Classic American West Coast Boxing

[Rick Farris]

THE ICE HOUSE

The announcer stood in the middle of the ring waving his arms to quiet everyone down.
"One of the fighters cancelled out."
The field workers sitting in the Ice House started booing and whistling.
"If any of you boys want to get in the ring and fight we can continue the show."
The field workers looked forward to the weekly boxing show at the end of the week. Out in the desert there wasn't anywhere to go to spend your money on. The only entertainment was the boxing matches on Saturday nights at the Ice House. The boys would drink beer and pull for their local fighters at the weekly card. That night one of the fighters didn't show.
"Andale Manny. Get in there. You're his weight."
The Mexican they wanted to go up in the ring and substitue was fun loving but hard and tough and among the others he was a kid who thought nothing of settling matters with his fists.
"If I get in there you guys have to buy me beer the rest of the night. If I win you keep me drunk all year."
His friends were laughing. They knew it wouldn't take anything to coax him to get up there. Besides the kid always figured he could handle any of the field workers.

The kid went to the ring apron and said to the announcer to get him some gear. He was ready. No,he didn't need to warm up. The kid hadn't fought in a boxing match before,but after four rounds his street fighting style was enough to break down his opponent. He was relentless. The crowd at the Ice House was crazy with enthusiasm. The kid was kicking his ass.
"Sigale,sigale !!!"

When the bell rang for the final round,money was flying into the ring. The field workers went through the ropes and lifted the kid on their shoulders.

The kid fought again. He liked it. He made it his career. He traveled the county. Fought at the Garden. He was a Champion.
After fighting. When his legs and reflexes finally convinced him that it wasn't even worth it for the money,he closed the door behind him. Later he drank too much. His liver got sick. He died from drink.

But I remember him. I saw him in those seedy bars downtown later.No one knew who he was. He was the kid that got in the ring that night at the Ice House and became Champion of The World.

Thanks for that great story on Manuel Ortiz, Diego, I had the good fortune of seeing Ortiz fight live, albeit, late in his career, of all the bantamweights that I seen fight live, I rank Ortiz #1 with Eder Jofre #2 and Ruben Olivares as #3, the young fans of today imo don't give Ortiz his dues, they can't seem to see beyond Olivares, who granted, was a great fighter in his own right, but imo Ortiz was just a step or two above him.

I love Olivares and all the Mexican greats, however, Hap Navarro tipped me off about Manuel Ortiz some time back. Jofre's record & history puts him above Ruben in my book, as well. Like you, for the past five years my ratings of the best 118 pounders in history are Ortiz, Jofre and Olivares. We didn't always know which Olivares was going to show up, while there was always a consistency to Jofre's preperation for a fight.

Hap also told me that Ortiz would go on bender, gain weight, and take on guys like lightweight champ Lauro Salas. He'd win at the heavier weight while in less than perfect shape and then go back down and take care of business in his true weight class. Funny how in past eras champs didn't let a few pounds discourage them from stepping up and tangling with a larger opponent. Today, Manny Pac seems cut from that same cloth, and to be fair, so does Oscar. After all, DLH took on Hopkins and gave him a pretty good go, I thought, before the "Executioner" transplanted his liver with a gancho. Oscar enters this one with all the edges, which is great when you can get them. I'm hoping Manny Pac can pull off a Manny Ortiz and slay the "Golden Dragon". I expect a fast start. We'll see? If Pac can stay on his feet to the end, I think he'll win. Of course, that's a mighty big "If".

-Rick

[kikibalt]

Rick, I have one of Ortiz's fights on DVD, vs Luis Castillo, Ortiz didn't shine on that fight, not because he wasn't in shape, Castillo was so short that he made everybody look bad, shit he was only 4'11, Ortiz would bend down and he was still taller then Castillo, but he still won by tko.

[Rick Farris]

Rick,
You have to be a good hubby, if you have to clean house, do so, ditto for cooking, if I had to do it, damn so do you....

OK, where's the damn broom? :x

[kikibalt]

Rick,
You have to be a good hubby, if you have to clean house, do so, ditto for cooking, if I had to do it, damn so do you....

OK, where's the damn broom? :x

You can try looking in the broom closet....

[scartissue]

Rick,
You have to be a good hubby, if you have to clean house, do so, ditto for cooking, if I had to do it, damn so do you....

OK, where's the damn broom? :x

You can try looking in the broom closet....

Damn! It's always in the last place you'd think to look.

Scartissue

[Rick Farris]

Rick,
You have to be a good hubby, if you have to clean house, do so, ditto for cooking, if I had to do it, damn so do you....

OK, where's the damn broom? :x

You can try looking in the broom closet....

And what if it's not in the broom closet?

[bennie]

Hatton is well in there with Golden Boy promotions. Clearly, he fights the winner of these two.

[bennie]

Frankie, this one's for Bennie.
Dan

She was no angel, Beryl, but she was English to her manicured toenails. I read a story about her turning up at a Dave Green fight. It was a big fight against a Frenchman for the European title and the Royal Albert Hall was packed. Beryl made her way to ringside, to huge cheers, found there was nowhere to sit, so plonked herself on the stage - right in front of a group of French fans. One of them started giving it his French bit, all the hand gestures and continual moaning. She casually turned round and barked: "F uck off you French git!"


Cheers, Dan.

[bennie]

Enzo Maccarinelli can be forgiven for feeling a little bowed today as his bid to regain the WBO cruiserweight title evaporated at yesterday's pre-fight medical. His opponent, Francisco Alvarez, a little-known, 31-year-old Puerto Rican apparently has high blood pressure and is on his way home, on one aspirin a day. They said Cassius Clay had sky-high blood pressure before his fight with Sonny Liston in 1964 but 1964 is an awful long time ago. Safety comes first, these days.
None of this consoles Maccarinelli. The giant Swansea puncher looked in fantastic shape at the weigh-in (he was never going to fail the medical) and was desperate to erase the memory of a two-round defeat he suffered at the hands of David Haye earlier this year in London, which cost him his WBO belt. Haye has since moved up, successfully, to heavyweight, and 28-year-old Enzo will wince at the irony tonight as he faces perennial heavyweight disappointment Matthew Ellis in a non-title 10-rounder.
Blackpool's Ellis is no Jonathon Banks, the unbeaten American originally linked to Maccarinelli for the vacant WBO belt; he is no Herbie Hide, the Norwich man then linked to Maccarinelli for the belt when Banks pulled out with an ankle injury; he is not even Francisco Alvarez, who stepped in when Hide did a Kirkland Laing.
Above all, Ellis is no David Haye.
Ellis turned pro when mobile phones barely existed, off the back of a good amateur record, but never lived up to his amateur form or his early professional promise. Basically, he wins a few, shows good boxing skills and a bit of a dig but then he steps up and shows fragility. He has lost five of his 26 fights - and lost by stoppage every time (maybe he is like Herbie Hide). Ellis shook Audley Harrison with a left hook in the first round of a stifling night at York Hall in May 2003 which ended in Hide being chased down the Old Ford Road, but Harrison destroyed him in the second. Ominously, the 34-year-old Ellis has barely scratched the line over the last few years but he got in a four-round decision over Luke Simpkin last month and deserves credit for stepping so late.
Big Enzo is going to take him apart.

[kikibalt]

Photos and captions by Rick


Carlos Baeza, official photographer for the World Boxing Hall of Fame and Oscar De La Hoya, takes aim on
John A. Bardelli and sister Cleo Klizer, who accepted WBHOF Induction for their father, former light-heavy contender
"Young Firpo", Guido Bardelli.


WBHOF Directors Steven Harpst, Rick Farris and Dan Hanley (back). Steven Harpst is the artist who creates
the bronze sculpture, "The Fighter", awarded each year to WBHOF inductees.

[kikibalt]

Oscar De La Hoya will be upstaged

Here are five reasons he won't beat Manny Pacquiao.
By Bill Dwyre
LATimes

Reporting from Las Vegas -- Oscar De La Hoya is a movie star with wrinkles. He is ready for another close-up, but not before he spends some extended time in makeup.

He is boxing's Clint Eastwood. He is to be respected, even revered. Like Eastwood, when De La Hoya is gone from the stage, which is certainly soon, he will remain a key figure. Eastwood directs and produces marvelous movies. De La Hoya will produce and direct marvelous boxers and boxing shows, from his perch as president of Golden Boy Promotions.

Which brings us to tonight's 147-pound De La Hoya extravaganza against Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand. Expect a passing of the torch. Eastwood hands off to Matt Damon.

The consensus among the boxing media here is that, while De La Hoya is in the twilight of a career that carried his sport for at least the last 10 years, he is the bigger boxer in this match and still has enough left to carry the day.

The boxing media, including this typist, is a world leader in throwing stuff up against the wall. Nobody knows, but we are just a bit more articulate in our ignorance.

That being said, Pacquiao will win this match for the following five reasons:

* The Felix Trinidad Syndrome.

It was 1999, De La Hoya had not been beaten, was 26 years old, had the boxing world by the tail, and clearly looked invincible.

Against Trinidad, he appeared to win the first seven rounds. A victory seemed secure, the planets were aligned.

And then he decided to stick and move, boxing parlance for running. The judges weren't impressed and Trinidad got the decision.

In retrospect, the moment proved that De La Hoya, who has never been hit much or hurt badly, is too smart to be a brawler and generally finds that distasteful.

Pacquiao likes to brawl.

* The Shane Mosley Syndrome.

De La Hoya lost twice to this very good boxer from Pomona, also a bit smaller than De La Hoya. Mosley's skills are built around foot speed and hand speed.

So are Pacquiao's.

* The Floyd Mayweather Jr. Syndrome.

De La Hoya fought Mayweather on May 5 of last year. Until today, that was boxing's biggest recent showcase. In De La Hoya's corner last year was trainer Freddie Roach, who pushed him to use his always-reliable jab to push Mayweather into submission over the entire 12 rounds.

Somewhere along the line, De La Hoya stopped jabbing and Mayweather started winning. Roach knows why the jabbing stopped, and he is in the Pacquiao corner for this one.

* The Stevie Forbes Syndrome.

De La Hoya fought Forbes on May 3 of this year.

It was a wonderful public relations gesture. It was held in the soccer stadium at the Home Depot Center, where there was room for more than 20,000 people and more than that showed up. Ticket prices were scaled down to allow access for the common man to see this boxer of the people.

It is the kind of thing that De La Hoya does best. Huge public exposure. Flash that wonderful smile. Win friends and influence people. If he hadn't been a boxer, he'd be governor.

De La Hoya won a decision over Forbes, who was even smaller than Pacquiao and who won his way into this match by losing in the final of a made-for-TV show.

Afterward, De La Hoya's face was badly swollen and a small bone under one eye had been broken.

* The Marquez, Diaz Syndrome.

Last March 15, Pacquiao won a split decision over Juan Manuel Marquez in a fight that featured speed, endurance, tactics and brawling.

Three months later, Pacquiao knocked out David Diaz in the ninth round. Diaz was a bigger fighter who could brawl and take a punch. Pacquiao had prepared for De La Hoya by taking on a little bit of everything.

The Diaz fight was Pacquiao's 12th fight in the same five-year period in which De La Hoya had six. Pacquiao's record in that span is 10-1-1.

[kikibalt]

Size will be the difference for Oscar De La Hoya


Los Angeles Times
Oscar De La Hoya puts Jimmi Bredahl on the canvas as he won the WBO super-featherweight championship -- his first world title -- on March 5, 1994, at the Olympic Auditorium.

A number of factors point to a De La Hoya victory over Manny Pacquiao on Saturday night.
By Lance Pugmire

Reporting from Las Vegas -- Oscar De La Hoya is going to defeat Manny Pacquiao, and probably by a knockout. Make it the ninth round.

As I've thought about this fight since I visited both fighters a month ago at their Southern California training camps, several factors continue pointing to the outcome being a "real" version of what fans saw at Staples Center this week, when De La Hoya emulated his new statue's pose by raising his arms in victory.

First, he's too big. Second, Pacquiao took this fight mostly for money. Third, De La Hoya may be 35, with some strong voices talking about his declining skills, but he's not impossibly removed from the fighter he was six years ago, when he knocked out a steroid-inflated Fernando Vargas.

Let's look at this: De La Hoya (39-5, 30 knockouts) is taking on the world's best pound-for-pound fighter for the second time in two years. He lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr., a true welterweight, by split decision last year when a judge failed to award him a 10-9 round as two others did against Mayweather. It was a close fight.

Now, De La Hoya has hand-picked current lightweight champion Pacquiao, whose struggles to make the super-featherweight limit of 130 pounds led him to move up and win a lightweight (135 pounds) world title this summer. He was impressive in knocking out David Diaz, but Pacquiao weighed in Friday at only 142 pounds. The size disadvantage is too daunting for "Pac-Man" to overcome.

De La Hoya, remember, has fought as high as 160 pounds as recently as two years ago, and he hasn't fought at 147 since 2001 -- when he buried Arturo Gatti. De La Hoya might walk into the ring five to 10 pounds heavier than Pacquiao.

His reach is five inches longer, De La Hoya stands four inches taller and he has the ring experiences that resulted in 10 world titles.

An official with Pacquiao's promotion company, Top Rank, also tells the story of how Pacquiao initially balked at agreeing to the fight. He wanted a higher percentage of the revenue. Ultimately, Pacquiao was advised to accept the De La Hoya bout because it assured him money (a guaranteed $11 million) that he couldn't make in accepting three other fights.

And almost universally, boxing experts believe Pacquiao has nothing to lose by losing. He has an easy excuse, will be bathed in riches afterward and can re-bolster his stock as the world's top pound-for-pound fighter against likely future foes Ricky Hatton, Juan Manuel Marquez and others.

De La Hoya, meanwhile, is playing up his opponent's skills in a way that would make noted sandbagger and former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz proud.

"Manny can handle the weight with his power and speed," De La Hoya said this week. "He's the fastest fighter out there. . . . If you think he has no power, then everything can go wrong. It's why I've trained for King Kong."

And let's not forget about the bitterness that remains from the time when Pacquiao accepted a suitcase full of cash from De La Hoya to fight for Golden Boy Promotions, then reneged and signed with Top Rank.

If anyone has proved to have a Teflon resistance to losses among his fans, it's De La Hoya. But as he nears the finish line of this storied career, he clearly has selected a gifted but undersized big name to punctuate his legacy.

When I told his brother, Joel Jr., that a few hard-core boxing-fan readers have sent me notes calling De La Hoya-Pacquiao a "farce" and a "sham" because of the size disparity, he said, "It would've been a sham years ago, but Oscar's older now, so there's questions about how he'll do against this guy."

Not in this corner.

Just like when De La Hoya found the motivation to destroy Vargas in a grudge match for hometown bragging rights, I believe the Golden Boy has regained that focus while fighting at an ideal weight to produce another memorable show on his way out.

Pugmire is a Times staff writer.

[email protected]

[bennie]

For once we have a night here to rival you American boys, Carl Froch vs Jean Pascal for the vacant WBC super-middleweight title (made vacant by Joe Calzaghe) in Nottingham, Khan's big comeback in London and, yes, Oscar De La Hoya vs little Manny Pacquiao.
Might be one upset among the three.

[scartissue]

Frankie, this one's for Bennie.
Dan

She was no angel, Beryl, but she was English to her manicured toenails. I read a story about her turning up at a Dave Green fight. It was a big fight against a Frenchman for the European title and the Royal Albert Hall was packed. Beryl made her way to ringside, to huge cheers, found there was nowhere to sit, so plonked herself on the stage - right in front of a group of French fans. One of them started giving it his French bit, all the hand gestures and continual moaning. She casually turned round and barked: "F uck off you French git!"


Cheers, Dan.

In the article, which accompanied this photo, it concurred with you that she had a mouth on her that could make a sailor blush.

Scartissue

[kikibalt]

Manny Pacquiao's trainer challenges taping of Oscar De La Hoya's hands

Nevada athletic officials rule method of taping is essentially OK but require modifications.
By Lance Pugmire

Reporting from Las Vegas -- A dispute over how Oscar De La Hoya wraps his hands for a fight grew contentious Friday before the Nevada State Athletic Commission said his taping method can effectively remain status quo.

De La Hoya's tape man, Joe Chavez, uses two-inch-wide brown medical tape around his fighter's hands and then rolls up the tape between the fingers to help cushion what the De La Hoya camp describes as sensitive hands.

But Freddie Roach, who trains De La Hoya's opponent, Manny Pacquiao, and who trained De La Hoya last year, objected to the use of the brown tape as too thick. Roach also complained the rolled-up portion leaves a ridge atop De La Hoya's fingers that could cut Pacquiao's face. The boxers had already agreed to use lighter eight-ounce gloves in this bout.

"The tape between the fingers becomes like a piece of rope, and that can cause a cut for sure," Roach said. "Oscar's people were saying he's got away with it 20 times here and I said, 'Oscar's a prima donna, but he's not going to get away with it now.' Rules are rules."

With athletic commission Executive Officer Keith Kizer presiding over an impromptu meeting at the MGM Grand, chief inspector Tony Lazo and his assistant Alex Ybarra determined De La Hoya's brown tape was allowed, but they also ruled that Chavez has to cut the tape in half to one inch when he rolls it up between the fingers.


"Tapegate," De La Hoya's business partner Richard Schaefer cracked before the ruling was made. Roach had said, "Oscar wraps illegally, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to win."

Kizer told Lazo to ensure the between-finger tape doesn't protrude at Saturday's pre-fight taping, which Roach can supervise. "If it looks like a ridge, re-do it," Kizer instructed Chavez.

Later, Chavez assured his method "was not meant to hit harder, but to protect the hand."

And with that episode over, Roach coyly nodded to the suggestion that his protest would irritate De La Hoya.

"That's what I'm here for," Roach said.

Lighter weights

Pacquiao's ability to easily make the 147-pound weight limit for tonight's fight means he can make a long visit to the dining room; when he weighed in Friday afternoon the scale measured 142 pounds.

De La Hoya's official weight, 145, was also surprisingly low because he had fought above the 147-pound welterweight limit since 2001. But Pacquiao's official weight did nothing to alter the pre-fight attention on De La Hoya's significant height and reach advantages.

Pacquiao, 29, who hasn't fought above the 135-pound lightweight limit in 52 previous pro bouts, quickly said that he wasn't bothered by his official weight. Pacquiao camp officials say a scale in his Mandalay Bay hotel room consistently read around 146, and they maintained he'll be closer to 147 pounds by fight time.

"Speed will be the key to this fight," Pacquiao said on the stage at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, where thousands filled a section for the event. "We decided early in training that speed is the most important factor and that's why I came in at this weight."

De La Hoya said he felt "energetic, happy, ready to go. I'm going to keep the speed; the power is already there."

Roach expressed satisfaction at seeing De La Hoya's lower weight, speculating that effort to come in below 147 pounds could tax his energy Saturday night.

"I don't know why he came in that low, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth," Roach said.

Mosley update

Nevada has rules allowing sanctions on fighters who violate certain drug restrictions, but they were not in effect when ShaneMosley defeated De La Hoya in 2003. As a result, Kizer said, he cannot change that result to a no-contest despite this week's release of BALCO grand jury transcripts in which Mosley admitted he knowingly had taken the banned oxygen-boosting drug EPO. Mosley also used an undetectable steroid. He won a close decision over De La Hoya five years ago by winning the late rounds in that bout.

"De La Hoya can file something for us to look at it, but he'd have to get over a big [legal] hurdle," said Kizer. De La Hoya has said he's not willing to revisit the defeat against his current business partner.

Vazquez recovering

Huntington Park's super-bantamweight world champion, Israel Vazquez, says he has undergone three surgeries to repair a detached retina in his right eye he suffered in his thrilling third fight against Rafael Marquez in March.

Vazquez underwent the latest surgery in August. He said the eye "should be OK" for him to fight Marquez in the spring. For now, he said his sight in the eye is "like looking through a bag filled with water."

Pugmire is a Times staff writer.

[email protected]

[kikibalt]

Bruce Trampler is a matchmaker's matchmaker

Nobody is better at finding the right fight for his fighter than Trampler, who is doing for Manny Pacquiao what he did for Oscar De La Hoya.
By Lance Pugmire

Reporting from Las Vegas -- In the discussions that helped script Oscar De La Hoya's path from the star of the 1992 Olympic Games to his current role as the greatest draw in boxing pay-per-view history, one voice was listened to most of all.

Matchmaker Bruce Trampler was the one who determined when the "Golden Boy" was prepared to vanquish young, skilled fighters such as Rafael Ruelas and when he could handle veterans such as Mexican warrior Julio Cesar Chavez in 1996 and polished southpaw Pernell Whitaker a year later.

"Any fighter, no matter how talented, must either be matched correctly, or they will be destroyed," said Trampler's boss, Bob Arum of Top Rank promotions. "The art of matchmaking is to take a young prospect and put him against guys he can beat and learn something from. . . . You protect the kid somewhat, but you want him to learn. Bruce has that ability; I don't.

"He deserves complete credit for Oscar. Without him, there would be no Oscar De La Hoya as he stands today. It was a masterful job."

But De La Hoya now runs his own promotional company and Trampler remains at Top Rank, which promotes De La Hoya's opponent tonight, Manny Pacquiao.

Trampler has done for Pacquiao what he once did for De La Hoya: huddle with him often to ensure the correct fight strategy is in place.

Trampler, 59, was been sent by Arum six times this fall to confer with Pacquiao and his trainer, Freddie Roach, at their Hollywood gym. The idea: Have the man who was such an influential player in De La Hoya's career supervise the strategy that could end it.

"I don't think I told them anything they didn't know and it'd be much less than truthful if I said I gave them a secret, but I did speak my piece and I found we're all on the same page about how to win this fight," Trampler said.

Roach said he appreciated the guidance. Arum says that instruction is part of the reason why he believes Pacquiao will win by knockout. "Manny is our fighter now; I'd feel good if he wins," Arum said. "It has nothing to do with history. I'd still exult if Oscar is knocked out. I wouldn't feel bad at all, because it's my guy ending the era."

Trampler's career dates to 1968, when he made his first match for a fighter, Bill Douglas, best known as the father of future heavyweight champion James "Buster" Douglas.

Trampler quit a career in journalism after studying at Ohio University and worked with famed trainer Angelo Dundee and his publicist brother, Chris. Trampler calls this time "Dundee finishing school," and he later landed under Madison Square Garden's Teddy Brenner, whom boxing historians consider the greatest matchmaker ever.

"This job is not exactly rocket science and it can be hard to choreograph. You may think a guy is a test for your prospect, and then your guy knocks him out early, so you just say, 'He passed that test,' and move on," Trampler said. "Generally, you want your guy to get better every fight and you want to continually test him -- no tomato cans. And if there's a fight that's not beneficial, I won't take it."

Longtime matchmaker and California-based promoter Don Chargin calls Trampler's handling of former featherweight champion Erik Morales his most masterful development, but he also helped Michael Carbajal become the first flyweight to claim a $1-million purse.

Recent welterweight champ Miguel Cotto and current middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik are also Trampler-orchestrated talents.

"Bruce knows exactly how to set his fighters up," said Golden Boy Promotions matchmaker Eric Gomez. "He may take some criticism for being too slow with some guys, but he's taking care of his guys until they're ready, and then, boom! They get big fight after big fight."

Still, his handling of De La Hoya trumps all, even if Trampler jokes that part of his success was ensuring "we didn't screw this up. Right away with Oscar, it was very clear to all of us he had this special talent. The charisma, the physical attributes. . . . I didn't look at him as a project but as a kid who would become the fighter of his generation."

The pair parted ways for good after De La Hoya's 2006 loss to Bernard Hopkins.

As he celebrated the unveiling of a statue of his likeness at Staples Center this week, De La Hoya described Trampler as "very instrumental" to his career. "He knew when to throw me in with the dogs and when to throw me in with the cats," De La Hoya cracked.

So how does De La Hoya feel about Trampler's new union with Pacquiao?

"At this point, he's the enemy, and all that's on my mind now is how to beat the enemy," De La Hoya said.

Pugmire is a Times staff writer.

[email protected]

[bennie]

Frankie, this one's for Bennie.
Dan

She was no angel, Beryl, but she was English to her manicured toenails. I read a story about her turning up at a Dave Green fight. It was a big fight against a Frenchman for the European title and the Royal Albert Hall was packed. Beryl made her way to ringside, to huge cheers, found there was nowhere to sit, so plonked herself on the stage - right in front of a group of French fans. One of them started giving it his French bit, all the hand gestures and continual moaning. She casually turned round and barked: "F uck off you French git!"


Cheers, Dan.

In the article, which accompanied this photo, it concurred with you that she had a mouth on her that could make a sailor blush.

Scartissue

What the hell is that tortoise doing there?

[kikibalt]

What the hell is that tortoise doing there?

Drinking brewski's, of course......

[bennie]

If he turned around, he'd have the best seat in the house.

[kikibalt]

If he turned around, he'd have the best seat in the house.

Yes, he would, but he'll rather drink some cold ones....

[kikibalt]

Bennie, are you watching the DLH/Pac fight tonight?

[bennie]

Bennie, are you watching the DLH/Pac fight tonight?

No, I don't have Sky-TV, Frankie. Not too bothered.

[kikibalt]

Bennie, are you watching the DLH/Pac fight tonight?

No, I don't have Sky-TV, Frankie. Not too bothered.

What is Sky-TV? is that like cable TV? like what we have over here.

[bennie]

Bennie, are you watching the DLH/Pac fight tonight?

No, I don't have Sky-TV, Frankie. Not too bothered.

What is Sky-TV? is that like cable TV? like what we have over here.

Yes.

[Randyman]

I'm probably the only one here that wants Oscar to win tonight. I hope he does. Whatever way it goes I just hope it's good fight. by good, I mean, real fighting, no controversy and no excuses. As I said earlier, let the best man win.

Although Oscar is taller than Manny it's not as big as all the controversy might suggest. My hope is Oscar will use his jab and reach to keep Manny on the outside. That's stating the obvious, I know. What I really mean is that I hope he continues to use the jab in the later rounds. Oscar has a tendency to abandon his jab when he tires, which brings me to my only real consern in this fight, and a big one. Will Oscar still be strong at this weight? Will the weight loss leave him weak?

Mel Epstein use to tell me that it is better for a fighter to come into a fight a few pounds over than it it is to come in a few pounds too short. A fighter a few pounds short can fight himself into shape. As the fight wears on a fighter that has come in too light has nothing to draw on. I think that narrows down any big advantage that Oscar might have. Add to that his age and the fight matches up a little closer. I don't discount the height and reach advantage, I just think that there are so many other factors in this fight that come into play.

Let's hope it's good night for boxing. Let's hope that it is such a good night for our beloved sport that there will be no reason to criticize either man. Let's hope that it is such a great night for boxing that when someone is asked after the fight how boxing squares up against MMA the answer will be " MMA, what the F**K is MMA?

Randy