Round by Round: Weekly Boxing Notes

The 2009 Rumor Mill
↵With the new year just two days old, already rumors are flying about potential bouts for 2009, so I thought today I’d just run through some of these possible makes that are generating the most buzz in the fight world right now and offer some Largeian commentary:↵↵Paul Williams vs. Winky Wright
↵This is the big rumor du jour, the Punisher/Winky talk that is everywhere at the moment, with some sources having the bout already made for March (boxrec.com, for instance, which admittedly is not always reliable).↵

↵↵The word I hear is that there definitely have been talks for this bout although it is far from a lock. The weight would be either 154 or 160. It’s an interesting match-up between two guys who, on paper, seem like mirror images of each other, with the only difference being that Winky is a full 10 years older than P-Will. Both guys are southpaws. Both guys have the ability to effortlessly move up and down in weight. And most glaringly, both guys are enormously talented and yet have trouble getting good fights because they pose such difficult problems to opponents -- Williams in his freakish size (he’s 6’1” with the reach of your average heavyweight, and he’s done the majority of his fighting at 147) and Winky in his defensive expertise, which tends to make anyone who fights him look like an incompetent fool.↵

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↵↵Oscar De La Hoya vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
↵I said all I have to say on this matter in this piece here at TSB a few days ago -- to summarize, I see pigs flying through hell before Oscar fights Chavez Jr. -- but this rumor simply won’t go away. It’s a testament to the public’s continuing love-hate affair with The Golden Boy, if you ask me. Guy just got the beating of his life from Pac Man, and a real one-two to the jaw from Father Time. You’d think the fight community would be eager to say goodbye after an embarrassment like that, but instead all anyone can talk about is “will he fight again and who will it be?” Whether you like Oscar or not, you have to admit that no fighter of our generation besides Tyson has inspired such fascination.↵

↵↵Wladimir Klitschko vs. Chris Arreola
↵A lot of rumors flew about this one during the past week, with none other than Henry Ramirez, Arreola’s trainer, telling Boxingscene.com that the bout was “a done deal.” If that’s true, well, I’m on board, I guess, although like many I feel that after his sub-par outing against Travis Walker in November, Arreola may be on the fast train to Calvin Brocksville. (Brock, you may recall, was the last big-punching but somewhat lazy American prospect who thought he was ready for the Kiltschko show and found out, quite painfully, that he wasn’t -- check it out below, as Wlad lays down the hammer right on the button and Brock collapses like a felled tree.)↵

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↵For as exciting and charismatic a fighter as he is, Arreola has evinced both an aversion to rigorous training and, in his fight with Walker, an all-too-lazy approach to defense that undoubtedly will find him taking a Brock-like beating from Wlad Klitschko if he doesn’t change his tune. Don’t get me wrong -- I want to see Arreola fight Wlad, because I want Arreola to arrive on the big stage. But in that I’m not sure he’s ready, either mentally or physically, for the challenge, I’m on the fence about it. Arreola has the potential to be a unique star in the boxing world, a Mexican heavyweight with real down-to-earth, man’s man appeal. The Mexican Rocky Balboa, if you will. Guy could sell a lot of tickets if his career is properly managed, so to see him rushed along merely to get unceremoniously pulverized by Dr. Steelhammer would be tragic. If this fight has to happen so soon, all’s I can say is, Chris, by all means, train like a mofo, feel me? And keep your gloves up, son. Way up.↵