The Square Ring

by Howie Reed, THE PATTAYA MAIL

One boxing story that might have been big news two weeks ago is now being viewed as “so what.” The retirement, yet again, of Floyd Mayweather jr. is now an officially “non-story.” The only impact is on the re match with Oscar De La Hoya on September 20. TSR thought the cancellation would be an excellent time for Ricky Hatton to step into the breach, fight Oscar and become a major player again on the world stage. Not going to happen. Ricky’s father has put the ‘kybosh’ on that. He told the BBC, “‘The Hitman’ is focused on a November fight with IBF jr welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi.”

Boxing fans had anticipated Calzaghe facing Kelly Pavlik on October 18 - but now? “I think it’s unlikely,” Calzaghe said. “I’m not sure if Pavlik really wants to face me at the moment. He would have little to gain because I believe I would definitely beat him and, with respect to Gary Lockett, I would be a step-up too far for Pavlik.”

What fight does Calzaghe want? He wants Roy Jones jr. It’s “the right fight for me at the moment,” he said. As mentioned here last week in TSR, Pavlik would have gone through Calzaghe like a Teelock goes through a punter’s pockets during nap time. There’s two things ‘old geezers’ love - and one is a nap.

Hall of Fame

Election to the International Hall of Fame is a feather in the cap for all involved in the sport of boxing. TSR’s favorite boxing guy, Joe Koizumi, was part of the class of 2008, an honor well deserved.

“I am deeply honored to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame,” said Joe. “Boxing has been my life for more than fifty years. I was playing in the gym since my boyhood. The world champions at that time were as follows: heavyweight, Floyd Patterson; light heavyweight, Archie Moore; middleweight, Carmen Basilio; welterweight, Virgil Akins; lightweight, Joe Brown; featherweight, Hogan Kid Bassey; bantamweight, Alphonse Halimi; and flyweight, Pascual Perez. That’s all. There were no junior classes, nor multiple world champions in each weight division like today.”

Koizumi continued, “Society has changed since I became a boxing fan in 1957. Our modern society has made everything more convenient. Boxing also has changed - less rough and less tough. In 1958, Yvon Durelle knocked down defending world light heavyweight champion Archie Moore three times in the first round and floored him again in the fifth. Moore bounced back to knock out Durelle in the eleventh round and retain his title. That was drama. Today, that fight would have been stopped in the first round. We’ve lost that kind of drama, and it seems to some people that the fight game might be less interesting as a result.

“(But) I believe boxers of today are faster, better trained, and more skilled than those of the past. This continued evolution in boxing technique, coupled with improvements in ring safety, will keep boxing alive forever.”
Way to go Joe.

From the ‘Lily Pad’

Sir Frog opines about the fistic events from the first weekend in June from his lily pad, which masquerades as Patrick’s Belgium Restaurant. For many that follow boxing they had one heck of a night via the magic of television.
“This was the shortest boxing evening since Mike Tyson’s glory days,” intoned Sir Frog. “First we had unbeaten junior featherweight, Juan Manuel Lopez (22-0), against reigning WBO champion, Daniel Ponce de Leon (34-2-). The fight started with quick combinations from both fighters until Ponce took a short right hook, went down, took a count but couldn’t recover from the next combinations following from Lopez until the referee saw enough and stopped the fight in just 2:25 of round one.

“In the main event of the evening, WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (34-0, 30 KOs) showed a boxing lesson by crushing WBO mandatory challenger Gary Lockett (28-2, 20 KOs). The fun was the look of Lockett facing Pavlik before the opening bell of the first round. It looked like showing, ‘Hey buddy, I gonna show you something...’ and he did, showing how to take 2 knees after only just one punch from Pavlik. How did this guy get a top rank and be a challenger for the world title? I think now he knows why Pavlik is the best in his division and why he has to go back to the gym, learn more about taking punches and wait a few more years before going back to the US of A.”

Sir Frog has it spot on.

Jeeves writes a letter to Ricky

“Dear Ricky. I love you. I know all the words to There’s only one Ricky Hatton. When you appear on the telly I sing out Blue Moon while lifting a pint of my favorite. You took the challenge in fighting the best boxer in the world in Kostya Tszyu. You came into that ring and took apart the best. Then you did what most boxers in the world won’t do. You went to Las Vegas to fight Floyd Mayweather jr. You marched in where angels fear to tread. Sure Mayweather’s hands were fast, he was at the top of his game, but you showed the courage to face the lion in his own den. You want a re match with Mayweather jr.? Forget about it. If you fight him 100 times you’ll lose 100 times. Sure you lost but you weren’t disgraced. Some, like myself, were more impressed with you in defeat than in a couple of your matches where you looked almost ordinary.

“Something has happened to you and those around you though. You’ve turned down a match with the biggest name in boxing, Oscar De La Hoya, to fight Paulie Malignaggi. Your father said, ‘It’s too soon as Richard only fought three weeks ago.’ Now with Oscar scrapping the September date and moving it to December 6, what’s the excuse?

Blimey Richard, all you do between fights is drink beer at the local, eat which puts on weight and throw the occasional dart. Don’t want to fight Oscar because your hearts set on facing Paul Malignaggi? It’s the twilight zone. The word is that Team Hatton wants to fight Manny Pacquiao. Could that be because Pacquiao seems to be heading down the hill? Shame on you Ricky Hatton - Yours truly Wilford James John ‘Jeeves’ Waterford III.”

‘Pocket Rocket’ set for lift off

With the words, “People will probably say this is a comeback, but in truth I never retired,” Wayne ‘The Pocket Rocket’ McCullough (27-6) makes his first start in three years this Friday in the Cayman Islands. The former 1992 Olympic Silver medallist and former WBC world champion takes on Juan Ruiz (21-5) in a 10-rounder at Truman Bodden Sports Complex in Georgetown.
Many thought that after losing twice to Oscar Larios, McCullough ought to hang’em up and do something else. But what is too often lost by boxing fans and “experts” is that warriors go to war - and McCullough is a warrior.

“Most recently I was supposed to fight in Belfast last December but my opponent Kiko Martinez didn’t make weight, so the fight was called off and I just kept training and getting ready to fight when the right opportunity presented itself,” said McCullough.

Ruiz seems to be the perfect opponent for the ‘comebacking’ McCullough. Ruiz has had only three fights since ’06, all losses, and all by late term knockout. Bodes well for a lift off for the ‘Pocket Rocket.’

The Jeeves Report…

“The Lord of the Manor had tipped readers that former long time WBC bantamweight champion Veerapol Nakornluang (61-5-2) might just be in deep water against South African Vusi Malinga (19-2-1). ‘Mr. know it all’ noted that Malinga had won 17 on the trot, had good power and probably a youth advantage over the 39-year old Veerapol.

With Cousin Bruce McTavish the third man in the ring, Malinga went on the attack from the opening bell. He mostly attacked the local hero with vicious combinations and at the end of round three he dropped the Thai veteran with a big left uppercut. The show ended in round four when the South African launched a one-sided attack, forcing referee Bruce to stop the bout.

Weekend fight cards

There’s been a lot of “chin wagging” between IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (26-0) and Edison Miranda (30-2) as they prepare to go to battle Sunday in Hollywood, Florida. Most of the pre-fight chatter revolves around their 2006 bout in Germany. Abraham won a unanimous decision by a comfortable margin.

Abraham, who suffered a broken jaw in the fight, pointed out to Miranda that he had no room to talk about losing as he couldn’t beat a guy with a broken jaw. “I agree with you Arthur, if it was a one-on-one fight,” said Miranda. “Unfortunately for me, I was fighting you and the referee, and most people who saw the fight still believe I won. This time, I’m not trusting anything but my fists, and I will knock you out.”

Miranda suggested that maybe after the fight Abraham might like a job as a night watchman. “I think you’ll be perfect for it, because when something happens, you don’t have to do anything yourself – you can just call for help. Our first fight showed that you’re good at that.”
Meanwhile at the National Indoor Stadium in Birmingham, Amir Khan (17-0) will get another win against Michael Gomez (35-8). “I wondered when Gomez would start opening his mouth, and it hasn’t taken long,” said Khan. “Actually, I want him to say he is going to knock me out because it only makes me want to smash him up even more, so I train harder.”

Sir Frog’s pal Mikkel Kessler (39-1) is back in the ring for the first time in 7 months after his trashing at the hands of Joe Calzaghe. Fighting in the friendly confines of Brondby Hall in Copenhagen, he takes on Dimitri Sartison at 22-0. Sartison has built his record fighting in Germany against the “usual suspects” that inhabit the Euro Trash super middleweight division. Good win coming for Kessler.

Jeeves Time

“As usual the ‘Lord of the Manor’ has forgotten something. The mind is going fast on the poor old geezer. TSR has been informed by Lady d’Eva that her late husband Eddie Futch will be inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame on Saturday. Futch, who died a number of years ago, is still a driving force in the sport through those he trained and coached. They are passing on the wisdom he dealt out on a daily basis.