Pacquiao vs Mayweather is even fight

Posted by TheSaint On May - 10 - 2009

Manny Pacquiao will love a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. “Maganda ‘yan,” Pacquiao told the Bulletin when told about the odds for such a matchup as he was having a sumptuous seafood lunch at Harbour View restaurant near the Quirino Grandstand in Manila.

Score KO for Freddie Roach too

Posted by TheSaint On May - 11 - 2009

Even those of us who expected Manny Pacquiao to handle Ricky Hatton last Saturday night were surprised by the ease with which Pac-Man utterly demolished the Englishman, knocking him down three times and out in the space of less than six minutes. It was a particularly satisfying win for Dedham’s Freddie Roach, the trainer who, over the past few years, has turned Pacquiao from a very gifted but left hand-crazy fighter into the world’s best boxer.

Score KO for Freddie Roach, too

Posted by The Saint On Monday, May 11, 2009
Even those of us who expected Manny Pacquiao to handle Ricky Hatton last Saturday night were surprised by the ease with which Pac-Man utterly demolished the Englishman, knocking him down three times and out in the space of less than six minutes. It was a particularly satisfying win for Dedham’s Freddie Roach, the trainer who, over the past few years, has turned Pacquiao from a very gifted but left hand-crazy fighter into the world’s best boxer.

What had begun as good-natured banter conducted primarily for the benefit of HBO’s “Pacquiao-Hatton 24/7” cameras had become a vituperative war of words between Roach and his counterpart in the Hatton corner, Floyd Mayweather Sr., who fancied himself - usually at the expense of Roach - as the world’s best trainer. If you watched the pay-per-view telecast you may have noticed that when the cameras followed Hatton and his entourage on his long, sad walk back to the dressing room, Mayweather was nowhere to be seen. In fact, by the time Hatton revived from the frightening knockout, Mayweather had already abandoned the corner and was mingling with the ringside crowd, posing for pictures and signing autographs while Hatton sat on a stool being examined by ringside doctors.

Roach, incidentally, was somewhat annoyed by the assumption (one that acquired further legs when HBO announcer Jim Lampley repeated it on the telecast) he had hired former heavyweight champion Michael Moorer as an assistant because the Parkinson’s disease that has afflicted him for a decade is worsening.

“I didn’t bring in Michael Moorer because I’m any sicker,” Roach said. “I hired him because he needed a job. I was helping him more than he was helping me.”

In Pacquiao’s training sessions, Roach noted, he was the one in the ring working the mitts, while Moorer watched from the apron and offered pointers. . . .

When he announced a July 18 comeback fight against Juan Manuel Marquez literally hours before Pacquiao and Hatton went into the ring, it appeared that Floyd Mayweather Jr. was trying to upstage the big fight, but in the wake of Pacquiao’s performance the news became a footnote. Mayweather and Marquez will fight as welterweights, with a catch-weight contractual limit of 143 pounds, which would seem to give Mayweather an additional edge. Even though it could produce an autumn opponent for Pacquiao, Roach called the matchup of counterpunchers “a boring fight,” and opined “Who cares?”

Different strokes

What do you suppose might have been going through Lucien Bute’s mind as he watched Jermain Taylor, ahead on two cards, collapse at the finish line to be stopped by Carl Froch with 14 seconds left in their Foxwoods fight April 25?

Froch retained his WBC super middleweight title with the come-from-behind win. Six months earlier in Montreal, Bute kept his IBF version of the title when, under almost identical circumstances, the referee saved him by keeping Librado Andrade at bay until the final bell sounded. Mike Ortega’s stoppage of Taylor-Froch was beyond reproach, but if Marlon Hayes instead of Ortega had been on duty at Foxwoods, Taylor might be the new champion.

Froch said he wants to unify the title, but instead of challenging one of the division’s other champs, he tried his best to coax Joe Calzaghe out of retirement.

Calzaghe doesn’t sound interested: “To be honest, it would be frightening what I would do to him if we fought. (Froch) doesn’t seem to realize that holding your hands up and defending yourself is a pretty vital part of boxing.”

Bute, by the way, was ringside at Foxwoods not in anticipation of a unification fight, but to scout the winner of the Allen Green-Carlos De Leon Jr. co-feature as a next opponent. Green’s two-round destruction of De Leon may have produced second thoughts about that matchup. Matchmaker Don Majeski suggested that the July opponent’s role may instead go to Providence’s Joey Spina.

Spina, who has won five straight since being exposed by Peter Manfredo Jr. three years ago, is scheduled to face Tiwon Taylor in the main event of Jimmy Burchfield’s May 21 card at the Twin River Events Center in Lincoln, R.I. Taylor (27-13) has lost six of his last eight, so it’s not a fight that should imperil a July title fight should that opportunity present itself in the meantime. In the May 21 co-feature, James McGirt Jr. will make his CES promotional debut vs. an as-of-yet undetermined foe. The evening will also renew the rivalry between McGirt’s father/trainer Buddy, and Micky Ward, who last faced down from opposite corners when the former trained Ward’s archrival, Arturo Gatti. Ward will be working the corner of nephew Sean Ecklund, who will fight Jose Guzman in a lightweight prelim. For more information, phone 401-724-2253. . . .

Burchfield could have another of his fighters challenging for a world title in inhospitable surroundings on the same weekend - and maybe even the same night - if things fall into place for Providence’s Matt Godfrey to face Poland’s IBF cruiserweight Tomasz Adamek on July 10. Adamek has drawn large and enthusiastic mostly-Polish crowds to Newark’s Prudential Arena for his last two title fights, and his promoters have booked the building for a July 10 Adamek card.

But ESPN.com reports that WBC junior middleweight champion Vernon Forrest is likely to withdraw from his scheduled Aug. 1 mandatory against Sergio Martinez, which would leave Showtime in search of a replacement bout. Showtime had previously passed on Adamek-Glen Johnson, as had HBO, but Forrest’s impending defection may cause the former to rethink that strategy. If Showtime approves Johnson, that fight would be a go and move to Aug. 1, but if the network nixes it again, then Godfrey looms Adamek’s likely July 10 opponent.

Tony Petronelli, who once held the USBA junior middleweight championship, challenged Wilfred Benitez for the world title in 1976, and later worked the corner of Marvelous Marvin Hagler, will be honored for his 40 years in boxing with a May 20 tribute at Joe Angelo’s Cafe in Brockton on May 20. The son of Hagler co-handler Pasquale Petronelli, Tony was 42-4-1 in a seven-year pro career that began in 1972 and lasted until 1979. Doors open at 5:30, with first bell at 6:30. For more information, phone 508-509-3236. . . .

Article provided by: bostonherald.com

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