Credited. I had Lara winning 10 of 12 (I gave PW the 5th and 12th). What I can't understand about this decision, as opposed to other egregious ones like Holyfield-Lewis, is what power player or money interest would pull strings for PW to win this fight? He's clearly on the way down, while Lara is ascendant, and I can't imagine anyone paying to see Martinez take his head off.
The IBF has ordered an immediate rematch. You know things are bad when a sanctioning body is serving as the voice of reason.
The most amazing part of that whole sequence is that Uncle Roger was playing the role of peacemaker.
This goes back to my rant about sadly losing some of my passion for boxing over the past couple of years. Does anyone really want this fight? Both of these guys have way too many miles on them and while that could actually make it a fairly entertaining fight in a sloppy, slugfest-y kind of way, it's hardly a "major" fight. Neither fighter is a factor in the 147-154 pound divisions anymore. I wonder even if this is an "official" HBO PPV, or if HBO is just acting as the distributor for an Arum-produced telecast. In any case, I'd watch this fight on "free" HBO, but 55 bucks is absurd anf it's a bit sad that the fight is even happening. I just hope neither guy gets seriously hurt.
Which leads me to something I've been thinking about... I think HBO needs to seriously think about cutting down on the number of boxing cards they televise. They have so many dates set aside, that there's a tremendous pressure to fill all of them, and they end up begging fighters/promoters to appear on HBO, instead of the other way around. That's how you end up with Andre Berto appearing 10 times on HBO before he ever faced an opponent with a pulse, or you end up with Gary Russell last month not even having an opponent until a week or two before his HBO fight. And they spread themselves so thin that they can't spend too much on any one show, which means they can't even make an offer for something like Cotto-Margarito II (although that might not be the best example, for the reasons you stated).
That fight was everything that's wrong with boxing in a nutshell:
Yeah, what an incredible joke. Turns out Hopkins actually was injured, so I can't really say he should have continued. And in a way it felt like a kind of poetic justice since Hopkins over the years has left no stone unturned when it comes to dirty, roughhouse tactics. I don't think that what Dawson did was exactly "dirty" and I DO think that Hopkins was leaning on him deliberately, because that's what Hopkins does and if anyone knows exactly what he's doing in the ring at all times, it's Bernard Hopkins. So it felt like the proverbial chickens coming home to roost.
A repeat of Pacquiao-Morales III is definitely one of the possible scenarios.
http://www.vipbox.tv/watch/6132/2/ppv-boxing:-manny-pacquiao-vs-juan-manuel-marquez-iii---wbo-welterweight-championship-(las-vegas,nevada).html
I had JMM 6 to 5 thru 11. Lederman disagrees, has Manny up 7 to 4 or something. Awesome fight. Glad I went against my boycott of Pac/Floyd PPV's and ordered this one. Just been feigning for a good fight. I hope JMM gets him.
That's just it. His corner told him he had the fight, and he coasted in the 12th. Left the door open. This result is on his corner.
Styles make fights, and Marquez has a style that gives Manny fits. I wouldn't judge how a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight would go based on tonight.
