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Will Pacquiao Be Eating HUGE Slice of Blame Pie?..BORGES

Arum has been getting heat for doing what businessmen do, maximizing profits. But Borges says the onus of culpability is on Pacquiao, who should remember that Arum works for Pacquiao, not the other way around. (Hogan)
The long running soap opera “The Unmaking of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao’’ continued this week after Mayweather called out Pacquiao and Pacquiao’s promoter responded by saying his fighter needed longer to recover from a cut eye than most people do from triple bypass surgery.
Once Mayweather had his already scheduled 87-day sojourn at the county jail in Las Vegas delayed for a reason that would work only in Vegas, he immediately launched a Twitter assault on Pacquiao, challenging him to a May 5 showdown at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, winner take half.
Arum’s response was to say the 29-stitch cut Pacquiao sustained on Nov. 12 in his questionable majority decision victory over Juan Manuel Marquez would take six months to heal, meaning he couldn’t begin sparring until April 1 and that would be a disadvantage he could not in good conscience (good what?) allow his fighter to suffer.
The fact that you could recover from a gunshot wound in less than six months and fight again didn’t seem to enter Arum’s timetable. When he told the Los Angeles Times that June 9 would be “perfect’’ for such a match he revealed his true agenda – which is avoiding Mayweather at all cost because of the cost…to him.
How do we know this? Because Justice of the Peace Saragosa had changed Mayweather’s Jan. 6 surrender date to June 1 and the likelihood that either fighter would agree to hold the match in the local clink was nil…unless the county put up a sizeable site fee, of course.
So where once it was Mayweather’s fault for insisting on Olympic style blood testing (which seems reasonable to me, by the way) and then it was Pacquiao’s for refusing to do so because Nevada regulations don’t require it (and thus he wouldn’t be dictated to by Mayweather) and then Arum and Golden Boy Promotions’ tandem of Oscar De La Hoya and Richard Schaefer for doing more to stir up problems than solve them in the 2 ½ years or so that have dragged on since the fight was first proposed, now the blame belongs to Pacquiao alone.
It is true that Justice of the Peace Melissa Saragosa agreeing to delay his serving a sentence on misdemeanor domestic assault charges until after he fulfilled his previously signed contract to fight anyone he feels like on Cinco de Mayo weekend was a decision not based on any known legal argument. It was based on the argument that works best in Vegas and boxing – M-O-N-E-Y – but so what?
The legal conversation on the subject went something like this:
Mayweather’s attorney: “Hey, Judge, the dude has a multi-million dollar contract to fight at the MGM May 5 that could bring $100 million into town.’’
Justice Saragosa: “Yo, really? What was I THIIIIIINKING! Casino business is casino business. Even somebody who went to law school knows that.’’
Mayweather’s attorney: “So?’’
Justice Saragosa: “So who said Jan. 6? How silly? I meant June 6…if that’s convenient for Mr. Mayweather and any casino in town. If not, you just let us know when he’s got some free time and we’ll squeeze it in between fights, trips to the sports book and appearances on HBO’s 24/7.’’
Mayweather’s attorney: “Right on, Dawg. I mean, your Honor.’’
Almost immediately thereafter, Mayweather Tweeted out the following challenge to Pacquiao: “Manny Pacquiao I'm calling you out let's fight May 5th and give the world what they want to see.”
Barely a minute later, he added: “My Jail Sentence was pushed back because the date was locked in. Step up Punk.”
As negotiating strategy goes “Punk’’ was probably not the best way to convince Pacquiao to fight him but what would you expect from Mayweather? A reasonable discourse?
It would have been far better had Mayweather privately reached Pacquiao and said, “Let’s skip all this promotional b.s. and you and I make the deal. What do we need these guys to do beyond hang up a banner and count the money?’’
The fact is, they could put up a sign on the outskirts of Vegas saying “Mayweather-Pacquiao Fight tonight’’ and the town would be packed, both HBO and SHOWTIME would be falling over themselves to get a pay-per-view deal with them and sponsors would be banging on their Twitter accounts trying to throw money at them.
That’s not to say Arum and Golden Boy don’t have roles in this. It’s just to point out that the fight will be made ANY TIME THE TWO FIGHTERS ORDER THEM TO MAKE IT.
That being the case – which it is now, was always and will be forever more – it is up to Pacquiao to simply say that to Arum. Reportedly he told a Filipino journalist this week he doesn’t want to be blamed for the fight not happening and will tell his promoter to forget that list of four other opponents and hammer out a deal with Mayweather.
If true, that should end the issue because while Arum may try to bend Pacquiao’s mind into a pretzel to get him to face Miguel Cotto, Timothy Bradley or Juan Manuel Marquez (forget Lamont Peterson) because, as Mayweather’s friend and advisor Leonard Ellerbe correctly but unwisely pointed out, “Arum has both sides in those fights.“
That was often one of the criticisms Arum and many in boxing used to level quite rightly at Don King, even though the promoter hasn’t been born who doesn’t try to control both sides of any big fight they’re involved in. If Arum can convince Pacquiao to accept one of those fighters, all of whom are under contract to Arum, he indeed makes money on both sides and, more importantly, doesn’t have Mayweather’s bean counters peering over his shoulder counting every penny and insisting that large parts of the ancillary revenue go into his pocket and not Arum’s or Pacquiao’s. You really think Pac-Man is splitting foreign TV rights, sponsorships or popcorn sales with Tim Bradley?
So if the fight doesn’t happen May 5 who’s to blame? On some level everyone still would apply but if you were slicing up the blame pie this time the largest slice would have to go to Manny Pacquiao.
Bob Arum works for him, not the other way around. All Pacquiao has to do is what Evander Holyfield did when he agreed to take $4 million less than his representatives kept saying he deserved to fight Mike Tyson the first time, then flew to Toronto without them and made the deal. He then knocked Tyson out and made $25 million in the rematch.
That’s called betting on yourself. It’s also called being your own man. If Manny Pacquiao really wants this fight, that’s all he has to be.
If he says yes and Mayweather comes up with some other excuse then the world will know why it never happened. Conversely, if Pacquiao says he can’t make it because he’s got a June date with Marquez or Bradley or he needs six months to heal from a cut, the world will know it wasn’t Mayweather this time.
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Floyd Mayweather has Another Phenom and his name is Curmel Moton

Floyd Mayweather has Another Phenom and his name is Curmel Moton
In any endeavor, the defining feature of a phenom is his youth. Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper was a phenom. He was on the radar screen of baseball’s most powerful player agents when he was 14 years old.
Curmel Moton, who turns 19 in June, is a phenom. Of all the young boxing stars out there, wrote James Slater in July of last year, “Curmel Moton is the one to get most excited about.”
Moton was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. His father Curtis Moton, a barber by trade, was a big boxing fan and specifically a big fan of Floyd Mayweather Jr. When Curmel was six, Curtis packed up his wife (Curmel’s stepmom) and his son and moved to Las Vegas. Curtis wanted his son to get involved in boxing and there was no better place to develop one’s latent talents than in Las Vegas where many of the sport’s top practitioners came to train.
Many father-son relationships have been ruined, or at least frayed, by a father’s unrealistic expectations for his son, but when it came to boxing, the boy was a natural and he felt right at home in the gym.
The gym the Motons patronized was the Mayweather Boxing Club. Curtis took his son there in hopes of catching the eye of the proprietor. “Floyd would occasionally drop by the gym and I was there so often that he came to recognize me,” says Curmel. What he fails to add is that the trainers there had Floyd’s ear. “This kid is special,” they told him.
It costs a great deal of money for a kid to travel around the country competing in a slew of amateur boxing tournaments. Only a few have the luxury of a sponsor. For the vast majority, fund raisers such as car washes keep the wheels greased.
Floyd Mayweather stepped in with the financial backing needed for the Motons to canvas the country in tournaments. As an amateur, Curmel was — take your pick — 156-7 or 144-6 or 61-3 (the latter figure from boxrec). Regardless, at virtually every tournament at which he appeared, Curmel Moton was the cock of the walk.
Before the pandemic, Floyd Mayweather Jr had a stable of boxers he promoted under the banner of “The Money Team.” In talking about his boxers, Floyd was understated with one glaring exception – Gervonta “Tank” Davis, now one of boxing’s top earners.
When Floyd took to praising Curmel Moton with the same effusive language, folks stood up and took notice.
Curmel made his pro debut on Sept. 30, 2023, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on the undercard of the super middleweight title fight between Canelo Alvarez and Jermell Charlo. After stopping his opponent in the opening round, he addressed a flock of reporters in the media room with Floyd standing at his side. “I felt ready,” he said, “I knew I had Floyd behind me. He believes in me. I had the utmost confidence going into the fight. And I went in there and did what I do.”
Floyd ventured the opinion that Curmel was already a better fighter than Leigh Wood, the reigning WBA world featherweight champion who would successfully defend his belt the following week.
Moton’s boxing style has been described as a blend of Floyd Mayweather and Tank Davis. “I grew up watching Floyd, so it’s natural I have some similarities to him,” says Curmel who sparred with Tank in late November of 2021 as Davis was preparing for his match with Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz. Curmell says he did okay. He was then 15 years old and still in school; he dropped out as soon as he reached the age of 16.
Curmel is now 7-0 with six KOs, four coming in the opening round. He pitched an 8-round shutout the only time he was taken the distance. It’s not yet official, but he returns to the ring on May 31 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas where Caleb Plant and Jermall Charlo are co-featured in matches conceived as tune-ups for a fall showdown. The fight card will reportedly be free for Amazon Prime Video subscribers.
Curmel’s presumptive opponent is Renny Viamonte, a 28-year-old Las Vegas-based Cuban with a 4-1-1 (2) record. It will be Curmel’s first professional fight with Kofi Jantuah the chief voice in his corner. A two-time world title challenger who began his career in his native Ghana, the 50-year-old Jantuah has worked almost exclusively with amateurs, a recent exception being Mikaela Mayer.
It would seem that the phenom needs a tougher opponent than Viamonte at this stage of his career. However, the match is intriguing in one regard. Viamonte is lanky. Listed at 5-foot-11, he will have a seven-inch height advantage.
Keeping his weight down has already been problematic for Moton. He tipped the scales at 128 ½ for his most recent fight. His May 31 bout, he says, will be contested at 135 and down the road it’s reasonable to think he will blossom into a welterweight. And with each bump up in weight, his short stature will theoretically be more of a handicap.
For fun, we asked Moton to name the top fighter on his pound-for-pound list. “[Oleksandr] Usyk is number one right now,” he said without hesitation,” great footwork, but guys like Canelo, Crawford, Inoue, and Bivol are right there.”
It’s notable that there isn’t a young gun on that list. Usyk is 38, a year older than Crawford; Inoue is the pup at age 32.
Moton anticipates that his name will appear on pound-for-pound lists within the next two or three years. True, history is replete with examples of phenoms who flamed out early, but we wouldn’t bet against it.
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Arne’s Almanac: The First Boxing Writers Assoc. of America Dinner Was Quite the Shindig

The first annual dinner of the Boxing Writers Association of America was staged on April 25, 1926 in the grand ballroom of New York’s Hotel Astor, an edifice that rivaled the original Waldorf Astoria as the swankiest hotel in the city. Back then, the organization was known as the Boxing Writers Association of Greater New York.
The ballroom was configured to hold 1200 for the banquet which was reportedly oversubscribed. Among those listed as agreeing to attend were the governors of six states (New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Maryland) and the mayors of 10 of America’s largest cities.
In 1926, radio was in its infancy and the digital age was decades away (and inconceivable). So, every journalist who regularly covered boxing was a newspaper and/or magazine writer, editor, or cartoonist. And at this juncture in American history, there were plenty of outlets for someone who wanted to pursue a career as a sportswriter and had the requisite skills to get hired.
The following papers were represented at the inaugural boxing writers’ dinner:
New York Times
New York News
New York World
New York Sun
New York Journal
New York Post
New York Mirror
New York Telegram
New York Graphic
New York Herald Tribune
Brooklyn Eagle
Brooklyn Times
Brooklyn Standard Union
Brooklyn Citizen
Bronx Home News
This isn’t a complete list because a few of these papers, notably the New York World and the New York Journal, had strong afternoon editions that functioned as independent papers. Plus, scribes from both big national wire services (Associated Press and UPI) attended the banquet and there were undoubtedly a smattering of scribes from papers in New Jersey and Connecticut.
Back then, the event’s organizer Nat Fleischer, sports editor of the New York Telegram and the driving force behind The Ring magazine, had little choice but to limit the journalistic component of the gathering to writers in the New York metropolitan area. There wasn’t a ballroom big enough to accommodate a good-sized response if he had extended the welcome to every boxing writer in North America.
The keynote speaker at the inaugural dinner was New York’s charismatic Jazz Age mayor James J. “Jimmy” Walker, architect of the transformative Walker Law of 1920 which ushered in a new era of boxing in the Empire State with a template that would guide reformers in many other jurisdictions.
Prizefighting was then associated with hooligans. In his speech, Mayor Walker promised to rid the sport of their ilk. “Boxing, as you know, is closest to my heart,” said hizzoner. “So I tell you the police force is behind you against those who would besmirch or injure boxing. Rowdyism doesn’t belong in this town or in your game.” (In 1945, Walker would be the recipient of the Edward J. Neil Memorial Award given for meritorious service to the sport. The oldest of the BWAA awards, the previous recipients were all active or former boxers. The award, no longer issued under that title, was named for an Associated Press sportswriter and war correspondent who died from shrapnel wounds covering the Spanish Civil War.)
Another speaker was well-traveled sportswriter Wilbur Wood, then affiliated with the Brooklyn Citizen. He told the assembly that the aim of the organization was two-fold: to help defend the game against its detractors and to promote harmony among the various factions.
Of course, the 1926 dinner wouldn’t have been as well-attended without the entertainment. According to press dispatches, Broadway stars and performers from some of the city’s top nightclubs would be there to regale the attendees. Among the names bandied about were vaudeville superstars Sophie Tucker and Jimmy Durante, the latter of whom would appear with his trio, Durante, (Lou) Clayton, and (Eddie) Jackson.
There was a contraction of New York newspapers during the Great Depression. Although empirical evidence is lacking, the inaugural boxing writers dinner was likely the largest of its kind. Fifteen years later, in 1941, the event drew “more than 200” according to a news report. There was no mention of entertainment.
In 1950, for the first time, the annual dinner was opened to the public. For $25, a civilian could get a meal and mingle with some of his favorite fighters. Sugar Ray Robinson was the Edward J. Neil Award winner that year, honored for his ring exploits and for donating his purse from the Charlie Fusari fight to the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund.
There was no formal announcement when the Boxing Writers Association of Greater New York was re-christened the Boxing Writers Association of America, but by the late 1940s reporters were referencing the annual event as simply the boxing writers dinner. By then, it had become traditional to hold the annual affair in January, a practice discontinued after 1971.
The winnowing of New York’s newspaper herd plus competing banquets in other parts of the country forced Nat Fleischer’s baby to adapt. And more adaptations will be necessary in the immediate future as the future of the BWAA, as it currently exists, is threatened by new technologies. If the forthcoming BWAA dinner (April 30 at the Edison Ballroom in mid-Manhattan) were restricted to wordsmiths from the traditional print media, the gathering would be too small to cover the nut and the congregants would be drawn disproportionately from the geriatric class.
Some of those adaptations have already started. Last year, Las Vegas resident Sean Zittel, a recent UNLV graduate, had the distinction of becoming the first videographer welcomed into the BWAA. With more and more people getting their news from sound bites, rather than the written word, the videographer serves an important function.
The reporters who conducted interviews with pen and paper have gone the way of the dodo bird and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A taped interview for a “talkie” has more integrity than a story culled from a paper and pen interview because it is unfiltered. Many years ago, some reporters, after interviewing the great Joe Louis, put words in his mouth that made him seem like a dullard, words consistent with the Sambo stereotype. In other instances, the language of some athletes was reconstructed to the point where the reader would think the athlete had a second job as an English professor.
The content created by videographers is free from that bias. More of them will inevitably join the BWAA and similar organizations in the future.
Photo: Nat Fleischer is flanked by Sugar Ray Robinson and Tony Zale at the 1947 boxing writers dinner.
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Gabriela Fundora KOs Marilyn Badillo and Perez Upsets Conwell in Oceanside

It was just a numbers game for Gabriela Fundora and despite Mexico’s Marilyn Badillo’s elusive tactics it took the champion one punch to end the fight and retain her undisputed flyweight world title by knockout on Saturday.
Will it be her last flyweight defense?
Though Fundora (16-0, 8 KOs) fired dozens of misses, a single punch found Badillo (19-1-1, 3 KOs) and ended her undefeated career and first attempt at a world title at the Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, California.
Fundora, however, proves unbeatable at flyweight.
The champion entered the arena as the headliner for the Golden Boy Promotion show and stepped through the ropes with every physical advantage possible, including power.
Mexico’s Badillo was a midget compared to Fundora but proved to be as elusive as a butterfly in a menagerie for the first six rounds. As the six-inch taller Fundora connected on one punch for every dozen thrown, that single punch was a deadly reminder.
Badillo tried ducking low and slipping to the left while countering with slashing uppercuts, she found little success. She did find the body a solid target but the blows proved to be useless. And when Badillo clinched, that proved more erroneous as Fundora belted her rapidly during the tie-ups.
“She was kind of doing her ducking thing,” said Fundora describing Badillo’s defensive tactics. “I just put the pressure on. It was just like a train. We didn’t give her that break.”
The Mexican fighter tried valiantly with various maneuvers. None proved even slightly successful. Fundora remained poised and under control as she stalked the challenger.
In the seventh round Badillo seemed to take a stand and try to slug it out with Fundora. She quickly was lit up by rapid left crosses and down she went at 1:44 of the seventh round. The Mexican fighter’s corner wisely waved off the fight and referee Rudy Barragan stopped the fight and held the dazed Badillo upright.
Once again Fundora remained champion by knockout. The only question now is will she move up to super flyweight or bantamweight to challenge the bigger girls.
Perez Beats Conwell.
Mexico’s Jorge “Chino” Perez (33-4, 26 KOs) upset Charles Conwell (21-1, 15 KOs) to win by split decision after 12 rounds in their super welterweight showdown.
It was a match that paired two hard-hitting fighters whose ledgers brimmed with knockouts, but neither was able to score a knockdown against each other.
Neither fighter moved backward. It was full steam ahead with Conwell proving successful to the body and head with left hooks and Perez connecting with rights to the head and body. It was difficult to differentiate the winner.
Though Conwell seemed to be the superior defensive fighter and more accurate, two judges preferred Perez’s busier style. They gave the fight to Perez by 115-113 scores with the dissenter favoring Conwell by the same margin.
It was Conwell’s first pro loss. Maybe it will open doors for more opportunities.
Other Bouts
Tristan Kalkreuth (15-1) managed to pass a serious heat check by unanimous decision against former contender Felix Valera (24-8) after a 10-round back-and-forth heavyweight fight.
It was very close.
Kalkreuth is one of those fighters that possess all the physical tools including youth and size but never seems to be able to show it. Once again he edged past another foe but at least this time he faced an experienced fighter in Valera.
Valera had his moments especially in the middle of the 10-round fight but slowed down during the last three rounds.
One major asset for Kalkreuth was his chin. He got caught but still motored past the clever Valera. After 10 rounds two judges saw it 99-91 and one other judge 97-93 all for Kalkreuth.
Highly-rated prospect Ruslan Abdullaev (2-0) blasted past dangerous Jino Rodrigo (13- 5-2) in an eight round super lightweight fight. He nearly stopped the very tough Rodrigo in the last two rounds and won by unanimous decision.
Abdullaev is trained by Joel and Antonio Diaz in Indio.
Bakersfield prospect Joel Iriarte (7-0, 7 KOs) needed only 1:44 to knock out Puerto Rico’s Marcos Jimenez (25-12) in a welterweight bout.
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