YOU MAKE SENSE

Hey Doug,

Thanks for answering my letter. That was cool, but posting it in Friday’s mailbag, that was beyond cool!!

Your response to my opinion on Robert Guerrero calling out Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao made a lot of sense.

What you explained about how a good, fresh contender could look at the aging champion of his day and feel confident enough to believe he’d dethrone him if they met in the ring; I’m totally on board with that.

It’s rare to get true boxing fans to see a point of view that’s not their own unless you really know what you’re talking about. (Some of us are rabid!)

But if it’s not a ‘mega fight,’ fans shouldn’t have to spend $75 to watch at home. How about $35? For that price what the heck. Give those young guys a shot!

Now, I know a lot of folks will say, “Well if you don’t want to pay the price for it, don’t watch it dumbass” but that’s the thing. I want to contribute to the growth of the sport. I don’t mind paying for a fight card because I want boxing to shine and reclaim the honor, prestige and just plain old ‘respect’ it once had.

One last thing about the pay-per-view prices: In the near future I see the price going up to $100! I can foresee it happening and I also see the promoters getting cute with it and charging a “catch-price at $97” because y’know…. they care about us fans.

Peace, Doug. – Steve, Bay Area

I hate to say it but I think you are right about the elevating prices of pay-per-view boxing shows in the near future. If Mayweather and Pacquiao ever come to terms to face each other I can guarantee that pay-per-view event will approach $100.

About midway through the last decade, I recall a lot of mid-level pay-per-view cards being put on with a price tag that ranged from $25-$35, but those shows are a rarity now. I don’t think the promoters/networks should charge $45-$65 unless the main event is an absolute super fight that is supported by a decent undercard.

I guess I wouldn’t mind stacked cards of three or four solid “fan favorite” type matchups offered on PPV for $25-$35, but even though you (and others) are willing to support such shows, I don’t think boxing will grow or thrive until it makes a concentrated effort to put on only the best fights on subscription cable and tries its best to get quality bouts on basic cable and even back on network television.

Thanks for the props on my Guerrero/Thurman-Mayweather/Pacquiao response. Sometimes fans get so much into the business and industry side of the sport that they start to believe that all the fighters care about is money. That’s partially true. They have families to support and bills to pay like the rest of us, but they also have a tremendous amount of pride and self-belief. Most of these guys want to challenge themselves and prove that they belong with the sport’s elite.

I don’t think we should discourage these fighters. We don’t have a sport without them.

CLEAN IT UP, PLEASE

I am 51 years old and have been a boxing fan since about the age of 10. My youngest son is 13 and developing an interest in boxing. It is unfortunate that I will not allow him to read your blog because of the crude language used by you and your guests. There are better ways for adults to express themselves. Thank you for your insights but please clean it up. – Greg D.

Greg, I appreciate your opinion and as a father of two girls (4 and 8 years old) I understand your concern. You are correct that there are better ways for adults to express themselves than the crude manner that I and certain regular mail baggers, such as Todd The Terminator, express ourselves. However, I believe that boxing, for the most part, is an adult sport and I also believe that some things in life are simply off limits to children.

My kids share my love of animation and we enjoy watching lots of cartoons together but they know that some of my favorite shows, such as “American Dad,” “The Boondocks,” “Venture Brothers,” and the “Life and Times of Tim” are not appropriate for them.

You’re going to have to explain to your 13-year-old son that some of the media that represents the sport of boxing – such as HBO’s 24/7 – is not suitable for people his age.

This doesn’t mean he shouldn’t join a boxing gym and learn the craft of this great sport. It doesn’t mean that he can’t enjoy most of what is posted on RingTV.com. I bet he’d get a lot out of our new video series, Ring Smarts, which is perfect for a young fan. Most of our video content is appropriate for young viewers. However, if we happen to do a one-on-one interview with Roger Mayweather or Angel Garcia – guess what? You may want to watch it before you let your son see it because chances are good that a few F-bombs might be dropped during that vid.

The articles penned by Mike Coppinger, Corey Erdman, Lee Groves, Harry Pratt, Joe Santoliquito and Ryan Songalia are usually G-to-PG rated (as well as informative and entertaining). Most of what Lem Satterfield and I write about is fine for any audience. However, if Lem interviews a promoter about certain hot-button subjects, his story may very well contain four-letter words. Bob Arum, Richard Schaeffer, Lou DiBella and other promoters have been known to let the profanity fly when they are upset.

Most of my stuff is PG, but I look at the mailbag as a “locker room” or “barber shop”-type column – no subject is off limits and those who participate are encouraged to be true to themselves. If they happen to be raw, passionate and blunt fans, so be it.

I’ve got a raw, vulgar side to my personality. I keep it under wraps most of the time. The mailbag is the one place I let the beast out from time to time.

WHITAKER WASN’T ROBBED VS. CHAVEZ

Hi Doug,

Greetings from Brighton, UK!

As every newbie in your inbox says…long time reader, first time writing. I hope you are all cool and wish you all the best to you and all the boxing community.

After almost 19 years, I decided to finally rewatch the JC Chavez-Pernell Whitaker fight, one of the biggest robberies in the last 30 years in boxing. I was a teenager first time I saw it and just like most of the people I thought Chavez lost that night. However, today I had the following score… 115-113 for the winner and NEW Welterweight Champion of the world JC Chavez!!! WTF?!?!?!? I know, this sounds ludicrous as most of the people seem to have the fight scored 116-112 for Sweet Pea, which makes me feel like a Texas judge but I gonna try to explain how did I have that score.

I gave Chavez rounds 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 12 and Whitaker took rounds 3, 7, 8, 10 and 11 in my card.

Rounds 4 and 12 were rounds more difficult to score for me as they could’ve gone either way. If I score those rounds 10-10, then my card is 115-115, the infamous draw!!! If I split them, it’s the same case 114-114. If I give those to Whitaker, then “Pee Wee” wins 115-113. However, I find hard to give the 12rd to him, as he didn’t really did much to win it, apart from smile to the TV camera. Out of curiosity what was your score for that fight?

What was clear to me is that Whitaker won the Ring Generalship contest and Chavez’s body language seems to concede that. The rounds that Whitaker won were clearer that the ones that Chavez won. In all honesty I’m all baffled and confused….but hey ho, that’s life! With all this in mind, do you really consider this fight a robbery as most of the US media? I can’t forget THAT Sports Illustrated cover…

Now mythical match ups…

This is a bit of a different one and involves three Mexican boxers who, in my opinion, never fulfilled their real potential, but please can you let me know your prediction if we could get the best version of. …

Carlos “Bolillo” Gonzalez vs Victor Ortiz at 140. I think “Bolillo” in 3-4 rounds, the guy could crack!

Miguel Angel Gonzalez vs Amir Khan at 140. Really good fight this one. I think Gonzalez will struggle with Khan’s jab and speed. I guess both fighters will hit the deck, but at the end “Mago” will probably KO Khan around the 10-11 rd, probably going 3 points behind on the cards

Jose Luis “Maestrito” Lopez vs Floyd Mayweather Jr at 147. Easy for Money. I know, this is a crazy one because Lopez hand speed wasn’t great but this guy was probably the most heavy handed welter of the 2K’s and as they said, style make fights. Still, my head says Mayweather 10-2 decision or maybe even a 12-0, but my gut tells me the best/prime “Maestrito” could teach Money a lesson.

Keep on the good work. – “No way” Jose the Mexican!

Those are fascinating mythical matchups, Jose, and the names of those Mexican boxers bring back sweet memories for me.

I watched “Bolillo” Gonzalez fight at the Forum a few times (as a ticket-buying fan). I also watched him train and spar in the L.A. area many times (as I was close to his management, the Maldonado family, and one of his cornermen, cutman Tony Rivera). He was a huge junior welterweight with a busy offense and he could indeed crack. However, he was slow as molasses. I’d favor Ortiz to beat him. Gonzalez would not have a size advantage over Victor and he didn’t handle speed or power very well (Randall Bailey blasted him in the first round with a single left hook).

I agree with your pick on the M.A. Gonzalez-Khan matchup even though the Mexican was at his best at 135 pounds. Gonzalez was an underrated boxer and his chin was truly world class. I think Khan could outpoint, and maybe even outclass him, the way Oscar De La Hoya did in the early rounds, but as we know, Khan’s pride and balls get the better of him and he certainly does take a shot as well as The Golden Boy did at 140 pounds. I think Gonzalez would catch Khan during an exchange at some point during the middle or late rounds and eventually take him out.

Lopez was a monster. He had hall-of-fame talent and tools but he lacked discipline and focus. I agree with your pick of Mayweather over “Maestrito” because Lopez was essentially outboxed by Ike Quartey and James Page, both of whom imposed their jabs on the Mexican badass. However, Mayweather would have to box a PERFECT fight or risk getting KTFO. Quartey was dropped twice en route to settling for a draw. Page was rocked repeatedly in the early rounds and also suffered two knockdowns during his thrilling slugfest with Lopez. Quartey and Page were big, strong, gutsy welterweights who could punch. Lopez walked them down like they weren’t s__t. He would have probably laughed at Mayweather’s best punches, but Floyd wouldn’t try to get macho with this dude. He’d stick and move his way to a close points victory (I don’t see him winning 10-2 or 12-0 as you do; I think it would be more like the rematch with Jose Luis Castillo).

Regarding the Whitaker-Chavez fight, I haven’t watched that bout in its entirety since viewing it live (at a sports bar near Cambridge, Mass., where I was staying during an internship with the Patriot-Ledger, a daily newspaper in Quincy). I didn’t score the fight when I watched it but I thought, as pretty much everyone else did that night – including diehard Chavez fans – that Whitaker did more than enough to earn the “W.” I wasn’t outraged by the draw because Sweet Pea was the defending titleholder and he kept his belt with the draw, while letting everyone know that he was the better boxer. Regardless of the official outcome of that showdown, Whitaker proved his pound-for-pound status and greatness by taking the fight despite the HBO/Showtime contractual conflict and the regional (Texas), promotional (Don King was the lead promoter) and sanctioning organization (WBC) favoritism that Chavez enjoyed.

Can an argument be made for Chavez legitimately earning a draw? Maybe. If you try hard enough you can justify almost any controversial fight. I remember doing that with the Hagler-Leonard fight in college, just for the hell of it. A lot of fans and members of the boxing media (who obviously have way too much free time on their hands) did that with the Pacquiao-Bradley fight recently.

If I can somehow make the time this week, I’ll rewatch Whitaker-Chavez on Youtube.com, score it, and let you know what I come up with. If I can’t find the time, I’m sticking with my first impression – Whitaker wuz robbed!

MARCOS MAIDANA

Doug,

My favorite current fighter is Marcos Maidana. I know he’s limited and is one dimensional but, man does he bring it. He hits harder pound for pound than just about anyone and he does this great thing when he gets rocked by a quick combo, he steps back, takes a deep breath, and just goes in for more.

Anyway, I’m wondering if you think that he has the ability to grow under his new trainer? Do you think that he can be anything more than a banger? I know you favor Lucas Matthysse if they ever fought, and I guess I would too, but I think with even some small improvements he could best his countryman like he did when they were younger. Thank you. – Byron, Columbia, MO

I think the world of Robert Garcia, so I absolutely believe that Maidana will improve his technique and ring generalship. However, I’m not sure if Maidana can be the same beast at 147 pounds that he was at junior welterweight. I think Garcia and Maidana did the right thing by pulling out of the Keith Thurman fight because “the Thurminator” is a junior-middleweight sized prospect who can crack with either hand. I thought that was a horrible fight for Maidana, who said welterweight wasn’t a good weight for him after he lost to Devon Alexander in February.

Having said that, I don’t think he’s got a walk in the park with Jesus Soto Karass on Sept. 15. That’s a tough fight! Karass is a natural welterweight with a lot of experience. He looked used up in recent bouts, including his rematch with Mike Jones, his KO loss to Gabe Rosado and his split-decision win over Said El Harrak, but he regained much of his old form with his fifth-round TKO of Euri Gonzalez last month. I thought Gonzalez, who battled Saul Alvarez to an 11^th-round stoppage loss in 2009, would beat Karass, but the Mexican brawler showed his veteran savvy and punching power in that bout.

If Maidana can decisively beat Karass, I’ll give him a shot at beating lower top-10 welterweight contenders, but I still think he belongs at 140 pounds. Alas, he probably won’t return to junior welterweight if he wins on Sept. 15. The Karass fight will be an elimination bout for the WBA title held by Paul Malignaggi. You and I both know Maidana’s going to go for that 147-pound title shot if he gets it.

I know you’ll be rooting for Maidana if that happens but I’d put my money on the Magic Man.

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