Archive for September, 2009

The Return Of Boff’s Blog

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

By Frank Boff

Golf has it. So does tennis. What boxing needs is a seniors circuit. All fighters 38 or older are eligible. There’s plenty of them out there serving as trial horses for young fighters they have no chance to beat. But put two old-timers in with each other, and you would have a competitive fight, a rarity these days in the sport – witness Floyd and Marquez, followed by Klitschko and somebody named Arreola.

Who would pay to see old farts banging away?

Roy Jones Jr. is 40. He will travel to Australia on Dec. 2 to fight 38-year-old Aussie Danny Green. Think anyone’s interested? How’s this: word out of Australia is this will be the biggest fight in the history of the country. All 80,000 seats at the Acer Arena in Sydney have been sold out. The whole country will be watching on TV. Old cagey Roy should make several million from this. As a side note, I think Roy should do a world tour, fighting in different countries and drawing huge crowds, because he is still a living legend outside of the U.S. Roy in London – huge.

There are countless top flight fighters who have retired in the past few years because they couldn’t compete at the highest level anymore. But against their senior peers, they could hold their own and give fans a few last look at their heroes. But please don’t put these shows on HBO or Showtime. Do like Jones is doing, go to another country and fight a local hero.

****

While all the so-called boxing writers (with the exception of our esteemed PunchingBilly) are calling Vitali Klitschko boring – which he certainly is not – he and his brother Wlad are making wads of money.

Vitali and Wlad are the richest boxers in Europe: According to the German paper Bild, both brothers make approximately 7-10 million Euros for each bout. 3 million Euros comes from the German broadcasting company RTL, while 30-second commercial between rounds costs a hefty 99,000 Euros. Each boxer receives 2 million more from different ad contracts

Those figures look even bigger when you consider the Euro right now is worth 1.45 dollars…

Does anybody want to see Chad Dawson fight Johnson again. Competitive fight, yes, but a win by either guy won’t inject any electricity into the light heavyweight scene.

****

If Kelly Pavlik thinks he can knock Paul Williams out, he’d better think again. Williams regularly spars with cruiserweights like O’Neill Bell and a few heavyweights. His trainer Peterson puts him in with those bigger guys to give Paul confidence in his chin, which stood up to some heavy blows from guys a lot bigger than Pavlik. Pavlik’s trainer Jack Loew is expecting Williams to use Hopkins’ playbook and use angles and foot movement to neutralize Pavlik’s power. If Williams does that and throws his usual high volume of punches, this should be an easy fight for Tall Paul. Williams is a freak of nature. He can fight from 147 to 175 , something never done before within a two year frame. Others like Oscar fought in six weight divisions, but that was gradually over the course of his career. I think by the end of the year Williams will be ranked as one of the two or three best in the world.

***

Is this the most uninteresting, unappetizing headline of the day?:
Audley Harrison Vows To Punish, Batter Danny Williams

Does anybody want to see Amir Khan fight Dmitriy Salita? Roach is babying Khan something fierce, which is understandable because he is not ready for the big boys at 140.

Have a nice day. I’m on a geological expedition in Chile. First time here. I always thought Chile was spelled chili, what do I know. The food here is great and so is the wine. Wish you were here. There’s plenty of rock formations to study…The Boffer

Pound4Pound Champion, A Kase For Klitschko

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Photo: Sumio Yamada

On Saturday night WBC Vitali Klitschko retained his title with a virtuoso performance over # 1 challenger Chris Arreola. Everyone who watched the fight can not deny that this was a spectacular heavyweight performance.

Well almost everyone.

There is an inordinate number of fans and media members who have decided this was just another humdrum heavyweight fight and the state of the big boys is still in a coma. I will give fans the benefit of the doubt, but anyone in the media who is trying to rattle Vitali’s cage needs to check themselves.

I know a lot of you thought Chris was going to bring it to Vitali and make a fight of it but that theory came to a quick halt as soon as Vitali busted Chris in the mouth milliseconds before Arreola launched one of his errant punches, and this scenario played out over and over again. When Vitali wasn’t beating Chris to the punch he was stepping to the side, making Chris miss and then cracking him with punch and then moving laterally to get out of harms way.

It’s that very moving that has many of you grasping at straws trying to claim Klitschko somehow is less than an exciting fighter to watch because he was “running”. If you are a boxing aficionado you would not only understand what Klitschko was doing in the ring on Saturday night but you would appreciate the skill of the big man and would be singing his praises today, and if my Aunt had testicles….you know the rest!

Here, let me help y’all out since apparently most of you were just there for a seat on media row and a free meal.

Prior to the live broadcast HBO showed a replay of the Mayweather vs. Marquez fight fought one week earlier. You remember that fight right? That’s the one that after his so called flawless performance you anointed Floyd Jr. Pound4Pound king.

And oh yeah, what could be better than a Super Welterweight stretching a lightweight over 12 rounds in a snoozefest that the victor Floyd, who you say is the most gifted fighter on the planet, could only muster up an average of 41 punches per round over the 12 round fight?

I’ll tell you what is better, a heavyweight Champion that throws an average of over 80 punches per round and stifles his opponent to a mere 38 punches per round.

Klitschko threw 802 punches in 10 rounds of which 283 were power punches and he landed those at a 53% clip.

Meanwhile Mayweather threw a mere 493 punches over 12 rounds with 105 of those being power punches.

I don’t need to remind you that Klitschko was doing that on a big 6 ft. 7 in. frame while Floyd was doing much less with his “athletic” 5 ft. 8 in. body.

Klitschko 802 punches over 10 rounds – Mayweather 493 punches over 12 rounds.

Looking at those statistics and taking into consideration everything Klitschko has done in his return I think there is a strong case to call him the Pound4Pound Champion. Since his return all Klitschko has done is make 2 Nightmares stop fighting in between rounds and KO Gomez in 9.

That’s very impressive in my book.

Half of you say he was running, the others say he was holding. So my question to you is how did he find time with all that clinching and running to throw 80 punches per round?

Oh that’s right, most of you either don’t know what you are talking about or you made some ill advised prediction that you now are trying to justify, so why should I expect an intelligent answer?

Stick with www.Pound4Pound.com for all your boxing news.

Post Fight Thoughts, This, That & The Other

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Photo By Ray Flores

THIS:
Arreola Shows Nothing But Class

Thank goodness Chris Arreola showed up to the post fight press conference on Saturday night. Of all his team members he is almost the only one who told the real truth and nothing but the truth. “He beat my ass,” said a contrite Arreola. “Everything I tried to do he had an answer for, he could pull back and then hit me with a clean shot or I would fall into the ropes like a dummy,” said Arreola.

Frustrated about his less than World Class performance Arreola made no excuses and swore to lay off the Coronas, eat and crap boxing, and that he would be back.

Arreola’s personal stock went up significantly in my book on Saturday night and it was not just because he was a tough guy who refused to go down but more because he owned up to his defeat without making any excuses or disparaging his conqueror Klitschko in any way.

THAT:

Promoter Could Take A Few Pointers From His Fighter

Dan Goossen opened up the post fight press conference by congratulating Vitali Klitschko with one breath and then insulting him with his next breath by saying American’s did not appreciate his style and went on further to hint Vitali’s “constant” holding made it difficult for his fighter.

Please!

I watched the replay today in the comfort of my home and I did my own clutch count. I counted 12 times during the bout that there was a clinch of any kind. 10 rounds, 12 clinches. Let me do the math for you Dan since I am sure you are still busy counting Benjamin’s. That’s an average of 1.2 clinches a round, and most of those were proceeded by Arreola lunging in trying to hit Klitschko with anything he could.

That’s hardly a clinchfest and I found those comments to be nothing more than sour grapes.

As to the America doesn’t like Klitschko’s style all I can say is, thanks for your input but I can speak for myself and so can most American boxing fans.

Klitschko’s performance was the best of his career as far as punches landed go, so even trying to insinuate he is a boring runner is ridiculous. But there are plenty of lemmings who will grab onto your misconception of Klitschko’s appeal so you should have some solace in that.

Way to go! Used car salesmen around the U.S. are all very impressed.

And nice touch with the Eddie Chambers is the next viable Heavyweight Champion in the Goossen stable. I’m surprised you didn’t tell Chris, who was sitting right next to you at the time, “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out!”

THE OTHER:

To Be Or Not To Be

I always have to wonder to myself how fighters, who have a team of people around them to look out for the fighters own well being, end up in obvious mismatches when all the evidence points to the fact that he is not yet ready for some monumental tasks.

Now, if you are a fighter and your closest confidants are telling you that you are ready for the task, you believe them because you have trusted these people throughout you career. I understand that.

Then I wonder how and more importantly why these people tell their fighter he is good to go when there are more reasons to hold your fighter back than there are to throw him into the lion’s den.

And yes of course I am talking about Arreola’s Promotional team.

Yes, Chris was blowing out his opponents in quick fashion but he had not yet faced even a top 15 contender, and don’t try to talk to me about Jameel McCline, that was a farce. Without facing top caliber opponents how did anyone really think Arreola was ready for a well seasoned World Champion?

Next were the weight concerns. All kidding aside, this was becoming an issue and when Chris had ballooned up to near 300 pounds there was no way anyone should have expected him to get into top fighting shape in less than 8 weeks.

Someone could have pulled Chris aside and said, “Look, we have been offered a shot at Klitschko but we feel you need a few more fights against top contenders and you really need to get in control of your weight before we can put you into that kind of fight.”

But that’s not what happened.

No sooner than David Haye back pedaled away from another Klitschko was Arreola getting a contract shoved under his nose. What did anyone really think he was going to say?

They knew exactly what he was going to say.

You can get up in front of the microphone and say that this wasn’t a cash out all you want.

In the end it’s your actions that always speak louder than your words.

Keep coming back to www.Pound4Pound.com for all the latest boxing news.

Klitschko Teaches Arreola A Lesson By Taking Him To The School Of Hard Knocks

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

Continuing on the theme of my previous blog, Saturday night turned into lesson taught at the hands of Dr. Iron Fist. By masterfully picking Arreola apart, WBC Heavyweight Champion Vitali Klitschko not only held on to his title but he did it in such a fashion that it should leave a lasting impression on Arreola. It’s an impression that should last long after Arreola’s busted up face heals. And so it should.

With his hands down and jaw sticking out Klitschko hammered away on Arreola from the opening bell all the while he was making Arreola miss wild shots that made it clear he had no business in the ring with the Champ.

Contrary to a variety of “expert” opinions it was Vitali who was comfortable and relaxed in the ring and it was Arreola who was over working just to come up short time and time again.

With pin point accuracy it seemed Klitschko landed every blow he threw. By the middle rounds Klitschko had Arreola bleeding profusely from the nose and although Arreola never gave up you could see he had no chance to land a haymaker that might have got him back into the fight. After round 10 Arreola’s trainer Henry Ramirez had seen enough and he brought that carnage to a halt. It was the right thing to do.

Shortly thereafter Arreola was brought to tears as he saw his chance at a World Title disappear.

The tears are understandable and it’s no doubt the humiliating showing was at the forefront of those tears.

But one has to wonder if some of those tears weren’t a product of Arreola reflecting on the criticism he heard before the fight about his training habits and his weight. If by some chance that wasn’t the case it should be.

Look…Chris is one of the best heavyweights out there but there is no way a fighter with the lack of discipline he showed in between fights recently was going to beat a focused and always in shape Klitschko.

As I said before, hopefully Chris will take this tough lesson learned and apply it to the remainder of his career. If he does buckle down and get serious about his place in the World of the Heavyweights he could become an unstoppable force. If he doesn’t the road will be paved with mediocrity at best.

I harken back to one of my snapshot moments in boxing. It was when the late Alexis Arguello had just defended his title by defeating a World class fighter by the name of Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini. In front of the TV cameras Arguello consoled a distraught challenger by telling him that one day he would become a Champion. As we know, Mancini made good on Arguello’s prediction.

Likewise tonight Klitschko was full of praise for his fallen foe and told him that he too would one day become a Champion. It’s now up to Chris to make Klitschko’s prediction come true.

If he truly applies himself and dedicates himself to the sport 110% I too think will one day wear a Champions belt. If he doesn’t….well you know….

Stay tuned to www.Pound4Pound.com for all the latest boxing news.

Final Thoughts Before Tonight’s Heavyweight Showdown In Los Angeles

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

It was a few years back at a local fight card in Los Angeles, California that I nudged my brother as Chris Arreola walked by and I pointed to the young fighter and said, “You see that guy…he is going to be the next true heavyweight Champion of the World!” My brother looked at Arreola and could not believe how big and intimidating he was.

Forward a year or so later and Arreola was going to take on Damien Wills in a battle of undefeated Los Angeles Heavies. It was pretty much a pick ‘em fight but there never was any doubt in my mind that Arreola would destroy Wills, which he did in 7 brutal rounds.

With that Arreola had Los Angeles bragging rights and it was seemingly a matter of time before he would challenge for the “Baddest Man On The Planet” belt.

Over his next 6 fights Chris dominated and when he forced Chazz Witherspoon into a 3rd round DQ it seemed Arreola’s moment had come.

3 months later Arreola fought Israel Garcia and although Arreola beat Garcia in 3 quick rounds he had ballooned up to near 259 pounds and some not so quiet whispers could be heard that Arreola had lost focus and wasn’t put in the kind of work that had got him to this position at the top.

Follow that up with a 254 pound performance against Travis Walker where Chris got dropped by one straight hand by Walker. Again it was more than speculation that Chris was cutting corners in training and although he again KO’d his foe in 3 rounds he was not doing himself any favors by coming in overweight.

Coming in 1 pound heavier in his next fight Arreola was taking on a semi-retired Jameel McCline. After wobbling Chris early McCline chose to lay down in round 4 after a grazing right hand clipped his chin. It was far from a spectacular KO. To this day I have to question how badly Jameel was hurt.

Now after an early summer of David Hayes nonsense Chris has his shot at the title. Unfortunately for Chris and his fans he was pushing 300 pounds when he took the fight and getting into fighting shape, Championship fighting shape, was not going to be easy.

The question now is, did he get himself into that kind of World Class shape for tonight’s rumble?

Being a Hispanic born and raised in Los Angeles I would like to tell you he did, but tipping the scales at 251 pounds on Thursday impressed this reporter not at all. Oh sure, guys like Dan Rafael will tell you Chris is trim but you really have to consider the source there.

I think the weight belt trick Chris employed at the weigh in really pulled the wool over many of my peers eyes and they somehow believe 251 pounds is acceptable.

I on the other hand do not.

Had Chris come in south of 240 pounds I would say he had a good chance to defeat Klitschko. But coming in only 3 pounds less than when Walker dropped him is not going to get it done over the long haul.

Do I give Chris a chance? 

Sure I do. And so does Vitali.

Klitschko like everyone else knows that Arreola is going to be gunning for an early KO and if he clips Vitali he could very easily finish him off. But Klitschko is well aware of that and although rumors of trouble in the Klitschko camp are surfacing, I am pretty convinced by the shape he is in that he should be just fine.

My belief is that Klitschko’s experience will prevail tonight and he will teach Arreola a lesson.

The question is, will Chris learn from this lesson and from that point on put in the dedication and focus necessary to get another shot at a World title?

If he does I will be able to call my brother and say, “You see, I told you that guy was going to be the Heavyweight Champ of the World!

I just don’t think I will be making that call tonight.

The Proof Is In The Pudding…So To Speak

Friday, September 25th, 2009

By William Trillo

When Chris Arreola stepped onto the scale on Thursday and it was announced he weighted 272 pounds a hush fell over the crowd and I think everyone was at a brief loss for words. Seconds later Arreola took off his shirt and revealed he was wearing a weighted vest. We all had a good chuckle and then Chris removed the vest and this time when he hit the scale he tipped the Toledo at 251 pounds. Hoots and hollers ensued as many assumed Chris did in fact get himself in top shape. I am even reading on “The Sports Leader” that Arreola is trim……trim?

Wait a minute!

When Arreola got dropped by Travis Walker he weighed 254 pounds and every sports journalist on the planet said the reason Chris is an accident waiting to happen is because he is extremely overweight. Now he drops 3 meaningless pounds and suddenly he is trim?

I think not!

Arreola wore that weighted belt to pull a fast one on the media, and yes, we all had a good laugh. I don’t think Chris wore the vest to “Smoke and Mirror” us into believing he really was in top shape, but after seeing him hit the scale at 272 that is exactly what happened when the real weight of 251 was announced. 

C’mon guys!

251 is neither trim or fit. It’s a lot better than 272 pounds but that was a joke boy’s…get over it.

The truth is Chris has hovered over the 250 mark for what will now be his 4th fight in a row. In his last 2 fights he was dropped and rocked by less than quality opposition. Saturday night he is facing Vitali Klitschko who is top quality opposition, that’s why he is the Champ.

So why is 251 pounds all of a sudden not only acceptable but TRIM?

I will tell you why!

You fell for the gag hook,line and sinker…that’s why.

It’s my prediction that Chris is going to comes out guns-a-blazin’ for the first 3 rounds and then he is going to run out of ammo and as my recent blog said, he will take a beating and go down by the 8th.

Yes, for those first 3 rounds Arreola has a punchers chance but……did you see the shape the always granite chinned Klitschko is in? Apparently the rumors about him having the best camp ever are true. No smoke or mirrors needed there.

It’s going to be a good show while it lasts, but at 251 pounds, and maybe more than that come fight night, I just don’t see how Klitschko gets the crown taken away from him.

Stay tuned to www.Pound4Pound.com for all the latest boxing news.

Arreola’s Chances…A “Scientific” Prescription

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

By William Trillo

Today is the BIG day, (pun intended), in Los Angeles as the official weigh-in for the WBC Heavyweight Championship will take place in the afternoon outside The Staples Center. Stepping onto the Toledo will be the Champion Vitali Klitschko and his # 1 Challenger Cristobal Arreola.

There has been much speculation and innuendo about the shape Arreola is in, but today the truth will finally be revealed as Arreola will truly be stepping onto the scales of justice. The verdict will be made public and boxing fans will know if Arreola, who has been accused of being out of shape, will be innocent or guilty as charged.

And even after the truth is revealed, what are we to make of his weight and the final outcome of Saturday nights championship battle?

Fortunately after weeks of putting all the facts together,(really just a few hours), I have come up with a scientific prescription to these questions that I think you can apply as needed on fight night.

Here we go:

If Arreola weighs 260 or above it’s over in 3 or less as Klitschko will bomb him out.

From 260-250 pounds Chris will get pummeled and stopped before 8.

From 250-240 Arreola will make a good fight of it and this battle could go past 10 but experience, a great chin and a huge punch will keep Klitschko with the belt.

If Chris is 240-230 this becomes a pick ‘em fight…someone will go down and out.

And finally, if Arreola comes in under 230 like he did against “Bolo” he will defeat Klitschko by convincing KO and will most certainly make heavyweight history.

Now let me throw in my disclaimer…don’t come crying to me if these scenarios don’t play out and you lose a wad of $$$ because you used my self proclaimed scientific prescription. This graph of course did not factor in the fact that apparently this has been Vitali’s best camp…EVER…and he is a honed and chiseled fighting machine.

WARNING: Some uncommon side effects of using this prescription may occur including sudden loss of paycheck, the uncontrollable urge of throwing your remote through your new Plasma TV and frequent consumption of draft lager followed by constant vomiting. 

Stay tuned to www.Pound4Pound.com for all the latest boxing news

Introducing “Boff’s Blog”

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

By Frank Boff with intro by William Trillo

He’s been our most consistent contributor and he always has something poignant to say. When he asked if he could write his own blog, I thought why not. People got to be tired of my daily dribble, let’s change things up a bit.

Truth be told all I really know about Boff is that he is a a geologist with a passion for boxing. If you don’t like what he has to say, do what you do to me… throw rocks at him, he will enjoy analyzing them.

With that spectacular intro, let’s see what Boff has to say:

Contrary to all the idiots who said shame on Shane for ruining Floyd’s moment (after all, he beat a great lightweight, he deserves accolades, right?), I thought it was a very smart move by Shane, undoubtedly cooked up by HBO and GBP, because  before he invaded the ring he had been easy for Floyd to ignore.

Now, having challenged Petty Boy on a world stage, Shane put into the public consciousness that he is a legitimate top fighter who is not afraid of Floyd and would give him a REAL fight, as opposed to undersized Pacquiao and whoever else he cherry picks in the future.

There is no denying that Floyd is one of the most talented boxers ever, but he has yet to prove he is a great FIGHTER. You become recognized as a great fighter only when you face and overcome a challenge by another talented boxer like Shane, or Cotto or Paul Williams. Greatness is proven in the heat of fire. Period. Leonard-Hearns-Duran remain in our mind because they took every challenge head on. Floyd hasn’t fought anybody who had a chance to beat him since Castillo II, except Oscar, who in his prime would have beat him handily, but didn’t have the stamina to finish the job.

If Floyd continues to cherry pick opponents, he will pass into history with a tainted legacy, and you can bet years from now nobody will be buying tapes of Floyd’s fights because they are boring.

If Floyd wants to continue to face smaller men, he should at least take on two at a time. A better fight than Saturday’s would have been Marquez and Pacquiao alternating rounds with Floyd. It may not have made any difference, but it would have been a more interesting show than what we got.

Marquez, meanwhile, will benefit from his courageous effort in the same way as Paulie Malignaggi did when he fought Cotto. It was also the biggest payday of his career and at 36 it was a nice retirement present. Do not cry for Marquez.

Snookered!

Monday, September 21st, 2009

On my drive home from “Sin City” I placed a call to my confidant and buddy D. Bernstein to get his views on Saturday nights Dog & Pony show. He quickly ran the “snookered” line I used in my post fight report by me and I had to take a step back and think about that for a minute.

After some serious thought I told Bernstein that Snookered was the first thing that came to my mind when I was hammering on the postfight keyboard and although I did consider changing the word I could not come up with anything better.

Afraid that maybe I used the term incorrectly the first thing I did when I came home was to get to a dictionary to get the “official” definition of the term.

As it turns out I am glad I stuck with it. Check this out:

snooker:
Verb (used with object) 2. Slang. to deceive, cheat, or dupe: to be snookered   snook·er  (snŏŏk’ər)   

Slang:

To lead (another) into a situation in which all possible choices are undesirable; trap.

As I see it now, there is not another word that would have fit this situation better.

We were all snookered on Saturday night. When I say we I mean the fans and the media in attendance, and yes, even Marquez and Golden Boy were deceived, cheated and duped.

The snooker-er was none other than Floyd Mayweather Jr. along with his cast of “Yes Men” who still want us to believe Floyd is the greatest thing since sliced cheese. Although I will agree that someone cut the cheese on Saturday night, it has nothing to do with Mayweather’s performance in the ring. What it does mean is that there is a foul stench in the air that will linger on indefinitely.

Look…as long as Floyd is going to be allowed to put on this charade of fighting everyone other than the VERY BEST in his weight class he can never be taken seriously. On Saturday night he fought a talented fighter who just happened to be at the very least 2 weight classes under Mayweather. I am talking 20 pounds if not more. Is it any wonder Marquez’s shots only got a smile from Floyd? Of course he was laughing, there was no way Marquez was going to hurt him. NO WAY!

But Floyd knew that the day he instructed Leonard Ellerbe to get that fight made. Ellerbe knew that when he told Golden Boy to get this fight done & Golden Boy knew that before they made it official.

Once the fight was made everyone knew it was a near impossible task for Marquez, but 100% of the people I spoke to hoped he could somehow do it.

I repeat, 100% of the people I talked to wanted Marquez to win.

I think we all held out some kind of hope until we saw Mayweather step on the scale at 146 pounds. That’s when we became aware of the 144 pound weight stipulation in the original contract and the fines that would be levied if Floyd was overweight.

Whether or not he had to pay the fine or if the contract was renegotiated in the 11th hour, it is pretty clear Floyd never intended on coming in at the contracted weight of 144 pounds…NEVER.

Instead he Bald Face Lied to everyone, and with the fight literally weighing in the balance even Marquez himself allowed Mayweather to get away with it.

SNOOKERED!

The Lap Dog media can spin this victory any way they want. Saturday night was a farce and trying to spin it any other way is piss poor journalism. (No Marquez training habit pun intended)

Even more troublesome to me is the way Golden Boy is now shouting , “He’s Back!” as if any of us really missed him.

I remember a day a few years back when Oscar talked about his disdain for Floyd and how he had to put him on a “time out” during their promotional tour because Floyd was acting like a little spoiled brat. Fast forward a couple of years and now it’s Oscar who is enabling the “spoiled brat” and allowing him to break his commitment and letting him have his way….AT ALL COSTS! And this time the cost was basically kicking Juan Manuel Marquez to the curb.

Juan Manuel Marquez is a great Champion and he deserved way better treatment than he got this past Saturday night.

If ever there was a time when I wished the saying, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”, were true, this is it.  Yet, no matter how hard I try to close my eyes and make it all go away, the memory of this weekend will be following me around for quite some time.

For The Record

Saturday, September 19th, 2009

LOOK…Marquez is so zoned in, so confident he can beat Floyd and reach the mountaintop, he just doesn’t give a WHIZZ about the two extra pounds. The man wants to win. From the Marquez viewpoint, a few pounds are meaningless now after 8 grueling weeks. He is so hungry to fight Floyd he wouldn’t have cared if Floyd weighed 150…which he probably will.   Marquez is a hungry warrior and doesn’t care at this point what shenanigans Floyd pulls, and he has pulled plenty. Juan Manuel is a total professional, which Floyd is not.   Conclusion: While logic says Marquez can’t beat Floyd, in my gut I have a feeling a big upset is in the making