***
Friday, 12 February 2010
No drug turns a chin to granite -- The Sun
By COLIN HART, The Sun
MENTION drug-taking in sport and most people's eyes glaze over.
The subject is about as sexy as a nun's habit. But, thanks to Manny Pacquiao, boxing has had the finger of suspicion levelled against it.
Allegations have been flying that boxing has a major drug problem that it is sweeping under the canvas. This has come about because Pacquiao refused Floyd Mayweather Jnr's demand that he must undergo Olympic-style testing before any showdown between them.
The damaging inference from the Mayweather camp could not be made any clearer.
They claim Pacquiao's success in winning world titles from flyweight to welterweight has been possible only because he has been taking performance-enhancing substances - and that is the main reason he's been able to remain so strong as he travelled up through the weights from eight to 10½st.
Pacquiao, understandably, is incensed by such a derogatory accusation aimed at ruining his reputation.
He should have been fighting Mayweather in the ring next month. Instead, the pair will be battling it out in court.
The Filipino is suing Mayweather for defamation and he said this week: "I feel hurt and disappointed because I don't even know what a steroid is."
Victor Conte does. He is the Californian who went to jail a few years ago for supplying sprinter Marion Jones and many other sport stars with steroids.
Conte has attacked boxing authorities for being less than vigilant in pursuit of drug cheats. The World Anti-Doping Agency agree.
He said: "I don't believe professional boxing wants to know how rampant the use of drugs really is.
"It's time for positive change. There should be random blood and urine tests leading up to fights. Taking samples just before and after fights is not effective."
Conte's remarks were aimed at the US where Roy Jones Jnr, Shane Mosley and James Toney are the only high-profile fighters who have tested positive for steroid use.
For legal reasons I can't name names but in my time covering major fights in the States there were a number of household names under suspicion.
Even Muhammad Ali was found guilty of taking diuretics to lose excess weight before he fought Larry Holmes.
The British Boxing Board of Control carry out approximately 70 random tests a year.
In the past seven years only seven of our boxers have been found to have taken illegal drugs - none of them champions.
Board secretary Robert Smith told me: "We are certainly not complacent but I honestly don't think we have anything to worry about in this country."
James DeGale, who fights Matthew Barr at Wembley tomorrow, is surprised he hasn't been tested since he started life as pro a year ago.
He said: "In Olympic year I had three random tests before I even got to Beijing."
The chemists who supply the drugs and masking agents are clever scientists.
But I defy them to produce a pill that will put steel in a fighter's heart or granite in his chin.
Source: thesun.co.uk
***
MENTION drug-taking in sport and most people's eyes glaze over.
The subject is about as sexy as a nun's habit. But, thanks to Manny Pacquiao, boxing has had the finger of suspicion levelled against it.
Allegations have been flying that boxing has a major drug problem that it is sweeping under the canvas. This has come about because Pacquiao refused Floyd Mayweather Jnr's demand that he must undergo Olympic-style testing before any showdown between them.
The damaging inference from the Mayweather camp could not be made any clearer.
They claim Pacquiao's success in winning world titles from flyweight to welterweight has been possible only because he has been taking performance-enhancing substances - and that is the main reason he's been able to remain so strong as he travelled up through the weights from eight to 10½st.
Pacquiao, understandably, is incensed by such a derogatory accusation aimed at ruining his reputation.
He should have been fighting Mayweather in the ring next month. Instead, the pair will be battling it out in court.
The Filipino is suing Mayweather for defamation and he said this week: "I feel hurt and disappointed because I don't even know what a steroid is."
Victor Conte does. He is the Californian who went to jail a few years ago for supplying sprinter Marion Jones and many other sport stars with steroids.
Conte has attacked boxing authorities for being less than vigilant in pursuit of drug cheats. The World Anti-Doping Agency agree.
He said: "I don't believe professional boxing wants to know how rampant the use of drugs really is.
"It's time for positive change. There should be random blood and urine tests leading up to fights. Taking samples just before and after fights is not effective."
Conte's remarks were aimed at the US where Roy Jones Jnr, Shane Mosley and James Toney are the only high-profile fighters who have tested positive for steroid use.
For legal reasons I can't name names but in my time covering major fights in the States there were a number of household names under suspicion.
Even Muhammad Ali was found guilty of taking diuretics to lose excess weight before he fought Larry Holmes.
The British Boxing Board of Control carry out approximately 70 random tests a year.
In the past seven years only seven of our boxers have been found to have taken illegal drugs - none of them champions.
Board secretary Robert Smith told me: "We are certainly not complacent but I honestly don't think we have anything to worry about in this country."
James DeGale, who fights Matthew Barr at Wembley tomorrow, is surprised he hasn't been tested since he started life as pro a year ago.
He said: "In Olympic year I had three random tests before I even got to Beijing."
The chemists who supply the drugs and masking agents are clever scientists.
But I defy them to produce a pill that will put steel in a fighter's heart or granite in his chin.
Source: thesun.co.uk
***
Move over Floyd Mayweather Jr, Manny Pacquiao is now ‘Dancing with the Stars’ -- Examiner
Another day, another Hollywood Star is stopping by to meet Manny Pacquiao. It’s almost like Manny has become the latest Hollywood trend. Some of America’s top motion picture celebrities have stopped by the Wild Card gym to witness the world’s “pound for pound” best boxer display his phenomenal skills. Move over Floyd Mayweather Jr, Manny Pacquiao is now the one who’s “Dancing with the Stars”.
Steven Seagal
Last week, action film star Steven Seagal stopped by to visit Manny. They had dinner and discussed life, culture, and fighting. In addition to these discussions, Seagal also proposed a possible movie with Manny. It was such a great experience for the two that Pacquiao invited Seagal to the fight on March 13th.
"We had a great time together. The time just flew by. We discussed the possibility of working together in movies and making joint concert appearances," he added. We also discovered that we share a bond in Asian philosophy and philanthropy.”… Manny Pacquiao, ABS-CBN News
Danny Trejo
Danny Trejo stopped by the Wild Card gym yesterday to meet and greet the PacMan. Trejo is best known for his roles as a tough guy or criminal. He’s recognized by the tattoos all over his body. He’s starred in such films “Desperado”, “From Dusk til Dawn”, “Heat”, and Con Air”. Trejo presented Manny with a picture of himself from his famous role in ‘Desperado”.
Jean Claude Van Damme
Also stopping by the Wild Card Gym was Jean Claude Van Damme. Van Damme is an international film star, who like Seagal, has a long history of practicing martial arts. Van Damme is best known for his roles in the films “BloodSport”, “Universal Soldier”, and “Time Cop”. Van Damme has been recently rumored to want to get into MMA. Their encounter went so well, that Manny has also invited Jean to join him at the fight on March 13th.
Eddie Javier Sacramento, CA “Has Manny become the new Hollywood attraction?”
Eddie, I believe his boxing success and personal maturity have attracted a lot of people including other celebrities. His training is truly starting to attract the “who’s who” of Hollywood action films. It really adds to the popularity of the PacMan.
Jamie Lorenz Sacramento, CA “Has Manny replace Floyd as the top boxing star in America?”
Jamie, I think that if he hasn’t already, Pacquiao will surpass Floyd shortly. Especially after the “60 Minutes” and “Good Morning America” pieces that are coming up shortly. I think it’s really cool how someone as laidback and humbled as Pacquiao is moving up the ranks in Hollywood and he hasn’t even made a Hollywood movie or TV show yet.
Source: examiner.com
***
Watch the funniest interview of 'WaPacMan':
Honoring the greatest upsets of all time -- ESPN
By Kieran Mulvaney, Special to ESPN.com
In Las Vegas, it's almost always the same.
Once the final bell is rung and Michael Buffer has announced the winner, the arena empties, its temporary residents spilling through the doors and onto the casino floor until, seemingly within minutes, the only ones left are the journalists on deadline and the workers breaking down the ring.
I can count on one hand the times the majority of the assembled fandom lingered long after the echoes of the final bell had dissipated.
• Ricky Hatton's traveling army of supporters continuing to sing and drink long after their man had been rendered senseless by, consecutively, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (in 2007) and Manny Pacquiao (in 2009).
• Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto fans enthusiastically and good-naturedly applauding the postfight interviews of both boxers after their bout last year.
• The night in May 2004 when Antonio Tarver knocked out Roy Jones Jr.
It had been little more than a year since Jones seemed to have secured his place in the pantheon of boxing's greatest with a dominating performance against John Ruiz to claim a portion of the heavyweight crown. In November 2003, he returned to light heavyweight and struggled against Tarver, digging deep to earn a decision in a subpar performance that many, including he, ascribed to the strain of losing the muscle he had gained to bulk up and fight Ruiz.
It was plausible. After all, Jones had barely been touched in the ring before. In the rematch with Tarver, surely he would return to glory. And in the first round, he was dominant, seemingly cruising to victory.
Then, in the second, a huge left hand from Tarver sent Jones crashing to the canvas in the corner. He rolled over onto his hands and knees, toppled onto his face and struggled to his feet, only for referee Jay Nady to wave off the fight.
The immediate roar was followed by a stunned silence. Journalists and spectators alike just stood, shocked, staring at the ring as if the hologram would disappear and reality would return. Thousands of cell phones lit up as the news spread around the globe. Long after the official announcements had been made, there was little movement, the implausibility of what had unfolded taking its time to seep into the collective consciousness.
It is one of the great beauties of boxing: There is nothing quite so dramatic and exciting as the major upset, when a great fighter either grows old overnight or doesn't take his opponent seriously, or said opponent catches lightning in a bottle and delivers the fight of his life. The upset can unfold steadily, as when Evander Holyfield beat up Mike Tyson in 1996, or with shocking suddenness, as when Tarver knocked out Jones. Either way, the drama is of the seemingly unthinkable unfolding before your eyes and the realization that in years to come you can say, "I was there."
In honor of the 20th anniversary of the greatest shocker of them all, when an unheralded heavyweight from Columbus, Ohio, defeated the universally recognized Baddest Man on the Planet, ESPN.com presents 20 of the greatest upsets in boxing history.
James J. Corbett KO21 John L. Sullivan
Sept. 7, 1892, Olympic Club, New Orleans
Sullivan was the last of the bare-knuckle champions and the first heavyweight champion under the Marquess of Queensbury rules for boxing. He was the sport’s first superstar, he outweighed his challenger by 25 pounds and he advanced out of his corner looking to dispatch Corbett with one big right hand. Corbett retreated, dodging Sullivan's blows and not landing a punch until the third. Slowly but surely, his footwork and lateral movement befuddled the defending champion, and his jabs and right hands took their toll until, in the 21st round, a succession of blows pitched Sullivan onto his face. The heavyweight championship had changed hands for the first time.
Jess Willard KO26 Jack Johnson
April 5, 1915, Vedado Racetrack, Havana, Cuba
A succession of "white hopes" had been lined up to try to defeat Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion, who had held his title since 1908. All of them had failed, and Willard hardly seemed the most likely candidate to reverse that trend. At 34 years old, he had been a professional for less than five years, and his skills were crude. But he was huge -- 6-foot-6½, 230 pounds, with an 83-inch reach -- and he had undergone extensive endurance training. Johnson, by contrast, had been living in exile in France for two years and had spent more of that time partying than fighting. The defending champion started strongly, however, and after 15 rounds was well ahead. But slowly, he began to wilt under the Havana sun and Willard's heavy blows. In the 26th round, a right hand dropped Johnson to the canvas, and he was counted out on his back. Johnson later claimed he threw the fight.
Gene Tunney W10 Jack Dempsey
Sept. 23, 1926, Sesquicentennial Stadium, Philadelphia
Dempsey had delivered Willard a frightful beating to win the heavyweight crown in 1919, and with his all-action style, complete with signature left hook, he had become a hugely popular champion. After a thrilling brawl with Argentine challenger Luis Firpo in 1923 -- during which Dempsey knocked Firpo 10 down times en route to a second-round KO but was floored twice himself and even knocked through the ropes -- the "Manassa Mauler" eschewed defending his title in favor of making movies and boxing in exhibitions. Eventually, he returned to the ring to defend against underdog Tunney, but he had lost his former sharpness and ferocity, and a shocked crowd in excess of 120,000 watched as Tunney easily boxed his way to victory.
James J. Braddock W15 Max Baer
June 13, 1935, Madison Square Garden Bowl, Long Island City, New York
Braddock had challenged for the light heavyweight title in 1929, but after breaking his right hand in a losing effort against Tommy Loughran, his career hit the skids. He lost more than he won, and with his family in poverty during the Great Depression, he supplemented his boxing purses with work as a longshoreman. Despite scoring a trio of upset victories to earn a title shot, he was considered no match for Baer. But the 10-1 underdog comprehensively outboxed the champion to lift the title and earn himself the sobriquet "Cinderella Man."
Max Schmeling KO12 Joe Louis
June 19, 1936, Yankee Stadium, New York City
Louis was 27-0, the No. 1 contender for the heavyweight title and a star in the making. Schmeling, a former champion, was considered past his prime and no threat to derail the American's inevitable march to the top. But Schmeling had studied Louis intently and had noticed that Louis dropped his left hand after delivering a jab. Each time Louis threw that punch, Schmeling responded with a straight right. He dropped Louis for the first time in his career in the fourth, battering him for eight more rounds and dropping him for the count in the 12th. In the rematch, Louis knocked out Schmeling within a round.
Fritzie Zivic W15 Henry Armstrong
Oct. 4, 1940, Madison Square Garden, New York City
During the preceding four years, Armstrong had fought 65 times, going 62-2-1, winning the featherweight, lightweight and welterweight crowns, and becoming the first and only man in boxing history to hold titles in three weight divisions simultaneously. He had made 18 defenses of the welterweight crown when he ran into Zivic, a rugged fighter whose tactics sometimes showed only a nodding acquaintance with the rules. In a tough and frequently dirty affair, Zivic dropped Armstrong as the bell rang to end the fight, winning a unanimous decision. Armstrong never held a world title again.
Randy Turpin W15 Sugar Ray Robinson
July 10, 1951, Earls Court Arena, London
Robinson, the former welterweight and reigning middleweight champion, entered the contest against the unheralded Turpin with a career record of 128-1-2 and a 90-fight unbeaten streak. But Turpin, the British and European champion, took the fight to the man already widely regarded as the pound-for-pound greatest fighter of all time, rocking him in the eighth and 14th rounds and claiming a comfortable win. Two months later, Robinson stopped Turpin in the 10th to regain the middleweight crown.
Jersey Joe Walcott KO7 Ezzard Charles
July 18, 1951, Forbes Field, Pittsburgh
When heavyweight champion Charles announced he had signed to defend against Walcott, the media soon dubbed it the "Why?" fight. After all, Walcott had fought unsuccessfully for the title four times, losing twice to Joe Louis and twice to Charles -- the second time just four months previously. This time, however, Walcott came at Charles with aggressive intent, rocking him with left hooks and landing a concluding hook in the seventh that dropped Charles on his face. Walcott would win their fourth encounter as well before losing the title to Rocky Marciano.
Cassius Clay TKO6 Sonny Liston
Feb. 25, 1964, Convention Hall, Miami Beach, Fla.
Clay was undefeated but had been knocked down -- and nearly out -- by England's Henry Cooper in his previous bout, and was a 10-1 underdog against the seemingly invincible Liston. His loud taunting and high pulse rate before the bout convinced many that he was terrified of the champion, and at the end of the fourth round, blinded by an unknown substance, Clay begged trainer Angelo Dundee to let him quit. Instead, Clay circled the onrushing Liston until his vision had cleared, then peppered him with jabs and straight rights until the reigning champion stayed on his stool after the sixth, claiming an injured shoulder.
Muhammad Ali KO8 George Foreman
Oct. 30, 1974, Stade du 20 Mai, Kinshasa, Zaire
Ali (who changed his name from Cassius Clay after the Liston fight) had not worn the heavyweight crown since 1967, when he had been stripped for refusing induction into the armed services. His one tilt at the title since then had ended in defeat, to Joe Frazier, and just 18 months before meeting Foreman, he had lost on points to Ken Norton. Foreman, meanwhile, had demolished Frazier, knocking him down six times in two rounds to become champion. But a combination of stinging straight rights and his famous "rope-a-dope" routine gave Ali a shocking victory and his second reign as heavyweight champion.
Leon Spinks W15 Muhammad Ali
Feb. 15, 1978, Las Vegas Hilton, Las Vegas
Since "The Thrilla in Manila" fight between Ali and Frazier 28 months earlier, Ali's title reign had descended into an underwhelming series of defenses against hopelessly overmatched challengers. His greatest days had long since passed, but he was still expected to have more than enough for Spinks, who had had a total of seven professional contests, one of them a draw against Scott LeDoux. But Spinks outhustled an overconfident and underprepared Ali in the only time he would win a world title bout. Ali won the rematch, and Spinks lost by knockout in his two subsequent title shots.
Kirkland Laing W10 Roberto Duran
Sept. 4, 1982, Cobo Hall, Detroit
British welterweight Laing's nickname was "The Gifted One," but for all his natural talents, he could sometimes appear disinterested in the ring. Just two fights removed from defeat by 9-7-1 Reggie Ford, he seemed ripe for the taking by "Hands of Stone." But in the upset of the year, Laing outworked Duran for a points win. Laing returned to his mercurial form in his next bout, a KO defeat to unheralded Fred Hutchings.
Michael Spinks W15 Larry Holmes
Sept. 21, 1985, Riviera Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas
No light heavyweight had beaten a reigning heavyweight champion, let alone a heavyweight champion with a record of 48-0 and more title defenses than anyone not named Joe Louis. In his previous fight, Spinks had weighed a mere 170 pounds in successfully defending his light heavyweight crown; how could he possibly contend with a legitimate heavyweight? But Spinks bulked up to 200 pounds and attacked Holmes with combinations that did little damage but scored points; Holmes reeled him in as the fight went on, peppering the challenger with jabs, but not enough to win the fight on the official cards.
Lloyd Honeyghan TKO6 Donald Curry
Sept. 27, 1986, Caesars, Atlantic City
Curry had annihilated Milton McCrory to become the undisputed welterweight champion and was considered one of the best in the world, pound-for-pound. But he was no match for the relatively crude but relentless Honeyghan, who wobbled him in the second and tore into him in the fifth and sixth until the champion -- his nose broken, his lip split and his eyelid cut open -- elected not to answer the bell for the seventh.
Sugar Ray Leonard W12 "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler
April 6, 1987, Caesars Palace, Las Vegas
Since February 1982, Leonard had retired, come out of a retirement for a comeback fight in which he had been dropped for the first time in his career, re-retired; undergone corrective surgery on his eye and battled cocaine use. Hagler was unbeaten since 1976 and had been middleweight champion since 1980. The outcome seemed inevitable. Yet, incredibly, Leonard deployed rapid-fire combinations to keep Hagler off balance, steal rounds and score a split-decision victory that fans have debated ever since. A disappointed Hagler never fought again.
James "Buster" Douglas KO10 Mike Tyson
Feb. 11, 1990, Tokyo Dome, Tokyo
The mother of all upsets. Only one Las Vegas sports book would even offer odds on the fight, and those odds were 42-1 against Douglas, a talented but underachieving fighter whose previous crack at a heavyweight belt had ended in stoppage defeat to Tony Tucker. But on this night, motivated by the recent death of his mother, he was inspired, using his extra reach to pound Tyson every time the shorter champion shuffled his feet to square up and throw a punch. When Tyson dropped him in the eighth round, Douglas just came back even stronger, blasting him to the canvas in the 10th. The image of the intimidating Tyson groping on the canvas for his mouthpiece and placing it haphazardly between his teeth as he struggled to his feet has become iconic.
George Foreman KO10 Michael Moorer
Nov. 5, 1994, MGM Grand, Las Vegas
Twenty-one years after first winning the heavyweight title, Foreman did it again. But he did it the hard way: Moorer punished him for nine rounds until Foreman, his face swollen and bruised, landed a perfect short right hand to become, at 46 years old, the oldest heavyweight champion in history.
Evander Holyfield TKO11 Mike Tyson
Nov. 9, 1996, MGM Grand, Las Vegas
Tyson had begun his second reign as champion after being released from prison and appeared to be as ferocious as he was in his first incarnation. The loss to Douglas had been written off as a fluke, and more than a few observers expressed concern for the supposedly washed-up Holyfield's health. But Holyfield refused to be intimidated and took the fight to Tyson from the beginning, dropped him with a punch to the chest in the sixth round and dominated him down the stretch until referee Mitch Halpern waved off the fight.
Antonio Tarver KO2 Roy Jones Jr.
May 15, 2004, Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas
Jones had barely lost even a round during reigns as middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight champion. Fourteen months earlier, he had been peerless in dominating WBA heavyweight belt holder John Ruiz. He looked human for the first time when dropping back to 175 pounds to face Tarver the previous November, but he pulled out a majority decision. He had easily won the first round of the rematch until a Tarver left hand sent him crashing to the canvas and out. Jones was knocked out by Glen Johnson in his next bout and hasn't been the same fighter since.
Manny Pacquiao TKO8 Oscar De La Hoya
December 6, 2008, MGM Grand, Las Vegas
In hindsight, it doesn't seem such a shock, but at the time, many were calling it a mismatch. De La Hoya had fought much of the previous several years at junior middleweight, with a brief sojourn as high as 160 pounds, while Pacquiao had only once fought above 130. But the welterweight catchweight and the toll of a long career at the top had drained "The Golden Boy," who had no response as the Filipino buzz saw battered him for eight one-sided rounds until De La Hoya called it quits on the fight -- and his career.
Honorable mentions:
Ingemar Johansson-Floyd Patterson, George Foreman-Joe Frazier, John H. Stracey-Jose Napoles, Frankie Randall-Julio Cesar Chavez, Vince Phillips-Kostya Tszyu, Bernard Hopkins-Felix Trinidad, Hasim Rahman-Lennox Lewis, Kevin McBride-Mike Tyson, Nigel Benn-Gerald McClellan and Lamon Brewster-Wladimir Klitschko.
Kieran Mulvaney covers boxing for ESPN.com and Reuters.
Source: sports.espn.go.com
***
In Las Vegas, it's almost always the same.
Once the final bell is rung and Michael Buffer has announced the winner, the arena empties, its temporary residents spilling through the doors and onto the casino floor until, seemingly within minutes, the only ones left are the journalists on deadline and the workers breaking down the ring.
I can count on one hand the times the majority of the assembled fandom lingered long after the echoes of the final bell had dissipated.
• Ricky Hatton's traveling army of supporters continuing to sing and drink long after their man had been rendered senseless by, consecutively, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (in 2007) and Manny Pacquiao (in 2009).
• Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto fans enthusiastically and good-naturedly applauding the postfight interviews of both boxers after their bout last year.
• The night in May 2004 when Antonio Tarver knocked out Roy Jones Jr.
It had been little more than a year since Jones seemed to have secured his place in the pantheon of boxing's greatest with a dominating performance against John Ruiz to claim a portion of the heavyweight crown. In November 2003, he returned to light heavyweight and struggled against Tarver, digging deep to earn a decision in a subpar performance that many, including he, ascribed to the strain of losing the muscle he had gained to bulk up and fight Ruiz.
It was plausible. After all, Jones had barely been touched in the ring before. In the rematch with Tarver, surely he would return to glory. And in the first round, he was dominant, seemingly cruising to victory.
Then, in the second, a huge left hand from Tarver sent Jones crashing to the canvas in the corner. He rolled over onto his hands and knees, toppled onto his face and struggled to his feet, only for referee Jay Nady to wave off the fight.
The immediate roar was followed by a stunned silence. Journalists and spectators alike just stood, shocked, staring at the ring as if the hologram would disappear and reality would return. Thousands of cell phones lit up as the news spread around the globe. Long after the official announcements had been made, there was little movement, the implausibility of what had unfolded taking its time to seep into the collective consciousness.
It is one of the great beauties of boxing: There is nothing quite so dramatic and exciting as the major upset, when a great fighter either grows old overnight or doesn't take his opponent seriously, or said opponent catches lightning in a bottle and delivers the fight of his life. The upset can unfold steadily, as when Evander Holyfield beat up Mike Tyson in 1996, or with shocking suddenness, as when Tarver knocked out Jones. Either way, the drama is of the seemingly unthinkable unfolding before your eyes and the realization that in years to come you can say, "I was there."
In honor of the 20th anniversary of the greatest shocker of them all, when an unheralded heavyweight from Columbus, Ohio, defeated the universally recognized Baddest Man on the Planet, ESPN.com presents 20 of the greatest upsets in boxing history.
James J. Corbett KO21 John L. Sullivan
Sept. 7, 1892, Olympic Club, New Orleans
Sullivan was the last of the bare-knuckle champions and the first heavyweight champion under the Marquess of Queensbury rules for boxing. He was the sport’s first superstar, he outweighed his challenger by 25 pounds and he advanced out of his corner looking to dispatch Corbett with one big right hand. Corbett retreated, dodging Sullivan's blows and not landing a punch until the third. Slowly but surely, his footwork and lateral movement befuddled the defending champion, and his jabs and right hands took their toll until, in the 21st round, a succession of blows pitched Sullivan onto his face. The heavyweight championship had changed hands for the first time.
Jess Willard KO26 Jack Johnson
April 5, 1915, Vedado Racetrack, Havana, Cuba
A succession of "white hopes" had been lined up to try to defeat Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion, who had held his title since 1908. All of them had failed, and Willard hardly seemed the most likely candidate to reverse that trend. At 34 years old, he had been a professional for less than five years, and his skills were crude. But he was huge -- 6-foot-6½, 230 pounds, with an 83-inch reach -- and he had undergone extensive endurance training. Johnson, by contrast, had been living in exile in France for two years and had spent more of that time partying than fighting. The defending champion started strongly, however, and after 15 rounds was well ahead. But slowly, he began to wilt under the Havana sun and Willard's heavy blows. In the 26th round, a right hand dropped Johnson to the canvas, and he was counted out on his back. Johnson later claimed he threw the fight.
Gene Tunney W10 Jack Dempsey
Sept. 23, 1926, Sesquicentennial Stadium, Philadelphia
Dempsey had delivered Willard a frightful beating to win the heavyweight crown in 1919, and with his all-action style, complete with signature left hook, he had become a hugely popular champion. After a thrilling brawl with Argentine challenger Luis Firpo in 1923 -- during which Dempsey knocked Firpo 10 down times en route to a second-round KO but was floored twice himself and even knocked through the ropes -- the "Manassa Mauler" eschewed defending his title in favor of making movies and boxing in exhibitions. Eventually, he returned to the ring to defend against underdog Tunney, but he had lost his former sharpness and ferocity, and a shocked crowd in excess of 120,000 watched as Tunney easily boxed his way to victory.
James J. Braddock W15 Max Baer
June 13, 1935, Madison Square Garden Bowl, Long Island City, New York
Braddock had challenged for the light heavyweight title in 1929, but after breaking his right hand in a losing effort against Tommy Loughran, his career hit the skids. He lost more than he won, and with his family in poverty during the Great Depression, he supplemented his boxing purses with work as a longshoreman. Despite scoring a trio of upset victories to earn a title shot, he was considered no match for Baer. But the 10-1 underdog comprehensively outboxed the champion to lift the title and earn himself the sobriquet "Cinderella Man."
Max Schmeling KO12 Joe Louis
June 19, 1936, Yankee Stadium, New York City
Louis was 27-0, the No. 1 contender for the heavyweight title and a star in the making. Schmeling, a former champion, was considered past his prime and no threat to derail the American's inevitable march to the top. But Schmeling had studied Louis intently and had noticed that Louis dropped his left hand after delivering a jab. Each time Louis threw that punch, Schmeling responded with a straight right. He dropped Louis for the first time in his career in the fourth, battering him for eight more rounds and dropping him for the count in the 12th. In the rematch, Louis knocked out Schmeling within a round.
Fritzie Zivic W15 Henry Armstrong
Oct. 4, 1940, Madison Square Garden, New York City
During the preceding four years, Armstrong had fought 65 times, going 62-2-1, winning the featherweight, lightweight and welterweight crowns, and becoming the first and only man in boxing history to hold titles in three weight divisions simultaneously. He had made 18 defenses of the welterweight crown when he ran into Zivic, a rugged fighter whose tactics sometimes showed only a nodding acquaintance with the rules. In a tough and frequently dirty affair, Zivic dropped Armstrong as the bell rang to end the fight, winning a unanimous decision. Armstrong never held a world title again.
Randy Turpin W15 Sugar Ray Robinson
July 10, 1951, Earls Court Arena, London
Robinson, the former welterweight and reigning middleweight champion, entered the contest against the unheralded Turpin with a career record of 128-1-2 and a 90-fight unbeaten streak. But Turpin, the British and European champion, took the fight to the man already widely regarded as the pound-for-pound greatest fighter of all time, rocking him in the eighth and 14th rounds and claiming a comfortable win. Two months later, Robinson stopped Turpin in the 10th to regain the middleweight crown.
Jersey Joe Walcott KO7 Ezzard Charles
July 18, 1951, Forbes Field, Pittsburgh
When heavyweight champion Charles announced he had signed to defend against Walcott, the media soon dubbed it the "Why?" fight. After all, Walcott had fought unsuccessfully for the title four times, losing twice to Joe Louis and twice to Charles -- the second time just four months previously. This time, however, Walcott came at Charles with aggressive intent, rocking him with left hooks and landing a concluding hook in the seventh that dropped Charles on his face. Walcott would win their fourth encounter as well before losing the title to Rocky Marciano.
Cassius Clay TKO6 Sonny Liston
Feb. 25, 1964, Convention Hall, Miami Beach, Fla.
Clay was undefeated but had been knocked down -- and nearly out -- by England's Henry Cooper in his previous bout, and was a 10-1 underdog against the seemingly invincible Liston. His loud taunting and high pulse rate before the bout convinced many that he was terrified of the champion, and at the end of the fourth round, blinded by an unknown substance, Clay begged trainer Angelo Dundee to let him quit. Instead, Clay circled the onrushing Liston until his vision had cleared, then peppered him with jabs and straight rights until the reigning champion stayed on his stool after the sixth, claiming an injured shoulder.
Muhammad Ali KO8 George Foreman
Oct. 30, 1974, Stade du 20 Mai, Kinshasa, Zaire
Ali (who changed his name from Cassius Clay after the Liston fight) had not worn the heavyweight crown since 1967, when he had been stripped for refusing induction into the armed services. His one tilt at the title since then had ended in defeat, to Joe Frazier, and just 18 months before meeting Foreman, he had lost on points to Ken Norton. Foreman, meanwhile, had demolished Frazier, knocking him down six times in two rounds to become champion. But a combination of stinging straight rights and his famous "rope-a-dope" routine gave Ali a shocking victory and his second reign as heavyweight champion.
Leon Spinks W15 Muhammad Ali
Feb. 15, 1978, Las Vegas Hilton, Las Vegas
Since "The Thrilla in Manila" fight between Ali and Frazier 28 months earlier, Ali's title reign had descended into an underwhelming series of defenses against hopelessly overmatched challengers. His greatest days had long since passed, but he was still expected to have more than enough for Spinks, who had had a total of seven professional contests, one of them a draw against Scott LeDoux. But Spinks outhustled an overconfident and underprepared Ali in the only time he would win a world title bout. Ali won the rematch, and Spinks lost by knockout in his two subsequent title shots.
Kirkland Laing W10 Roberto Duran
Sept. 4, 1982, Cobo Hall, Detroit
British welterweight Laing's nickname was "The Gifted One," but for all his natural talents, he could sometimes appear disinterested in the ring. Just two fights removed from defeat by 9-7-1 Reggie Ford, he seemed ripe for the taking by "Hands of Stone." But in the upset of the year, Laing outworked Duran for a points win. Laing returned to his mercurial form in his next bout, a KO defeat to unheralded Fred Hutchings.
Michael Spinks W15 Larry Holmes
Sept. 21, 1985, Riviera Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas
No light heavyweight had beaten a reigning heavyweight champion, let alone a heavyweight champion with a record of 48-0 and more title defenses than anyone not named Joe Louis. In his previous fight, Spinks had weighed a mere 170 pounds in successfully defending his light heavyweight crown; how could he possibly contend with a legitimate heavyweight? But Spinks bulked up to 200 pounds and attacked Holmes with combinations that did little damage but scored points; Holmes reeled him in as the fight went on, peppering the challenger with jabs, but not enough to win the fight on the official cards.
Lloyd Honeyghan TKO6 Donald Curry
Sept. 27, 1986, Caesars, Atlantic City
Curry had annihilated Milton McCrory to become the undisputed welterweight champion and was considered one of the best in the world, pound-for-pound. But he was no match for the relatively crude but relentless Honeyghan, who wobbled him in the second and tore into him in the fifth and sixth until the champion -- his nose broken, his lip split and his eyelid cut open -- elected not to answer the bell for the seventh.
Sugar Ray Leonard W12 "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler
April 6, 1987, Caesars Palace, Las Vegas
Since February 1982, Leonard had retired, come out of a retirement for a comeback fight in which he had been dropped for the first time in his career, re-retired; undergone corrective surgery on his eye and battled cocaine use. Hagler was unbeaten since 1976 and had been middleweight champion since 1980. The outcome seemed inevitable. Yet, incredibly, Leonard deployed rapid-fire combinations to keep Hagler off balance, steal rounds and score a split-decision victory that fans have debated ever since. A disappointed Hagler never fought again.
James "Buster" Douglas KO10 Mike Tyson
Feb. 11, 1990, Tokyo Dome, Tokyo
The mother of all upsets. Only one Las Vegas sports book would even offer odds on the fight, and those odds were 42-1 against Douglas, a talented but underachieving fighter whose previous crack at a heavyweight belt had ended in stoppage defeat to Tony Tucker. But on this night, motivated by the recent death of his mother, he was inspired, using his extra reach to pound Tyson every time the shorter champion shuffled his feet to square up and throw a punch. When Tyson dropped him in the eighth round, Douglas just came back even stronger, blasting him to the canvas in the 10th. The image of the intimidating Tyson groping on the canvas for his mouthpiece and placing it haphazardly between his teeth as he struggled to his feet has become iconic.
George Foreman KO10 Michael Moorer
Nov. 5, 1994, MGM Grand, Las Vegas
Twenty-one years after first winning the heavyweight title, Foreman did it again. But he did it the hard way: Moorer punished him for nine rounds until Foreman, his face swollen and bruised, landed a perfect short right hand to become, at 46 years old, the oldest heavyweight champion in history.
Evander Holyfield TKO11 Mike Tyson
Nov. 9, 1996, MGM Grand, Las Vegas
Tyson had begun his second reign as champion after being released from prison and appeared to be as ferocious as he was in his first incarnation. The loss to Douglas had been written off as a fluke, and more than a few observers expressed concern for the supposedly washed-up Holyfield's health. But Holyfield refused to be intimidated and took the fight to Tyson from the beginning, dropped him with a punch to the chest in the sixth round and dominated him down the stretch until referee Mitch Halpern waved off the fight.
Antonio Tarver KO2 Roy Jones Jr.
May 15, 2004, Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas
Jones had barely lost even a round during reigns as middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight champion. Fourteen months earlier, he had been peerless in dominating WBA heavyweight belt holder John Ruiz. He looked human for the first time when dropping back to 175 pounds to face Tarver the previous November, but he pulled out a majority decision. He had easily won the first round of the rematch until a Tarver left hand sent him crashing to the canvas and out. Jones was knocked out by Glen Johnson in his next bout and hasn't been the same fighter since.
Manny Pacquiao TKO8 Oscar De La Hoya
December 6, 2008, MGM Grand, Las Vegas
In hindsight, it doesn't seem such a shock, but at the time, many were calling it a mismatch. De La Hoya had fought much of the previous several years at junior middleweight, with a brief sojourn as high as 160 pounds, while Pacquiao had only once fought above 130. But the welterweight catchweight and the toll of a long career at the top had drained "The Golden Boy," who had no response as the Filipino buzz saw battered him for eight one-sided rounds until De La Hoya called it quits on the fight -- and his career.
Honorable mentions:
Ingemar Johansson-Floyd Patterson, George Foreman-Joe Frazier, John H. Stracey-Jose Napoles, Frankie Randall-Julio Cesar Chavez, Vince Phillips-Kostya Tszyu, Bernard Hopkins-Felix Trinidad, Hasim Rahman-Lennox Lewis, Kevin McBride-Mike Tyson, Nigel Benn-Gerald McClellan and Lamon Brewster-Wladimir Klitschko.
Kieran Mulvaney covers boxing for ESPN.com and Reuters.
Source: sports.espn.go.com
***
Pound For Pound: James Toney & the UFC -- Crave Online
By Chad Dundas, Crave Online
Give James Toney points for persistence.
People thought the 41-year-old heavyweight boxing champion was crazy when he first started pestering UFC President Dana White about a possible fight in the Octagon. Now … well, they still think the guy is certifiably nuts, but he's certainly not giving up on his vision quest to score a big-money fight with the world's largest MMA promoter.
Toney initially showed up at the post-fight press conference for UFC 108, interrupting White's interview with AOL's Ariel Helwani to demand that he wanted a shot in the UFC. White appeared bemused, but cautiously interested in Toney for his name recognition and his reputation as a bonafide tough guy. The question was: Did Toney have any of the necessary skills to compete in MMA?
The two met to discuss the particulars – and a portion of the meeting was videotaped by a boxing web site. In a now fairly infamous exchange, White asked Toney if he had any wrestling skills and if knew how to "check kicks" to the leg.
"Yeah," Toney responded. "Front kick, back kick, side check kick, all that."
White appealed to one of Toney's handlers.
"He's been practicing," the man assured White.
In the wake of this conversation, Toney publicly said the UFC had offered him a contract that he considered "a joke." The UFC denied it had made any formal offer to Toney. Everybody had a good laugh and learned some valuable lessons. Case closed. Right?
Wrong.
Toney didn't just fade away. In fact, he took a page out of White's own promotional playbook and began producing a series of video blogs which, once posted on YouTube, were quickly disseminated throughout the rabid MMA online universe. In the videos, Toney is seen flanked by a varying assortment of yes-men and handlers while he calls out everyone from current UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar to Kimbo "Simba Spice" Slice.
But even still, after Toney's embarrassing response to White's questions about his MMA skills during their initial meeting, there's no possible way the UFC brass would let the guy fight … right? … right?
Astonishingly, Toney's inclusion in the UFC does not yet appear to be a dead issue, even from White's point of view.
"James Toney and I have talked and I've talked to his people, we've batted things back and forth," White said as recently as UFC 109. "I'm kind of interested, yeah … he's a tough durable guy. I've always said it a million times, I don't want to be the freak show guy, but James Toney is a real fighter. This guy is heavyweight champion. I know, we'll see what happens. I'm not saying we're going to come to an agreement with James Toney, but I've been talking to James Toney. "
Look, I have to admit that at first I was dead-set against the possibility of Toney fighting in the UFC. But the guy has shown such sticktoitiveness that I'm actually starting to support him. If he wants to get in the cage and let some 285-pound wrestler pin him to the mat and punch him in the head, I'm almost willing to watch.
There's a lot to like about Toney, outside of his quest to forge his was into the UFC. He's a three-weight champion in boxing and, in an era when most top fighters avoided the best competition, he fought anybody would get in the ring with him. Plus, he seems like such a genuine crazy person that it's hard not to root for him just a little bit.
More than anything, Toney's attempts to begin an MMA career may be a sad commentary on the state of boxing. While guys like Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are pulling down huge pay-per-view numbers, we're left to assume that Toney – who's still a great attraction, if no longer a great fighter – can't find a fight he considers worth his while.
Toney appeared on "Sports Soup" on the Versus Network this week, reiterating his public pleas for the UFC to give him a chance.
"If you ain't scared," Toney said to the camera, apparently addressing White, "put down the candy and let the little girl go."
What does that mean? Honestly, I have no idea, but I bet Dana was listening.
Chad Dundas is the Lead MMA Editor for The Sporting News and writes a weekly column for CraveOnline. He lives in Missoula, MT.
Source: craveonline.com
***
Give James Toney points for persistence.
People thought the 41-year-old heavyweight boxing champion was crazy when he first started pestering UFC President Dana White about a possible fight in the Octagon. Now … well, they still think the guy is certifiably nuts, but he's certainly not giving up on his vision quest to score a big-money fight with the world's largest MMA promoter.
Toney initially showed up at the post-fight press conference for UFC 108, interrupting White's interview with AOL's Ariel Helwani to demand that he wanted a shot in the UFC. White appeared bemused, but cautiously interested in Toney for his name recognition and his reputation as a bonafide tough guy. The question was: Did Toney have any of the necessary skills to compete in MMA?
The two met to discuss the particulars – and a portion of the meeting was videotaped by a boxing web site. In a now fairly infamous exchange, White asked Toney if he had any wrestling skills and if knew how to "check kicks" to the leg.
"Yeah," Toney responded. "Front kick, back kick, side check kick, all that."
White appealed to one of Toney's handlers.
"He's been practicing," the man assured White.
In the wake of this conversation, Toney publicly said the UFC had offered him a contract that he considered "a joke." The UFC denied it had made any formal offer to Toney. Everybody had a good laugh and learned some valuable lessons. Case closed. Right?
Wrong.
Toney didn't just fade away. In fact, he took a page out of White's own promotional playbook and began producing a series of video blogs which, once posted on YouTube, were quickly disseminated throughout the rabid MMA online universe. In the videos, Toney is seen flanked by a varying assortment of yes-men and handlers while he calls out everyone from current UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar to Kimbo "Simba Spice" Slice.
But even still, after Toney's embarrassing response to White's questions about his MMA skills during their initial meeting, there's no possible way the UFC brass would let the guy fight … right? … right?
Astonishingly, Toney's inclusion in the UFC does not yet appear to be a dead issue, even from White's point of view.
"James Toney and I have talked and I've talked to his people, we've batted things back and forth," White said as recently as UFC 109. "I'm kind of interested, yeah … he's a tough durable guy. I've always said it a million times, I don't want to be the freak show guy, but James Toney is a real fighter. This guy is heavyweight champion. I know, we'll see what happens. I'm not saying we're going to come to an agreement with James Toney, but I've been talking to James Toney. "
Look, I have to admit that at first I was dead-set against the possibility of Toney fighting in the UFC. But the guy has shown such sticktoitiveness that I'm actually starting to support him. If he wants to get in the cage and let some 285-pound wrestler pin him to the mat and punch him in the head, I'm almost willing to watch.
There's a lot to like about Toney, outside of his quest to forge his was into the UFC. He's a three-weight champion in boxing and, in an era when most top fighters avoided the best competition, he fought anybody would get in the ring with him. Plus, he seems like such a genuine crazy person that it's hard not to root for him just a little bit.
More than anything, Toney's attempts to begin an MMA career may be a sad commentary on the state of boxing. While guys like Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are pulling down huge pay-per-view numbers, we're left to assume that Toney – who's still a great attraction, if no longer a great fighter – can't find a fight he considers worth his while.
Toney appeared on "Sports Soup" on the Versus Network this week, reiterating his public pleas for the UFC to give him a chance.
"If you ain't scared," Toney said to the camera, apparently addressing White, "put down the candy and let the little girl go."
What does that mean? Honestly, I have no idea, but I bet Dana was listening.
Chad Dundas is the Lead MMA Editor for The Sporting News and writes a weekly column for CraveOnline. He lives in Missoula, MT.
Source: craveonline.com
***
Pacquiao-Clottey undercard is missing punch -- ESPN
Between the 27 inches of snow that pummeled Northern Virginia on Saturday and the additional foot that crushed us Wednesday -- not to mention the bitter cold and extreme winds -- there hasn't been much to do but think about boxing even more than I usually do (which is scary).
Nobody around these parts can even leave the house, especially considering that my entire neighborhood was never even plowed out after the Saturday storm.
I grew up in upstate New York, where we were used to terrible winters, but this has been incredible even by those standards. Put it this way: We are Ricky Hatton. The weather is Manny Pacquiao.
So I'm going a little stir-crazy. Everything is closed. The roads are in ruins. The mail has been canceled. My wife has had two snow days (so far). Fortunately, we're stocked with supplies and toilet paper and have not lost power.
Seemed like a good time for this week's random thoughts …
• One of the fights being considered by Top Rank for the March 13 Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey pay-per-view undercard -- now that it looks like the return of Antonio Margarito to face Carson Jones in the co-feature is probably off, because Margarito may not be licensed (good!) -- is Humberto Soto against David Diaz, possibly for a vacant lightweight belt. At the risk of being given the finger again by Top Rank's Bob Arum, the fight is an atrocity. First, I don't think it will be very competitive, considering how badly faded Diaz is. Also, the notion that the WBC possibly would sanction it for a world title is ridiculous, considering that after Pacquiao laid waste to Diaz in June 2008, he has fought just once, a life-and-death majority decision against the totally shot Jesus Chavez six months ago. The entire undercard, as presently constructed, is pathetic, which has become the norm for Arum's major pay-per-views. Here's what you probably will get for your hard-earned money besides the main event: Soto-Diaz, the totally shot Jose Luis Castillo against Alfonso Gomez and John Duddy-Michael Medina. At least there's a silver lining: No Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (suspended) or Yuri Foreman-Daniel Santos.
• I've heard from multiple sources involved in Showtime's Super Six tournament that it's quite likely that the April 17 Group Stage 2 bouts -- Andre Ward defending his super middleweight title against Allan Green in Oakland and Carl Froch defending his title against Mikkel Kessler in Europe -- will be moved to a new date because of some sort of logistical issue involving Kessler-Froch. If that happens, I can't say I'll be disappointed because it means boxing fans will avoid an HBO-Showtime conflict. HBO has its own excellent split-site card planned for that night with middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik due to defend against junior middleweight titlist Sergio Martinez in Atlantic City and super middleweight titleholder Lucian Bute defending his belt against Edison Miranda in Montreal. So if Showtime needs to move to another date, it actually will work out better for fans.
• Like most fight fans, I would love to see Pavlik fight Paul Williams, but it's not happening right now. It's not because Pavlik is afraid to fight him, as some folks like to wrongly suggest. It's math. Williams and his team want a 50-50 deal, and that's not happening, nor should it. So I'm fine with Pavlik-Martinez, which is also a first-class fight. Williams, meanwhile, still has no opponent for his May 8 HBO date. His promoter, Dan Goossen, is talking to promoter Lou DiBella about a junior middleweight fight with Kermit Cintron and has talked to Don King about a welterweight fight with Luis Collazo. Williams and his team say he can still make 147 pounds, and a fight with Collazo at the weight would prove that, but what is the point? I like Collazo as much as anyone, but he has virtually no shot against Williams.
• Been hearing that DiBella proposed a card to HBO of Amir Khan-Paulie Malignaggi and Andre Berto's return against Zab Judah for April 10 at Madison Square Garden, which DiBella has on hold. With an eye on fighting at junior welterweight, Judah turned it down, so DiBella would like to instead match Berto with former titlist Carlos Quintana. The Garden loves the card, I am told. I love it too. However, HBO isn't jumping up and down for the show. For some reason, HBO seems to prefer Berto-Malignaggi. The Khan-Malignaggi fight is still possible, especially with Golden Boy having so many problems putting a Khan-Juan Manuel Marquez fight to bed. But if Golden Boy, Khan's promoter, does Khan-Malignaggi it wants the fight on its card in Las Vegas on May 15. But we all know that if that fight happens, it belongs in New York.
• I had to laugh at this quote from Freddie Roach, when discussing the Pacquiao-Clottey fight: "This is going to be the Super Bowl of boxing." Pacquiao's trainer is dead wrong. The fight is more like the conference championship. The Super Bowl of boxing is Pacquiao, if he wins, fighting the winner of the May 1 Shane Mosley-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight.
• There are some out there who are gullible enough (or just dumb enough) to believe the gibberish being bandied about in cyberspace that HBO concocted a plan under which it agreed to televise the Marcos Maidana-Victor Cayo fight as long as the winner didn't press his mandatory with junior welterweight titlist Khan for the rest of the year. Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous in your life? Now, Golden Boy -- with the OK from Khan and interim titlist Maidana -- has a plan under which both men will fight a couple of times to help build the commercial value of their potential fight. That's boxing business as usual. I have no real complaint about that, other than that if they're going to avoid the mandatory fight, the one unwilling to make it immediately ought to be stripped of his piece of the title. But since the reprehensible WBA is not pressing the issue -- shocking, right? -- it is what it is. But to think HBO orchestrated a deal to prevent the fight from happening this year just goes to show you how little some people actually understand the business.
• I want to bid a fond farewell to "Rich Marotta's Neutral Corner," which is leaving the Southern California radio airwaves after more than 11 years. The last edition is Sunday morning, the victim of Marotta's own success. Marotta, a longtime friend and one of the classiest guys in the business, is now the color commentator on the new "Top Rank Live" series. The three cards per month are on Saturday nights, leaving Marotta unable to do the show live on Sunday mornings because of the heavy travel demands. Mailing it in with a taped show, in which he could not discuss the previous night's results, is not Marotta's style, so he has decided to end the show. It was one of the few places on radio in the nation with intelligent boxing discussion and a dependable lineup of interviews with all the sport's top newsmakers. I'm proud to say I was even a guest many times.
• Speaking of "Top Rank Live," the new Fox Sports Net and Fox Sports en Espanol series is off to a great start. I just hope Top Rank keeps it up, because the first few cards have been very good overall, including Vanes Martirosyan-Kassim Ouma, Jorge Arce winning a vacant junior bantamweight title against Angky Angkota and a sensational performance from Brandon Rios in stopping Jorge Teron. We're seeing toss-up action fights on a regular basis, and there are more scheduled. So far, I'm loving it.
• I love the idea of a Tim Bradley-Edwin Valero fight as much as anyone, but I seriously doubt it will happen.
• I dig the proposed Tomasz Adamek-Cristobal Arreola April 24 HBO fight, but I can't figure out why Adamek would want to go to California for the fight -- which is where it's being planned -- when the bigger gate would be in Newark, N.J., where Adamek draws huge crowds. If he could draw more than 10,000 to the Prudential Center for a fight with Jason Estrada last week, imagine the gate he could do with Arreola, who is better known than Estrada but not a proven ticket-seller in So Cal.
• Paging Joel Casamayor.
• I'm sure I speak for all boxing fans when I wish the very best for Casey Guerrero, the seriously ill wife of junior lightweight titlist Robert Guerrero, who understandably withdrew from a March 27 HBO fight with Michael Katsidis to be at his wife's bedside.
• Top Rank signed brothers Lamont and Anthony Peterson with great fanfare in 2008. I scratch my head wondering why in the world Top Rank, which knows how to sell tickets and how to build a fighter in his hometown, has not only never come to Washington, D.C. -- their hometown and a city dying for some top-level boxing -- but never even seriously considered it. It's baffling.
• Happy birthday to my good pal, Larry Merchant. The HBO commentator turned 79 on Thursday. He's the greatest boxing television analyst ever. And before that, he was one of America's foremost sports columnists.
• DVD pick of the week: It's not too often that HBO features little guys -- meaning fighters below junior featherweight -- but when it does, we usually see something pretty interesting. Such was the case when I went back to Feb. 15, 2003, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. That's where two of the best bantamweights of the era, Tim Austin and Rafael Marquez, tangled for the title. Austin had defended the title nine times and was considered a top-10 pound-for-pound fighter. Marquez was the top contender, but known better for being the younger brother of Juan Manuel. The fight turned out to be a good scrap, although Austin seemed in control and was ahead on all three scorecards as they went to the eighth round. But that's when Marquez, blessed with great power for a small guy, took it to Austin and knocked him out for the upset. I remember it well, partly because it happened to be the first fight I watched after getting engaged earlier that day.
Source: sports.espn.go.com
***
The state of boxing: Where have all the heavyweights gone? -- New York Daily News
There is no question that the sport of boxing has been in a funk for the past few years.
But the game is far from being “dead,” as some pundits have opined.
Asleep? Yes. Resting? Perhaps. But, dead? Hell no! Especially when the drums have begun to pound loudly for the upcoming multimillion-dollar match between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao for the lightweight title.
For some years I have always said, “Boxing must always have a popular heavyweight to lead the parade.” I still adhere to that notion, but after watching Pacquiao strip the bigger Miguel Cotto of his fighting talents in their November '02 fight, I changed the words to say: “And a little guy shall lead them.”
Pacquiao fights like a man who knows all there is to know about boxing. Although he has been well-schooled by Freddie Roach, a trainer in the Ray Arcel, Eddie Futch and Charley Goldman mold, Pac has a natural talent that no one can teach. The little guy is a package of speed, grit and sudden inventive moves not seen since Sugar Ray Robinson and Willie Pep, two of boxing’s all-time greats.
Which brings me back to the days when boxing and baseball were the most popular sports in the country.
Think of names like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Lefty Grove, Ted Williams. Jack Dempsey, Max Baer, Jim Braddock, Rocky Marciano. Put the ballplayers and boxers together and you have the two most popular sports entry of the ‘20s, ‘30s, ‘40s and arguably the ‘50s.
Now think about where today’s sports rank among fans: (1) pro football, (2) baseball, (3) pro basketball, (4) college football and basketball, (5) tennis, (6) hockey, (7) soccer, (8) a tie between horse racing and boxing.
How did the sport go from the top of the rung to the bottom? The answer lies not only with boxing’s stall but with the sudden rise of pro football and pro basketball. And then there's the man who last made the sport No.1.
He is Mike Tyson, the last of the “you gotta see this guy in the ring” heavyweights.
WHEN HEAVYWEIGHTS RULED
Since John L. Sullivan, the first heavyweight champion who held the title from 1882 till 1892, the aura of King of Boxing was born. Sullivan’s often used phrase was, “I can lick any man in the house.” And for a little while, the hefty braggart could.
King in boxing was used not loosely but with a respect held for actual kings of nations. This may sound a bit grandiose but the doings of heavyweight champions was known throughout the world.
Later in boxing when Dempsey captured the throne, the world knew who the king was even in the far corners of the Earth.
After Sullivan, came James J. Corbett (1892 to 1887), the clever boxer who put the science in boxing.
Then came Bob Fitzsimonms (1897-1889), followed by Jim Jefferies (1899-1905), Marvin Hart (1905-1906) and Tommy Burns (1906 -1908).
Then like a bolt, came a man who changed the color of this once lily-white sport.
Jack Johnson, a black man, hard-hitting puncher and clever boxer, came on the scene. The tall, slender well-built heavyweight threw a wrench into the pure white machinery, thus disturbing the not yet educated. Shamefully, at the time, the country was still infected with unwanted bigotry.
Johnson, in spite of having to endure the heavy burden of constant damning slurs and even death threats, held the heavyweight title for seven years.
The end of his reign came in 1915 when he was matched against the 6-foot-6 giant Jess Willard, out of Kansas.
This has always been a questionable win for Willard and only because of a famous photo showing Johnson laying on the canvas after being knocked down by the 260-pound giant in the 26th round. As Johnson lay stretched out, taking the 10-count, he was seen shading his eyes from the bright Cuban sun.
The photograph of him doing this led fans to believe he was not hurt at all and hinted he might have dumped the fight right there. The candid shot became so famous that fight fans who bet on Johnson used it in an attempt to cancel out their bet.
Willard was not what you’d call a finesse fighter. He was clumsy, slow and threw punches like he was in a street fight. The only thing that made him popular was that he was the “white hope” who had beaten a black and satisfying the bigots.
In time the “dump” talk faded away because there never was any evidence of corruption to the title changing hands.
Willard, the former backwoodsman, now was the king of the world and he proudly wore the crown like royalty. And, indeed he was, holding the bejewled lid for four years.
On July 4, 1919, the big guy signed to defend his title against a young man who already had a reputation of being a killer who never let up on his opponents until lights-out time. The “Black Panther” was his handle and it fit him like the 6-ounce gloves he wore in battle.
That July day in Reno, Nevada, an animalistic Dempsey went at Willard from round 1 and laid such a beating on the giant from Kansas that he left him wanting no more.
For three rounds Dempsey stalked his man while landing steady rights and lefts on the now unguarded chin of Willard.
The mismatch ended in the third, making Dempsey the heavyweight champion.
And, here’s when the sport of boxing gained a greater personality. The man from Manassa, Colo., had all the right stuff that went with being a world hero. He had the looks, always stayed in fine shape and developed a standard and polite way to answer reporters’ questions.
In no time, the new champ catured the mass public. “DEMPSEY! DEMPSEY! DEMPSEY!” were the chants when the new champ walked the streets of New York.
Jack, now a household word in all parts of the world, held the title for seven years and his Waterloo came when he signed to defend against Gene Tunney, a smart-looking Marine who was brought up in downtown New York.
To the surprise of many, Tunney boxed Dempsey’s ears off and now we had another champ who could reach the public. He got everybody interested when it was related that this new champ was no common pug from the fight clubs. This dude could not only outbox everybody but, by golly, he read George Barnard Shaw and William Shakespeare as well.
Thus a a bit of class and a red ribbon was now wrapped around Pugsville.
Tunney, who was only beaten once (by Harry Greb) in his career total of 83 bouts, gave — by popular demand — Dempsey a return bout in the first million-dollar gate.
The famous event took place in Chicago, where the champion retained his title over Dempsey. But not without a strange incident which is still debated today by fistiana purists.
In the seventh round of this 10-round title bout, Dempsey landed a terrific left hook to the jaw and Tunney dropped like he was hit by a mallet.
Seemingly out, Tunney took the count by the referee: One, two, three, four, five ... then, a strange thing happened. The ref stopped counting and turned to Dempsey, who hovered over his foe, and ordered him to go to a neutral corner.
Confusion became a part of the scene when the ref, instead of continuing the count, started from the beginning. He counted from one to nine and by that time Tunney had cleared his head, got up and hung on for the rest of the round.
This, which was now and forever to be known as the “14-count,” has been a bone of contention, leaving Dempsey fans feeling their man was robbed by the referee. Dempsey himself always maintained he had scored a clean knockout.
One summer day, Tunney had worked all afternoon training in the gym with two sparring partners. Being a man of discipline, he was preparing for the next fight his managers were signing him to.
After the hardy workout, Tunney went home, had a good meal and went to bed. When he awoke the next day, he had no memory of working in the gym the day prior.
Because of this confusion to his mind, the heavyweight champion took little time in announcing this stunning decision to retire from the ring, leaving the heavyweight division without a champion. He could not see himself becoming a brain-damaged ex-fighter, so there was no problem with his decision.
With no king for the next two years, the division started elimination bouts that would leave two men to fight for the vacant crown. The finalists were Jack Sharkey from Boston and Germany’s Max Schmeling.
When they met in the ring on June 12, 1932, in New York, an extraordinary thing happened in that bout. In the fourth round, Sharkey, a free-swinging, hard-punching sailor, started a right uppercut that landed below the belt; the German going into a sitting position while yelling, “Foul!”
The referee looked at it as a legitimate complaint and awarded Schmeling the bout on a foul. A big, disappointed crowd favoring Sharkey booed the call, feeling it was robbed of a good show.
Still, the ref raised Schmeling’s hand making him the first heavyweight champion to come out of Germany. This was the first and only time a man won the heavyweight title while on the seat of his pants.
Max was to hold the title for only a short while, because there was that return fight with Sharkey. This time Sharkey beat Schmeling easily in 15 rounds at the famed “Jinx Bowl” in Long Island City.
King Sharkey, now in the lap of luxury with the big purses from the two title bouts and taking in the adulation the world gives a champion, signed to defend his title against Primo Carnera.
This Italian giant was being maneuvered to the title shot by the mob who controlled, and allegedly “fixed,” most of his fights in this country.
The Long Island City Bowl was tagged the Jinx Bowl for this very good reason: Of the five title bouts held there not one champion successfully defended his title.
So in 1933 in this very arena, Sharkey was defending against the manipulated Carnera.
The writers had no problem picking Sharkey, since the gob from Boston already had easily beaten Carnera two years before. Besides, there was no worry about Sharkey dumping — he liked winning too much.
Well, not this time, Sharkey backers. Big Primo unleashed his right uppercut, landing on the chin of Sharkey in the sixth round. It was lights out for Sharkey, and the big Italian was the new heavyweight champion.
Sharkey, of course, always denied any thought of him throwing that fight but for years after, fight people would question the result.
The odd thing about Carnera was that he was the only one who wasn’t aware of the many fights the mob fixed in his favor. Primo was a wonderful guy who was the innocent victim of a handful of mobsters.
Carnera’s reign lasted only one year because the gang pulling the strings felt they had squeezed all the money there was to garner from this affable giant. His next fight was going to be on the level.
Along came Max Baer, a clownish and well-liked boxer who had a right hand with the power of a sledgehammer. Baer became the logical contender to meet Carnera after his stirring knockout over Schmeling, the former champion.
The signing of the fight proved to be a big seller for newspapers and they ballyhooed it for months. Every day the papers ran special stories building up to an eventual tremendous gate.
There was some concern from Carnera bettors that the bout was being held in the Jinx Bowl.
On June 14,1934, the jinx worked once again after Baer gave Carnera the beating of his life, knocking down the giant 11 times before putting him away for good in the 11th.
Now the Clown Prince of Boxing was the new heavyweight king, and he played the part to the hilt. With his likable personality and boyish ways, he was Muhammad Ali before Muhammad Ali.
Carnera was now on his own, continuing to fight for low purses and eventually turned to wrestling, where he earned more money than he had ever seen as a fighter.
You can’t write the story of boxing without bringing in the obvious element, which came in and out and back in again.
To mention names like Frankie Carbo, Frank Costello and Blinky Palermo from Philadelphia is like putting a rubber stamp to who controlled boxing at one time or another.
The mob slowly faded from the scene as major bouts became the thing in the new Madison Square Garden, forever known as “The Mecca of Boxing.” It was a happy time for boxing now, and Baer, with his fun life and harmless antics, was giving it even more glitter.
Baer lost his title after one year when, as an overwhelming favorite, he lost to Jimmy Braddock, a down-and-out pro who had to put his family on home relief for lack of money.
The bout was a clear-cut, 15-round victory for Braddock, who gained the nickname of “Cinderella Man��� because of it. And where do you suppose the bout was held? The Jinx Bowl in Long Island, of course.
Braddock dodged Schmeling, the No.1 contender, to defend the title against the popular Joe Louis, who had been beaten by Schmeling.
This was a money thing with Braddock getting 10% of Louis’ income for the next 10 years.
The promoters had figured that Braddock-Louis would pack them in a lot more than Braddock-Schmeling. In spite of his loss to Schmeling, Louis was still all powerful at the gate. Besides, this was 1937 when Adolf Hitler was already making sounds that threatened a free world. Because of this, Schmeling, the German, was not too popular in our country.
So, this night in Chicago, when the clock struck 12:00, “Cinderella” Braddock found himself atop the pumpkin instead of the gold carriage. He had been knocked out by Louis in the eighth round. T
hus began the long reign of “King” Joe Louis, whose greatest moment was when he avenged his KO loss to Schmeling by knocking the German out in the very first round in 1938.
So vindicating for Louis was this fight that historians later called it the most important sports event of the century.
The fact is that it not only settled an old score for Louis, but Americans took it as U.S.A. besting Germany, which we later did in the big arena during World War II.
Now, you must be getting just how huge and popular the sport of boxing was in its heyday. The glamour and exciting time continued with Louis coming to the end of his wearing of the crown after a glorious career of 70 total bouts and winning 53 by knockout.
The heavyweight division continued to capture the fight fan even after Louis.
In rapid succession came champions Ezzard Charles, a good and very underrated champ. He was follwed by Jersey Joe Walcott, as savvy a boxer with crafty moves as ever entered the ring.
In 1952, a young man out of Brockton, Mass., by the name of Rocky Marciano came along and rocked Walcott out of his shoes with a tremendous right hand to the chin, making him the champ. And here’s where the fight fan was left with that Tunney thing again — a champion retires from the ring, leaving the title vacant once more.
In yet another elimination, young and eager Floyd Patterson emerged the winner of the crown by knocking out the ol’ Mongoose, Archie Moore, no small feat.
After Floyd, came the Swede, Ingemar Johansson, who shocked the sports world with his knockout of Patterson. Ingo didn’t hold it long because a year later, a determined Patterson won back his crown with a devastating left hook that put the Swede out in the fourth round.
Patterson lost his title to the mean-looking Sonny Liston who took only one round to do it. To make sure it wasn’t a fluke, Sonny did it again in the same round a year later.
Here we come to Cassius Clay, a brash, highly visible and loudmouth braggart. The story of Clay then becoming Muhammad Ali is so well-known to this generation that I won’t go into any detail — except to say that this man created an entire boxing history within himself and to this day is revered as the most interesting guy to ever lace a boxing mitt.
Ali lost to Joe Frazier in the greatest of all Madison Square Garden events and their names today are sealed together forever. It’s always, “Ali/Frazier.”
Frazier lost to big George Foreman, then Foreman lost to Ali giving who took it with a whirlwind finish by landing a right that KO’d a tired Foreman.
This was Ali’s greatest hour, in my judgment.
Ali then got careless and lost his crown to Leon Spinks, a man with just eight pro fights under his belt. You might say that Ali merely loaned Spinks the title, because months later Ali took it back.
Muhammad announced his retirement in 1979 but came back in 1980 and foolishly took on Larry Holmes, a fine and steady left-jabbing heavyweight who never got the merit he deserved.
Holmes beat Ali very easily, becoming the heavyweight champion. He was a good one, too.
Michael Spinks, a genuine light-heavy who went to the heavyweight division, beat Holmes out of the title.
Then onto the scene came a short, stocky hunk of muscle and brawn from Brooklyn who was going to make everybody forget the rest of the great ones. He was good and getting better, learning his skills from Cus D’Amato, a teacher of fighters who had developed three champions in all.
The new guy on the block was Mike Tyson, and he was knocking out everybody he faced with his sure and steady punching. And, with his constant moving of his head and body he was being looked at as a boxer-puncher, but puncher first.
When he was ready, Tyson went to Atlantic City to challenge Michael Spinks for the title. Ninety seconds later, Tyson was the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
Here, I say, came the end of what the sports world once felt about the importance of boxing as we once knew it.
The story of Tyson and his cyclone-like life and the up-and-down drama he created in his life is well-documented, so again I’ll skip that part of this long saga.
Yes, there have been other champions after Tyson, but they couldn’t sustain the great interest the heavyweights once had.
There was Buster Douglas, Michael Moorer, Riddick Bowe, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis and today the Klitchkos. But none of these had that extra something that would bring back those old days.
I’m not saying it was them exactly, maybe just the times which no longer attracts the game that was once king of sports.
There were other factors that contributed to help kill the importance of the heavyweight champion and it deals with greed of the promoters and others seeking to cash in on the game..
What once was a perfect eight-division sport with just one champion in each became a laughingstock to fight fans when separate groups like the WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO and I don’t know how many other alphabet soups came on the scene.
These particular groups put in their chits to collect what is called “sanction fees” today.
That didn’t help since they created more champions — so many more that the fan was left to guess who was the champion of what division, which, by the way, also grew in number. There we saw the clunkers that would help do in the attraction for boxing.
The sign of the times tell us that today fans are going for this mayhem called Ultimate Fighting. God help us.
Will the heavyweights ever return to past glories, you ask?
I dare tell the truth and say that I very much doubt it. You see, the big, strong, natural athletes who once would venture into a gym with dreams of eventually becoming heavyweight champions, are not to be found anymore.
Those who would be good candidates for the squared circle look at the unheard of salaries football, baseball and basketball players are fetching these days and say to hell with putting on boxing gloves and getting my head banged up with cauliflower ears.
They would rather learn how to throw a good pass, learn the art of hitting a baseball or practice 3-pointers. They reason that they’re not only better careers to follow but the money is better — and you keep it longer.
Fight fans, you want boxing? Watch the little guys.
Source: nydailynews.com
***
Mosley Makes It "Clear:" He Doesn't Need PEDs To Beat Mayweather -- The Sweet Science
By Ron Borges, The Sweet Science
Despite his own shadowy past, Shane Mosley is unafraid.
He’s unafraid of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and just as importantly he’s unafraid of being asked to prove he’s no longer using performance enhancing drugs, which is why he’s in a position to prove he’s unafraid of Mayweather and anything else to do with boxing.
The two of them will square off May 1 in Las Vegas in the biggest fight of the year to date, a bout between the two best welterweights in the world. Just as significantly, it will be the first fight where the participants are willingly submitting to random blood testing for PEDs, the Mayweather demand that proved to be the undoing of a potential $40 million per man mega-fight this year between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
Pacquiao’s refusal to submit to random blood testing up to within a few days of their fight was, for reasons only he can know for sure, not something he was willing to do. His reasons included a fear of needles, a fear of being weakened by blood loss, a fear of this and a fear of that.
Mosley heard such excuses recently during a lengthy interview with TSS and laughed. He didn’t say he thought Pacquiao was lying. He didn’t say anything about Pacquiao. What he said instead was about himself but it seemed to make all things clear on the matter.
“I’m not afraid of needles,’’ Mosley said, grinning. “I’m not afraid of blood tests. They can show up at my doorstep in Big Bear (the mountain retreat east of L.A. where he will train) at 3 a.m. I have no problem being tested.
“I think it’s a good thing, to tell you the truth. There are track people and baseball players (using). These (strength and conditioning) trainers come in and act like they’re doing something for the athletes. We don’t need them. Boxing needs to stay with the old (training) style. The worst part of my career was when I had a sports trainer. I lost five times.’’
He also beat Oscar De La Hoya and in his preparation for their second fight later learned he’d used EPO (blood doping) as well as “the clear’’ and “the cream,’’ two nearly undetectable forms of steroids provided to him by his former strength and conditioning trainer Darryl Hudson and Victor Conte, who ran the notorious BALCO lab that was the center of the Barry Bonds and Marion Jones steroid controversies.
Mosley admitted under oath to a Federal grand jury that he’d injected himself with EPO and used both the clear and the cream but claimed he had no knowledge these were illegal PEDs. Conte and Hudson have disputed that and the story has lingered for six years, never seeming to go away.
Hudson and Mosley have an ongoing legal battle over the issue and Conte has served time for his part in the distribution of the illegal drugs to a number of professional athletes including Mosley. But now, in the weeks and months leading up to one of the biggest fights of his career, the 38-year-old WBA champion seems eager to not only face Mayweather but also to prove all he needs to win are the performance enhancers given to him at birth and developed over nearly 30 years in boxing.
“I feel insulted I’m still talking about BALCO stuff,’’ Mosley (46-5, 39 KO) said. “I never tested positive in 2003. If I was a juicer I would have been caught in 2003, 2004, 2006. It should have been erased.
“It’s been put out there for media purposes. That’s fine with me. I’m in a sport that is not really about strength any way. It’s speed, timing and the mental side. You can be the strongest man but if you can’t hit the guy nothing is going to happen. Floyd is a great fighter. He’s smart. Being strong doesn’t win Floyd fights.’’
The undefeated (40-0, 25 KO) Mayweather is still considered by many to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world despite having ceded that position to Pacquiao when he left the sport for a 21-month self-imposed exile. He came back in September and dominated one of the most skilled boxers in the world (and a long-time nemesis of Pacquiao’s), Juan Manuel Marquez, in a fight that impressed many people in boxing, but Mosley was not among them.
It’s not that Mosley doesn’t respect Marquez, who is one of his stablemates at Golden Boy Promotions. It’s simply that he and Mayweather are welterweights and Marquez is, well, a dozen pounds short of that.
“I’m the best welterweight in the world but taking myself out of the equation it’s Pacquiao,’’ Mosley said. “At least Manny fought (former WBO champion Miguel) Cotto. Cotto wasn’t the best welterweight in the world but at least he fought a real welterweight.
“You can’t come back and fight lightweights and junior welterweights (like Ricky Hatton). The last welterweight Floyd fought was Oscar and he’d been off for how long? You can’t come back for two months and say you’re a serious fighter.’’
Despite the fact Mosley hasn’t fought in over a year he has been training for fights that never happened. The latest was with WBC champion Andre Berto, who was forced to pull out of their match after the destruction suffered in his native Haiti left him unable to mentally prepare for a boxing match when he had friends and relatives left homeless and abandoned.
Mosley understood and is thankful the fight did not come off not solely because it allowed him to open negotiations with Mayweather after the Pacquiao fight collapsed but because he saw in Berto something Berto didn’t see in himself – a void.
“He’s not ready for it (such a big fight) mentally,’’ Mosley said. “I like Berto. I would have understood if he didn’t want to fight me in the first place. He wasn’t ready to fight me but he was willing to test himself.
“That’s what you like to see in a young fighter. He wanted to fight me but I don’t want to ruin a good young fighter. It’s not a skill factor. Mentally he’s not ready.’’
Mosley, on the other hand, is always ready. Or so it seems. At least he has been since ridding himself of Hudson and going back to the old ways in boxing – hitting bags, running, exercise, diet, sparring. Returning boxing to what it has always been – a sport of speed, wiliness and courage.
“I was always ready,’’ Mosley said of his own career. “I wasn’t ever intimidated. My first fight with Oscar people asked if I was intimidated. Why would I be afraid of something I wanted?
“If they told me in my first professional fight to fight the champion, Phillip Holliday, I would have done it. And I would have won.’’
That confidence, competitive spirit and willingness to be tested (now in more ways than one) is what has kept Mosley at or near the top for so long. It is the same thing, he believes, that will return him there on May 1 in Las Vegas when he and Mayweather offer to the world what boxing needs – a big night at the fights.
“It’s been very frustrating to sit there and watch different guys fight, but I was in the gym getting better and better,’’ Mosley said assuredly. “I was fighting, just not in front of people."
The last time Mosley was in front of people it was at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Jan. 24, 2009, the night Antonio Margarito was found wearing tampered hand wraps that the California Athletic Commission said were laced with a hardening agent similar to plaster of paris.
The wraps were removed and the fight went on, with Mosley dominating Margarito six months after Margarito beat Cotto half to death and less than a year since he’d done the same to Kermit Cintron. But on this night Margarito had no answers for the chin questions Mosley kept asking, questions that finally left Margarito totally beaten down after nine one-sided rounds.
Although Margarito was suspended for a year (and returns March 13 on the Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey card in Dallas) after the fight, Mosley insisted he had no hard feelings about his opponent’s hardened handwraps and would willingly fight him again after he beats Mayweather and then grants Mayweather a contractually-obligated rematch that Mosley believes his opponent is going to need.
“So what?’’ Mosley said when asked his reaction to Margarito’s effort to load his gloves. “He hit Cotto with them. A lot. How many times did he hit me?’’
Told “None,’’ Mosley beamed.
“Exactly,’’ he said. “That would have made no difference. I would have murdered him the same way, loaded gloves or not.’’
Mosley feels the same about Mayweather. While he concedes Mayweather is a vastly talented fighter who is quick and a master of defense, he looks at him, then looks at himself and concludes what he always has felt and what he believes is unchanged today. In a boxing ring, or anywhere else within the sport, he rules.
“I think the match with me and Floyd is a mega-match,’’ Mosley said quite rightly. “The real megafights are between the three or us (including Pacquiao), not with Clottey.
“I love to beat anyone out there. I love to challenge myself. That’s my competitive nature. I’ve always been that way. I love to win.’’
Shane Mosley made evident how much when it was suggested that Mayweather had won the negotiation with Pacquiao because he ended up in a mega-fight in Vegas with him while Pacquiao ended up with a far less high profile opponent in Texas.
“I wouldn’t say he won it,’’ Mosley said, smiling. “I won it.’’
So did boxing, which won because two of the finest fighters in the world agreed to fight but not to fight the idea of coming in clean of anything but what God and training will give them. In Shane Mosley's opinion, that’ll be quite enough, thanks.
Source: thesweetscience.com
***
Despite his own shadowy past, Shane Mosley is unafraid.
He’s unafraid of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and just as importantly he’s unafraid of being asked to prove he’s no longer using performance enhancing drugs, which is why he’s in a position to prove he’s unafraid of Mayweather and anything else to do with boxing.
The two of them will square off May 1 in Las Vegas in the biggest fight of the year to date, a bout between the two best welterweights in the world. Just as significantly, it will be the first fight where the participants are willingly submitting to random blood testing for PEDs, the Mayweather demand that proved to be the undoing of a potential $40 million per man mega-fight this year between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
Pacquiao’s refusal to submit to random blood testing up to within a few days of their fight was, for reasons only he can know for sure, not something he was willing to do. His reasons included a fear of needles, a fear of being weakened by blood loss, a fear of this and a fear of that.
Mosley heard such excuses recently during a lengthy interview with TSS and laughed. He didn’t say he thought Pacquiao was lying. He didn’t say anything about Pacquiao. What he said instead was about himself but it seemed to make all things clear on the matter.
“I’m not afraid of needles,’’ Mosley said, grinning. “I’m not afraid of blood tests. They can show up at my doorstep in Big Bear (the mountain retreat east of L.A. where he will train) at 3 a.m. I have no problem being tested.
“I think it’s a good thing, to tell you the truth. There are track people and baseball players (using). These (strength and conditioning) trainers come in and act like they’re doing something for the athletes. We don’t need them. Boxing needs to stay with the old (training) style. The worst part of my career was when I had a sports trainer. I lost five times.’’
He also beat Oscar De La Hoya and in his preparation for their second fight later learned he’d used EPO (blood doping) as well as “the clear’’ and “the cream,’’ two nearly undetectable forms of steroids provided to him by his former strength and conditioning trainer Darryl Hudson and Victor Conte, who ran the notorious BALCO lab that was the center of the Barry Bonds and Marion Jones steroid controversies.
Mosley admitted under oath to a Federal grand jury that he’d injected himself with EPO and used both the clear and the cream but claimed he had no knowledge these were illegal PEDs. Conte and Hudson have disputed that and the story has lingered for six years, never seeming to go away.
Hudson and Mosley have an ongoing legal battle over the issue and Conte has served time for his part in the distribution of the illegal drugs to a number of professional athletes including Mosley. But now, in the weeks and months leading up to one of the biggest fights of his career, the 38-year-old WBA champion seems eager to not only face Mayweather but also to prove all he needs to win are the performance enhancers given to him at birth and developed over nearly 30 years in boxing.
“I feel insulted I’m still talking about BALCO stuff,’’ Mosley (46-5, 39 KO) said. “I never tested positive in 2003. If I was a juicer I would have been caught in 2003, 2004, 2006. It should have been erased.
“It’s been put out there for media purposes. That’s fine with me. I’m in a sport that is not really about strength any way. It’s speed, timing and the mental side. You can be the strongest man but if you can’t hit the guy nothing is going to happen. Floyd is a great fighter. He’s smart. Being strong doesn’t win Floyd fights.’’
The undefeated (40-0, 25 KO) Mayweather is still considered by many to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world despite having ceded that position to Pacquiao when he left the sport for a 21-month self-imposed exile. He came back in September and dominated one of the most skilled boxers in the world (and a long-time nemesis of Pacquiao’s), Juan Manuel Marquez, in a fight that impressed many people in boxing, but Mosley was not among them.
It’s not that Mosley doesn’t respect Marquez, who is one of his stablemates at Golden Boy Promotions. It’s simply that he and Mayweather are welterweights and Marquez is, well, a dozen pounds short of that.
“I’m the best welterweight in the world but taking myself out of the equation it’s Pacquiao,’’ Mosley said. “At least Manny fought (former WBO champion Miguel) Cotto. Cotto wasn’t the best welterweight in the world but at least he fought a real welterweight.
“You can’t come back and fight lightweights and junior welterweights (like Ricky Hatton). The last welterweight Floyd fought was Oscar and he’d been off for how long? You can’t come back for two months and say you’re a serious fighter.’’
Despite the fact Mosley hasn’t fought in over a year he has been training for fights that never happened. The latest was with WBC champion Andre Berto, who was forced to pull out of their match after the destruction suffered in his native Haiti left him unable to mentally prepare for a boxing match when he had friends and relatives left homeless and abandoned.
Mosley understood and is thankful the fight did not come off not solely because it allowed him to open negotiations with Mayweather after the Pacquiao fight collapsed but because he saw in Berto something Berto didn’t see in himself – a void.
“He’s not ready for it (such a big fight) mentally,’’ Mosley said. “I like Berto. I would have understood if he didn’t want to fight me in the first place. He wasn’t ready to fight me but he was willing to test himself.
“That’s what you like to see in a young fighter. He wanted to fight me but I don’t want to ruin a good young fighter. It’s not a skill factor. Mentally he’s not ready.’’
Mosley, on the other hand, is always ready. Or so it seems. At least he has been since ridding himself of Hudson and going back to the old ways in boxing – hitting bags, running, exercise, diet, sparring. Returning boxing to what it has always been – a sport of speed, wiliness and courage.
“I was always ready,’’ Mosley said of his own career. “I wasn’t ever intimidated. My first fight with Oscar people asked if I was intimidated. Why would I be afraid of something I wanted?
“If they told me in my first professional fight to fight the champion, Phillip Holliday, I would have done it. And I would have won.’’
That confidence, competitive spirit and willingness to be tested (now in more ways than one) is what has kept Mosley at or near the top for so long. It is the same thing, he believes, that will return him there on May 1 in Las Vegas when he and Mayweather offer to the world what boxing needs – a big night at the fights.
“It’s been very frustrating to sit there and watch different guys fight, but I was in the gym getting better and better,’’ Mosley said assuredly. “I was fighting, just not in front of people."
The last time Mosley was in front of people it was at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Jan. 24, 2009, the night Antonio Margarito was found wearing tampered hand wraps that the California Athletic Commission said were laced with a hardening agent similar to plaster of paris.
The wraps were removed and the fight went on, with Mosley dominating Margarito six months after Margarito beat Cotto half to death and less than a year since he’d done the same to Kermit Cintron. But on this night Margarito had no answers for the chin questions Mosley kept asking, questions that finally left Margarito totally beaten down after nine one-sided rounds.
Although Margarito was suspended for a year (and returns March 13 on the Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey card in Dallas) after the fight, Mosley insisted he had no hard feelings about his opponent’s hardened handwraps and would willingly fight him again after he beats Mayweather and then grants Mayweather a contractually-obligated rematch that Mosley believes his opponent is going to need.
“So what?’’ Mosley said when asked his reaction to Margarito’s effort to load his gloves. “He hit Cotto with them. A lot. How many times did he hit me?’’
Told “None,’’ Mosley beamed.
“Exactly,’’ he said. “That would have made no difference. I would have murdered him the same way, loaded gloves or not.’’
Mosley feels the same about Mayweather. While he concedes Mayweather is a vastly talented fighter who is quick and a master of defense, he looks at him, then looks at himself and concludes what he always has felt and what he believes is unchanged today. In a boxing ring, or anywhere else within the sport, he rules.
“I think the match with me and Floyd is a mega-match,’’ Mosley said quite rightly. “The real megafights are between the three or us (including Pacquiao), not with Clottey.
“I love to beat anyone out there. I love to challenge myself. That’s my competitive nature. I’ve always been that way. I love to win.’’
Shane Mosley made evident how much when it was suggested that Mayweather had won the negotiation with Pacquiao because he ended up in a mega-fight in Vegas with him while Pacquiao ended up with a far less high profile opponent in Texas.
“I wouldn’t say he won it,’’ Mosley said, smiling. “I won it.’’
So did boxing, which won because two of the finest fighters in the world agreed to fight but not to fight the idea of coming in clean of anything but what God and training will give them. In Shane Mosley's opinion, that’ll be quite enough, thanks.
Source: thesweetscience.com
***
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