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Dougie’s Friday Mailbag

Fighters Network
06
Feb

What? No mailbags this week!? Hey, better late than never. Read on and enjoy.

WHERE'S MY DAMN COFFEE!?!?

Hey Dougie! How's it going? What's going on with the mailbags this Friday and Monday? The mailbag is like my cup of coffee… I MUST HAVE IT! Anyways, hopefully everything is all good with you. Glad to see that you’re making career moves with The Ring. Peace. – Azteca604

I must apologize to you and all the other loyal mail baggers who have come to expect my signature column every Monday and Friday. Everything is fine with me, health- and career-wise, I just got bogged down with family duties on the nights of Sunday and Thursday, when I usually compile, complete and file my mailbags.



My sister was in town for her birthday Sunday night and she invited me, my wife and two girls to take in a concert headlined by Ethiopian jazz legend Mulatu Astatke at the Luckman theater Cal State L.A.’s campus. We had a great time but the concert ran later than we expected. On Thursday night I had to make good on a movie date promise to the wife. We saw Gran Torino.

OK, that’s enough personal information. Now it’s time to discus Jorge Arce, Vic Darchinyan, Ricardo Mayorga, Alfred Angulo, and Marcos Maidana.

DOES ARCE REALLY HAVE NO CHANCE?

Good article you wrote on Vic Darchinyan this week, but do you also give Jorge Arce no shot at all? I know Arce, but I don't follow him closely. I was there when he brutalized Hussein Hussein with his face ripped in half and then proceeded to party all night long in the casino with his face all f__ked up, not even going to the hospital. I guess that is obviously part of his problem, but anyway, do you write him off as well?

And what about Ricardo Mayorga? Do you think he was overweight? That was the first thing that came to my mind. – JB

As soon as news hit that Mayorga might not keep his Feb. 14 date with Alfredo Angulo it was clear that the reason was either his weight or that he was extorting Don King for more money (turns out it’s the latter reason). If he truly hurt his ribs in sparring, why wouldn’t we hear from his him or his handlers? There’s no shame in sustaining a training injury.

I feel bad for Angulo. He was training his ass off for this fight. As of two weeks ago he had already logged 300 rounds of sparring, and he was 100-percent healthy going into the Mayorga bout unlike his last fight (vs. Andrey Tsurkan). He had a back injury and a busted ear drum going into that bout.

Now it looks like he’s been scratched from the HBO-televised card because the right opponent couldn’t be found. I had heard that undefeated Craig McEwan (12-0, 7 KOs) was in the running but HBO didn’t clear the L.A.-based Scotsman. I wonder why? McEwan is young, undefeated and although he had a ton of amateur bouts, the southpaw likes to fight more than he likes to box. I think it would have been a good fight. If Angulo (14-0, 11 KOs) is no longer the main event of the broadcast, what’s wrong with him facing a fellow prospect? Isn’t that what ‘Boxing After Dark’ used to be about?

Anyway, you asked me if I give Arce a shot against Darchinyan. My answer: Absolutely. Why wouldn’t I give him a shot? The man’s a vet, the man is tough, he’s got pride and he can crack. Oh, and he’s not going to be scared of Darchinyan.

Am I picking Arce? No. I think Darchinyan is the stronger man, the harder puncher, and the craftier boxer who happens to have a trboule stance (southpaw) and style for the Los Mochis brawler.

But just because I’m picking Darchinyan doesn’t mean that I don’t think Arce can win. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility. I seldom count out fighters at this level. I didn’t pick Bernard Hopkins over Kelly Pavlik, or Manny Pacquiao over De La Hoya, or Shane Mosley over Antonio Margarito, but I certainly didn’t believe that those veterans stood no chance against the favorites in those bouts. (Do a search on my mailbags and columns before those bouts if you don’t believe me, folks.)

I think Arce has less chance than those “underdogs” had in their bouts, but what the hell do I know anyway? I’m 0-3 in the last three major fights.

MAY-HOAR-GA

F__kin' Mayorga! What an idiot. And u know I was picking him to win this fight. Did he pull this s__t with Oscar De La Hoya, too?

I can only imagine what conversations between him and Don King are like. – Steve, Montreal

Now THAT would be pay-per-view worthy video/audio content, Steve; with or without translation.

I’m also disappointed the fight won’t happen. I thought Mayorga had a good shot at busting Angulo’s cherry if he used his experience and underrated craftiness along with his heavy hands. Now I doubt we’ll ever see that fight, and we can’t be hard on Angulo’s promoter Gary Shaw for never wanting to do business with Mayorga after this nonsense.

And yes, Mayorga did threaten to pull out of his pay-per-view showdown with De La Hoya the week of that fight if he didn’t receive more money.

Someone needs to tell Mayorga it’s OK for a fighter to hold out for more money if he thinks he’s worth it – and I think Mayorga’s pre-fight antics, entertaining style and guts in the ring definitely merit the appropriate compensation – but it should be done BEFORE he signs a contract, not after.

QUE PASO?

Dougie,
Ke paso??? Dude, what is up with ur mailbags?? I checked into ringonline on Monday and Today and I can't find anything. Let me know what is up. Jorge Arce by KO. – boxingrick

Don’t fret. The mailbags ain’t going anywhere.

I like Vic Darchinyan by mid-to-late stoppage in a fun scrap.

INNOCENT OR GUILTY?

Hi Doug,
This is my first time writing to you at RingTV.com. It took me a while to find out why this “other” dude was substituting you withi The Next Round. Hell, my first impression was that you got a haircut and new glasses. LOL. Then I found you here and added the site to my favorites. As with HOB and Max, I have a great deal of expectations for you on RingTV… don't worry, no pressure… LOL.

Now to business, as a Puertoricon in New York City which also has an ample Mexican population you can imagine how points of views can vary for the Margartio hand-wrap scandal. Add some Bacardi and Tequila to the mix and things can get pretty wild. My question is, in your opinion, is the fact that the commission temporarily suspended Margarito and Capetillo and proceeded to schedule a hearing attest more to the team’s guilt or innocence? Your article “Capetillo’s fighters stay loyal” states that if they were guilty there would have been a prompt suspension, yet in my eyes the fact that they were suspended is more an indicator that somethin’ is amiss.

What is your take and do you have some inside info you can share? Common' man, where are those investigative skills…… do your thing, seduce the commission secretaries, go through their garbage, put on a disguise and go to their office and get some info from their files….. we are counting on you for the information.

Cuidate hermano! – Ernesto Iglesias, NYC

Dude, you are mistaking me for a real journalist and not some opinionated a__hole who writes two mailbags a week (when he’s not too busy going to concerts and movies). I’ll try my hand at seducing a few secretaries, but I ain’t goin’ through nobody’s garbage and I can’t afford a disguise. (Besides, no matter what I put on, I still look like the little comic book nerd that I am – or a darker-skinned, long-haired version of Gabriel Montoya, who I think is doing a good job on TNR and with his mailbags.)

We’re just going to have to wait for Tuesday’s hearing to find out what California’s boxing commission has found since confiscating Margarito’s hand wraps on Jan. 24.

As for Capetillo and Margarito’s guilt or innocence, Ricky Mota’s quote for my article made me stop and think a little bit. I agree with him that if the commission had the proverbial “smoking gun” in terms of damning evidence they wouldn’t have wasted time suspending the trainer and fighter. Both would have had their licenses revoked. (Or maybe I should say that both should have had their licenses pulled immediately. In any other sport, would players who were busted for some form of cheating right before the game have even been allowed to compete that night? I don’t think so.)

However, the flip side to that argument is that if Capetillo wasn’t doing anything wrong at all, the commission wouldn’t have made him re-wrap Margarito’s hands, they wouldn’t have confiscated the gauze, and they wouldn’t have suspended them at all.

So I think they are guilty of something, but of exactly what I have no idea. Maybe they simply broke the rules by having something on the gauze, but they weren’t trying to make the wraps harder. Then again, maybe they were. Hopefully, we all find out for sure on Feb. 10.

MARCOS MAIDANA

Yo bro, I might try to get the Chagaev/Kotelnik PPV this Saturday afternoon to take a look at this dude, Marcos Maidana.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=v7a8LrEqUUo

I tell you one thing; they do it up right in Argentina with the round card girls! – Wilson, DC

All I can say after watching that YouTube clip is “Wow” – that was my reaction to the ring card girl, of course, not Maidana’s KO of Esmeraldo Jose Da Silva. The saying “Less is more” came to mind as I ogled her top.

Marcos Maidana looks pretty good, too. The junior welterweight contender has heavy hands – that’s for certain; and he’s pretty relaxed in the ring. I like that about him. However, like most KO artists, his defense leaves something to be desired, and he seldom sets up his power salvos with a jab. I think Andreas Kotelnik’s jab, high guard and use of feints will serve him well against the power-punching Argentine, at least early in the contest. Maidana might break through by the middle rounds, but if he doesn’t stop Kotelnik and the fight goes late I think the undefeated puncher’s stamina will be tested by the WBA titleholder.

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