Body Blows 12.02.08

Columns, News

There are only four more days until the huge De La Hoya-Pacquiao fight. Corey and I will do our picks later in the week. Look for those on Thursday. In the meantime there are a lot of other news bits to tackle from the boxing world…

Is Paul Williams The Most Feared Man in Boxing?

Corey touches on this in his Paul Williams vs. Verno Phillips fight review. Antonio Margarito built a reputation on being the most ducked fighter in boxing. Now that Margarito has rejected a fight with Paul Williams and has signed to fight Shane Mosley the roles have been reversed. Margarito’s camp offered Floyd Mayweather Jr $8 million for a fight last year and was turned down. Paul Williams offered Margarito what would have been the biggest payout of his career, but Margarito turned him down. There are always excuses that can be used to qualify these decisions but the bottom line is that Margarito ducked Paul Williams. What a difference a year makes.

There are always excuses that can be used to qualify these decisions but the bottom line is that Margarito ducked Paul Williams.

Antonio Margarito lost to Paul Williams in the summer of last year and at the time it seemed he also lost his shot at a big money bout with Miguel Cotto. After Paul Williams slipped up against Carlos Quintana, Margarito was back in line for the Cotto fight, a thrilling fight that Margarito would win. Meanwhile, Paul Williams avenged his loss to Quintana and now is scouring three different weight classes to find someone that will fight him. Antonio Margarito will not be that guy any time soon. After his Mosley fight, Margarito will be looking forward to a rematch with Miguel Cotto. Of course he will look forward to that fight. He has already beaten Cotto. Margarito’s toughness inside the ring is not indicative of his bravado in fight selection. Margarito-Williams II would be a great fight and one would think that Margarito would want to avenge that loss. The Most Ducked Boxer Baton has been passed to Paul Williams.

There’s Only One Ricky Hatton

Hatton proved to be the best light welterweight in the world with his demolition of Paulie Malignaggi. Hatton is one of the few remaining attractions in boxing and has nothing left to prove against 140 lb. fighters. Rumors of him fighting Oscar De La Hoya have been surfacing and it’s probably what The Golden Boy wants. Most of Oscar’s fight selections are based upon the easiest fight for him that yields the biggest payday. A Hatton-Pacquiao fight would be more interesting to the fans but Hatton can’t be faulted for trying to match up with De La Hoya. Shane Mosley would provide an interesting opponent for Hatton as well. Time will tell who Hatton will face next but he deserves another superfight.

Really, Evander? Really?

Evander Holyfield is the most driven boxer of my generation. He will not go away. He had this drive and desire to prove people wrong long before he needed money, as is more the case today. Holyfield will be taking on all 7 feet and 300 pounds of Nikolai Valuev on December 20th. Holyfield has been written off for the last five years. It has now got to the point where it’s not even an argument any longer. Few people seem to even be talking about this anymore. Holyfield is on a mission to regain a heavyweight title and in the process become the oldest champion of all-time. He was given a shot last year but failed against Sultan Ibragimov. Since the Klitschkos hold the rest of the heavyweight hardware, the newly crowned WBA champion is Holyfield’s only chance. I’m sure everyone is rooting for Evander Holyfield. They are all rooting for him to retire.

Pavlik & Cotto on PPV

The first boxing pay-per-view of 2009 seems to be a co-main event featuring Kelly Pavlik and Miguel Cotto. Pavlik will be taking on Marco Antonio Rubio as his mandatory defense. Cotto will be taking on Michael Jennings for the vacant WBO Welterweight title. Don’t worry, I haven’t heard of Michael Jennings either. These are two big names that belong on pay-per-view, but not against these fighters. This co-feature works as an HBO Championship Boxing event. It will be interesting to see if this does stay as a PPV and if so, just how many buys it will generate. I have personally paid for some silly boxing events in my day that I’m embarrassed to even mention. Alright, I bought the Hasim Rahman-Monte Barret pay-per-view. And even a sucker like me isn’t falling for this. Hopefully Pavlik steps up and fights one of the many German middleweight charges that would make for a fight worthy of pay-per-view after this. And hopefully it airs on regular HBO.

As for Cotto, he plans on fighting Margarito after this in what will surely be on pay-per-view and will be worth every cent. Wouldn’t it be awesome if Margarito lost to Mosley and Cotto decided to fight Paul Williams instead? Then Williams can become a star and ignore calls about Margarito.

The Big Fight

This Saturday sees Oscar De La Hoya get in the ring with Manny Pacquiao. Boxing superfights are becoming fewer and far between but this has ‘Big Event’ written all over it. Unfortunately, Oscar De La Hoya seems to be the only boxer capable of making a superfight these days. I’m sure the flow of the fight with Pacquiao will be more exciting than De La Hoya’s snoozer with Mayweather Jr. It’s sad that De La Hoya couldn’t find anyone else within 20 pounds to get into the ring with him. Boxing is lacking stars in the United States. Enjoy the fight this weekend because there may not be many more superfight experiences in the future.

Be sure to check back with Inside Fights this Thursday for a preview of the fight as well as our picks to win.