By Darren Barcomb, 8CountNews.com
Eager fans hungrily await the November 12th matchup between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez. Unable to lure Floyd Mayweather Jr. into a fight, Pacquiao’s camp instead settled for a third matchup with Marquez as the next best thing. Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38 KO’s) faced Marquez (52-5-1, 38 KO’s) in 2004 fighting to a draw and again in 2008, garnishing a split decision victory. Now moved up to welterweight, Pacquiao’s WBO title is on the line in a 12 round bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
As both previous fights have shown, the two fighters match up well and this one should approach pay-per-view records, but there is one forgotten obstacles that has been lost in all the pre-fight hype. The 37 year old Marquez still has a “tune-up” fight scheduled against 25 year old Columbian Likar Ramos (24-3, 18 KO’s) on July 16th at the Plaza de Toros in Cancun, Mexico. Ramos does not sport the fight resume of Marquez, but he has won his last three fights by KO and he’s certainly not viewing this as just another tune-up. He will be fighting hard for the win, some respect, and perhaps a future big payday of his own.
So how important is the Ramos matchup to Marquez? Well, it’s pretty important because the following Pacquiao showdown totally depend on him not only winning, but doing so in convincing fashion. Any other outcome would jeopardize the November bout and all the hoopla and hype that are sure to come with it.
A fighter of Marquez’s caliber should have no problem though, right? Most people are viewing this as a simple tune-up, as Marquez has been out of action since a November of 2010 TKO of Michael Katsisis. In the end, that will probably be the case for the superior boxer, Marquez. History has taught us valuable lessons though. Just remember Mike Tyson’s 1990 tune-up against Buster Douglas or Michael Bentt’s shocking upset of Tommy Morrison in 1993. Both fights were tune-ups that not only went wrong, but they both cost the heavy favorites championship titles. History should always be respected, and so should every opponent in the ring.
Marquez is looking forward to fulfilling his trilogy with Manny Pacquiao, and rightfully so. Somewhere in a gym right now though, Likar Ramos is training hard, hoping to be the next tune-up fighter to make history of his own. What is meant as an easy fight for Marquez could prove devastating if taken too lightly…..and that’s probably what Ramos is hoping for.
Source: 8countnews.com
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Miguel Cotto to face Antonio Margarito -- ESPN
By Dan Rafael, ESPN.com
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Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito, who waged a blistering -- and ultimately controversial -- slugfest in 2008, will meet in a rematch on Dec. 3, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told ESPN.com.
Arum said he has deals with both sides, although the paperwork is not complete. Representatives for both fighters also said that they have accepted the fight and are in the process of finalizing agreements with Arum.
"We're on board and moving forward," Sergio Diaz, Margarito's co-manager said. "We've met with Bob. We want the fight. Cotto wants the fight. We're just finishing everything."
When Arum was in Puerto Rico last week to announce the signing of junior lightweight Luis Cruz to a co-promotional deal between Top Rank and Cotto's promotional company, he met with Gaby Penagaricano, Cotto's attorney.
"In our meeting, we had the opportunity to discuss all aspects of the Cotto-Margarito II deal," Penagaricano said. "Although we no doubt made progress, there are some aspects that will require further discussion (but) Miguel is certainly happy and even looking forward to having the opportunity to avenge his first loss."
The fight, for Cotto's junior middleweight title, will take place either at New York's Madison Square Garden or the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Arum said.
"We need to hammer out the site and we're doing an analysis now of New York and Las Vegas," Arum said. "The costs are so high in New York. The unions will kill you in New York."
Margarito is lucky he is able to fight after suffering a severe injury to his right eye during his lopsided decision loss to Manny Pacquiao in November. In that bout, Margarito suffered a broken orbital bone and also developed a large cataract in the right eye as a result of Pacquiao's repeated blows.
Arum hoped to make the rematch first in July and then in September, but the date was pushed deeper into the year so Margarito, who had surgery to remove the cataract in mid-May, could continue his recovery. The orbital bone has healed, Diaz said.
Diaz said that Margarito was originally told he could continue to box only as long as he didn't have cataract surgery, but that the blurry vision in his right eye would not improve. Diaz said at that point, Margarito strongly considered surgery and retirement.
"(His vision) was pretty bad, really blurry," Diaz said.
But Arum suggested that Margarito visit an eye specialist he had once seen. So Margarito arranged to visit Dr. Alan Crandall in Salt Lake City about two months ago.
"He told us Antonio's problem was very fixable and not a career-ending injury," Diaz said. "Antonio had pretty much accepted the fact that he would have surgery and have to retire. But they did this different kind of surgery that day, a half-hour surgery. They removed the cataract and put in a new lens. His vision is a whole lot better and will continue to get better. We have to do a minor laser surgery in a couple of weeks, but Antonio is going to be fine. He has been released to continue his career."
Like the first fight, the sequel will be on pay-per-view, although the company that will handle the event -- HBO or Showtime -- has not been determined. HBO PPV produced and distributed the first fight (which generated approximately 450,000 buys), but Arum said the network that he makes a deal with for the rights to the Nov. 12 pay-per-view fight between Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez will also land Cotto-Margarito II.
The first fight was one of the most memorable battles of 2008 and one of best fights in the rich history of the Puerto Rico vs. Mexico rivalry.
"Cotto and Margarito can't help but be a terrific fight because of their styles," Arum said. "Margarito knows how to fight only one way, and that is to come straight ahead. Cotto has to be more intelligent this time and have more gas in the tank. I talked to Cotto about that and he said, 'There's one big difference for me in this fight as opposed to the first fight, the smart old guy in my corner.'"
Puerto Rico's Cotto was referring to Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward, who has been with him for his past two fights.
In the first fight, Mexico's Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs) came on strong in the late rounds to stop Cotto (36-2, 29 KOs) in the 11th round of a bloody battle and take his welterweight belt on July 26, 2008 at the MGM Grand.
Margarito, who has lost two of his three fights since, was given tremendous credit for the victory as he ended Cotto's undefeated run. However, the win was eventually tainted because before his next fight, against Shane Mosley, Margarito was caught in the dressing room trying to wear loaded hand wraps containing illegal pads coated in a plaster-like substance. Mosley eventually knocked Margarito out in the in the ninth round and Margarito subsequently had his license revoked.
Because Margarito had fought Cotto in his previous fight -- and administered significant facial damage to him late in the fight -- many suspected he had gotten away with wearing illegal hand wraps.
Margarito, 33, sat out for 16 months after the license revocation before moving up to junior middleweight. He returned in his native Mexico, where he was welcomed with open arms and won a decision against low-level opponent Robert Garcia.
The hand-wrap scandal continued to swirl around Margarito, who was not licensed to fight in the United States until Texas granted him one for a November bout against Pacquiao. In their fight for a vacant junior middleweight belt, Margarito lost a lopsided decision and suffered the injuries.
Diaz said Margarito was ready for the scrutiny that will accompany a rematch with Cotto and the questions about whether he cheated in the first fight.
"When I was sitting with Bob, we were talking about going to Puerto Rico on the press tour," Diaz said. "Antonio said he was prepared for anything. He said, 'I could go anywhere and people don't like me, but this is the business. I'm a fighter and I have to face people who don't like me. I love Puerto Rico and I have to be prepared for it.' When he told me that, I felt relieved. I've been with him since he was 18 and it bothers me, it hurts me (that many people believe he cheated against Cotto). But Antonio is a strong guy. He knows he didn't do anything wrong, but he also knows he has to answer the questions."
Cotto, 30, moved up to junior middleweight in June 2010 and stopped Yuri Foreman in the ninth round to win a 154-pound title, which he defended March 12 with a 12th-round TKO of former titleholder Ricardo Mayorga.
"I think the rematch will continue from the first fight," Diaz said. "Antonio is really excited about the fight. He knows it will be a war. Antonio knows it will be another exciting fight. Cotto is a tremendous fighter, a four-time world champion. Antonio's a three-time champion. There are a lot of skeptics out there to show that Antonio's win the first time was no fluke.
"If Antonio was questioning himself he wouldn't have taken this fight. A lot of fighters say, 'I beat him once why do I need to do it again?' But Antonio is ready to get back in the ring. The payday is always good and the thought of being retired, I could see in his face when hit him. He was like, 'I'm 32 (at the time) and I have to retire already?' He wasn't taking it good, so when he was told he could continue he said it was a blessing. This fight is a blessing."
Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter @danrafaelespn.
Source: sports.espn.go.com
Arum said he has deals with both sides, although the paperwork is not complete. Representatives for both fighters also said that they have accepted the fight and are in the process of finalizing agreements with Arum.
"We're on board and moving forward," Sergio Diaz, Margarito's co-manager said. "We've met with Bob. We want the fight. Cotto wants the fight. We're just finishing everything."
When Arum was in Puerto Rico last week to announce the signing of junior lightweight Luis Cruz to a co-promotional deal between Top Rank and Cotto's promotional company, he met with Gaby Penagaricano, Cotto's attorney.
"In our meeting, we had the opportunity to discuss all aspects of the Cotto-Margarito II deal," Penagaricano said. "Although we no doubt made progress, there are some aspects that will require further discussion (but) Miguel is certainly happy and even looking forward to having the opportunity to avenge his first loss."
The fight, for Cotto's junior middleweight title, will take place either at New York's Madison Square Garden or the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Arum said.
"We need to hammer out the site and we're doing an analysis now of New York and Las Vegas," Arum said. "The costs are so high in New York. The unions will kill you in New York."
Margarito is lucky he is able to fight after suffering a severe injury to his right eye during his lopsided decision loss to Manny Pacquiao in November. In that bout, Margarito suffered a broken orbital bone and also developed a large cataract in the right eye as a result of Pacquiao's repeated blows.
Arum hoped to make the rematch first in July and then in September, but the date was pushed deeper into the year so Margarito, who had surgery to remove the cataract in mid-May, could continue his recovery. The orbital bone has healed, Diaz said.
Diaz said that Margarito was originally told he could continue to box only as long as he didn't have cataract surgery, but that the blurry vision in his right eye would not improve. Diaz said at that point, Margarito strongly considered surgery and retirement.
"(His vision) was pretty bad, really blurry," Diaz said.
But Arum suggested that Margarito visit an eye specialist he had once seen. So Margarito arranged to visit Dr. Alan Crandall in Salt Lake City about two months ago.
"He told us Antonio's problem was very fixable and not a career-ending injury," Diaz said. "Antonio had pretty much accepted the fact that he would have surgery and have to retire. But they did this different kind of surgery that day, a half-hour surgery. They removed the cataract and put in a new lens. His vision is a whole lot better and will continue to get better. We have to do a minor laser surgery in a couple of weeks, but Antonio is going to be fine. He has been released to continue his career."
Like the first fight, the sequel will be on pay-per-view, although the company that will handle the event -- HBO or Showtime -- has not been determined. HBO PPV produced and distributed the first fight (which generated approximately 450,000 buys), but Arum said the network that he makes a deal with for the rights to the Nov. 12 pay-per-view fight between Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez will also land Cotto-Margarito II.
The first fight was one of the most memorable battles of 2008 and one of best fights in the rich history of the Puerto Rico vs. Mexico rivalry.
"Cotto and Margarito can't help but be a terrific fight because of their styles," Arum said. "Margarito knows how to fight only one way, and that is to come straight ahead. Cotto has to be more intelligent this time and have more gas in the tank. I talked to Cotto about that and he said, 'There's one big difference for me in this fight as opposed to the first fight, the smart old guy in my corner.'"
Puerto Rico's Cotto was referring to Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward, who has been with him for his past two fights.
In the first fight, Mexico's Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs) came on strong in the late rounds to stop Cotto (36-2, 29 KOs) in the 11th round of a bloody battle and take his welterweight belt on July 26, 2008 at the MGM Grand.
Margarito, who has lost two of his three fights since, was given tremendous credit for the victory as he ended Cotto's undefeated run. However, the win was eventually tainted because before his next fight, against Shane Mosley, Margarito was caught in the dressing room trying to wear loaded hand wraps containing illegal pads coated in a plaster-like substance. Mosley eventually knocked Margarito out in the in the ninth round and Margarito subsequently had his license revoked.
Because Margarito had fought Cotto in his previous fight -- and administered significant facial damage to him late in the fight -- many suspected he had gotten away with wearing illegal hand wraps.
Margarito, 33, sat out for 16 months after the license revocation before moving up to junior middleweight. He returned in his native Mexico, where he was welcomed with open arms and won a decision against low-level opponent Robert Garcia.
The hand-wrap scandal continued to swirl around Margarito, who was not licensed to fight in the United States until Texas granted him one for a November bout against Pacquiao. In their fight for a vacant junior middleweight belt, Margarito lost a lopsided decision and suffered the injuries.
Diaz said Margarito was ready for the scrutiny that will accompany a rematch with Cotto and the questions about whether he cheated in the first fight.
"When I was sitting with Bob, we were talking about going to Puerto Rico on the press tour," Diaz said. "Antonio said he was prepared for anything. He said, 'I could go anywhere and people don't like me, but this is the business. I'm a fighter and I have to face people who don't like me. I love Puerto Rico and I have to be prepared for it.' When he told me that, I felt relieved. I've been with him since he was 18 and it bothers me, it hurts me (that many people believe he cheated against Cotto). But Antonio is a strong guy. He knows he didn't do anything wrong, but he also knows he has to answer the questions."
Cotto, 30, moved up to junior middleweight in June 2010 and stopped Yuri Foreman in the ninth round to win a 154-pound title, which he defended March 12 with a 12th-round TKO of former titleholder Ricardo Mayorga.
"I think the rematch will continue from the first fight," Diaz said. "Antonio is really excited about the fight. He knows it will be a war. Antonio knows it will be another exciting fight. Cotto is a tremendous fighter, a four-time world champion. Antonio's a three-time champion. There are a lot of skeptics out there to show that Antonio's win the first time was no fluke.
"If Antonio was questioning himself he wouldn't have taken this fight. A lot of fighters say, 'I beat him once why do I need to do it again?' But Antonio is ready to get back in the ring. The payday is always good and the thought of being retired, I could see in his face when hit him. He was like, 'I'm 32 (at the time) and I have to retire already?' He wasn't taking it good, so when he was told he could continue he said it was a blessing. This fight is a blessing."
Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter @danrafaelespn.
Source: sports.espn.go.com
Klitschko beats the excuse out of Haye -- SecondsOut
By Gabriel Montoya, SecondsOut.com
A toe, a toe, a kingdom for a toe. In front of 50,000 or so screaming fans at Imtech-Arena in Altona, Hamburg, Germany, heavyweight titleholder David Haye finally got into the ring against multiple-titlist Wladimir Klitschko for all but one of the pieces of the division crown. Unfortunately for Haye, he only brought nine toes into the ring with him. As it happened, the littlest piggy on his right foot had gone to market three weeks ago. How? You got me.
For longer than it takes to takes to recall all of the pre-fight stipulations for Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao, David Haye has been calling out Wladimir Klitschko. From a chance escalator meeting to post-fight rants, Haye has been clear on one thing for two years: he was going to knock out Wladimir Klitschko…one of these days. Saturday was not that day.
“If [Wlad] would have thrown his right hand, I would have got him out of there,” Haye would say after the fight. “He is 30 odd pounds heavier than me. He hit me with some of his best shots and I didn’t go down. I wasn’t hurt at any stage. I think that I proved that I am a great fighter. I’m just so frustrated that I couldn’t land my punches. My foot is in absolute agony.”
Maybe Haye was working out a last-minute toe cramp as he made the audience wait for his entrance, the pressure from a long road to this evening’s combat palpable and growing with each filler speech by Lennox Lewis and his puzzling new penchant for hats.
Finally, the introductions began and Haye made his way to the ring through a raucous crowd. He lost a plastic footie along the way but luckily it was only the right one. He did have a bit of stumble moment during that ring walk fracas so maybe there is something to his later story. Haye certainly hobbled down the tunnel like a man with a jacked-up piglet.
I have to say the television broadcast was amazing. Both men were introduced with their own video clips that featured some live action worked into the mix. Actors passed through a gym to a corner scene with a trainer fanning his fighter, a kid selling newspapers about the big fight and finally, Vitali Klitschko reading about it on a park bench. The Cirque du Soleil feeling was made only more surreal by Vitali looking to his left, revealing the guy next to him reading the very same paper is actually Big George Foreman and his smiling face. Seeing Foreman’s smile only added to the magnitude of this event and reminded us of not only how rare but how long it has been since we saw two top big men with mutual animosity go at it for money.
Haye’s anthem delegate pleaded, “God Save the Queen” (though he’d have settled for a toe) and Wlad’s bellowed a stirring "Ukraine’s [Glory] Has Not Yet Perished." America’s representative let loose a “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble” and we were off.
“It was my plan to win this fight. The plan was to get this fight won. For whatever reason, it was not to be today,” said a post-fight Haye. “I’ve been plagued with injuries throughout my career. It’s really frustrating because I’m so powerful. I can land some really great punches but tonight it wasn’t my night.”
The reason it wasn’t Haye’s night was because from the opening bell, Wladimir Klitschko put multiple styles of jabs in his face all night, sometimes pawing, sometimes a range finder, at others, still a jackhammer. The Klitschko jab is a weapon that has tamed the likes of Ruslan Chagaev, Eddie Chambers, Sam Peter twice and Sultan Ibragimov among the 51 who have lost to him.
“It was the same situation. I’ve been criticized by David Haye after the Ibragimov fight but it was the same situation where Haye felt my punches and gave up his strategy,” said Klitschko. “He was very cautious. He was very difficult to hit. Same way with Ibragimov. He didn’t give me the challenge in the ring, an offensive fight. You know, let’s get a fight! Instead, he was fighting like all of them. Like all of my recent opponents. I would have loved to celebrate my 50th knockout. So we will postpone it then.”
From the outset, the men circled each other as we knew they would. Haye, who fights more like an athlete than a boxer, leapt in with wild right hands and used a nice left stick to the chest of Wlad. He would stay in that posture throughout most of the fight.
Klitschko was Klitschko. From center ring, he used multiple jabs though a bit high or off the mark at times. Haye used good head movement to get out of the way much of the time. For at least two rounds, we waited for that right hand of Wladimir’s, the telephone pole delivered with ancient Ukrainian fury and precision. When it finally launched deep into the second, it missed the mark just a bit.
In fact, save for a right hand in the fifth that rocked Haye into the ropes, Wladimir never quite landed his Sunday punch in this one. Sure, he landed some good right hands; he just never got all of one. Perhaps that was because he spent much of the fight looking to do so. He forgot all about his left hook in this fight except for maybe one or two times.
In the lead in, Haye had derided the Klitschko “jab-jab-grab style,” saying he had an answer for it. He did have an answer for one part of the style but certainly never figured out the jab. Throughout the fight, whenever Klitschko tied up and looked to lean on his opponent’s back, as is his normal infighting tactic, Haye would simply fall to his knees on the canvas. He got away with it the first two times because he waited long enough to make it look good. In the seventh, it got a point deducted from Wlad in a round he was winning.
The fight was tense through four rounds, both men getting in their shots here and there. The fifth was probably the best round of the first half. Early on, Wlad landed a nice right hand off a jab with Haye on the ropes. The lead up was futile and Haye got back into a rhythm. At the bell, Haye had landed a nice right hand to answer.
In the corner between five and six, Klitschko’s trainer, Emanuel Steward, urged on his man. To his eyes, Haye was looking like he was the more active man because he was moving, jabbing and throwing an occasional right hand while Wlad was simply following him and looking for the big shot. When he did throw, as Steward pointed out, he did well.
Like a good fighter should, Klitschko responded in the middle of the fight, “stepping to” Haye as Steward suggested. He got lower in his stance and began to let that right hand go at different speeds. While not all of them landed entirely, some did which served to tame Haye, seemingly hobbled yet not showing it.
In the seventh, Haye got in a nice left hook on Wlad but not much else early and won the round. Wladimir went to tie up Haye and lean on his back. Haye dropped; referee Genaro Hernandez fell for it and Haye won himself a round…if he didn’t screw up the rest of it. Wlad tried to win back the round through aggression which allowed Haye to make him miss and pay in spots. Haye got cagey, moving in and out well and landing his jab, eventually landing the aforementioned left hook in an off-balance move.
Between rounds, Steward demonstrated for Hernandez the complicated mechanics of the Haye “He leans; I fall down,” move. Rodriguez lowered his eyes and silently agreed, “Yes. I fell for it. Thank you.”
The eighth moved past with nary a good punch landing. The ninth proved foreshadowing because Haye tried his fall-down move again only to be warned that he’d been found out by Rodriguez. This was also one of Wlad’s best rounds, particularly late as he got low and let the right hand go after some nice double jabs. Klitschko badly wanted the KO but just couldn’t land the one right shot. Some of the shots may have actually answered the chin question for Haye at this weight.
God must have been busy saving the Queen because by round 11, Haye could have used a little help that never came. Hopelessly down on the cards and out of ways to generate rounds or point deductions, he was going to have to go for broke. Things went from bad to terrible when Haye leapt into Wlad and was either thrown down or simply fell again but the ref had seen enough and gave him a knockdown count.
Haye responded to his needs with a solid 12th round opening as he blasted a right to the side of Wlad’s head. “Dr. Steelhammer” gripped Haye like a vise and for a brief moment, Haye’s dream was in sight. Klitschko responded like a champion and got behind his jab/right hand combos. It was a good thing Wlad didn’t commit to his pre-fight “You will be #50” prediction with a tattoo or anything because he simply couldn’t finish Haye despite stepping up his aggression and pressure down the stretch.
Overall, it was a clear win for Wladimir Klitschko, 56-3 (49), with scores of 117-109,118-108 and 116-110 to seal a unanimous decision. He is simply one of our very best. I disagree that size is his only attribute. That’s one skilled technician right there.
“I wish I could prove it with knockout of David Haye,” said Wlad, “but I think the fight talks for itself.”
Haye did what he could. When it came down to it, he had his moments and he never went down…from a punch. Haye is a fighter that is more athlete than boxer and that is exactly how he fought. When that didn’t work, was anyone surprised he had no other answers? It was, however, a disappointing excuse by Haye, who falls to 25-2 (23). Lose with grace. Keep the toe to yourself.
“All credit to Wladimir. He is a great fighter. Everything that was said in the lead up was to get him to come to me so I would have a chance to land my shots but he fought a smart fight,” said Haye. “I was trying to egg him on to get close to me so I could land. I couldn’t get him at long range so I was trying to encourage him, dropping my hands, giving him my face to try and get him to come inside so I could do something. He fought the smart fight and won on points.”
“If David’s toe had been well, who knows?” said Haye’s trainer, Adam Booth.
A question best pondered by the experts.
Booth said October 13, Haye’s birthday and the date given for his retirement, will be the last of David Haye as a fighter. Haye said he needed to look at the fight to decide if this was it or if one more is likely.
And now, boxing blue balls for anyone wanting a unified heavyweight champion: The only other fight we want in the world more than Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. is Wladimir Klitschko vs. Vitali Klitschko for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world. No fight is bigger than this one in my opinion. Manny vs. Floyd has a better chance of happening.
“We did accomplish our dream and unified all of the belts in the heavyweight division,” said Wladimir, who showed no signs of wanting to punch his brother, who stood beside him, WBC belt in hand. “We are and you have to call us now the undisputed heavyweight champions of the world. I share this with my brother and it’s really an [important] moment in our life. I am glad I can share it with the 50,000 people who came.”
The clearest threat to the Klitschkos has now been beaten. Can he redeem himself? Sure. Would we watch again? I would. I’d like to get my ten toes worth, please. A lot of people will be disappointed by the conclusion. I was. But it was not a terrible fight. Just not the great one we expected.
Source: secondsout.com
A toe, a toe, a kingdom for a toe. In front of 50,000 or so screaming fans at Imtech-Arena in Altona, Hamburg, Germany, heavyweight titleholder David Haye finally got into the ring against multiple-titlist Wladimir Klitschko for all but one of the pieces of the division crown. Unfortunately for Haye, he only brought nine toes into the ring with him. As it happened, the littlest piggy on his right foot had gone to market three weeks ago. How? You got me.
For longer than it takes to takes to recall all of the pre-fight stipulations for Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao, David Haye has been calling out Wladimir Klitschko. From a chance escalator meeting to post-fight rants, Haye has been clear on one thing for two years: he was going to knock out Wladimir Klitschko…one of these days. Saturday was not that day.
“If [Wlad] would have thrown his right hand, I would have got him out of there,” Haye would say after the fight. “He is 30 odd pounds heavier than me. He hit me with some of his best shots and I didn’t go down. I wasn’t hurt at any stage. I think that I proved that I am a great fighter. I’m just so frustrated that I couldn’t land my punches. My foot is in absolute agony.”
Maybe Haye was working out a last-minute toe cramp as he made the audience wait for his entrance, the pressure from a long road to this evening’s combat palpable and growing with each filler speech by Lennox Lewis and his puzzling new penchant for hats.
Finally, the introductions began and Haye made his way to the ring through a raucous crowd. He lost a plastic footie along the way but luckily it was only the right one. He did have a bit of stumble moment during that ring walk fracas so maybe there is something to his later story. Haye certainly hobbled down the tunnel like a man with a jacked-up piglet.
I have to say the television broadcast was amazing. Both men were introduced with their own video clips that featured some live action worked into the mix. Actors passed through a gym to a corner scene with a trainer fanning his fighter, a kid selling newspapers about the big fight and finally, Vitali Klitschko reading about it on a park bench. The Cirque du Soleil feeling was made only more surreal by Vitali looking to his left, revealing the guy next to him reading the very same paper is actually Big George Foreman and his smiling face. Seeing Foreman’s smile only added to the magnitude of this event and reminded us of not only how rare but how long it has been since we saw two top big men with mutual animosity go at it for money.
Haye’s anthem delegate pleaded, “God Save the Queen” (though he’d have settled for a toe) and Wlad’s bellowed a stirring "Ukraine’s [Glory] Has Not Yet Perished." America’s representative let loose a “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble” and we were off.
“It was my plan to win this fight. The plan was to get this fight won. For whatever reason, it was not to be today,” said a post-fight Haye. “I’ve been plagued with injuries throughout my career. It’s really frustrating because I’m so powerful. I can land some really great punches but tonight it wasn’t my night.”
The reason it wasn’t Haye’s night was because from the opening bell, Wladimir Klitschko put multiple styles of jabs in his face all night, sometimes pawing, sometimes a range finder, at others, still a jackhammer. The Klitschko jab is a weapon that has tamed the likes of Ruslan Chagaev, Eddie Chambers, Sam Peter twice and Sultan Ibragimov among the 51 who have lost to him.
“It was the same situation. I’ve been criticized by David Haye after the Ibragimov fight but it was the same situation where Haye felt my punches and gave up his strategy,” said Klitschko. “He was very cautious. He was very difficult to hit. Same way with Ibragimov. He didn’t give me the challenge in the ring, an offensive fight. You know, let’s get a fight! Instead, he was fighting like all of them. Like all of my recent opponents. I would have loved to celebrate my 50th knockout. So we will postpone it then.”
From the outset, the men circled each other as we knew they would. Haye, who fights more like an athlete than a boxer, leapt in with wild right hands and used a nice left stick to the chest of Wlad. He would stay in that posture throughout most of the fight.
Klitschko was Klitschko. From center ring, he used multiple jabs though a bit high or off the mark at times. Haye used good head movement to get out of the way much of the time. For at least two rounds, we waited for that right hand of Wladimir’s, the telephone pole delivered with ancient Ukrainian fury and precision. When it finally launched deep into the second, it missed the mark just a bit.
In fact, save for a right hand in the fifth that rocked Haye into the ropes, Wladimir never quite landed his Sunday punch in this one. Sure, he landed some good right hands; he just never got all of one. Perhaps that was because he spent much of the fight looking to do so. He forgot all about his left hook in this fight except for maybe one or two times.
In the lead in, Haye had derided the Klitschko “jab-jab-grab style,” saying he had an answer for it. He did have an answer for one part of the style but certainly never figured out the jab. Throughout the fight, whenever Klitschko tied up and looked to lean on his opponent’s back, as is his normal infighting tactic, Haye would simply fall to his knees on the canvas. He got away with it the first two times because he waited long enough to make it look good. In the seventh, it got a point deducted from Wlad in a round he was winning.
The fight was tense through four rounds, both men getting in their shots here and there. The fifth was probably the best round of the first half. Early on, Wlad landed a nice right hand off a jab with Haye on the ropes. The lead up was futile and Haye got back into a rhythm. At the bell, Haye had landed a nice right hand to answer.
In the corner between five and six, Klitschko’s trainer, Emanuel Steward, urged on his man. To his eyes, Haye was looking like he was the more active man because he was moving, jabbing and throwing an occasional right hand while Wlad was simply following him and looking for the big shot. When he did throw, as Steward pointed out, he did well.
Like a good fighter should, Klitschko responded in the middle of the fight, “stepping to” Haye as Steward suggested. He got lower in his stance and began to let that right hand go at different speeds. While not all of them landed entirely, some did which served to tame Haye, seemingly hobbled yet not showing it.
In the seventh, Haye got in a nice left hook on Wlad but not much else early and won the round. Wladimir went to tie up Haye and lean on his back. Haye dropped; referee Genaro Hernandez fell for it and Haye won himself a round…if he didn’t screw up the rest of it. Wlad tried to win back the round through aggression which allowed Haye to make him miss and pay in spots. Haye got cagey, moving in and out well and landing his jab, eventually landing the aforementioned left hook in an off-balance move.
Between rounds, Steward demonstrated for Hernandez the complicated mechanics of the Haye “He leans; I fall down,” move. Rodriguez lowered his eyes and silently agreed, “Yes. I fell for it. Thank you.”
The eighth moved past with nary a good punch landing. The ninth proved foreshadowing because Haye tried his fall-down move again only to be warned that he’d been found out by Rodriguez. This was also one of Wlad’s best rounds, particularly late as he got low and let the right hand go after some nice double jabs. Klitschko badly wanted the KO but just couldn’t land the one right shot. Some of the shots may have actually answered the chin question for Haye at this weight.
God must have been busy saving the Queen because by round 11, Haye could have used a little help that never came. Hopelessly down on the cards and out of ways to generate rounds or point deductions, he was going to have to go for broke. Things went from bad to terrible when Haye leapt into Wlad and was either thrown down or simply fell again but the ref had seen enough and gave him a knockdown count.
Haye responded to his needs with a solid 12th round opening as he blasted a right to the side of Wlad’s head. “Dr. Steelhammer” gripped Haye like a vise and for a brief moment, Haye’s dream was in sight. Klitschko responded like a champion and got behind his jab/right hand combos. It was a good thing Wlad didn’t commit to his pre-fight “You will be #50” prediction with a tattoo or anything because he simply couldn’t finish Haye despite stepping up his aggression and pressure down the stretch.
Overall, it was a clear win for Wladimir Klitschko, 56-3 (49), with scores of 117-109,118-108 and 116-110 to seal a unanimous decision. He is simply one of our very best. I disagree that size is his only attribute. That’s one skilled technician right there.
“I wish I could prove it with knockout of David Haye,” said Wlad, “but I think the fight talks for itself.”
Haye did what he could. When it came down to it, he had his moments and he never went down…from a punch. Haye is a fighter that is more athlete than boxer and that is exactly how he fought. When that didn’t work, was anyone surprised he had no other answers? It was, however, a disappointing excuse by Haye, who falls to 25-2 (23). Lose with grace. Keep the toe to yourself.
“All credit to Wladimir. He is a great fighter. Everything that was said in the lead up was to get him to come to me so I would have a chance to land my shots but he fought a smart fight,” said Haye. “I was trying to egg him on to get close to me so I could land. I couldn’t get him at long range so I was trying to encourage him, dropping my hands, giving him my face to try and get him to come inside so I could do something. He fought the smart fight and won on points.”
“If David’s toe had been well, who knows?” said Haye’s trainer, Adam Booth.
A question best pondered by the experts.
Booth said October 13, Haye’s birthday and the date given for his retirement, will be the last of David Haye as a fighter. Haye said he needed to look at the fight to decide if this was it or if one more is likely.
And now, boxing blue balls for anyone wanting a unified heavyweight champion: The only other fight we want in the world more than Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. is Wladimir Klitschko vs. Vitali Klitschko for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world. No fight is bigger than this one in my opinion. Manny vs. Floyd has a better chance of happening.
“We did accomplish our dream and unified all of the belts in the heavyweight division,” said Wladimir, who showed no signs of wanting to punch his brother, who stood beside him, WBC belt in hand. “We are and you have to call us now the undisputed heavyweight champions of the world. I share this with my brother and it’s really an [important] moment in our life. I am glad I can share it with the 50,000 people who came.”
The clearest threat to the Klitschkos has now been beaten. Can he redeem himself? Sure. Would we watch again? I would. I’d like to get my ten toes worth, please. A lot of people will be disappointed by the conclusion. I was. But it was not a terrible fight. Just not the great one we expected.
Source: secondsout.com
Target Mayweather! Amir aiming for $100m super fight against controversial American -- Daily Mail
By Jeff Powell, DailyMail.co.uk
The agenda for Britain's world light-welterweight champion was made public in London by Richard Schaefer, chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions.
Khan meets the dangerous Zab Judah in Las Vegas in a title unification fight on July 23. He is then expected to move on to an awesome battle in the US against Mexican legend Erik Morales.
That is expected to be followed by a move up to welterweight in preparation for challenging Mayweather, via a homecoming fight in Britain next spring. A likely opponent then would be British champion Kell Brook, with whom Khan has been exchanging banter on Twitter.
That would set the stage for the mega match against Mayweather, who makes his comeback after more than a year out of the ring against Victor Ortiz on September 17.
There is a projected date of May 5 next year for Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao in the fight the world wants to see but Schaefer says: 'We are confident Floyd beats Manny and that Amir will come through his three challenges.
'I believe Amir is the best fighter in the UK now and is destined to become the next pound-for-pound king.
Best in the business? Schaefer, chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions, says Khan is Britain's best fighter
'Las Vegas, the HBO network and more and more people in America are becoming excited about Amir. He proved in that Fight of the Year before Christmas that he doesn't have a suspect chin.
'Given his skills, his will, heart and desire to win, along with his personality, that makes him the complete package.'
Khan-Judah will be aired on pay per view by the expanding Primetime network, although Schaefer does not rule out working with Sky again in the future.
But, as the American promoter for Haye, he is concerned about the best way to repackage Britain's fallen world heavyweight champion should he decide to postpone his retirement.
Of Haye's disastrous night against Wladimir Klitschko in a Hamburg football ground, Schaefer said: 'David did not come to fight. He didn't try to win, never went for it and didn't even take a risk when he was so far behind on points.
'It was not the David Haye we know and he should never have mentioned his little toe. But we're not writing him off after one terrible night.'
Haye will not be given a rematch by Wladimir but the German camp have hinted at a possible fight against his older brother, WBC champion Vitali.
But Schaefer warned: 'After last Saturday there'll be nothing like the same money, no football stadium and I can't envisage anything like the same pay-per-view audience.
'Our advice is for David to take a couple of fights in America to rebuild his image as a fast, exciting and charismatic heavyweight. Then he would still need a big win back in Britain to push him towards another challenge against one of the Klitschkos… if they really want it.'
Source: dailymail.co.uk
British boxing's post-Haye renaissance began with the unveiling of a four-bout programme for Amir Khan
, culminating in a super fight with Floyd Mayweather Jnr.
, culminating in a super fight with Floyd Mayweather Jnr.Mayweather, America's controversial candidate as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, has already agreed in principle to a $100million showdown against Khan in the autumn of next year, assuming they both remain unbeaten.
The agenda for Britain's world light-welterweight champion was made public in London by Richard Schaefer, chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions.
Khan meets the dangerous Zab Judah in Las Vegas in a title unification fight on July 23. He is then expected to move on to an awesome battle in the US against Mexican legend Erik Morales. That would set the stage for the mega match against Mayweather, who makes his comeback after more than a year out of the ring against Victor Ortiz on September 17.
There is a projected date of May 5 next year for Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao in the fight the world wants to see but Schaefer says: 'We are confident Floyd beats Manny and that Amir will come through his three challenges.
'I believe Amir is the best fighter in the UK now and is destined to become the next pound-for-pound king.
Best in the business? Schaefer, chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions, says Khan is Britain's best fighter
'Las Vegas, the HBO network and more and more people in America are becoming excited about Amir. He proved in that Fight of the Year before Christmas that he doesn't have a suspect chin.
'Given his skills, his will, heart and desire to win, along with his personality, that makes him the complete package.'
Khan-Judah will be aired on pay per view by the expanding Primetime network, although Schaefer does not rule out working with Sky again in the future.
But, as the American promoter for Haye, he is concerned about the best way to repackage Britain's fallen world heavyweight champion should he decide to postpone his retirement.
Of Haye's disastrous night against Wladimir Klitschko in a Hamburg football ground, Schaefer said: 'David did not come to fight. He didn't try to win, never went for it and didn't even take a risk when he was so far behind on points.
'It was not the David Haye we know and he should never have mentioned his little toe. But we're not writing him off after one terrible night.'
Haye will not be given a rematch by Wladimir but the German camp have hinted at a possible fight against his older brother, WBC champion Vitali.
But Schaefer warned: 'After last Saturday there'll be nothing like the same money, no football stadium and I can't envisage anything like the same pay-per-view audience.
'Our advice is for David to take a couple of fights in America to rebuild his image as a fast, exciting and charismatic heavyweight. Then he would still need a big win back in Britain to push him towards another challenge against one of the Klitschkos… if they really want it.'
Source: dailymail.co.uk
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