I feel remise in my blogging duties due to what I would like to refer to as the unavoidable demise of the human race. Ok, the truth is Ive just been hella busy with the various demands of life as a self described boxing writer and corporate whipping boy. While the nation has its attention entranced with the on going NCAA Final Four tournament boxing is in sort of a lull but that is not to say there is much news from within twisted world of professional pugilism. This weekend marks the return of some pretty high profile fights and though we once again find ourselves forced to pick between duelling dates on Showtime and HBO the fact remains that we are going to have some pretty decent scraps on both double headers. But I shall save my thoughts on those four fights for a later post. Right now I feel the need to get some a few things of my chest that I have noticed over the past couple of weeks.
- The Maxboxing-Boxingscene merger has been in existence for a few weeks now so forgive me for my less than timely remarks. To be honest, I am not sure where I stand on this news. In a way I’m excited about the potential prospects such a merger might produce -especially with two of the most credible sites on the web – but I must admit that I am a bit leery. As of right now there seems to be no major changes to either site, save for a few select articles showing up on different sites. Cosmetically both sites still look the same and I am not a fan of Michael Katz being only accessible to paying members of Maxboxing, though I am a paying member so what is the big deal right? I don’t know, I guess I sort of liked the two sites working independently of each other. I guess it could have been worse, like a Boxingtalk-SweetScience.com merger that would have sapped the later of all credibility.
- Speaking of boxing website shenanigans, for those of you unaware of the long standing beef between FightHype.com and BoxingTalk.com feel free to check out the forums over on FightHype for a complete account albeit from the FightHype perspective. Two good posts include this Q&A with the Editor and this post which actually features Jin Mosley (spice718). Given how I write for FightHype and the fact that I consider the editor Ben a stand up guy forgive me for my obvious bias. Still it is comical to see Ben from FightHype and Greg Leon of Boxingtalk reach Tupac’s “Hit ‘Em Up” status.
- Speaking of Boxingtalk. Check out this especially scathing piece on Jesus Chavez written by former Maxboxing and Dog House Boxing contributor Dan Horgan. First of all I want to go on record as saying I like Dan’s work and in some fleeting correspondences he seems like a nice guy but this piece had me shaking my head in disbelief. Look, we are all entitled to our own personal opinions and it’s clear that Horgan is not a fan of Adam Pitluk’s book on Chavez but his argument comes off as that of the whining of a sheltered kid from the suburbs. The piece comes off more like a starch conservative speaking of a moral high ground then less of a writer who disagrees with Pitluk’s portrait of Chavez. Not that I am trying to paint Chavez as a saint, not by any means, I just realize that the individuals we cover within the sweet science are not always the most contributing to society. Horgan’s outrage and subtle conservative views on illegal immigration seem to weaken his argument. Sure Chavez ran into some trouble as a youth, hell most pugs had some troubles as youth but to chastise him for “smoking pot” amongst other things speaks of a man who has yet to experience a world outside of sheltered suburbia. Again, I’m not condoning the use of illegal drugs, running with a gang, or even illegal immigration but these things are more common in today’s world than Horgan seems to want to believe. I don’t know, the whole thing just struck me as a tad bit pretentious.
- On the other end of the spectrum, check out this insightful piece on Chad Dawson by Steve Kim of Maxboxing. What I like most about the story is his take on HBO and the Ring Magazine’s championship belt. Funny how they start to promote the “real” championship the minute Golden Boy Promotions dropped some coin on the rag. I’m divided on the whole Ring belt. I like the idea of one recognized champion but there are many, many flaws with their policy. First of all is the fact that they refuse to strip their champions. While I agree to an extent that championships should be won and lost in the ring look at how Ring champions Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Bernard Hopkins have taken the Ring belt and refused to fight the most deserving challengers in their respective weight classes. Hell, “Money Mayweather” has had the Ring welterweight belt on ice for over two years. The Rings retort is that eventually the outcry from the fans and press will force the champions to defend their belt but while that may have rung true when fighters had to put butts in the seats in order to procure a decent pay day the modern day boxer lives in a day of guaranteed money in the form of lucrative network and site fees. You think Mayweather will ever listen to the calls for him to fight Cotto? Not unless the money is right regardless of what the outcry is from the fans and media alike. Which is a shame as it fundamentals goes against the Ring’s intentions.
- *Shameless Plug* Ever wonder what is going on in the bustling Dallas-Ft.Worth boxing and MMA scene? Of course you haven’t but don’t let that stop you from checking out www.northtexasboxing.com. I was asked by the creator to contribute some stories and accepted the offer to join the staff. Now the fundamental objective of the site is to shine light to the boxing/MMA scene of North Texas and to date the response from local fighters and fight fans has been tremendous. The best thing about the site is that it features some of the best internet-based boxing writers on the net in Jesse Rodriguez of 15Rounds.com and Sean Reed of FightBeat.com. I have to say that I am not a huge fan of some the heavy editing that goes into the stories but it’s a great site none the less.
