THE SQUARE RING May 31, 2013 by James Wellington Jeeves , Esq. keeppunching and Island Lager Sports Bureau, Phuket Thailand Boxing bids a fond adieu to the merry month of May. Nothing changed. “Same-Same as before.” Some, though not in this space, were predicting a “C Change” in boxing. A 100 year shift that would forever alter the boxing landscape. Didn’t happen. Not even close and no kewpie doll available for try. Floyd Mayweather jr. with his fight against Robert Guerrero was going to be the ultimate game changer. Showtime, who for years sucked hind tit to HBO, would finally “merge triumph”. It might still happen but not with Superman speed of light. Three plus weeks after the fight Showtime still has not released the “official” PPV figures. Por Que ? Forbes magazine claims Showtime lost $12 million. The PPV numbers had to exceed 1 million for the promotion to be a success. Within days the word was spreading that the PPV was a lot less. This on top of a fight that had all the drama of a carpenter driving a nail. The Showtime Boxing Architect, Steve Espinoza, took to the social media in an attempt to get ahead of the story. “Anybody who was booing that performance (Mayweather-Guerrero) doesn’t understand boxing. They aren’t really a fan of the sport. “ If you watched Mayweather-Guerrero without drawing wood then you’re not a sport fan. Those booing paid a total of $9.9 million in a live gate. Did the Lord of the Manor boo ? No because he didn’t pay, was provided great food, much to drink and good fellowship. In comparison to the Titanic the Showtime deal with Mayweather may be a disaster. Heck the Titanic got an Academy Award movie afterwards. Still Showtime is holding pocket aces in Canelo Alvarez and Lucas Matthysse as whole cards to Mayweather. Alvarez is young with a future ahead with “some work to do”. He’ll fight Mayweather on September 14. Forbes Magazine estimates that this fight could do 1.6 million PPV buys which would yield $105 million with $50 million going to Mayweather. Alvarez scheduled to get between $10 and 12 million. Lot of “could do” flying around. Much has been made that the weight of 152 will help Alvarez. Get cereal. As Mayweather spokesperson Ellerbe said “Canelo can come in at 200 pounds if he wants to; he’ll still get his butt whipped.” Mayweather uses speed not weight to devastate opponents. Early line has Mayweather a –250 betting favorite. That means you bet $2.50 to win a dollar. By fight time it will be –450 or -500. Bet now to avoid the rush. Meanwhile Lucas Matthysse was spectacular when he “annihilated” Lamont Peterson (31-2-1) in three. Ringside for that one was a come backing Amir Khan. Asked if he’d like to fight the heavy-handed Matthysse ? “I’d love to. My style would definitely suit Matthysse.” Yea baby with your Waterford chin it’d be one of those “don’t go for a beer fights.” Blink and it’s over. Richard Schaefer, Golden Boy CEO, called Matthysse “the new Manny Pacquiao” which might juts be stretching the truth a bit but that’s what CEO’s do. Matthysse doesn’t lack for confidence . “I know I’m the best 140-pounder because no one has ever dominated Peterson the way I did.” That’s fact but Peterson was always been suspect especially after his “questionable” win over Khan in December of ‘011. He won that one thanks to referee “Showtime “ Joe Cooper doing too much mugging for the camera’s and not enough refereeing. OH yes two of the three judges, Valeria Harper and George Hill, were sent to the sin bin for their work. Coming up September 7th is Matthysse- Danny Garcia which should be a “winner-winner chicken dinner” on Showtime. How about the winner of that facing Mayweather next May ? Done deal. Your read it first here. The re-match between Carl Froch (31-2) and Mikkel Kessler (46-3) according to Squire Sid Silk, “Great, but brutal. Unanimous decision went to Froch. Rightly so”. Froch dominated from the opening bell before a well lubricated singing hometown crowd. A pre fight shot showed a real fight fan holding 5 bottles of beer in one hand and a drinking beer in the other. “He come to play.” Kessler seemed to be just a step slow. He was landing some heavy blows that appeared to have little or not effect. It was either that or Froch despite holding his hands low had no trouble controlling the action with snake like jabs. In boxing it’s usually good to get off first. After 12 it was a solid 118-110,116-112 and 115-113 for “The Cobra”. HBO’s judge in resident Harold Lederman had a few choice words for the 115-113 judge France’s Jean-Francois Toupin before the decision. “What this guy is doing here is a mystery. He’s terrible.” He also had nice words for judge Ms. A. Byrd of Las Vegas. “She’s the best women judge in the world. She had Richar Abril over Brandon Rios.” In that one Ms. Byrd had it 117-111 for Abril while the other two judges were in the tank for Rios. Give’em hell H. Lederman. While a rubber match with Kessler is a possibility it’s not probable. Froch probably will get a rematch with Andre Ward. They met in December of ’11 in Atlantic City with Ward a UD winner. Two judges though had it close at 115-113 while John Keane had it 118-110 which proves that there is a place for the blind in boxing. Ward should have no trouble. With Mayweather-Alvarez set for September 14th that moves the HBO’s PPV of Juan Manual Marquez-Timothy Bradley to October 12 in Las Vegas which use to be called Columbus Day but now is called Indigenous Peoples Day for reasons that defy logic. Hell we stole the land fair and square. One ingredient in boxing that remains constant is World Boxing Council President for Life Don José Sulaimán. He is celebrating his 82nd birthday with 38 of those year’s as the head honcho of the WBC. For those that type about boxing he’s a treasure that just keeps giving. The Latin Don King without the hair. Everyday he’s a story waiting to happen. He makes boxing interesting. So Happy Birthday to Don José. Pop a Corona while proposing a toast to Dr. Sulaimán because Cheewit dee khrup.
Posted on: Fri, 31 May 2013 17:14:48 +0000
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