THE SQUARE RING June 26, 2013 by James Wellington Jeeves , Esq. keeppunching and Brooks Sports Bureau, Phuket Thailand In the 1960’s as the Lord of the Manor was getting older, “growing up” wasn’t an option, boxing was covered by every sport page. Some called it the “Golden Age”. Boxing may be entering into a new Golden Age. That even with a heavyweight division that is “junk” dominated by a pair of likeable brothers, who in the words of the late HH “Chick” Reed, couldn’t box apples. Yanks had hopes with former college football star Seth Mitchell. Then he got knocked “catawampus” by Wlad Klitschko trainer Johnathon Banks in 2. Their re-match in Brooklyn put more people to sleep than Aunt Jenny’s slide presentation from her winter holiday trip to Topeka. Mitchell got the UD in an event describes as “mostly 12 dull round”. The “undull rounds” stunk. A new “Golden Age”, contrary to popular belief, will have only a transcendental connection to Floyd Mayweather and the 300 million dollar plus contract with Showtime. Item. Mayweather-Guerrero drew a PPV of only 870,00 the lowest Mayweather PPV since he dismantled Ricky Hatton in 2007. Enter the theory of “unexpected consequences”. The Mayweather’s contract brought attention to boxing especially from those that program TV. Result ? More boxing on TV. More chance to build a fan base. With HBO giving the old “heave ho” to Golden Boy it’s possible that boxers under the same promotional company will fight each other. Promoters drool at the prospect. In the past couple of months HBO has had some dynamite fights. Hard to find more entertaining encounters that Timothy Bradley (29-0-1)-Ruslan Provodnikov (22-1-1) or Brandon Rios (32-0-1)- Mike Alvarado (33-2) with Carl Froch’s win over (31-2) Mikkel Kessler(46-3) being no yawner. Both Bradley and Rios get rewarded with PPV events down the road. Bradley, who got a draw despite being out on his feet, gets Juan Manual Marquez on October 12. Interesting that both have agreed to “random drug testing”. The Nevada Commission is OK with that but the cost will have to be paid by promoter Bob Arum and Top Rank. That sound you hear ? Arum screaming, “When pigs fly ?” If Marquez hasn’t lost a step he should knock Bradley “sideways.” Most----including Marquez along with the country of Mexico which includes California, Nevada ,Arizona and Texas among many states--- conveniently forgets that Pacquiao was handling him before the “perfect punch”. Rios on the other hand has a shot at beating Pacquiao when they meet November 23rd in Macau. Manny is getting ready to say adue to boxing and for tax reasons will fight only outside the USA. Smart man. Marquez has said recently, he does like to talk, that he would fight Pacquiao in Mexico. That’s like the spider saying, “Welcome to my web”. Also on the Macau card is Chinese “super star” Zou Shiming. He won three world amateur titles and two Olympic gold’s. He’s “terrible”. The Lord of the Manor predicts that the first Mexican boxer that leaves a mist on a mirror will knock him out. Some boxers got TV shot’s and failed to impress. Sergio Martinez (51-2-2) got an outdoor venue in his native Argentina to defend his WBC middleweight title against tough Brit Martin Murray (25-1-1). Martinez coming off his big win over Chavez jr. didn’t look good with maybe an excuse of an injured knee. The ring canvas was as slick as Kojacks head. The fight took place with “raindrops falling in their heads”. At 38 Martinez may be past prime time. Danny Garcia(26-0) coming off back-to-back KO’s of Amir “Waterford Jaw” Khan and a fading Erik Morales had way too much trouble getting the UD against Zab Judah (43-8). Just two back Judah was KO’d by Khan. Garcia did manage to put Judah down in the 8th but it was an unconvincing win. One who did impress was Marcos Maidana (34-3, 31 KO’s) who KO’d Josesito Lopez in 6 in an “all out war”. He’s ready for prime time. There are those that have spectacular records but something is missing. Mikey Garcia (32-0 , 27KO’s) is one of those. He recently got a 4th round TKO over Juan Manual Lopez (33-3, 30KO’s) although losing his WBO lightweight title by failing to make weight. He fights with such a calmness using the skills of a surgeon that he makes it looks too easy. There’s just not that excitement of the “kill without being hurt”. Yes it’s difficult to keep the Juan Manual’s, Lopez and Garcia’s straight without a scorecard. That brings us to the “next best thing” Adrien Broner (27-0). He got a MD over Paulie Malignaggi. Just prior to the fight the Blind Guy called his Lordship asking, “How the hell can Malignaggi be a world champion ? Who did he beat.” The LOM stumped, not for the first time, fumbled with, “Probably some guy from Crapisstan or Idon’tgiveashitisstan.” Further investigation identified the boxer as Vyacheslay Senchenko. Broner’s majority decision shook out with Broner 115-113, 117-111 and Malignaggi 115-113. Paulie Malignaggi is a great boxing TV commentator but a boxer with an astonishing lack of power. The Punch’in Padre took exception with the decision. “Malignaggi touched Broner constantly while Broner threw a lot fewer punches.” Any geezer that ever took a girl to a Drive In Movie knows that “touch’in don’t get it done.” If Malignaggi had to knock on a door for Halloween candy his bag would be empty. To quote the old hag Gertie Stein “There is no there there.” In this “new age” boxers are going to have to become “fan friendly” which translates to throwing punches, taking chances and fighting like Mexican’s. The Lord of Manor’s pal Rock’N Roll can be heard yelling, “NO…NO…NO. Get the F’en win. The hell with the fans.” If one believes Teddy Atlas that caused the recent down fall of lightweight Chad Dawson. “He heard that he wasn’t fan friendly. So he changed his style getting knocked out twice.” Atlas attributes Dawson’s KO’s at the hands of Andre Ward and 35 year old Adonis Stevenson as a case of “trying to become fan friendly.” The Stevenson KO came 1:16 of round one. Stevenson breathed some life into a dull light heavyweight division temporarily. The emergence of Eastern European boxers is pumping life into the sport. Most fight like Mexican’s bringing “Ole’s”. Next up this Saturday (June 29) on HBO is Gennady Golovkin (26-0, 23KO’s) vs. Matthew Macklin (29-4, 20KO’s). Golovkin big betting favorite but , “here it comes”, Macklin has a punchers chance. OK new “Golden Age” may be a stretch but with extended TV maybe boxing can strike lighting with a match like Diego Corrales- Jose Luis Castillo in ’05. Just takes one. Crack a Corona because Cheewit dee khrup.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 17:01:33 +0000
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