With Floyd Mayweather battling $6.2 million in tax trouble, leading one to believe he?ll end his retirement and fight Manny Pacquiao in coming months, which would be the most attractive fight of 2009, I?m going to have to rush my 2009 boxing wish list into publication. Therefore, I am suspending my policy restricting the sort of promotional speculation that overly dominates too much boxing talk.
Fight No. 2 on my wish list is Nonito Donaire vs. Fernando Montiel. Although promoter Top Rank says Donaire-Montiel is not a done deal, expect that fight to take place March 14 (March 15 if you?re attending in Quezon City in the Philippines). I haven?t nailed down the TV information but am counting on Showtime, which is airing a parallel bout, Vic Darchinyan vs. Jorge Arce, on Feb. 7.
Donaire is usually the technician in his bouts, but he may decide Montiel can match his ring savvy and instead try to outgun the smaller, older Sinaloan. You have to like the way Donaire, the lone conqueror of the revenge-bent Darchinyan, faces all challenges head-on. A Donaire-Darchinyan rematch is plenty attractive, but don?t let that interfere with enjoying the Donaire-Montiel matchup. I?ll tell you more about that once my efforts to chase down Donaire, who will be in the Philippines throughout the interim, are fulfilled.
My No. 3 fight, Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton, is also still in the speculation stage, but the smart money is on May 2. Although I?m not sure Pacquiao can beat Mayweather, look for him to whip Hatton as soundly as Floyd did in 2007.
So here I am, talking about 2009 before I even sum up 2008, which is the theme this week at examiner.com. In a nutshell, Antonio Margarito?s stoppage of Miguel Cotto was the most memorable fight, more epic and more distinctive than Pacquiao?s thrillingly narrow rematch victory over Juan Manuel Marquez. HBO will show those two matches back-to-back Saturday. My colleague, Vivek Wallace, has zeroed in on fighter of the year and urges consideration, alongside Pacquiao and Joe Calzaghe, of Paul Williams, the impossibly tall welterweight who is campaigning at 154 but surely can carry 160.
Which brings us to No. 4 for 2009, Williams vs. middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, although maybe not until Pavlik wins an interim match to shake off his 2008 loss to Bernard Hopkins.
And finally, what wish list wouldn?t include heavyweights? Well, mine some years, seeing as how I champion welterweights. But it?s time to bring on David Haye, the fast, charismatic but somewhat undersized Briton who probably would enliven the division more than current two-headed champion Wladimir/Vitaly Klitschko does. After a warm-up or two, Haye needs to fight and beat Samuel Peter so that we can see him against Chris Arreola, the powerful but limited Californian. It?s more likely that Haye and Arreola won?t square off until they?re the two heading the division, but here?s betting we?ll be talking about Haye higher up in our speculations at the outset of 2010.
