Urbano Antillon has to be on any list of boxing?s most exciting fighters. He is hardly a big name, but he delivers action-filled bouts on a regular basis.
But there is a bit more pressure on Antillon than usual on Saturday, when he challenges Brandon Rios for the World Boxing Association lightweight title at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., in a bout broadcast on Showtime.
Antillon is 28-2 overall, but is 0-2 in his previous attempts at a world title. Few boxers get two cracks at a championship, let alone three, so Antillon understands the significance of his opportunity.
?The pressure in this one is the same as it was in the first one,? Antillon said. ?Title shots don?t come along very often. I?m very blessed and I?ve worked very hard to take advantage of this latest opportunity.?
Antillon came up just short in his second try at a lightweight belt when he lost a very close decision to Humberto Soto in December in a bid for the World Boxing Council title. That match, the 2010 Yahoo! Sports Fight of the Year, was determined by a point deduction on Antillon in the fifth round. Without it, the fight would have been a majority draw.
The challenger isn?t getting an easy task in his third title bid. He was supposed to rematch Soto on May 7 on the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley undercard, but Soto pulled out of the bout due to promotional issues.
Antillon was disappointed, but Top Rank managed to soothe his hurt feelings by arranging the Rios bout. Rios is one of the sport?s rising stars and has bullied his way to a 27-0-1 record, but Antillon insists he?s not intimidated.
He said he saw instances in Rios? title-winning effort over Miguel Acosta in February, as well as Rios? 2010 victory over Anthony Peterson, in which he could have taken advantage of openings when neither Acosta nor Peterson did.
?I was there in person when he fought [Acosta] and I remember when Acosta hurt him a couple of times, but didn?t do anything to capitalize on it,? Antillon said. ?He imposed his power and will on Peterson. Peterson didn?t have the power to back him up and Rios just imposed his will on him.
?But that?s what I do: I impose my power and will on guys. I won?t be broke. I have the conditioning and the heart and when I have someone hurt, I have the instinct to push forward and finish it. Acosta didn?t do that when he had the chance and Peterson couldn?t do it, but that?s my kind of a fight. I will do it, I promise you that.?
Hooks ?n? Jabs
? Losing to Wladimir Klitschko on Saturday in their heavyweight title unification bout after years of trash talking is nothing to be embarrassed about for David Haye. Failing to compete, and putting forth a pathetic effort to win, certainly is reason for him to be red-faced, however. Haye complained that a broken toe hampered him in his fight with Klitschko. However, it sure didn?t seem to limit his ability to race around the ring, did it?
? In fairness to Haye, pushing off with a broken toe can be difficult. That said, it makes Haye?s failure to pressure Klitschko all the more puzzling. If he knew about the injured toe for weeks, as he?s said, why didn?t he just come out and suck it up for two or three rounds and try to land something big early?
? Lost in all of the talk about Haye?s poor performance is how difficult it is to fight Klitschko. The champ has his flaws, but he?s a great athlete with a superior jab. That will win a lot of fights. As much, though, as I appreciate Klitschko?s talent, I have a hard time believing that he wouldn?t have been destroyed by someone like Joe Frazier, who could bob and weave his way past the jab and dig hooks to the body and head.
? It would not be a shock if there were not a heavyweight fight on HBO in all of 2012. Given the state of the heavyweight division, that would not be a bad thing.
? With the first half of the year over, my leader for 2011 Fight of the Year is Luis Concepcion against Hernan ?Tyson? Marquez, a sensational battle that flew well under the radar. Marquez stopped Concepcion in the 11th round of their bout for the WBA flyweight title fight on April 2 in a battle that featured four knockdowns. Both men went down in the first, but Marquez later knocked Concepcion down in the third and the 10th before stopping him in the 11th in a battle with furious action throughout. Victor Ortiz?s stunning win over Andre Berto, Marcos Maidana?s thrilling brawl with Erik Morales and Orlando Salido?s upset of Juan Manuel Lopez are also in the hunt.
? There is no clear frontrunner for Fighter of the Year at the midpoint, though the winner of the Super Six finale between Andre Ward and Carl Froch will have a leg up. Readers always write
Give Wlad his credi
Are you going to give Wladimir Klitschko his due? He is a technical fighter with underestimated hand speed. I think David Haye was shocked by how good he was. And Haye is damn agile. Seriously, I don?t think white fighters get any respect by the American sports media, which always seems pro-black and very politically correct.
Jeff P. Jones Utica, N.Y.
I have long given both Klitschko brothers credit for their accomplishments. That said, as I wrote last week, you can only judge them fairly on who they faced and their list of opponents is bad, particularly Wladimir. Vitali, at least, faced Lennox Lewis. I?m not blaming the brothers for their relatively weak slate of opponents, as they have sought the best, but they are competing in a horrible era for heavyweight boxing. As a result, I?m not going to go overboard praising Wladimir Klitschko?s win over Haye.
Title fight shows need for super heavyweight class
The Wladimir Klitschko-David Haye fight might just be the final nail in the coffin for the heavyweight division. The size and speed differences between the two seemed to make both fighters overly cautious. I believe that there are already too many divisions in boxing, but after this fight I?m starting to have a change of heart. The only way I can see the heavyweight division returning to some of its former glory is by moving all the fighters who weigh above 225 pounds to a super heavyweight division. That will eliminate the size/speed mismatches we see now. Waiting for better athletes to come back is a pipe dream. They can make much more money with less risk by going to college and then the NFL or NBA. Boxing is even losing guys like Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos to the UFC.
Mike C. Van Nuys, Calif.
Mike, it?s not about size, it?s about talent. And, despite the way Saturday?s fight turned out, I think Haye had the talent to beat Klitschko. In my opinion, he was intimidated and did not fight a style that would lead to a win. He fought very cautiously and refused to engage. Had Haye knocked out Klitschko, as a lot of people were predicting before the fight, none of this would be an issue. The answer, even though you dispute it, is to wait for better fighters. Everything is cyclical and there will be a time at some point in the future when there are a lot of good heavyweights.
Could Mayweather deal with Duran or Pryor?
For some reason, you seem to think that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is one of the greatest fighters of all-time. I have watched boxing for more than 30 years and I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that not only is Mayweather not one of the greatest fighters of all-time, he?s not even one of the greatest of the last 30 years. He?s a good ? yes, good, not great ? defensive fighter and he has little offense. He?s going to struggle with Victor Ortiz when they meet on Sept. 17. Imagine how he?d fare against guys like Roberto Duran or Aaron Pryor.
Herman Nelson Chicago
Thanks for telling me what I think, Herman. Much appreciated. I do think Mayweather is one of the top 100 boxers of all-time. That much is clear by what he?s done so far. I find it laughable that he calls himself the greatest ever, which I?ve written numerous times. But before we talk about his struggles against Ortiz, how about we let them fight first so we have a basis of comparison. I believe Duran is one of the 10 or 15 greatest pound-for-pound fighters in history, but it?s only fair to wait until Mayweather?s career is over before we judge him in that regard.
Would making the ring smaller make better fights?
What do you think about the idea of making boxing rings smaller? Why not limit them to a maximum of 18 feet? I think it would prevent excessive running and improve the quality of many bouts. It would create more fighting.
Richard Thomas Oregon
I don?t think there is a need for it, Richard. A smaller ring would obviously favor a pressure fighter, but a 20-foot ring, which is the standard, is not too big. It does allow a boxer room to maneuver. A 24-foot ring, which is used in a very small number of places, is far too big and would make it very difficult for the pressure fighters to cut off the ring and create a fight. There is nothing wrong with the rules or the equipment. It?s just the quality of fighters which, in some cases, may be lacking and creating the perception in your mind of too much running.
Quoteworthy
?He was scared to fight me. I was expecting more of a challenge in the ring, but he was super defensive.? ? IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko on David Haye.
