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Give 'Em Five, Pacquiao-Marquez V Will Be Coming This Fall
Willie Pep had Sandy Saddler (4 times), Sugar Ray Robinson had Jake LaMotta (6x's) and Muhammad Ali had Joe Frazier (3x's).
They are just three rivalries and six all-time great fighters whose names will be forever linked together in fistic history.
Today, we have Manny Pacquiao 56-5-2 (38) and Juan Manuel Marquez 56-7-1 (40) who have fought each other four times and had the eyes of the boxing world focused on them every time. Pacquiao and Marquez don't need anything to build up a fight between them. Four fights=four great fights. Each one had fireworks, each one was close, each was hard to predict. And there's no reason why the fifth wouldn't continue the tradition.
Of the four fights between them, the first three resulted in very close and controversial decisions. Their first fight was a draw and Pacquiao was the benefactor in the second and third meetings via a split decision in fight II and a majority decision in fight III. In their last meeting, the fourth between them, Marquez, who was trailing at the time, won the only non controversial bout between the duo when he knocked Pacquiao out with one punch with only seconds remaining in the sixth round.
And that brings us to why there will most likely be a fifth and final meeting between these two future hall of famers this coming November.
For starters, there is nobody substantive left for them to fight with something significant to gain other than Floyd Mayweather. Marquez had his shot at Mayweather and was jobbed on the scales at the weigh in when Mayweather came in above the contract weight and had to cough up a lot of dead presidents. But Floyd didn't care and was happy to buy the advantage. In the ring that night it looked like a welterweight versus a lightweight and Marquez didn't compete. Although Marquez would probably like another shot at Mayweather, there's no way that happens because Floyd would have nothing to gain by fighting him again. Sure, the boxing world would love to see Mayweather and Pacquiao fight, and it will happen, but not this year, so forget about it for now. There's another formidable terror out there named Ruslan Provodnikov 23-2 (16), who is promoted by Bob Arum who would love to fight either Pacquiao or Marquez. However, he's too dangerous for both of them. His style, toughness and aggression would make it really tough for Marquez to overcome at age 40. Perhaps Pacquiao's unorthodox style and speed would lead Provodnikov into walking into a killer shot that he didn't see. But Ruslan's chin has shown to be upper-tier and very sturdy.
Provodnikov beat up and hurt Timothy Bradley much more than Marquez did when they fought and more than Pacquiao did in two fights against him. Forget either Manny or Juan going near Provodnikov. They have nothing to gain by fighting him and it could easily end badly for both. Something else to keep in mind is the names Pacquiao and Marquez matched together can't miss as a draw. Boxing fans know when they share a ring they'll see professional fighting exhibited at its highest level. The fight will have many ebbs and flows with the outcome being in question until the very end. And the stakes and bragging rights on the line in a fifth fight between them will be monumental. How can it not be? Marquez handed Pacquiao the most devastating and humiliating defeat of his career a year and a half ago. Manny was out, face down, on the canvas for over a minute. After the fight his wife pleaded with him to retire from boxing. Since the last Marquez fight, Pacquiao has fought twice. He won a lopsided decision over a limited tough guy in Brandon Rios and then out thought and out boxed Timothy Bradley in their rematch. But he didn't look spectacular in either bout and it's obvious to anyone who knows what they're watching that Manny doesn't carry the same punch he used to – nor is he the non-stop punching machine he was going back just three or four years ago. That said, there's no way in the world I could be convinced that Pacquiao doesn't want Marquez one more time.
He was beating Marquez up, leading in the bout and had his face a mess when he let his guard down for a second and got nailed and put to sleep by the best right hand Marquez ever landed. And if we know nothing else, it's that Manny has not suffered any residual effects from that knockout and certainly isn't glove shy as a result of it.
As for Marquez, he's fought twice since beating Pacquiao. He lost a decision to Timothy Bradley in his next fight, but that was more of a style conundrum than it was Bradley being the better fighter. For the better part of 12 rounds Bradley used his better hand and foot speed to do just enough to win a couple more rounds than Marquez en-route to a split decision victory. And this past weekend Marquez won a lopsided unanimous decision over Mike Alvarado 34-3 (23), who was coming off a stoppage loss to Provodnikov in his last fight. After beating Alvarado, Marquez said he wants to be the first Mexican fighter in boxing history to win a world title in five different weight classes. Guess who holds the WBO welterweight title? Yep, Manny Pacquiao. What could be sweeter for Marquez than winning his fifth title and further enhancing his legacy at Pacquiao's expense?
Think about the drama/soap opera and back story attached to Pacquiao-Marquez V. Manny wants to avenge being knocked out by Marquez and Juan wants to make history and solidify himself historically as being Pacquiao's superior. If Pacquiao were to knockout or beat Marquez convincingly in their fifth meeting, most would look back at his knockout loss to him as being a fluke. That would give him a 3-1-1 advantage head to head and the debate as to who got the better of whom between them would be settled. On the other hand, if Marquez stopped Pacquiao again or beat him beyond question in a fifth meeting, the series would be 2-2-1. And most would say that Marquez deserved at least one of the two decisions he lost to Manny, and he scored the only clear cut wins between them – so Marquez would be thought of as the superior fighter between them, at least in a head to head comparison.
If Pacquiao and Marquez meet a fifth time they would both make a ton of money. One of them will enhance their legacy and the loser will not be shamed one bit by losing to the other. And even though Pacquiao is 35 and Marquez is 40, it's not an old-timers fight, it's a top of the contemporary era's best match-up even now.
After beating Alvarado this past weekend, Marquez was very coy when asked about fighting Pacquiao for a fifth time in his next fight. He wouldn't commit to anything but left the door open. He no doubt did that because he doesn't want to seem too anxious and wants to strengthen his financial interest if the fight comes to fruition. Marquez knows that Pacquiao wants a chance to make the boxing public forget about their last fight and just might be willing to make a few concessions in order to make the fight that he normally might not if that's what it takes to get him in the ring again. It was smart of Marquez to answer the question regarding Pacquiao the way he did for business reasons.
And it's smart for Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach to have recently said to Michael Woods that he's considering letting Provodnikov fight Pacquiao, giving Marquez a dose of his own medicine. Both Pacquiao and Marquez have nothing to gain fighting a dangerous guy like Provodnikov, who lost to Timothy Bradley, and they have everything to lose.
Rest assured, Marquez and Pacquiao know they'll be seeing each other again one more time later this year in China. And boxing fans can also rest assured that if nothing else big happens this year in professional boxing, at least they have Pacquiao-Marquez V to look forward to this coming fall.
Frank Lotierzo can be contacted at GlovedFist@Gmail.com
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Bygone Days: The Largest Crowd Ever at Madison Square Garden Sees Zivic TKO Armstrong
Bygone Days: The Largest Crowd Ever at Madison Square Garden Sees Zivic TKO Armstrong
There’s not much happening on the boxing front this month. That’s consistent with the historical pattern.
Fight promoters of yesteryear tended to pull back after the Christmas and New Year holidays on the assumption that fight fans had less discretionary income at their disposal. Weather was a contributing factor. In olden days, more boxing cards were staged outdoors and the most attractive match-ups tended to be summertime events.
There were exceptions, of course. On Jan. 17, 1941, an SRO crowd of 23,180 filled Madison Square Garden to the rafters to witness the welterweight title fight between Fritzie Zivic and Henry Armstrong. (This was the third Madison Square Garden, situated at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue, roughly 17 blocks north of the current Garden which sits atop Pennsylvania Station. The first two arenas to take this name were situated farther south adjacent to Madison Square Park).
This was a rematch. They had fought here in October of the previous year. In a shocker, Zivic won a 15-round decision. The fight was close on the scorecards. Referee Arthur Donovan and one of the judges had it even after 14 rounds, but Zivic had won his rounds more decisively and he punctuated his well-earned triumph by knocking Armstrong face-first to the canvas as the final bell sounded.
This was a huge upset.
Armstrong had a rocky beginning to his pro career, but he came on like gangbusters after trainer/manager Eddie Mead acquired his contract with backing from Broadway and Hollywood star Al Jolson. Heading into his first match with Zivic – the nineteenth defense of the title he won from Barney Ross – Hammerin’ Henry had suffered only one defeat in his previous 60 fights, that coming in his second meeting with Lou Ambers, a controversial decision.
Shirley Povich, the nationally-known sports columnist for the Washington Post, conducted an informal survey of boxing insiders and found only person who gave Zivic a chance. The dissident was Chris Dundee (then far more well-known than his younger brother Angelo). “Zivic knows all the tricks,” said Dundee. “He’ll butt Armstrong with his head, gouge him with his thumbs and hit him just as low as Armstrong [who had five points deducted for low blows in his bout with Ambers].”
Indeed, Pittsburgh’s Ferdinand “Fritzie” Zivic, the youngest and best of five fighting sons of a Croatian immigrant steelworker (Fritzie’s two oldest brothers represented the U.S. at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics) would attract a cult following because of his facility for bending the rules. It would be said that no one was more adept at using his thumbs to blind an opponent or using the laces of his gloves as an anti-coagulant, undoing the work of a fighter’s cut man.
Although it was generally understood that at age 28 his best days were behind him, Henry Armstrong was chalked the favorite in the rematch (albeit a very short favorite) a tribute to his body of work. Although he had mastered Armstrong in their first encounter, most boxing insiders considered Fritzie little more than a high-class journeyman and he hadn’t looked sharp in his most recent fight, a 10-round non-title affair with lightweight champion Lew Jenkins who had the best of it in the eyes of most observers although the match was declared a draw.
The Jan. 17 rematch was a one-sided affair. Veteran New York Times scribe James P. Dawson gave Armstrong only two rounds before referee Donovan pulled the plug at the 52-second mark of the twelfth round. Armstrong, boxing’s great perpetual motion machine, a world title-holder in three weight classes, repaired to his dressing room bleeding from his nose and his mouth and with both eyes swollen nearly shut. But his effort could not have been more courageous.
At the conclusion of the 10th frame, Donovan went to Armstrong’s corner and said something to the effect, “you will have to show me something, Henry, or I will have to stop it.” What followed was Armstrong’s best round.
“[Armstrong] pulled the crowd to its feet in as glorious a rally as this observer has seen in twenty-five years of attendance at these ring battles,” wrote Dawson. But Armstrong, who had been stopped only once previously, that coming in his pro debut, had punched himself out and had nothing left.
Armstrong retired after this fight, siting his worsening eyesight, but he returned in the summer of the following year, soldiering on for 46 more fights, winning 37 to finish 149-21-10. During this run, he was reacquainted with Fritzie Zivic. Their third encounter was fought in San Francisco before a near-capacity crowd of 8,000 at the Civic Auditorium and Armstrong got his revenge, setting the pace and working the body effectively to win a 10-round decision. By then the welterweight title had passed into the hands of Freddie Cochran.
Hammerin’ Henry (aka Homicide Hank) Armstrong was named to the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the inaugural class of 1990. Fritzie Zivic followed him into the Hall three years later.
Active from 1931 to 1949, Zivic lost 65 of his 231 fights – the most of anyone in the Hall of Fame, a dubious distinction – but there was yet little controversy when he was named to the Canastota shrine because one would be hard-pressed to find anyone who had fought a tougher schedule. Aside from Armstrong and Jenkins, he had four fights with Jake LaMotta, four with Kid Azteca, three with Charley Burley, two with Sugar Ray Robinson, two with Beau Jack, and singles with the likes of Billy Conn, Lou Ambers, and Bob Montgomery. Of the aforementioned, only Azteca, in their final meeting in Mexico City, and Sugar Ray, in their second encounter, were able to win inside the distance.
By the way, it has been written that no event of any kind at any of the four Madison Square Gardens ever drew a larger crowd than the crowd that turned out on Jan. 17, 1941, to see the rematch between Fritzie Zivic and Henry Armstrong. Needless to say, prizefighting was big in those days.
A recognized authority on the history of prizefighting and the history of American sports gambling, TSS editor-in-chief Arne K. Lang is the author of five books including “Prizefighting: An American History,” released by McFarland in 2008 and re-released in a paperback edition in 2020.
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Jai Opetaia Brutally KOs David Nyika, Cementing his Status as the World’s Top Cruiserweight
In his fifth title defense, lineal cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia (27-0, 21 KOs) successfully defended his belt with a brutal fourth-round stoppage of former sparring partner David Nyika. The bout was contested in Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia where Opetaia won the IBF title in 2022 with a hard-earned decision over Maris Briedis with Nyika on the undercard. Both fighters reside in the general area although Nyika, a former Olympic bronze medalist, hails from New Zealand.
The six-foot-six Nyika, who was undefeated in 10 pro fights with nine KOs, wasn’t afraid to mix it up with Opetaia although had never fought beyond five rounds and took the fight on three weeks’ notice when obscure German campaigner Huseyin Cinkara suffered an ankle injury in training and had to pull out. He wobbled Opetaia in the second round in a fight that was an entertaining slugfest for as long as it lasted.
In round four, the champion but Nyika on the canvas with his patented right uppercut and then finished matters moments later with a combination climaxed with an explosive left hand. Nyika was unconscious before he hit the mat.
Opetaia’s promoter Eddie Hearn wants Opetaia to unify the title and then pursue a match with Oleksandr Usyk. Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, a Golden Boy Promotions fighter, holds the WBA and WBO versions of the title and is expected to be Opetaia’s next opponent. The WBC diadem is in the hands of grizzled Badou Jack.
Other Fights of Note
Brisbane heavyweight Justis Huni (12-0, 7 KOs) wacked out overmatched South African import Shaun Potgieter (10-2), ending the contest at the 33-second mark of the second round. The 25-year-old, six-foot-four Huni turned pro in 2020 after losing a 3-round decision to two-time Olympic gold medalist Bakhodir Jalolov. There’s talk of matching him with England’s 20-year-old sensation Moses Itauma which would be a delicious pairing.
Eddie Hearn’s newest signee Teremoana Junior won his match even quicker, needing less than a minute to dismiss Osasu Otobo, a German heavyweight of Nigerian descent.
The six-foot-six Teremoana, who akin to Huni hails from Brisbane and turned pro after losing to the formidable Jalolov, has won all six of his pro fights by knockout while answering the bell for only eight rounds. He has an interesting lineage; his father is from the Cook Islands.
Rising 20-year-old Max “Money” McIntyre, a six-foot-three super middleweight, scored three knockdowns en route to a sixth-round stoppage of Abdulselam Saman, advancing his record to 7-0 (6 KOs). As one can surmise, McIntyre is a big fan of Floyd Mayweather.
The Opetaia-Nyika fight card aired on DAZN pay-per-view (39.99) in the Antipodes and just plain DAZN elsewhere.
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R.I.P. Paul Bamba (1989-2024): The Story Behind the Story
Paul Bamba, a cruiserweight, passed away at age 35 on Dec. 27 six days after defeating Rogelio Medina before a few hundred fans on a boxing card at a performing arts center in Carteret, New Jersey. No cause of death has been forthcoming, leading to rampant speculation. Was it suicide, or perhaps a brain injury, and if the latter was it triggered by a pre-existing condition?
Fuel for the latter comes in the form of a letter that surfaced after his death. Dated July 25, 2023, it was written by Dr. Alina Sharinn, a board-certified neurologist licensed in New York and Florida.
“Mr. Bamba has suffered a concussion and an episode of traumatic diplopia within the past year and now presents with increasing headaches. His MRI of the brain revealed white matter changes in both frontal lobes,” wrote Bamba’s doctor.
Her recommendation was that he stop boxing temporarily while also avoiding any other activity at which he was at risk of head trauma.
Dr. Sherinn’s letter was written three months after Bamba was defeated by Chris Avila in a 4-round contest in New Orleans. He lost all four rounds on all three scorecards, reducing his record to 5-3.
Bamba took a break from boxing after fighting Avila. Eight months would elapse before he returned to the ring. His next four fights were in Santa Marta, Colombia, against opponents who were collectively 4-23 at the time that he fought them. The most experienced of the quartet, Victor Coronado, was 38 years old.
He won all four inside the distance and ten more knockouts would follow, the last against Medina in a bout sanctioned by the World Boxing Association for the WBA Gold title. As widely reported, the stoppage, his 14th, broke Mike Tyson’s record for the most consecutive knockouts within a calendar year. That would have been a nice feather in his cap if only it were true.
Born in Puerto Rico, Paul Bamba was a former U.S. Marine who spent time in Iraq as an infantry machine gunner. In interviews on social media platforms, he is well-spoken and introspective without a trace of the boastfulness that many prizefighters exhibit when talking to an outsider. Interviewed in a corridor of the arena after stopping Medina, he was almost apologetic, acknowledging that he still had a lot to learn.
His life story is inspirational.
His early years were spent in foster homes. He was homeless for a time after returning to civilian life. Speaking with Boxing Scene’s Lucas Ketelle, Bamba said, “I didn’t have any direction after leaving the Marine corps. I hit rock bottom, couldn’t afford a place to stay…I was renting a mattress that was shoved behind someone’s sofa.”
He turned his life around when he ventured into the Morris Park Boxing Gym in the Bronx where he learned the rudiments of boxing under the tutelage of former WBA welterweight champion Aaron “Superman” Davis. “I love boxing,” he would say. “The confidence it gives you permeates into other aspects of your life.”
Bamba’s newfound confidence allowed him to carve out a successful career as a personal trainer. His most famous client was the Grammy Award winning R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo who signed Bamba to his new sports management company late in the boxer’s Knockout skein. Bamba was with Ne-Yo in Atlanta when he passed away. Ne-Yo broke the news on his Instagram platform.
Paul Bamba had been pursuing a fight with Jake Paul. Winning the WBA Gold belt opened up other potentially lucrative options. In theory, the holder of the belt is one step removed from a world title fight. Next comes an eliminator and, if he wins that one, a true title fight attached to a hefty purse will follow…in theory.
Rogelio “Porky” Medina, who brought a 42-10 record, had competed against some top-shelf guys, e.g., Zurdo Ramirez, Badou Jack, James DeGale, David Benavidez, Caleb Plant; going the distance with DeGale and Plant. However, only two of his 42 wins had come in fights outside Mexico, at age 36 he was over the hill, and his best work had come as a super middleweight.
Thirteen months ago, Medina carried 168 ½ pounds for a match in New Zealand in which he was knocked out in the first round. He came in more than 30 pounds heavier, specifically 202 ¼, for his match with Paul Bamba. In between, he knocked out a 54-year-old man in Guadalajara to infuse his ledger with a little brighter sheen.
Why did the WBA see fit to sanction the Bamba-Medina match as a title fight? That’s a rhetorical question. And for the record, the record for the most consecutive knockouts within a calendar year wasn’t previously held by Mike Tyson. LaMar Clark, a heavyweight from Cedar City, Utah, scored 29 consecutive knockouts in 1958 after opening the year by winning a 6-round decision. (If you are inclined to believe that all or most of those knockouts were legitimate, then perhaps I can interest you in buying the Brooklyn Bridge.)
Clark was being primped for a fight with a good purse which came when he was dispatched to Louisville to fight a fellow who was fairly new to the professional boxing scene, a former U.S. Olympian then known as Cassius Clay who knocked him out in the second round in what proved to be Clark’s final fight.
Paul Bamba was a much better fighter than LaMar Clark, of that I am quite certain. However, if Paul Bamba had gone on to meet one of the world’s elite cruiserweights, a similar outcome would have undoubtedly ensued.
One can summon up the Bamba-Medina fight on the internet although the video isn’t great – it was obviously filmed on a smart phone – and pieces of it are missing. Bamba was winning with his higher workrate when Medina took his unexpected leave, but one doesn’t have to be a boxing savant to see that Paul’s hand and foot speed were slow and that there were big holes in his defense.
This isn’t meant to be a knock on the decedent. Being able to box even four rounds at a fast clip and still be fresh is one of the most underrated achievements in all of human endurance sports. Bamba’s life story is indeed inspirational. When he talked about the importance of “giving back,” he was sincere. In an early interview, he mentioned having helped out at a Harlem food pantry.
Paul Bamba had to die to become well-known within the fight fraternity, let alone in the larger society. One hopes that his death will inspire the sport’s regulators to be more vigilant in assaying a boxer’s medical history and, if somehow his untimely death leads to the dissolution of the fetid World Boxing Association, his legacy would be even greater.
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