by David P. Greisman
On Saturday night at their competing pay-per-view shows, Antonio “Magic Man” Tarver and Paulie “The Magic Man” Malignaggi were craving respect.
In the eyes of Tarver, his career’s work was tremendously underappreciated, even after revenging each of his three losses and attaining recognition as the true light heavyweight champion – Zsolt Erdei’s lineal claim notwithstanding.
Despite these feats, Tarver saw a major discrepancy between his beliefs and the positioning he was given, whether he was too low in the mythical pound-for-pound ratings or placed on the right side of the screen – as opposed to the left – in a shared television interview with opponent Bernard Hopkins.
While Tarver wanted respect for his past accomplishments, Malignaggi argued that he should receive it for what he was about to do – take a gigantic step up in opposition by challenging Miguel Cotto.
Whether Malignaggi is brash or just extremely confident, there was nothing in his five years as a professional – neither the names on his ledger nor the five knockouts in 21 victories – to suggest that the unproven prospect could upset the battle-tested contender.
Similarly, as the younger, bigger and stronger man, Tarver looked to hold most of the advantages over Hopkins. Even if “The Executioner” was far more experienced and able to translate his long career into a wizard-like command in and of the ring, Hopkins’ recent track record was one of frugality and playing it safe.
Two Magic Men. Two talkative fighters whose mouths had earned them opportunities – Malignaggi with Cotto, and Tarver with Roy Jones. Two pay-per-view shows in two adjacent states. To think that by the night’s end, both men would be on the losing end of decisions, and yet Malignaggi should be respected while Tarver should feel dejected.
On paper, it was possible that both fights could end up as stinkers. Malignaggi’s lack of punching power and wealth of foot speed pointed to a night of Cotto pursuing and searching for an opportunity to land a left hook. Yet Malignaggi was gutsy, fighting through a cut above his left eyebrow from a clash of heads in the first round, a knockdown from a Cotto left hook in the second, swelling in his right cheek and bleeding from his nose.
Meanwhile, Malignaggi refused to get on his bicycle, even while Cotto walked through his punches. As the fight progressed, Cotto’s activity slowed, allowing Malignaggi to take rounds while taking the fight deeper than some expected.
In the end, though, the accrued damage and Cotto’s power advantage ended up being too much for Malignaggi. Cotto ended up with the unanimous decision, another gritty, hard-fought win that shows both vulnerability and fortitude. Still, this was also Malignaggi’s arrival, and with promoter Lou DiBella promising his fighter six to eight months off, the performance merits an anticipated return.
Tarver, meanwhile, may not want to show his face in public for some time, and not just because of the swelling caused by a combination of Hopkins’ inflicting of pain and Tarver’s weight drain.
Instead of Tarver’s size dictating the fight, Hopkins was controlling the action, positioning his body to limit Tarver’s target range. And when they tied up, it was Hopkins stifling Tarver, mauling him and pushing him around.
Tarver looked to be in a fog, utterly confused, unfocused and unsure of how to decipher the puzzle. In contrast, Hopkins was in old form, exploiting holes and breaking down Tarver with accurate right crosses and left hooks, having his way and smiling once he knew the fight was in the bag.
If, as Hopkins showed, every old pug has one last great fight in him, Tarver must hope that the saying holds true for him, too. His seeming lost – and his losing lack of effort – may contribute to a loss of the respect he desired. As a result, instead of sending Hopkins into retirement as the self-anointed “Legend Killer,” it is Tarver’s ego deflated, his myth busted.
The 10 Count
1. In his pro debut, Notre Dame football player Tommy Zbikowski needed less than a minute to knock out Robert Bell. For all the hype over Zbikowski’s debut after a very good amateur career, his fight was mostly for publicity and ticket sales. Zbikowski, though, narrowly escaped being disqualified. After hurting Bell with a left and a right, Bell leaned forward, taking two more shots, and as Bell took a knee, a Zbikowski punch landed to the tomato can’s arm.
2. I am curious, though: If the illegal blow had landed, would the referee have disqualified Zbikowski, docked points or have just thrown a flag instead?
3. Also on the undercard of Cotto-Malignaggi, John Duddy took his first step from prospect to contender by stopping middleweight measuring stick Alfredo “Freddie” Cuevas in a decent scrap. Duddy keeps his left hand low and brings his jab back slowly, but he is also an exciting fighter who sells tickets. I’d love to see him in with a Kelly Pavlik or Daniel Edouard next so we can gauge where he belongs in the division, although Duddy-Pavlik is preferable as a Boxing After Dark kind of bout.
4. I’m not sure who else picked up on this, but the bout order on the Cotto-Malignaggi undercard went from Duddy-Cuevas to Tommy Zbikowski’s fight, meaning it went from an Irish fighter to a Fighting Irish.
5. Why, I wonder, was Kevin Kelley’s trainer Don House holding a microphone while advising his charge after the first round of Kelley’s knockout loss to Bobby Pacquiao? Perhaps it was foreshadowing that Kelley, an experienced analyst and aging fighter, should retire and return to the headsets.
6. It was a good weekend for prospects, with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Juan Manuel Lopez, heavyweight Kevin Johnson, welterweight Rock Allen and junior welterweight Jorge Paez Jr. all picking up wins against their respective opposition. As an additional bonus, Hector Camacho Jr. lost by stoppage to Andrey Tsurkan, a result that will hopefully send a message to Camacho who, after ten years, has barely progressed past the prospect level, nor has he picked up much of a fan following.
7. Seriously, Camacho Jr.-Tsurkan as pay-per-view undercard material? Between the ten fights on the two shows, were there even four fights that, put together, could have justified the dropping of hard-earned cash?
8. Audley Harrison knocked out 11-12-2 tomato can Andrew Greeley on Friday, his first win after back-to-back losses against Dominick Guinn and Danny Williams. Five years into his professional career and six years after winning Olympic gold in 2000, Harrison, at 34, is only getting older. Unless things change soon, he may end up as the biggest waste of highly-touted Olympic talent since Ricardo Williams Jr. lost to Juan “Pollo” Valenzuela and ended up in jail soon thereafter.
9. After more than a year of inactivity, Ishe Smith of The Contender fame shook off some rust Wednesday by going ten rounds in a unanimous decision win over Patrick Thompson. Although Thompson’s pedigree pales in comparison to the levels of competition Smith faced prior to and during his stint on the reality show, the journeyman had gone rounds with John Duddy, Sechew Powell and Giovanni Lorenzo while each were young prospects. Smith was one of the few contestants on The Contender who had been making a name for himself without the assistance of the extra publicity, so it is probable that both he and Golden Boy Promotions hope that he can regain his momentum while getting past his negative experience with the television show.
10. The fight I’ve been looking forward to for months is finally here, with Jermain Taylor meeting Winky Wright this coming weekend. After the cancellation of Corrales-Castillo III and the wallet draining of this past weekend’s two pay-per-views, Taylor-Wright may end up as the best big fight of the month, with the extra bonus that it is on HBO instead of PPV.
