Super-Sized Doggy Bag

Super-Sized Doggy Bag

By Aaron Imholte (December 9, 2004)

I wasn’t sure how the return of the weekly Doggy Bag would go over with you, the reader, at first. Well, now I know that not only do you love the weekly edition, but I’m getting so many emails and questions on the forums that I may have to make a Monday and Friday bag to accommodate all the questions and to be up on the most current of events in this wonderful sport.

In this week’s edition we have reaction to the vicious and downright frightening KO delivered by Samuel Peter to Jeremy Williams, a little more MAB-Morales chatter, as well as Poppa’s ongoing love fest for Manny Pacquiao and more in this week’s “Doggy Bag".

Judging fights is getting crazy last weekend O'Connell's scored the 11th round between MAB and EM 10-10 who in there right mind gives a 10-10 round? Is it fair to a fighter to give a even round?

In all 3 of there fights there was justification for 10-10 but now in their final fight, this judge who had it in his power to give EM a 10-9 round like the other judges, prevented a draw. In this case I think a draw would have been good and fitting. When will judging get better when will all these old blind judges get out of boxing? How can younger guys like us become judges or refs? - IceColdMalik

I think there are instances in which a 10-10 round is warranted and sometimes necessary. Now in the case of the now infamous 11th round I do not feel that 10-10 was the score to give, but I can’t say I disagree with the final decision either. All in all the rightful winner was crowned super featherweight king but every great rivalry has its controversy and I have a feeling this is one that won’t die down until these guys have a fourth fight.

There are classes and tests people can take to become judges but contrary to how it seems not just anybody can be a boxing judge. This would be a great question to email to Harold Lettermen of HBO, he has a weekly Q&A thing on the ins and outs of professional boxing judging.

Aaron if Jeff Lacy has one more fight against a good battle test fighter, like his battle with Sheika and he really looks good against him. What do you think his chances of fighting and beating Bernard Hopkins at 41 years of age would be? - Joey

Wow, great question as usual. I was worried for ‘Left Hook’ until the 9th or 10th round of the Sheika fight. Omar did a great job in that first half and for a while I thought we were well on our way to an upset. Both men showed a lot of heart and conditioning though in gutting out twelve rounds of good boxing.

That being said I think Jeff Lacy should have another test against a decent but not great title contender before he takes on the big guns at 168. Someone like Markus Beyer would be perfect because he doesn’t hit too hard and plus it would be a unification bout as Beyer holds the WBC strap.

If he passes a test like Beyer I would love to see him and Joe Calzaghe get it on later in the year but as we know Calzaghe’s fight schedule is about as predictable as the winning lottery numbers. This would be a great slugfest, and I think Lacy will have enough ring experience under his belt to take on the recognized king of 168.

As for this Bernard Hopkins talk, I would not, if I were Golden Boy Promotions, push for a move up to 168 to fight a very strong fighter in Jeff Lacy. I’m not saying Lacy is or ever will be as great as the Executioner, but he may just be too big and strong for Hopkins to handle. Especially at the age of 41 when a fighter could get old at any minute right before your eyes. I like Lacy’s chances against Bernard but I am by no means saying that he is better than Bernard was.

Who do you think is the best featherweight right now between these names and why:

1-Pacman
2-Marco Barrera
3-Juan Marquez
4-Erik Morales

Of course, If you ask me (I know you will) the answer SHOULD be Manny Pacqauio. Pick your choice, but remember don’t disappoint me.

Guess who? - Poppa

At featherweight I will say that Manny is the best only because Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera moved up to Super Feather. As far as the overall Featherweights out there, how can you argue against Barrera? Ric Flair always said to be the man you have to beat the man and if that is the criteria you want to go by then MAB is the Featherweight king, and I’m sorry Poppa but if MAB has a rematch with Pac-man I think we will see a different Barrera and he will beat your boy.

What ever happened to John McCain’s deal on setting some kind of pension for fighters? - Joe Jabber

I believe McCain has been loosely working on all kinds of boxing reform. I know he wants to pardon Jack Johnson posthumously. After all of George W. Bush’s second term agenda (I will not get into my politics but I’m not a fan of ole Dubya!) policies are either carried out or turned away then McCain can get back to his work with Teddy Atlas and reforming boxing and possibly getting the Tyson’s and Holyfield’s of the world an incentive to retire.

How did you score the Manny Pac vs. J. Marquez fight?

I thought Marquez beat Manny by one point. I gave Pac the first round, of course 10-6 and then the 2nd, 10th and 12th round. I still had Marquez up by a point.

How do you see there rematch playing out?

Do you think Manny is capable of making the necessary adjustments to beat a smart counter puncher like Marquez or will he still rely on his straight left?

Who should the winner face? Marco Antonio Barrera or Erik Morales and why? - AbrahamG

I had Marquez dominating the last half of that fight and maybe a little bit before that. A 10-6 round was way too much for JMM to fight back from though and all Manny had to do was bank a couple of rounds to gain a draw and I thought he did more than that and I gave him a 113-112 nod.

Judging by Juan Manuel’s last performance I think Manny will have an easier go of it this time around. I mean, yeah, he beat Orlando Salido, but who is Orlando Salido? He couldn’t put him away and he didn’t absolutely destroy Salido like he should have over twelve rounds. If that Marquez comes to the ring against an in shape and fight ready Manny Pacquaio, I think we’ll see a more lopsided UD than the last fight.

Roach will have Manny ready and I think a lot of the training for that fight should rely on watching tapes of the last fight and showing Manny, instead of telling him, what adjustments he needs to make.

Marco Antonio Barrera. He is the man at Super Featherweight and I think it has the potential to be a HUGE moneymaker. Possibly the biggest payday at featherweight of all time! Morales can fight a tune up and then take on the winner of the Pac-man-Barrera rematch. Either way you can’t lose because you’ll either have the long anticipated Manny-Morales showdown or Barrera-Morales 4. Nothing wrong with a deep Super Featherweight division.

I would like to get your take on the heavyweight division. Who do you see as the next best thing if there are any out there really.

Did Samuel Peter's performance against Jeremy Williams prove he would be able to compete in the top ten of this division?

Before the Tyson fight Danny Williams was really just another fighter. Does Danny's shocking win over Tyson qualify himself to be getting a shot at Vitali's belt? - Crazzed Trucker

You know I love Samuel Peter, almost too much, it’s going to break my heart if I’m wrong on this guy in thinking he is the next decent Heavyweight champion.

Other than Sammy I would like to see Nicolay Valuev fight someone decent like McCline or Golota. Yeah the guy is technically weak in boxing terms but you can’t teach tall just like you can’t teach it in the NBA. But Guinn is through, Mesi should not fight again due to the brain injury, and Calvin Brock has a long way to go before he becomes something resembling a champion. Peter is your closest thing to hope for followed by Valuev, Beck, and Brock.

Danny’s win over Tyson proved nothing except that Tyson is shot and the only reason he is fighting is for dead presidents. He is a four round big punch specialist who is breaking down physically and has always been a mental enigma to say the least. I wish him all the best but the Tyson-heads need to face it, the glory days have been gone for over a decade and he will become boxing’s ultimate ‘what might have been’.

What's the status on Joe Calzaghe? Who's next and when? Why does he keep blowing us off in the US?

DAVID TUA -- when the hell is he gonna stop training at Burger King and get his ass in the gym. RUIZ needs to be de-huggified. - Strangerwithcandy

There is no set date or opponent for Calzaghe at this point. He has had some run ins outside the ring and it has been a distraction. As for why he isn’t fighting in the US, well that one is a no brainer, look no farther than his manager Frank Warren. Warren is the guy responsible for slowing and bogging down the careers of Ricky Hatton and Calzaghe for some time now. Both of these guys should come across the pond for a big fight against big name as soon as possible. If that means ditching Warren, so be it. He may be a guy who makes you a name in boxing, but it’s the Don Kings of the world that bring you the big fights. (I.E. Lamon Brewster and Kali Meehan.)

I just saw a recent picture of David Tua and wow does it look bleak for this guy to make a return any time soon. He looks well over three hundred pounds and in no shape to even get in the gym to train! If your looking to dethrone John Ruiz you might want to look elsewhere because the Quiet Man could be well on his way to retirement before Tua is ready to return. While it is not impossible for David to comeback (he is 32 which is young among this crop of heavies) I would not hold my breath for him to come back and miraculously save the heavyweights.

Yo, Aaron! I was just thinking: With Sharmba Mitchell potentially moving up to 147 and Oscar De La Hoya potentially moving down to the same, do you think these two vets could provide a good match-up, both coming back from KO losses? Also, how do you see either man faring against Kermit Cintron or the real champ, Cory Spinks? - Coyote Duran

Mitchell is a slick ring technician who moves well and De La Hoya has good power at 147. If Oscar can employ some good lateral movement to backup that power, he can walk away with a solid unanimous decision or even a late TKO. It would be a great fight though I agree.

Mitchell would lose to both Cintron and Spinks. It’s hard to come back from a tough KO like he suffered in the Tszyu fight. He is 34 years old and the ‘get back’ road may be a lot tougher for him as he gets older. It would require staying busy like he has and fighting a lot which can take a toll on your body especially against heavier fighters at 147.

Oscar on the other hand would fare well against Cintron and even better against Spinks. Spinks cannot keep Oscar at bay, he just doesn’t have the power to back him up. Cintron can and he just may be able to take a few rounds and even knock Oscar down. Could he steal enough to beat De La Hoya? At this point I would say no, but give it a year or two and it is a definite possibility.

Sup bro,
I read your article where you say you think mab can beat pacman if he is focused.I hope that is true because the first fight was brutal. Mab wanted to call it quits if you remember. But Pacman will be fighting JMM in feb right? I watch that fight over and over and cant agree with HBO & Harold Ledderman. He gives pacman most of the last rounds. I don’t! Not that I’m being biased Because my grand parents are from Mexico but I just don’t see Pacman winning that first fight as all the pacman nut huggers do. Also I was wondering what you think about pacman vs3kbattery and if you could tell me if it will be televised..Also going back to the jmm vs. pacman fight, There were many times jmm hit manny clean and lampley would not call them..but manny touches juan and he cheers mad style.
peace. - Hugo Velasco

I think Manny could be in trouble with Fashan 3k Battery because Roach was saying that he’s not in good shape, although we are now hearing reports to the contrary. That could be trouble if 3k Battery comes to fight.

I see Manny knocking out JMM in the rematch especially how flat JMM looked in his last fight. A rematch with Barrera however might prove Manny's first recent defeat. Barrera can bang at 130 and we don’t know if Manny can yet. Barrera's uppercut could back Manny up and eventually stop him or win a tight decision setting up another great trilogy possibly.

Hopkins V Wright:
I know over and over you receive questions as to the outcome of this fight. but my question is will this interest the common fan? on paper we have a boring fight. Wright has never been very action packed. and we know that Bernard Hopkins is the Tim Duncan of boxing "the big fundamental". to me this is a great chess match and a great BOXING match, not a great fight. how would you sell something like this to the public? - Robert N. Smith

I think Hopkins is riding a big wave of exposure and marketability right now and it should carry over into PPV buys. The fight itself will be a chess match but moderate boxing fans might not know that until after they see it. They’ll see the name Hopkins versus some guy who beat Shane Mosley twice who beat Oscar twice. They will come and they will buy this fight but they may be disappointed if they are hoping for Barrera-Morales.

Again we had some great questions and a great diversity of them. Keep them coming guys and we may just have to have a daily mailbag to accommodate all of your questions. Keep your eyes peeled on the message board for the Doggy Bag thread and remember you can also email your questions too me as well.

Make the Next Doggy Bag: E-mail Aaron at: Twinsnumber16@yahoo.com

Questions and comment to
Aaron at: Twinsnumber16@yahoo.com

Have your say at our ALL NEW Message Board

BACK TO DogHouseBoxing.com