I miss Howard Cowsell. The most surprising breath of fresh air in live coverage though has been Paulie Malanagi. His commentary is concise, insightful, and meaningful.
If a fighter stamps him brand as a punishing puncher, he better be able to survive a LOT more than a fairly minor cut. Williams reaction to the cut was the worst I have seen by a main event boxer in my 60 years in boxing. He will doubtless put a spin on the whole affair in coming weeks, but there is no way to explain away his monumental melt down. Fans don't like a boxer who gloats in punishing his opponents, yet who gets utterly derailed by a minor cut, resulting from a jab no less!
You having mentioned Rocky makes me reflect (again) on what a huge bust Rocky was. He is one of the all time disappoints, his performance never coming close to the hype. He never seemed to want to reach for much, he almost appeared to consciously work at underachieving. Anyhu, yes a Baby Bull vrs Rocky fight would be interesting, the only problem is that the loser would need to accept that his career was over.
For all you "Johnny Come Lately" boxing fans, listen up. That call (the incorrect stoppage) is emblematic of the problematic direction boxing is moving in. Every referee now days thinks he is judge, jury, and executioner, that he is in the ring to "protect" the fighters. NOWHERE in the rules of boxing is the ref's role to do anything other than enforce the basic rules and keep the flow of the fight going. For you dopes who know nothing, the unwritten "rule" is that if the boxer is rising you DONT count him out even if a glove or knee is still touching the canvas. The reason you ask? Because the whole count thing in inaccurate anyway. The ref is NOT really counting, he is trying to watch the time keeper and the boxer, and integrate the two things (the actual count and the floored boxer). Bad call. Terrible call by the ref.
JMM and Manny V is one too many
One more JMM and MP fight would add nothing to the legacy of either. We already know what happens when they fight. A Manny and Ruslan match, however, would be a fresh perspective on Manny's great career, especially considering how limited the options are with Bob Arum's stifling, and stench filled, control of who Manny fights.
Luis certainly did not fight his best fight. He is not a Hall of Famer, but he is much better than most give him credit for. The take away from the Khan fight however is that it is way past time for refs to call Khan on his incessant holding. Modern day fighters are generally quite athletic and hit hard, most have good speed, but the ability to fight inside is lost on nearly all of them. Clinching and infighting is sadly a lost aspect. Everyone wants to dazzle and throw a blindingly fast punch, usually a single, and then hold, wait for a break by the ref, then repeat the same routine. That's not boxing. If a fighter is willing to fall inside then he needs to be prepared to do something more than force his opponet's head down and/or hold, which Khan is the current champion of. Unfortunately, it's not boxing.
Geale isn't a bad fighter. He doesn't hit hard, but he mixes motion, defense, and a pretty advanced offense to be a decent fighter. However, his ill advised surrender left a bad taste in many afficiados mouth. Geale wasn't doing badly at all in the fight, and he had just landed his best punch. GGG hits hard granted, but Geale owed more to himself and the sport than his premature "no mas".