With the 2011 boxing calendar winding down, we still have a few great names looking to close out the year with big wins in big fights. We have Pacquiao vs Marquez III, Cotto vs Margarito II, Khan vs Peterson, Donaire vs Narvaez & the rematch of Abner Mares vs Joseph Agbeko. With that being said there are certain names that as of late stands out to me for different reasons. So I thought I would address them & kind of grade them as far as where they are & what they could do to propel themselves a little higher. So here we go in no particular order........
Manny Pacquiao/ Grade: C
Why: To me Manny Pacquiao hasn`t had a "Meaningful" fight since he beat Miguel Cotto in November of 2009. The year of 2010 was wasted for pacquiao in many ways because for starters He couldnt secure a fight wit the man that is seen as his greatest challenge...Floyd Mayweather. He fought Joshua Clottey (who had the opportunity of a lifetime & did nothing wit it but gave us his impression of an everlast bag) then came the fight with Margarito, who on so many levels did not deserve a fight with Pacquiao. He was caught trying to cheat by loading up his gloves with illegal wraps for his fight with Shane Mosley, then got destroyed by Shane Mosley, then got suspended. Only to have a return lackluster match in mexico & then get reinstated in the state of Texas, just to get the snot beat out of him by Pacquiao in Cowboys Stadium. In early 2011 he fought the forementioned Shane Mosley, who instead of looking like a future hall of fame boxer looked like Micheal Jackson by moonwalking backwards through the whole fight. Pacquiao will fight Juan Manuel Marquez on November 12. Regardless of the weight, a win over Marquez is a good start. Then hopefully it could be finally on to this guy......
Floyd Mayweather/ Grade: C
Why: Easy for these reasons alone.... seemingly not willing to fight Pacquiao, constant "retirements", Floyd has been known to cherry pick his opponents regardless of how he tells people he doesn`t duck anyone. I`ve said before that I respect the fact that Floyd came back to fight Victor Ortiz because whether he was "Taylor made" for Floyd or not, he was still a dangerous fight for Floyd to take coming off a 16 month long lay-off. The way that fight ended was Ortiz` fault (in my view) because Floyd was fighting a fair fight until Ortiz decided to change the rules with a head butt. Then Floyd must`ve said in his head "Oh I know how to play this game" & played it better than Ortiz via 4th round ko. Floyd's constant long lay-offs which as of late we see floyd "retiring" more than fighting & his unwillingness to fight Pacquiao is terrible for the sport. Floyd says he doesn`t need a fight with Pacquiao to secure himself as the best boxer of his era or best boxer in the world, the sad part is that nobody in his camp has the balls to tell him how wrong he is about that.
Timothy Bradley/ Grade: F
Why: Tim Bradley wants a fight wit Manny Pacquiao (what boxer doesn`t?) but Tim just signed to Top Rank & I`m sure knowing how Bob Arum operates, there`s a good chance Tim will get that fight sometime in 2012. But why do I feel he deserves an F overall? Simple, one name.... Amir Khan. Timothy Bradley has been calling Khan out for a while & when Amir stepped up to fight, Bradley, by his actions said "No thank you". If Bradley wasn`t so relentless in calling Khan out it wouldn`t be too much of a big deal, But Bradley has crowed for so long on how Khan has ducked him, on how he will beat khan if they ever met & just constantly trying to pull Khan into a fight with him. Khan, to his credit stepped up & was willing to fight Bradley to unify the Jr welterweight titles & offered Bradley half of the U.K. split (which would have been Bradley`s biggest payday). Bradley, all of a sudden caught a case of the cottonmouth. Bradley did what he felt was best for his career (I cant knock him for that) but if Bradley would have taken the fight with Khan, a guy he's been constantly calling out & says he can beat with no problem then he would have had the biggest payday of his career, He could have unified the Jr welterweight titles & made a great argument for himself as the next person in line for Pacquiao. I think Bradley saw the Khan-Maidana fight & saw Khan's speed, skill & most of all heart and perhaps thought to himself "Maybe this guy isn`t the push over I thought he was".
Andre Ward/grade: A
Why: Professionally undefeated & the favorite to win the Super Six World Boxing Classic final against England`s Carl Froch. Enough said!
Carl Froch/ Grade:A
Why: Because win, lose or draw, Froch comes out a star from the Super Six tournament & that`s great for him and the sport. So either way Carl Froch has arrived. In boxing u could NEVER have enough stars.
Bernard Hopkins/ Grade: B-
Why: b-hop deserves much respect for becoming the oldest champion in boxing history, but the fight with Chad Dawson gives me the eerie feeling that B-Hop just might be coming to the end of his hall of fame career. Why you ask? Because whether its Pascal or Dawson, B-Hop seems to struggle against today`s young fighters. I feel like it`s only a matter of time before someone catches B-Hop flush & KO's him. Pascal was able to drop Hopkins several times in their first fight. Even with the obvious foul in the Dawson fight, it seemed as if Hopkins was looking for a way out instead of fighting the younger Dawson. At the end of the fight Hopkins was holding his shoulder as if to be in severe pain, but was just as worried about the outcome and whether he loss or not. If you've really suffered a severe injury then I would think you could care less at that point and time about a win or a loss, you really just would want medical help.... period. When a boxer pulls that kind of act looking for a way out of a fight, then maybe its time to start thinking about a way out for good, before you get hurt. Just because you have the body of a 28 year old, doesnt mean you can fight like one, or can fight one.
Saul "Canelo" Alvarez/ Grade: D
Why: If I see Alvarez fight another lesser opponent I`m going to throw up. He's a huge star in Mexico & if he really is that good then he needs to fight tougher fighters & be huge here in the states. Having him constantly fight fighters he can steam roll over isn`t good for the young fighter in the long run of his career. Because when he comes up against a guy that`s going take his best and stay in there, it could possible start breaking him down mentally & have him questioning his own abilities. Simply put, its time for American fight fans to see what all the fuss is about with this kid & to see what he's really made of, and now is the time.
Sergio Martinez/ Grade: C
Why: Because Sergio is wasting valuable time he doesn`t have trying to call out the small guys like Pacquiao & Mayweather. No doubt he should want (and deserves) the biggest payday he can get since his options are extremely limited, but calling out guys that he would only get to fight at 150 lbs (or in Pacquiao's case 147lbs) is nonsense. Sergio even worked against himself when he said that he would kill himself to make 150lbs just to get a fight with either Mayweather or Pacquiao. How did he just shoot himself in the foot with that statement? First of all, Pacquiao makes 145lbs & no more than that. Pacquiao is a considerably small welterweight, much less a Jr middleweight (which is where the fight would be at more or less) so no Pacquiao unless Sergio goes down to 147lbs. Which wouldn`t work out well at all and might be impossible for Martinez. As for a fight with Floyd goes, to say you'll kill yourself to make the weight is the WORST possible thing that could have come out of his mouth. Floyd always complains that he never gets the credit he deserves for his wins, so what would Floyd have to gain by fighting a man who said he'll risk his health for a fight with him. I can just about guarantee that Floyd is saying "Why should I fight him, cause after I beat him all they going to say is that he was weight drained & I`m not going to get full credit for that win, so why bother". The ironic thing is that in his last fight with an unknown boxer (at least here in the states) Darren Barker, is that Barker showed in many ways a blueprint on how to possibly beat Martinez. Its going to be interesting to see who's going to use that blueprint again on Sergio, and if its a top tier fighter then the results just might be different this time around for Martinez.
Those names just stuck out in my mind at this point & I thought all those guys could do more for themselves & the sport. It would be nice to see guys like Shane Mosley, Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones Jr & even Paul Williams call it a career at this point. I am very much looking forward to seeing what great fights await us in 2012. Hopefully we'll FINALLY see Pacquiao-Mayweather (but dont hold your breath) Mayweather-Khan, Maidana-Bradley, Brandon Rios-Robert Guerrero, Maidana-Rios & the list goes on & on. Lets just hope in 2012 we have more fighters willing to fight instead of bickering & arguing like a bunch of school girls when there`s a perfectly good ring waiting to be used to settle the differences. So in other words.....JUST SHUT UP & FIGHT.
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