No Mas Partners with Pound 4 Pound Radio
posted by Large
We here at the Mas are proud to announce a new partnership with Pound 4 Pound Radio, the only boxing show on Sirius XM. We’ll be cross-promoting with them and they will be taking part and drawing participants to our “call-the-round” t-shirt contests for the big fights. The next such contest will be for the Bradley/Campbell fight on August 1st, and let me tell you something, Masians – gonna be a lot more action on that one than there has been in the past, so you better get your thinking caps on right now.
Also, starting next week, I will be making regular appearances on their radio show, which airs on Thursday nights at 7 p.m. EST at Sirius/XM 98. I urge you to check it out, because it’s really an excellent show with a regular roster of top-notch guests. Take tonight, for instance, which is a special Arturo Gatti tribute show. They’ll be talking Gatti with Ross Greenburg, Ivan Robinson, Micky Ward and Buddy McGirt.
Quite a lineup. And that’s not at all the “Mas on the Radio” news I have up my sleeve. The one and only Chief Executive Masian (he’s like Oscar, I’m like Richard Schaefer… or maybe I’m Bernard… that’s a bad thought, actually), the I-berglar, Chris Isenberg, will be making an appearance on a show called “Under Score” on the same station (Sirius/XM 98) at 3 p.m. tomorrow. Under Score is a show that focuses on the intersection of sports with society at large, art, culture, whatnot, obviously fertile terrain for I-berglary.
I’ve included below a few links to both shows for you to sample below, and also a link to a piece of mine from over at The Sporting Blog, which gives my thoughts on Showtime’s Super Six tournament, which I gather will be one of my primary topics of conversation on Pound 4 Pound next week.
Pound 4 Pound Radio (Juan Diaz, Giovanni Segura)
Under Score (Tor Hamer)
Showtime’s Boxing Tournament Doomed Early
“Therein lies the most glaring problem with their tournament, a problem not unfamiliar to those schools left out in the cold come Selection Sunday for March Madness. And this is no 64-team field. Showtime has six fighters locked up for this tournament, and they are indeed six worthy names. But not among those six is the current champion of the IBF (one of the three major sanctioning organizations), the Romanian by way of Montreal, Lucian Bute (pronounced, to my great delight, ‘boo-TAYâ€).”
July 16th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
doooopeeeeeeee
pretty pumped about the smw tourney…great idea coming to fruition…really suprised these guys are all into it…i really hope JT links up with a good trainer for this…if he does…and hes still as committed to the game as i think he will be…he could cause some problems…froch still has me oscillating between “maybe he had some early stage fright in the states early against JT then showed he is a champ” and “this guy isnt a good boxer…and he holds that left hand so low and will get worked by guys with speed like dirrell and ward”…kessler coming off a long layoff…will kessler actually make guys pay for their mistakes unlike the calzghe fight? what else can he do when someone else takes away his jab? and will he follow up his uppercuts with a left hook?….is abraham more than a euro paper champion? was the struggle to make 160 really hurting him that much? causing him to look sluggish and like crap?……man i cant wait
while im here…i just wanted to sound of on pac for a minute….it now looks like maybe this pac/cotto fight might not be the lock done deal most of us thought it would be….it looks to me like pacs team may be showing some cards here…i like pac and all…but im in the,”his last two wins are really overrated and his rise has been carefully orchestrated”, camp…..i dont think its pac himself…but the people eating off of him…that dont wanna see the ticket go down the drain yet…its clear these guys dont wanna put him in with a real welter without gaining advantages(but is sure was ok to put him in with ODLH at welter right?!)….
i cant stand arum…i think it would great if somehow golden boy had a handshake deal with cotto…where cotto wouldnt fight pac…and join gbp next year…bascially cotto, shane, and floyd shutting pac/arum out….and leaving them with no real superstar alternative….and pac ends up with JMM again…valero…or the campbell/bradley winner…omg would i fuckin cry laughing at arum
July 16th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
On the Pac-Cotto not being a lock front – http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/entry/view/28370/is_mayweatherpacquiao_finally_about_to_happen?_
July 16th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
I gotta say I’m a little surprised you aren’t more excited about the 168 tournement, Large. I’m sure we’d all prefer a little more Bute with our Froch (sorry), and the Americans don’t really belong there, but it’s still far better than what we’d see without the tourney. How many top notch matches between 168ers do you think we’d get over the next two years? My guess is we’d all still be sitting here wondering when Kessler, Froch, Bute, etc. would finally stop with the mandatory defenses and get around to fighting each other. I love me some European fighters, but they tenbd to be more than happy to sit over there and rack up mandatories no one wants to see. Even if this falls apart, we’re bound to see better action in the division than we would without it. And even though Bute’s out, whoever wins this thing will have racked up probably five wins in a row over serious competition. That’s going to be a pretty good claim to top dog status. So, sure it’s flawed and will very likely fall apart at some point, but what’s boxing without failure?
July 16th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Oh, and here’s hoping Pac-Cotto does fall apart and Mayweather steps in. So far the main legacy of de la Hoya is the screwing of one of the best divisions around. If the welters weren’t falling over each other to be the guy who gets to drain himself down to some weight he can’t fight at, we’d be talking about Cotto-Mosley II and Pac would be fighting the guy he should be fighting (Marquez) or some other deserving lightweight. And Floyd would be forced to make his comeback against a real welter. All the top welters (sans Mayweather) were more than happy to fight each other before Oscar screwed it all up by wanting an easy fight to retire on. I tell you, this is high tragedy (with Mayweather-Marquez as farce). If Wagner were still around we’d get some serious opera out of this. Das Rheingoldenboy or Oscardammerung.
July 16th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
“I don’ think whoever wins this tournament will have any legitimate claim on being the best super middleweight in the world…”
Really? Because they didn’t fight Lucian Bute. The same guy who got KTFO by Andrade (who himself was dominated over 12 consecutive rounds by one of the tournament’s participants, Kessler). I don’t think so.
The winner of this tournament will absolutely have a “legitimate” claim to being the best super middleweight. Which isn’t to say it is 100 percent indisputable, and subsequent challengers wont line up, but who are you kidding?
I am a HUGE fan of Large’s writing, but am surprised about the lack of enthusiasm for this tourney. I think it’s such great news.
The point about the knockouts and scoring is valid, but I think that is more to determine what two will be dropped from the semifinals (only 4 advance). Like, going 1-2 with a knockout win is better than 1-2 with no wins. It’s not like you are going to win three fights by decision and then left behind.
I was wondering, though, if race had something to do with Bute being gone. Like maybe having 4 white guys would make the tourney look weak to the casual fan. Bute is obscure, but, I mean, so are Ward and Dirrell (even in America). Remember, Kessler v. Calzaghe did awful ratings on HBO (as did Pavlik/Lockett). I wouldn’t be surprised if that went into the decision making, since Bute wasn’t even invited.
July 16th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
First of all, to Large and I-Berg, congrats on all the good news. You guys are different. In a very good way. The future is very bright for you boys.
Ricky, I know it’s killing you that Pacquiao is getting all the attention at the moment(rather than your boy Mayweather). But that’s the way it is. People get amped up after killer performances. Mayweather certainly benefited from this phenomenon. He destroyed a shop worn Gatti and everyone fell all over themselves for him. If Mayweather kept fighting, rather than dancing and wrestling and retiring, Pacquiao’s star wouldn’t be shining so bright. But he gave it up. Leonard did the same thing. No one paid any huge attention to Hagler when Sugar Ray was in the game. But once Ray quit people naturally started looking for a new best P4P. Hagler was it.
As far as Pacquiao’s people not wanting to put him in with “real welterweights” without an advantage….who can blame them? Pacquiao isn’t a real welterweight. Why wouldn’t they demand consessions from would-be opponents? He is the guy who can make a big fight into a SUPERFIGHT. At he moment Pacqiuao’s people have Cotto and Mosley both in a war for who is willing to give up the most to fight Manny. Manny has options. He is in a position of strength, not weakness. If his people agreed to fight anybody at 147, they should be fired on the spot.
I think Mayweather’s best approach is the one Sugar Ray took with Aaron Pryor. Ignore the lighter weight division. Mayweather should say, “I’m interested in fighting guys in my division: Cotto,Berto,Clottey,Mosley,etc..if ‘little’ Manny wants to fight with the big boys come up to my division, otherwise shut the hell up.” Instead Floyd is playing right into Manny’s hands by dropping weight and taking on JMM and talking about Manny.
July 16th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Dudes – it’s not that I’m so in love with Bute. Believe me, I hardly think he’s the reincarnation of… well, who do you cite in these circumstances when looking for a classic 168? Who’s the best 168 who ever lived? It’s not exactly a glorious division.
Anyway, I meant what I said when I applauded Showtime for trying something, but I also think that if you’re going to get a tournament in going in a sport like boxing, it has to be definitive. And leaving out one of the best 168′s in the world who holds a major belt in the division while including both Jermain and Dirrell (not to mention Ward, although I really like Andre so I don’t want to hate on him) is crazy.
The round robin is what’s really fucked if I think about it. They should have ranked them and then gone straight tourney style. Because one of the things that is completely crazy about this (and one of the reasons that it will fall apart quickly) is to expect guys who lose twice and who are out of the running to go in there and play spoiler. It just ain’t gonna happen. Better to have a straight tourney, much neater, much more interesting. Eight guys. Get Bute and Andrade in there too. And Balzac or whatever the fuck that dude’s name is, and drop either Jermain or Dirrell. Actually drop them both and get Allen Green in there.
Or whatever – eight guys, two successive weekends, four fights. The quarters. Then in four months you do the semis on one card, and then you got your finals.
That makes sense to me, and what’s more, I think it’s doable. Now that I’m thinking as I type, I realize that the round robin is what I think is wack. I also think the round-robin (and its stupidass point system) is what dooms the thing from the beginning.
July 17th, 2009 at 3:25 am
Large – I’m shocked, really.
Man this tournament is the BEST thing that could happen and I think you are really blowing up your Cons.
What we get is so much bigger… I mean C’mon,
Six of the best boxers in a great division fighting eachother without effing mandatory challengers?
You remember Fulgencio Zuniga, William Joppy, Dimitri Sartison, Danilo Haussler and Derrick Findley?
Those are the guys Kessler, Dirrell and Bute (except for Andrade) have fought in their last fights. Now it is Kessler-Ward, Froch-Direll and Abraham-Taylor and you tell me this does not rock??
There are a lot of question marks and you pointed out rightly, that this maybe won’t go the whole distance, but man those three fights alone are worth it.
@Round robin & US-Boys & Bute out
I think you are right, that in an ideal world this would be a “normal” tournament with quarters etc. and with Bute in it. I just think, the system AND the fighters that were picked are a big part of the reason, why this all could happen at all.
The round robin was really needed, otherwise they couldn’t work out the seeding and the promoters wouldn’t have thrown their fighters in it: If it is one loss and you are out, no one risks this. It’s the chance to have two other big-money, big-opponents fights, even if you lose, that makes this one so interessting. (Alteast that is what I’m hearing from Kalle Sauerland)
Looking at the fighters: It seemed pretty clear, that half the crop needed to be from the US, otherwise Showtime would not take the gamble: Taylor is still a star and Green/Direll are just more accepted than Green.
On the other hand: Abraham and Kessler are easy: They are stars and under the same promoter, who was as far as I know the inventor of this whole idea. So that leaves one place open: Froch. He just made two great fights in the US, is exciting and getting steam – he was a natural pick.
That Bute is out sucks, but this tournament is still great.
July 17th, 2009 at 10:34 am
@ Tommy, Bute too dominated Andrade for 12 rounds. He might have been KTFO in 13 rounds, but alas, it was a 12 rounds fight. Go check the IBF rulebook if you don’t believe me or call the ref, Marlon B. Wright. He’s a cool guy who likes to chat.
Apart from that, for whatever reason Bute is not in there, it’s a shame. We’ll see what happens in Andrade-Bute II in november. If Bute gets a clear victory, then that tournament will look silly. Come on, even Andrade would have had his place in there. Get Taylor out and put a boxer who actually wants to fight for christ’s sake…
July 17th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
brad..let me try to clarify something…it has nothing to do with floyd being my “boy”….or pac not being my “boy”…i would say that floyd,pac, and JMM are my 3 favorite fighters…no real particular order…although if i had to…it would probably go JMM, floyd, pac…and the fact that pac is affiliated with arum automatically damns him to that 3 spot
youve shared some great stories about arum…and im pretty sure you feel the same way about him as i do….yes, pac is “the guy” and is a position of strength to call shots…in reality the pac team has done a great job of safely manaeuvering him into that position….but to me it feels like public manipulation…i dont really feel like getting into the whole thing again….beating a corpse in oscar…knocking out a guy who was nearly knocked out by juan lazcano….i dont wanna venture down there again…because i feel like im beating a dead horse….but i just feel like its more arum/snake manipulation than it is great managing…his intent was to bring pac up and place him in with the big boys and have him in a position to dictate….as much as you say…that shane, cotto, and floyd need pac…the reality is pac needs them all just as much…it just so happens that he has 3 of them to choose from and he can find out which one wants the meal ticket the most…..without the names of floyd, cotto, and shane…what is pac gonna do? not much…fight JMM again? fight 140lb champs? fight valero…not much glory or money in any of that aside from a third fight with JMM(which would be for relative peanuts for pac)
brad…i dunno if you saw it…but kenny did a new interview with floyd the other night on sportscenter…about 10 minutes long…kenny asked floyd what he would take/like as a purse split for a pac fight…floyd said “youll have to ask al haymon and leonard ellerbe”….now i went on a very good boxing message board that i frequent..on a very good boxing website…and i saw a thread that went like this the very next day”….title went “you can tell floyd is scared of pac because he wont mention a purse split”….now i went it…to see if this guy was being sarcastic or just clowning…and he was NOT…i mean how ridiculous is that??? typical stuff from a floyd hater/pac lover
i just dont understand…why its ok for pac to fight oscar at 147(and use oscars name to make his own) where he hasnt fought there in years…but floyd has to take crap for weight issues with opponents…he has to take crap about paul williams…ill tell you what…if paul wants to come in at a catch height and catch reach im sure floyd would take the fight…i understand that its rooted in hate for floyds “hip hop” braggadocio style and the fact that he claims to be the best…and the fact that pac is humble….you think for a second floyd wouldnt love to get cotto and shane in there at 142 or 143 hed love to go at it….fuckin shane..147 of all muscle…how the hell do you expect him to lose 4 or 5 pounds of muscle? lolol
i look at it like this…boxing is not a team sport…people dont get passed down a boxer to root for from older generations….african american fighters, especially now more than ever, need to grab peoples attention more than ever….chad dawson is a very good young fighter…no fan base…shane has been a great for years…he doesnt really have a great fan base….i really dont feel like floyd is as stupid and as ignorant as he acts when the cameras off…i feel like he plays it up for people in order to sell himself as an attraction…floyds fan base is the haters and the people that believe he is an unbeatable, jordan like, talent
i really just think it would be great…to see cotto have a secret handshake deal with golden boy…and watch shane, floyd, and cotto all have the power over pac….pac would be left looking at a JMM match without them…golden boy wins with that too….i mean valero? campbell/bradley winner? lolol…id love to see arum squirm…even if its at pacs expense…i love the attention pac has brought to the sport…but i still feel like its a manipulation…a bit of a con for arum to have the top dog/draw in the sport again….and to me…this catch weight stuff is pacs team showing their cards that they know this….pac needs those three names just as much as each one of those individuals needs him…and if they were flying under the same banner…pac and arum could be in a rough spot…where they are dicating purse splits….and id laugh
July 17th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
wow…apparently shane is saying he wants pac…and hell fight at 140 for the jr welter belt…never fought there…i think it would be pain for him to get there…to lost muscle and at his age…kind sad to see a legend/warrior like shane have to try and bow down to get this fight…its just wreaks of desperation on shanes part…he really wants a big payday
well pac…you want 143 with cotto…cotto wants 145…shane is saying hell take 140…shane is calling your bluff or forcing you to fight him…whats it gonna be bossman?
March 25th, 2011 at 3:23 am
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April 15th, 2011 at 12:00 pm
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