UNDERSTANDING CLOSE DECISIONS
Blog by Javier Reyes (bodysnatcher)  It’s no secret that everyone cheers for the underdog, Wilt Chamberlain said it best when he said "nobody cheers for Goliath." For that very same reason in boxing sometimes we let out emotions get the best of us, specially when we see an underdog on the verge of pulling off an upset. It’s happened plenty of times and fights like Barrera/Juarez and Juarez/John are perfect examples. Fights in which the favored fighter won the fight on points but fights in which the opponent finished so strong that it left people thinking that they were bad decisions.
The first fight between Johnson and Dawson is another example of how a challengers strong finish could sway the mind of the boxing public. In all of those examples I gave, I felt that the champion won a close decision, in all of those fights there was a rematch and in all of those rematches the champion retained his belt by lopsided scores. So the lesson to be learned here is that fights are scored by points not by who looks better at the end of the fight.
BAD CHAD!
Dawson is catching a lot of heat from the boxing media for his less than entertaining victory over Johnson. I have to give him a pass on this one, is not like I don’t know what would have happened if he went out there and slugged it out with Glenn; he tried that once and is not the best thing to do. Chad fought a very smart fight; he boxed when he had to, fought when he had to and moved when he had to; to many he proved that he is a boring fighter, to me he proved that he’s finally starting to mature.
Writers like Dan Rafael are now writing comments like winning is not enough and Dawson should not take a page from that Mayweather book. I say if in the ring you can be like Mayweather more power to you, not many can. Also winning IS ENOUGH, even if you don’t have an extravagant personality, especially if you’re beating the best. Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright are perfect examples of that, both made sure they did nothing but win and both eventually made some very big paydays. A fight between Dawson and Pascal is a mouth watering match up, two young athletic fighters in their prime, HBO seems to want it so I would think we would see it sometime next year.
HBO IS HAVING SHOWTIME’S LEFTOVERS!
HBO has had a good year, specially the first half of 09, but it’s becoming painfully obvious that a lot of their programming this year has also been Showtime’s left overs. Fights like Dawson/Tarver, Dawson/Johnson, and Bute/Andrade, were all intriguing match ups that were all initially aired on Showtime. However all three rematches have aired, or are about to air, on HBO. I have no problem with HBO airing these fights(well Tarver/Dawson II I did), they are rematches that deserve to be on a premium network. My question is, why was HBO not smart enough to air these fights when they first took place.
COTTO/PAQUIAO
I’ll admit that the last 24/7 episode was pretty dull, but you know why it doesn’t bother me that much, because I’ll take one dull 24/7 episode and a exciting fight over exciting 24/7 episodes and a boring fight any day of the week. You would have to be living under a rock not to notice that everyone in the boxing world seems to be overlooking Miguel Cotto. It seems that everyone, whether they admit it or not, is already thinking Paquiao/Mayweather.
You don’t hear much about the size difference anymore and instead all you hear about is how Cotto is damaged goods. There’s a good chance that Cotto is not the same, there’s a good chance that he’ll start fading once the 8th, 9th, and 10th rounds hit, but what people are failing to realize is that Manny will have to make it thru the first half of the fight to get to the weaker Cotto. Margarito was able to absorb some harsh punishment to get there and so did Clottey, will Paquiao be able to do the same? I’m thinking he’s not.
Random Thoughts:
Don’t piss off Rampage Jackson, specially if you’re a door!
How is it that Manny Paquiao can make films like Wapakman, sing horrible songs, and I still think he’s a bad ass? Because he doesn’t have to tell me he’s a bad ass, he shows it in the ring!
I cannot begin to express my dislike for Mr. Allen Iverson. There simply was not going to be a different ending to his career. The difference between Iverson and Kobe, practice!
David Haye should buy dinner to the person who talked him out of backing out of the Vitali fight. Thanks to that man he now has a heavyweight title to call his own.
After hearing that Valuev was out pointed on Saturday all I could think of was "somewhere out there a young Sasquatch weeps."
Lamar Odom has never been the star of his team, as a matter of fact he accepts his back up role, that may be part of the reason why he married the Kardashian sister who’s name is not Kim.
Good starts have been rare for my Chicago Bulls since the Jordan era, so I’m enjoying every bit of this 4-2 start.
Joe Yorgey seems like a nice kid, but he simply had no business being on HBO.
Worst news of the weekend: John Ruiz is once again the WBA Mandatory challenger.
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