The Sweet Science

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Wed Oct 01, 2014 5:57 pm

wlu_lax6 wrote:Wasn't the Roy Jones fight the reason they went to that crazy 3 judges have to hit the button at the same time to score a punch landed system. What happened to that system?

They still use it at the Olympics. Far from foolproof though.

But I am shocked they don't use it at the Asian games. The female Indian Julio Cesar Chavez could have used it.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Sun Oct 26, 2014 7:33 pm

Okay, what do you call it when you've got two big guys with little boxing skills, 22 pro fights between them in an 8 rounder?

Why it's the Canadian Heavyweight Championship of course.

Just watched this and laughed through the whole thing.

Mind you, it's crazy exciting with seven knockdowns - or was it eight?

Highly recommended. Fight starts at the 11 minute mark

And I'm not going out on a limb here when I say that the only way either of these guys gets on Showtime or HBO is as an extra in "Girls." But crazy stuff nonetheless.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Mon Oct 27, 2014 10:24 am

Pruitt wrote:
wlu_lax6 wrote:Wasn't the Roy Jones fight the reason they went to that crazy 3 judges have to hit the button at the same time to score a punch landed system. What happened to that system?
They still use it at the Olympics. Far from foolproof though.

But I am shocked they don't use it at the Asian games. The female Indian Julio Cesar Chavez could have used it.

They have suspended her but it looks like she gets to keep her medal (in the official records anyways).

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Sun Nov 23, 2014 1:06 am

Boy, that Chris Algieri falls down well.

howard · Post by **howard** » Sun Nov 23, 2014 1:12 am

practice, man; practice ( x 6)

I didn't even buy this mess, for $70.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Sun Nov 23, 2014 1:39 am

Thanks to my wife's job, we get all PPVs for half price, but no way was this one worth $35.

Enjoyed the English broadcast over the web.

Hard to tell if Pacquaio is still a great fighter based on this crap fest. I tend to think he's passed his prime.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 7:40 am

Not only is Knockout CP Freshmart one of the greatest names for a fighter ever...

But he's apparently pretty good ( a top 10 "minimum weight" boxer meaning 100 pounds - or as much as my 15 year old daughter).

http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?cat=bo ... _id=617144

And, he's got himself a sweetheart of a sponsorship deal from a chain of Thai convenience stores.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 11:47 pm

Not sure if I have ever seen a fighter take as much punishment in three rounds as Mike Alvarado did tonight on HBO After Dark.

Partially because Brandon Rios looked unstoppable and partially because Alvarado looked like he had no interest in being in the ring. Total destruction.

Johnny Carwash · Post by **Johnny Carwash** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 7:11 pm

Mayweather/Pacquiao is happening! May 2. Though I'd give at least 50/50 odds on one of them bitching out for some convoluted reason.

howard · Post by **howard** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 7:41 pm

I'm excited. If my calendar says 2009. At this late date, no thank you.

Post by **brian** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 8:22 pm

I'll probably buy the PPV and have a party, even at the crazy extortionate prices they're talking about because why not.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 11:11 pm

brian wrote:I'll probably buy the PPV and have a party, even at the crazy extortionate prices they're talking about because why not.

Come on over! PPV at my place.

(My wife works at a media conglomerate, so we get PPV's for half price)

howard · Post by **howard** » Sat Mar 07, 2015 8:46 pm

Boxing returns to prime time network television. but, prime time network tv ain't what it used to be. Interesting, NBC is owned by a separate conglomerate from HBO and Showtime. NBC's parent, Comcast, can easily expand offerings onto basic cable and even pay cable if this works.

This can only be a positive for the sport. I sure hope it grabs an audience, but I will be surprised if it does. I think MMA would stand a better chance at succeeding with regular prime time network tv. I think the fact that the network pie is rapidly shrinking will overwhelm this experiment, even if they establish a decent share. But, boxing is cheap programming, with a narrow demo making it childs play to target adverts.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Sat Mar 07, 2015 9:47 pm

Do you think MMA can achieve the prominence in the sporting world, or in the world in general, that boxing had in its heyday?

howard · Post by **howard** » Sat Mar 07, 2015 9:57 pm

Nope. At least, not until they fight to the death. That'll be a big hit.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Sat Mar 07, 2015 10:25 pm

Why not? From my novice point of view, it seems to have quite a bit of action. There's a lot more fighting diversity than just guys shifting back and forth throwing jabs that don't seem to connect, and then clutching. Considerable martial skill seems to be on display. More blood and serious injury too.

I don't follow the fighters, so I don't know if it's developing this way, but I imagine that they've at least got the potential to find some guys with great back-stories and some charisma that can be marketed.

Perhaps they -- so far -- simply lack the two great ones with charisma whose competition captures the sporting public's interest. Frazier v. Ali would be the ideal here. But of course, MMA bouts featuring top guys representing the USA and, say, ISIS would do just fine, even if there's not much individual charisma present. I'm obviously thinking about the Louis v. Schmeling bouts as the prototype for this.

Or has the mainstream American public simply gotten too refined in their tastes to really go for fighting of any kind anymore? Perhaps it's now become permanently identified as a lower-class thing, and can't be elevated as a mass-appeal kind of sport.

howard · Post by **howard** » Sat Mar 07, 2015 11:05 pm

I don't think America is much interested in any kind of fighting sports. I have not given any thought as to why this is. MMA has a 'bro factor going for it, but ultimately a niche audience.

People forget what killed off boxing as a major sport. Part of it was the increased television presence of other sports. Part of it was the corrupt influence of the sanctioning bodies - four 'world champions' in every weight class. But people still watched boxing on network tv. Until Don King killed it with the fixed fights and payoffs of the US Boxing Championship tournament on ABC. http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Ring_Magazine_Scandal" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The network had to pull the plug on it, and that turned off huge numbers of fans, until Mike Tyson.

ESPN picked up the mantle of regular, every week boxing, on tv and they chronicled Tyson's rise. Went straight from basic cable to ppv.

Johnny Carwash · Post by **Johnny Carwash** » Wed Apr 15, 2015 2:41 pm

30 years ago today:

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Wed Apr 15, 2015 10:00 pm

Never gets boring...

Tom 1860 · Post by **Tom 1860** » Thu Apr 16, 2015 4:18 pm

After Hagler stayed on his feet following the first big right hand, there was only going to be one winner. I remember staying up to watch this fight with my older brother. We had to hide from my mum and dad and to this day, staying up to watch the fight was a huge bonding experience for me...

Also, how fucking hard was Hagler? I still cannot believe he was upright following those 3 huge rights he took from Hearns within 30 seconds of opening bell!

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Thu Apr 16, 2015 10:00 pm

Listening to the HBO Boxing podcast that commemorated this brawl. One of the experts said that even though Hearns was best known for the big fights he lost (and giving him credit for beating 3 or 4 hall of famers), he would beat anyone at 154 or 160 out there today.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Sat Apr 18, 2015 10:50 pm

Good fights on HBO tonight. Although I didn't think the Mathysse-Provodnikov fight was that close.

And Terrance Crawford is an absolutely fantastic boxer.

L-Jam3 · Post by **L-Jam3** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 12:24 pm

I'm glad to know that my initial assessment of J.C. Chavez Jr being an asshole was right on point.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 1:09 pm

L-Jam3 wrote:I'm glad to know that my initial assessment of J.C. Chavez Jr being an asshole was right on point.

The schadenfruede on the boxing websites is amazing. I guess the Mexican community liked him, but he is hated by everyone else. I mean, he's a good fighter, but the delusions of grandeur (and his training methods) irritate so many.

And I guess getting blows to the head makes a guy forget that he quit on his stool just a few minutes before claiming that he should have won the fight.

Keg · Post by **Keg** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 4:22 pm

I disagree that Mexican folks like JCC Jr. The dislike for spoiled, lazy cocksuckers is universal.

Post by **brian** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 4:28 pm

Keg wrote:I disagree that Mexican folks like JCC Jr. The dislike for spoiled, lazy cocksuckers is universal.

Would that I could like this post.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 5:40 am

Keg wrote:I disagree that Mexican folks like JCC Jr. The dislike for spoiled, lazy cocksuckers is universal.

I was just repeating the conventional wisdom - didn't mean to imply that Mexican folks have a higher tolerance for guys who train on cheeseburgers.

From Ring magazine:

Delusional entitlement. That’s the ailment that plagues Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and ended up being his downfall. Not necessarily on April 18, but it has been his downfall his entire career. It was just all spelled out for us against Fonfara.

His sense of entitlement kicked in early as he constantly complained to the ref about what he perceived as Fonfara utilizing dirty tactics (when, in fact, it was Chavez leading with his head) in an effort to make it a 2-on-1 fight.

Post by **brian** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 12:46 pm

Mayweather-Pacquiao tix go onsale at noon. There's only like 500 or so going up on TM, but I'm going to try to score a pair to see if I can turn them over for some money.

howard · Post by **howard** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 12:52 pm

Arena holds 16000. Number placed on sale to the public: 500. Hilarious.

Post by **brian** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 12:55 pm

howard wrote:Arena holds 16000. Number placed on sale to the public: 500. Hilarious.

Yeah, everyone in the world is making huge money on this thing so I might as well take a shot. Gate is supposed to be about $75M which would be triple the highest gate in history. Hotel rooms that weekend (on the Strip obvs) STARTING at $1,000/night. Never seen anything like it. If I can somehow manage to get a couple of $1500 tickets I can probably turn them over for $4 or $5K each I'm thinking. Shit, I might just see if I can sell the extra for $3,200 (to cover my expenses) and go myself to say I was there.

howard · Post by **howard** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 1:06 pm

Certainly worth a shot, and even last row seats at $1500 face value are an excellent bet to fetch at least double on the secondary market. Best of luck, but I expect the ticketmaster site will lock up by 11:59am pdt.

Post by **brian** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 1:07 pm

howard wrote:Certainly worth a shot, and even last row seats at $1500 face value are an excellent bet to fetch at least double on the secondary market. Best of luck, but I expect the ticketmaster site will lock up by 11:59am pdt.

Oh, yeah. My odds are probably about 500 to 1. At best. But it'll only take a few minutes of my time. Worth it for a shot at making $3-4K

Post by **brian** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 2:07 pm

Yeah, that didn't happen. Just as well probably. I wouldn't know the first thing about trying to re-sell the tickets. I could probably figure it out, but whatevs.

howard · Post by **howard** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 2:10 pm

Good news, our credit cards are not maxed out.

ETA: low price on stubhub now $5270 (but plenty available at that rate.) I think you could've figured out how to flip those.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 2:35 pm

Stubhub is easy enough for a Tigers fan to use!

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Fri Apr 24, 2015 3:57 pm

Thanks to my wife's job at a massive media conglomerate, we get half priced ppvs.

But I am torn and can't decide whether to watch the fight at home with a couple of my friends (none of whom are big fight fans) or head to one of the nearby Filipino bar/restaurants where they will be going berserk.

Leaning towards the latter.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 12:09 pm

For what it's worth I had a dream last night that pacquiao won.

Post by **brian** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 12:11 pm

I'm not even 1/10th the boxing expert of some of you guys, especially Howard, but I don't see a scenario where Pacquiao wins short of some weird injury to Mayweather where his mobility or defenses are impacted. It's going to be a fascinating fight though -- obvs wish we would have gotten it five years ago when these guys were both near their prime, but better late than never.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 1:01 pm

Have to agree. I have seen Mayweather's last 7 or 8 fights and he has never been close to losing. I just don't see Pacquaio getting close enough to do any damage.

But I'd love to see it happen.

howard · Post by **howard** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 5:18 pm

I'm sticking with my original decision to not shell out $100 for this fight. (If Hood or Tommyboy give me a call and invite me over, I will watch-I'm not boycotting, I'm making a monetary value judgment, and I don't feel like hosting a party.)

If Manny shocks and surprises us, I'll catch the replay.

Tonight at 8 edt, on the CBS Sports Network (in the mid-300s on my cable system) they are showing the Floyd-Oscar bout from 2007. This fight holds one of the most exciting sports moments I've personally witnessed. (I think I slot it just behind Marcus Allen's reverse-field touchdown run in SB XVIII, just above Phillies Kevin Millwood's 2003 no-hitter.)

Floyd was in his physical prime, Oscar was not too far off his own, and Oscar was significantly bigger and stronger than Floyd. There is a sequence in a middle round (5th?) where Oscar had him pinned on the ropes, and was unloading, on the verge of finishing Floyd. Somehow, with magical footwork, Floyd dipped, faked one way and spun the other, escaping the ropes and emerging almost behind Oscar in the blink of an eye.

Great fight; do yourself a favor, watch it while listening to audio of the draft.