Billy’s Boxing Blog

By William Trillo
Photos: El Quequi. Juan Alberto Salazar

It was on the morning of September 19th, 2009 in Las Vegas that Golden Boy Promotions proudly announced to the media in attendance that they had secured a deal to promote the WBA Super Featherweight Champion Jorge Linares. With a packed media room that was in town to cover the Mayweather vs. Marquez fight later that evening you could see the sense of anticipation in the air as the new promoters proudly displayed their newest edition to the roster.

But in one foul swoop they cursed Linares by reminding everyone in the room that his nickname “El Niño de Oro” litelly translating to The Golden Boy.

And with that Linares was doomed.

Call me crazy, but like the Sports Illustrated cover curse on athletes, tabbing anyone the next “Golden Boy” is not doing fighters any favors. Whether they are calling you “The Golden Child” or pointing out their newest find not only grew up in the same city but shares the same birthday with Oscar, it’s just asking for trouble.

In his first fight under his new promotional contract, Linares promptly went out and lost his WBA tltle to Juan Carlos Salgado via first round KO.

Need I say more?

Fast forward to Saturday night, March 31st in Cancun, Mexico.

Before the end of round two Jorge “Nino de Oro” Linares (31-3, 20 KOs) finds himself bloodied and on his hands and knees while a referee is counting. Linares gets up only to have the fight stopped by the doctor due to damage done over his left eye. Little known Sergio “Yeyo” Thompson (21-2, 19 KOs) scored a second round TKO over the former two-division world champion in a WBC lightweight title eliminator.

From the outset Linares was tasting right hands and a pretty impressive clip. Thompson was landing them at will and before it was over Linares was sliced up yet again.

To those who said the DeMarco loss was tainted by a bad stoppage, maybe you better think again. DeMarco’s promoter Gary Shaw told Pound4Pound this weekend, “No one gave Antonio the credit he deserves. He took Linares heart, and Saturday once again proved that.”

And to those hoping for a DeMarco rematch, it’s highly doubtful.Thompson is now in line to face WBC champion Antonio DeMarco. Shaw left a glimmer of hope for the rematch by adding, “It,(the rematch), will depend on the WBC and Showtime.

It could be that Linares faced inferior competition all those years in Japan and when he finally stepped up into the big leagues he could not handle the curves.

Or, it could be that tabbing anyone the next “Golden Boy” has some kind of Voodoo-like hex that dooms the career of anyone that spell is cast upon.

Look…Oscar De La Hoya had a great and one of kind of career that can not be imitated nor can it be recreated. What he did was special and stands on it’s own. Trying to conjure up another Oscar will ALWAYS fall short and miss the mark.

RED ALERT TO ALL UPCOMING FIGHTERS: DO NOT ALLOW ANYONE TO TAB YOU THE NEXT “GOLDEN BOY”. THEY ARE COMING AT YOU WITH A FISTFUL OF PYRITE….FOOLS GOLD.

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

By William Trillo

On Saturday afternoon one of my internet writing peers informed me that the fights broadcast on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights from Pharr, Texas took place in a 15 foot by 8 inch ring. He also told me that I might be interested in the promoter of record for the event, so at his suggestion I thought I would check things out. After doing a few searches on the internet I decided my best bet would be to get in touch with ESPN’s Joe Tessitore since he called the action from ringside. It was no sooner that I reached out to Joe that he was quick to oblige my request for an interview.

Pound4Pound: Hello Joe, thanks for taking my call on short notice. I wanted to ask you about the fights you called on Friday night. It was brought to my attention that you mentioned the size of the ring that night and I wanted to get your thoughts on the matter.

Joe Tessitore: Yes, I saw the ring was small, but the only reason I was referring to the 15 foot 8 inch ring was because my staff had given me that information. I didn’t step in there with a tape measure, I was reporting that our staff had measured it out. It’s just like when HBO or we report weights from our unofficial scale, and I did refer to it as unofficially we measured it at 15′ 8″ although they were calling it a 16 foot ring.

P4P: To the best of your knowledge was everyone involved okay and compliant with the ring size as far as you knew?

JT: I don’t know if anyone registered a complaint with the commissioner. The point we made, as Teddy mentioned, it as a point of analogy and strategy and he made it a point to say the ring favored the more plodding type of inside fighter. It just was about the fact that it did not favor Antwone Smith but leaned more to the favor of Roberto Garcia. And that was obviously the case as Garcia took the fight to the inside and Antwone did not have the room to maneuver. At one point Teddy made reference to the fact at how much this ring favored Garcia, the inside fighter. Smith is a cute fighter who likes to duck and move and he was not going to win this one with in-fighting

P4P: Did you notice if the ring size came into play in any of the other fights?

JT: In the first fight I don’t know if it played a roll. I think lack of experience hurt Brunson in that fight. Brunson likes to punch and that could have helped in that smaller ring, but he just flat out lost the fight.

P4P: Is this one of the smallest rings you have covered?

JT: William, I covered fights back at The Blue Horizon and those rings were very tiny. I have done thousands of fights and it’s hard for Teddy or I to speak in superlatives so it’s hard for us to start ranking things like that. We have broadcast more fights than any broadcasters in the modern era of the game. I imagine we have covered some 30 fights or more that we have broadcast in front of a tiny ring in some of these small casinos and remote locations we have attended. There have been places where I got in the ring myself and paced it of and said, “Wow this is small!” I recall pacing one off and it being under 16 feet. But it’s typical boxing, anything can go under the circumstances. It all depends on the jurisdiction and who the promoter is.

P4P: That was my next question. Do you know who the promoter of this fight card?

JT: I am not sure who the promoter of record was nor do I know who the promoter in charge of operations was. I tend to not get in on this business side, I let our operations people handle that. I spend my week preparing to cover the fight in the ring.

P4P: Fair enough. Tell me, whats on tap for next week?

JT: We got Hank Lundy next week and we are expecting one helluva fight.

I want to personally thank Joe for taking some of his free time on the weekend to get in touch with us and allowing this interview to take place. It means a lot to us.

For the record, by all accounts Warriors Boxing Promotions was the promoter of record. They are headed up by Leon Margules who recently pulled his fighter Don George out of a fight that was scheduled to take place in a ring only 8 inches smaller than the ring used in his promoted fights this weekend. Marines Boxing Promotions was handling the operations that night so it’s possible Margules was not aware of the size of the ring.

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

By William Trillo

We have all the seen the pictures of an overweight, sweaty and labored Elvis Presley doing everything he could on stage to salvage his career and give us glimpses of a once popular star. All kidding aside, it was pretty sad to watch as he pathetically grasped for one more night in the spotlight.

On Friday Erik Morales weighed in 2 pounds over the Jr. Welter limit of 140 pounds and gave away his title at the scales. Morales will fight on tonight against Danny Garcia but quite frankly this appears to be nothing more than his own pathetic last grab at the spotlight.

The WBC put it perfectly in their statement about Morales when they said, “The World Boxing Council (WBC) deeply regrets that a great idol of our organization loses his title on the scale, as he could not make the limit of the super lightweight division today during the official weigh-in ceremony in Houston, Texas.”

No doubt Morales is an idol to many, and always will be, but to see him go out like this will forever taint his storied career. To hear that his first reaction to being overweight was to quickly guzzle a bottle of Gatorade instead of trying one more time to make the limit is a slap in the face too many.

It’s a slap in the face to boxing fans who were waiting to see their champion defend his belt.

It’s a slap in the face to Garcia who worked hard to make the weight only to see the man he was set to face apparently could not care less.

It’s a slap in the face to every fighter in professional boxing who give every ounce of their blood, sweat and tears just to get a chance to compete in the squared circle.

Boxing has been good to Morales and to see him pull this stunt is without excuse. He should be ashamed of himself.

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

By William Trillo

Hindsight is 20/20
As defined by Urbandictionary.com:

b. Also allows one to learn from their mistakes.

When the final bell rang at the end of round ten of the Edwin Rodriguez vs. Donovan George USBA Super Middleweight title fight you have to wonder if George’s promoter Leon Margules thought to himself, “Damn, we should have fought Librado Andrade in Mexico in that 15′ x 15′ ring or I should have kept my word and rescheduled the Andrade fight right away.”

If he didn’t, he should have.

Why you ask?

Because under the advice of Margules the following transpired:

1. George gave up taking on Andrade in a sanctioned IBF eliminator that would have put the winner in the ring with IBF Super middleweight Champion Lucian Bute by mid-April of this year.

2. Because he withdrew from the IBF eliminator on the advice of his promoter George, without even fighting mind you, was promptly dropped from the IBF top ten and will remain at 11 or lower for six months no matter what.

3. George lost his USBA belt in his first defense in front of a huge HBO boxing audience.

4. Boxrec.com has already dropped Donovan from the number nine spot all the way down to number 35 and you can expect all the sanctioning bodies to follow suit.

Of course, it is very probable that George’s purse to fight Rodriguez at Madison Square Garden on HBO was substantially heftier than fighting Andrade in Cozumel, Mexico on Televisa. But that would fly in the face of everything Margules proudly *bloviated shortly after having Donovan pull out of the Andrade fight at the 11th hour. “This has nothing to do with the money! This is about getting my fighter a shot at Lucian Bute,” barked Margules.

Really?

It’s not about the money?

Then why did Margules make the lucrative HBO deal with Lou DiBella while everyone including the IBF thought he was in negotiations to reschedule the Andrade fight, a fight by the way if George won would have given him that shot at Bute?

And speaking of money, when I told Margules I thought he just screwed 2 fighters out of a payday that night he was quick to “impress” everyone within earshot, (100 feet in any direction), by shouting, “My fighter didn’t get screwed. I am going to pay him the $20,000 he was supposed to make tonight myself.”

Hmmm.

Somewhere in the middle of Saturday nights fight the HBO commentators stated that after losing out on the $32,000 he would have made fighting Andrade, Donovan told them that he had to borrow money to just to get to Saturday nights fight.

Two things came to my mind immediately after HBO made that revelation.

1. I wonder if Margules really gave George that money like he said?

2. Why was the amount Margules said he was going to give his fighter $12,000 less than the HBO announced purse? Unless of course he was skimming off the top, but c’mon, promoters never do that. :/

That was a huge roll of the dice by Margules but the problem is he was playing craps with a fighters career and unfortunately that roll came up *Snake Eyes.

Hindsight is 20/20 definition b. says, Also allows one to learn from their mistakes.

In this case I hope Donovan will learn from this and when his promotional contract is up I hope he thinks long and hard before he puts his *John Hancock on ANY new contract.

Look, George fought a courageous fight and never gave up. The problem is he was outgunned by the sharp shooter Rodriguez who used a perfect game plan to keep George at bay all night. It was clear from the outset that all George had in his arsenal was his right hand and it never hit it’s mark cleanly. Oh sure, he came close a few times but without any other real weapons Rodriguez could see those bombs coming the moment they were launched and he defended himself perfectly.

There is no doubt in my mind Donovan will be back and we will see him in high action fights again. With a little fine tuning and the proper advisement there is no reason he can’t entertain boxing fans again.

* bloviate: to discourse at length in a pompous or boastful manner.

* snake eyes: rolling double 1′s (2 in total) on the first roll of a street dice game. If this happens the roller loses all his bet automatically, and screams SNAKE EYES in frustration.

* John Hancock: a signature. Derives from John Hancock’s signature, which was written in large letters, on the Declaration of Independence.

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

By William Trillo

Always great to hear from our readers. Let’s see what David McGarry has to say about the St. Patrick’s Day HBO Main Event.

Dear William,

David McGarry
——————————————-

Thanks David

Always appreciate your finely tuned thoughts! Let’s see if Macklin can make his folks proud.

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

By William Trillo

Campillo Denial

As most of us know already, The IBF denied Gabriel Campillo’s request for an immediate rematch with light heavyweight titleholder Tavoris Cloud, who won a split decision to retain his belt in a controversial fight on Feb. 18.

We asked IBF President Daryl J. Peoples if he would help us better understand the decision made by the IBF in this matter. Peoples said, “That’s true, we did deny him. If a fighter wants an immediate rematch he can request that rematch under rule 5K which states the championship chairman can order a rematch. You can also go with a formal appeal under rule 12, but we have no authority to overturn a decision as unpopular as it may be.”

“The grounds for an appeal are very specific. One is a miscalculation of the score; two is conduct by the referee that has a material affect on the fight and three, if some sort of willful wrong doing takes place. While a lot of people found the decision unpopular and many did not agree with the decision, for us to order a rematch it would have to fit pretty tightly into one of those criteria’s. I know the boxing fans don’t like to hear that kind of answer but scoring in professional boxing is subjective. I don’t know what Texas has determined but we could not determine any wrongdoing by these officials so it just didn’t fit into a situation we would require to overturn the decision.

IBF Super Middleweight Mandatory

All eyes have been on the Super Middleweights for quite sometime now thanks to the “Super-Six” and it’s abundance of talent. “Super-Six” not withstanding, the IBF has a pretty big star all on their own in their 168 pound champ Lucian Bute.

Librado Andrade and Donovan George were scheduled to fight for an IBF 168 pound title eliminator in December of last year with the winner getting a crack at Lucian but George was yanked from the show by his promoter Leon Margules, who also did not remain true to his word to reschedule the bout opting instead to fight on an HBO card on St. Patty’s weekend. That left the IBF to change direction and we wanted to know how Adonis Stevenson jumped up in the rankings seemingly instantly to become a mandatory candidate and who would be facing him in the other mandatory slot.

“We offered Librado Andrade a chance to fight in another number one eliminator (against Adonis Stevenson) and he declined,” said Peoples. “Adonis was ranked by the IBF. Let me explain how we do it, (select fighters to fight for the number one mandatory position). We go down our list of top five fighters available, not necessarily the top fighters numerically, but if you are one of the top five available you are eligible to fight for an eliminator. And by the way, in the IBF you can’t get to the number one or number two spot without fighting a 12 round eliminator, so in the case of Andrade, when George backed out we just couldn’t name Librado the number one contender.”

With that said I inquired with Peoples about the Andrade/George situation and asked for his view on the dilemma. “Right up until the time that Donovan George announced he was going to go in another direction I know for sure that Andrade’s people and George’s people were negotiating, they were trying to get the fight made. But when Donovan George pulled out of the eliminator, as per our rules he was promptly dropped to number 11 and he will stay below 10 for the next 6 months.”

“Good,” I replied. “Quite frankly I would like to see him go below 20 for the next year. Peoples chuckled and said, “That is not for me to determine.”

Peoples noted, “Even if the Andrade/George fight got made and moved up a bit that would have not changed the date of Bute’s mandatory (Spring of 2012), the winner just would have had less time to prepare for Bute.”

I understand Peoples remaining neutral, but I don’t have to and I told him my feelings on the matter, “In my opinion Donovan’s entire team made a conscience effort to stay as far away as possible from Librado Andrade.”

Peoples replied,”My personal feelings aside, I can only go by what the respective fight camps tell us.”

Getting back to the champ, Lucian Bute, Peoples noted, “Once Bute fights his mandatory the two leading available contenders will be ordered to participate in an eliminator to find out who the number one contender is that will become his next mandatory defense.”

As we now know, Andrade passed on the spot and now it appears Adonis Stevenson is heading another direction, so only time will tell who will be left in those apparently unenviable available spots.

Trudging forward I asked the IBF President, “At this time is Carl Froch considered Bute’s mandatory?”

“Yes he is,” said Peoples, “that’s because both Edwin Rodriguez and Arthur Abraham (the fighters ranked above Froch) are already scheduled for other fights.”

“Assuming Bute defeats Froch how long does he have before he has to make his mandatory defense,” I asked.

“He has nine months,” stated Peoples.

With his fight against Froch set for May 26th that means the earliest Lucian will be forced to make a mandatory defense, assuming he beats Froch, is late February of 2013. When you take into consideration Bute is already talking about a 2 fight deal with Froch and a possible Super-Fight with Andre Ward after that, expecting Lucian to keep that February 2013 date is wishful thinking at best in my opinion.

I’d like to thank both Daryl Peoples and Jeanette Salazar for taking the time to make this interview possible.

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

By William Trillo

Nowadays, when our favorite heroes fail to live up to expectations it’s not uncommon for them to deal the “I have an addiction” card and tell you that their problems are the direct result of his said, “illness”.

Juan Manuel Lopez took that to a whole new level this weekend when after getting brutally KO’d by Orlando Salido, (for the second time in as many fights), Juanma pointed the fickle finger of blame directly at the referee Robert Ramirez, who mercifully stopped the action before Lopez could face more of Salido’s wrath.

Juanma said referee Ramirez had a gambling habit that was the motive for his decision to stop the fight. “In the first fight, his son (Roberto Ramirez Jr.) stopped it,” Lopez told Showtime’s Jim Gray. “Now the father stopped it. The referee stopped the fight because he has gambling problems. I told the (Puerto Rican Boxing) Commission the referee was a gambler. “And they did wrong as putting him as the referee. It was very irresponsible for putting him as the referee knowing he has a gambling problem.”

Gambling problem or not, Ramirez did the right thing by stopping the fight when he did. The only gamble that would have transpired in the ring at that point would have been for Ramirez to gamble with Lopez’s life by allowing him to fight on in a round that had over 2 minutes left.

Since his ill-advised accusations Lopez has apologized for his statement but it does not appear Ramirez is ready to forgive and forget so quickly. Ramirez is demanding a formal and world-wide apology from Lopez and with that there is no guarantee Ramirez still won’t be filing defamation of character charges.

More importantly for Juanma, this was his moment to recapture the hearts of his Puerto Rican fans, and quite frankly, up to that point the fight was a classic and win, lose or draw Lopez may have won back the fans he had lost over the past year. Unfortunately for him, with the bowl of sour grapes he served up on Showtime it’s likely Juanma has dug a hole for himself that will be difficult to climb out of.

Talk of a rematch surfaced immediately after the fight from both fighters but again, this is a gamble that will only produce more losers than winners. Salido has given Lopez the beatdown convincingly twice now and seeing a third installment is just asking for disaster. Personally I would like to see Juanma take a long break from boxing and get his life back in order.

It is truly a shame to see what has happened to Lopez. Here is a kid who only a few years ago was on the brink of Super Stardom on the island and was the heir apparent to Felix “Tito” Trinidad. But after a few poor choices outside the ring and a loss of focus in the squared circle it appears Juanma will have to salvage a lot more than just his boxing career.

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

By William Trillo

1. The Rios vs. Gamboa fight has always been a ridiculous size mismatch in my opinion. Rios was gonna crush the fighter 2 weight divisions below him and everyone knows it…including Rios. Watching Brandon pop off by calling Gamboa a coward is typical bullying in my opinion and I would expect nothing more from him. Tell you what, since Rios is looking for a dance partner now why doesn’t he stop looking for guys two divisions below him and start picking on ones that are two weight classes above? How does James Kirkland sound? Wonder if Rios would like to try him on for size?

2. To all the monkeys that waited with bated (not to mention bad) breath for Oscar’s big announcement…how stupid do you feel now?

Stop posting Tweet’s as real news! You are making yourselves look like tabloid baboons!

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

By William Trillo

This weekend in Yorkshire, England our newest writer Kevin Preston covered the European bantamweight title fight between Jamie McDonnell vs. Ivan Pozo. This was Preston’s first assignment with Pound4Pound and he did a fine job. After submitting his report Kevin wrote, ” I would like to thank you for this opportunity and I hope the attached is satisfactory, if any future opportunities come up I would be happy to assist if required.” Preston’s article was more than satisfactory, he did a great job and we look forward to having him cover fights in England in the future.

I can relate to Preston’s enthusiasm and recall how much fun I had covering my first boxing events. As a boxing fan first, it was a dream come true to not only get to attend the shows but to give my thoughts on the action in the ring. I am far from a trained journalist but I found my experiences to not only be rewarding but I am having the time of my life as well. After almost 200 fights I still look forward to covering shows and being even just a small part of the boxing business.

I would like to reach out to all our readers by extending an invitation to join us in our boxing coverage. With fights spanning across the globe there is more than enough opportunity for real fight fans to be a part of our team. Whether you are a budding writer or aspiring photographer we would like to talk with you and see if you have what it takes to join our ranks.

With that said, of course we expect only those who can handle themselves in a professional manner to contact us, autograph seekers and those only looking to take a photo with their favorite fighter need not apply. And quite frankly, if you are looking to fill your pockets with cash…well…all of us are doing this for the love of the sport. I guess you can call it a glorified hobby.

From Luis Cadiz in Puerto Rico to Tim Donaldson in Philadelphia to Kevin Preston in The United Kingdom we have managed to put together a fine staff of writers and with the likes of Ray Bailey, Marlene Marquez and Bret Newton we have some very capable photographers as well. In fact, all of our contributor’s do a fine job and I would like to thank them all for their continued contributions.

If you think you have what it takes and would like to be part of our team I’d love to hear from you.

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

By William Trillo
Photo: Bret “The Threat” Newton

Ivaylo Gotzev, manager of undefeated light heavyweight sensation Ismayl Sillakh has never been one to mince his words and when I asked him about Jean Pascal deciding to fight Zsolt Erdei instead of facing his WBC mandated fight with Sillakh, Gotzev exclaimed, “Pascal has given us every bitch excuse he could find, he led us along and strung us along. The WBC gave the go ahead to fight for the number one mandatory position and basically what Pascal did was pooped his pants because he realized he was going to have to face Ismayl Sillakh. He didn’t want to fight us, which meant he went for his other option, a 37 year old Zsolt Erdei. It’s not that he (Erdei) is a bad fighter, but he ain’t great. Furthermore he is no Ismayl Sillakh, he is not even in the same league. None of these guys want to give Sillakh a shot, they are all worried about him.”

I reminded Gotzev that the last time any of us heard about Zsolt Erdei is when he backed out of his title fight with Tavoris Cloud at the end of last year.

“That’s exactly what he did. So I guess we are going to be having a chicken fight. These two chickens, Pascal and Erdei, will fight but one of them has to win, and then the winner can face Sillakh,” said Gotzev.

Sooner or later these guys are going to have to fight Sillakh, but in the meantime, this running away from him is very frustrating for both Gotzev and Sillakh.

“Yes, it is frustrating but I have been in this business for 20 years, I know what’s happening. Managers and promoters are protecting their guys from fighters like Sillakh because they know they are going to lose. In the meantime Ismyal had a fight sanctioned by the WBC to take on Pascal for the mandatory, but now Pascal will fight Erdei. I think any court of law would see fit to put Sillakh as the mandatory challenger since Pascal doesn’t want to fight him. In my mind Ismyal should get the winner of the Chad Dawson vs. Bernard Hopkins WBC title fight.”

Looking over the light heavyweight landscape I wondered aloud if maybe Gotzev might target another one of the champs now that Pascal threw a monkey wrench into their plans.

“We want what is right,” said Gotzev, “and that’s our shot at the WBC belt. One way or another that has got to happen. Then once we win that belt we will look at unifying the belts with all the other light heavyweight champions. We want the best fights and the best opposition. There is no doubt in my mind Ismayl is the best light heavy in the world and it is just a matter of time before he gets on top.”

Considering how Sillakh climbed up in the rankings without a blemish and the announcement that the Pascal mandatory fight was imminent, I wanted to know how the entire team took the news when Pascal backed out.

“This situation left a very bitter taste in our mouths because we were mislead. We believed GYM’s Yvon Michel was going to come through and keep his promises…he didn’t. Of course that is not a first in boxing but it was a difficult pill to swallow. What I am suggesting is someone take a look at this very closely. I do not think Pascal should be rewarded for handpicking opponents. There are a lot of good tough fights out there and that’s what boxing desperately needs, the best fighting the best. But you know what, it’s still the same B.S. game and that’s why we are losing out to sports like MMA because they do have the best fighting the best.”

In closing Gotzev may have very well spoke for every lover of the sweet science when he said, “There is no reason boxing can’t do the same, (fight the best with the best). We have some great and exciting fighters right now and we need to put them in the ring together to make boxing the great sport it once was.”

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