by Brent Brookhouse
The Bloody Elbow
Floyd Mayweather’s time in jail for a domestic violence charge will come to an end on Friday as he’ll be released early. As pointed out by Bad Left Hook’s Scott Christ, Floyd getting out of jail early isn’t really a huge story. He’s serving time for a misdemeanor charge and will have served almost two-thirds of his sentence. So it’s not like there’s a horrendous failure of the justice system because Floyd is a celebrity or anything.
The timing of his release also happens to line-up well with Mayweather running buddy, 50 Cent’s assault on the boxing world with the establishment of TMT Promotions.
50 has signed some very big names, turning an upstart boxing promotion into a legitimate player in only two weeks time, inking deals with Andre Berto, Zab Judah, Celestino Caballero, Andre Dirrell, Yuriorkis Gamboa, and Billy Dib. That’s a lot of “name” fighters that have major network interest. Given boxing’s place as a TV package sport, that’s a very good start.
Given Mayweather’s relationship with 50 and the name of the promotion (TMT = The Money Team), it isn’t much of a stretch to assume that Floyd will be the crown jewel of TMT Promotions. Mayweather Promotions was never an actual promoter and Floyd never really had a long-term deal with Golden Boy so there’s nothing really stopping him from getting out of the De La Hoya business.
50 has been outspoken about his plans to be a real player in boxing and he’s looking at the UFC as a blueprint for some of their promotional efforts (via Herald Sun):
“We’re going to change the demographic also, appeal to the younger demographic.
“You look at UFC and MMA, when their festivities start the place is full, whereas the tradition in boxing is you wait until the main event starts.
“We want to put on cards where there are five main event fights, where there is entertainment from start to finish, cards that command attention all over the world.”
There have been some decent efforts to improve the overall card quality of boxing shows, Showtime has been great about putting on 4-5 fight cards with Golden Boy and there has been some good quality action coming out of that focus on treating the undercard as valuable. We saw Shane Mosley versus Canelo Alvarez on the undercard of Mayweather’s bout with Miguel Cotto. We also saw a great PPV action card for Cotto versus Antonio Margarito. But, overall, boxing undercards are far from a focal point in the game.
Regardless of if 50 is able to really change the overall dynamic of the boxing game or not, it’s ignorant at this point to suggest that TMT Promotions isn’t shaping up to be a real force, as pointed out by Scott Christ:
If Mayweather does wind up going with TMT, likely as a partner of some sort and the star attraction for the new company, it will be a big shift in the major boxing landscape in the United States. Currently, Top Rank and Golden Boy pretty much own the market, but Mayweather would instantly legitimize the upstart, just as De La Hoya did when he started GBP over a decade ago.
…
We know now that that model can work and make big money. Mayweather could be the next fighter to do it. Like Oscar was at the time, Floyd is the biggest star in the sport right now in many ways, and he also has a young generation of fighters that hold him up on a major pedestal and look up to him. That’s what I’m looking forward to finding out now that Floyd will be available to comment: Is TMT going to be an instant major league player? If Floyd’s in, then the answer is yes.
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Martinez and Chavez Jr. have war of words
by Dan Rafael
Sergio Martinez, the real middleweight champion, has wanted to fight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for more than a year, ever since Chavez won a belt -– which had been stripped from Martinez -- from Sebastian Zbik.
Chavez Jr. has also wanted to fight Martinez in order to shut him up and show he’s for real.
Top Rank, Chavez’s promoter, understandably didn’t want to make the fight until it felt that Chavez was ready for such a gigantic step up in competition. But after seeing how Argentina’s Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KOs) has had at least some struggles in knockout wins against Darren Barker and Matthew Macklin in his past two bouts, and how good Mexican star Chavez (46-0-1, 32 KOs) has looked in his past two defenses -- a points rout of Marco Antonio Rubio and a seventh-round knockout of Andy Lee (a southpaw to boot, like Martinez) -- the fight has finally been made.
They’ll hook up in one of the biggest fights of the of the year on Sept. 15 (HBO PPV) at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas in what is shaping up to a be a serious war or words before the actual fight.
Martinez and Chavez don’t seem to like each other much. Martinez, 37, feels like the 26-year-old Chavez has been handed everything he has because of his famous name as the son of all-time great Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. That has rubbed Junior the wrong way.
Before any major pay-per-view, the fighters go out on tour to promote the event, which Martinez and Chavez did, hitting the road last week with stops in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York followed by a final news conference on Tuesday in Mexico City.
Throughout the tour, they sounded like they were ready to throw down already.
"This is the fight I've always wanted,” Chavez said during the tour. “Martinez has said a lot of bad things. Let's see if he wants to go to the center of the ring and fight like a man. I have real one-punch knockout power. I don't think Martinez has that power. After all his verbal bravado, I just hope he stands in the middle of the ring and fights like a man.
"I have this great opportunity to shut Martinez's mouth. On Sept. 15 he will finally realize he has underestimated me -- when the referee is counting to 10 over him. My dad always stressed body punching. I have a very good chin. I can take a good punch and I can throw a good punch and those will be two very hard lessons Martinez will learn on Sept. 15.”
Martinez has never been one to talk smack before his fights, but he has for Chavez. He seems as pumped up for the fight as any he’s had.
“There is no way Chavez Jr. can beat me,” he said during the Mexico City tour stop. “I will knock him out inside seven rounds. I gave his father a baby bottle (at the press conference) so he can take it to his baby after I give Junior a real beating. He won’t be eating solid food with the few teeth remaining after I get through with him."
Earlier on the tour, Martinez said, “I am a much better fighter now than when I won the middleweight titles. Chavez Jr. cannot match up to the knowledge and experience I have acquired in the ring. Chavez may think the sun rises with him in Culiacan (Mexico) but on Sept. 15 he's going to find out that it's going to set on him in Las Vegas."
Martinez also addressed Chavez Sr., who turned 50 last week while accompanying his son on the tour.
"Mr. Chavez, take a look at your son now because you will not recognize his face without DNA after we have fought. I will beat him up."
Khan and Garcia both weigh 139 for unification bout
by RingTV
LAS VEAGS -- Junior welterweight beltholders Amir Khan and Danny Garcia both tipped the scales at 139 pounds at Friday's weighin for their RING, WBA, WBC title unification bout at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Khan (26-2, 18 knockouts) and Garcia (23-0, 14 KOs) looked fit and comfortable for their HBO-televised showdown, weighing one pound under the junior welterweight division limit.
The fighters on the seven-bout undercard to the Golden Boy Promotions event also weighed in on Friday.
Middleweight prospect Fernando Guerrero (23-1, 18 KOs) and Jose Medina (17-10-1, 7 KOs) both weighed 162 pounds for their scheudled 10 rounder.
Welterweight prospect Phil LoGreco (23-0, 12 KOs) weighed in at 149 pounds for his scheduled eight-round bout against Brandon Hoskins (16-1-1, 8 KOs), who weighed 146.
Middleweight prospect J Leon Love (11-0, 7 KOs) weighed 162 pounds for his scheduled eight-round bout against Joseph Dos Santos (10-9-3, 4 KOs), who weighed 158.
Junior middleweight prospect Daquan Arnett (4-0, 2 KOs) weighed 153 pounds for his scheduled six-round bout against Eddie Cordova (3-2-1, 1 KO), who weighed 151.
Lightweight prospect Jamie Kavanagh (10-0-1, 5 KOs) weighed 135 for his scheduled eight-round bout against Paul Valverde (3-1-3), who weighed 136.
Both lightweight prospect Abner Cotto (13-0, 5 KOs) and Juan Manuel Montiel (7-5-3, 2 KOs) weighed 135 pounds for thier schuelded eight-round bout.
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Photo / Naoki Fukuda
Garcia speaks up for himself at final presser for Khan
by Doug Fischer
LAS VEGAS – Danny Garcia has been content to let his father and trainer Angel Garcia to do the pre-fight trash talking to his opponents throughout his pro career.
The undefeated 140-pound beltholder continued to allow his father to handle the “smack talk” during the build up to his junior welterweight title unification bout against Amir Khan – a task his bombastic father ran wild with during media events and interviews – but Garcia spoke up for himself at the final press conference on Thursday at the Mandalay Bay, the site for Saturday’s HBO-televised showdown.
“My dad has talked s__t 23 times before I fought and 23 times I backed it up,” Garcia (23-0, 14 knockouts) said during his turn behind the podium. “On Saturday, it will be 24 times I’ve backed it up. We’re a team, my father and I.”
So far, they have been a successful duo. Angel Garcia guided his son to two U.S. national amateur titles before turning him pro in late 2007. Three and a half years after his pro debut, Garcia took on his first former titleholder, Nate Campbell, who he outpointed over 10 rounds last April.
Garcia followed the Campbell victory with decisions over former 140-pound beltholder Kendall Holt last October and WBC titleholder Erik Morales in March. Angel Garcia talked a lot trash and caused his share of ruckus at the press conferences and weigh-ins for those two bouts, but the 49-year-old trainer took his antics to another level for the Khan fight. Some would say he took it straight into the gutter by disrespecting the British star’s Pakistani heritage and perhaps taking a stab at Khan’s Islamic beliefs.
“I ain’t never met a Pakistani who can fight,” the elder Garcia told RingTV videographer Bill Emes during an exclusive interview at his North Philadelphia gym.
“Khan’s an overrated European fighter. He got knocked out in Europe, that’s the truth. He blamed it on his God and came to America to hide behind (trainer) Freddie Roach. This fight is going to come down to who’s stronger mentally, physically and spiritually; and I know Khan’s God already – his God is a punishing God – my God is a loving God.”
Khan (26-2, 18 KOs) is not at all amused by Garcia’s vulgar brand of irreverence, and the 26-year-old WBA titleholder vented a little bit during his turn behind the podium on Thursday.
“I promise you – and I never make these kinds of guarantees – but I will knockout Danny Garcia,” Khan said as the members of his huge entourage cheered loudly. “And I can’t wait until after the fight to see what you (Angel Garcia) will have to say.
“He says he’s never seen a Pakistani who can fight but he’s going to see one on Saturday night.”
Khan’s heated words led into an intense staredown immediately following the presser, during which time Garcia demanded that the 5-to-1 favorite look directly into his eyes.
“I told him to be a man and look into my eyes,” Garcia told RingTV.com. “He was looking at my nose. I know that trick. Some guys look into your eyes and it throws their clicker (heart) off. They try to get around that by looking at a dude’s nose.
“So I told him to look me in my eyes.”
Garcia believes Khan’s knockout prediction is proof that his father’s words have gotten under the Brit’s skin.
“He’s not being real,” Garcia said. “We all know his game is boxing and moving and staying on the outside. If he comes to me and tries to fight me, we know what will happen; he’s the one getting knocked out. He’s the one with the suspect chin.”
Khan maintains that Garcia has suspect pro credentials.
“He’s going to find out the difference between being a titleholder and an elite fighter,” he said. “I’m an elite fighter. No disrespect to Erik Morales but he had his day. He was done when he fought Garcia.
“Garcia fought someone who was way past his best.”
Garcia says a faded “El Terrible” is still a tougher fighter than Khan.
“I learned a lot in the Morales fight,” said Garcia, who dropped the Mexican legend hard in the 11th round of the bout he won by scores of 118-109, 117-110 and 116-112. “He’s got a lot of heart. I don’t know if Amir Khan has that much heart.
“Can Khan take the punches that Morales took from me?”
YOUNG GUNS
Many boxing insiders believe that Garcia, who turned 24 four days before the Morales bout, isn’t ready to face a fighter of Khan’s talent and experience.
Apart from predicting that “every boxing writer who picked Khan to win will choke on his own foot on Saturday,” Angel Garcia believes that young standouts – especially titleholders – should fight each other. And Khan, despite his many accomplishments, is only 25.
“That’s the way it used to be in boxing,” he said. “The biggest fights used to be between young men. Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Tommy Hearns, Felix Trinidad vs. Fernando Vargas, Oscar De La Hoya vs. Shane Mosley – all of these fighters were in their 20s.
“They were young and they were champions, so they fought each other. That’s why boxing was more popular then.”
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