By Tom Luffman

Photo © Mary Ann Owen/FightWireImages

This week was full of boxing stories, though there wasn’t much action in the ring.   

In out-of-the-ring heavyweight news was the non-story that Lennox Lewis might come out of retirement to rematch Vitali Klitschko.  This rumor has circulated at least annually since Lewis hung up his gloves and looks like the new feel good “Foreman to Fight Again” headline. 

Even given the history and previous denials the story has produced in the past few years, promoter Bob Arum apparently set things in motion when he told Frank Warren, who then told the “Daily Mail” newspaper in London, England, “No matter how often a boxer says he will never come back, the money always talks louder in the end if the offer is big enough.”  He then continued, “I am told Lennox is back in the gym and this is an enormous fight in the making.” 

Next year when this story circulates yet again wait for the official statement from Lewis’ camp before you get too excited. 

Hell, maybe I’ll start a rumor that Joe Mesi and Tommy Morrison will appear on the same card in West Virginia the same night David Tua nearly loses to unheralded Robert Hawkins. 

Whoops! 

I can’t folks, because that one is true!

Last Thursday, a night which I have dubbed “has-been heavyweight night” featured all of those things.  Perhaps emboldened by the universally recognized weakness of the division, David Tua and Joe Mesi continued their comeback while apparently HIV-free Tommy Morrison re-launched his career. 

Mesi and Morrison fought on the same card at the Mountaineer in Chester, West Virginia.  Both hit the showers early after KO’ing their opponents in one and two rounds.  Tua trimmed nine pounds from his bulky body since we saw him beat Maurice Wheeler three and a half months ago, but was lucky to escape with a unanimous decision over Hawkins. 

The next spectacle in this weight class will happen in a few weeks when Eric “Butterbean” Esch fights on the same card with his son, Brandon Esch, who will debut on March 9th at The Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts.  Local buffets have been warned of the Esch’s tag team ability to KO all-you-can-eat deals and local toughmen have reportedly started lining up for a sure pay day, a break from having to beat everyone in a tournament to earn prize money.

A more weighty matter in the world of boxing began last week as “The Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya and “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather, Jr. began their eleven city tour around America to promote their May 5th, Cinco de Mayo bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.  Tickets for the event sold out in less than three hours, but Golden Boy Promotions would like you to plunk down $54.95 for the HBO pay-per-view. 

I was at the press conference held in the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia on Wednesday, the second day of the tour.  The only notable difference between the first stop in New York and one in Philadelphia was the Big Apple crowd was treated to De La Hoya and Mayweather, Jr. comparing the size of their abs.  I couldn’t make that up, nor do I even want to think what Dr. Freud would make of it. 

Both stops combined showmanship, trash talk, and some pushing.  Initially I thought the shoving and ill will could have been more than just marketing.  However, after reading accounts of further stops on the tour I’ve come to the conclusion that the approach in each press conference is at least formulaic if not outright scripted.  Since I watched the spectacle firsthand on Wednesday, the tour has hit a number of cities and I’ve yet to read a report or a quote that breaks from the formula presented in New York and Philadelphia. 

I’m not saying The Golden Boy and The Pretty Boy will be shooting rounds of golf after this fight, but the events are so striking in similarity that it is hard to take all the trash talk and shoving seriously.  These are two men that do have different world views and conduct themselves differently. 

I doubt they would ever make very good friends.  Their talent and love of money has brought them together and when the job is done they will likely part, perhaps not amicably.  But what does it say about boxing’s media and fans that Golden Boy Promotions apparently feels the need to promote this fight in a manner at home with The Jerry Springer Show? 

I know this fight could be good, perhaps 2007’s fight of the year and most boxing fans agree.  We don’t need the over-the-top trash talk.  In Floyd’s case, he has even put his talents above boxing royalty Muhammad Ali and “Sugar” Ray Robinson.  The fact is Mayweather, Jr. is exactly as good as his resume.  He’s yet to beat anyone that is currently seen as a surefire boxing hall of famer; yet he claims to be the greatest ever. 

Does anyone else find it bizarre that people look at Floyd’s rather unremarkable resume and anoint him the number one pound-for-pound boxer in the world?  Those writers that say he is “universally recognized” as the pound-for-pound king aren’t looking very hard to find detractors.  Jermain Taylor beat Bernard Hopkins twice and then earned a draw with Winky Wright, both guys appear on most people’s top ten pound-for-pound list.  I would argue those three fights alone make his resume more impressive than those on Mayweather’s full career list. 

He’s undefeated against, good, but not great opposition. He looks awesome against people on a lower level.  Looking awesome against lesser competition should not count more than beating legit pound-for-pound future Hall of Famers like Bernard Hopkins.  Work on your resume Floyd and then maybe, just maybe, one day you’ll actually deserve a small portion of the accolades you heap upon yourself. 

As for Oscar, you don’t have to sink to the level of pushing matches or trash talk in press conferences.  Most people consider you to be a classy guy, so don’t let the build up to one match ruin that perception.  Be the gentleman you are; someone boxing fans can tell their kids about.  That’s your game, don’t change it.  Least of all for a braggart that invokes the name of God from his lips one moment then uses vulgarities in front of the public the next.  You’re better than that.  You might not be better than Floyd Jr. in the ring, but on a class level it’s no contest, no one would sanction the match it’s such a blow out.