The Cruelest Sport - A Professional Boxing blog

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Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., AKA “The Thing That Should Not Be,” returns to San Antonio tonight, perhaps in a stretch limo, to face veteran powerpuncher Marco Antonio Rubio in a scheduled 12 at the Alamodome for the UNICEF middleweight championship of the world.

Since his disastrous no-contest against Troy Rowland in 2009—as boring as an Andre Ward bout, perhaps—Chavez has delivered nothing but the goods in his last four starts, including shootouts against John Duddy and Sebastian Zbik. Despite his honest efforts in the ring, however, Chavez continues to suffer the barbs of fantasists all over the world who would rather see a P-4-P juggernaut trample 15-1 underdogs. Continue reading this post »

Tomorrow night at the Almamodome in San Antonio, Texas, Nonito Donaire, 27-1, dips his toe into the junior featherweight division when he faces Puerto Rican banger Wilfredo Vazquez. Jr. Donaire looks to bounce back from an uninspiring unanimous decision over Omar Andres Narvaez three and a half months ago, while Vazquez Jr., 27-1 with 18 KOs, hopes to come back from a knockout loss he suffered at the hands of Jorge Arce last May. Continue reading this post »

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“It was at the Neutral, as its regulars called it and where they would gather between 3:00 and 5:00 every afternoon…or the Garden Cafeteria earlier in the morning, where I was privy to some of the greatest stories of all time, told by some of boxing’s greatest storytellers. As they sat in the Neutral sipping their ten-cent beers and chewing on their 10-day old cigars or at the Garden Cafeteria nursing their coffees, they talked and talked and talked, holding nothing back, their experiences, their advice, and their tall tales all told in a gleeful mangling of the English language with tortured syntax and marvelously invented words–like calling a particularly gangly fighter a “noctopus,” or the opposite number in a fight a “nopponent,” or their ring “stradegy.” Depending upon those in attendance, it matched anything the fabled Algonquin Round Table had to offer with the likes of Ray Arcel, Charlie Goldman, Freddie Brown, Whitey Bimstein, Bill Gore, and others, the Mt. Rushmore of trainers, all swapping stories.”

Angelo Dundee

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The Cruelest Sport “Real Steel” Giveaway is over and the winners are longtime reader JDL and newcomer isaacjfeldberg. The Cruelest Sport will get in touch with you shortly.

Here are the answers to the quiz, which drew an overflow of responses. So many, in fact, that it has taken nearly two weeks to tally the results. Ahem.

Here we go: Continue reading this post »

image: marvelousmarvin.com

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“When a kid walks into this gym off the street and tells me he wants to be a fighter, I’ll sit him down and give him all the good reasons why he shouldn’t fight. Let’s face it. Every time you get hit in the head, whether you want to believe it or not, you get brain damage. It’s irreparable. And to be a fighter, you have to give up so much. Up in the morning to do your roadwork. No drugs. No drinking. No going out late at night. You’re in the rack early because you got to get at least eight hours’ sleep. If you don’t get that body in shape, you’re going to get your head knocked off. Are you willing to do all this stuff and dedicate yourself to being a fighter? Are you willing to think big?”

Guerino “Goody” Petronelli to Dave Anderson, 1991

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“Yes, I was the first guy to knock him out. They gave him a long count….I knocked him out, but they gave him a 20-second count. There was a riot at ringside. They protected him at Cleveland. The referee walked me back to my corner and then he picked the count up at ‘one.’ He was supposed to start the count immediately upon him going down….It was the largest crowd they ever had in Cleveland at that time. Any fight. I got $25,000 for that fight. It was a lot of money in that time. I got half of the money. $12,500. The manager paid the expenses out of my share. This was an agreement we had. Isn’t that terrible? I got half.”

Artie Levine to Allen Bodner on his fight with Sugar Ray Robinson.

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The Cruelest Sport “Real Steel” Giveaway begins now! The two contestants with the highest score total (based on a 10-question quiz) will each win a copy of the “Real Steel” Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack with never-before-seen bonus material to be released on January 24th by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. OMG! OMG!

You can take the quiz a maximum of three times as long as you answer all the questions with each separate entry. Leave your answers in the comments section. The Contest closes on January 24th, and the winners will be announced whenever I get around to it. Please make sure to read THE TERMS & CONDITIONS of the contest.

Here we go: Continue reading this post »

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment will be releasing REAL STEEL, starring Hugh Jackman, on Blu-ray and DVD on January 24th and The Cruelest Sport will be giving away two–two!–copies of the Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack with never-before-seen bonus material.

This visually stunning action-adventure filled with heart and soul is a “must-add” to every home movie collection, delivering a premium in-home experience complete with knockout bonus materials that dive deeper into the action.

The Blu-ray Combo Pack, with its perfect picture and sound, delivers the ultimate punch, offering viewers a variety of supplemental bonus features that take them ringside with Director Shawn Levy on the making of the film. Exclusive features include a bare-knuckled exposé of the life story of Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman), deleted and extended scenes that go deeper into the film and storylines, and a riveting profile with legendary boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard. Plus, the revolutionary Real Steel Second Screen app lets viewers sync their iPad™ or computer with the Blu-ray movie to peel back layers of effects with progression reels, check out 360-degree turnarounds of the robots, explore seamless branching pods that delve into the cutting-edge technology used to create the fights, and much more.

HOW TO WIN

The rules are simple: On Tuesday, January 17th, The Cruelest Sport will post a boxing quiz. The two contestants–U.S. residents, only–with the highest scores on the quiz will be named winners. In case of a tie, the winners will be determined by the time-stamp of responses on The Cruelest Sport. Return here on January 17th for the quiz and for your chance to win THE CRUELEST SPORT REAL STEEL GIVEAWAY contest!

****The Cruelest Sport has not received compensation of any kind from anyone involved in the production of “Real Steel” or the Blu-Ray/DVD release of “Real Steel.” In fact, The Cruelest Sport declined freebies. This is for boxing watchdogs whose own ethics are awfully flexible or non-existent altogether, despite how often they dribble forth about how principled they are.**** Continue reading this post »