Above, a trailer for the well-reviewed film “Boxing Gym.” Doesn’t look like much, but it is… well-reviewed. It’s one of a couple such boxing docs out hereabouts.
In other Quick Jabs, ‘sides the headline, we have some unusual accounts of sparring, some championship-caliber trash talk and a boxing writer’s daughter who’s already ahead of the game.
Quick Jabs
This is just about the worst weekend on the boxing schedule. I’m guessing the big UFC show scared folk off. Tonight there are shows on TeleFutura and Telemundo, but it should tell you something that I am not going to bother previewing them. Here’s the rest of the crappy schedule, the highlight of which is the junior featherweight bout between Toshiaki Nishioka and Rendall Munroe and Jorge Linares’ lightweight fight against Jesus Chavez. The biggest deal is HBO beginning the airing of Pacquiao/Margarito 24/7 Saturday…
I think the best thing anyone’s said about the surge of attention in football concussions is here, in a piece about the BBC airing women’s boxing: “But they’ve won the right to be seen, and if people are choosing to turn their TVs off when they do, they’re going to have to ask themselves why: gratuitous violence, or women engaged in violence? Time-honored rite of masculinity or senseless brutality? The irony, as [Joyce Carol] Oates points out, is that boxing is not the most dangerous sport (football actually tops it) — it just, symbolically if not actually, takes the gloves off.” I’ve long found it interesting that people have attributed the so-called decline of boxing to a civilized society’s distaste for violence. In actuality, boxing ranks behind any number of sports in deaths and other measures. I recognize that some see a difference in sports where the pain caused is incidental, not the whole point. Intent matters. But as someone who likes boxing and is only casually interested in football, it’s been fascinating watching America come to grips with the negatives of what its most popular sport entails…
The talk about whether Manny Pacquiao will be ready for his junior middleweight fight against Antonio Margarito has risen significantly. Before, Top Rank boss Bob Arum had expressed his concerns, which you could write off to a promoter trying to sell a fight many don’t expect to be competitive. Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach has expressed his own doubts, noting that Pacquiao is distracted by his desire to return to his legislative gig. It’s worth remembering that his last couple camps, Roach hasn’t been happy with Pacquiao until he left for Los Angeles and the Wild Card gym, where he’s free of the demands on him in the Philippines. And, more recently, Roach liked what he saw from Pacquiao. So look, we’ll see. Obviously, a tip-top Pacquiao is ideal, but may not be required, for beating Margarito. There have been multiple reports of Margarito looking good in camp, albeit from his partisans, and obviously the better Margarito looks in camp and the worse Pacquiao looks, the more likely it is we’ll see a competitive bout…
You know what you don’t see very often? A boxer acknowledging that another boxer whooped up on him in sparring. Yet check out what super middleweight Allan Green said this week at a news conference about previous sparring sessions for his Nov. 6 opponent Glen Johnson: “I’m an honest man. I learned a lot from Glen. A lot of days he gave me the business, a lot of days he just put it on me. I’m not ashamed to say that I learned a lot. That helped me get a lot better. I had my times, too, but for the most part he got the better of me. It was a good experience for me getting ready for the fight.” I go back and forth on whether I like Green’s personality. Comments like that put me more in the “pro” column. Why lie? Why be in denial? The honesty there will serve him better, I suspect, if he knows he has a tough opponent that he’ll have to be in top form to beat…
The recent flyweight bout between champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam and Suriyan Por Chokchai has become my YouTube Holy Grail for 2010, replacing the video of the boxer who feigned masturbation between being knocked down and out. Not only is it said to be a good fight, but Chokchai apparently vomited like a madman in the middle of the fight before continuing on. I don’t like watching people vomit (take THAT, Tosh.0!) but I feel like that’s the kind of thing that needs to be seen to be believed…
Top Rank is all about dropping boxers after a recent loss lately. The latest is heavyweight Samuel Peter. But this one might make a little more sense, because they recently divested themselves of another heavyweight, Odlanier Solis, and maybe they’re getting 100 percent out of that business…
I’m high on the prospects of flyweight Luis Concepcion doing some damage in the division. And as with all such things, this is just “alleged.” But brandishing one’s gun in a supposed road rage incident — you just hope he doesn’t become another boxer whose in-ring prospects aren’t dampened by his out-of-the-ring antics. As of now, there won’t be any charges…
Doug Fischer is one of my favorite boxing writers. But his daughter has a head start on replacing him someday. If you haven’t had a chance, check out her quips that he recorded in his recent mailbag. Really funny stuff, like her remarks about the a potential Pacquiao-Shannon Briggs fight and her observation on heavyweight Antonio Tarver: “He doesn’t even have one hair!” I’d like her to have her own column stat, but if not, hopefully Fischer can continue to incorporate her remarks in his mailbags…
You know who else is doing some writin’? TQBR contributor Alex McClintock, in the latest issue of Men’s Fitness. He wrote an excellent piece about his experience in the ring. You should check it out…
The December bout between light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal and Bernard Hopkins may not be entertaining in the ring, but it’s going to feature championship-level trash talking until then. Check out a sampling below.
