Billy’s Boxing Blog

Behold! Up & Coming middleweight prospect Andy Lee (15-0) is clicking his Bic as we speak and will sign a formal contract with Top Rank which will pave the way to start grooming him for a showdown with Kelly Pavlik ( that promise apparently was the deal sealer).  Look for Lee to be featured on Pavlik cards from this point on because both Bob Arum & Emanuel Steward fell this kid is destined for stardom…we shall soon see.ESPN reported this “news breaker” hours after Billy’s Blog gave you the heads up, but unlike *Rotund Rafael who is spoon fed ( more like a shovel) 99.9% of all his news, we like John Houseman do our work the old fashioned way, “We earn it!” I’m telling you now, this blog will be the place to go for the inside dirt and gossip.

Take all that “Remember where you heard it first “ crap and throw it right out the window.

*ro·tund    
adjective 1. round in shape; rounded  2. plump; fat. 

Synonyms 2. obese, fleshy, corpulent, stout, portly.

Thursday February 28, 2008

This couldn’t have been a busier week in So Cal, what with Marquez/Vazquez open workouts, press conferences & today’s weigh-in it was all I could do to stay on top of things, and we still got the big fight on Saturday.

Now, throw in an unexpected press conference to announce De La Hoya vs. Forbes this past Tuesday and …well…suffice to say there were plenty of people closely involved with Vazquez vs. Marquez that were quietly ripping Golden Boy for choosing this week to launch the Oscar fight. The tension was thick but everyone was keeping a lid on it until Wednesday when Gary Shaw started the Vazquez/Marquez final press conference by blasting Golden Boy in front of the media by questioning their integrity and respect for the fighters.  Seconds after Shaw was done I spoke to the Golden Boy representative and asked for a comment, to which he said, “Airing your grievances in front of the public and media is also another problem with promoters these days!”     Touché

My sniffer picked up a couple tidbits that are worth keeping an eye on.

Seems that Duddy’s performance or lack there of has people pointing out another Irishman who Top Rank should take a harder look at, namely Andy Lee. Seems like a decent enough fit but there is no telling what Arum will do right now, but it’s no secret he loves his middleweights and with Pavlik already looking upwards…well don’t be surprised if Top Rank’s successor at 160 turns out to be Lee.

Speaking of Pavlik, the Taylor fight was a PPV dud and reported numbers of 225,000 may still be too high and the truth is Arum may have lost coin on this one. Conclusion, Pavlik is still an unknown and Taylor can’t sell tickets unless he is fighting a marquee name.

Apparently Sergio Mora signed on the dotted line and will be facing 154 pound Champ Vernon Forrest in May. Whoever advised Mora to take this fight should be fired effective immediately.  Forrest will expose every one of “The Snakes” amateur flaws, of which there are many, and he will utterly humiliate the former Contender Champ on Showtime.  Mora would have been better off taking the Jermain Taylor fight, but now he will suffer the consequences.  I can hardly wait.