By Jake Donovan
I heard a juicy boxing rumor. It doesn't have anything to do with cross-dressing superstars appearing in photos (doctored or otherwise). Or whether or not said person's latest acquisition will also include ratings manipulation.
It doesn't suggest that a fighter or two is faking an injury to avoid an upcoming challenge.
It doesn't even suggest who got the best of a press conference tour, or what effect it will have on a fight that's more than two months away.
Nope. This bit of gossip involves an actual fight on television. In fact two separate cards televising two fights each.
Televised boxing in September; a crazy concept, I know.
You know it's been too long between major fights when boxing discussion is limited to tabloid filler. You know it's been a rough month on the injury front when even boxing websites are sent to the disabled list.
But, alas, the worst appears to be over, if only for the moment. The drought is over at last. No longer do we need to depend on baseball, college football and UFC to get through a Saturday.
Boxing is back - pending injury, of course, which this month is asking a lot.
Though they didn't plan it that way, the next two weekends can be viewed as making up for lost time as Showtime and HBO (and its PPV arm) going head to head with separate telecasts.
It begins this Saturday. HBO ends its six-week boxing hiatus with a dandy of a doubleheader live from Atlantic City, NJ. The show takes place at the Boardwalk Hall, the house that Arturo Gatti rebuilt. Only it's another one of HBO's favorite sons headlining, as undefeated thoroughbred Jermain Taylor puts his world middleweight title on the line against top-rated undefeated challenger, the murderous punching Kelly Pavlik in a battle where someone's 0 has to go.
As if the main event – one many regard as a potential Fight of the Year candidate and a true throwback fight – wasn't enough, the self-proclaimed Network of Champions offers a compelling crossroads bout in the co-feature. Undefeated 2004 Olympian Andre Berto looks to make the transition from blue-chip prospect to bona fide contender as he takes on welterweight gatekeeper David Estrada .
On the other side of the country – the Arco Arena in Sacramento, CA to be exact - rising light heavyweight star Chad Dawson appears on America's #1 Fight Network for the third time in 2007, taking on late replacement Epifanio Mendoza in a 12-round light heavyweight battle. The bout is supported by an intriguing bantamweight battle, as erratic Luis Perez enjoys the rare pleasure of fighting twice in a year, as he faces unheralded but underrated South African contender Joseph Agbeko .
Showtime did present two ShoBox cards earlier in the month. As far as their flagship boxing series goes, this will be the first major card since August 4, which offered Israel Vazquez' revenge knockout over Rafael Marquez. The bout is the leading candidate for 2007's Fight of the Year, even if it feels like eons since it – or any major fight – aired.
It hasn't been eons, but only six weeks since a significant fight aired on premium television. After six straight weeks of enduring the boxing equivalent to drawing water in the Sahara desert, boxing fans are treated to perhaps too much boxing. Well perhaps not too much – is there ever such a thing? But it is a weekend where a decision needs to be made.
It doesn't happen often these days, but this weekend is the first head-to-head matchup in a long time where HBO appears to have the clear edge. If there were any reservations about which card to watch live, HBO's "Countdown to Taylor-Pavlik" special had to effect your decision one way or another. Chances are, it enticed you to keep it locked in on perhaps the most anticipated middleweight matchup since Bernard Hopkins squared off against Felix Trinidad for the undisputed middleweight championship six years ago.
What makes this bout perhaps more intriguing than any other scheduled between now and the end of the year is where each fighter stands in the public eye.
Despite both being undefeated and in their respective primes, the matchup has somehow emerged into a crossroads bout. Taylor's stock has never been lower, with consecutive stinkers proceeding three straight controversial decisions against former middleweight king Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright, going 2-0-1 in a stretch where many argue he deserved to wind up 0-3.
Controversial decisions are all of the proof you need that nothing beats a clean knockout. Enter Kelly Pavlik, whose eight fight knockout streak extends as far back as the last time any of Taylor's opponents failed to hear the final bell. Taylor's last knockout came against his former chief sparring partner, Daniel Edouard. Among Pavlik's last eight victims, three of the division's biggest bangers in Fulgencio Zuniga, Jose Luis Zertuche and most recently Edison Miranda in one of the best – and most brutal – bouts of 2007.
It was Pavlik's 7th round knockout of Miranda that had many believing they were in the presence of the heir to the middleweight throne. It certainly helped that Pavlik's career-best win served as the co-feature to Taylor's career-worst performance, a God-awful stinker of a controversial split decision win over undersized Cory Spinks this past May in Memphis.
On the surface, it appears as if Taylor is ripe for the taking, while Pavlik's time appears to be now. But if fights were that easy to predict, there'd be no reason to have 'em settle it in the ring. Question marks still surround Taylor's chin – he's never faced a notable enough puncher to give his whiskers a workout – as well as his ability to convincingly win a big one. Despite looking impressive against the aforementioned punchers, Pavlik has been spared the type of opponents that proved to be stylistic nightmares for Taylor and just about anyone else they've faced.
Perhaps Pavlik's bombs eventually get to Kassim Ouma and Cory Spinks, and possibly even Wright and Hopkins. Or perhaps he doesn't even hit any of them in the ass with a handful of sand. Perhaps Taylor stands up to punchers like Miranda, Zuniga and Zertuche, or finds a way to avoid their power while offering enough of his own to prevail victorious in the same spectacular manner as Pavilk. Or maybe his chin doesn't hold up and the Taylor express never leaves the station.
Normally the best way to prepare for the biggest challenge of your career is to face a similar, if lesser, version in fights prior. Taylor and Pavlik have avoided that route before facing each other. Their styles suggest a classic matchup. The mystery factor of how one will survive the other's style easily makes this high among the year's most anticipated matchups.
As if one crossroads bout wasn't enough, but the co-feature offers just as much intrigue. Though unlike Taylor-Pavlik, Berto-Estrada is more in tune with your traditional red light-green light matchup. Berto is the star on the rise, regarded by many as the sport's best prospect. All of that taken into consideration, some wonder if a tough vet like Estrada is biting off a little more than the Haitian can chew at this young stage of his career.
It was one round - in fact one punch - that managed to knock some of the new penny shine off of Berto's otherwise spotless professional ledger in his decision win over Cosme Rivera earlier this summer. A perfectly timed uppercut toward the end of the sixth round put Berto on the deck for the first time in his career. An even better timed busted glove allowed Berto far more recovery time than should've been the case. Rivera's moment came and went, as Berto survived the rest of the fight to escape with his perfect record still intact (19-0, 16KO), though resulting in his knockout streak ending at 14 straight.
Estrada appears tough enough to start a new streak – extending Berto the distance for the second straight time. Back-to-back wins over then-undefeated Nurhan Souleymanoglu and Chris Smith on ShoBox confirmed Estrada's status as among the best of the rest. His lopsided loss to a comebacking Shane Mosley suggests he'll fall short when stepping to the next level. The stoppage loss to Kermit Cintron was enough proof that he can eventually get got.
The accumulation of such taxing bouts among others over the course of his eight-year, 24 fight career appears to be just enough of a handicap to prevent an upset from occurring. Then again, the same was said when then-undefeated and red-hot heavyweight contender Michael Grant faced assumed-to-be-used-up Andrew Golota late in 1999. Grant looked spectacular against competition that ranged from made-to-order to respectable. Then he ran into Golota, a former world title challenger who twice put Grant on his ass before eventually wilting once the going got tough late in the fight.
Estrada's never challenged for a world title, not even a paper alphabet version. But like Golota did for Grant, Estrada represents the most physically imposing challenge of Berto's career. Not always the type of opponent you want to face following a bout that resulted in your first time hitting the deck.
But like the main event, the bout suggests promoter Lou DiBella's confidence in his kids. Or perhaps it's indicative of HBO's forcing DiBella's hand, demanding that neither any longer appear on the network against anyone remotely representing a soft touch.
Whatever the reason, it offers the potential for one of HBO's more compelling doubleheaders in recent memory.
It'd be nice to shower Showtime's card with the same praise, but they just don't pay us enough in sponsorship. Just jokes, but this weekend's show is hardly indicative of the "Great Fights, No Rights" policy that has since provided the network with so many memorable moments.
It's not for a lack of trying, as their main event was supposed to move one step closer toward clearing up the suddenly muddled light heavyweight picture. The division seems to be divided into two clubs these days. There's the 35-and-over sect, with guys like Hopkins, Antonio Tarver, Roy Jones and Glen Johnson only interested in fighting each other, or treading water while waiting for such fights to surface.
Then there are the young guns, looking to send the dinosaurs into extinction and look to bring the game to the type of run-and-gun offense to reignite a flame in the once-historic division.
The latter is a club that houses the likes of undefeated warriors Chad Dawson and Adrian Diaconu, who were originally scheduled to face each other this weekend in the main event. Only Diaconu went the way of Fernando Vargas, Juan Manuel Marquez, Vitali Klitschko and Oleg Maskaev, pulling up lame with an unexpected last minute injury.
Out went the highly anticipated light heavyweight matchup; enter a second straight perceived tune-up for Dawson, fresh off of a 6 th round thrashing of Jesus Ruiz three months ago on Showtime. This time, he gets late replacement Epifanio Mendoza, who once upon a time boasted a fierce punch and an affinity for undefeated middleweights, snatching the 0 from both Tokunbu Olajide and Rubin Williams. Both bouts aired on ESPN2. Both bouts lasted less than a round, in fact less than a minute.
But it's been a long time since that version of Mendoza has surfaced. He is 11-4-1 since upending Olajide, including a four-fight winning streak heading into this weekend's bout. His aforementioned win over Williams is the lone notable achievement over that stretch, with his last four victories coming against journeyman with upside down records.
If the Showtime free preview weekend alone isn't enough to entice you to tune in, there's always the wild card of Mendoza perhaps still possessing a little something on his fastball. Dawson isn't exactly known for taking your best Sunday punch, though the lone two knockdowns of his career (against Eric Harding and Tomasz Adamek in bouts he otherwise dominated) both came in moments where he was temporarily caught napping. There's no reason not to suggest that perhaps he comes into this bout less than 100% focused, though chances of an upset appear to be slim and none, with slim last seen heading out of town.
That leaves the co-feature, a bantamweight scrap between Luis Perez and Joseph Agbeko.
With Perez, anything is possible. After sprinting out to a 20-1 record in the first five years of his career, the Nicaraguan has been stuck in the mud, with only five bouts (all wins) in the past four years.
One came two fights ago, the last time he appeared on Showtime. That win came against Dimitri Kirilov. On paper, it was a perceived showcase bout. By fights end, it ranked among the year's worst decision, with Perez eking out an extremely unpopular split decision. Kirilov demanded a rematch, but Perez instead packed his bags and disappeared from the game until resurfacing over a year later as a bantamweight.
Perez scored a spectacular one punch knockout of Genaro Garcia on the non-televised portion of Showtime's July telecast. It may not be much, but it's more significant than Agbeko's best wins. In fact, the Ghanaian's career is perhaps best defined by his close-but-no-cigar 2004 points loss to Wladimir Sidirenko, arguably the best bantamweight on the planet.
Agbeko would fight once more, then disappear for 2 ½ years before resurfacing earlier this year. Two fights later, he gets the opportunity of a lifetime, though perhaps a fight too late, with Perez seemingly comfortable as a bantamweight after years of shrinking down to 115.
So the choice is yours this weekend. Two crossroads bout where anything can happen, or two perceived showcase bouts with the potential for a few scary moments, if not at least one upset.
What to watch live, what to TiVo. Whatever the case, it's nice to watch a fight for a change, the men of fall providing a welcome alternative to the gossip of summer.
Jake Donovan's column runs ever Tuesday on boxingscene.com . In addition to his contributions as a writer, Jake is also currently licensed as a manager, promoter and judge (ABC certified), and is a member of the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. He may be reached for questions and comments at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com
