Ten strong rounds of boxing and mixed martial arts notes. Touch ’em up….. BY GEORGE WILLIS
Round 1: It seems every time James Toney fights these days it ends in controversy. His fight with Hasim Rahman ended abruptly Wednesday night when the bout was stopped after three rounds due to a nasty cut over Rahman’s left eye. The cut was caused by a clash of heads in the third round and between rounds Rahman told ringside doctors he couldn’t see clearly out of his left eye.
For several minutes it wasn’t clear if the fight was going to be ruled a no contest. But eventually Toney was declared the winner by technical knockout. “If it was me I would have continued to fight. But he was looking for any way out,” said Toney (71-6-3). “It a disappointing way to win because I was on my waying to knocking him out. But we’re back on top of the world.”
It was shaping up to be a decent fight with several aggressive exchanges. Toney dominated the third round, landing several hard blows that staggered Rahman, who seemed distracted by the cut. “The cut was deep, blood was streaming into my eyes, my vision was blurred and he was catching me with punches I couldn’t see,” Toney said. “I’m not going to try to fight James Toney with one eye. We’re going to appeal this. It should have been a no contest.”
The brief and confusing fight was seen on Fox Sports Net’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period” from the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, Calif. They last fought to a majority decision draw in March 2006 in Atlantic City.
Round 2: We’ll wait to see what was up with former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton Rampage Jackson who was arrested Tuesday after a police car chase and series of collisions allegedly involving a truck he was driving. Rampage was booked into Orange County Jail for investigation of felony evading, hit and run and reckless driving. Bail was set at $25,000. He has since been hospitalized for mental evaluation.Click here to read the latest news.
Round 5:Floyd Mayweather Sr.. told David Mayo of the Grand Rapids Press that Floyd Jr. will “definitely” fight again. “He’ll be back. No question. No doubt,” Floyd Sr. says. He says one of the reasons for Floyd Jr. announcing his retirement is he didn’t want to risk losing to Oscar De La Hoya, who was going to be trained by Floyd Sr. for the proposed September rematch. “He didn’t want his daddy to whip him,” Floyd Sr. said. When and if Mayweather returns, it will be interesting to see what kind of reception he gets from HBO, who he has accused of being biased toward African-American fighters.
Round 6:Marco Antonio Barrera’s split from Golden Boy Promotions comes as no surprise. A divorce seemed imminent a year ago when he lost a tough decision to Juan Manuel Marquez and Barrera seemed miffed his partnership with Golden Boy didn’t earn him more influence with the judges. Now Marquez is Golden Boy property and Barrera might be distancing himself from the company to get a rematch.
Round 7: UFC welterweight champion Anderson Silva, considered by many the best pound-for-pound fighter in mixed martial arts, would still like to take on Roy Jones Jr. in a boxing match someday. “I’ll always be interested in boxing and what better way to challenge yourself than fight Roy Jones,” Silva said through an interpreter. “Is that a goal? Sure. But it’s probably not going to happen for a couple of years. Right now I’m focusing on my MMA career and that’s where my mindset is.”
Round 8: Not sure exactly why Paul Williams wanted to mess with Kelly Pavlik . Looks like their proposed bout isn’t going to happen. Williams should be thankful.
Round 9: Scouting boxers at the Olympics is a lot like scouting Latin America for baseball prospects. You don’t just try to sign all the gold medal winners. “We’ve never gone about it that way,” said Top Rank boss Bob Arum. “Our guys are the ones that fall off the trees; the ones that get beat in the first round or don’t even go to the Olympics. (Miguel) Cotto lost in the first round and (Kelly) Pavlik didn’t even go to the Olympics.”
Round 10: Keep an eye on junior middleweight Austin Trout who showed lots of promise in his national television debut last week on ESPN. Trout (15-0) earned a unanimous eight-round decision over previously unbeaten Byron Tyson. Trout of Las Cruces, N.M., spent several weeks sparring with Shane Mosley before Mosley’s fight with Zab Judah was canceled. Trout is hoping to talk with Golden Boy Promotions about fighting for that company.
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