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“Can neglect defense.”
Three words summarized the in-ring philosophy of Jason Litzau, Jose Andres Hernandez, Edison Miranda and Willie Gibbs, the same three words that made Saturday a promising night for viewers of HBO’s Boxing After Dark.
All year, the network had promised that Boxing After Dark would return to its roots, back to the combustible matchmaking that defined the franchise and made stars out of Arturo Gatti and Marco Antonio Barrera. Instead – sometimes incidentally, sometimes intentionally – the show degenerated into bouts that were either aesthetically displeasing or blatant showcases.
For every Jhonny Gonzalez-Fernando Montiel or Acelino Freitas-Zahir Raheem that went from potentially exciting to dreadfully sleep-inducing, there were match-ups like Paul Williams-Sharmba Mitchell and Andre Ward-Andy Kolle that got airtime just to help HBO fulfill its slogan of “building legends one round at a time.”
Though fights like Gonzalez-Montiel and Freitas-Raheem could be forgiven as products of circumstance, those in the blueprint of Williams-Mitchell and Ward-Kolle were both offensive and indefensible. This was not the series that had been meant to simultaneously break ground and faces.
Fans should give thanks for the holiday season.
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, Juan Manuel Marquez and Jimrex Jaca collaborated for nine rounds that improved the statures of each combatant. And this past weekend, viewers tore open the wrapping paper, exuberantly encouraged by HBO commentator Max Kellerman’s describing all four of Saturday’s contestants with three simple words: [details]
Three words summarized the in-ring philosophy of Jason Litzau, Jose Andres Hernandez, Edison Miranda and Willie Gibbs, the same three words that made Saturday a promising night for viewers of HBO’s Boxing After Dark.
All year, the network had promised that Boxing After Dark would return to its roots, back to the combustible matchmaking that defined the franchise and made stars out of Arturo Gatti and Marco Antonio Barrera. Instead – sometimes incidentally, sometimes intentionally – the show degenerated into bouts that were either aesthetically displeasing or blatant showcases.
For every Jhonny Gonzalez-Fernando Montiel or Acelino Freitas-Zahir Raheem that went from potentially exciting to dreadfully sleep-inducing, there were match-ups like Paul Williams-Sharmba Mitchell and Andre Ward-Andy Kolle that got airtime just to help HBO fulfill its slogan of “building legends one round at a time.”
Though fights like Gonzalez-Montiel and Freitas-Raheem could be forgiven as products of circumstance, those in the blueprint of Williams-Mitchell and Ward-Kolle were both offensive and indefensible. This was not the series that had been meant to simultaneously break ground and faces.
Fans should give thanks for the holiday season.
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, Juan Manuel Marquez and Jimrex Jaca collaborated for nine rounds that improved the statures of each combatant. And this past weekend, viewers tore open the wrapping paper, exuberantly encouraged by HBO commentator Max Kellerman’s describing all four of Saturday’s contestants with three simple words: [details]