By Chris Robinson
It's been a while since I had enjoyed a conversation at length with noted boxing historian and HBO Sports contributor Bert Sugar. Sugar had been a tad under the weather and wasn’t on the scene for two of Las Vegas’ biggest events, the September Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz duel and the November trilogy bout between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez.
But with a New Year has also come the news that Sugar is again upbeat and once again focusing his attention back to the boxing world. Without delving into his condition, the affable New Yorker was quick to point out that he is again homebound and that he is getting ‘better every day’ during our talk.
For the past year and a half I had been keeping tabs with Sugar for our ongoing column and was pleased to hear that he was up for talking some more boxing on this night.
Our dialogue consisted of the next move of WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, who could find himself in the ring with any one of the quartet consisting of Lamont Peterson, Timothy Bradley, Juan Manuel Marquez, or Miguel Cotto.
Back at it again and full of wit, this is what Sugar had to say…
Options on the table for Pacquiao’s next fight…
“Well I’ve seen Marquez and Marquez and Marquez, haven’t I? Yes, yes, and yes. So, my thesis on this is that it’s going to be one of the others. I don’t know that Peterson has a lot of real credentials. He has one decision against Amir Khan and I think that was because the referee took two points away for pushing. I’ve never seen that before. So I really don’t think Peterson is in the mix. I think it’s down to the others. It’s Pacquiao who is now the draw in boxing.”
Why Peterson’s victory over Amir Khan was tainted in Sugar’s eyes…
“I think the referee stole the fight. I’ve never heard of a point being taken away for pushing before. And this was two of them. And that was the decision. Peterson, a good performance, best he ever had, but I don’t think it puts him in that echelon where we can give him a fight against Pacquiao for crying out loud.”
Timothy Bradley’s openness towards a bout with Juan Manuel Marquez…
“I don’t know. Can he find a glove for his head? He seems to fight differently but I still think Marquez is too tough for him, even at 38. I’d like to see Bradley back in the ring again. He seems to fight less frequently that Floyd Mayweather. Get the hell in the ring, quit talking.”
Viewing Pacquiao-Marquez III…
“It looked like the first two. Why the hell do I want to watch them a fourth time? Marquez is a smart, smart fighter and a very good. And what is that old ‘Styles makes fights’; these two guys have styles that make the same fight over and over and over.”
The possibility of Miguel Cotto continuing his career as a promotional free agent…
“Yes, I think it opens up many avenues for him. And you have to understand. He’s now at the tail end of his career and he’s trying to make something of himself. Look, he’s a tremendous gate attraction. He’s got several wins that basically put him in contention. He’s at the end of his career. He’s looking for bucks, which is not unfair. And he has a large constituency of Puerto Rican fans. Put them all together, he is a draw and he’s trying to capitalize on it.”
