Deontay Wilder a Happy Man as Tyson Fury Upsets Vladimir Klitschko

A message from a friend said it all when I told him Tyson Fury got a unanimous decision against former champion Vladimir Klitschko in Germany.  Whaaaaaa?  I didn’t see the fight until later and then I’d caught only the last six rounds.  Lucky me.  The fight seemed to be one of the ugliest I’ve ever seen and, while I always respect the combatants in this most difficult of sports,  Klitchscho  seems to have jumped the shark, gone way past his sell-by date, and lumbered and clinched his way around the ring as if he had MMA trainers in his corner. 

This is not to say that Tyson Fury looked brilliant, just that he showed up and punched occasionally. It is said that he had some boxing skills, and yes, you could see he had something in development.  But this time Fury was the bigger guy and it bodes well for other American heavyweights that Fury couldn’t retire his opponent inside of the 12 round limit.  I’m glad that Fury got the unanimous decision because you kind of like the guy in spite of his awkwardness and the UK could use a championship belt in the Heavyweight division. God save the Queen and all that! 

BUT REALLY:  The path is wide open for even a mediocre American heavyweight to take the title from Fury, who exhibited minimal boxing skills.  The happiest person in the Heavyweight World at this moment has to be Deontay Wilder who is way better than mediocre and knows how to fight.  I hope they get that fight hooked up soon b/c the division is embarrassing until they get some real talent in it.

It is true Fury  had some speed to his punches, and that was  good thing, for he was parsimonious in delivering them.  Or did it only look that way because of the floundering Klitschko, flapping his arms like an off-balance penguin as he looked for a spot where he could land a powerful right hand. (Manny Steward RIP) Klitschko still has the powerful and thudding right hand but he mostly seems to have left it in a past decade.  Nor did he have the excitement to win, which was evident even in the face of his ringside GF beauty Hayden Panettiere.  He seemed bored, like an 8^th grader in an extended lecture – OMG! Get me out of here. There was a little desire in the 11^th and 12^th rounds from Klitschko but it was too late.

HERE’S WHAT I HATE:  I hate being the OG telling younger people about the days of real heavyweights but I’m sorry.  Even the worst heavyweight in the eras of Ali, Frasier, Foremen, Quarry, Ezzard Charles, Floyd Paterson, Ingmar Johansen, Ernie Shavers, Bob Foster, Jimmy Young, Larry Holmes (none of this in order and the list could go on forever) Every one of these smaller heavyweights would have chopped down either of these two amateur imitating show-ups.  I mean, didn’t little guy cruiserweight boxer U.S.S. Steve Cunningham drop Klitschko in a previous fight? Corrie Sanders? Bryant? All of the present day. 

Want to say, I’m not a Klitschko hater -- I respect what he’s done outside the ring as well as inside. But it’s Father Time’s time. Your hearts not in it. Tyson Fury – you need to continue your development as a boxer.  Put things together. Looked like you were on a training exercise, ducking under your opponent and hiding where he keeps his deodorant.

 

Deontay Wilder. Straighten out this mess will you?

Canelo Alvarez: Demolition Man Beats the Great Miguel Cotto

The Canelo Alvarez v. Miguel Cotto fight is now history, though the dust of history has not yet settled.  People are still talking about it, offering various versions of it, but the judge’s decisions were unanimous. The only viable issue is whether the score was as lopsided in favor of Canelo as the judge’s cards had it.

Let me say, first of all, that I called the winner right but didn’t expect the fight to go all twelve rounds. My prediction was that Cotto would get stopped by the 8^th or 9^th round. That appeared to be the case for a moment in the 8^th but Cotto was durable, determined, and undaunted. He survived the round and fought back, and had his moments even in the later rounds.  Give Cotto A plus for durability and a heart which has never been questioned. Neither his chin.

Cotto’s trainer, Freddie Roach, held in the press conference (Cotto did not attend) that he believed his fighter had accumulated enough points. That version was born out while the fight was in progress as the HBO pundits talked to him about how Cotto was doing.  Roach did seem unruffled and appeared confident Cotto was eluding punches, moving,  pivoting off into angles, and never getting pinned on the ropes.  There were other people on the social networks who thought the same thing.

What it comes down to is that there are two way of looking at a fight.

One way takes its measure from amateur boxing. In that view, all scoring punches count, and the strategy is to land as many as you can. Cotto did that – he fired off lots of punches, with some landing solid, but most just touching Alvarez.  Observers noted that Canelo was able to “walk through them” which wasn’t always the case.  Cotto landed some hard shots, none of which rocked or stalled the young warrior opposed to him. But a great number of Cotto’s punches, delivered in fast combinations, after which he moved away as instructed, were really ineffective.  So people who counted those as scoring punches tended to think the judges tilted the scorecards toward Canelo Alvarez.

The other way of looking at a fight is in the old-school style of which I am myself an adherent. You look at the whole of the thing, the damage done.  There was no doubt that Canelo was landing punches that rocked Cotto’s world. The damage was evident on Cotto’s face after the fight, and though cuts and bruises and swellings are often greater on the winner than on the loser, Cotto seemed to have lost both ways. 

I liked what Cotto was doing and I still think that there is reason to say he is the better boxer of the two men. This is to say his experience shows in versatility.  

That is not to say that Canelo is a poor boxer by any means. It amazed me the way he slipped punches, moved his upper body, and blocked shots. He was very impressive defensively. As for the offense, he wasn’t going to pitty-pat. He knew and his trainers knew he was the stronger. He was going for the demolition. Seeing that Cotto put his head down (calculating Alvarez’ feet and body movement), Alvarez’ uppercuts were explosive, sometimes followed with right hands over the top.  Alvarez was doing the demolition derby kind of thing that he knew would win the day. He had only to throw three punches:  the uppercut, a right hand up top, and that tremendous right hand body shot which slammed too many times into Cotto’s ribs. 

Errol Spence: Demolition Man Defeats Tough South African Chris Van Heerden

Settling in for a night of boxing.  I almost missed the Errol Spence v. Chris Van Heerden fight on SpikeTV because I was tuning in to TRU TV boxing card.  My home boy called me up fortunately and told me about the Errol Spence card.  Ain’t it great now that boxing is once again ubiquitous after being prematurely declared dead by the straining and desperate MMA publicity squad?

Lennox Lewis, former world Heavyweight Champion  was with the Spike TV promotion of Adonis “Superman” Stevenson versus Thomas Karpensky. Lewis had a partner so I hope he’s not the one who lined up Karpensky for Stevenson.  I like Karpensky but it was clear he was from the minor leagues. He was the underfunded setup guy for a Stevenson KO.  Stevenson got the big buildup but he should really be fighting Sergei Kovalev, whom he ducked by signing to a promotion which assured he could keep ducking Kovalev in perpetuity. I won’t believe Adonis is any kind of Superman until he faces Kovalev. It can be done.  The fans want it even if Stevenson doesn’t. 

The Error Spence matchup against Chris Van Heerden was a good match.  Spence has gone from good beginnings at the 2012 Olympics to four rounder, then to six and eight rounders, and now to the whole distance.  Spence had dispatched all his previous opponents and it was time to move him up.  Van Heerden was a good pick, a tough, durable and talented fighter who actually had a chance of winning. Spence was his usual fantastic self, doing all the right things at all the right times.

He was methodical in his work, offsetting Van Heerden efforts with a stiff jab. If Van Heerden closed in, Spence would deliver uppercuts.  Ultimately, he pounded a very game and courageous Van Heerden into a defeat but it was hard work with a guy who didn’t come all the way from South Africa just to lie down.  

On the other hand, I’ve been a long-time fan of Spence and think he got a raw deal at the Olympics.  Usually, I laugh when I hear people saying a guy could be the next Mayweather or the next Tyson, or the next anybody.  But the plaudits that follow Spence around are well deserved.  He’s got the complete arsenal, the body and the mentality to deliver it. While they mention him as a Mayweather, his temperament seems more like that of an Ali—much less noise of course—but with the same grace under pressure.

As for Adonis Stevenson, he gets no praise from me for knocking out a seriously overmatched and unrepresented kid from a small town in Pennsylvania.  The matchmaker gets an “F” for making this one. It was entirely bogus and shouldn’t have been allowed.  In spite of having an upset wins over Chad Dawson, justifying this supposedly, he was clearly not sturdy enough to fight a heavily muscled and fast punching Adonis who comes at you from all angles.  Stevenson has some skills, and he’s strong  but this fight with Karpensky didn’t do him any good.

At the end of the fight and during the post-fight interview, he calls out Kovalev, which was kind of a joke because he turned down a fight with Kovalev about a year ago before Sergei signed with another promoter. Fact is, Stevenson is milking his division for whatever he can get out of it.

Golovkin KO's Willie Monroe Jr in Six

I watched it on HBO. You can read the Daily Mail version here. I haven't read it.

Okay, I wrote a previous blog, complete with a picture of me with Willie Monroe Jr. when he was a kid just starting out. You know where my heart was and I wasn't trying to hide it. Nor did I want to jinx Monroe before the fight when it was clear he needed two things -- courage and a big punch. He only had one of those two things.

Monroe showed courage when he got off the canvas after two early round knockdowns. Both were devastating. Who doesn't know that Golovkin is the savage destroyer, a search and seek and find guided missile capable of launching nuclear firepower against all opponents. An acknowledged predator inside the ring. 

But it was clear from the start what I knew already, that he had only six KOs in a career of 19 fights. He doesn't have the big bomb.  Never did. I knew that was a problem, a problem mentioned in so many words by Roy Jones Jr. during the fight.  He needs to get respect, said Jones, though that was not the way he said it. 

Getting respect is the real first rule of Fight Club. If you can't put some hard leather on Golovkin's face or body, then he's going to walk right through you. That's exactly what Golovkin did, shaking off most of Monroe's punches like they were bouncing rubber balls, even asking for more. 

Still, don't get the idea that YOU can take Monroe's punches. Unless you're the real deal, you'd go down in a hot minute.  What I"m saying about the lack of a big punch applies to the top dogs of boxing. 

And then I'm thinking what it must have felt like to take so many hard, hard punches from Golovkin.  I've been KOd before and it kind of leaves you in a tough spot, even after the headache dies away. Dies away is probably a poor choice of words. 

But I've got to say this about Gennady Golovkin.  I've been a huge fan, even though my heart was for the local American man. His attitude is great and I long ago embraced him as the fight promoters and the American public should, and as they seemed to be doing in last night's arena.  

He's smart, too, and if you were listening, you would have heard him say that he'd like Cotto or Canelo Alvarez before he'd think of Andre Ward. Andre Ward, remember, was the first guy to say he'd be glad to take on Golovkin. This while lots of other guys who should have been stepping up were in absentia.

Know what I'd like from the wish fairy?  I'd prefer Alvarez vs. Golovkin before Golovkin v. Cotto. Cotto's great, mind you, but he's light and also not at the peak of his career (though by no means inconsequential) .  Alvarez v. Golovkin is fresh on both sides. Two devastating brilliant fighters. 

The winner would face Andre Ward, of whom we've seen too little lately. 

I want to say one other thing, writ large:  ROMAN GONZALEZ.  I want to say it again:  ROMAN GONZALEZ.  But that deserves a separate space.

Gennady Golovkin v. Willie Monroe Jr. --Oddsmakers Give Monroe Little Chance to Beat GGG

I'm going to stick my head way out on a limb here and the statistical likelihood is that it will get knocked off.  On hearing of Gennady Golovkin's next fight with Willie Monroe Jr., one fight fan lodged the typical comment:  "GGG's gonna' murder this fool."  But there's something to be said for the undisputed underdog here, and in boxing, the lines separating the winner from the loser are not so finely drawn.

I'm conflicted b/c I'm a long time fan of both GGG & Willie Monroe Jr. I met Monroe when he was just starting out, a kid.  We were both at the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canistota, New York.  I used to do a bit of work in boxing and if boxing has "groupies" then I'm one of them. Anyway, I took a picture of myself and young Monroe, talked to him a while, whereupon he told me he was going to be a middleweight champ.  I was thinking, like "How can anyone even say you're going to be a middleweight champ when you've only had a couple of pro fights?

It takes some balls, I know, but it's also possible you're seriously naive. Yet, there was something different about Monroe Jr. He was so nice about, exuding a kind of humble confidence that kind of make you think, well okay...maybe...it's possible. The guy is likeable in the extreme. We had a nice chat and talked about his uncle? grandfather? Willie "The Worm" Monroe" who was a clever tough Philly fighter I liked to watch long ago.

But then I saw this new Monroe in a couple of fights (you always watch the fighters you've come in personal contact with --it's been like that with me since the days I met Ali at his training camp in Deer Lake Pa.) and I see he's coming up in the game. I stilll had my doubts, especially when he was scheduled to fight Brian Adams in the Boxcino tournament.

 Weeks earlier I'd seen Brian Adams demolish his opponents with what looked like nuclear bombs. So I wondered how this well-spoken highly intelligent college boy was going to deal with that.  In fact, Monroe Jr. made it look easy, and the way he did it was through smart fighting which didn't look like Mayweather style fighting but had the same result.  And hey, you can say all you want about being "too defensive" but both Mayweather & Monroe can hit, and hit accurately with combinations.

I like GGG and I know he's got devastating punching power but  I recently saw his performance in the Martin Murray fight and a few others. There is a certain type of fighter that could give GGG trouble, and it wouldn't surprise me if Willie Monroe Jr. was the guy.

I talked to Monroe again after he won the Boxcino Tournament (same place, I can't stay away from the joint, especially during the inductions). I told him I was afraid for him in the Bryan Adams fight. He laughed it off, saying he had a great training camp, and had "learned ways to deal with that." (meaning big punching power)

I call GGG's thing the "Tyson Effect" but what if there are guys like Buster Douglas who, for one night at least, don't buy into the "Tyson Effect?"  I'm kind of a red, white, and blue guy and so I'm going for my American boy Willie Monroe Jr. to give GGG a lot of problems.   There's a way to fight tough brawlers--look at the way Lucas Matthyse busted up my favored Ruslan Provodnikov just a few weeks ago.  The game's called "boxing," don't forget, and that doesn't mean  jumping forward with your head lined up with your opponents punches.

So okay, if you've read this far, you might want to read this interesting article from BOXING NEWS 24.  It's got some facts and figures.

If you read nothing more, you should at least read what Willie Monroe Jr. had to say about the lead up to the fight next week. This is a quote from the article in Boxing News 24:

"“It was shortly after he (GGG) fought Martin Murray and what a lot of people don’t know and it’s closer to the fight so I can let this be released without it being too crazy (is) a lot of people don’t know that GGG’s camp turned me down twice when my name was brought up. They turned us down and they wanted to fight Tureano Johnson. There’s a picture floating around – they had already made the poster for him (GGG) and Tureano and that’s who they were gonna fight. HBO was sort of like ‘We really don’t want to see you fight him because you knocked out Curtis (Stevens) and then Curtis went and knocked him out’. So then it was between me and (Jorge Sebastian) Heiland. HBO was like ‘He’s not really known in America and the only guy he’s really beat is Matthew Macklin and you (GGG) knocked him out!’ So he was almost forced to have to fight me. I know for a fact that the other two opponents was offered more money than me. I hear a lot of people saying ‘Monroe must be taking this for the money’, I know for a fact they were offered more money than I was but that’s just the type of guy I am, I like to fight."

Mayweather Love: Fight Wasn't Boring -- Pacquiao Was

Memo to Mayweather:  If there is a next fight for you, be sure to throw yourself on your opponent's hardest punches.  Do it several times. Commit ring hari-kari. Open up your veins and bleed if you can because that's what all these whining non-boxing people want to see.  If you see Pacquiao's punches coming, don't slip it, don't feint, and above all, you must let him hit you.  This is the average person's conception of boxing, not mine. If I were annointed king, I would pass a law requiring that anyone who comments on a boxing match must have spent at least three minutes of one round in the ring, not with the top talent, but with an unknown journeyman fighter. Try to get away from your opponent, to "run" as you call it. Then tell me what you think (if your brain still works). 

I bought the fight for $100 bucks and don't feel ripped off . (I do wish the PPV ticket prices weren't so high, however)  Now there is all this criticism of a "boring" fight because, after all the hype, the match went twelve rounds and there were no knockdowns. Plus, insulting to the gullible manipulated audience which was suckered into believing Pacquaio was the Messiah, Mayweather Jr. (the all-purpose smug privileged people's devil) didn't fall for Manny's b.s fighting style.  Mayweather just did what the great fighters do--use all of their talents, adjust to situations, and whip up on your opponents.

I'll tell you what's boring. Sportwriters trying to capture eyeballs by doing what they usually do in Mayweather fights. Make Mayweather the bad guy, and put halos around the heads of his opponents, the latest one being Manny Pacquiao.

I'll tell you who's boring:  Manny Pacquiao.

Pacquiao was boring with his "exciting" fighting style which involves jumping around the ring like a jack-in-the-box, a tactic that only works with people who think a jitterbugging boxer is a better one.  To counter such a bald tactic, Mayweather kept positioning himself at the edge of the "circle of violence," moving in and out to crash Pacquiao's face with solid shots, mostly right hands, but later in the fight scoring some nice left hooks.  Of course, none of this is supposed to happen when an orthodox fighter faces a southpaw--it's only a real ring general like Mayweather who can figure it out and deal with it.

Pacquaio was also boring with his immediate post-fight several times repeated claim that the won the fight. That was an embarrassing low point of which I haven't read a single account. Sportswriters apparently were having trouble extricating their heads from Freddie Roach's backside and didn't hear that.

Pacquiao is also boring with his claim of a shoulder injury on his right side. Let me tell you something.  You can't be injured and not injured at the same time, but you can have hand problems, shoulder problems, rib problems, leg problems, as both Mayweather and Pacquiao both do.  Pacquiao was throwing lots of jabs in his attempts to get in on Mayweather.  A southpaw jabs with his right hand. Count the high number of jabs. Also consider that Pacquiao has two signature punches -- the straight left (with which he KOd Ricky Hatton), and the right hook(which worried me the most) which kept falling short because Mayweather was constantly shifting, giving him angles.

Fighters are always in one sort of pain or another. If the pain and injury is severe enough, you postpone the fight.  Pacquiao checked "no" to the question about injuries and so did Mayweather (with his own problems not used as an excuse).  They were ready to fight and wanted the fight to go forward. But who knew that Pacman was preparing an a priori excuse which most sportwriters and a gullible public would be only too happy to swallow?  As Mayweather is quoted in this article, "Winners win, losers have excuses." 

Now there is this ridiculous lawsuit..  You can't be injured and not injured at the same time, legally speaking. The plaintiffs allege that Pacquiao's camp (Bob Arum & others) defrauded them by having the fight go on while later claiming he was injured.

Of course, we know that Pacquiao (and Mayweather) are seeing doctors, physical therapists, kinestheticians, and exercise physiologists as a matter of routine. Pacquiao's doctors said he was okay to fight, ultimately. Pacquiao's people also say they had American Anti-Doping Agency permission to administer a supposedly non-steroidal medication in combination with other treatments.  (Was it for this reason that the Mayweather camp was wary of artificial injections in previous fight discussions?)  But the Nevada State Athletic Commission ruled Pacquiao's desired  medication wasn't permitted under its licensing rules.

And so we have this peripatetic, all-asses-covered statement by Top Rank. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so pathetic. Truth to tell, Manny Pacquiao is a good fighter, a man I respect as a fighter. He just wasn't up to that top level that some people were fooled into thinking he was.  Unfortunately, Pacquiao 's real life performance doesn't match up  to the persona he's tried to project, nor the image the media has been complicit with Pacquiao in creating.

Can we at least do one thing?  Remove the halo from Pacquiao's head and put the crown on Mayweather Jr. It's about time one of the topmost boxers of our era got his due.

Mayweather v. Pacquiao: If You See Something Say Something

The article I read about the Mayweather v. Pacquiao PPV boxing match was similar to many others I read after the fight.  This offending article appeared in the Wall Street Journal, a fine publication with fine writers, except for Jason Gay who wrote this one.  Mr. Gay did a fine job of describing Las Vegas and his own personal narrative but he's not a boxing head and he's solidly in line with the anti-Mayweather crowd. These people do not know what harm they do, and are willing to ignore the depredations of football and basketball players while holding boxers to impossibly high standards of conduct.  Yes, Mayweather Jr. was punished after pleading guilty to domestic abuse and no one approves of that. But this pious disapprobation that you hear about Mayweather is a bit tiresome.  I don't know Mayweather, I don't know Pacquiao, and neither do you probably.  Who is it so willing to cast the first stone?

Half the time, I think the animus is directed at Mayweather's father and uncle, both of who were terrific boxers who lived life the hard way.  But how fair is that?

Anyway, I was so pissed at anti-Mayweather articles like this that I had to say something.  So  here's my nasty commentary in the WSJ comments section beneath the article. I know I am pissing against the wind here, but America is the land of second chances.  Besides, I'm a long-time Mayweather fan and all I wanted to see proved in the fight was that Mayweather always and indisputedly was a far better boxer, ring strategist, tough guy, and far more honest person.

The rest is b.s.  Anyway, here's my WSJ rebuttal. I hope you'll understand:

If boxing is "not what it used to be," neither are so-called boxing writers.  Most of them favored Pacquaio and always trumpeted the good-guy vs. bad-guy scenarios that the non-boxing public invariably buys into hook, line, and sinker.  I don't want to remove the media halo bestowed upon him by "boxing analysts" in thrall with the sanctimonious new-found religion trope-- after well, you know.

But didn't anyone notice Pacquiao's pathetic post-fight comments repeatedly telling a PPV announcer that he won a fight that was so lop-sided that Paulie Malagnaggi almost lost his lunch on hearing it? Yet, not one "sportswriter," in their habit of demonizing Mayweather and deifying Pacquiao, remarked on that. Meanwhile, Mayweather was gracious to all comers in pre-fight and post-fight interviews. 

The fact is that Mayweather is and ALWAYS was the better fighter. Only old age can defeat him. I hope he retires undefeated. Give the man his due, as has been done w/ Ali & Tyson.

Evander Holyfield's Mayweather v. Pacquiao Prediction

Correction:  The article states that Marciano's record of 49-0 was the end of his career due to a plane crash. This is not true. In fact, Marciano retired and lived his life for a few years before dying in a plane crash. 

Evander Holyfield is one of the truly great boxers of all time. He wasn't as big as some of today's monstrous heavyweights but he had the kind of determination, augmented by boxing skill, that would have put him at the top in any arena of champions.  With his long and colorful ring record, you know he knows the sport inside and out.

So naturally a short interview with Evander in ThePostGame would have caught my eye.  In it, he was handicapping the upcoming Mayweather v. Pacquiao fight, and essentially saying the Boxing Gods were rigging the game to have Mayweather lose.  The reason Mayweather was being set up to lose is because 'Boxing People' (meaning mostly promoters) didn't allow anyone to retire undefeated from boxing.  The only exception that comes to mind right now is Rocky Marciano, who cheated promoters  in arranging a loss for the Rock by getting himself killed in a plane crash.

Holyfield is always witty and to the point. There is no other way to explain this boxing mythology than the way he did it in the article:

"They want to keep the money in the sport by doing things to make it happen this way. Somebody beats the man and then somebody beats the man who beat the man and then somebody beats the man who beat the man who beat the man..."

And so on ad infinitum. This may seem an arch way to express an idea but, over time, that's exactly what happens. To those elites who would condescend to say that Holyfield's analysis was generic, highly biased toward the personal, or unintelligent in any way, I would say you need to watch a little bit more boxing.  Or maybe the stock markets.

The very same people who would poo-poo Holyfield's method of predictology are complete Pollyanna types who believe in such things as stock market analyses. I"m watching CNBC Business right now and it's the same as in the Boxing World where millions of people give their predictions and analyses and the sum total of all the wrong guesses and all the right guesses gives you a bottom line statement which is very similar to what Holyfield said.

B Like  that stock and that analyst beat predictions of that other analyst and that other stock and the Fed put its finger on the scale beats first quarter profits which will be beat by second quarter profits and the whole thing impacted by war in the Middle East and Aunt Sally's red dress combined with the way the wind is blowing that day, at the end of which you either make money or lose it, but all this could be affected by if your dog farts.  

In the end, something happens.  I do think there is a boxing world karmic leaning toward a Pacquiao win even though my own pick to win is Floyd Mayweather Jr.  He's the better fighter, I've always believed, and that is not to say that I don't love Manny Pacquiao.  I admit to having once been a Pacquiao hater  but was long ago converted by the skill, determination, motivations, character, and positive impact he has had on my favorite sport.

I just think Mayweather Jr. is the better boxer is all. And I think Holyfield is right, that the 'boxing world' is looking for a way for Floyd to lose and could easily find it in a split decision.

Holyfield suggests a way to "trick" the Boxing Gods.  It's a very witty solution, I have to say. He says Mayweather should announce something like ten more fights and then quit boxing after he's gotten to five.  That would work, except that Mayweather's pushing forty with Pacquiao not far behind.

I've got a better idea. Knock Pacquiao out and then retire. It's better than the Marciano Plan.

GGG Golovkin Gets In Some Rounds Vs. Martin Murray

Watched GGG vs. Britain’s Martin Murray last night. Golovkin pitched a near shutout, before knocking the game British champion out in the 11^th round. The fight announcers, Roy Jones, Max Kellerman, and Jim Lampley were a little too much effusive in their praise of Murray. It was a one-sided fight all the way through, although I did agree that Murray has a solid fighter’s heart.  He deserves praise for that, as well as for fighting past three knockdowns.  The other thing you notice is that Murray has great hand speed, both left and right. Some say he doesn’t have stand-out power, and that is true, but he has enough power to knock people out so I don’t want to pin him that way.

It was only fitting, however, that I watched an old war movie, Patton, after the fight. The association I’m making is because of that often quoted phrase of the famous WWI general George S. Patton. The purpose of fighting, said Patton, was not to die for your country, but to make some other poor bastard die for his.

Golovkin had gotten that message but apparently Murray hadn’t. It looked like Murray’s management had decided he should die for his country. It wasn’t until the referee stepped in that the honor was denied him.  On the other hand, Murray showed tremendous courage, no doubt about that, and several times barked orders at his corner that they weren’t to stop the fight. So he kept fighting on for pride and heart. I just hope it didn’t do him as much damage as I believed it did (and still believe it). But, I’m not complaining; it was boxing at the high level, and you have to expect they’ll let fighters get into the deep water that separates the good from the great.

The announcers were definitely promoting Murray, though, and in the post-fight interview, Kellerman hardly listened to Golovkin who said, essentially, that he was just chilling in the first five rounds.  Kellerman was saying but yes, you got hit, and did that show a vulnerability?  What was poor Golovkin to say especially when his language is at the ESL level?

So my underlying point is that there are two audiences for the sport and HBO was pitching to the broad audience that thinks boxing “color commentators” (I would call them colorists, lol) are telling you exactly how the fight really, really, really, really is and not promoting or looking to the television future.That’s all right, I suppose, it must be done, if only to create a broader audience for the sport.  

But another audience is the true color fight fan who cares only about what is real. Boxing at the highest level is a game of truth, and that’s what makes the sport so interesting. Golovkin has put the sportwriters/ announcers into a weird position but let’s face the following Golovkin facts:

·       Golovkin purposefully got some rounds in with Murray. That’s what he wanted, and that’s what he needed. I’m sure the KO would have occurred earlier had not he and his promotors decided to get the rounds in. That was a very smart and necessary thing for Golovkin. Most of his other opponents retired too early, and that’s not good for a fighter who’s going to be one of the great ones.

·       While the color commentators were going oooh and aaah over Murray’s lightening quick right hand which landed several times, they won’t tell you that Golovkin wanted to take those shots.  It is a fact that most fighters, at one point or other, will want to feel the power of the opponent. A certain kind of masochism is inherent in the sport, I’m afraid. Another reason Golovkin liked to get hit was so that he could roll or flow with the punches. I’m not saying he wanted every shot he took, but he wanted most of them. Believe it.  I”ve seen it. You’ve seen it if you’ve looked close.

·       Golovkin’s ready for a “big name” and it’s time promotors wake up to it.

·       He locks onto his opponents like a heat seeking missile and is unrelenting.

·       He boxes, he punches, he knows where he is in the ring.

·       It’s not his job to ask the referee to stop the fight so Max Kellerman should have stopped asking.