Author: ERIC ARMIT
Date: 11/23/2009

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     As is usual with the boxing business, there is little time for reflection on the magnificent victory for Manny Pacquiao over Miguel Cotto. Already the talk is about the next big fight for Manny-Floyd Mayweather Jr. It has to happen and, this time Floyd will not have all of the cards. Manny now brings a great deal more to the table and will be in a very strong bargaining position, and it will be a fight that Floyd needs more than Manny.  The only viable alternative for either of them would be a fight with the winner of the January fight between Shane Mosley and Andre Berto, but both prestige-wise and financially it would not be as attractive a proposition.

      The Pacquiao vs Cotto fight and a Pacquiao vs Mayweather fight are big attractions with or without a “title” and, with the “Super Six” tournament, it puts the importance of the various sanctioning bodies in their proper context. It is about the quality of the fight and not what bauble is at stake that counts. Someone estimated that from the TV revenue, gate receipts and other business generated by the Pacquiao-Cotto fight could reach $150 million and that Cotto's cut could be as much as $10 million with Manny earning a lot more than that. HBO reported 1,250,000 buys giving revenue from that alone of $70 million. Pacquiao vs. Mayweather would easily surpass those figure with en estimate of each man receiving somewhere around $25-$30 million. The difficulty will be in getting Golden Boy promotions to sit down with Bob Arum and HBO and accept that Floyd has to settle for 50-50 at best. Pacquiao wants it, Bob Arum wants it, HBO wants it-Floyd is the only guy who can stop it from happening. Talks are said to be underway. Boxing is still very big business.

      Cotto has said he will continue to fight until September next year, when he will be 30, and that the fight he wants most is a return with Antonio Margarito.

      Here's a boxing trivia question for the future. What do Rustico Torrecampo and Medgoen Singsurat have in common? They are the only fighters to have beaten Manny inside the distance, and both did by third round kayo.  Torrecampo beat light flyweight  Manny in 1996 and Medgoen beat a weight weakened Manny in 1999 to take his WBC flyweight title. Strangely Torrecampo only won two of his next seven fights and retired Medgoen is still active.

      And another bit of trivia. What do Manny and Floyd have in common? Manny weighed 106lbs when he had his first pro fight in 1995, and Floyd weighed 106lbs when he won his first major title as an amateur, the National Golden Gloves in 1993. They have both come a long way since then.

      The problem with so many sanctioning bodies around is that it confuses everything. Manny is said to have won “world” titles in seven different divisions, but I am not sure how they arrive at that figure. For the major sanctioning bodies he won the WBC flyweight, IBF super bantamweight, WBC  super featherweight, WBC lightweight and WBO welterweight. The other division in which he won a title was light welterweight where he won the IBO title. He never competed for a title at super fly or bantam and the nearest he came at featherweight was his draw with Juan Manuel Marquez, when Marquez's IBF title was on the line. I can't make it seven different divisions. Also, how do you define a “world” title ?. If you stick to the four major bodies, then Manny was not a champion at light welterweight. However if you start to count the IBO then there is no reason not to count the WBF (either Foundation or Federation), IBA, IBC, UBC, GBU, WBU etc. etc. etc. The big difference is that when winning the IBO title Manny kayoed Ricky Hatton, who was probably the best at the weight at the time. You could argue that none of them are “world” champions, or that all of them are “world” champions. That's the disease that afflicts boxing today.

      What a very mixed time for Filipinos over the past two weeks. It started on November 13 with Z Gorres winning his fight but needing surgery to save his life. On the same show prospect Mark Milligan was beaten. On November 14 the pendulum swung way up again as Manny halted Miguel and young Eden Sonsona won his fight. The pendulum dipped again on November 20 when Marvin Sonsona failed to make the weight for his WBO super-flyweight title defence and lost his title and Sonny Boy Jaro was destroyed in one round in a challenge for the WBA light flyweight title, then up again on the same night as Rodel Mayol halted Edgar Sosa to win the WBC light-flyweight title. Some roller coaster ride.

      A Mixed time for Filipinos, but there is no doubt that it has been a terrible couple of weeks for boxing. As I have said, Gorres almost lost his life on November 13. he survived and is recovering. Mexican Francisco Rodriguez was not so fortunate. He was hospitalised after being halted by Teon Kennedy on November 20, and died two days later. On November 21 in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico, Giovanni Diaz was rushed to hospital for surgery after being kayoed by Ramon Ayala and is still in a critical condition. A terrible time for the sport, but that is nothing to the agony that the families of these fighters are suffering.

      Suddenly titles are not that important. There has been a spate of fighters giving up their “world” titles recently. Chad Dawson gave up the IBF light heavyweight title, and then won the WBC interim title. Tomasz Adamek relinquished the IBF cruiserweight title and is now clamouring to be in the line for a shot at David Haye. Zsolt Erdei gave up the WBO light heavyweight title to move up to cruiserweight to win the WBC title, Arthur Abraham gave up the IBF middleweight title to compete in the Super Six, Joshua Clottey gave up the IBF welterweight title to fight Miguel Cotto, WBA super flyweight champion Nobou Nashiro gave up his title because it appears that the WBC promised to make him No 1 in their ratings if he did so. You have to feel sorry for the former IBF flyweight champion Nonito Donaire. Nonito gave up his title to go to super flyweight and disappeared! He is not rated in the top 15 in any division by any of the sanctioning bodies. Up, up and away Nonito!

      One of  many things that puzzle me is that if Ruslan Chagaev is rated No1 by the WBA and John Ruiz is No 2, then how can Ruiz be the mandatory challenger?  How can Kali Meehan be lined up for a WBA eliminator when he has not fought since August 2008. How can Lamon Brewster be WBA No 9 when in September he was beaten by Nigerian Gbenga Oloukun, who has now lost two fights in a row? How can John Duddy be No 9 middleweight with the WBO, and Billy Lyell, who beat him in April, not be in the top 15? And Amir Khan had better watch out as the WBA rated Dmitri Salita above Manny Pacquiao! So many questions.

      Undefeated European Union super featherweight champion Devis Boschiero is in deep trouble. The 28-year-old unbeaten (25 wins) has been arrested by Italian police on charges related to alledged possession of cocaine.

      Mexico lost one of its most successful promoters with the death in Mexicali at the age of 84 of Nocolas Rodriguez. Amongst the boxers Nicolas promoted were Ruben Olivares, Jose Napoles, Vicent Saldivar, Jose Medel, Efren Torres, Ricardo Arredondo, Jesus Pimentel, Chucho Castillo, Gerardo Ferrat, Raul Soriano, Jose Luis Castillo and many others. He was voted “Promoter of the Century” by the Mexicali Commission.

      Good show in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico on December 19 sees Alex Valdez fighting Filipino Mike Domingo for the interim WBA super flyweight title( there is nothing wrong with the champion Neohmar Ceremo, it is just another excuse for a sanctioning fee) and Humberto Soto, the WBS super featherweight champion, fighting former WBC super-featherweight champion Jesus “Matador” Chavez at lightweight.

      Daughters of the fathers. They start them young in Mexico. A recent show featured Yareli Larios, the daughter of former double WBC champion Oscar Larios, in an amateur bout. Yareli is eleven years old and it appears she has been going to the gym with Dad since she was eight.

      Sons of the fathers. At the weekend Carlos Zarate Jr, son of the WBC champion, and Alionso Lopez, son of the great Ricardo Lopez, both continued unbeaten as pros with kayo wins. Best of luck to them

      Talk in Namibia has WBA secondary lightweight champion Paulus Moses defending his title early in the New Year against Marco Antonio Barrera. After the way the WBA screwed Paulus, he deserves a good payday, but as far as I know nothing is set for this one.