By Cliff Rold
One did it in the ring, the other simply by announcing an imminent return to the squared circle. Together, they began what most assume is the buzz for the first real mega-fight of the post-Oscar De La Hoya era.
There will be other big ones, but nothing like what we can expect if and when the build begins for THE one: Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather. In an otherwise dry month, the horizon loomed large for the sport.
This is the May Month in Review
Fighter of the Month: Manny Pacquiao
As if there could be any other choice. On May 2nd, in the first serious pay-per-view show of 2009, Manny Pacquiao made his way into the Jr. Welterweight division and left the ring its one true champion and with ownership of a unique piece of history. Ricky Hatton wasn’t just stopped; he suffered the sort of obliterating knockout which thrills and then leaves the audience feeling guilty, hoping they haven’t seen the worst.
It was six minutes of utter devastation.
As noted in the wake of the fight at https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=19744 :
Pacquiao became only the second man to make title claims in six weight divisions and the first man ever to win lineal World titles in four weight classes…only Leonard, Mayweather and De La Hoya could join Pacquiao as three-division lineal champions.
They all stand a step behind him in terms of title accomplishment now.
Titles though are only one way greatness, or even really goodness, is measured in boxing. Leo Gamez won titles in four weight divisions and is probably a long shot to get on the ballot much less ever make the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Who gets defeated on the way to building the ol’ trophy case matters greatly in weighing what it all means.
On those terms, Pacquiao is in high cotton.
In amassing now four lineal World titles, he has defeated the best available fighter in the weight class he’s contesting in all four times and two of those men (Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez) are lock, first ballot Hall of Famers.
In collecting two other titles, at Jr. Featherweight and Lightweight against Lehlo Ledwaba and David Diaz, he defeated a man who was making a case as the best in his class and a former Olympian who was at least a solid top ten player at the time.
Already the message boards which make up the heartbeat of hardcore fandom are proclaiming Pacquiao’s detonation of Hatton as a validation of greatness. This being boxing, there will always be cynics and those minds may caution that greatness is not proved by beating Ricky Hatton alone.
It hasn’t been.
Greatness is a product of a body of work. Hatton is merely the icing on the cake.
Greatness is also something which can be enhanced by a fighter like Floyd Mayweather Jr. (or, for Floyd, by a fighter like Pacquiao). This was certainly Pacquiao’s month but will we all one day see it merely as prelude? Time will tell.
Fight of the Month: Kermit Cintron-Alfredo Angulo
It probably won’t be remembered as a lasting classic or anything…unless one asks the winner. It was a career saver for him and in a month light on superior action, it emerged as the best combination of story and violence seen in a May ring.
As recapped by BoxingScene’s Mark Vester at https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=20179
Cintron came out boxing pretty well in the first round, but the good work was overlooked when Angulo began to land his power punches in the final 30 seconds of the round. In the second, it was Angulo stalking and walking Cintron down, but that may have went out the window when Cintron began to score his big shots in the final 30 seconds.
Cintron had a very strong round three, landing multiple huge shots and using movement mixed in with angles to make Angulo miss a lot of his punches. He caught Angulo with a hard left that seemed to shake him near the end of the round. In the fourth, Cintron was doubling and tripling the left jab. He began to land very hard right hand shots that were blasting Angulo. He kept taking the punches and kept on coming but he seemed to slow down from the shots near the end.
Angulo came out a little better in the fifth, making Cintron stand and brawl. Cintron came out stronger in the sixth, going back to the jab and landing his big shots. Angulo looked a bit winded as Cintron continued to come on. In the seventh, Angulo seemed to get a bit on edge, trying everything in his power to catch up to Cintron and land something big. Cintron was able for the most part to stay away and counter.
In the eight, Angulo appeared to get some energy back and began to do better work on the inside. In the ninth, Angulo began to come on because Cintron appeared to be tried and was doing his best to stay away and hold. During the tenth, Angulo was targeting a lot of punches to Cintron's body and it seemed to really hurt Kermit near the end. Both fighters appeared tired in the eleventh but Angulo continued to come as Cintron was trying to survive.
During the twelfth, Cintron did his best to hold when Angulo came in close. Cintron was dead tired but was able to stay away and use his jab to keep Angulo away enough to get to the finish line. In the final ten seconds, Cintron landed some very good bombs.
Enough bombs to right the ship on his professional course after two losses to Antonio Margarito and a controversial draw most thought he’d lost to Jr. Middleweight titlist Sergio Martinez earlier in 2009. The unanimous decision win for Cintron puts him back in heavy contention and was the May fight of the month.
Critical Results and the Month ahead
Using a formula inspired by the college football BCS, quarterly divisional ratings have been compiled at Boxing Scene since 2008. The full second quarter BoxingScene ratings can be found at: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=19217
Below, the key results for May and significant matches on tap for the month of June:
Heavyweight (201 lbs. – Unlimited)
No BoxingScene rated fighters competed in May
Scheduled for June
06/20: #1 Wladimir Klitschko (52-3, 46 KO, IBF/WBO) vs. #7 David Haye (22-1, 21 KO)
Cruiserweight (176-200 lbs.)
05/09: #5 Marco Huck (25-1, 20 KO) TKO5 Vitaly Rusal (23-1, 16 KO)
05/16: #4 Giacobbe Fragomeni (26-1-1, 10 KO, WBC) D12 #8 Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (41-2-1, 31 KO)
05/16: #6 Victor Ramirez (15-1, 12 KO, WBO) SD12 Ali Ismailov (15-2-1, 11 KO)
No BoxingScene rated fighters scheduled to compete in June.
Light Heavyweight (169-175 lbs.)
05/09: #1 Chad Dawson (28-0, 17 KO, IBF) UD12 #6 Antonio Tarver (27-6, 19 KO)
05/30: #9 Yusuf Mack (28-2-2, 17 KO) TKO4 DeAndrey Abron (15-5, 10 KO)
Scheduled for June
06/19: #4 Adrian Diaconu (26-0, 15 KO, WBC) vs. Jean Pascal (22-1, 15 KO)
06/20: #5 Hugo Garay (32-3, 17 KO, WBA) vs. Gabriel Campillo (17-2, 6 KO)
Super Middleweight (161-168 lbs.)
05/16: #10 Andre Ward (19-0, 12 KO) UD12 Edison Miranda (32-4, 28 KO)
No BoxingScene rated fighters scheduled to compete in June.
Middleweight (155-160 lbs.)
05/27: #5 Anthony Mundine (36-3, 23 KO) SD12 #6 Daniel Geale (21-1, 13 KO)
Scheduled for June
06/27: #1 Arthur Abraham (29-0, 23 KO, IBF) vs. Mahir Oral (25-1-2, 10 KO)
Jr. Middleweight (148-154 lbs.)
05/30: Kermit Cintron (31-2-1, 27 KO) UD12 #7 Alfredo Angulo (15-1, 12 KO)
No BoxingScene rated fighters scheduled to compete in June.
Welterweight (141-147 lbs.)
05/30: #4 Andre Berto (25-0, 19 KO, WBC) UD12 #4 at 140 Juan Urango (21-2-1, 16 KO, IBF)
Scheduled for June
06/13: #2 Miguel Cotto (33-1, 27 KO, WBO) vs. #3 Joshua Clottey (35-2, 20 KO)
Jr. Welterweight (136-140 lbs.)
05/02: #8 Manny Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KO) KO2 World Champion Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KO, Lineal/Ring)
Scheduled for June
06/27: #3 Andriy Kotelnik (31-2-1, 13 KO, WBA) vs. Amir Khan (20-1, 15 KO)
06/27: #9 Marcos Maidana (25-1, 24 KO) vs. #10 Victor Ortiz (24-1-1, 19 KO)
Lightweight (131-135 lbs.)
No BoxingScene rated fighters competed in May.
Scheduled for June
06/27: #5 Paulus Moses (24-0, 17 KO, WBA) vs. Verquan Kimbrough (20-1-2, 7 KO)
Jr. Lightweight (127-130 lbs.)
05/01: #6 Urbano Antillon (26-0, 19 KO) TKO5 Tyrone Harris (23-5, 15 KO)
05/02: #1 Humberto Soto (48-7-2, 31 KO, WBC) TKO9 Benoit Gaudet (20-2, 7 KO)
Scheduled for June
06/12: #5 Robert Guerrero (23-1-1, 16 KO) vs. Johnnie Edwards (15-4-1, 8 KO)
06/27: #4 Jorge Linares (26-0, 17 KO, WBA) vs. Josafat Perez (12-1, 7 KO)
Featherweight (123-126 lbs.)
No BoxingScene rated fighters competed in May.
Scheduled for June:
06/27: #1 Chris John (42-0-2, 22 KO, WBA) vs. #5 Rocky Juarez (28-4-1, 20 KO)
06/27: #9 Mario Santiago (19-1-1, 14 KO) vs. Gilberto Sanchez Leon (19-5-2, 7 KO)
Jr. Featherweight (119-122 lbs.)
05/02: #10 Rendall Munroe (19-1, 8 KO) UD12 Issac Netty (3-3-1, 1 KO)
05/23: #3 Rafael Marquez (38-5, 34 KO) TKO3 Jose Mendoza (21-3-2, 17 KO)
05/23: #5 Toshiaki Nishioka (34-4-3, 21 KO, WBC) TKO3 #6 Jhonny Gonzalez (40-7, 34 KO)
Scheduled for June
06/26: #9 Steve Molitor (28-1, 11 KO) vs. Heriberto Ruiz (41-7-2, 23 KO)
06/27: #2 Juan Manuel Lopez (25-0, 23 KO, WBO) vs. Olivier Lontchi (18-0-2, 8 KO)
Bantamweight (116-118 lbs.)
05/02: #2 Anselmo Moreno (25-1-1, 8 KO, WBA) SD12 #6 Wladimir Sidorenko (21-2-2, 7 KO)
05/02: #8 Abner Mares (18-0, 11 KO) RTD6 Jonathan Perez (14-6, 11 KO)
05/29: Yonnhy Perez (19-0, 14 KO) TKO12 #7 Silence Mabuza (22-3, 18 KO)
Scheduled for June
06/27: #5 Fernando Montiel (39-2-1, 29 KO, WBO) vs. Eric Morel (41-2, 21 KO)
Jr. Bantamweight (113-115 lbs.)
No BoxingScene rated fighters competed in May or are scheduled to compete in June.
Flyweight (109-112 lbs.)
05/26: World Champion Daisuke Naito (35-2-3, 33 KO, Lineal/WBC) UD12 Xiong Zhao Zhong (12-2-1, 8 KO)
05/26: #3 Denkaosan Kaovichit (47-1-1, 20 KO, WBA) SD12 Hiroyuki Hisataka (17-8-1, 6 KO)
Scheduled for June
06/14: #5 Takefumi Sakata (33-5-2, 15 KO) vs. Jin-Man Jun (10-1-1, 1 KO)
06/26: #2 Omar Narvaez (29-0, 18 KO, WBO) vs. Omar Soto (17-4-1, 11 KO)
Jr. Flyweight (106-108 lbs.)
No BoxingScene rated fighters competed in May.
Scheduled for June
06/06: #6 Omar Nino (27-3-1, 11 KO) vs. #9 Juanito Rubillar (46-11-7, 22 KO)
06/13: World Champion Ivan Calderon (32-0, 6 KO, Lineal/Ring/WBO) vs. Rodel Mayol (25-3, 19 KO)
06/20: #2 Edgar Sosa (35-5, 19 KO, WBC) vs. Carlos Melo (19-8, 2 KO)
Strawweight (105 lbs.)
05/29: #2 Oleydong Sithsamerchai (31-0, 12 KO, WBC) TD11 Muhammad Rachman (62-8-5, 31 KO)
Scheduled for June
06/13: #5 Juan Palacios (25-2, 20 KO) vs. Erik Ramirez (26-6-1, 19 KO)
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