Dougie’s FAT Friday Mailbag

Jul

SCHOOLGIRL BOB

Alright Big D,
Just a few points/rants….

1) Has Bob Arum any comprehension of what an 'agreement' is? Richard Schaefer and co. on GBP's side seem more than capable of keeping their traps shut regarding the negotiations for Floyd Mayweather Jr v Manny Pacquiao… Is it too much to ask Arum to stay quiet for the sake of getting this made? Sadly that'd be like asking a boozie Brit on holiday not to drink alcohol for a day. All I want to hear are the words 'it's been made', not Arum name dropping Margarito or Cotto (not to mention catchweights!!!) into the equation if negotiations fail. I for one would boycott watching Manny wallop a fighter who doesn't deserve a payday or stuffing a fighter who he's already smashed to pieces and is clearly on the slide as each fight progresses.

2) Good to see GBP stacking as many decent fights into one card as they can. The July 31 PPV has one of the best undercards I can remember for some time. I feel that Juan Manuel Marquez v Juan Diaz is a pick'em and the outcome is going to come down to who has the most left. Providing Marquez hasn't got old overnight I'm picking him by late stoppage/UD. I'll be cheering the loudest all night for Robert Guerrero though. The guy deserves to be in the mix with the cream of the division but sadly for him far more important things have curtailed his activity which is 100% understandable. He deserves all the kudos in the world for even lacing the gloves up. Good luck to him and I fancy him to overwhelm Casamayor – possibly even early if he hits his straps from the first bell.

3) Am kinda annoyed David Haye has now come out and said there's no chance he'll fight Audley Harrison. Shame, someone needs to retire Audley and his mouth.

4) Been laughing at some of the Mayweather Jr fans emailing you and your responses. Just think what would happen if you slated Manny?! Sadly the world we live in isn't perfect and the less intelligent ones have just about learnt how to use a computer. I'm a big fan of Mayweather Jr (more his style and how good he is in the ring than as a person, and he is a brash numpti), but it kinda embarrasses me to see some of the emails you've published. We all get things wrong and it's sad intellectually challenged members of the public need to try and retarded-ly ram it down your throat. Anyway bud, hope all is well. — Geoff, London

All is well, indeed, Geoff. I’m looking forward to a fun Fourth of July weekend with my family. I’ll respond to your points/rants in order:

1)No, Arum doesn’t have a very strong comprehension of the “agreement” concept. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but he’s not an agreeable sort. If he was the sport would be in a much better place. Imagine if Arum could get along with Schaefer and Co., Dan Goossen and Gary Shaw? Donaire-Darchinyan II would be on. We would be talking about Cotto vs. Angulo instead of Cotto vs. Chavez Jr. or Pacquiao-Cotto II (blah). Donaire could be packaged with Andre Ward in Oakland and the Oracle Arena would be packed with 15,000-18,000 fight fans on a regular basis. And we might just get the super fight that everyone on the planet is fixated on. You want my theory on the seemingly doomed super fight of 2010? Mayweather really doesn’t want the fight and neither does Arum. I think those two are more alike than they care to admit.

2)I’m not terribly excited about the recently announced undercard to the Marquez-Diaz rematch, but I’m glad fans will get competitive supporting bouts to a pay-per-view main event. I also view Marquez-Diaz II as an even money fight. I think Diaz has clearly lost a step since the first fight but there’s no telling what Marquez will have left after putting on all that muscle, getting slapped around by Floyd, and then returning to 135 pounds. If Diaz is motivated (and I think he is), properly conditioned, and he follows a measured boxing game plan, I think he can outpoint the future hall of famer by outworking him. Of course, I thought Mosley would outwork Mayweather and that didn’t come to pass. Anyway, I’m looking forward to this fight, even though I wish it were taking place in Texas and not my favorite Las Veags casino (the Mandalay Bay).

3)If Haye isn’t fighting Harrison, who is he gonna fight? It looks like Wladimir is set to defend his crown against deserving challenger Alexander Povetkin. Is your countryman aiming for Big Brother? If so, why is he wasting everybody’s time talking s__t about James Toney’s foray into MMA and not doing everything he can to make title unification bout with V-Klitsch?

4) Not all Mayweather fans are jerks, just 90 percent of the ones who email me. Pacquiao's fans can be just as obnoxious. I drew their outrage when I suggested the PacMan would have lost fights to Wilfredo Gomez, Salvador Sanchez, Roberto Duran, and Aaron Pryor in a column before his showdown with Ricky Hatton. But I'll give Manny's maniac credit, they got over it pretty fast. Mayweather fans hold a grudge. Yeah, I was wrong about Mosley beating Mayweather. I give Floyd credit and respect for handling a highly rated veteran, but nothing short of declaring Mayweather the G.O.A.T is enough for some of his more vocal fans. You gotta pity the fools.

MIXED THOUGHTS

Hey Doug,
Been a while since I wrote in. A couple of things kind of tweeked me a bit though. Isn't this praise of Chavez Jr a little misguided? I understand he looked a lot better against Duddy, but in Michael Rosenthal's Weekend Review on this site he tells us Pavlik-Chavez Jr 'might be more competitive than we thought' and he suggests he could beat Cotto. Have 'The Ghost' and Miguel fallen so far in everyone's eyes that these are viewed as competitive fights??? It was John Duddy he dominated not Jake La Motta. I realize it’s a nice story and so on, but even mentioning Angulo as a future opponent to me is a joke.

Speaking of Cotto, Doug please tell me the rumblings I am hearing about a possible Pacquiao-Cotto II fight are just rumor. Does anyone, other than those with a personal grudge against Cotto, want to see this fight? And why would it be at a catch weight? They were going to fight Yuri Foreman at 154lbs until they decided he was too big, so why not fight at the same weight against a guy you already gave a horrible beatdown to? Enough with these 'catch weight' demands, Manny should be called the pound for pound catch weight champion… I'm not going to bother getting heated over it, cause I can't imagine Arum trying to sell this turd wrapped in a ribbon to the boxing public. Of course he did tell us all to f__k off, not too long ago.

Am I high on crack to hope for a 154 lb tournament similar to the Super Six? Williams, Martinez, Sergei Dzinziruk, Cotto, Angulo & say Cintron? C'mon that would be dope! We need to campaign for that, lol…

Argued with my friends over the weekend (they are all MMA guys). My point was why is it that its always washed up boxers looking for a payday that get signed to fight in UFC/StrikeForce… every fight that's discussed between a boxer and MMA fighter is under MMA rules. I would love to see one of these 'Strikers' (I love that term) get in a boxing ring with a journeyman/gatekeeper/fringe contender-forget about someone world class. That would impress me. Even YouTube knockout legend Kimbo Slice avoided throwing punches against the remains of what used to be Ray Mercer. A lot of the top guys use Howard Davis as their 'stand up trainer', this is akin to hiring Duddy to teach you the subtleties of head movement.

And if this is Arum's way of trying to gain leverage in the Maywether negotiations it was a poor attempt. Can't wait to see how Floyd responds, knowing him he's going to start talking up a Jose Luis Castillo rubbermatch…

If the fight happens, what type of shot do you give Rafael Marquez to take out JuanMa Lopez? Maybe I sat out in the sun too long but I think Marquez is gonna chin check him. — Tom G.

I don’t count Rafa out of that showdown (which I believe will happen because I think JuanMa is going to kick Bernabe Concepcion’s ass next Saturday). He’s got the experience, height, reach, and counter-punching ability to clip anyone good. Oh, and he’s a Marquez brother, which means he’s got balls the size of Mexico City. Rafa’s long in the tooth but I think he’ll test Lopez. Still, I favor the emerging Puerto Rican star in that featherweight fight. I think Lopez is the goods.

You get into arguments with MMA fans? Dude, don’t ever criticize me for arguing with Mayweather fans. LOL! MMA promoters don’t pit their fighters against boxers under boxing rules because they’re smart. They know the best MMA fighters would get KTFO by rank journeymen boxers in a boxing match. And since we’re on the subject of boxers vs. MMA fighters, I’ll let you know that I visited James Toney’s training camp yesterday. He’s still got love handles but he looked pretty good going through the various MMA maneuvers. I’m not saying Randy Couture should be shakin’ in his boots, but I am saying that Toney is taking this matchup seriously.

Are you high on crack? I don’t know. But I also like the idea of six-man 154-pound tournament. (Maybe I'm smokin', too.) Too bad the only fighters who would be willing to do it is Dzinziruk and maybe Martinez. P-Will wants to go back down to welterweight. Gary Shaw is not going to put Angulo in the ring with a pure boxer, never mind entering “Perro” into a tournament with two or three rangy southpaw boxers. Arum’s keeping Cotto “in-house.” And fight fans f___in’ HATE Cintron. I don’t agree with their hate but it’s undeniable. I don’t see a junior middleweight Super Six happening, brotha. Now put down the pipe.

I hope talk of Pacquiao-Cotto II or Pacquiao-Margarito is just Arum trying to gain leverage in the Mayweather negotiations but I put nothing past the hall-of-fame promoter. He’s the Frank Sinatra of boxing promoters. He’s gonna do things HIS way and you better believe him when he tells the fans and media that they can go “f___ themselves.”

How many fans and boxing writers are really praising Chavez Jr. all that much? Most of what I’ve read following his one-sided victory over Duddy amounts to “So what?” I give the kid his props and so does Rosenthal, but we’re also measured in our praise.

Rosenthal began his Weekend Review commentary on Chavez with this line: “We shouldn’t get carried away in light of the opponentÔÇª”

RingTV.com’s co-editor added: “Chavez, still a work in progress, would have trouble with any titleholder or Top 10 middleweight or junior middleweight contenderÔÇª”

Regarding Junior’s chances with Pavlik and other top contenders, Rosenthal wrote: “I’d pick Pavlik in that fight because of advantages in size, strength and experience but that fight might not be as one-sided as we once would’ve thought. And there’s Miguel Cotto, a fellow Top Rank fighter. Cotto gets a significant edge in skill and experience but Chavez is stronger and would be catching Cotto at a good time. Chavez could not compete with the likes of Martinez, Paul Williams and Sergei Dzinziruk. They’re too good.”

I think Rosenthal is giving Junior more credit than he would have prior to the Duddy drubbing (a lot more) but I don’t think he’s getting carried away. You, on the other hand, might be getting carried away just a bit, but that’s probably the crack talking.

JUDAH ON A BILLBOARD?

Hi Doug,
With Friday Night Fights being the only boxing event of note this weekend, I have some quick random thoughts.

The Shane Mosley-Sergio Mora matchup gives me somewhat of a “blah” feeling, though on the other hand the fight itself may turn out to be pretty interesting.

Driving along the New Jersey Turnpike, I was surprised/shocked/bewildered to see no less than two Zab Judah billboardsÔÇª yes, billboards, promoting his next fight. I’m not knocking Zab; it’s just been a long time since you’d think of him as a billboard type of guy. All credit in the world to Main Events, and in particular Kathy Duva, who have always proven to be class characters in boxing (sounds almost like an oxymoron, doesn’t it?).

I was thinking of going to see Tua-Barrett in person, but it’s on the same night as the Bradley and Angulo fights. It seems that my time will be much better spent (and money NOT spent) staying home and watching the HBO card than going to Atlantic City to see Barrett’s inevitable fourth loss in a row. Thanks a lot. — Jesse

Skip Tua-Barrett unless you’re a huge fan of the TuaMan, or you just plain hate Barrett. HBO’s double header from Rancho Mirage, Calif., will deliver fan-pleasing action.

I think it’s great Main Events and the Prudential Center are advertising an ESPN2-televised boxing show as if it were a major event. I don’t care if they put full-frontal nude pics Judah’s opponent, Jose Armando Santa Cruz, on billboards. That’s a very good sign (no pun intended) for the sport.

The prospect of Mosley-Mora doesn’t have me doing back flips but I agree that it might be a fun fight. Mora’s busy, mobile, unorthodox boxing style could trouble Mosley but it’s doubtful that the Latin Snake will hurt the veteran, who has the decided edge in power.

I just wish it wasn’t a pay-per-view show and it wasn’t happening on the same date as the proposed Lopez-Marquez fight (and Showtime’s planned dual-site broadcast of the featherweight clash and Froch vs. Abraham).

SERGIO MARTINEZ VS. THE BELTS

Doug,
Something I don't understand from the perspective of the WBC (and sanctioning bodies in general): if Sergio Martinez is willing to pay the sanctioning fees and fight the respective mandatories, why won't the WBC allow him to retain both belts? What's the difference if they get all their fees from him, vs the same fees from him and another fighter? Plus, w/him being the “hot boy” right now, they seem to be hurting themselves economically, in that his purses should be higher thus their fees higher than say many of the other ranked fighters in those two weight classes who could ostensibly become a beltholder. Is there some kind of sanctioning body rule that explicitly forbids holding two belts at once? I know they are crazy sanctioning bodies and all, but at least they are generally consistently self-serving. In this one it seems their logic hurts them as much as Sergio Martinez. What am I not getting? — Bakari, Jersey City, NJ

What you’re not getting is that the sanctioning organizations are not logical at all. They’re like freakin’ crack hos (ask Tom G., he'll tell ya). They don’t believe in making an investment or sticking with a “sure thing”. They go for the quickest buck. By the way, it wasn’t the WBC that stripped Martinez, it was the WBO who yanked their 160-pound title from the classy Argentine southpaw for the “crime” of holding a belt in another weight class (the WBC’s 154-pound strap). Why? Because it’s in their bylaws. But it’s also because the Puerto Rico-based organization didn’t have the patience to wait and see which division Martinez’s next fight would take place at. I think once they caught wind that he wouldn’t be fighting Paul Williams in a big-money rematch at middleweight they decided to take their belt and hold it up for the highest bidder, which turned out to be Golden Boy Promotions. Oscar & Co. promote the WBO’s No.1 contender Daniel Jacobs, who will fight the organization’s No. 2 contender Dmitry Pirog on July 31. Perhaps they figure if the 23-year-old Jacobs wins their belt he’ll have a brighter (i.e. more lucrative) future than the 35-year-old Martinez.

I feel sorry for Martinez, but he should know the deal by now. The fighters just borrow the belts for as long as the sanctioning groups want them to have the trinkets. It really doesn’t matter what they do in the ring. If they want them to keep the belt (like the IBF wanted Zab Judah to retain their strap despite his loss to Carlos Baldomir before the already scheduled Floyd Mayweather fight) that’s what will happen. If they want to take the belt from a fighter who just won it, they’ll do that as Martinez just experienced. He should know the deal. He won a title elimination bout for the WBC’s junior middleweight belt in April of 2007 and it took him a year and a half, plus four more fights, before he was able to fight for a freakin’ “interim” title.

I could go on a rant about how THE RING title belt that Martinez holds is superior to the alphabet straps, but do I really have to? I can guarantee you that THE RING will never strip Martinez of his middleweight title. It’s HIS title until he decides to vacate it or he loses it in the ring.