During today’s press gathering at the Liberty Grill in Los Angeles to discuss the highly anticipated March 3rd match-up between jr. featherweight champion Israel Vazquez and bantamweight king Rafael Marquez, Gary Shaw, who promotes Marquez, espoused the virtues of one Nacho Beristain, while questioning just who would be in the corner of Vazquez, as he held court over the proceedings.
Vazquez is trained by Freddie Roach, who recently was tabbed to prepare Oscar De La Hoya for his mega-fight against Floyd Mayweather on May 5th. There seems to be plenty of time between the two bouts, but there is a logistical issue that may keep Roach from working the corner of Vazquez the night of the fight.
Roach, with the rest of De La Hoya’s team, will embark on a nationwide media tour on February 20th, and is expected to be in Puerto Rico (where De La Hoya will be conducting his training camp) by March 2nd.
So will Vazquez have his regular trainer when he faces Marquez?
“We haven’t gotten a definite ‘no'” said Vazquez’s manager Frank Espinoza on Wednesday afternoon. “But we know that Oscar wanted to take Freddie a few days out of the fight. This is the most important fight of Vazquez’s life. I feel that Freddie should be here. After all, don’t forget that Golden Boy is co-promoting Israel. So I feel it’s their duty, too. I don’t think a couple of days will hurt. So we’re really expecting him to be there.”
Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, would say: “It’s not my decision, it’s Oscar’s decision. We know that Oscar’s already in training with his strength and conditioning coach in Puerto Rico. We’re going to be starting the press tour next week and we’ll be back here on the 28th. And then the plan is that the entire team is going to be leaving together on March 1st to Puerto Rico and start camp on the 2nd.”
Nobody is saying that Vazquez-Marquez is at the same level as De La Hoya-Mayweather, but for Vazquez, this is his Mayweather fight. Would it really make THAT much of a difference for Roach to arrive two days later to Puerto Rico? Especially considering that they have an interest in Vazquez?
It would be like Tony Dungy coaching the Colts all the way up till the Saturday before the Super Bowl and then taking off for another assignment.
“Again, you’re asking the wrong guy,” Schaefer would say plaintively, when asked if Roach should be in the corner of a fighter that they have a vested interest in. “I’m not the one that makes that decision. So this is a thing which ultimately will be up to Oscar.”
The respected trainer was not at the press conference but he did say last week that: “I’m trying (to stay) but it’s still unsure. We haven’t really settled on that. It’s a big fight for Israel, but then again, Israel and Justin Fortune, I’ve always let Justin be the lead guy in Israel’s corner and they get along very well. I’ll get him ready for the fight here in the gym and prepare him strategy-wise.
“That last night in the corner, Justin’s very capable and he’ll take care of it.”
It seems that Vazquez is prepared to go into this bout without his lead trainer.
“I’m going to miss Freddie,” he would say to Maxboxing. “He started with me and we started with a plan. The good thing is I have people who know the business like Justin Fortune. We just want to follow up the job Freddie did.”
So while Marquez will have the full services of one of the best trainers in the sport, Vazquez’s corner situation is still murky.
“It’s going to make a difference but it’s not the most important thing. I mean, preparation, conditioning, everything has been done already,” said Marquez, when asked if the absence of Roach would have any impact on their fight. “But obviously, not to have your trainer or coach that night in the corner, that’s going to make a difference.”
Vazquez is just the first fighter who will be impacted by Roach’s decision to work with De La Hoya and leave his Hollywood gym for two months. In addition to him, other notables such as Manny Pacquiao and Peter Manfredo Jr – who have scheduled appointments in April – will most likely prepare without him.
Roach, like many other trainers of the past, has become a victim of his own success to a certain degree. With increased successes and notoriety come added opportunities to work with more blue-chip talent. The downside is the specter of being spread too thin. Roach is like that mom-and-pop store that gets franchised. And the personal one-and-one service that was once it’s trademark can be a casualty of success.
“If Manny wants to get ready for that fight in Puerto Rico, Oscar said he’d welcome him,” Roach says of ‘The Pac Man’, whose next bout is scheduled for April 14th in San Antonio, Texas against Jorge Solis. The only problem with that contingency plan is that Bob Arum and De La Hoya’s company are currently embroiled in a tug-of-war for Pacquiao’s services. Arum would be apoplectic if his fighter (or at least he thinks he has him) was training at the same gym with ‘the Golden Boy’.
“I don’t know if Bob Arum would like that,” Roach admits. “But if it not, I’m going to have Justin set up here at the Wild Card. Have all the sparring partners set up and get him ready for the fight.”
In the case of Manfredo, who faces Joe Calzaghe on April 7th in Cardiff, Wales, Jeff Wald the executive producer of ‘the Contender’, which promotes him, was so incensed that he hung up the phone in anger when Roach informed him that he would not be able to work with Manfredo throughout and would not be attending his fight. Wald would start looking for another big name trainer to replace Roach.
Only thing is, Manfredo and his father, who have developed an affinity for the Wild Card Boxing Club and a chemistry with Fortune, wouldn’t hear of it.
“Since I’ve been here at the gym I’ve just been a different fighter,” said Manfredo Jr. last week to Maxboxing. “Justin and my father really work me a lot. I usually get a couple of days of pads with Freddie, if I’m lucky. But Freddie’s the brain.”
Manfredo had no problems with Roach taking the De La Hoya gig. In fact, he wholly endorses it.
“He HAD to take that job. I mean, a million dollars? You’re making more than I’m making in a fight. So I understand and I’m going to keep my focus. We got the game plan, I got him for another month. We’re going to study the gameplan and work it and I’m going into this fight to win. I’m very confident and comfortable with what the circumstances are.”
For him, going to any other trainer would be like starting over. Not exactly the ideal situation to be in when facing a fighter of Calzaghe’s ilk.
“That’s it, that’s exactly right. If I get another trainer, it’s going to be different ways. Different ways he’s going to train me, this and that. I got eight weeks to go, I can’t afford to change what’s been working for me. This has been what’s working for me. Justin Fortune with the strength and conditioning, my father with the pads and Freddie Roach with the brain.
“How can I change now? This is what got me here to this point.”
Last week it was announced the Sugar Ray Leonard would work in Manfredo’s corner and serve as a trainer of sorts. It reeked of a cheap publicity stunt by ‘The Contender’ brass.
“We’re just going to bring Ray Leonard in to be a face in the corner and if he sees anything he can let us know,” clarified the father, who’s at the gym every day with his son. “He’s going to start coming into the gym. But to actually take over the corner? No, he’s not going to do that.”
The Manfredos were not departing from the Wild Card under any circumstances.
“They wanted us to leave this gym, I’m not leaving this gym,” Manfredo Sr. would insist. “I like this gym here, we like the atmosphere, we like the people in it. We like the knowledge that comes out of the gym, the success that comes out of this gym. That’s why we came here. If not, I could stay home and get just as good as work or better than any of the other guys they wanted to give me.”
Roach says of that situation: “Me and Peter had a discussion a couple of days ago and we’re just going to get ready for the fight here at the Wild Card. I’m going to spend as much time as I can with him in the month of February getting him ready for the strategy for the fight. Justin’s going to Wales with him with his father. I think his father and Justin are very capable of working his corner.”
Starting in March, the gym will be under the leadership of Fortune, a former heavyweight, who is in charge of conditioning Roach’s fighters in addition to his daily work in the gym.
“I’ve been with Freddie for five years, so I’ve definitely paid my dues and I fought for Freddie for eight, nine years,” says the hard-nosed Fortune. “That’s why we work so well together. Because when he’s gone, he’s got no problem with me looking after his fighters and vice versa.”
As they await the arrival of Pacquiao, Fortune works with Vazquez closely on a daily basis.
“I’ve taken Israel to two world titles in seven fights, I think I’ll be able to handle Israel. That’s not a problem,” he says.
Roach admits to feeling a sense of abandonment regarding his fighters he’s leaving behind.
“Definitely, it bothers me and that was the biggest concern in making my choice. Because I made a choice once before when I trained Mike Tyson. I had to go away and leave my fighters. But the thing is, I’m leaving them in good hands. They’re all professionals. Justin’s very capable of taking care of them and making sure they stay focused. He’s the conditioning coach anyway.
“But that’s what made it such a tough decision, though, my fighters. For two months I’ll be out of action, I’ll be in Puerto Rico. It sucks but its part of my decision. The thing is, to be part of the biggest fight of all-time, it’s a great opportunity for me and to bring out the best in Oscar, I think I can do that.”
TICKET INFO
The organizers are dubbing Vazquez-Marquez, which takes place at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, ‘For the People’ because of the fan-friendly nature of this hook-up. But perhaps they should be calling this fight ‘by the people’ because most of the early hype for this Showtime telecast had come from the general public and not the organizers of this event.
Bottom line, based on the discussions I had seen on various message boards, there was plenty of buzz on this bout. I had gotten hordes of emails asking when tickets would go on sale from So Cal natives and those actually contemplating traveling in to see this fight.
And up until today, I had no answers, because there were none to give. Tickets go on sale on Thursday at all TicketMaster outlets and on-line at ticketmaster.com and the Home Depot Center box-office. But shouldn’t the sale of tickets be juuuuust a bit earlier than 17 days before the event? Not only did they do the fans (Remember them? They’re kinda important here) an injustice, but they also hurt their own event, which looks to be a dandy.
Boxing fans, for a spell, couldn’t give their money away.
Again, I don’t want to be a redundant doom-and-gloomer, but its things like this which erode the foundation of this business. In the UFC – or any other sport for that matter – it seems like most tickets are already sold (or at least available to purchase) a couple of months before their events. Boxing, it seems, can’t even get the tickets on sale at times.
Promoters need to do a better job of nurturing and protecting their product – and serving the fans.
TOP RANK SHUFFLE
Bob Arum has told Maxboxing that Zab Judah has been finalized as the opponent for Miguel Cotto on June 9th at Madison Square Garden in New York, replacing Antonio Margarito.
Also, it looks more and more like Jorge Arce will be facing WBC 115-pound titlist Cristian Mijares on April 14th at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
“Jose Sulaiman asked that Arce fight for the WBC title,” explained Arum on Wednesday. “So we tried to make that match and it looks like it’ll be put together by the end of the day.”
The Ricky Hatton-Jose Luis Castillo bout has been moved from June 2nd to the 23rd, confirmed Arum. The bout will still take place at the Thomas and Mack Center.
Expect tickets to go on sale at least 18 days before the scheduled dates of these bouts.
LITIGATION
Now I see that Goossen-Tutor is suing Top Rank over this whole WBO mandatory mess with Antonio Margarito and Paul Williams, charging that Arum’s company is tortiously interfering with their ability to put on that fight. With the threat of litigation from Top Rank, the networks are hesitant to purchase this bout.
According to sources, Arum offered Margarito’s management a deal that in exchange for letting the Williams bout take place, if he wins that contest, he would get Cotto (with the same terms offered before) – if he should beat Judah on June 9th – but with a six month extension to their contract that would run out in June of 2008.
It may not be the perfect remedy for either side, but the last thing Margarito’s management should do is to let this career die on the vine.
As of now, they still face the threat of being sued by Arum, who definitely leads the league in ongoing litigation, it seems.
KUDOS
I will give a tip of the cap to the promoters of Vazquez-Marquez for making ticket prices affordable, as they range from $25 dollars to $200.
Even with the late start, I expect a pretty good house that evening.
