Ya’ll miss me? I
knew you wouldn’t, but hey, those be the rules in the Fight
game. Boxing is an exciting “what have you done for me lately”
universe and unfortunately for me I’ve been far from lately.
Yet, as an observer of the sweet science I am never far
removed from neither the fights nor my sacred brethren...You!
The degenerate Boxing Junkies.
I was there in
Vegas sandwiched between Tijuana natives the night Margarito
walked down Miguel Cotto. I was so close that I felt strangely
sympathetic merely witnessing the “Tornado” inching his way
forward through a hail of rocks hurled by “PR’s finest.”
Somehow irregardless of my getting kicked out of Spanish in
high school my new friends and I could all understand that
Margarito was putting on one of the “Mas Macho” performances
in recent boxing history. Despite one man breaking the will of
another, I walked away enlightened by the very real
possibility that Mayweather will bide his time for a much more
“dainty appetizer.” On July 26th Floyd wouldn’t
have wanted any part of either man I had the privilege of
seeing in the ring that night. So I was not surprised when
“Money” put out a “feeler” for the petite whirlwind known as
Manny Pacquiao. Manny “popped vest” by years end by TKO over
De La Hoya, look for the two diminutives to tangle in late
2009 with Ray Robinson’s mythical pound for pound crown in the
balance. Sorry Ricky; without a genetic transplant procedure
(available Fall of 2020) Daddy Mayweather won't give you
enough “wrinkles” in 12 weeks to overcome an All Time great on
May 2nd.
On the plane ride
back from Margarito vs. Cotto I was informed that my second
grandchild was born…oops. My daughter is due sometime around
the Pacquaio vs. Hatton fight with #3- AKA “Sugar Ray.” Is it
me or do my children (Brooke and Brandon) need a damn boxing
calendar.
Like most of my
padwork offerings there will be rants, quips, soapbox
diatribes and straight observation from Boxing's least active
fight scribe. Hey, I’m like an event fighter I come out when
the chips are on the table and closing out an underrated '08
to open '09 is such an occasion. I won’t bore you with the
proverbial “Best of” list, I’ll leave that to those you trust.
Instead I’ll serve it to you off the top and beg ya’ll to
PLEEEAASE holla back at your boy and let me know if you think
I’m on point or losing my damn mind. Ya feel me?
Paul Williams
Pound for Pound Wildcard
Ok, hear me out.
Let me put some “blast” on this brotha for the 2008 he put
together despite being THE welterweight boogie man. Trust me;
nobody including Antonio Margarito is putting out “feelers”
for this guy despite the WBO welterweight strap around his
waist. Is Manny Pacquiao Fighter of the year? Yep, is he pound
for pound #1? Hell yes but if there was a more nuanced way of
looking at it (Boxing BCS) I’ve found it. First off, stop
calling Manny Pacquiao the new Henry Armstrong as if there
wasn’t another fighter who fought in 3 divisions last year.
Henry Armstrong campaigned in the divisions he ruled
briefly in '38 which meant he was available to all top
rated contenders. It was different back then; they had this
strange ritual of fighting the next deserving contender in
line.
Paul Williams
campaigned at welterweight, junior middleweight and
middleweight which meant he was answering the phone if
Margarito, Forrest/Mora or Pavlik gave him a call. He started
the year by dropping a decision to Carlos Quintana (Ring
Rating #6 at welter) on February 9th. By modern
standards the lanky lefty could have easily cried about
staying at welterweight too long waiting on the Cotto’s and
Margarito’s of the world. Not this cat; he remained in the gym
and stepped back in with Quintana by June and vaporized him in
2:15. By this time Cotto and Margarito were prepping for July
26th but “so-called” avoided fighters like Joshua Clottey
(Ring Rating #4) weren’t calling and neither was Shane Mosley
(Ring Rating #3). What did Williams do? He took a fight at
middleweight, and in hindsight, many believed he would slip up
due to no longer enjoying the freakish size advantage he had
at 147. Andy Kolle (September 25th bout) was no
world beater but he’d previously never hit the canvas by the
hands of a middleweight, until he met Paul Williams. Weighing
in 12 pounds heavier, and without the aid of HBO’s documentary
production team, the Punisher was finally sitting down on his
punches and pleaded to be included in Kelly Pavlik's “Fav
Five.”
No call, no text,
no friendship confirmation on Facebook came from Pavlik, no
sweat. In the meantime, Andre Berto (Ring Rating #9, rep
boxing and buy the new ESPN magazine) the talented young WBC
welterweight champ was called on his bluff by Williams for
even mentioning the possibility of unification. Know what
happened? Berto's promoter quickly put an end to that crazy
talk and even suggested Williams is no longer a welterweight.
Williams is no Jose Luis Castillo! How can Lou DiBella,
another man's promoter be an authority on what weight he can
fight at? The Ring Magazine also joined in, by not placing
the holder of a title belt- that no belt holder wants to face
out of their ratings!
After watching
Williams beat down a Middleweight, Margarito suddenly started
to fancy himself an “event fighter” and lost his taste for
revenge. I loved Margarito vs. Cotto but it didn’t do
blockbuster numbers so you’d think Antonio would want to pick
up another strap to sweeten the pot for the Cotto rematch. The
sweetener he chose was Sugar Shane and let me be the first to
say it smells like... beatdown. Did Paul Williams sulk? Did he
forget that he was a fighter waiting around for “champions” to
“want” to face him? He was back in the ring in nearly two
months time against cagey veteran Verno Phillips (Ring Rating
#3) for the interim WBO junior middleweight strap. At 154 lbs.
the Punisher did something you rarely see a boxer of his
dimension do -take away a tough, shorter fighter's will by
going to the body. Phillips is no pushover, despite his age
(39) he’s been in tough and he’s always been a spoiler for any
fighter that viewed him as a “stay busy” scrap. After 7 rounds
of Paul Williams he called it a day and started speaking of
Williams in past tense before he even left the ring!
Manny Pacquiao is
an “event fighter” (no shame there) and what he did this year
is astounding but he isn’t actively looking for Juan
Manuel Marquez. He also made it clear that he wants no part of
Antonio Margarito and not just because they share the same
promoter. What he did to De La Hoya was amazing but let's be
clear, Oscar left the remnants of his best in the ring in
rounds 1 through 6 against Mayweather. Pacquiao will be the
man at 140 by May of this year and if he beats Mayweather he
will have beaten Ring Magazine's welterweight champ (circa
2007) which will lock up FOY for 2009 as well. But don’t
forget the nuance of this comparison. Paul Williams, if he had
his way would have fought Margarito, Berto, Forrest, and or
Kelly Pavlik in 2008. Pound for Pound distinction should give
points for champions actively soliciting championship bouts
in or around the division they reside in. Put it this way, no
matter who wins Margarito/Cotto or a possible Mayweather/
Pacquiao clash both “victors” will avoid the “ceiling fan” by
saying nobody knows Paul Williams. Hopefully, if Williams can
push Winky Wright over the cliff Kelly Pavlik will give him a
shot to really be like Henry Armstrong.
This brings me to
my next Rant...
Will a Great
Boxing Tradition leave with the Golden Boy?
Love him or hate
him Oscar De La Hoya carried the torch as boxing's ambassador
better than any man not named Ali. The one thing that Oscar
understood like Ali and Robinson before him, was that his
illumination is the preface of future stars. We’ve theorized
constantly about network TV, sanctioning bodies and promoters
hindering the creating of names but fighters bore
responsibility as well. Great boxing stars introduce us to new
stars by their willingness to fight them. Later this month
Antonio Margarito is fighting Shane Mosley in California with
the hopes of advancing his lot as a player in the sport.
Mosley is a De La Hoya creation, without Oscar’s willingness
to tangle with Mosley (at peak power) he would have soon been
like Paul Williams. Oscar, like Ray Leonard before him,
ushered already great non-English speaking stars like Trinidad
and Duran into the casual lexicon. From as far back as I can
remember Oscar made the fights we wanted to see even after
he’d long lost his competitive advantages. Mosley isn’t the
ticket seller his partner is, but like his California comrade,
he too never shrunk away from what we want to see. When Ken
Norton was but a twinkle in Eddie Futch’s eye, Ali introduced
the nation to a damn good fighter. Ali, to many never beat
Norton (in three tries!) much like Shane will never beat Winky
Wright or Vernon Forrest. But once a great fighter takes that
leap of faith, the pool of “recognizable names” deepens, which
will ultimately impact everyone else’s wallet and generate the
theater (and rivalry) that provide the game sustenance.
Beloved vs.
Tolerated
That is why we
root for Pacquiao, because on some level we see a guy that
like Leonard (1979-1981) and Oscar (mid to late 90’s) is
passionate about defining a legacy. A guy who won’t fill big
fight documentaries with trips to acupuncture specialists, and
gripes. Oscar, in his heyday, represented a form of revenue
sharing, for boxing new names were enhanced simply by
association with him. But there are some (fighters) we as fans
can’t trust to “pay it forward,” because they attach too much
self esteem (thus fear) to the ZERO. The irony in Floyd
Mayweather's victory is that it never established him as an
entity that CAN create that next wave of excitement. It
was safe, self-contained, self-preserving and ultimately
limited. A Mayweather reign is already being previewed with
his fight-retire until there’s a suitable mark-unretire model.
Manny Pacquiao by comparison beat Oscar up, yanked the torch
in a resounding fashion and in turn preserved the larger
health of the fight game. I’m sure no fighter likes an ass
whipping but I’m sure somewhere in the back of Oscar's mind he
is content with the “who” of the matter. This way a long
tradition dating back to the days of Ray Robinson will be
upheld and we are guaranteed an active representative
of the sport.
Note to Oscar De
La Hoya: You’ve climbed Mount Everest and have nothing to be
ashamed of. But once you get to a certain age, all you can do
is create new and inventive ways to be humiliated. Allowing
Chavez’s son, a less than elite Jr. Middleweight to gain
revenge will be ironic and undignified. Let it go Oscar, we
hold you to a higher standard because as a promoter you can do
so much more.
~~Stay tuned for
Part 2 and my Boxing trends I’d like to see start and end for
2009. Also look for Mosley Margarito analysis.~~
