An Underdog Gets His Shot

In two weeks, Alfonso Gomez will try to do what underdogs do in boxing - upset the champ. He'll step through the ropes and into the ring at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall and take a shot at doing what 31 other guys have been unable to do - send Miguel Cotto back home to Puerto Rico as a loser.

Make no mistake about it, Alfonso Gomez is a big underdog against Cotto, who some have dared whisper might be one of the greats.

Hailing from the dusty streets of Guadalajara, Mexico before migrating to California with his family, who were all in search of a better existence, Gomez has persevered in a life that made him an underdog from the get-go.

"I have proven time and time again, since my amateur days, that I can overcome obstacles," says the youthful Gomez, who has a matinee-idol face that looks like it belongs in a Latin soap opera.

"I did it in my first pro fight, fighting in somebody else’s backyard. I proved it against Ishe Smith fighting in his backyard. In "The Contender" against Peter Manfredo, who was ranked number three. Jesse Brinkley, Arturo Gatti, Ben Tackie - I can name a dozen of them where I’ve been the underdog. I’ve had people tell me, 'Ahh, you’re going to get knocked out.' But, you know, I just keep proving people wrong."

While he didn't ascend to "The Contender" reality show throne, Gomez became a fan favorite because of his friendly personality and engaging smile. The reality show was the platform that enabled him to tell his story to the masses of wanting to provide for his family through boxing. He's been able to make a better life for himself and his family, but he has a burning desire for more.

And he'll tell you with a serious look that, "Poverty was my motivator."

Last summer, Gomez shocked the boxing world against Arturo Gatti when he sent the human highlight reel into a hasty retirement after seven bloody rounds. With a big right hand that came all the way from the back alleys of Guadalajara, Gomez freed up Gatti's future as a prizefighter and laid open Gatti's lip like a filleted fish. He sent HBO's favorite son sinking to the floor, and on that night there would be no miracle comeback for Arturo. Gomez made sure of that.

"I prepared insanely for that fight," he says. "I didn't take any shortcuts during training camp.”


Gomez was in the zone against Gatti and knocked him out in seven rounds.

Most people laugh off the comparisons that Gomez makes between Gatti, who was a shell of his former self, and Cotto, who is a beast that is likely in his prime.

"I’m prepared for no matter what," he says of Cotto. "It’s like with Arturo Gatti, I try to make different plans. I didn’t know that night what Arturo Gatti was going to show up - the brawler or the boxer. So, I know Miguel Cotto has good boxing skills and he has tremendous toe-to-toe skills. I’m prepared for both - for the boxer or the brawler."

Others criticize Gomez' most recent opponent, the oft-beaten Ben Tackie, whom he outpointed a few months back. But again, Gomez defends the opposition and his performance. "I wasn't able to stop him," he says of Tackie. "But I dominated every round and I demonstrated that I'm ready for the world titles."

When asked about just how it is he plans on doing what Shane Mosley and Zab Judah could not, Gomez doesn't get into the hype and blather that is the norm for many fighters in this day and age. "Well, you know, I can say a million things but there is only one way to prove it - and that is April 12th. All I can do is feed on that negativity and feed on those critics just to motivate me and make things even easier for myself."

When pressed for the specifics though, Gomez delves into his thought process and sizes up the many ways he might have a chance against Cotto.


Miguel Cotto and Gomez came face-to-face at a New York City press conference to announce their fight for the WBA Welterweight championship.

"One of them is the fact that I am bigger than him. I’m a natural welterweight. And you know, on his record he really hasn’t faced a natural welterweight. They’re usually fighters that come up from lower weight divisions like Mosley and Judah and Quintana and so on. So I’m the first natural welterweight he fights and hopefully that will be something that shows in the fight. If he comes well prepared I see it playing out as a tremendous fight. A fight to remember for the fans. There’s gonna be blood, there’s gonna be a lot of sweat. Hopefully there will be knockdowns, but primarily I see myself winning this fight, a victory for the Gomez team and a new champion from Mexico."

He says that he has watched the videos of Cotto so many times that he knows what Miguel is going to do before he does it. While supporters of Cotto don't see much to pick apart, Gomez says he's seen a few flaws in the WBA welterweight titlist’s game. "

"Every fighter has weaknesses and strengths. I have both, myself, too. I just make sure that I watch the tapes over and over and over and over again until pretty much I’m Miguel Cotto. Until you know, anything he does, before he does it, I know what he’s going to do. So that’s my plan, to come in with a perfect plan to expose his weaknesses.”

"His strengths are his body shots and left hooks. His weaknesses are, you know, his chin. He’s proven that he has a soft chin and I wanna’ expose that. Also, I don’t think many people have hit him to the body, as they should. And I know in my fights that I have a great body punch. I have a good uppercut, I have a good jab and I have good boxing skills. I don’t know what to say. I just wanna’ beat him."

In listening to Gomez make his case as to why he thinks he's going to beat Cotto; he can be very convincing. With his dark brown eyes and light Mexican-American accent, the mature 27 year old talks about Cotto in a calm and deliberate manner.

Gomez is easy for fans to root for, and even though he didn't win "The Contender" show hosted by Sugar Ray Leonard, he is perhaps closer to Leonard than any of the other show participants.


Gomez and Sugar Ray Leonard have become close associates who enjoy each other's company. Leonard has offered guidance and friendship

Leonard knows a soaring eagle in boxing trunks when he sees one, and he's taken Gomez under his wing by showing him how a champion lives inside and outside of the ring. It's Leonard that has accompanied Gomez as a guest host on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights and greeted fans while standing side-by-side with him at the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Through it all, Gomez has not lost sight of his ultimate goal and he hasn't forgotten from where it is he came from. He uses all of it as motivation.

"I have fought very tough fighters in the past, ones that are very hungry to get there," he explains. "Miguel Cotto has already made it. I’m sure he wants to make it farther, so he’s pretty hungry still. But I can’t imagine him being hungrier than me. He already has the titles, he already has the undefeated record. If he already has millions, how can he be hungrier than me? That’s impossible, and so…"

And so it's this theme of eagerness and hunger and desire that are the central characters in Gomez' plot to bigger things in life. From being born into poverty in Mexico to coming to America to fighting as an amateur and pro, and then to his appearance on "The Contender". Every step has been another foot forward in his quest to make something more of himself and live what he perceives to be the American dream.

"There’s a lot of things against me," he plainly says. "But my destiny is bigger than that and I’m able to overcome all of that. You know, I’m standing here for a reason. I lost my chance to go to the Olympics as an amateur and never excelled as the best amateur. I’ve lost fights, but I’m standing here and that’s for a reason, and I believe it. And since I’m standing here now, I’m not gonna let this opportunity go. I’m gonna train one hundred percent. I’m going to be there one hundred percent."

Real underdogs always are.


March 2008

YouTube Puts a Dent in PPV Revenue

Hours after Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez engaged in another great night of boxing on HBO PPV, the money wasn't yet tallied as to how many pay-per view buys were ordered up by boxing fans. Early indicators are that the rematch, which Pacquiao won by split-decision, will be a big winner at the cash register.

Just over 11,000 fans flooded into the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and because the arena was sold out even more fans paid $50 each to watch it on the big screen in another room at the casino.

If you were watching television in the week or so before the fight it was difficult not to see the commercials hyping the "Unfinished Business" rematch as it was a multi-pronged promotion that will pay big dividends.

But it likely could have been even more of a financial blockbuster without the dirtiest word a boxing promoter has ever heard - YouTube.

The morning after the fight, anybody with Internet access could log onto the popular Web site and watch the entire Pacquiao - Marquez rematch free of charge. The night before, if you wanted to watch the fight and the three bout undercard, you could have done so on HBO PPV but you would have had to pony up $49.95 to do it.

But less than twelve hours after the fight had ended in Las Vegas, 14,332 people had already viewed the entire fight or portions of it on YouTube.

Now that may not seem like a large number, especially from a global perspective, but when it's put into dollars and cents the impact and power of YouTube hits home like a Manny Pacquiao straight left hand.

If all 14,332 that viewed the fight for free had paid the $49.95 pay-per view asking price it translates into $715, 883.40 of possible lost revenue. That's right, nearly three quarters of a million dollars. Real money, to be sure, and that dollar figure rises every hour as thousands more voyeurs log on and view for free.


Manny Pacquiao knocked Juan Manuel Marquez down on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Thousands of fans paid to see it, while thousands did not.

Most boxing fans see this new "free" system as a wonderful reprieve from outrageously high cable and satellite bills. Many no doubt take it as an act of liberation to be able to take a pass on the pay-per view show and then watch a fight the next day for nothing.

But the real impact of what this means for the sport of boxing may not be realized by the very fans that purport to love and support it.

A cursory examination will tell you that this is money that the television networks and promoters use to pay the fighters and that the fighters in turn use to pay their staff of trainers, handlers and support people. It's money that promoters would have used to make payroll and hire publicists to do all the work behind the scenes to put these huge events together. It's money that would have been used to help with marketing expenses and to pay for everything from conference calls to press room meals to plane tickets to fight posters.

Now some will argue that the television networks and promoters are fat cats who have gotten rich on the backs of a powerless public that has been forced to pay $40 or $50at least once a month in order to watch their favorite fighters. They would say that YouTube is nothing more than a way for the fans to circumvent the power brokers in the sport and it allows them to get the last laugh on names like Don King and Bob Arum as well as HBO and Showtime.

But the fans shouldn't laugh too hard. In the end, it's likely the fighters who are losing out.

Instead of Pacquiao receiving $3 million for his fight with Marquez, maybe he gets several hundred thousand more if the fight does high pay-per view numbers. That means more for his trainer Freddie Roach and more for everyone right on down the line of the gravy train.

I'd guess that when it's all said and done and that when all of the dollars are counted, that it's the fighters who are really left holding a lighter lunch pail. And that's a shame.

Arum Stirs the Pot - Many fans and also many in the boxing media (is there a difference anymore?) have been getting on Bob Arum's case because they don't like the fact that he has decided not to do an immediate third fight between Pacquiao and Marquez.

Instead, Arum's going to match Pacquiao against WBC Lightweight titlist David Diaz on June 28th. Arum is also Diaz’ promoter. Even Richard Schaeffer of Golden Boy Promotions (who should take some lessons from Bob) was unhappy with the direction that Arum is taking Pacquiao next. But as Bobby Brown used to sing, that’s his “prerogative”.

Arum has been criticized for not matching his middleweight champion, Kelly Pavlik, against Winky Wright. After the fight with John Duddy fell apart at the hands of Walid Smichet, Arum was left looking for an opponent. The obvious choice was Wright, but Arum steered Pavlik as far away from Wright as possible and didn’t want to hear anything about Winky Wright whom Arum perceives to be overpriced with a less than fan friendly style of fighting.

Instead Arum will match Pavlik against the unknown (at least here in the USA) Gary Lockett from Wales.

So why would Arum take his two shiniest stars in Pacquiao and Pavlik and match them against lesser names like Diaz and Lockett?

Well, Arum’s plans allow him to keep more of the money as he doesn’t have to split the proceeds with Golden Boy Promotions if he stays away from Marquez and Wright. And he gets the chance to allow his two crown jewels to take a bit of a breather after having been matched very tough in their most recent fights.

It also allows a third Pacquiao vs. Marquez fight to simmer on the burner for a while longer and stew into a mega promotion. It will be an even tastier treat if Pacquiao beats David Diaz and Marquez also wins another fight. A rematch at the end of the year, after the fans have been made to wait several months for it, will surely whet everyone's appetite.

As for Pavlik, a gimme' fight against Lockett on June 7th in Atlantic City allows the middleweight contenders to sort themselves out a little bit and hopefully a clear frontrunner to Pavlik will emerge. If nothing else, it allows John Duddy’s cuts a while to heal and for him to learn a defensive move or two from his trainer Don Turner. It would also allow us to see whether an inactive, Krispy Kreme eating Winky Wright can even make 160 pounds.

Make no mistake, Arum is a master chef when it comes to Pavlik and Pacquiao and even though he's closing in on 80 years old, he's still cooking.

Mayweather’s Wrestling Career - Unlike some other boxing scribes, I have no problem with Floyd “Money” Mayweather’s foray into the laughable world of professional wrestling.


Mayweather gets tossed out of the ring by the "Big Show" last week.

I’ve always thought someplace like the WWE is just the spot for Floyd and his personality. Truth be told, Mayweather's type of act plays best in the theatrical world of pro wrestling.

When the "Pretty Boy" told me one night in Las Vegas that he was “better than Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali” he believed it. And anybody with that much of a warped sense of himself and with that sort of sick sense of humor should do very well in the WWE. I hope he stays in wrestling. He fits in well with that gang of thugs and misfits.

I also hope that all 441 pounds of the “Big Show” trips and falls on him when they meet at Wrestlemania XXIV.


March 2008

Marquez Fights for His Place in the Sun

Mexico's Juan Manuel Marquez is ready to defend his title and exact a measure of revenge against Manny Pacquiao on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Talk to those in the know around this game they call boxing and they'll tell you that Manny Pacquiao, the little Filipino spitfire, is no worse than the second best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet. Should he end up beating Juan Manuel Marquez in their rematch on Saturday night in Las Vegas, then he makes a strong case for being the best there is out there today - period.

But Juan Manuel Marquez isn't going to go into the Nevada night quietly, and even though he has a voice that reminds some of Mickey Mouse, he has a little something to say about what Saturday night means to him, too.

"There isn't another fight I have wanted as much as this one," says Marquez, the World Boxing Cartel Super Featherweight titlist. "I feel I won our first fight. He won the first round, but I won the next eleven. He's avoided me for four years - saying he's the "Mexican Executioner" - but he isn't because he hasn't beaten me and he won't beat me. I'm going to finish the job I started in 2004 and show everyone why I'm a champion today."

Marquez is right, he did lose the first round. Horribly. He was decked three times and all appeared lost. But he arose from the ashes of defeat and blew on the embers he had left and pretty soon he was smoking.

And then he was on fire.

Hopelessly behind on the scorecards after the three minutes of battling the Pacquiao hellfire he stormed back and basically won every one of the next eleven rounds on two of the judges scorecards to salvage the draw. Marquez put on a boxing clinic and was able to pepper and befuddle Pacquiao after coming back from the brink of defeat.


The training is all over and both Marquez and Pacquiao appeared in good spirits and in great shape at Monday's press conference in Los Angeles.

And it was a dogfight for the next eleven rounds. Aside from being decked three times, Marquez' nose was busted and he was punched by Pacquiao when he was down after the third knockdown. But once he got up, Marquez put on a performance that was unlike what anyone had seen in the past.

When Larry Merchant and Emanuel Steward, who have seen as many fights as anyone, and who called the fight from ringside that night for HBO were asked if they ever remembered a fighter being dropped three times in the first round and then coming back like Marquez did - both shook their heads and said they had never seen anything like it.

By the eighth round Marquez had battled his way back far enough to pull ahead in terms of punches landed on the Compubox stats.

In the corner between the eighth and the ninth rounds, Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach could see the way the pendulum of the fight was swinging and he was imploring Manny, "Don't let him back you up! You hear me? You be the boss out there, son. O.K.?"

By the time it ended, Marquez landed ten more total punches than Pacquiao in a fight that was closer than close.

Marquez, of course, was being tutored in the corner, as always, by Ignacio "Nacho" Beristain who is one of the best trainers in the world but doesn't get the credit.


A proud Ignacio "Nacho" Beristain with two of his most prized pupils, world champion brothers Rafael Marquez (left) and Juan Manuel.

Beristain is more than a trainer, he is a professor of this sweet science. And in his mountain laboratory in Mexico City, otherwise known as the Ramanza Gym, he is an instructor of champions. He has taught some of the best fighters that have emerged from Mexico over the course of the last two decades. Champions with names like Daniel Zaragoza, Gilberto Roman, Ricardo Lopez and Humberto Gonzalez - among others.

Watch an old tape of the great Ricardo Lopez and he was so technically brilliant under the watchful eye of Beristain that his every move was like a different page from a boxing textbook. And aside from instructing Marquez, Beristain also schools Rafael Marquez, Juan's younger brother, who just last week engaged in the fight of the year so far. They are perhaps the best brother team in the sport of boxing. Ever.

Beristain, who has seen them all in his travels, calls Manny Pacquiao a "wildcat" who has the speed and a style that is not a style at all. And that's what makes Manny Pacquiao so dangerous. Beristain and his fighters are always focused, always prepared and they always have more than one gameplan of attack when sizing up an opponent.

But even Beristain admits that Pacquiao is a different animal and unlike most others that he has encountered. "He throws punches from everywhere," says Beristain. "When Juan came back to the corner after the first round in the first fight I just told him...please go back to the plan that we had and everything is going to be fine. And he did it. He did it because he had great preparation, he had great condition, and you saw it. I mean he went all the way to distance. But it was difficult."


Marquez and Beristain expect to keep the belt and have their hands raised in victory after facing Pacquiao a second time.

It has taken Marquez four years to get the only fight that he has really ever wanted. Despite wining titles at 126 and 130 pounds and scoring a signature win over the great Marco Antonio Barrera it is only the rematch with Pacquiao that will quench his thirst to test himself once again. More importantly, a convincing win over Pacquiao would likely be enough to thrust Marquez' name onto the ballots of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Marquez is a cerebral sort and he appears to always be thinking about something deeper, inside and outside the ropes. As a result, he's a hard person to read. "I've always been characterized for my patience and calmness and also intelligence," says Marquez. "Thank God this has worked for me.

When a discussion of great Mexican fighters is bandied about, you'll rarely hear the name Marquez spoken. But he knows he is on the cusp of those conversations and he knows that beating Pacquiao on Saturday night will elevate his stature in Mexico and around the world. Marquez has never said that he wants to be one of the greats and you get the sense that his goal is simply to test himself against the best.

He alludes to the greats, but only in passing, and it seems like he almost doesn't dare to breathe his name with theirs. Mexican legends, Barrera and Erik Morales, were bested by Pacquiao and now Marquez feels it's up to him to bring honor back to Mexico by sending Pacquiao back to the Philippines as a loser.



"Right now, Barrera and Morales are not around," he says. "I'm the only one left. "

Marquez is smart enough to know what's at stake against Pacquiao for himself, his country and his own place in boxing history and he's pulled out all the stops in getting ready for the biggest fight of his life.

"I've always said that I prepare well for my fights. And for this one I'm preparing better because there's a lot of hope on me. The Mexican community, the fans, they expect me to beat Manny Pacquiao. There's no one else to do it."

And if Juan Manuel Marquez has his way, no one else will have to.


March 2008

"Nigerian Nightmare" Ready to Crush Maskaev's Dreams

WBC titlist Oleg Maskaev (left) is flanked by promoter Don King and Nigeria's Samuel Peter at the press conference to announce their fight in Cancun, Mexico.

There's a store on the Danby Road in Ithaca, New York called Sam Peter Furniture. It has nothing to do with the World Boxing Cartel interim heavyweight titlist, but that hasn't stopped the curiosity seekers from poking their heads in the door with hopes that they might see the "Nigerian Nightmare" behind the counter relaxing in a La-Z-Boy recliner.

"You know, a couple months ago some guy showed up here with a trunk full of boxing gloves," said a store employee when asked about their store having the same name as a heavyweight contender. "He showed up out of the blue one Saturday morning hoping that he could get the gloves signed. I told him if he just wanted them signed 'Sam Peter Furniture' I could do that easy enough. But he wasn't too happy when he figured out we had nothing to do with the boxer."

Whatever the case, Sam Peter has no time to kick back and take a break in a recliner anyway. He has one man on his mind and that man is none other than 39 year-old WBC heavyweight champ Oleg Maskaev. The two had been scheduled to meet on October 6, 2007 at Madison Square Garden in New York, but Maskaev pulled out 2 1/2 weeks before the fight because of a back injury he suffered while in training. The delay didn't please Team Peter, who live by the old saying "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" so the WBC made Peter its interim heavyweight champion on September 24th.

“For keeping me waiting, I’m going to be punishing him in rounds one, two and three and then I’ll knock him out in four,” said an agitated Peter earlier this week. He's been waiting a long time to get Oleg Maskaev into a boxing ring and on Saturday night he gets his chance as the two will meet up in the Plaza de Toros bull fighting ring in Cancun, Mexico.

“I’m coming to fight on Saturday night and I promise I’m going to beat you,” an intimidating looking Peter said to Maskaev on Monday. “I’m going to punish you and beat you up. I’ve been fighting for seven years and I’ve never ducked anyone. I hope you’re planning on coming to fight on Saturday. You can run no more.”

Peter who stands just a shade over six feet tall, is scary when he's angry. At 250 pounds he is thickly muscled with forearms like bowling pins and a neck like a Brahma bull. He's knocked out 22 of 29 challengers while only losing once (to Wladimir Klitschko) since turning pro in 2001. At 27 years old he has every conceivable advantage over Maskaev who has shown a propensity to get knocked out by big punchers and is coming off a few training injuries as well as a 15 month lay-off.

Although he has the appearance of being indestructible, Peter was knocked down three times in his fight last October versus fringe contender Jameel McCline. "Big Sam" showed a lot of heart in rising from a knockdown at the end of the second round and then again rising twice from knockdowns in the third round. Peter hung on though and he managed to eke out a close unanimous decision win.

Showtime Championship Boxing analyst Al Bernstein called the fight against McCline from ringside and he was impressed with what he saw in Peter. "When we look back at round three in this fight...he will look back at that round and everyone will, and say that was tremendous fortitude just to get through the rounds. Jameel McCline landed some major shots. He showed the fortitude in that third round to hang in there and kept his technique intact to win the last rounds."

Many, however, still view Peter with skepticism. He struggled with the smaller James Toney and at times early on in fights he has appeared winded. Peter is a no nonsense come ahead clubber of a puncher with lummox-like movements.

His co-promoter, Dino Duva, has always been in Peter's corner and he also sees areas where his young heavyweight can improve . “Now if he keeps learning, if he keeps working and keeps honing his skills then he’s going to be an all-time great heavyweight champion,” says Duva who has pretty much staked the future of his promotional company on the success of Peter. "My whole life in boxing right now is Samuel Peter. He basically is my company."

When asked the the question about whether he needs to improve, the usually affable Peter just grins. His answers are always short and to the point and he doesn't analyze himself too deeply. "In the future we shall see," says Sam. "I'm still improving with time." And then he smiled. Pops Anderson has trained Peter from their home base in Las Vegas, but for this fight Stacy McKinley, who is best known for assisting with Mike Tyson, has stepped in to make improvements in Peter's game.



As for WBC titlist Oleg Maskaev, most are looking right past him and figure that he'll be easy work for the younger and stronger Peter. The Nigerian is a strong favorite to not only beat Maskaev, but to knock him out. The bookmakers have installed Peter as a -450 favorite and the over/under for the fight is 7 1/2 rounds. Maskaev is riding a twelve fight unbeaten streak that dates back to 2003 but he didn't fight at all in 2007.

Maskaev is also a man of few words and after resurrecting himself and his career from the hands of a knockout loss to Cory Sanders he has a new team of people around him with trainer Victor Valle, Jr., manager Fred Kesch and promoter Dennis Rappaport. His win over Hasim Rahman to garner the WBC title was a last minute come from behind victory and since then he has been called the new "Cinderella Man" of the sport.

"I'm expecting a war," says Oleg who was named The Ring Magazine 2006 Comeback of the Year fighter. "I've just got to make sure I'm one hundred percent when I get into the ring and I know I will be. It's never easy to predict anything in boxing. You can be on top one minute, and then one punch later, it's all over for you."

As Oleg knows too well, the sport of boxing can be a real nightmare.


March 2008