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Lampley Weighs In On Tuesday Show

Published

10 years ago

September 17, 2014

I chatted with Jim Lampley, host of the HBO boxing news/commentary magazine show “The Fight Game” on Wednesday morning. First thing, I offered congratulations, stating that I believed this installment of the show was the best to date.

That is “debateable,” the host pointed out, noting the subjectiveness of such a declaration.

OK, then, but what did you think about it?

General thumbs up, he said, but “it’s still a work in progress.”

People who tuned in were offered some pointing, perhaps even biting if you were the one cough cough Floyd Mayweather on the receiving end of launches from the heart and mouth of Lampley, and ESPN’s Michelle Beadle, who the host said is signed to be a regular on the once a month show at least from the present to year end.

The show didn’t find it easy to find its footing, even with super-helmer producer Bill Wolff, ex of the “The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC offering direction. He’s off to ABC, guiding “The View,” but nothing was lost in the baton hand-off, to my eyes, and gut.

“We chose to be more provocative, off the page a little more, not doing the same old,” Lampley told me, when I asked about tweaks to content and tone. He said that all in all, they tried to trod the same territory and indulge in the same level of analysis as found in the more intelligent boxing coverage, most of which is found on the web these days. Some of TFG audience doesn’t have TheSweetScience.com and some of the other top websites bookmarked, he said, so this format catches them up, and maybe gives them a deeper understanding of why things happen, and don’t happen, in this realm.

He said he’s happy with the addition of Michelle Beadle to the cast, and expects her to widen the watcher base, maybe snag that non boxing fan sitting next to you on the sofa.

I told Lampley that I thought his Keith Olbermann style closing comment was a potent combo, smartly written, direct from brain and heart to Teleprompter. He took the compliment as ever graciously, and noted that it felt right to deep a total assessment of an athlete who he says has largely gotten a free pass for out-of-the-ring behaviors. That was perhaps because people like the keyboard tappers feared that the sport’s façade would crumble if the pied piper was found to be a bad egg. “The sport will survive with or without Floyd Mayweather,” he told me. “Why not pull out a brick? That’s what we did.

The closing comment had me thinking how fascinating and perhaps cringe-y it will be if and when HBO and Floyd do business again. I put that to Lampley. He said he thought about that, but borrowed from the fearlessness of his “idol,” as he put it, Larry Merchant. “Larry Merchant went through that many times,” Lampley said. “As for him being my ‘idol,’ Larry deserves that. For twenty years, he taught me everything he knows.”

The show will be on every month till year end, with play dates Oct. 29, Nov. 18 and Dec. 23, when Lampley will have Bill O’Reilly on, on a special Christmas themed TFG, to debate why there is a war on Christmas in America.

OK, I made up that last part…though an installment will in fact on the eve of Christmas eve, or Dec. 23.

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Michael Woods

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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.

The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.

The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.

De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.

The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.

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2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

9 years ago

December 29, 2015

The Sweet Science

On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

Photo by naoki fukuda

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