Bits & Pieces: Bradley's trainer weighs in on Marquez fight

Bits & Pieces: Bradley's trainer weighs in on Marquez fight
Mark E. Ortega
RingTV.com
September 10, 2013


In attendance at Saturday’s card in Indio, Calif., was trainer Joel Diaz, who has a big fight coming up next month as he prepares Timothy Bradley to face Juan Manuel Marquez.

A lot of people are arguing that Bradley will have a hard time coming off the rough fight he had with Ruslan Provodnikov in March (recently voted best fight of the year so far in a RingTV poll). Diaz explained to RingTV why that fight was difficult and why it won’t affect him in October.

“One of the biggest reasons he got hurt in the last fight is that he blew up to 185 pounds due to the injuries to his feet [from the Manny Pacquiao fight last June],” said Diaz.

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Commentary: Boxing is dead? Again?

Boxing is dead? Again?
Mark E. Ortega
RingTV.com
September 6, 2013


Boxing fans who tuned in Thursday afternoon to ESPN’s debate show Pardon the Interruption collectively shuddered when hosts Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon declared the sport one fight away from being dead.

It should come as no surprise, though. Whenever a big fight looms the way next Saturday’s bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez does, casual followers of the sport kick in their two cents on the state of the game.

“He’s the last headliner out there in professional boxing,” stated Wilbon about Mayweather.

“What other names do you know? You know the Klitschko name, that’s it. Who else do you know,” said Kornheiser.

“He’s the last guy out there for a sport that’s all but dead,” said Wilbon. “This is it. It’s over for boxing after this.”

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Vargas hopes patience pays off with tonight's HBO debut

Vargas hopes patience pays off with tonight's HBO debut
Mark E. Ortega
RingTV.com
March 16, 2013


In the short term, it looked as though Jessie Vargas had made a mistake leaving the stable of fellow Las Vegas resident Floyd Mayweather Jr. to join up with Las Vegas-based Top Rank Promotions nearly a year ago.

 Prior to the switch, Vargas had been positioned well in showcase bouts on Mayweather pay-per-view undercards, perhaps the most visibility a young fighter could ask for.

 After being brought on with Top Rank, Vargas took a bit of a step back. He was no longer fighting Josesito Lopez or Steve Forbes type guys at the MGM Grand on pay-per-view. He had been relegated to fighting lesser heralded names like Aaron Martinez and Vito Gasparyan on ESPN2 at places away from the Las Vegas Strip.

 But when Top Rank and their matchmakers Bruce Trampler and Brad Goodman make decisions on what speed they are going to move you at, you would be smart to listen.

 “They did tell me to be patient, that they were gonna get me there,” said Vargas in a phone interview with RingTV on Thursday.

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Josesito Lopez and the Eight-Year Plan

Josesito Lopez and the Eight-Year Plan
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
June 28, 2012


Though many memorable moments remain from last Saturday's shocking result at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, one of those moments that stuck with me late into the following week about Josesito Lopez was simply him making his ringwalk. Emblazoned on the right breast of his jacket was a large logo: Thompson Boxing.

Josesito Lopez was the first fighter Thompson Boxing signed to a contract in 2004. Though they cut the opening day ribbon on their company in 2000, Lopez was the first fighter to sign an exclusive deal to be promoted by the Orange County-based outfit.

Both promoter and fighter have ridden through their fair share of bumps in the road, but Lopez's upset win this past Saturday over Victor Ortiz was an unquestionable high point.

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Family Drama at the Center of Ortiz-Lopez Tonight

Family Drama at the Center of Ortiz-Lopez Tonight
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
June 23, 2012


At Friday's weigh-in for the Victor Ortiz-Josesito Lopez card taking place at Staples Center later Saturday, TQBR had a chance to catch up with Ortiz trainer Danny Garcia afterwards.

In an article posted at TQBR on June 19, Josesito Lopez and his trainer Henry Ramirez were quoted as saying that Garcia's father Eduardo had giving them insight on how to beat Ortiz. Eduardo started out Victor as a fighter.

“I think it is a bunch of bull,” said Danny Garcia when asked what he thought about it. “I think that Josesito's trainer Henry is just trying to play mind games, and even if he did help there is no information that is going to help Josesito Lopez beat Victor tomorrow. Even if my dad was working in their corner, that wouldn't change the outcome of the fight.”

TQBR had a chance to relay Danny Garcia's thoughts to Ramirez earlier Saturday.

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Josesito Looks to Upset the Odds Against Victor Ortiz

Josesito Looks to Upset the Odds Against Victor Ortiz
Mark E. Ortega
Queensberry-Rules.com
June 19, 2012

There aren't many giving Riverside, Calif.'s Josesito Lopez much of a chance to overturn the already set table of his June 23 opponent Victor Ortiz at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in the Showtime Championship Boxing main event.

Among those is Ortiz's promoter Golden Boy Promotions, who has a tentative date set in September for Ortiz to move up to junior middleweight and take on one of boxing's few box-office beaus Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in a pay-per-view attraction set for the weekend of Mexican Independence Day.

This isn't the first time Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KOs) has been setup to win at the Staples Center. Almost three years to the day, featherweights Chris John and Rocky Juarez were set to rematch atop a bill that featured Ortiz against the largely unknown Marcos Maidana in the co-feature. John-Juarez II fell out and Ortiz found himself headlining at perhaps the biggest venue in California. Ortiz was being hailed as one of the sport's future stars by all the important outlets.

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