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.
Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
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Recently, I realised something that I can only call humourously depressing. It relates to a joining of two quotes across space and time that sheds light on the utter farce that is the middleweight division and its dealings with Gennady Golovkin, the universally regarded number one contender, to Miguel Cotto, the true, lineal middleweight champion. Abel Sanchez and Freddie Roach seem to suggest an incredibly close natural weight to their fighters, as does Golovkin's own Tale of the Tape. Why Freddie even made his mention, God only would know. Here's what I mean, points A-D:
Point A:
Abel Sanchez, to Hustle Boss, issued the third of July, 2013, after Golovkin's match with Matthew Macklin:
"We had a great camp. He didn't have to lose that much weight. He came at 167, when he first came in, two months before the fight."
Conceivably in fluctuation, but odd in being slightly heavier, Golovkin was unofficially weighed by HBO on fight night at 170, the same as Macklin.
Point B:
Gennady, in May of 2015, nearly two years later, against Willie Monroe Junior had another unofficial weight taken by HBO. 170, to Monroe Junior's 172. Same. No lower than 170 pounds in the ring. A very standard ten-pound rehydration.
Point C:
Here is where it gets amusing. What exactly did Freddie Roach say about Miguel Cotto's weight ahead of fighting Daniel Geale, just a month after the Golovkin/Monroe Junior match?
"It was a calculated weight. . .Miguel will climb to 166 pounds. He had a fabulous preparation. Geale showed that it cost a lot to make the agreed upon weight."
Point D:
What was Miguel Cotto's *official* weigh-in weight for Daniel
Geale? Considering that his own trainer estimated he'd be coming in at 166 pounds when hydrated, and considering that his own negotiated catch-weight was 157 pounds, did he come in just at or just under 157, like
Geale? No,
instead, he came in just under the Light Middleweight division limit instead, at 153.6. And, for some reason, like normal, HBO did
not get an unofficial rehydration weight for him, even though they got it for Geale. What is the point of points A-D?
Cotto's dehydrating himself supposedly by coincidence more than he actually needed. Why would any fighter do that? What
did Cotto say after the contest with Geale? Max Kellerman decided to ask the Middleweight champion of the world if he was a Middleweight. What Cotto said makes it almost certain that the weigh-in wasn't just a comfortable coincidence, in my view. He cites his offical weigh-in, 153.6, then asks Kellerman if he thinks he's really a Middleweight. Kellerman says it doesn't sound like it. Then Cotto says "I'm not." Does it strike anyone else as a coy weigh-in strategy for show? I know from the forum comments that it certainly isn't just me.
He's obscuring the fact that he's almost the same fighting weight as his number one contender and he didn't want to fight his number one contender. He fought one of that contender's victims as a voluntary, and after sitting on the title for a year. Then, he claimed he wasn't a member of his own weight class. His team are now, after making Golovkin wait and watch this act, supposed to fight Saul Alvarez, who is apparently, by his technical weigh-in weights, not a member of any official weight class, actively, either. Apparently, these guys and their teams would like a weight class that is between where Golovkin does and does not fight. How confusing for them!
Miguel, your trainer is claiming you were assumed to come in four pounds lighter than the definitive number one contender last weighed in. You are suspected by fans around the world to have come in lighter than you needed, to look like you didn't belong at the weight in which you are the champion, by choice. Champion, by choice, dehydrating extra, by choice. You have people accusing your number one contender of an unfair size advantage, astoundingly. As if it's not his business to call out the champion of his own division. So, if this is as deliberate as it seemed, it worked on some, I guess. But Golovkin is not Chavez Junior-sized and you are not a bloated or musclebound little man, nor are you not within reasonable Middleweight range on fight night with your non-bloated, non-musclebound physique. You are coming in to the weight class as naturally as Floyd Mayweather Junior comes in to Welterweight, it would seem.
If you'd have us believe as some of the fans now believe, that Golovkin is unfairly large for you to fight at your own chosen and full weight class, and much larger in the way a Chavez Junior would be, again, as for instance, then I would say this: Rehydrating to no more than 165 pounds, Sebastian Zbik fought the notorious weight-cutter, Chavez Junior, at a 15-pound weight disadvantage, which was somewhat predictable as a rehydration weight. A definitive non-puncher dealt with that disadvantage at your current weight class. Golovkin's whole history shows him to be a natural, unforced Middleweight fighter, you'll find. Everything corroborates this, that I am aware. You were likely as your own trainer claimed: Within four pounds of your number one contender's fight-night weight. If you have an issue with your own weight class and not who wants your belt, it's an issue Sebastian Zbik apparently didn't have. Please, stop this charade.
You're hurting your division. You're hurting your great reputation. You're hurting boxing. You say you have paid your dues to fight who you want. Without a title to defend, this is as true as it could ever be. You can fight whoever you want without that title, but you're blocking a man who has paid his dues in your division from fighting who he wants-whoever it takes to establish him as the real champion of his own division. He is openly a Middleweight and out of the closet as such. If it's about weight, we know it's negligible. If it's about height, it's nothing you haven't seen before. If it's about money, we know you'll make a star PPV payday with Alvarez as easy at any weight class with or without a title. If it's about legacy, you would not have opted for Geale instead of his former conqueror. This just looks like it's about grandstanding when you never wanted anything to do with the general consensus best man you can fight in this division so you don't have to vacate a title you earned. It also looks like a hysterical proximity.
Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
Full Hustle Boss interview with Abel Sanchez for quote source:
(This
was quoting an interview with El Vocero de Puerto Rico, but we're using Boxing
Scene for assumed English readers, to follow to the Spanish language
directly, click here: http://elvocero.com/miguel-va-a-noquear-a-geale-roach/)
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The GIF explanation: It is infamous in live televised boxing history. An ESPN bout supporting charity in November of 2001 between Richard Grant and James Butler is scored in favour of Grant. No one sees it coming when Butler approaches Grant. Grant thinks his opponent comes to pay his respect out of sportsmanship and moves in for a hug. Butler surprises him with a stunning, gloveless sucker-punch in the mouth that completely incapacitates Grant, who is aided to the canvas, bleeding with a lacerated tongue which required 26 stitches, and a broken jaw.
Chaos ensues. An arrest is made. The event became only the second-most notorious in the nightmarish life of James Butler. Butler would go on to be arrested again in 2004. After living supposedly as an unmedicated bipolar sufferer, he apparently snapped, murdering his friend, 29-year-old Sam Kellerman, older brother of radio host and boxing commentator Max Kellerman. The story goes that Butler, troubled since childhood, felt the medication he should've been on, in his mind, had prevented him from earning a living as a fighter when he'd tried it. Now, he is in prison for murder, possibly as a result of treatable mental illness.
I don't know if that is true, of course, that he was mentally ill and/or that trying to live without medication was the cause of his murdering his friend, but if you or someone you know is trying to live with severe mental illness, free of medication, maybe that choice is worth some reconsideration. Maybe this horrendous tale of James Butler's life and Sam Kellerman's death can serve as a lesson in that regard.
Take care of yourselves and work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
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Because it is so close, yet so far away, let's spotlight Max Kellerman when asked about Adonis Stevenson defending his championship against sensational contender Sergey Kovalev. Here he is when asked if he thinks the fight will happen:
Max Kellerman, 2013-11-30:
"Well, I mean, you just heard Stevenson. He wants Carl Froch, who, after his last fight, a lot of people probably calling for Froch. He wants Bernard Hopkins. He wants, the winner, maybe, of Pascal/Bute. So, that means that-that Kovalev is, at best, in fourth place. Here's the problem for Stevenson, who is, make no mistake about it, the Light Heavyweight Champion of the world. Lots of belt holders-Stevenson's the champ. He knocked out Chad Dawson. He's the man who beat the man, who beat the man, etc. The problem is, as impressive as his year has been, Kovalev, I believe, at this moment, is considered the best light heavyweight in the world. And I think would be favoured to beat Stevenson or any other light heavyweight in the world. So, if Stevenson's content with making money-and, after all, this is why they really do it. It's prizefighting. And-and being a kind of Canadian world champion, fighting the likes of the winner of Bute/Pacal, or an older Hopkins, or someone like that, fine. But, if his point is to become a real superstar-and you do that by proving that you're actually the best, I don't think there's a way around Kovalev in the not-too-distant future."
As both Kovalev and Stevenson plan to fight within a couple months of each other, as they trade insults, as HBO has had them on the same broadcast more than once, always asking Stevenson about Kovalev, as fans on the forums froth at the mouth about it, the boxing world awaits one of the hottest potential matches in boxing. Sergey Kovalev will be the heavy favourite against Cedric Agnew, the 29th of this month. Adonis Stevenson will be the heavy favourite against Andrzej Fonfara in May.
If they both come through as expected, no disrespect to the lurking upsets for their opponents, but if they do, how on Earth, with boxing fans excited, with them both publicly fired up and signed to the same channel and the channel so excited to push them together, could this not take place by the end of 2014? If it doesn't, this would easily be one of the biggest failures of the sport this year. Kovalev is the standout contender to the light heavyweight throne. Make no mistake on that. Don't let this cake burn in the oven, boxing.
Judge Javier Alvarez somehow found a scorecard with 115-112 for Vanes Martirosyan when Martirosyan and Demetrius Andrade squared off for a chance to win a vacant major world title on HBO live boxing, back in November. I don't know how, but now that some time has passed from this match, I thought I would spotlight this in case of future matches with Javier Alvarez judging. Cheers to HBO for deriding his card. Anybody can see a fight differently, but not that differently. I saw no valid total that can be turned in for a Martirosyan win and do fully support HBO's team in this one.
Perhaps Martirosyan was more in the fight than given credit for. If you said that, I wouldn't argue. If you said it was closer than HBO's commentators made out to be? Fine. Not an invalid statement, to me, considering that Kellerman didn't even seem to like Steve Weisfeld giving Martirosyan three rounds. Vanes hung tough and made it awkward as he normally does. Maybe some of the rounds were close enough that you couldn't argue much Martirosyan edging them when HBO's commentators didn't see it that way. Fine. Maybe some. But to see a card turned in where Martirosyan actually won? A card reflecting that he somehow got the better of this fight by any scoring method? I really hate to pick on judges and they have to turn in a highly contentious card that I can't see a competent, uncorrupted judge turn in for me to draw attention to it. But here is one.
I have recently reviewed the fight from my DVR and it was just as bad a scorecard in my mind as I found it that night, late last year. Some folks looking this one up on boxrec may see the scores and that Andrade was knocked down in the first and assume it was one of those matches where a knockdown can make all the scoring difference, like a Cotto/Clottey type score. It wasn't that. I would never write off a judge completely after even a card I find this bad. Not for one night of bad judging. But it's a red flag and I want to spotlight this because if it becomes a pattern, we, to protect our sport, need to take action and tell the boxing establishment that we will not stand for a judge that develops such a pattern (C. J. Ross) and take action like turning our backs on watching these matches live and hit channels in the pocket by lowering the ratings we give them if they air fights with judges we know have a pattern of bad cards, be those cards bad via corruption or ineptitude or severe bias of some kind.
So, IN CASE Javier Alvarez develops into a judge with a pattern of this, let's draw attention to it. If you spot a fight that he's judging that I haven't seen or taken notice of, where he has turned in another score like this, please, by all means, comment on this page and tell me what to look for and I'll try to locate it and view for myself to see if I agree it needs attention. Here is the talk of the scores as the HBO crew goes off on Judge Javier Alvarez:
Max Kellerman: "What a stinking score card, that fifteen/twelve for Martirosyan-and that better be a m- that better be a misprint-a misread."
(Kellerman seems fairly flustered)
Jim Lampley: "Otherwise you'd have to wonder what fight that judge was watching."
Kellerman: "What's the name of that judge who gave the fifteen/twelve scorecard?
Steve Weisfeld: "Javier Alvarez."
Kellerman: "And what did you say about him, Steve?"
Weisfeld: "I said he doesn't have tremendous judging experience."
Kellerman: "Yeah, or eye sight, apparently."
Lampley: "Javier Alvarez, in scoring the fight 115-112 for Martirosyan, scored the first five rounds of the fight, all for Vanes Martirosyan. I mean, that's-that's pure blindness. I'm sorry. It's embarrassing to us and to the sport when a score card like that turns up in a situation like this. . . Final Compubox numbers for the benefit of the blind judge who scored this for Vanes Martirosyan. . ."
Lampley: "Mondo Bizarro. A very, very strange score card."
Also of note: Please notice that Javier Alvarez was assigned the Keith Thurman VS Jesus Soto Karass match the following month! Awful! So, we have one black mark/red flag for Javier Alvarez. Let's hope that this is an anomaly and he turns out to be a better judge than this would indicate.
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Basement Gym Boxing
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Mike Perez, having become one of the heavyweight division's hottest prospects after one of its best fights late last year (and most tragic outcomes) with Magomed Abdusalamov had his first fight in the aftermath Saturday night. He reportedly said he'd donate part of his purse to the Abdusalamov family. What happened? He was set up with a man sold as "an opponent" with a nice record on paper without much substance to it. That man entered the ring and started the match seemingly as just that. A safe, lackluster opponent for what might be a mentally damaged Mike Perez is every bit what Takam seemed to me in the first part of the fight.
The first half played out with Perez controlling and stalking slowly from the outside, with wide right hooks and straight lefts. The second half of this ten-rounder is Takam waging an inside fighting war the likes of which the heavyweight division virtually never sees anymore in the upper levels and getting the better of it with strength, volume and surprisingly good skill, for what he was advertised to be. This fight ended in a draw and while I actually narrowly scored it for Takam, there was nothing controversial here, beyond your typical outcry for the underdog in a close fight from underdog blind fans. What does this mean for the division?
For Takam: While Perez hopefuls have calmed down, wondering if Perez is the same fighter and probably forgotten that he blows hot and cold anyway, Takam is now a player in the division, having waged this war on the glory boxing network. While not much taller than Perez, he's got the weight of a true super heavyweight and this man can fight. If not a rematch? Takam and Dereck Chisora could enter into the best inside fighting heavyweight match of 2014! Takam made a fan out of me. I would not have predicted it after the first five rounds but he did. Congratulations to him for an HBO coming out party. Getting an opportunity to shine can be a matter of luck, but actually shining is most often a matter of will. Takam willfully forced himself into the real name heavyweight ranks against the odds.
For Perez: With all the letting go of Perez's chances in the division, I'm not at all convinced that he's got anything wrong with him and think he actually put on a good fight. For the time being, I am going to rate Takam higher more than Perez lower. But I am in the minority. Many are unwilling to consider him a standout contender after Saturday night. The favourite doesn't always perform like the favourite, but it doesn't mean they aren't performing. Perez and Takam both showed an awful lot of grit in the second half of the fight. For ten-rounders, that's two very grueling matches in a row for Perez, and in only a few months' time. I say we should give the man a break and let him regroup. That said, what this means for Perez is that he goes into the category of likely Klitschko domination opponents until further notice with the fan majority. Again, I am not personally convinced that there's been a great change in him stemming from the Abdusalamov fight, and that fight alone, but I am convinced that there are contenders a plenty who have unexpectedly difficult nights after looking spectacular and many of them have gone on to become champions, some of which get there immediately afterward. Perez could be in that group.
Broadcast Quotes:
During the 6th round:
Jim Lampley: I don't see any sign whatsoever that Perez is in some way affected by the mental hangover from the Abdusalamov thing. He's got a whole different problem in front of him and that's Carlos Takam. Roy Jones Junior: None! A Whole different problem and a whole different type of a problem because he's fighting the same fight that they want Mike Perez to fight.
Other Broadcast Notes:
*Harold Lederman's card had Takam winning it, 96-94, broken down as:
Perez Rounds: 1,2,4 &5
Takam Rounds: 3 & 6-10
*Max Kellerman saw it as many fans and two of the three judges, five rounds to five.
*Light Heavyweight Champion Adonis Stevenson was in attendance.
*HBO gives a link to donate to Magomed Abdusalamov and his family in their very difficult struggle, in the aftermath of his medical trauma, and all the expenses and uncertainty that have followed. That link is: http://ring10ny.com/
*Mike Perez's ring walk/entrance music is I'm Shipping Up To Boston, by Dropkick Murphys
Defending a well regarded North American Light Heavyweight title, former Light Heavyweight Champion Jean Pascal uses his speed and his Roy Jones Junior inspired tricks to play with his fellow big time Canadian draw and former Super Middleweight Titlist Lucian Bute at the Bell Centre, in Montreal. Bute started well in the first round, ended well with a lot of action and guts, but simply couldn't pull the trigger on the lightning fast Pascal in a meaningful way through the majority of the fight. He was passionately urged by his trainer during the breaks but couldn't seem to figure out his former sparring partner. In some ways it reminded a lot of the rounds Chad Dawson dropped against Pascal. Jean can bamboozle with his style, as what's becoming known to many, as an "ambush style". Spurts and outbursts, in and out, speed of hand and foot, ambush, retreat, ambush retreat, lather, rinse and repeat, it goes. Only Bernard Hopkins seems to understand Pascal completely.
Whenever Bute started to get at all comfortable and land, Pascal would initiate a violent flurry to take the round, essentially. Some found his activity level lacking and losing more than a few rounds but I am not one of them. He displayed excellent ring generalship for most of the fight, though he was decidedly careless at times, showing little respect for Bute's known power. I think Bute's want to counter-punch was consistently nullified by Pascal turning the tables and waiting on him and beating him at his own game when he came forward. What I liked from Pascal tonight is that aside from the ambush flurries when they were needed, he had great success with right hand pot shots throughout as well.
Bute says he is disappointed and that it wasn't really him until the final round where there was great speculation as to whether Pascal was playing possum or seriously stunned, as he was almost without offense, being assaulted in the corner. Bute insists that he could come through in a rematch that he wants, but I think he knows he was soundly beaten, despite some very strange calls to the contrary, by the likes of Jim Watt.
In closing, Bute has heart but a sketchy future after his excellent career and Jean Pascal is definitely still a player at light heavyweight. It was a good night of boxing and a good choice of matches by HBO.
*Bute's entrance/ring walk music is U2's Where The Streets Have No Name.
*Pascal's entrance/ring walk music is Roy Jones Junior's Ya'll Must've Forgot.
*Commentator Roy Jones Junior takes a break from his regular gig to coach in Jean Pascal's trainer, which Pascal thanks him for in the post-fight interview, calling Roy the best pound-for-pound.
*Light Heavyweight Champion Adonis Stevenson is interviewed before the match by Jim Lampley. Max Kellerman says Sergey Kovalev is the real number one contender in the division to Adonis' throne.
*Jim Lampley says of the attendance: "We got an announced crowd of 20, 479 in the Bell Centre, which means that both Jean Pascal and Lucian Bute will be fighting before the largest crowd ever to have seen them fight, here in Montreal, and both have sold a lot of tickets, prior to tonight."
While taking a second look recently at Miguel Cotto getting what I thought looked a slightly premature but likely inevitable stoppage over Delvin Rodriguez, I couldn't help but want to spotlight one of the more awkward attempts I've seen to make a poetic lead-in to a fight.
"Delvin Rodriguez grew up on a farm in the Dominican Republic until he was nine years old and came to this country. And they ate everything they grew and slaughtered, and I asked him if he was ever affected by slaughtering an animal or watching one be slaughtered. He said "No. It was a way of life." Except for one time. The first time he saw a bull slaughtered. Because of the amount of blood, because of the human sound the bull made as it lay dying. If he beats Miguel Cotto tonight, that sound you hear is of the old bull dying-the career that once was Miguel Cotto's. I don't think he can sustain another loss and remain on top."
~Max Kellerman, on HBO, in the lead-in to Miguel Cotto VS Delvin Rodriguez
Jim Lampley's face was priceless. I cannot describe it.
Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
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