FLINTSTONE UPPERCUT

Dougie,
The funniest s__t I ever saw in the ring in my life (outside of a groggy Wladimir Klitchko getting the fight waved off by the referee after being dropped by Lamon Brewster) was Roy Jones Jr. jumping up in the air while uppercutting Jeff Lacy Saturday night. He actually jumped up in the air and clicked his heels together while uppercutting Lacy.

Lacy got EMBARRASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He will never live that a$$whipping down, he was demoralized by that. Can you imagine what his boys are going to say to him? He just got humiliated. The stuff RJJ was doing to him was ridiculous. It wasn’t even a boxing match. It was like bloopers in there. Roy was just doing the most ridiculous s__t he could think of. He had to start running out of ideas with the Barney Rubble uppercut. Damn… Lacy really needs to retire. He will ever be back to form. He can fight some third-tier opponents, but even they will hurt him.

As for RJJ, it seems he wants to do a world tour of B-level fighters. I never heard him mention Chad Dawson. If he is going to continue fighting to prove he still has it, he has to fight the best in his division. Yeah, he can fight Danny Green, but who cares? If he does it to keep getting sharp, cool, but what is his end game? -- JB

That, my semi-sadistic friend, is the question. If Jones wants to continue fighting made-to-order opponents on small pay-per-view shows that he promotes, more power to him, but I hope he (and his fans) don’t expect the boxing media to continue covering him as though he’s still a factor in the light heavyweight division (or whatever weight class he decides to campaign in).

If his plan is to go after Dawson, or his old nemesis duo of Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson, or even Bernard Hopkins after breaking down “the Green Machine” in November, I will certainly pay attention and look forward to covering this final chapter of his hall-of-fame career.

But I gotta be real with you, I wasn’t a fan of Roy’s “virtuoso performances” against no-hopers when he was in his prime. I certainly don’t want to watch them now. I spent last week in Mexico (beautiful but sweltering hot Zihuatenejo/Ixtapa) on family vacation, so I missed the “Hook City” PPV. I always get a DVD of the fight cards I miss covering or watching live but the reports I’ve read and your email don’t make me want to rush to see Jones-Lacy. I’ve got better things to do than watch Jones come up with “the most ridiculous s__t he could think of” during what’s supposed to be a prize fight.

I remember watching Danny Green get out-boxed and outclassed by Anthony Mundine, a poor-man’s version of even the old Jones, a few years ago so I can’t say that I care to see or write about the Aussie pitting his toughness against RJ’s speed, skill and athleticism. There are too many real fights to cover in late 2009.


THE ‘RJ’ LEGEND & COTTO

What's up Dougie. So not sure if you caught the Jones/Lacy bout, but if not it was a hell of a beatdown. I figured Jones would outpoint him, but the way he threw his combinations with blazing handspeed served us all notice that the fight wouldn't go the distance. Lacy god love him tried and tried but to no avail. Roy has entirely too much left for a majority of fighters out there. I think another scalp he would easily add would be Jermain Taylor who doesn't even deserve to be a part of the SM tourney. And Taylor gave Carl Froch all sorts of trouble before running out of gas, which again leads me to believe that Jones would whoop Froch as well. Now it would be best to avoid young studs like Abraham, Kessler, and Ward, but I would rather see him add the two aforementioned scalps than take on Danny Green. Green while not the most skilled fighter on the planet is a big dude and packs a heavy punch, which may spell trouble. I digress.

Miguel Cotto too will not lose to Manny Pacquiao. It's gonna become very clear after 5 rounds that Manny is in over his head. We've seen Cotto blow up to well over 150 pounds come fight time and his punches pack some weight as well. I know the danger of fighting a guy with the tenacity and power of Manny, but I believe that Cotto's body attack will saw him in half sapping his energy. People say Cotto this and that but he has been taking on only the most serious tests and prevailing through adversity and pain. It seems as if Manny took my advice and decided to add a few easy scalps to his resume before he hangs em up eventually by adding Diaz, De La Hoya, and Hatton. I give him credit for picking Cotto in his next bout, but he's only doing it because he feels Cotto is on the slide and that's why he won't be the victor in November. You heard it here first man. Well you've probably heard it somewhere else but still! Yea, that felt good. Peace Dougie. -- David

I think Pacquiao wants to fight Cotto because he knows the Puerto Rican is a worthy opponent. Just because some fans and members of the media (and I ain’t one of them) think Cotto is “sliding” because he had a tough fight with a top contender (Joshua Clottey) doesn’t mean Pacquiao is that dense. The PacMan knows fighters. Real champs recognize real champs. He was ringside for Cotto-Clottey and he knew more than anyone inside Madison Square Garden or watching on HBO that night what it is like to suffer a bad eye cut while fighting a world-class boxer. He saw how Cotto handled adversity and found a way to win. He knows Cotto is not a one-dimensional fighter. He knows Cotto is stronger than he is. He knows he’s got a real fight on his hands. Because of tax issues that will keep Pacquiao out of the U.S. until fight time, Freddie Roach knows that his star fighter may not have the best training camp for Cotto. Trust me, Team Pacquiao does not believe they have an easy fight on Nov. 14.

As for Jones-Lacy, I missed it and I will probably take my sweet time in reviewing a DVD of the fight. I had no doubts that Jones would win that fight. If you go life-and-death against Epifanio Mendoza and Otis Griffin even a 40-year-old Roy Jones is going to slap you silly.

Anyway, I’m happy for Jones and a little sad for Lacy. I think it’s time ‘Left Hook’ considered retiring from prize fighting. He had successful amateur and professional careers. He was an Olympian. He fought on television numerous times, he won a major world title, defended it a few times, and made some good money. He’s got nothing to be ashamed of and plenty to be proud of.

As for RJ’s future, do you REALLY think he’s got “entirely too much left for a majority of fighters out there”? Just because he beat up Jeff Lacy, who has looked horrible in every single fight he’s been in since getting beat up by Joe Calzaghe?

Do you think he’s got entirely too much left for the majority of legitimate top 168-pound and 175-pound contenders?

I don’t think he would have his way with any world-class fighter who has something in the way of hand-speed, reflexes, footwork and basic boxing ability. I’m talking about real contenders like Mikkel Kessler, Lucien Bute, and even a still-learning Andre Ward (at super middleweight), and Chad Dawson and Jean Pascal (at light heavyweight).

I think RJ’s fellow 40-something world-class veterans like Hopkins, Johnson and Tarver would also give him all he can handle.


UPCOMING FIGHTS

Doug,
In light of the fights we get to salivate over in the coming months, I had a few thoughts and questions. Hope I kept it brief enough.

I don’t know if Paul Williams punches harder than Jermain Taylor, but he certainly throws more of them. Given the knockdown Pavlik suffered and the fact that Jermain was really in that fight until he ran out of gas and Kelly caught up to him, do you think that Pavlik will be able to effectively handle the volume, stamina, footwork, infighting, power and freakish reach of a Paul Williams? I refuse to bring the B-Hop fight into the picture on the grounds that it was the grand wizard schooling Mickey Mouse like this was the Fantasia movie.

Speaking of Taylor, it seems he’s establishing a rep as a late fader in big fights. What will it take for him to get back to the form “Bad Intentions” showed when he cocked Kelly... and moreso maintain it over 12 rounds? I think this is especially important against a strong crafty fighter like Arthur Abraham. This may be the next late knockout Jermain suffers if he doesn’t get a bigger gas tank.

Speaking of stamina, I couldn’t care about Chris Arreola’s anatomical aesthetics, I care if he’s prepared to bring the ruckus for 12 rounds. What are you hearing? I want to hear that he’s ready to fight like the last carne asada burrito on earth is on the line.

Lastly, Cotto’s a big time fighter, but does he have the timing and technique to deal with Pacquiao’s darting style and lead left bombs? Boxing fans wanna know! -- Milan, San Diego

I think Cotto has the timing to deal with Pacquiao’s speed and style but I’m not sure he has the (defensive) technique. We’ve seen Cotto counter punch faster opponents (see his left hook versus Mosley), but we’ve also seen speedy southpaws nail and buzz him early in the fight (see his bouts vs. Corley and Judah). To Cotto’s credit he held it together vs. both lefties and prevailed (although the Chop-Chop fight ended prematurely). Cotto’s open for jabs and uppercuts. That’s going to be a problem vs. Pacquiao. However, Pacquiao has problems when stronger fighters back him up and attack his body. I’ve seen smaller and less skilled/experienced fighters than Cotto (like Urbano Antillon) do this in sparring sessions, which makes this matchup so interesting to me.

I agree with your take on Arreola. I don’t care if he’s got a washboard stomach come fight night. I just want him to let those heavy hands go to the body and head once the bell rings and I want him to keep the heat on the “old man” for more than a few rounds.

I don’t think there’s much Taylor can do about the “late fade”. He’s been fighting competitively since he was a pre-teen. He knows how to get his body in peak condition and he understands the importance of pacing himself, but he’s “wired” in a way that prevents him from relaxing in the ring. Bernard Hopkins was tight like that for the first half of his career. He didn’t really learn how to relax until he was in his mid-30s. Oscar De La Hoya never learned how to relax in the ring, and he often struggled in the late portion of fights against elite fighters. I favor Arthur Abraham to win Showtime’s tourney, but I wouldn’t count Taylor out in that fight. Abraham won’t apply the kind of constant pressure that Pavlik and Froch did. He’s more of a boxer than a pressure fighter, which might help allow Taylor to get into a groove. That fight could wind up to be a very competitive chess match. We'll see.

Regarding Pavlik-Williams, I think the Ghost can handle the power, infighting and the reach of the Punisher but the southpaw’s punch volume and constant movement will likely trouble the middleweight champ. This is a fascinating matchup. Williams will be fighting a bigger opponent for the first time in his career. He’s not going to be able to swarm or over-power Pavlik the way he did Verno Phillips. I don’t think he’ll be able to simply outwork Pavlik the way he did Winky Wright, either. I think Pavlik’s physically stronger and the much harder puncher. The Ohioan’s height and reach comes close to P-Will’s, plus he’s a volume puncher himself. Those attributes of Pavlik’s are going to give Williams something to think about. However, P-Will’s improved jab and the angles he executes in close and from midrange will trouble the “offensively linear” Pavlik.


NOTHING GLAMOROUS ABOUT BRAIN DAMAGE

Mr. Fischer:
We know that fighters suffer serious depression, anxiety, and risk-addiction resulting from even minor brain damage. But in the very next breath, we mercilessly criticize them for not protesting loudly enough when a ref stops a fight to avoid this result. Yes, each situation is very fact-specific, and I bet that some stoppages are unnecessary. The only one I've recently witnessed was Robert Guererro's fight w/ Daud Yordan; from what I recall, he suffered a horrible cut, the ref asked him about it, he responded (almost certainly honestly) that he couldn't see, and the ref decided to call the fight. I may be misremembering, but since when is a fighter supposed to lie to the ref, especially when the consequence of doing so could significantly damage his health or career? From what I read after the fight from the medical people, the cut legitimately warranted a stoppage. When a man can't see, he gets hit, and he gets hurt. Badly.

Ok, there is a lot of gray area and room for a fighter to manipulate the rules. I don't know about Nate Campbell's cut, though I agree with the suggestion in Mr. Raskin's column that medics & refs should be able to exercise more discretion; obviously, we can't have guys quitting as soon as they feel they are going to lose. But the reactions I'm seeing are for armchair Gattis to instinctively smear a guy's character whenever the situation arises. These guys have families and lives after boxing. Our reactions say more about us than about them. -- Matthew Blaisdell, NYC

I agree, Matthew. Well said. I don’t think you were accusing Raskin of being an “armchair Gatti” in this email but just in case I want readers to know that the purpose of his column was to bring up the question if certain rules are being exploited by fighters (the four-round no-contest/scorecard rule in particular), not to condemn boxers who didn’t protest stoppages due to cuts caused by accidental headbutts.

And for the record I think the cuts that both Guerrero and Campbell suffered were too severe to continue fighting. However, I must add that I felt the same way about the cut Cotto suffered vs. Clottey. I have a deep respect for every single fighter who steps through those ropes, but I have a little extra admiration for champs like Cotto.


THE HEAVYWEIGHTS

What's good Dougie? I just wanna say, Arreola-Klitschko is the best fight in the heavyweight division in a long time. I just wanna ask all them idiots who question "The Nightmare's" experience. Who else is there for either of the K. bro to fight? Haye backed out, and there aren't too many heavies out there that can put on a show. I already got my ticket 'cause I think it'll be exciting. Yeah, Klitschko is a beast, but at least Cristobal has the balls to fight him and make the heavyweight division interesting again. People don't realize that Cristobal does have skills, but it will all unfold at Staples on September 26. What do you think Dougie? -- Miguel, LBC

I agree with you 100%, Miguel. Orelay!


THINGS NEED FIXING

Hey Dougie,
I’ve been a bit frustrated with boxing recently, maybe it’s because it’s kind of a slow two months for big fights (Bradley/Campbell got cut a bit short to be satisfying).

I’ve been a hardcore boxing fan since 2002 and it’s my No. 1 sport, but MMA is closing the gap. If I had to choose between one single top boxing match vs. one single top MMA match? No contest, I’m going with boxing. However, while the problems with boxing are often stated, they are not getting solved.

1. In MMA, they provide loaded undercards. Boxing promoters got to consistently do better, like the proposed undercards involving Edwin Valero, Chris John, Rocky Juarez, Michael Katsidis instead of Daniel Jacobs or Matt Korobov against total no-hopers.

2. Top prospects needs to start fighting top prospects /contenders earlier when they’re on the big stage like HBO, PPV undercards and even ESPN. This happens in MMA all the time. Promoters need to take that risk while fans and media need to learn to accept losses again. Victor Ortiz vs. Maidana was fantastic. I couldn’t believe fans and media were complaining afterwards that Ortiz was rushed and should have been more protected. You gotta be kidding me. It was a great fight and Ortiz certainly had a chance to win. We should be clamoring to see both fighters again after the action they delivered for us.

3. Big fights ALWAYS get made in the UFC, but not in boxing. Adamek vs. Hopkins should have already happened. Same with Mosley vs. Berto and countless others. HBO is trying to be smarter with its money. Showtime doesn’t have that kind of money. So what are promoters and fighters waiting for - PPV’s selling less than 100,000 until all fan support dries up?

We fans should be asking for more when it comes to good main events AND undercards. We fans should be asking for less when it comes to manufactured undefeated records.

Boxing will always be around, but I don’t want it relegated to even more of a niche sport like horse racing and kickboxing. -- JL, San Diego

Call me a hopeless optimist, but I think gradual improvement has begun, JL. We’re seeing more risky matchups involving high-profile prospects/contenders/elite fighters and more world-class boxing cards held outside of Las Vegas, Atlantic City and the Indian casinos in recent months and I think it’s a healthy trend that will continue. The reception I’ve seen fight fans give boxing cards held in L.A., Houston, Austin, San Jose, and Reno this year have been as intense as any UFC event I’ve attended. The one big Vegas fight so far, Pacquiao-Hatton, generated a tremendous build up and live atmosphere (while it lasted). I think we’ll be treated to similar atmospheres and fan turnouts with Klitschko-Arreola (and I’m expecting at least 15,000 at Staples), Pavlik-Williams, and of course Cotto-Pacquiao. If Kessler-Ward lands in the Oakland Arena (I expect at least 15,000).
Your points:

1. I agree. We will get quality undercards for Mayweather-Marquez and Cotto-Pacquiao. You fans should contact Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank and let them know that the televised undercard is a major factor in your decisions to purchase these pay-per-view events. Contact HBO Pay-Per-View, and let them know while you’re at it. Maybe the Powers That Be will keep it up.

2. I agree again. I think we will continue to see risky prospect vs. prospect matchups like Charles Huerta-Derrick Wilson, or prospect vs. contender/veteran matchups like Ortiz-Maidana and Angulo-Cintron where the favored fighter has a chance to lose (and in the case of these examples, DID lose!). Why? They made for exciting matches. Don’t let the internet columns and message board/mailbag feedback fool you. Most fans didn’t think about criticizing the matchmakers or management for rushing the up-and-comers to high-profile losses, they just wanted to see good scraps. We’re always going to have industry types and hardcore heads who are overly focused on the business of boxing second guess and criticize every move promoters/networks/managers/matchmakers make (usually AFTER the fact), but we have to keep in mind that they represent a relatively small minority of the sport’s observers/supporters. And most of them cool off once they see the fighter who lost back in action and in the win column again, like Angulo. I think even some of the message board mutants are beginning to learn that a loss isn’t the end of the world.

3. The UFC is one company that has pretty much cornered the MMA market in the U.S. Boxing in the States is powered by numerous promotional companies with separate agendas and ideologies. You can’t really compare the two. And I know I sound like I’m blindly defending boxing, but I don’t think you can really complain about big fights not being made this year. So what if Adamek-Hopkins and Mosley-Berto don’t happen this year? Those are bouts that can happen next year. It’s not like we don’t have anything worth watching this fall and winter. HELLO! We’ve got Mayweather-Marquez and Klitschko-Arreola in September, Pavlik-Williams, Abraham-Taylor and Froch-Dirrell in October; and Dawson-Johnson II, Cotto-Pacquiao, Kessler-Ward and Bute-Andrade II in November. Dude, despite a summer from hell, we’ve had plenty of good matchups that either resulted in excellent fights or impressive performances this year. Have you already forgotten about Berto-Collazo, Margarito-Mosley, Marquez-Diaz, Williams-Wright, and Froch-Taylor?

I agree with you that fans should “be asking for more when it comes to good main events AND undercards…” but I’d like to remind fans to acknowledge and support the sport when it delivers what we ask of it.


After a wonderful vacation, Dougie’s happy to be back in Inglewood (and up to no good). He can be reached at dougiefischer@yahoo.com. You can follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dougiefischer