Boxing Rostrum

Shannon Briggs seems proud to be the reigning WBO heavyweight champion but he’s pissed off that the other versions are all currently held by non Americans, and says his mission is to unify the title and bring the whole thing back to the States. Can’t see Shannon being the one to do that but it's refreshing nonetheless to hear someone, anyone, express a desire to be the undisputed champ. Let’s hope that attitude proves contagious amongst his fellow claimants in the months to come.

In the meantime Briggs gets to defend his own portion on Saturday against Sultan Ibragimov and that might be tough enough for him to be going on with. Muscling in on pastures new can wait until, and if, Shannon gets past the Russian.

On paper, this looks the weakest pairing from the recent and imminent title match schedule. Chagaev’s conquest of the giant Valuev and Wladimir Klitschko’s upcoming revenge bid against Lamon Brewster both seem more meaningful in the overall picture but it just could be that Briggs and Ibragimov serve up something to remember.

Shannon Briggs has always been a dangerous fighter. He used to have fast hands, and he could always bang. He still can. That’s why he’s a champ of sorts today, having knocked out Serguei Lyakhovich with only a heartbeat left in their twelve rounder. Now he gets the chance to prove it wasn’t just an old man’s fluke.

Briggs was a huge 268 pounds for that bout last November and we should expect to see something similar when he disrobes in Atlantic City. That night, Shannon ground to a halt at the opening bell and gradually slowed down as the "fight" went on. Or so it seemed. It was dire. Only the sensational and unexpected finale saved the day. Anybody disagree?

This could be an action fight, though. Hard to see it being drab with Ibragimov in there. Sultan is nothing special, as shown in his draw with Ray Austin, but at least he comes to get stuck in and, if he puts the pressure on from the off like he usually does and forces Briggs to fire back, the action will be hot. For a few rounds at least. And either man could get flattened.

When amateur stars turn pro, no matter how good they have been in a vest, there always has to be a doubt as to whether they can make the transition. Professional boxing is a different world.

Amir Khan, Olympic phenomenon at seventeen in Athens, came to the paid ranks with so many things going for him it always seemed more likely than not he would cope with the changed environment. But it still had to be done. He still had to adapt like every other recruit, irrespective of amateur pedigree. Well, that he has certainly achieved, adjusting his game so well to pro demands he’s already the top lightweight in the country in my eyes, and about to take a major step in proving as much.

Khan has now had a dozen fights. That’s not many but his level of performance is already at a stage where there’s nothing too daunting for him on the home front.

Next up for Amir is a shot at Willie Limond’s Commonwealth title in July. For a twelve fight twenty year old, that should be a real test – and Limond will look to ensure it’s exactly that – but the feeling has to be that Khan will bring altogether too much for Willie to handle. And that’s despite Willie Limond being a seasoned boxer, probably at his peak, who boasts a proud 28-1 record.

The problem for Willie is a lack of venom. He’s only stopped eight opponents. That doesn’t bode well for his chances of keeping Khan at bay, and if he can’t hurt Amir I’m pretty sure Amir is going to hurt him. Quickly.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Amir Khan takes Willie Limond’s title very early in the piece. Even a first round win wouldn’t amaze me. I reckon he’d overwhelm Graham Earl too. Couldn’t see Graham lasting past the sixth. Khan is already so good that he’d get my vote if he fought Michael Katsidis right now. That won’t happen, however. Not yet. Frank Warren is doing a nurturing job and won’t unleash Amir against the top men until he feels the development process is complete, which is, of course, the right way to go.

I still say Khan would whip Katsidis right now, though. I was as thrilled by the action as anybody else when Katsidis and Earl had their mad tear up for the WBO Interim Title ( a ludicrous label, given the WBO already had a fully fledged champ at the time in Acelino Freitas ). The Greek Aussie was just too fierce for brave Graham but the five rounds they gave us at Wembley Arena will stay in the memory. For sure. And full credit to Katsidis for the way he throws leather non stop. He’s likely to give Juan Diaz a blazing argument when he takes on Freitas’ conqueror for the title proper. That saturation bombing style of his has its limitations, though, depending on the style and calibre of opponent.

Michael Katsidis is ready to throw as many punches as it takes to get the job done. If the first five miss, the sixth will nail you. That's his sort of thinking. Amir Khan also throws lots of shots but with him it’s a partnership of volume and accuracy. If the first one misses, the next five won’t. That’s more the expectation with Khan. A big difference. And a telling difference from where I’m looking.

In boxing, new prospects are always getting hyped up, and most of them fall by the wayside. Amir Khan won’t be joining them unless it turns out he can’t carry the pain when he gets really hurt that first time. And the moment will come, sooner or later. If he stands firm under that, Khan could well become the very best fighter ever to emerge from Britain. All the skills are in place, together with growing power and viciousness, and he’s made so much progress in two years, with obvious signs of much more still to come, you could almost feel sorry for those who are going to have to face him from here on.

Arthur Abraham wrecked Sebastien Demers inside three rounds last night and is obviously back as a major player in the middleweight division. When it came to it, there was too big a gulf in class and power for the Canadian to get competitive. He just got smashed up, along with his unbeaten record.

Impressive stuff for Abraham to come back so sharp after his enforced absence and he clearly wasn’t inhibited in any way by thoughts of the two titanium plates he has in his mandible since the heroic defiance of Edison Miranda.

Arthur was a star in Germany even before the jaw break job but became a real hero there on the strength of that night, and still is. And while his IBF title doesn’t make him the middleweight champion – Jermain Taylor is the real champ, albeit a dreary one so far – Abraham would give anybody, including Taylor, a hard time of it, on German soil or otherwise.

That’s the thing, though. Would Arthur Abraham or his decision makers be prepared to venture abroad to stake a true world claim, or is Arthur going to be another Sven Ottke and stick like glue to his own patch.

The IBF had ordered a rematch between Abraham and Miranda and, while that may no longer apply after Edison’s loss to Kelly Pavlik, the pair are surely fated to meet again somewhere down the road, given their mutual animosity. When the time comes, though, where is it likely to take place. In Germany again, I’d say. And, at a guess, so will all Abraham's future fights.

For all the unsavoury ranting, Edison Miranda has backed up that mouth of his by a willingness to fight anybody, anywhere, any time. Abraham himself proved his courage in the ring on the night of the broken jaw, but it takes a different kind of balls, and self belief, to sacrifice home advantage in the pursuit of a real world title. As much as I respect Arthur Abraham as a fighter, in the end I think he’ll prove to be strictly a home boy. Don’t you?

Frank Warren has been slagged off by rival Mick Hennessy for having put in, and won, a purse bid to promote Carl Froch’s next Commonwealth title defence against former victim Charles Adamu.

According to fightnews.com Hennessy expressed the opinion that “Warren should look after his own stable as opposed to worrying about my fighter,” adding, “I don’t get involved in his purse bids because I’m not bothered about the fighters he’s got on his books…..this would have been a very hard fight for us to sell, given that Carl dominated Adamu over three years ago when he was still a novice pro. It would be seen by most as a major step backwards and an easy job second time around for Froch.”

The only thing given in all this is that Froch will obviously earn more fighting this one time for Warren than he would if Frank hadn’t got involved and a lower bid had won the day. And if it’s such a hard fight to sell, with the implied possibility of even losing money on the promotion, you’d think Hennessy would be smugly pleased that Warren, and not he, is taking that risk. On top of all that, if this rematch is the major step backwards that Mick says it is, why doesn’t Froch just ditch the Commonwealth crown and look elsewhere for a match that won’t retard his ambitions.

In the excitement of it all, Hennessy was certainly wrong about one thing. Contrary to Mick's observation, Carl Froch did not dominate Adamu last time. That fight was a scrape through job for Carl, and more than a few thought him fortunate to get the nod at all. An immediate rematch would have been quite interesting but this time, after the three years lapse, Hennessy is probably right in suggesting that Froch can beat the African without too much trouble. The Cobra is a really menacing fighter now.

Open purse bids are just that, open for any licensed promoters to risk their money and chance their arm. Frank Warren was perfectly entitled to participate. Nobody, including Mick Hennessy, can dispute that right, so its plain to see that his attack on Warren is of a personal rather than a professional nature. Confirmation is in Mick’s challenge – tongue in cheek or not – for Frank to “spar me over six three minute rounds.”

Now that would be a hard proposition to sell. Except, of course, to the kind of audience that used to pay to watch Victorian freak shows.

John Duddy is scheduled to be home in Ireland some time today and will be taken on a week long press tour of the country to drum up interest in his upcoming fight there. He will then fly back to New York and go straight into training.

No official announcement yet as to an opponent but the whisper is that veteran Jim Rock will be the man facing Duddy on July 14. It figures. Rock is thirty five years old now and going the wrong way, career wise, but he’s nonetheless the reigning champion of Ireland, or was the last time I looked. For Duddy to capture the national title, and express pride in that honour, would be a sensible opening move to his motherland campaign. It’s all about getting the people on his side, and believing in him, while he goes about the business of earning plenty without having to go anywhere near the middleweight division's real danger men.

I’m impressed by the way John Duddy’s being promoted. For me, it’s an object lesson in doing what’s best for a fighter, both financially and in terms of his physical well being.

If Jim Rock is indeed the chosen one, I just hope they keep things realistic by billing it as a match for the Irish title only, which would give it a proper perspective. Trouble is that three fights and almost two years ago, Rock won the IBC title, while Duddy has already captured the IBA crown. If those two baubles are still in their possession it opens up the ludicrous prospect of this being called a world middleweight unification match. Doesn’t bear thinking about, does it, but in boxing’s current climate anything goes.

Ironic to have Arthur Abraham return to the ring just one week after Edison Miranda got mangled by Kelly Pavlik. Abraham hasn’t fought since getting what’s been called a controversial decision over Miranda last September in a bout where Arthur had his jaw broken in the fourth round. The Colombian has been baiting him ever since and was due to get another shot at Abraham’s IBF title, but that won’t happen now. Not in the foreseeable anyway.

I’ve yet to see a tape of the Abraham-Miranda battle so don’t have a view as to whether the verdict was suspect or not. I do have an opinion on a couple of things, though. Edison Miranda was deducted a total of five points along the way by referee Randy Neumann, for an intentional headbutt and a catalogue of low blows. Neumann is no saint but must have the patience of one. If the transgressions were that blatant, and persistent, Miranda should have been thrown out of the fight.

Instead of being disqualified, though, the Colombian came out of there with his reputation seemingly enhanced, while his conqueror didn’t appear to get much credit at all, except for in Germany of course. Mystifying.

Arthur Abraham is a real hard case, and hugely courageous. Has to be. Fighting eight rounds with a broken jaw against an explosive hitter like Miranda, with headbutts and nutcrackers thrown in, is proof of that. To have not just survived the ordeal but come out of there a winner is all the more commendable.

Abraham defends his IBF crown on Saturday against so far unbeaten Sebastien Demers and I’m really looking forward to it. Although Demers stands at 20-0 he hasn’t faced any names and might just be out of his depth, but he’s taller than the German Armenian and says he’s going to use his reach and foot speed to win. We could be in for an interesting chase. Unlike Jermain Taylor with Spinks, I can’t see Arthur Abraham just following his man around passively.

The top end of the middleweight division has got lively over the past eight months and most of that has been due to Edison Miranda. Tough to admit, but true. His fight with Arthur Abraham started the roll, and he’s since wiped out Willie Gibbs in less than a round, then stopped the previously unbeaten Allan Green in the last of a thriller before bowing to the still undefeated Kelly Pavlik. Breathtaking stuff.

Let’s hope we get another helping on Saturday. For that to happen, though, Sebastien Demers will have to be a bit better than most of us are expecting. He doesn’t appear to be that big a hitter and, a year ago, was dropped heavily in a fight with Sherwin Davis. Doesn’t bode well on the face of it but I'm told a careless moment caused that knockdown, so maybe it doesn’t signal a dodgy chin, and, on the plus side, being able to climb off the floor and win after getting laid flat on your back ticks a major box with any fighter.

I haven’t seen Demers perform but get the feeling he’s going to give this a real go. Abraham will be looking to pressure his man and break him down but if Demers can punctuate the artful dodger routine by occasionally planting his feet and firing off some serious shots, a treat could be in store. Especially if Abraham has several layers of rust to shake.

Kelly Pavlik deserves top praise for what he did to Edison Miranda in Memphis last night. Big punching braggart Miranda had said he would “Bar-B-Que” Pavlik. Right analogy, wrong meat on the grill. Miranda is in the Ricardo Mayorga league for shooting off at the mouth in an offensive manner and lots of people out there will be happy to have seen him get beaten up, but I’m not about to join in any gloating. The Colombian was badly hammered but fought with heart and didn’t quit. You have to tip your hat to that.

I was still glad to see quiet man Pavlik prevail, though. He went in there intending to back up the dangerous Miranda, which is exactly what he did. All the way. It was torrid stuff from the start, with both throwing big shots, but even in the very first round Pavlik may have made a dent in Edison’s confidence by driving him back physically and showing no effect when Miranda landed a couple of hefty clumps right on the button.

This was the first time I've seen him but it's fair to say that Kelly is a throwback type fighter who comes with an attacking plan and is the sort of guy who believes he can keep the punches coming all night, or until the other man has had enough. I wouldn’t call him a combination puncher. His hands aren’t quick enough for that tag. Pavlik is relentless, though. What he does, on this showing anyway, is fire single shots one after another. No blurring combos, just an incessant left, right, left, right tattoo. It was almost Marcianoesque in the way he jumped on Miranda and never let up.

I thought Steve Smoger could have stopped the fight after the first knockdown in round six, and when he took an age to determine Miranda’s condition and then have his gumshield replaced before allowing a resumption it brought to mind what happened in the first Corrales-Castillo battle. No turn around here, though. Miranda was done, and Pavlik was still bull strong, and even Smoger had seen enough when Edison keeled over for the third time early in the seventh.

It was a great fight to watch, action wise, and put to shame the top of the bill championship match between Jermain Taylor and Cory Spinks. Taylor retained by split decision but was a total disappointment, again. The champion showed more aggression screaming into the camera after the verdict had been announced in his favour than he had done at any stage of the fight itself. For what it’s worth, I thought the light hitting but annoying and elusive challenger had outscored Taylor in sufficient rounds to merit the win. For me, Jermain Taylor should feel very relieved to still be the champion. There were huge chunks of this fight where Jermain looked sort of threatening but did little or nothing, and even Emmanuel Steward was getting so wound up by Taylor’s reluctant performance that he took to throwing a few effs his way in the corner in a futile bid to make the champ produce.

Boxing is a strange game. Styles mean so much in determining the pattern of any fight. Could be that Kelly Pavlik is exactly the man to bring the best out of Jermain Taylor. With the kind of pressure he brings, Pavlik would leave Taylor no option but to show what he’s really got. Produce or perish. I don’t believe that Jermain got the better of Cory Spinks but I do think, at this moment anyway, that his natural ability would be seen to flourish if he had Kelly Pavlik coming hard at him. If not, he’d be in trouble for sure because Kelly’s abrasiveness would make it a true championship test.

Andre Berto did it again on the same bill. He’s now 18-0 with sixteen short jobs. The armoury is impressive. Big puncher, quick mitts, variety, all the offensive tools to trouble anybody in the welter division. Not been properly tested yet, though, because the opposition hasn’t been capable of giving him problems to solve. Berto could be a top fighter in the making but he does walk in square on, with hands down, so let’s not get too excited until he’s tasted the company of someone with experience and class who can throw him off balance with a lateral slide and give that unguarded chin of his a smack or two. I like Berto, but he still has things to prove.

Top of the bill at the Guild Hall in Plymouth this coming Saturday, 19th May, is a ten rounder for something called the “Vacant International Masters Light Middleweight Title.” It’s vacant on account of being an inaugural title, specially created for the occasion.

The fighters battling for this honour are local man, John Harrison, and Latvian, Gatis Skuja. Harrison has never boxed, nor been scheduled to box, more than six rounds and has won just nine of his twenty three fights with thirteen defeats and one draw. Skuja has had a total of twelve fights and won just one, been beaten seven times, and scraped four draws.

International Masters? Further words fail me.

John Duddy is a solid but unexceptional fighter who, through the marvels of niche market appeal, has found himself a kind of stardom his talents don’t merit. “Ireland’s” John Duddy, as he has become known, is now being described in several quarters as a middleweight sensation. A hugely flattering label, given what he’s actually done.

Based in New York, the man from Derry has pounded his way to 19-0 (15 KOs) and is due to make that 20-0 on Friday against Dupre “Total Package” Strickland in Manhattan. The numbers look good but Duddy has compiled that record by feasting on lesser mortals, and Strickland fits the bill exactly.

The Irishman is twenty eight next month and, with twenty fights in the log, should now be making his move for the top, if his ambition really extends to that. Instead, Duddy is about to move back home. A temporary step, purportedly to fulfil his dream of boxing as a pro in Ireland, it will also allow him to continue taking on fighters who are, on paper, none too threatening.

Duddy, aided by shrewd publicists, has already captured an army of fans among New York’s big Irish community and the team will be hoping to do the same by showing him off in the flesh on native soil. He is tentatively due to box at the National Stadium, Dublin, in July and they’ll put him up there as a world class fighter who has come home especially to perform for his own. I’d say that’s clever thinking by Team Duddy. If the Irish people swallow that it won’t much matter to them what class of opponent he’s in with as long as he chews them up. Money to be made in the process, plus the setting up of prospective pay-per-view buys further down the road. Nice business.

John Duddy could keep to the same pattern for a while longer yet, but sooner or later he’s going to have to face someone who really does know how to fight. He himself is already top ten rated by the WBO and WBA but I can’t figure out the how or the why. For me, Duddy is ordinary. Strong and determined, yes, and I think he’ll show plenty of heart when it’s needed, but he’s not a world class fighter and I can’t see that he’ll ever be much better than he is right now.

Seems to me that Duddy’s camp know the score. His career has been handled expertly. John Duddy no doubt believes he can and will become the middleweight champ, but his handlers are looking to maximize his earnings before the night he inevitably gets exposed in the ring.

I’d say that Duddy would have a hard time proving himself the best middleweight in Ireland, let alone the world. Matthew Macklin, up from light middle, would give him a stern argument and, for my money, he wouldn’t be able to cope with the genuinely talented Andy Lee even though Lee has only totted up eight outings so far.

Forecast? I see John Duddy inching himself along to 25-0 or thereabouts, with risks kept to a minimum, and then being manoeuvred into one big job against the likes of Jermain Taylor. I wouldn’t give him a prayer against Taylor, but a faceful of leather could be considered fair exchange for a fistful of dollars. And dollars could be plenty if a future world championship fight involving Duddy was on offer to Irish armchair fans in New York and Ireland.

Former nice guy Peter Manfredo Junior continues to gripe about his experience in Wales where he got clobbered by Joe Calzaghe. Could be he was prematurely rescued that night but he had been outclassed in an ineffectual challenge for Calzaghe’s title and was well on the way to a comprehensive beating anyway. Still moaning about it doesn’t do him any favours. Besides, Manfredo has yet to produce a performance in the ring that suggests he might belong near the top of the game.

Manfredo returned to action last night and stopped one Ted Muller in the ninth round. Back in Rhode Island where he is the local hero, Peter did what was expected in overcoming a guy whose record now stands at a less than stellar 19-11-2.

Having previously tested himself in the highest class, however, and still complaining that he’d been somehow robbed in that attempt, you’d have thought Manfredo would have sought to back up his claims by taking on a world ranked opponent. But he didn’t do that, did he.

How come Peter Manfredo challenges for a world crown and then, next time up, goes in with a fighter of Ted Muller’s calibre? Simple, really. At Cardiff, Peter stepped out of his league. In Rhode Island he went back to it.

Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista won’t be 21 until next month but he’s being talked up as the next big thing at super bantam and, after beating Argentinian Sergio Medina on the De La Hoya v Mayweather bill, Bautista is set for a shot at WBO champ Daniel Ponce De Leon.

A bit soon, I would say, for that particular job. De Leon is nothing special in boxing terms and his fighting ability is overrated too in my book, but Dan can certainly bang. Rey is too gung ho for his own good right now and I fear he would walk into something nasty if he takes that fight.

It wouldn’t even need a champion to lower Bautista’s colours. His record currently stands at 23-0, which looks tasty on paper, but I’d place hard cash on Abner Mares, who is just seven months older than Rey, to turn him over. Abner started his pro career at super bantam but has come in at bantam poundage the last four times and seems comfortable at the lower weight. He’s had just twelve fights so far, all wins, and even if he had to give away three or four pounds I’d still back him to pummel Rey Bautista, now or at any future time. I believe that Abner Mares is a special little fighter. Despite the hype, I know the Filipino isn’t.

I thought Oscar De La Hoya fought pretty much the perfect fight, strategy wise, and held the lead after eight rounds but Floyd Mayweather bossed things through most of the final third and came out a deserved winner. The younger man just had more juice.

The fight was a treat to watch and the credit for that goes to Oscar. You knew he had to press the action to get any joy, and that’s what he did, but astutely. It wasn’t a slow forward plod designed to grab cheap points just by being the front foot fighter, but the shrewd application of pressure, and he had Mayweather concerned if not worried on several occasions. De La Hoya used plenty of feints to keep Floyd guessing and, crucially, threw punches in bursts, especially when he had his man backed to the ropes. Until the tide turned perceptibly, for me, in the later going Oscar did everything right and it was Mayweather who had to rely mostly on single shots. That certainly wasn’t in the script.

Maybe it was the age thing, maybe not, but De La Hoya suddenly dropped the workrate come the ninth. He was still moving forward but the punches weren’t flowing the same and Mayweather, who needed to get busy, did exactly that.

It was a good contest, with the right result, even though the decision was split and Oscar’s popularity caused it to be booed. Maybe they will do it all again. It was competitive enough to warrant a rematch, and there would be a widespread appetite for it, but I hope they leave it where it’s at. I don’t believe De La Hoya could fight any better than he just did but I do believe that Floyd Mayweather would adjust and improve his own performance were there to be an encore. Second time around I’d expect it to be Mayweather by a wide margin.

De La Hoya or Mayweather? As the fight gets closer it doesn’t get any easier to pick a winner. When you think you’ve figured it, a change of mind is never far away - but that’s the fascination of a real super fight, which this undoubtedly is.

Oscar has been one of the best fighters of his generation, won titles through the divisions, and ducked nobody. A truly great fighter? Possibly. He can do it all ways, boxing clever or locking horns, and he’s shown he can get off the floor and win, which is a huge psychological plus. You’d also have to say that De La Hoya carries the harder dig. The veteran has plenty going for him and, as defending champ tonight, he won’t be letting go without giving it the maximum.

As good as Oscar is, though, I’d put him a notch below the likes of Leonard, Hearns, Duran and Benitez who were battling each other a quarter of a century ago. For what it’s worth, I thought Oscar was robbed the second time around against Shane Mosley, and I think he robbed himself by going into safety first mode through the last three rounds of the Trinidad bout. Had those decisions gone his way his record would look even more impressive than it already does, but it has to be said that even his winning efforts against big rivals like Quartey and Vargas were closely contested affairs. He hasn’t had things entirely his own way against any of his most worthy contemporaries.

Floyd Mayweather is different in that respect. He has become accustomed to outclassing opponents. Some of Floyd’s performances have come close to perfection, most notably when picking apart Arturo Gatti. Mayweather exercised such total control in that fight that in the end Gatti gave up even trying to punch back at his tormentor. I don’t believe Arturo was afraid in there, just bewildered.

Speed is Floyd’s great weapon. He’s not a puncher to speak of. But, then, nor was Ali. While singular power is better to have than not, a guy with hands as fast and accurate as Floyd Mayweather can get by just fine without it. And, like the great Ali, he’s a defensive master. On the face of it, the bookies would seem to be right in making Floyd the favourite.

Mayweather has two ways of approaching tonight. He can stick and move and just look to put points in the bank or he can back up the pre-fight boasts by going in there to turn in an offensively dominant performance. Fight fans will be hoping for the latter and so too, I’m sure, will De La Hoya.

With the physical grind of camp all done, and fight time looming, boxing becomes 90% a mental thing, or at least much more mental than physical, and I sense that Oscar is well prepared in his mind. Floyd probably believes he can win this fight without getting hit much himself, and that could let him in for a nasty shock. De La Hoya seems to me to be every bit as confident as his challenger but with him you feel he knows he’ll be shipping plenty of fast clusters along the way.

No matter who you are, or how good you are, you can’t throw solid combinations without standing still. Most times, when Floyd Mayweather tees off, the other guy covers up as best he can then finds, when he looks to respond after the storm has abated, that Floyd isn’t there any more. De La Hoya surely won’t do that. He’s likely to fire straight back when Mayweather flurries because that’s the one situation where Floyd will be a static target, and will provide the best chance of hurting him. And to beat Floyd Mayweather, Oscar is going to have to hurt him, then jump on him. De La Hoya is good at that. When he gets someone going, he’s a top notch finisher.

Floyd Mayweather might be nothing less than brilliant but the two Castillo fights showed he can be troubled in the ring. Both were quality contests and, in the first one especially, Floyd found himself with all he could handle. The official cards were emphatic enough for Mayweather but Castillo was effective throughout, particularly with body shots. The computer stats had Jose Luis throwing and landing more punches than Floyd and HBO’s Harold Lederman, plus plenty of other watchers, had the Mexican a handy winner. Despite those official tabs in his favour, it was a real skin of the teeth job for Pretty Boy.

Oscar will figure that anything Castillo can do, he can do better. That will be the aim, and maybe he can pull it off for a fantastic career finale, but while De La Hoya is a guaranteed Hall of Famer it could just be that Floyd Mayweather is a level higher even than that – a true boxing legend in the making. I pick Floyd. If it’s the right pick, I hope he does it the aggressive, not passive way. Most of all let’s all hope it’s a terrific battle. The sport needs it bad.