Boxing Rostrum

In February last year I picked Abner Mares as my number one prospect in world boxing. The Mexican had ten straight wins at the time, all against boxers unlikely to have posed him a serious question, but despite the absence of taxing opposition in that sequence Abner’s talent stood out for me. It still does.

Mares has since run his streak to 16-0. Sounds impressive without actually meaning much in itself. Bare statistics never do. Heavyweight Malik Scott has quietly crept to 30-0, but nobody’s fooled, are they. If Scott were to keep mixing with the same class of opponent he has thus far, there’s a good chance he’d keep on winning, maybe long enough to surpass Rocky Marciano’s fabled forty nine. Even if he managed that, though, guess what? Malik Scott would still struggle to capture anybody’s attention. And he still wouldn’t be a proper contender either.

Things are different with Abner Mares of course. His aim is to conquer the world, not just settle for having pretty numbers after his name.

Although Abner hasn’t faced a top boxer as yet, he was given a physical battle two fights ago before being upped in class - on paper - last time out, and I thought he coped with both tasks in the manner of a young man who’s almost ready to make his move.

Back in November Mares had to go the full twelve to defeat rugged Argentinian Damian David Marchiano. It was the first time Abner had had to box more than eight rounds but you wouldn’t have known because he did the distance in fine style, and put in a storming last round to seal a clear points victory. You might say the grandstand finish amounted to taking unnecessary risks against a by then desperate opponent, but coasting home isn’t the Mexican way, is it.

Not everybody was satisfied with Abner’s performance, though. Some thought that an aspiring champ should have been able to chop down the likes of Marchiano, while others thought Mares got hit with shots a true world aspirant should have dodged. Glenn McCrory, former IBF cruiserweight champ and current Sky TV analyst, added a further criticism, going so far as to say Mares had looked a touch brittle in there at times.

From what I saw, I reckon the knockers were being harsh. Marchiano was a tough nut who came to bring pressure for twelve rounds and, for the most part, that’s what he did, but he still lost clearly and it was the Argentinian, not Mares, who was seriously hurt twice in the fight.

Compubox Punchstats don’t do a lot for me. No way can you judge a fight just from a printout. The info is useful, though. Abner Mares threw more than a thousand punches, while Marchiano fired off eight hundred plus, and it stands to reason that both guys are going to get hit plenty with that amount of leather in the air. So Mares had to take some hefty clumps, but he took them okay and I didn’t notice any distress signals coming from his direction. All in all it was a cosy triumph for Abner, with a lot of learning built in.

Two weeks ago Mares took his latest step, getting rid of dangerous Filipino, Diasdado Gabi, inside two rounds. It was spectacular and impressive, and shows that if you make a mistake against Abner he can get you out of there, even though he might not be a Ruben Olivares or Carlos Zarate in the anaesthetic department.

Abner Mares is an excellent boxer, with a beautiful jab and terrific combinations. I could see the fully developed version outboxing anybody around at bantam today, and I expect he’ll continue to win plenty of bouts by stoppage too. One thing you can be sure about with Mares is that once he has a man hurt or stunned not much of the follow up barrage is going to miss the target.

Abner is only twenty two years old and coming along just fine. He goes next on the Mosley v Judah bill, against someone to be announced. I hope and expect it to be a top ten ranked opponent. I also expect Mares will be up to the job.

Manny Steward has been saying for some time that Andy Lee is the future of the middleweight division, the coming champ. Well, if that’s got any chance of happening, the Irishman has to produce something better than he did in losing his unbeaten record to Brian Vera. In a trial of strength, Vera proved the stronger, even if the timing of the stoppage was open to criticism.

Okay, the fight was a right old tooth and nailer that thrilled everybody who saw it, so full praise to Andy for his contribution in making it so. Full praise also to Brian Vera. But to win a world title and prove yourself a champion it takes more than just wanting to blast your opponent out of there, with a macho unwillingness to maybe back off and explore different options.

Of course, some fighters don’t have the ability to adapt, but if Lee is the real works as Manny Steward says he is, then he must have more to show than we got to see in the Vera fight.

Seems we might soon get the opportunity to find out. An immediate rematch is being talked up and that would be the right move for Lee, I’d say. He’s had a fall and needs to get straight back on the bike, to regain his confidence and prove to himself that this was just a blip, a lapse he can rectify. It’s even possible Andy can fight the same kind of fight as last time and gain revenge but, if we do see the same pattern, Brian Vera must fancy his chances of winning again.

We already knew Andy Lee could bang a bit and we now know he’s got plenty of heart and a good chin, but how good an all round boxer is he really. To be a genuine contender for the world title, never mind the future of the middleweight division, Lee would need to not only defeat Brian Vera but beat him convincingly.

Over to Manny Steward. Should the rematch indeed be made, the veteran Hall of Fame trainer will have a perfect opportunity to show he’s still on the ball when it comes to putting together a winning strategy. Can’t wait to find out if that’s the case. And whether or not Andy Lee has the discipline to effect it.

Ring Magazine’s annual accolades for 2007 included the naming of Enzo Calzaghe as boxing’s number one trainer. Recognition for Enzo ending the year with three world champions in his charge, and all Welshmen at that.

Things can change quickly in boxing, though. Enzo still had his championship trio as recently as three weeks ago, but now he’s down to just the one – celebrated son Joe.

First, Enzo Maccarinelli got blitzed inside two rounds of the cruiserweight unifier with David Haye, then last Saturday the WBA light welter champ Gavin Rees lost his crown to Andreas Kotelnik, stopped in the last when already a beaten man.

Rees put up a brave defence but was always fighting uphill once the Ukranian found the range and got his boxing going by the second half of round two.

Rees gave it his all but you need quality at world level and the quality came from Kotelnik who broke down little Gavin bit by bit. Rees tried to keep busy throughout, as expected, but most of his punches got blocked by the challenger’s tight guard while Kotelnik’s own shots often found the mark and at times had a discernable effect.

Rees gave the game away by hanging on now and then, mostly as a result of right hands to the head, and despite his gutsy effort it was plain to see that Gavin was having trouble coping as the fight progressed. It wasn’t a massacre, but the technical boxer had control. Kotelnik was simply too good for Gavin Rees.

That’s not a message that found its way through to Welsh ringsiders, though. At the half way point, TV got from Commonwealth light middleweight champ Bradley Pryce the opinion that Rees was a couple of rounds in front. Mystifying. And with just two to go it was Joe Calzaghe’s turn to come up with a baffling assessment, insisting the contest was real close and that Gavin could still do it.

Closing ranks behind a compatriot might be an understandable action, to a degree, but Pryce and Calzaghe were in denial. This wasn’t a close fight. Rees was losing and they refused to see it. I think that’s sad.

Joe Calzaghe would think it sad too if he turned up in Vegas and did to Bernard Hopkins what Kotelnik did to Rees in Cardiff, only to have the judges show the same kind of jingoistic bias that he himself espoused the other night and hand a battered Hopkins the decision.

There’s nothing unusual about seeing a National Golden Gloves champion turn pro and, with careful matchmaking, run up a sequence of early wins. Basic talent plus shrewd handling makes that an expectation.

What’s not normal, though, is for two Golden Gloves champs from the same weight division to have gone pro and both stayed unbeaten, and largely untested, several years after switching codes.

Anthony Peterson was Golden Gloves lightweight king in 2003. Urbano Antillon took that honour even further back, in the millennium year 2000. Peterson is 26-0 and Antillon 22-0. Either could become a big factor in this division but neither has yet been thrown the kind of test that would clue us up one way or the other. You’d expect guys with their pedigree to have been matched a bit tougher by now if there’s real confidence behind them but, then again, they’re both still young – Antillon 25, Peterson only just 23 – and it could be that both camps are getting ready to step up right now and mix with the top men. I’m not making claims for either fighter but the possibilities are there. We’ll just have to wait and see how they cope, or otherwise, when asked a serious question.

Yuriorkis Gamboa has run his log to 9-0 in the power laden super featherweight division and is already one of the most hyped fighters in all of boxing. At present, of course, hype is all it is. You can’t stand in awe of someone with nine fights, especially someone who, like the two guys above, has yet to face anybody tasty. And Gamboa is operating in a league containing Pacquiao, Marquez, Valero, Guzman etc. That’s red hot company. The Cuban has it all to do if he wants to reach the top of that list.

But maybe that won’t be his target. Gamboa, who was Olympic champ in 2004 at flyweight, now has an intimidating presence as a super feather. That physical development – and the way he preps in the gym, with strength work given a big role – suggests he could even make the jump to lightweight, even though he’s not the tallest. I suspect plans are flexible, but the lightweight option is there if wanted, and the exciting thing about this fellow is that his people, unlike the connections of Antillon and Peterson, are anxious that he crack on and fight the best. Could be a fool’s rush, asking too much too soon, but the potential of Yuriorkis is undeniable and if he does take the lightweight route he’s got to be one to keep an eye on.

Will Manny Pacquiao now switch to lightweight and, as mooted, challenge David Diaz for the WBC title, or will he go for a third clash with Juan Manuel Marquez. Seems that if the money’s on the table, a lot of money, the Filipino would be prepared to box Marquez again, but I fancy the Diaz fight is more likely to happen next.

It’s almost a decade since Pacquiao won the WBC flyweight crown while still a teenager, and it’s incredible that he’s still a champ today at super feather, having brought his power up with him through the divisions. The man’s a bona fide superstar. And, considering the quality of boxer he’s tangled with in recent times, you’d have to figure Manny can make an impact at 135 pounds despite his 30th birthday looming this side of Christmas.

That’s what I reckon anyway, and I say so despite believing that Manny actually lost both his bouts against Marquez. The Mexican got dropped three times in the opening round of their first go, was still under pressure while trying to re-group through round two, and at that stage it didn’t seem possible he could survive, never mind wipe out what already had to be a five points deficit. But I think he did that and more.

Starting from the third round Marquez put on an exhibition. He not only outmanoeuvred Pacquiao but at times outclassed the Filipino icon. It was brilliant boxing. The judges came up with three different views at the finish, and the drawn verdict had both men feeling hard done by, but my scoring sided with Juan Manuel.

Their second fight rated even better because it was a competitive thriller all the way, not made up of two different phases like the original. It was close alright, but I thought Marquez had clear claim to seven of the twelve rounds, with one too tight to call. The knockdown scored by Manny gave him a 10-8 edge in round three, but even if I’d marked the level session in Pacquiao’s favour it still would have seen him a point behind on my card. No big complaints, though. Great fight. Two great fighters.

Can’t move on from that second Pacquiao v Marquez fight without referring to the knockdown itself. To see Marquez on the floor, flat on his back with arms spread wide, was like looking at a horizontal crucifixion. The left hook that exploded on his jaw would have knocked most guys spark out, especially given the way Juan Manuel’s head crashed against the canvas, and only he can know how he managed to rise and battle on. Reminded me of Larry Holmes getting dropped in title fights by Reynaldo Snipes and Earnie Shavers, both times hitting the deck like he was a dead man, only to somehow get up and regain his grip on things. Amazing stuff.

I’m digressing, though. This is about lightweights, and if Manny Pacquiao is upping himself to 135 pounds one of the obstacles in his path is likely to be Amir Khan.

Amir is getting ready for a delayed bout with Martin Kristjansen, which passes for an eliminator in WBO speak on account of Kristjansen is that body’s number two contender. I wouldn’t bother even trying to make sense of that ranking. The Dane has boxed only one man of any note, Stefano Zoff, and couldn’t beat him in two attempts. Two years ago Kristjansen lost to Zoff just days before the Italian’s thirty ninth birthday, and he subsequently managed a draw against a forty year old Stefano. Looking for positives, you could say that represents improvement. But that’s all you could say.

Beating Kristjansen will probably allow Frank Warren to secure a title shot for Khan. The ambition is justified, because Amir has the tools to be a champion, but the timing of his challenge might be wrong. Khan’s pro education is not complete. He’s done what’s been asked of him, impressively for the most part, but has yet to box anybody with world class smarts and craftiness. Gairy St Clair doesn’t count because, although he’s a former IBF champ at super feather and had made pre-fight boasts, he spent twelve rounds against Khan in survival mode, inching forward with a high guard and little more than wild swipes to offer once in a while.

There’s a gulf between world championship boxing and where Amir Khan’s experience is at right now. Amir has so much ability that he may be able to bridge that gap in one go, but it has to be a concern if his chance does come straight after his next fight.

Funny how fate can take a hand in life, isn’t it. Juan Diaz was slated to meet Michael Katsidis but then plans were changed and Diaz got Nate Campbell instead while Katsidis faced Casamayor. Now the two unbeaten guys are no longer so.

If the original match were to be made again, however, once both have had a long rest, it would perhaps offer a route back for one of them. And I think Diaz would be the one. The method that brought Juan thirty three straight wins didn’t work against Campbell, and he’s now seen first hand the need to learn new tricks, but I reckon what he was doing before would be sufficient to overcome the Aussie brave. In a wildly exciting affair I could see Diaz getting inside Michael’s wide hooks and ramming his own stuff straight up the middle.

Katsidis, I feel, can’t be refined into something else. What you see is what you’re always going to get. Juan Diaz, though, might be adaptable enough to work on things and come back a better fighter. And let’s not forget that, despite the Campbell loss, he was already pretty good. At twenty four he still has a future. If he wants it.

So, who’ll be top of the pile in the end. I’ll go with Amir Khan. His chin will be on trust at world level but he’s shown he has the guts to get up and win after being hurt and floored, and the evidence suggests he’s got that other essential too, a proper twelve rounds engine. As for Khan’s skills, they’re considerable. He moves well, is a good judge of distance, and sprays the whole target with fast, accurate, hurtful punches. And he’s a good finisher. A nice boy with a killer instinct.

Yes, I can see Amir Khan as lightweight champion of the world. But can he win it as a twenty one year old, which seems to be the plan. Put in against a Campbell or a Casamayor, Amir would be contending with qualities well beyond the repertoire of the men he’s faced so far in what is still a stripling career. Given his inexperience it would be some achievement for Khan to defeat either of those guys any time soon, but Amir really is an exceptional talent and, although he'd likely have a nasty shock or two to cope with along the way, I can visualise him pulling it off.

The lightweight division might not boast a champ just now who’s likely to unify the title or last long in the role, but nobody’s complaining about the action we’ve had in recent weeks. First, Nate Campbell upset Juan Diaz in a real good battle, and last night produced something even better.

Joel Casamayor proved he can still keep it together at 36 by stopping Michael Katsidis in ten rounds that were right out of the Corrales/Castillo mould. What a fight! Sensational start, sudden ending, and a savage struggle in between that even included a flashback to Dempsey and Firpo when Casamayor was sent through the ropes and out of the ring in round six.

Casamayor and Campbell both performed so well in defeating younger, strongly fancied foes that a match between the two of them might now be a real commercial proposition, with tickets in big demand. If it comes off it will be a renewal of their original hostilities back in 2003 when Joel took a unanimous decision after what had, nevertheless, been a closely contested bout. No reason to expect anything different next time, except for the purse being well in excess of what they creamed five years ago. And that’s how it should be. Both guys deserve a nice big earner.

I’m looking past the two of them already, though. If anybody’s going to grab the whole lightweight crown and wear it with authority for a couple of years or more it’s not going to be Nate or Joel. Seems to me the prime candidates include Manny Pacquiao, Yuriorkis Gamboa, possibly Anthony Peterson and Urbano Antillon, and definitely Amir Khan. And I wouldn’t completely rule out Juan Diaz, despite his comeuppance at the hands of Campbell.

This stuff bears further chat, of course, but right now I’ve got an event on that calls for some serious drinking.

Lightweight was always one of boxing’s glamour divisions, giving way in that respect only to the heavyweight and middleweight classes, but the 135 pounders are struggling a bit to live up to that image just now.

Nate Campbell capturing three belts at the age of 36 doesn’t really help, does it. Nate sprang a surprise – it was certainly a surprise to me – by beating Juan Diaz, and deserves all praise for that monumental performance, but when he says we ain’t seen nothing yet, that he can get better still and become a dominant champ, you can mark me down as a non-believer.

Not that Campbell’s likely to surrender his position easily. He’s a good fighter, a technician, and he’s always been a decent banger. Nate did against Diaz pretty much what he had said he would do. He went in there and exposed the young champion’s inexperience at high level, something which stood out, as Campbell had predicted, even though Juan went into the ring with 33 unbeaten fights behind him.

It’s hard to know how Diaz will react to his first defeat. At 24, he has time on his side, and there’s no doubting his heart, but will he have learned from what happened in this fight and, if so, does he have the ability to make those adjustments that are needed for him to have a chance of turning things around in a rematch.

Diaz will be back to try again for sure, but whether it’s against Campbell or somebody else depends on what Nate decides from here.

Could be Campbell will next accommodate the winner of tonight’s Casamayor v Katsidis match. The pair meet for Katsidis’ WBO Interim title. But Casamayor’s WBC Interim title is not on the line. Indeed, it seems the WBC will strip Joel of that bauble for taking this fight with Katsidis rather than go through with a mandated rematch against Jose Armando Santa Cruz.

That WBC hard line, though, has inadvertently done the sport of boxing a favour. The stance it has taken with Casamayor prevents tonight’s battle from being what otherwise might have been billed as an “Interim unification fight.” I mean, what could be more ludicrous than that.

The fight itself stands to be a cracker, though. Michael Katsidis comes to have a war and Joel Casamayor likes facing that kind of fighter.

Katsidis was knocking over everything in Australia before venturing out into the big wide world and presents a real physical handful, especially early on in a fight, but he’s short on skills from what I’ve seen of him and, while heavy handed, his attacks rely on volume and intensity rather than explosive power. At his best, or near to it, I’d have expected Casamayor to readily deal with Katsidis. The Cuban has class and technical expertise way beyond anything Michael has yet been confronted by. And Joel won’t be intimidated by any rough stuff. He’ll be quite at home if it gets a bit naughty on the inside, as well it might. But how much does Casamayor have left.

Joel looked jaded when copping a dodgy decision over Santa Cruz and maybe his time has come. In the summer it will be 16 years since he beat Wayne McCullough to capture bantamweight gold at the Barcelona Olympics. A similarly jaded Casamayor would surely be hard pressed to repel the aggressive Aussie, never mind control the guy, but he’d been out of action for more than a year before the Santa Cruz fight and I expect he’ll be sharper for this. A sharper Casamayor could yet upset the betting line and hand Katsidis his first loss.

Where would that leave us, though. Casamayor, like Nate Campbell, is 36. The future of the lightweight division has to lie elsewhere. Should Katsidis get through tonight a winner he’s exciting enough to make further contributions to championship boxing but not good enough, in my opinion, to hold even a portion of the crown for long. If we’re going to get ourselves a dominant lightweight champ any time soon, it’s certainly not anyone that’s been mentioned here today. Best to give it some thought and return to the subject tomorrow.

David Haye did what he said he’d do to Enzo Maccarinelli and you couldn’t fail to be impressed, could you.

The Welshman’s camp put defeat down to Enzo ignoring the game plan and getting tagged because of it, but Haye looked the boss anyway. Seemed to me that Enzo was alarmed by Haye’s weight of shot right from the first contact and although the opening round could have been scored even I’d seen enough after just three minutes to change my pre-fight feeling that both men had a real chance of winning. Whatever way Maccarinelli had gone about things, David Haye would still have done him. Emphatically. That was my view of it anyway.

Haye was already an obvious talent but is now a genuine star who’s about to bring excitement to the heavyweight division, at least for a while, and we should all be thankful for that.

David is a good looking guy and a power hitter. That’s the sort of mixture that makes for red hot box office. You can bet his fan base has expanded hugely after Saturday night’s display, and you can likewise be sure that those who didn’t like Haye before this fight will like him even less now.

Haye knows he’s good and isn’t slow to make the point at every speaking opportunity. When it comes to self praise he won’t settle for a single word if War & Peace will do. That arrogant trait doesn’t sit well with everybody, of course, but, as Muhammad Ali knew right back from his Cassius Clay days, it doesn’t matter what makes people come to see you so long as they buy a ticket for the show.

David Haye has all the angles covered there.

Bad Chad Dawson is the reigning WBC light heavyweight champion of the world. Trouble is, the WBC itself doesn’t seem to be aware of it, or at least is unwilling to come to terms with the fact. There’s a bizarre situation brewing.

Dawson captured the WBC world title by trouncing Tomasz Adamek a year ago, and subsequently defended by hammering an out-gunned Jesus Ruiz in six rounds. Chad then disposed of Epifanio Mendoza in just four rounds of a fight in which Mendoza had got the job as replacement for Adrian Diaconu.

An injured wrist meant Diaconu couldn’t box. Being so deprived of a title shot was tough on him, of course, but that’s how it goes sometimes. You just have grin and bear it, or something like that.

On the 12th of next month Chad Dawson puts his crown on the line against the Road Warrior himself, craggy veteran Glen Johnson. Speed against experience. Shapes up as a proper championship battle, and a fascinating one at that.

Two weeks earlier, the healed and recuperated Adrian Diaconu goes in with Chris Henry. Diaconu could have sat back and waited for his shot at Dawson, or Johnson, but probably felt a need to get back into action before taking on the major task. A sensible move, I’d call it.

But there’s nothing sensible about what the WBC is calling the Diaconu v Henry fight. It has declared that this will be for the “Interim” world title even though its genuine, undefeated, fully established champion is involved in that clash with Johnson just fourteen days later.

When Diaconu beats Henry, as I’m sure he will, and is then feted by his fellow Romanians as the new world champ, interim notwithstanding, it will be the most ludicrous coronation that even the WBC has yet orchestrated. What on earth are they going to give us next.