Sticks and Stones
↵Trainers Jack Loew (Kelly Pavlik) and Enzo Calzaghe (Gark Lockett) have engaged in a war of words this past week that one supposes is meant to fuel the completely non-existent fire of the Pavlik/Lockett fight on June 7th in A.C. Loew’s big slap at Calzaghe (more famous as the trainer of his son, Joe Calzaghe) was on the matter of slapping, saying that “maybe Enzo can teach Lockett to slap like a girl, just like Joe.” Enzo fired back with some salvos about Loew’s day-job (paving driveways) and how he’ll be paving driveways full-time once Lockett mops up the ring with Pavlik.↵↵Dah ... yeah right. It doesn’t take a promotional genius to see what’s going here. Something tells me they must be close to signing that Pavlik/Joe C. bout for the fall, which is good news for fight fans indeed. Maybe Jack Loew and Enzo can get themselves a spot on the undercard.↵
Round by Round – Weekly Boxing Notes
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↵Donaire, “The Filipino Flash,” is young, handsome, articulate and a beautiful fighter to watch. You’d think after conquering Vic “The Prince of Darkness” Darchinyan, he’d be edging towards crossover stardom in the U.S. a la Pac Man. Instead, he’s only fought once since the Darchinyan victory, an unheralded TKO over Luis Maldonado last December. He hasn’t yet laced up the gloves in ’08 – a scheduled bout in April with Hussein Hussein fell apart at the last minute - and he has no scheduled fights on the horizon. It’s hard to imagine what going on there.↵
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↵Afternoon Delight↵
↵A little late-afternoon fistiana tomorrow for the fight fan, as Versus will broadcast the Ricky Hatton/Juan Lazcano bout from Manchester at 3:30 p.m. Eastern time. I don’t actually know whether Versus will show the primary undercard fight, which is a rematch between Paulie Malignaggi and Lovemore N’Dou, but let’s hope so. One of Brooklyn’s flashier exports, Paulie won his IBF belt at 140 from N’Dou last summer, and if he repeats that performance tomorrow, he’s the likely next opponent for Hatton. I have to say, though I’m not a Hatton fan at all, Ricky v. Malignaggi promises to be a pretty compelling fight overall, as well as a much-earned major payday for Paulie over in the Jolly Old. How I would love, just LOVE, to see our Paulie smack Hatton around in front of the Manchester faithful. Dream a little dream, innit?↵
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