That romantic little cherub must have shot some love arrows in the air in Washington, DC. I mean, the always feuding donkeys and elephants are suddenly getting along and even passing necessary legislation. Be assured the two parties are only “shacking up” and this legislative competence won’t last long especially with a blood and guts November presidential election looming. But my topic is not Demo or GOP insanity but boxing and I wanted to list some reasons I still love this so called sport. Some may brand it Organized Brain Damage but that’s ludicrous. Look at the alphabet groups and the promoters. It’s disorganized. Reasons to love boxing in spite of itself: 1. Young Pinoy Johnriel Casimero trekked all the way to Argentina and, although he and his team had to endure a riot, they did go back to Cebu with an IBF title…of some kind. Neutral ref (American) Eddie Claudio was a hero with this stoppage, good job, good man. 2. Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather can’t get it together to arrange one fight between them. Yet all time greats Jake LaMotta and Sugar Ray Robinson battled each other six times and still could sit together in a fraternal manner decades later at big bouts in Las Vegas. 3. The idiotic and totally transparent fostering of undefeated records may be going away. Lou DiBella has a March 7 prelim at BB King’s where undefeated Delen Parsley (6-0) is testing unbeaten Boyd Melson (8-0). Now that’s Old School, the kind of Madison Square Garden undercard bout the great matchmaker Teddy Brenner would stage regularly. A defeat doesn’t ruin either prospect and, if the bout is excellent, it boosts both of them. 4. The ferocity of Pacquiao although it’s been AWOL lately. 5. How Mayweather is almost impossible to hit flush. 6. That we have Youtube to click on to watch, for examle, Bullet Bob Foster nearly decapitating opponents with his heavy hands. (Did Mike Quarry every get up when “Soul Brothers” Foster and Muhammad Ali beat the Quarry Brothers). 7. That maybe better fight nicknames are coming back–DiBella lists Matthew Macklin challenging Sergio Martinez on March 17 at the Garden as “Get Your Irish Up.” Beats the hell out of the lame-o “Who R U Picking?” 8. The educated left jab of Irish Joey Archer, former middleweight contender from New York. 9. That no one blamed the Argentina ring riot on my client, Mustafa “Cat In The Hat” Ameen. He was in Austria with two Klitschko Brothers, hat in hand but never wearing lederhosen. 10. Because of the pride and professionalism of Miguel I’m No Angel Cotto.
