You can't really blame the women for that silly rule. I guess someone thought that was a good idea back in the days. I'm sure they would love to fight 3 minutes round. Boxing need to change that rule as soon as possible.
Strange, it's the same thing in tennis. The guys can go to five sets, but the women only can go to three sets.
What IS the deal? Consider that the NYC Marathon, for example, is 26 miles for BOTH sexes. Nobody's saying a woman can't run the same distance as a man. In fact the finishing times for the best men and women aren't that far apart.
Lotta great candidates in both categories.
But my instant reaction:
Favorite fighter: Muhammad Ali, both for his abilities, personality and cultural importance.
The Fight: George Foreman vs Ron Lyle. (Lots of stunning choices...Leonard vs Hagler, Duran getting flattened by Hearns, Berbick wandering around after Tyson's punch, etc. etc.)
Shields IS big. Consider the MMA stars are not at 154. Cris Cyborg, Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes are all featherweights (144 pounds).
I was thinking maybe Holly Holm could come back over to the boxing side, and deal with Shields, but she'd be giving away ten pounds.
Good question in general on UK fighters being known in the US (among boxing fans, as opposed to ordinary people who barely know who Joshua).
Depends on your source. For cable TV Americans who mostly see ESPN, Showtime and formerly HBO, Price wouldn't be known, would he? I think most of his matches were BoxNation, unavailable here.
I've seen most of his fights via streams on the Net.
Things may change if DAZN catches on and makes deals with Sky Sports and all the rest. Kind of surprised ESPN never made a deal to show Sky Sports matches a few days later, but they also don't care about snooker or darts tournaments.
"Fat Yanks" and other nonsense. "Hit yourself in the balls." Go ahead. YOU hit yourself in the balls.
First point: fighters wear cups.
Second point: boxing rules saying "five minutes is enough" MEANS FIVE MINUTES IS ENOUGH.
And lastly, go through your memory, or YouTube, and see how many guys got cracked in the nuts and continued in under a MINUTE. That's in boxing and MMA both. Kahn was ready to quit instantly, and Virg let it happen.
If you're a Khan fan and disappointed fine. But the cup they wear and the five minute rule have been good enough for everyone. Except Amir Khan.
Is there a machine that measures punching power? Like the "hit the bell" or "strength-o-meter" thing at carnivals?
It would be interesting to have a heavy bag that can gauge the raw crash-power of a fist hitting it, and translate it into a number. Maybe Wilder is the strongest puncher that way. Maybe Foreman. Maybe Vlad or who knows, Butterbean with all that weight behind a punch.
Then you have power vs quickness, which would be Tyson. While Foreman practically was slow-bowling when he knocked out Moorer...CLUNK...Tyson was one of those "it's the punch you don't see that gets you" guys.
Foreman, Tyson...they still needed some timing and some aim, otherwise a fight goes the distance. Granted, only once has Wilder gone the distance, so it's hard to argue his creds for most powerful puncher.
i thought it was a corny and trash line.
Absolutely. People think he ad-libbed it?
This guy sits around for weeks writing this crap down. He's so corny AND obvious about it.
Unlike modest Al Bernstein, his partner Moron wants to be a star and call attention to himself.
That idiotic shout of "MAMA MIA" is older than his mama mia. It's a shame HBO is out and Showtime is in, because Lampley is so much classier than phony Mauro.
That’s kind of his job buddy. Play by play
Yes, he does that well. I'm not a big fan of over-bombastic announcing, but that part of Mauro is ok with me.
It's being a stand-up comic where he fails. Like when they hired Dennis Miller on "Monday Night Football."
Mauro tries way too hard. I think he spends a week before the fight jotting down "clever" remarks and puns, and then waits to spring them. That's annoying.
He also can't wait to spring that tired catch-phrase any time there's a ko: "Mama Mia!" That's not exactly "Let's Get Ready to Rumble" or even "Holy Cow."
There's a jerk doing NY Yankees broadcasts who has to end every victory with his "trademark" of "Thuuuuuuuh YANKEES WIN!" Makes people wish the Yankees would never win.
A catch-phrase should come naturally. So should quips. It seems Al Bernstein never laughs, but is merely tolerant when Mauro springs another prepared pun. And (one, two...) PUNishment belongs in the ring, not at ringside.
Maybe Tyson Fury can sing along to Bob Dylan's song "Hurricane."
There's that line about Hurricane Carter...
"And to the black folks he was just a crazy *******
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger..."
Why not. Fury already entered the ring singing "Crazy." Just add the n'word. Do it for the Wilder fighter after Deontay walks in with another of those black power rap songs. Shake the place up.
Next, he and Clarissa Shields can duet on the Lennon-Ono song "Woman is the ******* Of the World." Make a single out of it and sell it with the proceeds going to a worthy cause. The flip side has Tyson Fury singing another Lennon classic, amended slightly, "Give Ireland Back to the Gypsies."
Are we having fun yet?
Tyson was always strange, but wanting to be part of the latent H0m0sexual and total sicko S&M fantasy games of domination and submission in pro wrestling? Where guys in panties are always on their knees begging guys in tights to have mercy and stop beating them with chairs and boots? Then they take turns on role reversal? Where all the guys have steroid boobs? Last time I watched any of this idiocy was when I fast-forwarded to find out what the HELL Michael Che and Colin Jost were doing at one of those "Super Queer" events. Oh, being part of one of those gang bang tussles (last man standing wins a jockstrap or something). One of them was rolled out of the ring and the other very gently tossed out into the waiting arms of two burly fellows. Jeez, just when Mike seemed to have conquered his lisp....
Come on Miller, stop being a Big Baby about it. It's not about whether it's $7 million or $75 million.
It's about the next time the Saudis destroy office buildings or beloved national landmarks with planes, or gang up and slash a journalist to pieces in their own embassy and leave him dead for his fiance to bury.
When it happens, people will say, "But what about that Joshua-Diaz 2 fight! That was a GOOD ONE!!"
A memorable fight? Priceless!
- -All Jimmy did was run and stink from the beating Foreman gave him.
I remember Jimmy as having an "obnoxious" boxing style. That was the term Sean O'Grady used when calling Chris Byrd's fights. It was skillful, but not entertaining in the least.
Witherspoon lumped Usyk a bit, so imagine what somebody powerful and fast (like Joshua) would do. I think guys like Whyte or even Chisora would bull forward. I'm not sure how slick the guy really is. He fought a slow, gassed guy in Witherspoon and hasn't proved himself yet.
Time zones...it's always been that way with big bucks and TV. The Oscars show starts at 6pm from California which isn't glamorous, but it's already 9pm in New York.
In the radio era, shows were broadcast from NYC and most times, the performers would do it live at 8pm or 9pm and then go out to dinner and come back in three hours to do it live again, for the West Coast. But all they were doing was reading from a script they didn't even memorize.
I do feel bad when a Brit has to stay up and it's 3am or something, to see a fight thanks to screwy time zones. It's rarely the reverse. We can watch a late evening British match at a normal time. (A big problem in England though, is lousy bus and trains, so if I fight card drags, people have to leave to get that final bus or train before there ain't none).
A lot of times I don't bother watching live, and just get it off the Internet one way or another, a day later, and watch it when I feel like watching it.
he isnt getting no jail time for a first DUI and wreckless driving. Even a regular joe wouldnt and spence is rich and can afford good lawyers.
Probably true. If it's his first time, he gets a fine.
It may depend on how over-crowded the jails are where he is, and if some prosecutor wants to make a name for himself by insisting a celebrity do time and be made "an example."
It doesn't seem likely to go after someone who already did a lot of damage to himself and paid the price in pain.
He's a provocateur. Be opinionated, work people up, get people talking, and be somebody viewers "love to hate" and keep watching.
It worked for Howard Cosell, it works for Piers Morgan among others, and now Kellerman's almost a joke version of himself. He's even taken the joke from boxing into basketball and other sports (for which he has little expertise at all).
Remember where he came from? The AMATEURS. He wasn't a professional broadcaster. He didn't have vocal training. He turned up on a Manhattan TV Cable public access channel along with hundreds of other awkward, goofy-voiced odd-looking opinionated oddballs. Somebody was watching "MAX ON BOXING" and figured, "Hmm, this guy is enthusiastic. The "common guy" will relate to somebody who talks jerky and looks like he's had too much Red Bull. I bet he works CHEAP."
He was a college kid who majored in history, and he got lucky. Soon he replaced slow-talking Larry Merchant and once he became well-known he got to be more of an egomaniac and learned that being "controversial" was a good thing.
I agree, whatever he says, a good number of people will agree with. He's pretty savvy most of the time. He's also annoying without the humor and self-parody of a Cosell or Piers Morgan. He takes himself seriously. He got that scar on his lip from biting on an electrical cord when he was a kid. Now he's sparking controversy and having viewers bite their lips in aggravation.
Laila Ali looked pretty good back in the day.
https://i.ibb.co/GJ3nTcG/Screen-Shot-2019-10-02-at-4-44-37-PM.png
I think the UFC has the hotter ladies, although most of 'em don't look so hot while they're fighting. Give them a trowel, a ton of lipstick and make-up, a good hairstyle, push-up bra and the right lighting, and a few could get the cover of Penthouse. "The Karate Hottie" Michelle Waterson is one of 'em. Holly Holm. Valentina Shevchenko. Paige Van Zant.
After a fight some of them are pretty lumped up! For a woman with a crew-cut, Rosa Namajunas is pretty hot.
Of course there was an adult video star impersonating Ronda Rousey called "Ronda Arouseme."
Then again, put on fishnets and a bra, and Oscar De La Hoya didn't look bad either!
Hahaha can imagine kell brook doing a message "hello lass, in the red dress at bar 42 past Saturday. A lad called Big stiff John wants to tickle your fanny he do. Let him have a go that's a good lass."
:bigeyes:
I wonder why Amir Khan isn't on there, charging a few hundred quid. Surely the ladies would pay to hear him sing "Happy Birthday" to him? Or hear some sexy talk?
But Kell...yeah: "hello lass, you look so fine, just staring at you is causing me a broken orbital bone..."
Male fighter kisses female reporter and it's a big deal. Wacko in a thong and a truss-bra puts one on her little sis, and I guess being slapped for it is enough.
Yeah, what's Chisora going to do to top this? He's spit, he seems to like to wear knickers covering his face, and so a thong and a kiss would be next.
Wasn't it Charley Polite who did a mock-kiss at George Foreman? I don't think he actually made contact. George didn't get kissed, but Charley sure got fisted.
A would-be young boxer from Norway
Installed a speed bag in his doorway
He gave it a smack
It bounced and hit back
He sobbed, “Getting beat…that’s one more way!”
Odd isn't it. Maybe boxers don't like to share the spotlight, or want people to think there's a puppet-master of Svengali pulling the strings? If a trainer pulled a stunt like Angelo Dundee ("You're blowin' it, son,") he'd be out!
Ali and Ray Leonard didn't mind people pointing to Angelo Dundee, and there was also Gil Clancy, Lou Duva and Emanuel Steward.
It seemed that the more famous trainers had a whole stable of fighters.
Now, it's pretty rare to be able to name a trainer/manager. There are so many decent ones that a fighter doesn't look for the "star" who trained a big name fighter? There are more gyms? Or, are fighters smarter, watch more boxing tapes, and don't need a high profile guy yelling at them or pep-talking between rounds?
Fury has gone rogue. His ho-mo phobic, misogynistic, jew baiting beliefs and his drug dealing uncles and ex-con father mean nothing to him now. Its all about mom and apple pies and trying to shaft the yanks out of much money as possible.
True. He's re-invented himself, borrowing from "Rocky" movies for costumes and American pro-wrestlers for face-making. He's losing his British accent and in time he might talk more like Paulie Malignaggi.
We have the best food in the world, bar none.
Lol. And much more of it!
But if Fury's taste buds were rattled by everyone from blown-up cruiserweight Steve Cunningham to Wladimir Klitschko, I guess he could end up weighing 400 pounds while eating blood pudding, savaloys, kippers, chip butties and a whole lotta Yorkie Bars.
"It's not for girls" the Yorkie ads used to say. (Girls can eat Snickers bars and keep a spare in their knickers).
Lol what does his nationality have to do with it?
He's Irish as well.
Possibly US citizen as well .
Woo hoo.
The guy calls himself "The Gypsy King." Not Mr. Manchester. Not "The British Bomber" or anything else. He's proud of identifying himself as part of the roving ignorant criminal element of the world, who have no morals and are proud of it.
Depending on what part of Ireland he's from, he might resent being considered "British" at all.
Lately he's been acting like an American, wearing the stars and stripes, and his accent doesn't have that much lime to it.
So why wave the flag? It's like the Brits who root for some footballer who spends most of his time in Africa or Spain and is just a mercenary who will wear the uniform of any team who pays him. Same deal with an American baseball player who doesn't even live in the city he plays for.
Fury might run into an Andy Ruiz who can get inside and weaken him, then land a looping punch. He might run into a Wilder punch a lot sooner and NOT get up. EVER.
Fury has improved greatly. He did well with an aging Vlad, and was slick against Wilder who is not known for great boxing skills. He's one of the best in his division. No need for ethnic trolling.
Yes, I'll never forget that Steve dropped Fury.
Too bad he couldn't finish him, and was exhausted with Fury hanging all over him and smothering him.
Steve was an excellent boxer, with quite a back story in his personal life.
Sure, Fury came back to win, and he's a much slicker and more confident fighter now, but you can't take nothin' away from Steve.
I mean, people still babble about Chuck Wepner because he stepped on Ali's foot and that's still on the record as a knock down. Steve has a legit bit of history, as well as a good rep from those who know the sport.
Actually believe it or not there’s been Puerto Rican’s walking in with Mexican flags Wilfredo Vasquez sr and Jr both would walk in with Mexican flags on their shorts. Theirs been others too, despite the rivalry a lot PR fighters have love for Mexico it’s usually the dumbass fans that take it to a stupid level.
Yes, the dumbass fans go nuts, but they're encouraged, since boxing is so much about ethnic rivalry. I guess Wilfredo was trying to show respect and sportsmanship.
Pandering a little is ok. Fighting on foreign soil, boxers may stress in pre-fight interviews how much they LOVE visiting the country and seeing the sights, smiling, posing for pictures, and saying "the people have been so nice to me."
But Fury's act was so over the top and so obvious. I get it, of course. England is the size of New York state. America has 50 states and is big bucks and big publicity. Fury seems to be working on losing any trace of British accent, too. He sure doesn't sound like Lennox Lewis, or like The Beatles when they came to America. Everybody knew those guys were from Liverpool, and proud of it. Fury's "The Gypsy King?" Now, sing Mr. Costello, "he thought he was the King of America, where they pour Coca Cola just like vintage wine..."
He’s got the mental illness depression not in my right mind I found god card to play.
21, right there. Ace and King of Clubs. Two very good cards to play.
"I was in a bad place at the time, and all praise to Jesus. And, say, how about that Baptist Church group that goes around saying GOD HATES F.....oh, my bad. Bu we all know it's true."
If you've got a personality, whether you're Reagan or Trump or Mel Gibson or Tyson Fury, and you can smile and give the public what they want, all is forgiven. If Tyson Fury was just a D-level boxer, or a D-list actor, he'd be done.
An "inconvenient truth," is that when the target is a minority group that most people wish would go away, all a bigot or racist gets is a slap on the wrist.
Louis Farrakhan spent 50 years hurling slurs at Jews. No problem. Tyson Fury went on an antisemitic binge and repeated that comfy lie that the Jews own all the banks and control everything. Nobody got too bothered. If the Jews really did control the media he would've never have been heard from again.
Somebody with less Teflon disappears forever, resigning from the Senate, never making another movie, and living with the famous last words, "you'll NEVER work again."
you can bet some dirty and crooked sort of things are going to go down. This is Saudi Arabia after all.
If they don't like the decision or bet on the wrong guy, they'll have a few planes crash into the ring.
But if things go well, they will be magnanimous, and invite both fighters to watch some ritual female circumcisions and roast some marshmallows on a burned out Christian Church.
Refs can make a difference. It seems the more powerful the fighter, the more they can dictate who will or won't referee.
Some refs are known for letting the fighters go, and also not stopping a fight early. I think Carlos Padilla was one of those.
Others were known to be intrusive. Oddly Richard Steele was both. He'd keep shouting 'Punch and get out' but he'd break fighters, stop fights early. Joey Curtis was booed in the ring every time he was introduced because he stopped a fight way too early, and never lived it down.
Then you have the guys who never had a chance to live something down -- Mitch Halpern who seemed like a very good referee, and Richard Green. Some say their suicides were over guilt at not stopping a fight fast enough.
Mills Lane seemed like a good referee, as was Frank Cappucino, but sometimes it's the fighters who can make a ref look bad, by not following instructions, daring a ref to take a point, or engaging in a lot of semi-legal holding. Ali was always holding behind the head and a ref wouldn't do much about it.
Every ref is bound to have a fight that is controversial. Jack's "long count" on Tyson Fury after Wilder decked him, was questionable, but he's put together so many good fights (many where he simply stayed far away and was invisible) that he's still regarded as one of the best today.
PS, a ref shouldn't try to become famous with a catch-phrase. That goes for Joe "I'm Firm But I'm Fair" Cortez. It was a bit weird when Mills Lane autographed a photo for me and added "Let's Get It On!"