BoxRec

Steve Bunce does what all part-time 'fans' love to do (and that's all he is, a fan, he's not a writer): talk about heavyweights and slag off Rocky Marciano in his piece in the Sunday Herald yesterday. Some of you may also notice the bad mistake he makes about Kirk Johnson's injury...

In New York at Madison Square Garden the punters are famous for knowing a little bit about boxing. On Saturday about 12,000 of them will sit in judgment on two fights that could, in theory, shape next year’s heavyweight championship fights.
In the first of the two main events, a PhD student from Kiev called Vitali Klitschko will fight a Canadian called Kirk Johnson in a final eliminator for the World Boxing Council heavyweight crown. It is the title that Lennox Lewis holds but has, since the summer, made no effort or plans to defend.
In fact, Klitschko has played a part in Lewis’ disappearing act since July. The pair met in Los Angeles in June and Lewis was expected to ruin Klitschko but their fight turned into a bloody and brutal slugfest that only came to an end when Klitschko’s features were torn in three separate places that later required 85 stitches.
The winner was Lewis on a technical knockout in round six but there was nothing technical about his performance in the ring that night and few people are surprised that he has made no effort to give Klitschko the rematch he deserves.
In Los Angeles, Lewis was booed from the ring by more than 10,000 fans and then he vanished. Klitschko required two sessions with a plastic surgeon before emerging as the heroic People’s Champion of the heavyweight division.
Ironically, Klitschko was a late replacement for the fight against Lewis and was only selected when Johnson withdrew after straining a muscle in his back.
On Saturday the two men will fight for the right to have their name at the top of the list of men who are demanding a fight with Lewis. There is a tradition in heavyweight boxing of champions turning into cash cows and that is certainly the case with Lewis because most people that have met him during the last two or three years have secured for themselves a handy pension for the end of their careers.
Klitschko should win and further enhance his position in America where the quest for a white heavyweight to firmly take control of sport’s richest division has been going on for nearly 100 years.
There was, of course, Rocky Marciano in the 1950s but he was about as tall and heavy as any typical annoying drunk propping up the bar in a Glasgow pub. Marciano was a wee man with serious attitude but that was all he was.
In the other fight, Monte Barrett, who has lost just twice in 31 fights, has been selected from a long list of candidates to finally test the chin and punch of Joe Mesi.
During the last six years Mesi has stopped or knocked out 25 of his 27 victims and in his native Buffalo he has been attracting crowds in excess of 18,000 for two years.
He can take a man out with one punch, he is articulate and the media adore him. His attachment to the bill at the Garden guaranteed a hyster ical sell-out and he is quite simply destined for greatness.
However, the men in charge of making Mesi such a big attraction are without doubt the most cautious, clever and calculating cabal of mischievous boxing men currently operating in America. They know what to do and they tell Mesi how to do it.
The reason that Mesi is such an enormous attraction and is two or three fights from superstardom, is that he is a white Italian heavyweight and a good one, and that is at least two oxymorons too many for most boxing sceptics to accept.
It is true that Mesi has been moving through the soft underbelly of weary, bloated and decrepit heavyweights with a frightening degree of ease. He has also mesmerised New York City where he was born and Baby Joe, as he is known, can fight a bit. However, there will come a time when simply having the “right complexion to make the right connection”, as Don King famously put it, will not help him when the first bell sounds. Next week Mesi can and should take care of Barrett and that win will put him in the sport’s top 10 heavyweights.
In an ideal world Klitschko and Mesi will be kept in sep arate rings for the years to come because there are simply too many fights out there that would be bigger attractions if they were facing somebody else. Klitschko and Lewis or Mike Tyson or Roy Jones would all be entertaining and would all attract sell-out crowds.
However, for a genuine bonanza of heavyweight mayhem the biggest fight in history could be a pairing between Mesi and Tyson – two nice New York boys from opposite sides of the tracks – at an outdoor venue next summer.
Call me old-fashioned if you like, but I think it is time we had a nice bonanza.

30 November 2003

Yep he's one lousy writer - such a bloody know-it-all too, always trying to make out he "saw it coming" and "he's in the know"...

After the MAB/PacMan fight I was quite interested to see what he'd say back in the studio. The best he could come up with was:

"When Barrera went down in the 3rd I looked at Ritchie and said 'Barrera's going to lose this one' "

Well done Steve - what insight!!

I remember reading a few of his articles "back in the day" (as he loves to say ) when he "wrote" for the Telegraph - I remember thinking where did they find this bozo?!

It was something like: "Prince Naz beat Barrera tonight. Yes that's right - he went into Jr Jones dressing room before the fight and told Junior how to win, even showed him the punches to throw...etc etc"

This was obviously in the days when he was clinging onto the Naz bandwagon for dear life - before he was dropped and started to write abuse about Naz like a spurned lover.

I was just amazed the paper was publishing crap like that.

i also dont like writers who write about fightd they havent even seen

Yes, he used to contribute to Boxing Monthly when we were there, Mighty Warrior, so we both know how crap his stuff was. Every sports editor in the country must dread having to sub his stuff. Don't get me wrong. Bunce was always willing to drag himself to boxing shows and got his breaks by such willingness: he was always there! For that, you have to respect him. But that doesn't make him a writer. And to label Marciano as just a wee man with attitude is scandalous.
By the way, Kirk Johnson pulled out with a damaged chest muscle against Lewis (Bunce says a back muscle). Big difference, Buncey.

Bunce writes some weird stuff from time to time but he's good to have on the Beeb. He's good at cutting out the shit that casual Beeb boxing fans don't need to know. He keeps things simple, but in a way that doesn't patronize us hardcore followers.

I actually thought this article was okay although it doesn't tell me anything I don't already know, which is why I hardly ever feel the desire to read these things.

I've neer forgiven him for his "Let's face it, Hatton hits a lot harder than Gatti" comment when he was on ringside. I can't even be bothered to read this article of his, he's our max kellerman: big mouth, don't know what he's talking about...he's a little more quaint though, harder to notice...unless you notice him at the barber's.

[quote=]Marciano was a wee man with serious attitude but that was all he was.
[/quote]

Wee men with attitude problems don't knock out Jersey Joe, Ezzard Charles or Archie Moore, no matter how old they are.

Buncie can be a real clown. Anyone remember his 'plastic gangster' impression on the BBC Kirkland Laing piece?
"O'm lackin for Kirklan, ave ya seen im?"

Yeah, that was a good piece though, accents notwithstanding. Laing should get a testimonial. Anyone have any news on him since his accident?

when he used to write for the telegraph, he was telling everyone who would listen that Frank Bruno was going to pummell Iron Mike Into the dust in the rematch.

That was enought of him for me.

TerribleTerry wrote:

wrote:Marciano was a wee man with serious attitude but that was all he was.

Wee men with attitude problems don't knock out Jersey Joe, Ezzard Charles or Archie Moore, no matter how old they are.

Buncie can be a real clown. Anyone remember his 'plastic gangster' impression on the BBC Kirkland Laing piece?
"O'm lackin for Kirklan, ave ya seen im?"

Yeah he was going for the Mickey Spillain PI type voice over too
"..the mean streets of london don't give up their secrets easily...but I had to find Kirk in this place of a thousand shattered dreams.
A tall blonde walked past my window - she must've been tall: I'm on
the 10th floor etc etc "

To sum it up, without being derogatory.

Bunce is not very good at all.

The BBC should bring back Claude.

knockout artist wrote:To sum it up, without being derogatory.

Bunce is not very good at all.

The BBC should bring back Claude.

Yes, Claude snaps his achilles tendon and the BBC think he's died.

Yeah, I agree, that Bunce is an annoying bugger, where does he get the right to put down Marciano like that?..... in doing that he shows that for all his mouth at heart he's just an over ambitious twit who really doesn't know ziltch

I don't find him too bad, when he is on the tv.

As for his journalistic skills, well tbh I haven't a clue. I dont read his material.

He's entertainment though, usually good for a quote or two, and thats probably why he has a contract with the bbc.

I usually welcom is enthusiasm and knowledge on TV, but his areticles aint so great, and what he has written about Marciano, disregarding him, has changed my opinion on him a bit.

I myself are one of these guys that think that Marciano is often overated, dominated a poor era of heavyweight boxing. However i would have to be blind (or Steve Bunce) not to recognise him as a great heavyweight, basically what he's saying is, that if Klitschko becomes the recognised heavyweight champ he's better than Rocky? Give me a break.

It's actually unbelieveable to disrespect Marciano like he did, ignorant.

My view entirely, I don't consider Rocky the greatest heavy champ ever, and know his flaws (aging opposition and tendency to foul) ...but he was definately one of the top ever Heavies and had a great punch and enormous heart and stamina, plus it seems he was a good and gentle guy out of the ring.... so all in all it's pretty sickening to see the selfsatisfied Bunce dismissing him like he does... and heaping praise on Mesi for christs sake!!!..... give me a break!!!

silkov wrote:My view entirely, I don't consider Rocky the greatest heavy champ ever, and know his flaws (aging opposition and tendency to foul) ...but he was definately one of the top ever Heavies and had a great punch and enormous heart and stamina, plus it seems he was a good and gentle guy out of the ring.... so all in all it's pretty sickening to see the selfsatisfied Bunce dismissing him like he does... and heaping praise on Mesi for christs sake!!!..... give me a break!!!

Thing is, some one who only has a slight interest in boxing may decide to read the article, thinking that Bunce is correct in every word he says, and be influenced by Bunce's own opinion which jumps out of the piece.

I used to like Bunce on the BBC but as another poster claimed he does tend to come across as a know it all these days so wise after the event. His Boxing Monthly colum used to be refreshing but now he uses it as a mouthpiece to slag off other writers and brag about which small time fighters he once new to try and confirm his "grass roots" image while at the same times plugging all the big names he's met in Boxing. He is a notorious Ali fan and that is probably why he is so derogetory towards Marciano, i am a big fan of both Marciano and Louis and i find that comment pissed me off also.

I'm a big fan of Ali, who I consider the greatest ever heavy champ, but I also have great respect for Louis, Johnson, Dempsey and Marciano... toi name just a few... I ve never been into this need to like one champ and slag off another, thats one of the reasons why Bunces comments on Marciano annoyed me so much, for me that shows that he really doesn't appreciate boxers the way a dedicated fan should... you don't just disrespect a man who won the world title and shed his blood the way Rocky did like Bunce did.... the problem with Bunce is he wants to be a celebrity himself... I get the idea that he does what he does to draw attention to himself rather than because he has such a crazy love for boxing.... I wonder why this is the reason why Claude Abrams nolonger goes on the BBC, Claude comes over as very shy and self-effacing and I sensed that he wasn't too keen on being in close proximity to the loud Bunce... just a hunch, what do other people think??

silkov wrote:I'm a big fan of Ali, who I consider the greatest ever heavy champ, but I also have great respect for Louis, Johnson, Dempsey and Marciano... toi name just a few... I ve never been into this need to like one champ and slag off another, thats one of the reasons why Bunces comments on Marciano annoyed me so much, for me that shows that he really doesn't appreciate boxers the way a dedicated fan should... you don't just disrespect a man who won the world title and shed his blood the way Rocky did like Bunce did.... the problem with Bunce is he wants to be a celebrity himself... I get the idea that he does what he does to draw attention to himself rather than because he has such a crazy love for boxing.... I wonder why this is the reason why Claude Abrams nolonger goes on the BBC, Claude comes over as very shy and self-effacing and I sensed that he wasn't too keen on being in close proximity to the loud Bunce... just a hunch, what do other people think??

could be, or maybe it's just from a TV point of view. Bunce is enthusiastic etc.. whereas Claude is shy like you say. Maybe they felt that rather than have 2 writers as pundits they should have at least 1 ex-pro as most sport shows do. But who knows, you may be right.

I don't mind him, I think he's analysis are okay and he doesn't beat about the bush. Him saying he always knew Ruiz was the worst heavyweight champion of all time (this was of course after him saying Ruiz was awkard, tough, underated and top 5 ranked heavy just prior to the Jones match up) was a little bit much. But he's enthusiastic and doesn't hold back - seems to be a massive fan of Calzaghe and was supportive of him during his bad patch, which did surprise me.

Funny thing is, I think that he and Claude worked quite well on TV
together, I wonder why he's not on with Bunce any more. It worked because Claude was the straight man who had a well considered opinion, who took Bunce's wild hyperbole with a pinch of salt, and gave the viewers the real inside track.

I don't know whether or not Claude didn't really take to TV too well, or whether he found Bunce irritating.

Bunce does have an annoying habit of making out that he is 'in the know' when in fact often his opinion is nothing but conjecture.

A perfect case in point was the proposed Audley v Bruno matchup, which Bunce stated deadpan 'mark my words, this bout will happen 100%, no doubt, it's gonna happen'

Fast forward a month, and the same man who was proclaiming what a massive fight it was going to be, then turns around and claims he knew that Frank was Ill, long before it made the papers. So what, he was condoning sending a mentally ill, 42 year old man who hasn't had a fight in almost 8 years in against a man 12 years his junior who is an active heavyweight?

Bunce is good for TV, but his writing is pretty mediocre, I must say, I wish I could get some of the writing gigs he's had....sulk

stujones wrote:Him saying he always knew Ruiz was the worst heavyweight champion of all time (this was of course after him saying Ruiz was awkard, tough, underated and top 5 ranked heavy just prior to the Jones match up) was a little bit much.

yeah i scratched my head over that one, cos he was playing down RJJ's win when saying this, yet when Jones beat him he said that he's a top 3 fighter of all time.

Also at the beginning of the year Froch was britain's best prospect according to hi, but after Haye's last fight i believe he stated that the cruiserweight puncher was. I dunno what's happened drastically (you would think that the Mock fight would of prevented him from changing his mind) in that time to change his opinion, and i'm not sure at what stage it changed.

I think Bunce is a little arrogant, can say big things without thinking things through perhaps, but like i said previously, he is a boxing enthusiast and is doing alot to raise the profile of the sport.

Without putting too fine a point on it, the guy's a prick.
His comments on Marciano are just laughable, then suddenly he's talking up Joe Mesi like the Next Coming - anything to do with the BBC featuring Joe lately do we think?!!

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Funny thing is, I think that he and Claude worked quite well on TV
together, I wonder why he's not on with Bunce any more. It worked because Claude was the straight man who had a well considered opinion, who took Bunce's wild hyperbole with a pinch of salt, and gave the viewers the real inside track.

I don't know whether or not Claude didn't really take to TV too well, or whether he found Bunce irritating.

Bunce does have an annoying habit of making out that he is 'in the know' when in fact often his opinion is nothing but conjecture.

A perfect case in point was the proposed Audley v Bruno matchup, which Bunce stated deadpan 'mark my words, this bout will happen 100%, no doubt, it's gonna happen'

Fast forward a month, and the same man who was proclaiming what a massive fight it was going to be, then turns around and claims he knew that Frank was Ill, long before it made the papers. So what, he was condoning sending a mentally ill, 42 year old man who hasn't had a fight in almost 8 years in against a man 12 years his junior who is an active heavyweight?

Bunce is good for TV, but his writing is pretty mediocre, I must say, I wish I could get some of the writing gigs he's had....sulk

Yeah, I think Abrams and Bunce did work well - kind of like the little and large for the new generation, although Richie is doing a good job taking over from Abrams without a shadow of a doubt. In my opinion the BBC has improved, a few more changes (Jim Neilly - and bring back Hagler alongside Rawling and I'd really enjoy their shows).

I'm not saying get rid of duke, but him in with Bunce and Woodhall. Then they can do the classic comedy sketch by John Cleese and the two Ronnies on "The Frost Report" (you know - "I'm a tall man, I can look down on these two short people" etc).