Snips and Snipes 24 September 2014

Life is never dull with Floyd Mayweather Jr. around. If it is not controversy in the ring it is controversy outside. There was some criticism after the Marcos Maidana II fight with some feeling it showed Mayweather is aging, slowing and that the public might be becoming bored with “Money”. The figures for Maidana II don’t really bear that out. Reportedly the gate for the fight was $14,899,150 from an attendance of 14,859 which works out at just over $1000 per ticket. Too rich for me. The PPV figures came out at 925,000 buys. These figures were higher than for Maidana I so there is no evidence there of a drop in interest. It is unfair to compare it to the Mayweather vs. Saul Alvarez figures which produced total revenue of almost $150 million exceeding any other fight in the history of boxing. In that fight Alvarez was as much the draw with his huge Latino following. The respective purses for Mayweather and Maidana for their second fight were approximately $32 million for Mayweather and $3 million for Maidana.

Outside the ring Mayweather has lost/dropped some long time members of his team and had to appear in front of the Nevada Commission to explain a recently aired Showtime “All Access” program. This appeared to show young fighters being pitted against each other and “sparring” for over 30 minutes on a “until one drops” basis without a break in the action whilst being cheered on by Mayweather and others in Mayweather’s gym. It also appeared to show some of the attendees taking drugs. Now that he is a registered promoter in Nevada Mayweather had to appear in front of the Commission for an explanation on grounds of the health and safety of those young boxers. Mayweather’s response was that the video was edited to seem continuous whilst there were really breaks in the sparring. He also advised that the drug taking was not with real drugs but was just a show for the cameras. He certainly has more money than brains as it is hard to think of any good reason for doing a video showing such items which anyone with any sense would know it result in the Commission investigating such throw-back antics. The Beatles sang “Can’t Buy Me Love” for Mayweather it should be can’t buy me a brain even with the $420 million he has reportedly earned.

Of course the “must fight Manny Pacquiao” chorus has started up afresh. Yes it would still be a huge fight but no one is going to talk Mayweather into a fight with Pacquiao. Mayweather does not need the fight financially and if it does come off then whatever terms were on offer to Pacquiao when the fight was hot will have shrunk as Pacquiao has lost some luster as a result of the losses to Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez. The figures above show that Mayweather is the money man-with or without Pacquiao and it is now Pacquiao who is chasing the fight.

One hurdle that seriously impeded the earlier attempt to put the Mayweather fight together should no longer be an impediment. Both Pacquiao and Algieri have agreed to random pre-fight testing and full testing after the fight by WADA. Why could Pacquiao not have agreed to that when the Mayweather fight was hot?

As for Alvarez through Golden Boy he has now signed up with HBO but things are not 100% smooth there. All Star Boxing are suing Golden Boy alleging tortuous interference through Golden Boy allegedly signing Alvarez when he was still under contract to them. The two parties are going through mediation to try to settle the matter but if they cannot agree then they will end up in court in December.

Going back to Tim Bradley, the Nevada Commission have approved Top Ranks, application for a 13 December date for Bradley against Argentinian Diego Chaves. Bradley does not hold a world title right now but I am sure that one of the sanctioning bodies can find or invent one for the fight. Get your designer world title here.

Mayweather gets $32 million for a fight but the similarly talented, but less entertaining Guillermo Rigondeaux will get less than 1% of that for his next fight. The winning bid for his fight with Chris Avalos for the WBO super bantam title was $317,000 by Caribe Promotions. Did I say winning bid? I should have said only bid. His agreement with Top Rank has expired and TR did not offer a bid. No one else wanted the fight so the talented Cuban will get less than $300,000. Boxing is part of the entertainment industry and Rigondeaux’s style is not “entertaining” so like any business market forces dictate the rewards. The fight will take place in November with Miami and the Dominican Republic being suggested as possible locations.

Gathering signs of a thaw in relations between Golden Boy and Top Rank is the parties agreeing to a fight between Luis C Abregu-a Top Rank fighter-and Sadam Ali-a Golden Boy fighter. The fight will be on the undercard to Kovalev vs. Hopkins in Atlantic City on 8 November. Abregu will be putting his WBC No 2 slot at risk against the unbeaten New Yorker.

Chad Dawson returns to action on the undercard to Rances Barthelemy‘s IBF super featherweight title defence against Fernando Saucedo. Dawson will fight former WBO and IBO light heavyweight title challenger Tommy Karpency. After two disappointing fights with Bernard Hopkins and losses to Andre Ward and Adonis Stevenson Dawson seemed to have lost his way. He disposed of George Blades in one round in June but Karpency will be a better test. Barthelemy vs. Saucedo needs a strong undercard as neither has a high profile at this time.

Wlad Klitschko’s title defence against Kubrat Pulev has been reset for November 15 in Hamburg. If he wins that one Wlad says he wants to beat Joe Louis record of 25 title defences but thankfully says he is not interested in a fight with Shannon Briggs. Wlad already has 24 defences in two periods as champion so the Pulev fight would equal Joe’s record and a unification match against the winner of Bermane Stiverne and Deontay Wilder would make a great final act.

The German TV outfit ARD has announced that they have not extended their contract with Sauerland Promotions. Instead of working solely with Sauerland they will in future work with Sauerland and other on a case-by-case basis. It remains to be seen what effect the relative uncertainty this brings will have on Sauerland.

Looks as though the “German” super middleweight carousel might be taking yet another swing as Felix Sturm fights Robert Stieglitz in Stuttgart on 8 November in a virtual eliminator for the WBO title. The winner will likely challenge Arthur Abraham. If that is Stieglitz he will be fighting Abraham for the same title for the fourth time with Abraham 2-1 up in their series. If Sturm wins then a fight with Abraham will be a big draw in Germany. Of course Paul Smith could spoil all those plans by beating Abraham on Saturday. As for retirement Abraham has said that he will retire when his long time trainer Uli Wegner does although a loss to Smith could alter that.

The move to Top Rank has really worked well for WBA feather champion Nicholas Walters. Jacques Deschamps took the Jamaican “Axe Man” to Top Rank to get him big fights and the clash with Nonito Donaire certainly falls into that category. A win will see a leap in his profile and I think Walters can do the job when they meet in Carson on 18 October for Donaire’s super title.

Sad to see Danny Garcia relinquishing his titles under orders from Al Haymon. I guess Haymon has other plans for him. The way he has been signing up fighters it won’t be long before we have a show where every fighter is fighting against another Haymon fighter. Of course in Don King’s day you were always having two King fighters facing each other as you did not get on the show at all unless King owned you. Haymon is not that kind of guy but he has signed so many top fighters there will be a conflict of interest somewhere down the line as he can hardly negotiate with himself and it can’t always be a win-win situation for both fighters.

Nice to see a mellowing Mike Tyson getting some good press. Tyson went to the aid of a motorcyclist who was injured in an accident. Tyson made sure the motorcyclist was comfortable and that no one attempted any amateur aid and stayed with him until medical help arrived and then just drifted away. Good one Mike.

Two asides over the Omar Narvaez vs. Felipe Orucuta title fight. Firstly in a curious incident Narvaez’s manager, Osvaldo Rivero reported he was stopped by police who beat him up and robbed him. He was carrying some of the purse money for the fight. A change to hear the manager shouting that he was robbed instead of the fighter. The case is still under investigation. The other aside is that Orucuta struggled to make the weight and reportedly spent some time in a sauna before just scraping inside the limit. It amazes me that a 5’7” guy gets anywhere near 115lbs.

I wonder what the odds will be on the Gennady Golovkin vs. Marco Rubio fight going the full twelve rounds-or even into the second round. Rubio only knows one way to fight and this one is sure to be explosive for however long it lasts.

The 22 November Top Rank show in Macau is building nicely. Under the Pacquiao vs. Algieri fight Jessie Vargas, who has recently taken on Roy Jones as his trainer, defends his secondary WBA title against Antonio Decarie and Vasyl Lomachenko puts his WBO title on the line against Thai Chonlatarn with Zou Shiming facing the 27-0-2 Thai Kwanpichit.

Great show in Montreal on Saturday as Artur Beterbiev leaps to main event status and after just five fights faces former IBF champion Tavoris Cloud for the NABA title. Cloud lost to Bernard Hopkins and Adonis Stevenson in his last two fights. His only defeats. Both were world title fights so this is not the case of picking an easy mark but a genuine stretch to find out just how good the 29-year-old Russian is. I can remember when it used to be said that even top amateur faced a huge learning curve when they turned pro. Try telling that to Vasyl Lomachenko and Beterbiev. The “Red Dawn” show also features Dierry Jean defending his NABF title against Daniel Ruiz and Antonin Decarie, Kevin Bizier and Stephane Ouellette will also be in action.

Fights to watch for include a Mexican dust-up on September 27 between Omar Chavez and Ramon Alvarez in Tuxtla Gutierrez for the WBO NABO light middle title. Two boxing dynasties clashing here with Omar being the younger brother of Julio Cesar Jr. and Ramon being the second youngest of the four Alvarez brothers with Saul being the youngest. Nicaraguan Carlos Buitrago gets a shot at the interim WBA strawweight title when he tackles Thai Knockout CP Freshmart in Buriram, Thailand 1st October. The 22-year-old Chocorroncito was being tipped as a future world champion when only 15 with the late Alexis Arguello one of those endorsing his potential. He came close in November when his challenge to Merlito Sabillo for the WBO title ended in a split draw. It will be tough to win in Thailand. I can’t see there being a rush for tickets for the return fight between Tony Thompson and Odlanier Solis in Dusseldorf on 18 October.  The first fight was dull and that’s an understatement. Heavyweight Malik Scott has a chance to put his abject showing against Deontay Wilder behind him when he tackles Alex Leapai in Brisbane on 24 October. Scott is totally the wrong type of opponent for Leapai but if Scott loses this one he is headed for the boxing boondocks. Another heavyweight match, this on 25 October sees Alex Povetkin challenge Carlos Takam for the Cameroon/French fighter’s WBC Silver title. With Povetkin WBC No 3 and Takam No 5 the winner could get a shot at the winner of Stiverne vs Wilder before Wlad Klitschko does, although WBC No 2 Bryant Jennings might have something to say about that. Brit Martin Murray faces Italian Domenico Spada in defence of his WBC Silver title in Monte Carlo on October 25. Murray is putting his WBC No 1 ranking on the line here against “Volcano” who lost to Marco Antonio Rubio for the interim WBC title in April. Another 25 October bout to relish is Zolani Tete against Paul Butler for Tete’s IBF super fly title. Butler relinquished the IBF bantam title to move back down to super fly for this title shot but it will be a tough ask. Tete won’t be worried about going into the lion’s den in Merseyside as he won his title in Mexico by kayoing Juan Carlos Sanchez (17-1-1) and retained it in Japan with a wide unanimous points win over Teiru Kinoshita (19-0-1). Butler has oodles of talent but this will be a tough one. Australian super middleweight Rohan Murdock (15-1) takes a big step up on 6 November when he faces the former WBA champion Manny Siaca. It will be the 38-year-old Puerto Rican’s first fight for 19 months but the 22-year-old’s previous opposition has been a few levels below Siaca. French super middleweight Samy Anouche will fight Nicolas Dion for the vacant national title on 15 November. The fight will take place in Noumea in New Caledonia. That is way out in the Pacific Ocean which must make it one of the longest treks for a boxer to fight for his national title.

Also on 15 November Filipino Donnie Nietes puts his WBO light flyweight title on the line against Carlos Velarde with hot prospect Alberto Pagara facing Mexican Raul Hirales on the undercard. A really tasty all-British fight will see Frankie Gavin facing unbeaten Bradley Skeet on 29 November. Gavin’s British title will be on the line as well as the now vacant Commonwealth title which Gavin lost to Leonard Bundu in August. Two losses in a row, one of those to another British boxer, would be a huge blow for Gavin. A win would put Skeete into the big time so there is a lot at stake for both fighters.

I will be glad when the Dereck Chisora vs. Tyson Fury fight is over and done with. It’s a good match but the childish histrionics by Fury have me holding my head in my hands for the image they project of boxing. I saw someone defending the big man saying people should let Fury “be himself”. Well if throwing a table about, foul mouthed rants and a childish gag are Fury being himself I hate to thing what his Mr. Hyde would be like. However, I do sympathise with his impatience. Through no fault of his own he has had only one fight in 18 months and that is enough to try the patience of any fighter.

Russian Magomed Abdusalamov has been discharged from hospital and is back home with his family. He is still unable to speak and is still paralysed on one side. He is undergoing physiotherapy five times a week and is putting weight back on. The family still has a $100 million suit pending against the New York Athletic Commission and the family faces huge medical costs for Magomed’s care.

There was encouraging news about British boxer Jerome Wilson who underwent brain surgery after his fight with Serge Ambomo in Sheffield on 12 September. Wilson is now out of the induced coma he was placed in and off the critical list. He is in “high dependency” care and is making good progress.

Still on the medical theme. Former interim WBO light flyweight Jesus Geles champion is unlikely to ever box again. The 26-year-old Colombian suffered a gunshot wound with the bullet lodging in his stomach and although he recovering it looks as though his career is over.

It’s so easy to be blinded by statistics. Take the case of Yemeni fighter Ali Raymi. He has 22 wins, all by KO/TKO, and the strawweight is rated WBO 7/WBA13 (12)/WBC 25. A great prospect. Not really. For a start he is Raymi 40-year-old but the other stats don’t stand up too well either. Not one of his opponents have had more than 10 fights and even a cursory glance at what’s available on You Tube shows a fighter with not one scrap of an idea about defence and opponents who do not even have a basic knowledge of boxing. But he has 22 wins so ignore that quality and be blinded by the numbers. It’s alarming to think that if a promoter decided to put him in for the WBA or WBO titles those bodies would already be committed to approving the bout on the basis of his rating.

Kostya Tszyu is a man of many parts. The former IBF/WBA/WBC light welter champion is co-owner of a restaurant and says that he quite likes doing the dishes, a hands-on boss. However from there it has led on to him hosting a TV cookery contest. All that as well as overseeing the development of his sons boxing skills and training other fighters. No problems over retirement for the popular Tszyu.

Britain’s Luke Campbell also did a spell on TV finishing a very creditable 3^rd on the Dancing On Ice competition, but with his talent his career is not on thin ice. Much more important to Luke is the battle against cancer being waged by his father Bernard and having lost my wife, mother and brother to cancer I pray Bernard comes through.

I had to laugh. I went into the Pan Asian Boxing Association web site-or tried to-and there was a forlorn little message saying the web site was not up because “The staff previously in charge left and did not give us the password”. Only in boxing! Don’t you feel sorry for the poor little dears?