Still unexcited by the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Juan Manuel Marquez fight, I am hereby proclaiming it the worst match-up of September.
Yes, it?s that time of the month your Welterweight Champion here takes stock of the best and worst bout of the past month and the coming month while also relaxing standards concerning conjecture about coming attractions, like whether Paul Williams and Kelly Pavlik are really fighting Nov. 21.
The ?worst? designation often goes to heavyweights who ought to be wearing brassieres, but mismatches qualify when they?re being hyped as vastly superior to what they are. And the more you think about Juan Diaz looking better against Marquez than he did against Paulie Malignaggi, the less reason you have to pick Marquez over Mayweather on Sept. 19.
As we learned in the best August bout, Nonito Donaire?s difficult victory over a decidedly heavier and stronger Rafael Concepcion, size matters a lot in boxing. Even at a catch weight and coming off a two-year absence, Mayweather will have little trouble with Marquez. It?s an overhyped tune-up for Mayweather?s inevitable bout with Manny Pacquiao. That makes it worse than ShoBox?s acknowledgedly tune-uppy card Sept. 12 that features Mikkel Kessler and Oakland?s Andre Ward in separate bouts (Ward?s is in Temecula, not the Bay Area) leading up to the Nov. 21 Ward-Kessler bout.
Donaire?s victory gave him the WBA ?interim? 115-pound title and seems to set up a December bout with Jorge Arce, who should win the IBF title against South Africa?s Simphiwe Nangqayi if their Sept. 15 date in Mexico comes through, or Japan?s Nobuo Nashiro, who is scheduled to defend the real WBA title against Hugo Cazares on Sept. 30. Donaire-Concepcion followed the worst August fight, in which boring but effective Steven Luevano was handling Bernabe Concepcion with disappointing ease through six rounds until Concepcion began to turn the fight around, only to carelessly hit Luevano with a punch after the bell to end the seventh round and was disqualified.
The best fight on the September docket is Cristobal Arreola?s Sept. 26 challenge to WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko. Yes, Arreola is barely 6 feet tall and sometimes fits that brassiere category, but he has far more of a puncher?s chance against Klitschko than the lightweight Marquez does against the welterweight Mayweather. With Arreola currently the most bankable American heavyweight, it?s the most attractive heavyweight bout in recent mammary. Er, memory.
