Washington DC-4/1/2016…..Man, what the hell is with spike TV and all those damn commercials? That was the hardest part of my job, staying awake through it all. There were several times I counted seven straight ads at a time, it was brutal. How did Mr. Weed Head, Anthony Tarver get back behind the mike?

Adrien Broner (31-2-23K)  v. Ashley Theophane (39-6-1D-11K)

I was actually expecting a righteous blowout in this fight, but was pleasantly surprised at how it played out. We all know that Broner is a Ghetto rat and an anal cavity to the nth degree, but, he can fight. I didn’t know what to expect from feel the pain, oops, I mean Theophane but he did well with what he was working with. He doesn’t have big power but he managed to bother Broner on occasions, though Adrien played it off well. With all the crap he likes to have around himself, and a case pending, Broner was focused and did what he had to do. He was fast, accurate and punched with power. Yes, he’s a classless mongrel, but he put an ass whippin’ on Ashley last night.

Ashley, Floyd Mayweather’s fighter had his moments but whenever Broner decided enough was enough he really punished Ashley with hard body shots and right hands to the head. He would allow Ashley to come in winging shots to the body and head and would then flare up with vicious hooks and right hands. I’m no Broner fan (at least outside the ring) but he’s nobody’s plaything. It seemed like Theophane had a good plan, work Adrien and try and get to the late rounds, given Broner already forfeited his belt on the scales. If he’d shaved that nasty-ass James Hardy beard, he may have made weight.

Rounds 5-7 saw a more measured Broner, pacing himself and allowing Ashley to get some work done. Broner suffered some cuts over and under his right eye but wasn’t bothered by them. He came out blazing in the ninth round, hurling bombs in a fading Ashley’s direction and blasting away with hard right uppercuts, sending Ashley stumbling toward ropes. At one point while in retreat mode, Theophane raised his right hand, seemingly in a sign of surrender, causing the ref to jump in and halt matters. The talking heads questioned the stoppage, claiming Ashley was signaling he was hit with a low blow. I’ve never seen a guy signaling a low blow by raising his hand. After the fight, all the fun started. This little silly shit that Floyd and Adrien are always doing, degrading each other is girlish to me. They act like junior high school girls. “ He’s my big bro, it’s all in fun, that N ain’t shit, I don’t respect him as a man” were just a few of the quotes from Broner last week. He called Floyd a whole sack of N’s like that was Floyd’s middle name or something. The delusional one said, “what’s AB stand for , always broke”? Broner called Floyd out saying, “Floyd all that bro shit is out, you gotta’ see me, in the street, sparring a real fight, it don’t matter.

A lotta’ peope say if they fought, it would be a washout in Floyd’s favor. I disagree, because Floyd’s not in the “wash out” business. His fights are carbon copies, all 12 rounds, nobody gets hurt and the fans looking at their watches. But, I’d like to see it, the pre fight circus alone would be worth the price of admission. Floyd Sr. going after Broner’s dad, who’s as wide as he is tall. The Watsons trying to desperately  stay in camera range. Floyd would win but it won’t be a lopsided deal.

Gervonta Davis (14-0-13k) v. Guillermo Avila (16-5-13k)

Earlier, 21 year old Mayweather protégé, Gervonta  Davis, nicknamed ‘Tank’ bludgeoned the  game but overmatched vet Avila. Davis a southpaw is a big hitter and mean as hell. What would make a damn 21 year old so nasty? He was a bit wild at times but he has a lotta’ talent He hit Avila with every puncj known to man as he battered him to a six round stoppage. I wanna’ see more of this guy. He punches very hard with both hands and seems to be quite the finisher.  Davis opened up a deep cut on Avilla’s cheek with a vicious right uppercut and staggered him on multiple occasions. Avila tried to go ‘nuts up’ but it cost him dearly. A straight left dropped him in the fifth and the fateful sixth round saw the relentless Davis batter the now helpless Avila at will until the ref mercifully jumped in. I would imagine other trainers are telling their guys , ‘we’ll fight Tank only when we have to’. I can’t imagine what this kid’s gonna’ look like when he’s about 23-24 years old. He can drop that little gyrating in people’s faces when he drops them though, like he did last night.

I didn’t see much of the other youngster, Robert Easter Jr. (16-0-13k) from DC. He was described as a Tommy Hearns type by  the talking heads. His opponent Algenis Mendez was 26-3-1D 11K)

Montreal, 1/30/2016- After all his histrionics at that press conference, presenting bananas to John David Jackson, maybe Jean Pascal should’ve been nicer and brought a fruit basket. Maybe then, Light heavy boss Sergey Kovalev might’ve shown some compassion. A banana would’ve been harder to peel than it was for Kovalev to tax that ass. I’d settled in to watch a couple of competitive hookups, well, guess what, I’M STILL WAITING. I feel like I’m on line waiting for my cable company to respond. Another loud-mouthed guy from Detroit that didn’t do shit, either didn’t help any. I’ve seen rapists put up more resistance than Pascal and Mayfield did last night. Percy Mayfield (the great Impressions) was a mellow guy, which I could handle, but “Hard Hitta”, nah. We have heavy bags in our gym (the AV Boxing Gym) that offer better competition. I’ll bet when Pascal was shadow boxing in his dressing room, he was losing that, too. Pascal reminded me of those wolves in those documentaries where the Alpha male returns and the others turn around and offer up their genitals. He probably walks around Montreal with his pants in that YIA (yes, I’m available) position that a lotta’ thugs do today.

Sergey Kovalev (28-0-1D-25K) v. Jean Pascal (30-3-1-17K)

This was about as passive a performance as I’ve ever seen from a guy supposedly wanting to avenge his earlier loss, after whining that the ref stopped it too soon. Well, he was probably wondering wth took the ref, doc, Freddie Roach and everybody else so long to rescue his ass last night. Maybe he should’ve called Fontella Bass that sang the old hit, ‘Rescue Me’. I mean from round one, Pascal was just there and just barely. The biggest threat he made all night was when he promised his fans after the fight, “I’ll be back”. And do what, exactly? He should’ve worn one of Camacho’s skirts into the ring. Some will say, ‘well Don, at least he took it like a man’, well, so do a lotta’ people at Pelican Bay but so what?

To begin with, he got dropped by a damn jab that the ref called a “slip”, must’ve been a banana peel in the ring. Kovalev promised to “punish Pascal” and he wasn’t lying. To me, there were several times when he could’ve ended the fight and Lampley tried to make an issue of that, after the fight saying “ do you think some of the fans resented you punishing him like that”? Hell, after watching Mayweather for years, a little punishment being dispensed, is fine with this writer. Pascal entered the ring to Roy Jones rappin’ and it was nice seeing Roy finish something awake, for a change. Actually, I’m no rap guy, but I’ve heard worse, (Adrian Broner), a lot worse.     Round after round the heavy handed undisputed champion stalked and tormented the poor, hapless, helpless, banana man. Pascal would eat a shot and just stumble across the ring to the ropes where he waited for the next wave of assaults to come. He soaked up more shit than Sponge Bob. Pascal’s new trainer Freddie Roach promised us a “different fighter”, well, indifferent was more like it. He kept imploring Pascal to fight back or he’d “stop the fight” and I’m sure Jean wished he would’ve kept his word after 4-5 rounds. I hope Jean’s daughter was somewhere else. I’ll just issue a little pass to Pascal, he didn’t quit and should give Roach a raise for finally stopping this one-side massacre.

At least, Pascal didn’t say, “that wasn’t me in there tonight”, like so many guys do. I would ask him ‘when you go to cash that damn check, do you tell the teller, “this ain’t me,” on that check? The carnage, oops ‘fight’ was finally stopped after the 7^th round by Roach. At one point between rounds as Roach berated Pascal, one of the other corner guys yelled something and Jean had that, ‘now, I sure don’t wanna’ hear any of your shit’ look . Then, the usual circus began afterwards when Sergey said he wanted “Adonis Chickenson”, to unify the titles. Stevenson who has been avoiding Kovalev as if he has some Russian disease made damn sure he had guys around him big and strong enough to keep him from getting too close to the Mad Russian, else he would’ve gotten his ass broken into.” They mentioned that Andre Ward said he’s ready to face the champ. Well, I think we’ll see Canelo at 160 before that fight happens. I don’t think Ward has the fighter’s attitude or mentality these days. He needs to get healthy and get some real comp before he steps to this guy. We already know ‘K don’t play’. But Ward will probably bring wine ‘n wafers to the press conference, as a peace offering. I just don’t think a fighter can maintain or regain that needed edge after being inactive for as long as Ward has. I can see him maybe being a problem earlier but Kovalev is patient and has no problems wearing you down, taking his time and I can’t see Andre stopping him, I don’t give a damn if they fight in his Oakland kitchen with his wife in the corner serving between round meals.

As far as the Mayfield- Mikhayenko fight went, I’m sorry, I kept nodding, what did I miss?

Like so many others, I thought Brandon (Bam Bam) Rios was catching Palm Spring’s WBO welterweight boss, Timothy Bradley, at the right time. I thought the Desert Storm was about to become the ‘perfect’ storm. With the not too sweet parting between Bradley and long time trainer Joel Diaz, and the hiring of the retired Teddy Atlas, would Bradley be vulnerable? Not to worry, last night at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Bradley turned in a masterful performance on his way to handing Rios his first ko loss, stopping him at 2:09 of the ninth round. Rios was never, ever in this fight, mentally Or physically and his long time trainer Robert Garcia knew it. Rios (33-2-1D-23K0), came in looking like an Oxnard warthog after ballooning up to 170 lbs after killing himself to make the 147lb welterweight limit. By being off for 10 months (for whatever reasons) and admittedly losing his desire for the game, Rios pretty much justmailed this one in. He looked as if he visited an all you can eat buffet immediately after the weigh in. Where the hell was Robert? His fighters seem to have issues with scales.

        Bradley (32-1-1D-1NC) who hadn’t scored a ko since 2011 over Joel Casamayor, didn’t give a damn about Roly-Poly Rios’ weight issues and took full advantage, starting quickly, hurting Rios early with a body shot to the basement and never letting up. He was drilling the smiling Rios with hard (for him) right hands to the head and blistering combinations. This was the best I’d ever seen Timothy look and I always thought he was an over achiever and would never make it this far. Obviously, Teddy Atlas’ training had Bradley looking real good. He was confusing the plodding Rios with his angles and hand speed. Bam Bam had his moments in the second round but that was pretty much the ball game for him. Brandon had nothing, nothing. He usually fights with a passion, killing folks with body shots but tonight, he was pretty much a punching bag.

It was quite sad, really, seeing a once proud warrior being soundly trounced, trying to act as if Bradley’s shots had no effect, when they truly had. I was a bit irritated with his trainer Robert Garcia who was screaming at Rios, “c’mon man, you’re not doin’ shit, you’re too slow, throw punches”. Garcia, being regarded as one of the game’s top trainers had to know his guy didn’t have shit tonight and what he was asking for was long gone. Rios seemed to realize it early on and probably wishes he’d never listened when his wife told him, “you can’t quit” while struggling to find motivation. Well, he announced his retirement after the fight, admitting “it was gone and it was time to hang ‘em up” I think this is the right thing to do and I don’t see him returning. He’s accomplished a lot in the game, gave us many outstanding fights, but father time was on his ass last night. Now, Bradley knows he can at least compete with the light heavies, given Rios’ weight. Maybe he can fight Andre Ward, that’s another guy that no longer seems to have his heart in the game.

It was a strange feeling seeing Rios go out like this, very submissive and resigned to just accepting his punishment without giving some bullshit-ass excuses. Bradley was beating Rios at every facet of the game. Killing him with body shots, knowing Brandon was in no shape for a hard fight. He finally applied the finishing touches, dropping Rios twice with crushing body shots, with Rios taking the counts on his knees. There was no protest, no whining, no complaining, he just accepted things for the way they were and gave Bradley his props for a job well done. Atlas, always aware of the cameras ( he must be a member of the Sam Watson family), went all dramatic in between the sixth and seventh rounds, screaming at Bradley at being” a fireman and a whole bunch of other crazy shit, but it fired Bradley up. So now, somewhere in Coachella, Joel Diaz is kicking his cat and cursing Atlas for the way he had timothy looking.

It was mentioned after the bout that Bradley could conceivably meet the winner of Canelo-Cotto’s  fight in The Battle To Duck Golovkin, which is how they should bill this fight.

Now, I’m still trying to figure out the reason for the other bout on the card last night. I know Vasyl Lomachenko (4-1-2K) is highly regarded and even talked about as a pound for pound contender, but after five fights, c’mon man. Sure, he made Gary Russell Jr. look like an amateur but I think that was due to the barrel of bullshit The Hologram, was feeding him and the slew of TBA’s he had Gary face. I’d like to see a rematch and Lomo seems to be all about it, saying Russell should fight him or just stfu. But this guy he fought tonight was no kinda’ comp at all. Romulo KOASICHA (24-4-14K) was just a waste of time. Lomochenko could’ve beaten this guy with one hand and his eyes closed. HBO should’ve called me, I would’ve been more of a threat. This was a total mismatch and does nothing for Lomo’s career. The most competitive thing happening during this fight was to see whose lips were more firmly attached to Roy Jones’ ass, Max Kellerman or Jim Lampley. They kept comparing everything Lomochenko did to “the great Roy Jones” and Roy would just give that laugh “heh, heh,heh”.

Now, listen up people, just because a fight is on free tv doesn’t mean I have to be thrilled about it. I call bullshit on that. If someone offered you a mediocre steak for free, would you want it? Yesterday’s PBC card was the type that left me with my trusty pen suspended in mid air, waiting for some fireworks to write about. I know the Hologram can’t hit a homerun every time out, but c’mon, give me a break.

Tony Harrison (21-1-18k)  v. Cecil MaCalla (20-3-7K)

The last time I saw, big talking Tony Harrison, he was having his ass delivered to him by Willie Nelson. He would’ve been better off fighting the real Willie, at least in a clinch, he would’ve caught a contact. Harrison, another Detroit bad ass (like Corny Brundage lol), back pedaled to an easy 10 round decision which looked like a sparring session. Except for the last two rounds when the plodding, one dimensional, slow thinking McCalla landed a couple of right hands, wobbling Harrison, this fight was BORING. Even the constant shuffling and clowning by Harrison didn’t liven this thing up. Cecil has seven ko’s in 23 fights and he was looking for one shot all night. I don’t think he won two rounds. Harrison delivered a boxing lesson and all Cecil did was cover up and follow him around like a dog on a leash. But hey, it was free so why am I complaining, right?

Jermall Charlo (26-0-11K)  v. Joachim Alcine (35-7-2D-21K)

This half of the Charlo twins (brother is Jermell) is undefeated and supposedly trending, so wth is he fighting an old, slow guy that looks like a drugged out Roy Jones Jr. ? I mean, this was a disgrace, not a damn fight. Long time, long headed trainer Buddy McGirt (don’t hate me, Buddy jokes about it all the time). His head looks like a damn jellybean, he should’ve been Kobe’s father. Anyway, Buddy had to keep reminding Alcine that his “stance was too wide”. And he’s been fighting how long? Charlo won’t find an easier slug than Alcine. But Charlo looked very amateurish in finishing Alcine, as his new trainer noted. I can see these youngsters trying an ‘ol vet at some point in their careers, but after twenty six fights, I don’t see what this does for Jermall’s career. To say, “ he’s an ex-champ” means crap, hell, I might be an “ex-champ” with all those damn belts out there. In any event, I’m cool with words but I can’t juice this thing up, free or otherwise. It was so boring, it turned the telecast into a contest between BJ Flores and Sugar Ray Leonard, to see who could talk the most. They never shut up, do they?

When asked what’s next after the fight, Charlo said, “if Money Mayfield isn’t really retired, then give me my shot at the belts and if he is, then they should declare the titles up for grabs”. Now this, I agree with. After that statement the interviewer said, “ so are you calling out Mayweather”? Brilliant. But I guess Charlo can always come back later and say, “ I said Money Mayfield”. Maybe the reason Charlo was fighting a 39 year old was his way of prepping for Floyd, whose nearly the same age, but warning to the young Texan, that’s a much different 38 year old. I guarantee he’d get that name right if they fought. As many shots as he missed last night, he wouldn’t touch Floyd at all, Floyd would make it seem Charlo is shadow boxing.

Caleb Plant 10-0-8K)  v. Tyrone Brunson (22-5-1D-21K0)

  Now, strangely enough, I found this to be the most entertaining fight of the night. Sweet hands, as Plant is nicknamed, is a smooth boxer with some style and call me racist, but he doesn’t fight like a White fighter. He’s smooth has nice moves and throws nice combos. He slips well and the only missing ingredient is serious power, bnt he’s  one to watch. There was a fighter named Jason Litzau, that I felt the same way abou years ago. I saw Plant in his debut at The USC Galen Center on the undercard of the second Stiverne-Arreola fight and was impressed. In his last fight, he was a real showboat though, doing the Nene (?) and everything else as he put an ass-whippin’ on his opponent. Now, my Philly boy Brunson started his career with  nineteen (that’s what I said)  one round knockouts. Then things went downhill, hell he was even stopped in one round last year by the dreaded Tony Harrison. So I was thinking this would be a bit of a test for Sweet Hands, and  even though he has 8 kos in ten fights, he doesn’t seem to hit like that. He was pretty much focused on the hard hitting Brunson, absorbing a few hard shots along the way but still was in complete control and gave  my  Philly boy an old fashioned boxing lesson. Plant didn’t do any dancing this time out, and though he lost a young daughter at an early age, recently, (three years old), he was very much attending to his business. The decision over eight was unanimous.

So now, it’s on to next week and I don’t think Bradley – Rios is gonna’

be about any bullshit. I haven’t been to cool with my predictions lately but (here I go again), I think Brandon’s catching Timmy at the right time. I don’t think it was so smart for Bradley to change to Teddy Atlas as his trainer just before a big fight like this. Timmy says he’ll fight smart but Brandon won’t be havin’ any of that shit. This will be a brawl.

There was some pretty good action over the weekend and Mary Ann Owen and I are still trying to get used to the absence of those grinning ring girls. I saw some impressive performances, a guy that probably needs to give it up, a guy ‘winning’ but still losing and the  guy I’d love to see fight Andre Ward. So let’s jump into it, shall we?

Andrew (The Beast) Tabiti  (10-0-10K) v. Ray Santos (12-1-5K)

Prospect Andrew Tabiti, a cruiserweight trained by Floyd Mayweather Sr. looked pretty impressive even though he was fighting a guy I think was pulled outta’ the ticket line as his opponent. Tabiti showed a lot of ability and an impressive array of punches as well as speed, for a guy with just 10 pro fights. But though he’s billed as a ko artist, I’ve seen harder hitters. I think his power might be a bit overrated, like ‘Sometime’ Thurman. He was flashy though and as I said, has quite an arsenal. Santos on the other hand must be promoted by Ringside Boxing Equipment, heavy bag division. This guy was slower than whale poop sinking to the bottom of the ocean. He was more lame than game. He kept getting drilled in the face and asking for more, which he promptly received. He may have landed a couple clean shots but that was about it. Tabiti seemed hell bent on displaying all his skills early, probably thinking he was gonna’ make Santos disappear quicker than El Chapo. But he landed at will all night but Santos proved as durable as a heavy bag but not nearly as mobile. I wanna’ see Tabiti up his comp just a  little to see what he’s really all about, but so far, so good and Sr. seems to have a hot prospect and here I thought he could only train his son. This turned out to be Tabiti’s first fight to go the distance and I’m not tryina’ hear that shit about, “I needed the rounds”. That’s like El Chapo telling the prison guards, ‘I’ll be right back’. He tossed everything he had at Santos.

Rico (Suavecito) Ramos (24-4-12K) v. Claudio Marrero (18-1-13K)

Little Rico Ramos is a guy I’ve watched since he was about 14 yrs. old in the ams. He was always a talented, quiet guy but there always seemed like he was missing something when he got to the pros. I can’t ever recall seeing him with the same trainer for two straight fights and he’s always had long layoffs. He also had a couple of shocking, late round one-punch ko’s. I saw him in a fight at Fantasy Springs (Carlos Ivan Velasquez- 9-07-2013) where he lost what seemed every minute of every round. In fact, I’d already penciled in a loss in my notes and put my pen down (yeah, I still do it the old way) and started looking at my program for the next fight. Then, like something outta’ a movie script, the tenth round of a ten  rounder and he located Ivan’s chin with a thunderous left hook that required no count from the ref. I asked him about it afterwards and he said “Don, man,I don’t know why I do that”. He won the super bantamweight title in the same fashion, losing big, and unlading a big hook to stretch out the guy. This was in 2010 though, and things have been spotty ever since. He was stopped by Guillermo Riggondeaux by a vicious body shot (7^th rd.) after being thoroughly outclassed. Oh yeah, about last night. He was facing a guy that had a weird style, waving his gloves around before punching and totally confusing Ramos. The first two rounds were just ‘what’s up’, rounds, but things got real in a hurry in the third when Claudio stopped fooling around and located Rico’s jaw with a bomb lead left hand and the first thing to hit the canvas was Rico’s head. Ref Nady saw no reason to count, this was quite clear. So now, what’s next for Ramos? One more result like this and we’ll be calling him Suave-see ya. If he’s to continue, he needs to get a corner that he’s satisfied with and stick with them and stop with the long vacations. I’m pullin’ for ya’ Rico.

Jordan Schimmel (19-0-16K) v. Isiah Thomas (14-0-6K)

In another cruiserweight scuffle, big talkin’ Shimmel said, “this should be an easy fight for me”. Maybe it would’ve been if he could fight. Both of these guys are from Detroit, but it must be the good parts of the D, not the ‘hood. They surely didn’t remind this writer of Hearns, Kenty, Hank or so many others. These guys were more of the K9 Breed or that guy that had his lights turned out by of all people, Willie Nelson (oh, not that Willie Nelson, oh, my bad). Anyway, this was a rather tame affair with no damage done. Shimmel was awkward as hell and kept doing the same thing for the entire fight, missing, lunging in off balance, just a real mess. Thomas wasn’t raising any hell, either. Hell, I’ve seen the other Isiah Thomas get hotter. This should’ve been the walk-out fight, it was so pedestrian. Thomas won the decision.

B.J. Flores (31-1-12K) v. Beibut Shumenov (15-2-10K)

Anybody know what the letters, B.J. really stand for (watch it, now, don’t be a pervert). This was  the long-awaited title shot I’ve been hearing Flores talking about for years. Now, let me say this about Shumenov’s ‘tactics’, some folks like this sorta thing, people that are fans of Tyson Gay and Usain Bolt, but anytime the ref has to yell at you to “fight”, something’s not being done. I’ve read several comments like “he wasn’t running he was being smart”. I call B.S. and not on B.J. I have a thing about guys that are announcers and fighters and for the record, I’m not a Danny Garcia fan but I hope he knocks Paulie’s dickstrap and his nut sack loose. This was a boring affair with Beibut looking more like Beiber, the way he was running around the ring. When he wasn’t waving his gloves around and making funny noises he was landing three punches a round and running for the hills. Flores at least was trying to fight, but wasn’t doing a whole helluva lot, other than constantly missing that wild, looping overhand right. Sometimes I wonder how a professional fighter can be in a big fight and fight like Beibut did. Hell, he made Floyd look like a brawler. Floyd will at least stand there throw some shots, even if it’s just jabs to the body. He moves, but doesn’t take flight and I’ve never heard a ref tell him to fight. Then again if they did, theire asses would be off the payroll, but that’s another story. It was funny when Flores’ corner said, “cut the ring off” and he said, “how”? Now here’s the guy that will go into detail on a telecast about “what a fighter has to do to beat his opponent” yet didn’t know how to cut the ring, LOL. I was sorta’ surprised that the decision was given to Shumenov, really. But, I don’t think we’re gonna’ have that issue when the other part-time fighter gets in the ring. All three judges had it 116-112 for the Beibut.

Jean Pasqual (29-3-1D-1ND-17K0) v. Yuniesky Gonzalez (16-0-12K)

In still another cruiserweight fight ( I didn’t even know there were that many of them). Cuban am star Gonzalez was hell bent on giving Pasqual’s daughter something to really cry about. This human bulldozer didn’t get the memo about ‘this being the pros and we feel each other out for a couple of rounds’. He was on Jean like a pair of jeans, like funk on a skunk. Jean didn’t even have time to wink at his daughter and say “I got this’ before he was rocked by a hard clubbing right hand from Gonzalez. This guy was acting like he’d ordered a meal and was anxious to get to it. He rocked the napping Pasqual again and this was already taking shape as a ‘goody’. This pretty much set the tone as Pasqual realized this guy had shit on his mind, and started to fire back. He was able to get Gonzalez off his case for a minute, but that was short-lived. Gonzalez was warned often for hitting behind the head but Pasqual has a bad habit of ducking so low, it can’t be helped and besides, Gonzo didn’t seem to give a damn where the shots landed as long as he was doing the tossing. Things got heated and stayed that way the whole fight with both brawlers giving and receiving, like it was Xmas. From my seat, I saw the underdog Gonzalez ahead going into the last round, but not by a helluva’ lot. But Pasqual landed some jaw-jarring left hooks in that last round, hurting a fading Gonzalez. When the decision was announced at 96-94 by all three judges (something I always find a bit dubious), Gonzo was devastated and broke out in tears. Pasqual was glad it wasn’t his daughter crying. Hey Gonzo, shake it off man, we are a nation of second chances and the way you fought, you will be back, but hopefully with judges that at least bring their guide dogs with them.

Sergio (Krusher) Kovalev (27-0-1D-24K) v. Nadjib Muhammedi (39-3-24K)

Anybody know the name of the guy that drew with The Krusher? Maybe we need to find him and get him a rematch. There doesn’t seem to be much of a threat in this division to cause the Mad Russian to lose any sleep. This guy is always pissed about something. This time, the object of his venom was his ex-trainer Abel Sanchez. “he never taught me sht” said Sergio. That’s like an ex girlfriend saying, ‘you never satisfied me, anyway’.  This Najib guy looked worse than Bambi with the high beams on as he entered the ring. He should’ve asked Abe ,(his current trainer), ‘ you think he’s still pissed at you’? The Krusher made it a point to ignore the hell outta’ Sanchez as he jogged to his corner before the fight, in fact, I swear I saw Abe flinch as he went by. Ok, I cant’t put it off any longer. This was a real carnage. Sergio hit this guy so hard, Nadjib didn’t know what was broken on him. He thought his eye was knocked out or his jaw was broken, whatever it was, he wished tha’ hell it was Abe taking those shots. If there was a positive to be taken from this’fight’, it’s that it was brief, three rounds, brief. For now ( here I go) I’ll call him Muhammedi-stroyed. Now, at some point André Ward and The Krusher have to talk. Four pounds is not all that. Certainly not enough for Ward to not have his career resurrected. I don’t like this catch-weight b.s. anyway, but wouldn’t mind it this time. I don’t think Kovalev would have any problem traveling to Oak Town since we know SOG ain’t leaving his house. Kovalev will kick down his door and tear the whole house down. I like ward, but I don’t think he’s had enough hard fights to deal with Sergio. That quit job Dawson did was a disgrace and that last guy was a joke. He’ll need a significant opponent before he invites Sergio to Oaktown. I wonder if anyone up there has pissed this Mad Russian off, lately?

Barclay Center, New York, 889/2014– Give me a second to clean up this garbage that Showtime dumped into my living room yesterday. I’m a die hard, but SERIOUSLY, this was the Theater of the Absurd. The so-called ‘main event was really the pain event.

Danny (Swift) Garcia (28-0-16k) v. Lightning Rod Salka (19-3-3k)

Al Haymond, my good man, I appreciate you getting the most $ for your guys for the least amount of risk, but look, I’ll be 72 on the 26^th of October and I guarantee you, I can do better than Salka. He calls himself ‘lightening Rod’, well it looked like he was struck by lightning when he pounded his chest and Garcia damn near broke his fkn’ neck with that look- away left hook. I get DG wanting to see what was up with himself after Herrera kicked his ass in his native country, but c’mon, man. Sometimes, even in a mismatch, we speak of a guy having a ‘puncher’s chance’ but the only chance Rod had was of getting killed last night. He was as nervous as a ho’ in church in the first rd. resembling a man heading for the gallows. The fact he made it through the round was quite an accomplishment, really. In the fatal second, Garcia punched the clock, as well as Salka. Garcia clocked Rod with a big overhand right and how he stood up was a shock. He was soon on the deck from a follow-up flurry. Looking toward his corner like he was in quicksand with steel boots on. A few moments later, another flurry put Rod down again. Acting like he had a set, he was up, pounding his chest like a well-trained fool. Danny threw a straight right to the body and followed with that dangerous look-away left hook that he loves to throw, damn near decapitating Salka who went down as if he was struck from above. Gladly, he didn’t die, though he needs to kill his peeps for getting him involved in this shit. C’mon Danny, let’s see you with Herrera, Thurman, Peterson, Broner, and Molina…..

Lamont Peterson (32-1-1-16k) v. Edgar Santana (29-4-20k)

WBA 140lb champ Peterson took on a dangerous all the time puncher in Santana. I like these types of fights, where a guy has one punch power and can change shit in a second. Peterson is a smooth, slick boxer with decent power, especially downstairs and he was touching Santana’s rib cage all night. It’s quite amazing how some guys can soak up that much continuous punishment without going down or even changing their expressions. Santana was dogged in his pursuit, willing to accept five to maybe land one, but he was getting his ass beat all night long. They should’ve been playin’ Lionel Ritchie. On occasion, he’d land a thumping left hook, but LP has learned, you don’t have to always fight fire with fire. He tried that shit with Lucas Matthesyee (?) and paid dearly. This time he boxed smartly, stayed off the ropes and kept the action near ring center. He bounced shot after shot off of Santana’s sturdy jaw bone, but I knew there was a cumulative affect taking place. This guy should’ve had RINGSIDE tatted on his torso, the way LP was digging in, was there some gold there? Peterson, with a well reported hard upbringing, what’s next? People really wanna’ see him and Garcia and both guys are asking for it. No doubt LP would do more than the dreaded Lighting Rod.

Daniel (Miracle Man) Jacobs (27-1-24k) v. Jarrod Fletcher (18-1-10k)

This hookup was for the vacant WBA Middleweight title (I think that’s my belt). Fletcher was billed as some sorta’ threat to Jacobs, yeah, right. This thing didn’t look like it was gonna’ last three minutes, the way Danny Boy got with his ass. A short sizzling left hook had the “threat” on the mat and in trouble. He somehow survived and I was anxious to see if DJ was gonna’ go for the early clean up. Nope, he didn’t. For some reason he took his foot completely off the gas and started switching back and forth gliding around the ring as if he was in the gym. In fact, in spots, it got really boring. He would flash on Fletcher for a moment, then it was back to the basics, giving Fletcher some false hope. Afterwards, DJ explained, “I didn’t wanna punch myself out and get tired”. Damn man, your mind should’ve been on punching Fletcher out, not yourself. You’re a well-trained world-class fighter and you’re worried about gassing out after two damn rounds? Hell you won’t be champ for long with that attitude. At least, he admitted he’s not ready for GGG that would be wrong, just wrong. Jacobs launched an assault on Fletcher early in the fourth and that lasted for a few moments, when Fletcher remained upright, then it was, ‘back to boxing’. Finally, Jacobs rocked his do-nothing opponent in the fifth, driving him to the ropes dropping him with a salvo causing the ref to call it off.

Sadam Ali (19-0-12k) v. Jeremy Bryan (17-3-7k)

Now, this was supposed to be a showcase fight for the rising Ali, the undefeated New Yorker, being primed for big things. Here was Bryan, a guy who all three losses had been by ko and he was from South Carolina, though he was born in Newark. This actually turned into one of the better fights. Bryant, was awkward, but seemed to have a little sting on his shots. He stung the favorite with a good right hand early in round to, getting much respect from Ali. Ali was not his normally aggressive self but was boxing and thinking a lot more. This showed maturity, a lotta’ youngsters try to please the home folk by always being on the hunt. In the third, Bryant blasted Ali with a big left hook, nearly dropping him. Ali was holding on while clearing his head, another sign of maturity. His corner was getting in his ass for being so passive (easy for them to say, corner men are brave as hell). Sadam woke up in the fourth launching his own left hook bomb on Bryant’s whiskers, shaking him up, big-time. Bryant tackled Sadam to the mat, buying precious seconds, which he badly needed. From that point on, Ali was able to avoid Bryant’s sneaky shots, and started to wear him out with body shots. In the ninth, a right hand deposited a fading Bryant and he barely beat the count. This was a decisive round as Ali went on to gain a close split decision win and a much-needed step up in competition.

Zachary Ochoa (7-0-4K) v. Luis Cervantes (7-7-3-2 nd-2k)

Another unbeaten New York hotshot found out what bull spit, the comment ‘numbers don’t lie mean’. I’m sure his peeps figured with his 500 record, Luis Cervantes was probably just excited being in the Big Apple. Hey Zac, guess again. This was one of our Cali guys, with the still-fit veteran trainer Steve Quinones in his corner. With a smirk on his face, and a bit of drool on his lips, Ochoa found himself in hot water as soon as the bell sounded. The ShowTime talking heads were still talking about how much time Luis had spent away from the gym, but he was already in Zac’s ass, with no interest in that ‘feelin’ out business’. He was firing hard shots at the youngster, making it a brawl right away. It was obvious his body attack was gonna’ pay off as time went on. Ochoa’s arsenal seems very limited. He constantly throws a jab and overhand right. He probably threw a dozen, if that many left hooks over the entire six rounds. This was an action-packed battle with both guys giving and getting. In the fifth, a low blow by Cervantes nearly caused Ochoa to fall out the ring and he requested some time to walk it off. After signaling to the ref, he was ready, Cervantes, playing gentleman, reached to touch gloves and promptly ate a hard straight right hand, for being Mr. Good bar. I thought he was already pissed from the first round, but now he was really after homeboy, forcing him to the ropes and landing at will. Zach was outtalked’ gas and getting thumped at the bell and do I really have to tell you what happened next? That’s right, folks, and our home cooking call of the night. The announcers (surprise) even commented on the call. They better be glad my boy Teddy Atlas wasn’t there, somebody ‘would’ve had hell to tell the captain’. Zac, your attack is wack; you need to learn how to throw a left hook, for starters. I have a suggestion, Zac, come to Cali for the rematch.

Anthony Peterson (33-1-17K) v. Edgar Santana (37-18-2-26K)

In the opener, the ‘other Peterson”, Lamont, returned from one of his many sabbaticals to face a guy that lost 37lbs in three weeks and hadn’t eaten in three days (so the announcers said). Well, he ate something in this fight and I hope he liked the taste of leather because that’s exactly what he got. Funny, it seemed Lamont was the hungry one, as he just ran up one side and down the other of Mr. Hungry. A hard left hook put Edgar down and out at 2:41 of the first round and I’m sure he headed straight to the nearest restaurant, even a Big Apple would’ve tasted good.

All in all, tonight was a mixed (fixed?) bag and I’m glad they were rather brief outings.