SB Nation User Blog: Brickhaus

Pacquiao-Mayweather Off?

Brickhaus — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:00:28 -0000

Manny Pacquiao is refusing to take Olympic-style blood testing. Will this sink the opportunity for the biggest fight of the century?

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Multiple sources, including the Philippine Star, are now reporting that the superfight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. may be off for now.

"The plug is pulled. The fight is off as far as we’re concerned," said Arum who, however, said Pacquiao could start looking for a new opponent.

"Mayweather proves that he’s a coward and he’s looking for a way out of the fight. The Nevada commission has been doing drug testing for the last 40 years," said Arum.

"Takot talaga sa akin (He’s really scared of me)," was Pacquiao’s immediate reaction after negotiations for the blockbuster fight came to a screeching halt.

We'll see what happens. As reported earlier, this whole kerfuffle is over Floyd's demands to have Olympic-style drug testing. As I see it, this is really just one big game of chicken. On one hand, it looks bad that Pacquiao won't submit to testing if he actually is clean. On the other hand, it looks bad that Mayweather is demanding something that, as far as I know, has never been something required in a professional boxing match. Both sides seem to have some reasonable arguments here.

Who's going to blink? I find it hard to believe that both fighters are willing to leave a guaranteed $25 million (with kickers of up to $40 million) on the table over something so small. But for now, the fight gets some more free publicity, and the sports talk shows will have something to discuss during what's normally a slow time of the year.

Adamek-Arreola in April on HBO?

Brickhaus — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:54:40 -0000

Adamek-Arreola in April on HBO?

According to Adamek's Polish promoter, Tomasz Adamek has gotten the call asking for a fight against Cris Arreola, in Riverside, California, on HBO, on April 24. Of course, Goral still needs to get past Jason Estrada before he should look to fights against major opponents four months from now.

Mayweather-Pacquaio in jeopardy over drug testing

Brickhaus — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:04:39 -0000

Mayweather's insisting on something that, deep down inside, he knows could only be bad news for him.

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Per Kevin Iole, the final item to be negotiated in a potential megafight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather is whether the fighters will submit to Olympic-style drug testing before the fight. While there had been prior unsubstantiated reports that Mayweather requested blood testing and that Pacquiao was refusing, the sources he names are as high as they can get, Bob Arum and Leonard Ellerbe themselves.

Both sides agreed that the drug testing issue is the only hurdle preventing the fight from being finished. Earlier Tuesday, Golden Boy Promotions officially requested March 13 from the Nevada State Athletic Commission to host the show.

"As Floyd’s management, we are insistent that there be a level playing field," Ellerbe said. "This is in the best interests of the fighters, the fans and the sport. If you want a level playing field, the best way to do it is to have Olympic-style, random drug testing administered by the premier agency in the world, the [United States Anti-Doping Agency]."

Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum said the demand is "absolutely crazy," done simply to harass Pacquiao, who is squeamish about needles, and is proof that Mayweather doesn’t really want the fight.

Frankly, this sounds pretty bad on both sides. Even if Mayweather eventually acquiesces and the fight goes on without blood testing, It allows people to plausibly infer that there's a reason why Pacquaio wouldn't go along with blood testing. On the other hand, why should Mayweather request something special for this fight? Other than hunches by his dad and uncles, there isn't any legitimate evidence that Pacquiao has used any performance enhancing drugs that aren't of the GNC variety. And as noted by Freddie Roach, most of the drugs that would be a concern aren't any more easily testable by blood than by urine. Blood tests are generally useful after the fact, not before the fact. The way that blood tests catch people is that the samples stay on file and then can be tested long after the event for illegal substances that weren't testable at the time of the event.

With both fighters rumored to be guaranteed $25 million, the fight will happen, whether or not Manny agrees to the invasion of privacy. What this does is create a possible excuse, in the case that the fight goes on and Mayweather loses. It may also create a platform to get rid of certain other concessions Mayweather had made earlier in the negotiations. And while Mayweather's requests seem fairly unreasonable once you look behind them, the court of public opinion will be on Mayweather's side on this one. Everyone knows steroids are bad, while very few seem to actually focus on what they do and how they can actually be tested.

Pacquiao won't change is mind on this issue. If Manny is doping, there's no way his camp lets him get his blood tested. And if Manny isn't doping, there's no way they should want to let him get his blood tested. Deep down, Mayweather shouldn't want the testing either. If Pacquiao does take the test and he comes out clean, then it's a non-event. But if he takes the test and it doesn't, then EVERYONE loses a lot of money. Mayweather's taking a calculated risk here, but it's really one big, massive bluff.

Mandatory Eight Count - Mandatory Madness

Brickhaus — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:16:44 -0000

Ciso Morales will try to become the latest young Filipino fighter to capture a title when he faces Fernando Montiel.

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Deandre Latimore to face Sechew Powell in Eliminator | Fightnews

Latimore was originally scheduled to face Lucas Konecny in an eliminator, but the corrupt IBF kicked Konecny out of the eliminator because he took a stay-busy fight before the eliminator. The winner would become the mandatory to face Cory Spinks. The first time the two faced off, Latimore knocked out Powell in the seventh round.

Rendall Munroe to face Victor Terrazas in Eliminator | Tribuna de San Luis

I could have sworn that Munroe-Maludrottu was an eliminator, but I guess not. Anyway, the British binman would face the 25-1-1 Terrazas, who doesn't have many wins of note, for the honor of facing Toshiaki Nishioka. If a mandatory has yet to be assigned, hopefully that gives Teiken more time to try putting together a Nishioka-Hasegawa fight. Terrazas' camp is trying to make the fight in Guadalajara.

Roman Karmazin to face Dionisio Miranda in Eliminator | ESPN

"Made in Hell" (one of the best nicknames in boxing, in my opinion) has long been one of the most avoided fighters in boxing, as he brings absolutely no name recognition and is a very dangerous puncher. He's slowly built his way up the ranks, and will be facing Miranda in an eliminator for the middleweight belt held by Sebastian Sylvester. Miranda was spanked by Giovanni Lorenzo in his last major bout, so who the heck knows what he's done to actually deserve this shot. As previously reported here, this one will be on Friday Night Fights.

Robert Guerrero to face Mzonke Fana | BusinessDay (South Africa)

Actually, there are a number of fights promoter Branco Milenkovic is working on. Purse bids soon to become due: Mzonke Fana versus Robert Guerrero in an IBF title bout; Nkosanthi Joyi versus Raul Garcia in a title bout between undefeated strawweights; Celestino Caballero versus Takelani Ndlovu; and Zolani Tete versus Richard Garcia in a flyweight title eliminator. Milenkovic also promotes Simphiwe Nongqayi and Simphiwe Vetyeka, both of whom have to make defenses of their interim titles in the near future.

Victor Cayo calls out Marcos Maidana | Boxingscene

In a random fight that wasn't even picked up by Boxrec, against an opponent who's supposedly 14-0 but wasn't listed on Boxrec until a couple of days ago, Victor Cayo scored a third round knockout of Julio Reyes, in an apparent attempt to clean out the 140 pound division of fighters named Julio. After the fight, Cayo called out Marcos Maidana, making him the only fighter on the planet who actually WANTS to fight Maidana.

Ciso Morales gets shot against Fernando Montiel / Pinoy Power III Lineup | Philboxing

This one's all kinds of tragic. Montiel was knocked out his last fight, but then the commissioner came into the ring and declared it a technical draw, and it appears that the official result has been changed back to a knockout loss. Still, he's getting another shot at a vacant title. Z Gorres had won the right to fight for that title, but had to pull out as his career is likely over after having brain surgery. Ciso Morales, a 21-year old Pinoy with a 14-0 record, will get the shot instead. Also on the same "Pinoy Power III" card, Nonito Donaire will face Guerson Guerrero, Gerry Penalosa will face Eric Morel and Bernabe Concepcion will face Mario Santiago.

Casimero wants Ivan Calderon | Philippine Star

19 year old Johnriel Casimero pulled the upset of the weekend when he knocked out Cesar Canchila with the WBO president sitting ringside. Now that he's ranked highly by the WBO, he wants a crack at the Iron Boy. The article also profiles a few other up and coming Pinoy prospects who may be getting title shots in the next year.

Shine Matchmaker on Ricardo Mayorga | Bleacher Report

Ron Foster, the matchmaker for MMA outfit Shine, shares some thoughts on Ricardo Mayorga. While it's not mentioned in this article, it seems like a bout between Mayorga and Din Thomas is all but official.

Bad Left Hook Best of the Decade - Heavyweight

Brickhaus — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:40:28 -0000

Lennox Lewis defeated the T-101 in one of the better heavyweight fights of the decade.

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Now that 2009 is getting close to wrapping up, it means this decade is almost over. Before the end of the year, I hope to get through all the weight classes, presenting to you some choices for the best fighter in a given weight class in the decade. I'm not going in any particular order here, but we'll get through all 17 weight classes.

When voting, please only consider the time that the fighter was in the specified weight class during this decade. Also, I'm not going to count obvious ballot stuffing when I tally these up at the end of the year.

The heavyweight division, for the most part, was dominated by a few guys, but there still may be some contention as to who is the best. Lennox Lewis ruled the early part of the decade, but only fought for a few years and appeared to be past his best for the most part. Lewis defeated Vitali Klitschko, but there's an argument that Vitali was green at the time. Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko have owned most of the remainder of the decade (excluding a few years when Vitali was temporarily retired), but the two brothers made a promise never to fight each other, and so it will probably always be unsettled as to which brother is really better.

Vitali Klitschko - Vitali went 10-2 in the weight class, and spent a short time as the lineal champion after Lennox Lewis retired. While his roster of wins isn't super impressive, he's generally fought ranked competition in the weight class and has generally beaten them convincingly. His best wins include Cris Arreola, Samuel Peter, Corrie Sanders, Danny Williams, Kirk Johnson, Larry Donald and Timo Hoffmann. Both losses were somewhat questionable. One was to Lennox Lewis in the fight described below, where the fight was stopped on cuts over Vitali's objections, and the other was to Chris Byrd in a fight that Vitali was winning handily, but he injured his shoulder and quit rather than risking further injury.

Wladimir Klitschko - Wladimir has gone 22-2 over the course of the decade, unifying three of the belts and becoming Ring champion. Much like his brother, the names on Wladimir's resume don't necessarily look spectacular, but nearly everyone he's fought (other than immediately after losses or early in the decade) has either been a mandatory or someone who was ranked in the division's top 10 at the time. Key victories include Chris Byrd (twice), Ruslan Chagaev, Sultan Ibragimov, Samuel Peter, Lamon Brewster, Danell Nicholson, Jameel McCline, Ray Mercer, Franz Botha, Monte Barrett and faded Hasim Rahman. The losses came to Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster (in a fight where Wladimir gassed and won the rematch easily). While Wlad's losses are far worse than the losses suffered by the other two here, there's also a solid argument that Wladimir was somewhat green at the time of the losses, and has improved considerably since those defeats.

Lennox Lewis - Lewis went 6-1 in the early part of the decade, all of the fights being for the lineal championship and multiple belts. His best win was a somewhat controversial stoppage win over Vitali Klitschko, where Vitali was ahead on the cards at the time of the stoppage, but was extremely busted up, and the tide of the fight seemed to be turning in Lennox's favor. Other good wins include Hasim Rahman, David Tua, Michael Grant (who at the time was thought to be the next big thing), Franz Botha and a severely faded Mike Tyson. The loss came to Rahman, which Lewis avenged shortly thereafter.

Others for possible consideration: Chris Byrd, Ruslan Chagaev, John Ruiz, Nicolai Valuev, Hasim Rahman, Samuel Peter

Poll

Who was the best heavyweight of the '00's?

Bouts rumored to be in the works

Brickhaus — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:28:45 -0000

Bouts rumored to be in the works

James Toney against either Antonio Tarver or Odlanier Solis. It's unclear what weight a Tarver fight would be at, but I have doubts that Toney could make 200 even if he tried. He's just let himself go for too long.
Devon Alexander versus Marcos Maidana, March 6, on HBO
Humberto Soto versus the winner of Valero-DeMarco. Soto should be ringside to call out the winner, and if Valero wins, Soto-Valero is probably the best fight Bob Arum can make.
Chad Dawson versus Jean Pascal, in June, in Canada. As noted previously, Pascal would need to heal from recent shoulder surgery before he could start training.
Albert Sosnowski versus Audley Harrison. Sosnowski won the European heavyweight title last weekend, and Audley's coming off a Prizefighter victory. I don't even want to think about either of these two getting in there with a Klitschko.

Bad Left Hook Best of the Decade - Middleweight

Brickhaus — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:41:28 -0000

Jermain Taylor and Bernard Hopkins met up twice, with Taylor coming out with the disputed decision both times.

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Middleweight has less choices than most weight classes, but that's primarily because the few available options are relatively cut and dry. There was a true champion for the weight class through the entire decade, and that championship changed hands twice. In addition, there was one more guy who ran up an undefeated record, but never faced any of the other big three.

Arthur Abraham - Abraham ran up a record of 19-0 at the weight, including 10 defenses of his IBF title. His key wins include Edison Miranda, Khoren Gevor, Raul Marquez, Kingsley Ikeke and Howard Eastman. While there had often been discussions of a unification between King Arthur and Kelly Pavlik, they never came to fruition, and he moved up to 168 before being seriously tested.

Bernard Hopkins - The Executioner was 34 years old when the decade started, yet he's managed to stay active and near the top of his game. While the latter half of the decade was spent at light heavyweight, Bernard dominated the early part of the decade, unifying all four titles in the weight class and scoring ten title defenses. The best wins came over Oscar de la Hoya, Felix Trinidad, William Joppy, Howard Eastmen, Carl Daniels, Keith Holmes and Antwun Echols. Both losses came to Jermain Taylor in closely contested bouts.

Kelly Pavlik - Pavlik has gone 16-0 at the weight, including his current reign as middleweight world champion. The Ghost's best wins are over Jermain Taylor, Edison Miranda, Marco Antonio Rubio, Jose Luis Zertuche, Fulgencio Zuniga, Bronco McKart and Grady Brewer. This includes three defenses of his middleweight title, although all three of those fights were against less than premiere opposition.

Jermain Taylor "Bad Intentions" went 21-1-1 in the decade at the weight. Key wins include two victories over Bernard Hopkins (both somewhat controversial, once at a time when Hopkins was ranked the #1 pound for pound fighter in the world), Cory Spinks, Kassim Ouma, William Joppy, Raul Marquez, Alex Bunema and Grady Brewer. The draw came against Winky Wright, at a time when he was ranked top pound for pound in the world, although that too was somewhat controversial. The lone loss came to Kelly Pavlik. Including his time at super middleweight, Taylor has gone through an incredible stretch where 14 of his last 15 fights (including his upcoming fight with Andre Ward) will have been against former, sitting or future titlists.

Others possibly worth mentioning: Paul WIlliams, Winky Wright, Felix Sturm, Felix Trinidad, William Joppy

Poll

Who was the best middleweight of the '00s?

In the only major upset of the evening, 19 year old Johnriel Casimero scores an 11th round knockout...

Brickhaus — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 07:53:53 -0000

In the only major upset of the evening, 19 year old Johnriel Casimero scores an 11th round knockout of Cesar Canchila in Canchila's hometown to capture an interim light flyweight title. Even without the (headbutt aided) knockout, Casimero was likely en route to a victory, as he had knocked down Canchila three times in earlier rounds.

Saturday Night Results - Pavlik, Valero, Soto and Cermeno all win

Brickhaus — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:25:52 -0000

Kelly Pavlik scored a fifth round technical knockout of Miguel Espino in a better than expected fight. Pavlik still looks mildly disappointed, probably because he got a fraction of the payday he would have received for facing Paul Williams.

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There were a number of title fights tonight, including those on the Top Rank pay per view card. Check back to this thread for results of tonight's fights.

Kelly Pavlik scored a fifth round technical knockout of Miguel Espino. Espino came in with about as good of a game plan as he could hope for, closing the gap and forcing a fight on the inside, but he was just completely outgunned. Still, he was able to make in an entertaining fight. Pavlik eventually took out with a big uppercut, and referee Steve Smoger stopped it shortly after the knockdown. Round by round coverage of the fight is in the comments. After the fight, Bob Arum said that the same offer for a Paul Williams fight is still on the table.
Humberto Soto scored a wide unanimous decision over Jesus Chavez. That makes Chaves 0-3 for the year. Soto wins his first fight at lightweight, but didn't look spectacular at times. Round by round coverage of the fight is in the comments as well.
Edwin Valero scored a sixth round knockout over Hector Velasquez. After taking a beating for six rounds, Velasquez chose not to come out for the seventh.
In the biggest upset of the night, Johnriel Casimero knocked Cesar Canchila down five times on route to an 11th round TKO win, winning an interim light flyweight title. Canchila was best known for beating Giovanni Segura not that long ago. Casimero is only 19 years old and only had 13 fights under his belt, making him the second Pinoy under the age of 20 to win a title this year. Canchila falls to 28-3, while Casimero moves to 14-0.
Juan Carlos Reveco knocked out Ronald Barrera in the third round to win an interim light flyweight title.
Nehomar Cermeno scored a TKO over Alejandro Valdez in a dreadfully boring and predictable bout. Partial round by round coverage is in the comments, but frankly, the full fight wasn't worth it.
Juergen Braehmer defeated Dmitry Sukhosky in an entertaining and hard-fought bout. Round by round coverage is in the comments.
Sebastian Zbik retained his title via split decision against Emanuele Della Rosa.
Cristobal Cruz and Ricardo Castillo fought to a third round technical draw after a headbutt opened a nasty gash on Cruz. Had the fight been under the unified rules, it would have been a no contest.
Vanes Martirosyan scored a third round technical knockout of hopelessly outclassed Willie Lee.
Samuel Peter scored a fourth round TKO over the fightin' fattie Gabe Brown. This was reportedly an entertaining fight as well. At one point, Brown stuck his chin out there, Ricardo Mayorga style, and Peter tagged him with four hard shots, after which Brown just taunted him further. Brown also managed to land a bolo punch on Peter. Still, in the end, Peter was able to get him out of there. From the descriptions, it almost sounded like Little Mac versus King Hippo.
Billy Dib, Alexander Alexeev, Lukas Konecny and Zaurbek Baysangurov all won their fights.

Juergen Braehmer defends title against Dmitry Sukhotsky

Brickhaus — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 23:43:40 -0000

Braehmer had a successful first defense of his light heavyweight title, but it wasn't all smooth sailing.

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In Mecklenburg, Germany, Juergen Braehmer successfully defended his WBO light heavweight title against game combatant Dmitry Sukhotsky. Throughout the fight, the Russian challenger showed better speed and a higher workrate, while the German titlist showed better form, more power, and a bit more elusiveness. The official scores were 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112. Bad Left Hook scored the bout 116-111, giving Sukhotsky one 10-8 round without the benefit of a knockdown.

In the early rounds, Braehmer was able to take control with relative ease, as Sukhotsky came forward behind weak arm punches, with Braehmer throwing strong hooks to the head and body, while mixing in a good number of uppercuts when the two got inside. Halfway through the bout, it looked like Braehmer was about to steamroll Sukhotsky, but the resiliant Russian came back to win the next couple of rounds.

Finally, the action really started to pick up around the eighth round. With Sukhotsky knowing he was hopelessly behind, he started to stand and trade with Braehmer a bit more. While it seemed that Braehmer had the much bigger punch, Sukhotsky was able to badly hurt and stagger Braehmer in the tenth round, and he unloaded a massive series of unanswered punches that left Braehmer nearly out on his feet and opened up a huge gash over Braehmer's right eye. If the fight was on Sukhotsky's home soil rather than Braehmer's, you could pretty much guarantee that there would have been a stoppage in favor of Sukhotsky right there. Instead, Braehmer was eventally able to grab a hold of Sukhotsky, and he got a much needed breather when the doctor checked on the awful cut.

For the rest of the way, the two battled it out with some toe to toe action. Sukhotsky knew he was down on the cards and needed the knockout, so he kept targeting Braehmer's cut. Braehmer knew he would lose if the fight was stopped due to the cut, so he kept naining Sukhotsky with hooks to keep him from aggrevating the injury. In the end, Braehmer was able to stay on his feet and keep the cut from stopping the fight, and walked out of the ring with the victory.

No word on what's next for Braehmer, but as he's wildly popular in Germany and is only a good but not great fighter, expect Universum to keep feeding him easy defenses for as long as they can get away with it. As for the previously untested Sukhotsky, the fight proved that be belongs on the world stage, even if he may not have the talent to be an elite fighter.