COOPER'S CORNER: THE PACQUIAO-MOSLEY AFTERMATH

After a long, involuntary hiatus, Cooper's Corner is back.  For the last week, I had been looking for an appropriate subject matter to return with, and then came "the biggest boxing event of the year", at least that's what Top Rank, Showtime, and CBS told me for the last four months.

Let's remember a few things.  The Gatti-Ward trilogy was on HBO.  Castillo-Corrales I was on Showtime, as was the Vazquez-Marquez trilogy.  The Micky Ward-Emanuel Augustus slugfest, the 2001 Fight of the Year, was on ESPN2.  At worst, there was a fee to subscribe to a premium channel that airs boxing a couple of times a month.  For ESPN2, Fox Sports Net, or some others, almost any cable subscriber could have tuned in to see a Fight of the Year candidate.

Last Saturday, however, millions of viewers coughed up nearly sixty bucks to watch a main event full of respect between the two combatants, who played nice at every press conference, touched gloves after every clash of heads and at the end of every round, and were full of praise during the post-fight interviews.  That same main event, the one that came with a premium price tag that would be insulting even in a good economy, served as nothing more than a glorified sparring session for the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

To be fair, while the fight itself was disappointing and yet not unexpected, the pros of May 7 far outweigh the cons.  As was the case with Pacquiao's decision win over Joshua Clottey fourteen months ago in Dallas, the pageantry far outweighed the actual fight.  Top Rank, Showtime, and CBS went out of their way to promote the fight in every way imaginable, including the airing of Fight Camp 360 on CBS, the first step toward bringing boxing back to network airwaves.  More than 8,000 attended the weigh-in on Friday afternoon, and the MGM Grand was sold out on fight night.  No official pay-per-view numbers have been released, but even the most conservative projections point to a buy rate of well over a million.  That kind of business is good for boxing.

While the main event was nothing more than a Pacquiao showcase, the two primary undercard fights managed to make the event well worth every pay-per-view dollar.  Kelly Pavlik's return to the ring against undefeated prospect Alfonso Lopez provided plenty of fireworks in a tremendous back-and-forth battle, despite the outrageous cards of C.J. Ross (99-91 Pavlik) and Dick Houck (98-92 Pavlik).  Adalaide Byrd scored the bout a draw, 95-95.  My card read 96-94 Pavlik, and Showtime broadcasters Al Bernstein and Antonio Tarver shared similarly close scores.

As has happened so many times in the past, the co-feature of the card stole the show.  WBO Light Featherweight champion Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. was dethroned by Mexican legend Jorge Arce in yet another candidate for 2011 Fight of the Year.  As expected, Arce was relentless, and while Vazquez appeared to be gaining momentum in rounds 8-10, the pressure finally broke the second generation Puerto Rican champion down, causing his legendary father to throw in the towel less than a minute into the final stanza.  We can only hope that the contract featured a rematch clause.

After the fights, the discussion immediately turned to two subjects.  The first was the same subject that is discussed on message boards and social networking sites everywhere: Pacquiao vs. Mayweather, and who Pacquiao should fight if the mega-fight that boxing wants, and needs, continues to be ever so elusive.  The second question focused on the loser of the main event, Shane Mosley, and where his career goes from here, if it should go anywhere.

At 39, Mosley's resume is among the most impressive in the sport in recent years.  From lightweight dominance to a title reign at 154 pounds, Mosley's legacy and Hall of Fame status is beyond reproach.  Still, after a lopsided defeat at the hands of Floyd Mayweather in May 2010, a snorefest with Sergio Mora that most felt Mosley won clearly but was ruled a draw, and a loss to Pacquiao that is without question the soundest defeat of Sugar Shane's career, many in the sport have questioned where Mosley can go from here.  "What big fights are out there now," the scribes asked, as if retirement was the only option.

I'll gladly play devil's advocate.  Losses to Mayweather and Pacquiao are nothing to be ashamed of.  The Mosley of 2011 is certainly not the Mosley of 2003, and may not be the Mosley of January 2009, but is there any reason to believe that his age alone is reason enough to put him out to pasture?  Mayweather and Pacquiao are two of the top four fighters in the world, no matter how you rank them, along with Nonito Donaire and Sergio Martinez.  Mosley fared no worse than Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito and better than Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto did against Pacquiao. He not only performed better against Mayweather than Juan Manuel Marquez, he rocked Mayweather in the second round and gave PBF his biggest scare since the moments just before the decision was announced against Jose Luis Castillo in 2002, yet no one is demanding any of the above to retire.  Mayweather and Pacquiao are in a class of their own between 140-154 pounds.  We already knew that.  The fights with Mosley are evidence of that dominance, not evidence of the necessity of a Shane Mosley retirement.

There are plenty of fights out there for Mosley.  A rematch with Cotto at 154 may not generate the same revenue as the Pacquiao and Mayweather fights, but the interest would certainly be there after their November 2007 battle won by Cotto on a razor thin decision.  Newly crowned WBC Welterweight champion Victor Ortiz may or may not be in the running as the next victim of Floyd Mayweather, whenever Money decides to step through the ropes again, but Team Ortiz would definitely appreciate a name like Shane Mosley on their record.  After losing his title to Ortiz, former champion Andre Berto could use a fight with Mosley to bounce back.  The two were scheduled to meet in early 2010, but the bout was canceled after the devastating earthquake in Haiti.  Are there others?  Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. at 154? Alfredo Angulo?  Saul Alvarez?  How about a shot at IBF Welterweight champion Jan Zaveck in Germany?   Those are just to name a few.

A better question would be:  Is there any reason to think that Mosley cannot win any of those fights, against opponents not named Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao?  The honest answer is no.

STEALING THE ROUND

• A fight between Evander Holyfield and Brian Nielsen might have made a little sense, but not much, in the late 90s.  It made absolutely no sense when it was announced earlier this year.  Inexplicably, I watched every second of it.  Holyfield stopped Nielsen in the closing seconds of round 10, after winning nearly all of the preceding nine rounds against a 46-year old former IBO and IBC heavyweight champion seeing his first action since 2002.  The 12-round contest was a non-title affair because the World Boxing Federation, of which Holyfield is the current champion, declined to sanction it as a title fight.  When the WBF, who signed on for the Holyfield clash with Sherman Williams in January, refuses to sanction it, something is wrong.  The stoppage was curious, coming after Nielsen momentarily slumped in the corner following two shots on the back of his head from the 48-year old Holyfield.  Nielsen protested, the crowd booed, and I spent half an hour after the fight incredulous that I'd just watched every second of it, but knowing I'd have been disappointed to have missed it.  That's when you know you're a boxing addict.
  
  
• If you're a faithful reader of FightHype, or any boxing news site, you're likely a faithful viewer of the major boxing telecasts on HBO and Showtime, and you probably catch the ESPN2 Friday Night Fights shows whenever you can.  You may even buy the 'big' pay-per-views.  If you're a fellow diehard, you'll even get one of the $29.95 pay-per-view shows if a certain matchup intrigues you or if one of your favorites is involved.  Boxing needs every viewer, and every ounce of support, that it can get.  But the heart and soul of boxing is in the local shows, the cards that feature fighters getting paid $100 a round and usually draw a few hundred people in attendance.  That is where boxing needs more support.  If there's a card near you, grab a few friends and go.  That's how new boxing fans are brought to the sport we love.  It's one thing to give someone a DVD of Gatti-Ward I.  It's another to take them to a live show, get a good seat at ringside, and let them take it all in.  In many cases, it's worth the drive, the time, and the money.  Remember, you never know who you might be watching in their professional debut.
  
  
• As mentioned earlier, here's hoping that Top Rank's new deal with Showtime and CBS will be the first step toward the return of boxing to network television.  There are plenty of fights to put out there.  I have no problem with major, showcase fights airing on pay-per-view, even though the escalating prices for these shows are getting progressively more ridiculous, but there are many others that would bring a wealth of visibility and positive attention to the sport if aired on CBS, ABC, or NBC, all major networks that have a history of airing professional boxing.  We all know that Pacquiao-Mayweather, if it ever happens, will be a pay-per-view extravaganza, but would there be nearly as much [unfounded] concern about the decline and demise of boxing if Castillo-Corrales I or, more recently, Maidana-Morales had aired on CBS on a Saturday afternoon?  Think about it, promoters.

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