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Andre Ward Talks About Injured Hand, Bute, Going To 175…MARKARIAN

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WardFroch Bailey9“Onward and upward, turn not back nor sheath thy sword. He it is who now commands thee.”

Fanny Crosby might have had super middleweight champion Andre Ward in mind when she wrote those lyrics in 1876.

Because since he laced up gloves for the first time and won almost every tournament in amateur boxing then continued his dominance as an undefeated professional at 25-0, with 13 knockouts, Ward has looked forward to the next challenge. No reflection on past performances. For him, in the midst of a promising career and the boxing world seemingly at his mercy for the time being, mental preparation for the next battle is constant.

 Fresh off of the victory over Carl Froch on Saturday night to win the Super Six Tournament and stake his claim as one of the best fighters in the world, Andre Ward sat with me late Monday night to discuss the past, future, and all that has transpired over the past few years that turned an unproven “puppy,” as Ward likes to say, into a world champion. “It’s been a long road,” he says, filled with “unbelievable, surreal experiences.”

In a reflective two-part interview focused on mindset, pressure, and the great big target on his back, Andre Ward says he is ready to fight again in April or May. He also gives thoughts on possible bouts with Lucian Bute and Mikkel Kessler.

RM: Congrats on the victory Andre. How do you feel physically after the fight?

AW: What’s up Ray? I am sore but I have felt worse after fights in the past. There are times when it’s hard to get out of bed. It’s crazy. When you get yourself worked up like that for a fight, the adrenaline is powerful. But then it leaves you fast.

RM: You feel drained afterwards?

AW: You feel drained. Your energy level is low and your body is sore. You don’t realize what you are going through in a fight. The physicality of it, I mean, you feel some things but you don’t know if he hit your elbow or he hit you in the back of the head. You feel all of that stuff after the fight. Not just the next day, the second and third days are the worst days. But I feel good now man. Other than my hand being swollen, I feel good.

RM: Froch was hitting you a lot behind the head in the fight. I noticed that.

AW: Yeah, he has a tendency to do that, especially when he gets frustrated. I tried to block them as much as I could.

RM: I saw that picture of your swollen hand on Twitter. You injured it before the fight? How did that happen?

AW: Well, we got to Atlantic City on Wednesday. I had a sparring session on Thursday. I think it was the last round of sparring. I turned southpaw and hit my opponent on the top of the head. I felt the pain but I didn’t stop. I kept going. When we cooled down, I took my gloves off and it just felt weird. I kept feeling it and telling Virgil, it felt like, I don’t want to say a fracture, but it felt like that. We went back to the hotel, laid down, and I called Virgil at like 4 in the morning and told him I was concerned. We needed to get this hand x-rayed. We went in the morning to get it checked the doctor said it was soft tissue damage, or a third degree bruise. And it bothered me from that point on until the day of the fight.

RM: Did it swell before the fight?

AW: The swelling went down because I iced it like crazy. I had a Ziploc bag with ice wrapped or taped on my hand all day. I slept with it and everything. And the day before the fight I asked Stitch Duran to come in my room to show me what kind of wrap he was going to put on my hand. Then I put a 10 ounce glove on and I still felt the pain. I knew it was going to be a problem but hey, what are you going to do? I had to go through with the fight. I didn’t want a second postponement. We had come too far so I just knew that it was going to be one of those fights where I had to bite down.

RM: What did your hand feel like during the fight?

AW: It felt fine for most of the fight. But in the sixth round I hit him with a hook, and oh my goodness, I felt the pain all the way down to my leg. And it would go and come and go and come. It would throb and go away. Or I would hit him in the wrong spot or hit him with a good shot and the pain would come right back. From the sixth round on it was tough.

RM: It seemed like you were using your left hand more than anything. 

AW: I know. And I didn’t even tell Virgil about it in the fight. I don’t know why. I just wanted to stay focused. I didn’t want any distractions you know. I didn’t want him to take his mind off of what he needed to tell me and I didn’t want to take my mind off of what I needed to do. I just dealt with it, man. Guys have fought with a broken hand before. Mine felt like it was broken. But I just had to dig down. I told the guys at Showtime before the fight, ‘I got a bruise on my left eye and a swollen hand. But to win the Super Six, I would take this any day.’

RM: Ok,  so how do you feel right now mentally? I mean, you won the Super Six Tournament. You were an underdog going into the tournament. But you won. SportsIllustrated.com named you their Fighter of the Year. The lights are shinning bright. What’s going on in your mind, man?

AW: It has just been a long time coming, Ray. And you have been behind the scenes with us, coming to the gym and watching us train. You saw all the hard work, man. I am just thankful to God, to Showtime, for the opportunity. Some guys never get their shot and I got mine. And we were able to make the most of it. I have always believed, and I have told you this many times, I always believed that I could beat everyone in this tournament. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. And I knew I couldn’t get ahead of myself in this tournament and had to focus on each fighter individually. We did that. We fought the biggest punchers in the division. We stood our ground. We were able to dish out more than we took. I went from a young puppy to – I don’t want to say I am full-grown fighter just yet, but I have matured a lot in the last two and a half years. I had a good performance on Saturday night but it wasn’t my best. I know that I have a lot more that I could show.

RM: You think you can get better?

AW: I feel like I am getting to the point where I could put together a string of fights that really show everything that I have. I turn 28 years-old in February. I am getting close to my prime, I think. Saturday was a good performance. But it wasn’t my best.

RM: Do you feel like you have a target on your back now?

AW: I have always felt like there was a target, absolutely, even more so now that we won the tournament. There are guys that call me out and that’s cool. We just have to take it one fight at a time. It is not about all the talk. It is not about that. We dealt with every type of guy you could deal with in this tournament. We dealt with different personalities in and out of the ring. We understand boxing. People are going to talk. We just focus on the next fight. Whoever the next fighter is, we will be ready to go. And we will be ready to defend our belts.

RM: But are you even thinking about the next fight? I mean, you just won the tournament two days ago. Are you looking forward to the next fight already?

AW: Oh yeah! That’s the nature of the beast, Ray. I mean, twenty minutes after I got out of the ring they were already asking me about my next opponent. That’s the way it is. But in the back of my mind, I know this (tournament victory) was great, it was historical, and it meant a lot. In the front of my mind I continue to push forward, looking for what’s next. I am looking forward to this rest, though, because my body needs it physically. But in my mind, I am already thinking about what I need to do to get better, what I need to do to get stronger, faster, and craftier. That has been my mindset from day one. Just like the Olympics. In the back of my mind, I knew it was a tremendous achievement, unbelievable. But I couldn’t enjoy it simply because you have to keep working. You have to keep moving. In the back of my mind, I am trying to grasp what this (Froch) victory meant but in the front of my mind I am thinking, it is just another victory and I have to keep moving. We were able to beat a tough skilled fighter, and I believe Carl Froch will be champion again one day. We were able to beat a great fighter. But when I watched the fight, I still see that there is room to grow. I am excited because I know that I could get better.  

RM: Well, if you start reflecting on your victories and achievements, then you are not going to be hungry anymore, right?

AW: Yeah, I mean, everybody’s mindset is different but that’s how we’ve done it. Even when I was a young kid fighting in national tournaments, hey, we’d win the nationals and talk about it for a day or two then it was on to the next tournament. Hey, we got the Blue and Gold coming up or we got the Silver Gloves coming up. That is just the way it is. It seems like it is not right but that is just the way it is.

RM: Right.

AW: It is like a writer putting out a great story and you have a deadline two weeks from now. Everyone tells you how great your last story was and it was the best story you’ve ever wrote. You can’t stay there and risk not showing up for the other deadlines and become mediocre. So you have to take it and appreciate the compliments and say ‘thanks man, I appreciate it. Thank you.’ Don’t get me wrong Ray;, we are going to be happy about this performance. We are going to celebrate it. We are. But in the front of my mind I know, we are just getting started. 

RM: So about your next opponent, Kessler and Bute are names being thrown out there. Virgil and I have talked about a possible Kessler rematch for you even before the Froch fight. Some people want to see you fight Lucian Bute. He was in Atlantic City to watch and seems thirsting to get you in the ring. Is there anyone in particular that you want to fight next?

AW: No, I am not going to call anyone out, Ray. I meant what I said about the Bute situation. I think Bute is a great talent. Obviously he is a great draw in Quebec. I also feel, actually collectively everyone that has been in the Super Six can say that he has laid back. I think Bute needs to beat some significant fighters before he could demand a unification bout. But he is definitely someone I’d like to fight. I would love a rematch with Kessler. You know, they have shown interest. He is fighting in April against Robert Stieglitz for the WBO belt. There is another belt that could be on the line. So there are a lot of options, Ray. We are just going to sit down as a team and see what makes sense. That is the beauty of winning a tournament like this. We are able to make a solid decision. We are not forced to do anything. We have paid our dues up until this point to make a sound decision. All of the names that you mentioned are realistic options. Nobody can say we are ducking anybody. We just fought the best fighters in the division for the last two and a half years. So nobody can say we are ducking anybody. We just have to see what makes sense.

 RM: Is moving up in weight is an option?

AW: Yep.

RM: Well, you beat the best at 168, except Bute, who has not fought anyone in the Super Six besides Glen Johnson. And it is going to take at least a year for Bute to beat two or three guys that were in the Super Six.

AW: Right.

RM: So for you, it is either a Kessler rematch or move up in weight?

AW: Moving up is on my radar. I don’t know if I would campaign at light heavyweight. I always wanted to become a multidivisional champion. I think I can fight at 175. That is definitely something that I want to do at some point. And that is the downside to winning a tournament like the Super Six. Because like you said, most of the top guys were in that tournament. Everything was put together and boom we’re done so it’s like, who do you fight now? So now, there are still some fights at 168 pounds and 175 is an option.

See what else Andre Ward has to say about moving up in weight and fighting Kessler or Bute in part two.

Follow Ray on Twitter @RayMarkarian

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Philly’s Jesse Hart Continues His Quest plus Thoughts on Tyson-Paul and ‘Boots’ Ennis

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Jesse Hart (31-3, 25 KOs) returns to the ring tomorrow night (Friday, Nov. 22) on a Teflon Promotions card at the Liacouras Center on the campus of Temple University. During a recent media workout for the show, which will feature five other local fighters in separate bouts, Hart was adamant that fighting for the second time this year at home will only help in his continuing quest to push towards a second chance at a world championship. “Fighting at home is always great and it just makes sense from a business standpoint since I already have a name in the sport and in the city,” said Hart (pictured on the left).

Hart’s view of where his career currently resides in relation to the landscape in the light heavyweight division leads you to believe that, at the age of 35, Hart is realistic about how far he can go before his career is over.

“Make good fights, win those fights, fight as much as I can and stay busy, that’s the way the light heavyweight division won’t be able to ignore me,” he says. Aside from two losses back in 2017 and 2018 to current unified cruiserweight champion Gilberto Ramirez at super middleweight, Hart’s only other defeat was to Joe Smith during Smith’s most successful portion of his career.

When attempts to make fights with (at the time) up-and-coming prospects like Edgar Berlanga and David Benavidez were denied with Hart being viewed as the typical high risk-low reward opponent, it was time to find another way.  So, Hart decided to stay local after splitting with Top Rank Promotions post-surgery to repair his longtime right-hand issues and hooked up with Teflon Promotions, an upstart company that is the latest to take on the noble endeavor of trying to return North Broad Street and Atlantic City to boxing prominence.

In essence, it is a calculated move that is potentially a win-win situation for all parties. Continued success for Hart along with some of the titles at light heavyweight eventually being released from Artur Beterbiev’s grasp due to outside politics, and Jesse Hart just may lift up Teflon Promotions into a major player on the regional scene.

Tickets for Friday’s show are available on Ticketmaster platforms.

**

As we entered November, a glance at the boxing schedule made me wonder if it was possible for the sport to have a memorable month — one that could shine a light forward in boxing’s ongoing quest to regain relevance in today’s sports landscape. Having consecutive weekends with events that could spark interest in the pugilistic artform and its wonderful characters was what I was hoping for, but what we got instead was more evidence that boxing isn’t immune to modern business practices landing a one-two punch on the action both inside and outside of the ring.

Jaron “Boots” Ennis was expected to make a statement in his rematch with Karen Chukhadzian on Nov. 9, a statement to put the elite level champions around his weight class on notice. What we witnessed, however, was more evidence of how current champions in their prime can be hampered by having to navigate a business that functions through the cooperation of independent contractors. Ennis got the job done – he won – but it was a lackluster performance.

It’s time for Ennis to fight the fighters we already thought we would have seen him fight by now and I do believe there is some truth to Ennis rising to the occasion if there was a more noteworthy name across the ring.

Some positives emerged from the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul event the following week. Amanda Serrano, Katie Taylor, and women’s boxing are finally getting the public recognition they deserve. Mario Barrios’s draw against the tough Abel Ramos, also on the Netflix broadcast, was an action-packed firefight. So, mainstream America and beyond got to witness actual fights before being subjected to Paul’s latest circus.

Unfortunately for fans, but fortunately for Paul, the lone true boxing star in the main event dimmed out from an athletic standpoint decades ago. In this instance modern business practices allowed for a social media influencer to stage his largest money grab from a completely unnuanced public.

As Paul rose to the ring apron from the steps and looked around “Jerry’s World,” taking in the moment, it reminded me of an actual fighter when they’re about to enter the ring taking in the atmosphere before they risk their lives after a lifetime of dedication to try and realize a childhood dream. In this case though, this was a natural-born hustler realizing as he made it to the ring apron that his hustle was likely having its moment of glory.

In boxing circles, Jake Paul is viewed as a “necessary evil.”  What occurs in his fights are merely an afterthought to the spectacle that is at the core of the social media realm that birthed him. Hopefully the public learned from the atrocity that occurred once the exhibition started that smoke and mirrors last for only so long. Hopefully Paul’s moment of being a boxing performer and acting like a true fighter comes to its conclusion. But he isn’t going away anytime soon, especially since his promotional company is now in bed with Netflix.

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Boxing Odds and Ends: Oscar Collazo, Reimagining ‘The Ring’ Magazine and More

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With little boxing activity over the next two weekends, there’s no reason to hold off anointing Oscar Collazo the Fighter of the Month for November. In his eleventh pro fight, Collazo turned heads with a masterful performance against previously undefeated Thammanoon Niyamtrong, grabbing a second piece of the title in boxing’s smallest weight class while ending the reign of the sport’s longest-reigning world title-holder. The match was on the undercard of the Nov. 16 “Latino Night” show in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia headlined by the cruiserweight tiff between Mexico’s Zurdo Ramirez and England’s Chris Billam-Smith.

Collazo was a solid favorite, but no one expected the fight would be as one-sided. Collazo put on a clinic, as the saying goes. He took the starch out of Niyamtrong with wicked body punches before ending matters in the seventh. A left uppercut sent the Thai to the canvas for the third time and the referee immediately stepped in and stopped it.

Collazo, wrote Tris Dixon, “dissected and destroyed a very good fighter.” Indeed. A former Muay Thai champion, Niyamtrong (aka Knockout CP Freshmart) brought a 25-0 record and was making the thirteenth defense of his WBA strap.

A Puerto Rican born in Newark, Jersey, Oscar Collazo turned pro after winning a gold medal in the 2019 Pan American games in Lima, Peru. He was reportedly named after Oscar De La Hoya (we will take that info with a grain of salt), names Hall of Famer Ivan Calderon as a mentor and is co-promoted by Hall of Famer Miguel Cotto.

Collazo, 27, won the WBO version of the 105-pound title in his seventh pro fight with a seven-round beatdown of Melvin Jerusalem. He won a world title faster than any Puerto Rican boxer before him.

His goal now, he says, is to become a unified champion. He would be the first from the island in the modern era.  Although Puerto Rico has a distinguished boxing history – twelve Boricua boxers are enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame — there hasn’t been a fully unified champion from Puerto Rico since the WBO came along in 1988.

The other belt-holders at 105 are the aforementioned Jerusalem (WBC) and his Filipino countryman Melvin Taduran (IBF). Both won their belts in Japan with upsets of the Shigeoka brothers, respectively Yudai (Jerusalem) and Ginjiro (Taduran). Collazo would be a massive favorite over either.

A far more attractive fight would pit Collazo against two-time Olympic gold medalist Hasanboy Dusmatov. In theory, this would be an easy fight to make as the undefeated Uzbek trains in Indio, California, a frequent stomping ground of Collazo’s co-promoter Oscar De La Hoya who had a piece of the action when Dusmatov made his pro debut in Mexico. However, it’s doubtful that Dusmatov’s influential advisor Vadim Kornilov would let him take such a treacherous fight until the match-up had been properly “marinated,” by which time they both may be competing in a higher weight class. The Puerto Rican, who began his pro career at 110, is big for the 105-pound division notes the noted boxing historian Matt McGrain who is partial to the little guys.

Outside the ropes, the big news in boxing in November was the news that The Ring magazine had been sold to Turki Alalshikh. The self-acclaimed Bible of Boxing, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2022, was previously owned by a subsidiary of Oscar De La Hoya’s company, Golden Boy Enterprises, which acquired the venerable publication in 2007. Alalshikh purportedly paid $10 million dollars.

Alalshikh, the head of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, confirmed the sale on social media on Monday, Nov. 11.

“Earlier this week, I finalized a deal to acquire 100% of The Ring Magazine, and I want to make a few things clear,” he said. “The print version of the magazine will return immediately after a two year hiatus and it will be available in the US and UK markets. The magazine will be fully independent, with brilliant writers and focusing on every aspect in the sport of boxing. We will continue to raise the prestige of The Ring Titles, and plans are already underway to have a yearly extravagant awards ceremony to celebrate the very best in the boxing industry.”

Alalshikh, blessed with an apparently unlimited budget, is already the most powerful man in the sport and more than a few concerns have been raised about his latest venture, especially in light of an incident involving prominent British scribe Oliver Brown.

Brown, the chief sports writer for the Telegraph who had previously covered three of Tyson Fury’s fights in Saudi Arabia, had his credential pulled for the Joshua-Dubois show at Wembley Stadium after calling the event “a grisly conduit for glorifying the Saudi regime.”

“I frankly do not trust Alalshikh to keep his personal aims from influencing the publication’s content,” says boxing writer Patrick Stumberg. One thing is certain: So long as the publication remains in the hands of the Saudis, the word “sportswashing” will never appear in the pages of The Ring magazine.

The Ring is the second major online boxing magazine to change hands this year. In February, Boxing Scene, one of the most heavily-trafficked sites in the ecosystem, was sold to Canadian-American entrepreneur Garry Jonas, best known as the founder of ProBox, a promotional entity headquartered in Plant City, Florida.

Mike Tyson’s showing against Jake Paul was mindful of something that Jimmy Cannon once wrote: “…the flesh was corrupted by time. The mind operated as if it was in another man’s head…the talent has been contaminated by age.”

Cannon was describing Joe Louis in Louis’s farewell fight against Rocky Marciano.

True, Jake Paul is no Rocky Marciano. To include their names in the same sentence borders on sacrilege. But the fabled Brown Bomber was 37 years old when he was rucked into retirement by Marciano on that October night at Madison Square Garden. At age 58, Mike Tyson was old enough to be Joe Louis’s father and yet human lemmings by the thousands couldn’t resist betting on him.

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The Hauser Report: Some Thoughts on Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul

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Jake Paul boxed his way to a unanimous decision over Mike Tyson at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Friday night. The bout, streamed live on Netflix, was one of the most-watched fights of all time and, in terms of the level of competition, boxing’s least-consequential mega-fight ever.

We’re living in a golden age for spectator sports. Sports generate massive amounts of money from engaged fan bases and are more popular now than ever before. Today’s athletes are more physically gifted, better conditioned, and more skilled than their predecessors. Their prowess is appreciated and understood by tens of millions of fans.

Not so for boxing. For the sweet science, this is an era of “fools’ gold.” Yes, fighters like Oleksandr Usyk, Canelo Alvarez, Terence Crawford, and Naoya Inoue bring honor to the sport. But boxing’s fan base has dwindled to the point where most people have no idea who the heavyweight champion of the world is. The sport’s dominant promoter has a business model that runs hundreds of millions of dollars a year in the red. And most fights of note are contested behind a paywall that shrinks the fan base even more. Few sports fans understand what good boxing is.

Mike Tyson is 58 years old. Once upon a time, he was the most destructive boxer in the world and “the baddest man on the planet.” Prior to last Friday night, he hadn’t fought in nineteen years and hadn’t won a fight since 2003.

Jake Paul is a 27-year-old social media personality who wasn’t born when Tyson lost his aura of invincibility at the hands of Buster Douglas. Paul began boxing professionally three years ago and, before fighting Tyson, had compiled a 10-1 (7 KOs) record against carefully chosen opponents.

Netflix has roughly 283 million subscribers globally, 84 million of them in North America. Recently, it made the decision to move into live sports. On December 25, it will stream the National Football League’s two Christmas games on an exclusive basis.

Netflix took note of the fact that Tyson’s 2020 exhibition against Roy Jones drew 1.6 million pay-per-view buys and concluded that Tyson-Paul had the potential to be the most-viewed fight of all time. It purchased rights to the fight as an attention grabber and subscription seller for (a best-estimate) $40 million.

Tyson-Paul was originally scheduled for July 20. A compliant Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations sanctioned the bout as an official fight, not an exhibition. In deference to Tyson’s age, the fighters agreed that the match would be contested over eight two-minute rounds (women’s rules) with 14-ounce gloves (heavyweight gloves normally weigh ten ounces).

But on May 26, Tyson became nauseous and dizzy while on a flight from Miami to Los Angeles and needed medical assistance for what was later described as a bleeding ulcer. The fight was rescheduled for November 15. Later, Tyson described the incident on the plane as follows: “I was in the bathroom throwing up blood. I had, like, eight blood transfusions. The doctor said I lost half my blood. I almost died. I lost 25 pounds in eleven days. Couldn’t eat. Only liquids. Every time I went to the bathroom, it smelled like tar. Didn’t even smell like shit anymore. It was disgusting.”

Does that sound like a 58-year-old man who should be fighting?

As Eliot Worsell noted, Tyson-Paul contained all the elements of a successful reality show. “There are for a start,” he wrote, “celebrities involved, two of them. One is ‘old famous’ and the other ‘new famous’ and both bring large audiences with them. They need only tap something on their phone to guarantee the entire world pays attention. And that, in this day and age, is all you really need to green light a project like this.”

But Worsell added a word of caution, observing, “This has been the story of Jake Paul’s pro boxing career to date; one of smoke and mirrors, one of sycophants telling him only what he wants to hear. He has been fed a lie just as Mike Tyson is now being fed a lie, and on November 15 they will both play dress-up and be watched by millions. They will wear gloves like boxers and they will move like boxers – one hampered in this quest by old age and the other by sheer incompetence – and they will together make ungodly sums of money.”

There was early talk that 90,000 fans would jam AT&T Stadium on fight night. Initially, ticket prices ranged from $381 to $7,956. And those prices were dwarfed by four tiers of VIP packages topped by a two-million-dollar “MVP Owner’s Experience” that included special ringside seating at the fight for six people, luxury hotel accommodations, weigh-in and locker room photo ops, boxing gloves signed by Tyson and Paul, and other amenities.

But by Monday of fight week, ticket prices had dropped to as little as $36. Ringside seats were available for $900. And the press release announcing the eventual MVP Owner’s Experience sale backtracked a bit, saying the package was “valued at $2 million” – not that the actual sale price was $2 million. It also appeared that the purchase price included advertising for the law firm that purchased the package since the release proclaimed, “Just as every fighter in the ring stands to represent resilience, grit, and the pursuit of victory, TorkLaw stands in the corner of the people, fighting for justice and empowering those who need it most.”

That said, the fight drew 72,300 fans (inclusive of giveaway tickets) to AT&T Stadium. And the live gate surpassed $18 million making it the largest onsite gate ever in the United States for a fight card outside of Las Vegas. More than 60 million households watched the event live around the world.

The undercard featured a spirited fight between Mario Barrios and Abel Ramos that ended in a draw. Then came the second dramatic showdown between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano.

Taylor-Serrano II was for all four major sanctioning body 140-pound belts. Two years ago, Katie and Amanda did battle at Madison Square Garden on a historic night that saw Taylor emerge with a controversial split-decision win. Katie is now 38 years old and her age is showing. Amanda is 36. Taylor was an early 6-to-5 betting favorite in the rematch but the odds flipped late in Serrano’s favor.

Amanda began Taylor-Serrano II in dominating fashion and wobbled Katie just before the bell ending round one. That set the pattern for the early rounds. Serrano looked like she could hurt Taylor, and Taylor didn’t look like she could hurt Serrano.

Then in round four, Serrano got hurt. A headbutt opened a gruesome gash on her right eyelid. As the bout progressed, the cut became more dangerous. From an armchair perspective, it looked as though the fight should have been stopped and the result determined by the judges’ abbreviated scorecards. But the ring doctor who examined Serrano allowed it to continue even though the flow of blood seemed to handicap Amanda more and more with each passing round.

In round eight, referee Jon Schorle took a point away from Taylor after the fourth clash of heads that he thought Katie had initiated. By then, Serrano’s face resembled a gory Halloween mask and the bout had turned into a non-stop firefight. Each woman pushed herself as far as it seemed possible to go.

In the eyes of most observers, Serrano clearly won the fight. This writer scored the bout 96-93 in Amanda’s favor. Then the judges had their say. Each one favored Taylor by a 95-94 margin.

“My God!” blow-by-blow commentator Mauro Ranallo exclaimed after the verdict was announced. “How does one rob Amanda Serrano after a performance like that?”

In keeping with the hyperbole of the promotion, one might say that it was the most-watched ring robbery (although not the worst) in boxing history.

CompuBox is an inexact tabulation. But there’s a point at which the numbers can’t be ignored. According to CompuBox, Serrano outlanded Taylor in nine of ten rounds with an overall 324-to-217 advantage in punches landed.

From a boxing standpoint, Taylor-Serrano II made the evening special. Casual fans who don’t know much about the sweet science saw a very good fight. But they also saw how bad judging undermines boxing.

Meanwhile, as good as Taylor-Serrano II was, that’s not what Netflix was selling to the public. Jake Paul’s most recent events had engendered disappointing viewer numbers. This one was a cultural touchstone because of Tyson.

Paul has worked hard to become a boxer. In terms of skills, he’s now a club fighter (which is more than 99.9 percent of the population could realistically dream of being). So, what happens when a club fighter fights a 58-year-old man who used to be great?

Jack Johnson fought until the age of 53, losing four of his last six bouts. And the two he won were against opponents named Rough House Wilson (who was disqualified in what would be his only recorded professional fight) and Brad Simmons (who was barred from fighting again in Kansas because he was believed to have thrown the fight against Johnson).

Larry Holmes fought until age 52, knocking out 49-year-old Mike Weaver at age 51 and winning a unanimous decision over Eric Esch (aka Butterbean) in his final bout.

Paul was a 2-to-1 betting favorite. Serious PED testing for the fight was a murky issue but seems to have been minimal. Taylor and Serrano underwent VADA testing in advance of their bout. Tyson and Paul didn’t.

Tyson weighed in for the contest at 228.4 pounds; Paul at 227.2 (well over his previous high of 200). Following the weigh-in, Mike and Jake came face to face for the ritual staredown and Mike slapped Jake. But the incident was self-contained with no ripple effect and had the feel of a WWE confrontation.

That raised a question that was fogging the promotion: “Would Tyson vs. Paul be a ‘real’ fight or a pre-arranged sparring session (which was what Tyson vs. Roy Jones appeared to be)?”

That question was of particular note because sports betting is legal in 38 states and 31 of them were allowing wagers on the fight.

Nakisa Bidarian (co-founder of Paul’s promotional company) sought to lay that issue to rest, telling ESPN, “There’s no reason for us to create a federal fraud, a federal crime. These are pro fights that consumers are making legal bets on. We have never and we’ll never do anything that’s other than above board and one hundred percent a pro fight unless we come out clearly and say, ‘Hey, this is an exhibition fight that is a show.'”

Tyson looked old and worried during his ring walk and wore a sleeve on his right knee. The crowd was overwhelmingly in his favor. But it’s an often-repeated truism that the crowd can’t fight. And neither could Mike.

Once upon a time, Tyson scored nine first-minute knockouts in professional fights. Not first-round. First-minute.

Against Paul, “Iron Mike” came out for round one as hard as he could (which wasn’t very hard) while Jake kept a safe distance between them. Then Tyson tired and took all the air out of the fight. By round three, he was in survival mode with his head tucked safely behind his 14-ounce gloves. And Jake didn’t have the skills to hurt him.

The CompuBox numbers favored Paul by a 78-to-18 margin in punches landed. In other words, Tyson landed an average of two punches per round. The judges’ scores were 80-72, 79-73, 79-73 in Jake’s favor. It was a “real” fight but a bad one.

“I love Mike Tyson,” Terence Crawford posted on X afterward. “But they giving him too much credit. He looked like trash.”

Prior to the bout, Tris Dixon wrote, “Tyson-Paul is a weird event, and I can’t think of anything even remotely like it in terms of the level of fighters, celebrity, and their ages. The event is unique, and morally and ethically it is questionable. It is a cynical cash grab. I can’t see it being particularly entertaining as a high-level sporting event. But I’m sure once it starts you won’t be able to take your eyes off it.”

All true. But let’s remember that there was a time when Mike Tyson was universally recognized as the best fighter in the world. Not many people in history have been able to say that.

Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book – MY MOTHER and me – is a personal memoir available at www.amazon.com/My-Mother-Me-Thomas-Hauser/dp/1955836191/ref=sr_1_1?crid=5C0TEN4M9ZAH&keywords=thomas+hauser&qid=1707662513&sprefix=thomas+hauser%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-1

In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

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