posted by Large

No A-listers in the ring this weekend, but we do have two guys who are well on their way to the top of the heap, JuanMa Lopez in A.C. on an Arum in-house pay-per-view and Victor Ortiz in L.A. headlining B.A.D. on HBO (no Rocky Juarez/Chris John rematch on the BAD card unfortunately due to John being ill – poor Rocky, man, the guy is cursed). Also, we got King Arthur on Showtime on tape delay in his middleweight tune-up from Germany, a fight that some people are saying (including one of our very-plugged-in No Mas people who I will not out but I think you dedicated Masians know who I’m talking about) may be Showtime’s precursor to an Abraham/Froch donnybrook at 68.

Just to let you dudes know up top, I’m covering Ortiz/Maidana for HBO tomorrow night, so look for my post-fight recap over there. I’m going to try and put together a little video of the goings-on to run here at the Mas. Also, I did a profile of Ortiz for HBO this past week, so check that out if you are so inclined – Victor Ortiz’s Date with Destiny.

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(For another take on the Cotto/Clottey drama, I bring you a piece from our man Shoefly, who sees fit to hit Josh Clottey when he’s down – L)

posted by Shoefly

I scored the Cotto/Clottey fight for Clottey 114-113, but I’m glad he lost. I found the whole thing sort of sick and depressing, like a slow-motion car accident or one of those science shows where they show you the details of the digestive system.

To be fair to Josh Clottey , and I won’t be after this , he probably did deserve to win that fight on points, and I think if he had committed the fouls Cotto did (the body slam, the blatant rabbit punch, the low blows) he would have had points deducted. Still, I have no sympathy for him, even when considering the egregious 116-111 card which had him winning only four rounds.

Joshua Clottey deserved to lose because he fought like a loser. He deserved to lose because he’s a natural second-best, taking over the mantle from the previous title-holder Luis Collazo as the ‘hard-luck story of his generation.” But the truth is… it’s not a matter of luck.

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posted by Large

I can’t believe what I’m reading, in the recaps and opinion pieces at other boxing sites and in the comments here at the Mas. What the hell were people watching last night that they can conclude after that fight that, ‘Cotto has lost it, Cotto isn’t that good, Cotto is still haunted by Margarito”?

To all of these people drawing these conclusions, I have a question: DID YOU NOT SEE THE CRATER OF A CUT OVER COTTO’S LEFT EYE THAT HE FOUGHT WITH FOR NINE FUCKING ROUNDS? JESUS!

To me, the cut essentially invalidates the fight and the result, period. It probably should have been stopped – that might have been in the better interest of both parties. Clottey is right to call for a rematch, and he’ll never get it, which is a shame, although he would have had his rematch if he’d manned up and gone out there and conclusively won those last three rounds, so he’s left to think about that when he’s fighting some up-and-comer on Friday Night Fights in November.

I’ll get to the decision later. It’s definitely debatable. But it was clear to me that Cotto would have been well within his rights to opt out of that fight at any point after the third round. Fights have been justifiably stopped for much lesser cuts. It also was clear to me that around the seventh round, when it was obvious that the cut was not going to stop pouring blood into his eye and making him all but defenseless to right hands, when even the announcers were starting to say, ‘man, they should probably stop this thing”… if the fight had been stopped then, Cotto would have had an indisputable lead on the scorecards. You can debate whether he deserved that decision after 12, but there is no debate that he was up after seven.

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posted by Large

Masians, I realize I’m a little late on this news, but I finally got around to watching Cintron/Angulo last night (didn’t bother with Berto/Urango – if anyone wants to convince me that I need to watch this fight, feel free to give it a go, but until I hear otherwise, what with Reggie Large and all, time is scarce in Large Land) and I want to tell you something up front , I scored it a draw. Because I think the scoring in this thing was a little bogus on the whole, let me give you a look at my full card:

A – C

10-9
9-10
9-10
9-10
10-9
9-10
9-10
10-9
10-9
9-10
10-9
10-9

There were only a few rounds that I thought could have gone the other way , the first, in which Cintron was more active but Angulo, to my eyes, was more effective, and the tenth, which was a close round in which I thought Cintron’s work-rate tipped it for him but where I wouldn’t argue much if you told me you had it for Angulo based on pure aggression.

As you see, in that I had each guy winning one of what I saw as the two debatable rounds, I’m effectively saying that this thing was a draw, period. I admit that I was shocked by what I was seeing, because based on the reports I’d read I expected to see Cintron pull a Hopkins to Angulo’s Pavlik. That’s the way the fight got written, and how it got scored by the judges as well, 116-112 on all three cards.

I don’t know what fight they were watching, either the judges or the various internet pundits who drank their Kool-Aid (and that reminds me, never did we discuss here at the Mas the question of Floyd Sr. and his pitcher of Kool-Aid… one of the funnier, more bizarre little vignettes in 24/7 history… but I digress).

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posted by Avi Korine

Gents – we welcome today another writer to the Mas, Avi Korine, a.k.a. Shoefly (pictured right with the great Lupe Pintor). I was turned on to Avi’s writing through my Sporting Blog colleague Bethlehem Shoals of the Freedarko gang, and like the rest of that crew, Avi is evidently a graduate of Haverford College, a fact which I admit, when I learned of it, nearly scotched the whole deal. But a cooler head prevailed thankfully, because our boy here has some definite skills on the mike and is uniquely suited to the Masian project, as you soon shall learn. He was born and raised in Nashville, just down the road from where Elvis ate his first pancake. After the whole Haverford debacle, he became a screenwriter and collector of rare and exotic ointments. More to the point, he’s been a boxing fan since watching James Toney turn the lights out on Michael Nunn in the eleventh round of their middleweight title fight. He currently lives in Nashville and runs the embarrasingly grandiosely titled Boxiana. I ask you to please welcome him to the fold in the appropriate Masian style – read him, consider him, and give him hell. -L
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Floyd Mayweather Jr. isn’t my favorite fighter. I find his act amusing, but ultimately tiresome. However, I frequent certain sorts of social circles and I occasionally find myself in two conversations; the first, listening to an earnest account of where someone watched Tyson bite ‘that guy’s” ear off and how there are no fighters like him anymore, and the second, an attempt to justify the sport and explain my love for so morbid a game.

And that’s when I talk about Floyd Mayweather Jr. I talk about the human form honed to perfection; craft and body and mind as fighting machine. He is not the only one, and it’s not a distinction limited to the narrow definition of ‘boxer” as opposed to puncher. (Roberto Duran and Julio Cesar Chavez had it, too.) But Floyd’s is the meeting in craft and flesh most easily distinguishable to me, a living example of fighting grace and beauty. He is boxer as philosopher king, which all the greats are, even if they can’t explain it themselves; artists and poets and magicians each.

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posted by Large

• Cheryl Tiegs? Dah… what was my primary masturbation fantasy from about 1982 to 1986 doing at a fricking Richard Gutierrez fight? Or was she there to see the Cubans? Or… well, what the hell was she doing there exactly? Matt Damon, Zo, Jake LaMotta… I get it. It’s the Fountanbleu, Rat Pack, whatever. But the Queen of the Swimsuit Issue? And did you notice how Joe Tessitore slipped it in as if it were no big deal? “And there’s Cheryl Tiegs, out enjoying the fights tonight.” Like, yeah, because that sort of thing happens all the time at Friday Night Fights. “Oh, and look over there, it’s Bianca Jagger. And whaddya know, there’s Carol Alt french-kissing Kathy Ireland.”

• The Cubans – I got a better feel for the less-heralded Erislandy Lara last night than I did for the great Guillermo Rigondeaux, primarily because that dude that Rigondeaux fought, Juan Noriega, may be the worst opponent I’ve ever seen served up in a televised fight. The guy was Golden Gloves amateur-class territory, and what’s more, he was visibly terrified in there, which made the whole thing agonizing to watch. I understand they have to get a guy like Rigondeaux a couple of serious tomato cans before he fights even a borderline skilled fighter, but still, something about last night’s debacle made me feel like I was watching an afterschool special. The bell rang, they waded out to the center of the ring, and I took one look at Noriega and thought, “stop the fight!” The poor kid. He did not belong anywhere near that ring. I felt for him.

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posted by Large

As a newly minted Bay Area resident, I was very excited to check out the Andre Ward/Edison Miranda fight this past Saturday in Oakland. Since I moved to Berkeley last year, I’ve gained a little familiarity with Oakland and its boxing scene, the centerpiece of which is the legendary Kings Boxing Gym, a gym that Ward, an Oakland native, is proud to call his fighting home.

The event was a huge success both for Andre Ward and also for the city of Oakland and its boxing culture. Over 8,000 fans came out to the Oracle Arena to see the fight, and I can tell you first-hand that it was a knowledgeable and passionate group. Walking the upper deck of the arena before I made my way down to press row, I saw many a righteous old-timer in Panama hat looking like he’d stepped out of some fight painting from the early 60′s. ‘Double the damn jab, son!” one yelled. ‘Or eat that left hook all night! Your choice.” These men did not start following this game yesterday.

For Ward, it was both a joyful homecoming and an important victory in the progression of his career. In a wholly deserved unanimous decision, he soundly defeated Miranda, ‘La Pantera,” the Colombian killer known for his relentless aggression and decapitating knockouts. It was an exciting, action-packed win on a big stage (a Showtime headliner) and likely will herald the next phase of Ward’s career, one where he challenges for a world title and fights for some big-time money.

No matter how high his star may travel, though, one imagines Ward always will be quick to bring it all back home. His connection to the city of Oakland and to his trainer since childhood, Virgil Hunter, is inspiring. And though it was on a small scale in comparison to the sports world at large, this night at the Oracle Arena was in many ways about as big as sports can be. I tried to convey a little of that sense in the video below (all shot with a Flip, so pardon the image quality… the first voice you hear is that of Hunter, one of the most thoughtful and articulate trainers in the sport. And one final note for all you Masians – check it when Ward gets all Mas-like and references Pryor/Arguello… man knows his shit.)

posted by Large

I noticed in the comments to my previous post that the question at hand had turned to, dah, the question at hand. I’m amped for Cotto/Clottey, and for Floyd/Marquez as well, and we’ll get to those fights in due time.

But let’s face the facts, Masians – our little fistic cult suddenly has been occupied by a force much bigger than ourselves, and it goes by the name of… Flanny Pacweather. Moyd Maycquiao. Etc.

So I redirect you to a piece I wrote over at The Sporting Blog about this phenomenon, titled “Pacquiao vs. Mayweather: Will it Happen?” Most of the content probably won’t be much of a revelation to the hardcore Masian audience, but I offer it nevertheless just to get the discussion rolling. Because, look, I know it’s all we really want to talk about.

Pacquiao vs. Mayweather: Will It Happen?
“… Arum said immediately after the Hatton fight that anyone looking to fight Pacquiao right now (and by ‘anyone,” I presume he means Floyd Anyone Mayweather Jr.) shouldn’t expect to get more than ’30 or 35% of the split. If you happen to be unfamiliar with the self-esteem of Mr. Mayweather Jr. or his general attitude concerning matters of finance, allow me to understate the case considerably and inform you that these terms are not likely to sit well with him.”

posted by Large

Strictly hand-held is how I roll. The video below is cobbled together from some nuggets I culled from what I shot of the major players who hung around after the Pacquiao-Hatton press conference last Saturday night. I recommend you sticking around to hear the bite where Floyd Sr. dismisses Hatton as “damaged goods,” paraphrasing in his own broken English a point that Hemingway made much more eloquently in his great bullfighting tract, Death in the Afternoon – that once gored, most matadors are never the same again inside the ring.

posted by Large

In my book the only way a Ford beats a Cadillac is if the Caddy is like one of those new XLR-V coupes and the Ford is an F-150 and they’re competing in a towing contest.

What we have here is not a towing contest. What’s more, the Ford ain’t even a truck. He’s like, a Fusion.

But enough with the cars crap. What I’m getting at is this – for a fighter of average skills to beat a fighter of elite skills, there must be some x-factor that tilts the playing field in his direction and gives him at least a small chance at the upset, be it an advantage in size, power or heart.

Generally in these kinds of situations, that x-factor is power. The puncher’s chance. George Foreman on the button of Michael Moorer (funny that Moorer should come up, actually…). Oliver McCall with his eyes closed landing that wild miracle on Lennox’s glass chin.

But that’s not in play here. Hatton is not a particularly hard puncher and he’s never been the guy who changes a fight with one shot. He couldn’t stop Paulie Malignaggi, for Pete’s sake, who is borderline defenseless in the ring these days. Buddy McGirt had to do it for him (and I reiterate my feelings on that – shame on you Buddy).

No, if Hatton is going to stage the upset tomorrow night, one of the other two x-factors that can level a mismatch will tell the tale – size and, or, heart.

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