Boxing Blog – TSS Tidbits

In Boxing News: Calzaghe Warns Jeff Lacy

Joe Calzaghe has dismissed outright Jeff Lacy’s claim that he will stop the Welshman when they meet. World Boxing Organization (WBO) super-middleweight champion Calzaghe meets International Boxing Federation (IBF) champion Lacy on March 4th in Manchester, England: A lot of American fighters challenging for my title have come over here before shooting their mouth off but they have come off second best and Lacy will be no different … Lacy’s talking big at the moment with Gary Shaw behind him but it will just be me and him on the night and lets see how brave he gets then. I look forward to seeing what he brings to the ring and if he can back up what he’s saying because I’m ready for this toe-to-toe fight that he wants, only I will be sharper, faster and more powerful. I’ve made 17 title defences and Lacy will be notch number 18.

Rolando Reyes is definitely the happiest man in Oxnard. Diego Corrales‘ misfortune has turned into the opportunity of a lifetime for Reyes. While training for his third go-round with Jose Luis Castillo, Corrales sustained an injury to the soft tissue in his rib cage, forcing his withdrawal. Now Reyes meets Castillo on Saturday night on Showtime. Despite Reyes viewing it as the opportunity of a lifetime, Castillo remains confident: I think it will be a hard and difficult fight because of Reyes’ boxing style, but I really do not expect a tough fight like I had before. I do not think that I am overconfident that I will win this fight, but I am very confident that I can win.

According to a report by BBC today, Nikolay Valuev’s next fight will not be against the winner of this month’s bout between Danny Williams and Matt Skelton. Earlier in the week, a spokesman for promoter Frank Warren told BBC Sport he was in talks with Valuev’s camp about a possible match.

Today, here at TheSweetScience.com writer Robert Mladinich relates the story of a fighter you may not have heard of … Charles Mooney knows all too well that there is a thin line between fame and obscurity. As a member of the much lauded 1976 Olympic team that competed in Montreal, Mooney went home with a silver medal while teammates Sugar Ray Leonard, Howard Davis, Leon and Michael Spinks, and Leo Randolph all took gold. The 55-year-old Mooney realizes now that he could have been a terrific pro, but concedes that he didn’t realize it then: I saw guys that I stomped in the amateurs getting big fights as pros. Willie Pep offered me a deal where he said I’d make $100 a round. In 1977 that was decent money, but my wife said it wasn’t enough.

Emanuel Steward is fighting to save Kronk gym from closure by the city of Detroit. Steward is running a black tie benefit boxing show tonight at the Fisher Theatre with tickets starting at $250 and scaling up to $2,500 to raise funds to keep the red door open. Former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, who trained at Kronk for several fights, will be there. So will Roger Penske and Lady Soul herself, Aretha Franklin. Eminem, a Detroit native, has also pledged to help. Says Walter Smith, a fixture at Kronk for decades and one of Steward’s assistant trainers for many years: How can they close this place? House of dreams, man. House of dreams.

(As always … more Boxing News Links at TheSweetScience.com)

In Boxing News: Mike Tyson Gets Unmasked

Ray Emery’s Mike Tyson goalie mask had a shelf life of one NHL game. The (National Hockey League’s) Ottawa Senators backup goalie wore the mask in a 5-0 home loss to Boston on Monday night, then decided to drop it Tuesday. A huge boxing fan, Emery also had masks that featured former middleweight champ Marvin Hagler and Jack Johnson. The hockey Senators’ braintrust suggested to Emery that the artwork might not been seen as politically correct by all, given Tyson’s past outside the boxing ring. Too bad, if you ask me. For pure first impressions, I always liked Bryan Hayward of the Sharks’ Great White design, or the understated classic, Gerry Cheevers’ ’stitches’ mask. But if Emery pulls out the Jack Johnson or Marvin Hagler, it gets installed right at number one on the all-time NHL goalies mask list – without a doubt. (Let it not be said we’re one dimensional here at The Sweet Science. It’s not all uppercuts and End-Swells.)

Oscar De La Hoya wants this to be his last year in boxing. And he wants to go out with a bang, writes Mathew Aguilar. After facing Ricardo Mayorga, De La Hoya wants one more big fight before he retires – Floyd Mayweather Jr. If he can beat Mayweather, it would cement De La Hoya’s status as one of the best fighters of his generation, suggests Aguilar. It also would produce some drama: Mayweather’s father, Floyd Sr., is De La Hoya’s trainer.

Australian boxing fans face a television blackout of the $5.5 million Anthony Mundine-Danny Green showdown at Aussie Stadium, a move aimed at ensuring Australia’s most eagerly anticipated bout is watched by one of the largest crowds in modern boxing history. It’s an interesting bout that pits the hard-slugging Green against the flamboyant, trash-talking, Mundine. A genuine two-sport athlete, Mundine also played rugby league in Australia: It’s personal for me. He stands for the system, I stand for the grass-roots fella – I stand for the guy who faces adversity every day. I’m not a corporate kind of guy, I’m an Aboriginal Muslim. They don’t want to get behind me and never have. That’s why in my rugby league days I talked the way I talked and walked the way I walked because they never gave me my just dues.

I wrote here yesterday about the controversy surrounding Irish lightweight Michael Gomez’s weekend loss and subsequent retirement. Gomez has spoken out in an attempt to clear the air: My whole career has been surrounded in controversy so I suppose I should have expected that my retirement would be no different. It was all very simple, I just came to a decision in there that I need to retire from boxing full stop. I could have been out walking the dog or out shopping with my kids it just happened that I came to the decision that my career was finished in the ring.

Finally, there’s an added attraction in Detroit over Super Bowl weekend. The public will be able to see the Kronk gym this week during tours which run from from 1-6 p.m. The tours started Monday. Emanuel Steward expects hundreds of people to take advantage of the opportunity.

(As always … more Boxing News Links at TheSweetScience.com)