BraggingRightsCorner.com - 2006 Articles Recap... by BRC's Inner Circle of Writers

TOP RANK AND KELLY PAVLIK, YOUNG, TOUGH AND READY... by Mike Cassile
Top Rank may have the fight of the year, with Clottey and Margarito on December 2nd as well. As a boxing writer, and a purist, this fight is making me giddy. As most promoters have become predictable with age, Arum is showing all the NEW promoters that although names sell tickets, good matches win fans, and Top Rank has nurtured more young talent, than probably anyone in the history of the game. Let’s just hope that if Kelly Pavlik is all we think he is, he will be smart enough to stay with the guys that got him there, because this kid has a bright future.

'SUGAR' vs FERNANDO PPV? TRY PP-PHEW!... by George Elsasser
The date is February 25 - PPV over HBO - be sure to circle it in yellow - as in caution light. Saccharine Shane Mosley versus Fraudulent Fernando Vargas in a WBA junior middleweight eliminator... Only good news is the word eliminator - that with luck, could result in a majority draw verdict that maybe eliminates both from further consideration - but then, maybe not.

FERNANDO VARGAS: 'I AM COMPLETE' ... by Tom Dickey
The phrase heard repeatedly on Tuesday from Fernando Vargas at his Los Angeles press conference was that he is now 'complete.' Vargas reiterated over and over how he is now complete. The reason for this Vargas epiphany was his reconciliation with his mother.

AUGUSTUS SIGHTING - AND A CHANGE OF DANCE PARTNERS... by George Elsasser
This coming Friday over ESPN2 from Foxwoods Resort at Connecticut country, a treat is awaiting valid boxing fans -not the main event that has Paul Malignaggi vs. Donald Camarena- but rather, the very talented and entertaining pugilistic vagabond Emanuel Augustus, displaying moves in and out of the book...

¿SABÍA USTED QUE...? por Roberto Quesada
Si de BOXEO se trata, pienso que es poco lo que se ha escrito acerca de los zurdos. Para algunos, lo difícil de enfrentarse a un boxeador zurdo estriba en el ángulo diferente por donde tira los golpes, en relación al boxeador derecho.

OSCAR DE LA HOYA: WILL HE OR WON'T HE?... by Chris Ackerman
No, this has nothing to do with the Brokeback Mountain dating scene, but it does potentially involve two guys hitting on each other. In spite of months of reports that Oscar de la Hoya will be getting it on with Ricardo Mayorga this May, much skepticism still abounds as to the likelihood of this one going down.

MAYWEATHER-JUDAH IS A ZOMBIE!... by Chris Ackerman
Almost immediately after the results from New York were posted, a death certificate was issued for the Mayweather-Judah fight with the requisite autopsy that indicated cause of demise was impending mismatch.

JASON LITZAU: YOU ARE FROM WHERE?... by Kenny Perrault
So what does Main Events need more then anything? They need another Arturo Gatti, another tough fighter who can sell out the Boardwalk Hall Arena in New Jersey. Like Litzau, Gatti is not from New Jersey, but...

CAN I PUT ON YOUR BELT?... by Jeff Mayweather
I once had the pleasure of watching Aaron spar with former Cruiserweight Champion Kelvin "Koncrete" Davis and it was like taking candy from a baby. Yet I still had to pass on some words of caution to Aaron, letting him know he had to stay extremely focused with Davis because he punches extremely hard.

YOU'RE A BOXING FAN... by George Elsasser
Not every innovation bombed like the proverbial off Broadway show - enter the "catch weights" that fit comfortably within them original eight divisions - and with it the four major sanctioning bodies saw its championship belts grow from eight to seventeen in number.

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON THE HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION... by Jeff Mayweather
The Heavyweights are in a dreadful state but if anything it’s nice knowing that the playing field is even in a lot of ways, because it could make for some good fights. The skills, heart, talent, size, and overall ability are all there..

DAMAGED GOODS... by Stephen Jones
How often have you seen a natural super fight opportunity get damaged by a fighter's greed for a larger purse or by breakdowns in communication between both parties involved? Many great prospective match-ups in the past never even reached blueprint stage and remained purely dream fights, for future generations to speculate about.

IS ROY JONES THE NEW 'REAL DEAL?... by Chris Ackerman
There has been chatter coming from various corners of the boxing world suggesting Roy Jones Jr. may have a dance partner for this March. The much discussed, often maligned, rematch with Bernard Hopkins appears to have come up against too many impediments to reach fruition...

JANUARY 7th: THE DAY THAT SHOOK THE WELTERWEIGHT DIVISION... by Tom Dickey
On January 7th in New York City, Carlos Baldomir shocked the boxing world by upsetting welterweight champion Zab Judah. In turn, the welterweight division got shaken up like an earthquake.

IS NOT ABOUT BOXING... OR IS IT? ... by George Elsasser
Kareem clearly sees the separation of yesterday and today, with the impact that expansion has had on all the major games... And the today pro-Boxing game has ballooned in numbers from the eight division, one champion per weight class format, to a today field of 17 weight classes...

ARTURO GATTI: ALL HEART... by Aladdin Freeman
Once again Arturo Gatti put on display why we all love to watch him fight. Saturday in his 3rd fight in the Welterweight division Gatti was in against a tough fighter, Thomas Damgaard, who although tough lacked skills; which makes me wonder how he became the 5th ranked welterweight in the Ring Magazine.

PACMAN IS THE MAN!... by Elisa Harrison
Minutes ago, in an action packed encounter, Manny 'Pacman' Pacquiao starched and ironed Erik 'El Terrible' Morales 2:33 into the tenth round of a scheduled twelve rounder. It wasn't pretty, perhaps not even technically sound, but boy oh boy, was it exciting to watch!

- For More Coverage of Pacquiao-Morales II visit our Exclusive Directory-

¿DEBERÍAN LEVANTAR PESA LOS BOXEADORES?... por Roberto Quesada
Los entrenadores de boxeo a traves del mundo y en los Estados Unidos están en contra de incluir el entrenamiento de pesas para las boxeadores debido a que creen que produce incrementos en la masa muscular que van en contra del rendimiento. Sin embargo, es probable que el entrenamiento de pesas de alta intensidad y pocas repeticiones mejore el rendimiento de la mayoría de los boxeadores por medio del incremento en la fuerza con una mínima hipertrofia muscular..

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON IN THE SPORT OF BOXING?... by Elisa Harrison
Let’s recap Vitali's present situation; four postponements against Hasim Rahman: jogging injury, thigh injury, back injury, and now a knee injury. Add the fact that in between these suspicious injuries, he had informed the WBC he was fit to fight other contenders, just not Rahman. Is this behavior worthy of a world champion?

RUSSELL JR. AND BARNETT NAMED USA BOXING'S 2005 ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
Bantamweight Gary Russell, Jr. (Capitol Heights, Md.) and lightweight Ashley Barnett (Cleveland, Ohio) have been named USA Boxing’s 2005 Male and Female Athletes of the Year following their breakout rookie years.

WHO WILL REMEMBER AND WHO WILL WANT TO FORGET 2005... by Tom Dickey
With only a few days left in 2005, it's time to look back at the past year. 2005 was a great year for some fighters, and a year others would like to forget. For some fighters it was a year that had its ups and downs.

LOOK AT 2006: WHO WILL WIN, WHO WILL LOSE AND WHO WILL KEEP HIS WORLD TITLE STRAP... by Tom Dickey
With the new year quickly approaching it's time to look into the crystal ball and see what will become of many in the Boxing world in 2006. It's time to foresee what will happen for some of the sport's biggest stars.

THE TOP 3 UPSETS OF 2005... by Oleg Bershadsky
#1 Morales vs. Raheem: While the first two upsets listed above can certainly be questioned as whether they were truly big upsets considering the pedigree of the challengers, the Morales-Raheem match-up I believe was certainly the upset of the year.

FORMULA 2K6 REVEALED... by Chris Ackerman
One doesn’t need the ability to quote chapter and verse on Adam Smith or John Maynard Keynes to understand that economics is a huge part of boxing, and a huge problem because of that role. The sport’s most successful pay-per-view event of 2005 was Trinidad-Wright with 510,000 buys, yielding a total of 10 million yawns.

FORMULA 2K6 - A CURE FOR WHAT AILS BOXING...

Ever hear the phrase “Everyone complains about the weather but no one does anything about it?” I got to thinking about this and there is a parallel with boxing that is blatantly obvious even to the brain dead.

AND YOUR DECISION IS?... by Frank Costarelli Jr.
Acting is a profession where the line between fact and fiction is often blurred. An actor’s biography is often embellished; it may also be sprinkled with little white lies. For the most part no one really pays attention to these embellishments or little white lies; they are usually harmless and serve no purpose other than to promote one.

THE CANADIAN INVASION SET TO BEGIN!... by Ed Ludwig

What a year 2005 was for Canadian fight fans. For many years we have cheered on the likes of Arturo Gatti, Kirk Johnson and Dale Brown to name a few and we still do but with each passing year a new chapter begins. Boxing in Canada has not been this strong in a long time.

SPECIAL AWARDS - 2005 ... by George Elsasser
Fighter of the year: Choice here is Jeff Lacy - expect after whacking undefeated veteran and co-champion Joe Calzaghe, the one with the "left-hook" sobriquet will be seen as best at super middleweight. Condition, toughness, and explosive punching power settles it all.