Billy’s Boxing Blog

By William Trillo

I would like to start by wishing everyone a Happy New Year, may 2012 be a prosperous one for all. As you may or may not know, I took a bit of hiatus once the holiday season got into full swing but there are just a few things I wanted to get off my chest so I could start out 2012 with a clean slate.

First, there is the WBC and the situation with their Middleweight title (Gold, Silver, Diamond or otherwise). If I am not mistaken Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is presently their champion and although the number one contender, Marco Antonio Rubio keeps winning, somehow the WBC has found a path for Chavez Jr. that takes a detour around Rubio. Personally, I don’t know how this keeps going on but it’s time for Junior to face the music. Much to my dismay rumblings have been heard that Sergio Martinez will be next in line for Chavez Jr. There is also noise that Junior will finally face Rubio and that winner will get a shot with Martinez. The latter makes more sense to me and I hope that is what transpires. No more excuses…PLEASE.

Speaking of Middleweights, although it wasn’t awe inspiring, I think the time off and the move back to 160 pounds is just what the doctor ordered for Jermain Taylor. I will be the first to admit he is far from the form that saw him beat Bernard Hopkins twice but I saw glimpses of Taylor on Friday night that reminded me of the Taylor we knew back in the day. Yes, I know beating Jessie Nicklow does not put him in title contention, but with a couple more fights to shake off the rust I think Jermain and that jab could once again be a force at 160 pounds.

On the same Friday night card we saw the return of Super Middleweight Andre Dirrell. “The Matrix” looked fine, but he too was facing second rate competition as he KO’d Darryl Cunningham in 2 less than memorable rounds. My only trouble with this victory is that the WBC, (them again), have put Andre back in the number one spot in their rankings. That seems very premature to me. We are talking about a guy who claimed neurological damage after his fight with Arthur Abraham. I really think giving him the number one slot to face the Champion Andre Ward is…well…ridiculous. Especially since it seems pretty apparent the Andre’s really don’t want a fight to get in the way of their friendship.

In regard to Ward, although I didn’t see his victory over Carl Froch, from all accounts I heard he put a good beatdown Froch and I congratulate him for that. It took three calendar years but finally we have “Super Six” Champion. I tip my hat to Ward.

What comes as no surprise to me is the fact that Ward shows little or no interest in fighting IBF 168 pound champ Lucian Bute. I am not suggesting that Ward is ducking Bute either. I had heard for a while that a few involved in the “Super Six” took offense to the fact that Bute saw it as some kind of “fight-off” to get the right to fight him, and quite frankly, I don’t blame them. Although I think Lucian is a premier 168 pounder I thought it was a tad arrogant for him to suggest the ” Super Six” winner would somehow be worthy to get a shot at him… I mean really, who does he think he is?

On Bute, it looks like there is a two fight deal in the works for him to take on Carl Froch, with the first fight in Montreal. This comes as no surprise to me as Lucian’s promoter, Interbox’s Jean Bedard was recently quoted as saying he was glad the Andrade vs. George bout was postponed as it would give him time to make another fight for Bute before he had to face Andrade or George who would be Lucian’s mandatory defense. “We have no interest in fighting Andrade again,” said Bedard.

Mr. Bedard, if you are looking for the “Promoter’s Reason Not To Fight Andrade” line you will have to get in the queue right behind Leon Margules.

In closing I would like to tell Raider fan that settling for 50 yard field goals, lousy special teams and piss poor clock management will never get you into the playoffs. Have fun hanging your hat on that most penalties by a team in one year record you set yesterday…see ya’ next year.

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

This entry was posted on Monday, January 2nd, 2012 at 12:16 pm and is filed under Boxing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.