A very, very busy boxing weekend.
It all kicked off with the news Friday that Floyd Mayweather Jr. has announced his retirement from boxing ... again. Floyd says that he no longer has the passion to fight. If that is true, then good for him. Boxing is a sport that you can't approach half-way. If you do, you get hurt. But, in boxing, no retirement is ever permanent. So we'll wait and see.
Here is an AP story about Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s retirement.
It will be curious to see which fighter Oscar De La Hoya selects to replace Mayweather on his September card. The picks here are either Shane Mosley, Ricky Hatton or Miguel Cotto. Hatton and Cotto already have fights lined up, but when Oscar calls, plans change.
In Atlantic City, middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik stopped Gary Lockett in the third round. The result is no surpise. Here is a recap of the Pavlik-Lockett fight, courtesy, again, of AP.
What was a surprise is what took place at Foxwoods. 'The Contender' reality star Sergio Mora upset Vernon Forrest to win the WBC super welterweight title. He is the first Contender alum to capture a world title after appearing on the show. (Several had been champions prior to their participation on the ESPN series.) Mora won a majority decision. Here is a fight report on Mora-Forrest from TheSweetScience.com
I was waiting for the weekend to pass before writing the "Contenders are merely pretenders" blog entry. When you watch Alfonso Gomez, Stevie Forbes and Peter Manfredo Jr. get dominated by world-class fighters, it puts the show in it's proper perspective. Not that Mora beating Forrest was unthinkable at this stage of Forrest's career, but it does give the series a shot of credibility. We'll revisit this topic soon.
And finally, Larry Holmes, Eddie Perkins, promoters Frank Warren and Mogens Palle, writer Joe Koizumi and the great New York Times sports columnist Dave Anderson are being enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame today in Canastota, New York. Congrats to the class of 2008.
-- CASSIDY