Featuring Ivan Trembow's Self-Important, Random Rants on Mixed Martial Arts, Video Games, Pro Wrestling, Television, Politics, Sports, and High-Quality Wool Socks

 
Mixed Martial Arts--- As the MMA world reflects on Lyoto Machida's dominant KO win over the previously undefeated Rashad Evans, the fact that Machida didn't get a title shot sooner has been made all the more amazing by his performance against Evans.

Earlier this year, with a UFC record of 6-0 and an MMA record of 14-0, Machida was still passed over for a title shot in favor of Quinton Jackson (even with Jackson’s legal issues), who had won an incredible two fights in a row.

Even when Jackson’s injuries made it clear that he couldn’t fight on the May 23rd card, Machida still wasn’t going to get the next title shot.

It was only because both Jackson and Frank Mir were injured (thus preventing the UFC from delaying Evans’ first title defense until July) that Machida got a title shot before Jackson.

Even then, published reports at the time said that it still would not have happened if Zuffa had been able to convince Georges St. Pierre to move up his title defense against Thiago Alves to May 23.

The only reason they finally gave Machida the title shot when they did, rather than having him fight yet again before getting a title shot and likely against another tough opponent like Thiago Silva, was because all three of these things happened:

1. Quinton Jackson was hurt and couldn't fight on May 23

2. Frank Mir was hurt and couldn't fight on May 23

3. GSP was not willing to move his fight up to May 23

If any two of those things had happened, we’d be looking forward to Evans vs. Jackson in July, and Machida would have yet another tough fight before getting a title shot.

It’s only because all three of those things happened that Evans vs. Machida happened on May 23.

It’s kind of crazy to think that such an historic night would not have even happened if not for all of those things happening at the same time.

Other MMA Thoughts: I’m not surprised by Mirko Cro Cop’s return to the UFC, but I am surprised that he’s fighting in June. Cro Cop is fighting just five months after reconstructive knee surgery? And he’s having a training camp three to four months after reconstructive knee surgery? That doesn't sound like a great idea.

Andrei Arlovski vs. Brett Rogers being added to the June 6th Strikeforce event is fantastic news. Having said that, the idea that Phil Baroni vs. Joe Riggs is going to be a main card bout, while Rafael Feijao vs. Jared Hamman is going to be an untelevised prelim bout, is beyond pathetic.

Recent Boxing Events: Jermain Taylor vs. Carl Froch was a very good fight with an incredible 12th round. I had Froch down by a large margin going into the 12th round, as did two of the judges. The one judge who had it 8 rounds to 3 in favor of Froch going into the 12th round is right up there with the two judges who had Michael Bisping beating Matt Hamill in the “incompetent at best” category.

Play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson added so much to the incredible 12th round of Froch vs. Taylor. I was initially against it when Showtime replaced Steve Albert with Gus Johnson, but after that 12th round, I’m not so sure anymore. Albert is more of a traditional boxing play-by-play man, whereas Johnson is more of a “telling the story of any given fight” announcer, much like Jim Lampley, only not constantly missing it when big punches land or saying that something landed when it didn’t like Lampley does. Johnson can add a lot of drama and excitement to a big fight finish, as play-by-play announcers are supposed to do, without saying the same thing every time like Mike Goldberg does (”and it is all over!”).

Andre Ward's recent win over Edison Miranda was a star-making performance for Ward. Miranda is a legit top-level fighter, and dominating him like that is a big accomplishment.

Play-by-play announcer Nick Charles may have been too hard on Miranda during the fight, but I usually enjoy the commentary of Nick Charles and Steve Farhood just about as much as I enjoy any announcing team in boxing or MMA. They tend to be very straightforward and honest with their assessments of up-and-coming fighters, and that’s a particularly big deal on a show like “ShoBox” with all of the up-and-coming prospects that appear on it.

Labels: Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 2:52 AM

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Boxing--- Manny Pacquiao is truly a once-in-a-generation talent. Last night, the world witnessed another amazing performance from a fighter who has been putting on amazing performances for years now.

However, when it comes to the PPV buyrate of last night's show, I don't think it's going to be as high as some of boxing's other huge fights, at least not when it comes to North American PPV buys. Ricky Hatton's fights always perform amazingly well on PPV in the United Kingdom, but I'm just talking about and referring to North American PPV buys in this post.

Consider that when Floyd Mayweather, Jr. fought and beat Oscar de la Hoya, that PPV shattered all of the records in the PPV industry with 2.4 million buys. But when Mayweather, coming off of that win over De la Hoya, fought Hatton, it "only" drew 850,000 PPV buys. That is still a gigantic PPV buyrate no matter how you look at it, but it was barely one-third of the record-setting Mayweather vs. De la Hoya PPV buyrate.

Now Pacquiao is in a similar situation, having fought and beaten De la Hoya and then fighting Hatton in his next fight after that. Unlike Mayweather vs. De la Hoya, Pacquiao vs. De la Hoya didn't shatter all of the records in the history of the PPV industry. It drew around 1.2 million buys, which is incredible, but not Mayweather vs. De la Hoya numbers.

So, let's say Pacquiao's fight against Hatton draws roughly one-third of the North American buys that Pacquiao's fight against De la Hoya drew. That would be 400,000 buys. I do think it's going to do better than that, but probably not by too much, even though HBO's four-part "Pacquiao/Hatton 24/7" series was absolutely brilliant television and probably the best "24/7" series since the original "De la Hoya/Mayweather 24/7."

If I had to guess, I'd say that the final number will be more than 500,000 and less than 600,000.

Remember, the initial estimates that are released by HBO are generally at least 10% smaller than the final number, so if they announce an initial estimate of 500,000, that means the final number would likely be a little more than 550,000.

That is the neighborhood in which I think the Pacquiao vs. Hatton PPV buyrate is going to end up in terms of North American buys and not counting the huge U.K. PPV sales.

Now, as for the potential fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather, I think that would draw more buys than Pacquiao vs. Hatton in North America, but first Mayweather has to get past Juan Manuel Marquez, and that is a major task.

Mayweather picked a hell of a fight for his comeback match, facing one of the top boxers on the planet after not having fought in a year-and-a-half.

If Marquez does beat Mayweather, then Pacquiao vs. Marquez III would do pretty well in its own right (after all, Pacquiao vs. Marquez II already drew a solid 450,000 or so buys in early 2008), but Pacquiao vs. Mayweather would draw a lot more buys.

Labels: Boxing

posted by Ivan Trembow at 4:42 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- Random Thoughts on a Variety of Topics
by Ivan Trembow

-UFC Primetime Debuts: After watching the first episode of UFC Primetime, I think it’s a very well produced show that is also a lot like HBO’s 24/7 series. It’s amazing to me (although no longer particularly surprising) to see how much the MMA media has been fawning all over the Primetime.

For a company that bashes every aspect of boxing as consistently as the UFC does, they sure don’t have a problem with emulating boxing-style promotion of a big fight. Wow, you mean that stuff filmed this week will be on the show just a day or two later? Oh my god, what a unique idea. It’s amazing to see how many web sites have described Primetime in that way (as if it’s a revolutionary concept), without also using the words “just like 24/7.”

There’s nothing inherently wrong with copying 24/7; it’s just hypocritical for the UFC to bash boxing all the time and then to duplicate 24/7 so blatantly. The style in which the music played over the training footage, the close-up camera angles on the fighters’ faces as they’re being interviewed, the footage of their home lives… it was all very well done, and it was all very much like 24/7... and again, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. Hopefully, there will be more of this kind of show in the future. In contrast to the Trash TV of The Ultimate Fighter, Primetime treats the sport with the dignity that it deserves.

-K-1 Dynamite a Mixed Bag: Shinya Aoki vs. Eddie Alvarez and Daisuke Nakamura vs. Hideo Tokoro were very good fights. The various freak show match-ups were not.

-UFC's Awards for Best Fights of 2008: It’s April Fool’s Day three months early with what must be a tongue-in-cheek article on the UFC’s web site about the best fights of 2008. When they had an article in early 2008 about the best fights of 2007, I laighed when they had Griffin-Bonnar II in their honorable mentions for Fight of the Year, but they’ve really out-done themselves this time! Sean Sherk vs. Tyson Griffin? Paul Kelly vs. Paul Taylor? Antoni Hardonk vs. Eddie Sanchez? Chris Lytle vs. Paul Taylor? Aaron Riley vs. Jorge Gurgel? The Onion has nothing on them when it comes to satire, apparently.

-Affliction's Second MMA Event Coming Up: Affliction's first MMA event did better business than I thought it would from a PPV standpoint, but it will be hard for the second show to come anywhere close to that. It was funny to hear how delusional Trump lawyer Michael Cohen was during the recent press conference for Affliction's event. Affliction’s Tom Antencio said something like, “We know we’re not the UFC. The UFC is like the Q-Tip of MMA. We’re just trying to put on great shows.” Then minutes later, Cohen must have been confused because he said, “Just like Tom said, we are going to be the Q-Tip of MMA!”

Cohen also hilariously said, “Many members of the media have said that this is the MMA card of the century!” It’s a good card, sure, but I don’t recall even one member of the media (much less “many”) who has called it the event “of the century.”

Like some of his fellow MMA promoters, Atencio has also made a habit out of blatantly lying about business figures. Atencio's blatant lies will make it very hard to feel sorry for him when his MMA promotion goes out of business, which is what's going to happen if his second show loses as much money as his first.

-UFC's Lack of Competition Nothing to Celebrate: With that said (regarding Affliction potentially going out of business), the lack of legit competition to the UFC is nothing to celebrate. Rich Franklin vs. Dan Henderson is a good match-up, but not as the main event of a PPV event, especially when PPVs cost $45. The same was true of Matt Hughes vs. Thiago Alves last year. If the UFC had more legitimate competition, they would have much less of an ability to get away with sometimes offering sub-standard product at full price.

If the only defense to the sub-standard PPV main events is that they're inevitable when the UFC runs so many PPV events, then it’s a cop-out because nobody is forcing them to run 12 or 13 PPV events per year. So far, it has generally only been a few times per year that they have PPV main events that aren’t worthy of being PPV main events, so I’d much rather have 10 PPV events per year and have all of them be worthy of being $45 PPVs than have 12 per year and have a few of those with sub-standard main events.

If, theoretically, the UFC decided to cut two PPV events per year from their schedule, they could still have the same number of total main card slots in which to showcase fighters if they were to also add two free TV events per year to their schedule (or, for that matter, they could add more than that). They run into these problems where they are scrambling to fill all of the PPV main event slots with great fights, but that would happen less often if they didn’t have quite as many PPV main events that they had to book in the first place.

Labels: Boxing, K-1 / K-1 MMA News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 11:31 PM

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Boxing--- Wow, what a performance by Manny Pacquiao in his fight against Oscar de la Hoya on Saturday night. Most of the discussion going into the fight was about De la Hoya's size advantage, but it ended up being Pacquiao's speed advantage that made the difference.

Pacquiao's strategy was very similar to his strategy in the fight earlier this year against lightweight title-holder David Diaz, and that was an equally one-sided beating.

Pacquiao’s performance was one of the most masterful performances I have seen in combat sports in many years, especially given that just last year De la Hoya had a very competitive fight with Floyd Mayweather.

Going into the fight, I wasn't sure who was going to win, but it was clear that Pacquiao had all the tools to beat De la Hoya and at least had a chance of winning. It’s unbelievable how many people in the sports media were saying, “De la Hoya will automatically win because he’s bigger.” Yes, that gave him an advantage, but no, that did not automatically mean that he was going to win.

Mixed Martial Arts--- Most pro wrestlers are afraid to do anything that might displease Vince McMahon, even if they have just been released from WWE, and it appears that some MMA fighters are afraid to do anything that might displease Dana White, even if they have just been released from the UFC.

Just as some pro wrestlers avoid signing with TNA Wrestling to avoid upsetting McMahon, recently released UFC fighter Jorge Gurgel said in an interview with CBS Sportsline that he didn't want to sign with Affliction's MMA promotion in part because he didn't want to get "black-listed."

Gurgel said: "Apparently, Dana [White] and the UFC do not like Affliction. I do not want to go to a place that the UFC does not like and have the possibility of getting black-listed."

Kickboxing--- Why on earth did HDNet hire Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson to do color commentary for the U.S. broadcast of the K-1 World Grand Prix Finals? It would be bad enough to hire Ferguson to do commentary for an MMA event, but this was a kickboxing event. It's as if HDNet was so excited to get an interview with Ferguson that they thought, “To heck with booking him in a long interview segment on Inside MMA; let's put him on commentary for the biggest event of the year in a sport in which he has never competed"!

Mixed Martial Arts--- Here's a quote from UFC welterweight Marcus Davis about his upcoming fight against Chris Lytle:

"We’ve both been like, ‘I respect you, respect what you do, but a fight between each other is money in the bank.' I basically said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it and the first guy to take the other guy down is a p--sy.'"

These kinds of statements are disgraceful and are yet another example of the glorification of C-level kickboxing within MMA.

Labels: Boxing, K-1 / K-1 MMA News, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 5:14 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- Nevada's Out-of-Competition Drug Testing in 2008
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

The Nevada State Athletic Commission in 2008 has tested a relatively small number of mixed martial artists and boxers as part of its out-of-competition drug testing program, newly instituted this year. When the new program was announced on Jan. 25, no specifics were given on how many fighters would be tested in the weeks and months prior to their scheduled fights in the state of Nevada.

Fourteen fighters have been tested in the nine months since then, and that includes a three-month period in which zero fighters were tested for any fights scheduled to take place in Nevada from July 6 to Oct. 31.

The out-of-competition drug testing program allows the NSAC to order random drug tests at any time on any fighter that the NSAC licenses as a mixed martial artist, boxer, or kickboxer. When or if these tests are conducted is up to the discretion of the NSAC, not the fighters or the fighters' promoters. Like many other major sports, this out-of-competition drug testing is in addition to day-of-competition drug testing.

In the press release announcing the program in January, NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer said, "Random testing throughout the year will further deter any fighters considering taking non-approved substances." The press release also noted that some fighters "have become very sophisticated in the timing of taking prohibited substances."

When asked by MMAWeekly this week for comment on why there were zero fighters tested in the out-of-competition drug testing program for fights scheduled to take place from July 6 to Oct. 31, Kizer said, "We will not set any pattern... kind of defeats the purpose."

An updated memorandum on the program dated May 24, 2008 added language that allowed the NSAC to order a random drug test as a result of "a request by a Commissioner" or for "any other cause determined by the Commission."

Additionally, the updated memorandum removed the original memorandum's note about the NSAC also attempting "to contact the fighter's promoter, if known, with the ordering of the test and the timeframe within which the test must be taken."

All NSAC licensees were originally notified of the out-of-competition drug testing program in a memorandum dated Jan. 7, 2008.

In February, the NSAC sanctioned three mixed martial arts events (including a UFC show and an IFL show), as well as four boxing events (including an HBO pay-per-view broadcast). None of the fighters on any of those cards were subjected to the out-of-competition drug testing program.

In March, the NSAC sanctioned one MMA event (a WEC show), as well as one kickboxing event and three boxing events (including an HBO PPV broadcast). None of the fighters on any of those cards were subjected to the out-of-competition drug testing program.

In April, the NSAC sanctioned one minor MMA event and one boxing event (including an HBO broadcast). None of the fighters on either of those cards were subjected to the out-of-competition drug testing program.

In May, the NSAC sanctioned two MMA events (including a UFC show), as well as one kickboxing event and three boxing events (including an HBO broadcast). Prior to the UFC event, three fighters were subjected to and passed out-of-competition drug tests: Tito Ortiz, B.J. Penn, and Sean Sherk. Additionally, boxers Shane Mosley and Zab Judah were subjected to and passed out-of-competition drug tests prior to a show that was originally scheduled to take place in Nevada on May 31. The event ended up being cancelled due to an injury suffered by Judah.

In June, the NSAC sanctioned four MMA events (including a UFC show), as well as four boxing events (including an HBO PPV broadcast). None of the fighters on any of those cards were subjected to the out-of-competition drug testing program.

In July, the NSAC sanctioned two MMA events (both UFC shows), as well as one kickboxing event and five boxing events (including an HBO PPV broadcast and a Showtime broadcast). Prior to the first UFC event, two UFC fighters were subjected to and passed out-of-competition drug tests: Forrest Griffin and Quinton Jackson. None of the fighters on any of the other cards, including the second UFC event of the month, the HBO boxing event, or the Showtime boxing event, were subjected to the out-of-competition drug testing program.

In August, the NSAC sanctioned one MMA event (a WEC show) and four boxing events (including an HBO broadcast). None of the fighters on any of those cards were subjected to the out-of-competition drug testing program.

In September, the NSAC sanctioned zero MMA events and five boxing events (including an HBO PPV broadcast). None of the fighters on any of those cards were subjected to the out-of-competition drug testing program.

Thus far in October, the NSAC has sanctioned one minor MMA event and one boxing event (a Showtime broadcast), with an additional boxing event scheduled for Oct. 31. None of the fighters on any of those cards have been subjected to the out-of-competition drug testing program.

On the schedule for November is one MMA event (a UFC show) and four boxing events. Six fighters who are scheduled to compete on the UFC show were recently subjected to and passed out-of-competition drug tests: Randy Couture, Brock Lesnar, Amir Sadollah, Nick Catone, Aaron Riley, and Jorge Gurgel.

Earlier this year, pro boxer Joseph Gilbert was subjected to and passed a drug test as part of the NSAC's out-of-competition drug testing program. Gilbert previously tested positive for a banned substance in 2007, and has not fought in Nevada or elsewhere in 2008.

In total, 14 fighters in boxing and MMA combined have been subjected to the NSAC's out-of-competition drug testing program in the nine months since licensees were notified of its creation on Jan. 7, 2008.

Labels: Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 11:55 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- TUF Ratings Slump, but Still Dominate Boxing; PLUS: Liddell on Letterman Ratings
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

The final three regular season episodes of The Ultimate Fighter 5 drew overall ratings in the low 1's, concluding a season that was the least-watched in the history of The Ultimate Fighter. However, the UFC still managed to completely dominate a live boxing broadcast on Versus Network that went head-to-head with the eleventh episode of TUF 5.

Episode Ten of The Ultimate Fighter 5 featured the final two quarter-final fights of the season's 16-man tournament. The episode premiered on Thursday, June 7th and drew an overall rating of 1.1, which was down slightly from the previous episode's 1.2 overall rating. In the advertiser-coveted 18-to-34-year-old male demographic, Episode Ten drew a 1.4 rating, which was also down slightly from the previous week's 1.5 rating in that demographic.

Episode Eleven of TUF 5 featured the first of two semi-final tournament bouts. The episode premiered on Thursday, June 14th and drew an overall rating of 1.3, which was up from the previous episode's 1.1 overall rating. Episode Eleven also out-drew Episode Ten in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic, 1.7 to 1.4, while still finishing well below TUF 4's ratings averages in the same demographic.

The final regular season episode of TUF 5 featured the second of two semi-final tournament bouts. With Episode Ten serving as its lead-in, Episode Eleven premiered on Thursday, June 14th at 11:00 PM and drew an overall rating of 1.0, which is tied for the lowest-rated premiere episode in TUF history when airing on its normal night. The episode drew a rating of 1.5 in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic.

TUF Demolishes Boxing Head-to-Head
Overlapping with The Ultimate Fighter 5's eleventh episode on Thursday, June 14th, the newest live installment of "Versus Fight Night" on Versus Network was thoroughly trounced by TUF in the ratings. While Spike TV is available in approximately 90 million homes and Versus is available in approximately 70 million homes, that is certainly not enough to explain the huge disparity in viewership between TUF and the live boxing broadcast.

The two-hour boxing broadcast on Versus aired from 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM and featured former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman in the main event. While Episode Eleven of TUF 5 drew an overall rating of 1.3, the two-hour broadcast of Versus Fight Night drew an overall rating of 0.2.

As for the overall number of viewers, Episode Eleven of TUF 5 averaged 1,718,000 viewers, while Versus Fight Night averaged 227,000 viewers. The disparity is far greater in the younger male demographics, due to the fact that the average age of Versus Fight Night's audience was 60 years old.

In the 18-to-49-year-old male demographic, Episode Eleven of TUF drew a 1.5 rating, while Versus Fight Night drew a rating of 0.1.

One might think that it can't get any worse than 1.5 to 0.1, but it can, as evidenced by the ratings in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic. In that key demographic, Episode Eleven of TUF drew a 1.7 rating, and Versus Fight Night did not even register as a 0.1 rating in the demographic. Technically, the two-hour broadcast of Versus Fight Night averaged a rating of 0.03 in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic.

Ratings for Individual Fights on Episodes 10, 11, and 12 of TUF 5
As for the ratings that were drawn by individual fights on the final three episodes of TUF 5, Episode Ten featured Nate Diaz' submission victory over Corey Hill in the tournament quarter-finals. The Diaz-Hill aired early in the episode and drew a 1.1 rating. Diaz' previous fight, which was a submission victory over Robert Emerson, had drawn a 1.3 rating. Hill's previous fight, which was also a victory over Emerson (by judges' decision), drew a 1.3 rating as well.

Episode Ten also featured Manny Gamburyan's unanimous decision victory over Matt Wiman in the last of the tournament quarter-final bouts. The Gamburyan-Wiman fight aired during the second half of the episode and drew a 1.2 rating. Gamburyan's previous fight was a submission victory over Noah Thomas, and it drew a 1.4 rating. Wiman's previous fight was a technical submission victory over Marlon Sims, which drew a 1.2 rating.

The first semi-final tournament bout aired on Episode Eleven, as Manny Gamburyan defeated Joe Lauzon by unanimous decision. The fight itself drew a 1.3 rating, up slightly from the 1.2 rating that was drawn by Gamburyan's quarter-final fight against Matt Wiman. Lauzon's previous fight was a TKO victory over Cole Miller, which drew a 1.4 rating.

Episode Twelve featured the last of the tournament semi-final matches, as Nate Diaz defeated Gray Maynard by submission. The fight drew a 1.0 rating, down slightly from the 1.1 rating that was drawn by Diaz' quarter-final bout against Corey Hill. Maynard's previous fight was a submission victory over Brandon Melendez, which drew a 1.3 rating.

Liddell Episode of Letterman Draws Strong Ratings
Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell appeared on CBS' "The Late Show with David Letterman" on Thursday, June 7th, and the episode drew a 3.6 overall rating.

It was the most-watched episode of the week for "The Late Show," which drew a 3.5 overall rating on Monday of that week, a 3.0 rating on Tuesday, 3.5 on Wednesday, and 3.2 on Friday.

The June 7th episode also out-drew the next week of "The Late Show," as the show's highest rating from June 11-15 was 3.4. However, the June 7th episode of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" still topped Letterman's rating of 3.6, as Leno drew an overall rating of 4.1 on the same night, head-to-head with the episode of Letterman that featured Chuck Liddell.

TUF's Head-to-Head Network Competition
Airing head-to-head with Episode Ten of The Ultimate Fighter 5 on Thursday, June 7th from 10:00 PM to 11:00 PM, the cancelled drama series "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" continued its march towards oblivion, as it drew an overall rating of 3.1 on NBC. The first game of the NBA Finals on ABC drew a hugely disappointing 5.6 overall rating, and it actually lost to repeat programming head-to-head, as a rerun of the crime drama series "Shark" drew a 6.3 overall rating on CBS.

Airing head-to-head with Episode Eleven of TUF 5 on Thursday, June 14th from 10:00 PM to 11:00 PM, a new (burn-off) episode of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" drew an overall rating of 3.0 on NBC. Meanwhile, the fourth and final game of the NBA Finals on ABC drew an embarrassing 5.6 overall rating, which was the same rating that Game 1 drew one week earlier. The NBA Finals once again lost to repeat programming head-to-head, as a rerun of "Shark" on CBS drew an overall rating of 5.8.

On both June 7th and June 14th, the NBA Finals broadcast was just the fifth most-watched TV show of the evening. On both Thursdays, the NBA Finals broadcasts lost not only to repeats of "Shark," but also to repeats of "CSI" and new episodes of "So You Think You Can Dance" and "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?"

Leading into Episode Ten of TUF 5 on Spike TV was the pro wrestling show "TNA Impact," which drew an overall rating of 1.0 on June 7th.

Leading into Episode Eleven of TUF 5 on Spike TV was "TNA Impact," which drew an overall rating of 1.1 on June 14th. Episode Twelve of TUF 5 then aired immediately after Episode Eleven.

Labels: Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 10:57 PM

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Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts--- Arrest & Firing of HBO's CEO Could Affect UFC-HBO Deal
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

The news of the record-breaking PPV buyrate for Oscar De la Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. has almost been overshadowed by the news that HBO Chairman and CEO Chris Albrecht has been fired. Just hours after the conclusion of the De la Hoya-Mayweather fight, Albrecht was arrested for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend in a Las Vegas parking lot.

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, "Officers at the site of the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jr. boxing match came running when they spotted a man later identified as Albrecht grabbing a woman by the throat with both hands and dragging her toward the valet parking station at the MGM Grand... The officers who arrested Albrecht said that he had grabbed his companion around the neck so hard that he left red marks, and that they had to physically break his grip to free her."

According to an MSNBC/Newsweek account of the police report, Albrecht then told the officers "that his girlfriend had pissed him off and that he was the CEO of HBO."

Fans of mixed martial arts who don't follow the boxing industry or HBO at large may be familiar with the name Chris Albrecht because he is the person who took the uncommon step of overruling HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg's plans to exclude MMA from HBO's line-up in the future, as previously reported by acclaimed boxing writer Thomas Hauser of Seconds Out.

Two days after his arrest, Albrecht initially said in a memo to HBO employees that he was taking a paid leave of absence from the company. Just one day later, Albrecht said in a second memo that he was resigning from the company "at the request of Time Warner," which is HBO's parent company.

As for what changed in that one-day period between the two memos, Albrecht was asked to resign from his position at HBO on the same day that the Los Angeles Times published a story containing the revelation that this is not the first time Albrecht has been in trouble for allegedly assaulting a woman. The Times reported, "In 1991, the cable network [HBO] paid a major settlement to Sasha Emerson, a subordinate and love interest of Albrecht's who alleged that he had shoved and choked her at HBO's West Coast offices in Century City. The incident, according to four people familiar with the matter, had been kept quiet for 16 years by the management of HBO."

Insiders at HBO considered Albrecht to be "a ticking time bomb" even prior to the most recent incident, according to a report by the Reuters news service.

Reuters has also reported that there could be further shake-ups at HBO if those loyal to Albrecht choose to leave the company in the coming months. As Reuters put it, "Rarely does an executive that high in a corporate structure fall out without taking some of the people he put in with him. Insiders are wondering who will follow Albrecht out the door."

Albrecht is among those credited with helping lead HBO to expand beyond movies, sports, and stand-up comedy with the addition of critically-acclaimed original series such as "The Sopranos," "Six Feet Under," and "Oz."

Bill Nelson, the Chief Operating Officer of HBO, will assume Albrecht's duties until a full-time CEO is appointed. The top candidates to replace Albrecht as CEO include Nelson and two other HBO executives, Eric Kessler and Richard Plepler.

According to a report by Thomas Hauser of Seconds Out from January of this year, HBO Sports did not want to air MMA programming at all, and HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg had "opposed the UFC deal as vigorously as possible," while doing "everything in his power not to televise mixed martial arts."

It was a surprising and significant move when Albrecht, then the Chairman and CEO of HBO as a whole, veto'd Greenburg and insisted that HBO would air MMA programming at some point, leaving Greenburg only to negotiate the details of such a deal. The Seconds Out article added that the veto from Albrecht "represented a marked shift in HBO's corporate culture... in the past, an HBO chief executive officer would not have ordered sports programming over the objection of the sports department."

It is not yet known what affect, if any, Albrecht's departure from HBO will have on Greenburg's day-to-day business dealings and the decisions that he makes at HBO Sports.

However, due in part to Albrecht's previous veto of Greenburg, and also due in part to the very strong anti-MMA sentiments of other people at HBO Sports (including HBO Boxing's lead announcer Jim Lampley), it's a very sensitive political situation at HBO whenever the subject of boxing vs. MMA is raised even privately, and much more so when it's raised publicly.

Lampley said on the air following the conclusion of the De la Hoya-Mayweather fight, "Mixed martial arts is entertaining, but the kind of skill level you saw in the ring tonight... there’s nothing in mixed martial arts which is within light years of what Mayweather and De la Hoya are able to do with their hands."

Max Kellerman, the HBO Boxing color commentator who may or may not be replacing Larry Merchant as the #1 color commentator for HBO Boxing in the coming months, responded to Lampley's comment minutes later by saying on the air, "I disagree with Jim. I think there are mixed martial artists who are operating on a very similar skill level in what they do as these fighters [Mayweather and De la Hoya], and that’s one of the reasons why that sport is becoming very popular."

In comments to the media after the record-setting PPV buyrate was announced, HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg said, "This fight never would have materialized if boxing was dying. It's alive and well." Greenburg expanded on that point in the L.A. Times: "The sport of boxing is alive and well. If it isn't, how do you explain this? The naysayers can go take a nap."

In numerous interviews with the media after the De la Hoya-Mayweather fight, UFC president Dana White voiced his disappointment with the fight. In one interview with the Boston Herald, some of White's statements included: "I went to the fight that night. Inside the arena, there was no energy whatsoever... I'm not bashing boxing, I love it, but all these people have destroyed this sport... It's crazy. It just drives people further from boxing. You get one fight for 55 bucks. One fight for a $2,500 ticket. You get people all excited for the build-up and then the fight ends up sucking. Both guys try to outpoint the other and win a decision."

White continued, "In the UFC, we give you eight or nine fights, they’re all good, and the guys are fighting their asses off trying to finish it."

The UFC's contract with Spike TV expires in mid-2008. Spike is currently the UFC's exclusive basic cable television partner, an arrangement which precludes the UFC from signing deals with other basic cable networks, but would not preclude a deal with a premium cable network like HBO.

In addition to seeking a large increase in programming rights fees in its negotiations with Spike TV for a contract renewal, the UFC is almost certainly going to want to remove the exclusivity clauses altogether, given the company's publicly stated desire to air its programming on other networks such as ESPN.

Labels: Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 10:58 PM

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Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts--- Mayweather vs. De la Hoya Shatters Pay-Per-View Records
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

The May 5th fight between Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Oscar de la Hoya shattered the pay-per-view industry's all-time records for buys and gross revenue for a single event, with approximately 2,150,000 pay-per-view buys and $120 million in gross PPV revenue.

The number of buys for the show exceeded all expectations. Going into the show, it was believed that the event would break the all-time record for a non-heavyweight boxing PPV (which was 1.4 million and was set by De la Hoya vs. Felix Trinidad in 1999), but the event was not expected to break the sport's all-time record of 1.99 million PPV buys. As it turned out, Mayweather vs. De la Hoya surpassed that mark by over 100,000 buys.

PPV Records Broken
The previous all-time boxing PPV records were set by a 1997 fight between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield; and a 2002 fight between Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis.

The last time Oscar de la Hoya fought, it was against Ricardo Mayorga in May 2006. De la Hoya vs. Mayorga drew 925,000 pay-per-view buys and generated $46.2 million in gross PPV revenue.

The UFC's biggest event in company history, last December's UFC 66 with Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz as the main event, drew approximately 1,050,000 pay-per-view buys and grossed approximately $41.95 million in PPV revenue. Prior to that, the UFC's biggest PPV in company history was UFC 61, which drew approximately 775,000 PPV buys and grossed approximately $30.96 million in PPV revenue.

Live Gate Records Broken
The event is also expected to have broken boxing's all-time records at the live box office, with over $19 million in gross ticket sales at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The previous record of approximately $16.9 million was held by the 1999 rematch between Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Last May, Oscar de la Hoya's fight against Ricardo Mayorga generated approximately $7.6 million in gross ticket receipts at the MGM Grand.

The UFC's biggest live event in company history was UFC 66 at the MGM Grand in December of last year, which generated approximately $5.4 million in gross ticket receipts. Prior to UFC 66, the UFC's biggest live gate was drawn by UFC 57 in February 2006, which featured Chuck Liddell vs. Randy Couture in the main event and generated approximately $3.4 million in gross ticket receipts.

Fighters' Pay, The "24/7" Series, and The Rematch
Oscar de la Hoya's guaranteed, upfront purse for the fight was $23.3 million, and his final purse is expected to be nearly $50 million, according to both ESPN and the Los Angeles Times. Floyd Mayweather's guaranteed, upfront purse for the fight was $10 million, and his final purse is expected to be approximately $20 million, also according to ESPN and the L.A. Times.

A significant portion of the fight's success is being attributed to the success of HBO's four-part series, "De le Hoya-Mayweather 24/7," which has come to represent the new state-of-the-art for promoting an individual fight. A point could certainly be made that prior to "24/7," nothing else came close to the UFC's "Countdown" specials on Spike TV in their effectiveness at promoting certain fights.

However, the intimate, in-depth look into Mayweather and De la Hoya's professional and personal lives that was offered by "24/7," coupled with the series' incredible production values, have taken the game to a whole new level.

A rematch between De la Hoya and Mayweather, perhaps in 2008 after De la Hoya's pregnant wife has given birth, would appear to be likely as a result of the overwhelming financial success of the event. While Mayweather said before and after the event that he is retiring from fighting, he has also said numerous times in recent days (including on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno) that he might have to come out of retirement "if the fans demand to see a rematch."

Within the boxing community, it was widely believed even before the aforementioned comments that Mayweather would fight again if a huge financial offer was made, which would be no less than $10 million to $15 million per fight. Now that the record-breaking numbers have come in, any doubt as to whether Mayweather would be worth that kind of money for a rematch with De la Hoya has seemingly disappeared.

The Myth of Boxing as a "Dying Sport"
Much like Jim Lampley's thoughts on the subject of mixed martial arts, the whole notion of boxing as a "dead sport" or a "sport that needs to be saved" is based largely on ignorance of the facts. The facts are that last year was the second-biggest year in boxing history at the pay-per-view box office, with $177 million in gross PPV revenue for HBO.

It would also be inaccurate to say that boxing can't draw decent PPV buyrates without Oscar de la Hoya. While De la Hoya vs. Mayorga was boxing's biggest event in 2006, it only generated $42 million out of the $177 million in HBO's gross PPV revenue last year. The remaining $132 million in gross PPV revenue was drawn by fights that did not feature De la Hoya.

One of the reasons for the existence of this false perception about boxing's fortunes is the dramatic rise of the UFC on the PPV landscape in 2006. Even with boxing having its second-biggest year ever in 2006, the UFC surpassed boxing for the first time ever in 2006, with gross PPV revenue of $222,766,000 generated by UFC PPVs in 2006.

The drastic increase in the UFC's pay-per-view buyrates did not appear to negatively affect boxing's PPV buyrates. In fact, a major boxing PPV and a major UFC PPV aired at the same time on PPV last November, and neither event suffered any significant ill effects as a result of the head-to-head competition. There is some crossover between the two sports' fans, but nowhere near as much as one might assume.

Though many hardcore MMA fans hate the pro wrestling industry with a passion, the fact remains that MMA's audience overlaps much more with pro wrestling's audience than it does with boxing's. It has been pro wrestling, not boxing, that has seen its United States PPV buyrates collapse as the UFC's PPV buyrates have increased. It is pro wrestling, not boxing, that shares a similar demographic breakdown with the UFC. The #1 demographic for boxing is people over the age of 50. The UFC doesn't draw particularly well among 35-to-49-year-olds, much less people over the age of 50.

Labels: Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 12:04 AM

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Boxing--- RIP, Diego Corrales

As you may or may not have heard by now, Diego "Chico" Corrales died last night in a motorcycle accident in Las Vegas at the age of 29.

Corrales' boxing career provided fans with many memories that they will never forget, the apex of which was his May 7, 2005 fight against Jose Luis Castillo, which is widely regarded as one of the best boxing matches of all time, and is absolutely the best I've ever seen.

Corrales' performance in that fight was so courageous that coaches and trainers in various sports (in addition to boxing) have shown the fight to their players and teams before big events to inspire them and to remind them that they should never give up.

Here is a look back at a blog entry that I posted just a couple of hours after the legendary fight.

Originally Posted on May 8, 2005 at 1:09 AM:
If you don't think boxing is all that exciting and typically greet any mention of boxing by saying something like, "Boxing? Why do you watch boxing?" then I have a simple answer for you: Watch the replay of the just-completed match between Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo. It was a thrilling, action-packed fight that was filled with more real human drama than you will see on an entire season of highly-edited, movie-like, crowd-shot-happy "boxing" on NBC's The Contender.

Not only did it beat out the great fight between Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao earlier this year, but Corrales vs. Castillo was also the best boxing match thus far in 2005 by a wide margin. It was a back-and-forth fight with a lot of changes in momentum, along with a good mixture of strategy (should Corrales box from the outside or take big risks on the inside?) and all-out action. Both men fought through major adversity starting in the fifth round... Castillo with a cut over his left eye and Corrales with a giant hematoma directly under his left eye.

Through nine rounds of action, it was an extremely close fight. Both fighters were in excellent shape from a cardio standpoint and were ready to go three more rounds, but Corrales' eye in particular was swelling badly. Through nine rounds, I had the bout scored 5 rounds to 4 in favor of Castillo. Two of the three judges had Corrales ahead by a small margin, as did two of the three journalists on Showtime's Press Row. With no knockdowns having been scored yet, it was a very close fight that looked like it could easily swing in either direction in the last three rounds.

I don't think anyone, least of all the two fighters, could have expected what would happen next, as the tenth round was one of the most dramatic rounds of boxing you will ever see. Less than 30 seconds into the round, Castillo caught Corrales with a clean hook to the jaw that knocked Corrales down. The swelling around Corrales' left eye seemed to be getting worse, but he wasn't dazed by the knockdown and made it up before the ten-count.

Maybe 30 seconds after the action resumed, Corrales went down again when another punch landed cleanly on his face. He still didn't appear to be particularly dazed and made it up at the count of nine, but he had just gone down twice in a short period of time, and by this point his left eye was swollen almost completely shut. When the action resumed, the referee was watching very closely and was ready to stop the bout if needed, as everyone held their collective breath and waited for what appeared to be the inevitable. Jose Luis Castillo was going to knock out Diego Corrales, and Corrales' only chance was to somehow make it out of the round and hope to recover between rounds.

Instead, Corrales started trading punches with Castillo, and they were exchanging punches just about evenly. Corrales was holding his own and even wobbled Castillo briefly--- not something you'd expect from a fighter who had just been knocked down twice. Just when one started to think, "I can't believe Diego Corrales is still fighting," Corrales landed a huge right hand on Castillo, and Castillo was never the same after that. Castillo was dazed but still throwing punches with his back up against the ropes, until Corrales landed a sensational flurry of punches that reduced Castillo to essentially being out on his feet. Castillo was no longer defending himself and was taking unprotected blows to the head, so referee Tony Weeks had no choice but to jump in and stop the fight, giving Corrales the TKO victory.

As I said, it was one of the most dramatic rounds of boxing you will ever see. Both fighters showed nothing but class after the fight with their mutual respect for one another. The willingness of both fighters to take punishment in order to dish out punishment throughout the fight is the main factor that made this such a great fight, but a big part of the credit also has to go to referee Tony Weeks, who has also been the referee for some K-1 and MMA bouts.

Weeks showed great discretion and seemed to make the right decision on a lot of tough issues, especially in the climactic final rounds of the fight. When Castillo landed two consecutive low blows, Weeks did the right thing in giving Castillo a firm "final warning" before he would take a point away, and he also did the right thing in not taking a point away prematurely. When Corrales spit out his mouth-piece to buy a few precious seconds of time, Weeks did the right thing in warning Corrales the first time and taking a point away from Corrales the second time.

The most important decisions that Tony Weeks got right were the big ones for any ref--- when to stop the fight and when not to stop the fight. When Corrales was knocked down on two separate occasions, Weeks did the right thing by not stopping the fight prematurely, as he instead looked into Corrales' eyes, and accurately determined that he was not particularly dazed and was still able to continue fighting. When Castillo first looked dazed up against the ropes in the tenth round, Weeks did the right thing by staying back, letting the situation develop to see what would happen, and giving Castillo a chance to keep himself in the fight.

When Corrales landed an unanswered barrage of punches to Castillo's head, and it was clear that Castillo was out on his feet with his back up against the ropes, Weeks did the right thing and stopped the fight. I don't want to hear from even the most die-hard fan of Castillo that the fight was stopped too soon, because Corrales landed a half-dozen uncontested punches on Castillo's face at a point when Castillo was no longer defending himself and had his eyes rolled back in his head. Anyone who thinks that a fight should be allowed to continue under those circumstances--- with a fighter against the ropes, out on his feet, not defending himself, and taking uncontested blows to the head--- needs to watch the documentary "Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story" and then let me know if you still feel the same way.

Boxing is boxing, and MMA is MMA. In general, I find MMA to be a far more exciting sport than boxing. But it would be a big mistake for anyone to take that to mean that boxing doesn't also have its fair share of extremely exciting, dramatic, and memorable fights. Corrales vs. Castillo stands as proof of that.

Labels: Boxing

posted by Ivan Trembow at 10:07 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- UFC 70 to Air on Spike TV Instead of Pay-Per-View or HBO
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

With a star-studded line-up that includes top ten heavyweights Mirko Cro Cop, Andrei Arlovski, and Fabricio Werdum, the UFC's April 21st show in the United Kingdom is an event that many fans in the United States would have gladly bought on pay-per-view. Instead, due to an unforeseen chain of events, U.S. audiences will be able to watch the event for free on Spike TV.

The news, which was previously listed on MMAWeekly's Rumors page for UFC 70, has now been officially confirmed by the UFC.

Dana White, the president of UFC parent company Zuffa, previously said that UFC 70 was Zuffa's target date for the company's first show on HBO. Privately, negotiations have been ongoing between Zuffa and HBO, but a number of sticking points have kept the two sides from reaching an agreement in time for UFC 70 to air on HBO.

Zuffa could not air UFC 70 on HBO without having an HBO deal, and Zuffa also could not air UFC 70 on pay-per-view because all of the PPV advertising deadlines for an April 21st event have long since passed.

This sequence of events left Spike TV as the only logical option as the U.S. home for UFC 70. Spike TV was interested in broadcasting UFC 70 due to the strong ratings that it is sure to draw, and Zuffa was interested in airing the event on Spike TV not only because there wasn't much of a choice, but also because it will build some goodwill with fans.

Instead of airing live, the event will air in the United States on a tape delay and will begin airing on Saturday, April 21st at 9:00 PM (Eastern Time/Pacific Time).

The six-figure cost of broadcasting live in the United States from an event in Europe was ultimately deemed to not be worth the expense, particularly since the ratings are likely to be higher in primetime. Most UFC fans in the U.S. will not be aware that the event is taking place on Saturday afternoon.

The event could have aired live on Spike TV on Saturday afternoon and re-aired on Saturday evening in primetime (as is the case when HBO Boxing broadcasts an event from Europe), but instead it will air only in primetime.

The top four fights on the card are Mirko Cro Cop vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (with the winner fighting Randy Couture this summer), Andrei Arlovski vs. Fabricio Werdum, Ryoto Machida vs. David Heath, and Michael Bisping vs. Elvis Sinosic. All of those fights look excellent on paper, with the exception of the Bisping bout, as Sinosic has an MMA record of 8-9-2.

If there is a fifth fight on the live Spike TV broadcast, it would likely be Cheick Kongo's fight with Assuerio Silva. The complete line-up as it currently stands is listed at the end of this article.

Zuffa could have booked a United States pay-per-view date for UFC 70 while privately hoping to have reached a deal in time for the event to potentially air on HBO, as was the case with UFC 69. The fact that Zuffa never did book a U.S. PPV date for UFC 70 demonstrates how confident the company was that an HBO deal would be reached by this point.

Now, without a PPV date booked for UFC 70 and without an HBO deal in place, UFC 70 is set to air on Spike TV.

As a result, HBO has lost out on an event that would have likely garnered more interest than many of the lopsided boxing offerings that have aired on HBO recently, and Zuffa has lost out on millions of dollars in PPV revenue. The winner in this unusual chain of events is clearly the fans, who will be able to watch a PPV-quality event for free on Spike TV.

As for why Zuffa wasn't able to reach a deal with HBO in time for UFC 70 to be the company's first event on HBO, there have been a number of snags in the negotiations between the two sides.

Zuffa president Dana White has said consistently over the past eleven months that the UFC would be on HBO "very soon." However, while HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg has publicly said things like, "We're still measuring it, looking at it, and getting comfortable with the UFC" (which he recently said in an interview with trade journal MultiChannel News), Greenburg is said to be strongly against the UFC deal behind the scenes.

Acclaimed boxing writer Thomas Hauser wrote in an article on the Seconds Out web site in January that Greenburg had "opposed the UFC deal as vigorously as possible" and was doing "everything in his power not to televise mixed martial arts." In the same article, former HBO Sports president Seth Abraham actually compared MMA to "naked boxing." Abraham said that MMA would tarnish HBO's boxing heritage, a view that is shared by many people who still work at HBO Sports.

In an unprecedented move, HBO Chairman and CEO Chris Albrecht actually veto'd HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg and insisted that HBO would air MMA programming at some point, leaving Greenburg only to negotiate the details of such a deal. According to Hauser, this move "represented a marked shift in HBO's corporate culture... in the past, an HBO chief executive officer would not have ordered sports programming over the objection of the sports department."

Left only to come to terms on the details, some of the key disagreements between Zuffa and HBO Sports have been whose production crew will film the event, whose announcers will commentate on the event, and how those announcers will go about commentating on the event.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer recently summarized the dispute as follows: "HBO wants full control of the product, and to use its crew and its announcers and cover it like a network broadcast team would cover a major sporting event. UFC doesn't want to give up its control of the product, wants its own crew to film it, and wants to use its own announcers, who are closer to pro wrestling announcers whose role is to build up the product as opposed to providing detached, objective commentary."

UFC 70 Line-Up
-Mirko Cro Cop (#2 Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
-Andrei Arlovski (#7 Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Fabricio Werdum (#8 Heavyweight in the World)*
-Ryoto Machida vs. David Heath
-Michael Bisping vs. Elvis Sinosic
-Assuerio Silva vs. Cheick Kongo
-Dennis Siver vs. Jess Liaudin
-Alessio Sakara vs. Victor Valimaki
-Terry Etim vs. Matt Grice
-David Lee vs. TBA

* Based on MMAWeekly Rankings

Labels: Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 12:13 AM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- Tito Ortiz vs. UFC President (and now Professional Boxer) Dana White Sanctioned in Nevada
by Ken Pishna and Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

Dana White, President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, officially received his professional boxing license from the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Monday morning.

White was attemping to acquire such a license in order to fulfill a contractual promise that he made to professional MMA fighter Tito Ortiz when Ortiz re-signed with the UFC in 2006.

With the license in hand, White is now cleared to face Ortiz in an exhibition boxing match that will consist of three rounds of three minutes each. All of the standard ringside precautions will be taken, and the bout will take place under the auspices of a professional boxing referee, although there will be no judges or scoring of rounds due to the bout's exhibition status.

The bout is scheduled to take place on March 24th and will not be open to the public. There are plans to air the bout on UFC.com (though not live), with the majority of the financial proceeds going to charity. There will also be a documentary about Ortiz and White's training for the bout on Spike TV.

White received his license following a 3-1 vote by the NSAC to approve him. The lone dissenting vote was from Dr. Raymond “Skip” Avansino, Jr. who after much discussion said that he could not justify granting a license to an 0-0 professional boxer to face a fighter with as much experience as Tito Ortiz, albeit as a mixed martial artist and not as a professional boxer.

At one point, White did say that he was doing this because he wanted to live up to the word that he gave when he promised the bout to Ortiz. Reassuring the commission, he said, “Believe me, if I thought I was going to get seriously injured… I wouldn’t do it.”

UFC Chief Operating Officer Kirk Hendrick also spoke on behalf of White, saying that he really has been training for this and is taking it seriously. “This is not WWE wrestling. This is not Vince McMahon getting in the ring. We’re taking this seriously,” said Hendrick, addressing another concern of Avansino’s that this was some sort of “publicity event.”

At one point, when Dr. Avansino was saying that he couldn't justify voting in favor of granting White a license to fight Ortiz because he felt it was a mismatch in favor of Ortiz, Hendrick said that if anything it would be a mismatch in favor of White. Hendrick said to the athletic commission that White used to "dominate" Ortiz when they would spar together.

White was an amateur boxer from the ages of 17 to 24 (which would be 1988 to 1995) before turning to managing fighters and then to his current position as president of Zuffa, which is now the most successful mixed martial arts company in the United States, if not the world.

In the end, the argument for the bout to take place won out, and the 3-1 vote was cast in favor of newly licensed professional boxer Dana White.

White said towards the end of the meeting, "Believe me, I'm never going to fight again after this."

Labels: Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 12:45 AM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- UFC's Relationship with HBO Continues to Evolve
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

An article by the Associated Press has addressed the issue of the UFC's relationship with HBO Sports, and the Wrestling Observer recently reported on some of the points of contention between the two companies as well.

Zuffa has been in negotiations to air UFC programming on HBO for quite some time. Any potential deal with HBO would not conflict with Zuffa's Spike TV deal. Zuffa's deal with Spike TV is an exclusive basic cable deal, but Spike's exclusivity does not cover premium cable (like HBO and Showtime) or broadcast television (CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, MyNetworkTV, and The CW Network).

The Associated Press report said, "[HBO executive Mark] Taffet said he isn't worried about UFC's rise. The two companies are negotiating over HBO possibly airing a UFC fight. However, there are questions about which company will produce the fight and who will call it — along with some hard feelings. One of HBO's most well-known ringside announcers is Jim Lampley, who has bashed the sport of mixed martial arts and the UFC."

In addition, HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg recently told MultiChannel News, "We're still measuring it, looking at it, and getting comfortable with the UFC."

The Wrestling Observer has elaborated on the status of the negotiations between Zuffa and HBO, specifically focusing on the disagreements over control, production crews, and announcers.

The Observer reported, "HBO wants full control of the product, and to use its crew and its announcers and cover it like a network broadcast team would cover a major sporting event. UFC doesn't want to give up its control of the product, wants its own crew to film it, and wants to use its own announcers, who are closer to pro wrestling announcers whose role is to build up the product as opposed to providing detached, objective commentary."

The Observer added that there are two factors that have made a UFC-HBO deal more likely to happen than it was a few months ago, with the April 21st show from England being the UFC's target date for its HBO debut.

One factor is that with Showtime having aired the first MMA event on premium cable (EliteXC), and with the event being internally considered a ratings success by premium cable standards, it has led to "both parties [HBO and Zuffa] wanting to get in the game now and speed up working through whatever problems might be there."

The other factor that makes a UFC-HBO deal more likely to happen is the fact that if Zuffa does not agree to a deal on HBO's terms, HBO could easily find other MMA promotions that would agree to its terms.

So, even if the terms of the deal are not favorable, Zuffa might still want to sign with HBO, if for no other reason than to prevent any other MMA promotion from signing a deal with HBO. This scenario is not as far-fetched as it might seem at first glance. The Observer previously reported that the IFL had been in negotiations for a national TV deal with the Versus Network when Zuffa bought the WEC and got it a deal to be the exclusive MMA partner of the Versus Network. (This was before the IFL struck a deal with MyNetworkTV.)

Zuffa president Dana White has said consistently over the past year that the UFC would be on HBO "very soon." This has been said as recently as this past week and as far back as April 2006, when White first mentioned HBO during a radio interview on 1140 KHTK in Sacramento.

An article in January on the boxing web site Seconds Out reported that HBO Sports did not want to air MMA programming at all, specifically saying that HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg had "opposed the UFC deal as vigorously as possible" and was doing "everything in his power not to televise mixed martial arts."

Seconds Out feature writer Thomas Hauser wrote that HBO Chairman and CEO Chris Albrecht, in an unprecedented move, actually veto'd Greenburg and insisted that HBO would air MMA programming, leaving Greenburg only to negotiate the details of such a deal.

The Seconds Out article added that the veto from Albrecht "represented a marked shift in HBO's corporate culture... in the past, an HBO chief executive officer would not have ordered sports programming over the objection of the sports department."

Greenburg was quoted on the record in the Seconds Out article as saying, "I wouldn't say that I’m a big fan of UFC... but when I started at HBO, I wasn’t a big fan of boxing, either. I recognize the fact that UFC appeals to a fan base and demographic that boxing doesn’t have right now."

Seth Abraham, who was the president of HBO Sports before Greenburg, went on a now-infamous tirade in the article, and his rather outlandish statements about MMA are said to represent the opinions of some of the hard-liners who, unlike Abraham, still work at HBO Sports.

Abraham said, "I think it's ridiculous for HBO to televise UFC. When I was at HBO, we had discussions once or twice a year about professional wrestling. We all agreed that it would get good ratings, and we also agreed that it would tarnish our boxing franchise. I feel the same way about UFC. Boxing has a storied history. When HBO attaches itself to boxing, it attaches itself to Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Muhammad Ali. It attaches itself to history, achievement, and glory. UFC has none of those things, and it will tarnish HBO's boxing franchise. Will UFC get good ratings? Probably, but so would naked boxing."

Labels: Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 12:12 AM

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Mixed Martial Arts--- HBO Boxing's Jim Lampley Arrested for Domestic Abuse
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

Longtime HBO Boxing play-by-play announcer Jim Lampley was arrested late last week and charged with domestic abuse. The 57-year-old Lampley now faces a felony charge of domestic abuse/corporal injury and two misdemeanor counts of violating a restraining order and dissuading a witness.

San Diego County Sheriff's Captain Glenn Revell told the Associated Press, "The circumstances are that there was an altercation between Mr. Lampley and a 28-year-old female with whom he reportedly has a dating relationship."

The woman in question is 28-year-old Candice Sanders, who won the Miss California USA pageant in 2003. Sanders alleges multiple cases of assault and further claimed that Lampley was drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana prior to the most recent incident, which was allegedly witnessed by Lampley's 14-year-old son.

Lampley was released from police custody after posting $35,000 in bail. Lampley's public relations representative, Howard Bragman, released a statement in which Lampley said, "I am innocent of the charge of domestic abuse that has been leveled against me and will vigorously defend myself. I'm confident that the process will prove that I'm not guilty of this charge. I thank my friends and family for their support during this difficult time, and ask for the understanding and patience from the media until my legal situation allows me to discuss this in more depth."

Lampley drew the ire of MMA fans last summer when he said on Jim Rome's radio show that UFC events are nothing more than bar fights and that MMA fighters are "not athletes." Lampley also said at the time that any of the top fighters from the UFC or K-1 would lose very quickly to a top boxer, and that the UFC "will never be bigger than boxing."

HBO has not yet made any public comment on Lampley's status as HBO Boxing's play-by-play announcer. The next HBO broadcast on which Lampley would be an announcer is scheduled for January 20th.

Labels: Boxing

posted by Ivan Trembow at 11:48 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts and Boxing--- HBO Boxing's Jim Lampley Bashes MMA
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

The voice of HBO Boxing, Jim Lampley, bashed the sport of MMA earlier this month during his guest-hosting gig on Jim Rome's show.

While UFC president Dana White continues to say, as recently as earlier this month in the Washington Post, that the UFC is "coming soon" to HBO, it seems pretty clear that Lampley does not approve and will not be rolling out the welcome mat when or if the UFC does sign with HBO.

Lampley said that while boxing is a real sport, UFC events are nothing more than a bunch of bar fights. Lampley showed no respect for MMA or its competitors, even saying that MMA fighters are "not athletes."

Mixed martial arts and the UFC were repeatedly referred to as "no-holds-barred fighting" by Lampley, even though that hasn't been true since 1994. He apparently didn't even get the proverbial memo about how Zuffa added all of the rules in 2001.

Lampley went on to say that any of the top fighters from the UFC or K-1 would lose very quickly to a top boxer. That may be true in a boxing match, but it would certainly not be true in an MMA fight.

Even if an MMA fighter did beat a top boxer in an MMA fight, Lampley said it would "mean nothing" because "it's a bar fight," and he could go to a bar at any time if he wanted to see a bar fight.

Regarding the popularity of MMA in the United States, Lampley said that the UFC will never be bigger than boxing, which is already a factually incorrect statement when it comes to TV ratings and all but the biggest boxing pay-per-views.

Lampley, who has come under fire from some boxing fans in the past for "cheerleading" the HBO-backed fighter in many major boxing matches, is not exactly Mr. Credibility, so his comments should not come as much of a surprise. As the long-time play-by-play man for HBO Boxing, Lampley is also a major player in the old-school boxing crowd, the majority of which feels very threatened by MMA as it continues to chip away at boxing's audience.

Labels: Boxing

posted by Ivan Trembow at 4:42 PM

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Boxing--- Now that Ricky Hatton has beaten Kostya Tszyu, and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. has beaten Arturo Gatti, there has been a lot of talk in the boxing world about a potential showdown for supremacy in boxing's deepest weight class between Hatton and Mayweather. However, I just don't see that fight being as competitive as many people seem to think it would be.

While Hatton did look very impressive in his recent TKO win over long-time junior-welterweight king Kostya Tszyu, I still think Hatton would only be slightly more likely to beat Mayweather than Gatti would be on any given night... which is to say, not very likely.

First of all, is Hatton even willing to fight anyone outside of his hometown setting, ever? We haven't seen him do it yet, and it's hard to imagine Hatton going to someone else's hometown and beating him the way Mayweather did against Gatti, or the way Tszyu attempted to do against Hatton. Hatton can talk about wanting to fight in the US, but in boxing it's not a reality until it actually happens.

Also, while a win over Kostya Tszyu is impressive under any circumstances, the reality of the situation (if anyone wants to say it out loud instead of just thinking it) is that Hatton vs. Tszyu wasn't so much a boxing match as it was a Greco-Roman wrestling match with punching allowed. Throwing punches from the clinch, or while entering or leaving the clinch, is an accepted part of boxing, but it was taken to ridiculous proportions in the Hatton-Tszyu fight.

Punches being thrown while one or more boxers' arms were tied up wasn't just an occasional thing that happened and was tolerated, as it normally is in boxing. It was how the majority of punches in the fight were landed. Seriously, I defy anyone to show me any continuous 60-second period in the Hatton-Tszyu fight where one of the fighters doesn't land an illegal punch from the clinch while one or both of their opponents' arms are tied up. You can't do it, because it was a non-stop occurrence throughout the whole fight.

Still, that's not Ricky Hatton's fault. It's the referee's fault for not doing his job and enforcing the rules of boxing. Also, there's no way to say for sure whether an abundance of clinch-fighting would necessarily favor Hatton or Tszyu, and in any case, one can at least say that the enforcement of the rule (or lack thereof) was applied equally to both fighters. It wasn't like it was only Ricky Hatton doing it, or only Ricky Hatton getting away with it.

It's just a simple fact that boxers are going to throw punches from the clinch, and if the referee doesn't do his job and put a stop to that kind of thing, they're going to keep doing it. If the ref never makes any effort to put a stop to it, it's going to turn into a Greco-Roman situation as it did in the Hatton-Tszyu fight, where literally the majority of the punches in the fight were landed from the clinch.

Don't get me wrong, none of this changes the fact that Ricky Hatton beat Kostya Tszyu. It doesn't take away from the fact that Hatton showed a great chin by absorbing Tszyu's powerful right hands, which many people didn't think he could do. It doesn't take away from the fact that Hatton showed amazing stamina by staying on the offensive for as long as he did.

All it does is establish that the Hatton vs. Tszyu fight was not fought under normal boxing rules, and one has to think that if a Mayweather vs. Hatton fight were to happen, the boxers would actually be forced to fight under the rules of boxing, provided that the same incompetent, semi-conscious referee doesn't get assigned to the fight.

Labels: Boxing

posted by Ivan Trembow at 11:07 PM

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Boxing--- The crowd in Atlantic City, New Jersey hated Floyd Mayweather, Jr. with a passion before his fight with hometown favorite Arturo Gatti on Saturday night, but somewhere around the middle of the fight, that hatred turned into respectful silence and an unspoken sense of awe. If Gatti was the boxing hero of the Atlantic City crowd, Mayweather seemed downright superhuman by comparison with his extremely lopsided TKO victory over Gatti.

Though it's tempting for many people to bury a fighter right after a big loss, especially a one-sided loss, the fact remains that Arturo Gatti is a great fighter. He's not a bum, as many people with knee-jerk reactions are now suggesting. He's a great fighter who was just completely out-classed by a far greater fighter. In dominating Gatti the way he did, Mayweather didn't just "beat a bum who isn't that good anyway."

Despite all of Mayweather's pre-fight trash-talking about Gatti, you could tell that Mayweather really did respect Gatti as a fighter and understood the gravity of what he had just accomplished when he fell to his knees and had an emotional celebration right after the fight was stopped.

As MaxBoxing's Thomas Gerbasi wrote after the fight, "Arturo Gatti has unquestionably been the most popular fighter of this era," but after Saturday night's fight, "Floyd Mayweather, Jr. left no doubt that he is the best fighter of this era." There is a difference between those two places in the boxing hierarchy, and Mayweather's performance reminded everyone of what that difference is.

Substance Beats Style as Mayweather Joins Hopkins and Wright with Victories over Boxing Superstars
As I've said before, I tend to prefer substance over style in sports, particularly in boxing. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the "popular, exciting fighter with the huge fanbase" as much as the next guy, but there's just something more appealing to me about the "under-appreciated, superior fighter who is one of the best in the world and doesn't get his fair share of recognition."

In the past twelve months, it has been rewarding to watch three of the best boxers in the history of the sport finally get their due on a national mega-fight, pay-per-view stage, and to see each of them get that recognition by defeating three boxers who were at the very least over-appreciated, and at the most over-rated. First we saw Bernard Hopkins finally get the respect that he deserves from the legions of Oscar De La Hoya fans when Hopkins dominated De La Hoya last summer. Then just last month, the flashy and extremely popular Felix Trinidad got completely shut out by the far superior Winky Wright (which I wrote about here). And now we've seen Arturo Gatti's loyal fans stunned into silence by the superior boxing skill of Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

How Mayweather Sets Himself Apart From the Dominance of Hopkins and Wright
All three of those fights were dominant performances by superior boxers, but there's something that sets the Mayweather-Gatti fight apart from the other two fights. Bernard Hopkins did indeed dominate Oscar De La Hoya, but no one is going to argue that it was among the most one-sided fights in boxing history. Winky Wright's victory over Felix Trinidad was one of the more dominant performances you'll ever see, but one could still say that it was accomplished primarily on a tactical level and that it didn't have as much of the visceral edge that many boxing fans need to see in order to understand what a dominant performance they just witnessed.

On the other hand, in the whole style vs. substance discussion, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. has both the style and the substance. Mayweather not only dominated Gatti from a tactical standpoint on Saturday night, but to be blunt he also just plain beat the crap out of Gatti. As dominant as Hopkins and Wright were in their fights against Da La Hoya and Trinidad, you can't really say that they beat the stuffing out of De La Hoya and Trinidad in the way that Mayweather beat the stuffing out of Gatti. In addition to being a showcase of technical brilliance, Mayweather vs. Gatti was also a vicious beating in a "Raging Bull," Sugar Ray Robinson vs. Jake LaMotta kind of way.

What was so beautiful about Mayweather's performance is that he not only landed tons of clean body and head shots to elicit the ooh's and aah's from the crowd; he not only thoroughly out-slugged one of the best sluggers in the game; but he also dominated the fight from a tactical standpoint at the same time. Yes, Mayweather beat the stuffing out of Gatti, but he set it up with the constant use of one of the best jabs in the sport.

The Most Important Factor: Freakish Speed on Both Offense and Defense
Even more than the jab, the main factor that prevented Gatti from landing a single significant punch in the entire fight was Mayweather's almost freakish speed. Mayweather has superhuman reflexes with his defensive upper body and head movements, in addition to superhuman hand speed with his punches, and that's a nasty combination for anyone to go up against.

So, not only could Mayweather get completely out of the path of any Gatti punch before the punch was even there, but in the time it would take Gatti to brace himself for the counter-punch, Mayweather would have already landed a three-punch combo in retaliation. Five- and six-punch combos from Mayweather were not rare in this fight, and they were delivered at the speed of most other boxers' two- or three-punch combos. During one particular exchange, I counted what I believe to be a nine-punch combo that landed for Mayweather in a span of two to three seconds. As Gatti said after the fight, "It was the speed... he was too f---ing fast."

Gatti's Corner Does the Right Thing and Stops the Fight
It was apparent almost from the first few exchanges that Gatti was not in Mayweather's league and was going to have an extremely hard time beating him. The only question was whether Mayweather would get tired from throwing (and landing) so many punches, but as the HBO commentators pointed out, this is a guy who spars 10-15 minute rounds in training, so it wasn't likely that he was going to get tired anytime soon.

In the sixth round, it became all the more clear that the fight was a lost cause for Gatti, as he was no longer able to intelligently defend himself, and his eyes were starting to swell shut from the sheer amount of punishment he had taken. Gatti's head trainer Buddy McGirt knew that the fight needed to be stopped after the sixth round and wasn't about to send Gatti out to take more punishment, which can result in serious injury or death in boxing. Even as Gatti continued to show the heart of a champion that has made fans love him, asking McGirt to give him one more round, McGirt did the right thing and stopped the fight as he told Gatti, "I'm stopping it... I'm stopping it... no more, your eyes are swelling shut... we've got to stop it."

It's nice to see a corner in boxing that's not full of slimeballs, which is just the opposite of the despicable display from several of Mike Tyson's cornermen in Tyson's last fight when it was clear that the fight needed to be stopped (which I wrote about here).

A Great Addition to the HBO Announcing Team
Max Kellerman made his debut with HBO as a top-level analyst working alongside Bob Costas, while the fights themselves were still called by Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant, and Roy Jones, Jr. Kellerman was as insightful as always and was a breath of fresh air to the broadcast. The person who normally works alongside Costas on HBO pay-per-views, Emanuel Steward, wasn't on the broadcast team on this particular night because he is the head trainer of Vivian Harris, who was fighting on the card (Steward is also the trainer of the Klitschko brothers). Steward is very good as a broadcaster as well, and I hope that HBO can have Costas, Kellerman, and Steward all on the air together for future boxing broadcasts.

Vivian Harris' Shocking Loss in the Semi-Main Event
Unfortunately for Steward, his fighter Vivian Harris came into his second-from-the-top fight with an overconfident and arrogant attitude. Harris is a boxer who is constantly lauded by boxing pundits as someone who is underrated and can't get any of the top fighters to fight him, but he didn't do himself any favors with his performance on Saturday night.

It was clear that Harris completely overlooked his opponent, Carlos Maussa. Harris clearly thought he would have no problem plowing right through Maussa with a reckless, balls-to-the-wall, all-offense style, and he did have Maussa hurt in the first two minutes of the fight, before Maussa turned it around and almost finished Harris in the last minute of the first round. I might understand pride getting the best of someone at the beginning of a fight, especially when they're heavily favored to win as Harris was in this case. However, it's harder to explain the fact that even after Maussa almost finished Harris at the end of the first round, Harris still went with a reckless, haymaker-happy strategy for several more rounds instead of reverting to the more traditional boxing style that has given him so much success in his career.

In addition to being arrogant and underestimating his opponent, Harris also appeared unwilling to listen to his corner's pleadings to slow down and stop fighting so recklessly. He almost seemed defiant, wanting to disagree with anything Emanuel Steward had to say, just for the sake of disagreeing. After the sixth round came to a close and Steward asked Harris to sit down on the stool in the corner, as every corner-man asks after every round, Harris defiantly said, "No, I don't want to sit down!" and gave Steward a smart-ass look. Steward looked frustrated and said, "You gotta start listening to me at some point, because you're losing the fight."

Harris remained defiant and still seemed to be blowing off anything that was said by any of his corner-men before the seventh round. Then in the seventh round, having wasted so much of his energy in previous rounds with his reckless offense, Harris let his guard down and got caught with a perfect hook to the chin that gave Maussa the knockout victory.

When it comes to upsets in boxing, this could be a case study: Anatomy of an Upset. Favored boxer comes in cocky and overconfident; favored boxer tries to plow right through underdog opponent; underdog opponent withstands early storm and takes control of the fight from increasingly frustrated favored boxer; underdog opponent eventually catches favored boxer with his guard down and knocks him out. That's practically the template for a big upset in boxing, and it describes Harris vs. Maussa to a tee.

At the same time, Carlos Maussa' victory over Vivian Harris wasn't just about Harris' arrogance and mental breakdown over the course of the fight. It was also the result of Maussa having a lot of heart and a great chin, as he had to absorb an insane amount of clean punches to the head in order to survive the early storm. In fact, it was Maussa's willingness to take punishment, and the fact that he was able to take it without going down, that helped lull Harris into a slugfest that was outside of his normal fighting style.

While everything I wrote about the "Anatomy of an Upset" in boxing applies to Harris vs. Maussa, in this particular case Harris would have still won the fight if everything had been exactly the same, except Maussa didn't have an amazing chin. Unfortunately for Harris, Maussa did have an amazing chin, and Harris was forced to pay the price for his arrogance.

Labels: Boxing

posted by Ivan Trembow at 1:34 AM

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Boxing--- The legendary career of Mike Tyson appeared to come to an end tonight, as he lost by sixth round TKO to journeyman fighter Kevin McBride and then announced his retirement from boxing. It was a memorable night and a sad finish to one of the most thrilling and controversial careers in the history of boxing. While it's true that athletes regularly come of retirement, especially in boxing, Tyson came across in every post-fight interview as confident and certain with his decision to retire as anyone I've ever seen.

The Fight, and the Post-Fight Interview
Through five rounds, Tyson vs. McBride was a close fight in which the ferocity of the old Mike Tyson was not present. McBride took a lot of hard shots to the body during the fight, and Tyson took a lot of hard shots to the head. Tyson was ahead on the scorecards going into the sixth round, but he got rocked by an uppercut in the last twenty seconds of the sixth round and was never the same after that. Even before the uppercut, he appeared to be physically hurt and emotionally finished, and the uppercut just sealed the deal.

The closing seconds of the sixth round saw McBride push Tyson to the canvas, which was correctly not ruled a knockdown. Tyson looked dazed and had the look of someone who didn't want to continue, as he struggled to his feet. He staggered back to his corner with a very distant, glassy look in his eyes, and sat down on the stool. Several of Tyson's cornerman then had a heated verbal exchange with each other (more on that in a moment), before the head trainer ultimately asked the referee to stop the fight.

As he announced his retirement during an in-ring interview with Jim Gray after the fight, Tyson said, "I realized early into the fight that I don't have it anymore. I don't have my heart anymore. I was just fighting to take care of my bills. I don't have the stomach for this anymore. I don't have that ferocity anymore. I don't love this anymore."

When asked by Jim Gray what his future holds, Tyson said, "I do not have the guts to be in this sport anymore, and I don't want to disrespect the sport that I love by continuing to fight like this. My heart is not into this anymore. I'm sorry for the fans. I wish I could have done better. I want to move on with my life. It's time to move on with my life and be a father, take care of my children."

Repulsive Display from Tyson's Corner
The argument among Tyson's cornermen in the closing moments of the Tyson-McBride fight only serves to further illustrate that the best thing for Mike Tyson's life is to get as far away from boxing as possible. It's the entourage of people surrounding him, leeching off of him, who helped rack up his huge debt and continued to treat him like a piece of property that exists for them to profit from, right up until the very end. Tyson's best shot at being alive ten years from now is to get far, far away from the kind of people who were screaming in his corner right before the fight was stopped.

You see, as Mike Tyson was sitting on the stool in the corner after the sixth round, having taken a lot of clean shots to the head, in a dazed state, and clearly looking like he didn't want to continue, the instant replay on the pay-per-view broadcast with amplified audio was able to clearly and sickeningly reveal that everyone in his corner except the head trainer was actually yelling at the head trainer to NOT stop the fight.

They were yelling at the head trainer to ignore anything Tyson may have to say, and send him out there for the seventh round even though he would be out on his feet. They were yelling at the head trainer to "leave him alone," meaning don't talk to him and find out what he has to say, and hopefully he will go out for the seventh round just out of pride.

If you rewind through the magic of TIVO and listen carefully, the actual quotes are as follows, with the assistant cornermen yelling the following at the head cornerman: "Come on, come on, leave him alone! Leave him the f--k alone! Just leave him alone! Come on, don't f--k with me! Leave him the f---k alone!"

Fortunately, the head trainer, longtime Tyson friend Jeff Fenech, wasn't willing to send a fighter out for another round who was in no condition to continue, and might have been seriously injured if he had continued.

In the face of all the leeches in the corner yelling at him to send Tyson out for the seventh round at all costs, Fenech showed that he has a spine in his back and a heart in his chest, as he yelled back at them, "I'm the f---ing boss!" essentially telling them to shut up, before he informed the referee that the fight had to be stopped.

Being a "Quitter" in Boxing, and Retiring as a Shell of Your Former Self
I've already seen a lot of knee-jerk reactionary talk on the Internet, branding Tyson as someone who will be remembered as a "no-good quitter" and acting as though it's disgraceful for a boxer to ever quit during a fight. Ten or twenty years from now, people are not going to remember Tyson quitting in this fight and think of his career as a disgrace because of that. Is Roberto Duran a disgrace for the infamous "No mas" episode? Is Kostya Tszyu a disgrace for just last week saying that he had enough before the 12th round in his fight against Ricky Hatton? I don't think so.

Furthermore, it is downright ridiculous for anyone say that a boxer should never quit, given the fact that countless boxers have died over the years from brain injuries that were suffered during fights. For any boxing fan who thinks that a dazed and disoriented fighter (as Tyson was) doesn't have the right to not go out for the next round, you need a serious reality check of how dangerous boxing can really be.

The online database of boxing deaths lists 1,255 deaths that have been documented from 2005 going all the way back to the year 1741, including 53 deaths in the past five years. In addition to people who have died, there are countless others with mild brain damage, or severe brain damage, or who are in a coma. Just a few weeks ago on a fight card in Los Angeles, a boxer named Ruben Contreras suffered head trauma, had to have emergency brain surgery in order to save his life, and is still in a coma.

There's no doubt Tyson is leaving the sport of boxing as a shell of his former self, but that's really the norm in boxing instead of the exception. It's incredibly common for a legendary boxer to lose fights to sub-par boxers at the end of his career. That includes the Greatest of All Time, Muhammad Ali, who is so respected and worshipped, as he should be and as he was during his appearance on this very broadcast. That includes Sugar Ray Leonard, who actually retired a grand total of seven times according to PTI's count. That includes almost every single heavyweight champion in the history of the sport, with Rocky Marciano being one of the only exceptions. A former champion retiring as a shell of his former self is nothing new in boxing.

Post-Fight Press Conference Proves to be Very Revealing
There are two sides to Mike Tyson. There's the entertaining, crazy side that exists to create hype for pending fights and to satisfy the media and public demand for that side of him, as we saw earlier this week at the pre-fight press conference for this fight. Then there's the articulate, intelligent, student of the game who knows as much about boxing history as anyone, and who is actually a quiet and reserved person most of the time. You saw that side of Mike Tyson if you saw the week he co-hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live, and you can often see that side of Mike Tyson immediately after a boxing match, when there is no "next big fight" to promote.

Without boxing as something to focus on, Tyson's life could easily spiral out of control and come to a tragic end, but at the post-fight press conference, he appeared to be more at peace with himself and more intent on doing something with his future than he has been in a long time. This was definitely the articulate, intelligent Mike Tyson, as he reflected on his life, talked about the overseas missionary work that he sees as his future, and seemed even more certain than he did in the Jim Gray interview about his lack of a future in boxing.

At the post-fight press conference, which was broadcast on ESPN News, Tyson said, "There's nothing that can happen that hasn't already happened to me in my life... I could just keep on fighting or be a boxing broadcaster and have people compliment me and all that, but I'm not really contributing anything. I'm not doing anything for anybody, I'm not helping anybody. I feel like I need to do something where I'm helping people who desperately need help, just some kind of contribution in this world.... I could help children in the inner cities in America, but that would still be dictated by the media and I understand the stigma that I have in this country... I need to go to other places in the world like Bosnia or Rwanda where I've talked to some missionary organizations that would be willing to have me work for them, and I need to help people, doing the missionary work, in any way that I can."

The assembled members of the media gave Tyson a standing ovation at the post-fight press conference, even as he told them to sit down because he didn't know how to react emotionally to any "swan song." Through the highs and the lows, Mike Tyson has provided boxing fans with a lot of thrills and entertainment over the past two decades. If this was indeed his last fight, we as boxing fans should wish him the best in his life after boxing, and should hope that he finds meaning, purpose, and happiness in the missionary work that he seems to be genuinely anticipating.

Labels: Boxing

posted by Ivan Trembow at 11:57 PM

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Boxing--- It wasn't as exciting as last week's fight between Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo, but Saturday's fight between Ronald "Winky" Wright and Felix "Tito" Trinidad was one of the more remarkable things you'll ever see in boxing, as Winky pitched a complete shut-out. It was Trinidad's second comeback fight , with the first being a spectacular KO win over Ricardo Mayorga, and it could very well be his last fight.

ESPN.com's Dan Rafael compared it to the 49ers crushing the Broncos in the Super Bowl years ago by the score of 55 to 10, but it would be hard to think of how Trinidad figuratively scored 10 points in this fight. Trinidad only landed 58 punches in the entire fight (compared to Wright's 262 punches landed), and you could count on one hand the number of those Trinidad punches that landed cleanly without being at least partially blocked.

Call me old fashioned, but I tend to prefer substance over style in sports, and it doesn't get much better than Winky Wright when it comes to substance. Just as when he fought Shane Mosley last year, Wright went into this fight as the betting underdog, against a much flashier and bigger-name opponent. And just as he did against Mosley in two different fights last year, Wright completely dominated his opponent. As the HBO announcers pointed out during the fight, Wright's style is focused on throwing shorter, quicker punches that leave him in a better position to defend. Trinidad was never able to get past Wright's stiff jab, his incredible defense, and his superior poise in the ring.

Wright stayed calm and consistent throughout the entire fight, just as he always does, as he constantly and repeatedly imposed his will on Trinidad by punching him right in the face. Trinidad could see most of the punches coming and simply couldn't do anything about it, while about two dozen punches during the fight caught Trinidad by surprise and caused his head to buckle backwards.

While Wright had a solid gameplan that he stuck to and executed to perfection, Trinidad was like a deer in the headlights. It was clear from the beginning of the fight that Trinidad figured he would just plow over Wright and overwhelm him with power. When Trinidad couldn't even reach Wright's head, much less hurt it, there was no Plan B. Trinidad simply tried in vain for the rest of the fight to land a one-punch knockout that never came. I'd be willing to bet that Wright had a "Plan B" that he could have gone to if Plan A hadn't worked out so well.

At this point, Trinidad has a rematch clause that he can activate if he so chooses, but as HBO's Larry Merchant asked, "Why would he want to?" Even if Trinidad came into a potential rematch with a less arrogant gameplan, you'll find very few boxing experts who think that a second Wright-Trinidad fight would play out any differently.

The same was true with Shane Mosley after his first fight with Winky Wright, and he eventually took a rematch only because there was no other fight for him to take. The same might happen in Trinidad's case (with the same result as Wright vs. Mosley II), or he might call it a career and retire again. In any case, it's about damn time that Winky Wright gets the respect that he deserves as one of the best boxers in the world. Wright had already earned that distinction over the course of his career, and he earned it all over again with his domination of Felix Trinidad.

Labels: Boxing

posted by Ivan Trembow at 10:29 AM

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Boxing--- If you don't think boxing is all that exciting and typically greet any mention of boxing by saying something like, "Boxing? Why do you watch boxing?" then I have a simple answer for you: Watch the replay of the just-completed match between Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo. It was a thrilling, action-packed fight that was filled with more real human drama than you will see on an entire season of highly-edited, movie-like, crowd-shot-happy "boxing" on NBC's The Contender.

Not only did it beat out the great fight between Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao earlier this year, but Corrales vs. Castillo was also the best boxing match thus far in 2005 by a wide margin. It was a back-and-forth fight with a lot of changes in momentum, along with a good mixture of strategy (should Corrales box from the outside or take big risks on the inside?) and all-out action. Both men fought through major adversity starting in the fifth round... Castillo with a cut over his left eye and Corrales with a giant hematoma directly under his left eye.

Through nine rounds of action, it was an extremely close fight. Both fighters were in excellent shape from a cardio standpoint and were ready to go three more rounds, but Corrales' eye in particular was swelling badly. Through nine rounds, I had the bout scored 5 rounds to 4 in favor of Castillo. Two of the three judges had Corrales ahead by a small margin, as did two of the three journalists on Showtime's Press Row. With no knockdowns having been scored yet, it was a very close fight that looked like it could easily swing in either direction in the last three rounds.

I don't think anyone, least of all the two fighters, could have expected what would happen next, as the tenth round was one of the most dramatic rounds of boxing you will ever see. Less than 30 seconds into the round, Castillo caught Corrales with a clean hook to the jaw that knocked Corrales down. The swelling around Corrales' left eye seemed to be getting worse, but he wasn't dazed by the knockdown and made it up before the ten-count.

Maybe 30 seconds after the action resumed, Corrales went down again when another punch landed cleanly on his face. He still didn't appear to be particularly dazed and made it up at the count of nine, but he had just gone down twice in a short period of time, and by this point his left eye was swollen almost completely shut. When the action resumed, the referee was watching very closely and was ready to stop the bout if needed, as everyone held their collective breath and waited for what appeared to be the inevitable. Jose Luis Castillo was going to knock out Diego Corrales, and Corrales' only chance was to somehow make it out of the round and hope to recover between rounds.

Instead, Corrales started trading punches with Castillo, and they were exchanging punches just about evenly. Corrales was holding his own and even wobbled Castillo briefly--- not something you'd expect from a fighter who had just been knocked down twice. Just when one started to think, "I can't believe Diego Corrales is still fighting," Corrales landed a huge right hand on Castillo, and Castillo was never the same after that. Castillo was dazed but still throwing punches with his back up against the ropes, until Corrales landed a sensational flurry of punches that reduced Castillo to essentially being out on his feet. Castillo was no longer defending himself and was taking unprotected blows to the head, so referee Tony Weeks had no choice but to jump in and stop the fight, giving Corrales the TKO victory.

As I said, it was one of the most dramatic rounds of boxing you will ever see. Both fighters showed nothing but class after the fight with their mutual respect for one another. The willingness of both fighters to take punishment in order to dish out punishment throughout the fight is the main factor that made this such a great fight, but a big part of the credit also has to go to referee Tony Weeks, who has also been the referee for some K-1 and MMA bouts.

Weeks showed great discretion and seemed to make the right decision on a lot of tough issues, especially in the climactic final rounds of the fight. When Castillo landed two consecutive low blows, Weeks did the right thing in giving Castillo a firm "final warning" before he would take a point away, and he also did the right thing in not taking a point away prematurely. When Corrales spit out his mouth-piece to buy a few precious seconds of time, Weeks did the right thing in warning Corrales the first time and taking a point away from Corrales the second time.

The most important decisions that Tony Weeks got right were the big ones for any ref--- when to stop the fight and when not to stop the fight. When Corrales was knocked down on two separate occasions, Weeks did the right thing by not stopping the fight prematurely, as he instead looked into Corrales' eyes, and accurately determined that he was not particularly dazed and was still able to continue fighting. When Castillo first looked dazed up against the ropes in the tenth round, Weeks did the right thing by staying back, letting the situation develop to see what would happen, and giving Castillo a chance to keep himself in the fight.

When Corrales landed an unanswered barrage of punches to Castillo's head, and it was clear that Castillo was out on his feet with his back up against the ropes, Weeks did the right thing and stopped the fight. I don't want to hear from even the most die-hard fan of Castillo that the fight was stopped too soon, because Corrales landed a half-dozen uncontested punches on Castillo's face at a point when Castillo was no longer defending himself and had his eyes rolled back in his head. Anyone who thinks that a fight should be allowed to continue under those circumstances--- with a fighter against the ropes, out on his feet, not defending himself, and taking uncontested blows to the head--- needs to watch the documentary "Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story" and then let me know if you still feel the same way.

Boxing is boxing, and MMA is MMA. In general, I find MMA to be a far more exciting sport than boxing. But it would be a big mistake for anyone to take that to mean that boxing doesn't also have its fair share of extremely exciting, dramatic, and memorable fights. Corrales vs. Castillo stands as proof of that.

Labels: Boxing

posted by Ivan Trembow at 1:09 AM

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Boxing--- Friday night's "ShoBox: The New Generation" card on Showtime was another case study in why ShoBox often produces some of the best boxing matches of any particular month. ShoBox is billed as the place where young prospects get matched up with the toughest opponents of their careers, and it lives up to that billing almost every single time. Look at the card that just took place. Where else are you going to see four legitimate, undefeated junior welterweights putting their perfect records on the line against each other?

The explosiveness of the main event included a double knockdown with simultaneous right hooks to the jaw, which is the first time I can remember seeing that in boxing... ever. Sechew Powell clearly got the better of the double knockdown and proceeded to knock out his opponent just seconds after they got back to their feet.

Just as impressive as Powell's main event victory was the opening match victory by Yuri Foreman, who showed incredible poise and accuracy en route to a perfect shut-out decision win (which is when every single judge gives every single round to one particular fighter, and deservedly so).

Tonight is the highly anticipated pay-per-view showdown between Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales, which is free if you have a subscription to Showtime. Castillo seemed like a just plain dirty fighter in his March bout with Julio Diaz, relying on punches behind the head and other dirty tactics even when he didn't really need to. I rooted for Corrales in his fights with Joel Casamayor and Acelino Freitas due to his smooth, smart in-ring style and his understated, humble personality, and I'll certainly be rooting for him against Castillo.

Labels: Boxing

posted by Ivan Trembow at 11:02 AM

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