SCENARIO: You've recently been recruited to work for Top Rank, but they have a bit of a problem. With the vast amounts of top name fighters on their books, Arum and co struggle to manage their time sufficiently between all their world-class athletes. So with Arum guilty of spending too much time negotiating for the likes of Cotto & Pavlik and sorting their recent fights, aswell as attempting to rebuild the career of Margarito, there is a risk of ignoring his prospects and wasting valuable years in their careers. So Arum has recruited YOU as a temporary match-maker for both This content is protected & This content is protected . It is your job to arrange the next 5 fights of both guys. Find opponents that are beatable and will continue to propel both guys up the boxing ladder. So who would JuanMa be matched against in his next 5 fights? Who would Donaire be up against? Feel free to explain your choices briefly for both aswell if you like, why have you decided to make these particular fights? What are the chances of winning the fight for either JuanMa or Donaire? What will it do to their careers if they lose? All things that need to be considered. I'll post my choices up soon. *Include the opponent, date - doesn't have to be specific just month and year - and a possible venue - again nothing specific if you don't want to, just a country. I know that may seem obvious because some might put United States for every venue, but you may Lopez & Donaire to fight at home in Puerto Rico or the Phillipines respectively.
Nice thread Tommy :good Juanma Lopez August 09 - Steve Molitor Former champion who will test him a bit but Juanma should prevail. Have this as the co-feature of a big fight. December 09 - Rafael Marquez Really tough fight and a big step up. This should be a headliner on HBO WCB. Again in the US. Hopefully Rafa has had 2 fights by this time with the 2nd seeing him regain the WBC SBW title. March '10 -(assuming he beats Rafa) Israel Vazquez After Rafa this would make sense. Izzy will have had a fight or two and both guys will be ready. This might be at FW as Izzy said he wants to move up. July '10 - Bit of a dilemma here. If he beats Marquez and Vazquez do you fight Caballero? Do you put on the brakes and have a 'soft' hometown defence? Or do you step up to FW? I'd take the plunge and fight Caballero and try to get the fight in PR or MSG (on PR Independance Day weekend) and effectively clean up at SBW. Dec '10 -By now Juanma should be a big star and top 10 p4p. With nothing left at SBW we'd step him up to FW and look for the biggest fight. We wouldn't look to fight a soft titleholder and face him for the title. We'd fight Yuriorkis Gamboa a fellow top 10 p4p'er and The Man at FW. It'd be a massive fight which the fans and media would be calling for. $$ would dictate and the fight would end up at the MGM Grand on HBO PPV. I realise this would be a really hectic schedule for Juanma and one filled with difficult fights (apart from maybe the Molitor fight) but it's be worth it and Juanma would be a superstar by the end of it.
Interesting thread Tommy.. It's simple, I would just manage Donaire FINITO style and drive him all the way to the top real quick.. Under my guidance, he would surpass Pacman.
Interesting choice. Molitor's a slick guy who despite his loss to Caballero I think can cause problems. But I definately think JuanMa would have the beating of him, and at the risk of sounding stupid, at the time of his choice. I think he could box Molitor for a few rounds to earn some valuable experience against a slick fighter, but I think Molitor's loss to Caballero showed that pressure and power is the way to beat him. I think once JuanMa ups his work rate he KO's him. I really feel if Arum had any sense he would throw JuanMa in with Marquez A.S.A.P, because as much as I love Rafa, I think Lopez would beat him, especially after that brutal war with Izzy. It gives JuanMa an opportunity to step messing around and beat the man at 122, now Vazquez has moved up, before he out grows the weight. I agree it makes sense, I think JuanMa will definately be ready for 126 at this point, he may of even outgrown 122. I honestly think he'd beat Vazquez aswell because he seems to have everything. Speed, power, southpaw stance, great stamina and work rate, decent chin, good technical ability and fundamentals. Again especially if that trilogy with Rafa has taken a bit out of him. So you reckon he can go back to 122 if he fights and beats Vazquez at 126? I dunno, but I'd like to see a fight with Caballero at some time. He's high risk though because of his power and pressure, plus he's 5'11" and has a good chin. But I think JuanMa's superior technical ability and speed wins him this fight. Obviously we are going on hypotheticals here and predicting that Gamboa makes it big and into the P4P top 10. I think it's safe to say he will, he's a talented fighter and I think he'll be matched well enough to take over at 126. Especially as I have a feeling Chris John may move up soon. Gamboa would definately cause JuanMa problems with his speed and power, but vice versa. I think JuanMa has slightly better fundamentals aswell, and a better chin. He's probably less likely to get caught big aswell, so I'd take him in this match up anytime soon. Cheers for the reply ishy, some good choices and a nice all-round post. :good
This thread sounds like a lot of fun. I guess I'll pitch in with thoughts of my own, first and foremost being JuanMa Lopez. To further add a bit of intrigue to the situation, I'm going to try my damndest to avoid using Izzy Vasquez and Rafa Marquez. First off if I'm JuanMa's manager, I'm praying to god that Cotto loses each and every time he falls out. Miguel fights at a higher more lucrative weight so he'll get first dibs financially as THE headliner from PR. If he loses, Juan Ma goes up. Therefore a lot of my energy would be bad juju for Cotto. It's not fair but hey, if I've learned anything recently it's that boxing is an unfair business. Mid to Late July 2009, Boardwalk Hall New Jersey, Juan Manuel Lopez vs Bernard Dunne NATURALLY you'd want to run JuanMa Lopez at the big stage during the PR Day Parade weekend...unfortunately that spot is occupied by Miggy Cotto so we'll settle for a smaller locale and a different time for Juan Manuel Lopez vs Bernard Dunne. Dunne is proven on a world level and is a good opponent for Juan Manuel Lopez....with the heart and skill to put JuanMa in a very aesthetically pleasing fight. Bernard is a tough gutsy warrior coming off a huge win over Ricardo Cardoba. He's a respectable opponent and HBO would have no problem selling an irish fighter to it's viewing populace. I would look into buying the rights for the footage to Cardoba/Dunne and airing it on all the fringe sports stations on the East Coast leading up to the fight (a process used for John Duddy fights on the East Coast). Juan Ma would bring in his fanbase and if used properly, Dunne could bring in a large irish contigent to NJ for a barnburner/blood bath of a fight. Juan Ma would succeed in what I figure would be a war (TKO 7) and onto the next opponent. Hopefully between July and December, JuanMa learns enough english to be able to speak fluently with the media. I'd still hace him use a translator post fight but for the sake of marketability he should be as bilingual as possible. Early December 2009, MGM Grand Las Vegas,W Nevada WBC/IBF Unification Bout Juan Manuel Lopez vs Celestino Caballero on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather Jr-Manny Pac PPV I wanted to put Rafa in this spot but I said I'd try not to use him or Izzy for this so Jhonny gets the gig. IF I'm working for Top Rank and Juan Ma, I'm running to Arum and screaming for him to put my guy on the undercard of the biggest PPV of the year. Floyd vs Manny will garner over 1,000,000 buys and I want that added exposure for Juan Manuel Lopez. Lopez at this point is an established player for HBO and has had so many great fights at this point that people will be dying to see him again. One of the problems I figure to arise would be Celestino Caballero and potentially a fight over money and split. IF Celestino gives me a hard time over money, I jump to Jhonny Gonzalez as soon as possible. Jhonny is a proven name and has HBO experience. Not only that but Jhonny boy is Mexican and that means PR-Mexico rivalry buys are in full effect. Regardless I push my damndest for Caballero on the biggest PPV of the year. Caballero is a tough name but I trust my guy to put him down. JuanMa beats Caballero and we jump to: Mid March 2010 Caguas, Puerto Rico against Antonio Escalante This fight works both ways. If Lopez loses to Caballero, it's a nice little confidence bounce back fight. If Lopez wins against Caballero, it's a decent respectable breather of an opponent who can give JuanMa his work and keep him in the public eye. Lopez is still young and I have no interest in burning out my young protege with mega fight after mega fight after mega fight. Escalante of course isn't no joke coming off wins over Gary Stark Jr and Mike Oliver and David Martinez. With a five fight win streak on his side he has enough momentum (and decent names) to be a respectable sort of opponent. Still I can't think of one thing Escalante does that could bother JuanMa. The point here is to keep JuanMa Lopez active, in the eye of the public but not risk burning him out before the bigger fights come up. It also has a message of "I haven't forgotten about you" to his local fans, a way to keep touch with your home base. I also probably sit with JuanMa's camp and have a real serious talk about moving up in weight to chase the bigger fish out there. There's a chance HBO won't accept this fight but if that's the case, I tell Bob to put it on PPV. At this point it'd be worth the shot of sticking your toe into the waters and testing your PPV value. After all you make the money on PPV and if JuanMa isn't going to be THAT sort of fighter, I'd want to find out as soon as possible. Juan Ma handles Escalante easily and we jump right into the future again with fight #4: PR Parade Weekend June 2010 MSG against Rocky Juarez Juan Manuel Lopez' people come to me and say "Juan Ma is ready to go up in weight." Fine by me, let's vacate the titles and look to make more money. JuanMa decides to make his debut at 126 lbs come against the tough as nails power puncher Rocky Juarez. Obviously Rocky isn't the toughest test at featherweight but for his 1st fight at the weight? I think I could do a lot worse. The point is to get his feet wet and see if the division is right for him, not to blow down the doors on the first opportunity in. Obviously Rocky Juarez is probably the only consistent HBO based fighter in the FW division, the lovable loser with pop who HBO has no problem showcasing at a consistent basis. Juan Manuel Lopez at this point should be bordering on a BIG name at least on the East Coast, BIG enough for me to want to test his drawing power IN MSG on the eve of the PR Parade. I figure that alone can get me to cut close to even. Juarez has only lost to top names (Juan Ma, MAB, Soto and John soon) so I don't see the problem with this fight. HBO would jump at the opportunity to showcase a big fight at The Garden with two fighters they've consistently shown off on a number of occasions. Not only that but I'd venture to guess that JuanMa can knock Soto out which is something that hasn't ever been done before. That + a huge budding national fanbase + HBO backing + the hype machine that is the media = big bucks at Featherweight. I considered Chris John but I figure he and Gamboa are on a collision course long before I get to this point which'll eat up some time. I would NOT put him in there with Steve Luevano because Luevano has he stytle to make JuanMa Lopez look boring which is something I'd desperately go out of my way to avoid. JuanMa kicks Juarez' ass and we get the fifth bout of this little tour: November 2010, MGM Grand Las Vegas Nevada Juan Manuel Lopez vs Yuriorkis Gamboa OR Bernabe Conception This SHOULD be on PPV. That said if HBO deems it unworthy of PPV heading, I have no problem letting this be a WCB fight. Gamboa vs JuanMa would be a bit of a hard sell with neither fighter being American and neither fighter speaking any english. It also doesn't have the PR vs Mexico rivalry to push it. That said from a PURE boxing fans perspective THAT is the fight I have to see. I cross my fingers hoping Yuriorkis Gamboa is able to beat Chris John and blow right through him onto an ultra mega super bout at 126. If I have my way this fight main events the PPV and we do as many sequels as possible to it. This will win FOTY as both guys have bravado gung ho warrior styles and WILL let the fists fly. The pure power of JuanMa Lopez against the speed and combination work of Gamboa. This would get the hard sell treatment and I figure that if I've done my job properly and HBO has done its job properly, we can about 300K buys. That's perfectly fine for me as I figure a trilogy could wrap up at 500K. IF Chris John manages to conquer Gamboa, I say "**** that" and move onto Bernabe Conception. IF the cards are dealt properly, Bernabe should be the successor of Manny Pac by this point in 2010. Very talented with charisma and punching power that will bring the Pac fanatics in full force. I'm also going to guess that Top Rank pulls the trigger on Cotto vs Pac and THIS would be the next stop in a new budding rivalry in boxing. Both fighters bring a ton of energy and charisma into fight night and with no GBP or ArenaBox to share with, Top Rank gets to keep all the profits of what should be a very profitable event. I don't put this on PPV unless I'm forced...but if the fight lives up to its billing, you can bet the sequel will be seen for 39.95 or whatever the cost of PPV is at that point. So there's my run down of 5 fights involving JuanMa WITHOUT using the two usual suspects (Izzy and Rafa)
