Punishment Inc.

[PilotMan]

Well, today is the day. After all the planning and heartache, blows to the head and now it comes to this. There is an excitement that is flowing through my body that I have not felt since the title shot. But that was years ago. I am Bucky Mason, but I am better known by my fighting name as Bucky the Bull. I was a heavyweight contender back in ‘90. I did get a title shot but that didn’t last too long. The fight was short and sweet, not sweet for me, but it did change my life.

Following the knockout, I was a different fighter, I had gotten to realize my dream, and I realized that I would never get to again. I slacked off, lost some more fights, and instead of trying to climb the mountain to get back to the top, I slid down. Hard.

Boxing became a way to make money and support myself. I was a named fighter and commanded respect from the up and comers, until they realized that I didn’t take the sport seriously anymore. At best I was a journeymen. I knew so much more about the sport than other guys did. I spent some time with the bottle, and lost a couple of years off my life. Tactically, I was sound. It was the physical side that I faltered on.

That brings me to where I am today. I have cleaned my life up, and found that I do indeed love this sport. It is my intention to find my way back to the top. Not as a fighter though, that time has passed me by. I was laying in bed, thinking back to that fated fight. Analyzing what I did, watching the tapes, and telling myself that I could do better. I had mulled the idea of going back to the gym to work out, but didn’t really appeal to me either. I did go back though.

[PilotMan]

What did I find when I went back. I found out that the kids are a lot bigger than they were in my day. I found out that I am still a pseudo-celebrity in the world of boxing, at least in this neck of the woods. I found out that I was studying these kids, and what I found was that some of them had real skills, and that some of them had a legit shot to go. This business is so corrupt that some of these kids could be spit out before they even get a chance to go to the top. An idea was hatching in my head.

I ran to the bank. I had come into a bit of money after the death of my father. He had done well speculating in the stock market in the 90's, and that coupled with some gambling winnings had wound up being in the neighborhood of two million dollars.

In the end, that is how Punishment Inc. came into being. Punishment Inc is my little project. I know that I have what it takes to get back to the top, not as a fighter, but as a manager.

[PilotMan]

I am not sure how this is really going to go. I have gotten away from UHB for a while, and I always said that as soon as I had my laptop I would run a new dynasty. I am not an overly gifted writer so the whole first person thing may prove to be difficult. I will do my best and hold out as long as I can.

I am using an older game called World Championship Boxing Manager, or WCBM for short. It is not the same as the old VGA boxing game. The game starts out with a boatload of fighters and I have opted to start with an empty stable and lots of fighters. Historical fighters are also included and they are at different points in their careers. There is one title for each of the 8 weight divisions and about 200 fighters for each weight class. Intermixed with the historical fighters are the fictional fighters.

The point of the game is to find and sign fighters, set fights and raise my reputation to get top ranked fighters to come to my stable, and to make it into the Hall of Fame.

If anyone has any questions let me know.

[PilotMan]

Feb 2005

The business is off to a slow start guys. I spent all of last month scouring the gyms and talking to fighters. I was rejected more times than you can count. I threw a little bit down on some sure things and made an extra 40 grand. Every little bit helps. At the end of the month we had our first 2 fighters to join Punishment Inc.

The first is a middleweight who is currently ranked #97 in the world. I see in him a load of potential, but he has been abused to this point in his career and I really don’t know if he has what it takes to get back to the top. Lawrence McFarlane was the first to sign on. His record as of right now is 10-7-0 (10). He is an aggressive, come at you fighter who has great power and at his will can unleash a barrage of punches that I haven’t seen for a long, long time. He could be great! Will he? I have no idea. I sent him to the training room right off the bat, and am in the process of trying to get him a descent fight. The thing with Lawrence is that his confidence is shaken really bad. He has taken some tough losses and is not in very good shape either. He is going to take a gentle hand. He has signed on for 6 fights, at a cost of over 700,000 dollars. His contract could be very lucrative if he can get some wins, or we get into a position where money is important.

The other fighter to join my young stable is a lightweight. Omar Acevedo is a rookie. He is a local kid who is going to make his debut with me. He has also signed on for 6 fights. Omar has solid skills, but his chin is a real question. He is also what you might call a dirty fighter. Harry Greb would approve of his tactics. I found him in the gym sparring with some big guys, and let me tell you he can hit. Not quite the ring general that you might desire, but I am hoping that he will put on a good show, and let his punches fly.

Neither of these guys really has what it takes to be the champ, but I gotta start somewhere. Besides, I can really only go up.

[PilotMan]

The fights are booked! My fighters have their first opponents. Both fights will be in the middle of March of this year. I have focused both fighters training on roadwork, and general training. That will be mixed with some sparring and some ring generalmanship training. My hopes are that we will win both of these fights. That would be good for the stable as well as getting off on the right foot in general.

I had a good night at the fights this week, even though I lost 60 grand on a "sure thing". Stupid fucker is 18-0 and fights a 7-7 guy, decides to cruise through the fight and it ends in a majority draw.

The other fight that I had staked was 50 grand on a fight beween 2 rookies. I liked the odds and went for the longshot at 3-1. He paid and I came away with 150k. That will help with the training camp expenses for sure.

McFarlane(M) will be facing Michael Lack. He is an experienced fighter who has a record of 16-33-1 (5). He recently came off of a draw against Frank Tate. This match is going to be in the 3<SUP>rd</SUP> week of March. He doesn’t have a lot of power, but is very aggressive and will come forward all night long. His chin is good and he can withstand a good punishing. He is currently ranked #106 in the world.

Acevedo(L) will be facing Marcos Solano. Both fighters are making their respective debuts. Solano is an accurate puncher who can take a good punch. He also likes to come forward and has good defense.

I really don’t like the idea of going up against another untested fighter, as I really don’t know what I have yet. I guess that you gotta start somehwere. Right?

It ought to be an interesting week . Two aging fighters will go at it nearing the end of their careers. Evander Holyfield, 36-3-1 (25) will face Joe Frazier 32-4-1 (27). The bookies have Holyfield a 2-5 favorite while the odds on Frazier are 2-1.

Holyfield is ranked #13, while Frazier is ranked #10

[PilotMan]

Well, It ended up going the distance with Joe Frazier winning by unanimous decision.

Betting didn’t go so well, but it could have been worse. I ended up losing a little less than 2000 dollars. I am going to have to do better than that in future fights.

[PilotMan]

First week of March

Today is a bad day. I am crushed, totally crushed. I can’t believe what happend last night. I was sitting there watching these fights that I had laid bets on. As is my typical strategy I was looking for fights that looked like sure thing bets. You know the kind where the odds so heavily favor one fighter, and he looks so much better that even if you only win a portion of your bet at least you still end up winning?

It was a black, black day. I had 3 fights staked, and 100k bet between those fights and lost it all. I lost it all. Now that I don’t have the money and I am looking at the finances it is going to be difficult to really bet my way back into the money. I will need to be very frugal with how it is spent.

Right now, I feel as low as I did after that Championship fight. I mean, I have just put my entire operation in jeopardy, and I havn’t even gotten to see my fighters go yet!

So fucking stupid.

I need to focus on these fighters. Lawrence has his fight in 3 weeks and Omar has his in 4. Both look to be approaching peak fitness. I know that for the full effects of the gym to hit neither should be fighting for a couple of months but I need to see them in action. I need to get those important first wins together. We need something positive.

This is an important week in boxing. The first world title defense is to be held this week.

Peter O’ Connell, who is currently the #1 ranked Heavyweight is going to defend his title against Gene Tunney, who is ranked #3.

O’ Connell comes in with a 33-3-0 (19) while Tunney sports a 61-1-1 (45) record. Both fighters look to be in comparable shape with Tunney having the power advantage while O’Connell has the accuracy advantage. Tunney will be the agressor, and defensively they are even.

The bookies like O’Connell in this one as he is a 1-2 favorite. The odds on Tunney are 13-8. Myself, I like Tunney’s chances and will lay some money down in his favor. The payout right now is better than hitting a blackjack.

[daedalus]

Good start so far. Keep up the good work, P-Man. I'll be following along. :)

[PilotMan]

Thanks daed. I already have 25 or so pages written. There will be more to come. Don't worry.

[PilotMan]

Second week of March

Peter O’Connell took a 12 round - Unanimous decision win over Gene Tunny.

I lost another 20k here. Luckily I got most of it back with winning bets on Willie Pep and Sonny Liston. For the week I lost a whopping 1k. I really need to start winning some money. This gambling thing may end up being the death of Punishment Inc. Right now the bank statement says that we have about 250k in liquid cash and about 1.6 mil in assets which are the values of the 2 fighter contracts that I hold.

The World Bantamweight Title is on the line this week.

The principles are current world #1 Manny Bionas, 5-14-0 (5), and Xavier Firth the #3, who has a record of 18-6-0 (7). I have no idea who Bionas has been fighting to get that record, but it must be heavyweights, because the guy is a monster. The bookies have Firth as the favorite at 1-3, and Bionas is going off at 5-2. I am laying no money on this one as I have a bad feeling about it altogether.

In other news Rocky Marciano will be fighting Jack Johnson, and Oscar de la Hoya takes on Kid Galvain.

[PilotMan]

Another bad week and I can’t seem to catch a break to get any cash. I lost another 36k

Jack Johnson KO’ed Rocky Marciano in the 3<SUP>rd</SUP> round and Oscar de la Hoya won with a 1<SUP>st</SUP> round TKO over Kid Galvain.

The bookies were right on the Bantamweight Title fight as Xavier Firth dominated Manny Bionas and won in the 2<SUP>nd</SUP> by TKO. Manny Bionas promptly retired from boxing.

Other notable fighters that have retired this year include:

Bobby Czyz 44-8-0 (28)

Antonio Gomez 40-8-2 (18)

Jackie Wilson 103-46-6 (20)

James Toney 55-5-2 (35)

Gene Tunney 61-2-1(45)

Johnny Dundee 90-32-19 (22)

Benny Bass 140-29-6 (59)

Juan La Porte 40-16-0 (22)



At the end of this month I will start posting the top ten rankings for the weight divisions. Since the game doesn’t have any export features it will take some time to get them all up. I plan on doing updates about once a quarter.

[daedalus]

Darn. I thought you had a chance to make some money back on the Tunney fight. Meh.

You are on an ugly streak. :D

[Swaggs]

Good stuff.

Looking forward to reading some more. :)

[PilotMan]

Fight Night -

Well, I have found out a little more about my fighters since I took over responsibility for their fighting careers. McFarlane(M) has his first fight as a member of my camp, and let me tell you. He is lazy. Great skills, and lazy. He has been training for 5 weeks specifically for this fight and he just doesn’t seem to want to get there. How am I going to get him going?

Lawrence McFarlane is heavily favored in this fight and the bookies have him as a 1/4 favorite. I will be laying down some cash on this one, and it will be the only fight that I bet on this week. All of my attention needs to be focused here.

His opponent, Lack, has a great chin that I would like to test. He is aggressive and accurate. This fight is a scheduled 6 rounder so it should prove to be entertaining. Strategy is going to play an important part in the match.

I think that I will let McFarlane start with a style that he feels comfortable with and keep him in a defensive mindset. Lack will be coming forward and hopefully he will be able to land some good counters. I am not really worried about Lack’s power or lack thereof, and McFarlane has a very good chin. If things start to go McFarlane’s way, I have no problem letting him out and swinging freely.

Mostly I just want to get the win and help Lawrence’s confidence

[PilotMan]

Welcome Swaggs, glad to have you along for the ride. Thanks for reading.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

And just like that it is over. Strategy didn’t play that important of a role after all. The first round was a very offensive fight with both fighters landing well. McFarlane took control with the jab and was able to land some good combinations. Lack really had no response and even though he was landing he wasn’t hurting McFarlane or doing any real damage. On the other hand, it seemed that every combination, uppercut and hook from McFarlane was taking its toll. By the end of the first round Lack had taken a lot of damage and the ref didn’t like what he saw. The fight was stopped at 2:49 of the first round and Lawrence McFarlane was declared the winner by TKO.

That win put some money back in the coffers as the winnings from the bet I laid paid 20k and the take from the fight was almost 200k!

After I got back home I had a message on my voice mail. It was from the manager of Jorge Castro. He had a fight to sell me on. He wanted McFarlane v. Castro, and was willing to pay me 120k as compensation up front.

Now Jorge Castro is a different story, he is a fighter who is ranked lower (#97) and has more fights. He is nearing the end of his career but is still deadly enough to cause all sorts of problems. He won his last fight with a 4<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO over Ken Overlin. His record stands at 111-6-2 (76). He is a complete fighter with good all around abilites, who is just edging toward the backside of his long and illustrious career.

I am not ready to start throwing my young fighters to the wolves to I will call his manager back this week and tell him to get real. Control in my matchmaking is one of the only things that I have going for me right now. Besides I need to concentrate on Omar. He has a fight this week.

[PilotMan]

The 4<SUP>th</SUP> week of March

Well, the 3 of us are in pretty good spirits and looking forward to what tonight might bring. There hasn’t been any really big news in boxing and no new title fights have been announced. I wouldn’t notice anyway since all of my effort has been going into Omar to make sure that he is ready in his boxing debut this week. His training has been going better than Lawerence’s did, but he could have used a lot more time in the gym. I was just really anxious to get him into the ring.

This week’s fight is a scheduled 4 rounder and it is against another rookie fighter by the name of Marcos Solano. Solano bears a resemblance to Lack in that he lacks the power to hurt Acevedo, but makes up for it with aggressive fighting and good accuracy. He has a good chin, and I would like to take advantage of his average defense.

Omar does not have a good chin, nor is he overly aggressive. What he does have however is quick reflexes, good defense and good power, combined with accurate punching. I will have him going backward in this fight and tell him to counter. Hopefully, he will be able to control the fight this way and maybe land some big shots after Solano leaves himself open.

The bookies have Omar as a 1-2 favorite while Solano is at 7/4. I will have some money on Omar, but like I said, I hate to see my young fighters go against the unknown.

[Swaggs]

Are you scouting anyone new or are you going to ride with these two until you make some money?

[PilotMan]

Plan of sticking with these two for now. I have some money, but my contract with them will run out eventually. The inital contracts from both of them was over 1.5 mil of my initial 2 mil pot. I am not sure if I will reup with either of them, or try my luck with some others. For now though it is 2 fighters.

[PilotMan]

Fight Night -

I told Omar to relax, and do what he feels comfortable with. I told him not to force the pace and to let Solano come to him. If he finds an opening, exploit it, and if he gets him hurt to take him out. Don’t worry about his power, you have more.

Here we go!

Things didn’t start out very good in the first round. Solano came charging out of the corner and landed blow after blow on Omar. In fact, Omar looked bad. By the middle of the round he had done nothing and figuring that he might be scared I screamed at him to take the fight to him. With Omar coming forward he seemed to gain confidence and it was obvious that his blows were having some effect. Solano landed less and less punches and Omar ended the round with the advantage. Overall though I told him that he lost that one, but that he needed to start the next round the way he finished the last one.

Things went better in the second round but Solano still landed way to many punches. I hate to open Omar up in the 3<SUP>rd</SUP> but when you are down 2 rounds in a 4 round fight what can you do?

In between rounds I told Omar to go for it! Take the fight to him, chase him down and make him pay. Omar owned the 3<SUP>rd</SUP> round but still took a lot of damage in the process. The round was decidedly his. Now, if we can win the last round, hopefully the judges will see things our way. More of the same to come.

The 4<SUP>th</SUP> round of the fight didn’t start the way I wanted it to, as Solano came out good, and landed the majority of the blows. Omar responeded though and landed some big blows and combos. In fact he continued to take control of the fight and had Solano reeling. If this fight had gone on another 30 seconds the ref would have had no choice but to stop it and award the TKO to Omar. Hopefully the judges saw it that way.

J1: 39-38 Acevedo

J2: 38-37 Solano

J3: 40-37Acevedo

Omar Acevedo grabs his first win with a split decision win over Solano. More celebrating and a much needed break to come. We grabbed a 40k payout from the bet that was placed and over 300k from the purse.

[PilotMan]

Rankings as of the first week of April, 2005.

Heavyweight

CHAMP Peter O’ Connell 34-3-0 (19)

#1 Joe Louis 68-3-0 (54)

#2 David Skinner 31-14-0 (23)

#3 Josh Devlin 16-7-0 (16)

#4 Jack Johnson 79-13-11 (50)

#5 Muhammad Ali 56-5-0 (37)

#6 Joe Frazier 33-4-1 (27)

#7 Mike Tyson 46-3-0 (39)

#8 Larry Holmes 66-6-0 (42)

#9 Errol Hargreaves 13-8-0 (10)

#10 Jack Dempsey 61-6-9 (50)

Light Heavyweight

CHAMP Brendan Lawe 10-5-0 (9)

#1 Tommy Loughran 95-23-9 (17)

#2 Joshua Simpson 12-2-0 (6)

#3 Roger Stewart 28-5-0 (16)

#4 Jeff Ellery 19-8-1 (12)

#5 Kelly Schofield 33-0-1 (13)

#6 Roy Jones 39-0-0 (33)

#7 Jack Dillon 94-7-14 (64)

#8 Elwood Jarrold 43-2-0 (22)

#9 Cliff Harris 19-5-0 (10)

#10 Matt Upton 19-0-0 (14)

Middleweight

CHAMP Sugar Ray Robinson 186-20-6 (118)

#1 Les Darcy 48-10-0 (29)

#2 Carlos Monzon 95-6-10 (64)

#3 Karl Upchurch 17-2-1 (9)

#4 Jake LaMotta 86-22-4 (33)

#5 Mike McCallum 50-5-1 (36)

#6 Harry Greb 127-16-3 (60)

#7 Leavander Nolan 15-0-0 (5)

#8 Dick Tiger 67-24-3 (29)

#9 Fumitaka Ito 31-3-0 (25)

#10 Emile Griffith 87-28-1 (24)

[PilotMan]

Welterweight

CHAMP Sugar Ray Leonard 36-2-1 (25)

#1 Derrell Guyver 24-0-0 (11)

#2 Oscar de la Hoya 31-0-0 (25)

#3 Jose Napoles 78-7-0 (55)

#4 Yoshiaki Kabayashi 32-0-0 (19)

#5 Francisco Lacierva 22-6-0 (15)

#6 Ike Quartey 35-1-1 (30)

#7 Miguel Sanchez 22-7-0 (10)

#8 Andrey Romero 35-0-0 (30)

#9 Dennis Duran 9-9-0 (2)

#10 Wilfredo Benitez 53-8-1 (31)

Lightweight

CHAMP Melvin Horne 8-6-0 (8)

#1 Damian Essett 17-1-0 (17)

#2 Urbano Milanes 13-11-0 (13)

#3 Joe Gans 121-8-9 (86)

#4 Benny Leonard 85-5-1 (69)

#5 Jorge Reynoso 20-3-0 (14)

#6 Sam Hughes 39-5-0 (23)

#7 Julio Cesar Chavez 100-3-2 (82)

#8 Victor Marquez 39-0-0 (20)

#9 Pedro Carrasco 105-3-2 (66)

#10 Daniel Davey 17-6-0 (17)

Featherweight

CHAMP Peter Badillio 21-5-0 (16)

#1 Nolito Filisilda 35-0-0 (12)

#2 Calvin Calvert 15-3-0 (14)

#3 Eric Doughty 16-2-1 (5)

#4 Willie Pep 231-11- 1 (66)
#5 Armando Medina 14-0-1 (5)

#6 Gary Jakeman 15-5-0 (7)

#7 Reece Phelan 13-2-0 (9)

#8 Ray O’ Regan 28-4-0 (14)

#9 Sean Needlman 13-4-0 (12)

#10 Luis Ramon Andrade 8-9-0 (8)

[PilotMan]

Bantamweight

CHAMP Xavier Firth 19-6-0 (8)

#1 Joselito Pana 31-0-0 (12)

#2 Carlos Zarate 61-4-0 (58)

#3 Job Reyes 17-0-0 (17)

#4 German Tiznado 44-0-0 (11)

#5 Esteban Lopez 12-9-0 (5)

#6 Benjamin Euroza 14-7-0 (6)

#7 Michael Younis 35-3-0 (9)

#8 Victor Luna 17-0-0 (11)

#9 Ruben Patrick 19-9-0 (7)

#10 Eder Jofre 72-2-4 (50)

Flyweight

CHAMP Gerardo Ramirez 23-0-0 (12)

#1 Ernesto Bantillian 12-3-0 (10)

#2 Randy Mercado 13-1-0 (11)

#3 Zosimo Diaz 17-0-0 (11)

#4 Rocky Cubillas 14-0-0 (12)

#5 Cornelius Vosper 15-0-0 (3)

#6 Pancho Villa 77-5-5 (24)

#7 Kenichi Komaki 33-2-0 (11)

#8 Hideki Nishizawa 19-0-0 (10)

#9 Fusaaki Watanabe 17-2-0 (5)

#10 Buddy Bionas 18-0-0 (5)

[PilotMan]

The Featherweight Title is on the line this week as Nolito Filisilda challenges Peter Badillio for the title. Fillisilda is putting his undefeated record on the line. Badillio has the better power and is a very aggressive fighter, while Fillisilda is very resilient. General opinion is that Badillio can’t hang with Fillisilda. The bookies agree as the odds are 2/5 on Fillisilda and 2/1 on Badillio.

The boys at Punishment Inc. continue to recover from their fights and I am starting to look for their next opponents. I have Lawerence McFarlane doing a lot of running and sparring, along with general fight training. I have Omar Acevedo working on the speed bag, running with McFarlane, and doing a lot of lifting. I need him to be a bit more nimble. He got hit more in the last match than he should have. He has good power, I need to get him to exploit it in the ring.

I called the manager of Jorge Abrecia, a lightweight journeyman, who happens to be ranked #122, to see if they might be interested in a fight. Ahhh...they said no. Oh well, I may need to take on another newbie. I really hate that. You just never know what you are walking into.

One more fight of note this week is the matchup of top ten heavyweights Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali. Ali is ranked #7 and Tyson is #10. Tyson can through the heavy punches and Ali can take them. Ali is much faster. How will this one turn out? Bookmakers are leaning toward Ali as he is at 1/4 odds, while the odds on Tyson are 10/3. I am in awe of Ali, and will lay a small 10k bet on him to win the fight.

[PilotMan]

Peter Badillio surprised me! He managed a 12 round split decision win over Filisilda. That is the first loss for Filisilda and Badillio had to gain some measure of respect with the win. In other news Muhammad Ali won a 10-round unanimous decision over Mike Tyson. Too bad for me that I forgot to lay my money on him. In other bets we lost 3444 for the week. I am really bad at speculating. I need to stick with my own guys.

McFarlane looks to be back in top shape and it is time to see where the next step of his career is going to take him. I would like to stick to a fight that I know that he can win instead of really challenging him.

I saw a fighter that I feel might fit the bill. Mike Firth, who was just TKOed in the 3<SUP>rd</SUP> round by Frank Tate. I give his manager a call and ask if they might be interested in a fight the second week of June. He thinks about it and says to go ahead and get the paperwork taken care of. The fight is booked.

Mike Firth, 16-23-0 (3), has no power, but is quick and has reasonably good defense. He comes forward and has a good chin and has a good heart. His body can only take too much, and mentally he is not on top of his game. Sounds like a perfect fit.

[Tellistto]

Nice dynasty, I'll follow along too.


Tell

[PilotMan]

End of April, 2005

Omar looks to be ready to for another fight. He is responding well to training and the roadwork and ringwork look like they might be helping. As for Lawrence.....I really don’t know. I just hope he looks as good in his next match as he did in his last.

I saw a fighter that I think might be a good match for Omar. Fernando Santana is coming off of a KO loss, but has a KO win under his belt too. He hits hard, has good defense and will come forward. This will be an opportunity to see if I can bring out the counterpuncher in Omar. We ended up getting away from it in the last fight and that is really the type of fighter that I would like him to be. His chin is a little above average and his heart is in question. I know it will be a quick fight, I just hope that we can make enough of an impression.

So I called his handlers and mentioned that I might be intersted in a fight at the end of May. They laughed. So I said how about the middle of June? No reply. So I said what about the end of June? OK. The match is set for the end of June. Now to get these guys ready.

There is another title fight this week. Welterweight champion Sugar Ray Leonard is defending his title against Jose Napoles. Napoles is the #5 ranked contender to the title, and he is a huge underdog. Leonard is a favorite with odds at 1/6. The odds on Napoles are 9/2. Both fighters compare close, but Ray Leonard has the advantage in conditioning, while Napoles is coming off of a 7<SUP>th</SUP> round KO of Luis Rodriquez, another top 10 contender. It should be one hell of a fight.

[PilotMan]

Thanks Tellistto. I hope you enjoy it.

[PilotMan]

Sugar Ray Leonard successfully defended his Welterweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision over Jose Napoles. I did well on my bets this week. We ended up coming out 50k ahead. That should pay for some more losses down the road.

Lawrence McFarlane (M) has moved up to #78 in the middleweight division and Omar Acevedo is at #148 in the lightweight division.

The Bantamweight title is on the line again in 3 weeks.

My financial situation looks fairly good right now. I have about 715000 in liquid cash and a little over 2.5 mil in assets in the form of fighter contracts. That could drop significantly if and when Acevedo loses, as his contract is considered quite valuable right now.

[PilotMan]

The third week of May-

The Bantamweight title is on the line as Xavier Firth will be making his first title defense against 9<SUP>th</SUP> ranked Reuben Patrick. Firth won the title with a 2<SUP>nd</SUP> round TKO against Manny Bionas. Patrick has a 19-9-0(7) record and is not expected to be a big challenge to Firth.

Firth appears to be in better shape, is considered the more accurate puncher and has better defense. Their power is comparable but neither is a big puncher. Both men have good chin’s and Patrick will be probably pressure the the pace of the fight throughout.

The bookies have the odds on Firth at ½ while the odds on Patrick are 13/8. I will have a small bet on Firth to retain the title.

My fighters are gearing up for their matches, and I need to start thinking about what to do when their contracts start to run out.

[PilotMan]

Xavier Firth let his fists fly to the tune of a second round KO of challenger Reuben Patrick. Firth it not known as a power puncher, grabbed his 9<SUP>th</SUP> win by KO. Yours truly managed a 15k profit from this fight. It isn’t a goldmine, but it helps to keep the gym running. :)

The Light Heavyweight title is on the line this week, and it is going to be a great fight!

The Champ, Brendan Lawe, 10-5-0 (9), is defending his title against Jeff Ellery, 19-8-1 (12). Ellery is coming off of a draw against ranked Kelly Schofield. Both fighters look to be in comparable shape. Ellery is the bigger puncher, he is also considered to have faster hands and better defense. He is however, not the champ, and that is what it takes to be on top. Lawe is much better at taking a punch, but Ellery knows how to battle back in a fight.

The oddsmakers are at odds, as both fighters are listed at 1/1. Yes folks, it’s a pick’em

[PilotMan]

Jeff Ellery is the new Light Heavyweight title holder after his 12-round unanimous decision over the former Champ Brendan Lawe. I had my money on Ellery as he just seemed to have the fight in hand. The payout was 30k.

We are 2 weeks from Lawrence’s next fight. Mike Firth does not look like he is in top form yet, and mentally he is really lacking. I think that I will have a large sum of money on my man to win this fight. I have the utmost confidence in his ability to win this one.

[Tellistto]

Go Lawrence, kick some butt! And yay for making money on the bets!

Tell

[PilotMan]

Second week of June 2005

Fight Night-

Lawrence Mcfarlane is ready to go in his second fight as a member of Punishment Inc. I feel so confident that he is going to dominate this fight that I have bet a massive 250k that he wins! Dear God, I hope that I don’t regret this! The payout won’t be that great if he wins, but anyway, how can he lose.

Mike Firth appears to be in fighting shape, but not in top form. McFarlane has been showing steady improvement from the running and road work, but he certainly isn’t anywhere near the peak of his potential. I am looking for another first round TKO.

Here we go:

This fight is set for 6 rounds.

Both fighters came out quick. McFarlane was told to go forth and put the fucker on his ass. He took some punches and got some of his own in. Around 1:10 into the first round Mike Firth took a hook to the ear and went down. He got up at 4 and took the 8 count. He tried to fight back, but it was obvious that the punishment was taking its toll. Another 30 seconds and McFarlance was landing well again. The ref stopped the fight at 2:00 into the first round. Another TKO win for Lawrence McFarlane.

All that money on the line and it earned me a little over 31k. It’s better than a kick to the head.;)

Mike Firth announced his retirement from the world of boxing after the fight.

[PilotMan]

Last week of June-

Fight Night

Omar is primed and ready for his fight. This is going to be a challenging fight for him. I am depending on his speed and elusiveness to win this. Hopefully Santana will open himself and Omar will make him pay. I have 50k riding on this match, certainly I don’t feel as optimistic about it. After all it is only the 4<SUP>th</SUP> fight in my stable, and Acevedo’s second career fight. Right now, as tense as things are you would think it was a title fight.

I told Omar to think defensively, be elusive, at the same time pressure Santana, keep coming forward and let go when the situation presents itself.

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for 4 rounds.

This round should have been Omar’s. The round started great, he was landing a lot of punches and hadn’t been hit yet. He was controlling the fight when WHAM! A hook and Omar was on his back. FUCK! He was up at 6 and cooly landed punch after punch, but at this point no matter what he did he wasn’t going to win the round. At best he lost 10-9. We really need this next round. The strategy will stay the same.

I think that we solidly won that round. Damn, if Santana doesn’t hit hard. Omar did a nice job of avoiding punches and thew his jab a lot. He connected on more punches. He did well early and finished strong. We need to see more of that. The strategy will remain the same for the next round.

Santana started the round with some good punches and caught Omar coming in. Omar went down in a heap and wasn’t able to get up. He was counted out. I am feeling really down right now. What did I do to my fighter? Flashbacks come into my head every time I see that. I remember the humiliation and feeling of letting everyone down. I know it is only his second career fight, and it is the first loss for us.

I wouldn’t have mattered, Omar was going to lose on the cards. The judges had given Santana both the first and second round and one judge had it 10-8 for Santana in the first. It just wasn’t to be. To top that off, I lost 50 grand.

I need a whiskey.

[PilotMan]

Stop reading so damn loud. My head is killing me. What the .....Oh yeah, now I remember. I guess Omar had his chin tested and he failed miserably. I will need to be more careful with his next opponent. I talked with him today and he is sore. He looks like he is in rough shape. I bet his night was as good as mine. It is going to be a little while before he is going to fight again.

In the meantime I need to talk to someone about Lawrence. Up a few slots from him ranked at #62 is John Fanshaw. His record right now is 15-8-0 (7). He didn’t do much in his last fight, and 8<SUP>th</SUP> round loss, where he was TKOed against Randolph Turpin. He has a good chin and likes to bring the fight to you. He is quite accurate with his punches. His downfall is that power is not going to be a problem and that he is weak defensively. On top of that there are questions about his heart. He is going to be a challenge for McFarlane, but worth it. I call his manager and suggest a match for the last week of August. They like the idea and the fight is booked.

I am finally going to let McFarlane loose on the heavy bag. He is going to lift, run, work the speed bag and work on a Callisthenics program. I think that he needs to focus on his raw ability in order to get through this one. We have some time so I hope that he will have time for his training to really take effect.

In a heavyweight match Jack Sharkey 38-14-3(14) is taking on Max Baer 70-13-0(52). Both fighters are coming off of losses. Sharkey was TKOed by Max Schmeling and Baer was Koed in the first by Riddick Bowe. Neither fighter is ranked in the top 50 but it should be entertaining anyway. The odds favor Sharkey at 4/6 while the odds on Baer are 5/4.

I have 100k riding on a Bantamweight fight beween Les Leigh and Gaby Canizales. Canizales is way past his prime and Leigh is on the way up, undefeated with 10 wins, no defeats and 10 wins by KO. The odds are at 1/10, so even if I win it only will be 10k. But it is a sure thing, right?

[Tellistto]

Ow, bummer for Omar, though Lawrence did a good job in his match. Looks like Omar's chin is going to be his downfall, though.


Tell

[PilotMan]

Yeah, I am a little concerned about that, but he can still make me money as a serviceable journeyman.

[PilotMan]

All of the fights paid this week and we made a little over 26k. Max Baer scored a 5<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO over Jack Sharkey, and Les Leigh scored a 4<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO over Gaby Caniazales.

Here we are in the second week in July. I have been at this for over 6 months. I feel like I have been somewhat successful and I am itching to expand my stable. Both of my fighters have 4 fights left on their contract. I can see a future for McFarlane and with some work, I think that Omar could do well too. Once they have fought a couple of more times I will talk about possibly extending their contracts with Punishment Inc. Otherwise I will start looking at other opportunities.

[PilotMan]

Third week of July-

There is a title on the line this week. The Flyweight title is on the line as the Champion Gerardo Ramirez puts his title on the line against Hideki Nishizawa. Nishizawa is coming off of a 10 round unanimous decision over Jimmy Wilde, and is ranked #5 in the world.

Ramirez sports a 23-0-0 (12) record, while Nishizawa is 20-0-0 (10). This is one of the most anticipated title fights of the year. Both fighters are great defensively, have great fortitude, chins and punching accuracy. Ramirez is a bit stronger, but both of the men are evenly matched.

Ramirez is favored to retain his title as the odds are ½ that he will win. The odds on Nishizawa are 13/8. Personally I think that it could go either way. All things being equal, Ramirez has to have the edge based on his power and that Nishizawa won’t stand the beating as well. Some think him to be not quite up to standard. Of course, Jimmy Wilde would disagree.

My fighters are in training or recovering. There is no real news to report there.

I decided that it was time to look at another fight for Omar. There is a balance to be maintained when picking an opponent. I need to find a fighter that he will match up well against as well as someone who is quality enough that it will provide a nice payout from the match. Joe Schmo may be an easy win, but he won’t pay either.

I see that Marcos Solano has had 2 fights since his match with Omar. I know it was a tough match, but I believe that Omar is the better fighter. Solano has won one and drawn the other so his record is 1-1-1(0). The fight will pay well. I call his manager up and suggest a fight for the first week in October. That should give both fighters time to recover from their rescent matches and to train. They like the idea of a rematch and the fight is booked.

[PilotMan]

The second week of August, 2005

Gerardo Ramirez scored a 12 round unanimous decision over Nishizawa, to retain the World Flyweight Title.

The Lightweight Championship is on the line this week. Melvin Horne, 8-6-0(8), is putting the title on the line against Jorge Reynoso, 20-3-1(14), and he is the #4 contender to the title. On paper the matchup looks like it is Reynoso’s to lose.

He is the better experienced fighter and is more well rounded in the ring. On Horne’s behalf, he has great natural instincts and can not only dish it out, but can take it as well. The oddsmakers favor Reynoso in this one and he is going at ½, while Horne is at 7/4.

In two weeks Lawrence McFarlane will be back in the ring in the toughest challenge that he has faced since I started managing him.

Another interesting fight this week is matchup between Billy Conn, 64-11-1(15), and Virgil Hill, 46-3-0(24). Both fighters scored first round KO’s against top ten opponents in their last fights. Hill is #4, while Conn is #5. Odds favor Hill, but only slightly.

[PilotMan]

On four bets I won two and lost two. Overall it was a loss of less than a grand, so I can live with that.

Virgil Hill scored a 4<SUP>th</SUP> round KO over Billy Conn

There is a new Lightweight Champion as Jorge Reynoso scored a 12 round, unanimous decision over Melvin Horne.

In a top 10 Heavyweight match, Muhammed Ali, won via a 3<SUP>rd</SUP> round KO, over ranked David Skinner. But will he ever get a shot at the title?

[PilotMan]

Third Week of August, 2005.

Rankings

Heavyweight

CHAMP Peter O’ Connell 34-3-0(19)

#1 Joe Louis 70-3-0(56)

#2 Muhammad Ali 58-5-0(38)

#3 Josh Devlin 17-7-0(16)

#4 Joe Frazier 33-4-2(27)

#5 Jack Dempsey 62-6-9(50)

#6 Max Watt 15-0-1(9)

#7 Paddy Sexton 21-9-0(16)

#8 Michael Moorer 42-2-0(33)

#9 James Stubbs 40-6-0(20)

#10 Simon Maddock 25-8-0(9)

Light Heavyweight

CHAMP Jeff Ellery 20-8-1(12)

#1 Bob Foster 57-8-1(46)

#2 Joshua Simpson 13-2-0(7)

#3 Roger Stewart 30-5-0(17)

#4 Virgil Hill 47-3-0(25)

#5 Brendan Lawe 10-6-0(9)

#6 Julio Perez 16-0-0(6)

#7 Derrick Scoulding 39-0-0(27)

#8 Archie Moore 196-26-8(142)

#9 Gerry Bell 25-0-0(15)

#10 Tommy Loughran 95-24-9(17)

Middleweight

CHAMP Sugar Ray Robinson 186-20-6(118)

#1 Carlos Monzon 96-6-10(65)

#2 Anthony Hardy 44-2-0(15)

#3 Marcel Cerdan 120-9-0(72)

#4 Leavander Nolan 16-0-0(5)

#5 Harry Greb 128-16-3(61)

#6 Jose Antonio Mendez 16-0-0(6)

#7 Marvin Hagler 63-3-2(52)

#8 Sandy McGrath 28-0-0(18)

#9 Harry Mann 31-3-0(11)

#10 Ad Webster 28-4-0(8)

[PilotMan]

Welterweight

CHAMP Sugar Ray Leonard 37-2-1(25)

#1 Darrell Guyver 25-0-0(12)

#2 Oscar de la Hoya 32-0-0(25)

#3 Francisco Lacierva 23-6-0(15)

#4 Andrey Romero 37-0-0(31)

#5 Manuel Castillo 24-1-0(8)

#6 Wilfredo Benitez 55-8-1(31)

#7 Don Curry 33-5-0(24)

#8 Betillo Uranga 12-10-0(12)

#9 Saul Rodriguez 29-4-0(7)

#10 Charles Norris 36-1-0(18)

Lighteweight

CHAMP Jorge Reynoso 21-3-1(14)

#1 Damian Essett 19-1-0(19)

#2 Julio Cesar Chavez 101-3-2(82)

#3 Jose Luis Ramirez 104-9-0(84)

#4 Pedro Carrasco107-3-2(66)

#5 Yasushi Nitta 25-7-0(15)

#6 Melvin Horne 8-7-0(8)

#7 Pernell Whitaker 39-1-1(16)

#8 Augustin Garza 21-4-0(12)

#9 Joe Gans 122-9-9(87)

#10 Greg Haugen 39-7-1(20)

Featherweight

CHAMP Peter Badillo 22-5-0(16)

#1 Armando Medina 15-0-1(5)

#2 Calvin Calvert 16-3-0(15)

#3 Gary Jakeman 16-5-0(7)

#4 Young Griffo 65-9-37(32)

#5 Eric Doughty 16-2-3(5)

#6 Kazuki Sugita 17-0-0(12)

#7 Ray O’ Reagan 29-4-0(15)

#8 Vincente Salvidar 38-3-0(26)

#9 Masaaki Naito 34-4-1(8)

#10 Juan Zamora 21-0-0(13)

[PilotMan]

Bantamweight

CHAMP Xavier Firth 20-6-0(9)

#1 Job Reyes 18-0-0(11)

#2 Esteban Lopez 13-9-0(5)

#3 Victor Luna 18-0-1(11)

#4 Carlos Zarate 62-4-1(59)

#5 German Tiznado 45-0-1(11)

#6 Fernando Ramirez 13-6-0(10)

#7 Edel Milanes 19-4-1(11)

#8 Joselito Pana 31-1-0(12)

#9 Enrique Grimaldo 38-0-0(28)

#10 Greg Everest 13-4-0(12)

Flyweight

CHAMP Gerardo Ramirez 24-0-0(12)

#1 Randy Mercado 14-1-0(11)

#2 Rocky Cubillas 16-0-0(13)

#3 Zosimo Diaz 18-0-0(11)

#4 Mauro Martinez 27-0-0(18)

#5 Hiroyuki Ebihara 64-5-1(34)

#6 Aljoe Estremos 11-10-2(11)

#7 Pascual Perez 86-7-1(59)

#8 Lito Jamili 13-6-0(12)

#9 Takashi Takayama 20-0-1(15)

#10 Ferdinand Magramo 17-9-0(4)

[Swaggs]

Does the game also generate fictional boxers?

[PilotMan]

Yes, you have the option of starting with all fictional or going with a mix. I think that historical fighters also appear as the game progresses, but to answer your question, yes, fictional fighters are a big part of this game.

[PilotMan]

Another mistake by yours truly. I had a horrible week in my bets. I though that I was being smart and that I knew something that noone else knew. I was the loser here. Dad would kill me if he knew how much money I just lost. Now I need to depend on my fighters to make it up for me. In fact, things are going so badly on the betting front that I may take a break from it, or drastically cut back on the amount that I am betting.

I went 0-4 on fights this week to the tune of -100k. Sonafabitch! That sucks! I tell you who is going to pay for that? John Fanshaw, thats who. Lawrence is going to win this week. He has to. I need him to. I think that there will be some money laid down on this one too. I know, I am stupid. I should check out Gamblers Anonymous right? Yeah, well it’s my money after all, it’s not like I am hurting anyone.

[PilotMan]

Last week of August, 2005

Fight Night-

Breathe slow, breathe deep, concentrate. Slow the fight down, and visualize what you want to do in the ring. He is going to come to you, let him, he is going to hit you, let him. Then show him what you do. When he throws that wide left hook, I want that counter right in there so fast he won’t know where it came from. Double up on the Jab, make him pay for every step that he takes forward. Don’t be afraid to mix it up. He should be afraid. Relax, don’t waste your energy, command the ring. This is your fight, this is your destiny, this is your time. Make it yours.

Fanshaw’s big weakness is his defense. I really hope to exploit that tonight. A win here would go along way in the rankings. Fanshaw is #56 and McFarlane is ranked #65. The bookies are laying there money on Fanshaw. They must have lost faith in me after the Omar Acevedo incident. Fanshaw is 4/6, while McFarlane is 5/4.

There is another big fight tonight. The Featherweight World Title is on the line again. Peter Badillo, 22-5-0(16) is going against #1 contender Armando Medina, 15-0-1(5). Badillo was less than spectacular against Filisilda, and Medina is coming off of a 10-round decision win over Willie Pep. Badillo has the power and Medina has the chin, heart, and conditioning. Oddsmakers are favoring Medina to take the title. He is 8/15, and Badillo is 5/3.

It’s hard to go against a guy who hasn’t lost yet, so I don’t think that I will.

[daedalus]

Damn you and your cliffhangers. :D

Keep up the good work. :)

[nfg22]

What game are you using? I looked at the OOTP boxing game and I didnt see a manager mode...but maybe I missed it...thanks for the info...

[PilotMan]

Daed: Thanks for reading and I am glad that you are enjoying it. I had intended to post more yesterday, but things got a little hectic. Enjoy the update.

nfg22: I am using an older game called World Championship Boxing Manager, or WCBM for short. It is not the same as the old VGA boxing game. The game is about 6 years old. There was supposed to be an update, but the developer seems to have found better ways to spend his time.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for 6 rounds.

An ugly first round. A lot of holding, and McFarlane didn’t throw enough punches. I did land some in flurries, but I want more. He didn’t control the round, and didn’t make Fanshaw miss enough. I told him that he lost that one. For the next round I want him to go on the offensive a little more, but to still be wary. Be more active!

More of the same, Fanshaw is doing a nice job of being elusive. So far his lack of defense hasn’t hurt him. I say that McFarlane lost that round too. If he is going to sit on the outside and jab us to death we will come and find him. My only reservation about this is that it opens us for more punches.

That was much more of what I had wanted to see. McFarlane went after him and was totally dominating the round halfway. I thought that if he could keep that up he was going to get the TKO. Fanshaw did a nice job of recovering and slowly landed punch after punch, and made it close at the end. This one could have gone either way. I would like to think that we won it but I am not counting on anything.

More of the same here. Fanshaw is landing a lot of punches and Lawrence is unable to really track him down. I know that if he got him cornered and could land a series of punches that it would be all over. McFarlane is taking a lot of blows, but he is weathering them well. Two rounds left and we are going to need some help.

I knew it! I knew that if we could just get him slowed down enough it would be all over. Lawrence McFarlane has stopped John Fanshaw with a 5<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO. Finally, Lawrence was able to clap him with the jab over and over. And finished with an uppercut. That was the begining of the end for Fanshaw. The power of McFarlane was way too much. It didn’t come without cost though as McFarlane took a lot of punches. He deserved this break though.





Elsewhere, the Featherweight Title belongs to Peter Badillo. A huge second round capped with a KO of Armando Medina. I am surprised by this and it cost us 20k. However, we more than made up for it with the winnings from the McFarlane match.

Xavier Firth is going to defend his title again. In just 4 weeks. It will be his 3<SUP>rd</SUP> title fight of the year. I guess he is trying for fighter of the year.

[PilotMan]

The stable at Punishment Inc. is about to get bigger. I am certainly not bursting with money but this has to be a financial decision. There is a young boxer, a nobody, who is going nowhere in this career. He has not won in his first 3 fights, but I think that maybe I can find a way to get him some money. Or at the very least I could put him up against some better fighters and at least get the payout from the bigger names. Part of the name of the game after all is to use up the young to drive the machine. Even if I don’t win anything with him I would only be out around 200k. That is a cheap investment. Conversely, If he was to win some matches the value of his contract could go up significantly and I could sell it for the profit. I really don’t see a downside, except that my reputation might be sullied a little. It is worth the chance.

Lee Drydon is a tiny man. He fights at the lowest level of boxing in the flyweight division. He is currently ranked #178. That makes him just about the lowest of the low. He has signed on for 9 fights. I gave him a good sales pitch, I am sure he is just happy to be represented. He does have some skills, and reminds me of Lawrence McFarlane. His current record is 0-2-1(0). His first loss was on a majority decision, the second was a draw, and the last was a unanimous loss. To me he is just a hair from being 2-0-1, which would have made his value that much higher.

Watching him it looks like he has a good chin, a solid, accurate punch, and a pretty tight defense. Honestly, he could be quite the fighter if he can build his confidence back up. Perhaps under the right tutelage he could. That may or may not be me. His real "in ring" weakness appears to be his ability to withstand punishment. That may mean that he has to be a little more elusive if he wants to win. Welcome to the stable Lee.

[PilotMan]

Two weeks until Omar has his rematch fight. He has been doing well on the speed bag, and the road work is good. He is young and a hard worker and I hope that he rebounds well in his next match. I will be much more careful with his strategy for the next fight.

Lee Drydon is in such bad shape that he is working extra time in the gym. So far he has shown no improvement. He next opponent is going to be selected very carefully.

Lawrence McFarlane has moved up to #51 in the Middleweight rankings.

Omar Acevedo is ranked at #135 in the Lightweight division.

Lee Drydon is #174 in the Flyweights.

I want McFarlane to win, but I am afraid that if he continues to win I won’t be able to afford to sign him a contract extension. I am saving my money for that eventuality.

I took some time today to see who was available to fight Drydon. I talked with a number of managers who had fighters in the same situation as Drydon, and pretty much noone was interested in fighting on my timeline. The downside of a fighter like Drydon is that for another fighter the payout is going to be pretty small, as he is considered to be terrible. If he could just get a win that would improve. I have been looking at a rematch with Betillo Sanchez, the fighter that Drydon earned a draw with. He seems to be a tough fight, but we need to start somehwere. In addition the fight wouldn’t be on a favorable timeline. I was hoping to come up with something in about a month, but noone is interested in that either so the wait may be longer.

Lawrence McFarlane is also due to have a fight scheduled. I would like to challenge him, and at the same time continue to build him up. The fight that I want is with Gorilla Jones, 100-25-13(53). A fighter who is clearly past his prime, and is ranked #50. I talked at length with his management agency and they wanted nothing to do with this fight. Another fighter who is of the same ilk, but is ranked much lower is also available. Is it worth it? Ceferino Garcia, 114-32-16(70), is ranked #70 in the Middleweight division. They are interested in doing a fight the second week in November. That would be the 4<SUP>th</SUP> fight for McFarlane, I would really need to decide what I was going to do with him after that. Hmmmm. OK. The fight is set.

[daedalus]

Daed: Thanks for reading and I am glad that you are enjoying it. I had intended to post more yesterday, but things got a little hectic. Enjoy the update.Thanks for writing! Good work so far.

I hope my little joke did not offend. I understand that you have a life, I just wanted to toss in a little joke to let you know I'm reading along. :)

[PilotMan]

Thanks for writing! Good work so far.

I hope my little joke did not offend. I understand that you have a life, I just wanted to toss in a little joke to let you know I'm reading along. :)
Not at all, but you know how my other dynasties have gone so far. As an update, I now have almost 100 (update) pages of writing on this dynasty.

[PilotMan]

Punishment Inc, has made a huge investment in the future of the group. A new fighter has been signed to the organization. I have had this feeling that I was a heavyweight, and now I am managing these fighters and not a heavyweight among them. There are a number of prospects but I like who I signed.

In other news, and slightly off of the subject. I am having a horrid time trying to line up Lee Drydon for a fight. I have been asking and practically begging anyone to give him a fight. I am afraid that his ship may have sailed. If I can’t make something happen with him I will need to dump his contract for a fighter who is going to be marketable.

Anyway, I just thought that I would get that off of my chest.

I just signed Niall Beaumont, 0-0-0(0) to a six fight contract that is worth 1.04 million upfront. This may hamper my ability to resign my current fighters but they do have some fights so I should be able to keep them if I need to. Honestly, I really don’t know if it will hurt at all.

Sorry, off track again. Niall is a young heavyweight. He is currently ranked #183 in the Heavyweight division. He turned pro the first week of July, and hasn’t been active at all. He has a pretty good punch which you have to have at this level. He likes to be in control of the fight and is in the habit of moving forward. His defense is good. His chin is good, he can take a bit of punishment before quitting, and he doesn’t give up easy. Not the most accurate puncher, I just hope he is willing to work in the ring. He may have to throw three, get hit twice, to land one. Hopefully that will be enough.

[PilotMan]

First week of October-

Fight Night-

I got a call from a manager today, asking me about booking a match against Lee Drydon. They would give me a bonus of around 115k if I would take the fight. I took a look at the offer. Drydon would face Peter McHugh, the second week of November. McHugh is #160 in the world and has a record of 1-1-2(0). He seems harmless until I look at the fighters that he took on in his first 4 fights. Guys who are primed for greatness, and he manages a 4 round draw. Look, I want the fight and I want the money, because face it, even with the bonus, win or lose I get a nice cut of cash from a boxer that good. And maybe somewhere down the road that will be the right choice to make, but right now, that is not the way I want to take Drydon. I told him when he signed that I would make every effort to help him improve and develop the skills that I believe that he has. I gotta go with a no on this one.

Omar has a very important match tonight. He is facing Marcos Solano, again. Solano is 1-1-1, and is ranked #153 among Lightweights. He is an accurate puncher with a good chin. His power shouldn’t be an issue, even with Omar’s suspect chin.

In the last fight, Omar was fighting from behind for most of the fight and only came back to win by attacking the last few rounds. This is only a 4 round match, so I will need to watch him closely. Certainly don’t want him falling behind again.

Omar is not an aggressive fighter by nature, and he doesn’t absorb punishment all that well, but he is solid offensive and defensive. His power could be the difference.

[PilotMan]

A loss here would really hurt his future though. Oddsmakers favor Omar ½, while Solano is at 7/4. Some money on Omar, but not the back.



Xavier Firth, 20-6-0(9), is putting his Bantamweight World Title on the line tonight. This is his second defense of the title this year after winning the title back in March. His opponent tonight is Esteban Lopez. Lopez, 13-9-0(5), is ranked as the #2 contender to the title. He has moved up in the world and is getting his first title shot.

Firth has won his last 2 fights by either TKO or KO in the second round. He is heavily favored here. Odds on Firth are 2/5, while Lopez is 11/5.

The fighters are similar, in fact, I would be surprised if this one was stopped early. Neither is really a power puncher and Lopez has a good chin and good fortitude. We shall see...

In other boxing news, Muhammad Ali, 58-5-0(38), 1/4, is fighting Rocky Marciano, 49-1-0(43), 15/4. Marciano has not fought since his loss to Jack Johnson. He is ranked as the #17 contender, while Ali is #3. This could be it for Rocky.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

A good round for Omar, although it didn’t start out that way. Solano landed a number of jabs and a good combination early while Omar did nothing. It didn’t take long for Omar to answer with some combo’s of his own. His heavy punches were having an impact and Solano was forced backward through the round. Both fighters used the jab effectively, but Omar landed more often and did more damage. I think he won that round, of course I might be biased.

Another round with a lot of punches that were thrown and landed on both sides. Solano landed better combinations and appeared very comfortable behind the jab. Both fighters did a nice job of slipping punches through the round. Omar’s heavy punches had a big effect again as Solano was sucking wind at the end of the round, but I am not sure that he won the round. I would have to give the tie to Solano. I told Omar to go forward and press the action but to be careful and not make any stupid mistakes.

Solano had his best round but still paid for it. He probably won that round as it seemed that he landed his punches 2 for 1 with Acevedo. Last round, and Omar is going after him again. Solano is not in good condition and maybe he can catch him with a flurry and end it.

Solano did well again, he landed numerous punches and did the most damage to Omar for the entire fight. Omar to his credit, landed a huge flurry that just about ended the fight, but he couldn’t quite close the door.

J1: 39-37 Omar

J2: 39-38 Omar

J3: 40-36 Omar

And he wins the rematch by unanimous decision!!! That is great news. Certainly I will be able to rest well tonight.

Muhammad Ali won a 10-round unanimous decision over Rocky Marciano. Marciano did not retire like expected.

Xavier Firth was challenged a lot harder that he or I ever expected, but he did successfully defended his Bantamweight title with a 12-round Split decision win over Esteban Lopez. He has been the most active current champ, and has to be the odds on favorite for fighter of the year as we get closer to the end of December.



Made a nice 21500 profit on bets this week. That will help to cover 11k that I lost last week.

Here is a breakdown of Punishment Inc’s cash and assests:

Cash - 556,883 Total Contract Value - 2,875,827

Lawrence McFarlane’s Contract - 747,756

Omar Acevedo’s Contract - 889,671 Worth - 3,432,710

Lee Drydon’s Contract - 194,400

Niall Beaumont’s Contract - 1,044,000

[daedalus]

Nice win by Omar. :)

How much did you pay the 3rd Judge? :D

[PilotMan]

Nice win by Omar. :)

How much did you pay the 3rd Judge? :D
:D :D

[PilotMan]

Niall Beaumont will make his debut against another boxer who has yet to fight. Eric Kippax will be the opponent. The fight will take place the third week of November.

Kippax appears to be average all around. No other real information to go on though. I have Beaumont working on the speed bag, because with his power he will need some speed to complement. He is doing some sparring, because he has to become accustom to being hit. It should toughen him up a little and put the pieces in his game. He is also doing some general training, hopefully that will round him out even more.

I got a call from the manager of Butch Norman, a fighter who has previously beaten Lee Drydon for a reamatch. They are offering a payment of 84k to take the deal. I think that I will take this, the payout alone pays for half of Lee’s contract. I believe that Lee has a chance to win this fight even though he doesn’t appear to be responding to any training at all.

The downside of this fight is that if he loses I am going to take a hit to my reputation as a manager who is willing to sell out his fighters. But if he wins....but I doubt that he will, honestly.

[PilotMan]

Well, Mama would be proud. I seem to have curtailed my betting. I just stopped and realized that I was losing money! Wow! You would have thought that I would have realized that sooner.

This is a big week for boxing. There are two World Titles on the line. First, the Light-Heavyweight title is on the line. Defending champion, Jeff Ellery, 20-8-1(12), will defend for the first time. His opponent is Julio Perez, the #5 contender, who has a record of 16-0-0(6). Perez has been getting a lot of respect and I am quite surprised that he was the one to get the title shot. He must have the right connections.

Ellery brings the power, and defense, but his chin is really questionable. Perez, while unbeaten, is not a big puncher. Maybe that is why he got the title fight? Oh well, Perez has a good chin. I would expect this to be a back and forth match. I think that Ellery stands a reasonable chance to win, although the bookmakers like Perez. He is ½ while the odds on Ellery defending are 7/4.

The other title fight this week is for the Flyweight title. Champion Gerardo Ramirez, 24-0-0(12), will defend his title, and put his undefeated record on the line against a legend. Pasqual Perez, has won his last 3 fights all by TKO or KO, and will look to extend streak. His record is 87-7-1(60). Perez does have that one punch and done power, luckily for Ramirez he has a good chin, defense and is an accurate puncher. Perez does not have a particularly good chin, and Ramirez is no slouch.

Oddsmakers have this fight favoring the ageing wonder, Perez. The odds on him are 8/13, while Ramirez is 11/8. That is pretty close. In my opinion, I gotta think that the younger, and undefeated Ramirez can stay away and land enough to steal this one.

[PilotMan]

One out of two ain’t bad, is it? Ended up losing 10 grand and winning a little over 13 grand. Pretty much a wash. Maybe, mama wouldn’t be that proud since I can’t seem to walk away. But hey? I won money!

There is a new champion on the block in the Light Heavyweight division. Julio Perez has scored a 12 round unanimous decision over Jeff Ellery. I wonder if there will be a rematch for this one. Perez is now 17-0-0(6).

The Flyweight title was a back and forth affair with the title staying with Gerardo Ramirez in a 12 round majority points decision. A majority decision is where 2 judges had the score for the winning fighter, while a third had the fight a draw. Ramirez runs his record to a perfect 25-0-0(12).

As of right now, there are two more title fights scheduled. They are going to be good.

[Airhog]

Nice Dynasty. It has a good feel to it. Hope to read more...

[PilotMan]

Thanks Airhog! It certainly helps to keep going when you know that people are reading and enjoying it.

There will be much more to come. Right now I have it simmed and written up into April of 2006.

[Tellistto]

I concur, a very nice dynasty. Can really connect with the fighters.


Tell

[PilotMan]

Thank You Tellistto. You don't think that you might be a bit biased do you?

[PilotMan]

Second Week of November -

Fight Night-

Lawrence McFarlane will try and continue his rebuilding effort against Ceferino Garcia. McFarlane, 13-7-0(13), possess a huge punch and can end the fight at any time. He has won his last 3 fights by KO or TKO, and looks to add another notch to his belt on his comeback under my tutelage.

Garcia, has lost his last 2 fights by TKO. His record stands 114-32-16(70). His career may be behind him at this point and I would love to be the one to end it. Garcia is ranked quite a bit lower than McFarlane, but even a win will help at this stage.

I intend to test Garcia’s chin right away. McFarlane will need to be careful though, because Garcia could hurt him. McFarlane has a good chin, and I feel confident in him, and in this match.

The oddsmakers are calling this one a pick’em. Let ‘em pick ‘em. I know who is going to win this one, and I am willing to bet the farm on it.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for 8 rounds.

Tonight in the locker room I feel good. I have a lot ridinig on this fight and I am hoping that it ends the way I plan.

The strategy to start out involves McFarlane pressing Garcia. I told him to move forward, be dodgy, and make him miss. Land when you get the opportunity and look to make holes for your punches with body movement, feigns and head movement. Hopefully, we can land a disproportionate number of punches and move the fight along. At some point I am going to turn him lose for the kill. I just hope that it is when we have a lead as opposed to fighting from behind.

I dropped 250k on this fight. That was almost half of the liquid cash that I have. No pressure, right?

:26 seconds into the first round..................I am smiling. God damn, I love this sport!

Lawrence didn’t even break a sweat. He went out and did what I told him too. He started forward dodged a couple of punches, missed with his own. Then he caught Garcia with and uppercut and a jab, a couple more jabs and a hook to the ear and Garcia went down. He did not get back up.

I had wanted to get this fight a little longer than this, but I knew how it was going to be . I knew I had his number and Lawrence knew it too. I just made 250k on one fight! How fuckin’ awesome is that?

Niall fights next week, let’s hope for more of the same from him.

[PilotMan]

Third week of November -

Fight Night-

Niall Beumont is making his pro debut today. He is the type of fighter who needs to wade through the punches and get hit in order to be hit. Not the most accurate puncher ever, he does have many other great skills that I have noticed. For being a big man, his elusiveness is very good. I have seen him get hit with some good punches and not even look phased. When he does admit later that he was hurt, he fights through it and continues on. These are all good signs for a young fighter.



His opponent is Eric Kippax. Also making his debut, but I don’t think that he is in the same league with Niall. Not that it won’t be a close fight I just think that Niall has much bigger promise.



As for the oddsmakers, they like Niall as well. In fact, he is a heavy favorite. Odds are 1/4 in his favor, and Kippax is at 7/2. I will bet some money on this one, but probably won’t make much, or lose if we are upset.

I want Niall to get in there and mix it up. I am not going to mess with his fighting style for a round or two, and if he is winning I won’t mess with him at all. I want to see what he brings to the table, and see if he has got it.



Also tonight, there is an important Title fight. The Middleweight title is on the line. Current title holder Sugar Ray Robinson, 186-20-6(118), is fighting for the first time in almost a year. He is facing Leavander Nolan, 17-0-0(7), who is a young rising star, and the undisputed #1 contender to the title.

Robinson certainly has the experience advantage here, while youth is on Nolan’s side. Robinson is a legend, hits hard and accurate, and has a good chin. His only drawback is his lack of activity.

For Nolan, he is not a hard puncher, but he too is very accurate, and very aggressive, and he has a good chin. He has been very active over the last year, as this will be his fourth fight. His last win was a majority points decision against former #1 contender, and boxing legend Carlos Monzon.

Still, the oddsmakers favor Robinson by a wide margin, as he goes off at 2/7. Nolan is 13/5, so despite Robinson being favored by so much, the odds on Nolan are pretty low. In my opinion, Nolan could take him, but in the end Robinson will probably win.

[Tellistto]

More! More! <bangs his fist on the table> We need more!


Oh...me biased? Nah, this game looks pretty neat, and it's really rather my style, I love management games.

Tell

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for 4 rounds.

That was a good round for Beaumont. Early on it was Niall missing or landing with a jab here and there, and getting hit 2 or 3 times. Beaumont came forward landed a jab, and a right hook and sent Kippax to the canvas. He was up by the eight count and didn’t appear to be overly phased. In fact Kippax went on to land numerous punches and would have taken the round if Niall hadn’t knocked him down. I told Niall to move more, make him miss.

The second round didn’t go well at all. Kippax landed punches at will and Niall couldn’t seem to hit anything. Both fighters were tying up and clinching. For this round Niall has to back up to make room for his punches. He is getting hit way to often, he lost that round.

The third round went much better for Niall. He used his movement much better, and Kippax missed a lot of punches. Niall missed a lot as well, but landed the lions share more. I think that he took that round easy, and I want him to do more of the same for the 4<SUP>th</SUP>. I would like to see more power punches landing, but I will settle for a win being a win.

I don’t like the way this ended. Kippax did well and I think that he stole the round. Hopefully I can steal the fight, because I have lots o’ money riding on it.

J1: 39-37 Beaumont

J2: 38-37 Kippax

J3: 38-37 Kippax

Well fuck.

That cost me 200 grand and a lot of value that I spent on Beaumont’s contract. Good thing that there is still 5 fights left for him. Personally I had the fight scored 38-38 a draw, which would have cost me lots of money anyway. Should have done better in that last round. But what I can’t figure is that J2 and J3 both must have scored round 1 10-8 for Niall, and then had him lose the last 3. I clearly felt that he won round 3, and felt that Niall should have won.

We both have our heads hung after this one. But I really don’t have time to sulk. Lee Drydon is going to try and get his career back on track next week.



In world title news.

Leavander Nolan scored a 4<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO over Sugar Ray Robinson, and is the new Middleweight champ. Sugar Ray Robinson announced his retirement from boxing and congratulated the new champ. I did win some here but not enough to offset the massive loss at the hands of Eric Kippax.

[PilotMan]

Punishment Inc, today, announced that they have extended the contract of middleweight fighter Lawrence McFarlane. McFarlane has won his last 4 fights and is moving up the ranks of the middleweight division.

McFarlane was the first fighter signed by the young manager, Bucky the Bull. His manager hopes that he will be able to contend in the division soon.

[vex]

Great read, I've been slowly reading over the past few days, finally caught up:)

Good news on McFarlane, he's doing really well.

[PilotMan]

Thanks Vex, there is certainly more to come.

[daedalus]

Disappointing debut for Niall. Hard to see him do much more without increasing accuracy or just become a Rob Deer (swing hard in case you connect).

Oh, well . . . not a terribly bad gamble for a young stable, regardless.

[TonyR]

Good read PM. finally caught up as well. Keep the updates coming.

[The Phat Eskimo]

Nice Dynasty, but where do you get WCBM

[PilotMan]

Thanks Tony and Eskimo, I glad that you both enjoy it.

If anyone has any interest in this game, send me a PM. I might know someone who has a copy to spare.

[PilotMan]

Last week of November-

Fight Night-

Lee Drydon will make his debut as a member of Punishment Inc. His record is 0-2-1(0). His opponent his evening will be Butch Norman, a power puncher with a good chin, whose record is 2-3-0(1). This will be Norman’s sixth fight of the year as he as has been one of the most active boxers in all of boxing. This is a rematch of an earlier fight in which Norman won by unanimous decision.

I am hopeing that we can make things different and turn the career around of the biggest longshot in my camp. If I can’t I will just have to take what I can get, or just release him out of his contract and tell him that he can make more money in shoe repair.

Norman has a big advantage in confidence. Drydon has the skills to make this interesting, but until he believes in himself that won’t happen, if it ever does.

Neither fighter is really aggressive, so I want Drydon to jab and move through the fight, make him miss and answer. Don’t worry about putting him down, but maybe he will get lucky.

The oddsmakers are favoring Norman, but only by a little. The odds on Norman are 4/6, while the odds on Drydon are 5/4. Since I won’t lay any money against my own fighter, I won’t lay any money at all. The odds just don’t favor me. Besides I am still smarting from last week.

[Swaggs]

Looking forward to seeing Drydon debut.

Is it hard to find completely amateur fighters that have no record? It is kind of disappointing that some of your non-veteran guys already have losses.

[PilotMan]

To answer your first question, no. Each week there are a number of fighters who are created. You are allowed to sign a fighter as long as he has not been contracted to fight someone else. Rookies can always be found, however, rookies with the right mix of abilities and promise are harder to find. The big drawback with rookies is that they are costly to sign, as well as train. They are untested and have lots of potential. The contract of a young fighter can be worth more than the Champion's, but leading them to the top is very rewarding and I believe has a great impact on your reputation. Take a fighter like Drydon. He has not won in his first 3 fights. The value of his contract is minimal, but he has good skills, but his form is off. He may never reach his potential, or if he can string some wins together he could regain his form, or what I like to think of, his confidence. As he wins, his value increases, and money is made in the form of the future fights that he gets. A loser will never get big money fights unless they are offered, and will be forced to fight for pennies and will be worth pennies. But in the case of Drydon, I am hoping that he can win, and his contract will go up in value. Every amount that it goes up is more money in the bank for me either from bigger fights or from selling his contract outright for the cash profit.

The second question is no, it is not dissapointing. Fighters fight to make money, and unless they are handpicked by the gods themselves rarely do they get the ability to pick fights that are good for them. Hence, a fighter may fight a good fighter at a bad time. He will make good money, but it won't help his career development. Part of the advantage of being a manager is that I can control who they fight. Drydon right now, for example is like an overweight Buster Douglas. He has skills but the way his career is going he may never amount to anything, but if he can win some, and get that feeling back he could be a very tough fighter. It is up to me to decide how I want to use him best. Do I try and build him up for a title run? Do I use him as a journeymen tester of talent and cash in on big money fighters only to lose and damage my own reputation.

Ultimately, I want to run a stable of champs. But the only way that a fighter of that caliber will sign is if your reputation is high enough. Incidently, you have no idea what your reputation score is, and can only judge it by the fighters that are willing to sign with your stable.

This might be more info than you really wanted to know, and I might be giving away secrets that I shouldn't but maybe it will let you inside what the game is all about.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for 4 rounds.

A close round that most likely went to Norman. I talked to Drydon in between rounds and said that he needed to be more elusive. He is getting hit to often, although he did use his jab well. Unfortunately, Norman used his jab well too.

That was a bad round for Drydon. He got beat all over the ring, and whatever it was that he was doing in the ring didn’t work. For a moment there it looked like Norman may have hurt himself. He was rotating his shoulder in a funny way. When Lee came back to the corner, he said that he had hurt his hand. I can’t tell how bad it is, but I told him he only had 6 minutes left to decide this fight and he needed to step it up.

I saw it! I saw a flash of the ability that haunts Lee Drydon. He did very well using his jab and getting out of the way. In fact, he was controlling the round and around the 1 minute mark landed a punch that sent Norman to the canvas. LEE! POUR IT ON LEE! Norman got up for the 3 count and took the 8, and Lee rushed in. But it was sloppy and Norman covered up the best that he could. Lee won this round and hopefully put a glimmer of hope into himself for this fight.

Drydon worked hard in the last round and halfway through it looked like he was going to steal this fight. In fact, the knockdown appeared to have changed the tone for the whole fight. Drydon let Norman back in and Norman landed good combinations. He controlled the last half of round four. It is up to the judges now. All I can do is pray.


I love a good tease.

[vex]

The anticipation:)

[Swaggs]

Get'er done, Lee!

[PilotMan]

J1: 38-37 Drydon

J2: 39-36 Drydon

J3: 38-38

Lee Drydon has won his first match of his career. What a performance! It was obvious that the knockdown played a large part in the decison. J1 had Drydon winning and additional round, J2 had Drydon winning 3 rounds, and J3 had Drydon winning one, Norman winning two, and even for one.

This is a good win for the organization. It will go a long way toward building us up.



The next week, I received a call from the mananger of Heavyweight fighter, Ric Arlos. He was descibed as an untested rookie looking to break on to the scene. His manager seemed to think that a fight with Niall Beaumont would be the way to go, and they were willing to pony up 77k to sweeten the offer.

Arlos is a similar fighter to Beaumont, in that he has power, and reasonable accuracy. However, he is mearly average defensively, and his chin is untested. He seemed like a good match for my winless warrior so I said go ahead and book the match for the second week of January of next year.

[Tellistto]

Woot! Nice win for Lee!


Tell

[vex]

Great win!

[PilotMan]

It is the first week of December and the Heavyweight title is on the line. The champion, Peter O’Connell, 34-3-0(19), is defending his title against heavyweight legend Joe Frazier. Frazier has a record of 34-4-2(28), and is the #4 contender to the title behind Joe Louis, Paddy Sexton, and Muhammad Ali.

O’Connell won the title from Gene Tunney, via a 12 round unanimous decision, and has not fought since.

Frazier has fought 3 times this year and has recorded wins over Evander Holyfield, and Jack Dempsey, and his match against David Skinner was declared a draw. Fraizer is clearly the stronger puncher and more aggressive of the two, but O’Connell has good defense a great chin and good heart. It will be a close fight.

The oddsmakers are favoring O’Connell to retain the title with the odds on him at 4/11, while the odds on Joe Frazier are 12/5.

[PilotMan]

Peter O’Connell has retained his Heavyweight Title with an 8<SUP>th</SUP> round KO of Joe Frazier. I must say that I am surprised with this result although thankfully is didn’t cost me any money.

I talked with two trainers about prospective fights. First, on behalf of Lawrence McFarlane, I talked to the trainer of Augustin Sandoval. Sandoval is 16-2-1(3), and is the toughest competiton that McFarlane will have faced to date. Recently he scored a 6<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO of Jake LaMotta, that I hope was in part to LaMotta getting on in years. Although in his most recent fight he lost.

Sandoval is in good shape, and his boxing skills are reasonable honed. He does not have great natural ability but always seems to get the job done. He is aggressive and has a good chin, but as anyone can tell by his KO ratio, he is not a power puncher. His defense is not that great either, and I am hoping to exploit it as a weakness.

To get Lawrence trained for the fight he is continuing with the same regimen of heavy bag and speed bag, along with lifting, road work and callisthenics. This fight is going to take place the second week of February of next year.

Omar is also scheduled to fight again. Acevedo who’s record stands at a less than spectacular 2-1-0(0), is scheduled to fight Domingo Ortega. Ortega, 2-9-1(1) is a fairly gifted fighter who boxes to put food on the table. He has a great chin, and is very aggressive. His punch is powerful, so no doubt that we will be focusing on defense for this fight. Omar will need to stay away, and land at opportune times to win. This fight is going to take place the last week of December of this year.

[vex]

That sounds like quite the challenge for both boxers. What are they ranked?

[PilotMan]

I think that Ortega is right around #125, while Sandoval is about #40.

[TonyR]

Great win for Drydon. Can't wait to see the next bouts.

[PilotMan]

As of right now, Lee Drydon is the only fighter that is without an upcoming match. He is not quite ready to start training for his next fight as he is still recovering from his fight with Butch Norman.

Another fighter, that has also beaten Norman recently has offered to fight Drydon, and I would be tempted to arrange the fight if Drydon was closer to fighting health. But his is not. The boxer is Kenji Harada. Harada is 1-3-1(0), and is nothing to write home about. His skills are limited, but he does have a good chin. His management organization offered to pay me 67k to sign. That would pay for about 6 weeks of training for Drydon, but I told them no.

As an aside, when I signed Drydon, the value of his contract was a little less than 200k. Right now the value of his contract is 892k. It is tempting to sell him for that kind of money, as the profit is outstanding, and it would go a long way toward keeping other fighters, or reinvesting in another Drydon type fighter. My hestitation of course, is that I will be perceived as a manager who uses his boxers. I am certainly not ready to do that, but in the end that is part of the game, and it may become necessary to go to the next level of fighter management.

[PilotMan]

Last week of December, 2004.

Fight Night-



Omar Acevedo is scheduled to face off against Rene Dominguez. The match is scheduled for the 3<SUP>rd</SUP> week of February and hopefully will lead to the second career win for Lee. Dominguez is 0-3-0(0) and is an otherwise hard and accurate puncher. The fight will pay me next to nothing, but hopefully the credibility earned from another win for Drydon will reward me in due time.

Omar Acevedo is scheduled to go toe to toe with Domingo Ortega. Ortega has been a very active fighter as this is his 7<SUP>th</SUP> fight of the year. His last fight was a 1<SUP>st</SUP> round KO over Fidel Vasquez. His power could certainly give Omar trouble, that is why I am going to be very careful with the way that I lay out the strategy for this fight.

Omar has done well staying on the outside, and that is just where I want him to stay. I would like to see effective jabbing, along with the gloves staying up for the fight. He is not going to hurt Ortega, and Ortega should spend most of the fight coming forward.

In order to win, Omar will need to land more, better punches. It is as simple as that.

The oddsmakers have been favoring Ortega in betting for this fight as the odds on him getting the win are 8/15, while the odds on Acevedo winning are 8/5. I will lay some money on this fight, but since the kitty is pretty dry there won’t be to much at stake.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for four rounds.

Round one went to Ortega, even though Acevedo did a nice job of trying to get out of the way he was easily hit 4 to 1. Omar had a nice last 10 seconds, but overall things didn’t go as planned. Omar needs to land more punches. His heavy punches seem to have an impact, but I am hesitant to send him into the fray for fear that one good punch from Ortega.

Early on in the second round Ortega seemed to limit the use of his right hand. He was still able to land quite a few punches and dictated the flow of the fight. Omar did have a much better round, but still can’t seem to put it all together. For the third round he needs to make something happen. If he is already down 2 rounds it doesn’t feel like I am losing much by sending him in there to get close and throw heavy punches. If he gets hit..he gets hit.

Round three saw Omar continue to get hit with a lot of punches. I overheard one of the commentators say that they felt like he took too many punches in that round. The upside was that far and away he landed more than he had and more damaging punches as well. I would like to think that maybe in someone’s eyes he won that round, but that might be wishful thinking. I told him he needed a KO to win this one, and that he better try. He has 2 contracted fights left with Punishment Inc, and that might be it, if he continues to turn in performances like this one.

Round four was everything that I had hoped it would be. It was domination and control from Omar, as he came mere seconds from scoring a TKO victory. He landed barrage after barrage, and moved well, despite pressing the action. He took no more damage in this round than he had in either of the others. I have my fingers crossed for the decision.

[daedalus]

Nice fourth round! Now if he could only put it together for the whole fight.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Pretty doggoned good stuff here, a winning combination of what looks like a good game & a good style of writing-up the game.

[vex]

These cliffhangers are killing me!:)

[PilotMan]

Thanks Jon, for the complimemt. I hope that you continue to enjoy the dynasty.

I really should post faster, but I like being about 5 monts ahead of where the board is. That way if I miss a couple of days I already have it written.

As for the game I think that it is a good game. Right now, it is the only boxing manager sim available.

The fights take some imagination, and concentration to visualize what is occuring. The play by play style reminds me of the play by play of the old CM series.

The in match strategy seems to work, but it also leaves the imperfection of the boxers own desires. There seem to be hidden attributes, and a prefered method of fighting for each boxer.

The other thing that I like is that there are so many fighters, and having historical fighters starting the game makes it that much more interesting. I like not having to decide scheduling as well, and I could watch or control any fight that I desire.

It also has the ablity to create custom fighters, that I may try and do something interactive with FOFC after this dynasty is done, or start it on my other computer. As you can only have one game going at a time.

Another thing is that you can simulate at multiple speeds and multiple lengths of time. From one week up to two years.

The writing is easy for now, as I am able to whip out multiple pages in a fairly short amount of time. The more boxers that join Punishment Inc, the slower time will go, but hopefully the more immersed you become as well.

Thanks again for reading.

PM

[PilotMan]

J1: 39-37 Acevedo

J2: 40-37 Acevedo

J3: 40-37 Ortega

Quite the disparity in judging, but you find a lot of that at this level of boxing. Omar was and I were pumped I can tell you that. I was happy to see solid scores. Omar looked in my eyes before the last round and could tell that I was serious. He knew that the writing was on the wall. I am still not sure if this will get him the contract extension that he is seeking, but I know that it will go a long way toward the finances of Punishment Inc.

The winnings from my side bet alone are almost 200k.

And so ends my first year as a boxing manager, and the rise of the management corporation Punishment Inc.

[PilotMan]

Fighter of the Year Awards

The fighter of the year is given to the fighter who, chosen by the media have accomplished the most and shown that they are a force to be reckoned with in their weight class. Each weight division has a fighter of the year and from that group there is one fighter who is singled out as the best that boxing has to offer. Without further ado.

Flyweight - Mauro Martinez 29-0-0(19)

Martinez is currently the #1 ranked challenger to the flyweight title. He has won 4 fights this year 2 of them by KO. At the beginning of the year he was ranked #12 and with victories over Pancho Villa, Rommel Gamboa, Zosimo Diaz, and Rocky Cubillas. He has no scheduled opponent.

Bantamweight - Job Reyes 18-0-1(11)

I would argue that Xavier Firth should be the winner here, but alas, I don’t get to make the decisions. Reyes is currently the #1 contender to the bantamweight title. He started year as the #4 ranked Bantamweight and through victories against Masakane Fukushima, and Joselito Pana, he has move up. His last fight was a draw against Bimbo Melchor. His next opponent is yet to be determined.

Featherweight - Calvin Calvert 18-3-0(16)

Calvert is the #1 contender to the Featherweight title. He started the year ranked #4, and was undefeated in 4 fights. His victories over Arnulfo Guerrero, Sandy Saddler, Vicente Salvidar, and Ray O’ Reagan. Two of those victories were by KO. He is scheduled to fight Willie Pep the second week of February.

Lightweight - Pernell Whitaker 41-1-1(17)

Whitaker was undefeated in 4 fights this year, and started the year as the #14 contender to the title. He finished as the #3 contender to the title. His rise through the division was led with victories over Sean Apted, Dennis Smyth, Augustin Garza, and finished with a 3<SUP>rd</SUP> round KO of Yasushi Nitta. He has not scheduled his next fight.

Welterweight - Oscar de la Hoya 34-0-0(26)

The Golden Boy had a good year, and is currently ranked as the #3 Welterweight in the world. He won four fights this year and two of them by TKO. He has been ranked high all year as he started ranked #4. His victories have been against: Kid Gavalin, Yoshiaki Kabayashi, Francisco Lacierva, and Saul Rodriguez. He is going to fight Charles Norris in February of 2006.

Middleweight - Anthony Hardy 45-2-0(15)

Hardy is the #1 contender to the Middleweight crown. He was ranked #12 at the start of the year, and moved up quickly with wins over Jake LaMotta, and Mike McCallum. Recently his victories over Karl Upchurch, and Jose Antonio Mendez have propelled him to his lofty rank in the Middleweight class. His next opponent is yet to be determined.

Light Heavyweight - Virgil Hill 48-3-0(25)

Virgil has made the biggest leap of any of the fighters of the year this year. He started the year ranked #17 and has moved all the way up to the #2 contender for the title. He has won 4 fights this year, and 3 have been by KO or TKO. His victims have been Julian Yates, Kelly Schofield, Billy Conn, and Roger Stewart. He is scheduled to face Roy Jones Jr next week.

Heavyweight - Joe Louis 71-3-0(57)

Louis has been one tough customer winning 3 fights this year. He has been the number one contender to the title for the whole year. The champ has done a good job staying away from the Louis. All three of his wins have come by way of KO or TKO. His victims have been Errol Hargreaves, Jack Johnson, and Paddy Sexton. He does not have a future fight scheduled.



And the Fighter of the Year for all of boxing is.......





Mauro Martinez (Flyweight)





A bit of controversy on this one, I must say. But congrats to him all the same.

[PilotMan]

End of the year Rankings

Heavyweight

CHAMP Peter O’ Connell 35-3-0(20)

#1 Joe Louis 71-0-3(57)

#2 Muhammad Ali 59-5-0(38)

#3 Michael Moorer 43-2-0(33)

#4 James Stubbs 40-6-1(20)

#5 Max Watt 15-0-2(9)

#6 Simon Maddock 26-8-0(9)

#7 Tom Elvy 30-0-0(9)

#8 Paddy Sexton 22-10-0(16)

#9 Josh Devlin 17-8-0(16)

#10 Richard Giles 19-4-0(16)

Light Heavyweight

CHAMP Julio Perez 17-0-0(6)

#1 Bob Foster 59-8-1(48)

#2 Virgil Hill 48-3-0(25)
#3 Jeff Ellery 20-9-1(12)

#4 Brendan Lawe 11-6-0(10)

#5 Kelly Schofield 34-1-1(14)

#6 Will Wiffen 34-3-1(27)

#7 Carl Wilks 20-0-0(17)

#8 Will Cripps 16-2-1(10)

#9 Roger Stewart 30-6-0(17)

#10 Mike Farrel 15-0-1(9)



Middleweight

CHAMP Leavander Nolan 18-0-0(6)

#1 Anthony Hardy 45-2-0(15)

#2 Mike McCallum 51-6-1(36)

#3 Carlos Monzon 96-7-10(65)

#4 Wayne Wells 28-0-0(20)

#5 Ewan Veal 37-0-0(26)

#6 Karl Upchurch 19-3-1(11)

#7 Jeff Larkin 19-3-0(19)

#8 Ad Webster 28-4-2(8)

#9 Harry Mann 31-3-2(11)

#10 Jose Antonio Mendez 17-1-0(6)

Welterweight

CHAMP Sugar Ray Leonard 37-2-1(25)

#1 Jose Victor Lopez 21-0-0(14)

#2 Oscar de la Hoya 34-0-0(26)

#3 Wilfredo Benitez 57-8-1(32)

#4 Manuel Castillo 24-1-1(8)

#5 Derrell Guyver 25-1-0(12)

#6 Charles Norris 36-1-1(18)

#7 Jose Napoles 79-8-0(56)

#8 Saul Rodriguez 30-5-0(7)

#9 Carlos Palomino 28-3-4(14)

#10 Andrey Romero 37-1-0(31)

Lightweight

CHAMP Jorge Reynoso 21-3-1(14)

#1 Damien Essett 20-1-0(20)

#2 Julio Cesar Chavez 102-3-2(82)

#3 Pernell Whitaker 41-1-1(17)

#4 Pedro Carrasco 109-3-2(67)

#5 Melvin Horne 8-7-0(8)

#6 Joe Gans 123-9-9(88)

#7 Barney Ross 73-4-3(22)

#8 Edwin Rosario 39-6-0(33)

#9 Luis Valdez 33-3-0(14)

#10 Sam Hughes 39-6-0(23)

Featherweight

CHAMP Peter Badillo 23-5-0(17)

#1 Calvin Calvert 18-3-0(16)

#2 Gary Jakeman 17-5-1(8)

#3 Eric Doughty 16-2-4(5)

#4 Elroy Rojas 35-2-1(27)

#5 Juan Zamora 22-0-0(13)

#6 Armando Medina 16-1-1(5)

#7 Arnulfo Guerrero 18-9-0(11)

#8 Manuel Garcia 42-8-0(12)

#9 Willie Pep 231-12-1(66)

#10 Rico Fernandez 17-1-0(12)





Bantamweight

CHAMP Xavier Firth 21-6-0(9)

#1 Job Reyes 18-0-1(11)

#2 Carlos Zarate 63-4-1(59)

#3 Victor Luna 19-0-1(11)

#4 Joselito Pana 32-1-0(12)

#5 Fernando Ramirez 13-6-1(10)

#6 German Tiznado 45-0-2(11)

#7 Enrique Grimaldo 39-0-0(29)

#8 Arman Openio 18-7-1(14)

#9 Jimmy Barry 61-0-9(40)

#10 Jun Orais 22-3-0(13)



Flyweight

CHAMP Gerardo Ramirez 25-0-0(12)

#1 Mauro Martinez 29-0-0(19)

#2 Adam Napier 26-1-0(24)

#3 Pancho Villa 79-6-5(25)

#4 Rocky Cubillas 17-1-0(13)

#5 Ernesto Bantillan 13-4-0(10)

#6 Randy Mercado 14-2-0(11)

#7 Zosimo Diaz 18-1-0(11)

#8 Lito Mataganas 18-1-0(8)

#9 Jimmy Wilde 133-4-2(99)

#10 Masayuki Kabayashi 24-3-1(12)

[daedalus]

Nice win! Wow, that IS a big difference in the scores. Funky.

[PilotMan]

I received an offer for Omar Acevedo to fight Richard Romans. I was giving serious consideration to the fight. Romans is regarded as one of the brightest young prospects in the Lightweight division. His record stands at 1-0-4(0). He has performed poorly in some of his other matches. Other than having a good chin, he does not stand out in a physical way. His technical skills are better than what you would find at this level.

His management team has offered an immediate payout of 180k! And a fight between Acevedo and Romans would certainly bring the money into the team. Omar has 2 contracted fights left, and I still have not made up my mind if he should stay with Punishment Inc. He has been so mixed up as a fighter. And right now he is the highest valued fighter in the group.

I don’t think that he is world championship material, but he could be used as a moneymaker journeymen, you know, someone that would test the up and comers. Oh hell, I don’t know.

One fight, I am going to make some money with him, but I am not going to risk my repuataion to do it. NO.

I did take a look at potential matchups for Omar’s next fight. A match jumped right out at me. Felipe Vargas, currently ranked #125 in the world, is undefeated with a record of 6-0-0(4). A fight against Omar would pay me a boatload money. I gave them a call, clearly knowing that Omar would be no match for him. I was just in it for the money, besides a loss would make him cheaper to re-sign for the club. I think that a match two months from now would be great. They think about it and decide that it isn’t good enough. I change the offer for a match 6 weeks away, but that doesn’t work. Oh well, I guess I will need to look elsewhere for a fight.

[PilotMan]

Third week of January, 2006

The Welterweight World Title is on the line this week. Champion Sugar Ray Leonard is going to make his second defense of the title. This time against Manuel Castillo.

Castillo, 24-1-1(8), earned a draw with Charles Norris in his last match, but he is a good boxer with a good defense. All around he is a good fighter, but I have to believe that he is no Sugar Ray.

Leonard fought once last year and won a unanimous decision over Jose Napoles. Leonard is the legend that legends are made of. He not only has good defense, but he is an accurate, and hard puncher. All around he is better.

The bookies agree. They are favoring Leonard. The odds are 1/4 for Leonard and 15/4 for Castillo. That is as big of odds as you will see for a title fight.

Back on the homefront we are getting ready for a busy period. There are three fights that are going to happen within Punishment Inc. Niall is first up next week. I hope that he fights better than he did in his debut.

[PilotMan]

Last week of January 2006

Good News Bad News

Bad News

I lost 100k on a bet on a championship match. Yes, that is right. Manuel Castillo is the new Welterweight World Champion after a 12 round unanimous decision. Another bad betting decision.

Good News

Well sort of good news. I got a call from Felipe Vargas’ management. They have decided that a match with Omar would be in their best interest. And to top it off are willing to pay me a whopping 414k payoff. That is the most I have ever seen. The payoff from the match would be very handsome indeed. Omar would stand no chance to win and would probably not be happy afterward. That is OK. He only has 2 fights remaining. This is a no brainer. I guess I am going to use my fighters. The money is just to good to pass up. I am evil. I am what I always hated. I am in the money. ;)



There are a number of big fights taking place this week.

1) The Flyweight World Championship Fight is this week. The priciples are the champion, Gerardo Ramirez. He is 25-0-0(12), and making his second defense of the title. His opponent is Adam Napier. Napier comes into the ring with a record of 26-1-0(24). That one loss occurred early last season against Zosimo Diaz as he lost on points. Napier is the #2 contender in the flyweight division. Both men are world class fighters and should guarantee a good fight. Napier is favored by the bookies. The odds on him to win are 4/7, while Ramirez is 6/4.

2) The Lightweight World Title is on the line this week too. Jorge Reynoso and his record of 21-3-1(14) will defend against the #1 contender to the title, Damien Essett. Essett is 20-1-0(20), and has won his last 3 matches by KO or TKO. He is a power puncher with good heard and good fortitude. Reynoso was lucky enough to face the less than stellar Melvin Horne for the title, and this will be his first defense of the title. Essett is the favorite with odds on him at 8/13, while Reynoso is 11/8.

3) The next step in the career of heavyweight Niall Beaumont will be made this week. Still looking for his first win he takes on #177 ranked Ric Arlos, in what will likely be a match attended by 6 people. Arlos, is making his debut. Little is known about him except that he has good power and if he is knocked down it is likely that he will get back up. Beaumont has been spending extra time in the gym. Although his morale is fairly low, so he doesn’t appear to be responding well. I will look for Niall to use his jab, and force his way inside to land heavy blows. His chin should be able to absorb any punishment that Arlos may dole out. Beaumont is the heavy favorite in this match and the odds on him to win are 4/11, while the odds on Arlos are 12/5.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for 4 rounds.

Arlos started out fast and landed a number of jabs that kept Niall at bay. Both fighters wanted to fight on the inside and it lead to a lot of holding, clinching and yelling by the ref. As the round progressed Niall was able to gain a little more control of the fight, and landed a descent amount of punches. This round appeared to be a draw, but I have to feel that Niall let it get away.

Niall took charge early in this round and landed a right hook that sent Ric Arlos to the canvas for a 5 count. Arlos took the 8 count and came right back. I yelled at Niall to move forward and attack like he had done in early on, but Arlos was too tricky and managed to land a number of effective punches. Clearly Niall had won the round but what should have been a 10-8 round is likely a 10-9 round.

Arlos won this round handily, he landed many clean punches and seemed to be beating Niall to the punch. Niall is going to need to crank it up if he wants to win this fight.

Niall landed the better punches and did not get hit nearly as much as the last round. Early on he was hanging back and with about a minute to go he went forward and threw what he had. I told him to leave it all in the ring. He had to if he was going to have a shot to win. Let’s see what the judges have to say.

[Tellistto]

I predict success for Niall. That is all.


Tell

[PilotMan]

J1: 40-36 Beaumont

J2: 39-37 Beaumont

J3: 38-37 Arlos

Niall has his first professional win and it couldn’t have come at a better time. This win gives me another reputation boost and a little bit of extra cash in the pocket. We can celebrate tonight! This one was special!

[PilotMan]

It was a rough week if you were a champion!

The flyweight title changed hands as Adam Napier stopped Gerardo Ramirez by TKO in the 3<SUP>rd</SUP> round.

The lightweight title also changed hands as Damien Essett dominated his lesser foe Jorge Reynoso. Reynoso tasted the canvas in the FIRST and never got back up! Essett by KO, in round one.

I thought that Ramirez would keep his undefeated streak alive but I was wrong and it cost me 20k. My winnings from the other fights did cover the loss and the net for the week was, $10,484. Not to shabby. That covers the training costs for one fighter for one week at my gym.

[AlexB]

Apologies if this was answered, but an earlier post asked where can you get this game? Your writing does sell it well, and a google search only gave a dead link: I would definitley like to give this one a go.

And good luck with Punishment Inc: can;t believe you've become a boxing pimp, sending out Omar to a certain pummeling just for money (admnittedly $400k+, but what about your protege?!)

Seriously, I don;t read many dynasties, but I do look for the updates on this one: keep it up, and any link for the game would be well appreciated!

[PilotMan]

And good luck with Punishment Inc: can;t believe you've become a boxing pimp, sending out Omar to a certain pummeling just for money (admnittedly $400k+, but what about your protege?!)

Seriously, I don;t read many dynasties, but I do look for the updates on this one: keep it up, and any link for the game would be well appreciated!
:D

and thanks for reading. It is encouraging to know that so many others are enjoying it.

[PilotMan]

First week of February, 2006

Another busy week for some of the best fighters in the world. I thought that it might be interesting to keep you abreast of not only the championship fights, but also the fights that involved the fighters who were awarded the Fighter of the Year honors, as well as, the trials of former champions.

There are no Punishment Inc fights this week but here is a rundown of other important fights.

1) Former LH Champ- Brendan Lawe 11-6-0(10) #5 v. Kelly Schofield 34-1-1(14) #6

Lawe in his last fight TKOed Tommy Loughran in the second, while Schofield TKOed Harold Johnson in the 5<SUP>th</SUP>. Odds are 1/1 for both fighters.

2) L Fighter of the Year - Pernell Whitaker 41-1-1(17) #4 v. Julio Cesear Chavez 102-3-2(82) #3

Whitaker Koed Yasushi Nitta in the 3<SUP>rd</SUP>, while Chavez won on a points decision over Jose Luis Ramirez in 10. Odds favor Whitaker 2/5, while Chavez is 2/1.

[PilotMan]

Brendan Lawe scored a 5<SUP>th</SUP> round KO over Kelly Schofield. That win earned me a 20k payout! Lawe’s quest to regain the LH title continues.

Pernell Whitaker earned a 10 round unanimous decision over Julio Cesar Chavez. The payout form the bet on this fight was 8k.

28k profit for two fights will certainly help the coffers

[PilotMan]

Second week of February, 2006

Fight Night-

For the first time in over a year there will be a night where two fighters from my stable will be competing. Lawrence and Omar both will be fighting. One has the chance to make a move in his career by beating the best fighter that he has faced. The other, likely will be running for his life against an opponent that I wish was in my stable.

Lawrence is facing Augustin Sandoval. A fighter with a gaughty 16-2-1(3) record. He is certainly beatable. He does have a good chin, but I think that he might be a bit quicker than McFarlane.

Lawrence has really been working the heavy and speed bags. I would say that he is in the best shape of his career right now, but I don’t think that he has peaked at all. Sandoval was ranked as high as #36 before his loss in his last fight. The other thing is that he does not look like he is in as good of shape as he could be.

McFarlane is going to attack from the start. He has won every other fight by KO or TKO, why stop trying now?

The oddsmakers are split ever so slightly on this one. Sandoval is the favorite at 4/5, while McFarlane is at 11/10. I think he will win but I am not going to be stupid.

Omar is fighting Felipe Vargas. Vargas is an animal with a huge punch and someone that I might like to have in the stable. The only problem is that he is only looking at much higher profile organizations, and he is very expensive. He will throttle Omar. Run! Omar! Run!

Is it wrong to bet against your own boxer? Maybe in baseball, but there are no rules here. Vargas is a 1/7 favorite, while the odds on Omar are a 5/1 longshot.


Some of the fighters that I have been following are also scheduled to fight this week. Here is a list of notable fighters and fights:

1) Welterweight FOY - Oscar de la Hoya 34-0-0(26) #4 v. Charles Norris 36-1-1(18) #9

de la Hoya is a machine and likley is going to kill Norris. Norris has not fought anyone of any calibre lately. He fought 2 times last year and had a draw and a loss. Not a fighter on the upswing. The draw was against Manuel Castillo. De la Hoya won his last fight with a sixth round TKO over Saul Rodriguez. De la Hoya is 2/7, while Norris is 13/5.

2) Bantamweight FOY - Job Reyes 18-0-1(11) #2 v. Joselito Pana 32-1-0(12) #5



This is a rematch from last year when Reyes Koed Pana in the 7<SUP>th</SUP>. The winner would have a good case for a title fight, but that is out of my control. Pana won his last fight with a 10 round split decision over Edel Milanes. Reyes in his fight had a draw with Bimbo Melchor. The odds are even 1/1 for both fighters in this one. It should be a good one. There is a lot of hype around it.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

Omar Acevedo v. Felipe Vargas

I think that running is a valid strategy, what do you think?

This fight is scheduled for 4 rounds.

Vargas took round one by landing a lot of punches. He had Omar reeling at one point and Omar had to cover up, but he regained his composure and actually didn’t look half bad for the last minute.

What the hell did I just see? WHAT! Grab a hold of yourself man! The round started out ok, I had told him to hold his ground a little more but to be careful. He did a nice job of dodging and landing and was actually winning the round. All of a sudden, one punch, and Vargas’ legs stiffend and he went down. He got up at 5 but still, that was the first time he had tasted canvas in his career. He was kinda pissed and came after Omar, and landed some hard punches, but Omar won the round with the knockdown. Unbelieveable.

Vargas seems land punches at will, and had Omar hurt at the end of the round. In fact, the ref was looking long and hard. Omar did more damage that round and it seemed like he wanted to go toe to toe. I don’t want him to, but that is about what happend. We are going to the last round, and Omar has taken some damage, but we got the knockdown. The rounds have been ugly, but there is still an outside chance.

More of the same in the last round. Vargas landed a lot, and dodged well. Still Omar did well with what he had, and this had to be one of the best fights that he has fought. He should have been knocked out in all likelihood.

[Tellistto]

Kid has guts, can't take that away from him. Getting the knockdown is nice, and hopefully he'll take some good things away from that fight.


Tell

[PilotMan]

J1: 40-37 Acevedo

J2: 38-37 Avevedo

J3: 38-37 Vargas

Holy Fucking Shit WE WON!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is what I get for dropping 50 grand against my fighter. Had I bet 50 grand on Omar I would have won 350k! Still, losing 50 grand was worth it for the win, especially since they paid us over 400k just to take the fight. I have no idea what this is going to do for our reputation. The other thing is that Omar’s contract is going to be so expensive that there is no way I will be able to afford it, or that the invesment will be worth it. He was supposed to lose, so he would be cheap and I could resign him. Now his has one fight for us left. Right now I don’t care and he has pulled off an amazing upset.

On to the next fight.

[PilotMan]

Here we go, again!

Lawrence McFarlane v. Augustin Sandoval

This fight is scheduled for 8 rounds.

This fight will test the limits of Lawrence’s power, finishing and stamina. Will he last? Will he keep up?

Sandoval has way more power than he looks. He absolutley tore Lawrence up that round. He was accurate and halfway through Lawrence didn’t look like he was going to make it. I told him to relax fight how he felt comfortable. That was better, but he still took lots of damage. A change of attitude is needed for the next round.

Both fighters took more of an upright stance for this round and neither felt like mixing it up. I think McFarlane had to have won that round. He was better defensively and landed some nice combos. He didn’t really hurt him, but I want to see more rounds like that.

Round three looked a lot like round two. It seems that Lawrence is more comfortable jabbing and throwing combos from the outside, and he has a better opportunity and does a better job of getting out of the way. He clearly did more damage and landed more punches, but Sandoval is still controlling the pace of the fight.

Round four was as entertaining as they come and McFarlane continues to edge back into this fight. He landed more punches that round than any other, and they are starting to take their toll on Sandoval. Both fighters jabs are setting the tone for the fight, and right now McFarlane is more accurate and his movement is better.

Sandoval won that round, but McFarlane got some big punches in. This is a close fight and right now, Lawrence is mixing things up. Sandoval is a nice and accurate puncher, he controls the ring very well, I think that might be something to work on in the gym.

Lawrence came back to the corner of some pain in his left hand. I am not really concerned with it right now. The fight is going well, but last round was ugly. Both fighters tying up, a lot of puches thrown. There are 2 rounds left, and Sandoval is clearly tireing. If this was going 10 he would never make it. I wish that McFarlane would land some more consistent big punches. A flurry could end this. I don’t think that Sandoval has the power to KO Lawrence, but I worry about his constant work ethic. He is a tough fighter.

Round 7 was all Augustin Sandoval. He was dominating and landed everything. It is clear that at this point this is going to the cards. Lawrence has to win this last round in my mind. Back to the jab and take the round on points.

Round 8 was back to same from Lawrence. He did well with the jab on the outside, but there were times when they tied up. Sandoval didn’t dominate the way he did in the 7<SUP>th</SUP> and I think that this round was ours. If indeed McFarlane pulls off a win, it will be the first for him that he didn’t get the TKO or KO. I have my fingers crossed othewise it will put a damper on the night.

[PilotMan]

J1: 77-76 McFarlane

J2: 77-77

J3: 77-75 McFarlane

A majority decision for Lawrence! That is a huge accomplishment and a huge relief. He is deserving of a rest. We are going out on the town tonight. Many bottles of champagne will be had. This was the single biggest day in Punishment Inc’s existence.



The results from the other matches were as follows:

Job Reyes and Joselito Pana fought their way to a 10 round draw. Sort of anti-climactic but still a good fight all around.

Oscar de la Hoya scored a 10 round unanimous decision over Charles Norris.

We lost 50 grand betting against Omar, but who cares really? I made a 110k in Lawrence’s match, and I made a little over 28k betting on de la Hoya. It was a good week all around.

[PilotMan]

Here is a look at our finanicals:

Cash on Hand: 2,949,972

Value of Contracts:

Lawrence McFarlane: 1,357,380

Omar Acevedo: 506,422

Lee Drydon: 892,480

Niall Beaumont: 976,000

Total contract value: 3,732,282

Total Assets: 6,682,254

Picking the right fights has been critical, getting lucky helps too. I am toying with the idea of approaching Vargas for a contract. I think I will sleep on it.

[PilotMan]

We have been approached by the management of Josh Tuff about a fight with Niall Beaumont in 2 weeks. They are willing to pay a little less than 90k if we take it. Who the hell is Josh Tuff? I roll over to the computer, and pull up the scouting on him.

Tuff, 3-4-1(1), good heart, and very aggressive. Ranked #164. Hmm. Lost his last 3 fights. This might be a worthwhile opponent. And a payout on top of it. What do I have to lose? His boxing skills aren’t that great, and Niall should be better than he is. The thing is that he just fought 3 weeks ago. That is really early. The drawback would be that Niall wouldn’t be trained that well for it, but he is in good health.

I think I will pass on this offer, I think that there might be some better matchups, and Niall really needs the gym work.

I went back into the office and was toying with the idea of calling Vargas. Alas, he is already booked for another fight. I cannot believe that Omar beat him. He is a fuckin beast. Certainly a championship caliber fighter. Four round fights can be crazy.

[Swaggs]

Good work on the write ups.

I'm still enjoying this one. :)

[hoopsguy]

Add me to the list of readers. Good dynasty, Pilot.

Do the most recent contract values represent the jumps from their most recent fights? I figured that Omar would have had a nice spike after his big win.

[daedalus]

Rah! Good run for Punishment, Inc! :D

[PilotMan]

I would like to say thank you to those of you who voted for the 5 star rating. That means a lot to me.

hoops: Each fighter has a value that is placed on them when you sign them. It is based on performance, who they have fought etc. The fighters at the top are not always the most expensive. Usually, the most expensive are the good, young fighters on their way up. For instance, Vargas' value, even with the loss is still about twice what the top fighters are. Honestly, I am not sure why, but that is just the way that it is. It is hard to take a fighter all the way from the bottom to the top. Another example was the reason for getting Drydon in. He was cheap, and down. As he wins his value goes up.

The numerical representation above is the value per fight multiplied by the number of fights remaining. When a fighter's contract is extended you are basically buying stock in the fighter. If he loses, his value goes down and you essentially end up losing money. That is why picking the right fight is essential for any fighter that you have future plans for.

Yes, Omar did have a nice spike. The quality of the opponent makes a difference. He pretty much saved his future in my stable with that win.

[nfg22]

Also I have been following along with this dynasty.....so u have more fans than you know

[PilotMan]

Third week of February, 2006

Fight Night

Lee Drydon is going for his second career win. He takes on Rene Dominguez. Dominguez is a lot like Lee. A fighter with a big potential, but he has been killed in his 3 pro fights getting TKOed in each one.

Lee will need to watch for his power, and he can end it quick, but his weakness is his chin and body. He can’t handle the barrage that some fighter can lay out. We are going to be careful, and try and grab another win for Drydon.

Drydon is the favorite as the odds on him are 4/7, while Dominguez is 6/4.

Here is a preview of other fights this week:

1) Featherweight FOY - Calvin Calvert 18-3-0(16) #2 v. Willie Pep 231-12-1(66) #12

Calvert scored a win in his last fight over Ray O’ Reagan on points and Pep lost on points to Armando Medina. Pep is past his prime and Calvert is in his. This looks like a mismatch but the oddsmakers disagree. Pep is the favorite at 2/5, while the odds on Calvert are 2/1. I might make some money on this one.



2) Former Lightweight Champ Melvin Horne 8-7-0(8) #6 v. Barney Ross 73-4-3(22) #12

Horne is fighting for the first time since losing the title last year. Ross only fought one time last year. It was a split decision win over Calvin Freake. He was ranked #40 at the time. This is a big opportunity for Ross, many think him unable to hang with the former champ. While many think the former champ was a paper lion. Ross is the favorite of the bookies at ½, while Horne goes off at 7/4. I may lay a small bet on Horne. I am leery though.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for 4 rounds.

I told him to go fight his fight, be careful and listen. If I see something, listen, and tear him apart. This can be your win, make it your win.

A back and forth round that saw both fighters take turns controlling the round and it ended with both fighters going toe to toe. Expect more of the same in round two in this last man standing type of match.

Bad round for Lee, he was on the short end of the stick. Took a lot of damage and covered up the last minute. The fight was almost stopped.

Round three was good for Lee. I told him to go forward but to give a lot of body movement. A similar tactic that was used in his last fight that suited him well. The first minute was all Drydon, he had him hurt and poured it on. By the last minute of the round Dominguez was trying to fight back but he wasn’t doing enough. The ref stopped the fight near the end of the round. That is a TKO win for Lee Drydon!

The judges cards showed the fight a draw for 2 and one judge had Lee ahead. Whew! That was close.





In other action -

Melvin Horne scored a unanimous points win over Ross.

Calvin Calvert scored a unanimous points win over Willie Pep.

I made a nice little haul betting this week.

Total winnings frommy bets on these three fights totaled 180k! The biggest being the 100k from Calvin Calvert beating Willie Pep.





Lee Drydon was offered a fight eight weeks away against Harry McBray. They were offering over 200k in compensation. I said no. I am not ready to let my little cash cow go down yet.

[PilotMan]

Well now I have come to a crossroads. What do I do? Omar completely stunned me. To top it off he is recovering from the fight rather quickly. He could be ready to fight again in a number of weeks.

I have been feeling guilty about laying money down against a fighter in my own stable. But who the hell had any idea that he had a chance to win? That probably makes me a scumbag, but I argue that it doesn’t. I would have been a scumbag if I had told him to lose. That would have make me like so many others that are out there. No! What did I do? I pumped him up, encouraged him, and made him believe in himself. The boy has heavy fists, that doesn’t hurt either. :) Of course I made way, way more money that if he had lost the fight, so it was worth the price.

The problem that I now have is that Omar has now proved himself capable of beating some very good talent. He had exactly one fight remaining on his contract, and right now his value is out of this world. I have access to some cash, but at least right now, if I wanted to extend him, the best that I could do would be for 2 more fights and then it is possible that I would lose money, unless he keeps winning and beating quality opponents.

This is business, but I feel loyalty to him. He likely would not have done much without my guidance. What the hell do I do? If he fights one more time, he will be out of a contract, and it is possible that he would resign, but I would be concerned about hurting his feelings. The businessman inside says that I should let him go, or put him up against another huge opponent, and knock him down to a more managable level. It also says that I should drop Lee Drydon and take the profit that he has reaped me. The human being inside me is pretty much appalled that I would think such things.

What to do, what to do.

[TonyR]

Good win by Lawrence, and AWESOME job by Omar!

[PilotMan]

Well, I made a decision. I have been thinking of expanding my stable and I need money to get my fighters going. The other thing is that the more fighters that I have the more money it takes to train them.

I felt like I needed to give Omar something to hang his hat on without putting the business out very much. Omar signed a 2 fight contract extension. It cost over 1 million dollars, but I should see most of that money back in the fights that are arranged.

That means that all the fighters are signed for at least 3 fights and Drydon still has 7 fights remaining.

I got a call this week from the managers of Roger Overton. Who is Roger Overton? Overton currently has a record of 2-3-1(1). He beat Eric Kippax, the fighter who spoiled Niall’s debut. He looks like a fighter with good skills who can’t seem to be consistant or stay in shape. He is hot and cold, they offered a little over 80k for the fight. He is ranked a couple of spots higher than Niall. I don’t have a very good feeling about it. The fight would be in 5 weeks. Hmm.

Against my better judgement I tell them to book the fight. You just never know what is going to happen in this business.

[PilotMan]

First week of March, 2006.

Omar has a fight that is going to take place the second week of May. His opponent is currently ranked #107, while Omar is #119. I would have thought that his win would have moved him up in the world a bit farther, but even opponents who are 6-0 are still only 6-0. Were 6-0 in this case.

Punishment Inc, has no fights scheduled for a few weeks but that doesn’t mean that nothing is happening in the world of boxing. A couple of good fights are scheduled for this week.

Here is a rudown:

1) The Featherweight Title is on the line as current World Champion, Peter Badillo, 23-5-0(17), defends his title against the #1 contender, Gary Jakeman. Jakeman is 17-5-1(8). Look for Badillo to be the aggressor and to land more punches. He was tough in his last fight as he Koed previously undefeated Armando Medina. Jakeman has a better chin than that. The bookies are taking bets, and the odds are on Badillo. He is ½, while the odds on Jakeman are 7/4.

2) The most anticipated fight of the year so far is this week. The Heavyweight Championship is on the line as Peter O’Connell defends his title for the second time. He record is 35-3-0(20), and he puts it on the line against the #1 contender to the title, Joe Louis. Louis has been the #1 contender for over a year and has demolished his opponents, winning his last 3 fights by KO or TKO. Louis has a record of 71-3-0(57). The odds favor Louis to grab the title at 8/15, while the odds on the champ are 5/3.





Another fighter with tremendous promise has signed with Punishment Inc. I continue to branch out into other weight classes as this fighter fights in the light-heavyweight division. Say hello to Ismael Gutierrez. Gutierrez turned pro a month ago but has not had a fight yet. His contract was purchased for a little over 1.7 million, making him the most expensive fighter that I have paid for upfront. I hope that he can live up to his potential. He fights in the style that is quickly becoming expected from Punishment Inc guys. He hits hard and is aggressive. His chin is something to worry about, but he can take a lot of punches. Who knows what future is in store for this bright fighter.

[PilotMan]

To give you an update of where this dynasty is at. I am currently showing I am at update page 84 posted on the board. I just finished writing update page 142. No fear, there is plenty more to come.

[PilotMan]

Ismael was offered a fight in 6 weeks against Ian Forster. I declined them quick. Ismael is not in the shape that I want him fighting in yet. A little more time in the gym is needed.

Big developments in the world of boxing. Peter Badillo defended his title successfully against Gary Jakeman, winning in a 12 round unanimous decision.

Joe Louis showed that he was deserving of his title shot as he dispatched Peter O’Connell in the 8<SUP>th</SUP> round by TKO. Louis is the new heavyweight champion.

My bets that were laid on these fights both paid and I made almost 50k. That will help to pay for my ever increasing training costs.

The reigning fighter of the year, flyweight, Mauro Martinez is fighting this week. His opponent? Pancho Villa, one of the greatest flyweights that ever lived. This is a rematch from last year in which Martinez won by a majority points decison over Villa. Niether fighter has lost since and the fighters are ranked as the number four and three contenders in the flyweight divison. Villa’s record is 79-6-5(25), while Martinez is 29-0-0(19). Oddsmakers favor Martinez heavily for this fight. The odds on him to win are 1/4, while the odds on Villa are 3/1. I would not think that the spread would be that great, but I don’t make the odds.

Omar Acevedo is scheduled to face David Amos in May. Amos is 7-7-1(0). He looks like a big letdown after Omar’s last fight but he is ranked higher. Amos is best known for being able to take a punch. That’s it. A really well paid sparring partner. He lacks any power and his punching accuracy and defense are average at best. He is in descent shape and should put up a good fight. Besides he has a long time to train for the fight.

[Swaggs]

Is there a way to measure yourself against other managers in the game, so we know where you stack up at any given point?

[PilotMan]

Unfortunately, you are the only manager represented in the game. There is a hall of fame, and I have no idea how far you need to go to get there. I have never come close to any of the scores there. Nor is there any other area that tells you what your score is. You are pretty much playing the game in the dark as far as that is concerned.

[PilotMan]

Martinez kept his unbeaten streak alive with a 10 round unanimous decision win over Pancho Villa. I had put down 20k on Villa, on the hopes that he might pay, but that money is gone now.

The Middleweight title is on the line this week as the champ, Leavender Nolan makes his first defense against #1 ranked Anthony Hardy. Hardy is 45-2-0(15), while Nolan is 18-0-0(6). Nolan shocked the world by scoring a TKO against Sugar Ray Robinson. Hardy’s last fight was a unanimous decision over Jose Antonio Mendez. Both fighters are pure boxers and neither brings much power. This will go the distance. The odds are favoring Nolan at 8/11, while Hardy is at 7/6.

[PilotMan]

Leavander Nolan has defended his title with a 12 round majority decision over Anthony Hardy. I made a little money on this fight, but not much, because I am cautious about how much I gamble.

Ismael Gutierrez is a popular fighter. He has been offered a fight in 7 weeks, to fight Lawrence Rollins. Gutierrez still is not in proper shape and so I have declined this fight.

Former Light Heavyweight Champ Jeff Ellery is fighting Bob Foster this week. Ellery is 20-9-1(12), and is ranked #3. Foster is 60-8-1(49), and is ranked #2. This is a titanic battle in the LH division. Foster has been the #1 contender to the title since last year. The favorite is Foster, the odds on him are 2/7, while Ellery is 13/5.

Another interesting fight this week is the other former Light Heavyweight Champ, Brendan Lawe, is fighting Carl Wilks. Lawe has scored big wins since losing the title and is ranked #5. His opponent is ranked #6 and is 20-0-0(17). Wilks is a big puncher and has won his last two fights by TKO. The oddsmakers like Wilks in this one at 3/5, while Lawe is 11/8.

[PilotMan]

Last week of March, 2006

Bob Foster scored a 10 round unanimous decision over Jeff Ellery

Carl Wilks scored a 10 round majority decision over Brendan Lawe.

I won both of these bets and made a little over 26k. Not much. Whithout any fights I am watching my training expenses eat away at my cash. 26k doen’t go very far to paying the bills now.

Things have been really quite around the gym. My fighters are gaining in health and are training well.

Here are how they rank currently in their weight divisons.

Lawrence McFarlane #38

Omar Acevedo #118

Lee Drydon #141

Ismael Gutierrez #149

Niall Beaumont #157

Not especially impressive. McFarlane’s next opponent is going to be very important. Having him have the potential to make it into the top 25 is very exciting.

[PilotMan]

The single most prestigious fight in Punishment Inc’s history was made today. It was announced that Lawrence McFarlane has been signed as the next opponent of none other than Michael Nunn.

Nunn, 52-3-2(34), has not fought in over a year and a half. He is currently ranked #23 in the middleweight division. He is a heavyhanded fighter, who possess all the skills that made him a world champion in his career. It is unknown how far past his prime he may be if at all.

The fight will take place the first week of June, 2006.

This will be a large step up in opponent for the young fighter, McFarlane. He has won his last 5 fights to vault himself over 50 places in the middleweight rankings. Although Nunn will likely be the favorite, you cannot count McFarlane out.

[PilotMan]

Not a good day at the betting window. I lost 80k on a bantamweight fight that looked so easy. I guess I should stick with what I know. The cash in the vault is getting lower and lower, but Niall has a fight that should replentish it back some.

Lee Drydon was approached for a fight by Bert Bandivas. Bandivas is 1-5-0(0), and hasn’t accomplished anything. He is ranked about 20 places lower than Lee. So it wouldn’t be like Lee would really get anything from it if he wins other than a self confidence boost. Additionally, my reputation stands to lose quite a bit from a loss. Their management is offering 59k, but that isn’t worth the risk.

[PilotMan]

First week of April, 2006

Fight Night-

Niall Beaumont, 1-1-0(0), is fighting this week in a four round preliminary bout against Roger Overton. Overton, 2-3-1(1), is going to give Niall a tough fight. Niall has not been the fighter that I had hoped for after signing him.

Overton’s record isn’t that good, but 2 of his losses are by majority decision and one was a draw. He knocked out Eric Kippax in the second round, so he does hit hard. It is going to be a hard fight.

The oddsmakers are favoring Beaumont at 4/11, while the odds on Overton to win are 12/5.

In the tale of the tape, both are big punchers, but Overton lands more frequently. Beaumont will be the aggressor, and will try and push the action. Overton has a better chin, but Beaumont can take more overall damage.



<HR align=left width="0%" SIZE=1><HR SIZE=1>

There are two world titles on the line this week.

First, Lightweight champion, Damian Essett, 21-1-0(21), is making his first title defense against Pedro Carrasco. Carrasco is 109-3-2(67). In his last fight he defeated Al Hardway on points at the end of last year.

Carrasco has a good chin and it will be tested. Essett hasn’t gone the distance in a fight in over a year. He became the champ by Koing the then champ, Jorge Reynoso, in the first round.

Oddsmakers are all over Essett in this one. The odds on him are 1/7, while the odds on Carrasco are a longshot 11/2. No respect for a guy who has only been defeated 3 times and has over 100 wins.

The second title fight is for the Light Heavyweight title. Challenger, Virgil Hill, 48-3-1(25), is the favorite at 8/11. The champ is Julio Perez. Perez, 17-0-0(6), is defending the title for the first time after beating Jeff Ellery late last year. Hill got the title fight despite not winning his last fight. He managed a draw against Roy Jones.

This fight will likely go the distance as neither fighter has a big punch, and both are boxer style fighters. The odds on Perez are 7/6.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for 4 rounds.

Niall Beaumont had a good round and controlled the action by moving forward and pursuing Overton. He avoided more punches than I thought that he would and landed more combos than Overton did. I would say that he won the round, but it was close.

Niall lost that round. Overton had blood streaming out of his nose, and there was some speculation that it may be broken. That could impact the outcome of the fight. Niall landed his punches in flurries and did some damage, but Overton landed more punches. I keep waiting for the big punch to come from Niall. I think that he could take Overton out.

Beaumont inflicted an enormous amout of damage and was on the verge of a TKO win. Overton landed some jabs and a couple of combos, but he took a lot of damage from Niall’s uppercuts. They were doing loads of damage. Niall still controlled the round and I think that he won this one. With Overton not doing much damage I don’t see any reason to change strategies.

Another big round for Niall. He landed a bunch of big punches and took his share his well. With :30 to go in the round Overton was on queer street. Beaumont could not find the range and end it, but Overton could not answer either. With just a few seconds to go in the fight the ref had seen enough and declared an end to the fight.

I was accurate to the way the fight was going the judges had it 2 rounds for Niall and 1 for Overton.

This was a good win for Niall Beaumont and a good win for Punishment Inc. Beaumont has won by a 4<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO. The first TKO of his pro career.

The World Title fights went like this:

Virgil Hill was crowned the new Light-Heavyweight champion after his 12 round unanimous decision win over Julio Perez. That was the first pro loss for the ex champ, Perez.

Damian Essett continued his total dominance over the Lightweight division with a 6<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO of Pedro Carrasco. Essett dominated the fight and is head and shoulders above everyone else in the lightweight division.

I managed to earn 40k by winning the bets on all three of these fights. No much, but enough to cover some training expenses. Lawrence McFarlane is training twice as hard as usual. He has a very important match to prepare for.

[Tellistto]

Nice fight for Niall there, looks like he's making progress with his skills in relation to his talent. Hopefully the other fighters can keep doing well, and I'm looking forward to seeing the new kid get in the ring.


Tell

[PilotMan]

I am too Tellistto. That much money ought to buy something shouldn't it?

[daedalus]

How much training do you do? Like how many different types? And how long do you keep it running?

[PilotMan]

When a fighter is signed for a fight technically, he starts training. There is no cost to the normal training for fight prep. There is additional training that can be done, but you pay a price for it based on the value of the fighter.

I have been using a number of different strategies with this training. Initially, when I had less money, I trained the more physical aspects as high as I could before the match. Once you reach 100% there is no point to train just to keep 100% so I adjust it each week depending on how close the next fight is. If the fight is a long way away, above 80% is a goal, until the fight gets closer, and then get as high as I can.

Initially I tried to keep spending around 10k per week/per fighter, but as things have progressed and the opponents get harder, and the fights more meaningful as in Lawrence McFarlane's case, I have had it go as high as 33k/per week for him.

I think a lot depends on personal preference. There is no feedback at all concerning the training, but you see the results in the ring. Pretty much you get what you pay for. I ususally don't worry about ringcraft, general or sparring until my physical areas get taken care of, but that is totally personal preference. I could easily make an argument that general should be what you train at first as I think that is covers a little bit of everything.

The whole lack of training feedback is a double edged sword. On one hand, you want to see what effect it is really having, but on the other, in a real situation you wouldn't see it until fight day, in the acutal fight.


To answer your other questions. I start training as soon as I can. Fitness has to be above 50, so I guess I am training all the time. It is costly, but I see it as more of an investment. It is costlier to lose fights.

Ultimately, I want my fighter to be in the best shape for every fight. Ideally you would have him maxed out before every fight, but that may not be possible until much later on. And you really may not need it until much later on as well.

Hope that answers your questions, daed.

[daedalus]

Definitely helps. :)

Any idea on how ringcraft, general or sparring helps? I mean, I understand speed bag helping improve accuracy and heavy bag helping with power. So that much I can follow.

[PilotMan]

As far as general, I think that it is a little bit of everything.

Ringcraft, is the ability to move well in the ring, control the fight, have the style to pull it off.

Sparring likely will help with chin, resistance to punishment and off the canvas. Having a fighter stay in ring, fighting condition is important. If he doesn't get hit at all between fights how is he going to resist that first hard punch.

My ideas, not perfect, but should help.

PS there is a game manual in the files, but it doesn't have everything, but does give good insight.

[PilotMan]

Third week of April, 2006.

It has been a quiet few weeks at the gym. I still have not scheduled a fighter to face my newest weapon, Ismael Gutierrez. I should have a match made for him in a couple of weeks.

It is getting costly to train all five of these fighters as much as I am each week. They don’t really need to do the extra work, they could do it on their own, but I think that it helps them for their fights.

There is one interesting fight that I will mention and it is in the Flyweight divison. Former Champ Gerardo Ramirez, 25-1-0(12) is facing 6<SUP>th</SUP> ranked Lito Mataganas, 19-1-0(9). Ramirez was stopped in the 3<SUP>rd</SUP> round against Adam Napier, while Mataganas was a winner over Zosimo Diaz via a 7<SUP>th</SUP> round KO.

Mataganas is as in shape and pumped for this fight as anyone that I have seen. I am sure that he would have liked to fight Ramirez for the title. Right now, Ramirez is ranked #2 and to beat him would further his career a great deal. Lito started last year ranked #40 in the world, so now to be fighting the #2 in the world is a big deal.

Both fighters are young and posses good skills. The oddsmakers are aware that Mataganas hasn’t fought the world class quality opponents that Ramirez has, and it shows. Ramirez is the heavy favorite as he is favored to win with1/4 odds. The odds on Mataganas are 10/3. Personally, I think that Ramirez has been through to many wars to let this one get by him.

[PilotMan]

Gerardo Ramirez won his match over Lito Mataganas by a 10 round unanimous points decision. I didn’t feel all that comfortable betting on this match so I didn’t bet that much. I did win though and it paid a whopping 5k.

While I was sitting there, watching the fights, I got a call from the management group of Lionel Ogbourne. Ogbourne won his last fight. He is a talented fighter, but his heart has been brought into question.

His current record is 2-4-0(1), and he is ranked #160. That is a little bit lower than Niall. Unfortunately for Niall, he isn’t quite ready to sign for the fight, so I pass. It would have paid me a little over 86k. That would have paid for training for the group of guys for a week.

I think that I may need to scale back the extra training that the fighters currently get. It is costing an arm and a leg, and I am not sure that it is going to pay off the way that I want it to.

I also talked to the managers for Juan Aranda. Aranda is 1-1-0(0) in the light heavyweight divison. He has an average punch, but his chin is good and he has good defense as well. I told them that I wanted a fight with Gutierrez scheduled for 8 weeks away. They were not interested in that fight so I guess I will be paitent and wait for the best fight for my hot prospect.

There is one good fight of note this week and that is The Golden Boy, Oscar de la Hoya. De la Hoya is still undefeated and looking for a title shot. His match is against #2 ranked Jose Victor Lopez. Lopez is 21-0-0(14), while de la Hoya is 35-0-0(26). Both fighters are putting a lot on the line in this fight and are putting their standing in the divison at risk. De la Hoya is the favorite with the odds on him at 8/15, while the odds on Lopez are 5/3. The fighters are pracically mirror images of one another. They both hit hard, have good defense and have good chins. I will be watching it with a great deal of interest.

[PilotMan]

A quiet week has ended and I couldn’t bear to lay any money down on the fights this week. I failed to arrange any fights for my fighters and had no fighters fighting.

The results of the big welterweight dual were that one fighter stayed undefeated while the other lost.

The winner was Oscar de la Hoya, as he ran his record to 36-0 with a unanimous decision win over Jose Victor Lopez.

[PilotMan]

Rankings as of the First week of May, 2006

Heavyweight

CHAMP Joe Louis 72-3-0(58)

#1 Peter O’ Connell 35-4-0(20)

#2 Muhammad Ali 59-5-0(38)

#3 Evander Holyfield 38-4-1(25)

#4 Michael Moorer 43-2-1(33)

#5 Max Watt 15-0-3(9)

#6 Anthony Wood 16-0-1(6)

#7 Tom Elvy 31-0-0(9)

#8 Colin Dibble 24-3-0(13)

#9 Bob Fitzsimmons 51-8-0(42)

#10 Joe Frazier 34-5-2(28)

Light Heayweight

CHAMP Virgil Hill 49-3-1(25)

#1 Julio Perez 17-1-0(6)

#2 Bob Foster 61-8-1(49)

#3 Carl Wilks 21-0-0(17)

#4 Martin Kinnear 26-13-0(18)

#5 James Singleton 13-8-0(12)

#6 Cliff Harris 21-6-0(10)

#7 Jeff Ellery 20-10-1(12)

#8 Roger Stewart 31-6-0(17)

#9 Raul Puga 26-9-0(18)

#10 Roy Jones 41-1-1(34)

Middleweight

CHAMP Leavander Nolan 19-0-0(6)

#1 Mike McCallum 51-6-2(36)

#2 Carlos Monzon 96-7-11(65)

#3 Jeff Larkin 20-3-0(20)

#4 Edwin Veal 38-0-0(26)

#5 Anthony Hardy 45-3-0(15)

#6 Harry Mann 32-3-2(11)

#7 Ad Webster 28-4-3(8)

#8 Les Darcy 50-12-0(29)

#9 Jose Antonio Mendez 17-1-0(6)

#10 Calvin Lewsey 16-0-0(13)





Welterweight

CHAMP Manuel Castillo 25-1-1(8)

#1 Jose Victor Lopez 21-1-0(14)

#2 Sugar Ray Leonard 37-3-1(25)

#3 Oscar de la Hoya 36-0-0(26)

#4 Wilfredo Benitez 57-8-1(32)

#5 Derrell Guyver 25-1-0(12)

#6 Jose Napoles 81-8-0(58)

#7 Luis Rodriguez 108-14-1(50)

#8 Javier Quirino 39-4-0(31)

#9 Andrey Romero 38-1-0(31)

#10 Ike Quartey 37-2-1(32)

Lightweight

CHAMP Damien Essett 22-1-0(22)

#1 Jorge Reynoso 21-4-1(14)

#2 Pernell Whitaker 42-1-1(17)

#3 Melvin Horne 9-7-0(8)

#4 Luis Valdez 35-3-0(15)

#5 Julio Cesar Chavez 102-4-2(82)

#6 Jose Luis Ramirez 105-10-0(85)

#7 Victor Marquez 41-1-1(21)

#8 Paul Kench 40-0-0(8)

#9 Raul Jimenez 22-0-0(10)

#10 Pedro Carrasco 109-4-2(67)

Featherweight

CHAMP Peter Badillo 24-5-0(17)

#1 Calvin Calvert 19-3-0(16)

#2 Rico Fernandez 18-1-0(13)

#3 Armando Medina 17-1-1(5)

#4 Arnulfo Guerrero 18-9-1(11)

#5 Juan Zamora 22-0-1(13)

#6 Manuel Garcia 43-8-0(12)

#7 Gary Jakeman 17-6-1(8)

#8 Terry McGovern 68-4-4(49)

#9 Kevin Kelley 52-3-2(35)

#10 Jorge Paez 63-13-4(42)





Bantamweight

CHAMP Xavier Firth 21-6-0(9)

#1 Job Reyes 18-0-2(11)

#2 Carlos Zarate 64-4-1(59)

#3 Jun Orais 23-3-0(13)

#4 Joselito Pana 32-1-1(120

#5 Fernando Ramirez 13-6-1(10)

#6 Enrique Grimaldo 40-0-0(29)

#7 Esteban Lopez 13-10-1(5)

#8 Jimmy Barry 61-0-10(40)

#9 Victor Luna 19-1-1(11)

#10 Valente Luna 17-2-0(8)

Flyweight

CHAMP Adam Napier 27-1-0(25)

#1 Gerardo Ramirez 26-1-0(12)

#2 Mauro Martinez 30-0-0(19)

#3 Buddy Bionas 20-1-0(5)

#4 Rocky Cubilllas 17-1-0(13)

#5 Randy Mercado 14-2-1(11)

#6 Jimmy Wilde 134-4-2(99)

#7 Hideki Nishizawa 20-1-1(10)

#8 Lito Jamili 15-7-0(14)

#9 Edel Gomez 24-0-0(13)

#10 Pancho Villa 79-7-5(25)

[PilotMan]

A fight has been arranged for Ismael Gutierrez. His pro debut is going to be against Hugh Wates. Wates currently has a record of 0-7-0. Needless to say thet Gutierrez is going to be favored to win the match.

Wates has been active. He has already fought twice this year and is ranked #136. Wates has not been knocked down in any of his seven losses and is known as a fighter who has a big hear, and a rock solid chin.

I won’t make much as Wates isn’t that prestigious of an opponent, but I really just want to get that first win under his belt. He has big promise, now if I can just mold it the right way.

Omar is scheduled to fight next week. He has been focusing on the general aspects of boxing, you know a little of this and a little of that. Also he has been hitting the heavy bag hard to try and build that punch up that has bailed him out of trouble before.

[PilotMan]

I will have some more updates coming today, but I just wanted to say thanks again, to those who voted this thread a 5-star rating. Thanks for reading.

PM

[nfg22]

thanks you for writing....now get mcfarland the titile

[PilotMan]

Second Week of May, 2006

Fight Night-

Omar Acevedo, 4-1-0(0), who is coming off of the biggest upset of his life, is fighting again. His opponent tonight is David Amos. Amos is 7-7-1(0). Amos has a good chin, and has no power at all. Omar, hopefully, will land effective combinations. Omar isn’t looking to press the fight as he prefers to sit back.

Amos will pressure, his best attribute besides his chin is his resitance to punishment. He can absorb lots of damage. I don’t see Omar getting the KO, but I feel good about him coming away with the win. I will have him counterpunch, and use his jab. I don’t know if I want him to load up, or try and out point him.

I need to respect him though. His last match was a 4 round split decision win over Tim Wates. He is currently ranked #105.

The oddsmakers have Amos as the favorite however, as the odds on him are ½. The odds on Omar are 7/4. There is not a lot of available cash for betting, but I am going to try and make as much as I can with a win here.

There are no other major fights of importance this week.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for four rounds.

Round one was very close. Both fighters took turns landing and missing. The fight was fought more on the inside. Omar didn’t move quite the way that I had wanted him too, but he landed the uppercut very effectively throughout. I think it was a draw, but I tell Omar that he gave it away. Omar came back to the corner saying that his hand was bothering him. I told him not to think about it right now, this fight is too important.

Round two was a great round for Omar. He did everything right in that one. I think that Amos only landed four punches the whole 3 minutes. Omar dodged and weaved, and slipped almost everything. He was accurate and his timing appeared to be much better. He dominated that round. If he puts two more rounds together like that it will be a very good result.

Omar took more punishment that round than either of the other two, but he was still able to land as much as he did in round two. I feel like even though the round was closer that he still should have won it. I would like to open him up a little more for the last round, but I have a feeling that I should continue to play it conservatively. I think that he has a lead, and the way he is fighting right now he should be able to close the match out. His hand hasn’t been hurting any more than it did at the end of round one. I am not concerned about it.

Wow, that was a close round. Omar was getting a beating early on and I was getting nervous. I would really hate to see him piss this one away. I have way more money on this fight than I ever had business betting. Omar did manage to come back, but he did pay the price. His jaw might be broken. I will have it looked at tonight. The last round was as close as the first, but it was more damaging for both fighters. Please, God, let him have won this one.

[Tellistto]

At least we know your a gambler at heart, betting the farm on a close fight. Maybe Omar pull it off as he did in the last match!


Tell

[TonyR]

Sounds like a very close fight...hope Omar got it.

[PilotMan]

J1: 39-38 Acevedo

J2: 39-38 Acevedo

J3: 40-39 Acevedo

Holy Shit! He paid! And he Won! A unanimous decision win. Looks like I was right that the first was not his, and that he won at least 2 rounds, except judge 3 who thought that most of the rounds were too close to call, except for that brilliant round two.

Omar does not have a broken jaw, but he will need to take a rest for a bit. His hand is ok too.

Omar moves his record to 5-1-0(0). I had bet 250k, the max on Omar to win this fight, and he paid big dividends. The payout was $437,500! That ought to pay for some training! Omar again now has two fights remaining on his contract, and he has made me some nice dough. How long can Punishment Inc continue to afford to resign him?

[PilotMan]

I have been looking for a suitable opponent for Lee Drydon. I have approached Kid Ari about a fight two months from now, but they say that Drydon is not good enough and is ranked too low to make it a worthwhile fight.

I really don’t see anyone that I think would make a good opponent at this time.

I am getting excited for Lawrence McFarlane’s upcoming fight against Michael Nunn. McFarlane is training well and should be in very good shape for the fight. What would a win against the #20 ranked Nunn mean for McFarlane’s career? What would it mean for Punishment Inc?

[PilotMan]

Last week of May, 2006

Fight Night-

This is a very important week for Punishment Inc. Lawrence McFarlane will be fighting a real, top flight boxer. We will see if all the blood sweat and tears from the last 14 months will come toghether to produce something.

Nunn, has not been active, he has not had a fight in the last 14 months. Who knows what kind of condition he is going to be in. Nunn has a very good punch, is accurate and has good defense. The only knock that you could really have against him is that his chin is a little pedestrian. I wouldn’t mind if Lawrence tested it.

McFarlane is in the best shape of his life and his confidence has never been higher. He has been doing extra training in just about every area. Speed and heavy bags, stamina, sparring, ringcraft, you name it he has been working on it.

The plan for tonight is going to be conservative initally, and see what Nunn is going to do. If we need to make changes as the fight goes along, but we need to be ready to either go for the kill, or run for our lives.

The oddsmakers are favoring Nunn, but not by much. The odds on him are 3/5, while the odds on McFarlane are 6/5.



<HR align=left width="0%" SIZE=1><HR SIZE=1>

This is not the only big fight this week here are the others:

1) The Welterweight title is on the line. The champ, Manuel Castillo 25-1-1(8), fresh off of his defeat of Sugar Ray Leonard is defending the title for the first time. His opponent is one of the best of all time in the Welterweight division, Wilfredo Benitez. Benitez is 57-8-1(32), and his last victory was against Felipe Andrade. Benitez is a heavier hitter and has a tough chin. Castillo has very good defense. The odds are with Benitez, the odds on him are 1/4, while Castillo is again the underdog at 11/4.

2) Bantamweight FOY Job Reyes 18-0-2(11) will be fighting Fernando Ramirez 13-6-1(10). Reyes has drawn in his last two fights while Ramirez drew with German Tiznado. Ramirez is a bigger puncher, while Reyes is the more accurate of the two. Bookies seem to be leaning toward Reyes at 8/15, while Ramirez is 8/5.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for 10 rounds.

Well, from the looks of the first round there is no way that this fight is going to go the distance. I told Lawrence to be aggressive and to work behind the jab and move forward. He was successful at doing that. He did get tagged a couple of times, and hit on the chin at least once, but he has a good chin. Nunn took a lot of damage, I could see either fighter ending this one early. Round one to Lawrence.

Another round in which Nunn was on the receiving end of a barrage of punches. I am really looking at this fight through rose colored glasses. Nunn is working well behind the jab and getting some good shots in, but I really don’t see them having the effect that Lawrence’s are on him. McFarlane went for the kill with a minute to go, but came up short.

Nunn took round three with good jabbing and good follow up on his punching. McFarlane seemed tight. Like the gravity of the moment was getting him. I told him to relax and let the next round flow. This is only the 4<SUP>th</SUP> round, there is a long way to go.

Round 4 stared off with McFarlane jumping out to the center of the ring to try and seize the flow of this fight. He landed some good punches but after a minute he was getting hit too often. I yelled that he needed more head and shoulder movment and that was all it took. Lawrence took control and controlled the next minute. Nunn was reeling and rocking back against the ropes. The ref looked on as Lawrence continued to hammer away combo after combo with Nunn trying desperately to fight back. At 2:50 he had seen enough and stepped between the fighters.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Lawrence McFarlane has just TKOed Micheal Nunn in the 4<SUP>th</SUP> round. The judges had McFarlane ahead by one on two cards and the other had Nunn ahead by one. It was a close fight. I just knew there was no way that this was going anywhere near the distance.

What a great win for the stable and for McFarlane. His confidence is soaring and so it mine. This might get him into the top 25 in the Middleweight rankings! We will have to wait for three or four weeks to see.

The results from the other big fights were as follows:

Job Reyes scored a 4<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO over Fernando Ramirez.

Wilfredo Benitez is the new Welterweight Champ with a split decision win over Manuel Castillo in 12 rounds.

I was approached by another fighter for a fight with Drydon. He is really talented and would be too much for Lee right now. I am holding out for a more favorable fight. Even if it doesn’t pay me that much. We are going to celebrate right NOW!!!!!!

[Tellistto]

Woot! Lawrence for a title shot! Go go go!


Tell

[TonyR]

Awesome win for Omar and Lawrence.
Besides Lawrence, any other of your fighters have a decent shot at top 10-20?

[hoopsguy]

Congrats on the big win for Lawrence. You've been having a very nice run with your fighters lately.

[Swaggs]

Wow. Great match by Lawrence.

Neat to see him beat a fighter that I am familar with, too.

[PilotMan]

Yeah, I have to admit that win was special. A huge step up for Lawrence and PI overall. Glad to see everyone appreciate the moment like that.

Tony, to answer your question, for the most part I think that it is too early in thier careers to really tell much. The way Omar has been fighting, he could, but I never have thought of him as a title contender. The rest are really green. A few fights and some grooming and they might make it. Also, depending on where my reputation stands it is possible that we could entice a top level contender into the stable straight away.

[PilotMan]

Second week of June, 2006

Things have been quiet for a couple of weeks at the gym. The place is still buzzing from Lawrence’s win over Michael Nunn. The new rankings are coming out on a few weeks and I am waiting to see where he might be placed. For now, he is back in training. It is important that he keep his skills in top condition. He is going to have some important fights coming up and he needs to be ready to go.

I am still looking for a match for Lee Drydon. He is seems to be more committed to training again, and it shows. I won’t schedule a match for anything shy of 8 weeks though.

Omar and Niall both are ready to be booked as well. I offered a fight to a seasoned lightweight named Mando Ramos. Ramos is 40-13-1(24), and is in reasonable shape. He is currently ranked #87, but lost his last fight in 6 rounds. He hits hard, but has no defense and isn’t particularly accurate. He is aggressive and dangerous. His record is mixed with wins, losses, and early KO’s for and against him. He is a reasonable opponent, who should be a good test for Omar. The fight will be the first week of August. Ramos has a weak chin, but Omar still has yet to win via KO or TKO, so that isn’t a big deal either. He could be a real handful.

I also offered a fight to a heavyweight who is ranked #118. John Black is 3-3-1(0) and could have been a nice fight for Niall. His manager didn’t like the terms however and the fight wasn’t signed. I kept looking and called Mark Nattage’s manager. I told him about my fighter and talked about the possibility of a fight the same week as Omar’s. Nattage is a middlin’ fighter with a record of 3-4-0(0). He isn’t ranked as high as Black was, but is a similar fighter. He has little power and is average all around. Seems like a fairly easy fight for Niall, with a reasonable payout. The thing that he does have over Beaumont is that he is a more accurate puncher. That could cause problems if he doesn’t want to mix it up.

The time is again approaching where we will need to make some decisions about who should be kept, let go, or signed for Punishment Inc.

Here is the fight of the week:

1) Lightweight FOY, Pernell Whitaker 42-1-1(17) #3 v. Former Lightweight Champ Melvin Horne 9-7-0(8), #4. Whitaker is a very heavy favorite as Horne is getting no respect even though he did win his last fight against a top ranked opponent. Whitaker goes at 2/5, while Horne is 11/5. Whitaker should win handily. Strange things happen in this business though.

[daedalus]

Nice. Congrats. :)

[PilotMan]

As predicted Pernell Whitaker won easily over Melvin Horne, and that is probably the last you will here from Horne in the Lightweight division. Whitaker won with a TKO in the 6<SUP>th</SUP> round, and put 40k into my pocket.

Lee Drydon is showing the look of a much different fighter than the one that started here a few months ago. He is training harder and smiling more, but I still need to be careful with him. He is just not ready to take the next step in competition.

I called the manager of Adrian Jammet. Jammet is a winless fighter in the flyweight division and is ranked lower than Drydon. You would think this to be a slam dunk, however you find that it is in these matches that your fighters sometimes seem to struggle. Jammet has a good chin and an accurate punch. He has never been knocked down and carries a 0-4-1(0) record. The fight will be in August.

[PilotMan]

The new rankings came out and there was some movement and others that didn’t move that much. I was hoping that McFarlane would have found his way into the top 25 in the middleweight division, and give Punishment Inc, its first legit title contender. I was a little shocked to see what I found there.

#14 Lawrence McFarlane (M) 16-7-0(15)

Never had I thought that he would be ranked so high. He has 3 fights left with Punishment Inc, and I hope that he feels that we can get him the chance at the top that he has been working toward. If not we may bid him farewell, but I can assure you that it will not be without a fight. He has won his last 6 fights and is poised to place himself among the class of the middleweight division.

#102 Omar Acevedo (L) 5-1-0(0)

#142 Lee Drydon (F) 2-2-1(1)

#144 Niall Beaumont (H) 2-1-0(1)

#147 Ismael Gutierrez (LH) 0-0-0(0)





<HR align=left width="0%" SIZE=1><HR SIZE=1>

The fight of the week comes to us from the Featherweight division here is a preview:

Featherweight FOY Calvin Calvert 19-3-0(16) #3 v. Eric Doughty 16-3-4(5) #12

Calvert is taking a chance with a tough fighter like Doughty. Doughty hasn’t won a fight in his last 5 fights but has only lost once, a 2<SUP>nd</SUP> round KO against Rico Fernandez. His other fights were all draws. Calvert is a hard hitter and Doughty is one of the toughest, grittiest fighters in boxing. Calvert won his last fight over Willie Pep. Oddsmakers favor Calvert, but not by much 4/5 vs. 11/10. Almost a pick’em. I like Calvert as he is very well rounded and complete. But I won’t bet the bank on him.

[PilotMan]

Calvert came though with a 10 round unanimous decision over Doughty. He also helped to put an additional 40k into my pocket. Calvert is certainly due a title shot soon.

First week of July, 2006

Fight Night-

This week marks the debut of the most anticipated new fighter to join the ranks of Punishment Inc. Ismael Rodriguez has been training for weeks now, and this week he will fight professionally for the first time. His opponent is Hugh Wates. Wates is a loser, so it should be expected that Rodriguez will win the fight. I am careful not to jinx it though as I still remember how Niall was upset by that Kippax fellow.

Gutierrez is an aggressive, mauling, brawler who will want to control the fight with his fists and dance very little. He hits like a freight train and can take a lot of punches. One of the concerns that I have though is that if he were to face a really good puncher that his chin might not be strong enough to withstand the punishment. In golden gloves he was a tough fighter, and never got knocked down, so if he does he may remind me of Tyson looking stunned after getting creamed by Buster Douglas.

Wates has never been on the canvas, but I intend to let Ismael try all night long. The oddsmakers on this fight have Gutierrez at 1/3, while the odds on Wates are 11/4.

There is a big title fight this week as well. Bantamweight title holder Xavier Firth is putting his title on the line again. This will be his fourth defense of the Bantamweight title. His opponent will be Joselito Pana. Pana is best known for his battles with Bantamweight FOY Job Reyes. He had lost to Reyes in thier first fight and grabbed a draw in a match that he surely felt that he had won. He could have that made up for with a win over Firth.

To his credit, Firth has been a tough champion. Winning his last fight in a split decision win over Esteban Lopez. This is the first fight for Firth in 9 months so he should be thoroughly prepared for the fight.

Both fighters are similar in style. Boxers with good chin’s and light, quick fists. Firth is probably the better fighter but the oddsmakers like the challenger in this one. Pana is 4/6 while Firth is 5/4. I like Firth but again won’t bet the bank on it.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for four rounds.

Round one was everything that it was billed to be. Ismael did his best imitation of Mike Tyson and screamed across the ring and lauched his attack. Wates to his credit did not back down and landed a number of good punches. At time the fight was a stalemate of holding and pushing, but Ismael landed more, better punches. His defense was acceptable and even though he did get hit, what he got his with was not allowed to double up into damaging combinations.

Round two was more of the same. Early on it was about even, and it looked like Wates might steal the round. About the 1:30 mark Ismael took control and did not relent. He landed a barrage of punches and still Wates stood. Unmoved by the damage he was taking, and the ref didn’t seem concerned for his health either. Ismael should have won this round going away.

The pace seemed to slow in the 3<SUP>rd</SUP> round, and again, the early part of the round was close. Wates managed to land a few jabs and crosses, but nothing that looked like it was going to end the fight. Ismael seemed to charge ahead midway, but the ref was obviously getting mad at the holding and pushing inside. No bobbing and weaving in this fight. It seems like Rodriguez is going to get a decision, and that as long as he can stay on his feel that he should be able to pull the win off.

Lots of clinching and holding and pushing in the 4<SUP>th</SUP>. The fourth also saw the least amount of action, and Wates may have stolen the round although it appeard that Ismael was going to do better early. No knockdowns, no injuries and it is all in the hands of the judges, where anything can happen.

[PilotMan]

J1: 39-38 Gutierrez

J2: 39-38 Gutierrez

J3: 40-36 Gutierrez

Well, I think that J1 and J2 are smoking crack. I like J3 and think that he should work my stable’s fights more often. A unanimous decision is a good way to start a career, but the one point margin of victory is a little unnerving. What should I care though. It is not like if he does get to be champion that they are going to say, "well he only won on the judges scorecards by one point in his first pro fight." So I guess that I will drop it. He deserves to celebrate his first pro win. I am worried that all of this winning is going to my head. I am starting to think rather highly of myself these days.

Xavier Firth has defied the oddsmakers and successfully defended his title for the fourth time with a 12 round split decision win over Joselito Pana. I was rather profitable in betting this week as I won over 83k on Gutierrez, and over 62k on the Firth-Pana fight. Xavier Firth has to be one of the most underrated champions around.

[PilotMan]

Some might say that I am overmatched and that I don’t know what I am doing with a fighter with a legit shot at contending for a title. Those people are probably right. McFarlane is healthy and ready to fight, he is nearing top condition and you would think that right now would be the best time to get him ready for another fight. I really don’t know what to do honestly. I could go either way. I just like the idea that I might be able to make a name for myself in this business.

The quality of fighters at this level is certainly impressive. He is ready and so am I. It is time to go for the top 10. To bad, I don’t like any of my prospective opponents right now. No fights are going to be made this week.

Still another month before anyone from Punishment Inc, will fight. Don’t worry there are plenty of worthwhile fights on the horizon.

[PilotMan]

Third week of July, 2006

None from my camp have any fights this week, and the scene of available fights for Lawrence doesn’t look better either. Here is a look at important fights happening this week:

1) Welterweight FOY Oscar de la Hoya 36-0-0(26) #3 v. Former Welterweight Champ Sugar Ray Leonard 37-3-1(25) #4

This is a dream match. Both fighters are of considerable quality and are likely to have quite a showdown. A loss for either of these men is going to have a considerable impact of whether either of them gets a title fight anytime soon. A win, one would hope would lead to a title fight with new champ Wilfredo Benitez. Oddsmakers like Sugar Ray at 4/7, while de la Hoya is at 6/4. Personally, I like de la Hoya.

2) WCBM and Flyweight FOY Mauro Martinez 30-0-0(19) #3 v. Buddy Bionas 20-1-0(5) #4

I think that this should be an easy call. Martinez beat Rocky Cubillas while Bionas only loss was to Cubillas. Martinez should win, right? Martinez is hot, hot, hot. Bionas stock has been on the rise, but looking at the fighters he doesn’t appear to be in the same class. Bionas is not a heavy puncher, Martinez is. Both fighters are well rounded. The fight should be entertaining. Bookies like Martinez a lot. He is 1/4 while Bionas is 3/1. I like Martinez too.

[PilotMan]

Mauro Martinez ran kept his undefeated record intact with a unanimous decision win over Buddy Bionas.

In the welterweight match, it was a beauty. Oscar de la Hoya scored a 10 round split decision win over Sugar Ray.

I took in 70k from bets on these two fights. Whooohoo!

The slap in the face came when a challenger for the Welterweight Title was announced to be Jose Napoles, the fighter who lost in his first chance against Sugar Ray Leonard. Not the fight that I was hoping to see.

A number of big dealings this week. I received a phone call from a management group claiming to represent middleweight fighter Gene Melvin. Melvin is currently ranked #15 and has a record of 31-4-0(18), ahead of McFarlane who has fallen to #17 with inactivity. Anyway, they want a fight, and are willing to pay 180k for it. The shocker is that the fight is in two weeks! Holy Crap! Melvin certainly appears to be a fighter that could be another stepping stone to the top, but two weeks. I talked with Lawrence and he said that he felt cool, and let me tell you he looks cool too. I told them to get the paperwork ready because we were going to box. That sets up the 3<SUP>rd</SUP> fight for my stable set for the first week of August. Melvin has a strong body and good defense, but his offense is lacking. No power punch and an average chin could hurt him against an offensive minded fighter like McFarlane. That is going to be one busy week.

Later, I talked with Ismael, and he gave me the impression that he was ready to go, and this time with someone a little bit harder. I told him that I would pick his fights not him and not to worry about who he was fighting because he was probably a better fighter.

I called Chris Nickels trainier. Nickels is ranked #119, and has a record of 2-4-3(0). Not very impressive, but the payout should be a little bit better than his last fight. Not the challenge that I think that he wants, but considering his last fight, this should do nicely. The fight is going to be the third week of September. Nickels has good defense and a quick punch. He does not have a good chin or a strong punch.

Former Light Heavyweight World Champion Jeff Ellery is fighting this week. He is ranked #7 and has a record of 20-10-1(12). He has lost his last couple of fights and is fighting Cliff Harris. Harris is 22-6-0(11) and is ranked #8 in the light heavyweight division. Harris has been hanging around the top ten among light heavies, and has won his last 3 fights. Odds are favoring Harris at 4/7 while Ellery is at 6/4. I like Harris as well.

[PilotMan]

The light heavyweight fight that never materialized. Cliff Harris came out and made a stand for himself. Round 1 was quick and painless for one fighter. Ellery tasted the canvas and never got back up. Harris by KO, round 1. I had this one called right and it made me a little over 22k. Fight betting has been very good for me lately. I would like to be able to keep it up for a couple of more weeks. At least until I can bet on my own fights.

There is a big heavyweight fight this week. Former Champ Peter O’Connell 35-4-0(20) #2 is fighting against an up and coming heavyweight named James Jeffries. Jeffries is 21-1-2(17). As of last year he was ranked #76 and now has moved up to #12 in the world. Jeffries has loads of power but the big knock against him is his defense. O’Connell is favored to win. The odds are 4/9, while the odds on Jeffries are 15/8. I don’t know about this, O’Connell is a tough customer, Jeffries might be biting off more than he can chew.

[PilotMan]

Jeffries and O’Connell fought to a 10 round draw. The good news is that I didn’t bet any, I just felt the odds weren’t good enough for either fighter.

This is a big week, it will take me a while to digest it.

[PilotMan]

The first week of August, 2006

Fight Night -

I did not sleep at all last night. I was up thinking about how I was going to manage to get these three fighters past their respective opponents. My guys have been understanding. Each of them has a tough fight, and they know that I am on a short fuse. McFarlane is in really good shape, and is primed I think. He has never been more ready for a fight of this caliber than ever. Omar will probably get a 6 round fight for the first time in his career, and I would like to see some of the power that he has been saying that he has. Niall has another growing fight ahead. It will be tough, and I am sure it will be ugly too.

Here is a rundown of each fight:

1) Lawrence McFarlane 16-7-0(15) #17 v. Gene Melvin 31-4-0(18) #15

You know about Lawrence. He hits hard, and has surprisingly good defense. He is aggressive and is the cream of the Punishment Inc crop. He has won all 6 of his fights under my guidance. Melvin is aggressive, but has good defense. He is not an attacking boxer and struggles with his power and accuracy. He hasn’t fought in over a year, but his last win was a 2<SUP>nd</SUP> round KO of Matt Emberton. He can withstand a lot of punishment, but his chin is very pedestrian. Look for McFarlane to work behind the jab, and aim for the noggin. This fight is going to take place on the inside. I hope that Lawrence is ready. Oddsmakers favor Melvin, 4/7 while Lawrence is 6/4. I will put my money where my mouth is here.

2) Omar Acevedo 5-1-0(0) #100 v. Mando Ramos 40-13-1(24) #84

Mando represents the next step up in challenger for Omar. Omar is on a roll, and feeling very confident. His training hasn’t put him quite where he could be so who knows. Mando is another power puncher, and he will charge forward. Omar will need to be very careful. The upside is that he is also very wild, and lacks good defense. The ref had better watch out too. Omar could end this one early, but I would prefer it if he just won. He has been Koed before. Oddsmakers are split and this one is a pick’em. My strategy for Omar is to fight a similar fight as he did against Vargas. Lots of movement, and a healthy respect for Ramos’ fists.

3) Niall Beaumont 2-1-0(1) #147 v. Mark Nattage 3-4-0(0) #141

A lot was expected from Niall, but he doesn’t feel like he is living up to my expectations. Nattage should be another easy win, but I still don’t have a handle on how he likes to fight. This fight could be on the inside too, both fighters like to attack. Beaumont is a much stronger man, and his chin is better too. Nattage should lose and the oddsmakers agree. They have Beaumont as a narrow favorite. Odds are 4/6 for Niall and 5/4 for Nattage. I want to see how Niall would like to fight. I also want to see how he works from behind the jab. I need to get a better handle on him. He could be a much better fighter.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

Niall Beaumont v. Mark Nattage

This fight is scheduled for four rounds.

I told Niall to use the jab, not to press too hard, and to look to attack where he could.

Round one was a horrible display of boxing ability. Niall did not control the round. He failed miserably with the jab and he got hit to much. He seems to like to move, so for round two he is going to take a more defensive posture. I hope that gets him more comfortable in the ring.

Round two was better for about half the round and then it slipped away. Niall was slipping and moving and landing good counters then I don’t know what. He is frustrating the hell out of me. I chewed him a good one in the corner and told him that he needed to take this fight to the next level he was going to stay with us. He needs to become the fighter that he was born to be.

Round three was the way the first two should have gone. Niall came out hard and dominated the early part of the round. He regained control of the match, but he never seemed to hurt Nattage. Nattage did manage some punches, but Niall clearly was the winner here. I told him that he needed at least a knockdown to win. No idea if he can do it or not.

Round four was the most action for the whole fight. Beaumont landed a series of punches that seemed to really stun Nattage, but he wouldn’t go down. In fact, Nattage was able to answer with some good punches and did more damage than he had in any other round. Niall finished the round with a flurry and Nattage looked dazed again. The ref did not stop it and let it go the the cards. Here is the result:

[PilotMan]

J1: 40-37 Beaumont

J2: 39-38 Beaumont

J3: 39-38 Beaumont

A wonderful, wonderful win for Niall. Round one was obviously good enough to grab a draw on two cards and the last two went for Niall, and that was good enough to win the fight. Thank God! I had 150k riding on this fight and the payout is not to shabby. Niall is now 3-1-0(1). I am a little concerned that he hasn’t shown more killer instinct. He is a power puncher, but so far not to many are falling from his punches. A win is a win, and win number one for the day is under our belt.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

Omar Acevedo v. Mando Ramos

This fight is scheduled for six rounds.

Round one went to Omar. He did a very nice job of avoiding a lot of punches. He did well with the jab, but his defense was his strength. His punches seemed to be having a substantial effect on Ramos. I would be very happy if Omar fought the whole fight like this. He would win easy.

Round two was ugly. Lots of holding, misses, and pushing. Omar shouldn’t be on the inside. It seemed to me that Ramos went to a more defensive style of fighting. That could force Omar to move forward more. I think he could KO Ramos, but it might open him up a bit more than I want.

Round three was similar to two. Neither fighter did much. There was a lot of missed punches and not much action. Acevedo needs to push the pace a little harder. I was expecting a much more aggressive fight from Ramos. So far that hasn’t materialized.

The end of last round Omar became so frustrated that he just tore after Ramos. He started round four the same way. He came out on the attack, sadly Ramos landed a good series of punches and was again controlling the round. At 1:28 Omar launched an uppercut so vicious that Ramos layed out flat on the canvas. He managed to get to his knees, but by the time the ref got to 10 he was still there and Omar had climed the ropes to celebrate his first career win by KO!

I got a peak at the judges scorecards. They were divided with Omar winning 2 of 3 on 2 cards and Ramos winning 2 of 3 on the other. I am very happy with the result. He was certainly due for a big KO. A win so convincing over a higher ranked opponent will greatly help his ranking.

That makes two fights that we won, and I had another 150k riding here too. Whew! I am going to be tired after this one.

[TonyR]

Nice win by Niall, and awesome job by Omar!
Hopefully the "bigger name" fighters will start looking at Punishment Inc. to manage them.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

Lawrence McFarlane v. Gene Melvin

This fight is scheduled for 10 rounds.

Round one was a back and forth duel. Melvin was much better defensively than I had imagined. He was able to land some punches but couldn’t land any damaging combinations. McFarlane did well behind the jab, and I thought, won the round. It was close though.

Round two was quiet for the most part. Melvin moved well and kept Lawrence from really getting established with the jab. McFarlane moved well too, and neither fighter did much damage. Until......toward the end of the round, Lawrence came out of nowhere with an overhand right that connected on the left side of Melvin’s chin. You could tell that he was hurt right away. Melvin went down and the announcers were heard to say that Melvin was in BIG trouble. The ref counted to 8 and Melvin found his way to his feet, but he was really shaky. The ref finished his count and looked at Melvin and decided that was enough. And to the shock of everyone in attendance none more than me. Lawrence McFarlane knocked out his opponent in the second round, 2:28 into the round.

WOW! How did that happen? I never would have predicted that. The second round? I am impressed. That may just be enough to get McFarlane into the top 10 in the middleweight division.

And this fight has put the perfect cap on the perfect evening for Punishment Inc. All the fighters won, and all my bets paid. I had bet 450k on 3 fights and they all paid! Now that is a nice cashout!

Pardon me, but I have some partying to do. For what it’s worth, the judges had given the first round to Lawrence as well. Impressive.

Lee Drydon fights next week, but for at least the next 48 hours I will be the happiest man on the planet. Time to party!

[PilotMan]

Here is a look at our current financial situation:

Cash on Hand: 4,702,756

Contracts:

Lawrence McFarlane 435,305 x 2 = 870,610

Omar Acevedo 558,556 x 1 = 558,556

Ismael Gutierrez 355,000 x 6 = 2,130,000

Lee Drydon 146,208 x 7 = 1,023,456

Niall Beaumont 400,932 x 2 = 801,864

Total Value 5,384,486

Total Assets 10,087,242

I have added almost 4 million in value since February. That is fantastic.

Now that we have some more cash it is time to make some decisions on some contract extentions.

Omar and Lawrence have been the backbone since the beginning, but both are very high priced. Niall is also very high priced, but he does have two fights remaining. I have about had it with him. He is not where he should be, and even though he has held his value he isn’t winning in the style that he should be. I won’t sell him, but I will think long and hard about these last two fights. Look for his next match to be hard.

[PilotMan]

Punishment Inc today announced the extension of the contracts of Omar Acevedo and Lawrence McFarlane. The extensions are valued at around 2.3 million dollars. Acevedo was resigned for two fights and McFarlane was extended for four fights.

Bucky Mason also mentioned that he was searching for a new fighter to add to his stable of young up and coming fighters.

[PilotMan]

Punishment Inc has added a new fighter to their stable. This one is sure to make some waves. Bucky Mason known for his ability to develop young fighters and take others who were on the downward spiral and return them back on their way up has added another "project" fighter to the club.

Lightweight Melvin Horne, who you may remember lost a title match against Jorge Reynoso has been signed to Punishment Inc for a total of 5 fights. Horne is currently ranked #11 in the lightweight division and lost his last fight against Pernell Whitaker in dramatic fashion. Horne has a record of 9-8-0(8). He is known for his great natural ability, but many fear that his head is not in the game any longer.

Will the Bull be able to restore this title challenger back to the top of the division?

[PilotMan]

Well, that was an investment. Horne isn’t the best fighter around but he is good. Much better than his record will lead you to believe. I was just excited that he was willing to consider coming to train with my stable.

He knows that things are not going well for him. He did not show well against Whitaker, I don’t know that there is much that I could do about that, but maybe he will never need to face Whitaker ever again.

Horne is young, that is one thing that he has going for him. With his current record he shouldn’t even be ranked as high as he is. My first order of business is going to be to try and get him some easier fights. A few wins under his belt will get his attitude back where it needs to be.

Horne has a strong punch, and rock for a chin. He fits the mold of fighters that I train here very well. The only knock against him is his defense. He gets hit more than he should.

I was trying to decide who I should sign. The choice was between Horne, an already established fighter with a good track record, and a bigger name. Or a young featherweight by the name id Roland Nugent. Nugent has yet to fight in his debut, but I am guessing that he is going to make a significant impact on the Featherweight division.

I went with Horne because I felt that he could make the most immediate impact.

We now have six fighters in Punishment Inc, but unless Niall Beaumont starts to kick it into gear, he likely will not be resigned.

[TonyR]

Hope Melvin has a good showing for Punishment Inc. After what you did for Lawrence, he should do well for you.
Glad to see that Omar and Lawrence are sticking around too.

[PilotMan]

Me too Tony. I like the potential, and he isn't old. He could be around for a while, and I think that he could cause a whole bunch of trouble for a whole lot of people. Who do you think would win in an Omar v. Melvin fight? It could happen. Omar needs to move up the rankings a long way first.

[PilotMan]

Second week of August, 2006

Fight Night -

I am having a hard time taking this fight seriously after the windfall of last week. Still, Drydon deserves my support and he deserves to be allowed to continue his comback. Adrian Jammet, is still looking for his first win. Three of his four losses have been by TKO. Drydon still has the potential to be one of the best fighters in the stable, but that is a different road from where he is at right now.

For the match tonight, I want to see a more convincing four rounds of action, and a full fight. Not one round here and one round there. A loss for Drydon could signal the end to his days at Punishment Inc, as his contract may be seen as to valuable to keep around toiling in the bottom of the flyweight division, when I could be representing a fighter with a bright future in the featherweight division. The oddsmakers don’t know who to pick in this one. It is a pick’em.

This week also finds one of the fighters of the year in action. Pernell Whitaker, in the lightweight division is facing off against Luis Valdez. Here is a tale of the tape:

Pernell Whitaker 43-1-1(18) #3 v. Luis Valdez 35-3-0(15) #4

Valdez has been hanging around the top of the lightweight division for over a year, but has only fought twice. Both of those fights were wins, with the last coming at the expense of Joe Gans. Whitaker is coming off the 6<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO of Melvin Horne.

Whitaker is at the top of his game right now, and if he was going to want a shot at the title, now is when he would want it. A matchup between him and Damien Essett would be tantalizing. For now he must dispatch Valdez. The oddsmakers have full faith that he can do it to. Despite being ranked together, the bookies feel that Whitaker is a class above Valdez. He is too. Odds on Whitaker are a lopsided 1/10, while the odds on Valdez getting the win are 20/1. I may throw a bone at that longshot, because the odds on the favorite are crazy, even if he is going to win.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for 4 rounds.



Lee did not have a good round at all. Jammett looked more experienced in the ring and was able to land punches seemingly at will. Lee took about as much punishment as he could stand and did not feel well coming back to the corner. He needs a new strategy for round two.

Round two was more of the same although Lee did look better he still took more damage than I anticipated. I don’t know what more I can do to encourage him. I feel like he has lost the first two rounds, this round could have been close, but he needs to do more.

Drydon has done it again. In a time when things are looking grim, Drydon stepped it up. Early on he took control, then a flurry of punches put Jammett down. Jammett looked pissed and climbed back up by the count of 5. He took the 8 count and came right back. Drydon had the answer though kept on him. I was yelling for the ref to stop it but he ignored me and let it go. Drydon couldn’t finish but he has just made round four really interesting.

Round four was too close to call. Drydon didn’t seal the deal like I would have liked, but he did manage some good shots. I guess I was looking for another knockdown but it never materialized. Jammet landed too many good shots and Drydon just didn’t do what I was expecting him too.

[PilotMan]

Here is the decision:

J1: 40-36 Drydon

J2: 40-35 Drydon

J3: 39-36 Drydon

Well I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised with the result. I guess the bottles of Crown that I had sent made it to them. :)

I don’t know what to say, I mean, to me, Drydon didn’t come off that good, but I guess that he earned it. He has a few fights left on his contract, I hope that he improves a little better than this.



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Pernell Whitaker won by unanimous decision over Luis Valdez. I lost 10k, oh well, made 100k on the Drydon fight.

[PilotMan]

I was approached for a fight for Lawrence McFarland, but it was going to be in three weeks and I said no immediately. He needs more time than that.

Here are how the Punichsment Inc. boxers are ranked as of right now.

Melvin Horne (L) #9

Lawrence McFarlane (M) #10

Omar Acevedo (L) #77

Ismael Gutierrez (LH) #133

Lee Drydon (FY) #135

Niall Beaumont (H) #135

My guys are moving up in the world and so is my reputation. I am starting to draw some attention from some of the bigger name boxers. That is good. Soon it will be time to focus on gaining a world title for the stable.

[PilotMan]

Third week of August, 2006

A week off for me! No fights this week and none to schedule. My education in the world of top ranked fighters is about to begin. It is time to begin to lay the groundwork for what it will take to get to the top of the world of boxing management.

Ismael Gutierrez is doing well with his training program. He will be in prime condition for his fight in a months time. In all of my fighters are on a nice roll. We have not lost since Niall lost his debut fight. That is a record for me.

Lawrence and Omar are the back of this group of fighters right now. They are both in good shape and their self confidence is very high.

There are two world titles on the line this week. Here is a rundown:

Flyweight World Champion Adam Napier 27-1-0(25) #1 v. Gerardo Ramirez 26-1-0(12) #2

A rematch for the title. In their first fight Napier stopped Ramirez in the 3<SUP>rd</SUP> to take the title and not only give the former champ his first loss, but TKOed him as well. Napier is a power puncher and Ramirez is more of a crafty boxer. Ramirez is good defensively and an accurate puncher. Napier hasn’t fought since the title fight while Ramirez grabbed a win over top ranked Lito Mataganas. Odds are favoring Napier 4/9, while the odds on Ramirez are 15/8. I think it will be closer than that.



Middleweight World Champion Leavander Nolan 19-0-0(6) #1 v. Carlos Monzon 97-7-11(66) #2

Nolan is defending his title for second time and he is taking on a legend in the middleweight division. This is not the first time that these two have fought. The first was just about a year ago, Nolan won that fight my majority decision. Monzon is getting on in age, but he is good enough to be ranked #2. His last fight was a 10<SUP>th</SUP> round KO of Jeff Larkin. Nolan in the meantime defended his title against Anthony Hardy. Monzon is a heavy hitter. If Nolan wants the win he will need to take it the distance. Oddsmakers are really strong on Monzon to take the title. He is a 1/4 favorite, while the Champ is the underdog at 7/2. I like Nolan with those odds.

Bantamweight FOY Job Reyes 19-0-2(12) #2 v. Edward Luna 44-9-2(36) #4

Reyes is coming off of a 4<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO win over Fernando Ramirez, and is still undefeated. He has been able to hold onto his #2 ranking this year and hopes to do so to get the title fight that he wants. Luna is an experienced fighter who has seen his ranking rise from #56 a year and a half ago to #4. His last win was a majority decision over Enrique Grimaldo earlier this year. Both fighters are a similar style, with offense being more important than defense. Both are aggressive and have good chin’s. Oddsmakers like the known quantity that is Reyes. He is favored 4/11, while Luna is 12/5.

[PilotMan]

Betting certainly paid for me this week. Here are the results of this week’s fights.

Job Reyes stayed undefeated with a 2<SUP>nd</SUP> round TKO over Edward Luna.

Leavander Nolan defended his middleweight crown with a 12 round split decision win over Carlos Monzon.

Gerardo Ramirez got his revenge by winning the Flyweight title back with a 12 round majority decision over Adam Napier.

I lost 60k on the Napier and Luna fight’s but it was the Nolan fight that really paid. I bet 100k that Nolan would beat Monzon and at those odds, he paid 350k. A very nice haul indeed. It more than paid for training as well as covering my losses on the other fights.

Niall Beaumont was offered a fight against Edwin Mullins. Mullins 0-5-1(0), #136, has offered to pay me 34k for the fight. This fight would do nothing to move Niall along in his career, and besides the fight would be in 3 weeks and that is way too soon. No.

[PilotMan]

Another quiet week for Punishment Inc. No fights and none to schedule so we move on to fights of significance.

Middleweight FOY - Anthony Hardy 45-3-0(15) #6 v. Kid McCoy 83-6-7(58) #12

Hardy is coming off of his loss in against Levander Nolan for the title, his opponent is a fighter who has moved up from #53 by only winning 2 fights. McCoy is beat Charles Kaplan by a KO in the 8<SUP>th</SUP> round , but has been inactive for almost a year. McCoy is a big, aggressive slugger. Hardy is craftier and has solid skills. Odds are favoring Hardy at 2/7 while McCoy is 13/5. I don’t think that McCoy has any chance.

[PilotMan]

Anthony Hardy won his fight against Kid McCoy by a unanimous decision. I made a little over 14k on this match. I thought that Hardy would win fairly easy.

I was approached by the management of Al Hardway for a fight with Melvin Horne in two months. Hardway is 21-1-0(11), and is ranked #12. They have offered a payment of 176k to make the match.

Horne is not ready for the ring yet. He still has a long way to go before he will. So I am not interested.

Lawrence McFarlane is ready to resume his rise to the top. Things get interesting at the top as the pool of prospective opponents get smaller and smaller. There is only one fighter in the top ten who is available to fight. That fighter is Mike McCallum. McCallum is 51-6-3(36), and is ranked #3. His last fight was a draw with undefeated Ewan Veal, who is ranked #4. I cringe at the thought of fighting McCallum right now. I just don’t think it is the right fight. Not right now anyway.

The Light Heavyweight title is on the line this week. The Champ Virgil Hill 49-3-1(25), is defending the title for the first time. His opponent is James Singleton. Singleton is 14-8-0(14). Singleton is a fighter that is big, powerful and has a good chin. His record is not that great, but his last year has been good for him.. His last fight was a KO of Roger Stewart in the 10<SUP>th</SUP>. Odds on this are even.

[TonyR]

Can't wait to read the next round of bouts. Keep up the great dynasty!

[PilotMan]

Thanks Tony! I am very happy that you are enjoying it. There is much more to come.

[PilotMan]

The light heavyweight division must be cursed. James Singleton has become the 4<SUP>th</SUP> champ in a year and a half. He defeated Virgil Hill when he knocked him out in the 12<SUP>th</SUP> round. I wish I knew how the fight had gone up to that point, to see if that was a surprise. Singleton reminds me a bunch of Lawrence McFarlane. I hope that he will be able to continue along the same vein. The middleweight division is a little more solid with Levander Nolan comfortably holding onto the title for almost a year now.

I am still thinking about prospective fighters for McFarlane in the Middleweight division. Lawrence has six fights on his contract so I really shouldn’t feel the need to rush him to the top. Also I shouldn’t feel the need to fight guys who are ranked higher than he is.

There are some good fighters at the top and I am beginning to feel that McCallum may not be that bad of a choice. Sure, he is the #2 contender, but a win would vault McFarlane into a spot where he could get a title shot. He is one of the best all around fighters in the middleweight division, but he is aging. I am still not sure about this one, but I need to get him a fight before his training sucks all of my available resources. What I mean is that every week that he trains to maintain his tip top shape, is costing me in the money that a fight would generate. There is only so much waiting that I can do.

George Kings is another possibility. He is currently ranked #13. He hasn’t fought in over a year but still has a respectable 22-2-0(9) record. A win would keep Lawrence heading in the upward direction. He is probably a better choice than to fight McCallum. I will make up my mind next week.

[Tellistto]

I'm still following along as well, finally back up and going after my move. Great job with all the fighters, and hopefully Lawrence will continue his climb to the top.


Tell

[PilotMan]

Thanks Tellisto. Things are moving along, and it is going to get more interesting as we go along, and the career gets developed.

[PilotMan]

Lawrence McFarlane has been booked to fight George Kings in the 4<SUP>th</SUP> week of October. The fight was earlier than originally planned due to the insistence by Bucky the Bull, manager for McFarlane, that his fighter was ready to go right now. Kings, who had been pursuing McFarlane for a fight for the better part of a month was excited about the prospect of finally getting the match that he had been waiting for.

Lee Drydon has been booked to face flyweight Takeo Morooka. Morooka, 3-5-1(0), is currently ranked #119 and has been very active as a fighter. This will be his 5<SUP>th</SUP> fight of the year. After his career started with a bang by winning his first 3 fights, he hasn’t won a fight in his last 6. Certainly Drydon, could give him that opportunity. Morooka, is an accurate puncher with a lot of hear who can absorb a lot of punches. His chin is susceptible to the knockdown, although he has only been knocked out one time. The fight will take place the second week of November.

There is one fight of interest this week and it takes place in the lightweight division.

Former World Champ Jorge Reynoso, who has not fought since his first round KO loss to Damien Essett, is fighting against 7<SUP>th</SUP> ranked Takayuki Takayama. Takayama is 22-4-0(15), and won his last fight by KO over Vinny Pazienza, in the 4<SUP>th</SUP> round. Reynoso is 21-4-1(14). The fighters are very similar in style and mirror each other in skills. Takayama has risen having been ranked #42 a year and a half ago, before Reynoso won the title. Although he did lose in a first round KO against Joe Gans at the beginning of the year. Oddsmakers are favoring Reynoso in this as he is 4/9, while Takayama is 15/8. Reynoso has not impressed me yet, so I may take a stab at Takayama at those odds. I don’t think that this fight will go the distance

[PilotMan]

Fight Night-

This week also sees the return to the ring of the youngest member of Punishment Inc. Ismael Gutierrez is returning to fight Chris Nickels.

Ismael Gutierrez 1-0-0(0) #129, v. Chris Nickels 2-4-3(0) #117

Nickels is an aggressive puncher with surprising defense. This is his 5<SUP>th</SUP> fight this year so he stays very busy. He shows flashes of power at times, but will be most successful if he stays outside where he can land, and make the best use of his defense. Gutierrez is a power puncher who is also very aggressive. He will want to take this fight to the inside and get down and dirty. I would like to see lots of uppercuts. Gutierrez may need to end the fight to get the most benefit from it. Oddsmakers like Ismael as well. He is the favorite at 4/9, while Nickels is 15/8.

I like my man here. Four round fights can be fluky and they are unpredictable, but I made the fight, he needs to come through.

For me this is still hard to get a handle on how Ismael likes to fight. My only concern about the head down, arms flailing approach is that he may get his a lot. He needs to be aware that even though Nickels may not have lots of power, he does have enough to take advantage of Ismael not having a world class chin.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for four rounds.

Round one was a good start for Ismael. He started quick by head hunting and trying to end the fight quick. At times the round was ugly, but Ismael did well to get inside and I did see a good amount of uppercuts. Also as I feared Nickels landed a few punches but most were harmless jabs. With :34 remaining in round one Nickels went down from a left hook to the kidney. He was stunned and hurt. He was up at 7 and took the mandatory 8 count. The round ended with Gutierrez landing some more good shots and finishing strong.

Round two was more good offense from Gutierrez and better defense. After the first round I told him to be more careful and focus and making him miss. That worked well, and even though Ismael didn’t do as much damage he didn’t take as much either and handily won the round.

In between rounds I told him that it looked like Ismael had him where he wanted him. I told him to go out there and be aggressive. Like the first round he was strong in the early part of the round and by the first minute had leveled Nickels with some intense punching. Nickels hung on and still found room to land. By the 2:00 mark Ismael turned on the heat again with a flurry of power punches that ended with the ref jumping between the fighters at the 2:40 mark.

Personally I think the ref wanted to stop it all along. Ismael was killing him. The judges agreed as they had him up by 2 or 3 points after the second round.

A strong win for Gutierrez who is continuing to show that he is a fighter with some serious potential. He should go home and think about how he can improve. If he can do that he can make big waves in a division that is still searching for that dominant leader and champion.



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In other action, Jorge Reynoso grabbed some of his ego back with a 10 round majority decision over Takayama.

I made about 50k in bets on the week, that paid for almost 3 fighters to train.

Overall another good week for Punishment Inc, as I continue to show that I can manage, and produce quality boxers.

Al Hardway wants a fight with Melvin Horne. No way - Hardway. He is just not ready to have a fight set yet. I will be looking for opponents for Horne in a few weeks. Until then, lay off.

[PilotMan]

I am still fighting these feelings that Niall needs to be let go. I just don’t feel like he is measuring up to the standards that other fighters are setting. Other than that, things are great. It is time to see what he is made of, and whether or not it is in my best interest to keep him around. He is going to fight John Weir. Wier is a middlin’ heavyweight who has a record of 4-4-1(1). He is coming off of a 4<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO win over Ad Heron. Weir is currently ranked #132 in the heavyweight division. He has a good chin and is a dirty fighter. He likes to brawl inside which is where you would think a bruiser like Beaumont would like, but he favors the outside and he likes to dance. I think there is a good possibility that this won’t go the distance. Weir could really make things difficult for Niall, that is good. I want to see what kind of fighter he really is.

The welterweight title is on the line. Here are the principles.

Welterweight World Champion Wilfredo Benitez 58-8-1(32) #1 v. Jose Napoles 82-8-0(58) #8

Napoles is best known for his loss to Sugar Ray Leonard in his first attempt to grab the welterweight title. Since then he has been a busy fighter. He has won 3 fights this year including the last a majority points decision over Paddy Duffy. Benitez is defending his title for the first time since he took it from Manuel Castillo back in May. Both men are in good shape and are feeling good about their boxing right now. Napoles is looks to have forgotten all about the loss in his previous title shot, and in fact, looks better now than he did then. I give Benitez the edge physically as Napoles falls a little short defensively. Benitez has a good chin and Napoles can hit. The oddsmakers like Benitez in this one. He is the favorite at 4/9, while Napoles is again the underdog at 15/8. I think that Napoles has a better shot than some give him credit for.

[PilotMan]

There is a new welterweight champ. Jose Napoles has usurped Wilfredo Benitez with a 12 round unanimous decision. Napoles has now made up for his loss against Ray Leonard. Still the welterweight division will never be settled until someone steps up and faces Oscar de la Hoya. De la Hoya is still the hottest fighter in all of boxing, and he is being tiptoed around like a pack of wild dogs. Napoles is now the 4<SUP>th</SUP> different champion in over a year and a half.

I laid a small bet the paid over 55k on Napoles winning. My bets are just getting better and better. I really feel like I have a feel for how these guys are going to do.

Melvin Horne was approached again by Al Hardway. They are offering over 176k for the fight, and now that Horne is in proper condition I may take a look at it. I called the management of the fighter that I would really like to face and that is Benny Leonard. Leonard is ranked lower, but is aging quick. Horne could really get a boost with a win against an older fighter who is still considered to be just past his prime. They told me no. That does not make me happy, and it is back to the drawing board.

I make the same offer to Barney Ross, hoping to rekindle the rivalry with rematch of a fight that Ross lost in 10. They say no too. My options are dwindling. Horne is ranked too high. Noone so far down wants a go with him, and I really don’t want him to go with anyone ranked near where he is. Suck in a catch-22.

The thing about the Hardway fight is that they want it is 3 weeks. I cannot do that at all. If I am to consider this fight it is going to be further down the road than that. It may cost me the money, but maybe Melvin will stand a better chance.

I call Hardway’s mangament and tell them I want a fight, but not until the end of the year. They laugh. I give them 3 other options and they don’t care for those either. We cannot come to an agreement so the fight goes unsigned. No rush, there will be fights to choose from.

Ismael did such a nice job that he is already to go again. There are no fights that appeal to me that involve him just yet so he stays were he is.

Omar is also ready to continue his unlikely rise in the lightweight division. He has been booked to face off against #65 ranked Paddy de Marco. De Marco is 63-14-2(32) and is in pretty good shape. Omar is really outgunned in the experience department, but what he has going for him is that despite his good record de Marco just isn’t a very talented fighter. Now he thinks he is and that makes him dangerous, and his last fight was a 6<SUP>th</SUP> round KO of Carlos Artista. De Marco is basically average all the way around, but he has a glass jaw. Omar can hit hard, so he would really like to capitalize on that.

Just announced a huge title fight next week. More details to come.

[PilotMan]

Second week of October, 2006.

Still no luck trying to get fights going for Ismael or Melvin. I tried the same fighers again to see if there was any interest there, and their really wasn’t. Oh well, I just need to be patient. But these are two boxers that I love to see in action.

I said last week that there was a big announcement concerning a title fight. That fight is going to be this week. This fight is so big that it is the only real fight to worry about this week.

Bantamweight World Champion Xavier Firth 22-6-0(9) #1 v. Bantamweight FOY Job Reyes 20-0-2(13) #2

Need I say more? Firth has defended the title 3 times since winning it over Manny Bionas. The last two were by split decision in fights where he was the underdog. He is the underdog again. His opponent is a different story this time around though. Job Reyes has been mowing his opponents down with his last 2 wins coming by way of TKO. Reyes is a strong, accurate puncher who has a good chin, while Firth is not that strong, is considered one of the best defensive fighters around. He is accurate and hoping to take advantage of Reyes weak defense. Firth’s chin is second to none. Reyes is the favorite at 8/15, while Firth is 5/3. It is close I tell you, close. Firth is solid, but so is Reyes. I am not going to bet on this one, just sit back and relax.

[PilotMan]

Job Reyes is the new Bantamweight champ. He won in a 12 round split decision over Xavier Firth. I want to see the rematch. Reyes stays undfeated and puts himself at the top of the list for FOY candidate along with Joe Louis. The other FOY who went on to claim the title.

Ismael Gutierrez has been booked for his 3<SUP>rd</SUP> pro fight. His opponent is ranked #100 in the light heavyweight division and goes by the name Artemio Hinojosa. Hinojosa is 5-2-3(1) and will make a challenging opponent for Ismael. He doesn’t hit hard but is a very good defensive fighter. His chin is average. His last fight was a draw with David Adan, a fighter who he lost to in his debut. Hinojosa is a confident fighter and Ismael will need to be on his game to win this fight.

I have been harrassing Benny Leonard’s people about a fight but they are not swayed. They still don’t want to do the fight. In fact noone wants to fight Horne. I guess they are all afraid of what he will be able to do under my astute tutelage. HAHA.

Featherweight FOY Calvin Calvert, 20-3-0(16) #3, is fighting #2 ranked Juan Zamora. Zamora 23-0-1(14). Both fighters are very good defensive fighters. Calvert is a much harder puncher, is more aggressive and has a better chin. Zamora is the favorite though, as he is 8/15, and Calvert is 8/5. I think that Calvert would be a good bet at those odds.

[PilotMan]

Rankings as of the third week of October, 2006

Heavyweight

CHAMP Joe Louis 72-3-0(58)

#1 Peter O’Connell 35-4-1(20)

#2 Muhammad Ali 60-5-0(38)

#3 Evander Holyfield 39-4-1(25)

#4 Max Watt 16-0-4(10)

#5 Anthony Wood 17-0-2(6)

#6 Larry Holmes 70-7-0(43)

#7 Lennox Lewis 35-2-1(270

#8 Scott Jarrold 19-0-0(12)

#9 Paddy Sexton 23-11-0(16)

#10 Richard Giles 20-5-0(16)



Light Heavyweight

CHAMP James Singleton 15-8-0(14)

#1 Virgil Hill 49-4-1(25)

#2 Julio Perez 17-1-0(6)

#3 Bob Foster 63-8-1(50)

#4 Carl Wilks 23-0-0(18)

#5 Roy Jones 42-1-1(34)

#6 Will Cripps 17-3-2(11)

#7 Kelly Schofield 34-2-1(14)

#8 Billy Conn 66-13-1(15)

#9 Martin Kinnear 26-14-0(18)

#10 Norris Hunter 32-7-1(18)

Middleweight

CHAMP Leavander Nolan 20-0-0(6)

#1 Mike McCallum 51-6-3(36)

#2 Wayne Wells 29-1-0(20)

#3 Ewan Veal 38-0-1(26)

#4 Anthony Hardy 46-3-0(15)

#5 Calvin Lewsey 18-0-0(14)

#6 Les Darcy 51-12-0(29)

#7 Carlos Monzon 97-8-11(66)

#8 Jeff Larkin 21-4-0(21)

#9 Lawrence McFarlane 17-7-0(16)

#10 George Kings 22-2-0(9)

[PilotMan]

Welterweight

CHAMP Jose Napoles 83-8-0(58)

#1 Wilfredo Benitez 58-9-1(32)

#2 Manuel Castillo 25-2-1(8)

#3 Oscar de la Hoya 37-0-0(26)

#4 Jose Victor Lopez 21-1-0(14)

#5 Derrell Guyver 27-1-0(13)

#6 Sugar Ray Leonard 37-4-1(25)

#7 Javier Quierino 40-4-0(31)

#8 Shawn McKeag 20-1-0(1)

#9 Carlos Palomino 30-4-4(14)

#10 Mucio Santos 21-0-1(11)

Lightweight

CHAMP Damien Essett 22-1-0(22)

#1 Jorge Reynoso 22-4-1(14)

#2 Pernell Whitaker 44-1-1(14)

#3 Julio Cesar Chavez 103-4-2(82)

#4 Paul Kench 41-0-1(8)

#5 Raul Jimenez 23-0-0(11)

#6 Shaun Kilburn 22-9-0(13)

#7 Melvin Horne 9-8-0(8)

#8 Al Hardway 21-1-0(11)

#9 Luis Valdez 35-4-0(15)

#10 Augustin Garza 23-6-0(13)

Featherweight

CHAMP Peter Badillo 24-5-0(17)

#1 Juan Zamora 23-1-0(14)

#2 Calvin Calvert 20-3-0(16)

#3 Armando Medina 19-1-1(5)

#4 Wilfredo Gomez 47-4-2(43)

#5 Gary Jakeman 18-6-1(8)

#6 Rico Fernandez 18-2-0(13)

#7 Azumah Nelson 44-5-3(29)

#8 Eusebio Pedroza 49-7-1(29)

#9 Juan Maciel 20-3-0(5)

#10 Nolito Fillisilda 36-2-0(12)

[PilotMan]

Bantamweight

CHAMP Job Reyes 21-0-2(13)

#1 Xavier Firth 22-7-0(9)

#2 Carlos Zarate 66-4-1(60)

#3 Esteban Lopez 14-10-1(5)

#4 Sandro Macias 18-5-2(13)

#5 Fernando Ramirez 14-7-1(11)

#6 Edel Milanes 20-5-2(12)

#7 Jimmy Barry 61-0-11(40)

#8 Jun Orais 23-4-0(13)

#9 Joselito Pana 32-2-1(12)

#10 Jesus Caclayo 37-1-0(23)

Flyweight

CHAMP Gerardo Ramirez 27-1-0(12)

#1 Adam Napier 27-1-0(25)

#2 Mauro Martinez 31-0-0(19)

#3 Rocky Cubillas 18-1-1(13)

#4 Ernesto Bantillan 15-5-0(11)

#5 Randy Mercado 14-2-2(11)

#6 Lito Jamili 18-7-0(16)

#7 Masayuki Kabayashi 26-4-1(12)

#8 Zosimo Diaz 20-2-0(11)

#9 Buddy Bionas 20-2-0(5)

#10 Dave McAuley 21-4-4(9)

[PilotMan]

Fourth week of October, 2006

Fight Night -

Calvin Calvert paid off for me to the tune of 80k. He managed a 10 round split decision win over Zamora, handing Zamora his first career loss. That money will be a nice help, especially when McFarlane is costing me over 33k per week in training to get ready for his big fight.

Tonight is the biggest fight in the history in Punishment Inc history. Lawrence McFarlane has never been in better shape, and it is possible that a win here could vault him into the realm of title contender. When I first signed Lawrence last year, I had no idea that it would get this far this fast. I knew that he was a good fighter but wow, he is the #9 contender to the title in the middleweight divison. His opponent tonight is George Kings. Kings has only lost 2 times in his career. He has not had a fight in over a year, and you could say that Lawrence has not fought the crem de la crem, but you know what, it is my job to make sure that he doesn’t need to. It is my job to make sure that he is ready for each fight, and that each fight is run properly and professionally.

Kings won his last fight with a first round KO of Stanley Ketchel. Kings was ranked #41 at the time. His ranking might be a bit bloated, but that is not going matter. McFarlane is in such good shape that I would feel confident with him against Mike McCallum. We are going to win this fight with power, aggression and a dominating control of the fight. Kings is not a power puncherm but he can land a bunch. McFarlane likes to come forward with a lot of movement and land his punches in groups rather than load up for the big punch. That has worked for him in the past and I hope that it continues to serve him well throughout tonight. Kings has a good chin, but his body is questionable. In any case, I want the fight brought to him. Lawrence is in amazing shape. One or two more wins and he could be fighting for the title.

Lawrence McFarlane 17-7-0(16) #10 v. George Kings 22-2-0(9) #11

Kings is the favorite at 2/5, while McFarlane is 11/5. Lawrence is going to win, mark my words, and the bookies will pay for those odds. Literally.

[Tellistto]

Lawrence!
Lawrence!
Lawrence!


Tell

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for 10 rounds.

Round one saw just how accurate Kings can be. He was able to deliver pinpoint jabs and hooks with great effect, and after the initial flurry took control of the round and moved well. Kings had to have taken that round, McFarlane will need to be more careful coming forward.

I told Lawrence to be more careful going forward and it paid off for him. He slipped a lot of punches and did well working behind the jab. He took far less damage that he did in round one, that alone made me happy. Keep it up!

Lawrence kept it up in the third and surprised my by landing a clean right uppercut that sent Kings to a knee. Stunned, he was up and 3 and angry that he had to take the 8 count. He came roaring back and tried to steal the round but McFarlane stuck to the gameplan and landed good punches. In the end it was Kings who took too much punishment, it was Kings who went down, and it was Lawrence who won the round.

Round four was a good comeback round for Kings. He continues to try and force the pace and is taking a lot of damage in order to do so. He landed well, but mostly a lot of jabs. Lawrence did more damage with his punches, although I would probably call the round even. It could have gone either way.

Round 5 was to be more of the same defense before offense strategy as I was comfortable watching Lawrence protect his lead. Until, that is, he got caught with a sneaky right hook that sent him reeling. Another right followed and Lawrence was forced to a knee. He got up at 3 but didn’t fare well for the round. Kings did a good job and took it, and changed the course of the fight.

Kings is very good defensively and he stole round 6. Too many good combinations, that were started with the jab. McFarlane had this fight and over the last 6 minutes has let it slip back from him. He needs to bear down and go back to the basics. This is a very close fight. Twelve minutes left, what is he going to do?

Lawrence did what he needed to there. Round seven was his as he landed more power punches than in any other round. Both fighters are still landing loads of jabs. If Lawrence can keep doing that in the last 3 he should win the fight. Question is...can he? He fights with lots of movement, if he could score one more knockdown that would seal the match. I wish that he handn’t gotten clobbered in round 5. This is closer than I want it.

Round 8 was sloppy from both men. They both look tired and neither could mount a serious offensive charge. Many times misses were answered with misses. Punches did not land, and the men held each other. I can’t say that anyone won this round. That makes round 9 even more important.

Round 9 belonged to George Kings. He looked the fresher of the two men and landed more punches. I told Lawrence that he had to leave it all in the ring. I don’t want any in the lockeroom. It all has to be here. Don’t regret what might have been after today. You need this round, right now.

The last round was a nothing round. I did not like it. McFarlane looked gassed. He hung in there for 10 rounds. He struggled with his accuracy, he took more blows. I don’t think that he won round 10 and I don’t think he won the fight. This is going to cost me. Let’s here what the judges think.

[TonyR]

Sounds like it's going to be a close one.

[PilotMan]

J1: 96-93 Kings

J2: 97-95 Kings

J3: 96-94 McFarlane

I knew it. Fuck if I didn’t know it. It is not like it is back to square one, but that is what it feels like. Maybe they were right, maybe I don’t know what I am doing at this level. Maybe I need to do something else.

McFarlane should have won the fight. Not only did it cost me the win, I had a quarter a mil riding on it. Of course, I have made way, way more than that this year with bets, but still, to lose it now.

I am here to tell you that right now it is not that fun.

If Lawrence cannot grab a win against a fighter who hasn’t fought in over a year, who is he going to beat at this level?

We are a couple of weeks from Lee’s next fight. Let’s see if we can get this ball rolling along again.

[PilotMan]

Lawrence came out of that fight in terrible shape. He is beat up pretty badly and he did indeed leave all he had in the ring. It will likely be a few weeks before he can even begin to train again. That means it is going to be a while before he will be able to fight again. It was a tough loss, but with 5 more fights on his contract I don’t think that it will be the start of a downward slide. If he wouldn’t have been knocked down, he probably would have held on to win the fight, or at least manage a draw. As it is, I will just need to sit and see how far he falls in the rankings.

Melvin Horne is going to make his debut for Punishment Inc, at the end of this December. His opponent is going to be Edwin Rosario. Rosario was ranked as high as #11, and is coming off of a draw with Barney Ross. He is currently 39-7-1(33), and is ranked #20.

I am trying to find opponents that I think Melvin can handle. His confidence is down and the trouble is that he is ranked way higher than I feel he should be. Even if he wins this fight, he would probably slide down the rankings. It is going to take some time for him to get back to where he needs to be, in order to go for the title again.

Lee Drydon is fighting in two weeks, and we have 4 fights in 5 weeks coming up. It is going to be a busy time for me, and each fight is going to be an important one.

Two good fights for viewing this week. They are:

1) World FOY - Mauro Martinez 31-0-0(19) #3 v. Kenichi Komaki 35-4-0(11) #12

Martinez is still waiting for his chance at the title. He is not taking any chances here, although, Komaki could be better. Martinez is one of the best, and he is in his prime. I can say that there are few who could even slow him down. To his credit, Komaki is a solid fighter. Ranked in the top 10 early this year he dropped a fight to Jimmy Wilde. He is an accurate puncher and can take a fair amount of punishment. The bettors are favoring Martinez at 1/4 while Komaki is 3/1. I don’t think that Martinez will be troubled in this one.

2) Lightweight FOY - Pernell Whitaker 44-1-1(18) #3 v. Raul Jimenez 23-0-0(11) #6

Whitaker is the heavy favorite, but Jimenez is a quality opponent. Whitaker has been unstoppable and along with Oscar de la Hoya, and Mauro Martinez, they have been active and unbeatable. Whitaker beat Luis Valdez less than 3 months ago and Jimenez Koed former title hopeful Pedro Carrasco in the 3<SUP>rd</SUP>. Look for both fighters to box from the outside and rely on accuracy, speed, and solid chin’s to stay in the fight. Odds favor Whitaker 1/4, while Jimenez is 11/4. Again, with the way that Pernell is fighing it is hard to see him losing anything.

[PilotMan]

First week of November, 2006.

Pernell Whitaker scored a 6<SUP>th</SUP> round KO over Raul Jimenez. That was Jimenez first professional loss. For Whitaker, he continues to leave carnage in his wake.

Mauro Martinez won his fight with a 9<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO over Kenichi Komaki. Martinez is still waiting for his title shot.

McFarlane has not improved his condition at all. He is going to be really out of shape when he does start training. At least now he is not draining the coffers.

It was an easier week for us. I am still trying to get over the shock of Lawrence’s loss. On the upside, Lee Drydon is already in the best shape of his career, and looks ready for his fight next week.

One good match to follow this week is in the Heavyweight division.

Former Champion Peter O’Connell 35-4-1(20) #2 v. Lennox Lewis 35-2-1(27) #8

On paper this looks like a no-brainer. O’Connell is a more accurate puncher, better defensively, and has a better chin than Lewis. Lewis has his power going for him. O’Connell is still ranked #2 even after his draw with James Jefferies. Lewis has not been overly active, having fought twice in almost two years. He lost against lightly regarded Paddy Sexton and won earlier this year against James Stubbe. Odds favor O’Connell at 1/4, while Lewis is at 15/4. I don’t like this fight. Lewis has a good chance to steal this one, and the odds on O’Connell stink.

[PilotMan]

Second week of November, 2006

Peter O’Connell won a 10 round unanimous decision over Lennox Lewis. I am still happy that I didn’t bet any money on this fight.

Lawrence McFarlane dropped what seems like a long way after his split decision loss. He went from being ranked #10 all the way down to #28. That is ok though. He still has a long way to go. His health improved somewhat, but he still is not able to train.

Here are the current rankings of other Punishment Inc fighters:

Melvin Horne #6

Lawrence McFarlane #28

Omar Acevedo #68

Ismael Gutierrez #120

Niall Beaumont #123

Lee Drydon #129

[PilotMan]

Fight Night-

Lee Drydon, 3-2-1(1), is looking to get his 4<SUP>th</SUP> win since hiring me as a manager. He has been a little money making machine since he started with me. His opponent tonight is going to be the toughest opponent that I have scheduled his against. Takeo Morooka, 3-5-1(0), is fairly accurate, but is struggling with some self confidence issues. He has not won in any of his last 6 fights. He has no power and a weak chin. I am hoping that Drydon will be able to capitalize on that weakness. Drydon won 3 months ago, in a 4 round unanimous decision over Adrian Jammet. He has risen 50 spots in the rankings since he signed with me.

Tonight, he is going to need to be slippery. Morooka is a challenging fighter who will throw from angles and slide around the ring. Drydon is not an overly aggressive fighter, but he shoule be ready to move forward. He has been doing a lot of sparring and extra training. The oddsmakers think that Lee is a decided underdog and have him at 15/8. They have Morooka the favorite at 4/9. I like the odds, and I have faith in my man. He will win. I think.



<HR align=left width="0%" SIZE=1><HR SIZE=1>

One other fight to watch, and it will feature another of the best in the business.

Welterweight FOY Oscar de la Hoya 37-0-0(26) #4 v. Derrell Guyver 27-1-0(13) #6

The welterweight division is a tough one. That can be the explanation with fighters like these. Guyver’s only loss was to Jose Victor Lopez, a fighter that de la Hoya beat earlier this year. Guyver has been a top ranked welterweight for almost two years, the same time that de la Hoya has been dominant. This is an eagerly anticipated fight. The only thing that may tip the scales it that Guyver’s chin is an area of debate. Some say it is soft, and others say it will be good enough. Either way, de la Hoya is a hitter. He will land heavy enough blows to test that chin and give a definitive answer once and for all. Oddsmakers are calling this fight a pick’em. Even money. O gotta stay with de la Hoya here.

[Tellistto]

Hopefully Lee didn't have a last minute injury to cancel the show. :D Hope you find time soon, PM, I know you've been busy.


Tell

[PilotMan]

Thanks man. Between having a memory problem on my main system (but not knowing it until I formated my HD thinking it was a virus), thank God for partitions. And the time to reinstall all of the programs to get them back into the registry. To house hunting, and having a house stolen out from underneath me. To the first two weeks of begining to homeschool my 5th grader. To Ean, my two year-old's birthday today. To work. Things have been a little hectic. That is not to mention, hattrick, dynasty football, punishment inc. Does anyone know how long it takes to redownload:

FOF 2004
FOF:TCY
OOTP 6
OOTP 6.5
ITP
Title Bout 1
Title Bout 2
and the
Beta of FM 2006

with a 56k?

[PilotMan]

answer....

about 15 hours. Nonstop. :(

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for four rounds.

I told Drydon to go out, be relaxed and not to force the pace. Fight the fight that he felt comfortable with. It paid dividends for sure. Early on he landed well, and was winning the fight easily. A right hook that scored at 1:27 put Morooka on the canvas. He was able to get up at 6 and took the 8 count. Drydon moved in for the kill, but was sloppy and Morooka was able to land a number of clean punches that kept him in the round. Either way, Drydon won this round.

Round two was a messy back and forth affair that kept Morooka in the round. Drydon was missing a fair share of punches and unable to really get anything big started on Morooka. As the round wound down and it looked like Lee was going to give this away he landed a hard laft hook on the liver and sent Morooka to the canvas for the second time in as many rounds. He got up at 5 and contiued the round, but it is going to be very difficult for him to win the fight now.

Round three was a tale of two fighters. One needing to score a KO and the other looking to finish a fighter off. Drydon started off with another right hook and Morooka went down for the 3<SUP>rd</SUP> time ni the fight. He managed to get up at 5 and regained enough to command the remaining round. Drydon was covering up toward the end of the round and did not look well. He came back to the corner complaining of pain in his left hand. Not too serious. A good thing that there is only one round to go.

Round four was the best round for Morooka for two reasons. One, he didn’t get knocked down and two he dominated the round. Lee was on his bicycle and tried to run, but Morooka is an accurate puncher and landed a lot of punches. Lee was never in any real danger, but offensively, he didn’t show up for the last round.

I feel confident about a win here, and if I do get the win, it will mean a nice payoff.

[PilotMan]

J1: 39-33 Drydon

J2: 40-33 Drydon

J3: 40-33 Drydon

A dominating win for a 4 round fight. That is a bigger spread than the fight that Lawrence lost, and his was a 10 round fight. Lee has to be happy with the way that this one unfolded. He should be riding a nice confidence boost, too. Morooka was ranked quite a way higher, that should have a positive impact his ranking as well as his value.

Internally, I am still wondering when the right time might be to release him from his contract. There is a limit to how high he can go, and he isn’t contender quality. Just a moneymaker. He has done very well in that category for sure.

[PilotMan]

Lee was offered a fight a short six weeks away against a fighter that drew with Takeo Morooka. The fight could be good, but Lee is not ready to fight that fast. No.

Betting could have been better, but I still came out on the plus side. Lee’s fight paid me 281k, but I lost 150k on the other one.

Oscar de la Hoya’s winning streak has come to an end. He lost via a 10<SUP>th</SUP> round TKO to Derrell Guyver. That will no doubt raise Guyver’s value. De la Hoya had been the class of the welterweight division. I wonder now if his time has passed, or if he will ever get that title shot that he has been after?

[PilotMan]

Third week of November, 2006

Fight Night -

Tonight will be a test. A test for Niall Beaumont and a test for me. Niall has not been my favorite fighter. He has been inconsistent, slow, weak, and generally not fun to have in the ring. He has the record that he has primarily because he has not fought anyone of great regard. That will change this week. He is fighting a man who is a modest 4-4-1(1), in John Weir. A man who will charge forward and who won his last fight by TKO.

It will be a challenge for me to lead my fighter into a match that he could win, but not without some good planning on my part. There is only four rounds, so it will go fast.

Niall is in very good physical condition. His confidence is improving, and I can see him winning this fight. However, he really needs to prove himself in the ring. He has one fight left after this fight. His performance here will likely determine if his contract is extended.

Weir is the slight favorite at 4/5, while Beaumont is 11/10.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for rounds.

Niall Beaumont 3-1-0(1) #123 v. John Weir 4-4-1(1) #131

Niall has to be more mobile in this fight. He seems to prefer to box, even though he is built like a slugger. That could be part of the problem that we are having. Round one was as even as they come. Both men used lots of movement and there were a lot of missed punches. Weir was effective with the jab, but seldom landed more than two punch combos. Beaumont moved well, and was effective with the jab. He was able to get one good flurry in. This round was even, near as I can tell.

Niall grabbed round two with better use of combinations and thought that he had hurt Weir halfway through the round. Weir landed more effective punches, but Beaumont had at least two good combinations. Niall started moving forward on the attack and finished the round with a flurry. Keep that up!

This fight is getting dirty and ugly. Both men continue to push forward and it frequently resulted in knocked heads, holding and pushing inside. Each man missed lots of punches as defense was at a premium. The round was very even until the last minute when it seemed that Niall may have taken advantage of some openings to pull ahead slightly. Round four will be very important.

John Weir must have been fighting from a position of panic. It seemed that he abandon all defense for an all out assault. Fortunately for Niall, he was good enough to take advantage of the openings. The first 90 seconds was an assault that should have resulted in a knockdown, but instead of getting greedy, and knowing that the fight was in hand, he stayed back. Picking off Weir like fish in a barrel. His measured attack would have resulted in stoppage if the fight was going to go any longer. Weir was soundly beaten.

I hope the judges agree.

[PilotMan]

FYI, I just finished update page 202, while the current update is around page 150. So this dynasty isn't going to die anytime soon.

[PilotMan]

J1: 39-37 Beaumont

J2: 39-38 Weir

J3: 39-38 Beaumont

Well, I would have scored it 40-37 so I guess that noone saw it my way. I was a bit surprised with J2, but at least it didn’t cost us the fight. I wonder if he had some money laying down on the side? Either way, this was a good, solid win for Niall, and the most complete fight that he has fought for me. The kid may have some potential after all.

This fight made me a little richer as well. It would have cost me to lose as I laid down 200k on Beaumont for the win, and he paid out 220k. That will go nicely with the payout from the victory.

[PilotMan]

Niall Beaumont has already been offered another fight. They want it to be in five weeks! I could not believe it. What the hell do they think I do here? Having been successful at betting has been a nice bonus. They have offered me 238k to fight Ameth Garces. Garces is 4-2-0(0), but is a big puncher. He is in good shape, and looks to be headed for stardom. He is currently ranked #124. This fight isn’t going to happen.

Lawrence is still recovering from his last fight. He may be able to begin training next week, but there are no promises. It is still going to be a few weeks before he is ready to be scheduled for his next fight. That fight took more out of him than I had anticipated.

[PilotMan]

Last week of November, 2006

Fight Night -

I have been anxiously awaiting this fight. Omar is in reasonable shape for the fight, and he is starting to really gain confidence. I don’t want to get all worked up about what a win here might do. I made that mistake all ready. Omar is still a long way from the top 25 of the lightweight division. This would help, but it isn’t going to vault him all the way to the top. I never thought that he was good enough to be title material anyway. However, he has done some amazing things in the past.

His opponent tonight is Paddy de Marco. De Marco won his last fight with a 6<SUP>th</SUP> round KO over Carlos Artista. He has been ranked as high as #61, and is ranked #62 right now. His chin is a major question mark. He has tons of experience. His skills are average, which is probably why he has never moved up very far in the world of boxing. Omar needs to be careful. Neither will want to go toe to toe, but if they do Omar should have the advantage.

The oddsmakers are favoring De Marco in this one, but it is very close. De Marco is 4/5, while Acevedo is 11/10. The same odds that Niall had last week. Look for a similar bet from me this week.

I want Omar to come forward and I am going to start by letting him fight in his style. If things start to turn south I may need to let him loose earlier. His stamina is much higher than De Marco’s, but I would rather it didn’t come to that.

[hoopsguy]

Still reading along and enjoying the ride.

[PilotMan]

Still reading along and enjoying the ride.
Thanks for reading. Things seem to have gotten a little quiet, however I know you are out there. I watch that hit total climb with every update.:) Glad to know that you are enjoying it.

[PilotMan]

Here we go!

This fight is scheduled for six rounds.

Omar Acevedo 6-1-0(1) #68 v. Paddy De Marco 63-14-2(32) #62

Early on in round one De Marco was moving well, and landing punches that were not powerful, but were annoying. He spent the first minute avoiding Omar like the plague, but I noticed that when Omar did land a punch it was damaging. Just after a minute into the round Omar caught De Marco with an overhand right on the chin, and De Marco went splat onto the canvas. My jaw dropped. I was not expecting this at all. De Marco struggled to get up by 7 and the ref looked hard at him. The fight was allowed to continue, but Omar saw his opening. De Marco fought back well, and landed some good combo’s. It didn’t matter, because no matter what he landed it couldn’t move Omar back. Omar continued his onslaught and with a few seconds to go in the first the ref felt that De Marco had enough. Omar wins in shocking fashion with a first round TKO!

Well, I was looking for a good fight, and I feel sorta jipped. No matter. A win is a win. And another win for Omar, and his value screams upward some more. I may not be able to keep extending his contract if he keeps this up. That is good and bad.

I bet the max on Omar to win this one. That is 250k. He paid in grand fashion and I won 275k. Two good payouts in two weeks. I feel richer that is for sure.

[PilotMan]

First week of December, 2006

No fights this week and I can breathe a little easier. Lawrence still is not ready to begin training. It has been six weeks since the fight, I am not concerned for his long term health, it seems incredible that he was so beat up during the fight. It really helps to explain why he ran out of steam and seemed like he wasn’t doing anything at all at the end.

No new fights to schedule, the phone has been quiet. Ismael is gearing up for his third pro fight. It is going to be next week. I think that he is ready.

Former Light-heavyweight World Champion Julio Perez, 17-1-0(6), and currently ranked #3, is fighting Will Cripps, 17-3-2(11), ranked #7. Perez is fighting for the first time since losing the title to the now ex champ Virgil Hill. It was his first loss so he has to be ready to go for this one. Cripps has not had a good year. He is 1-1-1(1). His loss was to Martin Kinnear, although he is coming off of a 5<SUP>th</SUP> round KO of Will Wiffen. Cripps has a lot of potential and is stepping up in quality of opponents. He could be better than Perez, but will he? He has more power, faster hands, and better accuracy. It is just that he has never won a world title. Oddsmakers like Perez in the betting. He is the favorite at 8/15, while Cripps is 8/5. Cripps has a shot, but Perez has to think that this will be nothing but a win for him.

[TonyR]

Still here, just wating for the big updates.
Awesome Dynasty.

[PilotMan]

Still here, just wating for the big updates.
Awesome Dynasty.
Thanks Tony, as far as the speed goes, with all the new fighters it slows down the progress a little.

[PilotMan]

I got a call the next day for a fight involving my flyweight, Lee Drydon. They are looking for a fight in four weeks. He would fight Antonio Reyes. Reyes is ranked #108, and has an 8-2-0(2) record. He is a very good fighter and would be a tough opponent. They are willing to pay almost 300k for the fight. I want Lee to fight some good fighters, but I am not ready for him to face a fighter like Reyes, yet. I decline the offer.

Lawrence still is not ready to train. Something must be wrong. He is going to be out of shape and need a long training session if he is to maintain his standing at the top of the Middleweight division.

I decided that the odds were better if I laid a little money on Cripps. Less front money for a similar payout if he did steal the fight. And steal it he did. He won a 10 round split decision over Perez. That bet added 44k to the pocketbook.

A new set of rankings also came out. Here is where the Punishment Inc guys stand:
Melvin Horne #6 (L)

Lawrence McFarlane #28 (M)
Omar Acevedo #58 (L)


Lee Drydon #109 (FY)

Ismael Gutierrez #119 (LH)

Niall Beaumont #119 (H)

Omar has had a large jump this year. His next fight could be a doozy. Omar has two fights remaining on his contract and his contract is getting rather pricey. I am not sure if I will be able to keep him around. I think that he developing into a good fighter, and that he has some potential. As long as he keeps winning we can afford to keep him around. I talked with two managment teams about Omar. The first was Yoshinori Tanigawa. Tanigawa is 17-2-0(7) and recently lost to a top ranked fighter. He is very good and has a strong chin. I talked with them about a fight that would take place three months from now. They seemed keen to the idea, and I told them I would get back with them.



The next was Urbano Milanes. Milanes is 15-15-0(15), and hits like a freight train. However, he is not in good shape, nor does he have much self confidence. This would be an easier fight for Omar. The drawback is the money from the fight would be about 130k less if Omar did manage the win. Omar is young. He still has less than 10 pro fights. Being ranked at #58 has to be good. Much higher and he will outpace himself. I would like to keep his win streak going, and keep him motivated. The fight was Milanes fight would be two weeks sooner, and I think that Omar could do without the extra training for him.

I called the Milanes people back and told them I would take the fight.

[PilotMan]

Fight Night –

Ismael Gutierrez is fighting tonight. He is in a physically imposing state. I don’t think that he has ever been as strong as he is right now. His opponent, is a wiley one. Artemio Hinojosa actually beat Chris Nickels by a split decision. That was the fighter that Gutierrez dominated for the win in his last fight. Hinojosa doesn’t look like much, but he is rated much better than that. He is in good shape, and although he lacks a big punch, his defense is very good, and his punches are fairly accurate. I am hoping that Ismael can take advantage of his chin, which is only rated average. Hinojosa is currently ranked #101, while Ismael is #119.

Tonight, I want to see Gutierrez work behind the jab. I also want him to fight the style that he feels comfortable with. I think that he matches up very favorably, and I would love to see him get his 3<SUP>rd</SUP> pro win. He is moving up the rankings quick. I need to be careful that he not move too fast. If he manages to win this fight, I may need some easier fights to help him gain the experience that he will need later on.

I expect Hinojosa to counter punch and fight a very defensive fight. I am glad that this is a short fight as Hinojosa could really wear Ismael out chasing all over the ring.

The odds makers like Hinojosa in this fight. He is 1/3, a surprisingly heavy favorite. Gutierrez is 5/2. I feel very confident in Ismael, and if he wins I could win lots of money. I may max the

betting out for this one.



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Here is one to watch this week:

Middleweight FOY - Anthony Hardy 46-3-0(15) #4 v. Quincy Taylor 31-5-0(24) #10

Hardy is still trying to get back to the top after losing his shot against champ Leavander Nolan. His first fight back saw him easily handle Kid McCoy. Taylor has been moving up the ranks quick and may be biting off more than he can chew here. His last fight saw him KO Tiger Flowers in the first. His last fight against a top ranked opponent he lost on a 6<SUP>th</SUP> round KO to Jeff Larkin. At the worst Hardy should outpoint Taylor. Taylor has a big punch, but he just isn’t the same caliber fighter that Hardy is. Odds are Hardy 2/9, and Taylor 4/1. I think Hardy all the way on this. Odds are so bad for him though I think it would be too much to risk for such a small payout. I am tired of sure thing bets. They never pay off for me.