In Boxing News: Racism In Boxing, Judah, Mayweather & More

In Boxing News: Racism Against White Fighters in Boxing?

Here’s an eyebrow-raiser. Bob Arum says Kelly Pavlik has not been able to crack the starting lineup on boxing’s two largest networks – HBO and Showtime – at least in part because he’s white. Pavlik has never fought on HBO, nor on one of Showtime’s main cards. Pavlik has fought on ShoBox, a minor-league version of Showtime Boxing designed for up-and-coming fighters. Pavlik also has fought on ESPN. There is a perception with boxing network guys, with boxing people, that if you are a white guy, you can’t fight, Arum said Wednesday. Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports, doesn’t seem to agree: It is a disgraceful and undignified remark by a disturbed man. That is pretty much all we have to say. It is sad. This has nothing to do with race. Is it just posturing by a promoter doing his job, or might there be something to this?

Robert Mladinich reports that four days before his showdown with undisputed welterweight champion Zab Judah at Madison Square Garden on January 7, Argentinian Carlos Baldomir exuded mucho confidence as he worked out before the media at the Church Street Gym in downtown Manhattan. It is an honor for me to be fighting at Madison Square Garden. I am happy that Judah is confident, but after two or three rounds I will rip his head off. He is in for a surprise. It may not all be false bravado, as by all accounts, Baldomir is coming to make a fight of it. Joey Knish runs down the other fight of note on Saturday’s card, O’Neil Bell v. Jean-Marc Mormeck.

Previewing the potential Mayweather vs Judah matchup, the Press Assocation in the UK points out only three men in boxing history – Oscar De La Hoya, Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns – can claim to world titles at five or more different weights, yet all have taken advantage of the proliferation of alphabet titles to do so. The PA compares the achievements of these modern day pugilists to the great Henry Armstrong: there is no clearer way to put such modern day achievements in perspective than by comparison with the great American multi-weight champion of the 1930s, Henry Armstrong. Armstrong was a human buzz-saw who battled his way up from abject poverty and shrugged off three defeats in his first four professional contests to establish himself as one of the greatest fighters in history. Mayweather, says the PA, still has some way to go to match the man they called ‘Homicide Hank’.

For the gamers out there, Electronic Arts announced today that Oscar De La Hoya will serve as cover athlete and spokesman for EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 3. Not much more I can say given I don’t game myself, but good to see the Golden Boy teaming up with EA.

(More Boxing News Links at TheSweetScience.com)