The last week of boxing was about as exciting as the Big Ten tournament. Unless neck tumors forced you couch-ridden, you likely didn’t subject yourself to such boredom. With no fights of interest to recap, let’s get into some boxing news and updates.
Mosley-Vargas II
That didn’t take long. While an official announcement has not been made, both sides are close to reaching a deal and HBO has set a date of July 15th for the fight. As you may recall, Mosley defeated Vargas three weeks ago when he caused Vargas’ eye to swell to the size of a gourd.
Vargas received a larger guaranteed purse than Mosley in the first fight but that will be reversed if they fight a second time. Regardless, each will receive good money for the rematch. The first fight generated 410,000 buys…..and everyone got what they paid for.
The Excellence of Execution?
Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton plans to fight in the United States for his next fight. The problem is finding an opponent. Hatton has an HBO date for May but has yet to find a suitable opponent. Hatton is the Ring Magazine 2005 Fighter of the Year but likely won’t fight a big-named fighter in his next bout. After a deal with Luis Collazo fell through as Hatton was advised against moving up to 147 lbs, it now looks like Hatton will fight either Vivian Harris or Juan Lazcano.
Assuming Hatton defeats his next opponent, The Hitman would be in line for a huge PPV event against the likes of Floyd Mayweather or Jose Luis Castillo. A fight with Miguel Cotto would be interesting but Hatton wouldn’t make enough money off of that fight to warrant the effort. Hatton’s success finally gives the people of Manchester something to be excited about besides soccer and english muffins.
The State of the Heavyweights
It’s not good when the best thing done by heavyweights in the last 15 years is a movie starring Ben Stiller. That’s not a knock on the movie either. Razor Ruddock can’t mess with the kid that played Goldberg in The Mighty Ducks trilogy.
Don King has stated for years that he will institute a heavyweight tournament to crown an undisputed champion. That will never happen. However, four of the top ten heavyweights will be fighting each other soon and if the winners face each other, that’s as close as we can get. James Toney will fight Hasim Rahman on HBO this weekend and Chris Byrd will fight Wladimir Klitschko on HBO on April 22. The Byrd/Klitschko fight is a rematch of a fight Klitschko dominated in 2000.
While HBO has the marquee fights, Showtime will televise all seven feet of Nikolay Valuev as he defends his WBA heavyweight title this summer. Showtime will also broadcast WBO champion Lamon Brewster on April 1st as he defends his title against Serguei Lyakhovich. Brewster is a big puncher and should figure into any equation that leads to an undisputed heavyweight champion.
As it stands now, the heavyweight division is a mess. Here are the current champions:
WBA: Nikolay Valuev 43-0 (31 KOs) Next Fight: unknown
WBC: Hasim Rahman 41-5-1 (31 KOs) Next Fight: James Toney, March 18 on HBO
WBO: Lamon Brewster 33-2 (29 KOs) Next Fight: Serguei Lyakhoyvich, April 1 on Showtime.
IBF: Chris Byrd 39-2-1 (20 KOs) Next Fight: Wladimir Klitschko, April 22 on HBO
Upcoming Fights Of Interest
Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Zab Judah (Welterweight) on April 8 – HBO PPV
Vernon Forrest vs. Ike Quartey (Light Middleweight) on April 15 – HBO
Ricardo Mayorga vs. Oscar de la Hoya (Light Middleweight) on May 6 – HBO PPV
Jose Luis Castillo vs. Diego Corrales III (Lightweight) on June 3 – Showtime
Antonio Tarver vs. Bernard Hopkins (Light Heavyweight) on June 10 – HBO PPV
Winky Wright vs. Jermain Taylor (Middleweight) on June 17 – HBO
Results From Last Week
– Felix Sturm won the WBA Middleweight title from Maselino Masoe via unanimous decision. Sturm’s only professional loss was a controversial decision to Oscar de la Hoya.
– Michele Piccirillo was knocked down in the second round but came back to defeat Lukas Konecny by unanimous decision.
– ESPN favorite Emanuel Augustus lost a unanimous decision to Arturo Morua.
– Aaron Pryor Jr moved to 4-0 with a first round TKO of Alan Snyder.
Jockscraps – The Stories They Won’t Tell
Mitch Williams Leaves Turd In Joe Carter’s Mailbox
Mitch Williams was a dominant closer for the Philadelphia Phillies throughout the early 1990’s. Unfortunately, he will always be remembered for giving up the World Series-winning homerun to Joe Carter in 1993. “The Wild Thing” has stayed out of the public eye, but continues to torment Joe Carter. Earlier this week, Mr. Carter found a fresh turd in his mailbox as he went to get the morning paper. He heard giggling behind the bushes as a figure ran away.
“I knew it was Mitch,” says Joe Carter via telephone. “It always is.”
Mr. Carter has had an ongoing problem with pranks and knows that Mitch is behind them all.
“Last month I had eggs thrown at my car when I went to the grocery. Mitch. Every Halloween my trees get littered with toilet paper. Mitch. A couple of years ago I got what I thought was a call from my son’s school principal telling me my son was in trouble. Again, Mitch.”
Joe Carter wants to move on with his life and hopes Mitch Williams can do the same.
“Mitch has a good mind for the game. Maybe he could become a coach or something. But not if he keeps running around putting turds in people’s mailboxes. Just stay off my lawn.”
Spit Bucket
Steve Price welcomes everyone to Happy Hour.
Tom Gubitosi does a fine job as usual with the Weekly Sports Pulse.
Rokk Adam presents a dream fight between Ricky Hatton and Aaron Pryor.
Josh Clinton reviews Through the Fire, a documentary of Sebastian Telfair’s decision to turn pro.
