Calling Out Fighters: Bravado or Bluff?

     Written By:  Armando Paz

   The last week has seen the sport of boxing becomming in ways reminiscent to an old school Poker game with fighters calling out other fighters strong hands or their bluffs.  As reality set in that the mega fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather was going to be reduced to only a computer fantasy fight, other upstarts have tried to land the fight with Pacquiao instead.  

  It’s hard to keep score but so far Timothy Bradley  has called out Pacquiao, Alexander, Maidana, and Khan.   Khan has called out Bradley and stated on his twitter account ” I will go to Golden Boy Promotions and request it “talk is cheap….I’ll fight Bradley…I am going to Vegas and talk to Golden Boy about it.”  Gary Shaw the promoter of Tim Bradley went on Boxing Truth Radio and actually agreed to the fight.  Bradley himself fired back on his own Twitter message  ”amir you said talk is cheap and that you want to fight me, then how come your promotion team ain replying to gary shaws mail?”   It is likely that a game of poker was being played by both fighters.  As the reality is that Golden Boy Promotions prefer Khan to fight the winner of next week’s rematch between Marquez-Diaz.   If Marquez wins again he will like to win a title in a 4th weight class and that is what a fight with Amir Khan offers.  Khan is the current WBA Light Welterweight champion and most importantly; like both Marquez and Diaz he is also promoted by Golden Boy.   As a result,  GBP will have great incentive to keep the revenues and the title belt within their own promotional company.

Timothy Bradley for his talk of “being a throwback fighter” must realize that he is not fighting in “throwback days.”   This means that unlike the old days you don’t fight every month and fight most of the top challengers.  HBO after Devon Alexander fights in August will put major pressure on both Bradley and Alexander to fight either In December or January of next year.  Bradley calling out Pacquiao was futile as it is common knowledge that Bob Arum and Top Rank wanted  Antonio Margarito as their alternate fight, which is now confirmed for November 13.  It is safe to say there was both bravado and bluff by Bradley.  He knew his odds of landing a fight with Pacquiao were pretty much nilch.

Not to be out done, Paul Williams jumped in with his usual diatribe about fighting Pacquiao.  Williams seems to have growing frustation that he can’t get a megafight with the big names of boxing.   He is starting to balk in having a rematch with Sergio Martinez, he wants more than a 50-50 purse split.  Williams instead has put his focus back on Pacquiao.  This time with heated rhetoric in order to get a reaction from both Bob Arum and Pacquiao.  In an interview with Boxingscene he stated ” A fight with me and Pacquiao, it would be a good fight for three and four rounds than i would put him on his head.”  He added  “I will take him right out of there no disrespect to Roach or Pacquiao I like them, but if they get into the water i will blow them right out of it.”   There was no immediate reaction by Top Rank or Pacquiao, but it’s safe to say that Pacquiao will likely never get into the ring with a 6 feet 3 inch tall southpaw who fires as many punches as he does.

Where is Floyd Mayweather Jr. in all of these charades of  calling and bluffing?  Well he told the Associated Press that he is on vacation and not thinking about boxing.   So instead of getting into the ring, he has been in Puerto Rico watching cockfighting birds physically dismember themselves.   Ironically, it seems a bit relaxing  to him from all the pressures and preparation required from the combat sport of boxing.