It?s a double-edged sword becoming a regular sparring partner for Manny Pacquiao. On one end, you get some great work and just with the periphery association with the ?Pac-Man,? you gain a certain amount of notoriety. The down side is that you?re still just a sparring partner when it?s all said and done- and history and money are made for doing things inside the ring when it really counts. Such was the quandary for Raymundo Beltran, who became a regular part of Pacquiao?s preparation while his own career stalled the past couple of years.
Between September of 2008 (when he was halted by Ameth Diaz in four heats) and this past January (where he stopped David Torres in seven rounds), Beltran languished. Now, after his March defeat of Carlos Vinan, a seventh round stoppage where he captured the vacant USBA lightweight title, he faces the undefeated Sharif Bogere on the latest installment of ?ShoBox.?
“I?ve been in the shadows; I?ve been with Manny Pacquiao. My name is there but it was frustrating; nobody really gave me a chance and I saw these guys coming up and getting a good shot or get opportunities, this and that,” said Beltran, earlier this week at the Wild Card Boxing Club, where he does his daily work. “I?d say, ?What about me? I want to fight too.? I?ve always been ready, always been training and training and nothing would come up. So some good friends of mine, they invested in my career and they connected with [promoter] Steve Bash and they?re making things happen now.”
When asked why his career stagnated, Beltran explained, “I just had no promoter; three or four fights got canceled, politics, trying to knock on doors everywhere and nobody wanted to really give me a chance. So basically, I?m taking this fight as an opponent but I?m ready; they think I?m an opponent but I think I?m better than that.”
After fights against Vicente Escobedo and Johnny Molina fell out, Bash decided to take things into his own hands and promote Beltran, who turned pro back in 1999 and still yet has just 28 pro bouts to his credit. He promoted Beltran?s fight in March against Vinan at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills, California. Now, he headlines on a card on Showtime at the Buffalo Bills Star Arena in Primm, Nevada.
“He?s just been looking for a chance and one of the things he really wanted to try to get is to be on television so that people could see him fight,” said Bash, “so when this fight came up, that was the biggest draw for him to get on Showtime.” A win over Bogere, who comes with a mark of 19-0 with 12 KOs, would be a significant victory. “We?re fighting a guy from what we understand nobody would fight and kinda similar to Ray in a different context. In terms of Ray, a lot of guys backed out of fights with him because they thought he was too tough of an opponent, where Bogere, a lot of guys that are trying to break through think that he?s just too tough of a barrier to break to get to the next level. So the good thing about that is when you knock a guy like that off, people are going to notice and that?s the main thing, to basically fight the guy that other good names or guys that have decent names are afraid of, that everyone?s talking about as an up-and-comer, beat him and then fight other guys beyond that.
“As far as what can happen after that, certainly I think a top ten ranking is in order and hopefully a fight for a title.”
Being a bona fide contender would be a welcome change to Beltran. It?s one thing to be a sparring partner to a Pacquiao when you?re a young and fledgling fighter, like a Shawn Porter; it?s a whole ?nother story when you?re 29 and you can?t get your own career going. “It came to a point where I said, ?I do good with Manny; I do good with a lot of guys. I don?t want to just do good at the gym. I want to have an opportunity to do good in front of the people and be recognized,” said Beltran. “I got tired of just being a sparring partner; I want to be somebody too. I want to get my shot.”
During his long stretch of inactivity, Beltran was a true pro who was constantly in the gym, preparing for fights that never materialized. It?s the most helpless feeling in the world for a fighter, preparing for a call that you know might never come. All the while, as you go months and years go by without facing live bullets, you can develop ?Sparring Partner Syndrome,? where you start to settle into a pattern of not fully letting your hands go or getting accustomed to being just good enough to survive in the ring.
His trainer Freddie Roach says, “It does happen and the thing is you wait for fights and it?s tough to get booked sometimes when you have a good record and people don?t want to take a chance fighting you and then you get stuck in that mode of going through the motions of just being a gym fighter.”
It took Beltran a few rounds to knock off the ring rust against Vinan. Beltran says no matter against who or how much work you get in the gym, there?s just something very different about a real sanctioned fight in front of an audience with those smaller gloves and no shirt on.
“There is,” he said. ?You feel kinda weird. I mean, after awhile, you?re not used to it anymore but I think the more often you do it, the more comfortable you get and it?s on your mind. But when you want something, no matter what, you get confidence; you feel good.” Beltran got going in the middle rounds versus Vinan and was able to stop him with a barrage of body shots that had Vinan?s corner stopping the contest after the completion of the seventh inning. “He showed a little bit in his last fight in the early rounds then he turned it up a notch,” said Roach. “I still think he has it. Again, we need more activity at all times.”
The fight with Bogere marks his second outing of 2011, so by modern standards, Beltran is as active as they come. He can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“I feel like there is some hope for me. Before, I was just in limbo, didn?t know what was going to happen,” he said.
The best of Beltran, he feels, is still in front of him for the world to see.
“I think so; I still think I have a lot to prove and a lot to give, still.”
ARUM
As boxing?s version of Spy vs. Spy continues, I asked Bob Arum of Top Rank what he thought of Richard Schaefer?s quotes to Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times, that HBO would essentially subsidize or help fund a fight between Victor Ortiz and Juan Manuel Marquez for their September 17th card, the veteran promoter told Maxboxing on Thursday afternoon, “They called me, HBO, and they were horrified and they said absolutely in no way are they going to back that fight.”
As for Schaefer?s claim that they had the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on hold, Arum said in an animated fashion, “This man, still, after all these years, doesn?t understand the business. Nobody has a hold on anything unless they have a hold for a fight.” Right now, neither Top Rank nor Golden Boy – who are vying for that pay-per-view date on Mexican Independence Day weekend- have a bona fide bout set in stone. Top Rank would like to make a bout between Miguel Cotto and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.( should the latter defeat Sebastian Zbik on June 4th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles).
“That?s what we?ve told the MGM Grand, that we?re interested in September 17th but we haven?t done anything about it until we have a fight to offer them.”
Maxboxing tried to contact Schaefer on Thursday to no avail (Rich, if you?re out there, give me a buzz!).
PAC STORY
This story created a wave on Thursday as a former sparring partner of Pacquiao ( who remained anonymous) claimed to have injected the Filipino icon with PEDs. http://www.valuesportspicks.com/blog/manny-pacquiao-news-i-injected-pacquiao-with-steroids-says-former-sparring-partner/
Arum was rather amused by this, stating, “It?s beyond ludicrous that Manny would have some unnamed sparring partner with steroids in a bathroom. What about ?Buboy? and Nelson, guys he really trusts? I mean, it?s ludicrous; it?s a whole ludicrous kinda thing but it?s soooo ludicrous that it has not even the remotest credibility. I mean, the guy is a sparring partner fired after the [Miguel] Cotto fight? I was here with Freddie- there was nobody fired after the Cotto fight.”
Just my personal perspective on all this- let?s make this clear- just because any athlete passes all the various drug tests put forth by the athletic commission or a league, history has shown us that that is no insurance that a performer is clean. And, like Lance Armstrong, we shouldn?t let a narrative dictate what could be an inconvenient truth of someone who has received so much idolatry. However, this particular story has a few holes in my opinion…
– First of all, I?ve never, ever seen a Filipino boxer who sparred with Manny while he was at the Wild Card Boxing Club, where he has trained with Roach since 2001. And in terms of that training camp for Cotto, I distinctly remember being at a few sparring sessions leading up to that fight and the regular set rotation of boxers who worked with Pacquiao were Beltran, Rashad Holloway, David Rodela and Mike Dallas Jr., guys who have continued to work with him.
– Also, as Arum mentioned, it just doesn?t seem to add up. Like Manny would entrust Dallas Jr.- or any other sparring partner- to shoot a needle in him?
– And this whole thing about De La Hoya being an invincible force coming into their match-up in 2008 is pure malarkey. Does anyone remember how faded he looked versus Steve Forbes, who marked him up considerably in the fight before Oscar and Manny met? And it wasn?t even that lackluster outing that convinced Roach, who was ringside that night at the Home Depot Center soccer stadium, that his man should go after the ?Golden Boy.? Roach stated to me that when he trained Oscar for his 2007 showdown with Floyd Mayweather in Puerto Rico, that after a sparring session where Ivan Calderon- yes, Ivan Calderon- boxed circles around him, that the seed was planted that Pacquiao could beat Oscar right then and there.
– Could we all find out one day that Manny was boxing?s Mark McGwire? Sure, let?s not be naive here but I have to say, this wasn?t exactly the smoking gun I would point to.
PAC PER VIEW
Still no official figures for how Pacquiao-Mosley did on pay-per-view and according to Arum, it may take a little bit longer than usual.
“Look, the one thing we don?t have, what HBO has, is they have these computer guys who compare the results with prior fights and we don?t have the results of prior fights. So we can?t make the same kind of projections as quickly as they do,” said Arum, who, in a much ballyhooed move, took this fight to Showtime. “All we can say is this is the biggest Manny fight, pay-per-view-wise, of all-time, bigger than the De La Hoya-Pacquiao fight and that we will equal or surpass 1.3 million. Any more would just be conjecture.”
(Remember, folks, Arum is a promoter, prone to exaggeration, so take that for what you will.)
REMATCH
So when can we expect to see the rematch between newly-minted WBO featherweight titlist Orlando Salido and Juan Manuel Lopez, who battled on April 16th in an exciting bout in Puerto Rico? Some reports have stated that it might take place in the late summer.
“As far as I?m concerned, number one, that?s a very costly rematch and Showtime is not looking to spend a sh*tload of money in August. Secondly, Fernando Beltran wants the kid to defend his title first in his hometown [Sonora, Mexico]. So the earliest that fight can happen is October or November,” explained Arum.
There is a very good likelihood that there will be no return match between Cotto and Antonio Margarito, as Margarito may have suffered a career-ending eye injury against Pacquiao in November. Arum would like to send him to a specialist. “If they ever settle down and let me arrange for them to go to Utah to see Dr. Alan Crandall, we?d know. He has been told by a doctor that examined him that he should never fight again. Now, I want to see what the Moran Eye Institute in Utah has to say, whether they can do any corrective surgery. I don?t know; I?m not a doctor.”
FRIDAY FLURRIES
EPIX has decided to air the May 21st doubleheader featuring Nathan Cleverly-Juergen Brahmer and James DeGale-George Groves live, instead of on a month-long tape delay…Exciting lightweight Mike Perez headlines the May 13th edition of ?Solo Boxeo? on Telefutura from Puerto Rico against Ira Terry…Speaking of Puerto Rico, back-to-back shows on June 10th and 11th (on ESPN2 and Showtime, respectively) will take place at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City featuring a host of Puerto Rican prospects like Kenny Galarza and Thomas Dulorme…Speaking of Steve Bash, Bash Boxing?s next show at the Warner Center Marriott takes place on June 3rd…In addition to tonight?s edition of ?ShoBox,? ?Friday Night Fights? on ESPN2 has an interesting crossroads bout between Kendall Holt and Julio Diaz…Speaking of September 17th, it was announced that the Miami-Ohio State game will be the primetime game that day…Not sure what to think of the Lakers interest in Rick Adelman for their head coaching gig…I got the Heat in six over the Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals…I can be reached at [email protected] and I tweet at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. We also have a Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing.
