Arrived at the MGM nice and early, the atmosphere around the hotel/casino that stages the fight is always fantastic. Chatted to Jim Watt {who amusingly, was later announced by Michael Buffer at the roll-call of champions as James Watt - incidentally is the famous anecdote that he was once announced as Jim Scot from Wattland actually true?} who was as nice as ever. One of Britain's senior boxing writers was there with a new lady friend. Libel laws prevent me from revealing more....
The non-PPV fights were a little disappointing and accordingly gave them a miss. I was most looking forward to the Castillo - Lazcarno fight as it looked a fifty/fifty fight on paper. I have a soft spot for Lazcarno - anyone who calls himself the "Hispanic causing panic" and wears a sombrero that big to the ring has my respect. Castillo had his number early and was beating him to the punch, the nose break in the third was a key moment. Lazcarno was getting angry with himself and every time he tried to up the tempo, Castillo controlled him and slowed the fight back down.
The crowd reaction to the Hopkins - Allen fight was perplexing. Although there was a distinct racial divide in the crowd - normally a de la Hoya crowd is 85% Hispanic, this one was probably 50% Hispanic 30% African-American, the booing was not confined to DLH fans. It started after 30 seconds when Hopkins was clearly finding bhis range and sizing Allen out. I saw a masterful controlled exhibition from a middleweight great, others seemed to see a fading champion afraid to trade - I'll stick to my opinion.
Oscar is no middle weight. I scored it exactly as the judges, 115-113 (I would have scored 4 rounds level but as I know Nevadan judges never do that, I forced myself to pick a winner), with DLH picking up a lot of the early rounds, but it wasn't a high quality fight - do you prefer Oscar punching the body with virtually all of his upper punches landing on the gloves or Sturm with a jab but not much else?
Back from Vegas - Part II
Yes, he announced Jim as "Jim Scot from Wattland" before the Lloyd Honeyghan-Don Curry fight in Atlantic City in 1986. He was corrected by the laughter from Jim himself at ringside (and others), and then announced the right name. But he didn't give a toss either way.
"Make sure you get his name right you shameless bastard," I said to him, gesturing into the ring after Honeyghan had just won.
He blanked me, but I saw him wince a little.
"Make sure you get his name right you shameless bastard," I said to him, gesturing into the ring after Honeyghan had just won.
He blanked me, but I saw him wince a little.