Leija spent much of his career beating the Tier B fighters (except Juan Lazcano, to whom he lost a horrendous decision in 2000) and losing to the Tier A fighters (except Azumah Nelson, against whom he went 2-1-1). “The champions really want to either take a big money fight against an A-level guy, or they’ll occasionally fight a B-level guy if they don’t believe they’re taking a serious risk of losing their titles.” “The superstars in boxing are looking to make big money, or they’re looking for an easy fight,” said veteran promoter and manager Lester Bedford, who straddled the line between Tier A and Tier B for about a dozen years with former 130-pound titlist Jesse James Leija. But in reality, the outlook is the same for all 10 fighters: Even if they establish themselves this Saturday night as the cream of the second tier, they’ll still be staring at a sizable leap before they can sniff the first tier. You might think that’s good news for the Bradley-Holt winner, and bad news for the winners on the “Lightweight Lightning” PPV card. Whereas junior lightweight and lightweight were glamour divisions in the very recent past, all of the glamour has slid up the scale to junior welterweight and welterweight, and Marquez, the last superstar at 135 pounds, would gladly pack on another five or 10 pounds for a VIP showdown. Rolando Reyes, and one thing uniting all eight fighters is that none of them can command major dollars at the moment. On Showtime, Timothy Bradley and Kendall Holt will battle to unify a couple of junior welterweight alphabet belts.Īnd on pay-per-view, eight lightweights in varying degrees of contention will square off in four seemingly competitive fights. This coming weekend in boxing is a velvet-rope special, featuring an abundance of quality fights between quality fighters who could slip a bouncer a hundred bucks and only get a half-hearted “Let me see what I can do” in return. They don’t fight all that oftenÔÇömaybe twice a yearÔÇöand when they do, they typically fight each other. We know who the VIPs are between the lightweight and welterweight divisions: Manny Pacquiao, Ricky Hatton, Floyd Mayweather, Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley and, after quite a few years spent stomping around angrily in line while staring at his watch, Juan Manuel Marquez. Photo / Chris Farina-Top RankĪt the world-class level in the sport of boxing, there are two kinds of fighters: those who can cut any line and command a direct escort to the VIP section, and those who spend all night hugging the velvet rope. Of all the fighters in action this Saturday undefeated lightweight KO artist Edwin Valero has the most potential to advance to “superstar” status, or at least earn a shot at one, but he has look good beating tough Antonio Pitalua first.
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