Put up your tentacles! It's time for a rumble at the bottom of the sea, cephalopods and crustaceans. (via)
We've got some catching up to do in Quickjabstown. Some of it will revisit the weekend prior to last, some of it will be about Floyd Mayweather hanging out with other celebrities, some of it will be about other things. Things in the headline, say. Or things that are not any of those things.
Quick Jabs
Remember, Quick Jabs, always a la carte. so if something doesn't interest you, go to the next thing! Let's start, then, with the now semi-running feature of who's teaming up with various alleged performance enhancing drug figures or various anti-performance enhancing drug figures. Prior reports that welterweight Brandon Rios had given strength and conditioning Alex Ariza a tryout and then dumped him were, it turns out, erroneous. That'll teach me to be credulous! As for Rios opponent and ex-Ariza client Manny Pacquiao, Justin Fortune was reportedly set to return to the Pacquiao camp, although apparently not now due to visa problems, even though Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach has said Fortune used to juice. I only point this out because the PED history (or alleged PED history) of everyone is always relevant. Also, super middleweight Edwin Rodriguez is doing that year-round Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency thing, which I generally support, but champ Andre Ward said Rodriguez kind of sprung it on him like a stunt. Rodriguez is with ex-BALCO scandal engineer Victor Conte, whereas Ward used to be, and Conte is all about the VADA, so Ward is sounding mildly skeptical of doing the VADA himself. It still would be nice if he did it, or some similar program…
Middleweight champion Sergio Martinez is meeting with the freaking pope this week. I've got very little else to say about that. Good for him. He's going to talk about anti-bullying and domestic violence, and whether you're Catholic or secular, it's probably not a bad thing for those topics to get a forum with a figure who can boost their profiles. Giving the pope a WBC belt is kinda lame, though…
Meanwhile, junior middleweight champ Mayweather and welterweight/lightweight contender Adrien Broner had an, um, forum with the BET Awards (airing Tuesday!), and Mayweather also has hung out with Howard Stern and Kobe Bryant. So, that's a divergent crew from the pope. But in a different way, I say, good for those guys for mingling with a crowd that will enhance boxing's profile. Even if it means I have to hear about Mayweather having sex with four women, and wondering where they all go. There's his genitalia, and his face, and — I dunno, both feet? I have more graphic potential answers, but, is there a point of diminishing returns here?…
A couple weeks back, we discussed remedies for bad judging. In the comments section, I was reminded by AlanPudding of a proposal that had appeared on this site at one time to remove the judges from ringside. It stands as a good proposal, still, even with some kinks to work out. That is all…
Norway is back to allowing boxing to happen, which is way better for the country than allowing death metal to happen…
Russell Peltz was doing quite well by U.S. heavyweight prospect Bryant Jennings, by my estimation. Why he would switch promoters to Gary Shaw, I can't imagine, even with some bittnerness over the Tomasz Adamek fight not happening. Nothing against Shaw, mind you (and yes, I know there are some valid knocks on him), I just don't get this tendency of fighters whose promoters have mostly done right by them to switch…
In the Mike Tyson-USA Boxing feud, I come down more on the side of Tyson. USA Boxing publicly went at Tyson for recruiting Olympic prospects to turn pro for his promotional company, which would have come off as a fair grounds of criticism (and some of the points were salient about the pros and cons of turning pro) if they had done it with any other promoter who was doing the exact same thing. And Tyson's points about the pros and cons of turning pro were also salient, so there's that…
The ratings for Miguel Cotto's junior middleweight main event on HBO the weekend before last represented the largest cable number for the year, 1.6 million rounded up according to Nielsen figures, trumping the mark set a little before by middleweight Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. Both matches were viably difficult on paper, but far from even money. HBO should avoid "showcase" bouts and neither fell to that level, but it does go to show that — as much as we might not like it — "fighters" sometimes do better than "fights" in contradiction of the holy "fights, not fighters" edict. Of course, it also shows how much drawing power remains in the Cotto name, despite a lackluster showing in his previous bout against Austin Trout, and the injection of energy from the stoppage of Delvin Rodriguez surely won't hurt. What could hurt is a $2 million hit from a court battle with uncle/former trainer Evangelista…
On that same card, heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and lightweight contender Terence Crawford turned in criticized performances, and reprsentatives of each have offered their explanations/defenses/etc. Klitschko trainer Johnathon Banks offered up some useful points, but missed the biggest one, maybe because he wasn't asked: why Wlad felt compelled to chew up the rulebook and eat it page by page against Alexander Povetkin (Banks only referred to "legal" tactics from Wlad). And even if he could justify it, to address the ugliness of Wlad's performance without addressing all the fouls is missing the defining criticism of the aesthetic value of his performance. Crawford and his crew offered differing explanations for what he did or didn't do against Andrey Klimov. Crawford was all, "Hit and get hit, name of the game, baby!" But Top Rank's Todd duBoef provided a rather eloquent alternative explanation for how Crawford's position might and should evolve. And, again, sometimes there's something to be said for fighters maximizing their advantages and taking fewer risks, even if the crowd might not appreciate in the short term. Though we might wish otherwise, not everything can be a Nicolas Cage mask cage match…
Jayson Velez-Dat Nguyen got some minor Fight of the Year buzz two weekends ago off the regular HBO card. The middle is too lacking to make it that for me. But: It starts very hot and ends very hot, and the video below has the odd couple combo of Col. Bob Sheridan and Larry Merchant calling the featherweight action. Can't figure either guy is going too far at 126, but they'll make up for it with bouts like this.
