Austin Trout Remembers, Emulates Departed New Mexico Boxing Icon Johnny Tapia

Austin Trout Remembers, Emulates Departed New Mexico Boxing Icon Johnny Tapia
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
May 29, 2012

Saturday night, Las Cruces, New Mexico's Austin Trout makes his debut on the big stage as part of a Showtime televised quadrupleheader taking place in Carson, Calif. where he defends his 154-pound alphabet strap against tough and determined Delvin Rodriguez.

What was already a difficult assignment got a bit more taxing when news broke late Sunday night that New Mexico boxing icon Johnny Tapia (right) had passed away at 45 after a long and tumultuous life.

“At first I didn't believe it,” Trout (right center) told TQBR Monday.

“You know Johnny, he's got like 20 lives. He has unfortunately OD'd numerous times. There have always been rumors of him dying. I didn't really believe it. 'Johnny didn't die, he's still alive,' is what I said. When I heard that they confirmed it I just felt, 'God, that is crazy.' There were stages of denial and sadness, now I am just praying for his family.”

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Showtime Returns 168 Pound Division; HBO, EPIX Happy to Refurbish

Showtime Returns 168 Pound Division; HBO, EPIX Happy to Refurbish
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
May 26, 2012

It took nearly three years to complete it, but the groundbreaking boxing endeavor that was the Super Six World Boxing Classic was good business for premium U.S. television network Showtime—until they decided to cash in their chips at the conclusion.

What Showtime did, which is invest conceivably millions of dollars as well as a high number of dates in a single weight class over a lengthy span of time only to walk away from the table once the tournament had reached its conclusion, is quite perplexing.

It's akin to purchasing a storage unit to house items that gain considerable value as time wears on, only to quit paying the bill at a high point in their value, thus letting someone else off the street come in and pick up your stuff for a slashed price.

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Obscure Offerings: The Cotto-Mayweather Edition

Obscure Offerings: The Cotto-Mayweather Edition
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
May 4, 2012

This weekend, as with two or three weekends of the calendar year, boxing will be king. Floyd Mayweather Jr. is back in the ring, on the cover of ESPN the Magazine, and in against a fighter familiar with the big stage in Puerto Rico's Miguel Cotto, who will be defending his alphabet title at junior middleweight against Floyd, catchweights checked at the door.

The only time the sport seems to be good enough for watercooler talk at the office in the States is when Floyd or Manny Pacquiao find themselves in the news or in the ring. With Floyd, his life outside the ropes has kept the sport afloat with the casual fan thanks to his impending jail sentence, as well as his sucker punch victory over Victor Ortiz last September and the follow-up post-fight interview low blow to the venerable Larry Merchant, who threatened Floyd that if Frank Sinatra were still crooning, he'd have his foot planted up the Las Vegas based star's ass.

You'll find this fight as well as the entire undercard covered elsewhere here at TQBR. The purpose of this piece is to clue you in on some of the action taking place on the more obscure side featuring some promising fighters who hope to make some sort of splash of their own. In today's saturated world of titleholders, there are a heavy number of trinkets at stake this weekend that will go largely disregarded. It doesn't mean that there aren't some quality fights taking place that may be worth a stream or a YouTube find following Saturday night's main festivities.

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Darnell Boone and the Education of Andre Ward

 In the May 2012 issue of British boxing publication Boxing Monthly, you can read my four-page spread on tough gatekeeper Darnell Boone, who dropped Andre Ward early in their careers and has been in with stiff competition his whole career, a lot of times on short notice. This was my first spread for the magazine. The article includes quotes from Boone, Ward, promoter Dan Goossen, and trainer Jack Loew.