Body Blows: Ali’s Name for $50 Million, Favorite Boxer Poll Results, and more.

Columns, News

Muhammad Ali is one of the rare athletes that transcends his sport. His fame allows him to be recognized all over the world. CKX, Inc., a marketing group headquartered in New York, hopes to capitalize on Ali’s recognition. Muhammad Ali isn’t exactly dominating Yahoo’s Buzz Search, but CKX is still willing to drop $50 million for 80% of Ali’s name and likeness. Ali retains the final 20% of interest in the business.

I question the timing of this transaction. No boxer is more recognized than Muhammad Ali, but boxing in itself is declining in popularity year by year. I’d say it has even been surpassed in popularity by Ultimate Fighting. It will be interesting to see what CKX does with Ali’s image, but I can’t see the value of this purchase. Unless people are really clamoring for Ali boxer shorts.

Another Day Another Dollar…Oops

As a result of last week’s Floyd Mayweather/Zab Judah melee, Floyd’s trainer Roger Mayweather was fined $200,000. Roger is also Floyd’s uncle and entered the ring after two consecutive illegal blows by Zab Judah. The $200,000 fine was Roger’s entire cut of the fight purse. Roger Mayweather also had his boxing license revoked and can reapply in one year.

Meanwhile, the Nevada State Athletic Commission is holding up Zab Judah’s portion of the guaranteed purse while they investigate his unsportsmanlike conduct. Zab proved why boxing is the only way he can earn a living by delivering the following quote:

“I think it’s crazy. I mean how can you make a decision on one part and not the other?” he said. “It’s like being on a baseball field and saying this one side is good to go but the other side, we don’t know.”

Well Zab, if Team A intentionally hits Team B in the balls and follows with a punch to the back of Team B’s head, then attacks Team B’s cornerman all while Team B is staying out of the riot, then yes, Team B is good and Team A, we don’t know.

Who Is Your Favorite Boxer?

Last week, I asked the readers who their favorite boxer is, past or present. With a whopping 14 replies, these are my results:

Mike Tyson 36%
Floyd Mayweather Jr 14%
Marvin Hagler 14%
Riddick Bowe 7%
Jermain Taylor 7%
Ricardo Mayorga 7%
Ivan Drago 7%
Tony Banta from Taxi 7%

Boy, do the kids love them some Iron Mike Tyson. But given the ear-biting, face tattoo, endless quotes, and kickass video game (more on this later), what isn’t there to like about Tyson? Oh yeah, he rapes women.

Results From Last Week

– Paul “The Punisher” Williams remained undefeated as a welterweight with a second round KO of Sergio Rios. Williams is now 29-0.

– Jessica Rakoczy defeated Angel McNamara for the second time in five months, this time by 5th round TKO. I don’t think the boxing world is anxiously awaiting Rakoczy/McNamara III.

– Dominick Guinn defeated 2004 Heavyweight Olympic Gold Medalist Audley Harrison by unanimous decision. Harrison looked like poop and his career seemed to peak as an amateur.

– My Dad defeated Your Dad with a first round knockout. It was an unfair fight but it had to be done. Funny how this all started over you cutting in front of me in the lunch line.

Top 10 NES Sports Games

I don’t feel like doing Jockscraps this week, so I thought I would try something you might enjoy. I consider myself well-versed in all that the original Nintendo had to offer, but the foundation of my collection was built around sports games. This list is non-negotiable and you are to change your opinions to accurately reflect my top ten list.

10. RBI Baseball – I remember playing this game at the arcade when all the players were fat guys. I think they may have changed it for the NES version but this game is still a staple of video game collections. Many have it ranked higher but there were a few better offerings from Nintendo for baseball.

9. California Games – This was the best multi-event game I ever played. Granted, I never played on a Power Pad out of sheer principle, but I stand by my statement. This was basically a collection of games that you would see in the X-Games today. Skateboarding, surfing, bike tricks, etc. The frisbee was always the thorn in my side.

8. Double Dribble – If you were good at this game, your friends hated you. I mastered the game. I used to switch controllers at halftime with my friends just so I had a challenge. You had to run through players to steal the ball. Then you go to the automatic spot for three: bottom of the screen between the top of the key and the baseline. It was money every time.

7. Jordan vs. Bird – This was an awesome idea when it came out, and there were a lot of game options. It pretty much went down like the Saturday night before the NBA All-Star game. You had one-on-one matchups, a 3-point contest, or the dunk contest. If you could time the Toss Slam correctly, you were golden.

6. Pro Wrestling – All the wrestlers were fictional, but the game was badass regardless. Let’s review: Amazon, Starman, King Slender, Giant Panther, Fighter Hyabusa, and my favorite (despite now seeing that he may have been racist) Kin Korn Karn. Something about chopping people on the head and yelling, “Yah!” every time put a smile on my face. Until Great Puma wiped it off.

5. Blades of Steel – I swear to God, I put this game in the top 5 for one reason. You all know what it is. As far as hockey games, the gameplay was fine, but not much better than anything else. The reason this game is so good is the fighting. You can skate around and pick fights with people. The screen will go to a closeup of the two fighters and you have to duke it out with your buddy. And the best part is, the loser of the fight goes to the penalty box and the winner stays on the ice. The ultimate game within the game.

4. Baseball Simulator 1.000 – This game was amazing. It didn’t have real players, but you could create a team yourself and make whatever real MLB players you wanted. What made this game was the Ultra Teams. You start with so many Ultra Points, which you use to give your players supernatural traits like a Missile Hit that the defenders can’t catch or the Stop Pitch, allowing you to stop the pitch whenever you want as it travels to the plate. My friend Chris and I had many epic battles at the Harbor and Space stadiums.

3. Baseball Stars II – This game was way ahead of it’s time. It had a full season mode and kept individual statistics. Every game you won, a cash prize was awarded, depending on the prestige level of the team. You could use that money to power-up players or sign better ones with greater potential. This is the best baseball game ever made for any system. I still play it from time to time but I’ve played the Denver Dragons so many times that I’ve maxed out my team.

2. Mike Tyson’s Punchout – This game is legendary. The following conversation occurred at work less than a week ago:
Me: “Hey Chad, what’s the code to get to Mike Tyson on Punchout?”
Chad: “007-373-5963.”
Then he told me the code for Contra even though I didn’t ask him and had already begun walking away. I’m not going to lie and say I dominated the game. The repeated taunts of Soda Popinski’s laugh after beating me drove me away from the game for six months. I heard that laugh in my sleep. I finally got some words of encouragement from Mac and decided to jump back in the ring. Popinski kicked my ass again. No one else seems to have trouble with him, but whenever someone makes fun of me for it, I slap them in the face and murder them in Double Dribble.

1. Tecmo Super Bowl – This is the reason I am alive. Had it not been for this game, I probably would have left my room and played outside. While playing 4-Square in the street, I would have been caught between drug-related gunfire and fell an innocent victim. Tecmo Super Bowl saved my life. The season mode was unlike anything you could imagine at the time. You were lucky to get real teams and real players, but Tecmo saved all the stats and compiled them all season long. And no matter how long you played the game, it was still difficult to win as the weeks went by. And if you played defense by diving up the middle every time, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Spit Bucket

Feedback, people. Send it in. Induce the proverbial “hollering at your boy” to buddhabean316@yahoo.com. Holler at these folks as well.

Phillip Ciprotti breaks down the NBA MVP race. His column was posted the same day Greg Ostertag announced his retirement from the NBA, so you can most likely expect a retrospective on Ostertag’s career from Phillip next week.

Check out the UFC 59 aftermath from Reverend Sick.

The Games section needs love too and Mark B. is a perfect place to send it.

Travis Leamons urges you to see Thank You for Smoking. Do as he says or face his wrath.