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Boxing from an odd angle
by Marty Mulcahey (March 18, 2003)
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In the Mulcahey household, St. Patrick's Day was celebrated with the traditional seven course Irish meal: a potato and a six pack of Guinness. Unfortunately, there was not a lot of boxing to wash the meal down with. Friday Night Fights took the week off, as did HBO. With only one Irish name between the two, I hardly found it appropriate.
In honor of St. Patrick's Day, ESPN Classic aired a "Fighting Irish" weekend, consisting of Boston Celtics and Notre Dame games. Didn't these guys ever hear of Barry McGuigan? He was Irish and he fought. Heck, I would have settled for a Wayne McCullough, Sean O'Grady, or even Gerry Cooney fight. I know it would be too much to ask for them to dig up some Jimmy McLarnin fights.
Truth in advertising alert. Last Thursday, I read on various websites that Jorge Paez and Jose Luis Castillo were not going to be part of the March 22nd Latin Fury PPV. That Friday afternoon, I saw a commercial for the PPV card on ESPN. The first two fighters mentioned as headlining the card were Jorge Paez and Jose Luis Castillo. Shouldn't these PPV commercials be revised or pulled for fans who might not have access to the internet to gain this information? This is like telling fans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to tune in for a Buccaneer PPV, and then giving them the Cincinnati Bengals instead. It's the same sport being played, but the level of interest for some fans would be zero. Addendum to this note: In fairness, Showtime did give out the correct line up for the PPV. Which shows that it can be done.
Get ready for a trip down memory lane boxing fans. The ever astute Lou DiBella is reuniting newspaper men Woodward and Bernstein.... oooops wrong journalists. Lou DiBella is actually going to bring back the announcing team of Al Bernstein and Barry Tompkins. The duo were a major attraction for viewers of the old ESPN's boxing telecasts in the 1990's. An excellent idea in my opinion. While it won't make me buy the PPV (if the matchups are not of quality) it will definitely enhance the program. In honor of this occasion, I will grow my early 1990's mullet hairdo back.
Joe Dwyer, head of the IBF championship committee, was given his walking papers last week. The letter (I am not kidding) started off with "Dear Joe", which, I suppose, is better than a "Dear John" letter. Within the letter Marian W. Muhammad, President of the IBF stated, "I lack confidence in your ability to effectively perform the duties of the IBF Championship Chairman." Sounds pretty bad to me, until you get to this part of the same letter, "I urge you to remain involved with the IBF/USBA in whatever capacity you feel you can best serve the organization." So she is not confident in the abilities of Dwyer to perform his duties, but still wants him to work somewhere within the IBF? Just goes to show that the double talk, confusion, and inability to do something correctly starts at the top with the IBF.
Fox Sports World delivered another excellent main event (only one of the four had me looking for the remote control, so far ) when David Donis overcame three knockdowns to win a disputed majority decision over Edel Ruiz. It sounds like Ruiz should have won by a wide margin, but he was deducted a point for hitting on the break and could never capitalize on the knockdowns. It was just like a baseball team hitting a grand slam home run, but losing 5-4. You can't do much better, but the consistency of the opponent beats your one brilliant flash of offense.
Saturday night's Showtime card had a little bit of everything. Two prospects slugging it out, bad officiating, and knockdowns. What I was really impressed by was the multitude of camera angles that Showtime presented the viewers with. I don't know if they had more cameras than usual, or had stolen the HBO blueprints for camera layouts.
Webster's dictionary describes the word 'unify' as, "To make into a unit or a coherent whole". So why is Showtime advertising Freitas as a unified champ? First of all, the WBO is the least recognized of the four alphabet bandits, and Freitas only owns one of the major three titles. That being the WBA title, which is made even less significant because of their absurd new “Super Champion“ title. There is nothing coherent or unifying about owning two of four titles. Showtime should also give up any hopes of Freitas moving down in weight to face Morales or Barrera. He would have to cut off his torso to make 126.
Did Steve Farhood get a new haircut? Showtime had better beware of this, as there are only five reasons for a man of Steve's considerable....... shall we say age, to cut his hair in a new fashion.
1. Job Interview.
2. The National Guard has called him to active duty.
3. Receding hairline.
4. Mid life crisis.
5. Demanding girlfriend, wife..... or both.
Lets hope it's number five.
Speaking of Showtime's announcing crew, I hope that Showtime tries to institute a three man crew when Bobby Czyz comes back to announce fights for the network. It just seems to flow better with a three man crew when you have fill time without commercials. I know these are difficult economic times, but ESPN2 uses four men, FOX has three, and HBO has four if you count Harold Lederman. No excuse for Showtime not to be able to add another voice to the show. Farhood is the logical, and best choice.
It was appropriate for Farhood to be there, since the opening bout between cruiserweight prospects Felix Cora Jr. and Michael Simms would have been right at home on a ShoBox (a good time to mention its return on April 24th!!) episode. These two undefeated prospects brought the best out in each other, as well as displaying subtle skills for men who had fought less than 13 bouts in their careers. I thought the draw was a good verdict too. In the end, no one deserved to lose in a fight as close and hard fought as that one.
Michael Simms was very well spoken after the bout and gave a better analysis than many of today's talking heads on TV. Get yourself a title Michael, then defend it a couple times, retire and head to the announcing booth.
Wow, who hit the turbo accelerator button on Acelino Freitas. This was the return of pre-Casamayor Freitas, as it was bombs away from the midway point of round one until the devastating three punch combination that ended the bout. I was particularly impressed with how Freitas was able to jump in, and under the oncoming punches of Ramirez to land his shots. Even the Mexican fans in the audience had to begrudgingly applaud the vicious attack of the Brazilian Bomber. Ruben Olivares, Alfonso Zamora, and Lupe Pintor would have been proud of that assault.
Juan "Ranchero" Ramirez is as game as they come, but was obviously there to accentuate the positives of Freitas. Let's also mention that Ramirez could give Mother Theresa an inferiority complex with his penchant for spending his paychecks on the needy people of his poor section of Juarez. He is also a decent fighter who needs to tighten up his defense to have any chance of ever winning a title. Let's hope he can be this generation's Marcos Villasana, who won a world title on his fifth attempt. The poor people of his city would be better for it.
If you use a stopwatch, I think you will find that Acelino Freitas' wife got more air time than her husband. No complaints from this corner.
Referee Genaro Rodriguez had a horrible night in the main event fight. He blew knockdown calls, and in my opinion let Ramriez take too much punishment. Looks like Rodriguez is a favorite son of the WBO as well. He was the third man in the Sanders vs. Klitschko fight a week ago.
FOX Sports Net is back with their weekly boxing shows, and returns the enjoyable cast of Barry Tompkins, Rich Marotta, and Sean O'Grady. I also found out my fast forward button works just fine during the Mia St. John mismatch.
I have to admit that Kirk Johnson looked excellent while knocking out Lou Savarese. That three punch combination which ended the fight should have made the ESPN Sportscenter highlights. But to suggest that a win over Savarese should in any way confirm that Kirk Johnson is the leading contender for Lennox Lewis is ridiculous. Look how well a win over Lou Savarese prepared Mike Tyson for a title shot against Lewis.
Why does Fox insists on replaying the whole fight when there is an early knockout? I already saw the whole fight, and do not need to see it five times in its entirety to sear the images into my brain. I'd rather see another undercard fight, or have the knowledgeable crew do commentary on recent or upcoming events in boxing.
FOX continues to interview boxers in the ring just before fights. Why? Has one interesting fact ever been uncovered during this confused and awkward exercise of futility. At least ask pertinent questions like, "John you have obviously been brought in to lose. You have lost your last four fights by knockout. The ring is 8 feet by 8 feet, and your opponent has a 100% knockout ratio. How do you plan to get out of the first round
in a conscious state?"
Our boxer, this week, giving back to the community is a truly inspirational man. The London Guardian reported that Michael Watson, who was left with irreparable brain damage after a fight with Chris Eubank, will compete in the London marathon. This from a man whom many thought would never be able to walk again. Watson spent 30 days in a coma, as well as four months in intensive care after his ill-fated fight with Eubank. Now he is coming back to help others when he is still in need himself. Because he is still handicapped from his injuries, it will take Watson over six days to complete the marathon. Watson will be escorted by a bus where he will rest, eat meals, and conduct interviews to create media attention. Chris Eubank (and other celebrities) have pledged their support. Eubank will also walk the final 2.5 miles with Michael to the finish line. For further details on sponsorship, please contact Geraldine Davis at gdavisint@aol.com. Donations can be made by telephoning the donation in at:
http://www.justgiving.com/?articleid=12047
All the proceeds from his walk - they are hoping to raise $135,000 - will go to a brain and spine injury foundation
For Questions or Comments
E-Mail Marty Mulcahey at fivedogss@msn.com
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