Call me crazy OR senile, but I don’t see what’s so great about WBO boss, Vasyl  Lomachenko  (8-1-1-6K). Yes, no doubt he can fight, no surprise after a thousand amateur fights. But I see a 29 year old with just 11 pro fights. He’s shifty and elusive and uses his head aka Evander Holyfield and seems to waste a lotta’ shit with all his water bugging and skipping around the ring. Last night he faced a guy that seemed totally lost and offered very little competition. Lomachenko knows a lotta’ tricks and kept stepping on Miguel Marriaga’s foot.  Marriiaga  (25-2-21K) just got toyed with. Vasyl  loves  to throw those amateur pitty pat shots while searching for openings. He really needs to fight people that are interested in providing competition. I don’t see what fights like this are designed to do. The announcer’s talk like this guy’s the best thing since a warm, moist, you-know what. His promoter Bob Arum says (surprise) he’d “take Tank Davis apart”. I doubt THAT shit. I wanna’ see him snuggle up to Tank trying to use his head and swap shit with HIM. I say he gets beaten by Davis. I don’t see him  beating  Mikey Garcia OR Terrence Crawford. Beat THOSE two and I’m all  aboard  the Lomachenko  Local. Now he could beat  a guy like Adrian Broner  who has NO clue how to adjust to ANYTHING in the ring. He’s talking about a fight with Guillermo Rigondeaux. If THAT happens, PLEASE inform me in advance so I can watch a PAWN SHOP MARATHON, instead. Hell, fight Gary Russell again. I know he’s like Haley’s comet but he’d give Lomachenko HELL in a rematch.

8/4/2017- Detroit

It was announced that Super middleweight champ Nikki Adler (16-0-9K) flew nearly 1300 miles to defend her title against Flint, Michigan’s rapidly improving Claressa   Shields (3-0-1K). If this is the best they have in Germany, at this weight, PLEASE don’t send anyone else to the states for a fight.. Shields  was so dominant in her title winning effort that I felt sorry for Adler. She was pitiful AND pathetic. I don’t think she landed ONE clean punch on the poised, powerful Shields. Shields tried to beat the corn rolls off Nikki’s head. Left hooks, right hands, stiff, fast jabs, poor Nikki received an ass whippin’ that will last her ‘til she gets back to Hamburg or Humbug or wherever she’s from. Adler was wobbled on a few occasions as the relentless Shields bounced big shots off her hear on the regular. This is the third time I’ve seen Shields and she’s becoming more and more professional. Her peeps are to be commended AND she doesn’t seem as arrogant as she was before. I forget, she’s only  22.

After the  WBC and IBF belts became her accessories, another German female champ, the unbeaten 21-0, Christina Hammer,when asked about Shields’ performance, the GEORGEOUS, Christina said, “it was a good fight, she beat Nikki but not a good fight for me, I beat them both”. Shields reacted immediately, saying, “you say that while you’re in a dress and I’m in (boxing) gear, put your gear on and I’ll kick your ass right now”. Christina said, “we’ll see in the ring”, to which Claressa agrred. Shields is nothing if not super confident.  I’ve never seen Christina fight but the way Shields is coming along, it’s gonna’ be a shame seeing her beat the beauty right off Hammer’s  face. This fight has to be called, Beauty and the Beast, Christina’s a real beauty but Shields is a real BEAST in the ring. Maybe the thoroughly beaten Adler can tell Christina what Shields is REALLY about, up close and personal. After the second round, Shield’s trainer said, “I don’t wanna say she’s a bum but she’s a BUM”. By the fourth round of this carnage, Adler’s nose was bleeding and there were tears in her eyes. At one point after a big combo, Shields open her arms, like, ‘c’mon girl, can’t you fight at ALL’?

In the semi, Texas’ Jesse (the one) Hernandez (8-1-1ND-6K showed unbeaten Vladimir Tykonov (15-0-9K) what the words ‘body punch’.mean. For five hurtful rounds, he punished Vladimir with hard rib shots and head-rattling right hands. It was said, Vladimir trained for weeks at Detroit’s famed Kronk gym. Well, whatever he learned, he forgot because he was no match for Hernandez. This was an impressive win fort  the Texan, coming off a long layoff.

8/4/2017- Fantasy Springs- In a fight that turned out just the way the fans expected , Rugged, tough-luck guy Mauricio Herrera (23-7-7K) won a hard fought majority decision over tough as nails, ‘ol vet, Jesus Soto Karras (28-10-4D-18K).Herrera, called, ‘The Riverside Rocky’ had a few rocky moments tonight in this ten round main event as Soto pressed the action from the start. Herrera, however, showed his underrated boxing skills, especially on defense as he slipped and countered all night. His left jab was on point and he even shoulder rolled his way out of trouble often as the free swinging  Karras tossed haymakers his way. There were no knockdowns as neither guy is a banger, but there was no lack of action. The knowledgeable fans predicted a war and that’s exactly what transpired.

I picked Karras to win, actually, because he does punch a little harder and Herrera has had issues with cuts in the past. The decision was booed by some fans, which was expected but I saw Mauricio pulling it off. A rematch wouldn’t be a bad idea, either. If these two fought five times, I think there would be little to choose from between them. Overall, a good win for Herrera and he still has a lot left. In the past he was a straight up brawler, but learned that there’s no shame in playing a little D at times.

In what was a disappointing affair, a young supposedly hot prospect from Florida,  Niko  (Baby Face) Valdez (5-0-5K) probably took one look at his opponent Jaime Solorio at the weigh in and figured this would be another early  ko.  Solorio looked like he’d just left the buffet table and seemed to be ‘just there’. At no time did the young Valdes look to be ready for any real tough competition though. He didn’t seem to have the power advertised and after the fourth round, the well fed Solario was chasing HIM around the ring as the crowd booed Valdez’s effort. There was no doubt about the decision but this ‘prospect’ has a lot to work on and he’s already 25 years of age. 25, and only five fights, I wasn’t the least bit impressed. I was at the Wild Card Gym today and saw a couple of guys that would’ve sent this guy back to Florida with his ass in a sling.

In a bout that SHOULD have been the semi, light heavies Todd  Unthank May (10-0-10K), from Philly faced Vyacheslav Shabransky  (18-1-15K). These two should fight for the Scrabbleboard title with THOSE names. This was a brutal fight between two guys that are not impressed with defense. May, was especially weak in that area as he was consistently blasted with whatever  Shabransky decided to toss his way. May has  an  awkward style, leaning back and and not moving his head madding  for target practice all fight long. He was cut over the right eye had his lip busted and was just a mess when the ref stopped it after seven rounds. Actually, this could’ve been stopped at LEAST a round earlier. May was a virtual punching back from round one. He landed a few of his own but it seems like Vyacheslav could’ve hit May with his eyes closed.  Being from Philly, I’ve seen a ton of ‘Philly fighters, but none as defenseless as this guy. But to keep it real, Vyacheslav didn’t emerge looking too cute, either . He also had a cut over his right eye and was hit a lot, too, his defense was NOTHING to write home about.

7/31/2017- PBS had some nice action last night on FS1. That youngster  Karlos  Banderos  looked sharp in scoring an opening round stoppage over Eder Fajardo with a big shot downstairs. It’s very early and this is the second time I’ve see the kid and he has some skills and pedigree. He’s now 2-0 with 2 ko’s, I’ll keep my eyes on him.

In a bruising bout between a pair of hard punching 154’s Nathaniel  Galimore  (18-1-1-15K) got tired of all that smiling Justin DeLoach (17-1-9K) was doing and administered some serious pain for five rounds before stopping the game DeLoach. Galimore seems to have an affinity for the hard, mano-mano shit. He constantly talked and stalked as he landed some serious shots on DeLoach, mainly  big left hooks. Galimore put that hook on DeLoache’s chin in the opening round, dropping him. There was some bad blood between these two and I think it caused an increase in the circumference of DeLoach’s testicles. He ‘sat there’ too long with the drooling  Galimore and paid dearly for it. Though he had his moments, it was obvious he wasn’t working with enough to keep the Jamaican off his butt cheeks. At the end of a couple of the rounds, DeLoach was sent stumbling back to his corner like a guy that had two, too many ‘cold ones’. Finally in the fifth, a barrage of big shots hurt DeLoach and as he wobbled back to his corner at the bell, He sat (almost) on his stool and slid off, almost outta’ the ring. With his smile gone and his eyes glassy, the ref decided maybe this beating should be called off. This was a nice win for Galimore and I’d love to see him with a top 20 guy. He won’t be easy work for ANYBODY.

Back on June11th, I was at The Pec  Center here in Lancaster, witnessing the return of Brandon (Bam Bam ) Rios (34-3-1D-25K) against a tough Aaron Herrera (25-9-16K) who was nobody’s plaything. Rios scored a late round ko but had to do some REAL work.

Now, with all THAT said, I saw boogie boy Victor (Vicious) Ortiz (31-6-2D-24K) return after a 15 month layoff in a ‘get the rust off my nuts’ bout. His opponent, admittedly was no HELL but he was serviceable. Saul  Corral  entered the squared circle with a a record of 25-9-16 K0. He was tall and game but not in Ortiz’s class. Actually, Ortiz and Rios are two guys I like to watch, regardless of their records and if they hooked up, I’ll bet it’d be an all out war. It’ll  be an ass kicker’ from Kansas to Oxnard.  Ortiz has a history of avoiding the heat of battle at times and is a bit of a front runner. He was sharp tonight though, as he ‘got wit’ Corral from the start, applying big time pressure and firing away with both mitts. There was no feelin’ out  shit  tonight,  just, ‘let’s just  DO the damn thing’. Corral, tall and lanky tried to stand his ground but this wasn’t  Florida, this was Bakersfield, Ca.. Both guys touched each other up but Ortiz’s paws were the heaviest as he started hurting Corral in the second, pinning him on the ropes and blazing away. He looked good. In round five, again, trapped on the ropes, a serious straight left, right hook set put Corral down but not quite out, THAT came a few seconds later. Ortiz, sensing he didn’t need any more WD 40 swarmed on Corral, dropping him again, prompting ref Jack Reiss to get involved. So NOW can I see Rios-Ortiz?

?

In the aftermath of that  whippin’ Mikey Garcia attached to Adrian  Broner’s  ass, I was surprised at some of Broner’s friends as well as corner men making  STUPID  comments like, “AB did too much following  Mikey around”. My ASS, did they know WHICH fighter was WHICH?  Broner was getting CHASED around,  the  only thing HE was following was  Mikey on the damn scorecards. Broner  better make up his mind what he wants to do because he was  THOUROUGHLY  out classed in THIS bout. Late in the fight, AB FINALLY decided to unload on Garcia and a big body dig damn near folded Mikey in half. In fact, there was  a couple of times where Broner showed he was the bigger puncher. I saw Mikey  react to a couple of hooks as well. Afterwards,  Broner said, “ I’m STILL the can man”, he needs to CAN some of that shit he keeps talking. “Don’t make any excuses when  I fk Mikey up, he threatened”. Yo ADRIAN stop smokin’ that shit, bro. Take up bowling, no cancel THAT  idea.  Mikey said, he’d be open to a Keith Thurman fight. Mikey, don’t get carried away, man.  Terrence Crawford IMO would tie knots  in  Mikey’s  ass. One Time would stop Mikey. The 47’s are too big and strong for him. And I don’t  think  Mikey can hurt THOSE guys.  At  LEAST  he didn’t mention Errol Spence, Jr.

AB a ‘Problem’? Don’t Make Mikey Laugh

After promising all who would listen that “I’ve changed, I’m more mature, I’m in the best shape of my life and I’ll make Mikey quit”, turns out it was all bullshit for Adrian Broner (33-2-1NC-24K).. The only improvement I saw was Broner was without that nasty lookin’ hobo beard. Broner, multi division champion ( at one time) spent more time shimmyin’ his ass up to the ring and running around for the first four rounds making things easy for the undefeated Mikey Garcia (36-0-30K). When I saw that AB was at 138 ¾ lbs, I thought, oh shit, Mikey might be in deep dooky. I picked Garcia to win though, because he’s a lot more disciplined than Broner, in AND out of the ring. Broner said, “I’ll make Mikey quit”, quit what, not kickin’ his ass, THAT’S for sure. I gave Broner no MORE than three rounds. He spent too much time yappin’ and shaking his head ‘no’, than fighting. The times he did catch Mikey flush, he got his attention but didn’t do it often enough.

It’s no secret that Broner has now lost all three of his major fights and lost badly. He ran around against Shawn Porter, too. Broner seems to do well with guys he can punk. Garcia, formerly of Oxnard, Ca. Out boxed AND out fought Broner over twelve rounds and it wasn’t even close. Pursuing the actual bigger guy around the ring, Garcia constantly had AB on the D. He raked him with body shots and uppercuts as well as straight right hands and when he tired of THAT, he put his fine jab to work. All night, AB seemed to be waiting for one big shot and when he DID land, Mikey  ate  them  and returned fire, probably discouraging AB. I’d never seen Broner’s corner on his ass so much between rounds, I’m sure they’ll all be lookin’ for work in the am. I think I heard one say, “I ain’t brushin’ your damn head no more, either’.

During the post fight interview with the annoying-ass Jim Gray, Broner at first took the loss calmly conceding Mikey “was the better man tonight”, he flared up when Gray implied he was “tired”. Hell, he should’ve shown this type of anger toward Mikey, he’s the one that was  tappin’ that ass all night. What’s next for AB, well, he still has talent but I wonder about his fighting heart. There was no sense of urgency form him (unlike his corner) and he MUST have known he needed a ko to win, after giving up so many early rounds. To ME, AB needs to get real and quit with the clown act, you can’t keep doin’ that shit and getting your ass kicked at the same time. He still has time but needs to make some changes, maybe ridding his corner of all those butt smoochers. For the undefeated Garcia, the sky’s the limit, there are some juicy hookups out there for him. The one thing about Garcia, I noticed is he RARELY makes mistakes. If you nail him, it’s just a good shot, NOT that Mikey was caught ‘slippin’. I was a little surprised that he was clownin’  Broner, dropping his hands and daring him to ‘get involved’. I noticed that Sam Watson has not lost any of his camera-hoing skills, either. Even during Garcia’s post interview, Watson managed to be camera center when he SHOULD have been over there consoling his boy, Broner. During the Charlo-Heiland mismatch, Watson was seemingly finishing his dinner (as always) while walking around the ring.

In the co main, Jermall Charlo (25-0-19k) was handed a wounded duck in (somehow) top rated contender (Sebastian Heiland  (29-4-2D-16K). Heiland  supposedly tried to enter the ring with his left leg heavily taped but was prevented from doing so by the officials. This was a weird fight. Heiland obviously had some sorta’ injury but that wasn’t Charlo’s problem. He did what he was supposed to do. He had Heiland eating his left jabs the way Sam Watson was eating before the fight. Heiland was limping and stumbling around from the first bell. If they had had that ref that’s always limping around the ring reffing THIS fight, I would’ve gone home. After dropping his wounded foe a couple of times, this thing was stopped at 2:13 of round four. Charlo, was complaining before the fight “I don’t get the respect I deserve” won’t get any from this ‘fight’, either. I’d love to see him fight Daniel Jacobs, if Jacobs EVER gets over going the distance with GGG. He’s not only ‘milking’ that fight, he’s making butter.

Stay tuned, I’ll have my take on the off tv fights tomorrow. I KNEW Gerald Washington had a ko loss coming.

&/18.2017… I’m sure over the years Lancaster’s featherweight Chris (Hitman) Avalos feels he’d gotten a raw deal or two. Well tonight  Avalos  (16-5-19K), was on the receiving end when he was declared a fifth round TKO winner over Miguel Flores (21-1-9K) . From my point of view, Avalos was looking as if he was facing the possibility of a late round stoppage loss. This was a rough and tumble fight with lots of rough shit occurring. Chris seemed to get hurt at least once every round and was dropped in the third from a barrage following a Flores straight hand.

A butt that was unseen by the ref caused a bad cut over Flores’ left eye. Admittedly if  the ref didn’t SEE it, he couldn’t call it, though the replay did. Avalos doesn’t seem to react well to shots the way he once did, being hurt several times by the pinpoint shots from the aggressive Flores. Chris landed his share of shots but Flores wasn’t affected much. Flores won every round until the stoppage but this ain’t fishing and Avalos wasn’t throwing it back. He mentioned a rematch but that wouldn’t be a wise move, going off of tonight’s performance. There were numerous exchanges and Avalos always seemed to get the worse of it, being forced to hold on at times. On the knockdown, a straight right from Flores shook Avalos and a follow up assault caused him to take a knee where Flores landed a glancing blow with Chris on his knee. Overall it was an entertaining fight and Chris will gladly take this to the bank.

Not much to talk about in the other two scraps. Undefeated prospect Ahmed Elbiali (15-0-12K) steamrolled a helpless  Christopher Brooker from Philly. This was about the weakest Philly fighter I’ve seen in years. Elbiali landed heavy artillery on Brooker from the start and lots of his shots were behind the head as if Brooker didn’t have ENOUGH issues Brooker was trapped in a corner, dropped and rescued by the ref in the second round. In the finale, an ‘ol vet Carlos Velasquez came in with a record of 25 wins and 24 losses. His peeps had to search high and low to find 24 guys HE could beat. The youngster he fought, Ryan (Cowboy) Karl was no ass kicker, either. Unfortunately this thing dragged on (robbing me of precious sleep) for eight rounds and Karl was the winner by unanimous decision, I think. Also heavy eight Charles Martin, former champ (uggggh) was a ko winner over some Orca that went down whenever he got hit. The only good thing about THIS one was, it wasn’t televised.

7/15/2017-There was a lotta’ swingin’ goin’ on this weekend. I saw guys that had a LOT to learn and a guy that needs to DISAPPEAR.

Robert Guerrero 33-5-1-1D-18K v. Omar Figueroa (26-0-1D-18K)

In most sports, it’s pretty obvious when it’s time to retire but somehow, in the most brutal sport of all, most guys don’t know WHEN to say ‘when’. Gilroy California’s Guerrero is a case in point. The Ghost and his dad with the funny had can’t take even the BIGGEST hint. At the rate he’s going, the Ghost will need a name plate to know who the hell he is. Looking to snap a two bout losing street, he faced a pudgy Omar Figueroa that hadn’t had a fight in over a year. He looked like it too, for THREE minutes. Guerrero came out with his ass on fire, unloading on Omar who seemed to have forgotten to set his alarm. Driving Omar to the ropes, Guerrero was looking like his old self. In round two he looked like his much OLDER self as Omar completely flipped the script.

Omar lured (didn’t take much) the Ghost into a trench war and destroyed the Ghost with vicious, mind numbing uppercuts. Guerrero had some bible stuff written on his trunks and it was appropriate  because he spent a lotta’ time on his knees in a praying position. He went from praying to being preyed UPON. Five times (that’s right), Omar put the Ghost on his knees but couldn’t make him quit. In fact, after the first THREE drops, Guerrero stormed back, unloading on Omar. This was a vicious  three  round war, sorta’ like  Hagler-Hearns. The fight was finally stopped when it was obvious the Ghost was about to get SERIOUSLY hurt.

At the Forum in Inglewood, Ca.

The short reign of New York’s  heavy handed light heavyweight champ was short lived to say the least. It’s hard to call him an ex-champ so soon. Smith (23-1-19K) the blue collar guy just might be smart in maintaining his day job. He faced Sullivan Barrera (sounds like a damn race horse) (19-1-14K),  who informed

Joe that it takes a LOT more than heavy hands to get by in THIS business. Berrera got off to a smokin’ start, nailing Smith with fast combos, rattling the New Yorker. Then Joe did what he does,  he unladed a sweeping left hook high on Berrera’s head, dropping him. But unlike Bernard Hopkins, Sullivan stayed in the ring. In fact, he gave Smith a beating over ten rounds that left no doubt. Aside from an occasional shot,  Smitty was completely dominated and was lucky he didn’t get stopped. At times he looked totally out of his element. Aside from that early knockdown, Smith was never in this fight. It was an impressive win for the Cuban, Berrera. Now, it’s back to the union halls for Smitty and hopefully, back to the drawing board, he has a LOT to learn.

Jezreel Corrales (21-1-1NC-8K) v. Robinson Castellanos ( 22-11-14K)

In a rather odd encounter, you had a guy with blonde hair, a black beard and a ten lb weight advantage against a guy that has lost HALF his bouts and has been stopped 6 times. This didn’t figure to be too interesting but it turned into a pretty decent  scrap, especially after the limited Catellanos dropped the heavily favored  Corrales in round five. In a foul fest, both guys were guilty of head butts, rabbit shots and a few other things. Things became so messy that it was stopped in the6th round, with the win going to Corrales

Miguel Berchelt (31-1-28K) v. Takashi Miura (31-3-20-24K)

Now, I REALLY got my popcorn  ready for what was predicted to be an all outer. The WBC Super featherweight strap was on the line and there were no prisoners scheduled to be taken. WRONG, what we actually got was the champ Berchelt  dancing and skipping around, leading the plodding Miura around like his new best friend. If Miura had a game plan, I don’t know what it was. He was totally schooled by the elusive Mr. Berchelt  the entire fight and I don’t think he won more than ONE round. Most times he seemed to have concrete boots on and flailed away wildly, often missing by FEET, and throwing himself into the ropes. The number of clean shots he DID land could be counted on one glove. This was so one-sided, I thought Miura was a last minute sub. Hell, I expect McGregor to be more competitive .True, Berchelt was aware of the ‘threat’ his opponent presented and he was never in position to get hit cleanly more than once, giving Miura angles and movement that rendered his power moot. This was a very disappointing main event and ugly. The only knockdown came in the first round when Miura was put down from a left hook. There were numerous rabbit blows from Miura as well as Castellanos and was discussed at length by the talking heads. In fact, ref Raul Caiz gave the champ a little respite following one of the many. The moments Miura DID have were few and far between.

In other weekend action, highly regarded JoJo Dan (36-4-19K) had his issues with the length and reach of Jamaal James (20-1-9K). James showed decent boxing skills and movement but not much power DESPITE his fierce grunting with each punch he threw. Dan stalked and punished the grasshopper-like James when he had him against the ropes. A couple of times James seemed ready to go after Dan was able to corral him but rallied the next round to regain control. To me, it was a pretty close fight but the judges saw a unanimous win for the lanky one. The question IS, what’s next for JoJo ?

Freddy Figueroa (12-0-8K), younger brother of Omar probably thought he was in the gym hitting one of those heavy bags the way he battered a game but inept  Fatiou Fassinou (28-6-3-15K). Fatiou’s game plan must’ve been to see how many times Freddy could hit him before wearing himself out. Well, Freddy had a lotta’ energy and this was a bout that could’ve / should’ve been stopped at several stages. Round after round, Fassinou got the cat piss beaten outta’ him. The only respite he got was the beginning of the last round when Freddy decided to box a little. Evidently he found that to be boring and once again started blasting away at this heavy bag with arms and legs. I always found it amazing, the amount of punishment the human body can take without collapsing. Fassinou was a punch absorbing sponge and is the type that will be back in the gym sparring tomorrow, ten rounds. Keep THIS shit up and his friends will have to tell him what he did for a living.

THE CIRCUS

This shit with McGreggor and Mayweather is becoming MORE and MORE embarrassing. All the cussing and strutting around the stage is REDICULOUS. Floyd thinks he’s a damn rapper and Connor thinks he’s  the wittiest thing on two feet. I keep struggling to find the ‘entertaining aspect’ of this thing and I’m not doing too well. After calling his ‘opponent’ a pussy and a faggot, he says afterwards, “I don’t disrespect NOBODY”. With his tax issues, Floyd looks ridiculous ‘making it rain’. He then asks the people not to  stream this fight because “it takes stuff away from my kids” REALLY, Floyd REALLY?

By Chris ‘Rab’ Butler.

Well I’m back again with my rantings and ramblings from here in England, hoping you haven’t missed me, because I have either been lazy or incompetent when it comes to saving my work on my laptop and losing the damn thing that I was going to email Mr. Dinkins a while back. So no more excuses, here we go.

Last time I told you about the mandatory for Billy Joe Saunders the WBO middleweight champ Advantil Khurtzsidski, the Georgian who shocked a lot of people here by knocking out Tommy Langford. I told you this bloke was as mad as a box of frogs, well if you didn’t know, him and 30 others of questionable morals and so on from Russia and Georgia got busted for all sorts of naughty Mafia stuff including stealing a load of chocolate! Who the hell wants to steal chocolate? I did once from a shop when I was a little kid and got my legs slapped and rightly so, but hey, maybe it was laced with something those hoodlums could sell on somewhere. Anyway, Billy Joe is now squaring up against Willie Monroe Jr. on September 16^th at the Copper Box in that London. I predict an easy nights work for Billy, who not so long ago called out Gennedy “GGG” Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez at a presser over here again, in that London. GGG told Billy he talks too much, whereas Canelo didn’t say too much himself but blushed and farted in his seat because Alvarez was slated to fight Saunders but for whatever reason (probably money and not enough of it), it didn’t happen.

Talking of the Copper Box on Saturday just gone (8^th July) there was some serious crowd trouble at the venue after Sammy McNess who was touted for big things, had a large West Ham United football (soccer, to you colonials) following behind him that caused the disturbances after Asinia Byfield battered him from pillar to post. The fight was for a local area title and McNess had been built up and much money invested in him by HOF promoter Frank Warren. Warren was vociferous in condemning the trouble that occurred and quite rightly so. Considering that amongst those in attendance at the show were a lot of women and children, it was disgraceful. The trouble being ignited by McNess’s followers not happy with their boy being defeated (the corner threw the towel in, the ref should’ve stopped it earlier) and of course that thing they call alcohol. Beered up idiots who mob handed act brave and bold but the only time you’d ever see any of these clowns near a gym is running past one to get to the hot dog stand nearby. Besides that, once the trouble had been sorted, the top of the bill was a young man called Anthony Yarde. This chap was fighting for some alphabet bauble called the WBO European light heavyweight strap and against a Hungarian with a 17-1 record. Yarde has had 12 contests now, with 11 KO’s as he dispatched the Magyar in under a round. This kid can bang, trust me. He had only about 15 bouts as an amateur and is learning on the job, but I don’t think he is learning a great deal as 8 of his KO’s have come in the 1^st round. But, Frank Warren does have high hopes for him and he will be tested more as he progresses his career. One to watch, coming to America before long.

Josh Taylor, another prospect trained by Shane McGuigan, son of legend Barry, was in action north of the border at the Braehead arena in Glasgow against Ohara Davies. Josh has fought on the undercard of Frampton-Santa Cruz, in Vegas at the MGM Grand. Josh has excellent amateur credentials as a 2010 British Commonwealth Games silver medallist in 2010 and gold in 2014 as well as an Olympic rep for Team GB in 2012. Josh battered Ohara Davies in 7 that I didn’t catch until later but one of my amateur lads called me as I was in bed with the missus to ask if I’d seen the scrap but kept quiet about the outcome! Good boy, or he’d have an extra lap or three around the track when he gets back to training! Keep an eye out for him and talking of (former) Team GB members, that man Daniel Dubois was in action again and was slated for a 10 rounder in what was for another alphabet bauble being the WBC youth heavyweight title in only his 4th bout. His original opponent pulled out so he ended up boxing some Brazilian chump with a winning record of 14 wins and 0 defeats but weighing 33 pounds less. “DDD” as big Dan is known as put the Brazilian down with his very first punch and from then on it was survival mode for the rest of the round and then in the 2^nd poleaxed him with a whack to the solar plexus which looked a bit innocuous at first but on the telly replay he caught him good and proper. As I’ve said before, keep your eye on this kid, and he is a kid, still only 19 and 6’5” and 233lbs solid.

Lastly, I suppose I better mention the McGregor-Mayweather “fight”. I know Donald is pretty sick of it just at the mere thought, I have to say I am too. We all know what will happen, that is, those of us that know anything about boxing or MMA, and the only thing that will be worth watching is McGregor winding up Mayweather as I’m sure he will. Doesn’t matter what Mayweather says about his credentials, McGregor will have him from behind and dry bum him. Other than that, everyone in Vegas will get paid as everyone will flock like lemmings to see this shit and I shall watch it from home and on a live stream as the worst place I could see it will be in a bar full of drunken idiots who don’t know shit about boxing as a certain uncle once said.

That’s it, thanks for reading and please feel free to praise my writings to the mountains or slag it off mercilessly, all criticism will be taken onboard.

7/02/2017- Ok fight fans, the voice of reasoning is signing in.  Now, I get that Jeff Horn wasn’t supposed to bother the great, legendary Pilipino legend,  Manny  Pacquiao (59-6-2-38K).  Most U.S.  fight  fans don’’t  know Jeff Horn (16-0-1-11K)  from Jeff  ZORN, the former Seahawks qb. But to hear all the ranting and raving over Horn’s win last night, lead by that raving LUNATIC, Teddy Atlas, I don’t get the outrage. There have  always been controversial decisions in boxing, ask Chocolatito  about that shit or some of Danny Garcia’s opponents. Not only did he (Chocolatito), get screwed, his unbeaten streak was snapped AND he lost his title.

Whenever we folks  stateside that don’t know ANYTHING about a foreign fighter with  so few fights, against people we never heard of, we are NEVER in a position to accept them upsetting the established icon. Well, Manny and his fans, PRAY that  ya’ boi NEVER finds himself staring across the ring at ANY of the top welters. They would KILL this version of Pacquiao. Duerte would send his goons after Errol Spence, Jr. or Terrance Crawford. The Aussie, Horn is not the stylish, smooth ko  artist  that people wanna’ see. His style’s not pleasing to the eyes  but so fkn WHAT, neither is Shawn Porter’s. His opponents are always complaining about his rough house tactics and he just smiles and has that, ‘it’s a damn FIGHT aint it” expression.  He had Ghetto Boy Adrian Broner  RUNNING from him at times in their fight. That damn Tyson Fury is the shittiest thing I’ve seen in a hundred years but he sure beat  Klitchko and became hwt. Champ DIDN’T he?

The powers that be in boxing swore on their mama’s panties that they’d FINALLY found a guy that Manny could stop, just like they found one coming up, for Floyd Mayweather. I imagine the master plan was to rematch Manny and Floyd and bring all the suckers BACK into the tent.

Well, the club fighting Jeff Horn  fked up THAT cha-cha, DIDN’T he? Now, let’s get REAL here. From the OPENING bell, this dude let Manny and everybody else know  that he had ZERO respect for Manny OR his legacy. He was in Manny’s shit from the opening bell and didn’t stop roughing his ass up. Elbows, head butts, wrestling, he just didn’t GIVE a shit. At times, he had Manny in full flight trying to slow his flow. He was too big, too young, too strong and WAY too rough for Manny. Manny looked  every bit  the 38 year old former great that he is. Those who see Manny stopping this guy in a rematch are DREAMING. Manny’s biggest moment came in the 9^th round when he put  some SHIT on the Aussie, so MUCH so, the ref, came to Horn’s corner and said, “I’m here to protect you, do something or I’m stopping the fight”. Well, with all the bleeding Manny was doing, who was there to “protect” HIM? And after punching himself out with wild swings, Manny didn’t do shit for the next two rounds and the rejuvenated youngster was back in his ass. Manny should’ve had a saddle on. Sure, Manny had his moments, he SHOULD, he’s the damn champ, but this guy was MORE than Manny could deal with. He wouldn’t let Manny ‘do  his thing’. There were times Horn would pin the champ on the ropes and unload on him and Manny would shrug and try to play it off and we KNOW what THAT means.

Manny wants a rematch, WHY, Horn’s style is a NIGHTMARE for him and always WILL be. After the fight, Tim Bradley said “this guy will give ANY of the top guys problems”, and Stupid A. Smith thought he said “he could beat any of those guys”. This guy hears what he WANTS to hear. Goin’ WAAAAY back, Horn reminds me of Gene Fullmer  (yes, I’m THAT old) from Utah. His style was ugly as hell, but he became champ and beat Ray Robinson (the FIRST time) with his rough  way of doin’ things. Marciano never confused anyone with Ali, but he SURELY got shit done. The scores from tonight’s fight sent everybody out for their pitchforks. Hell, I’ve seen a LOT worse and I aint  tryna’ hear that home town shit, Manny knew where he was and what he had to do. I hate to hear that shit, same for Kovalev,  NONE  of the circumstances were a surprise. Do what you gotta’ do and if you can’t, TDB (too damn bad).

The reality is, Manny’s shelf life has LONG expired. When club fighters with so FEW fights just get in there and TOTALLY  disrespect  and abuse you, it’s time to pack yo’ shit. Manny Pacquiao has always been one of my favorite guys to watch, he’s had many wars came up from 106  to as high as ’54 and has done it all in tha’ game, but it’s TIME, baby, go home and let  Jinka  console you, ( I can think of a LOT worse things to do), stop running that little dog to death and sit back and enjoy life. Next time, I wouldn’t be surprised if Horn STOPS him. Hey, Father Time doesn’t even have any DRAWS on HIS record.

ESPN needs to put a muzzle on Atlas’ ass (AND his mouth). He doesn’t  help with his rantings  about bad decisions, he acts like he lost money. Being objective is ONE thing but those are just your OPINIONS, Teddy, NOT facts. Stop acting like this was the FIRST or WORSE ‘bad’ decision you’ve ever seen. He told Horn, “I think you lost” I wish Horn had said, ‘ and I think you’re an arsehole’

.Poor Tim Bradley, he wanted SO badly to say a Horn verdict wouldn’t surprise him, but loudmouth Atlas looked him in the eye and made Timmy change his opinion. Bradley could only say, “this fight is closer than you think”. When Atlas stared at Bradley  it was like that actor (Liotta, I think) that walks into the bar and sees that brother with the ‘wrong’ drink, gives him that death stare and makes the brother reorder, scared the SHIT  outta’ that dude. Horn is now the WBO welterweight champ.

Other skirmishes

Shane Mosely Jr. lost a split decision to Aussie David Toussaint (10-0-8K) Son of the great former champ, Sugar Shane Mosley, middleweight Mosely Jr (10-1-7K). fought a tough eight rounds against Assie and lost a split decision. Rocked early, the robotic Mosely showed durability b rallying late to make things interesting. Toussaint was just to quick and elusive for Mosely. Mosely was a sitting duck early on, walking in on a lin with very little head or upper body movement, bute he’s tough, but like Chavez Jr, ‘he aint his dad’ Former Bronze Olympic winner. Michael Conlin (2-0-2K) did more work than he needed to in stopping mediocre Jerrett Owen. Owen fron down under entered the ring weraring a sombrero, no doubt preparing for a siesta given the numer of times he’s been on the mat. Conlin won a t=TKO in the second round and this was an STD (something to do ) fight. In an entertaining battle for the IBF Jr. Flyweight belt, Manny Pacquiao’s  countryman, champ Jerwin Ancajas (24-1-16K) was smooth and patient as he boxed well against Teiru Kenoshita (25-1-1-8K). In what was anticipated to be an all outer, never happened. Teiru was aggressive but the sharp lefty Ancajas was in no hurry, KNOWING he had the power edge.A head clash caused a nasty cut over Kenoshito’s right eye which turned into a swollen eye, almost shut. As if he wasn’t having enough issues with the champ Teiru started gambling and was being jolted with counter shots when in the 7^th round a big-time right to the rib area sent the challenger to the canvas ending things at 1:53 of the round, By THAT time, Teiru was fighting with one eye.