Wednesday, April 4, 2012

A Bit of Everything

Bob Arum makes some noise.  The bad kind!  He is already spouting off that Manny vs. Floyd will not take place this year, but he's hopefully for next year.  Why?  Bob Arum should jut come out and say he already lined up Manny's next opponent should he win the Bradley fight.  If Marquez and Rios both win in April they will fight in July with the prize being a shot at Manny in the fall.  Guess what?  All fighters have ties to Top Rank now.  Its all about keeping the money in house and not having to split it with anyone else.  If Manny was smart he should have realized a long time ago that he is bigger than the promotional company that works for him.  I think Manny fails to realize that he doesn't work for Arum and its the opposite.  When Floyd realized this, he wised up and left Arum and Top Rank in the dust.

Did anyone else think that the Cotto/Mayweather Faceoff with Max Kellerman was a bit weird last night?  Mayweather is a master at mind games, but in his career he has never seemed to disrespect Cotto, at times going out of his way to praise him.  I know you want to build your opponent up, but it’s just weird, especially coming from Mayweather.  Maybe it’s the mutual dislike for Antonio Margarito or Manny Pacquaio that was discussed?  I can not put a handle on it, but would expect things to heat up slowly on 24/7.

There is some big time news regarding a potential bout between future Hall of Fame fighter Juan Manuel Marquez and fast rising star Brandon Rios.  The fight would take place July 14th at Cowboys Stadium.  First each fighter must survive their split site matches come April 14th in which Rios will fight Richard Abril and Marquez against Sergey Fedchenko.  As a fight fan this is a huge match if it comes off in July.  A gritty veteran that deserves constant praise verse a prime Rios who has ko’d most of the guys in front of him.  This fight has the potential to be fight of the year worthy if they bring their best, which should be expected.  I am excited just writing about this fight.

We all have heard how hard it may be to negotiate with guys like Mayweather and Pacquaio, but we really need to start adding Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. to the list.  No fight ever seems to get made easy with the guy, especially the illusive Sergio Martinez fight.  There is slight hope that it can happen this fall.  JCC Jr. has decided to fight Andy Lee June 16th on HBO.  Honestly, this is not a bad fight.  Lee is a solid fighter, clearly not on a Sergio Martinez level, but a notch below.  Lee is in the prime of his career and can matchup physically with the huge size JCC Jr. brings to the middleweight division.  I am looking forward to the winner of this challenging division kingpin Martinez this fall.

I previously mention Robert Garcia as being the go to trainer now.  Well add Marcos Maidana to his stable.  The brawler from Argentina who is coming off an unimpressive loss to Devon Alexander, seven pounds north of where he holds a junior welterweight title is looking to bounce back in impressive fashion.  Maidana feels Garcia is the man to help him.  I know some people will be bummed that this may prevent a future clash with Brandon Rios, but that was probably going to be hard because of the ongoing Golden Boy vs. Top Rank feud. 

Rant:  Juan Manuel Lopez deserved the bad press and mandated meeting with the Puerto Rican boxing commission.  Lopez made an off the wall comment about possible betting issues with referee Robert Ramirez Sr. after his loss to Orlando Salido on March 10th in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  Lopez was stopped in the 10th round after being knocked down by Salido.  Not longer than 15 minutes after the fight Lopez was interviewed and he made those distasteful comments.  Lopez has since apologized several times and appeared in front of the P.R. Boxing Commission, admitting there was no substance behind his allegations and he is remorseful in his apology.  Still, the P.R. Boxing Commission banned him for a year.  Cheaters get less time than that in a sport where lives are literally on the line.  Talk about a punishment that does not fight the crime.  The kicker is that Lopez is under a 6-month medical suspension and the ban would not start until after that.  This is absolutely ridiculous in my eyes.  Lopez made a mistake after being concussed not long before.

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