Ring around the World

Coming up this November 8th at Madison Square Garden fight fan will be treated to a match pitting Joe Calzaghe (45-0, 32 KOs) against Roy Jones (52-4, 38 KOs). Now thay are saying this fight should be a good one but for me personally I am hoping to see Calzaghe win. I will take by points but I hope he knocks Roy Jones out. I am reminded of Michael Jordan as it pertains to this particular fight.

Some will argue that Jones is in shape and will give Calzaghe a run for his money but from where I sit I see another boxer that can’t deal with the fact that his name is not mentioned is boxing conversations and he is trying to step in the way of a rising star in the sport. And we won’t even talk about the fact that Calzaghe is not from the United States.

But Jordan did the same thing. He said he came back because he loved the sport but I say he did it because anythime his name was mentioned it was alwys in the context of pass tense and not present tense. Now there is nothing wrong with Jones wanting to box just like there is nothing wrong with Holyfield or Hopkins boxing but for some of us who have lived through the era of that particular boxer we too have had transitions to make. I have had the conversations where I do the compairison and am quickly reminded that was then.

Now that Don King has kinda been hushed on the promotional side the face of boxing has changed a lot. There is no real Heavyweight Champion so you have to go to the Light Heavyweight/Middleweight divisions for the exciting fights. I hope that this fight is exciting as they are saying and I hope Calzaghe doesn’t get jerked on the pay.

Calzaghe winner….

Popularity: 7% [?]

This past Saturday on PPV boxing fans were treated to what was called an awsome fight. Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik went up against Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins in a 12 Round bout for the Middleweight Championship at Boardwalk Hall in Alantic City, New Jersey.

Bernard Hopkins (43) with a record of 48-5-1 had Kelly Pavlik (26) with a record of 34-0 looking slow and powerless in fighting at 170 pounds (77 kilograms), 10 pounds (5 kilograms) over Pavlik’s weight class.

It was clear this could be a mismatch from the opening bell, and Hopkins reveled in the beating he gave Pavlik. By round 5,  Pavlik was bleeding from the nose and by round 7 Hopkins was taunting him.

During one stretch in the round, Hopkins landed four or five straight punches, and then stepped back started winding up on his punches before delivering them. Pavlik never stopped stalking Hopkins, but he never seemed to hurt him.

With tinges of gray in his beard, Hopkins never lost a beat. The crowd had come to support Pavlik, who had successfully beat Gary Lockett in his first title defense in June. When Pavlik was in trouble early, they chanted “Kel-lee! Kel-lee!”

The all of a sudden halfway through the fight the chants become “B-Hop! B-Hop!.” Hopkins landed a rack of blows in the 12th round and started yelling at Pavlik which was more than a taunt.

When the final bell sounded, both fighters came out throwing punches, forcing referee Benji Esteves to dive between them.

After the fight was over Hopkins then walked over to the television cameras and glared with tears in his eyes and asked “Do I have to continue to prove myself“?

Well as a boxing enthusiast I have always felt no boxer has to prove himself to anyone. But for some reason fighters who feel they are not being treated as great always end up having to jump into the ring and prove to the public they are. Now they do this at the cost of possibly injuring themselves beyond recovery. As for Bernard Hopkins one can only wonder what the actual motivation was for this particular fight. It was mentioned Hopkins told Pavlik after the fight he needed to learn how to switch his style up when it comes to fighting BLACK boxers.

Now if in fact this comment was made I can only wonder if Hopkins faught to teach Pavlik how to box. Don’t get me wrong the exchange of information is always a great thing. But for me personally I have felt for a while Hopkins really has nothing to prove. He is by far one of the better fighters out here. He is truly a ring general. But after losing to Joe Calzaghe I just knew he was going to parlay his investment with Golden Boy Promotions and concentrate more on being the businesman and manager.

From where I sit it seems Golden Boy Promotions is purely at the top of their game when it come to putting together fights. They are respected and connected and have put on some great cards. And one thing that is truly in their favor (beside being able to jump in the ring whenever they want) is the fact that they bring experience from both the inside and outside of the ring thus making them the powerhouse promotion today. They sell out whatever venue they perform in even when they are not in the ring. All you have to do is say DLH, Hopkins, or Mosley will be there.

And after the revelation from Mayweather that HBO’s commentators are biased towards black boxers one could only wonder if Hopkins felt he had to prove to them that there are still great black boxers out here. I personally like both Pavlik and Calzaghe because of the skill and showmanship they have in the ring. I give Hopkins his due respect for what he brings to the game and as a brother but I am not on his band wagon. To me Hopkins does carry a little bit of arrogance and I have seen some fights where clearly he lost but he did not “MAN UP” and just take that. Instead it was excuse after excuse or reason after reason why he should have won.

Now that he has won the championship will we be seeing more of him or will he do a Mayweather? Retire and appear at Wrestlemania.