Go, Butterbean, go. With your new television program where you are a sherriff’s deputy, entertain us crudely, as you did in the boxing ring. Give us the illusion of reality we crave from reality shows and/or fights where your opponents take dives. (h/t on the video to friend of the site dpg)
Dammit, now I feel bad for making jokes about Butterbean’s new show. I sincerely hope he does good work out there, for reals, like that one woman says he did for her.
Moving on. In a short and unusual Monday edition of Quick Jabs, we visit with the topics in the headline, the latest promotional goings-on of Nonito Donaire and Timothy Bradley and just a couple other things.
Quick Jabs
Everyone’s probably had their fill of news about the whole situation involving the disciplining of the judges who rendered the bunk verdict in the Paul Williams vs. Erislandy Lara bout, but I haven’t had the occasion to say much about it outside some brief words on Twitter (remember, check the feed is in the right hand column for regular updates or here, if you don’t care to be on Twitter yourself). There have been smart discussions all over the place, all coming down in different directions. But I still want to vocally support the suspensions, a very rare step in boxing that sends a message that hideous scorecards won’t be tolerated. No, it won’t solve the problem. Yes, New Jersey boxing commish Aaron Davis has himself to blame for appointing the judges. Most certainly, I wish I knew how deeply the commission looked into some of the oddities surrounding the judging, especially all of this. (The screen shots, no longer a part of that linked article for some reason, were pretty eyebrow-raising.) In the end, though, there are situations where “better than usual” is such an improvement over “absolutely nothing” that the focus should be on applauding progress. This is one of them…
If you haven’t read Lara’s incredibly classy open letter on all this, either, you probably should. I like classy fighters and I like brash ones both. This is as classy as it gets…
Talented bantamweight Nonito Donaire is now officially with Top Rank, after a brief period where he fled for Golden Boy and then there were a bunch of lawsuits and other totally predictable inflammations of rhetoric. Like I said before, I don’t so much care where Donaire lands at this point so much as I want to see him back in the ring, which this allows. In case you were wondering — and I was — it sounds like Bob Arum apologized for saying Donaire’s wife dressed like a hooker…
Meanwhile, junior welterweight Timothy Bradley has not signed with Top Rank, as some have reported. Instead, he’s about to enter a period of litigation with Gary Shaw and Thompson Promotions. I’m 100 percent prepared to admit when I’ve misunderstood a situation, but every day that goes by, I feel better and better about warning that it was a mistake for Bradley to turn down that fight with Amir Khan. Who knows when we’ll see him in the ring, now? Maybe this’ll all pay off in the long run, and not just for his “yearning to be free from hated promoters” urge, as those are feelings he says he doesn’t have. But he better get some serious paychecks when he moves to a new promoter and a great many of them — and those who defended Bradley for taking a “smart” business approach for not risking a loss to Khan better hope he wins a bunch of those kind of fights, none of which would presumably be against easy opponents. Or else, hit the Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather sweepstakes right off the bat…
Not that I blame a guy for wanting to go with Top Rank. Arum’s plans for the world tour for Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez III is exactly the kind of outside-the-box thinking that makes Arum the positive force he can be. Speaking of Mr. Pac, he has not, as reported, left adviser Michael Koncz. Who has more lives, by the way: Koncz, or HBO Sports prez Ross Greenburg? I guess Koncz, since he still has his job…
For the life of me I can’t figure out why Jin Mosley should get to hold on to some of husband Shane’s title belts to give to their kids later. I find divorce laws to just be exceptionally peculiar. On the other hand, it is kind of funny…
I haven’t had a physical altercation with my brother in a long time, and I think I’d have to be drunk to do it. That some people reported Kelly Pavlik was drinking when fighting with his brother is concerning. That Pavlik said the brawl happened but that drinking wasn’t involved — well, let’s just say we’ve heard denials from Pavlik before about how he didn’t have a drinking problem, and even after he got out of rehab he still talked in unreassuring tones about the status of his addiction. He’s not the most credible source on whether he was drinking or not. I’m very worried that the Kelly Pavlik story ends really, really horribly, and sooner rather than later…
Who can blame junior welterweight Zab Judah for snubbing the British press if he isn’t getting any of the British money for his fight this weekend with Amir Khan? All it would really do is put money in the pocket of Khan. I suppose Judah could be interested in raising his international profile, so it’s a little short-sighted, but still, it’s justified. Also kind of funny…
Arthur Abraham says he’s moving down to 160 pounds, a weight he used to say he couldn’t make anymore, same way old opponent Jermain Taylor was plotting a move down to 160 pounds upon his return after saying he couldn’t make 160 pounds years ago. Sometimes it’s like I don’t know who to believe in boxing! Do people sometimes lie or something? Change their minds? Find the ability to do stuff they once claimed they couldn’t do, as if discipline was the problem, not physical wherewithal? It’s so confusing…
Bobby Gunn, last seen being gamely overmatched by the cruiserweight version of Tomasz Adamek, has plans to be in the first legit bare knuckle boxing in a very, very long time. I dunno if it interests me much. Maybe I just think boxing gloves are cool accessories.
