Way to go in on Floyd Mayweather…I’m not a hater but I like to see fighters attack the game with a vengeance and not fight just once a year ala Mayweather. Although many feel he would’ve defeated Oscar De La Hoya in a rematch, I’m one who feels De La Hoya saw something in that first fight and really could have knocked Floyd out. I’m also a believer that Floyd saw something in De La Hoya and chose retirement over the biggest payday ever to avoid embarrassment. When a fighter craves for a fight (DeLaHoya vs. Mayweather) and gets served a philipino dish, the outcome is no where near what couldve been with Mayweather. De La Hoya got served but to his credit, he allowed it to happen which is the biggest difference between a gutsy De La Hoya & Floyd. Lets also give De La Hoya props for stepping in the ring with Bernard Hopkins….Something Floyd would NEVER do at 156lbs when Hopkins was able to do so..Kelvin Pompey “aka” johnnybadass
Leon’s Response: I don’t think I was going in on Floyd at all. I have nothing against the man and I hope he gets his issues together, so the boxing world can get the fight it deserves. De La Hoya had no chance in the rematch. He barely got touched by Steve Forbes but his face told a different story. In my humble opinion, I believe Floyd carried De La Hoya and kept it close to get the rematch, which is why I was most baffled when he walked away from it and boxing. De La Hoya has fought everybody and has one of the most impressive resumes in the history of boxing. There’s very few guys he’s missed.
Greg just give me your thinking after my thinking on breadman’s article Boxing Is Not Dying. Yes the hell it is. I see that your columnists and your editor all share different opinions on the subject. Well your editor Scott Shaffer did an editors note behind one of my emails you answered talking about boxing demise. Doveed, I think the way his articles go, thinks boxing is going downhill as well. Let me clear up some subjective examples your breadman put up to make his case. I like him but 90% of his article I disagree with. Yes…over last decade boxing has given us some wonderful mega-fights but lately over the years they have not. Too much politics and champion running scared is ruining boxing. This goes beyond manny and Floyd. Just because its the biggest fight out there doesn’t mean ppl don’t want to see other big fights. Its losing out to the mma because they make the fights ppl want too see…easily! Now the da breadman goes on too list numerous 1-2 boxers fighting each other in a decade. A decade is ten years so multiply that by 365(how many days in a year) equals 3650. So by my standards the amount of fights listed by da breadman compared to 3650 days, shows boxing is on the decline. Even if he listed more 1-2 boxers fighting it wouldn’t make a damn dent into the decade or days big fights got made. With my point being most of the big fights in a decade or 3650 days didn’t get made, because if you go by what da breadman listed that’s not even a third of a decade. On another note Anderson Silva the greatest in the ufc lost that fight against a bum early in career when he was fighting on PRIDE! The one da breadman reference too in his article. Spiderman Silva is undefeated in the UFC! Even the greatest when starting out are not that great but end up being the best. Just look at manny where he started from. Is boxing better then the mma…of course! Is it losing out to the mma….yes! Even when you have boxing promoters and other bigwigs saying the same thing its going downhill! I love the sport a lot but we all have to face facts and da breadman is not being totally honest with himself! Who’s hotter….RMC
Leon’s Response: Boxing isn’t dying at all. My late great friend Vernon Forrest used to constantly tell me that more top fighters are fighting each now than ever before. He always used to tell me how this era wouldn’t be appreciated fully until is over and people saw what came behind it. Other than Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather what must happen fight hasn’t taken place? Do you see what these venues in other countries look like? Most of them time it’s a sold out crowd cheering for fighters that might get booed for their styles in America. I believe the American boxing scene is being controlled by non boxing people and suffers greatly as a result. (I hope that doesn’t get me in trouble, LMAO) But the proof is in the pudding America is the only place that boxing isn’t thriving. The biggest ticket seller in America is Manny Pacquiao. The biggest American ticket seller is….is there really one at the highest level? That’s the problem. Lazy promoters who wait on networks that that are run by non boxing minds, incapable of developing young talent into the stars of tomorrow.
Greg what up man? Can’t sleep so I thought I burn some time writing to you about a question I’ve been wanting to ask you. And That is, what did you think of Edwin Valero as a fighter? I remember a few years back as he was coming up you wasn’t too high on him. Dougie Fisher use to give him much praise and I know you and Dougie haven’t said the nicest things to each other in the past. Furthermore, I wish Edwin Valero didn’t lose his mind. Because I believed he was the best lightweight in the world before his death, but he just never got the chance to prove it. Watching him fight, I really saw something special in him. I saw all fighter. He looked like a fighter, he had the mentality of a fighter. I saw something in him that I don’t currently see from the fighters participating in the first big fight of the year between Devon Alexander and Timothy Bradley.- Bryant
Leon’s Response: I thought he was a beast and had the potential to be something special. I met him in Austin, Texas and have a picture of Famoso Hernandez, Julio Diaz, Edwin Valero and myself. Seemed liked a nice quiet kid. I supposed I was half right. The past is exactly where it belongs, in the past. Dougie and I get along and are quite pleasant with each other whenever we’re at a fight together. Every boxing fan that loves the sport wishes Valero didn’t lose his mind. Valero and Pacquiao could be one of the greatest fights we’ll never get to see. It’s not pleasant to speak negatively about the dead, but perhaps you saw a coked-up lunatic, something neither Bradley or Alexander are.
