BoxingScene.com's Television Picks of the Week
After an unfortunate postponement, it’s back on. The finals of the Showtime Bantamweight tournament might not clear up who the best in the world is at 118 lbs. but, really, who cares?
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Cliff Rold
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3,425 stories on BoxingScene are published under the Cliff Rold byline.
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Articles by Cliff Rold: page 235
Vernon Paris Makes a Statement With Grudge War KO
By Cliff Rold - In a wave of back and forth trash talk before the bout, Tim Coleman threatened that Vernon Paris might be the first man he beat to death in a ring. The mouth was willing. It turned out the body was not, though it made a hell of an effort. In an exciting clash of promising young fistic talents, 23-year old Vernon Paris (25-0, 15 KO) of Detroit, Michigan, avoided what has seemed a jinx for the unbeaten in 2011, coming off the floor in round two to drop 27-year old Tim Coleman (19-2-1, 5 KO) of Baltimore, Maryland, twice in round six and for a final time in the seventh, all with body blows, to score the stoppage victory on Friday night at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, California. Both men weighed in spot on the Jr. Welterweight limit of 140 lbs. Coleman came out right away with nasty intentions, landing a lead left hook right away. Paris was firing right back, measuring a right hand before the first minute had passed but continuing to take the left. Of the two, it was Paris wisely sticking the jab with authority, his posture suggesting a commitment to rounds. Coleman, conversely, was looking for the home run, rocking Paris with a right hand bomb near the minute mark and another at the thirty-second mark. Paris answered loudly in the final ten seconds, a hard body shot opening up a right to the chin that wobbled Coleman at the bell.
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Lessons In a Losing Streak: Fedor-Brock Teaches Us
By Cliff Rold - Last Saturday night, as he went down to defeat for the third consecutive time, the once great Mixed Martial Arts battler Fedor Emelianenko was left right where so many of his fans, and MMA fans in general, were. He was left to wonder what might have been. Earlier this year, this scribe penned a column after the last Fedor loss reminding that big fightsa are best served when hot. The gist was simple: the inability of Team Fedor and the UFC to do business, when Emelianenko-Brock Lesnar looked like it could clear Fort Knox, was a warning for boxing. The warning was most applicable, at the time, to the failure to have made Wladimir Klitschko-David Haye and Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao. The assumption beneath such thinking is that the failure to make the massive fights the fans truly want can do grave harm to the sport. Watching Fedor felled for the third time in a row, another thought came to mind. What if it’s all b.s.? What if no real harm is done at all? Emelianenko-Henderson happened in front of a rabid, paying crowd and certainly many more were watching at home on Showtime. In the lead to Haye-Klitschko, which ultimately did happen (even if most have already forgotten or at least want to), both fighters sold out arenas against men other than each other. Mayweather and Pacquiao? Yeah, without fighting each other, the sport has just been a rudderless mess. I mean, all they do is sell around a million pay-per-views against whoever they fight every time out, leaving people to bitch and moan that they haven’t fought yet and then shell out for the next chapter in the saga. The biggest myth in sport is that the best don’t fight each other in boxing. It’s utter nonsense. The best fight each other pretty often. Next weekend, the Showtime Bantamweight tournament will conclude. It has featured four of the best in the world in one of the game’s best current divisions. They fought each other. The Super Six Super Middleweight tournament has provided fights featuring nine of the best at 168 lbs. Light Heavyweight has a sort of round robin going on. Jr. Welterweight is so deep that a round robin is taking up a healthy portion of a fistic generation. No, it’s just not true, even if this corner sometimes falls victim to the complaint as well. The best do fight each other and with plenty to spare. It’s just been that the declared very best fight of all has been slow to develop. What does that have to with Fedor losing last weekend? It’s that his latest loss, viewed in parallel to the business of the sweet science, proves that the only thing really hurt by the failure to make a single huge fight is the moment that fight belongs to. And the history of the fighters. Emelianenko, had he bested Lesnar before the former WWE and NCAA champion lost to Cain Velasquez, would have collected a boatload of cash. He might have captured the mainstream U.S. mainstream victory he lacked to make praise for him as potentially the best ever in his field of fighting universal. The thing about the money is that he’s still making that and fans are still tuning in. They didn’t get his fight with Lesnar when it mattered most and have moved on. If Pacquiao or Mayweather suffer a bad loss before they can face each other, if they never face off at all, they won’t be hurting at the bank. They will merely have lost a chance to expand their legacy. Fans will cry foul, scream cacophony, and then tune in to see the next big thing, generate buzz for the next fight that ‘must’ happen. Without Pacquiao-Mayweather, boxing will have missed out on a firestorm of mainstream attention, but only until someone new comes along with the chance to spark the next flame. Cynical minds might say, “there is no one to replace those two stars.” They were just as wrong when they said Oscar De La Hoya was boxing’s last big star in the U.S. The health of boxing depends on a depth of good fighters, a volume of quality action, and repeat customers. The last of these springs from the first two. A big star can get them in the door. The rest of the game has to keep them there. MMA is strong because it provides those three ingredients even if it misses a big fight or two. Boxing is seeing an increase in ratings on HBO and steady audience in other venues in large part because fights like Amir Khan-Marcos Maidana, Brandon Rios-Miguel Acosta, Andre Berto-Victor Ortiz, and Juan Manuel Lopez-Orlando Salido are being made beneath the stars. The lesson of Fedor’s losing streak? Maybe it is that making good fights with everyone else proves the big one that got away isn’t so big after all.
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BoxingScene.com's Television Picks of the Week
Barring any errant sciatic nerves, boxing stands TWO weeks away from the conclusion of Showtime’s excellent Bantamweight tournament.
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Measured Against All Time - Ricky Hatton
It could have been shown to the world in black and white, so closely did the career of Manchester’s Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton resemble the classic boxing movie that plays in the back of the mind.
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Peterson Grinds Down Cayo, Closes in on Shot at Khan
27-year old Jr. Welterweight Lamont Peterson (29-1-1, 15 KO) of Memphis, Tennessee, put himself in the thick of title contention on Friday night at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada with a dominant performance against 26-year old Victor Cayo (26-2, 18 KO) of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, culminating with the stoppage in the twelfth and final round of an IBF eliminator.
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BoxingScene.com's Television Picks of the Week
No, really, there are televised fights this week.
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Khan Anyone Beat Him at 140?: Review, Ratings Update
The time for skepticism ended last year against Marcos Maidana. The time for believing may have begun on Saturday. As WBA Jr. Welterweight titlist Amir Khan controlled, dominated, and stopped IBF titlist Zab Judah on Saturday night, there were clear signs that the superstar talent may be moving into the next phase of his career.
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Amir Khan-Zab Judah: The Pre-Fight Report Card
by Cliff Rold - It should have been easier to see coming. Just a few months shy of the anniversary of the 2001 moment he is still so identified by, Zab Judah stepped in with an IBF belt and a strong headwind for a unification bout with Kostya Tzsyu. Did that say bout? Maybe the right word was supposed to be coronation, so strongly was Judah favored in some corners of the boxing establishment. Tszyu’s second round knockout win remains a memorable moment in contemporary fistic lore. It was the beginning of a turbulent career that saw Judah post a big win over Cory Spinks for the Welterweight crown and losses to just about everyone else who mattered (including Spinks the first time around). With Amir Khan, it really was easy to see it coming. His early career moments of vulnerability seemed to build to the crescendo that was his 2008 first round shelling at the hands of Breidis Prescott. For the 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist from Britain, it’s what has come since that is striking. Dominant wins over legitimate top ten Jr. Welterweights like Paulie Malignaggi, Andriy Kotelnik, and Marcos Maidana have shown growth, Maidana in particular providing an epic gut check. What he hasn’t faced yet is a skilled veteran who retains both speed and one-punch knockout power. One thing is certain: both these two see each other coming
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