Harsh Comments On Kenny Bayless' Performance During Mayweather/Maidana: James Ali Bashir Quote Spotlight

                    (image of discussion involving James Ali Bashir insulting Kenny Bayless on Facebook)

I've been through hours of reading about the big Mayweather/Maidana rematch last night. A rematch of what was a very good contest, with both the lineal Light Middleweight and Welterweight title on the line. It was a match of monetary and historical value that turned into a messy, unfriendly-to-fans clash between not just fighting styles but referee styles, it seems. Now, I've always maintained that Kenny Bayless was a great referee and a man of integrity in an occupation where somehow Laurence Cole is an oft-used referee. But it can't be ignored that Kenny is being badly slated over the perception that he helped make the match a stinker, and in strong favour of Floyd Mayweather Junior. I am highly reluctant to pick on Bayless, considering, as stated, that I've always rated him very highly, both personally and professionally. But I do want to spotlight one surprising catch during my reading of the feedback on his officiating.

While browsing the popular Facebook boxing group/forum called "Boxologist" James Ali Bashir, a man known to have worked closely with the late Emanuel Steward for a long time, and top trainer in his own right, serving on the current Wladimir Klitschko/Johnathon Banks team, apparently making his public disdain for Bayless as clear as possible.


If you can't view the image, Bashir says in one comment: "When they chose this geek to ref, I knew that this would happen! Special$$$interest Groups saw that he would be the ref."

Then comments immediately afterward: "Steve Smoger is probably the best Ref out there at this time! He allows the fighters to fight inside and out. You can't have a good and honest contest unless you allow some inside fighting. Baylis(sic) never allows it!"


I'm sure I don't need to point out the humour in a man on Wladimir Klitschko's team talking about a good, honest contest needing to allow inside fighting. No disrespect intended, to any gentleman mentioned. But it is funny that Klitschko is one of the most highly criticised champions in boxing for getting away with spoiling on the inside with clinching and leaning on his opponents' backs and no inside fighting taking place for the rangy outside fighter. Why James Ali Bashir would make a public statement like that without worry that Bayless wouldn't take it out on one of his fighters, if he figures him so bad, I wouldn't know. But it's worth a quote spotlight, no matter what your opinion of it is, no?


Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing



Link to the Boxologist Facebook group/forum: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Boxologist/
Link to James Ali Bashir's page: https://www.facebook.com/JALIBAS
Link to the specific post/comment thread in question: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=317458301768154&set=gm.828927877138251&type=1&theater



Thanks for stopping by our place. Here are some other pages you might enjoy:

Floyd Mayweather Junior's Sparring Profile: A Sparring Partner Reference List

Wladimir Klitschko Is Disgusted By Your Dirty Dancing: GIF Spotlight

Steve Bunce on Marcos Maidana's chances with Floyd Mayweather Junior: Quote Spotlight

Eddie Gomez VS Steve Upsher Chambers: Gomez Proves Ready For A Big Step Up!

(Aired on the nineteenth of August, 2013-I've just received my DVR back to post about this match recently)



In round one, Gomez boxed casually throughout the first half of the round, not letting the significantly taller Chambers bother him with his solid jab at all, and catching him with a few sharp left hooks. In the second half of the round Gomez let it go from slightly leading what would've been a 10/9 round on my card to bludgeoning Chambers in an easily called 10/8 round, despite no knockdowns. There would be some refs who would've jumped the gun in there, toward the end of the round. Steve Smoger, the referee of this bout, is not prone to such things. Some may even nitpick that Gomez took a chance at punching himself out but the way Chambers looked, it seemed a fair call to jump on him as aggressively as he did. Chambers didn't even seem clearheaded enough to clinch.

Gomez did not enter the ring with a high kayo ratio but he seemed very heavy-handed from the start of this one. The weigh-ins from these two may go against their height difference, as Gomez seems to be the naturally heftier man. Steve is the younger brother of Eddie Chambers, by the way. In round two, Gomez comes storming out of the gates, having smelled blood in the first. He did not appear to have any notion that Chambers got his bearings between rounds. Even as Gomez calms down, he's still, as commentator Paulie Malignaggi points out, plowing right through Chambers' guard whenever he feels like it. Chambers' guard is woefully inadequate as a single facet of defense against the arsenal of Gomez. He's not moving his head or feet or rolling his shoulders. It's all earmuffs and Gomez is loving it. This is a clash of different classes for certain. Gomez is far more offensively and defensively dynamic and has far more power and confidence behind that skill level.

In round three, Gomez is still blasting Chambers. Even jabs are landing with the thudding authority of power punches. Gomez pulls a little Jersey Joe Walcott style showboating, turning his back and walking away, no fear of Chambers following. He's smiling, he's having a good time. Chambers just doesn't belong in the ring with Gomez, by the looks of it. Gomez can pot shot, put blistering combinations together, he can essentially do anything he wants so far without any concern for the level of threat Chambers seems to carry.

In round four, it is still clear that Chambers is in over his head here. He's adjusting his trunks and eating shots because of it, as in more than once. He's trying to use Eddie Chambers' way of putting the guard up but also bending backwards and out of the way of punches. It's almost a rope-a-dope without the rope. Frankly, he just cannot do that. He does not have close to the timing and he is getting tagged cleanly while trying to do this. Chambers begins following Gomez around without throwing any punches, just allowing Gomez to tee off whenever he likes, no jabbing while stalking a man who has been hurting him consistently. I don't know if this is representative of Chambers' ring IQ at its best, but any strategy he may have had in this fight could've been knocked out of him in the first round.

I think Chambers realises here that in an 8-round fight, with him not being a puncher, he needs to be dramatically active and lay it all out on the line. To his credit, he does want to give it his best shot to do so and this leads to the most sustained trading between them. But Chambers' legs are not sturdy and as Gomez wades in for the last time and knocks him around like a rag doll, even Steve Smoger says it's all for not and calls the fight against a lucid but hurting and frustrated Chambers. Gomez's TKO4 over Chambers is a clinic and a beating. The young Bronx "Eboy" looks the goods as a light middleweight prospect. Chambers looks to need a long trip back to the drawing board. You can't take many fights like that.

There's some talk about Smoger calling it when he did, as Chambers had probably been hurt just as bad, if not worse, at multiple points in the short match. Bernard Hopkins mentions that Smoger has the opposite of a reputation for stopping fights early-which is certainly true-and that in the end you basically must defer to his viewpoint from in the ring. I think it was a good call. Chambers had the heart to make his stand as best as he could but Smoger knew he was having little to no effect on Gomez and taking very considerable punishment. Gomez and Smoger get an A from me. Somebody, please get Gomez in there for his next step up and make sure it's on television.

Miscellaneous notes:

*Bernard Hopkins, Paulie Malignaggi and Dave Bontempo are the commentators for the night on this FS1 broadcast.
*Final punch stats have Gomez landing at 52%, 304 thrown, 158 landed and Chambers landing at 24%, 192 thrown, 47 landed. I didn't count each punch. But it's believable from my view in this dominant showcase.


Work that bag,
Basement Gym Boxing