KO's Ringside Boxing Notes & Quotes

Tim Bradley says it's a perfect time for Money vs Manny

By Jeffrey Freeman — Timothy 'Desert Storm' Bradley talks to KO Digest about the possibility of a Manny vs Money match in 2015: "I think the fight should happen. I don't know if it will. Now is the perfect time for it because Pacquiao, after suffering the loss to Marquez, the fight with Mayweather went down the drain but Manny has revamped himself with three big wins, myself included. He's still a big threat in the sport, still a top dog, and I honestly think he'll be tough for Mayweather. It's a 50-50 fight. It's the fight everybody wants to see. I think it will do over three million [PPV] buys. We gotta wait and see. It's great for boxing."

Devon Alexander Hits Close To Home — "All of St. Louis is going to be looking at me from the Ferguson situation. They're looking for something positive to come along with all of the rioting. This win is going to make them feel like they won too. You get scrutinized when you come out and say something or it's like you get punished for saying what you feel nowadays or just saying the truth. A lot of people are scared to say anything. You have to be real. You have to tell the truth. You work out the consequences later. If it's the truth and it's real, how can anybody argue with it?"

Color Blind — For me, boxing is, and always has been, a safe haven from the ugliness of racism. It's not about black or white or any other crayon in the box but even when it is about that stuff like in the promotional trash talk of a grudge match, it's OK. Nobody should get their feelings hurt. Just enjoy the show because we have thick skin and the color of it doesn't matter. We all bleed red. Look, I'm from Brockton, Massachusetts. I grew up there in the 1970's during historical periods of social integration. Growing up in a two-toned fight town, I fell in love with Rocky Marciano and Marvelous Marvin Hagler. I'm better off because of the variety I experienced. It exposed me to the other side of life. Sometimes I liked it more than my side. Soon I realized there was only one side.

Thank God It's Black Friday — It's very trendy and safe right now to paint Floyd Mayweather Jr. as some kind of fighting fraud. Everybody is getting in on the act like opportunistic, bandwagon-riding lemmings. The internet is now literally awash in opinionated exposés thrown up about boxing's dirty little money maker. Distinguishing between fact and fiction is of only minor importance in the mad rush to throw Mayweather under the bus before the big fire sale ends. Whether it's having to do with his attacks on women outside of the ring, his avoidance of Manny Pacquiao inside of it, or even his status as an all-time great in the sport of pugilism, Pretty Boy's P4P & TBE reputation is under siege. There's never been a better, more opportune time to call Floyd a "coward" or worse.

Boom Boom, Big Daddy, and the Prince called to the hall

The Biggest Little City in the World — Youngstown, Ohio's Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini fought four of his last five fights in Reno, Nevada against Bobby Chacon, Livingstone Bramble, Hector "Macho" Camacho, and Greg Haugen. Mancini was recently elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York where in June 2015 he will be officially enshrined. There isn't nearly as much boxing in Reno today as there was in the glorious 1980's. They don't make em' like the "Good Son" anymore either. Mancini is a worthy inductee - one of the classiest sportsmen in boxing history. World War II Combat Vet father Lenny would be very proud of his good son.

What a Yahoo — If fight writer Kevin Iole would refuse to vote Floyd Mayweather into the IBHOF (or encourage others to do the same) based off Mayweather's perceived refusal to fight Manny Pacquiao, maybe somebody should consider taking away Iole's voting privilege because Floyd is a first ballot inductee (so is Manny) TODAY even if he never wins another boxing match and gets knocked out by Victor Ortiz in that rematch Floyd said Victor can get if he wants it. The boxing media should report on the story and not try to make themselves into one. It's understood that passions run deep and that we ALL just want to finally see the damn fight but this latest jab from Iole blurs the line between journalism and partisan fanboyism.

Are Manny and Money getting any closer?

Undisputed Truth — The two top fighters in the sport of boxing are boring. There I said it. Mayweather and Pacquiao are a collective snore. They don't knock anyone out anymore. They refuse to fight each other. They're both past their primes. The sport is full of young stars who deserve the attention forever being wasted on these fat cash cows. I'll name a few: Terence Crawford, Keith Thurman, and Gennady Golovkin. Mayweather can't even make himself all that exciting when he claims to try. The best part of his fights is when he gets hit. He doesn't grit his teeth when he fights, he doesn't challenge himself beyond our imagination, and he's certainly no Sugar Ray Leonard. TBE is still Sugar Ray Robinson. The Pac-Man is more of a fighter and history will be kinder to him but that doesn't change the fact that his fights no longer matter.

The Charlo brothers fight to stay relevant

Twin Troubles — Both Charlo brothers, Jermell and Jermall have seen high profile world title fights fall apart before their eyes. Last March, Jermall was scheduled to challenge Carlos Molina for the IBF junior middleweight title on the Canelo-Angulo PPV undercard. When Molina was arrested and jailed during fight week, the match-up was scrapped. Jermall did not get his shot and his progress has sputtered since. He now faces Lenny Bottai (who?) on the Khan-Alexander undercard, December 13. Then just recently, Jermell was scheduled to face Demetrius "Boo Boo" Andrade for the WBO version of the 154 lb. championship on that upcoming (ill-fated) Showtime triple-header. Andrade pulled out. Instead of getting his shot, Jermell is now stuck fighting Mario Lozano on the MGM Grand Vegas card alongside his brother.

The Master of Disaster is Dead — For the record, KO scored Manny Pacquiao vs Chris "Rocky" Algieri 119-105 in favor of "The Count of Manny Fisto" who if asked afterwards by the loser, "Hey yo Pac Man, did you give me your best," the truthful answer would have to be no. Boxing's Christ loving, compassionate cash cow strikes again but not nearly as often and as hard as he could have or should have. Did Manny "carry" Chris in China? Maybe, and so too might have Sergey Kovalev "carried" Bernard Hopkins in Atlantic City. Hurting grossly overmatched foes is bad for business and it kills future bottom lines. Anyway, Algieri won the fifth and "only" 4 of the 6 official knockdowns were worth an extra point on my card.

Algieri takes a count while Pacquiao waits

I like "The Ring" magazine and their website RingTV. That much I can confess. What I don't much like is their new "RING 100" listing of the best fighters in the world of boxing today. Creeping in at #43 is none other than Chris Algieri. The brave Long Islander is now considered to be one of the fifty best boxers in the world? That's for somebody else to judge but let's take a look at some of the names that somehow rate lower than Algieri according to the Golden Boy's Bible of Boxing: Ruslan Provodnikov (44), Demetrius Andrade (48), Vasyl Lomachenko (52), Amir Khan (53), Keith Thurman (55), Anselmo Moreno (58), Alexander Povetkin (70), Mauricio Herrera (76), Austin Trout (80), James DeGale (89), and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (98).

Respectful boxing warriors

Though overrated by the "Bible of Boxing" the New Yorker Algieri knows how to open a media conference call on Veterans Day with: "Before we get started I'd like to take a moment to pay tribute to the real warriors that are out there on this Veterans Day and give them the honor and tribute they deserve for going above and beyond in fighting for our country and our freedom." (§) KO Digest salutes Algieri's respectful patriotism.

Examining the Experts — What does it say about the expertise of today's boxing writers and media insiders when ZERO out of 21 polled by The Ring Magazine (including yours truly) picked "The Special One" Kell Brook to upset "Showtime" Shawn Porter last August? From where I write, it could mean we saw the 2014 Upset of the Year or that Uncle Roger Mayweather might be right in calling it boxing and swearing you don't know shit about it.

The Correct Spelling Be — You might not have heard of him or you might not even think he deserves a title shot against World Light Heavyweight Champion Adonis Stevenson on Dec. 19 but you and everybody else are willfully misspelling the Russian's name. It's "Dmitry Sukhotskiy" and not "Sukhotsky" without the "i" at the end as reported. Thanks to perfectionist publicist Bob Trieger for clearing it up with the challenger's promoter via passport.

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't

KO Digest Interview Flashbacks — Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko (April 2014) - "If you look at the scale of the markets, it goes up and down. In boxing it's the same. You have some times that are exciting, and some times that are less exciting. It’s always been like that. It's always been in the history of boxing that suddenly some guy just pops up and conquers."

Shannon "The Cannon" Briggs talks to KO in the November 2014 edition of "KO Digest Interview" and wait until you read what he calls Deontay Wilder — "I know people are like, “man, Shannon Briggs is nuts.” But, that’s right! That’s what it takes to become heavyweight champion of the world. Don’t think Wladimir Klitschko ain’t nuts. Don’t think Jack Johnson wasn’t nuts. Don’t think Muhammad Ali wasn’t nuts. We’re a different breed of man. Say what you want, but know one thing: I’m 42 years old, back on my feet and pursuing."

Darnell "Deezol" Boone talks to KO in the Dec. 2013 KO Digest Interview about who would win a Superman Stevenson vs Krusher Kovalev title fight at light heavyweight: "Kovalev, because he’s the more sound boxer. Both of them are strong. It’s going to be whoever lands the shot first, but I would go with Kovalev on that. They both have what it takes to knock each other out. Both of them are strong, but the thing with Adonis is he does the same thing in each fight. Paw with the jab, left. He never really mixes it up. With Kovalev, he’s throwing combinations, he’s moving, punching off angles."

Will the Son of God return in 2015?

The Great 8 — Busiest To Slowest
Linear World Champion's Activity Level

1. Roman Gonzalez (flyweight)
2. Adonis Stevenson (light heavyweight)
3. Wladimir Klitschko (heavyweight)
4. Danny Garcia (light welterweight)
5. Floyd Mayweather (welterweight)
6. Guillermo Rigondeaux (super bantamweight)
7. Miguel Cotto (middleweight)
8. Andre Ward (super middleweight)