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TALKIN BOXIN
by Howie Reed
March 16, 2004
AS one gets older there are certain things that are
suppose to occur. A person gains wisdom, patience and insight. Your words
are treasured by those you talk with as if they are the words of a Prophet.
You’re
grown up, mature, wise. For some reasons none of that happened with “Moi”. I
have no idea why. Things seems to be going in the opposite direction. This
week an event occurred in Las Vegas that has me completely discombobulated.
The usual meticulous care I take with “Talkin Boxin” and its’ companion “The
Square Ring” weren’t there. I worked in the yard (I hate yard work or
actually physical work of any kind.) “What was I on about? ” It was Saturday
when the vision appeared answer that question.
It makes sense as I wasn’t effected by the maturing
process that I must still be a youngster at heart. But
what caused this behavior where my weekly column was “really terrible” as
opposed to just your normal
everyday terrible? During the week, I received in the
mail a letter from Cox Cable. “As of April 17 you will
be required to switch over to digital cable service.”
“That’s it I’ve had it with Cox. They’re just forcing
me to pay for something I don’t want. I’m going down
there (there being the Cox office) and give them a
piece of my mind.” It’s a given that I have some left.
So down I march, letter in hand, fire shooting out of
my ears. “I’ll show them they can’t treat Howard Reed that way,. Especially
when my support probably caused ESPN to knuckle under on their
rate increase.”
I stood in line building up the courage to fight the
good fight. Not only to just win but to bloody the
opposition and beat them into a pulp. The evil
corporate giant Cox Cable. “Yes sir may I help you?”
“Yes Ms, I got this letter and I need you to explain
it.” I said this knowing that a big increase in cost
was coming my way for channels that I didn’t want or
need. I would be acting like the oaf I am as I
stormed out with a parting shot of , “I’m canceling
Cox and going with Direct TV”. “My I have your phone
number Mr. Reed? Whoops. We’ve been over billing
you. I can save you about $15.00 per week.” “Well
yes”, he stammered, “but explain this letter?” “You
switch over digital TV, get over 150 channels and on
the TV alone I save you $2.31.” Somewhat taken back,
“Yeah sure. Then in a couple of months you raise my
rates for something I don’t want.” “Actually Mr. Reed
we haven’t raised rates since 1999.” “Well when can
you change this over ”, asked a now cowered defeated
Howie Reed. “You can do it today. I’ll give you the
boxes, you make the switch.” I’d decided I’d make
one last try as “Jerk Dom”. ”I have an extra TV I use
to watch two sports event at one time. With the
Digital can I still use it directly from the cable.”
“Of course Mr. Reed.” That was it. I had been
defeated. Beaten into the ground by logic.
Now this new digital TV gives me 150 channels. Among them are HBO Espanol so
I can watch more boxing. Also included is FOX SPORTS WORLD that programs
live English Soccer (footbol), boxing from Europe and even darts. So I
watched English soccer live, live horse racing (TVG) the 1983 Auburn-Bama
Game (Classic Sports) and a bunch of other neat stuff. It’s like I was on
vacation. Not in North Las Vegas. That’s one part of the vision. The second
part? Spring arrived on Tuesday and being the child I am, I got spring
fever. True fact. So I apologize for the quality of
Talkin Boxin this week (no the other weeks I credit to
lack of talent). Not my fault. I have issues with
maturity and reality. I’ll work on it this week. While
singing “It Might As Well be Spring” (Lyrics by:
Oscar Hammerstein II . Music by: Richard Rodgers. From the Film: State Fair
1945) I eagerly awaited Saturday night s big fight card.
Last week I had written, “Mosley is an interesting
case in today’s boxing world. He defeated the number
one attraction Oscar De La Hoya and still is not a
highly popular fighter. It might be due to his
“strategy “ of winning the bout rather then winning
the fight. His wins against top level fighters, those
he’s fought, are never spectacular. His two loses
against Vernon Forrest, at least the first, was.
Mosley has his eyes on a big time PPV date with Felix
Trinidad down the road later in the year. He’ll box to
win.” It is what can only be classified as a “poor”
performance Shane Mosley proved once again why even with wins against De La
Hoya, he is not a drawing power.
If the fight didn’t prove it then the “people” disguised as empty orange
seats should have. As you know Mosley(39-3) lost a unanimous decision
(117-111, 117-111,116-112, 118-110 Talkin Boxin) to Winky Wright (47-3) in a
fight that really was never in doubt. With the loss went the WBC, IBF & WBA
Jr. Middleweight titles.
Mosley won the first and 12 round’s in convincing
manner. In between he was beaten to the punch, out
thought, out fought and our “hearted”. The “two wise
men and Manny Stewart” were trying to figure out when
Mosley decided to mail it in. “I think it in the 8th
when Wright fought back with Mosley still winning the
round”, stated L. Merchant. “I think you’re right
Larry”, said “I Think You’re Right Larry” Jim Lampley.
“he quit in the second round”, answered always
truthful, sometime to a fault, Emanuel Stewart. The
best thing about the contest were the sometimes “not
to be heard in radio” comments from Wright Trainer
Dan Birmingham. After a slight head butting the two
fighters touched gloves. “What’s this touching gloves
bull stuff ? This isn’t a f’ing sparring session. He’s
trying to take away your money.” At another point it
was ,”we need 12 Maud frickert rounds.” “Get
ridiculous with the jab.” My favorite was just prior
to the “12th and final round” when Birmingham said,
“they’ll “f” us in the 12th. You know how they are out
here. They count the 12th like 6 rounds.” This time
they didn’t even though Mosley probably won the round
and looked good doing it.
Why didn’t Mosley fight the rounds between 2-11 like
he did 1 and 12 ? Good question but the answer eludes me. This fight should
put this “best pound for pound” fighter stuff. Mosley isn’t. In big fights
he’s 2-3.
Hardly the thing that legends are made of. Mosley is a
complicated individual. He has a pride that is rock
solid but gets in the way. He turned down $12.5
million to fight Oscar. He did this feeling that as
he won the last he deserved equal pay. He opted for
Wring and then Trinidad. He the first and the second
is in doubt. A tip of the hat should go out to Ring
Announcer Michael Buffer for his heartfelt
introduction of the main event with a tribute to our
men and women in the armed services. At the end of the fight he also gets
high marks for not doing something. He didn’t say, “Let’s give this
two great champions a great hand for a great fight.” Even he and the people
that showed up knew it was a stinker.
I ended last weeks column with, “In short if the Reed
Curse don’t prevail Mesi-Jirov will be a heck of a
scrap.” The curse is lifted. It was a heck of a scrap
even though it took 8 full rounds of Jirov getting
beaten to the punch to get there. Jirov who looked
like he was tiring in the early rounds came to life in
the 9th when he whapped Mesi on the side of the head
to score the first knockdown of the fight. Going into
the 9th Jirov was trailing on all cards (judges, HBO
and Talkin Boxin) 79-73. The knockdown in the 9th got
Jirov to 87-83. In the 10th Jirov got two knockdowns
one coming with less than a minute left. The last 15
seconds Mesi “literally” held on for the 94-93 win.
The fans booed the decision. It’s hard to fault them
for their opinion. They did pay for the tickets. (By
the by if you lived in Vegas you knew that tickets
sales were not good when the day before the card
“talking sports heads” on radio were giving away
$600.00 dollar tickets.) Jirov did win the fight at
the same time lost the match. When was the last time
you saw a fighter deck his opponent three times and
lose ? May have been a first. “It must be Spring.”
LET’s get right to it as time is of the essences.
Last week I used the quote “One for all and all for
one.” Got an e-mail from my pal Scotty in Vancouver.
“the (one for all and all for one) i think it is from
the three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas” writes Scotty . Some may remember
that last week that quote or phrase was attributed to either the French
Foreign Legion or Gunga Din. Who did this? Well that would be Sir Houston
Hartwell Reed II.
Even though I was sure that Scotty was right I
somewhere in that back of my mind still thought it
“might’ have been the French Foreign Legion. So I
“Googled” it. The quote is now attributed to the
1980’s cartoon Doganian and the Three Muskehounds
“One for all and all for one. Muskehounds are always
ready. One for all and all for one. Helping
everybody.” I surrender to the wisdom of Scotty and
Google. Heck of a deal.
LAST week I mentioned that the Byrd-Golota fight on
April 17th from the Garden might be a good “free TV
show”. Vic Ziegel looks at the promotion a little
different. He is a former editor and now sports
columnist for the New York Daily News. “I'm banging my head against the
wall, I'm a fool for caring, I know,
I know, but I can't help myself. The topic is boxing
and here I go again, bang, bang, bang. On the cheery
side, you won't be reading the word "steroids." I must
interrupt Mr. Z here. Boxing isn’t out of the woods
yet on the “steroids” issue. Fernando Vargas flunked
his test after the DeLaHoya fight in Vegas. Shane
Mosley is still to be questioned in the investigation of the “BALCO” Labs in
Northern California.
Back to Mr. Z. “Don King held a press conference , the
tuna sandwiches received high marks, and I got very
lucky - I wasn't invited. (Boy do I know that feeling) He announced a show
for Madison Square Garden April 17 with two heavyweight title fights, eight
or nine cruiserweight title fights and, let's get ready to grumble, God
knows how many more one-sided fights.
When King first came around, when the celebrated hair
was a lot darker, when the jokes worked once in a
while, he was fond of quoting John Donne's immortal
meditation, "No man is an island." I guess he was
making a point. Anyway, King's island has become so
crowded there's no longer room for the palm tree.
There's still fish, of course, all of us halibuts in
the media, and the sucker fish who buy tickets to his
marathon shows. We get all the bells and whistles -
bells mostly, bells followed by more bells - but this
card on April 17 (there, a second plug) has one
heavyweight title fight that insults heavyweights all
the way back to Sampson. Chris Byrd, the IBF champ, a decent guy and a
sensationally boring fighter, is
scheduled for 12 rounds against Andrew (Quick More
Lithium) Golota.”
One might ask , as I did last week, how in the heck
of all that’s Holy does Andy “The Foul Pole” Golleta
get a title fight except that he’s under contract now
to Don King ? In this case the question is the answer.
The Grand Dame of the IBF (member now that use to mean “I Be Fixing”),
Marian Muhammad , was axed almost the same question. Abet not as articulate.
"We haven't sanctioned that fight. Nobody's asked us to sanction that fight.
Let me tell you exactly what the story is and that's all the story is. We
got a call from Don King asking if it was possible for Golota to be
ranked. I told him I'd have to speak to the Ratings
Chairman to find out whether or not he could. IBF
Ratings Chairman Daryl Peoples] said Golota qualified
to go in somewhere between eleven and fifteen, and
that's what I told Don
The ”new” IBF rating came out Sunday. Golota is number 15. . One web site
reports the following from ranking chairman of the IBF. Daryl Peoples.
“There was space for Andrew Golota between #11 and #15 because there are 3
fighters who will be fighting for other titles and will come out (Vitali
Klitschko vs. Corrie Sanders for the WBC on April 24th and John Ruiz vs.
Fres Oquendo for the WBA on April 17th. Wlad Flitschko is also fighting for
a championship and he didn’t come out. Wonder why?). If Golota is in the
ratings when they are posted next week, and I get a request to sanction that
fight, then there is no reason for us not to sanction it because Chris Byrd
is in an
optional period.” But you knew that cause you read
“Talkin Boxin”. Here is where the mindset of this
bunch of crooks (IBF) comes out crystal clear. “There
are people who probably think that Golota does not
deserve the opportunity to fight for the championship,
but those very same people have no right to tell us
who we can and can not put in our rankings.” What a
sanctimonious ass. “Those people ?” Mr. Peoples,
“those People” are the ones that are fleeing the sport
in droves because of crooked organization like the
IBF. You will do what Don King and your boss Ms.
Marian Muhammad tell you to do and you know it.
FUNNY how heavyweights dominate the coverage of
boxing. If we are to believe Mr. Peoples we, the
sports fan, don’t count. Kind of a “Let The Eat Cake”
deal…Many think that “Let Them Eat Cake” was first
said by Marie Antoinette. “Marie, the peasants have no
bread.” “Let them eat cake”, she replied. Didn’t
happen. Some claim she said, “Qu'ils mangent de la
brioche," which is “Let them eat egg-bread” . That
makes no sense nor is it very interesting. “Let them
eat brioche’” doesn’t get it done. Now the rest of the
story. “A recent biographer claims that "Let them eat
cake" was actually spoken by Marie-Therese wife of
France's Louis XIV, 100 years before Marie
Antoinette.” The source then says, “But we can’t prove
it.” Bummer that.
One of those in the ranking of the I BE FIXIN is David
Tua. (he hasn’t fought in a year and as Dan Rafael
wrote in Thursday’s USA Today, that day, “Staggered
to get in shape when he was active. Imagine what a
year will do ?”) Tua was a very popular heavyweight
here in the states but more so in the Land Down
Under. That would be New Zealand the Land of 10
million nervous sheep and about the same number of
lonesome men that post “wanted ads”.. The press in
that country has reported that even though Tua made
over $ 13 million in the ring he has nary a farthing
and only the equity in his parents house left. He’s
suing his former managers in an effort to gain some of
that back. The Talkin Boxin reporter in New Zealand is
“Kia ora, Jack” who files the following report.
“G'day Howie, Here's the info on our local boxing
champ. Mohammed Assaoui Age 28 Cruiserweight Raised in Algeria and trained
in Cuba. Won 196 out of 210 Amateur Bouts and is 11 - 0 – 2 as a
professional.
Fights for the WBA PABA (Pan Asian) Cruiserweight Title on March 27th in
Whangarei. I'll be on the AT but if he wins I'll let you know by email. He
won on Saturday night by a fourth round KO. In three fights I haven't seen
anyone in the same class as him. Maybe it's the competition but he looks to
me like he's got a
future.”
“Even though we're out in the country here, we've had
some great fight nights. Imagine three Nevada garages side by side and
you've got our arena. The crowd is mostly Maori and they love to
perform haka (war dances) when their fighter is introduced.
Mohammed's father-in-law, Wiremu Puriri, is the fight
promoter and he's doing a great job in filling up the
card and keeping everyone interested. Boxing in
Northland is on the up and up. My own feeling is that
this Mohammed is very good. His future depends on
getting good competition. If he keeps winning I'm
going to send him out your way to look for a fight.”
Send him out.
(Opinions and editorials of
HotBoxingNews.com is the opinion of those writers and may not be the
opinion of HotBoxingNews.com)
Want to make contact or comments to Howie Reed
Go Here! mailto:reed@hotboxingnews.com
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