Room To Move
By William Trillo
Hello William,
Well, I didn’t imagine I’d be thinking to myself Sunday morning… “Gee, I’m sure glad I couldn’t make it to Cozumel for Librado’s fight that would have been a total waste of time.”
Honestly, that’s not exactly what I was thinking. It would have been great to see Librado, whether the fight went on or not, and I’ve never been to Cozumel. Cozumel looks way more inviting this time of year than Montreal or Copenhagen! I’m afraid I just couldn’t pull off the trip.
I was a bit sad Saturday evening that I had no way of watching the fight here at home, and the only thing that was going to cheer me up was to see Carl Froch destroy Andre Ward… I know you’re such a fan of the Super Six fiasco; you must have been on pins and needles! Well, it turned out that playing with my grandson was way more entertaining than the Froch – Ward fight, so the evening wasn’t a complete bust.
I pretty much resigned myself to just keeping up with Librado’s fight online. The first thing I saw was on Fightnews.com, and it looked bad. Of course, it didn’t get any better, and I’m sure Librado and Donovan both must be very disappointed. Fightnews reported the ring to be 15.5’, and Donovan’s contract called for a minimum of 18.5’. I looked at Fightnews again Sunday morning and some posts were up with the story, mostly supporting Donovan George’s decision. My initial reaction was to agree with George’s decision as well, and I started getting ready for work.
Using the Fightnews numbers of 18.5’ versus 15.5’, the difference in square footage would be 102 square feet. That’s slightly more than a 10’ x 10’ area, not exactly a huge space, but I suppose enough room for a boxer to get some work done.
I don’t know much about Donovan George, and I’m afraid I’ve never seen him fight. Judging from his KO percentage, I may be incorrectly assuming that he’s an aggressive fighter and that like Librado, he might actually benefit from a smaller ring. I’m quite sure that Librado would have had no qualms about the size of the ring, as long as the ref could tell he was in a neutral corner in the event of a knockdown. Again, I don’t know much about Donovan George, but I have to say, I think his management team did him a huge disservice by calling off this fight.
Dale
————————————————————————————————————-
Hey Dale,
Thanks for the email!
First of all I agree it was a huge disservice to Donovan but the responsibility is not on his management team. That disservice lies firmly on the shoulders of his promoter Leon Margules.
Neon Leon was barking to everyone within earshot that fighting in Mexico was not to his liking and he knew something like this would happen. If he really had that kind of foresight he would have had either himself or someone on his staff in place to see to it everything went according to plan. Instead he and his assistant were in Las Vegas pandering to Jose Sulaiman and the WBC.
Like you, I believed George was more of a slugger than a mover but subtle hints and innuendo suggested maybe his game plan was to move during this fight. It’s hard to say how that plan would have worked as we all know that once a battle ensues and you get busted in the mouth a lot of the pre-fight strategy gets tossed out the window and reflexes and old habits take over. It’s hard to say what might have happened in any size ring and it’s even harder to say that we will ever find out.
Sorry you got stuck watching that Super Six finale, I hear it was a real let down…what a surprise. :/
Now that Ward has won that disaster of a tournament and apparently is going to abandon Lucian Bute, maybe Margules can get his fighter a shot at Andre. If he does Leon can expect to fight in Wards hometown of Oakland, California. We know how unhappy Margules was about bringing his fighter to Andrade’s home of Mexico, I can’t imagine he would be any more thrilled about beautiful downtown Oakland. I also assume that 15 x 15 foot ring will start looking pretty enticing this time, the last thing he will want to do is give Ward any kind of room to move.
I have Pepe Gomez’s contact info and would be glad to supply it to Margules for a small fee and a better ranking with the WBC. If he gives Pepe more than a 45 minute notice I am sure he will be able to get that ring to Northern California in time for the fight.
Dale, you know Andrade and I am sure you read the interview he did this week on Boxingscene where he said that he would rather get beat up than pull out of a fight. That’s the fighter his fans have come to know and love.
Librado is going to land on his feet and whether he fights George or gets a direct path to Lucian Bute no one will question his willingness to fight and give everything he has no matter if he is fighting in a phone booth or an airport hangar.
Check out www.Pound4Pound.com for all the latest boxing news
How about we just put blame on the LOCAL promoter for not having the good damn sense to get a 20 x 20 ring. They had good notice that this fight was going to happen and as soon as they got the call from Golden Boy or Leon, they should have is gotten the 20 x 20 ring.
Think of it as going to a football game and instead of it being 50 by 100 its 45 by 75. Or the Goal posts being wider, a pitching mound being 90 feet back instead of 60 feet.
Maybe the best thing is that certain places in Mexico should not have boxing events because they are ill equipped to host the event. This is a professional event and not romper room.
Great analogy Mark,
Now I have one for you.
Think of yourself as a hard working man who finally put yourself in position to not only buy a home but you are able to have it built to order.
You hire a contractor and you give him the plans and you let him start building your dream home.
After the home is finished you take a look at it for the first time and realize instead of 20,000 sq.ft. it is only 15,000 sq. ft.
Now not only do you walk away from your home but everything you worked so hard for has been washed down the drain.
Do you think you would have saved everyone including yourself a lot of grief if you had the foresight to check the construction every so often to make sure things were going as planned?
Or maybe you were just too busy partying in Las Vegas and didn’t give a hoot.
Go ahead and blame someone else for your shortcomings…everyone else does.
So how come this has NEVER happened in Europe, Japan, or even the United States?
Here is an analogy for you. Imagine if Librado Andrade went to Montreal to take on Bute for a third time. but the day before Oscar and Golden Boy find out… gasp… the ring is not 20×20 but instead 28×28.
Instead of having a fair shot, Andrade would have to spend more time chasing Bute around the ring and Bute would have more time to manuever. You, Golden Boy and Haymon would blow a gasket and demand that the ring be fixed.
Do you think Arum, Universum, Saureland, DiBella or any other decent promoter would have dealt with this?
What Margules did might not have been kosher but any promoter whom let his fighter walk into the opponents back yard into a smaller ring with a bigger puncher would be crucified.
Not blaming Andrade, Golden Boy, George or anyone of conspiracies. Unfortunately some places just shouldn’t host boxing events because they can’t deliver something simple.
Forget the house… this is something that even a child could get right. This is like your dream house being built out of straw instead of brick, concrete or wood.
Gee Mark…it’s almost as if you know what you are talking about for once.
Enough of the analogies, let’s get to some facts.
Did you know in the first Bute fight the ring was 24 x 24?
That squared circle was huge!
No one from Team Andrade complained. We were fighting in Bute’s adopted home and we expected the pendulum would swing towards Lucian.
During the prelude to that same fight the fighters picked their gloves for the show. An hour or two later Interbox called Andrade’s promoter, (who by the way was present all week), and told him they did not approve of the gloves Andrade picked and they would have to pick other gloves!!
Golden Boy representative got in touch with Andrade’s manager Al Haymon and during a three way conversation the issue was resolved and the gloves Andrade picked were once again in play.
Fight day came along at The Bell Center in Montreal and as the preliminary fights were going down Andrade went through his pre-fight preparation. Sometime during the semi-main event someone from Interbox came into Librado’s dressing room, set down some gloves and then scurried away without a word.
As soon as Librado picked them up he knew he got hustled and said to his trainer, “Howard, these are not the gloves, these are not my gloves!” Grant looked at the gloves and sure enough they were not the gloves Andrade picked, they were not even the same style! ” NO NO NO, that’s it, the fight is off, this is too much now!” Andrades management was contacted and they told him he did not have to fight.
Not only did Andradre fight in the huge ring with inferior gloves but to this day no one has given Bute that kind of challenge. Had it not been for a hometown referee Andrade would have won by KO as he demolished Lucian.
A little known sidebar to this story is that Librado went into the fight with one arm as he suffered a Glen Johnson type injury late in camp.
If ever there was a time to pull out of a fight, this was it, yet, Andrade chose to fight on.
I could get into logistics here and tell you how while Andrade was staying at a second rate hotel Bute was lounging in Montreal’s best 5 star accommodation….but that would just be sour grapes.
Now ask yourself, why have you never heard any of this until now?
Why didn’t Andrade cry and complain back then?
Answer: Because Librado is a fighter, and fighters fight! Simple as that.
You might want to check out this article done on Boxingscene this week as well.
Thanks for writing Mark! Check out trhe article below.
http://www.boxingscene.com/andrade-id-rather-get-beat-up-not-fight-all–47587
So because Golden Boy doesn’t care for Librado, Margules should do the same?
I am not bagging on Golden Boy, nor do I fault Team Librado. And I respect librado for his toughness and being a class act.
Simple fact is that if the Mexican boxing heads (the same group that allows Panama Lewis and Javier Capetillo to work corners… shameful) were competent, they would have had a 20×20 ring in Cozumel and none of this would have happened.
Marguelles just did what a good promoter/manager did and not allow his fighters honor and toughness cloud common sense.
Mark,
Your last two comments lean toward a bit of prejudicial nonsense than anything in my opinion.
Blame the Mexicans…it certainly wouldn’t happen anywhere else.
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
If it was up you and Margules the “Mexicans” would be stuck cleaning rooms and picking fruit….right?
Then tell me Bill…
Has that ever happened in California, Texas, New York, Las Vegas or even Puerto Rico?
I don’t care if Mexicans, Africans or Ompa Lumpa’s run a boxing card… if the contract says 20×20 and the ring is 15×15 then either someone is incompetent or corrupt.
Funny how you blast Canada for doing something similiar and nail them to the wall, but this happens in Cozumel and its sort of “Team George and Co” are babies and should have seen this earlier. That they are to blame for the Cozumel comish and Golden Boy for bringing in a 15×15 ring.
Don’t be like Rafael and be biased towards your binkys!
C’mon Mark,
You know me better than that.
Not once did anyone complain about those issues in Canada before or after the fight. All I was saying is that in that case Andrade chose to fight and did pretty darn well all things considered.
If anyone is on my Binky list it is Canada, I love those guys…even Bute.
When I cover Librado’s fights I always give equal time to both sides, my reports reflect that from open workouts to press conferences and weigh-ins.
Although I do hold Margules accountable for questionable priorities I have NEVER pointed a finger of blame on Donovan or his inner team….NEVER!
I have been very fortunate to be invited to cover Andrade’s fights since that Bute fight but I have always been fair in my reports and when he got beat by Lucian the second time I wrote it as it was, even posting pictures of a stunned Librado getting counted out.
I’d love to see the ring the oompa loompas would provide, I am guessing a 15×15 footer would be huge to them.
I will try to sleep tonight but that comparing me to Rafael blast is sure to cause some serious nightmares….I hope I don’t wake up and find I have tried to eat my pillow dreaming it was a Cozumel Burrito.