I just realized that this is The G Manifesto’s 1000th post.
Decent.
And what better way to celebrate that milestone than with a classic fight between two G Manifesto Hall of Fame Members Arturo Gatti and Angel Manfredy?
If you have never seen this fight, watch it. You can learn a ton about boxing and heart.
I had the pleasure of meeting both these cats. Both of the were total class acts. (I also met Ivan Robinson around the same time, who waged two epic wars with Arturo Gatti and lost to Angel Manfredy. Also cool as f*ck.)
Make sure you watch Angel Manfredy’s post fight interview (starts about 2:40 of the last video posted).
For all the people that doubted me in my life, and tried to stop me, all I have to say to you is what Angel Manfredy had to say to all those that bet against him:
However, upon watching the fight a second time, it only strengthens my views.
1. Floyd was completely controlling the fight. He was doting up Ortiz with almost every punch. Ortiz was only going to last 3 more rounds tops.
2. Ortiz was butting Mayweather constantly in the fight. He did it in the first. He did it in the second. The third and at least three times in the fourth before the “final headbutt”. Floyd didn’t complain the entire time. Now that’s G.
3. The Referee gave at least two verbal warnings for head butts prior to the “final headbutt”. There might have been three warnings.
4. Floyd’s Knockout punch was completely legit and shouldn’t have even been questioned by anyone. Especially when you consider what happened previous. Payback is a b*tch. I think James Brown said that.
It is amazing and a travesty that Floyd was thought of as the villian in this fight.
There was only one fighter who did anything wrong, and his name was Victor Ortiz.
Just kind of shows you where the world is at these days; backwards.
But then again, you got guys in America where skinny jeans and shirts with glitter in modern society.
Cotto VS Margarito II. I might not have technically been the “best fight” of 2011, but Cotto’s revenge stood out a the greatest win in Boxing for 2011. Hell, it was the greatest win in all of sport for 2011.
And if you think about it, this win erases the Margarito “loss” and only leaves the Pac-Man loss on Cotto’s ledger. Cotto is back in biz in a big way.
Best Fights:
These fights were all tops in my book.
Alfredo Angulo vs James Kirkland. Unbelievable come from behind win for Kirkland.
Andre Berto vs Victor Ortiz. This fight was pure amazing. I am a big fan of trading knockdowns so Round 6 was a modern day classic in my eyes.
This fight even had Emanuel Stewart saying “Oh my God!” And you don’t hear that very often.
Akira Yaegashi vs. Pornsawan Porpramook. Almost everyone slept on this thrilling beauty. Who says “Minimum Weight” fighters can’t throw it down?
Erik Morales vs Marcos Maidana. Two of the toughest guys in boxing show you how its done. Pure heart and soul.
Bernard Hopkins Vs Jean Pascal II. My main man Bernard (remember I used to roll in his entourage back when I was a young proto-type G. Watch the old fights, I was the handsome, dashing kid in the Custom Suit. Or just look for the only non-African American cat) does it again. Masterful performance in becoming the oldest man in the history of the sport to win a major world title, supplanting George Foreman.
Fighter of the Year:
Miguel Cotto. Thought it wasn’t? When was the last time you came back from a soul sapping, crushing defeat with loaded gloves to put on a performance of a lifetime? Honestly, I can’t believe the mainstream media didn’t give Cotto more credit.
Let’s get a little Latin flavor on this:
Future World-Wide Superstar:
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. The kid is Mexican, and looks Irish. And fights like both. Great extension on his punches. Real power. Loves to fight. Dates a former Miss Mexico Universe, so his “International Playboy” street cred is in order. What is not to like about this kid? Four big wins in 2011. Canelo is the future of boxing.
Knockouts of The year:
Floyd Mayweather’s KO of Victor Ortiz. I am sure I will get a lot of flack for chosing this one, but I loved it. Protect yourself at all times.
Fernando Montiel vs. Nonito Donaire. Now this was nice.
Zab Judah KO’s Kaizer Mabuza. Brooklyn’s own Zab Judah has still got it. Very Mayweatheresque move.
Gary Russell Jr. vs. Heriberto Ruiz. Washington, DC’s own Gary Russell Jr. is one to watch. Beautiful. Speed = Power.
Best Handspeed:
Gary Russell Jr. Keep your eye on this cat. Literally and figuratively.
Yuriorkis Gamboa. The Cuban kid brings the Meth.
Upset of the Year:
Lamont Peterson over Amir Khan. Sure it was a hometown decision. But what do you expect? It’s Boxing.
Robbery of The Year:
Manny Pacquiao VS Juan Manuel Marquez III. Marquez won this one. Everyone I respect in the boxing world that I have spoke with agrees.
Paul Williams vs Erislandy Lara. The Cuban one this one too.
Prospect of The Year:
Jose Benavidez, Jr. I have seen this kid at The Wildcard, and he is the Holyfield.
I have been meaning to post about Jose Benavidez for about a year. Lately, however, I have been shooting around the USA, pulling down some CASH and swooping some fly girls.
But that is neither here nor there.
I have a friend that has sparred with Jose Benavidez and Aamir Kahn at The Wildcard Gym and he says that Jose Benavidez is better than Aamir Kahn right now.
And the kicker is the 2009 National Golden Gloves Champion in the light welterweight division he is only 19 years old.
So I could have said he is going to be a Future World Champion and that you heard it here first (if I would have posted it when I wanted to), but either way, the kid is going places.
Check out The G Manifesto’s Jose Benavidez file:
Jose Benavidez Jr “The Rise of a Champion”
Freddie Roach: Jose Benavidez Is My Future
17 year old Jose Benavidez and Manny Pacquiao sparring
Benavidez vs Hope
2009 Golden Gloves National Champion Jose Benavidez
Jose Benavidez Back At The Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood
The Puerto Rican star Miguel Cotto, is a homegrown product of the legendary Bairoa Gym in Caguas. He has been one of boxing’s most exciting and compelling characters over the last ten years. A skillful boxer, great pressure fighter and vicious body puncher, he almost always seems on the brink of disaster. Which of course, makes him an exciting fighter to watch.
Antonio Margarito
Mexican star Antonio Margarito is a tough as they come. He is a relentless pressure fighter with an iron chin that throws deadly body punches and uppercuts. He isn’t pretty to watch, but his style is straight out of the alleys of Tijuana. He even looks like a border cartel member. He also might sport some of the worst hairstyles in Boxing today, but that is neither drug scales or cocaine rails.
Handwraps
Let’s talk about the handwrap issue for a minute. I am 99% sure that Margarito used loaded handwraps in the first fight. I even remember when I watched the fight, something seemed fishy. But that is boxing. If true, it makes Margarito one of the biggest scumbags in recent boxing history.
I have talked to several fighters that have sparred with Margarito (and this was before the Cotto fight) and I remember them telling me that Margarito “hit like he had bricks in his hands”.
HBO Boxing: Cotto vs. Margarito: Face Off with Max Kellerman
Miguel Cotto Keys to Victory
First off, Cotto needs to control, or try to control the pace of the fight. Which means, he will want the fight to go as slow as possible for as long as he can. He needs to move and avoid “the phonebooth”.
This is really a bad matchup for Cotto “style-wise”. He is at his best when he is moving forward and pressuring opponents. With Margarito, he has to fight moving backwards for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is the size differential.
If Cotto gets hit hard, he is going to have to clinch and slow it down. He probably won’t do this though, since Cotto doesn’t really clinch. However, he is going to have to learn.
When Cotto stops moving, he is going to have to throw with leverage. This of course, gives Margarito a chance to land heavy leather, but Cotto needs to make Margarito respect him, and respect him early.
For Cotto, this is really going to be a battle of footwork, and he can’t stay on the ropes. And at all costs, he is going to have to use head movement and make Margarito miss. The less leather landed on Cotto early the better.
He also needs to throw straight punches thru the gloves of Margarito. The clean 1-2 is going to be a key punch for him.
Other punches to watch for Cotto are the short hook inside. Again, he needs to throw that one from the hip with leverage. He really need to get some rotation on it.
Antonio Margarito Keys to Victory
Essentially, Margarito needs to do exactly what he did last time.
The thing he needs to focus on most is cutting off the ring. The more violent and the more the fight turns into a bloodbath, the better it is for Margarito. He needs to keep the fight inside.
And again, Margarito needs to use his size. Because of their statures, Margarito almost seems like a weightclass or two above Cotto.
The punches to watch for Margarito are the uppercuts to the body from both hands on the inside. If he lands those early, expect a long night for Cotto.
Cotto vs Margarito HD Highlights (GP)
Factors in The Fight
Corners: Both men have different corners in this fight. Not sure who’s advantage this is.
Fight Stoppage: I can see this fight getting an earlier than normal stoppage. I don’t expect they will let Cotto take the kind of punishment he did in the first. And if Margarito’s eye acts up, I don’t think they will play around with that one either. Look for the ending to come quick if and when it does.
Low Blows: Both of these guys are heavy body punchers and they don’t like each other. Maybe even hate each other. Look for a potentially Game changing low blow.
Clashing of heads: These guys styles are prone to clash heads. If a big cut opens up, all bets are off.
The Venue: Madison Square Garden. Need I say more? In An Unforgiving Sport (great book by the way), Paul Malignaggi said that fighting Cotto in the Madison Square Garden is like “fighting the Devil in Hell”. And that is coming from a New Yorker. The heavy Puerto Rican crowd should uplift Cotto. And give him a little leeway on the judges cards.
Cotto: “Madison Square Garden for me, New York for me, it’s like home. And I know that’s going to be a huge Puerto Rican night, the night of December 3.”
Margarito: “The square is always the same in any ring. It’ll just be me and him. I’m going to come out with my hand raised as champion of the world.”
Good stare down:
Miguel Cotto vs. Antonio Margarito 2-Los Angeles Press Conference Highlights
Questions to be answered?
Is Cotto the same fighter after brutal losses to Margarito and Pacman? I have heard some interesting things on the boxing grapevine that say he isn’t. Which is really a shame if Margarito used loaded gloves.
Is Margarito the same fighter? After all, he hasn’t really set the world on fire after his “win” over Cotto. He got destroyed by Sugar Shane Mosley and Manny Pacquiao, and has had just one win over Roberto Garcia.
How is Margarito’s eye? Only the fight will answer this one. Margarito says, “As you can see, we keep training like it’s nothing. My eye is in perfect condition, it’s fine. If it weren’t in perfect condition, believe me, I wouldn’t fight.”
How is Cotto’s emotional state? Personally, I think he is convinced that the reason he lost the first fight was cheating. However, that resolve will be tested in rounds 6-12. Cotto says, “No matter what, I’m preparing myself to beat Margarito’s ass. He played with my health. I’m going to play with his.”
Prediction
Cotto: “I don’t have any respect for him. And I’m going to take advantage of his eye like he took advantage of the plaster.”
Margarito: “Fuck Cotto (or “Cotto can go to hell, depending on how you translate it). If he thinks that I had plaster, it will hurt like I was using plaster. And he will know it.”
It is safe to say that these guys hate each other. And we have potentially the biggest blood war on our hands this Saturday.
I really think this one will be a slaughter house floor for however long it lasts.
If I was betting, I would bet on the underdog. This fight is razor close on paper.
I typically don’t pick sides in boxing matches, I usually just root for what is best for Boxing.
However in this one, you have to want Cotto to get revenge and redemption.
And I guess that would be the best outcome for Boxing as well.
So f*ck it, he is my (first time) biased prediction:
Cotto by bloody and brutal, close Unanimous Decision.
However, as the most prolific writer on The International Playboy Lifestyle on the Internet, I feel compelled to let younger up-and-coming G’s on the rise know about some of the downsides of The Life.
Hall of Fame trainer and manager Emanuel Steward, who will provide analysis of Pacquiao-Marquez III as part of the HBO Pay-Per-View broadcast team on Saturday night, breaks down his three keys to victory for each fighter:
Manny Pacquiao
1. Maintain balance when he punches: With his style of moving in and punching aggressively, Pacquiao risks leaving himself out of position and off balance when he gets done punching. Marquez is a great counterpuncher. Manny has to know that punches are coming back, so he can’t leave himself off balance and exposed after he finishes up his combinations.
2. Punch with full power: Pacquiao has probably about eight pounds of natural weight in his favor. Since the last time he fought Marquez, in 2008, he’s grown into a much bigger fighter. He has to take advantage of that and punch with full power. Remember those three knockdowns in the first round of the first fight? That’s what allowed him to come away with a draw. And Pacquiao’s power edge is going to be very important again in this fight. He cannot just be throwing a volume of punches. He must punch with authority.
3. Utilize his excellent footwork: Marquez is not especially gifted in terms of footwork. Pacquiao is. He has to get in and out and change directions, and really use his foot speed to make it a long night for Marquez.
Juan Manuel Marquez
1. Stay calm and patient: Some fighters have one dream fight that they spend years thinking about. For example, for Floyd Mayweather, that dream fight was against Oscar De La Hoya. This is the dream fight for Marquez. He told me since 2008 that he wanted a third fight with Pacquiao, but he thought he would never get it. Now it’s here. So the key is for him not to get too excited. He has to fight in a patient manner; otherwise he could open himself up for disaster.
2. Use defense to get Pacquiao off balance: We’ve established that Pacquiao wants to maintain his balance. It follows that Marquez wants to take that balance away from him. Sometimes Pacquiao rushes in recklessly, and most of the guys he fights are just blocking the punches, so he gets away with it. But if Marquez just takes a little step back when Manny comes in, he can make him lose his balance and then he can counterpunch when Manny gets out of position. Marquez proved in the first two fights that he’s capable of doing this.
3. Be prepared for Pacquiao’s left hand: Marquez was better prepared for the left hand in the second fight as compared to the first, and he needs to prepare like that again this time. That straight left hand was the punch that knocked Marquez down three times in the first fight. Marquez knows that, of course—you don’t forget something like that. He just can’t lose focus and take his eye off Pacquiao’s left hand. As we all know, Pacquiao can change the direction of a fight with one punch.
For those thinking that Manny Pacquiao is going to walk over Juan Manuel Marquez, I think you are mistaken.
Marquez is a beautiful counterpuncher and that is one of the reasons these two match up so well. These guys never clinch each other. It is pretty amazing.
Manny does seem to have an advantage though, because he dictates the fight. He attacks, Marquez counters, Manny attacks again and then slips out before Marquez can counter effectively on the second salvo.
I think the fight might go one of these ways:
1. Manny drops Marquez hard with a straight left from a weird angle in the early rounds and Marquez is not able to recover. Age might show.
2. Manny chops up Marquez with an in-out attack, but is able to use angles that Marquez can’t deal with. Watch for the angles.
3. Marquez puts on the performance of a lifetime and beats Manny on the judges cards.
Here is the undercard:
Timothy Bradley (27-0, 11 KOs) vs. Joel Casamayor (38-5-1, 22 KOs), 12 Rounds, Junior Welterweights
Mike Alvarado (31-0, 22 KOs) vs. Breidis Prescott (24-3, 19 KOs), 10 Rounds, Junior Welterweights
Luis Cruz (19-0, 15 KOs) vs. Juan Carlos Burgos (27-1, 19 KOs), 12 Rounds, Junior Lightweights
Floyd Mayweather Jr. VS Manny Pacquiao: Pad Workouts
Supposedly, talks between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao are heating up again.
Mayweather I guess has a date set (of course, May 5th) and a venue.
Hopefully they will be able to put it together.
One interesting thing I have noticed is the differences in their pad workouts. (Keep in mind, these videos don’t tell the whole story, but they tell a lot).
Check out Manny working out with Freddie Roach at The Wildcard Gym:
The Mayweather’s mostly work on rhythm, offense And defense.
(It is also interesting to not how “square” Floyd stands.)
The way the Mayweather’s work the pads is very unique. I really don’t see many (if any) other camps use the techniques that they do.
I really think this style helps Floyd a lot, as he is constantly used to punches coming back at him. This is what makes him so good in the pocket.
Let’s not forget Ricky Hatton making fun of Mayweather:
We all remember how well that worked out for Hatton, right?
(Watch closely at the inside Game. Common thinking suggests that the reason Mayweather won is that Joe Cortez was breaking the fighters too quickly, thus hurting Hatton’s in-fighting. Look closely. Mayweather was getting the better of Hatton in the clinches. So let’s put the whole “The ref was breaking them up to quick or Hatton would have won” thing to rest once and for all.)
(Side note: No disrespect to Hatton. Hatton epitomizes the all-out, reckless, relentless, fearless hard drinking, hard smoking, hard partying blood and guts International Playboy/Boxer lifestyle that we dig over here at The G Manifesto.)
So what do I do when I work the pads?
Do I do it with the more traditional style of Freddie Roach and Manny Pacquiao?
Joe Frazier, the hard-hitting boxing heavyweight who handed the legendary Muhammad Ali his first defeat, died Monday, shortly after being diagnosed with liver cancer, his family said in a statement.
The former heavyweight champion, who was 67, became a legend in his own right and personified the gritty working-class style of his hard-knuckled hometown, Philadelphia — a fitting setting for the “Rocky” film series, starring Sylvester Stallone as hardscrabble boxer Rocky Balboa.
“You could hear him coming, snorting and grunting and puffing, like a steam engine climbing a steep grade,” Bill Lyon wrote in a Philadelphia Inquirer column about Frazier, nicknamed Smokin’ Joe.
“He was swarming and unrelenting, and he prided himself that he never took a backward step, and he reduced the Sweet Science to this brutal bit of elemental math: ‘I’ll let you hit me five times if you’ll let me hit you just once.’”
Frazier’s family issued a brief statement about his death.
“We The Family of … Smokin’ Joe Frazier, regret to inform you of his passing,” the statement said. “He transitioned from this life as ‘One of God’s Men,’ on the eve of November 7, 2011 at his home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.”
Muhammad Ali said in a statement that the “world has lost a great champion.”
I never got the chance to meet Joe Frazier (unlike Muhammad Ali, who happens to be the only person I have ever gotten an autograph from, when I was a kid), but I always loved his fights.
And his left hook was a thing of violent beauty:
The death of boxing great Joe Frazier on Monday night has touched millions, including a deep admirer of the sport’s history, unbeaten world welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr.
On Twitter late Tuesday after hearing of Frazier’s death, Mayweather tweeted, “My condolences go out to the family of the late great Joe Frazier. #TheMoneyTeam will pay for his Funeral services.”
Mayweather has committed to such a gesture before, earlier this year paying for the funeral of a one-time opponent, Southland former world champion Genaro Hernandez.
