One busy Friday night, one recantation and one ending to an ongoing saga.
Quick Jabs, comin’ up!:
- Friday night offers an array of televised punching: You could go with junior flyweight (108 lbs.) Brian Viloria’s attempt to rescue his sagging career on Telfutura against an opponent who’s lost four of his last six. I liked “The Hawaiian Punch” — Viloria’s nickname, what with his being Hawaiian and a professional puncher — back when he seemed to have focus. He says he has it back. We’ll see. Or not, if you’re like me and don’t have Telefutura. Maybe you could go with Showtime’s broadcast of two more fights featuring the Peterson brothers, Anthony (lightweight, 135 lbs.) and Lamont (junior welterweight, 140 lbs.). Both are taking on better-seeming competition than I’ve seen them fight before, and both are pretty talented and entertaining. Then there’s my pick, the Friday Night Fights battle pitting Allan Green and Rubin Williams against one another in a super middleweight (168 lbs.) bout. Green’s got considerable talent, but he’s so insufferable I really am inclined to tune in to his fights in hopes of seeing him get his block knocked off. Regardless, it’s a good match-up, so it should be fun.
- I spoke too soon, in case you missed the fallout from Roy Jones, Jr.’s cameo at the New York Knicks practice a little while back. Day of, it looked like it was a savvy PR move for both the moribund Knicks and the come-backing Jones. Then, the day after I wrote in praise of the move, The New York Daily News ran an item citing an interview following that practice where Jones chatted about how he “lets” his dogs fight sometimes — you know, not “dogfighting,” just.. letting them fight. Riiiiiiiiiight. Jones is apparently so upset about the story he’s “siccing” his lawyer on the Daily News. We’ll see what comes of that; it’s something of an old trick, where you raise the prospect of a lawsuit for intimidation purposes or to feign like you’re really upset about something where there are no real legal grounds to actually sue anyone. It’s all very, very plausible that Jones — who’s in the cockfighting business, and who has spoken of dogs accidentally fighting to the death in his backyard — was talking about a youthful indiscretion, as he claims, and that the Daily News reporter who says he recorded the interview is just making it known that he did so because he wants to be exposed as a fraud. Either way, defeat has been snatched from the jaws of victory.
- Because I’ve spilled so much ink on it so far, I might as well see it to its conclusion: After entertaining lightweight (135 lbs.) Juan Diaz’s sure-fire entertaining scrap with entertaining fellow lightweight Michael Katsidis was, well, scrapped, Diaz will now fight Nate Campbell March 8. It’s a step down from Diaz-Katsidis in entertainment value, but Campbell’s a good fighter aside from all his doofus moments inside and outside the ring, so a modest victory has been snatched from the jaws of defeat.
- Lastly — a quick public “thanks” to Deadspin for linking to my collection of entertaining boxing videos. And thanks to those who added some videos and photos, which provided additional entertainment to yours truly; one clip actually fulfilled a long-held dream of a friend of mine to see the other kind of “double punch.” It must be seen to be believed, so if you haven’t in a while, coast on back by the comments section for that and other bits of hilarity.
