HBO’S FIRST CARD A DECENT OFFERING

New York, NY- The first meaningful match up this year will be the January 17, welterweight (147 lbs.) WBC title match between Andre Berto (23-0 19 KOs) and Luis Collazo (29-3 14 KOs). Berto's, belt will be on the line as he faces what is likely his toughest opponent to date in Collazo. Berto will need to look good against Collazo if he expects to remain champion and make a larger impact on the division. Likewise, if Collazo is planning on making some noise in the welterweight division in the near future, a win against Berto makes him someone to pay attention to at 147. This will likely be a defining fight for both fighters, and considering what is at stake, it should be a competitive one as well.

COLLAZO BRINGS SOLID RESUME TO THE TABLE

”RING TALK” SCOOPED EVERYONE ON SHANE & 'ROIDS!

San Francisco, CA- In recent days, the MaxBoxing.com website has delved into Shane Mosley's admission to using steroids known as the “cream and the clear.” According to evidence in Federal custody, Shane used steroids in preparation for his second fight with Oscar De La Hoya. While this might come to some of you as a surprise, those that have been here for longer than a few minutes know that I penned this “exclusive” story back in 2004.

TOOK BOTH HEAT & THREATS AFTERWARDS

People jumped all over me. Shane’s team called me a liar and Judd Burstein, Mosley’s lawyer, was talking lawsuit! My source was within the Grand Jury system, thus I knew then as I do now, that my story was correct and that Shane had done “cycles” of both then undetectable steroids.

PASSED LIE DETECTOR TEST & NOW ADMITS 'ROIDS

DOES PANAMA DESERVE ANOTHER CHANCE?

San Francisco, CA- There are very few guys around that can mold raw talent into that of a champion. Deceased trainers Ray Arcel, Freddie Brown, they were two all time great teachers. They were eastern legends while on the left side of the US was LA’s Jackie McCoy. These were the “old school” guys that could turn chicken s*it into chicken soup. Arcel and Brown I’m told, taught the art of teaching boxing to Carlos “Panama” Lewis. Infamous? Lewis was convicted of taking the padding out of the boxing gloves of Luis Resto before a 1983 bout with the late Billy Collins Jr. . He would spend 2 ½ years of a six year sentence in prison. Resto spent about the same time behind bars.

LAX NY COMMISSION FACILITATED CRIMINAL ACT

WBA (AGAIN) RUINS BOXING’S MOMENTUM

Pittsburgh, PA- Among the many atrocities of the recent Nickolay Valuev-Evander Holyfield embarrassment, in addition to the (non) fighting and awful judging, the World Boxing Association (WBA) calling this a heavyweight world championship contest stands above all other wrongs produced by this bout. Put yourself in the place of a casual sports or boxing fan who doesn’t want to have to work to figure out who the heavyweight champ is – if he wasn’t already confused about which Klitschko (Wlad or Vitali) is actually the champ, now he’s hearing that neither are, that it’s actually a monstrous Russian whose name they’ve never heard. The sanctioning bodies are not solely responsible for the ills that plague boxing, but the sport will degenerate further if we stop publicizing their offenses against the sport just because they continue in spite of our complaints. With that in mind, let’s review the alphabets’ year. We’ll grade them on a curve because, if we didn’t, they’d all fail.

“RUSLAN, CHAMP, MEET NICKOLAY, OUR… UH… CHAMP”

HAVE YOU HEARD "RING TALK RADIO" YET?

San Francisco, CA- Ring Talk Radio, the longest running fight show in history, 24+ years, has reopened the radio show archives! You can listen to the three most recent shows by clicking on "RADIO" located at the top of the page.

”SUPER JOE,” MARGARITO, PAC CARRY SPORT INTO 2009

Union City, NJ- Coming off of a transitional year for many fighters that had cashed in and tuned out in 2007, 2008 proved a year for breakthrough cult talents. Some were obscure because had no avenue through which to meet champions until this year. Others are from cultures where boxing simply is not yet through all this, Antonio Margarito (37-5, 27 KOs), Joe Calzaghe (46-0, 32 KOs), and Manny Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 KOs), respectively, came through to give us some of the most memorable fights of our generation.

THE KIND OF YEAR THAT “SAVES” BOXING

Excluding, of course, the shameful activity of the heavyweight division and Tito Trinidad (42-3, 35 KOs), who is working his way up there apparently, 2008 was the kind of year that it has become trendy to claim will “save” the sport of boxing. Sure, not everything was butterflies and unicorns for our sport, thanks to the likes formerly respectable champions like Oscar De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs), who put his monetary interests before his career’s legitimacy in allowing the impossible to occur and setting off the celebratory yelping of several nations’ worth of Pac fans. One man’s buffoonery cannot destroy a year’s worth of great fights and great fighters, however. Andre Berto (23-0, 19 KOs) finally got a world title, and Ricardo Torres (32-2, 28 KOs) and Kendall Holt (25-2, 13 KOs) gave us the most exhilarating fight of the year: all 61 seconds of it, replete with knockouts, questionable refereeing, and a shower of beer and miscellaneous waste from the crowd when the fight was called. Yet for a year’s worth of drama and mastery of boxing, we turn to our new Big Three.

UFC 92 REALLY HAD THREE MAIN EVENTS

San Leandro, CA- Congratulations to the fine warriors that fought their hearts out for us on Saturday night as UFC 92 emanated from the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas! It was not only an epically stacked card, but not one boring fight all night. None of the major fights went to decision and ended by knockouts!

LIGHT HEAVY BELT CHANGES HANDS

Rashad Evans TKO 3 Forrest Griffin- In the so-calledmain event of the evening, Forrest Griffin (16-4-0) tried to defend himself and his title against “Sugar” Rashad Evans (17-0-1). This was a beautiful display of some serious ground and pound! The new champ, fighting out of Albuquerque, NM, my hometown, won by TKO in the third round! Early on it appeared Griffin’s height and reach, but Rashad closed the gap, dropping Forrest before pouncing on him with bunches of punches!

”PRETTY BOY” BEATS INTERIM CHAMP LIKE DRUM

TELEVISION FIGHTER OF 2008: PAUL WILLIAMS

Atlanta, GA - Paul “The Punisher” Williams went 3-1 with 3 knockouts this year, capturing titles in two divisions. In February he was victimized by welterweight (147 lbs) Carlos Quintana by 12-round decision in a candidate for upset of the year. He rebounded to rub out Quintana in one round in a June rematch. In September he knocked out durable middleweight (160) Andy Kolle in the first round in a knockout of the year candidate, before closing the year with a stoppage victory over Verno Phillips in November to capture a junior middleweight title. Not only did Williams fight four times in 2007, a rarity now for fighters at the top of the sport, but he spread the wealth, appearing on Showtime, Versus and HBO.

San Leandro, CA- Thank you Santa, LIVE tonight from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas comes UFC 92 on PPV! The original ”Ultimate Fighter” TV show winner, Forrest Griffin (16-4-0) and “Sugar” Rashad Evans (17-0-1) will put their Christmas spirit aside as they prepare to battle tonight in the Octagon for the UFC light heavyweight (205 lbs) championship! This match up has “war” written all over it. They are both so evenly matched and yet still developing new skills as their MMA careers progress, causing both warriors to look different each time they step into the cage. Both have amazing cardio and stamina. Griffin has the edge in ground submissions but Evans maintains better ground control. Evans has great power on his feet, as he showed in his last fight against Chuck Liddell. Griffin has the better technique which he displayed in his fight against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. "MMA Chick’s" pick:

SATURDAY PAY PER VIEW HAS GRIFF-EVANS, SILVA-QUINTON, & MIR-NOGUEIRA

Forrest Griffin 16-4 (3 KOs, 7 SUBs) vs. Rashad Evans 12-0-1 (4 KOs, 2 SUBs) This fight should be a good one, with the natural talent and athleticism of Rashad Evans against the ultra tough, never say die style of Forrest Griffin. Both men are coming off wins that have put them on a collision course with one another. Griffin bested Quinton Jackson to take the light heavyweight title while Rashad Evans knocked Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell out cold. Evans always seems to do enough to win and has improved with every bout. Griffin will do as he always does; lay it all on the line and never quit. This is a tough one to call, but a better one to watch! Prediction: Evans by Split Decision in five.

FOURTH VAZQUEZ-MARQUEZ FIGHT IN WORKS

San Diego, CA– The World Boxing Council (WBC) has announced its year end awards. To no one’s surprise, it selected the third fight between Israel Vazquez (4304, 31KOs) and Rafael Marquez (37-5, 33 KOs) in March as its “2008 Fight of the Year.”

TRILOGY ONE OF ALL TIME GREATS

1984 CONVERSATIONS WITH RAY ROBINSON

San Francisco, CA- In one of a few conversations I had with the great“Sugar Ray” Robinson, Ray clearly indicated that he didn’t think much of the current middleweight (160 lbs) champ Marvin Hagler. These conversations were six months after Hagler had narrowly defeated Roberto Duran. Ray, he used the term “great” to define two fighters at the time, one being Duran, the other his namesake ’Sugar Ray” Leonard.

ROBINSON THE GREATEST! HAGLER’S GREATNESS?

When I specifically brought up the status of Hagler, Ray who finished a 24 year career in 1965 at 173-19-6, with 108 KOs, put it like this. “Hagler isn’t yet a great fighter. Duran is, even though he got knocked out last night last night (Tommy Hearns), he’s a great fighter. He almost beat Hagler last time. Duran’s a little guy compared to Hagler. I think he was out of shape, but that punch (Tommy Hearns threw) was beautiful.” Switching the subject back to Hagler, something that I realized you had to do with Robinson, who would die less than five years later from Alzheimer’s disease.

RAY STILL HAD HIS WITS ABOUT HIM

GAS DOWN TO $1.55 A GALLON, YET NOBODY’S DRIVING

San Francisco, CA- In the Depression era of the 1930s, milk was seven cents a gallon and people couldn’t afford it. While dire financial times have been bad for the nation, and the world for that matter, a bad financial situation domestically could be the best thing to happen to boxing since the 1930s. If you look at the ethnic groups that fight for a living, Mexicans, Filipinos, places like Russia, Eastern Europe, Africa, these are areas where people have hunger that goes beyond the dinner table.

LOOK AT THE EVIDENCE FOLKS?

KARMAZIN PREVAILS IN BATTLE OF EX-CHAMPS

Inglewood, CA- Shortly after the first bell rang it was evident that former WBO 154 lb. champion Bronco Mc Kart (51-9-1, 31 KOs) should call it a career. In losing a lopsided decision to Russia’s Roman Karmazin (37-3-1, 26 KOs) Bronco didn’t appear shot; he just had no desire to shoot his guns go. The Russian used superior mobility and consistent body punching to gain an edge in every round.

CAN ROMAN FIND A SPOT AT 160?

HOLYFIELD WAS ROBBED IN ZURICH

Tulsa, OK- For one reason or another curiosity got the best of me and I wasted $25 on the absurd PPV card featuring WBA champ Nikolay Valuev vs. Evander Holyfield. After Valuev did nothing but sleepwalk through 12 rounds of the worst fight I have ever seen in any weight class; Holyfield seemed to do enough, which was also almost nothing, to easily win a decision.

WORK OF THE CRIMINAL OR INEPT?

Somehow, someway the fight was scored for Valuev as judge Pierluigi Poppi scored the bout 116-112 (8-4 in rounds); his cohort Mikael Hook scored it 115-114 and judge Guillermo Perez Pineda having it even at 114-114 giving Valuev a Majority Decision victory.

WORST TITLE FIGHT IN HISTORY!

RACE TRACK CASINO HAS ROMAN VS. BRONCO

Los Angeles, CA- Pernell Whitaker (40-4-1, 17 KOs), was arguably one of the best, if not the best lightweight of the past quarter century. Floyd Mayweather (39-0, 25 KOs), who held the lightweight title for a bit, is one of this generation’s best as well. While both fighters weren’t known for having appealing fighting styles, a hypothetical matchup between the two is something to ponder.

BOTH TANGLED WITH OSCAR DE LA HOYA

San Francisco, CA- When I first met Evander Holyield, it was 1984 and before the arbitrary call by referee Gligorije Novicic that disqualified him in the Olympic quarterfinals against Kevin Barry of New Zealand. (Barry would turn down a fistful of money to fight Holyfield professionally, and would later make a buck as David Tua’s co-manager). For those of you that don’t know the story of Holyfield, referee Novicic of Yugoslavia (remember where he’s from) yelled “halt” with Holyfield already having a punch in motion.

PUNCH ON TV MUCH LIKE BUSH DUCKING SHOES

The punch rendered Barry unable to continue and “V” was disqualified. This would be shown time and again on the TV news programs. But seeing Barry was TKO’d, he couldn’t fight for the Gold and got a Silver medal. For the trivia minded, Anton Josipoviæ of Yugoslavia, yes Yugoslavia, won the Gold at 178 lbs. The publicity that getting robbed before a national TV audience and making the front pages of the nation’s newspapers, Holyfield’s professional baptismal was an event all by itself even though he turned pro with ‘84 Gold medalists Mark Breland, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, Tyrell Biggs, and Silver medal winner Virgil Hill.

V’S DQ THE BOXING TALK OF THE OLYMPICS

WELCOME TO THE “NEW” RINGTALK.COM

San Francisco, CA- The newly revamped www.RingTalk.com website is still a work in progress. The radio show archives that allow you to listen to the longest running fight show in history, “Ring Talk Worldwide,” on a delayed basis will be up real soon.

AREAS OF SITE STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTON

SHOULD OLD PREDICTIONS BE FORGOT…

Pittsburgh, PA- Bernard Hopkins ain’t got nothing on us: After laying down our predictions, boxing commentators talk such trash about the outcome, or whine (or revise history) about the result, you’d think that we actually fought the fight ourselves. Were that the case, I’d still be recovering from the bruising and battering I took December 6 after predicting an Oscar De La Hoya TKO. After being so wrong, what would it take to make amends - a whole year’s worth of predictions? Hey, why not?

…SHOULD THEY NEVER BE BROUGHT TO MIND?

The “Pacnuts” won’t soon let us forget about calling it against their guy, Manny Pacquiao, as if that constitutes a personal attack. So what will become of this Superhero, this Pacman, in 2009? His year will sound like the stuff of comic books, first with a knockout over the ”Hit Man´Ricky Hatton, but it will end in tumult, as the evil ”Pretty Boy Floyd” Mayweather returns to defeat the brave protagonist. Meanwhile (continuing on this theme), the ”Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya will return in the first weekend of May to fend off an attack from a young man named Julio Cesar Chavez looking for revenge in the name of his father.