Joe Calzaghe, the world's undisputed light heavyweight boxing champion, will fight Roy Jones on September 20 at Madison Square Garden, several media outlets are reporting.
The 36-year-old Calzaghe, who is 45-0 with 32 knockouts, plans to retire afterward. The 39-year-old Jones is 52-4 with 38 knockouts and has shown no inclination to retire.
For Calzaghe, beating an American legend like Jones in the final fight of his career would cement his status as one of the greatest fighters in history. For Jones, who will be the underdog, an upset over Calzaghe would establish that he still has plenty of life in him, three years after his three-fight losing streak left many boxing observers urging him to retire.
The downside of this fight is that if Calzaghe is fighting Jones and then retiring, that means he's never fighting Kelly Pavlik, which is the fight hard-core boxing fans want to see. But Calzaghe-Jones is the safer fight, the more lucrative fight, and the fight that is likely to send Calzaghe out as an undefeated champion.
When Floyd Mayweather announced his retirement from the boxing ring, it wasn't hard to see him switching gears and making a return. He's a boxer, never a group known for keeping their word, he's "retired" before and a marketable name. The sport doesn't have so many of those and someone was surely going to offer enough cash to at least make him think twice about staying on the sideline.
It's getting even harder to believe that Mayweather is finished. His comments about HBO announcers would seem to burn bridges but I don't see it that way. He's telling HBO that if they want to televise his return to the ring, they'd be well advised to change their broadcast to one that suits him better. That's just part of the reason why it feels like we'll see Mayweather in gloves again. He premiered a documentary about himself at a party in Grand Rapids. It included the following soundbite.
"Oscar De La Hoya, (expletive) you and (expletive) everything you stand for. I don't like you, you don't like me."
Mayweather's retirement eliminated the chance at a rematch between them this fall but it's hard to see that comment as closing the door for good. De La Hoya-Mayweather is still the biggest money fight in the boxing world and fanning the flames will only make for a bigger pile of cash. The man's nickname is "Money" and boxing is going to be the best way he can keep getting it.
Neither Kendall Holt nor Ricardo Torres is a particularly well-known boxer. Hopefully that didn't stop you from catching their junior welterweight title fight on Saturday night. If you did catch it, feel free to click below and watch it again but if not, do yourself a favor and watch the first round of their fight. It won't take but a couple of minutes to watch the video (courtesy of Deadspin) and is worth every second of your time.
Holt avenged an earlier, quite dubious loss to Torres with the knockout. Given the fireworks and assuming Torres is physically okay, we could well see a rubber match to finalize things between the two men.
Mayweather was particularly critical of HBO's lead boxing announcer, Jim Lampley, who, according to Mayweather, criticizes Mayweather's personal behavior while engaging in the same behavior himself:
"Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant, Emanuel Steward, they're always talking about the negative things in my life," Mayweather said. "But I've seen Jim Lampley in the same strip club as me before. They always want to talk about me going to strip clubs, but they don't want to talk about that."
Mayweather noted that he was criticized on HBO after pleading no contest to assault, even though Lampley himself is currently on probation for violating a restraining order brought by his ex-girlfriend:
"He caught a court case himself, too. But when they catch a case, all they do is take them off the air a couple weeks, then it's over.
Although he doesn't come out and say so, Mayweather sounds like a man who could be convinced to return to the ring if he had a more favorable relationship with a television partner. I hope that happens.
Olympic athletes often don't get paid to do anything other than look good. In that vein, Attractive Olympians handicaps which athletes may rake in endorsement deals after the Olympics.
Demetrius Andrade isn't old enough to buy beer, but he's the reigning world AIBA champion at 152 pounds. Along with flyweight roommate Rau'shee Warren, the 20-year-old from Connecticut became the USA's first world champion since 1999 when he dominated Thailand's Non Boonjumnong in a fight that was stopped before the second round ended.
Andrade is young but well established in the amateur ranks of the sport. The son of a boxer, he's been training in the ring since age six. He repeated as gold medalist at the U.S. Amateur Boxing Championship in '05-'06 and was a Golden Glove winner in '06 and '07. Before his gold in Chicago, he lost a narrowly contested and controversial championship bout at the Pan Am Games in 2007, where he settled for silver.
He may be a favorite for gold in Beijing, but does Andrade have the right features for underwear ads and adoring fluff pieces in People? After the jump, examine the visual evidence and vote in our tastefully superficial poll.
Chances are, unless you're a close follower of Thai Olympians, the name Manus Boonjumnong is a new one to you. He was the 2004 gold medalist in light welterweight boxing and, as a result, won some $600,000 in bonuses. He promptly blew all of it in a frenzy of gambling and partying which cost him both his national respect and his pregnant wife.
Thailand wants to be sure that history doesn't repeat itself this summer so they're going to act like parents of small children. They're still offering fistfuls of Baht to winning athletes, $314,000 for a gold, but they won't fork it all over at once. 2008 medalists will get half their money paid out over 20 years.
"We don't want them to spend it all at once, they might need this money when they get old," Thai Olympic committee member Charoen Wattanasin said. "We will give it to them every month. Most of them manage their finances but there have been a few bad examples in the past."
Strangely enough, Boonjumnong himself may end up being a test case for the success of the new payout system. He's expected to contend for a medal again this summer, though you'd have to wonder why a man with his taste for the high life didn't turn pro in the intervening years.
Boxing is a dying sport. That's a familiar refrain to anyone who follows the sport in this country. The conventional wisdom is that boxing is on its last legs. Pundits cite numerous reasons from convoluted sanctioning bodies to mixed martial arts to pay-per-view broadcasts that make it too hard for the casual fan to follow the sport. All have some truth but with the Olympics coming this summer, we're being reminded of a reason that may trump all the rest. Amateur boxing is in a bad way in this country.
Only five members of the U.S. Olympic boxing team have qualified to put on the headgear in Beijing at this point. The other six will need to qualify, either at the current Americas Olympic qualifier in Trinidad or in April's event in Guatemala, by finishing in at least the top three, although some of them need to reach the finals or win. Unlike previous qualifiers, the Cuban team is competing in Trinidad which should make matters more difficult.
During the Oleg Maskaev-Sam Peter and Wladimir Klitschko-Sergei Igbramov heavyweight title bouts, much was made of their extensive amateur backgrounds. None of the fighters grew up in the U.S., something that's the case among champions in many weight classes as is the deep amateur experience. The training begets better boxers which begets championships. The U.S. Olympic struggles underscore the problem developing fighters here and the lack of a home team is a big reason for boxing's diminishing returns in this country.
Twin brothers Javier and Oscar Molina were born in Southern California to Mexican parents 18 years ago, and they both took up boxing at an early age and became great fighters. Here's a look at Oscar from last year's Police Athletic League boxing championships:
Javier won the 141-pound class at the U.S. Olympic trials last year, and assuming he fights as well as he's expected to in this week's qualifying tournament in Trinidad, he'll box under the American flag in Beijing.
Oscar lost in the 152-pound class last year, but that didn't end his Olympic dream: Because Olympic rules allow athletes to represent their parents' home countries, Oscar then went to Mexico, where he won the qualifying tournament. He's expected to qualify for the Beijing Games at the qualifying tournament in Trinidad as well.
That will make the Molinas the first pair of twins ever to compete for different countries in the same Olympics. Thanks to the 11-pound weight difference, there's no concern that they'll have to fight each other, which they've both said they won't do. But they could bring medals back to the same home -- even if they're doing it for two different homelands.
The U.S. Boxing team may have to head to Beijing without one of its best hopes at a medal. Sadam Ali tested positive for cathine, banned by the IOC, while in China for a recent bout and is awaiting the results of his backup sample. The test was conducted in December and Ali was placed on "voluntary" suspension pending the second test.
Several boxers suffered from flu-like symptoms during the trip to China and were given over-the-counter medication by team doctors, only Ali tested positive. Cathine is extracted from khat, a plant native to East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
Khat is a major part of Yemeni life. 60% of the men there are believed to chew it for its narcotic effects. Ali is from Brooklyn, but his parents are Yemeni. Khat leaves must be fresh to have the stimulating effect, however, and there's other ways that cathine can be produced. Small amounts can be found when the human body metabolizes pseudophedrine, which is used in most decongestants. Ali, of course, used such decongestants while in China. The lightweight has retained a lawyer to represent him if an appeal of the drug test is necessary.
Interestingly, Ali is not the only boxing related client of Salvatore Strazzullo. He is also representing Milana Dravnel, the stripper who was responsible for leaking photos of Oscar De La Hoya in lingerie and is now suing the boxer for defamation.
In 2004, the Cuban Olympic boxing team won gold medals in six of 11 weight classes. That's nothing new. Cuba has produced almost as many great fighters as great cigars, including two of the three three-time gold medalists in the history of the boxing competition.
The Cubans also have a list of defectors just as long. Three of those 2004 gold medalists have defected since Athens and it appeared as if Guillermo Rigondeaux joined them during the Pan American Games this summer in Brazil. Rigondeaux has won just about every amateur competition in the world since the late 90's, including the last two Olympic golds. He was a favorite to become the fourth triple winner.
He didn't show for a quarterfinal bout and appeared to be headed to Europe when he was caught and arrested by Brazilian authorities, at the request of his home island. Rigondeaux asked to return to Cuba but was met by a letter from Fidel Castro saying he'd passed the "point of no return" and would not be allowed to fight for the national team.
"In our country there is a system of re-education that can be applied to those who commit an error or have flaws. The only ones you can't pardon are traitors."
I'm not too familiar with the Cuban "re-education" process but I'm fairly certain that's a euphemism.
Joe Calzaghe, the world's undisputed light heavyweight boxing champion, will fight Roy Jones on September 20 at Madison Square Garden, several media outlets are reporting.
When 
The recently retired boxing world champion 
Chances are, unless you're a close follower of Thai Olympians, the name Manus Boonjumnong is a new one to you. He was the 2004 gold medalist in light welterweight boxing and, as a result, won some $600,000 in bonuses. He promptly blew all of it in a frenzy of gambling and partying which cost him both his national respect and his pregnant wife. 
Boxing is a dying sport. That's a familiar refrain to anyone who follows the sport in this country. The conventional wisdom is that boxing is on its last legs. Pundits cite numerous reasons from convoluted sanctioning bodies to mixed martial arts to pay-per-view broadcasts that make it too hard for the casual fan to follow the sport. All have some truth but with the Olympics coming this summer, we're being reminded of a reason that may trump all the rest. Amateur boxing is in a bad way in this country. 
The U.S. Boxing team may have to head to Beijing without one of its best hopes at a medal. Sadam Ali 
In 2004, the Cuban Olympic boxing team won gold medals in six of 11 weight classes. That's nothing new. Cuba has produced almost as many great fighters as great cigars, including two of the three three-time gold medalists in the history of the boxing competition. 
