By Brad Cronick: If you want to pick out the #1 reason why Manny Pacquiao lost to Juan Manuel Marquez last Saturday night it’s probably due to Pacquiao’s greed. He had Marquez hurt in the 5th round from a hard combination, and he had been working him over in that round and in the 6th. Marquez bleeding, his nose looked broken, and clearly wasn’t going to be able to last very much longer with the pounding he was taking from Pacquiao. But instead of staying patient in the last seconds of the 6th round, Pacquiao rushed Marquez and got hit with a perfect right that knocked Pacquiao completely out. The rest is history.
Khan in comeback bout against Molina on Showtime this Saturday
Khan is pretty lucky that his promoters at Golden Boy still believe in him enough to put him in the main event on this card because losing back to back fights sometimes has a way of sending former champions to undercards instead of the top of the bill fights. However, if Khan loses this fight to you’ve to imagine that he’ll be demoted to undercard fights in the future until he proves he can beat good opposition.
Khan was knocked out in his last fight against WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia last July in a fight where Khan got lured into a war by Garcia’s father Angel Garcia, who angered Khan during their press conferences with his trash talking. Khan lost his temper and fought with anger and it cost him the fight when he was knocked down in the 3rd and twice more in the 4th round before the fight was halted.
Pacquiao says there will be future fights
By Rob Smith: Manny Pacquiao told a crowd in Manila, Philippines, that he’ll continue fighting despite getting viciously knocked out last Saturday night. Pacquiao was knocked out by a tremendous right hand by Juan Manuel Marquez last Saturday night in Pacquiao and Marquez’s fourth fight in their series in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ricky Burns off Saturday’s card; will next fight on January 26th
By Marcus Richardson: Alex Morrison, the promoter for WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (35-2, 10 KO’s), was unable to find a replacement opponent for Jose Ocampo for this Saturday night for Burns’s previously scheduled fight at the ExCel Arena in London, England. Morrison attempted to find someone after Ocampo pulled out but the fighter they were looking at getting Derry Matthews didn’t agree to the fight.
Morrison said to STV “Ricky will not fight this weekend. We couldn’t find an opponent for him to fight. He was offered a 10 round fight but decided not to take it. We’re now looking at January 26 for the next title defense and hopefully that will take place in Glasgow.”
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer was hoping to get Burns to agree to fight WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner on February 16th, but with Morrison not mentioning that as option it doesn’t appear that there’s any interest in that fight on Burns’s team as of now. That’s too bad because Broner wanted to get a chance to grab Burns’ belt after failing to get a fight with Burns last year when Burns held the WBO super featherweight title and Broner was his mandatory challenger.
Thurman vs. Maidana possible for April, 2013
By Rob Smith: Golden Boy Promotions is looking to match former WBA light welterweight champion Marcos Maidana (32-3, 29 KO’s) up with junior middleweight Keith Thurman (19-0, 18 KO’s) in April next year. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer wants to put the Maidana-Thurman fight with unbeaten featherweight Gary Russell Jr. (21-0, 13 KO’s) against a still to be determined opponent in a doubleheader card. They wanted Jhonny Gonzalez, but that was a no go after he showed no interest in the fight. Russell Jr. is a good fighter and if they can find a quality opponent to put him in with then they’ll have a decent card.
Pacquiao vs. Marquez IV: Mainstream Media, Get Off Our Mountain!
By Marc Livitz: Apologies are due and professional journalism has been thought through its proper course. The “Big Fights Only” crowd may provide the dollars to tip the financial scales, yet their input as innocent but uninformed bystanders has reached the point of torture akin to water boarding.
Most are able to quickly picture in their minds the ones who continue to bash the sport and its methods of business, yet they are the ones who cannot wait to come invade your couch to see the popular match ups. No different are the individuals who grace our respective TV screens, laptops, mobile devices and the like come Monday morning. They cannot wait to dissect the weekend’s big fights, which in itself means that they only can be counted upon to do as such about three times a year.
This is written from an American’s point of view. More to the point, the opinions and observations offered are based on American sports television.
And the biggest loser is….Floyd Mayweather Jr
By Robert Jackson: Shocking KO Saturday night that saw Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez take down Manny Pacquiao for the 10 count! Revenge is sweet but success is sweeter! The latest fight in this series evens things up if you consider the outcome. Marquez no longer needs to complain about being robbed or denied victories he felt he legitimately earned but was never given – this win erases all of that.
So where does this leave the superfight we are all waiting for? Mayweather/Pacquiao?
IMHO, a Mayweather/Pacquiao fight was never the ‘end all’ fight that ALL boxing pundits claimed it was. And to say that Floyd ‘waited out’ Pacquiao’s prime would be a ludicrous statement considering Floyd is about 2 years older than Pacquiao – so he’d be waiting out his own prime also. The biggest fight(s) out there for Floyd Mayweather Jr. involve Canelo Alvarez and Sergio Martinez. The Martinez fight is much more makeable now with Pacquiao out of the way. Id’ much rather see this fight than a Pacquiao fight anyway.
Pacquiao vs. Marquez 4 a huge moneymaker, generates $10 million live gate
By Bill Phanco: Last Saturday night’s mega fight on HBO pay per view between Juan Manuel Marquez (55-6-1, 40 KO’s0 and Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KO’s) reportedly generated a huge $10 million live gate at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada with 15,403 tickets sold and 908 comps. Needless to say this is very good money.
50 Cent asking for Broner-Gamboa
Speaking at Gamboa’s press conference last Saturday night following his grueling 12 round decision win over Michael Farenas, 50 Cent said “We’re looking forward to moving up and fighting some more exciting fighters in the 135 pound weight class like Adrien Broner. We’re all a big fan of the new talent that’s emerging, so I won’t be shy to say that I’m a fan of Adrien Broner.”
This would be a great fight for Broner because there really isn’t much to choose from at lightweight to be honest. The only guys left at that weight class are Ricky Burns and Miguel Vazquez, and neither of them is well known among the casual boxing fans in the United States. Those aren’t big fights for Broner, and he’s much better off passing on those fights and looking to face Gamboa if 50 Cent is serious.
Arum interested in Rios-Alvarado 2 bout
By Steve Mabbott: Manny Pacquiao’s defeat to Juan Manuel Marquez wiped out Bob Arum’s big plans of putting together a pay per view bout between Pacquiao and former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios on April 20th next year. With Pacquiao’s 6th round knockout loss to Marquez last Saturday, there just isn’t any way that Pacquiao can move on from that defeat to fight Rios without boxing fans being turned off in the process. So what Arum wants to do is put Rios back in with light welterweight contender Mike Alvarado for a rematch in early 2013.