Boxing: Friday Night Fights (1-27)

[H2O Man]

ESPN2 features an interesting Jr. Middleweight fight tonight, between Francisco Mora (50-9, with 34 KOs) versus Kasim Ouma (22-2-1, with 14 KOs). Kasim is a very talented boxer, who has shown an overconfidence that likely resulted in his recent loss. The kid doesn't like to train, and this isn't a sport that treats untrained, overconfident kids well. He reminds me somewhat of the great Wilfredo Benitez, who had the ability to easily defeat Roberto Duran, but was known for training less than a week for big fights. Ouma lacks Benitez's punching power, though he is a smooth fighter with wonderful defensive skills when he is in shape. He could be making some of the best fights in the sport if he learns discipline. What the heck is wrong with kids like Benitez, Zab Judah, and Kasim Ouma that they think they can get away with not training?

[dr.zoidberg]

1. I though Ouma was sick against Karmarzin?

The day before the Karmarzin fight last year, Ouma's group said he was sick but that he would still fight. It seemed to show as well, because Ouma did not show the same energy and throw the same amount of punches that he always had. I had never heard anything about Ouma not training. Where did you hear this?

[H2O Man]

2. Teddy Atlas

said that people had told him Ouma had not taken the fight seriously, and had not trained. He attributed the loss to lack of preparation.

[dr.zoidberg]

3. Well, that answers it.

Seriously, no one has said anything about it, until what you told me. No articles about it, no fans at Sherdog or BWBS talking about it, nobody. I now do believe that it is true, though, because Atlas has no reason to lie about something like this.

BTW, I just read that Reuters is saying that Nicolai Valuev has found his opponent for his first title defense. His opponent is, Owen Beck. Yes, a fighter that has lost two straight fights is getting a shot at a piece of the heavyweight title. What a world we live in. I think I would have preferred Akinwande, who was rumored at first to be Valuev's first opponent. At least he has actually won lately.

[H2O Man]

4. Owen Beck?

Couldn't they get Henry Cooper?

I am looking foreward to the replay of Morales and Pacquiao on Saturday. The Gatti fight could be entertaining, too. Any thoughts on that? I wish Gatti would hang up the gloves.

Teddy Atlas is one of the really decent people associated with boxing. I prefer listening to him more than the fellows on HBO or ShowTime. I had heard before that Ouma was not dedicated to training.

Hey, speaking of that, what do you think of Judah vs Mayweather in April? Maybe Don King wants to get a few more bucks out of Zab, and to teach him a little lesson?

[dr.zoidberg]

5. King screwing Judah never made any sense to me.

King had no reason to have Judah lose, even if King wanted to teach him a lesson. King has one of his fighters going in to a huge fight that will make a lot of money, and not only that, but making a deal with his eternal nemesis, Bob Arum, to make the fight happen. Those things there told me that King was not trying to screw with Judah. Now after the Mayweather fight, he may decide to teach Judah a lesson. In the fight I see Mayweather winning because he is just simply better than Judah.

As for the Gatti/Daamgaard fight, I think Gatti will win. There has bee talk that Gatti could fight Ricky Hatton if he wins this fight. Gatti has also called out Carlos Baldomir, as well. I wish fighters would stop calling each other out. It's so lame and overplayed. I agree that Gatti should retire. I don't want to see him fight anymore, especially against Hatton(if it ever happens).

Atlas and Tessiatore(I don't know if I spelled his name right) are the best play-by-play team in boxing today. Brian Kenny gets on my nerves, though. He especially bothered me last week saying that Periera and Rakkitgym were fighting for a paper title. Be that as it may, but that title meant everything to those two fighters, and to just come on the air and shit all over them is just plain wrong to me. Kenny doesn't seem to understand that the having the IBF belt means that Periera can now actually make decent money boxing, hell he may not even have to have a real job now! I know he probably won't make the big money, but he can now make a decent living, at least. Fortunately, the PBP guys never said that and, to me at least, seemed to put across how important the fight and the belt was to both fighters. Besides, if according to Kenny, the belt isn't worth anything, then why is ESPN showing the fucking fight?

I was reading Dan Rafael's rankings on ESPN.com the other day and two things came to my attention. First, I was looking at his junior flyweight/minimumweight rankings I noticed that Ivan Calderon was ranked number 1. Okay, I know rankings are subjective, but the fact that he does not have Eagle Kyowa ranking is a fucking joke. Kyowa just happens to be the best fucking 105-pound fighter in the world! Then again, it wouldn't surprise me if Rafael had never seen him fight, either. The second thing that bothered me was his appraisal of Chris John. Now I don't know if you do know or not, but John is fighting Juan Manuel-Marquez in either Feb. or March of this year. Rafael just dismisses him as a paper champion. Never mind the fact that John is probably the second best 126-pound fighter in the world right now.

BTW, Muhammad Ali,in his current condition, would be a better match for Valuev that Owen Beck.

[H2O Man]

6. Judah has only

himself to blame for his last loss. He was being a brat blaming King afterward. But I doubt Don feels a lot of warmth and affection for Zab after the outburst. Putting him in with Mayweather is probably not in Zab's best interests right now, but it sure will make Don money. I expect Mayweather to win, in part because he puts punches together so well, and partly because Zab can not take a punch well. Size-wise, I think Zab's bigger and stronger, but I don't think his chin will hold up.

If Don King could sell the Ali fight, he'd do it.

** On edit: regarding the insults that are too often directed at boxers .... it stands out that retired fighters simply don't do it. Trainers don't, either. It's something exclusive to the announcers who have never had the gloves laced on, and walked into the ring.

[dr.zoidberg]

7. No surprise on Saturday night.

Gatti beat Damgaard by TKO10. A good stoppage by the ref as Damgaard's face was getting broken up. Also in the fight, it appeared that Gatti hurt his hand at some point during the fight, as he was shaking it at times. The previous times that Gatti has made this motion, it indicated that he had hurt his hand. Nonetheless, Gatti said he will try to have a fight in July. Gatti showed the flaws that everyone knows he had, as Damgaard was able to land shots. However, these blows almost meant nothing because Damgaard had no power on them at all, which makes one wonder how different the fight would have been if Damgaard had power.

[H2O Man]

8. I thought it was

an interesting fight. I'm not fond of Gatti, but I thought he beat a guy who was making a better fight of it than the HBO fellows noticed. Manny S did seem to give Damgaard more credit than the others. I thought it was strange for Jim L to compare Gatti to Carmen Basilio; Carmen moved up to beat the great Sugar Ray Robinson when Ray was near one of his peaks; Gatti was not close to being serious competition with Mayweather. Comparing him with Jake LaMotta is also b.s.; Gatti's biggest claim to fame is his series with Mickey Ward, a tough guy who can not be considered a boxing great by any stretch of the imagination.

Hand injuries are terrible, because they can come back at any time. Hitting a guy like Damgaard on the top of the head seemed high risk to me, yet Arturo hit him time and again on the top of the head.

Buddy McGirt is such a talented cornerman. He really impresses me as one of the best.