Roy, Pavlik, and, of course, Pedro
posted by Large
Gents, I bring you my recent pieces from The Sporting Blog concerning Roy Jones’ performance against Jeff Lacy (in which I pay undue attention to an aging Phillies’ pitcher of note) and also last night’s highly disappointing news that the Pavlik/Williams fight has been postponed and consequently may never happen.
Roy Jones: The Pedro Martinez of Boxing?
He was embarrassed by Calzaghe, but Calzaghe was a truly great fighter still at the peak of his powers. I couldn’t help but wonder on Saturday while I was watching Roy take Lacy apart how he would fare in Showtime’s super middleweight tournament. Of course, Roy hasn’t fought at 68 in over ten years, and it’s unlikely that he’d be inclined to go back to that weight now. But if he did … could he compete in that tournament? Could he eke out wins over the likes of Jermain and Andre Dirrell and Carl Froch?
Kelly Pavlik vs. Paul Williams Postponed, Possibly Cancelled
What’s left now is to see whether the two promoters can come to some agreement on a make-up date, which is quite a dicey proposition in the ever delicate world of boxing negotiations. There always was something about this fight that seemed too good to be true , two big, exciting fighters in their primes taking a huge risk in agreeing to face each other in a matchup that, although hotly anticipated by boxing diehards, doesn’t even have the crossover juice to warrant big-time pay-per-view money.
August 18th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Could Manny Pacquiao beat me up? All this talk of him facing larger competition got me to wondering if he could beat up a bouncer-sized fellow like myself:
http://antwonomous.blogspot.com/2009/08/could-manny-pacquiao-beat-me-up.html
Oh, and great extended analogy in the Roy-Pedro piece. It surprises me that Roy still boxes. I don’t think he was ever that ambitious in his prime, when he was content to coast against much lesser competition that he knew couldn’t harm him, which made me think that he didn’t take boxing all that personally. The fact that he’s still fighting suggests that I may have been somewhat wrong about that.
August 18th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Antwonomous – funny that you mention Shane because he was one of my first realizations of how small boxers actually are when he was on the set of my old ESPN show. (And no, Shane is not 5’9″, not by a longshot).
Given your size, I think you would probably be able to get a hold of Pacquiao if you fought him in an alley and do the old ground and pound, which would be a tough scene for Pac with a 300+ pound dude. But given my own amateur sparring experience, I tend to think that if you boxed with him in any way he’d beat the shit out of you. Those guys are like, unfathomably fast. You would never hit him, he would hit you a lot, and though he probably wouldn’t take you out with one punch (although he might – getting punched fucking hurts a lot), after about 20 you’d be ready to take a knee and No Mas yourself to the pub.
My friends in college used to wonder whether Hulk Hogan could beat up Bruce Lee in a streetfight. I was one of the few who thought Hogan had a chance. A 300-pound man gets his mitts on a 140-pound man and it’s game over.
In conclusion, we should match you in a bout with an old favorite here at the Mas, our man Madsear, who was about 6’7″, 320 or so. Man, that would be a war.
August 18th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
“When the strike of a hawk breaks the body of its prey, it is because of the timing”
-Sun Tzu “The Art of War”
I actually always thought people made too much of “The Art of War” but I like this quote. Speed and “timing” is why Pacquiao was able to obliterate good fighters like Oscar and Hatton. It’s also why I’d bet on Manny to do the same to you Antwonomous.
August 18th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Well, I guess I won’t be challenging Manny to that fight, then.
August 18th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Antwonomous you gotta watch messing with professional boxers…even when they are old. Billy “The Pittsburgh Kid’ Conn almost beat Joe Louis. In 1990, at the age of 73, Billy was in a convenience store in Pittsburgh with his wife when a robbery took place. The 73 years old Conn, approached the robber who was attacking the clerk and hit him with a straight left hand. The crook took off but Conn grabbed him by the coat, ripping it off his body. The robber got away but was soon caught thanks to information in his coat. Conn told a tv station afterwards that “You always go with your best punch-a straight left.” Billy’s wife said “my instinct was to help. Billy’s instinct was to fight.”
August 18th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
large it will be interesting to see how the jones/green fight goes. Green was on the undercard the other night and I think he’s been training with Jones, has the air of a friendly exhibition/joke in the making. For some reason though Green is pretty popular over here and gets a lot of press, you might find it hard to believe but the media are billing it as a superfight of sorts..
August 18th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
To Brad and Antwonomous – Brad, I thought you’d bring up the example of former bantamweight kingpin Jeff Chandler. Chandler who never weighed more than 125-130 when not training got jumped by a gang of thugs in Philly back in his prime in the early ’80s. One stabbed him with a broken bottle but he knocked two or three of them out and the rest ran away. According to Chandler they were big guys. Ant, I wouldn’t mess with Manny – he’s quite an athlete.
Yeah with Roy – it’s hard not to wish he would retire. You have to think it can only end badly. As I have a fighter with his promotional company, I can tell you first hand, HBO wants him to retire. As of now they are not interested in bringing him back to the network, no matter who he’s matched up with. I’m pretty sure Showtime feels the same way. I guess the question is, what’s the end game for him? If he can’t get Hopkins, Tarver or G. Johnson to give him a rematch for decent money – why stick around?
August 18th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
I agree with Kurt. I understand he enjoys his time in the ring but this isn’t baseball. Boxing is one of the most unforgiving sports. If he doesn’t stop, eventually he will get hurt badly and it may affect the rest of his life. It’s obvious he has peaked as a fighter and it doesn’t seem that he’s desperate for money. Time to wrap it up before something bad happens.
August 18th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
All The Rooster has to say (and Large you knew this was coming and if you could guess who was going to say…well The Rooster): Ya’ll Musta Forgot!
August 18th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
considering his relationship with gerald mcclellan, and assuming he’s financially secure, it’s tough to see what would keep RJJ fighting? but it’s boxing=fighters rarely go gently into that post-career night…plus, i suppose you can only spend so much time fishing and cockfighting.
August 18th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Antwonomous, I just read that in shaq’s new show he’s going up against Oscar, so you might find an answer there
August 19th, 2009 at 12:49 am
scratch that, shaq will not show you a damn thing.
August 19th, 2009 at 9:02 am
You can only spend so much time fishing and cockfighting. Truer words have never been spoken.