You sometimes wonder why so many alphabet soup organizations dominate the sport of boxing. The respective champion is difficult to identify with exceptions of course to Manny Pacquiao, the most recognizable fighter the sport has to offer. So when the lightweight, featherweight, and bantamweight fighters get television exposure a boxing fan is in for something special.
Let?s face it that there is no future in the heavyweight division How can one claim that Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko will go down in boxing history as two of the superior heavyweights of all-time. They hand pick their opponents, though one can counter that is not their doing because the division has inferior competition.
You look back in boxing history, the era of heavyweights that made the sport. And below them some of the featherweight champions such as Willie Pep and Sandy Saddler. Pacquiao, the record eight-division champion is a rarity coming from the lower ranks and gave notice to a division that is certainly not lacking talent.
Three featherweight fights in the Adrian Phillips Ballroom at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City Saturday evening, promoted by Top Rank and televised on HBO, give us a chance to appreciate the days when Pep and Saddler defined boxing. There will be no clutching and grabbing, instead boxing the way it should be.
?A great and entertaining night of boxing,? is what promoter Bob Arum describes. There are some alphabet soup championships that will be contested. Undefeated NABF and NABO featherweight champion Matt Remillard opposes top rated Mikey Garcia. And Tim Kennedy of Philadelphia defends the USBA junior flyweight title against Jorge Diaz of nearby Brunswick New Jersey,
But the interest will be centered on WBA featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa defending against interim super featherweight champion Jorge Solis. This is not to take away from the other two title fights, but the WBA belt has more significance. Gamboa, to Arum and other boxing experts is one of those unheralded superstars in the sport. Solis also has potential to climb the ladder.
However, little or nothing is known about Gamboa. Two times Arum took his champion to Madison Square Garden in New York City, though Gamboa was a co-feature to current WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez in 2009. N both occasions Arum had a plan to eventually have Gamboa and Lopez eventually meet.
?Let them tear other opponents apart and make some money then we can see about putting them together,? said Arum at the time. The eventual unification bout has not been discussed as of late. Both fighters have different agendas, possibly because Arum kept his promise to make them money. Lopez is scheduled to defend his title April 16th against Orlando Salido and has aspirations of moving up in weight.
So Arum is right in one respect. Let them fight other opponents because a fighter in the featherweight division is not going to make the pay-per-view money like a Pacquiao or a Miguel Cotto. ?But they certainly put on quite a show and that is good for boxing,? says Arum.
Gamboa, undefeated at 19-0 also brings a good Latin contingent of fans to his fights as the undefeated and four-time Cuban National champion, plus the 2004 Olympic Gold medal to his resume. The recognition came more in New York at the Garden when he KO?d Rogers Mtagwa in two and before that Whyber Garcia in four rounds.
Solis of Mexico was undefeated in 35 fights before losing to Pacquiao in 2007. Solis, 40-2, has lost only one fight since that loss to Pacquiao. As for the undercard, you be the judge as to how different boxing is when featherweights trade punches.
Oh there is some hope in the heavyweight division, at least some type of interest. Because Baltimore Ravens safety Tommy Zbikowski (2-0) is on the card, his second fight in three weeks as the NFL lockout continues.
e-mail Rich Mancuso: [email protected]
