What Floyd Mayweather Might Learn From Manny Pacquiao

Published

11 years ago

October 2, 2013

“Pacquiao’s a has-been, his career is over,” Floyd Mayweather said three months ago in San Antonio during a stop on the ten-city press tour he and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez did to promote their September 14^th junior middleweight title bout.

Regardless of his stinging assessment, the reigning pound for pound king had no qualms barking yet more orders to the “has-been” Pacquiao through the press. Mayweather told boxing writer Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports:

“Everybody’s like, ‘Aw, Pacquiao,’ but I’m just letting you know he’s not getting a fight with me. The only way he’s getting the fight with me is if he signs with Mayweather Promotions. He’s got to give me fights with Mayweather Promotions. If he don’t give me no fights under Mayweather Promotions, then he’s not getting the fight. That’s how it is working now, because the ball is in my court. The ball has been in my court.”

Mayweather went on to detail how hard he tried to share said ball with Pacquiao (seen in above Chris Farina-Top Rank photo) by making the one fight every red-blooded boxing fan in the universe wanted to see back then, when Pacquiao was at his peak. One can only assume, of course, the version of Pacquiao our friend Mayweather was referring to was the one who obliterated Ricky Hatton and dismembered Miguel Cotto circa 2009. After all, that version of Pacquiao would have been a tough out for any welterweight in the world at the time, even the audaciously gifted Mayweather.

Alas, it never happened. And there’s no use recounting it all here. If you’re a boxing fan, you know the story. If you don’t, save yourself the trouble. It was all rising action and no climax, a fight without punches, dark clouds without a storm.

“I wanted to fight Pacquiao at one particular time, but I wanted to fight him when he was at the top. I’m not going to speak on another man’s finance business, but like I said before, I left Top Rank for a reason. He’s with Top Rank, so I want him to be happy with Top Rank.”

At 34, the diminished Manny Pacquiao’s career continues under the banner of promotional partner Top Rank this November when he will face the brave but likely outclassed Brandon Rios in Macau, China. With a win, Pacquiao and his handlers will hope to salvage a career laid waste by one of the more devastatingly perfect punches you’ll ever see in the sport.

Last December, just when it seemed the popular Filipino was at long last on the verge of overwhelming his arch-nemesis, Juan Manuel Marquez, in the sixth round of their fourth and maybe final encounter, Pacquiao was concussed down to the cold, harsh reality of the unforgiving blue canvas by a singularly beautiful and savagely delivered right hand counterpunch.

Poor Pacquiao never saw it coming.

With ten seconds remaining in Round 6, Pacquiao had landed a vicious left cross. Soon, he had Marquez backing into the ropes in retreat. It seemed the end was near. Pacquiao feinted a jab, but was suddenly stunned by Marquez, who had ducked under it with absurdly perfect timing to unload that pristine right hand punch to the jaw that Pacquiao never saw coming. His head flipped back violently when it landed, and he melted into the canvas face first.

It was vicious. It was cruel. But it was boxing.

Pacquiao died in that moment. Not the man, of course, but his legend. In the blink of an eye, the previously indestructible Manny Pacquiao, an entire nation’s Superman, was swept into a little pile of rubble, a laughably unintimidating heap of frailty. In just an instant, the fearsome freight train with lightning fast hands made of angry anvils was rendered to a state of fragile weakness. Manny Pacquiao was nothing now.

Nothing.

Mayweather will be nothing one day, too. Sure, it might not happen in the exact same way it did for Pacquiao. After all, where Mayweather is a supreme example for aspiring risk managers everywhere, Pacquiao is the mascot for the gambling sorts. And now that Mayweather has easily outpointed Canelo Alvarez, is there anyone in the boxing world between 140 and 154 pounds to favor against him? Even if he braved the middleweight scene, wouldn’t he likely outbox aging champion Sergio Martinez, too?

No matter. Our grand American hero Mayweather could retire 100-0 someday. The axiom would still hold true. Eventually, no one is what they used to be. No one.

So perhaps Mayweather’s greatest lesson will end up being the one nobody was able to teach him inside the ring: how to lose. And if that’s the case, if Mayweather is the type to struggle for life’s meaning when the lights turn away from him, if he’s the sort to be shocked in the brevity of life’s peak, our pal Floyd need only look to Pacquiao’s knockout loss to Marquez for some inspiration.

In the third round, after Marquez landed several left hooks to the body, Marquez feinted the punch again before sending a long, looping overhand right with the intention of shattering Pacquiao’s crown. The punch seemed almost a full circle. It was slow, deliberate. Everyone in the arena saw it headed Pacquiao’s way. Pacquiao seemed to have long enough to blink several times before it got anywhere near his face. One ringsider swears the person sitting next to him had time for a full yawn while it made its way over.

In his youth, Pacquiao would have gotten out of the way. Or maybe blocked it. In his old age, though, he could but partially catch the punch with his glove, that slow, arching blow, to absorb some of its impact.

It didn’t matter.

This hulking mass of what used to be lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez punched with such force now, at welterweight, that such a blow floored Pacquiao for the first time in any of their four fights previous. Pacquiao seemed confused as the reality of it slapped him on the brow, as his bottom titled down towards the welcoming ocean of the canvas. As his shoulders found their new home, Pacquiao’s feet rose slightly as he rolled to his back, perhaps protesting the new physics of a previously familiar environment.

Things were different now, and here was the lesson.

Pacquiao climbed diligently to his feet. His resolve did not vacillate or waver. If anything, the newfound terror of Marquez’s incredibly sudden power brought forth such a burst of light from his soul that one might have believed, if just for that moment, the script of Pacquiao’s legend was closer to its beginning than to its end.

It may have been his finest moment inside the ring.

Pacquiao’s relentless vigor, his singular expression of defiance, carried him oh-so-close to victory. It was close enough to feel the warmth of the approaching light of ardor, close enough to smell the flowers of adulation, close enough to anticipate a quiver of victory.

But these things would never come.

Instead, he had brought himself only close enough to feel the pain of loss in its fullest measure, the terrifying sting in the death of his legend, as he lay down there on the floor, Marquez’s lion’s paw having swept him into a tiny heap of a bashful little lamb.

But after it was over, as the songs were being sung for his opponent now instead of him, as the adulation from those who used to compare him to the greatest of the greats devolved into an especially pathetic form of pity reserved only for fallen fighters, this wretched little Manny Pacquiao did not whimper or cry. He did not stomp his feet on the ground. He did not accuse Marquez of cheating.

Instead, Manny Pacquiao smiled sheepishly for the camera. He looked a bit sad, yes – embarrassed even. But he was not ashamed. His face was brave.

“That’s boxing,” he said just moments after peeling himself out of oblivion.

No, Manny. That’s life.

Kelsey McCarson is a boxing writer for TheSweetScience.com and Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @KelseyMcCarson.

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Kelsey McCarson

Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

Published

1 day ago

July 25, 2024

David A. Avila

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

East Los Angeles has long been a haven for some of the best fighters around if you can keep them out of trouble. For every Oscar De La Hoya or Seniesa Estrada there are thousands derailed by crime, drugs or drinking.

Boxing has always been a favorite sport of East L.A. Every family has an uncle or two who boxes.

On Friday, 360 Promotions’ Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) fights Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1) in the main event at Commerce Casino, in Commerce, CA. UFC Fight Pass will stream the fight card.

The City of Commerce used to be part of East L.A. until 1960 when it incorporated. It’s still considered to be part of East Los Angeles, but informally.

Plenty of fighters come out of East L.A. but few make it all the way like De La Hoya and Estrada. Will Trinidad be the one?

The first world champion from East L.A. or “East Los” as some call it, was Solly Garcia Smith back in the late 1800s. Others were Richie Lemos, Art Frias and Joey Olivo. There is also 1984 Olympic gold medalist Paul Gonzalez.

Once again 360 Promotions brings its popular brand of fights to the area. On this fight card includes two female bouts. One features Roxy Verduzco (1-0) the former amateur star fighting Colleen Davis (3-1-1) in a featherweight fight.

All that action takes place on Friday.

Elite Boxing

The next day, also in East L.A., Elite Boxing stages another boxing card at Salesian High School located at 960 S. Soto Street in the Boyle Heights area of East Los Angeles.

Elite Boxing has promoted several successful boxing cards at the Catholic high school grounds. The area is saturated by many of the best eateries in Los Angeles. Don’t take my word for it. Check it out yourself and grab some of that delicious food.

Boxing has long been a favorite sport of anyone who lives in East L.A. It’s a fight town equal to Philadelphia, Brooklyn or Detroit. There’s something different about the area. For more than 100 years some of the best fighters continue to come out of its boxing gyms. Some will be performing on these club shows.

For tickets or information go to www.eliteboxingusa.com

Claressa Shields in Detroit

Speaking of fight towns, pound-for-pound best Claressa Shields who won two Olympic Gold Medals in boxing, moves up another weight division to tackle the WBC heavyweight world champion Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse on Saturday, July 27, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

DAZN will stream the heavy-duty fight card.

Shields (14-0) cleaned out the super welterweight, middleweight and super middleweight divisions and now wants to add the big girls to her conquests. She will be facing Canada’s Lepage-Joanisse (7-1) who holds the WBC belt.

The last time Shields gloved up was more than a year ago when she fought Maricela Cornejo. Don’t blame Shields. She loves to fight. She loves to win. The last time Shields lost a fight was in the amateurs and that was three presidential administrations ago.

Shields doesn’t lose.

I wonder if Las Vegas even takes bets on her fights?

The only fight she may have been an underdog was against Savannah Marshall who was the last opponent to defeat her. And that was in 2012 in China. When they met as pros two years ago, Shields avenged her loss with a blistering attack.

Don’t get Shields mad.

Perhaps her toughest foe as a pro was in her pro debut when she clashed with Franchon Crews-Dezurn in Las Vegas. It was four rounds of fists and fury as the two pounded each other on the undercard of Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev in November 2016.

That was a ferocious debut for both female pugilists.

Assisting Shields on this fight card will be several intriguing male bouts. One guy you should pay special attention is Tito Mercado (15-0, 14 KOs) a super lightweight prospect from Pomona, California.

Many excellent fighters have come out of Pomona including Sugar Shane Mosley, Shane Mosley Jr., Alberto Davila and Richie Sandoval who just passed away this week.

Sandoval was best known for his 15-round war with Philadelphia’s Jeff Chandler for the bantamweight world title in 1984. Read the story by Arne K. Lang on this link: https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/featured-boxing-articles-boxing-news-videos-rankings-and-results/81467-former-world-bantamweight-champion-richie-sandoval-passes-away-at-age-63 .

Fights to Watch

Fri. UFC Fight Pass 7 p.m. Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) vs Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1).

Sat. ESPN+ 12:30 p.m. Joe Joyce (16-2) vs Derek Chisora (34-13).

Sat. DAZN 3 p.m. Claressa Shields (14-0) vs Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse (7-1), Michel Rivera (25-1) vs Hugo Roldan (22-2-1); Tito Mercado (15-0) vs Hector Sarmiento (21-2).

Omar Trinidad photo by Lina Baker

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Arne’s Almanac: Jake Paul and Women’s Boxing, a Curmudgeon’s Take

Published

3 days ago

July 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Jake Paul can fight more than a little. The view from here is that he would make it interesting against any fringe contender in the cruiserweight division. However, Jake’s boxing acumen pales when paired against his skill as a flim-flam artist.

Jake brought a 9-1 record into last weekend’s bout with Mike Perry. As noted by boxing writer Paul Magno, Jake’s previous opponents consisted of “a You Tuber, a retired NBA star, five retired MMA stars, a part-time boxer/reality TV star, and two undersized and inactive fall-guy boxers.”

Mike Perry, a 32-year-old Floridian, was undefeated (6-0, 3 KOs) as a bare-knuckle boxer after forging a 14-8 record in UFC bouts. In pre-fight blurbs, Perry was billed as the baddest bare knuckle boxer of all time, but against Jake Paul he proved to have very unrefined skills as a conventional boxer which Team Paul undoubtedly knew all along. Perry lasted into the eighth round in a one-sided fight that could have been stopped a lot sooner.

Jake Paul is both a boxer and a promoter. As a promoter, he handles Amanda Serrano, one of the greatest female boxers in history. That makes him the person most responsible (because the buck stops with him) for the wretched mismatch in last Saturday’s co-feature, the bout between Serrano and Stevie Morgan.

Morgan, who took up boxing two years ago at age 33, brought a 14-1 record. Nicknamed the Sledgehammer, she had won 13 of her 14 wins by knockout, eight in the opening round. However, although she resides in Florida, all but one of those 13 knockouts happened in Colombia.

“We found that in Colombia there were just more opportunities for women’s boxing than in the United States,” she told a prominent boxing writer whose name we won’t mention.

The truth is that, for some folks, Colombia is the boxing equivalent of a feeder lot for livestock, a place where a boxer can go to fatten their record. The opportunities there were no greater than in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1995. It was there that Peter McNeeley prepped for his match with Mike Tyson with a 6-second knockout of professional punching bag Frankie Hines. (Six seconds? So it would be written although no one seems to have been there to witness it.)

Serrano vs Morgan was understood to be a stay-busy fight for Amanda whose rematch with Katie Taylor was postponed until November. Stevie Morgan, to her credit, answered the bell for the second round whereas others in her situation would have remained on the stool and invented an injury to rationalize it. Thirty-eight seconds later it was all over and Ms. Morgan was free to go home and use her sledgehammer to do some light dusting.

The Paul-Perry and Serrano-Morgan fights played out in a sold-out arena in Tampa before an estimated 17,000. Those without a DAZN subscription paid $64.95 for the livestream. Paul’s next promotion, where he will touch gloves with 58-year-old Mike Tyson (unless Iron Mike pulls a Joe Biden and pulls out; a capital idea) with Serrano-Taylor II the semi-main, will almost certainly rake in more money than any other boxing promotion this year.

Asked his opinion of so-called crossover boxing by a reporter for a college newspaper, the venerable boxing promoter Bob Arum said, “It’s not my bag but folks who don’t like it shouldn’t get too worked up over it because no one is stealing from anybody.” True enough, but for some of us, the phenomenon is distressing.

—

The next big women’s fight happens Saturday in Detroit where Claressa Shields seeks a world title in a third weight class against WBC heavyweight belt-holder Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist, undefeated in 14 fights as a pro, Shields is very good, arguably the best female boxer of her generation which makes her, arguably, the best female boxer of all time. But turning away Lepage-Joanisse (7-1, 2 KOs) won’t elevate her stature in our eyes.

Purportedly 17-4 as an amateur, the Canadian won her title in her second crack at it. Back in August of 2017, she challenged Cancun’s Alejandra Jimenez in Cancun and was stopped in the third round. Entering the bout, Lepage-Joanisse was 3-0 as a pro and had never fought a match slated for more than four rounds.

Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse

True, on the women’s side, the heavyweight bracket is a very small pod. A sanctioning body has to make concessions to harness a sanctioning fee. Nonetheless, how absurd that a woman who had answered the bell for only 11 rounds would be deemed qualified to compete for a world title. (FYI: Alejandra Jimenez was purportedly born a man. She left the sport with a 12-0-1 record after her win over Franchon Crews Dazurn was changed to a no-contest when she tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol.)

Following her defeat to Jimenez, Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse, now 29 years old, was out of action for six-and-a-half years. When she returned, she was still a heavyweight, but a much slender heavyweight. She carried 231 pounds for Jimenez. In her most recent bout where she captured the vacant WBC title with a split decision over Argentina’s Abril Argentina Vidal, she clocked in at 173 ¼. (On the distaff side, there’s no uniformity among the various sanctioning bodies as to what constitutes a heavyweight.)

Claressa Shields doesn’t need Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse to reinforce her credentials as a future Hall of Famer. She made the cut a long time ago.

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Former World Bantamweight Champion Richie Sandoval Passes Away at Age 63

Published

4 days ago

July 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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Richie Sandoval, who won the WBA and lineal bantamweight title in one of the biggest upsets of the 1980s and then, not quite two years later, suffered near-fatal injuries in a title defense, has passed away at the age of 63.

News circulated fast in the Las Vegas boxing community on Monday, July 22, the grapevine actuated by a tweet from Hall of Fame matchmaker Bruce Trampler: “Boxing and the Top Rank family lost one of our own last night in the passing of former WBA bantamweight champion Richie Sandoval. It hurts personally and professionally to know that Richie is gone at age 63. RIP campeon.”

Details are vague but the cause of death was apparently a sudden heart attack that Sandoval experienced while visiting the Southern California home of his son of the same name.

Richie Sandoval put the LA County community of Pomona, California, on the boxing map before Shane Mosley came along and gave the town a more frequently-cited mention in the sports section of the papers. He came from a fighting family. An older brother, Albert “Superfly” Sandoval, became a big draw at LA’s fabled Olympic Auditorium while building a 35-2-1 record that included a failed bid to capture Lupe Pintor’s world bantamweight title.

Richie was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic boxing team that was stranded when U.S. President Jimmy Carter (and many other world leaders) boycotted the event as a protest against Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan.

As a pro, Sandoval’s signature win was a 15^th-round stoppage of Jeff Chandler. They fought on April 7, 1984 in Atlantic City. Chandler was making the tenth defense of his world bantamweight title.

Despite being a heavy underdog, Sandoval dominated the fight, winning almost every round until the referee stepped in and waived it off. Chandler, who was 33-1-2 heading in and had avenged his lone defeat, never fought again.

Sandoval made two successful defenses before risking his title against Gaby Canizales on the undercard of Hagler-Mugabi in the outdoor stadium at Caesars Palace. In round seven, Sandoval, who had a hellish time making the weight, was knocked down three times and suffered a seizure as he collapsed from the third knockdown. Stretchered out of the ring, he was rushed to the hospital where doctors reduced the swelling in his brain and beat the odds to save his life. This would be Richie’s lone defeat. He finished his pro career with a record of 29-1 (17 KOs).

Bob Arum cushioned some of the pain by giving Richie a $25,000 bonus and offering him a lifetime job at Top Rank which Richie accepted. And let the record show that Arum was good to his word.

A more elaborate portrait of Richie Sandoval was published in these pages in 2017. You can check it out HERE. May he rest in peace.

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