AMERICAN HEAVYWEIGHT WEEKEND

Doug,

Just finished watching the Malik Scott-Vyacheslav Glaskov fight. What a horrible decision. Malik was not entertaining, but better than he had been in most of his fights. He did whatever he wanted to Glaskov! I was shocked, and it takes a lot to shock me these days. What did you think of the decision?

Do you think David Price was a hyped-up prospect? I routinely complain about how slowly some of these heavyweights are moved (Deontay Wilder), but it looks like Price was moved too fast. I think Tony Thompson still has some gas left in the tank and will make a tough fight for anyone out there.

Looking at the rankings, where should he fall in THE RING’s heavyweight rankings? I see that Robert Helenius, Ruslan Chagaev, and Denis Boytsov are ranked in the middle, although they do not fight anyone in the top 20. Is it time to reevaluate the heavyweight rankings and probably move people around based on who is fighting name guys?

Keep up the good work. – Dan Marvin, Dupont, WA

I agree that it is time to reevaluate THE RING’s heavyweight rankings and I believe it will be done by the Editorial Board and Ratings Panel over the next two months after the magazine’s Nos. 9- and 10-rated contenders (Chris Arreola and Tyson Fury) fight.

I think it can be argued that Thompson deserves to be rated in the lower top 10 of the rankings (the southpaw technician’s only losses in recent years are to Wladimir Klitschko), but it can also be argued that the 41-year-old American is more of a fringe contender or gatekeeper than a bona-fide contender.

The KO of Price is probably Thompson’s best victory in the last five years, followed by his stoppage of Chazz Witherspoon that took place in 2009. Neither fighter was rated by the RING when Thompson fought them. Going beyond the last five years, the best win on Thompson’s resume is probably his fifth-round TKO of Luan Krasniqi in 2007.

However, you make a good point about Helenius, Chagaev and Boytsov. All three European heavies have been inactive and unimpressive in recent years.

You’re wrong about Chagaev, though. He has fought and defeated top-20-rated fighters when he beat Nikolay Valuev (46-0 at the time), John Ruiz and Volodymyr Vyrchys. (Valuev and Ruiz, who Chagaev fought in 2007 and 2006, were RING-rated at the time. In fact, Vyrchys, who was 20-0 when Chagaev got to him, may have been rated by the mag, too.)

Helenius has only fought once since his gift decision over Dereck Chisora in December of 2011, but the “Nordic Nightmare” has stoppage victories over three former beltholders – Siarhei Liakhovich, Samuel Peter and Lamon Brewster in the last three years.

Boytsov is the weak link, in my opinion. The 27-year-old Russian has a glossy record (32-0, with 25 knockouts) but he hasn’t fought any legit contenders. I think the best name on Boytsov’s record is Dominick Guinn, who he outpointed last April.

I’d rather see Thompson rated than Boytsov, but let’s see what happens in the coming weeks. Thompson’s a shoo-in to be rated if Tyson loses to Steve Cunningham on April 20 or if Arreola loses to Bermane Stiverne on March 9.

Speaking of Stiverne, the Canada-based Haitian knocked out Price in the amateurs. Glazkov stopped Price in the amateurs, too, so the chin of the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist has been questioned by insiders every since he turned pro.

That fragile chin was exposed in the pro ranks by Thompson. It doesn’t mean Price was a “hyped” fighter. I think he earned his accolades with the manner in which he won his first 15 pro bouts. However, Price was so sharp that he got rid of most of his opposition in the early rounds. The 6-foot-8 boxer-puncher needed to go rounds in order to mature into a real contender. His management thought Thompson, who has only been stopped by the heavyweight champ, was the kind of durable veteran to serve as a “step-up” opponent who would give the amateur standout quality rounds.

Obviously, things didn’t play out the way they planned but I think Price can bounce back. He’s just got to get back to his boxing roots and stop looking to force knockouts whenever he hurts his opponents or lands a good shot.

I thought the Scott-Glazkov decision sucked. That should have been a clear, unanimous decision victory for the Philadelphia native by scores that could range from 99-91 to 97-93. I can’t see Glazkov winning more than three rounds (the fifth was the only really clear round I scored for him), and he probably wouldn’t have won that many if they weren’t fighting in a ring the size of your average play pin.

SCOTT-GLAZKOV

Hey Dougie,
Haven’t written to you since THE RING championship policy change…. looks like we’ve been right so far in that it hasn’t caused any problems or fake champs… at least yet.

I watched the Malik Scott-Czar Glaskov fight hoping for one of them to stamp themselves as a legit contender but terribly disappointed in both of them. I scored it 6-4 for Scott but was happy with the draw cuz neither of them deserved to win that fight. Scott just seemed lazy in the ring with the amount of time he spent on the ropes, he was dominating the fight in the middle of the ring but kept voluntarily backing up to the ropes! And Glaskov was even more maddening, the only shot he had of winning was to keep him on the ropes but he kept backing up to the middle of the ring and simply let Scott walk off the ropes! Scott was too lazy and Glaskov too dumb to win the fight. What did u think?

Also, what happened to your boy Ismayl Sillakh I think he’s got the skills to bounce back after his KO as does David Price.

And where is Mike Perez? I thought he could make for some good fights against Arreola and the like.

Mythical Matchups:
Kostya Tszyu vs Lucas Matthysse 140
Nigel Benn vs Gennady Golovkin 160
Jack Dempsey vs Rocky Marciano

Brian – Ontario, Canada

Good mythical matchups:
Kostya Tszyu vs Lucas Matthysse 140 – Tszyu would win a hard-fought but clear-cut UD in an entertaining fight but one that wouldn’t live up to expectations because the Russian star would do more boxing than punching.

Nigel Benn vs Gennady Golovkin 160 – This showdown between middleweight punchers would definitely live up to expectations; I envision GGG weathering Benn’s early storm and stopping the Dark Destroyer late in a classic.

Jack Dempsey vs Rocky Marciano – Dempsey would use his greater one-punch power and underrated ring generalship to narrowly outpoint Marciano in – what else? – a slugfest.

I have no idea what happened to Perez, who hasn’t fought since outpointing Friday Ahunanya in December of 2011. He must be going through some promotional or managerial issues. Too bad. He’s a talented southpaw with a good amateur foundation and decent pro development.

Sillakh fought on Saturday, a second-round stoppage of journeyman Daniel Allotey. It was his first bout since his shocking KO loss to Denis Grachev last April.

Sillakh’s in the same boat as Price. He can come back all the way as long as he doesn’t fall in love with his power. Both guys can box and punch, but they have to put boxing before punching because they do not possess world-class chins.

I don’t think the draw was fair in the Scott-Glazkov fight. I agree that Scott could have done a little more against the rather one-dimensional Russian prospect, but it’s hard to fault him for going to the ropes often when they were in such a small ring and Glazkov never really showed that he could hurt him.

My main criticism of Scott’s performance is that he let his bread-and-butter punch – the jab – fall off after the first three rounds. Beyond that, I think he could have used his right hand more, put more left-right combos together and not cover up as much, but for the most part I think he outclassed Glazkov, who needed to heed his trainer (Don Turner) and apply more pressure and attack with a higher punch output than he gave us.

I think Glazkov can be in much better fights, just not against an experienced and crafty vet like Scott. I hope to see both heavyweights on TV again soon, just not against each other.

What are your thoughts on THE RING’s vacant welterweight title being on the line in the Floyd Mayweather-Robert Guerrero fight?

FIGHTER PURSES

Hi Dougie,

Just a couple of questions for your Monday mailbag…

Is it up to the discretion of the fighter to reveal how much of a purse they get for a fight? I hear Lamont Peterson got 37K for the Kendall Holt fight – whereas he was due to get $1.5 million for the Amir Khan rematch. That must suck balls big time for him. At the same time it serves him right for taking PEDs.

I’d be curious to know how much Gavin Rees got paid against Adrien Broner? How do I find out how much the fighter actually makes or is it some kind of secret?

On an unrelated note can I ask your opinion of Carl Frampton and his chances in the 122 lb division?

I’m Irish and I find myself getting excited at the thoughts of having another “Barry Mcguigan” to cheer on to a world title. I think he has a hard job against Scott Quigg – although Carl has a far deeper amateur pedigree – the late Manny Steward used to say how important it is to have an extensive amateur experience.

Can you name any guys who had pro success with little amateur experience? Manny Pacquiao springs immediately to mind.

Keep up the great work Dougie. – John

Pacquiao is one of the most accomplished pro boxers who lacked an amateur background. James Toney, Bernard Hopkins and the late Genaro Hernandez also had very limited amateur backgrounds.

I think Frampton has the look of a future world titleholder at 122 pounds. He’s not ready for the current champ (Nonito Donaire) or the current titleholders now. I’m not sure if he can beat Quigg at the present time. But Donaire will be moving to featherweight soon. Frampton just turned 26 and there’s four major belts out there for him to go for. He has time to develop more as he gains in popularity. I’m sure McGuigan will see to that.

I don’t know how much Rees was paid to fight Broner, and I don’t much care. I’m sure it was considerably less than the $1 million Ricky Burns’ representatives reportedly asked for.

The amounts of money fighters are paid in the U.S. are documented in public records held by the state commissions that regulate the boxing events. If you’re really curious about Rees’ purse or the paydays of other fighters I’m sure you can find out by Googling their names. You might try to cross reference the fighter’s name with some prominent boxing writers. Some fight scribes – including ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael and our own Lem Satterfield – like to write up items on how much fighters in high-profile bouts make or they include the info in their post-fight stories.

Peterson didn’t make a lot of money with the Holt fight but it was an IBF mandatory bout that wasn’t in high demand. He had to take the fight to keep his belt and he needed the activity (plus the exposure that ESPN2 granted him).

Now that he won the fight – and looked damn good doing so – he’ll make plenty of dough in his next fights, which could be Showtime/HBO-televised showdowns against the likes of Lucas Matthysse and the Garcia-Judah winner.