Ishe Smith, Robert Guerrero and Paulie Malignaggi walked into a bar.
It was last call. Each would be headed in a different direction when the night was over. But for the moment, each just wanted one more shot.
Smith had lost his last two big fights. ESPN2 had seemingly blackballed him from its “Friday Night Fights” broadcasts. HBO had not had him on in two-and-a-half years, apparently because he is not exciting enough. His last notable win was a year ago, when he outpointed an undefeated but limited brawler named Pawel Wolak on Showtime’s “ShoBox: A New Generation” series.
Not where the former welterweight contender and one-time favorite to win the first season of “The Contender” thought he would be.
Robert Guerrero had not been defeated in years. But for every few steps forward, he had taken a step back. He was a featherweight titlist whose last loss, back in 2006 to Orlando Salido, was overturned after his opponent tested positive for steroids. He regained his title, and then left the division. He left his former promoter and signed with Golden Boy Promotions, which got him the spotlight of HBO’s Boxing After Dark.”
And then he suffered a cut and seemingly quit against an awkward, difficult opponent named Daud Yordan, taking a two-round “No decision.”
It did not matter whether the criticism was just. The gash was ghastly, but he had not given fans a reason to cheer for him.
Paulie Malignaggi had lost just twice, both defeats coming against top fighters in Miguel Cotto and Ricky Hatton. There should be no shame in that, but he had to swallow his pride because of it.
Among his complaints: He signed to face Juan Diaz, a Golden Boy Promotions fighter on a Golden Boy card in Diaz’s hometown of Houston. Malignaggi was fighting at a catch-weight that would force him to drop extra pounds. The ring would be small, favoring the pressure fighter Diaz over the boxer Malignaggi. The referee, Laurence Cole, was from Texas. So was one judge, Gale Van Hoy. Another judge, Raul Caiz Sr., is, like Diaz, Mexican-American.
Malignaggi saw the deck as stacked, the odds as long, and the price as being worth it.
“Boxing After Dark” this past Saturday could have been the last call for Smith, Guerrero and Malignaggi. But each, for different reasons, earned himself one more shot.
Smith played the role of veteran opponent to rising prospect, facing Danny Jacobs and giving the 22-year-old middleweight his toughest test to date. Whereas in the past Smith would fight defensively, limiting his offensive output, he showed fire against Jacobs. He mouthed off at his young foe mid-fight. He traded with Jacobs a couple of times after the bell rang to end the round. He found a hole in Jacobs’ game, countering and hurting him and forcing Jacobs to step up.
Jacobs indeed stepped up and won. And though Smith wound up with the loss, this was a case in which he did not lose the fight, but instead was defeated.
Smith will continue to play the role of opponent, but he made it more likely that he will be able to do so on television.
Guerrero scored a unanimous decision over Malcolm Klassen, throwing an average of 100 punches per round and winning a junior-lightweight title. He also suffered a cut over his eye and kept going.
It was a small step forward. But, as important, it wasn’t a step back.
The 130-pound division was once stocked with stars, most of whom have migrated to higher weight classes. Other top contenders followed the potential paydays up to lightweight.
For Guerrero, that is both good and bad.
He is now one of the men to beat in his division, and he fights for a promoter that will be able to get him dates, be it on premium cable, pay-per-view undercards or its smaller televised shows. There aren’t yet many dance partners that make must-see match-ups, though a unification bout with Jorge Linares seems like a future “Boxing After Dark” main event.
Had Guerrero lost to Klassen, none of this would be available.
As for Malignaggi, his loss to Diaz is a bitter pill to swallow that eventually could leave a bittersweet aftertaste.
The scorecards read 115-113, 116-112 and a ridiculous 118-110 in favor of Diaz after a bout that appeared either to be even or seven-rounds\-to-five in favor of either fighter.
“I had to deal with a lot of politics, man. That was ridiculous,” Malignaggi said afterward in an interview with HBO analyst Max Kellerman. “I knew I was going to have to deal with this. You got guys like Raul Caiz. That’s Golden Boy’s gofer. I said it before, and he was. And he actually had the closest scorecard. I’m telling you, this state never gives a fair shake to anyone coming to this state to fight hometown fighters. It never happens.”
Malignaggi looked good, out-boxing Diaz in the second half of the fight after an even first six rounds. Diaz was able to tag Malignaggi in close, so Malignaggi widened the distance, pumped his jab, sticking and moving. Diaz had difficulty keeping Malignaggi within firing range and had to resort to lunging with hooks and crosses, which Malignaggi easily dodged.
To Malignaggi, however, the performance didn’t matter as much as the result.
“I’m just an opponent after losing the fight,” he said. “Juan can go call out the winner of [Juan Manuel] Marquez and [Floyd] Mayweather or the winner of another big fight. I don’t have that luxury because I got robbed, so I’m on the short end of the stick. I gotta sit back and hope I get used as an opponent in somebody’s hometown again.”
Malignaggi sits on that precarious line of risk and reward. He has enough name value – and so little punching power – that he could end up as “just an opponent” for another top junior welterweight sometime soon.
Ishe Smith, Robert Guerrero and Paulie Malignaggi walked out of the ring. What could’ve been their last call wasn’t. Instead, there will be more shots, more rounds.
The 10 Count
1. Here’s hoping Nick Charles, with a combination of his faith, the support of his loved ones, and the help he’s getting from the best in medical know-how, can beat cancer.
Charles, the blow-by-blow announcer for Showtime’s “ShoBox: The New Generation,” has been diagnosed with Stage IV urothelial carcinoma, or bladder cancer. He has taken a leave of absence from his announcing duties while he is being treated at a Houston cancer center.
Stage IV bladder cancer, according to the American Cancer Society, has spread “through the bladder wall to the pelvic or abdominal wall and/or has spread to lymph nodes and/or to distant sites such as bones, liver or lungs.”
“Like a fighter, just give me one round at a time and I’ll eventually win,” Charles, 63, said in a press release.
We’re pulling for you.
2. Prompted by a post on another boxing Web site’s forum, I took another look at Danny Green’s technical knockout win Aug. 15 over Julio Cesar Dominguez.
The stoppage came three minutes and 15 seconds into the fifth round.
The pay-per-view’s round clock disappeared from the screen with six seconds remaining in the round. Twenty-one seconds later, Green put Dominguez down for the second time that round, and the fight was over.
3. What a difference a week makes. On Aug. 11, a fight between Kelly Pavlik and Paul Williams was officially on. On Aug. 17, the fight between Pavlik and Williams was possibly off.
That development came a day before the media luncheon that had been scheduled to announce the fight. Pavlik apparently has a staph infection on the middle of his left hand, the same infection his promoter, Top Rank, cited as the reason for canceling Pavlik’s June fight with Sergio Mora, according to ESPN.com scribe Dan Rafael. Though, as Rafael wrote, “Pavlik, who was in a contract dispute with Top Rank at the time [of the Mora fight] … dispute[s] that the infection was the reason.”
Nevertheless, Pavlik missed three doctor’s appointments for treating the infection, the fighter’s manager told Rafael.
A press release was sent out saying Pavlik-Williams would move from Oct. 3 to Nov. 21, still on HBO. But that November date is the same day that Williams’ promoter, Dan Goossen, is promoting the super-middleweight tournament bout between Andre Ward – one of his fighters – and Mikkel Kessler. That bout is airing on Showtime.
Goossen isn’t going to do dueling dates, of course.
Paul Williams has fought once this year, a unanimous decision at middleweight over Winky Wright. That bout was in April. More on other fighters’ inactivity in a moment…
4. Meanwhile, Wladimir Klitschko has also had to postpone his next fight due to injury. He had tendon surgery on his left shoulder six weeks ago, Klitschko’s manager told Dan Rafael.
Klitschko’s probable next opponent was one of his mandatory challengers, Eddie Chambers, and according to Rafael, “the injury and a lack of American television dates for the rest of the year” means we will not see Wladimir Klitschko fight again until 2010.
5. Pavlik, the middleweight champion, could end 2009 having fought just once this year, a ninth-round stoppage of Marco Antonio Rubio back in February.
Klitschko, the heavyweight champion, will end 2009 having fought just once this year, a ninth-round stoppage of Ruslan Chagaev back in June.
And Shane Mosley, the welterweight champion, is uninjured but so far opponent-less for his second fight of 2009, one that would capitalize over his big win over Antonio Margarito back in January – and, yes, it was a ninth-round stoppage.
At least Mosley has a Dec. 5 date on HBO reserved for him, according to various reports. Whoever he ends up facing, it will only be the third most anticipated welterweight bout scheduled for this latter part of 2009, behind Miguel Cotto-Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Juan Manuel Marquez.
6. Who was that idiot standing in press row (or just behind it) and giving Paulie Malignaggi the throat-slash gesture after the 10th round?
Classless.
7. Off-topic:
Donte Stallworth pleads guilty to hitting and killing a man with his vehicle while driving drunk and spends 24 days behind bars.
Michael Vick pleads guilty to running a dogfighting ring and spends 19 months in prison.
And Plaxico Burress pleads guilty to criminal possession of a weapon after accidentally shooting himself in the thigh – and he gets sentenced to two years?
8. The good news: Instant replay in boxing is coming to Nevada. The bad news: Its use will be at the sole discretion of the referee, according to the Associated Press.
That means a referee like David Mendoza – who was so sure that Nate Campbell was cut earlier this month by a Timothy Bradley punch, not by the actual culprit, a head butt – would not necessarily have his incorrect ruling overturned unless he prompted the review.
Bradley-Campbell, mind you, took place in California. I’m just using it as an example.
Instant replay in Nevada will only be used when a fight is stopped due to injury.
In New Jersey, which approved the use of instant replay in 2007, a fighter’s chief second can approach a commissioner during a bout to challenge whether a fighter was knocked down or slipped, if a foul was accidental or intentional, if a cut came from a punch, if a fighter beat the count, whether a punch was a low blow, and if a punch came before or after the bell rang to end a round.
The review takes place at the end of a round. But the use of instant replay is at the discretion of a card’s lead promoter, which must provide the equipment, according to the policy.
I don’t recall any instance in which a bout in New Jersey has had instant replay used.
9. Dare I say it? Lennox Lewis was good in his color commentary role on this past Saturday’s airing of HBO’s “Boxing After Dark.” Some good analysis from him. Probably his best performance as a broadcaster to date.
10. And in related news, an article on CNN.com had this to say:
“Overused works like ‘absolutely’ are spreading like a verbal virus.”
Back to you, Lennox…
David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. His weekly column, “Fighting Words,” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. He may be reached for questions and comments at [email protected]
