Your weekly random thoughts ?
? I love promoter Gary Shaw’s desire to make a junior welterweight tournament. He mentioned his fighter, Timothy Bradley Jr., along with titleholders Devon Alexander and Amir Khan and perhaps Marcos Maidana or Juan Manuel Marquez to round out the field. But it was no surprise that Golden Boy, which handles Khan, Maidana and Marquez, declined.
Khan would be the money fighter in the field because of the riches he would bring from British television. But he’s also the guy Golden Boy most needs to protect at this stage of his career. His chin is fragile and as good as he is, he’s not ready for Bradley or Alexander.
There is a reason why Khan was matched with Paulie Malignaggi on May 15 — because he has zero punching power. There’s a reason why Golden Boy’s Richard Schaefer most often mentions Marquez, Michael Katsidis and Joel Casamayor as future Khan opponents. It’s because they are all lightweights, smaller men who would have to move up. I think they are all perfectly fine fights, and this is a business. I get that. Khan fighting any of those three would be fine. I could just do without anyone on the Khan side spewing nonsense about how Khan will fight anyone, blah, blah, blah, when it’s very obvious he won’t, at least not yet.
If Marquez beats Juan Diaz on July 31, I wouldn’t mind at all seeing Khan-Marquez in Las Vegas in the fall. It’s a pretty big fight. In the meantime, I look forward to seeing how Bradley handles himself at welterweight against Luis Carlos Abregu in a nontitle bout on July 17 and to seeing Alexander wipe out Andreas Kotelnik on Aug. 7. Hopefully, Maidana can overcome his managerial issues and get back in action soon as well. Schaefer mentioned a possible fight him in his native Argentina this summer before a bigger fight in the U.S. in the fall.
Eventually, the big names will meet, and I really look forward to it.
? As far as David Haye’s sudden silence goes as it relates to facing Vitali or Wladimir Klitschko, when offered the deal he wanted — a 50-50 split and no options — maybe he’s suddenly turned into Muhammad Ali? You know, the Ali after Ken Norton broke his jaw, so it was hard for him to talk.
? Let’s take bets on which will happen first: the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather fight will be made or BP will plug the gusher in the Gulf of Mexico? Both are taking forever.
? Golden Boy and HBO are planning ahead. I’ve heard that, assuming Daniel Jacobs defeats Dmitriy Pirog to claim a vacant middleweight belt on the July 31 Marquez-Diaz II HBO PPV undercard, Jacobs will be on HBO for his first title defense in October. The name Peter Manfredo has come up as a possible opponent for a fight on the East Coast.
? Jorge Arce suffered a cut weeks ago and has long been out of a fight with Eric Morel, which was supposed to be June 26 on Top Rank’s “Latin Fury 15” PPV. Yet despite the injury and plenty of notice, Top Rank continues to advertise Arce’s appearance on the card. That’s not cool.
? First it was Antonio Margarito, then it was Paul Williams. Well move over, because boxing’s new “most avoided fighter” is Celestino Caballero.
? I don’t know how far middleweight prospect David Lemieux is going to go but I know one thing: Count me in as excited to watch the journey.
? There is much speculation about Miguel Cotto’s next opponent now that he’s beaten Yuri Foreman. Cotto is willing to return to welterweight and the fight I’d like to see is him against titleholder Andre Berto. Promoter Bob Arum brought it up as a possible fight and I like it. Cotto has never ducked a fight and Berto is looking for a big one. Let’s get it on.
? Here’s another one I’d love to see, one which could be a big deal in the not-too-distant future: a junior middleweight showdown between two of Mexico’s most exciting young brawlers, Alfredo “Perro” Angulo and Saul Alvarez. And wouldn’t Cotto-Angulo also be a blast?
? Hats off to junior welterweight Victor Ortiz, who has joined Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles as a spokesman for the agency that is dedicated to empowering children who face economic, emotional and social challenges through a variety of programs. Ortiz came from a broken home, so he knows what it’s like for children who need help, and now he’s doing his best to help others in a boat he is familiar with. His mother abandoned him when he was 7, along with his two siblings. Not long after that, his alcoholic father also abandoned the family and the kids went into foster care. “I faced a lot adversity as a child, and I only got through it because I was lucky enough to have people in my life who cared about me,” Ortiz said. “I’m a fighter, but we all need to fight for the future of our youth, especially those that need it the most.”
? Paging Felix Sturm.
? Condolences to Rob Beiner, the longtime “Friday Night Fights” producer and one of the rocks of the show, on the death of his wife, Judy, after a battle with cancer.
? DVD pick of the week: When in doubt, delve into the archive for a classic Mike Tyson knockout. So I picked the fight that was Tyson at the apex of his career, his 91-second annihilation of Michael Spinks at the Atlantic City Convention Center on June 27, 1988 — 22 years ago this month. It had been a brutally tough fight to make and, at the time, was the biggest money fight in boxing history. It would pit the undefeated Tyson (then 34-0 with 30 KOs), who held the three major sanctioning organization belts, against the undefeated Spinks (then 31-0 with 21 KOs), who owned the lineal title. The result was Tyson, three days shy of his 22nd birthday and dealing with all kinds of outside the ring issues, punching a hole in the wall of his dressing room moments before walking to the ring and then destroying Spinks. Tyson knocked him to a knee with a right to the body and moments later unloaded a ferocious left-right combination to the jaw. It was over, just like that. Every time I see the fight, I’m struck by Tyson’s reaction to the knockout. Instead of celebrating, he merely spread his arms to receive the applause from his team and the crowd because, to him, the outcome had been pre-ordained.
