Rocky and Apollo
No matter what Jeff Pearlman has to say on the matter, this Oscar/Floyd fight continues to get more and more stratospheric in its scope. As if the whole Floyd Sr. drama wasn't enough juice for the training camps, the news came out this past Friday that none other than Oscar's business partner and former conqueror Sugar Shane Mosley is going to serve as his primary sparring partner for the bout with Floyd.
The sparring partner turned champion is a familiar story - both Jimmy Ellis and then, of course, Larry Holmes were sparring partners for Ali, Jose Luis Castillo did a long stint as Julio Cesar Chavez's whipping boy, and at the turn of the century, two of the most famous boxers of all time were training partners, as the unknown Jim Jeffries sparred with then champion Gentleman Jim Corbett. After Jeff won the title in his own right from Bob Fitzsimmons in 1899, Corbett challenged his former charge the following year and nearly beat him, boxing beautifully before lunging face first into a left hook in the 23rd round that put the lights out on the Gentleman's evening. They fought a rematch in '03, a predictably sad affair in which the shot Corbett was brutally dispatched (I wrote about this fight on its anniversary last August).But here, over a century later, we have something that may be a first - a decorated former champion going backwards, taking a gig as a sparring partner for a man he twice defeated in the ring. Not only that, but just consider this for a second - there will be two former pound-for-pound kings going at it in the Golden Boy's camp on a daily basis. Help me out, No Masians - has anything even remotely like this ever happened before? In his piece on ESPN.com, Dan Rafael referenced Rocky and Apollo, as Apollo trained, sparred, and possibly
shagged the Italian Stallion to get him ready for Clubber Lang. I can just see Oscar and Shane now, lubed and muscled and in matching tube socks, running wind-sprints together on the beach and then tenderly embracing with the unfettered manly joy of competition.Rival-turned-partner Mosley to aid Oscar (ESPN.com)
3 Comments:
I think you nailed it with the above examples, Large. The question is does this give Oscar a slight advantage? Or does Floyd have the book on Oscar thanks to his pops?
I didn't comment on the Pearlman post last week. But I just wanted to chime in and say this fight is gonna be legit and worth all of the hype. What other fight are we getting up for this year? Also its my birthday, so I'm gonna do it big on the 5th.
I'd pay good money to have access to that gym. Oscar's chances are looking much better now. Training against a world-class pugilist will tremendously help him.
id pay good money to work out with carl weathers.
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