Is 2009 the Year of the Heavyweight?
January 30, 2009
It’s been a long time since heavyweights have been the focus of boxing. Not since Lennox Lewis retired nearly five years ago has there been a true “champion.” And not since Mike Tyson was capable of winning fights was there genuine interest in the division.
There’s no guarantee that the interest will return from casual spectators, but to true boxing fans, the heavyweight division might be the most exciting that boxing has to offer in 2009.
Certainly the division lacks the depth of the lighter weight classes. It is nowhere near competing with the likes of lightweight, welterweight or even super-bantamweight in that respect. But there is a chance that by January of 2010, there is a unified champion (or brothers champion) at the heavyweight level. At the very least, there promises to be some fantastic fights at heavyweight in 2009, unification or not.
Currently the heavyweight division has three belt-holders in its four divisions: Wladimir Klitschko has the IBF and WBO belts, his brother Vitali has the WBC and Ruslan Chagaev holds the WBA. Nicolai Valuev likes to keep that belt warms while Chagaev is injured, but there are really only three belt-holders.
There is fresh, young blood entering the upper ranks of the division as well. David Haye is attracting a lot of attention since his jump up from cruiserweight, and will have his chance to do more than talk a good game when he challenges Wladimir Klitschko in June.
If that fight somehow falls through, Klitschko will instead fight Chris Arreola in May. Arreola may not be the best heavyweight in the world, but he draws the most attention of any of the heavyweights in North America. With his following in the southwest United States and Mexico, his first big fight is sure to be in front of a packed house.
Vitali Klitschko returned from his four-year absence with a dominating win over Sam Peter in 2008, and has Juan Carlos Gomez and Nicolai Valuev in his sights for 2009.
As for Chagaev, he’ll return to the ring on Feb. 7. Assuming he beats the undefeated Carl Drummond, he plans on also fighting Valuev again, the man he took the title from. If he were to win both of them, he’s made it clear that he wants to unify the belts with the Klitschkos.
For all of the negative talk the heavyweight division has received in recent years for being so Euro-centric, the fact that all of the belts reside in the same region could go a long way to making important fights happen.
And if all of that isn’t enough for you, there are unsubstantiated rumors that Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield will fight for a third time in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, a fight that would make each fighter $35 million. While I don’t believe for a second that that will happen, talk of it alone will add some fuel to the heavyweight fire.
It’s been a rough start to the century for the sports most popular division, and perhaps they’ll be back on top by the time the next decade begins.
How to Define “Pound-for-Pound”
January 29, 2009
In boxing, there is no more prestigious title than “pound-for-pound” best in the world. This means, in essence, you are the best fighter in the world under any conditions. Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roy Jones Jr., and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. have all been at one point considered the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. Now, it’s become common for pound-for-pound rankings to be listed among divisional rankings.
There are two schools of thought, as far as I can figure. There is the theoretical school, which means simply “who is better”, not necessarily factoring in head-to-head matchups or recent performances. This is the type of list that could have three fighters in the top ten who lost their most recent fight. The theory is that losing to other top fighters doesn’t hurt your ranking, as long as you performed well.
The other school is the practical school, which is more like NCAA football or basketball rankings. It has a foundation in theory, but also factors in head-to-head matchups and penalizes heavier for recent losses. This is a ranking that favors win-loss record and head-to-head matchups over hypothetical matchmaking.
To provide an example of the two trains of thought, take the situation involving Jermain Taylor and Bernard Hopkins. Hopkins has won proven himself at light-heavyweight over quality competition. Taylor struggled a bit at middleweight after the Hopkins wins, being criticized for his performances against Cory Spinks and Kassim Ouma, and some thought he lost his draw with Winky Wright. However, prior to those five fights, Taylor beat Hopkins twice in a row. They were undoubtedly close fights, but Taylor got the nod in both matches. That begs the question, where do you rank Taylor and Hopkins in relation to each other.
In the theoretical school, Hopkins seems to get the nod because his later victories were considered to be better wins by some. In the practical school, Taylor was still undefeated with two wins over Hopkins. How can you justify saying that Hopkins is better than Taylor when he is 0-2 against him as recently as in the last two years prior to the debate?
I think there has to be a combination of the two theories of pound-for-pound rankings. I lean towards the practical school, with a common sense amount of theoretical thrown in. This means that at the point when Hopkins was coming off of his win against Antonio Tarver, and prior to Taylor’s loss to Kelly Pavlik, I’d put Jermain Taylor ahead of Bernard Hopkins, but could see Wright being ranked ahead of both with another quality win in his proper weight class. As long as Taylor was still undefeated and fighting quality opposition, I can’t justify putting someone he’s beaten twice ahead of him. Although Wright drew with Taylor and lost to Hopkins, he lost to Bernard two to three weight classes above where he normally fights, so I would de-value the head-to-head a little. But for this to happen, Wright would need at least one, probably two good wins to move ahead of either on my rankings.
To me, pound-for-pound would be defined as follows:
The measurement of fighters against each other with no regards to actual size. To measure fighters in a pound-for-pound situation would be to compare fighters as if they were all the exact same weight. All advantages that they have in their current weight class would remain (i.e. Paul Williams is taller than most welterweights, therefore he’d have a height advantage in a PFP world). The pound-for-pound rankings indicate how fighters would fare against each other if they were all the same size.
It is for the last reason that I couldn’t put Hopkins ahead of Taylor. Since I see pound-for-pound as a way to compare fighters of different weights, fighters of the same weight who’ve fought, should be judged first and foremost on their head-to-head.
I rank fighters on a pound-for-pound scale that weighs heavily towards recent win-loss record, quality of opposition, and overall performance. No matter who they’ve fought, I have a hard time keeping anyone who just lost near the top of the list. I believe if you’ve been beaten by someone who is not already at the top of the list, you lose your case (temporarily) to be among the top ten pound-for-pound in the world.
The beauty of the pound-for-pound list is that the entire thing is fantasy. Everyone can have their own interpretation of what it means. No one is right, no one is wrong. While divisional rankings play themselves out in the ring over and over again, most fighters on the pound-for-pound list will never get in the ring together at their optimal weight class. Debating a pound-for-pound list is like debating fighters from different eras. Everyone is going to have an opinion, and everyone will have their reasons. But more often than not, we’ll never definitively know who is right and who is wrong.
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Ed. Note: This article was originally published on lukekohler.com, and has been re-edited and republished by the same author for BoxingInformer.com.
Margarito and Trainer Suspended
January 28, 2009
Antonio Margarito and his chief corner man Javier Capetillo both had their licenses temporarily suspended by the California State Athletic Commission, pending the results of tests done to the material seized from his locker room prior to his fight with Shane Mosley Saturday.
The CSAC has said that it expects the results of tests and a verdict on those results promptly. Margarito and anyone else involved face the possibilities of fines, suspensions or revocation of licenses if the CSAC deems them appropriate. Margarito and Capetillo have both been asked to attend a hearing on Feb. 10.
According to ESPN.com, representatives from the camps of Kermit Cintron and Joshua Clottey have asked for the results to be forwarded to their camps. Margarito knocked Cintron out twice and beat Clottey by decision.
Past opponents of Margarito are watching the outcome of the commission investigation with interest. Attorney Pat English, who represents former Kermit Cintron promoter Main Events and Vinny Scolpino, the manager of Joshua Clottey, sent a letter to the commission on Tuesday to alert the panel of their interest.
“We have seen many allegations in this sport and will form no conclusions until the wraps are tested,” English wrote. “However, if they test positive for an illegal substance a logical question will be whether the illegal substance was used in other bouts, and we will ask the commissions of the other states where Margarito fought to make appropriate inquiries.”
English asked the commission to forward any test results related to the case.
The full text of CSAC Chairman Tim Noonan’s statement:
“The California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) has temporarily suspended the licenses of Antonio Margarito and his chief corner man, Javier Capetillo. The temporary suspension will remain in effect until CSAC has fully investigated the circumstances surrounding events at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on January 24, 2009. A foreign substance was found by California State Athletic Commission staff in the hand wraps of Antonio Margarito before his bout against Shane Mosley at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The substance found in Margarito’s hand wraps is currently being analyzed by the California Department of Justice. An investigation as to whether either licensee violated CSAC rules is ongoing. Mr. Margarito and Mr. Capetillo have been asked to appear at an initial hearing scheduled for February 10, 2009.”
“The licenses of Mr. Margarito and Mr. Capetillo were suspended pursuant to Business and Professions Code section 18842, which allows for the temporary suspension of a license when such an action is necessary to ‘protect the public welfare.’ CSAC Rule 323 limits the amount and type of gauze and tape allowed under a fighter’s boxing glove. Rule 390 allows CSAC to discipline a licensee when his or her actions are a “discredit to boxing” or violate the rules of CSAC.
“Commission staff will have no further comment until such time as the Commission makes a final determination of whether licensee actions in this case warrant fines, suspensions, or the revocation of licenses. The Commission has asked Mr. Margarito and Mr. Capetillo to appear at an initial hearing currently scheduled for February 10, 2009.”
No More Rumors: Hatton-Pacquiao a Done Deal
January 28, 2009
After all of the rumors and all of the speculation, not to mention all of the cancellations, all of the idiots, and all of the giving in, the mega-fight between Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao is finally official.
The junior-welterweight champion will take on what many call the pound-for-pound champion in what will surely be the hottest ticket of the summer in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
After verbally agreeing to make a fight happen with both participants receiving a 50 percent cut of the revenues, Pacquiao reneged on the deal and demanded 60 percent of the cut. After a few days, Hatton’s camp reluctantly offered Pacquiao 52 percent, to which Pacquiao said no to.
After Hatton’s people walked away from the table and called the fight off, Pacquiao called back and agreed to the 52 percent cut.
The negotiations filled the Internet with rumors and debates, and may have cost Pacquiao some of the fans he’s worked so hard to win over in the last few years. Many boxing fans blamed Pacquiao for the stalemate in negotiations, saying that he didn’t understand the business of the sport and was demanding too much.
In the end, most people will forget about the negotiations come May, and two warriors will square off in what is right now the most anticipated fight of 2009.
This fight will be take place in the fourth weight class for Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 KOs) in his last four fights. Last year he beat Juan Manuel Marquez at super-featherweight, David Diaz at lightweight and Oscar De La Hoya at welterweight.
Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs) twice fought at welterweight, narrowly beating Luis Collazo by decision and getting knocked out by Floyd Mayweather, Jr. He is unbeaten at junior-welterweight.
Tickets go on sale Friday through Ticketmaster with prices at $1,000, $750, $500, $350 and $150.
Margarito Hand Wrap Verdict Expected Promptly
January 28, 2009
The California State Athletic Commission is in the process of examining the material taken from Antonio Margarito’s hand wraps last weekend, and expects a verdict on the matter “promptly,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
Margarito was found to have some type of substance in his hand wraps prior to his fight with Shane Mosley, a substance that was apparently slipped into his wraps after they were wrapped legally.
Mosley’s trainer, Nazim Richardson, said he believed that the material was placed into the wraps deliberately, while Margarito’s people have claimed that it was simply some gauze that got wet.
The incident has cast doubt on some of Margarito’s recent accomplishments, including his exciting 11th round knockout of Miguel Cotto last year. A source from Cotto’s camp said that Margarito’s hand wrap incident is all anyone is talking about in Puerto Rico, and Cotto will wait for the verdict to comment further.
Regardless of the outcome, Margarito will have an uphill battle ahead of him, not only recovering from the beating he took from Mosley, but from the beating his image is taking throughout this process.
Marquez – Ponce De Leon Could Be Brewing
January 28, 2009
A super-bantamweight showdown may be in the works between Rafael Marquez and Daniel Ponce De Leon, according to BoxingScene.com.
Marquez has been out of action since his loss in the exciting third chapter in his trilogy with Israel Vazquez, and De Leon has been inactive since getting knocked out in just 2:25 of the first round against Juan Manuel Lopez.
According to BoxingScene.com, the fight would be a title eliminator for one of the belts in that division, and could take place as early as March 14. The date is speculative, since that is only based on the statement that Ponce De Leon was planning on returning to the ring on that date.
Also in the super-bantamweight ranks, Israel Vazquez is rumored to be planning on getting into the ring again in June. Vazquez is recovering from retina surgery on his right eye, and has not ruled out a fourth fight with Marquez in the future.
UPDATE: Rafael Marquez has plans to fight on March 14 or 21, but he will not be fighting Daniel Ponce De Leon, according to BoxingScene.com.
“Rafael is not going to fight with Ponce. There are other plans for Rafa, that are very different and going in other directions. In time, Marquez is going to fight for a championship, but we have nothing with Ponce,” [Nacho] Beristain told ESTO.
Inside the Margarito Hand Wrap Scandal
January 27, 2009
Before he even stepped in the ring to receive his beating from Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito already suffered the biggest defeat of his career that night.
Prior to the bout, HBO’s Jim Lampley announced to boxing fans that Antonio Margarito was found to have a hard, plaster like substance in his hand wraps, and was forced to re-wrap them three times. The material was taken by Mosley’s camp upon the arrival of Mosley’s lawyer, boxed up and removed as evidence to be further tested.
Nazim Richardson, Mosley’s trainer for this fight, said that this was no accident.
“It was deliberate, but on whose part? I don’t know. For all I know the corner could have been wrapping it that way for all of his fights, and Margarito could have been just as surprised as anybody that it was wrong.”
Two samples were removed from Margarito’s wraps and sent to Sacramento where the California State Athletic Commission will test them.
Margarito’s trainer, Francisco Espinoza, denied any wrongdoing on the part of the Margarito camp:
“We did not do anything illegal. What happened was that Capetillo prepared the gauzes that are used, two weeks before [the fight] and had them in a lump with cloth that apparently was humid and therefore hardened. There was no substance like that there [the plaster]. The commission asked us to bandage his hands again and we did.”
I’m no scientist, but that sounds pretty much physically impossible to me. Gauze is not boxing specific. In my personal history, wet gauze is wet gauze. It doesn’t turn hard. And if it did, why would you use that gauze on fight night.
According to Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole:
Dean Lohuis, the co-interim executive director of the California State Athletic Commission, said the piece was apparently slipped in underneath the legal tape that was already placed on Margarito’s hands by trainer Javier Capetillo.
In almost no scenario that I can think of does this end well for Margarito. No matter what the substance was, it wasn’t part of his legal hand wraps. One way or another, there was an illegal foreign object (to steal an old wrestling term) in Margarito’s hand wraps. The accusation alone could haunt him for the rest of his career.
To date, Margarito’s biggest win of his career came against Miguel Cotto, where he viciously beat and bloodied a man who had never been stopped before. Even though he got caught with the material in his tape before the Mosley fight, Margarito’s hand wraps will forever be remembered alongside a picture of a bloody Miguel Cotto.
If Margarito is found to have been sporting an illegal material in his hand wraps, and that material is deemed to be something that would harden into a plaster-like material when wet, then Margarito should never fight again. There’s a good chance that after the two wars he was just in, and the gameplan laid out by Mosley that he’ll never be the same again, but this, if true, is unforgivable. He’ll be lucky to escape this without prosecution if it is indeed true.
Not only Margarito, but anyone who was a party to, or witness of the alleged wrap-padding should be punished heavily. The person who actually put the material into Margarito’s glove after it had been legally wrapped should never again be allowed near a boxing match. That is about a half of a step away from actually trying to kill someone.
The New York Post went on to say that a doctor who was with the Mosley camp felt the material and said that it was what they use in the hospitals to make casts with. That’s scary.
Both samples were given to Mosley’s lawyer Judd Burstein, who said they felt like “plaster of Paris.” He then gave them to Lohuis with the assurance they would be secured it such a way they wouldn’t be tampered with. “It looked to me like the kind of thing that if the fight went on when (Margarito’s) hands got sweaty and it would harden so it would feel like a cast,” Burstein said.
Richardson said the blocks of hardened gauze had been packed and treated in such as way that it could make Margarito’s punches feel like bricks especially in later rounds. “As you fight the natural cushion in the gloves wear down,” Richardson said, “so by the later rounds you’re basically getting hit with that plaster in there. That kind of stuff is ridiculous.”
This is, or at least could turn out to be, an ugly situation. Margarito’s entire career will come into question, and every one of his win’s will be discredited by most people.
If this is all true, penalties should border on extreme. Boxing doesn’t need this publicity and Shane Mosley didn’t need to risk his life.
This is the kind of thing that, if confirmed, will for all intents and purposes, end a career. It’s only fair, considering it very well could have ended Mosley’s.
UPDATE: Margarito, trainer have licenses revoked.
Klitschko – Haye All But Done for June 20
January 27, 2009
With Vitali Klitschko set to defend his belt against Juan Carlos Gomez on March 21, David Haye appears to have come to terms for a fight with Wladimir Klitschko for June 20 at Stamford Bridge in the UK.
According to a Haye insider, as quoted in The Sun, “This is all in the process of being finalised. Of course there have been some problems along the way but this is boxing.”
If the fight gets signed as is being reported, it would be the first boxing match to take place at Stamford Bridge, which can hold 100,000 fans and is located in Chelsea. The fight would appear on HBO in the United States and Setanta in the UK.
The brothers Klitschko have long dreamed to be the combined undisputed heavyweight champions of the world, but are afraid that the business and promoters will keep them from achieving that goal.
They currently hold the IBF, WBO and WBC belts, but say that Nicolai Valuev’s WBA belt is unreachable because his promoters, Don King and German Wilfried Sauerland, are keeping a fight from happening.
“Around the world fans and experts want to see this fight,” Vitali Klitschko said. “But these promoters are doing everything to make sure that this fight doesn’t go ahead.”
Both Klitschkos have said they are willing to face the giant Russian, and they have said that they feel Valuev himself is willing to take the fight, but they don’t think that the promoters will allow the fight to happen.
Ring Life: Omar Sheika
January 26, 2009
HBO has put together a new and exciting video series that is only available online called “Ring Life.” It is like a miniature version of 24/7, featuring up-and-coming fighters, available at HBO.com.
The series is inspired by the real lives of eight hopeful boxers with dreams of becoming champions. Each of the promising contenders will have their stories told in three four-to-six minute segments which will play in weekly installments through April 2009.
Ring Life chronicles the lives of these aspirants as they define the spirit of boxing, balancing jobs, family life, training, expectations and the pursuit of their dreams.
Ring Life: Omar Sheika
Part One:
Part Two:
Shane Mosley Epitomizes “Styles Make Fights”
January 26, 2009
Boxing is a kooky game. If you’ve ever heard the phrase “styles make fights,” you need to look no further than Shane Mosley to understand just what that means.
Mosley is now part of his second triangle of “styles making the fight” with his dominant win over Antonio Margarito. When contrasting styles meet up, the outcomes can become unpredictable, and when you take three fighters and match them all against each other in three fights, the results of the others don’t much matter sometimes.
Mosley dominated Margarito to capture his WBA belt, a belt that he won from Miguel Cotto in 2008. Margarito broke Cotto down before knocking him out in the 11th round. Just eight months prior to that bout, Cotto won a close unanimous decision over Mosley.
So how can two fighters that fought such a close fight (Cotto and Mosley) achieve such drastically different results against the same opponent? Easy — styles make fights.
When Cotto fought Margarito, he was able to land many of the great head shots that Mosley did, but due to his lesser ability to box, as well as having slightly worse hand speed than Mosley, Cotto was never able to work Margarito’s body like Mosley did, nor was he able to avoid the return fire from Margarito as well as Mosley did.
When Mosley and Cotto faced each other, Mosley’s hand speed and boxing were negated by Cotto’s solid chin and unwillingness to stand and trade non-stop the way Margarito thought he could. With what Mosley and Margarito made available to him, Cotto was better suited against Mosley. With what Cotto and Margarito made available to him, Mosley was better suited against Margarito. And lastly, what Mosley and Cotto made available to him, Margarito was better off in the ring with Cotto. It’s amazing how it works, but that is what makes boxing the sweet science.
Prior to this triangle of styles, Mosley had some experience in this boxing oddity before. Back in 2002, Mosley fought Vernon Forrest when he was 38-0 with 35 knockouts. Forrest was 33-0 with 28 knockouts, and Forrest knocked Mosley down twice en route to a clear unanimous decision. They met up again that year and once again, Forrest took a decision. Forrest also beat Mosley in the Olympic trials as amateurs.
Immediately after the Mosley fights, Forrest dropped back to back matches with Ricardo Mayorga, once by dominant KO and another by majority decision. All that Forrest was able to do against a great fighter like Mosley was worthless when put in the ring with a completely different style in Mayorga.
Mayorga would go on to fight Mosley in 2008 and have (for most of the fight) none of the problems that Forrest did. Mosley eventually knocked Mayorga out just short of the final bell.
Once again, the styles made the fights. Forrest’s height was able to negate so much of Mosley’s skills that it changed how Mosley fought. Mayorga’s awkward brawling style was too much for Forrest to handle, but it was just right for a sweet scientist like Mosley to take advantage of.
Of course, you could say that the Mayorga that fought Mosley was a shadow of the one that fought Forrest, but at the time, many would have said the same thing about 2008 Mosley vs. 2002 Mosley. Regardless of their ages and subsequent skill levels, Mosley’s style would have always given Mayorga trouble, just as Forrest’s did to Mosley and Mayorga’s to Forrest.
So when you hear the phrase “styles make fights,” think of Shane Mosley. That is the phrase that can take any match that looks like a walkover on paper turn into a Fight of the Year in the ring. It’s the phrase that makes the boxing world go round, and the reason that debates are best settled in the ring, rather than on paper or with words.