Worst brain cramp of the year: Somehow Leonard Ellerbe, one of Mayweather's advisers, forgot that there had been a round of negotiations for the fight with Pacquiao during the summer and denied they ever took place. It was Ellerbe's word against Arum's, but when HBO's Ross Greenburg -- who was serving as an intermediary in the talks -- publicly admitted they took place, Ellerbe forfeited any shred of credibility he had on the subject. atschatschatsch http://espn.go.com/sports/boxing/blog/_/name/rafael_dan/id/5991754/wrapping-2010-boxing-awards
Dan Rafael is an idiot. I don't even know why ESPN hired him. He is basically just a fan boy who happens to work for a big sports industry. His articles are 9 times out of 10 biased. I never take what Dan Rafael says seriously.
I agree... I lost all respect for Rafeal when he rated Alfredo Gomez as a top ten welterweight right before he fought Cotto. It was a pathetic attempt to give that fight relevance when there was none.
Winky Wright School of Boxing Business Valedictorian: This award goes, hands down, to junior middleweight Alfredo "Perro" Angulo. When negotiations for a Martinez-Williams rematch were on the rocks in August, Angulo had the opportunity to slip in and fight Martinez for the title in the fall. Gary Shaw, Angulo's promoter, offered him a $750,000 purse (out of the total package of $1 million he was getting from Martinez promoter Lou DiBella). But Angulo turned it down, even though he'd never made more than $350,000 for a fight. Besides the payday, Shaw had gotten HBO to guarantee Angulo a lucrative comeback fight if he lost and had a promise from the WBC that Angulo's No. 1 junior middleweight ranking would not be impacted if he lost as a middleweight. Shaw also got Martinez to concede a few pounds and fight him at 157. Angulo demanded $900,000. Now he's saddled with immigration issues, hasn't fought since and has nothing on the horizon.
wrong, talks and negotiations are two different things. The blood test are non negotiable, so there were no negotiations. get it?
This article was obviously pre-written in October or early November, because none of the following fights are mentioned: Marquez/Katsidis Khan/Maidana Hopkins/Pascal And I know Rafael to be a good writer, he wouldn't leave them out unless he wrote it when they hadn't happened.
