Marquez makes strong case for third Pacquiao bout

LOOKING BACK...

If you haven't had a chance, find a way to watch the nine-round TKO win Juan Manuel Marquez recorded over rugged Australian Michael Katsidis on Nov 27. Doesn't matter how you find it. HBO on Demand it, YouTube it, download it. However you have to do it, find that fight, watch it and savour master craftsman Marquez in all his bruising brilliance.

Of course, Marquez did go down in the third round -- hard -- thanks to a Katsidis left hook, but his early vulnerability is part of what makes his fights so compelling. He hits the canvas early and when he rises he's usually more angry than hurt, and from there he blends technique with controlled rage and more than a touch of machismo to produce something special.

In 2004 Marquez survived three first-round knockdowns against Manny Pacquiao to rally for a draw, and Saturday night he regained his feet and his composure against Katsidis to conduct a clinic and offer emphatic proof that size only matters so much when you counteract it with skill.

You only needed to glance at the two fighters Saturday night to figure out which of the two men was stronger. Marquez, at 5-foot-7 looked like exactly what he is -- a smaller man who grew into the 135-pound division as he matured.

Katsidis, meanwhile, rippled with more muscles than you ever expect to see on a lightweight and entered the ring with the game plan his physique dictated. From the opening bell he pressed forward, muscling the smaller Marquez around the ring winging punches with his massive arms.

But while Katsidis was clearly the stronger man it became apparent, even after he scored a knockdown, that Marquez was landing more damaging blows, placing precise shots between Kastidis' arcing blows, bruising the Australian's face with head shots, deadening his momentum with hooks to the body.

By the ninth round Katsidis could only lurch forward while Marquez peppered him with lefts and rights, prompting referee Kenny Bayless to step in and stop the fight. The stoppage sealed the 52nd win of Marquez' career, cemented his status as one of the sport's premier counterpunchers, and proved that at 37 he remains a favourite against nearly any fighter in the world who faces him at 135 pounds.

LOOKING AHEAD...

Does that list of prospective opponents include current pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao?

Hard to say.

Just about every top fighter between 135 and 154 pounds wants the Pacquiao payday, but how many of them can make a matchup that's worth the Pac Man's time and effort?

Middleweight champ Sergio Martinez made plain his desire for a Pacquiao matchup after his one-punch destruction of Paul "The Punisher" Williams and conceivably could meet Pacquiao at junior middleweight, where Pacquiao is the WBO champ.

The the same titanic roundhouse left that felled Williams may also have convinced Pacquiao's camp to keep their man at welterweight and below.

 

When undefeated welterweight Andre Berto similarly starched Freddy Hernandez on the Marquez undercard, he too lobbied for a Pacquiao matchup and his résumé says he deserves one. But for all Berto's speed and strength he lacks the one key ingredient Pacquiao and his people need in a pay-per-view opponent.

Popularity.

It's not that anybody hates Berto. They just don't know who he is. Not even in his native Miami, where in April he defended his title against Carlos Quintana and donated the proceeds to Haitian earthquake relief.

Total paid attendance: 972.

Clearly he's not ready.

And with the Mayweather camp facing more showdowns in court than in the gym these days Marquez re-emerges as Pacquaio's most compelling opponent.

Granted, Katsidis doesn't offer anywhere near the speed or savvy Pacquiao does, but Saturday's win proved that Marquez isn't just comfortable counterpunching when he appears outgunned.

He's devastating.

And nearly three years after dropping a close split decision in a rematch with Pacquiao he remains the last opponent to seriously rattle the Pac-Man, a bit of unfinished business Pacquiao might want to settle for good.

Anyone who loves fights would drool over this one but we still don't know if it will come together, first because of the long-running beef between Golden Boy (Marquez' promoter) and Top Rank (Pacquiao's promoter).

The fact also remains that these two men compete two, and sometimes three weight classes apart and we don't know how much interest Pacquiao has in dropping back down to lightweight. Losing the weight should be easy for a fighter who has to force-feed himself to stay at welterweight, but he at least has performed spectacularly at higher weights. Marquez, meanwhile looked small and slow -- especially in contrast to Mayweather's mastery -- when he jumped two weight classes in September 2009.

But at 135 Marquez is still dynamite, and if he can manage to meet Pacquiao at lightweight he can provide something we haven't seen in a Pacqiuao fight since 2008.

Drama.

 

Follow the Star's Morgan Campbell on Twitter

Mayweather next? Pacquiao wins biggest if they don't fight

Saturday night at Texas Stadium Manny Pacquiao faced the most daunting challenge of his career and conquered it with style.

You could argue (And I would -- loudly) that Antonio Margarito deserved neither the shot at the WBC super welterweight title nor the $3 million payday that came with it, not after attempting to enter the ring with with plaster-reinforced hand wraps for his January 2009 title bout with Shane Mosley, and not after the California commission shot down his attempt at reinstatement.

When Floyd Mayweather declined the opportunity to meet Pacquiao on Nov. 13 he gave Bob Arum (who promotes both Pacquiao and Margarito) the room to do an end run around the California commission's suspension, get Margarito licensed in Texas and give him the pay-per-view date with Pacquiao.

But even if Margarito's main event credentials rested on a flimsy premise -- specifically that he belonged in any ring after what he tried to pull against Mosley -- he presented a credible threat to Pacquiao. At 5-foot-11 he's huge for his weight class and has built a career on crushing smaller fighters' spirits with his concrete chin (and gloves?) and relentless pressure, and Saturday night he entered the ring with a 17-pound weight advantage.

Pacquiao still made him look like a sparring partner, survivng tense moments in the second and sixth rounds but overall dealing the bully a massive beatdown. Margarito left that bout with a career-high paycheque, a fractured oribital bone and swelling on his face that won't subside for days.

And Pacuiao left the ring with a world title in an unheard-of eighth weight class and a familiar question facing him:

Is Floyd Mayweather next?

The answer?

Who knows.

We asked the same question this time last year when Pacquiao dismantled Miguel Cotto, but after 11 months of bickering boxing's two brightest stars have sparred at the negotiating table still haven't squared off.

And that's a shame because before Saturday Mayweather was the only other fighter in the world with a legitimate claim to the pound-for-pound crown, and remains the only fighter alive with the skill set to cause Pacquiao problems. Pairing those two in 2011 would produce the most important fight of our generation and the biggest single sports event of the year.

But if it never happens I won't be surprised, and if Pacquaio's the one who refuses to fight I won't blame him.

It's not just because, after Saturday's lopsided win, Paquiao's legacy in more than set. With titles in eight world classes he doesn't need a Mayweather win to vault him into the all-time top 10.

Instead it's because if Mayweather is honest with himself he knows he needs to beat Pacquiao, both for the $50-million payout and to cement his status as the top fighter of his era. And the best way for Pacquiao to ensure a resounding victory over Money May -- and repay Mayweather for 11 months of insults, delays and drama -- is to never face him.

Not duck him.

Just leave him alone.

Move on to other things while Mayweather scrambles for a big payday and a career-defining win.

Saturday night HBO analyst Max Kellerman pointed out that Pacquiao absorbed more punches -- 229 -- than he normally does. Citing that stat compared Mayweather to a mid-1980s Ray Leonard, who had a standing invitation to face middleweight king Marvelous Marvin Hagler but waited for Hagler to endure grueling bouts with Thomas Hearns and John Mugabi before emerging from retirement to make the fight. 

But unlike Hagler, Pacquiao doesn't have to rally to salvage wins. He took punches because he always takes punches, but he's still winning by wide margins.

So instead, picture Mayweather as Leonard circa 1990, coming off a draw in a rematch with Hearns that most people felt he lost and looking to remain relevant with a big money bout against another old foe.

Hagler.

Leornard wanted Hagler to end his three-year retirment, but Hagler was happy doing what he was doing -- living in Italy and making straight-to-video feature films.

 

He stayed retired, and instead of another superfight Leonard settled for a February 1991 bout with Terry Norris, and absorbed more punches for less money than he would have against Hagler.

This isn't to suggest that Mayweather's skills are about to abandon him, or that Pacquiao should retire to concentrate on his singing career.

But Pacquiao has never had more clout than he has right now after thrashing Margarito, while Mayweather's declining profile is a fact he needs to face. 

Over the summer Pacquiao's camp decided to comply with Mayweather's request for Olympic-style drug testing and boxing fans worldwide thought the fight of the decade was finally on.

Yet rather than accepting the fight Mayweather let the opportunity lapse, refusing to explain the move and leaving his girlfriend to hint without elaborating that Pacquaio situation is more complex than it seems.

Instead of beginning training camp for a megafight Mayweather spent September butting heads with his ex-girlfriend, a confrontation that netted him nothing but a string of charges.

And instead of facing Pacquiao in the ring Mayweather blindsided him in a racist rant on Ustream.

As Mayweather's behaviour becomes increasingly bizarre the profile he gained by dominating Shane Mosley in May bleeds away, and so does the leverage he needs to compel Pacquiao to face him on fair terms.

Do you see Mayweather facing Paquiao for the short end of a 60-40 purse split?

Neither do I, but with their stocks rocketing in opposite directions Mayweather might need to accept it because he needs a win over Pacquiao to answer lingering questions about his ability to handle a hall-of-famer in his prime.

Pacquiao, meanwhile, knows his legacy is set, and could decide not to fight at all, leaving Mayweather with 40 percent of nothing.

Against a guy nicknamed "Money" what better revenge is there?

 

Follow the Star's Morgan Campbell on Twitter

 

 

12 Rounds with Oscar De La Hoya

The Jean Pascal-Bernard Hopkins press tour arrived in Toronto this afternoon, and eventually the stories I filed from the news conference will appear online. Basically, they detail how Yvon Michel and Oscar De La Hoya plan to co-operate to bring big-time bouts to Toronto next year.

You'll remember from last week that Michel had hoped Toronto could host the Dec. 18 title clash between Pascal and Hopkins but couldn't overcome a triple-booked Air Canada Centre and a provincial commission that wasn't quite ready for such a big show so late in the year.

So Michel and De La Hoya are thinking 2011.

They're thinking HBO.

They're thinking Pay Per View.

We'll see.

 

(Yvon Michel on the left, Golden Boy right. This is what happens when taking pics with your Blackberry.)

But while we had De La Hoya here we managed to pull him away from the journalists and fans clamouring for his time, and even though he says he's finished in the ring he agreed to go 12 Rounds with Fighting Words.

Click below to hear the audio.

 

Download OSCAR12ROUNDS

Pascal-Hopkins comes to Toronto...sort of

The light-heavyweight title showdown between Montreal's Jean Pascal and future hall-of-famer Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins isn't coming to Toronto, but the trash talk will start here.

Oct. 19 the two fighters along with their promoters will hold a press conference in downtown Toronto (location still TBD), the first stop in multi-city press tour to hype their Dec. 18 title bout in Quebec City and a chance find answers to important pre-fight questions.

Like how sharp is Pascal's trash-talk game? 

We already know Hopkins is a master. In the buildup to his 2001 bout with Puerto Rican legend Felix "Tito" Trinidad, Hopkins threw the Puerto Rican flag at two separate news conferences...including one in San Juan. Can Pascal match that level of antagonism? Is it wise to even try?

And how will the Golden Boy like Toronto? 

As Hopkins' promoter, six-division world champ and crossover boxing star Oscar de la Hoya is tentatively scheduled to show up at the news conference, bringing his famous name and 100-watt smile, but hopefully leaving behind the outfit he wore in this 1997 fitness video.

  

Golden Boy cameos aside, there's good news for local fight fans.

Promoter Yvon Michel confirms the Pascal-Hopkins bout will be available on pay-per-view across Canada. 

I don't know what you guys did when Pascal took on Chad Dawson in August, but I bounced from bar to bar with the same result -- the fight's not on here, or anywhere else outside Quebec. Settled for Shoeless Joe's on Eglinton Ave. at Avenue Rd., where I watch west coast baseball, endured off-key karaoke and devoured a mountain of chicken wings while receiving round-by-round text message updates from friends watching on HBO in the U.S.

I guess that's somebody's idea of a successful fight night, but it's just not mine.

But Michel, who owns the Canadian PPV rights to the bout says he's already getting calls from sports bars nationwide about Pascal-Hopkins and so plans to make it available to as many Canadians as possible.

In fact, Michel originally intended to stage the entire card at the Air Canada Centre, just steps from where Tuesday's news conference will take place.

If you talk to enough boxing people you might have heard the rumour already -- that Michel and the ACC reached a deal to bring the show to Toronto but were undermined by the Ontario Athletic Commission. According to the rumour currently circulating, Athletic commissioner Ken Hayashi said no to the biggest title fight to (potentially) come to Toronto since Clyde Gray lost to Jose Napoles in 1973 because the Dec. 18 date conflicted with his vacation.

A juicy story for sure, and one that fits the popular idea that the commission isn't just incompetent and understaffed, but actually hates boxing...or MMA. 

Earlier this year we discussed how the provincial commission sometimes drops the ball in terms of matchmaking, in-ring safety and event planning, but to turn away this big of an event in favour of a vacation blurs the line between indifference and obstructionism and is a sexy enough scandal to land on the front page of the sports section.

If it's true.

But this story isn't.

Not quite, anyway.

Michel says he did in fact look into booking the ACC for Dec. 18 and learned that while the arena wasn't officially booked, organizers of another event had provisionally reserved the place for that night and were closing on a final booking. After informing ACC officials of his interest in the Dec. 18 date, Michel relayed his plans to athletic commissioner Ken Hayashi actually did Michel that he had planned a vacation for mid-December since no boxing events had been booked for that month.

So to that extent, the rumour is true enough.

But Michel says Hayashi quickly called him back and told him not to worry about vacation plans. If he wanted to host the fight in Ontario he could do it. With the ACC not quite free Michel considered the ScotiaBank Centre in Ottawa before finally deciding to stage the bout in Quebec City.

He insists, however, that the comission didn't interfere with his hopes to bring the fight to Toronto and that a major card at the ACC remains on his to-do list.

In the meantime, we'll have to settle for Tuesday's press conference and the verbal sparring that's sure to ensue.

 

Follow the Star's Morgan Campbell on Twitter.

 

Molitor signs with (yet) another manager...yawn

The lede can almost write itself:

IBF 122-pound champion Steve (The Canadian Kid) Molitor has signed a contract with (insert manager/promoter) -- namely, American Cameron Dunkin, who now has 60 days to find Molitor a promoter.

If you feel like you've heard that story before, it's because you have.

You heard it in June 2008, when New Jersey-based promoter Murad Muhammad lured Molitor away from Orion Sports Management with a promises of a fat contract even though Muhammad owed money to just about everybody in boxing. That deal collapsed quickly and by August Molitor was back at Casino Rama, fighting under Orion's banner.

You heard the story again this past July, when Molitor signed a managerial contract with Toronto-based Misho Jovicevic.

Who?

Exactly. 

It never was clear how Jovicevic would advance Molitor's career, given that he had only one other client (Canadian heavyweight champ Neven Pajkic) and given Molitor had a world title and an experienced promoter and no need for a manager to find fights for him.

And we may never find out now that Molitor has hired yet another manager.

Nevertheless Molitor's promoter, Allan Tremblay, insists that the star of his stable isn't jumping ship, and that Orion is on-side with Dunkin's plan to find Molitor a promoter in the U.S.

Why?

Molitor-Ndlovu III, that's why.

In July 2007 Molitor scored an emphatic ninth-round knockout over South Africa's Takalani Ndlovu at Rama, defending his IBF title for the first time and kicking off a run of 10 straight bouts at Casino Rama.

In March Molitor met Ndlovu again and decisioned him over 12 rounds to reclaim the vacant IBF crown.

After those two wins -- the first dramatic and the second exponentially less so -- few people have much interest in one more Molitor-Ndlovu showdown.

Not the boxing public, who would rather see Molitor tackle new challenges.

Not Casino Rama, who will host their second-straight Molitor-free card Oct. 30.

And not Tremblay, who wants to arrange at least one more big payday for the 30-year-old Molitor. The idea of another Ndlovu bout doesn't excite him.

"It's an exceptionally difficult promotional sell," Tremblay said. "I can't put that fight on here for a third time. It's not the Vazquez-Marquez trilogy."

But Ndlovu won't go away. In September he won yet another IBF title eliminator, putting him in line for yet another shot at Molitor's title. As much as Molitor and his team would rather move on, he has to face Ndlovu first or or be stripped of his IBF title.

And where does Dunkin fit in?

Because this fight is virtually unsellable in Canada, Molitor's team has two options:

FIght in Ndlovu's hometown or hope a U.S. promoter wants to stage the fight.

And because Molitor has little interest in fighting in South Africa, the U.S. option rockets to the top of his management team's list, and Dunkin's job is to locate a promoter who wants to stage Molitor-Ndlovu III.

Tough sell.

The promoter wouldn't just have to pay the fighters -- Molitor pocketed roughly $100,000 for his title defenses at Rama -- but they would have to pay Tremblay for the right to promote a Molitor fight. That's a lot of cash to drop on a bout between boxers who are virtually anonymous to U.S. viewers. And the fight doesn't figure to provide much action, further damaging either fighter's chance to win new fans and diminishing any promoter's desire to bankroll the fight.

Dunkin's job, essentially, is to sell this fight to a skeptical promoter who must in turn sell it to an indifferent boxing public.

Good luck.

 

Follow the Star's Morgan Campbell on Twitter

 

Couture destroys Toney -- and doesn't prove a thing

So Randy Couture steamrolled James "Lights Out" Toney at UFC 118 Saturday night, proving once and for all that an aging but proficient mixed martial artist is better at mixed martial arts than a boxer who is 18 years and 77 pounds past his prime.

And that's about all Couture's highly anticipated but hardly unexpected win proves.

Actually no.

It also proves that Toney, who hounded Dana White for the final three months of 2009 before finally receiving his shot in the UFC, probably should have started out in Strikeforce because they probably would have let him debut against a creampuff more suited to his (non-existent) MMA skills. I mean, Herschel Walker is 1-0 as an MMA fighter thanks to Strikeforce and Greg Nagy.

Either way, I'm hardly the only guy who figured Couture would take down and overwhelm the 42-year-old Toney without much time or effort. It doesn't take a visionary to foresee a wrestling expert and MMA veteran choking out a guy who has never grappled before.

The result was about as predictable as a showdown between Toney's willpower and the buffet table.

And it was about as significant as it was competitive.

Yes, Saturday night marked the first time we saw a big-name boxer take on a top-flight mixed martial artist in a near no-holds-barred fight, but the bout was far from a final referendum on which group of athletes is superior.

I doubt such a thing exists.

As I told friends on Twitter Saturday night, Toney facing Couture in the octagon is like the Pittsburgh Pirates meeting teem Pakistan on the cricket pitch.

Like Toney the Pirates have a glorious and well-documented past. Thirty-one years ago the Pirates claimed a World Series, giving the city of Pittsburgh six major pro titles (two World Series and four Super Bowls) in the decade of the seventies.

But like Toney they watch that glory fade a little every day, and while they still remain in the major leagues their performance, payroll and paid attendance slide steadily toward minor league levels.

Couture, meanwhile is like Pakistani cricket: not the same force as in the glory days (there's no replacing Inzimam Ul Haq), but they're still a world power, and way too strong for any minnow to challenge.

So expecting Toney to put in nine months of MMA training and give Couture anything resembling a tough fight is like asking Andrew McCutchen and crew to fly to Islamabad and go wicket-for-wicket with team Pakistan.

Wouldn't happen, and we know it because we realize that for all the similarities between baseball and cricket there's still a vast difference between the two.

Somehow we forget that when trying to compare boxing and MMA but as Couture demolished Toney Saturday night we all received an emphatic reminder.

If we really wanted to prove MMA fighters were superior to boxers in all aspects we'd have to arrange a rematch between Toney and Couture under the Queensberry Rules.

Of course, it's been discussed and of course, Couture is vowing never to enter a boxing ring with Toney.

After Saturday's fight he told reporters that if the two men ever boxed “James would probably knock me out in the first round.”

I don't know.

First round knockouts were never Toney's style (and yes, I feel comfortable discussing Toney's boxing career in the past tense). More likely he would pick Couture apart early and beat him down in the middle rounds. Either way, if Toney and Couture had met in a ring Saturday night Couture might still be on his back with the referee counting over him.

But they met in an octagon, which proves that Couture has learned a hard lesson about the fight game that still eludes Toney:

Never take a fight unless you know you can win it.

 

Follow the Star's Morgan Campbell on Twitter

Local pro Lowther looks to shine under Friday night lights

Rising lightweight prospect Omri Lowther is a huge fan of ESPN's "Friday Night Fights," and week after week he'd come home after a week of training turn on the TV and dream.

Month after month he'd watch other up-and-comers compete on the show and measure himself against them.

And year after year he would swear to himself that he wouldn't let one more season of FNF pass without finding his own place on the show.

For the first four years of his pro career he toiled in tiny venues, mostly across the southeast U.S., building a 14-1 record. He had build in impressive set of skills -- witness his 2007 demolition of the outclassed Omar Ballard -- but aside from a Shobox fight taken on two days notice he still couldn't find the spotlight.

 

 

But Saturday night the spotlight will find the Mississauga resident.

In Montreal.

Not only will he make his ESPN debut but Lowther headline the show's season finale, taking on fast-handed Philadelphia lightweight Hank Lundy in the main event. Whether Lowther, a transplanted Atlanta native who now lives and trains in Mississauga, can withstand the glare of ESPN's Friday night lights hasn't been proven.

But it's not like Lowther has a choice.

At 26 he's still a little young for a crossroads bout, but old enough to realize Saturday's bout can either set him up for stardom or set him back indefinitely.

"I'm pretty hot on the market but one loss can change all of that," he says."People are wondering, 'how good is this kid?' so I'm right on the threshold of great things happening. It's not a crossroads fight, it's a crossover fight."

The path to Saturday's main even was hectic but surprisingly short.

When ESPN decided to hold its FNF season finale on a Saturday in boxing-mad Montreal, the network also booked undefeated middleweight phenom David Lemieux for the main event. But when an injury sidelined Lemieux ESPN reached out to Lowther, whom they had been watching develop, and matched him with Edner Cherry, a rugged veteran who reliably brings action fights to FNF.

But Tuesday night Cherry's management informed ESPN that the fighter couldn't leave the U.S. because his green card had lapsed.

Big problem.

The last minute collapse of the main event for the season finale of your flagship boxing show is bad enough, but the timing of Cherry's withdrawal made things even worse because Saturday will be one of the busiest fight nights on the boxing calendar.

In Puerto Rico WBA/WBO light-flyweight champ and master technician Ivan Calderon defends his belt against Mexico's Giovanni Segura.

That same night in Argentina, junior welterweight buzzsaw Marcos Maidana takes on resilient journeyman DeMarcus (Chop Chop) Corley -- who Floyd "Money" Mayweather claims is the hardest hitter he ever faced.

And in the broader fight world, former three-division world champ and Hall of Fame trash-talker James (Lights Out) Toney makes his mixed martial arts debut, facing Randy Couture at UFC 118 in Boston.

This glut of alternatives would have made the ESPN show easy for fight fans to forget if the network couldn't come up with a competitive main event.

Enter Lundy, a southpaw from Philly who nearly derailed the highly-rated John Molina before folding in the 11th round of their ESPN-televised bout in July.

A slick boxer with some pop (10 KO in 18 wins) Lundy is the stylistic antithesis of Cherry, a straight-ahead plugger.

Yet Lowther says that with the help of trainer Chris Johnson he'll have a game plan tailor-made to handle Lundy.

"They're two totally different fighters but I have a lot of experience and Chris is an awesome trainer so the adjustment was really simple," he says.

Truth is, Lowther is accustomed to abrupt changes in direction.

Three months ago he was in Atlanta watching his career stagnate, struggling to work training sessions around his full time job as a warehouse supervisor but not getting any fights.

A decade earlier Lowther and Johnson had trained in the same Atlanta gym, Lowther as a teenage amateur and Johnson as a fringe contender seeking one last big fight.

When a subdural hematoma forced Johnson to retire from fighting he turned to training, and guided Lowther two a pair of wins during their brief time together.

"He had to work my corner for a couple of fights, and for a couple of fights it was Magic," Lowther says.

When Johnson returned to Canada he kept in touch with Lowther, and when he grew sick of watching the fighter spin his wheels in Atlanta he invited Lowther to move to Canada and train at his Mississauga gym.

Lowther made the move in June and by July he had already collected his first pro win with Johnson, a 5th-round stoppage of Isaac Bejarano in Cancun, Mexico.

His second assignment figures to be much tougher.

Lundy is hungry for redemption after fumbling away a potentially huge win on network TV last month, but the stakes are just as high for Lowther.

Adam Harris, head of Hennessy Sports Canada, the company that promotes Lowther, says a win here could make him a factor in a 135-pound division that, with the return of former champ Juan Manuel Marquez, is suddenly one of the hottest in boxing.

"This fight is pivotal for him," Harris says. "If he comes through this in style the doors will open wide for him."

 

Follow the Star's Morgan Campbell on Twitter

Audio: Roach opens up on Pacquiao, Mayweather

It's not Freddie Roach Week at the Toronto Star, but if sure feels like it.

That's natural.

The proposed showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather for boxing's pound-for-pound crown has drawn exponentially more interest than any other topic on this blog, so when one of the men directly connected to the (still only proposed) event shows up in Toronto, you take advantage.

 

Roach, of course, is in Southern Ontario because he's one of the hardest working people in the business. Last Saturday he cornered Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. as the son of the Mexican legend pounded out the biggest win of his career, a dominant 12-round decision over Irish John Duddy.

That all happened in San Antonio, Texas, where Roach caught three hours of post-fight sleep before departing for Toronto to join another protege, Ana "Hurricane" Julaton. She and Roach reunited after Julation's loss in March to Lisa "Bad News" Brown at Casino Rama, and Wednesday night Julaton returns to Rama to face Mexico's Maria Elena Villalobos for the vacant WBO 122-pound title (TSN, 10 p.m.).

But as busy as he is, and as big of a name as he has become since Pacquiao's popularity exploded, Roach still makes plenty of time for sports scribes. He knows a good quote when he utters one, and is just as easy and honest and plain-spoken in interviews as he is in conversation.

That's rare.

And this week he turned some of that honest talk to the (potential) Mayweather-Pacquiao superfight -- assessing both fighters' strengths, both men's weaknesses (yes, Pacquaio fans, Manny has some too...even Roach says so), and how this fight might play out -- if and when it happens.

Either way, it was enjoyable conversation with one of the biggest names in boxing, and something worth sharing here:

Roach2

And here:

Roach3

Molitor makes the most of setback

It took an aborted workout, an expedited trip to the doctor and a bone scan to figure out what had been nagging at IBF junior featherweight Steve Molitor, but when he finally learned he had suffered a stress fracture that would postpone a scheduled title defence in England, "The Canadian Kid" didn't feel disappointed.

He felt relieved.

At least now he knew what the problem was and had directions on how to solve it.

And there was indeed a problem.

 

When he's healthy Molitor runs 10km daily, and that's just where his training starts. He also performs the rope jumping that has long been part of boxing workouts, and plyometric drills designed to enhance explosiveness.

But by early this week the gnawing pain in his left shin had grown so intense the 30-year-old boxer hard to cut short a shadowboxing session, the first time in 20 years in the sport Molitor had ever bailed on a workout.

When that happened Molitor knew he needed medical help, and knew too that he'd be better off postponing the fight then nursing the injury and entering the ring unprepared on July 23.

"I've hear my hand before and kept going, and had other injuries and kept going but this pain was unbearable," Molitor said Tuesday night. "I'm definitely bummed out but it is what it is and I'm glad we have a chance to reschedule the fight. I'm going to...give this injury time to heal, comeback and train healthy and put on a good performance."

The injury will sideline Molitor for six weeks and though he's not on crutches doctors have forbidden him from running, sparring and anything else that keeps him on his feet too long. 

That includes hitting a punching bag. Earlier Thursday Molitor and trainer Chirs Johnson sat on stools as the two-time IBF champ whacked target mitts. 

No, it's not ideal, but Molitor prefers it to doing nothing.

 

"You can't really get a real work out or a true sense of feel when you're sitting there on the chair hitting the pads but (I do it) just to stay busy and keep my mind right," he said.

Before the postponement Molitor had been scheduled to face England's Jason Booth on July 23 in the U.K. That bout has now been rescheduled to September 10 in Sunderland England.

Molitor has had success in the U.K. in the past. He's undefeated in three fights in England, including a 12-round decision over Booth's brother Nicky in 2002, and a 5th round knockout over Michael Hunter to claim the IBF title in November 2006.

Rooting for Ross after a raw deal

A phone call to Brampton cruiserweight contender Troy Ross went unanswered this morning, his inbox crammed and unable to receive a voicemail from a reporter.

Makes sense.

 

Three days after his controversial 5th-round TKO loss to Philadelphia's Steve Cunningham -- the referee stopped the IBF title bout because of a serious cut to Ross' left eye -- Ross' phone must be overflowing with messages expressing something just short of condolence, but that are still full of concern.

For his ego.

It's a crappy way to lose a title fight many felt Ross was winning, cut by what looked like a thumb to the eye yet ruled the loser anyway.

For his dreams.

For the past decade an a half Ross has walked a crooked road to glory. He was favoured to medal in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics but didn't reach the podium either time. In the decade since the Sydney Games I've chronicled his breakthroughs, false starts and disappointments, but six weeks before his 35th birthday Ross was finally positioned to bring some gold back to Canada.

But most of all, for his health.

Eye injuries kill careers.

In 1982 a detached retina forced Sugar Ray Leonard into his first retirement. In 1980 Sugar Ray Seales suffered the same injury after a thumb in the eye, and slowly lost his sight over the next three years.

Granted, we don't know right now that Ross' situation is anywhere near that serious, and we won't until we know for sure that he's back at home and ready to deal with media.

But we do know this: 

Sunday morning Ross was scheduled to undergo surgery on the gash, which tore at the lower outside corner of his left eye and swelled quickly after the fight. After that, according to promoter Yvon Michel, Ross would remain in Germany for rest and observation, then return to Canada on Monday.

 

As a reporter who has covered Ross since before he turned pro, and as a guy who wants to see local fighters succeed on the world stage, I would love to have seen Ross outgun Cunningham and bring a second world boxing title to the GTA. Winning the IBF crown would have validated a lifetime of sacrifice for Ross, and guaranteed local fight fans at least one more title bout in Ontario.

But as a person who has grown to know Ross pretty well over the last decade, and as someone who understands that most pro sports careers are shockingly short, and the lives beyond them painfully long for those who can't manage the transition, my main concern isn't over Ross' future in the ring.

It's over his eye injury, hoping heals fully so he can live a normal, productive life whether or not he fights again.

The uncertainty over Ross' ring future, and wondering whether a rematch is even possible, only sharpen the sting of the sudden stoppage of Saturday's fight.

Understand first that referee Bill Clancy's decision to stop the fight was the correct one.

Ross' cut didn't look severe at first but was in an awkward spot. And the simple fact that he underwent surgery tells you that this wasn't something a cutman could fix with adrenaline and pressure. Boxing is dangerous enough on its own, so if a fighter's vision and safety are compromised I'll never argue with a referee for stopping a fight.

But Saturday night I could have argued with Arthur Mercante Jr. for extending one.

About seven hours after Ross-Cunningham, in the seventh round of his 154-pound title fight with Miguel Cotto, Yuri Foreman collapsed in the ring not from a punch but from a wonky knee.I don't know exactly what was wrong with Foreman's right knee but he entered the ring with a brace on it, and when the joint finally gave out Mercante instructed him to suck it up and walk it off.

Foreman, undefeated heading into Saturday, obliged Mercante Jr. but was a different fighter after the knee injury, moving gingerly around the ring as Cotto stalked and potshotted him. 

 

Foreman finished the seventh and limped from his corner to start the eighth, but trainer Joe Grier was already adding it up. Take a wounded fighter and add a dangerous opponent (Cotto looks five years younger working with Emanuel Steward) and it looked bad enough for Foreman. Factor in Foreman's utter lack of power ( 8 KO in 28 wins) and the reality that a fighter like Foreman who depends on his legs can't survive when he only has one, and Grier's answer was obvious.

Throw in the towel.

Which he did in the eighth round, then stepped into the ring just to emphasize to Mercante Jr. that he wanted to save his fighter from needless punishment.

But just as quickly as Grier and his towel came into the ring, Mercante Jr., a veteran referee, ushered them back out, pointing out, correctly, that in New York State only the referee has the power to stop a fight (Grier's entry would make the bout a disqualification instead of a TKO). He told Foreman that he didn't deserve to lose that way, then sent him back out into the ring.

At first I joined the HBO broadcast team in praising Mercante Jr. for his quick thinking, but a day later I wished I hadn't. 

In the heat of battle, and in a competitor's heart, courage often trumps common sense. I get that.

But that's why we have coaches, referees and ring doctors -- to assess these situations soberly and make sure sanity prevails.

Give a pitcher a choice between challenging a batter and intentionally walking him and he'll choose the confrontation. Circumstance doesn't matter. You could have a runner on third with one out, Babe Ruth at bat with Josh Gibson on deck, and if that pitcher is any type of major leaguer he'll veto free pass if given the option.

In that situation a manager needs to save the athlete from himself and make the decision that makes sense. Either that or pay a steep price.

Same dynamic is at work in the ring, and in needlessly prolonging fights referees do fighters no favours.

Not for Foreman, who limped around the ring absorbing extra punishment until the ninth, when his knee finally gave out for good.

Not for Beethaeven Scottland, who faced Georged Khalid Jones in June 2001, and was bludgeoned into a coma in a one-sided slugfest that Mercante Jr. refereed.

And not for Ross, whose fighting instinct propelled him to ring centre for round five, but whose bleeding left eye just wouldn't allow him to continue.

So the decision to stop the fight doesn't bug me.

But the quickly ruling it a technical knockout does.

Replays show pretty clearly Ross was cut by Cunningham's thumb. The blow was probably accidental but it was still illegal.

Of course, with the luxury of slow-motion replay its easy to second guess a decision Clancy had to make in moments regarding a punch that took place in mere milliseconds. But even in the ring the fighters' reactions hinted that the damage came from something other than a punch. 

Instantaneously Ross went from attack to retreat, squinting as he backpedaled. And Cunningham didn't attack, the way fighters do when they hurt an opponent with a punch. Instead he hesitated, the way fighters do when they hurt an opponent with a thumb and expect the referee to intercede.

Again all of this unfolds in a flash, and it's tough to expect Clancy to reach the same conclusion based on in-the-moment observation that we reached based on careful review of the replay.

But you hope the IBF can.

Ross' promoter, Yvon Michel, is planning a formal protest of the decision and plans to use video of Cunningham's thumb hitting Ross' eye to bolster his case to overturn Clancy's decision. He would like the IBF to throw out Clancy's decision and consult the scorecards which should favour Ross since he dropped Cunningham with a thunderous left hand. And if that doesn't happen Michel hopes the IBF will annul Saturday's result and order a rematch as soon as Ross is ready to return to the ring.

In a perfect world either outcome works for me. Ross either wins the four-round technical decision he deserved, or he heals completely and meets Cunningham later this year to settle this question for good.

But in the imperfect world we in habit, one full of raw deals inside the ring and dirty politics outside of it, I know both a full recovery for Ross and a rematch with Cunningham are a lot to ask.

And if Ross can emerge from this drama with his eye intact he'll already be a winner. Either way, he certainly wasn't a loser Saturday night.

*Ross-Cunningham photos Courtesy theboxginexaminer.com

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