Your weekly random thoughts ?
? I’ve been hearing rumblings of a Bernard Hopkins-Felix Trinidad rematch at 168 pounds being discussed for the fall. What a bad, bad joke of a fight that would be. Hopkins crushed Trinidad in 2001 and remains a top fighter. But Trinidad, who hasn’t fought since being dominated by Roy Jones in January 2008, is a spent bullet with nothing left. Even if they can make the fight, which I sort of doubt, why would anyone on earth pay 5 cents to see such an utterly uninteresting and pointless rematch? There is that old saying though about a sucker being born every minute.
? Next week’s Ricky Hatton-Manny Pacquiao fight can’t get here soon enough.
? Condolences to the family and friends of Stanley Levin, the boxing-loving attorney who considered Jones like a member of the family. Levin, of Pensacola, Fla., died last week at age 70. He was one of the good guys in boxing, a generous man whose word was his bond. He was never a guy you’d see out front doing a lot of talking. Behind the scenes, however, especially with regard to Jones’ career, Levin made things happen. As Jones’ co-manager for much of his career, along with his brother, Fred Levin, they were voted co-managers of the year in 1995 by the Boxing Writers Association of America. Levin, recognizable by his neck brace, stayed with Jones until the earlier part of the decade until going their separate ways, in part because he was disappointed in some of Jones’ business decisions and because of his frail health. I always liked Stan the Man. One time, when I was covering Jones’ HBO PPV fight against Eric Harding in New Orleans in September 2000, I spent a good part of fight day with him. New Orleans was getting crushed by thunderstorms that day and lightning streaked across the sky non-stop. I had a pretty darn good view of the lightning storm because Levin invited me to his suite at the top of the hotel where we were staying several hours before the fight to watch HBO’s afternoon “KO Nation” card featuring Winky Wright-Bronco McKart II. It was just the two of us. We watched the fights, watched the storm and talked boxing. Those were good times.
? It seems unlikely, but I’m still holding out hope that HBO or Showtime decides to buy the proposed Tomasz Adamek-Glen Johnson cruiserweight championship fight this summer. I don’t think it can be anything less than a crowd-pleasing action fight between aggressive fighters with great chins and never-say-die attitudes in the ring. It’s the epitome of a fans’ fight.
? What on earth was James Kirkland thinking?
? I have to say I was thoroughly impressed by flyweight titleholder Nonito Donaire’s fourth-round TKO of Raul Martinez last week. Donaire is darn good and deserves pound-for-pound list consideration. I was also impressed with Brian Viloria, who dethroned junior flyweight titlist Ulises Solis with an 11th-round knockout on the undercard of the entertaining Top Rank PPV card. Finally, Viloria put it all together against a quality opponent.
? So anyone out there willing and available to fight Paul Williams?
? Nikolai Valuev and Ruslan Chagaev are finally going to meet May 30 in their mandated heavyweight title rematch. Yawn.
? The lunacy of some fighters never ceases to amaze me. The latest example comes from virtual unknown Tavoris Cloud, whose lone claim to fame is a nice knockout of faded Julio Gonzalez on Aug. 8, 2008, on ESPN2. Since then, Cloud (19-0, 18 KOs), the mandatory challenger for titleholder Chad Dawson, has not fought. Yet, suddenly, he popped up this week with a silly open letter demanding a fight with Dawson, one which he is already mandatory for. How ridiculous is that?
? Besides all those bogus interim titles, champion in recess designations and super titles, is the IBF junior lightweight title the most pathetic belt in boxing today or what? Since Marco Antonio Barrera was forced to give it up in late 2005, four men — Cassius Baloyi, Gairy St. Clair, Mzonke Fana and Malcolm Klassen — have held it and it has changed hands five times in eight bouts with seven of the fights taking place in South Africa, which apparently has become IBF 130-pound central. Nobody has made it through two successful defenses either. Klassen is the latest to hold the title in the seemingly never-ending round-robin, having regained it last Saturday from Baloyi.
? Just a quick note of congratulations to one of boxing’s more colorful characters, England’s Frank Maloney, who is celebrating 25 years as a promoter this week with a small card in London. Maloney, who always seems to enjoy wearing outfits decorated with Britain’s Union Jack, has managed or promoted the likes of former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, former cruiserweight champ David Haye and former featherweight titleholders Paul Ingle and Scott Harrison.
? Congratulations to HBO Sports, which picked up 18 nominations for the 30th annual Sports Emmys. Many of its nominations were for boxing-related programming. “Joe Louis: America’s Hero Betrayed” was nominated for outstanding sports documentary. “De La Hoya/Pacquiao 24/7” and the network’s various countdown specials were nominated for outstanding sports series/anthologies. “De La Hoya/Pacquiao 24/7” was also nominated for the Dick Schaap writing award. “Calzaghe/Jones 24/7” garnered four nomination for edited sports special, editing, camera work and post produced audio. HBO’s “Ring Life” Internet series was nominated in the outstanding new approaches to sports programming category. Congrats to HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg and his entire staff. Awards will be handed out Monday in New York.
? DVD pick of the week: I’ve been on a bit of an ’80s binge having received a handful of classics from a friend I trade with, so this week I went for one of those bouts. It was June 27, 1987, in Montreal when 21-year-old Matthew Hilton faced tenacious Buster Drayton. Hilton dropped Drayton in the first round and it looked like it was going to be a quick fight. Instead, it was a 15-round slugfest. But Hilton, younger and quicker, won the unanimous decision to claim a junior middleweight title in front of his adoring fans and become the first Canadian to win a world title in 44 years. And you didn’t need cable to watch the fight or need to spend cash on a pay-per-view. It was live on ABC and called by Jim Lampley in his pre-HBO days.
