If you didn?t see Saturday night?s HBO doubleheader which featured two-belt junior welterweight titleholder Devon Alexander vs. Andriy Kotelnik in its main event, then you missed the genesis of a Don King comeback?even if things didn?t go as we expected they would (*Cough*-scoring-*Cough*). Or maybe they did and we just didn?t know we were expecting it, at the time. Or in the parlance of the King, we didn?t know we were ?anticipatingly expectorating it.? But that would mean we were trying to hawk loogies?hmmm?you can?t spell ?loogies? without ?Loo?!
Waitaminnit?I was searching for a point?oh, yeah, really, I?m very curious as to how a Tim Bradley-Alexander match-up would play out now, due to how the lesser-known Kotelnik handled Alexander?s offense. What is it about the last two fighters we?ve seen from that certain cold neck of the woods, being middleweight titlist Dmitry Pirog and Kotelnik, and their relaxed approaches in their respective fights? Note to the next titlist or world champion who faces a Russian/Ukrainian fighter: if your cornerman just happens to cruise into your opponent?s dressing room and he?s either napping or listening to Yanni while soaking in a bath full of rose petals and salts, bail, dude?and leave your belt there. If marijuana use was kosher in Our Sport, belts would be changing hands right and left.
But that scoring?man, I thought the scoring for the Mike Mollo-Gary Gomez fight in Chicago on Friday night was a little loose. Not only did every scorecard for Alexander-Kotelnik read 116-112 in favor of the defending titlist but so did the cards submitted for the light heavyweight bout between titlist Tavoris Cloud and Glen Johnson (favoring Cloud). For the record, I scored Alexander-Kotelnik 115-113. As for unofficial ringside judge Harold Lederman?s waaaaaaaaaay lopsided favoring of Alexander, I understand he?s regarding a certain criteria in his scoring but, at the same time, his angle must?ve been waaaaaaaaaay different than mine and I wasn?t seeing what he was seeing. What I saw was a Devon Alexander who wasn?t connecting nearly as much as Harold was insisting he was. Sorry, just sayin??
Oh, before I forget, I?m sorry but I just can?t hear the name ?Kotelnik? without thinking of Silent Bob?s Russian cousin, Olaf, in ?Clerks?:
Jay: Olaf, metal! That?s his f**king metal face. Olaf, girl nice? Olaf: Skrelnick. Jay: That?s f**ked up, man. Girl: What did he say? Jay: I don?t know, man, but this guy is a character.
Speaking of- and with- King?
While editing today?s piece on King (courtesy of Steve Kim), I couldn?t help but laugh out loud when reading this portion of a King quote regarding Floyd Mayweather Jr.:
?He?s being vilified, condemned and literally destroyed across the court of public opinion.? ?Literally?? Really? See, that used to drive me batsh*t crazy when I was in my pro wrestling phase and the late, great Gorilla Monsoon would say, ?He literally decapitated him!? I?d damn near break out in hives. I?m sorry; it?s just a pet peeve I can?t help?unless King meant that literally?
And that means it looks like you Howlers ain?t never getting a Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight now!
To lose in ?The Loo??
Cory Spinks has lost six times in his pro career, three of them being in St. Louis and two of those three being stoppage losses. Four of those total losses- in St. Louis or not- were rendered in his last seven fights. To boot, ?The Next Generation? lost to a fighter, Cornelius Bundrage, who had about just as long a layoff as he did between his last fight and last Saturday night. Spinks? time in Our Sport is soberingly borrowed and the 37-year-old ?K9? might have just as little time wearing the junior middleweight belt he won from Spinks if he has to defend against his number one contender Sechew Powell. Five years ago, a then-undefeated Powell stopped Bundrage in one and has won his last four fights, including a March rematch majority decision win over Deandre Latimore in his last fight, revenge for Latimore stopping him in seven rounds, two years ago.
He ain?t heavy; he?s my?light heavy?…
?Interim? light heavyweight titlist Chad Dawson faces ?real? light heavyweight titlist Jean Pascal on Saturday night. I like Dawson in this one, if only based on his body of work. I clearly hope, for ?Bad Chad?s? sake, that there?s a fairness in judging especially in Pascal?s adopted home. Seeing how scoring has been on HBO over the past two weeks (Daniel Jacobs was ahead on all scorecards at the time of his stoppage loss to Dmitry Pirog), Dawson can?t afford to sleep on the Haitian-born titleholder. One thing we can probably bank on; Glen Johnson will probably end up with a title shot if we don?t see the winner of this fight face Tavoris Cloud. Obviously, stranger things have happened in Our Sport. And if Pascal wins and doesn?t face Cloud (which doesn?t seem likely), Johnson might as well not show up if he gets the invite for a fight that takes place in Quebec (Pascal?s last four fights, pre-Dawson, have been in Montreal).
Tweeting all over your face (book), sucka??
Between Emanuel Augustus calling out Dmitriy Salita (who has no dance partner as of now for September 1st) on Facebook and the back-and-forth between Omar Henry,10-0 (8), and our own Gabriel Montoya, 0-0, on Twitter, I have to say that I absolutely, positively love , love, LOVE social networking! As far as Augustus, he just wants a fight. But between Monty and Henry, all I know is Henry posted some photos of him and Leonard Ellerbe, causing a kafuffle within the confines of Top Rank Promotions and something or the other was said and Monty got into it with the kid and people started following Monty and Henry and now, some ?DrunkOmarHenry? guy? WTF?! To paraphrase Jay from ?Clerks?, ?I don?t know what?s going on here, man, but these guys are characters. I don?t have a Twitter but I?d damn tempted to get one now so I can get into a feud. Preferably with that dick Spencer Pratt.
A war in four?
So, you dug the four-round scrap last Friday on ESPN2?s ?Friday Night Fights? between lightweights Antonio Avila and Russell Fiore, huh? See? The Windy?s got some exciting little guys! I can?t begin to tell you all how pleased I was when I found out that fight was getting broadcasted. I only wish you all could?ve seen Jimmy Herrera vs. Joshua Rodriguez. Now THAT was an old-fashioned ass-kicking!
R.I.P. Jay Larkin?
Yesterday morning, former head of Sports and Event Programming for Showtime, Jay Larkin, passed away at 59. Larkin, who brought us ?Showtime Championship Boxing? (Remember ?Great Fights, No Rights? in 2004? Damn right, you do) and the revolutionary ?ShoBox? (among many other outstanding non-boxing programs), was battling cancer. I know it?s said so many times in our business but Jay was total class and just a flat-out good, good man. I also know that if there was any justice (the gesture being normally relegated to those directly related to boxing), HBO would administer the ten-count this Saturday. Of course, I don?t see it happening?but a Coyote can wish, right?
