It was a fortnight ago when I listed my upper echelon the lightweight division. Now, after big bouts in Houston and in Las Vegas and one non-bout in Biloxi, it?s time to change the sheets.
Herewith Michael Marley?s Quickly Revamped Lightweight Rankings:
Number Ate. Joan Guzman, he?s number ate as in he ate his way out of this division. The table was all set in Mississippi for what might?ve been a fistic feast for the Dominican Dandy and then he could not make the weight. I promise, no more Ricky Fatton jokes after Guzman?s malfeasance with his own body.
MANNY PACQUIAO. My Main Manny gets this slot with an asterisk to indicate he is zooming up to 147 pounds for the bout with Oscar (why do I hear circus organ music every time I write or think about Dec. 6?). JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ. I know the Old Cuban Mare ain?t what he used to be and GBP was tired of Joel Casmayor?s bellyaching but Juan Ma underlined his premier status in his maiden voyage at 135 pounds. If Da Pacman comes back to the division, I see a third fight between the two as inevitable. Btw, since Casamayor is liable to fight again, why doesn?t GBP make the grudge match between the Cubano and Jose Armando Santa Cruz especially when no one else is lining up to fight Santa Cruz. JUAN DIAZ. He?s too old now to call it baby fat and he?s too old to remain a Baby Bull. Let?s just say he remains a roly-poly around the waist. But he rebounded nicely from the Nate Campbell disaster and, in a world where macho men pushed for rematches no matter who the other guy?s promoter is, we?d definitely see Diaz-Campbell. Instead, now it will have to be all-Golden bout between Juan Ma and Diaz. My first thought here is JMM may be too slick and smart for Diaz but this could go off as an even-money bout. EDWIN VALERO. Intriguing cat but still no news about him fighting in Texas or anywhere else in USA. On paper, can you see him beating the three top dawgs? I can?t with his Ray ?Windmill? White punches. (Ask Grandpa about that boxer.) JOAN GUZMAN. Hey, I?m a Guzman apologist. I told you guys he would still be undefeated today and he is. This reclamation project will take time and I bet trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. is first to go overboard but?Three and one-half pounds from greatness and he blows it. Guzman gives new meaning to the expression ?hungry fighter.? No soup for you, Joan! Not making the weight is unprofessional but it?s not like he?s going to abandon boxing and become a concert pianist. DON KING. Really a heavyweight and Campbell?s promoter but did he really want Guzman, fresh out of a Biloxi hospital after having blood tests done, to go into the ring Saturday night? The Japanese law firm Sosueme & Soesueme, not mention their American cousins Dewey, Cheatem & Howe would have been all over that situation. Besides, at the end of the day, it was the Mississippi commission doctor who turned thumbs down on Guzman fighting over the weight. GLENN HAMADA. Did you miss him this weekend? I didn’t, this man who cannot control his Number 2 pencil at ringside. I did hear he had Casmayor and Guzman way ahead though.
