Five pressing questions in boxing

Taking into consideration the best information available, it's time to address five pressing questions in the world of boxing:

1. When will Oscar De La Hoya fight Floyd Mayweather?

If we are to believe what "the Golden Boy" is saying, he'll rest up, heal some lingering injuries and scout out Mayweather until they meet the Saturday nearest Cinco de Mayo, 2007.

De La Hoya will be 34 by the time he deigns to step into the ring with "Pretty Boy" Floyd, who is considered the pound-for-pound best boxer in the world today.

Mayweather, 36-0 with 24 knockouts, will be 30 when the two future Hall of Famers collide. He is also reportedly considering two fights - in November and February - before meeting De La Hoya at 154 pounds.

Always looking for an advantage, De La Hoya, 38-4 (30), is hoping that the 10-ounce gloves Mayweather will be forced to wear at the weight (instead of the 8-ouncers he's used to) will slow him down.

Mayweather should consider carefully whether activity is more important than denying Oscar a chance to scout him. If De La Hoya can take a year off between bouts and expect to be sharp, so can the younger Mayweather, who could get in Oscar's head by staying out of sight until the fight.

And weight won't matter. Mayweather should be more concerned with keeping his speed than porking up to 154 and should induce De La Hoya into becoming the aggressor if he (Mayweather) is to win.

2. Will Arturo Gatti retire now?

Without question the fighter who should be most concerned with getting out of the sport now is Gatti.

Following his knockout loss to tough-but-ordinary welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir on Saturday, Gatti indicated he may pack it in and is not cut out for the 147-pound class.

Considering that he was always killing himself to make 140, one could infer that Gatti isn't cut out for that division either, so it's only logical that he leave the game now.

Toss in the fact that the popular Gatti is starting to sound like his tongue is growing thicker - a sign of taking too many punches - and it's a no-brainer that he should call it quits.

But brains and logic have little to do with boxing. Consider if you will that HBO has deep pockets and wouldn't have a hard time pitching a go-away, seven-figure-payday fight for Gatti against unbeaten Ricky Hatton at 140.

Add to that fact that WBA welterweight titlist Hatton has said he's not a natural 147-pounder, had a tough time with Luis Collazo, and has recently indicated that he would abandon his newly won belt to go back to 140.

Hmm...sounds like Gatti and Hatton will be getting it on Dec. 9, when Hatton said he will return to the ring.

The damage is already done. The prediction here is, whether he should retire now - which he should - Gatti will be back for a slugfest with Hatton.

But judging how he's looked in his last couple fights, Gatti won't be a match for Hatton, and the result will be more appalling than appealing.

3. Is it really that important for America that Hasim Rahman keep his heavyweight belt?

No. Contrary to the widely media-disseminated belief that a sport isn't important unless an American is the best, boxing fans care more about who is the baddest guy on the planet than his heritage.

Foreign-born boxers such as Roberto Duran, Julio Cesar Chavez, Felix Trinidad, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao all once had or currently have fans from every ethnic background.

And with the exception of Pacquiao, who's giving it a try, not one of these fighters speaks English.

Who cares? Nobody. All fans care about is that these guys speak the language of violence in the ring.

From 105 pounds to heavyweight, if a fighter can bring it like Mike Tyson did when he was young, people will watch. Nothing is more exciting to watch than a street-fight in the ring (see Hagler-Hearns or Corrales-Castillo I for proof).

If Rahman does lose his WBC heavyweight title to Maskaev in their rematch (Maskaev stopped Rahman in their first meeting) Americans would lose their seeming birthright - at least a share of the heavyweight title - to fighters from the former Soviet Union.

Nicolay Valuev (WBA), Wladimir Klitschko (IBF) and Sergei Liakhovich (WBO) hold the other three belts.

So what? It just means someone more deserving than an American is the respective beltholder.

And even though Maskaev knocked Rahman clean out of the ring for a knockout in their first match, he has a Popsicle's chance in hell of winning this fight.

4) Is Calvin Brock the savior of the heavyweight division?

Brock may be 29-0 with 22 knockouts, but he is not the future of the division.

Nothing against Brock, but he lacks more than that certain something to ever dominate the division. Take last month's dreary decision over Timor Ibragimov for example.

Ask yourself this question: What would former dominant heavyweights like Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield or Riddick Bowe have done with Ibragimov?

The answer is that each of those fighters - in their prime - would have blown through the light-hitting, not-so-evasive Ibragimov. Brock is in his prime and he put everyone but Ibragimov to sleep with his mediocre, uninspired performance.

Brock can bang a bit. He can box a bit. He knows how to tap-dance. And he has a catchy nickname - "the Boxing Banker."

But, as with Jameel McCline, Brock will turn out to be nothing more than unrealized and over-hyped potential.

5. What's up with Antonio Tarver?

Following his knockout victory over Roy Jones in their first meeting, Tarver looked to be a future superstar. But after beating Jones by decision in their rematch and then letting 41-year-old former middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins beat him from pillar to post, Tarver has turned into nothing but a disappointment.

Tarver threatened to move up to heavyweight from 175 and bypassing the cruiserweights like former light heavyweight champions Michael Spinks and Michael Moorer. And he did - to face Sylvester Stallone in the sixth version of "Rocky."

In real life, Tarver recently - and obscenely - negotiated his way right out of a fight with super middleweight contender Jeff Lacy. The only thing Tarver, who appeared to be the light heavyweight heir apparent to Jones, can do as well as the former champion is run his mouth. Take, for example, this excerpt from a recent interview with the Tampa Tribune.

"They're (Lacy and his promoter Gary Shaw) tripping because they don't realize what I bring to the table," Tarver said. "I'm a movie star. I have marketability and crossover appeal and that's what puts butts in the seats."

One has to wonder if Tarver is the one that has been doing the tripping and off of what hard object he bounced his rather enlarged dome to come up with this perspective.

Tarver thought giving Lacy $1.5 million compared to his $5 million (including all live gate revenue and all foreign rights earnings) was a fair deal, even though Lacy made more than that in unsuccessfully challenging world super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe in March.

Lacy is the best thing going for the 37-year-old Tarver, but he's so deluded that he may even think he's even getting younger by the day. Too bad for him and too bad for boxing fans who, instead of watching Lacy-Tarver, will be forced instead to watch Tarver's portrayal of Mason Dixon, Rocky Balboa's next foil.