Who’s that mystery man? To me he looks like a slightly more bloated version of The Candyman. Could a slightly more bloated version of The Candyman have been trying to make it so Lamont Peterson beat Amir Khan? I guess it just depends on if Khan said the name “Candy-“… Ah, I almost said it a third time. Whew. Good thing I didn’t.
Anyhow: Strange saga, that. Khan and his team have been kicking all kinds of conspiracy theories about the scoring in their loss last month in a junior welterweight fight here in my neighborhood of D.C. This one is more legit-seeming than some of the others, what with the dude constantly rooting around in the scorecards of one of the judges midfight. I’m not co-signing. I’m just saying it’s weird-looking enough that somebody ought to explain.
In this edition of Quick Jabs, ‘sides the headline and what we just talked about, we’ll discuss Victor Ortiz maybe talking himself out of a boxing license; Snooki as boxing promoter; the best way to rob Mike Tyson; and more.
Quick Jabs
Ortiz’ hippie Midwestern surfer/intimidating gangsta verbal patter duality is such that you’re usually laughing at him these days more than laughing with him, so his tough-guy schtick about trying to break Floyd Mayweather’s nose when he head-butted him fit in with that. But it got funnier AND seriouser simultaneously when Nevada boxing authorities decided they weren’t so sure they wanted to license Ortiz as a boxer, if he’s gonna do that kind of thing. Don’t worry, Nevada. I’ll vouch for Ortiz. He didn’t mean it. Shucks and golly and kowabunga…
Showtime’s new top boxing guy Stephen Espinoza has finally opened up about his philosophy. I like some of what I’m hearing, although the implementation will be the hard part — for instance, how do you convey the excitement of attending a live boxing event? It’s one of those “nothing like it, hard to explain how much better it is in person” kind of deals. I like that he wants promoters thinking one step out, I like that they’re throwing some muscle into Victor Ortiz-Andre Berto II — but for now it’s all talk. It’s the right kind of talk, at least…
Talks are afoot for yet another boxing series on television, this one coming to Spike via Top Rank. I like it. Nothing against FSN/Fox Sports Espanol, which opened doors to boxing when others were closing, but if Top Rank were to move Top Rank Live to Spike it’d be better for everyone…
I failed to take note of it the other week, but this article in The New York Times showed that it is possible to write about Al Haymon without quoting anonymous people who have agendas that the public can’t comprehend because they don’t know who those people are. I learned some things about Haymon, which is more than I can say about most articles about Haymon in the regular boxing media, although I still don’t have a full grasp on one of the potentially most important Haymon-related questions, i.e., whether he’s in violation of the Muhammad Ali Act…
Snooki’s gonna promote boxers! Good for her. I can’t say I have any confidence in her ability to do it very well, because she doesn’t come off as terribly, um, intelligent, but he’s a savvy self-marketer, anyway, so maybe she can handle the “promoter” part if not the matchmaking and such. And her reach is such that I welcome her introduction into our sport for a mini-profile boost, since she’s one of the most well-known people in the world these days…
What Bradley said about Khan just made me laugh, is all: It sounded to me like a mugger or thug from a late 70s/early 80s movie saying, “I gon cutchoo face, mang!”…
Everyone knows if you’re going to try to rob Mike Tyson you have to do it while he’s sleeping, the way one guy tried to do recently. If I was Mike, I’d ask for security footage from the hotel camera — I bet you’d see the guy making off with a tiger and pretending to hump it…
A few rides on the promoter/trainer/manager carousel: 1. Top Rank has called lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez a free agent, but Zanfer is acting as his promoter. Distinction without a difference, probably, as Top Rank and Zanfer go hand in hand. 2. Super middleweight Anthony Mundine has signed with manager Cameron Dunkin, who’s quietly become a very powerful man in the sport. Maybe this means Mundine will finally come to the U.S. for a fight? Or maybe it’s just more smokescreening. 3. Middleweight Matthew Macklin is training with Buddy McGirt again. After Macklin’s performance against Felix Sturm, I woulda stuck with that guy, but McGirt has his good traits, I guess…
(Manny) Pacquiao Produce will unite the children of Season Two of The Wire behind eating broccoli!
