If he doesn´t like it he can go to broke ass Argentina or Spain and see how much they pay the middleweight champ there. He ain´t a Klitschko.He needs the US TV money. He was just a damn good unknown fighter/champion like Dzinziruk last year. Then he received not one (Cintron), not two (Williams I), but three opportunities (Pavlik I) to make a name for himself.
Would anyone have cared, if he didn´t get another shot? :scratcher: A year later nobody would have given a crap about the circumstances.
Not to an HBO subscriber. Or a boxing fan, for that matter. In fact, about the only people they're good points for are Lou Dibella and Sergio Martinez and Andy Lee, and his camp...so who might he have been talking to before writing all that? Lee should never have been in the discussion...if Rafael was going to throw a hissy fit, it should have been about Lee as a potential opponent.
Well, it's one thing to draw big ratings numbers against a recognized top fighter like Pavlik or Williams...both highly regarded fights. Andy Lee isn't Pavlik and he isn't Williams. There was no guarantee that card would do good numbers...and in fact, likely wouldn't do near the same numbers. So why the comparison to Cotto? Cotto can do numbers against just about anybody, like he did against Yuri Foreman, but even Foreman was a higher grade than Lee. And as far as driving Martinez away...if Dibella wants to go it on his own with Martinez, because he can't get Andy Lee on the network, let him. HBO should take hard lines with fighters and pomoters.... fight like Martinez-Lee should be driven away from their network.
Why? He has Williams number and the public knows it. Will they really pay up again just to see a cracked chin get cracked again, or does a fresh southpaw with a new approach not offer more intrigue? Martinez has arguably won both fights and the emphatic nature in which he won the last fight makes a "rubber match" a joke fixture.
Andy Lee is not a HBO fighter. I'm not even sure he is a fighter. Dzindzuruk vs Martinez makes more sense than Andy Lee. Oh wait, I forgot, none of you are actually talking boxing here, just $$$, in that case, get Lee ready for a title shot vs Martinez for St Patricks Weekend, dee-diddley-deedly-dee.
I never thought I would say this, but John Duddy and Matthew Macklin are now higher in my estimation than Andy Lee. I do not know WTF is going on in Lee's career but Duddy, of the pair of them, deserved a HBO payday more. Lee is being coy, a poor mans David Haye, another Amir Khan. He is definitely not a HBO fighter. There are people in Ireland who think Andy Lee is some sort of a MW phenom, thanks to Lee's appearances with Manny Steward fighting bums on Irish cards. Lee is a good looking guy, Irish, and is "trained by Hall of Famer Manny Steward" and so he's an easy sell.
I can't disagree. As much as we bitch and moan about HBO's match-ups, it's crazy to turn around and fault HBO for trying to make the best fights. DiBella historically has been one of the worst exploiters of HBO with Taylor and Berto as primary examples.
What else can expected of the crooked and eceptive Irish media? Who favor Irish fighters and import American tomato cans for beatings at the hands of the Irish?
2011 fuckin sucks so far! Well, outside of Martinez-Dzin and Bradley-Alexander. Pac & Marquez get to execute corpses that used to be Mosley & Morales.... and Floyd is busy cussing out security guards, running people off the road, beatin bitches, hittin strip clubs and gambling, and going on dates with Chilli.
Annoying to see that Braemer pulled out of the Shumenov fight with an injury, that promised to be a good one, 2011 had better be good - it was meant to be the payoff for a crap 2010
Funny how every promotion other then G who controls HBO; is starting HBO with some good fight. I'm also happy to see Soto/Antillon II in pacquiao undercard.
Montiel-Donaire seriously needs to be added to that list. That's far better than both of the fights you mentioned - Bradley-Alexander is great on paper, but my gut tells me we're in for a major letdown. Montiel-Donaire is 2/19 on HBO. One week later is Miguel Acosta-Brandon Rios on Showtime. Certainly two weekends I'm looking forward to
perhaps... although I don't see Donaire allowing that to happen. If Montiel shuts down like that, I expect Nonito to knock him out cold (kind of expecting that, anyway). That said - I'd have to vehemently argue that it stands the least chance of being a stinker among the three current HBO WCB main events.
dont worry. things have been salvaged with a cracker of a replacement foe. it appears Joppy is stepping in
i hope you're kidding. i saw joppy in november vs. some scrub and he got banged up pretty good en route to a debatable draw.
no joke. I think Joppy was already slated to appear on the card. What I love is Rafael's insistence that "At least Joppy will come to fight." I guess he's missed the last eight years of his career.