I noticed an ?I Hate Kevin Iole? thread in Pacland. Iole is the subject of hateful tirades because the this Yahoo at Yahoo had the nerve, the utter gall to opine recently that he thinks Juan Manuel Marquez will beat Pinoy idol Manny Pacquiao March 15.
Job well done, I say. Because that is what a pundit, be it political or pugilistic, does is issue opinions and take certain viewpoints. It?s an attention getter, especially when you go against the popular and betting grain as the former Las Vegas Review-Journal scribe has done.
Iole?s thesis is that the less wide, more pinpoint punchig of the Mexican veteran will carry the night in Vegas.
I disagree but that?s totally neither here nor there. It got my mind wandering to the whole
subject of picking fights.
At my tabloid alma mater, The New York Post, sports editor Jerry Lisker did not care what his various ?experts,? including me, did as long as it brought attention to the newspaper. Lisker, better known to intimates as Blackie, wouldn?t mind if a sportswriter on his staff raced naked through Times Square at midday as long as it garnered publicity and reader reaction. Being intoxicated and naked at the same was good for double points, maybe triple if the hated rival Daily News took notice.
My most famous dead-on pick was like taking candy from a baby. Irish Gerry Cooney,. the Long Island lad, was fighting Ken Norton in the Garden. I noticed that in training Norton?s balance was so off kilter he looked a drunk emerging from last call at 4 a.m.
I had studied with and even socialized with the likeable Norton dating back to his first bout with Muhammad Ali. I was up close at all three of their bouts. This was not the same Kenny Norton who gave3 Ali fits with the crossed arm, Archie Moore style.
We had a fake back page photo made up with the hulking Cooney standing over a prone Norton and atop it was my column forecasting that Cooney would destroy Norton in one round. I even went so far as to say the mismatch would not last one minute.
Fans entering the Garden that night did double takes as they glances at The Post. Why would they be going into a fight that already happened?
I was standing in a corridor by the dressing rooms chatting with Angelo Dundee when a red-faced Norton loyalist, Bobby Goodman, confronted me.
?I hope you like newsprint because you will be eating that column,? Goddman shouted. ?You will be eating that and some crow after Kenny knocks this phony bum out!?
Dundee just smiled, looked at me and said, ?Mike, I think you?ve upset Bobby!?
We both laughed and went our separate ways.
Cooney slaughtered Norton and the bout ended at 54 seconds with Norton in a heap and the referee standing over him waving it off.
I shot a look at Goodman and said, ?Bobby, give me some salt and pepper because I think I?m having a ribeye and not some newspaper tonight.?
Goodman threw his hands up in frustration and I relented.
I was in Tokyo for Buster Douglas? final workout before his famous upset of Mike Tyson. I recall it being on a Friday morning with the fight taking place in the Korakuen Big Egg Stadium Sunday at noon.
Tyson worked first and the massive media crowd was wall to wall. Tyson departed and that left me, a guy from Buster?s hometown paper in Columbus, Ohio, and one other reporter.
The Columbus writer said he was tortured over who he should pick to win.
?Are you a moron?? I asked the scribe. ?You?ve got to pick Buster. If he wins, a you?re a lifetime genius in your hometown. If he loses, people will like that fact that you showed some nerve and some loyalty to the local boy. You pick Tyson and you become a pariah in your circulation area.?
I think the kid listened to me and is still regarded as a boxing genius in that area.
There is another time-honored prediction trick and currently it is in operation by former champ and Pacman foe Marco Antonio Barrera.
I saw MAB in the ring in Cancun with some Mexican boxer in December. I asked him quietly who would win March 15 and, without hesitation, he said Pacquaio would be too much at this stage for the older boxer.
Since then, Barrera has formulated plans for a comeback and playing kiss-kiss with his promoter, Golden Boy. Of course he has now told the public that his countryman will defeat Pacman for sure.
Unless there is a draw, Barrera will be able to pat himself on the back for having selected the winner. And he?s made new friends in the Philippines and not irritated his Mexican compadres.
Good work, Marco. Welcome to punditry where the only wrong thing you can do is to not have a clear-cut opinion.
I guess the most honest preflight analysis ever given was by actor Humphrey Bogart. Bogie and his stunning wife were slipping into ringside seats at Yankee Stadium for some big show and reporters keep asking him ?who he liked.?
With his arm around Lauren Bacall and wink to the newshounds, Bogart said, ?Me? I like my wife!?
Now that?s what I really call being a homer, a smart one but a homer nonetheless.
There?s another thread on Pacland that is titled ?Thank You, Michael Marley: concerning my praise for honest Pinoy fight judge Jon Davis.
I?d prefer skipping the bouquets and getting the brickbats that Iole is receiving.
Pugilistic pundits thrive on aggravating the public, not on getting love notes.
No wonder I?m jealous of Iole.
