Can The Alien Be Krushed?
Now that Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev successfully defended his WBO Light Heavyweight belt, he will take on the Bernard “The Alien” formally known as “The Executioner” Hopkins in November. Much has been said about the age of Hopkins, who will enter that fight at 49 years young; however, don’t let that fool you, he has a legitimate shot of making this fight ugly and upsetting the champ. His ring IQ, solid chin, and rough tactics give him more than just a chance here.
In Need Of Remedial Training?
I’m not condoning Vic Drakulich’s stoppage of Brandon Rios and Diego Chaves foul filled affair this past Saturday night but point deductions were warranted during the fight to keep it under control. I get Chaves’ deduction in the third; he had been holding Rios every time they got in close and wouldn’t release even when told to do so. Equally, I am ok with Rios’ deduction in the fifth for ensuring Chaves hit the mat by muscling him down. The second point deduction for Chaves occurred in the eighth when both men were in the clinch and utilizing dirty tactics in close. Thing is, Rios was giving as good as he was getting in there, just so happens Chaves retaliated last and was caught scraping Rios across the face. Due to the position of Drakulich at the time, only seeing the last foul clearly and where the fight had been prior to that point, I can see his reasoning on this one. That said, VDrak lost control of this fight early and because of that, it ended up going down a road where a DQ was probable. Seems Drakulich could have benefitted by penalizing both men at the same time to send a stronger message and even warned both corners in between rounds?
And The Award For Best Actor Goes To…….
Shannon Briggs was at it again, tormenting Wladimir Klitschko in public with his rant of “Everywhere you go, I go, everywhere you go, I go champ!!” This time he chose to conduct his tirade while Klitschko was eating in a restaurant with a new rant of “Whatever you eat I eat!!” Briggs took Klitschko’s food and started eating it prompting the champ to pour water over his head. Once this occurred, bedlam ensued with the video ending with Briggs being “escorted” out by well placed actors….ahem…excuse me…body guards. As I watched the video, I looked for the microphone erroneously hanging too low into the scene prompting the director to yell “CUT!!!!! Who the hell is placing the microphone in the scene???”
Let’s Go To The Judge’s Score Cards….On Second Thought…..
Eyebrows were raised once again this past weekend when the scores for the Jessie Vargas v. Anton Novikov bout were revealed. Vargas won two cards by seven points and the third by six in what most observers thought had been a close fight. Also recently was the ridiculous 117-111 card in the Canelo Alvarez Erislandy Lara fight and who can forget Bradley-Pacquiao? It’s not that bad judging hasn’t occurred from time to time throughout the sport’s history but over the past several years it is occurring at an alarming rate. Accuracy on the scorecards for what really happened in the ring shouldn’t be too much to ask. Yes, the cards on close fights should vary but reasonably within a point or two. The governing bodies should work collaboratively to develop a remedial training program for judges who score fights so absurdly that it’s obvious to even the most casual fan. The overused “black-eye for boxing” is appropriately used when speaking about bad judging and it’s time for a change.
Standing-8 