Fact..With all due respect to the Vazquez-Marquez trilogy, there was no series of fights this decade that even came close to the amount of drama that Gatti/Ward brought us. It was not just the best trilogy of the decade, but it might been the best in the history of this great sport. These guys were true warriors and represented what boxing is about. No showboating, just fighting. The first fight of the trilogy was the best, and it deserves a place among the handful of greatest boxing matches in the history of the sport. Round 9 of fight 1 is perhaps the greatest display of toughness and guts you will ever see in boxing. Who could ever forget Jim Lamply yelling at referee Frank Cappuccino to stop the fight for Gatti as he was just being battered. But Gatti stayed on his feet and fought back to go the full 10 rounds.

The second and third fights were no different as they these guys continued to give it everything they had and more. The second fight was great because Ward wouldn’t quit even though Gatti was obviously getting the best of him. In third fight, Arturo Gatti broke his right hand in the fourth on a punch to Ward’s hip early in the fight which forced him to change his whole style. After the round, Gatti told his corner that he had broken his hand, but when his trainer asked what he wanted to do, he didn’t hesitate: “I’m gonna keep fighting.”

Marquez and Vazquez was great but two of those fights didn’t even go the distance. Ward and Gatti did not even think about givinp or letting the ref stop the fight. It’s pretty sad writing this because I just don’t think we will ever get as great trilogy ever again

2. Despite major successes and new world champions, you still consider Gary Shaw Promotions second banana to Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions.
2. Fact. .Gary shaw is starting to get up there but isn’t quite on the Top Rank or Golden Boy class just yet. Shaw knows his boxing very well and has got some great talent in his stable with the likes of Chad Dawson and Rafael Marquez. However, they just aren’t the star boxers that Rank and GB have. Sahw can put together the exciting fight but does not have the guys to put on a big PPV fight. He may have some champions but what does it all mean if people don’t know who they are? When I see one of Shaw’s boxers take part of a 24/7 show, then we will know that he is finally one of the top promoters in the buisness.

3. OK, I lied… there will be Pacquiao/Mayweather questions. With the bloodwork controversy in the press, you think this is a legitimate stumbling block, and not just “hype.”
3. Fact…This is no shocker to me that this fight is still not signed. But I never thought it was not going to be about the money. Mayweather and his father are convinced that Pacquiao has done steroids in the past. Floyd has said that the Phillipines is known for being one of the biggest steroid providers in the world. He knows this is going to probably be the toughest fight of his career and will do whatever takes to slow Manny down before the actual fight. I don’t think this is hype at all because people are going to buy and watch this fight no matter what. The hype has been there for months and Pacquiao and Mayweather should know that. These guys are the top two stars in the sport and just want to make sure  that one is not getting over on the other. At the end of the day, this fight will get it done because they just “ have” to.

4. Yeah right. Who was I kidding, Pacquiao/Mayweather-free… Anyway… Pacquiao’s slander lawsuit against Mayweather’s team has merit and should be seen through in court.

Fact- You can’t really blame Manny on this one. Wouldn’t anyone else in the sports world be upset if it happened to them? Manny Pacquiao is a very proud and respected warrior in the realms of boxing. He does not want anything or anyone to take away from his wonderful performances he has provided for boxing fans over his career. The Mayweather camp is trying to throw Pacquiao off with these false allegations. Manny should pursue the lawsuit regardless what happens with this fight. The possibility of seeing Mayweather and Golden Boy pay up to Manny would be pretty sweet for him. If Manny is not hiding anything, he should not hesitate to sue and really stick it in Mayweather and his father’s face.

5. OK, let’s try to get back on to other boxing… You think Steven Luevano can pull off the upset over Juan Manuel Lopez in their January 23rd bout.

Fact- If you asked me this before Lopez’s fight with Mtagwa, I would have said fiction for sure.  Despite the decision victory, his win was far from his most impressive. Lopez came within seconds of being knocked out at the end of the 11^th round and nearly again in the 12^th. Despite all that, he gained a great deal of experience in the fight and will come into his fight against Luevano as a smarter fighter. He needs to be that if he is going to win this fight.

Luevano is very skilled fighter who I feel will give Lopez a real run for his money.Luevano has been dominant in the Featherweight division with a record of 37-1-1 and is in a position where the most competition he can get is by facing an explosive smaller fighter who is willing to move up and try his luck in the Featherweight division.It should be very interesting to see not only how Luevano deals with Lopez’s aggression but also how Lopez deals with Luevano’s smart, tactically sound boxing.

Like I said, Luevano is a skilled boxer and will not put himself in any position to be knocked out and will make Lopez look  unimpressive the first half of the fight. I do think Lopez will figure out a way to get the victory but Luevano has the goods to pull of the upset.

6. Sorry, ok, last question about Testinggate… due to the drug test roadblock, Pacquiao/Malignaggi is being discussed. If this Plan B is signed, it would drop your interest in Manny’s next bout from MASSIVE to ZERO in no time flat.

Fiction- My interest would be right in the middle but leaning more toward massive. Anytime Manny Pacquiao fights, I am going to always be very interested when he steps into the ring. A fight with Malignaggi would be a very interesting and intriguing matchup. Paulie is on a real high right now coming of his impressive victory over Juan Diaz. The guy talks a big game and a  fight with the biggest star in the sport could bring us another side of Malignaggi we have not seen. He has also accused Manny of taking PED’s and you know Pacquaio will not forget that. I think the contrast of both these guy’s styles is fascinating to me and while I won’t give Malignaggi a shot, I think he could make it very entertaining.

Yuriorkis Gamboa — Prospect of the Year
Gamboa’s win as prospect of the year might be the most impressive of all the Scrappy winners. Prospect of the year had the most nominees of any category with eight and makes Gamboa’ that much more impressive in the boxing community. Can anyone really argue with Gamboa’s rise toward stardom this year? He had an impressive a 4-0 record in 2009 with 4 KO’s. He won the interim WBA featherweight title with the 10th round KO over Jose Rojas. In his last fight, Gamboa looked great in finishing off Whyber Garcia with a 4th round KO with an amazing combination of power and speed. The fight was on the undercard of the Lopez-Mtagwa ” Latin Fury 12″ main event but Gamboa felt like he should be the one in the main event. He might have had a case as Lopez struggled with a decision win while Gamboa dominated.  Gamboa has won his last six fights by KO and looks for a big fight with Lopez sometime during 2010. The sky is the limit right now at the age of 27 and the only thing that can really stop him is himself. His uniquely talent and physical abilities can surely carry him into greatness.

Top Rank — Promoter of the Year
Bob Arum and Top Rank had themselves as good a year as any of the promotions. It did not start of well as Golden Boy’s Shane Mosley totally destroyed Antonio Margarito. Let’s not forget about the plaster controversy involving Margarito which gave Bob Arum and is company a big black eye. But that sure looked to be the only downer at otherwise successful year for Top Rank. First off, when you have the prospect and fighter of the year in your stable, it does not take a brain surgeon to let you know you have are the top promoter of the sport. Top Rank delievered us the biggest and highest grossing fight of the year as Top Rank fighters Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto gave us a fight that anyone can get into. While it was a dominant victory for Manny, the atmosphere on fight night was something that Golden Boy could not deliver for the Mayweather-Marquez disaster.

Amir Khan — Comeback Fighter of the Year
Last September 6th, Amir Khan suffered a most embarrassing and devastating a loss a professional boxer can have. Going into a fight with Brendiss Prescott at 17-0, Khan looked to continue his promising young career with another win. However in front of his home country in England, Presscott murdered Khan by scoring two knockdown in 54 seconds of the first round and handed Khan his first career loss. Not many would blame if Khan never came back to be the same and we have seen many boxers through the years just tank after a bad loss.
But Khan wanted to prove he was different and came right back three months later to close out his 2008 with a second round TKO of Oisin Fagan. Khan would build off that win and had himself a nice comeback in 2009 going 3-0 with 1 KO. One of those wins came against future hall of famer Marco Antonio Barrera as he won a technical decision after the fight was stopped due to a horrific cut to Barerra after a clash of heads. It was a very impressive win and proved that the loss to Prescott was behind him. Khan finished of his comeback of 2009 on December 5th when he knocked out Dmitry Salita in the first round. Thanks to the comeback year, Khan may have earned himself a big fight in 2010 with one of the best 140 pound fighters in the world, Timothy Bradley.

Victor Ortiz — The No Mas Award (Most Flagrant Display of Quitting)
This may have been the easiest award to give out. Ortiz came into 2009 with high hopes as he was elected the ESPN prospect of the year for 2008 and picked to be the breakout star of 2009. His 2009 started out well as he fought his first bout televised on HBO

against Mike Arnaoutis. He scored a technical knockout of Arnaoutis in the second round, winning the U.S.B.A title and retaining the WBO NABO title. But disaster struck for Ortiz in his next fight as he took on Marcos Meidana.In one of the more exciting fights of 2009, Ortíz and Maidana were knocked down in the first round. Ortíz knocked Maidana to the canvas twice in the second round. Ortíz suffered a cut in the 5th round and was knocked down in the 6th round. The fight was stopped when Ortiz was taken to the ring doctor and elected to stop the fight. But it looked as if Ortiz and not the doctor was the one who elected not to continue.
In a most bizarre display, Ortiz said in his post fight interview ” I’m young, but I don’t think I deserve to get beat up like this. So I have a lot of thinking to do.” This is a fighter that was signed by Golden Boy and HBO to be on of their top stars. It just doesn’t seem like Ortiz has the courage to be a great fighter. He has been crticized by everyone in boxing from Chris Arreola to Max Kellerman. ” When things were going his way,  Victor fought hard. But his heart disappeared when Maidanatook his best shots and spit right back in his face. Great fighters show tremendous courage and resolve. They argue against a fight being stopped. Think about Diego Corrales screaming at the doctor to give him one more round. Think about how Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti fought their butts off just to finish a fight when a normal guy would have been done much earlier. The quitter label was always be on Ortiz until he can prove he has the heart in his next big fight.

Watch VH-1 for example.  They love that type of stuff.  They’ve made a network built upon the shoulders of “stars” who have been forgotten.  Spike has done it too.  But even worse than some producer calling you out of the blue and asking if he and a couple of cameras can follow you around for a few hours is you saying, “Sure, I’d love that.”  Because now you’ve become an accomplice to your own joke.  You’ve swallowed your pride; your dignity has lost its way.  Friends & family won’t tell you, but after they watch your segment, they’ll agree amongst one another that you looked kind of foolish.  They won’t tell you, because you’ll know you looked a little bit more than “kind of” foolish and they’ll know you know (it’s an old joke, the I know you know that I know, but it always works).  Part of the game of a Where Are They Now is to pretend none of the attention bothers you.  But it always does.

Back to the VH-1 example.  Remember the song “Walking On Sunshine” by Katrina & The Waves?  I was their only hit, back from the mid-80s.  Now they might make sense for a Where Are They Now? feature because they only had the one hit song.  But the star of the band and the star of the segment was Katrina, now in her early-50s, still trying to make it back.  She’s heavier, maybe more talented but with zero chance of anybody caring about anything other than “Walking On Sunshine.”  If I were here, even though there’s little to lose career-wise, I’d still be embarrassed I was even asked.  And my fear is that I wouldn’t say no.

The film “Spinal Tap” showed what happened when the “famous” don’t realize they aren’t really famous anymore.  In one telling scene, the band Spinal Tap is in the U.S. for a tour.  They hear one of their early songs on the radio.  It’s great fun for the boys in the band…. Until the DJ comes on and says, “File them in the ‘Where Are They Now?’ category.”  Rarely do you get to watch five faces fall more quickly than a jumper off of the G.W. Bridge at rush hour.

The cousin of Where Are They Now? is the feature, “30 Seconds With (insert name here).”  This can be in the printed word or on video.  It can be audio-only as well.  The positive about this is it’s about you on the way up.  You could also be the focus of one of these as you sustain whatever level of fame you’ve got.  But 15, 20 years after you’ve “hit the scene?”  Unless you’re still making hits, headlines or noise with your alleged talent, you no longer qualify for “30 Seconds With…”  You’ve graduated to Where Are They Now?

None of this is easy.  First, it’s certainly not easy to get to the level of fame where you’ve generated enough press to warrant being the subject of a “30 Seconds…” type of profile.  To be the subject of a Where Are They Now?, you need to have made some sort of impact.  Making an impact publicly is the dream of millions and the accomplishment of the very few, so there is accomplishment built into either feature.  But every accolade carries its own risk.  If someone praises you, it’s up to you to live up to that praise.  That’s one reason the rich & famous burn out so quickly and never really get to the Rich part of the equation.  They get the quick (even if it was 10 years in the making) fame, do all they can to stay in the spotlight, but lose perspective, focus, inspiration…whatever.  They can’t keep it up.  It’s gone before they can really cash in.  Or they cash in a bit, but the Where Are They Now? feature 20 years later includes a line like this: “Coming off tax problems with the I.R.S., (insert name here) has learned (insert embarrassing public sentiment here)…”

The goal, once you’re reached Mt. Everest, is to enjoy it.  But ask any climber who makes it to the top and they’ll warn you not to stay too long.  You can always come back if you’re careful, and skilled enough.  Lose your head at the zenith though and you may never get the chance again.

Cal Ripken Jr. is a good example of someone who’s kept the dignity of reaching the top and keeping his name and accomplishments away from the veiled insult of Where Are They Now?  He was a great baseball player, a good man off the field and since retirement has made good choices, like running his baseball academy and allowing himself to be elected to the Hall of Fame.  His name is still out there enough to remind those who might care that he’s still around.

Mark McGwire is a good example of someone who was on the Cal path.  He was a lock for the Hall of Fame.  He was perceived as a good man.  Then the steroid thing got in the way.  His poor performance in front of Congress in 2005 also got in his way.  Then, humiliated, he disappeared from public view.  500 career home runs doesn’t generally qualify somebody for a Where Are They Now, but in McGwire’s case it does.

The worst is when you’re still active but become a Where Are They Now? club member.  For example, where are the Montreal Expos now?  Go to ESPN.com and you’ll see.  They’re now called the Washington Nationals.  If Nats fans are lucky, the team might move again soon.  That way, in 20 years, we can read or watch a Where Are They Now: The Washington Nationals and agree they deserve the little piece of infamy we’re watching at that moment.  Insulting?  You bet.  But that’s the risk you take when you strap on a guitar or a catcher’s mask.  Just like praise, failure comes with the territory.

Jimmy Scott is probably the greatest pitcher you’ve never heard of.  Visit Jimmy Scott’s High & Tight to read more from Jimmy and guests Desi Relaford, Eric Valent & Cassidy Dover.  You’ll also hear a new interview every Monday morning with former MLB players, agents, wives and others; giving new outlooks on this great game we call Baseball.  Go there now to hear Jimmy’s latest interviews with Nelson & Alisa Figueroa, Desi Relaford, Wayne Gomes and MLB Umpire Hunter Wendelstedt.  You can follow Jimmy on Twitter or Facebook.

On the outside of the playoff picture looking in, the Nets understand they are running out of time and have to step up their game. Otherwise the only way they’ll make the playoffs is on NBA Live 2009.

“It’s money time,” Carter told the Associated Press this week. “This is when teams make the playoff push, or are fighting for position or homecourt advantage or whatever the case may be. This is my time to step up.”

Averaging over 20 points all season, both Carter and Devin Harris have held down the New Jersey fort all season.

Harris especially has been on his game, scoring 42 points against the Bulls on Wednesday.

“Now is the time,” Harris told the AP after the game. “We really can’t wait anymore. We can’t be patient. I’d rather be aggressive than passive. Being more aggressive on offense is what I’m trying to do right now.”

However in spite of both Carter and Harris, the Nets are in need of another player, anyone at this point, that can be dependable and produce on offense.

While Brook Lopez has the makings of that player one day, the Nets need more from someone else. 12 points and eight rebounds is damn solid from a rookie center and the Nets need something more from the power forward spot, especially if they are going to make the playoffs this season.

With Ryan Anderson and Yi Jianlian battling inconsistency all season, could Sean Williams be the player the Nets need right now?

Six points and four rebounds in 17 minutes may not be much, but Williams did provide a spark the other night, something Jianlian hasn’t been able to do much of the season aside from a handful of games before his injury.

“You’re looking for energy. And that’s one of Sean’s traits. If he’s consistent with it, then his minutes will be consistent,” coach Lawrence Frank told the Associated Press, stressing Williams, in order to play, must show “high energy level, running the floor, crashing both boards, defensively being a presence around the rim, performing your role with maximum enthusiasm, focus, concentration.”

Anyway the cookie crumbles, things will be interesting the rest of the season in New Jersey.

Photo by Bill Menzel.

Knowing & Not Knowing What He Took

Because of our “holier than thou” posture, we all assume that A-Rod should have known what he was putting into himself.  Quick thing: Last time you had a sore throat, or your kid had strep, and the doctor prescribed something for you or your kid, what was the drug you were given?  Hurry.  The clock is ticking.

Yep, some moms out there will know immediately and rattle something off.  Maybe a handful of very involved fathers too.  But the majority of us?  Come on.  If a doctor says, “Jimmy, take this,” I will take it.  I won’t ask, “But what is it I will be putting inside my body because I must know?”  I won’t think about all the times I’ve been out at a restaurant and someone said, “Try this, Jimmy” and I said “What is it?” and they said, “Just try it” and it was yummy.  I won’t tell you how many times a trainer says to use ice, or heat, or puts something else onto my body.  I won’t tell you that I’m not paying attention half the time, thinking ‘Just make me better; just make the pain go away.”  Because I am holier than thou.  I can’t believe A-Rod didn’t know.

Truthfully, do you always know?  Is it just because it’s A-Rod, is it just because it’s steroids, that we can proclaim ourselves more holy than Alex?  Can you answer that truthfully?

Even so, it doesn’t appear as if there was a Doctor No in A-Rod’s life during this time period, just a mysterious cousin.  Well, if A-Rod trusted the cousin, there you go.  A-Rod said he was “young” and “stupid.”  But did anyone ever tell you ballplayers were lazy too?

The Press Conference Invitation: Player POV

Jack Curry, in a New York Times article wonderfully illustrated by Michael B. Weimar, wrote this about why A-Rod’s teammates attended the press conference:

“Cashman acknowledged that some players probably showed up to support Rodriguez because they consider him a friend and others attended because they realize that the Yankees need an effective Rodriguez to help them have a potent season. And others probably went because it seemed as if they were expected to attend.”

There’s another reason: History.  This is history, man.  Who wouldn’t want to say they were there?  If you’re a guy who more than likely won’t make this Yankees team team, or any Yankees team ever, don’t you think a perk of being in camp with the Yankees is stuff like this?  How many guys in the future will be able to say, “Yeah, I was there.”  Seriously, this is as big as going to the Obama inauguration, only you don’t have to stand two miles away.  You’re in a privileged space because, since cuts haven’t been made yet, you’re a Yankee.

While this is a big story from a baseball perspective, while it’s big from a personal Alex Rodriguez perspective, it’s just as big for the guys in camp who are trying to make the 25-man, heck, the 40-man roster.  Todd Linden, a veteran of 270 MLB games, will probably not make the team.  He got an invite to spring training back in January with the Yankees, not knowing the invite would also be to an Alex Rodriguez press conference.  Yes, he might turn up either in AAA for the Yankees with the vague assurance that he’ll be called up “if something up here happens,” or he might end up in AAA for the A’s or Royals or Pirates after getting cut with 7 days to go in camp.  But he’ll always be able to say he was there.

Todd’s path to superstardom will be blocked forever by his inability to become a superstar.  In ten years, Todd Linden will be cool to his friends and the people who come in contact with him because he was a Major League Baseball player for a little while, not because he was a big star.  But the little tidbit that Todd will always have in his back pocket, the little nugget he’ll always be able to throw out at parties or small gatherings, the one item his wife will be sick of him bringing up year after year due to his own insecurities (he made it, but never really made it, you know?), will be this: “In 2009, I, Todd Linden, attended spring training with the New York Yankees big league camp.  I sat in the same locker room as Jeter and Burnett and Posada and A-Rod.  Oh, I also ‘hung out’ at the A-Rod press conference.”  At which point, Todd’s hangers-on will hang on more tightly.  What was it like, Todd?  Where did you stand?  Did you think A-Rod was sincere?

“Tell ‘em what you were wearing, Todd,” the frustrated Mrs. Linden will say.

Todd will, as men do, pretend he didn’t hear his wife try to pop the balloon he’d immersed himself in and therefore not bring up the Boyz II Men T-shirt he probably had draped over his upper torso.  Instead, he’ll talk all about how A-Rod handled himself in the clubhouse.  He’ll talk about A-Rod’s workout regimen.  He’ll discuss where the bathroom stalls were in relation to A-Rod’s locker.  He’ll say he never saw anybody do any steroids in his whole career, that he himself never did any steroids because “I wanted to play clean,” as every ex-MLB player says who never got caught now says.  He’ll say that 2009 camp was so rewarding for him.  The guys were great and, man, what a great time in his life.

“Tell ‘em how long you were in camp, Todd,” the visibly flustered Mrs. Linden will say.

Todd will blow off her comment, knowing he was only there for two weeks before being a member of the first wave of cuts, a first wave he didn’t expect, especially since bodies were needed in camp when A-Rod and so many others left for the World Baseball Classic.  He won’t talk about his bitterness toward the Yankees, or how his agent couldn’t get him anything with any other team.  He won’t talk about how he ended up playing in the Independent Leagues during the 2009 season or how he was a little bitter because he’d had such high expectations for himself.  Instead, he’ll talk about parts of 5 seasons with the Giants, a team that also included Barry Bonds.  He’ll compare his former teammates Bonds and Alex Rodriguez and go into a detailed analysis of each, then discuss their steroidal activities.  Then he’ll discuss the stigma the two always played under while he didn’t play under any stigma because he was a clean player.  “Nope, we didn’t talk about it much, me and the other players.  That was a media thing.  We just wanted to play baseball.”

And deep down, way deep, Todd will be a little sad that he didn’t get to play as much baseball as he had dreamed.  He’ll be proud that he did make it, that he did play as many years as he did, that he actually hit 8 big league home runs.  But he’ll always feel incompetent when compared to A-Rod, to Bonds.  He’ll secretly wish that he had been the guy up on that podium, apologizing again to Selena Roberts and his teammates.  He’ll secretly wish he was the guy who’d taken something and not known what it was.  He’ll secretly wish for all of Alex Rodriguez’s problems, because they are the problems of a superstar baseball player, of the type of player Todd always wanted to be.  Yeah, Todd probably thought yesterday as he stood at that press conference, it stinks being him.

And for a few brief, telling moments, he’ll secretly wish to be A-Rod for just one day, even if that day was yesterday.

Jimmy Scott is probably the greatest pitcher you’ve never heard of.  Visit  Jimmy Scott’s High & Tight to read more from Jimmy.  You’ll also hear a new interview every Monday morning with former MLB players, agents, wives and others, giving new perspectives on this great game we call Baseball.  Go now to hear Jimmy’s latest interviews with Shea Hillenbrand and Scott Brosius.