A few months after redeeming himself by claiming the WBC Middlewight Championship from Carl Froch in a war of attrition, Danish Boxer Mikkel Kessler has exited Showtime’s Super-Six tournament citing eye injuries that will take him out of boxing completely for at least 9 months. According to his doctor, Gerhard Lang Kessler suffers from “a weakness of the superior oblique muscle of his left eye…To continue boxing, the muscle needs a proper rest, meaning no fighting or sparring for nine months.” This makes Kessler the second fighter to pull out of the tournament after Jermain Taylor suffered a concussion in the final round of his first round fight with Arthur Abraham.
Jermain Taylor was replaced by the unimpressive Allan Green, below are my picks for the most interesting options to replace Kessler:
Found a Youtube channel filled with really technical in-depth analysis of the technique of some of the greats of the Classical Era of Boxing. Definitely worth a view for fight nerds like myself. The above video breaks down the science behind Charley Burley’s boxing style. One of the more enigmatic figures of the 1940′s golden era, Burley is considered the greatest fighter to never win a world title as greats like Sugar Ray Robinson and Billy Conn felt he was too elusive and too dangerous to fight.
To those that haven’t been paying attention, the boxing world is afire over Floyd Mayweather’s silence in regards to a proposed mega fight with Manny Pacquiao. Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum, set a deadline for Midnight Saturday before his company Top Rank would begin negotiating with two of their in house fighters–Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito–on Pacquiao’s behalf.
Mayweather has been uncharacteristically silent during this second round of negotiations. The first round earlier in the year was nixed when the two parties couldn’t come to terms over drug testing protocols. Mayweather demanded random, Olympic-style testing performed by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, while Pacquiao claimed that blood tests too close to fight night would weaken him, even going far enough to blame his last defeat, to Erik Morales in 2005, on an 11th hour blood test.
Muhammad Ali is humble in many ways, but he also takes pleasure in being famous.
Years ago, when Mike Tyson was in his prime, Ali asked me, “If I walked down one side of the street and Mike Tyson walked down the other, which of us would have more people on his side?”
“You would,” I answered honestly.
“If I walked down one side of the street and Bill Cosby walked down the other, who would have more people; Bill Cosby or me?”
“You.”
“If I walked down one side of the street and Little Richard, Chubby Checker and Chuck Berry all walked down the other, which side would have more people?”
“Yours.”
“Now Muhammad was on a roll.”
“If I walked down one side of the street and Elvis Presley walked down the other, who would have more people?”
“Muhammad, I’ll be honest with you,” I answered. “Overseas, you might. But here in the United States, I think it would be Elvis.”
That brought silence followed by, “Well, that’s because Elvis has been dead for a long time and people would want to see if it was really him.”
The homies at Alife Rivington Club have unveiled their Pop-Up shop with English Sportswear brand Umbro. The store features some exclusive product from both brands celebrating the World Cup by creating exclusive kits dedicated to the 8 nations that have hoisted the cup, as well as some collaborative hard-goods, including a red whistle and some multi-coloured beer coolers for game day. The shirts were designed by Ben Eine for England, Chamarelli for Brazil, André for France, Martín Albronoz for Uruguay, Tanino Liberatore for Italy, Marok for Germany and Zzk Records for Argentina.
Not just a Wu-Tang Song apparently. Competitors play a round of speed chess followed by fighting a round of boxing, can be one by checkmate, timeout, knockout or decision.
Saturday’s match-up between Mexican rivals Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez was touted by their promoters as another chapter in a rivalry that produced three of the most intense and action-packed fights of the last ten years, if not boxing history. I, like many boxing fans, felt that the third fight’s 12 back-and-forth rounds, which were decided by a one-point margin due to Vazquez’ incredible 12th round rally, was a perfect cap to their incredible trilogy.
Photos from yesterday’s Basket Ball tournament. It was a great time, met some great people including the legendary Bobbito Garcia/Cool Bob Love, who clowned the hell out of some players while on the mic. Congratulations to the two winners, Berlin’s Candy Girls for the Women and France’s Pigalle Germany’s K1X for the Men. More pictures below.
