Rahman/Maskaev Undercard Coming Together
By Michael Woods June 29th, 2006Top Rank releases Rahman-Maskaev undercard
Heavyweight Hasim Rahman will work to erase a painful memory when he takes on a foe who bested him in Nov. 1999, Oleg Maskaev, on Aug. 12 in Las Vegas.
The matchup will be a PPV offering, and Top Rank today released the identities of some of the participants that will fill the card.
Humberto Soto (39-5-2) vs. Bobby Pacquiao (27-11-3)
Soto is unbeaten in his last 17 fights including a points win over Rocky Juarez in Rosemont, Ill., on August 20, 2005. Soto stopped Oscar Leon in nine rounds on Feb. 17. Pacquiao, trained by Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, Calif., traded power punches and then stopped Kevin Kelley on the Cotto vs. Malignaggi card in New York City. Soto and Pacquiao will fight in a WBC eliminator at 130 pounds.
Jose Armando Santa Cruz, WBC Interim Lightweight Champion (23-1, 13 KOs) vs. TBA
Santa Cruz, trained by Rudy Hernandez, of Lincoln Heights, Calif. is having a solid 2006 with wins over Michael Lozado (NABF title fight), Edner Cherry (NABF ‘Fight of the Year’) and Chikashi Inada (WBC Interim Lightweight Championship). Santa Cruz will defend his new title on this card.
Vanes Martirosyan (9-0, 6 KOs) Glendale, Calif. vs. TBA
Martirosyan, a USA Olympian, is trained by Freddie Roach and managed by Shelly Finkel, Nick Khan and Keith Davidson.
Also, heavyweight Travis Kauffman will see action on the card. And word is that Rahman will take off for Big Bear, California to start training camp on July 1.
(Email news tips to Michael Woods at Fightwrite@gmail.com)
June 29th, 2006 at 10:05 pm
This better not be a pay-per-view priced at $45 or more. Rahman v Maskaev should be a HBO fight just like the first time they fought. Furthermore, a bunch of ESPN quality fights on the undercard do not justify a pay-per-view show. I’ve said it on the the TSS BLOG before, and I’ll repeat myself, we as boxing fans need to stop buying some of the nonsense they are trying to put on pay-per-view. Remember, Azumah Nelson vs Jeff Fenech used to be undercards on pay-per-view with a Tyson-Ruddock main event.
June 30th, 2006 at 8:35 am
I agree with the top post, way too many PPV shows. Rahman is not devastating or extremely skilled. Most of his fights that I have seen were just average. Plus I already pay to watch HBO
August 13th, 2006 at 9:32 am
Absolutely! It’s a joke now to see what fights HBO deem “worthy” enough to be on PPV instead of B.A.D. or W.C.B. It seems lately, they just want to put a fight together and put it wherever the hell they want. However, I do have to admit that there have been a couple of PPV’s this year where I was just as excited to see the undercards as the main event.
1). (My Personal Favorite) Juan Diaz vs. Jose Miguel Cotto on the Floyd Mayweather/Zab Judah card.
2). Calvin Brock vs. Zuri Lawrence and Jhonny Gonzalez vs. Mark Johnson - both on the Fernando Vargas/Shane Mosley 1 card.
3). (And who could forget this awesome fight?!) Kassim Ouma vs. Marco Antonio Rubio on the Oscar De La Hoya/Ricard Mayorga card.
It’s once in a great while that HBO does actually put together a decent card worth paying $50 for… especially the Antonio Tarver/Bernard Hopkins card… I can still watch all four of those fights and get excited and entertained as though they were all main events. But HBO needs to realize that “once in a great while” isn’t good enough. There are countless number of top fighters out there… we need to start seeing them instead of no-namers. Start putting Jason Litzau on an undercard, start putting Winky Wright on an undercard (hell, he’s talented and entertaining enough to be a co-main event!). Lets start seeing more of Jorge Paez Jr. and Antonio Margarito on PPV cards!