TalkingBoxing Articles
In Light of Recent Events
THU November 17, ANDRES CARRIEDO - With all of the goings-on taking place over the last few weeks, many previously woeful divisions are beginning to near their competitive peaks. Between the retirement of Vitali Klitchko, Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s move up to welterweight, Kostya Tszyu’s likely return to boxing (possibly in a rematch against Zab Judah at the welterweight limit), Jeff Lacy’s ascension up the ranks of boxing’s elite, and the emergence of Golden Boy Promotion’s slew of young champions many divisions are beginning to look very interesting.
Klitchko’s retirement is the biggest news story in the heavyweight division since Lennox Lewis’ retirement. The fact that Klitchko failed to ever defeat Lewis and failed to ever face the last man to defeat Lewis (Hasim Rahman) will always factor negatively into his personal heavyweight story. However, his retirement figures to open the doors for the long awaited heavyweight title unification tournament.
Say what you will about Don King’s manipulative ways and sometimes questionable business dealings, but his penchant for creating tournaments is refreshing (I only wish he would not let the buildup last for years prior to the actual tournaments). A unification tournament involving all four of the division’s titlists would finally give heavyweight fans something to look forward to and cheer about.
Welterweight, on the other hand, already has an undisputed champion in Zab Judah. Trouble is, at least for the time being, the business end of boxing does not appear to be working in Judah’s favor. Two superstar former welterweight champions have welched on their verbal commitments to return to the 147 lb. division. Instead, Shane Mosley and Oscar De la Hoya appear to be headed toward greener pastures in the form of lucrative fights against shop worn box office draws, Fernando Vargas and Ricardo Mayorga, in bouts that in all likelihood will be fought at the Jr. Middleweight limit.
That makes Mayweather and Tszyu’s presence in the welterweight division all the more intriguing. Not only are Mayweather and Tszyu every bit as talented and accomplished as Mosley and De la Hoya, but their commitments to campaign at welterweight figure to actually be in earnest. One can only hope that Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto follow suit and create a welterweight golden era comprised of former 140 lb. titlists.
Lacy’s recent string of victories and rise to prominence is noteworthy as well. Many people who picked Syd Vanderpool to beat Lacy in October 2004 (myself included) would now put a nice chunk of change in favor of Lacy in matchups against the likes of Joe Calzaghe and Antonio Tarver – the recognized champions at 168 and 175 respectively. Simply put, the progress Lacy has exhibited in his last five performances has been extremely impressive. He has brought life back to what, not too long ago, was an abyss between middleweight and heavyweight.
Another interesting development over the last few weeks was the complete sweep by Mexico in WBO title fights against Thailand in the World Cup card staged by Golden Boy Promotions. The fights were highly entertaining and the event was a huge success; kudos to Golden Boy Promotions for their innovative idea.
Now that it is over and Mexico (read: Golden Boy Promotions) has four WBO titlists in the lower weight classes one gets the feeling that Golden Boy and Top Rank will need to play nice in order to realize the potential created by this highly successful card for the boxers involved. Rafael Marquez-Johnny Gonzalez, Martin Castillo-Fernando Montiel and Jorge Arce-Hugo Casarez cannot be made unless the two promotional powerhouses figure out a way to get along.
So, in light of recent events, the landscape of a number of divisions just got a whole lot more interesting. Granted, we have not had the benefit of a legitimate super fight in the last few months, but not to worry Hopkins-Taylor II is fast approaching on the horizon. Until then…
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