Tag Archives: boxing

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Live Blog: Klitschko-Thompson II

Tony Thompson, the only fighter in Wladimir Klitschko’s current 6 year title reign who even gave Klitschko a legitimate challenge – tries to shock the world.  Can he?

  1. Not much going on here.  Thompson pawing the jab, Klitschko lands a couple of decent rights, but neither guy was busy.  Klitschko on damage: Round to Klitschko 10-9 (10-9 overall)
  2. Thompson just not landing enough.  Klitschko stalking Thompson, throwing few jabs.  He doesn’t look worried.  Couple of shoves and slips for Thompson.  No knockdown.  Klitschko looks like he wants this to be quick.  Klitschko 10-9 (20-18 overall)
  3. Thompson at least trying a bit now.  Landed some jabs, couple of solid punches.  Klitschko still landing way too easily and harder.  But it was close.  Klitschko 10-9 (30-27 overall)
  4. Thompson wanted this to be a brawl.  But really Klitschko is the only one who is looking to land punches – stepped up the aggressiveness.  Thompson needs to throw punches when he goes in.  Feels like a matter of when, here – Thompson looks content to survive.  Round to Klitschko 10-9 (40-36 overall)
  5. Usually Wladimir starts with the jab and then arrives with the power stuff.  But this time, the jab only now starts with earnest.  Thompson, keeping his hands too low, let Klitschko hit him at will.  Klitschko finishes with big right-left combo to knock down Thompson.  Somehow Thompson holds and hangs on the rest of the round.  Round to Klitschko 10-8 (50-44 overall)
  6. Thompson still looks hurt from the previous knockdown.  He has seemed to stop throwing.  Klitschko now stalking him.  Wlad bullies Thompson to the corner and lands a four punch combo with some shoves in between.  Referee Sam Williams calls it a knockdown and counts. Thompson gets up, but refuses to let go of the ropes when Williams calls him towards him.  The fight is over!!  Klitschko wins with a 6th round TKO.

Really, this was even less competitive than the first fight with Thompson (11th round KO).  Another day, another easy title defense.  The gap between Klitschko and everybody but his brother is, shall we say, vast.  Thompson on resume is the best American heavyweight – sad as that is, give me another – but this was not remotely competitive.  This could have been more thrilling, but it was still a clinical thrashing.  Klitschko very professionally.

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Pascal-Hopkins 2 and Dawson/Diaconu

Bernard Hopkins is not the easiest guy to root for.  His fights are great for purists, but often fought at a snail’s pace.  He himself is cantankerous, has a big mouth, has apparently fucked over promoters in his past, has a giant chip on his shoulder, and sounds a bit like a cross between the Cedric the Entertainer character in Barbershop and the prisoner Damon Wayans played on In Living Color.  But since his time in jail, the man lives right, lives without vice, keeps his body in great shape, and has taken care of his money.  This has allowed him to have an autumn of his career that has allowed him to pass Roy Jones as the greatest fighter of his generation.  All props to the old man – now some other observations from a night of HBO World Championship Boxing.

  1. It is amazing how much better the atmosphere is abroad for a big fight.  Yeah, it’s Montreal but still.  On a boxing board I frequent, users talk about how hokey it is – which is strange considering that the hokiness is that every seat is full and the crowd is into it.  This crowd was there for the co-feature, which is pretty impressive by US standards.  Made for a great atmosphere – a championship fight that felt like a championship.
  2. Co-feature was Chad Dawson-Adrian Diaconu.  Diaconu is a hard warrior, but Dawson just too fast and skilled.  We know Dawson has the tools, and he was able to stay out of the hitting zone consistently.  Diaconu tried to walk him down, but Dawson’s reach advantage was too profound.
  3. On the other hand, Dawson once again had an opponent he could hurt and did not step the pace up.  He was content to shuck and jive to a decision, and that does not serve him in the long run as he tries to become a big money fighter.
  4. With the main event, Jean Pascal’s conditioning for a young guy was messed up.  How does a 28 year old not be able to fight 3 minutes a round?  He would rest and then charge occasionally, like some kind of bull.  The bull rushes made Hopkins think because Pascal hits hard, but it is just not a good way to be able to generate offense.
  5. Pascal’s power to me made Hopkins try to punch first and punch hard.  He hurt Pascal a few times, and the fight was more exciting than most Hopkins fights as a result.  He had to leave his safe zone.
  6. I had it 115-113 Pascal, but there were a ton of close rounds, and Hopkins’ unanimous decision was not a robbery or even a poor decision.  The fight was a nightmare to score and Hopkins did outpunch Pascal though neither landed a hell of a lot.  I was surprised the judges actually reached consensus, but props to the old man.
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Fernando Montiel vs Nonito Donaire

This was the first fight I had wanted to write about in a long time on this blog.  A rare superfight in the 118 pound weight class, determining the de facto number 1 (although the Showtime matchup of Joseph Agbeko and Abner Mares will have his own claim).  With HBO rarely giving major face time to the teeny tiny fighters – and Montiel coming off of a courageous unification victory in Japan – this had much of the makings of a fight of the year.

However, the first warning signs were seen early on in the typical “feeling out” first round.  Donaire was coming up from 115 lbs to make this fight, but he looked so much bigger than Montiel.  It felt like there was a large weight difference entering the ring.  One harkens back to the feaurette HBO showed earlier where Donaire was seen with Victor Conte, the former BALCO svengali.  I have to assume Donaire and Conte are working legitimately together -Donaire can’t be that stupid – and indeed the effects of performance drugs in boxing (or weight gain generally) is pretty inconclusive.  In any case, Donaire just looked bigger, and when he landed it seemed like it “mattered”.

It took a while for Montiel, after losing the first round to Donaire, to start feeling normal.  In the second round, he started to box well, sticking and moving and hitting a couple of combinations.  While it was hard to envision a Montiel stop, Montiel seemed to stop the bleeding.  But then … THAT happened.  Montiel getting close to Donaire threw a quick flurry that Donaire countered with a crushing left check hook and the other man fell in a heap.  Barely six minutes in, and Montiel was effectively out.  Sure he got up, and the ref respected the champ to give him a shot to continue, but the stoppage game soon thereafter.

The fight did not live up to the hype – but it was still a hell of an entertainment … to see a star born on TV, while delivering THE decisive result, nothing wrong with that.  Nonito Donaire’s place at the pound-for-pound table is secure.

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Pacquaio-Cotto

No need to recap the fight, but yes I did contribute to whatever the PPV take was.  But some impressions:

  • Pacquaio, as is well documented, started his career as a strawweight and won his first belt as a 112 pounder (yes, I know they do not weight that on fight night).  But the ability he showed to take a lot of good shots from Miguel Cotto early (and Cotto looked really sharp early).  THAT was what drove the result more than anything.  Cotto is no small puncher: 
  • Pacquaio’s handspeed is one thing.  Cotto’s speed is not bad, at least it wasn’t early last night.  But where Pacquaio separates himself is his ability to throw shots with authority while moving OUT of hitting areas.  He is the lone fighter today who can throw while moving backwards and throw with impact.  Cotto could not have seen the punches that knocked down – hell, he could not have even anticipated Pacquaio would throw them.
  • I still think Floyd Mayweather Jr beats him – but this run Pacquaio is on is truly amazing.  Message boards will be full of the hater-ade.  But let’s be honest.  And we know Floyd is on the record not really being interested in challenging things competitively (he might – but only as an anciliary thing to making money).  Protecting his 0 losses is more important than legacy making wins.  That’s just true, sorry.
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Timothy Bradley Jr vs Kendall Holt – 140 lb Unification and Regret

Well, for people who follow boxing, Ricky Hatton is the only legitimate champion in a very deep 140 lb “junior lightweight division”.  This past Saturday, while my DVR was working, Timothy Bradley and Kendall Holt – each of whom hold an alphabet title of some sort – fought a unification fight.  It is actually an important fight, something Showtime has been telling us for months, kind of tactily admitting how bare their championship boxing schedule actually is.  Both fighters won their straps over fairly significant competition – Bradley beating highly regarded Brit Junior Witter and Kendall Holt beating Ricardo Torres in a pretty eventful 60 seconds of boxing.

Anyway, after a very entertaining undercard fight … hell, how does something with Librado Andrade not be entertaining … we get to the fight from Montral (between a guy from California and one from Jersey – I do not understand this beloved sport sometimes).  And really, Kendall Holt will be talking to himself for the rest of his career, after such a desultory performance.

It is not as if Bradley is great shakes.  Bradley just worked.  The perfect microcosm of the fight took place in Round 1.  After Bradley was sort of plugging away, mixing punches, “boxing” in a classic textbook (albeit kind of plodding) manner.  Then out of nowhere, Holt lands a huge counter and knocks down Bradley.  In 99% of fights, this sort of knockdown – which hurt Bradley – would cause the knocker downer to step his pace up and try to really go after him.  But instead, he just went about his business.  There was a KO to be had, and Holt chose not to chase it.

With this second chance, Bradley just started working, and Holt let him.  It was really weird to see, as round after round was being given away just because Bradley worked harder.  Despite his jab knocking Bradley back every time, despite his power uppercut in the 9th round, Holt never went after him, and he gave rounds away.  At times, I just was not sure how much he wanted to be there – like he had a date he was missing for this.  Even in the 12th, with his corner pleading for Holt to come forward, nothing was going on – except for a flash knockdown in the 12th (actually a knee, really hard to say).  Holt’s lethargy directly led to his defeat, as it should have – Bradley just wanted it more.  The judges had it 114-112, 115-111, 115-111, all for Bradley.  I had it 114-112.

Holt could have had it, but he did not go after it.  And either way, Hatton is still the king.