Billy’s Boxing Blog

By William Trillo
Photo-Chop: Bret “The Threat” Newton

After more than it’s fair share of twists and turns in the Welterweight Champion Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather Jr. it appears that Bob Arum is going to make good on his “take it or leave it” offer he made this weekend when he told Team Mayweather to accept his compromise or the fight is off.

At 11:51 PM PST on Monday night there has been no acceptance by Team Mayweather reported. In fact the only word from Mayweather’s side comes from Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions who said that there was no question of accepting that proposal. “Random is random. We are not backing off and the ball is in their court.”

Arum said if that was the stance of the Mayweather team then he would announce another opponent for March. “If that is the case then tomorrow morning (Tuesday) we will announce who Manny will fight on March 13 and it won’t be Floyd Mayweather,” Arum told Reuters.

In other words, “Hit The Road…Jack!” Arum gave a few reasons why he believes the compromise was not accepted by Mayweather and one of those reasons is the stance Pound4Pound.com has taken all along. Said Arum, ” It is convenient way for Mayweather to not fight Paquiao who he knows he can’t beat.”

By William Trillo
Photo-Chop: Bret “The Threat” Newton

On December 23rd Leonard Ellerbe, Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s Head Flunky, said: “We’ve insisted on this, (Olympic style drug testing), from the beginning. We just want to make sure there is a level playing field. There’s no compromise on this issue.”
  
 Guess what Leonard?
  
 We have a compromise in the works and according to Golden Boy Chief Richard Schaefer they have agreed to drop the Olympic style drug testing and go with urine and blood testing as conducted by The Nevada State Athletic Commission.
  
 ”We are OK to move off USADA,” Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, who is representing Mayweather, told ESPN.com. “What we’re saying, and what is important to us, is four things — that the tests be random, that they include blood and urine and the time frame, meaning when do you stop the tests before the fight but know they will still be effective. Three of them we have agreed on — random, blood and urine. So now it is a matter of the two sides working out the specifics of the cutoff date to assure it will still be effective.”
  
 The cutoff date will be the last sticking point according to Schaefer who said, “(Top Ranks) Todd and Bruce are trying to work out the specifics of the cutoff to assure the tests are still effective because we know that 30 days before is not effective,” Schaefer said. “At 30 days, we might as well not even do it. We want to figure it out [the cutoff window], (and now here comes the funny part), and I will give my recommendation to Team Mayweather, and they will be on board.
  
 I believe Schaefer when he says he will comply with whatever cutoff date that the Nevada Commission recommends and the promoters Top Rank and Golden Boy agree on but if I am supposed to believe that Team Mayweather is going to be on board just because Schaefer tells them to…well….that is a very bitter and jagged pill to try to swallow!
  
 Since when has Floyd ever agreed to anything without first throwing a pre-pubescent hissy fit? I will tell you when….NEVER! And since when after Floyd throws his little tantrum has his # 1 gopher Ellerbe not run to whoever will listen to tell them Floyd is turning blue and rolling around on the ground and says he will hold his breath until he gets his way….again….NEVER.
  
 Here is what I believe to be the real problem with this entire scenario:
  
 Floyd is afraid of this fight and always has been, he doesn’t want to risk his unbeaten record and he never intended for the Pacquiao fight to happen. To misdirect the masses Floyd seized on the issue de jour,  performance enhancing drugs, and he used it as a way of getting out of the fight. Or so he thought. All was looking good for Floyd but now cooler heads are prevailing and it looks like we could have an agreement in principle before the year is over. That’s bad news for Team Mayweather.
  
 If Mayweather really considers himself the greatest of all time, should he fear fighting a small guy on performance enhancer’s? The answer is, he is pathologically afraid of losing.
  
 Take a look at the list of guys he has fought after Castillo and try to tell me you are impressed:
  
 Victoriano Sosa (who?), Phillip N’dou, Demarcus Corely &Henry Brusseles (AKA The 3 Stooges), Arturo Gatti (old), Sharmba Mitchell (faded), Zab Judah (stamina issues),Carlos Baldomir (Didn’t Floyd retire after this fight?), Oscar De La Hoya (shell of former self), Ricky Hatton (forced to move up a little), Juan Manuel Marquez (forced to move up a lot).
  
 No Cotto. No Margarito. No Mosley. No Paul Williams. Not even Joshua Clottey. 
  
 Now here’s a question for you: Would Paul Williams fear a junior welterweight on performance enhancer’s? The answer is NO.No great fighter would care if a much smaller fighter was on rocket fuel. You simply cannot be beaten by drugs if the guy is much smaller.
  
 Floyd’s fear is losing, it has nothing to do with performance enhancer’s. He sees Pacquiao as a legit threat and he has not faced a serious threat since Castillo, other than maybe Oscar, whom Floyd felt was over the hill.
  
 From what I can tell Floyd is deathly afraid of Manny after seeing what he did to Oscar, Hatton and most importantly Cotto, a fighter Floyd has ALWAYS been afraid to face.
  
 Despite the enormous amount of money, Floyd cannot risk his 0. If he loses, he will lose all his perceived credibility. The claim he is unbeatable and the best of all time is worth…well apparently it’s worth upwards of 40 million dollars to Floyd.
  
 My theory is Floyd’s fear of Pacquiao is the root cause of this whole mess. Fear of the loss of his zero haunts Mayweather nightly. Floyd’s insecurity as to his place in the manly art of self defense has caused him to overcompensate by endless over the top bragging and self promotion.
  
 Insecurity is at the root of this and Floyd cannot risk a loss because of it.
  
 Every great fighter has lost! Ali lost. Louis lost. Oscar lost. The list is enormous.
 
 
 But despite facing a minimum of $40 million and for a guy who is said to have major “Money”  problems, Floyd is willing to skirt this fight and his insecurity could very well be at the heart of the matter.
  
 Check out www.Pound4Pound.com for all the latest boxing news.

By William Trillo
Photo-Chop: Bret “The Threat” Newton

Talk about a lump of coal in your stocking! After all the early chatter that Floyd Mayweather & Manny Pacquiao had delivered an early Christmas gift by announcing their fight was all but good to go for March of 2010, we now are facing the probability that the fight has been pulled out from under the tree. And although Floyd Jr. is pretty much responsible for the heinous crime you can go ahead and insert any of the involved parties faces atop the Grinch’s green frame, Floyd Sr., “Hot Flashes” Ellerbe, Golden Boy and by now I am okay if you slam Manny’s grill in there or anyone at Top Rank as well.

On Christmas Eve the L.A. Times announced that Richard Schaefer was hoping an outside arbitrator could help settle this dilemma but within hours the same periodical announced that Pacquiao had instructed Bob Arum at Top Rank to file a law suit against Floyd and Golden Boy for remarks made by the boxer and people in his camp regarding Pacquiao’s possible use of performance-enhancing drugs.

This entire situation has gone from the ridiculous to the sublime and in the opinion of top industry sources we spoke to this has become nothing more than “noise and gamesmanship” that amounts to nothing more than “cheap advertisement” for the fight.

By William Trillo
It had gone just past 3:30 PM PST when the email from Floyd Mayweather’s publicist went out.
The headline read:
 

MAYWEATHER VS PACQUIAO IN JEOPARDY AS PACQUIAO REFUSES TO COMPLY
WITH UNITED STATES ANTI DOPING DRUG TESTING PROCEDURES

Here’s a newsflash for you Mayweather honks, Manny doesn’t have to comply with the Olympic style drug testing as outlined and mandated by the United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA).

Pacquiao is not competing for a Gold Medal in the 2012 Olympics.

He is supposed to be fighting Mayweather in March but as I warned you on multiple occasions, the more time you dilly dally around with Jerry “Face Lift” Jones trying to figure out where this fight will be held, Dallas or Las Vegas, the more time you give Floyd Jr. to come up with an excuse to get out of this fight.

Looks like I pretty much hit the nail on the head sports fans.

No sooner did the choice of Las Vegas getting the nod as the city to hold the mega-fight get announced than Floyd Jr. and Team Mayweather released this absurd drug testing condition. The release then stated that Top Rank told Richard Schaefer that Manny had ZERO intentions of meeting Mayweathers ridiculous request.

And although the release is written to try to make us believe it will be Manny’s fault if the fight falls through, there is nothing that could be further from the truth. PERIOD!

The first thing I did when I read the report was to call The Wildcard Boxing Club in Hollywood to get Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roaches thoughts on the demand. When Roach took the phone I asked him about the extra drug testing that Mayweather wants them to comply with and how he felt about it. Roach firmly said, “Floyd is not our boss! He doesn’t tell us what to do. We will comply with all the rules of the State Athletic Commission in Nevada or Texas and will take whatever drug tests they require but we have no intention of agreeing to Floyd’s demand.”

With the magnitude of the event and amount of money this fight could generate I had to ask Freddie if Floyd made good on his promise not to fight, if he and Manny would be able to deal with that and move on. “We can move on without any problem at all, we have plenty of other options, no problem at all,” said a confident Roach.

With the fight all but set in Nevada the next call I placed was to Nevada State Athletic Commissioner Keith Kizer. The always accommodating Commish was happy to answer my questions about drug testing in his jurisdiction. Kizer said, “We take a urine sample just prior to the event and we also take one immediately after the fight takes place. We also have a rule in place that allows us to randomly test the fighter licensed in our State at any given time before the fight.”

Somewhat surprised at his response I asked him if he was telling me that , for instance, 2 or 3 weeks before the fight he could get in his car and drive from Las Vegas to Hollywood and randomly test Pacquiao, no questions asked? “That’s exactly what I am telling you,” Kizer answered.

“Are the fighters aware of this rule.” I asked?

“I don’t know if the fighters are aware of the rule but I guarantee you the Promoters are,” Kizer replied.

Did you hear that? The Nevada State Athletic Commission has rules in place to drug test anytime before the fight that they want! More importantly the promoters are very aware of this rule.

Click here to see the official memorandum that specifically addresses the steroid issue.
http://boxing.nv.gov/Hot%20Topics/NACMemoReDrugTesting.pdf

A quick check of WBO policy, since they would be the sanctioning body for the Welterweight Title fight reads:

SECTION 28. DRUGS OR STIMULANTS
(c) The World Boxing Organization encourages all Local Boxing Commissions to conduct anti-doping tests before or after the fight. If the Local Boxing Commission conducts the tests, they shall be administered in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Local Boxing Commission.

Ipso Facto: Apparently the WBO and the State of Nevada have this “steroid thing” under control!

In case you forgot, all the “Manny Is Steroid User” speculation began to catch on shortly after Pacquiao dismantled Miguel Cotto. The prime suspect in spreading the Steroid rumor wildfire was none other than Floyd Mayweather Sr.

It seems Sr. has been upset with Manny ever since he disposed of his “prize pupil” Ricky Hatton in quick fashion earlier in the year. Although Floyd Sr. was convicted for drug trafficking as part of a ring smuggling cocaine in boxes of laundry detergent and convicted in 1993, serving a five-year term for his involvement, I highly doubt he is an expert on who is “juicing” with Roids and who is not.

In all honesty, I am not familiar with Steroids and signs of those who use either so I did a little impromptu research today and I would like to show you what I found.

The next thing I learned were of some of the side effects of taking steroids. Unfortunately, the use of anabolic steroids has many drawbacks. Some of these symptoms include increased irritability, hot flashes, hypertension, depression, chills, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, anxiety, euphoria, mood swings, and psychosis.

Wait a minute?

Increased irritability? Hot flashes? Hypertension? Depression? Euphoria? Mood swings and Psychosis? That sounds a lot more like symptoms displayed by Floyd Jr. on a regular basis, not Manny. Someone hand “The Pretty Boy” a specimen jar. And now that I am thinking about it, while you are at it give a jar to his sidekick Leonard “Hot Flashes” Ellerbe too, dude seems a bit unnerved most of the time as well.

When asked by boxing site Max Boxing if he thinks Pacquiao-Mayweather will still take place on March 13, Promoter Bob Arum said: “No. Because Manny is not going to be subjected to blood testing while he’s in training and they (Mayweather camp) are going to insist on it because they never really wanted to do the fight.”

That’s exactly what I have been saying all along.

For more boxing news log on to www.Pound4Pound.com

Bright light city gonna set my soul,
Gonna set my soul on fire,
Got a whole lot of money that’s ready to burn,
So get those stakes up higher!

Amid rumors, speculation, innuendo and balderdash, the most anticipated fight of the new millennium apparently will not be heading to Jerry Jones’ Dallas Stadium but instead will be going to…drum roll please, Las Vegas.

That’s right folks, according to multiple sources the Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Maweather Pound4Pound title fight is headed to sin city. Pacquiao’s Canadian adviser, Mike Koncz, said that they always knew that Las Vegas would host the fight. “As far as we know it’s always been Vegas,” Koncz told The Philippine Star.

Franklin Gacal, Pacquiao’s lawyer, noted: “There’s no other place to hold it than Vegas. With all the casinos and the high-rollers coming over, it’s just hard to match. The money is in Vegas.”

Familiarity with the location as well as their past success there were some of the reasons noted by Fanhouse.com but estimates saying the MGM Grand could generate as much as $28 million in live-gate and a closed circuit package that could bring that amount to over $32 million is most likely the main reason Vegas trumped Dallas. “It’s the MGM. It’s definite,” the source told Fanhouse.

As I said in previous articles, I don’t care where they fight, the most important thing was to get this fight done and the sooner the better. With every delay there was more of a chance that Mayweather and company would come up with more excuses not to fight. In the past week alone we heard reports from everything that Floyd was looking for wiggle room on the fight weight and that he wanted stringent drug testing leading up to the fight because he thinks Manny is juicing.

Please! 

Had the date got postponed any longer who knows what other ridiculous demands Mayweather would have sought.

If all goes according to reports the March 13th date will be officially announced at the start of 2010 in New York & Los Angeles.

Viva Las Vegas with you neon flashin’
And your one armbandits crashin’
All those hopes down the drain
Viva Las Vegas turnin’ day into nighttime
Turnin’ night into daytime
If you see it once
You’ll never be the same again

Since When Does Cheating and Foul Play = Courage?

While many are cheering Miguel Espino and Jesus Chavez for the Bravado they displayed on Saturday night, I will not go there. Both fighters went far above the call of duty to try and cheat their way through their respective fights.

While facing Humberto Soto in Mexico Jesus Chavez threw numerous low blows Soto’s way and even pitched Soto through the ropes on another occasion. Chavez lost 1 point in the 5th round for unnecessary roughness and another in the 6th for a very low low low low blow.

Meanwhile in Ohio, Espino was shooting his own brand of dirty pool. Espino opened the fight by showing his true colors when instead of touching gloves in a tap of sportsmanship in the opening rounds seconds, he tried to rip Pavlik’s head off with a cheap roundhouse that missed by a mile. To make up for that missed punch Espino then took another cheap shot moments after the bell rang to end round one that landed and saw him get a point deducted immediately.

Both Chavez and Espino lost their respective fights and visited the deck a combined 4 times.

Nice work guys! Did you ever hear the one about cheaters never prosper?

Chicanito is Back!

How nice was it to hear Genaro Hernandez on the announcing team this weekend during the Top Rank PPV broadcast? The former Jr. Lightweight Champion did to Cancer what he did to most of his opponents by kicking it’s ass. We are all happy he is back and well!

Check out www.Pound4Pound.com for all the latest boxing news.

It’s the most talked about fight of the decade and it’s not even official yet. Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao is on the tips of everyone’s tongues and everyone has already started to make boxing predictions. The most asked question by far is, “Where is the fight going to be?” Depending on who you are asking it seems the choices have been narrowed down to just 2 options, it’s either Dallas Texas and the brand new Jerry Jones’ Land Shark Stadium or Las Vegas and possibly an association of casino owners constructing a temporary 30,000-seat outdoor stadium on the Strip to host the welterweight title fight.

If you are asking Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach it appears he already has a sense for where the fight will end up. In an interview on Newsday.com Roach said, “We don’t really care where it goes,I feel like it’s a Vegas fight, to be honest with you. There’s no way Mayweather will fight in Texas.”

Why won’t Mayweather fight in Texas? You know the answer to that. Texas is known for bad decisions and flat out highway robbery and according to Roach, Mayweather wants no part of that.

“The thing is that Nevada is as fair as can be,” Roach said. “I mean, Nevada has bad decisions, too, sometimes. Let’s face it. It’s part of boxing. It’s opinions. The thing is I think the referee is really important in this fight because the referee can really [influence things].”

I don’t want to read into “things” but maybe Freddie knows that if you keep the fight out of Texas you keep the fight away from referee Laurence Cole who has had his hands in more than his fare share of questionable fights.

And although I wrote recently that the promoters may throw a monkey wrench into the works, to Roach there is very little doubt the fight will come together as expected. “He’s going to take it,” Roach said of Mayweather. “Where else is he going to go for the money he needs to make?”

There has been an outcry from many in the boxing community for this fight to end up in Dallas to give as many boxing fans as possible the chance to see this one live, but something tells me that Freddie may have the inside track on the location of this one.

When discussing fight strategy Roach stated, ”We’ve got to set traps. We can’t just walk into Mayweather’s traps.”

I know a lot of you don’t want to hear it but there is a huge piece of cheese sitting on the Strip in Vegas right now and the trap is already set. A couple more greedy nibbles and like a hungry mouse this fight will be snared by the trap.

The trap is that for better or for worse ALL the big money fights inevitably end up in Las Vegas.

Check out www.Pound4Pound.com for all the latest boxing news.

By William Trillo
Photo: Yuriy Nesterenko

WBC President voiced the opinion of the entire boxing World when it came to the pathetic performance that was put on display this weekend by Kevin Johnson.  With Vitali Klitschko’s WBC Heavyweight belt on the line Johnson did nothing more than go into survival mode from round one in an obvious attempt to last the 12 rounds but in no way was he looking to defeat Klitschko and become the new Champion.

We asked Sulaiman to give us his thoughts on Johnson’s half hearted attempt at the coveted green Champion’s belt and we inquired if there was any way to fine him or have his purse withheld, Sulaiman pulled no punches;

Dear friend:
     I feel very disturbed as it was clear that Kevin Johnson only went to last the distance and it was a shame; he was an absolute embarrassment of the boxing world.  There is nothing in the rules and regulations that we could use to sanction boxers attitudes like this, but it is a good idea for the next convention-    best regards,,,,,,, José Sulaimán

You gotta love a guy like Johnson who even as he was doing nothing of consequence in the fight postured after almost every round as if he was teaching Klitschko a lesson. The only lesson Johnson gave Klitschko was one the good Doctor K already was well aware of.

The lesson you ask?

Why American Heavyweights Suck 101
Description: An introduction to basic USA Heavyweight fighters training habits and concepts as they pertain to a competitive world class performance. Topics include an examination of the principles of USA fighter’s disciple, its relationship to world class fitness (not putting on 12 pounds with each and every successive fight), nutrition (not going on late night burrito runs), stress (not crying after getting a beat down because you failed the previous 3 lessons), and the overall desire to become a Champion (or lack thereof).

Kevin Johnson bloviated for months about how he was going to humiliate Vitali but in the end he lied to and then ripped off a full house in Bern, Switzerland and anyone who watched the taped delayed performance on HBO.

Go away Kevin and never rear your ugly “fight not to KO’d” style in a boxing ring again.  PATHETIC !!

Speaking of HBO
Paulie Beats Diaz…AGAIN

The city was different but the end result was exactly the same. Paulie Malignaggi gave Juan Diaz another boxing lesson and this time he was rewarded for his efforts with an official unanimous decision victory. Please refrain from telling me that Diaz won the first fight in Texas.

A.         I saw the fight and Paulie schooled Diaz in that contest as well. I don’t care what the corrupt …errr…mistaken judges said.
 

B.         Seeing Diaz’s Mom crying in between each and every round in the first fight was heartbreaking and you had to feel for the Mom who knew best what was happening in that fight. Those tears she was shedding were because her son was getting beaten up. Never go against a Mother’s gut feelings. By doing so it caused her son to get a second beating at the hands of Paulie.

After the fight Paulie said he wants another shot at Ricky Hatton and from the way he looked Saturday night I think he deserves it. Problem is Juan Manuel Marquez wants Hatton too and although Paulie called out Marquez with a winner gets Hatton proposition, I highly doubt that he will see the light of day with that request. Marquez is at the end of his career and he nor Golden Boy will jeopardize the Hatton payday to fight Malignaggi first.

My suggestion is for Paulie to fight the main subject of my next thought…

Bradley Comes Of Age On Showtime

In an impressive performance on Showtime WBO Jr. Welter Champ Timothy Bradley may have really come of age as he defeated a tough Lamont Peterson in a fight that saw Peterson go down early but then get up and start laying into Bradley with a vicious body attack. That is when Bradley retooled his game plan and from that point on he took over the fight and never relented until he was named the winner after 12 impressive rounds.

With Malignaggi defeating Diaz on the same night it only seems a natural fit for Lou DiBella and Gary Shaw to let these guys square off in a match that could prove to be a very entertaining bout.

I can see the promotion now:

Can The Magic Man Make The Desert Storm Disappear?

That has a ring to it….no?

Free Victor Ortiz

Victor Ortiz should never be forced to fight at 140 pounds again! PERIOD! I saw Victor 2 days before his KO loss to Marcos Maidana and he was already eating nothing but ice chips and he looked skeletal at best. He was suffering to make 140 and he was still 48 hours away from the weigh in. We saw what happened to Ortiz in that fight. According to HBO Ortiz weighed in well over 150 pounds on Saturday night when he stopped Antonio Diaz on cuts. I am not sure who is guiding his career but if you care about your fighter at all you will let him move up to fight at 147, you are killing this kid forcing him to make 140. Victor is one of the nicest and most polite fighters you would ever want to meet. It’s time for “his people” to stop taking advantage of him.

DiacoWHO?

I don’t know why I was so high on Adrian Diaconu. I mean I was sitting ringside in April of 2009 when he struggled to victory over stepping stone David Whittom who was 10-7-1 at the time. Yet I stuck to my guns and picked him to beat Jean Pascal BOTH times.  Go ahead and assume the next time I pick “The Shark” it will be off a Sushi menu.

Ringing Dirrell’s Bells

Can someone, anyone tell me why it was necessary for the Showtime broadcast team to mention Andre Dirrell umpteen times during the Bradley vs. Peterson bout? “Dirrell needs to fight like this” or “Dirrell needs to fight like that.” Hey guys I know you have a vested interest in Showtime’s Super Six Tournament but the constant mentioning of Andre came off as a little more than biased and I know you are trying to remain neutral…right? And truth be told he has no chance against King Arthur….agreed? 

Is Kellerman Serious?

Who is writing Max Kellerman’s schtick? He couldn’t be serious with the diatribe he spewed at the end of HBO’s show on Saturday night…could he? In case you missed it Kellerman went on to suggest that in a year of horrible decisions it was nice to end the year where the judges finally got one right.

Badda Bing Badda Boom!

Hey Max, am I mistaken or aren’t you the guy who after the first Diaz vs Malignaggi fight said, “…even though every fighter always deserves (always) a fair shake I think here the market place spoke and Juan Diaz gets the nod.” Hmmmm?

Basically you condoned the injustice done to Paulie in the first fight. Now you are saying that the judges finally got it right?

Which one is it Max?

How About Them Cowboys?

Since Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones has been courting Bob Arum and Richard Schaefer in order to secure the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao Superfight and get the show in his new 100,000 seat Mega Dome, his soon to be out of the playoff picture Cowboys have gone 0 for 2.

I warned Jones to focus on his ball club and let the Superfight chips fall were they may, but he chose to make midnight phone calls all week to the promoters instead of kicking Bum’s son in the proverbial keester and now it looks like that Dallas Mega Dome will be vacant a lot earlier than he expected.
 

Check out www.Pound4Pound.com  for all the latest boxing news.

By William Trillo

I knew it was too good to be true. The negotiations for the Super Fight that everyone on the planet has been waiting for seemed to be going along just swimmingly. In what has to be considered world record time, it is reported that both Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao agreed in principal to proceed with the Welterweight title fight that would hold the entire world captive on March 13th of 2010. The money that would be generated for this blockbuster could go into the stratosphere and with that in mind both fighters knew this was a no brainer and the fight had to get made ASAP.

Too bad their promoters, that being Richard Schaefer and Bob Arum don’t see things quite as clearly as the fighters. Within the last 48 hours it looks like a huge monkey wrench has been thrown into the Mega-Fight Machine.

With HUGE venues across the country salivating all over themselves to hold the can’t lose fight, offers were coming in from Miami, New Orleans, Dallas*, Los Angeles and of course Las Vegas.

Many boxing pundits believe this fight has to be treated as the extravaganza of the Century and MUST be held in a 100,000 seat arena. With that thought in mind the one owner that was garnering some huge interest and could promise a Super Bowlesque spectacular event was Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones who was looking to fill his brand new 100,000 plus seats with boxing fans on that March date.

With record shattering numbers of 20 million dollar fees to host the fight as a backdrop, Schaefer and Arum had a meeting scheduled with Jones for midweek to see what Jerry had to offer but at the last moment Schaefer pulled out and said he would not be going to Texas for the meeting and he had no interest in the fight landing deep in the heart of Texas. An embarrassed Arum who didn’t see this coming said, ”I’m just embarrassed, really embarrassed…There was no point in me going then, my guy can’t go into the ring and just take bows. He needs an opponent.”

That may have been the first problem between the two promoters but as it looks now it won’t be the last. The January 6th New York press conference set to kick off the press tour for the fight doesn’t seem so certain now.

Since the Texas snag it has been reported that Arum has turned over the negotiation duties for the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao affair to his son in law Todd duBoef. I am not sure how Schaefer or anyone at Golden Boy reads that move but it looks like Arum may have already had enough.

The Los Angeles Staple Center has also had a 20 million dollar offer rejected and both Miami and New Orelans can forget about it as well.

Regardless of whether or not you think this fight belongs in a state of the art 100,000 seat arena or not it’s pretty plain to see that although the fighters are ready, willing and able to scrap it’s the promoters who are throwing the first feeling out punches, all in the name of the almighty dollar of course. Should that greed become the proverbial Monkey Wrench in this Mega-Fight Machine you can rest assured the truce between Golden Boy and Top Rank will come to a grinding and permanent halt.

For the sake of boxing it’s imperative that the two promotional companies come to terms, and they better do so in rapid fashion. If they should happen to let this one get away you can look for all those “Boxing is Dying” antagonists to get their “I told you so’s,” locked and loaded.  

* Just thinking out loud…I know there are plenty of my peers who are all in favor of this fight being held in Dallas and I understand a large number of boxing writers want to see this fight in as large a venue as possible but apparently many forget the state of Texas is renowned for miscues and misfiring by the referees and judges at a pretty consistent clip (See this weekends Diaz vs. Malignaggi rematch.)

Why on Earth anyone would hope this fight ends up in Dallas,Texas and possibly under the authority of Laurence Cole is beyond me. I for one am glad this fight won’t be going to Texas, not with what we have seen recently transpire under it’s commission! As I recall the new Yankee Stadium in New York has been suggested by Arum for other Top Rank promoted boxing events, why not this one. My point is there are other places to go besides Texas, they  have had more than their share of chances and in my book they blew it. And although I try not to venture to far out of the boxing angle, allow me to remind Jerry Jones and everyone else for that matter that his team is currently fighting for their playoff lives and finish up the season with games against San Diego, New Orleans and Philly, no easy task. My suggestion to Jones is to pay more attention to “them ‘Boys”. If you can find a way for those guys to make a legit run in the playoffs you won’t have to worry so much about how you supplement your income in the off season. 

Check out www.Pound4Pound.com for all the latest boxing news.

By William Trillo
Photo-Chop: Bret “The Threat” Newton

In HBO’s opening to their broadcast this weekend they made it pretty clear that although Chris Arreola said all the right things after his beat down loss at the hands of Vitali Klitschko that he showed his true colors by weighing in 12 pounds heavier than he did against Klitschko. HBO pretty much dismissed Arreola as a “viable” contender, and rightly so. At 263 pounds Arreola came in heavier than in any other fight of his career and it’s hard to believe he is going to get any lighter anytime soon.

Yet after Arreola’s blowout victory over the tough club fighter Brian Minto, the ever surprising Max Kellerman went straight man for Arreola allowing him to make light of his weight and chuckled with Arreola along the way. In his post fight interview Max Kellerman questioned Arreola about his high weight coming in at 263 lbs and asked if this is just who he is and we should all learn to live with it. In his response Arreola smiled and joked about how he gets hungry at night time and that the great Mexican food drive-thru Alberto’s is open 24 hours.

I am not amused.

Here we go again! Is HBO and Dan Goossen going to once again coddle Arreola with a fist full of “Ham & Eggers” and then try to sell him off as the best Heavyweight America has to offer? Better yet, is the American boxing public going to buy into that load of B.S. once again?

If so then get ready for the famous Laurel and Hardy line, “This is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into!”

Look…Minto was landing flush right hands to Arreola’s grill but at 5 ft. 10 in. and 218 pounds those punches were doing no damage whatsoever. If Arreola gets back in there with the cream of the crop, that being either Klitschko, he will once again get beaten into submission.

Speaking of the cream of the crop, Arreola went on to say in the Kellerman conducted post fight comedy show that this proves he is a top 10 heavyweight, maybe even top 5.

Here’s a dose of reality for you. As I write this report, with the exception of the WBO Arreola does not rank in the top 15 of any of the major sanctioning bodies and is only as high as 9 by WBO standards. Even Boxrec only lists Arreola at 13. I am not sure where or when this top 5 or 10 idea crossed his mind, but it’s far from the truth.

The truth is Chris just fought a guy who lost to a 46 year old Tony Tubbs. The truth is Chris fought a guy who was shorter than the 2 middleweights on the under card. The truth is until Chris finds the discipline to get himself under 240 pounds he will always be good for some post fight laughs but when it comes to winning a World title the joke will always be on him.      

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Coming off his dismal performance at the hands of Champion Vitali Klitschko, former Heavyweight title contender Chris Arreola tipped the scales on Friday at his career high of a whopping 263 pounds. In his post fight speech after getting stopped by Klitschko Arreola cried like a baby and swore like a truck driver while he promised us that he would be back. Well he is back but apparently the lopsided loss did nothing for his lack of proper training and now an HBO audience will see Chris at his pudgy best…or worst. I guess I could make some kind of wisecrack here but this situation is no longer funny, it’s just sad. 

Ward & Chambers Employ Steroid Cocktail Maker Conte

The Los Angeles Times has reported that both Super Middleweight Champ Andre Ward and Heavyweight title hopeful Eddie Chambers have employed the services of convicted doping mastermind Victor Conte. Conte pleaded guilty to steroid distribution and money laundering and served four months in federal prison.

The report quotes Conte as saying in regard to Ward using him prior to defeating Mikkell Kessler, “It’s worked exactly as I hoped it would.”

Whatever that means.

In the report it is stated that Eddie Chambers is using Conte’s services as he makes ready for Wladimir Klitschko.

Even if Conte is clean, why have him in your camp and the stigma that comes with it whether you are clean or not.

This is a huge gaff by both Ward & Chambers. Ward’s victory over Kessler will now always be second guessed and Chambers new physique opens the door to a ton of questions.

I am sure that it’s merely an unfortunate coincidence that the three fighters mentioned in today’s blog are promoted by Dan Goossen.

Or not!

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