Cotto vs Clottey, The chess move!

I apologize to all my readers for my sudden drop of material, but I recently moved (Which I hate), but I’m back. Let start with the Cotto vs. Clottey fight.

Cotto looks very vulnerable to me, he get’s hit way too much, and I hope his corner men are addressing this. He tried to impose his will, but really couldn’t, other than him scoring a knockdown, which was Clottey stepping in and not catching his balance. It’s a knockdown, but not one that shows dominance in a fight.

Clottey went to work early and his defense was evident throughout. He landed a lot of punches and controlled the fight to me. His only real down fall was him lunging forward and being caught off balance, which resulted in the knockdown. I think he made up for it in the rest of the rounds, enough to take the decision, but I also knew he wouldn’t.

The boxing scene is all about the money, which I respect, but it’s a shame when someone like Clottey loses because he wasn’t popular enough. If he has the same fight with Kermit Cintron, he wins because right now Cintron isn’t a big draw.

After this fight Pac decides to start negotiations with Cotto, which really make since. Boxing (as well as life) is a chess game and Clottey was a mere pawn in this whole situation. Cotto beats Clottey by decision so his fans love it and people who don’t really follow boxing enough don’t realize that Cotto lost, and the real boxing gurus know what Cotto is capable of (even if he had a so called off night), so him fighting Pac will still be an interesting fight. Now a Cotto fight with Pac has more luster, and who wins in the end?? BOB ARUM!!

Bob Arum is the top guy over Top Rank promotions that have contracts over Cotto and Pacquio, so no matter who wins, he wins. For Pac to lose to Cotto, the money train he had in Pacquio shifts to Cotto, but with less brilliance! Manny is the little guy that many have grown to love, so Arum will not, at least not right now, put someone in front of him that has a good-great chance at beating him (Mosley, Mayweather, etc). He sees how easy it is to hit Cotto, and if Cotto fixes his defense problems, and musters up a win over the devastatingly offensive Pac, then he has Cotto to fall back own.

It’s all about strategy, and planning. That’s why I love seeing upsets. Upsets shakes up the game, and causes a ripple in the boxing realm. It’s almost like having DeJa Vu in the matrix, something very important has been changed!

 

Manny Pacquio Vs Ricky Hatton

This wasn’t the fight of the year but it was definitely exciting. This was another stage for Manny Pacquio to show off how good he’s become. Hatton was hoping to steal some of the lime light by beating the Pound for Pound (P4P) best, but was out classed, and out hustled from the beginning. Who else is there for Manny to fight? Will Hatton continue to fight? These are some questions that hopefully will be answered in the next few months.

Manny came out throwing accurate punches from all angles, keeping Ricky off balance. He caught Ricky with rights, which sent him to the canvas twice in the first round. After the second knockdown, I remember thinking: Get up Ricky!!! I paid over $50 for this fight! In the second round it was more of the same, but this time Pacquio landed a bone chilling left hook, that put Hatton down for good. Manny emerged once again with his hands raised and all I could say is, Man….This guy is a beast!!!

Ricky Hatton came into this fight with a record of 45 wins 1 loss with 32 KO’s. His only lost came by way of KO, by Floyd Mayweather Jr., who was the P4P king at the time (before he retired). This gives him two losses to two P4P fighters, so does he continue to fight after this one? He has other lucrative fights out there, but none will be as big, or for as much as these two fights. There are fighters in the 147 and 140 pound divisions (Welterweight and Jr. Welterweight) that would make good fights, but will Hatton be the same after this one?

Where does Manny Pacquio go from here? He destroyed Oscar De La Hoya, and now Ricky Hatton, so does he stick around 140 and kill some more? The Welterweight and Jr. Welterweight divisions have some promising talent, but most of the top fighters are already scheduled to fight. The only person that doesn’t have a fight is Sugar Shane Mosley who’s coming off a KO over Antonio Margarito. This would be an interesting fight, and it would be Pacquio’s biggest challenge thus far.

I’m eager to see who’ll be next to get in the ring against Manny, but I think it’s going to take the P4P king that vacated the title. Yeah, I believe Floyd Mayweather Jr., once he takes care of Juan Manuel Marques, should go in and create a mega fight. I think this will be the biggest fight of our time, if Mayweather defeats Marques convincingly. This would setup a fight with the current P4P king going against the previous P4P king, who is still undefeated. I guess time will tell, but if this fight happens, the world will be watching, and I must give my early prediction. Floyd by Unanimous Decision!!!!

Taylor vs Froch

Jermain Taylor Vs Carl Froch, was a good fight, in an anticipation sort of way. By that I mean it had you anticipating what was going to happen next. Taylor won the first half of the fight and then slowed down in the second half, like he did against Kelly Pavlik, who gave Taylor his only two losses. He knocked Froch down earlier in the fight, but didn’t finish him, like he did with Pavlik. Taylor ran out of gas and got KO’d late, like he did against Pavlik!!!!! You see the pattern?!

This ended up being a disappointment for me and a lot of people because Taylor lost because of his lack of stamina and his ability to close the show. He knocked Froch down in the third, had him hurt, but didn’t go in for the kill. He looked like he was pacing himself, but we ended up with the same result. Froch did a good job by getting back up and applying pressure the rest of the fight, but I believe, he needs to get more control over his defense and wide punching. He left himself open, and was hit way more than he needed to be. Taylor was landing even when he was out of gas.

I’m not a Taylor fan, and I actually predicted that he would lose to Pavlik. I knew Taylor’s defense wasn’t good enough to stop Pavlik’s power. Taylor’s defense was actually good in this fight, so he had a great chance at winning. It’s bad when you lose because of your stamina, especially when you had the guy hurt early.

Carl Froch needs to get in the gym and work on his defense, and practice throwing that jab more. This is a good fight for him, but it will be worth much more, if he learns from it. He fought a great fighter that can’t fight in the later rounds. He needs to prepare on fighting a great fighter that fights like Taylor did in the first half, but lasts the whole fight.

Taylor’s career is at its end. I don’t think he’ll necessarily stop fighting, but he’ll never be the same. He was shook after his first lost to Pavlik, so this will probably kill whatever determination he had left. Taylor is a great puncher, but if he can’t close out the show early and can’t make it to the last round, then the ending will always be the same!!!! Down goes Taylor!! Again!!

Paul Williams Vs Ronald “Winky” Wright

Winky Wright vs. Paul Williams was a good competition against two of the most avoided fighters. Paul’s punch output proved to be a little too much for Winky to handle. They both landed around 23%, but Williams threw over 1000 punches and Winky, a little over 500. Williams won, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t that bad for either fighter

Winky lost, but after a 22 month lay off, he didn’t look too bad. He says he’s not done fighting, and even though his defense wasn’t as sharp as it usually is, I don’t think he’ll have a problem winning fights. The problem will come when he’s trying to find people to fight him. He was feared before he fought Williams, so now that he has another loss, he’ll be looked at in 1 of 2 ways. They’ll either look at him with a recent loss and say he doesn’t deserve a fight, or they’ll fight him, thinking he’s lost a step. Winky will hope for the latter of the two. I don’t see him getting any good fights unless he comes across a fighter trying to make a name for himself, or a fighter on his way down, trying to stop their career free fall. On a boxing forum I take part in, a fellow debater called Winky the Gatekeeper, and I agree 100%.

Paul “The Punisher” Williams is making a name for himself, but is now going back down to Welterweight, where he was avoided by most of the top fighters. He was said to have gone up in weight to get good fights, so I’m wondering what has changed? Does he have a deal in the workings, behind the scene? If not, he’ll have to beat up bums, like he was on the verge of doing before he went up. I hope he has a plan because he has about 6 more fights before he hits 30, and the fluctuating in weight will become more of a challenge than some of the fights he’s had. He’s won off sheer volume of punches, so if his stamina sways or his agility declines, he’ll lose his advantage and the gap between him and most fighters will disappear. I like to think that his corner didn’t get him to where he is by making bad decision, but you see what happened to Roy Jones Jr. and Oscar De La Hoya. He’s young, so hopefully for him and us true boxing fans, this will all pan out.

Boxing isn’t supposed to be a popularity contest

I’ve been participating in a lot of forums, discussing boxers and boxing and some of the debaters in these rooms get popularity mixed up with skills. Just because you like a boxer and he’s well known, doesn’t make him a great fighter. I have favorites, but I don’t let that sway me when talking about who would beat who. I look at styles and determination, and past fights, among other things, to come up with my opinions. If all you have to go off of is the fact that you like the guy, then you’re not really a boxing fan, and/or are blinded by your own emotions.

For example; Oscar De La Hoya is a very well known fighter, and has made a ton of money in the course of his career, and he’s not a great fighter. Oscar has lost almost all of his big fights, but has stayed close to the top due to his large fan base, and marketability. Popularity will get people to watch you but it doesn’t make you great!!

The fact that some fighters, run around saying that they’re the greatest, doesn’t make them the greatest either. Most fighters, that are winning, like to think they’re the best but only a selective few ever run around saying it. When a fighter has a flamboyant attitude like that, he turns into a love me or hate me kind of fighters. They tend to have die hard fans, but at the same time, they have mobs of people who hate them. Within these fans and mobs, you have sensible people who look at what the fighter has done and grade him on that and not on what he says. The majority of these fans are either with them or against them. The most recent fighters of this magnitude are “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Roy Jones Jr.

I’m a fan of both but I don’t get caught up in what they say, but I pay attention to what they do. Floyd is one of the greatest fighters of this era and Roy Jones was of his. I believe that Roy needs to hang his gloves up pretty soon and Floyd needs to come out of retirement and beat some of these top fighters to add to his legacy.

There will always be ok fighters with large fan bases and great fighters who don’t have as many. Fans aren’t what make these fighters great; it’s their attributes, their determination, and their decision making. If you like a fighter, make sure he’s as good as you think he is, before you run around trying to convince everyone that he’s great. I see more forum posts claiming that one fighter will beat another fighter, because they both fought a fighter and one beat him worst than the other.

We all have opinions, but the ones that are backed by facts will always be more exuberant and more likely to be seen as a possibility. I’m not saying if you don’t have facts, then you need to shut up and let the real boxing fans speak, I’m just saying…..well I guess I am saying that, so please take heed and spare us the disappointment of reading your post, thinking it’ll lead somewhere!

Timothy Bradley (24-0, 11 KOs) -VS- Kendall Holt (25-3, 13 KOs)

This ended up being a better fight than I imagined. It had drama, ups and downs, and it even had a decent ending. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the fight of the year, by a long shot, but they put on a good show.

Timothy Bradley, the WBC super lightweight champ, came into this fight undefeated and very eager to stay that way. He pressured Holt from the beginning, and ran into a slick left hook, that put him on the canvas in the first. He rose to his feet and continued fighting as if nothing happened. He didn’t hold or run to make it out the round, he continued fighting. He stayed busy and got into somewhat of a rhythm the rest of the fight. He showed some flaws (dropping his hands, squaring up while in punching distance, etc), but he did enough to thrill the crowd and the judges.

Kendall Holt, the WBO junior welterweight champ, started off the fight with good countering and foot movement but slowed down as the fight went on. He occasionally threw a very effective jab, and a combo or 2, but other than that, he stayed inactive. He landed a good punch at the end of the fight, that put Bradley down again, but he again rose to his feet.

Bradley had his mind set on winning, and despite the 2 knock downs, he won a unanimous decision. He’s unified the two belts, and will most likely be on his way to bigger paydays. I’m screaming rematch. There are too many variables in this fight. If Holt would’ve used his jab more, he could’ve easily set himself up for a KO, or at least a decision win. I see the rematch being on a bigger stage, maybe the undercard of a PPV event.

They fought at 140 pounds, so Bradley could easily land a big fight with the likes of a; Ricky Hatton, Manny Pacquio, Floyd Mayweather, or maybe even Nate Campbell. I personally don’t think he’s ready to fight either of them but if he’s looking for a pay day, he’ll have options. I guess we’ll have to see what his corner comes up with, but I don’t see him having those belts for very long, unless he finds a bum to fight, or they sharpen his skills. If he stays the same, the only way he’s going to hold on to those belts is if he goes out and purchases a duplicate!

Samuel Peters -VS- Eddie Chambers

I watched Samuel Peters fight Eddie Chambers and was very aggravated at the end of the bout. This fight was one of the worst fights I’ve seen this year. There have been bad fights, but I had high hopes for this one. The fight never went completely bad, therefore it kept me watching, hoping for the action to start. It went for 10 rounds and when the final bell rung, all hope flew out the window, and I was left with disappointment and despair.

Peters came in the fight weighing the most he has in his career, so stamina and mobility were going to be definite weak points in his fight plan. He never showed his power and seemed to not be able to penetrate Chambers defense. This is Samuel Peters, The Nigerian Nightmare, I’m talking about. He’s supposed to punch through defenses! The fact that Chambers doesn’t move his feet, only his upper body, while blocking lead me to believe that Peters would eventually smother him with power, but nope!

Peters came in, out of shape, and lacking enthusiasm, so Chambers should’ve had an easy job proving to the world, that he should be considered one of the top 10 Heavyweights! He did the opposite, in my opinion. Chambers through some good one two’s, and had an effective jab, but other than that he sucked. He won, because Peters sucked worst! Chambers was scared to pull the trigger, even though Peters stood there with a bulls eye on his forehead!

If the Peters, that fought Wladimir Klitschko, would’ve stepped through the ropes, this fight would’ve ended around the 5^th round! Chambers wouldn’t have been able to handle Peter’s pressure. This fight should’ve been more than what it was. Since Peters couldn’t perform, Chambers should’ve taken over, but he couldn’t.

Chambers displayed how inefficient he is, and Peters needs to do some soul searching, and figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his life. If he doesn’t want to take training serious, then he needs to find another career. I was expecting to see his hunger for a title shot, to get his belt back! I did see evidence of hunger, just not the kind I’m talking about.

Oscar De La Hoya isn’t, wasn’t and will never be considered a great fighter.

I’ve never understood why Oscar De La Hoya has been one of the highest paid fighters the last 10years. It makes no sense to me since he loses his big fights! His last real victory was against Fernando Vargas in 2002. He’s fought 8 times since then and has lost 4 out of the 8, 2 by way of knockout. This isn’t the record of a great! He is not a great fighter but I guess he is marketable. Marketability is very important in boxing; it seems it’s a tad bit more important than actual skills.

In these past 7 years, he lost to Shane Mosley, for the second time, Bernard Hopkins, by KO, Floyd Mayweather Jr., and to Manny Pacquio in his last fight, which made him quit in between rounds. He’s consistently lost the big fights, but for some reason, a $h*t load of people still bet on him to win?!? Some say that that’s real fan power, but I say that’s really F’n stupid!!! The man can’t beat the great fighters, but he can beat the good ones.

I look at Oscar as a measuring tool. If you can beat him, you’re great, but if you can’t, you’re just good, in a mediocre sense. It was inevitable for him to start Golden Boy Productions, since the focal point of his career was the great promoting.

I’m not saying that Oscar couldn’t, or can’t, fight (Hence, I said if you beat him you were great). I’m simply saying that he’s never been a great fighter. I’ve noticed that when Oscar loses, he fights one tune up fight, and he’s right back with a big fight, if not a title shot. He pulled that off, 4 times in a row.

I take my hat off to him for his accomplishments and magic tricks. He’s the best I’ve seen at pulling good fights, out of losses. I here he’s still going to fight, which I’m not surprised. He lost to a great (Pacquio) in his last outing, so if he’s still on the same routine, he’ll fight a mediocre fighter and will have a good fight, early next year with a fighter like Miguel Cotto, or Paul Williams. Who ever he fights, their guaranteed to reach a new level of fame if they win, and if they lose… Let’s just say, I haven’t heard any Steve Forbes fights advertised here lately.

 

Wladimir Klitschko is on the top of the mountain, but a mountain of what?

At the age 32, Wladimir Klitschko is on the top of the Heavyweight division. He’s at the top for a reason. There’s nobody out there!! The Division is in such shambles, that you don’t have to earn a title fight any more; you just have to be willing to fight. Even with the division in the state it is in, Wladimir isn’t even beating these bums like he should.

It took him 11 rounds to KO Tony Thompson. If you’re not a true boxing fan, you’re trying to figure out who Tony Thompson is! He went the distance with Sultan Ibragimov! This guy was asking to be KO’d and Wladimir couldn’t pull the trigger. He beat Lamon Brewster, which was only a slightly hyped fight because Brewster beat him in their last meeting. He lost to Brewster? Come on man, you’re not supposed to lose to that guy!

With all the mediocre fights and the three losses he has, to fighters who might be labeled as ok fighters, at the most, how is he a great fighter? I’m not saying that he hand picked bums to fight, and that he’s never been in with anyone good. I’m saying he’s never been in with anyone great, and theirs only bums out there right now, other than a few. I can’t measure how good the king of a division is, when there’s no competition out there.

I would be able to give him more credit if he was in there demolishing all who would dare step foot in the ring with him, but he’s not. He’s acting as a substitute, holding the position until the real king comes back. Whenever this king evolves out of this rubble, this section of the Heavyweight division will be quickly forgotten. There’s nothing great to remember about this era. There are no great fights, nor any outstanding fighters. To sum it all up, Wladimir is the king right now but not because he’s so good, it’s because, everybody else is so bad!!!

Roy Jones Won! Should He continue To Fight?

Roy Jones Jr., (53-5, 39 KOs) fought and beat Omar Sheika (27-9, 18 KOs), on March the 21^st in the 5^th round by way of TKO in Pensacola Florida. Did I watch it? NO….Why would I? I’ve always been a big Roy Jones Jr. fan, but he’s not going to get me hyped up over a fight, to the point where I pay $24.95 to watch him fight someone with a 27 and 9 record!! I’m sorry!! I respect the money scheme but I can’t do it. Despite Omar’s record, they fought in Roy’s hometown! He set this fight up just how he wanted it. In front of his home crowd, against a bum!

I don’t know if he did this to hype me (the boxing fan), or himself (The self promoting fighter). It’s probably both me and him. He’ll use this fight to market himself into another fight and another. It’s not a bad idea but do you think he still has some fight left in him? I was very disappointed when he lost to Calzaghe, and thought he was going to hang his gloves up.

Roy Jones was one of the best fighters of his time and should be commended for all his accomplishments, but I think that an athlete should retire from his sport and not let the sport retire him. I’m not saying that Roy is done, but I am interested in seeing him fight (for free!!!!) against an ok fighter and see if he has anything left. I can’t take this win against Omar and say, Roy’s back, and keep a straight face.

We’ll definitely be seeing more of Roy this year. I read that he asked the crowd, after his win Saturday, if they wanted him back, and they answered yes, of course! Then he said he’ll be coming back. He has his town behind him, and he’s going to make him some more money, doing what he’s been doing all his life! I just hope he don’t turn into Evander Holyfield and fight till they start denying him boxing licenses. Holyfield got it bad…I pray for that dude. I hope whatever he’s trying to prove, can be proved soon, because God is about to say enough is enough and call him home. It’s bad when the Lord has to throw the towel in. I’ve digressed, but you get the point.