Countdown To Mayweather-Pacquiao: Why It’s A Dead-End Super Fight

Published

10 years ago

April 17, 2015

What does the upcoming Mayweather-Pacquiao Super Fight mean for boxing’s future landscape?

In the past, “Super Fights” there often were residual effects from the outcome which set up the next highly anticipated bout. When “Smokin” Joe Frazier clipped the wings of “The Butterfly” Muhammad Ali on March 8, 1971, it set forth a four year period in which Ali fought George Foreman and Frazier two more times as they exchanged the undisputed heavyweight title between the three of them. That period is considered one of the best eras in heavyweight history. And it all started with the super fight in which all super fights are measured, Frazier vs. Ali in 1971, the most widely anticipated and comprehensively covered boxing match ever.

In June of 1980 Roberto Duran 71-1 (55) beat Sugar Ray Leonard 27-0 (18) in the “Brawl In Montreal.” Duran’s win as a 9-5 underdog set up a rematch with Leonard five months later. Leonard won the rematch and within a year met undefeated destroyer and WBA welterweight title holder Thomas Hearns 32-0 (30) in a bout that was billed as “The Showdown.” Leonard stopped Hearns in the 14th round of a tremendous give and take bout to become the undisputed welterweight champion. Five months later he was forced to retire due to suffering a detached retina in his left eye. During Leonard’s absence after setting the stage fighting both Duran and Hearns, “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler emerged as the baddest middleweight in the world. And between the three of them (Hagler, Hearns & Duran) there were some really big super fights which captivated the boxing public circa 1983-85. A few years after Hagler stopped Hearns in three rounds, Leonard fought Hagler in his initial come back bout and won the WBC middleweight title in April of 1987. As you can see as a result of the first Leonard-Duran bout, a series between four all-time greats encompassing nine fights was set in motion, taking place in between 1980-89.

The 1988 undisputed heavyweight championship bout between Mike Tyson 34-0 (30) and former undisputed light heavyweight champ Michael Spinks 31-0 (21) was a monumental bout because it would clear up the confusion as to who the undisputed champ was. After Tyson dispatched Spinks in the first round the consensus was Mike would hold the title as long as he wanted to. With Olympians Riddick Bowe and Lennox Lewis both turning pro in early 1989 the table was set for them to eventually meet Tyson for the title in future super fights in the early nineties. Then the unexpected happened and Tyson lost the title in his third defense against James “Buster” Douglas 29-4-1 (19) in what many consider to be the biggest upset in boxing history. So it can’t be said Tyson-Spinks was a dead end super fight because there were dream fights out there for Tyson had he been able to hold onto the undisputed title a couple of more years as expected.

However, there have been many dead end super fights since the “Fight Of The Century” between Ali and Frazier 44 years ago. Hagler-Leonard, Tyson-Holyfield and Lewis-Tyson come to mind, just to name a few. A dead end super fight is like a match race; its single purpose is to determine the winner between two superstar fighters who have been on a collision course that haven’t yet clashed. There are usually no residual effects from them and the result doesn’t set up other big fights down the road other than perhaps a rematch.

Hagler-Leonard was huge because Marvin and Ray, along with being all-time greats, were two of the most dominant fighters of the eighties and were close in weight and physical stature. Everyone who even casually followed boxing wanted to find out who was better between them. And after losing a split decision to Leonard in a bout he was certain that he won, Hagler retired from boxing and never flirted with returning to the ring again. Leonard, after scoring the most gratifying victory of his career, milked the public for a few more years, fighting a rematch with Hearns and a rubber match with Duran. Two years after beating Duran in their third bout he was taken apart by Terry Norris in 1991 and that was pretty much it for Sugar Ray Leonard as a superstar fighter. His ill-fated comeback against Hector Camacho in 1996 was virtually ignored by the boxing world, and rightly so.

Tyson-Holyfield I, like Mayweather-Pacquiao, also happened five years after its original sell-by date. And the only reason why it was so big was because everyone wanted to find out after all those years of anticipating–as is the case with Mayweather-Pacquiao–who’d win between career rivals Mike and Evander. The same applied to the Lewis-Tyson and De La Hoya-Mayweather mega bouts. They were nothing more than match races between superstar fighters with one of them on a severe decline (Tyson & De La Hoya). There was no discernible fallout from either bout in regards to being the springboard for another big fight.

When examining Mayweather-Pacquiao under a microscope, it doesn’t matter whether or not you believe it will be a terrific fight from an action point of view. But there can be no conclusion other than it really is a dead-end super fight. And that’s not because it’s happening five years too late….Actually, like the third fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, more commonly known as the “Thrilla In Manila,” Mayweather-Pacquiao can still be an exciting/great bout.

When Ali 48-2 (35) and Frazier 32-2 (27) fought their rubber match during the fall of 1975, Muhammad was four months shy of turning 34 and Joe was four months shy of turning 32. Much to the surprise of many boxing observers, Ali-Frazier III turned out to be a real war and great fight, despite neither being close to the great fighters they were the first time they met four years earlier in 1971. And the reason for that was neither Joe nor Muhammad had much left defensively and couldn’t get out of the others’ way. The older and slower versions of them landed almost everything they threw at each other, resulting in a back and forth bout in which ruined both of them as all-time greats. But the fight was very relevant because it was the culmination and final chapter of what is truly the greatest sports rivalry in history. So Ali-Frazier III certainly cannot be considered a dead end super fight.

The same cannot be said for Mayweather and Pacquiao, who have never faced each other. They’ve both defeated practically every big name fighter currently campaigning at welterweight. The biggest reason why the fight between them has finally been made is simply because neither Floyd nor Manny have anyone left to fight that boxing fans really care about seeing them in the ring against. Once they finally fight and the result is history, then what? Where does Pacquiao turn? It’s not like the world is waiting with baited breath for him to fight Amir Khan or Keith Thurman. Manny has nothing left to prove to anyone or himself. He’s already established himself as one of the all-time great pound-for-pound fighters in boxing history having won a world title in eight different weight divisions. If Pacquiao loses to Mayweather his legacy won’t be the least bit diminished, and if he beats him his legend grows in leaps and bounds almost to Roberto Duran-esque stature. Manny Pacquiao is pretty much done as a professional fighter aside from fighting Mayweather again in a rematch.

As for Mayweather…..it all depends on what happens against Pacquiao. If he wins and controls the fight most of the way, I would venture to say we’ll never see them fight again. Why? Because it’s not like Pacquiao can change his stripes and beat Floyd by fighting a different style in a rematch, and most boxing fans understand that, and if they don’t they should. If Mayweather wins a close fight, say 115-113, and the decision is seen as being disputed or controversial, he’ll probably have to fight Manny again to erase any lingering doubt. And if the worst possible for Mayweather is realized and he loses to Manny, then he has no choice but to exercise the rematch clause in their contract (which stipulates Pacquiao must give Mayweather a rematch if he wins). Let’s say for argument sake Mayweather beats Pacquiao, which I have no doubt he will. What’s next if he doesn’t fight him again? Nobody can convince me that there’s interest in Mayweather fighting Keith Thurman or Amir Khan after finally beating Pacquiao. Add Canelo Alvarez and Timothy Bradley to the list. Nobody wants to see Mayweather-Alvarez II, and Mayweather-Bradley is something I’d use as a threat to make prisoners watch if they didn’t snitch on their partners in crime, that’s how terrible that would be to have to sit through. So who or what’s left for Mayweather?

Gennady Golovkin for the middleweight title without a catch-weight stipulation? Perhaps, that would certainly be something, but it wouldn’t be as big as Mayweather-Pacquiao to quasi boxing fans because they don’t know who Golovkin is yet. In the boxing world Golovkin-Mayweather is huge, but not outside of it.

As you can see Mayweather vs. Pacquiao is really just a match race between two world renowned thoroughbreds that have been on a collision course for almost six years. Once it’s over only one of two things will happen. Either Floyd and Manny touch gloves once more or, they will fight a swan song bout affording their fans one last chance to celebrate their hall of fame careers before they move onto the next stage of their lives. What does the fight really mean for boxing’s landscape? It’s a super fight because of the money it will generate.

But it’s one of the only recent super fights along with Hagler-Leonard (1987), Lewis-Tyson (2002) and De La Hoya-Mayweather (2007) that has nearly a dead end, other than a rematch and that’s about it.

But that doesn’t mean it can’t or won’t be a terrific fight on the night of May 2nd 2015 regardless of who wins.

Frank Lotierzo can be reached at GlovedFist@Gmail.com

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Frank Lotierzo

History has Shortchanged Freddie Dawson, One of the Best Boxers of his Era

Published

11 hours ago

April 2, 2025

Arne K. Lang

History has Shortchanged Freddie Dawson, One of the Best Boxers of his Era

This reporter was rummaging around the internet last week when he stumbled on a story in the May 1950 issue of Ebony under the byline of Mike Jacobs. Boxing was then in the doldrums (isn’t it always?) and Jacobs, the most powerful promoter in boxing during the era of Joe Louis, was lassoed by the editors of the magazine to address the question of whether the over-representation of black boxers was killing the sport at the box office.

This hoary allegation had been kicking around even before the heyday of Jack Johnson, bubbling forth whenever an important black-on-black fight played to a sea of empty seats as had happened the previous year when Chicago’s Comiskey Park hosted the world heavyweight title fight between Ezzard Charles and Jersey Joe Walcott.

Jacobs ridiculed the hypothesis – as one could have expected considering the publication in which the story ran – and singled out three “colored” boxers as the best of the current crop of active pugilists: Sugar Ray Robinson, Ike Williams, and Freddie Dawson.

Sugar Ray Robinson? A no-brainer. Skill-wise the greatest of the great. Even those that didn’t follow boxing, would have recognized his name. Ike Williams? Nowhere near as well-known as Robinson, but he was then the reigning lightweight champion, a man destined to go into the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the inaugural class of 1990.

And Freddie Dawson? If the name doesn’t ring a bell, dear reader, you are not alone. I confess that I too drew a blank. And that triggered a search to learn more about him.

Freddie Dawson had four fights with Ike Williams. All four were staged on Ike’s turf in Philadelphia. Were this not the case, the history books would likely show that the series knotted 2-2. Late in his career, Dawson became greatly admired in Australia. But we are jumping ahead of ourselves.

Dawson was born in 1924 in Thomasville, Arkansas, an unincorporated town in the Arkansas Delta. Likely a descendent of slaves who worked in the cotton plantations, he grew up in the so-called Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, the heart of Chicago’s Black Belt.

The first mention of him in the newspapers came in 1941 when he won Chicago’s Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) featherweight title. In those days, amateur boxing was big in the Windy City, the birthplace of the Golden Gloves. The Catholic Archdiocese, which ran gyms in every parish, and the Chicago Parks Department, were the major incubators.

In his amateur days, he was known as simply Fred Dawson. As a pro, his name often appeared as Freddy Dawson, although Freddie gradually became the more common spelling.

Dawson, who stood five-foot-six and was often described as stocky, made his pro debut on Feb. 1, 1943, at Marigold Gardens. Before the year was out, he had 16 fights under his belt, all in Chicago and all but two at Marigold. (Currently the site of an interdenominational Christian church, Marigold Gardens, on the city’s north side, was Chicago’s most active boxing and wrestling arena from the mid-1930s through the early-1950s. Joe Louis had three of his early fights there and Tony Zale was a fixture there as he climbed the ladder to the world middleweight title.)

The last of these 16 fights was fatal for Dawson’s opponent who collapsed heading back to his corner after the fight was stopped in the 10^th round and died that night at a local hospital from the effects of a brain injury.

Dawson left town after this incident and spent most of the next year in New Orleans where energetic promoter Louis Messina ran twice-weekly shows (Mondays for whites and Fridays for blacks) at the Coliseum, a major stop on boxing’s so-called Chitlin’ Circuit.

That same year, on Sept. 19, 1944, Dawson had his first encounter with Ike Williams. He was winning the fight when Ike knocked him out with a body punch in the fourth round.

The first and last meetings between Dawson and Ike Williams were spaced five years apart. In the interim, Freddie scored his two best wins, stopping Vic Patrick in the twelfth round at Sydney, NSW, and Bernard Docusen in the sixth round in Chicago.

The long-reigning lightweight champion of Australia, Patrick (49-3, 43 KOs) gave the crowd a thrill when he knocked Dawson down for a count of “six” in the penultimate 11^th round, but Dawson returned the favor twice in the final stanza, ending the contest with a punch so harsh that the poor Aussie needed five minutes before he was fit to leave the ring and would spend the night in the hospital as a precaution.

Dawson fought Bernard Docusen before 10,000-plus at Chicago Stadium on Feb. 4, 1949. An 8/5 favorite, Docusen lacked a hard punch, but the New Orleans cutie had suffered only three losses in 66 fights, had never been stopped, and had extended Sugar Ray Robinson the 15-round distance the previous year.

Dawson dismantled him. Docusen managed to get back on his feet after Dawson knocked him down in the sixth, but he was in no condition to continue and the referee waived the fight off. Dawson was then vacillating between the lightweight and welterweight divisions and reporters wondered whether it would be Robinson or Ike Williams when Dawson finally got his well-earned title shot.

Sugar Ray wasn’t in his future. Here are the results of his other matches with Ike Williams:

Dawson-Williams II (Jan. 28, 1946) – The consensus on press row was 7-2-1 or 7-3 for Dawson, but the match was ruled a draw. “[The judges and referee] evidently saw [Williams] land punches that nobody else did,” said the ringside reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Dawson-Williams III (Jan. 26, 1948) – Dawson lost a majority decision. The scores were 6-4, 5-4-1, and 4-4-2. The decision was booed. Ike Williams then held the lightweight title, but this was a non-title fight. (It was tough for an outsider to get a fair shake in Philadelphia, home to Ike Williams’ co-manager Frank “Blinky” Palermo who would go to prison for his duplicitous dealings as a fight facilitator.)

Dawson-Williams IV (Dec. 5, 1949) – This would be Freddie Dawson’s only crack at a world title and he came up short. Ike Williams retained the belt, winning a unanimous decision. The fight was close – 8-7, 8-7, 9-6 – but there was no controversy.

Dawson made three more trips to Australia before his career was finished. On the first of these trips, he knocked out Jack Hassen, successor to Vic Patrick as the lightweight champion of Australia. A 1953 article in the Sydney Sunday Herald bore witness to the esteem in which Dawson was held by boxing fans in Australia: “None of our boxers could withstand his devastating attacks which not only knocked them out but also knocked years off their careers,” said the author. “It is doubtful whether any Australian boxer in any division could have beaten Dawson.”

Dawson had his final fights in the Land Down Under, finishing his career with a record of 103-14-4 while answering the bell for 962 rounds. Following what became his final fight, he had an eye operation in Sydney that was reportedly so intricate that it required a two-week hospital stay. He injured the eye again in Manila while sparring in preparation for a match with the welterweight champion of the Philippines, a match that had to be aborted because of the injury. Dawson then disappeared, by which we mean that he disappeared from the pages of the newspaper archives that allow us to construct these kinds of stories.

What about Freddie Dawson the man? A 1944 story about him said he was an outstanding all-around athlete, “a champion in all athletic undertakings – basketball, baseball, track and even jitterbugging.” A story in a Sydney paper as he was preparing to meet Vic Patrick informs us that he had two young children, ages 2 and 1, owned his own home in Chicago, and drove a two-year-old Cadillac. But beyond these flimsy snippets, Dawson the man remains elusive.

What we learned, however, is that he was one of the most underrated boxers to come down the pike in any era, a borderline Hall of Famer who ought not have fallen through the cracks. Inside the ring, this guy was one tough hombre.

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Ringside at the Fontainebleau where Mikaela Mayer Won her Rematch with Sandy Ryan

Published

4 days ago

March 30, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Ringside-at-the-Fontainebleau-where-Mikaela-Mayer-won-her-Rematch-with-Sandy-Ryan

LAS VEGAS, NV — The first meeting between Mikaela Mayer and Sandy Ryan last September at Madison Square Garden was punctuated with drama before the first punch was thrown. When the smoke cleared, Mayer had become a world-title-holder in a second weight class, taking away Ryan’s WBO welterweight belt via a majority decision in a fan-friendly fight.

The rematch tonight at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas was another fan-friendly fight. There were furious exchanges in several rounds and the crowd awarded both gladiators a standing ovation at the finish.

Mayer dominated the first half of the fight and held on to win by a unanimous decision. But Sandy Ryan came on strong beginning in round seven, and although Mayer was the deserving winner, the scores favoring her (98-92 and 97-93 twice) fail to reflect the competitiveness of the match-up. This is the best rivalry in women’s boxing aside from Taylor-Serrano.

Mayer, 34, improved to 21-2 (5). Up next, she hopes, in a unification fight with Lauren Price who outclassed Natasha Jonas earlier this month and currently holds the other meaningful pieces of the 147-pound puzzle. Sandy Ryan, 31, the pride of Derby, England, falls to 7-3-1.

Co-Feature

In his first defense of his WBO world welterweight title (acquired with a brutal knockout of Giovani Santillan after the title was vacated by Terence Crawford), Atlanta’s Brian Norman Jr knocked out Puerto Rico’s Derrieck Cuevas in the third round. A three-punch combination climaxed by a short left hook sent Cuevas staggering into a corner post. He got to his feet before referee Thomas Taylor started the count, but Taylor looked in Cuevas’s eyes and didn’t like what he saw and brought the bout to a halt.

The stoppage, which struck some as premature, came with one second remaining in the third stanza.

A second-generation prizefighter (his father was a fringe contender at super middleweight), the 24-year-old Norman (27-0, 21 KOs) is currently boxing’s youngest male title-holder. It was only the second pro loss for Cuevas (27-2-1) whose lone previous defeat had come early in his career in a 6-rounder he lost by split decision.

Other Bouts

In a career-best performance, 27-year-old Brooklyn featherweight Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington (15-0, 9 KOs) blasted out Jose Enrique Vivas (23-4) in the third round.

Carrington, who was named the Most Outstanding Boxer at the 2019 U.S. Olympic Trials despite being the lowest-seeded boxer in his weight class, decked Vivas with a right-left combination near the end of the second round. Vivas barely survived the round and was on a short leash when the third stanza began. After 53 seconds of round three, referee Raul Caiz Jr had seen enough and waived it off. Vivas hadn’t previously been stopped.

Cleveland welterweight Tiger Johnson, a Tokyo Olympian, scored a fifth-round stoppage over San Antonio’s Kendo Castaneda. Johnson assumed control in the fourth round and sent Castaneda to his knees twice with body punches in the next frame. The second knockdown terminated the match. The official time was 2:00 of round five.

Johnson advanced to 15-0 (7 KOs). Castenada declined to 21-9.

Las Vegas junior welterweight Emiliano Vargas (13-0, 11 KOs) blasted out Stockton, California’s Giovanni Gonzalez in the second round. Vargas brought the bout to a sudden conclusion with a sweeping left hook that knocked Gonzalez out cold. The end came at the 2:00 minute mark of round two.

Gonzalez brought a 20-7-2 record which was misleading as 18 of his fights were in Tijuana where fights are frequently prearranged. However, he wasn’t afraid to trade with Vargas and paid the price.

Emiliano Vargas, with his matinee idol good looks and his boxing pedigree – he is the son of former U.S. Olympian and two-weight world title-holder “Ferocious” Fernando Vargas – is highly marketable and has the potential to be a cross-over star.

Eighteen-year-old Newark bantamweight Emmanuel “Manny” Chance, one of Top Rank’s newest signees, won his pro debut with a four-round decision over So Cal’s Miguel Guzman. Chance won all four rounds on all three cards, but this was no runaway. He left a lot of room for improvement.

There was a long intermission before the co-main and again before the main event, but the tedium was assuaged by a moving video tribute to George Foreman.

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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William Zepeda Edges Past Tevin Farmer in Cancun; Improves to 34-0

Published

4 days ago

March 29, 2025

David A. Avila

William Zepeda Edges Past Tevin Farmer in Cancun; Improves to 34-0

No surprise, once again William Zepeda eked out a win over the clever and resilient Tevin Farmer to remain undefeated and retain a regional lightweight title on Saturday.

There were no knockdowns in this rematch.

The Mexican punching machine Zepeda (33-0, 17 KOs) once more sought to overwhelm Farmer (33-8-1, 9 KOs) with a deluge of blows. This rematch by Golden Boy Promotions took place in the famous beach resort area of Cancun, Mexico.

It was a mere four months ago that both first clashed in Saudi Arabia with their vastly difference styles. This time the tropical setting served as the background which suited Zepeda and his lawnmower assaults. The Mexican fans were pleased.

Nothing changed in their second meeting.

Zepeda revved up the body assault and Farmer moved around casually to his right while fending off the Mexican fighter’s attacks. By the fourth round Zepeda was able to cut off Farmer’s escape routes and targeted the body with punishing shots.

The blows came in bunches.

In the fifth round Zepeda blasted away at Farmer who looked frantic for an escape. The body assault continued with the Mexican fighter pouring it on and Farmer seeming to look ready to quit. When the round ended, he waved off his corner’s appeals to stop.

Zepeda continued to dominate the next few rounds and then Farmer began rallying. At first, he cleverly smothered Zepeda’s body attacks and then began moving and hitting sporadically. It forced the Mexican fighter to pause and figure out the strategy.

Farmer, a Philadelphia fighter, showed resiliency especially when it was revealed he had suffered a hand injury.

During the last three rounds Farmer dug down deep and found ways to score and not get hit. It was Boxing 101 and the Philly fighter made it work.

But too many rounds had been put in the bank by Zepeda. Despite the late rally by Farmer one judge saw it 114-114, but two others scored it 116-112 and 115-113 for Zepeda who retains his interim lightweight title and place at the top of the WBC rankings.

“I knew he was a difficult fighter. This time he was even more difficult,” said Zepeda.

Farmer was downtrodden about another loss but realistic about the outcome and starting slow.

“But I dominated the last rounds,” said Farmer.

Zepeda shrugged at the similar outcome as their first encounter.

“I’m glad we both put on a great show,” said Zepeda.

Female Flyweight Battle

Costa Rica’s Yokasta Valle edged past Texas fighter Marlen Esparza to win their showdown at flyweight by split decision after 10 rounds.

Valle moved up two weight divisions to meet Esparza who was slightly above the weight limit. Both showed off their contrasting styles and world class talent.

Esparza, a former unified flyweight world titlist, stayed in the pocket and was largely successful with well-placed jabs and left hooks. She repeatedly caught Valle in-between her flurries.

The current minimumweight world titlist changed tactics and found more success in the second half of the fight. She forced Esparza to make the first moves and that forced changes that benefited her style.

Neither fighter could take over the fight.

After 10 rounds one judge saw Esparza the winner 96-94, but two others saw Valle the winner 97-93 twice.

Will Valle move up and challenge the current undisputed flyweight world champion Gabriela Fundora? That’s the question.

Valle currently holds the WBC minimumweight world title.

Puerto Rico vs Mexico

Oscar Collazo (12-0, 9 KOs), the WBO, WBA minimumweight titlist, knocked out Mexico’s Edwin Cano (13-3-1, 4 KOs) with a flurry of body shots at 1:12 of the fifth round.

Collazo dominated with a relentless body attack the Mexican fighter could not defend. It was the Puerto Rican fighter’s fifth consecutive title defense.

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