Choosing Sides: Team PacMan or Team Money?

By. Gayle Lynn Falkenthal. APR*

April 29, 2015

Boxing fans waited patiently. OK, not so patiently, but what choice did we have? Now finally, Mayweather versus Pacquiao is nearly here and everyone’s got an opinion. Are you Team Money or Team PacMan?

For the Pound 4 Pound Boxing Report, we’ve gathered up the names and quotes from those who have put their own reps on the line and made the call. In the first part of our series, we found out who’s declared for Manny Pacquiao. In part two, we find out who’s on board with The Money Team.

They’re Backing Team Money: Shields, Brook, Khan, Martinez, Marquez, Tarver, Hunter, Garcia, Algieri, Donaire

The last American boxer to win an Olympic Gold Medal in 2012 at the London Games, the Michigan based middleweight went for her fellow American Olympian and Michigan native. When I asked for her opinion via Twitter, she told me,  “Mayweather !!! Majority decision!!!” 💪👊👍

Kell Brook: The British IBF welterweight champion wants a shot at whoever wins the fight, and he thinks it will be Mayweather. “Floyd will win convincingly.”

Amir Khan: Another potential Mayweather opponent, Khan thinks Mayweather will win a unanimous decision, but that it’s likely to be a boring fight. Khan told Fight Hype Mayweather’s slick fighting style will give Pacquiao problems, and he sees him winning round with his single pot shots to the head.

Sergio Martinez: The great middleweight champion from Argentina says he believes the fight will be much like Mayweather vs. Arturo Gatti  in 2005, which ended in a sixth round TKO. “This was never too much of a fight to me because Mayweather is in a league of his own.  Floyd Mayweather can have Manny for breakfast, lunch, or anything. Pacquiao is still a long way from being ready for Mayweather.”  

Kell Brook: The British IBF welterweight champion wants a shot at whoever wins the fight, and he thinks it will be Mayweather. “Floyd will win convincingly.”

Amir Khan: Another potential Mayweather opponent, Khan thinks Mayweather will win a unanimous decision, but that it’s likely to be a boring fight. Khan told Fight Hype Mayweather’s slick fighting style will give Pacquiao problems, and he sees him winning round with his single pot shots to the head.

Sergio Martinez: The great middleweight champion from Argentina says he believes the fight will be much like Mayweather vs. Arturo Gatti  in 2005, which ended in a sixth round TKO. “This was never too much of a fight to me because Mayweather is in a league of his own.  Floyd Mayweather can have Manny for breakfast, lunch, or anything. Pacquiao is still a long way from being ready for Mayweather.”  

Juan Manuel Marquez: Mayweather defeated Marquez in 2009; Pacquiao and Marquez have two wins each against each other in their series, with Marquez scoring perhaps the most spectacular victory of his career with a stunning knockout of Pacquiao in 2012. Marquez told GMA Network Online, a Philippines based news organization, “It is difficult to give a conclusion on the result because if the fight (reaches the judges) it will undoubtedly be a unanimous win for Mayweather,” said Marquez. “It’s a big responsibility to say who will win that contest, but if we’re talking in boxing terms Mayweather knows how to handle himself in the ring very well, and even knows how to get an opponent to fight at his pace, and he takes advantage of that,” Marquez said.  

Virgil Hunter: The well-respected trainer is working with possible Mayweather opponent Khan, so he has likely given Mayweather a lot of thought. But in a recent interview, he said he sees the fight split into two halves. “If it gets into the sixth round and it’s even, then I give Mayweather the advantage. If it’s the seventh round and Manny has done some damage, then I give him the edge.” Hunter says Pacquiao may be the busier fighter in the ring, but it isn’t enough; he must also be effective.

Also calling it for Mayweather are Chris Algieri, Danny Garcia, Antonio Tarver, DeMarcus Corley, and boxer and Showtime analyst Paulie Malignaggi. Filipino fighter Nonito Donaire, at one time considered the heir apparent to Pacquiao’s popularity, believe Mayweather will if the fight goes the distance.

Several boxers hedged their bets. British super middleweight champion Carl Froch told Kugan Cassiue of The Fight Guru he thinks the fight might be an anti-climax, a fight where Mayweather outboxes Pacquiao and then hides behind “his tricky defense.” Froch plans to be on hand in Las Vegas.

Whose opinion counts?

You know the saying about opinions: just like other parts of the anatomy that blow hot air, everyone’s got one. I give the most weight to the men who have been in the ring with both fighters – and that boils down to Oscar De La Hoya and Juan Manual Marquez. De La Hoya had a much tougher time with Pacquiao than with Mayweather; he picked Pacquiao. Marquez lost to Mayweather in their only meeting; he’s both won and lost to Pacquiao. No real surprise then that both these great champions picked the man who handed him a bigger defeat to be the victor on May 3.

Forget about the opinion of those boxers beholder to either Showtime or HBO for their livelihood. This isn’t because they are biased by the paycheck; they’ve simply had much better access to the fighter on their own networks and are more familiar with their strengths.

The two opinions that matter to me are the trainers, Beristain and Hunter. Both have nuanced views of this fight, and both give just the slightest edge to Mayweather, but also give Pacquiao a much better chance than the Vegas oddsmakers do. This sums up why this bout is still the most highly anticipated fight boxing has seen since Ali vs. Frazier in 1971. So save up your pennies for that $89.95 PPV.

*Gayle Lynn Falkenthal, APR is a San Diego-based special contributor to the Pound 4 Pound Boxing Report as well as “Ringside Seat” for Communities Digital News http://www.commdiginews.com/category/sports/boxing-sports/

Pound 4 Pound Boxing Report Podcast #81 – Blood, Class, Guts, and Ingnorance

By. BrotherJR

April 24, 2015

To listen to and download this episode, click this link: http://p4pboxingreport.podomatic.com/entry/2015-04-23T22_48_20-07_00

On this episode of w/guest PotShot Boxing, Gayle Falkenthal of Communities Digital News, EJ Boxing Live, and Shawn Newton we discuss…

Boxing Recap
– Lucas Matthysse’s tough win over Ruslan Provodnikov and Terence Crawford’s explosive stoppage over Thomas Dulorme.
– Andrzej Fonfara’s dominant win over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Are folks once and for all getting tired of Chavez Jr?
– Shunsuke Yamanaka scores and impressive and dominant seventh round stoppage over Ricardo Santillan. We discuss why Yamanaka is not only the best Bantamweight in the world, but one of the best smaller fighters in all of boxing.

Boxing News
– We give our opinion on Sergey Kovalev’s ignorant tweet about Adonis Stevenson and why it completely crossed the line.
– The drama and straight hot mess during the lead-up to #MayweatherPacquiao . No official tickets have been made or sold, no closed circuit information, no contracts signed with the MGM Grand… dahell?!?!?!
– Andre Ward announces who his next opponent will be, and a joint venture with Roc Nation Sports and BET is happening.

Boxing Previews
– Anthony Dirrell vs. Badou Jack
– Daniel Jacobs vs. Caleb Traux
– Wladimir Klitschko vs. Bryant Jennings
– Sadam Ali vs. Francisco Santana

All that and more!!!

Pound 4 Pound Boxing Report Info:
Opening by. Wingy Boxing
Music – “Crown Royal (In a Purple Velvet Bag)” by. The Stuyvesants
Michael – @BrotherJR76
PotShot Boxing – @potshotboxing
Gayle – @PrPRoSanDiego
EJ Boxing Live – https://www.facebook.com/EJBoxingLive
Shawn – https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/108768736999124000813/101564090085495550588/posts
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Sergey Kovalev’s racism, will the Boxing world be outraged?

By. Wingy*

April 23, 2015

This one is a little sticky Kovalev fans (of which embarrassingly I was one) there’s no conceivable way to roll and duck your way free from this one. Sergey Kovalev is a big old racist Russian. It’s out there; this cold truth can’t be undone. Let’s shake it off, embrace the relief of acceptance, he’s racist. So, where do we go from here?

Let’s have a look at what went down, and tell me how they will swerve around this metaphorical car crash, if you will. He tweets an image of an innocent child, draped in a t shirt with an image of a boxer’s body on it, with the head replaced by that of a monkey. Then says the Monkey is a black boxer? (Adonis Stevenson)

No where to go right? So Kovalev crusaders, you have to swallow this, it’s racism; embarrassing, deplorable and blatant racism. Kovalev is aware of what he did. The reason he expressed his racism on social media for thousands to witness is because he is apparently less intelligent then we thought. This was indeed a truly catastrophic blunder if ever there was one, or was it? I wonder how many Boxing fans really feel that slighted by this outside of the black community? Sadly, I don’t feel they really do.

Sergey showed his true colours with that particular tweet, which was swiftly removed for a reason. Red faces present at team Kathy Duva’s offices were probably tripping over themselves in a frenzy of embarrassment, but will this revelation be preceded with the appropriate outrage it warrants? Again, I doubt it.

The real succulent red meat of the matter is discovered when sitting back with a knowing stroke of the beard and observing people’s reactions to this. The reactions and upset have been a lot more muted then I expected. There’s almost a feeling akin to forgiving what has happened, simply because he’s a really talented fighter. I think that’s what’s happening here, he’s also disappointingly forgiven, because he is a white boxer.

Didn’t Adrien Broner have to apologize for comments that were perceived as racist? These were comments that in all actual reality were not even racist, let alone any where near close to the scorching degrees of hate expressed by Kovalev calling black people monkeys. Will there be widespread calling for an apology from Sergey from the higher boxing powers?

There’s of course stifled room for debate with regards to the intentions, or perhaps apparent innocence of Kovalev. He has previously been the subject of racially heated discussion with regards to referring to Black people as “Negroes” in a Russian interview. Reflecting on him referring to Adonis Stevenson as a “piece of sh*t” in a post fight interview also invokes more sinister intentions now with hindsight.

Even those who in fumbling desperation, clamber for quotes of Stevenson apparently calling Kovalev a monkey, can appreciate there’s connotations to the association of black people with regards to this picture. Kovalev could have responded in any other manner negatively toward Stevenson, this was no rebuttal.

I would lean to thinking that only those who could defend his actions with regards to the image harbour similar views themselves, or have such a love for the fighter, they attempt to hide his rancid hatred, a desperate bid to some how smother it, a suffocation of his true thoughts.

I have openly called Kovalev my favourite fighter right now, my respect for his skills remains the same, for him as a person it’s now non existent. I openly question anyone defending this. I’d sit with the mindset of actually preferring any white knights defending him (no pun intended) to just raise a hand confessing to being racist, then at the very least as a black man, I know where I stand, racists are easier to tackle when they are open about their prejudice.

The problem is, previously fighters such as Tyson Fury have fired offensive barbs toward my own race. I chose to boycott the fighter completely. For over a year I didn’t watch his fights, never mentioned him on my Boxing Youtube channel, a complete blanket shut out of the man. Not one Youtube channel or online boxing outlet aware of my stance supported it. I point this out more as an interesting observation, as opposed to genuine upset.

As I’ve noted in more articles and blogs then I can now recall, negative views towards Adonis Stevenson; Floyd Mayweather; Al Haymon; Adrien Broner; Peter Quillin etc are bolstered by the added spices of racially motivated intentions. Some people who are born of other nationalities other then those of an African origin find this fact uncomfortable to stomach in Boxing. However I feel it’s true; there is an underlying hatred from a lot of Boxing fans toward black fighters, very easy to observe and very real.

Sergey Kovalev and team pulled out of negotiations with regards to facing Adonis Stevenson, who is now prepared to fight. Kovalev has not once been accused of ducking; in fact, the story was accepted and understood. Yet Stevenson’s reasons for not taking the Kovalev fight at the same time, business, just like Kovalev’s reasons, were attributed to cowardice.

This hypocrisy and such from fans isn’t explicitly racist, but race is certainly involved. A continual irrational hatred for Al Haymon despite delivering on his promise for the fights we were told would come this year, is again laced with a hint of racial upset from non black fans. I read too many comments daily, listen to too many phone-in shows and interact with too many fans of the sport to be convinced otherwise. It’s just very uncomfortable for people when the issue of racism against black boxers is raised, despite it being very real.

For Kovalev in the days that rolled on after his racist tweet, amusingly I’ve noted the excuses have come thick and fast “He has black trainers” the most used from the Kovalev defence force. The English defence league and BNP (two right wing racist groups from the UK) used Black/Asian people as well, this means little. If it makes good business sense sometimes even racists will quash their fears and hatred. John David Jackson is black, but he’s a great trainer, with a ton of experience; it’s probably as simple as that.

Study those who speak on this topic in depth, how they report it and their responses. If you feel they are straining at lengths, contorting and bending the factual reality of what happened, then question them.

The disturbing truth surrounding their true feelings may be a little frostier then expected, you may find they actually align them selves with Kovalev’s views, it won’t be too hard to identify if they do, and if they do; it’s hard to argue against them being racists as well. I’d place them comfortably within that category with very little reluctance.

If you decide to bring Kovalev defenders to task on these views or not, is of course the choice of you and yours alone. Again if you wish to forgive with flippancy, saying Adonis Stevenson does look like an ape, bypassing the toxic connotations that associating that animal with people of African decent raises, this is your choice. Just please; openly and proudly call yourself a racist. At the very least have conviction?

I hope Adonis Stevenson knocks Kovalev the f**k out, and I hope he does it brutally… I fear Kovalev is a little too talented for him though, and his victory could have a wider more hate fuelled significance it previously never would have had.

The open minded people of all races at Dontae’s boxing nation and my boxing group below for the most part expressed disgust toward Kovalev, and as a black man it’s always a relief to witness such positive reactions to a negative situation.

We now sit back and see if the wider boxing world follows suit.

*Wingy is the owner and creator of both the Wingy Boxing and Wingy Gaming YouTube channels. This article originally appeared on NationBoxing.com

Just a Hot Mess as #MayweatherPacquiao Draws Near

By. BrotherJR

April 22, 2015

During an interview with Stephen A. Smith on the Stephen A. Smith show yesterday afternoon, ESPN boxing writer Dan Rafael discussed the ongoing issues and just the outright drama heading into the May 2 megafight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Get this boxing fans, no contracts have yet been signed with the MGM Grand (where this bout is set to be held), no tickets have been sold so far, and no closed-circuit information has been released. This can only be described as a hot mess and the very definition of unprofessionalism. This should have been handled prior to the bout being announced and listening to what Rafael had to say about what’s going on behind the scenes is truly a SMDH moment. Let’s hope that all of these issues will be resolved before Mayweather and Pacquiao get into the ring.

https://soundcloud.com/the-stephen-a-smith-show/dan-rafael-joined-the-stephen-a-smith-show