Dougie’s MASSIVE Monday Mailbg

Nov

AGBEKO-PEREZ

Doug,
Congrats on your prediction of the fight. You were right on. I was wondering, however, what you thought of the scoring. The fight seemed closer. I really wish Showtime would use CompuBox like HBO does, because I think the numbers would have been off the charts. I would have like to seen who threw more punches and power punches, as well as the connect percentages.

I have no problem with Perez getting the decision, but Agbeko fought like a champion throughout the fight, and he certainly did not seem to “bank” any points for being the champion, like a lot of champions seem to do in close fights — Froch against Dirrell, for example. I will say another thing about Agbeko, though, he certainly won the battle of who had the toughest face. Because after the fight, who looked like they won the fight? I know that one could say that Perez's cuts were due to head butts, but Agbeko was butted as well, with no cuts. Maybe that is why he calls himself King Kong. Great fight. Great pre-fight analysis. I hope we see a rematch. Good candidate for Fight of the Year, I think. Neither fighter could break the other fighter down. They both had indomitable wills. — Robert R.

I knew the Agbeko-Perez fight wouldn’t disappoint. We had two seasoned, aggressive boxer-punchers who are always in 100-percent condition and have sacrificed a lot to get to where they were Saturday night. I knew that neither man was going to back down and that both would give everything they had. I favored Perez because of his better technique and combination punching, but he surprised me by matching Agbeko’s punch output. I thought Perez clearly won seven rounds, but I agree that the official scorecards were too wide in favor of the Colombian, especially the 117-110 tallies. I can live with the 116-111 scorecard, but I think 115-112 would have been more realistic.

I don’t know if I needed CompuBox to tell me that they both threw and landed a butt load of punches. Regarding Perez’s face, you should get used to him looking like the loser after extended, tough fights. Unlike Agbeko, who is blessed with a round-shaped skull, Perez has an oval-shaped head with protruding orbital ridges and cheek bones that predispose him to facial cuts and lacerations.

Anyway, my hat’s off to both Perez and Agbeko, and to their teams (promoters, managers, trainer, etc.) for not being afraid to seek out the toughest challenges in the bantamweight division.

The great thing about this fight is that the fighters have no fear of doing it again. Before the fight, both Perez and Agbeko spoke to the media about their desire to unify the 118-pound division. Agbeko specifically called out Hozumi Hasegawa, who I believe will step up to the 122-pound division after his next title defense. If Perez can’t get a fight with fellow belt holders Anselmo Moreno or Fernando Montiel, I’m sure he’d welcome a rematch with Agbeko and I’m certain Showtime would welcome the return bout on their network. If Agbeko can’t get an immediate shot at Perez, I’d love to see him butt heads with undefeated young guns like Neomar Cermeno, Abner Mares, and Sasha Bakhtin. There’s also veterans like Eric Morel and Wladimir Sidorenko (who I’m sure King Kong would like another crack at), who would give both Agbeko and Perez a good fight.

I love the bantamweight division.

HALLOWEEN NIGHT OF BOXING

Hi Doug,
With Saturday being Halloween and also the night of World Series Game 3, I don’t know how many people actually got a chance to see Agbeko-Perez, but whoever didn’t missed a good one. While the scorecards may have been a bit wide, I do think the right guy got the decision. I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing a rematch. It was also nice to see Mike Tyson with a smile on his face (I liked the “fat and out of shape” line). Overall, he seemed to be in a really good state of mind and I hope that he stays that way in the years to come.

After watching the latest 24/7 episode, I think it’s quite clear that rift between Alex Ariza and Michael Koncz isn’t simply an internet creation, as Koncz had labeled it. Speaking of Koncz, is he officially in the running against Leonard Ellerbe for the award for Most Annoying Entourage Member? Thanks. — Jesse, New Jersey

Are you kidding? Koncz isn’t just in the running, he might be leading Ellerbe as this year’s M.A.E.M. I’ve dealt with both Ellerbe and “Mullet Mike” before and I can tell you right now that Koncz gets my vote. Just like Manny and Floyd are No. 1 and No. 2 pound for pound, Mikey and Leonard are No. 1 and No. 2 M.A.E.M.

I don’t think most fight fans realize how hard Tyson has worked over the past four or five years to deal with his inner demons and conquer his various vices/addictions. He’s checked himself spiritually and he’s put the work in with rehab and probably a dozen different 12-step groups since his last fight, and the result is the grounded, at-peace version of the man interviewed on Showtime. I think Tyson is going to upset the many “burn-out”/ “tragic-ending” predictions that were made of him over the past two decades and wind up living a long, happy life.

Anyway, anyone who missed Agbeko-Perez should make a point to catch Wednesday’s replay on Showtime 2 (11 p.m. ET/PT) or view it once it becomes available On Demand, Tuesday through Nov. 30. Perez and Agbeko, and the fight they put on Saturday, epitomize all that's good about the sport of boxing.

ONLY IN AMERICA

Doug,
Pretty solid Saturday double hitter on Showtime… It seems like every time I watch a fight on the cable network Antonio Demarco is fighting. He's got solid skillz and always puts on a good enough show (no pun intended) but the only way the 'interim' will get removed from his WBC championship is if the sanctioning body strips Edwin Valero for failure to defend. If they were to get in the ring together “your son” stops him inside of three rounds.

As for the main event, it was a dandy, though I thought Albert and Bernstein oversold it slightly. I don't think it matched the drama of Gatti-Ward, Marquez-Vasquez or Corrales-Castillo, the fights they seemed to be comparing it to, only because in all of those contests you got the distinct impression any punch could end those fights. I never felt either guy was ever on the verge of stopping the other guy Saturday night. Still, it was a hell of a fight… Kudos for picking Perez. King Kong is strong as a bull and has an impressive work rate, but despite his fearsome reputation, he's not an exceptional puncher. If he was Perez would have lasted about two rounds trying to stand in the pocket with a volume puncher like Agbeko. Saturday night he ran into a guy with better technique, who threw even more combinations than he did and was just as resilient.

I know he screwed over A LOT of fighters and was as crooked as they come, but I'm not a fighter I'm a fan, so I fully support Don King not fading away yet. I'm pretty critical of Golden Boy Promotions for a litany of things, so I want to go on the record by first saying Oscar and Co. are the perfect business model, morally and figuratively, compared to King. Yet for all of the bad he did (and don't get me wrong, the bad will eternally outweigh the good) I thought he usually put together the best fight cards for your PPV buck. Sure you might
have been paying $60 for Tyson-Seldon, but you usually got three solid fights underneath it.

One last question Doug, the WWE just ran a “bragging rights” PPV, where wrestlers from both their shows competed in a tag team match. Do you think we could ever see the day where HBO and Showtime could run
A cross-promotional tournament, you know, make it he Elite Eight or something with fighters from both networks competing against themselves and each other? The fighters selected would sign contracts giving both networks their rights with each channel telecasting half of the tourneys fights. Obviously HBO would never allow Pacquiao or Mayweather to appear on Showtime, but I was thinking along the lines of Danny Jacobs, Paul Malignaggi, Juan Diaz, Kermit Cintron or even Chad Dawson; those types of guys. The finals could be a dual PPV provided by HBO/SHOWTIME… Am I smoking crack? — Tom G.

The only time I recall Showtime and HBO coming together to produce/distribute a PPV show was for Lewis-Tyson (HBO had Lennox; Showtime had Not-So Mighty Mike). They did it, I think, because both networks knew how big of a promotion it would be and both realized that Tyson’s days were numbered (at the time it looked like Mike was going to completely self-destruct before the end of 2002).

Just like when your boy Don King and Bob Arum would get together during the height of their rivalry (the 1990s), I think HBO and Showtime would do it, but there would have to be A LOT of money to be made for them to work together again.

Here’s a scenario: Let’s say Mikkel Kessler wins Showtime’s Super Six, becoming “the man” at 168 pounds and then signs an exclusive deal with network. Meanwhile, let’s suppose HBO decides to invest in more than just Chad Dawson, let’s say they run their own mini- four-man single-elimination tournament for the 175-pound division that pits Dawson (assuming he wins his rematch with Glen Johnson), Tavoris Cloud, Jean Pascal and Adrian Diaconu (or the winner of Hopkins-Jones II, ugh!) against each other, and Bad Chad comes out on top. Then let’s say Kessler wants to challenge Dawson at light heavyweight, and this potential matchup is something that boxing writers and fight fans worldwide get behind. Maybe, juuuuust maybe, HBO and Showtime could come together with some kind of deal. (It would probably help if Joe Calzaghe agreed to un-retire and fight the winner.)

There’s no doubt about it, Don King is the undisputed king of quality pay-per-view shows. ‘The Don’ hasn’t had a good one in years, but I’ll never forget those early-to-mid-’90s Julio Cesar Chavez-headlined PPV shows that featured the likes of Felix Trinidad, Terry Norris, Azumah Nelson, Julian Jackson, and Gerald McClellan among others (once he even had Lennox Lewis defending his WBC title against Tony Tucker on one of those cards) in the co-featured bouts.

I agree that Agbeko-Perez didn’t quite match the drama of the wars you brought up, but it’s still one of the best 12-round fights of the year. I wouldn’t assume that Agbeko is an overrated puncher. Maybe Perez has an underrated chin.

It does seem like DeMarco is on Showtime every other month. That means Gary Shaw is doing a good job with his lightweight contender. I think DeMarco can go more than two rounds with “my son”, he might even be competitive, but I believe ‘the V-nom’ would eventually wear the Los Mochis, Mexico native down to a mid-to-late rounds stoppage.

FMJ TAKEN TO TASK

Doug,
This is the way Brian Kenny should have destroyed Floyd and I wish more people could hear this interview.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/676796581a1c2a9e/

I knew that Floyd's fake “I want to be more positive and respectful” shtick the day after the Marquez fight was rehearsed. This is the real FMJ…

Disclaimer: There is a bit of profanity in the interview. — Jeff

Thanks Jeff.

The guy who smacked Floyd silly with the truth is R.A. the Rugged Man, a talented rapper/columnist/filmmaker who happens to love boxing and its rich history.

Kenny does a fine job interviewing Mayweather. He brings up all the things that R.A. brought up, but in a good-natured manner (and without the f-word, of course). I enjoyed R.A.’s “interview” more than Kenny’s sessions with ‘Money’ because 'the Rugged Man' did away with all the usual pleasantries (I think mainstream media guys go out of their way to kiss Floyd’s ass) and got right into truth about Mayweather’s carefully matched fight schedule over the second part the decade.

I'm not surprised that Floyd got defensive and resorted to insults. The truth hurts sometimes, and R.A. let him know that more members of the Hip-Hop world know the truth about him than he allowed himself to believe.

MAYWEATHER VS. R.A. THE RUGGED MAN

What's happening Doug? I know you're just as tired about hearing about Floyd as I am, so I fully expect this email not to make your mailbag, but you had to have been laughing when you heard your boy R.A. get all up in Fraud's ass. I always loved RA for keeping it real in his music, but this took my level of respect for him to another level. Brian Kenney always kept it real but being on ESPN, he understandably has to keep it on the PG level. God bless satellite radio… and RA for saying to Floyd what everyone was already thinking. — Reggie, Vancouver

I was laughing when I listened to the MP3 of the interview because I don’t think Mayweather ever expected to run into a hardcore boxing fan on a Hip-Hop radio show.

It was also extremely satisfying listening to someone dissect all of Floyd’s usual bulls__t excuses and hit him with the kind of real boxing logic that many of my fight scribe peers either lack or are simply afraid to write.

When Mayweather tried to compare his performance against Marquez with Pacquiao’s two fights with the Mexican master, R.A. reminded him that the PacMan fought JMM two and three divisions below welterweight, where the natural featherweight was quicker and stronger.

When Mayweather started whining about beginning his career at junior lightweight, R.A. basically said (and I’m paraphrasing here): “Yeah, you started out in the lighter weight classes like most fighters do, and over the years you’ve grown into a welterweight; it’s not like you jumped from junior lightweight to welterweight in two or three monthsÔÇª”

When Mayweather said he’s been calling Mosley out for years, R.A. replied: “Yeah, you wanted to fight him after he lost twice to Vernon Forrest, when he was looking like s__tÔÇª”

When Mayweather tried to sneak Ricky Hatton’s name in a list of potential opponents, R.A. sneered, “Hatton, of course you'll fight Hatton again, that seems like a Floyd move…”

R.A. told Mayweather the truth. He told him that he used to be special at 130 and 135 pounds, but he’s been milkin’ it in recent years. He told him that he didn’t give a s__t about business decisions or whatever beef he may have with Bob Arum. He told him that he ducked Antonio Margarito and that Carlos Baldomir sucked. He told Mayweather that he was lying when the fighters said he made $8 million to fight Sharmba Mitchell and $12 million for Baldomir. He told Mayweather that he’s been fighting old guys (Marquez, De La Hoya and Baldomir), guys coming up in weight (Hatton, Marquez) and guys coming off of losses (Judah).

Beautiful stuff. I wish more of my colleagues had R.A.’s knowledge and guts.

FLOYD GETS HIS FIRST LOSS

Doug, all I have to say is wow! I haven't seen someone get in Floyd's narrow behind like this before! YikesÔÇª and I am a Floyd fan! Ha ha, but the truth is the truth… This is a must listen. Warning: Contains explicit language…

http://hiphopgame.ihiphop.com/index2.php3?page=ra

— Jerome, Hartford, CT

The only reason I posted this is to give my readers an idea of how many emails with various links to R.A.’s verbal sparring session with Mayweather I’ve received over the weekend (probably 20, with four or five different links to the audio file).

You’re are absolutely right, Jerome, “the truth is the truth”. If R.A.’s interview made Floyd’s fans finally see it, then I owe him one.

BOOK COMING OUT?

Hey–I read somewhere that you were co-writing or editing (or something) a book with a rapper and huge boxing enthusiast, RA the Rugged Man out of Long Island…if so–man superb!

One of my favorite boxing writers and favorite rappers together is a can't miss! Tell me it's true! — David

Well, it was true. R.A. and I started working on a boxing book a few years ago but fatherhood and my MaxBoxing duties got in the way, while the debut of R.A.’s album (“Die, Rugged Man, Die”) and his various other projects (I think he shot and directed a movie during that time) slowed him down on his end (although, he managed to finish more chapters than I did).

I try to keep in touch with him (we exchanged emails after his undressing of Mayweather this past weekend) and I think it’s still possible that we can collaborate on a book at a later date, but as of right now the project is still on the shelf.

WHAT BOXER WOULD YOU…

Doug, hope all is well…
Most of your Monday mail bag will be covering 24/7 and some post fight analysis on the Agbeko vs. Perez fight, so I thought I would mix things up…

From the current boxers around which would you rather: –

1. Have a discussion with about the current economic crisis?
2. Punch in the face?
3. Give a hug to?
4. Box?
5. Match them up with any other boxer of your choice?
6. Sit them on your knee and give them a father to son discussion on why they should stop boxing?
7. Take out for dinner in the hope their missus comes along…
8. Play golf with? (which gives you around about a 3 – 4 hour long walk to discuss whatever you want)
9. Go down the pub with to get 2 parts pissed?
10. Work their corner?

Add any you feel necessary… Thomas – Croydon, England

HmmmÔÇª I don’t know what I could addÔÇª I must admit these are things I haven’t given much thought to, but I’ll try to answer the 10 you’ve given me.

1. Vitali Klitschko
2. Edwin Valero
3. Edwin Valero
4. James Toney or Bernard Hopkins (because I think they could teach me the most)
5. Floyd Mayweather (he ain’t gonna fight anyone decent on his own)
6. Jermain Taylor or Israel Vazquez (without the knee sitting); Mia St. John (definitely with the knee sitting, and maybe a light spankingÔÇª)
7. Carl Froch
8. David Haye (he can be boorish but he definitely has a personality worth exploring and it might be interesting to get to know him outside of the boxing world)
9. Wladimir Kitschko (he’s always seemed like a fun guy to me)
10. Once again, “my son” (I’m not qualified to work anyone’s corner and I’m also really lazy, so I figure I won’t have to do much with Edwin)

ELLERBE – PART 2

Dougie,
I agree that the video Asim sent is just… wrong. So is this:

http://cheezburger.com/View.aspx?aid=2601425152

Okay, it's juvenile… but dammit it's funny! — John, Irvine, CA

Shame on you, John.

Dougie can be reached at [email protected]