Roy Jones’ Prefight Breakdown: Pacquiao-Marquez 4

by Eric Raskin

Former pound-for-pound king Roy Jones, who will provide analysis of Pacquiao-Marquez IV as part of the HBO Pay-Per-View broadcast team on Saturday night, breaks down his three keys to victory for each fighter:

Manny Pacquiao

1. Be first … and last: Pacquiao has to get off first, but he can’t stop there. He can’t attack and then fail to throw more punches behind that attack, because Marquez counterpunches too well. So he has to attack, then attack the counter. He has to produce, essentially, a double attack.

2. Move less, stalk more: Pacquiao can move around the ring some, but he needs to remember that he’s much more powerful than Marquez and take advantage of that. So I think he needs to limit the movement around the ring and try stalking Marquez more this fight. He has the power to knock Marquez down, as we saw in their first and second fights. Pacquiao must be the stalker this time. He must approach it like he’s trying to get rid of Marquez.

3. It all starts with the jab: Possibly the most important thing of all is that Pacquiao has to use his jab to control the tempo of the fight. If the jab is pumping out consistently, Marquez will never know what’s coming behind it--whether Pacquiao’s going to attack or unleash that double attack I referenced above.

Juan Manuel Marquez 

1. Accept the risks required to win: Before he can do anything else, Marquez has to make up in his mind, “Do I want gamble and try to win this fight, or do I just want to go 12 rounds with Pacquiao?” He was content in their third fight to leave it in the hands of the judges, and it didn’t work for him. He has to determine whether he’s satisfied to do that again or if he’s going to do everything possible to be certain of victory.

2. Counter in combination: If you pay attention to their third fight, you’ll notice that when Marquez counterpunches, it’s one shot and then he stops. Pacquiao was there to be hit again, but he didn’t throw again. And I understand that he didn’t throw it because he was afraid of getting caught himself, but that’s just the chance you have to take if you want to win. You can’t land a beautiful counterpunch, then stop and admire your work, because Pacquiao might land two or three more punches and the judges will give him the round.

3. Advance with lateral movement: Marquez has to consistently use lateral movement, left and right, to not allow Pacquiao to sit down on his punches and land power shots. By moving, he can keep Pacquiao off-balance and not let Pacquiao catch him. If Pacquiao catches him, he’s very capable of knocking Marquez out--much more capable of knocking him out than Marquez is of knocking Pacquiao out. Marquez is the better boxer. Lateral movement will help him exploit that.

Roy Jones Relives His Controversial Olympic Experience

By Kieran Mulvaney

Roy Jones - Photo Credit: Will Hart

Before he won multiple world titles in four weight classes from middleweight to heavyweight, Roy Jones Jr. was an Olympian. He was voted the most outstanding boxer at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, but was denied a gold medal when, in the final, he lost a decision to his South Korean opponent that was almost universally considered not just mistaken, but positively larcenous. Despite that, Roy looks back on his Olympic experience at just 19 years of age in a positive light, as he explained in a phone conversation this week.

Every guy is different, but an Olympic Games is such an immense event. When you went there you were so young, and a lot of the guys in London right now are really young. Can you give a sense of what these guys are going through and how eye-popping it must be to be there?

It is very eye-popping. It’s the first time you come into contact with a situation where you feel like you’re in there with every country almost, up against the whole world. You are the one individual who’s representing your country. Secondly, in boxing, there’s the whole Olympic experience of our country in previous years: Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Evander Holyfield, Pernell Whitaker, Oscar De La Hoya … A lot of these guys have gone to have great professional careers, and people remember them from the Olympic Games. It’s something that can catapult a professional career.

There’s so much going on – the Olympic village, world-class athletes from around the world. Is it hard not to be overwhelmed? Is it hard to focus on your one part of the games?

No it’s not, because boxing’s an individual sport. You understand that once you go out there, you go out there by yourself. So you can think about other people all you want to, but a lot of those other people have teammates. You don’t have a teammate who can help you while you’re actually doing it. In a lot of situations, you’ve got help. In boxing, you ain’t got that help. It’s just you. So you’d better focus on you.

A lot of former Olympic boxers I talk to, no matter if they’ve won multiple world titles as professionals, if I ask them what has been the greatest moment of their career, they’ll say, ‘Being in the Olympic Games’. I wonder if you feel the same way, and if you don’t, how much does the fact that you were denied the gold medal factors into that and whether it in any way tainted the experience for you.

I still say that was by far the best experience that I could ever have. The one thing that affected me was, if I’d won a gold medal it would have been even better. But by far it was the best experience of a lifetime. Because it’s like you’re at war for your country, but nobody has to die to win. You win a world title as a professional, you get paid to do that. But in the Olympics, you freely represent your country because you are the best fighter in your country.

Even though you didn’t get the gold that you should have had, I imagine standing there on the podium, seeing the flag being raised, has to be an amazing moment.

Exactly. You don’t get any better than that.

8 Boxing Stars Who Rose from Olympic Fame

By Kieran Mulvaney

The 2012 London Olympics officially kick off on Friday, with much of the attention for boxing focusing on the hopes of promising young Rau’shee Warren and the inaugural appearance of women’s boxing at the games. Will Warren – or indeed any of the other competitors in London – turn out to be a superstar in the professional ranks in the years ahead? Only time will tell. In the meantime, here’s a small selection of boxers who have excelled at the Olympics and then brought us drama and excitement on HBO:

George Foreman

Foreman won heavyweight gold at the Mexico City games in 1968 and went on to rip the heavyweight championship of the world from Joe Frazier five years later. He lost the title in the Rumble in the Jungle to Muhammad Ali in 1974 and then retired from the sport in 1977. He made an improbable comeback 10 years later and regained the heavyweight title in 1994 at age 45, when he knocked out  Michael Moorer – an achievement immortalized by HBO commentator Jim Lampley’s cry of “It happened! It happened!” During his second career, and for several years afterward, Foreman joined Lampley and Larry Merchant on HBO broadcasts.

Sugar Ray Leonard

Like Foreman, Leonard  won gold – at welterweight in 1976; also like Foreman, Leonard commentated for HBO; and, also like Foreman, he had more than one retirement. After a stellar career that included epic wins over Roberto Duran and Tommy Hearns, Leonard retired in 1982. He returned for one fight in 1984 and then, in 1987, returned again, dethroning middleweight champion  Marvin Hagler via a points decision that remains heavily disputed. He finally retired for good in 1996.

Lennox Lewis

Another fighter who would go on to become an HBO commentator, Lewis knocked out Riddick Bowe to win Olympic gold in 1988, and erupted on to HBO screens with a two-round stoppage of Razor Ruddock, following which he was awarded the vacant WBC heavyweight title. Lewis lost his title to Oliver McCall, regained the vacant belt against McCall in 1997, unified the titles against Evander Holyfield at the second attempt (after their first fight, seemingly a clear Lewis win, was adjudged a draw), lost them to Hasim Rahman in 2001, won them again by crushing Rahman later that year, and closed his career with dramatic wins over Mike Tyson and Vitali Klitschko.

Roy Jones, Jr.

Officially, Jones won silver at the Seoul Olympics despite dominating his South Korean opponent, a decision that was universally regarded as larcenous and led to a change in the scoring system for Olympic boxing. For the first 15 years of his professional career, Jones was peerless, winning titles at middleweight, super-middleweight, light-heavyweight and, memorably, outpointing John Ruiz in 2003 to win a heavyweight title. Jones finally suffered his first true defeat as a professional the following year, against Antonio Tarver, but has continued to fight on. He is part of the commentary team for HBO’s Boxing After Dark broadcasts.

Oscar De La Hoya

The Golden Boy in many ways carried boxing on his back during the post-Mike Tyson years, turning Barcelona gold into a professional career that yielded world titles from 130 to 160 lbs., and produced memorable battles with Pernell Whitaker, Shane Mosley, Felix Trinidad and Fernando Vargas, among others; his 2007 split-decision defeat to Floyd Mayweather remains the highest-grossing boxing pay-per-view of all time. De La Hoya is now a major promoter.

Floyd Mayweather Jr.

David Reid may have been the only American to win gold at the 1996 Atlanta games, but bronze medal-winning Mayweather became the sport’s biggest star. Sixteen years later, he has yet to lose as a professional, compiling a 43-0 record against the likes of De La Hoya, Mosley, Diego Corrales, Arturo Gatti, Zab Judah, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto, and racking up pay-per-view records.

 Amir Khan

It’s hard to believe that Khan is only 25 years old, such is the fanfare that has greeted him ever since he secured silver at the 2004 Athens Olympics. The Briton has become an HBO staple, scoring dominant wins over Paulie Malignaggi and Zab Judah and recording a close and exciting defeat of Marcos Maidana, as well as enduring a hugely controversial setback to Lamont Peterson last December and suffering a shock knockout loss to Danny Garcia in July.

Andre Ward

The sole American gold medalist in 2004, Ward’s early professional progression was slightly delayed by injuries, but he has fought his way to the top of the super middleweight ranks. Voted Fighter of the Year last year by the Boxing Writers Association of America, the undefeated Ward takes on light-heavyweight champion Chad Dawson on HBO on September 8.

Roy Jones and Amir Khan Make Their Last-Minute Predictions

By Kieran Mulvaney

Who better to analyze a fight than a fighter? How about two fighters? We asked two of the best – Roy Jones, Jr. and Amir Khan – for their take on tonight’s meeting between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley.

Roy Jones, Jr.

The biggest key is you have to watch out for the head butts. When an orthodox fighter and a southpaw fighter meet, what happens? We get a clash of heads. So we’ve got a guy who has an enormous amount of head butt issues with other right-handers; now he’s fighting a left-hander, so what else can we expect? We have to figure out how these two guys have a formidable fight, a real good fight, minus the head issues. That’s going to be the key.

Pacquiao’s probably the better boxer. And he’s certainly the quicker fighter and the more powerful fighter. Timothy Bradley is the more durable fighter. So you’ve got an early horse and a late horse. It all depends which horse prevails and which horse gets the race in his favor. Early, I think it’s Pacquiao. Late, I think it’s Bradley. So we’ll see.

Bradley has to get inside and rough him up. He has to. It’s his only chance. If he stays outside, Pacquiao will pick him apart. Bradley’s not as fast, and he’s not as mobile.

I like Pacquiao early, I like Bradley late. If Bradley can withstand Pacquiao’s onslaught, it can be a tough fight for Manny.

Amir Khan

It’s going to be a hard fight. I’ve seen Bradley train hard on 24/7. He looks in great shape. Bradley was a guy we tried to fight twice, and he turned me down twice. His excuse now is that he was waiting for a Pacquiao fight. Still, he could have fought me in between if he really thought he could beat me.

This will be a good fight tonight. It will be explosive. They’re both hungry. Manny Pacquiao doesn’t want to lose his pound-for-pound title, and I’m sure Bradley doesn’t want to lose his undefeated record. That’s what makes this fight interesting.

They have to work hard, not let up and not let the crowd get to them. There are thousands of people watching you, millions watching around the world. Bradley seems strong in the spotlight, but it always hits a fighter when it’s the day of the fight. This is the time where he will be nervous when he’s in his room, thinking, ‘The time’s come now. This is the biggest fight of my career.’ He will be nervous, because it is the biggest fight of his life.

Go to HBO.com for more fight info.

Hopkins Is No Stranger to Rematches

By Kieran Mulvaney

Jean Pascal, Bernard Hopkins - Photo Credit: Ed Mulholland

When Bernard Hopkins faces Chad Dawson on HBO World Championship Boxing on Saturday, it will be the seventh occasion on which he has fought the same opponent a second time. Of the previous six, one came soon after an initial encounter that Hopkins had comfortably won; one came many years after a bout he had clearly lost; one was an immediate rematch of a fight that cost him the middleweight title; two followed draws; and one, like Saturday’s fight with Dawson, succeeded a bad-tempered grudge match that ended in a bizarre no-contest.

Hopkins is renowned as a cerebral and adaptable boxer, and ring smarts and adaptability have played a key role in The Executioner’s remarkable rematch record of 5 wins and 1 defeat. He’ll aim to improve that against Dawson.

Here’s how events unfolded in his previous second chances:

Roy Jones, Jr. (L12, May 22 1993; W12 April 3 2010)

The first encounter was the inaugural title tilt for both future Hall-of-Famers; despite the excellence of their subsequent careers, the middleweight bout was unremarkable. Their second battle, which didn’t take place until Hopkins was 45 and Jones was effectively shot, was unwatchable, but it enabled Hopkins to secure his long-desired revenge.

Segundo Mercado (D12 December 17 1994; TKO7 April 29 1995)

In his next attempt to win the middleweight crown, Hopkins struggled to adapt to the altitude in Mercado’s native Ecuador and was floored twice before escaping with a draw. In the rematch, closer to home turf in Maryland, Hopkins left no doubt, and stopped Mercado to begin his lengthy championship reign. 

Robert Allen (NC  August 28 1998; TKO7 February 6 1999)

Hopkins’ seventh title defense was an ugly affair; in a bizarre finish, referee Mills Lane pulled the two men apart from a clinch with such force that Hopkins fell through the ropes and onto the floor, twisting his ankle and forcing a no-contest decision. In the aftermath, Allen taunted Hopkins, claiming he had quit; a focused and enraged Hopkins dominated his opponent in the rematch. (The two men fought a third time in 2004, with Hopkins winning convincingly on points.) 

Antwun Echols (W12 December 12 1999; TKO10 December 1 2000)

Hopkins won the first meeting comfortably enough, but Echols’ power rocked the champ once or twice along the way. The rematch was a foul-fest that was highlighted, if that’s the word, by Echols essentially body-slamming Hopkins to the canvas and injuring the Philadelphian’s shoulder in round 6, an act that resulted in the challenger being penalized two points; after a timeout, Hopkins elected to continue, ultimately stopping Echols with a barrage against the ropes in the 10^th.

Jermain Taylor (L12 July 16 2005; L12 December 3 2005)

After a record 20 successful defenses of his middleweight title, Hopkins started slowly against the younger Taylor, who built up a big early points lead. Hopkins dominated down the stretch, but Taylor held on to secure a close and controversial split decision. The rematch unfolded much the same way: this time Hopkins stepped up the pressure slightly earlier, but an eleventh-round rally was enough for Taylor to secure another very narrow points win – the only rematch to date from which Hopkins has not emerged victorious. 

Jean Pascal (D12 December 18 2010; W12 May 21 2011)

As with Taylor, Hopkins fell behind early against light-heavyweight titlist Pascal, his cause not aided by two knockdowns, including one that the veteran insisted resulted from a punch behind the head. Once again, Hopkins was rampant down the stretch, but the early points hole was so deep that he could only secure a majority draw. Pascal started the rematch brightly enough, but this time Hopkins took charge earlier, ultimately dominating Pascal physically and psychologically and becoming the oldest boxer to win a major world title.