Tag Archives: Danny Garcia

Did Timothy Bradley make a mistake signing with Top Rank?

Posted: February 11th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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With this long break and struggles to find a suitable opponent, people are suggesting that Timothy Bradley might have made a mistake signing with Top Rank. Working with Top Rank, there are flaws, a lot of them. But if you look at the bottom line, Bradley did make the right decision.

The main one is the shallow pool of talent in the 140- and 147-pound weight classes. If Bradley was with Golden Boy, he would have big, big fights against Amir Khan, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, current light welterweight king Danny Garcia, the dangerous Argentine duo of Marcos Maidana and Lucas Matthysse, Victor Ortiz, and of course, the Money man Floyd Mayweather.

But boxing is a business and in business, the important thing is the bottom line. Top Rank wanted to pay a premium for Bradley. Golden Boy didn’t. So Bradley made the financially sound move.

While Mayweather will go down as the best fighter in this era, he only offers $2.5 million to his opponents, and I don’t think the pay-per-view share is that much. To fight Pacquiao, Bradley earned $5 million and got a small piece of the pay-per-view.

And Golden Boy didn’t covet Bradley like Top Rank did. The move was to get Bradley to fight Pacquiao. Golden Boy still had a grudge against Bradley for turning down the Amir Khan fight. As accomplished as Bradley was, there was no guarantee Golden Boy would put him on the fast track to Mayweather for half the money he would get for Pacquiao.

Now we’re in the back end. Bradley doesn’t have a lot of attractive fighters to face post-Pacquiao. Brandon Rios would be a great fight, but Cameron Dunkin manages both fighters and I’m sure he would want to avoid that. Mike Alvarado is a rugged fighter, but he has never been a world champion or defeated an elite fighter. There was talk that Bradley could have fought Yorkis Gamboa, but Gamboa had to go up three weight classes (17 pounds) from his last fight to take on Bradley.

Dunkin said the best thing for Bradley to do is stay busy, thank the best available fights and continue to move on. It might be a little disappointing after beating Pacquiao, But as Dunkin pointed out, the Pacquiao rematch is not out of the question. If Pacquiao can’t make a fifth fight against Juan Manuel Marquez, he will be looking for an opponent. Why not Bradley? Dunkin said that fight could be Shanghai or Macao. And that could result in another $5 million payday, bringing his total to $10 million in two fights.

For the fans, it will be disappointing if Bradley never fights the guys at Golden Boy. But the reality is, the fued between Top Rank and Golden Boy, which is tearing this sport apart, shows no sign of changing. Unless something happens between Top Rank and Golden Boy, this is the reality of the situation.

 

 

Is Danny Garcia the Fighter of the Year?

Posted: October 22nd, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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When I first saw the stories and blogs this morning suggesting Danny Garcia as a fighter of the year candidate, I scoffed. Really? He just beat a fighter who has been shot for years, and beat an Amir Khan that was coming off a loss. That was my initial reaction.

Morales has long been a shot fighter and was coming into the fight with a 4-5 record since September of 2005. His world title was the one stripped from Timothy Bradley, and his best fight since 2005 was a loss to Marcos Maidana. Khan was coming off a loss to Lamont Peterson and has two losses in a row. Yes, Khan is a legitimate star in the sport and a great champion. I just wish he didn’t back up the victory with another fight against Morales, but someone who is a little hotter. That’s not Garcia’s fault as there was a rematch clause.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think highly of Danny Garcia. No fighter has come as far as he has in 2012 and he is definitely the breakout star in boxing. And the knockout of Khan was very impressive and a strong candidate for upset of the year.

But then you have to look at the other candidates for fighter of the year. It’s not very deep, and no obvious leading candidate in my eyes.

Brandon Rios beat Mike Alvarado in the leading fight of the year candidate. But was unimpressive and booed in April in his win over Richard Abril, where he failed to make weight.

Sergio Martinez has a very dominant performance for 11 rounds against Julio Cesar Chavez in the best pay-per-view fight of the year. He also had a rugged victory over Matthew Macklin. But the last round against Chavez, you felt like Martinez was lucky to get through that round.

Nonito Donaire has continued to dominate with three big victories in his first year in the super bantamweight division, winning two world titles.

Andre Ward only had one fight this year, but he dominated light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson. Still, he’s just not active enough for consideration.

Canelo Alvarez? Please. He needs to fight better competition.

There’s still two-and-a-half months to go to see if someone can win it. Garcia is not in the driver’s seat, but he is in the mix.

And hopefully Garcia will start his year off with a bang and take on the highly respected and dangerous Lucas Matthysse, which could be a fight of the year candidate.

Tough year for Golden Boy and Freddie Roach

Posted: July 14th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , ,
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Arguably the best trainer in boxing might be having his worst year to date after Amir Khan repeatedly dropped in his loss to Danny Garcia on Saturday night. Khan is supposed to be one of the rising stars in the Golden Boy stables. Although reports indicate that Khan hasn’t sold as well as he says he does, certainly Golden Boy has invested a lot of time and money into the British star.

But Khan lost his second consecutive fight. In December, Khan lost to Lamont Peterson in a controversial decision. But Khan needed to make a statement against Peterson, and needed a win against Garcia to bounce back. There’s reason to believe that with a victory, Khan could have positioned himself for a fight against Floyd Mayweather. But with his slump, Khan could have a long ways to go if he ever wants to fight in a big-money fight.

For Roach, he’s seen two of his biggest fighters lose in a matter of weeks. Remember, Manny Pacquiao lost a controversial decision to Timothy Bradley. A saving grace for Roach is that he also trains Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., who will fight on Sept. 15 against Sergio Martinez. It is one of the most anticipated fights in a while and should be a strong seller on pay per view. However, Martinez will be the heavy favorite, and Roach could have a painful trifecta of losses.

But Golden Boy took another tough loss by a fighter it has been trying to groom as a star. The other one was Victor Ortiz, who suffered a bad, bad loss against Josesito Lopez. Both guys were supposed to be the next generation, and gave Golden Boy a depth advantage over Top Rank. Maybe not so anymore. Ortiz broke his jaw in two places, so he couldn’t continue. But when Ortiz also quit in his first professional loss to Marcos Maidana, he has hurt his credibility with the fans. With Khan getting knocked down repeatedly, the questions about his chin will begin to dog him once again. That might not be as bad as trying to recover from two losses. Golden Boy does have a big, big thing going for them and that’s Mexican sensation Canelo Alvarez. But Alvarez is fighting Lopez, and it’s unlikely that can be a competitive fight. And Alvarez might not have one until next year. But at least he is undefeated.

It looks grim for both Golden Boy and Freddie Roach, but you can’t count out either one. It will be interesting to see how things go for both from here.

Amir Khan will fight for Timothy Bradley’s title against Danny Garcia

Posted: July 13th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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It was a year ago when Timothy Bradley passed on a fight against Amir Khan that drew heavy criticism, much of it generated by the British champion. Khan said Bradley was ducking him and scared of him. Well Bradley passed on the fight, let his contract run out with Gary Shaw and Ken Thompson, and then signed with Top Rank. Bradley went on to fight Manny Pacquiao for much more money. Khan went on to lose a controversial decision in December to Lamont Peterson, a guy Bradley dominated.

So now Khan needs to win to regain some of the tarnish partly because of the loss and partly because of the long layoff. The reason Khan hasn’t fought for so long was that a rematch with Peterson fell through because Peterson tested positive for a synthetic testosterone that had been perscribed to him for medical reasons. Khan is working to regain the two belts he lost to Peterson, who admitted he was using the same treatment prior to their fight in December. But in the loss, Khan was exposed for his struggles against pressure and fighting inside, where he tends to take more punishment than he should.

Now Khan will fight Danny Garcia, who holds the WBC belt. If you don’t remember, the WBC belt was the title Bradley has won twice, only to relinquish it the first time and then was stripped for bogus reasons the second time that the WBC tried to window dress by saying Bradley was a champion in recess.

Khan said Garcia is a similar fighter to Peterson and he is prepared for his style. But Khan can’t afford a second consecutive loss so he really needs to stay disciplined and not take unneccessary punishment. The carrot dangling in front of him is a possible fight against Floyd Mayweather. Because Khan works out with Manny Pacquiao and they share trainer Freddie Roach, it’s unlikely Khan will secure that lucrative fight. So he’ll have to settle for Mayweather, whose opponents earn half what they would against Pacquiao. If the fight is offered to Khan immediately, he will have some tough decisions to make. He has fought his whole career at 140, and Mayweather last fought at 154. It’s likely Mayweather will leave Khan no choice but to go up in weight.

But there’s also the chance Khan could fight Bradley if Top Rank doesn’t make the Bradley-Pacquiao rematch on Nov. 10. With all the controversy swirling around Bradley’s victory over Pacquiao, this fight could generate much, much more than a year ago. It’s a fight Khan covets, and Bradley really wants to beat up Khan. Of course the main hurdle is if Top Rank and Golden Boy can work together to make the fight happen.

But first things first. Garcia is a tough, undefeated opponent. He won the title beating a very old and worn Erik Morales, who was gifted Bradley’s title. So Garcia has a lot to prove in this fight. A victory will move him among the elite fighters in the division.So you can bet Garcia will come in hungry and determined. That can make up for a lot, in what we saw from Josesito Lopez’s stunning victory over Victor Ortiz.

 

 

Now Erik Morales can’t make weight to defend title he stole from Timothy Bradley

Posted: March 23rd, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
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Erik Morales came in two pounds overweight at Friday’s weigh in and will lose the belt he essentially stole from Timothy Bradley.

Morales will fight Danny Garcia on Saturday night for the WBC super lightweight belt. If Garcia wins, he will claim the title. If Morales wins, the title will be vacated.

As reported in ESPN.com, Morales will have to pay Garcia $50,000 for not making weight by two pounds. Morales was to make $1 million for the fight.

Bradley was prematurely stripped of the WBC belt because   of inactivity. But Bradley returned to the ring in nine months, more than ample time stipulated by the WBC.

In Morales’ two fights, he earned approximately $1.35 million. Bradley will earn $6 million. The WBC gets 3 percent in sanctioning fees, so it missed out on a lot of money.

How the WBC’s corruption cost it a ton of money with Timothy Bradley

Posted: March 21st, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , ,
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If you watch the Erik Morales vs. Danny Garcia this weekend fight for the WBC super lightweight title, you may end up lauging at the expense of the WBC. The belt was held by Cathedral City’s Timothy Bradley, who had twice on the title.

When Bradley was going through his messy divorce from former promoters Gary Shaw and Ken Thompson, the WBC decided to remove the title from Bradley because of his uncertain future. Bradley had seven months of inactivity, and a fighter needs to defend his title every 11 months, so the WBC declared Bradley a champion in recess. The real reason they stripped him is because they wanted to give the title to Morales so he can be the first Mexican boxer to claim four titles in different weight class. Never mind that Morales wasn’t the No. 1 contender (he was No. 3 at the time) and that he was fighting someone who wasn’t even ranked. They changed the opponent twice, setting for another tomato can. Morales won the paper title. Morales is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, and it worked behind the scenes on Morales’ behalf.

So here’s where the joke is on the WBC. Since Bradley is no longer the champion, he doesn’t have to pay the sanctioning fees, which is 3 percent.  Well Bradley wound up fighting in November, which is 10 months removed from his previous fight and well under the WBC deadline. Bradley’s payout was over $1 million, which would have been $30,000. Now that Bradley will fight Pacquiao and his purse is expected to be about $5 million, the WBC stood to earn $150,000, even though they wouldn’t be fighting for Bradley’s belt. Bradley will retain his title after the June 9 fight against Pacquiao, and the WBC would stand to earn even more money if Bradley fights well enough to become a superstar.

I’m not sure what Erik Morales is making for this fight, his second under the WBC, but I’m pretty sure his purses haven’t totalled $6 million. According to one online report, Morales made $350,000 for the title fight, which was under the Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz undercard. For Saturday’s fight, you would suspect it would still be in the same ball park.

Enjoy Morales as your champion WBC. Hope it was worth all the money you lost.