Masians, have you heard the recent rumors that Josh Clottey vs. Paul Williams looks like a make for November 29th? People, people, I think we have our welterweight appetizer for whatever becomes of Margs and Cotto in ‘09.
Man, I LOVE a PWill/Clottey fight, just love it, and it works well in the general scheme of the welterweights right now. Both of these guys have a legit claim on Margarito’s attentions – Williams, of course, because he beat him, but Clottey too because of their December ‘06 fight in which Clottey was blowing Margs away on the scorecards before suffering a hand injury.
Is it fair that both of these guys have to wait their turn while both Margarito and Cotto work their way towards what seems now to be an inevitable rematch next summer? Maybe not, although given the greatness of Margs/Cotto I, I don’t think anyone is complaining that the second installment is taking precedence over everything else out there. And the rationale for that is obvious. In the absence of a massive payday with Oscar or Floyd, Margarito and Cotto fighting each other again is the biggest event that can be made out there for either man, and so dangerous guys like Williams and Clottey are just not going to get their turn at bat until that Margarito/Cotto II check gets cashed all around. Dollars and sense, etc., etc.
(No Masians, I confess that though I’ve been swamped of late, I possibly could have gotten around to posting something in the last week or so if I hadn’t been so enamored of seeing little Reggie Large in his Philly Phanatic onesie at the top of the page. But all things must pass. I promise that I will be back in the game in time to offer some thoughts on Mosley/Mayorga and Berto/Forbes in the next few days. In the meantime, bask in the glow of the almighty Bag and his favorite underwear model – L.)
Oh the sins of Kevin Keegan. He once launched a hair craze that still haunts a wide variety of 1970s British soccer stars, threw his Liverpool jersey onto the sacred Wembley sod after being sent off in a Charity Shield game, and had his photo taken kissing Margaret Thatcher outside 10 Downing Street. The soccer Gods’ can’t easily forget such offenses: and Keegan’s ill-fated second managerial spell with Newcastle United may have been his penance. But if you think ‘King Kev’s†had a rough go of it lately, spare a thought for Xie Yalong.
Xie is the chairman of the Chinese Football Association. It was reported last week that he has taken leave from his job to attend government management school. While his counterparts across the spectrum of Olympic sports are basking in the glow of enough gold to fill King Solomon’s Mines, continuing education beckons for Xie , or more likely, re-education.
As any first-class flying, five-star hotel staying, lobster dining, sponsors glad-handing, soccer apparatchik will tell you: ‘No Administrator Left Behind†is a program that every FIFA member country should enthusiastically endorse. But what should the standard curriculum be?
I would like to extend congratulations to my esteemed colleague, David “Large” Larzelere, and his lovely wife Nicole on the birth of Reginald Larzelere aka “Reggie Large”. I would also like to extend congratulations to both of them on the name Reginald. My two boon companions Large and Bud Schmeling, proprietor of Black Betty, both had their first children within weeks of each other. First Schmeling set the bar high by throwing Maximo (Max Schmeling) down on the birth certificate, then Large drops the A-Bomb of Reggie. Fellas, the pressure is on I-Berg big time. So right now I just want to let the world know that my first masculine child will be named Oscar in tribute to both Gamble and Madison. Don’t anyone go trying to Bogart my moniker.
With that said, Large is going to be on paternity leave for an unknown period of time. Right now he’s busy taping Reggie’s right hand behind his back so he can work on his lefty swing. In the meantime even though I am, as always, days late and dollars short, I do want to ask if anyone else noticed while Juan Diaz was dissecting Michael Katsidis, a certain resemblance between Katsidis cornerman Brendon Smith and Murray from “Flight of the Concords”.
During several round breaks as Smith doled out his insights and tips–”Michael you’re fighting a lovely fight. You’re looking fabulous in there. Keep up the great work.”–I actually wondered if HBO had staged some kind of cross-promotion where they actually put Murray in with Katsidis for a “Flight of the Cornermen” sort of thing.
This is the kind of boxing insight you can expect with Large laid up, so hopefully he finishes Reggie’s lefty drills soon and gets back on the stick.
