The Square Ring

His “Banker Line” for sports betting is a Las Vegas institution. In a recent interview, he provided, at no cost, his selections for a couple of upcoming super fights. Floyd Mayweather Jr. is favored to lay a whipping on Juan Manuel Masques September 19. Mayweather Jr. has been away from the ring since September ’07 when he opened a can of “KA” on Ricky Hatton. Banker opines here to “take the underdog” Juan Manuel Marquez whose trainer tells him “this guy doesn’t like to be hit. Pressure him.”

Banker also surprisingly goes with “underdog” Miguel Cotto in his November bout with Manny Pacquiao. Pacquiao is today’s “sure thing” and flavor of the day in all things boxing. While Banker did not choose to elaborate maybe, he feels that at some point Pacquiao is going to show the strain of carrying some extra weight while fighting bigger guys. TSR kind of goes along with Banker but for another reason. Cotto is better than he showed against “Brickhanded” Margarito.

Idiot.Dolt...Dummy...Nincompoop.

Those are just some of the words not used but maybe implied in a email from good guy Steve Lock heart. It started out “Hi Howie” then went on to set the record straight in regard to Roberto Duran’s “No Mas” fight that got Duran moved to the bottom of TSR’s all time great lightweights. “I was lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks with Duran about 12 years ago when he was preparing to fight Joppy. I asked him about the “No Mas”. I am not sure if he has ever made any public statement. Duran told me that a month before that fight he was told it was on at which time he was enjoying a break and living your preferred lifestyle, drinking beers not training and was well overweight (which he use to do between bouts).” Editor’s note: TSR does the same thing between columns.

Duran insisted that he could not be in top shape in only a month but promoter King insisted. “Duran being the humble servant and someone fairly easily manipulated went along and said when the fight came around he was nowhere near ready to take on such a good opponent. Of course Don King wasn't interested in any of that and said he would be ruined if he didn't fight which Duran reluctantly did. In the fight, Duran said he felt totally out of his depth and thought to himself **** Don King and anyone else I’m not sticking around for this and the rest is history.” While all that may be true it still does not dispute the fact that Duran quit in the fight. As Lockhart also wrote, “I really liked Duran.” Count TSR as a fan also. “If more boxers had the quality Duran displayed that night perhaps there would have been a few less deaths in the ring and that would have to be a good thing.” Less fight would also cause less ring fatalities, which would be your “DAH!” moment for this column. “I’m not saying Duran was better than some of the very early fighters you (TSR) refer to who fought but he was great, in fact amazing fighter in my mind even with the no Mas fight.”

Meet a New Jones Boy

The Box Fighting Frog, that would be Patrick, was impressed with Roy Jones jr.’s recent won over Jeff “Left Out” Lacy. “Saw the fight Jones - Lacy, well Mr. Jones showed that he was and maybe still is a great Champion, 40 years old and such a speed, I sign for that! Looks like the old guys Jones and Mosley are back on track learning the young ones what is boxing all about!” Could be but consider that Jones beat a guy , Lacy, who has lost three of last seven and not looked good in any. Mosley beat Antonio Margarito who had to fight without brinks in his hands. Jury still out.

Super Middle Tourney

With great fan, fare the great, great, great super middleweight tournament was announced. Two of the boxers named, Mikkel Kessler (41-1) and Andre Ward (19-0), have chosen to take “warm up fights”. On September 12th Mikkel Kessler will defend his WBA crown against Gusmyl Perdomo (16-1) in Denmark. The same night at a Injun Casino in California Andre Ward faces off against Shelby Pudwill (22-31). If they lose then the Super Tournament loses some of it’s’ appeal as they are scheduled to fight each other November 21. On October 17th fighting for real Carl Froch (25-0) faces Andre Dirrell (18-0) in Nottingham while Arthur Abraham (30-0) meets Jermaine Taylor (28-3-1) in Berlin. Let the games begin

Hooks and Jabs

When Vitali Klitschko defends his WBC heavyweight title against Chris Areola (27-0, 24KO’s) one of the judges will be Thailand’s Anek Hongtongkram. He is one of the very best but probably will have a easy night with a nice payday. The fight on September 26 at Los Angeles Staples Center probably will not go the 12 round distances. Por Que? Arreola is susceptible to being knocked down early in fights. At this stage in his career he has yet to fight, anyone with Klitschko is punching power. Ergo he is KO’d probably within six. Wlad Klitschko, the other half of the Dynamic Duo, is again on the bench this time with a tendon rupture in the shoulder, which required surgery. The injury either did or did not occur during his “paid workout” against clown Ruslan Chagaev. Wlad will be back in the ring next year. Not on his radar is David Haye. He’s ducking the Dynamic Duo like a “Teelock does a punter when the retirement checks late.” Instead, David “Big Hat No Cattle” Haye fights Nikolay Valuev in November. Valuev’s latest claim to fame is he won a SD against Evander Holyfield and a MD over John Ruiz. “Oh my goodness how the excitement builds.”

King of the Thai’s.

Many boxing insiders are of the opinion that Pongsaklek Wonjongkam (73-3-1) is the best flyweight in the world. Two of his three loses came back in the day , 1995-96, to old warhorse Jerry Pahayahay who seemed to have some kind of spell cast on the lanky Thai. Following the “L” to Pahayahay, Pongsaklek ran off 56 wins in a row including a win over Pahayahay. During that run he KO’d Japan’s Daisuke Naito in 34 seconds the fastest ever in a world flyweight bout. That was in ‘02. Pongsaklek and Naito met against in ’05 with Pongsaklek winning a 6 round Technical Decision. Then the pair collided for a third time. For Naito the third time was the charm as he took a UD and the WBC title from Pongsaklek. Cousin Bruce McTavish who judged the fight ringside had it 116-113 so that is the way it was. The meeting between the duo ended in a draw. Since then Pongsaklek is 6-0 against opposition that is “questionable” to be kind. Four of these wins came against four boxers with a combined record of 0-2-0. Last out Pongsaklek picked it up a bit with a KO of vet Takahisa Masuda in six. How about a 5th time against Naito? Probably not as Naito has shown little interest or no interest. Still Pongsaklek is one of the best ever with 17 successful title defenses.

Good Local Lad

Pramuansak Posuwan is a darn good Thai boxer. Fighting on home turf, he is 45-0 with one draw. The problem is that to win a world championship he has to hit the road, which has proved to be unfriendly. In 2005, he travels to Tucson Arizona in quest of the WBO Super fly title. He came up short against Fernando Montiel losing 115-112, 114-112, and 114-112. Posuwan then ran off 16 in a row to earn another shot at the WBO super fly title in March of this year. This time he had to travel to Puerto Rico to face local Jose Lopez. Another UD loss 177-111, 117-111, 116-112. One of those judges was pal CJ Ross. If she says he lost, take it to the bank. On July 31 he went to Naga City, Philippines to battle Federico Catubay (24-15-3) possibly with the plan of starting another win streak. “Bad EYE DEAR.” Lost a SD 77-74, 77-74 and 75-76. The Pinoy judge who voted for Posuwan is in deep stuff and hiding.

More Good Local Lads

Somsak Sithchatchawal (60-3- 2) is another quality Thai boxer. He held the WBA Super Bantam crown only a short time losing in his first defense to Celestino Caballero via a 3rd round KO. Still he fights on winning recently over six stanzas against an overmatched Indonesian Hendrik Barongsai (8-10-3).

Jeeves Time

“Did you know that Vicente Van Gogh had a grandfather from Yugoslavia?”

“No”

“He was called U Gogh. Your lordship instead of toasting the completion of another award-winning column, how about a sip of champagne, a nice cigar and some good Thai music to celebrate. We can celebrate that Thailand’s Anek Hongtongkram was selected to judge the September 26th WBC Heavyweight fight between Vitali Klitschko and Chris Arreola.”

“Capital idea my good man. I join you with pleasure because Cheewit dee Khrup”