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Better Boxing Through Chemistry? The Fight Over PEDs Never Really Ends

Published

7 years ago

July 8, 2017

He’s baaack.

Well, that assertion is not really correct. Victor Conte, the disgraced founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) that was the focal point of the sports world’s steroid scandal in the early 2000s, hasn’t just recently repositioned himself as a public figure. He’s been on the fringes of notoriety since he finished a four-month stretch in prison in March 2006 (he faced a maximum of 30 years behind bars) for steroid distribution and other felonies. Since his release from the slammer, the self-described former “public enemy No. 1” – who pleaded guilty to just two of the 42 counts in the indictment against him — has attempted to recast himself as not only a reformed miscreant, but as a righteous crusader whose vast knowledge of illegal performance-enhancing drugs puts him at the forefront of current efforts to clean up a scourge that has gone somewhat underground but continues to thrive in the dark shadows where it once existed.

Some former associates who prefer not to go on the record have described Conte, 66 (pictured with two-time Olympic gold medalist Nicola Adams), as a relentless self-promoter whose foremost interest remains himself and not the purification of sports through improved testing for banned substances. But whatever his primary motivation, the man who forever is destined to be linked to such acknowledged or suspected PED abusers as Olympic gold medalist Marion Jones, world-class sprinter Tim Montgomery, NFL linebacker Bill Romanowski, home-run king Barry Bonds and, yes, former boxing champion Shane Mosley suddenly has a much more prominent profile than he had just a couple of weeks ago. In the July 3 “Where Are They Now?” issue of Sports Illustrated, senior writer Tim Layden devotes four pages to Conte, a story which portrays the onetime villain, if not in a wholly positive light, at least not in a mostly negative one.

But whether Conte is zealously adhering to a straight and narrow path, or has merely found a better way to navigate a system that forever is in transition, his current business – SNAC Nutrition – is sure to reap the financial benefits of the kind of publicity afforded it by SI. SNAC is a wholesale distributor of nutritional supplements, primarily ZMA, a combination of zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6, which Conte created and may or may not help users sleep better and recover more efficiently from workouts. ZMA already is selling so briskly that SNAC is “doing a million (dollars) a month in sales,” according to Conte, a figure that is sure to increase thanks to the magazine spread and most athletes’ never-ending quest to gain any edge that will help maximize their performance. To date, ZMA passes muster with all of the major drug-testing agencies, as do other innovations initiated or advanced by the post-BALCO Conte, including intermittent hypoxic-hyperpoxic training, to simulate effort at high altitude and recovery in hyper-oxygenated air. His current gym in San Carlos, Calif., about 25 miles south of downtown San Francisco, includes a 12-foot-high, clear-plastic tent connected to small machines called oxygenators to manipulate oxygen levels.

What caught my attention is the fact that the SNAC gym is populated almost entirely by boxers, who, Mosley aside, once constituted only a small segment of BALCO’s client list. That might be because boxing is a sport that remains too loosely regulated to bear extra-close scrutiny – “Boxing was the res-light district of sports, in terms of PED abuse,” Conte noted – but maybe because the fight game needs someone to help rescue it from itself.

“Boxing is straight-up about bodily harm, compared with running faster than the guy in the next lane, but there were no random testing programs in place,” he is quoted as saying. “I felt compelled to become an outspoken antidoping advocate for boxers.”

Conte’s intentions might be as noble as he claims they are, but when your reputation is that of a John Dillinger or a Willie Sutton, it is difficult to find employment as a bank officer because you have ample knowledge of the withdrawal process. In the past, Conte has offered his services to any number of testing agencies such as the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and state athletic commissions, but was met with rejection because, as Conte told me in a 2010 interview, “I’m a bad guy and they’d rather get their information from medical doctors than from a convicted felon.”

To hear Conte’s detractors tell it, he is and always shall be a slimy character who hopes to cleanse himself by smearing others, a ploy often used by certain politicians and used-car salesmen. When I spoke to him seven years ago, Conte’s rebuttal was that those who seek to vilify him, while paying lip service to the concept of sports scrubbed clean of PEDs, are not willing to go the distance because they know that sports fans aren’t really as interested in having all-natural heroes as they profess to be. And that very well might be true. Cheating is and likely always will be an attribute of human nature, in one form or another, which is why any claims that the PEDs problem has been totally and forever eradicated rings as hollow as the cork- or superballs-filled baseball bats that helped boost home-run totals in the major leagues before hitters decided it was better to doctor themselves than the implements of their trade.

Before they became familiarized with the benefits of such substances as Human Growth Hormone (HGH), Erythropoietin (EPO) and designer drugs that came to be known as “the Clear” and “the Cream,” fighters with no moral compass and thus disposed to break the rules did so by un-loading their gloves through the removal of much of the horsehair padding with tweezers (an offense for which trainer Panama Lewis and his complicit fighter, Luis Resto, were brought down in 1983) or loading their handwraps (see Antonio Margarito, 2008). The goal of achieving better boxing through chemistry was merely the next logical step in the process.

Those who would fight the good fight understand that little victories are where you find them, but the net cast isn’t wide enough or sturdy enough to catch all the transgressors. Dr. Margaret Goodman, the Las Vegas neurologist and co-founder of the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency (VADA), said total victory against PEDs might never be achievable.

“I don’t have the exact statistics now because I was going to try to put that together in the next couple of weeks, but I would say about 10 percent of the athletes we have tested did test positive for something,” she told me when I asked about the SI story on Conte, whom she knows but has not been in contact with for several years. “Is there still a problem? I’d say there is still quite a problem. Historically, that’s true.

“The ABC (Association of Boxing Commissions) is having their convention at the Mohegan Sun (in Uncasville, Conn.) in a couple of weeks and I have to give a talk, as well as one to the Association of Ring Physicians. They want me to address WADA testing. WADA, while considered to be above everything else, does continue to have some problems that boxing might actually be able to get rid of. Everyone is worried about conflicts of interest because WADA is subsidized by federations in sports like swimming and track and field, as well as by various governments. The thing that’s good about VADA is that we’re very transparent; we make sure that everyone that should get results, gets results.

“Federations and national governments that do their own testing potentially can find ways for results to be thrown out or not pursued. In the U.S. our doctors don’t work for the promoters, they work for the commissions and are reasonably independent, unlike the NFL, NHL and Major League Baseball where the doctors work for the teams.”

When less-than-stringent enforcement meets innovative experimentation, gaps in the anti-PEDs defense are inevitable.

“As far as looking for new substances, that’s just a fact of life,” Dr. Goodman acknowledged. “I looked at the statistics for 2015 – the stats for 2016 won’t get published until much later – and they were only catching one percent (of those tested), and only 65 percent of that one percent were being pursued because the results were either thrown out or (cases) not adjudicated.

“Are athletes going to cheat and find people that are going to help them go to newer substances all the time? Yeah. But WADA helps support research into finding those newer substances, just like Dr. (Don) Catlin at UCLA so many years ago found out what Victor was using.”

Like a cancer that was in remission but comes back, performance-enhancing drugs must be monitored regularly to avoid recurrence. Yeah, such should-have-been-baseball-Hall-of-Famers Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and Roger Clemens were exposed as beneficiaries of PEDs, and to date have been shut out of Cooperstown, but any declaration of an end to baseball’s Steroid Era could be premature; maybe no chemically-altered slugger will whack 65 or more home runs in 2017, but MLB is on a pace to set a record for most long balls in a season.

“Baseball players were hitting 70 home runs, now they’re hitting 50 so they must be clean?” Conte asked, rhetorically. “No. They’re still using drugs, they’re just sneaking around more, and the gains are less because they have to duck and dodge the testing.”

In boxing, the necessity for ducking and dodging isn’t quite so compelling. Heavyweight contender Alexander Povetkin has twice tested positive for banned substances, but he was quickly reinstated after two suspensions and is coming off a 12-round unanimous decision over Andriy Rudenko for a couple of fringe titles in Moscow. Why hasn’t Povetkin been more sternly penalized for twice running afoul of avowed clean-boxing policies? Might it be because he is from Russia, a country that was guilty of a veritable orgy of violations involving its competitors in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, perhaps with its government’s tacit or outright approval of a new generation of juicers? You’d hate to think that might be the case, but appearances aren’t always deceiving.

If Major League Baseball has taken a hard-line attitude toward drug cheats, excluding some tainted standouts from entry in its Hall of Fame, might boxing also institute sanctions that might bar repeat violators from passing muster with the International Boxing Hall of Fame selection committee in Canastota, N.Y.? For those top-tier fighters who place a high value on legacy as well as the size of their purses, such a threat conceivably could prevent some IBHOF candidates from crossing over to the dark side. But the fact that banned substances once were shipped to an “Evan Fields” at Evander Holyfield’s home address in Georgia didn’t prove a hindrance to “The Real Deal’s” induction in June, nor will Mosley’s link to BALCO and Conte, whom he unsuccessfully sued, prevent his official immortalization whenever he goes onto the ballot.

Dr. Goodman doesn’t know where the answer lies, only that boxing is best served with a fair and level playing field, which means that the fight must continue, forever if necessary.

“It’s frustrating,” she admitted. “Now, all you have to do is go on the Internet. You can find out what to take, where to get it, how much to take and when to stop taking it.

“But in any case it’s absolutely necessary to continue testing, even if testing isn’t always adequate to get the job done. You have to do everything you can to keep it fairer and safer for the fighters who are trying to do the right thing. But what’s the answer when national federations and governments are willing to do anything to have their athletes succeed? When the desire for gold medals or championships is so strong, there is an impetus to look the other way.”

Perhaps an in-depth examination of the presumably repentant Conte was in order. In the war against drugs, soldiers should not be pulled out of the line because their boots aren’t shined or there’s a button missing from their uniform jacket.

“It doesn’t matter what people say about me,” he said. “I’m an example that there is such a thing as a second chance. I’ve worked to regain my credibility. I would never risk it again.”

Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel

READ; more on Boxing and PED’s in this TSS piece by Arne K. Lang.

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The BWAA Shames Veteran Referee Laurence Cole and Two Nebraska Judges

Published

6 years ago

August 2, 2018

Arne K. Lang

In an unprecedented development, the Boxing Writers Association of America has started a “watch list” to lift the curtain on ring officials who have “screwed up.” Veteran Texas referee Laurence Cole and Nebraska judges Mike Contreras and Jeff Sinnett have the unwelcome distinction of being the first “honorees.”

“Boxing is a sport where judges and referees are rarely held accountable for poor performances that unfairly change the course of a fighter’s career and, in some instances, endanger lives,” says the BWAA in a preamble to the new feature. Hence the watch list, which is designed to “call attention to ‘egregious’ errors in scoring by judges and unacceptable conduct by referees.”

Contreras and Sinnett, residents of Omaha, were singled out for their scorecards in the match between lightweights Thomas Mattice and Zhora Hamazaryan, an eight round contest staged at the WinnaVegas Casino in Sloan, Iowa on July 20. They both scored the fight 76-75 for Mattice, enabling the Ohio fighter to keep his undefeated record intact via a split decision.

Although Mattice vs. Hamazaryan was a supporting bout, it aired live on ShoBox. Analyst Steve Farhood, who was been with ShoBox since the inception of the series in 2001, called it one of the worst decisions he had ever seen. Lead announcer Barry Tompkins went further, calling it the worst decision he has seen in his 40 years of covering the sport.

Laurence Cole (pictured alongside his father) was singled out for his behavior as the third man in the ring for the fight between Regis Prograis and Juan Jose Velasco at the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans on July 14. The bout was televised live on ESPN.

In his rationale for calling out Cole, BWAA prexy Joseph Santoliquito leaned heavily on Thomas Hauser’s critique of Cole’s performance in The Sweet Science. “Velasco fought courageously and as well as he could,” noted Hauser. “But at the end of round seven he was a thoroughly beaten fighter.”

His chief second bullied him into coming out for another round. Forty-five seconds into round eight, after being knocked down for a third time, Velasco spit out his mouthpiece and indicated to Cole that he was finished. But Cole insisted that the match continue and then, after another knockdown that he ruled a slip, let it continue for another 35 seconds before Velasco’s corner mercifully threw in the towel.

Controversy has dogged Laurence Cole for well over a decade.

Cole was the third man in the ring for the Nov. 25, 2006 bout in Hildalgo, Texas, between Juan Manuel Marquez and Jimrex Jaca. In the fifth round, Marquez sustained a cut on his forehead from an accidental head butt. In round eight, another accidental head butt widened and deepened the gash. As Marquez was being examined by the ring doctor, Cole informed Marquez that he was ahead on the scorecards, volunteering this information while holding his hand over his HBO wireless mike. The inference was that Marquez was free to quit right then without tarnishing his record. (Marquez elected to continue and stopped Jaca in the next round.)

This was improper. For this indiscretion, Cole was prohibited from working a significant fight in Texas for the next six months.

More recently, Cole worked the 2014 fight between Vasyl Lomachenko and Orlando Salido at the San Antonio Alamodome. During the fight, Salido made a mockery of the Queensberry rules for which he received no point deductions and only one warning. Cole’s performance, said Matt McGrain, was “astonishingly bad,” an opinion echoed by many other boxing writers. And one could site numerous other incidents where Cole’s performance came under scrutiny.

Laurence Cole is the son of Richard “Dickie” Cole. The elder Cole, now 87 years old, served 21 years as head of the Texas Department of Combat Sports Regulation before stepping down on April 30, 2014. At various times during his tenure, Dickie Cole held high executive posts with the World Boxing Council and North American Boxing Federation. He was the first and only inductee into the inaugural class of the Texas Boxing Hall of Fame, an organization founded by El Paso promoter Lester Bedford in 2015.

From an administrative standpoint, boxing in Texas during the reign of Dickie Cole was frequently described in terms befitting a banana republic. Whenever there was a big fight in the Lone Star State, his son was the favorite to draw the coveted refereeing assignment.

Boxing is a sideline for Laurence Cole who runs an independent insurance agency in Dallas. By law in Texas (and in most other states), a boxing promoter must purchase insurance to cover medical costs in the event that one or more of the fighters on his show is seriously injured. Cole’s agency is purportedly in the top two nationally in writing these policies. Make of that what you will.

Complaints of ineptitude, says the WBAA, will be evaluated by a “rotating committee of select BWAA members and respected boxing experts.” In subsequent years, says the press release, the watch list will be published quarterly in the months of April, August, and December (must be the new math).

Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel

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The Avila Perspective, Chapter 8: Competing Cards in N.Y. and L.A.

Published

6 years ago

August 2, 2018

David A. Avila

Rival boxing shows compete this Saturday as light heavyweight world titlists are featured in New Jersey while former world champion welterweights and middleweights tangle in New York.

A mere 150 miles separate the two fight cards staged in Uniondale, N.Y. and Atlantic City.

But there’s no mercy inside the boxing ring and certainly no mercy between boxing promotions. While Main Events stages WBO light heavyweight titlist Sergey Kovalev and WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol in separate bouts, DiBella Entertainment stacks former champs Andre Berto against Devon Alexander in a welterweight clash.

Take your pick.

Russia’s Kovalev (32-2-1, 28 KOs) has lost some luster and hopes to reboot his popularity with a win against Canada’s Eleider Alvarez (23-0, 11 KOs). But he will be directly competing against WBA champ Bivol (13-0, 11 KOs), also of Russia, who defends against Isaac Chilemba (25-5-2) of South Africa.

HBO will televise both light heavyweight title fights.

Bivol, 27, has slowly, almost glacier-like slow, picked up fans along the way by training in Southern California. The quiet unassuming fighter with a conservative style and cobra-like quickness appeals to the fans.

“I do not think that now I am the best light heavyweight, but I am now one of the best. One of four guys,” said Bivol during a press conference call. “But I hope in not the far future, we will know who is the best.”

That, of course, would mean a date with Kovalev should both fighters win on Saturday. Nothing is certain.

Kovalev, now 35, has lost some of that fear factor aura since losing back-to-back fights to now retired Andre Ward. Though he’s cracked two opponents in succession by knockout, many are pointing to the potential showdown with Bivol as the moment of truth.

“Most likely this fight is gonna happen since both Sergey and I are HBO boxers and as long as that’s what the people want, most likely the fight will happen,” said Bivol. “Me and Sergey will make sure to give this fight to the people.”

It’s time for the build-up and it starts on Saturday Aug. 4, on HBO.

“That’s certainly a goal of Sergey’s and he’s made it very clear to me that that’s what he wants to do,” said promoter Kathy Duva, CEO of Main Events. “He wants to do unification fights if he is successful with Eleider Alvarez. That’s what he wants to do next; he’s been very clear about that.”

DiBella

Five former world champions stack the fight card at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.

Former welterweight world champs Andre Berto (31-5, 24 KOs) and Devon Alexander (27-4-1, 14 KOs) lead the charge in a 12-round clash. FOX will televise the main event and others at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET.

Berto, 34, has been fighting once a year so it’s difficult to determine if age has crept into his reflexes. When he knocked out Victor Ortiz in a rematch two years ago Berto looked sharp and dangerous. But against Shawn Porter a year ago, the crispness seemed gone and he quickly lost by knockout.

Alexander, 31, has the advantage of being a southpaw. But he always seems to do the minimum when he fights. Last February he slowed down and allowed Victor Ortiz to steal the fight. All the commotion by the announcers was for naught. Defense does not win fights, it allows you to win fights. The lack of offense in the latter rounds cost Alexander a win in a match that entered the books as a majority draw.

It’s a curious matchup of former world champions.

Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (33-1-1, 23 KOs) the former WBO middleweight titlist meets J’Leon Love (24-1-1, 13 KOs) in a super middleweight bout set for 10 rounds. It’s another intriguing fight especially between two fighters with great personalities.

Quillin, 35, was ambushed by Daniel Jacobs in the first round a year ago in losing the title. Was it bad luck, age or both? As a fighter the Brooklyn-based prizefighter has a ton of followers who like him as a person. Few are as classy as Quillin.

Love, 30, has long been a mainstay in Las Vegas and since his amateur days his abilities have been touted. Throughout the years Love has shown that charm and friendliness can go a long ways, even in the bitter wars of prizefighting. But the time has come to see if he belongs in the prizefighting world. Quillin will present an immense challenge for Love.

A number of other interesting fights are slated to take place among former world champions including Sergey Lipinets who lost the super lightweight title to Mikey Garcia this past winter. There’s also Luis Collazo in a welterweight match.

One world title fight does take place on the card.

Female WBA super middleweight titlist Alicia Napoleon (9-1) makes the first defense of her title against Scotland’s Hannah Rankin (5-1). It’s a 10 round bout and the first time Napoleon defends the title since winning it last March against Germany’s Femke Hermans. Ironically, Hermans now has the WBO super middleweight title after defeating former champ Nikki Adler by decision this past May.

L.A. Congestion

Next week the city of Angels will be packed with three fight cards in four days.

First, on Wednesday Aug. 8, 360 Promotions stages Abraham Lopez (9-1-1, 3 KOs) versus Gloferson Ortizo (12-0-1, 6 KOs) in the main event at the Avalon Theater in Hollywood, Calif. This is Filipino fighter Ortizo’s ninth fight this year. You read that correctly.

All of Ortizo’s fights have taken place across the border in Tijuana. The 32-year-old now returns to California against another Californian in Lopez. He’ll be looking for his fourth consecutive knockout, but Lopez, 22, has not lost a fight since his pro debut. Inactivity might come into play for Lopez who hasn’t stepped in the boxing ring in over a year.

New York’s Brian Ceballo (3-0) returns in a six round welterweight bout against local fighter Tavorus Teague (5-20-4). Ceballo, who is promoted by 360 Promotions, looked good in his last appearance. The amateurish punches seen in his first two bouts were gone by his third pro fight. His opponent Teague has ability and can give problems if Ceballo takes his foot off the pedal.

One of Gennady “GGG” Golovkin’s training partners Ali Akhmedov (11-0, 8 KOs) makes his California debut when he meets Jorge Escalante (9-1-1, 6 KOs) in a light heavyweight match.

Female super lightweight Elvina White (2-0) is also slated to compete. The entire fight card will be streamed at www.360promotions.us and on the 360 Promotions page on Facebook. First bell rings at 6:15 p.m.

Belasco Theater in downtown L.A. is the site of Golden Boy Promotions fight card on Friday Aug. 10. A pair of young prospects will be severely tested.

San Diego’s Genaro Gamez (8-0, 5 KOs) meets Filipino fighter Recky Dulay (10-3, 7 KOs) for the vacant NABF super featherweight title. For Dulay it’s always kill or be killed. Five of his last fights have ended in knockout wins or losses.

Gamez, 23, seems to thrive under pressure and broke down two veterans in back-to-back fights at Fantasy Springs Casino. Now he returns to the Belasco, a venue where he has struggled in the past. But this time he’s the main event.

Another being severely tested will be Emilio Sanchez (15-1, 10 KOs) facing veteran Christopher Martin (30-10-3, 10 KOs) who is capable of beating anyone.

Sanchez, 24, lost by knockout in his last fight this past March. He’s talented and fearless and one mistake cost him his first loss as a pro. He’s not getting a break against Martin, a cagey fighter who has upset many young rising prospects in the past. Martin also has experience against world champions. It’s an extremely tough matchup for Sanchez.

The fight card will be televised by Estrella TV beginning at 6 p.m.

World Title Fight

On Saturday, boxing returns to the Avalon Theater in Hollywood.

The main event is a good one as Puerto Rico’s Jesus Rojas (26-1-2, 19 KOs) defends the WBA featherweight world title against Southern California’s Jojo Diaz (26-1) in a 12 round clash. It’s power versus speed.

Rojas, 31, is one tough customer. When he took the interim title against Claudia Marrero last year he chased down the speedy southpaw Dominican and blasted him out in the seventh round. Several months earlier he obliterated another Golden Boy prospect, Abraham Lopez (not the same Abraham Lopez that is fighting on the 360 Promotions card), in eight rounds. Now he has the title and defends against the speedy southpaw Diaz.

Diaz, 25, just recently lost a bid for the WBC featherweight title against Gary Russell Jr. Though he lost by decision three months ago, that fight might be easy in comparison to this challenge against Rojas.

The former Olympian won’t be able to take a breath against the Puerto Rican slugger who is about as rough as they come.

Two more undefeated Golden Boy prospects get a chance to eliminate each other when Philadelphia’s Damon Allen (15-0-1) meets East L.A.’s Jonathan Navarro (14-0, 7 KOs) in a super lightweight fight set for 10 rounds.

Phillie versus East LA is like fire versus fire in the boxing ring. Boxers originating from those two hard-bitten areas usually have go-for-broke styles that result in pure action. Allen versus Navarro should not disappoint.

Allen, 25, is not a hard puncher but he’s aggressive and like most Philadelphia fighters, he’s not afraid to mix it up.

Navarro, 21, lives in East L.A. but trains in Riverside under Robert Garcia. He’s slowly finding his timing and will be facing the fastest fighter since his pro debut in 2015.

Others featured on the card will be Hector Tanajara, Aaron McKenna and Ferdinand Kerobyan.

The card will be streamed on the Golden Boy Fight Night page on Facebook beginning at 6 p.m.

Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel

To comment on this article at The Fight Forum, CLICK HERE.

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What’s Next for Manny Pacquiao?

Published

6 years ago

August 1, 2018

Kelsey McCarson

Manny Pacquiao isn’t quite ready to retire, and more big-money fights against high-level competition seem to be on the 39-year-old’s way.

“I feel like I’m a 27-year-old,” Pacquiao told GMAnetwork.com’s Jamil Santos last week. “Expect more fights to come.”

Pacquiao (60-7-2, 39 KOs) looked exceptionally sharp in his seventh-round knockout win over former junior welterweight titleholder Lucas Matthysse on July 15 at Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was Pacquiao’s best performance in at least four years, netting Pacquiao a secondary world title at welterweight along with a slew of renewed public interest in the boxing superstar’s career.

But what comes next for the only fighter in the history of boxing to capture world titles in eight different weight classes? TSS takes a detailed look at the potential opponents for one of the sport’s most celebrated stars.

Cream of the Crop

Pacquiao looked good enough against Matthysse to suggest he’d make a viable candidate to face either Terence Crawford or Vasyl Lomachenko next. Crawford is ranked No. 2 on the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board’s pound-for-pound list while Lomachenko slots at No. 1.

While Pacquiao is no longer under contract with longtime promoter Bob Arum at Top Rank, most industry insiders expect he will continue working with Arum’s team in some capacity so long as his career keeps moving forward. Pacquiao started his own promotional venture, MP Promotions, to co-promote the Matthysse bout with Oscar De La Hoya, but Top Rank was still involved in the fight which is why the bout ended up streaming on ESPN+.

Top Rank’s two hottest commodities at the present are Ring Magazine and WBA lightweight champ Lomachenko and welterweight titlist Crawford. Both are highly-regarded, multi-division world titleholders in the primes of their careers who are universally considered the top fighters in boxing.

Lomachenko and Crawford would each present a unique set of problems for Pacquiao stylistically. Of the two, Pacquiao probably matches up best with Lomachenko at this point in his career. Crawford (33-0, 24 KOs) is much larger and heavier than both Pacquiao and Lomachenko, and unless Pacquiao just really wants to test himself against someone incredibly dangerous, it’d probably be best for Team Pacquiao to avoid fighting Crawford at all costs. Crawford would be a heavy favorite against Pacquiao and most boxing insiders don’t believe this version of Pacquiao could compete with Crawford.

Lomachenko (11-1, 9 KOs) is naturally smaller than Pacquiao and has never fought above 135 pounds. If Pacquiao could lure Lomachenko to 140 pounds or above, he’d find himself in a winnable fight against a top-notch opponent. Lomachenko would probably be the slight favorite based on age alone but Pacquiao’s power and athleticism would give him a realistic chance to pull the upset.

Other Notable Possibilities

Former junior welterweight titleholder Amir Khan has long been angling for a bout against Pacquiao. Khan faces Samuel Vargas on Sept. 8 in another comeback bout against lower level competition. Khan (32-4, 20 KOs) bravely moved up to middleweight to fight Canelo Alvarez in 2016 but was knocked out in the sixth round. He left the sport for a spell but returned to boxing in February as a welterweight with a sensational first round knockout win over Phil Lo Greco. A win over Vargas puts Khan in good position to secure a bout with Pacquiao, and the fight is a reasonable move by both camps. Pacquiao would probably be the heavy favorite, but Khan’s speed and long reach give him a decent chance to pull the upset.

Former welterweight titleholder Jeff Horn won a controversial decision over Pacquiao last year in Australia. The bout grabbed huge ratings for ESPN and there have been many debates since it happened as to which fighter truly deserved the nod from the judges. Horn (18-1-1, 12 KOs) doesn’t possess elite level talent, but he’s huge compared to Pacquiao and fights with such ferocity that the two can’t help but make an aesthetically pleasing fight together. Pacquiao would be the heavy favorite to defeat Horn if the two fight again.

Pacquiao vs. PBC fighters?

Boxing’s current political climate and the ongoing battle of promoters and television networks for the hearts and minds of boxing fans usually leaves many compelling fights between top level stars off the table. Fighters promoted by Top Rank and Golden Boy are almost never able to secure bouts with fighters signed to Al Haymon to appear under the Premier Boxing Champions banner and vice versa. But Pacquiao’s free agent status opens up new and interesting possibilities for the fighter to pursue noteworthy PBC fighters.

There had been lots of chatter about Pacquiao facing Mikey Garcia next. Garcia (39-0, 30 KOs) has been decimating competition at both lightweight and junior welterweight. Garcia is considered by most experts to be one of the top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in the sport. He’s the TBRB junior welterweight champion and a unified lightweight titleholder (WBC, IBF). While Garcia is hoping to land a big money bout against IBF welterweight titleholder Errol Spence, most boxing experts believe the jump up to 147 pounds would be too much for the diminutive Garcia who began his career at featherweight. A better welterweight target for Garcia would be Pacquiao who also began his career in a much lower weight class.

Spence (24-0, 21 KOs) is probably the best of the PBC welterweights. He’s considered by many to be on par with Crawford at 147 so it would be an incredibly dangerous bout for Pacquiao to go after at this point in his career. But Spence is aggressive and fights in a style that Pacquiao traditionally matches up very well against. Spence would be the favorite based on size, age and skill.

Slightly less dangerous to Pacquiao would be facing the winner of the Sept. 8 battle between Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter. Garcia (34-1, 20 KOs) and Porter (28-2-1, 17 KOs) are fighting for the vacant WBC welterweight title and the possibility of capturing another world title in his career could sway Pacquiao to seek out the winner. Pacquiao could find himself a slight favorite or underdog depending on which of the two fighters he would face, but both would be winnable fights.

The WBA welterweight champion is Keith Thurman. Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs) is a good boxer with tremendous power but Pacquiao’s speed and athleticism would probably give him the leg up in that potential matchup. Thurman hasn’t fought in over 16 months though and recent pictures suggest he’s not in fighting shape at the moment, so the likelihood of a Pacquiao vs. Thurman fight is pretty much nil.

Some fans want Pacquiao to face Adrien Broner. Broner (33-3-1, 24 KOs) is a solid contender at 147 but probably doesn’t have the skill to seriously compete with Pacquiao. Pacquiao would be a significant favorite and would likely stop Broner if the two were able to meet in a boxing ring.

Mayweather-Pacquiao 2?

Pacquiao lost a unanimous decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2015, but the circumstances surrounding the fight, and the fact it was the biggest box office bash in the history of the sport, have led many to suspect the two fighters would meet again in a rematch.

Yes, Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) is retired, but he’s unretired several times in his career for big money fights including last year’s crossover megafight with UFC star Conor McGregor. While it seems unlikely to happen, Mayweather-Pacquiao 2 would still be a huge worldwide event worth millions of dollars to both fighters so those following the sport can never say never to the idea of it happening again.

While Mayweather is 41, he’d still get the nod as the betting favorite should he fight Pacquiao again based on what happened in the first fight as well as his stylistic advantage over Pacquiao.

Pacquiao vs. McGregor?

McGregor’s bout against Mayweather last year was such a financial success and the MMA star made so much more money in the boxing ring than he did as a UFC fighter that the idea of him returning to the sport to face Pacquiao isn’t as far-fetched as one might think.

Pacquiao vs. McGregor would be an easy sell to the general public. According to CompuBox, McGregor landed more punches against Mayweather than did Pacquiao, and the general consensus is that Mayweather-McGregor was more fun to watch than Mayweather-Pacquiao.

The size difference between the two would lead to an easy promotion. McGregor is a junior middleweight and Pacquiao has only competed at the weight once back in 2010. Despite all that, Pacquiao would be a significant favorite to defeat McGregor and rightly so. He’s too fast and too good a boxer, and his aggressive style would likely lead to a stoppage win.

Pacquiao’s Top Targets

Pacquiao’s top targets should be Mayweather, McGregor and Lomachenko. Pacquiao would stand to make the most money facing either Mayweather or McGregor. Pacquiao’s reportedly injured shoulder heading into 2015 bout left many wondering how the fight might be different had the Filipino gone into things at his best, and Mayweather’s age might play more of a factor in the second fight than it did in the first. A Pacquiao-McGregor fight would be a worldwide spectacle, one Pacquiao would be heavily favored to win. Besides, it’d be interesting to see if Pacquiao could stop McGregor sooner than historical rival Mayweather. Finally, Lomachenko might be trying to climb up weight classes too fast, and Pacquiao would certainly be fit to test the validity of that theory. It’d be one of the biggest fights in boxing and a win for Pacquiao would be another huge feather in the cap of one of boxing’s true historically great champions.

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