Miguel Cotto's Jab Scores A World Class Knockdown: GIF Spotlight

 

Miguel Cotto has scored a knockdown a few times in his career with his left-hand-dominant jabbing capacity. But it was particularly special to see him in a major world title fight with a rock-chinned, championship level fighter with a world class defense, planting his opponent on the canvas in the first round with that jab. That night, Joshua Clottey's risk aversion instincts were as much his opponent as Cotto, but the decision victory for Cotto was still so well contested that it went to a controversial split decision. There were many heated exchanges, some of which made Cotto look like he was on the way to being stopped.

This 2009 welterweight battle was one for the books as part of the long story of the rich division. "Grand Master" Clottey possibly earned as many fans as he frustrated that night, coming so close but stepping back at times when it looked like he could've possibly ended it. It all depends on how you see it. A jab knockdown in the first for Cotto, a throw-down in the fifth against Clottey, a hellacious headbutt cut against Cotto, a controversial decision-this fight had so much going for it. I applauded both fighters for getting through a very grueling match that tested their chins, their skin, their wits and their will, in the way championship boxing is supposed to be. Their match turned nine-years-old this month.


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Larry Merchant Is Having None Of Your BS! (GIF Spotlight)

In January of 1997, Daniel Zaragoza defended his super bantamweight title against Wayne McCoullough in a match that left Zaragoza to say McCullough had the best chin he ever came up against and McCullough saying Zaragoza was the smartest fighter he'd ever been up against. Zaragoza took a split decision over the undefeated young challenger but a McCullough fan decided to crash Larry Merchant's interview with the old champion by yelling "He was robbed!" So, Larry Merchant...

Larry apologized (not to the fan) but to his interviewees, claiming he wasn't used to using "strong-arm tactics" to conduct his interviews. It's really too bad Ricky Hatton wasn't there to fix his hair up properly.


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Ricky "The Cosmetologist" Hatton: GIF Spotlight

In January of 2007, the light welterweight champion of the world, Ricky Hatton, defended his title against undefeated Juan Urango and had a rugged contest with the powerful Colombian southpaw. But it was HBO's commentator Larry Merchant who needed a little touch up in the post-fight interview. A moment before this happened, Merchant had his head swiped at by someone's flag being waved around, recklessly.

Faint heart never won fair Larry. Hatton took a risk there, and that's when Merchant truly fell under his spell.


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Paul Williams VS Kermit Cintron: If You're Feelin' Froggy, Don't Do This. (GIF Spotlight)

In May of 2010, the indomitable Paul Williams took on Kermit Cintron. Both former major titlists at welterweight, they met at light middleweight on HBO. It was heating up to become a good fight when IT happened. The strangeness fell upon us, the audience, at home or in the crowd. A thing. Something. A strange something. It happened. What it is will never be understood, as a matter of pugilism, as a matter of medicine, as a matter of sheer physics, what happened that night will never be understood. Here it is:

And, that little leap, ladies and gentlemen, ended the contest in the fourth round. A technical decision was awarded to Paul Williams, and Kermit Cintron left a completely baffled crowd on a stretcher, in a neck brace. Some how. For some reason. There were once brothers. Their surname was Mario. Mario and Luigi Mario. The Mario brothers, some called them. I seem to recall when Mario Mario would put on a green frog suit, it enabled him to swim more efficiently and to jump farther than ever before. Kermit is the name of a famous frog. I'm just trying to connect the dots here. I've almost figured this event out. . .

Yeah, I give up. Regardless, Cintron was recently KO'd by Tyrone Brunson and he is scheduled to fight 8-1 Marquis Taylor on the thirteenth of this month. Taylor is listed as having never scored a knockout. Maybe he can study this GIF to see how to otherwise incapacitate Cintron. But he'll have to break the laws of physics to make this happen again. Watch this space.

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Mayweather VS Mosley: Gloves For Swords (GIF Spotlight)

In 2010, May's 1st was not May's first.* It was, however, responsible for one of my personal favorite promos, in the lead-up. The gladiatorial HBO promotional for Floyd Mayweather Junior VS Shane Mosley featured Shane Mosley growling like a half-man creature from 300 and the two boxers wielding swords.

 

I like the way they transform from ancient gladiators to modern gladiators. Fair play, HBO advertising team. Mayweather was severely rocked early in this fight, but came back like a true great to dominate the rest of the match to a fair unanimous decision. CBZ recognized this as a second win of the lineal welterweight title for the Money man. I have no problem with that.


If you need to catch the growl (and I certainly believe you do):

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*This was possibly a one-percenter.

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Why Do They Call Him The Miracle Man? (Quote Spotlight)

In HBO's My Fight spotlight, they featured Danny Jacobs for his bout with Luis Arias in late 2017. As many fans know, Jacobs went from a hot prospect to a cancer survivor to the unlikely position of becoming one of the clear best middleweights in the world currently. Jacobs was told he'd never fight again after a successful surgery to remove a large tumor wrapped around his spine. Jacobs' trainer, Andre Rozier, had this to say about the immediate aftermath and Jacobs' nickname:

In text:

Trainer Andre Rozier on Danny Jacobs' nickname: 

"When he first came back to the gym, he had the full body brace on. He said "I'm ready to hit the bag." and he hit the bag maybe four or five times and he says "I'll see you tomorrow." Through it all, he just kept smiling, and I think his experience- his bout with cancer- formed a new strength and confidence in him, and that's why he's the Miracle Man."


Jacobs went on to defeat undefeated Luis Arias by a dominant unanimous decision and is scheduled to fight in April.


Here is the full feature from HBO:

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J. B. Smoove Coulda Been A Contender: GIF Spotlight

HBO Boxing on Facebook released a brief clip of comedian J. B. Smoove doing a little pugilistic hamming, back in September of 2017. Here was a near impression of Muhammad Ali, according to himself:

J. B. is also known to dominate scenes on Curb Your Enthusiasm with his inimitable gravitas, no matter the level of absurdity he is emitting from his comedic flux capacitor. Here, I'm not sure if he's actually meaning to imitate Muhammad Ali, or to imitate me when I'm imitating Muhammad Ali. I like it either way.


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Jean Pascal Teaches Bernard Hopkins The BHOP Style: GIF Spotlight

In HBO's Face Off with Max Kellerman, Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal talk about their upcoming rematch - a record-breaking victory for Bernard Hopkins, it would be, back in 2011. During the conversation, Hopkins seemingly gets the better of Pascal throughout, but Pascal shined in making a bitter, yet hilarious, imitation of Hopkins' defensive stylings. . .

Bernard immediately turned this around on Pascal and asked why he couldn't knock out someone who only does this.


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Kevin Kelley Laughs Last With Lennox Lewis: GIF Spotlight

This is from a well-aged (1994) ad for HBO boxing with gregariously loquacious featherweight titlist Kevin Kelley and worldly heavyweight legend Lennox Lewis playing a bit of chess. That Lennox would fall to a featherweight could not be predicted by anyone but Hamed.


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Who Was At Lemieux VS Stevens?

This page is specifically for a listing of any identification of attendees during HBO's David Lemieux VS Curtis Stevens Main Event.

Other HBO Broadcast matches include: Yuriorkis Gamboa VS Rene Alvarado

1. Jim Lampley, HBO team, commentator
2. Michael Buffer, announcer
3. Max Kellerman, HBO team, commentator
4. Jerry Olaya, HBO team, Spanish interpreter in Gamboa's corner, ID'd between rounds 1 & 2.
5. Carlos Gamboa, working Yuriorkis' corner, Jim Lampley ID's him as his trainer and father, ID'd between rounds 1 & 2.
6. Roy Jones Junior, HBO team, commentator
7. Sergio Gonzalez, ID'd between rounds 2 & 3, working Alvarado's corner as his trainer.
8. Harold Lederman, HBO team, unofficial scorer
9. Bernard Hopkins, entered the ring with Lemieux and Stevens, likely as GBP representative
10. Marc Ramsay, Lemieux's trainer, ID'd between rounds 2 &3, working David's corner
11. Eric Heuberger, interpreter in Lemieux's corner, ID'd between rounds 2 & 3, French(?)
12. Tanya Stevens, Curtis' mother, ID'd in audience, between rounds 1 & 2.
13. John David Jackson, Stevens' trainer, working his corner, between rounds 1 & 2.

*Boxrec.com usually includes the referee, fighters in the match and judges, therefore we refer you to that source for those names instead of including them.

*If you ID'd someone else unlisted, tell us where and when, source if possible and we'll add if we can. Thank you for your interest.

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Brandon Rios' Retrospectively Cringeworthy Quote On Pacquiao VS Margarito

Brandon Rios, before he'd reached the major world title fight scene, back in 2010, was working alongside Antonio Margarito in Robert Garcia's gym. Margarito's match with Manny Pacquiao was coming up HBO's 24/7 lead-up documentary was being filmed, which, perhaps surprisingly, was a four-part series. When the two gym buddies were interviewed in the second episode of the four, with Margarito's arm slung around Brandon's shoulder, Brandon made his opinion on the outcome clear.

Brandon Rios on Pacquiao VS Margarito, 2010:

"Pacquiao's making excuses that he's not training, he's missing the election,
all that. But, you know what? To me, I think he's scared, and Freddie Roach is
scared, 'cause he's not gonna be the superstar no more. He's just going to be
a-maybe-uh, super, maybe. But the star that's coming up is going to be Margarito.
I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to cancel the fight, saying that 'I hurt my hand.'
 or something, just 'cause he's scared."

To think that a few years down the line, Pacquiao would've dominated and beat up both of these fellows after this comment is sort of funny. I don't believe either won a single round out of twelve a piece against the littler tornado. I guess we all need a serving of crow in our diet, at some point. Incidentally, there is talk of Tony Margarito coming back to boxing, against all odds.


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Tim Bradley Gets Comfort Food In Corner Against Chaves: Quote Spotlight

Jim Lampley, HBO commentator, at the beginning of the twelfth round between Tim Bradley and Diego Chaves:

"I've seen a lot of implements used to treat swelling in the corner. I don't know if I've seen the bean dip can before. But, Joel Diaz, extremely respected trainer, using that bean dip can. Maybe next week we'll see a lot of fighters with them. "

This fight is currently available on HBO's site, for subscribers. It was a scrappy affair that disfigured Tim Bradley's face and probably led to an unjust draw where he should've taken a victory. Trying to find a still from the corner with the bean dip can proved interesting, because the only other upload of the full match, broadcasted in a language I could not identify, edited the footage so that there was a plain, blue lid with no label on the can. Tim Bradley, a worker if ever there was one, works hard in fights you might think he wouldn't and did so in the Chaves match, in December of 2014. He'll be back for the first time this year at the end of this month. I suspect it's going to be another night of hard work. That's the way Timbo likes it. Physical and difficult, necessary or not. 


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Julio Cesar Chavez Rates Oscar De La Hoya: Quotes About Power

Through the interpreter, in interview with HBO's Larry Merchant, the seventh of July, 1996, right after he lost to Oscar De La Hoya, Julio Cesar Chavez Senior rated Oscar's punching power this way:
 

"But, really, that Oscar De La Hoya has a big punch - really doesn't. I didn't even feel his punches. I just couldn't see because of the blood."

This was at Light Welterweight, for Chavez's title.

After an unsatisfactory cut stoppage, the two rematched, this time for Oscar's Welterweight title, on the eighteenth of September, 1998. Through interpreter Ray Torres, and in interview with Larry Merchant again, Chavez was asked about Oscar's power again (glad Larry didn't forget):

Merchant: "You said after the first fight that he never was able to hurt you. Is he a good puncher or not?"
Chavez: "He's a hard puncher, but not a real knockout artist. As you can see, he never knocked me out."
Merchant: "We can-"
Chavez: "-He deserves my respect."


File under: Take it for what it's worth.

Ray Torres had an interesting night here too, getting yelled at by JCC after Larry Merchant asked him about quitting. In clear English, Chavez did mention some bodily function byproduct from a bull.


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Freddie Roach On Working With Israel Vazquez: Quote Spotlight

In December of 2005, the HBO crew called Israel Vazquez VS Oscar Larios III. During the broadcast, commentator Jim Lampley dropped a great quote from Vazquez's trainer at the time.

"How's this for a quote from Freddie Roach-and we've seen him with so many great fighters, including, of course, Manny Pacquiao-Roach says of Israel Vazquez: 

'He's the greatest champion I've ever worked with. Nobody comes to the gym with a better attitude. Nobody works harder and more honestly. I've never known a nicer boxer.' "

Magnifico made one heck of an impression. On all of us. Trainers, opponents, and fans.


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Quotes About Power: Willie Monroe Junior On Gennady Golovkin

Willie Monroe Junior gave Gennady Golovkin a good workout on Saturday night, getting into an awful lot more trading than most have been able to survive lately. While he did get stopped after multiple knockdowns, he is another Golovkin opponent who didn't seem particularly awestruck by Golovkin's power, but instead pointed to the way it was delivered. From his post-fight interview with TstreeT Controversy LIVE:

"He's definitely powerful. Not THE hardest I've been hit, but he hits pretty hard. He's accurate. That's the difference. I don't care how hard you hit."


I personally expect Monroe Junior to maintain relevance in the division on the back of what he showed with Golovkin and his outings on ESPN2's Friday Night Fights. We will see.


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Full interview here:

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"None But the Lonely Heart" was the 1992 episode of HBO's Tales from the Crypt in which Sugar Ray Leonard played a gravedigger. He showed up for a few seconds at the beginning and about a minute at the end, so that he could innocently provoke Emmy winner Treat Williams into murdering him with a shovel. Legend has it that Treat scored it for Hagler and never let it go.




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Damage Report, With Ruslan Provodnikov: Quote Spotlight

Last night, in a grueling, brutal, bloody affair, Lucas Matthysse used his superior diversity to win a war with Ruslan Provodnikov on HBO's terrific card, which included standout talent Terence Crawford coming up in weight to fight 140-pound prospect Thomas Dulorme. Provodnikov marched forward, all night, refusing to go out, refusing to go down, refusing to be pushed back. The price he paid for this war? According to Provodnikov, yet another instance of the same horrifying side effect he'd received for his troubles against fellow blood-and-guts warrior Timothy Bradley. He posted this, on his official Instagram account (if squeamish, please don't focus on the first picture and scroll down to the comments image):

 

 

Source/Image Credit: https://instagram.com/p/1pb6iBskNi/

Plain text of quote: "I want to say I'm sorry to all my fans! I lost tonight, and I felt like I could've won this fight. I almost had him, but the fight happened the way it happened. A lot of respect for Lucas, he was the better fighter tonight. One more fight in my career when I did my doping test I had black urine, the first one was against Tim Bradley..I hope everybody saw what they expected from this fight."

There you have it. If the gaping cut above his left eye weren't reminder enough of what these brave athletes give to the fights, this is the second time Provodnikov has confessed to having black urine after a boxing match. This is the reality of the physical tolls that the most determined fighters can not just receive, but endure to the end of the contest without giving up hope of victory. These are the unnerving symptoms of going through hell in the ring. Best wishes to both men and their health and congratulations to both on the amount of determination they put on display. It was a memorable night. Unfortunately, it's also a memorable picture of Ruslan's black urine sample. But from what I regularly read on the Internet forums, some fans need a reminder like this of the bravery and demands of being a boxer to fix their perspective. Respect and appreciation, my friends.



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David Tua KO's John Ruiz After Larry Merchant Quote Of The Day: GIF Spotlight/Quote Spotlight

15th of March, 1996:

David Tua's reputation as one of the most dangerous contenders of the 1990's and early 2000's was largely built upon this spot on HBO, viciously blowing out fellow prospect and future major world titlist John Ruiz, and doing so immediately after the first bell. Larry Merchant had just summed up the assessment of these two fighters at the time. 

Larry Merchant, During the HBO broadcast of David Tua VS John Ruiz:

"There's a lot of interest in Tua, because he comes out of that fabulous school of Marciano, and Frazier, and Tyson- that type of fighter. But he's going up against the best schooled of the young heavyweights out there-Ruiz, who is a stablemate, incidentally, of Lennox Lewis."

This was all before Ruiz's now notorious reputation for developing a mauling, spoiling style to frustrate, baffle and even defeat top names, including Evander Holyfield. Ruiz would be the first of four former or future world titlists that David Tua would defeat in his career. All would be by knockout. Ruiz wouldn't be stopped again until meeting David Haye at the age of 38, nearly fourteen years later, in his 55th and final match to date, and by a late-round corner retirement. Ruiz proved both very durable and very good at surviving when hurt throughout his overall career. So, the Tua KO1 Ruiz performance was one of many potent statements of raw power by the Samoan slugger. To sum up, John Ruiz faced two Davids in his career and only lost by knockout to the two Davids he faced. Coincidence? Sure. If you believe what "they" want you to believe!


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An Unsuccessful Mugging in Montreal: GIF Spotlight With Lucian Bute VS Edison Miranda

The GIF above is of Lucian Bute, defending a major world Super Middleweight title against Colombia's Edison "Pantera" Miranda, on the seventeenth of April, 2010. Bute delights his adopted hometown crowd as Miranda tries to mug for him and gets obliterated in the third round by one of Bute's sweeping uppercuts. It is easily forgotten but Bute at this time was riding high and coming off the back of one of the year's best Super Middleweight performances in stopping Librado Andrade for the first time in a much demanded rematch, five months prior.

Andrade had developed a reputation as being one of the sport's most durable warriors and the stoppage helped blow up Bute's reputation as a puncher leading into this match with Miranda, who either missed that or zero bleeps were given that day anyway by the slugger who'd gone to war just as unwarily with Kelly Pavlik and Arthur Abraham. Unfortunately, fan-friendly, if not wisely fan-friendly Edison Miranda is now listed as a fugitive by federal authorities, indicted with several others on drug trafficking charges, as reported by Boxing Scene, yesterday.



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The Prince Pump: GIF Spotlight

From the broadcast that could launch a thousand GIF's, Prince Naseem Hamed pumps on his way to the ring against Kevin Kelley, on HBO. The entrance was grand at Madison Square Garden, on the nineteenth of December, 1997.


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Muhammad pats his hair and thanks you with a real caption