2012 was/is shaping up to be entertaining. This is the year we hope to get the dream matchups we have all been waiting for. However, some of the matchmaking being done behind the scenes already has many boxing fans wondering what on earth managers and promoters are thinking. Perhaps great action is on the way. However, this may also be the year we get a lot of ?huh?? moments, from the business end of boxing. Here are a few fighters who are not currently where they should be in order to have a good 2012.
Jorge Arce ? watching him scramble for a suitable opponent, while his vanquished former opponent Wilfredo Vasquez gets the big fight with Nonito Donaire, is quite sad. This is not, however, a case of Donaire wanting the easy way out. Vasquez-Arce was close, and without fatherly interference, may have even gone the other way. He is a tough challenge for Donaire, if there is one at all. However, Donaire-Arce is a bigger fight, ticket-wise, so why is that not happening? Waffling between divisions is the main reason. Arce was dropping down, while Donaire was moving up. Donaire should be in there with Mares now, not Vasquez or Arce. However, Mares did his part. If Donaire needs to physically move up, it is not his own fault either. However, Arce needs to pick a division, and he?s proven he can hack it at 122. The Donaire fight will still likely happen, but Arce is not the one we are watching in the interim. They even have the same promoter. It didn?t have to be that way.
Andy Lee ? Why is he giving up an HBO date in order to chase a belt? Is it so his promoter Lou Dibella can own the middleweight division no matter what? Well, guess what? He already does. Even without ridiculous belt stripping, this is the case. Sergio Martinez is the one and only middleweight champion. Even though Felix Sturm holds a strap, he has never even unified with Gennady Golovkin, and he has lost his last two fights, only to retain his title under dubious decisions. Does DiBella think a fight with Lee will go any differently? The money was in building up Lee to lose to Martinez, after Martinez beat up Sturm?s conqueror Macklin, and then Chavez. Nobody cares about Geale and Pirog anymore. Their weak choices of opponents shows you where they each belong. The best Lee can do now is join Macklin and Murray, as fighters screwed against Sturm, who is already himself a dismissable joke. Bad move, Lou. This one will come back to bite you.
Wladimir Klitschko / Alexander Povetkin ? They are both picking on smaller men, instead of making the only intriguing (possible) fight in the heavyweight division, against each other. Wladimir is using an optional defense to fight Jean-Marc Mormeck? The 5?11? former light heavyweight?? Povetkin is using this ?cruiserweight champion? angle as well? fighting Marco Huck this winter. This is a ridiculous move by both men. Both Huck and Mormeck have been KO?d at 200lbs, therefore, Klitschko and Povetkin each would not be breaking new ground by doing so. In fact, they have nowhere to go but down. Robert Helenius has been exposed, and Vitali is taking on the man to do so, in Dereck Chisora. Therefore, W. Klitscvhko vs. Povetkin is the only interesting fight left at heavyweight for this generation. Lets get on with it!
