AFTER reading several articles on how the judges reportedly botched the scoring in the Evander Holyfield-Nikolai Valuev heavyweight bout, I just had to check out the fight at YouTube and see for myself what all the freaking ruckus was all about.
And frankly, I was shocked at what I saw.
You see, the amount of hair on Valuev?s chest was just about enough to cover Evander?s bald pate.
Hehehe?Kidding aside, I honestly don?t understand what all the fuss was about. I mean, nobody is ever going to mistake Valuev for the next Roy Jones Jr., but it?s not like Holyfield moves like a prime Jones either.
The fight had a sickening pattern to it. Valuev would stalk and paw at Holyfield with his pole-like jab while Holyfield would back off.
The ?Real Deal? would move around his lumbering opponent and when a slight opening presented itself, he would charge in and land a couple of blows that had little noticeable effect.
Valuev would tie him up, they would clinch and then the ref would break them up. Nobody is certainly going to mistake it for Pacquiao-dela Hoya.
The fight commentators were right on target. The rounds that Holyfield won, he won via default primarily because Valuev wasn?t doing anything at all. But that doesn?t mean Holyfield did anything actively to earn the round.
Scoring wise, it certainly was a fight that could have gone either way, but to label the decision a robbery is simply fantastic.
Holyfield has reportedly filed a protest. Oh well, you know how it goes. If he was 26 and he felt he was robbed in a good action-packed fight, he would definitively have called for a rematch and the boxing community would be solidly behind him.
But because he?s 46 and he lost a dreary, dicey match, the choice of remedy is a protest.
Unfortunately for him, few people actually care and most of us wish he had retired a long time ago.
SLUMBER. Still on the big fellows, Wladimir Klitschko looked impressive in stopping Hasim Rahman a few weeks ago. But if you wonder why all the thunder is now in the lower weight divisions nowadays, you have to look no further than this bout.
Wladimir is generally considered the best heavyweight out there today. But he generates about as much excitement as watching paint dry. Sure, he?s tall, big and strong and goes about his job with clinical precision, but there?s no passion at all in what he does.
We miss the Muhammad Alis and the Mike Tysons because what they lacked in certain aspects of their arsenal, they made up for it by heart and courage.
Look at the way Wladimir throws that right hand. He looks like a chess player shifting his pawn to E5. My 3-year-old daughter Jenya whacks me in the head with more passion every time I exceed her mandated alcohol limit.
There?s no thunder among the heavies today, just slumber.
HE SAID IT. ?Why would you eat kangaroo meat, buffalo meat and I think there was some other animal?? -Golden Boy Productions CEO Richard Schaefer on Oscar de la Hoya?s diet as reported on www.boxingscene.com
DEFTAC GRACIE BARRA SCORES BIG. Congratulations are in order for Deftac Gracie Barra Cebu who represented Cebu at the recent Philippine Brazilian Jiujitsu International and 2008 No-Gi International Grappling Challenge.
The members of the team hauled a total of 5 gold, 4 silver, and 4 bronze medals including the gold in the Absolute Division (open weight category) won by Sabbah Fadai, the gym?s resident Muay Thai instructor. Cheers!
LAST ROUND. It?s on the girl who changed my life, my daughter Julie Emmanuelle, who turned 8 last Dec. 24. Cheers!
