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Pacquiao Might Have Blueprint to Beat Mayweather

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PacquiaoMarquezIII Hogan 34It now looks like the much anticipated fantasy fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather will remain just that.

A fantasy.

During the recent Mayweather/Cotto presser in NY, Floyd announced that the fight would remain unlikely as long as Pacquiao is promoted under Bob Arum. Mayweather went on, adding that he was not willing to split the purse with Pacquiao either.

But Floyd is considered the betting favourite. So why the apparent reluctance?

Nobody knows Floyd Mayweather better than, well, Floyd Mayweather. He knows his likes and dislikes. He knows what makes him happy or sad. More importantly, he knows his strengths and his weaknesses.

Mayweather versus Pacquiao was once thought of as an even fight. Not anymore. Back in November of last year, Manny Pacquiao was awarded a highly controversial decision win over Juan Manuel Marquez with the Mexican great once again proving to have the counterpunching style to neutralise the Filipino's overwhelming offense. Making things look even more ominous for Pacquiao, was back in 2009, after an 18 month lay off, Floyd Mayweather dominated the very same Marquez, winning just about every second of every round. It was as one sided a fight as you are likely to see.

As a result, most are now of the opinion, that if Manny Pacquiao could not handle Juan Manuel Marquez, who is a great counterpuncher, then surely Floyd Mayweather, who is an all time great counterpuncher, will be able to control Pacquiao with relative ease.

Many who felt Pacquiao may have had the style to cause Floyd problems before the last Marquez fight, now think otherwise.

Nothing could be further from the truth. There was nothing in the last Pacquiao/Marquez fight that has changed this writer's opinion that if they ever meet in the ring, Manny Pacquiao will be Floyd Mayweather's toughest challenge to date. To further my point, there were elements in the last Pacquiao/Marquez fight that have enhanced my opinion.

Juan Manuel Marquez operates very differently from Floyd Mayweather. Marquez is probably the best combination puncher in the sport. He owns a variety of punches that he mixes up, to body and head, throwing as many as five at a time. He is never afraid of letting his hands go, and he is able to mount offense without hesitation. One of the reasons Marquez enjoys great success over Pacquiao is his willingness to match him in the punch output department. In other words, Marquez is willing to risk his defensive responsibility which allows him to land his own shots. As a result, Pacquiao's own offense is reduced. Floyd Mayweather on the other hand, is the polar opposite. Floyd shies away from throwing combinations. Instead, Floyd's straight right hand is his primary offensive weapon, a punch which he only allows to be released, one shot at a time, once the offense of his opponent has been neutralised.

Mayweather and Marquez set about counterpunching in different ways too. Floyd likes to stand in front of his opponent, almost daring them to open up. Once they do, Floyd's god given anticipation takes over. He is able to make an opponent miss a jab by tilting his head back, which enables him to then immediately land his straight right hand over the top of his opponent's exposed jab. Floyd calls this the pull counter. Floyd also likes to counter using his shoulder roll. He is able to deflect his opponents offense off of his shoulders, thus creating an angle for him to counter straight back. Floyd uses upper body movement to defend himself. Marquez uses his legs.

The point is, when defending in this way, Mayweather's feet are planted. Marquez' feet are only planted when he is on offense. Marquez likes to defend by maintaining a distance between himself and his opponent, constantly circling clockwise around the ring. Take a look at his three fights with Pacquiao. You will be amazed at how much ground Marquez covers with his feet. Only when an opponent is off balance and Marquez has created an angle, does he counter. Defending in this way against Pacquiao does not allow Marquez to get caught by Manny's straight left hand. It also keeps his back off the ropes. Alarmingly, Mayweather's back probably touched the ropes more in four rounds with Victor Ortiz, than Marquez' back did in three fights with Manny Pacquiao.

Technically, Marquez and Mayweather are both counterpunchers, yes. But that's where the similarities begin and end. They are like night and day when it comes to how they behave in the ring.

Juan Manuel Marquez does not receive enough credit for his ability to neutralise Manny Pacquiao. It does him a major disservice to make the assumption that Pacquiao is on the slide or Mayweather could replicate what Marquez is able achieve against Manny.

Marquez has somewhat evolved into a specialist at fighting Manny Pacquiao.

Prior to their last fight, Marquez had 24 rounds experience with Pacquiao. He now has 36. If we a look at Marquez' fight's against Juan Diaz and Michael Katsidis, you will see a far more aggressive Marquez, sometimes even pressing the attack, as opposed to sitting back and waiting to counter.

Yet for all the suggestions that Marquez has Manny's number, how many official wins does Marquez have over Pacquiao? Ask yourself this. In their last fight, did Marquez defeat Pacquiao? Or did he tame Pacquiao? One could argue Marquez did a good job of not allowing himself to take a beating like previous Pacquiao opponentsShane Mosley and Joshua Clottey did, whilst applying just a little bit more in the way ofoffense to avoid comparisons with them. Point being, Manny Pacquiao is very tough to defeat on the scorecards. Erik Morales managed it once, but that win was twice reversed in devastating fashion. Marquez may have come as close as anyone can to defeating the current version of Manny Pacquiao without leaving themselves vulnerable to Manny's offense. Marquez fought cautious and was backing up the whole time, allowing Pacquiao to come onto him. This is why the judges awarded Pacquiao the decision.

It is easy to get wrapped up in the mystique of Floyd's defensive wizardry and sheer dominance over his opposition. But, if we think logically, logic tells us that a Pacquiao/Mayweather fight would probably go to the scorecards. We know that Pacquiao, unlike Roy Jones during his prime years, can take a decent shot. Manny is not as elusive as Jones was. We have seen him hit often and hard by the likes of Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. Mayweather on the other hand, does not take risks inside the ring, he is not an aggressive fighter, he rarely looks for the knockout, instead preferring to outbox his opponent over the distance.

Because of the nature of round scoring, it is not inconceivable to think that Mayweather could appear to be winning the fight, boxing and moving, making Pacquiao miss and still end up losing a decision. Just ask Juan Manuel Marquez. Marquez probably won the battle, but lost the war because of an opinion from two men. Remember, many felt Jose Luis Castillo defeated Mayweather in their first fight. One judge also felt that De la Hoya defeated Mayweather, because of Oscar's constant forward momentum. Pacquiao's style translates to him receiving the benefit of the doubt in close fights that don't seem to go his way. Floyd is the opposite, judges sometimes think hisfights are a lot closer than theyreally are. The curse of the counterpuncher against volume.

We can look at the Joshua Clottey fight as another example. If you were to choose the ten cleanest punches of the whole fight, every one of them would have belonged to Joshua Clottey. Pacquiao struggled to land anything clean on Clottey the whole fight, yet he won every single round because of his aggression and volume. Pacquiao's high volume and aggressive nature does not bode well for a defensive minded fighter. On average, Floyd probably throws around 400 punches a fight. Manny Pacquiao throws around the 800 mark. Thats a 2 to 1 ratio. Damning numbers in a fight that could be the subject of judgement in the end.

It is not just on the scorecards where Pacquiao's style does not translate well for Mayweather either. As mentioned earlier, Marquez and Mayweather go about their jobs very differently. Floyd's defense is one of the best in boxing history, but Marquez may have the more appropriate defense when it comes to defending Pacquiao attacks.

Manny Pacquiao, in the eyes of many, is the best offensive fighter in boxing. Pacquiao's best weapon is his ability to feint, then, using superb footwork, change the direction of his attack at the last second, then explode in with his combinations.

His “in and out” style of boxing is the reason Pacquiao opponents all share the same notion, that Pacquiao throws his punches from such strange angles.

The truth is, Pacquiao only ever throws straight punches, but it's because of the feints that freeze his opponents, and his footwork, that enables him to snake around his opponent's guard which allows him to land the combinations that they don't see coming.

Marquez' style combats this attack perfectly.

His heels seldom touch the canvas, he is always moving, circling around the ring, never allowing himself to be caught in the Pacquiao feint combination. In contrast, Floyd Mayweather often plants his feet when defending. Mayweather's defense is designed to meet offense head on, like waves crashing into rocks. This is the difference between the two defensive mechanics. Mayweather invites offense onto him, whereas Marquez maintains distance between himself and his opponent. It is no coincidence then, that James Toney and Chad Dawson, both defensive minded fighters with a similar style to Mayweather, lost to Roy Jones and Jean Pascal respectively. They were fighters who utilised footwork, combinations and an “in and out” style of boxing to bewilder their opponents.

What about Pacquiao's southpaw stance?

Floyd Mayweather has fought southpaws before, but Pacquiao is very different. Pacquiao is unconventional with his movement. Pacquiao likes to drift to his left which can be very confusing for an orthodox fighter, as the power left hand is now coming at a very central angle. If we look at Mayweather's defensive shell and imagine he is fighting an orthodox fighter, his right hand is protecting his chin and parrying his opponents' jab. Floyd's left shoulder is also protecting his chin and deflecting right hand power shots coming from the outside.

Pacquiao's southpaw stance and unconventional movement appears to trump Mayweather's defense. Moving inside Mayweather's guard, Pacquiao's left hand would now be traveling INSIDE of Floyd's left shoulder, instead of AROUND.

Take a look at the combination Mosley landed on Floyd that hurt him in round 2 of their fight. Now think of the way Floyd was defending himself. His feet were planted, using his parry and shoulders to defend himself. Marquez never defends in this way against Pacquiao.

One final worry for Floyd could be that he is a slow starter, as was evident against Chop Chop Corley, Zab Judah, Ricky Hatton and Shane Mosley. Manny Pacquiao, however, is a fast starter. He hurt and scored early knockdowns of Barerra, Morales, Marquez, Hatton, Cotto and Mosely.

Ask yourself this, if Pacquiao was in the ring with Mayweather, instead of Shane Mosley during their contest, would Mayweather have even made it to the next round, let alone go on to dominate every proceeding round after?

Don't get me wrong, Floyd Mayweather is a sensational fighter. His ability to adjust and adapt in the ring is extraordinary and the longer this fight takes to be made, the more Mayweather will benefit as a result. Mayweather's fundamentals and knowledge last with time. Pacquiao's physical gifts, like speed and explosiveness, do not.

Most people agree Floyd is the best fighter in the world ahead of Pacquiao. Floyd is probably more dominant over his opposition than Manny is over his. However, it's an entirely different story when you match Floyd's style with Manny's style. Because of his experience of going to the scorecards in big fights, I think Floyd may have been the only person who watched the last Pacquiao/Marquez fight and actually came away with negative thoughts regarding his own chances. The nature of round scoring favours Pacquiao, not Mayweather. Compubox favours Pacquiao, not Mayweather. Look at the fighters who Floyd has been thought to have avoided. Paul Williams and Antonio Margarito–Margarito was actually considered a threat at one time–and now Pacquiao.

The commonality between those fighters and Pacquiao? Volume.

Mayweather is more than capable of defeating Manny Pacquiao. But to suggest so based on how Juan Manuel Marquez looked against Pacquiao is a false assumption.

Nearly every great fighter throughout history had an opponent, who may not have been as talented or as skilled, yet proved to be more than their match because of a stylistic contrast. Muhammad Ali had Ken Norton, Manny Pacquiao has Juan Manuel Marquez.

No fighter is unbeatable. Even Ray Robinson lost fights. As of yet, there is no blueprint on how to beat Floyd Mayweather. Does the blueprint lie within Pacquiao's style?

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 326: Top Rank and San Diego Smoke

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 326: Top Rank and San Diego Smoke

Years ago, I worked at a newsstand in the Beverly Hills area. It was a 24-hour a day version and the people that dropped by were very colorful and unique.

One elderly woman Eva, who bordered on homeless but pridefully wore lipstick, would stop by the newsstand weekly to purchase a pack of menthol cigarettes. On one occasion, she asked if I had ever been to San Diego?

I answered “yes, many times.”

She countered “you need to watch out for San Diego Smoke.”

This Saturday, Top Rank brings its brand of prizefighting to San Diego or what could be called San Diego Smoke. Leading the fight card is Mexico’s Emanuel Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KOs) defending the WBO super feather title against undefeated Filipino Charly Suarez (18-0, 10 KOs) at Pechanga Arena. ESPN will televise.

This is Navarrete’s fourth defense of the super feather title.

The last time Navarrete stepped in the boxing ring he needed six rounds to dismantle the very capable Oscar Valdez in their rematch. One thing about Mexico City’s Navarrete is he always brings “the smoke.”

Also, on the same card is Fontana, California’s Raymond Muratalla (22-0, 17 KOs) vying for the interim IBF lightweight title against Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev (20-1, 12 KOs) on the co-main event.

Abdullaev has only fought once before in the USA and was handily defeated by Devin Haney back in 2019. But that was six years ago and since then he has knocked off various contenders.

Muratalla is a slick fighting lightweight who trains at the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy now in Moreno Valley, Calif. It’s a virtual boot camp with many of the top fighters on the West Coast available to spar on a daily basis. If you need someone bigger or smaller, stronger or faster someone can match those needs.

When you have that kind of preparation available, it’s tough to beat. Still, you have to fight the fight. You never know what can happen inside the prize ring.

Another fighter to watch is Perla Bazaldua, 19, a young and very talented female fighter out of the Los Angeles area. She is trained by Manny Robles who is building a small army of top female fighters.

Bazaldua (1-0, 1 KO) meets Mona Ward (0-1) in a super flyweight match on the preliminary portion of the Top Rank card. Top Rank does not sign many female fighters so you know that they believe in her talent.

Others on the Top Rank card in San Diego include Giovani Santillan, Andres Cortes, Albert Gonzalez, Sebastian Gonzalez and others.

They all will bring a lot of smoke to San Diego.

Probox TV

A strong card led by Erickson “The Hammer” Lubin (26-2, 18 KOs) facing Ardreal Holmes Jr. (17-0, 6 KOs) in a super welterweight clash between southpaws takes place on Saturday at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, Florida. PROBOX TV will stream the fight card.

Ardreal has rocketed up the standings and now faces veteran Lubin whose only losses came against world titlists Sebastian Fundora and Jermell Charlo. It’s a great match to decide who deserves a world title fight next.

Another juicy match pits Argentina’s Nazarena Romero (14-0-2) against Mexico’s Mayelli Flores (12-1-1) in a female super bantamweight contest.

Nottingham, England

Anthony Cacace (23-1, 8 KOs) defends the IBO super featherweight title against Leigh Wood (28-3, 17 KOs) in Wood’s hometown on Saturday at Nottingham Arena in Nottingham, England. DAZN will stream the Queensberry Promotions card.

Ireland’s Cacace seems to have the odds against him. But he is no stranger to dancing in the enemy’s lair or on foreign territory. He formerly defeated Josh Warrington in London and Joe Cordina in Riyadh in IBO title defenses.

Lampley at Wild Card

Boxing telecaster Jim Lampley will be signing his new book It Happened! at the Wild Card Boxing gym in Hollywood, Calif. on Saturday, May 10, beginning at 2 p.m. Lampley has been a large part of many of the greatest boxing events in the past 40 years. He and Freddie Roach will be at the signing.

Fights to Watch (All times Pacific Time)

Sat. DAZN 11 a.m. Anthony Cacace (23-1) vs Leigh Wood (28-3).

Sat. PROBOX.tv 3 p.m. Erickson Lubin (26-2) vs Ardreal Holmes Jr. (17-0).

Sat. ESPN 7 p.m. Emanuel Navarrete (39-2-1) vs Charly Suarez (18-0); Raymond Muratalla (22-0) vs Zaur Abdullaev (20-1).

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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“Breadman” Edwards: An Unlikely Boxing Coach with a Panoramic View of the Sport

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Stephen “Breadman” Edwards’ first fighter won a world title. That may be some sort of record.

It’s true. Edwards had never trained a fighter, amateur or pro, before taking on professional novice Julian “J Rock” Williams. On May 11, 2019, Williams wrested the IBF 154-pound world title from Jarrett Hurd. The bout, a lusty skirmish, was in Fairfax, Virginia, near Hurd’s hometown in Maryland, and the previously undefeated Hurd had the crowd in his corner.

In boxing, Stephen Edwards wears two hats. He has a growing reputation as a boxing coach, a hat he will wear on Saturday, May 31, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas when the two fighters that he currently trains, super middleweight Caleb Plant and middleweight Kyrone Davis, display their wares on a show that will air on Amazon Prime Video. Plant, who needs no introduction, figures to have little trouble with his foe in a match conceived as an appetizer to a showdown with Jermall Charlo. Davis, coming off his career-best win, an upset of previously undefeated Elijah Garcia, is in tough against fast-rising Cuban prospect Yoenli Hernandez, a former world amateur champion.

Edwards’ other hat is that of a journalist. His byline appears at “Boxing Scene” in a column where he answers questions from readers.

It’s an eclectic bag of questions that Breadman addresses, ranging from his thoughts on an upcoming fight to his thoughts on one of the legendary prizefighters of olden days. Boxing fans, more so than fans of any other sport, enjoy hashing over fantasy fights between great fighters of different eras. Breadman is very good at this, which isn’t to suggest that his opinions are gospel, merely that he always has something provocative to add to the discourse. Like all good historians, he recognizes that the best history is revisionist history.

“Fighters are constantly mislabled,” he says. “Everyone talks about Joe Louis’s right hand. But if you study him you see that his left hook is every bit as good as his right hand and it’s more sneaky in terms of shock value when it lands.”

Stephen “Breadman” Edwards was born and raised in Philadelphia. His father died when he was three. His maternal grandfather, a Korean War veteran, filled the void. The man was a big boxing fan and the two would watch the fights together on the family television.

Edwards’ nickname dates to his early teen years when he was one of the best basketball players in his neighborhood. The derivation is the 1975 movie “Cornbread, Earl and Me,” starring Laurence Fishburne in his big screen debut. Future NBA All-Star Jamaal Wilkes, fresh out of UCLA, plays Cornbread, a standout high school basketball player who is mistakenly murdered by the police.

Coming out of high school, Breadman had to choose between an academic scholarship at Temple or an athletic scholarship at nearby Lincoln University. He chose the former, intending to major in criminal justice, but didn’t stay in college long. What followed were a succession of jobs including a stint as a city bus driver. To stay fit, he took to working out at the James Shuler Memorial Gym where he sparred with some of the regulars, but he never boxed competitively.

Over the years, Philadelphia has harbored some great boxing coaches. Among those of recent vintage, the names George Benton, Bouie Fisher, Nazeem Richardson, and Bozy Ennis come quickly to mind. Breadman names Richardson and West Coast trainer Virgil Hunter as the men that have influenced him the most.

We are all a product of our times, so it’s no surprise that the best decade of boxing, in Breadman’s estimation, was the 1980s. This was the era of the “Four Kings” with Sugar Ray Leonard arguably standing tallest.

Breadman was a big fan of Leonard and of Leonard’s three-time rival Roberto Duran. “I once purchased a DVD that had all of Roberto Duran’s title defenses on it,” says Edwards. “This was a back before the days of YouTube.”

But Edwards’ interest in the sport goes back much deeper than the 1980s. He recently weighed in on the “Pittsburgh Windmill” Harry Greb whose legend has grown in recent years to the point that some have come to place him above Sugar Ray Robinson on the list of the greatest of all time.

“Greb was a great fighter with a terrific resume, of that there is no doubt,” says Breadman, “but there is no video of him and no one alive ever saw him fight, so where does this train of thought come from?”

Edwards notes that in Harry Greb’s heyday, he wasn’t talked about in the papers as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. The boxing writers were partial to Benny Leonard who drew comparisons to the venerated Joe Gans.

Among active fighters, Breadman reserves his highest praise for Terence Crawford. “Body punching is a lost art,” he once wrote. “[Crawford] is a great body puncher who starts his knockouts with body punches, but those punches are so subtle they are not fully appreciated.”

If the opening line holds up, Crawford will enter the ring as the underdog when he opposes Canelo Alvarez in September. Crawford, who will enter the ring a few weeks shy of his 38th birthday, is actually the older fighter, older than Canelo by almost three full years (it doesn’t seem that way since the Mexican redhead has been in the public eye so much longer), and will theoretically be rusty as 13 months will have elapsed since his most recent fight.

Breadman discounts those variables. “Terence is older,” he says, “but has less wear and tear and never looks rusty after a long layoff.” That Crawford will win he has no doubt, an opinion he tweaked after Canelo’s performance against William Scull: “Canelo’s legs are not the same. Bud may even stop him now.”

Edwards has been with Caleb Plant for Plant’s last three fights. Their first collaboration produced a Knockout of the Year candidate. With one ferocious left hook, Plant sent Anthony Dirrell to dreamland. What followed were a 12-round setback to David Benavidez and a ninth-round stoppage of Trevor McCumby.

Breadman keeps a hectic schedule. From Monday through Friday, he’s at the DLX Gym in Las Vegas coaching Caleb Plant and Kyrone Davis. On weekends, he’s back in Philadelphia, checking in on his investment properties and, of greater importance, watching his kids play sports. His 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son are standout all-around athletes.

On those long flights, he has plenty of time to turn on his laptop and stream old fights or perhaps work on his next article. That’s assuming he can stay awake.

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Arne’s Almanac: The Good, the Bad, and the (Mostly) Ugly; a Weekend Boxing Recap and More

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Arne’s Almanac: The Good, the Bad, and the (Mostly) Ugly; a Weekend Boxing Recap and More

It’s old news now, but on back-to-back nights on the first weekend of May, there were three fights that finished in the top six snoozefests ever as measured by punch activity. That’s according to CompuBox which has been around for 40 years.

In Times Square, the boxing match between Devin Haney and Jose Carlos Ramirez had the fifth-fewest number of punches thrown, but the main event, Ryan Garcia vs. Rolly Romero, was even more of a snoozefest, landing in third place on this ignoble list.

Those standings would be revised the next night – knocked down a peg when Canelo Alvarez and William Scull combined to throw a historically low 445 punches in their match in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 152 by the victorious Canelo who at least pressed the action, unlike Scull (pictured) whose effort reminded this reporter of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” – no, not the movie starring Paul Newman, just the title.

CompuBox numbers, it says here, are best understood as approximations, but no amount of rejiggering can alter the fact that these three fights were stinkers. Making matters worse, these were pay-per-views. If one had bundled the two events, rather than buying each separately, one would have been out $90 bucks.

****

Thankfully, the Sunday card on ESPN from Las Vegas was redemptive. It was just what the sport needed at this moment – entertaining fights to expunge some of the bad odor. In the main go, Naoya Inoue showed why he trails only Shohei Ohtani as the most revered athlete in Japan.

Throughout history, the baby-faced assassin has been a boxing promoter’s dream. It’s no coincidence that down through the ages the most common nickname for a fighter – and by an overwhelming margin — is “Kid.”

And that partly explains Naoya Inoue’s charisma. The guy is 32 years old, but here in America he could pass for 17.

Joey Archer

Joey Archer, who passed away last week at age 87 in Rensselaer, New York, was one of the last links to an era of boxing identified with the nationally televised Friday Night Fights at Madison Square Garden.

Joey Archer

Joey Archer

Archer made his debut as an MSG headliner on Feb. 4, 1961, and had 12 more fights at the iconic mid-Manhattan sock palace over the next six years. The final two were world title fights with defending middleweight champion Emile Griffith.

Archer etched his name in the history books in November of 1965 in Pittsburgh where he won a comfortable 10-round decision over Sugar Ray Robinson, sending the greatest fighter of all time into retirement. (At age 45, Robinson was then far past his peak.)

Born and raised in the Bronx, Joey Archer was a cutie; a clever counter-puncher recognized for his defense and ultimately for his granite chin. His style was embedded in his DNA and reinforced by his mentors.

Early in his career, Archer was domiciled in Houston where he was handled by veteran trainer Bill Gore who was then working with world lightweight champion Joe Brown. Gore would ride into the Hall of Fame on the coattails of his most famous fighter, “Will-o’-the Wisp” Willie Pep. If Joey Archer had any thoughts of becoming a banger, Bill Gore would have disabused him of that notion.

In all honesty, Archer’s style would have been box office poison if he had been black. It helped immensely that he was a native New Yorker of Irish stock, albeit the Irish angle didn’t have as much pull as it had several decades earlier. But that observation may not be fair to Archer who was bypassed twice for world title fights after upsetting Hurricane Carter and Dick Tiger.

When he finally caught up with Emile Griffith, the former hat maker wasn’t quite the fighter he had been a few years earlier but Griffith,  a two-time Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine and the BWAA and a future first ballot Hall of Famer, was still a hard nut to crack.

Archer went 30 rounds with Griffith, losing two relatively tight decisions and then, although not quite 30 years old, called it quits. He finished 45-4 with 8 KOs and was reportedly never knocked down, yet alone stopped, while answering the bell for 365 rounds. In retirement, he ran two popular taverns with his older brother Jimmy Archer, a former boxer who was Joey’s trainer and manager late in Joey’s career.

May he rest in peace.

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