Norm Frauenheim
265 articles · The Arizona Republic
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Chavez Jr. has inherited expectations
LAS VEGAS – He’s the son, Junior. But there are dividends in that relationship only if dad is an old-school monarch or Wall Street oligarch. For Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., the inheritance…
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Pacquiao, Cotto take the bad out of boxing
LAS VEGAS – It was a news conference, which only means not a whole lot happened. Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto talked Wednesday like diplomats after accepting keys to the city from…
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Roach talks, but Cotto says he isn’t listening
Manny Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach is talking. But Miguel Cotto isn’t listening. At least, Cotto says he isn’t. Cotto dismissed Roach’s old-school attempt at some modern gamesmanship Thursday night during a conference…
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Pacquiao to test credentials for crossover stardom
Muhammad Ali had it. Ken Norton did not. Sugar Ray Leonard had it. Thomas Hearns did not. Mike Tyson had it. Lennox Lewis did not. Oscar De La Hoya had it. Pernell…
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If Cotto beat adversity, he can upset Pacquiao
Adversity’s face, bloodied and often beaten, provides the best look at fighters who are great, those who are trying to be and those who never will be. Unbeaten only means untested. Miguel…
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Mayweather hard to like and hard to beat
It is as hard to like Floyd Mayweather, Jr., as it is to beat him, especially after he failed to honor an agreement for an unnecessary advantage that in the end damaged…
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No blueprint on how to figure out Mayweather
LAS VEGAS – It’s hard to keep up with Floyd Mayweather Jr., a man of many moves and multiple moods. Thirty-nine opponents have tried and failed in his 13 years without a…
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All the pressure is on Mayweather
Locker room philosopher Charles Barkley once said pressure is for tires. That wise-guy bit of wisdom is worth remembering as anticipation and speculation combine and begin to register a surprising buzz in…
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Pound-for-pound forecast for a hot fall
Word-for-word, there has been nothing to say about pound-for-pound, mostly because Manny Pacquiao stopped the debate the way he stopped Ricky Hatton. But the argument is about to resume in September and…
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Who needs Floyd when you’ve got Nate Campbell?
Nate Campbell, who helped Tampa, Fla., police chase down a couple of suspected purse snatchers last month, stole the show Thursday. Campbell knocked the mundane out of a conference call and talked…
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Cotto whips adversity for shot at Pacquiao, then revenge
Adversity, Miguel Cotto's stubborn foe for the past year, never had a chance. He looked it in the eye, stared it down and countered with poise in the face of lingering questions…
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Cotto fight with adversity faces test against Clottey
There was the sting of a first-time defeat and lingering talk about whether the loss was delivered by hands wrapped in plaster within a mask of padding. Then, there was a nasty,…
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Marquez fighting for his own legacy
Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s comeback puts an argument, his own, back into the pound-for-pound debate, but also obscures a fighter once forgotten but now impossible to ignore in the indelible terms of his…
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Pacquiao a work of art but still in progress
Bob Arum is beginning to look at Manny Pacquiao the way an artist sees unfinished work that has potential to be a masterpiece. "A grand painting," Arum said after Pacquiao began to…
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Rhymes and reason for Pacquiao-Hatton
LAS VEGAS ? Boxing news conferences aren?t known to produce rhyme or reason, but there was both Wednesday. Floyd Mayweather Sr. brought the rhymes. Everybody else brought reasons for picking Manny Pacquiao…
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There’s a method to Mayweather’s madness
The trash-talk exchange between Floyd Mayweather Sr. and Freddie Roach is little bit like listening to Bill O'Reilly and David Letterman. It's a scream. It's also all for show, which makes it…
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Quit looking for a De La Heir Apparent
Just a few days after Oscar De La Hoya?s retirement, a search is underway, inevitable as it is unfortunate. Already, there is a hunt for the next Oscar. But there is no…
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Mexico’s importance to Arum reflected in his defense of Tijuana
A reasonable argument continues about whether to cross a border that, at least according to headlines and perhaps hyperbole, sounds like a battlefield. Legendary promoter Bob Arum says that all is quiet…
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‘Old’ Hatton needs to show up for Pacquiao fight
Not long after a stop at the Imperial War Museum in London, Ricky Hatton reminded a conference-call audience that he rules the junior welterweights the way Britain once ruled the world. He…
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Margarito’s punishment illustrates complicated, incomplete system
Neither California's revocation of Antonio Margarito's license nor Bob Arum's outrage at the state's ban of the welterweight for at least a year is a surprise. The state's athletic commission is doing…
