By Tom Donelson

Highlights on Three Journalists

I found myself sitting next to Pedro Fernandez last fall during the Judah-Spinks fight. Pedro jokily told me that I maybe shouldn’t get too close “in case any stray bullets aimed for me hit you by mistake.” 

Pedro is boxing muck racking journalists, whose reports often discuss the darker side of boxing.  No subject is beyond Fernandez reach and his website, “RingTalk” is one of the most entertaining websites in all of sports, not just boxing.  With the flair for dramatic writing, Fernandez writes with desperation of a Paul Revere yelling, “The British are coming! The British are coming!”  Short and pithy, Fernandez gets to the point and his writing staff style follow a similar scripts. Cliff Rold is as opinionated as his boss with his analysis of the weekend fights but often his analysis proves correct.   With a growing staff of beat writers, Fernandez edits one of the most enlightening and entertaining websites.

A year ago, I was talking about Fernandez with a leading boxing journalist and the journalist remarked, “I just glad I am not in his cross hair.” The ultimate compliment for boxing's number one muck racking.

One of the boxing best columnists is Frank Lotierzo. I am bias since Frank co-authored two books with me but his writing shows up everywhere.  My first communication with Frank was after a piece that I wrote on Muhammad Ali that he liked. After a few more EMAILS, he sent me five fantasy fights between some of boxing great heavyweights and asked me who would win those fights. These exchanges led to our first book.

Lotierzo often thinks outside the square and rarely does he follow the crowd  and he is often refuting boxing’s conventional wisdom. Like most pundits, he is occasionally wrong but more often he hits the nail on the head with his examination. From examining judging a fight or discussing a boxer’s place in history, Lotierzo emphasizes the long view.  After following the boxing game for nearly three decades as a fighter and writer, Lotierzo is a student of the sweet science.   As far as I am concerned, Lotierzo is one of boxing’s top five columnists.

One of boxing's youngest editors is one of boxing’s best. Rick Reeno took Boxingscene.com from an idea in his fertile mind to become one of the boxing’s most read websites.  This website has managed to attract some of boxing best writers and everyday, there is always some unique boxing perspective.

Morales Fights Smart 

Erik Morales fought a smart fight against a fast and hungry opponent. Manny Pacquiao came in the fight as the favorite and In the opening rounds, it was obvious that the Mexican could not match the Pac Man's quick hands but he could use his height and jab to defuse that quickness. 

Throughout most of the fight, Morales boxed and shot effective right hands to the body and head as he kept Manny off balance.  Morales' jab allowed him to control the quicker Philippine fighter and his power outburst matched Pacquiao own power. The biggest advantage that Morales had was his chin. Pacquiao could not hurt Morales and throughout the fight, Morales was able to impose his strength on the smaller Pac Man. The only time that Morales showed stubbornness in going toe-to-toe was in the last round as he fought southpaw and allowed Pacquiao to nail him with some vicious shots.   

His corner told him before the last round, “You have the fight, don’t do anything stupid,” and he proceeded to ignore his own corner’s advice.  The warrior in Morales came out in that final stanza and both men had the fans on the edge of their seat. Morales won the fight and that there was no doubt but it was close as Pacquiao showed himself a worthy challenger. 

Now what’s next? Well, the recognized champion at 130 pounds division is Marco Antonio Barrea. A fourth fight anyone?