Brian’s Boxing Mailbag (Yusaf Mack vs. Glen Johnson Looks Appetizing, And of Course More On Manny Pacquiao!)
Bag Hosted by Brian Wilbur
Listen up boxing fans. If you want to see a potentially great fight between two guys who never back down and love to brawl then I have the perfect fight for you. I was stoked when I heard the news that the fight between Yusaf Mack and Glen Johnson was salvaged. This terrific light heavyweight crossroads bout was originally scheduled to be on the undercard of Shane Mosley vs. Andre Berto. When Berto pulled out due to family issues caused by the earthquake in Haiti, the entire card was scrapped leaving Johnson and Mack out in the cold.
ESPN2 came to the rescue and added Mack vs. Johnson to their already scheduled Friday Night Fights broadcast on February 5th from Miami. Anyone who is even remotely into boxing needs to check that fight out. Both men are one good win away from a title shot in this interesting championship caliber match.
Glen Johnson is a former world champion who is the definition of guts and toughness. He has been one of my favorite fighters to watch for a long time now. I especially like his attitude that he will fight anyone, anytime, anywhere; a mentality that is rare in boxers these days.
Yusaf Mack is no slouch either. Mack, a legitimate contender, is an all action slugger who has never been in a boring fight. He goes after his opponents with ruthless aggression and a Philadelphia attitude. I expect Mack and Johnson to go to war in a fight of the year candidate. This is a can’t miss fight!
Two time Olympic gold medalist from Cuba Guillermo Rigondeaux against TBA was originally going to be the main event on Friday Night Fights and will still fight on the card. Rigondeaux has only four pro fights under his belt but with his extensive amateur background he is as pro ready as a newcomer could possibly be. Also on the card is a rematch of a draw between Florida based prospects Ed Paredes and Joey Hernandez. Friday Night Fights on February 5th went from a mediocre show to one of the best ESPN cards in a long time with the addition of Mack vs. Johnson.
I was looking forward to Mosley vs. Berto, but how the situation played out is even better. Mosley is now negotiating with Floyd Mayweather and Mack vs. Johnson will be on TV, when before it was going to be a non-televised undercard bout. It would have been a shame if a terrific action fight of this caliber did not make it on TV.
Enjoy this guys, a free fight of this caliber does not come around very often.
Now onto the mailbag. The first submission comments on last Saturday’s impressive performances from he miniature weight classes. Juan Manuel Lopez scored a 7th round TKO over Steve Luevano and Yuriorkis Gamboa scored a 2nd round TKO over Roger Mtagwa. Both are among the most impressive wins on their respective records.
Juanma and Gambao Annihilate Foes
I don’t know about you Wilbur, but that was some impressive stuff from Lopez and Gamboa. They were up against pretty decent opponents and made them look like children. Especially Gamboa, man he has some serious power and swings for the fences every time. Now I hear that Bob Arum wants to put them in against each other. What do you think about that? Who would win?
-Hector
Hector,
Poor Steve Luevano man, he just came along at the wrong time. I think he has good skills and could have had a very long reign at featherweight under the right circumstances. Too bad for him he ran into an awesome fighter like Juan Manuel Lopez, though I commend him for taking on the tough challenge. Lopez took apart Luevano as impressively as rival Celstino Cabellero took apart the comparable Steve Molitor. Perhaps he was knowingly trying to upstage Caballero.
Speaking of upstaging, Yuriorkis Gamboa had a ridiculously easier time with Roger Mtagwa than Juanma a few months ago. Gamboa, once again, proved how unbelievably explosive he is, although he is pretty careless with his aggression.
Gamboa’s reckless nature is exactly what I see as his undoing in a fight with Juanma Lopez. Yuriorkis has been dropped before for making mistakes. Against a patient, powerful, and skilled pro like Lopez, I think Gamboa gets punished for his wild offensive tactics. Juanma Lopez vs. Gamboa would be a fun fight while it lasted. Two promising young guns in a brawl is the kind of fight description that makes me smile.
Since Gamboa and Lopez are both signed to Top Rank, this should be an easy fight to make. I know Arum was toying with the idea of pitting these two against each other if they both won on Saturday. And of course it would be fun since both are explosive, so I certainly wouldn’t mind it.
However the best fight that can be made in the super bantamweight division, and the fight that I want to see the most is Juanma Lopez vs. Celestino Caballero. Lopez and Caballero are the two best boxers in the division by far so they eventually have to face each other, I would hope. I know “Pelenchin” wants the fight; he has been calling out Lopez for some time now. We’ll see if Juanma stays in the featherweight division permanently (he won the IBF Featherweight trinket with his win over Luevano) or if he will go back down in weight to take on his biggest challenge. I am hoping for the latter since there are few interesting opponents besides Yuriorkis Gamboa, and maybe Chris John, at 126 pounds.
Floyd Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley??
Mr. B,
IF this fight happens, and that’s a GIGANTIC IF, it will not be on March 13th. There’s a tremendous irony here in that Oscar De La Hoya, Richard Schaefer, and the Mayweathers are going to have to require Mosley to submit to Olympic-style testing. After all, they can’t require Olympic-style testing of Pacquiao, who’s never tested positive, and then NOT require it of Shane Mosley, who has admitted under oath to using steroids.
Golden Boy Promotions is in a very weak position here, at least from a public relations standpoint. I know the boxing public has a short memory, but it would require nothing short of full blown amnesia for this fight to fly without Olympic-style testing. But who knows, perhaps Shane will be on-board with it.
Even if Team Mosley and Mayweather are able to traverse the rocky waters of Olympic-style testing, I don’t think the fight will happen. I just cannot envision a scenario in which Mayweather will agree to fight Mosley. I hope I’m wrong, I really do.
-Tito
Tito,
Mayweather should agree to fight Mosley because that would be a very easy win for him. This is a horrible styles match up for Mosley. If I had to design a boxer who had the best set of skills and talents to defeat Shane Mosley I would come up with Floyd Mayweather.
Antonio Margarito, as good as he was, came directly at Mosley and was tailor made for Sugar Shane. Mayweather is a slick boxer with a good jab, exactly the type of fighter that Mosley has struggled with in the past, losing decisions to Vernon Forrest and Winky Wright. I see Floyd winning that fight by a 119-109 type score. There would be nothing to fear, so for that reason I think Floyd will take the fight.
Though Mayweather has ducked Mosley in the past, the competition he feels from Pacquiao to be the best will force him to take on a better quality opponent than he has been fighting. Although I would hardly consider fighting Shane Mosley taking a chance for Mayweather since he has such an overwhelming style advantage.
As far as the Olympic style testing, it would probably hurt Mayweather’s defense in his defamation suit against Pacquiao if he did not demand USADA testing from Shane Mosley like he did against Pacquiao. Not to demand this style of testing from Mosley would mean that Mayweather is unconcerned if Mosley is on steroids because he knows he will win anyway. Likewise, it also means that Mayweather was scared that Pacquiao could have beaten him.
Not asking Mosley would be very hypocritical like you say. How could you have this issue be a deal breaker against a guy with no history of steroids and then not care at all against a known steroid user? This would give fuel and arguments to those who feel that Mayweather created this testing issue as a way to duck the fight against Pacquiao. At the very least it would reveal that Floyd was nervous and/or concerned about Pacquiao’s very realistic shot of defeating him; much more so than his concern over Mosley.
HGH Is An Imaginary Substance
In your mailbags you said that HGH would not be able to be found in a blood test if done after the fight instead of before the fight. Yeah right! So far you haven’t given the specific Brand/Name/Maker of this so called HGH which has this effect. Do you know? If not, then it’s just an illusion, a speculation, a fabricated story. How can anybody say that they exist when no one knows or sees that they are? Has anybody detected it from somebody?
Taking this blood test, even everyday, if this HGH doesn’t exist is idiotic stupidity. You know what? This is the reason why Pacquiao will not submit, because he thinks he is a victim of bad publicity, to trick him and implore a very bad idea that he is a cheater. Why are they asking this to him only? Should Pacquiao submit and fight Mayweather? Why? Because Mayweather say so? To reward him with 40 million dollars? Nahhhh, I don’t think so! Now who lost?
-Jun Andan
Jun,
You don’t even believe that HGH exists? This is going to be an easy one. There are many producers of HGH marketed under different names. Nutropin (Genentech), Humatrope (Lilly), Genotropin (Pfizer), Norditropin (Novo), and Saizen (Merck Serono).
This link describes how HGH is undetectable 24 hours after use: http://sportsanddrugs.procon.org/viewresource.asp?resourceID=002063#hgh
This is another link that states “Blood screening can only detect HGH taken within the previous 24 to 48 hours.”
http://mmajunkie.com/news/16045/ask-the-doc-with-steroid-and-hgh-testing-is-blood-or-urine-best.mma
The purpose of HGH is to take it in training to make you faster and stronger. The positive effect on your body stays long after the drug is undetectable and gone from your body.
Okay Maybe HGH Is Real After All
Will I guess that answers all, but still Pacquiao has all the rights to reject Mayweather’s demand since it is not required by the NSAC.
I guess all athletes especially Americans are using them, especially those sports and competitions that are not covered by random blood testing rules, as they can easily acquire them! So the people now are right that Pacquiao is using HGH because of his superior speed and strength, and refusing to undergo the random blood testing demanded by Mayweather!
Poor Pacquiao destroyed by the press and the Mayweather camp without throwing a single punch. Do you agree with this Brian? Too bad for Pacquiao. I think he should retire then and Mayweather shall be instead considered P4P best because he is clean and stands a very noble cause for a cleaner boxing, he also exposed Pacquiao as a cheater. I guess this is the trend now of Boxing.
-Jun Andan
Jun,
I don’t think that Pacquiao was destroyed after this situation. His fight against Joshua Clottey is selling very well right now. He still has the title of the #1 pound for pound best boxer and tons of respect. This issue with blood testing was just a speed bump for him and raised questions from some people.
I personally don’t think that Pacquiao is on performance enhancing drugs. However when you say that all athletes that compete in a sport that does not have random blood testing are likely on PEDs, I agree that they at least have the opportunity to take PEDs without being caught.
That is what I have been trying to explain this whole time. I am not trying to say that Pacquiao is a doper. I am simply stating the fact that the current drug testing methods are ineffective and Pacquiao, or any other boxer, could easily be taking PEDs without fear of being caught. As Victor Conte of BALCO said, the holes in current drug testing procedures are so big you could drive a Mack truck through them.
HGH Releasers
Brian,
I’ve read an article about the USADA concerning HGH and PEDS. What bothered me most was about HGH Releasers. Even the highest pharmaceutical agencies of America or any others around the world can’t detect HGH, and even more difficult are HGH Releasers.
That is why even blood testing can’t detect HGH. Then if I’m a simple fan of boxing and I knew it, how about the experts of boxing and trainers in any other sports? The most intriguing part is they said “only a dumb boxer will be caught using HGH”. THEN RANDOM BLOOD TESTING IS USELESS IF NOBODY WILL BE CAUGHT! Floyd’s camp knew it better than anybody else then what really is the purpose of testing? The answer to that question is to weaken Pacquiao. Am I correct?
My last question is do you think that the NSAC knew that blood testing was useless because of HGH Releasers and that is why they stuck with urine testing?
In my own mere knowledge, HGH doesn’t train nor teach technique, it only enhances what you have? What if you have nothing to enhance? Vargas tested positive for steroids but he lost to Oscar De La Hoya. So what’s the use of it?
-Paclander
Paclander,
You make a very good point. Though the random blood testing is better (at least there is some chance of catching HGH users) than urine testing, it is still not a very good test. Even if Pacquiao was doping with HGH, there is still a solid chance he would get away with it even with Olympic-style drug testing. There is a reason why no Olympic athlete has ever tested dirty for HGH, and it is not because they haven’t been using it.
Thanks for bringing HGH Releasers to my attention as I had not heard of them until you brought them up. The HGH Releasers are not HGH the hormone, they are supplements that stimulate the pituitary gland to release natural HGH that your body makes. Brilliant! Well, brilliant for athletes trying to gain an edge, but not so hot for the poor chemists who are trying to catch them. The invention of HGH releasers makes it even harder, almost impossible, for a smart user to get caught.
With all of this said, I am starting to agree with Freddie Roach who said that HGH can’t be detected by urine or blood. What he should have said is that HGH can’t be detected by urine or blood if you know what you are doing. The random blood tests demanded by Mayweather seem like a moot point now as there are easy ways to get around them if you were trying to cheat.
The NSAC (Nevada State Athletic Commission) probably saw how little could be gained from blood testing and decided it was not worth the money or the harm it could potentially cause boxers from poking them with a needle. Boxers do have to have an annual blood test, but that is more to test for diseases than PEDs. Sticking with urine testing for the time being seems like it is the right move until a more improved set of testing comes along.
You are right in that PEDs do not teach technique. However there is no question that they will make you better. If you have two identical twins with the same technique and training, but only one is on PEDs and one is not; the doper will be bigger, stronger, faster, and better. If Fernando Vargas had not been on steroids he probably would have done worse against De La Hoya than he actually did. The edge that you gain is not going to make you invincible, but they will certainly make you better if you use them correctly. Bottom line is that PEDs work and they enhance what you already have.
Brian Viloria Collapsed After Fight
Let us all keep Brian Viloria in our prayers so that he has speedy recovery. First our man Z Gorres and now this…I really hope that Viloria is okay. This is getting really scary.
-Mike
Mike,
When a fighter collapses after a fight it usually means that he has a severe subdural hematoma and they have a 50/50 shot of staying alive. Brian Viloria’s case looked very scary since he took sustained punishment in the loss against Carlos Tamara and collapsed in the dressing room, which is exactly what most subdural hematoma cases look like. However the doctors in the Philippines are saying that Viloria simply suffers from exhaustion and is in stable condition. Thank goodness since that is a much less severe what I had feared. Still this sounds like a serious health issue and I wish that Brian Viloria makes a full and speedy recovery. He is a good guy and an exciting fighter.
That’s it for now, thanks for reading. Be sure to send in your emails to be used for next week’s bag. Take care and see you next time!