24.12.06 – By MICHAEL MARLEY, BoxingConfidential.com: Guaranteed to happen in and around the boxing ring during 2007….remember this comes from your Maine man, your New Hampshire man and your Massachusetts man Marley, who bucked the tide and predicted SHANNON BRIGGS BY KO over Liakhovich. I know, I know, I was off by five rounds but if you cashed the winning ticket you don’t care about that….
Lou DiBella will be treated for depression in April when he attends the Oscars and does not win for portraying himself in “Rocky 6.”…
Speaking of Oscars, with trainer Don House working his corner and Floyd Mayweather Sr. switching teams and working opposite ODLH, the bossman of Golden Boy Promotions beasts too small Floyd Jr. by a unanimous decision May 5 in Vegas. Floyd has his moments but is wobbled in the 11th round and just can’t overcome the size difference…
Triumphant Oscar announces that he will not retire but that he may come back for Mexican Independence Day weekend in LV to fight Floyd Sr., Roger and Jazzy Jeff Mayweather all in the same night. Oscar will also announce that he has hired Jay Prince’s security team to watch his back…
Realizing he has no other viable, well-paying opponent, Winky Wright agrees to return bout against Jermain Taylor. This time, in Vegas, youth is served as Taylor wins a decision which is not debatable…
Two belt super middleweight king Mikkel Kessler decisions rugged Librando Andrade, stops Anthony Mundine in their rematch and wins up year halting Canadian Lucien Bute in seven rounds. This flurry of activity by the Dane embarrasses Super Joe Calzaghe so much that he publicly suggests that Frank Warren retire from boxing…
DiBella, after reading a script in which he is cast as Sharon Stone’s balding boy toy, gets back to boxing business and makes Taylor-Kessler as first blockbuster bout of 2008. Meanwhile, Calzaghe makes three title defenses against fighters from “The Contender,” thus fattening up the pensions of Jeff Wald and Ray Leonard beyond belief…
Pacman fever continues unabated. Marvelous Manny stops Marco Antonio Barrera in nine rounds. The punching Pinoy then says he will fight the winner of the Juan Manuel Marquez-Joan Guzman fight. Guzman wins that fight on points and Pacman-Guzman is scheduled for late November in Manila. ESB contributor “Cremster” is named as the referee but, for some obscure reason, Pacman camp objects…
Sylvester Stallone announces that he will soon begin filming “Rocky 7” in which Balboa makes yet another comeback to fight Eric Esch, better known to millions the world over as Butterbean. This so outrages George Chuvalo, who was never knocked off his feet, that launches a real ring comeback in Halifax, Nova Scotia, against Mitch “I Beat Butterbean” Rose. The referee for that fight is Mitch “Got Any Hallucinogens?” Green…
Golden Boy purchases Cedric Kushner’s Gotham Boxing but Kush draws the line when Richard Schaefer demands that he throw his beloved German shepherd, Spike, into the deal. Deal falls apart and Jeff Wald buys Kushner, not his company, just him…
Shannon Briggs starches Sultan Ibragimov in eight rounds at MSG and then begins a Cassius Clay like campaign (with sidekick Leonard Byam playing Bundini) to get Dr. W. Klitschko into the ring for unification match. Briggs takes a full page ad in German magazine, Der Spiegel, in which he states that Spike is more of a real German than Klitschko manager Bernd Bonte. Not getting anywhere, Briggs sits ringside at as Klitschko gives overdrawn banker Calvin Brock a rematch and pelts them both with warmed over pierogis. Dr. K takes umbrage at his favorite food being used as a missile and tells Bonte and Shelly Finkel to make the Briggs unifier asap…
Ricky Hatton emreges triumphant in his January fight, which I have nicknamed “Last Tango For Urango,” and begins to work on getting PBF into ring. Two months after loss to Oscar, PBF and Hatton agree to November fight in London. Hatton, Dennis Hobson and Artie Pelullo immediately hire Jay Prince’s vaunted security team…
Antonio Margarito still cannot find worthy opponents and, as he punches the speed bag for no pesos in Vegas, little guy Jorge Arce becomes most popular Mexican fighter since that Chavez kid from Culiacan. Sean Gibbons retires from boxing to become Arce’s booking agent for weddings, bah mitzvahs and divorce party appearances. Gibbons announces special prices for Arce to appear at Quinciera (Sweet 15) parties…
Margarito finally fights and is belted out in opening round by Punishing Paul Williams, thus setting up huge Miguel Cotto-Williams showdown for December…
An exasperated President Bush announces that he is sending Jay Prince’s security team into Iraq…
Happy New Year to all you pugs, punters, promoters and other grifters…