Heavy Hitting Half-Year Upcoming - Pacquiao, Marquez, Mayweather, Mosley, Hopkins, Klitschko and more!

Heavy Hitting Half-Year Upcoming - Pacquiao, Marquez, Mayweather, Mosley, Hopkins, Klitschko and more!

By JD Camacho, DoghouseBoxing.com (Aug 15, 2009)

In the next six months, the #1 fighter in every division from lightweight on up may find himself involved in a significant bout. Consider:

Juan Manuel Marquez, the recognized lightweight champion, faces the most difficult challenge of his career when he stares down come-backing Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in September.

Manny Pacquiao, the linear junior welterweight #1, confronts welterweight #2 (or #1, depending on where you sit) Miguel Cotto in November.

Shane Mosley, the best welterweight in the world to many, may match fists with undefeated welterweight titleholder Andre Berto early next year.

Boxing’s resident mutant and arguable 154-pound top dog Paul Williams challenges unified 160-pound champion Kelly Pavlik in October.

The 168-pounders? If Mikkel Kessler is your cup-of-tea, he takes on US Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward in November in the first round of SHOWTIME’s Super Six tournament. More of a Lucian Bute fan? He rematches top contender Librado Andrade in the same month.

Undefeated light heavyweight titleholder Chad Dawson tackles the crazy codger Glen Johnson again in November, too. If elder statesman Bernard Hopkins exits the division by then, Dawson – Johnson II may crown a recognized light heavyweight champion.

Speaking of Hopkins, Hard Nard could find himself face-to-face with the world’s #1 cruiserweight Tomasz Adamek sometime next January.

At heavyweight, the dual-headed Klitschko giant has to stave off the US’s top two heavyweight hopefuls. Think Vitali is tops? He fights unbeaten Mexican-American power-puncher Cristobal Arreola in September. Believe Wladimir the Younger has the best claim to the throne? Chances are good he’ll face once-beaten stylist and consensus Top 5 heavyweight Eddie Chambers by the end of the year.

That’s eight divisions, nearly a dozen fights, and seven or so countries represented. All the bouts will be available to American audiences on either Home Box Office or Showtime, with only two of the bouts restricted to pay-per-view audiences. At least one of the bouts promises to be a mainstream event. And all appear to be, with the exception of maybe Mayweather – Marquez, competitive and meaningful match-ups on paper.

What does this all mean? It means the promoters are making the fights. It means the networks are buying the fights. It means the fighters want the fights. And it means that we, the fans, should be very happy.

Who says boxing is dead?

CONCLUSIVE BLOWS

-I understand that the sport’s biggest potential bout, Mayweather – Pacquiao, was not made this year and many of the sport’s problems can attribute to that. But even Mixed Martial Arts, which uses a much healthier business model than boxing, recently failed to make MMA’s biggest fight. Why? For some of the same problems that plague boxing promoters…

-Roy Jones should beat Jeff Lacy. And Jones’ continuing career isn’t shameful, in my eyes, despite that Captain Hook outfit. Just irrelevant. Being irrelevant isn’t necessarily an evil thing…

-According to David Tyler, Freddie Roach believes it’ll be a decade or more before another Filipino as good as Pacquiao comes along. I’m not saying Nonito Donaire will be an all-time great at the end of the day, but I’m saying he has a chance. If he struggles with Rafael Concepcion on Saturday, it’s not the end of the world. Even Pacquiao had fits with lesser fighters when he was below featherweight…

-Mike Tyson’s recent interviews promoting his new DVD are a complete 180 from the old days. Gone are the nonsensical multi-syllabics, the vitriolic rambles, the lobe and leg lunches and the testicle threats. It’s like he doesn’t have that demonic persona to fall back on in the public anymore. To me, that makes him seem more innocent and childlike. Maybe that’s not better for entertainment, but I think it’s better for Mike…

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JD at: jdcamachorj@gmail.com