Antonio Margarito Refutes Detached Retina Story, Says His Career Is Not Over With Quite Yet -- Eastside Boxing

By James Slater, Eastside Boxing

A few days ago, news broke saying the career of Mexico’s Antonio Margarito was all but over due to how “Tony” had suffered a detached retina in his punishing loss to Manny Pacquiao last November. Margarito was badly banged up in the fight with Pac-Man, and his right orbital bone was broken and required surgery. It was easy to accept, then, that a detached retina could also have been suffered.

However, in speaking with radio show A Los Golpes last night, Margarito said such news is vastly premature, and that he is not yet looking at retiring from the sport he loves.

“I have not seen such news but I have been told that I had a detached retina and that I am going to retire,” Margarito said. “But those are just speculations. My retina is not detached. I have an appointment with Bob Arum’s doctor on Thursday. I am in the doctor’s hands. The only thing is, I cannot fight in September (the planned date for Margarito’s rematch with Miguel Cotto) because the doctor has not given me the green light and this is why I am going to see the specialist.

“100-percent, there is no retinal damage. I keep training. I have been sparring because the doctor said, ‘ok, start your sparring.’ Everything is fine with my eye.”

Margarito went on to say that although he is not in any way planning on retiring any time soon, he has to wait for the “green light” from the specialist he will visit with on Thursday before he can say for sure where his future lies.

It is clear, though, that the warrior is very much hoping he can fight again. Fans may have mixed emotions upon reading how “The Tijuana Tornado” may not be all done yet. Some fans said “good riddance” when reading of the reported retinal injury, while others said the man who will forever be known for the infamous 2009 hand-wraps scandal had paid his dues and didn’t deserve such a serious injury.

Now, with stories of his demise seemingly premature, Margarito continues to train, looking ahead to potential fights with Cotto and other names. Thursday of next week will prove to be a hugely pivotal day in the career of one of the 21st century’s most controversial boxers.

Source: eastsideboxing.com

Manny Pacquiao laces up gloves in country's fight over birth control -- CNN

CNN

Manny Pacquaio's latest fight could be much tougher than pounding on “Sugar” Shane Mosley for 12 rounds.

Fresh off his trouncing of the American welterweight contender, Pacquiao, 32 – who also serves as a Sarangani representative in the Filipino Congress – has entered the ring again to denounce a reproductive health bill that he and his fellow lawmakers are considering.

The bill has several controversial provisions, such as the requirement that women experiencing problems after abortions, which would still be banned, must be treated humanely and compassionately.

Pacquiao and President Benigno Aquino III, a backer of the bill, agree abortion should be outlawed, The Manila Times reported. Where they part ways is on the issue of contraception, according to Filipino media.

Aquino believes couples should be educated on birth control and should be free to choose the method they deem most appropriate, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported. Pacquiao, on the other glove, opposes contraception and paraphrased Genesis to defend his stance.

“God said, ‘Go forth and multiply.' He did not say, ‘Go and have just one or two children,’” the People’s Champ said, according the paper.

Source: religion.blogs.cnn.com

Boxing needs more than another Pacquiao-Marquez fight -- OC Register

By MARK WHICKER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

LOS ANGELES – Whenever the speed bag stops thumping and the bells stop ringing, this is what you hear at the gym:

•Manny Pacquiao hasn't signed yet, but the deal is done for a Juan Manuel Marquez fight in Las Vegas on Nov. 12. The appeal is that Marquez has a draw with, and a controversial split-decision loss to, Pacquiao, although those fights happened in 2004 and 2008 when Pac-Man fought at 125 and 129 pounds.

•"This could be my biggest challenge," said Freddie Roach, Pacquiao's trainer and the man in charge of Wild Card Gym, where he's also training Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for Sebastian Zbik in Staples Center June 4.

•"Marquez is a great counterpuncher," Roach said. "I don't think he's seen this particular Manny Pacquiao yet because Manny has improved so much. But sometimes you run into a guy who maybe feels like he has your number."

•Marquez has fought once when he weighed over 135, and that was his nolo contendere loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. The "catch-weight" for this one is 142. And Marquez will be 38 on fight night. Still, it's easily the best thing out there for Pacquiao.

•Marquez also has a fight scheduled with David Diaz in August. If he loses that one, Pacquiao fights somebody else, probably Zab Judah unless promoter Bob Arum can get Tim Bradley into the ring, which might be difficult with Gary Shaw managing Bradley.

•The significance could be a thawing of the icy stares between Arum and Golden Boy Promotions. He and Richard Schaefer did at least have to shake hands on this, although the dispute over Nonito Donaire's contract is still going to arbitration.

•If Top Rank and Golden Boy can stay civil, perhaps Victor Ortiz could await Pacquiao. Ortiz looked great when he handed Andre Berto his first loss.

•Arum is reminding everyone that Pacquiao would have won the first Marquez fight had a judge remembered that he was permitted to give Pacquiao a 10-6 edge in the first round, when he floored Marquez three times. Pacuqiao won the second one by one point.

•The pay-per-view numbers for Pacquiao's yawner with Shane Mosley are not in yet. The fight went to Showtime because Showtime is owned by CBS, and CBS ran Pacquiao-Mosley promotional shows. It was presumably a wedge to return boxing to a "terrestrial network," as Arum calls it.

•"Saturday nights are the worst-rated nights for the networks," Arum said. "That's the best night for us. We promote pay-per-views on Saturdays as a way to have a party in your horse. But we need the right sponsors. I can't convince the networks to do it as long as they have to beat the bushes for sponsors. A promoter like us would have to find sponsors and then go to the network pregnant. Once that happens, it's an easy sell."

•When Tiger Woods' career as America's Endorser ended, IMG's Lucia McKelvey looked for new marketing challenges. Top Rank hired her, and Arum thinks McKelvey's expertise will be the key to returning to the networks. "She's already gotten huge endorsements for Manny," Arum said. If you'll recall, Mike Tyson built his audience by regularly busting heads on ABC's Sunday afternoon telecasts.

•Which brings up Andre Ward: undefeated, talkative, devout, funny and Olympic gold medalist: Arum (who does not promote Ward) says Ward doesn't have the heft to get on pay-per-views yet, but he recognizes all of Ward's gifts. So the networks might suit him, particularly if Ward finishes off the Super Six super-middleweight championship and heads for headline fights against Lucien Bute or Sergio Martinez.

•"Ward's personality will show through on pay-per-view when the time comes and he'll have good staying power," Arum said.

•However, Arum said he would never let his fighters enter such a complicated tournament as the Super Six. "Lose or go home. Four or eight fights, and that's it," he said. "No points or any of that. It's not the World Cup."

•Roach laughed as he noted that Super Six entrants Glen Johnson, Allen Green and Andre Dirrell are all very near retirement. "So it's really the Super Three," he said.

•Another Roach protégé, Lateef "Power" Kayode, is an impressive Nigerian cruiserweight who is 16-0 with 14 knockouts. Kayode's next opponent is Matt Godfrey, in Santa Ynez on June 11.

•As Pacquiao keeps threatening to run for president of the Philippines, the hand-wringing over boxing's future amuses Arum. "The advantage of doing this for 45 years is that I remember when boxing wouldn't survive the loss to Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard," he said. "Someone will come along." But neither Arum nor anyone else can identify him.

mwhicker@ocregister.com

Source: ocregister.com

It Looks Like Hopkins Has Pascal On The Run Already -- The Sweet Science

By Ron Borges, The Sweet Science

In the next two days, WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal will be weighed and measured. The measuring may prove far more difficult than the weighing.

The former will occur this afternoon at the Bell Centre in Montreal on the eve of his rematch with 46-year-old Bernard Hopkins. The latter will occur one night later when he’s back in the ring with Hopkins for the second time since last December with the weight of doubt hanging all around him.

Their first meeting ended fortuitously for Pascal when he was awarded a draw by a decidedly generous crew of ringside judges. The fans packed inside the Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City had come to cheer Pascal but by the end many of them were not as kind as those judges, booing the decision lustily even though it had saved their adopted countryman’s title, at least for the moment.

Hopkins knows how to work the public as well as an opponent and he quickly used his considerable persuasive power to convince the WBC that an international incident had occurred, one that could only be rectified by a rematch. The WBC agreed, the money was right and Pascal was ordered into a rematch he probably wanted little to do with despite his public pronouncements to the contrary.

That is because although he’s 18 years younger than Hopkins by the end of their first fight he looked 18 years older. Hopkins had him on the run, both physically and mentally, and has continued to apply psychic pressure on Pascal ever since that decision was announced.

Perhaps this time the champion can cope with Hopkins but frankly it hasn’t looked that way whenever the two have been face-to-face. Hopkins has won every one of those confrontations, both inside the ring and out, knowing well that many boxing matches at this level are won long before anyone has donned gloves and trunks.

Not even twice dropping Hopkins in their first meeting seems to have bolstered Pascal, who has looked and sounded like a guy trying to convince himself this bully isn’t as dangerous as he seems to be and isn’t having much success doing it.

Pascal went so far as to suggest that Hopkins’ longevity was the product of performance enhancing drugs, chiding him for not willingly agreeing to full blood testing for PEDs. Hopkins’ reply was predictable; he has promised to beat him down for making such a suggestion and then sue him senseless after the fight is decided.

“I don't think Bernard's cheating,’’ Pascal said, back-pedaling as the fight neared in the same way he did last December and with about the same effectiveness.

“I said at the press conference, "Bernard, I know you're a clean fighter." He said, "Who am I to ask him that?" I wasn't going to be disrespectful. I just wanted to make sure that the fans' voices were heard to let them know that we participate in a clean sport. That's it.

“I didn't say that he was cheating. I said that he's a legend and he should lead by example. He should have taken the lead. Look, another boxer who's representing his country for free, only for the honor, has to go through the Olympic testing series before going to the Olympic games. A pro fighter has to pass obsolete tests only. So, these tests have to be updated in 2011.

“It was a trend that was started by Floyd Mayweather. Even Manny Pacquiao said recently that he would take the test (for a fight with Mayweather), so if Hopkins doesn't want to take the lead and do that, I am is willing to do it. Also, it's funny how Golden Boy stressed how Manny Pacquiao had to take the test. Now, they are trying to avoid the subject (as it relates to Hopkins).’’

Perhaps so but Pascal sounded like a guy trying to avoid the reality of the sad ending to his first fight with Hopkins, which was one in which he dropped him twice with flash knockdowns yet still couldn’t keep the old man off him.

PEDs didn’t seem to be the problem that night. Hopkins’ skill and vast storehouse of boxing knowledge and technique did and there’s no blood test for that. At least none Pascal may be able to pass.

Physically, the younger man should be superior and probably is. Certainly he has more punching power, as those two knockdowns suggest, and probably faster hands early in a fight.

But Bernard Hopkins does little early in a fight but make you understand how long a night it is going to be. He has promised the same this time while suggesting he just might come up and take it to Pascal early as well.

Pascal’s responses to all this has been tepid, sounding more like a fighter suffering a crisis of confidence than one sure that he got what he deserved last time and ready to prove it this time.

“It wasn't harder than I thought because I knew Bernard was still a good fighter,’’ Pascal has said of their first meeting. “I know when you fight with Hopkins, it's always complicated. He has a lot of experience.

“I'm young and I did some things wrong last time. But, with the rematch, I'm going to expect to be me and to show the world that I'm a great fighter, and that I'm better than Bernard Hopkins.

“He’s trying to make me quiet but, that won't work. I'm going to bark like a dog, and I'm going to explode…’’

Not too sure barking like a dog will help Pascal and one wonders if he meant explode or implode. Only time will tell, but even his promoter sounded less than sure of what is about to happen.

“When Jean fought Hopkins the first time, he was the odds favorite,’’ Yvon Michel said. “Most of the people believed that Jean was going to be too young, too strong and too fresh for Hopkins who was coming off two ordinary fights, two ordinary performances against (Enrique) Ornelas and Roy Jones. So, most of the people believed that Hopkins should have called off and not taken the fight, but because of his performance, the draw that he got against Pascal, Hopkins is back in people's minds.

“He's a phenomenon. Most people didn't know who Jean Pascal was until he fought Chad Dawson. But, the same people believed that it was a counter-performance by Dawson instead of a great performance of Jean Pascal. Now, some believe that Jean was exposed when he fought the great Hopkins, so a win for Pascal over Hopkins next week will be a great win. It will make Jean Pascal go from a champion to a star around the world and in the United States because it will be a significant win.

“Not a win against somebody who is over the hill and too old like it would have been December 18th, but a win against the great fighter who still has what it takes to put up a great fight. So a win for Jean will be a break-through fight.’’

A break-through fight against a 46-year-old opponent who is trying to become the oldest (by 190 days) boxer in history to win a world title?

“I think he’s showing it himself (that he’s cracking mentally),’’ Hopkins (51-5-2, 32 KO) said of Pascal (26-1-1, 16 KO). “I think he's showed it himself by bringing up something that can cost him a lot of money later on and that's allegations that totally is from way out north.

“Just by that in itself, this stuff from the first fight, that completely had me saying, "Wait a minute, this guy, is he serious?" Or is he just that ignorant? Is he just that green?’

“I've been blessed to have been around all kinds of people. I'm around young people all day in the gym, so I understand certain mentalities, but I'm not shocked to a point where I see these things because I understand the different era. I'm in a different era. Even in the streets of Philadelphia, the young are totally different than when I was coming up. It's a whole new different mindset in today's world from the boxing world through society. We all know that.

“I just take it as the guy’s really scared to death but dangerous in the same token. Because of ignorance, he can be extremely dangerous. So, I do not underestimate him. I do not look at it as an easy fight. I look at it as a scared, young guy who is high on himself and he wants to be great, but he doesn't want to pay the price.

“I'm ready mentally. I'm ready physically. I would love to go in there and get my knockout. That would stop my drought. The last time I had a knockout was Oscar De La Hoya (in 2004). I've been in a drought for many years, but I'll take a good beat-down, sort of like a William Joppy type of beat-down (over a knockout).

“It'd probably be better for Pascal to get knocked out than take a 12-round beating because we know that everybody that fought, well, not everybody, but most of the young fighters that were in the ring with me for more than eight to ten rounds weren't the same after that. I don't have to mention any names, we know who they are.’’

Felix Trinidad was never the same. William Joppy was never the same. Robert Allen was never the same. Kelly Pavlik was never the same. Antonio Tarver was never the same. Jermain Taylor beat him twice yet still was never the same.

There is a toll that must be paid to fight Bernard Hopkins. A toll Jean Pascal barely was able to muster the last time they met.

Saturday night that toll will be higher.

Is he ready to pay it?

Source: thesweetscience.com