Quotes About Clinching: Richard Steele Delights Marv Albert

"One thing a lot of people don't understand, you know, when a guy is holding, if his tactic is to throw a combination and to hold, that's his fight plan, you know. Providing that he is not holding so much that he is interrupting the other guy, or, you know, making the fight a bad fight, there's not too much you can do. But a lot of people don't understand that, you know, when there is holding, that means that a person is holding, but the other person, most of the time, is allowing him to hold."

~Richard Steele, the fifteenth of May, 1987, discussing the controversial and unsatisfactory match between Ossie Ocasio and Dwight Muhammad Qawi, which he'd refereed. The interview actually took place after both the Ocasio fight and the following match between Evander Holyfield and Ricky Parkey (a significantly more fan-friendly affair), on the Showtime channel.

This match was one of those matches that the commentators want someone to pay for after being forced to watch it. Richard Steele threw up a roadblock for Marv Albert in the post-fight interview, by saying he basically had no problem with the scoring and there wasn't much more to be done about the clinching. It was a funny interview in a way, with Albert clearly and fruitlessly wanting Steele to echo his sentiments, and an interesting take on clinching from a professional referee and former fighter. With regard to Steele's easygoing scoring opinion, basically saying the judges know best, Marv Albert actually said "You're kidding me." Steele gave Albert no quarter in his passivity. He didn't even give him a penny. He rolled right over his prodding in polite and unassuming fashion. He was almost controversial by way of trying not to be controversial.



Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing

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