Sept. 17, 2000
News Item: Showtime’s Saturday night fight card entertaining,
but mostly
one-sided.
If there was a vote for toughest guy in boxing,
former middleweight champion Hacine Cherifi, he of the bald head
and pony tail, would win hands down.
WBA middleweight champion William Joppy beat
the crap out of the #4 contender from France for 12 full
rounds, hitting Cherifi with everything but
promoter Dung King’s hair. From the opening bell, the only
question was which round would Cherifi collapse into a humbled
heap. But it never happened.
Joppy dropped the the outgunned Cherifi
twice, once in the seventh and
once in the eight round. But both times, Cherifi willingly took a
knee after a ferocious Joppy two-handed assault, then got up at
one and fired back at the shocked Joppy, like a man possessed.
Cherifi had a nasty cut over his right
eyebrow near the nose, and another cut over the left eyebrow.
Referee Joe Cortez seemed like he was ready to stop the fight on
several occasion. But how can you stop a fight when the guy is
furiously fighting back with both hands?
The scoring was 119-106, 118-107, 118-107
all for Joppy. This reported also had it 118-107 (10-2 in rounds)
for Joppy
“The man is a true champion and he proved
he was tough,” Joppy said afterward. ‘None of the other two
middleweight champions (Bernard Hopkins and Keith Holmes) want to
fight me, so Cherifi stepped up to the plate. I tried to stop him,
but the man just wouldn’t go away.”
In the opening fight of the televised
championship triple-header, WBA jr welter champion Sharmba
Mitchell picked himself off the floor and rallied to pound out a
unanimous but tough 12-round decision over #8 ranked challenger
Felix Flores, who is trained by Felix Trinidad’s father.
Mitchell was in complete control, when
suddenly near the end of the fourth round, Flores nailed him in
close with a left uppercut. Mitchell’s legs did the mambo. A
right to the body, followed by the right to the head, dropped
Mitchell flat on his back, legs askance. The bell rang while the
ref was counting, or Mitchell might have been stopped right then.
When the bell rang starting round five,
Mitchell started boxing and dominating the plodding Flores again.
The rest of the fight was fairly close, but Mitchell, with his
superior hand speed, won nearly every round. The scorecards read
116-113, 116-111, 116-111, all for Mitchell. This reporter had it
116-113 (8-4 in rounds) for Mitchell.
After the fight, Flores said he thought he
won the fight easily because he said , “Mitchell was running.”
Which probably means Flores was hit harder by Mitchell than it
appeared.
In the third title fight, WBA jr lightweight
champion Joel Casamayor tore apart #8 contender Radford Beasley
for four rounds. In round five, the southpaw Casamayor reeled off
several combinations that had Beasley’s legs shaking and face
bloodied, due to a huge cut over his right eye and a fat lip the
size of Toledo. The ref jumped in and stopped the fight, maybe a
tad too soon, but that was academic. The time was :52 of the fifth
round.
Beasley was beat worse than a three egg omelet,
but just before the stoppage was broadcast by the ring announcer,
he went after Casamayor and anyone between him and Casamayor. It
was a scene right out of The Three Stooges, but Beasley’s post
fight interview was even more bizarre.
No matter what question he was asked,
Beasley started and ended with, “I want everyone to know I’ll
be back.” Back in the nuthouse for sure.
News Item: The Roy Jones Jr.-Eric Harding pay-per-view fight did
better than
most expected.
According to Gould Media, which tracks figures
in the pay-per-view industry, the fight did between 125,000 and
140,000 buys. Taking the high figure, Jones earned $2.1 million.
But it was still significantly lower than the $5 million guarantee
that HBO had offered Jones to resign with the cable network before
the match.
Two thoughts here. There are more than
125,000 suckers than this world needs, unless you’re Dung King.
And Jones either overestimates his monetary worth when it comes to
roping in pay-per-view stooges, or math was not one of his better
subjects in school. Or both, which is the better bet.
Note to Showtime commentator Steve Albert:
Please shut up and let the viewers watch the fight. We know what
we see. We don’t need you to tell us the obvious, and on
far-too-many occasions, exactly the opposite of what’s
really is happening in the ring. Albert seems to pick one fighter
before the fight, then mentions only the punches that fighter
lands. It’s as if the other fighter is a punching bag with ears.
Steve, your credibility is falling lower
than Monica Lewinsky’s head in the Oval Office. You have a nice
wig. Almost looks real. Get real with the fights you broadcast
too.
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