Say Hello to Deontay Wilder vs Luis Ortiz Rematch

The regrettable rematch of Deontay Wilder vs Luis Ortiz will supposedly be occurring Saturday, November 23rd that could be seen as an extension of Halloween from a few weeks ago, but truth be told this becomes a sorta rubber match trifecta for the two after our dear Deyonce skipped out of the first scheduled fight. The dirty deed will occur @MGM Grande in Vegas for the WBC title..

I advisably said “supposedly” occurring because of Wilder’s propensity in skipping out in high profile fights with gobs of money involved over the bane of modern boxing, drug testing! In this fight, Ortiz has a VADA CBP ID #528949, and Wilder #468841. What that means in the dirty world of boxing hooking up with a BALCO Vic Conte designed VADA program is anybody’s guess.

When they actually did fight last time, in typical Wilder fashion, he was getting the seven bells of hell blasted out of him and needed a fortuitous time delay by the regrettable New York based referee, David Fields that allowed him extra recovery. Ol’ man Ortiz was spent in fatigue as he emptied of most his arsenal to put Deyonce on the brink of knockout only to have the bell save him. Ortiz didn’t have enough left to KO Wilder the next delayed round, and not long afterwards succumbed to KO, but praise the heavens above!

Perhaps redemption is at hand with the unexpected rematch, and word floated in the street by the media is the Cuban southpaw King Kong Ortiz has been having a most excellent camp whereas Wilder has been struggling. Could just be more media codswallop to sucker the unwashed rubes into their tyny bets on the underdog Ortiz, but no matter, both are fighting for a fraction of the viewing audience compared to the celebrity pro debuts of Logan Paul fighting Olajide William Olatunji in a 6 rounder a couple of weeks earlier this November.

The real $$$ and bragging rights in boxing will be in Saudi Arabia December 7th when Andy Ruiz Jr defends his hard earned unified titles against the former great champion, Anthony Joshua looking for his own redemption. More than titles will be on the line with the future of their legacies at stake. Is Fat Andy just a one hit wonder, or has The Fashion Model Joshua arrived past his sell date at the championship level?

In that 2 week interim, nothing wrong with the grade B talent willing to glove it up, and given the open stance, aggressive styles of both Wilder and Ortiz, they are not likely to disappoint those knockdown, drag out aficionados, so in that regard, this becomes parental guidance recommended for violence, a must see for adult boxing aficionados.

Canelo Challenges Sergey Kovalev For LightHeavy Supremacy

Grab all your family jewels for safekeeping on November 2nd this Saturday when Saul “Canelo” Alvarez jumps yet another division for the glory of taking on the Boxrec #1 Lightheavy in the world, the fearsome Krusher, Sergey Kovalev @MGM Grande, Las Vegas. This is part of the DAZN extravaganzas for the close of the year.

Hard to know who is the more hated panto villain in modern boxing fandom, Canelo or the Krusher. This becomes a sort of a “Quiet” Odd Couple pairing where Kovelev will sport a half foot of height and reach over Canelo, and face it, two more ethnically and stylistic disparate fighters could not have been picked for such a big fight. Their only similarities are both are fighters and quietly soft spoken outside the ring to let their fists do their talking inside the ring.

Finally, the much maligned Kovalev gets a payday commensurate with his contributions to the sport of boxing as Canelo gets another challenge to further enrage his growing legion of critics who simply cannot seem to stew enough in the bile of their self created hatreds.

And to be sure, Krusher is certainly no schoolboy here after being charged and perhaps ultimately sentenced to a US penitentiary for the crime of allegedly, ie horribly beating up a woman who spurned his sexual advances if no out of court settlement is forthcoming to compensate the victim for her injuries. And then the specter of Canelo in his slick, silk finery rubbing the noses of his critics in his myriad of championship belts begets an arrogance born of the excellence of his teenaged craftsmanship that has carried him to this point in time, a veritable Hater’s paradise!

VADA Drug Testing Trivia: Canelo #348759~~Kovalev #505927

By natural attributes and size, the fight reminds me a bit of IBHOFers Bob Foster vs Dick Tiger in 1968. The carefully crafted Tiger was around Canelo’s size, and Knockout artist Foster a bit taller than Kovalev at 6-3, but Tiger was the older Lightheavy champ with an excellent chin, and Foster the 9 years younger contender having been knocking over Lightheavies like bowling pins. In this fight, the shorter Canelo is the 7 year younger fighter, yet with more than double the pro rounds against the WBO beltholder Kovalev who is still on top of his game with an additional #2 Ring rating to supplement his Boxrec #1.

Foster ended up knocking out Tiger rather easily, but Tiger turned out to be not only on his last legs of his boxing career, but on his last legs here on earth with his departure a 3 years years later via liver cancer, as sick as a man can be. Me thinks this fight may well go the distance. Kovalev is an excellent long distance fighter fully capable of utilizing his height, reach, and jab advantage at his range, so the impetus will be on Canelo to figure out how to slip his punches to get inside that range for his shorter, more compact punches, because otherwise, he will just be target practice for Kovalev.

Nothing about this Mutt and Jeff fight will be easy for either because of the overall excellence of the fighters, but perhaps the wild card in play will be can Canelo get Krusher to respect his power? Canelo easily dismantled the towering Rocky Fielding for a minor 168 WBA title, and though Rocky still highly rated on Boxrec at #5, in no way can he compare to the legacy of what Kovalev brings to the table still at the top of his game no matter the frothing thrash of his bibby bedecked babbling critics.

Another harsh criticism of this fight making the antisocial media rounds is Krusher is having to fight too soon after a hard, damaging fight against Anthony Yarde, so let’s deconstruct that myth:

1. Other than a few minor contusions as in any fight, Kovalev suffered no injuries in a fight he was in command of for the 11 rounds it lasted. It was a good mental and physical workout against a strong, new young gun. There is also a 70 day gap between the Canelo fight that translates to 10 weeks worth of time.

2. Now, allowing that Kovalev was already in prime condition two weeks before the Yarde fight, and immediately afterward, but allowing 2-3 weeks judicious rest and relaxation in advance of the biggest fight of his life, that leaves him 7-8 weeks to train for Canelo, meaning that barring any training injuries, Kovalev may well end up in the best shape of his life. Allowing 4-5 weeks rest and relaxation, that would leave 5-6 weeks training, a standard minimum training time needed for most fighters not having to lose excessive weight or get into physical shape, a scenario not in play here. All Krusher needs is light exercise designed to maintain his already fine condition and specific strategy based sparring to work out his fight plans.

Has there ever been any”true” fighter who ever existed to turn down such a lucrative opportunity as this? 

I can only think of a few, but more importantly as pertains to this fight, certainly not this battle tested Russian who has completely upended the light heavy division ever since he was an up and coming unranked fighter. Unbelievably I’m hearing Canelo is a 4-1 favorite, meaning you reap 25 cents on every dollar bet for Canelo if he wins, yet earn $4 for every dollar you bet for Kovalev if he wins!

Myself never being the betting sort relying on such a shaky proposition as boxing officiating, it becomes beyond my comprehension as such odds in such an unknown type of fight can be determined, yet such were floated 6 days from the fight date!

I would think Kovelev holds most of the cards against a novice debutante to the Lightheavy division no matter the difficulties of parsing the unusual physical and style match ups, but if push comes to shove, well, then, I’m picking “The Good Fight, May The Best Man Win,” so that’s my choice and I’m sticking to it! 

 

Dillian Whyte Popped After Winning WBC Interim Heavyweight Title?

Thomas Hauser is probably the number one boxing writer currently reporting on drug testing issues, but this is a bit too much he said/she said for me.

https://www.boxingscene.com/dillian-whyte-tests-positive-banned-substance–141178

This is a presser of fight in question with Whyte being the larger fella and Oscar Rivas the smaller. It was a good competitive fight with a knockdown and a missed knockdown in the last round, both by Rivas who showed some power over Whyte to no avail on the cards. It’s typical hometown officiating that is where most boxing crookery is occurs, in this case where Whyte got all the favors.

No drug test values are given, nor substance(s) mentioned, but it’s worth noting that Whyte comes under the British UKAD drug testing and VADA, and Hauser says it was UKAD who popped him.

What happens next? Who knows in this slimy drug testing biz?

My thoughts summarized are the almost always lack of transparency and/or values and/or substances given, and the almost goose stepping, maniacal obsession to ban perfectly legal over the counter substances and substances found in the natural food chain. I don’t recall any truly big busts of some truly serious stuff, but rather a whole lot of nickle and dime, mom and pop stuff that wouldn’t confer a nanogram of muscle on a gnat.

…only in Boxing…

VADA Knocks Out Big Baby Miller

Big Baby Miller got knocked out of the lucrative Anthony Joshua US debut by yet another specious VADA drug test. What’s up with that?

The marriage of the boxing suits with BALCO Vic’s VADA drug testing operation based in Vegas is making shambles out of a historically poorly run sport littered with n’er do wells and other assorted exploitative sociopaths. That overall boxing has proven to be cleaner than the combined megalith of the NFL/MLB/NBA is beyond question given that their drug testing amounts to cartoon standards. However the negative publicity generated by VADA and the boxing suits is bringing financial ruin to boxing not to mentioned the lifetime ruination of fighter reputations when found guilty of nanogram ghost traces of banned substances too often legal over the counter stuff or found in various foods.

In this latest Miller case, did it really take a month to return the results of a March 20th drug test? This is unacceptable oversight, and moreover the test values are seldom released because it’s becoming extremely embarrassing to see just how low level is the alleged contamination, not even the equivalent of a 4 year old kid stealing a gumball out of a candy jar.

So there is precious little drug testing transparency in boxing, and though the Miller substance cited is something I never heard of, GW1516, there’s a good chance it’s something found in typical over the counter stuff nutritional stuff including bottled “energy drinks” that moderns quaff in multitudes.

The irony of Miller accusing Joshua of  being a drug cheat hasn’t been lost on the toxic social media platforms, so perhaps some nonboxing Karma may be in play here. No matter the replacement fighter this June the 1st, Miller can kiss his thug persona in the ass as he delivers the latest illicit boxing drama. 

Jarrell Miller denied license by NYSAC, Anthony Joshua seeks replacement foe

Canelo vs Golovkin Again~Let The Poisoning Begin

Or alternately titled, Poisonous Euphemistic Derivatives, or perhaps more aptly PEDs in nano miniatures in shorthanded modern lingo.

If Canelo does fight Golovkin again this September 15th in Vegas, and that is a Supersized “Big IF,” his purse stakes are considerably greater than the previous still birthed agreement after getting stiffed by Golovkin and his boxing suits. Be a shame if this historically well fought first match of this rivalry was killed by the poisonous boxing politics of modern bogus drug testing results.

Golovkin’s self chosen smaller fight with Vanes Martiroysan was fought for small patooties, so the question is does Golovkin have the cajones to man up to the rematch Canelo for the fortune he previously walked out on? His ring courage has never been questioned before, but here it is with at least myself if not others questioning his desire to make the rematch lest he lose a close fight.

And, yeah, Canelo even volunteered the hair sample that incessant nanogram IQ antisocial media were screaming about, reportedly the first boxer to ever do so, and in spite of no clenbuteral traces, it still wasn’t enough to secure the rematch with a couple of ghost nano grams being one billionth of the ant that moved the proverbial mountain, the mountain in this case being, what, a $60+ million dollar purse lost forever? The main professional sports of MLB/NBA/NFL wouldn’t let Conte within’ spittin’ distance of their operations, but now he’s King Rat running a premium drug testing extortion as the 3rd millennium boxing racket and their unwashed, untutored anti-social fans shoot themselves in the foot yet again. I can’t make this stuff up, it’s already done happened, settled history!

The deplorably infamous Conte ratted out his BALCO client list in a US Justice Department plea bargain to reduce his felony sentence of money laundering and steroid peddling, yet his supposed expertise proved to be so incapable of finding new cheats for the FBI such that they stopped following his leads and set him loose again to prey upon the soft public underbelly of boxing. Now he fishes the waters of boxing for minnow nanogram testing results, that’s one billionth of a gram, proclaiming he caught a whopper…only in boxing!

https://www.si.com/vault/2017/06/27/victor-conte

In short, if a fighter signs up for his nuevo BALCO program where he sells designer Peformance Enhancing Drugs guaranteed to pass VADA drug testing, it’s now WBC certified legal!

Canelo has maintained his popularity with his Mexican culture who has seen that these officiously damaging actions represent a war on their culture where clenbuterol is legally used by Mexican ranchers in the raising of their beef, thus entering the food chain legally. We live in a drug addled world so full of  prescription drugs that they now contaminate the waters we and our wildlife drink from. Are we to ban ourselves and our wildlife too?

Apparently in this crooked boxing world of today.

Manny Pacquiao already took on the scions of boxing to little credit. As it turned in the end, it was his accuser, Floyd Mayweather allied with the deplorable Travis Tygart and the Vegas Commish that were the drug cheats, officially pardoned by themselves!

https://roberto00.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/lance-armstrong-vs-the-world-manny-pacquiao-vs-boxing/

https://roberto00.wordpress.com/2015/09/18/travis-tygart-usada-vs-thomas-hauser/

We know that Conte and the WBC, VADA, and Vegas honchos could never pass a VADA test, but here it is like the King of England’s tax henchmen sent out into the populace to shake down tribute.

It’s now a brave new world order where the vacuous suits can now order equality in women’s track and field by forcing this woman, who has passed dozens of their sex tests and drug tests to ingest their poisonous meds so as to reduce her above normal testosterone count. In short, we are all being dumbed down drugged into perfect bureaucratic equality.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/26/606039409/iaaf-sets-new-limits-on-testosterone-levels-in-women

Nothing like watching a good gaggle of gelded gerbils come together for a public cluster fest, and only in quasi criminal drug testing cartels!

A Move to Plan B~Gennedy Golokin vs Vanes Martirosyan & Cecilia Too!

Gennady Golovkin , 37-0-1, 33 KO moves to Plan B after aborting the Canelo Alvarez rematch, instead fighting with Vanes Martirosyan, 36-3-1, 21 KO this Saturday, May 5th, the Cinco de Mayo weekend @StubHub Center, Carson, California. This fait accompli of an abortion was greatly assisted by the BALCO Victor Conte/VADA drug testing cartel, the Bob Bennet run Vegas commish cartel, and the tabloid boxing press bolstered by antisocial media monkeys, the perfect combination of storms slowly strangling boxing into a death spiral.

Vanes is a longtime 154 lb contender who will have had 6 weeks preparation as one of the host of contenders that Golovkin finally picked. It’s only a single division up the ladder as a mature, experienced fighter, but he has already fought over the 154 limit several times before, so it ain’t the big deal the antisocial media monkeys are making out. He’s a very competitive boxer/puncher type who is certainly not the rollover that the usual loutish critics make him out to be. This will be a hotly contested fight because Vanes really does come to fight and not to spoil, but of course that could change once Golovkin pounds on him enough rounds.

The wild card in play is that titanium superman Golovkin may be feeling the mortality of his age, 36 years, after his last couple of fights where his magnificent knockout streak ended against highly skilled champions Daniel Jacobs and Canelo. Of the two, Canelo was the first opponent I’ve seen to consistently drive Golovkin into a back foot retreat with his combinations. The other wild card in play is boxing’s dirty little secret, that of Golovkin being enrolled in the WBC VADA run “Clean Boxing Program” with convicted felon, BALCO Victor Conte providing his superduper BALCO PED’s SNAC vitamins, just a pitifully horrendous modern atrocity to a sport that more and more lacks transparency and credibility. And just as bad, Vanes, age 32, though not enrolled in the program, yet is clearly marketing BALCO Vic’s superduper SNAC PEDs.

Vanes has some power, but perhaps not the Canelo kind of power, but then he was perhaps a weight drained long and lean physiotype at 154, so doubtless will gain power and strength at 160, but can it ever be enough against the relentless power pressure fighting style of Golovkin?

That’s why they make the fights they do, so inevitably we get to find out. One thing about Golovkin fights that ensure a fairly officiated fight is that he has no need to rely on the American style of dirty spoiling, stinking type of fights that get taken to the cards for controversial decisions and has no need to referee intervention to protect him.

I predict a mid rounds knockout for Golovkin, but hey, I like any in this most historic of all the professional sports have been wrong before, so I’ll leave it to the fighters to sort out my prediction. More importantly by my credo, may the best man win, a result too often lacking in boxing these days because of poor and/or incompetent officiating.

On the undercard, The First Lady of Boxing, Cecilia Braekhus makes history with not only her American debut, but with HBO also using her stunning record and striking looks to compel the first ever HBO broadcast of a female boxing match. Her record is currently being 32-0, 9 KO in her 23rd consecutive title bout of every female boxing belt known to mankind. Or translated another way, that’s about 70% of her entire career.

Miss Cecilia

Cecilia going casual

As I often mention, I never have not nor never will watch female boxing, but nonetheless I have the utmost respect for Cecilia’s achievements that have made her the greatest female champion in history. And to think she started her first two years in an Colombian orphanage before being adopted by her parents, well, I’m humbled beyond belief. Any boxer regardless of sex should note the utter devotion to boxing and beyond belief class she exudes,The First Lady of Boxing indeed!

 

An Irish Rhapsody~Carl Frampton vs Nonito Donaire

Carl Frampton vs Nonito Donaire is loaded in the queue and ready for firing this Saturday, April 21st @The SSE Arena, Belfast, Ireland.

As far as any of today’s fighters of note, these are of the more soft spoken, well mannered of champions, so they let their fists do their talking for them in the ring. Donaire, now 38-4, 25 KO was a long time Ring P4Per before suffering a few setbacks. Both have separated from high profile trainers and managers that brought them to the pinnacle of boxing’s greatest success. Frampton, 24-1, 14 KO and now age 31, can still be seen in the last years of his prime in spite of his only loss, a recent competitive setback against Leo Santa Cruz, but it’s hard to know how much heart he has invested in the sport after his somewhat traumatic separation from his longtime mentors, the great HOFer Barry McGuigan and his son Shane.

Donaire, who will turn 36 this year, has looked somewhat lethargic and clueless at times to take a couple of losses since his separation from HOF quality trainer Robert Garcia and switching his management to his new wife. This also coincided with his release of the infamous BALCO Victor Conte as his personal nutritionist, something that could be seen as suspicious in this era of performance enhancing drugs, but then he enrolled in voluntary year round testing by VADA, so maybe his uncle Vic is still providing him with special shakes designed to pass VADA screening. Who can say in the crooked world of drug testing yielding infinitely infinite nanograms of results for nanogram boxing expert IQs to froth and gnash teeth about.

Yeah, I know, boxing can never get their reputations out of the gutter because of the seedy, corrupt way the sport is run. It was always the individual great fighters who lifted the sport to keep it alive, and now the fighters are getting shafted with cancelled bouts and extra expenses of the criminally negligent drug testing cartels who can no more pass their own tests than the man in the street can. The net result being any of the really good fighters need high powered, ethically sound nutritionists supervising their diets year round in some cases going beyond that of a training camp.

So, in a fight between two somewhat damaged fighters in a grossly mismanaged, damaged sport, I’m going against the hometown odds that favor Frampton to pick Donaire. Frampton has recently gone on a splurge of tattoos that suggest something of a hurt, fragile inferiority complex after his separations from the McGuigans, If nothing else Donaire still has his formidable power not to mention his higher level experience if he can just get his mind set properly on this fight.

And oh my stars, it’s gonna be well lubricated Lions and Tigers and Bears in that Belfast crowd roaring away Saturday night. Good luck gentlemen and may the best man win.

Donaire vs Frampton

 

A Time To Laugh~Deontay Wilder vs Andrzej Wawrzyk

WBC heavyweight beltholder Deontay Wilder, 37-0, 36 KO, defends his ever diminishing reputation this February 25th at the “tarnished” Legacy Arena, Birmingham, Alabama against Polish fringe contender, boxrec ranking #29, Andrzej Wawrzyk, 33-1, 19 KO…errr…oops…Seems Wawrzyk had a minor “slip up” and, ahem, was replaced by former football player and Sugar Daddy Al Haymon playmate, that other G. Washington from President’s day, Gerald Washington, 18-0-1, 12 KO.

Wilder vs Washington

OK, I need go easy on boy wonder Wilder. This is his first fight since breaking his hand and tearing up his bicep on Chris Arreola‘s thick noggin in his last fight, so so of course he has to keep his big boy training pants on yet again lest he have a nasty accident. Still, it’s inevitable with the same reoccuring injuries that he ain’t long for this game the first time he fights someone with a pulse and legit ranking.

For now, he’s Alabama’s best heavyweight secret so shush yo mouth lest the word slip out.

Washington for his part has won 3 his last 4 against nominal fringe contenders and ancient former contenders, yet with only one KO to show along with a draw, suggesting he is far from becoming a bonafide contender. Such faint progress, unranked by Ring and 20th ranked by Boxrec, is the modern state of American heavyweight boxing that of course makes him perfect for the apparently permanently developing Wilder.

In a strange twist of modern American culture, Washington, whose parental heritage is reported as half black and half Mexican, is known as “El Gallo Negro” which sorta translates to “The Black Cock” as a sort of double entendre, wink, wink. If he wins, he will be the first Mexican American heavyweight champ for those who keep racial counts, and yes, that would be Arreola moaning in the background wishing he’d never had quit his Wilder fight had he known how busted up he really was.

For his part, Wilder will forever be known as the dummy turning down a small fortune last year to fight Alexander Povetkin, instead preferring to fight Arreola for peanuts dug up in his native Alabammy mud flats, so here we go with goobers again, and who to thank? How about another big thanks to his other enabling Sugar Daddy, WBC El Presidente para toda la vida, Mauricio Sulaimán, who keeps him bundled in swaddling infant wrappings well protected from the mean world of heavyweight contenders.

But, wait, wait, maybe his brain trust is smarter than advertised. Just days before this fight, team Wilder won the civil suit for damages against #1 contender Povetkin and his promoter, Andrey Ryabinsky after their May 21st 2016 fight in Moscow was canceled when Wilder suddenly balked at traveling to Moscow. The reason given was laughable, a billionth of a gram of Melonium. A Manhattan federal court of jurors ruled for Wilder in this highly complex case involving a trace billionth of a gram contamination of 5 mandatory VADA drug tests of  Povetkin. The jurors used their “new math” skills taught in public schools these days to make it an open and shut case in a record 30 something minutes that divided by a billionth yields 0.0000018 seconds or 0.00000003 minutes for a perspective of what a billionth represents.

Andrey Ryabinsky had already filed a $34.5 million counter lawsuit filed against Deontay Wilder and his team that has yet to go to court. The lawsuit filed for Wilder is in at least one major factual error by claiming Ryabinsky failed to deliver Povetkin for their scheduled May 21 Moscow fight, when point in fact it was Wilder who killed the fight by never delivering himself to Moscow because of a specious VADA drug result that VADA admitted was well below the threshold of what would be a failed test result . The cool thing about VADA drug testing for boxers is BALCO Vic Conte being a key architect of the VADA organization. He can guarantee his majic elixirs pass VADA drug screens just like in his heyday at BALCO. In short, his PEDs don’t stink up the test, another nice scam he has going thanks to boxing’s overlords.

We have to at least acknowledge one good thing about Wilder that separates him from his American peers, he comes to fight in the ring no matter how stupidly and awkward, so this should be competitive at a clubfighter level, yet amazingly only for 1/5th of the major heavyweight world titles. So, doing my “old school math, 1/5 of Deontay’s 226 lbs in his last fight is 45.2 lbs, the pissweight of the heavyweight titles. A Billionth of Deontay is 0.000000226 lbs, or 0.0000036 ounces, or 0.000103 grams, meaning we will have to watch this fight under an Electron Microscope to see it…only in boxing folks. 

Wilder vs Washington

Mexican vs Filipino Déjà vu–Jorge Arce vs Nonito Donaire

Nonito “Filipino Flash” Donaire defends his WBO junior featherweight crown against Jorge “Travieso” Arce Saturday, December 15 at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.

Not sure what the thinking is by having this fight in Houston other than a good deal on the venue and enough fight fans in the megapolis to raise some ruckus at the gate. Plenty of Mexicanos around the Houston area and Arce has become something of a Mexican legend as one of the most active, all action, big slugging fighters of his era, 61-6-2, 46 KO. His dizzying title record is 24-4 in 5 different weight classes as he keeps on keeping on a roll.

Now he’s queued up against a Ring P4Per and Filipino legend in the making, Nonito Donaire who is coming off a spectacular win over Japanese legend, Toshiaki Nishioka, knocking him down twice before the TKO stoppage. For purists, it started as a cautious cat and mouse game as Donaire switched to the orthodox stance to carefully pile up points on the puzzled Nishoka who cautiously avoided whatever trap Donaire was trying to set. Then they started to trade which lead to the 1st knockdown, a beautiful left hook to the body followed by a left uppercut that put the Japanese champion down. Nishioka easily beat the count and continued to pick his own big shots, but to no avail. After knocking Donaire into the ropes, he rushed in for the finish and was caught by a picture perfect short right hand, and that was that when he got up unsteady and his corner waved the white towel of surrender.

With only 31 fights and still fresh from his stylish boxer/puncher form at age 30, it stands to reason that Donaire, 30-1, 19 KO will be the big favorite over the aging Arce who has 70 really tough mano a mano fights on his odometer at 33 years of age.

What could prove troublesome is that Donaire will be only two months removed from his last fight, a dangerous scheduling move against the big punching Arce who has defied dwindling expectations before with big knockouts. Most recently he knocked highly regarded Wilfredo Vazquez Jr stupid last year for the stoppage and his 5th title whereas Donaire struggled to a split decision win over Vazquez to open this year. Donaire then endured a bruising battle against the huge Jeffrey Mathebula before the Nishioka fight, so oddly enough he may not be as fresh as Arce who has fought lower tier opposition this year, an easy year for him so far.

Of course Donaire can easily box and move Arce around to win on points, but this kid has big money dreams and wants to look spectacular, thus the inherent danger in this bout.

Perhaps even more dangerous is Donaire’s use of convicted BALCO felon, Victor Conte, who has him on some two dozen various pills and concoctions to be downed at timed intervals during the day. When Conte’s other client, Andre Berto tested positive for trace steroids, well, rats are always the first to jump sinking vessels and Conte was nowhere to be found to stick up for his client.

It would be a major shame if Donaire became tarnished because of this association, but it is what it is and such is the current state of boxing with another BALCO drug peddler, Angel Heredia AKA Angel Hernandez, training Juan Manuel Marquez who has taken some considerable stick over his newly ripped musculature. He also works with Arce, begging the questions.

Shouldn’t these new age witch doctors of alchemy be forced to register the contents of these newly created snake oils transforming this new breed of supermen? Could the trainers pass WADA/VADA/USADA drug testing? How about the honchos that run the myriad of boxing orgs and promotions, could they? The media? The fans? The testers?

The short answer is, “No.”

CANCELLED-PK fail medical>>>-The undercard is a boxing purist dream come true with Cuban Olympic Boxing legend Guillermo Rigondeaux, 11-0, 8 KO, goes against a modern Thai legend, Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym, 48-2, 33 KO, a classic example of when numbers can lie absent context. Rigondeaux is a two time Olympic gold medalist with some 400 amateur fights to add on to his spare 59 professional rounds boxed and 5 WBA superbanty title wins. Kratingdaenggym was matched hard from his pro start in the very competitive Thai boxing system with too many PABA and other regional title bouts to count, but also sporting a 4-1 record of the belt that Rigondeaux currently owns to go with his 339 pro rounds.

CANCELLED-PK fail medical>>>-Two more contrasting systems in the boxing world cannot be found, and now they’ll be clashing. Smart money is on Rigondeaux who will be the money fighter in his newly adopted homeland, so it’s up to Kratingdaenggym to take the fight to him and either show substantial class over him and still risk losing the decision, or knock him cold, the closest thing to a guaranteed win in sports which makes boxing in a class unto itself.

Santa really did come early to December in the boxing world with too many good and great matchups to count, not the least of which was the Pacquiao/Marquez shocker that knocked the known universe into a wobble on it’s axis. Now we reprise another classic Mexican vs Filipino matchup, a great way for boxing to close out the year for a change, so cheers to that and bottoms up, it’s déjà all over again!