411 Boxing Fact or Fiction 06.30.09: Montreal, Fights Outside Las Vegas, Marquez-Mayweather, More

Posted by Ramon Aranda on 06.30.2009

Will the extra time leading up to the fight benefit Marquez instead of Mayweather? Is Shane Mosley the odd man out, or is it Paul Williams? Do you miss USA Tuesday Night Fights? Is Montreal now considered a major boxing town? 411’s Jonathan Yaghoubi and Raymundo Dioses discuss these topics and more in the latest edition of 411 Fact or Fiction: Boxing!




Alright here we go with another edition of Fact or Fiction. This week, Raymundo Dioses, of Ringside with Raymundo represents the west coast and he steps in against Jonathan Yaghoubi of Big Apple Boxing Thoughts who'll be repping the east coast. Be sure to check out both of their columns every Thursday.

I'll be your third man in the ring so let's get it on!


1. The odd man out isn't Shane Mosley; it's Paul Williams.

Jonathan Yaghoubi: FICTION - Paul Williams has been the odd man out for two years already. Nobody wants to fight this guy as he is currently has the label as the most avoided boxer on the planet. He is not getting any big fight and has been fighting guys that are just on that elite level. But we have all known this about Paul being ducked so it's not too shocking even with the announcements for all the big welterweight fights right now. Williams is coming off a win over an over the hill Winky Wright who had not fought for two years before being destroyed by Williams.

You want to talk about being the odd man out and that is Shane Mosley. Here is a guy who defied all odds in his last fight with a huge upset knockout destruction of Antonio Margarito. Prior to the bout nobody gave Mosley a chance of prevailing- everybody believing that Margarito was too strong and that Mosley was too old. The conventional wisdom was that this was a mismatch, which would end in a brutal retirement-forcing stoppage for Sugar Shane. They were all wrong! It was Margarito that was ruthlessly clubbed about the ring, unable to land any meaningful shots. In the end, it was Mosley who took home the WBA welterweight title and now has once again become one of the top dog's in boxing again. However, he can't land a big fight of any kind right now. He is the new WBA welterweight champion! Do belts mean anything anymore?

He was hoping to get a fight with Manny Pacquiao and looked like he might get it for a second. But now Manny's attention has turned to Cotto and those two will likely fight in November. Cotto is the same guy that destroyed by Margarito( I know he might have cheated) but we don't know for sure yet. So Mosley comes back and knocks this guy out and it's Cotto who gets the big fight? Mosley has reason to gripe. II feel the best fight he could right now is a bout with Joshua Clottey. Clottey is an even bigger name now thanks to his great performance against Cotto and should be worthy of another big fight. But the main point is that Mosley is currently getting squeezed out of the big picture and that is not right.

Raymundo Dioses: FICTION - Paul Williams is a middleweight. His sizable advantages in the reach and height department against welterweights makes Williams want to be a welterweight. Also, the fact that he can physically make 147 gives him all the more reason to want to be in that division. Yet welterweights aren't going to give up all of those advantages to Williams. The South Carolina native is supremely gifted, and he needs to take his gifts to the middleweight division, where middleweights can match him in height and reach. At the middleweight level, Williams has more viable opponents and will land fights easier than he would in the smaller division of welterweight. Mosley, on the other hand, set his sights high with attempting to land a fight with Pacquiao, and now seemingly has to settle for a fight against Andre Berto or Joshua Clottey and hope for a shot at the winner of the prospected November bout between Cotto and Pacquiao.

Score: 1 for 1

2. The added time between the Marquez-Mayweather fight will benefit Juan Manuel.

Jonathan Yaghoubi: FACT - - I can't really see this hurting Juan Manuel at all. Whenever you delay a fight, there is no way it can hurt anyone. In this case, it's going to be two more months and that should be a problem for Juan or even Floyd for that matter. Marquez fought a tough fight back in February against Diaz and I thought that a July fight with Mayweather would be a little too soon.

But with two more months to wait, it can only help both men. More time to study, more time to heal, and more time to train. I can't really go much more than that.

Raymundo Dioses: FICTION - Whenever a fight is delayed, especially the fighter not expecting it, both fighters have to physically and mentally prepare all over again. In Mayweather, he probably saw the signs for sometime, a few days, a week, or more, before the fight was officially called off. Marquez may have had no prior knowledge until Mayweather and Co. where 100% that they weren't going to fight, and was preparing for his training to end at a specific time and fight night to be in July. It's pretty much a start all over for both fighters, and Mayweather absence from the ring that will be extended from 13 months to 15 months isn't much of a difference.

Score: 1 for 2

3. We'll start seeing more and more fights promoted via Twitter this year.

Jonathan Yaghoubi: FICTION - I don't go on Twitter and never been on that site in my life. I am a face book guy and will never sell out to Twitter! But seriously, I didn't know boxing was using Twitter for any kind of promoting. I guess it can't hurt but if boxing is going to start using social networking websites to advertise for fights, they might be in a little trouble. The whole idea of it seems kind of silly but it can't hurt. You might see Twitter being used more but I just don't see it.

Raymundo Dioses: FACT - We'll probably see Twitter updating all forms of news for the world. Most recently, coverage of the protests in Iran was found on Twitter, and we'll always see the latest form of internet site to be used for promotional purposes. Recently Golden Boy Promotions has had HBO link to Victor Ortiz's Facebook page and in the past GBP has advertised on MySpace. It's a sign of the times!

Score: 1 for 3

AND NOW FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUNDS!!

4. You miss USA Tuesday Night Fights.

Raymundo Dioses: FACT - While I haven't been covering the sport exclusively until recently, I recall watching fights on USA, and every hardcore fan I speak with is all giddy when they speak of seeing Shane Mosley or Bernard Hopkins, and how it brightened up their usually boring work weeks. Having a major cable network produce a weekly boxing series is something that would help the sport out drastically. Shelving out 49.95 is going to become a harder thing to do in our present times, yet perhaps the public would be more apt to if they were shown a few fights featuring the elite fighters. Would the next major cable network willing to pick up boxing please stand up?

Jonathan Yaghoubi: FACT - I can't emphasize enough how much USA Tuesday Night fights had an influence on my growing love for boxing. It was one of the best boxing shows they had ever done and it was a great way to showcase some talent. I have seen everyone from George Foreman, Vinny Pazienza, and Bernard Hopkins. And who could forget the Riddick Bowe-Elijah Tillery kickboxing match.

But the main point is that it was as fun a boxing show as anything PPV could put out. I always looked forward to Tuesday Nights as it was a way to spend some quality time with my father who was the sole reason I became a big boxing fan and watching Tuesday Night fights help catapult that. It was at one time the longest running boxing show on television so they were doing something right. With the sport in a little bit of downturn with the emergence of MMA, it's time for USA to bring back Tuesday Night fights. Monday Night Raw was away from USA for a good 4-5 years and they knew how much Monday Night sucked without them so they brought it back. It's time to do the same for boxing. Did I mention, I really miss this show!!!


Score: 2 for 4

5. We're beginning to see a shift from having fights in Las Vegas to areas near Los Angeles, Houston and New York. You expect that trend to continue.

Raymundo Dioses: FACT - I do expect the sport of boxing to more or less veer away slowly from Las Vegas. The absence of Oscar De La Hoya gives promoters less firepower to guarantee a casino a large turnout. I believe it also puts pressure on promoter's to make the absolute best quality match ups, because there are very few one name fights that can produce a sellout. Oscar De La Hoya vs. Joe Shmoe would fill any Las Vegas arena and closed circuit areas, yet that era is all but diminished save for Manny Pacquiao. Promoters can no longer blindly rely on the Vegas City Lights to draw crowds to their fights; instead they need to place their fighters fights in their hometowns or within a reasonable distance

Jonathan Yaghoubi: FACT - The only reason I say fact is because I do expect to see the trend continue but I feel like this trend has been going on for quite a while. I do agree with Raymundo that the retirement of De la Hoya gives the promoters less guarantee of selling out any Las Vegas casino. But I feel that their have been many fights going on at the Staples Center and Madison Square Garden for quite a while. We have already seen Cotto fight at the Garden twice in the last four months, Roy Jones-Calzaghe at the Garden, Magarito-Mosley at Staples, and Diaz-Marquez in Houston. Going back further in time, we have seen De La Hoya-Mosley at Staples, Cotto-Mosley at MSG, and even Lewis-Holyfield at MSG. The shift has happened for years already.

However, I do like the idea of watching more and more fights happening at the boxers' hometown as that seems to be the smart way to do business and sell out the arena. But the idea that we are all of a sudden seeing a shift is a little inaccurate.


Score: 3 for 5

6. Montreal is showing to be a major boxing town.

Raymundo Dioses: FACT - Last weekends Dianocu/Pascal brawl had a turnout of 13,659 fans, who came in droves to support both of their fighters. Coupled with champion Lucien Bute, who seems to sit ringside with a TV seat every time, anything is going on boxing wise in Canada, and Montreal is steadily developing into a boxing city.

Jonathan Yaghoubi: FICTION - I don't know how to rate this because I really don't follow pay close to attention to stuff like this unless it's noticeable. And this is not. Montreal seems more like an MMA town than a boxing town. George St. Pierre, one of the best UFC fighters in the world, sold out the Molson Center last year on his own drawing power and had the crowd going nuts for him. They were into every move the guy did and made sure that Matt Serra, St. Pierre's opponent that evening, would not get out alive. The atmosphere was amazing for that night and it gave Montreal the label that it was an MMA town. I have yet to see anything like that for a boxing match so it has not yet reached boxing town status. But more and more brawls like the one Pascal/Diancou had last weekend and we could see it shift to boxing.

Final Score: 3 for 6

So there you have it; Jonathan and Raymundo only agree half of the time and we wonder if they can settle it in an alley but until then, we ask you the fans for your input. Fact or Fiction? You decide!

See you next time.