Saturday, May 9, 2009

Black Eye of the Week

Boxing fans,

Hector Camacho Sr. fought Yory Boy Camapas tonight. Enough said. Oh, and it was on Pay-Per-View. Now, enough said.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Boxing Experts Fail

Boxing Fans,

So sad that even so-called boxing experts get caught up in the hype of a big fight. Bernard Hopkins and Teddy Atlas , two boxing “experts” that I respect very much for their knowledge, have recently disappointed me with their pre-fight analysis of the Pacquiao-Hatton fight. Although an expert on the basics of boxing, Bernard Hopkins' analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of both fighters had some truth to it, although he picked Hatton to win. Teddy Atlas, however, had both the analysis and pick dead wrong, even though he usually calls fights correctly and gives a thorough analysis before each fight on Friday Night Fights. So why did they get it so wrong?

Bernard Hopkins knew how to analyze the strengths and weakness of Pacquiao and Hatton but still picked the wrong fighter. In his pre-fight analysis he described the match-up as one between a sharp-shooting (correct) counter-punching (correct) strong (correct) Pacquiao and the fast-handed (sort of) newly-trained (wrong) Hatton. He even mentioned that trying to bully Pacquiao would be the wrong move and that Hatton would have to time Pacquiao and have to come in from angles and have to listen to his trainer to learn or re-learn new skills. Those are a lot of have-to's for someone who has not done that in the last twenty years of his boxing career. Maybe Hopkins thought that an old dog can learn new tricks?

Unlike Hopkins, Teddy Atlas had the analysis totally wrong and picked the wrong guy as well. Teddy Atlas came up with the absurd idea that Pacquiao’s mojo had been all but spent in defeating de la Hoya. According to Teddy, Pacquiao’s win over de la Hoya only hurt Pacquiao by not testing himself and having spent all his mental energy preparing for that fight, the biggest yet of his career. Having won the fight, Teddy believed, Pacquiao was set for life career-wise and that there would be no more greatness from Pacquiao. Teddy explained that Pacquiao was not hungry anymore and would be challenged mightily by the British banger and lose a decision. Not once did he mention how or why Hatton would win inside the ring, but left his analysis for this quasi-pseudo scientific mojo nonsense that falls far outside of any rational basic-boxing analysis. He sounded like one of those so-called political expert talking heads that believed with such certainty that McCain was going to wipe the floor with Obama in the elections. Oh well, all hail the Chief and the Filipino master fighter!

I was going to finish off this post by explaining how these two “experts” should have analyzed this fight, but I’ll leave that up to you, the reader, after you've read my previous post on “Styles Make Fights,” part 1 and 2. In the meantime, if your the gambling type, put your money on the boxers that Teddy Atlas and Bernard Hopkins think will lose.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Black Eye of the Week

Boxing Friends,

Floyd “Money” Mayweather is rumored to be making a come-back against an opponent to be named. Nothing necessarily wrong with that. The black eye, however, is that he plans to make his announcement on the day of the Pacquiao-Hatton fight – and in Las Vegas where the fight and Mayweather’s residence is. Obviously, for Mayweather the more press the better, and where would there be more press than the Pacquiao-Hatton event?

But trying to steal some of the thunder from Pacquiao-Hatton to announce his comeback shows Mayweather’s inability to understand what boxing fans have always wanted to see. Mayweather, unlike Hatton and Pacquiao, is only beginning to realize that making money is not enough to bring about fans’ respect and one’s own place in history. Talented boxers will always make money. Great boxers, however, earn peoples’ respect and admiration with their accomplishments, personalities, and sportsmanship—not their wallets. So while “Money” Mayweather makes his flashy announcement, Pacquiao and Hatton will be preparing to put their titles, reputations, and lives at stake in a masters’ display of speed, power, talent, and willpower. That is what boxing is about. That is what boxing needs. So make your announcement Mayweather and then get out of the way.