Oscar Wants Cold War Thaw To Heat Up, Would Like To Make Pacquiao Vs. Danny Garcia

Published

10 years ago

September 2, 2014

The Cold War is thawing, and we could be seeing the pace of the thaw speeding up.

No, friends, not a time for one of my “sly” Liberal Tweets, not a time for a climate change jest and a poke at the moronic denialists. That would only remind us of the gaping divide in DC, and among segments of the citizenry who hole up in their ideological bunkers and lob insults at the other team on the rare occasions we pop outside our holes and interact with each other.

No, not the time to bemoan the existence of wearying divides. No, now is the time to celebrate the possibilities for the future, for the last months of 2014, and beyond.

Who knows, maybe we are seeing a harbinger of the forthcoming healing of fractures which are fed kindling by diabolical power brokers in Washington and among the media ticks who feast on the blood spilled during the wars over cultural and social issues, people whose primary if not sole purpose is to retain and exploit their power and grow their personal fortune. Maybe boxing is fixing to reach a better place, one where we don’t have the divide, don’t have a select few choosing to do business with another select few, which benefits themselves, and far too often leaves the lowly fan, the people who, by the way, open up their wallets consistently and generously, and keep the sport afloat, feeling like they got canned at the carnival again, and spent premium bucks for a crappy stuffed animal filled with flammable rags stuffed by child labor in Bangladesh.

I saw today the potential of what can happen when people exit bunkers, and shake hands, and find common ground, in order to hammer out an agreement which can benefit the masses, which makes the Libra side of me so pleased. I saw the guys from HBO talking to the guys from the revamped Golden Boy, and those guys talking with the folks from MainEvents, and all were on the same side, basically, working on a fight which will unfold on Nov. 8 in Atlantic City. That fight, pitting Bernard Hopkins, the freak of nature who will turn 50 in Janaury, taking on the hammer-fisted Russian Sergey Kovalev, wouldn’t and couldn’t have been made since March of 2013, when HBO threw up its hands and said no mas. No more doing business with Golden Boy, was the cry, because the HBO gang was tired of doing the slightly laborious work of building fighters into names, and then having those fighters escorted over to do their thing on Showtime, many times having help crossing the street from tour guide Al Haymon.

Here’s hoping this Nov. 8 re-set promotion is the start of a trend which will grow until it is the new again norm. Oscar De La Hoya, who TKO’d some demons in rehab, and emerged, after humbling group meetings in which he verbalized that he was no golden boy when it came to conducting himself as a human being, a lot of the time, grabbed the reins to the company in early June. “MY company,” he’s said time and again the last few months, with a tone suggesting that he was none to proud of what it had become while he caroused and let Richard Schaefer, his ex banker bud who he installed as day to day boss, and whose power grew immensely over a 12 year span, craft it into his vision.

The vision is articulated clearly now, even if the execution has to be delivered in a consistent fashion, and gimme showcase affairs like we saw on Aug. 19 at Barclays Center have to be an ultra-rarity, instead of business as usual.

“I’ve talked to Bob Arum several times (recently),” said De La Hoya, trim, patient, engaged, clear-eyed, in better command at the podium overseeing the presser than he’d been just last month, today. “And I’m meeting with Arum next week.”

Pray tell, do you have a set agenda, a list of co-promotions you’d like to do? “We’re on the same page on a Manny Pacquiao versus Danny Garcia fight,” Oscar said. “That would be a good first start, wouldn’t it?” he said to me, locking in eye contact with the certainty of someone who knew he didn’t have hijinks to keep under wraps, or was engaging in behavior that could and did conjure self loathing spells.

It would be a fine first start, a true co-promotion between Top Rank and Oscar, which would bring two top dogs into the ring, and would do bang-up business, and would go a ways to lower the frustration level of the long-suffering fight fan, who has seen too much star building, and reputation building fights, and too few pick ’em bouts, for too damn long.

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Michael Woods

Najee Lopez Steps up in Class and Wins Impressively at Plant City

Published

9 hours ago

January 24, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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Garry Jonas’ ProBox series returned to its regular home in Plant City, Florida, tonight with a card topped by a 10-round light heavyweight match between fast-rising Najee Lopez and former world title challenger Lenin Castillo. This was considered a step-up fight for the 25-year-old Lopez, an Atlanta-born-fighter of Puerto Rican heritage. Although the 36-year-old Castillo had lost two of his least three heading in, he had gone the distance with Dimitry Bivol and Marcus Browne and been stopped only once (by Callum Smith).

Lopez landed the cleaner punches throughout. Although Castillo seemed unfazed during the first half of the fight, he returned to his corner at the end of round five exhibiting signs of a fractured jaw.

In the next round, Lopez cornered him against the ropes and knocked him through the ropes with a left-right combination. Referee Emil Lombardo could have stopped the fight right there, but he allowed the courageous Castillo to carry on for a bit longer, finally stopping the fight as Castillo’s corner and a Florida commissioner were signaling that it was over.

The official time was 2:36 of round six. Bigger fights await the talented Lopez who improved to 13-0 with his tenth win inside the distance. Castillo declined to 25-7-1.

Co-Feature

In a stinker of a heavyweight fight, Stanley Wright, a paunchy, 34-year-old North Carolina journeyman, scored a big upset with a 10-round unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Jeremiah Milton.

Wright carried 280 pounds, 100 pounds more than in his pro debut 11 years ago. Although he was undefeated (13-0, 11 KOs), he had never defeated an opponent with a winning record and his last four opponents were a miserable 19-48-2. Moreover, he took the fight on short notice.

What Wright had going for him was fast hands and, in the opening round, he put Milton on the canvas with a straight right hand. From that point, Milton fought tentatively and Wright, looking fatigued as early as the fourth round, fought only in spurts. It seemed doubtful that he could last the distance, but Milton, the subject of a 2021 profile in these pages, was wary of Wright’s power and unable to capitalize. “It’s almost as if Milton is afraid to win,” said ringside commentator Chris Algieri during the ninth stanza when the bout had devolved into a hugfest.

The judges had it 96-93 and 97-92 twice for the victorious Wright who boosted his record to 14-0 without improving his stature.

Also

In the TV opener, a 10-round contest in the junior middleweight division, Najee Lopez stablemate Darrelle Valsaint (12-0, 10 KOs) scored his career-best win with a second-round knockout of 35-year-old Dutch globetrotter Stephen Danyo (23-7-3).

A native Floridian of Haitian descent, the 22-year-old Valsaint was making his eighth start in Plant City. He rocked Danyo with a chopping right hand high on the temple and then, as Danyo slumped forward, delivered the coup-de-gras, a short left uppercut. The official time was 2:17 of round two.

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Japanese Superstar Naoya Inoue is Headed to Vegas after KOing Ye Joon Kim

Published

19 hours ago

January 24, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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Japan’s magnificent Naoya Inoue, appearing in his twenty-fourth title fight, scored his 11^th straight stoppage tonight while successfully defending his unified super bantamweight title, advancing his record to 29-0 (26 KOs) at the expense of Ye Joon Kim. The match at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena came to an end at the 2:25 mark of round four when U.S. referee Mark Nelson tolled “10” over the brave but overmatched Korean.

Kim, raised in a Seoul orphanage, had a few good moments, but the “Monster” found his rhythm in the third round, leaving Kim with a purplish welt under his left eye. In the next frame, he brought the match to a conclusion, staggering the Korean with a left and then finishing matters with an overhand right that put Kim on the seat of his pants, dazed and wincing in pain.

Kim, who brought a 21-2-2 record, took the fight on 10 days’ notice, replacing Australia’s Sam Goodman who suffered an eye injury in sparring that never healed properly, forcing him to withdraw twice.

Co-promoter Bob Arum, who was in the building, announced that Inoue’s next fight would happen in Las Vegas in the Spring. Speculation centers on Mexico City’s Alan Picasso (31-0-1, 17 KOs) who is ranked #1 by the WBC. However, there’s also speculation that the 31-year-old Inoue may move up to featherweight and seek to win a title in a fifth weight class, in which case a potential opponent is the winner of the Feb. 2 match between Brandon Figueroa and Stephen Fulton. In “olden days,” this notion would have been dismissed as the Japanese superstar and Figueroa/Fulton have different promoters, but the arrival of Turki Alalshikh, the sport’s Daddy Warbucks, has changed the dynamic. Tonight, Naoya Inoue made his first start as a brand ambassador for Riyadh Season.

Simmering on the backburner is a megafight with countryman Junto Nakatani, an easy fight to make as Arum has ties to both. However, the powers-that-be would prefer more “marination.”

Inoue has appeared twice in Las Vegas, scoring a seventh-round stoppage of Jason Moloney in October of 2020 at the MGM Bubble and a third-round stoppage of Michael Dasmarinas at the Virgin Hotels in June of 2021.

Semi-wind-up

In a 12-round bout for a regional welterweight title, Jin Sasaki improved to 19-1-1 (17) with a unanimous decision over Shoki Sakai (29-15-3). The scores were 118-110, 117-111, and 116-112.

Also

In a bout in which both contestants were on the canvas, Toshiki Shimomachi (20-1-3) edged out Misaki Hirano (11-2), winning a majority decision. A 28-year-old Osaka southpaw with a fan-friendly style, the lanky Shimomachi, unbeaten in his last 22 starts, competes as a super bantamweight. A match with Inoue may be in his future.

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Eric Priest Wins Handily on Thursday’s Golden Boy card at the Commerce Casino

Published

1 day ago

January 24, 2025

David A. Avila

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Model turned fighter Eric Priest jabbed and jolted his way into the super middleweight rankings with a shutout decision win over veteran Tyler Howard on Thursday.

In his first main event Priest (15-0, 8 KOs) proved ready for contender status by defusing every attack Tennessee’s Howard (20-3, 11 KOs) could muster at Commerce Casino, the second fight in six days at the LA County venue.

All ticket monies collected on the Folden Boy Promotions card were contributed to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation as they battle wildfires sprouting all over Los Angeles County due to high winds.

Priest, 26, had never fought anyone near Howard’s caliber but used a ramrod jab to keep the veteran off-balance and unable to muster a forceful counter-attack. Round after round the Korean-American fighter pumped left jabs while circling his opposition.

Though hit with power shots, none seemed to faze Howard but his own blows were unable to put a dent in Priest. After 10 rounds of the same repetitive action all three judges scored the fight 100-90 for Priest who now wins a regional super middleweight title.

Priest also joins the top 15 rankings of the WBA organization.

In a fight between evenly matched middleweights, Jordan Panthen (11-0, 9 KOs) remained undefeated after 10 rounds versus DeAundre Pettus (12-4, 7 KOs). Though equally skilled, Panthen simply out-worked the South Caroliina fighter to win by unanimous decision. No knockdowns were scored.

Other Bouts

Grant Flores (8-0, 6 KOs) knocked out Costa Rica’s David Lobo Ramirez (17-4, 12 KOs) with two successive right uppercuts at 2:59 of the second round of the super welterweight fight.

Cayden Griffith (3-0, 3 KOs) used a left hook to the body to stop Mark Misiura at 1:43 of the second round in a super welterweight bout.

Jordan Fuentes (3-0) floored Brandon Badillo (0-3-1) in the third round and proceeded to win by decision after four rounds in a super bantamweight fight.

A super featherweight match saw Leonardo Sanchez (8-0) win by decision over Joseph Cruz Brown (10-12) after six rounds.

Photo credit: Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy

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