Dougie's MASSIVE Monday mailbag

<b>DISAPPOINTED MAYWEATHER FAN</b>Hey Dougie, What's happening? I'm just dropping a couple of lines. I like the fight game. Money May reminds me of Mike Tyson near the end of his career. However, if everyone ignored what he said it wouldn't be news. Then again who can ignore stupid comments? -- A disappointed Mayweather fan<b>I can. I get enough stupid comments from Mayweather's diehard fans emailed directly to me. I don't need to watch videos of Mayweather acting out like an attention-starved 5-year-old brat. It was easy for me to avoid clicking the link to the original Ustream video that about 50 fans emailed me. However, once I saw ESPN's Sports Center mention Mayweather's comments, and noticed that the AP's Tim Dahlberg and Yahoo! Sport's Kevin Iole wrote columns on the video, I knew I wouldn't be able to ignore the subject in my mailbags. Bummer. There are so many boxing-related things I'd rather talk about than some spoiled-rotten millionaire a__hole who is supposedly on vacation. I feel sorry for Mayweather's fans who aren't jerks (and yes, I'm well aware that most of his fans are normal human beings).</b><b>MAYWEATHER'S RACIST RANT</b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/02/floyd-mayweather-racist-rant_n_703731.html">This video</a> is another reason to root for Pacquiao against Mayweather, even if you're black.I don't think Mayweather just puts on an act, I really do believe that he's someone who's basically no good at the core, yet can occasionally have a heart of gold... -- Dre<b>To be honest, Dre, I don't care if Mayweather has a heart of gold or a core of s___ or both, as you believe. I just want the guy to fight or go the f___ away. It pisses me off that this jerk has absolutely nothing to say before, during or after the second negotiations that supposedly never happened for the Pacquiao fight, but once Pacquaio-Margarito is made and officially announced, he's got to come out hiding and spew all this tasteless nonsense just for attention and to grab headlines -- which HE GETS, to my disgust. Ugh!I'd give him a pass for his ignorant remarks if he actually got in the ring and fought the guy he so desperately wants to denigrate. He wouldn't be the first ignorant loudmouth I wanted to watch and actually rooted for. Muhammad Ali was my first boxing hero and it was his trash talking -- which were occasionally racist and tasteless, but never as nasty and mean spirited as Mayweather's tirades -- that first grabbed my attention. I was a huge James Toney fan in the early-to-mid 1990s and continued to root for him even as his weight ballooned out of control and his speech became increasingly unintelligible. Why? They took on the best possible challenges of their eras and ducked no one.</b><b>I HATE MAYWEATHER</b>Dougie,You had this twerp pegged years ago! He's an immature IGNORANT lil bastard! I know you have probably already seen his Ustream rant on Manny Pacquaio and it's disgusting! I feel Manny should not even fight this COWARD just because it will make Floyd so much money. I have followed your work for many years and value your opinion and thoughts on everything about boxing, just like I do your ol' pal Steve Kim's. Give me and all your followers your take once you see it. OK? Cool. Take care, buddy. (P.S. - Get back on Twitter dude! Kim is on there as is his new partner Gabe Montoya, as well as Dan Rafael and Kevin Iole from ESPN.com and Yahoo. I'd love to see yall's back and forths.) -- Gilbert Castro, San Antonio, Texas <b>What back and forths? Thanks for the kind words but I don't have the time or interest to go back and forth with any fellow boxing writer. I don't even know why I set up a Twitter page. Probably because everyone told me that I had to. Once I set it up, I felt stupid every time I sent out a "tweet." (God, I hate even writing that word!)Listen, my man, I'm no good at that kind of stuff. I don't have the time, patience or ambition to call every promoter and manager in the biz two or three times a day to see what fights are "in the works" and then tweet that s___. I get annoyed just reading about fights that aren't done. I don't want to join that cycle. Being a married father of two young children and the back-end responsibilities I have at RingTV.com really limit my time and energy for that kind of literal-up-to-the-minute cyber reporting. If I tweeted what I was doing as much as some of my peers, here's how 80-percent of my posts would read:<I>"Need to find a usable photo of Ricky Burns to go with the Ring Ratings Update. I hope I can find something on Fightwireimages.com.""Holy crap! There are 20 pics of Burns from his 2007 loss to Carl Johanneson on Fightwireimages! God bless you Ed Mulholland! And you too, Chris Royle!" "OK, which one of these guys is Ricky? I better cross check with Frankwarren.tv just to make sure.""Jesus, why does it take so damn long to save a photo in the RingTV publishing tool?!?""Crap! I forgot to update fighter records. This is going to take forever.""It's been 40 minutes and that press conference video is STILL encoding in the pubtool! Arrgh!" "Wife texted me. It's my turn again to make dinner. Ugh!""She's texting me again! What's her problem!? She acts like I'm just sitting on my ass waiting for her orders.""I wonder if I can get away with making hotdogs for dinner again?""I can't believe it's almost 4 p.m. I gotta pick up the girls from school.""If their friends come over after school it's going to be a mad house in here.""Crap, the neighbor's kids just rang the doorbell. I'm never going to get any work done!" "Wife is texting me again. Wants me to pick up new pull-ups for Jeannie. Damn, didn't I just buy diapers two days ago?"The kid is almost 2 years old. How much longer am we gonna have to change her!?""God, I'm so tired of dealing with pee-pee and poo-poo... I get enough that stuff from Mayweather fans."</I>You get the idea. It's not informative or entertaining (aside from a few sicko fans who enjoy reading little snippets of my domestic misery).Having said that, I see at least three emails a day informing me that this person or that dude is now following me on Twitter, so I should utilize the damn thing.One thing I can do is tweet before, during and after I visit a gym (which is something I'm trying hard to make time for). This past Saturday I visited Frankie Gomez at the Solid Rock gym in East L.A. I could have sent out a tweet or a twitter pic from that drop-in. I'll try to keep this in mind the next time I head out to a gym (which will be this Monday morning).Regarding Mayweather's rant. The genius of Floyd is split into two arenas: his defense prowess in the ring and his ability to elicit the kind of reaction he got from you and thousands of other fans and media. We can all say or write that Pacquiao shouldn't fight Mayweather but if the fight was made tomorrow we'd all be talking about it and hoping/praying that Manny spanks Floyd's narrow ass. A big part of the anticipation for that potential mega-fight is Mayweather's ability to get under our skin.</b><b>NOT SURE WHAT'S UP WITH MAYWEATHER</b>Dougie,I checked out the Mayweather rant video, and it doesn't seem like a big deal to me. The "hip hop" community has been wildly racist for a long time, particularly toward Asians. Remember the Tsunami Raps on Hot 97 (I think) a few years back? This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone with any sort of race-relations I.Q. Mayweather's just emulating the guys he looks up to. (BTW, what the hell is an adult man doing wearing a G-Unit hat? Mayweather and 50 Cent's grandma might be the only two people left on the planet who think that's a forgivable fashion statement.) I don't know man, I'm a little drunk right now (surprise it's a Friday night), but I can't help but scoff at appeals for racial sensitivity made by boxing fans. It reminds me of an interview a few years ago with Billy Joe Armstrong from Greenday (a guy most guitar students pass, in terms of technical ability and taste, within their first six months) complaining about the then-current state of musicianship in rock music. This whole exercise has gotten ridiculously repetitive. Here, let me summarize the next nine months of "journalism" regarding the super fight: Mayweather = Black Hat, Pacquiao = White Hat. There's the general outline, now every smooth-brained animal able to beat words out of his keyboard with crinkled hands will color in the gaps (with the thickest crayons available on the market) over the coming weeks. Just keep an eye on all the blogs (and boxing news sites that look an awful lot like blogs, but pretend they're not). Keep up the good work Dougie. -- Todd <b>I don't want to keep my eye on anything Mayweather-related in blogs, columns or articles unless it's about an upcoming fight of his against a worthy opponent. I understand what you're saying about the uproar. I watched the stupid video and was at times embarrassed for Mayweather but mainly uninterested. I've heard this kind of garbage before and it doesn't phase me. I guess being biracial (African American and Caucasian) and coming of age in a racially segregated town (Springfield, Missouri) in the 1980s makes me kind of numb to the silliness and the nastiness of racism. However, just because it doesn't hurt our feelings, personally, doesn't mean that it should be tolerated or condoned. Just because Mayweather idolizes some sorry ass rappers who are "wildly racist" -- particularly towards Asians -- doesn't mean he should be given a pass for saying what he did on that first Ustream video. I wonder how Mayweather and those same rappers -- maybe the fools who did the "Tsunami rap" -- would react if Manny Pacquiao put out a video spewing similar racial slurs and stereo types directed towards African Americans?What if Pacquaio said something like this in a video:"After I knock the black off Mayweather I'm going to make him cook me up some fried chicken with some watermelon the side. If he learns to behave himself I might toss his monkey ass some pork rinds to munch on. Oh yeah, I can't forget about Uncle Tom, I mean, Uncle Roger. I'll send Buboy out to find him some crack. If we can't find any, maybe he can try to smoke those porn rinds and wash it down with some grape soda."Or what if Pacquiao skipped all the Sanford & Son-meets-Chappelle's Show-inspired lines and went straight for the Jugular? What if he dropped the N-word? What if he straight-up called Mayweather a "n___er"?Would black boxing fans laugh it off or tell people it's not a "big deal"?I don't think so. I think there would be a crazy uproar. I think the morning shows on urban radio stations would be buzzing about what the racist little Filipino fighter said. I think Ben Jealous of the NAACP would call for a boycott of Pac's next fight and probably personally picket outside of the arena on fight night. We should never excuse racism.I laughed at Muhammad Ali's racist jokes as a kid. I didn't know any better.I ignored James Toney's tasteless jokes as an adult boxing writer even though I did know better. I shouldn't have ignored it, though. I should have told Toney to chill with the bad Mexican and African stereotypes, and referring to Steve Kim as "Chinese" and asking "What do Chinese know about boxing?" That stuff ain't funny.Or needed.Mayweather didn't need to drop homophobic slurs or diss an entire group of people to create interest in an eventual showdown with Pacquiao.The late Edwin Rosario didn't need to say what he said about Mexicans prior to fighting Julio Cesar Chavez.Mike Tyson didn't need to spew all that angry crap about "white people" during the press conferences of the final years of his career.Erik Morales doesn't need to say all the nasty things he sometimes says about, well, pretty much everyone who <I>isn't</I> Mexican. Japanese fans and media should give the same respect and coverage to Japan-born fighters whose parents are from other Asian countries, such as Korea and Thailand. Boxing doesn't need xenophobia, racism or hate to make it more wild or to fuel its rivalries.</b><b>MATCHMAKING FOR PACQUIAO</b>Hey Doug,I've been a long time reader and when I read your Friday Mailbag I just now came up with a question for you. I'm curious, if you were Pacquaio's matchmaker right now, who else would you match him with besides Margarito? I hesitate to criticize Margo getting the shot because at this point in Pacquaio's career, picking Margarito seems to be the best thing for Pac. (And really the only rational choice). The big fight, the fight to make, was Floyd and that didn't happen. So you look at alternatives and the landscape of fighters from 140-154, and to me Margo is the only choice. Yeah, he's tarnished by the handwraps and hasn't recovered from the Mosley loss, but he's still a large and mean welter with big drawing potential At this point, you can't risk putting Pac against Williams or even Timothy Bradley. They are bigger risks for Pacquaio and with lower rewards. And those two to me, are the only ones that would be more deserving of the fight. In matching Pacquaio right now, you walk a fine line between matching him effectively against naturally bigger fighters and getting competitive fights, and throwing him to the wolves so to speak with a mediocre fighter that's just too big. You have to be careful with a guy like Pacquiao because you know he'll fight anybody. And with all his success and momentum, they can quickly get over their heads and bite off more than he can chew. I think it will be an exciting fight and that people will change their tune as the fight approaches and become more interested. It's Pacquaio man, no one should miss any of this guys fights. -- Tim<b>You make a lot of good business points, Tim, but let's not lose sight of the fact that boxing is also a sport and sometimes it's better for boxing's long term health for decisions to be made based on what's right rather than what will make the most money. Having said that, I'm more than happy to answer your hypothetical question. If I was Pacquiao's matchmaker (and I assume you mean someone who works for him and makes these kinds of decisions for him) I would not have gone for Antonio Margarito after the Mayweather negotiations fell apart for the second time. I would have had Pacquiao drop down to 140 pounds and defend his RING title against rival Juan Manuel Marquez.That would have been a relatively "safe" mega-fight for Pacquiao. I don't believe Marquez is very effective above lightweight, so I wouldn't have to sweat about my cash cow struggling they way he did against the Mexican technician at featherweight and junior lightweight. Their history would sell the fight on TV and Marquez would bring his loyal Mexican fans to the arena just like my guy would bring his fanatical Filipino fans. The fight would sell out any arena, draw just as many fans to Cowboys Stadium as the Margarito fight will, and do huge PPV numbers. And of course, Pac would take care of biz once the bell rang. After Marquez, I'd have Manny stay at 140 pounds where he could take on the winner of Bradley-Alexander (if that showdown is made in January) in Vegas sometime in spring of 2011 and then take on Zab Judah (if the rejuvenated vet keeps winning) later in the year, perhaps at Madison Square Garden or even Yankee Stadium. I wouldn't have Pacquiao go up in weight for anyone but Mayweather.</b><b>TOP 5 CONTINUED</b>Hello Dougie,What's up? I got a new interesting top 5 for you: Top five boxers with the worst fans. Ciao! -- Alex<b>LOL. This is a good one. Top 5 fighters with worst fans that I have experienced during my tenure as an internet boxing scribe:1. Oscar De La Hoya ("My boss" had a legion of hyper-sensitive fans, aptly nicknamed "Golden Girls," who would claim that anyone who criticized their golden boy was either jealous or racist).2. Mike Tyson (the S.O.B.'s that Tyson attracted were certifiable; I've never been threatened with violence and rape via email as much as I was when I would criticize their beloved anti-hero near the end of the former heavyweight champ's wild career).3. Roy Jones Jr. ("Superman's" followers -- nicknamed "Jonestown" by Steve Kim because they happily guzzled HBO's Kool-aide hype -- were as obnoxious and ignorant of boxing history as Floyd Mayweather's drones, only there were A LOT more of them).4. Floyd Mayweather Jr. (What they lack in numbers the "Money-grubbers" -- I just made that nickname up, you like it? -- make up with sheer stupidity; confidently parroting their undefeated king's claims that he is the best fighter anyone has ever seen with zero hope or intent of backing those words up).5. Felix Trinidad (oh man, at the apex of Tito's career, late 1999-through-mid-2001, his fans, called "Trinidiots" by some message boarders, were almost insufferable; they believed their hero could do no wrong and they'd damn anyone to hell who thought otherwise).Honorable mention: fans of the Klitschko brothers during the early part of the last decade, and Pacquiao's internet/boxing forum maniacs. I've been hit by hundreds of the latter after I had the "audacity" to state that Pacquaio would have lost to hall of famers Wilfredo Gomez (at 122 pounds), Sal Sanchez (at featherweight), Roberto Duran (at lightweight) and Aaron Pryor (at 140) in a column before the Ricky Hatton fight. They would have made my top five if I hadn't been able to quiet most of them just by asking if they've actually seen those four greats fight. Most admitted that they hadn't and backed off, which was a pleasant surprise. I wouldn't have received that kind of response from Jones' and Mayweather's fans. I don't even want to think about what Tyson's fans would have said.</b> <b>BOXING NEWCOMER</b>Dougie,I have recently started following boxing and I'm trying to educate myself in the history of the sport. Are there any fights or fighters from any period that you'd recommend checking out? I particularly like the smaller, more aggressive guys like Roberto Duran and JC Chavez. I know you haven't personally been involved with the A-Z of greats series but I just wanted to say how much I've enjoyed it and how interesting it's been as a newcomer to boxing. Finally, who are your top 5 British boxers of all time? -- Joe from Birmingham, England<b>Thanks for the kind words. I'll pass along your praise for the A-Z series to RingTV.com co-editor Michael Rosenthal. He will appreciate it. He's worked hard on the on-going feature.As for small, aggressive standouts from the past to research and learn about (especially by getting their fights on DVD), I don't think you can go wrong with the four little greats that I just mentioned from that Pacquiao column -- Wilfredo Gomez, Salvador Sanchez, Duran and Aaron Pryor. You should also read up on and get your hands on as many fights of the one guy in that column that I thought the PacMan could beat (at 130 pounds), the dearly departed Alexis Arguello.My Top 5 British boxers (defined as prize fighters born in England, Scotland or Wales): Ken Buchanan, Lennox Lewis, Nigel Benn, Randy Turpin and Naseem Hamed. (Honorable mention: Jimmy Wilde, Joe Calzaghe, Chris Eubank, Ricky Hatton and John Conteh.)</b><b>MARTINEZ-BURNS</b>Dougie,Big fan of your insight here! First time emailing you. So I just finished watching the Rocky Martinez-Ricky Burns fight. Wow! That was a ridiculous barn burner. I was amazed that they were both standing at the end of the fight. What is your take on what happened? Did Martinez get "exposed," did he have an off night, or is Burns much better than his record seems to indicate?I initially thought it would be a short night when Rocky put Burns down in the first round but then I was sadly disappointed to see Rocky doing a face first defense and just throwing wild bombs that were missing by like a mile. This is the second undefeated Rican champ to lose in a span of 7 days so I will be mourning for a while! It's also disappointing that no network picked up this fight, not even Telemundo! It turned out to be a really entertaining fight and it delivered much more than it promised. I also heard a rumor that the Miguel Cotto-Julio Chavez Jr. fight is off! If that is true, I don't blame Junior for jumping ship at the first opportunity. I would not want to get the beating of a lifetime either... Take care. -- Hector<b>Thanks for finally writing in, Hector, even though I can't really comment on either fight. The Cotto-Chavez Jr. fight had not been finalized (even though it's on every boxing scheduled including ours) so it's too early to say anything about that matchup. It might happen, it might not. If it does, I do tend to agree that it's a little too soon for Junior but I wouldn't count him out of that fight because of his much-greater size. I haven't seen the Martinez-Burns fight. As you stated it wasn't televised anywhere in the States, but I will get a DVD of the fight ASAP, probably Monday or Tuesday at the latest. I don't think Martinez was "exposed." He's always been a face-first brawler who relied on balls and punching power to ear down more talented boxers. He just ran into a guy who could take his pressure and punishment and come back with his own punches. Burns proved that he can overcome a tough-as-nails brawler when he stopped Michael Gomez in seven rounds last April. (By the way, Gomez is an Ireland-born Brit, not another "Rican" so don't feel worse than you already do. LOL. However, it's interesting to note that he adopted the Latino surname after his favortie fighter -- the great Wilfredo Gomez.)Anyway, I can't wait to watch the fight. I'm sure Rocky will be back and in more awesome slugfests. For now, I'm happy for Scottish and British fans. Burns appears to be a worthy titleholder.</b> <b>MORE MAYWEATHER</b>What's up Dougie? Just curious, are you receiving any emails from the Floydnettes in which they rationalize the rant? If so, what are the main themes of their rationalization? My guess is that Floyd will eventually led them to water by coming out with one of them half-ass apologies after he realizes that his marketability is at stake. (Remember, in his mind Floyd has greater endorsements than Lebron James, and demands an appearance fee higher than Sara Palin.) It will probably go something like, "I love the Asians. It was just a joke that people took the wrong way, but I apologize IF I offended anyone, etc, etc." Also, remember when the steroid nonsense first began and some people mentioned that the accusations were just racist? I personally felt that bringing up the racism accusation was fair game since it met the standard set by the steroid talk. Remember, the whole steroid gossip formed because Floyd Sr. said something. That's no different than someone bringing up racism. Both examples follow the same standard of proof, so we either needed to talk about both or neither. Unfortunately, the boxing media refused to cover the racism charges. Oh well. Lastly, many in the press were also quick to dismiss the belief that Floyd was scared of Paquiao. After seeing the video, I actually agree that Floyd is not scared of the Pac-Man. He's petrified. -- Ruben<b>You might be right, Ruben, you certainly called it on Floyd's "apology" video. It pretty much went the way you said it would (and for the same reasons -- his endorsements). Good job.Personally, I think the media should have ignored Floyd Sr.'s baseless steroid allegations (and this is not the first time I've stated this).As for emails from "Floydnettes" who want to rationalize what he said, I really haven't received any (unless you count Todd's email, which I don't).What are Mayweather's diehard supporters going to tell me?"Come Dougie, there's nothing wrong with a little racism and hatred. Stop being a such a racist hater!"</b><a href="mailto:dougiefischer@yahoo.com">Doug Fischer can be contacted at dougiefischer@yahoo.com</a>

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