RINGSIDE LA WITH JOHNNY ORTIZ

NOVEMBER 16, 2006

“EL TERRIBLE” VS. “THE PACMAN!”…A SCORE TO SETTLE!
On November 18th at the Thomas Mack Center in Las Vegas, a rubber match will be fought between two of the most exciting boxers in boxing today. Erik “El Terrible” Morales and Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao will engage in what is being called, “The Grand Finale”/ El Gran Final,” with one win apiece they will settle the score once and for all. In their first encounter on March 19, 2005, Erik proved on this night to be the better all around fighter winning a twelve round unanimous decision in a bitterly contested bout. On January 1, 2006, the little dynamo from the Philippines returned the favor by stopping a physically tired Morales by way of a TKO in the tenth round. At the weigh-in of their second fight, Erik Morales looked gaunt and listless, alluding to the rumor that he had a very tough time making weight. Taking nothing away from the Pacman, he did his job, Morales tired badly going into the second half of the fight. While I was in the fight game as a manager and trainer, I would have never let one of my boys go into a fight unless he was physically strong enough to get it done, win or lose. From the reports I have been getting, Erik is in primo condition, although he has his father back in his corner, I am impressed that he has former WBO welterweight champion Jose Luis “Maestro” Lopez as his trainer. No one knows better than Maestro how essential good conditioning is. When I first saw Jose Luis destroy Yory Boy Campas to win the title at the Sports Arena on October 6, 1996, I sincerely thought that the huge puncher would have a long reign, but as in the case of so many potentially great champions, the good times got in the way. His was truly a waste of a tremendous talent. Jose Luis is the perfect guy to get Erik in the shape a fighter should be in going into a mega fight. I picked Erik to win their first fight, I was appalled at the way he looked at the weigh-in for their second fight, it did not surprise me that Manny handed Erik his lunch. Kudos for Manny, he did things right, of course it doesn’t hurt to have one of boxing’s great trainers in Freddie Roach guiding his everyday training regimentation. I don’t care who the fighter is, if he’s trained by Freddie Roach, you can bet your bottom dollar that win, lose or draw, he will enter the ring in the best shape possible. With everything considered, this fight should go through the roof money wise. It is hard to conceive that it could outdo the other two, both as a fight and a pay for view event, but don’t bet against it. If you love boxing, you do not want to miss this one. This fight figures to go to the fighter who mentally and physically wants it the most. At the latest media workout and conference call at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Gym in Hollywood, California, Manny had this to say: “I must win, our fight is bigger that the two of us because we carry the heart and soul of our nations, the pressure on us is enormous which is why I will be on the attack the second I hear the bell for round one. But there can only be one winner and that winner must be me and it will be.” On November 7th, Erik, who has admitted to often having trouble making weight, went on record saying: “I heard Pacquiao say that I’m an old man, that I’m done, we’ll see on November 18th. That’s why we go up in the ring, to prove our worth, and I’ll prove what I am on November 18. I feel really good, and I not only feel good, I have looked good in the gym. I’m ready to win, but this fight, it is a tough fight, it’s a difficult fight, but one that I’m going to win.”

This week in Vegas, Erik had this to say, “I know his weaknesses I know his strengths. He has no defense he has no technique, he hasn’t changed, even when I tired during the later rounds in the second fight, I was able to land my punches. He is the same fighter he has always been. Also in Vegas, trainer Freddie Roach chimed in with: “The fight may be called ‘The Grand Finale,’ but come Saturday night, it will be ‘No Mas!’ for Morales!”

After giving it careful thought, I am leaning toward El Terrible. To win, Erik has to be in the best shape of his life, being in with Manny, he has no room for error, he must be physically fit enough to fight every minute of every round. Erick must use his five inch reach advantage by keeping Manny on the end of his jab while setting up his right hand, left hook and fast combinations. He must be ready to counterpunch whenever he sees an opening after a Manny miss, much in the manner Juan Manuel Marquez was able to do so successfully in his fight with Pacquiao. On the other side of the coin, Manny Pacquiao is the quintessential seek and destroy kind of fighter, if he senses any kind of weakness, he will be on top of it. Manny must do what he has said he would do, attack, attack, attack. He must be careful of Erik’s vaunted counterpunching ability when he misses while not giving him too much respect. Knowing that Erick’s been in more wars and being three years younger, he must make Erick work. Manny has a penchant for throwing wild punches when frustrated, leaving him open to great counterpunchers such as Marquez and Morales. Manny is the favorite going in, it just might be that he is reaching his fighting peak while Erick may be rounding the bend climaxing a brilliant career, but don’t count him out just yet, when you possess the kind of a fighting heart such as Morales, you can never count him out, that goes for both men. This is a fight that I will sit back and enjoy watching, with that said, may the best man win. “El Terrible” vs. “The Pacman…you couldn’t ask for more!”

Floyd Mayweather vs. Carlos Baldomir recap:

A look at De La Hoya–Mayweather:

The fight went just the way any knowledgeable fight expert would have expected, Carlos, try as he might, was just to slow and just did not have enough ring savy to be able to cut the ring off on his elusive opponent. It has always been my contention that Pretty Boy is an exceptionally superb fighter, but I have a little trouble dubbing him the best pound for pound fighter around. Ducking Antonio Margarito for an eight million dollar purse tells me that he wisely picks his spots and wanted no part of Antonio. I would pick Margarito in a heartbeat to beat him. Against Antonio, he would not get away with the stuff he did against a brave but totally outclassed Carlos Baldomir. Now that he has signed to fight Oscar De La Hoya on Cinco de Mayo, I would like to take this time to go on record and declare that Oscar will beat Floyd Mayweather, that is if he can catch him. I believe that Oscar over twelve rounds will eventually knock him out. At 154 pounds, not only will Oscar be too big and too strong for Pretty Boy, but with his vast expierence, he will know how to cut the ring off on Floyd. Oscar first stepped into a ring at the ripe old age of five, Floyd will not be able to show the six-time world champion anything he has not seen before. The bottom line is that Pretty Boy cannot hurt the Golden Boy, but rest assure, Oscar can definitely hurt Floyd. If you think that Floyd ran from Baldomir, he will leave skid marks getting away from Oscar. I liken this fight to the time that I not only picked Bernard Hopkins to beat a 4-1 favorite Felix Trinidad, but I picked him to knock Tito out. I feel exactly the same way about this fight. Floyd Mayweather saying that he is the best of all time is laughable, one can only imagine his chances in a welterweight fight with Sugar Ray Robinson, Jose “Mantequilla” Napoles, Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns and Roberto Duran just to name a few. Please!!!! No one will ever convince me that Floyd beat Jose Luis Castillo in their first fight, I have eyes. No question about it, Floyd is a terrific, extremely gifted fighter, but the best…no way! He was smart to take the Oscar De La Hoya fight, with the most popular fighter in the business, he is guaranteed to make a substantial amount of money, without him, forget landing a pay for view fight after his non aggressive fight against Carlos Baldomir. Floyd is a Pernell Whitaker type, they’re great and like Pernell once did, Floyd keeps on winning, but for the most part, like Pernell, their fights do not excite fight fans, not exactly a prerequisite for PPV. As a young boy, Oscar beat Pernell, now older, he will beat Floyd. This is just the tip of the iceberg, you can bet I will have a lot more to say and write when the Golden Boy-Pretty Boy fight gets closer.

PATH TO GLORY RETURNS TO THE DOUBLETREE HOTEL NOVEMBER 20, 2006. FORMER WBC LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPION CHANGO CARMONA TO RECIEVE LONG AWAITED WBC CHAMPIONSHIP BELT WITH BOTH MANDO RAMOS AND RUDOLFO “GATO” GONZALEZ ON HAND FOR CEREMONY IN RING.

LAST “PATH TO GLORY” OF 2006
Lightweight Championship on the Line – Lopez vs. Navarrete
Boxing Celebrities to Attend Almost Sold-out Event

Orange, CA – On Monday, November 20, Thompson Boxing Promotions will stage the final 2006 show of its popular “Path to Glory” series, in what is predicted to be yet another sold-out event.
Lightweight contender Josesito Lopez will step inside the ring with hard-hitting Adrian Navarrete of Durango, Mexico, in a 10-round main attraction for Lopez’s WBC Continental Americas championship.
“I want to end the year with a bang,” proclaimed Lopez about his upcoming bout, which will take place at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, CA.
Lopez (17-2, 10 KO’s) has been itching to fight since his seventh round stoppage over veteran Anthony Martinez at Omega Products International in August. Last July, Lopez defended his WBC title against Sammy Ventura. The unfortunate bout lasted only 21 seconds after both fighters clashed heads. Ventura was knocked unconscious prompting the stoppage of the fight.
Despite it all, Lopez has high aspirations for this fight and for next year. “I have big plans for 2007,” said Lopez, the 22-year-old star from Riverside, CA. “I’ve been in the gym working on my defense against brawlers because we feel that is what Navarrete might do.”
Lopez will have his hands full. Adrian Navarrete (14-2-1, 12 KO’s) is a heavy-handed challenger. In his last fight, he knocked out Antonio Rosales in the third round of their scheduled ten. Navarrete began his professional career by knocking out his first eight opponents. He was undefeated in 11 bouts before finally losing to Reyes Sanchez in February 2005. His most significant fight was a six round unanimous decision loss to Benoit Gaudet in Canada, last March.
Also on the card, Michael Walsh (16-4-3, 13 KOs), from Los Angeles, against rough Juan Pablo Montes de Oca (8-10-2, 5 KOS), from Las Vegas, in a six-round welterweight battle; additionally, Yonnhy Perez (7-0, 5 KOs) from Cartagena, Colombia, will battle Arturo Bracamontes (8-10-2, 5 KOs), from Los Angeles, in a six round bantamweight rematch. Perez is the newest Thompson Boxing Promotions signing. Also on the card will be Joel Mills (0-1), from Alberta, Canada, against Loren Myers (2-2, 1 KO), from Fresno, CA, in a four round jr. middleweight bout, plus featherweights Andrew Cancio (3-0-1, 3 KOs), from Blythe, CA, against Freudis Rojas (1-2, 1 KO), from Guantanamo, Cuba, in a four round scrap.
As part of the festivities, undefeated Palm Springs prospect Timothy Ray Bradley Jr. will be in attendance to sign autographs. Bradley (16-0, 10 KOs) inked a co-promotional contract with Thompson Boxing Promotions and Gary Shaw Productionsand and will fight on Friday, December 1, in Chumash Casino, Santa Ynez, against rugged Jaime “El Martillo” Rangel (30-9-1, 26 KOs) in an eight round special attraction. Bradley is ranked #11 by the WBC in the jr. welterweight division.
In addition, Thompson Boxing Promotions will proudly present a championship belt to former lightweight champion Chango Carmona twenty-four years after he won the title. On September 15, 1972, at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, Carmona defeated Mando Ramos by way of technical knockout on the eighth round of their fight. On November 11, 1972, Carmona lost his WBC title by TKO on the 13th round of his fight against Rodolfo “El Gato” Gonzalez at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles. After the fight he never recovered his belt. It is customary that a losing champion keeps his belt, but Carmona did not. The three former champs, Carmona, Ramos and Gonzalez, will be a part of “Path to Glory.”
Few tickets remain available for purchase at a price of $75, $45 and $30 by calling 714-935-0900 or through www.thompsonboxing.com The event will take place at the Doubletree Hotel, Ontario, located on 222 North Vineyard Ave. Doors will open at 6:30PM, with first bell scheduled for 7:45PM.

Press release by Alex Camponovo

TIMOTHY “DESERT STORM” BRADLEY, JR.
ENLISTS WITH GARY SHAW PRODUCTIONS!
LOS ANGELES, CA (November 11, 2006) — Promoter Gary Shaw announced today the signing of undefeated junior welterweight contender and former amateur standout TIMOTHY “DESERT STORM” BRADLEY (16-0, 10 KOs). Gary Shaw Productions will co-promote Bradley with Thompson Promotions.
Bradley, 23, from Palm Springs, CA, trains in Coachella, CA under Joel Diaz. He will make his debut under the GSP banner, Friday, December 1, at Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, CA, as part of the undercard headlined by the season finale of Showtime’s “SHOBox: The New Generation.”
“I am very pleased that Timothy and his promoter Ken Thompson selected me to help present Timothy to a worldwide audience,” said Shaw. “Timothy reminds me of a compact version of Mike Tyson, when Tyson was in his prime. He has such raw power and he is always on the attack. It’s hard to believe he is just a junior welterweight. But once we get him in front of a television audience, the secret about Timothy Bradley will be out. He is not only for real, he is the for real deal — junior welterweight style!”

Bradley, world-rated No. 11 by the World Boxing Council in the 140-pound division, captured the vacant WBC Youth welterweight title last year, in just his eighth professional fight, winning a unanimous decision over Francisco Rincon on scores of 100-90 on all three judges’ cards. Two of his six victories in 2006 have been successful title defenses for the busy Bradley. Undefeated Jr. Welterweight Contender Makes GSP Debut December 1 at Chumash Casino Resort.

Johnny Ortiz is a member of the World Boxing Hall of Fame Board of Directors

Johnny Ortiz is a member of the California Boxers Association Board of Directors

Johnny Ortiz is a media advisor for Thompson Boxing Promotions

Johnny Ortiz is a former twelve year radio host of his Los Angeles original boxing show

Johnny Ortiz is a former co-owner of the world famous, ledgendary Main St. Gym.