Tuesday, October 28, 2008 Quijano: Pound-for-pound update By Jingo Quijano Last Round
APPARENTLY, my last column “Milking it for all its worth”, was enticing enough to merit an e-mail from veteran boxing analyst Hermie Rivera who told me that my piece was on target and funny. He even added that “Bob Arum is rolling down the ropes with LOL”. Hermie ended his message by saying that he wanted to have a drink with this writer one day.
Thanks sir. It’s nice to know that an esteemed fight scribe such as yourself is my latest Last Rounder. Let’s have that drink soon, my treat. Lambanog, of course.
CLARIFICATION. Some fight observers were shaking their heads after seeing Yukka “Nice Guy” Gejon’s paltry performance against Brix Ray last Saturday at Tagbilaran City, Bohol. Ray reportedly came into the bout with a dismal record of 3 wins, 5 losses and a draw.
I failed to attend the fight card but from most accounts, the Yukka that showed up was a far cry from the world beater he once was. I just had to find out for myself and so I called up Yukka.
Based on his account, Yukka wasn’t too comfortable above 108 pounds and Brix who weighed at 111 lbs was strong and tough especially during the clinches.
And here’s the thing. Brix’s actually had 13 wins, not 3 as initially reported. In addition, Yukka also informed this writer that Brix was a former member of the Philippine
Boxing team and that he was the same fighter who defeated him during the Arafura Games at Darwin Australia.
So there. Yukka wasn’t up against a patsy after all. Let’s give him a break. He needed that feel-good win over a respectable opponent after suffering three straight losses. Nice guys deserve that.
UPDATE. Here’s my quarterly update on our pound-for-pound rankings:
1.) Manny Pacquiao—The Pacman’s advantage coming into his fight with Oscar dela Hoya is that even if he loses, he can still remain on top. But of course, he has to
give a good account of himself. Even at higher weights, the greatest fighters gave their opponents fits. If he goes down, it should be in a blaze of glory;
2.) Bernard Hopkins—If there’s any guy who can legitimately claim pound-for-pound supremacy if Manny loses, it’s the aging but definitely engaging Bernard Hopkins who taught Kelly Pavlik a painful boxing lesson a few weeks ago. ‘Nard, I’m still waiting for that birth certificate;
3.) Joe Calzaghe—Call his win over Hopkins a great escape, but you have to admit this Welshman is a tough nut to crack. He’s still undefeated and only an aging Roy Jones Jr. is in a position to ensure he doesn’t retire that way;
4.) Juan Manuel Marquez—“Dinamita” showed that he could fight out of his weight class when he moved up to lightweight to stop the division’s reigning monarch in Cuban Joel Casamayor. The match was pretty dicey the first few rounds, but Marquez showed why he’s still the Pacman’s toughest opponent to date;
5.) Antonio Margarito—Yup, the “Tijuana Tornado” has definitely arrived. And his arrival proved to be utterly destructive to previously undefeated pound-for-pound entrant Miguel Cotto. I’m betting Margarito will climb even higher next year with many high profile fights penciled for him;
6.) Miguel Cotto—Sure he got stopped, but one loss doesn’t knock you off the pound-for-pound rankings, not after a war of fight-of-the- year proportions. He’s probably hibernating somewhere, licking his wounds. Look for him to come back healthier and wiser;
7.) Israel Vasquez—Back-to-back wins over Rafael Marquez catapulted him into these rankings. I hope he dukes it out with young undefeated banger Juan Manuel Lopez soon;
8.) Ivan Calderon—Small guys usually don’t get much attention because you seldom see spectacular knockouts and so Calderon is probably a poster boy for your typical small guy. But he’s fast and slick. If only we could find somebody to convince him he’s so good he should move up 12 pounds north to fight Israel Vasquez. Oh, I almost forgot. Anybody have Freddie Roach’s mobile phone number?
LAST ROUND. It’s on Chief Engineer Paul Clarin who follows this column while on board the Brostrom Tankers based in Sweden. Cheers!
