One More Round: Margarito/Pacquiao, Burns/Martinez, Super Six, plus more...

Jason Karp brings you this week's edition of One More Round.

While many commentators have stopped short of condoning Top Rank's decision to grant Antonio Margarito a date with one of the sport's two most lucrative names, they have nonetheless called for restraint over what has, up until now, been widespread condemnation of the November 13 fight. Their reasons are varied: the double standard that is the public's closed-book judgement of Margarito, compared to its white-washing forgiveness of other boxers with records of cheating, such as Shane Mosley; the common practice of granting fighters opportunities they don't necessarily deserve; and the inability of fans to come to terms with an officially binding, if not altogether satisfying, decision on the part of the Texas Athletic Commission.

Where these arguments fall short is in their inability to view the fight, not merely in the context of boxing's economy or the sport's record of standard practice, but in the context of one of the sport's last remaining sources of integrity – its history. Arguments can be made either way regarding the morality or lack-thereof of granting Margarito a fight with Manny Pacquiao. What can't be argued, however, is that Pacquiao, based on his current resume and standard of performance, is on the verge of breaking into territory occupied only by the giants of the sport's past.

Unlike team sports such as baseball or hockey, where an off night is swallowed up by the sheer number of games played, in boxing a fighter's prime is limited to only a hand full of fights – a window of time that can literally be measured in minutes. Every fight carries the ability to leave a disproportionally large mark of a boxer's legacy. As such, every fight must be chosen with care. This is especially true for a fighter like Pacquiao, whose interests are not only financial, but historical.

For Top Rank to select as Manny's opponent a man who is both tarnished with the stench of cheating and the suspicion of being a shot fighter is to not merely make the type of decision that has, admittedly, been made in boxing before, but in this case is to waste one of the precious few fights Pacquiao has left to etch his name into the history of boxing, and one of the final chances fans will have to view a once-in-a-generation pugilist at work. For this reason, any outrage on the part fans, regardless of precedent, is certainly justified.

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For the second time in nearly eighteen months, the British Isles has produced a dark-horse candidate for Fight of the Year. While last weekend's super featherweight tilt between Scotland's Ricky Burns and Puerto Rico's Roman Martinez did not quite reach the levels of violence and suspense provided by Ricardo Cordoba and Bernard Dunne's Dublin slugfest in 2009, it did provide a welcome jolt of excitement and narrative to what has largely been a dire calendar year for the fight game.

The narrative came in the form of hometown boy and eventual winner Burns, whose underdog status coming into the fight was affirmed by a resume boasting only nine opponents with winning records, two of whom proved the better of the Scot. Such mediocrity begs the question how Burns ever finagled his way into the mandatory challenger's position for Martinez's WBO trinket in the first place. But enough examples of destructive sanctioning body incompetence exist not to harp on one of the few instances where such buffoonery actually benefits boxing fans.

Over twelve tightly contested rounds, the fight alternated between a tactical at-range battle and in-close trench warfare. Surprisingly, the challenger's brightest moments were reserved for those contested in tight, where Burns managed to consistently sneak in left and right upper cuts and precision left hooks to the body, giving Martinez just enough pause in between his non-stop barrage for Burns to eek out a close decision.

While the consensus is that Burns's reign is one not long for this world, his versatile, if unspectacular, skill set could see him through what is a fairly arid division, if only just for a little while. At the very least, a rematch with Martinez would be a welcome payoff for all involved, not least the fans.

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It has now become fashionable to write off the Super Six tournament as an abject failure. Whether it be the competition's supposed inability to deliver quality fights, or its struggle to stay afloat under the weight of injuries, politics, and Andre Dirrell and Andre Ward's bromance, fans are increasingly warming up to the idea that the entire enterprise was waste of time and a bad idea to begin with.

To label the Super Six a failure is to miss the entire point of what it is we're doing here in this crazy sport of boxing. Above all, the point is to make exciting fights, with whomever they may involve. But beyond that, there is an urge for clarity – clarity as to who the best fighter is in each division and how those below them line up. To achieve this clarity, the best must fight the best.

To this end, the Super Six is a success, and even in its struggles, is an idea worth encouraging. Think about how, in just two stages of the opening round, the Super Six has altered our impression of the 168lb class.  Heading into the event, Mikkel Kessler and Arthur Abraham were regarded as the favourites, with the Dane considered the elite man in the division.  In just a short while, those rankings have been flipped on its head, just as has our impressions of the fighters involved. Where once two European veterans stood, now stand two rising stars. That is a movement towards clarity, and it was brought about because of the Super Six. How different would our impression of the division be today had this tournament not been organized? Likewise, how different would our impression be today of any other division, had it been the beneficiary of its own Super Six?

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HBO has reportedly passed on getting involved with the Jean Pascal – Bernard Hopkins fight, tentatively scheduled for December 18. This is a damning indictment, coming from the network that has effectively played patron saint to Andre Berto's career.

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It's amazing the things you find on BoxRec. Take for example Carl Allen. Since 2001, the 40 year old British fighter has fought in 116 professional fights, losing all but eighteen of them. And he's still going, poor Carl. What motivates a man to continue on in a pursuit he is so obviously not cut out for – a pursuit in which the repercussions for mediocrity are so physically taxing. There must a story there. This is a Ring Life segment I'd like to see.

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