posted by Large

I was too busy last week doing various things (including spending some time at a certain gym for a behind-the-scenes piece about a certain TV show that hypes a certain mega-fight on May 2nd… I’ll keep you all posted on that) to get a prognostification piece up on Froch/Taylor and JuanMa/Penalosa, and in that I didn’t get my opinions in print, I won’t sing my praises too hard.

But, my brothers, let me sing them softly. I had both fights nailed. I guess that’s not too exciting in the case of the Puerto Rican Pummeling that went down in Bayamon last night. Everybody knew that Lopez was going to beat on Penalosa like he was Itchy and Gerry was Scratchy. And so it was. Need we discuss the whole situation any further? JuanMa is a badass muhfuh, straight up, and anyone out there who doesn’t believe the hype at this point simply is not paying attention. Get him Marquez or Vazquez already and let the Mexico/Puerto Rico war drums beat late into the night.

As for Froch/Taylor… well, honestly, I was about 70/30 that Froch was going to win this thing, but I did think there was a chance that Jermain would knock him out. After watching Froch/Pascal, one of the great lost fights of last year’s roster of incredible slugfests, it did occur to me that Jermain probably was going to hit Froch with some wangdangers and that those bombs might tell the tale.

Admittely I was far from the only one thinking this was Jermain’s only chance to get the W, and oh, OH, what a chance it was. Talk about your deja vu all over again. There he is with the title on the line and a rugged, ugly white boy in front of him who is too damn rugged for his own good practically begging Jermain to send him napping down Comatose Lane. A couple of wild, monster right hands later and it’s DOWN GOES FROCH! DOWN GOES FROCH!

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posted by Large

As you guys probably are aware, Manny Pacquiao threw out the first pitch at the Giants/Padres game last night at AT&T Park in San Francisco. I was there following Pac Man around for The Sporting News, and though I intended to write a piece for them about the evening’s events, it was such a chaotic and indescribable scene, and I somehow managed to finagle myself such intimate access to it all, that I ended up weaving together a video out of a bunch of clips that I shot over the course of the night.

Now I’m no videographer, or editor, as you will see. And, as I said, it was all shot on a Flip, so it ain’t exactly pro. Quite the contrary, in fact, almost embarrassingly un-pro. But hopefully it conveys at least a little of my experience of being an ad hoc member of Pacquiao’s entourage for an hour or so of a very strange event. Because I found it to be an exhilarating experience. There really is something kind of magical about the guy, such a tiny little dude in the center of all this Beatle-esque mayhem exuding an overwhelmingly mellow, pleasant, peaceful vibe. It’s hard to believe he’s such a ferocious fighter, and easy to see why he inspires such devotion. It’s exciting too as a boxing fan. Our sport lives and dies on these larger-than-life personalities, and Manny Pacquiao, all five foot six and a hundred whatever pounds of him, is larger than large right now, not to mention infinitely larger than Large.

No Masians, wanted to share the Paul Williams videos we made for Everlast during their recent photo shoot at Gleason’s. In the main event, we have P-Will threatening to “retire” Winky, challenging Manny Pac, and sounding pessimistic about Cotto or Shane ever picking up his gauntlet.

Once again, we are gonna run a contest for Saturday night, and Large is gonna bless us with a full prognostification. Outcome predictions posted here will be eligible, and there will also be a prize for the best counter to Large’s analysis on Friday. Closest to the the winner and the round or the judges scorecards for a decision wins shirt of your choice. Hit it on the button and get five shirts of your choice or a shirt and a hoodie. Must post before the fight starts to win. Good luck good sirs.

After the jump are shorter topical clips, wherein we have Paul and his trainer George Peterson on the finer points of getting ducked, the secret origin of The Punisher, and the ol’ 1-2-3.
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by Ron Ross

(Large and I heard Ron Ross read from his highly recommended Bummy Davis vs. Murder Incorporated at Think Tank 3 gallery two years ago during Charles Miller’s amazing show, Jewish Boxers. Ron is like the Jose Oquendo of the sweet science–he’s fought, managed, promoted and chronicled. Today he plays umpire, calling some recent cries against our man Dimitriy Salita foul.-CI)

There are fighters who have fought the equivalents of their grandmothers in compiling a ‘looking good on paper” record. Despite the hoots and put-downs of his growing legion of detractors , the silent hecklers are now emboldened and stepping forward as the ranks of vocal detractors grow , the quality of Dmitriy’s opposition is better than most of his contemporaries and even most of the list of sacred ‘golden age” greats. His opponents have won 369 of 590 fights for a 625 percentage. In comparison, Ricky Hatton, in his first 30 bouts, fought opponents with a 570 percentage, Andreas Kotelnik’s opposition 554, and Junior Witter’s, a still respectable 510. We then come to former WBA titleholder, Gavin Rees, who in his 26 bouts prior to fighting for , and winning , the WBA light-welterweight crown, came in on the back of opponents that won only 305 bouts out of 1,040 , a 290 percentage. And rather than denigrate or belittle his accomplishments, they sang his cheers and accorded him a champion’s veneration. Cinderella never had it so good! Read the rest of this entry »

Oh my people, what a night. Let me just put my apologies up top here for being MIA for a while and then get right to the good stuff. I have indeed been mired in some television-type business as I-berg pointed out, not to mention that I recently moved Mrs. Large and Reggie Large to a new house. Things have been non-stop. But I will tell you this – I’m going to be doing some fight-week reporting from San Jose next week for HBO leading up to next Saturday’s BAD card headlined by what promises to be a meanass smackdown, James Kirkland vs. Joel Julio. I will certainly bring some of that insider love here to the Mas.

It was impressive how much Diaz went for right from the opening bell. The kid was all the way down damn-the-torpedoes lane. There was a marked physical disparity in there too that I wasn’t expecting to see. Diaz looked considerably bigger, and with his relentless forward momentum, it felt a little like what in my memory Oscar/Floyd looked like in the first couple of rounds – a bigger man bum-rushing the shit out of a smaller man to the extent that the smaller guy, despite being the more skilled and savvy fighter, couldn’t help but seem concerned.

(Our man Brad showed up on the boards a couple weeks ago and has rapidly distinguished himself as an authority on fighters from Ayub Kalule to Scott “The Pink Cat” Walker. This dispatch from the Motor City is his debut post on The Mas.)

In November 2006, the Kronk Gym in Detroit closed after it was vandalized by thieves who stole copper piping, bathroom sinks, even old toilets. It never re-opened. Emanuel Steward, who managed/trained 30 world champions at Kronk is now trying to rebuild a new Kronk gym with Johnathon Banks and Andy Lee leading the team back. Steward hasn’t had a homegrown champ since 1985. Last night was the first chance at a championship for the “new” Kronk…bad start.

My buddies, who have all followed boxing since the 70′s, thought downtown Detroit was the appropriate place to drink and hopefully watch Kronk’s return to glory. We were wrong. There seemed to be no interest at all in the fight. We called dozens of bars simply trying to find one with Showtime and willing to turn it on at 11:00. We finally found one just down the street from Joe Louis Arena but the bartender refused to turn on FNF until the insignificant Red Wings-Kings game ended. The game mercifully didn’t go to O.T. and we saw the Johnson-Judah fight. During the Johnson fight the bar filled up with hockey fans all wearing Red Wing jerseys. We tried to get them to stick around and watch Banks, but no luck. The only time the hockey crowd showed any interest was when I told stories about how Manny use to train legendary hockey goon’s Bob Probert and Joey Kocur at Kronk. It’s a true story, Steward introduced technique into Probert and Kocur’s fight game.

By the time the Banks fight started the place was emptying out. Everyone going back to the suburbs, not interested in Banks. Banks looked good thru 4 rounds and we thought he may just pull it out, then Adamek’s relentless body attack turned the fight. The bad days continue here in the D. Still no championship for Kronk. I did notice a sign that hung behind the bar that read “Tough times don’t last, tough people do”. For us in the Motor City, I hope that’s true.

About the Author: As the youngest of five brothers growing up in Detroit, Brad White quickly learned that a good big man always beats a good little man. He is 44, married with 4 kids, and happy.

Our man is deep in TV land, so we may not get a Largian Baby Bull v JMM preview, but wanted to hit you fellas with the short videos we made with Diaz for Everlast around their photo shoot at Gleason’s this month. In the first we have the Baby Bull going toe to toe with his trainer Willie Savannah, and losing a unanimous decision for air time on Don King, the Galaxy Warrior, Katsidis, and Marquez.

Have a look and post your predictions for Saturday night. Best stylistic analysis of how the fight will unfold wins shirt of your choice. Closest to the the winner and the round or the judges scorecards for a decision wins shirt of your choice. Hit it on the button and get five shirts of your choice or a shirt and a hoodie. Must post before the fight starts to win. Good luck good sirs. Do Large proud.

After the jump are shorter topical clips, wherein we hear direct from Diaz on his “inner mexican” and training regimen.
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No Masios…

Here’s the deal on Broadway Boxing Wednesday the 25th. No Mas TV guys Tor Hamer and Will Rosinsky are both gonna be on the card. Tor is fighting a 5-0 guy (Chris Hancock) so this is his first real step up. The Headliner is Shaun George vs. Jaffa Ballagou. Doesn’t mean a ton to me, but in my experience, the best thing about these cards is rarely the headline bout.

The fight is at BB King’s rather than Hammerstein. Ticket options are $150 ringside, $100 stage, and $55 general admission. I was not able to get discounted pricing or special food and drink on this one as we are not rolling deep enough. We can get tickets in Tor’s stage section if we want, or general admission is also a good option because the space is so small you have a great view from the bar. Our crew will get a Tor poster (we designed it.) and some face time with Tor and Will. Let me know who’s down for what in the comments and purchasing is best done through torhamer.com

I quote Harold Lederman in my title to sum up an utterly bizarre night of boxing, one marred by disgraceful refereeing and blind-as-a-bat-ass judging, but ending with a memorable scrap that, just by a hair, redeemed the evening. Let’s go straight to the videotape:

Alfredo Angulo – TKO5 – Cosme Rivera
There’s not much to say about this fight that we didn’t know going in. Alfredo is hard as the nails that all the other nails are afraid of. That cut he got was seriously nasty, and just like Paul Williams last November against Verno Phillips, he brushed it off like it was less than a scratch. Of course, Cosme Rivera is welterweight and a journeyman by profession, a damn good one and game as they come (more on that in a second), but an undersized journeyman nonetheless, not at all a guy destined to hang in for very long against a perro with Angulo’s kind of bite.

So why, WHY, did Rivera have to take so many lethal shots before… Christ, before the Commission rep had to jump in the ring and save his ass? JESUS. Did you see Shannon Briggs in the crowd yelling for it to be stopped? He looked exactly like I did at that moment – hands on his head, pain in his eyes, screaming for someone to stop the goddamn fight.

It was horrendous to watch. Boxing is absolutely digusting when a ref and a corner don’t do their jobs to save a poor fucker like Rivera from himself. Because, look, Rivera is a Mexican nobody fighting on HBO on short notice. He knows he’s there to give the fans a good show, and like many a proud Mexican before him, he’s got the will and the heart of a thousand rhinos. Angulo probably would have had to shoot him in the face a couple of times before he would have hit the canvas of his own accord.

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posted by Large

(Be sure to check out Baggiesboy’s piece on tomorrow’s U.S./Mexico soccer match below this post. I had to bury him due to the breaking Margo situation, but as always he brought his A-game to the pitch. -L)

As I’m sure you guys have read or heard by now, Tony Margarito and his trainer Javier Capetillo both had their licenses revoked by the California State Athletic Commission after a hearing today into the handwraps controversy that emerged prior to Margarito’s fight with Shane Mosley on January 24th.

Our crack commenter Howard in NYC, who I gather doubles in his non-Masian existence as a lawyer, pointed out last week that because Mosley’s trainer, Nazim Richardson, had removed the suspiciously hard pads from Margarito’s dressing room and taken them to Mosley’s, there would be chain of custody issues raised by Margarito’s defense team, and indeed there were.

But apparently, nobody was biting on that line. Margarito’s trainer, Capetillo, also tried to take the entire blame upon himself, saying that he himself was responsible for the hard pieces being inside the fighter’s wraps and that Margarito had no knowledge of the matter whatsoever. As for what he’d done, Capetillo said it was “an innocent mistake.”

Nobody swallowed that, either. A year of license suspensions was voted by the Commission for both men to the tune of 7 yeas and zero nays. Down goes Margo.

Perhaps the most stunning revelation of the day, however, had no influence on the final judgment, though it is certain to lead to mass speculation and perhaps further punitive action against Margarito and Capetillo. During the proceedings, a deputy attorney general for the prosecution, Karen Chapelle, tried to introduce a claim that Margarito had worn similar pads under his gloves for the Cotto fight last July. The Commission refused to hear it, saying that it was irrelevant to the question of what happened at the Staples Center prior to the bout with Mosley.

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