Body Blows: Lacy/Calzaghe, Miguel Cotto, Cool Runnings, and Glass Joe.

Columns, News, Results

Last weekend was a busy one for boxing. It would have been nice to see the action spread out to this weekend, but I’ll have more on that later. The biggest news of the weekend was the Jeff Lacy vs. Joe Calzaghe super middleweight unification bout. This was the most anticipated super middleweight fight in over a decade, when James Toney and Roy Jones Jr created intrigue in 1994. Toney went down in the third round of that fight and Jones won a unanimous decision with rounds to spare. The Lacy/Calzaghe fight was more of a blowout than that.

Joe Calzaghe did what is pictured above the whole night. He never let Lacy get comfortable, thereby negating any rhythm Lacy needed to get his power shots going. Calzaghe fought a brilliant fight, getting off combinations that sometimes would reach double digits. The referee could have stopped the fight after any of those 12-punch combinations but he let it continue. Lacy suffered the first knockdown of his career in the 12th and final round. The scorecards read 119-105, 119-107, and 119-107 all in favor of the undisputed super middleweight champion. It’s about time Joe Calzaghe got some national attention, he’s been defending his super middleweight belt for over 8 years.

Does this picture remind anyone else of Leon from Madonna’s Like A Prayer video? Leon went on to lead roles in respectable films such as Cool Runnings and Above The Rim but I still can’t get that video out my head. Images of Madonna doing the “Elaine Dance” still haunt me to this day.

Also in action last weekend was rising light welterweight star Miguel Cotto. He took on Gianluca Branco of Italy. Branco’s only loss was a unanimous decision to Arturo Gatti in 2004. Cotto reminds a lot of people of Gatti, but he did not have a similar outcome to his fight with Branco. Cotto kept the pressure on Branco the entire fight. Branco could take no more as he quit the fight after being punched in the arm in the 8th round. I’ve seen some weird things in boxing, but I’ve never seen a fighter quit after being hit in the arm. Branco was just outclassed in this fight.

Up next for Cotto is the undefeated Paul Malignaggi. Malignaggi has the mouth of Muhammad Ali but the punching power of Glass Joe. In his 21 professional fights, only 5 of them have ended by knockout. It may be an interesting fight, as Malignaggi has the quickness and hand speed to counter Cotto’s power, but we’ll have to wait for June 10th to find out.

Other Results From Last Week

– Sam Soliman beat Raul Munoz by TKO in the 6th round. Soliman hung tough with Winky Wright in his last fight and has proven to be a strong Middleweight contender.

– Poor Kirk Johnson. The Heavyweight is more injury prone than Bo Jackson and J.D. Drew combined. Johnson slipped during the seventh round of his fight and dislocated his knee. Despite being ahead on the cards, Johnson couldn’t continue and lost his bout to Javier Mora.

– Vic Darchinyan retained his IBO and IBF Flyweight titles with an 8th round TKO of Diosdado Gabi. All of Darchinyan’s title defenses have ended in a knockout, but since he is the size of a jockey, he won’t gain any notoriety.

– Demetrius Hopkins, the nephew of Bernard Hopkins, remained undefeated by beating Mario Jose Ramos by unanimous decision. The fight was in Hopkins’ hometown of Philadelphia and was the main event of ESPN’s Friday Night Fights.

– Larry Mosley fought Miguel Figueroa to an entertaining majority draw on the Hopkins undercard.

– Arthur Abraham retained his IBF Middleweight title with an impressive unanimous decision in Germany over Shannan Taylor.

– Juan Manuel Marquez lost a unanimous decision to Chris John for the WBA Featherweight title. Marquez may be best known for his draw with Manny Pacquiao, where he came back from three first round knockdowns. Marquez has been mis-managed since that fight and never should have fought John in the first place.

Jockscraps – The Stories They Won’t Tell

Streetball Veterans Upset With Lack Of Fundamentals In Today’s Players

The newest craze sweeping the nation is a movement being headed by people named Hot Sauce, The Professor, and Main Event. Streetballers from all over the world flock to see these men disregard an NBA rulebook and hoop it up on the asphalt. Despite the growing popularity, some of the original Streetball legends remain unimpressed with the phenomenon.

“Ballas ain’t breakin’ ankles like we did back in the day. All I had to do was head fake, loop-de-loop, then counter twirl and BAM!…exposed bone. Ballas today are over-looking the counter twirl. I haven’t seen one since ’88,” says Devon “The Tricycle” Young.

“Stinky Armpits” Jackson agrees and recalls, “I remember when the Harlem Shake right after a crossover was mandatory at all Streetball Clinics. Nowadays you’re lucky to see Da Dip after a no-look alley-oop. Just a damn shame.”

High-rising legend Kevin “Spaceship” Barnes has a solution: “Fools need to name their muh’f—in’ dunks!”

Whether Streetball has lost its pure fundamentals is an ongoing debate. But old-timer LeRoy “The Roach” Perkins has his own opinion. “Try to teach these streetballin’ kids some fundamentals and they look at you like you’re crazy,” says Perkins. “And that’s when I take off my shoe and break off somethin’ real proper like in they ass.”

Spit Bucket

Reverend Sick gives a nice review of UFC 58: USA vs. Canada.

Tom Gubitosi talks World Baseball Classic and gives his National League predictions.

Phillip Ciprotti provides relief for all you New York Knicks fans out there.

Patrick Nguyen is back with On the Offense. Two weeks off wasn’t bad, but his column still is.

Rokk Adam was gracious enough to include me in his predictions last week. Rokk has an exceptional knowledge of boxing and you should read him weekly.

Next Week

I would like to hear from you guys. Introduce yourself and let me know what you would like to read about next week. Are there any fighters you would like updates on? Perhaps there is a particular fight from the past you would like to read about. You can email me at buddhabean316@yahoo.com.