Top shelf middleweight Billy Joe Saunders has a priceless moment during a presser with Avtandil Khurtsidze. He tries to get his opponent to put up his dukes, which provokes a calm battle of wills, with Khurtsidze refusing to obey. The psychological combat was broken only by Saunders humourously hugging him for taking his stand. Frank Warren gets a grand chuckle out of it, as does Andre Rozier, off camera, who was going to be in Khurtsidze's corner. Saunders was slated to fight this rough customer in 2017.
The fight was scuttled because Khurtsidze (of Georgia) is such a rough customer that before the fight could happen, he and 32 other members and associates of a Russian crime syndicate, allegedly, were arrested for racketeering, extortion, robbery, murder-for-hire conspiracy, fraud, narcotics and firearm offenses. He faces 40 years for being something of an enforcer, if they convict him. He isn't a tall man, but he decides exactly when and where to put up his own dukes, and that makes any man dangerous.
Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
Thanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:
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:
Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
Thanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:
ESPN interviewed Marvelous Marvin Hagler while he was taking his latest trip to Canastota, New York, to see the induction of Mike Tyson, among others in the class, into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. It was 2011, and shown during a Friday Night Fights broadcast. The interviewer gave Marvelous all the due respect and Marvin ended the interview warmly with a "Ciao, ciao." as Italian folks tend to do.
As well as talk with their hands.
Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
Thanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:
From TV series Greatest Sports Legends, with Reggie Jackson, Marvin Hagler is handed a comb by Reggie and he takes care of nonexistent business in style and good nature. If you can look up the show, Hagler is treated like the champ that he is by Jackson as they look back through his brilliant career.
Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
Thanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:
In the only time I have ever witnessed such an event, major middleweight titlist Billy Joe Saunders' son decides to punch challenger Willie Monroe Junior in the groin, and kick him as well. I'm pretty sure he also cursed at and made a vulgar gesture to Monroe Junior as well. That said, to the delight of commentators, he also apologized to him on camera after the match, when Saunders gave his son the microphone. This is one of the more unusual ways Saunders has been involved in controversy.
Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
Thanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other posts you might enjoy:
Folks, I have seen a lot of things at weigh-ins. I've seen fighters slap, hug, kiss, bite, and more than a few strip scenes, but this is a new chain of events for me. Today, about 8 hours ago, Golden Boy Boxing's Facebook page released uncensored footage of Billy Joe Saunders, who has had issues at weigh-ins before, caught in group dyslexia! First, David Lemieux must re-weigh himself after taking his underwear off, with the standard two helpers covering him from the audience. This is fairly normal. Then, in comes Billy Joe, yapping like an excited pooch, yelling about Lemieux getting weighed again. So, Lemieux weighs himself yet again to show that yes, definitely, he made the weight, no funny business.
Now, Billy Joe, without first weighing himself WITH his underwear on, steps to the scale, yapping, and immediately pulls off his undershorts, exposing himself to the audience, THEN proceeds, in the blink of a type of eye, backwardly, to cover his genitalia with his hand, and only then, as if everyone in the room realizes they're operating in reverse, the two helpers put the cover in front of him to shield the audience and protect them from the undoubted trauma. I can't say the pre-fight entertainment has been without humour. To top it off, Golden Boy not bothering to censor it on their page-...I don't know what to say. Even HBO and Showtime would likely have censored the few frames of Gypsy peekaboo. We have entered a new age in sport, ladies and gentlemen.
Gennady Golovkin has been the Ring-ranked number one contender for three years. Through three different champions. Sergio Martinez, Miguel Cotto and Saul Alvarez. Young Mr. Alvarez feels he's being rushed into this match. This is an embarrassment to boxing.
Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
Thanks for stopping by our page. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:
Despite the negatively Klitschkolean effort that Adrien Broner put in on Saturday night, Mr. Shawn Porter does have the bulldog mentality that most fans appreciate and tried to make it the best it could be. Danny Jacobs resumed his side-gig as one of the cluster of voices on the PBC commentator list, and dropped my quote of the night, in his appreciation of the tenacity.
In text: After Marv Albert mentioned Danny Jacobs fought Shawn Porter in the amateurs SEVEN times, and won six of seven, Jacobs didn't gloat. He simply said:
"Well, every time I fought Porter, as an amateur, I always dreaded it. He was always a rough and tough fighter. He would always be in my chest and he hit me with some of the best shots that I've (been) hit, as an amateur."
Jacobs seems to have the kind of respect for Porter from his amateur days that Andre Ward still has for Timothy Bradley. It's good to hear.
Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing Thanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:
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/)
Thanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:
Working as commentator, during a Top Rank broadcast of Miguel Cotto VS Paulie Malignaggi, in the seventh round, George Foreman says:
"Those body punches - sounds like a heavyweight throwing shots. Cotto can punch."
That quote came from a major world title match at light welterweight, almost exactly nine years ago. Thanks to the catch-weight agreement between the fighters and Geale's enormous unofficial weight from HBO, there is some controversy over last night's display of power from Miguel Cotto. Many fans find it hard-telling if a healthy Daniel Geale got a taste of Cotto's heavyweight-sounding punches and couldn't take them any better than he could take Gennady Golovkin's, or if a badly weight-drained Geale got to where he couldn't take hard shots off of anybody. With that said, Cotto looks to still be a true puncher at middleweight, just like he was at light welterweight. A true puncher is dangerous no matter who he's punching.
Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
Thanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:
During the Post-Fight PBC broadcast on NBC Sports (a slightly confusing programming matter), cruiserweight boxer and regular NBC Sports commentator B. J. Flores made a nice reference to Gennady Golovkin. It was during the Jonathan Guzman VS Christian Esquivel match. It is mentioned by his co-commentator during the second round that Guzman was being more of a boxer than he'd expected and he thought with all his knockouts that he'd come out swinging. B. J. responds by saying:
"He kinda takes his time, and I like that. You know, but you look at a guy like Gennady Golovkin. You look at his knockout percentage. He doesn't come out and rush the knockout. He systematically breaks his opponents down and does it through technical boxing and relentless pressure. So, I'm not saying Guzman is in any form a Gennady Golovkin, but, you know, it doesn't always have to be a free-swinging guy from the bar."
It's clear that while many would like to put Golovkin in the category of a brawler with wide-open defense, and no patience to do anything but lay his power on the opponent, most in the know understand that he is really a much more professional and subtle operator by nature. B. J. was spot-on in this one.
Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
Thanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:
In the 1997 film Cyberflic (aka Virtual Weapon), Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Terence Hill are having an adventurous ride. This is a true caption of the dialogue. Happy 61st birthday, to the great champion and emotive actor.
(Screenplay by Antonio Margheriti and Ferdie Pacheco. I kid you not.)
Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
Thanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:
Sergio Martinez was "Tweeting" last night, during Martin Murray's dangerous, dangerous challenge of middleweight executioner Gennady Golovkin. Martinez, having shared the ring with Murray in a controversial win and likely having been one fight away from fighting Golovkin himself if all had gone well, pretty much said all you can say. "Ole tus huevos, Murray" followed by a brief English translation to clarify for his followers: "INCREDIBLE BALLS" and all in capital letters. Championship caliber fighting men appreciating each other, that is. Cheers to all three.
Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
Thanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:
Golovkin, with Coach Abel Sanchez, tries to polish up light heavyweight prospect Sullivan Barrera's technique and teach him about head positioning, caught by Dontae's Boxing Nation.
Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing
Thanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:
Miguel Cotto in surprise stare-down with MMA fighter, former pro American footballer and Miguel Cotto fan Brendan Schaub, from Youtube's eckotv channel.
ESPN's Friday Night Fights this past week aired during the International Boxing Hall of Fame induction clamor and brought out the stars even for a smaller card. Present were:
Audience:
Announced before the first match and on camera:
1. Mike Tyson
2. Zab Judah
3. Rosie Perez
4. Andre Ward
5. Oscar De La Hoya
For interviews and commentating on behalf of ESPN: Nigel Collins, Teddy Atlas & Todd Grisham
Also on the broadcast as Teddy's demonstration guest was Aaron Pryor.
The setup: Ievgen "The Ukrainian Lion" Khytrov, former Olympian and young Middleweight prospect VS southpaw veteran road warrior of the Light Middleweight and Middleweight division Chris Chatman. In short, Chatman was looking to be set up as a showcase opponent for Khytrov.
The fight: Chatman does not take willful part in showcases for his opponents. His punching technique may not be the most surgical but not a rat's rear is given to who is supposed to be winning this match. He lets his hand go immediately and staggered the Ukrainian in the first round, almost knocking him down. The referee warns Khytrov about shoving Chatman around, probably out of frustration after getting staggered. The width of Chatman's shots probably didn't do him any favours over the rest of the round as he may have gotten overexcited and sloppier, thinking he could take him out for a big upset.
As the fight progresses, Chatman's hooks getting wider, Khytrov's enormous amateur pedigree starting to show against the awkward southpaw, the fight is still sloppy. Khytrov shoves Chatman down on the ropes again and it's rightfully ruled to not be a knockdown. He's testing the ref's patience now. He gets another warning.
Chatman is flailing punches in round three and it looks like he might be tiring but he is still putting everything he's got into this match when Khytrov lands a fantastic, straight right, short counter left hook combination and that hook really lands on the button and puts the smaller man on his back. Chatman gets up but the ref, probably rightfully, rules him too incapacitated to try and continue. Khytrov's hand gets raised in victory, Olympic rings tattooed on his bicep, happy. He did not start well, but he finished in style. TKO3.
Summary: Khytrov is fan-friendly but the defensive holes make it look to me like he's not ready to advance beyond this level just yet. I'd like to see him again and he's recommended viewing for casual fans for certain.
