Only Half A Pac Dennis Bernstein, MBA @ Ringside  www.scoremedia.org www.thefourthperiod.com/columnists/bernstein.htm www.fansvoice.com Photos: Chris Farina - Top Rank San Antonio – Well, you can’t say that Bob Arum isn’t a gracious man. After making all that green with Manny Pacquiao on the Erik Morales trilogy, Arum served up a softball in the name of Jorge Solis Saturday night at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Rather than closing the night with a bang, it ended more like a whimper as Pacquiao KO’d the far inferior Sosa at 1:16 of the eighth round to retain the less than coveted WBC International Super Featherweight title. On balance, the night was entertaining for the 14,793 in attendance (the second largest crowd ever to see a fight in San Antonio) and the ones that spent $ 44.95 on the pay per view. The televised bouts went like this……..

MANNY PACQUIAO KO 8 JORGE SOLIS
 

Boy, do folks love that WBC International Super Featherweight title or what? Never seen crowds this size (announced as 14,793) to defend such an insignificant belt. OK, it is all about Manny and Arum’s smart enough to find a decent Mexican to match up against him to make the Latinos blood boil every six months to pack places. Maybe it was the upcoming election in his native Philippines. Maybe it was the silly idea of having TWO trainers in the corner (Freddy Roach really needs to check his ego at the door, coming in for one night while training Oscar De la Hoya). Maybe it was the fact that Solis was stiff and certainly not a fighter that looked like one with a record of 30-0-2 should. At least part of it was the fact that the man standing in front of him wasn’t named Marquez, Barrera or Morales, Manny definitely fought down to the level of his competition. Whatever it was, on this night Pacquiao was nowhere near the form that we saw in his three round destruction of Erik Morales back in November. I’m still trying to figure out why it took eight rounds for Pacman to put this guy away. Solis wasn’t awkward, wasn’t tricky and certainly had no power behind his punches. Pacquiao only warmed to the task after getting sliced over the left eye in the sixth round after an accidental head butt. At that point, Pacquiao stepped up his sense of urgency and after using the seventh round to measure Solis, he floored him twice in the eighth before referee Vic Drakulich waved it off. “Manny is a great fighter but to be honest, I think my wife hits harder than him. You always hear how hard a puncher he is, but is he? No,” exclaimed the losing Solis in the press conference. What lies next for Pacquiao is his choice of two rematches, either Marco Antonio Barrera or Juan Manuel Marquez for big money but Arum hinted in the press conference that Joan Guzman may be next in Pacman’s path. “Anybody has to understand that if they want to make any money at 130 pounds, they have to fight Manny Pacquiao, he’s the draw,” the promoter related. Pacquiao shrugged off any hints of retirement if he wins a Congressional seats back home, “If I win the election next month, I’m still fighting because that’s my income,” Manny joked with an insisting Arum behind him.

CRISTIAN MIJARES UD 12 JORGE ARCE
 

Boxing’s Clown Prince, Jorge Arce got clowned tonight. In a dominating performance in front of a heavily-pro Arce crowd, the WBC Super Flyweight Champion Mijares sliced the challenger to shreds with his right jab. Through the first six rounds, it looked like Arce had never faced a left hander in his life. I know there aren’t a ton of 108 pound left handers running around Mexico to spar with, but you would have thought that Arce’s camp would have flown one in from somewhere. By the seventh round, Arce was totally frustrated and tried to make it a brawl, leaving him open to Mijares’ pin point attack, culminating in his worst loss of his career and his first in almost seven years (Arce lost the WBO Light Flyweight title to Michael Carbajal in July of 1999). Perhaps next time, Travieso will practice against a lefty or two. While this doesn’t kill the anticipated match up with 112 pound champ Vic Darchinyan, it certainly puts a damper on a match that probably was a headliner for Showtime. It still may happen because Arce is a known quantity and Mijares is unknown. “I’m very disappointed. I’m not going to make any excuses, I’m a man. Tonight he beat me in every which way. It was a great win for Mijares, I won’t take anything away from him. All the great champions fall sometime, what makes you greater is getting up once you fall,” Arce admitted.

JULIO CEASAR CHAVEZ KO 2 ANTHONY SHULER
 

Just a couple of sentences on the great warrior’s offspring. Someday they’ll actually put him in the ring with a dangerous competitor, but not tonight. Yeah, he did hit this scrub with a nice right to end the match but the best thing Chavez has going for him is still his last name. Arum, whose style is to protect fighters, (see Miguel Cotto) already pays Chavez, Jr. close to six figures per bout because off his (actually his dad’s) popularity. Though he fought contractually at 151, he plans to stay in the welterweight division for the next two years in pursuit of a title. Given how often he fights, he might be 59-0-1 by that time. Yes, Junior does have skill but having to live up to his father’s legacy is an impossible task.

EDGAR SOSA MD12 BRIAN VILORIA
 

Brian Viloria had it made. With his electrifying one punch KO of Eric Gomes in May of 2005 that won him the WBC Super Flyweight Championship, he was on the cusp of stardom. He’s young, good looking, charismatic and a good kid; the type of guy you’d want your sister to date. And then a funny thing happened; Viloria stopped throwing punches, a pesky habit for if one’s chosen profession is boxing. He was sluggish in losing his strap against Omar Nino Romero and had a bit of bad luck in a controversial draw in the rematch but was the favorite in this championship match up against Edgar Sosa. He is more talented than Sosa, as his punches were the cleaner and crisper through the first eight rounds. But with Sosa not taking a step backward throughout the match, Viloria tired late and lost the final rounds, giving him a loss that puts a once-promising career at a crossroads. As Viloria faced increasingly tougher competition, his inability to produce one punch knockouts showed his biggest weakness, a lesser work rate than his opponents. He’s now 0-2-1 in his last three bouts and his current trainer, Joe Goossen has to figure out a better way for Viloria, this way ain’t working. “I told you I was going to take the belt to Mexico and I did,” the victorious Sosa conveyed.