It's Monday. Welcome back for another edition of Observe and Fight, The Boxing Observer's compilation of observations and random thoughts from the week that was in boxing. Get caught up on some of the most recent events you may have missed out on, including a recap of Pacquiao vs. Bradley 2, Bob Arum's final push to make Mayweather vs. Pacquiao a reality, a preview of this weekend's Bernard Hopkins fight, and much more. Without further ado, check out the latest observations from the Boxing Observer, David Kassel.
Manny Pacquiao defeated Timothy Bradley...again. Well folks, I'll be the first to admit that I was dead wrong. I predicted Bradley to defeat Pacquiao, 116-112, but instead I had Pacquiao winning the fight 116-112. While Bradley was very aggressive, he just didn't do enough, and Pacquiao was the clear and decisive winner in the rematch (much like he was in the first fight). We have to face facts that Pacquiao is no longer the same, dominant fighter he once was, but that doesn't mean he is finished. Bradley is still one of the best fighters in the world, and this loss will do nothing to hurt his standing amongst boxing's best. Where Bradley goes from here remains to be seen, but he may wind up facing Mike Alvarado (if Alvarado loses to Juan Manuel Marquez) or Brandon Rios (if he can defeat Antonio DeMarco in a fight rumored to be in the works). Bob Arum already announced that Pacquiao will likely face the winner between Marquez and Alvarado. I wouldn't be so dead set on that though, considering that Marquez has already passed on a 5th fight with Pacquiao and says he doesn't need a rematch because he has nothing left to prove against Manny.
People are making too big a deal of Pacquiao's lack of knockouts recently. Pacquiao hasn't had a knockout since 2009, when he stopped Miguel Cotto in the 12th round. People have to remember that Manny is fighting about 4 weight classes above his most dominant weight. Manny Pacquiao has grown into a welterweight, but he could probably still make weight at 130-135lbs. He is almost always the smaller guy coming into the ring, which, I believe, is the main reason for his decline in the past few years. Pacquiao, unlike Floyd Mayweather, is offensive-minded, which means he is going to take more punishment to make sure he gets his licks in. Mayweather would rather play defense than come straight forward. The reason Pacquiao hasn't knocked anyone out recently may be due to the fact that his body is worn from taking so many punches from guys who come into fights weighing over 160lbs. Pacquiao's days of spectacular, one-punch knockouts may be over, and we have to be willing to accept that.
Bob Arum certainly still has plenty to say about Floyd Mayweather. I wasn't at the MGM Grand during fight week, but I have to admit that I agree with Arum on one thing. If my promotional outfit is staging a huge pay-per-view fight and I see signs all over the building for a rival promoter's pay-per-view, I would be ticked off as well. We all know Pacquiao vs. Bradley 2 isn't going to outsell Mayweather vs. Maidana, but it will still bring in plenty of revenue for the MGM Grand. Over 15,000 tickets were sold for Pacquiao/Bradley 2 (still not a sellout), and the MGM Grand certainly made a lot of money, especially from people who bet money on Bradley. I don't believe they should have been promoting Mayweather vs. Maidana this week. However, the one thing I don't agree with is Bob Arum's seemingly last ditch effort to bait Floyd Mayweather into a fight with Manny Pacquiao. Arum continually made reference to how non-competitive Mayweather vs. Maidana is going to be (which I also agree with), but Arum's best play may be to admit that Mayweather is the best fighter in the world (something he would have to swallow his pride to do) and accept that a 50/50 split is no longer a viable option. Pacquiao vs. Rios only produced 475,000 pay-per-view buys. Mayweather has not fought a pay-per-view fight producing less than 1 million buys since Ricky Hatton (approximately 850,000 ppv buys). Mayweather vs. Pacquiao is still capable of being the biggest fight in boxing history, but neither fighter can avoid a loss at this point to make that happen. In my opinion, until Pacquiao avenges his knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez, thus truly proving the two best welterweights in the world are indeed Mayweather and Pacquiao, the fight is going to remain on hold. Right now, Marquez can rightfully claim he is better than Pacquiao.
What's the difference between "passion" and "compassion"? According to Roy Jones Jr., nothing. I think Jones brings such a unique perspective to commentary because he sees things nobody else can, but he has never truly dedicated himself to improving his broadcasting skills. If you were watching the pay-per-view, during the undercard, the topic of Pacquiao showing compassion for his fighters came up, and Jones truly did not understand the difference between "passion" and "compassion." Max Kellerman and Jim Lampley had to explain before Jones understood, but as a television broadcaster, it should be one's job to be articulate enough to know the meaning of basic English language words.
With Canelo Alvarez vs. Erislandy Lara being officially announced, does Ishe Smith have a potential lawsuit he can bring against Lara? Late Sunday, Lara pulled out of his scheduled, contracted fight with Smith because he was named as the opponent for Canelo Alvarez, on pay-per-view, in July. Obviously, the payday for Lara is going to be significantly higher than he would have been paid to fight on Fox Sports 1, but the contracts were signed (I assume), and Lara has broken the contract. Unless a stipulation was placed in the contract stating Lara could pull out of the fight anytime, I find it hard to believe that Smith doesn't have a strong case on his hands. The fight was supposed to be for a world title. As long as Smith fights on May 2nd, the amount of money shouldn't change because he already signed to fight, but not fighting for a world title would have taken some step aside money or I would be raising a stink. According to comments made by Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe, it looks as if they are going to try and find a replacement, but if I'm Smith, I'm pretty upset right now because I just lost a chance at a world title opportunity. I didn't read the contract language, but I think Smith may have a case if he wants to raise this issue.
Congratulations to Jessie Vargas on finally winning a world title! Vargas, who broke away from Mayweather Promotions in hopes of securing a world title opportunity, probably waited longer than he would have liked, but made good on his quest, in a spirited affair, by defeating Khabib Allakherdiev to win the WBA 140-lb. crown. The fight was extremely close, and I have no problems with Vargas winning (nor would I mind seeing a rematch), but Robert Hoyle's score of 117-111 was ridiculous. Vargas did not win 9 rounds in that fight. Nonetheless, Vargas has quite a few options on the table, including the winner of the June fight between Ruslan Provodnikov and Chris Algieri (which will be an all-out war for however long it lasts).
Congrats also goes out to Bryan Vasquez on retaining his WBA 130-lb. title by defeating Jose Felix Jr. AND the judges. Vasquez completely dominated the 21-year-old Felix Jr. (who will eventually win a world title, in my opinion, but needs a bit more seasoning), but the point deduction against Felix for kneeing Vasquez in the groin in the 9th round proved to be the difference between a Vasquez victory and a majority draw, as Dick Houck and Patricia Morse Jarman scored the fight 114-113 (6 rounds for each fighter). If people don't think promoters have any pull in the outcomes of fights, this fight is exhibit A. A majority draw would have called for a rematch, which is in no way needed after Vasquez's dominant win.
Ray Beltran is going to have his hands full with Terence Crawford. I love watching Beltran fight, and congrats to him on defeating late replacement Arash Usmanee, but Beltran isn't going to be able to handle Crawford. The two fighters are now expected to meet for Crawford's WBO lightweight title, but Crawford should be able to dominate (much like he did against Ricky Burns to win the crown) en route to a 12-round decision win.
Is it safe for Anthony Mundine to admit his lie to all of Australia that he NEVER had a chance to land a Floyd Mayweather clash? Last summer, my wife and I took a trip to Italy where we met a couple from Australia who loved boxing and loved Anthony Mundine. They were 100% convinced that Mundine was a legitimate candidate to face Mayweather because that's all they heard from Mundine and the Australian media. After Mundine was completely schooled Wednesday by former champion Joshua Clottey, Mundine must come to grips with himself that it is over. Clottey, who isn't exactly known as a knockout puncher, scored 5 knockdowns of Mundine and threw himself back into the mix at 154-lbs. While Clottey may need another big win before securing a title shot, a performance like that, against a top-level junior middleweight, may earn him that chance.
The premiere show of "Knockout" on Nuvo TV proves that this show is going to be as good as "The Contender." If you missed the premiere, Floyd Mayweather Sr. and Ruben Guerrero are already at each others throats, while Yoel Judah is sitting back patiently waiting to pick his team. The show features some very good fighters, some of whom have name recognition within the boxing community. The fighters on the show are: former champion Ricardo Mayorga, Tim Coleman, Dennis Doughlin, Said Quali, Steve Upsher Chambers (brother of Eddie Chambers), young Marc Salser, Jose Angel Rodriguez, Martin Wright, and Juanito Garcia. Executive Producer Rick Glaser did a heck of a job putting a solid lineup of fighters together for the show, and I'm looking forward to the entire season.
We have another big week of fights beginning tonight, and capped off by the ageless wonder Bernard Hopkins Saturday night! Fox Sports 1 features undefeated junior lightweight prospect Ronny Rios, looking to improve to 23-0 when he takes Andrew Cancio, with rising undefeated featherweight prospect Julian Ramirez in the co-feature. Friday night, the Boxcino middleweight semifinals take place on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights. On ShoBox, Rod Salka, who lost a controversial decision to Ricardo Alvarez in December, takes on undefeated lightweight hopeful Alexei Collado in the main event. Also that night, on Fox Sports 1, Alan Sanchez takes on Jorge Silva in the main event on Fox Fight Night, with Errol Spence Jr in the co-feature. Saturday night brings us the real treats when we begin the day across the pond as Scott Quiqq defends his WBA 122-lb. title against late replacement Tshifhiwa Munyai of South Africa. Anthony Crolla and John Murray round out the co-feature in a lightweight attraction. In Orlando, Florida, on UniMas TV, Orlando Cruz returns to the ring to take on the game Gamalier Rodriguez with sensational, undefeated, lightweight Felix Verdejo in the co-feature. On Showtime, episode 1 of All Access: Mayweather vs. Maidana premieres at 8:30pm (EST), with a world championship triple-header to follow. In the opening bout, undefeated middleweight titlist Peter "Kid Chocolate" Quillin defends against Lukas Konecny. New IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter makes his first defense against former 2-division champion Paulie Malignaggi. In the main event, the ageless wonder, IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins, takes on WBA light heavyweight champion Beibut Shumenov in a light heavyweight unification bout, which may be a tougher fight for Hopkins than most think. It's going to be another great week of boxing!
Each week, I feature an email from a fan on Observe and Fight. This week's email comes to us from Tony McBride regarding my comments about the HBO vs Showtime Cold War comments I stated last week...
"Dave, I suppose HBO and Showtime will get along when Coca-Cola and Pepsi work together to make a better soft drink for consumers; when McDonalds and Wendys collaborate on burger recipes; when Toyota and Honda share manufacturing facilities.....You need more examples.
They are competitors, unlike promoters, whose interest in collaboration is maxing income."
Tony, I had someone Tweet me about this as well. I selected a poor choice of words. What I should have said was the Top Rank vs. Golden Boy Cold War. Obviously, HBO and Showtime are rival networks. Poor choice of words on my part, but it was meant to be Top Rank/Golden Boy Cold War. They are the real problem children here. Obviously, the goal for HBO and Showtime is to do everything to put the other one out of business.
That's all I've got for this week. Email any questions or comments to dkassel@fighthype.com and I will answer them throughout the week. Your email may be featured in the next "Observe and Fight." Follow me on Twitter @BoxingObserver, and be sure to "Like" The Boxing Observer on Facebook.
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