Taylor - Pavlik: Closer Than the Judges Saw It

Aside from the Joe Louis documentary, the Taylor-Pavlik replay was a great technical fight to watch. Since I hadn’t bought the PPV, I had to satisfy myself until last night with the accounts of other boxing sportscasters. My view today is that they came up short and let me down somewhat. Taylor came close to winning the fight, in my humble opinion, and the judge’s scores seemed wide. The last two rounds were up for grabs and I had Pavlik with an edge in the 11th and the rounds even in the less exciting 12th. One could make the argument that the fight was a draw, in which case the decision properly might go to Pavlik. I can’t help thinking that somewhere within Jermain Taylor is a great fighter waiting to come out. And waiting.

Klitschko-Ibragimov: Blunder Without Thunder

Klitschko won by decision with a guy who shouldn't have lasted 12 rounds. Teddy Atlas must have been sipping kool-aid. Klitschko has taken one step toward unifying the heavyweight field but came up with a lame story when he was asked whether he'd take on the winner of Maskaev vs Sam Peter. Klitschko's likable in the same way that Barak Obama is likable, but both guys seem to ramble on forever when the question requires a simple "yes" or "no."

The Klitschko-Ibragimov Blunder Without Thunder was a fight that boxers should watch as a model of how not to fight. Actually, it wasn’t a boxing match so much as it was a negotiating session. Klitschko fired an obligatory four jabs a round according to his contract and Ibragimov kept his contract promise of circling mostly in the wrong direction so that he couldn’t be effective with either a right hook or a straight left hand.

Joe Louis Documentary on HBO

HBO televised a great mini-documentary of the Joe Louis saga just prior to its televising of the Klitchscho-Ibragimov Blunder Without Thunder. Much of material was known to fans of boxing history but, even so, news of Joe Louis’ “betrayal” was passed along to a new audience. My wife, a woman who had never watched a boxing match in her life before marrying me, was beside herself when she got the news that Louis was hounded by the IRS for tax evasion even while he did so much for America.

The paean was tinged with sadness as Louis’ decline was chronicled in his later years, but Louis’ persona and accomplishments were of such resilience and power that he can never be diminished. My own father, an uneducated factory worker born in the same year as Joe Louis, mentioned Joe Louis so often to us that he seemed part of our family. With a right hand like a mechanized power train, Joe Louis tumbled the Third Reich face first on the canvas in Yankee Stadium.

Pay Per View Boxing Costs Too High?

I finally got to watch the Pavlik-Taylor fight on HBO’s replay last night. It may be boxing heresy that I didn’t buy the fight for $49.95 on the day it occurred but I can no longer support all those PPV fights with that kind of a price tag. Don’t jump on me with sententious assertions that the fighters deserve to make money. Of course, they do. Anyone who participates in the penultimate grueling sport knows that careers are short-lived, the chances of getting seriously hurt are significant, and that boxers run the risk of ending their boxing careers with little to show for it except scars and occasional smiles of recognition from people with short memories.

My point is that PPV fees are often too high. I’m not sure how it is for other people, but I’ve bought into quite a few PPV boxing events in the $20 to $25 range. I’ve also bought into quite a few for $49.95, and very often that’s been something I regret when the DirectTV bill comes. The pricing policies set by HBO execs have the effect of narrowing the audience. Paying $50 for a televised boxing event is a counterproductive pricing policy at a time when boxing needs to expand its audience.

Boxing is a business but it’s often a badly run business. The boxing business would do well to emulate the competitive pricing policies of mainstream businesses with pricing strategies designed to expand market share and the customer base. My hit on it is that HBO, SHOWTIME boxing, and other television boxing promoters would increase market share, customer base, and television profits by lowering prices. I don’t know if there are any studies to support this but I haven’t seen any proof that $50.00 PPV price tags help the boxers, the television boxing business, the customer, or the bottom line. By putting prices out of reach of the common man, the television boxing promoters are putting the fighters themselves out of the running for the adulation of the common fan.

Smart Boxing Fans Pick Pavlik

Clearly, many of the people who voted on this blog regarding the outcome of the Pavlik-Taylor rematch are very smart. Most of my millions of readers picked Pavlik to win by decision or KO. I was leaning toward Pavlik, too, but I wish I had the same kind of certitude about it that some people did. Yo, it's boxing and Taylor didn't get to where he got by laying down and letting people run right over him. All props to Pavlik for getting it done for Youngstown, home of the great Boom-Boom Mancini. If anything, Taylor emerges even bigger after losing twice to Pavlik. Both these guys will be interesting to watch as they fight on into the future.

Teddy Atlas Picks Ibragimov to Beat Klitschko

Carlos Quintana reaching out to touch someone...


Teddy Atlas appeared as usual on ESPN’s Friday Night Fight series. Brian Kenney ran the show from the ESPN studios while Atlas did his usual bit in the “coaches corner.”

As an amateur boxing coach, I always found Teddy’s commentary very interesting. Of course, he knows his stuff. After a career as a professional boxer, Teddy Atlas went to the late Cus D’Amato’s camp in the Catskills where he helped train and coach Mike Tyson, among others.

Before any fight in the ESPN Friday night fight series, Teddy opines on the “keys to victory” for each fighter. He has a great eye for detail and, if you listen you will learn some unusual things of interest to fight people if no one else.

Bottom line is that Brian Kenney and everyone else was going off on how little chance Ibragimov has to beat Klitchscho tonight in a heavyweight unification bout. The odds are huge against Ibragimov. Teddy shocked everyone by predicting an Ibragimov victory. The reason?

You’ve have to see the Paul William vs. Carlos Quintana fight to understand why. It was a classic short-guy, tall-guy matchup and Quintana broke the 8-1 favorite Paul Williams down as though he were an amateur. Perhaps that was part of the problem. Williams is reported to have had less than ten fights in the amateurs. Don’t take anything away from Quintana, though. Carlos took the fight on short notice and against all advice and did everything a southpaw should do with a guy who was about 2 feet taller. It was real-life Rocky stuff, I’m telling you. Tall guys should watch it to learn what not to do in the ring.

So I had the same thought as Teddy Atlas, though I’m not as brave as he is in predicting an Ibragimov victory. Ibragimov could win though but Klitschko ought to know by now how to handle the sport’s many difficult angles.

Andre Berto: A Boxing Name You Need to Know

A word must be said about Andre Berto in the wake of his victory over European welterweight champion Michael Trabant. It’s true that Trabant was a one-dimensional man without a big power punch, but that’s not what I want to talk about. It’s Andre Berto, his skills, and a style that will be hard to beat.

Andre Berto seems to have it all in a division where you need it. The welterweights are so packed with talent that a fighter like Berto needs corporate management to pick a path through it. That may sound like heresy to some boxing fans, but how else do you deal with a world so packed with talent and deep in fighters? The time is now for Berto to step it up to the big boys in the division but I think it would be stupid to jump him up to the Mayweather-Cotto level. I think Andre will pick off many of the welterweights and I think he’ll do it in a convincing way. He can face the tops in the division later. There are business considerations, after all, and would you want to fight a guy like Berto for the amusement of your friends? For about three seconds if you're really fast on your feet.

What does Andre Berto bring to a fight? A whole hell of a lot, if you ask me. He’s superbly conditioned, and supposed to be something of a gym rat. Good, I like gym rats. He has a good chin and full body armor. Best of all, I like his fighting style. He works off the previous punch, in well-timed combinations. All executed with power and speed. It breaks you down, takes you apart. How many guys have you seen mix a jab with a double left hook, one to the body and one up? Besides Mayweather, who is fast enough to double with the right hand, hitting with the uppercut and following through with a straight right? It’s likely I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know if you’ve watched Berto’s fights. Look for him to fight the top of the division within a year or two at the most.

Andre Berto Mugs German Boxing Tourist Michael Trabant

Michael Trabant’s visit to Jompoc did not go well and he quit in his corner after 6 rounds of a mugging by Andre Berto. Berto’s a growing threat to a division so packed with talent that it scares me. It’s likely to put the betting trade in the unemployment lines. Who would venture a guess on fights that feature Cotto, Mayweather, Kermit Cintron, Paul Williams, Quintana, and more?

I wouldn't look at the Berto-Trabant fight as a romp. Berto was taking a chance in fighting a guy with double the experience than he with his 20 fight record. Berto applied too much forward pressure for the German to deal with and it broke him down.

Carlos Quintana 8-1 Underdog Defeats Paul Williams

Did someone forget to tell Carlos Quintana he was merely an opponent for the undefeated WBO Welterweight titleholder Paul “the Punisher” Williams? Apparently. Not only that, but the fight did look like a basic training camp for a boxer who had only ten fights as an amateur.

Williams has both the body and the skills to kill in the division, but Quintana picked his lock and opened the door to a unanimous decision against a guy who was at least a foot taller and 2 feet longer in reach. This was the kind of fight that should serve as a training film for young fighters, especially tall ones with pronounced athletic skills. While Williams had a powerful jab working effectively in spots, it was predictable and sporadic. Quintana had it figured, and repeatedly pounded Williams with straight power left hands launched upward from the sturdy missile pad of his compact frame. Quintana also did nice work with short right hooks to the body and head when the two fighters closed. He swept the tall fighter’s head into the path of destruction.

Williams’ mistake was in forfeiting height and physical advantages, at times leaning inward to punch, and closing space so often that he rarely had enough room to punch. “The Punisher” was trying to make good on his promise to “bring it”, something he might have done better in the later rounds had he boxed from the outside, even at the risk of looking too “technical.”

As always, Howard Lederman detracted from the proceedings with his grating voice and conventional failings. Lederman’s account of any fight is most often colored by the Nevada betting odds, with Quintana the 8-1 underdog. Lederman’s account had Williams winning the fight by 3 rounds; two judges had Quintana winning by 4 rounds, and the 3rd judge by 3 rounds. As ever, I would like to know why HBO employs Lederman in its broadcasts. He adds absolutely nothing. Is he some kind of boxing “Godfather?”

Paul"The Punisher" Williams & Andre Berto Face Opponents

Carlos Quintana's only loss was to Miguel Cotto. Tonight he'll face tall Paul "The Punisher" Williams. Suppose people forget to tell Quintana that he's merely an "opponent?" Williams had better not let Quintana get started.

I'm looking forward to Williams- Quintana tonight on HBO. It'll be a first look at Paul Williams for me and my peeps have told me he's a handful. Like early Thomas Hearns, they say, only southpaw. I hope that, when the bell rings, Paul Willians knows it's not basic training. Williams has very little amateur experience but he wouldn’t be the first guy to succeed without it. It does sound like he's had a "look" at some tough competition. Sechew Powell and the other names he drops as training partners are no joke. Quintana's tough... But tall, with leverage, is hard to beat if Williams is "The Truth", as he says and if he's going to really "bring it."

I've seen Andre Berto before. He reminds me of a Curtis Stevens on amphetamines. Berto showed recently he can settle down and then explode at the right moment. I don’t know much about Berto’s opponent, Michael Trabant, a German fighter with 43 bouts, 2 losses, one draw.... We'll find out later tonight as HBO's Boxing After Dark continues one what looks to be a great night of boxing.

Welcome to Jompac, Trabant.... Hope you have lasting fond memories.

Jermain Taylor - Kelly Pavlik Could Surprise

Taylor-Pavlik rematch has me worried. I’m hoping for a repeat of a Pavlik win but Jermain Taylor looks sturdier and Pavlik was down in his last fight. I love the way Pavlik fights but it’s a good thing boxing trunks don’t have pockets. I think, if they did, Kelly would probably stroll around the ring jingling his now substantial pocket change.

I’ve no hate on for Jermain Taylor. He’s powerful, he’s fast, and losing to Pavlik in the first fight may have matured him in a way that only getting knocked out can do.

Rockin' With the Philly Rock Ministries

Brian Pedone’s Heavy Hitters Boxing Club of Stroudsburg, PA. continues to build the skills of its young boxers (and some not quite so young). Pedone, who is not averse to entering the ring himself, took his fighters to Philadelphia recently for a field trip to the Rock Ministries in North Philly.

Anyone who knows Philly knows it’s a big fight town and that many Philly Kids, whether involved in boxing or not, can walk off the streets and get respect in the boxing ring. But real boxing is a long term exercise. It takes skill, endurance, self-discipline and a willingness to work to succeed in boxing. No matter how much support you get from the people around you, you find yourself eventually alone in the ring with somebody who's tryin to snatch away your heart and your willingness to fight.

Pedone’s fighters struggled in the ring against Philadelphia fighters with more experience but a few have long been training with Pedone and established themselves early and well in the sparring sessions. It wasn't always pretty but you got the feeling that Pedone's fighters were rising up.