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Written by David A. Avila
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Friday, 02 December 2011 23:15
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 ANAHEIM-New Years Eve has an extra punch to it with WBA junior featherweight titleholder Rico “Suave” Ramos defending against Cuba’s swift southpaw Guillermo Rigondeaux, along with a light heavyweight title clash. Not shrinking to the usual revelries on the last day of the year, Goossen-Tutor Promotions and Don King Productions are toasting the night with pugilism. Los Angeles raised Ramos (20-0, 11 KOs) will test the former Cuban super amateur Rigondeaux (8-0, 6 KOs) on Saturday Dec. 31, at the Anaheim Convention Center. Showtime will televise it and a light heavyweight title bout. “It’s a great fight in a deep and talented division,” said Chris DeBlasio of Showtime Sports. The last time Ramos stepped in the ring he fought Japan’s Akifumi Shimoda for the title. For six rounds it looked like the left-handed Japanese fighter was going to win by decision... Read more...
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Written by Michael Woods
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Thursday, 01 December 2011 13:33
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 He is THE manager in the game today, and to be honest, a pretty likable guy. Cameron Dunkin is fairly unfiltered and we keyboard tappers love that trait. For instance, he admitted that he sometimes has to employ misdirection, and put out two names of potential foes, who in fact are not in contention to fight one of his guys, because if the real target knows he's wanted, that drives up the price. I humbly asked him to give me the real-deal scoop, and he chuckled, and agreed when we chatted at BB King's in NYC on Thursday afternoon. Dunkin was there with his guy Brandon Rios, who meets Brit John Murray at MSG on the Cotto-Margarito undercard. He told me that he'd like to see Rios in the ring the end of January, if he gets past Murray with no nicks. He'd fight someone maybe a step up from Murray and then take aim at Yuriorkis Gamboa, perhaps in May or... Read more...
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Written by Rick Folstad
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Thursday, 01 December 2011 09:57
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 Antonio Margarito will be fighting Saturday night thanks to the recent musings of the New York State Athletic Commission. The all-clear siren has sounded. All is suddenly right again in the closeted world of Top Rank. The right eye is fine, and Margarito’s rematch with WBA super-welterweight champion Miguel Cotto is back on schedule at Madison Square Garden (HBO Pay-Per-View). Too bad, though. I could have saved the NYSAC some time and heartache if they had just asked me about battered eyes. I would have told them it was safe for Margarito to fight again. His cataract surgery was last spring, or about the same time mine was. That’s plenty of time for the eye to heal, to see things clear again. Why ask me? Because I know the wear and tear fighting puts on the eyes. While it was Margarito’s right eye... Read more...
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Written by Michael Woods
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Wednesday, 30 November 2011 19:10
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.jpg) There was no customary faceoff for the photographers where the combatants could stare into each others' eyes and souls and take a measure of the man who will be trying to separate them from their sense shortly. No, promoter Bob Arum wouldn't risk Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto getting into a real-deal scuffle, not one of those push me-pull you things to get onto SportsCenter. He told TSS after that the bad blood between these two cats is off the Hagler-Hearns variety, and that there was "no need" for a faceoff. Of course, the cynic in me wonders if we'd have seen the faceoff if the Garden wasn't on the cusp of a sellout, 300 seats away, late Wednesday morning. My guess is yes..because Arum is an ace promoter, and just in case there were a couple fight fans or casual boxing fans who didn't know that Saturday's clash is as... Read more...
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Written by The Sweet Science
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Wednesday, 30 November 2011 18:13
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 There is no such thing as bad publicity. Antonio Margarito is living proof. In the wake of his very public disgrace as a result of plaster-gate, there were more than a few who believed Margarito’s days as a professional fighter might be numbered. Those people, however, severely overestimated the power of boxing officials and the long-term memory of the sporting public while simultaneously underestimating the power of the greenback. The fact of the matter is that for every good guy, there needs to be a bad guy, and Antonio Margarito has whole-heartedly embraced his role as the bad guy, the boxing pariah so many love to hate. Margarito hasn’t exactly been the most congenial of figures since his suspension, between brazenly making light of Freddie Roach’s Parkinson’s disease and vehemently deflecting responsibility... Read more...
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Written by David A. Avila
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Wednesday, 30 November 2011 09:28
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 Battling bi-coastal fight cards take place on Saturday between bantamweights and junior middleweights. I’ll take the little bombers. IBF bantamweight titleholder Abner Mares (22-0-1, 13 KOs) defends against former titleholder Joseph “King Kong” Agbeko (28-3, 22 KOs) on Saturday, Dec. 3, at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Showtime will televise it and also the semi-main event. We’ll come to that later. Last time we saw these two muscular 118-pounders a public outcry led by the Showtime announcing crew derailed Mares’s long-awaited world title celebration. Since he was first signed in 2004 by Golden Boy Promotions he was tabbed as a very likely prospect to gain the championship. Seven years later his victory was a hollow one. Low blows were the culprit and most accused Mares and only Mares for the infraction while neglecting to mention that Agbeko continued to push... Read more...
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Written by Michael Woods
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Tuesday, 29 November 2011 17:05
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 The heavyweight scene, as seen through the eyes of the US fight fan, is two-day-old bagel stale. One of the Klitschkos fights on Dec. 10 against another guy with no chance. OK, sorry for the flippancy there. But I couldn't be much less enthused about WBO-IBF-WBA champion Wladimir Klitschko's clash against Jean-Marc Mormeck in Dusseldorf on the tenth. I see Mormeck, a 39-year-old Frenchman, as having as much chance against Klitschko as Kim Kardashian does landing a relationship advice talk show. He's fought three times in four years, and his last outing came a year ago, a split decision win against Timur Ibragimov. There is a bit more interest in Alexander Povetkin, who holds a junior WBA title, and his tussle Saturday. He takes on Cedric Boswell in Finland, and EPIX will show the scrap, kicking off their programming at 3:30 PM ET. Anyone tired of the Klitschko... Read more...
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Written by Rick Folstad
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Tuesday, 29 November 2011 10:26
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 Amir “King” Khan says he’ll fight anyone they put in front of him. Of course, they all say that. Still, you get the feeling you can believe Khan, that reputations and big names don’t mean much to him. Zab Judah, Marcos Maidana, Paulie Malignaggi, Marco Antonio Barrera. Big names and tough guys, he beat them all. “One thing about me I think the boxing world knows is, I never shy away from any fight,” Khan said. “And this fight will take me from being a good fighter to a superstar.” He means in popularity, not talent. He already has that. Now the unified super-lightweight champ, Khan (26-1, 18 KOs) fights No. 1 IBF contender Lamont “Havoc” Peterson (29-1, 15 KOs) on Dec. 10 on HBO at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C., which is just down the road from where... Read more...
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Written by The Sweet Science
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Tuesday, 29 November 2011 09:46
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 Each year during the holiday season, I publish a “top forty” list of what I consider to be the best books on boxing. That list, updated to accommodate recently published titles, follows. Some of these books are now out of print. But with the proliferation of online services like Abebooks.com and Amazon.com, all of them can be found. Beyond Glory by David Margolick (Alfred A. Knopf) -- This book focuses on the two fights between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. In the process, it recreates the racial climate of the 1930s, puts the fighters in historical perspective, and conveys the incredible importance of their ring encounters. Margolick shows in dramatic fashion how Louis stirred passions and revived interest in boxing long before he beat James Braddock to become heavyweight champion. He captures the demeaning racial stereotyping of The Brown Bomber by the establishment... Read more...
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Written by Michael Woods
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Monday, 28 November 2011 17:10
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 That man does not look like he holds the weight of the world on his shoulders, does he? If guilt has a hold on Antonio Margarito, if the Mexican-born hitter lays his head down on pillow and at night mulls his rulebreaking ways, then he is miscast as a boxer, and should be in Hollywood. Did Margarito intend to use loaded gloves against Shane Mosley in 2009? Did he use plaster pads in other fights, maybe against Miguel Cotto in 2008? We will likely never know. This is boxing's JFK assassination. But we may get more evidence into the case come Saturday night. If Cotto handles Margarito, if the Puerto Rican handles the launches of Margarito better than he did in the 2008 loss, then many will opine that Margarito was Margacheato on that occasion. Is that fair? Maybe not, as much time has passed since then, and there have been other developments since.... Read more...
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