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NO SHAME

Doug,

I just had the best laugh when I read about Floyd Mayweather’s upcoming fight with Andre Berto.

Does Floyd have any shame by taking on such a sub-par opponent in Berto, the same man who was knocked out by the gatekeeper Jesus Soto-Karass? Understandably Berto wants the good pay day and the chance to score an upset. Who wouldn’t? But there are so many other worthy challenges out there for Floyd, such as Amir Khan, Keith Thurman and even my grandmother. Too bad Floyd and GGG can’t rumble, even at a 155-pound catchweight.

Your thoughts? – Jeff, Australia

No thoughts on Mayweather-Berto. It goes without saying that Khan, Thurman (and Shawn Porter) are more deserving welterweights (who fight under the PBC banner). So are Kell Brook and Tim Bradley, who exist outside of Al Haymon’s universe. Gennady Golovkin is a pipe dream. Mayweather’s not going to challenge the baddest middleweight out there (or any 160-pound titleholder), even at a catchweight. He ain’t cut from that Henry Armstrong-Kid Gavilan-Jose Napoles-Roberto Duran-Oscar De La Hoya cloth.

Anyway, Mayweather-Berto a gross mismatch that Floyd, Haymon and Showtime are asking boxing fans to pay to watch live. Any fan who would pay to watch a Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao fight after the mega-dud they combined to produce on May 2 is a damn fool and beyond help.

And any member of the sports media who takes Mayweather-Berto seriously or approaches it as though it’s some sort of important or historical event should be ridiculed by any free thinker in the boxing universe who cares to do so.

I don’t care enough to really rip the matchup or anyone who is into it. Don’t get mad at me if you’re a Mayweather cheerleader. He has the same aloof attitude toward boxing fans. He doesn’t care what they think or what they want to see.

I’m OK with that because I’ve been over Mayweather for quite some time. I’m not thinking about Sept. 12. I’m looking past it to the month of October when I’ll get to cover and/or watch the Matthysse-Postol/Orozco-Soto doubleheader, the Golovkin-Lemieux shootout and the Klitschko-Fury heavyweight championship.

NO PROBLEM WITH MAYWEATHER-BERTO

What’s up Dougie,

Just giving my two cents on the Mayweather Vs Berto fight. I’m not a Mayweather fan in any sense of the word but I actually have absolutely no problem with this fight. Over the last 3 years Mayweather has fought the best of the best in the welterweight division and dominated all of them. So what if he wants a “gimme” fight for his final fight? Like he said none of us are forced to buy the PPV (or stream the fight for free online). And really there really is no gimme fights when you got a guy with power like Andre Berto’s.

I am however excited for the boring Mayweather era of boxing to be over and looking forward to exciting fights in the future. All the best! – Dre Hernandez, Milwaukee, WI

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Dre. To each his own. Enjoy the show on Sept. 12.

BACK FROM VACATION

Well Dougie Griswald,

I hope you holiday went ok and you and your family weren’t too traumatized with the weather.

I see the Twitterverse is in a tizzy over Floyd’s next opponent. Obviously I’m the only one who doesn’t really give a s__t. He’s entitled to fight who he likes. Judging by all the social media reaction people really do care.

I was introduced to Salvador Sanchez by Alex Mclintlock on Twitter and I watched his two fights against Danny Lopez & Wilfredo Gomez. Holy s__t. Hard to believe he was so young. I’ll have to catch up on more of his stuff. The way he took those shots to the noggin from Gomez was quite astounding. Especially considering what a fearsome puncher Gomez was. I think it’s fair to say he was something of a prodigy? He’s ranked in the top 5 of all time featherweights according to most. Who knows what more he could have done if he hadn’t of died so young. Damn shame. It seems like fighters back then actually wanted to knock each other out. Nowadays it’s all about preserving the “0” on the record. Safety first is the order of the day. Maybe because there’s less active fighters there’s less competition between them? Plus why risk getting knocked out when you can get 1.5 Million dollars by fighting Rod Salka?

Who do you pick in the Tyson Fury v Wlad Klitschko fight? Would you consider Fury a “live dog”? If he wins I can’t see him holding his belts for a record time. One thing that sticks in my mind is his tweeting that he was “off to the pub” on Paddy’s day. It was 9 am in the morningÔǪ..

Anyways, that’s my ramblings for now. Take care. – John

Hey, I ain’t mad at Fury. If he’s a pub guy it just means he probably won’t have a very long prime. That’s OK with me as long as he gives his all in the ring vs. Klitschko and whoever else he faces over the next couple of years. I favor Klitschko to keep his many titles on Oct. 24, but I do consider Fury to be a live underdog. I’m looking forward to the fight.

To be fair to Danny Garcia, he “only” made around $750,000 for the Salka fight. But I hear what you’re saying. Many of the top fighters of this era seem to be more focused on the business of the sport rather than kicking ass in the ring. I guess we’re in the “Mayweather/PBC era” for the time being, but I can see matchups like GGG-Lemieux usher in a new age of Savage Science. We’ll see what happens.

It’s hard to believe that one of the greatest fighters from Mexico, and one of the best featherweights of all time, died at age 23. Sanchez, defeated three fellow future hall of famers – Lopez (twice), Gomez and Azumah Nelson – had 46 pro bouts (and only one loss) under his belt at the time of his death. He fought almost as many times as Mayweather in just around seven years.

Speaking of Mayweather, you’re not alone in not giving a s__t. Trust me, I’m not gonna waste my time writing about Sept. 12.

Thanks for the well wishes for my recent family vacation. It was fun but draining (the only way my wife would have it). And, yes, the weather did traumatize us but that’s a good thing because it made us all happy to return to Southern California.

HAS DANNY GARCIA PEAKED?

Dougie,

Quick questions for you: Danny got the job done, but was it more because Paulie Malignaggi was on his last wheels? We all know styles make fights, but with Garcia being the stronger younger fighter I thought he would have bulled him much like Shawn Porter did. I have been waiting to see the “Swift” that got Khan and then took Lucas Matthysee apart.

And also, what would you think of a Garcia vs Thurman match? With Keith not throwing the combinations like he used to, I think he would win a close decision in a competitive match. Also, what if Andre Ward fights on GGG’s undercard, then calls him out? To which GGG, returns fire by saying, “Wasn’t man the cause of the Son of God’s untimely demise?” (That would be ballsy and frightening) then a month later, after Canelo beats Cotto, he says “GGG before you move up to face Ward, let me remove those belts from you”. A little over imaginative, but hey the night is still young. Keep doing your thing bro. – KJ

I will, KJ, but I wish I had some of whatever you’re drinking to help get me through this mailbag (I started late Thursday night after working LA Fight Club).

Ward might fight on the undercard of Cotto-Canelo (which is co-promoted by Roc Nation). There’s no way he would fight underneath GGG. And though I favor Canelo over Cotto, that’s not a “gimme” fight for the young Mexican star. It’s premature to even think about GGG vs. Canelo. (Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that Cotto-Canelo gets finalized.)

I don’t know if Garcia has peaked. It’s clear that certain boxing styles trouble him. If Malignaggi had been more mobile and active, he probably could have bothered the unbeaten former 140-pound champ more. But Garcia looked solid against a motivated veteran. He jabbed well in spots, especially when he aimed at Malignaggi’s body. He counter-punched well, and I expected him to because he’s basically a heavy handed counter puncher. He was also poised and patient throughout. He didn’t allow Malignaggi to frustrate him at any point.

However, his overall activity leaves something to be desired, and it doesn’t seem like he knows how to cut the ring off on an opponent who moves even a little bit. And Malignaggi didn’t move on him that much. Also, I’m not sold on his power at 147 pounds. I’m sure he landing with authority but he never seemed to seriously hurt or wobble Malignaggi to my eyes. I thought he was gradually breaking the two-division beltholder down but I didn’t see the kind of offensive force that would make Porter or Thurman shiver in their boots.

I would favor Thurman to beat Garcia. I don’t think One Time would wipe his ass with Swift because, as Malignaggi stated, the Philly native is craftier than people give him credit for. However, I think The Thurmanator’s lighter feet, lateral movement and better athleticism/punching power would enable him to frustrate and bust up Garcia over the 12-round distance.

JEERS OR CHEERS FOR PBC

Hey man, where was the mailbag Friday dude? Hope you’re having a good weekend.

1) Why were boxing fans booing in the first thirty seconds of the Mora/Jacobs fight? Does the PBC encourage that, like have a booing box that tells them when to boo like the laughing boxes for the filming of live sitcoms or are boxing fans just moronic? I’ve never been to a fight. Is this a regular occurrence at fights, obviously there will be a feeling out process in the first round or two.

2) The Malignaggi stoppage was a good call in my book. Clearly he was not going to pull a rabbit out of a hat so the cat and mouse game was needless.

3) You redundant pundits forget the main thing about the PBC when you get caught up in the shady practices of the bigwigs that run it. It is on free cable television, or whatever the cost of a basic cable package is. Rosie Perez said it best on a promotional slot for the PBC that I saw on YouTube. Here in Canada, boxing is not readily available at all, TSN and Sportscenter might not show one fight in a week. If you can’t afford pay per view you’re out of luck.

4) What are some other notable pugilists do you know of that, like Ricardo Mayorga, lost his first pro fight and a significant number of their early bouts yet still found success in the sport? I think Mayorga lost three of his first ten. And is he bound for the BHoF, certainly not first ballot. Your thoughts please.

Last thing, I recently discovered your and Kim’s 10 Count videos and now I am catching up on all your back podcasts. Good job Douglas, keep it up. Cheers. – Stephen, Tor, On

Thanks for the props on the 10 Count series, Stephen. Kim and I will try to keep the PBC hate to a minimum in future shows. (No we won’t). I’ll answer your questions/points in order:

1) I don’t know why fans were booing the start Jacobs-Mora fight? I guess the type of boxing fans who pay to witness the sport live are into instant gratification. Hall of fame boxing writer/columnist Michael Katz told me fans booed during the first 30 seconds of the first Sugar Ray Leonard-Thomas Hearns fight. He always told me “F__k the fans, they’re blood-thirsty ghouls” (that’s where I got the term). Even though I identify with the BTGs, for the record, I wasn’t booing the first 30 seconds of Jacobs-Mora or Leonard-Hearns I.

2) I know I’m in the minority, but I thought the Garcia-Malignaggi stoppage was a bit premature. I thought Paulie was losing most of the rounds and wearing down in Rounds 7 and 8, but I didn’t think he taking an awful beating and would have liked to see if he or Garcia would have tried to really turn up the heat later in Round 9 or in Round 10. I guess I’m old school. I think most fights between veteran world-class fighters should be stopped when a guy gets dropped and gets up on wet noodle legs, or when he’s getting the s__t beat out of him and is unable to defend himself.

3) Boxing writers/pundits are mostly a bunch of PBC Haters, huh? Well, maybe it’s the hate that hate made.

4) I don’t consider Mayorga a future hall of famer, but there are a few hall of famers (even all-time greats) who lost their pro debuts and early bouts. Henry Armstrong was KO’d in his pro debut and lost his third and fourth pro bouts. Billy Conn lost his pro debut and was TKO’d in his fifth pro bout. Conn lost seven of his first 15 bouts. Pipino Cuevas was KO’d in his pro debut and lost five of his first 12 bouts. Miguel Canto, a superb-boxing former flyweight champ, was KO’d in his pro debut and his third pro bout. Manuel Ortiz, one of the greatest bantamweights ever, lost his pro debut and nine of his first 29 bouts (he fought 29 times in the first two years of his pro career). There are many other hall of famers who fall into this category.

BEYOND BERTO

Hi Doug,

Hope you’re well. It’s my first time writing to the mail bagÔǪhope it gets through!

Since Mayweather’s ‘official’ announcement of him facing Berto, I assume you will be receiving a ton load of emails criticising Mayweather’s choice of appointment. I don’t think social media will favour Floyd either.

As soon as it got announced, my thoughts went beyond the September fight.

I believe Floyd is taking an easy ‘farewell’ fight to give him time to set up a ‘real farewell’ fight next year.

Floyd cares a lot about money and knows he can’t generate a massive amount this September with the options he had (I don’t think he would consider stepping up to Golovkin due to him being tiny compared to GGG).

I think originally he was saving Pacquaio for his last fight but chose to fight him this May as he would have been beaten, in terms of generating money and hype, with the Cotto-Alvarez fight originally planned for the same night. Mayweather would not have competed with that fight if he fought anyone other than Pacquaio.

Now I think he is taking it easy and building his marketing strategy under the radar for his 50^th fight. I think he’ll target one of three options:

Pacquaio rematch

Winner of Cotto-Alvarez

Winner of Khan-Brook (after a UK superfight at Wembley Stadium)

What do you think on my thoughts? Do you believe he will fight his 50^th fight and if so, who do you think it would be against and why?

I know you probably don’t care if he did fight next yearÔǪbut if you had to choose who would you like him to face?

He would be free from any network contract so he could go with the network/team that pays the most.

A few potential match ups and a few mythical match ups:

Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury if it was right now

Danny Garcia vs Amir Khan at 147

Terence Crawford vs Adrien Broner at 135

Shawn Porter vs Amir Khan

Juan Marquez vs Kell Brook

Rigo vs Lomachenko

Carl Froch vs Bernard Hopkins at SMW

Roy Jones vs Chris Eubank at SMW

James Toney vs Chris Eubank at SMW

Sorry for the essay!

Thanks. – Sunny, UK

Thanks for sharing your longwinded thoughts, Sunny. LOL.

My guess is that Mayweather will again after Sept. 12. I don’t care who he fights next. Like I’ve said before, I’m over that dude. I have no interest in rematches with Pacquiao, Cotto or Canelo. I have a mild interest in a Brook fight, but I would not hold my breath for that matchup if I were you.

Your potential matchups and mythical matchups:

Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury if it was right now – I think Joshua is a monster but I’ve yet to see him go more than three rounds or face a big fearless guy who will hit him back, so I gotta favor the more battle-tested Fury (probably by decision).

Danny Garcia vs Amir Khan at 147 – Khan survives a knockdown and a few wobble moments to earn a close, maybe controversial decision

Terence Crawford vs Adrien Broner at 135 – Crawford by unanimous decision in a decent fight

Shawn Porter vs Amir Khan – Porter by late (probably come-from-behind) stoppage

Juan Marquez vs Kell Brook – Brook by unanimous decision in a good fight

Rigo vs Lomachenko – Loma by unanimous decision in an intense chess match

Carl Froch vs Bernard Hopkins at SMW – Hopkins by close decision in a rough fight that is ugly at time but also entertaining

Roy Jones vs Chris Eubank at SMW – Jones by unanimous decision in a surprisingly competitive and dramatic fight (well, surprising to American boxing fans who were brought up on HBO)

James Toney vs Chris Eubank at SMW – Toney by split decision in a surprisingly good fight

WHERE WAS DOUGIE!?

Dougie, where are you, my man!

I’m assuming on a much-deserved vacation?

Anyway, I ask on behalf of all your legion of fans, mailbaggers… and the few haters! Assume they’re all missing your ‘Bags, editorial pieces and deadline reports as much as I am.

Hope all is well. Assuming you’re on vacation, have you considered putting a quick announcement on RingTV about when you’ll be back?

Looking forward to your return. I’m Jones-ing for some mailbag action!!

Take care. – John, Irvine, CA

I was on vacation, John. Thanks for the well wishes. And thank you to everyone who emailed me or Tweeted at me in regard to the “missing mailbags.” Next time, I’ll make an announcement before I go on break and I’ll try to find a suitable substitute. Let me know if there are any writers, broadcasters, boxers or boxing insiders (matchmakers, etc.) that you think would do a good job answering your questions and comments.

Hell, you can nominate a mailbag reader/contributor if you want. Who wouldn’t want to read Joe Steed’s mailbag?

MOSELY-MAYORGA II

Dougie,

Hi, I have a problem. Am I insane because I’m looking forward to seeing Shane Mosley fight at the end of this month? I know Mosley shouldn’t be fighting anymore but at least I know he’s gonna get in there and be willing to get into a fight and provide some entertainment. Seeing the amount of depressing, tactical mismatches proliferating the PBC and the utter contempt for the fans shown by the Mayweather camp in the last few years, is it not refreshing to look forward to a fight that should provide at least some decent honest action (albeit between two badly faded vets)? Feel free to completely condemn me if you deem it necessary. – Johnny, Ireland

I won’t condemn you, Johnny. I thought the Mosley-Mayorga I was awkward at best, so I’m not expecting a Fight of the Year on Aug. 29, but I won’t fault longtime fans – especially those who were Sugar Shane fans going back to the 1990s – for being intrigued by the matchup.

Mosley gave us a lot of thrills over the decades (I saw him fight live for the first time 20 years ago at a club show in the Valley). Mayorga was one of the most entertaining titleholders/PPV B-sides/personalities of the 2000s.

So you’re not insane for looking forward to whatever the two vets are able to bring to the ring at the end of the month. I have no doubt that the final press conference will be a lot of fun (especially if Mosley reveals the Twitter side of his personality). I don’t know if the fight will be PPV in Ireland, but it will be here in the U.S. If you can watch it for free at home or at a pub, enjoy it.

If you have to pay to see Mosley-Mayorga, it’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it.

PAY-PER-VIEW MADNESS

Hey Dougie,

Two can’t-miss PPV coming up soon: Mosley vs Mayorga, Mayweather vs Berto!!

How about you and me having a PPV? I will do the hugging, elbowing, and running so you won’t knock me out.

Besides not buying the PPV, any idea how we (boxing fans) can stop this absurdity? – Marv from LA, CA

Sorry Marv, the only way to discourage pay-per-view mismatches or matchups that are way past their sell date (so to speak) is for fans to resist buying them. However, there are a lot of super hardcore fans out there. In this very mailbag, you read two emails from fans who stated that they didn’t mind Mayweather-Berto and were looking forward to Mosley-Mayorga, so there ya go.

My advice to casual fans would be to save their money for GGG-Lemieux and Cotto-Canelo. But I can’t tell a fellow diehard fan what to like or what to spend his or her money on. I honestly think there will be fewer poor-quality PPV shows in the near future but at least one stinker will pop up every year.

Maybe you and I should lobby to bring our exhibition to the undercards of one of those future stinkers. Don’t worry about getting KO’d by Yours Truly. I don’t think I can get into the kind of shape to handle someone who hugs, elbows and runs around the ring. You’d probably win a lopsided decision. (And Mayweather fans will probably appreciate your “craft.”)

Email Fischer at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter.