I think he points out the obvious mistakes in the HBO process nicely, but he concludes that HBO is off to a good start in 2009, so they give us Margarito vs. MOSLEY Williams vs. WINKY Dawson vs. TARVER Angulo vs. MAYORGA Berto vs. COLLAZO Pavlik vs. RUBIO Cotto vs. JENNINGS Okay, am I the only person that doesn´t see a change? On the potential competitive side we have Diaz vs. Marquez Campbell vs. Funeka Martinez vs. Greene Hatton vs. Pacquiao I´m all in favour of giving the old farts an ass-kicking and a cheque on the way to the door, but it´s like they are walking through a revolving door. How difficult for example can it be to figure out that besides any combination of... Wladimir/Vitali/Gomez/Chagaev/Povetkin/Haye/Arreola/Valuev (for the freak factor) ...no heavyweight fight should be televised.
Of your 1st List of Fights, the Only 1 REED has a Problem w/is Dawson-Tarver II... Margarito vs. Mosley - Mosley's Still a Ranked, Welterweight NAME, Coming Off of a KO...Margarito NEEDS to Get Back on the Saddle, After Being Off the Shelf Since July '08, but he DOESN'T Need to Endanger his RE w/Cotto Either...Obviously, REED ISN'T a Margarito Supporter, but REED has NO Problems w/this Fight... Williams vs. Winky - NEITHER of them Can Get Fights, so Why Not Face Each Other????...Would U Rather See Williams Against Another ANONYMOUS Middleweight???:dunno:.... Angulo vs. Mayorga - The Quintessential "Crossroads" Fight, which is a Necessary Evil N Boxing...& This 1 Should B FUN While it Lasts.... Berto vs. Collazo - For the 1st Time as a Pro, Berto's Fighting a Guy w/a CHANCE of Beating him...Collazo's a BONAFIED Top 10 Welter...Berto SHOULD B Favored, but it's a 65-35 Fight N REED's Opinion... Pavlik vs. Rubio - Coming Off of a LOSS, Pavlik Needs a Sacrificial Lamb...The Only Way this is a BAD Thing is if it's on PPV.... Cotto vs. Jennings - See Pavlik vs. Rubio... REED Agrees w/Hauser...It's a Pretty Good Start...Not VERY Good or GREAT, but PRETTY Good... REED:hammert:
It is a piece of shit cARD WHERE ever is televised. This might be the last year Hbo and Showtime are in the boxing business. Boxing is a joke.
wright williams, hatton pacquaio, and diaz marquez are the best fights considering they're the only ones where the outcome is in doubt. although I haven't seen funeka.
1. Mosley has looked horrible against Mayorga and everybody said Cotto was his last mealticket, but he keeps coming back, so once he loses to Margarito, I´m telling you for some unknown reason HBO will pay him another two million dollars to fight Paul Williams. I don´t know why one wants to associate themselves with the cheater anymore, since he hasn´t done anything significant in terms on winning since DLH II. 2. Who cares about Winky? He hasn´t been on TV in 15 months and the last time he looked horrible. He hasn´t made 160 in two years? Did anybody miss him? Yes I´d much rather see Williams fight Dzinziruk, Santos, Martinez or Forrest, because they either have a belt, or much more left. 3. Why does Angulo need a crossroad fight with Mayorga? WHY? Nobody cares about Mayorga and his lame schtick anymore. Why not pay for Angulo/Kirkland or an immediate title fight. 4. Collazo is a can. He´s about as good as Trabant. Berto is a champion in one of the deepest divisions in boxing, but he´s basically on his own freakin island, where HBO won´t allow anybody with talent to touch him. @Jake But isn´t HBO providing the platform for the Arum show, effectively killing another date? I don´t know cause I´m not that deep into American TV structure.
I don't know how HBO is providing the platform - it's Top Rank PPV because HBO (and Showtime) rejected the doubleheader. HBO is free to air whatever they want on that date, but instead skip a week before resuming with Marquez-Diaz. Their plan was to air a Cotto/Pavlik doubleheader on the 21st, but didn't care for the matchups, though passing on Pavlik-Rubio makes no sense, since their justification for Rubio-Ornelas on the Hopkins-Pavlik PPV undercard was to build momentum for their eventual mandatory title fight.
1. Mosley Looked "Horrible" Against Mayorga Until he IMPRESSIVELY STRETCHED him...Again, Mosley's STILL a Highly Ranked "Name" + the Fight Seems to B Doing Well in Terms of Ticket Sales...Bottom Line, there's INTEREST N Margarito-Mosley & ASSuming Margarito STOPS Mosley, that'll B VERY Impressive.... 2. REED Doesn't Care Much for Winky these Days Either...But Paul Williams is JUST the Guy to Completely REMOVE Winky from Boxing Relevance...REED Doesn't See ANY Of those Jr. Middles U Noted JUMPING @ the Opportunity to Face Williams....Williams is a STAY BUSY Guy; He'll Probably Wind Up Fighting 4-5 Times in 2009...Winky is a Still USABLE "Name" that's Keeping Williams BUSY Until Bigger Fish R Available to Fry... 3. Kirkland & Angulo R Handled by THE SAME Management, if REED's Not Mistaken...No Way will they B Matched AGAINST Each Other Until there's a TITLE(s) & Potentially MILLIONS @ Stake...It Seems to REED that Angulo will TRY to B a Highly Ranked Jr. Middle by the END of '09...Beating Mayorga is a STEP N that Direction... Victories Over the "Old" Guys is what PROPELS the Newer Fighters into the Spotlight...Marciano Needed Joe Louis, Holmes Needed Ali, Tyson Needed Holmes...@ the Lower Weights, DeLa Needed JC Chavez...This Isn't Unprecedented...N the Cases of Williams & Margarito, they're They're Using the "Old" Guys as Resume Filler Until Other Fights Come Up...Would U Rather Williams & Margarito NOT Fight @ All???:dunno: 4. Collazo is a "Can"???...Then what does that Make Ricky Hatton???...Collazo BEATS Trabant 10 out of 10 Times, Dude...U're SEVERELY UNDERestimating...He Presents a Style that Berto HASN'T Faced & just Enough "Pop" to TEST those SHAKY Whiskers that Berto Seems to Have...Berto-Collazo's a Pretty GOOD Fight N REED's Opinion... REED:hammert:
The sad part is, we're debating one portion of the article, when the rest of the piece is really what should be the focus. That could very well be the best boxing article anyone reads this year.
This time last year, we were talking about how the first quarter of HBO's calendar was looking good. Then it was absolute crap. Hauser's article was good, but it was him repeating the stuff he's been writing over the past year and basically saying, "Don't do it again."
Oh, I'm not complaining. I enjoyed his article and any others that are similar. I was just hoping there would have been more dirt unveiled.
