Pacquiao, Haye Lead the Tickets: Pre-Fights Report Card
by Cliff Rold
It’s a weekend where, even if the gaps don’t tell the tale, the gaps are the story. In two of the weekend’s three key fights, the gaps come on the scale. In the other, its professional experience. In all of them, the man who would appear to the naked eye to be the underdog is not.
That does not mean the naked eye can’t win out. There will be a big crowd on hand in Manchester in the U.K.; a bigger, outright massive, assemblage of humanity in Dallas. Boxing is big time this Saturday, and its big time worldwide.
Let’s go the report cards, beginning at Heavyweight.
The Ledger
David Haye
Age:
30
Current Title:
WBA Heavyweight (2009-Present, 1 Defense)
Previous Titles:
Lineal/Ring/WBC/WBA Cruiserweight (2007-08, 1 Defense); WBO Cruiserweight (2008)
Height:
6’3
Weight:
210.5 lbs.
Average Weight – Last Five Fights:
210.35 lbs.
Hails from:
London, England, United Kingdom
Record:
24-1, 22 KO
BoxingScene Rank:
#2 at Heavyweight
Record in Major Title Fights:
4-0, 3 KO
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Defeated:
6 (Arthur Williams, Giacobbe Fragomeni, Jean Marc Mormeck, Enzo Maccarinelli, Nicolay Valuev, John Ruiz)
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Faced in Defeat:
1 (Carl Thompson)
Vs.
Audley Harrison
Age:
39
Title/Previous Title:
1st Title Shot
Height:
6’5 ½
Weight:
253.5 lbs.
Average Weight – Last Five Fights:
251.15 lbs.
Hails from:
London, England, United Kingdom
Record:
27-4, 20 KO
BoxingScene Rank:
Unrated
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Defeated or Faced in Defeat:
0
Grades
Pre-Fight: Speed – Haye A; Harrison B
Pre-Fight: Power – Haye A; Harrison B+
Pre-Fight: Defense – Haye B; Harrison C+
Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Haye B+; Harrison C
It may not be on U.S. TV, but this Heavyweight belt clash has its place on the fistic radar. The biggest size difference of the weekend will happen here. Haye has come in approximately ten pounds lighter than he was for a knockout win of John Ruiz earlier this year while Harrison scaled a few over 250, creating a gap of more than forty pounds.
For Haye, it is a critical contest because it’s the first really big man with some talent he’s faced. Talent is of course the kindest way to describe Harrison; underachieving probably the most honest. Harrison, when he lets his hands go, can be dangerous but he often struggles for activity. Haye is, outside of the Valuev win, a fairly aggressive mix of speed and power. If Harrison is standing around waiting, Haye will be able to pounce.
The x-factor in this one is the question of what happens if Harrison lands something with mustard. It’s assumed both men can hurt each other. If Harrison can land a little something early, can get his confidence up, this could become a question of who takes the other man’s punch better.
Size could definitely matter there. Haye would be safer to refuse Harrison any chance for confidence building momentum.
From big men in a London backyard brawl to little men on a Texas undercard, here’s a look at a fight flying under the radar with big implications.
Ricardo Cordoba
Age:
27
Title:
None
Previous Titles:
WBA Jr. Featherweight (2008-09)
Height:
5’8
Weight:
121 lbs.
Average Weight – Last Five Fights:
122.8 lbs.
Hails from:
San Miguelito, Panama
Record:
37-2-2, 23 KO
BoxingScene Rank:
#10 at Jr. Featherweight
Record in Major Title Fights:
0-1-2, 1 KOBY (1-2-2, 1 KOBY including interim title fights)
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Defeated:
2 (Celestino Caballero, Luis Perez)
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Faced in Defeat or Draw:
(Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym, Wladimir Sidorenko, Bernard Dunne)
Vs.
Guillermo Rigondeaux
Age:
30
Title/Previous Titles:
None
Height:
5’7
Weight:
121.5 lbs.
Average Weight – Last Five Fights:
122.25 lbs.
Hails from:
Miami, Florida (Originally from Cuba)
Record:
6-0, 5 KO
BoxingScene Rank:
Unrated
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Defeated:
0
Grades
Pre-Fight: Speed – Rigondeaux A; Cordoba B
Pre-Fight: Power – Rigondeaux B+; Cordoba B
Pre-Fight: Defense – Rigondeaux B+; Cordoba B-
Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Rigondeaux B+; Cordoba A
Are we in Asia? While not entirely common, Asian market fighters who receive title shots inside their first ten fights is not unusual. Typically, it is indicative of a fighter with a deep background in another fighting sport. Rigondeaux has no background in Muay Thai or anything but a few hundred amateur fights and a couple of Olympic Gold Medals speak to the depth of his experience.
There is just no question about the talent of the Cuban. His grades would be higher if only for the things we don’t know yet.
Where questions exist, at the professional level, are in terms of his chin and ability to fight a real twelve round affair. We haven’t had to wait long to potentially find out. While the title on the line this weekend is hollow (a WBA interim belt), the opponent is not. Cordoba is deeply experienced as a pro. Has he fully recovered from a savage, losing affair against Bernard Dunne last year? The accurate, fast hands of Rigondeaux will ask.
Similarly, if Cordooba is not rushed, he will physically ask Rigondeaux what it feels like to be in with a seasoned man who has seen some of the best in the world without flinching. It speaks volumes that Rigondeaux’s people would cut to a Cordoba so quickly. What it speaks remains to be seen.
Rigondeaux-Cordoba is the best of three undercard contests beneath what might just end up the year’s richest fight.
Manny Pacquiao
Age:
31
Current Titles:
WBO Welterweight, 2009-Present, 1 Defense
Previous Titles:
Lineal/WBC World Flyweight 1998-99, 1 Defense; IBF Jr. Featherweight 2001-03, 4 Defenses; Lineal/Ring World Featherweight 2003-05, 2 Defenses; Lineal/Ring/WBC World Jr. Lightweight 2008; WBC Lightweight 2008-09; Lineal/Ring World Jr. Welterweight 2009-10
Height:
5’6 ½
Weight:
144.6 lbs.
Average Weight – Last Five Fights:
140.85 lbs.
Hails from:
General Santos City, Cotabato del Sur, Philippines
Record:
51-3-2, 38 KO
Record in Major Title Fights:
13-1-2, 11 KO, 1 KOBY (including Lineal title Fights)
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Defeated: 12 (Chatchai Sasakul, Lehlo Ledwaba, Jorge Eliecer Julio, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Oscar Larios, Juan Manuel Marquez, David Diaz, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey)
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Faced in Defeat or Draw:
4 (Medgoen Singsurat, Agapito Sanchez, Juan Manuel Marquez, Erik Morales)
Vs.
Antonio Margarito
Age:
32
Title:
None
Previous Titles:
WBO Welterweight (2002-07, 7 Defenses); IBF Welterweight (2008); WBA Welterwweight (2008-09)
Height:
5’11
Weight:
150 lbs.
Average Weight – Last Five Fights:
147.9 lbs.
Hails from:
Tijuana, Mexico
Record:
38-6, 27 KO
Record in Major Title Fights:
10-3, 8 KO, 1 KOBY, 1 No Contest
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Defeated:
6 (Sergio Martinez, Frankie Randall, Andrew Lewis, Kermit Cintron, Joshua Clottey, Miguel Cotto)
Current/Former World Champions/Titlists Faced in Defeat: 3 (Daniel Santos, Paul Williams, Shane Mosley)
Grades
Pre-Fight: Speed – Pacquiao A+; Margarito B-
Pre-Fight: Power – Pacquiao A-; Margarito B+
Pre-Fight: Defense – Pacquiao B; Margarito C-
Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Pacquiao A; Margarito B
Seeing the two of them face to face at Friday’s weigh in, one thing became abundantly clear:
Catchweight or no catchweight in this clash for a vacant Jr. Middleweight belt, Margarito is a lot bigger than Pacquiao. Sure, they weighed in only six pounds apart, but come fight time Pacquiao might have added four-five pounds. Margarito could be well over the Middleweight limit of 160 lbs. in the ring. Were this fight taking place a couple of years ago, before Margarito had been caught having his wraps tampered with prior to the Shane Mosley loss, even prior to the punishment of the Cotto win, the pick here would have been Margarito.
Now there is doubt. Can Margarito still take a shot the way he did in prime? Does he really believe in himself the way he did before his reputation was ruined? Is the will to walk through terrible punishment for victory still supported by 32-year old legs?
This scribe is among those who believe Margarito was not cheating prior to the Mosley fight. The evidence just is not there. Men like Joshua Clottey, Paul Williams, and Daniel Santos were or are good fighters. They were hit by Margarito plenty. None reacted as if hit by a cast.
That doesn’t change what Margarito was caught trying to do, doesn’t erase the whopping he took that night, or reverse the layoff he took during the suspension that followed. Margarito’s hopes for a win here rely on a Pacquiao who is willing to stand and trade for prolonged stretches, a Pacquiao who gives Margarito the time he needs to work the body and bank for a late rush.
Pacquiao is nobody’s fool and it’s hard to imagine his game plan being so reckless. Pacquiao is going to get touched, even by the slower hands of Margarito, but he can move in and out with rapid combinations and minimize the leather he receives.
The weight here is intriguing, Pacquiao coming in lighter than he did for Clottey in March. He’s playing for speed, a good sign that he’ll be employing the strategy that makes the most sense. It will be up to Margarito to force an all-out brawl with Pacquiao, and that means slowing the Filipino icon down.
Can he?
The Picks
No.
When Pacquiao beat Oscar De La Hoya in 2007, there was reason to feel it was just a sign that Oscar was through. That feeling has eroded as Pacquiao continues to ply his trade around Welterweight. He belongs. Had Pacquiaio fought Margarito in 2007, none of what we know now would have been revealed yet. Times, and perceptions, change.
Margarito taking Pacquiao’s best shot, smiling, and coming after him like a bat out of hell wouldn’t be a shock. Catching him and winning the fight would not either but it would at least be surprising.
Margarito was one of the best Welterweights of the 2000s. Pacquiao is, already, one of the greatest fighters ever to lace gloves and this is a case of two different classes sharing a ring. The pick here is for Pacquiao to work through a few shaky moments, using his speed and feet to keep the contact rate up en route to a unanimous decision win.
On the undercard, Rigondeaux begins his move on the upper echelons of Jr. Featherweight and Featherweight. Ignore the number of pro fights on his ledger; respect the talent. Cordoba is a great test but one that should be passed sometime before the eighth round.
Finally, the gaze is cast back across the pond at a Heavyweight clash that, on paper, doesn’t look like a shining example of champion and deserving contender. Fights are not fought on paper and, if there is going to be an upset this weekend, it happens here. Haye has never taken the sort of shot Harrison can throw. At 39, this is Harrison’s last chance to make something of his career, but…given his track record, it’s hard to bet on Harrison. He just hasn’t earned the confidence as a pro and needed a miracle shot in his last fight to secure this position. The safe pick is Haye, probably by a stoppage.
Report Card Picks 2010: 26-12
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com