R.I.P ROCKY LOCKRIDGE

Hi Doug,

Sad to read about the passing of Rocky Lockridge. I know most folks of recent memory will forever remember that appearance on A&E’s Intervention show but the man did win both the WBA and IBF belts to go along with being a lineal champ in the Junior Lightweight Division. He also provided competitive efforts against the likes of Hall of Famers such as Eusebio Pedroza, Julio Cesar Chavez and Wilfredo Gomez. Just wanted to make sure he got a mention in the mailbag today.

On the subject of Junior Lightweights, I do have some MM’s for you related to Lockridge…

Lockridge vs John John Molina

Lockridge vs Jesse James Leija

Thanks. – Eli, Austin, TX 

Lockridge (right) shares a Ring cover with Lou Duva (center) and Main Events stablemate Johnny Bumphus.

I gotta go with Rocky by close decisions against his fellow underrated 130-pound bosses.

Thanks for bringing up Lockridge, who passed away at age 60 yesterday. I’m happy to lead today’s mailbag with your email.

In October 2017, someone wrote into the mailbag asking me who I was going to select for the International Boxing Hall of Fame’s Class of 2018. I provided my list of five modern-era candidates on the ballot, which included Lockridge, and I explained why the former two-time junior lightweight champ received my vote. Here’s what I wrote:

This guy deserves so much more recognition and respect than he gets. He fought EVERYONE of note in the featherweight and junior lightweight divisions during the extremely competitive 1980s, beating the prime 130-pound version of Roger Mayweather (via first-round KO for the WBA belt) and former champ Cornelius Boza-Edwards among other standouts, and giving THREE great (or arguably great) Latino legends all they could handle in world title bouts – Julio Cesar Chavez, Wilfredo Gomez (who I believe he should have outpointed) and Eusebio Pedrosa (twice). Lockridge was a globe-trotter, often fighting in his opponents’ back yards, and late in his career, he and Tony Lopez fought THE RING’s Fight of the Year for 1988.

My opinion certainly hasn’t changed. I still think Lockridge deserves to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame, and he’ll continue to get my vote. I’ll end this post with a highlight video I found on YouTube of the Washington-born New Jersey-based standout entitled “Rocky Lockridge – Dangerous Puncher” (but he was so much more than that):

THE TAKEOVER TRAIN

CHOO CHOO!!! ALL ABOARD! THE TAKEOVER TRAIN IS LEAVING! Are you getting aboard, Dougie? Well, as you said, this wasn’t a big step up for Teofimo, it was what was expected but you have to admit the set of skills Lopez showed was amazing. He’s got poise, speed, good footwork & counter punching. You may say slow it down, again, but I want to see him vs. Campbell, Pedraza, and if Loma is fighting Commey than give him Crolla, but of course Crolla is not taking that risk when he is in line for a title fight. Felix Verdejo at this point does nothing for Lopez. If he wants a title shot by the end of the year, he needs to get someone that’s going to put in him line for that shot.

The post-fight celebration. Was it excessive, yeah, just a bit, but I’m not mad at the kid. The ref, corner, doctor, etc. did worse by not throwing in the towel. Seems like the Texas commissioner doesn’t give a f**k about the fighters.

On to the other fights. So Happy for Richard Commey. Not sure why Isa Chaniev was in a title fight, he seems like he was not ready. Excited for the Commey Vs Loma. I can see Commey’s size giving Loma some problems but I still think Loma will be too much as long as he doesn’t get caught. Sad to see Commey’s reign might not last long.

Good fight for Oscar Valdez. Didn’t see too much change in him just was a bit more patient. Bring on the Josh Warrington fight. What a war that will be.

I’ll be honest, I was pulling for Sergey Kovalev but didn’t go in thinking he was going to win. Even throughout the fight I thought he could get caught at any moment, which made the fight exciting for me because I was scared for him the whole way. It’s actually what kept me up til 2 a.m. here. Glad to see him regain his title. I think he makes for more exciting fights than Eleider Alvarez, and I’d rather see him vs his countryman.

But I hope he continues to work with Buddy McGirt and master the changes some of the past greats have done. Use your boxing skills, experience, patience and use the jab to control the tempo of the fight, something I think GGG will have to do as well moving forward. Going for the KO will get them KO’d against the murderer’s row both divisions hold.

2019 is looking to be a great year!!! Hope the momentum continues!! – Omar

Oh, it will. It’s gonna be an eventful and BUSY year of boxing.

Photo / Tom Hogan-HoganPhotos / K2 Promotions

I agree that if Kovalev, who turns 36 in April, and Golovkin, who turns 37 in April, are going to continue their careers they’re going to need to rely more on their world-class jabs and underrated footwork/ring generalship in order to compete with the younger elite fighters in their weight classes. I think GGG is already doing this. Kovalev showed us that he can do it against Alvarez. We’ll see if he can do so against the other 175-pound titleholders.

ALL ABOARD! THE TAKEOVER TRAIN IS LEAVING! Are you getting aboard, Dougie? I’m pretty sure I’m on it, Omar. Just ask Teofimo Lopez Sr.

Well, as you said, this wasn’t a big step up for Teofimo, it was what was expected but you have to admit the set of skills Lopez showed was amazing. I admit it.

He’s got poise, speed, good footwork & counter punching. Yes, and he’s got uncanny timing to go with his skills and athleticism.

You may say slow it down again, but I want to see him vs. Campbell, Pedraza, and if Loma is fighting Commey than give him Crolla, but of course Crolla is not taking that risk when he is in line for a title fight. Crolla’s straight-forward style would be tailor-made for Lopez, but Jose Pedraza and Luke Campbell have styles that could pose problems for the 21-year-old sharp-shooter. I’m not saying Lopez doesn’t possess the exceptional ability to overcome those style difficulties, but his lack of experience could cost him against those two.

Felix Verdejo at this point does nothing for Lopez. I’m not so sure about that. If Verdejo can look impressive in a comeback bout, I would be interested in that showdown in the summer or early fall.

If he wants a title shot by the end of the year, he needs to get someone that’s going to put in him line for that shot. The plan is for him to fight three more times this year. Check back with me after his next two bouts. Maybe he’ll be ready for a top contender by then, but I don’t think he’ll be ready for a title shot by the end of the year – not in a division that calls Lomachenko and Mikey Garcia champs.

The post-fight celebration. Was it excessive, yeah, just a bit, but I’m not mad at the kid. I’m not mad at him, either. It was a heat of the moment thing, and hopefully, he tones the post-fight antics down a little bit going forward. We’ll see how handles fame and money (because he’s definitely on the fast track) and how that impacts his customary post-fight celebrations.

The ref, corner, doctor, etc. did worse by not throwing in the towel. I agree 100%. 

So Happy for Richard Commey. Not sure why Isa Chaniev was in a title fight, he seems like he was not ready. He wasn’t ready for Commey. That’s for sure.

Excited for the Commey Vs Loma. I can see Commey’s size giving Loma some problems but I still think Loma will be too much as long as he doesn’t get caught. Like I said in Monday’s mailbag, I don’t think it will be a walk in the park for Lomachenko.

Sad to see Commey’s reign might not last long. Hey, let them fight the fight. He hasn’t lost his IBF belt yet. And what else would you have him do? Fight Robert Easter Jr. in a rematch? He’ll make more money fighting Loma.

Good fight for Oscar Valdez. Didn’t see too much change in him just was a bit more patient. That’s a big change. Trust me.

Warrington takes it to Carl Frampton. Photo: Twitter @frankwarren_tv

Bring on the Josh Warrington fight. What a war that will be. There’s no doubt about it. If Warrington gets past his mandatory (Kid Galahad, which is not an easy task) and the unification bout is made, we’ll see if Valdez can remain patient against the fast-paced boxing and pressure that the Leeds Warrior brings to the ring.

I’ll be honest, I was pulling for Sergey Kovalev but didn’t go in thinking he was going to win. Same.

Even throughout the fight I thought he could get caught at any moment, which made the fight exciting for me because I was scared for him the whole way. Yes, the threat of Alvarez clipping him once more with a huge right made for an intense boxing match, but that thought in the Colombian’s mind also mentally handcuffed him.

It’s actually what kept me up til 2 a.m. here. I don’t know how you East Coast cats do it. That’s ridiculous.

Glad to see him regain his title. I think he makes for more exciting fights than Eleider Alvarez, and I’d rather see him vs his countryman. Which countryman? Beterbiev or Bivol?

WHERE’S THE BABY BULL?

Wouldn’t Juan Diaz be a marquee opponent for a guy like Teofimo? – Gabe

Absolutely, if the former unified titleholder were still an active fighter, but he hasn’t fought since 2016.

BOXING PODCASTS

Hey Doug,

I hope this email finds you well?

What boxing podcasts are you listening to at the moment, if any?

I have three that I listen to religiously. They are:

State of Combat with Brian Campbell

Boxing life stories with Tris Dixon

5 Live Boxing with Costello and Bunce

All three are different and great but I listed them in order of my favs.

Do you listen to any of these?

Also, I know Michael Rosenthal left The Ring but I was really getting into the pod he and Tom Gray did. Any chance of you filling Michael’s shoes? Tom said in a comments section last year that something was in the works but I haven’t heard anything since…

Anyway, keep up the good fight in responding to us lunatics on the regular.

(Oh P.S. – When you take a break you really need to give us guys notice. Just so we can plan to do something else other than refreshing the Ring home page every 5 minutes for 24 hours straight, hoping against hope, that the mailbag will appear.) Kind regards. – Steve from Oxford aka Randall

You got it, Randall. I’ll let everyone know in advance the next time I need to skip a mailbag (and I’ll also try to bring in a substitute editor, like Michael Montero.)

Speaking of Montero, I periodically listen to his podcasts, but I usually do it via YouTube.

I subscribe to The 3 Knockdown Rule (with Mario Lopez and Steve Kim), Tale of the Tape (co-hosted by Kenny Keith and Vince Cummings), State of Combat (with Campbell and Rafe Bartholomew), and Leave it in the Ring Radio (which includes Evan Rutkowski’s Fistianados podcast and Kurt Emhoff’s The Boxing Esq. podcast). I listen to every episode of 3KR, most of the TOTT podcasts, and I try to listen to the others as much as I can.

I haven’t listened to Dixon’s Boxing Life Stories yet, but I plan to. Tris is an excellent journalist and I’m sure he’s a brilliant interviewer.

I know there are a lot of other really good podcasts out there (I’ve been a guest on some of them) and I try to listen in whenever I’ve got the time.

Regarding my participation in an ongoing podcast on RingTV.com, I’m definitely open to the idea (and it’s goal of mine to have four or five regular podcasts on the site, starting with Emhoff’s Boxing Esq.). It’s just a matter of finding the right format, carving out the time and getting it started.

HEARN VS. WARREN (VS. THE DEVIL)

Dear Dougie,

On a dark and stormy night, Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren cross paths with the Devil! The Devil declares that the two must compete for supremacy, with the Devil taking the soul of the loser. After Eddie explains to AJ that splits are not negotiable in a battle against eternal damnation, the two promoters, Eddie and Frank, gather their best fighters.

Heavyweight: Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury

Cruiserweight: Lawrence Okolie vs Jordan Thompson

Light Heavyweight: Joshua Buatsi vs Anthony Yarde

Super Middleweight: Callum Smith vs Zak Chelli

Middleweight: Daniel Jakobs vs Billy Joe Saunders

Junior Middleweight: Kell Brook vs Liam Williams

Welterweight: Josh Kelly vs Gary Corcoran

Junior Welterweight: Maurice Hooker vs Terry Flanagan

Lightweight: Luke Campbell vs Ohara Davis

Junior Lightweight: Tevin Farmer vs Archie Sharp

Featherweight: Kid Galahad vs Josh Warrington

Junior Featherweight: TJ Doheny vs Lucien Reid

Bantamweight: Ryan Burnett vs Zolani Tete

Junior Bantamweight: Srisaket Sor Rungvisai vs Jamie Conlan

Flyweight: Charlie Edwards vs Paddy Barnes

Which promoter keeps possession of his soul?

Cheers. – Richard!

Eddie keeps his soul (and the Devil will get more than he bargained for with the spirit of ole “Fish Eyes”). The only Warren fighters I view as the clear favorite in their matchups are Josh Warrington and Zolani Tete. I can envision Tyson Fury, Billy Joe Saunders and Liam Williams pulling “upsets” (which really shouldn’t be considered as such), but the odds are against all three coming through in each bout (which I view as 50-50).

HOLYFIELD’S HEADBUTT SCHOOL

So you don’t like headbutts huh? So do you condemn the Evander Holyfield Headbutt School that Vernon Forrest supposedly enrolled in before the Mosley fight? LMFAO

Do you remember that?

Thank you. – Jason C. Brown

I do remember that! It was an allegation made by my guy Sugar Shane Mosley after he received a concussion from a clash of heads in the second round of his first bout against Forrest. As much as I like Mosley, I never could buy that story. The way he fought at the time often led to accidental headbutts (see his fight with Willy Wise). Against Forrest, he got the worst of it. And Viper didn’t need headbutts to get the better of Mosley, he simply had the Southern Californian’s number in terms of their style matchup.

And even if Forrest purposely butted Mosley (with the help of The Real Deal’s “expert instruction”), I’ll give Viper a pass because he’s no longer with us. May he and Rocky Lockridge rest in peace.

Email Fischer at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter and IG at @dougiefischer.