GHOST BUSTED

Hey Doug The Thug! Ready to rap?

Nice win by Robert Guerrero even though I’m not too surprised. Guerrero is just worlds more skilled than the crude one-dimensional Selcuk Aydin although that’s not saying much. Was the fight spectacular to watch? F__k no. And really, Robbie should consider himself lucky that Aydin had as much ring-smarts as a f__king raisin.

Hey Aydin, it’s not against the rule book to throw more than one punch per round. Nor is head movement illegal. And to think that this was the same guy that the other top dogs were avoiding. Yeah guys. In case you were watching this fight, that’s what you all supposedly feared. Maybe Aydin can rebound like some experts might think but he’ll have to show a whole lot more than he did that night. S__t, can he show any less?! And yet, it didn’t still didn’t come completely easy for Robbie despite what Michael Rosenthal reported. If that fight was 15 rounds like they use to be it might have gotten pretty scary for him.

That pretty much brings the question of where The Ghost goes from here? The 140 and 147 divisions are stocked with fighters way, way smarter and better than Aydin, and those same guys would shrug of Robbie’s best shots like paper-balls and throw way more at him than the brick-brained Aydin did. Never mind Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. How would The Ghost hold up against a tough-as-nails bastard like Josesito Lopez who will come at him with 80-100 shots per round? How will he handle the power-punches of Lucas Matthysse or Andre Berto? Against those ass-kickers The Ghost could get busted – as in busted up. I know his heart will be up for the upcoming challenges but how will the rest of him hold out?

Should be interesting. OK Doug I’m out of here. No rest for the wicked. See ya! – Todd The Terminator

I would definitely be interested in watching Guerrero vs. Matthysse and Lopez. Matthysse, however, is gunning for a shot at the WBC 140-pound title and Guerrero appears to have his heart set on campaigning at welterweight. I don’t have a problem with that, even though I question his power at 147 pounds. (For all we know, Guerrero CAN punch at welterweight but it did not look that way this past Saturday because Aydin has a really good chin.)

Guerrero did well enough against a solid-enough welterweight to merit another high-profile bout in the division. He showed us that he can more than hang with a lower top-10 welterweight but he hasn’t proved that he belongs in the same ring with the likes of Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, or even Tim Bradley.

If Berto wants to face a respected comeback opponent and Guerrero wants to prove that he’s ready for “elite” welterweights, I think that’s the perfect matchup; one most fight fans would welcome.

I agree that Guerrero did not have an “easy” time with Aydin. He had to dig deep more than once during those 12 rounds (especially late in the bout when Aydin came on).

I scored it 116-112 for Guerrero but could have easily had a 115-113 tally for The Ghost.

Aydin’s limitations – his lack of a consistent jab and awful habit of lobbing one punch at a time – is the reason I picked Guerrero to win this fight and why the Turk was a reasonable gamble for Team Ghost.

He’s no world beater but count me among those who believe he can be a minor player in the 147-pound division and would like to see him on U.S. television again.

I think “Mini-Tyson” can serve as gate-keeper for prospects and fringe contenders who want to climb the ladder, as well as once- or twice-beaten former contenders who want to get back in the mix. I’d like to see him take on Brad Solomon, Jessie Vargas, the winner of Marcos Maidana-Jesus Soto Karass, Mike Jones, Jan Zaveck, or Vyacheslav Senchenko.

RECENT FIGHTS

Hey Doug,
Some good scraps this weekend.

Man, cats need to learn their lessons about overlooking opponents. Hank Lundy went on and on about how he runs 135, and how Adrien Broner was going to have to go through him, then he gets beat by a journeyman (it was close, but I thought that Lundy lost). Plus he ran his mouth off right before John Molina KO’d him. But the worse part was how he called Broner out for being unprofessional for missing weight (which was true), but then had to weigh in four times himself to make weight, and that likely cost him in the early rounds against Ray Beltran. Maybe next time he’ll do what Floyd, Broner, Alvarez, Guzman and Morales did and not even try to make the weight.

Going back to last weekend, I understand the outrage about the Broner weight issue, but where was the outrage with Alvarez missed the 150 weight against Matthew Hatton by a few pounds, and then came into the ring at 165? Ironically, De Leon vs. Broner was on the undercard of that fight, so maybe Broner picked up a few tips from Alvarez, LOL! And also an overweight Morales (against Garcia) didn’t even try to take off the extra 2 pounds and just sat down and immediately started drinking water, and had to cough up 50 grand to Garcia. And so many other cases; Mayweather 2 pounds over the catch-weight vs. JMM (fined 300K per pound, ouch!), Joan “Bouncing Boy” Guzman-Ali Funeka (a 9-pound difference at the weigh-in, in my opinion by far the most egregious case), a 3-1/2 pound overweight Castillo vs. Corrales, then ironically in his very next fight, Corrales comes in 4 pounds heavy vs. Casamayor (and Corrales lost!), etc. And I believe in all of these cases money was paid to the other fighter. Sometimes there was some outrage, and other times, in the case of popular fighters (i.e., Floyd, Morales, Alvarez) I don’t remember much outrage at all. Well, actually JMM fans were on Floyd’s ass, but I don’t remember much complaining about Alvarez or Morales, both of whom did not even try to take off the weight.

Re: Guerrero, I don’t understand how a cat jumps two weight divisions and expects to leap-frog everyone and get a shot at the #1 cat in the division? Robert got the job done, but he did not make the case that he is the cat to beat at 147. The way he held on (literally) in the late rounds against Aydin, I don’t see how he would do that good at 147. Guerrero would be an underdog to any of the top fighters in the division, and I even doubt if he could beat the top cats at 140 like Garcia, Khan or Peterson. So how does he deserve Mayweather? At least Ortiz beat Berto to earn a shot. I do give Guerrero credit for moving up after a layoff and pulling it out. But as much as Guerrero gets hit, how did he ever get the nickname ‘The Ghost’?

Shawn Porter-Alfonso Gomez was one good scrap. But Shawn Porter needs to work on his defense. A slow-ass Gomez was timing him while Porter was lunging in with his shots.

But the worse defense of the card belonged to Francisco Sierra, bruz just waded in standing straight up, no blocking, no head movement, no slipping, nothing – just walk forward like the terminator. Maybe this cat thought that he was The Vision, and he could walk through walls or something. George Groves could not miss, given what he had in front of him, so I was really not that impressed with his win, he did what he was supposed to do.

‘Siri’ is a beast, that’s all I have to say. Orlando Salido is a seriously tough fighter. His scraps with JuanMa are two of my favorite fights, and Siri has been knocking fools out since his loss to Gamboa.

Finally, when are the writers going to start mentioning that Nonito Donaire is obviously ducking Guillermo Rigondeaux? I could go through shooting down all of Donaire’s (and some boxing writers) excuses, but this cat does a great job of that in this video and the ensuing commentary, which I agree with (with the exception of his assessment of Rico Ramos):

http://tinyurl.com/c7hcr8u

The fight with Jorge Arce is a money move, because it’s not at all competitive. Arce’s style is ready made for Donaire to look good against. Bottom line, you can’t fight unknown cats (i.e., Mathebula), fight cats basically coming off of KO loses (Vazquez Jr.), and then go the distance in your last 3 fights – and then claim that Rigondeaux does not have a name, has not fought anyone to deserve a shot, and is a boring fighter when he’s won his last 3 fights by KO.

Peace. – Steve

So what if Rigondeaux has won his last three bouts by KO? Who the hell is he knocking out? Am I supposed to kiss Rigondeaux’s ass because he blasted some popular Irish prospect? He knocked out Willie Casey, not a prime Wayne McCullough! And don’t get me started on Rico Ramos. That kid was just a prospect with a belt. I like Rico but he won that WBA strap with a lucky punch and you know it. Before he landed that Hail Mary hook he was getting schooled by a Japanese fighter nobody thought anything of. And Teon Kennedy is at best a fringe contender.

Now the Cuban southpaw is fighting ANOTHER prospect in Roberto Marroquin. Sorry Steve, I’m not going wet my pants with excitement if Rigondeaux blasts the limited Texan. Let me give you a little perspective here:

Your favorite fighter Allan Green looked like a cross between Thomas Hearns and Roy Jones Jr. when he fought prospects (see blowouts of Jaidon Codrington and Carlos De Leon Jr.). However, when the Okla-homie stepped up to world-class opposition um, not so much.

Right now, Rigondeaux’s best pro victory is a split decision over Ricardo Cordoba.

Please pull back on the “ducking” accusations directed at Donaire. How can the “Filipino Flash” be avoiding Rigondeaux when he just stepped up to the 122-pound division in February? Prior to that fight (vs. Vazquez Jr.), Donaire weighed 116¾ pounds for his bantamweight title defense against Omar Narvaez last October.

Rigondeaux turned pro at junior featherweight in May of 2009. Donaire was the reigning IBF flyweight titleholder at the time.

Steve, both of these guys are promoted by Top Rank. You know as well as I do that they will fight each other when Bob Arum is good and ready to make that fight. Don’t ask boxing writers to put pressure on Donaire. Ask your fellow fans to put pressure on Mr. Arum. (And I think you know what the old man will say to that: “Go f__k yourselves!”)

I agree that Arce is being “fed” to Donaire in hopes of boosting the Flash’s fan base but I also think the popular Mexican veteran is a lot better than most of the fighters Rigondeaux has faced. (And I should note that our good buddy Steve Kim over at MaxBoxing.com reports that Donaire-Arce is not a done deal for Oct. 20 and that TFF might wind up facing Toshiaki Nishioka. If he does fight the respected Japanese southpaw even you have to admit that Donaire’s level of comp at 122 pounds has been FAR superior to Ringondeaux’s.)

If Rigondeaux’s people want to get him bigger fights they are going to have to roll the dice and make some risky moves. If they want to make a case for a Donaire showdown they should try to shame the Filipino by fighting the last two guys who took him the distance (Mathebula and Vazquez) and knock those dudes the f__k out.

If they want “Rigo” to gain some measure of pound-for-pound recognition I think they should step him up to 126 pounds and challenge your dog Salido. I doubt that Mexican hardass will turn down a fight with the Cuban.

I love the comic book comparisons in your email, Steve. “Bouncing Boy” is a good nickname for Guzman, but there’s no way Sierra was thinking he was The Vision while he was being pummeled by Groves on Saturday. By the blank look on his mug and his aimless stalking, I’d say Sierra was doing a pretty good imitation of one of the zombies from The Walking Dead series (Image Comics).

I agree that Groves did what he was supposed to do, but I’d like to see him on U.S. TV again against better competition. He seems talented and gutsy.

I was happy for Porter, whose career needed a boost. I don’t know how long those cuts (the awful gash above his left eye was nauseating to look at) will keep him out of action but I hope to see him in with at least a lower top 10 welterweight contender or an undefeated prospect when he returns. Twitter fans called for a showdown with Keith Thurman right after Saturday’s fight. I’d be interested in that one.

Regarding Guerrero calling out Mayweather, why are you and so many other fans irked about that? Don’t be mad at Guerrero for wanting to fight the best of the division (he called out Pacquiao, too – before the fight) and making a boatload of money doing so. The man’s got kids, a wife who’s had serious life-threatening health issues, crazy medical bills and a mortgage to take care of. He’d be stupid not to ask for the biggest, highest-paying fights possible.

If you want to be mad at someone for Guerrero’s name being mentioned in the same sentence as Mayweather, yell at the WBC for making Aydin their No. 1 welterweight contender and for putting their interim belt on the line on Saturday.

By beating Aydin, Guerrero now hold’s the “interim” version of Mayweather’s WBC 147-pound strap and he’s now Floyd’s mandatory challenger, according to WBC rules. So why wouldn’t Guerrero call out Mayweather?

What did you expect him to say after beating Aydin?

“Gee, that fight was tougher than I thought it would be. I don’t think I looked good enough in my welterweight debut to call out the elite fighters in this division, so I would like to challenge another unknown, undefeated hardass from overseas, starting with Diego Gabriel Chaves for the WBA’s interim belt.

“If I beat Chaves, I juuuuust might call out Paul Malignaggi, but maybe not because I still may not have paid enough dues in this division.”

Yeah, that ain’t ever gonna happen. And if a fighter did say something like this during his post-fight TV interview everyone and his grand momma with a Twitter account would make fun of him.

You make a valid point about other fighters failing to make weight for high-profile HBO-televised bouts and not being ridiculed as hard as Broner was for the near-fiasco he caused the weekend before last.

However, as always, I need to point a few things out to you (and I assume you expect me to do so – otherwise you wouldn’t bother emailing me in the first place, right?):

1) Broner is a talented cat (damn it! Now you got me using that term) with the kind of ghetto charisma that HBO can’t seem to get enough of, but he hasn’t paid dues the way Mayweather and Morales have. Floyd is not my favorite boxer, but I recognize that he – along with El Terrible – have achieved “legend” status because of their hall-of-fame worthy accomplishments. Legends can bend the rules and get away with it. When your best performance is a knockout of a coked-out Eloy Perez, you haven’t done enough in this game to call the shots in my not-so-humble opinion.

2) Guzman was raked across the proverbial coals for his frequent weight failings. Despite obvious talent and skill and being unbeaten, his career still hasn’t recovered from the backlash.

3) Alvarez was criticized by members of the media (mostly the British press) and by hardcore fans (I know because I received their outraged emails) when he came in heavy for his 150-pound catchweight bout against Hatton. People did not come down on Canelo as hard as they did Broner for a couple of reasons: for starters, he didn’t come in as heavy as Broner did. He weighed in at 151.8. Then he tried to lose the excess weight (or he at least pretended to make the effort) and came in at 151.4 an hour later. Then he agreed to weigh in no more than 160 pounds the morning of the fight, which he accomplished. And finally, he acknowledged to Team Hatton and to the media at the post-fight press conference that his failure to make the contracted weight was unprofessional and he promised that it wouldn’t happen again. I can’t tell you if he was sincere, but he at least ACTED like he was sorry. Did Broner do that, Steve?

And I’ll end this rather long-winded reply on weight-limit failings with some subject-appropriate “food for thought.” I believe that if Alvarez had tweeted a snapshot of a giant burrito with the text: “Me voy a comer esta!” after failing to make weight, fans would have been just as pissed off at him as they were with The Problem.

Two comments regarding Lundy-Beltran: 1) Beltran is not a “journeyman.” Had he got the nod against Sharif Bogere and Luis Ramos, which is arguable, he would have been considered a lower top-10 or top-15 contender. 2) Some people were born to fight, some folks were born to talk s__t; Lundy is one of the few who were born to do both. Don’t hate on him for that. He’s fun to watch and listen to.

BOXING BOOKS

Yo Douglas,
Just a quick question. I’m currently in the middle of reading ‘Four Kings’ by George Kimball (man, Duran sounds like a f__king beast. After last weekend I’d love to have seen Broner pull that s__t at 135 with ‘Hands of Stone’!). Anyway I was wondering if you could recommend some more great boxing books. How about a top 5 of your favourite boxing books? – Scouse Dave, UK

From the time I was bitten by the hardcore boxing bug (late 1980s) to the present, I’ve probably read well over 100 books about boxers and the sport. No exaggeration. I’m sure I’ve forgotten about reading at least a dozen boxing books.

I’m a child of the 1970s who came of age in the 1980s, so books that chronicle what went down in the sport during the ’80s – such as the late George Kimball’s Four Kings, the late Phil Berger’s Blood Season: Tyson and the World of Boxing and Steve Marantz’s Sorcery at Caesars: Sugar Ray’s Marvelous Fight – are high on my personal list of favorites.

I also love authorized biographies that provide an intimate look at and give a voice to my favorite fighters, so Victory over Myself (the 1963 autobiography of Floyd Patterson) and Flight of the Hawk: The Aaron Pryor Story by Pryor and Marshall Terrill are two books that I absolutely devoured in the early 1990s.

And as you know, I’m a big history buff, so I consider Mike Silver’s The Arc of Boxing: The Rise and Decline of the Sweet Science and The Boxing Register: The International Boxing Hall of Fame Official Record Book MANDATORY reading for anyone who considers his or herself a serious boxing aficionado.

(I know The Boxing Resister isn’t a narrative, but it’s packed with informative bios on all of the hall of famers and I wish the dips__ts who can’t name five welterweights enshrined in the IBHOF but insist that Mayweather is one of the best 147 pounders of all time would just shut f__k up and read it.)

Right now I’m reading Beloved Warrior: The Rise and Fall of Alexis Arguello, which was recently shipped to me be by the book’s author, Christian Giudice (thanks buddy!). Arguello is a bona-fide legend. You wanna read about him.

I’ll give you four more titles (since you asked for a top five list) that are about or written by legends to seek out:

Bert Sugar on Boxing by Bert Randolph Sugar (as the cover of the book says: “The best of the sport’s most notable writer”)

Only In America: The Life and Crimes of Don King by the late Jack Newfield (I consider both King and Newfield legends)

Sting Like a Bee: The Muhammad Ali Story by the late Jose Torres and Bert Sugar

Pound For Pound: a Biography of Sugar Ray Robinson by Herb Boyd with Ray Robinson II

Email Dougie at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @dougiefischer