Everybody’s favorite judge and HBO’s unofficial scorekeeper Harold Lederman took time out to talk some sweet science. Read on to learn Harold’s thoughts on this weekend, why he believes Floyd will do the right thing and fight the winner, why he likes Paul Williams and Tavoris Cloud and much more…

BoxingInsider: We have the big one we all been waiting for this weekend, you have to be excited.

Harold Lederman: “Very much so, I think it’s going to be a sensational fight. Miguel Cotto is a very hard puncher, he’s the bigger guy. Durable, he keeps coming, he always makes exciting fights. He digs to the body. He’s certainly capable of giving Manny Pacquiao trouble.”

BoxingInsider: You’re picking Cotto to win?

Harold Lederman: “No I’m not picking anybody. I gotta keep score, I gotta be nuetral [laughs]. But Manny is really in his prime right now. Bigger guys don’t bother him, we saw what he did to Oscar, David Diaz, Ricky Hatton. He looks sensational. He throws a punch, he just doesn’t miss. Always right on the money. The question is can he stop a real full fledged 147 pound fighter like Miguel Cotto? We don’t know. On the other hand, can he stand up to Cotto’s power? It’s gonna be interesting. If Cotto looks great…if either one of them looks great, it’s gonna set up a heckuva fight with Floyd Mayweather. I’m really excited.”

BoxingInsider: Do you think it will happen? Floyd seems not to be too interested.

Harold Lederman: “I think Floyd is looking for the best money he can get. And I think the best money he can get is with the winner of Pacquiao-Cotto. I think it’s a bigger fight than Shane Mosley. I think more people will want to see it. The Mosley fight might be easier to make but I think Floyd will just look at the numbers and say, I’m gonna do the best fight – Cotto or Pacquiao. Personally I think Floyd is praying for Manny Paquiao to win because he loves to fight small guys [laughs]. But it remains to be seen. If the fight turns out to be a dull fight – which I don’t think is gonna happen – then Floyd will probably take Shane Mosley.”

BoxingInsider: But we have heard rumors that Floyd is looking to make a Hatton rematch, or pick Dimitri Salita – if Salita upsets Khan.

Harold Lederman: “I don’t think so. I doubt it. I think he’s looking for the biggest money he can make. I think it’s with the winner of Pacquiao-Cotto.”

BoxingInsider: This will be the biggest night of the year for boxing.

Harold Lederman: “Huge, I think it’s absolutely gonna be huge. Everybody wants to see the fight. It’s exciting, it’s huge in the Latin and Filipino communities. The guy on the street wants to see it.”

BoxingInsider: Yeah people like Shaq, the New York Giants are hyped about it. Like the Larry Holmes era in the 80s, the welterweight division is picking up the slack and taking the sport to a higher level.

Harold Lederman: “There’s more interesting fights at welterweight than there is at heavyweight. The heavyweights are dominated by the Klitschkos, they look terrific. You can’t take it away from them, they just keep on winning. You don’t see any opponents out there who can give them a competitive fight. They both have fights coming up – Vitali with Kevin Johnson and Wladimir with Eddie Chambers.”

BoxingInsider: We know who will win those.

Harold Lederman: “That’s what I’m saying, the Klitschkos are so dominant. Eddie Chambers is really a good fighter, but at his size, can be beat Wladimir Klitschko? He’s not a really big guy.”

BoxingInsider: Solis from Cuba looks like he could be the future of the heavyweight division.

Harold Lederman: “You know what scares me about Odlanier Solis? I saw him beat Monte Barrett and he has power. But when he was an amateur beating Felix Savon, he weighed 201. For Monte Barrett he weighed 271. That’s scary. I don’t know if he can put on all that weight and be efective. I don’t know, I’m a little leery. Wait till we see him in a couple more fights. He may be suffering from that problem Chris Arreola has – in other words, he may be 25-30 pounds overweight. But from what I saw in the Barrett fight, it sure looks like he can punch.”

BoxingInsider: With the “Super Six” on Showtime, Cotto and Pacquiao on Saturday, you’ve been in boxing a long time. Is your enthusiasm for the sport still very high? Or has it declined?

Harold Lederman: “No [laughs]. Not in the least [laughs]. Without question, Mikkel Kessler-Andre Ward is gonna be a great fight, there’s no doubt about that. And our show is going to be fabulous. I’m really excited about several fights coming up. I’m really looking forward to seeing Paul Williams against Sergio Martinez in Atlantic City.I’m looking forward to Paulie Malignaggi-Juan Diaz again December 12 in Chicago. I’m looking forward to Librado Andrade-Bute in Quebec City.”

BoxingInsider: How good is Paul Williams?

Harold Lederman: “Dynamite. When do you see a southpaw knock people out with right hooks? I mean, he doubles and triples the left hook. Which is unheard of for a southpaw. I think he’s a terrific fighter, he really is. Not only does he have a helluva straight left hand, good size, good power, but what he can do with a right hand is amazing for a southpaw.”

BoxingInsider: And where is the boxing talent in America? The amateur system is not producing the future stars like we have come to expect, especially in the heavyweight division. What is going on?

Harold Lederman: “We will. It’s a lull in the action. They’ll be back. I guarantee they’ll be back. There’s Deontay Wilder, Demetrius Andrade from the last Olympics. Guys like that. It’s just a matter of time. Now there isn’t a lot of young Americans coming up but I’m impressed by Tavoris Cloud. He seems to be a great name that we didn’t know about. The new IBF Light Heavyweight champion of the world. He impresses me with his punching power. I’m sure, before long, we’re going to see a whole lot of new faces.”

 [This two-week series of articles was originally published in March of 2006 at www.BoxingInsider.com                            Brooklyn born and raised boxer Zab Judah was defending his WBA/WBC Welterweight titles on January 7th at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

It was the homecoming of Zab “Super” Judah, one of the top pound-for-pound fighters on earth. It would be Zab’s first world championship fight in his hometown.

You would expect a newspaper such as The New York Times would consider this a newsworthy event that would be fit to print.

Would you be surprised to know that the most respected and prestigious newspaper in New York and America did not devote even a single drop of ink to cover the Zab Judah vs. Carlos Baldomir world welterweight championship fight?

All week long The Times virtually ignored it’s hometown hero and did not publish even one pre-fight article. Then on the day of the fight, there was still nothing. The Sunday Times must have contained at least a brief mention of the result of Judah-Baldomir, right? Nope.

“All the News That’s Fit to Print?”

What is going on here? Is this some kind of deliberate attempt by The New York Times to discriminate against the sport of boxing?

It would appear that boxing news is not news to The New York Times.

Wait, there’s more. Just last weekend, The New York Times exhibited another example of it’s curious ambivalence towards the art of pugilism. Consider this: In the Television program listing page in Section B on Saturday March 4th, The Times opted to inform its readers that at 9 p.m. on Showtime, the “Joe Calzaghe vs. Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy super middleweights” bout would be televised.

Also, The Times considered it news fit to print that at 10 p.m. HBO would televise the “Gianluca Branco vs. Miguel Cotto, light welterweights, in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.”

However, The Times Sports section that very same day, decided to not report that these two world title fights were taking place. In the Sports section – Section D – there is a small box on page D2 titled “Today’s TV/Radio” which includes the listing of: a taped broadcast of a World Baseball Classic game between Taiwan and China, NBA games, college basketball games, golf, hockey, taped harness racing from the Meadowlands, and taped thoroughbred racing from Aqueduct.

But no mention of two live boxing world title fights.

So you have to wonder. Could this be some sort of accidental oversight? Or is this a deliberate instance of discrimination against boxing? Is this a blatant example of an arrogant and hypocritical newspaper picking and choosing just what news it wants to present and what news it wishes to hide, all the while somehow completely ignoring its own world-renowned motto which is plastered everyday on the front page top left corner, “All the News That’s Fit to Print”?

We will see. This week should be revealing. On Saturday night in Atlantic City, N.J. will be the James Toney vs. Hasim Rahman WBC Heavyweight title fight.

Will The New York Times Sports section decide that this boxing match is one that is newsworthy of print? Or will The Times continue to devote space to items about Arena Football, European Champions League soccer, Outdoors and fishing, a Polish snowboarder, or Sergio Garcia’s “FIRST CAR”, “FAVORITE MOVIE” and “FAVORITE FOOD”?

Boxing is the oldest and most exciting sport on earth. The roots of boxing trace all the way back to 3000 B.C. Some of the most memorable moments in sporting history happened inside a boxing ring and were reported by The New York Times.- Ali vs. Frazier, Bowe & Holyfield, Louis & Schmeling, Duran vs. Leonard, the ups and downs of Mike Tyson’s career.

Boxing may be perceived to be in a down cycle right now, because of a lack of a single heavyweight champion, too many controversial judge’s decisions, world ranking manipulations and sanctioning body corruptions, etc. But still, there are a lot of very talented superstar boxers active today and plenty of thrilling matches scheduled for 2006. The sport is alive and well. It just really needs the proper media coverage, especially from newspapers and other media outlets as powerful and influential as The New York Times.

Yes, we know the people who run boxing are sometimes corrupt, sometimes lacking integrity and sometimes more interested in their own greedy self-interests rather than the overall health of the sport. But, surely world class athletes like Floyd Mayweather, Zab Judah, Oscar De La Hoya, Winky Wright, Joe Calzaghe, Manny Pacquiao, Marco Antonio Barrera, Antonio Tarver, Hasim Rahman, James Toney, Lamon Brewster, Wladimir Klitschko, Chris Byrd, Jermain Taylor and Arturo Gatti deserve to have their names and their achievements mentioned in the sports section of The New York Times. Don’t they?

Of course, Boxinginsider.com will be keeping an eye on if or how The New York Times covers professional boxing in the year 2006.

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New York Times Still Snubbing Boxing

By Scoop Malinowski

There is a major Heavyweight fight this Saturday night in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Hasim Rahman will defend his WBC Heavyweight title against James Toney in a match that has arrested the attention of the boxing world.

This Saturday’s winner will advance to a series of future title unification fights which will eventually establish who is real heavyweight champion among the group of Wladimir Klitschko, Chris Byrd, Nicolay Valuev and Lamon Brewster.

The Toney-Rahman press conference was held Tuesday morning in New York City. Yet all week long there has been no acknowledgement by The New York Times that this boxing match is even taking place.

Interestingly, there was a brief mention of boxing this week in The Times’ Obituary page. On page A-25, in Thursday’s edition, the Times informed readers of the passing of “Nick Barone, 79, Heavyweight Contender.”

The Times told us that Carmen “Nick” Barone challenged Ezzard Charles for the world Heavyweight title in 1950. Barone, who was a light heavyweight, stood toe-to-toe with the considerably larger “Cincinnati Cobra”. The title fight in the champ’s hometown of Cincinnati was competitive until Barone was floored for the first time in his career. Barone would lose by knockout in the 11th round. It was Charles’ first title defense after winning the title from Joe Louis.

Also, The Times obit reported that Barone was known as “The Fighting Marine”, retired from boxing with a record of 47-11-1 and worked for Red Star Trucking Co. until he retired in 1991. Barone is survived by a daughter and two sons.

The New York Times considers the passing of former world Heavweight title bout contestant Nick Barone as news that’s fit to print. As well it should – any man who wins or even competes for a world Heavyweight championship is a remarkable human being.

Why The New York Times would show inconsistency and completely ignore the significance of Hasim Rahman and James Toney – who are our modern day versions of Ezzard Charles and Nick Barone – is an editorial decision which needs to be explained.

You could reasonably expect that The New York Times will publish and report the obituaries of Hasim Rahman and James Toney at some point in the distant future. Why The Times is not reporting on the actual Rahman-Toney WBC Heavyweight title bout itself – but is reporting International soccer scores this week such as “Hamburg defeating Rapid Bucharest 3-1″ – is an editorial decision which must be explained.

Boxinginsider is currently seeking those explanations. So please stay tuned.

Extra Extra: On the bright side, The Times printed in today’s Sports section under it’s TV listing that tonight’s boxing match between Jesse Feliciano and Vince Phillips will be televised on espn2. So perhaps gradual progress is being made.

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Scoop: Boxing is Back in The New York Times

By Scoop Malinowski

Two weeks ago Boxinginsider.com revealed how the New York Times was failing in its coverage of boxing.

( Is The New York Times Ignoring Boxing?

New York Times Still Snubbing Boxing )

To refresh your memory, Calzaghe-Lacy and Cotto-Branco were not even listed in the sports section TV schedule and Zab Judah vs. Carlos Baldomir at Madison Square Garden did not receive any pre-fight or post-fight articles. It was as if that WBC Welterweight title fight never happened, according to The Times.

It can now be reported that The New York Times is back on board and has resumed its coverage of the art of pugilism. Last Monday, in the March 20th edition – two days after Rahman-Toney – John Eligon wrote a fine article on page D10 “Heavyweight Division Is Still Searching For A Star.”

Also, televised boxing matches are again being listed in the sports section’s TV schedule – as they should be.