Willie Pep 1922 – 2006
– Hall of Famer Willie Pep passed away last week at the age of 84. He was not the man that was replaced by Lou Gehrig like one of my friends thought. That was Wally Pipp, who has been dead for forty years. Willie Pep was a world featherweight champion with a career record of 230-11-1 (65 KOs). Pep was best known for his finesse and defense. His professional career spanned from 1940 to 1966.
– Super middleweight kingpin Joe Calzaghe will fight Peter Manfredo on March 3rd, 2007. Manfredo was the runner-up to Sergio Mora on the first season of the Contender but hasn’t lost since his rematch with Mora. Calzaghe is best known for dominating 168-pounders for the last ten years. I doubt Calzaghe will have much trouble with the runner-up on a reality show in his hometown.
– The Kronk Gym is now closed for good. Emanuel Steward is famous for breeding his charges in the basement of this Detroit training center. Fighters such as Tommy Hearns, Evander Holyfield, and Lennox Lewis learned their craft at Kronk. Steward had been supporting the gym financially since copper pipes used for their water supply were stolen by thieves in September. Steward hopes to open a new Kronk Gym in a modernized facility.
– What in the name of charity is going on here? Joe Frazier, 62, is fighting a three-round exhibition boxing match against the mayor of Memphis, 66, to raise money for a local drug treatment program. The cause is nice but I’m sure you could see old men fight in Memphis for free if you hang out on Beale Street long enough.
– I swear I don’t care about pay-per-view buyrates. Seriously. With that said, I know some of you do so here we go. Pacquiao/Morales III hit 350,000 buys and made $17.5 million in revenue. For the year, HBO had 11 PPV events that totaled 3.7 million buys and roughly $177 million in revenue. That ranks behind 1999 as the most successful year of HBO Boxing on pay-per-view.
– Bernard Hopkins really wants to make a comeback. Boxing retirements are stupid. Most championship fighters take five or six months off between fights anyway and they aren’t retired. It’s a ploy to get more interest in his next fight. In Hopkins’ case a bout with Oleg Maskaev for his heavyweight title would have been ideal. Maskaev seems to be ignoring the little man so Hopkins has now called out Joe Calzaghe. It would be an interesting fight (read boring) as Calzaghe would be attempting to surpass Hopkins’ streak of 20 consecutive title defenses while Hopkins would be looking to stop him.
– Now for the December Fight Schedule and the crazy weekend upon us:
Dec 2 – Miguel Cotto vs. Carlos Quintana WBA Welterweight Title (Showtime)
Dec 2 – Antonio Margarito vs. Joshua Clottey WBO Welterweight Title (Showtime)
Dec 2 – Winky Wright vs. Ike Quartey (HBO)
Dec 2 – Jeff Lacy vs. Vitali Tsypko (HBO)
Dec 9 – Jermain Taylor vs. Kassim Ouma WBC/WBO Middleweight Title (HBO)
Dec 10 – Oleg Maskaev vs. Peter Okhello WBC Heavyweight Title
Dec 16 – Edison Miranda vs. Wille Gibbs (HBO)
Dec 16 – Jason Litzau vs. Jose Hernandez (HBO)
