The Standing 8 Count (9/28/08)

by Madcow

Hide your daughters and lock up the liquor cabinet because your buddy, Madcow, is back once again.

David Haye finally settled on Monte Barrett as an opponent for his date in Mid-November. Haye’s secret to having a successful run at Heavyweight is easy- don’t get hit…ever. If Haye can go the rest of his career without getting hit, he should have a nice run with the big boys. If he gets hit at some point, he will become forever known as Amir Khan Sr. If marginally powerful Cruiserweights were able to crumble his potato chip chin, imagine what a guy like Klitschko or Peter could do. The good news is that either Barrett or nis next opponent will knock Haye out, so this charade won’t go on too much longer.

What do HBO and The MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas have in common? Both have sold out for the Golden Boy. Oscar De la Hoya’s Goliath vs. David’s smaller Asian brother bout with Manny Pacquiao sold out the 16,000 seat arena in about a day. That sounds impressive until you realize that in Vegas reality often gets twisted- Mama Mia!, the cancer-causing ABBA musical at the Mandalay Bay, is the #1 show and a perennial sell-out in Sin City.

Marco Antonio Barrera, who just signed a 5-fight deal with Don King in a comeback attempt, is putting together a team to handle his fights. There’s no truth to the rumor that his team will consist of a mortician, a grave digger and 4 pallbearers.

Shane Mosley KO’d Ricardo Mayorga with one second left in their fight. However, the big story here is the way a skill-less, goon like Mayorga was able to keep the fight as close as he did. Up until the first knockdown in the 12th, this was an even fight. This doesn’t bode well for Mosley’s chances in a shot against Antonio Margrito. You have to believe that there were several messages from Bob Arum on Jin Mosley’s answering machine when she got home.

What’s the over/under on how many big fights a bloated Stevie Forbes will lose before he either stops getting tv time or goes back to 140 lbs. where he belongs?

Andre Berto reminds me of a little leaguer trying way too hard to impress his daddy sitting in the bleachers.

Edgar Sosa retained his WBC Jr. Flyweight Title against Sonny Boy Jaro on Saturday night. I’m sorry, but I just can’t get too hyped about watching boxers who weigh less than my usual lunch order. The little guys remind me of cute little smurfs and I just can’t stand to see the li’l guys get hurt. Maybe if they would paint themselves blue and fight with novelty, over-sized gloves the tiny guys would be more interesting. Or let Oscar have at ‘em and clear out everybody below Flyweight.

Paul Williams beat a Middleweight punching bag on Thursday night. I don’t know what was more painful to watch, Williams jack Andy Kolle’s jaw or Versus trying to fill a 2 hour show when their two main events lasted a total of 4 rounds.

Joe Calzaghe finally vacated his WBO Super Middleweight Title this week. Now if we could only convince him to relinquish the other title in his possesion that he has no intention of defending.

Rumor Mill: Sources have informed me that IBF Strawweight Champ Raul Garcia has been reported missing. The last person to come into contact with him was a very hungry-looking Chris Arreola.

I’ll see all you degenerate fight fans next Sunday. Until then, keep your hands up, your chin down and the wife away from your little black book.

MIA: 10 Fighters Who Are Missing In Action

by Paul Magno

One of the most basic keys to being a successful pro boxer is to make yourself a known commodity among fans. Here is a list of 10 current fighters who were either there on on their way to Boxing stardom, but allowed inactivity to get in the way of their trajectory.

Winky Wright- After a two-year period which saw him beat Shane Mosley twice, dominate Felix Trinidad, score a solid win over Ike Quartey and fight to controversial draw against Jermain Taylor, It seemed obvious that Winky was finally on the verge of getting the mainstream success his skills deserved. Then, he got a PPV beat-down by Bernard Hopkins in July of ‘07 and hasn’t been heard from since. Nothing’s on the horizon for Wright and if he ever fights again, it’ll be late ‘09 at the earliest.

Joan Guzman- Graced with HOF skills, but doomed with the work ethic of a rich kid working in Daddy’s company, Guzman has only fought twice since December of 2006. Most recently, he ate himself out of the biggest fight of his career-  a shot at reigning World Lightweight champ, Nate Campbell. At 31, Guzman’s days as a Wonder Boy are gone and we have yet to see what Guzman is truly capable of…If he doesn’t get his act straight, we may never have the priveledge of saying that we saw a prime Guzman compete against the very best.

Luis Collazo- After his embarrassing loss to Shane Mosley in February of ‘07, Collazo has only been in the ring once, against a very pedestrian 9-4-1 opponent. With only a tentative bout against TBA on the horizon and little in the immediate past, Collazo needs to take a serious look at how his career is being managed. Finding a way to KO his contract with Don King will be his biggest win.

Demetrius Hopkins- After being one of the most active world-class fighters in the sport, with 12 fights taking place between 2005 and 2007, Hopkin’s promotional deal with Golden Boy hit the skids and he’s been warming the bench ever since November of ‘07. Instead of taking advantage of his biggest win to date, a UD win over Steve Forbes, his career has stalled. A change of promoters has yielded just one fight which he had to cancel due to not making weight. Nothing of note awaits Hopkins in the immediate future.

Verno Phillips- Veteran fighters need more time between fights to recover, but one fight per year for the last 3 years is a bit much. The 38 year old Phillips scored a big win over Cory Spinks in March of this year to once again become a world champ, but any career momentum he had attained is long gone now. Another King fighter, Verno may consider the benefits of ditching Mr. “Only in America.”

Shannon Briggs- This one-time lineal World Heavyweight champ was never a gifted fighter and he never was one to boast a world-class work-ethic. However, he does talk a good game and he has a very recognizable image. Since his tame-as-a-lamb performance against Sultan Ibragimov, Briggs has gone MIA from active participation as a fighter…and from the shape he looks to be in, booking another bout is not a priority.

Reggie Johnson- After being inactive from 2002 to 2008, with just one fight in all that time, Johnson claimed to be making a comeback and won the marginal IBA Lightheavyweight title title against Julio Cesar Gonzalez. With a division full of solid fights, it looks as though the 42 year old is once again content to run out the clock on his career.

Vassiliy Jirov- Since losing twice in a row, to Joe Mesi and Michael Moorer, in his experiment with fighting at Heavyweight, Jirov had seemed on a mission to get back down to Cruiserweight where he belongs. His weight gradually diminished and he was starting to look sharper. However, the path back to world-class status stalled in July of ´07 and nothing’s been heard from him since- Hardly the ideal way to go about making a comeback.

Elvir Muriqi- Make no mistake, “The Kosovo Kid” is little more than a very solid club fighter. However, in June of ’07, he fought the fight of his life, against a world-class Antonio Tarver, and very nearly pulled off the upset. Muriqi ended up losing a narrow Majority Decision, something he could’ve easily parlayed into a handfull of nicely-paying TV fights. Instead, he’s only fought one time since then- a meaningless, low-paying bout in  a smokey club.

Vivian Harris- Inactivity has plagued Harris for the last 5 years of his career, possibly robbing the Boxing world of being able to see what he could really do at his best. Harris is famous for his lack of focus during fights, but its hard to tell if that lack of focus has caused his inactivity or if his inactivity has caused his lack of focus. In any case, he’s scheduled to fight the dreaded TBA in late October and it’ll be his first fight since losing to Junior Witter in September of ‘07.

The Standing 8 Count (9/21/08)

by Madcow

Welcome back to me! This week’s column will be dedicated to my favorite division- the Welterweights. A division, by the way, which should’ve provided us with at least a half-dozen classics this year. Instead, we had a couple of decent fights and this gin-soaked column:

Tickets go on sale this Wednesday for “The Farce of the Year,” Oscar De la Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao. Not one to pull any punches, I will honestly tell you that this one holds ZERO interest for me. Even if Oscar’s able to squeeze his size-4 body into a pair of size-2 fishnets and Pacquiao’s able to retain enough water to make 147, this fight will still be an abomination. However, make no mistake about it- History will be made on December 6th- The launching of the first Filipino satellite.

WBC Welterweight Champ, Andre Berto, will be defending his title against Stevie Forbes this coming Saturday. One question- With names like Williams, Clottey, Collazo, Quintana, Cotto and even Cintron floating around in limbo, why did Berto decide on Forbes? It’s almost like Berto wants to opt out of the division and hide in his own personal plastic bubble. Too bad Berto can’t have his own division, you know, one that’s for undersized Welterweights who just aren’t big enough or bad enough to fight the bigger guys. Hey, wait! There is a division like that- It’s called the Junior Welterweight division.

Paul Williams should stop all the Margarito-esque bellyaching about being ducked. There’s an easy way to get a big fight when nobody wants to bother with you- Stay active and make a name for yourself. So what if you can’t get a fight with Margarito or Cotto? Fight all the Michael Jennings and Delvin Rodriguez’s of the world until you eliminate all the cannon fodder for your rivals. Fighting twice a year, whining to your friends and jumping up to Middleweight is not the way to get a money fight at 147.

Luis Collazo is considering retirement unless he can land a big fight soon. What he should consider is firing Don King as his promoter. King’s found Collazo 2 fights in over two years, hardly the recipe for staying in the public’s eye and finding a good fight. What Collazo needs to do is ditch “Buckwheat 2009″ and get with someone who actually holds Boxing shows. Despite the appearance of being an old pro, Collazo is only 27 years old and there’s plenty of time to get things back on track. Nobody is going to bend over backwards for a crafty southpaw who’s affiliated with Don King.

I hate to break the news to those who have gushed over the Margarito/Cotto bout, but the fight wasn’t that good. I’ve heard phrases like “Fight of the Decade” thrown around and that’s just plain goofy. The anticipation leading up to the fight was exciting, the aftermath was exciting, but the fight itself was way too one-sided to be consider a true candidate for even Fight of the Year. Margarito/Cotto was about as competitive as Joshua Clottey’s fight with Zab Judah.

What’s the chance of Antonio Margarito backing-up the threats of division domination he made when he was on the outside looking in? The official line from his manager is that Margarito has been so busy with press engagements after the Cotto fight that he just won’t be able to get back into the gym until later this year. Yeah, right. I wouldn’t buy that even if it came with a free copy of the Kim Kardashian sex tape.

Please, Miguel Cotto, don’t go through with your idea of having a rematch with Margarito. You could very well find yourself without a head- and that would leave Ivan “Couldn’t Pop a Pimple” Calderon as the representative of Puerto Rican Boxing.

One for the road: Shane Mosley, Ricky Hatton, Antonio Tarver, Joe Calzaghe, Roy jones Jr, Bernard Hopkins, Oscar De la Hoya, Ricardo Mayorga, Raul Marquez and Vitali Klitschko are all scheduled to have “major” fights in the last third of ‘08. For those who like to score fights at home- you will need a clean piece of paper, a sharpened pencil, High-def TV and a Time Machine… What’s the over/under on one of these geezers having a coronary?

See ya next week…

The Ring Championships Will Ruin Boxing

by Paul Magno

When Ring Magazine decided to re-start their magazine championships awhile back I was happy for any alternative to the alphabet soup sanctioning bodies. Anything would’ve been better than the system that was in place, but when you take a closer look at the impact the Ring titles have had on the sport, it can be safely assumed that nothing good has really come from adding yet another title belt to Boxing. As a matter of fact, despite the good intentions behind the Ring Championships, these magazine titles may very well put another nail into Boxing’s coffin.

At this point the Ring titles have gone from a novel magazine gimmick to being recognized as legit World Titles around which entire shows and Pay Per Views are built. Ring Magazine has pushed itself into the fuzzy area between editorial opinion and established championships. And let’s not even delve into the conflicts of interest brought about by the fact that a wanabe-sanctioning body which awards “world” title belts and claims legitimacy is owned by Golden Boy, a very active promoter with many horses in the proverbial race.

The Ring’s Championship rankings are decided by their editorial board-so there is no legal bite behind their bark and, therefore, no way to force their recognized belt holders to fight mandatory #1 challengers, or anyone else for that matter. How can a title be treated as legit when there is absolutely no mechanism built in for discipline and enforcement of by-laws? How would you even go about stripping a fighter of a non-sanctioned belt awarded to him by a magazine?

The lack of real discipline and rules has created several vanity fights for the so-called world title featuring fighters with big name recognition, but questionable legit title credentials. Since established veteran Ring champs are under no pressure to fight any young guns or top prospects, they are free to choose bouts with more recognizable, but much lesser fighters- and nothing can be done to stop them from doing so. More and more of these low-risk, high-buy rate fights will come about in the future, significantly watering-down the sport and making it even harder for young fighters to fight their way to the top.

The perfect example of this is Joe Calzaghe, who currently owns both the 168 and 175 Ring Titles. He became a “world” champ at Lightheavyweight by beating Bernard Hopkins who held no recognized world title other than Ring Magazine’s belt. Now, Calzaghe is set to defend against Roy Jones next- a fighter who hasn’t beaten a ranked 175 pounder in over 5 years. Calzaghe has no plans to fight anyone among the Ring’s top Lightheavies and has no intention of defending his 168 lb Ring title anytime soon either. However, there is nothing that can be done to discipline him and no grounds by which they could strip him. Calzaghe is living up to the rules of the magazine’s editorial board; Rules that would be just as useful if they didn’t exist.

Ring Magazine’s championship policy states: “The only three occasions when a fighter will lose his championship status are when he retires, moves to another weight division, or is defeated in a championship bout.”  So, with no obligation in place as to who the champ fights, the title holder can hold on to his status for as long as he likes, provided he doesn’t lose or officially retire or officially declare that he is abandoning his weight division. In other words, all Joe Calzaghe has to do is not officially retire while he keeps beating the dregs of the sport and Ring Magazine will continue to recognize him as the best Lightheavyweight in the world- Even if guys like Tarver, Dawson and Johnson continue to win and make a case for themselves as the best at 175 lbs.

Don’t think that veteran, “name” fighters haven’t already picked up on the trend established by guys like Hopkins, Calzaghe and Joel Casamayor- Win one big fight against the defending Ring champ or #1 challenger and you will get your hands on a title you can hold on to forever, defend against whomever you like and never have to pay a sanctioning fee while, at the same time, still being called a “world” champion.

Pretty sweet deal, huh? Well not for us fans.

Unless changes are made in the championship rules or the magazine itself goes low-profile with their awards, we will be forced to watch nostalgia fights between past-their-primes fighters passed off as real world championship bouts. Young fighters will have an even tougher time to make a name for themselves since there is no way to ever force the reiging champ to fight them. Therefore, while the Ring Magazine titles exist, the sport desperately needs the so-called legit sanctioning bodies to work the yin to Ring Magazine’s yang and balance things out. Kinda like hoping one bank robber comes in while another bank robber is holding up your bank- Sometimes two evils will cancel each other out.

So, if all parties are wrong and nobody is doing a good job at actually sanctioning the sport, then what can Boxing do? Well, my long-standing suggestion has been to adopt a system similar to the NCAA’s college football rankings where a good number of sportswriters are polled to come up with a consensus ranking of the top teams.

In Boxing’s case, neutral boxing writers without ties to any promoter or fighter, would be asked to rate the top fighters in each division. A sample of writers from around the globe could be used to ensure all worthy fighters are equally represented. Then, get the athletic commissions of each state in the US and around the world to acknowledge these rankings as standard and legit. The key would be to get the United States and Western Europe behind the plan and the rest of the athletic commissions and countries would have to fall in line if they wanted access to the money fights.

I’m sure this plan has its drawbacks as well, but it sure beats the heck out of taking a magazine award and pretending that it has any substance at all.

The Standing 8 Count

by Madcow

Welcome to me! I will be writing a weekly column here for the Blue Corner so double-check all your protective gear and brace yourself because I pull no punches:

One thing you should know is that Madcow loves boxers who can actually box and that’s what I got this Saturday in Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Joel Casamayor. All you brawlers who fight like you’re swinging frying pans and all you feather-fisted track stars, find a copy of this fight and study it because its not too often that you see professional fighters in a professional boxing match.

Congrats to JM Marquez, but if I may add a touch of reality- The Ring Magazine Title is NOT a real world championship. Golden Boy should get over themselves and realize that their belts are a nice touch for their magazine, but carry about as much validity as the fiction writing contest in Playboy Magazine.

Joan Guzman, do us all a favor and take all your nicknames and your salsa dance moves, pack them up in a nice little suitcase and go away. When you move up in weight, have a year to stay in shape and still show up almost 4 pounds overweight, you obviously don’t want to be a boxer. Go work on your dance moves and leave the fighting to the guys who really want it…and while you’re at it, please take “Mr. 83 punches landed in a 12 round fight,” Sergio Mora, with you.

A special thanks to Vernon Forrest for doing something to Mora that his Mom should’ve done a long time ago- hit him hard and often.

Following such a testosterone-loaded dispaly of manliness against Miguel Cotto, “The Tijuana Tornado,” Antonio Margarito has proven himself to be little more than a burst of hot air. With the Welterweight division clearly at his command, Margarito has opted to sit out the rest of 2008, fight a tune-up fight in early 2009 and then go for a rematch with Cotto in June. After a career filled with whining about being ducked and about getting weak paydays, he has decided to avoid high-risk rematches with Joshua Clottey and Paul Williams in what would’ve been the best paydays of his career by far- not to mention key fights for the 147 lb. division. Instead, he will fight a rematch with a guy he already beat decisively. Its got to make you think that “Cintron vs. Margarito 3″ can’t be too far behind.

With his personal handcuffing of the best division in boxing, I’m pushing to change Margarito’s nickname from “The Tijuana Tornado” to something more fitting, like, “The Tijuana Burrito Fart.”

What exactly happened to the European Boxing scene? Amir Khan gets blown out in 54 seconds by Breidis Prescott, a fighter barely good enough to be a last minute substitute on ESPN2; Carl Froch continues to call out Mikkel Kessler while Kessler is doing his best to enter the witness protection program; David Haye calls for the head of Wladimir Klitschko or any top 10 Heavyweight and will end up fighting Kevin “Fists of Cotton” Johnson; and from the looks of Ricky Hatton on Saturday’s PPV, he’s more likely to eat Paulie Malignaggi than knock him out. Are you sure this is the continent that gave birth to Nigel Benn?

Joe Calzaghe has begun to talk his usual trash as his fight with Roy Jones Jr. on November 8th gets closer. Now, let the Madcow confirm something- Calzaghe is looking to secure his place in history by beating a 39 year old guy who hasn’t beaten a ranked fighter since 2003? Almost as silly as looking for respect by fighting a 43 year old Middleweight who had gone 2 and 2 in his last 4 or staging a “Mega Fight” with a certain Viking Warrior who had literally no world-class names on his record.

Food for thought until next Sunday- Oscar De la Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao: Is anyone really buying this as legit or is this Madcow just waaaaayyy out of the loop?

See ya when I sees ya.

In the Shadow of 9/11: When Boxing is More Than a Sport

by Paul Magno

9/11/01

I had just moved to Mexico weeks earlier and was still unpacking my things from cardboard boxes when September 11th came along.

My satellite dish was still new and I had yet to master the channel guide when I turned on the TV to take a break from the work of moving things into my bedroom. I was flipping through the channels when I saw the first tower come down. I sat in shock the rest of the day as the horror and insanity passed before my eyes.

There’s really not much to be said about those tragic events that hasn’t already been said and, quite frankly, a Boxing blog is not the right place to say those things anyway.

However, I will say that I don’t see the tragic events of September 11th in a socio-poltical light. Forget all the craziness that followed that day, 9/11 makes me think about the people who were caught up in something that never should’ve happened.

Every time I step onto a plane, I think about the poor people on those four doomed flights. I think about the people in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, just going to work and finding themselves under attack. I even think about the terrorists themselves who were so deceived and manipulated that they found themselves capable of such heinous acts.

September 11th, 2001 was a day that made me doubt everything I thought I knew about the world.

9/29/01

With chaos still in the air and the tears still wet in many eyes, Bernard Hopkins and Felix Trinidad prepared themselves for battle in the most important fight of their careers.

The Hopkins/Trinidad Title Unification, billed as “And Then There Was One,” was originally scheduled for the 15th, but the events of 9/11 pushed back the date to September 29th. It was the final bout of Don King’s Middleweight tournament which saw Hopkins, Trinidad, William Joppy and Keith Holmes go at it to determine the top dog at 160 lbs.

Trinidad came into the fight as the 2 to 1 betting favorite after crushing William Joppy. Hopkins, the underdog, had defended his IBF title 13 times already and made his way to the finals by roughing up slick stylist and WBC champ Keith Holmes.

The fight itself was a classic example of Hopkins at his best. He started the fight on the outside and then slowly moved the fight closer to the game Trinidad, constantly alternating between slick boxing and sharp countering. Tito tried to make it a fight, but B-Hop had the Puerto Rican WBA Champ off-balance and guessing for most every second of every round.

Towards the middle of the fight Hopkins began to lean into his punches, seriously buzzing Trinidad a number of times. He put on the pressure at closer range and essentially re-published the textbook on how to handle a younger, more aggressive power puncher.

The end came at 1:18 of the 12th round when Trinidad’s corner threw in the towel following a big right hand from “The Executioner” that sent Tito to the canvas hard. It was the perfect end to a masterful exhibition of the art of Boxing.

Hopkins immediately crumpled to the canvas in joy, staring straight up at the huge American flag that was hanging over the ring as a tribute to the victims of 9/11 and their families. I don’t remember ever being as overjoyed at the end of a fight as I was on that day.

In the grand scheme of things, this was “only” a Middleweight Title Unification bout. Although it was an important moment in the sport and, surely, essential to both fighters, everything seemed to pale in comparison to what had happened in New York, Washington and in rural Pennsylvania just under three weeks earlier- But for some reason I was ecstatic at that moment, almost to the point of tears.

This was a moment when Boxing took on a new importance and became more than merely a sport. It was important to see Hopkins win…It was important for me.

Maybe its silly or just plain absurd, but on September 29th, 2001 it was somehow comforting to see the American flag waved in victory.

Boxing in the Eye of the Beholder

by Damon Ealy (aka PghWindmill)

Cool Max Kellerman was way more fiery than usual after Juan Diaz’s split-decision win over Michael Katsidis on Saturday night. Glen Hamada’s 115-113 card for Katsidis had Kellerman irked, and showed in his postfight interview with Katsidis and his trainer, Brendon Smith. Kellerman didn’t hold back in a show-wrapping diatribe, either, where he acknowledged the possibility that he and Harold Lederman (who scored it 118-110 for Diaz) and the rest of the HBO team could’ve been seeing a different fight than the rest of us–but then, with an emphatic transitioning “but” and dramatic change of camera angle–went on to call Hamada’s scorecard one of the worst he’d ever seen.

Diaz’s Houston crowd appreciated it. Board posters buzzed about it. I’d even say Kellerman’s straightforwardness was Atlas-like. (Though that’s merely approaching Teddy levels; Atlas is still the ballsiest broadcaster that we see on a regular basis.) But one of the worst ever–from a guy who’s seen thousands of fights?

No way am I questioning Kellerman’s sincerity or smarts, but it came off as a little bit showy. I’m guessing he might’ve been a disappointed that the fight didn’t live up to grand expectations that we’d all–but especially HBO–put on it. And I’m thinking that if Kellerman isn’t talking on the fly, he’s remembering just a handful of very recent, very bizarre scorecards.

- Almazbek “Kid Diamond” Raiymkulov SD over Miguel Angel Huerta, June 2007
It wasn’t anything near a megafight, but it was broadcast (on Versus), and it was for a minor belt (NABF lightweight). Top Rank’s Raiymkulov took a split decision on Judges Don Ackerman’s and Frank Adams’ 114-113 scorecards. (The third judge had it 116-111.) It played like a loss for Diamond, anyway: The Kyrgyzstanian went into an apparent exile and didn’t fight for over a year until he returned against a soft opponent last June. Huerta (also an Arum fighter) has gone 3-1 since. That one loss was a UD to Raiymkulov’s September 19th opponent, Javier Jauregui, now 53-15-2.

- Joel Casamayor SD over Jose Armando Santa Cruz, November 2007
It was a top-of-the-card fight for the WBC lightweight title, so it’s the one most of us probably remember. But by following up this stinker with a dramatic win over Michael Katsidis, Casamayor might have helped us forget just how unfair a decision the judges hatched–114-113, 114-113, 113-114–and the screwing they gave Santa Cruz in a fight in which he dropped Casamayor in the first round, controlled the tempo, and dominated statistically. Santa Cruz is working his way back and fighting what the WBC is calling a title eliminator on September 20th.

- Christian Mijares SD over Jose Navarro, February 2008
While Judge Hamada’s scorecard on Saturday was, well, wrong, it can’t even be called the worst judging I’ve seen this year. The worst? Got to be Doug Tucker’s 120-108 shutout for Navarro (even the oft-derided Adalaide Byrd had it 117-111 for El Diamante that night). Tucker seems to have been exiled, too. He hasn’t judged a professional fight since.

Judge Tucker’s card took a little of the shine off of an exciting bout fought well by both fighters–and really was insulting to Mijares, who was masterful that night. Still, as with Diaz-Katsidis, all was well that ended well. I know I’m in a strong majority that thinks Juan Diaz deserved the unanimous decision, not a split decision, last Saturday night. But the right guy got the victory, and if Diaz is satisfied with that and ready to move on, I sure am.
Santa Cruz and Huerta, fighters who trained and earned a win, instead took a loss and suffered the real-world consequence of diminished marketability and smaller paydays. Diaz, split-decision winner, walks away with the IBO title and presumably moves on to bigger money and a chance to reclaim the more significant belts.