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Pacquiao Should Retire – Leaving A Hole In Mayweather's Legacy

It's a shame that there's so much money on the table, because in a perfect world Manny Pacquiao would fight Timothy Bradley later this year in the hope of erasing the stench from their first bout this past June, then after the fight announce that he's retiring from boxing.
Lets face it, Floyd Mayweather 43-0 (26) has won the waiting game. The fight with Pacquiao is two plus years past the sell by date and everything now favors Floyd. That's why it would be great for Pacquiao to help fans remember in years to come that despite his glowing record, the only fight the fans clamored for from Mayweather — is the one he ducked and dodged when it was a legitimate pick'em Super fight.
There's no disputing that because of the way Mayweather has promoted and managed himself — coupled with Pacquiao's less than stellar showing over the last year and a half, Mayweather is the one who can dictate the terms and conditions if they ever get serious about making the fight. Floyd has a legitimate claim for a slightly larger piece of the purse since he looked terrific in his last fight and Manny officially lost his. Also, Mayweather must be given all due props for being able to maintain his ability to fight at the highest level for over a decade. Not many great fighters can lay claim to that.
On the other hand, Manny has been pulled and drawn away from staying in great shape and has no doubt lost focus on what's most important in a fighters life. Manny has clearly lost that off the chart speed and intensity, not to mention he fights lazy and is more upright when he presses the attack now. He also has to think and process his aggression, something that used to be reactionary and instinctive. And if there's one thing he can't do against Mayweather, if they were to fight, is try to think his way in and process his battle plan mentally as the fight is unfolding.
I don't care how big of a Mayweather fan you are; if you can't admit that Mayweather wanted no parts of Pacquiao when he was really on his game, you must be alone living in your perfect world. The fact is Mayweather used every excuse in the book not to fight Pacquiao, and then let fighters like Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey take the risk instead. See, Mayweather knew that because of Pacquiao's energetic style, intensity and work rate, that he'd slow down if he could just wait him out. And hopefully to no ones surprise, that is exactly what has happened. Anytime from this point on, despite him being older according to the calender, Mayweather is the fresher and more live fighter. Something that didn't happen by accident.
Being that Mayweather is a counter-puncher who has hand picked his opposition for at least the last half of his career, he hasn't endured nearly the same wear and tear on his body as Pacquiao. Add to that Pacquiao was willing to fight bigger fighters when they were still a factor, has taken something out of him.
Suppose Mayweather and Pacquiao never fight – it is Mayweather who will be viewed by history as the fighter who didn't want the fight. Similar as to the way Riddick Bowe is viewed as the reason why he and Lennox Lewis never fought in 1993 when the fight was the most talked about match in boxing. Pacquiao is the fighter who is seen by most boxing aficionados as a throw back to a generation when the the top fighters and champions didn't order from the menu and sought to fight the best of the best every time out. Manny is also the smaller guy, yet it was Mayweather the bigger man who introduced excuses like Steroids and HGH use on Pacquiao's part in order to prevent the fight from becoming a reality when the bout was viewed as a pick'em. And it didn't matter one iota that Pacquiao never once failed a drug test.
If Pacquiao walks away after his rematch with Bradley, or whoever he fights next, Mayweather will forever be remembered, and rightly so, for not fighting the boxer who was seen as the biggest threat to his undefeated record who incidentally was smaller than him to boot. Wouldn't that be a kick in the groin to Mayweather? Regardless of how much he pleaded and griped, he'd be more remembered for the fight he didn't take than the 43 he won.
Rocky Marciano retired undefeated at 49-0 (43) and still he's not considered the greatest heavyweight champ in history. Some will highlight how Rocky fought during a pedestrian heavyweight era littered with older former greats like Joe Louis, Ezzard Charles, Jersey Joe Walcott and light heavyweight legend and great Archie Moore. And that is the truth. However, the one thing that can't be said about Rocky is that he ducked or avoided anybody who was out there and viewed as a threat.
Sorry, but that's not the case with Mayweather. The fact is Floyd avoided Paul Williams, Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley and Miguel Cotto when they were nipping at his heals as welterweights. Instead he waited for Williams to move up in weight as the others knocked each other off as time moved along and they got older. Then some featherweight Super-Nova comes along and all of the sudden he's using HGH/Steroids and is too dangerous to fight. Something that if you believed, you have to reside in another world.
Personally, I'd rather Mayweather and Pacquiao never fight. The fight has marinated too long and is no longer compelling to me. How can it be when one fighter is not only the more live fighter and he'll also demand that the other enter the ring in virtual handcuffs.
Sadly, there's way too many millions on the table for Manny to say forget you Floyd. I have more money than I can ever spend, not to mention other interest that will keep me busy after retirement. Oh, and my resume and legacy is more complete than yours. In fact I'll get a default victory over you in the eyes of the fans because everyone who follows boxing that is intellectually honest knows I wanted the fight with you when it really mattered. No, there's simply too much money guaranteed to Manny for him to go that route.
As Sugar Ray Leonard once said, unfortunately, it'll never happen that way. Manny will in fact eventually meet Floyd on Mayweather's terms and lose, thus giving Floyd the bragging rights he always craved.
It would be nice if, for once, Mayweather outsmarted himself, which would be the case if Pacquiao walked away. And it wouldn't matter what else Mayweather wound up doing in his career. The talk will follow him for the rest of his life.
Frank Lotierzo can be contacted at GlovedFist@Gmail.com
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‘Krusher’ Kovalev Exits on a Winning Note: TKOs Artur Mann in his ‘Farewell Fight’

At his peak, former three-time world light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev ranked high on everyone’s pound-for-pound list. Now 42 years old – he turned 42 earlier this month – Kovalev has been largely inactive in recent years, but last night he returned to the ring in his hometown of Chelyabinsk, Russia, and rose to the occasion in what was billed as his farewell fight, stopping Artur Mann in the seventh frame.
Kovalev hit his peak during his first run as a world title-holder. He was 30-0-1 (26 KOs) entering first match with Andre Ward, a mark that included a 9-0 mark in world title fights. The only blemish on his record was a draw that could have been ruled a no-contest (journeyman Grover Young was unfit to continue after Kovalev knocked down in the second round what with was deemed an illegal rabbit punch). Among those nine wins were two stoppages of dangerous Haitian-Canadian campaigner Jean Pascal and a 12-round shutout over Bernard Hopkins.
Kovalev’s stature was not diminished by his loss to the undefeated Ward. All three judges had it 114-113, but the general feeling among the ringside press was that Sergey nicked it.
The rematch was also somewhat controversial. Referee Tony Weeks, who halted the match in the eighth stanza with Kovalev sitting on the lower strand of ropes, was accused of letting Ward get away with a series of low blows, including the first punch of a three-punch series of body shots that culminated in the stoppage. Sergey was wobbled by a punch to the head earlier in the round and was showing signs of fatigue, but he was still in the fight. Respected judge Steve Weisfeld had him up by three points through the completed rounds.
Sergey Kovalev was never the same after his second loss to Andre Ward, albeit he recaptured a piece of the 175-pound title twice, demolishing Vyacheslav Shabranskyy for the vacant WBO belt after Ward announced his retirement and then avenging a loss to Eleider Alvarez (TKO by 7) with a comprehensive win on points in their rematch.
Kovalev’s days as a title-holder ended on Nov. 2, 2019 when Canelo Alvarez, moving up two weight classes to pursue a title in a fourth weight division, stopped him in the 11th round, terminating what had been a relatively even fight with a hellacious left-right combination that left Krusher so discombobulated that a count was superfluous.
That fight went head-to-head with a UFC fight in New York City. DAZN, to their everlasting discredit, opted to delay the start of Canelo-Kovalev until the main event of the UFC fight was finished. The delay lasted more than an hour and Kovalev would say that he lost his psychological edge during the wait.
Kovalev had two fights in the cruiserweight class between his setback to Canelo and last night’s presumptive swan song. He outpointed Tervel Pulev in Los Angeles and lost a 10-round decision to unheralded Robin Sirwan Safar in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Artur Mann, a former world title challenger – he was stopped in three rounds by Mairis Briedis in 2021 when Briedis was recognized as the top cruiserweight in the world – was unexceptional, but the 34-year-old German, born in Kazakhstan, wasn’t chopped liver either, and Kovalev’s stoppage of him will redound well to the Russian when he becomes eligible for the Boxing Hall of Fame.
Krusher almost ended the fight in the second round. He knocked Mann down hard with a short left hand and seemingly scored another knockdown before the round was over (but it was ruled a slip). Mann barely survived the round.
In the next round, a punch left Mann with a bad cut on his right eyelid, but the German came to fight and rounds three, four and five were competitive.
Kovalev had a good sixth round although there were indications that he was tiring. But in the seventh he got a second wind and unleashed a right-left combination that rolled back the clock to the days when he was one of the sport’s most feared punchers. Mann went down hard and as he staggered to his feet, his corner signaled that the fight should be stopped and the referee complied. The official time was 0:49 of round seven. It was the 30th KO for Kovalev who advanced his record to 36-5-1.
Addendum: History informs us that Farewell Fights have a habit of becoming redundant, by which we mean that boxers often get the itch to fight again after calling it quits. Have we seen the last of Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev? We woudn’t bet on it.
The complete Kovalev-Mann fight card was live-streamed on the Boxing News youtube channel.
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Avila Perspective, Chap. 322: Super Welterweight Week in SoCal

Two below-the-radar super welterweight stars show off their skills this weekend from different parts of Southern California.
One in particular, Charles Conwell, co-headlines a show in Oceanside against a hard-hitting Mexican while another super welter star Sadriddin Akhmedov faces another Mexican hitter in Commerce.
Take your pick.
The super welterweight division is loaded with talent at the moment. If Terence Crawford remained in the division he would be at the top of the class, but he is moving up several weight divisions.
Conwell (21-0, 16 KOs) faces Jorge Garcia Perez (32-4, 26 KOs) a tall knockout puncher from Los Mochis at the Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, Calif. on Saturday April 19. DAZN will stream the Golden Boy Promotions card that also features undisputed flyweight champion Gabriela Fundora. We’ll get to her later.
Conwell might be the best super welterweight out there aside from the big dogs like Vergil Ortiz, Serhii Bohachuk and Sebastian Fundora.
If you are not familiar with Conwell he comes from Cleveland, Ohio and is one of those fighters that other fighters know about. He is good.
He has the James “Lights Out” Toney kind of in-your-face-style where he anchors down and slowly deciphers the opponent’s tools and then takes them away piece by piece. Usually it’s systematic destruction. The kind you see when a skyscraper goes down floor by floor until it’s smoking rubble.
During the Covid days Conwell fought two highly touted undefeated super welters in Wendy Toussaint and Madiyar Ashkeyev. He stopped them both and suddenly was the boogie man of the super welterweight division.
Conwell will be facing Mexico’s taller Garcia who likes to trade blows as most Mexican fighters prefer, especially those from Sinaloa. These guys will be firing H bombs early.
Fundora
Co-headlining the Golden Boy card is Gabriela Fundora (15-0, 7 KOs) the undisputed flyweight champion of the world. She has all the belts and Mexico’s Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1, 3 KOs) wants them.
Gabriela Fundora is the sister of Sebastian Fundora who holds the men’s WBC and WBO super welterweight world titles. Both are tall southpaws with power in each hand to protect the belts they accumulated.
Six months ago, Fundora met Argentina’s Gabriela Alaniz in Las Vegas to determine the undisputed flyweight champion. The much shorter Alaniz tried valiantly to scrap with Fundora and ran into a couple of rocket left hands.
Mexico’s Badillo is an undefeated flyweight from Mexico City who has battled against fellow Mexicans for years. She has fought one world champion in Asley Gonzalez the current super flyweight world titlist. They met years ago with Badillo coming out on top.
Does Badillo have the skill to deal with the taller and hard-hitting Fundora?
When a fighter has a six-inch height advantage like Fundora, it is almost impossible to out-maneuver especially in two-minute rounds. Ask Alaniz who was nearly decapitated when she tried.
This will be Badillo’s first pro fight outside of Mexico.
Commerce Casino
Kazakhstan’s Sadriddin Akhmedov (15-0, 13 KOs) is another dangerous punching super welterweight headlining a 360 Promotions card against Mexico’s Elias Espadas (23-6, 16 KOs) on Saturday at the Commerce Casino.
UFC Fight Pass will stream the 360 Promotions card of about eight bouts.
Akhmedov is another Kazakh puncher similar to the great Gennady “GGG” Golovkin who terrorized the middleweight division for a decade. He doesn’t have the same polish or dexterity but doesn’t lack pure punching power.
It’s another test for the super welterweight who is looking to move up the ladder in the very crowded 154-pound weight division. 360 Promotions already has a top contender in Ukraine’s Serhii Bohachuk who nearly defeated Vergil Ortiz a year ago.
Could Bohachuk and Akhmedov fight each other if nothing else materializes?
That’s a question for another day.
Fights to Watch
Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Charles Conwell (21-0, 16 KOs) vs. Jorge Garcia Perez (32-4, 26 KOs); Gabriela Fundora (15-0) vs Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1).
Sat. UFC Fight Pass 6 p.m. Sadriddin Akhmedov (15-0) vs Elias Espadas (23-6).
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TSS Salutes Thomas Hauser and his Bernie Award Cohorts

The Boxing Writers Association of America has announced the winners of its annual Bernie Awards competition. The awards, named in honor of former five-time BWAA president and frequent TSS contributor Bernard Fernandez, recognize outstanding writing in six categories as represented by stories published the previous year.
Over the years, this venerable website has produced a host of Bernie Award winners. In 2024, Thomas Hauser kept the tradition alive. A story by Hauser that appeared in these pages finished first in the category “Boxing News Story.” Titled “Ryan Garcia and the New York State Athletic Commission,” the story was published on June 23. You can read it HERE.
Hauser also finished first in the category of “Investigative Reporting” for “The Death of Ardi Ndembo,” a story that ran in the (London) Guardian. (Note: Hauser has owned this category. This is his 11th first place finish for “Investigative Reporting”.)
Thomas Hauser, who entered the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the class of 2019, was honored at last year’s BWAA awards dinner with the A.J. Leibling Award for Outstanding Boxing Writing. The list of previous winners includes such noted authors as W.C. Heinz, Budd Schulberg, Pete Hamill, and George Plimpton, to name just a few.
The Leibling Award is now issued intermittently. The most recent honorees prior to Hauser were Joyce Carol Oates (2015) and Randy Roberts (2019).
Roberts, a Distinguished Professor of History at Purdue University, was tabbed to write the Hauser/Leibling Award story for the glossy magazine for BWAA members published in conjunction with the organization’s annual banquet. Regarding Hauser’s most well-known book, his Muhammad Ali biography, Roberts wrote, “It is nearly impossible to overestimate the importance of the book to our understanding of Ali and his times.” An earlier book by Hauser, “The Black Lights: Inside the World of Professional Boxing,” garnered this accolade: “Anyone who wants to understand boxing today should begin by reading ‘The Black Lights’.”
A panel of six judges determined the Bernie Award winners for stories published in 2024. The stories they evaluated were stripped of their bylines and other identifying marks including the publication or website for which the story was written.
Other winners:
Boxing Event Coverage: Tris Dixon
Boxing Column: Kieran Mulvaney
Boxing Feature (Over 1,500 Words): Lance Pugmire
Boxing Feature (Under 1,500 Words): Chris Mannix
The Dixon, Mulvaney, and Pugmire stories appeared in Boxing Scene; the Mannix story in Sports Illustrated.
The Bernie Award recipients will be honored at the forthcoming BWAA dinner on April 30 at the Edison Ballroom in the heart of Times Square. (For more information, visit the BWAA website). Two days after the dinner, an historic boxing tripleheader will be held in Times Square, the logistics of which should be quite interesting. Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez share top billing.
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