Your weekly random thoughts …
• Although the way David Haye and trainer/manager Adam Booth went about snubbing Vitali Klitschko in favor of Nikolai Valuev was underhanded and unprofessional, it may turn out to be a smart move because Haye has a way, way, way better chance to beat Valuev than Klitschko. After all, Valuev couldn’t deal with the movement of the ancient Evander Holyfield, who is much slower, much older and not nearly the puncher that Haye is.
But the way Haye dealt with Klitschko was pathetic. Had Haye simply taken one deal over the other without all the drama, that would be one thing. No problem.
Instead, he strung Klitschko along for weeks while talking crap about him — and his brother, Wladimir Klitschko, before bailing on him, too, last month — only to double-deal behind his back and then pull out of a fight that had been agreed upon. I talked to Booth and, frankly, I didn’t believe him when he said they didn’t have a deal. His story sounded like the dog had eaten his homework. I’ve followed this process every step of the way, and I believe Klitschko’s team of Bernd Boente and Shelly Finkel when they say they had a deal. Say what you want about them, but they are professionals, they’ve negotiated a zillion fights and they made a compelling case that the deal was done.
The ironic thing here is that Haye, who hasn’t fought since November, against a faded Monte Barrett, has never accomplished anything of note as a heavyweight to have deserved a title fight in the first place — except run his mouth and make himself look like a fool. He had fights with both Klitschkos on a silver platter. There are a lot of heavyweights who would give anything for a shot at one of them. Haye had a chance at both and blinked twice, punking out and running away like he was scared. Ultimately, Haye only talked the talk and couldn’t bring himself to even try to walk the walk.
• I was told this week that serious talks have been rekindled for a fall fight between middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik and Paul Williams, with HBO making a very strong offer. The question is, will the two camps, who don’t exactly get along well, be able to agree on the split? We shall see, but my fingers are crossed because it’s a great fight — certainly a lot bigger than anything else either guy can legitimately make.
• We’ve all known for the past month or so that Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao were headed for a fight, but I still got a rush when the expected news was confirmed. I was awfully happy to talk to Top Rank’s Bob Arum the other day and hear the fight was on. Based on the early comments I’ve heard from people around the boxing industry, a few things are clear. First, it’s a huge fight, probably the biggest boxing pay-per-view of 2009. Second, there isn’t anyone I can find who doesn’t think it’s going to be a sensational fight, whoever wins. Third, there is a big split on who people think will win, which should add to the intensity of the promotion (which will be called “Firepower”). I’m also excited because HBO is planning a “24/7” series to follow the build-up to the fight. When you match two of the best fighters in the world, both of whom have huge fan bases and make action-packed fights, everybody wins. This fight is great for boxing.
• Cotto and Pacquiao will meet at 145 pounds, which was divulged right off the bat without any nonsense when the fight was announced. The same can’t be said for the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Juan Manuel Marquez fight, which will take place at a maximum of 144 pounds, even though nobody associated with the promotion has the stones to say so on the record for fear of upsetting the prima donna, Mayweather. The pointless secrecy gives off the impression that there is something suspicious about the fight — never a good thing for a promotion.
• Who wants to bet that Pacquiao-Cotto will do better on pay-per-view than Mayweather-Marquez? I wonder what the impact of that will be when it comes time to make Pacquiao-Mayweather, should both win their upcoming bouts?
• One fight Arum mentioned to me as a possibility for the Cotto-Pacquiao undercard is a lightweight title match between Edwin Valero and junior lightweight titlist Humberto Soto, who plans to move up in weight. That’s a can’t-miss fight.
• Now that Pacquiao-Cotto has been announced for Nov. 14, I wonder if Shane Mosley finally understands that he isn’t going to get a fight with Pacquiao in the fall, no matter how much he begs, no matter how many ridiculous press releases his handlers send out and no matter how much weight he says he’s willing to drop. Time to move on, Shane.
• I received a press release from the fine folks who work for promoter Lou DiBella informing me that Kermit Cintron would love to fight Mosley in the fall. After reading about half of it, I yawned and then pressed the delete button.
• You know how Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. pulled out of Saturday’s fight against Jason LeHoullier on Top Rank’s “Latin Fury 10” because of a rib injury? Well, as I have come to find out, that is only true if the definition of “rib injury” is “nowhere near 154 pounds a week before the fight.”
• I absolutely love Showtime’s Super Six World Boxing Classic and can’t wait for the opening matches. I love all three fights that comprise the first group of bouts, which will take place before the end of the year: Arthur Abraham-Jermain Taylor, Carl Froch-Andre Dirrell and Mikkel Kessler-Andre Ward. But my favorite is Kessler-Ward.
• My, how things can change quickly. Just 10 months ago, Amir Khan was knocked out (and knocked out hard) in 54 seconds by Breidis Prescott in a shocking upset. Last week, Prescott suffered his first loss in an upset to Miguel Vazquez. The following night, Khan reached the pinnacle by dismantling Andreas Kotelnik in a lopsided decision to win a title. I thought the timing was an interesting coincidence.
• Speaking of Vazquez-Prescott, I have to give props to Sergio Mora. While sitting in with Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas for an early round during the main event of last week’s “Friday Night Fights,” Mora picked the unheralded Vazquez to pull the upset against big favorite Prescott. Mora said he had sparred with Vazquez and did an excellent job explaining his reason for the pick. Maybe there’s a place somewhere for Mora as an analyst?
• HBO’s “Real Sports” is one of my favorite shows, but I especially love it when it features a boxing story. On the latest edition, which premiered Tuesday and will replay regularly through early August, correspondent Mary Carillo delivers an outstanding feature on trainer Freddie Roach and his battle with Parkinson’s disease.
• Paging Joan Guzman. … On second thought, given his eyesore style, forget it.
• If former heavyweight titlist Samuel Peter — who recently signed with Top Rank and is looking to get his career going again — is motivated, in shape and throws punches, I think he can still do damage. At 28, he’s still one of the youngest heavyweight contenders out there.
• Welterweight titlist Andre Berto is one of the good guys in boxing. At 25, he is mature beyond his years and giving back to his community. Berto, who has made good money but no seven-figure purses, nonetheless is donating $10,000 to the Citrus Center Boys & Girls Club in his hometown of Winter Haven, Fla. Berto, who spent much of his childhood at the club, will also speak to the kids at the ceremony on Friday. “The Boys & Girls Club was like a second home for me as a kid,” Berto said. “I want these kids to see that if they work hard enough, they can make their own dreams come true, just like I have. I have been blessed through boxing, and I want to share some of my blessings with the Boys & Girls Club and Polk County.” Good for him.
• I think the proposed fight between Berto and Selcuk Aydin is very interesting. Aydin is a rough, tough customer who has solid power and a good chin. Berto is a lot faster, but if it happens, it won’t be a walk in the park for either guy.
• In a reminder of just how serious every fight is, from the four-round preliminary to the 12-round championship main event, Marco Antonio Nazareth died Wednesday, four days after suffering a brain injury during a fourth-round TKO loss to Omar Chavez in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He was 23. Chavez, one of the fighting sons of Julio Cesar Chavez, had won a closely contested four-round decision against Nazareth in April 2008, and this was a scheduled six-round rematch. It wasn’t a particularly brutal fight and, although Chavez got the stoppage, Nazareth was on his feet and attempting to punch back when the referee intervened. You just never know what will happen when a fighter is taking punches to the head. Condolences to Nazareth’s family and friends.
• DVD pick of the week: I wasn’t sure what to watch this week, so I went perusing through my database of fights. One I hadn’t viewed in years caught my eye, so I dug into the archive for it. It was an ABC-televised brawl from Aug. 18, 1990 at Bally’s Las Vegas. It lasted only one round — 2 minutes, 57 seconds to be exact — but was like a light version of the first round of the classic Marvelous Marvin Hagler-Thomas Hearns brawl. In this shootout, Nigel Benn, making the first defense of his middleweight belt, and Iran Barkley came out with guns blazing and didn’t stop firing until the fight was over. Benn dropped Barkley in the first minute, but Barkley collected himself enough to come back and hurt Benn. Then Benn rallied himself and dropped Barkley twice more before it was called off due to the three knockdown rule that was still being used at the time. It was short but oh-so sweet.
