There’s only one drawback to this past March, a month that has seen four ‘fight of the year’ candidates, the capping off of a historic trilogy, old pros who stood their ground, and young prospects who got lessons in the school of hard knocks:
It unfortunately has to end.
And that?s too bad, because you’d be hard-pressed to find a month that has been as exciting and as eventful as the past 31 days. And the reality is that the remaining nine months of 2008 – put together – may not equal the type of action and intensity we just witnessed.
You could say that the third encounter between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez, which kicked off the month on March 1st, was a harbinger of things to come. After putting on two sterling affairs last year, they exceeded high expectations in the rubber match with a back-and-forth affair that is clearly the runaway frontrunner for this year?s best contest. Overcoming a fourth round trip to the canvas and a late deficit on the scorecards, Vazquez would show why many believe he has the sport?s biggest ticker. In a furious three minutes in the 12th and final round, he would put an all-out assault on Marquez, who would withstand the barrage till the very end, when he would finally be toppled by Vazquez, the ropes the only thing holding him up.
The knockdown – which was ruled correctly by referee Pat Russell – was the difference in a split decision that was decided by a solitary point.
The next week in Cancun, undefeated Juan Diaz, who had been a buzzsaw through the lightweight division, would be bullied in the second half of his bout versus Nate Campbell, who got his ‘grown man’ on in goring ‘the Baby Bull’, ironically, inside a Mexican bull ring.
On March 15th we saw the rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, a bout that was four years in the making. In a bout that will be heavily debated for eternity, Pacquiao, buoyed by a third round knockdown of Marquez, would decision the Mexican by one point. In the course of two weeks, the Marquez brothers would come up excruciatingly short in career-defining match-ups.
In 24 rounds, not much has separated ‘the Pac Man’ and Marquez. The consensus is that there should be some more ‘Unfinished Business’ between the two that needs to be taken care of in the near future.
The following week, Joel Casamayor was thought to be a lion in winter, making perhaps his last appearance as a world-class fighter against the upstart Michael Katsidis. Coming on the heels of his less-than-impressive outing in November against Jose Armando Santa Cruz, the Cuban was believed to be a spent bullet by more than one pundit. Instead, he proved he has a few more chambers left in his arsenal by halting the courageous Katsidis in ten rounds, but only after getting knocked out of the ring by Katsidis, who himself had to survive two trips to the floor in the opening stanza before making a fight of it.
And to cap things off, Telemundo even got into the act this past Friday night with the bout between Jose Reyes and Ivan Valle, one that saw both men hit the deck three times in less than four frames before things were ended for good with a leaping left hook from Reyes that put Valle down and out for good.
In between all this we saw touted young fighters such as Andy Lee and Juanito Garcia knocked out. Brian Vera, a former contestant on ‘The Contender’, was believed to be nothing more than cannon fodder for a fighter that Emanuel Steward believed was ready for the likes of Kelly Pavlik by the end of the year. Cornelius Lock, who dominated Garcia over four rounds this past Friday, was a blown-up 122-pounder that was called in on 72-hours notice.
The night before that, Verno Phillips was supposed to be a bit long in the tooth to be able to catch up to Cory Spinks in St. Louis. But the old pro was able to wrest the IBF jr. middleweight crown by simply outworking and outhustling Spinks down the stretch to earn a hard-fought split decision.
That’s why you fight the fights.
And it will be long time before we see a 31-day stretch quite as good as this.
THE NET
I don’t know how many of you saw the webcast on Donkingtv.com, but once they got their technical glitches ironed out, it was a solid production (even with Bob Sheridan’s myopic view of the Spinks-Phillips fight) and it looked like the Scottrade Center even had a good crowd inside of it. The webcast was blacked out to those in the local area.
Then on Saturday afternoon I saw the live webcast on a German website that had Arthur Abraham’s 12th round stoppage of Elvin Ayala. The feed was a bit choppy at times, but overall, the picture quality was very good.
They’ve come a long way from the days of the pixilated image and the incessantly long load times of the past. Boxing may never get back on network airwaves, but it’s good to see that boxing is utilizing new forms of the media effectively.
ON NOTICE
The WBO has put Joel Casamayor on notice that he has till April 4th to agree to negotiate a bout with Nate Campbell or relinquish the title.
My guess is that they want no part of him. First, they will seek out more lucrative bouts (i.e.- Manny Pacquiao) and/or fighters who are under the Golden Boy Promotions banner (like Juan Diaz or a rematch with Katsidis).
Now, here’s a thought. What if Campbell – who has the real belts- takes on Santa Cruz (who was robbed versus Casamayor) and beats him thoroughly? Or Santa Cruz upsets Campbell? Who would have the most legitimate claim to the lightweight title?
By the way, if Casamayor drops the WBO belt as expected, Anthony Peterson would be next in line to face Campbell for that title.
PAY-PER-VIEW TITAN
The rematch between Pacquiao and Marquez did approximately 400,000 buys – a record for small guys – and it generated around $20 million in revenue for everyone involved.
“We found a way to build Pacquiao’s buys,” said Bob Arum, whose company represents ‘the Pac Man’.” First of all, having him here for two months and utilizing the Wednesday day off to move him around to places like San Francisco. That’s what’s driving the buys.”
Of course, it helps to have a dance partner like Marquez. And perhaps these figures will strengthen the case for a trilogy to take place.
Meanwhile, Arum told Maxboxing that Pacquiao has been cleared medically and he will be facing WBC lightweight titlist David Diaz on June 28th at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
FINAL FLURRIES
I thought Mike Jones got a good test against Germaine Sanders this past Friday night….As for Kassim Ouma and Cornelius Bundrage, watching that was akin to waterboarding- yeah, it was torture….Nice to see ‘the Playmaker’ Michael Irvin get some love in an ESPN.com poll of greatest wide receivers. He came in fourth. Of course, top dog was Jerry Rice, who Irvin once called, ‘Jesus in cleats’….Wayne Braithwaite is still truckin’ as he KO’d the undefeated Yoan Pablo Hernandez in three, after suffering a knockdown in round one….For the record, I had Spinks beating Phillips by a couple of points, but it was a close fight where Phillips closed hard…..On that undercard in St. Loo, jr. welterweight prospect Devon Alexander looked sharp in whitewashing veteran Miguel Callist….I’ve heard the reason why Spinks is no longer with Kevin Cunningham is that Spinks isn’t showing the same focus and dedication he once did to the sport after getting married…..Are Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum ever going to get back? The Lakers need them in the worst way. Trevor Ariza, too….Is anyone taking the KO streak of Tyrone Brunson seriously? Doug Fischer is enraged by all this tomfoolery….With all four number one seeds advancing, it should be quite a Final Four between UCLA, UNC, Kansas and Memphis….Out of all the talented freshman this year, I think Memphis PF Derrick Rose is the best NBA prospect….Great news, Dave Smith is back on the airwaves in Southern California. He and Roger Lodge have a morning drive show which will air from 6-9 am Monday through Friday beginning this week on 830 AM…….
