[h1]Chat with Bert Sugar[/h1]
Welcome to The Show! On Friday, Boxing Hall of Fame writer and historian Bert Sugar will join us to talk about boxing.
Sugar has written over 80 books and from 1979-83 he served as editor-in-chief of The Ring. Sugar also, according to
his bio on HBO.com, founded Fight Game magazine in 1998.
Sugar has also appeared in a few movies, including recently in "Rocky Balboa," the final chapter of Sylvester Stallone's Rocky boxing movies.
Send in your questions for Bert right now. Then, check back on Friday at 4 p.m. ET to see his answers.
Buzzmaster: We're getting Bert right now!
Bert Sugar: I'm in Las Vegas, preparing for the Kelly Pavlik-Jermain Taylor fight tomorrow night. It's going to be one helluva fight. All of Youngstown is here, which leaves no one there. It really is exciting. We're looking for the fight of the year. That's what it was last time, why should this time be any different?
Joe (Miami, FL): Do you still get excited for the big fights like you used to?
Bert Sugar: Oh, I don't think you ever lose that excitement. To me the fight and the countdown is only second to the first Saturday in May in Louisville. You never get tired of either.
Doug (NJ): Bert did you watch paul williams last week? The guy is a freak with that reach he needs to contact manny steward and tommy hearns to learn how to use it
Bert Sugar: I watch Paul Williams walk through a fight that he not only confounded me but Harold Lederman. I saw nothing there when he beat Margarito. He said he had an off night, but it might have been an off career night. He didn't do anything I expected him to do and less in defense. If he was a lawyer, he could have said the defense rests. Did I block any punch? I didn't see him.
Benvenuto (Miami, FL): Outside of Sugar Ray Robinson, who in history would you just love to sit ringside and watch fight is you could?
Bert Sugar: You always had to love watching the greats, whether their names were Johnson, Lewis, Dempsey or some modern day fighters like Duran and others. These were all great fighters. Any time you can watch them fight, it's a magic moment. P.S. Robinson would have been my favorite, but I have so many others - dare I say one of those others would have been Ali.
Frank (Miami, FL): Assuming Vasquez/Marquez III is another great fight, who would you rank that trilogy?
Bert Sugar: It would be hard to rank any trilogy before the third part. Who would have thought the Ali-Frasier would be as good coming off that second fight? I think it would be in contention of great trilogies if it matched the ferocity of the first two. But for the moment I uphold my vote until the upstate votes come in.
blake. ark.: bert, please tell me that your going with my man taylor by KO???
Bert Sugar: I can't tell you that I think Taylor WILL win by KO. I can tell you he CAN win by KO. This fight has a lot of questions to be answered, mostly by Taylor. He is the far more gifted athlete and skillful fighter of the two, including hand and foot speed. But he has a lot of flaws, like going to the ropes, holding his left hand too low, and looping his punches.
Bert Sugar: Can he cure these? Pavlik is there to be hit, which Taylor did in the first fight. Jermain has to show more stamina (maybe the 166 pounds will help him). But he's got to show some better defense and turn Pavlik rather than meeting him head on. Although Pavlik looks like Olive Oyl, he hits like Popeye.
Greg (PA): Who do you like tomorrow night?
Bert Sugar: Right now the odds are 2-1, Pavlik. I think they should be more even, probably 7-5 Pavlik. While their first fight was the fight of the year last year and their second fight might be the fight of the year this year, both of these fighters have excellent punches, so anything can happen. To me, the biggest telling point will be a psychological one. If the first time Pavlik hits Taylor, will Taylor go ''uh-oh'' with memories of the first fight or will he go ''now it's my turn''?
Joe (Miami, FL): Do you worry about Taylor's chin after being brutally knocked out? I'm afraid Taylor may be get blown out early.
Bert Sugar: I think his chin is substantial, I just question his mindset. He was hit throughout the fight. That's not the question. It wasn't the right that everyone was worried about, it was the left. No matter how many times he gets hit, the mental part could hurt him. It's the mind, not the chin, that will tell this fight.
Benvenuto (Miami, FL): Quote of the day: "Although Pavlik looks like Olive Oyl, he hits like Popeye". Gotta love Bert Sugar....
Jaime, CT: Why do you think people are counting out Jermain's ability to KO Pavlik. It's like everyone forgets Pavlik ws in trouble in the first fight. Your thoughts?
Bert Sugar: Oh, I don't know anybody is counting out Jermain's ability. He has 17 KOs, he can knock people out. But what's fresh in their minds, his last KO was the telling one - the TKO in the seventh. If Pavlik has one major flaw, it's in his confidence (no his overconfidence) in his chin whiskers, his ability to take a punch. If he leaves it out there long enough, Jermain may have an answer for him.
Stringer: How would Pretty Boy Floyd have favored in the days of Duran, Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard?
Bert Sugar: As much as I like Floyd, next question please. I have too much of a memory of how good those fighters were to even bother answering this question.
Frank (Miami, FL): Pound 4 Pound, prime Roy Jones vs. Floyd Mayweather, who wins?
Bert Sugar: There's a possibility that no one lands one punch. It's tough to say because in their primes and I'm not sure where Floyd's is yet, but in their primes, they each fought very good fighters. But I do think Roy dominated his opponents more than Floyd did his (Hopkins, Toney, etc.). Still, it would have made an interesting, though not exciting fight.
blake. ark: do you really expect this to be the fight of the year? have you talked to jermain, how does he seem?
Bert Sugar: I love the wam-bam-thank-you-ma'am of the first fight. I think excitement is what these two fighters bring against each other. It depends if you want to watch a trainwreck or tap dance. I prefer train wrecks for excitement.
Nate (Palmerton, PA): Bert, Where do you put Kelly Pavlik in pound-for-pound rankings if he KO's Jermaine in convincing fashion again tomorrow night?
Bert Sugar: Depending on Pacquiao's fight coming up, it would definitely put him in the top 5 in boxing. But it would not displace Mayweather, Calzaghe or for the moment Pacquiao.
nathan barnhart st.louis ,mo: Bert, thanks for the cigar you sent me in the mail, Do you think boxing needs a dominant american heavyweight to get the casual fan back into boxing, thanks love the book with angelo and yourself. pavlik in 10
Bert Sugar: Americans always are for other Americans as witnessed by constant cheers for ''U, S, A.'' I think it would focus more Americans attention on the sport of boxing. But you must remember that we have a lot of sports on our plate, as opposed to other countries that only have one or two (I didn't even know Texas Hold 'Em was a sport until I saw it all over the place).
Bert Sugar: Thank you for the compliment on my book with Angelo Dundee, ''My View from the Corner,'' which is not only getting rave reviews, but it's on its third printing in fourth months (but of course, the foreword by Ali helps).
Bert Sugar: As for the cigar I sent, it was probably out of my Lawrence Welks collection, which is a bag of crud with a wrapper around it.
Stringer: Does Arturo Gatti belong in the Hall of Fame?
Bert Sugar: If I'm in the Hall of Fame, anyone should be. But seriously, Arturo was a very pleasing fighter, but he was a club fighter who gave us exciting fights. I would vote for him to be in the Boxing HOF and in the HOF for Bleeders, always bleeding inbetween ''Oh say'' and ''can you see.'' I like him, but I don't know if he belongs in the HOF.
James (Philadelphia, PA): Money Mayweather vs. Cotto. Ever happen?
Bert Sugar: It is a fight that every fight fan wants, but I don't think Floyd wants it. It's not so much that he doesn't think he can beat him, but he doesn't think he can get the money to fight him. That seems to be his major motivation.
Bert Sugar: While Cotto has a tremendous fan base in the Puerto Rican market, there's a question in how he translates that.
Bert Sugar: You know PPV goes where the money goes.
Kory (Missouri): Do you think DLH-Mayweather 2 will be any different than 1?
Bert Sugar: Excellent question. The obvious answer is no, period. But De La Hoya may have learned more than Mayweather in that fight and promises changes. One is to use the jab he used effectively in the first few rounds and then abandoned. If he uses that jab, he might have a good chance to change that result. Remember, he didn't use the jab for 7 rounds and still only lost a split decision. So it could, it could, be a different result.
Benvenuto (Miami, FL): Better day.......Kentucky Derby or a championship fight?
Bert Sugar: It depends, not just on the result of the event, but the fact that I can bet on the derby, but I don't bet on boxing, because no one wants to read about my money. If I win at the Derby, it's a helluva day! Forget the horse, it's MY money.
Bryon (KC, MO): How much fun did you have working with Angelo Dundee on his recent book. What are your 2 or 3 more favorite boxing bios/memoirs?
Bert Sugar: Angelo Dundee was a ball. I havent had so much fun in years, just listening to his stories. Here is a man who has been in boxing for 60 years and has stories on everything. The book is Angie's stories on Ali and Deer Lake, how he helped with the lining of Ali's boats; how Duran never said ''no mas''; and thousands of others. I was fortunate to just be Dundee's Boswell and they're all recorded in the book.
Darian (Phoenix): Bert, you are one of the sports best storytellers. Who is someone you have enjoyed hearing stories of prizefights from over the years?
Bert Sugar: I've been fortunate to sit near some of the best story tellers of all time and some of them have been fighters. Ali or even Jack Dempsey, but a lot of them had come from the writers themselves like Red Smith, Schuylar and so many others. I've been blessed to hear them and tell them. And lest I forget, Angelo Dundee.
Ronnie Baltimore MD: I like Taylor, but Kelly hits hard and he can take a punch once he gets pass taylor theres no one that can stop him you agree?
Bert Sugar: I'm not sure I agree. We've got a fluid division of people who can come up or down. Suppose for instance, Calzaghe wants to come down. Suppose, for example, Cotto wants to come up to fight Pavlik. This is a good time for this weight area and with the heavyweight division on the cusp of being called off for lack of interest, we can focus on the more interesting division it's the middleweights.
Brian (Brooklyn): What did you think of Howard Cossell, and is Lampley better?
Bert Sugar: Howard Cossell said more about less things that he knew about than any other announcer. And yet he was a fertilizer to early TV. Lampley is a different type of announcer and great in his own right. But as Dundee said in the book, Cossell thought he always made Ali. Think about that.
James (Philadelphia, PA): Could Kelly actually become, as speculated by Bob Arum, one of the best 160 pounders in the history of boxing?
Bert Sugar: The sound you just heard was Ray Robinson, Hagler, Walker, Greb, Hopkins, Ketchel and at least 50 other greats, moaning, groaning and rolling over in their graves. The answer is ask me again in five years and after some more fights. All he can do now is fight and take a place in line.
Bert Sugar: Thank everyone for putting up with me. Let's do it again. I hope you watch what I consider to be one heckuva fight tomorrow. Also, you wouldn't upset me if you were to buy the book ''My View From the Corner'' and see why I'm so excited about it. But in the mean time, haven't we had fun?
He basically reassured my assumption
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