By Gabriel Montoya, SecondsOut.com
Gabriel,
Only Floyd Mayweather can take the fun out of boxing. Yes, Pacquiao can easily submit to taking the random tests, but at the same time, why? He’s never failed a steroid test and why should he change his training camp because of Floyd Mayweather and comments from Mayweather Sr., Malignaggi, and Cintron? I think Malignaggi and Cintron are smart because I truly think they are saying this in hopes to lure Paquaio into the ring for a nice payday. At least with them you know they would have fought Paquaio under normal testing. Mayweather Sr. shits on anybody who does not have Mayweather as a last name or that he doesn’t train. Mayweather has fought 40 times and has never asked for any other kind of testing, why now? I truly think this was all to play games with Paqauio to throw him off and they went too far and it blew up in their face. If Floyd wants 14 days from the fight and Paquaio wants 24 why not split it down the middle and do 19. Thats a thought. As much as I think it would be easy for Manny to comply and I sit here baffled at why he won’t, I then think what am I thinking this is Mayweathers fault. He’s managed too avoid every great fight and then when someone comes along that is giving the fans what they want to see he then puts doubt into the minds of fans about this guy and takes a shit on him and then points the finger. Bottom line this all smells like Mayweather and he is just so bad for boxing all around. Can these two really be that stupid and throw away this tremendous payday and most of all not give everybody what they want? On normal terms I know Mayweather would walk, but I thought he needed the money? Thoughts?
Michael
NYC
I was sitting in the Wild Card Boxing Club the other day, waiting to interview various fighters and watching some solid sparring with a friend of mine named James, talking all things boxing in general and Mayweather/Pacquiao in particular when James said something that hadn’t occurred to me.
“Floyd’s scared,” he said. “Sr. sat in the corner, ringside, and watched Manny destroy his fighter in two rounds. He heard that punch up close and he knew his son was in for a rough night. Floyd can’t handle that kind of pressure.”
Now on TV and even from my seat on press row, that punch had serious impact. But it’s a whole different game up close near the ring apron. That punch must’ve been brutally loud as it cracked Hatton’s chin and put him on “I can’t feel my brain” street. It was only after that fight, one where Floyd Sr. wrote a check with his mouth that he was nowhere near able to cash, that Floyd Sr. began saying Pacquiao must be on the juice.
“Sr is being a dad,” James said. “He’s protecting his son.”
Makes some sense if you think about it.
I remember playing Monopoly with my brothers as a very young boy, around six or so, and saying “You must be cheating because I’m losing.” In a way, Floyd is saying that Manny must be cheating because only he is the best fighter in the world. Only he can be the face of boxing. “The President of boxing.” But it says here that “No, Floyd. You’re just a very good fighter with a long track record of avoiding tough fights in favor of ones you can win.” Floyd played a game of chicken with Manny by going public with the blood testing clause in the contract. It was a cheap attempt to make a man bend to his will or suffer the consequences in the court of public opinion. Now, instead of making 40 million, he may lose some money in a real court of law.
So who is to blame?
Floyd Mayweather’s advisor, Leonard Ellerbe, claims all Floyd wants is a level playing field and thus has called for random blood testing throughout training camp leading up to this fight. Which begs the question: why now? Was the Juan Manuel Marquez on a level playing field? Marquez was older, fighting 12 pounds above his last fight’s weight class; a class where he showed all the signs of aging and ring wear, was slower and not known to be a one punch KO artist but more of a pinpoint counter puncher who would wear you down over the course of fight. Was it a level playing field against a fighter who had moved up to 154 pounds and beaten a top five junior middle named Oscar De La Hoya? Why wasn’t this need for random blood testing implemented then? Maybe because the matchmaking favored Floyd so much that Marquez could have been drinking Barry Bonds’ steroid era urine samples instead of his own fresh urine and it wouldn’t have made a difference? Was it a level playing field when Floyd had Ricky Hatton, a fighter who admitted before and after the fight that he was not very good as a 147 pound fighter, move to welterweight? You be the judge.
The point being: since when did Floyd care about a level playing field? Since when did he become a boxing reformer or even care about boxing as anything more than a hustle to make money in? Has he been giving the fans every or any fight they have wanted in the last five years? No he hasn’t.
Floyd had so much clout in the sport as it’s number one fighter after the Oscar and Hatton fights, he could have made a much greater statement and shown he was legit by doing two things before his brief retirement.
Announce he was leaving the sport until certain changes were made. One being this need for random blood testing.
As the head of Mayweather Promotions, he could have announced that his entire roster would set a new standard for the sport by utilizing a new level of blood testing never before seen at the pro level to prove all MP fighters fight clean.
But he didn’t do that. He cried and he whined about how hard the sport that gave him millions for fights the fans didn’t want was. He told us how great he is and how no one respected him and that it was over. As always, it was all about him and not really about boxing.
Until now. Until the biggest fight the sport had seen in possibly decades. The best fighter vs. the best boxer. Both in their primes with common opponents and everyone agreeing one of them was the best in the world. Why? Why make the statement now?
Is he scared? Maybe. Is he jealous of the fact that Manny and he have common opponents, who he beat first (except Marquez) and yet Manny looked better doing it and seemingly got much more love from the fans in the process? Possibly.
Me? I think Floyd played chicken and lost. He tried to put Manny in a position he could not get out of: agree to the test or look like a cheater. In the process of underestimating Pacquiao, he put himself in a worse position: If Floyd backed off his demands completely, he would lose face in front of the whole world and really, lose the first great battle between the fighters. Floyd drew a line in the sand he couldn’t erase.
To me this all illustrates the big difference between Manny and Floyd. Floyd comes from a rough city but has been treated like a special athlete his whole life. He was raised to be this. Manny grew up on the hard streets of the Philippines. He had to become this to survive. Two very different backgrounds and mindsets. Manny just might be a kind of tough that Floyd has never encountered. This first battle has shown that Manny can’t be intimidated nor dictated to. You can argue that Manny must be guilty because he won’t get blood tested per Floyd’s demands. I say Manny won’t be dictated to by Floyd or anyone else.
I have no idea if Manny Pacquiao is a dirty fighter. There is no evidence to suggest he is at this moment; just the spark of accusations from Floyd Sr, some insinuations by Team Mayweather and Manny’s unwillingness to kowtow to a Floyd, Jr.
That’s not enough for me to convict him of anything.
As for walking away from 40 million dollars, you have to understand that from the moment they began talking about a fight together, Manny and Floyd began fighting. Each side wants leverage one way or the other. These are two great fighters with great fighter egos. No one is looking to back down. Floyd threw a low blow here and some fans and media ran with it. I think Manny is showing incredible strength of character. Sure, he could be hiding something. Rafael Palmeiro looked into the cameras and said he had never taken steroids and everyone believed him until he came up dirty. But right now, Manny is innocent until proven guilty.
What will be interesting going forward is how the commissions across the country react. A Pacquiao fight brings huge money to the local economies. Will they risk losing a fight with him in it by upgrading their outdated testing procedures? No question they need to catch up to the ever changing world of performance enhancing drugs. This could be a watershed moment in boxing.
Right now, I am not wondering about Manny so much. But say the commissions adopt a random blood testing system and Manny says screw it and retires, then speculation will be justified. Right now, it just reads like jealous grapes and bad negotiating from Floyd.
Back to the 40 mil, Manny can afford to walk away from the payday. He’ll make his 10-14 mil elsewhere for sure. Floyd is the one who needs this cash. 40 million will go a long way to easing his financial bleeding. A rematch would be even better for him. As it stands, without Pacquiao, he is going to have to fight someone tough to get that kind of cash. He’s run out of soft touches. It’s why even though the fight is off the table as far as Team Pacquiao, Ellerbe says "We’re still hopeful we can make a deal. We’re not talking about anyone but Manny Pacquiao." Manny Pacquaio” which is a big turnaround from Floyd’s pre-Marquez stances of “He’s a good little fighter” and “People forget Manny Pacquiao has three losses and has been knocked out before” or even better “I don’t chase fighters. Fighters chase me. I says what goes in boxing.” Apparently not.
Floyd needs that 40 mil. Manny doesn’t. Simple as that. Bluff called. Fight over.
Too hard on the prospects?
Hi Gabriel,
I know I am nit picking here but I was bored and in the mood to write about boxing. In your article you write that Angulo and Ortiz were put in too tough early on. And I couldn’t disagree with you more. It is my belief that both fights on paper looked to be competitive. Angulo and Ortiz just happen to lose those fights. If you take a look at Angulo’s career up to that point you’ll notice that he had, on a consistent basis, already beaten second tier opponents, and that a fight with a guy like Cintron was expected. Ortiz on the other hand fought Marcos Maidana who was in the same boat as Victor Ortiz in terms of where they were in their careers. There is only one fight on Maidana’s resume that stands out against Ortiz’s; and that was the fight with Kotelnik which Maidana lost.
I am just trying to point out that both Ortiz and Angulo in my opinion were not in over their heads but were just defeated that night. I think boxing sometimes babies their fighters a little too much and we have very uncompetitive fights because of it. Fighters fight, and sometimes they lose. And if they can’t come back from a lose maybe boxing is not they sport for them. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that fighter’s should be put in with monsters by their tenth fight. And some fighters do need a little bit more seasoning than others, but if the guy is ready he’s ready. I remember how about a year ago a proposed bout between Angulo and James Kirkland was being discussed. And everyone was saying ’it’s too early for them to get it on’. Let them marinate. And look how they’re marinating now. One is in jail, and the other lost a little bit of his luster. Who knows if that fight will ever happen now.
This is where I think MMA has an advantage over boxing. They don’t get babied to much over there and the fights people want to see are generally made quickly. Also, a loss in MMA it not perceived as devastating as it is in boxing. If you look at some of the guys that perform regularly in the UFC you’ll see that they might have won half their fights in the past two years. I am not suggesting that boxing should have the same system, so to speak, to that of MMA, but there are some pointers we can take from an organization that has done very well marketing wise.
Eduardo
Eduardo, I don’t think you’re nitpicking at all. But I will agree with you in the case of only one of the fighters. I think two things happen over and over again these days. Guys are brought along too soft for too long and guys are matched too easily throughout their careers even after the prospect phase is over. With Angulo, I’ll be honest, I thought it was a little soon for Cintron, who had double his fights. But at the same time, it was nice calculated gamble against a guy who doesn’t normally handle the style of Angulo well. Come to find out Angulo was sick coming into the bout with the flu. This is not unusual but I think it shows that his team perhaps overestimated how good Angulo was at that point and how easy it would be to overwhelm Cintron.
If you look at the guys Angulo had fought to that point, he’d never really fought a fighter who could effectively stick and move. Cintron, being the vet that he is and a guy who is always looking to add to his game, knew this and capitalized by adjusting his game to suit his opponents weaknesses and it worked.
Is this the end of the world that Angulo lost? No way in Hell. Angulo’s style almost demands a loss at some point so he can retool. It wasn’t like we didn’t know movement would trouble him coming into the fight. Angulo easily has bounced back and has shown even more fire in doing so. The loss might be a great thing for him as he moves along. I’ll agree that Angulo was not exposed to anyone but perhaps himself. Now he knows he can’t just come straight forward and hope to win that way. He’ll have to get better at cutting off the ring if he wants to be a champion. Great loss.
I‘m like you and MMA fans. Losses don’t bother me so much; depending on how they happen.
Case in point: Victor Ortiz vs. Marcos Maidana.
Coming into the bout everyone picked Ortiz to win easily. That was probably because no one had seen any tape of Maidana as much as anything. We knew he lost to Kotelnik and no one thought much of him. So it wasn’t a shock when Ortiz dropped him early and went in for the kill. When Ortiz walked straight to Maidana and got dropped on his ass for his troubles, to me, that showed his prospect colors. He just walked right in as he had so many times before against outgunned competition. Ortiz was not seasoned near enough for this fight. He needed to fight a mover without power so he could learn how to come in at angles and not walk into something ugly. He need maybe a slow puncher whose power he could be wary of and come in again at angles. Instead, he went from blowing guys out to headlining at the Staples Center in a world title shot with the perception that Golden Boy Promotions’ future rested on his shoulders. Way too much, way too soon. It’s tough enough to go from prospect to contender but to jump from prospect to a world title fight with all the rest on top of it? Totally irresponsible of those around him.
Now Victor has had a comeback fight in which I thought he looked very tentative. He did get the stoppage but he looked tight and strange doing it.
Looking at the way he has bounced back vs. the way Angulo has, I’d say one guy was thrown in to the wolves too soon and one guy wasn’t.
On the MMA tip, yeah, I agree that boxing can learn more than a thing or two from that sport. But I’m curious how MMA fans will react to the Manny/Floyd blood feud. They use the same system for testing we do. Will they call for change or keep quiet? Just a thought.
Where there’s smoke there’s fire
"Let’s be honest, we wouldn’t be having this conversation about Manny if Floyd hadn’t brought it up." That quote is part of your reply to an e-mailer regarding the Pacquiao/Mayweather blood feud (pun intended). The truth is that since the Cotto beat down we fans have been whispering about the possibility of a PED enhanced Pac-man. Being a big fan of Marquez and de la Hoya, I didn’t want to sound like sour grapes (plus the de la Hoya beat down was more of a result of age and weight loss). Anyways, what gets me is that the media, either ignorantly or by choice, writes about how Pacquiao is a mighty mite versus much larger men. I was able to get the seats closest to the dais for the Manny vs Oscar fight weigh-in. Pacquiao was the shorter man but, Manny was the much thicker man. It is most apparent in the calf muscles and legs in general. My point is that Manny is not as small as portrayed in the media. Even against Cotto, Manny looked to be thicker than Cotto. I do want to point out that I am not trying to provide physical (again pun intended) evidence of steroid use; just that Manny is not as small in stature as depicted.
I understand your point about being consistent with testing no matter the magnitude of the fight. Pro boxing should be transparent when dealing with the health of fighters and the integrity of its product. With that being said, two wrongs don’t make a right. Just because they use a heavily flawed testing method for all fights; they should do the same here? If they have a chance to do it right, even if it’s just once, they should do it right. Think long term. This would set a precedent for other fights. Right now Arum is saying its not required by Nevada’s boxing commission and it has not been done before. Well, that argument can be rendered mute in the future. A precedent has been set.
The truth is that I would love to be able to say I am witnessing an all time great. I would be able to tell my grandchildren that I witnessed greatness ring. But the sad truth is that in these days and times there’s that nagging suspicion, a little bit of doubt.
Joel
It’s sad in that in this day and age, success breeds this kind of thinking from all of us. We can thank the steroids era in baseball for that. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wonder at some point why Pacquiao’s head is so big. But then I looked at his brother Bobby and said to myself “Oh. It runs in the family.”
I’ve looked at Manny in the gym and in the ring and wondered how he has gotten to where he is, for sure. But I look at it like this: Manny is now fighting at his optimum weight much like Floyd. Floyd hasn’t gained more a two pounds after the weigh in for years now (with the lone exception of the Marquez fight where they didn’t show how much he gained per Floyd’s request). Both Manny and Floyd are great enough boxers/fighters that they have been able to adjust as they have moved up in weight. It seems to me that Manny’s biggest edge coming into fights is that he can eat closer to the fight since he is fighting so close to his natural walk around weight. He’s fresher not having to cut weight. Which is huge is you have ever had to cut weight. So he’s stronger, more explosive and able to fight harder and longer throughout the bout. It really could be that simple.
To me, it’s two separate issues. Yes, we need better drug testing in all of sports. Lab techs all over the world are working right now for newer and better ways to cheat the system while pushing athletes’ limits further and further. So yes, we need better drug testing to catch the cheaters. That’s a given and we should have opened our eyes much sooner. Like Barry Bonds getting caught in the Balco scandal sooner. But boxing, as usual, likes being behind the times and keeping things in house. So we didn’t change and now here we are.
Manny Pacquiao, who has been tested in the same manner all fighters who have fought in the States or places he has and never come up dirty. This is a fact. He has moved through seven divisions and not only been successful, he has been exceptional in doing so; in fact, his most exceptional performances have been in his last four fights as he has moved up from 135 pounds to 147 pounds.
But if you couple my earlier point with great matchmaking, what do you get? A guy considered the best fighter in the world.
David Diaz: A slow fighter who went life and death with an aged Erik Morales. Not much defense, heavy hands but nothing to write home about, and known for toughness as much as anything. Manny iced him in 9.
Oscar De La Hoya: Old fighter who had not been near 147 for ten years and who tried a new method of getting to the weight that backfired horribly.
Ricky Hatton: A fighter who had been exposed as having no real defense, shown an inability to handle speed, and who’d been stopped before.
Miguel Cotto: A guy who had fought some serious wars in recent years against the world’s top welters, was significantly slower than Pacquiao and who, like the fighters who took on Tito Trinidad as he moved up in weight, felt he was the bigger stronger fighter and consequently fought the wrong fight. To me, this win was the best of the four because I didn’t think Miguel was shot by any means. Manny absorbed some serious leather bomb, and still showed he is fast and explosive at 147. But there is a reason he fought Cotto and not Mosley: speed.
In all four fights, Manny was the faster man which has helped his power in spades. It could really be that simple.
I don’t think Manny has done anything wrong here. Why? There is no evidence that says otherwise.
Yes we need better testing. But you what? We’re going to be watching a lot of fights in the coming weeks; fights that have been set for awhile. And I’m not hearing anyone say we should wait on those until we get the fighters tested. Under the current system, everyone could be juiced and yet I’m not getting Yuri Foreman is juiced emails. Or Roman Karmazin or Tim Bradley who has the craziest abs we’ve seen in years. Why is that? We haven’t even seen anyone question Mayweather who looked bigger than ever following a long layoff where he could have easily cycled multiple times.
No. I think everyone is drinking the Mayweather Fool-Aid, for whatever reason, and it’s unfair to Manny who just a month or so ago was being hailed as an all time great.
Let’s keep the issues separate.
We need better testing.
Manny is innocent until proven otherwise.
End of story.
Follow Gabriel on twitter at twitter.com/Gabriel_montoya or email questions to him at maxgmontoya@gmail.com
Source: secondsout.com
No comments:
Post a Comment