Eye Candy
Two things happened tonight to make a run-of-the-mill fight marginally interesting: Joe Calzaghe stepped into a forearm to the bridge of his nose, and Roy Jones suffered a nastyass cut over his left eye.
Calzaghe going down in the first round certainly spiced things up a little, and, at least briefly, gave him something to think about in there when otherwise there might have been precious little to trouble his mind. Even after the fight, when Kellerman showed him the replay of the knockdown, I don’t think Joe realized that he had been hit by the heavily taped part of Roy’s arm and not his glove, a blow that I imagine felt more like getting billyclubbed on the nose than getting hit with a punch. This, I think, gave Calzaghe a healthier respect for Jones’ power than was deserved. He figured out by the third round or so that Jones couldn’t hurt him (where the fuck, I imagine him thinking, did that one punch come from?), but until then it made for some drama as Calzaghe went into matador-mode and gave off the atmosphere of courageously weaving in and out of Roy’s potentially damaging artillery to land his shoeshine combinations. For a glimmer, the last 30 seconds of the first round and the first 60 of the second, the evening had some urgency.
That was all gone by the third to my eyes as things settled into a predictably dull pattern. Roy is startlingly stationary nowadays and Calzaghe is very difficult to hit, and the combination of those two things made it feel to me like the fight was over by about midway through the fourth round. I gave Joe rounds two through five easily, then I gave Roy round six based on a single punch, an uppercut right that was the best shot that he landed (with a glove) all night. With the same impressive beard that ate some crushing uppercuts from Mikkel Kessler, Calzaghe took it without much angst, but in a round in which little else of consequence happened, I thought it was enough to carry the sixth for Jones.
That was the only other round I gave to Roy other than the 10-8 first, and based on the scorecards, none of the judges agreed with me, because they all had Calzaghe winning eleven rounds to one. Certainly, Roy didn’t win anything after the sixth, because in the seventh he got cut, an ugly gash that was the result of a perfect Calzaghe one-two, the two being one of the few really memorable shots of Joe’s evening. Compounded by his corner’s seeming ignorance of modern coagulants, from that point on Roy’s claret flowed plentifully, which gave the older man a courageous air of perseverance that I’m not sure he deserved.
There was much talk by the announcers in the later rounds that maybe the fight should be stopped because Jones was taking such a beating in there. I didn’t see it, myself. I saw a man with a bad cut bleeding a shitload and mostly covering up, throwing one counter at a time while absorbing a lot of ineffectual combinations on his hands and arms from a guy who more often than not punches with his gloves open and rarely sits down on his shots. I don’t think, but for a few direct hits (the left that opened the gash, certainly, and a handful of body punches), that Roy took much punishment at all in there. Calzaghe simply doesn’t hit that hard, and what’s more, once Roy was bleeding and the fight was clearly in the bank, I thought Joe took his foot off the gas a little and coasted with his shimmy-shake Captain Slappy routine.
For me, things got really boring at that stage. Again the announcers seemed amazed at Calzaghe’s bravado in keeping his hands down as he stalked Roy, as if that was proof of his massive cojones, but Christ, that’s how he always fights no matter the situation, not to mention that Roy was not exactly the image of danger in there. Calzaghe is great with his upper body and he slips punches better than anyone in the game right now – it’s the most impressive thing that he does. Couple that with the fact that Roy is nowhere near as fast as he was at his best and it just didn’t seem to me that Calzaghe was risking too much with his hands-down approach.
In short, I thought the fight sucked. Calzaghe got caught with a freak shot that made it briefly interesting to start, and then Roy got a bad cut and bled like a stuck pig, which made it briefly interesting in the middle. Other than that, it was exactly what I expected, a useless, joyless sparring session that proved absolutely nothing to me about either man. Honestly, I hope they both retire, because neither of them interests me in the least anymore.
On that score, however, let me finish up by asking… does Max Kellerman own a piece of Chad Dawson or what? Sheesh. Why exactly does he feel that Dawson has such a convincing mandate to fight Calzaghe right now? Because he decisioned Antonio Tarver, who is completely shot? Or is it because Dawson lost, or at the very least drew, with 39-year-old Glen Johnson? I almost (almost) want Calzaghe to fight Chad Dawson now because I think there’s a very good chance that it would be Jeff Lacy redux, especially having seen how Dawson responded to a pressure fighter of Johnson’s caliber. Honestly, though, to my mind, the toughest fight out there for Calzaghe should he decide to fight on is none other than… Glen Johnson. Not that it would ever happen in a million years, but something about a Johnson/Calzaghe matchup makes me think of a light heavyweight Margarito/Cotto. Johnson is a big 175, strong as an ox and he takes a licking and keeps on sticking. I’m not sure that even Slappy Joe could slap his way out of that one. Of course, even if it did happen and even if Johnson kicked Calzaghe’s ass all over the ring, he wouldn’t get the decision, so maybe it’s for the best that it’s not even a remote possibility.
November 9th, 2008 at 9:55 am
If Joe wants to break the bank a rematch with a reborn “X” would be the ticket. Maybe in Cardiff.
November 9th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
I think Joe should fight one more time. Put together one more show for his hometown fans. I know his undefeated record is important to him but I think at this point his legacy is sealed regardless. A rematch with X would be great, even if the outcome is obvious.
You also hit it on the button with Dawson/Johnson. I wouldn’t call it a robbery, but I thought Johnson beat Dawson by 2 points. A rematch between those two is more important to the division than a match with Joe. Personally, I think Joe gives a humiliating beaten to Bad Chad.
November 9th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Man Large, you remeber the tennis-show-matches with henri leconte and that crazy arab/indian (?). Minus the Cut that fight looked like that to me. Joe was satisfied to showboat and flurry and yeah, he embarassed RJJ with that.. still shit. He stepped of the gas after 9, but what really made me wonder, in Rounds 3-5 he hit RJJ with around 500 clean bodyshots and RJJ didn’t seem to bother, it was crazy.
@Gene: I see him coming back for one more in England/Wales. Just not sure, who his opponent will be. Another stinker against Hopkins? Not sure.. on the other side, Dawson won’t make him much money, and I’m not sure, if the kids style fits Joe, Dawson is really fast.
ONe things for sure: He bites himself into his big welsh ass for not fighting Pavlik and then finishing with RJJ in Wales.
November 9th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Nice call on the Abraham-Marquez fight, Trick.
So yeah, this one pretty much blew. Add to that yet another bullshit performance from Zab “9,000 Lives” Judah on the undercard and it made for another really bad PPV card.
But on a positive note, it looks like Margarito-Mosley is close to a done deal and it’s gonna be on regular HBO, not PPV.
November 10th, 2008 at 12:14 am
No doubt Ryan about margs/mosley – I said the same thing in my Friday boxing notes over at the sporting blog – that fight on free HBO makes up for this weekend’s abomination. Tony and Shane is definitely a fight I need to be ringside for.
November 10th, 2008 at 12:43 am
I mean I get it all, but then I don’t. Your Death-in-the-Afternoon-ing Torerazo post is one of the best things I’ve read on this site–that be some really tight writing, Mr. Large–and, hard as it is to believe, that was only a year ago, almost to the day. What else did you want Joe to do over the last year? If he needs to retire it is not because he is no longer interesting, but rather because there are no interesting fights for him, right? As you suggest, he would destroy Dawson, and then what else is there?
He fights even with Hopkins then cleans Roy’s clock, and now we want to dis-miss his game because it’s not Margarito’s? Again, I realize that it’s a bummer to see Roy all scared and covered in blood (and Calzaghe seemed to realize this too as the fight wore on and he cut down on his RJJ-aping showboating stuff and started to just spar), but do we really need to rip this fight pre and post, all the while tiredly lamenting how goofed up big-money boxing is? Is any of this really all that new? Just seems worn to me.
November 10th, 2008 at 10:12 am
I can see where Tinns is coming from. There really isn’t anyone out there for Joe to fight right now. I think that is a testament to how good Joe really is. Glen Johnson would probably be the most competitive match-up out there, but we all know that ain’t happening.
November 10th, 2008 at 10:57 am
I feel you Tinns, and you make a good point. My main mistake is not to make it clear that I admire Calzaghe’s career and think that he’s a great fighter. There were even flashes of what makes him so exciting in a real fight in the Roy debacle, those ninety seconds or so of urgency in the first two rounds where the torerazo vibe was high, a vibe that only dissipated when it became clear that this was not much of a bull he was in there with, unlike Kessler, of course, who was a terrifying bull and then some.
If Calzaghe chooses to fight Dawson, I’d admire him for it, but I really don’t see it happening, because I think Joe wants to keep that “0″ and is only interested now in big-money low-risk affairs. Admittedly, I have soured on Calzag because of his choice of his last two fights, and particularly this fight. If he really cared about proving himself the best of the best he would have fought (and exposed, perhaps) Pavlik. I guess I should give him a pass for wanting to get that money, but Pavlik would have been a money fight against a guy who would be moving up in weight. It seems hard to believe in retrospect, but Calzaghe ducked Pavlik – there’s no other explanation – to take a joke of a bout with Roy that we’re all supposed to pretend is a legit event.
It always pains me when guys who are still viable fighters take that route. And when that route ends up with such a useless fight as a completely shot Roy Jones who despite three flaccid previous fights against subpar talent nevertheless garners the 24/7 hype machine and a $50 PPV pricetag, well, I feel like it’s my duty as a fan and a critic to hate on it hard. And keep in mind, I’m not hating on the sport too generally here, because I know this is how it is sometimes with boxing, and we go from this to the news of Margs/Mosley on regular HBO in January, from the ridiculous to the sublime. That said, Calzaghe/Jones is the worst PPV I can think of in a long time, worse even to my mind than Jones/Trinidad, because that bout was a sideshow, it was what it was, and if you were such a big fan of either guy that you’d pay to see them take a dump, well, you knew what you were getting into.
This thing, however, was different. This was what Calzaghe chose as his likely swan song, and so I confess, I’m not much in a mood to cover him with praise at the moment.
November 10th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Calzaghe really wants to impress me, he should fight King Arthur at 168. Be a stadium filler over there, and would be one HELL of a matador/bull affair.
November 10th, 2008 at 11:49 am
What the hell is wrong with Salita?
November 10th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Large, do you think there’s actually a chance of Calzaghe-Abraham going down?
November 10th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
@UM: Not that I’m Large, but from a european/german point of view, it is pretty safe to say: IN NO FUCKING WAY. Abraham still fights and plans at 160. He has a big fight with Sturm cooking and would rather fight Pavlik or Wright in the US, than Joe.
Gotta say, Calzaghe is pretty unknown here in Germany (they didn’t even show the RJJ fight over here). No way AA moves up to 175 (and Joe stated again and again, that he won’t go back to 168).
Also, I’m not sure AA vs. Joe would be Bull/Matador cuz AA is not your typical Bull. He doesn’t come forward, fights in spurts and likes to hide behind his high guard. It would be a difficult fight for Joe, no doubt about it.
Something differnt: Whats your take on that Kessler-Hopkins talk? Wouldn’t that be a GREAT fight?
November 10th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
UM – no, no chance of an Abraham/Clazag fight, for all the reasons that Trickster says. He knows more than me too about the climate over there – I tend to think of all european fighters being huge in Europe, but if Calzag is a minor figure in Germany, than Abraham is probably not a stadium-filler in Wales. I do think it would be a hot fight, though. Weight-wise they’re not too far apart. AA would be comfortable at 168, and he’s got speed and power to make Calzag work. I’d like to see it, but can’t imagine it happening.
Can’t really imagine Calzaghe fighting again given what’s available. He’s proved to us that he wants the big-name PPV bouts or nothing, and in that Pavlik’s stock is lower than General Motors right now, there’s no other PPV fights out there for him near his weight class. Calzaghe/Dawson is really not a big event type of bout, and in that Dawson is definitely a risk, I can’t see it going down.
Kessler-Hopkins- don’t see Bernard taking that fight. Talk about nowhere – Kessler is NOWHERE in the U.S. except to real hardcore boxing guys, of which there are precious few left over here. That just won’t happen. But I’d be interested. Kessler is dangerous and mobile enough that it probably would be kind of wack, with Bernard resorting to his bag of tricks to get the win and Kessler never quite being able to land a solid shot. But I’d like to see Kessler get some traction over here, and look, after what Bernard did to Pavlik, you can’t help but be interested in whoever he fights next.
I confess that I have a bad feeling that the Bernard/Roy thing might go down as planned even after the Calzaghe loss. Where else does Roy go, and as for Bernard, the same non-fights are staring him in the face that Calzaghe is looking at. What with the long media speculation about Bernard and Roy, I think they might just go ahead and do it. Be a good night for Bernard – I think he’d kill Roy right now.
November 10th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
As for Salita, UM, what is there to say? Great story, great guy, but he’s just not a big-time fighter. I think most people have known that about him for a while.
I’m curious to ask Kurt if there’s ever been any consideration of Salita fighting Malignaggi. Could that happen if Paulie loses to Hatton?
November 10th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
One last thing – I wouldn’t be surprised if Bernard decides to fight Dawson. He’s bold, Ex, and right now he’s full of himself. It seems like the kind of thing he might do – “oh, you all scared of this young’un? well I ain’t scared of sheeeeee-it…”
November 10th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
1. I honestly believe Roy could have won in the first round, and it wouldn’t have been because he hurt Calzaghe. All he had to do was throw a barage of punches and not let up, a la Calzaghe-Manfredo Jr. But for whatever reason, Roy got cocky and started to dance and not punch. I am a huge Roy Jones fan, and it hurt to see the guy lose, especially when he could have stolen the fight in the first round.
2. Calzaghe has to fight one more time. And it has to be against B-Hop. I don’t give a shit about Jeff Lacy although I do give him credit for his win against Kessler. But does that win truly solidify his place in Boxing History. His truly biggest win was a hand-me-down from the judges against Bernard Hopkins. I really do not understand how people say he has nothing left to prove when most people would agree that Bernard Hopkins won their fight.
3. Chad Dawson is good but Calzaghe would be wasting his time with that fight. No one really wants to see it. B-Hop please!
November 11th, 2008 at 12:35 am
Thanks, Large. I know the subject under discussion around here is most often the present event, and rightly so. And I know that me and my boys flush a lot of 50 bones’ down the drain every year, which is highly frustrating. (I always compare That Side of boxing with the fucked-uppedness of NBA refereeing: viz. at the end of the day it is all just impossible to defend and eventually becomes pretty embarrassing for the avid fan.) I don’t really have that much of a problem with anyone pointing out for the nth time that lots of HBO PPV is bullshit (and you’re definitely right that the 24/7 joke piled the bullshit up to new heights); I guess I was just surprised at how hard and how often you came down on the “debacle”. Hangover from the BHop/Calzaghe all-around wackness maybe lingering over all this too?
Any who, I’m off to Molitor-Caballero in a week and a half to watch about as pure and BS-free a match as can be set up, all things considered (good seats too, Kopper!). So all this business above is already a distant memory for me.
November 11th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
oh my god !!
November 11th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
[...] I mentioned in my recap over at No Mas, the fact that Roy knocked Calzaghe down in the first round on a freak punch gave many the mistaken [...]
November 12th, 2008 at 12:33 am
Calzaghe must have fucked my wife in a past life or something, b/c I can’t stand that fucker at all. I’m not a B-Hop fan and I rooted for him like he was related to me (well, even more than Demetrius would root for him). I told everybody after he beat Lacy that Lacy wasn’t shit. Like I said, I just don’t like him at all. That being said, I’m not sure that Chad would stand much of a chance against him…and Pavlik can’t fight at a higher weight, so who else is left besides Chad or Bernard again?
As for Roy, it was sad. He was my favorite fighter from high school on and watching him go out like that was pretty sad. I hope he calls it a career and resists the urge to fight Bernard. I think there’s no way in hell he beats Bernard anymore…fighters are always the last ones to realize that they’re shot.
November 12th, 2008 at 11:01 am
I knew this fight was over when Roy asked the ref (fucking canadians) about the standing 8 count, essentially saying “hey I plan to cover up early and often”. Could there be a worse strategy…? Did Roy really expect to win the fight without throwing punches…? I admit that would be quite impresive but uh…never heard of that “strategy” winning a fight. It almost seemed he didnt throw because he was afraid to miss. Now I have read hes partially blaming his cutman and his lack of experience dealing with cuts (because “i aint never been cut man”) and that he would be willing to go over to Wales to fight him (this time he will bring a better cutman…thats his secret weapon?) and he will easily beat him, now Large has stated he didnt get hurt in the but I think statements like that prove he suffered some brain damage.
November 12th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
couple of things….salita vs paulie? yeah if paulie loses it could happen…but paulie would embarrass that kid…paulie is in another class
i dunno if that punch roy landed was legit or bone on bone..whatever…but joe looked legitimately hurt to me
sorry…i just cant stand to give joe calzaghe any props…the sad part is…he seems to be a pretty cool/likeable enough guy….i just think he and his father are so delusional about his standing as one of the greatest ever…like they actually believe it…the guy spends years dominating nobodies in an obscsure division….i dunno…i guess some here are still impressed by him beating kessler on his own turf…yeah kessler is a young well built guy who is pretty technical and has some decent power…i dunno…i just dont trust a guy whos own promoter intentionally lost his last purse bid so he didnt have to pay for the hausler fight because he knew it was complete garbage and unneccessary…maybe after JT whoops lacy joe can claim again how he ruined the great jeff lacy…lolol…and joe can claim again how he was the underdog(even with his hometown bookmakers) against lacy and he rose to such a great occasion…lol…i dunno…the guy must hit roy with about 500 body shots…and i dont think i saw roy wince once….joe style is really annoying…you lead with a right…and he lunges in and grabs….he leads and you actually try to box and he goes downstairs with a flurry of 12 feathers and acts like hes some fuckin wiz
November 13th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Unrelated but it is a dark day for the sport.
Holyfield is going to fight for the WBA title. Can you believe that shit?
WTF?
November 14th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Tinns,
Where are your seats?
I’m counting down the days. Just over a week now!
I’ve followed boxing since I was in junior high (I’m 25 now), and in that time have never seen as much as a sparring session in person. Next Friday that finally changes.
It’s ridiculous how Vegas holds a monopoly on most big fights. Spreading the wealth around and bringing championship fights to locales not typically on the boxing radar is one of the many things the fight game should learn from UFC.
But that’s neither here nor there. A unification fight in my own backyard. Never thought I’d see the day.
Who you got?
November 14th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Woof – no love for my boy Salita on here!!! Ouch!!! I haven’t seen the replay of the fight yet but I heard that Max K. was killing him. If anything, I think this fight was a wakeup call for Dmitriy. He’s heard the criticism of his performance (and his opponent) and he’s looking to step up with either a fight with Edgar Santana or if we can get Kotelnik – a title shot.
Large – there has been talk about a fight between Paulie and Dmitriy for a long time. I was hoping to do it when one of them had a belt – but since neither do now – I’d make it in a heartbeat. They are friends but know that they can make some money so they’d do it. I agree that Paulie would be a heavy favorite – he’s been in with a much better class of fighter. But I’m not giving up on Dmitriy, I’ve gotten him to the no. 1 spot in the WBA and though he may not be the second coming of Sugar Ray Robinson – he has heart and I think he’ll show his true ability when he has to. He’s gotten a little too comfortable with the limited opposition and I think he fights down to it at times. We’ll see in the coming year as he’ll have to step it up.
November 14th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
I would bet on Dimitriy to surprise Paulie. If you don’t have tremendous knockout power or ridiculous speed (which Dimitriy doesn’t) I think it becomes difficult to look great against low level to mediocre opponents. While I do think and have said that its long past time for Dimitriy to step up, Dimitriy would say he’s been trying to do that for quite some time and there have been a lot of different kinds of road blocks in his way. Until Paulie took on Cotto, I think you would have found a lot more people saying these two are on a similar level and would make an interesting fight.
The problem obviously for Dimitriy and his fans (me included) is that after a certain amount of time has passed and you still haven’t found that step-up fight it gets harder and harder to believe you’re looking for it.
Dimitriy got very unlucky in losing what could have been a winnable step up type opponent and a chance to fight for a meaningful title in his home town. I feel for him on this one and I know how much he wanted it. I would love nothing better than for him to win a big fight and to shut up the naysayers (me sometimes included).
Keep us posted on developing fights Kurt.
December 31st, 2008 at 4:41 pm
[...] of career redemption after earning a decision over Ernie “Too Slick†Johnson), but there are far better places for that sort of coverage than CSTB. Instead, we’ll consider the rather blunt rhetoric of a world [...]
January 9th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Who created the boxing and was reserved only for blacks and others. Blacks should not prohibit this so-called sport to practice something else ^ read civilized and less violent.
Back to rugby and basketball, rugby is the sport typically Black.
May 25th, 2010 at 5:03 pm
I like the idea but the reviews on the App Store say fat chance. Fresh Coupons