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Dougie’s Friday mailbag

Fighters Network
07
Sep

THE FAKE SUPERMAN

That’s enough Doug!

Time for you to get you lips off Gennady Golovkin’s nut-sack already. Seriously man! This stupid Golovkin craze needs to die down already. The guy with the retarded looking grin still hasn’t beaten a top ten guy. And no, G. Prosca doesn’t count! The overrated Pole needed a rematch to get past some punchless British bum named Kerry Hope.

And yet you and these other fools are carrying on like this “Triple G” can wipe out Sugar Ray Robinson! Just comparing him to Julio Ceasar Chavez and even Kosta Tszyu is sickening enough!



And don’t further insult our intelligence by stating that if this Fake Superman moved up to 168 pounds that Andre Ward would be to scared to face him. What a crock of s__t! Ward never ducked a challenge and he certainly wouldn’t be afraid of this grinning idiot! Nor would Sergio Martinez back down from Mr. Super-Goof here.

Any elite fighter whether it’s Ward, Marvilla, Carl Frosh, or even Daniel Geale would tear right through Golovkin who moves around like a frigging robot!

So once again, stop gushing over this clown already! Wake up to the frigging real world!

Oh and one more thing. It’s also time for you and some of your readers to stop going on about your “ex-lover” Edwin Velero. The guy was a headcase who couldn’t handle life. And now he’s long gone. Move on already! – Bryan.

I don’t think you have much of a handle on life (or grammar) yourself, Bryan, but that’s OK. Go right ahead and diss Valero and call Golovkin a fake.

Just don’t make the excitement over Golovkin about me. If you do that, all it proves is that you’re on MY nuts as much as you claim that I’m on his.

You’re free to have your opinion of Golovkin. (I don’t think anyone you mentioned would “tear right through” him, but I’m not going to bother debating it with you because you sound like a lunatic and none of those potential bouts are even close to being made.)

However, don’t blow off the excitement that Golovkin created with his HBO debut. There’s nothing fake about that. It’s very real. I watched that fight with MMA fans and THEY are now excited about Golovkin. My 70-year-old neighbor from across the street who USED to be a boxing fan happened to catch a replay of Golovkin’s fight and now he’s excited about the undefeated middleweight. He can’t pronounce Golovkin’s name but he raved about the guy for 15 minutes.

And mind you, this is a stubborn old African American man who NEVER compliments non-black athletes. He’s in the cowboy hat-wearing stage of his life. (Time out for a quick primer for those of you who don’t live in a black community: when an African American man reaches his senior citizen years and takes to wearing a cowboy hat in public it is a declaration to the rest of the world. He is saying “I straight don’t give a f__k anymore! I lived through segregation and overt racism, had to kiss white ass at work when I wanted to choke fools to death, but I made it to retirement and now I’m gonna do and say whatever the f__k I want.”)

altHere’s the thing about older black men in cowboy hats (some notable boxers who proudly displayed this stage of life include the late Joe Frazier and his fellow hall of famers Ken Norton and Bob Foster): they tell the truth (at least as they see it).

My neighbor, who boxed in the military, told me that he thinks Golovkin can be a star. He beamed about Golovkin like the Kazakhstani was Kobe Bryant in boxing gloves.

That’s special and nothing you do or say is going to change that. Nothing that I say or write is going to change that.

If you have any love for boxing you shouldn’t want the “Golovkin craze” to “die down.” Boxing needs fighters that fans – particularly casual fans – are crazy about.

As skillful and accomplished and decent Ward and Chad Dawson are, there isn’t much of a buzz about their “super fight” tomorrow night. Don’t blame me and don’t take it out on Golovkin (or dead Valero).

If Ward and Dawson put on an entertaining fight on HBO, the boxing world will be buzzing about them. Hopefully, there will be a “Ward craze” or a “Dawson craze.” The sport needs it. However, if they don’t put it down in the prize ring, I don’t think their personalities and fighting once or twice a year is going to be enough (especially if they continue to be as media shy as they are).

I like both guys a lot. I respect them both. But I’m going to be honest (maybe I should put on a cowboy hat as I complete this sentence), right now they – and the other elite fighters of the sport (including Martinez, Donaire, Bradley, and even the dynamic duo of Mayweather and Pacquiao) – are not creating the kind of excitement that boxing fans crave.

(And for the record I never suggested that Ward was “scared” of Golovkin. I wrote that there’s no reason to talk about Ward – or Floyd Mayweather – fighting Golovkin because the 2004 Olympic silver medalist has only just arrived on the U.S. scene. I basically said that Golovkin hasn’t paid dues but your crazy ass took that as an insult to Ward.)

So now you have to insult me and a dead fighter. Classy.

I am over Valero’s violent and disgraceful demise. I haven’t written a single story on him since his death. When his name is mentioned in a mailbag it’s because boxing fans bring him up. Even in death Valero remains compelling. Perhaps that wouldn’t be the case if more living boxers fought the way he did. As it is, many of the same fans who used to hate on Valero – the way you’re hating on Golovkin – are now the ones who ask me how the Venezuelan would have fared in mythical matchups or if he did enough to merit hall of fame induction.

Go figure.

BEASTS OF DESTRUCTION AND BOREDOM

Hey Dougie!

First things first. I actually missed your last Friday Mailbag. Looked through the pages and couldn’t find it. And I was too busy rushing and busting my ass off all weekend to double-check and probably too spunned on caffeine to even notice. Born to be wired! That’s me. Lame excuse I know but it works for me, damn it!

Oh, and you’re one of the very few who get my dumb jokes the first time around!

And this weekend? Well let’s just say we’re not going to get the blazing fireworks we received the previous weekend, not with HBO’s main event anyways. While Triple G aka Borat might be a friggin’ beast of destruction, Dawson is a beast of boredom. S__t, listening to Ben Stein translate the Dead Sea Scrolls in that robotic, droning voice of his would be more entertaining than watching this Dawson in the ring. Say what we want about Ward’s lack of kayo power but at least he fights with true conviction. Drab Chad barely gets a pulse going! Andre’s going to go right to his chest and grind him up and down over 12 rounds.

The Showtime main event will be more explosive, especially with a bone-breaking monster like Lucas Matthysse headlining the card. In some ways Matthysse reminds me of Golovkin, a nice easy going guy outside the ring and a face-busting destroyer inside the ropes. And like you and I also KNOW, Matthysse is going to tear Olusegun apart inside prior to performing a MEGA-facelift on the overrated Nigerian with that huge right-hand of his. Picture the Elephant Man after trying to kiss an oncoming mack truck! OK so I’m being a reckless exaggerator but only by the slimmest of margins! Olusegun’s obviously overrated. The fact that a boxing-junkie like myself has never heard of the guy and yet he somehow sneaked or ass-kissed his way into the tough junior welter top ten pretty much says it all.

OK Douglass. I’m off! (Yeah, yeah, in more ways than one, I get it!) Cheers as always! – Todd The Terminator

I can’t believe you missed last week’s Friday mailbag. It was chock full of pre-Proksa Go-LOVE-kin praise and Valero comparisons (much to Bryan’s chagrin) – whoo hoo! The next time you can’t find a mailbag go to the search box in the upper left corner of the homepage and type in “Friday mailbag” or “Monday mailbag” and a list of recent bags will instantly be listed before you.

Anyway, I agree that Ajose is overrated (by the WBC and hardcore heads) but I don’t think tomorrow’s Showtime main event will be a walk in the park for Matthysse. Ajose isn’t terribly accomplished (despite his 30-0 record), but he does have an athletic and unorthodox style, and I do believe he’s got heart and is coming to win. Matthysse is going to have to gradually break him down to the body the way he wore out DeMarcus Corely. It might take him eight or nine rounds to do it, but I do think Matthysse will get the job done.

I also think Ward will get it done, and probably in the fashion that you foresee – by mugging Dawson for 12 rounds. I hope I’m wrong about that. I hope these two boxers keep their range and look to catch the other with clean power shots to the chin and fast body-head combinations. If I wanted to see grappling, I’d watch the UFC.

This is the best line of your email: “S__t, listening to Ben Stein translate the Dead Sea Scrolls in that robotic, droning voice of his would be more entertaining than watching this Dawson in the ring.”

A bit harsh, though. I’m hopeful that John Scully and the reality of fighting in Ward’s hometown lights a fire under Dawson’s ass and we get to see Bad Chad again. It’s been awhile.

SEPTEMBER IS HERE!

Hi Doug,

How’s everything going? September is here and the Boxing schedule is heating up!

Looking forward to the Dawson-Ward matchup. Both guys are highly skilled and it’s going to be a high class affair. However I find it interesting that the fight is on HBO. I know that the fighters are free to go on whichever network but given that Showtime invested much more in the growth of both these fighters, is there a reason Showtime wasn’t involved in the negotiations?

I’m a big fan of Donaire and my friends are asking me who he’s fighting next. I try to tell them about Toshiaki Nishioka but I’m not too familiar with him, other than him being the #1 guy in the division and that he is a southpaw. What can you tell me about Nishioka? Has he ever fought in the US?

Finally, I’ve been watching a lot of Cotto fights and I found I agreed with Emanuel Stewart’s comment that he would have liked to have seen Cotto slip and dodge Mayweather’s punches, instead of taking them on the forearms and shoulders. How do you think Cotto would have done against the welterweight version of Oscar De La Hoya? And do you foresee a matchup between him and Saul Alvarez in the future, given Alvarez continues to win? Those two are both tough and would match up well. Thanks. – Jey, Brampton, ON

Hey Jey! Thanks for writing.

If Cotto defeats Austin Trout (which by no means is a given), I think the Puerto Rican star’s next fight will be against Alvarez, provided the Mexican star beats Josesito Lopez (and no that’s not a given, either).

The fact that Cotto is willing to fight a difficult and talented junior middleweight standout like Trout lets us all know that the veteran is willing to fight anyone.

I suppose you and Mr. Steward have a point that Cotto should have slipped and dodged more of Mayweather’s punchers – he made Floyd miss with more than a few power shots the few times he did – however, A) that’s not how Cotto boxes (he’s always been a methodical boxer-puncher with decent technique but not a whole lot of finesse) and B) easier said than done.

Be sure to tell your buddies that Nishioka is the best fighter Japan has to offer, which is saying something when sub-featherweights are concerned.

The 36-year-old veteran is skilled, versatile and fast with good power (especially in his straight left) but his real strength is his experience (he’s been a pro for 17 years) and his perseverance (he hasn’t lost since going 0-2-2 in competitive bantamweight title bouts with Thai legend Veerapol Sahaprom – a span of 16 bouts).

He’s fought twice in the U.S. (Las Vegas both times), including his last bout, which was a unanimous decision over former champ Rafael Marquez last October. He traveled to Mexico to defend his WBC 122-pound title against Jhonny Gonzalez, who he KO’d in three rounds.

Along with Marquez and Gonzalez, who hasn’t lost since and now holds the WBC featherweight title, Nishioka defended his title against then-RING-rated Rendall Munroe in October of 2010. He’s 6-0, with 5 KOs, in 122-pound title bouts.

Put simply, Nishi ain’t no joke. Donaire better be 100 percent on Oct. 13.

It’s true that Showtime has televised many of Dawson’s key fights and all of Ward’s major bouts but Ken Hershman – the former czar of Showtime’s boxing programming who joined HBO as the head of their sports department in January – had a lot to do with those relationships. It only seems natural that Hershman would want to bring them over to HBO – especially Ward, who evolved from a talented-but-untested prospect to the undisputed 168-pound champ through Hershman’s brain child: the Super Six World Boxing Classic.

Email Dougie at [email protected]. Follow him on Twiter @dougiefischer