Billy’s Boxing Blog

 If you have the patience to sit through one of Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s self serving diatribes you will undoubtedly hear him tell you that when it comes to ticket sales and PPV buys he is the “Cash Cow” in boxing.
 
 So far ticket sales for his upcoming fight with Juan Manuel Marquez tell us otherwise.
 
 Tickets for “Number One/Numero Uno” went on sale this past Friday morning and as I sit to write this article late Monday night, a quick check of Ticketmaster reveals that there are plenty of tickets left for the Las Vegas battle….PLENTY!
 
 Oh sure all the 150 dollar tickets are gone, and one could easily argue that Marquez fans are the ones who gobbled up those low priced seats. But in every other price range there a tickets-o-plenty. In fact if someone wanted to snag 10 ringside seats up (most allowed in one transaction) right now…they could. The only way all the ringside and other expensive seats sell is if Floyd buys them himself, goes to his favorite night club and throws them up in the air the way he does fake hundred dollar bills. But unlike the counterfeit hundreds (allegedly), most of these tickets will lie on the floor for the janitor to sweep up.
 
 When Super Fights and/or Mega Fights tickets go on sale we were getting used to the promoter announcing in the first 2 hours that tickets have been “SOLD OUT” but arrangements have been made for closed circuit venues to open up on the night of the fight so everyone will be able to witness the battle.
 
 No such announcement was made last Friday and it’s highly doubtful we will be receiving one anytime soon or at all for that matter.
 
 In fact, the only times in recent history that announcement was made either the names De La Hoya, Hatton or Pacquiao were attached. Not coincidentally, the only time Floyd has been involved in a box office bonanza is when he had a dance partner like Oscar and Ricky. Floyd may be a whizz on Dancing With the Stars, but he’s got two left feet when it comes to waltzing with the Benjamins.
 
 The fact is Floyd Mayweather Jr. was not a pay-per-view star before his 2007 fights with Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton, the numbers speak for themselves:
 
 Mayweather, already a two-division Champ when he took on Arturo Gatti for a super lightweight title in his first pay-per-view fight in June 2005 did 365,000 buys, and you could plausibly argue that it was the vastly more popular Gatti who pulled in the majority of the buyers.
 
 Floyd’s fight with Zab Judah for a 147 pound strap in April 2006 sold 375,000 PPV buys even though Floyd’s promoter at that time, Bob Arum, predicted it would do more than the 1.4 million buys De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad Jr. did in 1999.
 
 Mayweather’s “fight” against flavor of the moment Carlos Baldomir in November 2006 did a paltry 300,000 buys.
 
 The numbers don’t lie and the truth will be revealed when anemic PPV numbers come in after the fight.
 
 In this “mega-fight” with Juan Manuel Marquez – which HBO somehow decided was worthy of the 24/7 treatment – Floyd won’t get any help from his dance partner, because Marquez, for all his accomplishments, has never been a box office PPV star. Even when he fought Manny Pacquiao in a very highly anticipated rematch, HBO reported 400,000 buys, which was good numbers for the little guys back then, but this a new day and age. The majority of the seats at the house for the Pacquiao-Marquez fight were filled by Filipinos, not Mexicans. And it’s fair to assume Pacquiao fans generated the lion’s share of the PPV purchases as well.
 
 In their efforts to generate sales for this fight, the press tour was taken to England in a desperate venture to try and bolster PPV buys. But the Brit tabloid “The Sun” laid to rest any hopes this promotion was going to be a hit in England. The Sun said bluntly, “Floyd Mayweather was in London with Juan Manuel Marquez to promote his fight on July 18. It’s a fight Mayweather is expected to win. He will be too big for Marquez. The reason they are in Britain? The promoters believe it will generate big pay-per-view numbers here! At 4.30am in the morning! Dream on.”
 
 Given the state of the economy and the slow start to ticket sales it is very realistic to believe this fight may do only 400,000 in PPV buys and if it breaks the 500,000 mark everyone involved should consider themselves lucky at best.
 
 Everyone but HBO, the promoters and the fighters that is.
 
 If the PPV numbers come in far lower than expected, HBO will certainly be second-guessing its decision to pour time and considerable money into another one of their 24/7 series. Time-Warner, which owns HBO, might also get on the horn to the network president Ross Greenburg and ask him how he so misjudged the potential of this fight.
 
 Fact is, any boxing industry analyst could have told HBO that given Marquez’s anonymity beyond the Mexican community, and the over-inflated value Mayweather has given himself as a PPV draw, going for a 24/7 on what would seem to be a tune-up – albeit a difficult one – for “Money May” was a very questionable proposition. If HBO had said no to Floyd on the 24/7, what would he have done, gone to Showtime? This was probably seen as an investment by HBO in a huge Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown, but given Floyd’s aversion to be being hit, that fight may never take place.
 
 The biggest losers on this fight will be the promoters.
 
 It’s very conceivable that Golden Boy and the respective Mayweather and Marquez promotional companies, who like all promoters had to pay the purses on a PPV fight – are going to lose their proverbial butts on this one. The fighters also lose, too, because their contracts include a percentage of the PPV revenue.
 
 Sorry, but there is no way in hell anybody who speaks only Spanish gives a darn about Mayweather, and in my humble opinion we’ve seen way too much 24/7 of all the Mayweather’s, especially Floyd Jr.
 
 But Mayweather Jr. probably demanded it, and HBO invested the money just to make him happy, not to mention it’s a good way to suck up to “Pretty Boy” just in case he does grow a set of cajones and fights Pacquiao somewhere down the line. (I’ve already predicted he won’t).
 
 Bottom line here, Mayweather is throwing around HBO money like the dollar bills he tosses around at strip clubs and he is getting away with it.
 
 Nevermind what you are reading elsewhere that Mayweather is boxing’s true reality star and that we can hardly wait for HBO’s 24/7 to begin. That’s just more sucking up to HBO and Mayweather by the Fat Man.
 
 The numbers speak for themselves and right now the dismal ticket sales are pointing to Mayweather vs. Marquez being one of the biggest PPV busts of all time.

So it was a big weekend for 2 hopeful contenders and if we go by the Litmus test standards we are looking for a single indicator to prompt a decision.

So with that in mind allow me to react to both Kevin Johnson & Andre Ward fights with just a single thought that stands out in my mind as I ponder their performances.

This ones gonna be short boxing fans!

Kevin Johnson: The indicator for me here is that Johnson is still fighting guys who really don’t have world class experience and “Kingpin” still needs to step up to the plate and fight someone, at least in the top 15, before we can bestow any Great American Hope title in him.

Andre Ward: To me Ward gave all the indications that he is ready for the big time after he disposed of the always intimidating and possibly still dangerous Edison Miranda. Andre showed he is more than a one dimensional fighter and was willing to dig into the trenches and take the battle head on. The only problem I see for Ward is he happens to be in a very talent rich division at 168 pounds and no matter which way he chooses to go that road will not be easy. Personally I’d like to see Ward take on Dirrell in a battle of Andre’s. 

I understand why Mayweather & Marquez are taking their show to Los Angeles and New York, but for the life of me I don’t understand why anyone feels the need to take these guys to England. For all his achievements Marquez is not very well known in the U.K. and as far as Floyd goes…well they despise the guy. I will be very interested to see the outcome of that little venture.

I want to apologize to Kevin Johnson for accusing him of being FAT. When I saw he was coming into his fight with Devin Vargas at a career high 246 pounds I  jumped on him for being out of shape and I was wrong. Johnson looked to be in very good shape on Friday night and he should not be lumped in with the other obese heavyweight title contenders….My Bad.

And although he disposed of Vargas in 6 rounds the jury is still out on the flamboyant hopeful. Vargas was untested coming into the fight and he is by no means the gatekeeper in the heavyweight mix. Johnson must step up in his next fight and take on a legitimate ranked contender before we can start calling him the odds on favorite to become America’s next Heavyweight champ.

As soon as we got the weigh in results sent from Atlantic City I couldn’t hold my thoughts in regard to Kevin “Rolling Pin” Johnson any longer. After a plethora of interviews in which the smooth talker assured us he is going to be the cream of the heavyweight crop, he steps on the scale for tonight’s fight and hits his all time high of 246 pounds.

Nice work Kevin. You now have joined your peers by getting fatter with each and every fight. Eddie Chambers, Chris Arreola, Sam Peter and more, you are in quite the elite crowd. Meanwhile the lightly regarded Devin Vargas comes in 7 pounds lighter than his last performance at a crisp and ready 225 pounds and much to the dismay of Krispy Kreme & Winchell’s I hope Vargas embarrasses you on national TV tonight.

If that doesn’t embarrass you try this one on for size.

Sources very close to you Kevin informed me that when Monte Barrett pulled out of the fight due to injury you were offered up Fres Oquendo, who also had an opponent fall out, but you turned that fight down in World record time and since then you have been trying to convince us that Vargas is a worthy challenge even though he has never really hit the big time.

It’s a sad state of affairs when so called World class athletes think they are above getting into top shape. It’s a slap in the face to the fans who deserve a lot better than that and it is a kick in the pants to every other fighter who puts in the work and comes into the ring in tip top shape for every fight.

There’s a name for those guys Kevin…..we call them Champions. Klitschko, Chageav and the other Klitschko.

There’s also a name for almost everyone else who claims they deserve a shot at the heavyweight belt too.

We call them Fatso.

P.S. Either Barrett or Oquendo would have beat you!

Well first let me apologize to my loyal reader, (singular), for not posting my regular Monday morning blog. It was a long weekend in Vegas and by the time I got in and dealt with my fight photos I didn’t have the energy to put any thoughts together. Not that I had much to say as it was.

The Tarver vs. Dawson rematch was not given much hope and many of the usual cast of media members were nowhere to be seen. Personally I thought it was not a bad fight at all and was much better than the first fight. Throw in a pretty entertaining under card and I give Gary Shaw kudos for putting together a real nice card.

The Hard Rock’s new Theatre is a pretty sharp venue for fights and I am looking forward to many more nights in that showroom.

As far as my latest prospect watch allow me to be the first to say that cruiserweight Ismayl Sillakh who is 8-0 with 7 KO’s looks to be the real deal. His destruction of David Whittom was pretty impressive given the fact that in his last fight Whittom gave Adrian Diaconu all he could handle.
Ismayl Sillakh, future noisemaker at Cruiserweight.
Remember where you  hea………did you really think I was gonna go there?

Can someone please explain to me why our post fight video of Floyd Mayweather Sr. we put up on YouTube after Manny dusted off Hatton has become the #17 – Most Discussed (This Week) in Sports

And last but not least…

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”

My suggestion is to ask either Sergio Mora or Kelly Pavlik, they have first hand information on that topic.

Photo: Bret “The Threat” Newton

There were a few scary moments after round 2 came to it’s fateful end and the entire house was focused on a motionless Ricky Hatton who lay prone on the canvas with little or no movement that could be detected.Moments earlier Manny Pacquiao put a crisp left hand on Hatton’s jaw and as if he was shot by a sniper, Hatton fell on his back and in that instant Manny became the IBO & Ring 140 Pound champ, but more importantly he strapped that ever so coveted Pound4Pound belt securely around his waist.

Over the past 24 hours I have heard more theories and ideas about what actually happened but when all is said and done I will stick with what I said before the fight.Manny’s superior hand speed combined with Hatton probably peaking too early and a training team that wasn’t on the same page come fight night was a volatile combination and it spelled doom for Hatton long before the opening bell rang. I was of the theory that Pacquiao was going to befuddle Hatton with his speed and by rounds 7 or 8 Hatton was going to revert back to his old head first diving in style that would set up his inevitable KO soon thereafter.

As it turned out Ricky reverted to his old style 1 second in to round one and before he knew what hit him, and apparently he didn’t, Hatton was kissing the deck not once but twice…he was no match for Pacquiao and this fight was as good as over when Hatton returned to his corner.

Coming out in round two Manny continued his superiority over Hatton and although there were glimmers of hope in the Hatton fans cheers it all went silent went Pacman landed that left hand and Hatton went down for the long long count.

It was that quick…2:59 of round 2.

After the war and post fight press conference Bret Newton and I made our way to our favorite hot spot and lo and behold who was there but Hatton’s countryman and our Las Vegas Writer Oliver Smith.

Smith had the night off and although he was not writing for us he was ringside for the show and he and his buddy’s from England were more upset with Hatton than they were disappointed with his loss.

“What the hell was he doing.” asked Smith?

Oliver went on and added, “That was a disgusting performance, he was never in this fight at all. What the heck happened to all this new Hatton we were supposed to see?”

The bloke was right…whatever he was supposed to learn from Floyd Mayweather Sr. was either discarded or forgotten about.

It’s up to speculation how that happened and you have to judge that one for yourselves. I suggest you check out both videos we posted from the post fight press conference. It’s pretty clear to me that when pressed about the rift on the podium Team Hatton was stumbling all over the microphone to put their respective spin on that matter. Likewise Floyd Mayweather Sr. was trying to deflect those questions but when you listen to what he had to say in it’s entirety it’s pretty clear things aren’t all Hunky Dory between he and Ricky.

There is no telling were the fallen Hatton will go from here but it’s pretty clear right now that it’s Manny’s World and we all live in it.  I can happily say that I am totally fine with that, just as every other boxing fan on either side of the Planet should be.

How often do we get a Champ who is not a pompous arrogant twit who thinks the World revolves his useless carcass and is so delusional that he believes that a World Title is somehow his destiny and we all better learn to accept it and then bow to his ass holiness?

It’s not often but we have one now….I for one could not be happier.

If the rumors spreading like wildfire are true, then the press conference set up for today in Las Vegas to announce a fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and Floyd (Owes the tax man a ton of Money) Mayweather proves what many have been saying for a long long time…Mayweather does not have the backbone to fight a true Welterweight Champion.

Since his so called retirement Mayweather has turned a deaf ear to the division’s elite, Paul Williams, Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto etc. But when a guy who has never fought north of 135 calls him out, Floyd Jr. jumped on that quicker than the fans who stage dive for some of the counterfeit jack (allegedly) that Floyd uses to make it rain at his numerous night club appearances.

Please know that I mean no disrespect to Marquez who has proven himself to be a true Champion at lightweight and below, but this step up to fight Mayweather will be a monumental task.

We hope he and Nacho can find a way to rid us of Mayweathers continual shucking and jiving.

I know I should have led with my Manny vs. Ricky prediction but since the powers that be see fit to ruin their night with this slap in the face press conference, I was left no choice.

As to the fight tonight let me nip this in the bud.

It seems an inordinate amount of experts are picking Hatton solely based on the theory that Manny only beat a dehydrated Oscar and that victory proves nothing. Personally I think these guys are just trying to save face for their bombastic pick of Oscar last year and are not really looking at this fight with their heads.

Yes, Oscar being able to make weight weeks before the fight was a huge mistake but has anyone failed to notice Hatton said he could make weight 3 weeks ago? I think again we have a case for a guy who has peaked way too early.

Rumors of a rift between Floyd Sr. and the entire Hatton camp don’t help Ricky’s cause either.

Factor in that with the fact that Manny’s hand speed is off the charts and in a case of speed vs. strength I have to go with speed every time.

With that said, I think this is gonna be one helluva fight and either way we can expect this one to live up to all the hype.

As to my prediction, I think Hatton may have a few good rounds early but Manny will not only prevail but he will KO Ricky somewhere around 8 or 9.