Jacqui Snow's "K.O.'s"
Tuesday Report By "K.O."
Jacqui Snow
The Vegas betting odds showed Manny
Pacquiao to be a 10-1 favorite going into Saturday's bout. Once you
factored in all the distractions working against him, though, the
conditions were ripe for an upset and during the early part of the
fight, the undefeated Jorge Solis seemed poised to make that happen.
Pacquiao had his hands full from the opening bell and it actually
took him several rounds to figure out his opponent. In no small
part, this was due to the fact that Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie
Roach, had been missing in action at training camp. Roach, who was
named 2006 Trainer of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of
America, had ditched Pacquiao in favor of a more lucrative and
high-profile gig--he was in Puerto Rico training Oscar De La Hoya
for his upcoming bout with Floyd Mayweather. Instead, Justin
Fortune, who'd worked closely with Pacquiao and Roach, was entrusted
with the full-time job and Roach himself flew into Texas just hours
before the bout in order to be in his fighter's corner.
Adding to Pacquiao's woes was the serious legal battle in which he's
currently involved—a custody battle of sorts. It's alleged that he
signed an agreement with Bob Arum to fight under the Top Rank
Promotions banner while still under contract to Oscar De La Hoya's
Golden Boy Promotions. Golden Boy sued both Top Rank and Pacquiao to
enforce the seven-fight contract and the ongoing legal battle has
negatively affected Pacquiao's career, since Golden Boy has so far
refused to allow him to fight any of their boxers.
Pacquiao's biggest distraction, however, was his recent decision to
run for congress in his home country of the Philippines. Politicians
in that country are loathed and Pacquiao's noble claim that he wants
to get into politics to fight poverty and end corruption hasn't
appeased his fans, who insist that the system is rotten to the core
and he won't be able to make a difference. Pacquaio's popularity in
the Philippines goes far beyond that of a mere sports celebrity—he
is so beloved that when he returned home after beating Erik Morales,
the country held a church mass in his honor—and his decision to
enter the political fray in the Philippines is a huge disappointment
to his fans. It's also put his family in such danger he recently
applied for—and was granted—an exception to the country-wide gun
ban, claiming that his family has received kidnapping threats.
Whatever the reasons, Pacquiao's performance during the first five
rounds of the bout was so dismal that Roach was panicking in his
fighter's corner, urging him to step it up. In the sixth round, an
accidental headbutt opened a huge cut above Pacquiao's eye and, had
the decision gone to the cards, the nod would probably have gone to
Solis. That fact apparently wasn't lost on Pacquiao and, to the
relief of his fans, he began chasing the knockout as soon as the
bell rang to begin the 7th. Pacquiao threw huge punches, driving
Solis to the ropes, punishing him with both hands and Solis was
literally saved by the bell at the end of the round. In the 8th,
Pacquiao really let his hands fly, battering Solis with power shots
to the head and body and eventually dropping him with a left
uppercut. Remarkably, Solis managed to scramble to his feet, but
went down again seconds later and this time, was unable to beat the
count.
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Nikolai Valuev, the seven-foot, 300-pound attraction from Russia,
had been steadily chasing Rocky Marciano's 49-0 record and a win on
Saturday night in Stuttgart would have put him just two victories
away from breaking it. Valuev's record of 46-0 was deceptive, since
he's faced very weak opposition, so the prospect of Valuev taking
Marciano's place in the history books has had fans and historians in
a state of panic. Fortunately, Marciano's title is safe once more
and the boxing world breathed a little easier after Ruslan Chagaev,
a little-known challenger from Uzbekistan, scored a deceptively
narrow majority decision win. Even though Valuev is a foot taller
and 100 pounds heavier, he wasn't able to hurt Chagaev, or even land
anything meaningful. Chagaev is now the WBA heavyweight champion and
his record improves to 23-0-1 (17 KOs).
Photo: David Martin Warr - DKP
http://www.myspace.com/jacquis
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