“The Fight Game” Recap; Quick Mention of Beadlegate, Takedowns of “Super” Fight

Published

8 years ago

May 6, 2015

HBO ace Jim Lampley trotted out another edition of his “The Fight Game” on Tuesday night, and but of course, the issue of Mayweather-Pacquiao popped up, in several contexts.

Lampley gave us a pound for pound top five. Mayweather he mentioned first; then Gennady Golovkin, the high risk hitter came next; then Roman Gonzalez, the flyweight stud, who fights on HBO May 16; then Sergey Kovalev. Vasily Lomachenko, who Lamps called “incomparable” in terms of his skills package, finished the pack.

Lampley said tix and hotel prices dropped at MayPac and then told us about the sights and sounds from fight week. We saw cheering fans, hopeful, ready to see Pacman unseat the king of the ring; the video left me cold, as I’m sure it did you, as I compared the hype to the sad reality; we heard Pacman say he thought he won, and then Michelle Beadle showed up to chat.

It was to be her first prize fight, she told us. She said she thought she was credentialed but was told that her “credentials were up in the air.” She decided then that she’d not hang around to wait. What was the public takeaway from the event? “A lot of hype and a lot money for very little,” she stated. “Almost too much hype for almost anyone to live up to.”

It was a micro-hit, very, very short. More would have been more, I think, as viewers could have been informed of a world they get no entrance into seeing, first hand, that of the desire of handlers to micro-manage message for their celeb clients.

Lampley talked about the Provodnikov-Matthysse fight, and we saw video and heard Lampley narration. He thinks it’s the fight of the year favorite as of right now, though Provo’s slow start may keep it out of the winner’s circle come the next BWAA dinner. (We know that Mayweather-Pacman ain’t getting first prize, that’s for sure. And I wonder if Floyd will win Fighter of the Year, too?) The host said a bout might be surpassed by a bout that had knockdowns; I’d bet yes.

Next, we saw Wladimir Klitschko vs. Bryant Jennings action. Lampley said the fight was not a thriller and Wlad fought too much like he did his last time in NYC. Can’t always get what we want..

The Anti-Gatti list, the frustrators, was next. Floyd, then Wlad, then Guilllermo Rigondeaux, Miguel Vasquez, an “unbashed runner,” and Erislandy Lara, all guys not like Mr. Gatti made the hit list..

Lampley touched on “the ultraviolent” James Kirkland and his on-again, off-again career. The Austin, Texan’s trainer Ann Wolfe, not in the fold for the next bout, talked exciteldly about the mayhem her guy is known for. Flesh off face is her desire…We saw what happened when Kirkland was sans Wolfe, when Nobuhiro Ishida dropped and stopped Kirkland. Kirkland beat Alfredo Angulo, then was unimpressive versus Carlos Molina. He took 20 months off and beat Glen Tapia, who fights Friday night in Newark. 18 more months passed and he will be with an unknown trainer to try and handle the rock-solid Canelo.

Max Kellerman was asked about MayPac; he called it a net minus, as this wasn’t the best of boxing on display. It was “the most boring and predictable outcome,” Max said. What about the Wlad win? There is an appetite for heavyweight boxing, but the Wlad win wasn’t fan friendly. Can’t forget Deontay Wilder, Max said. “There’s a groundswell of hope” regarding the Bronze Bomber, he said.

Canelo is that much more important because Julio Cesar Chavez Jr has imploded, said Jim and Max. Canelo needs to pick up the baton and run proud, Max said.

They discussed Gennady Golovkin versus Willie Monroe; Monroe has no chance, Max said, with beyond-admirable candor.

To kick off, Lampley had us looking at video of the Mayweather rubout. The punches in bunches and trap-setting didn’t fly for Pacman, he said. We didn’t get danger, and it was a “generic Mayweather win.” Fans didn’t much enjoy it, he told us.

Bernard Hopkins, who seems to have supplanted Andre Ward, joined Jim and talked about Floyd’s skills. Hopkins, still finding his way as a talking head, seeking a comfort level, said MM has his opponents playing his tune, and he plays the “hit and not get hit tune” ever so capably. Head movement, foot placement, he’s got it all, said the elder master. Will he indeed retire at 49-0? No, said Hopkins, he will follow his nickname, and the money, and that record, which Floyd pretends to not care about.

Lampley closed strong with discussion of MayPac. He touched on the 1 percent element, how this fight wasn’t for “the fans” but rather the monied elite, only they could get close, and the power of social media to distort, the nature of super fights, and their ability to amaze, or bore. He looked hard at Mayweathers’ handlers’ trying to muffle press, and also Manny’s shoulder excuse. Plenty of shame to go around…He said drug testing was not Olympic style, and wondered why USDADA costs more than six times as much as VADA’s efforts? (Indeed, I was frustrated by the lack of response on a few occasions from USADA when I reached out to them, to ask about testing specifics. To be fair, I’m sure there was a deluge. But then hire more help to deal with it. Ultra transparency is paramount, and we didn’t get it, not even close, in my opinion.) The fight was a downer and we could have predicted that, what with the immensity of the hype, the host said.

PPV is a downer for viewers when the product stunk, he said. He said there will be no rematch, because there will be no market for ir. There is plenty of product out there, though, and maybe the next super fight will live up to the hype, featuring a “Cossack versus a Mexican.”

“Let’s see if Paris Hilton shows up for that one!”

Note: I would have liked more discussion and a harder edge concerning how the press was (mis)treated. Lampley’s stature could move the needle a half tick if he came out a bit harder on the matter, such as how HBO’s Tom Hauser’s credential was pulled, in retaliation for appearing, it seems, with Rachel Nichols to discuss her credential issue, and Mayweathers’ domestic violence record.

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Michael Woods

Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

Published

2 days ago

September 24, 2023

David A. Avila

Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

LONG BEACH, Ca.-A cool autumn night saw welterweights and minimumweights share main events for a MarvNation fight card on Saturday.

Ukraine’s Eduard Skavynskyi (15-0, 7 KOs) experienced a tangled mess against the awkward Alejandro Frias (14-10-2) but won by decision after eight rounds in a welterweight contest at the indoor furnace called the Thunder Studios.

It was hot in there for the more than 600 people inside.

Skavynskyi probably never fought someone like Mexico’s Frias whose style was the opposite of the Ukrainian’s fundamentally sound one-two style. But round after round the rough edges became more familiar.

Neither fighter was ever damaged but all three judges saw Skavynskyi the winner by unanimous decision 79-73 on all three cards. The Ukrainian fighter trains in Ventura.

Bustillo Wins Rematch

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In the female main event Las Vegas’ Yadira Bustillos (8-1) stepped into a rematch with Karen Lindenmuth (5-2) and immediately proved the lessons learned from their first encounter.

Bustillos connected solidly with an overhand right and staggered Lindenmuth but never came close to putting the pressure fighter down. Still, Bustillos kept turning the hard rushing Lindenmuth and snapping her head with overhand rights and check left hooks.

Lindenmuth usually overwhelms most opponents with a smothering attack that causes panic. But not against Bustillos who seemed quite comfortable all eight rounds in slipping blows and countering back.

After eight rounds all three judges scored the contest for Bustillos 78-74 and 80-72 twice. Body shots were especially effective for the Las Vegas fighter in the fifth round. Bustillos competes in the same division as IBF/WBO title-holder Yokasta Valle.

Other Bouts

In a middleweight clash, undefeated Victorville’s Andrew Buchanan (3-0-1) used effective combination punching to defeat Mexico’s Fredy Vargas (2-1-1) after six rounds. Two judges scored it 59-55 and a third 60-54 for Buchanan. No knockdowns were scored.

A super lightweight match saw Sergio Aldana win his pro debut by decision after four rounds versus Gerardo Fuentes (2-9-1).

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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Tedious Fights and a Controversial Draw Smudge the Matchroom Boxing Card in Orlando

Published

2 days ago

September 23, 2023

Arne K. Lang

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Matchroom Boxing was at the sprawling Royale Caribe Resort Hotel in Orlando, Florida tonight with a card that aired on DAZN. The main event was a ho-hum affair between super lightweights Richardson Hitchins and Jose Zepeda.

SoCal’s Zepeda has been in some wars in the past, notably his savage tussle with Ivan Baranchyk, but tonight he brought little to the table and was outclassed by the lanky Hitchins who won all 12 rounds on two of the cards and 11 rounds on the other. There were no knockdowns, but Zepeda suffered a cut on his forehead in round seven that was deemed to be the product of an accidental head butt and another clash in round ten forced a respite in the action although Hitchins suffered no apparent damage.

It was the sort of fight where each round was pretty much a carbon of the round preceding it. Brooklyn’s Hitchins, who improved to 17-0 (7), was content to pepper Zepeda with his jab, and the 34-year-old SoCal southpaw, who brought a 37-3 record, was never able to penetrate his defense and land anything meaningful.

Hitchins signed with Floyd Mayweather Jr’s promotional outfit coming out of the amateur ranks and his style is reminiscent in ways of his former mentor. Like Mayweather, he loses very few rounds. In his precious engagement, he pitched a shutout over previously undefeated John Bauza.

Co-Feature

In the co-feature, Conor Benn returned to the ring after an absence of 17 months and won a unanimous decision over Mexico’s Rodolfo Orozco. It wasn’t a bad showing by Benn who showed decent boxing skills, but more was expected of him after his name had been bandied about so often in the media. Two of the judges had it 99-91 and the other 96-94.

Benn (22-0, 14 KOs) was a late addition to the card although one suspects that promoter Eddie Hearn purposely kept him under wraps until the week of the fight so as not to deflect the spotlight from the other matches on his show. Benn lost a lucrative date with Chris Eubank Jr when he was suspended by the BBBofC when evidence of a banned substance was found in his system and it’s understood that Hearn has designs on re-igniting the match-up with an eye on a date in December. For tonight’s fight, Benn carried a career-high 153 ½ pounds. Mexico’s Orozco, who was making his first appearance in a U.S. ring, declined to 32-4-3.

Other Bouts of Note

The welterweight title fight between WBA/WBC title-holder Jessica McCaskill (15-3-1) and WBO title-holder Sandy Ryan (6-1-1) ended in a draw and the ladies’ retain their respective titles. Ryan worked the body effectively and the general feeling was that she got a raw deal, a sentiment shared by the crowd which booed the decision. There was a switch of favorites in the betting with the late money seemingly all on the Englishwoman who at age 30 was the younger boxer by nine years.

The judges had it 96-94 Ryan, 96-95, and a vilified 97-93 for Chicago’s McCaskill.

In the opener of the main DAZN stream, Houston middleweight Austin “Ammo” Williams, 27, improved to 15-0 (10) with a 10-round unanimous decision over 39-year-old Toronto veteran Steve Rolls (22-3). All three judges had it 97-93. Rolls has been stopped only once, that by Gennady Golovkin.

Photo credit: Ed Mulholland / Matchroom Boxing

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Zhilei Zhang KOs Joe Joyce; Calls Out Tyson Fury

Published

2 days ago

September 23, 2023

Arne K. Lang

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Joe Joyce activated his rematch clause after being stopped in the sixth frame by Zhilei Zhang in their first meeting. In hindsight, he may wish that he hadn’t. Tonight at London’s Wembley Stadium, Zhang stopped him again and far more conclusively than in their first encounter.

In the first meeting, Zhang, a southpaw, found a steady home for his stiff left jab. Targeting Joyce’s right eye, he eventually damaged the optic to where the ring doctor wouldn’t let Joyce continue. At the end, the fight was close on the cards and Joyce was confident that he would have pulled away if not for the issue with his eye.

In the rematch tonight, Zhang (26-1-1, 21 KOs) closed the curtain with his right hand. A thunderous right hook on the heels of a straight left pitched Joyce to the canvas where he landed face first. He appeared to beat the count by a whisker, but was seriously dazed and referee Steve Gray properly waived it off. The official time was 3:07 of round three.

Zhang, who lived up to his nickname, “Big Bang,” was credited with landing 29 power punches compared with only six for Joyce (15-2) who came in 25 pounds heavier than in their first meeting while still looking properly conditioned. One would be inclined to say that age finally caught with the “Juggernaut” who turned 38 since their last encounter, but Zhang, 40, is actually the older man. In his post-fight interview in the ring, the New Jersey resident, a two-time Olympian for China, when asked who he wanted to fight next, turned to the audience and said, “Do you want to see me shut Tyson Fury up?”

He meant it as a rhetorical question.

Semi-Windup

Light heavyweight Anthony Yarde was matched soft against late sub Jorge Silva, a 40-year-old Portuguese journeyman, and barely broke a sweat while scoring a second-round stoppage. Yarde backed Silva against a corner post and put him on the deck with a short right hand. Silva’s body language indicated that he had no interest in continuing and the referee accommodated him. The official time was 2:07 of round two.

A 30-year-old Londoner, Yarde (24-3, 23 KOs) was making his first start since being stopped in eight rounds by Artur Beterbiev in a bout that Yarde was winning on two of the scorecards. Silva, a late replacement for 19-3-1 Ricky Summers, falls to 22-9.

Also

Former leading super middleweight contender Zach Parker (23-1, 17 KOs) returned to the ring in a “shake-off-the-rust” fight against 40-year-old Frenchman Khalid Graidia and performed as expected. Graidia’s corner pulled him out after seven one-sided rounds.

In his previous fight, Parker was matched against John Ryder who he was favored to beat. The carrot for the winner was a lucrative date with Canelo Alvarez. Unfortunately for Parker, he suffered a broken hand and was unable to continue after four frames. Tonight, he carried 174 pounds, a hint that he plans to compete as a light heavyweight going forward. Indeed, he has expressed an interest in fighting Anthony Yarde. Graidia declined to 10-13-4.

The Zhang-Joyce and Yarde-Silva fights were live-streamed in the U.S. on ESPN+.

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