Before Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones engage in their long-ago-once-eagerly-anticipated rematch this Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Sergio Mora takes on Calvin Green. No, ?The Latin Snake? did not retire; it only seemed that way. This will be his first outing since losing in his second go-around against the late Vernon Forrest in September of 2008.
Mora has to be the most inactive active fighter in the sport today.
“I came up with a slogan,” he said on Monday afternoon from his gym in Montebello, before his media day, “I?m the most successful inactive fighter. For a fighter that never really had a real promoter, never had a manager, I?ve stuck with the same team, where everyone says I should upgrade in trainer, this and that. I won a title; the world knew my name because of the television show. A lot of my dreams came true and I?m doing well for myself.”
Mora, 21-1-1 (5), points out that, “out of a nine-year professional career, three of those nine years, I?ve been stagnant.”
Some of the reasons for his inactivity are self-inflicted, like when he turned down the opportunity to face Jermain Taylor a few years back. Mostly, it?s been bad luck, as he?s had a fight against Kassim Ouma scrapped because the main event on a pay-per-view show was postponed due to a training injury suffered by Juan Manuel Marquez, causing the cancellation of the whole card back in 2007. There was the on-again/off-again/on-again, and, unfortunately, off-for-good snafu with Kelly Pavlik last year. Mora was slated to make his Golden Boy Promotions debut this past January on what was supposed to be the undercard for Shane Mosley-Andre Berto, which never took place.
This current layoff has seen Mora be out of action for approximately a year-and-a-half. So what does a fighter do exactly, when he?s out of commission?
“A lot of fighters get in trouble,” answered Mora. “Luckily, I?ve stayed away from that. I tried to keep myself busy. Early on, after the show, I kept myself busy with appearances but then, after that, that started slowing down; here and there I got some commentating jobs. But I just basically stay in the gym. These canceled fights are a pain in the ass. I had three in the last year, twice with Pavlik and this one with Andre Berto and the Haitian crisis. So it?s just frustrating. Aside from the inactivity, those last minute cancellations are a bitch.”
Another problem was that by sticking with ?Tournament of Contenders,? Mora wasn?t with an upper echelon promotional firm that could create opportunities for him to stay busy. While others saw the light and jumped ship, Mora was there ?til the bitter end, before inking a deal with Golden Boy.
“It was loyalty; I don?t know if it was me being Mexican or me being dumb, but I wanted to stick with it all the way to the end. I know what people were saying about my team, my management and my promotion,” stated Mora, who also inked a deal with the respected Cameron Dunkin, to manage his career path. “Everyone has things to say but when you reach the mountain top, it?s like, ?Ah, well, alright, I guess he got lucky.? ?The Contender? was doing the right thing by me by getting the biggest fights possible, Pavlik, Taylor, Ouma- they were doing their job. But I wasn?t ready for those fights at 17-0, 18-0, 19-0; I still hadn?t fought a 10-round fight and they wanted me to fight Jermain Taylor for the Undisputed Middleweight Title. So they were doing their job getting me big fights. I just wasn?t ready for them. Now that I?m ready for them, I want someone with consistent dates and ?The Contender? didn?t do that.”
At age 29, Mora says, “I am in my physical prime,” but there has to be a sense of urgency to make up for lost time, right? “In a way, yes,” he admitted. “In a bitter way, yes. In a bitter way, it feels like I reached a lot of success. I?ve gotten some popularity; I?ve won a world title. But it can go away really fast and people, fans, critics, everyone can be really fickle. So in a bitter way, hell yes, it can all end. And I want to get it back.”
Mora did win a major world title when he upset Forrest in their first match-up in June of 2008. But he barely had a cup of coffee with the WBC light middleweight belt around his waist (maybe just a few sips) before giving it right back to Forrest about three months later. He admits to putting on too much weight between those fights and not having the same focus he had before.
Did he squander his title run?
Mora says, “Well…it can never be squandered because it goes down in the history books and I?m going to keep that belt forever. Forever, I?m going to be known as ?the former WBC junior middleweight champion.? So, no, it?s not squandered.” OK, but was it unfulfilled? “Yes, unfulfilled,” he admitted. “I didn?t take full advantage of being world champion. I didn?t suck it dry; I didn?t suck it to the marrow and core. Kinda like what Andre Berto?s doing, y? know? Andre Berto?s doing right by him but he has the right backing with Al Haymon; he has HBO. But Andre Berto?s really sucking that belt dry and he has his defenses; they aren?t beasts and then he takes his time off. He?s doing what he needs to do with the right backing. So yeah, it?s frustrating.”
But now, Mora?s primary focus is rebuilding the momentum of his flagging career.
“I want to fight ASAP,” he stated clearly, on his plans after this weekend. “I told Cameron, that if I get no cuts, book me in May. Right off the bat, I don?t want to take no time off, take maybe a week off (from the gym). Golden Boy has May 15th, May 22nd and May 27th; book me on one of those.”
ARUMVILLE
I hadn?t talked to Bob Arum in a few weeks but, as usual, Top Rank has a lot lined up in the upcoming weeks and months.
One key development is Juan Manuel Lopez, one of their bright, young stars, moving over to Showtime for his next outing on July 10th in Puerto Rico against Bernabe Concepcion.
“HBO said that they didn?t have a date for him and that we should do for him what we want,” explained the veteran promoter. “But Showtime is interested in him as well, and all our fighters are free agents in that way. The problem has been solved in Puerto Rico as far as the high-definition trucks; they have one now and so we?re going to have a doubleheader in Puerto Rico. They?re working on the second fight; it?ll be a good fight and we have a lot of fighters and we want to get them as much exposure as possible and we want to do as few pay-per-views as we can.
“I mean, we don?t do these pay-per-view shows to make money- I?m not talking about the big ones- but these other shows; we do it to keep the guys busy and the exposure and entertain people who want to see it.”
When asked if Yuriorkis Gamboa, who is slated to have a showdown with ?JuanMa? in 2011, would be on that telecast, Arum said, “No, he?s going to fight on HBO in Las Vegas, later that month.” He could be facing Celestino Caballero, should he [Caballero] get past Daud Yordan on April 10th.
The bout between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and John Duddy will take place on June 26th, most likely at the Alamodome. Arum says, “San Antonio is the leading candidate; we?re looking at some other places but we?re strongly considering San Antonio. The fight would definitely be in the United States.” This card would be rounded out by a fight between Jorge Arce and Eric Morel, along with appearances by Vanes Martirosyan and Roberto Marroquin.
On June 5th at Yankee Stadium in New York, Miguel Cotto challenges WBA 154-pound titlist, Yuri Foreman and it was hoped that a bout between newly crowned WBC lightweight beltholder Humberto Soto and Anthony Peterson would open up that HBO broadcast. Instead, Soto will face Ricardo Dominguez on May 15th in Los Mochis, Mexico. But he will eventually face Peterson.
“Humberto Soto said, ?Look, my dream is to fight in my hometown,? and Fernando Beltran has arranged him to fight somebody in his hometown with the proviso that, by the end of July, he would face Peterson. There?s no question of ducking him or not; Peterson is the mandatory and Peterson was nice enough to accommodate Soto.”
May 8th marks the return of ?The Tijuana Tornado,? Antonio Margarito, in Mexico against the rugged Robert Garcia, as the headliner of ?Latin Fury 14.? But the question is, why is he performing before going back and facing the California State Athletic Commission, who had suspended him indefinitely for having illegal hand-wrappings prior to his fight last January versus Shane Mosley?
Arum reasoned, “We want to get him a fight and then we?re going to apply in the state where we expect his next fight will be. And it may be Nevada; it may be Texas, maybe Illinois. We have no intention; we just haven?t, of fighting in California. Why should he go back to California, when he has no intention of fighting there?”
Does Top Rank believe that there is political pressure on the CSAC to summarily rule against Margarito in this instance, thus the reticence to go back to that jurisdiction?
“No, I don?t think there?s any political pressure there,” said Arum. “It was hard-fought; we challenged them; there?s still a lawsuit going on with Margarito. So they?re not really that friendly to him. All of their inspectors testified for Margarito and got fired. So there?s a lot of baggage there. If it were necessary, we?d go back to California. But it isn?t.”
Speaking of troubled fighters, when it comes to Edwin Valero, who?s had a myriad of problems recently, Arum only comment was, “Well, y? know, it?s something that obviously we have no control over. Obviously, he admitted to having an alcohol problem; he was busted for DUI when he was in Vegas. So he has a drinking problem; he?s dealing with it. Hopefully he?s straightened out. I mean, the most important thing is getting his life straightened out. It?s much more important than his boxing career.”
GHOST SIGHTING?
There is a very good possibility that the return of ?The Ghost,? Robert Guerrero could take place on April 30th on the re-launch of ?Solo Boxeo? on Telefutura, from the Tropicana in Las Vegas, which is just across the street from the MGM Grand, where Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley will do battle.
Let?s hope this means that his wife?s health has improved.
UN-SELL OUT?
Word is that there are a lot (and by a lot, just about every single one) of tickets are available for Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones II. With a lot of boxing going on this weekend in Las Vegas, from a ?ShoBox? telecast at the Hard Rock Hotel being staged by Golden Boy to a card at the Rio Hotel being put on by TKO Boxing Promotions, Hopkins-Jones II could be the most high-profile walk-out bout in the history of boxing.
FINAL FOUR FLURRIES
So Judd Burstein is now representing Golden Boy in that lawsuit versus Manny Pacquiao? But didn?t he once represent Pacquiao? Isn?t that some sorta conflict of interest?…So what did Arum think about the tug-of-war for trainer Emmanuel Steward between Cotto and Foreman? “If Emanuel could, he?d work both corners.”…Welterweight prospect Mike Jones is being mentioned as a possibility to open up the HBO show on June 5th…The April 24th edition of ?Top Rank Live? on Fox Sports Net/Espanol features Jorge Arce. The week following features Omar Chavez, followed by Soto?s homecoming fight on May 15th. All three shows take place in Mexico. On May 29th in Chicago, Jesus Soto-Karass is the headliner…Is sending Donovan McNabb to the Raiders cruel and unusual punishment? C?mon, Philly, #5 gave you a great decade of football; doesn?t he deserve better?…Due to lingering computer issues, ?The Main Event? will take another week off. That show is becoming a lot like Sergio Mora, all of a sudden…Any questions or comments can be sent to [email protected] and you can follow me at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. You can also now visit our new Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing
