The Spit Bucket is your weekly source of random thoughts and comments about the manly art of defense, from the perspective of our resident boxing writer Diego Morilla. You can follow him on Twitter at @MorillaBoxing.
Maidana investigated for possible wrongdoing
In the wake of his recent upset victory over Adrien Broner in San Antonio, some people have made a great deal about a video in which the always controversial Alex Ariza slips something suspicious in Marcos Maidana’s mouth during a break between rounds. A full investigation has been launched by the local boxing authorities in Texas, but I wouldn’t expect much from it.
First of all, it is quite clear that Ariza was placing dental cottons (those packed cylindrical swabs they place on your mouth to absorb moisture during dental procedures) in Maidana’s mouth instead of the usual extra-large Q-tips. This is done to absorb blood and prevent the fighter from swallowing it during the fight. And secondly, the Texas commission has been known for irregularities of their own, such as licensing fighters with spotty medical records, misplacing and ultimately losing drug tests, and obviously producing some of the worst judging/officiating in recent memory.
It will be hard to imagine they will find anything wrong in this situation, but a full official report should be available in the coming weeks.
Broner apologizes for walking out on fans, TV
It’s not every day that you’ll see one of the biggest mouths in boxing apologizing for being silent, but that seems to be the case with former world champ and pound-for-pound entrant Adrien Broner, who earned an extra measure of disrepute by walking out on his fans and on the Showtime TV crew after his upset loss to Marcos Maidana last week.
Broner had already rubbed fans the wrong way with his excessive trash-talking before the fight, his lackluster performance in the ring, and his ridiculous eight round overacting of an intentional headbutt by Maidana, in which Broner pretended to be in pain and unable to continue fighting in what could be construed as a feeble attempt to have his foe disqualified.
His pictures of his watered-eyes battered face became the centerpiece of dozens of internet jokes, and now Broner replied with a statement on Instagram in which he says he’s “sorry for running out on all the fans after my fight, that was wrong of me as a fighter”. It became apparent that there were many things that went wrong with Broner as a fighter during that evening, and he’ll have to make adjustments both in and out of the ring if he ever wants to get the respect he was afforded before this career-defining loss.
Rios positive for banned substances
Boxing as a sport may be headed back to China in the near future, but one guy who won’t be making that return trip anytime soon is former two-division titleholder Brandon Rios.
Following his November 23 match against Manny Pacquiao, Rios tested positive for a banned substance and was subsequently suspended for five months by the China Professional Boxing Organization, an added embarrassment to add to the methodical 12-round drubbing he suffered at the hands of the Filipino legend during their bout in Macau.
Apparently, Rios was found to have used a substance called methylexanamine, very common in some dietary supplements but nonetheless banned by all major sports governing bodies.
Rios, known for his problems to make weight, now has an added problem in this situation, in which he’ll be having to find a more natural way to shed his extra weight, something that he’ll need to do in order to continue his career in a division no higher than junior welterweight. This is definitely not a good scenario for a guy with so many problems to worry about inside the ring, but he’ll have five months to sit back and make plans for a comeback now that he’s sidelined with a sanction that could have been easily avoided by simply losing weight in a more natural way.
The Fightin’ Mathysses add another jewel to their crown
A string of recent comments in his very active Facebook account led people to believe that Lucas Matthysse was ready to call it quits after a bout with depression following his loss to Danny Garcia. Matthysse, who has a shy but moody personality, was always affected by his brother Walter’s career-ending losses, and at this point he probably felt he was on the same path after losing in such a dramatic fashion in a fight he was expected to win easily. But Matthysse has made clear that those thoughts are now in the past, and he now also has another reason to be hopeful about his career.
In another victory for a family in which virtually everyone laced up gloves at one point or another (including their dad Mario and even their mom Doris), the Matthysses now have another champion in the family in Soledad Matthysse, who recently won the WBA female featherweight championship in her third attempt with a unanimous decision victory over highly-regarded Ogleidis Suarez, of Venezuela.
At 33 years of age, Soledad (12-6-1, 1 KO) is older than Lucas and younger than Walter, and is also married to Mario Narvaez, a brother of WBO super flyweight titlist Omar Narvaez, who is also a fighter himself. To say that boxing runs in their blood is quite an understatement, but it remains to be seen whether this emotional victory will boost Lucas’ enthusiasm for the sport and drive him to achieve even bigger things in his own career.
