It's kind of a sad statement on the state of boxing that there was no thread until now.
So I watched the replay of the Mayweather-Baldomir fight, followed by the Klitschko-Brock fight. The Mayweather fight was interesting as an exhibition against a completely outclassed opponent. I'm not crazy about Pretty Boy, but I love watching him fight for the same reason I enjoy watching Tiger win golf tournaments by eight strokes. I like watching the best at the top of their game.
Wladimir, on the other hand, is not the best. He gets hit way too much, but his right hand keeps him in any fight. I loved HBO's super slo-mo of the KO, Brock's whole face seemed to move from left to the right.
Mayweather-De la Hoya? I might actually pay for that fight.

Klitschko is the best of the current flock of heavyweights, which isn't saying much. I don't see anyone of real stature on the near horizon, either.

I think Mayweather is an awesome fighter, but I'm not all that interested in seeing him fight Oscar De La Hoya. De La Hoya's getting old, and he's always had trouble with fast fighters (Whitaker, Mosley). I'd rather see Mayweather fight Antonio Margarito.

I think you just answered why there is no thread. I remember what was probably to golden age of televised boxing when Leonard, Hagler, Hearns and Duran could actually be seen on broadcast TV. Later on I continued to follow the sport on premium cable, watching the rise of Tyson on HBO (and fat George Foreman on whatever channel he was on).

Then pay per view came to dominate the sport and I haven't really watched boxing on a regular basis since. At least early on with PPV, they would actually try to contruct a card that offered a variety of compelling fights, but now it seems that a lot of fights consist of one headliner and and a well know woman boxer as the next biggest name on the undercard.

I'm a fan, but I won't buy PPV. While King/Arum et al are making a big killing monetary wise for themselves in the short term, they are killing the sport in the long run.

I couldn't believe how the HBO commentators were bashing PBF for not knocking Baldomir out. For one thing Floyd has never been a knockout guy and he's known for hurting his hands in fights. They basically acted like Floyd was just not knocking him out to spite the boxing world. It was disgusting.

I just watched the HBO replay of Pacquio-Morales III, and man am I glad I didn't pay for that fight. Morales is courageous, but he simply wasn't ready to fight the stronger Pacquio. I'm glad he didn't offer any excuses after the fight, and simply said he lost to the better fighter. Makes me wonder where he goes from here, is he like an Arturo Gatti, a crowd pleaser that will be in (relatively) big money fights, just because of his style.

Yeah boxing is pretty much dead to me, though I like the sport. Call me cheap or whatever but I can't follow a sport that is entirely on pay per view tv. Boxing used to get at least a little coverage on sportscenter but they have pretty much given up on it too. The last championship boxing match I saw live was Tyson/Holyfield when Tyson did some ear nibbling.

After watching the Wright-Quartey bout, one wonders if there's much of a future left for Ike. Winky completely dominated him and made him look kind of old. Now Wright wants DeLaHoya? Why? It has to be for the money, Oscar has nothing else to offer. He should just work things out with Taylor and get that deal done.
On the broadcast side, it's time for Larry Merchant to retire, Emmanuel Steward is so much better than him, it's not funny.

I no longer judge Larry Merchant by the same standard I would use for other sportscasters. I watch just to see how cantankerous he can get. It's like the old SNL game show "Who's More Grizzled?"

I think Ike can squeeze one or two more big paydays on name alone. The larger question for me is whether Lacy was "ruined" by Calzaghe or he was always overrated.

Woo hoo for a boxing thread! I'd been searching and thought boxing really might be dead. Glad there are some people with interest in it.

Larry Merchant needs to put down the bottle. Him calling Klitschko a "big, beautiful man" in the Brock fight was just...no, it was just no. However, he does bring the funny.

I also wonder if Lacy was "ruined" by Calzaghe. Hopefully a couple more fights will bring him back with ease, or he just may need to rework his gameplan

Well, after watching the Taylor-Ouma fight, I have to say the scary thing about Jermain Taylor is there is so much room for improvement. He is not a technically proficient fighter, he just has the physical gifts God gave him, and it's enough right now for him to be Middleweight champ. I hate when Manny Steward is working, because it takes him out of the booth. Listening to him give advice to Taylor between rounds, it was as good a commentary as there was during the fight. As for the early fight, keep an eye on Berto, he's a comer.

They talked about Calzaghe being a possible 2007 matchup with Taylor. I'm not sure Taylor wants that fight.

I like Lennox in the booth too. Neither are that polished and neither has that "big fight feel" like Foreman but I like having guys somewhat close to the action and you can get no one closer than Manny.

I thought it was funny a couple of times when Lennox would talk about what he thinks Manny would say to Taylor after the round and Manny goes on to say exactly what Lennox thought he would say.

ITA. I caught a replay yesterday and thought sometimes Taylor seems like a diamond in the rough. If he makes the right adjustments, he may be able to take Calzaghe. But he definitely cannot fight the way he did against Ouma.

Anyone have any thoughts or nominations for "Fight of the Year" as 2006 comes to a close?

My votes for the best fights of 2006:

1. Jermain Taylor vs Winky Wright- Jermain said it best, "If you want the title, you have to fight all twelve rounds." Winky had it and gave it away.
2. Fernando Vargas vs Shane Mosley I- I thought Sugar was all done, how wrong I was.
3. Antonio Tarver vs Benard Hopkins- Never count out the man who wants it most and is willing to die to get it.
4. Erik Morales vs Manny Pacquio II- Not as good as the fight for the ages that was their first fight, but still one of the best this year.
5. Oscar De La Hoya vs Ricardo Mayorga - Not a classic, but it was so much fun to see 'Golden Boy' fighting with passion and joy. It would have been better if Mayorga had gave a damn.

What did everyone think about the open scoring? Maybe I'm a traditionalist but I didn't like it. It seemed like Taylor backed off a bit in the later rounds because he knew he had a huge lead. Still, I think it's too early to tell what kind of an impact it will have. I think I may need to watch a few more fights with open scoring to form an opinion. I wonder how De La Hoya versus Trinidad would have turned out if there had been open scoring. Would Oscar have kept fighting instead of running away from Tito in those late rounds?

PS: I love Larry Merchant, too!

I like the idea of open scoring, but the Larry Merchant brought up a good point (he does that sometimes in between being crotchety): There is inevitably one judge who seems to be watching a different fight. Does he give "make-up rounds" to come more in line with the other judges whether the fighter deserves it or not? I didn't think Taylor went into that much of a shell, at least compared to De La Hoya. I think open scoring would have made no difference in that fight, because Oscar was ahead after the eighth round, the last round the score would have been announced.

Looks like HBO isn't going to be pulling Jim Lamley off the air while he battles the criminal charges against him.

I'm surprised that, in this day and age for people in sports (Mark McGwire, etc.), someone still believes in the concept of innocent until proven guilty.

Maybe I'm too young to know any better (I wasn't around for the Howard Cosell - Ali glory days), but nothing defines "big-time" fight for me than the call by Jim Lampley. The other guys at Showtime and the Don King Productions casts don't come close. I still don't understand the aura behind "Colonel" Bob Sheridan. I think he's pretty bad. Maybe I just don't like those Don King Productions broadcasts.

Happy 65th, G.O.A.T.

WTF is a guy Lampley's age doing with someone who hasn't cracked thirty yet? Shaking my head . . .

It'll be interesting to see the Hatton fight this weekend. RH is an aggressive, straight-ahead type guy who fought the fight of his life against Tzyu and hasn't looked as impressive since. Back down at 140 where he belongs, Urango ought to provide a nice gauge of where Hatton's at now.

Well, Hatton had a nice workmanlike win over Urango. But between that bout and Castillo barely ekeing out a win, I have no interest in a Hatton-Castillo fight.
Actually my favorite part of last night's telecast was Larry's pre-fight interview with Hatton. It was straight out of Monty Python: he'd ask a question, let Hatton get halfway through the answer, then pull the microphone back and ask the next question. I was dying.

ITA. I was surprised, because I actually thought Castillo would be in it to win it. It was pretty close, though.

Mine would have to be when Hatton licked his finger and fixed a few strands of unruly hair on Larry Merchant's head.

I've only been watching boxing since getting involved with my significant other. He's been watching boxing since he's a kid (in his 50's now) and I don't think in the 2-1/2 years we've known each other, he's done more than one or two PPV's. He's taken me to bouts at both Connecticut casinos, so I've seen it live too.

HBO seems to have the better cards, but we also watch Showtime (he doesn't like the commentators there) and ESPN Friday Night Fights. Last Friday, their guest at the studio was Angelo Dundee. Nice interview. Boxing is most assuredly in full swing on TV again, with these three networks broadcasting fights fairly regularly. Whilel I like ESPN's people, HBO is a little more upscale, if boxing can be upscale.

If y'all, who are boxing fans, haven't read Teddy Atlas' book, definitely go out and get it (library or Amazon, your choice). We bought it last year and I read it on a plane trip - really, really good (especially for someone like me who hasn't been involved in boxing all that long). If you ever wondered where Teddy's scar came from, it's early in the book.

Man, Hatton sure gave his best John Ruiz impersonation during that hug fest. Combined with the lackluster Castillo performance, definitely took the anticipation of that match down quite a bit.

Can't wait to see Arce this weekend, although I do hope they get someone other than Fran Charles to commentate on B.A.D.

Although I feel their announcers are vastly inferior to HBO's, have to give props to Showtime for the matches they have been putting on lately. Working with a fraction of the budget that HBO is entitled to, they managed to get us Peter-Toney II in January, Chad Dawson-Tomasz Adamek and Jesus Chavez-Julio Diaz February 3, a Fight of the Year candidate in Rafael Marquez-Israel Vazquez March 3, and I have heard rumors that they are talking about Chico Corrales-Junior Witter for April. Keep up the good work Showtime!

God, that Arce-Ler fight was boring. Julio, if you don't like getting hit, maybe you're in the wrong sport. The disparity between the ring entrances was hilarious. First, you've got Ler with no fanfare, in a Wal-Mart (or Argentinian equivalent) t-shirt and a robe that looks like it was made from a shower curtain. Then Arce rides in, with the Clint Eastwood outfit on, riding the dancing stallion led by Mariachis. Perfect.

Pavlik looked good. Whether he can stay with Miranda, who knows, but he definitely deserves the shot.

I like Kellerman. He comes across as an extremely knowledgeble fan.

Never thought the day would come where a Jorge Arce fight would not be entertaining.

Not really sold on Pavlik, he was getting hit with some shots. When you add in his not exactly blazing handspeed, it could get dicey down the road.

Say what you want about his faults (and there are several), I think Jermain Taylor smokes both Pavlik and Miranda.

I like Kellerman too. I can't say the same thing about Lennox Lewis though. Compared to George Foreman and Emmanuel Stewart, he's not very insightful. I mean, you can practically build a drinking game on how many times Lennox says: "styles make fights". I think he's used it on every telecast he's been involved in.

Also, he hasn't distanced himself from his, in my opinion, mediocre reign as heavyweight champion. Foreman and even Roy Jones Jr. were somewhat humbled when Lampley sucked up to them with some comment on their glory but with Lennox he's still patting himself on the back talking about his great jab and powerful right hand and so forth. I remember a bout he worked last year where Lampley was saying the fighter had a great right hand and Lennox said something like "it's not as good as mine".

Speaking of Lennox Lewis, now that Vitali Klitschko has unretired, I wonder if Lennox can be lured out for a rematch. I wouldn't mind seeing that one even though it should have happened two, three years ago. I'd find it more interesting than a Jones Jr. - B. Hop fight.

My SO and I asked that question of each other on Saturday night.

We watched the HBO boxing, but missed the first several minutes. Was anything said of Lampley and the other guy who is normally there being missing for the broadcast?

We went to the fights at Mohegan that were shown on ESPN2 on Friday night. Talk about a bad card. Lots of booing from the fans. Not very good fights at all. Can't imagine how they played out on Friday Night Fights.

eta: Thanks, AimingforYoko

Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant are part of HBO's World Championship Boxing package. Saturday's bouts fell under the Boxing After Dark auspices with Fran Charles as lead commentator and Max Kellerman as lead analyst.

Don't really see Lennox coming out of retirement to fight Vitali. I remember reading something about him getting offered $20M for a rematch but he turned it down, and that was 3 years ago. I think if you asked Lennox if he was retired for good, he'd naturally reply with "absolutely"

Totally agree about the borefest that would be B-Hop-RJJ II. Supposedly that is close to dead, possibly replaced by the even more scintillating matchup of...B-Hop-Winky.

Looks like Jermain Taylor vs. Sergio Mora on April 14. Hopefully JT can rid the boxing world of this jackass.

Why, Jermain, just why?

I just read that the De La Hoya/Mayweather fight sold out in 3 hours. Most of the people are probably coming out to see De La Hoya, but I'm actually considering ordering this fight on PPV. And that almost never happens.

I'm not happy with this choice either, but no fighter in all of boxing has fought better opposition than JT in the last year and a half, so I can cut him some slack.



I can see this fight possibly selling 1.5 million pay per views. It's easily the biggest fight in boxing since Lewis-Tyson in 2002.

Hopefully with differing results.

Watched the Showtime fights last night. Man, Bad Chad Dawson looked awesome vs. Adamek. Except for the knockdown in the 10th, he completely dominated that fight. I didn't expect him to look that good against a tough fighter like Adamek.

Sad to see Jesus Chavez go down the way he did. Seems like that guy just can't catch a break.

I really like Al Bernstein as the color guy, he knows what he's talking about, has no bias, and doesn't try to take over the fight.

Excited for Sugar Shane-Collazo this coming weekend.

Well Mosley sure turned back the clock last night. He hasn't looked that good in years. Collazo is a pretty solid fighter too. Shane just dominated that fight. Outside of Floyd, I don't think anyone else in the welterweight division can beat Shane Mosley.

Maybe it's just me, but I always get annoyed when Emmanuel Steward claims after 8 or 9 rounds that he knew this is how the fight would play out.

Vivian Harris is extremely talented, but also extremely stupid.

Great line by Merchant about the astronauts.

Very nice performance from Sugar last night, he might get one more big fight before calling it a day. Harris was okay, he needs to work on his stamina.
I wish they's talk more about De La Hoya-Mayweather, that fight is getting no pub.

The B.A.D. fights were BAD last night.

My favorite young fighter, Andre Berto, did what he had to. Anytime you get a guy out in the 1st round, you look good. I'd love to see Andre in with a Joel Julio/Carlos Quintana/Vernon Forrest type fighter. I think this kid is gonna be a star.

For all of the shit-talking that Powell and Smith did, they put on an extremely tedious and boring fight. They both suck and need to go away.

Paulie looked a little rusty, but I definitely think he can make some noise at 140.

ITA. This was the worst card HBO's had in a while. Berto looked good, but Bravo couldn't have been more of a stiff if 'Opponent' was tattooed on his forehead. Powell-Smith was a yawn-fest and Maliniaggi is a fine fighter but the only reaction he elicits out of me is 'meh'.
Here's hoping Cotto gives us more of a show in a couple of weeks.

ETA: Look out Heavyweights!

Well, interesting night of boxing last night. The Darchinyan-Burgos fight looked real bad at the end, those are the types of beatings that end in fatalities. Hope that Burgos is alright.

Marquez-Vazquez was an absolute war while it lasted, too bad we couldn't get more of it. Personally, I feel Vazquez was starting to turn the fight in his favor, but great job by Marquez to get off the canvas and get the job done. Props to Showtime for making this great fight happen.

Cotto-Urkal was a boring, never in doubt fight. The open scoring only makes it worse. Cotto seemed disinterested/frustrated, then throw in all the head butts and it made for an odd night. Weird stoppage too, Urkal definitely could have finished the fight. If Cotto gets hit as much as he did tonight against Judah, he could be in for some rough moments. Zab may be a headcase, but he can crack.

Miranda-Green was a huge disappointment. Green talked all that shit and then ran around scared. I can't stand Edison Miranda, I think he is the dirtiest fighter in boxing today, why so many people are all over this guy I have no idea. I can't wait until Jermain Taylor beats the shit out of him.

Miranda is obviously still learning how to fight. Green was obviously scared of the right hand, no matter how he talked about countering it. The way the Cotto-Urkal fight ended was definitely disappointing, but boy Cotto goes heavy to the body. Urkal definitely gets props for hanging in there. Those kind of punches don't make you want to quit the fight, they make you want to quit the sport.

I do wonder how many more chances Zab's going to get at the top fighters. If Cotto takes care of him, where does he go from here?

Jim Lampley needs to calm down about open scoring. Is it a good-intentioned bad idea? Yes, but boxing has a long list of far more pressing issues than this one.

Yeah Jim Lampley was a whiny little bitch when it came to open scoring last night. I think it can be a good idea if you only have it for ten round and championship fights and only once in the halfway point in a fight. That way you still have a chance in the fight and you know where you stand. The way they do it now does do the things Jim was crying about. But it isn't like having four major governing bodies or still allowing Don King to promote your sport bad. It's having a cruiserweight divison bad.

Well, last night's bout was a complete waste of time for everyone concerned: Klitschko, HBO, and the viewers. That was the #1 contender? Thanks for bothering to show up, Ray. As usual, the Heavyweight division is a complete disaster.
I'm getting inordianately geeked for the De La Hoya-Maywether fight, though. There's no way this fight can live up to the hype, can it?

The Klitschko-Austin fight belonged on ESPN, not HBO. Shows that having Don King as your promoter can get you a title shot, no matter how awful you are.

While I can't wait for the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight, I'm getting really pumped for Barrera-Marquez this weekend. I can't believe that a fight of this magnitude has more or less been glossed over. I'm hoping it turns out to be the slugfest it would appear to be on paper.

ITA. Klitschko looked as frustrated as I'd imagine he must be. Hopefully he can find a good oppenent in the next few months.
Add me to the train for being geeked by the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight. I do hope it lives up to the hype, but I've been fooled before by some other Mayweather fights, so I'm not going to hold my breath.

I'm stoked as well but the "Golden Girl" stuff with the chicken that Mayweather did was a pretty lame attempt at trash talk. Where's the Tyson-level "I'm going to eat his family"?

I'm cheering for Oscar but I think he's going to be in tough against Mayweather.

Looking forward to the Barrera fight as well. Should be a good one but I fear Barrera is due for one of those "wow, he's aged overnight" fights.

We were shocked that the fight only last 4:30 minutes, give or take. I wasn't sure what was going on in the first round. The second round, I began to wonder if the fight had been called too soon. Yes, I know K had done some damage, but surely not so much as to stop the fight.

My SO says that unfortunately Klitschko had to take this one to get to the others that might make for a better bout, but this belonged on Friday Night Fights, for sure.

Yeah, Mayweather tries to talk shit, but he's not intelligent enough to come up with good material, so this is what we get.



All signs point to a Floyd UD, but I'm going to go with heart instead of my head and hope Oscar catches him with something. Maybe it's my complete disdain for Mayweather speaking.



I've always been a Morales fan, so I never really liked Barrera, but the guy is a warrior and has been in some outstanding fights. Here's hoping him and Marquez have a great one.

Ref had very little to do with it. Austin didn't make the ten count.

I really think this and his general lack of charisma is what keeps him for being a bigger name. He just doesn't have that "pop" that other boxers less known than him have. And when he does try to bring the sparks, it's just so lame.

Couldn't agree more. The guy is an absolutely fantastic fighter, possibly the best I've seen in my lifetime. But he is just so repulsive that people turn themselves off to him, which is sad, because this guy has once in a lifetime type of talent. He tries to play the bad guy role but he goes about it completely the wrong way, and I for one can't wait to see him get his head taken off.

When I watched the replay, I just felt the 10-count was a tad rushed. It seemed to me that by the time the ref got K into the neutral corner and started counting, I thought I heard him start with six. I could be wrong.

While many fights never live up to the hype, Marquez-Barrera did. That was a fantastic fight between two warriors giving it their all. Can't believe the referee missed the knockdown, but the penalty point was correct. The 118-109 score was absurd, but I felt that the right man got the decision. As of now it looks like these two will fight again on September 16. Let me be the first to say that I can't wait.

The guy I really feel for is Steve Forbes. He was absolutely robbed. That was a travesty. Just shows you how being Bernard Hopkins nephew gives you quite an advantage, especially when you are a mediocre fighter as Demetrius is. The Ponce de Leon fight had scoring that was a little off as well. All in all, good fights, bad scoring.

Excited to see Mikkel Kessler make his HBO debut this week. Bob Papa is a tremendous upgrade over Fran Charles as the lead announcer on B.A.D.