By Tom Donelson
A few thoughts upon this weekend clashes. First, I love SHOBOX. This is one series that is indispensable for boxing for one simple reason- it forces young prospects to fight talented fighters and test themselves. What you won’t see is some hot prospect against the barely living. It doesn’t hurt that SHOBOX has boxing announcers like Nick Charles and Steve Farhood and it doesn’t hurt that Al Bernstein can step in and substitute.
Last Thursday night was no exception. In the lightweight division, you had Almazbek Raiymkulov vs. the slick boxing Koba Gogoladze. Gogoladze started out fast but in the end, it was the power of Raimykulov that determined the fight. In the fourth round, Raiymykulov sent the game Georgian down and he repeated this in both the fifth and sixth round. At the end of the sixth, Gogoladze no longer could continue fighting.
This fight put Raimykulov in the lightweight top ten or should. And this fight showed that Gogoladze might not have the chin to challenge the top fighters in the division. Gogoladze is a good boxer but not every good fighter will win a title.
In the middleweight division, Kelly Paylik knocked Dorian Beaupierre out in the second right as he consistently found a home with his right hand on Beaupierre. Beaupierre, who had a couple of tough draws against Daniel Edouard, another prospect, could not handle Paylik's power.
By the way, SHOBOX listed some of the young Middleweight fighters and demonstrated that the Middleweight division may be the best division in the years to come. With Jermain Taylor leading the charge, this division has many young prospects ready to bring excitement to one of Boxing's traditional great division. For many years, the Middleweight division has gone through a drought and essentially became Bernard Hopkins' personal playground. Maybe it is a good thing that Hopkins is ready to retire as this division may be become one of boxing's deepest. And I suspect that SHOBOX will show those prospects against each other.
Rocky Juarez made yet another big step as he crushed Juan Carlos Ramirez in just 2 minutes 59 seconds. Juarez is one of those fighters who is economical with his punches but when his punches land, it is with bad intention. Against Ramirez, Juarez showed a nice short powerful right hand to go with his devastating left hook. We can now quit calling Juarez a prospect but a contender. As I have mentioned before, Juarez’s biggest challenge is that he is one of boxing deepest divisions. Featherweights and super featherweight divisions are populated with future Hall of Fame Boxers and Juarez will find himself fighting HOF caliber fighters to reach the top, not an easy task.
On the reverse side, Jeff Lacy defeated Rubin Williams Saturday night on Showtime's Saturday Night Fights. Whereas Juarez is in one of boxing competitive divisions, Lacy is lucky to be in one of boxing’s weaker divisions. This has aided Lacy in his quest for a portion of the Super Middleweight championship. Like Juarez, Lacy is a strong powerful puncher but his advance has been quicker due to lack of caliber opposition. It is not Lacy fault that he is fighting in a weaker division and he has certainly taken advantage of his opportunities.
ESPN is now taking boxing seriously with their FNF series along with their PPV entry. The PPV has some excellent matches up with Ebo Elder vs. Juan Diaz, a couple of scrapping lightweights who just love to fight and throw punches. Then Calvin Brock will find out if he is a contender or not just ready for prime time. His fight with Jameel McCline will go a long way to determine his immediate fate. Win and he may be in line for a title shot. Lose and it is back of the pack with everyone else. Shane Mosley fights the slick and combative David Estrada. And Kermit Cintron fights WBO welterweight champion Antonio Margarito. And the price is just under $30. Now if ESPN would actually show some boxing highlights on their Sport Center show and just maybe, could we see just a little more boxing than poker or NCAA’s cheerleading?
Which brings me to another point. Over the past couple of years, ESPN had their reality show, Dream Job. The premise of the show was that young prospective reporters or job seekers demonstrate their ability to read the news. And now, they have extended this to former NBA players as these ex-NBA stars vie for the role of NBA announcer. Bottom line, when it is all said and done, the winner wins by being the best in front of the camera. Read a cue card and look good doing it, you win. That is the jest of it. Which shows both the strength and weakness of television journalism. The strength is that pictures can tell a story very easily. The weakness is that reading a cue card is not the same as being a good journalist.
Contrast that to ESPN own boxing show. Teddy Atlas educates million of boxing fans on the finer aspect of the Sweet Science. Mr. Atlas may not be the best looking of announcers nor would he look good reading cue cards in front of a camera but he knows the sport. And when you see HBO, you see the veteran Larry Merchant and Showtime feature some of boxing’s best as well. It is not looks that make these broadcasters excellent but the fact that these guys understand and report on a sport they love. Which is why Brian Kenny is one of ESPN best assets. He is not just a cue card reader. And why HBO, Showtime and ESPN's FNF have some of sport's best moments for it is not looks or cue card reading skills that determine the journalism. It is the quality of the reporters who know the sports.
