By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor

jor better or worse, comebacks have
R= a huge part of sports for as long

as anyone can remember. Sometimes
they work out, often they don’t, but athletes
in seemingly every sport regularly try to
come out of retirement for one last shot at
glory.

Perhaps more than in any other
sport, this is true of boxing. Virtually all
the game’s greatest names have made or
attempted comebacks in some fashion,
from Muhammad Ali to George Foreman to
Sugar Ray Leonard and a thousand names in
between. Sometimes these are awe-inspiring
and many times they are less than stellar.

So it was with trepidation that I
approached Floyd Mayweather’s recent fight
against Juan Manuel Marquez. It had been
almost two years since Mayweather’s last
bout against Ricky Hatton and his announced
retirement. In that span Manny Pacquiao
blew away the boxing world and took away
Mayweather’s claim to the best pound-for-
pound fighter in the world title.

It was with little surprise that most
greeted Mayweather’s return to the ring with
enthusiasm. What was shocking however
was his plans to battle Marquez, generally
ranked as the second best pound-for-
pound boxer in the world after Pacquiao.
Almost universally, when a big name
comes out of retirement, they do so first
against a handpicked, low-ranked nobody.
Mayweather bucked that trend by entering
into a fight where there was no guarantee
that he would win.

Say what you will about Mayweather’s
attitude, his often over-the-top showmanship
and his frequent tendency to flaunt his
sensational wealth, after this one there can be
little debate that Floyd Mayweather has guts
and has now cemented the belief that he is
one of the all-time greats.

After all, Mayweather entered into
this fight cold. Marquez went into the non-
title bout as the reigning WBO and Ring
Magazine Lightweight champion and as

 

the WBA Lightweight super champion. He
came in riding a big win over Juan Diaz
and only one loss since 2006. Despite this
and his universal respect among the boxing
community, the undefeated Mayweather
dominated.

Regardless of not being in the ring for
21 months, Mayweather picked Marquez
apart in a unanimous 12-round decision
wits sz he lost three rounds at worst. He
floored Marquez in the second round with
a left hook and went on to dictate the fight
statistically. While Marquez had to move up
two weight classes for the fight, Mayweather
landed 59 per cent of his punches while
Marquez managed to connect just 12 per cent
of the time.

The question now becomes, what is
next for Mayweather, who improved to 40-
0-0 (Marquez dropped to 50-5-1). He’s still
just 32 years old and has said that he plans to
continue fighting.

By the looks of things, there is only one
major super-fight left for Mayweather. All
roads seem to be leading to a titanic clash
with Manny Pacquiao, the current king of the
boxing world who is coming off destroying
Ricky Hatton in two rounds and is slated to
fight Miguel Cotto in November. Assuming
that Pacquiao defeats Cotto, a fight for the
ages against Mayweather seems set in stone
for sometime in 2010.

It’s possible that Mayweather could
fight Shane Mosley, the current WBA
Welterweight Champion who hasn’t fought
since January but stormed into the ring after
Mayweather’s victory over Marquez to
challenge him. Whether Mayweather fights
Mosley before or after Pacquiao doesn’t
really matter though. Pacquiao is the biggest
name in boxing at any weight class in the last
decade and is the real money fight.

What is really great about all of
this though is that after so many years of
ineptitude across the board and boring
fighters, boxing finally appears to have a real
cast of superstars again. Dare I say it, but it
really looks like boxing is getting interesting
again.

 

The ‘Other’ News

 

oronto Maple Leafs GM Brian
Burke is well known around the
hockey world for his combative
comments and bombastic nature. So
it comes as no surprise that when his
words at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft
recently came to light, controversy
erupted here in Vancouver.

During the draft in Montreal, Burke
was filmed saying that the Canucks
had made an offer to the Tampa Bay
Lightning. He stated that Canucks’ GM
Mike Gillis had anted up the team’s
first round selection, Kevin Bieksa
and Alex Burrows in exchange for the
second overall pick in the draft, hulking
Swedish defenseman Victor Hedman.

Obviously the rumoured deal did
not go together and not surprisingly,
Gillis firmly denied everything that
Burke said.

“There is absolutely no truth to it
whatsoever,” Gillis told The Province's
Jason Botchford in an interview. “It’s an
absolutely preposterous idea.”

Whether the rumour was true or
not wouldn’t really matter to Gillis at
this point. He has to deny it so Bieksa
and Burrows won’t be discouraged.
Something similar happened in
Edmonton this summer when it was
leaked out that Oilers’ GM Steve
Tambellini had offered several players
to Ottawa in exchange for disgruntled
sniper Dany Heatley.

Regardless of whether or not
the proposed deal was actually real,
although it’s always more fun to believe
that it was, it has to make you stop and
think. Would it have been good for the
Vancouver Canucks?

It does seem like a hefty price to
pay. After all, Bieksa led all Canuck
defensemen in scoring last season
with 43 points and he was considered

 

 

Sa

Se SES EEE TE |

Burke’s comments make you wonder

 

Brian Burke

Garth McLennan

sports editor

 

to be having an off-season. Burrows
meanwhile had a breakout campaign, his
28 goals were good enough for second
on the team and he experienced strong
chemistry with the Sedin twins. That’s
not even to mention Jordan Schroeder,
Vancouver’s first pick (22 overall)

who has been doing big things at the
University of Minnesota.

But on the other hand, there is
Hedman’s allure. He was considered
to be in the running with John Tavaras
for the first overall pick and has been
playing extremely well in the Swedish
Elite League, widely thought of as the
second or third best circuit in the world,
against men since he was 16. Last
season he had 21 points in 43 games,
and that’s as a defenseman. At 6-foot-7,
230 Ibs, he’s an absolute monster on the
blueline, and anyone who watched the
World Junior Championships last year
knows the he loves to hit.

Almost universally, scouts have
projected Hedman to be a franchise
player in the mould of a Chris Pronger.
He’s huge, he hits, he can skate, he has
a great offensive game— basically, he’s
your prototypical star defender.

So would you make that trade?
Was Gillis right in turning it down?
We’ll know for sure in a few short
years, but right now, it looks to be
up in the air. Individually, Hedman is
obviously superior to any one of those
three, perhaps even any two of the three.
Then again, there is no shortage of high
profile first round draft busts throughout
the years.

So in the end, Kevin Bieksa, Alex
Burrows and Jordan Schroeder for
Victor Hedman? Should Gillis have
pulled the proverbial trigger, if indeed it
was there? Absolutely.

 

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