On Friday, the Mark Wahlberg-starring Micky Ward biopic The Fighter gets its nationwide release, and, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, the buzz is once again surrounding a movie about the sweet science.  The film’s being lauded by a majority of the most-respected critics, and the awards voters have noticed as well, with Christian Bale, who plays Ward’s half-brother and sometimes-trainer, Dicky Eklund, already scoring Best Supporting Actor honours from the National Board of Review.  Tuesday’s Golden Globe nominations followed suit, with The Fighter being put up for six trophies, including Best Motion Picture in the Drama category, in addition to acting selections for Wahlberg, Bale, Amy Adams, and Melissa Leo, and a directorial nod for David O. Russell.

Does it live up to the hype?  It certainly does in some ways, but not necessarily as a whole.  To break it down, it’s time to bring back The Big Seven.  Here’s what resonated with me the most coming out of the theatre:

WARNING: If you’re extremely nit-picky about spoilers, and don’t want any part of Ward’s story, which is already quite well-documented, spoiled prior to seeing the film, feel free to come back and read this following your viewing of the film.  Otherwise, enjoy.

1. Christian Bale as Dicky Eklund
We knew Bale could act, and we knew that he was committed to the craft, but he still managed to steal the attention in this film with yet another big fluctuation in weight to properly fit a role.  This is the same guy that cut 63 pounds, all the way down to a sleep-deprived 121 to be in the relatively-unknown The Machinist in 2004, followed by gaining approximately 100 pounds to play the title character in Batman Begins.  To play Eklund, Bale “only” had to cut 30 pounds (sort of fitting for a boxing flick), but it was certainly a jarring transformation nonetheless.

Bale’s performance as the crack-addicted, faded fighter that was Eklund (who actually did go the distance with a young Sugar Ray Leonard in 1978) was so resonant that Wahlberg wasn’t truly given a chance to shine as Ward until a certain happening separated the two kin around the movie’s halfway point.  It was Eklund’s lesser-known story arc, not the more-notable career path of Ward, that became the captivating part of the film, and that’s nothing against Mark Wahlberg, who was great in his own right.

Of the many aforementioned categories that The Fighter can win awards in this year, consider Bale’s chances to rack up Supporting Actor honours to be the best bet.

2. The Boxing Scenes
I’ve got my qualms with The Fighter’s three main fight scenes, but, don’t get me wrong, the in-ring action was fantastically well-done.  HBO’s crews were brought in to film the major match-ups (Ward’s meetings with Mike Mungin, Alfonso Sanchez, and Shea Neary), and the effort certainly paid off.  There’s truly little to say on this front.  Alongside Bale’s performance, this is what the film will be remembered for, and that’s truly the most that you can ask out of a boxing movie.

I did, however, have some issues with how the boxing was handled overall.  First and foremost, I would’ve liked to have seen a little more of it.  I realize that these scenes were likely, by far, the most expensive to film in the picture, but they were also the most captivating, and provided the film’s emotional payoff, showing Ward in a state that he clearly wasn’t in around his large, mostly possessive family.  Seeing how selective the makers of the film were in picking which Ward fights to include in the movie (which we’ll get to later), couldn’t they have picked a fourth fight to treat as a focal point, as opposed to instead utilizing a montage to convey that Ward was winning after returning from a hand injury?

Additionally, though all three of the major fight scenes were truly captivating, they all reeked of similarity (the last two especially).  While Micky Ward, as a fighter, was known for his heart more than anything, he certainly brought some skill to the table as well, and the fight scenes may have sold the cult favourite a little short on that front.

3. The Long And Winding…Oh, Wait
If there is one qualm with this film that takes precedence over the others, it’s undoubtedly the fact that the arc that Micky Ward takes doesn’t exactly resemble that of his career.  I realize that if you’re treating The Fighter as a popcorn flick, which I absolutely recommend, this isn’t a problem whatsoever.  If you’re there, however, to learn the story of Micky Ward, this film isn’t necessarily the best aide for doing so.

Take into account that, in the film, following Ward’s beating at the hands of the much-larger Mike Mungin, extending his active losing streak to four fights, Micky takes an indeterminately long layoff, partially for reasons that I won’t mention here, prior to coming back for a few stay-busy fights (delivered in convenient montage form!) before fighting top prospect Alfonso Sanchez.  Immediately after the Sanchez fight, Ward receives a shot at Shea Neary’s “world title”.

In reality: The Mungin fight ended a run of four straight wins for Ward, who fought eight more times prior to his 32-month layoff from October 1991 to June 1994.  The layoff did indeed follow a four-fight losing streak, but the fourth defeat came at the hands of Ricky Meyers, not Mungin.  Following the aforementioned montage of fights, Ward gets set to step up and take on undefeated Alfonso Sanchez.  If you consider the Mungin fight in the film to take place at the point that Ward actually fought Meyers, the movie is correct in that Ward went undefeated (8-0 in reality, though not depicted to be in as many fights in The Fighter) between those two points.

Immediately after fighting Sanchez in real life, Ward did get a world title shot, but it wasn’t against Shea Neary.  He actually fought a much better fighter than Neary in “Cool” Vince Phillips, and it was for one of the recognized world titles (the IBF), as opposed to Neary’s WBU title, a belt primarily known for being held by Ricky Hatton for three-and-a-half years from 2001-2004 (Hatton vacated the strap prior to his breakout victory over newly-elected Hall-of-Famer Kostya Tszyu in June 2005), and has only been contested once since.  Ward quickly lost to Phillips, and lost again to Zab Judah (for a minor belt) two fights later.  Only after three more wins would Ward get his shot at Neary.

I understand why the filmmakers would choose to utilize the fights they used, as they were obviously aiming to tell a certain sort of story, and to showcase a certain part of Ward’s character as a fighter.  Unfortunately, due to the liberties they took, it felt like the film didn’t represent Ward’s career as a whole.  Maybe the bar was set too high in that regard by Cinderella Man, which took a string of fights in Jim Braddock’s career that actually occurred consecutively, and properly chronicled his ascent to the heavyweight championship.  Instead of doing that, The Fighter seemed to handpick a few of Ward’s fights and make a story out of them.  While it did make for some fun viewing, it failed to properly depict the full story of a fan favourite fighter.

I considered this to be a bigger problem than the fact that the movie didn’t feature Ward’s 2001 Fight of the Year with Emanuel Augustus and his legendary 2002-03 trilogy with Arturo Gatti (though Gatti was ever-present in the film due to a large amount of references to him), which itself earned a pair of Fight of the Year awards, as the story wrapped up prior to these match-ups.  While it would have been great to see a filmmaker take a shot at recreating these wars, I have no problem with the apparent reality that the filmmakers wanted a certain type of Ward fight, and that the four battles I just mentioned didn’t fit the bill.  Additionally, the Ward-Gatti trilogy could practically be a movie of its own considering the depth of the two characters and the three fights.  There really was no way that this film, a Ward biopic, could do those three classics justice.  In fact, the physical presence of Gatti in The Fighter likely would have taken too much attention away from Ward, which is certainly something that one wouldn’t want to do in a story about Micky.

4. Where’s The Bad Guy?
While I’ll grant that it’s certainly understandable due to the fact that film didn’t feature Ward’s one true rival, Gatti, I was a little disappointed by the fact that the movie lacked one thing that great boxing pictures tend to have: A true villain.  Shea Neary certainly wasn’t it, as we didn’t even hear a thing about Neary until after the Ward-Sanchez fight.  With the way he was referred to at times throughout the movie, it seems as if Gatti could be treated as the vaunted opponent who every fighter wants a shot at, which was something of the case in reality.  Unfortunately, the film ended before Ward met Gatti, and Neary wasn’t given the attention needed to really allow the viewer to despise him.

When judged against other boxing films, The Fighter certainly falls short in that regard, as there was no Apollo Creed or Max Baer, to name two fantastic boxing film villains, to contrast against Ward’s protagonist role.

5. Give Mark Wahlberg Some Credit
While he wasn’t quite the powerhouse that Christian Bale was, Mark Wahlberg was terrific as Micky Ward, albeit in a more subtle role.  The work required to get his body sculpted similarly to that of Ward’s appears to have been no small undertaking, and Wahlberg certainly came through on that front.  As for his actual boxing, there wasn’t too much for him to do, as, in the major fight scenes, he was the one taking most of the punches.  When he did have to throw, however, he certainly passed the test.

6. The Ward/Eklund Family & Lowell, Massachusetts
The blue collar nature of the Ward/Eklund family came off as terrificly authentic throughout the film, as the streets of Lowell, where the family is from, set a terrific backdrop and put across the type of community that would first throw itself behind Dicky Eklund, followed by them becoming rabid fans of his half-brother.  Kudos to those behind the film for not taking any chances on filming this type of story anywhere but where it actually occurred.

7. Here’s To You, Mickey O’Keefe!
The coolest piece of minutiae about the film?  Mickey O’Keefe, the Lowell cop who served as Ward’s co-trainer, alongside Eklund, played himself in the film in a charming touch.  I honestly couldn’t tell that the guy wasn’t an actor.

The Scorecard
All in all, I didn’t see exactly where all the awards hype came from, with the exception of Bale’s shot at a handful of Best Supporting Actor trophies, but don’t let that stop you from giving The Fighter a watch.  The fight scenes are wonderfully done, and there’s a good, resonant story in between.  As long as you don’t go in expecting a blow-by-blow re-telling of Ward’s career, it’s certainly a fun way to spend a pair of hours.

-Travis MacKenzie

Dotting the crowd were an assortment of local boxing stars, including IBF junior featherweight titlist Steve Molitor, top cruiserweight contender Troy Ross (who returns to the ring on October 30th at Rumble At Rama XIII, against Carl Handy), and Molitor trainer Chris Johnson.

As for the conference itself, as expected with any Hopkins event, the trash talk was flowing.  Despite the fact that Hopkins hasn’t faced a top-tier opponent in upwards of two years, that didn’t stop his camp from being convinced that they’ll be taking the championship home.  The talk, of which Pascal certainly played a part, was fairly good natured until the question-and-answer session, in which the two fighters debated exactly how Canadian Pascal actually is (he was born in Haiti, and immigrated to Canada at the age of four), and argued over each others’ upbringing.

Click here for photos from the event.

My full event report:

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/pascal-hopkins-supervoicer-tm-20101019.mp3]

1-on-1 with Yvon Michel:

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/yvon-michel-tm-20101019.mp3]

1-on-1 with Naazim Richardson:

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/naazim-richardson-tm-20101019.mp3]

The full press conference (separate components below):

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/pascal-hopkins-full-presser-tm-20101019.mp3]

Pascal promoter Yvon Michel:

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/yvon-michel-presser-tm-20101019.mp3]

Hopkins promoter Oscar De La Hoya:

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/oscar-de-la-hoya-presser-tm-20101019.mp3]

Hopkins trainer Naazim Richardson:

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/naazim-richardson-presser-tm-20101019.mp3]

Bernard Hopkins:

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/bernard-hopkins-presser-tm-20101019.mp3]

Pascal cornerman Russ Anber:

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/russ-anber-presser-tm-20101019.mp3]

Jean Pascal:

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/jean-pascal-presser-tm-20101019.mp3]

Question-and-Answer Session:

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/presser-q-and-a-tm-20101019.mp3]

Bernard Hopkins speaks to the press:

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/bernard-hopkins-scrum-tm-20101019.mp3]

Oscar De La Hoya speaks to the press: 

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/oscar-de-la-hoya-scrum-tm-20101019.mp3]

-Travis MacKenzie

Dirrell’s “injury”, according to uncle and trainer Leon Lawson Jr., is actually a potentially career-ending neurological issue, as reported by ESPN’s Dan Rafael.  The 19-1 American was fresh off of a convincing win over Arthur Abraham and slated to fight for Andre Ward’s WBA super title in late November.

The now-frequently troubled tournament, originally considered a groundbreaking idea that could re-inject some energy into a struggling sport, has officially become what we all feared it would in the first place: An event marred by the health status of its participants.

The field had just barely recovered from the injury-induced withdrawal of Mikkel Kessler (now replaced by former light heavyweight titlist Glen Johnson), not to mention Jermain Taylor pulling out of the tournament after his first fight, eventually being replaced by a decent (if overwhelmed) Allan Green.  Now the search is on for another acceptable late replacement who won’t be completely embarrassed by Ward, the tourney’s undisputed breakout star.

For today, however, let’s not begin to spitball about the replacement. Let’s just wish Dirrell all the best in his recovery.  Seeing a fighter go through something of a neurological nature is something you hope never happens to a participant in combat sports, a profession that certainly doesn’t help prevent those sorts of issues, even if the fighter depends on the heavily-defensive style that Dirrell employs.

-Travis MacKenzie

In Povetkin’s stead, the IBF has ruled that the Klitschko camp begin negotiations for a second meeting with “The Nigerian Nightmare” Samuel Peter, the next man in line in the sanctioning body’s heavyweight rankings, to take place on the Frankfurt show.  Peter, the former WBC titlist, has fought both Klitschko brothers, Wladimir and WBC titlist Vitali, losing to both.  In fighting Wladimir, however, Peter made quite a good account of himself, sending the Ukrainian to the mat three times in their September 2005 meeting, prior to losing a unanimous decision.

Since that fight, however, Peter has been more disappointing than anything.  After cruising through a pair of tune-up bouts, Peter fought and beat James Toney twice in WBC eliminators (with the first victory being considered fair-but-debatable), barely survived an interim title bout with journeyman Jameel McCline, stopped titlist Oleg Maskaev in a back-and-forth brawl, and then lost the belt while looking lethargic against Vitali Klitschko in October 2008.  After losing a majority decision to Eddie Chambers five months later, Peter has won four straight.  While the first three of those triumphs came against weak opposition, his most recent win was an impressive second-round TKO of Nagy Aguilera, who himself was coming off a first-frame stoppage of Oleg Maskaev.

While we’re still weeks away from this rematch, it’s tough to foresee a scenario in which Peter is able to pull off the upset.  While Wlad certainly had his moments of weakness in their first meeting, he hasn’t had any in the five years since.  Meanwhile, Peter hasn’t appeared to be of the calibre that he was in the first fight in a long while.

As for the heavyweight division as a whole, it takes another blow through all of this.  While Peter certainly isn’t the worst opponent that could be sent in Wlad’s direction, there aren’t many other enticing options for the Klitschko brothers to fight.  Vitali and former WBA titlist Nikolay Valuev continue to squabble through the media, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we never saw that matchup simply because Valuev doesn’t want to be embarrassed.  Britain’s David Haye, the current WBA beltholder, undoubtedly could have had a fight with either Klitschko by now had he wanted it, though it fails to appear as if he truly desires that meeting.  Tomasz Adamek, the former cruiserweight champion, remains an enticing option, though he’s currently booked to fight former Lennox Lewis challenger Michael Grant on August 21st.  Adamek has, however, publicly expressed a desire to face either Klitschko, and has previously been offered a bout with Vitali, albeit on short notice.

Outside of those three fighters and Povetkin, who I personally thought was a perfectly acceptable challenger for Wladimir, the rest of Boxrec’s current heavyweight top twelve (Ruslan Chagaev, Peter, Tony Thompson, Eddie Chambers, Juan Carlos Gomez, and Chris Arreola) has already lost to at least one of the brothers.

The fact that, in a weight class as starved for depth as any in boxing, the top heavyweights not named Klitschko are avoiding fights with the two brothers is an absolute disappointment, and certainly fails to provide much optimism as to the division’s future.

As For Demanded Fights That Actually Will Happen…
The junior flyweight class is set to see a rare unification, in addition to a big-time championship defence, as divisional king and WBO titlist Ivan Calderon is set to defend his crown on August 28th against WBA holder Giovanni Segura.  It should be an intriguing style matchup, with Calderon being the consummate boxer (he’s considered by many to be the best pure technician in the sport today), and Segura being more reliant on his power, with 20 of his 24 career victories coming by knockout.  We’ll certainly discuss this one closer to fight night, but this is undoubtedly one worth following, despite the little attention that the lower weight classes are typically paid.

The Grazing Jab Of Doom
While it doesn’t appear to be pre-planned (as this legendary “sporting” moment was), boxing certainly doesn’t need the bad publicity it has and will continue to get from Wednesday’s Danny Green-Paul Briggs fight in Perth, Australia.  While Green, in his second fight since humiliating Roy Jones Jr. in December, was certainly the favourite to defeat countryman Briggs, best known for two classic light heavyweight title bouts with Tomasz Adamek, it should have been a lot tougher than it was.  The match, in its entirety, ran 29 seconds, with Briggs emphatically going down immediately after he was touched, barely, by a left jab from Green.  On the surface, it would appear that Briggs, who hadn’t fought since February 2007, was there for a pay day of approximately $250,000 AUD (around $230,000 CAD).  While it’s always a shame to see something like this put a black mark on a sport, the fight was one of only two matches being widely anticipated on this week’s boxing schedule (Friday night’s Beibut Shumenov-Viacheslav Uzelkov tilt being the other), and certainly hurts a schedule that had been lacking depth over the last few weeks.

The Weekend In Preview

• The weekend’s premier matchup takes place on Friday Night Fights, as WBA light heavyweight titlist Beibut Shumenov defends his strap against undefeated Ukrainian Viacheslav Uzelkov.  It will be the first title defence for Shumenov, who won his belt by topping Gabriel Campillo via highly-debated split decision in January, a rematch of Campillo’s August 2009 majority decision victory.  Personally, I’m expecting Uzelkov, who knocked Campillo out in September 2007, to pull off the minor upset and take home the belt.  While Shumenov could very well be headed on to success in the weight class, he’ll be in only his 11th professional fight, and has looked raw to this point on the title stage.

• Saturday’s only title bout has WBO interim junior flyweight beltholder Johnriel Casimero headed to Los Mochis, Mexico to defend against Ramon Garcia Hirales.  The defence will be the first for Casimero, who knocked down Cesar Canchila five times in December en route to winning the belt via eleventh-round TKO.  Hirales, whose only two blemishes on his record over a 14-fight career came in his first four outings, has beaten two experienced fighters in Erik Ramirez and Michael Arango in his last two performances.  Regardless, I’d expect Casimero to retain this time out.

• On the same Los Mochis card, Rodrigo Guerrero and journeyman Federico Catubay meet in an IBF junior bantamweight eliminator, with the winner likely getting a shot at the victor of next Saturday’s Simphiwe Nongqayi-Juan Alberto Rosas fight.  Guerrero has wins over both Rosas and former three-time title challenger Luis Maldonado, but was absolutely wiped by Vic Darchinyan in March, while Catubay, who’s also previously lost to Darchinyan, has lost two of three, including one to Rosas.  The win in that stretch, however, came over former two-time title challenger Pramuansak Posuwan.  I’d lean towards Guerrero on Saturday, though I doubt either has what it takes to make it past Nongqayi.

• On Sunday in Osaka, two of the Kameda brothers, Koki and Daiki, are sojourning up in weight while co-headlining a showcase card.  Koki, coming off of a loss to Pongsaklek Wonjongkam in a March flyweight championship fight, will face Cecilio Santos, 2-7-1 in his last ten, as a junior bantamweight, while Daiki, staying busy while preparing for his September 25th WBA flyweight title defence against Takefumi Sakata, moves up to 118 pounds to fight Mexico’s Rosendo Vega, who, 21 fights into his career, is still in search of a quality win.

-Travis MacKenzie

Catching Up On Canadian Content
June 30th: Neven Pajkic scores a near shutout unanimous decision win over Greg Kielsa to successfully defend the Canadian heavyweight title in the main event of Rumble At Rama XII.  I had the bout scored 99-90 for Pajkic.  In the co-feature, the Freddie Roach-trained Ana Julaton took a narrow split decision over Mexico’s Maria Elena Villalobos.  I had the bout 96-94 for Villalobos.  As for the card’s only other bout, debuting heavyweight Artem Lipanov stopped former Toronto Maple Leaf Nathan Perrott via TKO1.
July 8th: Winnipeg’s Olivia Gerula successfully defends her WBC women’s junior lightweight title against American Brooke Dierdorff via unanimous decision.  The rest of the card was showcase central, with super middleweight Larry Sharpe (UD8 over Mexico’s Jose Humberto Corral), junior welterweight Chad Brisson (MD8 over Mexico’s Jose Leonardo Corona), Minnesota featherweight Darby Smart (UD6 over fellow Minnesotan Hassan Wasswa), heavyweight Nick Penner (TKO3 over Dana Swan), and debuting junior middleweight Lee Laquette (UD4 over Roland Vandal) all defeating overmatched opposition.
July 10th: Welterweight Tebor Brosch defeats Justin Fountain on a seven-round split technical decision in the main event of a card at Mississauga’s Hershey Centre.  The fight went to the cards with both boxers damaged by cuts over the eyes.  In the co-feature, Orangeville lightweight Logan McGuinness moved to an undefeated 11-0-1 with  a TKO1 of Quebec-based journeyman Jorge Banos.  On the undercard, debuting light heavyweight Jonas Pierce defeated Horace Hunter via UD4; cruiserweight Denton Daley moved to 3-0 with a win over Montreal-based Pasteur Mbuyi; and the momentum train stopped rolling for junior middleweight Chris Aucoin, who was coming off of a major upset victory over Ian MacKillop in May, who was knocked out by Orangeville’s Ryan Wagner, fighting in only his second career fight, in the third round.

-Travis MacKenzie

Below you’ll find all of my audio from the event, starting with a rundown of each fight on Wednesday night’s card:

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/RumbleAtRamaXIIPreview-tm-20100628.mp3] 

While Roach is in town to train Julaton, discussion of the ongoing negotiations between Pacquiao and fellow superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. for a megafight was sure to follow.  Freddie touched upon the topic with me, while also discussing how Julaton fits in on his star-studded roster of boxers, and his battle with Parkinson’s Disease:

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/FreddieRoach-tm-20100628.mp3] 

As for the fight itself, in which the vacant WBO junior featherweight title is at stake, Julaton’s looking for some redemption after a disappointing unanimous decision loss to Lisa Brown at Rama back in March.  Wednesday’s fight marks her reunion with Roach after two years apart:

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/AnaJulaton-tm-20100628.mp3] 

Villalobos likewise isn’t carrying in much momentum, herself having lost her most recent fight, a unanimous decision to Marcela Eliana Acuna in April.  She spoke to me through manager Marco Rivero:

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/MariaVillalobos-tm-20100628.mp3]

The card’s main event is a rematch of the Rumble At Rama XI co-feature, in which Neven Pajkic wrested the Canadian heavyweight title from Greg Kielsa in an action-packed unanimous decision.  Pajkic is no longer the underdog that he was considered going into the first meeting, though he’s not taking his victory in their first fight for granted:

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/NevenPajkic-tm-20100628.mp3]

Kielsa, who lost his undefeated record in the first fight, isn’t letting the defeat get in the way of making adjustments prior to the rematch:

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/GregKielsa-tm-20100628.mp3]

The untelevised undercard features only two other fights this time around, most notably the pro debut of Orion Sports Management’s new heavyweight prospect, Artem “The Russian Tank” Lipanov.  His opponent’s certainly a familiar face: Former Toronto Maple Leaf Nathan Perrott, who’s bringing some of his former teammates up to Rama with him. 

The show’s fourth fight has undefeated Buffalo-based welterweight Felix Mercedes taking on another Rumble At Rama regular, Frank Abbiw, who’s 0-4-1 in his last five fights. 

Orion Sports Management President/CEO Allan Tremblay joined me, as always, to run down the full card:

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/AllanTremblay-tm-20100628.mp3]

As for the press conference itself, here’s the full audio:

[audio:http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_demand/RumbleAtRamaXIIPresser-tm-20100628.mp3]

For photos from the event, click here.

-Travis MacKenzie

While Green is clearly the least polished and experienced (in terms of top level competition) fighter in the tournament’s field, Ward’s drubbing of him very well complements what Ward did to Mikkel Kessler when the Dane stopped by Oakland in Group Stage I of the tournament.

While the Super Six, to this point, can be considered a success, especially keeping in mind that the tourney’s survived some of the injury delays and location disputes that have harpooned single big fights, let alone an extremely ambitious tournament, one thing has clearly been lacking from the field: Consistency.  Ward has been the only fighter to appear in top shape in both of his fights.  Kessler, Andre Dirrell, Carl Froch, and Arthur Abraham have put out, in their first two fights, at least one performance that could be classified as poor by their standards.  Green wasn’t even in the tournament until Jermain Taylor pulled out after getting KO’d by Abraham in Group Stage I.

Thanks to the inconsistency of the field, Ward, with a pair of decision wins, is the only fighter to have already clinched a spot in the tourney’s semi-finals, meaning that his fall fight with Andre Dirrell will have much more at stake for Dirrell than for the man defending his WBA belt in the match.

As for whether any super middleweight not currently locked into this tournament truly has a shot at defeating Ward, the name Lucian Bute, the Montreal-based IBF titlist, does quickly rise to many a mind.  At the moment, I wouldn’t hesitate to peg Ward to take that fight.  While Bute’s performance against mutual opponent Edison Miranda, a TKO3, was much more impressive than Ward’s twelve-round unanimous nod over the Colombian, Ward’s victory came first, and Miranda’s not a fighter who’s shown much improvement in notable fights of late.  Additionally, Ward’s dominance of Kessler stands as more convincing of a result than anything Bute’s put together.  Once the Super Six is said and done, I imagine that, barring a major dispute over whether Oakland or Montreal should host the bout, we will see that meeting happen.

Catching Up
Over the last couple of weekends, three other titles found themselves on the line, with the junior flyweight world championship being the true gem up for grabs.  In the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade weekend card at Madison Square Garden, it was Ivan Calderon retaining the crown with a fairly methodical unanimous decision over Jesus Iribe.  Calderon survived a second-round knockdown, and cruised from there.

On the same weekend, Julio Cesar Miranda picked up the vacant WBO flyweight title with a fifth-round stoppage of The Philippines’ Richie Mepranum.  It was the third title shot of Miranda’s career, having lost his previous two attempts to current division champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam and Moruti Mthalane, who still holds the IBF title that he defeated Miranda to win.

Last weekend, Omar Nino pulled off a minor upset over Rodel Mayol in a WBC junior flyweight title rematch.  Their first meeting was declared a technical draw when Nino knocked out Mayol while the referee was attempting to call time after a low blow.  Needless to say, a foul-filled re-match was expected (Mayol doesn’t deliver much else), and Nino took the decision fairly comfortably.  The world title is the second of Nino’s career, though he was stripped of the first after failing a post-fight drug test following his first defence of the strap.

As for my predictions, they weren’t pretty.  Below, you’ll find my picks, followed by the fight’s actual result:

June 12

• Ivan Calderon D Jesus Iribe: Calderon UD12

• Julio Cesar Miranda KO Richie Mepranum: Miranda TKO5

• Giuseppe Lauri KO Paul McCloskey (Upset): McCloskey KO11

• Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam KO Omar Gabriel Weis (Lock): N’Jikam KO8

• Sebastian Demers D Brian Vera: Vera TKO3

• Pawel Kolodziej KO Parfait Amougui Amougou: Kolodziej KO12

• Marco Antonio Rubio KO Samuel Miller: Rubio UD12

June 19

• Andre Ward KO Allan Green (Lock): Ward UD12

• Rodel Mayol KO Omar Nino: Nino UD12

• Jesus Jimenez KO Edren Dapudong: Dapudong KO1

• Suguru Takizawa D Masayuki Kuroda: Kuroda UD8

• Levan Jomardashvili KO Mateusz Masternak (Upset): Masternak TKO5

• Jose Luis Castillo KO Roberto Valenzuela: Castillo UD8

• Hasim Rahman D Shannon Miller: Rahman TKO4

Weekly Record: June 12th: 5-2 on winners (1-0 on Lock, 0-1 on Upsets), 4-3 on results (1-0 on Lock, 0-1 on Upsets)


June 19th: 3-4 on winners (1-0 on Lock, 0-1 on Upsets), 0-7 on results (0-1 on Lock, 0-1 on Upsets)
2010 Record To Date: 106-37-5 on winners (18-1-1 on Locks, 7-17 on Upsets), 69-74-5 on results (10-9-1 on Locks, 5-19 on Upsets)

Canadian Content
Though Demers lost to Vera in Montreal on June 11th, there was certainly some Canadian success on the ESPN2-televised Friday Night Fights card, with David Lemieux’s first-round stoppage of former middleweight title challenger Elvin Ayala being the highlight.  With the victory, Lemieux, already one of the sport’s top prospects, advances to 23-0 with 22 KO wins.

Montreal-based welterweight Manolis Plaitis suffered his first career loss on the card, getting knocked out in the second frame by Mexico’s Alfredo Chavez.  Kevin Bizier, another undefeated Montreal welterweight, held firm, however, outlasting Mexico’s Johnny Navarrete.

Meanwhile, it took heavyweight Wayne John only four fights to make a splash.  John made a big step up on the card, taking on 24-4-1 Patrice L’Heureux, and passed with flying colours, scoring a TKO victory within five frames.

Cornwall lightweight Tony Luis moved to 9-0 after his latest victory, a fifth-round stoppage over the beatable Adrian Valdez.  While Luis remains strong, he’s got some stepping up to do.  In the card’s opener, 19-year-old junior lightweight Kevin Lavallee had a solid debut, stopping Mexico’s Carlos Martinez, in his 12th career fight, in 2:26.

The next day, Halifax’s own Tyson Cave shined in the main event of a hometown show, as the 11-1 junior featherweight’s opponent, Minnesota-based Antwan Robertson, retired after a frame.  New Mexico-based Canadian junior lightweight Steve Cannell was victorious in the co-feature, scoring a unanimous shutout decision over Uganda’s Hassan Wasswa.  Halifax middleweights Jordan Clarke and Juan Sanchez fought to their second consecutive draw in the card’s opener.  Clarke’s now 4-0-2, with both draws coming against Sanchez in his last two bouts.

On the same night in Moncton, New Brunswick, Dwayne Storey’s New Generation Productions held a six-fight card, which, as usual, featured fighters that Storey’s building from the ground up.  In a battle of undefeated cruiserweights, 5-0 Chris Norrad took a split decision over Jesse Francis, who fell to 3-1 with the five-round defeat.  In the card’s other fights: Cruiserweight Guy Desforges took a majority decision over winless Jeff Lundberg; Jesse Norman stopped Jason Campbell within two rounds in a heavyweight upset; Eric Roy moved to 2-0 in his light heavyweight career, registering a unanimous decision over the debuting Mike Sark; Nathan Miller stopped Josh Smith in a matchup of debuting light heavyweights; and Norman Peters scored a victory in a somebody’s-gotta-win battle of winless 175-pounders when Robbie Cameron failed to come out for the third round.

Though nothing took place in Canada this past weekend, two Canadians partook in notable matches abroad.  “The Italian Sensation” Phil Lo Greco, a Montreal regular, moved to 20-0 with a road victory, stopping Poland’s Slawomir Ziemlewicz, a fellow welterweight, inside nine rounds.

The other Canadian on the schedule, middleweight Donald Orr, lost his undefeated mark, losing an eight-round majority decision to the eminently beatable John Mackey.  While the 25-year-old Lo Greco certainly provides some hope, Orr, at 33 years old and now with a loss, seems dangerously close to journeyman territory.

-Travis MacKenzie

With a successful WBA super middleweight super title defence on Saturday in Oakland, Ward will pass Arthur Abraham for the lead in the Super Six, as everybody else in the field – Abraham, Mikkel Kessler, Carl Froch, Andre Dirrell, and Green (who’s officially replacing Jermain Taylor in the tournament) – will have been defeated within the first two phases of the round-robin.  Judging by how good Ward’s looked of late, he won’t have too much difficulty with Green, a quite talented fighter who hasn’t faced anybody close to being of Ward’s calibre.  We’ll make it the Lock of the Week.  Prediction: Ward by KO.

Mayol and Nino’s first meeting was the epitome of an unsatisfying conclusion.  In that February meeting, Nino knocked out a defenceless Mayol after low-blowing him, as the referee attempted to pull Nino away.  The fight was ruled a technical draw, and Mayol retained his WBC junior flyweight title.  The rematch goes on Saturday in Querétaro, Mexico.  Both men come in having fought impressive competition of late, though I’ll side with Mayol, who’d clearly appeared to have come into his own prior to the unfortunate mishap in the first meeting.  Prediction: Mayol by KO.

As for the rest of the weekend’s Big Seven, we’ve got respective good matchups in the flyweight, junior flyweight, and cruiserweight ranks, in addition to tilts featuring the unbelievably-still-fighting Jose Luis Castillo and Hasim Rahman:

3. Jesus Jimenez vs. Edren Dapudong: Jimenez by KO.

4. Suguru Takizawa vs. Masayuki Kuroda: Takizawa by Decision.

5. Mateusz Masternak vs. Levan Jomardashvili: Jomardashvili by KO (Upset Alert).

6. Jose Luis Castillo vs. Roberto Valenzuela: Castillo by KO.

7. Hasim Rahman vs. Shannon Miller: Rahman by Decision.

Canadian Content
While there’s nothing going on up here this weekend, we’ve got a pair of Canucks fighting abroad.  On Friday in Siracusa, Italy, Toronto-born, Quebec-based undefeated welterweight Phil Lo Greco looks poised to pick up win number twenty against Poland Slawomir Ziemlewicz.  Meanwhile, undefeated middleweight Donald Orr takes on the eminently beatable John Mackey as the Rahman-Miller co-feature.

-Travis MacKenzie

While another very notable Puerto Rican fighter takes Cotto’s place at Madison Square Garden on Saturday in junior flyweight champ Ivan Calderon, the rest of the weekend is quite barren, bringing to the surface a couple of names I was hoping to avoid putting in The Big Seven ever again.

Also of note this weekend is ESPN2’s return to Montreal, as Friday Night Fights will again air a card on Grand Prix weekend.

Without further ado, a quick version of this week’s Big Seven:

1. Ivan Calderon vs. Jesus Iribe for Calderon’s World Junior Flyweight Championship/WBO title: Calderon by Decision.

2. Julio Cesar Miranda vs. Richie Mepranum for the vacant WBO flyweight title: Miranda by KO.

3. Paul McCloskey vs. Giuseppe Lauri: Lauri by KO (Upset Alert).

4. Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam vs. Omar Gabriel Weis: N’Jikam by KO (Lock of the Week).

5. Sebastien Demers vs. Brian Vera: Demers by Decision.

6. Pawel Kolodziej vs. Parfait Amougui Amougou: Kolodziej by KO.

7. Marco Antonio Rubio vs. Samuel Miller: Rubio by KO.

Canadian Content
The Montreal show, which features the Demers-Vera fight, also has an interesting main event, as surging middleweight David Lemieux takes on former world title challenger Elvin Ayala in the undefeated Lemieux’s toughest fight to date.  Undefeated welterweights Manolis Plaitis (vs. Alfredo Chavez) and Kevin Bizier (vs. Johnny Navarrete) both have eight-round fights on the undercard, as does heavyweight Patrice L’Heureux, returning from a 13-month layoff.  Undefeated lightweight Tony Luis and debuting junior lightweight Kevin Lavallee round out the show.

A pair of smaller cards in the Maritimes also go on Saturday.  Featherweight Tyson Cave is the featured fighter in Halifax as he attempts to rebound from his first career loss by fighting American Antwan Robertson.

Moncton also hosts a card on Saturday night.  It’ll fully consist of small bouts from the larger weight classes.

- Travis MacKenzie

As was expected, Orion Sports Management announced in a Wednesday release that Molitor will go to the United Kingdom and defend his strap against 35-5 Jason Booth on July 23rd at a yet-to-be-named site.  Booth’s won his last eight fights, though his competition’s left something to be desired.  His last loss was a July 2007 decision to Ian Napa, who’d lost four of five going in to their meeting.

Booth and Molitor share a common opponent in Michael Hunter.  Molitor faced Hunter in his last trip to England, fighting for the vacant IBF belt for the first time, and scored a  fifth round knockout.  Hunter and Booth met in October, with Hunter not coming out for the sixth round.  The full news release from Orion Sports Management can be found at the conclusion of this post.

Meanwhile, it appears that Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch, neither of whom has clinched a berth in the knockout stages of the Super Six World Boxing Classic, might be headed to Montreal for their must-win final group stage match.  The two camps had been squabbling over where in Europe they would compete, with neither wanting to give the other the “home ring”.  Montreal, a great boxing city, serves as a fantastic neutral ground, though it will be interesting to find out what spurred them to move away from the contractual agreement to fight in Europe.

Finally, here’s the Molitor-Booth press release:

TORONTO, ON (Wednesday, June 9, 2010) – Two-time world champion “The Canadian Kid” Steve Molitor (32-1, 12 KO’s) loves the United Kingdom. In November of 2006 he captured the IBF Junior Featherweight with a 5th round KO over Michael Hunter, in Hartlepool, and is 3-0 in Great Britain as a professional.

“It is great to work with Allan again. He and his staff are complete professionals, and a pleasure to deal with.”

I’ll have more on both of these stories as information comes in.

- Travis MacKenzie