Since No One Asked- May 30, 2011 By Gabriel Montoya, from Maxboxing.com (May 30, 2011) Special to Doghouse Boxing - Tweet
Good Monday, fight fans.
Hope your Memorial Day is a pleasant one. We have one email plus some mixed
thoughts on the past couple weeks of action, including takes on Javier Molina,Chris Arreola,Chad Dawson,Bernard Hopkins, Roy
Jones Jr. and more. Grab a cold one (or three), kick back, and enjoy.
Around the World…
hey gabe, hope all is well
what can i say about
Hopkins, he is incredible. Last
december i actually went to quebec city to see the first fight with pascal and
was certain that hopkins had won but understood with the knockdowns that a draw
was a possibility, but tonight, although it was close there was no doubt, i
dont know how else to describe it. I
have to admit that usually im completely bias, meaning that has much as i love
boxing and follow it from all around the world, when one of my fighters
(québec) fights, im all behind them, but i couldnt help but midway through the
fight to actually root for hopkins.
Regarding dawson, have you
ever saw such a gifted fighter be so passionless, its incredible when you think
of what he could be and to what he settled to be, such a shame.
Regarding the de gale
grooves fight, not only did i think that de gale would win, but i didnt even
taught that groves actually had a shot. i
still believe that de gale have a brighter future, lets hope that his loss
serve him well, but big props to groves for the victory
It was great to hear
from both Tim Bradley and Gary Shaw on the last LITR, one thing came to mind
when you were talking with shaw, while I agree that Shaw did a very good job in
getting a lot of money for a fighter that sells as few tickets has Bradley, at
the end of the day, Shaw is only doing one part of is job, unless i'm crazy,
but a promoters job is to : promote his fighter, increase the awareness of the
public in regard to that said fighter, and of course get him as much money as
you can. If all a promoter
has to do is get the best tv deal and than sit on his ass, then why should that
fighter need that ''promoter'', i'm sure that is manager would be able to do
the same job and then some (I know that that in the US a manager cannot be a
promoter, but you get my point). Hell, do you think that its normal that fight
in Nebraska (Demarco/Sanchez, a Shaw promotion, but if my memory serves me
right he never set foot there pryor to the fight or during the fight, why
bother, he was already paid) drew more than bradley/alexander.
On another note really
excited about Froch/Johnson. Froch-good
win over Pascal, outboxed by Taylor before ko im in the 12th, outboxed and
unable to be effective in a narrow win over Dirrell, lost to a diminished
Kessler, defeated a deafeated man in Abraham. I dont dislike Froch, but Johnson by
10 round ko.
anyway man, have a good week
simon, montréal
Simon, I’m sorry about no
radio show this week. Dave runs the show and he was unavailable. Having me be
solo was not an option so we decided to just skip it this week. Our bad.
Hopkins is amazing. I
thought the fight was filled with drama and not much excitement. It played out
how I felt it would. Hopkins would be just a tad more aggressive in order to
take Pascal back to the final moments of the first fight where he dominated.
Pascal just never seemed to get comfortable because of this. Instead, he acted
like what he is: the world’s most nervous fighter.
Still, what a show by
Hopkins. To be his age and perform at a high level like that is simply uncanny.
In this day and age, how a man at age 46, 18 years older than his opponent, is
able to outwork him, outsmart him, and increase his work rate through the fight
is simply amazing. And all that after spending years 15 pounds below this and
jumping past 168 pounds to do it? Amazing. It’s a good thing for all of us that
he and Floyd aren’t in the same weight class, otherwise we’d have Floyd
screaming about tests for him, too.
What can you say about Chad
Dawson? He has the tools, the talent but not the fire. He did his job last week
but looked very dispassionate doing it. Even when they announced him as the
winner, Dawson seemed uninterested. I don’t know the man so maybe that is just
him. Or maybe, in the back end of the fight, he decided, “You know what? I have
the winner of the main event on lock. Why risk?”
You have to think that on
some level, this is what you get when a fighter who is not a draw, not a
ratings monster, guaranteed a shot at the title byHBOshould
he win, never mind be exciting or impressive. Like with Al Haymon fighters, I
can’t knock the hustle of this Gary Shaw fighter but as a former boxing
consumer-now boxing writer, I take exception with HBO deciding for me what I
want to see.
Remember when a fight was
predicated on public demand? Yeah. Me, too. Those were the days.
Dawson did himself no favors
by not stepping on the gas.
Still, Dawson, whose team is
now negotiating to make the Hopkins fight in the fall, has the tools and possibly
the style to beat Hopkins. How he will be mentally is another story. I wonder
if his aloof approach might be effective with the king of mental warfare.
Should be interesting to see Hopkins try to get in that head and see Dawson not
react at all.
As for Groves-DeGale, I
thought the build-up was not as good as the fight. It looked undercooked. Both
men seemed to be afraid to risk their “0” or they just did not have what it
takes at the pro level to put on pro-type show. All in all, it was a lackluster
fight with little sustained action. I was happy to see Groves get a fair shake,
though. I imagine they will fight again in about ten fights when both have
titles or more run in the division. I imagine that will be a better fight then,
too.
I was happy to have Shaw and
Bradley come throughleave-it-in-the-ring.com.
Having a fair and balanced perspective on this show was important to us.
On one hand, I agree with
Shaw that the deal before Bradley is good, maybe the best one he will get but
then, I look at Bradley and see him as an athlete in a contract year, playing
out the rest of his bad rookie contract. He has done all the work he has been
given and excelled at it. Now he wants a better deal with a team that can take
him to the Super Bowl. I understand that.
If it was me, I’d take the
fight, beat Khan and then reap the benefits of an even richer value in the free
agent marketplace. But again, from Bradley’s perspective, HBO and Golden Boy
will be in Amir’s corner, not Bradley’s- who does not carry a huge punch, is
not a big draw, and is not exactly possessing of a very entertaining style.
Better fighters than him have been robbed on TV in this situation. Just a guess
but I think Bradley feels he will be better protected under the banner of a Top
Rank, as well as better promoted.
As I said on the show, I get
the sense that Shaw, Golden Boy and HBO’s Kery Davis andRoss Greenburgwant this fight, perhaps even need it
badly. For one, Kery and Ross need it to justify the Bradley-Devon Alexander
fight and all the bad deals surrounding it (the big guarantees to the winner
and loser and the Sergiy Dzinziruk deal that was reportedly tied to that fight)
in order to remain on board. Golden Boy might need them to keep their jobs to
enjoy the current relationship they have at HBO (remember, Davis and Greenburg
are the ones who gave GBP that output deal). HBO owes Bradley a fight, not
necessarily limited to the Khan fight. He can afford to pass.
It’ll be interesting to see
how this plays out.
Lastly, I can’t wait for
Johnson vs. Froch. I think it’s a can’t-miss action fight. Froch will try and
box safely. Johnson never allows that to happen. I’m predicting great chemistry
and a Froch win by the skin of his teeth to set up a Ward-Froch final.
“Last Dance for Jones Jr.”
Can someone please tell Roy
Jones Jr. to stop fighting? I get wanting to do a world tour to make some money
but does he have to do it against legit contenders? Why not fight easy fights,
let some people seem him do what his thing used to be and make some money in
the process? But why fight a puncher like Denis Lebedev? It just makes no sense
to act like he can get to a title shot, much less beat a contender in a new
division. I thought the fight was suicide and seeing Jones get iced like that,
now I know it.
I just hope everyone around
Jones comes to their senses. No one needs to see him get beat up like that
anymore. I certainly don’t.
“The one not named Junior”
As if this one was a big
mystery, Omar Chavez, son of Julio Cesar the Great, beat Genaro Trazancos in
Mexicoon Saturday. I get
that prospects have to feast on someone but, man, Trazancos is a ring death
waiting to happen. With no retirement benefits, no health plan or pension, a
fighter like Trazancos needs to fight. I get that. But when he is done and all
used up by his corner, who will care about him? The commissions need to start
caring or they will have his brain damage or ring death on their hands.
For the record, Trazancos
has now lost ten of his last 11, nine by stoppage, five of those in a row.
Here is the fight. You tell
me; should he be allowed to fight anymore?
I
thoughtChris Arreolalooked very good in stopping Kendrick
Releford this weekend. He is showing consistency, discipline in both
conditioning and his attack and is winning back the faith he lost with the
fans. Good for him. I’m hearing there is a possibility he may be added to theJuly 9Paul Williamscard. That makes that card even better,
should it happen. Fans may not think he is champion material but to me, he is
anaction fighterwho, matched with guys like Tomasz Adamek
again, Alexander Povetkin,David Hayeand
Robert Helenius, can make for excellent and exciting fights.
Against
Releford, TeamArreolawanted to work on pacing, distance and
breaking down an opponent to the body, then head. He accomplished all that
after some early headhunting. Hopefully, he gets another fight soon and keeps this
active winning streak going. We need all the action guys we can get.
Mo’s Last Stand…
It was sad to seeMaurice
Harrisget blown
out this past weekend. I was pulling for the guy. I thought it was a poor
choice to put on 20 pounds of muscle leading into this fight. He looked stiff,
slow on his feet and essentially like he had taken away his speed advantage by
doing so. Standing and trading with the heavier-punching Tony Thompson was not
a good idea and it backfired. I suppose that is the last time we will see him
in position to go at a title. I do have to congratulate Boxing360 for the work
they did with him. They maneuvered Harris well into this position; he did the
work in the ring and for a moment, it looked like a storybook ending was on the
horizon. Way it goes, I guess.
The Other Molina…
Javier
Molina got in some quality rounds on the same card. I saw him make his pro
debut and was immediately impressed by his boxing skills. He moves well, has
nice defense and anticipates punches coming in while taking advantage of
opponents’ mistakes. The only thing I wonder about is his power or lack of it.
How far can he go without it? We’ll see. In the meantime, I felt his fight with
Lopez was a solid effort with some little trials that will serve him well down
the line. Blowouts are crowd-pleasing. Going rounds are better, in terms of
development.
You can email Gabriel at maxgmontoya@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/gabriel_montoya and catch him on each Monday’s episode of “The Next Round” with Steve Kim or tune into hear him live on Thursdays at 5-8 PM PST when he co-hosts the BlogTalk radio show Leave-It-In-The-Ring.com. Gabriel is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. * Special Thanks
ToMaxBoxing.
