Listen on Sunday night 12/21/08 as Lee Honish (Host/Founder), Matt Aguilar (El Paso Times), and Andrew Lapachet (Primer Round Magazine) discuss their final thoughts on this year in boxing and the year that it has coming. Also, we will cover the Holyfield/Valuev fight as we pray and watch as the Four-Time Heavyweight Champion Evander Holyfeild at the age of 46 yrs. travel to Switzerland to face 7’ft. WBA Heavyweight Champion Nicolay Valuev. In the Lapachet report we will cover the following topics and more…..

If Mayweather is willing then Pacquaio must accept

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is ready to return to the ring? News from Grand Rapids is that he has a comeback plan set and is gunning for Pound-4-Pound Champion Manny Pacquiao. If these reports were true Pacquiao would have to accept this challenge with open arms. Why would he have a fight in between and allow Mayweather time to work off ring rust. Besides why risk the opportunity of making this mega fight? Manny Pacquiao peeked last Saturday night when he destroyed Oscar De La Hoya in his first fight at the welterweight division. Everyone that didn’t know Manny Pacquaio before the fight, knows him now after the beat down. Even the ones who didn’t think he deserved to be pound-for-pound now know that Manny Pacquaio is the best fighter in the world, hands down. You want to see what happens when the earth stands still, put these two champions in the ring next summer. Mayweather vs. Pacquiao would stop time for 48 minutes around the world. Both of these men are known from shore to shore which would make this and historical fight.

Does Hatton Really Have Room To Talk?

Early this week Ricky Hatton came out and told Mayweather to back off, that Manny Pacquiao was going to fight him first. Right away I asked myself does he really have an option? Last thing I remember was Floyd knocking Hatton out. Early next year should be the final promotions for a summer showdown between the two pound-for-pound champions. Manny should fight Zab Judah and Mayweather should fight any hand picked opponent to get the ring rust off. There’s no need for any more build up, these two fighters are at the peak of their careers. Both men have been fighter of the year twice, Pacquiao in 2006&2008, and Mayweather in 1998&2007. Pacquiao has beaten the likes of Barrera, Morales, Marquez, Diaz, and now De La Hoya. Mayweather has beaten the likes of Hernandez, Corrales, Castillo, De La Hoya, and Hatton. To put this in perspective towards the Hit Man he has won the zero awards for Fighter Of The Year and has beaten only one legend, Tszyu. The rest of his titles come from Collazo, Maussa, and Urango. Someone has to ask, if it wasn’t for Ricky Hatton fan base would he be getting this opportunity right now?

Pacquiao vs. Judah Early 2009

Bob Arum flew to the Philippines this week to celebrate Manny’s 30th birthday, and also talk about future opponents. Before he left, he said “ Zab Judah could be a possible opponent for Pacquiao in May 2009.” This is by far the best move for Manny right now, Pacquiao has already showed us his power and speed has carried up to the welterweight division, now all we need to know is if his reflexes have. That’s where Zab Judah steps in, one of the fastest men in the division still, Judah will provide that final answer to the question, can Manny deal with the speed of Mayweather’s hands? If Pacquiao handily defeats Judah like he did De La Hoya, there will be no doubt in my mind, the fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao will be the begging of the end of times. Good vs. Evil is how the fans will described this fight; they should title this one Armageddon.

Margarito Calls out Manny Pacquiao

WBA Welterweight Champion Antonio Margarito was quoted this week saying “he would gladly fight Manny Pacquiao.” He thought Manny looked so good that he proved he could fight the better welterweights, and he’s not the only person thinking that way. Since the replay of the fight, many people now give Manny a shot at any welterweight right now. Just think in a perfect world if Margarito defeated both Mosley and Cotto, and Pacquiao defeated Judah and Mayweather. How big a fight between them two would be?

HBO Showing Dawson vs. Tarver II

No surprise here, IBF Light Heavyweight Champion Chad Dawson’s next fight will be aired on HBO, what was a surprise is that its against Antonio Tarver. All Tarver proved in the first fight is that he could last twelve rounds with the younger, faster, champion, at no time was this fight close. Bad move for Tarver, he can’t afford back-to-back losses. Risky move for Dawson to but in this case, going to pay-off big, if he defeats Tarver again there’s no way he isn’t the runner up for Joe Calzaghe. That will be huge wins Tomasz Adamek, Glenn Johnson, and Antonio Tarver (twice). Nice way to start your career on HBO.

Wright Finds His Way Back To HBO

Winky Wright was a hot subject this week, first it was reported that HBO turned down a fight between Jermain Taylor and Carl Froch because they wanted Taylor to fight either Mikkel Kessler or Winky Wright, then later that week it came out that Wright was to be featured as the co-main event for Dawson/Tarver II, on March 14th. Isn’t this a win-win situation for Winky? Both fights are very winnable; first, you have J.T. who if you went off his last performance or even his last three performances looks like his best days are passed him. Then on the other hand you have Paul Williams and even though he looked great in his last three performances, they weren’t against a quality opponent like the former undisputed Jr. Middleweight Champion. Wright has a great defense and a sneaky left hand; a prepared Winky Wright might give the young champion some serious growing pains.

Robert Guerrero signs with Golden Boy Promotions

For having the nickname “The Ghost” Robert Guerrero wasn’t that hard to find when he hit the free agency market after winning his arbitration case against his former promoter Dan Goosen. Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy promotions wasted no time in acquiring the former 2-Time IBF Featherweight Champion. At the age of 25yr and a record of 22-1-1, 15 KO’s, this young champion is clearly one of the rising stars in the sport. Out of his last seventeen fights his record is 15-1-1, 15 KO’s, and in his four championship fights he’s 4-0, 4 KO’s. Adding Guerrero will immediately help Golden Boy too as there already looking to feature him on the under-card of Margarito/Mosley on January 24th.

Andrew Lapachet
www.primerround.com/www.fightnetlive.com