By Jake Donovan
If there was anything worse than having to sit through last weekend’s rematch between faded legends Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr., it was being forced to wade through all of the pre-fight and post-fight coverage that dominated the headlines.
Such is life in the sport when the rest of a fight weekend is cleared out for a single event. Thankfully, we won’t have that problem in the next several weeks, with plenty of big fights on tap – and more importantly, featuring fight talent that is far more relevant to today and tomorrow than the poor attempt to cash in on nostalgia, as was the case last week.
For the moment, Independence Day weekend marks the only Saturday between now and July 10 in which there isn’t a major fight scheduled.
Of the 14 Saturdays in that span, only two boasts boxing itineraries in which the biggest fight of the evening isn’t directly tied into the present or the future of the sport. One of those nights is May 22, which features the fourth (and most likely, final) chapter between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez. Unlike last weekend, excitement is all but guaranteed, even if the winner merely makes for a steppingstone for today’s younger guard.
While the fight between the two past-their-best warriors will undoubtedly dominate the headlines that week, it is at least supported by a strong co-feature matchup between Yonnhy Perez and Abner Mares.
The battle of undefeated bantamweights threatens to steal the show that night, which is saying a lot, considering the main event players have made for two of the past three Fight of the Year entries.
While Vazquez and Marquez will be the talk of the town in the days leading up to the fight, there’s no question that plenty of Monday morning discussion will involve the winner (and quite possibly, the loser) of the evening’s co-feature bout, one that directly ties into the future of the bantamweight division.
That weekend is just one of the many examples of all eyes on the future. For another, look no further than this weekend, as undefeated welterweight Andre Berto faces Carlos Quintana at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida (Saturday, HBO 10:30PM ET/PT).
Crossroads matchups are always fun, and perhaps even sweeter when it comes as a plausible contingency plan on the heels of a good thing gone awry.
The year for Berto (25-0, 19KO) was supposed to begin with an even greater test, as the 2004 Haitian Olympian was originally slated to step way in competition to face top welterweight Sugar Shane Mosley.
It was the second straight time that the two were tied together for a bout in the first month of a new year. Efforts were made in late 2008 for the pair to meet in what would’ve been the first major bout of 2009, only for each fighter to instead head in opposite directions.
Berto went on to face Luis Collazo, barely escaping with a razor-close decision win in the first legitimate Fight of the Year candidate. Mosley saw him and raised him a week later, beating the living daylights out Antonio Margarito in the year’s first major upset.
Mosley wouldn’t fight again for the remainder of 2009, while Berto just fought once – a lackluster win over Juan Urango, who proved he had no business at welterweight and that Berto had no business any longer treading water given his numerous showcase appearances on cable giant HBO.
The Haitian-American was prepared to step up and challenge Mosley, only for disaster to hit way too close to home. The devastation caused by the massive earthquake in Haiti claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, including several of Berto’s family members, ultimately resulting in the understandable cancellation of the Mosley fight.
Many fans hoped that the fight would be revisited, but Mosley moved quickly, immediately setting his sights on – and finally landing – a major payday and showdown with Floyd Mayweather Jr, which comes next month.
Berto’s return after providing physical, financial and emotional support for his fellow Haitians was also met with big news – his taking on former welterweight titlist Quintana (27-2, 21KO).
The initial announcement of the fight was met with mixed emotions. Those who scoff at the matchup wonder aloud why it wasn’t instead a rematch with Collazo, another former titlist but one against whom Berto has plenty of unfinished business.
Others see the bout as the least threatening opponent Berto could face on HBO while his promoter – Lou DiBella – still gets to keep everything in-house, since he also promotes Quintana (Collazo is promoted by Don King, which always makes any negotiated fight tougher than it needs to be).
But once you get passed how the fight was made or whatever other alternatives existed, you’ll come to realize that it’s not a bad matchup at all.
It’s a natural reaction to write off Quintana. Every time he manages to step up, he seems to fall down immediately thereafter.
A breakthrough performance against then-unbeaten and heavily-(over)hyped Joel Julio was followed up with a stoppage loss to then-unbeaten Miguel Cotto six months later.
Two fights later, Quintana was thrown in against yet another undefeated welterweight – Paul Williams, dubbed Boxing’s Most Avoided at the time of their February ’08 encounter. Quintana was a massive underdog going in, but pulled off a stunning upset - and perhaps even more shocking was the relative ease in which he won the fight.
Sadly, his fifteen minutes of fame didn’t last much longer than that, getting blitzed inside of a round in their rematch four months later.
A modest two-fight win streak has followed, though he looked shaky in his most recent start against badly-faded journeyman Jesse Feliciano, suffering an early knockdown before a cut bailed out the Puerto Rican one round later.
The smart money is on Berto to win and look good doing so, especially on a night dedicated to his heritage. A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales will go to the Berto Dynasty Foundation, which is giving funds to Project Medishare to help those affected by the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti.
Simply put, the weight of a nation rests on the muscular shoulders of Berto, who never had more motivation leave it all in the ring.
Of course, that added pressure could work against him, not to mention Quintana’s knack for picking off rising undefeated welterweights. An upset by Quintana would undoubtedly lead to a rematch, while a Berto win lends greater credence to the claim made by his supporters that he belongs in the discussion of the world’s best welterweights.
Regardless of the outcome on Saturday, it’s the first of many consecutive weekends in which conversation both before and after the fight can center around the future of the sport.
BOXING BEYOND BERTO-QUINTANA
As tasty of a feature attraction is the aforementioned welterweight showdown, it’s hardly the only bout of relevance, or its card the only one worth watching this weekend.
Serving as the lead-in to Berto-Quintana is a fantastic featherweight bout between Celestino Caballero and Duad Cino Yordan. An irrelevant featherweight strap is at stake, but major relevance lies in the outcome of the contest, with the winner moving on to face can’t miss future star Yuriorkis Gamboa later this summer.
Caballero has been pining for a big fight from the moment he unified alphabet hardware at 122 lb. more than a year ago, only for his request to be met with deafening silence.
Freakishly tall for his weight class (5’11” – or nearly three inches taller than Berto, who outweighs the Panamanian by more than 20 lb), it’s understandable – though not completely forgivable - why his divisional counterparts wouldn’t be in a hurry to face him.
One opponent in particular who piqued his interest was Juan Manuel Lopez. The two jawed back and forth at one another through the media, but chances of a fight materializing never made it past lukewarm. Lopez’ stateside promoter – Bob Arum – instead had other ideas, offering up Gamboa as a feasible alternative.
In order for Caballero to get from here to there, he has to get past Yordan, a durable Indonesian who caught the eye of many a fight fan with his impressive – albeit, far too short – encounter with Robert Guerrero last year on HBO. Yordan gave Guerrero fits before the bout was halted due to a damaging cut over the American’s eye.
No rematch was ever offered, but Yordan remained active, fighting twice more at home before receiving the opportunity to face Caballero this weekend.
HBO doesn’t have a monopoly on intriguing action this weekend. Also of interest are separated cards on Fox Sports and a rare Saturday night entry from ESPN2.
Top Rank Lives returns this weekend, headlined by welterweight hopeful Mark Jason Melligen in a crossroads bout with Mexican prospect Norberto Gonzalez. The show takes place at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada (Saturday, Fox Sports Espanol, 10PM ET).
Melligan is one fight removed from an upset loss to Michel Rosales, while Gonzalez has won two straight since suffering the lone defeat of his career at the hands of Antwone Smith (who appears on the non-televised undercard to Berto-Quintana) last winter on ESPN2.
Also in search of redemption on that same show is super lightweight contender Lamont Peterson. The former amateur standout fights for the first time since his hard-fought, though lopsided, loss to Tim Bradley last December, and is given something of a layup as he faces career lightweight Damien Fuller in the evening’s co-feature.
If Gary Shaw is promoting a fight on a Saturday, chances are it’s on Showtime Championship Boxing. If his card is loaded with prospects, chances are it’s on Showtime’s critically acclaimed “Shobox: The New Generation” prospect-based series.
Neither holds true this weekend, as the New Jersey-based promoter brings a slew of unbeaten prospects to ESPN2’s airwaves this Saturday, which airs live from the Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, California (Saturday, 10PM ET).
The main event features welterweight prospect Orlando Lara against scrappy veteran David Estrada, who came oh so close a year ago to upsetting another Gary Shaw-promoted prospect in Luis Carlos Abregu.
Offered in the co-feature is a pair of former Shobox contestants, as undefeated bantamweight Victor Fonseca faces hard-hitting Andre Wilson.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com
