As the year comes to a close, the amount of action that has been seen thus far in the boxing ring is just about as thin as the slice of bread coming out from the neighborhood bakery.
The big guns of boxing, the superstars who are supposed to lead the fight game, have been floundering this year. Pound-for-pound king and reigning World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champ Manny Pacquiao elicited more yawns than cheers in a 12-round waltz with a fistically diabetic ?Sugar? Shane Mosley in May while Floyd Mayweather Jr. had to resort to a sucker punch to stop World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight champ Victor Ortiz in September. The biggest heavyweight title bout in recent years, the July showdown between Wladimir Klitschko and cocky Briton David Haye, ended up as a 12-round snoozefest. Haye, who had promised to cannibalize Klitschko, sheepishly retired after the fight.
On October 15, the light heavyweight division played host to the highly-anticipated showdown between WBC champ Bernard Hopkins and challenger Chad Dawson. The bout ended with the 46-year-old Hopkins quitting in the second round after allegedly dislocating his shoulder. However, it looked more like the ancient Hopkins falling prey to a severe case of arthritis. Dawson was initially declared the winner, but the WBC later changed the result to a technical draw.
A week later, fans flocked to the Madison Square Garden in New York to witness the Big Apple debut of bantamweight king Nonito Donaire, Jr. Paired with a fighter who was supposed to make him look good (powder-puff hitter Omar Narvaez), Donaire still failed to find his rhythm and settled for a dull verdict. It was a Big Apple debut alright, albeit one that was loaded with worms.
Truth be told, listening to the weather forecasts this year has become more exciting than watching boxing fights. It is for this reason that boxing fans are expecting a lot from the November 13 (Manila time) welterweight showdown between Pacquiao and Mexican challenger Juan Manuel Marquez.
Pacquiao and Marquez are both established superstars of the game, and if their first two meetings will be used as a yardstick, it is safe to assume that the third match will be nothing short of explosive. Marquez retained his International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Association featherweight crowns by bucking two knockdowns and salvaging a draw against Pacquiao in their first meeting in 2004. Three years later, it was Pacquiao?s turn to pull off a Houdini act, as the Filipino carved out a hotly-disputed split decision to take Marquez?s WBC super featherweight diadem.
Now, more than ever, boxing is counting on Pacquiao and Marquez to deliver. Pro boxing is arguably on wobbly legs these days. The fans are hankering for fights involving the marquee names, but the promotional tie-ups of the boxers concerned, and in some cases, sheer cowardice, are keeping the big matches from taking place.
As if things cannot get any worse, the up-and-coming stars have also grown contented with earning their keep by feasting on patsies. Case in point: The November 26 clash between WBC super welterweight champion Saul Alvarez (38-0, 28 knockouts) and Kermit Cintron is a big joke. The 32-year-old Cintron may be a former champion, but he has lost two of his last three fights and looked every inch over-the-hill in a 10-round loss to Carlos Molina in July. The 21-year-old Alvarez is one of many young champions in the business whose records have been padded by opponents who would readily fall from a harmless fart. A few months ago, another pampered champion, WBC middleweight champ Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., called off a fight against trialhorse Ronald Hearns by claiming an injury, amid reports that the former was really having weight issues. A champion backing off against a doughnut-knitted foe? They just don?t make boxers like they used to.
