Ya, I thought it was a little too much to give both the upset of the year and KO of the year to Donaire-Darchinyan. I would have given KO of the year to Pavlik-Taylor (even though it was technically a TKO). Wilson-Nwodo is a good one as well.
I believe he won Corpse of the Year, narrowly beating out Gatti, Morales, and Castillo.
Thanks for posting the article Vinho. Although, I have to say, I disagree with most of what this guy is writing in terms of the disappointment of Mayweather-Hatton. I'll take it point-by-point.
Labeling 850K in PPV buys as a "huge disappointment" is way off. The only reason anyone is disappointed is because Richard Schaeffer (Golden Boy) was dumb enough to predict 1.5 million buys, which never had any chance of happening. I predicted all along that this thing would do around 600-700K, so 850K was a big success IMO.
DLH is the biggest PPV star of the past decade, and one of the biggest ever. Saying the ratings were down because DLH wasn't involved is stating the obvious. No one expected the ratings to be anywhere close to what they were for Floyd-DLH.
I don't think anyone thought that Floyd-Oscar showed a new level of interest in boxing. What it showed was that there still is interest among the general public in boxing, IF the sport is marketed intelligently. It was an eye-opener to promoters and networks that all they had to do was put some effort in marketing-wise, and people would tune in.
Which is why the 850K for his fight with Hatton is a success, not a disappointment.
Much as I respect Enzo Calzaghe fighters, I hope David Haye pastes Maccarinelli from pillar to post. The disrespectful shit that he has been throwing at Haye since the Mormeck fight has been totally uncalled for and has really got my goat in the last few months.
He's already been up to Heavyweight once and cleaned the clock of rugged Polish Fringe Contender Tomasz Bonin, who had never been stopped before, in 74 seconds, so he certainly has the power! He weighed 217lbs for that fight and managed to get back down to 200 for the Jean-Marc Mormeck fight, though he did admit it was a struggle. According to most experts I've read, he could easily hold 240 on his frame and it wouldn't hurt his handspeed or movement too much.
Haye can definitely be a legit contender.
Grif, thanks a bunch for this. I am trying to narrow down a classic quote from 10 for my signature...
I had the same score, a draw, and therefore the 115-113 for Malignaggi was fine with me as well. And that's the score I expected, since Malignaggi was the house fighter.
I'm sure Cotto and Bob Arum are waiting on Oscar De La Hoya to announce who he has deigned to choose as his opponent for his big May 3 date. I doubt we'll see Cotto commit to anything before Oscar comes down from the mountaintop and gives The Word.
I saw that list and immediately thought of James Toney. It's too bad he could never stay motivated. He could of been an all time great.
Toney might be the biggest enigma of the last 20 years. Just a strange career all-around.
I think a lot of people will want to see Tito fight. I expect this PPV to do decent but not spectacular numbers -- maybe breaking 400K.
Well, I think if you're a Tito fan, this is going to be a hard one to watch. Even in his diminished state Jones is still much bigger, stronger and faster, a better boxer and the more active fighter. I'm afraid this is going to be a hell of a mismatch. I don't know if Jones will KO Tito is four like he's promising, but I think he'll win pretty much every round and, very likely, stop Tito mid-to-late. I can't think of a single factor in which Tito has an advantage, or even matches up.
I agree. I'm predicting Jones by stoppage as well.
Yup, that was a highlight-reel, one-punch knockout for Edison Miranda -- against a journeyman opponent who despite being one of the stars of "The Contender" will never actually be a contender. David Banks will always be an ESPN-level fighter.
I'm so glad I DVR'd that little highlight on ESPN News ... Banks got KTFO :buddy:
This does seem to be the big buzz right now.
That's pretty soft from Ricky.
Hasn't this been Ricky's career track all along. He and his management recognize the monetary value of a belt, any belt. So he's always taken the easiest path to get one, then tried to parlay it into something bigger. Carlos Maussa, Juan Urango, Luis Collazo (though that turned out to be a bit of a rude awakening), and arguably, even the well-past-his-prime Tszyu have all been the paths of least resistance to a "World Championship" and Ricky's taken them each time. So why would he take on Junior Witter or a Paulie Malignaggi, guys who actually could beat him, when he can call himself a "Three-Time World Champion" by overpowering an inflated 5-foot, three-inch featherweight who can't punch?
You could say that Tszyu was past his best, but he was the only champion at the time who would face Ricky, so what was he to do? I really don't like that argument being held against him. The others? Yeah, I guess that could be held against him, but TBH a lot of other guys wanted nothing to do with him.
Winky would be the best fight, although I agree that it probably won't happen.
That's an interesting question.
I think this probably has to do with the fact that HBO has Jones-Trinidad in January, Pavlik-Taylor II in February, Pacquiao-Marquez II in March and DLH-Somebody (probably Mayweather) in May. That's five straight months of $50 (and up) PPV fights. That puts HBO PPV in a position of competing against itself, because even for boxing die-hards, dropping an extra $50 every month is a lot to ask. (And that's just the schedule so far! Who knows what'll come up in June and July and into the Fall?) I've already pretty much decided to take a rare pass on Jones-Trinidad. But given Calzaghe's low ratings for the Kessler fight andf Hopkins never having much of a fan base, I would guess that they're worried that this fight would be the odd one out.
I HATE this part. I was working under the impression that this fight would be in May, which was fine with me, because all that meant was that Floyd was cutting short his planned "break." And that would have left Maywather open for a truly meaningful fight (Cotto) in late '08.
Finally, the weight hasn't been decided on yet.
I find the whole prospect of DLH-PBF II pretty depressing actually. I could sorta live with it in May, because at that point it seemed that Oscar was out of marquee opponents and he would have been defaulting to Floyd. But in September? By that time, there's no reason not to make Floyd-Cotto, or Oscar-Cotto, or Floyd-Mosley or any one of a number of other great welterweight fights. Even Oscar-Hatton might be available by then (not that I want to see that fight, but I'm just saying).
