Favorite Final Bell Articles

Since leaving the Los Angeles area and continuing on for a master's degree, The Final Bell Boxing Blog has fallen to the wayside due to time restrictions.  Thanks to everyone who was reading on a regular basis.  My final post will highlight a few of our favorite articles from the site.

Boxing America's # 1 Sport?

Mike Tyson, My Father and Me

Have We Been Too Hard on Klitschko?

Max Kellerman: Two Turn Tables and a Microphone

Fight of the Year: Cotto vs. Margarito

Holyfield Broke as a Joke

Chagaev Cancels Bout

De la Hoya Tuned Up

thanks again,

See you at sun down.

Oscar De La Hoya Close to Finalizing Opponent: Manny Pacquiao

According to Dan Rafael at ESPN, the most possible scenario for The Golden Boy's final fight will be a clash with the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world and new lightweight weight champion, Manny Pacquiao.

Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank's Bob Arum will be holding a meeting in Los Angeles later this coming week to do their best to finalize the super-fight. "I am going to meet with him and if we can work out a deal that is acceptable to Bob, Manny, and to us, then we will get the fight done," Schaefer, Golden Boy's CEO, told ESPN.com. 

This is potentially the biggest fight in boxing in terms of popularity and draw. In one corner you have the always exciting and internationally loved, Many Pacquiao and in the other, the all time leading PPV sales attraction and the most popular fighter in America, The Golden Boy. These fighters arguably have the two deepest fan bases in the sport and will surely attract more than any other possible match-up in boxing (only one close in terms of fans is Hatton).

The talk suggests that the fight will take place at the 147 lbs welterweight limit. Pacquiao, the five divison champ who started his career in the 112 lbs flyweight division, has proved that he doesn't have a problem adding muscle, without losing his core abilities. However, De La Hoya will be cutting weight for the and end up weighing about 157 lbs when he step in the ring. The fairly sizable height and weight disadvantage for Pacquiao will be a major challenge to overcome. 

If De La Hoya was in his prime, we would say Manny might be getting a little too overzealous with the jumping of the weight classes, but since he isn't, there is a good chance he will come out on top.

Weekend Preview: Judah, Clottey, Darchinyan, Direll

Like usual we have to choose between an HBO and Showtime broadcast, although the last couple of times it ended up working out due to the timing.

HBO

Zab Judah (36-5, 25 Ko's) vs. Joshua Clottey (34-2, 20 Ko's) Welterweights

At age 30, Zab Judah is rapidly approaching the latter half of his career. This weekend will most likely be his last shot at headlining major events if he can't find a way to come out victorious. Since putting up a tough showing against Miguel Cotto and suffering an 11th round KO, Judah has handily defeated his last two opponents. He was slated to fight in a PPV event against top 5 ranked Sugar Shane Mosely until he put his arm through a glass door in the shower that caused the cancellation of the bout. Now he has one more shot to prove that he still belongs among the top names of the division. 

His opponent Joshua Clottey is no spring chicken himself, and at age 31, is facing similar circumstances as his counterpart. The difference between the two fighters is that Zab is used to fighting top fighters and competing at a high level - Floyd Mayweather, Kostya Tszyu, Miguel Cotto, Carlos Baldomir, Cory Spinks, and was schedule to fight Shane Mosely. Whereas Clottey has only faced three truly upper echelon fighters in Antonio Margarito, Carlos Baldomir, and Deigo Corrales - only coming out on top in one of the fights (Corrales). 

Clottey is actually favored in the fight, because he hasn't lost since his defeat at the hands of Margarito a few years back. With that said, look for this to be a pretty good (not great) fight - Judah takes a decision.

Showtime

Dimitri Kirilov (29-3-1, 9 Ko's) vs. Vic Darchynian (29-1-1, 23 Ko's) - IBF Junior Bantamweight Title

Vic Daychinian was not so long ago one of the most feared men in boxing. His awkard fighting style and reckless abandon in the ring made him one of the toughest fighters to square off with - that was until he ran into Nonito Donaire's left hook and was knocked cold. Since that fight he hasn't carried the same allure with him, finishing with a decision and a draw in his last two bouts. 

Kirilov is the current title holder, but has not faced too many sound opponents before claiming the vacant belt. He may be in over his head with the cagy Armenian. Look for Darchinyan to make a strong comeback on his first mjor TV appearance since suffering the KO defeat - Darchinyan KO win in under 7 rounds.

Undercard: Andre Dirrell (15-0, 10 Ko's) vs. Mike Paschall

David Haye Still Waits For His Shot

The first time David Haye confronted the current heavyweight champ of the world in front of a sea of media, Wladimir Klitschko calmly replied with a few bits of advice for the former unified cruiserweight champ - Let me take care of my mandatory challengers and you go gain some weight, beat a decent heavyweight or two and then we can talk.

Well it looks like David Haye is taking the advice from the champion that he admittedly highly respects and ranks as a skilled fighter. Haye has bulked himself up to 232 lbs, which is much more than was expected for his heavyweight campaign (see photos). 

"I am eating well, living well and doing some serious training. My body fat is 12 percent and I'm currently in better shape than the majority of the division even at this early stage [of training]," said the Hayemaker. One down, one to go - However, it will remain to be scene whether or not the weight will affect his speed and agility, the traits that have made him so explosive up to this point.

Klitschko has kept his side of the bargain and defeated the mandatory challenger Tony Thomson and David Haye plans to do the same. He has a date set for his first high-scaled showing as a heavyweight (has had one previous heavyweight bout).  London's brand new O2 Arena, with a 20,000 seat capacity will be the location for his bout in which the challenger has yet to be named. Haye promises that the fight will be with a heavyweight ranked in the top 10 and that the opponent will be finalized soon.

What's Next For All you Margaretards Out There?

It would seem that after his career defining victory this past weekend that established him as possibly the top fighter in the division, Antonio Margarito should have his pick of the welterweight divison for his first title defense. But not so fast. With his superhuman performance against one of the best fighters in the world, has he furthered his self-fulfilling prophecy of  his past label as the "most avoided man in boxing"? Who is going to want to get in the ring with this guy after witnessing that? It is possible that he may have just put on such a good performance that, whether he likes it or not, he has laid claim to his former moniker.

However, there is one major difference now than from a few years back, when, as the tale goes, Floyd Mayweather Jr. turned down 8 million dollars to fight The Tijuana Tornado. This time he not only has the top crown in the division, but after proving that he could headline a Pay-Per-View event that created so much buzz and excitement (i.e. $$$$$), he now has the the dollar draw to attract nearly any fighter (no matter how badly they would like to avoid him).

With that said, the victory opens the door to a handful of very interesting fights. The original idea was to have the winner of the fight go on to face the The Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya, in his grand finale on December 6th. But the name that was always talked about for that fight was Cotto, so when Margarito won and looked like a beast doing it, Oscar said no thanks - declaring that he did not want to end his career fighting another Mexican fighter (another way of saying I want to leave the sport, but not on a stretcher). So thats out.

The next possible intriguing match-up would be with Paul The Punisher Williams, the same man who took the title from Antonio one year ago.  One could argue that the 6'1 freak is the best welterweight in the division - his only loss was avenged in the rematch in under 2 minutes and he beat Margarito who beat Cotto. In the first match-up Williams started to fade in the late rounds as Margarito began to pick it it up, but is was a little too late and he ran out of time. The fight ended in a fairly close decision for Williams.

Next, is the most obvious choice, a re-match of the fight of the year candidate against Miguel Cotto. This fight would draw even more attention than the first and would surely be as exciting, if not better. However, it would be surprising if Cotto took this fight directly after that tough loss, especially when he fought great and gave him everything he had, but still couldn't come out on top.

Finally we have The Pretty Boy.  Will the constant repetition of the fact that he turned down a fight for big bucks against Tony draw him out of "retirement"? We know at some point he is going to come back and pull a Sugar Ray Leonard on us, but would this be the best fight to do it? If he came back and soundly beat Margarito, a fighter that looked nearly indestructible and is still hot from that last fight, he would be building a strong case for his top ten all-time pound-for-pound ranking (and we might possibly stop calling him names).

The Cotto-Margarito bout brought something to boxing that was sorely needed - some major buzz from the regular world. There is no doubt in our minds that a match-up with one of these fighters could inevitably duplicate that success.

Toney - Rahman Decision Reversed

James Toney TKO stoppage over Hasim Rahman has been changed to a no contest by the California State Athletic Commission (see what happened).  At least this give us all a little reassurance that boxing isn't as crooked as everyone makes it out to be.  They reviewed the call and overturned it.

Jeff Lacy Comes Out of Retirement!!!!? Lacy-Taylor Back

After sitting and waiting for the perfect opportunity to reinstate himself back into the sport that he so adamantly retired from, Jeff Lacy has decided to come out of retirement - a retirement that lasted all of three and half days.

Lacy went on a rant a few days after his amateur-like close decision victory over Epifanio Mendoza. He was upset when he found out that the $500,000 purse that he was going to receive for his upcoming fight with Jermain Taylor was only increased by $50,000 after his horrible performance. Hoping to get a reaction, he retired. But, it seems no one really cared (including us; see article)

Apparently DiBella must have let him know that if he did well and raised the interest in the Jermain Taylor fight (which there is none of), then they might make the purse a little sweeter for him. But, he didn't so neither did they.

"It's back on," Lacy told the Tampa Tribune. It seems this revelation came about when Golden Boy COO, David Itskowitch said that he had to make a deal with Lacy. "I spoke to Jeff this morning and I asked him what the number was for him to take the fight and he told me and we got it done," said Itskowitch.

Another example of an overrated pre-madonna fighter, who is coming off three horribly close decisions to middle of the road fighters. He does not deserve even $200,000 for the fight, he doesn't even deserve a bout against a top boxer. There is no reason why Taylor shouldn't make an overwhelming comeback against Lacy, an opponent who has been one of the most highly overrated boxers in recent memory.

Pic of the Week: Cotto vs. Margarito

Click to enlarge and download

Every picture tells the story.

Fight of the Year: Antonio Margarito Ko's Miguel Cotto!!!

"Portrait of a losing side, proof positive that you can't out-punch machinery. Proof also of something else: that no matter what the future brings, man's capacity to rise to the occasion will remain unaltered. His potential for tenacity and optimism continues, as always, to outfight, outpoint, and outlive any and all changes made by his society, for which three cheers and a unanimous decision rendered from the Twilight Zone."

- Rod Serling, 1963

Miguel Cotto found himself traveling into a dimension he had never once explored in his young boxing career. At some point in this monumental fight, Cotto realized that he was not fighting a man in the ring tonight, "he was fighting a robot, or to be exact, and android, definition: an automation resembling a human being" (Serling). His opponent, Antonio Margarito showed the world that there is no tougher man in the sport of boxing, than The Tijuana Tornado. 

Cotto dashed from the gates with an impressive first round, dominating with his stiff jab and following up with vicious combinations (punches that can and have knocked out many tough fighters in the past). The next four or five rounds followed suit - Cotto moved around the ring in circles putting on a display of boxing, landing clean hard shots as Margarito continued to give relentless chase.  

It was not overly apparent, but every round after the second, Margarito seemed to slowly gain momentum, as if someone in the boiler room finally decided to slowly start adding more and more coal to the fire. About half way through the seventh round, it was obvious that the fight was rapidly starting to head in a very different direction - the locomotive had finally reached full speed. Margarito's relentless pressure ultimately started catching up to Cotto, forcing him to trade punches in the middle of the ring. 

"And now we have our classic," said Max Kellerman.

From that point forward, Miguel Cotto had come to the realization that not even his best blow could inflict any damage on his unrelenting opponent and he did the only thing that was rational - turn to survival mode. Cotto resorted back to sticking and moving to avoid danger like he did so easily for the first couple of rounds, but this time Margarito was on another level, stalking Cotto and throwing non-stop punches until they finally started to do some damage.

In round eleven, Margarito continued to eat huge right hands and left hooks as he shadowed his opponent's every move until he finally found Cotto exaclty where he wanted him. Margarito cornered Cotto against the ropes and pummeled him from all directions. Even while taking a beating, Miguel managed to get off a 1-2 that may have KO'd most fighters, but not his opponent on this night. Margarito ate the stiff shots and fired one more upper cut, forcing Cotto to take a knee. 

Cotto rose to his feet only to be met by a charging bull, and once again dropped to a knee to avoid fruther damage. Cotto, face covered in blood, showed the toughness of true champion and once again climbed to his feet. But it was obvious he had enough. 

Miguel Angel Cotto's cornerman threw in the towel with a minute to go in the 11th round of the fight. A fight that crowned a new welterweight champion of the world and made us all proud to be fans of the sweet science that is boxing . 

More to come on Cotto vs. Margarito

Jeff Lacy Done With Boxing?

The former super-middleweight champion, Jeff Left Hook Lacy (24-1 (17 Ko's) has told The Tampa Tribune that he is done with the sport of boxing. After his lack-luster performance on ESPN Wednesday Night fights in which he barely survived a ten round decision over Epifanio Mendoza, we think he might be making the correct move.

"I'm retiring," said the 31 yr old. "There will be no fight between me and Jermain... I'm just retiring... I'm done."

"This business is dirty. That's all I have to say. This is a very dirty business. I would advise anyone who has kids not to ever let them fight in this business."  

Nothing yet on what caused this disdain for the sport he has been involved in for his entire life. Its seems all of this came as surprising news to everyone involved with the up-coming fight, including his trainer, Roger Bloodworth and co-promoters of the Talor -Lacy fight, Lou DiBella and Golden Boy Promotions.  "Put it this way, I've heard nothing from anyone in his camp indicating anything other than the fight's happening," said DiBella.

Whether or not Lacy is serious about retirement or just upset with his last fight, this route may be the best way to go. After showing so many flaws in his most recent fight, there is no reason why the former undisputed middle weight champ of the world, Jermain Taylor, wouldn't absolutely destroy him in the ring. Lacy's retirement would inevitably force Taylor into taking a tougher and all around better fight - a shot a vacant title against the British contender Carl Froch.

Apparently Lacy has never fully recovered from his overwhelming loss to Joe Calzaghe two years ago. Since that fight, he has been lucky to sneak away with three very close decisions, including a victory over Peter Manfredo that many felt was undeserved. It may be best to avoid this upcoming bout with Taylor and take some time to think things over, then return to the thing that he knows how to do best.

The Battle: Cotto - Margarito Weigh-In Results

It's on. This morning both fighters stepped to the scale at a cut 147 lbs. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that these two would be ready to go.

The Battle: Miguel Cotto vs. Antonio Margarito

The eve of boxing's biggest night of 2008 is rapidly approaching. Two warrior champions will step inside the squared-circle fueled not only by the desire to be the number one boxer in their weight class, but by the rivalry of bloodlines passed from their countryman that was animated long before either of them slipped their hands into a pair boxing gloves.

These two fistic combatants are giving us something that only happens once every so often in the sport of boxing.  Max Kellerman illustrates the significance of this bout -  "Today there is so much jockeying going on for the big money fights, that bouts between the great fighters - the ones even non-boxing fans want to see - take so long to develop that when we finally get to the bout, either one or both of the fighters are past their prime. A case in point is the 2007 De La Hoya - Mayweather match-up... But in Cotto-Margarito, we have two brilliant boxers who are at the top of their game." 

The welterweight champion of the world, Miguel Angel Cotto, has proven to everyone that he is not only the number one fighter in the division but also competing for the rank of best pound-for-pound boxer in the world. 

Cotto has welcomed all comers with a stone-cold demeanor and the actions in the ring to back it up. During his undefeated campaign, Cotto has engaged a slew of excellent fighters, including one-time world champions Sugar Shane Mosley, Zab Judah, Carlos Quintana, Paulie Malignaggi, and Ricardo Torres. 

The journey was not easy by any means. He found himself in trouble a few different times throughout his career, but showed the tough chin, desire and stability to come back from it with a decisive victory every time. And that is what makes him great.

Cotto may be the best all-around fighter in the game. His solid defense is tough to wear down, but he is willing to trade punches to land his own. He works the ring like a technician, using his jab to set up an unparalleled attack to both body and head. And most importantly, he is entertaining. 

Miguel Cotto does not waste his time trash talking before his fights - he is there for only one reason - to inflict as much carnage as possible on the man standing across from him. Come Saturday night, that man will inevitably be the toughest opponent he has ever faced. 

Antonio The Tijuana Tornado Margarito envelopes the heart and soul of a true Mexican fighter. He earned his nickname by demonstrating an extraterrestrial work-rate and a crazy come-forward style, while in the process delivering punches from all angles. 

Maragrito learned the game of boxing in a rough way. With his family struggling financially, he turned pro at fifteen years old and subsequently took three early devastating losses to veterans. There is no doubt that his tough on-the-job experience has molded him into the man that he is today. 

Like many Mexican fighters before him, he has never given into pain or fatigue. And since he has never once been stopped in his career by another man's punch,  he will always stand as a true test for his opponent to overcome.

Last but not least, he has the one punch that can equalize any fight - the left hook to the body.  Margarito exhibited the gut busting power of this punch (that has left many of his opponents pissin' blood for days) in his overwhelming KO victory over then IBF champion Kermit Cintron (video below). 

There is no better match in boxing than the pairing between these to superior athletes in the prime of their careers. A Puerto Rican boxer/puncher vs. a Mexican whirling dervish brawler - a clash of styles and nations. Forget Mayweather, forget De La Hoya - these two fighters had to wait behind the big shadows that the overpaid and over-reported fighters cast. It is their turn now. 

This is the fight that should be breaking all-time pay-per-view records and discussed on daytime television, but it won't be and wether that is sad or not is up to you. Regardless if you are a boxing fan or not, this is a must see fight - go to a freind's, pay ten bucks at a bar, or even drop the 49 doll hairs to sit on your oversize love seat and tune in. This will not disappoint. And although Daniel Day-Lewis' name is nowhere to be found on the undercard - we can promise you, There Will Be Blood.

Saturday July 26th on HBO PPV - 9:00 pm ET / 6:00 pm PT