One last thing on Riddick Bowe

I was only 12 or so when this happened, so its new to me. But I didn't feel complete posting a post (redundant?) about Riddick Bowe without also including this. Check out around the 2:40 to-go mark for some good kickboxing and a great tackle. That - that's not legal either, man.



Oh, there is also this, too:



Classic Jim Lampley: "Somebody's gonna get hurt in there." He's speaking from experience. ZING!

(Remember how I was saying this is what boxing is missing these days? Well, maybe not exactly.)

Now that that is taken care of, you won't hear about Riddick Bowe on this blog ever again, unless he cures cancer or creates peace in the middle east... or wins an eating competition.

The Bastards Revisit Holyfield-Bowe I

Say what you will about the ESPN dynasty, but ESPN Classic has been great lately with its weekend marathon of NBA finals (which probably got better ratings than the current finals) and nightly classic boxing. Last night's classic boxing featured the first match up between Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bowe. Both fighters entered the ring undefeated and the 30 pound smaller Holyfield was the champ.

Round 1 began with the boxers trading punches for essentially the entire 3 minutes - a theme that would continue throughout the fight.



The fight continued alternating between brutalizing inside exchanges and sharp exchanges from the outside. Back and forth the fighters went exchanging at punch rates comparable to those of welterweights.

The fight culminated in the 10th round, featured below. This round 10 is one of the best rounds of heavyweight boxing which this Bastard can remember.



Round 11 was marred by a blatant rabbit punch by Bowe. Riddick caught Holyfield with an uppercut, which spun Holyfield around and against the ropes. Bowe teed off on the back of Evander's head knocking him down, but not out. The ref missed it and Bowe was given the knock down. Evander eventually recovered - a testament to his Rocky-esque will power (or idiocy, which is why the 80 year old Holyfield is still trying to box).

A lot of folks are talking about how boxing is dead, replaced by the "new" MMA. I would argue boxing is merely down, but not out. There are, currently, tons of quality exciting fighters in the lower weight classes. Unfortunately, there are no real quality heavyweights. And American audiences, for whatever reasons, seem to prefer exciting heavyweights. When they make their return, and there are a few potential heavyweights on their way up through the ranks, boxing will again regain its popularity. Or at least I hope so.

WVU Baseball on life support, DeLa Hoya delusional

WVU's baseball team dropped two out of three this weekend to drop to 25-18 overall and 7-13 in the Big East. The losses dropped WVU to 10th in the Big East.

Coach Greg Van Zant estimates his team can still reach eighth place and qualify for the playoffs by winning at least four of their last six remaining games against Connecticut next weekend in Storrs, and at home against Georgetown to end the regular season. Connecticut is presently one spot ahead of West Virginia in ninth place with a 6-12 record while Georgetown is 12th with a 6-15 Big East mark.

The baseball team will need a big final week from Justin Jenkins. Justin is a Dick Howser Award candidate and had a 38 game hitting streak this season that is a school and conference record and 10th longest in NCAA history.

Jenkins has a good shot at breaking all of West Virginia University’s major batting records before season’s end, making him the most prolific hitter in school history. Jenkins already owns the school record for single-season hits (94), total bases (411), career doubles (69), consecutive multi-hit games (8) and hitting streak (38 games).

Speaking of hitting, the DeLa Hoya-Mayweather fight probably didn't have enough for non-boxing fans. After the fight Max Kellerman described the action as beautiful for boxing's biggest fans, but probably boring for a casual fan. Mayweather seemed content to throw 30-45 punches a round while Oscar would throw more but land very little. Despite throwing almost twice as many punches DeLa Hoya landed about a third less. I agreed with Kellerman that Mayweather dominated. I thought Oscar won the 2nd, 4th, and 12th rounds and that was it. Every other round had Mayweather dominating the tempo and landing clean or glancing blows to Oscar's face while Oscar did nothing until he would run at Mayweather and windmill like a 8 year old girl while throwing soft punches that missed by about a foot. The pro-DeLa Hoya crowd would stand and cheer and Mayweather would laugh.

The biggest problem with the fight was the announcers. First Emmanuel Stewart and Larry Merchant spent two rounds arguing over whether or not Oscar would tire. He did, but after I was tired of listening to it. Then all three announcers, including play by play woman-beater Jim Lampley, continually stated that Oscar was blocking punches and landing punches despite the clear visual evidence and compu-box numbers to the contrary. Oscar deflected some punches but still blocked most with his nose or ear and I don't think that counts. After the fight Kellerman blasted the one judge who gave the fight to DeLa Hoya and rightfully so while the others made excuses for the judge. It doesn't matter if you throw a bunch of punches. DeLa Hoya believed he won because he threw more punches, but that is not how boxing is scored. If you land 20% while your opponent lands almost 50% and lands more punches and you start fighting like you trained with Tonya Harding you lose.

Bastards do Boxing: Mayweather v. De La Hoya

Tomorrow evening, the sports world will finally get to witness one of the most anticipated boxing matches in the last decade. Unfortunately, the fight will probably be boring to watch with both boxers mainly keeping their distance relying on quick one-two combos and counterpunch opportunities. (tummysticks analysis in italics) Watching De La Hoya get punched over and over in the face is never boring and that is going to happen in this fight.

Expect Mayweather to dominate the first 2 minutes of each round (on points) by merely stepping in, delivering several blows and stepping out. These combos won't be terribly damaging, but will score consistently considering De La Hoya's lack of steady defense. The tide may turn then in the final 30 seconds with De La Hoya's patented round stealing fury of fists to close each round. De La Hoya also has a patent pending on owning one judge per fight that will give him a decision even if he never throws a punch and pees his pants in between rounds. Each round may come down to whether Mayweather can successfully avoid this closing fury by Oscar, which I expect him to consistently do. Unfortunately, the boxers' styles put the fight in the judges' hands and god knows what can happen then.

However, I expect Mayweather's speed and acccurate punching to be just to much for De La Hoya to handle round in and round out. De La Hoya will follow Mayweather around the ring looking for opportunities, swing, miss and get countered. Mayweather wins the first 6 rounds on points. Mayweather can't be beat by Oscar unless he gets cocky, sloppy, or his crazy dad throws gasoline on him and sets him on fire during the fight.

Going into the later stages of the fight, Mayweather's confidence may get the best of him. De La Hoya is still a very dangerous puncher - its what has gotten him through his career. That and owning judges. If Mayweather's confidence gets the best of him and he gets sloppy, the Golden Boy may be able to punish Mayweather for his arrogance and for stealing his luggage. De La Hoya has always been a great finisher, maybe one of the best finishers ever, and if he does manage to hurt Mayweather, things could get very, very interesting. Unfortunately, I expect Mayweather to remain all business in the ring and frustrate De La Hoya until the final bell rings. Once the final bell rings all bets are off as Mayweather goes back to the villan role he took before the fight. He could punch Oscar's wife, Oscar's mom, or wrestle a bear and it wouldn't surprise me.

All in all, I expect De La Hoya to steal a few rounds with his late fury, but Mayweather to hold up and remain undefeated. I'm calling it 117-111 Mayweather. Mayweather will win, I will drink lots of beers, and Mayweather Sr. will still be really really scary looking.