Iron Fist Boxing: 2011-06-26

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Dougie's Monday Mailbag

MARGARITO'S SPARRINGHey Dougie,There's a lot of press out there on Manny Pacquiao's sparing right now, but since he's way less rusty, I'm more interested in Antonio Margarito's preparation. I feel like the amount of rust he's got to have built up rests a huge responsibility on the quality of his sparing leading up to the fight. I've read they're shooting for 150 rnds, but I haven't heard anything about with whom, or how the sessions have looked. Have you heard anything on this? Thanks. -- T-SmithI wrote a <a href="http://www.ringtv.com/blog/2406/gym_notes_i_havent_seen_it_yet_but_word_is_margaritos_looking_good/">Gym Notes</a> column on almost watching an Antonio Margarito sparring session last week. LOL. The not-so-unexpected breakdown of my 16-year-old Toyota on the way to Robert Garcia's gym in Oxnard, Calif., prevented me from providing an eye-witness account of Margarito's sparring session, but word from a couple unattached insiders (Max and Sam Garcia -- no relation to Robert) was that the former welterweight titleholder looked solid in his second week of sparring. I mentioned his sparring partners in that article but I'll list their names again: Austin Trout (a junior middleweight prospect from New Mexico), Cleotis "Mookie" Pendarvis (a quick and talented junior welterweight spoiler from L.A.), and Ricardo Williams (a 2000 Olympic silver medalist from Ohio who was once a ring savvy 140-pound standout).I sat in on an eight-round mitt session on Saturday and from that workout I can tell you that Margarito's very close to fighting weight, his mood is good and he definitely has his legs under him.I plan to watch him spar this week (God willing) for another Gym Notes column.DIRRELL PULLOUT BENEFITS JOHNSONHi Dougie,I don't want to spend much time debating in my own head (much less in email) the validity of Andre Dirrell pulling out of the Super Six. Am I skeptical? Somewhat... and I feel a little guilty about that. But either way it's a moot point because whether valid or not he's out. And truth be told I thought he was a bit of a bitch and it irritated me watching him and his whiny ass nature on the fight broadcasts and Fight Camp 360s documentaries. My therapist tells me I need to work on having empathy for others... is that what she's talking about?Anyhoo, let me put it like this: I'm disappointed in not getting to see a Ward-Dirrell fight as it delivered a dramatic story line, maybe (big maybe) a decent fight (although my gut tells me Ward mentally dominates Dirrell, wins a decision, and then we are left having to hear bitch ass Dirrell and troll-ass Gary Shaw whine and harumph about it) and an opportunity for Ward (who I am becoming a big fan of) to cement himself as top 1 or 2 in the division.So that fight is lost for now but what I find an interesting wrinkle is now the Johnson vs. Green fight is about 100 times more meaningful because the winner (hopefully Glen) most likely moves on and we are left with a four-man tourney of Abraham, Froch, Ward and Johnson. That's not too shabby and would be awesome for Gentleman Glen.Maybe I'm jumping the gun slightly on Glen being the guy... but still, to see this turn into that kind of opportunity for Glen really makes me happy.So I'm not gonna hang my head very much at all if this turn of events leaves me with Dirrell (who annoyed the f___ out of me anyway) out, Glen Johnson in, and those four (none of whom I think have any whiny ass bitch in them) left to duke it out.I'm still on board with the Super Six and excited.If there are others looking to focus on the negative then they are morons and can all go F themselves. -- ToddYou're starting to sound like your daddy, Todd. This is Todd duBoef, isn't it? Whoever you may be, I agree that a four-man single-elimination semifinal with Ward, Abraham, Froch and Johnson is worth watching. However, given Johnson's age, ring wear, and the fact that he will be fighting at his lightest weight in TEN years, I can't count Allan Green completely out the way most fans and media have. And I disagree that a victory over his buddy Dirrell would have "cemented" Ward's status as the "top 1 or 2" super middleweight. For starters, Ward already has that status (ESPN.com ranks him No. 1; THE RING rates him No. 2) depending on who you talk to. If the Bay Area Badass wants to be the division's undisputed numero uno he must not only best Abraham, Froch or Johnson, but he's got to beat Lucian Bute (provided the Quebec-based Romanian remains undefeated through the conclusion of the Super Six).Lastly, for her own safety, I sincerely hope your therapist never administers to you a Rorschach test with inkblots that resemble Andre Dirrell or Gary Shaw. You might go all Edwin Valero on the poor lady.RANDOM QUESTIONSTwo quick, late questions. What's up with Brandon Rios calling out Victor Ortiz at a catchweight of 138 pounds when he weighed in as a welterweight on the day of his DQ win vs Anthony Peterson?And what ever happened to Ricardo Torres? In his only two defeats he lost a great slugfest with Miguel Cotto, got headbutted and hooked vs Kendall Holt. Two acceptable losses vs world champions. Why hasn't he fought since '09? -- JabreI have no idea what happened to Torres. Last time I wrote about him was during the build up to his rubber match with Holt that was scheduled for December of 2008. Torres pulled out of that fight with a week or two to go, claiming an injury but the rumor was that he was way overweight in his camp in Colombia. Bob Arum, who promoted both fighters at the time, said "he can stay in Colombia as far as I'm concerned" during the conference call for Holt vs. Demetrius Hopkins (who served as a late sub for Torres in the Showtime-televised bout). I respectfully disagree with Obi-Bob Kenobi. I'd like Torres to venture out of Colombia if he can get down to 140 pounds and regain his form. I think the gutsy hard-punching former beltholder would make for some fun fights in the deep and talented junior welterweight division. Imagine Torres vs. Bradley, Alexander, Khan, Maidana and Ortiz. Imagine the seasoned slugger testing young up-and-comers like Danny Garcia (who looked good whacking out Mike Arnaoutis on Friday) and in the not-too-distant future prospects such as Jessie Vargas and Frankie Gomez. Torres is a welcome What's up with Rios and his catchweight challenge to Ortiz? Nothing really. It's just a good old-fashioned grudge. He doesn't like Victor and he wants to try to beat up on his former stablemate. Rios, who weighed over the welterweight limit the day of the Peterson fight, can make 135 pounds easy and he knows that Ortiz has to work hard to make 140, so he'd love to set a 138-pound catchweight for a future fight in the hopes that Vic drains himself making that weight (Bam Bam's not as dumb as he looks or sounds -- not quite, anyway). Ortiz isn't as spacey as he looks (not quite, anyway) and would never agree to weigh under 140 pounds for a fight. He has way too many options at 140 pounds to mess around with Rios at the present time, but I think those two Kansas kids will make for a hell of grudge match in about a year or two if they continue to win and impress. And don't forget that Rios said he'd be willing to fight at 140 pounds if Ortiz didn't take the catch-weight bait.DOES BRIGGS HAVE A PUNCHER'S CHANCE?hell no. he has the same chance as all of vitali's other opponents do - a 2% chance that vitali twists a knee or ruptures a disk in his back or some weird sh__ like that and loses by injury tko. i was worried about briggs and thought people were underrating him when the fight was signed because he is a huge puncher.however i watched a training video and realized he is the slowest thing going and can't move his feet at all around the ring. especially if vitali has a big ring (and im sure he will) there is no chance in hell briggs and his juiced up body (ya i'm accusing him of taking steroids a few years ago when he came back much heavier and ko'd 10 bums and ray mercer in a row) can keep up with vitali who will circle for two rounds and then beat the piss out of briggs. -- Matt in CanadaMatt, I'm shocked that it took a video of Briggs training for you realize that he has about a 2-percent chance of winning Saturday's fight with Vitali.I figured the only people who were "worried" about Briggs were those who were concerned for his health (and no, I'm not talking about fears that the Brooklyn native suffers an asthma attack, I mean being fretting that Klitschko knocks him clear out of the damn ring).WHAT ABOUT THESE TOP FIVES?good day mr. fischer!i'm wondering if you can answer these top fives... i thought this would be unique because i notice that some of your top fives were the "best." i hope this will appear in your mailbag.top 5 worst match-ups you've ever seen/covered/watched on tv (and why).top 5 boring boxing fights you've witnessed (and why)top 5 boxing events you wish never happened (and why)top 5 upsets you've watched/covered/watched on tv and you can't believe it (and why)Good job. God bless. -- Jarvis, PhilippinesThe five worst match-ups that immediately come to my mind are high-profile bouts where one guy obviously shouldn't have been in the ring with the opponent he was matched with:Lewis-Tyson (I know this event did record box-office and PPV numbers, but Tyson had nothing left and no business challenging a heavyweight champ as good as Lewis... the only people who thought Tyson had a shot were clueless casual fans, Tyson nut-huggers and Lewis haters... I thought Mike took an unnecessary beating in that fight)Tyson-McNeely (it was Tyson's first fight after spending almost 4 years in prison but McNeely, who had only faced old journeymen and rank ham-n-eggers, still had no prayer of even making it out of the first round... the "fight," which resembled a gang member beating up on a mentally challenged kid from the "special" class, did huge PPV numbers)Corrales-Clottey (the not-long-for-this-world Corrales, who was clearly a spent bullet going into this fight, shouldn't have been fighting anyone at 147 pounds much less a hard-nosed contender like Clottey)Lewis-Grant (poor Grant, who had been exposed in winning a tough fight with Andrew Golota in his previous fight, was practically hyperventilating on his way to the ring)Gatti-Gamache (Gamache beat a bunch of third-tier guys going into this fight, the HBO-televised co-feature to De La Hoya-Coley, but he was worn down by an aging Julio Cesar Chavez in his last loss... the Mexican legend put on a lot of weight after the weigh-in for that fight, which I attended in Anaheim, Calif., as a fan... if an old guy who put on a lot of weight after the weighin beat up on Gamache, what was going to happen to poor Joey when he fought a young guy who was notorious for putting on a ridiculous amount of weight after weighing in?)Top five boring boxing fight I've witnessed (and why):Why would anyone be interested a list of boring fights and want reasons why certain bouts made the list? You're not going to try to find these bouts and watch them are you? If so, you're a very strange individual. LOL. Ruiz-Oquendo immediately comes to mind. I watched most of it in fast forward and it still sucked. Lots of heavyweight bouts come to mind: Byrd-Williamson, Moorer-Bean, Klitschko-Ibragimov. Chavez Jr.-Rowland, which was sadly the main undercard support for Cotto-Pacquiao, was crap. It got so monotonous I left press row for a bathroom break and took my sweet time. My heart sank when I returned to the arena and saw that they were only in the sixth round. Is that five? Yeah, that's a enough; this is a pointless Top Five.Top five boxing events I wish never happened (and why):I wish any bout that resulted in a fatality or a serious head injury never happened. I'll just stick to those tragic bouts that occurred during my tenure as a boxing writer and on my beat (the U.S.).Levander Johnson-Jesus Chavez sticks in my mind and conscience. I had a horrible feeling about the matchup prior to the fight, which I didn't cover, but I didn't speak out enough against it apart from saying some stuff on The Next Round with Steve Kim. There's a Levander Johnson T-shirt in my dresser that members of MaxBoxing's message board created and sold to raise money for Johnson's family. I've never worn it and I have a hard time looking at it but I won't throw it out. Obviously the subject still bothers me.Montiel-Alcazar (fatality). Jones-Scottland (fatality). Viloria-Contreras (serious brain injury). Darchinyan-Burgos (serious brain injury).This has been a very depressing topic, Jarvis.Top five upsets I couldn't believe (and why):Brewster over Klitschko. (I believed in Brewster going into the fight -- and yes, he was my official pick by a fourth-round KO -- but after taking a frightful beating and going down late in the fourth round, I thought it was over for my man Lamon. Then he teed off on a bone-tired Wladdy in that surreal fifth round and forced a stoppage. I nearly lost my mind watching at home.)Douglas-Tyson. (I was rooting for Douglas because he was from Columbus, Ohio where I grew up. His TKO of Tyson was so shocking it probably saved me from being jumped on the train ride back to where I was staying in Boston during a college internship at the Boston Globe. A bunch a hoods surrounded me not long after I got on the "T" from my friend's house in Roxbury where I watched the fight. But they froze when I told them Tyson got knocked out and demanded the blow-by-blow account, which I delivered along with pretty darn good imitation of Iron Mike getting decked by my Ohio homeboy.)Honeyghan-Curry (I thought Curry was the pound-for-pound best in the sport and unbeatable at 147 pounds. I didn't think anyone but middleweight champ Marvin Hagler could beat the talented Texas technician -- and that showdown was supposedly in the works -- so you can imagine my shock when some unknown British dude with a what I thought was a quirky style served his ass. Honeyghan didn't just force Curry to stay on his stool after six, he hurt the American star in the fifth round and made him look ordinary.) Barkley-Hearns. (The disparity in talent was almost sickening. Barkley was a legit contender but I thought the Hitman would make him look like a club fighter and peel the Bronx bomber's head like an overripe orange with his jab and accurate power punches... that's just what the Detroit legend did -- as well as land numerous debilitating body shots -- for 2 rounds until BOOM! That monster right hand crashed upside Tommy's head. I don't know how Hearns peeled himself off the canvas but there was no way the fight should have continued -- it did, of course -- and the Blade chopped the Hitman down with a follow-up barrage.)Nunn over Kalambay. (It wasn't shocking that Nunn, an awesome talent, beat Kalambay but I couldn't conceive of the manner in which he won -- a one-punch KO in the first round... I liked Kalambay in that fight. I was just starting to become a hardcore fan around the time of this bout, so I didn't know that much about the finer points of boxing and how styles match up but from what I'd seen and read about the Italy-based Congo native I thought he had the ability to off-set and out-maneuver the 6-foot-2 southpaw. I thought Kalambay had the footwork of a 160-pound Muhammad Ali. Too bad he didn't possess Ali's iron chin.)TOP 5 AUSTRALIAN FIGHTERSHey Doug,Just interested in getting your top 5 all time Australian fighters? There have been so many great fighters coming out of Australia for years who either next to no-one outside of Australia know about, or simply aren't given their due (in my opinion anyway). Here are mine in no particular order:Dave Sands: This guy was so badass that neither Robinson nor Randy Turpin would go near him. Turpin wouldn't fight him after seeing his brother Dick iced in 2 rounds. Bobo Olson was another high profile victim. Unfortunately Sands passed away at a young age from a car accident and sadly there is nowhere near enough footage of his fights to do him any justice.Johnny Famechon: This guy was a killer who if not for an ill advised comeback would have retired as an undefeated legend.Les Darcy: A somewhat forgotten Australian icon, which is a damn shame considering his talent and tragic life.Lionel Rose: Another great Indigenous fighter whose fights with Fighting Harada were epic.Vic Patrick: An absolute pocket rocket who gets nowhere near the credit he deserves.Thanks for your thoughts. -- G., AustraliaThanks for your Top Five list. I'll have to research Patrick and Sands as I'm not familiar with either fighter. Anyway, here's my list:Young Griffo (won world featherweight title when there was only one to win and fought hall of famers Kid Lavine, George Dixon and Joe Gans to draws in a series of bouts from 1894 to 1897), Les Darcy (won Australia's welterweight, middleweight and heavyweight titles on way to compiling excellent 45-4 record before tragic, premature death), Lionel Rose (traveled to Japan and beat that nation's greatest fighter Fighting Harada to win world bantamweight title, which he defended against undefeated Japanese challenger Takao Sakurai in Japan before traveling to the U.S. to beat underrated Mexican badass Chucho Castillo at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., which might as well have been Mexico... no shame in losing to the unbeaten prime version of Ruben Olivares that KO'd him), Johnny Famechon (beat underrated Jose Legra for the WBC featherweight title and defended it twice against Harada -- the first win by controversial decision but the rematch by 14-round TKO in Tokyo -- and there's no shame in losing the title to underrated Mexican southpaw Vicente Saldivar), and Jeff Fenech (won titles at bantamweight, junior featherweight and featherweight in first 20 bouts and defeated aging future hall of famer Carlos Zarate, young future hall of famer Daniel Zaragoza, 1984 Olympic gold medalist Steve McCrory, as well as solid titleholders Samart Payakaroon, Greg Richardson, and Marcos Villasana... held the great Azumah Nelson to a draw that most observers thought he deserved to win.) FIVE BEST PERFORMANCES OF ALL TIMEDougie,How about top 5 performances of all time? Those who on the biggest occasions produced their best and executed a perfect gameplan. I'm thinking about the likes of Whitaker vs Chavez, Ali vs Liston, etc.Keep up the great work. - Ben, UKMy man, I'm 40! I can't tell you about the best performances of all-freaking- time. I haven't seen or studied enough to begin to even have an inkling of who's deserving of mention and why.This is a question for Bert Sugar or a bona fide boxing historian like Mike Silver. Or you can break out your Ouija board and try to reach the spirit of Hank Kaplan. Given your criteria, "on the biggest occasions produced their best and executed a perfect gameplan," I think the examples you gave are on-point. Clay over Liston featured a not yet mature 7-to-1 underdog, who had been dropped hard in his previous bout, outclassing a truly feared heavyweight champ that most of the media of the time rated as the most formidable since Joe Louis.Frazier over Ali in their first bout, Sanchez over Gomez, Leonard over Hearns in first bout, Leonard over Hagler, Duran over Leonard, and Duran over Barkley are some examples that occurred in my lifetime.Whitaker's "draw" with Chavez resonates with me because it occurred shortly after I'd become an official "boxing nutcase."I don't know if Whitaker was an underdog but Chavez held an 87-0 record at the time and Sweet Pea was willing to face the Mexican icon on his terms. It was a Don King-promoted event (that was carried by Chavez's network, Showtime) in San Antonio in front of 60,000 Mexican and Mexican-American fans. Like most observers, I thought he took Chavez to school.I'll give you my Top Five "best performances" since the Whitaker-Chavez fight:Jones over Toney, Barrera over Hamed, Hopkins over Trinidad, Mayweather over Corrales, and Mosley over De La Hoya (first fight).

professional boxing match professional boxing matches

Paris Hilton causes a stir at Pacman press conference

Everyone loves Manny Pacquiao, even American socialites. Paris Hilton and her sister Nicky were ringside for the Pacman's defeat of Shane Mosley. After the fight, she made an appearance at the postfight press conference.

The Hilton sisters sat alongside Pacquiao's wife Jinkee. Paris spoke for a few seconds and said she enjoyed the fight.

The fight game has fallen off in the celeb world. Not as many big-named Hollywood folks are coming to the mega-fights. Tyrese Gibson sang the U.S. National Anthem, Charice did the Philippine anthem and Jamie Foxx was in attendance to sing "America the Beautiful."

LL Cool J escorted Mosley out to the ring by lip-syncing "Momma Said Knock You Out" and Pacquiao was accompanied by Jimi Jamison doing "Eye of the Tiger."

According to the Las Vegas Sun, George Lopez, Michael Strahan, Brandon Jacobs, Nicole Murphy and David Foster were also in attendance.

big boxing matches coming up boxing equipment

Vargas takes out Sarmiento in first round

LOS ANGELES -- Pablo Sarmiento picked the wrong guy to fight after a six-year layoff.Jessie Vargas, an excellent prospect from Las Vegas who is trained by Roger Mayweather, hurt the 39-year-old veteran from Argentina with a left jab and then stopped him with a vicious barrage of punches only 1:31 into a scheduled eight-round welterweight fight on the Fight Night Club card Thursday at Club Nokia.Sarmiento (34-14-2, 16 knockouts) has a respectable resume, having once challenged for a fringe world title. And he had a star in his corner, fellow Argentine and middleweight champion Sergio Martinez, with whom he has been working in Oxnard, Calif.The problem was that he hadn't been in the ring since 2004, which is a lifetime for a fighter. Stepping through the ropes to face a ferocious young warrior like Vargas was borderline suicide.Sarmiento looked competent at the opening bell, presenting an awkward style that Vargas had a hard time figuring out initially. And he did hurt Vargas momentarily -- albeit accidentally -- when his head collided with Vargas' nose.However, the first solid punch that found the old man's face - the left jab - was the beginning of the end.Vargas (12-0, 7 KOs) pounced on his vulnerable prey in one corner and must've landed a dozen hard punches that ultimately put a dazed Sarmiento on his pants, where he stayed. The referee waved off the fight without counting."He moved real awkwardly," Vargas said. "I couldn't hit him with straight punches. And I didn't want to get caught coming in. The first time I caught him, though, I knew he felt it. Then I knew I had him."Sarmiento might never fight again. Vargas, 21, is just getting started.The young fighter was asked whether he would've preferred to fight a few more rounds."What I want is to fight Top-10 fighters, guys like Marcos Maidana and Devon Alexander," he said. "I know I'm an eight-round fighter. I'm anxious to fight these guys, though. I know I have to be patient. I have to do what my promoter wants me to do."In earlier bouts, Jamie Kavanagh, the former Irish amateur star who is trained by Freddie Roach, outclassed Ricardo Malfavon of Santa Ana, Calif., en route to a one-sided four-round decision.Kavanagh (3-0, 1 KO) landed a number of hard body shots and mixed up his other punches to befuddle his persistent but overmatched opponent. Malfavon (0-3) was never hurt, which raises questions about Kavanagh's power, but he landed few punches.The only flaw in Kavanagh's performance was that he seemed to run out of gas in the closing moments of the fight, which he blamed on sinus problems for which he has taken medication.Roach wasn't in Kavanagh's corner because he's in the Philippines training Manny Pacquiao."I'm happy with my performance," Kavanagh said. "It's hard without Freddie here, though. My amateur coach has made the transition to the pros but it's still hard. He's in the Philippines training the best fighter in the world pound-for-pound. The timing is just bad."You learn something every time, though. So I'm happy."Another prospect, Anthony Martinez (6-0, 5 KOs) of Las Vegas, ended his fight with Ronnie Peterson (2-4, 2 KOs) of St. Paul, Minn., with a single left hook to the body 52 seconds into a scheduled four-round welterweight bout.Peterson, in terrible pain, took a knee and was counted out. Martinez was disappointed in one regard."I was hoping he'd get up. I need the work," he said.Marcus Robinson of Lancaster, Calif., making his pro debut, defeated Salvador Rios of Santa Ana (1-1) by a split decision in a four-round welterweight fight. Rios is the older brother of prospect Ronny Rios.And Ramon Valadez (2-1, 1 KO) of Los Angeles stopped Carlos Hernandez of San Fernando, Calif. at 2:15 of the first round of a scheduled four-round lightweight bout.

international boxing news king professional boxing

Pound for pound: Top 10s of Fischer, Rosenthal

Kevin Iole, the boxing writer for our partner Yahoo! Sports, raised the question in his most-recent <a href="http://yhoo.it/chbbUL">column</a>: How does one determine the best fighter in the world pound for pound?Iole's method mirrors that of many thoughtful observers: "I have always viewed the poll as a manner of deciding who would win if all fighters weighed the same and they fought each other," he said.Others take a different approach.Doug Fischer and Michael Rosenthal, Co-Editors of RingTV.com, agree that a combination of ability and achievements -- with heavy emphasis on quality of opposition -- is the best means of determining the No. 1 fighter on the planet regardless of weight.In other words, that lofty title must be earned to a great degree, according to Fischer and Rosenthal.Thus, it's no great surprise that the RingTV.com editors rate Pacquiao higher than Mayweather in their respective pound-for-pound Top 10 lists, which they forward to Iole each month as members of the Yahoo! Sports voting panel."Accomplishment and quality of opposition are the key criteria for my pound-for-pound ratings," Fischer said. "Going undefeated and winning multiple titles, even in separate weight classes, is not enough to automatically merit pound-for-pound consideration in my opinion. This isn't Henry Armstrong's era of eight divisions and one world title for each weight class. We have four 'major' titles, 17 weight classes, and a lot of very unworthy alphabet 'contenders' in this era of the sport."Now more than ever talented fighters must prove their elite status by seeking out the best possible opposition. In other words: They must challenge themselves. Pacquaio is a good example of a world-class talent who consistently challenges himself."So which is the better method? Neither.The approach taken by Fischer and Rosenthal is similar to the manner in which fighters should be ranked by the sanctioning bodies, by wins and losses with emphasis on quality of opposition.That's the only objective means of determining who should fight who for the various titles.The beauty of the pound-for-pound ratings is that they play little to no role in the business of boxing. They're merely a fun way to compare the best fighters in the world to one another.The point is that everyone has their own criteria in determining the mythical king and no one who has truly done his or her homework is necessarily wrong."The thing that always strikes me is how worked up people get over the pound-for-pound ratings," Rosenthal said. "It's a matter of opinion, nothing more. One can argue that Mayweather is better than Pacquiao and vice versa. And both arguments are likely to be valid."This is supposed to fun, not fodder for a nasty war of words."In that spirit, Fischer and Rosenthal give you their Top 10 lists in the first installment of what will be a monthly feature on the Web site. Enjoy and, as always, give us your thoughts.Doug Fischer's Top 101. Manny Pacquiao: Fighter of the decade proved mettle by going 5-1-1 against fellow future hall of famers Marquez, Barrera and Morales. 2. Floyd Mayweather Jr.:Boxing's best blend of talent, skill and technique is undefeated over 14 years. Toughest foe may be himself. 3. Juan Manuel Marquez: 37-year-old lightweight champ is last man to give Pacquiao a fight. Only decisive loss was to Mayweather in a welterweight bout.4. Wladimir Klitschko: Heavyweight champ, on 13-bout win streak, has completely dominated his division for last four years.5. Vitali Klitschko: 39-year-old former champ is every bit as dominant as younger brother.6. Paul Williams: Former welterweight titleholder has been a contender in three divisions. Nov. 20 rematch with Martinez is proof he seeks challenges.7. Sergio Martinez: Middleweight champ is 1-1-1 in his last three bouts but most thought he beat Kermit Cintron and some believe he deserved the nod against Williams. Title-winning fight with Kelly Pavlik and rematch with Williams proof Martinez relishes a challenge.8. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam: Flyweight champ has lost once in his last 69 bouts. Majority decision over Kameda in March clinched future Hall of Fame induction.9. Fernando Montiel:Talented three-division beltholder is unbeaten in last 11 bouts, including impressive stoppage of Hasegawa in a title-unification bout.10. Tomasz Adamek: Former cruiserweight champ, now rated at heavyweight, has won 11 bouts since his only loss, a decision to Dawson at light heavyweight. Veteran has been a contender in boxing's three heaviest weight classes, which is very rare. Michael Rosenthal's Top 101. Manny Pacquiao: Most-impressive combination of ability and achievements. The greatest fighter of his generation.2. Floyd Mayweather Jr.: Most-gifted and polished boxer must do more to prove he's best.3. Paul Williams: Must beat Martinez in more-convincing fashion in rematch to solidify position here.4. Andre Ward: Complete fighter might be next dominant figure in boxing.5. Sergio Martinez:Victory over Williams lifts late bloomer even higher.6. Timothy Bradley: Talented but has other 140-pounders on his heels.7. Juan Manuel Lopez: The new Puerto Rican star, loaded with talent and power, could be tested by veteran Rafael Marquez.8. Wladimir Klitschko: Utter domination of division speaks volumes.9. Vitali Klitschko: See Wladimir.10. Juan Manuel Marquez: Old man proved against Juan Diaz that he has plenty left.

everlast boxing bags everlast punch bag

Roach says Mosley didn?t fight to win, fighter blames Pac?s power

Shane Mosley's no rookie. The former lightweight, welterweight and junior middleweight champ was involved in the 21st title fight of his career on Saturday against Manny Pacquiao, but even with 53 fights under his belt, "Sugar" Shane was shocked by what he felt in the third round.

Mosley said Pacman's punch was as hard as any shot he's ever felt as a pro. That was just the third time Mosley was on the deck.

Keep in mind, Mosley has been in there with several guys who walked into the ring around 170 pounds on the night of their respective fight including Ricardo Mayorga, Antonio Margarito, Fernando Vargas, Vernon Forrest and Winky Wright. It was 149-pound Pacquiao who hit him the hardest.

Mosley said it threw him off the rest of the way. If he'd opened up, Mosley felt like he was walking into a trap. Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach said he was disappointed in Mosley's approach and thinks it's time Sugar Shane walks away.

"I don't think he tried to win the fight. I think he just tried to survive," Roach said during the postfight press conference. "When you get to that point in boxing, it's time to call it a day."

championship boxing double end bag

David Haye to reveal new England Away football shirt in Germany

Manchester, England (1 July 2011) English WBA Boxing Champion David Haye will walk out at the Imtech Arena in Hamburg tomorrow night wearing the new ...

boxing gym equipment boxing head gear

Weekend Preview: Garcia vs. Arnaoutis

FRIDAY DANNY GARCIA VS. MIKE ARNAOUTISRounds / weight class: 10 rounds / junior welterweightsLocation: PhiladelphiaTelevision: TelefuturaThe backdrop: Garcia (18-0, 12 KOs) is an exciting young prospect from Philadelphia, who will be fighting at home for third time in five fights. Golden Boy Promotions, his promoter, obviously hopes to make him a significant attraction in Philly. He struggled to win a split decision over capable Ashley Theophane in February, raising questions about his future, but he responded by scoring knockouts in his next two fights. This will be his toughest test. Arnaoutis (22-6-2, 10 KOs) has lost four of his past five fights - all to good fighters - but is still competitive and has experience. Only Victor Ortiz was able to stop him.Also fighting: Anthony Flores vs. Arash Usmanee, 8 rounds, junior lightweightsRating the card: C+. Garcia, an aggressive boxer-puncher, is fun to watch. And it will be interesting to see how he does in a legitimate test.Also Friday: Pongsaklek Wonjongkam defends his flyweight title against Suriyan Por Chockchai in Thailand. Wonjongkam (76-3-1, 40 KOs) took the title from Koki Kameda in March. This is his second defense. Chockchai (14-4-1, 4 KOs) has won six consecutive fights but hasn't faced anyone near Wonjongkam's ability.

latest boxing matches latest boxing news

Santiago Ready For July 29 Shumenov WBA Title Challenge

Two-time world title challenger Danny ?The Bronx Bomber? Santiago is hoping the third time?s the charm for him when he challenges WBA/IBA Light Heavyweight Champion Beibut Shumenov, headlining the ?Fire and Fury? pro boxing card, July 29 on the TeleFutura?s Solo Boxeo Tecate show, airing live from South Point Hotel Casino in Las Vegas.
?Fire& Fury? [...]

heavyweight boxing news inflatable boxing gloves

Friday, July 1, 2011

Devon Alexander Squeaks By Lucas Matthyssee in St. Louis

ST. CHARLES, Mo. ? Devon Alexander entered the ring Saturday night wearing a white T-shirt that read ?Redemption,? a clear nod to his January technical decision loss against Tim Bradley. Winning a controversial split decision over Lucas Matthysse may not have redeemed him in the eyes of the media but it went a long ways toward winning back the more than 6,000 fans that turned up at Family Arena outside St. Louis to cheer him on.

Immediately after the judges? scores were read Twitter erupted as the mainstream boxing press (most of whom didn?t bother to travel to St. Louis) castigated the judges for scoring a close bout for the local fighter. For the record we had Devon eking out a decision by one point, 95-94.

Matthysse undoubtedly has the heavier hands and floored Devon in the 4th round for the first time in his career but Alexander was able to pop back up immediately and was the busier and more accurate puncher in six out the ten rounds.

Like the Bradley fight, Alexander began by using his speed to box and stay on the outside where his quickness and reach advantage enabled him touch up Matthysse. After a frenetic first three rounds the Argentine found a home for his straight right that put Alexander on his ass in the 4th, where Devon looked shocked for an instant before springing back up to his feet.

?It wasn?t a hard knockdown, it was a flash knockdown,? Alexander said after the fight, acknowledging his opponent ?had a good punch? but nothing he hadn?t seen before. ?You can?t panic in a situation like that. You have to follow the game plan.?

Being forced to take a seat inspired Alexander to come out harder for the middle rounds and he was able to land a series of precise combinations that appeared to affect Matthysse.

But the 7th saw Lucas bring the fight inside and land some dangerous uppercuts behind his right hook. The 8th was more of the same as Devon was caught on the ropes and getting pummeled. Your correspondent?s ringside notes from fight include this from the eighth round: ?Devon may be overmatched in there tonight.? At that point both the crowd and Matthysse appeared to sense the same, with the former growing restless and Lucas returning to his corner with a broad smile on his face.

The 9th round then is where Devon Alexander finally began to lay claim to the ?Great? he has adopted as his moniker. Alexander?s lack of power may be the only thing preventing him from being truly world-class, but in the final two rounds on this night he seized the moment and hit Matthysse with everything he had. Matthysse kept trying to walk through the blows but Alexander?s greater handspeed enabled him to respond to single shots with three or four of his own.

Unsurprisingly the hometown crowd was more enthusiastic about the judges awarding Devon a narrow victory than the fight press, but again accusations of robbery are misplaced. Several of the rounds were very close and could have gone either way, but regardless this was an extremely close fight. Scores of 96-93, 93-96, and 95-94 for Alexander reflect that fact.

?I knew I did enough to win,? Alexander said, noting that he boxed more adeptly in the last few rounds and managed to avoid the Argentine?s big shots.

?It was definitely close. He came to fight,? Alexander said of his opponent, who he called one of the hardest punchers in the division.

?It was a tough fight, everybody saw that. It was anybody?s fight, whoever wanted it most.?

Trainer and former St. Louis police officer Kevin Cunningham admitted he was nervous during the second half of the fight as Alexander forsook the gameplan and began trading with the Knockeador.

?In the second half he kind of got into that warrior mode?he wanted to prove his critics wrong about the questions they had about heart and stuff like that,? Cunningham said.

?He scared the shit out of me but he wanted to let everybody know he?s a warrior. He was in there with the biggest puncher in the division, everybody said [Matthysse] beat Zab Judah in his last fight. This guy was the real deal. Devon showed he could out-box him early in the fight.?

With his usual eloquence King pronounced Alexander ready for ?anybody and everybody? including a rematch with Bradley or even WBC beltholder Amir Khan. While this win may not have erased all doubts about Alexander, it should set him up for one of those fights and give him the chance to do just that.

muhammad ali boxing matches new boxing news

Weekend Afterthoughts, Focusing On Scoring Controversies In Wins For Devon Alexander, Felix Sturm And More

It's givin'-up time for James Kirkland, for me. It might be a bit premature, since he just reunited with old trainer Ann Wolfe. But in the above video he looks like the sloppy barroom brawler pal of the site Paul Kelly called him. I have no idea why he's leaning over into Dennis Sharpe at a 45-degree angle in the footage from Friday night's Solo Boxeo Tecate above, unless he's trying to get knocked out by an uppercut. He just plain looks terrible, and I don't care that he knocked out a guy in the 1st round who hasn't won a fight since 2004. Does he need more time with Wolfe? Does he need to return to junior middleweight? Is he still working off rust from his long jail stay? Or is whatever he had -- and admittedly it was rudimentary back then, too -- gone? I'm siding with the latter. I hope I'm wrong. A sharp (or as sharp as he can be) Kirkland is a nice force to have in the sport.

It was a jam-packed weekend, so before we start up with the marathon coverage of Wladimir Klitschko vs. David Haye this coming Saturday, let's revisit the most recent Friday and Saturday in boxing.

fight night left hook

Ring Ratings Update: Mosley dropped from pound for pound

Whether Shane Mosley deserved to win his fight against Sergio Mora on Saturday in Los Angeles is a matter of debate. But everyone can agree that the former three-division champ did not look like an elite fighter during the dreary 12-round junior middleweight bout, which was scored a draw.Mosley (46-6-1, 39 knockouts) pressed the fight from start to finish, throwing and landing more punches than Mora (22-1-2, 6 KOs), but he lacked the ability to inflict damage on his younger, elusive opponent, who is not rated by THE RING at junior middleweight.Although most observers believed Mosley won the fight by varying scores, the 39-year-old veteran didn't look like one of the best fighters in the world in the opinion of THE RING's Editorial Board. Thus, Mosley has been dropped from the magazine's pound-for-pound ratings.His departure allows Timothy Bradley, who is THE RING's top-rated junior welterweight and also ranked at 147 pounds, to debut in the pound-for-pound ratings at No. 10. "Mosley has not looked good in his last two fights, and he had problems dealing with Mora in the latter part of their fight," THE RING's managing editor Joseph Santoliquito said. "Pound-for-pound fighters are not finishing with 12-round draws against Sergio Mora. They're dominating Mora."Mosley-Mora was the least entertaining major bout on a busy weekend of boxing. Featherweight contender Daniel Ponce de Leon, junior welterweight standout Victor Ortiz and Saul Alvarez, an emerging Mexican star who fights in the 154-pound division, all scored impressive KO victories on the Molsey-Mora undercard. Lightweight titleholder Humberto Soto successfully defended his 135-pound strap in Mexico, and RING-rated light heavyweight star Nathan Cleverly defeated fellow RING contender Karo Murat in a title-elimination bout Saturday in Birmingham, England.To see whether this ring action created any movement in magazine's divisional rankings, check out this week's RING Ratings Update:LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHTS:Cleverly (No. 8 last week) advances to No. 5 after his ninth-round TKO over Murat, who drops from No. 6 to No. 7. Cleverly's ascension also bumps down Beibut Shumenov (No. 7 last week) a notch to No. 8. MIDDLEWEIGHTS: Anthony Mundine (No. 6 last week) departs after deciding to campaign at junior middleweight. Mundine's exit allows everyone rated No. 6 and below to advance one place each and allows veteran David Lopez to re-enter the ratings at No. 10. "The middleweight division is a dessert of talent, and Lopez has certainly shown more in the division against anyone else out there who could occupy the 10th slot," Santoliquito said.JUNIOR MIDDLEWEIGHT: "Some could be clamoring for Saul Alvarez or Sergio Mora's insertion into the Top 10 after last weekend, but to add them would be to drop one of the current Top-10 group," Santoliquito said. "Right now, 154 looks like a pretty stable division, and neither Alvarez's blowout of shopworn Carlos Baldomir or Mora's draw against Shane Mosley measures up to Cornelius Bundrage's stoppage over Cory Spinks." WELTERWEIGHTS: Mosley (No. 4 last week) didn't help himself with the draw against Mora, so Mosley, 0-1-1 in his last two fights, switches places with Miguel Cotto (No. 5 last week). "This decision was a no-brainer, since Cotto does own a victory over Mosley, who was sucking wind near the end of the Mora fight," Santoliquito said. LIGHTWEIGHTS: Soto (No. 4 last week) made an easy title defense in out-pointing Fidel Monterrosa over the weekend. The decision victory was enough to push Soto to No. 3. He exchanges places with Ali Funeka (No. 3 last week), who falls to No. 4 after going 0-2-1 over his last three fights. Soto has a nine-fight winning streak over two years. FEATHERWEIGHTS: Ponce de Leon (No. 7 last week) surges to No. 5 after making easy work of Antonio Escalante (No. 10 last week), who drops out of the ratings. Escalante is replaced at No. 10 by veteran Jhonny Gonzalez, who's on a five-fight winning streak. De Leon's move pushes down Cristobal Cruz (No. 5 last week) and Elio Rojas (No. 6 last week) one place each. JUNIOR BANTAMWEIGHT: Tomas Rojas debuts at No. 5 after beating Kohei Kono (No. 5 last week), who sinks to No. 6. Kono's bump down forces out Daigo Nakahiro (No. 6 last week), which also is the result of inactivity. "Nakahiro hasn't fought since December 2009, and in his last outing, he fought to a draw against an undefeated fighter who built his record against dubious opposition," Santoliquito said.

everlast punch bag famous boxing matches

What happened to ?JuanMa?? Arum says he was distracted

Juan Manuel Lopez showed some major holes in losing to Orlando Salido via eighth round TKO on Saturday night.

For an unbeaten champ, he's always been easy to hit and has even gone down on occasion, but it was shocking to see Orlando Salido find a home for both his overhand right and left hook so often.

Did he unveil "JuanMa" as an overrated fighter with a shaky chin or was Jim Gray onto something? Gray, the Showtime reporter, asked JuanMa about his marital issues before and after the fight. The former unbeaten champ shrugged off his impending split with wife Barbara de Jesus, but his promoter Bob Arum wasn't willing to.

"The distractions did the job. Look at Miguel Cotto, who has never been better since he left to train outside of Puerto Rico. And he doesn't get out of shape between fights," Arum said.

The veteran promoter said Lopez (30-1, 27 KOs) was massive between this fight and his last win in November over Rafael Marquez.

"That's what happened to this guy?.he was overweight. He was like 180 or 190 pounds when he was in the Philippines [for Manny Pacquiao's birthday party in December]. And I know that personal problems affected this boy," Arum said. "Boxing is a serious business and you have to be in great physical condition between fights, you have to have the best life between fights, and when you have training camp for a fight, like Cotto, you should leave the island."

The loss could be good news for boxing fans. Before the fight, JuanMa was talking about leaving the 126-pound division. Now he's got too much work to get done before a jump to 130.

He needs to avenge this loss and then make a superfight against Yuriorkis Gamboa. That could turn into a two or three fight series. If he smokes Gamboa, then it's time for Nonito Donaire. Any way you look at it, the top of the featherweight class should give us tremendous fights for the next few years unless promotional chaos screws it up.

Amazingly, even after getting destroyed by Salido, Lopez says he's sticking with the plan to leave the division.

heavyweight boxing heavyweight boxing news

Pacquiao involved in minor fender bender, but will still fight tonight

Manny Pacquiao's a guy who thrives on chaos, but even he didn't enjoy this morning's wild ride in Las Vegas just hours before his showdown with Shane Mosley.

"Sources close to Pacquiao tell TMZ he was traveling in a fleet of cars after church today, when one of Manny's security vehicles collided with the car carrying Manny.

We're told Pacquiao is back at his hotel now, where his trainer, Freddie Roach, checked him out. According to our source, Pacquiao is just a little shaken up ? but he's okay to go for tonight."

The L.A. Times said a Pacman publicist called the accident a tap.

Las Vegas is fired up for the Pacquiao-Mosley fight. Over 6,000 attended the weigh-in at the MGM Grand Garden arena, with several hundred more fans turned away.

Pacman can't go anywhere without being noticed. Freddie Roach told ESPN1100 in Las Vegas that Pacquiao went for a secret run on Thursday at a track on the campus of UNLV and a few hundred fans showed up.

king professional boxing latest boxing matches

Gym Notes: I haven't seen it yet, but word is Margarito's looking good

Antonio Margarito (left) shares a laugh with new gym mate Brandon Rios, who is also trained by Robert Garcia. Margarito has been in a good mood during his camp for Manny Pacquiao, an indication that he's working well with Garcia. Photo / Crhis Cozzone-Fightwireimages.comThis column is usually a first-person account of what happens in one or more of the many professional boxing gyms of Southern California.For reasons that I'll detail later, this Gym Notes does not contain first-hand accounts of what I consider the "good stuff" of a gym visit, the sparring sessions that veterans and up-and-comers alike use to prepare themselves for high-profile bouts.Few bouts that take place this year will equal the attention that Manny Pacquiao's Texas showdown with Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13 will garner, which is why I was excited to watch Margarito go rounds in his new trainer Robert Garcia's gym in Oxnard, Calif.We all know the event will be driven in part by the controversy surrounding Margarito's hand-wrap scandal and the national backgrounds of the combatants, which promises to bring in droves of loyal Mexican and Filipino fans to Cowboys Stadium. Whether we get an actual fight -- for however long it lasts -- depends on the legs of the former welterweight titleholder-turned-boxing pariah.Margarito's legs were not under him the last time I watched him spar, which was during his camp for the Shane Mosley fight. The emerging Mexican star was easily pushed back on his heels by undersized prospects and rank journeymen in the sessions I witnessed. And we all know what happened once he got into the ring with Mosley. Did 15 years of training like an animal and catching hard shots with his chin like a human PEZ dispenser take its toll on Margarito? Is he spent bullet?I don't know. His comeback fight against Roberto Garcia (no relation to his trainer) in May was inconclusive. Margarito, who was understandably rusty after sitting out more than a year following his knockout loss to Mosley and license revocation, dominated his opponent. However, he didn't look like his old self in doing so. Margarito didn't try to walk down Garcia and beat the tough fringe contender into submission as he did all of his pre-Mosley opponents, which makes me wonder whether that fighter still exists. I thought the nine rounds of sparring I planned to watch on Wednesday would answer that question. If Margarito looked as sharp as he did during his camp for Miguel Cotto, I would go against the opinion of most boxing writers -- who dismiss the Mexican's chances to even compete with Pacquiao -- and maybe even give the underdog a shot at upsetting the reigning pound-for-pound king. However, if Margarito looked the way he did during the Mosley camp, I would seriously reconsider traveling to cover this event. Why bother to be ringside for a slaughter?I still don't know whether I'm booking that flight to Dallas because my 1994 Toyota Corolla stalled quite suddenly in the middle of the Ventura Freeway, just 10 miles outside of Oxnard. Margarito went three rounds apiece with Austin Trout, Cleotis "Mookie" Pendarvis and Ricardo Williams as I waited for a tow truck to transport my 16-year-old vehicle to a nearby auto shop. I thought about putting the column off for another day, but I'd come too far (in the pouring rain no less) to give up. After calling Garcia, my wife and AAA (in that order), I sent a text out to Sam Garcia (no relation to Robert).Sam and his father, Max, co-train junior lightweight prospect Eloy Perez, who has set up camp at Garcia's gym for his Oct. 15 Telefutura headliner against Dominic Salcido. I figured if they were at the gym, they could serve as my "eyes" as I tried to make my way there before Margarito left.Sam replied to my text immediately. I was in luck."We're next door eating lunch," the text read, "we are going back after we eat to watch a little sparring."I informed Sam of my plight and asked if Margarito had begun sparring."Oh damn, he is just warming up," was the reply. "He usually starts close to 2:15 and is done by 3, then begins (his) floor workout(s). I'll let you know."As my car was being towed to the auto shop, Sam shot me this tantalizing text:"He's looking good. We can't wait until the fight."I briefly considered asking the tow truck driver if he knew the location of Robert Garcia's Boxing Academy and talking him into dropping me off there if he did. I hate missing good sparring.Sam and his father are disciples of the most-astute boxing mind I've ever encountered, that of the late "Coach" Don Familton, so I trust their opinion of what they were watching. But I wanted to see it for myself.That will have to wait for another day, but thanks to the Garcias, I would catch the tail end of Margarito's workout and have the opportunity to talk to his trainer about the seemingly Herculean task they face on Nov. 13. Shortly after arriving at Airport Auto Repair on Oxnard Boulevard, Sam shot me the text I was hoping for:"My dad can go pick (you) up if (you) want."Twenty minutes later I was talking boxing in the back of Max Garcia's SUV while we waited in the parking lot for another tow truck to take my car to a transmission specialist in Ventura."Looks like it's time to buy a new car, Dougie," Sam said. "There's no excuse not to now that you've sold out for all that Golden Boy money."Funny guy. He reads my mailbags.Enough jokes. "How does Margarito look?" I asked."He doesn't look shopworn," Sam said."He's ripped," said Max. "He looks very strong, and he's big. They say he's only eight pounds over the contracted weight, but he looks like a light heavyweight. "Of course, it takes more than size and strength to beat Manny. You can tell Margarito is working on walking Manny down and hurting him with uppercuts and body shots, but he's so slow in comparison to Pacquiao, and man, he telegraphs those uppercuts. He lets you know when those body shots are coming."He doesn't have an easy time tracking down the fast guys who move on him like Mookie and Ricardo""True," Sam interjected, "but he does eventually slow them down. It takes him a few rounds but when he catches them, they have to fight for their lives. He does damage. Last Monday he hit Ricardo Williams with a body shot that shook the gym. Ricardo made a loud retching noise when he got hit with it. It looked so painful I almost took a knee. If Pacquiao is not on his A-game, he's going to be fighting for his life."Margarito was on the speed bag when we arrived at the gym. He sported a big, toothy grin as he loudly dribbled the bag. It was strange seeing Margarito smile as he trained. He didn't do much of that during workouts with his former-and-now-estranged trainer Javier Capetillo.I asked Margarito's co-manager Sergio Diaz whether this camp reminds him of any from the past."It's much different from his old camps," Diaz said. "It's not as -- how do I put it? -- it's not as military as Capetillo had it. It's work, but it's a relaxed atmosphere and he has fun. He likes it here in Oxnard. He likes being away from the city."I noticed Margarito's wife, Michelle, sitting on the ring apron, watching her husband train, even conversing with him a little. I don't recall ever seeing her around during any serious camps in the past."No, she never used to sit in workouts when Tony trained with Capetillo," Diaz said. "Capetillo believed the wives of fighters belonged at home getting dinner ready for their husbands."I think it goes without saying that Garcia has a different training philosophy than "General Cappy."Garcia marvels at Margarito's work ethic, but he says he keeps a close eye on him in order to ensure that the relentless fighter doesn't burn himself out.I'm glad Garcia is wary of Margarito overdoing it. I believe the Tijuana slugger was over-trained for many of his fights, including underwhelming performances against Daniel Santos, Joshua Clottey and Paul Williams. "Tony's like Brandon (Rios), he'll spar every day if you let him," said Garcia, comparing Margarito to the rough-and-tumble young lightweight contender he also trains. "You have to hold those guys back for their own good."Garcia says he's tracking every mile Margarito runs and every round of sparring, making adjustments to his meticulous training schedule as they go along."Last week was his first week of sparring, he went eight rounds with Mookie, Austin and K.C. (Karim Martinez) on Monday, Wednesday and Friday," Garcia said. "Today was the first day he went nine rounds. He'll eventually build up to 10 rounds, but he'll only go 12 rounds twice in this camp. We have six weeks until the fight, plenty of time to build up and taper down. We'll probably do 170 rounds of sparring in this camp, but we could do less."Last week his weight was good and he looked sharp in sparring, so I told him to take Thursday off."I still need to watch Margarito spar to gauge the sturdiness of his legs and the speed of his reflexes, but his body is every bit as ripped as Max Garcia said it was. Following traditional abdominal work in the center of the ring, Margarito's washboard stomach was put to the test during a bizarre stick routine that consisted of Garcia systematically whacking away at the fighter's midsection with a baton for three minutes. Rios, who tried the torturous exercise once, said it's more painful than it looks. It must be. Margarito, whose face turned beet red after about a minute, was in obvious agony. He let out a "Whooo!" and dropped into a squat near a corner the moment the three minutes were up.This was the only time he wasn't smiling while I was there. "I'll never do that again," Rios said. "It stung too much after only a few seconds. I was like, 'Hell no, that's enough!'"Eloy Perez gave it a try and quickly found out what Rios was talking about."How long did I last?" a winded Perez asked Garcia."Twelve seconds," Garcia said."This isn't one of my exercises," Garcia told me. "Tony was doing this in Tijuana before camp started. He brought this up with him."Margarito is a tough S.O.B., but I had to ask Garcia whether he seriously thought his fighter has a realistic shot at beating Pacquiao."I've been watching video of Pacquiao's fights every day since the last time you came by the gym (one month ago), and I'm telling you I see things," he said. "Every time I watch him the job we have seems a little bit easier. That sounds crazy to anyone who watched what Pacquiao did to Hatton and Cotto and Clottey. When you watch Pacquiao fight live, it's easy to get caught up in the excitement, because his speed and power is so unbelievable that you don't notice what he's doing. "He seems unbeatable. But if you really study him -- somebody that really knows boxing -- you see a lot of mistakes. And you see that his opponents, who didn't have it or didn't try like they should have, should get some credit in how incredible he looked. That's not going to be the case with Tony. "I think Tony is going to do what lately nobody's been able to do," Garcia continued. "The last one to do it was Erik Morales -- he beat Pacquiao when he did it -- and that's not show him any respect. He can be backed up. He backs up easy. When you do that, you put him on the defensive and there's a lot of things he does instinctively, like cover up as he goes to the ropes, that a strong fighter like Tony can take advantage of."I got really excited about Nov. 13 for the first time since the bout was announced as Garcia talked about his fighter's confidence and Pacquiao's perceived weaknesses.Perhaps it was just wishful thinking. I want to see a fight when Pacquiao and Margarito meet in that giant stadium, not a slaughter. Perhaps I'm subconsciously rooting for Garcia, a former fighter and a good man who seems to have found his true calling as a trainer.Or maybe I just have a soft spot for Margarito, as blasphemous as that notion is after the heinous crime he and his former trainer almost committed. I'll try to stuff that anticipation for now and be as cynical as the next internet boxing writer -- at least until I watch Margarito spar sometime next week.

ricky hatton boxing match showtime boxing news

Devon Alexander Squeaks By Lucas Matthyssee in St. Louis

latest boxing news mayweather boxing news

Alvarez takes another step toward stardom

LOS ANGELES -- Victor Ortiz scored an impressive knockout of Vivian Harris, putting the veteran down four times in less than three rounds, on Saturday at Staples Center. Daniel Ponce de Leon looked positively scary in his KO of Antonio Escalante. And Shane Mosley's listless performance in his draw with Sergio Mora was further evidence that he is in decline.Saul "Canelo" Alvarez was the talk of this card, though.Alvarez (34-0-1, 26 knockouts) was nothing short of sensational, becoming the first to knock out Carlos Baldomir since very early in the Argentine's career as 13,591 mostly Mexican and Mexican-American fans roared their approval.And it wasn't just the result, which wasn't terribly surprising given Baldomir's age (39) and the fact he has lost whatever hand speed he once had. It was how Alvarez did it.The 20-year-old from Guadalajara demonstrated maturity beyond his years, patiently outboxing a clever, awkward opponent with far more experience than he has. He displayed a world-class jab to set up powerful, well-timed rights.Baldomir (45-13-6, 14 KOs), reputed to have one of the best chins in boxing, took many of Alvarez's best shots early in the fight but gradually broke down as his baby-faced foe landed more and more telling blows.Then Alvarez gave the crowd exactly what it wanted - a thrilling finish in the third round. He landed one hellacious shot ... then another ... then another and Baldomir started to wilt. Finally, a straight left put the Argentine on his face and ended the fight two seconds before the end of the round as the crowd erupted."I'm very happy, I'm full of emotions to be the first to knock out Baldomir in a big fight," he said through a translator.Again, we shouldn't read too much into a victory over a faded opponent who was never particularly good to begin with. Baldomir was a good test, though, a tough, veteran fighter who was desperately trying to hang on as a contender. And he aced the test.It's becoming more and more obvious that he'll be the next Mexican star, among fans both south of the border and in the United States. He's good looking, he's well-spoken, he's humble, he mixes well with the masses ... and it is becoming more and more clear that he's very talented.Of course, he must continue to win. And one person with considerable knowledge of boxing is fairly certain he will."He hits really hard," Baldomir said through a translator. "I was surprised by his power. No one has hit me like he did. He's definitely going to be a real champion. He's the real deal."<a href="mailto:ringtveditor@yahoo.com">Michael Rosenthal can be reached at RingTVeditor@yahoo.com</a>

Mike Tyson fight night

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Vasquez Jr. saved by legendary father in 12th round

Wilfredo Vasquez never thought he'd see his son follow in his footsteps. Wilfredo Vasquez Jr. exceeded all expectations by storming to a world title at just 25 years old. Tonight, when things got rough for the younger Vasquez, his father saved him by throwing in the towel against Jorge Arce.

In a dead-even fight on two scorecards, Vasquez Jr. took a beating in the final round. When he failed to throw back or grab to stop an Arce flurry of 30-plus unanswered punches, Vasquez Sr. ended the fight at the 0:55 mark of the final round. Arce, 31, pulls off the mild upset to win the WBO junior featherweight title.

Arce (57-6-2, KOs) has now won world title four weight classes (108, 112, 115 and 122). Vasquez Jr. (20-1, 17 KOs) only started boxing at 19 years old and had no amateur background when he turned pro in 2006.

Vasquez Sr. was a champion at 118, 122 and 126 during the 80's. He's arguably one of the top three fighters in the history of Puerto Rico.

everlast punch bag famous boxing matches

Ponce de Leon stops Escalante in three

Daniel Ponce de Leon stopped Antonio Escalante with a single right hook at 2:40 of the third round of a scheduled-12 round featherweight bout on the Shane Mosley-Sergio Mora card Saturday at Staples Center.Ponce de Leon (40-2, 33 KOs) outworked Escalante (23-3, 15 KOs) for two-plus rounds but the KO punch came out of nowhere. The two were exchanging punches when Escalante walked into a short hook, which hurt him badly and sent him sprawling.Referee Tony Crebs waved off the fight without counting because Escalante lay semi-conscious on the canvas.The fight was a WBO title eliminator.Ponce de Leon has now won six consecutive fights since Juan Manuel Lopez took his junior featherweight title with a first-round knockout in 2008.

boxing fight news boxing for kids

Barrios dominates Alcorro

Former junior lightweight titleholder Jorge Barrios rebounded from inactivity stemming from his part in a fatal automobile accident by out-classing journeyman Wilson Alcorro over 10 rounds on Friday in his native Argentina.Barrios (50-4-1, 35 KOs) hadn't fought since last November due to legal issues stemming a January car crash that caused the death of a 20-year-old pregnant woman. The 34-year-old veteran, who was eventually absolved of any wrong doing in the accident, did not appear rusty as he out-boxed and out-worked Alcorro (26-13-3, 17 KOs) in a Telefutura and HBO Plus-televised main event in Corrientes.In the co-featured bout, Argentine welterweight veteran Hector David Saldivia (38-2, 28 KOs) knocked out Brazilian prospect Jailton De Jesus Souza (12-2, 10 KOs) in the third round of their scheduled 10-round bout.

muhammad ali boxing match muhammad ali boxing matches

Rocha outpoints Navarro on 'Solo Boxeo'

Nestor Rocha, of Montebello, Calif., lands a punishing left uppercut to the jaw of Jose Navarro, of South-Central L.A., en route to scoring an eight-round unanimous decision on Friday in Los Angeles. Photo / Naoki FukudaCome-backing former bantamweight contender Nestor Rocha scored a significant victory by outpointing veteran Jose Navarro over eight rounds in the main event of a Telefutura-televised card from Los Angeles on Friday.Rocha (23-2, 8 knockouts), who won by unanimous scores of 79-73, was simply too big and strong for the 10-year veteran, who fought with a swollen shut right eye from the third round on.The bout was fought at a brisk pace and both L.A.-area boxers were busy throughout, but Navarro (27-6, 12 KOs) was unable to hurt or move Rocha despite counter punching well in spots.The 29-year-old southpaw, who earned a spot on the 2000 U.S. Olympic team and challenged four times for junior bantamweight titles, was able to make Rocha miss often but he could not mount an effective attack.Rocha patiently walked Navarro down with a concentrated body attack and occasional hooks to the head, which quickly closed the veteran's right eye. Navarro staged a brief rally in the sixth by outworking Rocha but he sustained a cut over his right eye by the end of the round. It was not his night. Navarro's spirit was willing and the skills that made him a perennial contender at 115 pounds were evident but his face and body were not holding up under Rocha's pressure. Rocha landed clean head shots in the final two rounds to clinch the victory, his second in a row since suffering a first-round KO loss to Japan's Hozumi Hasegawa in a bantamweight title bout last July.In the co-featured bout of the 'Solo Boxeo' broadcast, lightweight prospect Luis Ramos (17-0, 8 KOs) scored an eight-round decision over late-sub John Figueroa (7-7-3, 3 KOs) in an entertaining bout that was far more competitive than the one-sided scorecards indicate.Ramos, who won by unanimous scores of 80-71, dropped Figueroa with a hook-cross combination in the final minute of the eighth round but the 22-year-old southpaw from Santa Ana, Calif., appeared to be wobbled in the seventh and suffered significant facial lacerations.Most of the fast-paced bout was fought at close quarters. Ramos often pressed Figueroa to the ropes and raked the older, slower man with right hooks to the body and head but the 30-year-old journeyman from Puerto Rico, who kept a high guard throughout, always answered back with heavy body and head shots of his own.

top rank boxing news upcoming boxing matches

Dirrell out of Super Six tournament

Andre Dirrell has pulled out of the Super Six World Boxing Classic -- and his fight against Andre Ward on Nov. 27 -- because of an injury, Showtime has announced.The Los Angeles Times reported that Dirrell was advised not to fight or train because of neurological concerns. Dirrell took a hard blow to the head from Arthur Abraham while he was on the canvas in his last fight, leading to Abraham's disqualification. It's not clear whether that was the cause of his injury.Dirrell is the third of the original six participants to pull out of the competition, following Jermain Taylor and Mikkel Kessler."Obviously, we're disappointed with this development," Hershman said. "We still believe in the Super Six, we think it's a fantastic concept. It's very, very challenging, obviously, to get through that many fights at that level of competition over this course of time. We will still have the semi-finals next year with at least three of the original participants."We're excited for these upcoming fights in November and hope that you'll all tune in."Allan Green took Taylor's spot and Glen Johnson replaced Kessler but Showtime is again short one 168-pounder as the tournament heads into its Group Stage 3, the final stage of the opening round.Ken Hershman of Showtime said he has several options to replace Dirrell. The network also could decide to go with only five fighters. Hershman said he could make an announcement as soon as Friday.Ward will still fight on Nov. 27, probably in his hometown of Oakland, Calif. That fight could be outside the Super Six because Ward already has advanced to the semis, which would allow Showtime to go with five fighters.Abraham and Froch, the other remaining original participants, will go through with their scheduled fight on Nov. 27 in Helsinki, Finland. They both are guaranteed to move into the semis if Showtime goes with five fighters.Johnson and Green fight on Nov. 6 in Las Vegas. The winner of that fight probably will be the fourth semifinalist.

professional boxing match professional boxing matches

The Ring All-Star Report Cards: Wladimir Klitschko

left hook amateur boxing

Ariza integral part of Pacquiao's formula for success

Alex Ariza's new-school nutritional and conditioning methods have meshed well with Freddie Roach's old-school boxing training philosophy. Manny Pacquiao's amazing rise from junior lightweight to welterweight over the past two years is proof of Ariza and Roach's successful teamwork. Photo / Ted LernerBAGUIO CITY, Philippines -- Old school, old school and new school. When the history of the great Manny Pacquiao is finally written in stone decades down the road, those three ingredients must surely make up the foundation of any narrative when trying to explain the hows and whys of this once in a many generation fighting machine. It's the first two ingredients in this explosive mix, though, that are the most obvious. The third is not, and is, in fact, relatively unknown, and, lately quite often misunderstood.The first old school is Pacquiao himself. Pacquiao's willingness to always fight the best out there, his insatiable training habits, his all action style, and his fearlessness against all challengers make him a boxing purist's dream come true. Then there's the second old school, Pacquiao's trainer of nine years, Freddie Roach. Roach didn't have a spectacular career as a fighter, but he did ply his craft under the ultimate old-school boxing trainer, the legendary Eddie Futch. As a trainer himself, Roach has become to boxing what Phil Jackson has to basketball, a sort of Zen Master, quietly imparting his down to earth knowledge and psychology of the sweet science to mold raw talents into consistent winners. Ironically, it's the third ingredient on the list, Pacquiao's strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza, who has in the last two years helped to turn much of boxing, which is decidedly an old-school sport, on its head, and challenged nearly every notion of how to approach the sport. In clear complicity with these two old-school legends, Ariza, who joined Roach three years ago and helped Pacquiao for his fight with David Diaz, has been responsible for taking what was already an incredible fighter and doing things with him that were never thought possible; Pacquiao's almost unheard of ability to move up in weight and still maintain (perhaps even increase) his already awesome speed and power. It's an unusual phenomenon that has people everywhere shaking their heads in wonderment, with some claiming that nobody can so easily go up in weight and do the things that Pacquiao has done. Legitimately, anyway. It's led to accusations that surely Pacquiao must be on steroids or other illegal performance-enhancing drugs."It's a compliment," said Ariza of the lingering PED claims, while watching Pacquiao shadow box on the second day of camp at the Shape Up Gym in Baguio. "We're doing such a good job, people just can't understand it. They think it has to be something else. It HAS to be. People think overnight he (Pacquiao) turned into this relentless monster. But it took him two years to get to this point. The truth is that it's just hard work, and we have a great team." Hard work it is, indeed, with a punishing training regime that leaves any and all onlookers in awe. But behind the seemingly endless hours of old school physical toil that are hallmarks of Pacquiao's workouts, lies a modern and very scientific program designed to develop and maximize Pacman's unique gifts. But the question still remains: how do you take a guy who as a fighter is a natural 140 pounder, and whose walking around weight is 146-148 pounds, and turn him into a perfectly tuned fighting machine ready to do battle with much bigger men such as Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey, and now Antonio Margarito? The way not to do it, Ariza says, is to go old school."We saw with Kelly Pavlik when he tried to move up in weight," he said. "He lost everything. He went flat, he couldn't move, he couldn't get up. Science has to play a role in a sport that has an old-school mentality. That's why Freddie Roach is such an exceptional trainer. Even though he's got old-school teachings, he pulls in the outside-the-box stuff, the more scientific comprehensive ways of training. He knows that just running five miles a day is not going to cut it, especially being such an offensive trainer that he is. You have to have that high intensity, that high level of efficiency to be able to carry out his kind of game plan. "We're building a body that normally doesn't carry that kind of muscle on it. Putting on six pounds on a guy like Manny Pacquiao is like putting on 20 pounds on a normal person. That's why when he takes his shirt off at the weigh in and he looks so ripped, people think he's on steroids." Forget about the intrigues of what may or may not be inside Pacquiao's water bottle. Ariza says; "It's just a mixture of over the counter herbal supplements that will serve Pacquiao without any side effects such as crashing or jitters or upsetting his stomach, because he has a very sensitive stomach."My job is to take him where he's never been before. Where am I going to be able to build muscles that he's never used before, and it doesn't hold us back? It's going to be functional, it's going to compliment everything else that we're doing. We have to start building muscles that he's never used before. Functional muscles of course. "The regime created by Ariza to build that muscle and maintain the speed and power involves two parts. The first is what he refers to as "core training," a phrase which has become a bit of buzzword in the last few years in the world of exercise and nutritional training, but is seldom heard in boxing. The "core" may sound like it means just abdominals, but it goes much deeper than that. The "core" is the whole area between the shoulders and the pelvis. The idea behind strengthening the "core" is that this area provides the foundation for all other areas of the body to function at its highest levels. Core training thus builds the muscles to produce explosive, powerful movements with mean and lean efficiency, and less likelihood of injury.To accomplish this, twice a week, Ariza has Pacquiao doing punishing isometrics, where he has to hold a certain position for an extended period of time. In addition he has Pacquaio performing plyometrics, grueling drills involving quick bursts of energy, such as sprints on the track, high intensity cone and ladder drills, even swimming. "We're focusing on faster-twitch muscle fibers," Ariza says, "getting them to fire, feet complimenting the hands, hands complimenting the feet, balance, coordination. "The exercises are often mind numbingly repetitious and painful beyond imagination. Ever the warrior, Pacquaio says he doesn't mind core training, but Ariza said that in reality, he actually hates them."You see this is something that Manny has been doing since he was five years old," Ariza said referring to traditional boxing drills such as hitting the mitts, sparring and running. "His muscles are accustomed to being able to push and drive and drive and drive. What I would like to see is that kind of determination and intensity when we're doing the hard stuff, things that he's never done before; the track, the swimming pool, the speed drills, the foot drills, things that aren't easy, things that he hasn't been doing since he's five years old. It's one thing when you say, 'Oh I did 17 rounds on the mitts.' Well you should be able to do that. You've been doing that since you were five, asking for another round. I want to see him ask me for another drill, ask me for another lap, ask for me another sprint, ask me for something."The second part of Ariza's training module involves extremely high caloric intake. He has Pacquiao consuming over 7000 calories of food per day, alternating between high protein solid foods and then liquid protein shakes. Pacquiao is forced to eat at least every two hours, whether he's hungry or not. Contrary to the myth that Pacquiao enjoys fighting at higher weights because he can eat all he wants, Ariza says the constant consumption of food actually gets to the fighter, even if he's eating his favorite Filipino dishes."Manny tells me, 'You know when I grew up, I never ate. Now I'm eating all the time and I'm miserable.'" However, Ariza says Pacquiao soldiers on through the pain and tears, especially when the stakes are huge."Our best camp ever I believe was the Cotto fight because I honestly believe that Manny had a little bit of fear of Miguel. His height, his strength, his power. Manny took him a lot more serious. He was up at five o'clock in the morning. He was listening to me when it came to the drills and the speed work and the swimming. He didn't want to leave any rock unturned. He wanted every advantage he could get. And his conditioning showed in the Cotto fight. He took Cotto's best beating and then when we got past the sixth round, well now we're gonna see who really, really did the work. Manny just never stopped. "****Ariza, 35, was born in Colombia and migrated to New York at 13 years old with his single mom and two older siblings. After a few years in New York the family headed to Southern California. Ariza eventually graduated from San Diego State University with a degree in Exercise and Nutritional Science. Although he had never boxed, Ariza felt his future lay in boxing, a sport where modern training techniques are often looked at with suspicion."Boxing offered me a forum," he said, "a niche, where I could apply my own theories, my own concepts, my own way of what I thought was more important, recovery vs. muscle failure. I thought boxing was that place where I could have that opportunity. It's the hardest sport in the world and they didn't have science and conditioning coaches. On the flip side of that, if you don't have a trainer, if Freddie wasn't here, this thing would have never worked. "Indeed Ariza originally ran into this traditional stubbornness to try new things in his first forays into boxing. He worked with Diego Corales and Erik Morales in the late 1990's, and then with Angel Manfredy in the early 2000's. However, he clashed with several trainers and others in the camps, who resented the outsider with the new ideas. The bad vibes led Ariza to take some time off from the sport in 2003. He had a friend who was a stunt man in Hollywood, and he got into doing stunt driving in the movies. Ariza appeared in several movies as a stunt double, one time substituting as the never-can-die masked murderer in the not so noteworthy film, "Slaughterhouse Massacre." He then moved to Vegas where he operated a vending machine business. Then, in 2007, came the fortuitous call from his stunt man friend, who just so happened to train at Roach's Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, Calif. He told Ariza that Roach was looking for a new strength and conditioning coach. Ariza called up Roach and introduced himself. Roach initially said he wasn't sure if he was going to hire another conditioning coach, and that he should call back in a couple of weeks. Ariza followed up a few weeks later and Roach invited him out to L.A. to put a name to the face. Roach picks up the story."Justin Fortune (Roach's previous conditioning coach) left my organization and opened up his own place. I didn't have a strength coach. I got about a hundred resumes from people from all over the world that wanted to work for me. He showed up at my door and said, 'I want the job.' I said, 'What's your background?' He told me. I checked him out a little bit. OK, I says, 'Manny Pacquiao is not going to fight for another eight months to a year. I want you to work with all my other fighters for free and see what kind of job you do.' Well, he showed up every day." Ariza first worked with some MMA fighters who trained with Roach, including Adrei Arlovski, Tito Ortiz and George St. Pierre."Everyone one of them showed improvement," Roach said. "Not everyone made it of course. Sometimes he didn't get along with a certain personality, that happens in life. He wasn't 100% with everybody, but that's natural too." In the spring of 2008, Roach was satisfied to the point where he now felt comfortable handing off his prized ward to Ariza. Ariza recalls that the first thing Freddie said to him before he began working with Pacquiao was a bit of old-school advice."Freddie told me, 'Don't f___ up his speed,'" Ariza said laughing. The rest, as the saying goes, is boxing history."Alex makes sure Manny's on weight all the time," Roach said. "He keeps the weight on him during camps. Because Manny does get a little too light. Manny is naturally a 140 pounder. It's just that the competition is at higher weight classes. One thing about Alex is that he doesn't do any other sport. He does boxing and boxing only. He doesn't do football. He doesn't cross train with the football programs with the weights like most strength coaches want to do. I mean why would you want to lift weights when the main asset of your guy is speed? Why would you want to slow him down? We have a good program. It's worked. It's proven with Manny Pacquiao, now with Amir Kahn, (Julio) Chavez Jr. They're all in the same exact program. Of course everyone has different needs. Whatever the points they need worked, we push that particular point harder."This begs the question: Could Pacquiao have done what he has done, going up in weight, maintaining his speed and power, without the services of Ariza?"I don't think so," Roach said. "If the weight gain was just eating more food with no one directing him, it would be counterproductive. We'd have a little heavier guy, but maybe not as solid. Manny's naturally 140 pounds, but he'll come in for the fight at 150 pounds ripped. The diet that they're on, and the foods that they eat, of course there's a little give and take also. Alex has a few problems with Manny because Manny has a Philippine diet, and he's used to that. And that's what he's been working with his whole life. If you take rice away from Manny Pacquiao he can't work out. There's probably better foods out there for energy but his staple food is rice. So there's always give and take. Alex has been a big part of it. Between my top guys, well, I can't do my job without him."Ariza doesn't oversee his program alone. He gets regular advice and assistance on administering Pacquiao's regime from Teri Tom, a dietician at UCLA, and Aundrea Macias, a kinesiology expert at San Diego State. "Aundrea does all my research analysis. We analyze all the exercises, risk vs. reward. I run it by her and she tells me what's best. Manny's not in his twenties anymore, and we have to be careful what we do. The margin of error that we have at this level is zero. It's got to be perfect. At the end of the day, I'm going to have to answer for it. I'm the one who takes care of the weight, I'm the one who takes care of the conditioning, and that's why Freddie has me here. I can't be a quarter of a pound off. When they step on that scale at that certain day, at that certain time, they need to be that certain weight or you're fired. " Although Ariza clearly eschews old-style training techniques, including even jogging in the morning, Roach has taught him that the best mix is to grab a bit of the old and a bit of the new, if mainly for the fact that much of the old-school techniques are ingrained in the psychology of most fighters and, thus, have value in their familiarity. "My trainer Eddie Futch wouldn't let anyone do that," Roach said of modern training science. "And I still believe that nothing takes the place of pounding that pavement. But I'm open minded. When you see guys flipping tires and doing these crazy exercises that hurt their backs, you know, we live in a world with a lot of technology that perfectly do those exercises for you. I'm old school in training, like we work our ass off in here, but to the new stuff I'm a little bit acceptable because I find that if you do too much of the old school stuff you have a tendency to burn out. I'm very open to suggestion, but only if it makes sense to me. If it doesn't make sense to me, I'm not going to do it."Says Ariza; "Freddie likes to say, 'Just because it's the right thing to do, it might not be the best.' So for now, six weeks out from fighting the biggest man Pacquiao has ever fought, Ariza continues the never ending balancing act, mixing his new school, with Roach's and Pacquiao's old school. As it all unfolds he never fails to realize just how fortunate he is to be able to ply his unique trade for the best in the business."Sometimes it's surreal," Ariza said. "Sometimes I'll be standing up there at the Wild Card and I'm standing next to Freddie Roach. It's like a struggling actor coming to Hollywood and next thing you know you're working for Martin Scorcese. He gave me a shot and I made it. Fortunately when I got Manny he wasn't as big as he is now. We had time to develop a relationship without there being so much distraction. It just so happened that it exploded after a year, then we started getting so busy. "Freddie's probably the only trainer out there who would let somebody in like me and have that level of responsibility. He knows and trusts me. He knows what I do, he knows whatever I argue for is the best thing for Manny. I don't think I'd get as far if I didn't have his support."

upcoming boxing matches upcoming professional boxing matches