Boxing Off-Topic

[pietasterp]

Re: Boxing Off-Topic

Stevens should get rid of this guy early.

Well, you nailed that one. What was that, like 90 seconds? The other guy looked like he'd never been in a boxing ring before. That was embarrassing...

^I didn't get to see all the fights that night due to being in the gym, but i saw the end of that heavyweight fight and part of the garcia fight. From what i saw of bryant jennings, he looked kinda good. I'd wanna see him again too, although honestly i've never been a big fan of heavyweights, too slow, gas too easily, and not explosive enough for my taste(probably one of the reasons tyson is my favorite heavyweight)

Jennings looked good, but it's sort of like an asterisk comment because he looked good *for an American heavyweight. I mean, it's sad but that's the state of heavyweight boxing for the past decade now. You almost forget that dynamic heavyweights once roamed the earth as commonly as sharp welterweights today, it's just been so long since the likes of Frazier, Foreman, Ali, Norton, Holmes, Tyson, Holyfield, Bowe, even guys like Michael Moorer or Lennox Lewis (who I never liked, but I'd kill to have someone like him around right now...). There was almost a century of uninterrupted heavyweight excitement, until now when it's pretty much the backwater division of professional combat sports. I think Jennings looked okay, but he didn't strike me as having a potential for greatness. But of the heavyweights out there right now....I guess I'd have to throw my support behind him.

As for garcia, this was one of the few times i watched some of him, but he looked good. He's really solid, nice foot work, got some hand speed and power, fundamentally sound. I'd be interested in him fighting gamboa. Though i'd heard rumors that the garcia camp wants to fight pacquiao for his second fight. Not sure if that's a great idea, jump up 2 weight classes to fight one of the top fighters in that division? Can't say i wouldn't watch that though.

Garcia is fighting for relative chump change (don't know the stake he has in the family business), so he'd jump at a chance to fight Pac-Man at 140. Pac isn't going to fight at 140, so that bout won't happen anytime soon, if at all. Gamboa is beyond a risk, Garcia would probably be an underdog (am I wrong? I could be). Too much risk, too little reward for those two to battle.

I think the Pacquiao rumors for Mikey Garcia are just way too premature. He's asking for trouble if he goes up 2 weight classes to fight Pac, although I guess crazier things have happened. Gamboa makes more sense, but who knows how good of a fight that would be? I mean, Garcia just got to 130, no sense in rushing up. Too bad the fight w/ Burgos was such a snoozer...

[N51_rob]

Re: Boxing Off-Topic

Fox Sports 1 is capitalizing on the Super Bowl coverage this week. Thursday in New York on FS1 we get "Vicious" Victor Ortiz vs Louis (Not worth knowing his nickname) Collazo!

[pietasterp]

Re: Boxing Off-Topic

Fox Sports 1 is capitalizing on the Super Bowl coverage this week. Thursday in New York on FS1 we get "Vicious" Victor Ortiz vs Louis (Not worth knowing his nickname) Collazo!

Yeah, there was almost an embarassment of riches of boxing on last weekend. I couldn't even keep up - for the first time in forever, there was way more boxing on TV than anyone could watch. Friday we had bouts on both FS1 and ESPN Friday night fights, then Saturday we had cards from Showtime and HBO. Crazy....for decades there has been virtually no boxing on TV whatsoever, now suddenly there's more than anyone can watch. Not complaining, it's just surprising.

BTW, since this is the off-topic thread...I think Showtime clearly has surpassed HBO in boxing coverage at this point. For one thing, they have the genius idea of actually showing all the bouts on a card now, which I think is tremendous. I didn't realize, but they put most of the undercard bouts on Showtime Extreme (I know, it's odd to look there, but I found it by accident) for 2-3 hours before the main card, then they throw it over to Showtime main channel for the featured bouts. It's like what Golf Channel/NBC do with their shared coverage, and it's something someone should have thought of long ago. I love it - gives you a chance to watch some of the up-and-comers, but with the Showtime HD coverage and production values (I know they show a lot of fights on regional sports networks, but honestly the ghetto-production value coverage is a turn-off for me....sue me).

Also, the Showtime announcing crew is IMO vastly superior to HBO's. I like Max Kellerman, but the rest of their crew I can do without. Roy Jones is terrible and adds very little. Jim Lampley is simply insufferable, and I can barely even stand him anymore. Conversely, ShoBox has the relatively benign Mauro Renallo (whatever, at least he's not Lampley), but the much-superior color team of Uncle Al Bernstein and Paulie Malignaggi (who, while I hate as a fighter, is surprisingly good as a color commentator). Throw in Brian Kenny anchoring the coverage, and their commitment to big cards (quadruple-headers in prime time!), and they have clearly gone by HBO at this point. Of course, it all comes down to the fights ultimately, but even the more exciting fights seem to be on Showtime these days. And HBO doesn't even really have Harold Lederman to do the "Rules of the Fight" anymore for cheap unintentional entertainment value...

To me, HBO should bring back George Foreman. He wasn't particularly good at the job, but it was endlessly entertaining having him and Lampley on the same announcing crew, since it seemed fairly obvious to me that they just flat-out couldn't stand each other.

[SPRINGS03]

Re: Boxing Off-Topic

As far as boxing commentators, George foreman was awful lol. Sometimes he would offer some good boxing knowledge, but most of the time he just seemed like he would always say something about whoever was getting beat could make a comeback no matter what. And he like loved oscar de la hoya and trinidad and didn't hide his bias. I don't mind the showtime commentators, paulie is probably the best. Honestly i like roy jones, he usually knows what he's talking about. Max kellerman is good too. Jim lampley, doesn't know as much about boxing, but has a good commentating voice, i will say that. I've seen him make a big deal out of "BIG SHOTS" landing that clearly weren't. And i still can't forget the whole incident with him commentating on pacquiao clottey, "BANG BANG", that was a joke. Probably the best boxing commentator was honestly emmanuel steward, he had a great knowledge of the sport and did a good job of accurately explaining what was going on. You felt like you were learning stuff from him, RIP.

[JayBee74]

Re: Boxing Off-Topic

Good comments SPRING. I think Ward is the best athlete/commentator out there.

[JayBee74]

Re: Boxing Off-Topic

Also, the Showtime announcing crew is IMO vastly superior to HBO's.

Just not crazy about Paulie, and I like Lampley better than you do. I thought HBO went up a notch with the loss of Merchant.

[pietasterp]

Re: Boxing Off-Topic

Just not crazy about Paulie, and I like Lampley better than you do. I thought HBO went up a notch with the loss of Merchant.

Couldn't agree more. I hated Larry Merchant, especially near the end of his career...

Also agree w/ SPRING that Emmanuel Steward was the best insider color guy. RIP.

[SPRINGS03]

Re: Boxing Off-Topic

Good comments SPRING. I think Ward is the best athlete/commentator out there.

Oh yeah, i forgot about ward. He's not very exciting as a commentator, but i like him, real cut and dry and tells you exactly what's going on.

Oh yeah, i forgot about merchant. I never liked him lol. If the fight wasn't a brawl he would always start whining about how it's boring(you're like 100 years old you would think you would have a better attention span), and he disrespected fighters a lot. Glad he's gone. Also he took forever to make a point.

[pietasterp]

Re: Boxing Off-Topic

Ward is clearly knowledgeable, but man is he boring to listen to. I like my color guys to add a little more...color, I guess.

My problem with Lampley is that he is under the impression people are tuning in to hear/see him, as opposed to the fights. He way over-dramatizes everything, and he editorializes way too much for my liking, constantly passing off whatever strong opinion he has as a fact during his broadcasts. I mean, for a play-by-play guy, there is too much op/ed going on with him. He needs to just play it straight. Also, he is kind of crazy emotional....the guy cries easier than any dude I've ever seen on TV, with the possible exception of Homer Simpson. Plus his voice just annoys the hell out of me, so there's that...

[Mo]

Re: Boxing Off-Topic

About tonight's ME

Spoiler

lolololololololololol at Victor Ortiz

[redsrule]

Re: Boxing Off-Topic

About tonight's ME

Spoiler

lolololololololololol at Victor Ortiz

Good to see Gary Russell continue his career by beating another can. I wonder if he or Deontay Wilder will fight someone with a pulse first?

[pietasterp]

Re: Boxing Off-Topic

You gotta be kidding me. He went from almost being in a million-dollar fight or a PPV against Canelo, to now probably having his career be over. No idea how this happens so fast...

[N51_rob]

Re: Boxing Off-Topic

I think that fight with Berto took out a lot more than people realize. He's always been a little soft, but after that fight he got caught trying to hug Floyd one time to many, got his jaw shattered by Lopez and then this. For what its worth Berto hasn't really been anything worth mentioning since that fight either.

So all that means is that these two will be on Showtime in about 6 months trying to "resurrect their career".

[SPRINGS03]

Re: Boxing Off-Topic

You gotta be kidding me. He went from almost being in a million-dollar fight or a PPV against Canelo, to now probably having his career be over. No idea how this happens so fast...

Right? That's crazy, i was actually pretty surprised to hear he lost like that. I always thought he did have SOME potential. I mean he lost to floyd, but that's the best boxer right now. He lost to lopez but he was definitely beating him before his jaw got broken, so i was surprised he actually got stopped against a lower ranked fighter. Crazy man. Goes to show that anything can happen in boxing huh?

[aholbert32]

Re: Boxing Off-Topic

I think that fight with Berto took out a lot more than people realize. He's always been a little soft, but after that fight he got caught trying to hug Floyd one time to many, got his jaw shattered by Lopez and then this. For what its worth Berto hasn't really been anything worth mentioning since that fight either.

So all that means is that these two will be on Showtime in about 6 months trying to "resurrect their career".

I think now is the perfect time for berto/Ortiz 2.


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