Pugilistic One-Percenter: Volume 2 - Anticipating The Prequel

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Pugilistic One-Percenter: Volume 1

The Great Exchange On "Foul Acting" - Quote Spotlight With George Foreman & Jim Lampley

The Great Exchange On "Foul Acting" - Quote Spotlight With George Foreman & Jim Lampley

During Miguel Cotto's TERRIFIC HBO war with Ricardo Torres, way back in his light welterweight days, the 24th of September, 2005, there was a great exchange. It was about the concept of faking a foul and/or over-exaggerating its effects. This concept is obviously one that generates plenty of discussion in many sports. The exchange occurred right after the unofficial HBO scorer, Harold Lederman, voiced his displeasure at what he perceived to be faked low blows landed on Ricardo Torres and is one of those priceless George Foreman sticking points as a commentator. Here it is:


Jim Lampley: And, I am told that our interpreter, Jerry Olaya, heard the people in Torres' corner, between rounds, telling their fighter "If he hits you low again, go down, and make an act out of it. Try to get a point deduction." Which makes sense, incidentally.

George Foreman: It only makes sense if you don't have a lot of dignity.


Jim Lampley after a few moments of calling the action between them: Yeah, you're right, George. I agree. It makes a certain competitive sense but not honourable sense.

George Foreman: Nah. This is all about honour, what it all boils down to. Win, lose or draw. . .Get some honour into it.



George Foreman always kept commentating interesting, in my opinion. You didn't have to agree with him, and Jim Lampley didn't have to get along particularly well with him, but he was always a character to behold.



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Miguel Cotto VS Brendan Schaub: GIF Spotlight

Miguel Cotto in surprise stare-down with MMA fighter, former pro American footballer and Miguel Cotto fan Brendan Schaub, from Youtube's eckotv channel.





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What to do when someone else is to blame: GIF Spotlight

Ruth Buzzi angrily pointing at Muhammad Ali on The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast (1976). Muhammad knows he done wrong. Just look at him.




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Alfonso Gomez VS Ed Paredes: Gomez is the real crafty veteran here.

The setup: 

Alfonso Gomez comes into this fight having been a name fighter for about a decade. He has a rare distinction in that when I look at his record, I see more of his fights taking place against names I know than names I don't. Even for the sport's biggest fans, most records have far more "padding" full of people you won't remember than Gomez's. He may have entered with just over thirty professional fights. But those fights are jam-packed with names like Arturo Gatti, Miguel Cotto and Saul Alvarez. His first recognisable opponent as a professional, then-future world titlist Ishe Smith in his second fight. His career may not be legendary but it has been notable. Make no mistake about that. As it has been a full career, his body has taken a full career's worth of wear and tear. He's taken a few days shy of two years off to heal himself of injuries. He is not a young 33, Gomez. He comes off not only the layoff but two straight losses.

Meanwhile, his opponent, Ed Paredes, coming off a win streak, rather than a loss streak, has more professional fights, less losses and more recent activity. But very little of note happening in this history. It is implied by Gomez that the experience will be the key. Paredes doesn't thinks so, citing his impressive sparring experience against Erislandy Lara, Luis Collazo and Zab Judah.

The action:


It was not one punch that Paredes was open to or one tactic that Gomez employed against him. It was everything. Maybe not just everything that he did but everything he's done as a pro. While one of the best referees of my lifetime (Kenny Bayless) made not one but two official knockdown calls that were, upon instant replay review, very weak knockdowns that I feel he would not have called if he'd seen them clearly, Gomez stayed cool through it all. Both of those KD's were likely as much follow-through on his own punches pulling him down as anything you could credit to Paredes. Paredes was not without his moments and found a lot of nice left hooks with Gomez coming in but overall he was in over his head with the far savvier Gomez. Paulie Malignaggi, working as Fox commentator, said that Paredes was using a lazy approach to this fight. Was he right? Well, Paredes was so outsmarted that perhaps it is questionable whether he was being lazy in being outworked or too baffled to do much more than he did. It did look to me that it very well was a bit of both. When all is said and done, I think Gomez was right about the experience being a major factor. Gomez earned a very just UD10 over Paredes.

What it means: 

I think this demonstrates that Paredes simply isn't world class, or ready to prove he is by a long shot, and Gomez is still proving only one cut below that kind of recognition for now. Oddly, he can look to former opponent Ishe Smith. Because he could end up doing exactly as Smith did and coming up just shy until very late in the game and snatching a major world title for a brief time. It's very, very possible. Gomez is just that kind of fighter to keep working and taking risks until finally he gets that special payoff so many are working for. FS1 put on, overall, an excellent fight card, this ninth of July. That's what it means for each fighter and the broadcasting channel, as far as I can tell. But what it means to boxing might just be yet another embarrassing couple of instances that demonstrate the stupidity of not taking full advantage of instant replay, just like other major sports would. Kenny Bayless, again, arguably the best single referee in the sport right now, even he can miss calls like this. But it doesn't have to be that way. It could've been easily corrected.




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JoJo Diaz VS Ramiro Robles: Prospect WAR!

The Setup:

On the ninth of July, 2012 Olympian and Super Bantamweight prospect JoJo Diaz takes on significantly less hot Mexican Bantamweight prospect but statistically near-identical Ramiro Robles, at almost the same height, weight, age, reach and record. Diaz, with only eleven professional fights is coming off a UD over former world title challenger and current gatekeeper, at most, Luis Maldonado. Diaz is yet another prospect who is being closely followed in hopes of being a star. Just as the previous match on this card had notoriously shameful referee Russell Mora, this match has notoriously respected and likely top three regarded referee in the sport, Tony Weeks, who hasn't refereed since Mayweather/Maidana. Also noteworthy-both men are southpaws. Two southpaw prospects!



The Action:

This match turns into what was rightly a widely scored match in Diaz's favour, and yet, it was as good as any rightfully widely scored fight is ever going to be. In round one, Diaz seems to smell blood in the wrong place and unleashes on Robles as if he thinks he can blow him out early but he's not even close. Robles is fine, though did eat an awful lot of Diaz's assault. This is a tough guy, Robles, and he seems unintimidated from the get-go. It isn't a slow build to confidence. He is looking secure in what he can do from round one. Commentator Paulie Malignaggi is bang-on, as far as I can tell, in his assessment that Diaz is definitely the more gifted fighter, but while Robles doesn't have the ability to hang with him, athletically, from the outside, Diaz mostly allows for inside fighting when he's putting those fan-friendly combos together. And Robles mostly had an ability to answer for every combination he ate.


Diaz fires these great left uppercut/right hook combos and full-bodied hooks to the body, left and right. He's an excellent, diverse offensive fighter. The only thing missing is a well-timed jab in this match. Aside from the range giving Robles his best chance in the fight, Diaz blocks more, lands more, gets off faster, lands sharper, and counters better throughout the fight. It's a battle, it's hard-fought competition, but it's still a class difference. If there is a criticism on Diaz, it's that for the high level of talent, he didn't show the ring generalship to fully control a fight that maybe he could have controlled with different strategy. With more commitment to a jab, this may have been easier winning for JoJo. But that's not a guarantee, I suppose, and you cannot take away a thing from Robles, who is a warrior. His chin and his stamina are enviable.

Even though Robles is far from a good counter-puncher, as Malignaggi stated, he's ALWAYS there to answer back. He never lets Diaz run away with a round. I cannot state to you how important that is in the way this match played out. It could've been so easy to let Diaz move in and out and land his combinations out of discouragement, but while some fault is on Diaz for staying in for a reply, major props has to go to Robles for going after Diaz after every assault, as often as he could. He does not let the fight go, even with the gap in talent between the two. He keeps letting his hands go. He keeps committing to not being out-worked, even if he's out-skilled or out-sped. He never fought like a dejected opponent. He knew he was in it as long as he could land punches and he did, in each round, land something substantial. He was never broken and never put in a territory where it wasn't still competitive within the round. Really, this was war, no matter that one guy clearly got the better of it. By the penultimate round, Diaz had the bloody face to prove he didn't fight a pushover. 

It was not only impressive that the loser didn't get discouraged, but it was impressive that with such a determined guy that Diaz was so strongly favoured over, Diaz didn't get discouraged either. Lesser prospects would have had the wind taken out of their sails the first time they got this type of match with a genuinely hard man who refused to give in. Diaz UD10 Robles, and all on the up and up.



What it means: JoJo Diaz remains a hot prospect, got taken into deep waters in a way you want to see a prospect before they get a big shot in this sport. He passed with flying colours. I do feel there's a weakness there with his jab that he could work on but a very satisfying performer and hopeful prospect worthy of following. Robles puts himself on the map as a tough as nails, game as they get prospect. Both prove that they can go ten hard, grueling rounds. They have the heart, they have the conditioning, they have the mindset. Either of these guys should be welcome to future television cards. FS1 picks an excellent match and deserves credit for this one.





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Diego De La Hoya VS Miguel Tamayo: I wish his name were Victor

The set up:

Taking place on the ninth of July, DDLH weighed in just inside the Featherweight limit and Tamayo weighed in right at the Super Bantamweight limit, only two pounds official difference. We have Tamayo as the seasoned veteran journeyman, who has been in the ring with Gary Russell Junior in just his last fight. We have DDLH, who is being built as one of FS1's star prospects. Diego comes in having appeared the goods as a TV fighter, even if he doesn't hit the elite level. He's a fun prospect. His cousin, promoter and HOF fighter Oscar De La Hoya is in attendance for this match.

The action:

I cannot tell you how much I wish Diego's name were Victor, because "Vicious" is the adjective that I suspect will stick with his name. There are fighters with a good killer instinct and then there are vicious fighters. A good killer instinct is only knowing when you have hurt someone and can finish them and making good on that knowledge. But being vicious requires the willingness to kick into another gear until you can hurt a guy in the first place. A sense of urgency, a style where you take risks for the sole payoff of doing damage to your opponent. DDLH shows this viciousness the same as he had in the last fight I saw him in. He is risky, the way he lets go big punches in combination, early and often. He manages to be both risky and technically sound. He isn't reckless or unprofessionally impatient but he always tries to get his man hurt, right out of the gate, from the look of it. Against Tamayo, this is no different. He found big punches and put together hurtful combinations in round one. No real feel-out periods for Diego De La Hoya. He looks to chin-check his man as soon as possible with something big.

There wasn't much to the fight on Tamayo's behalf. Not for lack of trying. Tamayo came out looking like he wanted to convey the sentiment of "Hey, kid. Whatever you've got, I've seen it." and Tamayo has been in with some serious men who can hit, like Cesar Seda, with whom he went the distance. The way DDLH moves shows his high class as an athlete. His footwork is very good and he uses movement consistently. He's not all aggression. There's craft to this young man. In round three, DDLH seems to openly shove Tamayo to the ground. He's knocking Tamayo's head back with uppercuts and even jabs. Tamayo is firing with dedication but he's not at all sharp by comparison. By this third round, DDLH is knocking Tamayo around, stumbling, off balance, taking heavy leather to the body too. He's not reacting the same way to punches in this round. He's already been a little broken down, early as it is.

Round four saw another round of punches in bunches from DDLH, who has hurtful combinations, not shoe-shining combinations. Tamayo fires wide and slow combinations. Tamayo gets turned and turned as he sends telegraph after telegraph of what he wants to do. There is too much of a deficit of hand and foot speed with this young gun for Tamayo to overcome.

I like when DDLH fires a one-two-three, jab, straight right, left uppercut. That uppercut at the end is some kind of nastiness and expertly timed. About a minute left in the fifth and DDLH lands a huge straight right on Tamayo with a dramatic head snapping effect and they trade as Tamayo goes to the ropes and takes the worst of it. Referee Russell Mora breaks them and DDLH drives Tamayo to the ropes again with another combination and yet another head snapping right lands big. Mora stops it. Some called it an early stoppage; I call it a perfect place for the old standing eight count rule to have been implemented, were it in effect. Tamayo raised his hands as if to say "Oh, come on!" but he wasn't ever really in the fight. I won't argue Russell Mora's call, despite knowing him for one of history's worst reffing jobs ever in Abner Mares VS Joseph Agbeko I. A black mark on sports history if ever there was one, Mora left that night. I can't help but mention it whenever Russell Mora shows his face. He is forever tainted as a professional referee because of it and I am disappointed any time he is given the chance to oversee any fight on television. 

What it means: Diego De La Hoya is still must-see TV. FS1 is smart to be following him and building him up as a draw. He brings a fight. For Tamayo? His stock slipped even as a journeyman, game as he is. You can only stay relevant, even as a relevant journeyman for so long when you take damage like that. It is not a place in the sport that lends itself to longevity. I don't know how much longer he can offer any real resistance to name fighters at even as early a stage as DDLH is at. FS1 gets a thumbs up for bringing Diego back but a thumbs down for allowing Russell Mora the privilege of any spotlight on their air. Channels don't have to have authority in picking referees to make very clear that they won't televise men like Mora and, of course, Laurence Cole, the notorious regular to HBO's Texas cards, who the commentators themselves have pointed out as one of the sport's worst. Thankfully, Mora didn't have much opportunity to turn in one of his disasters this time out.





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