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 In and Out, Again (Part II)
15 Rounds with Steve Kim (May 11, 2004)
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In Part I, Steve has taken care of everything he needs to on this day (May 8), from booking future flights, doing radio interviews and getting lunch. Now, it's time for what really brought him to Las Vegas in the first place.
6:52 PM- OK, I've taken care of my business, I got a bottled water for Dave Cokin from the press room, and my mind is now squarely focused on the two featured fights of the night. Graham Houston, who had just been looking around the joint would mention that the press section was about half empty, which is sad. There are a lot of folks that I usually see at fights that aren't here tonight for some reason. That's really a shame, tonight's doubleheader on HBO is among the most anticipated this year.
6:58 PM- The crowd seems a bit bored and who can blame them, as neither Miguel Cotto or Lovemore N'dou is out of his locker room. I've been noticing lately just how long of a wait it can be inside the arena while HBO is going through their broadcast. It's great while you're watching at home viewing one of HBO's first-rate vignettes and hearing the commentary of their broadcast trio, but ringside, you get restless. It's always funny to hear Katz bitch and moan about how long HBO takes.
7:03 PM- Finally both junior welters are in the ring and Michael Buffer is doing his thing. He looks younger than ever; he's the Dick Clark of pugilism.
7:06 PM: 90 seconds in, the crowd is booing, as both Cotto and N'dou size each other up. Tough crowd, but they have high expectations of the night.
7:14 PM: After a decent first round, it seems that N'dou simply can't hold off Cotto and his methodical style. Cotto, who many believe is the heir apparent to Felix Trinidad, is landing some hard, heavy body shots.
7:27 PM: The fight settles into a familiar pattern. When Cotto presses the attack, he lands hard, thudding punches; when he lays back and retreats, he gives N'dou a chance to land some punches. But early on, they seem to have little effect. But the South African is gritty, " He's got resolve," says Cokin. Yes, he does.
7:30 PM- For round seven, both men go southpaw, and N'dou has his best round since the opener as Cotto spends much of it on the ropes. N'dou is allowed to
outwork Cotto.
7:34 PM- Cotto gets back to work in the eighth, and he hurts N'dou with several punishing body blows but N'dou is game. It's clear that in seeing Cotto land as many punches as he has on his opponent, that he does not have the electrifying power of 'Tito', but perhaps he is more well rounded. His legs seem sturdier and
unlike Trinidad, he has a reverse gear.
7:37 PM- Round nine would be Cotto's toughest as a professional. N'dou finally stuns the youngster with a crisp right hand. Cotto's left eye would become a bit puffy and an emboldened Ndou would gain confidence. It was at this point that the crowd would start to get into the fight. They sensed what a brave and courageous effort N'dou was putting out and they begin to show their appreciation.
7:41 PM- A good response by Cotto in the tenth stanza, as he outworks N'dou and gets his hands moving again. While this is not a dominating performance, it's a valuable learning experience for the young fighter. This, more than all his early blowouts combined, will serve him well in the future.
7:45 PM- In the 11th it's N'dou who forces the action and has Cotto in retreat, drawing some boos from the audience, who seems a bit spoiled. It's clear that this has been Cotto's first real test as a pro.
7:48 PM- A very good round as N'dou, not wanting to leave anything in Vegas, forces the action and outworks Cotto for much of the round, but in the last 30 seconds it's Cotto who flurries and finishes the fight with a flourish. Did he do enough to steal the round? With his big early lead he built up, it may not matter.
7:55 PM- My final scorecard read 115-113 for Cotto. A few minutes later the scores are read, 117-111, 115-113, 116-112, all for Cotto. I take no solace in
the fact that my scorecard reads the same as Dalby Shirley's.
Cotto comes out of there with some valuable experience, but checking out the concerned looks on his handlers' faces and his own mug (which is marked up and bruised), he still may be a ways off from a Vivian Harris. As for N'dou, despite his two losses in 2004, he's had a pretty good year. He may have lost again tonight, but he earned everyone's respect. We all got Lovemore for N'dou.
8:00 PM- As is the custom, celebrities and boxers are introduced to the crowd. Seriously, why don't they - just once, like the old days - have the champions come into the ring to get introduced? But anyway, Floyd Mayweather is the only one to get booed. He probably blames Bob Arum for that, too.
8:03 PM- You know it's getting close when the Mexican Yosemite Sam comes into the ring with a Mexican flag, followed by two Filipinos who have a flag of their country and the United States. All over the arena, I see the Filipino flags being displayed proudly. I also see a few, but far less, Mexican flags being waved.
8:04 PM- Dueling chants start to ring out. "PHEEE-LIIIIP-INNNNES!!!!" would start to reverberate throughout the arena, but the Marquez fans would counter with their own chant off: " MEEEEE-HEEEE-COOO!!!" There may have been just 7,129 inside the arena, but they sounded like 70,000. The atmosphere was truly magnificent. Like Marv Levy used to tell his Buffalo Bills before big games, "Where else would you rather be?"
I look around and I see television crews focusing on the fans who play up to the cameras by whooping it up, which I love. This isn't a social event, a place
to be seen, but a real, live sporting event with real, rabid fans who aren't afraid to show their loyalty. In other words, this ain't a Laker game.
8:06 PM- Deafening chants of, " MAAAAAAA-NNNNY!!!" begin as he's about to enter the arena. The noise gets only louder as he comes in to ' We are the Champions'. As he walks down the aisle to my right, you can barely hear the music. You see a wide grin on 'The Pac Man's face as he briskly jogged toward the ring. His fans are going nuts, flags waving everywhere. What a scene; there is no place I'd rather be.
8:08 PM- Shortly after Pacquiao gets into the ring, Juan Manuel Marquez, in a much more subdued manner makes his way between the ropes. His team looks sharp in their red sweatsuits. The Mexican faction does their best to cheer on their man but seem to be drown out by the Filipinos.
8:10 PM- It seems the roof is about to blow off this building and as Buffer does his work, you can barely hear him over the raucous noise - something that I can't recall ever happening before, as Buffer's got a strong set of pipes.
8:12 PM- As they come to the center of the ring to meet referee Joe Cortez, I take a deep breath and I can feel my heart pounding just a little bit. That's when you know you're at a good one. I look at both fighters, who are in superb condition and who have prepared themselves for months, all for less than an hour of work. Looking at them, you think to yourself, "This is how it should always be." There are no Kirk Johnsons here.
8:13 PM- The crowd is still roaring as both men get set for the first bell, and the tension is thick. The first minute or so it looks like Marquez is in control, using his range as he hits Pacquiao with a few hard shots and he's even playing the role of aggressor. Pacquiao is backing up early, not a good sign.
BAAAAAAAANGGG!!!! A STRAIGHT LEFT SENDS MARQUEZ DOWN!!!!! THE CROWD EXPLODES!!!! Marquez, though, looks Ok, maybe it's just a flash? BOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!! AGAIN, ANOTHER LEFT PUTS DOWN MARQUEZ!!!!! This time it's no flash, he's flat out buzzed. KAAAAAAZZZZAAAAMMMM!!!! OHHHHMMYYYGAAAWD!!! MARQUEZ IS DOWN FOR THE THIRD TIME!!! I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!!!
Pacquiao's fans are hysterical, Marquez's are in stunned disbelief. Lawrence Taylor couldn't have blitzed him any better. As Marquez goes down for the third time, he seems to be hit while he was down and when he put his head down on the canvas, for a split second you think that he might just throw in the towel. But as Cortez reached six, Marquez gathered himself to pull himself up. That's the type of fighter he is. One problem though, there was still about 30 seconds left in the round. Pacquiao jumps all over him and Marquez does all he can to survive, barely doing so, but coming away dazed and with a nose that is bleeding profusely.
It's a stunning sight to see Marquez, who has been knocked down, but never really hurt, in this condition. I score the round 10-6 for Pacquiao.
8:18 PM- Round two, a close round, both men have their moments, and Marquez seems to have regained his bearings. A thunderous ovation comes at the end of the round. It's amazing that we even see a second round; it's even more remarkable that Marquez may have won it.
8:22- 8:38 PM- From rounds three to seven, Marquez seems to have slowed the tempo of the fight to his liking. He seems to be controlling things on the outside, backing up Pacquiao once in a while and landing several hard lead rights. Believe it or not, after seven rounds, he's pulled ahead on my scorecard, 66-65. It seems after each and every round, the crowd is on it's feet applauding the action.
8:41 PM- Pacquiao re-asserts himself with several hard lefts that had been absent for awhile. After such an incredible effort to come off the canvas, is Marquez fading, ala Fernando Vargas against Felix Trinidad?
8:45 PM- Some heated exchanges, where both men land hard shots. While the action may not have been quite as sustained as the first Barrera-Morales fight or
Gatti-Ward, it's every bit as intense and entertaining. As I sneak a peek at the audience, I see that the fans aren't just cheering on their man, it's almost as if their trying to will him to victory by their exertion of emotion.
8:49 PM- As I see Pacquiao get off his stool for the start of round ten, I notice that the battle is now visible all over his face. On the other side, while Marquez may have suffered a broken nose, the bleeding is no longer profuse, although it's remnants are all over his formerly white trunks. This has been a fight.
8:52 PM- As the last round begins, both fighters touch gloves, and everyone in the arena is standing and applauding. Marquez seems to win the early portion of the round and Pacquiao the later portion of it. The crowd rises in unison for the last 30 seconds and as the bell rings, both fighters look at each other and acknowledge what they have both been through.
I gave the last round to Pacquiao, but my scorecard reads 114-113 for Marquez. I just think that after the first round, it was Marquez who won the majority of rounds with his boxing and ability to control the pace of the fight. Pacquiao, as the rounds went on, simply wasn't consistent enough in his offensive attack.
Around ringside, it seems that the slight majority have the fight scored for the Mexican, but everyone has it close.
9:03- Buffer announces the scores, which end up in a split draw. As usual, the crowd and both fighters seem disappointed in the verdict, but satisfied with what took place.
Cokin has a problem with Burt Clements scoring the first round only 10-7 for Pacquiao but says," I'm glad it was a draw, I want to see it again."
About 10 minutes later, both fighters would leave the ring to ovations from fans that had not left the arena. While it was a draw, were both winners.
9:20-9:32 PM- As the walkout bout between Antwun Echols and Ross Thompson was taking place, I sit down in some seats away from press row and talk with some fans. They too enjoyed the action, and they had gotten their monies worth, so boxing was also a winner tonight. As I walked off to the post-fight press conference, I polled a few more fans on who they thought won the fight. Funny, but all the Mexicans thought Marquez won and all the Filipinos tabbed Pacquiao. But a few white guys favored Marquez.
Hey, it was a close fight.
9:34 PM- As I get to the press conference on the main concourse of the arena, I see Cotto. Looking at him, there's no doubt he was in a real fight tonight.
This was one of those rare press conferences that was a celebration of the sport. Nobody was really dissatisfied with the result but really overjoyed at how the night turned out. There would be no talk of federal investigations or anything like that, but an admiration of two great fighters. Even those who disagreed on the result, did so amiably.
The ultimate winner tonight may have been Carlos Hernandez, who looks like he'll get a crack at Erik Morales on July 31st. I don't think there was anybody
happier with the decision than him and his wife.
10:15 PM- With a flight leaving at midnight, I gotta get going. I head over to that place at the MGM Grand that sells those slushy alcohol drinks. I get, what
else, a 20-ounce Hurricane, with an extra shot for a buck. Hey, I 'worked' hard today.
10:30 PM- I meet Larry Merchant who says I can catch a ride with him in his chauffeured vehicle to the airport since we're both taking the same flight back to LAX.
"Hey, this was one of the nights that makes it all worthwhile," I say to him.
"Yeah," he replied. "This was a good night."
As we ride in the car, we talk about the night's events, and we both agree there should be a rematch, just
not immediately.
10:45 PM- It's kinda funny being with Merchant around boxing events; it's like being around someone in a glass house that everyone hovers around. Fans can be heard whispering, 'Hey, is that Larry Merchant?', and they ask him to take pictures and autographs and he always obliges - Barry Bonds he ain't. As we're going through security we see a group of young Filipinos that came in from New Jersey to catch the fight and were now taking the red-eye home. Of course they thought their man won, but they didn't seem too disappointed either.
As we got through security, Merchant says to one of the fans, "Hey, you wanna a souvenir?" And he handed him his HBO press credential. It was the closest thing I've ever seen to the 'Mean' Joe Greene Coke commercial from back in the day. The guys ended up taking a group photo with him. Hey, they didn't get their win, but one of them did get a one-of-a-kind souvenir.
" Just don't put it on Ebay," warned Merchant, laughing. "I won't," assured the lucky guy. "Hey, Steve, I'll be reading your articles, take it easy on our guys." I responded, "Oh, so you're the one that's reading us."
Yeah, there's nothing quite like airport boxing banter.
11:04 PM- We have a few minutes to kill so we head to the Fox Sports Grill. I get a Bud Light, Larry gets a Diet Coke and we talk about our favorite moments and episodes of 'Deadwood', which all seem to revolve around 'Calamity Jane'
12:00 AM- I finally get in my seat, 23C. Larry is in first class, of course. Hey, it's not MaxBoxing, it's HBO.
12:27 AM- We still haven't taken off yet for some reason. As I close Sugar's book for just a second to look around, the lady across from me says, "If you're
not going to read, do you want to turn off your light?" I respond, "Oh, no, I'm reading."
She seems disappointed, but I'm thinking, 'Hey, if Marquez can get up from that first round and fight his ass off, you can get to sleep in a plane with my light on, OK, toots?'
Funny, but throughout this whole flight this broad was bitching about something to the flight attendants and complaining that she needed this or that. I could tell that the only thing that the stewardesses really wanted to get her was a parachute and throw her off the plane. I would have helped out.
1:30 AM- We land in paradise, I say good-bye to Merchant and I'm off to Lot C.
2:15 AM- I hit Hollywood but there's a long line at the Tommie's drive-thru, which means my first and last meal of this day would be a 'Cup of Noodles.'
2:30- 3:20 AM- My eyes are heavy. I'm trying my damnedest to get through the NBC fights, and I see Darling Jimenez go 0-2 on NBC but I don't think I can make it through the Bojado fight.
3:21 AM- That's it, I'm out. I can watch the rest of Bojado's fight tomorrow. Before I get to bed I set the timer for HBO2's replay of the fights because there's no way I'm waking up at nine.
That's it, I'm officially knocked out. Thankfully, Juan Manuel Marquez never was.
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