A Glum Development

I took the day off of work to attend a pro boxing tournament with Smiley, but post-Disney the cost was prohibitive. I then got a line on some cheap tickets from Craigslist, but the guy sold them right before I texted. I've got a wanted post on the site and there's a faint chance of success . . . But I'll probably have to settle for using the night to finish the online testing for legal writing. #tryingtputagoodspinontgings

Kovalev - Hopkins

Kovalev-Hopkins tonight, the boxing equivalent of Yankees-Red Sox at the start of this century. It should be a doozy.

Boom Boom Mancini - Al Ford

I'm watching the Boom Boom Mancini - Al Ford fight from April of '81. As an eerie foreshadow of events to come, the announcers were calling for the fight to be stopped in the 4th when Ray was overwhelming Ford, saying "this is how tragedies happen [in the ring]." 19 months later Duk Koo Kim was dead by Mancini's hand.

School Picture Day

Lisa and I are trying to get out of here and get to an appointment, but today is school picture day and Lisa is trying to get the girls' hair ready.

Unfortunately, Lu washed out a nights worth of curls and wasted an hour of Lisa's time, so for the first time in years I've tried to step up and do one of their hair. In the end Lu is going to have to wear her hair down, and there are already tears, plus Junie is whining about her (beautiful) 'do . . . sigh. Meanwhile Smiley is chilling on the couch watching the Thrilla in Manilla, which I'd put on before they got up. Lucky him.

Lu has an opinion on Mayweather

LuLu came home from a sleepover this morning and told me she'd watched the Mayweather fight with her friend. That made me ecstatic - what a kid! She then mentioned that she thought Floyd "got away with a lot of stuff", echoing the bull that the announcing crew spewed. *That* made me annoyed again at their jibber-jabber. I have the good fortune to have a copy of the Ali-Wepner fight stripped of the broadcast track (it has nothing but the noise of the crowd and the fight). Oh, if that could be the case for most bouts . . .

Indian Summer Festival

Smiley and I went to Indian Summer Festival today to watch an amateur boxing tournament, then did some arts & crafts and enjoyed a bison Indian taco and frybread. A great time with a great son.

Love fried bread....with bacon, mummmmm...so good - Grandma J

Question

Is anyone going to Indian Summer Sept 6-7th? I hope to be there for an amateur boxing tournament. Maybe we can meet up and grab an Indian taco.

Kovalez-Hopkins!

[happy face!] This fall Sergey Kovalev will face off against Bernard Hopkins in a light heavyweight unification title that should be EPIC. I know, I know - I talk about this stuff, no one cares, no one listens; more fool you. A Kovalev-Hopkins bout will be the boxing equivalent of the Red Sox- Yankees squaring off in the LCS at the start of this century, or the old GB-Dallas clashes. It's so damn good I just might shell out the money for the PPV.

Watched the 1980 Shaevers-Cobb bout, then Marriage at  First Sight,  then  #DanceMoms, now watching NBC's #FoodFighters

Watching the Ali-Chuvalo fight from '66. It's a great, grueling slugfest.

Right before I walked with Smiley down to Classic Slice to split a $5 lunch, I watched the Jerry Quarry - Mac Foster bout from the summer of 1970. Contrary to every other fight of his I've watched, Quarry avoided getting cut and TKO'd Foster in the 6th.

Soccer and Boxing

Wow, the World Cup Finals in on the air, and at the half the score is . . . . 0-0. [crickets chirp]. What a tremendously exciting sport.

Update: 

Rather than waste precious hours of my life watching a World Cup match that is 0-0 *at the completion of regular time* I fired up last nights Canelo-Lara bout. I scored it even up 114-114, with one round that really could have gone either way. The judges scored it 115-113 (one for Canelo, one for Lara), but the deciding score was a ridiculous 117-111 in Canelo's favor. That judge, IMHO, is on crack.

Walked with YaYa from guitar class to the library then home, a nice brisk pace. Then watched Jerry Quarry v Ken Norton ('75) and now Joe Louis v Cesar Brion ('50) update: then Bob Foster v Mike Quarry ('72)

Watching Joe Frazier v Manuel Ramos for the Heavyweight belt (June 24, 1968). GREAT opening round. Update: but not much more than that.  Frazier did what Frazier did and the fight was soon stopped by the ref

Lewis-Rahman

Yesterday I also watched the Lennox Lewis-Phil Jackson fight from '94, and Lewis's upset loss to Hasim Rahman in 2001. That one ticked me off, because Lewis lost for no other reason than he was cocky and lazy. They compared it later to Tyson-Douglas, but nuh-uh. Douglas was motivated and fought a great fight, whereas Rahman stumbled through the whole affair. Lewis should have owned this match. There was no excuse for Lennox to clown around with a big grin and his guard down, and he paid for it allright; one punch and he was out and his belts were gone. It was irritating and it made the announcer's earlier quote - which I loved - ring prophetic: [paraphrased] "he better stop taking this so lightly, because his chin doesn't know the other guy's a 20-1 underdog"

Watching the Lennox Lewis-David Tua championship bout from Armistice Day 2000.

He Ain't Wrong

Damn right Paulie

The Sweet Science

For those of you who don't know, I am officially on strike from Major League Baseball this season. I can't tolerate the hypocritical witch hunt that resulted in Alex Rodriguez's suspension, and yes, I feel strongly enough about it to abandon my favorite sport for a year. I don't know who's doing well or who's doing poorly, and I have no idea about the standings. I DO know my hometown Brewers are whupping butt so far, and ain't that just my luck - watch them go all the way in a year I don't pay attention!

Anyway, thank the Lord I have boxing to fill the gap in my heart. I've always liked boxing and periodically binge on it, but my knowledge and fandom has solidified in the last twelve months. 

Today I watched the Sonny Liston - Eddie Machen bout from September of 1960, a great exhibition of Liston's prowess that descended into a glorified wrestling match in the final round. I think Liston was a great fighter - albeit one that did throw the famous "phantom punch" fight with Ali, IMO (his first loss to Clay being a frustrating but true defeat) - and radically under-appreciated nowadays. What a jab!

I also watched a nasty 1965 dustup between former champ Floyd Patterson and George Chuvalo. What a great fight to watch, if spoiled a bit by Floyd's awkward attempt at commentary on this '60's rebroadcast.

And for those of you who dismiss the great Larry Holmes as a pretender, or someone who reigned large only because the competition was weak, think again: on the 36th anniversary of the fight I watched his 15 round brawl with the great Ken Norton. Not only was Holmes skilled, he could take a punch and not bat an eye. I like him. 

If you haven't watched boxing recently, or gave it up for MMA, revisit the sport. It's still the Sweet Science.

Cotto-Martinez

I finally had the chance to watch last week's Cotto-Martinez middleweight championship fight. Great win for Cotto, who put on an intelligent "master class" as he took down the champ. Kudos to Martinez, who lasted nine rounds on two bad knees. The only cruddy part of the fight was having to listen to Larry Merchant call the action. I can't stand Merchant's perpetually cynical, dry and often as*holish commentary.

Callum Smith

I just watched Callum Smith, a good looking young fighter from Liverpool, deliver a four - 4! - knocknown round against Tobias Webb. Each knockdown was from a single body shot, and by the fourth and final one there wasn't much left of Webb. Yowsers - what a great fight to watch (unless you're Tobias Webb).