Bad Left Hook

Manny Pacquiao's Gay Marriage Stance Gets Twisted, Invokes Outrage, Receives Mayweather Response

2012-05-16T23:09:27Z

I'll admit that I've mostly tried to avoid writing about this, but everyone's talking about it, so I kind of have to. Manny Pacquiao -- well, sort of Manny Pacquiao -- invoked a pretty big outrage from a lot of folks for a hard-line stance he supposedly took on gay marriage. In an article I'm not going to link because I'm not into giving extra penny clicks to dangerously irresponsible stuff like this, Pacquiao was asked about his stance on gay marriage, or gays in general or whatever (I'm not reading it again -- oh no, now I'M being "irresponsible"), and needless to say, it wasn't kind.

What made it really bad was that the author quoted Leviticus, which was then picked up as Pacquiao quoting Leviticus, spawning hundreds of internet articles slamming Pacquiao, or leading to readers condemning Pacquiao's quotes.

Then it turned out Pacquiao never quoted Leviticus, never said gays should be put to death, never really said much at all that we in the States don't hear from at least half of our own politicians and their followers, which wasn't exactly easy to make out when reading the original article. The original author then typed up another piece, in which he accepted no responsibility and simply blamed "biased" writers for mangling his sloppy mess of an article. More attention for him. Yaaay.

Pacquiao responded to the whole mess with this:

"I am not angry with gays but I don't want them to sin against the law of God because homesexual offenders cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. I was talking about same sex marriages. ... I am not against gays and I have relatives who are gay. There is nothing we can do about having such relatives but what I don't want is for them to disobey what God has ordered."

I have no interest in getting into this debate here, so the comments for this post won't even be open, and if you start a FanPost or the like I'll just delete it -- I'm just not into having the debate on this site. Take it somewhere else.

I do think it's important that even if you still disagree with Pacquiao's stance, and frankly I do, it must be noted that the things he was widely criticized for saying, he didn't say. And that's not just from Pacquiao, it's from the original author in question.

Never one to let a moment go by without jumping on, Floyd Mayweather took to Twitter today to post this:

"I stand behind President Obama & support gay marriage. I'm an American citizen & I believe people should live their life the way they want."

We have Manny Pacquiao being wildly misquoted and relentlessly slammed for things he didn't say, which cannot go away, no matter how many people post things like this noting the inaccuracies of what was widely reported at first. You can't un-ring that bell. It's over and done with. Pacquiao's reputation took a hit, and maybe it would have anyway, but if he weren't misquoted as saying that gays should be killed, it probably wouldn't be so bad a hit as it is now.

Then Mayweather jumps on to play "Born in the USA" over a loudspeaker on Twitter, still not understand the song same as he didn't when he used it for entrance music against Ricky Hatton, to say he supports gay marriage and that RIGHT HERE in AMERICA, we do what we WANT. This from the guy who had a fit when it turned out Miguel Cotto sleeps in the same bed as his buddy Bryan, and called his own father a "faggot" on 24/7 in front of the world last year. A real progressive, that Floyd Mayweather.

In short, this is probably the most obnoxious conversation there will be in the boxing world all year.

Guerrero vs Aydin: Johan Perez Wants Michael Katsidis For Undercard

2012-05-16T22:38:32Z

Golden Boy Promotions signed current interim WBA junior welterweight titlist Johan Perez to a contract on Monday, and it now appears as though the 28-year-old Venezuelan will be featured on the Robert Guerrero vs Selcuk Aydin undercard in San Jose on July 28.

Perez (15-0-1, 12 KO) is a very interesting signing by GBP, a quality fighter in his prime years who beefs up their roster at 140/147 going forward. He doesn't project as a star player or anything, but right now he's a 5'11" guy fighting at 140 pounds, and physically could be a matchup issue if he's able to compete against better opponents. He does have a few solid wins, but nothing remarkable thus far.

The BoxingScene.com report linked above says that several opponents are being discussed for the July 28 date, but that Perez's team wants Michael Katsidis. I don't have any big problem with that, to be honest -- Katsidis is who he is, and he's going to fight until he either physically can't do it anymore, or he just gets sick of it.

There's no guarantee the Aussie is looking to fight by July 28, either. He lost his last fight on April 13 to Albert Mensah, despite a great physical effort that reminded of the Katsidis of old. He told MMA Heat's Karyn Bryant before the fight that if he got to a point where he didn't feel he could fight at the elite level anymore, he would retire:

"I don't have to keep on boxing. I've achieved two world titles. When the day comes that I don't feel I can get any better, I'm not gonna be perform my best and be at that elite level, well, I'm out. There's some new things I can bring to the game and this is gonna be a very big year for Katsidis."

I think we can all agree that Katsidis (28-6, 23 KO) won't be competing at the elite level again, not really anyway, but I've no idea how the fighter himself feels about that.

The thing about a potential Perez vs Katsidis fight is that nobody knows Perez yet. Katsidis' name does still have some value, and it's not like he was out there embarrassing himself against Mensah. As a competitive, championship-level fighter, yes, Katsidis is done. But I don't know that Perez is a championship-level fighter, either. Katsidis and his fans may not want to hear this, but that's the role of a gatekeeper, and Katsidis is probably a gatekeeper now.

Pacquiao vs Bradley 24/7 Video: First Look at Timothy Bradley

2012-05-16T17:30:10Z

A couple of days ago we took our first look at the Manny Pacquiao side of the upcoming HBO 24/7 series, dedicated to Pacquiao's June 9 fight with Timothy Bradley, and now, here's a look at the Bradley camp.

I honestly did find this quote interesting:

"I think the fans see me -- something a little bit different. As opposed to most people going away to camp, you know, going up to Big Bear or going up in the high mountains for two months at a time, leaving their families. Well I'm here with my family. I've done this my whole career and it's worked. If it ain't broke, why fix it?"

I'm starting to wonder if Tim Bradley's charisma hasn't been overlooked. I mean, I guess it's not his fault, or ours, for thinking he didn't have a personality. He had no outlet. He was Just a Fighter for years on Showtime and then a couple of times on HBO. Honestly, he's a pretty laid-back, cool dude. Seems smart, likeable. I think he might have some semblance of star quality, even.

Of course, the first step to becoming a star is proving greatness, at least for most guys. Not everyone has red hair or a famous dad. Floyd Mayweather became a star because he stood out on the early editions of 24/7, but he got there because he won his fights. He maintains the position because he keeps winning. Manny Pacquiao got here by winning.

If Timothy Bradley upsets Manny Pacquiao, he's well on his way.

Pacquiao vs Bradley: Timothy Bradley on What He Does Away From the Ring

2012-05-16T16:30:27Z

Timothy Bradley faces Manny Pacquiao on June 9 in Las Vegas, live on HBO pay-per-view, in the biggest fight of the 28-year-old American's career to date. In the weeks leading up to the fight, we'll have Q&A sessions with the fighters, courtesy HBO. Here's Bradley's second entry. See Also: Bradley's best and worst memories in boxing.

* * * * *

What do you like to do when you are not training for a fight? Do you play or watch other sports? Do you have any particular role models?

"Even though I'm a world champion fighter I enjoy off seasons like other professional athletes and I like to make the most of my free time. Like any other sports fan, I enjoy watching football and basketball on television as well as spending time with friends and family.

"I'm a homebody, even during training camp because I train at a local gym and stay at home. My wife and kids keep me grounded and I like to stay involved in their day-to-day lives even when training camp is in full gear. When I'm not training I serve as president of the junior All American tackle football and cheer program and help coach any of the teams my son plays on. I have a great appreciation for the head coaches and how they teach and motivate. I'm honored to assist them. It's really been a lot of fun watching my son and his friends develop as players and teammates over the years. It's been a very rewarding experience.

"I also attend as many school functions for my kids as possible. Back-to-school nights, PTO, you name it my wife and I are there. I'm amazed at what they are teaching our kids and how early these subjects are being taught to them. So much of it is fascinating. It's always fun going to Career Day at my kids' schools. With one in elementary and the other in middle school you can imagine the differences in questions I am asked!

"My favorite time of day is the morning when my daughter and I walk to school together. It's a great time to just chat about anything that's on her mind. It's our time and I really treasure it."

Gennady Golovkin, K2 Promotions Will Pursue Fight With Felix Sturm

2012-05-16T16:00:45Z

Gennady Golovkin's team says that he's been trying to force Felix Sturm into a fight for two years running, and now they're trying to make that bout a reality by September 30. Dan Rafael at ESPN.com reports that Golovkin is itching for the fight he feels should have happened by now, and his new promoters at K2 are working on forcing the WBA to finally push "super champion" Sturm into a mandatory title defense.

From Tom Loeffler of K2:

"At this point, Sturm is running out of options. Sturm, at this time, holds the record for being a champion the longest without having a mandatory defense. Two years ago, Gennady was the interim champion and Sturm was the WBA champion. Sturm then got elevated to super champion. For the last two years, Gennady has been trying to fight him."

Golovkin (23-0, 20 KO) fought on May 12, smashing unqualified challenger Makoto Fuchigami in just three rounds of a blatant mismatch. But a win is a win, and there's no doubt that the 29-year-old Kazakh fighter is as ready as he's going to get.

The true questions now, are whether or not Sturm wants to fight him, and whether or not the WBA will actually force the issue as they've allegedly promised.

Golovkin states clearly that he wants the fight, and says that he believe Sturm doesn't want to fight him. The two trained in the same gym when both were with Universum, but Golovkin says they never sparred, and that Felix "knows (him) well and knows that he can't beat (Golovkin)."

Sturm (37-2-2, 16 KO) almost erased rocky 2011 performances against Matthew Macklin and Martin Murray -- a controversial win and a draw, respectively -- with his April 13 domination of Sebastian Zbik, but that may have been a smoke-and-mirrors sort of performance. Zbik has never really been a true contender, with a very fluffed-up record and no really memorable performances in his career save for his close loss to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in 2011. Since people left that fight thinking Zbik was good and that Chavez was also good, they thus left the Sturm fight thinking Felix had turned back the clock, it seemed.

That may not be the case. At 33, Sturm is still a sound technician and a good fighter, and really, he's probably underrated in terms of toughness. We got to see him fight hard last year against Macklin and Murray. He can take some punishment. And given that he's been in with far tougher competition than has Golovkin, it's really a 50-50 fight at worst, I believe.

But so far all we've had is the up-and-down ride of trying to forecast what that fight would be. At one point, I was sure Golovkin would smoke Sturm. Now I'm not, and it's more to do with the career stagnation of Golovkin than the allegedly revitalized Sturm we saw against Zbik.

My point is, wouldn't it be great to actually find out? Sturm now promotes himself, so he's free to do whatever he wants, really, and it's up to the WBA to actually make this happen. Sturm takes his status as a "champion" seriously and won't want to shrug off his belt. If the WBA forced it, I'm sure he'd fight. The WBA has to force it though.

Antonio Tarver Targeting Wladimir Klitschko After Lateef Kayode Fight

2012-05-16T15:00:42Z

Antonio Tarver has never really been one to dream small. The man who became one of boxing's top names following his 2004 knockout of pound-for-pound king Roy Jones Jr has been thought finished more than once since then, but has kept himself in the game and is currently regarded as one of the best cruiserweights in the world.

Following his defeat of Jones, Tarver promptly was upset by Glen Johnson, but got that win back, beat Jones again, and then was derailed by Bernard Hopkins in 2006. Many thought Tarver, by that time 37, was closing in on his own final days in the ring. A year out of the ring led to shaky comeback wins over Elvir Muriqi and Danny Santiago, where he looked badly faded and like a fighter who had little left, even against glorified club battlers.

A win over Clinton Woods gave Tarver a new lease on his career, but that was followed by two one-sided defeats to Chad Dawson in 2008 and 2009. A one-fight heavyweight experiment against Nagy Aguilera met mixed reviews at best, so Tarver dropped down to cruiserweight, and pretty well destroyed Danny Green in July of last year.

(Photo by Jeff Young/Showtime)

Now 43, Tarver hasn't fought in the last 10 months, focusing on his job as a Showtime broadcaster. It was there that he made an enemy of his upcoming opponent, Lateef Kayode. The two will headline the June 2 Showtime broadcast from the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., and Tarver believes that at his age, he's the true last of a dying breed.

"There are no more guys like myself," Tarver said at Tuesday's media workout. "Shane Mosley lost. Bernard Hopkins lost. I'm the last Mohican. I'm the last guy who is 40-plus."

And being the last of a dying breed, Tarver recognizes that comes with the acknowledgment that he can't afford to lose this type of fight, and that if his in-ring career is to continue, he must win.

"We have a storyline here: A young guy who took offense to what I was saying as a commentator. I was just doing my job. I think the youth, the inexperience got the best of him. He's got his handlers saying that he's ready to roll the dice. But you've got to respect his position."I had a chance to commentate a few of his fights and he didn't like the things I was saying. But as a young fighter, you can't always feed them cake and ice cream. Sometimes you've got to put something in the back of his head so he could say, ‘You know what? Maybe there is something I can go back and work on.'"

"He's a young fighter coming up that has nothing to lose. So Kayode is in a beautiful position and if he loses to me, what has it done? It's going to set him back a little bit but he can regroup. I can't regroup if I lose to Lateef Kayode. There would be an asterisk and a question mark by my name and we can't have that.

As for his comments on Kayode while broadcasting, Tarver takes nothing back, hasn't second-guessed what he said about Kayode, and says it was his job to offer constructive criticism.

"I had a chance to commentate a few of his fights and he didn't like the things I was saying. But as a young fighter, you can't always feed them cake and ice cream. Sometimes you've got to put something in the back of his head so he could say, ‘You know what? Maybe there is something I can go back and work on.'"

Kayode (18-0, 14 KO) has gone from a brute strength knockout artist to a guy whose last three fights -- Showtime wins over Nicholas Iannuzzi, Matt Godfrey, and Felix Cora Jr -- have drawn criticism from more folks than just Tarver. Experts and non-experts alike now wonder whether Kayode, 29, is really a true contender, or just a carefully-handled guy who has received a favorable TV push, one his skills may not really be able to command going forward.

Tarver believes he's just the man to test Kayode like the Nigerian-born fighter has never been tested to date.

"He's only got two hands and he can't throw them but one at a time. We're going to simplify it. I've fought a lot of strong guys that didn't get lucky, that couldn't hit me, couldn't find me. So he's coming in here trying to get lucky.

"I'm coming in here to rely on my skills, my experience and my conditioning to win this fight. I'll take Kayode places he's never been. And that's in deep waters. He's never been in there with a fighter like me and I'm going to show him what it's all about."

(Photo by Jeff Young/Showtime)

Tarver continued, "It's about skill and I got it. We're not going to wait for anyone to tell us how great we are because if you wait for someone to give you a compliment, you'll be waiting forever and a day. We know who we are and we are going to continue to display it. We're going to kill our critics with success. We got the skill, us throwback fighters. And I'm a throwback fighter because I'm older now, I'm sitting down [on my punches] more and I'm a fan friendly fighter."

The veteran ex-champion was even willing to go into specifics when it comes to chopping down the younger man.

"This guy is predicting he'll knock me out in the fifth round. If Kayode comes in with that type of recklessness, he can be out before that because he has never been hit by someone who can punch as hard as me. And not just punching hard.

"I'm a sharpshooter. I punch organs. I target organs: liver, kidney, heart. I don't just punch mass, I punch organs and I punch that chin. Remember that the chin is not a muscle so you can have all the muscles surrounding your neck and body, chest and abs, because if I touch that chin the right way, it's lights out, baby."

Regarding the fifth round KO prediction from Kayode, Tarver added, "We're putting everyone on notice. Expect the unexpected. Kayode said the fight is going to end, that he's going to knock me out in the fifth round. He might have a good prediction in the fifth round but I think he's got the storyline a little twisted."

(Photo by Jeff Young/Showtime)

Tarver's next prediction is nothing new: He's planning to make a run in the heavyweight division after this, and has his sights set firmly on Wladimir Klitschko, and welcomes the scoffs of those who think he's crazy.

"What keeps the fire burning? Critics, naysayers and my own personal achievement. People can laugh now when I tell them I'm going to become heavyweight champion. They don't want to buy into it but they will because at 210 pounds, I'm elusive. I'm powerful. I'm strong and they can't hit what they can't see. I'm not a big, robotic fighter that can't move. So those are they're advantages. The only hope they got is to hit me on the chin and knock me out. And that's never been done before."

"I'm going to get that heavyweight title. Wladimir Klitschko, here I come. I'm going to get that heavyweight title. That's coming back to America, baby. Trust it. Stamp it. Write it down."

Winky Wright: "I'm Going to Knock Peter Quillin's Head Off"

2012-05-16T14:00:53Z

Though he's fought just two times in the last five years and has decisively lost in both outings, 40-year-old Winky Wright says he's coming to win on June 2, when the veteran fights for the first time since 2009 against up-and-coming prospect Peter Quillin on Showtime, part of the network's big four-fight card from the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

Wright (51-5-1, 25 KO) was last seen getting virtually shut out by Paul Williams on HBO, and though Bad Left Hook scored it closer than the official judges did, it was without question a dominant win by Williams, who made Wright look old, slow, and a bit tired in the ring, outworking the defensive master over 12 rounds.

As time wore on in the fight, Wright looked less and less like the fighter of his prime, who twice defeated Shane Mosley and demolished Puerto Rican icon Felix "Tito" Trinidad in three straight fights in 2004-05. Following a draw with then-unbeaten middleweight champion Jermain Taylor in 2006, Wright began to drift out of the spotlight, though nobody saw it happening at the time. He defeated Ike Quartey in December 2006, then moved up to a 170-pound catchweight to face Bernard Hopkins in July 2007. Hopkins won a pretty wide 12-round decision.

Wright sat out the remainder of 2007 and all of 2008, before finally making his return in April 2009. Williams just had too much activity and youth for Wright, who couldn't really get a grip on an offensive gameplan against Tall Paul.

Now, after another three years out of the ring, Wright is back. Some welcome the return, others are keeping a skeptical eye on the matchup and little more. What should be assumed is we will not be seeing the Winky Wright of 2005 ever again. The question now is whether Wright has enough left in the tank to beat a guy who has proven he's ready for a step up to world class competition, but has yet to prove he truly belongs on the biggest stages in the sport.

12 years Winky's junior, Quillin (26-0, 20 KO) has suffered career setbacks due to various injuries that have kept him in the prospect stages of his career at age 28. At the press conference in late April to formally announce the June 2 card, both Quillin and main eventer Lateef Kayode, who faces Antonio Tarver, wound up with their shirts off, boasting about how they would tear up their older foes.

Wright essentially laughs all of that off.

"Young guys, young guys. Inexperience and all of that," Wright said at a media workout on Tuesday. "The nervousness is getting to them and they want to prove this and prove that. The only time you've got to prove something is in the ring."

Quillin got his career back on track in 2011, posting dominant stoppage wins over Jesse Brinkley and Craig McEwan, going 4-0 on the year overall. He was impressive in last year. But none of those opponents were the sort of frustrating, cool customer that Wright can be. And Winky doesn't even need to be at his best to produce the sort of effort that could be trouble for Quillin, who recently signed with Al Haymon and seems to have taken on a more outspoken, brash persona.

That sort of demeanor can make a star out of a fighter. But it can also lead to laughs from the peanut gallery if the quality wins don't follow.

It's a fight many aren't sure how to take right now -- in large part because it's basically impossible to gauge what kind of fighter Winky Wright is in 2012. But Wright says he's coming to impress, and coming to fight.

"Fans cans expect a great fight. They can come to see Winky Wright knock Kid Chocolate's head off - not knock him out - knock his head off. He thinks I'm going to run? We'll see. I'm going to show him a fight."

Only one thing is for sure: Winky Wright has been on bigger stages than this one, but he's never been in a corner quite like this.

A third straight loss, at his age, with the generally accepted quality of the opponent declining each time out, would be tough to swallow, and nearly impossible to rebound from. Winky Wright's career is on the line against Peter Quillin. We'll see if he's got enough left in the tank to make this more than a one-and-done comeback.

Ward vs Dawson: Fight Looking More and More Likely as Ward Asks WBC For Approval

2012-05-16T13:01:37Z

Andre Ward, who holds the WBC and WBA super middleweight titles, has reportedly contacted the WBC about reinstating him as full "world champion" rather than "champion in recess," according to promoter Yvon Michel, who was trying to get his fighter, Adonis Stevenson, into a vacant title fight.

This nearly confirms two things: Ward vs Chad Dawson is going to happen on September 8, which is pretty much only lacking an official announcement at this point, and the fight will be at 168 pounds, as Dawson will move down from light heavyweight as promised to make the fight a reality.

The WBC had ordered a vacant title fight between Anthony Dirrell and Nikola Sjekloca, but Dirrell suffered injuries in a motorcycle crash that reportedly will keep him out about six months.

Michel says the WBC is waiting to see how long Dirrell will be out before making any move, and that includes Michel ~~begging~~ asking the sanctioning body to go ahead with an interim title fight with Stevenson involved, which makes all the boxing sense in the world, since the guy who actually holds the belt was only bumped to "in recess" so that the WBC could bleed money from someone else, and now that he's asking for that to be lifted, yeah, let's have an "interim" title fight. "Interim" is a funny word in boxing circles.

Anyway, Ward (25-0, 13 KO) and Dawson (31-1, 17 KO) appear headed for a collision in September, like it or not. The 29-year-old Dawson boiling down to 168 for the first time since 2006 does make it kind of interesting, plus there's the fact that it's the 175-pound "man" against the 168-pound "man."

Dawson's trainer John Scully has openly said he's not wild about Dawson going down a division for this fight, but it looks like it's happening. All Team Dawson can do now is hope Chad hasn't made a bad error in judgment, and get him ready as best they can.