Excellent piece on Oscar de la Hoya

[Mr. Ryan]

Here is a piece written by Eric Raskin, formerly of Ring Magazine. It's pretty interesting reading Raskin's interpretations of certain de la Hoya quotes.

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/columns/story?columnist=raskin_eric&id=3381087

[Feint]

I don't know much about Mr. Raskin but frankly his article came off as bitter. Everyone has a right to his or her opinion but when you write with that much venom I think it takes credibility away from your opinion.

[warp1432]

Raskin still writes for the ring and in my opinion is a horrible writer.

[2501]

i dont care if Oscar has an excellent piece. even if it is tanned.

[Mr. Ryan]

I don't know much about Mr. Raskin but frankly his article came off as bitter. Everyone has a right to his or her opinion but when you write with that much venom I think it takes credibility away from your opinion.

I think there is plenty of room for cynicism in journalism. Raskin is coming from the perspective that de la Hoya is a businessman and knows how to talk. He knows what people want to hear and knows that more or less the people buy into him.

Raskin was simply giving his own interpretations of what he was saying. Nothing more, nothing less than what you'd see on FoxNews or MSNBC.

[Mr. Ryan]

Raskin still writes for the ring and in my opinion is a horrible writer.

You don't think he's entertaining? He's different from most of the humdrum opinioners that you see out there.

[warp1432]

No I don't. He's clever in the way he does things, but when making points, he's horrible at doing so. Or atleast when about Floyd anyway. I remember reading that long article on ESPN and the points he made were garbage.

And then the Cotto-Margarito article on The Ring's main page is pretty bad too.

[Mr. Ryan]

No I don't. He's clever in the way he does things, but when making points, he's horrible at doing so. Or atleast when about Floyd anyway. I remember reading that long article on ESPN and the points he made were garbage.

And then the Cotto-Margarito article on The Ring's main page is pretty bad too.

I can agree to disagree. I always enjoyed his work at The Ring, but his online columns can be a bit scathing. I always believed in HL Mencken's philosophy, "The job of the columnist is to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable." Raskin may feel that de la Hoya is phony, which is an opinion expressed by many, just not as loudly.

If a columnist refuses to take shots at the biggest fish in the ocean, what good is he?

[warp1432]

I agree and I have no problem with him taking shots at Floyd or at Oscar, but atleast try to make valid points.
He seems to have done this with the oscar translation, but sometimes he just sucks. Like this for example:

It’s funny how things work out sometimes. Margarito could have fought Cotto last summer, but he opted to fight Williams instead (we’d say he “ducked” Cotto, but how can you call it ducking when you willingly take on an undefeated 6'1" southpaw?), lost a close decision, and here we are a year later and Cotto-Margarito is far hotter than it would have been in ’07. In part, it’s hotter because the 30-year-old Margarito has scored two demolitions since the Williams fight, an academic first-round blowout of Golden Johnson on the Cotto-Mosley undercard and then the win over Cintron, a vicious puncher whose only two defeats have come at the hands of Margarito.

Let's not bull**** around here. Margarito only backed out of a Cotto fight was because Goosen Tutor offered Margarito a career high payday.



Then he goes to say how Golden Johnson was an academic breakdown. How? Did he really school him? He just went out there and blitzed him. Not to mention how a second knockout victory of The Legendary Kermit Cinton seems to knock his socks off. I'll give Margarito credit for beating Cintron again (no suprise though) since Cintron called for it.

However if Floyd backed out of a fight with Cotto to fight Paul Williams (who was unkwown at the time), Raskin would be all over that. If Floyd knocks out Ricky Hatton again (this fight should never ever happen) Raskin won't give credit for it.

http://thering-online.com/ringpages/readastory1.html

You can tell in this whole article Raskin believes that Floyd is ducking Cotto and Margarito, not just waiting for the perfect moment. He does a good job of playing both sides, but it's obvious.

edit: Oh and this

In his first 12 months at 147 pounds, Cotto defeated Carlos Quintana, Zab Judah, and Shane Mosley, three men still ranked among The Ring’s top six contenders in boxing’s deepest division, even after losing to Cotto. Margarito’s resume glitters a bit less, but in going 3-1 against Paul Williams, Kermit Cintron, and Joshua Clottey—three dangerous welterweights who’ve also claimed at one time or another to be the victim of ducking—he’s shown fearlessness of the highest order

He's shown fearlessness of the highest order? More like getting the highest pay day out there avaliable...

[Scott9945]

I can agree to disagree. I always enjoyed his work at The Ring, but his online columns can be a bit scathing. I always believed in HL Mencken's philosophy, "The job of the columnist is to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable." Raskin may feel that de la Hoya is phony, which is an opinion expressed by many, just not as loudly.

If a columnist refuses to take shots at the biggest fish in the ocean, what good is he?

Raskin is a very good boxing writer, one of the best. He is right on the money concerning The Golden Phony.