“Someone has to be sacrificed”…”Charlie Sheen can take a test”…”It might be a fight like Pernell Whitaker-Julio Cesar Chavez”…all recent comments made by some of the biggest names in the sport. Looking back at this week’s key quotes of note, Boxing Scribe Vivek Wallace offers his own unique perspective, giving fight fans “a little something to think about”. Check it out!
“Someone has to be sacrificed and it has to be Miguel Cotto and I feel so bad about this! My fighter Ricardo Mayorga is a wildman, he’s absolutely insane; but when he steps in the ring [Saturday night] Miguel will be saying his Hail Mary’s!” – Don King on Miguel Cotto
Perspective: One may laugh when King states that Cotto “will be saying his Hail Mary’s”, but think about that statement for a second and ask yourself why wouldn’t it be valid? If there’s anyone in the sport who has reason to pray a Hail Mary right now, it’s Miguel Cotto! In Cotto, you have a man who was once seen as an absolute warrior in the sport who has been subsequently reduced on many levels. As much as many of us would like to support him and keep it positive, few could logically argue that in the aftermath of the Margarito beating, he simply hasn’t been the same.
After defeating the clearly-out-of-his-league Michael Jennings, Cotto stepped up in opposition and appeared in many ways unsure of himself in a controversial victory over Joshua Clottey. The few remnants of iron-mettle which did remain were totally stripped away in a debilitating loss to Manny Pacquiao. Eager to regain his former stature, Cotto would next step up in weight and face a serviceable, yet not quite stellar Yuri Foreman, and despite getting the nod, once again he failed to display the warrior heart that only years prior placed him at the pinnacle of his career.
As Cotto attempts to regain that form once again, present is opportunity, yet absent remains both confidence and time, two things which never return when they finally depart. Mayorga has never been viewed as a world-class talent and is far removed from his career-elevating victories over Vernon Forrest (RIP), but for a man known to be unstable, balance is perhaps his claim to fame, as his most conflicting attributes for Cotto can be identified as ‘positive’ chin, ‘negative’ fear. This balance was the chief blueprint for both Margarito and Pacquiao.
So……does Cotto have reason to “pray his Hail Mary’s”? Absolutely! Most consider Mayorga a joke, but there will be nothin’ funny about losing to him…..it’s that serious!
“If Charlie Sheen can take a test, I know Manny Pacquiao punk a** can take a test!” – Rapper 50 Cent tweeting about Manny Pacquiao
Perspective: Here we go again! This whole Mayweather/Pacquiao issue, debate, or whatever you wanna call it, has taken the word “polarizing” to new heights. No matter who you support, there comes a point where you simply have to call an ace an ace and a spade a spade. I think you have to commend Manny Pacquiao for focusing on the task at hand and keeping the talk in his peripheral. I think you also have to commend Pacquiao for staying busy and doing the best he can to remain active while giving the fight public something to talk about that relates to his actions INSIDE THE RING, not outside of it.
All that being said, I also think there comes a point where you have to say to yourself, “Mo matter how much bulls**t this Mayweather dude talks, I have to give it to him, the kid knows how to promote a fight!” Some may scoff at that notion, but have you realized that this is a man who remains barely active, only having fought twice in the past 3 years, yet still out-earned every other fighter in the sport and all but a few athletes in the entire world over that span? We have all learned how to cut corners in life at some point. How many of us would truly work as hard as the next man if you could work a quarter of the time, have more time with your family and friends, yet still make 6 times the amount of money they make?
2007 was a great example. He fought twice in that year, yet still managed to land in the #2 spot for highest paid athlete in the world, trailing only Tiger Woods. Now, keep in mind, this came from an athlete who participates in a “dying sport” where there are no Gatorade or Nike endorsements, just bell-to-bell-in-pure-hell! Muhammad Ali was arguably the biggest talker in the history of the sport, and Mike Tyson was just as big of a talker who was actually crazy enough to back some of his outlandish remarks up, yet as brash as those two men were, even they failed to find the formula necessary to ignite the equivalence of a $40M+ payday for 12 rounds of action.
You have to be very good at SOMETHING to return from a 20-month hiatus and still command a higher wage than everyone in your respective profession, many for their entire careers. As much as the jibber-jabber gets under my skin, I have to be truthful enough to admit that this is a man who employs the help of those around him to use the oldest and most effective form of promotion known to man (word of mouth) to propel himself to new heights. So, to all the fight fans out there who constantly speak about how much they “hate Floyd”, man-up, look in the mirror, and repeat after me:
“I’M IN DENIAL……I MUST LOVE HIM, BECAUSE I CAN’T POSSIBLY HATE A MAN I’M PART RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING RICHER THAN I’LL EVER BE!”
Then tell yourself:
“SOMEONE’S BUYING HIS PPV’S AND HE ISN’T SPENDING A PENNY OF THAT MONEY I KEEP GIVING HIM ON HIS OWN FIGHTS, SO IT MUST BE ME!”
I hate the juvenile antics too, ladies and gents, but even I have to remind myself not to hate the player, hate the game! He didn’t create this mess, but damn has he taken it to a new level. If Jeff Mayweather was right, we could see this all culminate in the Fall. Proof of my point? You’ll be watchin’ too! Stay tuned!
“It might be a fight like Pernell Whitaker-Julio Cesar Chavez. I think it would be a lot of similarities in our fight. He’s rugged, he’s tough! He represents the Mexican heritage and legacy. We would go in there and make a great fight!” – Zab Judah speaking to Lem Satterfield of Boxingscene.com about a Juan Manuel Marquez showdown
Perspective: Last week, Zab Judah showed some improvement (compared to recent performances) against Mabuza, but how many people out there truly see him contending with a guy like Marquez over 12 rounds? I love Judah, I love what he brings to the sport, and I love his rebirth in the sport, so to speak, but I’m not totally sure this is a fight he wins. Being a champion, it’s no longer an option to place him against cupcakes and stockin’ stuffers, but the one thing you have to love about Judah is the fact that he will fight ANYONE!
When you think of all the twists and turns his career has taken, you can’t help but support his latest bid to climb to the top, and with Whitaker in his corner, there’s a possibility that he could evolve, even at his current age. That being said, I just don’t know how well he would deal with a fighter that spirited who he can’t hurt. That’s always been his challenge. Similar to what we’ve witnessed in Pavlik, Cotto, and a few others, Judah has a propensity to withdraw a bit when he can’t hurt his target. Perhaps a signature fight like this could change that.
Judah would climb to new heights in the sport with a solid victory against Marquez, and Marquez would put the entire division on notice that he’s a perennial player with a victory as well. Odd as it may seem, this is a fight that could potentially sell out the right venue, preferably over in Mexico, and it would be the closest thing to a mega-fight within the grasp for both men in a loaded division. A victory here and the winner would definitely see their mega-fight offers surge. So, at the end of the day, I don’t know if it’s safe to say who will win this matchup, but on paper and in theory, it doesn’t seem like a bad option at all. But will it really get done?
