Good morning, fight fans. It?s been a while. We have some emails and responses about Amir Khan, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, boxing in general, the proper way to treat a lady and the state of the world. Grab your intoxicant of choice, kick back and (hopefully) enjoy.
Point and shoot?
That is the best article summing up the Mayweather ordeal. I generally am ok with things Dan Rafael says (generally, except I do have a problem with writers or critics who have never participated in sports, and he is still the only person who had Berto over Ortiz, really??), but for him to automatically blame Arum, a guy ten times smarter than him for now not making the fight with Pacman is ridiculous. I mean, has Rafael ever put millions of his own dollars into a promotion, where one of the competitors (Floyd) may have never wanted the fight in the first place, who might actually sabotage the fight by getting in trouble before June when he is expected to serve his jail sentence? Floyd is not the most reliable of people, and I honestly wouldn?t trust that he could make it to May without getting in trouble, missing one of his counseling sessions (which apparently would put him in jail immediately). And yes, of course, the fact that we are rewarding an admitted wife beater. I say to hell with Floyd. He never wanted the fight for two years, sees Pac look a little unsteady against Marquez, now says he wants him? Please. He had his chance. Pac is the bigger draw now anyway. I would rather sit back, watch Floyd spend all his money, go broke, and go back to jail, which I would be all my money will happen.
Anyway, great article.
Nathan
Tell me how you really feel, Nathan, and welcome to the Bag.
I?m no media watchdog but like I wrote, the kneejerk reaction of blaming Arum or really any one person for Mayweather-Pacquiao not happening seems ridiculous to me. It?s such a complex maze of events, needs, wants, hidden motives and utter bullsh*t. I love watching different media groups think they know exactly all that will go on while the rest of us ?bump around in the night.? It?s all just a silly dick-measuring contest in the end played out by websites, the fighters and their fans. Oh, and, of course, the promoters- arguably the best part.
For a while there, I was wondering why Floyd Mayweather has Golden Boy representing him as a promoter in these negotiations. It?s not like that is going to make Bob Arum any sunnier. When it comes to the fight itself, Top Rank certainly has the infrastructure and experience to get the job done. But then I read an article where Richard Schaefer is declaring ?Bob Arum is full of sh*t!? followed by Oscar?s Twitter feed. Have you seen this comic goldmine? Here?s a sample from after Rafael?s article came out.
My respects to Dan Rafael for exposing Bob Arum on not wanting to make big fight happen now we need @KevinI to do same.
Then later, Oscar tries to get his Twitter War on:
@KevinI what are you afraid of?just write a story exposing bob arum on why he doesn?t want the fight already.
Finally, the bedtime warning:
Ok I?m tired. I?ll keep reminding you guys that it?s bob arum that doesn?t want to make the big fight happen tomorrow.good night morning.
A promise he keeps first thing the next morning:
Good morning Bob Arum.
All this made me think back to
These guys are made for each other.
Sure, Bob Arum makes up new reasons like I used to smoke cigarettes. Dan had a point there but honestly, I don?t want to get into a ?Dan?s article sucked? contest. Not because I am afraid of ESPN or getting sucked into the Mothership but because I like Dan. We tend to get in at least one good laugh every time I see him and I value that.
I?ve hammered home how I feel about Floyd and the woman-beating enough in the article so let?s just focus on the fight. In short, we all need to chill. It will happen when it does.
At this point (which is two years past when the fight was truly competitive), all we can do is be patient and remember that Sugar Ray Leonard-Marvelous Marvin Hagler took longer to happen. That?s the fight this one has always reminded me of. Manny?s style, like Hagler?s, is not built to last. Floyd and Leonard?s were.
But let?s look back. Leonard beats Hearns in September 1981 and fights one more time the following February. There is momentum building toward the Hagler fight but instead, Leonard retires due to his eye injury for two years. Leonard returns in May of ?84 and gets dropped by Kevin Howard in the fourth round. Leonard would go on to win that fight by quick-stoppage TKO in the ninth and re-retires for three more years.
When Leonard and Hagler finally met in April of 1987, the fight was past due it yet remains one of the most debated bouts of all time. We?ve got a long way to go until we get to that kind of torture. I hope it is more satisfying when it ends.
Game in a state?
Hi Gabriel,
I just wanted to say how much I agree with your latest column regarding Mayweather, Khan-Peterson and Olusegun. I am a 43 year old father of two who has followed boxing since 1982, around about the Gomez-Pintor fight. At one stage I was so obsessive I used to read the detailed reports at the back of the Ring magazine and new facts and figures on almost all the fighters in all of the divisions. As you get older, other things become more important but the thing that has diminished my love of boxing most of all is the extent of double-standards. Money talks as you pointed out and between the sanctioning bodies (whose corruption and ineptitude no adjective can describe) and the promoters the sport has become a farce. The farce is only made more distasteful by the willingness of the contemporary fans to ignore issues such as domestic abuse etc.
Living in Ireland I have seen Olusegun a number of times over the years on Sky Sports and while I do not think he could beat a Bradley per se, he has earned a chance against Morales.
On another specific point you made, I wonder if it is only me that finds the press releases by Golden Boy, and particularly Schaefer, regarding Khan- Peterson annoying in the extreme. They are like spoilt brats who are furious because their grand plans involving Khan have been disturbed. I have never really been sold on Khan as the attraction he has been contended to be, he is no Sugar Ray Leonard but regardless due to his fights against Judah and Maidana he had started to earn some respect, respect which is quickly evaporating.
Keep up the great writing and particularly the highlighting of hypocrisy.
Take care.
Regards
Dave
Thank you, Dave, and welcome to the Bag.
Golden Boy reminds me of that quote in ?The Social Network? where Mark Zuckerberg (portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg) says, ?[They] aren?t suing me for intellectual property theft. They?re suing me because, for the first time in their lives, things didn?t work out the way they were supposed to for them.? Golden Boy preordained Khan a star instead of building that status. This isn?t like when Ricky Hatton- or even Joe Calzaghe- came to America. Those guys were full-blown draws when they came here. I don?t have Joe?s number handy but Ricky Hatton I was present for both times in Vegas. The man was and, in my opinion, always will be a star. Khan is not even close to that. They microwaved his arrival in the States and it left him having to fight in a challenger?s hometown.
I?ll say this for Khan; in my experience with him, personally, interviews and casual encounters at the gym, he is a very nice, funny, down-to-Earth person. Safe to say, I like him. That said, there is the boxing persona. There is the guy who came to America, didn?t sell a lot of tickets yet was dictating to the established champion at 140, Tim Bradley, what he should do with his career. I?m not even talking about when they were going to fight but when Khan said that Alexander and Bradley should fight, resulting in the winner facing him. Right then, I went, ?Uh-oh.? This was not the man I met at the Wild Card, fresh off getting starched in one minute by Breidis Prescott. That guy was hungry, humble and dying to prove himself. This guy seems very entitled. I like the other guy better.
Again, the fighter and promoter seem to fit. It?s plain to see that Golden Boy will never let Lamont Peterson enjoy his win. I find that very sad and unfair but typical of the entitled way that company tends to act. That?s what happens with an exclusive HBO deal. It?s what happens when your lawyer leaves that post to run a network and you suddenly start getting dates there left and right. Whatever happened to honor? I know this is a business and guys fight for money- but how about self-respect?
Complain once.
?It was close. I thought I won. I?d like a rematch.?
Dude says he won?t give it to you; maybe call him out once more.
?I gave him the chance, in his hometown no less. I could have abandoned the belts and moved up to fight Floyd but I didn?t. I let you fight for my titles.?
Guy ignores you once more; you move on. You treat yourself like a fighter, not a whiny beggar. Life is unfair, boxing even more so. Everyone in the sport tends to act in some self-interested way. To pretend otherwise is ridiculous. It?s a business and that?s what business people do. If this was a league and all this madness was happening, outrage over a fight not happening would be justified. But this is a Wild West capitalist burrito of a sport. Forget about anything. F**kin? everything goes in this game but filing complaints and doing conference calls essentially begging us to be on their side is just wrong. I?ve seen enough close fights where it went a Golden Boy fighter?s way and where it didn?t, to know bad winners and (even worse) losers when I see them.
In the end, all you and I can really do is sit back, watch, laugh and pick and choose which of their products we want to accept. Because really, we can?t control how these people are going to try and treat us. We can only try to understand why they do.
Bob Arum cares what you think as much as any 80-year-old rich guy does: not at all. He?s an old guy. He acts that way.
Golden Boy is run by a young guy finding his feet in a company some say he doesn?t even run. At a long view, Golden Boy is a child- a rich, well-connected, precocious child but a child nonetheless. I expect them to make mistakes just as I expect Bob to be a crotchety old guy. All the other people are trying to convince you and me they are right and true and the big guys are evil when in reality, they all wish they were on top. And if they got there, well, they?d act exactly like Bob Arum or anybody else.
All I ask is that they all stop telling me their decisions are in mine and the sport?s best interests. I can decide that for myself.
People criticize me for liking James Kirkland. My counter to that is that there is beauty in simplicity. He has a no-frills style and a take-no-prisoners attitude. Unlike the pampered prima donnas of the sport, Kirkland fought six times last year including a TKO loss in one. When he lost, there were no ?I need six months to recover? excuses. There were no bullsh*t video interviews complaining about Vaseline on his legs or poisoned water. The guy realized what he needed to do to win again, got his old trainer back and set to working out his problems. He fights three more times with a big win in Mexico, no less. No bitching. No tweeting. Just good hardnosed violence. What else do you need as a fight fan? It?s the hard-hat guys of the sport that keep me here.
And, yes, I realize Kirkland is a felon and it seems like a double standard to praise him while denigrating Floyd. To that, I say, 1) Kirkland doesn?t hit women and 2) he did his time like a man without asking for delays to go to work. Remember, Kirkland had a fight scheduled when he got popped for buying a gun illegally. That fight had a title fight lined up right behind it yet Kirkland understood that jail is not supposed to be convenient. You do a crime; you go away.
I agree that Ajose Olusegun may not beat Bradley but I?d pick him to trouble either Morales or Garcia. I hope he gets his shot to prove that. It?s sad I?ve seen more articles per hour about Manny/Floyd than I have about this poor fighter who is stuck in Number One Contender Hell. It?s like everyone can only see a few feet in front of them. This Bag is an attempt to purge some of that away for myself.
The WBC?s Jose Sulaiman has not responded to me regarding the matter. Lou DiBella is hopeful that he can solve the matter without litigation. What I believe will happen is the fight will go through: poor Olusegun will have to wait for a voluntary defense by Danny Garcia (who will win the bout) and he will possibly go stale in waiting. If I was Ajose, I?d get a fight and soon. I know it sucks but fight fans are a fickle bunch. They forget you quickly if they don?t see you regularly. And honestly, the best way to force names to fight you is to keep fighting and beating the best available opponents. Everything else is a guy waiting to do his job while hoping justice takes place. If you wait for that to happen in boxing, you?ll die waiting.
Thanks for writing in and letting me ramble at you.
Personality goes a long way?
Hi Gabe,
Thank you for today?s column, it was outstanding.
I really appreciate that you addressed type of person Floyd is, instead of just acting like boxing skills are the ONLY thing that makes up the character of a person. To me, being an athlete or celebrity encompasses everything you do and not just what you?re capable of in the ring. I?ve never agreed with the old “I don?t care what so and so does off the field, as long as they win on the field”. That?s a bullsh*t copout as far as I?m concerned. GBP has obviously decided that the money Floyd generates is worth tarnishing their own company?s image, but the ass-kissing that Schaefer?s been relegated to is disturbing to say the least.
The WBC?s antics were an interesting read also. Keep up the great work!
Tyler
I?m not sure how I feel about the cult of athletic personality we have created. When I first started writing, I always ignored the personal life. I didn?t care. I just wanted to know about the fighting and the training. The first fighter I ever interviewed who I knew had a recent criminal past was James Kirkland. I made a real clear choice, telling him we didn?t have to talk about it if he didn?t want to. Just tell me what it?s like to hit people and hurt them. The rest is up to the fighter. When he went back into prison, I wondered if I should send him a letter or email. I didn?t. I figured I?d keep a professional distance while still writing about him as if he?d matter to the sport when he returned. I turned out to be right. When Kirkland got out, he was very open about his experience and his crime- but again, that was up to him. If he had just wanted to talk about his future fight plans, we?d have done that.
Then again, that is also likely due to the nature of the crime. With Mayweather, I find the crime hard to ignore. However, it doesn?t seem like he wants to talk about it so I let it go as ?outside the sport.? I learned the first time I spoke to Floyd that if he doesn?t want to talk about it, he?s not going to. That doesn?t mean I have to be quiet about it.
Should we care what athletes do off the field? Depends on the context, I guess. I think if we are going to do reality shows, 24-hour, TMZ-like, invasive coverage, People magazine and follow people on Twitter, then we have to at least care when a significant event or crime occurs.
Should promoters have a morals clause? Certainly sanctioning bodies do.
From the WBC?s own rules:
c) In the event that the holder of a WBC title is convicted and imprisoned for a crime involving moral turpitude, the WBC Board of Governors shall declare the champion?s title vacated and the procedure to fill the vacant title is set out in these Rules and Regulations.
d) In the event that any boxer rated for any WBC title has been convicted and imprisoned for a crime involving moral turpitude, such boxer will be dropped from the ratings.
Weird. Floyd still has his belt and you don?t hear Golden Boy complaining. They?re certainly not judging either.
How do we enact justice on the offender? I don?t know. Don?t buy his fights? Don?t click on article tagged with his name? Maybe penalize the guys who endlessly roll out Mayweather traffic articles?
Should I stop mentioning Floyd?s name until he does his time? When do I start again, after the suspended sentence is up or when the community service is over? I?m pretty much planning on this being the last Mayweather or Pacquiao article I write for a long time. No matter whom each fights, it won?t be until at least May 5. I figure one article for the announcement of the fight, one right before it on each fighter, a fight report, maaaybe a mailbag and that?s it. Plus, an article I already wrote for Undisputed Fight Magazine coming out in a week or so. Other than that, there are much better things to talk about between now and then.
In the end, how we each decide how to deal with Floyd?s crime comes down to the question of how much you care about right or wrong. You can only answer that for yourself.
Have a good week, fight fans.
You can email Gabriel at [email protected], follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/gabriel_montoya and catch him every Monday on ?The Next Round? with Steve Kim. You can also tune in to hear him and co-host David Duenez live on the BlogTalk radio show Leave-It-In-The-Ring.com, Thursdays at 5-8 PM PST. Gabriel is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
