By Dr. Peter Edwards
The third edition of this month's Who's Hot and Who's Not. In the edition, I don't hold any punches back from speaking my mind. Floyd Mayweather, Bernard Hopkins, Oscar De La Hoya, and many more land on the Who's Hot and Who's Not list.
Who's Hot
Floyd Mayweather - He finally stopped being "Mr. Nice Guy" when it comes to boxing. Mayweather might be turning over a new leaf, nice guy outside the ring and mean bastard when it comes to being inside the ring. Mayweather realized that fights are not sold purely on the boxing skills of the combatants involved in the event. Floyd is also starting to realize that nice guys finish last. Mayweather promised the public a "beatdown" of Arturo Gatti when the two men step in the ring this coming June. Mayweather is regarded by most as the number two pound for pound fighter in the world yet he can't even sell out an arena in his own hometwon. The new attitude of Floyd could be exactly what he needs in order to get some fan recognition.
Erik Morales - Just when you think Morales is down, he comes back with a 5 star performance for the ages. Morales' battle with Manny Pacquiao last Saturday lived up to all the pre-fight hype and then some. Morales had his back against the wall and knew that anything less then a spectacular fight would hurt his career after coming off an upset loss to Marco Antonio Barrera in November. Even after his corner told him to coast the final round, he still went to war with Pacquiao until the final bell. Morales promises us two more big fights this year and the fans can’t wait.
Manny Pacquiao - Manny took the loss last Satuday night like a man, held his head up high and promised the fans that he would be back strong. Beaten to the body and bleeding from a bad cut, Manny still managed to put on such an inspiring performance that there is already talk of a rematch with Morales in September.
Jermain Taylor - Taking a huge risk in fighting the pound for pound best fighter in the world, Bernard Hopkins. Taylor did not have to fight Hopkins, he could of let time take it's course and watched Hopkins retire in December. Some experts have questioned the heart of Taylor and whether or not he is as good as the press. Taylor is ready to take the necessary step in either proving us right or wrong when he faces Bernard Hopkins in July. Taylor has been named the heir to the throne of the middleweight division, let's see if he can overthrow the reigning King to get the position.
Who's Not
Oscar De La Hoya - To make fans pay to watch Marco Antonio Barrera face an unknown with little to no shot of winning is ludicrous. Did the promoters not learn their lesson from the Klitscho vs. Williams bomb of a pay per view? This pay per view is an injustice to the fans. Barrera vs. Fana is barely worth the watch on a HBO Boxing After Dark telecast.
Murad Muhammad - While I don't think the type of gloves used in the Pacquiao-Morales bout would have made a difference, I don't think it's right to sign a contract that waives your fighter's rights to certain aspects of a bout without the fighter's input or approval. Muhammad is now in a "it's your fault Pacquiao lost" finger pointing battle between himself, Freddie Roach and Shelly Finkel.
Bernard Hopkins - Talk about a hypocrite. The man has basically played the role of "I'm a victim" for years and then tries to intimidate the young Jermain Taylor into a deal he did not want. Practice what you preach Bernard, you talk about becoming a promoter to "help" the young fighters come up and to show them a new breed of promoter that cares about the fighters. Is "take this amount of money and fight me on this date or we will never fight" sound like a fighter looking out for the young guns? Hopkins is no better then the promoters he has tried to bash over the years. Seems like a good conflict of interest to me when I think about Hopkins fighter, also the promoter, fighting Taylor and asking for "options" on his next few fights. It's the equivalent of Don King fighting Vitali Klitschko and telling him that win or lose, I promote your next few fights.
