Safe Side Of The Ropes

By: Andrew Harrison

Jan 01 2010

Category: antonio margarito, chris arreola, floyd mayweather, john mcdermott, manny pacquiao, miguel cotto, nazim richardson, rogers mtagwa, sergio martinez, tyson fury

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Happy New Year one and all and thanks to everyone who dropped by the site in 2009. December welcomed a record number of visitors and hopefully 2010 will see Safe Side Of The Ropes go from strength to strength, growing from a handy looking prospect into a climbing and rising contender.

I’ve taken my foot off the gas of late, so in a bid to catch up somewhat, below are the folk who largely defined 2009 on planet punch.

Let’s start with 2009’s good guys.

Heroes

• Manny Pacquiao

Only boxing could find itself a genuine super hero in 2009 and then manage to besmirch said saviour’s reputation before the New Year champagne corks had finished popping.

Pacquiao could very well have been a lame Hollywood creation. Get this:

He’s a man of the people, one who lifts an entire nation with his ring exploits. He’s also an unbeatable monster between the ropes who invites his victims over to his Filipino mansion for a few shandies after they’ve picked up their teeth.

There’s a childlike quality to Manny; the man grins sheepishly when the spotlight’s on him like a child prodigy taking to the stage, prior to whistling through a Mozart concerto. He has a passion for singing and he does it with an earnest gusto, again like a child performing before a family gathering. There’s nothing childlike about him when he fights however. The man is a wrecking machine.

In his last three fights, he initiated Oscar De la Hoya’s retirement, left Ricky Hatton considering his and brought Miguel Cotto’s forward a few years. Marvelous Marvin Hagler used to boast that he ruined good men, an intimidating skill which Pacquiao would appear to possess.

In 2009 he obliterated light welter kingpin Ricky Hatton (who’d never lost at 140 lbs) and dismembered arguably the world’s best welterweight in Miguel Cotto and he did it with a level of humility and class which elevated the entire sport.

• Sergio Martinez

Two fights, no victories and Martinez made the hero list? Damn right he did and here’s why:

Martinez took on the hard punching Kermit Cintron on Valentine’s Day however he wasn’t afforded much love from referee Frank Santore Jr. (see Villains below). Despite being royally gypped out of firstly, a knockout victory in the seventh round, then a DQ win when team Cintron invaded the ring and finally a commanding points victory by completely outboxing his Puerto Rican foe (totally fluffed by the ringside judges), Sergio managed to refrain from throttling the entire team of officials. That’s pretty incredible.

Martinez then went in with the most feared and avoided man in the sport, Paul Williams, in December. In an epic contest, the pair traded knockdowns and plenty of leather, thrilling fans in attendance in Atlantic City. In a fight which was seen by 99.9% of spectators as being a close run thing (indeed I gave it to Martinez by a point), judge Pierre Benoist conjured up a ludicrous 119-110 scorecard in favour of Williams. Was Martinez robbed? Certainly not, however another more competent official may have scored it close enough for Martinez to have grabbed himself a well deserved draw.

Despite this, there were no Zab Judah style histrionics, no Oscar De la Hoya federal investigation threats (I still chuckle at that one), Sergio merely grinned disbelievingly. Ever felt ripped off? Martinez did in 2009 yet took it on the chin and in doing so, he earned the respect of countless fight fans the world over.

• Rogers Mtagwa

The Tiger from Tanzania began 2009 as just another rather obscure tough guy journeyman fighter, with a date pencilled in for a scrap at the cathedral of such men: Philadelphia’s Blue Horizon.

It was rather a surprise then, to see him get the call to face Bob Arum’s burgeoning superstar Juan Manuel Lopez in October. What happened in the event was even more eyebrow raising.

Mtagwa not only pushed Lopez hard over the first half of the contest, he very nearly knocked him out of it towards its climax, the young Puerto Rican somehow managing to hang on grimly for a points win, in what turned out to be the fight of his life.

Lopez came within a hair’s breadth of disaster and Mtagwa proved once again that in boxing, you can never be completely confident which way a bout will go. His heroic and battling display was inspiring, a performance for other unheralded warriors to aspire to and which proves that if you give something your all, you’re never without a chance. It also earned him a shot at another Arum starlet, Yuriorkis Gamboa in 2010. Good for him.

• Miguel Cotto

Cotto makes the list based on one, or perhaps I should say two, reasons; cajones. After being brutalised by Antonio Margarito in 2008 (a performance which seems heroic in the shadows of the hand wrap scandal), Cotto eased himself back into action against an out of his depth Michael Jennings. After dispatching the smooth boxing but overpowered Brit, in what amounted to little more than an exhibition bout, Cotto leapt straight back into world class against the rugged Josh Clottey.

After a great start, which saw the Puerto Rican drop his opponent with a jab, Cotto suffered a terrible gash over his left eye after a head clash, which severely hampered his vision. Despite this handicap, he managed to tough out a razor thin decision victory which ‘earned’ him a crack at streaking phenom Manny Pacquiao.

Cotto eliminated any lingering doubts over his mettle, with a gritty display, one which saw him fighting on equal terms early, before succumbing late to one of the finest fighters of the modern era. Cotto also had to drag himself up off the canvas twice and after the smoke had cleared, he conducted himself like a true champ. 

• Nazim Richardson

Just how crooked would Sugar Shane’s already crumpled beak look right now, if Nazim Richardson hadn’t felt the collars of Antonio Margarito and Javier Capetillo? The word on the grapevine was that California State Athletic Commission bods had already signed off one of Margarito’s illegal mitts when Richardson arrived to check his hand wraps.

Luckily for Mosley and for future Margarito victims, Richardson didn’t come down in the last shower. After witnessing some spurious taping technique, Richardson demanded that Margarito re-wrap his hands, in the face of voluble opposition and it was during this process that plaster coated inserts were discovered. Richardson ensured the illegal inserts were removed and in doing so, probably saved Mosley and others from serious injury.

Remember Margarito almost taking one of his opponent’s ears off with a punch? Remember Papa Cotto’s description of his battered son crying tears of blood? Richardson’s interjection made him a hero in 2009; when one harks back to the Billy Collins tragedy, I don’t feel it’s overstating the point to say that he may well have saved a fighter’s life.

Villains

• Antonio Margarito

Less then four weeks after the beginning of the year, Margarito went from hero to zero in an episode of career hara-kiri which makes Tiger Woods’ recent calamity look like a mere blip.

Riding high after the best win of his career over Miguel Cotto, Margarito looked on course to achieve recognition as the welterweight of the decade. He was heavily favoured to triumph over Sugar Shane Mosley in a January title defence, when suddenly, his world came crashing down around him, after he and his trainer Javier Capetillo were exposed as flat out cheats.

As described earlier, Mosley trainer Nazim Richardson exposed the pair in the midst of trying to load Margarito’s gloves with plaster hardened hand wraps. It was a heinous crime, one which could have resulted in serious repercussions for Mosley if Miguel Cotto was anything to go by.

It was a stunning fall from grace and a reprehensible crime. When 2009 began, Margarito was at the top of my favourite fighters chart, with a brand of fighting machismo which had seen yours truly, liken his toughness to that of all time greats Julio Cesar Chavez and Marvelous Marvin Hagler.

It is my fervent belief that he now should be banished from the sport for life, along with any other fighter found cheating, be it with drugs, potions, horseshoes in their gloves or whatever.

Margarito could have killed someone.

• Floyd Mayweather

Too easy? Mmm, perhaps, however his inclusion is merited. Apart from the obvious; the gloating, the lack of class, the dollar waving, challenge dodging and self obsession, Mayweather lost a hell of a lot of respect from fight fans this semester. In an attempt to deflect attention away from Manny Pacquiao’s fight with Ricky Hatton in May, Floyd announced his return to the ring on the eve of the light welterweight showdown after a 17 month hiatus.

There aren’t many men who would have chosen an elite fighter to return against after such a spell on the sidelines, which is exactly the decision Floyd made in selecting the great Juan Manuel Marquez as his dance partner. There was just one problem with this; Marquez was far too small to pose a threat to Floyd’s unbeaten record or as it turned out, even fight competitively.

That’s not why he makes the villain list however, despite the fact he disadvantaged Marquez (a guy who had spent the majority of his career at featherweight) further by demanding that the fight take place at a catch-weight of 144 lbs. One could recall countless instances where great fighters chose a gimme fight for a return to arms after an extended sabbatical.

Mayweather’s crime came at the weigh in when he deliberately came in heavy, paying Marquez a reported 600 thousand bucks for the privilege. In essence, Floyd used his financial might to gain even more leverage over his gallant opponent than that which he already held.

Brinksmanship or plain old cheating? Whichever side of the fence you fall on, the lack of respect Mayweather showed Marquez was odious, not to say dangerous and was more than enough to land him here, amongst 2009’s wrong ‘uns.

• Officials

Ok, not all officials were poor in 2009 but there were a hell of a lot of indiscretions which undermined the good work carried out.

Where to start? Well there was the officiating in the Amir Khan-Marco Antonio Barrera fight in March which saw the Mexican legend suffer a horrendous gash after an opening round clash of heads, which all but ended the contest from a competitive standpoint. I was in attendance that night and for me, the fight should have been called off and ruled a no contest however I recall the atmosphere and how the crowd harassed referee Dave Parris when a premature and disappointing ending reared its head.

Parris allowed the fight to continue on into round five, whereupon he called a halt, had Barrera examined by the ringside physician and the bout belatedly went to the scorecards, returning a Khan win. If Parris had done the right thing and employed the ringside physician earlier, the fight would have been ruled a no contest.

Equally poor refereeing was on view in the recent Edgar Sosa-Rodel Mayol fight in Mexico. Mayol crashed his head into Sosa’s face in round two, sending him down and breaking his cheekbone. Referee Roberto Ramirez Jr. took a point from Mayol yet bizarrely waved the fighters on to continue, whereupon Mayol quickly finished a badly hurt Sosa to record a crazy win.

As mentioned earlier, referee Frank Santore Jr. made the biggest pig’s ear of any fight I care to recall in the Sergio Martinez-Kermit Cintron affair. At one point, he legitimately counted Cintron out, only to reinstate him in the fight after he complained erroneously that he’d been butted. Madness.

Referees weren’t the only officials at fault mind you, there were some ludicrous judging decisions in 2009. Remember Gale Van Hoy’s 118-110 card in the first Malignaggi-Diaz scrap? What about Pierre Benoist’s even crazier 119-110 return in the recent Martinez-Williams war? There were also shockingly bad instances of scoring in the Ali Funeka-Joan Guzman battle and the Tyson Fury-John McDermott fight (a bout I felt was close, despite most agreeing that McDermott had deserved the verdict. Terry O’Connor’s 98-92 score for Fury meanwhile was a disgrace).

• All those concerned in the Mayweather-Pacquiao debacle

I can’t quite bring myself to write much about the whole sordid stand off between the two greatest fighters on the planet. I’m sure readers are well aware of the situation and most will agree that every man and jack involved in the colossal road block which centres around drug testing (which could yet set the sport back aeons), should  hang their collective heads in shame.

This fight MUST happen. Stop the bullshit and get it done.

• Chris Arreola

Maybe they should make one of those awful ‘When (insert anything from the weather, cars, holidays, Yorkshire puddings) Go Bad’ programmes about today’s heavyweight division. If they do, Arreola can be the poster boy.

I’ve long stood atop my soapbox, preaching that today’s dearth of quality heavyweight fighters can be blamed largely on their conditioning. Alongside goliaths such as the Klitschko boys and Niko Valuev, the more traditional sized fellas seem to have assumed one mammoth inferiority complex, which sees them packing on flab to make them feel ‘less small’ on the scales.

The problem here is that the weight they accrue is useless, check out the K Bro’s, do they carry excess poundage for the hell of it? We end up with a series of static, lazy, slow and ponderous challengers being jabbed stupid for round after round as we struggle to stay awake.

Arreola had US writers excited (I’m still dumfounded as to why) at his chances against Vitali Klitschko yet turned up jiggling like an overripe belly dancer, had his face bashed in by big Vit and then cried like a baby. It was an eyesore.

There is hope however. David Haye is a guy who comes to fight in shape, as is fellow former cruiserweight Tomas Adamek and even Eddie Chambers seems to have realised that his performance improves when he snaffles less pies.

As for Arreola, he promised to learn his lesson and come back an improved and committed fighter. In his comeback fight he came in even heavier and even fatter. The guy plainly doesn’t take himself seriously which means thankfully, that we no longer have to either.

Winners

• Andre Ward

Ward began the year as a guy who appeared to have missed the boat. A former Olympic gold medal champion, he was tipped for big things in the pros and despite knocking up a record of 17-0 in the four years since making the switch, he had already been filed away by many in the underachiever folder.

Ward began the year by hammering out a decision win over Henry Buchanan before stepping up to the plate in his first real test, with a bout against the powder keg punching, world class gatekeeper, Edison Miranda.Ward completely outboxed Miranda and then things really took off for him; he signed up for Showtime’s innovative Super Six tournament.

With a first round tie against tournament favourite and WBA titlist Mikkel Kessler in the pipeline, the duo won gimme fights in September before clashing in November in Andre’s hometown of Oakland. Ward dominated Kessler in an astonishing breakthrough performance, which instantly pegged him as the man to beat in the Super Six and opened up a glorious looking future for him.

Ward looks the goods; he could very well become boxing’s next superstar.

• Danny Green

Hands up those who had ‘The Green Machine’ on their radar this time last year? Let’s be honest, despite two knockout victories in April and August, how many were paying close attention before he signed to fight a regrouping Roy Jones Jr?

In December, in front of a partisan Sydney crowd, Green ensured that fight fans would be fully aware of him in 2010. It took him around a minute to plant a hefty right hand just behind the left ear of the future hall of famer, which destroyed his equilibrium and sent him sprawling. Green’s follow up assault forced the third man in the ring to call a halt to the bout after just 122 seconds.

The win should land Green at least one bumper payday next time out, although reports would indicate that a potential clash with Bernard Hopkins may now be a non-starter due to a wrangle over the purse split. He’ll have a hell of a lot more options on the table than he did just over a month ago however, thanks to one wonderful right hand.

• Timothy Bradley

There’s an interview out there somewhere with Evander Holyfield just prior to his bout with Bobby Czyz which is one of my all time favourites. In it, ‘The Real Deal’ says something along the lines of, ‘you will run into someone who is faster….someone is stronger….someone with more boxing ability…but thinking ability….the warrior’s edge, makes the difference’….ok that may not be quite on the money but I only have it on VCR and the player bit the dust a loooonnng time ago. What I’m trying to get at is that Bradley, like Holyfield, manages to overcome opposition thanks mainly to an iron will and an intensely competitive nature rather than any obvious physical gifts.

Bradley had three fights this term, climbing off the floor to defeat hard punching Kendall Holt, recording a no contest against Nate Campbell in a fight he looked to be winning and then outfighting the unbeaten Lamont Peterson. In doing so, Bradley positioned himself as the man to take over at 140lb’s once Manny Pacquiao departs for pastures new (the Pacman is rumoured to have one eye on a political position in his homeland).

Bradley is a winner who will take on all comers. 2010 should be exciting.

• David Haye

There are some who would have liked to have seen ‘The Hayemaker’ placed in the previous section due to an unsavoury T-shirt and a pair of controversial and high profile no shows.

Haye signed to fight Wladimir Klitschko in a summer showdown which instantly sold out a German soccer ground, however he had to pull out due to injury which coincided with the demise of UK TV network Setanta Sports, who were paying his wages.

Despite the bitter disappointment of seeing the biggest fight of his career fly out of the window, Haye seemed to have salvaged a title fight with the other brother, Vitali, only to change tack when a fight with Nikolay Valuev presented itself, further infuriating the Klitschko brood.

It proved a shrewd move however, the ‘David & Goliath’ theme which the fight was punted under in the UK earned Haye oodles of cash. It also caught the imagination of the public, instantly making Haye a household name, as well as bringing him a WBA heavyweight title, which further bolstered his earning power.

Haye emerged as a star in 2009 and if he continues to win, could become boxing’s biggest name of all.

• Showtime

Tired of playing second fiddle to HBO, Showtime’s execs came up with something innovative in ’09. They somehow managed to convince six of the top fighters at or around 168 lbs, to sign up for a round robin tournament which would crown the world’s number one super middleweight (ok Lucien Bute has one hell of an argument and wasn’t included but hey, he’ll have a chance to take on the winner).

The six fighters who inked to feature were; Andre Dirrell, Andre Ward, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, Carl Froch and Jermain Taylor. In the first round, Froch beat Dirrell, Ward topped Kessler and Abraham starched Taylor and the fun all begins again with the second round of matches this Spring.

Showtime should be applauded for pulling this one off, their temerity and foresight will be rewarded and boxing is the winner.

Losers

• Kelly Pavlik

What a shitty 12 months for Kelly Pavlik. Admittedly 2008 didn’t end well for the middleweight champ, after he well and truly got his ass kicked up at light heavy, by veteran hard nut Bernard Hopkins.

Pavlik returned in February against Mexican soft touch (that’s almost an oxymoron) Marco Antonio Rubio, winning in nine rounds yet looking awful in doing so.

Kelly then apparently picked up a staph infection in a hand injury which interfered with firstly, a summer date with Sergio Mora, then an autumn date with Paul Williams and again with the rescheduled Williams date in December. To make matters worse, the infection worsened initially due to the fact Pavlik neglected to attend doctor’s appointments; that’s a pretty poor way to lose the millions he’d have picked up against Mora and Williams.

When Pavlik iced Jermain Taylor, he looked to have the boxing world at his feet. After the year he’s just endured however, he’ll just be happy for a well paid TV gig in 2010.

• Ricky Hatton

Hatton’s reputation went from ‘well he may have come a cropper against Floyd but hey, there’s no shame in that and he’s still been a great fighter at 140 lbs’ in 2008 to ‘Hatton was a big draw but he wasn’t ever that that much of a fighter’ in 2009 after being pancaked by Manny Pacquiao.

Fair? Nope, but when did that ever matter and the Hitman’s demise against the Pacman wasn’t helped by some of the choices he himself decided upon.

Hatton hired motor mouth Floyd ‘Joy’ Mayweather Sr. as chief trainer, which made for an oil and water type of chemistry, a far cry from the Hatton-Billy Graham relationship which marked his prime years. Hatton inevitably fell out with Mayweather, listened instead to novice Ricky Beard and the rest is history, the image of him lying pulverised in Vegas is one that remains long after the event.

At the end of 2008 you’d have been laughed out of town if you had tipped Amir Khan over Hatton yet here we are, 12 months on and the Bolton flash is a 4/7 favourite over his Mancunian compatriot. That’s how far Hatton fell in 2009.

• Jermain Taylor

Taylor came within 14 seconds of defeating Carl Froch in April and within 6 of lasting the distance with Arthur Abraham in Germany with what had been a creditable showing. Instead, he ended up being knocked out twice, the second instance of which instigated the end of his relationship with promoter Lou Dibella, due to concerns for Taylor’s health.

Please note that shelving Taylor here in the losers section isn’t meant to denigrate the man, in both bouts he showed the guts that many observers felt he lacked.

I’m merely alluding to how much Tayor lost this year by the slenderest of margins. He came within a whisker of scalping Froch and even less from a respectable points loss to King Arthur, results which would have changed the complexion of his career entirely and given him hope for the coming year.

As it is, the majority of fans are wishing he would hang them up.

• Golden Boy

It was a pretty shocking 12 months for Oscar De la Hoya’s promotional outfit with one setback after another.

Jorge Linares was shockingly knocked out by Juan Carlos Salgado whilst Robert Guerrero looked for a way out after a head clash against Daud Yordan which had commentators, including Max Kellerman questioning his fortitude. Talking of gut checks, GBP’s bright young thing Victor Ortiz found himself upset by Marcos Maidana before giving an interview (with Kellerman again) which instantly had him labelled as a quitter.

Want more? Rising star James Kirkland wound up in clink, Ricky Hatton wound up in laa laa land, Juan Manuel Marquez drank pee before being toyed with with the one cocky SOB you don’t want to have toying with you. Shane Mosley couldn’t land a fight after January, nor could B’Hop (well a meaningful one anyway), Juan Diaz, Joan Guzman………I could probably go on…..

2009 was a bad year.

• Boxing

The sport saw a resurgence this year, in spite of a summer period which featured one big fight cancellation or postponement after another. Despite this good news, there were a number of tragic deaths which left the fight fraternity shocked and saddened.

In January we lost boxing commentator Reg Gutteridge, former light heavyweight champ Jose Torres and former heavyweight king Ingemar Johansson. March brought the loss of British Olympic middleweight champ Chris Finnegan and in April, former 80’s heavyweight titlist and part of the fabled ‘lost generation’ of big men, Greg Page. Then came July and fight fans were hit with one wind taking body shot after another with the deaths of Alexis Arguello, Arturo Gatti, Johnny Caldwell and Vernon Forrest.

Legendary scribe, Budd Shulberg, departed in August and September saw the passing of former Rocky Marciano opponent Roland LaStarza and rising Irish Super Middleweight Darren Sutherland.

They will be greatly missed one and all and the tragic events surrounding the deaths of Arguello, Gatti and Forrest in particular will endure.