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Trying To Make Sense of Manny-Khan Meeting, and Floyd’s Next Move

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UPDATE 2: It is Wednesday, and are we closer to seeing Money-Manny, or are we destined to see the wheels spin like a vehicle caught in a snowdrift, while we got no shovel or salt? Maybe; we saw on Tuesday night the principals get together, in a coincidental way, at a basketball game. Depending on who you ask, their meeting, which included a brief chat, during halftime of the Heat-Bucks game, went amiably, or included Mayweather telling off Pacman and his advisor Michael Koncz for “lying.” Expectations rose when we saw them chatting, and heard that cell phone numbers were exchanged. Then hope dipped when the he said/he said something else account of the meetup leaked out. I was told that the meeting was indeed coincidental, that Pacman was due to fly home, but his flight was grounded because of weather, so he hit a game. Floyd is a Heat fan, so he was there as well…People caught video of the chat, but no audio, sadly.

There you have it, what passes for news in this day and age…

Also, Pacman promoter Bob Arum popped up on Wednesday, before that hoop-de-do, and spoke to Wallace Matthews and Teddy Atlas on their SiriusXM show, “Going the Distance.” No, we didn’t hear that The Fight was made. But Arum said he was “hopeful” it would be made, for May 2nd, and repeated a couple times that his level of optimism stems largely from the involvement of CBS boss Les Moonves. You all know I have pointed to that person’s presence in this fifth round of talks between the two parties as being potentially a game-changer, as I believe that a Les Moonves would be at the level of importance that even a Floyd Mayweather could be pursuaded to be swayed to his logic.

Arum also said Pac doesn’t have money woes, that his purses are usually larger or as large as Floyd’s because Uncle Sam doesn’t take a taste; Arum said he dropped the ball promoting Floyd because he was out of touch with the urban market, and didn’t understand young black persons of today; he said him and Floyd get along well enough; he said that Showtime loses $10-12 mill on each Floyd fight, and that a Mayweather-Cotto rematch wouldn’t happen, likely, because Cotto would want $13 or so million, and Floyd would want an extra $10 million or so on top of his guarantee, and that fight would do maybe 1.1 million PPV buys, and thus, Showtime/CBS could/would lose about $20 million on it.

I messaged Showtime to ask if they wanted to weigh in, or refute, and will add that info if they choose to do so. WEDNESDAY 9 PM UDATE: “There is no truth to Bob’s assertion that Showtime is losing money on Mayweather PPV events,” Showtime spokesman Chris DeBlasio, VP of sports communications, told me. “Beyond that, we don’t have any comment on Mayweather’s next fight.

In fact, Arum labeled Mayweather-Cotto 2 talk as “absolute nonsense.”

Also, Arum said the public might lose interest in seeing Money-Money, especially if one or both look so-so in their next outing. Now is the time, he iterated. The promoter ended the segment by taking a shot at Al Haymon, for blurring the line between promoter and manager, and then on a high note, basically wishing him well on bringing back boxing to primetime, network television.

Get on my Twitter timeline for more on the Arum hit on SiriusXM. https://twitter.com/Woodsy1069

UPDATE: It is Sunday, a day of prayer and rest and reflection for some. I’m thinking those folks, the ones that follow boxing, might want to add an extra request to the Almighty, if such a deity indeed could or would be influenced to help a prize-fight get made, to help the Manny-“Money” fight get off the tarmac, and reach flight stage.

Or, maybe, we would be better served to simply move forward with what many folks are now assuming to be the case, Plan B being activated for The Congressman and the “Money” man….

HBO’s Jim Lampley told Elie Seckback last night that he’s thinking we see a Mayweather-Cotto rematch on May 2, so are we at a point to acknowledge that continuing discussion of contracts, and terms, and agreements and status of negotiations is nothing more than wasting of time and energy? Pacman promoter Bob Arum spoke to Fight Hub a couple says ago and said, “We’re all done. We’ve signed everything, agreed on all the terms. As far as we know, we’ve been told by the highest authority that Mayweather’s people have agreed, that the networks have agreed. But like they say, you can’t do a play about Hamlet without Hamlet, and Hamlet — meaning Mayweather — has not signed on.”

Team Floyd folk take issue with terminology used by Arum and Showtime boxing boss Stephen Espinoza has stated that no true-blue contracts or contract has been crafted…so he takes issue with Arum presenting anything being “done.”

We are all spinning wheels on this element of the endless flirtation and breakup cycle, because we don’t know who was repping Team Floyd for the terms that are referenced by Arum, though we guess that Arum’s “highest authority” is Al Haymon; we don’t know if the terms are indeed then and now agreeable to Mayweather; we don’t know if they WERE that the goal-post doesn’t get moved, as people who argue that Floyd doesn’t really want this fight, for whatever reason(s), would be prone to do; we don’t know the format of the document, if it’s a list of terms, or actually a contract that can be signed and cited as proof of intent in a court of law.

The behavior of Pacman, in meeting with Amir Khan in England, in acknowledging that a May 30 scrap with Khan is current Plan B if The Fight falls through for the umpteenth time, is akin to that of a fella maintaining an active Tinder account while simultaneously attending marriage counseling sessions with his wife…It’s not indicative of a level of optimism that bodes well for the union…or for the prospect of an early summer Manny-Money clash. For the record, I do think we see The Fight, but it feels like Floyd would maybe rather string the process along, maybe build his leverage even higher, maybe wait for a Superbidding War to break out when his Showtime deal is done, after two more bouts. Of course, like so much of this tangled web, this is speculation.

But the speculation is bolstered by the talk from those who have a better instinct than us on where chips are going to fall. Oscar De La Hoya has said he doesn’t think Manny-Money is a go for May 2, and he’s been operating, with his top draw Canelo Alvarez, with that certainty guiding him for weeks now. Now you have Lampley saying it…and I had one of the smartest men in boxing tell me a good five weeks ago he thinks we see Mayweather-Cotto 2 and Pacquiao-Khan instead of The Fight.

My bottom line: can we just declare the prospects for this union, for Manny-Money in May, dead for now, if prospects are being uselessly and artificially held aloft, and move on to concrete reality? This spinning of wheels is I suppose interesting to some and keeps us intrigued to a point…but boxing isn’t building new fans this way. Maybe Manny and Money hook up in the fall, or even more likely, early in 2016…but if they aren’t going to walk down the aisle for May 2, let’s finish the speculation-a-thon, and return ourselves to actual, not speculative reality.

 

 

So Manny Pacquiao is meeting with Brit royalty, and now fight-game UK royalty, in Amir Khan.

What to make of it?

Purely a negotiating shove in the direction of the “Money” man, Floyd Mayweather–who takes his sweet time deliberating…or, heck, not deliberating, I do not pretend to know what he does with his 24-7—-to help propel his thumb up or down on whether to accept or refute the offer on the table to meet Manny Pacquiao in the what would be the sport’s most anticipated super fight since Lennox Lewis tangled with a faded Mike Tyson, in 2002?

Or a meaningful meet up, a possibly accelerant to a place where I dare say we all want to be…a place of clarity.

The negotiation period for this latest round—what is it, the tenth, the twelfth, the twelve thousandth?–of Manny/Money “talks” has dragged on to a level beyond absurd.

As it stands now, as far as we know, Pacman has agreed to “terms” which his crew maintains were acceptable to a person or persons who can speak for Floyd Mayweather, and now The Congressman and his crew awaits Floyd’s acceptance of said terms. Now, would Floyd’s acceptance result in popping of corks, exultation that this no brainer match is finally a go.

Er, no..

It’s been been pulling teeth, sans novocaine or laughing gas, to this point…so why should we not expect more shedding of blood, more muddying of the mix from the Arizas and the proxy reps for Floyd and his crew, who maintain that Pacquiao’s stated belief that he’s accepted all terms not he table for a fight are farcical, being that no official contract has been drafted.

Indeed, no less a player than Showtime boxing boss Stephen Espinoza has been vocal on the Twitter that talk of terms being accepted are moot, because if said “terms” are not part of a real-deal contract, then said terms are as real as watches they sell on Canal Street.

“Signing what? No contract has been drafted yet,” Espinoza Tweeted on Jan. 21.

The focus is off that he said/the other he said back and forth, and not on the tell-all book from a former Floyd Mayweather alleged confidante, which spills alleged specifics on how the hitter was bilked by a con man out of an obscene amount of money, and various other transgressions and missteps.

In England, Pacman and Khan, who ex Khan trainer Freddie Roach said was in the mix as a Plan B if a Manny-Money waltz falls through yet again, met and…who knows what?

Did a photo op meant to shove Mayweather in the direction of a decision? Or talked turkey, and firmed up the basics for a square-off, which could perhaps take place in Dubai, where the Muslim Khan has a considerable fan base of rooters, and where money flows like crude oil…

All of us wait with that proverbial bated breath, and all of us includes high-level players, as well.

I was told by Miguel Cotto advisor Gaby Penagaricano that he had nothing to report, as of Thursday late afternoon, so the Cotto teams, and the Canelo crew, which includes promoter Oscar De la Hoya, are, seemingly, waiting to see if Floyd will drop the other shoe. Mayweather holds the bulk of the cards, he’s the game’s A side decider, so when he makes a move, other puzzle pieces will slide into place.

Or…has Pacquiao, who put out a “request” for Floyd to make up his mind one way or another by the end of January, reached a patience limit?

Khan’s deadline for Floyd to make up his mind has come and gone already…

Has The Congressman gotten a message that Floyd is willing to joust some about terms and contracts and such, but not looking to go the extra yard, and actually activate a true fight, in the ring? That’s mystifying to most of us, who are conditioned to see things in term of what makes most money is what occurs…but I have thought for awhile that Mayweathers’ dismay with the way he and ex promoter Bob Arum parted ways could be keeping him from agreeing to do any bit of business with the Bobfather…and yes, this would be a perfect example, some would say, of cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face, to the tune of maybe leaving $50 million on the table, because of a personality conflict. And Floyd folk will tell you that Arum is the gum stopping up the works, which I have always found hard to swallow, to be honest, as his cut from The Fight would be immense.

Mayweather, word is, will be doing a promo tour of Australia starting on Jan. 27, if a visit visa is granted to him, possibly no given because of his considerable rap sheet legacy, as well as the multitude of allegations which could well spur public sentiment there to prod deciders to bar the hitter at the gate of entry.

Off the top of my head, visiting Melbourne and the like doesn’t have the same zest as Pacman’s meeting with Khan; would Floyd meeting Anthony Mundine catalyze any other potential foes to reduce their ask, or change their behavior? I think fan reaction to a Mayweather-Mundine bout nullifies any leverage that could be considered….but anyway.

Also, with Al Haymon, consummate man of mystery, advising Floyd, and being so active with mega-moves lately, could we see some rabbit out of the hat, maybe some Super Bowl special announcement, wow us with a development we didn’t see coming? Stranger things have happened, even in our delightful red light district of sporting chicanery.

I reached out to Oscar De La Hoya, to see if he wanted to shed any light, see if his antennae are picking up intel on what Floyd will do next, and I will insert his info should he respond. I will also add comments from Bob Arum if and when I hear from him, as I requested.  As always, I’d love to hear from the Floyd side, but they are of a narrow scope on the media they deal with so you are better off clicking on FightHype.com to snag news and opinion from that side of the fence.

Recent news that Team Canelo and De La Hoya are holding firm to that vaunted May 2 date indicates to me, maybe, that they are thinking Floyd-Manny on that date is a no go. I mean, we wouldn’t see Canelo being in a cannibalization situation from the HBO perspective, fighting May 2, the same night HBO was putting in resources and personnel to help produce Manny-Money. Oscar might be sitting with Canelo as we speak, in San Diego, and talking options for the red-head, which might include a tangle with James Kirkland. Several phone calls to Kirkland rep Mike Miller were not immediately returned.

So we wait…we all wait…same as before…we wait for “Money” to end the speculation, to clarify the murky picture. Sadly, I say, stay tuned…and hurry up, and wait for the picture to clear up.

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Arne’s Almanac: The Australian Boxing Renaissance and More

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A new junior middleweight champion emerged this past Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The World Boxing Organization (which uses the nomenclature junior middleweight instead of super welterweight) had made it known that it planned to strip Jermell Charlo of his 154-pound title for taking the fight with Canelo Alvarez and that adjudication took effect the moment the bell sounded to signify the start of the contest.

Charlo was displaced by Tim Tszyu (pictured) whose first defense of his newly-acquired title comes in less than two weeks when he touches gloves with Albuquerque’s Brian Mendoza at the Gold Coast Convention Center in Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia.

There are often hoots of derision when a fighter is anointed a title-holder without actually winning the diadem in the ring, but not in this instance. Tszyu (23-0, 17 KOs) would have been favored over Charlo if they had met and this would have been true even before Jermell’s hollow performance against Canelo.

Earlier that same day, WBO cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia returned to the ring after a 15-month absence and demolished Jordan Thompson at London’s Wembley Stadium. Although Opetaia (23-0, 18 KOs) was a massive favorite, he yet turned heads by winning every minute of the fight until it was halted after only 20 seconds of round four.

Australia now has three world title-holders, two of whom (Opetaia and Tszyu) are considered the best fighters in their respective weight classes. The other is Jason Moloney who recently won the WBO bantamweight title vacated by Naoya Inoue. And for whatever it’s worth, the Land Down Under has a fourth title-holder in IBF female bantamweight champion Ebanie Bridges.

There may be more in the pipeline. Sam Goodman (15-0, 7 KOs) is rated #1 at 122 pounds by the IBF and WBO. Tim Tszyu’s younger brother Nikita Tszyu (7-0, 6 KOs) has the look of a future champion and some folks are high on heavyweight Justis Huni (7-0, 4 KOs) who fights later this month in Cancun, Mexico with Andrew Tabiti in the opposite corner.

Things go in cycles and right now this is something of a golden era for Australian boxing.

Weekend Afterthoughts

The Showtime PPV topped by the Canelo-Charlo fight started swimmingly. The lid-lifter between middleweights Elijah Garcia and Jose Armando Resendiz was a doozy. Garcia, a 20-year-old southpaw from the Phoenix area, eventually assumed command and put Resendiz away in the eighth, but not before Resendiz showed that his upset of former title-holder Jarrett Hurd was no fluke.

The show went downhill from there. The second fight, pitting Mario Barrios and against Yordenis Ugas, the last man to defeat Manny Pacquiao, wasn’t a bad fight but too one-sided to provide great entertainment. Barrios, who had previously lost to Gervonta Davis and Keith Thurman, got his career back on track with a lopsided 12-round decision.

This reporter anticipated that the co-feature between super welterweights Jesus Ramos and Erickson Lubin would be a stirring battle with Ramos prevailing to maintain his undefeated record. I was wrong on both counts, dead wrong on the “stirring” part.

Far from a fan-friendly scrap, Ramos vs. Lubin was a snoozer. Lubin got the nod and although many thought Ramos was robbed, don’t look for a rematch any time soon. Concocting a sequel would bring back a bad memory.

The main event wasn’t much better. Jermell Charlo has been roundly excoriated on social media for his tepid effort. The folks that ponied up the dough to buy the pay-per-view didn’t get their money’s worth. But that’s boxing, the Theater of the Unexpected as Larry Merchant once phrased it.

The New GGG?

Buried on last Saturday’s Canelo-Charlo undercard was a 6-round contest between super middleweights Bek Nurmaganbet and Abimbola Osundairo. A 25-year-old Kazakh, Nurmaganbet advanced his record to 11-0 with a third-round stoppage. Nine of his wins have come inside the distance including the last seven, all of which ended inside three rounds.

Osundairo, a 30-year-old Chicago-based Nigerian, was a 2021 USA National Champion at 178 pounds. He was 5-0 in the pro ranks. Last year, he returned to his African homeland and won a 12-round contest to claim a regional title. On paper, he was a good match for the Kazakh.

For some readers, the name Osundairo may be vaguely familiar. That’s because he was involved in a bogus fight that became a major news story. The party of the other part, who offered no resistance, was actor Jussie Smollett.

Abimbola and his brother Olabinjo were paid to simulate an attack on Smollett which they carried out at 2 am on Jan. 29, 2019, on a street in downtown Chicago. Smollett, who is black and gay, claimed to be the victim of a hate crime, but developments would show that it was all a hoax. A jury found Smollett guilty on five counts related to the obstruction of justice and he was released on bond when his attorneys filed notice of an appeal.

Although Bek Nurmaganbet has built his record on the backs of no-name opponents, it’s worth noting that only one of those opponents had a losing record. Is he the successor to Gennady Golovkin as the next great KO artist from Kazakhstan? That may be asking too much, but remember his name; he bears watching.

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The Hauser Report: Jim Lampley and Bob Sheridan

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Two of boxing’s greatest blow-by-blow commentators were in the news last week. On Saturday night, Jim Lampley returned to the sweet science but in a role that was different from the one he’d enjoyed for decades at HBO. Sadly, three days earlier, Bob Sheridan died.

Let’s start with Lampley.

With all due respect to Sheridan (we’ll talk about his remarkable body of work later), Lampley is widely regarded as the greatest blow-by-blow commentator in boxing history. He was separated from the boxing scene when HBO stopped televising fights five years ago and resurfaced in a new role with PPV.com at Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermell Charlo.

PPV.com is a division of InDemand and streams various entertainment events. As part of its business, it streamed Canelo-Charlo in English and Spanish in the United States and Canada as a source of ancillary pay-per-view income for the promotion.

On August 22, PPV.com announced that Lampley and Lance Pugmire would co-host a live viewer chat during Canelo-Charlo. In keeping with his duties, Jim was in Las Vegas during fight week to generate interest in the fight and PPV.com.

Lampley arrived in Las Vegas on Tuesday night. He was a constant presence at media events, conducting interviews and being interviewed about the fight. His presence benefited the promotion by enlarging the pool of potential buyers who became aware of Canelo-Charlo. And the attention that Jim received was a boon for PPV.com, which became a talked-about alternative platform for buying the fight.

Lampley introduced himself to his PPV.com audience on fight night at 5:04 PM west coast time with a post that read, “After almost 5 years away from live boxing, the entire last 4 days in Las Vegas and the MGM Grand Hotel, the noise, the lights, the people, it’s been a hallucinogenic experience.”

When the judges awarded Erickson Lubin a stunningly bad decision over Jesus Ramos, Jim declared, “So I spent four years plus away from boxing, and I guess the judging didn’t get fixed.”

Lampley is a superb ambassador for boxing. His involvement with Canelo-Charlo was good for the entire promotion, not just PPV.com. But fight-night chats aren’t the best medium for Jim’s talent. And PPV.com shouldn’t be his end destination.

Part of the Jim Lampley experience for fans has always been the electric quality of his voice, a voice that generated excitement. By definition, that voice is missing in a written chat. Also, Lampley had an unmatched ability to view ring action and synthesize it into concise, perfectly-worded sound bites as it was unfolding, not several seconds afterward. In a written chat, that quality is lost in transition.

Jim Lampley belongs at ringside behind a microphone, not a keyboard.

Bob Sheridan plied his trade for decades. He had a distinctive announcing style and larger-than-life personality coupled with a love for boxing and the people he met in it.

 Sixteen years ago, I profiled “The Colonel” (as Sheridan was known). Bob’s resume grew even more impressive after that, capped by his 2016 induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. My original article about Bob is republished below as a tribute to a man whose enthusiasm for the sweet science was contagious.

Bob Sheridan was first behind the microphone for a fight in 1966. Since then, he has called more than 800 championship bouts and become an integral part of boxing’s historical soundtrack. From radio to broadcast television to closed-circuit to pay-per-view; been there, done that.

Bob Sheridan

Bob Sheridan

Sheridan is the international voice of boxing. He’s the commentator for the foreign-rights feed on most major bouts held in the United States and also for many fights overseas that are transmitted by satellite to the US. He was at ringside when Muhammad Ali battled George Foreman in Zaire and Joe Frazier in Manila. He has called the fights of legends like Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, and Roberto Duran. He was behind the microphone when Mike Tyson bit off part of Evander Holyfield’s ear. In large swaths of the world, his voice is synonymous with the sweet science.

Sheridan’s parents were born in 1905; his mother in County Mayo and his father in County Longford. Both of them came to the United States as toddlers.

Bob was born in Boston in 1944. “None of my grandparents were educated people,” he says. “But they were very family-oriented and wise. My father’s father, James Sheridan, was a sheet-metal worker in Boston, who died before I could know him. He passed the trade on to my father, who later became a building contractor. My maternal grandfather, Andrew Dougherty, was a farmer in New Hampshire. He knew a lot about Irish history and politics and talked endlessly to me about them.”

Sheridan went to college on a baseball scholarship at the University of Miami. “Baseball was my first love,” he says. He graduated in 1966 and, that summer, played a few games at third base for the Miami Marlins, who were a Class-A farm team for the Baltimore Orioles. “There was never any chance I’d stay with the club,” he acknowledges. “I’d been brought in to fill a spot until some kid they’d signed out of high school joined the team.”

His first year out of college, Sheridan also taught physical education in the Dade County school system and hosted his own radio talk show on WDER-FM, a small station in Miami. “I bought my own airtime,” he remembers. “It cost ten dollars for a two-hour slot between 6:00 AM and 8:00 AM every Sunday morning. If I sold more than ten dollars in ads, I made a profit.”

But WDER-FM led to bigger things. The general manager for the Florida Marlins was Bill Durney, who co-hosted a radio show on WGBS (a major Florida station) with Red Barber. Barber was semi-retired and living in the Sunshine State. In earlier years, he’d been a radio and television baseball play-by-play announcer of legendary proportions. Durney introduced Sheridan to Barber.

“When I was young,” Sheridan says, picking up the story, “I wanted to be Babe Ruth. I had a pretty wild lifestyle, and I used to tell people that I was Babe Ruth reincarnated, except I’d been born four years before Babe died and I couldn’t play ball like him. However, I did have a tremendous ability to talk, and Red hired me. At first, I lined up interviews for him and read the sports news on his show. Then my role expanded. Red taught me a lot about the business. I learned from him that it doesn’t all come from the top of your head. There’s research and preparation. I prepare for every fight today like it was my first. I prepare for each undercard fight the same way I prepare for the main event. I learned that from Red Barber.”

Working with Barber gave Sheridan exposure throughout Florida. Then boxing entered his life.

The first fight that Sheridan had seen in person was Cassius Clay’s conquest of Sonny Liston in Miami Beach on February 25, 1964.

“Chris Dundee, the on-site promoter, called our baseball coach at Miami and asked if he could send some kids over to the arena to sell Coke at the fight,” Bob remembers. “Half a dozen of us went. I think a Coke sold for a quarter back then. We each made about four dollars, but I wasn’t there for the money. I was there for the fight. Clay wasn’t the most popular guy in the world, but I liked him. When the main event started, I stopped selling Coke, sat down in an aisle about twelve feet from the ring, and watched the fight. Of course, none of us had any idea of the magnitude of the history that was being made.”

In late-1966, Sheridan began calling Chris Dundee’s fights in Miami on WGBS radio. Boxing was a popular sport back then. There were fights in town every week, and Sheridan’s work became increasingly popular. “The more you do, the better you get,” he says. “And as I improved, more things fell into place.”

Dundee started taking Sheridan to fights out of town. He was hired to do radio color commentary for University of Miami football games. The first championship fight he called was Jerry Quarry against Jimmy Ellis for the WBA heavyweight title in 1968. Television work followed.

By the mid-1970s, Sheridan had gained a considerable following. Then his life took an unusual detour. He moved to Ireland and began raising cattle on a small farm in County Clare. “It’s hard to relate to city people the pleasures of working on a farm,” he says. “But remember; my grandfather was a farmer, and I loved horses and cattle.”

Sheridan owned ten acres in County Clare, leased a hundred more and, at one point, had two hundred head of cattle.” Then the detour got stranger.

“I figured I was breeding cattle and raising them, so why not ride them,” he remembers. “I tell people, I was always a bullshitter so bull-riding was the next logical step. Anyway, I took up rodeo bull-riding. In retrospect, it was crazy. This was before flak jackets. There were a lot of bruises and I broke my back one time at a rodeo in Arkansas. I’d fly from Shannon to the United States, do a rodeo, and fly back home again. For a while, I was Aer Lingus’s number-one non-commercial account. The last time I got on a bull was in 1981 at Madison Square Garden. I got bucked off in two seconds. The chute wasn’t even shut before I was off. After that, I stopped. But it was a very enjoyable period in my life. Rodeo cowboys are great athletes and fun guys to be around. The characters in rodeo are like the characters in boxing.”

In late-1981, Sheridan left the cattle business and moved back to Boston. “I loved every minute of it,” he says. “But land became too expensive to lease.” He now lives in Las Vegas with his wife of ten years, the former Annie Kelly, who was born in County Tipperary.

“I was a hard-drinking womanizing single guy for a long time,” Sheridan acknowledges. “I was married once before to another Irish girl, and it was a horrible marriage because I wasn’t mature enough to handle it. Whatever went wrong in that one, I’ll take responsibility for it. I’m a much better husband now.”

In addition to being a better husband, Sheridan is also now a fixture on the international boxing scene. He’s behind the microphone for forty fight cards annually, but that doesn’t begin to tell the story of his travels. In one seven-week stretch last year, he was ringside for fights in Memphis, the Philippines, St. Louis, Las Vegas, Boise, and South Africa. In 2005, he visited Australia eleven times.

Here, it should be noted that Sheridan has had four heart attacks and twelve angio-plasties. “I have heart attacks like other people have the flu,” he jokes. But in the next sentences, he adds,” Any health problems I’ve had are the result of genetics and eating and drinking too much. Don’t blame boxing; the traveling isn’t a problem. I get a bit tired sometimes, but there’s always an adrenaline rush when the fights begin.”

“I love boxing,” Sheraton says as his thoughts return to the sweet science. “It’s the purest sport in the world; it’s the greatest sport in the world. And my enthusiasm for it is one of my strengths as an announcer. I’m not a journalist. I don’t focus on the negative when I’m commentating. Sure, boxing has problems, but other sports have problems too. My job as a boxing commentator is to give people the facts and entertain the public. I never forget the brutality of boxing and how dangerous it is. I was tough enough to get on the back of a bull again and again. I’m not tough enough to be a fighter. But boxing takes poor kids without hope like Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson and elevates them to a place where they’re among the most famous people on the planet. And each fight is an event. Nothing excites me more than two great fighters getting in the ring for a championship fight.”

“There’s an old saying,” Sheridan observes in closing. “If you find a job you love, you never have to do a day’s work in your life. When I’m behind the microphone, I’m happy.”

Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book – The Universal Sport: Two Years Inside Boxing – was published by the University of Arkansas Press. In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

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Canelo Alvarez Returns to Form; Proves Too Strong for Jermell Charlo

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Canelo Alvarez Returns to Form; Proves Too Strong for Jermell Charlo

Daring to be great does not guarantee success.

Mexico’s Saul “Canelo” Alvarez powered his way past fellow undisputed but lighter world champion Jermell Charlo for a unanimous decision in front of a pro-Mexican crowd who cheered every attack by their champion on Saturday.

The difference in weight proved daunting.

A seemingly refreshed Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) returned to form in soundly defeating Houston’s Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KOs) who fired back like the champion he is at the T-Mobile Arena. More than 60 percent of the crowd seemed overwhelmingly pro-Canelo.

It was Canelo’s night and he was not going to disappoint.

Though his recent performances had been subpar, the real Canelo showed up looking sharp from the opening bell. He was not underestimating Charlo, a fellow pound-for-pound fighter according to many boxing publications.

After a tenuous opening round the fight slipped into its real rhythm in the second round as the taller and more slippery moving fighter decided to engage. While inside the range of fire, Charlo opened up with jabs and a crisp left hook. Canelo stalked the taller fighter and connected twice with combinations to the head and body. Neither fighter was hurt. Charlo showcased a fast triple jab. But when he tried to clinch, he was tossed away like a dangling tree branch by the stronger Alvarez.

It was a telling moment.

“I’m a strong fighter all the time. Nobody can beat Canelo,” said Alvarez.

In the third round Alvarez fired three rapid jabs and a right to the body that left the crowd in a collective exasperation. A right uppercut by Charlo connected and he was met by Canelo attacking the body viciously. Charlo held on twice.

It became apparent that Charlo could not handle Alvarez’s power and strength inside the pocket. And whenever he clinched he was met by powerful left hook shots to the body and a right to the head.

Charlo showed a very good chin and resilience despite getting pounded occasionally by the Mexican redhead’s body attack. It’s why he was undisputed super welterweight champion.

The fighter from Houston was gambling that he could match wits against boxing’s biggest draw. He was gambling that Alvarez’s recent performances were proof that he was ready to be toppled. And Charlo was not going to shy away from the fire.

The lanky Texas fighter showed brilliant speed and solid defense to go along with his championship heart. In the seventh round. Canelo pressured Charlo against the ropes with three jabs and a quick right to the forehead, followed by a right uppercut to Charlo’s chin. After a few seconds Charlo dropped to a knee for the count. He survived.

“We worked on that. He’s a great fighter and knows how to work in the ring,” said Alvarez.

For the remainder of the match, Alvarez remained in stalking mode and Charlo looking to counter with left hooks and an occasional right uppercut. Nothing seemed to work for Charlo who was hoping the rise from 154-pounds to 168-pounds would not prove a problem. It was.

After 12 rounds all three judges scored in favor of Alvarez 119-108, 118-109 twice. He retains the undisputed super middleweight world championship. Charlo will go back down to super welterweight where he reigned supreme.

“I wasn’t me tonight. This is boxing. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose,” said Charlo who was knocked down for only the second time in his career. “Truthfully, you can tell the difference in the weight.”

Alvarez hugged Charlo after the fight and told him he respected the gamble Charlo accepted in moving up.

“I love boxing so f——g much. Boxing is my life,” said Alvarez.

Other Bouts

In a battle between reluctant contenders, Erickson Lubin captured the win by unanimous decision over Arizona’s Jesus Ramos to maintain his place in line for a world title match.

“I stuck to the game plan. We came back with the victory tonight,” said Lubin.

“I was in control of the fight. I’m one of the top dogs in the division.”

Both super welterweights seemed hesitant to open up with any semblance of combinations. Lubin countered while Ramos worked the body with jabs. After 12 low-key rounds Lubin was declared the winner by scores of 115-113, 116-112, 117-111.

Ramos was surprised but never really formed an all-out attack.

“I was trying to show different dimensions to my game,” Ramos said. “Maybe a little bit more pressure.”

Mario Barrios (28-2, 18 Ks) put it all together and defeated Yordenis Ugas (27-6, 12 KOs) in a battle between ex-world champions. That left jab and left hook did all the work in picking apart Cuba’s excellent fighter Ugas.

“I just concentrated on my jab,” Barrios said.

Knockdowns by Barrios in the second and twelfth round proved emphatically the difference between the two former champions.

“All the work I put in paid off. Early on he hurt me with a right liver shot,” said Barrios who trained in Las Vegas with Bob Santos. “I knew he was coming with it. I was prepared.”

A counter left hook dropped Ugas twice.

Arizona’s Elijah Garcia (16-0, 13 KOs) out-slugged Mexico’s Armando Resendiz (14-2, 10 KOs) in a spirited middleweight battle and stopped the fighter in the eighth round. The 20-year-old southpaw from Phoenix connected with a powerful right hook that Resendiz did not see and that ended the regional title fight at 1:23 of the eighth round.

“He was 100 percent my toughest opponent,” said Garcia.

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