, but not a single one of them is a marquee name.

"There isn't a single guy other than Zab Judah who people on the street would recognize. People know his name.

"Zab has made a commitment to come back down to that weight and get the activity he needs to achieve his goals. We're here to make sure he gets that with a series of fights."

 

[heyzel]

Arum says he can put together a fight between Pacquiao and Cotto or Margarito within

By Jason Kim: For what it’s worth, Floyd Mayweather Jr. still has around 10 days to speak up and agree to a fight with WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao. Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s Top Rank promoter, said that he can put together a fight between Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto or Antonio Margarito in 10 days or less.


If Mayweather can move quickly, he still has a chance to get ahead of Cotto and Margarito to land the mega fight with Pacquiao or November 13th. The chances of that happening are pretty remote as of now. Mayweather missed Arum’s deadline tonight at midnight to agree to a fight against Pacquiao.

Arum now says he’s taking Pacquiao and moving on to negotiate a fight against either Cotto or Margarito. Arum isn’t saying which one he’ll select for Pacquiao to fight next, but some people think it will be Margarito, as Cotto has already had a chance against Pacquiao last year in November and was a miserable failure, getting stopped in the 12th round by Pacquiao in a one-sided fight.

If Arum selects Margarito as Pacquiao’s next opponent, the fight will likely take place in Monterrey, Mexico rather than the United States. Margarito lost his boxing license a year ago after a plaster-like substance was found in his hand wraps before his fight with Shane Mosley.

Margarito had no luck recently when he attempted to get his boxing license back by applying to the Nevada Athletic Commission.

Arum’s mid-July deadline was never responded to by Mayweather, who ignored Arum completely. Arum said that he wasn’t negotiating with Mayweather one on one. It was Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports, who was interacting with Mayweather’s management.

If it does take 10 days for Arum to negotiate a fight between Pacquiao and Cotto or Margarito, then there would be an outside chance that Mayweather could still speak up and take the fight with Pacquiao but again it’s not likely to happen. Mayweather seems turned off by the negotiations right now and is doing his own thing.

Hopefully, if Mayweather fails to speak up in the next 10 days, it doesn’t continue into next year in May when Arum has said that he plans on trying to renegotiate a fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather. There’s a ton of money to be made in a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao, and that’s reason enough for Arum to continue to try and put a fight together between Pacquiao and Mayweather.

 

[heyzel]

Andre Berto interested in fighting Pacquiao

By Chris Williams: Now that the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao negotiations have finally been pronounced dead by Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum tonight on a conference call to the media, unbeaten World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight champion Andre Berto (26-0, 20 KO’s) expressed his own interest in stepping in and taking the fight against Pacquiao.


On Berto’s Twitter page, Berto had this to say: “Throw my name in the hat then. I’ll give the people what they want to see pay per view blockbuster. Let’s go!” I agree with Berto. I think he would make for an exciting opponent for Pacquiao, a lot better than either Miguel Cotto or Antonio Margarito, at least. But the problem with a Berto-Pacquiao fight is that Berto doesn’t fight for Top Rank, and Arum seems to be mostly matching up his fighters against each other nowadays.

Arum does make exceptions every now and then. Hopefully, Arum would see the positive in a fight between Pacquiao and the speedy fast Berto. I’m not saying that Berto would win, but he would make it interesting while it lasted because of his hand speed and power.

At 26, Berto is the future of the welterweight. He’s going to outlast all the top welterweights and will be up there with younger guys like Saul Alvarez once Mayweather, Shane Mosley and Pacquiao hang up their gloves for good. In his last three fights, Berto has defeated Luis Collazo, Juan Urango and Carlos Quintana.

It would be a big step up if Berto was to go from those fighters into a match against Pacquiao, but he’s certainly capable of fighting at his level. I think Berto is a lot better than Joshua Clottey, and we saw how he gave Pacquiao some problems in their March 13th fight at the Cowboy Stadium. Berto might even be able to out-box Pacquiao and earn

 

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Judah is back! Super Zab stops Santa Cruz in 3!

By Sam Gregory: In the main event of the July 16th edition of ESPN2 Friday Night Fights from the Prudential Center, Newark, N.J. Zab Judah 38-6 with 26 KO’s takes on Jose Santa Cruz 28-4 with 17 KO’s in a scheduled 10 round bout in the junior welterweight division.


In round 1 Judah came out throwing his lightening fast jab following it up with a left hook he landed with ease. The bigger, faster southpaw Judah avoided every punch Santa Cruz threw early on. Judah finished the round strong landing solid combinations that keep Santa Cruz off balance.

In round 2 Santa Cuz came out throwing his jab to the body of Judah which Judah avoided and countered with a solid combination. Judah circled to his right and landed his jab followed with a four punch combination. Santa Cruz tied up but Judah punched out and finished the round strong.

Round 3 Judah came out fast throwing his solid jab; Judah continued to circle to his right and land solid combinations to the body and head. Judah continued to beat Santa Cruz to the punch; Judah landed a picture perfect left uppercut the dropped Santa Cruz to end the fight at 2:33 of round 3.

Zab Judah improves his record to 39-6 with 27 KO’s while Jose Santa Cruz falls to 28-5 with 17 KO’s.

 

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Bradley vs. Abregu: Timothy has a lot on the line on Saturday

July 16th, 2010
By Jim Dower: Undefeated Timothy Bradley (25-0, 11 KO’s) is risking a lot on Saturday night against undefeated Luis Carlos Abregu (29-0, 23 KO’s) in their scheduled 12 round non-title belt at the Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, Calif. For Bradley, this is a must win for him if he wants to become a mega star in the future.


Above all, the 26-year-old Bradley must get by the powerful Abregu at welterweight before he moves on to face bigger risks in fights against Devon Alexander, Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana and Victor Ortiz at light welterweight.

Those are all stepping stone fights for the two fighters that Bradley is dying to fight – Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Right now, Bradley isn’t a big enough name on his own to get a fight against those two monster stars of the sport.

It’s going to take some solid wins over the likes of Abregu, Alexander, Khan and Maidana to get Pacquiao and Mayweather’s attention. However, the first important matter is to figure out a way to beat Abregu.

Bradley will be making his first bout at welterweight, and didn’t want to take it easy against a soft opponent. However, this could end up hurting Bradley if Abregu turns out to be tougher than he originally though and ends up beating Bradley. Abregu, if nothing else, has big power and can be problems if he’s able to land his shots.

Bradley has got extraordinary hand speed and good boxing skills. However, he’s not so quick that he’ll be able to prevent Abregu from laying a glove on him all night long. Bradley is going to have be able to take some decent shots if he wants to win this fight.

Abregu is going to catch up to Bradley at some point and connect with something big. Bradley’s chin has looked good up to this point. Let’s hope for his sake that it holds up under the pounding that Abregu is going to be putting on him on Saturday night.

 

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Bob Arum Talks Mayweather-Pacquaio Full Transcript

The purpose of this call is to bring you up to date to all that has happened. About two months ago, just after the Mayweather-Mosley fight, I got a call from Ross Greenburg, the president of HBO Sports, who asked me frankly whether myself and Manny Pacquiao wanted to do the fight against Floyd Mayweather and I assured him after talking to Manny that was the case. From there I have had a couple of conversations with Ross and I laid out all the terms that would be acceptable to our side and I also informed him about the concession that Manny had made about drug testing. He got back to me in a couple of weeks and told me he had discussions with Al Haymon, representing Mayweather, and that everything looked good. We were nearing a resolution. The subsequent conversations with Ross detailed to me discussions he had with Al Haymon. Nowhere were the names of Richard Schaefer or Golden Boy mentioned although I read, as you all did, Oscar’s statement that a deal was close, so I assume from that, that Haymon was keeping Golden Boy abreast of the situation.

Ross for the last month has been telling me that Haymon was working very hard to get the agreement done with Floyd. A couple of weeks ago I told him I wanted to do this fight very badly, as did Manny, but at a particular point in time we have to move on. By moving on I mean that I had agreed with Ross early on that we would not negotiate any fight with Manny and I have not had any negotiations with any other opponent, whether it is Margarito or Cotto. I have not had any discussions with either of them or their representatives regarding a fight with many Pacquiao. I told Ross that this Friday was the deadline of the end of the exclusivity period and I tell you that next week I’ll be talking to the Cotto and the Margarito camps regarding a fight with Manny Pacquiao.

People have asked me as well as others at Top Rank, does that mean the Mayweather fight is dead? Even thought Mayweather has not responded by the deadline, the deal is dead when we reach a deal with an opponent for Manny’s fight in November. Then we are contractually bound to do that fight and we would look hopefully to do a fight with Floyd next year. In the interim, while this was going on, if Floyd suddenly emerged and said he wanted to do the fight, there would be nothing opposed to getting together and doing the fight. That is our position and I hope it is as clear as I can make it. I don’t want to go into any conjecture as to why. I am just reporting what the facts are and now we can open it up for questions.

At what point while you are negotiating with others, how deep into it would you be willing to change if Floyd presented himself, do you need to have a signed contract with either fighter?

The answer is we wouldn’t need a signed contract if Cotto or Margarito committed to Manny Pacquiao or committed to me a deal. The signed contract would be later. While these negotiations were going on, while I was talking to Manny, if Floyd came to the table, that is the fight that we want more than all others, there is no question about it.

Have you had any direct contact with the Mayweather camp?

Strictly through Ross Greenburg. Ross was committed to making the fight happen and as the president of HBO Sports I felt that the best chance of making the fight happen was to do everything through Ross, almost like he was the mediator and I still believe it was the right way to go. It obviously didn’t work out, not because Ross didn’t do a good job because I think he did in talking to Al Haymon and myself. Obviously the problem was Floyd, for whatever reason, and I’m sure he has some valid reason, didn’t want to commit.

Why was the deadline today as opposed to next week?

Good question. You understand what the deadline is. It is the end of the exclusivity period because we now have to go out and secure an opponent for Manny Pacquiao assuming it won’t be Floyd and we have to mount a campaign and have to get in touch with In-Demand, DirecTV and Dish Networks and get everything in order. Time is going by and also we have to start scheduling press conferences because with Manny Pacquiao you are not dealing with the normal fighter. He is over in the Philippines and he has duties as a Congressman there. Therefore we are limited as to when we can schedule press conferences in the United States.

Has anyone reached out today to the Mayweather side to let them know this was going on?

The answer is no. We have never talked to anybody on the Mayweather side. All conversations have gone through Ross Greenburg and he reported all conversations on the Mayweather side from al Haymon.

You mentioned on June 30 that the deal was agreed to. Is that still your position?

Yes, that is based on my conversations with Ross Greenburg. Understand I have never talked to anyone on the Mayweather side. I have only spoken to Ross Greenburg who has represented to me certain things that he had discussed with Al Haymon on behalf of Mayweather.

Why would Margarito deserve a chance at many Pacquiao?

I am not going to take that up now. That is something you can editorialize when a fight is made.

Do you think if the fight is not made it will have a negative impact on the sport?

Wait a second…I am sure, without knowing, I am sure that there is a very good reason that Floyd Mayweather has for not committing to a fight at this time. I really and truly believe that. Now I am speculating that one of the reasons could be the uncertainty regarding Roger Mayweather and for people that don’t know, Roger Mayweather is scheduled for court in Nevada regarding criminal charges. Now I know how Manny would feel if he had to go into a fight like this without the services of Freddie Roach and presumably Floyd would feel the same way going into a fight like this without the services of his uncle Roger who has been training him for a number of years.

Could the deadline have waited another couple of weeks?

Not really, because I am dealing with another situation. I am representing a fighter who is also a congressman. He has legislative duties and commitments in the Philippines and I have really short windows to do various aspects of the promotion. We will have to do press conferences a lot further out because he will be training for the fight while being a congressman and he will have to fit his training into the legislative sessions. I understand that the congress sits three days a week.

How long will it take to close a deal with Margarito or Cotto?

I have no idea. It may take a week. I have to discuss with Manny who he prefers then get everything put together. It will be Manny’s decision. I do not have a preference. I do not want to prejudice the situation. I want Manny to decide. He is a very intelligent guy and knows what the considerations are and whomever he selects is who we will go after and make the fight.

What is the deadline now for the Mayweather camp?

It would be in the next ten days.

How close do you feel you were to a deal and were there any hints from Mayweather?

The answer is no. They kept assuring Greenburg that an agreement was imminent and that Haymon was working on it and expected an answer shortly and it just never materialized. I don’t blame Haymon. I think he really tried based on what Greenburg said, Haymon really tried to put the fight together.

Did you get any indication Schaefer was on board?

Schaefer’s name was never really mentioned by Ross. It was all Al Haymon. The only idea I had that Golden Boy was involved or that Haymon was talking to Golden Boy was when Oscar said on television or radio that the deal was close to closing. So I assumed at that point Haymon had spoken to Schaefer and he talked to Oscar.

What about the drug testing issue?

I don’t want to get into specifics but I think that issue was resolved. Not as clear-cut as you may be saying it but I believe it was resolved.

But they agreed?

That’s what it seemed to me from what I was hearing from Ross. Remember, I never spoke to Haymon or to Schaefer or anybody else but Ross.

What would be the attraction for the Cotto rematch?

The attraction would be that many would be going for an eighth divisional world title, fighting at a higher weight and that Miguel would have in his corner Emanuel Steward – one of the great cornermen of our time. That certainly would give Cotto more ammunition than going into the fight last time.

And where do you go for the Margarito fight?

We have asked the Nevada commission, based on California, to give him a conditional license to fight in Nevada on the 13th of November and hopefully from Margarito’s standpoint they will agree to that. If not and Manny decides that he wants Margarito; we would do the fight in Monterrey, Mexico. There are big advantages for Manny to fight outside of the United States.

Does the congress have a recess?

Yes. It is complicated but one thing I know is when he fights, they go out of session for 3 weeks. So the idea would be that he would train in Manila and Freddie would be over there and he’s in session Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday so he is off Thursday, Friday and Saturday. He would still train on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday after the session has concluded. He would not come to the Wild Card to train until three weeks before the fight. That was the plan that was relayed to me.

Do you believe the fight will happen?

It would be a shame if it didn’t happen. I don’t think any of you guys should be too harsh on Floyd in this situation. I would have liked for him to communicate, but I really believe that this issue with the uncle has an affect. I would think that, putting myself in their shoes, that there would be a lot of reluctance of going into this big fight without my trainer. We are not going to know the outcome of this criminal situation for some time.

Are you giving Floyd an extension?

The fight that we want to do is Mayweather. We never said any different or acted any different. Manny wants to and has to fight in November. So we have to proceed in getting him an opponent and wrapping up a fight and if in the interim Floyd decides, despite the Roger situation, he’s ready to fight Manny…absolutely, that’s the fight we want.

Would you expect negotiations with Margarito or Cotto to go relatively smooth?

I would think so. I have never had difficulties with either camp in making a deal…when Cotto fought Manny last November, he agreed to a lesser guarantee than they wanted, but it was a good upside and he ended up making more money than he would have if he achieved that higher guarantee. There is a lot of credibility there – working a deal with a reasonable guarantee and a good upside. The same thing for Margarito when he fought Miguel he took a reasonable guarantee and made a lot of extra money on the upside.

This negotiation seems much calmer than the last time you tried to out this fight together…

Right now I understand Floyd’s position – I believe his position regarding Roger. We know about this serious issue regarding Roger. I can understand Floyd delaying any plans for a future fight until there is a resolution of the Roger situation. Once you understand that, how can you jump on the guy?

When would a press conference take place?

I can’t give an exact time, but it would take place in early August.

If in Monterrey, where would the fight take place?

In an arena. I believe they built a new arena in Monterrey. Our sponsor, Tecate, and the Governor of the state are all making major efforts to bring that fight to Monterrey. There is a tremendous advantage for Pacquiao staging the fight in Mexico because if the fight is in the United States, the withholding is 30% and we are not obligated to withhold anything if the fight is in Mexico. For a Cotto fight, the Abu Dhabi people came to me but nothing has been done there. I spoke to my friends at the UFC regarding the difficulties they had logistically – the people were very cooperative- but logistically doing their event there, and probably for Cotto I would look more to Cowboy Stadium or Las Vegas.

Can we assume Ross Greenburg did not communicate with you any messages?

There was no message – you are correct.

Will Ross continue to talk to the Mayweather camp?

That I don’t know. You’d have to ask him.

The Margarito fight would either be at the MGM in Las Vegas or Monterrey, Mexico. The Cotto fight would either be at Cowboy Stadium or the MGM Grand.

Where does a guy like Tim Bradley or anyone else stand?

Bradley is fighting Saturday. Tim Bradley is a tremendous fighter and he’s a great young man. But the problem with a guy like Tim Bradley is that even though you and I know what a superb fighter he is, the public really doesn’t know. That’s why a lot of these promoters are shouting out names of very good fighters. We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars building up our fighters and publicizing them so they are pay-per-view attractions. Losing money on a lot of events making them. The other promoters don’t really promote their fighters. They take money form HBO or Showtime or a little Indian casino and they think they’re doing the kid a big service. I’m not going to give them a free ride on the work we have done.

Paul Williams is a tremendous fighter – a great fighter. But he hasn’t been promoted correctly. He doesn’t have any following, can’t sell any tickets. Nobody is financing the pay-per-view fight. On a HBO fight – HBO pays the money. I’m the one that’s financing the pay-per-view and don’t want to give anyone a free ride.

Would HBO be committed to another fight without Mayweather?

Obviously there would be great disappointment and there is great disappointment not having a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight – no question about it. But they would be interested in being a distributor on Pacquiao’s fight either against Cotto or Margarito. I think I am right about that. Showtime is very interested. That’s something that doesn’t really concern me.

The boxing fans are going to be disappointed but they have to realize they have to cut Floyd Mayweather some slack. I can see his reluctance to commit to a big fight with Manny Pacquiao without having the services of his uncle. If the boxing fans begrudge that – Floyd Mayweather is not saying he will not ever fight Manny Pacquiao. There is always next year. It is something that is bad for the Mayweather family and we all have to understand it.

How much would Pacquiao, Margarito or Cotto make in those fights?

These negotiations will be starting in the next couple of days and right now I have adhered to my promise to Ross and I haven’t negotiated with anybody, Manny or either of those fight camps about a fight in November because we have focused on a fight with Mayweather so now I have to start talking with them and I can’t answer those questions until I do.

Would Cotto have an edge since he was such a big part of the first fight that did so well in Las Vegas? It was reported to be their biggest day in three years.

No, the Asian gamblers came because they perceived Manny to be in a very good fight. I think they would have the same feeling whether it is Margarito or Cotto in November.

Why do you think there has been no communication from the Mayweather camp?

I can’t answer that without speculating. I know the Roger situation, now why Floyd has not addressed it I have no idea and can’t answer it.

Are you disappointed from the non-communication?

Who knows the reason for it and it is unfathomable. I am not surprised. Nothing Surprises me. I just can’t figure it out. But there are a lot of things I can’t figure out, especially as I get older

 

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Pacquiao Approves: Margarito/Cotto in Mexico, Abu Dhabi

By Lem Satterfield.

The deadline to make a deal with Floyd Mayweather Jr. has passed. Top Rank Promotions CEO Bob Arum gave Mayweather a deadline of July 16 to sign a deal to fight Manny Pacquiao on November 13. The next opponent for Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs) will be one of two options - either WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto, or ex-titlist, Antonio Margarito. A fight against either opponent could take place in Mexico or Abu Dhabi. Margarito and Pacquiao would meet for the vacant WBC junior middlweight title.

Pacquiao, and his adviser, Michael Koncz, spoke on Friday and discussed the two options on the table and the two possible locations. Pacquiao has no problem fighting either opponent, and he doesn't have a problem with the fight taking place in Mexico or Abu Dhabi. The option that makes the most financial sense will be selected.

"I just got off of the phone with Manny, and he had just called me, saying that he wants to keep that Nov. 13 date," said Koncz. "I explained it to him that the main reason for us fighting outside of the United States is for taxation purposes. There's no taxation in Abu Dhabi, and there's no taxation in Mexico. So that mean additional millions in Manny's pocket that would have gone to the U.S. taxes in America"

"Manny has no preferences as to which one, he just told me to see which one that I can get the better deal out of. We have to look at the economics of it and what's the best option for him from a financial aspect. The bottom line is that it's a business."

Pacquiao is not happy about the Mayweather fight being possibly pushed back until May of 2011. He would rather fight Mayweather sooner than later, in order to avoid any possible debates on the final result.

"Well, it's upsetting, yes. But we would prefer to fight at this time before there is any further damage to Mayweather's abilities, whether it be physical or psychological or whatever. We don't want to be criticized down the road saying that we had fought Mayweather when he wasn't in his so-called prime. But even though the fight is not going to happen now, we want to leave the door open for next year," said Koncz.

 

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Sergio Martinez: If Williams Walks, I'll Fight Angulo at 154

By Rick Reeno

In response to a recent news brief that appeared on BoxingScene.com, WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez has issued a statement. In the news brief, promoter Gary Shaw stated that he consider making a fight between Martinez and Alfredo Angulo - if it took place at 154-pounds.

Previously, Martinez made it known that he was willing to move down as low as 155-pounds to defend his middleweight title. For Angulo he appears to be willing to move down a little lower. Martinez's first priority is a rematch with Paul Williams on October 2. But, Williams has other ideas and appears to be moving forward with a planned return to the welterweight division.

"If Paul Williams doesn't step up to the plate, I will fight Angulo at 154-pounds on October 2. Angulo claims he will fight anyone, so we can fight for my former title at super welterweight. We've seen the dog bark, now we'll see if he can bite," Martinez said.

 

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Team Pacquiao: It's Mayweather's Choice, We'll Move On

By Lem Satterfield

Only 24-hours after the infamous deadline had passed, Floyd Mayweather Jr. briefly discussed the reasons behind his decision to pass on a November fight with WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao. For the last few weeks, Mayweather remained silent while the entire boxing community was anxious to see if he was going to sign a proposal to fight Pacquiao on November 13.

Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, who promotes Pacquiao, gave Mayweather a deadline of July 16 to accept the fight proposal. The July deadline gave Mayweather's side exclusive negotiating rights for a Pacquiao fight. Once the deadline was allowed to pass, Pacquiao was given the ability to negotiate with other possible opponents.

Mayweather told the Associated Press - "I'm not interested in rushing to do anything. I'm not really thinking about boxing right now. I'm just relaxing. I fought about 60 days ago, so I'm just enjoying myself, enjoying life, enjoying my family and enjoying my vacation."

Pacquiao and his adviser, Michael Koncz, respect Mayweather's decision to spend time with his family. With Mayweather completely out of the picture for 2010, negotiations will move forward to make fight with either Margarito or Cotto.

"It's his prerogative. It's great that Floyd is spending time with his family. We encourage Manny to do that all of the time with his wife and kids, and if that's what Floyd chooses to do, that's his choice," said Michael Koncz. "If that's what he is doing right now with his time and with his career, that's fine with us. We'll move on

 

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Mayweather Talks: Not Interested in Pacquiao Right Now

Mayweather Talks: Not Interested in Pacquiao Right Now
Posted by: Mark Vester on 07-18-2010.




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>>>Click Here For Tons of More Breaking Boxing News, Articles and Insider Information<<<


By Mark Vester

After weeks of silence, Floyd Mayweather Jr. has finally given a statement on why he refused to approve a proposal for a Manny Pacquiao fight. Mayweather received a proposal a few weeks ago to fight Pacquiao on November 13. He allowed a July 16 deadline to pass without a response. Pacquiao's promoter, Top Rank, is now lining up either Antonio Margarito or Miguel Cotto to face Pacquiao on the November date.

Mayweather did not indicate any problems with the proposal, he simply said that he didn't want to rush into a Pacquiao fight right now. He wants to spend time with his family and relax. Top Rank CEO Bob Arum will try again next year. He wants to make a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight in May 2011.

"I'm not interested in rushing to do anything," Mayweather told the Associated Press. "I'm not really thinking about boxing right now. I'm just relaxing. I fought about 60 days ago, so I'm just enjoying myself, enjoying life, enjoying my family and enjoying my vacation. Like I said, I'm just supporting my family and relaxing. That's what I'm doing right now

 

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Did Pacquiao blow the Mayweather negotiations by asking for an even 50-50 split?

By Chris Williams: Although we still don’t know what the particulars were of the 2nd failed negotiations between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, things could have taken a turn for the worse when/if Pacquiao asked for a 50-50 cut of the revenue. There was talk previously about Pacquiao wanting nothing less than a 50-50 deal with Mayweather, and if that was the case, that right there might well have been enough to turn Mayweather off for the fight.


Mayweather said yesterday that he’s not interested in fighting right now and that he just wants to relax. However, with Pacquiao wanting an even 50-50 deal, that might have made Mayweather’s decision that much easier to take a break from boxing for perhaps the remainder of 2010.

Bob Arum says he’s going to revisit the negotiations for a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight next year in May, but if Arum is offering mostly the same old negotiation terms that were used in the first failed negotiations in January, then he probably needs to save himself the time by not bothering.

I think Mayweather is willing to walk away from the countless millions he would make in a fight with Pacquiao unless he gets a bigger cut. Arum, or in this case Ross Greenburg, might be able to put together a deal where Mayweather gets 55 to Pacquiao’s 45. That might work well enough to satisfy Mayweather.

However, getting Pacquiao to agree to that will be a problem if he’s stubborn about it. Pacquiao will be fighting either Miguel Cotto or Antonio Margarito next. If that fight does poorly, then it will give Mayweather one more reason to ask for the bigger cut of the pie. Unless Arum and Pacquiao acknowledge that Mayweather is the bigger pay per view attraction, this fight will likely never get made.

Anytime you have a fighter that is bringing in less money in PPV fights than another, one of the fighters is going to want the bigger money. That’s just normal. And when you throw in the fact that one of the fighters is also unbeaten, it makes it even more of a compelling reason why the unbeaten star should get the bigger money.

It would be better if Pacquiao and Arum acknowledge that Mayweather is the bigger PPV money maker, and then take the smaller money so this fight can be made in May 2011. It’s too late to put the fight together now, but Arum and Pacquiao can at least learn from this.

 

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Khan says he’s fighting Bradley next – News

By William Mackay: World Boxing Association (WBA) light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) says he plans on fighting WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (26-0, 11 KO’s). On Khan’s Twitter page, Khan had this to say about Bradley: “I’ll fight Tim Bradley. It’s the first time he has called me out. I’m going to Vegas and talk to Golden Boy [Khan's promotional company that handles his boxing career]. I would love the fight. Good style for me. I’m fighting Timothy Bradley next. I’m gonna tell Golden Boy. Let’s see if they want it for real. Talk is cheap.”


This sounds like Khan is talking a lot of hot air. He said similar things about Marcos Maidana, saying he’d talk to Golden Boy Promotions for them to set up a fight against Maidana, and we’ve seen how that’s gone. Instead of seeing Khan against Maidana, we saw Khan matched up against the feather-fisted Paulie Malignaggi in his last fight in May.

After that fight, Khan spoke of wanting to face the top fighters in the light welterweight division. However, instead of facing the top light welterweights in the division, Khan is looking to fight the winner of the July 31st lightweight clash between Juan Diaz and Juan Manuel Marquez. Facing one of those two would appear to be a much safer fight for Khan, because Diaz and Marquez doesn’t have the size to compete at light welterweight and are at their optimum weight in the lightweight division.

Although it would be great if Khan was serious about wanting to fight Bradley next, it just doesn’t seem at all likely. Golden Boy are looking to keep Khan winning in fights that make him and them good money. A fight against Bradley would be very dangerous for Khan because of Bradley’s hand speed and boxing skills. Khan would be getting hit a lot more in that fight than he has in at least two years since he was stopped in the 1st round in 2008 by Breidis Prescott. Since that fight, Khan has been matched pretty softly against non-punchers.

Khan said this about Bradley moving up in weight in his 12 round decision win over Luis Carlos Abregu last Saturday night: “Clever way to avoid the best 140 pounders by moving up.” Bradley, to be fair, still plans on fighting at light welterweight and only moved up to test the waters at welterweight so that he could possibly land a big money fight against one of the stars in the welterweight division.

 

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Roach wants Pacquiao to fight Margarito, thinks it will be an easy fight for Manny

Jason Kim: Trainer Freddie Roach thinks that former two-time welterweight champion Antonio Margarito (38-6, 27 KO’s) would be an easy fight for World Boxing Organization (WBO) champion Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KO’s), and would like to see Pacquiao fight him rather than fighting Miguel Cotto once again. In an article by Michael Rosenthal of The Ring, Roach, who trains Pacquiao, said “Would be like as if Margarito would be walking into a meat grinder.”


What seems strange is why Roach, if he really believes that Margarito is an easy mark for Pacquiao, would still want to see them fight. This is a lot like when Pacquiao fought Cotto when Miguel had recently been ripped apart by Margarito and had also taken a ton of punishment in a close win over Joshua Clottey. Pretty much everyone could see that Cotto had no chance to beat Pacquiao that he hadn’t looked like the same fighter since the loss to Margarito and was going to get brutalized by the Filipino star.

And this is exactly what happened. Now, Roach is interested in seeing Margarito fight Pacquiao despite the fact Margarito was easily beaten last year by Shane Mosley in a 9th round TKO loss. Margarito looked incredibly average in his comeback fight after the Mosley bout in a win over little known Roberto Garcia in May.

Why isn’t Roach interesting in seeing Pacquiao fight guys like Paul Williams, Sergio Martinez, and Andre Berto? Those would seem like more interesting bouts than watching Pacquiao beat up on a fighter like Margarito, who has zero hand speed and very little defense.

Roach says “I think Margarito would be more interesting for the fans [compared to another fight between Pacquiao and Cotto]. They’ve already seen Cotto.” True, a fight between Margarito and Pacquiao would be more interesting than seeing Pacquiao beat up on Cotto again, but not much more interesting. Margarito is so painfully slow and so wide open defense that it’s not even funny.

If a 38-year-old Mosley was able to take Margarito to school, what are the odds that Pacquiao will end up doing the same thing? If that’s the only choice available for Pacquiao to fight – Cotto or Margarito – then by all means Margarito is the better option simply for the fact that Pacquiao hasn’t just finished knocking him out. But why are Cotto and Margarito the only choices? What’s up with that? I see both of those choices as being awful.

“Cotto was in the fight [with Pacquiao] for about four rounds and that was about it,” Roach said. “Margarito has been a pretty dominant fighter, except for the Mosley fight. Cotto is at a higher weight now. And maybe there’s some interest because of the world title. And, who knows, maybe having Emanuel Steward in his corner will make a difference. That might add some interest.”

I doubt Steward will make any difference whatsoever in a second fight between Cotto and Pacquiao, unless Cotto can bring Steward in the ring with him to run interference while Cotto tries to land shots. Cotto looked just as hittable as before in his recent win over fellow Top Rank fighter Yuri Foreman in June. It was the perfect opponent for Cotto to fight – someone with a bad right knee, no power, and totally unproven against upper tier opposition. Cotto won but so what? He beat someone that wasn’t 100% for the fight physically, had no power and had never fought anyone near Cotto’s class.

And Margarito may have dominated most of his opposition during his career, but the loss to Mosley, and the plaster-like material that was found in Margarito’s hand wraps before the fight, makes you wonder why Margarito is even being considered as an option for Pacquiao. Margarito’s loss was totally one-sided to Mosley, and the hand wrap issue made it even worse.

How, after all that, could Margarito be even considered for a fight against Pacquiao? It doesn’t make sense, and I can’t see that fight selling any better than Pacquiao’s recent win over Joshua Clottey. And I don’t agree with Roach in thinking it will be interesting fight between Margarito and Pacquiao. I supposed it will be interesting if you like watching mismatches, but that’s about it. Margarito has no chance and will lose as badly as he did against the 38-year-old Mosley.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

to the writer of that last article, Jason Kim, well if Pacquiao fights margarito all that means is Pac continues to fight the guys that Floyd Mayweather ducked.

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

He didn't duck anyone, he was just taking a break and spending time with family.

 

[Tony]

There's no way Arum and Pacquiao wanted 50/50. I think they were offering to give Money Mayweather at least 55. I don't believe they were that stupid to think Mayweather would agree to do a 50/50.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

from what I read it was 55/45.

Regardless if that was the problem that's what team mayweather would have said.

Now Leonard Ellerbe is saying the negotiations never even happened, even though Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports, has been on record saying he was working as the middleman between bob arum and al haymon. sounds like damage control to me. Like for one month now, floyd and co had no idea negotiations were going on?!? lol shit is embarrassing. If that was the case why make a statement NOW and not last week? Or the weeks prior.

The timeline was:

1 month ago - oscar de la hoya saying on TV contract is almost complete.
(weeks ago) bob arum saying things are going smooth.
2 weeks ago bob arum says contract has been sent to floyd.
10 days ago bob arum gives deadline.
Saturday deadline reaches, no word from floyd.
Sunday floyd says he's on vacation, not interested in pacquiao or boxing right now.
Monday Ellerbe says negotiations never happened.

lmao, yeah everyone in the world knows negotiations are going on except floyd!