By Jereme Warneck

 

Showtime Championship Boxing Recap

August 1, 2009

Agua Caliente Casino-Rancho Mirage, California

This card is set up for the winner of both matches to face off in a title unification match later this year. Both titles on the line in this event were unified earlier this year, but had to be split up due to the usual boxing political silliness. Showtime is hoping that Junior Witter and Timothy Bradley win setting up a rematch between the 2. This match is near Bradley hometown and reportedly drawn a capacity crowd of 2,300, and somewhat of a trial balloon to see if they could do larger events with Bradley as a main eventer in Southern California.

 

 

 

Before the event begins, there is a 10-bell salute for Vernon Forrest. (More on that in the News and Notes section below.)

1. WBC Super Lightweight (140 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Junior Witter (37-2-2, 22 KO's, 139 pounds) vs. Devon Alexander (18-0, 11 KO's, 138.5 pounds)

This title is currently vacant. As noted, it had been held by Timothy Bradley, who had been ordered to take a mandatory title defense against Alexander. Bradley decided to vacate the title to take the more lucrative and interesting match with Campbell in tonight's main event.

Witter has held this title before, but lost it in a shocking split decision upset to Bradley on May 10, 2008 at the Trent FM Arena in Nottingham, England. The Englishman entered the match as a 6-to-1 favorite and on a nearly 8 year undefeated streak. Bradley entered the match as a late replacement. The Californian got the title shot without winning a title eliminator, because Jose Luis Castillo missed weight for their scheduled title elimination match in March. The American was not even supposed to face Witter that night, but Demetrius Hopkins pulled out of the match with promotional issues. This meant Witter was facing an untested opponent who had not been in action for 11 months. To the shock of almost everyone of attendance Witter was then dominated by Bradley. In round 6, Bradley dropped Witter for the first time in Witter's professional career with a Chuck Liddell style overhand right. When the judges turned in a split decision, the crowd booed the scorecard that had Witter winning. The partisan English crowd knew their countryman had been beaten that night. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/12/23/recap-of-timothy-bradley-jr-vs-junior-witter.html

Witter won his last match via knockout at 1:10 of round 3 over Victor Hugo Castro in a match at 147 pounds on November 8, 2008 at York Hall in London, England. Witter scored a knockdown in round 2 and looked like he would end the match then, but Castro was saved by the bell in that round. That is Witter's only match since his upset loss to Bradley.  

Witter is The Ring magazine's number 3 contender at 140 pounds to their champion in the weight class, Manny Pacquiao.

Alexander had a strong amateur boxing career that ended when he lost on a tie-breaker in the final round of qualifying to represent the United States at 141 pounds during the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics.

Alexander's last match was a knockout victory 58 seconds into round 9 over Jesus Rodriguez on April 24, 2009 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The match was designed to give the hometown boxer, Alexander, an impressive win. The match started badly, though. Alexander was knocked down with 50 seconds to go in round 1. However, the referee missed the call and ruled it a slip. That changed the scoring of the round from 10-8 for Rodriguez to 10-9 for Alexander as the hometown boxer had won the rest of the round. That ruling would prove irrelevant. Alexander dominated the rest of the match. In round 2, Rodriguez turned to his corner in confusion at what to do against Alexander. In round 8, Rodriguez took a knee, signaling to his corner that he wanted no more of Alexander. They ignored it. That forced a game Rodriguez to take a knee and be counted out in round 9 as the people who were supposed to protect him from taking a severe beating against Alexander completely failed to do their jobs. A full recap can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/7/28/recap-of-devon-alexander-vs-jesus-rodriguez.html

Alexander is unranked by The Ring and ranked by boxrec.com as the number 20 boxer in the world at 140 pounds.

At 22-years old, Alexander is 13 years younger then the 35-year-old Witter. Alexander has the height advantage standing 5' 8" tall, while Witter stands 5' 7.5" tall. The American has the reach advantage with a 71" wingspan, compared to the Englishman's 67" wingspan. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available, but the numbers suggest that Alexander will be the heavier boxer in the ring. Alexander will box out of the southpaw stance. Witter will primarily box out of the orthodox stance, but is known to switch up his stance throughout a match.

California's modified version of the unified rules of boxing are in effect for this event. Two of the judges keeping official score of this match from ringside are from California and the other is from Mexico. The referee is Dr. Lou Moret.

With 1:50 to go in round 1, Witter misses with a wild right hook and does a somersault. The crowd cheered Witter's athleticism and the boxer sheepishly smiled as the referee dusted him off from the obvious slip. The action is resumed with 1:45 to go in the round. Sloppy round 1 that Witter may have barely won, 10-9. With a little over 2:00 to go in round 2, there is some blood coming out of Witter's mouth. The cut probably came from Witter's mouth colliding with Alexander's head or shoulder. Alexander landed a good right hand in the last 15 seconds to win round 2, 10-9. The match is even after 2 rounds on my scorecard, 19-19.

 

They just announced that August 10-14 will be Carano-Cyborg week. During that week on Sho2, Gina Carano will host a series of the best matches she and Cris Cyborg have had every night leading up to their Strikeforce main event on August 15.

 

Witter has a cut above his right eye when he comes out for round 3. It was probably cause by a head butt in round 2. The cut is above the outside of Witter's eye and may be dripping blood into the eye, effecting the boxer's vision. By landing repeated right hands, Alexander easily wins round 3, 10-9. A close-up shot in the corner after round 3 shows Witter is cut very badly. It is wide and directly on the eyelid. Witter is using a British cutman, which could be a problem here. In Britain, they are banned from using the substance used to close cuts in the United States. The substance used to close cuts in the United States is a better clotting agent, but it requires experience to be able to use it properly. Therefore, Witter's corner is probably using the less effective British clotting agent or not maximizing the effectiveness of the American clotting agent, which would be worse. Alexander easily wins round 4, 10-9. This event is using an extremely small ring (think ROH on HDNet small) and it is giving the boxer, Witter, insufficient room to maneuver. Whenever Witter tries to move he runs into the ropes and decides to hold on instead. This is making the match very ugly. After 4 rounds, Alexander leads on my scorecard, 39-37. After 4 rounds the members of press row keeping unofficial score of this match for Showtime have this match a majority decision in favor of Alexander: 39-37, 38-38, 39-37.

 

After round 4, Showtime's Jim Gray is going to interview 154-pound titleholder Cory Spinks, a stablemate of Alexander's. Spinks said that he imitated Witter in sparring for Alexander in the training leading up to this match. The 154-pound champion said that Alexander is executing the game-plan perfectly, except that the young boxer could throw a few more jabs.

 

Alexander landed a huge counter left hand as Witter threw a wild left hook that forced Witter to hold on for the last half of round 5 to avoid a trip to the canvas. The American takes round 5 big, 10-9. The referee is becoming very frustrated with Witter's constant holding and the Englishman is getting near the point that he will lose a point for continuing to hold. The first thing Witter's corner told him when he got back to the stool was to not look for any favors from the referee. This is one of the best referee's in the business, therefore Witter's reputation as an elite boxer will not help him in this match. The southpaw Alexander lands more hard right hands to take round 6, 10-9. Witter is so inactive that it looks like he has a severe case of jet-lag. With around 1 minute to go in round 7 the small crowd begins to boo this match as loudly as they can, which is not very loud. Witter's refusal to punch and desire to hold is making this match brutally boring. Alexander lands more hard punches to win round 7, 10-9. After 7 rounds, Alexander leads on my scorecard, 69-64. Showtime's press row scoring has Alexander ahead on all the cards after 7 rounds: 68-65, 67-66, 68-65.

 

With 1:40 to go in round 8, Witter is given his final warning for holding. The next time the Englishman blatantly holds will cost him a point. With the way Witter has been hugging the point deduction should be coming in about 30 seconds. Witter held at least 5 more times in the last 1:40 of round 8, but released his clinch every time the referee yelled at him to do so to avoid the point deduction. Alexander out-works Witter to win round 8, 10-9. This match just got stopped in the corner. Witter has decided to quit in the corner after round 8. Witter did not appear hurt or out of this match. This is bizarre. Witter a formerly proud champion seems to have quit in a championship match out of frustration. The audio in the corner had the referee going over and warning Witter one more time about holding. Witter's corner in conference with the boxer then told the referee "That's it."

 

The official decision courtesy of the always "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. is that at: 3:00 of round 8 the blue corner (Witter) has retired making the winner by technical knockout, still undefeated and now the WBC Super Lightweight Champion of the World, Devon Alexander "the Great". The win moves Alexander to 19-0 with now 12 wins coming by way of knockout.

 

Alexander was too overwhelmed with emotion to say anything of note in his post match interview other then he was not surprised Witter quit.

 

Witter left the ring and went to his locker room to escape doing an in-ring post-match interview. He would later give a post-match interview in his locker room. There Witter said his left elbow went out in round 4 and then gave some confusing explanation of how he just did not feel right in the ring. It still basically boiled down to got frustrated at his own ineffectiveness and quit. Witter said he is not retiring.

 

Alexander completely dominated this match. All of the official judges' scorecards at the time of the stoppage had Alexander winning: 79-73, 79-73, 80-72. The 22-year-old Alexander is actually 2 months younger then the much heralded Amir Khan who won a title on July 11 and became the third youngest Brit to ever capture a major world title (more on that in the news and notes section). The St. Louis native started boxing at 7-years old with a class of 20 other boys. Of those other 19 boys, 9 are dead from street violence and the other 10 are in jail. One of the ones in jail is Alexander's brother. The fact Alexander was able to make it out of the rough urban environment he grew up in is a near miracle. The fact he was able to do that and win a world championship so young is the type of story usually destined for a Hollywood film. Alexander is now going to return home and before the match the best player in baseball, who is on Alexander's favorite team, the St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols has already promised to present Alexander with his title belt on the field before a game at Busch Stadium.

 

Witter said before the match he had to win tonight to continue boxing. Instead he was completely dominated and quit on his stool. Witter's boring style made him largely unmarketable in England even as a titleholder. The Witter-Bradley title match was on the undercard of a Carl Froch match in Froch's hometown. Witter is probably going to have to appear on small shows throughout Europe to rebuild following this loss. There are no positives for Witter to take out of this match.

 

 

2. WBO Junior Welterweight (140 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Timothy Bradley (24-0, 11 KO's, 139 pounds) (c) vs. Nate Campbell (33-5-1, 25 KO's, 138.5 pounds)

Bradley won this title in his last match from Kendall Holt in a narrow and controversial unanimous decision on April 4, 2009 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. Holt started that match off with a bang. With 1:01 to go in round 1, Holt landed a gigantic counter left hook. In a spectacular scene, the punch appeared to lift Bradley off the ground and send him momentarily skyward before putting the Californian on the mat for the first time in his professional or amateur boxing career. The usually over enthusiastic Gus Johnson, who was doing play-by-play of this match for Showtime, seeming to lose his mind with excitement screaming for several minutes calling this knockdown and the subsequent action, creating a memorable scene. However, Bradley recovered quickly from the knockdown and was able to make it out of round 1 without clinching. The match began to swing in Bradley's favor in round 4, when Holt was cut by an unintentional clash of heads. It was only a minor cut over Holt's right eye that did not effect the boxer's vision, but it mentally took Holt out of the match. Holt began to focus on complaining to the referee about Bradley's roughhouse tactics. Bradley used the opportunity to pick up the pace and win rounds with his superior workrate. The Californian was pulling away on the scorecards entering round 12, but made another mistake. With 29 seconds to go in round 12, Bradley slipped following a Holt combination and that caused Bradley's right glove to touch the canvas for the second knockdown of the match. That knockdown made the match a draw or even gave it to Holt on several unofficial scorecards, but the official judges all still felt Bradley won by as many as 4 points on 2 of the scorecards. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/7/29/recap-of-timothy-bradley-vs-kendall-holt.html

Bradley entered the match with Holt still holding the WBC 140-pound title, he had won in upset fashion over Junior Witter. However, it had largely been predetermined that the winner of Bradley-Holt was going to vacate that belt to face Campbell for a bigger payday then take the mandated match with Devon Alexander. Campbell was shown in the audience watching the Bradley-Holt match to set up tonight's main event.

 

Bradley had a long, but not particularly distinguished amateur boxing career. The champion had 145 amateur matches, but no standout victories.

 

Bradley is The Ring's number 1 contender at 140 pounds.

Campbell had a solid amateur boxing career that ended when he lost a close match attempting to qualify for the United States Olympic team going to Sydney in 2000.

Campbell's last match was his only match since the victory over Diaz, a debatable 12-round majority decision over Ali Funeka on February 14, 2009 at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida. The 3 title belts Campbell had picked up in defeating Diaz were not on the line for him in that match, because Campbell had lost the belts on the scales. Campbell came in at 138 pounds for the 135-pound match on his first try at the scales. After being given 2 hours to sweat off the extra weight, Campbell could only make 137.5 pounds. Campbell's weight cutting was reportedly on target all week, but on the last day his body simply shut down on him. The fact Campbell would actually be the lighter boxer entering the ring according to HBO's unofficial scales backs up those claims. Campbell appeared to lose the first round. He then came back strong knocking down Funeka with a huge right hand with 37 seconds to go in round 2. That early success caused Campbell to become over-confident. He started only looking to throw hard right hands to the head. This made the punches easy to see and Funeka began to win rounds by being busier as Campbell looked for the 1-punch finish. Then finally in round 11, Campbell landed the big right hook and dropped Funeka for a second time with 1:07 to go in the round. Campbell followed up with some good body punching to win round 12. When the judges final scores were read, the difference on the deciding scorecard was the 2 points for the knockdowns. A full recap of the match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/7/30/recap-of-nate-campbell-vs-ali-funeka.html

Campbell is unranked by The Ring, but ranked by boxrec.com as the number 4 boxer in the world at 140 pounds. 

At 25-years old, Bradley is 12 years younger then the 37-year-old Campbell. Campbell has the height advantage standing 5' 6.5" tall, while Bradley stands 5' 6" tall. The challenger has the reach advantage with a 71.5" wingspan, compared to the 69" wingspan of the champion. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available, but Bradley, the more natural 140-pounder, should be a little heavier in the ring. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance. Bradley is the 2-to-1 favorite in this match.

All of the judges keeping official score of this match from ringside are from California. The referee is David Mendoza.

The busier Bradley wins a close round 1, 10-9. The difference in action between this match and the grappling contest that was the Alexander-Witter match is jarring. Bradley out-works Campbell to win round 2, 10-9. With around 2:30 to go in round 3, Campbell has been cut above his right eye. It is a bad cut and bleeding directly into Campbell's eye. It is badly impairing the boxer's vision. It was probably by a clash of heads. Campbell motioned to the referee to complain about the head butt. However, the referee did not call for a break and Bradley wisely kept punching. Bradley wins round 3 huge and without a knockdown takes it, 10-8. Campbell got back to his corner and told the doctor that he cannot see. He said that is it. Like Witter, Campbell has had enough. The match is being stopped and Bradley will retain his title. However, since the match has not gone 4 rounds the ruling will be that Bradley will retain his title via a no decision if the cut is ruled to have come via an unintentional clash of heads. Apparently, the referee is ruling that it was a punch that caused the cut. It is a bad call, but Campbell clearly wanted out. Besides, Bradley was going to retain either way making the point somewhat irrelevant. Campbell never gave his corner a chance to work on the cut. He appeared to know he was going to lose and quit.

 

The official outcome courtesy of the "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. is that at: 3:00 of round 3 the physician at ringside has stopped the match due to a cut caused by a punch, making the winner by technical knockout, still undefeated and still the WBO Junior Welterweight Champion of the World, "The Desert Storm" Timothy Bradley. The win moves Bradley to 25-0 with now 12 wins coming by way of knockout.

 

The referee is going to be interviewed first after the match. The referee explained that the head butt Campbell complained about was followed by an uppercut. That is when the referee first saw Campbell bleeding. The referee in that case is required to assume the last contact caused the cut. The rule is that when a referee is in doubt they are to rule that the cut was caused by a punch. Based on that explanation the referee appears to have made the correct call under the rules.

 

Before heading to the hospital for some plastic surgery, Campbell said in his post match interview that the cut was caused by a head butt. Campbell said he was seeing spots and that the match should have been ruled a no decision. Reportedly, Campbell may have some blood behind his eye. Of course, Campbell wants a rematch.

 

Bradley said in his post match interview that Campbell was getting older as the rounds went by and the knockout was inevitable. When asked about a rematch, the normally soft spoken Bradley said, "Why not? It would be easy work. He is too slow." Bradley's promoter Gary Shaw then jumped in to say that Campbell simply did not want to box anymore. Shaw is reading this situation perfectly. Don King, Campbell's promoter, is now interjecting himself into this discussion. King said the decision was wrong, but is not arguing that Campbell did not want to continue. Even King knows it is not worth arguing that his boxer quit, which says a lot. Shaw said he will make the rematch if Showtime wants to buy the match and the money is right. Gray asked if the money were the same as it was tonight would Shaw sign for the rematch. Without hesitating Shaw said no. Bradley has now calmed down and is laughing at the chaos surrounding him as Shaw and King are continuing to argue. The champion said he did not care who he faced next and would be willing to face Campbell in Florida. Shaw then joked that they could the rematch in King's backyard, because King has an epically great backyard. (He reportedly had Floyd Mayweather, Jr. over there for a great barbecue.) King then started ranting with something about how this is why boxing is losing people.

 

Bradley was great in this match. His defense was outstanding. In the past he has had problems with getting himself off balance by throwing wide punches. He did not have that problem tonight. Bradley was so dominant in this match that unless he is ordered to rematch Campbell by the WBO it seems unnecessary. The champion is clearly better then Campbell. The most obvious next match for Bradley is to go with the original plan and match him against the winner of the first match on this show. A match with Alexander will not draw the money a match with Witter would, but Bradley will be able to command a much larger share of the purse.

 

The reason it is clear that Campbell quit in this match is the timing. He is a veteran and knows that if a match is stopped on a cut caused by an accidental clash of heads before the end of round 4 it is a no decision. Had Campbell tried to go out for 1 more round and the match then been stopped on the cut it would have gone to the scorecards. Campbell clearly would have lost a match headed to the scorecards. He was trying to get out of the match without a loss. Campbell was legitimately hurt. However, the way he had the match stopped indicated he clearly wanted to quit. As Bradley said, Campbell appeared to be aging as the rounds went on in this match. Campbell may still be very good. However, Campbell did not look very good against the divisions elite in Bradley. He appeared to be someone who can give the top guys in the division good matches and lose. Campbell is going to have to keep boxing for a long time, because he needs the money. If Campbell cannot get a mandated rematch with Bradley, the next most obvious match would be to face the winner of the August 22 match between Paulie Malignaggi and Juan Diaz. There is also the possibility for Campbell to face Alexander, if Alexander cannot get a match with Bradley.

The poor ending to both matches makes this event an easy skip. However, this event is notable, because coming out of it the 140-pound division has become very young. Assuming Alexander takes Witter's place as the number 3 contender in The Ring rankings at 140 pounds, The Ring's number 1 contender at 140 pounds will be 25-years old and its number 3 and 4 contenders will be 22-years old. In the United States, a person has to be 25-years old to rent a car. This division could be very good for a very long time.

News and Notes: It has been a tragic last few weeks in boxing. It began with the suicide of the great Alexis Arguello on July 1. As noted in an earlier recap the suicide shared many of the hallmarks of recent pro-wrestling suicides, namely Arguello had a history of alcohol and drug abuse and had sustained a tremendous amount of head trauma boxing. Without question Arguello took his worst beating in The Ring match of the decade for the 1980's against Aaron Pryor on November 12, 1982 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. Arguello was knocked out in round 14 of that match. The HBO documentary Assault in the Ring has revealed that before round 14 Pryor was given an illegal substance to open his lungs by his trainer, the infamous Panama Lewis. It was likely a steroid used to treat asthma. With the illegal aid, a refreshed Pryor knocked Arguello out 1:06 into round 14 of what had been a close match. Arguello was never the same following that loss.

The run of boxing tragedies continued with what was believed to have been the murder of legendary boxer/brawler Arturo Gatti at the hands of his wife, Amanda Rodrigues Gatti, on July 11 in Brazil. That story became in many ways more tragic on July 30 when Rodrigues was released from police custody. The Brazilian authorities arrested Rodrigues the day after Gatti died saying the boxer had clearly been murdered by Rodrigues. The police also said there was a strong possibility it was a premeditated murder as Rodrigues had worked to get Gatti heavily intoxicated earlier in the evening so she could over-power him. Unfortunately it appears, the police work in this case was so terrible that it made the Atlanta Centennial Park bombing investigation look stellar. The reason Rodrigues was released on Thursday, was because the autopsy showed that Gatti committed suicide. The boxer apparently hung himself from the staircase, and the police somehow mistook this for first degree murder. Therefore, an innocent widow was forced to spend over 2 weeks in jail away from her 10-month-old son. A lot more details about what tragically happened that night can be found here and it casts the boxer in a somewhat poor light: http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=4368620

Gatti's suicide, like Arguello's, has the hallmarks of many pro-wrestling suicides. Gatti had a massive drinking problem and was an infamous fan of late night clubs. Also, Gatti took a tremendous amount of punishment in the ring. It became a joke in boxing that Gatti only boxed in New Jersey, because that was the only place that would license him. Referee's gave Gatti a tremendous amount of leeway, because Gatti frequently made comebacks from horrendous beatings. In his final match, Gatti was taking a horrific beating at the hands of Alfonso Gomez and the referee was negligent in refusing to stop the match. Finally, the New Jersey State Athletic Commissioner at the time, Larry Hazzard, had to come into the ring to protect Gatti from taking more punches. Once again the recap of that match can be found here and it is even sadder then it was a few weeks ago: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/7/12/recap-of-the-late-arturo-gatti-vs-alfonso-gomez.html 

 

Gatti's family has had the boxer's body exhumed to have a second independent autopsy performed by the Quebec coroner's office with the assistance of an independent pathologist from the United States in hopes of a different conclusion. So far the results of the second autopsy cannot rule out murder or suicide. It will be a few weeks before they have a final conclusion as a toxicology test is being performed. However, the second autopsy has already discovered shockingly that the investigation and autopsy in Brazil were woefully incomplete. In equally shocking news, the sky is blue.

The tragedies in boxing continued on July 22 as Marco Antonio Nazareth passed away from a brain hemorrhage at a hospital in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico following a round 4 technical knockout loss 4 days earlier to Omar Chavez, a son of the all-time great boxer Julio Cesar Chavez. The 23-year-old Nazareth is the second boxer to die in the last 18 months in Mexico, where legitimate pre-match physicals are as rare as 4-leaf clovers.

The tragedies do not end there as on July 25 Vernon Forrest was murdered while being robbed at a gas station in Atlanta, Georgia. A group of 3 or 4 men stopped Forrest who was putting air in the tires of his Jaguar and told the boxer to give them his wallet, championship ring and Rolex watch. Forrest complied, but then chased after the robbers and opened fire with a handgun he was carrying. Unfortunately the robbers were carrying semi-automatic weapons. When Forrest realized he was out-gunned and turned to run, the robbers shot him 7 or 8 times in the back. Forrest would likely still be alive had he not shot at the robbers.

Forrest founded Destiny's Child in 1998, a group of homes to help the mentally handicapped in Atlanta. He had been the WBC 154-pound champion up until May 21 of this year when he was stripped of the title for failing to make a mandatory defense against Sergio Martinez. However, the WBC had named Forrest an "ambassador of peace and goodwill through sports" and guaranteed him a shot at the champion whenever he chose.

Here are all of the recaps that this website has done of Vernon Forrest matches. They are 3 of the last 4 of his life, with the only missing, his last. It was a 12-round unanimous decision to reclaim the WBC 154-pound belt in a rematch with Sergio Mora on September 13, 2008 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas:

http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/7/26/recap-of-the-late-vernon-forrest-vs-carlos-baldomir.html

http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/7/26/recap-of-the-late-vernon-forrest-vs-michele-piccirillo.html

http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/7/26/recap-of-the-late-vernon-forrest-vs-sergio-mora-i.html 

Now onto some positive boxing news. The Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto match has been finalized. The event to be called "Firepower" will be November 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and carried live on HBO PPV. The mega-event will receive the usual 24/7 mini-series treatment. The match will be contested at a catch-weight of 145 pounds. It will be announced at the opening news conference of the press tour promoting the match on September 10 at Yankee Stadium in New York City, New York if Cotto's 147-pound title will be on the line in the match or not. Should Pacquiao win Cotto's title in the match it would make the seventh weight class in which Pacquiao has held a world title. That is significant, because it would break the current record of a major world title won in 6 different weight classes that Pacquiao shares with Oscar De La Hoya. The exact purse split was not announced, but it was made clear that Pacquiao is receiving more then 50% of the revenue. As part of the agreement to do the match, Cotto has signed a contract extension with Top Rank Promotions. He had been furious at Top Rank Promotions' Bob Arum for his irrational support of Antonio Margarito after Margarito was caught attempting to use loaded hand wraps against Shane Mosley in January. Cotto had even talked of jumping promoters at the end of 2009. The exact length of the extension was not disclosed, but it is said to last until at least sometime in 2011.

On July 11, Amir Khan defeated Andreas Kotelnik in a wide unanimous decision to capture the WBA 140-pound title. At 22-years old, Khan is the third youngest Brit to win a major world title. Following the win, The Ring made Khan their number 4 contender at 140 pounds. That temporarily made The Ring's number 2, 3 and 4 contenders at 140 pounds all English with Ricky Hatton, Witter and Khan respectively. Khan is committed to a mandatory title defense against Dmitriy Salita next. He will also be required to unify his title with the interim WBA 140-pound belt held by Marcos Maidana at some point in the future. However, the Khan says he wants to face Hatton. Hatton has been largely out of the public spotlight since his loss to Pacquiao in May. The Manchester native has neither announced his retirement nor his plans to continue boxing. Khan's promoter, Frank Warren, who used to be Hatton's promoter said that the 2 boxers should not face each other. This may be a bit of reverse psychology on the part of Warren who had an ugly falling out with Hatton when the boxer switched promoters. The thing is Warren is correct. If Khan thinks beating Hatton would be a passing of the torch victory for the young boxer is badly mistaken. Should Khan knockout Hatton, he would be vilified for taking advantage of a past his prime sports legend. Oscar De La Hoya tried something similar by knocking out the iconic Julio Cesar Chavez and it brought De La Hoya nothing but public criticism. The best outcome for Khan in that type of match would be to lose a close decision. It would show he could hang with the elite of the sport, but was not quite at that level. Khan does not want this. The match with Hatton would be the biggest money match Khan could make, but it is a match that cannot do the young boxer's career any good.

The dates of round 1 of Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic have been set. The 168-pound tournament will begin on October 17 with Arthur Abraham facing Jermain Taylor at a location that is still to be determined in Germany. Later that night, Carl Froch will defend his WBC title against Andre Dirrell at the Trent FM Arena. In a good move the WBC has announced that they are not going to order any mandatory title defenses of their belt until the tournament is finished. That means barring something bizarre happening, the winner of the tournament should also be the WBC Champion. However, that move is not entirely benevolent as it should eventually net the organization a great deal more money in sanctioning fees. There should be 5 WBC title matches to collect sanctioning fees from in the tournament alone.

There will be a break before the final match of round 1, Mikkel Kessler vs. Andre Ward. Kessler is going to make a mandatory defense of his WBA title against Gusmyl Perdomo on September 12 at the MCH Messecenter in Herning, Denmark. The Dane is taking the match primarily as a tune-up, because he has been out of action with promotional problems since October 25, 2008 and did not want to go into the tournament rusty. To make things even Andre Ward will box on September 12 against Shelby Pudwill in a 10-round match, probably from the Oakland Coliseum Arena (Oracle Arena). The Kessler and Ward matches will air as part of the same telecast on Showtime as a sort of precursor to the tournament. Assuming Kessler and Ward come out of their matches victorious and uninjured they will face each other in the ring on November 21 probably from the Oakland Arena.

There is an official date and network for the rematch between Lucian Bute and Librado Andrade of their highly controversial match for Bute's 168-pound title in October. After Golden Boy Promotions had talked of putting the match in Andrade's native Mexico, it is going to once again be held in Quebec. It will either be in Montreal or Quebec City on November 28 and broadcast on HBO. This will be the first HBO boxing event from Canada in the network's 36 years of broadcasting boxing.

After seemingly talking non-stop about how the Klitschko brothers were ducking him, David Haye got a match with Wladimir Klitschko. Haye then pulled out of the match with a mysterious back injury that appears to have been related to the fact he realized that he was not going to get paid for the match having signed to only get money from Setanta Sports, which was a few days from going off the air. The Englishman then complained about Wladimir being unwilling to push the match back a month, because about 60,000 tickets had already been sold for that day. Therefore, Haye continued to run his mouth about the Klitschko brothers ducking him. This time Vitali Klitschko stepped up and had apparently agreed on a contract to face Haye at the 55,000 seat Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt, Germany on September 12. With Setanta Sports gone, Haye's money this time was going to come from the event being run on pay-per-view via Sky Box Office in the United Kingdom. Apparently, Haye then saw that Khan-Kotelnik had done poorly on Sky Box Office and reconsidered the nearly finalized contract to face Vitali. Then without notifying anyone, Haye signed to challenge Nikolai Valuev for Valuev's WBA heavyweight title on November 7 in Germany. Haye's excuse for pulling out of the fight with Vitali is that the contract the Englishman had originally agreed to was a slavery contract. Considering the money Haye was getting was from the PPV buys in the United Kingdom that is a bunch of garbage. Hatton earned about $20 million from the U.K. PPV revenue of his match vs. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. The fact is not that many people care about Haye and he is ashamed to admit it. The Haye-Valuev match is not going to be broadcast in the United States. HBO was going to pay a lot of money to broadcast Vitali-Haye live in the United States. Now, Haye has had matches with both Klitschko brothers and both times pulled out for what appear to be fictitious reasons. So when it comes to who is ducking who, it is clear that Haye is ducking the Klitschko brothers.

 

There might still be a snag that prevents Haye-Valuev from happening. Among the people Haye did not notify when pulling out of the match with Vitali to face Valuev was Golden Boy Promotions. Golden Boy Promotions has Haye signed to a 5 year promotional contract. They never found out about Haye facing Valuev until the contract was signed. Golden Boy Promotions is supposed to have a financial stake in every Haye match and they were quite high on the Englishman facing Vitali. A very angry Richard Schaefer, the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, told ESPN.com that he is, "dealing with the situation." Haye's usually talkative management team were unavailable for comment after this.

The WBA has finally decided to strip Ruslan Chagaev of his heavyweight "champion in recess" title. This is a few weeks after Chagaev was knocked out by Wladimir Klitschko. However, they have named Chagaev the mandatory challenger to their heavyweight title. He is guaranteed a shot at the winner of Valuev-Haye. This is despite the fact that Chagaev still has hepatitis-B and was refused medical clearance in Switzerland. That is what cost Chagaev a scheduled May match with Valuev, and will still keep him from getting sanctioned any place that they do legitimate medical exams. (Chagaev will be fine to box in Germany, where the title match will inevitably take place.)

Former heavyweight titleholder Sultan Ibragimov announced his retirement this week. He was one of only 5 boxers that employed the southpaw stance to hold a major heavyweight title. Unfortunately, his career ended on a down note. Ibragimov's final match was a boring 12-round unanimous decision loss to Wladimir Klitschko on February 23, 2008 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The match received ESPN.com's facetious "Hour of My Life I Want Back" Award for 2008. It was not nearly the worst match of 2008 nor the worst major televised match of 2008. It just had the unfortunate distinction of being memorably bad. It was boxing's version of the opening round of TNA's first Fight for the Right Tournament that won that year's award for Worst Match of the Year in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards. The match was not all that bad, and not nearly the worst of the year. It just had the unfortunate distinction of being memorably bad and lots of people saw it. The recap of the final match of Ibragimov's career, which was boring largely due to Klitschko, can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/7/31/recap-of-wladimir-klitschko-vs-sultan-ibragimov.html

On Wednesday the United States House of Representatives passed the bill urging President Obama to grant Jack Johnson a posthumous pardon. The bill sponsored by Senator John McCain and Representative Peter King had already passed the Senate and is now headed to President Obama's desk. Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight champion, was convicted of violating the Mann Act (transporting a woman across state lines for immoral acts). The main issue at the time was the woman was white and Johnson had the temerity to be better then every white boxer. The government had already tried and failed to convict Johnson once for violating the Mann Act, because the white woman in question in that case would eventually become Johnson's wife. There was such anger at the time over the fact that an African American was able to defeat the top white boxers, once Johnson lost the title another African-American did not receive a shot at the heavyweight title for 32 years. (The Mann Act is now rarely used and primarily used to target sex traffickers. Currently former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is under indictment for violating the Mann Act. He had a prostitute transported from New York to service him at a governor's conference in Washington, D.C. This makes the fact that Governor Spitzer pushed to get an unconstitutional law banning the sale of some video games based on GTA: IV depicting prostitution in New York ironic.)

On July 14, James Kirkland, who had been a top prospect at 154 pounds, pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm while on probation in Texas. Kirkland will be sentenced on September 23. The length of that sentence will likely determine if Kirkland's boxing career is over. Since this is Texas, the odds are high that Kirkland's boxing career is over.

Top Rank Promotions held their Latin Fury 10 PPV on July 25 from Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. The show was largely a disaster. It was scheduled to be headlined by Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. against Jason LeHoullier. However, Chavez pulled out at the last minute citing a rib injury. It turns out that a week before the match Chavez realized he was not going to be close to making the 154-pound weight limit for his match. His people then decided to claim he had a rib injury. Yuriorkis Gamboa was then supposed to headline the event, but his visa did not come through in time. Therefore, Gamboa had to be pulled from the card. Top Rank then made the main event Urbano Antillon versus Miguel Acosta for a vacant interim 135-pound belt. Top Rank wanted Antillon to get a highlight reel win. Instead to cap off a truly miserable night, Acosta knocked out Antillon in round 9.

 

The most interesting news to come out of the Latin Fury 10 PPV probably has nothing to do with the action in the ring. On the undercard, Javier Capetillo was working as the trainer for Giovani Segura, who retained his 108-pound title against Juanito Rubillar when Rubillar's corner threw in the towel in round 6. Capetillo had his license revoked in California for loading Margarito's hand wraps with a plaster like substance in January. However, Mexico does not honor suspensions from other places, so Capetillo could work this event. It does however make it very unlikely that the California State Athletic Commission will give Capetillo his license back at their first opportunity next January as he clearly violated their suspension.

 

Margarito also had his license revoked for the loaded hand wrap incident and claimed he was furious at the trainer. Margarito said he had no knowledge of the plaster in his hand wraps and had been taken advantage of by the trainer. Yet, Margarito was in the dressing room with Capetillo and in Segura's corner with Capetillo. Margarito has been trying to show public remorse with the hopes of getting his license back in January. This pretty much proved all of the pathetic excuses Margarito gave were a bunch of lies. The fact he is continuing to associate with Capetillo is going to make the CSAC very reluctant to give Margarito his license back anytime soon.

On Saturday, HBO debuted their new boxing documentary Assault in the Ring. The documentary centers around the 1983 fight between Luis Resto and Billy Collins, Jr. The documentary is frankly disturbing, but recommended viewing. In the fight, Resto had half of the padding removed by his trainer, Panama Lewis, from his glove and used hand wraps loaded with plaster to bludgeon Collins in order to win a bet for a cocaine dealer. The injuries Collins sustained in that match were so severe that he spiraled into a deep depression and would eventually die in a car crash several months later as a direct result of that fight. After watching that it is clear that no one involved in tampering with gloves or hand wraps has any business being involved in the sport of boxing.

 

The next recap will be of the August 22 HBO event featuring Juan Diaz vs. Paulie Malignaggi and Gilroy, California's (home of the excellent Gavilan Hills Academy) Robert Guerrero challenging for Malcolm Klassen's 130-pound title.