Snips & Snipes | BoxRecNews

It is always interesting to look at the money in boxing. You rarely get a picture when it involves a voluntary defence, but where a title fight goes to purse bids it give a glimpse at that side of the sport. The bids for the IBF middleweight title bout between champion Sebastian Sylvester and Roman Karmazin saw a surprise as it not very often that the Germans are outbid. However the Russian promoter beat Saureland Events by $616, 515 to $521,414 so it looks as though that will go ahead in St Petersburg on May 8.

The return match between Giacobbe Fragomeni and Krzys Wlodarczyk for the vacant WBC cruiserweight title will be staged in Poland as the highest bid was “Bullit” Knockout Promotions at $616,000. Further down the scale Arena Box Promotions won the bidding for the interim WBC welterweight title between Selcuk Aydin and Luis Collazo. Collazo is a good, solid pro, but has not won a major fight since 2005. They need an interim champion because - well, I guess because of the sanctioning fee, since Andre Berto is not indisposed. What a farce these titles have become, and don’t kid yourself that this does not harm boxing - because it does.

Still on money, Albert Sosnowski will get $2.5 million for challenging Vitali Klitschko for the WBC title in Gelsenkirchen on May 29. To be honest after almost twelve years as a pro, and without a single win over a rated opponent, I felt he was being badly managed. However he has converted a win over a faded Danny Williams, a draw with Italian Francesco Pianeta and a win over another fast fading veteran, Paolo Vidoz, into a million dollar payday. That can’t be bad.

It is bad news for Audley Harrison who was to have fought Sosnowski in a fight which would have put him right back in the picture as European champion-if he had won, and that is a very big if.

Sosnowski gets the shot because Nikolai Valuev turned it down. Initially Valuev was offered $1.5 million, and then it was upped to £2.5. Valuev then consulted Don King and turned the offer down. Asking one promoter whether you should accept an offer from another promoter is not a good policy. I just don’t see where Valuev will get another offer like that.

The second sample for Dane Mads Larsen, associated with his fight with Brian Magee, also came back positive so unless he can explain it away he is looking at a suspension. At 37, and with only one fight in 13 months he can not really afford another long period of inactivity.

It is difficult to really figure the state of boxing. It differs from country to country and it depends on whether you judge it by the top strata or the grass roots. The Manny Pacquiao fight against Joshua Clottey will go on at the home of the Dallas Cowboys. The Yuri Foreman WBA light middle title defence against Miguel Cotto will go on at Yankee Stadium. Both of these are huge venues. Both fights will be televised. Yet the promoters and the owners of these stadiums must be confident that the fans will come out to see the fights. World title shows in Germany draw capacity crowds, boxing is a growing sport in the former Eastern Bloc countries and there are some professional shows being put on in China. All positive, and yet in Britain boxing has disappeared from terrestrial TV, some important fights, such as those of Carl Froch, are not even shown and only SKY shows any interest. As I say, it is hard to figure the health of boxing.

Former three division world champion James Toney (four if you count the time between him beating John Ruiz for the WBA heavyweight title and then testing positive for a banned substance in the post-fight tests) is going over the Mixed Martial Arts sport. There was a time when Toney was one of the best fighters in the world and it would have been upsetting to see him go over then. Now the news fills me a deep and intesnse feeling of...indifference.

Because of the profile of Manny Pacquiao there have been a couple of shows along the lines of The Philippines vs The Rest. It strikes me that the WBC super fly eliminator between Francisco Arce and Cris Mijares in Durango on April 10 has missed a great selling point. Both are fighting families with guys such as Jorge Arce and Ricardo Mijares and others in the respective clans. They could have made it into a clan war between the Arce family and the Mijares family and filled the bill from each family, probably the women as well. Now that would be different.

There has been a little bit of musical chairs going on. IBF light middle champion Cory Spinks has left his manager/trainer Kevin Cunningham, and in future will be trained by former WBC welterweight champion Buddy McGirt. Ugandan Kassim Ouma has left the Golden Boy/Peltz Boxing Promotions group and now declares himself a free agent. Round and round it goes.

Venezuelan Alex “Explosive” Munoz has announced his retirement at the age of 31. Alex set a record for a fighter who won a world title by scoring 23 consecutive wins inside the distance form the start of his career, a feat since surpassed by Edwin Valero-another Venezuelan. A Pan American Games silver medallist, Alex had a 163-9 record as an amateur with 129 wins inside the distance. He won the WBA super flyweight title in his 22nd fight, halting Shoji Kobayashi in Japan in March 2002. He never had home advantage in a title fight. He made three defences in Japan and then lost the title in Texas on a points decision to Mexican Martin Castillo ( who twice beat Floyd Mayweather Jr as an amateur)in December 2004. He lost on points to Castillo in a challenge for the title in January 2006 in Las Vegas. In May 2007 he regained the WBA title by outpointing Nobuo Nashiro in Tokyo and made two defences, also in Japan, before losing the title in May 2008 in a WBA/WBC unification match to another Mexican, Cris Mijares, in Mexico. Alex had two wins in 2009, the last in November, and finished with a career record of 37 fights 34 wins ( 27 by KO/TKO) and three losses-all the losses were on points in world title fights.

I like it when the sanctioning bodies get caught with their ratings down. Take the case of Rodrigo Guerrero who challenged Vic Darchinyan for the WBA and WBC super flyweight titles on March 6. The WBC did not have him in their top 40, so in theory he could not fight for their title, and so no sanctioning fee. It was the same for the WBA. However, without having fought, he suddenly appeared at No 15 in the WBC February ratings and No 12 in those of the WBA. It makes you believe in miracles, mention the word sanctioning fee and anything is possible.

If you have a title then you have to have people to fight for it. Sometimes that situation leads to some poor matches. Italian Andrea Sarritzu is to defend the European flyweight title against Frenchman Alain Bonnel. There is a European flyweight title – so you have to have fights for it. Sarritzu has a 30-4-4 record, including a draw with WBO champion Omar Narvaez. He is rated No 3 by the WBO and No 5 by both the WBC and IBF. Bonnel has a 13-16 record, has lost seven of his last nine fights and has been beaten twice by Sarritzu. The only thing you can say for Bonnel is that his two losses to Sarritzu were on points-but the fight is pointless.

Two good title fights involving South Africans coming up. Simphiwe Nongqayi defends his IBF super fly title against Frenchman Malik Bouziane on April 9 in Massy. Simphiwe won his title by beating Jorge Arce in Mexico, an achievement for which he has not really had the praise he deserves. Bouziane is the former undefeated European bantamweight champion, which he won by beating Ian Napa in March 2009.

The second is in South Africa where Nkosinathi Joyi challenges Raul Garcia for the IBF strawweight title. Southpaw Joyi, who has won his 20 fights, is a very talented little southpaw who has a good chance of lifting the title. “Rayito” isn’t just fighting outside of Mexico for the first time, he is fighting outside Baja California for the first time. However, also a southpaw, and a clever, tricky, one at that will not give up his title easily.

Great for South African boxing, but I can’t help but feel sorry for the “lost generation ” of black South African boxers, Levi Madi, Enoch Nhlapo, Joe Ngidi and so many others who, due to the apartheid laws, never had the facilities or the opportunity to realise their potential.