Lucian Bute, now 25-0, was spectacular in demolishing tough Librado Andrade in four rounds. This is what a boxer looks like, folks–clinch machines and headbangers in the super middleweight division should take note. Andrade, artless but as tough as they come, was out of his league last night and probably realized it after walking into a perfectly timed left that sent him toppling to the canvas like the statue of a recently overthrown dictator. Not long after, Bute scored his second straight one-punch body shot KO, dropping Andrade, whose ability to absorb punishment is a truth and not a cheap cyberspace truism, to his knees for the count with a digging left. It was a clean knockout without any of the shenanigans that have marred the Super Six tournament thus far. Bute did not race across the ring to shamelessly embrace his opponent over and over, he did not headbutt Andrade into a bloody stupor, rabbit punches were not his most effective weapon, and he did not flop to the canvas every time Andrade got close to him. Gosh, maybe Bute should be in the Super Six tournament!
*****
To say that Joan Guzman got away with one last night against Ali Funeka in Quebec City is to utter the understatement of the year. After taking a drubbing against Funeka, Guzman was shocked to see two judges present him with an early Christmas gift in the form of an unearned draw. For six rounds the fight was more or less competitive. Guzman easily won the first two rounds by being aggressive early and landing several clean blows. He also mixed his shots with a fair amount of taunting as well. Funeka stepped up the pace in the third, landing his long jab, straight as an arrowhead, with regularity. Guzman, cut and swollen, began to give ground halfway through the fight. Over the next six rounds Funeka picked Guzman apart with sharp combinations that stripped Guzman of his cockiness and left him pawing at his wounds. In fact, for the last four or five rounds Guzman appeared one stiff punch away from being knocked out and his corner looked ready to stop the slaughter at any moment. Guzman took a one-sided beating from the 8th to the 12th rounds and at times looked like he was just trying to survive. He showed heart in lasting the distance, but was a gruesome mess at the final bell. If one agrees with the following premise, that Guzman took a beating for the last five rounds, then in order for this fight to be a draw Guzman had to win six out of the first seven rounds of the bout. This is fuzzy math, to say the least.
We are told over and over again that scoring a fight is subjective; that may be true to an extent, but there is nothing subjective about one fighter repeatedly pounding another for five or six consecutive rounds. If there is room for debate, it is only among those who are drunk or underhanded or both. Gary Shaw, his normal blasé self, hollered “fix” after the decision was announced. Usually this kind of talk can be dismissed outright, but strange things do seem to happen when Golden Boy fighters are not knocked out for the count.
*****
According to Boxingscene.com, Bernard Hopkins is predicting that Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will each take interim bouts before facing off in late 2010. Hopkins, a partner in Golden Boy Promotions, claims that Pacquiao will fight Yuri Foreman in order to claim a title in a mind-boggling 8th weight class. Mayweather, in the meantime, would finally step into the ring with Shane Mosley. Mosley would first have to get past Andre Berto in January. These are the strange kinds of Rube Goldberg machinations that always leave jaws agape. Not only could this scenario delay the biggest fight in years, but it could also jeopardize it. Nothing in this sport is a given, and it would only take one cut, one lucky punch, one bad decision, or one twisted ankle to blow the whole thing to smithereens. Pacquiao-Mayweather should be made as soon as possible. Why tempt the gods? Or, as Al Roberts, played by Tom Neal, put it in Detour: “Fate, or some mysterious force, can put the finger on you or me for no good reason at all.”
*****
John Molina, another of those exciting “prospects” you read about every fifteen minutes or so on the web, looks like Bobby Chacon and fights like Chris Calvin or Charlie “White Lightning” Brown…if Brown decided to get back into the ring today, that is.
In his first fight against an opponent who could raise his hands above his waist, Molina was kicked around like a hackey sack. Despite the usual lazy interpretations, no one was “exposed” and in no way could this fight be considered an upset; Molina simply does not have the talent to be a world-class fighter, and Honorio, typically a junior lightweight, had no trouble at all raking him with multi-punch combinations and pinpoint jabs.
The real question worth pursuing is why so much time was spent on Molina in the first place. And why are we constantly being beaten over the head with stories about “future champions” and “superstars” when most of these strawmen are busy bowling over tomato cans and professional losers? The answer is simple. More than anything, the boxing blogosphere- – a voracious creature whose cavernous maw needs to be fed 24/7- -demands “content“ and this is why so many dubious narratives pop up and gain a foothold.
This is also why hundreds, if not thousands, of articles and posts speculating about Jermain Taylor and his future in the Super Six tournament recently threatened to crash servers worldwide. Without any confirmation or clues, the usual keyboard hacks transcended their hackdom and turned to fiction to fulfill their posting quotas. Some of the plotlines drawn up over the last few weeks include the following: Allan Green was ready to step in, Edison Miranda and Green might fight to determine a replacement for Taylor, Chad Dawson might move down in weight to enter the Super Six, Lucian Bute would finally get a delayed invitation, etc. Not exactly as inventive as Ray Bradbury or Lewis Carroll, of course, but a paucity of imagination should not take away from the fact that all of these accounts were pure fantasy, like something out of an old Marvel Comics issue of “What If?” The fascinating part is how these false narratives in turn spawned new ones until finally every so-called (and often self-proclaimed) expert chimed in on a story that DID NOT EXIST.
There are enough lies and liars in boxing these days without the usual suspects actually fabricating stories. When one considers that most of these tall tales were made up for no other reason than to provide a new post for the day, things get pretty scary. After all, some of these fabulists actually have a say in who gets into the Boxing Hall of Fame.
FanSided
Cage Pages
Epic fail, i just read the first line and then abandonned reading. Lucian Bute not Lucien…
I like your analysis of the fights this weekend (looks like you fixed your typo!). The Funeka decision was certainly wrong and I am no analyst but watching from home I couldn’t believe it. The Bute ko of Andrade sets the record straight that Bute belonged in the Super Six all along. Bute vs Abraham is the fight I would like to see, hears to dreaming!
Good stuff CA, I really like these “Sound and Fury” type deals. I thought the “headbanger” looked decent the other night, I’m not his biggest fan…but, the “clinch machine” on the other hand I can not stand. Bute would be a very nice addition to the super six.
I feel bad for Funeka, he’s basically been jobbed twice now. But this one against Guzman takes the cake. As you say it’s subjective, but this was really too much. Stuff like this just hurts the credibility of the sport. Which sucks, because stripped of all the bullshit, boxing is the greatest sport by far (not subjective!). Sometimes, my fanatic interest in boxing makes me feel like I’m part of a cult or something….shit like this ain’t helpin’.
I also gotta agree with you on Molina. Lot’s of people were hyped up to start the night on Saturday…then quickly deflated. I suppose he’s kinda fun to watch, but not a very skilled guy and certainly not a “future champion.” I certainly didn’t predict an Honorio win, but wasn’t surprised in the end.
You kill me man. The Chacon/”White Lighting” Brown thing was hilarious.
Charlie White Lightning Brown! For reasons unknown, I still vividly recall his fight with Louie Burke when I was in college– it was on CBS on a Saturday or Sunday Sports Spectatcular and featured two top prospects. What a good bout to show on network TV– how I miss those days.. Still think Louie got jobbed out of the decision, and White Lightning’s career trajectory stopped moving upwards soon thereafter. The last time I saw Charlie was on an ESPN in the mid/late 90s(?), and he looked pretty bad. Louie’s never seemed to rebound from that loss either, which was a shame.
Funeka won that fight. Guzman showed more heart and appeared to be in better shape than say, Santos did/was against Foreman 2 weeks prior, but he still clearly lost.
I thought Molina looked to be in trouble when he came out in that purple smoking jacket/robe looking like a cross between Jon Stewart and Denny (or was it Danny?) Terrio. And unlike that old Sam Malone quote, Molina didn’t look smoking in any jacket. But, a loss at this stage isn’t the end of the world in his development. Emphasis on development.
I figured out how to bookmark your page CA on my browswer– so though MVN has done there darndest to make it impossible to find you, I wont get lost again. Sort of like an Internet GPS.
Hi,
typos happen….I am a pen and paper fellow myself, and looking at the tiny blog window leaves me cross-eyed after about an hour. If you read on, you will find my blog is more literate than most.
Hi Desmond,
Thanks for writing. You don’t need to be an analyst or even a dedicated boxing fan to realize that something sinister was going on in the Guzman-Funeka bout. It was no contest. Once again, a hardworking prizefighter leaves the ring with nothing but disappointment. I used to train in a New York City gym many years ago–nothing serious, I have a glass jaw–and I saw firsthand how tortuous it is to be a boxer. It is unbelievable what some of these athletes put themselves through. Then to have all their sacrifices sneered at by a couple of disinterested, or incompetent, or corrupt slobs at ringside is outrageous. To think that these judges get paid to ruin someone’s dreams is mind-bending.
As for Lucian Bute, I think he is a fine boxer and much more exciting than some of the spoilers and klutzes in the Super Six right now. A fight with Abraham would be fantastic. I have a feeling Abraham might find a stylish southpaw like Bute hard to handle. It’s possible that he doesn’t move his hands enough or apply enough pressure to disrupt Bute’s slick moves. But, like you said, we can dream.
By the way, The Cruelest Sport doesn’t have nearly as many typos and errors as some blogs do! Compare, compare!
Hi JPF,
thanks for writing. I’m glad to see you haven’t abandoned ship yet.
The headbanger can fight, but there’s not much fun to be had watching him do it, although every where you turn you read about how “stunning” and “spectacular” he was. Ummm, no. Years ago, the “headbanger” and the “clinch machine” would be considered spoilers, runners, or junk artists. Today, they’re must-see TV.
The Funeka thing is just pathetic.
Wasn’t the Heaven’s Gate guy, Marshall Applewhite, a big boxing fan?
As for Molina, I am not trying to poop on the man, it’s not his fault he got so much hype…any fighter who steps in the ring gets props, but it’s silly when a guy with his record shows up on TV and can barely move his head or his feet. What are these “experts” talking about? It just makes them look completely dopey…When the headbanger drew 10,000 or so fans last week, one of these bozos said that was great considering the Bay Area never had a history of boxing as if San Francisco wasn’t the boxing capital of the world back in the day and as if Floyd Mayweather didn’t sell out the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in 2001.
Sorry, I’m like a mad dog tonight….
Hi Will,
Thanks for dragging out some bloodhounds to find track down The Cruelest Sport. There’s always blood shed on TCS so I’m sure it wasn’t hard for them to get the scent.
Charlie “White Lightning” Brown probably hasn’t got this much attention in years! I could be wrong, but I remember him fighting Harry Arroyo right after the Burke fight on CBS, too. Arroyo took him apart and that was the end of “White Lightning” as a contender. What I remember about Louie Burke is how Hector Camacho spanked him when the Macho Man was actually an amazing fighter in the 1980s.
I hear you on Molina, and I don’t necessarily want to rag on the guy, but he’s pretty limited and it’s a question of hype vs. reality. Making Honorio–who is a capable pro, no doubt–look like Sammy Mandell or Sugar Ray Robinson is a bad sign…not necessarily for his career, but for the fog blowing machines out there who think anybody who is knocking out tomato cans is a “future champion.” Even tomato cans sometimes knock out other tomato cans! Christ, the shit I was reading about Travis Kauffman, for example…