Round by Round – Boxing Notes

By David “Large” Larzelere
• First things first, and like it or not, in the world of boxing today Oscar De La Hoya is always first. The word is now that Oscar will fight not twice but three times in 2008 – a tune-up in May, his much-ballyhooed and ill-considered rematch with Floyd Mayweather in September and then a December farewell bout.
The boxing world now eagerly awaits the news of where and with whom the Golden Boy will fight his May contest. The location looks to be either Dodger Stadium or the Estadio Azteca, the massive stadium in Mexico City where Julio Cesar Chavez fought Greg Haugen in ’93 in front of an intimate gathering of 135,000 of Chavez’s closest friends.
Golden Boy is considering three potential opponents for the May bout – Stevie Forbes of Contender fame, the IBF light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi, and Dmitriy Salita, who like Malignaggi is a natural 140 fighting out of Brooklyn. The good news for fight fans is that, though it seems certain to be a mismatch (Oscar’s picking on the little guys for sure in this one), it will at least be free, televised on regular HBO. For more on the state of the negotiations, check out my interview with Salita’s manager, Kurt Emhoff.
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• The long-awaited and much expected news came at last this week that Bernard Hopkins will indeed put his consensus 175 light-heavyweight title on the line against super-middleweight champion, Joe Calzaghe. The fight is set for April 23rd at the Thomas and Mack Center in Vegas.
Also, it would seem that with his performance last week against Tito Trinidad, Roy Jones put himself in the running to take on the Calzaghe/Hopkins winner sometime in the fall. I wonder what you fight fans out there are thinking about this development. Myself, I’m interested but not enthralled by the idea of Calzaghe/Hopkins, but I’m absolutely horrified at the thought of Roy Jones fighting either one of them. To that I say, hey Roy, a word to the wise – brain damage on the mike don’t manage.
• Though it’s not getting a lot of press, the Eddie Chambers/Alexander Povetkin IBF Heavyweight eliminator bout on HBO Saturday is worth the attention of all you football-deprived masses out there. Mostly because Fast Eddie is the last chance that the ole U.S. of A. might have for a while at regaining a piece of the heavyweight championship.
And it would be a two-belt piece of the pie, as well, because the winner of this bout will fight the winner of the Wladimir Klitschko/Sultan Ibragimov fight on February 23rd,which will unify the IBF and WBO titles. Of course, to get there Chambers is going to have to make it past Povetkin, a gold-medalist at Athens who since turning pro has been wrecking his opponents left and right. I can’t say I love Fast Eddie’s chances in this one, but look, he fights out of Philly and he’s all we got right now, so I’m pulling hard for the man with all my Philly love.↵