On March 8, 1971, Muhammad Ali fought Joe Frazier for the first time in the most highly hyped bout of its time that was simply labeled ?The Fight’.
The match at the time was the biggest to be made between the two undefeated fighters in the prime of their careers, and spawned what could be described as one of the most prolific, if not the most prolific trilogy in all of boxing.
“The Fight” was a fight to define its time.
Flash forward to forty years in boxing later, and most had hoped for a 2009 Christmas present of a showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, the consensus No. 1 and No. 2 fighters in the world, in what was supposed to be the ?richest fight in history’, a PPV smash hit and a fight to define our generation.
The fight was hyped to be alongside the greatest in boxing history, being likened to the Frazier/Ali fights, as well as Leonard/Hearns and other memorable bouts between top boxers.
Everyone knows by now that drug testing negotiations brought a halt to discussions, and we were force fed with fights featuring these two fighters, yet in separate bouts: Manny Pacquiao in a victory over Joshua Clottey on March 13 in Cowboys Stadium, and now Floyd Mayweather takes on Shane Mosley this weekend at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The tables turned on the biggest fight to be made, yet with this four-fighter welterweight tournament, most are still optimistic that a Pacquiao vs. Mayweather/Mosley fight can still be made in 2010, if not 2011, and serve as the generation defining bout of our time.
Our own personal: 20th century, or 21st century, “The Fight” of our time.
It’s no doubt that no matter what the circumstances, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather should have stepped in a ring on March 13.
One only need look at Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer for comfort with his comment during negotiations. Paraphrased: “We all have to be idiots not to get this fight done.”
Well put, Mr. Schaefer.
The fight simply did not get made, yet we are forced to press on, fight on if you will, and as both Pacquiao, (who rolled a seven against Clottey) and Mayweather roll the dice, (in fighting Mosley) in taking other bouts in hopes of success that leads to a late 2010 mega super duper bout, we will all hold our breaths and hope for the best.
We could still see the fight to define our generation.
Just who will be in it is up in the air.
We will all be watching, because the implications from this weekends fight dictate if ?Our Fight’ will be made, and against who.
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It’s remarkable how the self indulgent Mayweather actually cares about how Mosley “disrespected” father and trainer Jack Mosley.
Some writers would agree with Mayweather’s sentiment, and most would see it as yet another attack on Mosley by any means necessary on Mayweather’s end.
Let me tell you this: I think Jack Mosley was indeed a little side tracked in regards to his son’s career, and that’s coming from personal experience.
A few years back at the Morongo Casino Resort and Spa, I was killing time while waiting for the doors to be opened to the fight, and found myself talking to Father Mosley and some fellow writers in a semi-circle.
Jack went into this long winded infomercial of a speech on how he had come across the health drink ?Mon A Vie’, which some of you may be familiar with as a pyramid scheme of sorts in where you pimp out your loved ones into buying this drink that supposedly would heal all your ill wills.
After about five minutes, I casually made my way away from the conversation, and kind of wondered to myself if that had just happened. Was Jack Mosley really spending his time on this ridiculous endeavor?
No disrespect at all towards Father Mosley. I just think his time would be better suited to his son’s career, and apparently, so did Shane.
Thoughts on Arreola
I was sitting ringside at last Saturdays match between Chris Arreola and Tomasz Adamek.
The prelude to the bout featured an awesome 11th round knockout of Joel Julio at the hands of Alfred Angulo, and the already hyped crowd was in store for even more fireworks with A vs. A coming up.
Admittedly, I had envisioned a stoppage in the main event, and more so leaned towards Arreola to be the man standing up with Adamek being counted out.
Well, we all saw what happened, and while Arreola did go the full twelve rounds, at this juncture of his career, its evident that his weight issues are directly affecting his abilitites in the ring.
Among the many things that could be improved with loss of poundage are head movement, more speed on his punches and overall improvement in any other facet Arreola seeks to improve.
Working with renowned boxing physician Daryl Hudson over the past few months, and all Arreola could take off is ten pounds off his fight weight?
That sounds like too little, and hopefully not too late for the fighter who says he wants to be the first Mexican heavyweight champion.
THROUGH MY EYES
Goodbye, Quiet Man. John Ruiz called it a career this week, which is a well timed thing to do. Ruiz had a good, if not great career, and deserves to walk away with his health? I sat next to and shook hands with Maxboxing’s Steve Kim and Gabriel Montoya this weekend at the Arreola/Adamek fight, and out of the two, it was Montoya who showed me the better common courtesy. Montoya, (who I was sitting right next to), was talkative about the fights and even gave me a stick of gum. As for Kim, well, I just expect another man to look me in the eyes when I shake his hand? I met some really cool soon to be professional local boxers while on the way in to the fight, what’s up, Brian and Daryl!…
Log on to 411 for as I conduct a live blog from inside the MGM Grand during the Mosley/Mayweather fight this weekend in Las Vegas?
