Boxing News Thread

[heyzel]

happy bday sugar ray leonard

Happy birthday, Sugar Ray Leonard!
May, 17, 2012
May 17
7:30
AM ET
By Lynn Hoppes | ESPN.com



Sugar Ray LeonardRonald C. Modra/Sports Imagery/Getty ImagesLeonard won world titles in 5 divisions and was the first boxer to earn more than $100 million.
Sugar Ray Leonard was born in 1956 on this day. He was named "Ray" because his mother loved singer Ray Charles and he was nicknamed "Sugar" by Sarge Johnson, assistant coach of the U.S. Olympic Boxing Team. Before long, there was the obvious comparison to Sugar Ray Robinson, who many considered the best boxer ever.

Here are five facts about Leonard, 56, you probably didn't know:

• As a child, Leonard nearly drowned in a flood. Later, he survived a major car crash.

• Leonard's speech titled "Power" (Prepare, Overcome and Win Every Round) draws big money from Fortune 500 companies.

• Leonard worked as adviser on the Hugh Jackman film "Real Steel" in 2011 and the robot had movements similar to Leonard. He has appeared on "Married With Children", "Tales From The Crypt" and most recently in "The Fighter", starring Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg.

• Leonard was voted off the fourth week of Season 12 of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars".

• In 1981, Leonard was voted Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year.

 

[heyzel]

Lewis slams 'poor taste' Haye-Chisora fight
ESPN staff
May 17, 2012 « Poulter calls on Olympics to embrace matchplay | Six line up to face Frankel in Lockinge »
Related Links

News:
Chisora will beat Haye - Fury
News:
Haye lifts lid on Chisora restaurant clash

Profile:
David Haye

Former heavyweight champion of the world Lennox Lewis has hit out at David Haye's forthcoming fight against Dereck Chisora, saying the bout is in "poor taste".

Haye and Chisora are set to fight at Upton Park on July 14, with the contest sanctioned by the Luxembourg Boxing Federation after the British Boxing Board of Control revoked Chisora's licence following an infamous press-conference brawl with Haye in Munich in February.

The pair got into a dispute following Chisora's defeat to Vitali Klitschko, although not before Chisora had disgraced himself with his conduct towards the Ukrainian ahead of the WBC heavyweight title fight.

Lewis believes ignoring the BBBoC to arrange the fight shows a distinct lack of class on the part of both fighters - as he says the BBBoC have been "one billion per cent right" in their conduct so far.

"We are going through a disciplinary process right now and the British Boxing Board of Control is handling that," Lewis said. "Should they be allowed to fight? Sure - but only when the time is right, when the disciplinary process has run its course.

"Chisora did a couple of bad things which, in football terms, brought the game into disrepute, and although he has apologised, that is not enough. Maybe he needs anger management therapy, some outside help, to draw a line under what happened in Germany."

He added: "I don't think there can ever be justification for going behind the British board's back.

"We all know the board is there for a reason, and they made a decision to suspend Chisora's licence in good faith, so to go around their jurisdiction is pretty poor, it's in poor taste.

"And for two boxers from England to go abroad and behave in that manner was damaging for the country's image.

"Slapping your opponent at the weigh-in, spitting in another champion's face in the ring, throwing a punch while holding a bottle and threatening to shoot a fellow boxer was all way over the top.

"It left a bad taste and I'm glad the British Boxing Board of Control stepped in and took the action they did. I make them a billion per cent right for doing that."

Lewis believes the anticipation ahead of the Haye-Chisora bout - 20,000 tickets were sold in just 48 hours - is an indictment of the poor state of the heavyweight division at the moment.

"We're waiting for that next superstar to shine," he noted. "I don't think there are any decent heavyweights coming through in America because most of the big guys there are doing other sports and different things

 

[heyzel]

Lewis slams 'poor taste' Haye-Chisora fight
ESPN staff
May 17, 2012 « Poulter calls on Olympics to embrace matchplay | Six line up to face Frankel in Lockinge »
Related Links

News:
Chisora will beat Haye - Fury
News:
Haye lifts lid on Chisora restaurant clash

Profile:
David Haye

Former heavyweight champion of the world Lennox Lewis has hit out at David Haye's forthcoming fight against Dereck Chisora, saying the bout is in "poor taste".

Haye and Chisora are set to fight at Upton Park on July 14, with the contest sanctioned by the Luxembourg Boxing Federation after the British Boxing Board of Control revoked Chisora's licence following an infamous press-conference brawl with Haye in Munich in February.

The pair got into a dispute following Chisora's defeat to Vitali Klitschko, although not before Chisora had disgraced himself with his conduct towards the Ukrainian ahead of the WBC heavyweight title fight.

Lewis believes ignoring the BBBoC to arrange the fight shows a distinct lack of class on the part of both fighters - as he says the BBBoC have been "one billion per cent right" in their conduct so far.

"We are going through a disciplinary process right now and the British Boxing Board of Control is handling that," Lewis said. "Should they be allowed to fight? Sure - but only when the time is right, when the disciplinary process has run its course.

"Chisora did a couple of bad things which, in football terms, brought the game into disrepute, and although he has apologised, that is not enough. Maybe he needs anger management therapy, some outside help, to draw a line under what happened in Germany."

He added: "I don't think there can ever be justification for going behind the British board's back.

"We all know the board is there for a reason, and they made a decision to suspend Chisora's licence in good faith, so to go around their jurisdiction is pretty poor, it's in poor taste.

"And for two boxers from England to go abroad and behave in that manner was damaging for the country's image.

"Slapping your opponent at the weigh-in, spitting in another champion's face in the ring, throwing a punch while holding a bottle and threatening to shoot a fellow boxer was all way over the top.

"It left a bad taste and I'm glad the British Boxing Board of Control stepped in and took the action they did. I make them a billion per cent right for doing that."

Lewis believes the anticipation ahead of the Haye-Chisora bout - 20,000 tickets were sold in just 48 hours - is an indictment of the poor state of the heavyweight division at the moment.

"We're waiting for that next superstar to shine," he noted. "I don't think there are any decent heavyweights coming through in America because most of the big guys there are doing other sports and different things

 

[heyzel]

Pacquiao’s base purse $6 million to Bradley’s $5 million
May 16th, 2012

By Dan Ambrose: According to the RingTV twitter, WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao’s base purse will only be $6 million for his June 9th fight against Tim Bradley. This is kind of low as you can imagine, in particular when you compare it to the $32 million guaranteed purse that Floyd Mayweather Jr. received for his fight against Miguel Cotto on May 5th.

Even Cotto came in above Pacquiao’s numbers with an $8 million guarantee to go with the huge upside for the pay per view numbers.

This is what RingTV twitter had to say on the Pacquiao/Bradley base purses: “Lem: According to the Nevada commission – Pacquiao’s base purse is $6 million, Bradley’s $5 million.”

I mean, that’s still a ton of money for a fighter to be getting and I’d love to get that kind of cash. However, when compared to Mayweather’s $32 million base it pales in comparison. How Pacquiao can be getting such a low number is the question. I realize that Mayweather promotes himself, and doesn’t have to share a big amount with his promoter and he also doesn’t have a trainer that he gives huge cash to as well. But there still should be a lot more left over for Pacquiao when you take into all those considerations.

If those numbers are correct then Pacquiao needs to consider promoting himself with what little time he has left in his career. He should cut his losses and promote himself and maybe hire a new trainer at a reduced rate so he can squirrel away as much money as possible in the 2-3 years that he has left in the sport. He could be sorry he didn’t do this later on if he somehow blows all his money and doesn’t have anymore huge revenue streams.

What I don’t understand is how Bradley makes almost as much money as Pacquiao. That doesn’t make sense.

 

[heyzel]

Maidana possible for September 15th in Las Vegas
May 16th, 2012

By Dan Ambrose: WBA light welterweight champion Marcos Maidana (31-3, 28 KO’s) is possible for the undercard of WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez’s next fight on September 15th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. There still isn’t an opponent picked out for the 28-year-old Maidana, but there is still a ton of time to pick someone out by then.

Maidana lost his last fight against Devon Alexander in an ill advised move up to 147lbs to test the waters in that weight class. Maidana looked slow and flabby, and couldn’t handle Alexander’s superior speed and constant clinching. Maidana didn’t know what to do to counter act all the clinching that Alexander was doing, and he didn’t have the excellent inside fighting skills that Tim Bradley had in beating Alexander on the inside when he would go to clinch.

Maidana had a more difficult situation with Alexander clinching as many as 15 times per round, which was basically long enough for him to get in one or two punches and immediately grab Maidana so he couldn’t punch. The referee simply allowed Alexander to clinch, and that left Maidana on his own without the skills necessary to make Alexander stop grabbing him.

Maidana is now training with Robert Garcia in Oxnard, California. Garcia trains fighters like Brandon Rios, Nonito Donaire, Antonio Margarito, and Kelly Pavlik. It’s unclear what kind of impact Garcia will have with the slow but powerful Maidana. As we saw in Rios’ last fight against Cuban Richard Abril, Garcia isn’t infallible. He can help a fighter only so much.

They have to possess the excellent skills to begin with for him to get the most of them. I’m not sure that Maidana has the needed physical skills for him to keep his World Boxing Association for long. Maidana needs some serious help with cutting off the ring and fighting on the inside because he’s going to continue to have problems against fighters that move, grab and fight in close.

 

[heyzel]

Pacquiao: I hope the referee won’t allow Bradley to lead with his head
May 17th, 2012

By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao somehow wants the referee to keep Tim Bradley from fighting his game and coming in low with his head first while attacking Pacquiao on June 9th. I have no idea how a referee would be able to stop Bradley from fighting in his usual style because there’s nothing illegal about.

Pacquiao might as well be asking the referee to have both of Bradley’s arms tied behind his back so Pacquiao can have a better chance of winning. He already got handled in his last fight against Juan Manuel Marquez and got bailed out by two of the referees, who gave him the fight while boxing fans saw Marquez as the winner.

Pacquiao told ESPN “With Bradley, it’s [head-butts] more of a concern because he tends to lead with his head. Hopefully we will have a good referee who will not let him do that.”

 

[heyzel]

Scully: How is Andre Ward going to deal with Chad Dawson?
May 17th, 2012

By Dan Ambrose: John Scully, the trainer for newly crowned WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson, wonders how WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward will deal with the speed, size, power and boxing ability of Dawson in their proposed September 8th fight for Ward’s World Boxing Association 168 pound title.

Instead of answering the question of how Dawson will be able to deal with a slick and tough fighter like Ward, Scully is wondering how Ward will be able to deal with a fighter like Dawson who is much different from the guys that Ward has been facing thus far in his career.

Scully said to RingTV “People need to realize that Ward’s going to have a lot to deal with Chad. Ward has never faced anybody like Chad before in terms of his style and the speed and the youth and the elusiveness and combination punching. Chad’s completely different than a Mikkel Kessler.”

Kessler is easily Ward’s biggest win of his career, and even better than wins over guys like Carl Froch and Sakio Bika. However, Dawson is a lot tougher to deal with than those guys because of his size, athletic ability and boxing skills. Dawson out-boxes his opponents and doesn’t take shots like Ward does.

Ward really didn’t shine in his fight against Froch, and took a lot of punishment in that bout. Dawson wouldn’t likely take the same kind of punishment that Ward did because he wouldn’t be there for Froch’s shots. He would be simply get out of the way of the punches and leave Froch punching at the air. The same holds true for a fight between Dawson and Kessler. Dawson would out-box Kessler and rarely get hit by him.

Ward is going to have to find a way to turn the fight against Dawson into an inside war, and that’s not going to be easy to do because Dawson is too elusive and strong to be pushed into the ropes the way that Ward has done that against weaker opponents.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

Pacquiao’s base purse $6 million to Bradley’s $5 million
May 16th, 2012

By Dan Ambrose: According to the RingTV twitter, WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao’s base purse will only be $6 million for his June 9th fight against Tim Bradley. This is kind of low as you can imagine, in particular when you compare it to the $32 million guaranteed purse that Floyd Mayweather Jr. received for his fight against Miguel Cotto on May 5th.

Even Cotto came in above Pacquiao’s numbers with an $8 million guarantee to go with the huge upside for the pay per view numbers.

This is what RingTV twitter had to say on the Pacquiao/Bradley base purses: “Lem: According to the Nevada commission – Pacquiao’s base purse is $6 million, Bradley’s $5 million.”

I mean, that’s still a ton of money for a fighter to be getting and I’d love to get that kind of cash. However, when compared to Mayweather’s $32 million base it pales in comparison. How Pacquiao can be getting such a low number is the question. I realize that Mayweather promotes himself, and doesn’t have to share a big amount with his promoter and he also doesn’t have a trainer that he gives huge cash to as well. But there still should be a lot more left over for Pacquiao when you take into all those considerations.

If those numbers are correct then Pacquiao needs to consider promoting himself with what little time he has left in his career. He should cut his losses and promote himself and maybe hire a new trainer at a reduced rate so he can squirrel away as much money as possible in the 2-3 years that he has left in the sport. He could be sorry he didn’t do this later on if he somehow blows all his money and doesn’t have anymore huge revenue streams.

What I don’t understand is how Bradley makes almost as much money as Pacquiao. That doesn’t make sense.

not sure why people still don't understand base pay is not total pay. if his guarantee from top rank is $20 million plus upside of the ppv which is in writing in his contract he gets that money even if the ppv were to flop. his base pay against Marquez was slightly more, I think $8 million or something like that but he git paid over $25 million for the fight.

 

[HERESY]

l Bernstein’s Top-10 Greatest-Ever Fighters

By James Slater: Recently, I got in touch with Emanuel Steward and Thomas “Hitman” Hearns, asking them for their opinions as to who the ten greatest-ever fighters in history are. Both greats kindly got back to me, and I was also given another expert’s personal top-10: that of Showtime commentator and all-round boxing brain Al Bernstein.

Fans always like to read a list of this kind, all the more so when a bonafide boxing expert is providing it. Who knows more about boxing than Bernstein? Al has been commentating for decades now and he has forgotten more about boxing than most of us will ever know.

Over the years, while working for ESPN and for Showtime, Bernstein has watched many great fighters and fights, and he is as qualified as anyone to give us his choices for the ten finest boxers in history. Al admitted that it “wasn’t easy” picking his top-10, but here it is:

1: Sugar Ray Robinson

2: Henry Armstrong

3: Archie Moore

4: Joe Louis

5: Muhammad Ali

6: Sugar Ray Leonard

7: Jack Johnson

8: Marvin Hagler

9: Roberto Duran

10: Ricardo Lopez

This is a good list. You can argue Marciano being put on the list because he was undefeated. You can argue Jack Dempsey on the list because shit...it's Jack fuckin' Dempsey. You can put Julio Cesar Chavez on the list as well. Willie Pep as well. But yeah, he has a good list.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

I'm no historian by any means but I think the only HW worthy of being in the top ten is Ali. jack Johnson was dope and all, first black champion and whooped all the white fighters for years but he also refused to fight black fighters as well when he was on top. of course most of that had to do with money but still, makes you wonder a bit.

Marciano was undefeated and all but kind of a weak time and beat a lot of old guys.

Louis u can make a case though, but the level of opposition I don't think was as good as Ali's era.

 

[HERESY]

I'm no historian by any means but I think the only HW worthy of being in the top ten is Ali. jack Johnson was dope and all, first black champion and whooped all the white fighters for years but he also refused to fight black fighters as well when he was on top. of course most of that had to do with money but still, makes you wonder a bit.

Marciano was undefeated and all but kind of a weak time and beat a lot of old guys.

Louis u can make a case though, but the level of opposition I don't think was as good as Ali's era.

Louis' era may not have been as good as Ali's but he had over 25 succesful title defenses, which to my knowledge, is a record for a HW and held the belt for what 11 or 12 years (can't recall?) So Joe has a strong case for being on the list.

I can see why Johnson is on the list. It's like not putting Jackie Robinson on the list of baseball greats. You have to look at the political climate of the time and what the guy was doing. Knocking out all the white fighters and frolicking with white women. You know some KKK members were plotting on lynching him, so you look at the political climate, him being the first black champ and you go from there. And a shitload of historians would agree with you when it comes to him ducking fights.

Marciano is a tricky one. Personally, I wouldn't put him in my top list and not even my top ten HW list, but I can see why others would put him in. He beat some aging greats, but his undefeated record garners a look.

The only iffy guy I see on Bernsteins list is Lopez. I say that because for the first half of his career, maybe even more, he only fought mexican fighters. He fought in the lower weight classes but if I'm not mistaken he had no losses and like two draws or something like that, so he get's a nod because he walked away with his 0.

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

I think the Manny PPV will do horrible numbers.
No one cares about Bradley. If it wasn't for him being undefeated the fight wouldn't have even been made.
I like Braley, I just think the PPV will flop. Not like Hopkins vs Dawson flop, but I doubt it will have good numbers.

 

[CHRISHOGGALYPSE]

Pacquiao/Clottey did 700k which was surprising. I'd be surprised if this PPV did that many

 

[Johnny Truelove]

its gonna be great for floyd when the ppv flops then finally that jew pig arum wont have anything to say...

 

[heyzel]

Shouldn’t Pacquaio be calling the Shots? And More
May 18th, 2012

By Robert “Big Moe” Elmore: I will let the children and their emotions argue over who deserves a 50/50 split. I’ve already checked mines at the door. Floyd Mayweather said that he would not give Manny Pacquiao 50/50 split. He also offered Manny a flat fee of 40 million dollars. But one thing doesn’t seem right in this situation.

If Manny is the face of boxing, the cash cow, then why is he ASKING Mayweather for a split? Shouldn’t he be the one telling Mayweather “You’re not getting 50/50 from me”? Or “I will wire you 20 million and you’ll get the rest later”? But this isn’t happening. It is highly rumored that, Pac’s promoter, takes 27.5 percent of his money. So if this is true, then Manny won’t see the entire 50 percent from the revenue or pay per view sales. After all Manny said he would take less money to make the fight happen. My source is below.

Can’t Hate on Floyd Business Savvy

Floyd is simply a smart businessman. The undercard is just as important as the main event so why not recruit people who are going to help promote the event? It would be stupid not to. The idea is to do good pay per view numbers and that’s what happened. But I believe the main reason some are really pissed is because Floyd outsold Pacquaio with another common opponent. This time the roles were reversed. Pacquaio fought Cotto first in 2009 and generated 1.2 million buys. Floyd fought Cotto and did 2 million buys. This has to be a little embarrassing to Team Pac. Cotto was supposed to be “washed up” “a shot fighter” and had “nothing left”. I guess 1.5 million people didn’t think so.

Maybe Arum should take note and work with other promoters to get these kind of buys. In my opinion, a good card would have been Pacquiao vs Bradley with Chavez vs Martinez, and Marquez vs Judah. That fight card would surely generate great numbers. But because of Arums reluctance to do business with other promoters, and do in house fights, the end results

 

[heyzel]

Shouldn’t Pacquaio be calling the Shots? And More
May 18th, 2012

By Robert “Big Moe” Elmore: I will let the children and their emotions argue over who deserves a 50/50 split. I’ve already checked mines at the door. Floyd Mayweather said that he would not give Manny Pacquiao 50/50 split. He also offered Manny a flat fee of 40 million dollars. But one thing doesn’t seem right in this situation.

If Manny is the face of boxing, the cash cow, then why is he ASKING Mayweather for a split? Shouldn’t he be the one telling Mayweather “You’re not getting 50/50 from me”? Or “I will wire you 20 million and you’ll get the rest later”? But this isn’t happening. It is highly rumored that, Pac’s promoter, takes 27.5 percent of his money. So if this is true, then Manny won’t see the entire 50 percent from the revenue or pay per view sales. After all Manny said he would take less money to make the fight happen. My source is below.

Can’t Hate on Floyd Business Savvy

Floyd is simply a smart businessman. The undercard is just as important as the main event so why not recruit people who are going to help promote the event? It would be stupid not to. The idea is to do good pay per view numbers and that’s what happened. But I believe the main reason some are really pissed is because Floyd outsold Pacquaio with another common opponent. This time the roles were reversed. Pacquaio fought Cotto first in 2009 and generated 1.2 million buys. Floyd fought Cotto and did 2 million buys. This has to be a little embarrassing to Team Pac. Cotto was supposed to be “washed up” “a shot fighter” and had “nothing left”. I guess 1.5 million people didn’t think so.

Maybe Arum should take note and work with other promoters to get these kind of buys. In my opinion, a good card would have been Pacquiao vs Bradley with Chavez vs Martinez, and Marquez vs Judah. That fight card would surely generate great numbers. But because of Arums reluctance to do business with other promoters, and do in house fights, the end results

 

[heyzel]

Pacquiao: Roach says that Marquez is the only fighter that has figured me out
May 17th, 2012

By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao has had a world of problems in his three fights against Juan Manuel Marquez and he should feel himself incredibly lucky that he doesn’t have three losses to show for those fights against Marquez because there’s more a few boxing fans who believe that Pacquiao deserved to win none of the fights.

Pacquiao said to RingTV “My trainer Freddie Roach has said many times that Juan is the only smart one out there; the one fighter who has figured me out. I know the fans want to see a fourth fight between us, and I can understand why. Right now, I can only focus on the task at hand.”

Pacquiao won a controversial decision over Marquez in his last fight, and he had the chance to clear that up by fighting an immediate rematch against Marquez. However, Pacquiao thought that boxing fans wouldn’t see it as an interesting fight, so instead he’s facing one of his promoter Bob Arum’s recent signees Tim Bradley on June 9th. The move will likely cost Pacquiao a lot of money because a fight between Pacquiao and Bradley likely won’t bring in anywhere close to then same kind of numbers that a fight between Pacquiao and Marquez would.

Additionally, Pacquiao also could have made a huge amount of money if he had simply agreed to fight WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto at a catchweight of 150lbs, instead of deciding that he wouldn’t go above 147 in order to take the fight. Cotto decided he’d already given into Pacquiao once by fighting him at a catchweight handicap in 2009, and he didn’t want to give Pacquiao an advantage by fighting him at 147 and end up being weakened by taking off the weight against. Now Pacquiao has to settle for the tough Bradley, but he won’t likely make anywhere close to the kind of cash he could have gotten for a fight against Cotto or Marquez.

Marquez isn’t the only one that’s figured out Pacquiao’s style. Erik Morales obviously did because he beat him in 2005. Pacquiao avenged the defeat by beating a weight drained Morales in two separate bouts, we saw what happened to Pacquiao when facing a non-weight drained Morales.

 

[naner12]

Lopez was one of the finest boxers I've watched, his problem was the same as anyone else in the minimum/light flyweights, and that's they normally don't fight that much top notch competition. Hard to rank him in the top 10 best of all time from that.

.. as for Joe Louis, the most consecutive title defenses in one weight class for any boxer ever. Hasn't been done even in the weakest of eras. Nothing to scoff at all.

 

[Tony]

Now I see why Mayweather doesn't want to give Pacquiao a 50/50 split.

 

[CHRISHOGGALYPSE]

I'm biased because Lopez is one of my favorite fighters. I'm one of the few people that think he's ranks higher than a lot of the other Mexican fighters we all know. Definitely hurts that he was so small and a lot of people think Mark Too Sharp Johnson would've beaten him too, but who on that list of top 10 didn't have a L on their record?

At the very least, Lopez was one of the most brilliant fighters of all time. I've never seen someone move so smoothly and always be in position to punch like him. He slipped punches like few could and made fighters pay with brutal counter punching. Had one punch knockout power which is rare for a smaller fighter and typically outclassed fighers in title fights like few ever have in any division. Under appreciated in every sense of the word by most historians and fans. Top 10? Maybe, maybe not, but underappreciated at least.