This is why HBO’s Face Off was created.
It takes so little effort to sell a fight when there is so much enmity between the fighters.
If this was scripted drama, all three men would deserve some type of short-form Emmy, that’s how well this 15 minute conversation encapsulates complexity of the rivalry between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito.
I’m challenging myself to think of a more perfectly cast rivalry and I honestly cannot. Nowhere else in sports will you find two men so capable of bringing out the best and worst in each other inside and outside the ring.
While their rivalry isn’t as storied as some of the more revered series the sport has produced, it fulfils the core element that makes any boxing rivalry great; the almost romantic codependence between two men whose personalities and skill sets complement each other to the point of creating a contrast that can create legendary fights inside the ring, and the type of interactions outside of the ring that become part of boxing’s rich canon of lore. Read the rest of this entry »
Posts tagged with Boxing
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:
Tweet
“If you want to be great, find someone you like, figure out what you like about them, then steal it.”
-B.B King
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.
Tweet
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.
Let me preface the rest of the post by saying I’m not a big fan of either fighter. Read the rest of this entry »
Tweet
From a conversation with Journalist Thomas Hauser:
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.”
TweetNot 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.
Tweet
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.
Tweet
In trying to get my life organised, I keep coming across things like this. It would be a gross understatement to say that boxing has had a seminal impact on my life, I could point out several personal qualities of mine that were nurtured inside of the ropes. I think the most important thing boxing ever taught me was that no matter what fronts you put up for the world, eventually you will find yourself in a place with no hiding places, where you will be forced to face all of your shortcomings. Unlike other athletes, a boxer can’t hide behind his teammates or his physique, he can’t call a timeout, or jog back to the other side of the court when he doesn’t feel like running on a fastbreak.
The moment you decide to chill is the same moment you get hurt. Everyone has flaws in the ring, the key is play to your strengths and to your opponent’s flaws, if he’s strong, be fast, if he’s tall, get inside.
It’s called the sweet science because every decision needs to be calculated, tested, and confirmed like a good hypothesis.
It’s called the sweet science, because nothing is more gratifying than hitting and not being hit.
