All Sport Report

Two time junior lightweight champion, and two time lightweight champion Diego Corrales liked to live life fast, unfortunately for him the saying “live fast, die young” became a truth Monday evening.

Corrales was one of the toughest competitors to ever step into a boxing ring, he will be forever remembered for his 2005 victory over Jose Luis Castillo which can only be described as a war. In the ‘05 fight of the year, Corrales showed the true spirit of a warrior and held on after being knocked down twice in the tenth to score a knockout victory.

Diego wanted, above all, to be entertaining to the fans and to compete with the best fighters in the world - he accomplished both during his 11 year boxing career. Corrales compiled a very impressive 40-5 record with 33 wins by knockout.

Corrales’s life, and brilliant boxing career, came to a much too early end on May 7th due to a fatal motorcycle accident. Diego had only had the motorcycle for about a week, and he was wearing a helmet but the investigation revealed that he was traveling in excess of 100 miles per hour, he died at the scene.

A man that personified what it means to be a fighter, diego Corrales will be missed by boxing fans worldwide.

Diego Corrales, Castillo, boxing, motorcycle, accident

After some serious miscues in my predictions in the sporting world of late, I finally managed to get one right - well not exactly right, I did call for a knockout, but at least I successfully managed to pick the winner:

Following more than three long months of predictions, trash talk and hype the Golden Boy and the Pretty Boy finally stepped into the ring Saturday night in Las Vegas, in front a sell out crowd and God knows how many PPV viewers.

Much to my surprise, it was a solid fight from beginning to end with Floyd Mayweather Jr squeeking out a narrow split decision victory. See I’m from the Mike Tyson generation, where more often than not the weigh in lasted more than twice as long as the actual fight, so I’m still a bit mystified when a championship fight of this caliber is not only a close fight, but entertaining past the third round.

The difference in the fight was, as expected, in Mayweather’s lightining fast hands and skillfull defense. Floyd landed an incredible 43 percent of his punches to De La Hoya’s twenty-one percent.

Oscar and his special guest (Floyd Mayweather Sr) both thought the Golden Boy won the fight with harder and cleaner punches, but two of the three score cards begged to differ.

This was De La Hoya’s third loss in his last five fights, and with Golden Boy Promotions going strong I find myself wondering how much longer he’ll stay active in the fight game. Floyd Mayweather Jr had already indicated that this fight may be his last…

I think we should give the two of them a couple weeks vacation and then put them on the nation wide hype tour again for De La Hoya/Mayweather II in January ‘08. Come on all boxing fans know that you haven’t really beaten someone until you beat them two out of three.

Floyd Mayweather Jr, Oscar De La Hoya, boxing, welterweight, light middleweight, Golden Boy, Pretty Boy

Tomorrow night will be the biggest, most anticipated fight of the year if not the decade. There has been constant talk and speculation about this fight, the likes of which boxing hasn’t seen since the days of Muhammed Ali.

There was a week long tour of the combatants filled with more hype than any fight that has preceeded it. Tensions mounted from the “trainer swap” - Mayweather’s father had been estranged from his son for several years, and offered his services to help De La Hoya beat Jr, for the small sum of two million dollars. When De La Hoya didn’t want to agree to the astronomical training fee, Floyd Sr ended up back in the gym with his boy and the most recent flip and or flop may have Floyd’s daddy showing up as a guest of the Golden Boy.

The big question in my mind as a fight fan is - Can this fight possibly live up to the expectations we as boxing fans have put upon it?… The answer, I don’t think so.

Oscar De La Hoya is one of the greatest fighters of all time, without question. He won an Olympic Gold Medal at the 1992 Barcelona games, and over the course of his 15 year professional career he’s fought his way to an outstanding 38-4 record with 30 KO’s.

The list of fighters he’s dismantled in his forty-two fights reads like a who’s who of boxing champions including: Julio Cesar Chavez, Pernell Whitaker, Hector Comacho, Arturo Gatti and Fernando Vargas.

Oscar is the only man in boxing history to hold championships in six different weight classes, and he’s only been knocked out once in a career that spans a decade and a half. He’s only lost fights to three men (Shane Mosley twice) and only been really decisively beaten once, by Bernard Hopkins.

The problem for Oscar is that all of the things I described above, as impressive as they are, are in the past. The Golden Boy has had problems coping with faster fighters (like Mosley) and not only is Floyd Mayweather Jr a bit faster than Oscar, he’s four years younger and, from what I’ve seen throughout the hype - Floyd wants it more, and he believes that he’s walking out of that ring the winner.

There are maybe one or two guys in professional boxing today that are better fighters than Floyd Mayweather Jr, and unfortunately for the Golden Boy, he isn’t one of them. If Mayweather comes out and fights his fight, I don’t think that De La Hoya stands a chance - Floyd Mayweather Jr hands Oscar the second knockout loss of his career in the eighth round.

Saturday night when the opening bell rings, after all the dust of the trash talk has settled, the only thing that’s going to matter is who’s better, who wants it more and right now that guy is Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Here’s just a sample of what the Golden Boy is in for tomorrow night:

Mayweather, De La Hoya, Pretty Boy, Golden Boy, boxing

After not having fought a professional fight in more than a decade, heavyweight Tommy Morrison is set to step in the ring for the second time in just over two months. Morrison had been suspended indefinitely after having tested positive for HIV in 1996.

Morrison was reportedly tested several times with negative results over the recent months and given license to fight in West Virginia for February 22, it was Morrisons first fight in more than a decade and resulted in another win by way of knockout for “The Duke”

Tommy will fight the second fight of his incredible comeback this weekend in Houston - if he passes the required tests in order to be licensed in the state, which will include a blood test for the presence of HIV. Morrison says that he will have no problem taking and passing any of the required tests and Dickie Cole of the Texas Combative Sports Department reportedly told espn.com that Morrison would be treated the same as any other fighter applying for license.

So if Tommy holds true to his word and passes the required tests, he will face Dale Ortiz in a four round fight at the Grand Plaza Hotel in Houston, and continue what could become the greatest comeback in sports history.

Here’s a brief look at some of the amazing knockouts Tommy delivered before his decade long hiatus from the boxing ring:

Tommy Morrison, the Duke, boxing, comeback, heavyweight champion

In Stuttgart Germany on Saturday it really looked like David and Goliath. Ruslan Chagaev came in as a challenger to WBA Heavyweight Champion Nikolai Valuev. Chagaev was giving away almost a foot in height and nearly 90 pounds to the seven foot giant.

Chagaev was a heavy underdog, Valuev held a record of 46-0 coming into the fight and in the past he’s used his enormous height and reach advantage to out jab smaller opponents. All the boxing world pretty much assumed that this fight was going to be more of the same, but Chagaev has a history of, not only taking on, but beating bigger opponents. In his amatuer days he was one of the few boxers who managed to beat the 6 foot 5 inch Felix Savon.

Chagaev adopted some unusual training methods in preparation for the fight, including having his trainer stand on a box while sparring to get used to fighting an opponent so much larger.

In the fourth round, the much smaller challenger managed to break inside the champions jab and land several shots. From that moment on Chagaev grew bolder, he continued landing punches and winning rounds, ultimately out-pointing the Russian in a twelve round majority decision.

To the surprise of all, it was a great fight form the opening bell to the final seconds. Neither fighter held anything back in the 12th, knowing that it was going to be close on the scorecards.

Watch some of the action from the toe to toe 11th and 12th rounds as Chagaev out quicks and outwits the much larger champion, earning his slice of the Heavyweight gold in one of the best heavyweight fights of the last year.

The WBC International Super Featherweight Champion Manny Pacquiao wasn’t quite himself in the first five rounds of his bout against his undefeated opponent Jorge Solis.

Manny seemed to be having a lot of trouble adapting to Solis’ unorthodox style, so much so that for a minute I thought the man that I picked as 2006 fighter of the year was going to get handed a defeat.

Until the sixth round that is… at about the halfway point of the sixth Solis caught Manny with and unintentional headbutt that split “Pacman” open over the left eye. Pacquiao decided it was time to turn it into a “slugfest” after the headbutt, he pushed Solis into the corner and uleashed a flurry of brutal punches.

The break between rounds didn’t calm Manny down, he continued to punish Solis through the course of the seventh round and into the eighth. Solis went down twice in the eighth round and stayed down after the second with a little over a minute left in the round.

Pacquiao improved his record to 44-3-2 with thirty-four wins by KO, and Solis unbeaten streak came to an end after 34 fights.

Solis, who must have still been punch drunk after the fight commented that his “wife hits harder than Pacquiao”. I’m supposing that means his wife KO’d him in less than eight rounds?

For all of you that are Pacman fans like myself, here’s a bit of footage of him beating up on some of the best fighters in the world - enjoy:

The “Viking Warrior” battled to a rare decision victory on Saturday night keeping both the WBA and WBC Super-middle wieght belts around his waist.

Kessler faced one of the toughest contenders in the Super-middleweight class in the Mexican born Librado Andrade. The fight looked to be one of Kessler’s toughest challenges yet, but he kept control for most of the duration fending off all of Andrade’s offensive flurries and landing powerful punches almost at will. It was, hands down, Kessler’s fight from very early on. The decision was unanimous with all three judges scoring the fight 120-108 in favor of The Viking Warrior.

Mikkel improved his record to 39-0 with the decision, 29 of his wins have come by way of knockout. Mikkel has been the WBA champion since back in ‘04, he added the WBC crown to his collection by way of this very impressive third round KO of Markus Beyer last October:

Many boxing experts will argue that Joe Calzage of Wales is the best fighter in the Super-middleweight division, I would tend to disagree. Calzaghe is a great fighter, with a very impressive professional record of 42-0. However Calzaghe’s big upcoming fight will have him going up against Peter Manfredo Jr. You know Manfredo don’t you? Let me refresh your memory, he’s the guy that didn’t win the reality show “the Contender”.

So Calzaghe is fighting a guy who most likely isn’t in anyone’s top ten among Super-middleweights while Kessler is winning a convincing unanimous decision over a guy who’s firmly planted among the top five in the division.

I’ve got a thought, let’s show everyone out there that boxing hasn’t come to it’s end and do whatever it takes to get Calzaghe into the ring against the Viking Warrior and see who comes out on top. Personally I’d put my money on Kessler, but I just want to see it take place. Listen up HBO, I’d be more than willing to lay down a fifty spot to see this war on PPV, which is more than I can say for most of the fights you’ve been putting together lately.

Mikkel Kessler, super middleweight, Contender, Joe Calzaghe, Peter Manfredo, WBA, WBC, Best pound for pound boxer

Wait a minute, what? Sergio Mora was actually given a title shot… and he refused it? Now I think I’ve heard everything.

Allow me to explain - this is Sergio Mora aka the Latin Snake:

He got whatever little fame he currently has by winning The Contender, the reality show put on by Sylvester Stallone and Sugar Ray Leonard. Don’t get me wrong, the guy has talent but come on - he’s not even ranked in the top ten among middleweights.

So what happened? Every boxer’s dream is to be able to get his shot, overcome the odds and strap the gold of their respective weight class around their waist (not to mention the substantial stack of money that usually goes hand in hand with a title shot), so why would a guy not even among the cream of the crop refuse his big chance? According to reports, Mora refused the fight based on location.

The fight was scheduled for May 19th, that’s just too close to the blockbuster between De LaHoya and Mayweather, so Vegas was out, and a vast majority of other major venues were booked up for hockey and hoops playoffs. The fight was booked in Memphis’ Fed-Ex Forum, home of the Grizzlies and venue for quite a few pretty big fights, Mora refuses to fight in Memphis. Mora’s camp has stated that they already felt like an underdog, they didn’t want to fight in Jermain’s backyard.

I don’t know if Mora’s camp has access to a map or not, and it has been a while since I studied geography, but I’m pretty sure Memphis is in Tennessee and according to Jermain Taylor’s biography, he’s from Little Rock Arkansas. Since when is Memphis Little Rock’s backyard?

“For a big championship fight like Taylor-Mora we don’t want to fight in a place like Memphis. We would rather do something more interesting,” Mora’s promoter said. So what’s more interesting than a middleweight title shot?

Jermain Taylor’s promoter Lou Dibella didn’t seem very concerned, commenting that “Mora can go pound sand” if he didn’t want to fight in Memphis.

It didn’t take long for a new, and potentially much better fight to be set up. On the same day, May 19th, in the same venue Jermain Taylor will take on Cory Spinks. Spinks is the son of former champion Leon Spinks, and considered by many to be the best 154 lb fighter in the world. Cory will move up six pounds to compete at middleweight, but his camp said it wouldn’t be a problem since the fight is still two months away.

Sergio Mora may very well have made the biggest mistake of his boxing career here. If Taylor beats Spinks in May, there will be a lot of pressure for him to take on some strong competition from someone who regularly makes their home in the middleweight division like Edison Miranda or Kelly Pavlik. Mora will have to fight to stay fresh while awaiting another title shot in a venue better than Memphis, if he only fights weak fighters to keep his record intact his stock will drop and he may not get another shot. If he fights stiff competition and loses he won’t get another shot either, sorry Sergio, it looks like a lose-lose, but maybe there will be another reality show sometime in your future.

More info is available on the cancelled fight with Mora and the fight that will actually take place with Cory Spinks on Jermain Taylor’s website here.

Jermain Taylor, bad intentions, Sergio Mora, Latin Snake, Cory Spinks, middleweight boxing title fight, contender

Unlike Bernard Hopkins, it seems like Johnny Tapia is actually going to follow through on his promise of retirement. After an impressive career lasting nearly twenty years in which he amassed 56 wins with only five defeats.

Tapia’s “final fury” came friday night, when he scored a victory by majority decision over 29 year old Evaristo Primero. After decades of involvement in the sport of boxing which started with 150 wins on an amatuer level, Johnny Tapia may not have been as fast or hit quite as hard as he had in his prime, but he gave the sellout crowd of three thousand fans at a New Mexico casino what they came to see - An entertaining fight that ended in a victory for the states most popular fighter.

Coming up in a difficult environment that saw his mother kidnapped and murdered when he was eight years old, through trouble with drugs, trouble with the law and rumored affiliation with gangs Johnny Tapia was able to straighten himself out and become one hell of a professional fighter, holding five different championships in three different weight classes.

Tapia amazingly held an undefeated record for the first decade of his professional career, his first loss coming in 1999 to Paul Ayala, in what many called the best fight of that year.

Crazy life or not Johnny Tapia will be missed by the world of professional boxing, but I get the feeling we’ll by seeing Johnny right outside the ring in the very near future. His son Johnny Tapia II is slated to make his amatuer boxing debut sometime in March.

Johnny Tapia, boxing, Mi Vida Loca

Boxer Tommy Morrison, who tested positive for HIV over a decade ago has now passed the test with a negative result and been cleared to fight.

Fighters who test positive for HIV or Aids are not permitted to compete in the US, fighters must have a negative result in order to compete in boxing, kick boxing, mixed martial arts - essentially all combat sports where both parties could end up with opens wounds thereby increasing the chance to pass the virus.

Morrison tested positive in 1996 and was prohibited from fighting in the US, he did fight professionally one more time on foreign soil before what everyone thought would be his early retirement, until just recently when Morrison was licesned to fight in West Virginia after receiving a negative result on his latest HIV test conducted in Arizona.

If it’s been so long since you’ve seen Tommy Morrison in the ring that you can’t remember if he was even worth watching you can take a look at this:

In his hay day Tommy was an exciting fighter to watch, a fighter that could bring a bout to a close by way of knockout in a matter of seconds, but I’m really not sure about this whole situation.

Morrison maintains that the original test was a false positive, the people present at the time of the test in question stand by the original results - So what happened?

I’ve been saying for quite some time that the Heavyweight division has needed some new blood, and I meant new blood, not potentially tainted blood. In my opinion, if there is any question as to whether Morrison has HIV he should be kept from the ring for the safety of all parties involved. In all likelyhood, no title holder or top contender would agree to step into the ring with him after the original test more than ten years ago came up positive.

If Morrison’s 1996 was incorrect I feel bad for the fact that it ruined what could have been a pretty decent boxing career, but if there is even the slightest doubt then all necessary precautions should be taken to maintain the safety of the fighters and unfortunately for Tommy that means continued retirement.

It’s become evident that Bernard Hopkins not only has trouble deciding on when to retire, he also has trouble deciding who to fight. His last fight was in June of ‘06 against Antonio Tarver, Hopkins was going to retire - for real this time, after winning the light heavyweight belt from Tarver.

The latest plan had been to settle the score with and opponent of old - Roy Jones Jr, which though it would have made for a boring fight, it was one that Hopkins probably would have won. Jones isn’t the fighter he was five years ago, he’s lost a step and some confidence and despite winning his latest fight the three prior were losses by way of very convincing KO’s. Hopkins could have played it safe and taken a decision from his former nemesis, closing that chapter of his boxing career.

Rumors abounded as to who was next for 42 year old Hopkins, bouts with fighters from several different weight classes were considered, B-Hop reportedly even pondered a big jump up in weight to challenge Heavyweight champ Oleg Maskaev, then the fight with Jones seemed all done but the doing. Until the Executioner decided he wanted a fight against the biggest name he could attract, and in boxing right now you don’t get a whole lot bigger than Winky Wright.

Wright is coming off a banner year, he is one of the most impressive specimens in all of boxing today. Winky has beaten up some of boxings best in Tito Trinidad, Sam Soliman and Shane Mosely(twice), and even though the result was a “draw”, he beat Jermain Taylor too.

If Bernard Hopkins isn’t careful, Winky make just whip him into retirement this July.

This past Saturday Shane Mosley dominated a fighter ten years his junior, winning a unanimous decision over twenty-five year old Luis Collazo. This was Mosley’s first fight in the welterweight division since 2005 and only his third since 2003.

Mosley has held titles in three divisions and was at one time to be one considered to be among the best pound for pound fighters in the game looked like he was the younger man in the ring at Mandalay Bay on Saturday.

Sugar Shane took a few rounds to get used to Collazo’s southpaw stance, but around midway through the fight he took command, hitting Collazo at will and ultimately putting him on the mat once in the eleventh round in the bout for the interim WBC title temporarily vacated by Floyd Mayweather JR.

Mosley improved his professional record to 44-4 and implied after the fight that it was good to be back fighting at 147 lbs and that he had plans to keep himself conditioned and fight at welterweight again mid-year.

The welterweight division is heavy with talent, and Mosley coming back full time makes it one of the most exciting divisions in boxing. This could lead to some very exciting matches in the near future, if Mayweather decides to come back to the division after his fight with Oscar De La Hoya, a Mayweather/Mosely clash is almost certain. Just the potential for this fight will have true fight fans salivating as it would pit a hall of fame caliber fighter in Mosely against a fighter considered by many to be the pound for pound best in the game at the moment. If you’ve been waiting a superfight look past the upcoming Hopkins/Jones fight to this one, this is where the best boxing is going to be!

Long gone are the glory days of professional boxing, where the heavyweight champion’s name was well known in most households. Today we have no Ali, no Joe Frazier, no Liston, no Patterson, no Rocky’s and certainly no Sugar Ray’s.

Today’s boxing is being carried by Floyd Mayweather JR, Winky Wright and Manny Pacquiao.

“Pac-man”’s next fight, if it’s allowed to happen, is slated for late April against a very tough Korean opponent, Injin Chi. The fight is not written in stone, but is likely if Manny’s contract can get straightened out. There is an impending legal dispute between Top Rank Promotions and Golden Boy, both of whom claim to have a valid contract on the talented fighter. This dispute could potentially keep “pac-man” out of the ring for a while, which could do further damage to boxing’s current condition.

My advice to the US boxing world - go over to Denmark and bring Mikkel Kessler back with you, offer him a big contract to fight in the US. The Viking Warrior is 37-0 with 28 of his wins coming by way of knockout. Will he single handedly bring boxing back to life? I’m not sure, but Manny is a little guy, his shoulders aren’t big enough to carry the whole sport, especially if he’s sidelined while the contract dispute gets rectified.