On Saturday afternoon I will be making the two hour trek to Rancho Mirage (which is just a cactus or two from Palm Springs) to the Agua Caliente Casino where Tim Bradley defends his WBO jr. welterweight title versus Nate Campbell (Showtime 9 pm ET/PT).
I don’t know about you, but I just have this feeling that this bout will be one of the very best of 2009. No, I’m not saying I have the same gut feel that I did for Diego Corrales-Jose Luis Castillo I or the hook-ups between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez- which were to classic rivalries which were also telecast by Showtime- but they say that styles make fights. Well, if you look at what you have between Bradley and Campbell, the formula seems ripe for a pretty damn good scrap.
No, neither guy has ever been in a ‘Fight of the Year’ candidate before, but they have a history of being in pretty good bouts on a consistent basis. Bradley, is a physically strong, well-conditioned fighter, who has gotten off the canvas to win fights. What he lacks in true power, he makes up for in activity. Campbell, who has had one of the most star-crossed careers in recent memory, is a slick, well-schooled boxer-puncher, who has never shied away from a battle. And for all the speed and quickness that ‘the Desert Storm’ might bring, that can be off-set by timing, and ‘the Galaxxy Warrior’s has shown in the past that he can more than tame hard-charging young foes like ‘Kid Diamond’ and Juan Diaz.
Then you have the personalities and the personal nature of this contest. Campbell, very simply put, is a desperate and angry man, who looks at Bradley as a privileged child of the boxing business. Every break he hasn’t been afforded, has been bequeathed to his younger foe. He has a chip on his shoulder bigger than the Rock of Gibraltar. Like a Diaz before him, he must be taught the school of hard knocks.
Meanwhile, Bradley, is on a very solid run (Junior Witter, Edner Cherry and Kendall Holt) and a win over Campbell will firmly entrench him as one of the better young prizefighters in the business today. Listening to him, it’s clear that he feels disrespected( yeah, yeah, I know, doesn’t everyone in sports feel that way?) but he wants bigger and brighter things in his future. Standing in the way, is a guy who isn’t convinced he’s all that good. But he has a chance to change that opinion later tonight.
Add in the fact that you have a partisan (and sold-out) crowd and it should make for quite an evening.
But the most important ingredient is that you have two real fighters, who love to fight. And that’s how you can get a ‘Fight of the Year’.
– A press release was sent out by RumbleTime Promotions, stating that their man Deandre ‘the Bull’ Latimore was more than willing and able to face Alfredo Angulo on November 7Th as the opening bout on HBO’s broadcast that features the rematch between Chad Dawson and Glen Johnson.
Y’know what? I don’t care that both boxers are coming off loses (and ‘Perro’ comes back next Friday night on ESPN2) but I think this is a slug fest. Latimore and Angulo can both bang and both have been dented and hurt. Regardless of who wins, this is a fun fight. It should be OK to have two young boxers square off when they don’t have zero’s on the right side of their ledger.
Latimore is a southpaw and enjoys an advantage in speed and quickness but Angulo is the stronger, more physical fighter. Let’s hope this comes to fruition. We ( meaning the media, the networks and promoters) shouldn’t get so caught up in recent blemishes but really what constitutes a good fight.
I think this would certainly be one.
– September is when college football starts and while there are some highly anticipated and intriguing inter-sectional games that take place, unfortunately, many other programs choose a steady diet of cupcakes before heading into conference play.
It’s ironic I guess that on September 12th that as defending national champion Florida faces Troy, on Showtime a special edition of ShoBox takes place when Mikkel Kessler takes on Gusmyl Perdomo and Andre Ward takes on Shelby Pudwill. Kessler and Ward are scheduled to meet on November 21st as part of Showtime’s ‘Super Six’ super middleweight scrum (which in my eyes is great on so many different levels)
You can certainly understand why Kessler is facing Perdomo- it’s his WBA mandatory and he’s been horribly inactive- but Ward-Pudwill, geez, I mean, I’ve heard of tune-up fights, but I’m not even sure this is filling up the gas tank halfway or putting air in the tire.
This fight could make Florida-Troy at ‘the Swamp’ look competitive.
– Got my first live taste of Golden Boy’s ‘Fight Night Club’ at the Club Nokia on Thursday night. I was in New York for the Cotto-Clottey fight so I missed out on their initial foray back in June. I liked what I saw for the most part. I thought that the trio of Luis Ramos, Ronny Rios and Carlos Molina all showed that they have a chance to do some big things in this business. Undefeated Charles Huerta was stopped by Derrick Wilson in 59 shocking seconds. This match-up had more than one boxing insider scratching their heads since Wilson came with big amateur credentials and is a fast and speedy boxer. Also, John David Jackson doesn’t train stiffs- that should’ve been a tip-off right there.
But losses happen, Huerta is still young. Plenty of fledgling fighters have lost and gone on to have solid careers. The thing that was bothersome to me was this: if this series is about developing young, local talent, who can develop into ticket sellers, why was the television portion of this card devoted to a pair of no-hope heavyweights? They didn’t fill any of the criteria for this series.
And to add insult to injury, those big lugs nearly broke the ring, causing about a half-hour delay in the action. C’mon, let’s stick to the formula here, this thing has potential. Revive ‘Heavyweight Implosion’ on another series.
– I’m just wondering, with all the back-and-forthing taking place between the sides of Kelly Pavlik and Paul Williams, my question is this: just who has dibs on the October 3rd HBO date? Both sides seem to be indicating that it’s there’s. And that’s key, in this situation.
Because judging by the exorbitant demands of Williams- again, if you can’t sell out small ballrooms, you shouldn’t get anything near purse parity against a guy who routinely grosses over a million dollars in Atlantic City- I’m just wondering if they were trying their best to go for the throat and get an incredible deal, knowing that they had an HBO date( which comes with a seven-figure license fee) in their back pocket. If they don’t get what they want for Pavlik, no big deal, just fight a week later versus someone else and still pocket a million bucks.
This would be their insurance policy. And it’s better than Allstate.
But for Pavlik, who’s company Top Rank certainly doesn’t enjoy the same cozy relationship with HBO as HBO (the Heymon Boxing Organization, which reps ‘the Punisher’) if the first Saturday of October isn’t slotted for him, what does he have?
‘Caucasian Fury’?
– I have to say that ESPN2’s ‘Friday Night Fights’ is going out with a flourish, as they have a championship doubleheader when Juan Urango defends his IBF 140-pound title versus Randall Bailey and the hard-punching Tavoris Cloud( yes, he’s alive!) takes on veteran Clinton Woods for a vacant lt. heavyweight title.
Seriously, this is the best card on ‘the Duece’ in years, at least on paper. I think both fights have the potential for good two-way action. I’d even go as far to say that this card is superior to some of the stuff that’s been shown on the premium networks thus far in the year.
And it probably came for a fraction of the price.
WEEKEND FLURRIES
Welterweight prospect James De La Rosa announced earlier this week that he is now a free agent. Good grief, is anyone staying with Dino Duva and his company?….Saw Victor Ortiz at the Club Nokia. He had a cast on his left hand. No, it wasn’t from waving off his fight, so don’t you dare go there….Welterweight Mike Jones, who was supposed to facing Larry Mosley, then Ben Tackie, will now face (at least, for now) Lenin Arroyo. Honestly, I don’t think Tackie should be fighting anymore. The last skill he has remaining is the ability to absorb punishment….The next edition of ‘Fight Night Club’ takes place on August 27Th and will feature Abner Mares and David Rodela. Again, no heavyweights, please….My fellow Padre fans, this is officially 1993 all over again….Remember, if you come up to me and utter the catch-phrase/code word from my Twitter page, you will get something from me, free of charge (as long as supplies last) at the fights tonight….Twitter.com/stevemaxboxing…..
