As if the varying and sometimes flagrantly false excuses for what happened the night welterweight Antonio Margarito got caught with loaded gloves in January of 2009 weren't silly enough, now comes this: What R. Kelly's defense team might have dubbed the "Palmolive Hard On Grease, Soft On Hands" defense. Tell us about it, Margarito attorney Daniel Petrocelli:

A Justice Dept. test found that the inserts discovered in Margarito's wraps included basic components of plaster. But on Monday, Petrocelli argued that the wraps weren't coated with a "hard or concrete-like substance" but were simply constructed of gauze and a knuckle pad that were "a little worn." The pads were also found to have nothing more than traces of "calcium and sulfur" commonly found "in hand creams," Petrocelli said.

See? Margarito was merely trying to avoid gettin' ashy!

In recent days, Margarito's team has begun meeting with the media to try to dig him out of his hole. It's a deep hole; he went from "incumbent #1 Mexican superstar" (which is also good enough to be "one of the biggest superstars in America") to the most shunned boxer in the sport.

Read on if you haven't already. The end result is unconvincing. Margarito insists he still doesn't know what anyone was doing with his hand wraps, when basically every boxer who's asked about it says he ALWAYS knows what's going on with his hand wraps. Top Rank's Bob Arum (who alternately has defended Margarito with uncommon zeal and raised doubts about him, as it suits his needs) insists that Margarito will next fight in the United States, even though he currently lacks a license to do so.

I still say Margarito shouldn't be licensed to fight. What he did was beyond the pale. You have to be exceptionally generous of spirit to believe he had no part in what occurred, that he was but a patsy. If Texas licenses him to fight, it will be a black mark on that state. If Arum gets his wish and Margarito fights Manny Pacquiao later in 2010, it'll be a black mark on the entire sport. Watch and see what the mainstream media says about that one. The newspapers will damn boxing to its core if the #1 man in boxing fights someone whose license was stripped for cheating rather than giving the fans what they wanted, which is Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather. Watch. No one thing can kill boxing; it can't be killed. But it can definitely get kicked back to the ghetto from which it had been climbing.

To begin with, he does not resemble a prizefighter. There is the receding hairline, unusual for such a young man, but you can almost imagine a puckish little cowlick plastered on his forehead whenever he is away from the gym. Then there is a hint of mischief in his look; his pursed lips almost seem to be restraining a smile. Even the bruise visible under his right eye cannot take away from a certain impishness. Finally, there is that name, of course, Georgie. Hardly fitting, it seems, for a man who makes his living hurting and being hurt. But for two or three years, before hard luck sticks out its foot and trips him up at every turn, he is one of the top middleweights in the world. In fact, they call him the “Uncrowned Champion.” Years later, when his fractured, luckless fighting days are over, they forget him, and, through a haze of confusion, he rides his bicycle up and down scorched Las Vegas streets, hoping to be recognized by someone, anyone, formerly the Number One ranked middleweight in the world, the man they called Georgie.

no comments

Manchester is bulging with testosterone.

It’s a huge sporting day in the North West as the region plays host to both a world heavyweight title tussle and a potential English Premier League decider within a few hours of each other. Sharing top billing in the national dailies, the events intertwine themselves as firstly Haye parades his WBA belt before the crowd at Old Trafford, whilst later Chelsea and Manchester United players fill ringside seats at the fight.

We arrive at the M.E.N Arena at around 7 p.m., still chuckling at an inebriated punter who somehow managed to somersault himself down two flights of steps outside (he’s picked up nary a scratch, yet his bewilderment at how he went from a standing position to sitting at the feet of three policemen was accidentally hilarious). They’re selling "Hayemaker" t-shirts around the foyer for the princely sum of £20 and pretty soon a sea of multi-coloured disciples gush into the arena. We’ve plumped for the best positioned £50 tickets in the house and have a perfect view of the ring (there are very few poor seats in Ricky Hatton’s old house to be fair).

no comments

As we round into the stretch run of the first iteration of the TQBR Prediction Game, the difference between winning and losing could come down to one wrong call, or one slightly more accurate call.

There is a slight dilemma for said stretch run, however. There are two fights this weekend that are game-worthy: The HBO double-header, Andre Berto-Carlos Quintana and Celestino Caballero-. The next weekend, there are two more prediction-worthy fights in another HBO double-header. That puts us with an uneven number that splits up our 12-round frame, either 11 or 13. That means we might have to pick a third fight this weekend to conclude the game (uh... Evander Holyfield-Francois Botha?), or go into an unplanned overtime next weekend. Any thoughts?

Anyway: JB and Pretty Toney remained 100 points apart atop the list after last weekend's fights, but Geordie Dancer aka Andrew Harrison is within shooting distance, and with three (or more or less) more fights to go, plenty of people are still live 'dogs.

From week to week, though, there are chances to be a hero. When stickfigure and PI Joe aka Irvin Ryan predicted a 9th round KO for David Haye over John Ruiz, they got it precisely right for the 100 point bonus. Yes, THAT stickfigure, whom IR had dubbed the Peter Buckley of the game. Sixteen people saw a KO for Mr. Haye, for 50 extra points on top of the 500 for getting it right. With Ruiz up and down all fight, I'm sure some of us were like, "Dang, is gonna go in my round?" (In my weekend round-up, I left out out what a tough, brave showing Ruiz gave us. If this is the note his career ends on, he has nothing to be ashamed of, if you ask me. He had a nice career even if he was mocked for much of it, and his toughness has always been underrated.) Only one person -- gavaniacono -- went with Ruiz to win.

Four people -- David Schraub, willfrank, cardscott5, Geordie Dancer -- got Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones II exactly right, i.e. a unanimous decision. One other person, PJ Prediction King, at least got the decision part right. In retrospect, most of us were crazy to think Hopkins would knock anyone out, even a horrendously faded Jones. Two people -- Not Sure aka Jay Ari Yin and fadein2bolivian -- went with Jones.

One more thing: People keep saying they've miss the prediction entries. The cure for that? You could visit more often (always welcome), or at least make sure you look at all posts between Tuesday and Thursday no matter what.

As usual, standings await below. Let me know if I made any mistakes in tabulation, and we can adjudicate:

Fans of Friday Night Fights are accustomed to Teddy Atlas providing his honest opinion of the fights on the card, pulling no punches when he considers a fighter in against a mismatched opponent. Atlas is a pillar of integrity for his blunt honesty but he leans a little too tough sometimes, as I feel he did this past weekend when criticizing junior middleweight Demetrius Andrade’s opponent, Geoffery Spruiell.

(The next challenge for Demetrius Andrade?)

no comments

It's exactly what it sounds like.

It's not Gus Johnson calling a boxing match, but the above video (NSFW?) does ring familiar for those of us accustomed to listening to him on Showtime.

In these Quick Jabs, we take the subjects in the headline and mix it up with some other tidbits and some fights in the works (Peterson brothers! Showtime and ESPN2 coups! Some suckiness!) and out comes a hearty stew of... um... fists? That metaphor got away from me. I'll be more discplined going forward, promise.

Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson

Wil Haygood

461 pp.

Alfred A. Knopf, December 2009

The time is right for a new look at the life of Sugar Ray Robinson, the signature fighter of boxing's golden era. Robinson, born Walker Smith, Jr. in Detroit in 1921, was by consensus the greatest boxer that ever lived. He was also a man conscious of his place in the world and determined to expand the idea of what a black athlete could be in postwar America. Wil Haygood, the author of acclaimed biographies of Sammy Davis, Jr. and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., knows the shades and tones of Robinson's world, and with Sweet Thunder he seeks to give us the man in full: athlete, entertainer, hip Negro, clothes horse, and political conscience. Unfortunately, while Haygood artfully situates Robinson within his place and time, the man himself ultimately remains something of an enigma. The result is a book that succeeds in many ways but feels oddly hollow at its center.

It's right about the anniversary of the Open Thread, since we missed a month or two when Open Thread love dipped to nearly none. Lately, the love has been back. So: Happy birthday, Open Thread.

We'll do this year what we did in the first, because a lot has changed in the world since then.

Tell me: Who are you? If you wanna keep your name all private, that's cool -- I just want to know more about who's out there and what they do when they're not coming around here. Job? Age? Town? Favorite boxer? Other interests besides watching people punch each other? Whatever else you think we need to know?

After this month's [censored] music pick -- GO. Go go go! And then, when you're done making acquaintance, start talking about whatever the heck is on your mind. (Although maybe for comity's sake, we should avoid Andre Dirrell-Arthur Abraham.)

(David Haye, via The Daily Mail)

It's hard to believe we're coming into David Haye-John Ruiz Saturday and the ultra-aggressive Haye is the one who drew criticism after his last fight for being too ugly and passive, while the famously huggy Ruiz in his last fight bucked his reputation as a grind-it-out mauler. But both heavyweights may benefit against one another by developing those dimensions outside the usual.

The British Haye has been the heavyweight most Americans dream of, a charismatic, attractive power-puncher with speed and a go-for-broke style. Ruiz has been the American heavyweight most boxing fans prefer to forget. Reputations are funny things. A little change in style for Haye against Nicolay Valuev and for Ruiz against Adnan Serin has changed perceptions of both men in some quarters. It might be circumstantial, though. Haye hurt his right hand badly early against Valuev, and even before then it looked like he was trying on a more stick-and-move style for size, so this may have been more about adding a wrinkle while enduring an injury than it was a lackluster outing. Ruiz got himself a new trainer, Miguel Diaz, that Ruiz said has brought a friendlier boxer-puncher style, but Serin was a stay-busy opponent who didn't pose a risk.

Whatever the reason, that contrast -- along with the usual cliffhanger routine of whether Haye's power or his shaky chin will carry the day -- gives spice to a fight that hardly anyone wanted, other than the sanctioning organization that mandated Haye defend his belt against Ruiz.