50 Cent Talks Gamboa, Boxing and First Pitches Gone Awry

Published

11 years ago

June 24, 2014

Recording artist and boxing promoter Curtis Jackson, who entertains audiences under the name 50 Cent, told TSS it’s easy for him to promote lightweight Yuriorkis Gamboa because the hard-hitting Cuban has both the technical skill and raw ability to end fights at any moment.

“I’m not selling fighters,” 50 told me. “We’re selling the excitement surrounding Gamboa!”

Still, I asked Jackson if he felt like it was difficult to sell audiences on a fighter from Cuba. After all, I reasoned, Gamboa’s contemporaries Guillermo Rigondeaux and Erislandy Lara have done just about as well as one can do in the sport but have still failed to really resonate with the boxing public.

Jackson wasn’t having it.

“You point out Rigondeaux, but you know what? No one who is hardcore into the sport of boxing can point out someone who can beat Rigondeaux. It may not be the most attractive thing to see, but he’s a technician. He’s going to outsmart the other fighter. You know? I mean, it’s tough to reprogram a guy to go get hit a few times or to go through things they don’t train to do.”

Jackson said it boils down to the boxing culture being racial by nature. In fact, he said that if his fighter, Gamboa, was from Mexico, he’d be as big a star in the sport as Floyd Mayweather.

“These are some of the top fighters in boxing right now, and because they’re Cuban…maybe I’m living in my own little world not looking at ethnicity and just saying great is great. Ethnicity won’t save you if you get in there as an opponent to them.”

I argued the point a little with him. I said that it wasn’t necessarily that they were from Cuba, but rather it was the Cuban fighting style, the one taught in the country’s stalwart amateur system, that turned some fight fans off. While some boxing people, like me, appreciate the Cuban fighters for what they are, many folks simply don’t want to watch a fighter with such a defensive mindset.

Jackson wasn’t buying it.

“They Cuban! They are Cuban,” he said with a laugh. “Look, the sport of boxing is very racial. So Mexican fighters will have a huge audience with huge passion connected to the fighters, because culturally the people just embrace the sport.”

Jackson put his promoter hat on a bit at this point and talked about the importance of helping a fighter navigate his career no matter what kind of culture he has behind him. He said it was up to a fighter’s team to help put him in the best position possible to succeed.

“But when you run into that guy who isn’t part of the plan, we can’t fight for them–not that night. No matter how much support you might have for them emotionally, you can’t help them out.”

Since starting SMS Promotions back in 2012, Jackson has worked with Top Rank on several promotions, an interesting choice considering Bob Arum and company are Gamboa’s former promoters. Next weekend’s bout between Gamboa and Terrence Crawford is such an example. Both promoters are high on their undefeated lightweight and expect their guy to win but still see benefit in working with each other.

Still, Jackson said his working relationship with the company was as good as it can be.

“Like most promoters, they’ll protect their assets at different points. It’s as good a working relationship as you can actually have.”

I asked whether or not Jackson believed his status as a celebrity might help bring additional eyeballs to both his fighter and the sport in general. I relayed a story to him about a friend of mine named Melissa Bradshaw, a married mother of three from Tyler, Texas.

Melissa doesn’t follow boxing. I’m sure she knows about the existence of Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, but that’s probably about it. But Melissa has listened to rap music her whole life, artists such as Tupac, Master P and Young Bleed. So Melissa might not know much about boxing, but she knows a heck of a lot about 50 Cent.

I asked Jackson how to sell someone like Melissa on the sport.

“All I do is tell her I’m connected to it and invested in it, and she should actually take a look at it…just having something that she does relate to be connected to it would make [boxing] more interesting to her than [having] nothing connected. So the fighter who isn’t connected to SMS Promotions and isn’t connected to 50 Cent, she has zero interest in.”

So Jackson believes he can help bring more relevance to the sport among the mainstream crowd?

“Of course. It works, and it brings additional relevance to the sport.”

But Jackson recognized he can only help get people to the door. Once there, he said it was the fighters who have to do something worth watching.

Jackson said Gamboa was up to the task.

First Pitch Blues

In May, Jackson was invited to throw out the first pitch for the New York Mets. It went just about as poorly as any first pitch has ever gone. Jackson didn’t come anywhere close to the plate. It was as if he was aiming sideways or something. If you missed it, you can check it out here. It’s pretty funny.

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So what happened, 50 Cent?

“Oh…um…it slipped.”

Jackson was good natured about it. He said he had practiced the pitch beforehand but let his nerves get the best of him.

“I did pretty well when it didn’t mean anything. And then you come in front of the audience and everybody is there and you go to throw the ball and it slipped. If I threw the ball four or five more times, you’d see me throw the ball over the plate four or five more times.”

So even 50 Cent gets nervous performing in front of a stadium full of people?

“Of course I’m nervous in front of a stadium full of people! You don’t actually throw the ball in front of a stadium front of people, do you?”

I told him I don’t, but that I also wasn’t used to performing in front of a stadium full of people the way he was because of his music career.

“Yeah, but I’m not pitching in a professional baseball game!”

Fair enough.

Andre Dirrell Update

Jackson said fans could expect to see super middleweight Andre Dirrell back inside the ring in the near future. He would not specify the exact timing of the fight or an opponent, but indicated it would be within the next few months.

“Andre will be back in the ring shortly. I’m excited to see him move forward in his career and get things going. Sometimes, there doesn’t have to be anything in the way. Sometimes the guys will be in their own way. I think you should expect to see him shortly. I know he’s back actively training.”

***

Kelsey McCarson contributes to The Sweet Science, Boxing Channel and Bleacher Report. To read more from his discussion with 50 Cent, click here.

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Kelsey McCarson

Undercard Results and Recaps from the Inoue-Cardenas Show in Las Vegas

Published

2 hours ago

May 4, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Undercard-Results-and-Recaps-from-the-Inoue-Cardenas-Show-in-Las-Vegas

The curtain was drawn on a busy boxing weekend tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where the featured attraction was Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue appearing in his twenty-fifth world title fight.

The top two fights (Inoue vs. Roman Cardenas for the unified 122-pound crown and Rafael Espinoza vs. Edward Vazquez for the WBO world featherweight diadem) aired on the main ESPN platform with the preliminaries streaming on ESPN+.

The finale of the preliminaries was a 10-rounder between welterweights Rohan Polanco and Fabian Maidana. A 2020/21 Olympian for the Dominican Republic, Polanco was a solid favorite and showed why by pitching a shutout, punctuating his triumph by knocking Maidana to his knees late in the final round with a hard punch to the pit of the stomach.

Polanco improved to 16-0 (10). Argentina’s Maidana, the younger brother of former world title-holder Marcos Maidana, fell to 24-4 while maintaining his distinction of never being stopped.

Emiliano Vargas, a rising force in the 140-pound division with the potential to become a crossover star, advanced to 14-0 (12 KOs) with a second-round stoppage Juan Leon. Vargas, who turned 21 last month, is the son of former U.S. Olympian Fernando Vargas who had big money fights with the likes of Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya. Emiliano knocked Leon down hard twice in round two – both the result of right-left combinations — before Robert Hoyle waived it off.

A 28-year-old Spaniard, Leon was 11-2-1 heading in.

In his U.S. debut, 29-year-old Japanese southpaw Mikito Nakano (13-0, 12 KOs) turned in an Inoue-like performance with a fourth-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Pedro Medina. Nakano, a featherweight, had Medina on the canvas five times before referee Harvey Dock waived it off at the 1:58 mark of round four. The shell-shocked Medina (16-2) came into the contest riding a 15-fight winning streak.

Lynwood, California junior middleweight Art Barrera Jr, a 19-year-old protégé of Robert Garcia, scored a sixth-round stoppage of Chicago’s Juan Carlos Guerra. There were no knockdowns, but the bout had turned sharply in Barrera’s favor when referee Thomas Taylor intervened. The official time was 1:15 of round six.

Barrera improved to 9-0 (7 KOs). The spunky but outclassed Guerra, who upset Nico Ali Walsh in his previous outing, declined to 6-2-1.

In the lid-lifter, a 10-round featherweight affair, Muskegon Michigan’s Ra’eese Aleem improved to 22-1 (12) with a unanimous decision over LA’s hard-trying Rudy Garcia (13-2-1). The judges had it 99-01, 98-92, and 97-93.

Aleem, 34, was making his second start since June of 2023 when he lost a split decision in Australia to Sam Goodman with a date with Naoya Inoue hanging in the balance.

Check back shortly for David Avila’s recaps of the two world title fights.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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Canelo Alvarez Upends Dancing Machine William Scull in Saudi Arabia

Published

22 hours ago

May 3, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Canelo-Alvarez-Upends-Dancing-Machine-William-Scull-in-Saudi-Arabia

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who has acquired a new nickname – “The Face of Boxing” – is accustomed to fighting on Cinco De Mayo weekend, but this year was different. For the first time, Canelo was fighting outside the continent of North America and entering the ring at an awkward hour. His match with William Scull started at 6:30 on a Sunday morning in Riyadh.

In the opposite corner was 32-year-old William Scull, an undefeated (23-0) Cuban by way of Germany, whose performance was better suited to “Dancing With the Stars” than to a world title fight. Constantly bouncing from side to side but rarely letting his hands go, Scull frustrated Canelo who found it near-impossible to corner him, but one can’t win a fight solely on defense and the Mexican superstar was returned the rightful winner in a bout that was a fitting cap to a desultory two days of Saudi-promoted prizefighting. The scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 119-109. In winning, Canelo became a fully unified super middleweight champion twice over.

Terence Crawford was in attendance and HE Turki Alalshikh made it official: Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) and Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) will meet in the Fight of the Century (Alalshikh’s words) on Sept. 12 in Las Vegas at the home of the city’s NFL team, the Raiders. For whatever it’s worth, each of Canelo’s last seven fights has gone the full 12 rounds.

Semi-wind-up

In a match between the WBC world cruiserweight title-holder and the WBC world cruiserweight “champion in recess” (don’t ask), the former, Badou Jack, brought some clarity to the diadem by winning a narrow decision over Noel Mikaelian. One of the judges had it a draw (114-114), but the others gave the fight to “Jack the Ripper” by 115-113 scores.

A devout Muslim who is now a full-time resident of Saudi Arabia, the Sweden-born Jack, a three-division title-holder, had the crowd in his corner. Now 41 years old, he advanced his record to 29-3-3 (17). It was the first pro loss for Mikaelian (27-1), a Florida-based Armenian who was subbing for Ryan Rozicki.

The distracted CompuBox operator credited Mikaelian with throwing 300 more punches but there was no controversy.

Tijuana’s Jaime Munguia, a former junior middleweight title-holder, avenged his shocking loss to Bruno Sarace with a unanimous 12-round decision in their rematch. This was Munguia’s first fight with Eddy Reynoso in his corner. The scores were 117-111 and 116-112 twice.

Surace’s one-punch knockout of Munguia in mid-December in Tijuana was the runaway pick for the 2024 Upset of the Year. Heading in, Munguia was 44-1 with his lone defeat coming at the hands of Canelo Alvarez. Munguia had won every round against Surace before the roof fell in on him.

Surace won a few rounds tonight, but Munguia was the busier fighter and landed the cleaner shots. It was the first pro loss for Surace (26-1-2) and ended his 23-fight winning streak. The Frenchman hails for Marseilles.

Heavyweights

In a 10-round heavyweight match fought at a glacial pace, Martin Bakole (21-2-1) and Efe Ajagba (20-1-1) fought to a draw. One of the judges favored Ajagba 96-94 but he was outvoted by his cohorts who each had it 95-95.

Bakole, a 7/2 favorite, came in at 299 pounds, 15 more than he carried in his signature win over Jared Anderson, and looked sluggish. He was never able to effectively close off the ring against the elusive Ajagba who fought off his back foot and failed to build on his early lead.

The fight between the Scotch-Congolese campaigner Bakole and his Nigerian-American foe was informally contested for the heavyweight championship of Africa. That “title” remains vacant.

In a 6-rounder, heavy-handed Cuban light heavyweight Brayon Leon, a stablemate of Canelo Alvarez, was extended the distance for the first time while advancing his record to 7-0 at the expense of Mexico’s Aaron Roche (11-4-1). Leon knocked Roche to the canvas in the fourth round with a right-left combination, but the Mexican stayed the course while eating a lot of hard punches.

Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry Promotions

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Rolly Romero Upsets Ryan Garcia in the Finale of a Times Square Tripleheader

Published

2 days ago

May 2, 2025

David A. Avila

Rolly Romero Upsets Ryan Garcia in the Finale of a Times Square Tripleheader

Disappointment.

Those bright lights on Times Square proved too much for some but not for Rolly Romero who soaked it up, floored Ryan Garcia early, then cruised to victory on the public streets of Manhattan on Friday.

Romero (17-2, 13 KOs) rode into the prize ring in a vintage Chevy Impala against Garcia (24-2, 23 KOs) and his flashy Batmobile on the streets of Manhattan and walked away victorious.

Simple as one-two-three.

Though both fighters pack tremendous power it was the lightning speed of Garcia that transfixed most and many felt that speed would prevail. It did not.

Instead, Romero caught Garcia inside with his own left hook followed quickly with another hook and down went the Southern Californian in the second round. But just like in previous instances Garcia quickly got up.

Romero tried to end the fight but was caught with a Garcia left hook and you could visibly see the changes in attitude. Romero re-thought his strategy and took the safer approach of making it a slow-moving exchange of feints, jabs and touches from distance.

For the next 10 rounds the crowd first sat on the edge of their seat then slowly sank back realizing that self-preservation had overtaken both fighters.

Though there were moments of possible shock, awe and explosion, it never came. After 12 rounds two judges scored it 115-112, and another 118-109 for Romero.

“Knockdowns always help the fighter,” said Romero.

Garcia was gracious in defeat.

“Rolly fought a good fight and did a good job,” said Garcia. “Hats off to Rolly.”

Haney Wins

Las Vegas fighter Devin Haney (32-0, 15 KOs) defeated Central California’s Jose Carlos Ramirez (29-3, 18 KOs) in a fight with few punches exchanged but plenty of side-to-side movement to win by unanimous decision.

For most fans, watching dirt turn to mud would have been more exciting.

If Haney’s goal was to win the fight and remain undefeated, he succeeded. If he was seeking to entertain fans and prove he is one of the best welterweights in the world?

It was a failure.

Still, Haney evaded exchanges for more than two minutes out of every round. Ramirez, knowing that chasing with abandon could lead to traps could not close the distance.

Haney did get caught a few times and proved any shock residual from his last fight against Ryan Garcia a year ago was a none-issue. Ramirez was also caught by a few uppercuts and survived.

Though very little meaningful punches were landed by either fighter, the judges chose Haney 119-109 twice and 118-110.

Teofimo Wins

Fighting in front of hometown fans, Teofimo Lopez (22-1, 13 KOs) gave Arnold Barboza (32-1) his first defeat.

But it was never easy.

It was like watching a magician at work as Lopez led viewers, commentators and TV judges to think he was overwhelming Barboza with his left hand. Meanwhile the actual fight was happening in a far different dimension.

Jim Lampley, the golden voice of TV commentating for decades, returned but he needs a crack group to lead him toward the proper direction. In this instance he was told Lopez was winning every round.

He was not.

Every time Lopez tried to bamboozle his foe, he was met with a body shot, jab or some other deterrent. Every round was contested scientifically with precise steps, counter steps and touches.

Lopez was quickly swollen by the blows landed by Barboza, yet the Californian did not show as much. Lopez was indeed connecting too.

It was a brilliant display of scientific boxing that the commentating crew failed to convey to the viewers. At one point, I simply turned off the sound.

Few blows landed flush. A right cross that beat Lopez to the punch in the sixth round was perhaps the best. A slick three-punch combination by Lopez in the seventh round was poetry.

Neither fighter was able to take over the fight.

Lopez moved around every round never staying in the same spot. Barboza maintained his balance and composure and seldom gave Lopez easy pickings. After 12 rounds of scientific boxing all three judges scored in favor of Lopez 116-112 twice and 118-109.

“Never quit in anything you want to do,” said Lopez.

On another note, the new commentating team for DAZN needs better side support for Lampley.

Overall, the Ring Magazine fight card was all razzle but no dazzle.

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