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Michael Marley's personal 10 greatest fighters!
Author: Michael Marley
7/1/2009
 I have been at ringside since 1963. I was at the Ali-Liston rematch in Lewiston, Me., in 1965.
I remain at ringside in 2009.
Here are the greatest I've ever seen up close and personal:
1. MUHAMMAD ALI
2. ROBERTO DURAN
3. SUGAR RAY LEONARD
4. LARRY HOLMES
5. AARON PRYOR
6. ALEXIS ARGUELLO
7. JOE FRAZIER
8. BOB FOSTER
9. JULIO CESAR CHAVEZ
10. MARVELOUS MARVIN HAGLER
No Pacquiao, no Mayweather as I have not included any still active fighters. Michael Spinks is banging on the door, probably at Number 11 or 12, something like that alongside Thomas Hearns. A young Michael G. Tyson, would be in that area as well.
When I saw Ray Robinson, the Sugar had melted. He was in his 50s picking up little paydays in New England cities.
There's my personal list.
If you don't like it, sue me.
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Should HBO pamper prospects or let them fail?
Author: Michael Marley
7/1/2009
 Cus D’Amato, the Mike Tyson and Floyd Patterson guru, used the term “brave quitter.”
Boxing legend Big Al Braverman would say a fighter was a “cayoodle” if he thought the boxer’s heart was less than huge.
Giving up in a fight like Victor Ortiz did has long been known as “the French exit.”
For all his glorious efforts, Oscar De La Hoya knows about those, having straight out quit in fights against bigger man Bernard Hopkins and much smaller Manny Pacquiao.
Oscar may have painfully flashed back to those ignominous endings as Ortiz folded his tent against gritty Marcos Maidan.
But, above and beyond the rushed Golden Boy prospect’s loss, a larger and more important fight looms.
What is the role of paymaster cable network HBO?
Boxing is divided into two camps on this one. One, the largest legion, says that HBO’s only responsibility is to its paying customers, its viewers, and that the network suits can and should play the Teddy Brenner tough matchmaker role.
This .......
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Vaya con Dios: Flaco Explosivo, all time great Alexis Arugello!
Author: Michael Marley
RIP ALEXIS ARGUELLO
7/1/2009
“Flaco Explosivo,” the wiry Alexis Arguello, is dead at 57.
Word out of Managua in his beloved Nicragua say that the former world champion is dead perhaps by his own hand.
Reports say he was found with a gunshot wound to his chest.
First off, this man was the greaest junior lightweight fighter of all time.
I considered AA a friend. I was there in the rainy, muddy ballpark in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, the night Arguello saddened the whole tropical island by giving a steady beating to the hugely popular “Snake Man” Alfredo Escalera.
I was there in the Orange Bowl in Miami the night that a marvelous and seemingly unstoppable talent named Aaron Pryor showed it was indeed “Hawk Time” by stopping the masterful Arguello.
And I was there in the opposite corner from Aruuello years later in my college town of Reno with manager Mike Jones and Billy Costello. We repeatedly warned Costello that, if he did nothing else, he must remember to not stop along the ropes where the “Ex.......
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Victor Ortiz thinks de fense goes around de house!
Author: Michael Marley
6/30/2009
 Take your choice, fight fans.
I offer you the “canned” quotes from a Golden Boy press release, all cleaned up and officially authorized by the Ministry of Impropaganda, concerning Victor Ortiz.
Then I offer you my imaginary and hopefully entertaining “what Victor is really thinking” thought balloons.
You tell me which remarks are more reality based. Notice none of mine are SCREAMING AT YOU IN CAPITAL LETTERS.
The Oskie approved quotes go first:
"I didn't fight the right fight and I didn't execute the correct game plan to beat Maidana," Ortiz said from his home in Oxnard. "I will learn from the mistakes I made on Saturday and not make the simple mistakes again, like trying to slug when I should box. I promise that next time, I will be more focused."
"I made some comments after the fight that were an emotional response to the loss," Ortiz continued. "I take full responsibility for my mistakes and actions, but I didn't mean what I said. I am young, have things to learn.......
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Diabolical DiBella inks James Prince prospect, Marcus Johnson!
Author: Press Release
6/30/2009
June 30, 2009) DiBella Entertainment is proud to announce Marcus “Too Much” Johnson, one of the brightest young prospects boxing has to offer, as the latest to join the DiBella Entertainment stable. Johnson will be co-promoted by DBE and Antonio Leonard Productions, and managed by James Prince.
Johnson (16-0, 13 KOs), a resident of Houston, Texas, is undefeated through his first 16 bouts, with all but three coming via knockout. In his last bout, Johnson, 23, stopped former top contender Julio Caesar De la Cruz in seven rounds. Under the DiBella Entertainment banner, Johnson expects the big wins to keep on coming.
“Being with Lou DiBella is going to help dramatically,” said Johnson. “He’s going to push to get my name out there and get me recognized. He will get me a title shot.”
Johnson’s conquests have hardly been limited to just the professional ranks. A former US national champion at 178 lbs., Johnson holds amateur victories over the likes o
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Never give Iron Mike Tyson obscene birthday card!
Author: Michael Marley
6/30/2009
 Mike Tyson, caught in a fortnight between tragedy (his four year old daughter’s accidental death) and joy (a new marriage), turns age 43 today.
Which is as good an excuse as any to retell my story of Tyson and the nasty birthday card.
This was when Tyson’s Reign Of Terror was in full bloom, circa 1986.
He turned pro on March 23, 1985, parking Hector Mercedes in one round. Then Tyson ripped 14 other victims in the calendar year, 11 of them not making it to round two.
It was more mass destruction by Iron Mike in ’86, his second pro year.
I handled the publicity on a low key, regional TV bout, Tyson expected to demolish journeyman William Hosea bout in Troy, NY.
Then married Bill and Lorraine Miller were the local promoters fronting for Tyson co-managers Jimmy Jacobs and Bill Cayton.
The show was not getting any media traction until I noted that we had a preflight press conference a week before Tyson would turn 20.
The Hosea fight would take place two nights before his birth.......
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Holyfield, Hill, Breland...Atlanta hosts 1984 Olympic Reunion!
Author: Press Release
6/30/2009
1984 OLYMPIC 25th ANNIVERSARY REUNION
PRESS RELEASE
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Atlanta Marriott Century Center
Silent Auction 6:00pm
Tribute/Boxing Show 8:00pm
OLYMPIANS TO BE PRESENT:
Tyrell Biggs
Henry Tillman
Evander Holyfield
Virgil Hill
Frank Tate
Mark Breland
Jerry Page
Pernell Whitaker
Meldrick Taylor
Robert Shannon
Steve McCrory*
Paul Gonzales
*family representative
The 1984 Olympic Reunion is a celebration and tribute in honor of the 25th anniversary of the accomplishments of the US Olympians of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympiad who have since been.......
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Hand grenades flying again between Golden Boy, Top Rank!
Author: Michael Marley
6/30/2009
 The hand grenades are flying again. Put on your helmets and flak jackets and hunker down in the nearest fistic foxhole.
Finally, it has ended. If it was peace between Golden Boy, the key word being boy, and Top Rank, now it’s back to being a public war.
Détente between the Oscar De La Hoya owned Goldens and BOM Bob Arum’s Las Vegas based outfit was dull you must admit.
Oh, BOM? Bitter Old Man Arum. Call him BOMA if you like because Oskie’s Swiss banker CEO Richie Rich Schaefer, the man who proclaims philately as his hobby, has stamped the nearly 78-year-old Arum as an insanely jealous, cranky old geezer.
De La Hoya, like all top generals, may sit safely in his war room but Schaefer is on the front line.
He just told one of his personal stenographers that Arum is “a leopard who can’t change his spots.”
Arum considers Schaefer a slithering snake in the Astroturf who does not know a left hook from a fish hook.
Arum can’t tell the difference between the two, either, b.......
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Shaw says stick fork in Victor Ortiz, he's done!
Author: Michael Marley
6/29/2009
 Big Gary Shaw says you can go ahead and stick a fork in celebrated prospect turned suspect Vicious Victor Ortiz.
Shaw proclaims that Ortiz is done, finished, kaput at the higher levels of boxing.
Some boxing guys have a code. Some guys in the sport/business won’t hit a man when he is down, literally or figuratively.
Rough and tumble promoter Shaw is not one of those guys. In the wake of Golden Boy poster child and Oscar De La Hoya heir not so apparent Victor Ortiz’s KO loss to Marcos Maidana, Shaw is pummeling Ortiz worse than the Argentinean southpaw did.
In fact, Shaw asks that you compare and contrast the verbal reactions to a stunning defeat by Ortiz and his recently beaten tiger, Alfredo Angulo.
“Yeah, Angulo lost but he came back in the later rounds and made a statement by fighting so hard,” Shaw said. “Alfredo was sick all week before the fight but he would not pull out against Kermit Cintron. He just wasn’t right so he did the best he could under the circumstan.......
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| Exposure: Stevie Forbes puts yellow quitter stripe on Victor Ortiz!
Author: Michael Marley
6/28/2009
.jpg) ATLANTIC CITY--Maximum exposure.
That’s what a promoter and a rising fighter get when the fighter is the “A side” in an HBO main event.
Of course, maximum exposure can end up in a boxer being exposed to the maximum in a negative way.
Look, I have not yet watched Golden Boy’s Golden Boy Victor Ortiz KO loss to Marcos Maidana.
I was at ringside here watching what was a mundane Latin Fury 9 PPV show staged by Bob Arum.
Arum had two reasons for his cat that ate the canary smile on this evening.
At Boardwalk Hall, his budding superstar, Puerto Rico’s Juan Manuel Lopez showed flashes of greatness with a nine round stoppage (the corner wisely halted it) over game Cameroonian Olivier Lontchi.
Three thousand miles away, Ortiz, who ran away from Arum’s company and went to the Goldens with new manager Shelly “Don’t Tinkle With” Finkel, lost his undefeated status in a brutal war against the unheralded Argentinian.
Here's a succinct Associ.......
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Arum brands Pinoy Lumacad as quitter!
Author: Michael Marley
6/28/2009
 ATLANTIC CITY--First "Lollipop Cowboy" Jorge Arce gave overmatched Filipino Fernando Lumacad a generous pounding.
Then he was generous in a different way, immediately acquiescing when the awed, 23-year-old from GenSan asked him if he could have the four time world champion's boxing robe as a souvenior of their three round mismatch here Saturday night.
If anyone needed a reminder that not every Pinoy boxer is a Manny Pacquiao, Lumcad provided in a cynical mismatch that did what it was designed to do, to restore some luster and glow to the 52-5-1, 4O KOs Mexican's slightly fading career.
Even on paper this one looked bad with Lumacad having had a mere 21 pro bouts and never having fought anyone remotely close to Arce in skill.
Lumacad. now 18-3-1, flies back to the Philippines with his signed Arce robe and about $20,000 in his pocket.
He also went home with something else, a tag as a quitter.
Promoter Bob Arum did not like how Lumacad surrended meekly. When Arce tagged him and knoc.......
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HBO affirms Marquez-Mayweather reset for Sept. 19!
Author: Michael Marley
6/26/2009
He's back in the ring against Juan Ma on Sept. 19
I guess I have to get used to my biting, caustic and acerbic columns getting such visceral instant reactions.
Only a few hours after I posted my essay suggesting that the tepid box office response to the Juan Manuel Marquez-Floyd Mayweather bout, originally slated for July 19 but postponed due to a rib injury suffered by Pretty Boy Floyd, HBO flashed the news that the Mexican Independence Day Weekend new date of Sept. 19 is a go.
“I am relieved to be cleared to fight as I was already looking forward to getting back in the ring,” said Mayweather. “Trust me, September 19 is a great weekend for boxing, and all of my fans, of which there are many Mexicans too, can certainly hold on to their hats and sombreros when I get back in to the ring and show them what they have been missing these past 18 months. I will destroy Marquez and reclaim my rightful place as boxing’s pound-for-pound king all in on
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Let's just scrap Marquez-Mayweather completely!
Author: Michael Marley
6/26/2009
 Maybe the best thing to do now is to call the whole thing off.
I’m talking about this ill-conceived, synthetic bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr., he of the tendaroni ribs, and Mexican ringmaster Juan Manuel Marquez.
We’re coming up on July 1 and the rescheduled date of Sept. 19 is looking shakier than the automobile makers in Detroit.
Tea leaf readers note that Golden Boy, which dispenses information as readily as the KGB did in the old USSR, has already spoken of pushing the so called “Who Is Number One” fight back until October or even November.
In this fuzzy case, maybe it’s not the Goldens stonewalling because I’m sure they don’t enjoy each passing day with no word from the Mayweather camp as to when L’il Floyd can be ready for his L’il Fight against the L’il Mexicano.
So the best move now is to reduce the continuing damage to both the Marquez and Mayweather positions as to a Manny Pacquiao fight in 2010.
Toss the contracts for thei.......
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| Do the hustle: Don King co-promoted Jacksons Victory Tour!
Author: Michael Marley
6/25/2009
 Whatever you want to say about the man’s personal foibles, Michael Jackson was a supreme talent.
Even his worst critics should admit that now that Jackson, only 50, has died.
You might think that the musical superstar had no connection of any kind to boxing but he did because promoter Don King was one of the handlers of The Jacksons 1984 Victory Tour.
King bulled his way into the situation through MJ’s parents especially father Joe Jackson. King became a co-promoter of the tour, which is said to have brought in $150 million, along with New York lawyer Chuck Sullivan.
There was one magazine article after the tour which reported that King used to refer to the somewhat gullible Sullivan as “Charley The Tuna.”
Sullivan’s family owned the NFL New England Patriots franchise and losses from the tour put a dent into the franchise which eventually led to the clan selling the football team.
All told, one estimate had the Sullivans taking a financial hit of 20 to 22 million buck.......
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Mosley continues panhandling for Pacquiao bout!
Author: Michael Marley
6/25/2009
 Bob Arum was not lying yesterday when he told me that Manny Pacquiao uses the words “anxiety” and “delusional” in the same English sentence.
Arum was telling the truth yesterday and, if he repeated himself, would be telling the truth today as well.
How I love to juxtapose the name Arum and the truth. Quite often, they do not belong in the same paragraph or same story as Uncle Bob can be a fantastic fibber when it suits his needs.
Pacman knows these terms because of the Bizarro conduct of Sugar Shane Mosley.
Mosley continues his begathon to replace Miguel Cotto as Manny’s Nov. 14 opponent with renewed vigor and amazing energy for a man nearing age 40.
Mosley’s latest impassioned plea was on Dennis Principe’s sports radio chat show in the Philippines.
Mosley, whose nickname should be “Pete” and “Repete,” said that Pacman should fight him because it’s about the money. According to this former Price Waterhouse-trained accounting expert, Manny can make up to $2.......
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No horsing around for Puerto Rican star Juan Manuel Lopez!
Author: Michael Marley
6/25/2009
.jpg)
Bob Arum says one of his big jobs now will be to put the finishing touches on making undefeated Puerto Rican fighter Juan Manuel Lopez a superstar.
Along those lines, Arum plans a New York doubleheader in the fall featuring Lopez and unbeaten Cuban Yuriorkis Gamboa in separate bouts. That is designed as an appetizer for a blockbuster 2010 match between the two undefeated boxers.
Already Cowboy Bob has Juanma riding down the Atlantic City boardwalk on a horse.
It is believed that Top Rank got the used horse cheap from Jorge Arce or just bought it on Ehorsebay, I am not sure which.
These are fairly easy matches to make since Cowboy Bob has both young talents under his promotional wing.
So what kind of a statement is Lopez trying to make here?
A few ideas:
1. I will nag Gamboa until I knock him out.
2. I am not horsing around about fighting Gamboa.
3. I’m Puerto Rico’s rising ring icon, I’m feeling my oats.
4. There is no room in the barn for Gamboa.
5. .......
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Black Americans need ring icon like Manny Pacquiao!
Author: Michael Marley
6/25/2009
 You want Pinoy boxing fans?
We got them although I’m worried about losing most of them when Manny Pacquiao retires. We’ll have to hope the fan retention rate is higher than I think it will be or that another big Filipino star will have emerged to magnetize the Pinoys.
No, there will not be another Pacman in this generation but two or three Nonito Donaires would not hurt the situation.
You want Latino fight fans?
We got them, especially when it comes to Mexico and Puerto Rico and their ring heritage is rich and deep. I don’t think MMA can steal them away from boxing.
How about older white Americans such as your author? They’re still around albeit a literally dying breed. Call it the Just For Men hair coloring crowd.
But someone has got to ask this somewhat rude question and it mine as well be me.
Where did the black American fight fans go?
Where are the urban idols we used to have such as Thomas Hearns from Detroit and Sugar Ray Leonard from the Baltimore-D.C. area? They.......
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Roach fortifies Team Pacquiao by adding Jesse Reid!
Author: Michael Marley
6/25/2009
.jpg) There is a new second in command at the Wild Card Gym, the boxing home of Manny Pacquiao, and it is 66-year-old former pro fighter Jesse Reid.
I wrote on June 20 that Reid was a natural fit, in terms of training style and temperament, with Head Coach Freddie Roach.
If anything, this pairing is another big plus for Pacman in this, the prime time of his fistic career.
Let me put the Roach-Reid duo into a National Football League analogy. This is like the league’s best coach (Bill Belichick of the Patriots) hiring the best assistant available to him.
Reid, who was in New York Wednesday with Roach charge and unbeaten junior middleweight Vanes Martirosyan (24-0, 15 KOs) confirmed that he is working fulltime at the Wild Card and living in a Roach owned apartment in the same complex.
To hear Reid tell it, the former Navy boxer is as happy as a clam at high tide.
“I really feel like I hit the Lotto,” Reid told me. “I’ve worked with some very good fighters, with Orlando an.......
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| Sizzler for 2010 like Zamora-Zarate in 1977 Cubano Gamboa against Boricua star Juanma!
Author: Michael Marley
Top Rank Photo (Chris Farina)
6/25/2009
Take two exciting young talents whose punches are explosive.
Add in that they are both undefeated.
Then, for some added salsa picante, sprinkle in that one is Puerto Rican and the other is Cuban.
Taken all together, you have a blockbuster fight for 2010, Yuriorkis Gamboa against WBO super bantamweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez.
Now that Bob Arum has both young stars under his promotional aegis, he plans on juicing up the eventual matchup which could be the best fight between two unbeatens dating back to the 1970s when two unbeaten ringmasters named Carlos Zarate and Alfonso Zamora collided.
Lopez, the Boricua Bomber who hails from the same hometown (Caguas) as next Manny Pacquiao foe Miguel Cotto takes a 25-0, 23 KOs record into a title defense against unheralded Olivier Lontchi (18-0-2) Saturday night in Atlantic City, will appear on the same show with Gamboa this autumn Arum said.
"We will put them on the same show against different guys to build up the appetite for what.......
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Confession of an egomaniac: who said these words?
Author: Michael Marley
6/25/2009
 "Arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, persecuting, distasteful, verbose, a show-off.
I have been called all of these.
Of course, I am."
This quote comes from a famous man. Was it:
a) Sugar Shane Mosley
b) Richard Schaefer
c) Bernard Hopkins
d) Kiml Jong Il
e) Dennis DSource Guillermo
f) Howard Cosell
g) Floyd Mayweather Jr.
h) Floyd Mayweather Sr.
i) Roger Mayweather
j) Jeff Mayweather
k) Shannon Briggs
l) Manny Pacquiao
m) Franklin Jeng Gacal
n) Freddie Roach
o) Harold Lederman
p) Marv Dumon
q) Murad Muhammad
r) will.i.am
s) Perez Hilton
t) Dr. Hayden Kho
u) Hermie Rivera
v) John Chavez
w) Cher’s daughter who is about to become her son
x) Lito Atienza
y) Chavit Singson
z) Recah Trinidad or Felix Trinidad, flip a peso
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