Sup Btalk. The lightweights are coming up to bat. Haven’t seen much of Guzman. But as Margarito proved, there is nothing like a good hungry fighter. So I am picking Nate by 10th round KO. Marquez vs Casa does less than 150k ppv. I’ll catch it on the replay. Cant blame Pacman for cashing in against the Golden Cow. Either fight Oscar for 15 mill, or Nate or Casa for 4 or less. He gets KO’d by all three anyway. Get your money Manny. But you won’t get my duckets! Peter crushes Vitali by 5th round KO. I am surprised Arum has not proposed Clottey fighting The Punisher. I know he wants to keep Margarito and Cotto in tact for a rematch. Zab is done. Berto is the most protected champ I have ever seen. Can’t wait to see him get whooped. And last but least, Pavlik is going to CRUSH Bernard. He either goes to sleep or quits on his stool. The fight will not last 9. Big Paw PG MD
Leon’s Response: Guzman is definitely a hungry fighter who happens to be going up against one of the hungriest champions in boxing, Nathaniel Campbell. Nate was in town this week and as always it was a pleasure to see my older brother. 150k seems about right on that PPV to me, but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to be a tremendous fight. I’ve been leaving the De La Hoya-Pacquiao discussion alone, because it’s better suited for the mythical matchups section of boxing forums than front page news. I like Peter over Vitali as well. Arum wouldn’t have any problem making Williams-Clottey, but for all that he might as well make Margarito-Clottey II and make sure he’s got the winner. Anybody who cares about Cotto would never allow him to share a ring with Margarito again.
G, I agree with everyone who feels Zab is too small for welterweight. Im sure Margarito, Clottey and a few others probably walk around at 165lbs. Why struggle with these bigger guys at this stage in your career and put your foot down at 140lbs. His career is coming to an end so he might as well have some fun with a few W’s. And I thought it was hilarious when the doctor asked him how man fingers do I have up and Zab said 3 when he knew the Doc showed him 2. Clottey was in that ass like a wedgee. Kelvin Pompey “aka” johnnybadass.
Leon’s Response: I happen to know Clottey pretty well and he never walks around 15 pounds over his fighting weight. He’s a firm believer in the stay ready to keep from getting ready philosophy, which is evidenced by the way he doesn’t tire during fights. Berto-Judah is a very interesting fight and I disagree with everyone who thinks Zab needs to go down to 140. Why? Because I know Zab MUCH better than all of you do.
ODH needs to man up and fight someone his size. Obviously Margarito would be the PPV option. He could fight Sergio Mora, Felix Trinidad, or Clottey. I know that Pacquiao is the biggest draw of the available fighters that have not lost. Mora’s performance against Forrest shown his ability to brawl and box and a showdown against the Golden Boy would be a war. It is evident that Oscar loves to fight smaller guys to avoid getting hurt by a big punch. Do you think that Manny Pacquiao is his only PPV option for December 6?
Leon’s Response: I wouldn’t be surprised if Oscar didn’t fight until next year.
A few quick comments and questions for ya my man. First, what the fuck is up with your boy (I know he aint ya boy fo reelz) fat man scoop a.k.a. Dan Rafael doing trying to sell ODLH vs Pacquiau as the fuckin fight of the year???? We already had what will probably be the fight of the year in Cotto/Margz. On top of this, what kind of B.S. jive job is Golden Boy doing with Richard Shaeffer talking about selling this fight like its about shit. Its a bad fight for Manny no matter how you look at it and here is exactly why. 1) Oscar is a naturally bigger stronger fighter. While Steve Forbes was smaller as well, Forbes is a slick boxer stylistically the likes of a Floyd or Pernell, Manny is a boxer puncher and more a puncher than a boxer. 2) Let’s play devil’s advocate for a sec, let’s say Manny wins, and what has he really done? What good is it to have a name that other elites have beaten on the last fight before a storied fighter has retired? It does nothing for his legacy or P4P ranking. 3) Manny does more for his career and p4p ranking by moving up 2 140lbs and winning a title in his 6th weight class which has never been done b4, not even by Floyd and cements his legacy as one of the best to ever lace them up. The point is that if Manny wins, he beats an aging and already beaten ODLH, there is no title at stake and people will say that Oscar went out like a chump getting beaten by a lightweight. If ODLH wins, he beats someone he was expected to beat, he gets ridiculed for ducking Margz and looks like a pansy. The whole Freddie Roach making comments is dispicable and BS. Freddie is more of a class act than that in general and even if he thought that ODLH was slow and can’t pull the trigger anymore its low class, disrespectful, and after having Freddie work w/Oscar and Bernard, its like cutting your own throat 4 the future n seems like some WWE acting shit. ODLH NEEDS 2 FACE MARGZ. THAT IS THE ONLY FIGHT HE SHOULD TAKE THAT IS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE. Then Schaeffer is quoted saying that while Margz was mentioned as a possible opponent, he thinks that Margz needs to take a rematch with Williams 1st. Goosen says the Margz/Williams fight wouldn’t happen till early 09 so again WTF???? The 1st Margz/Williams fight was close and Williams was fading bad in the stretch when Tony was puttin on the pressure. If Tony starts a little faster this time around, Williams is in trouble and please don’t act like I’m making this up or being rediculous in my speculation about the outcome of a 2nd fight between the two. Enough about that though. Question: Why don’t you keep ya boy Verno busy with the likes of former 154 champ Kassim Ouma??? He’s a known name and former champ and you get to do some bussiness w/Golden Boy??? Stylistically and challenge wise I think its a good match up for Verno. Question: When are we gonna hear something from you on whether or not your boy Green will take a rematch with Miranda or not? Question:When is Forrest going to stop giving us the I wasn’t at 100% talk? I know he said that shit after his injuries and surgeries and I give dude a pass for it back then, but everytime that cat has a bad or lackluster performance, he cries about not being 100%. He said at the press conference for his rematch with Mora that he was only like 45% in the 1st fight. I have 2 words for him BULL and SHIT. 2nd question of the same subject that emphasizes my point: WHy is Forrest considered an elite? Who has he beaten thats worth a shit or has a name besides Mosely who stylistically was taylor made to lose to Forrest? He has a controversial win over Bazooka Quartey, and Piccirillo is a piece of shit whom Mayorga beat out last time to win the 154lb title that Oscar later took from him. I picked Mora to beat Forrest the first time, not due to strength but due to hustle. Forrest is part of the fading generation that OLDH is about to retire from. He gained all his credibility from beating Mosely and then he got beat by Mayorga twice. How does that make him anybody? People like to use Mayorga as a set up name for big fights and Forrest got doused by him. When Mayorga loses to mosely, and Forrest loses to Mora again, then Mayorga needs to fight Forrest again, beat him and both need to retire. The End-Noah
Leon’s Response: Dan Rafael is Godsent, who knows where the sport would be without him. I’m not really trying to entertain the ODLH-Pacquiao disucssion. With Pacquiao campaigning in one of the hottest divisions in boxing, talking De La Hoya is senseless. Let’s talk Pacquiao vs. Campbell-Guzman winner, Casamayor-JMM winner, shit, even the Juan Diaz-Katsidis winner before we start talking about Oscar.
Greg, Pavlik’s next fight should be at middleweight vs. Abraham. If the IBF won’t let him fight a unification with Pavlik, then to hell with the IBF. No one cares, or is going to watch Abraham fighting Marquez, and no one cares about these stupid belts anymore. This is what pisses me off about the sport. These alphabet organizations should make exceptions for unification fights instead of enforcing bogus mandatories anyway. Abraham just knocked Miranda, Pavlik just knocked out Lockett. They should be fighting each other in October, but instead we will have to wait until next year. Does this fight get any bigger by Abraham fighting a nobody in Germany? Hell no. As for Pavlik fighting Hopkins, I think it is a bad move for Pavlik. If he wins people are going to say “so what he beat a guy who is 43”, if he loses, he is going to get blasted and rightfully so. And I don’t like the catch weight of 170 either. If I was Lowe, I would have Pavlik come in at 165. Hopefully, Pavlik won’t allow himself to be trapped into the slow-paced boring kind of fight that Hopkins will want to get into. And Greg, why is Hopkins still fighting? He is already a first balot hall of famer. I think this could be the fight that he could get hurt in. I respect Hopkins, but like many people I speak with, I usually find myself bored with most of his fights. As fans, we watch the sport because we want to be entertained, and I really don’t care to see a non-heavy weight throw less than 40 punches a round while mostly throwing one at a time and initiating clinches. Do you think this will do good PPV numbers? I am not sure it does. Brian from Jersey
Leon’s Response: Abraham has to deal with Marquez first, but if he does the Pavlik-Abraham fight is the biggest fight at middleweight. Obviously Pavlik is going to have his hands full with a grandmaster named Hopkins on October 18, so there’s plenty of room between the cup and the lip on Pavlik-Abraham s of now. Would anybody in America really know who Abraham was if it weren’t for the belt? Doesn’t the belt and the fact that the bout would be unification make it bigger? Hopkins is still fighting because the dollars make sense and Kelly Pavlik is a challenge to him.
Hey man, it’s too bad that the Judah/Mosley fight didn’t come off. I get the feeling that Judah had a better chance of beating Mosley than he had of beating Clottey! Zab Will get another chance but he needs to bring in some help to improve his stamina, ring generalship, and ring tactics, Zab knows the fundamentals of boxing but boxes dumb. Zab generally loses focus around the 6th round and after that isn’t competitive.
Leon’s Response: Joshua Clottey is definitely a tougher out than Shane Mosley at this point and I’d pick Clottey over Mosley seven days a week and twice on Sunday. Zab will get another chance, his matches just need to be made very carefully from a strategical standpoint. I firmly believe that had Zab not rushed to sign for the Clottey fight a September HBO PPV date with De La Hoya would have fallen right into his lap for at least ten times more than he made fighting Clottey.
What up G! I just had one thing to throw out there and hopefully it will hit the mailbag. With Manny Pacquiao possibly moving up to 147 to fight Oscar, he’s going to need to do it carefully. Pacquiao should hook up with Mackiao! Mackie Shilstone that is! Who better to assist the Pacquiao camp in moving up in weight properly than him? I hope the Pacquiao people consider him to help. Peace!
Leon’s Response: Pacquiao at 147? Ugh. Stop it.
Yo G, Here is my prediction for the Taylor vs. Lacy fight. First off I want to say that being from Tampa I am a Lacy fan. With that said, even though I?m a Lacy fan I?m a bigger fan of the sport and I am not blind or an a$$ kisser. I think that Jermain Taylor will totally dominate Lacy. Unlike Lacy Taylor has shown a commitment to improving and it had shown in his loss to Pavlik. Lacy on the other hand has not improved since before becoming champion. He still wings his punches and he does not vary the intensity of his punches. He fights a lot like Mike Tyson after he abandoned his technique and stopped listening to his corner. Even in the interview about his last fight all he talks about are the rabbit punches and everything but his own mistakes. Before that he referred to his muscle twitch or something along those lines. Bottom line is that he needs to fight a little more like Joe Calzaghe and tap a little to setup the big shots. Otherwise he will continue to be a very predictable fighter. If that were Edison Miranda that he had fought the other night he would have been KTFO quickly. Hopefully he?s reading your mailbag and takes a look from within. Took quote a line from a Buju Banton song, ?He who seeks knowledge begins with humbleness?. Columbus, Tampa
Leon’s Response: My prediction is a 2000 Olympian will win. The fight is interesting because Taylor is coming off of two losses, has reportedly been ballooning in weight since the Pavlik rematch and might not have that fire to compete at the highest level anymore. Lacy has shown vulnerability since the Calzaghe fight and even though he’s been at the higher weight for MUCH longer, he’s the underdog. You know that motivates him. If both guys come to fight and let their hands go somebody is getting knocked out.
Hey G. I’m not a member of boxingtalk.com yet but I do click in to read the bag. I’ve read where some think that Floyd Mayweather will come out of retirement for a matchup with Margarito. I’ve read where some have predicted that had Cotto won, Floyd would’ve taken that fight to prove his supremacy. But I think another fighter might be a bigger reason for the “Pretty Boy” aka “Money Mayweather” to come out retirement and his name is Manny Pacquiao who, BTW, is looking to come up to the welterweight class to challenge Oscar De la Hoya. Should that fight happen and Pacquiao defeats De la Hoya convincingly, the marketability of a Mayweather / Pacquiao fight would be off the charts, the p4p title would be at stake and the fight would be a sure fire PPV event that could eclipse Mayweather / De la Hoya? Just a thought. Uzzo / D.C.
Leon’s Response: Floyd Mayweather-Pacquiao at welterweight is just as much of a circus act as De La Hoya-Pacquiao. If Floyd’s coming back it’s to fight Oscar for more money than either of them make anywhere else.
