Let them use the glass shard gloves from Kickboxer part 1

I'm really suprised about how much credit is being given to such an obvious excuse. Usually when someone makes an excuse so vehemently, they are scoffed at and people talk about something else. Instead there has been a lot of discussion over what might have been if Morales and Pacquaio wore different gloves. What might have been...

The same damn thing except with less excuses afterwards. Suppose they would've used Reyes gloves instead. Presumably an advantage would go to the bigger puncher. But you know what? Last saturday that person wasn't Pacquaio, so he should consider himself lucky. It's not like Morales wanted to use soccer boppers.

Let's just put all of this to rest. The best fighter won.

Los Hombres No Lloran

I have long said that boxing is a sport like no other. This past week I have realized that's true for another reason. It seems that boxing has been one of the rare sports where you can see grown men, nay, walking symbols of machismo, cry in front of people. Now it's pretty normal to cry tears of joy when you win (latest case in point Bruce Webber after the Arizona game). I mean tears of disappointment when you lose (I have no idea what Fernando Vargas is bawling about*).

Nary a loser is declared on Contender that doesn't make the person cry as they walk down the dark hall of losers. Seriously, every single one of them did except for that kid Ahemed. I was even pretty sure Manny Pacquaio and his cornermen shed tears after the decision was announced against him.

Now let me be perfectly clear, I'm not saying crying is a sign of weakness. As the big Lebowski somberly said, "Strong men also cry", and I believe he was right more or less. What I find worth commenting on is the Machismo to Tears ratio. If male figure skaters did the crying after drawing a bad score, I wouldn't think anything was out of the ordinary. Instead it's fighters, the toughest people on earth. They take straight rights to the face from world champions and don't cry but something comes over them when someone tells them they aren't good enough.

*go here and listen to "unconditional love". Someone who speaks Spanish help me understand this.

Pacquaio's future

I just found out that Pacquaio may have to have plastic surgery to repair the facial wound he suffered. Has anybody heard of someone having a boxing career after such a procedure? This can't be very common.

Hopkins V Taylor is ON

Quick update as I just found out that the first superbout in the middleweight division to happen in a while is going to happen this July 16th. Last week Hopkins made a public offer to Taylor that he had 24 hours to accept. It seemed to me that making such a shrewed challenge was kind of a stunt; contract negotiations are complicated and boxer's handlers (particularly for young up and comers like Taylor) are very cautious about who they put their fighters in with.

I'm excited about this fight because while many fight fans wanted to see it happen, there were doubts because Hopkins said he would be retiring as soon as next year. The questions were would young Taylor be ready? Would Hopkins be willing? A lot of commentators said Taylor was a couple of fights away from being ready to challenge the best. I never bought this; whether he's the best or not, I don't believe that anybody's out of his league anymore. Many wanted to hold back Taylor to have him fight a couple more lopsided fights. Then those people talk about how good he is but don't want to see him in any good fights. Hopkins is too good for Taylor, but Taylor will make it interesting.

It will be the king lion versus the hungry young lion, and nobody will have to wonder what could have been.

Morales W12 Pacquaio: aftermath

I'm pretty suprised at the results from Saturday's PPV. By what I've read Pacquaio wasn't able to bring his power to a higher weight division and he claims he was disadvantaged by the gloves that had to be used. I've also heard (and probably a little closer to the truth) that Morales just fought a smart fight and stuck to his game plan. I won't be able to make my own definitive analysis until HBO replays the bout this Saturday with the Vargas comeback match.

That fight Vargas V Joval is also one of my most highly anticipated fights to see in this what looks like a potent spring schedule. I think that Vargas is coming back against a contender in Raymond Joval and I'm glad to see he's already eyeing upper eschelon fighters (much like Trinidad did, a rematch with him would be great for boxing if Vargas can first win a couple more fights).

I last saw Joval in his televised win over Chicago brawler Angel Hernandez. He's crafty but doesn't have a lot of power and Vargas should be able to have time to pick his shots and try to overpower him. Vargas will be coming back as a middleweight and probably will stay there. This is a good thing for boxing because when he was a 154 pounder, it was the most interesting division in the sport. Now he has a better chance of getting big money fights at middleweight since many of the fighters that made 154 so interesting have moved up (Wright, Trinidad, Quartey and briefly De La Hoya) or down (Mosely, possibly future De La Hoya).

what the fucks a chib

I'm starting to regret the name already. But the site is already two days old so it's too late to change.

Margarito V Cintron: future fight of the year

to be updated soon. although by this point...

Does Morales have a chance? Why Pacquaio will be the fight of his life

Even a cursory look at the March 19 PPV battle between Manny Pacquaio 39 (31)-2-2 and Erik Morales 47 (34)-2 puts the odds in Manny's favor. The basic facts are that Pacquaio destroyed a man that Erik lost twice to and beat him in a way Erik never did only a little over a year ago. Since then Pacquaio's looked stronger than ever, displaying amazing firepower in his draw with Marquez and knockout of 3K Battery (a Thai boxer who sold advertising space in his name). Meanwhile Morales continues to fight at the level that has people calling him one of boxings few true warriors, but what makes him seperate from Manny's latest victims?

If Morales is going to win he's going to have to be smart. He's going to have to study the Marquez fight. In two rounds of watching it you can see how to lose to Pacquaio and how to beat him. When Marquez allowed himself to get absorbed into a brawl he got knocked down repeatedly. When Marquez was able to nuetralize Pacquaio's offense he had him moving backward and was winning rounds.

There's been talk of adjustments that Pacquaio has made to make his arsenal more three dimensional. Working with trainer Freddie Roach, his camp has said to the press that he has a secret weapon they call "Manilla Ice". As a counter psych out the Morales camp should just say "Manilla whatta? yeah we already have a defence for that." Anyway this "secret weapon" is believed to be a right hook, since the southpaw Pacquaio does most of his damage with the left hand and needed to be more diverse to beat Marquez. If Freddie Roach is able to make Manny a more complete fighter, his continuing ascension on the pound for pound lists is assured.

First he has to get through Morales. If Erik has one edge coming into this bout its that he's been training with much tougher sparring partners than Pacquaio. Morales has been working with undefeated Steven Luevano and some other tough competition. Still, Pacquaio was reported to look sharp and powerful at his media event workout. It will be important for Pacquaio to retain his speed and power as he moves up in weight to face the naturally bigger Morales.
Box Chib Now calls it Pacquaio by Decision
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