Wonder how toe thumbs affect one’s boxing abilities. (via)
Quick Jabs. You know the drill. We got the stuff in the headline, some boxers moving around from promoter to promoter, scandals from two summers ago getting revived and yet more.
Quick Jabs
It’s very cool for boxing and all that CNN (per a news release) will be airing replays of the 24/7 documentary series for both upcoming welterweight mega-pay-per-views, Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz and Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez III. But airing “Mayweather-Ortiz 24/7” episodes at midnight? On Saturday? Who in the hell is going to see that? Is there a worse possible timeslot on CNN? I live in Washington, D.C., and I’ve never heard anyone say, “Yeah, I was watching CNN at midnight this weekend, and…” This was a problem with the CBS deal for Pacquiao-Shane Mosley, too, where the “Fight Camp 360” episodes aired in a terrible timeslot. You gotta crawl before you can walk, I guess, but geez…
Ring Life is getting going for Mayweather-Ortiz. In this segment, what stands out is that, yeah, Mayweather is cocky, but he’s not such a flat-out prick. He even has “nothing but love” for his critics. OK. This “nice(ish) Mayweather” thing has been going for a while now. It was going for a while for Mayweather-Marquez, too. Let’s see how long it lasts. Ortiz’ segment stands out for a couple reasons: I had no idea the sheer amount of physical activities he was involved in; and yes, his “aw shucks” routine is occasionally a bit cloying, but his comment about knocking people down was funny and the ending quote is pretty good…
Michael Irvin thinks Mayweather avoiding Pacquiao is a bad reflection on his race. It isn’t. But at this point I’m in favor of people resorting to low blows to get Mayweather-Pacquiao going…
After some rather grand plans for a worldwide media tour, the Pacquiao-Marquez III circuit has been chopped down to four cities. That’s too bad. But it’s also classic Bob Arum, to talk about big ideas and then not do ’em. His batting average isn’t very good on that count. But he still does hit the occasional home run, so that’s sometimes enough for you take him seriously when he talks big…
There are more fighters in the world than just Pacquiao and Mayweather, though! One of them is super middleweight Kelly Pavlik. I’m not at all pretending to know who’s lying and who’s telling the truth between his manager Cameron Dunkin and his trainer Jack Loew over how his recent fight fell apart. All I know is that Dunkin-managed fighters are always up in some drama. Bantamweight Nonito Donaire splitting from Top Rank then going back, junior welterweight Timothy Bradley trying to split from Gary Shaw then getting into a legal battle, Pavlik and his snafu — and that’s just 2011…
Golden Boy is snagging up some Mexican stars: Junior middleweight Alfredo Angulo has signed with the promoter, per a news release, although there’s no sign of his immigration status clearing up anytime soon; and junior welterweight Humberto Soto has said he’s likely to sign with GBP, mainly because he wants a piece of Erik Morales. Meanwhile, Mayweather Promotions is trying to sign junior welterweight Devon Alexander, who would be by far the biggest signing of the company’s young life…
Morales, by the way, has “confirmed” that he is crazy. I was very skeptical of Morales returning to the ring and still sort of am, but it’s been a lovable comeback so far in calendar year 2011…
Adidas is running a fun campaign in Shanghai on the subway, encouraging people to take out some commuter aggression on punching bags they jury-rigged. Check it out.
Let’s party like it’s the summer of 2009! Or not. I don’t miss all that sordid business, but it’s back anyway. The private investigators hired by the camp of Arturo Gatti is set to release a report detailing how it wasn’t a suicide, but a murder that did him in. I don’t think anyone should be surprised by this conclusion; it seems like the investigators were taught the test, so to speak. But I’ll be interested to see what kind of irrefutable proof they claim to have. Hey, it’s not like Gatti’s death wasn’t fishy as hell. Meanwhile, the murder trial for one of the men allegedly behind the death of Vernon Forrest is inching along…
Light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins, who once took the enlightened view that mixed martial arts was a “gay porno show,” has changed his mind and now likes it. Setting aside the homophobic aspect of his remarks, it’s nice to see boxers respect MMA. I’m not a fan of MMA, myself. But the more comity both sides show, the less frequently I have to listen to idiotic-ass debates about which sport is better…
The trainer for Andre Dirrell has called potential super middleweight opponent Lucian Bute a “world chumpian” (sic?) because he’s only fought chumps. Good one! Here’s some more trash talk along those lines. Think a rival boxer is stupid? Howsabout “world chimpion?” And what if a boxer tries to bite another boxer? Well, he’d be a “world chompion,” wouldn’t he? Store those up, boxers. Save them for a rainy day. And thank TQBR when you use one of those insults, or I will sue you…
Epix is going to carry the heavyweight doubleheader between Alexander Povetkin-Ruslan Chavaev and Robert Helenius-Siarhei Liakhovich on Aug. 27. Good job, Epix…
The heavyweight Klitschko brothers are doing a lot of movie work lately. They appear in the poorly reviewed “Horrid Henry” movie, and also a documentary about them called, simply, “Klitschko.” Word on the street is that the Horrid Henry flick was “predictable.” Sound like anyone you know?…
George Lopez’ late night show has been cancelled. It’s not a big loss for the world of comedy, but Lopez’ attention to the boxing world — he recently had junior welterweight Amir Khan on the program — will be missed.
