By David P. Greisman

ESPN put on a good Pay-Per-View show at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Saturday night, and with thirty quality dollars spent on four fights, many boxing fans should feel content, like the feeling of appreciation one develops after completing a fantastic meal.  In this week’s edition of Fighting Words, we’ll break down what each of the matches on the ESPN PPV mean for the pugilists, delve into other action from the past week (including Dominick Guinn’s draw and Wladimir Klitschko’s twelve-minute workout), wrapping things up, of course, in The Ten Count with commentary on the two episodes of

The Contender
shown on NBC this Sunday.

Antonio Margarito Overwhelms Kermit Cintron

A brief cable outage notwithstanding, this welterweight showdown between Margarito, the WBO champion, and a highly regarded contender in Cintron was the most exciting, albeit surprising bout of the night.

This columnist cannot claim to have predicted that Margarito would whoop Cintron, overwhelming and frustrating the previously undefeated Puerto Rican to the point that he would look to his corner for an early end to his night.  Margarito left me unsold, especially after he struggled with Daniel Santos, even if that technical loss was at junior middleweight against a much bigger body.

With my only sight of Cintron being his throwing down with Teddy Reid last July, I, like some press, expected a Fight of the Year candidate, hopefully with evenly matched back-and-forth action.

Instead, Margarito cut Cintron, knocked him down a total of four times, and while Cintron got back up each time and attempted to hold on for dear life, his face told the story.  Kermit Cintron did not want to be there any longer, face the adversity and try to comeback in his first shot at a world title.

Cintron will need to regain confidence, go back to the proverbial drawing board and rebuild, while Margarito should take this momentum and stay active while waiting for a unification opportunity against Zab Judah.

Mosley Moseys Into the Picture

Coming off a 1-4-0-1 record in his past six fights, “Sugar” Shane Mosley lost a mound of muscle mass and dropped back down to welterweight, meeting David Estrada, an Angelo Dundee trained kid whose lone loss came to The Contender’s
Ishe Smith in July 2003.

With two losses each to Vernon Forrest and Winky Wright, a no contest with Raul Marquez and the win over Oscar De La Hoya, questions aired over if moving back to 147 could mean a return of the speed and powerful combinations that made Mosley into a highly regarded star.

While his footwork and body movement was frenetic to say the least, as it looked like I was watching an amphetamine addict on fast forward, Mosley was unable to dispatch the lesser skilled Estrada, ending up with a ten round unanimous decision.

A couple times in the fight Mosley hurt Estrada with left hooks to the liver, but Sugar Shane was either unable or unwilling to return to the money spot and put his foe away.  Still, Estrada was a test; a benchmark for what work Mosley has left to do in order to regain top form.  Mosley’s recent picks in opponents have been anything but easy, but the jury is still out on how far past his prime the Pomona native is.

Estrada is still young, and facing a future Hall-of-Famer for experience should only do him good.  For as long as he has the legendary Dundee in his ear and corner, Estrada should listen, learn and linger in contention until his time is ripe.

Brock Breaks In, McCline on the Decline

Like many prospects and contenders, and especially in the heavyweight division, Calvin Brock’s claims to greatness fell on deaf ears.  “I’ll believe it when I see it,” reads the mantra, and I’ve yet to see it.

With his past two wins coming over Clifford Etienne and Jameel McCline, though, there is a reasonable perception of Brock moving from former Olympian and prospect to true contender.  The big selling point on Brock is that he has now shown that he can overcome adversity, rising from the canvass to win a unanimous decision over McCline.

There were spurts of excitement and heavy trading, but also periods of clinching that would make John Ruiz proud.  Still, it was one of the better heavyweight matches of recent note, with both men fighting for their futures.

Brock was looking to further establish himself in the heavyweights, while McCline was attempting to prove that he still belonged.  Brock succeeded, but McCline, tired, gasping and ineffective, did all he could in knocking Brock down but could not put him away.

McCline could not put Chris Byrd away in similar circumstances, and while he is an able (and gigantic) body, his career is on the decline, his chances diminishing, any hopes of a resurgence limited.

As so often happens, the future coronation of a younger, hungrier fighter will come as a loss to an older veteran, a sign that the former is on their way up and the latter on their way out.

Six More Rounds for Raul

With the Juan Diaz-Ebo Elder fight called off due to Diaz being cut in training, the remaining spot on the quadrupleheader was taken by bantamweight prospect Raul Martinez.

Since turning pro in 2004, Martinez has been tremendously active, entering the ring eight times in eleven months and sprinting out to a record of 8-0.  With six wins coming by knockout and a seventh by disqualification, this would be the first time that Martinez would go the distance, a unanimous decision over Jose Alfredo Tirado.

Tirado gave Martinez some good work, never gave up nor showed full tomato-can tendencies that a record of 3-4 would otherwise indicate.  Tirado even won a round on all three judges’ scorecards, but Martinez’s punches were crisper and harder.  Martinez’s continued development will hopefully be televised, as the kid, although possessing flaws (as aptly pointed out by color commentator Teddy Atlas), shows potential.

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The Ten Count

1.  Wladimir Klitschko fought in Germany on Saturday, and the laser show that preceded his entrance lasted longer and was more exciting (that’s not saying much) than his match with unbeaten Eliseo Castillo.  Castillo threw fewer punches than did Morrade Hakkar against Bernard Hopkins, prompting HBO’s Larry Merchant to make a comment of something to the effect of, “Castillo used his arms more when rowing [to the United States as a refugee] from Cuba.”  Great line, boring fight.  Wladimir jabbed, jabbed, jabbed, Castillo moved, moved, moved.  A good right hand put Castillo down towards the end of the fourth, and the referee halted the proceedings.  As my dad put it, it’s a baby step for Wlad, but he still needs to face his demons.  I’d love to see Brock and Wladdy-K get it on next.

2.  Speaking of hyped-up fighters that fizzled, Dominick Guinn may be as done as a Golden Corral steak.  Needing a big win to end doubts after two dreary showings, Guinn bored his way to a majority draw with Friday Ahunanya.  Once thought to be the future of the heavyweights (boy is that a recurring theme), Guinn is quickly on his way to being forgotten.

3.  Major props (or as Kornheiser and Wilbon would put it, “Dap”) to the Nevada State Athletic Commission for not letting Joe Mesi back into the ring.  Mesi suffered bleeding in the brain after his decision victory over Vassiliy Jirov in 2004, and has not fought since.  Rumors are that Mesi is planning to sue, claiming that the hearing did not make the right decision.  Say it ain’t so, Joe.

4.  Joan Guzman retained his WBO super bantamweight belt in Hidalgo, Texas, this past Friday, outpointing Fernando Beltran Jr. for a twelve round unanimous decision.  On the undercard, the slow growth of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. continued, the win coming via TKO in the third round.

5.  Vitali Klitschko underwent back surgery, and thus his July 23 bout with Hasim Rahman has been postponed.  Word is that Rahman will now face Monte Barrett for the interim WBC heavyweight title, with the winner eventually facing Vitali for the true green belt.  The loser, in my opinion, should meet Calvin Brock, and not for coffee.

6.  Smoke Rejector: Chris John defeated Derrick “Smoke” Gainer in Indonesia on April 22, retaining his “regular” WBA featherweight title (Juan Manuel Marquez has the bigger, better one) with scores of 118-110, 118-111 and 118-109.

7.  Former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor once tried professional wrestling, huffing and puffing (and being carried) by Bam Bam Bigelow.  A few years back, the WWE tried a gimmick where their wrestlers boxed, and they huffed and puffed and wailed away.  If football players have less endurance than professional wrestlers, and wrestlers fall below boxers in this food chain, what group of athletes could outlast boxers?

8.  I read that James Toney is looking quite rotund in the weeks before his April 30 title fight with John Ruiz.  For the sake of the sport, let’s hope that his being in (a round) shape won’t prevent Lights Out from ridding us of the unsightly WBA champion.  I know that’s not an unbiased opinion, but well, you sit and try and watch Ruiz if his reign continues, and see how objective you remain.

9.  I can already hear the “Tito, Tito!” chants coming from his fanbase in New York City, and his Las Vegas fight with Winky Wright is less than three weeks away.

10. 

The Contender
Update:  NBC gave fans of the series a double dose, providing two hours, two episodes, two fights. In the first episode, the seven quarterfinalists voted for Ahmed Kaddour to join them, taking the place of Juan De La Rosa, who quit due to injuries.  The show is now an individual competition, so with a nice twist the challenges are for the right to be the matchmaker.

In the first episode, Jesse Brinkley won the challenge and paired Ishe Smith against Sergio Mora, with Mora the victor and first semifinalist.  In the second episode, Peter Manfredo was given a gift win by Joey Gilbert (and the Machiavellian implications developing in the show are wonderful), and matched up Kaddour with Alfonso Gomez.

The Gomez/Kaddour fight was thrilling, especially with the commercials that showed Gomez seemingly knocked down by the narcissistic pugilist from Lebanon.  In reality, Gomez came thisclose to going down, but rallied back with his second exciting win of the series.

With Gomez and Mora in the final four, the other two slots will be filled by either Jesse Brinkley, Peter Manfredo, Joey Gilbert or Anthony Bonsante.  Judging by the previews for next Sunday’s episode, the match might be between Gilbert and Manfredo, pitting Gilbert, the man originally thought to be one of the weakest contestants against a well-regarded Manfredo.

The show is wrapping up towards the end of May, and with the pace and tension picking up it might just go out with a bang.

Next Week’s Fighting Words

That’s it for this week, but next week’s edition of Fighting Words will break down the results of the James Toney/John Ruiz fight and look forward to the boxing scheduled for May.  On a similar note, look out for the May Championship Calendar to be posted on May 1.  Lastly, don’t forget to click on the link on my name on the upper right section of the page, and feel free to email me at boxingscene@hotmail.com.