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Written by Springs Toledo
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Tuesday, 08 November 2011 14:06
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 RIP Champion. [Artist Richard T. Slone, courtesy sloneart.com] The strong men . . . coming on The strong' men gittin' stronger. Strong men. . . . Stronger. . . . ~Sterling Brown (1900-1992) I saw Smokin’ Joe Frazier in the ring Saturday night. He was in the throes of battle, loving every moment as his whistling hooks broke another man. He went down; he got up, and absorbed a terrible beating that declared the force of his will… James Kirkland sees no difference between boxing matches and turf wars. When that bell rings, he isn’t thinking about points, whether they be the finer points of technique or the ones those stiff suits on stools keep track of. He isn’t even thinking like a man; at times his matches resemble primal clashes over hunting grounds and mating rights, not sports contests. He’s thinking about punching holes through his rival so that he can pull his heart... Read more...
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Written by Ron Borges
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Tuesday, 08 November 2011 10:20
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 The Smoke faded away Monday night but Joe Frazier never will. For as long as there are fighters and people who respect them there will be the memory of Smokin’ Joe, adorned in baggy green shorts, launching a left hook thrown with as many bad intentions as any man ever had. On the receiving end of it was Muhammad Ali, knocked on his back when that hook landed and taking much of the dreams of America’s youthful revolutionaries with him back in 1971. Ali was, as he remains today, a myth as well as a legend but he would have been less of both had there never been Smokin’ Joe to battle with. Frazier went to his grave resenting Ali, who he befriended when Ali was in exile only to see him make a fool of him with insults, crude denigrations of who he was as a man and an accusation most foul that he was an Uncle... Read more...
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Written by The Sweet Science
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Monday, 07 November 2011 22:46
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 I’ve written at length about Joe Frazier in the past and will do so again in the future. For now, a few words on his passing. Frazier fought with an intensity, determination, and pride seldom seen in the sometimes glorious, sometimes ignominious, history of boxing. Some fighters try hard until they get hit. Then they stop trying. Joe always kept trying. As a young man, Eddie Futch sparred with Joe Louis. Later, he trained Frazier. “Anywhere they hit you, you felt it,” Futch said. “When they hit you, it hurt for days.” Naazim Richardson (like Frazier, a fixture on the Philadelphia boxing scene) later observed, ”The body is different from the mind. Your body would rather lose a fight to Muhammad Ali than win a fight against Joe Frazier.” On March 8, 1971, Frazier entered the ring at Madison Square Garden for the first of three historic fights against Ali. “You don’t win fights... Read more...
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Written by Michael Woods
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Monday, 07 November 2011 22:30
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 Down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier. Those were the words exclaimed by Howard Cosell during Smokin' Joe's fruitless challenge against George Foreman in 1973. Sad to say, those words apply today, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2011, as one of the most relentless pugilists of his or any era couldn't beat the count. The opponent was liver cancer. Joe Frazier was 67. He went at it hammer and tong with the Greatest, the so called Greatest, Muhammad Ali, three times, and though Joe went 1-2, he was with Ali every step of the way, in New York in 1971 (that one was "The Fight") and 1974, and in the Thrilla in Manilla in 1975. Born in South Carolina in 1944, the youngest of 12 children, he will forevermore be intertwined with Ali, his stomping grounds of Philadelphia and the hellacious left hook which made many a man sip through a straw for weeks through a jaw wired... Read more...
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Written by Michael Woods
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Saturday, 05 November 2011 23:34
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 Trainers for the ages can pull out a disc of Alfredo Angulo in the main event which unfolded in Cancun, Mexico and ran on HBO Saturday night and tell their fighters how they should not punch themselves out when they get their foe in trouble. Angulo put James Kirkland down thirty seconds into the first, thought he could close the show, but instead used all his gas. Kirkland, who many thought was damaged goods in the chin department, summoned every ounce of his guts, stayed alive, dropped Angulo at the end of the first and came all the way back to stop Angulo in the sixth round.Fredo (age 29; 5-10; from Mexico, living in CA; 20-1 with 17 KOs entering) was 154, 163 on fight night, while Kirkland (age 27; 5-9; from Texas; 29-1 with 26 KOs entering) was 153 1/2, and we don't know what he weighed Saturday, because his team wouldn't allow it.In the first, Fredo... Read more...
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Written by Michael Woods
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Saturday, 05 November 2011 22:34
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 There is a reason that men over 40 who excel in the squared circle are still the exception, not the norm. The body is only capable of going so many miles, no matter the superb supplements available, despite the advances made in strength and conditioning techniques. Glen Johnson, at age 42, showed that his body, while still functioning at an impressive level, no longer is capable of really hanging in with true world class fighters, like Lucian Bute.Bute was in command from the get go in the main event at the Pepsi Center in Quebec on Saturday night, as his foe Johnson didn't have the snap or pep to worry Bute more than a smidge. The judges cemented what everyone who watched knew, scoring the bout 119-109, 120-108, 120-108, for Bute. It wasn't as bad as many feared, a sparring match between two men who'd grown fond of each other, which kept them from truly trying to take each others' head off.... Read more...
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Written by David A. Avila
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Friday, 04 November 2011 17:13
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 Angulo was 154, Kirkland 153 /12 at Friday's weigh in. It happened in Montebello, a small quiet town once known for its oil wells, dairy farms and a Helms Bakery but now known as the first city east of East Los Angeles.Two years ago when middleweight contender Sergio Mora was in need of quality sparring, a call was sent out and answering were Alfredo “Perro” Angulo and James “Mandingo Warrior” Kirkland.You can imagine that when two fighting pit bulls meet they’re going to circle each other cautiously before attacking. That’s what happened when they sparred each other.“I’ll never forget it,” said Mora who sparred with both fighters and was resting when the two neck crackers smashed each other silly. “It was something to see.”Few people saw it that day but this Saturday that will change when Angulo (20-1, 17 KOs) and Kirkland (29-1, 26 KOs) meet in Cancun, Mexico. The Golden Boy Promotions... Read more...
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Written by Michael Woods
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Friday, 04 November 2011 10:52
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 Manny Pacquiao, indisputably the world's number one boxer-Congressman-singer, once again killed it on Jimmy Kimmel's late night talk-variety show.Pacman did a duet on Thursday night with the host himself on the Bee Gees classic "How Deep Is Your Love." They stood back to back and banged it out, with Kimmel proving that he made the right choice going into the segment of show business he did. Manny nailed the falsetto high notes pretty well, drawing applause from the live audience.The 1977 release by the brothers Gibb went to number one on Christmas Eve 1977, and stayed in the top ten for a record 17 weeks. This tune started a monster run for the Gibbs, as the first of six number one consecutive hits for the boys. Perhaps Pacman's rendition will do for that song what his rendition of "Sometimes When We Touch" did for Dan Hill.Pacquaio was his usual charming, relaxed self with Kimmel. He giggled... Read more...
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Written by Frank Lotierzo
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Thursday, 03 November 2011 20:35
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 The going back and forth and accusatory tone between the Pacquiao and Mayweather factions seems to be endless. On top of that, everyone who's ever watched a fight or hit a heavy bag seems to know what it'll take for the fight to be made and who will win it if and when it comes to fruition, if ever. And now Manny Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, just weighed in with a real dozy.Recently Arum said, "what Mayweather hates is Manny's right hand. Mayweather has no chin and Manny will knock him out. Pacquiao and Mayweather is a three or four-round fight. Period. And who knows that best? Mayweather. The one thing Mayweather has had throughout his career is he knows boxing. He understands boxing and Mayweather can not compete with Manny. It's the right hand of Manny that is preventing that fight from happening. If Manny agreed just to jab with the right hand the fight would... Read more...
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Written by Rick Folstad
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Thursday, 03 November 2011 11:10
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I n a way, James “Lights Out” Toney is like an aging comedian who isn’t funny anymore, but who won’t get off the stage. He keeps telling the same lame, off-color jokes while ducking rotten tomatoes and paper cups tossed at his head. He hears the booing from the audience, but he just can’t let go of the spotlight, even though it doesn’t shine on him as brightly as it once did. But he was hilarious 20 years ago. With the crowd growing restless, they finally pull the curtain closed, but Toney somehow finds an opening and storms back to center stage. And just before he’s pulled away, he tells a very funny joke and for a second, everyone quits booing and starts to cheer. They remember how funny he used to be. But it doesn’t last long and pretty soon, everyone is booing again. For many years, Toney was one of the best quotes in town. He’d talk for an hour on a... Read more...
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