RASKIN’S RANTS: A Barker, A Pig Parker & A Possible Jump-The-Sharker

Published

13 years ago

October 5, 2011

Between the new fall season of television, baseball playoff games that last into the wee hours, NFL football in full swing, seven hours of televised boxing over the weekend, and this whole child-rearing thing I’m supposed to be doing, my leisure-time schedule is getting awfully tight. So to cut corners, I’m keeping this intro short. I might even remove one letter from Darren Barker’s last name to save time. Let’s get right to this week’s reader email:

Hi Eric,

I know you’re a fan of Max Kellerman and his Face Off show, and so am I … but you have to admit, the show totally jumped the shark tonight. That s— with Pacquiao and Marquez sitting in front of a giant movie screen, with Kellerman making them diagram plays together, I dunno, man, none of it worked. That was HBO’s worst prefight hype attempt since Calzaghe-Jones 24/7. What did you think?

Love the columns and the rants,
Brad

Hi Brad,

On the one hand, I want to give the creative forces behind Face Off credit for knowing they needed to do something different. Neither Pacquiao nor Marquez speaks English well enough to ever say anything particularly interesting. The two fighters have no hatred for one another and aren’t the types to pretend to hate each other for the benefit of the TV cameras. The producers recognized this, so they invited the trainers to sit in and built the whole thing around having the fighters watch the highlights of their first two fights together. So let’s give everyone a golf clap for trying. Imagine how dreadful the show would have been with just Max, Manny, Juan Manuel, and three steel chairs.

All that said, you’re right. None of the creative twists really worked. Freddie Roach didn’t have much of anything to say, and Nacho Beristain speaks even less English than his fighter. The idea of showing highlight clips was fine—you’ll never be bored watching replays of these two guys punching each other—but posing them in their stances and breaking down strategies came off more awkward than effective. Through no particular fault of anyone, this was the worst Face Off so far.

But it doesn’t mean the show has “jumped the shark.” When something actually jumps the shark, there’s no going back. This was just one subpar episode, and the show will recover. How do I know this? Because Kellerman tweeted “Oh. My. God.” in reference to the next installment, featuring Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. And Kellerman doesn’t lie about these things. He told us in advance that Bernard Hopkins-Jean Pascal and Wladimir Klitschko-David Haye were fantastic and, importantly, he didn’t tell us the same about Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz or Pacquiao-Marquez. So I’m confident that Face Off will bounce back next episode.

And I get the feeling the emotional intensity between Margarito and Cotto is going to render the fact that they need a translator irrelevant.

Okay, time for the Rants. Or, as Michael Buffer and his contempt for the letter “r” might say, time for the Ants:

–Here’s an outside-the-box idea for a future Face Off: Mayweather vs. Hopkins, debating which of them is the greatest American fighter of their era. Tell me that wouldn’t make for spectacular television.

–My favorite moment of the Sergio Martinez-Darren Barker fight: In the seventh round, as everyone else at the broadcast table was piling on Martinez and his mediocre performance, Larry Merchant interrupted the onslaught to give Barker credit for causing Martinez problems. Merchant can’t kick Floyd Mayweather’s ass at age 80, but he can still bring much-needed balance to a broadcast.

–On a related note, who would have guessed Martinez-Barker would be a more entertaining and competitive fight than Andy Lee-Brian Vera? It’s a strange thing to say, but the main event stole the show on Saturday night.

–You know that reputation Emanuel Steward has had for years as an aggressive, knockout-minded trainer? Given the way Lee fought against Vera, in combination with the safety-oriented styles Wlad Klitschko and Lennox Lewis mastered under Steward’s tutelage, I’m going to go ahead and declare the reputation undeserved at this point. (And I’m not criticizing Steward or Lee at all, mind you. Lee fought the perfect style to avenge his loss to Vera, and that’s to his credit. I’m just saying the trainer’s rep has outlasted the reality behind it.)

–I’m not quite sure why Hopkins was described on the screen Saturday night as “light heavyweight titleholder.” If a guy is actually the champion of the world, you may as well acknowledge it.

–If I kept a personal pound-for-pound list, I’d be putting Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez in my top 20 now. In fact, I know this will rankle a few of the fight geeks, but I think the current Chocolatito beats any version of Ivan Calderon.

–I agree with Carlos Acevedo of TheCruelestSport.com, an ugly fight against an old Joel Casamayor is no way to market Timothy Bradley as a future Pacquiao opponent on the Pacquiao-Marquez III undercard. And Bob Arum and his matchmakers are no dummies, which is why I’m not ruling out a last-minute opponent switch to a face-first clubfighter.

–Note to self: Don’t date any of the same women as Matt Remillard.

–It’s safe to say you’ll never see a better fight with a 120-106 scorecard than Olusegun Ajose vs. Ali Cheebah.

–So Floyd Mayweather doesn’t just park in handicapped spots, he “pig parks” in two of them at once. Once again, we see that life imitates Curb Your Enthusiasm—kind of like that time Mike Buffer was paying tribute to someone before the ceremonial 10-count and misread “beloved aunt.”

–Check out a loaded episode of Ring Theory (http://ringtheory.podbean.com) this week, featuring a guest appearance from none other than the world light heavyweight champion (not titleholder), Bernard Hopkins. Here’s hoping Bill Dettloff and I are able to get more than one question in.

Eric Raskin can be contacted at RaskinBoxing@yahoo.com. You can follow him on Twitter @EricRaskin and listen to new episodes of his podcast, Ring Theory, at http://ringtheory.podbean.com.

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Najee Lopez Steps up in Class and Wins Impressively at Plant City

Published

1 day ago

January 24, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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Garry Jonas’ ProBox series returned to its regular home in Plant City, Florida, tonight with a card topped by a 10-round light heavyweight match between fast-rising Najee Lopez and former world title challenger Lenin Castillo. This was considered a step-up fight for the 25-year-old Lopez, an Atlanta-born-fighter of Puerto Rican heritage. Although the 36-year-old Castillo had lost two of his last three heading in, he had gone the distance with Dimitry Bivol and Marcus Browne and been stopped only once (by Callum Smith).

Lopez landed the cleaner punches throughout. Although Castillo seemed unfazed during the first half of the fight, he returned to his corner at the end of round five exhibiting signs of a fractured jaw.

In the next round, Lopez cornered him against the ropes and knocked him through the ropes with a left-right combination. Referee Emil Lombardo could have stopped the fight right there, but he allowed the courageous Castillo to carry on for a bit longer, finally stopping the fight as Castillo’s corner and a Florida commissioner were signaling that it was over.

The official time was 2:36 of round six. Bigger fights await the talented Lopez who improved to 13-0 with his tenth win inside the distance. Castillo declined to 25-7-1.

Co-Feature

In a stinker of a heavyweight fight, Stanley Wright, a paunchy, 34-year-old North Carolina journeyman, scored a big upset with a 10-round unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Jeremiah Milton.

Wright carried 280 pounds, 100 pounds more than in his pro debut 11 years ago. Although he was undefeated (13-0, 11 KOs), he had never defeated an opponent with a winning record and his last four opponents were a miserable 19-48-2. Moreover, he took the fight on short notice.

What Wright had going for him was fast hands and, in the opening round, he put Milton on the canvas with a straight right hand. From that point, Milton fought tentatively and Wright, looking fatigued as early as the fourth round, fought only in spurts. It seemed doubtful that he could last the distance, but Milton, the subject of a 2021 profile in these pages, was wary of Wright’s power and unable to capitalize. “It’s almost as if Milton is afraid to win,” said ringside commentator Chris Algieri during the ninth stanza when the bout had devolved into a hugfest.

The judges had it 96-93 and 97-92 twice for the victorious Wright who boosted his record to 14-0 without improving his stature.

Also

In the TV opener, a 10-round contest in the junior middleweight division, Najee Lopez stablemate Darrelle Valsaint (12-0, 10 KOs) scored his career-best win with a second-round knockout of 35-year-old Dutch globetrotter Stephen Danyo (23-7-3).

A native Floridian of Haitian descent, the 22-year-old Valsaint was making his eighth start in Plant City. He rocked Danyo with a chopping right hand high on the temple and then, as Danyo slumped forward, applied the exclamation point, a short left uppercut. The official time was 2:17 of round two.

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Japanese Superstar Naoya Inoue is Headed to Vegas after KOing Ye Joon Kim

Published

2 days ago

January 24, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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Japan’s magnificent Naoya Inoue, appearing in his twenty-fourth title fight, scored his 11^th straight stoppage tonight while successfully defending his unified super bantamweight title, advancing his record to 29-0 (26 KOs) at the expense of Ye Joon Kim. The match at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena came to an end at the 2:25 mark of round four when U.S. referee Mark Nelson tolled “10” over the brave but overmatched Korean.

Kim, raised in a Seoul orphanage, had a few good moments, but the “Monster” found his rhythm in the third round, leaving Kim with a purplish welt under his left eye. In the next frame, he brought the match to a conclusion, staggering the Korean with a left and then finishing matters with an overhand right that put Kim on the seat of his pants, dazed and wincing in pain.

Kim, who brought a 21-2-2 record, took the fight on 10 days’ notice, replacing Australia’s Sam Goodman who suffered an eye injury in sparring that never healed properly, forcing him to withdraw twice.

Co-promoter Bob Arum, who was in the building, announced that Inoue’s next fight would happen in Las Vegas in the Spring. Speculation centers on Mexico City’s Alan Picasso (31-0-1, 17 KOs) who is ranked #1 by the WBC. However, there’s also speculation that the 31-year-old Inoue may move up to featherweight and seek to win a title in a fifth weight class, in which case a potential opponent is Brandon Figueroa should he defeat former Inoue foe Stephen Fulton next weekend. In “olden days,” this notion would have been dismissed as the Japanese superstar and Figueroa have different promoters, but the arrival of Turki Alalshikh, the sport’s Daddy Warbucks, has changed the dynamic. Tonight, Naoya Inoue made his first start as a brand ambassador for Riyadh Season.

Simmering on the backburner is a megafight with countryman Junto Nakatani, an easy fight to make as Arum has ties to both. However, the powers-that-be would prefer more “marination.”

Inoue has appeared twice in Las Vegas, scoring a seventh-round stoppage of Jason Moloney in October of 2020 at the MGM Bubble and a third-round stoppage of Michael Dasmarinas at the Virgin Hotels in June of 2021.

Semi-wind-up

In a 12-round bout for a regional welterweight title, Jin Sasaki improved to 19-1-1 (17) with a unanimous decision over Shoki Sakai (29-15-3). The scores were 118-110, 117-111, and 116-112.

Also

In a bout in which both contestants were on the canvas, Toshiki Shimomachi (20-1-3) edged out Misaki Hirano (11-2), winning a majority decision. A 28-year-old Osaka southpaw with a fan-friendly style, the lanky Shimomachi, unbeaten in his last 22 starts, competes as a super bantamweight. A match with Inoue may be in his future.

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Eric Priest Wins Handily on Thursday’s Golden Boy card at the Commerce Casino

Published

2 days ago

January 24, 2025

David A. Avila

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Model turned fighter Eric Priest jabbed and jolted his way into the super middleweight rankings with a shutout decision win over veteran Tyler Howard on Thursday.

In his first main event Priest (15-0, 8 KOs) proved ready for contender status by defusing every attack Tennessee’s Howard (20-3, 11 KOs) could muster at Commerce Casino, the second fight in six days at the LA County venue.

All ticket monies collected on the Folden Boy Promotions card were contributed to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation as they battle wildfires sprouting all over Los Angeles County due to high winds.

Priest, 26, had never fought anyone near Howard’s caliber but used a ramrod jab to keep the veteran off-balance and unable to muster a forceful counter-attack. Round after round the Korean-American fighter pumped left jabs while circling his opposition.

Though hit with power shots, none seemed to faze Howard but his own blows were unable to put a dent in Priest. After 10 rounds of the same repetitive action all three judges scored the fight 100-90 for Priest who now wins a regional super middleweight title.

Priest also joins the top 15 rankings of the WBA organization.

In a fight between evenly matched middleweights, Jordan Panthen (11-0, 9 KOs) remained undefeated after 10 rounds versus DeAundre Pettus (12-4, 7 KOs). Though equally skilled, Panthen simply out-worked the South Caroliina fighter to win by unanimous decision. No knockdowns were scored.

Other Bouts

Grant Flores (8-0, 6 KOs) knocked out Costa Rica’s David Lobo Ramirez (17-4, 12 KOs) with two successive right uppercuts at 2:59 of the second round of the super welterweight fight.

Cayden Griffith (3-0, 3 KOs) used a left hook to the body to stop Mark Misiura at 1:43 of the second round in a super welterweight bout.

Jordan Fuentes (3-0) floored Brandon Badillo (0-3-1) in the third round and proceeded to win by decision after four rounds in a super bantamweight fight.

A super featherweight match saw Leonardo Sanchez (8-0) win by decision over Joseph Cruz Brown (10-12) after six rounds.

Photo credit: Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy

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