hit them again

A boxing tragic's look at the world of boxing. No hidden agendas, no cash for comment, just my opinion, for what it's worth, of the greatest sport there is. Oh yeah, and i can't fight for shit!

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

In the land of the blind...

Anthony Mundine has announced his next bout - an optional title defence on December 10 against Jose Alberto Clavero. His eye is still giving him trouble and he doesn’t have full vision but then again he’s fighting a guy that Sam Soliman ko’d in 2004, who’s won 2 fights out of his last seven, his last fight being a draw the two before that losses (including one against paul briggs where he was disqualified because he didn’t want to fight anymore!) – Mundine only needs one eye!

That’s what pisses me most about “The Man”. For all his bragging and showboating, he doesn’t give the fans any respect at all. Another poor Argentinian schmuck who realistically won’t give him too much trouble and he expects us to pay to see him do it. If he is the best take on the best (or at least some one in a top 10 somewhere). He proved in his fight with Green that he is good, damn good but apart from taking on a blown up light middle/middleweight in Soliman he’s done nothing since. He should remember what happened to Taylor. Taking on guys who were smaller than him, not beating them convincingly at all, in fact getting gift decisions and then when a banger comes along that weighs the same as him – pow, he’s no longer champ. The Man wants to be careful the same doesn’t happen to him. And it would be nice if he gave the fans and the sport a bit more respect and a bit more credibility… prove how good you are and we will believe you but taking on guys like Clavero aren’t helping you or the sport.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

the ghost who walks

That’s what I like about boxing! Here we have Jermain Taylor the man who beat the man facing the undefeated small town slugger in Kelly Pavlik and making Pavlik look bad when, pow, Pavlik nails him and Taylor goes down. That’s the thing about this sport – that unpredictability, that moment when it can all turn around. Taylor was dominating Pavlik, hell he damn near had him gone in round two (and I’m sure there will be many an argument that it should have been stopped) and he was showing his skill, his speed, his style (and about time) but Pavlik had heart, guts and an obvious belief in himself. You just have to look at the way he came out for the third round. Most boxers after getting put down so heavily in the previous round would have been cautious, dancing, holding, just trying to get their head back together, but not “the ghost” he comes out swinging, showing Taylor that he wasn’t intimidated, wasn’t hurt, that he wanted to continue brawling. We can say lucky punch, bad ref, he never should have been there, whatever but admit it, the middleweight division is exciting again isn’t it? Taylor’s last couple of fights did nothing for him or boxing – hell, Spinks beat him, Wright got a dubious draw, Hopkins beat him first time round – he needed to step up and for six rounds he did look the goods, maybe a loss is what he needed too. And Pavlik well he’s the American small town dream. Still with his original trainer, a brawler, one punch power, exciting and willing to take them all on. Now the question is, how long will he be the champ? Would Taylor take him out in a rematch? Hell, would Taylor want to fight him that way again or will he be smart and stay out of his way? (assuming they have a rematch – Pavlik might want an easy defense first). Whatever goes down, boxing is getting exciting – the fights we want are happening in the smaller divisions, Sam Peters is at least making the big boys look like they have potential and the trinkets are becoming less important all the time. (I mean ask yourself – who are the other middleweight champs? And how did they get the belts… did they beat Taylor?) It dragged there for awhile (hence the emptiness of this blog) but now, shoot, now we got some fun happening again.