By Yoel Carratala: This is a question I continue to ask myself weekend after weekend. You’d think that with women’s boxing pioneers like Christy Martin, Mia St. John, Lucia Rijker and Laila Ali all receiving mainstream attention in the 1990’s; the sport would have achieved more glory than it has in recent years. Their was even a major movie produced, “Million Dollar Baby” which featured Lucia Rijker.
@James_theGrad
Donaire-Rigondeaux: No Jab, No excuse
By James Le Blanc: Let me start by saying I am a big fan of Nonito Donaire. As someone from the Bay Area I make it a point to follow all boxers that come from that area. I also must say I was very disappointed with Nonito’s performance but if you are a fan of boxing and you have a number of favorite fighters, soon enough you will see them lose. What bothered me the most regarding this past weekend’s bout at New York’s Radio City Music Hall was the post fight interview and since.
A number of excuses came out of either Nonito’s mouth or his promoter’s mouth which ranged from trouble making weight, shoulder injury, overlooking Rigo, not watching tape on Rigo, not adjusting mid fight, and most importantly not using the jab.
The best/worst thing since the Super Six and Bantamweight Tournament
By James Le Blanc: Golden Boy has announced they will be holding a 4 man tournament at 140 pounds consisting of Zab Judah vs. Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson vs. Lucas Matthysse. The winners will fight each other and then the ultimate winner of the tournament will more than likely face Amir Khan. Amir Khan is in the process of returning to 140lb supremacy after losing a controversial decision to Peterson and then a 4th round knockout loss to Danny Garcia. People have different takes on the Super Six tournament. One thing we know about the tournament is that it left out title holder Lucian Bute for some reason.
Bute is arguably not one of the best Super middleweights as Carl Froch made easy work of him post tournament. And then there were a number of fighters that backed out of fights and needed last minute replacements to ensure the tournament went on.
Andre Ward’s options to break out as super star
By James Le Blanc: Despite Floyd Mayweather’s distasteful comments on Andre Ward’s nickname and his inability to fill seats, Andre sits at #2 P4P and arguably #1 as the only American Champion to have captured the Gold in the 2004 Olympics and come out blemish free from the Super Six World Boxing Classic hosted by Showtime that had the top Super middle weights in the world participating.
While Ward has beat the likes of Mikkel Kessler, Carl Froch, Arthur Abraham, and Chad Dawson via KO in 2012 he is still criticized by some for not being that brash stand out personality that can draw the crowds to watch.
Scenario not so farfetched…..
By James Le Blanc IV: What if I asked you who you thought would win out of a fight between big brother Floyd Mayweather and little brother Adrien Broner? We haven’t even considered this being a possibility but as I look at the landscape of what’s been going on for both Mayweather and Broner, I’m not so sure this is a farfetched scenario. Let’s start with Floyd Mayweather’s landscape.
He just signed a 6 fight deal with Showtime with no clear opponent for September (If you remember Floyd has committed to a date in September and the opponent apparently will not be the presumed Canelo Alvarez). Other than Canelo there are a few names being thrown out there. We know it will not be Pacqauio who must avenge his losses and even when he does the Top Rank and Golden Boy feud will not allow that to happen.
Keith Thurman: Why “One Time” is the Real Deal
by James Le Blanc: Keith “One Time” Thurman (19-0, 18 KO’s) has an opportunity yet again on HBO this weekend to win over some fans as well as gain some more respect from top fighters in the welterweight division. Some say Keith is overrated and clever match making has put Thurman in the position to score most of his fights by KO. It appears as though HBO and Golden Boy Promotions are shoving an unproven Thurman down our throats like they did Andre Berto, who has proven to be far from elite, losing 2 of his last 3 fights and being dropped 4 times altogether.
Thurman was criticized last year for calling out the likes of Floyd Mayweather, Paulie mMlignaggi, and Timothy Bradley all belt holders in the Welterweight division. But here are a few things that you may not know about Thurman.
Juan Manuel Lopez vs. Aldimar Silva Santos on Saturday in Puerto Rico
By James Le Blanc: This Saturday, Juan Manuel Lopez has an up-hill battle to begin in a 10 round tune-up fight in trying to restore his image against Aldimar Silva Santo at the Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez, Bayamon, Puerto Rico. As a very fan friendly fighter, Lopez was making a big name for himself having been featured on the Showtime telecast several times. Like many other exciting fighters to watch it was his ability to overcome adversity within the ring that made watching him so special. Juanma is a heavy hitter, yet extremely vulnerable at times, and it was this vulnerability that got him Knocked out twice by veteran Orlando Salido.
But after the second KO loss to Salido, Juanma demonstrated one of the most classless post fight interviews of all time, accusing the referee of having a gambling problems insinuating that the fight was stopped because the referee needed to ensure it was stopped. Of course this accusation surprised everyone because we all saw a guy that was getting pummeled to his defeat and a referee that had no other alternative than to end the fight.
Still Waiting, Floyd…..
By James Le Blanc IV: It’s been roughly about a month since Floyd Mayweather Jr. committed to fighting May 4th with an opponent to be determined. Among the many athletes that have called out Mayweather and would love to challenge the Pound for Pound King the options for Floyd’s next bout was a relatively small list. The names that have been floating around were Robert Guerrero and Saul Alvarez, and just in the past few days I heard Timothy Bradley.
Bradley seemed very quiet when it came time to make a match with him and Amir Khan happen in late 2011. This frustrated me because Bradley was on ESPN calling Khan out. Next thing you know Bradley lands a match with Manny Pacquiao. So in light of Bradley recently turning down a rematch with Lamont Peterson, and making negotiations between him and Yuriorkis Gamboa extremely complicated, don’t be surprised if he lands that match with Floyd.
Freddie Roach’s terrible year
By James Le Blanc IV: I’ve read countless articles making various suggestions for Manny Pacquiao and what his next move should be. Should he retire, or fight Marquez right away, or have a tune up fight before having a 5th fight with Marquez. What I have read very little about is the decline of trainer Freddie Roach and the terrible year he had in the year of 2012. Let’s reflect for a moment on the 2012 year of the Hall of Fame trainer who has won multiple Trainer of the Year awards by ESPN and the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Manny Pacquiao UD Loss to Timothy Bradley June 9th 2012-Title bout
Amir Khan KO Loss to Danny Garcia July 15th 2012-Title bout
Julio Chavez UD Loss to Sergio Martinez September 15th 2012-Title bout
Manny Pacquiao KO Loss to Juan Manuel Marquez December 8th 2012
Will 2013’s Fight Night game deprive us of the Mega Match as well?
By James Le Blanc IV: The great thing for boxing fans/gamers here in 2013 is that we are due for another Fight Night. The last few boxing games have not featured Floyd Mayweather and what surprised boxing fans two years ago when the roster for Fight Night Champion came out was the incredible number of top fighters that were not show cased in the game. There are a lot of political reasons as to why some of our favorite fighters are not in the game and not every case is the same.