By David Mayo, The Grand Rapids Press
In 19 days, Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley will share the same boxing ring, and the important subjects at hand will be substance rather than substances, skills rather than shills, the fight at hand rather than the fight in demand.
Roger Mayweather has done his share of yakking about it all, from his belief that Manny Pacquiao should have fought his nephew if there was nothing to hide in the blood-testing proposal to how he believes Mosley, an admitted past steroid user who did agree to the enhanced drug-testing method, makes for a tougher fight than Pacquiao whether using juice or merely guzzling it.
Roger Mayweather’s job is to devise the game plan for his nephew to defeat Mosley in a May 1 welterweight blockbuster.
Insiders say Floyd Mayweather has signed up for his toughest fight. His trainer-uncle doesn’t dispute it, calling Mosley “dangerous” and credits the Californian for his “endurance, willingness to fight and speed.”
What Roger Mayweather said he can’t necessarily envision is how Mosley employs those attributes victoriously.
Mosley has some of the same natural gifts as Mayweather -- most notably, hand speed, in what figures to be a dazzling matchup of Quick vs. Quicker, once we ascertain which fighter fills which role -- and possesses a size advantage and perceived edge in punching power.
Roger Mayweather said Mosley’s challenge is what to do after his nephew counteracts all of that, because while acknowledging Mosley’s positive attributes, the trainer said he “really can’t come with anything else, because that’s the only way he knows how to fight.”
In an interview during which he detailed the essential fight strategy, Roger Mayweather acknowledged Mosley must attempt to use strength and aggression to derail the Mayweather box-pop-and-frustrate strategy, which has led the Grand Rapids native to a 40-0 record and the pinnacle of boxing.
“Shane don’t want it to be no boxing match,” he said. “If he wants a boxing match, that’s an easier fight for Floyd. Shane has to keep the fight physical. His job is to keep on top of Floyd and keep that pressure on him, and hopefully, Floyd will wilt. That’s what he has to do.”
What Roger Mayweather said he doesn’t know is how that occurs, given Mosley’s penchant for wide punches, against one of few fighters capable of matching his speed.
Essentially, the trainer claims the fight comes down to how Mosley decides to use his jab: If Mosley pressures from behind the jab, Mayweather slides laterally and counters; if he bullrushes without the jab, he gets picked apart on his way inside.
“How does he cut Floyd off?” Roger Mayweather said. “He’s got to find some kind of tactic to stop Floyd from moving, stop Floyd from jabbing. I don’t know what his plan is.
“Trapping the guy, keeping the guy in the corner, keeping him where you want to keep him at -- it’s a hard thing to do, especially if you’re going to have to use the jab to do it. That’s why I say it’s a very difficult fight for Shane.”
Roger Mayweather, for one of the few times in his nephew’s career, does not completely discount the opponent. He said Mayweather-Mosley “will be a hell of a fight.”
But the aspects of Mosley’s skill set that people consider most daunting -- speed and power -- aren’t necessarily what Roger Mayweather said he has focused upon most.
“My thing is what he’s going to use to attack Floyd with,” he said. “What’s he going to use? If he’s going to use his jab, he’s got to trap Floyd some way. And if he traps Floyd, how’s he going to use his jab?
“Floyd’s got better boxing skills than anyone he’s been in with. So when people say, ‘Shane’s going to do this, Shane’s going to do that,’ it’s not about what Shane does. Floyd didn’t start boxing yesterday. He knows what he has to do. This is what boxing’s about.”
E-mail David Mayo at dmayo@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/David_Mayo
Source: mlive.com
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Naazim Richardson: Has He Given Shane Mosley the Blueprint to Beat Floyd Mayweather? -- AllHipHop
By Ismael AbduSalaam, AllHipHop.com
40 have tried, 40 have failed. Undefeated fighter Floyd Mayweather, Jr has been found of that quote in recent weeks assessing his May 1 showdown with Shane Mosley. But Mosley trainer Naazim Richardson has spent the last several years specializing in destroying the mystique of feared and previously undefeated fighters like Kelly Pavlik and Antonio Margarito. In Mayweather, the man known in boxing circles as Brother Naazim recognizes his greatest challenge as a trainer, but also sees a delusional, arrogant man weeks away from a brutal reality check.
In this exclusive and thorough interview with AllHipHop.com, Naazim Richardson lays out his thoughts on everything: from Mayweather-Mosley, to Ray Robinson’s chances in today’s welterweight division, and whether Antonio Margarito should ever be allowed in the ring again.
AllHipHop.com: There been a lot of criticism regarding the Hopkins-Jones rematch, but more so at Hopkins’ antics. How would you rate both their performances?
Naazim Richardson: I wasn’t in favor of the fight from the beginning, because there was nothing Bernard can do to win favor. If you kill Roy they’re going to call you a bully, and if he goes the distance then they’re going to start questioning your mortality in the sport. To me it was a lose-lose situation. But I also thought he has been in the sport long enough where he’s entitled to clean up some personal residue, which is why I supported him in his effort.
I thought he dominated and initiated all the exchanges as I felt he would. Unfortunately he got hit in the back of the head, and in boxing when you’re hit there no one ever feels it’s authentic [the reaction]. They think you’re exaggerating. The trip the hospital was for observation, and luckily everything was negative and he was released.
AllHipHop.com: Based on how he’s been carrying the weight at light-heavyweight, do you think his goal to move up to heavyweight to face David Haye is realistic?
Richardson: I feel if Bernard can hold some weight on his body, then he can outbox David Haye. But I question if he can hold the weight. Bernard’s metabolism is in training he starts cutting and dropping weight immediately. And he’s not even a big light-heavyweight. I force him to keep weight on him for camp to be ready for light-heavyweight. But his boxing IQ is tremendous, and he does better with punchers than any other type of style.
But in my personal opinion, and I’ve told him this, that he’s done everything there is to do in the sport of boxing except lose badly. And I’ve told him leave the sport before you’ve done everything in it.
AllHipHop.com: There’s been a persistent rumor that Shane hasn’t looked too good in sparring. Can you verify his progress at this point?
Richardson: He’s doing fine in camp. [Pauses] I’ve never been impressed with Shane as a sparring partner. But his [great] ability is following the path we’ve worked on. Now he just has to complete the task on the night of fight.
AllHipHop.com: Was there any worry about him overtraining since he already had a full camp for the canceled Andre Berto fight, and now had to do everything over for Mayweather? Is that a real concern due to Mosley’s age?
Richardson: I know he’ll be ok because he’s been going in the sport for so long. It’s been 16 months since he last fought, and if people pay attention he was off for another year prior to the Margarito fight. So it’s been about 3 years and this guy is only having his second fight! He’ll be fine.
AllHipHop.com: Let’s run a Mayweather strategy by you. He said recently that he was going to make Mosley “think” in there, implying a criticism of many that Shane cannot adjust in the ring as the fight develops. Is that something you’ve been working on to improve with Shane as Mayweather will no doubt switch up in the fight?
Richardson: The whole thing about a fighter like Mayweather is you can’t assume there would be one mode of attack anyway. My assumption that I told Shane is I predict that he hits Floyd with a right hand, and Mayweather grows wings with fangs out his mouth like a dragon. And when he turns into a dragon I’m going to tell Shane to move laterally so that the fireballs don’t hit you, step on his tail, and drive shots to the body. Meaning even if he turns into a dragon we’re not going to surrender the fight. We’ll let the audience run out the dag on theater.
I’m going that deep as far as adaption for this fight in the ring.
AllHipHop.com: Another favorite Mayweather quote is that since he’s undefeated, there’s no blueprint to beating him and he has no weaknesses. But watching him for his whole career as a trainer, what do you feel are his weakest points?
Richardson: The thing is this, the only being that is flawless is God Allah, and any man that feels as though they are flawless thinks they are God. And any man who thinks they are God is a pure fool. And that speaks for itself.
When I was a young man, I saw Ray Robinson lose, and I saw Muhammad Ali lose. I was like yo; that was my awakening that anyone can come up short in this game. What people fail to realize is that with Shane Mosley, Mayweather goes on and on about the blueprint, but you can have a blueprint to stop a lion and that doesn’t mean you can stop one! I feel that after Shane beats him, there still won’t be a blueprint to beat Floyd, because unless you’re Shane Mosley you can’t do it.
Mayweather is verbally cute. He talks so much, that people underestimate him, because normally people who talk that much can’t fight that well. I’ve known him since the amateurs, and he’s always talked like that. I videotaped him talking like that before the Olympics, and he went in there and lost.
He’s a tremendous fighter, but he’s still a young man. Becoming educated is how you become an older man. So there’s still a lot for Floyd Mayweather to learn.
AllHipHop.com: The Olympic style drug testing is underway. Do you think this will be a major distraction for the fighters?
Richardson: Nah, it won’t be a problem. It’s more hoopla. Floyd needs as much attention as he can before a fight because he tells you he’s an entertainer. That’s why he does 24/7, because he’s more entertaining there than when he fights. You’ll pay to see Floyd hit the pads before you’ll pay to see him fight! Pad work with him and Roger is more exciting than the actual fight.
You never saw Mike Tyson put on fake armor or wearing crocodile trunks. Because in the center of the ring Mike Tyson was entertaining. He put guys on their backs and we got our entertainment out of him. Tyson’s entertainment was cracking you upside the head and laying you out. All the extra is needed for Floyd to give people and reporters something to talk about. More questions for people to ask him and he can bark more.
AllHipHop.com: Just based on what you’ve seen, do you think steroids are a big problem in boxing?
Richardson: Like most sports you see a bunch of guys around the athletes, and no one has been able to figure out why. Why you need your lawyer in the ring at fight time? But it happens. Everybody wants to be a part of the big fight.
I got reporters calling and telling me how I should fight Floyd. [chuckles] This guy’s a reporter! He’s telling me he’s studied Floyd for weeks and I should do this and that. You get people stopping me in the casinos about how I should fight Roy Jones. It gets ridiculous, but when you’re around that much energy you’ll get vibes.
After the fight if there’s a knockout there’s always some guy in the winner’s dressing room saying “I knew he would knock him out that round.” And I say well damn, we didn’t need to go to camp if you knew it would be the left hook! So you get fitness trainers that want to get involved and be the ones who made the fighter stronger and faster. They get overzealous, and the next thing you know they’re rubbing something on your ass you don’t need! Everybody is looking for that edge.
You have to recognize who is in your circle. Shane has a private gym, and you [still] got rumors about his sparring. So how does that get out? So either someone is full of s**tand just saying things or someone has a cell phone and is running their mouth after camp with their opinions. I wouldn’t believe anyone telling me what’s going on in Floyd’s camp. Fight night we’ll see who has the best game plan.
AllHipHop.com: Antonio Margarito will be fighting in boxing since he can’t get reinstated in the United States. Do you believe as many do that he should be banned permanently from the sport considering what happened with Luis Resto and Billy Collins in the 80s?
Richardson: You can’t ask me because I’m biased. If the joker tried to hit my son with a car, even though he missed, you can’t have me on that jury ‘because I know what I’m going to say. We have to ask what might have happened if he would’ve gotten through with those blocks in his hands. Shane has little kids, and how would it have looked seeing him lain out or with a hole in his head? Miguel Cotto got a hole in his head. That ain’t a cut, it’s a hole! I thought he’d do good in the Pacquiao fight, but I picked Pacquiao because of that hole in Cotto’s head.
AllHipHop.com: You’re also training cruiserweight Steve Cunningham. His scheduled fight last month was canceled due to Don King not being able to come to terms with ESPN. How has he been holding up with this layoff?
Richardson: They put it on Don [King]. He played a part in it. Main Events picked up the fight and it was going to Chicago. But then Matt Godfrey said he missed two days of training and said he wasn’t ready for the fight. I had the pleasure of working with Matt Godfrey before. So it didn’t come down to Don, it was saved by Main Events.
But Steve is a professional. He’s never been discouraged by any stops in his career. He doesn’t fall apart. Unfortunately when he was under Don he fought very little. None of these things are going to distract him. When the fight fell out we were still in the gym training and preparing for the next day. I told him to take some time off and he got a little mad at me because I didn’t want him even running. He’s driving his wife crazy now, but he’s coming back soon to help out some other guys.
AllHipHop.com: There have been Muslim boxers throughout the history of the sport. You had some who were outspoken about it like Muhammad Ali, Naseem Hamed, and Dwight Muhammad Qawi. And you have others who are more subdued about it like Amir Khan. How has Islam helped your approach to the sport of boxing?
Richardson: Islam allows me to understand my identity of whom and what I am, and not let the nonsense restructure my thoughts and ideas. When they cut the cameras on I won’t turn into a buffoon. It’s hard not to, but I won’t let boxing turn me into something I’m not. On 24/7, I saw nothing but Floyd Mayweather Sr. and Freddie Roach going back and forth. I thought they were going to pick up gloves on an episode! I told 24/7 you can keep that with me. I don’t want the camera in my face every time I’m talking to my athletes.
AllHipHop.com: Why do you think they’re trying to make celebrities out of the trainers? For the last few years this has gone on from Buddy McGirt to now Freddie Roach.
Richardson: The trainers stick around longer in the game then the boxers. If they can make them celebrities, they can run it out longer. A lot us fought before, so those who didn’t get the limelight as boxers now see their chance to get it. These guys want it! Some of them want to step out and push the fighter to the side. I don’t knock them, that’s what they do, but I’m not interested. The athlete is the prime principal, and has to carry out the game plan. It goes back even further than Buddy McGirt. They did it with Cus D’Amato.
We’re the only sport that we disrespect each other as trainers and fighters. I just read an article with James Toney attacking Bernard’s performance in the Jones rematch. He’s talking about Bernard’s mother and all kinds of stuff. I understand that Toney is trying to get back on television, I get it. But then we wonder why we can’t get respect.
You don’t hear George Karl telling Phil Jackson “you’re only winning because you got Kobe [Bryant].” You don’t hear that type of nonsense. It just embarrasses us and says you are not getting enough attention on your own and need to stand on somebody else to be seen. I don’t want that, I want to just do the work and what God has planned for me. These guys, it’s just foolishness.
When Margarito has illegal hand wraps it is a black eye on all of us. It’s not just an embarrassment to Margarito; it’s embarrassment to all of us.
You’ve been writing on boxing for awhile. I was so tired a few years back when people would say “you train boxers? I hope you’re not training them to bite ears off!” I was like oh lord, I wish I could change what happened with Tyson myself I was so sick of hearing about it. It made us all look bad. That was the position we were put in.
We don’t realize we’re all under the same umbrella. You see, Muhammad Ali did something we call now trash talking. But he had flair and was charismatic in the way he went about that. Now everybody think they can do it to sell some extra tickets. Mayweather likes to run his mouth but it’s only his opinion.
He likes to run off about PPV numbers like people pay to watch him shadowbox! Those numbers are because Oscar De La Hoya and other guys were across the ring from you! He makes it sound likes it’s just his numbers. Akh if you had clout like that you never would have gotten voted off Dancing with the Stars. You would’ve won the show with just your boxing fans and blew everyone off the show. But you got voted off quite quickly. But that’s neither here nor there.
Floyd knows his audience; he got the barbershop and Hip-Hop audience, the young boys on the corner. A lot of them don’t check things on details. If you say something they buy it as true. You’re dealing with that young media audience that doesn’t do a lot of investigating. You keep saying something loud enough people take it as true. So the IRS can be on your ass, but you get on TV and say “my stuff is paid for, how about yours,” and no one is going to look up income taxes. They’ll go to YouTube.
But this is boxing, the sport we signed up for; the good, the bad, everything rolled into one. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love the sport.
AllHipHop.com: Floyd is fighting the Sugar of his generation, and awhile back I asked him how he would do with the previous Sugars in Ray Robinson and Ray Leonard. He was very respectful of Robinson but laid into Leonard, claiming he lost to his lightweight challenge in Roberto Duran. At the same time, Floyd said he dominated his lightweight moving up. As a trainer who’s seen both, how do you think they’d match up with Floyd or other guys today at welterweight?
Richardson: Ray Robinson you can’t even do because that’s another generation. This is the microwave era. Ray Robinson and them came from an era that was first and second generation poor. These guys were fighting because they were hungry; these weren’t spoiled kids with $400 video games and $100 sneakers. They didn’t come from that era. Those cats would’ve blown most of these guys [today] out of the water with their desire and hunger alone.
Ray Leonard is a talent that would be a problem in any era. He could punch good, great hand speed and boxing IQ.
Floyd knows what he’s doing. Muhammad Ali called himself great before he even knew he was. How many people have we called great who didn’t call themselves that first? So Floyd is just following what history has shown. If he can protect his undefeated record, he can say “Ray Robinson was great but I am greater. How many fights did he lose?” This is his goal.
It’s not a bad plan; so far it worked out for him. I think it was genius when he retired. If he would’ve beat Cotto that would’ve said fight Margarito. If he beats Margarito they say fight Kermit Cintron. If he beats Cintron they say fight Shane Mosley. He beats Mosley they say fight Paul Williams. And that was just a little too much for him to run down. So if I retire and let these killers fight each other, I can pick up the leftovers. Because you couldn’t pull Margarito on top of this dude!
Bob Arum used to disrespect him with Margarito. He used to be like “Hey b***h you ain’t number 1, I got Margarito!” And Floyd would turn his head and start talking about basketball. Like he never heard of him, because he knew Margarito had the kind of chin where he would just walk through whatever he was doing. If he sat on the ropes Margarito would just walk through that shit. If you can’t hurt Margarito you can’t beat Margarito! And Floyd knew he couldn’t beat or hurt him.
Nobody really wanted to fight Margarito. And after Shane blew him out, nobody really wanted to fight Shane. But Mayweather’s perspective makes sense in saying “I’ll take a chance with a man that can hurt me, and I can keep myself from getting hurt, opposed to a man I cannot hurt at all.” People said Margarito was one-dimensional. We can sit on a train track and know the train is coming the same way, but stand your ass on the track and what still happens? That’s what Margarito was.
AllHipHop.com: This has been a great interview, Naazim. Any closing thoughts?
Richardson: I will say this. You have good fighters, then you have champions, then you have elite champions, and finally fighters who are special. This is the rare time we will see two fighters who are special. They got past the elites in the Margaritos and Ricky Hattons. Both have special fighters on their resume in Oscar De La Hoya. Floyd is an undefeated special fighter, which Shane has faced before.
I have a great deal of respect for both. All special guys are what I call misleading fighters. Hopkins talks so much s**tyou forget he’s more technical than gorilla. All that prison, gangsta talk misleads you. Pacquiao they call him small like he’s 4 feet tall. But when you get in the ring you realize he ain’t that small! Mayweather, all that s**ttalking you think you can hit him right in the mouth. But he isn’t that easy to hit. Mosley, he looks like he should be selling you car insurance with all that smiling, but he’s a gorilla.
Pioneers don’t need blueprints, Floyd. Muhammad Ali and Wilt Chamberlain didn’t need them. There was none on Margarito. That’s how the world works. We’re up for the task. It won’t be easy. But if it was, anyone could do it.
Writer’s Note: Mayweather-Mosley is live on HBO PPV May 1. The next 24/7 Mayweather-Mosley is this Saturday (April 17 ) at 9:30PM.
Source: allhiphop.com
40 have tried, 40 have failed. Undefeated fighter Floyd Mayweather, Jr has been found of that quote in recent weeks assessing his May 1 showdown with Shane Mosley. But Mosley trainer Naazim Richardson has spent the last several years specializing in destroying the mystique of feared and previously undefeated fighters like Kelly Pavlik and Antonio Margarito. In Mayweather, the man known in boxing circles as Brother Naazim recognizes his greatest challenge as a trainer, but also sees a delusional, arrogant man weeks away from a brutal reality check.
In this exclusive and thorough interview with AllHipHop.com, Naazim Richardson lays out his thoughts on everything: from Mayweather-Mosley, to Ray Robinson’s chances in today’s welterweight division, and whether Antonio Margarito should ever be allowed in the ring again.
AllHipHop.com: There been a lot of criticism regarding the Hopkins-Jones rematch, but more so at Hopkins’ antics. How would you rate both their performances?
Naazim Richardson: I wasn’t in favor of the fight from the beginning, because there was nothing Bernard can do to win favor. If you kill Roy they’re going to call you a bully, and if he goes the distance then they’re going to start questioning your mortality in the sport. To me it was a lose-lose situation. But I also thought he has been in the sport long enough where he’s entitled to clean up some personal residue, which is why I supported him in his effort.
I thought he dominated and initiated all the exchanges as I felt he would. Unfortunately he got hit in the back of the head, and in boxing when you’re hit there no one ever feels it’s authentic [the reaction]. They think you’re exaggerating. The trip the hospital was for observation, and luckily everything was negative and he was released.
AllHipHop.com: Based on how he’s been carrying the weight at light-heavyweight, do you think his goal to move up to heavyweight to face David Haye is realistic?
Richardson: I feel if Bernard can hold some weight on his body, then he can outbox David Haye. But I question if he can hold the weight. Bernard’s metabolism is in training he starts cutting and dropping weight immediately. And he’s not even a big light-heavyweight. I force him to keep weight on him for camp to be ready for light-heavyweight. But his boxing IQ is tremendous, and he does better with punchers than any other type of style.
But in my personal opinion, and I’ve told him this, that he’s done everything there is to do in the sport of boxing except lose badly. And I’ve told him leave the sport before you’ve done everything in it.
AllHipHop.com: There’s been a persistent rumor that Shane hasn’t looked too good in sparring. Can you verify his progress at this point?
Richardson: He’s doing fine in camp. [Pauses] I’ve never been impressed with Shane as a sparring partner. But his [great] ability is following the path we’ve worked on. Now he just has to complete the task on the night of fight.
AllHipHop.com: Was there any worry about him overtraining since he already had a full camp for the canceled Andre Berto fight, and now had to do everything over for Mayweather? Is that a real concern due to Mosley’s age?
Richardson: I know he’ll be ok because he’s been going in the sport for so long. It’s been 16 months since he last fought, and if people pay attention he was off for another year prior to the Margarito fight. So it’s been about 3 years and this guy is only having his second fight! He’ll be fine.
AllHipHop.com: Let’s run a Mayweather strategy by you. He said recently that he was going to make Mosley “think” in there, implying a criticism of many that Shane cannot adjust in the ring as the fight develops. Is that something you’ve been working on to improve with Shane as Mayweather will no doubt switch up in the fight?
Richardson: The whole thing about a fighter like Mayweather is you can’t assume there would be one mode of attack anyway. My assumption that I told Shane is I predict that he hits Floyd with a right hand, and Mayweather grows wings with fangs out his mouth like a dragon. And when he turns into a dragon I’m going to tell Shane to move laterally so that the fireballs don’t hit you, step on his tail, and drive shots to the body. Meaning even if he turns into a dragon we’re not going to surrender the fight. We’ll let the audience run out the dag on theater.
I’m going that deep as far as adaption for this fight in the ring.
AllHipHop.com: Another favorite Mayweather quote is that since he’s undefeated, there’s no blueprint to beating him and he has no weaknesses. But watching him for his whole career as a trainer, what do you feel are his weakest points?
Richardson: The thing is this, the only being that is flawless is God Allah, and any man that feels as though they are flawless thinks they are God. And any man who thinks they are God is a pure fool. And that speaks for itself.
When I was a young man, I saw Ray Robinson lose, and I saw Muhammad Ali lose. I was like yo; that was my awakening that anyone can come up short in this game. What people fail to realize is that with Shane Mosley, Mayweather goes on and on about the blueprint, but you can have a blueprint to stop a lion and that doesn’t mean you can stop one! I feel that after Shane beats him, there still won’t be a blueprint to beat Floyd, because unless you’re Shane Mosley you can’t do it.
Mayweather is verbally cute. He talks so much, that people underestimate him, because normally people who talk that much can’t fight that well. I’ve known him since the amateurs, and he’s always talked like that. I videotaped him talking like that before the Olympics, and he went in there and lost.
He’s a tremendous fighter, but he’s still a young man. Becoming educated is how you become an older man. So there’s still a lot for Floyd Mayweather to learn.
AllHipHop.com: The Olympic style drug testing is underway. Do you think this will be a major distraction for the fighters?
Richardson: Nah, it won’t be a problem. It’s more hoopla. Floyd needs as much attention as he can before a fight because he tells you he’s an entertainer. That’s why he does 24/7, because he’s more entertaining there than when he fights. You’ll pay to see Floyd hit the pads before you’ll pay to see him fight! Pad work with him and Roger is more exciting than the actual fight.
You never saw Mike Tyson put on fake armor or wearing crocodile trunks. Because in the center of the ring Mike Tyson was entertaining. He put guys on their backs and we got our entertainment out of him. Tyson’s entertainment was cracking you upside the head and laying you out. All the extra is needed for Floyd to give people and reporters something to talk about. More questions for people to ask him and he can bark more.
AllHipHop.com: Just based on what you’ve seen, do you think steroids are a big problem in boxing?
Richardson: Like most sports you see a bunch of guys around the athletes, and no one has been able to figure out why. Why you need your lawyer in the ring at fight time? But it happens. Everybody wants to be a part of the big fight.
I got reporters calling and telling me how I should fight Floyd. [chuckles] This guy’s a reporter! He’s telling me he’s studied Floyd for weeks and I should do this and that. You get people stopping me in the casinos about how I should fight Roy Jones. It gets ridiculous, but when you’re around that much energy you’ll get vibes.
After the fight if there’s a knockout there’s always some guy in the winner’s dressing room saying “I knew he would knock him out that round.” And I say well damn, we didn’t need to go to camp if you knew it would be the left hook! So you get fitness trainers that want to get involved and be the ones who made the fighter stronger and faster. They get overzealous, and the next thing you know they’re rubbing something on your ass you don’t need! Everybody is looking for that edge.
You have to recognize who is in your circle. Shane has a private gym, and you [still] got rumors about his sparring. So how does that get out? So either someone is full of s**tand just saying things or someone has a cell phone and is running their mouth after camp with their opinions. I wouldn’t believe anyone telling me what’s going on in Floyd’s camp. Fight night we’ll see who has the best game plan.
AllHipHop.com: Antonio Margarito will be fighting in boxing since he can’t get reinstated in the United States. Do you believe as many do that he should be banned permanently from the sport considering what happened with Luis Resto and Billy Collins in the 80s?
Richardson: You can’t ask me because I’m biased. If the joker tried to hit my son with a car, even though he missed, you can’t have me on that jury ‘because I know what I’m going to say. We have to ask what might have happened if he would’ve gotten through with those blocks in his hands. Shane has little kids, and how would it have looked seeing him lain out or with a hole in his head? Miguel Cotto got a hole in his head. That ain’t a cut, it’s a hole! I thought he’d do good in the Pacquiao fight, but I picked Pacquiao because of that hole in Cotto’s head.
AllHipHop.com: You’re also training cruiserweight Steve Cunningham. His scheduled fight last month was canceled due to Don King not being able to come to terms with ESPN. How has he been holding up with this layoff?
Richardson: They put it on Don [King]. He played a part in it. Main Events picked up the fight and it was going to Chicago. But then Matt Godfrey said he missed two days of training and said he wasn’t ready for the fight. I had the pleasure of working with Matt Godfrey before. So it didn’t come down to Don, it was saved by Main Events.
But Steve is a professional. He’s never been discouraged by any stops in his career. He doesn’t fall apart. Unfortunately when he was under Don he fought very little. None of these things are going to distract him. When the fight fell out we were still in the gym training and preparing for the next day. I told him to take some time off and he got a little mad at me because I didn’t want him even running. He’s driving his wife crazy now, but he’s coming back soon to help out some other guys.
AllHipHop.com: There have been Muslim boxers throughout the history of the sport. You had some who were outspoken about it like Muhammad Ali, Naseem Hamed, and Dwight Muhammad Qawi. And you have others who are more subdued about it like Amir Khan. How has Islam helped your approach to the sport of boxing?
Richardson: Islam allows me to understand my identity of whom and what I am, and not let the nonsense restructure my thoughts and ideas. When they cut the cameras on I won’t turn into a buffoon. It’s hard not to, but I won’t let boxing turn me into something I’m not. On 24/7, I saw nothing but Floyd Mayweather Sr. and Freddie Roach going back and forth. I thought they were going to pick up gloves on an episode! I told 24/7 you can keep that with me. I don’t want the camera in my face every time I’m talking to my athletes.
AllHipHop.com: Why do you think they’re trying to make celebrities out of the trainers? For the last few years this has gone on from Buddy McGirt to now Freddie Roach.
Richardson: The trainers stick around longer in the game then the boxers. If they can make them celebrities, they can run it out longer. A lot us fought before, so those who didn’t get the limelight as boxers now see their chance to get it. These guys want it! Some of them want to step out and push the fighter to the side. I don’t knock them, that’s what they do, but I’m not interested. The athlete is the prime principal, and has to carry out the game plan. It goes back even further than Buddy McGirt. They did it with Cus D’Amato.
We’re the only sport that we disrespect each other as trainers and fighters. I just read an article with James Toney attacking Bernard’s performance in the Jones rematch. He’s talking about Bernard’s mother and all kinds of stuff. I understand that Toney is trying to get back on television, I get it. But then we wonder why we can’t get respect.
You don’t hear George Karl telling Phil Jackson “you’re only winning because you got Kobe [Bryant].” You don’t hear that type of nonsense. It just embarrasses us and says you are not getting enough attention on your own and need to stand on somebody else to be seen. I don’t want that, I want to just do the work and what God has planned for me. These guys, it’s just foolishness.
When Margarito has illegal hand wraps it is a black eye on all of us. It’s not just an embarrassment to Margarito; it’s embarrassment to all of us.
You’ve been writing on boxing for awhile. I was so tired a few years back when people would say “you train boxers? I hope you’re not training them to bite ears off!” I was like oh lord, I wish I could change what happened with Tyson myself I was so sick of hearing about it. It made us all look bad. That was the position we were put in.
We don’t realize we’re all under the same umbrella. You see, Muhammad Ali did something we call now trash talking. But he had flair and was charismatic in the way he went about that. Now everybody think they can do it to sell some extra tickets. Mayweather likes to run his mouth but it’s only his opinion.
He likes to run off about PPV numbers like people pay to watch him shadowbox! Those numbers are because Oscar De La Hoya and other guys were across the ring from you! He makes it sound likes it’s just his numbers. Akh if you had clout like that you never would have gotten voted off Dancing with the Stars. You would’ve won the show with just your boxing fans and blew everyone off the show. But you got voted off quite quickly. But that’s neither here nor there.
Floyd knows his audience; he got the barbershop and Hip-Hop audience, the young boys on the corner. A lot of them don’t check things on details. If you say something they buy it as true. You’re dealing with that young media audience that doesn’t do a lot of investigating. You keep saying something loud enough people take it as true. So the IRS can be on your ass, but you get on TV and say “my stuff is paid for, how about yours,” and no one is going to look up income taxes. They’ll go to YouTube.
But this is boxing, the sport we signed up for; the good, the bad, everything rolled into one. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love the sport.
AllHipHop.com: Floyd is fighting the Sugar of his generation, and awhile back I asked him how he would do with the previous Sugars in Ray Robinson and Ray Leonard. He was very respectful of Robinson but laid into Leonard, claiming he lost to his lightweight challenge in Roberto Duran. At the same time, Floyd said he dominated his lightweight moving up. As a trainer who’s seen both, how do you think they’d match up with Floyd or other guys today at welterweight?
Richardson: Ray Robinson you can’t even do because that’s another generation. This is the microwave era. Ray Robinson and them came from an era that was first and second generation poor. These guys were fighting because they were hungry; these weren’t spoiled kids with $400 video games and $100 sneakers. They didn’t come from that era. Those cats would’ve blown most of these guys [today] out of the water with their desire and hunger alone.
Ray Leonard is a talent that would be a problem in any era. He could punch good, great hand speed and boxing IQ.
Floyd knows what he’s doing. Muhammad Ali called himself great before he even knew he was. How many people have we called great who didn’t call themselves that first? So Floyd is just following what history has shown. If he can protect his undefeated record, he can say “Ray Robinson was great but I am greater. How many fights did he lose?” This is his goal.
It’s not a bad plan; so far it worked out for him. I think it was genius when he retired. If he would’ve beat Cotto that would’ve said fight Margarito. If he beats Margarito they say fight Kermit Cintron. If he beats Cintron they say fight Shane Mosley. He beats Mosley they say fight Paul Williams. And that was just a little too much for him to run down. So if I retire and let these killers fight each other, I can pick up the leftovers. Because you couldn’t pull Margarito on top of this dude!
Bob Arum used to disrespect him with Margarito. He used to be like “Hey b***h you ain’t number 1, I got Margarito!” And Floyd would turn his head and start talking about basketball. Like he never heard of him, because he knew Margarito had the kind of chin where he would just walk through whatever he was doing. If he sat on the ropes Margarito would just walk through that shit. If you can’t hurt Margarito you can’t beat Margarito! And Floyd knew he couldn’t beat or hurt him.
Nobody really wanted to fight Margarito. And after Shane blew him out, nobody really wanted to fight Shane. But Mayweather’s perspective makes sense in saying “I’ll take a chance with a man that can hurt me, and I can keep myself from getting hurt, opposed to a man I cannot hurt at all.” People said Margarito was one-dimensional. We can sit on a train track and know the train is coming the same way, but stand your ass on the track and what still happens? That’s what Margarito was.
AllHipHop.com: This has been a great interview, Naazim. Any closing thoughts?
Richardson: I will say this. You have good fighters, then you have champions, then you have elite champions, and finally fighters who are special. This is the rare time we will see two fighters who are special. They got past the elites in the Margaritos and Ricky Hattons. Both have special fighters on their resume in Oscar De La Hoya. Floyd is an undefeated special fighter, which Shane has faced before.
I have a great deal of respect for both. All special guys are what I call misleading fighters. Hopkins talks so much s**tyou forget he’s more technical than gorilla. All that prison, gangsta talk misleads you. Pacquiao they call him small like he’s 4 feet tall. But when you get in the ring you realize he ain’t that small! Mayweather, all that s**ttalking you think you can hit him right in the mouth. But he isn’t that easy to hit. Mosley, he looks like he should be selling you car insurance with all that smiling, but he’s a gorilla.
Pioneers don’t need blueprints, Floyd. Muhammad Ali and Wilt Chamberlain didn’t need them. There was none on Margarito. That’s how the world works. We’re up for the task. It won’t be easy. But if it was, anyone could do it.
Writer’s Note: Mayweather-Mosley is live on HBO PPV May 1. The next 24/7 Mayweather-Mosley is this Saturday (April 17 ) at 9:30PM.
Source: allhiphop.com
Six Myths Regarding Mayweather - Mosley: Why Shane Mosley Will Win -- Eastside Boxing
By Geoffrey Ciani, Eastside Boxing
“I think the intensity and the challenge that Shane brings into this fight is going to make Floyd Mayweather show his greatness or he could totally be dominated and look very inferior. He won’t be anywhere in between, he’ll go to one extreme or the other and I think that Shane may be the dark horse so to say in this whole situation because he could easily be a big threat and possibly beat Floyd and (Manny) Pacquiao.” —Emanuel Steward (from episode 65 of On the Ropes Boxing Radio)
Going into his bout with Antonio Margarito few observers were giving Sugar Shane Mosley much of a chance and not without good reason. After all, Miguel Cotto had already beaten Mosley and yet he looked powerless against the iron-jawed Mexican. Cotto hit him with everything but a baseball bat and was never able to neutralize the relentless pressure applied by Margarito. Following the fight, an aura of invincibility surrounded Margarito, and many felt Shane would suffer a similar fate as his promoter Oscar De La Hoya had when he was bludgeoned by Manny Pacquiao a month earlier. Not only were people refusing to give Shane a chance to win, the majority doubted whether he could even make it competitive..
Of course, Shane shocked everyone when he made easy work of Margarito and did the unthinkable—cracked Margarito’s granite chin and knocked him out. The subsequent controversy surrounding Margarito’s hand wraps has had a profound impact on Mosley’s brilliant performance. Instead of focusing on the fact that Mosley did what nobody before him could—stop Margarito—people focused on the plaster of Paris found on Margarito’s taped hands, but Margarito could have had bricks in his gloves and it would not have helped him against Mosley. Shane simply overwhelmed and dominated him without receiving his due credit. If anything, the biggest beneficiary of Shane’s victory was Miguel Cotto—the controversy caused most to speculate that Margarito had an unfair advantage when he beat Cotto. This tainted Margarito’s biggest win and raised questions about his entire career. Still, even if Margarito did have an illegal advantage, this had no bearing on Cotto’s inability to hurt Margarito. Mosley still did hurt him.
When Manny Pacquiao scored an impressive stoppage victory against Oscar De La Hoya, demand for a showdown between him and Floyd Mayweather followed. This was at a time when Floyd was still officially “retired”. Pacquiao’s subsequent victory over Ricky Hatton and Mayweather’s comeback win against Juan Manuel Marquez added fuel to the fire and by the time Pacquiao finished off Miguel Cotto, demand had reached an all time high. Meanwhile, Sugar Shane Mosley was stuck on the outside looking in. Pacquiao and trainer Freddie Roach seemed to have no interest in fighting Mosley, and Mayweather had not fought a legitimate threat at welterweight (with the possible exception of Zab Judah) since moving up into the weight class several years earlier. Despite being top dog, Mosley was in a position where he was literally left begging for a fight with Pacquiao or Mayweather. The collapse in negotiations between Pacquiao and Mayweather over Olympic style drug testing and the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the demise of a fight between Mosley and Andre Berto helped pave the way to a most unlikely encounter.
Mosley versus Mayweather was on!
Going into his bout with Floyd Mayweather few observers are giving Sugar Shane Mosley much of a chance. To be sure, a lot of people think this is going to be a tough fight for Mayweather and possibly his toughest to date, but in the end most expect Floyd to win. Their reasons for thinking such largely stem from six common myths which I will dispel in this article. In order to Mayweather to win he is going to have to perform at a new level and display the type of heart, courage, and risk-taking chances inside the ring that we are not accustomed to seeing from him. He is going to need to make great use his tremendous athleticism, in particular, he is going to need to control the fight with foot speed and movement and he is going to need to avoid any punishing blows for a full twelve rounds while reducing Mosley to landing no more than one punch at a time. As good as Floyd is, I do not believe he can succeed in doing this. Mosley is going to win. A lot of you will probably be surprised when this happens, but let us explore the popular myths going into this one.
Myth #1: Margarito was tailor made for Mosley
Since Mosley’s impressive victory a lot of observers say Maragrito was an ‘easy’ style match-up for Shane because Margarito was slow, plods forward, and lacks the defensive skill set required to trouble Mosley. Of course Shane was going to have a field day opening up and landing right hands at will. Hindsight is always 20-20, but the problem is—nobody was saying this before the fight. On the contrary, most assumed Margarito would wear Mosley down and outwork him down the stretch because nobody thought Mosley would be able to hurt Margarito.
Those favoring Mayweather are quick to mention that Floyd is much more elusive than the lumbering Margarito. This much is true. Mayweather presents an entirely different set of obstacles for Mosley. Mayweather is an extremely fast, super athletic, defense-oriented fighter who excels when he makes opponents miss and counter punches. He focuses on footwork, timing, reflexes, and ring intelligence whereas Margarito used durability, relentless pressure, and volume punching—the two are like day and night. The only thing Mosley’s fights with Margarito and Mayweather have in common is people counting him out during the lead-up.
Even though Mosley matches up well style-wise with Margarito, few people anticipated the dominant performance that unfolded because Shane has not looked that lively in the ring for many years. Nazim Richardson is the X-factor that a lot of people seem to be missing. Richardson and Mosley both share a deep passion for boxing which inherently makes them a good pairing. Richardson is a master strategist who not only understands how to create a brilliant fight strategy, but he also has the unique ability to motivate his fighters and bring out their best. The most important thing we learned from the Margarito fight is that Mosley was rejuvenated under the guidance of Richardson. Without Richardson in his corner, it is doubtful that Mosley would have performed anywhere near that level.
Myth #2: Mosley has trouble with defensive fighters
Those quick to dismiss Mosley’s victory over Margarito are also quick to point out that Mosley will never be able to land flush with any frequency against Mayweather. The most commonly cited reason for this is because Mosley ‘struggles’ with defensive fighters. The example everyone is quick to use draws parallels to Shane’s fight with Winky Wright. It is true, Wright is probably the best defensive fighter Mosley has ever faced and Winky gave Mosley hell both times they fought. Shane was simply unable to penetrate Winky’s guard effectively, and if he was unable to mount a successful offense against Winky, then naturally he is going to have more problems with Floyd because Mayweather is an even better defensive technician. This line of reasoning has two flaws.
First, even though Winky and Mayweather are both accurately described as ‘defensive fighters’, they both employ vastly different defensive techniques. Winky is an offensive-minded defensive fighter who presses forward behind an active jab. He utilizes a high guard and freakishly long forearms to block incoming fire. Mayweather, on the other hand, is more of a ‘make you miss’ type of defensive fighter. He often fights off the back foot while moving about the ring and making opponents miss by using head movement, upper body movement, and footwork. He is more apt to dodge, deflect, pick off, and role with punches. He is not an offensively-minded defensive fighter like Winky, and blocking punches with a high guard is not really his thing.
Also, the reality is that the main reason Mosley was so troubled by Winky had less to do with his defense and more to do with his natural size advantage. Despite having mixed success north of the welterweight division, Mosley was never truly built for that weight class and always had problems with the bigger, stronger guys. The important thing we learned from Mosley’s fights with Wright is not that Mosley struggles with defensive fighters, but that size can play a major factor in the outcome of a prize fight. It is rather ironic that Mayweather now finds himself in a similar position with Shane that Mosley was in with Winky. Shane is the naturally bigger fighter and his size advantage will trouble Mayweather much like Winky’s size troubled him.
Myth #3: Mosley has problems with good jabs
Mayweather supporters are quick to note that Mosley’s main problem in his five losses largely stemmed from effective jabbing by his opponents. Winky Wright, Vernon Forrest, and Miguel Cotto all worked behind a solid jab and this gave Mosley all sorts of trouble, especially against Wright and Forrest—two fighters who were stuck on the outside looking in until Mosley provided each with an opportunity. Those adhering to this train of thought believe Floyd will simply follow the blueprint established on beating Shane. After all, Mayweather has a good jab and is a better overall boxer and athlete than Forrest or Winky. If they had success with the jab, so too, should Mayweather.
The difference is, regardless of his superior athleticism and pedigree, Mayweather lacks the size and strength to jab as effectively as the aforementioned. Vernon Forrest was a tall, rangy fighter with good fundamentals and a powerful right hand. Winky Wright was a natural junior middleweight who was strong, and pressed forward behind a turtle shell defense. Both of these fighters had two things that Floyd lacks—superior size and strength. Mayweather is undoubtedly quicker than these two and perhaps even more accurate with his jab, but he never uses his jab to dominate a fight like either of those two. If anything, Mosley is the one whose jab can become a more important factor because he is the taller fight with the longer reach.
The most troublesome aspect of my argument derives from the fact Cotto was having success with his jab while boxing on the back foot against Shane, and unlike Winky and Forrest, he did not have a size advantage. There are, however, two points worth noting on this. One, the thing that Cotto does have in common with Winky and Forrest is that he was a great offensive fighter with good punching power. Cotto was able to gain Shane’s respect because he could punch hard and consistently applied pressure during his best moments. The other thing worth mentioning is that Mosley did not employ a smart fight plan in this one and Jack Mosley was particularly bad when it came to giving Shane advice and instructions in between rounds. This father/son trainer/boxer duo had already been growing dry for some time and that staleness in their collaborative efforts peaked the night Mosley fought Cotto. This time, however, Mosley will have Nazim to train him and there will be no issues with a subpar corner giving poor advice.
Myth #4: Mayweather is too fast for Mosley
There is no doubt that Mayweather is faster than Mosley. This, however, does not mean that Mosley is too slow for Mayweather. Speed is something that can be neutralized in a variety of ways. Mosley himself has lost to fighters he was faster than and a great way to neutralize speed is by jabbing and applying pressure. Floyd’s shoulder roll style defensive works well against smaller fighters and enables him to exploit amazing speed and quickness to his advantage. Against taller fighters, however, this does not work as effectively so Shane should be able to find the mark by reaching over Floyd and using his longer arms. Combined with good body punching, a nice left hook, and a great right hand, this should force Mayweather into a fight. It is also worth noting that Shane himself exhibited a good jab against Margarito and used it authoritatively.
Mayweather fans like to bring up the comparisons with Mosley’s fights against Forrest, Winky, and Cotto, but the more prevalent comparisons would be examining Mayweather’s fights with Oscar De La Hoya and Zab Judah. De La Hoya was very effective with his jab through the halfway point in his fight against Floyd. In fact, De La Hoya was winning the fight after six rounds almost exclusively with his jab. It was not until De La Hoya had his traditional fade down the stretch that Mayweather took control of the action. Zab Judah was giving Mayweather fits through four rounds of their fight, and his speed is on par with Shane’s. The problem for Judah was that once Mayweather began making adjustments, Judah was unwilling (or too stupid?) to make counter-adjustments and he just stuck with what was working for him earlier in the fight.
Mosley is not going to fade down the stretch like De La Hoya and he is not going to have the same problems counter-adjusting to Floyd’s adjustments like Judah. Instead, he will be able to combine the best of both worlds and do the things that enabled each man to have moments of success against Floyd—only Shane will be able to do those things for the full twelve rounds (if needed).
Myth #5: The long layoff will hurt Mosley
Mosley has not fought since January 2009. That means by the time Mosley enters the ring against Mayweather it will have been sixteen months since he was inside the squared circle. Sixteen month layoffs are never good. Making matters worse, the last time Mosley had a long layoff was prior to his fight with Ricardo Mayorga and a lot of observers site this as a sign of trouble ahead for Mosley because he did not look his best against Ricardo. It is important to remember, however, that Mayorga weighed in at 170 pounds on fight night. This fits in with the common theme about bigger fighters posing problems for Shane. It is also worth noting that Mayorga has always been the type of fighter who ran hot and cold, and against Mosley, Mayorga looked as motivated as we have seen him since his somewhat controversial decision loss against Cory Spinks after which he seemed to lose interest in boxing.
Ring rust should not be a huge factor in this fight. Not only is Mosley a gym rat who always stays in top physical condition, but he was also training hard for a January clash with Andre Berto. Mosley has been staying in good shape and with Nazim Richardson in charge of preparations it is a safe bet that we will see Mosley at his very best come May 1.
Myth #6: At 38, Mosley is too old to beat Mayweather
A lot is being made of Mosley’s age in this one. Many observers seem to feel that in a prime for prime sense, Mosley would defeat Mayweather but now that he is older, some say this will provide Floyd with an advantage too big to overcome. Remember, though, there is a long-storied history behind Mosley and Mayweather and after years of talk between the two camps the fight is finally happening. Mosley is the top dog at welterweight but was never given his due credit because of the unique circumstances surrounding Floyd’s return and Pacquiao’s amazing rise through the weight classes. To reiterate an earlier point, he was literally begging for a fight with either Pacquiao or Mayweather, and with Floyd—this is a fighter Mosley has wanted to prove himself against for a very long time. His obsession with Mayweather is eerily similar to the obsession that Bernard Hopkins and Antonio Tarver each had with Roy Jones.
Mosley may be physically older than Floyd, but he is better prepared to face adversity because he has continuously tested himself in battle against the best available. Since moving to welterweight, Floyd has done no such thing. His wins at welterweight were against the unheralded Carlos Baldomir (who despite being champion, was never viewed as an elite welterweight), the underachieving Zab Judah (who had already dropped a fight he should never have lost against Baldomir), the undersized Ricky Hatton (who was already proven too small for the division when he struggled badly with Luis Collazo), and the grossly undersized Juan Manuel Marquez (who had absolutely no business fighting a welterweight). These are the fighters Floyd faced after first making the jump to welterweight against Shambra Mitchell in November 2005! That’s nearly five years without a true challenge! The list of opponents he did not face during that duration is far more impressive than those he did.
Mosley will be the first legitimate threat Mayweather has ever faced at welterweight. While almost everyone is willing to admit that Mosley might well be Mayweather’s toughest fight to date, few seem willing to admit that Mayweather is ill-prepared to face adversity because of his refusal to prove himself against top welterweights in recent years. Now, Mayweather is finally testing himself against a top level fighter who is hungry and motivated. Mosley may be older, but unlike Floyd, he has always been willing to prove his greatness with the best and he has always dared to be great. This alone will provide another huge advantage for Shane on fight night.
Conclusion
Contrary to popular belief, Mosley was not begging for fights against Mayweather or Pacquiao because he wanted a payday. He was begging for those fights because he always wanted to prove his greatness by fighting the best available and Pacquiao and Mayweather are both widely perceived as the two best boxers in the world. Mosley is not a perfect fighter, and there are fighters out there who would give him trouble. He struggles with naturally bigger fighters who utilize their size and power while working behind a jab. Someone like Paul Williams would represent a very bad style match-up for Shane at this point in his career, but against Floyd, the style match-up actually favors Mosley when you look at the bigger picture. Mayweather is not going to be able to ‘exploit’ Shane with quickness and counter-punching the way many seem to believe. On the contrary, Mosley will present the same type of problem for Mayweather that guys like Winky and Forrest presented to him.
Shane Mosley is going to win this fight and he is going to do so in dominant fashion. There is a reason Mayweather has avoided elite level welterweights for nearly five years. He has always been reluctant to fight the best this division had to offer, and against Mosley, in order for him to win—he is going to need to fight at a level we have not seen him fight at some time and a level we have never seen him fight at north of the junior welterweight division. Mosley is going to force Mayweather into a fight, and when push comes to shove, Mayweather is not ready for a fight because he would much prefer to put on a boxing clinic against someone who poses no threat to him. Make no mistake, Mayweather did not want this fight with Mosley—he was backed into a corner after the collapse of failed negotiations with Pacquiao, and in order to save face he had no choice but to fight Sugar Shane.
The fans may clamor for a mega fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, but Mosley has something to say about that, and after Mosley beats Floyd and does so impressively, fans will soon be craving a fight between Mosley and Pacquiao—and that one will represent a dream fight for boxing fans.
Prediction: Mosley by mid to late round stoppage
***
To learn more about On the Ropes Boxing Radio please visit our website:
http://www.ontheropesboxingradio.com
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ciani@eastsideboxing.com
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http://www.eatthemushroom.com/mag
Source: eastsideboxing.com
“I think the intensity and the challenge that Shane brings into this fight is going to make Floyd Mayweather show his greatness or he could totally be dominated and look very inferior. He won’t be anywhere in between, he’ll go to one extreme or the other and I think that Shane may be the dark horse so to say in this whole situation because he could easily be a big threat and possibly beat Floyd and (Manny) Pacquiao.” —Emanuel Steward (from episode 65 of On the Ropes Boxing Radio)
Going into his bout with Antonio Margarito few observers were giving Sugar Shane Mosley much of a chance and not without good reason. After all, Miguel Cotto had already beaten Mosley and yet he looked powerless against the iron-jawed Mexican. Cotto hit him with everything but a baseball bat and was never able to neutralize the relentless pressure applied by Margarito. Following the fight, an aura of invincibility surrounded Margarito, and many felt Shane would suffer a similar fate as his promoter Oscar De La Hoya had when he was bludgeoned by Manny Pacquiao a month earlier. Not only were people refusing to give Shane a chance to win, the majority doubted whether he could even make it competitive..
Of course, Shane shocked everyone when he made easy work of Margarito and did the unthinkable—cracked Margarito’s granite chin and knocked him out. The subsequent controversy surrounding Margarito’s hand wraps has had a profound impact on Mosley’s brilliant performance. Instead of focusing on the fact that Mosley did what nobody before him could—stop Margarito—people focused on the plaster of Paris found on Margarito’s taped hands, but Margarito could have had bricks in his gloves and it would not have helped him against Mosley. Shane simply overwhelmed and dominated him without receiving his due credit. If anything, the biggest beneficiary of Shane’s victory was Miguel Cotto—the controversy caused most to speculate that Margarito had an unfair advantage when he beat Cotto. This tainted Margarito’s biggest win and raised questions about his entire career. Still, even if Margarito did have an illegal advantage, this had no bearing on Cotto’s inability to hurt Margarito. Mosley still did hurt him.
When Manny Pacquiao scored an impressive stoppage victory against Oscar De La Hoya, demand for a showdown between him and Floyd Mayweather followed. This was at a time when Floyd was still officially “retired”. Pacquiao’s subsequent victory over Ricky Hatton and Mayweather’s comeback win against Juan Manuel Marquez added fuel to the fire and by the time Pacquiao finished off Miguel Cotto, demand had reached an all time high. Meanwhile, Sugar Shane Mosley was stuck on the outside looking in. Pacquiao and trainer Freddie Roach seemed to have no interest in fighting Mosley, and Mayweather had not fought a legitimate threat at welterweight (with the possible exception of Zab Judah) since moving up into the weight class several years earlier. Despite being top dog, Mosley was in a position where he was literally left begging for a fight with Pacquiao or Mayweather. The collapse in negotiations between Pacquiao and Mayweather over Olympic style drug testing and the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the demise of a fight between Mosley and Andre Berto helped pave the way to a most unlikely encounter.
Mosley versus Mayweather was on!
Going into his bout with Floyd Mayweather few observers are giving Sugar Shane Mosley much of a chance. To be sure, a lot of people think this is going to be a tough fight for Mayweather and possibly his toughest to date, but in the end most expect Floyd to win. Their reasons for thinking such largely stem from six common myths which I will dispel in this article. In order to Mayweather to win he is going to have to perform at a new level and display the type of heart, courage, and risk-taking chances inside the ring that we are not accustomed to seeing from him. He is going to need to make great use his tremendous athleticism, in particular, he is going to need to control the fight with foot speed and movement and he is going to need to avoid any punishing blows for a full twelve rounds while reducing Mosley to landing no more than one punch at a time. As good as Floyd is, I do not believe he can succeed in doing this. Mosley is going to win. A lot of you will probably be surprised when this happens, but let us explore the popular myths going into this one.
Myth #1: Margarito was tailor made for Mosley
Since Mosley’s impressive victory a lot of observers say Maragrito was an ‘easy’ style match-up for Shane because Margarito was slow, plods forward, and lacks the defensive skill set required to trouble Mosley. Of course Shane was going to have a field day opening up and landing right hands at will. Hindsight is always 20-20, but the problem is—nobody was saying this before the fight. On the contrary, most assumed Margarito would wear Mosley down and outwork him down the stretch because nobody thought Mosley would be able to hurt Margarito.
Those favoring Mayweather are quick to mention that Floyd is much more elusive than the lumbering Margarito. This much is true. Mayweather presents an entirely different set of obstacles for Mosley. Mayweather is an extremely fast, super athletic, defense-oriented fighter who excels when he makes opponents miss and counter punches. He focuses on footwork, timing, reflexes, and ring intelligence whereas Margarito used durability, relentless pressure, and volume punching—the two are like day and night. The only thing Mosley’s fights with Margarito and Mayweather have in common is people counting him out during the lead-up.
Even though Mosley matches up well style-wise with Margarito, few people anticipated the dominant performance that unfolded because Shane has not looked that lively in the ring for many years. Nazim Richardson is the X-factor that a lot of people seem to be missing. Richardson and Mosley both share a deep passion for boxing which inherently makes them a good pairing. Richardson is a master strategist who not only understands how to create a brilliant fight strategy, but he also has the unique ability to motivate his fighters and bring out their best. The most important thing we learned from the Margarito fight is that Mosley was rejuvenated under the guidance of Richardson. Without Richardson in his corner, it is doubtful that Mosley would have performed anywhere near that level.
Myth #2: Mosley has trouble with defensive fighters
Those quick to dismiss Mosley’s victory over Margarito are also quick to point out that Mosley will never be able to land flush with any frequency against Mayweather. The most commonly cited reason for this is because Mosley ‘struggles’ with defensive fighters. The example everyone is quick to use draws parallels to Shane’s fight with Winky Wright. It is true, Wright is probably the best defensive fighter Mosley has ever faced and Winky gave Mosley hell both times they fought. Shane was simply unable to penetrate Winky’s guard effectively, and if he was unable to mount a successful offense against Winky, then naturally he is going to have more problems with Floyd because Mayweather is an even better defensive technician. This line of reasoning has two flaws.
First, even though Winky and Mayweather are both accurately described as ‘defensive fighters’, they both employ vastly different defensive techniques. Winky is an offensive-minded defensive fighter who presses forward behind an active jab. He utilizes a high guard and freakishly long forearms to block incoming fire. Mayweather, on the other hand, is more of a ‘make you miss’ type of defensive fighter. He often fights off the back foot while moving about the ring and making opponents miss by using head movement, upper body movement, and footwork. He is more apt to dodge, deflect, pick off, and role with punches. He is not an offensively-minded defensive fighter like Winky, and blocking punches with a high guard is not really his thing.
Also, the reality is that the main reason Mosley was so troubled by Winky had less to do with his defense and more to do with his natural size advantage. Despite having mixed success north of the welterweight division, Mosley was never truly built for that weight class and always had problems with the bigger, stronger guys. The important thing we learned from Mosley’s fights with Wright is not that Mosley struggles with defensive fighters, but that size can play a major factor in the outcome of a prize fight. It is rather ironic that Mayweather now finds himself in a similar position with Shane that Mosley was in with Winky. Shane is the naturally bigger fighter and his size advantage will trouble Mayweather much like Winky’s size troubled him.
Myth #3: Mosley has problems with good jabs
Mayweather supporters are quick to note that Mosley’s main problem in his five losses largely stemmed from effective jabbing by his opponents. Winky Wright, Vernon Forrest, and Miguel Cotto all worked behind a solid jab and this gave Mosley all sorts of trouble, especially against Wright and Forrest—two fighters who were stuck on the outside looking in until Mosley provided each with an opportunity. Those adhering to this train of thought believe Floyd will simply follow the blueprint established on beating Shane. After all, Mayweather has a good jab and is a better overall boxer and athlete than Forrest or Winky. If they had success with the jab, so too, should Mayweather.
The difference is, regardless of his superior athleticism and pedigree, Mayweather lacks the size and strength to jab as effectively as the aforementioned. Vernon Forrest was a tall, rangy fighter with good fundamentals and a powerful right hand. Winky Wright was a natural junior middleweight who was strong, and pressed forward behind a turtle shell defense. Both of these fighters had two things that Floyd lacks—superior size and strength. Mayweather is undoubtedly quicker than these two and perhaps even more accurate with his jab, but he never uses his jab to dominate a fight like either of those two. If anything, Mosley is the one whose jab can become a more important factor because he is the taller fight with the longer reach.
The most troublesome aspect of my argument derives from the fact Cotto was having success with his jab while boxing on the back foot against Shane, and unlike Winky and Forrest, he did not have a size advantage. There are, however, two points worth noting on this. One, the thing that Cotto does have in common with Winky and Forrest is that he was a great offensive fighter with good punching power. Cotto was able to gain Shane’s respect because he could punch hard and consistently applied pressure during his best moments. The other thing worth mentioning is that Mosley did not employ a smart fight plan in this one and Jack Mosley was particularly bad when it came to giving Shane advice and instructions in between rounds. This father/son trainer/boxer duo had already been growing dry for some time and that staleness in their collaborative efforts peaked the night Mosley fought Cotto. This time, however, Mosley will have Nazim to train him and there will be no issues with a subpar corner giving poor advice.
Myth #4: Mayweather is too fast for Mosley
There is no doubt that Mayweather is faster than Mosley. This, however, does not mean that Mosley is too slow for Mayweather. Speed is something that can be neutralized in a variety of ways. Mosley himself has lost to fighters he was faster than and a great way to neutralize speed is by jabbing and applying pressure. Floyd’s shoulder roll style defensive works well against smaller fighters and enables him to exploit amazing speed and quickness to his advantage. Against taller fighters, however, this does not work as effectively so Shane should be able to find the mark by reaching over Floyd and using his longer arms. Combined with good body punching, a nice left hook, and a great right hand, this should force Mayweather into a fight. It is also worth noting that Shane himself exhibited a good jab against Margarito and used it authoritatively.
Mayweather fans like to bring up the comparisons with Mosley’s fights against Forrest, Winky, and Cotto, but the more prevalent comparisons would be examining Mayweather’s fights with Oscar De La Hoya and Zab Judah. De La Hoya was very effective with his jab through the halfway point in his fight against Floyd. In fact, De La Hoya was winning the fight after six rounds almost exclusively with his jab. It was not until De La Hoya had his traditional fade down the stretch that Mayweather took control of the action. Zab Judah was giving Mayweather fits through four rounds of their fight, and his speed is on par with Shane’s. The problem for Judah was that once Mayweather began making adjustments, Judah was unwilling (or too stupid?) to make counter-adjustments and he just stuck with what was working for him earlier in the fight.
Mosley is not going to fade down the stretch like De La Hoya and he is not going to have the same problems counter-adjusting to Floyd’s adjustments like Judah. Instead, he will be able to combine the best of both worlds and do the things that enabled each man to have moments of success against Floyd—only Shane will be able to do those things for the full twelve rounds (if needed).
Myth #5: The long layoff will hurt Mosley
Mosley has not fought since January 2009. That means by the time Mosley enters the ring against Mayweather it will have been sixteen months since he was inside the squared circle. Sixteen month layoffs are never good. Making matters worse, the last time Mosley had a long layoff was prior to his fight with Ricardo Mayorga and a lot of observers site this as a sign of trouble ahead for Mosley because he did not look his best against Ricardo. It is important to remember, however, that Mayorga weighed in at 170 pounds on fight night. This fits in with the common theme about bigger fighters posing problems for Shane. It is also worth noting that Mayorga has always been the type of fighter who ran hot and cold, and against Mosley, Mayorga looked as motivated as we have seen him since his somewhat controversial decision loss against Cory Spinks after which he seemed to lose interest in boxing.
Ring rust should not be a huge factor in this fight. Not only is Mosley a gym rat who always stays in top physical condition, but he was also training hard for a January clash with Andre Berto. Mosley has been staying in good shape and with Nazim Richardson in charge of preparations it is a safe bet that we will see Mosley at his very best come May 1.
Myth #6: At 38, Mosley is too old to beat Mayweather
A lot is being made of Mosley’s age in this one. Many observers seem to feel that in a prime for prime sense, Mosley would defeat Mayweather but now that he is older, some say this will provide Floyd with an advantage too big to overcome. Remember, though, there is a long-storied history behind Mosley and Mayweather and after years of talk between the two camps the fight is finally happening. Mosley is the top dog at welterweight but was never given his due credit because of the unique circumstances surrounding Floyd’s return and Pacquiao’s amazing rise through the weight classes. To reiterate an earlier point, he was literally begging for a fight with either Pacquiao or Mayweather, and with Floyd—this is a fighter Mosley has wanted to prove himself against for a very long time. His obsession with Mayweather is eerily similar to the obsession that Bernard Hopkins and Antonio Tarver each had with Roy Jones.
Mosley may be physically older than Floyd, but he is better prepared to face adversity because he has continuously tested himself in battle against the best available. Since moving to welterweight, Floyd has done no such thing. His wins at welterweight were against the unheralded Carlos Baldomir (who despite being champion, was never viewed as an elite welterweight), the underachieving Zab Judah (who had already dropped a fight he should never have lost against Baldomir), the undersized Ricky Hatton (who was already proven too small for the division when he struggled badly with Luis Collazo), and the grossly undersized Juan Manuel Marquez (who had absolutely no business fighting a welterweight). These are the fighters Floyd faced after first making the jump to welterweight against Shambra Mitchell in November 2005! That’s nearly five years without a true challenge! The list of opponents he did not face during that duration is far more impressive than those he did.
Mosley will be the first legitimate threat Mayweather has ever faced at welterweight. While almost everyone is willing to admit that Mosley might well be Mayweather’s toughest fight to date, few seem willing to admit that Mayweather is ill-prepared to face adversity because of his refusal to prove himself against top welterweights in recent years. Now, Mayweather is finally testing himself against a top level fighter who is hungry and motivated. Mosley may be older, but unlike Floyd, he has always been willing to prove his greatness with the best and he has always dared to be great. This alone will provide another huge advantage for Shane on fight night.
Conclusion
Contrary to popular belief, Mosley was not begging for fights against Mayweather or Pacquiao because he wanted a payday. He was begging for those fights because he always wanted to prove his greatness by fighting the best available and Pacquiao and Mayweather are both widely perceived as the two best boxers in the world. Mosley is not a perfect fighter, and there are fighters out there who would give him trouble. He struggles with naturally bigger fighters who utilize their size and power while working behind a jab. Someone like Paul Williams would represent a very bad style match-up for Shane at this point in his career, but against Floyd, the style match-up actually favors Mosley when you look at the bigger picture. Mayweather is not going to be able to ‘exploit’ Shane with quickness and counter-punching the way many seem to believe. On the contrary, Mosley will present the same type of problem for Mayweather that guys like Winky and Forrest presented to him.
Shane Mosley is going to win this fight and he is going to do so in dominant fashion. There is a reason Mayweather has avoided elite level welterweights for nearly five years. He has always been reluctant to fight the best this division had to offer, and against Mosley, in order for him to win—he is going to need to fight at a level we have not seen him fight at some time and a level we have never seen him fight at north of the junior welterweight division. Mosley is going to force Mayweather into a fight, and when push comes to shove, Mayweather is not ready for a fight because he would much prefer to put on a boxing clinic against someone who poses no threat to him. Make no mistake, Mayweather did not want this fight with Mosley—he was backed into a corner after the collapse of failed negotiations with Pacquiao, and in order to save face he had no choice but to fight Sugar Shane.
The fans may clamor for a mega fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, but Mosley has something to say about that, and after Mosley beats Floyd and does so impressively, fans will soon be craving a fight between Mosley and Pacquiao—and that one will represent a dream fight for boxing fans.
Prediction: Mosley by mid to late round stoppage
***
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Source: eastsideboxing.com
Green learns from bitter rival's mistake -- WA Today
WAToday.com.au
Danny Green insists he is treating tomorrow night's IBO cruiserweight world title fight against Manny Siaca in Perth with the same respect he took into his battle with legendary American Roy Jones Jr last December.
Green demolished Jones Jr in 122 brutal seconds but said he expected his bout with Siaca to go the full distance, even though the Puerto Rican has promised to win by knockout.
"I don't anticipate this fight being stopped early, Manny might have other plans," Green said.
"If it goes 12 hard rounds it will be a bonus for me because it will be a bonus for what happens in the future."
Green would not be drawn into making a prediction on the outcome.
"Everyone knows my style, my style is to go forward and to break my opponent down," he said.
"I've practised for a 12-round fight for different styles. We've got a Manny for all occasions.
"If he goes on the back foot, if he wants to counter punch, if he wants to come forward and be aggressive - we are ready to counter what he's going to bring."
Green said he wouldn't make the same mistake as Jones Jr, who was more focused on lining up a re-match with fellow American Bernard Hopkins when he took on Green in Sydney.
"I'm not looking past Manny Siaca - can't afford to do what Roy Jones did," Green said.
"He looked forward and he looked at Bernard Hopkins and he forgot about a guy that was in front of him.
"I've been very conscious of focusing only on Siaca.
"It's defending my world title, it doesn't matter who's in front of me. I'm going to prepare the same way.
"Roy Jones, Manny Siaca - same thing."
Green, 37, has been installed as a raging $1.14 favourite by TAB Sportsbet while Siaca, who has fought only a handful of times since defeating Anthony Mundine in 2004, is a $5.25 outsider.
"I'm not really fussed with what the bookies and the people say is favourite and who's the underdog," Green said.
"I'm taking this as a very hard fight. I know it's going to be difficult because technically he's a gifted fighter and he's a proud guy, too.
"My job is to break this man down, my job is to defeat him, my job is to destroy him. That's his job, too."
Green said he would not change the wrapping in his hands despite Jones Jr claiming his method was illegal.
"We'll be wrapping according to the rules," Green said.
"Whatever the rules say is how we'll wrap our hands, how we have done every fight and how we did with the Roy Jones fight, so it will be no different." -AAP
Source: watoday.com.au
Danny Green insists he is treating tomorrow night's IBO cruiserweight world title fight against Manny Siaca in Perth with the same respect he took into his battle with legendary American Roy Jones Jr last December.
Green demolished Jones Jr in 122 brutal seconds but said he expected his bout with Siaca to go the full distance, even though the Puerto Rican has promised to win by knockout.
"I don't anticipate this fight being stopped early, Manny might have other plans," Green said.
"If it goes 12 hard rounds it will be a bonus for me because it will be a bonus for what happens in the future."
Green would not be drawn into making a prediction on the outcome.
"Everyone knows my style, my style is to go forward and to break my opponent down," he said.
"I've practised for a 12-round fight for different styles. We've got a Manny for all occasions.
"If he goes on the back foot, if he wants to counter punch, if he wants to come forward and be aggressive - we are ready to counter what he's going to bring."
Green said he wouldn't make the same mistake as Jones Jr, who was more focused on lining up a re-match with fellow American Bernard Hopkins when he took on Green in Sydney.
"I'm not looking past Manny Siaca - can't afford to do what Roy Jones did," Green said.
"He looked forward and he looked at Bernard Hopkins and he forgot about a guy that was in front of him.
"I've been very conscious of focusing only on Siaca.
"It's defending my world title, it doesn't matter who's in front of me. I'm going to prepare the same way.
"Roy Jones, Manny Siaca - same thing."
Green, 37, has been installed as a raging $1.14 favourite by TAB Sportsbet while Siaca, who has fought only a handful of times since defeating Anthony Mundine in 2004, is a $5.25 outsider.
"I'm not really fussed with what the bookies and the people say is favourite and who's the underdog," Green said.
"I'm taking this as a very hard fight. I know it's going to be difficult because technically he's a gifted fighter and he's a proud guy, too.
"My job is to break this man down, my job is to defeat him, my job is to destroy him. That's his job, too."
Green said he would not change the wrapping in his hands despite Jones Jr claiming his method was illegal.
"We'll be wrapping according to the rules," Green said.
"Whatever the rules say is how we'll wrap our hands, how we have done every fight and how we did with the Roy Jones fight, so it will be no different." -AAP
Source: watoday.com.au
YOU'RE A BOTTLER -- Mirror
By Nick Parkinson, Mirror.co.uk
BOXING CHALLENGE
Wladimir Klitschko has accused David Haye of running scared and told him to get it on in the ring.
Haye, 29, had to pull out of fighting Wladimir last June at short notice due to a back injury and then opted to fight Russian Nikolai Valuev in November instead of Wladimir's brother and WBC champion, Vitali.
Both Klitschkos are furious at Haye for his trash talk and wearing a T-shirt to a press conference showing him holding their decapitated heads.
Now Wladimir has invited Haye's camp to open talks about the clash to take place either in Germany or England and which would be the biggest world heavyweight title fight since Londonborn Lennox Lewis stopped Vitali on cuts in 2003.
He said: "I want to send this message to boxing fans and directly to David Haye.
"David, you've bitched out on fighting both Klitschko brothers twice already and now's the time to make it happen. On behalf of boxing fans around the world, I'm officially calling you out to fight me. You can't run away from me forever if you want to be respected. I'm ready. What're you waiting for?"
Wbo-IBF heavyweight champion Klitschko, 34, is due to make the next defence of his world titles against Russian Alexander Povetkin in September, but a deal has not yet been finalised. So Klitschko has switched his sights to WBA king Haye who is considering his next move after impressively stopping American John Ruiz earlier this month.
Haye is the most marketable fighter in the heavyweight division alongside the charismatic brothers, who have been treading water against poor opposition.
While Vitali faces London-based Pole Albert Sosnowski next month, Wladimir knocked out Eddie Chambers in March in the 12th round of a sterile contest.
Former European light-middleweight champion Jamie Moore has announced his retirement. The 31-year-old Salford favourite, who was on the verge of a WBC title shot last year, has called it quits on medical advice following two damaging defeats.
He lost his European crown to Sheffield's Ryan Rhodes last year before moving up to middleweight, only to lose his comeback bout against Sergey Khomitski on the David Haye undercard earlier this month.
He said: "It's time to move on in life and pack away my gloves and gumshield for good."
Source: mirror.co.uk
BOXING CHALLENGE
Wladimir Klitschko has accused David Haye of running scared and told him to get it on in the ring.
Haye, 29, had to pull out of fighting Wladimir last June at short notice due to a back injury and then opted to fight Russian Nikolai Valuev in November instead of Wladimir's brother and WBC champion, Vitali.
Both Klitschkos are furious at Haye for his trash talk and wearing a T-shirt to a press conference showing him holding their decapitated heads.
Now Wladimir has invited Haye's camp to open talks about the clash to take place either in Germany or England and which would be the biggest world heavyweight title fight since Londonborn Lennox Lewis stopped Vitali on cuts in 2003.
He said: "I want to send this message to boxing fans and directly to David Haye.
"David, you've bitched out on fighting both Klitschko brothers twice already and now's the time to make it happen. On behalf of boxing fans around the world, I'm officially calling you out to fight me. You can't run away from me forever if you want to be respected. I'm ready. What're you waiting for?"
Wbo-IBF heavyweight champion Klitschko, 34, is due to make the next defence of his world titles against Russian Alexander Povetkin in September, but a deal has not yet been finalised. So Klitschko has switched his sights to WBA king Haye who is considering his next move after impressively stopping American John Ruiz earlier this month.
Haye is the most marketable fighter in the heavyweight division alongside the charismatic brothers, who have been treading water against poor opposition.
While Vitali faces London-based Pole Albert Sosnowski next month, Wladimir knocked out Eddie Chambers in March in the 12th round of a sterile contest.
Former European light-middleweight champion Jamie Moore has announced his retirement. The 31-year-old Salford favourite, who was on the verge of a WBC title shot last year, has called it quits on medical advice following two damaging defeats.
He lost his European crown to Sheffield's Ryan Rhodes last year before moving up to middleweight, only to lose his comeback bout against Sergey Khomitski on the David Haye undercard earlier this month.
He said: "It's time to move on in life and pack away my gloves and gumshield for good."
Source: mirror.co.uk
Danny Green power leaves trainer stunned -- Daily Telegraph
By Nick Walshaw, The Daily Telegraph
PROOF of the power is Angelo Hyder phoning a Perth chiropractor this week. Aching.
The Sydney fight trainer explaining down that phone line how an urgent house call is required for work on his shoulders, neck and back. On both elbows and wrists. "And can we please get it done this afternoon, mate ... Greeny wants me back on the focus pads tonight."
This is the reality of Danny Green's right hand. A frightening conglomeration all intent, intimidation and oversized knuckle. A fist that, Hyder insists, is Australia's most deadly. You see, while Green and his entourage fronted a large media contingent at Kings Park, Perth yesterday, the key statement had already been made almost 24 hours before. Announced inside a tiny Scarborough hotel gym where the space was cramped and the free weights paltry.
Its clientele compromising one wiry Indian guy on a treadmill.
Yep, this was the last place you'd expect a world champion to hold his final preparations. And the first all those cameras should've looked.
Because here, three storeys below the simple apartment Green's been sharing with Hyder since arriving last Thursday, you can watch the IBO cruiserweight champion saying everything with two gloved hands. Sweating, moving, whacking. More than once causing the experienced Hyder to wince in pain.
And later over dinner Green's trainer will quietly concede that, yes, he has been forced to see a Perth chiropractor. Soaking nightly in hot Painaway tubs too. As sore as you'd expect from a fella insisting Green's right could now challenge Great Whites and Eastern Browns as our most deadly Australian.
"Right now Greeny could knock those Klitschko brothers, the Russian heavyweights, cold," Hyder insists. "Honestly, I've held the pads for Aussie heavyweights like Bob Mirovic and Kali Meehan - none of them have his power. Right now, Dan's hitting harder than any fighter I've ever been involved with ... his left is harder than any Aussie heavyweight's right."
Green's conditioner Hayden Knowles agrees, adding: "You look at his birth certificate and this just shouldn't be happening ... but Danny Green's punches are getting stronger with age."
Of course, this close to his world title defence against Manny Siaca, Green himself has nought to say on the topic.
You want a quote, ask about Siaca.
You see, despite his $1.14 favouritism with TAB Sportsbet, Green knows the wiry Puerto Rican can prove an awkward opponent. A fella boasting reach, nous and one of those chins you could whack for weeks with a shovel and not dent. A fighter who, unlike Roy Jones Jr, will fire back.
It's why Green has sparred some 100 rounds for tomorrow night's fight. Why he's used six sparring partners, worked closely with cage fighters and trained with such intensity three noses have been broken. Why right now, in this tiny hotel gym, his combinations rip into those moving mitts like shotgun blasts.
Hyder wincing as he goes.
Source: dailytelegraph.com.au
PROOF of the power is Angelo Hyder phoning a Perth chiropractor this week. Aching.
The Sydney fight trainer explaining down that phone line how an urgent house call is required for work on his shoulders, neck and back. On both elbows and wrists. "And can we please get it done this afternoon, mate ... Greeny wants me back on the focus pads tonight."
This is the reality of Danny Green's right hand. A frightening conglomeration all intent, intimidation and oversized knuckle. A fist that, Hyder insists, is Australia's most deadly. You see, while Green and his entourage fronted a large media contingent at Kings Park, Perth yesterday, the key statement had already been made almost 24 hours before. Announced inside a tiny Scarborough hotel gym where the space was cramped and the free weights paltry.
Its clientele compromising one wiry Indian guy on a treadmill.
Yep, this was the last place you'd expect a world champion to hold his final preparations. And the first all those cameras should've looked.
Because here, three storeys below the simple apartment Green's been sharing with Hyder since arriving last Thursday, you can watch the IBO cruiserweight champion saying everything with two gloved hands. Sweating, moving, whacking. More than once causing the experienced Hyder to wince in pain.
And later over dinner Green's trainer will quietly concede that, yes, he has been forced to see a Perth chiropractor. Soaking nightly in hot Painaway tubs too. As sore as you'd expect from a fella insisting Green's right could now challenge Great Whites and Eastern Browns as our most deadly Australian.
"Right now Greeny could knock those Klitschko brothers, the Russian heavyweights, cold," Hyder insists. "Honestly, I've held the pads for Aussie heavyweights like Bob Mirovic and Kali Meehan - none of them have his power. Right now, Dan's hitting harder than any fighter I've ever been involved with ... his left is harder than any Aussie heavyweight's right."
Green's conditioner Hayden Knowles agrees, adding: "You look at his birth certificate and this just shouldn't be happening ... but Danny Green's punches are getting stronger with age."
Of course, this close to his world title defence against Manny Siaca, Green himself has nought to say on the topic.
You want a quote, ask about Siaca.
You see, despite his $1.14 favouritism with TAB Sportsbet, Green knows the wiry Puerto Rican can prove an awkward opponent. A fella boasting reach, nous and one of those chins you could whack for weeks with a shovel and not dent. A fighter who, unlike Roy Jones Jr, will fire back.
It's why Green has sparred some 100 rounds for tomorrow night's fight. Why he's used six sparring partners, worked closely with cage fighters and trained with such intensity three noses have been broken. Why right now, in this tiny hotel gym, his combinations rip into those moving mitts like shotgun blasts.
Hyder wincing as he goes.
Source: dailytelegraph.com.au
Shane Mosley camp thinks bout could come down to money -- Los Angeles Times
By Lance Pugmire, Los Angeles Times
One possibility, says Shane Mosley's trainer Naazim Richardson, is that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will be boxed into the corner of caring more about money than his zero.
Richardson, in Pasadena on Monday with Mosley to show off the work they've done in preparing for an anticipated May 1 welterweight bout against Mayweather at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, has crafted a fight plan to pressure the fast and defensively sophisticated six-time world champion who — for anyone who's still unaware — is 40-0.
"We could get through five rounds of this thing up 5-0," Richardson said. "At that point, Mayweather may just say, ‘Forget it, I've got a rematch guaranteed. Try again next time.' "
Mayweather wasn't exactly willing to do whatever possible to make a fight earlier this year against Manny Pacquiao, and now he's confronting a 38-year-old from Pomona who's been desperate for another super-fight and is sculpted accordingly.
A Mayweather loss, according to the fighters' contract, would create the rematch and another eight-figure pay day — something the Las Vegas fighter nicknamed "Money" has a well-known interest in obtaining.
"It's something that could happen," Mosley said Monday inside the dressing room of the Classic Kickboxing Gym. "I feel good. Things are going pretty well for me. I'm excited about this fight; I'm ready to make history. We've worked diligently on this fight plan. It's a great one, it's going to work."
As he spoke about the matchup recently in a separate interview inside his Big Bear training compound, Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) only occasionally tipped his hand about how he plans to beat Mayweather — noting Oscar De La Hoya's split-decision loss to Mayweather three years ago came because De La Hoya quit jabbing, reminding that he too can employ a counter-punching plan, and contending that he's on equal athletic footing with the fast-punching, defensive style of his 32-year-old opponent.
"I'm not giving him nothing; he can figure out what I'm going to do May 1," Mosley said.
Said Richardson: "Mayweather has a chess match on his hands. For once, the guy across the ring from him now has as high a boxing IQ as he's ever seen, and is just as fast. Think about it. Have you ever seen Mayweather fight someone who's equally as athletic?"
Mayweather's uncle and trainer, Roger Mayweather, scoffed at the notion of the rematch clause affecting his nephew's effort.
"Floyd is the most skilled … fighter in the sport," Roger Mayweather said. "He doesn't care about a rematch. That doesn't mean [anything]. [Richardson's] only saying what Shane has to do to win the fight. Bring all the pressure he wants. Floyd's more skilled, and I've been around boxing longer than [Richardson]."
One of the boxers' closest observers is fight promoter Richard Schaefer, who assessed Mosley "looks like a kid in a candy store. He's wanted a fight like this for a long time, he knows the magnitude, and he's in tremendous shape, physically and mentally. It's the most important fight of his life, and I'm very impressed with how calm and focused Shane is. He and Naazim are a team on a mission."
Schaefer, assuring live-gate and pay-per-view customers that the rematch clause will not affect the May 1 performance, contends there'll be no quit in Mayweather.
"That zero is clearly at risk, but he fights to maintain that zero," Schaefer said. "Floyd is very proud of that zero. He'll give whatever's in his arsenal to win that fight."
lance.pugmire@latimes.com
Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times
Source: latimes.com
One possibility, says Shane Mosley's trainer Naazim Richardson, is that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will be boxed into the corner of caring more about money than his zero.
Richardson, in Pasadena on Monday with Mosley to show off the work they've done in preparing for an anticipated May 1 welterweight bout against Mayweather at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, has crafted a fight plan to pressure the fast and defensively sophisticated six-time world champion who — for anyone who's still unaware — is 40-0.
"We could get through five rounds of this thing up 5-0," Richardson said. "At that point, Mayweather may just say, ‘Forget it, I've got a rematch guaranteed. Try again next time.' "
Mayweather wasn't exactly willing to do whatever possible to make a fight earlier this year against Manny Pacquiao, and now he's confronting a 38-year-old from Pomona who's been desperate for another super-fight and is sculpted accordingly.
A Mayweather loss, according to the fighters' contract, would create the rematch and another eight-figure pay day — something the Las Vegas fighter nicknamed "Money" has a well-known interest in obtaining.
"It's something that could happen," Mosley said Monday inside the dressing room of the Classic Kickboxing Gym. "I feel good. Things are going pretty well for me. I'm excited about this fight; I'm ready to make history. We've worked diligently on this fight plan. It's a great one, it's going to work."
As he spoke about the matchup recently in a separate interview inside his Big Bear training compound, Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) only occasionally tipped his hand about how he plans to beat Mayweather — noting Oscar De La Hoya's split-decision loss to Mayweather three years ago came because De La Hoya quit jabbing, reminding that he too can employ a counter-punching plan, and contending that he's on equal athletic footing with the fast-punching, defensive style of his 32-year-old opponent.
"I'm not giving him nothing; he can figure out what I'm going to do May 1," Mosley said.
Said Richardson: "Mayweather has a chess match on his hands. For once, the guy across the ring from him now has as high a boxing IQ as he's ever seen, and is just as fast. Think about it. Have you ever seen Mayweather fight someone who's equally as athletic?"
Mayweather's uncle and trainer, Roger Mayweather, scoffed at the notion of the rematch clause affecting his nephew's effort.
"Floyd is the most skilled … fighter in the sport," Roger Mayweather said. "He doesn't care about a rematch. That doesn't mean [anything]. [Richardson's] only saying what Shane has to do to win the fight. Bring all the pressure he wants. Floyd's more skilled, and I've been around boxing longer than [Richardson]."
One of the boxers' closest observers is fight promoter Richard Schaefer, who assessed Mosley "looks like a kid in a candy store. He's wanted a fight like this for a long time, he knows the magnitude, and he's in tremendous shape, physically and mentally. It's the most important fight of his life, and I'm very impressed with how calm and focused Shane is. He and Naazim are a team on a mission."
Schaefer, assuring live-gate and pay-per-view customers that the rematch clause will not affect the May 1 performance, contends there'll be no quit in Mayweather.
"That zero is clearly at risk, but he fights to maintain that zero," Schaefer said. "Floyd is very proud of that zero. He'll give whatever's in his arsenal to win that fight."
lance.pugmire@latimes.com
Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times
Source: latimes.com
Wladimir Klitschko On David Haye: 'I Can't Stand This Guy' -- FanHouse
By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse
Ukrainian-born WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko , is perturbed. And the source of his ire is England's WBA titlist, David Haye.
Wladimir Klitschko, whose 38-year-old brother, Vitali Klitschko (39-2, 37 KOs), is the WBC's champion, wants very badly to fight Haye, which would give the siblings sole supremacy of all of the heavyweight belts.
Haye angered the Klitschkos last June, when he showed up at a press conference in Germany wearing a T-shirt depicting a cartoon of himself standing in a ring while holding, aloft, their decapitated heads with their lifeless bodies at his feet.
Wladimir Klitschko, who called Haye's behavior, "Impudent," and, "Unspeakable," at the time, released this video on Monday calling out Haye.
A winner of 12 straight fights, nine of them by knockout, Wladimir Klitschko had much more to say about Haye (24-1, 22 KOs) in this Q&A.
FanHouse: Why did you choose to make this video calling out David Haye?
Wladimir Klitschko: Because this is the only fight that I want. You can read an article, but I wanted to make it personally, so that the boxing fans could actually see that I want to make this fight. We can make this fight. We've been chasing David Haye around and calling him out. But he has been bitching out on a fight against us.
But now, he can make the fight. I can make the fight. There are rules within the IBF that allows me, as the champion, if I'm going to fight a championship unification, to move the mandatory aside. I have time, and I want to show the world and the boxing fans. It's enough. Now, David Haye can make the fight as well. He knows about it, and we need to make the fight.
I will not be risking losing any title. I just made my mandatory defense of the WBO title against Eddie Chambers. The next mandatory defense is supposed to be against Alexander Povetkin, and I will do it if David Haye decides not to fight me. But I know that the IBF or any other organization will move to take the fight with David Haye if there is going to be a unification fight.
David Haye is the only title that the Klitschko brothers do not have. We have the IBF, we have the IBO, we have the WBO, we have the WBC, and The Ring Magazine championship. But we don't have the WBA. That's the only title we don't have. That's why want the unification.
I doubt that since I've been champion for such a long time that any of the organizations would stop me from making a championship unification against a David Haye.
FH: Has any other fighter every angered you as much as David Haye has?
Klitschko: Never, never, ever. I can't stand this guy. The way that he presents himself in the public, and the way that he presented my brother and myself with our heads cut off. The way that he represents the sport, I don't really like it for the public.
When he's presenting himself with our heads cut off, I can't take it, I can't stand it and I want to fight this guy. It's personal. I think that David Haye deserves to get his punishment from a real champion, and that's why I'm really pushing for it right now.
FH: Has K-2 Promotions made any attempts to contact Sauerland Promotions on behalf of David Haye to make this go forward?
Klitschko: We are in negotiations, and it's pretty complicated, because Golden Boy Promotions is involved in a certain way with David Haye, and Sauerland is involved. David has an option to fight a rematch with Nikolay Valuev, but now, probably, he will not. So, he can make it, and we are in negotiations.
But I wanted the public to know that I did not pull out of the fight last year in June. I did everything to make this fight happen, and it was David Haye who pulled out. Then, Vitali was supposed to fight him, and he bailed out again. And then, he talks so much bad things '-- that he wanted to do this and he wanted to do that.
But action speaks louder than words, and he never came forward. So it's been all talk. That's why I'm looking forward to getting him into the ring, why I want to show the public that I'm ready for him. I don't know what he's ready for. I always say that my best fight is in front of me and never in the past.
I'm always looking for my most difficult fight and expecting it in every fight, but of course, this fight with David Haye would be really exciting, because I'll get challenged. My performance is as good as the challenge. But an angry Wladimir Klitschko could be the best one.
FH: In which country would a Wladimir Klitschko-David Haye fight take place?
Klitschko: The Haye fight would be such an exciting, extraordinary fight because he's such an extraordinary talker. So he talks and promotes himself very good. So I think that this fight would be very interesting for American boxing fans and the fans around the world.
Where is the fight going to be staged? That depends on the broadcaster -- HBO or Showtime -- what they want to do. Either it's going to be a pay per view fight, or there's going to be another case to make the fight happen. We just have to have interest from American television. That's No. 1.
And then, you'd have to see which arena could make it happen. It could be in any country. Right now, it's important to make the deal with David Haye. It's not just about the money, it's about the last belt that the Klitschkos don't have, and we have a personal issue with David Haye, and that's why I want this fight so badly. I'm really pushing it and looking forward to it.
FH: How do you explain how you have gone from being knocked out by Ross Puritty, Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster, to winning 12 straight fights, nine of them by knockouts, with eight wins over Americans over six years?
Klitschko: I definitely feel that I thought that, like, three years ago, that that was my peak. But I keep peaking, and peaking, and peaking and I just love the sport. And I understand that I'm a professional, and I believe that I understand more about what it is to be a true athlete and a professional boxer.
I prepare for my fights so well, that my opponents actually have no chance to compete with me. I'm actually as good as my challenger is in the ring. If my challenger is not that good, then I get critiqued or criticized for kind of being boring. But let's face it, out of the 53 wins that I have, 48 of them, I've ended up with a TKO or a KO. So 48 fighters didn't make it.
I definitely can punch in the earlier rounds or the late rounds with both hands -- the right hand or the left hand. I just feel so confident so comfortable about me being in the ring, like I never ever have.
FH: How do you feel about your last performance against Eddie Chambers?
Klitschko: Eddie Chambers was just such an experienced fighter. He had around 35 fights, and he has beaten Samuel Peter and Calvin Brock, and this guy and that guy. He had beaten an unbeaten fighter, a Ukrainian, Alexander Dimitrenko, who is even taller than I am. And he did it in such an impressive way.
I think that Eddie was really, really good, and that he was very, very fast. But after the fourth or fifth round, his strategy completely collapsed, and he just lost confidence. And then, instead of trying to win the fight, he was doing the same thing that Sultan Ibragimov did against me in Madison Square Garden in New York.
He was just trying not to get punched and not get knocked out in a very defensive way. And when you have one fighter being offensive, and the other, defensive, it's very difficult to make a competitive fight, and an exciting fight. Also, one week before my fight, we saw the Manny Pacquiao fight against Joshua Clottey.
It was the same situation. Pacquiao was so dominant, but his opponent didn't give him a chance. Pacquiao couldn't finish the fight earlier. When one of the fighters is really defensive and doesn't want to fight, then you can chase him forever. So I was chasing Eddie Chambers for the last round, and [trainer] Emmanuel [Steward] was pushing me, like, 'Come on, do it.!'
And I was trying. I got even upset myself, and I was like, 'Manny, relax, I'm trying.' But, Eddie was awkward and was really fast and crazy awkward with his upper body the way he ducks from the punches and stuff like that. It wasn't that easily, but, eventually, one punch, and that was it.
But I felt really confident in that fight. I knew that he couldn't really reach me, and that he couldn't really touch me. I knew that I as winning every round. I was putting myself under pressure.
FH: What's your assessment of the American heavyweight?
Klitschko: In the U.S., people talk like the heavyweight division is dead. In Europe, we're saying the heavyweight division is alive. In two days, we have sell outs of over 60,000 people attending fights in soccer stadiums. We have ratings of 14 million people in Germany watching the fight. It doesn't matter which one of the Klitschko brothers are fighting, people are getting excited.
And we're very excited and thankful for that. In the U.S., we need the broadcasters, HBO, to broadcast the fight. Last fight, with Chambers, I was very upset that HBO didn't broadcast, because you have to give credit to the best American challenger, Eddie Chambers. He's American, and he flew overseas and he was fighting the heavyweight championship of the world.
To not show it, you're kind of disrespectful to the sport, and, ultimately, disrespectful to Eddie Chambers. Emmanuel keeps telling me, 'Wladimir, you just have to keep winning the fights, keep winning the fights, and those big fights are coming up.'
He says, 'It was the same situation with Mike Tyson, it was the same situation, with Lennox Lewis, it was the same situation with Evander Holyfield, same thing with Joe Louis.' You have to just stay focused and stay active, and the big fights in the U.S. with American contenders will come up, and it will be exciting again.
I trust Manny, and I think that he's right. I just have to keep winning, and that's what I'm doing.
FH: Finally, would you fight your brother under any circumstances?
Klitschko: There's always an exception to every rule. If the world was going to go down, and our fight could save the world, probably, we're going to make the fight.
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
Ukrainian-born WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko , is perturbed. And the source of his ire is England's WBA titlist, David Haye.
Wladimir Klitschko, whose 38-year-old brother, Vitali Klitschko (39-2, 37 KOs), is the WBC's champion, wants very badly to fight Haye, which would give the siblings sole supremacy of all of the heavyweight belts.
Haye angered the Klitschkos last June, when he showed up at a press conference in Germany wearing a T-shirt depicting a cartoon of himself standing in a ring while holding, aloft, their decapitated heads with their lifeless bodies at his feet.
Wladimir Klitschko, who called Haye's behavior, "Impudent," and, "Unspeakable," at the time, released this video on Monday calling out Haye.
A winner of 12 straight fights, nine of them by knockout, Wladimir Klitschko had much more to say about Haye (24-1, 22 KOs) in this Q&A.
FanHouse: Why did you choose to make this video calling out David Haye?
Wladimir Klitschko: Because this is the only fight that I want. You can read an article, but I wanted to make it personally, so that the boxing fans could actually see that I want to make this fight. We can make this fight. We've been chasing David Haye around and calling him out. But he has been bitching out on a fight against us.
But now, he can make the fight. I can make the fight. There are rules within the IBF that allows me, as the champion, if I'm going to fight a championship unification, to move the mandatory aside. I have time, and I want to show the world and the boxing fans. It's enough. Now, David Haye can make the fight as well. He knows about it, and we need to make the fight.
I will not be risking losing any title. I just made my mandatory defense of the WBO title against Eddie Chambers. The next mandatory defense is supposed to be against Alexander Povetkin, and I will do it if David Haye decides not to fight me. But I know that the IBF or any other organization will move to take the fight with David Haye if there is going to be a unification fight.
David Haye is the only title that the Klitschko brothers do not have. We have the IBF, we have the IBO, we have the WBO, we have the WBC, and The Ring Magazine championship. But we don't have the WBA. That's the only title we don't have. That's why want the unification.
I doubt that since I've been champion for such a long time that any of the organizations would stop me from making a championship unification against a David Haye.
FH: Has any other fighter every angered you as much as David Haye has?
Klitschko: Never, never, ever. I can't stand this guy. The way that he presents himself in the public, and the way that he presented my brother and myself with our heads cut off. The way that he represents the sport, I don't really like it for the public.
When he's presenting himself with our heads cut off, I can't take it, I can't stand it and I want to fight this guy. It's personal. I think that David Haye deserves to get his punishment from a real champion, and that's why I'm really pushing for it right now.
FH: Has K-2 Promotions made any attempts to contact Sauerland Promotions on behalf of David Haye to make this go forward?
Klitschko: We are in negotiations, and it's pretty complicated, because Golden Boy Promotions is involved in a certain way with David Haye, and Sauerland is involved. David has an option to fight a rematch with Nikolay Valuev, but now, probably, he will not. So, he can make it, and we are in negotiations.
But I wanted the public to know that I did not pull out of the fight last year in June. I did everything to make this fight happen, and it was David Haye who pulled out. Then, Vitali was supposed to fight him, and he bailed out again. And then, he talks so much bad things '-- that he wanted to do this and he wanted to do that.
But action speaks louder than words, and he never came forward. So it's been all talk. That's why I'm looking forward to getting him into the ring, why I want to show the public that I'm ready for him. I don't know what he's ready for. I always say that my best fight is in front of me and never in the past.
I'm always looking for my most difficult fight and expecting it in every fight, but of course, this fight with David Haye would be really exciting, because I'll get challenged. My performance is as good as the challenge. But an angry Wladimir Klitschko could be the best one.
FH: In which country would a Wladimir Klitschko-David Haye fight take place?
Klitschko: The Haye fight would be such an exciting, extraordinary fight because he's such an extraordinary talker. So he talks and promotes himself very good. So I think that this fight would be very interesting for American boxing fans and the fans around the world.
Where is the fight going to be staged? That depends on the broadcaster -- HBO or Showtime -- what they want to do. Either it's going to be a pay per view fight, or there's going to be another case to make the fight happen. We just have to have interest from American television. That's No. 1.
And then, you'd have to see which arena could make it happen. It could be in any country. Right now, it's important to make the deal with David Haye. It's not just about the money, it's about the last belt that the Klitschkos don't have, and we have a personal issue with David Haye, and that's why I want this fight so badly. I'm really pushing it and looking forward to it.
FH: How do you explain how you have gone from being knocked out by Ross Puritty, Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster, to winning 12 straight fights, nine of them by knockouts, with eight wins over Americans over six years?
Klitschko: I definitely feel that I thought that, like, three years ago, that that was my peak. But I keep peaking, and peaking, and peaking and I just love the sport. And I understand that I'm a professional, and I believe that I understand more about what it is to be a true athlete and a professional boxer.
I prepare for my fights so well, that my opponents actually have no chance to compete with me. I'm actually as good as my challenger is in the ring. If my challenger is not that good, then I get critiqued or criticized for kind of being boring. But let's face it, out of the 53 wins that I have, 48 of them, I've ended up with a TKO or a KO. So 48 fighters didn't make it.
I definitely can punch in the earlier rounds or the late rounds with both hands -- the right hand or the left hand. I just feel so confident so comfortable about me being in the ring, like I never ever have.
FH: How do you feel about your last performance against Eddie Chambers?
Klitschko: Eddie Chambers was just such an experienced fighter. He had around 35 fights, and he has beaten Samuel Peter and Calvin Brock, and this guy and that guy. He had beaten an unbeaten fighter, a Ukrainian, Alexander Dimitrenko, who is even taller than I am. And he did it in such an impressive way.
I think that Eddie was really, really good, and that he was very, very fast. But after the fourth or fifth round, his strategy completely collapsed, and he just lost confidence. And then, instead of trying to win the fight, he was doing the same thing that Sultan Ibragimov did against me in Madison Square Garden in New York.
He was just trying not to get punched and not get knocked out in a very defensive way. And when you have one fighter being offensive, and the other, defensive, it's very difficult to make a competitive fight, and an exciting fight. Also, one week before my fight, we saw the Manny Pacquiao fight against Joshua Clottey.
It was the same situation. Pacquiao was so dominant, but his opponent didn't give him a chance. Pacquiao couldn't finish the fight earlier. When one of the fighters is really defensive and doesn't want to fight, then you can chase him forever. So I was chasing Eddie Chambers for the last round, and [trainer] Emmanuel [Steward] was pushing me, like, 'Come on, do it.!'
And I was trying. I got even upset myself, and I was like, 'Manny, relax, I'm trying.' But, Eddie was awkward and was really fast and crazy awkward with his upper body the way he ducks from the punches and stuff like that. It wasn't that easily, but, eventually, one punch, and that was it.
But I felt really confident in that fight. I knew that he couldn't really reach me, and that he couldn't really touch me. I knew that I as winning every round. I was putting myself under pressure.
FH: What's your assessment of the American heavyweight?
Klitschko: In the U.S., people talk like the heavyweight division is dead. In Europe, we're saying the heavyweight division is alive. In two days, we have sell outs of over 60,000 people attending fights in soccer stadiums. We have ratings of 14 million people in Germany watching the fight. It doesn't matter which one of the Klitschko brothers are fighting, people are getting excited.
And we're very excited and thankful for that. In the U.S., we need the broadcasters, HBO, to broadcast the fight. Last fight, with Chambers, I was very upset that HBO didn't broadcast, because you have to give credit to the best American challenger, Eddie Chambers. He's American, and he flew overseas and he was fighting the heavyweight championship of the world.
To not show it, you're kind of disrespectful to the sport, and, ultimately, disrespectful to Eddie Chambers. Emmanuel keeps telling me, 'Wladimir, you just have to keep winning the fights, keep winning the fights, and those big fights are coming up.'
He says, 'It was the same situation with Mike Tyson, it was the same situation, with Lennox Lewis, it was the same situation with Evander Holyfield, same thing with Joe Louis.' You have to just stay focused and stay active, and the big fights in the U.S. with American contenders will come up, and it will be exciting again.
I trust Manny, and I think that he's right. I just have to keep winning, and that's what I'm doing.
FH: Finally, would you fight your brother under any circumstances?
Klitschko: There's always an exception to every rule. If the world was going to go down, and our fight could save the world, probably, we're going to make the fight.
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
Wladimir Klitschko calls out David Haye for heavyweight unification -- Los Angeles Times
By Lance Pugmire, Los Angeles Times
World heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko has taken to calling out England's David Haye for a title unification bout.
In a video posted on his Klitschko.com page and YouTube, Klitschko (54-3, 48 KOs) stares closely into a camera lens and says, "Now's the time to make it happen. ... I'm ready. What're you waiting for?"
Klitschko last month knocked out Eddie Chambers in the 12th round, defending his IBF and WBO belts before a large crowd in Germany. But the waning U.S. interest in he and fellow heavyweight champ brother Vitali was illustrated by the fact that it was broadcast only by Klitschko.com.
Now, the charismatic Haye (24-1, 22 KOs) holds the WBA belt, and he looked good in dismantling former champ John Ruiz on April 3.
"I saw that [video]," said Richard Schaefer, Haye's promoter of Golden Boy Promotions in Los Angeles. "David isn't running from anyone. The deal structure has to be right. If the feelings [from the Klitschko camp] are arrogance, there won't be a fight. If it's fair, then the fight will happen. This is the fight the fans are waiting for."
Schaefer said a Klitschko-Haye bout would be fought in Europe, likely "in a venue that can accommodate 50,000 to 80,000 people."
Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com
World heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko has taken to calling out England's David Haye for a title unification bout.
In a video posted on his Klitschko.com page and YouTube, Klitschko (54-3, 48 KOs) stares closely into a camera lens and says, "Now's the time to make it happen. ... I'm ready. What're you waiting for?"
Klitschko last month knocked out Eddie Chambers in the 12th round, defending his IBF and WBO belts before a large crowd in Germany. But the waning U.S. interest in he and fellow heavyweight champ brother Vitali was illustrated by the fact that it was broadcast only by Klitschko.com.
Now, the charismatic Haye (24-1, 22 KOs) holds the WBA belt, and he looked good in dismantling former champ John Ruiz on April 3.
"I saw that [video]," said Richard Schaefer, Haye's promoter of Golden Boy Promotions in Los Angeles. "David isn't running from anyone. The deal structure has to be right. If the feelings [from the Klitschko camp] are arrogance, there won't be a fight. If it's fair, then the fight will happen. This is the fight the fans are waiting for."
Schaefer said a Klitschko-Haye bout would be fought in Europe, likely "in a venue that can accommodate 50,000 to 80,000 people."
Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com
Manny Pacquiao Graces Ring Magazine's June Cover -- FanHouse
By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse
Seven-division champion, Manny Pacquiao, has done it again.
The Filipino superstar graces the June cover The Ring Magazine once more.
Editors at the prestigious publication believe that Pacquiao has been on its cover "between 12-to-15 times," said Joe Santoliquito, managing editor of Ring Magazine.
"But Manny's easily been on the cover more than any fighter the last five years," said Santoliquito, "rivaled only by Floyd Mayweather."
Coming off of last month's 12-round unanimous decision over Joshua Clottey, Pacquiao has won 12, consecutive bouts, eight of them by knockout, and is the defending WBO welterweight (147 pounds) titlist.
The photo was shot by Howard Schatz, who is also executing similar work with the fighters in Showtime's Super Six Super Middleweight (168 pounds) World Boxing Classic.
"World-renowned photographer, Howard Schatz, took this photo of Pacquiao, and it's simply one of the most artistic covers on the long, storied history of The Ring," said Santoliquito.
"Schatz is currently working on a photography book about boxing that promises to be riveting," said Santoliquito, "just like the June 2010 issue of The Ring."
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
Seven-division champion, Manny Pacquiao, has done it again.
The Filipino superstar graces the June cover The Ring Magazine once more.
Editors at the prestigious publication believe that Pacquiao has been on its cover "between 12-to-15 times," said Joe Santoliquito, managing editor of Ring Magazine.
"But Manny's easily been on the cover more than any fighter the last five years," said Santoliquito, "rivaled only by Floyd Mayweather."
Coming off of last month's 12-round unanimous decision over Joshua Clottey, Pacquiao has won 12, consecutive bouts, eight of them by knockout, and is the defending WBO welterweight (147 pounds) titlist.
The photo was shot by Howard Schatz, who is also executing similar work with the fighters in Showtime's Super Six Super Middleweight (168 pounds) World Boxing Classic.
"World-renowned photographer, Howard Schatz, took this photo of Pacquiao, and it's simply one of the most artistic covers on the long, storied history of The Ring," said Santoliquito.
"Schatz is currently working on a photography book about boxing that promises to be riveting," said Santoliquito, "just like the June 2010 issue of The Ring."
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
Is Martinez a Bad Style for Pavlik? -- SecondsOut
By Steve Kim, SecondsOut.com
Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik takes on Sergio Martinez this Saturday night in his return to HBO at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. After a disappointing 2009 that saw him take on the likes of Marco Antonio Rubio and Miguel Espino, he gets back to the big show against the speedy Argentinean southpaw.
And yeah, you don’t have to tell Pavlik and his folks that Martinez is a bad style to face. They’ve been told that a few times.
"I’ve heard that over and over and over," confirmed Pavlik to Maxboxing late last week. His trainer Jack Loew says he’s heard it incessantly, "Since we signed for the fight, I’ve heard it a hundred times. We shouldn’t have picked this fight, styles make fights."
But guess what? They don’t seem to care. In fact, they seem to relish the challenge of figuring out Martinez.
"Listen," continued Loew, "we are in the best shape of our life. This is the probably the hardest I’ve seen Kelly work. Left-hander, right-hander, I don’t care what he can do, [Martinez] doesn’t have enough for us."
Pavlik sounds like that kid from the old Life cereal commercial. "I like it; I really do like it and it gives me more confidence than anything." The public perception is, coming off his lopsided loss to Bernard Hopkins in October of 2008, that Pavlik simply can’t handle any kind of movement and that’s probably what Martinez and his crew are banking on. "Yeah, actually they are and that’s what I’m hoping from Sergio Martinez, that he was watching the Bernard Hopkins fight," said Pavlik. "Because that’s where I believe everyone’s getting that from, is the Bernard Hopkins fight. And as of right now, that was a bad fight. It was a fight that wasn’t my night. I was lethargic, wasn’t 100-percent. I fought Jermain Taylor twice, beat him twice, outboxed him, a guy who was an Olympic bronze medalist. And like I said, in a couple of other interviews, like it was in the amateurs, it didn’t have anything to do with power or being one-dimensional. It was being able to box."
Is too much being made out of one bad night at the office?
"Absolutely," stated Loew, "and I watched the Bernard Hopkins fight the other day and y’ know what? I’ll take absolutely nothing away from [Hopkins], he probably fought the best fight that he could have fought that night besides the Trinidad fight. But that was just one bad night on Kelly Pavlik’s part. And even though we lost probably every round of the fight, he wasn’t really out of it. We just didn’t do anything. It’s not that Bernard did anything spectacular, it’s just that Kelly did nothing; he was so lethargic. Just didn’t do anything. So yeah, I think people are making way, way too much of it. And I heard some interviews online with Sergio Martinez, how he’s going off the Hopkins fight. God bless him, I hope he does."
But here’s the bottom line: aren’t slick, well-schooled left-handers a bad match-up for almost anyone?
"Southpaws that move are tough; don’t get me wrong. But, at the same time, they’re not tough," reasoned Pavlik. "I mean, they’re off-balance, like Sergio Martinez. He’s a dangerous fighter, but he leaves himself wide open, too. We’ve seen it against Margarito; we’ve seen it against Paul Williams; he gets hit. He’s not as fast as what people think. He’s...how can you put it? He moves pretty good, when he punches. He’s from a different stance so it makes it look a lot faster than what it is. So I know you have to be careful with a guy like that but you can’t sit there and go, ’Oh my God, he’s so fast,’ when he’s not."
Pavlik, who trained in his familiar haunt of Youngstown, Ohio, for this fight, said he got quality sparring from the likes of Jesus Gonzalez and Austin Trout.
"Those guys are fast, especially in sparring," said Pavlik. "I mean, they’re unbelievably fast and plus you’re bringing them in, four rounds with one, the next four rounds with another guy. And also, they punch a little harder. They sit down and they pivot on their foot and they turn that left hand over, where I haven’t seen that from Martinez."
Many insiders are tabbing Martinez to outmanuever and outbox Pavlik and it seems as though his career has never fully regained its momentum from the Hopkins loss. It seems that many have forgotten that he is still the middleweight champion of the world.
"I think they do," admitted Pavlik, who points out that his loss to “The Executioner” came at 170-pounds. "Y’ know what a good point is? I fought Bernard Hopkins two weight classes higher. I didn’t have a fight at middleweight, so what did I do? I jumped up two weight classes to go fight him. Nobody else would do that and I did. Everybody is going off this loss against Hopkins. Well, what happens when Roy Jones loses? What happens with Pacquiao and his five losses? What happens with Miguel Cotto? You never hear anything about that and everybody is going off that- it was a bad night. I mean, I won’t even use the weight class as an excuse because me going up in weight, I didn’t have to kill myself to make weight. Yeah, I was two weight classes above mine but I was strong going in, nutrition-wise. I was strong, healthy. So that has nothing to do with it.
Pavlik continues, "Everybody goes, ’Oh, well, I think it was the higher weight class that he went to.’ No, that wasn’t it. It was just a bad, bad night. And everybody goes off that one bad night. My God, if I was going to retire tomorrow, I’d be 36-1. That’s a helluva record."
An emphatic win over Martinez would go a long way in erasing the memory of that night and re-establishing Pavlik’s credibility in the eyes of the boxing public. Despite what many pundits believe, Pavlik and Loew like this match-up, believing they have the advantage in natural size and that Martinez can be touched. It’s a tough fight, but not an impossible one, by any stretch.
His manager, Cameron Dunkin says, "It’s a hard fight and people have asked ‘What’s the point?’ But Kelly wanted the fight; Kelly wants to fight anybody and everybody and that’s why I laugh when they say Kelly was afraid to face Paul Williams. It’s just ridiculous. Kelly will fight anybody, anywhere, anytime, and he always has. If anyone’s ever chickened out, it’s me, it’s not him. So he said ‘yes’ immediately. ’If that’s what it’s going to take to get on HBO, then I’m going to go.’"
Ahh, yes, “The Punisher,” who had put his name on the dotted line more than once last year to face Pavlik, only to have those fights never come about because of the lingering staph infection incurred by Pavlik on the middle of his left hand. After a couple of attempts to salvage that bout late last year, Williams would instead go on to face Martinez, in what was one of the best clashes of 2009. The negotiations and subsequent postponement of Pavlik-Williams left bad feelings on both sides of the table.
But should Pavlik get past Martinez, they say that Williams is next on their to-do list.
"I think that would be immediate; I think that’s what they’re going to come with. I think that’s what HBO wants," said Dunkin. "I think that’s what the fans want. I know that’s what Kelly wants and he’s tired of hearing about it. Yeah, I think that fight will be the first fight on the burner. I think that will be the one they try and put together and hopefully they’ll put together enough money that we make the fight."
One of the reasons Martinez landed this assignment was his strong outing against Williams in December.
"Here’s the thing, I think the Paul Williams people have made a huge mistake,” said Dunkin. “After we blow out Sergio Martinez, that just makes Williams’ stock go down, more. He wanted equal money this time; he isn’t going to even come close to getting offered what he was the first time. But like I said, after we blow out Martinez, why would we even fight him? I just think we move onto bigger and better things and there’s a whole lot more out there than Paul Williams."
Pavlik says he’d relish the opportunity to face Williams, but he knows he has a stern challenge ahead of him. Perhaps, even tougher than Williams.
"Hey, I would love to [face Williams]. How many times, after the last fight with Espino, did I call him out? I think maybe three or four times? But as all fighters say- and I think it’s true- I think right now, I’ve got a more dangerous opponent in front of me than Paul Williams on the 17th. I think Sergio Martinez is more of a dangerous fighter than Paul Williams for two reasons: One, he’s not as well-known. I think the last fight with Williams, due to the fact I was supposed to fight Williams and it got postponed and canceled and everything else that went on. People paid attention to that and they watched [Williams’] next fight, which was against Martinez and Martinez surprised everybody. People that know boxing and follow boxing know who Martinez was. But I think the ones that didn’t and watched the fight, seen how Martinez is. So that makes it a dangerous fight for me because he’s not as well known as Paul Williams.
"Second of all, Williams is a volume puncher,” continues Pavlik. “That’s all he is. I am too, but I have a lot of power behind my punches. I set my punches up; I jab; my jab’s working; I set up my right-hand. If the jab ain’t working, I find other routes to beat people. I go to the body; I do something. Williams is not like that; Williams is a guy that comes in there and throws a hundred punches a round. On the other hand, you got Martinez, who’s a guy who punches from different angles, moves, steps, pivots, fires off the back foot as he’s moving.
"So it makes him a more dangerous fighter than Williams because you know where he’s coming from."
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
It was one of those Saturday nights where you just stayed home, put on your “Snuggie” and watched boxing all night on your couch (Which for me, certainly isn’t the worst thing in the world). Some thoughts on what I witnessed...
-David Estrada’s knockout over the previously-undefeated Orlando Lora is another classic example of how a sparkling record can be deceiving. Lora came in with a mark of 26-0-1 with 18 knockouts, but it was a built-up record for the most part. Ultimately, Lora was exposed by the much more seasoned and hardened Estrada, who has faced the likes of Andre Berto, Kermit Cintron and Shane Mosley.
Famous football coach Bill Parcells loves to say, "You are what your record says you are." That might be true in the NFL, but it’s not always the case in boxing.
- Speaking of Berto, I thought he posted a pretty solid win against Carlos Quintana on Saturday night, considering the layoff he was coming off, the tragedy in Haiti and then his bicep injury that he suffered early on in the fight. But I’d like to see him in there with a pure puncher, who can bang from long range. How ’bout Randall Bailey in an all-Florida match-up? I think that fight would have fireworks.
- I heard that they had a very disappointing crowd in Sunrise, Florida at the Bank Atlantic Center, where not too many folks decided to “Fight for Haiti.” A couple of thoughts: Don King had really created a climate where folks in that area expected freebies and I think that hurt this gate. Also, there’s much more to building a fighter than just having him on HBO a bunch of times. You have to also situate that boxer in the area he’s from and build an audience. I wonder, is it too late for Berto? And I think that the same question will soon be asked of Daniel Jacobs, who seems to fight everywhere but the New York area.
- Was it just me or was referee Tommy Kimmons really being hard on Quintana? Not that it really mattered; Berto simply overwhelmed him at the end. But Kimmons was “Two-on-One-Tommy” for much of the night.
- I think Celestino Caballero gives Yuriorkis Gamboa all he can handle in the summer. This guy is “The Elastic Man” and he has the flexibility and movement of a Slinky. If he can overcome the early power and speed of the Cuban, I think he takes that fight down the stretch with his volume and activity.
- Mark Melligan looked pretty good in defeating Norberto Gonzalez on “Top Rank Live.” He’s a much better fighter when he’s aggressive and coming forward. But I still don’t trust a guy who lost to Michel Rosales. But how about a hook-up with Alfonso Gomez? I think that’s a pretty good fight and the winner moves onto bigger and better things.
FINAL FLURRIES
I finally got around to see Steve Molitor’s win against Takalani Ndlovu for the vacant IBF 122-pound title. Molitor looked awfully gun-shy and was very placid in there. I wonder if Caballero took something out of him...I also viewed David Tua’s recent victory over Friday Ahunanya. I still think this guy can be a factor and I wouldn’t mind seeing him matched up versus Sam Peter or the winner of Chris Arreola/Tomasz Adamek. As for the Klitschkos? Well, he’d need a ladder to reach them, so forget it. But will Cedric “The Promoter” Kushner, ever pull the trigger?...It doesn’t surprise me at all that Derrick Coleman has squandered the millions he made in the NBA. You could see that coming a mile away...This Lakers team reminds me of the 1986 edition that were the defending world champions, who added Maurice Lucas, and never really got it together and got bounced in the second round of the playoffs (remember Michael Cooper fainting at The Forum after Ralph Sampson’s shot?) This Laker team isn’t waiting to turn it on; they just may not be all that good...Wait, so at one time, long ago, John Tesh and Oprah were shacking up? Ya’ don’t say!...This week’s edition of “The Main Event” featured Bernard Fernandez and Andre Dirrell...Any questions or comments can be sent to k9kim@yahoo.com and you can follow me at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. You can also become a Facebook fan of Maxboxing at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing
Source: secondsout.com
Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik takes on Sergio Martinez this Saturday night in his return to HBO at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. After a disappointing 2009 that saw him take on the likes of Marco Antonio Rubio and Miguel Espino, he gets back to the big show against the speedy Argentinean southpaw.
And yeah, you don’t have to tell Pavlik and his folks that Martinez is a bad style to face. They’ve been told that a few times.
"I’ve heard that over and over and over," confirmed Pavlik to Maxboxing late last week. His trainer Jack Loew says he’s heard it incessantly, "Since we signed for the fight, I’ve heard it a hundred times. We shouldn’t have picked this fight, styles make fights."
But guess what? They don’t seem to care. In fact, they seem to relish the challenge of figuring out Martinez.
"Listen," continued Loew, "we are in the best shape of our life. This is the probably the hardest I’ve seen Kelly work. Left-hander, right-hander, I don’t care what he can do, [Martinez] doesn’t have enough for us."
Pavlik sounds like that kid from the old Life cereal commercial. "I like it; I really do like it and it gives me more confidence than anything." The public perception is, coming off his lopsided loss to Bernard Hopkins in October of 2008, that Pavlik simply can’t handle any kind of movement and that’s probably what Martinez and his crew are banking on. "Yeah, actually they are and that’s what I’m hoping from Sergio Martinez, that he was watching the Bernard Hopkins fight," said Pavlik. "Because that’s where I believe everyone’s getting that from, is the Bernard Hopkins fight. And as of right now, that was a bad fight. It was a fight that wasn’t my night. I was lethargic, wasn’t 100-percent. I fought Jermain Taylor twice, beat him twice, outboxed him, a guy who was an Olympic bronze medalist. And like I said, in a couple of other interviews, like it was in the amateurs, it didn’t have anything to do with power or being one-dimensional. It was being able to box."
Is too much being made out of one bad night at the office?
"Absolutely," stated Loew, "and I watched the Bernard Hopkins fight the other day and y’ know what? I’ll take absolutely nothing away from [Hopkins], he probably fought the best fight that he could have fought that night besides the Trinidad fight. But that was just one bad night on Kelly Pavlik’s part. And even though we lost probably every round of the fight, he wasn’t really out of it. We just didn’t do anything. It’s not that Bernard did anything spectacular, it’s just that Kelly did nothing; he was so lethargic. Just didn’t do anything. So yeah, I think people are making way, way too much of it. And I heard some interviews online with Sergio Martinez, how he’s going off the Hopkins fight. God bless him, I hope he does."
But here’s the bottom line: aren’t slick, well-schooled left-handers a bad match-up for almost anyone?
"Southpaws that move are tough; don’t get me wrong. But, at the same time, they’re not tough," reasoned Pavlik. "I mean, they’re off-balance, like Sergio Martinez. He’s a dangerous fighter, but he leaves himself wide open, too. We’ve seen it against Margarito; we’ve seen it against Paul Williams; he gets hit. He’s not as fast as what people think. He’s...how can you put it? He moves pretty good, when he punches. He’s from a different stance so it makes it look a lot faster than what it is. So I know you have to be careful with a guy like that but you can’t sit there and go, ’Oh my God, he’s so fast,’ when he’s not."
Pavlik, who trained in his familiar haunt of Youngstown, Ohio, for this fight, said he got quality sparring from the likes of Jesus Gonzalez and Austin Trout.
"Those guys are fast, especially in sparring," said Pavlik. "I mean, they’re unbelievably fast and plus you’re bringing them in, four rounds with one, the next four rounds with another guy. And also, they punch a little harder. They sit down and they pivot on their foot and they turn that left hand over, where I haven’t seen that from Martinez."
Many insiders are tabbing Martinez to outmanuever and outbox Pavlik and it seems as though his career has never fully regained its momentum from the Hopkins loss. It seems that many have forgotten that he is still the middleweight champion of the world.
"I think they do," admitted Pavlik, who points out that his loss to “The Executioner” came at 170-pounds. "Y’ know what a good point is? I fought Bernard Hopkins two weight classes higher. I didn’t have a fight at middleweight, so what did I do? I jumped up two weight classes to go fight him. Nobody else would do that and I did. Everybody is going off this loss against Hopkins. Well, what happens when Roy Jones loses? What happens with Pacquiao and his five losses? What happens with Miguel Cotto? You never hear anything about that and everybody is going off that- it was a bad night. I mean, I won’t even use the weight class as an excuse because me going up in weight, I didn’t have to kill myself to make weight. Yeah, I was two weight classes above mine but I was strong going in, nutrition-wise. I was strong, healthy. So that has nothing to do with it.
Pavlik continues, "Everybody goes, ’Oh, well, I think it was the higher weight class that he went to.’ No, that wasn’t it. It was just a bad, bad night. And everybody goes off that one bad night. My God, if I was going to retire tomorrow, I’d be 36-1. That’s a helluva record."
An emphatic win over Martinez would go a long way in erasing the memory of that night and re-establishing Pavlik’s credibility in the eyes of the boxing public. Despite what many pundits believe, Pavlik and Loew like this match-up, believing they have the advantage in natural size and that Martinez can be touched. It’s a tough fight, but not an impossible one, by any stretch.
His manager, Cameron Dunkin says, "It’s a hard fight and people have asked ‘What’s the point?’ But Kelly wanted the fight; Kelly wants to fight anybody and everybody and that’s why I laugh when they say Kelly was afraid to face Paul Williams. It’s just ridiculous. Kelly will fight anybody, anywhere, anytime, and he always has. If anyone’s ever chickened out, it’s me, it’s not him. So he said ‘yes’ immediately. ’If that’s what it’s going to take to get on HBO, then I’m going to go.’"
Ahh, yes, “The Punisher,” who had put his name on the dotted line more than once last year to face Pavlik, only to have those fights never come about because of the lingering staph infection incurred by Pavlik on the middle of his left hand. After a couple of attempts to salvage that bout late last year, Williams would instead go on to face Martinez, in what was one of the best clashes of 2009. The negotiations and subsequent postponement of Pavlik-Williams left bad feelings on both sides of the table.
But should Pavlik get past Martinez, they say that Williams is next on their to-do list.
"I think that would be immediate; I think that’s what they’re going to come with. I think that’s what HBO wants," said Dunkin. "I think that’s what the fans want. I know that’s what Kelly wants and he’s tired of hearing about it. Yeah, I think that fight will be the first fight on the burner. I think that will be the one they try and put together and hopefully they’ll put together enough money that we make the fight."
One of the reasons Martinez landed this assignment was his strong outing against Williams in December.
"Here’s the thing, I think the Paul Williams people have made a huge mistake,” said Dunkin. “After we blow out Sergio Martinez, that just makes Williams’ stock go down, more. He wanted equal money this time; he isn’t going to even come close to getting offered what he was the first time. But like I said, after we blow out Martinez, why would we even fight him? I just think we move onto bigger and better things and there’s a whole lot more out there than Paul Williams."
Pavlik says he’d relish the opportunity to face Williams, but he knows he has a stern challenge ahead of him. Perhaps, even tougher than Williams.
"Hey, I would love to [face Williams]. How many times, after the last fight with Espino, did I call him out? I think maybe three or four times? But as all fighters say- and I think it’s true- I think right now, I’ve got a more dangerous opponent in front of me than Paul Williams on the 17th. I think Sergio Martinez is more of a dangerous fighter than Paul Williams for two reasons: One, he’s not as well-known. I think the last fight with Williams, due to the fact I was supposed to fight Williams and it got postponed and canceled and everything else that went on. People paid attention to that and they watched [Williams’] next fight, which was against Martinez and Martinez surprised everybody. People that know boxing and follow boxing know who Martinez was. But I think the ones that didn’t and watched the fight, seen how Martinez is. So that makes it a dangerous fight for me because he’s not as well known as Paul Williams.
"Second of all, Williams is a volume puncher,” continues Pavlik. “That’s all he is. I am too, but I have a lot of power behind my punches. I set my punches up; I jab; my jab’s working; I set up my right-hand. If the jab ain’t working, I find other routes to beat people. I go to the body; I do something. Williams is not like that; Williams is a guy that comes in there and throws a hundred punches a round. On the other hand, you got Martinez, who’s a guy who punches from different angles, moves, steps, pivots, fires off the back foot as he’s moving.
"So it makes him a more dangerous fighter than Williams because you know where he’s coming from."
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
It was one of those Saturday nights where you just stayed home, put on your “Snuggie” and watched boxing all night on your couch (Which for me, certainly isn’t the worst thing in the world). Some thoughts on what I witnessed...
-David Estrada’s knockout over the previously-undefeated Orlando Lora is another classic example of how a sparkling record can be deceiving. Lora came in with a mark of 26-0-1 with 18 knockouts, but it was a built-up record for the most part. Ultimately, Lora was exposed by the much more seasoned and hardened Estrada, who has faced the likes of Andre Berto, Kermit Cintron and Shane Mosley.
Famous football coach Bill Parcells loves to say, "You are what your record says you are." That might be true in the NFL, but it’s not always the case in boxing.
- Speaking of Berto, I thought he posted a pretty solid win against Carlos Quintana on Saturday night, considering the layoff he was coming off, the tragedy in Haiti and then his bicep injury that he suffered early on in the fight. But I’d like to see him in there with a pure puncher, who can bang from long range. How ’bout Randall Bailey in an all-Florida match-up? I think that fight would have fireworks.
- I heard that they had a very disappointing crowd in Sunrise, Florida at the Bank Atlantic Center, where not too many folks decided to “Fight for Haiti.” A couple of thoughts: Don King had really created a climate where folks in that area expected freebies and I think that hurt this gate. Also, there’s much more to building a fighter than just having him on HBO a bunch of times. You have to also situate that boxer in the area he’s from and build an audience. I wonder, is it too late for Berto? And I think that the same question will soon be asked of Daniel Jacobs, who seems to fight everywhere but the New York area.
- Was it just me or was referee Tommy Kimmons really being hard on Quintana? Not that it really mattered; Berto simply overwhelmed him at the end. But Kimmons was “Two-on-One-Tommy” for much of the night.
- I think Celestino Caballero gives Yuriorkis Gamboa all he can handle in the summer. This guy is “The Elastic Man” and he has the flexibility and movement of a Slinky. If he can overcome the early power and speed of the Cuban, I think he takes that fight down the stretch with his volume and activity.
- Mark Melligan looked pretty good in defeating Norberto Gonzalez on “Top Rank Live.” He’s a much better fighter when he’s aggressive and coming forward. But I still don’t trust a guy who lost to Michel Rosales. But how about a hook-up with Alfonso Gomez? I think that’s a pretty good fight and the winner moves onto bigger and better things.
FINAL FLURRIES
I finally got around to see Steve Molitor’s win against Takalani Ndlovu for the vacant IBF 122-pound title. Molitor looked awfully gun-shy and was very placid in there. I wonder if Caballero took something out of him...I also viewed David Tua’s recent victory over Friday Ahunanya. I still think this guy can be a factor and I wouldn’t mind seeing him matched up versus Sam Peter or the winner of Chris Arreola/Tomasz Adamek. As for the Klitschkos? Well, he’d need a ladder to reach them, so forget it. But will Cedric “The Promoter” Kushner, ever pull the trigger?...It doesn’t surprise me at all that Derrick Coleman has squandered the millions he made in the NBA. You could see that coming a mile away...This Lakers team reminds me of the 1986 edition that were the defending world champions, who added Maurice Lucas, and never really got it together and got bounced in the second round of the playoffs (remember Michael Cooper fainting at The Forum after Ralph Sampson’s shot?) This Laker team isn’t waiting to turn it on; they just may not be all that good...Wait, so at one time, long ago, John Tesh and Oprah were shacking up? Ya’ don’t say!...This week’s edition of “The Main Event” featured Bernard Fernandez and Andre Dirrell...Any questions or comments can be sent to k9kim@yahoo.com and you can follow me at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. You can also become a Facebook fan of Maxboxing at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing
Source: secondsout.com
Manny Pacquiao should say "No" to Andre Berto -- Examiner
By Matt Stolow, Examiner.com
I'm no fan of Andre Berto. It's painful to watch him - like a full body dry-heave. He makes you think of a young Meldrick Taylor until he does try to box, then he's like Fres Oquendo.
If he gets a dream shot at Manny Pacquiao, it would be giving about a four to six month "Get out of jail free" pass to all that follow Manny.
Four months of ringing up big dinners at Nat's Thai Food, the laundromat, the brothel in the corner, even big days ahead for Examiner.com writers, the Vagabond Inn Motel next door all get a free ride, if you will, because like Mack, Manny's back in town at the Wild Card and 1123 Vine Street.
Berto, is, well he's Berto. Yes, he has a great story. But he's all story and little else. I realize his adviser Al Haymon seems to have the goods on HBO executives. His promoter, Lou Di Bella still has HBO dates due him from when he left HBO to make it on his own nine years ago.
Manny has finally run out of legitimate opponents. We don't know about Margarito getting licensed yet. Mayweather vs. Mosley are starring at a rematch and don't fight anyway until May 1st.
So we are looking toward the June 5th Yuri Foreman vs. Miguel Cotto for the gimmicky (in this case) eighth world title in eight weight divisions.
And I know I'll get stuck taking Michael Marley to Dan Tana's mega-Steak House in Hollywood and a nightcap at Jumbo's Game Room all because nobody can say "no" to Andre Berto.
Source: examiner.com
I'm no fan of Andre Berto. It's painful to watch him - like a full body dry-heave. He makes you think of a young Meldrick Taylor until he does try to box, then he's like Fres Oquendo.
If he gets a dream shot at Manny Pacquiao, it would be giving about a four to six month "Get out of jail free" pass to all that follow Manny.
Four months of ringing up big dinners at Nat's Thai Food, the laundromat, the brothel in the corner, even big days ahead for Examiner.com writers, the Vagabond Inn Motel next door all get a free ride, if you will, because like Mack, Manny's back in town at the Wild Card and 1123 Vine Street.
Berto, is, well he's Berto. Yes, he has a great story. But he's all story and little else. I realize his adviser Al Haymon seems to have the goods on HBO executives. His promoter, Lou Di Bella still has HBO dates due him from when he left HBO to make it on his own nine years ago.
Manny has finally run out of legitimate opponents. We don't know about Margarito getting licensed yet. Mayweather vs. Mosley are starring at a rematch and don't fight anyway until May 1st.
So we are looking toward the June 5th Yuri Foreman vs. Miguel Cotto for the gimmicky (in this case) eighth world title in eight weight divisions.
And I know I'll get stuck taking Michael Marley to Dan Tana's mega-Steak House in Hollywood and a nightcap at Jumbo's Game Room all because nobody can say "no" to Andre Berto.
Source: examiner.com
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