When you watch the Top Rank pay-per-view card Saturday night headed by Manny Pacquaio-Jorge Solis, it will have a decidedly different look than what you are accustomed to seeing on HBO and SHOWTIME. Bob Arum is doing his own telecast, so he’ll have his own announcers and his own way of running the show. Although I am not working on this telecast, I have been privileged to do three or four Arum pay-per-views in the past and I like the way he does it. There are not a lot of fluffy features, no think pieces or celebrity interviews. It is not about the announcers, it’s about the fights. When one fight is over, they get the boxers out of the ring and get the next guys in. Nothing wrong with that…….One thing we won’t have to worry about is Manny Pacquaio being OVERTRAINED for his title defense against Jorge Solis. He put in the “minimum” requisite time for this fight and probably isn’t all that motivated. Solis may be Mexican, but he is not Barrera, Marquez or Morales. Solis will move and box and probably run, but he doesn’t have enough sock to keep Pacquaio off of him for 12 rounds and Manny knows it. Freddie Roach will fly from Puerto Rico to San Antonio to work with Pacquaio and that will help the Philippines’ superstar as well. The 115-pound title fight between Jorge Arce and Christian Mijares should be a good one. Nice to see Arce once again fighting a guy who can hit back. It’s been awhile. I’m looking forward to seeing an improved Brian Vilora is his 108 pound title fight against Edgar Sosa. For whatever reasons, Brian has been mysteriously hesitant to throw punches in his last two fights. He needs to be way busier. Viloria assured us on our radio show last week that his volume of punches will be dramatically increased. He has been very excited about working with his new trainer Joe Goossen…………..Speaking of Joe Goossen, I guess we can add Diego Corrales to the list of fighters (Michael Nunn, Lance Whitaker, Joel Casamayor) who have left Goossen and seen their careers take a turn for the worse. While I expected Corrales to lose to the talented and strong Joshua Clottey, I never expected to see him take that horrendous a clobbering. I thought the fight should’ve been stopped by his corner at the end of the 8th round and again at the end of the 9th. Just another example of a far too brave corner sending a fighter out to absorb more thumping than is necessary when the matter is decided. It was refreshing to see the enthusiasm of the crowd in Springfield for Corrales-Clottey. Here’s another refreshing note: the fight was impeccably officiated. Referee Mike England did a more than competent job and the judges all got it right……..Speaking of referees, Kenny Bayless gets the assignment for Floyd Mayweather-Oscar de la Hoya. Bayless is good, in-shape and knows his way around the ring. There should be no issues about him. I must admit however, I long for the days of Mitch Halpern and Mills Lane……….Congratulations to Peter Manfredo who becomes the first fighter ever stopped by making an opponent miss the last ten punches that he threw. The stoppage of Manfredo by the brilliant Joe Calzaghe was inevitable, but that was not the time. This guy Calzaghe is the goods. He doesn’t need any help from some over-officious referee. With ten years as champion and 20 title defenses for Calzaghe, the last three on American TV, hopefully we won’t have to submit to another “showcase” fight for Joe. Give me Calzaghe-Kessler or Calzaghe-Taylor and I’ll be a very happy boxing fan……..Bet most boxing fans are far more looking forward to the undercard fight of Kelly Pavlik-Edison Miranda than the main event, Jermain Taylor-Cory Spinks…..I am not too high on Nikolai Valuev and I do believe that he’ll be beaten by the first quality fighter he faces who has some decent size. I’m really not sure Valuev’s opponent this week, Ruslan Chagaev, is a quality fighter. He’s a plodder with fair power. Chagaev is a southpaw, so he’ll have that going for him, but he’s a foot shorter than Valuev, so its hard to conceive of him hitting the big giant much……….Vitali Klitschko is out, so Sam Peter is in, and deservedly so. Negotiations have begun on an Oleg Maskaev-Peter fight. The proposed Maskaev-Klitschko fight was to have taken place in June, but Maskaev’s promoter Dennis Rapaport told us on our radio show Saturday that he did not expect the Peter bout to take place in June….Promoter Dan Goossen has an all-heavyweight card planned for Vegas May 4, the night before Oscar-Floyd. Headlining the card will be a bout betgween undefeated Eddie Chambers and Dominick Guinn. Also slated to see action that night in separate bouts are Chris Arreola and Malik Scott. Hopefully, one of these kids can make some real noise in the heavyweight division which is in an absolutely moribund state. …..Time for a pet peeve. Why do elite fighters have to close their workouts, not only to the public but to the press? For years, it was a time-honored ritual that members of the boxing press trudge to training camps to watch fighters get ready for their biggest bouts and then report on those training camps to the public through newspapers, radio and television. God forbid anyone see an actual sparring session now, as if some sportswriter is going to see a dreaded secret punch or strategy and then expose it to the world. It was never a problem for reporters to watch Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano or Muhammad Ali train. As a young reporter, I was able to go see Floyd Patterson, George Foreman, Marvin Hagler and Roberto Duran train. For that matter, the public was invited to see them too. Just pay your 50 cents or a buck, and you could get a close-up look at greats like that. See how far you get now if you want to see an Oscar de la Hoya or Vitali Klitschko train for a fight. Wha you’ll get is a funny look from those around the fighters, as if to say, “Oh we could never allow that”……Nothing changes in our pound-for-pound list following last week’s fights. Calzaghe was number four going in and he stays there. Things could change after this Saturday night when Pacquaio and Arce are in action……… For those of you unfamiliar with my radio show, “Rich Marotta’s Neutral Corner” airs every Saturday morning from 9AM-11 in Los Angeles and throughout Southern California on AM570, KLAC. It is also available on the internet, and yes it is podcast as well, so you can listen whenever you want. Just go to: am570radio.com.
