Tex’s Quick Jabs: Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao & More
By Daniel “Tex” Cohen
-The Floyd Mayweather, JR-Shane Mosley Super Fight is heating to a beautiful boil as the Boxing blogosphere gets into it. I’ve seen a wide range of opinions from the experts on this one, and I’m still undecided in how the whole thing will officially unfold. I know Mayweather has an aura of invincibility, but, as Ring Magazine columnist Michael Rosenthal pointed out, every fighter has that same aura until somebody beats him. The question is whether or not that somebody will be Shane Mosley. According to Gerry Penalosa and Manny Pacquiao, he will be.
-I’ll tell you who doesn’t like Mosley in the fight: Las Vegas. Bodog Sports Odds on the bout have Mayweather as -450 favorite and Mosley at +300. For those of you that don’t speak Gamblese, that means you have to toss down four and a half bucks to get one if you’re picking Mayweather to win. However, you get three bucks back for every one dollar you bet on Mosley if he wins. Sportsbook.com has Mayweather at -340 and Mosley at +260. Betus.com is looking at -400 for Mayweather and +300 for Mosley. Maybe the public is sleeping on Sugar Shane a bit.
Even so, I expect those odds to tighten across the board, and I expect the bookies to go cartel and make them a bit more uniform. Otherwise, the house loses money.
And you know what they say about the house…
-Bodog’s odds are the same on Mayweather-Mosley as they are on Amir Khan-Paulie Malignaggi. Khan has gotten a boatload of credit for his winning streak since eating mat against Breidis Prescott in September of 2008. Malignaggi, in the meantime, has gone pretty unloved for almost the same sort of performances over almost the same stretch (don’t write me hate mail; I know Juan Diaz technically won the first fight against the Magic Man, but it was a draw at best for the tough Houstonian slugger). Malignaggi relishes the underdog role, so maybe this is good for him.
-I wonder what the odds are on Manny Pacquiao winning his congressional race.
-While I’m talking about Paulie Malignaggi and Manny Pacquiao, I want to take just a moment to point out a recent Malignaggi quotation regarding Pacquiao’s possible steroid use:
“I know him and I’ve seen him over time. People think I just pull this stuff out of my ass. I’m not a complete idiot that just accuses people of something without having my reasons to believe what it is I’m saying. I’m not hating or taking anything away from him, it’s just how I feel.”
Paulie, this is America and everyone is entitled to freedom of speech. But everyone else is entitled to suing the crap out of you if you speak libelously.
Besides, your statement is a little like saying, “I know Paulie Malignaggi and I’ve seen him over time. I’m not just some idiot who just accuses people of committing treason, but I think Paulie Malignaggi probably has. I have my reasons. I’m not hating or taking anything away from him. I just think he’s a terrorist. That’s just how I feel.”
-If Kermit Cintron loses to Paul Williams next month, people will clamor for his retirement. Let me preempt that storm of idiocy by stating that there is NO shame in losing to Paul Williams.
-Wladimir Klitschko is calling out David Haye.
One interpretation of that is that Haye is in his head. The other interpretation is that Klitschko is tired of Haye pulling out fights with guys with the last name Klitschko. Either way, I sure wouldn’t want a six foot six, two hundred forty pound man to be angry with me, but maybe that’s why I’m not a prize fighter.
-Cheers to Danny Green, who just nailed down another early knockout on the heel of his victory over Roy Jones, JR.
I hear Green is a pretty well guy, too.
-Remember Shannon Briggs? That guy that has perennially contended for about ten years? He just knocked somebody out in 28 seconds.
-I CANNOT WAIT for Tomasz Adamek and Chris Arreola to dance this Saturday night. That fight has explosion written all over it. The word on the street in LA is that Arreola is in better shape than ever. I’ll believe it when I see it. As for Adamek, a victory for him would catapult him into the heavyweight top five.
-Speaking of Bradley-Maidana, that one has Fight of the Year written all over it. As RSR message board member OKMike said of the fight, “Boom!” I like Bradley in that one, but I could see it going either way. Credit to Gary Shaw and Richard Schaeffer for making the bout, and credit to both men for taking the fight.
-Has anyone faced harder competition over the last two years than Bradley? Junior Witter, Edner Cherry, Kendall Holt, Nate Campbell, Lamont Peterson, and Carlos Maidana? That’s like a junior welterweight murderer’s row!
-The mighty Miguel Cotto has been training with the irreplaceable Emanuel Steward for his upcoming fight with Yuri Foreman. I like both warriors in this bout. Steward is a great trainer, but he seems to do well with long jabbers (a fact pointed on the RSR message boards by USBAdboy). When it came to Andy Lee and Jermain Taylor, it’s safe to say that Steward had more trouble developing a fight plan. It will be interesting to see how he encourages Cotto to proceed with the much taller Foreman.
-Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez are gearing up and teaming up for a fourth fight in their epic series at the end of next month. Bless these two warriors for the blood and guts they have shown in fighting one another. They are both, hands down, first ballot hall of famers.
-The 25th Anniversary of the legendary Hagler-Hearns three round super fight (perhaps the greatest fight of all time) has prompted plenty of attention from the Boxing world. My esteemed colleague Joe Wilson had some ferocious words about it in a recent piece.
Frankly, if you’re a Boxing fan and you haven’t watched this fight, stop reading my article right now and go look it up.