It’s the end of an era… Showtime Boxing is ending it’s almost 40 years of boxing. The reasons are being presented as a Paramount decision, after the merger, having something to do with money cutting efforts but I don’t think that is the case, I think it’s more complicated than that. HBO used to be where all the big boxing matches were made and the platform was known to many as the mecca of boxing. Then, out of nowhere, HBO makes a decision to focus on its entertainment side while getting rid of its sports division in 2018. The outcome of that decision was notable. HBO went from 140 million subscribers to a little less than 80 million subscribers. That was immediately following its decision to get rid of its sports division. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that happened and I’m expecting the same thing for Showtime. It will see it’s memberships dwindle as sports fans wait to see who is going to take the mantle as the next mecca of boxing. I, for one, am considering leaving Showtime and waiting for the next big boxing streamer, almost wrote steamer, as some are. If ESPN+ decides to take up the mantle by hosting big time boxing, which seems like a very good place for boxing, then they have some waters to navigate.

The first and most notable obstacle is finding a way to get rid of these promoters with exclusive contracts to networks, which has been an obstacle in putting up good fights in the past. The decision of these promoters to have exclusive deals with networks is what is killing boxing. PBC with Showtime, Top Rank with ESPN, Eddie Hearns with DAZN and these fighters, with these multiple fight deals with these promoters, are now tied to these networks and can’t fight on any other network without permission or they have their career stalled, like what happened to Mikey Garcia, which is just insane. The way to fix it is, to either get rid of the promoters and just let the networks promote without multiple fight deals or for the promoters to stop signing deals with networks and just go on a fight to fight basis with the networks. The other thing that can be done to fix this is to do what Terrence Crawford did, just go on a fight to fight basis with any promoter and have a lawyer that negotiates with the promoters. Terrence Crawford is right when he says that fighters should have all the control, they are the business. Without boxers, there is no boxing. Promoters are just middle men, they aren’t necessary for the sport, boxers and networks are.

In the end, if the promoters want to stay relevant, they need to do what their bosses tell them to do, which is set up the fights they want set up. Who are the bosses?…. the boxers.

The day has come… Saturday September 30th. Another mega fight for a mega year of epic fights. 2023 is going to go down in the history of boxing as the most prolific boxing year since 1986 when Mike Tyson fought 13 times and KO’ed 11 fighters. I mean, daaaammmnnnn, right. 13 fights in a 12 month period. That only happens in video games nowadays. Not necessarily a bad thing, given TBI is a very serious condition, but that makes years like this one more like seeing Halley’s Comet, something that happens every 75 – 79 years. This year and fights like this happen, thanks in some small part to the UFC and their criticism of boxing, but also due to the fighters wanting to make the fights happen and to the fact that HBO pulled out of boxing, leaving Showtime as the Mecca of boxing. Now we have another great fight in Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs Jermell “Iron Man” Charlo in which some pundits feel like Charlo might rein supreme, even though not the betting favorite. This isn’t a pick’em fight like Crawford v Spence but this is still a fight with a shitload of intrigue as both fighters started at lower weights, so the disadvantages aren’t what you might think they are. Canelo started his career at 140 pounds at the ripe old age of 15 and gradually moved up in weight and fought most of his career between 147 and 154. Charlo, the opponent in this fight, and only because he went up in weight to challenge Canelo for undisputed, started at the legendary 147 pound division but fought most of his fights at 154. This is going to be an intriguing fight and I’m going to get into what I think, but before that I have to mention my sponsors…. Right, I have no sponsors so let’s just get into it.

Let’s start with the challenger, Jermell “Iron Man” Charlo, (pictured above thinking that he should have maybe picked Hulk, the strongest avenger, since Iron Man dies at the end of Endgame) sports a record of 35 wins with 19 big wins by discombobulation (KO’s) to 1 decision loss in which, I personally thought, he won. In his last 11 fights he has scored 8 by KO. Charlo will have the reach and height advantage over Canelo, but who doesn’t, but he doesn’t have the force advantage and it remains to be seen if he has the power advantage since most of his KO’s do come past the 5th round, meaning that he maintains that force over the fight and doesn’t seem to fade late in fights. But, if I’m being honest, if he is going out looking for the KO, he will most likely loose and loose badly. For Charlo to pull off a win, he has to look at Canelo’s two losses, one to Mayweather and one to Bivol. The thing these two guys have in common are that they are master boxers that know how to utilize timing and range effectively. In other words, they know how to keep a good distance and they know exactly when to counter. They also both have exceptional defense. To win this fight, Charlo is going to have to box early and often and forget about KO’ing the younger Canelo, whose chin is made of some super natural material. My trainer, I never fought, I just took it to stay in shape and learn a thing or two, said one thing to me “Always start with number one when you get in that ring and finish with a number 1”, what I found out later is that he meant the jab and not me peeing on myself, which is how I started out and finished my first sparring match. So, for Charlo to win this fight, he has use the stick, forget about the carrot, and make it Canelo’s best friend. Charlo wins or looses with the number 1. Throw it a lot and he has a chance, forget it exists and Canelo is going to make him disappear early rather than late.

Next we go to the champion, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, (pictured above auditioning for the part of the Mexican James Bond), brings a record of 59 wins with 39 big wins by disconnect, that’s disconnecting the opponent from the waking world, with 2 defeats and two draws. Canelo has a big task ahead of him because if he did not, then we wouldn’t be buying this PPV event. For me to fork over good money, I have to make sure it will be worth my time and this fight and this undercard is definitely worth the money, to be completely honest, I thought they could have charged more just because the undercard is so good. For Canelo to win this fight, he only has to look at the Charlo v Castano fight, which is almost what will be happening in terms of size disparity not force disparity. In that fight, Charlo showed one thing, he has a good chin but he hates to be hit to the body. Canelo, being of Mexican descent, who are known for the punch to the liver, is an excellent body puncher. I believe that Charlo is going to come out moving and Canelo has to slow him down and for him to do that, he will be investing to the body like Bank of America invests in shady mortgages. If Canelo can slow down Charlo and get him to trade with him, it will make for an early night for the Mexican superstar and another big win by slumber lumber. I’m sure that their are other ways to win but this is the one that guarantees the KO. Now, absent any electric interference, this seems to be the best gameplan but who knows right, this is why they fight the fights and not just play rock, paper, scissors to determine the winner.

My prediction is, as always, that the better man will win. That’s the one that executes their gameplan the best. Good luck to both combatants, hopefully they both walk away with no serious injury but a whole lot wealthier.

WOW !!!! What a game. This is the first time I have seen the women’s team play but the game was on par with any game played by anybody except the skill level was amazing. It was exciting, it had intensity, it had two teams that were going all out to win, leaving nothing behind. I’m a fan. Both Spain and England were true warrior competitors.

In the end, the goal scored by Olga Carmona was the difference maker as Spain beat England 1-0 in a highly contested game that saw both sides making incredible shots and incredible saves. As they say “Viva Espana”

The New York Metropolitans… ahhhhhh… does it seem like this season has gone on for 7 years? Did they break a mirror? Walk under a ladder? Had a clowder of black cats cross their path? This team has the clear distinction of spending more money then anyone ever and have the worst record per square dollar. With Max Scherzer opting out of his 43.3 million dollar contract to go the Rangers and with the Mets paying almost every bit of his remaining contract except for roughly 20 million and with the Mets getting in return a prospect and nothing else, I’m going to say that this is the equivalent of the 2008 mortgage bubble burst where your house was worth a million dollars when you bought it in 2007 and was worth 300 K in 2009 and you still have to pay the million dollars for the house because you already signed the contract. The truth is that house was only worth 300K the whole time but the buyer was just not doing his/her due diligence. So what you are left with is a 70% depreciation on your dollar or in this case you are left with a team that is in 4th place with the almost no way of making the playoffs. The owner, Cohen, got a crash course in bad decision making and thinking that money makes world championship teams. What makes good players great is when they are undervalued and underpaid and they have to show why they deserve that big money.

Look, I know that the NY Mets are an electric team and are playing in an electric atmosphere with mounds of crazy waves of expectations surrounding them and ultimately creating an atmosphere that might be just too much to handle. None of the players played up to their caliber, not withstanding some of the rookies that did pretty good for their rookie years, as this was an off season for the Metropolitans but they have to keep their heads up and push through. Always fight to the last out and never be the person that makes it. The Mets will bounce back, maybe…probably not this year but they will come back next year with a little more focus and lot more humility.

LETS GO METS…… next year

I have no idea what is going on in boxing today. This year is the year most women divorce their guys because they just won’t stop watching boxing. The reason is unlike any year in recent memory, their have been a slew of top matchmaking that are aligning the best versus the best. It started with Garcia v Davis and then the damn (or maybe DAMMMM!!!) just broke and the fights were on. This is a year to remember for boxing enthusiasts. I can’t remember a year this good of matchmaking since….. I can’t remember a year this good. I started this year at 179 pounds but I like donuts or chips ahoy with big fights so when I yell at the TV screen, telling one person to knock his ass out, I need to see donut bits flying all over the place or it isn’t a real fight. I weigh 192 pounds today so it has been a real good year for boxing. While that last statement is partially true it goes to show you how good boxing has been. The best part about it is there is more still to come, like on Saturday, July 29th, when two of the biggest stars face off for welterweight supremacy, Errol Spence Jr. versus Terence “Bud” Crawford… The welterweights, for some reason, has been a historic division since the hey days of the best boxer ever to lace up his gloves, Sugar Ray Robinson. Even though most of his memorable fights came at 160, he is still the best at 147 of all time. The last time we had an event of this magnitude at this weight was when De La Hoya fought Trinidad. That was way back back in 1999. There are worth while fights after that but nothing generated the buzz of that fight until now. This fight, as I see it, with my dirty bifocals, ha, not anymore, laser surgery is a great invention, is going to be a king maker. The winner will be boxing royalty. Who is the winner going to be you ask….. how the hell am I suppose to know, that is pretty much the consensus of all the boxing experts and of course, my favorite is, I’ll let you know on the 30th. That being said lets break down the fight that should break PPV records, I personally bought it twice, that’s a joke, Showtime wouldn’t let me.

We’ll look at Errol Spence Jr first as he sports an undefeated record of 28-0… 22 big wins coming from man down syndrome. Spence, pictured above on the left in a deadly game of thumb wars, is a non-stop pressure fighter that makes the Energizer bunny jealous. Spence wears his opponents down with heavy punches to the torso and head. You can literally see the energy bar above his opponents head wither away like in a video game. He’s a human volcano, in the sense that volcanoes are formed by intense pressure. For Spence to get the victory tonight though, he’ll need more than just applying pressure, he’ll need to be able to absorb big shots and evade the knock out shots. To do this he’s going to have to make sure that Crawford doesn’t plant those feet and unleash. He’s going to have to turn Crawford so Crawford will need to keep resetting to get those concussive shots off. Spence will also need to invest to the body heavily and often. He has to sap Crawford’s energy, but this is what Spence does, so his gameplan should be to do what he does… His weakness… I have no idea. I have never seen Spence hurt and if he was, he hid it really well. Spence’s expression rarely changes. He has the look of the guy that hid your keys and is smiling while you are losing your head looking for them. Best poker player ever. His only thing is that his hand speed is not as quick as Crawford’s. That might play a role in this fight, depending on how Crawford adjusts. If they stand right in front of each other, it’s likely that Spence will get the victory. The closest fighter that I can compare Spence to is Rocky Marciano or Marvin Hagler… two go forward fighters that hit like “tu mama” when you she caught you looking at dirty magazines.

Now, a look at Terrence “Bud” Crawford who sports a 39-0 record with 30 big wins coming from chin inspections that failed the test. Crawford, pictured above doing the Delta Tau Chi secret handshake (let’s see who can guess that one without using the internet) is a quick twitch forceful fighter that can hurt the other fighter in a moments notice. He has the ability to change the course of a fight in a few seconds and you can literally see it happen as the other opponent suddenly wonders why someone gave Crawford an aluminum bat in the middle of a boxing match. For Crawford to be victorious today he has to change his game plan a little. He has to force the bigger Spence to follow the puncher, which Spence, as sure as hardly anyone reads this blog, will do. But Crawford must not just stay there after that, he has to unleash those quick twitch strikes, and then move before Spence gets those energizer drums rolling and reset and have Spence come to him again. He has to do this in a consistent basis and hit Spence with those forceful punches until Spence becomes wary of coming in and then the fight is his… because he would have done something no one else was able to do, to make Spence hesitant. Once he has Spence thinking about those shots coming in and make him hesitant to apply pressure, then he won the fight and might score the knock out. Sounds easy right, well, it’s as easy as stopping a volcano, there really is no way to do it unless you are the best in boxing…. So lets see. AS for Crawford’s weakness… ditto to Spence’s, none that I can see… the only thing that might hamper him is that he is the naturally smaller guy.

Good luck to these two combatants, truly nice guys but definitely no push overs. It’s going to be a hell of a fight.

This fight is simple to predict because I just watched it and the only thing that you can say is “Holy Motherfuckin’ Shit”. Inoue should be the pound for pound. Fulton was the best in his division…. All I can say after watching that is….

The most notable thing in this fight was how Inoue made Fulton look so ordinary, as commented by the ESPN Analysts. Inoue was one step ahead of Fulton the whole fight. Inoue used his speed to freeze Fulton and while Fulton has really good hand speed it seemed pedestrian compared to Inoue. Fulton wasn’t able to capitalize on Inoue’s defensive faults, he carries his left hand low and brings it back low when he throws the jab but his speed didn’t let Fulton take full advantage of that flaw. Fulton’s only chance was to trade or throw at the same time as Inoue when he threw that jab but Inoue’s force on his shots seemed to make Fulton apprehensive. It was a really good fight but one sided.

Looking ahead for Inoue, it seems that he will become a 5 division champion because the best fighter at 126 lbs. is Fulton as he beat the number 1 guy in that division, Brandon Figueroa. My prediction is that Inoue will unify Super Bantam and then move up to 126 and demolish that division as well.

I love my NY Mets, well… not mine per se, they belong to the ultra rich Steve Cohen, by I borrow their images on my TV when I’m feeling too happy so it can bring me down back to earth. But, this is my team, in the good times and… now. The Mets went out to prove this year that money doesn’t mean a damn thing in baseball because you can pay people what you want, they can still lose on a regular basis. They’re not losing big, most of the time, they’re losing by one run in a game where they were up by three or four, but still stacking up those ticks on that L column. What the Mets are teaching is us is that… wait I know this…. they’re teaching us…. I got it… that winning isn’t everything! or maybe that winning is for losers while losing is for winners? or maybe that incentive based contracts are better in sports, especially when you have an owner that pays big, because if you pay up front, there is no getting those hundreds of millions back. The Mets, in 4th place and 18.5 games back with a 38-46 record, still haven’t figured out what to do to turn things around. Well, at this point, the Phillies, in 2022, who made it to the World Series last year, were, let me check… above .500 at this point, huhhh, I thought maybe they weren’t, but no, they were. Well, it isn’t too late for the Mets to do something Amazing! like, bringing up Vientos and/or Mauricio so they can get some big league experience and get rid of Vogelbach and send Danny Mendick down. Rotate them in the DH spot with the starters so they can get field time as well. The Mets need some youth if they need anything. They’re a walking Ben Gay commercial, Geritol shows their games on their channel, Metamucil is one of their sponsors and delivers to their clubhouse, the players wear a medical alert bracelet just in case they dive for a ball and can’t get back up, they have a stairlift chair from the bench to the clubhouse. I think you get what I’m saying… they’re the oldest team in baseball by average age. They need a shot in the arm and I don’t mean a B-12 shot to stave off dementia, they need some unbridled enthusiasm even if its hopeless. I don’t know what Eppler is doing besides collecting paychecks but he needs to get these young ready players up in the majors even if they fail miserably. Lets do something here… If you’re going to fail, then fail big… don’t just fail. What do you have to lose, I mean your job, but you’re going to lose that anyway, might as well enjoy watching these young hungry players try their best. I love my NY Mets….

Oh, yeah, I put a pic of the current best NY Mets….

In what is sure to be a very entertaining fight, Josh “The Tartan Tornado” Taylor puts his undisputed title and the WBO belt on the line against a fierce competitor in Teofimo “The Takeover” Lopez. This fight, which is not on PPV, will be shown on ESPN+, which by the way is worth every penny just for the fights alone, I hope Bob Arum lives another 30 years, is going to be a Canadian wildfire…. huh, throwing in a little current events in there, could have said barn burner but what’s that compared to a cookout in the Canadian woods, that’s a crap load of smores they can make with that blaze. Anywhooo…. getting back on subject… The two fighters are going to put it on the line in a must win situation for both fighters. The last two outings for the pugilists saw them barely hold on to get another notch on the W column keeping them relevant. Taylor’s match against Catterall saw Taylor win a split decision victory and there were many who agr….. and there were some that agr…. and there was one who agreed and his name was Josh Taylor and that’s a maybe. In Lopez’s last outing against one of my countrymen, Sandor Martin, Lopez was knocked down and pulled out a squeaker in similar fashion as Taylor, by split decision. That fight was a little less controversial even though some thought that Martin, pronounced Marteen and make sure you roll that r, with his slick boxing might have given him the edge. I saw the fight and it wasn’t a robbery to give Lopez the decision, I mean they didn’t stop the fight while Martin was punching Lopez like in some other fights …Tony Weeks… And Lopez was landing the more telling shots, when he could land, mainly because Martin isn’t a power puncher. That being said, these two dualists must win convincingly, there can’t be controversy. Let’s break it down….

We’ll start with the Champion and betting favorite, Josh Taylor, who sports an undefeated record in Scotland, just joshing, everywhere. Taylor (pictured above yelling for more crumpets, both versions) sports a record of 19 wins no losses with 13 big wins coming by KO. Taylor’s biggest asset is his good hand speed and ring IQ as well as being a southpaw with real good foot movement. His other plus is that he is very confident, which can turn into a negative if you don’t take an opponent serious, but I think that’s what happened in his last fight so he had that moment and I’m pretty sure he learned from it. His biggest win is against Prograis, another world champion and damn good fighter, when he isn’t fighting Taylor. Taylor (pictured above screaming for tea with those crumpets) has a good chance of beating this version of Lopez, what I will call the electrical version or electric Lopez. Taylor has to maintain his distance, use that right jab to keep electric Lopez from setting up big shots and then sneak that left hand in when electric Lopez is trying to place his feet. Taylor’s biggest weakness, besides his, we’ll just keep naming it over confidence, is that he gets too close because he likes hooks, which means that he gets in range of his opponent. With fighters like Catterall, he might get away with it because Catterall doesn’t pack big power, but if the dynamic Lopez shows up and not the electric Lopez, it will be a short night and a quick nap in front of millions for Taylor.

The challenger in the red corner… blue corner?… the other corner is Teofimo Lopez who has an impressive record of 18 wins with 1 defeat, to a tough Aussie, with 13 big wins by KO. Lopez (pictured above wondering if the Scottish alphabet is the same as the American alphabet) is a naturally gifted boxer, when he is dynamic Lopez and not electric Lopez. Lopez (pictured above screaming at the wall for just standing there and doing nothing) is what you will call a 5 tool boxer; speed, agility/athleticism, ring IQ, power and force. There are only a handful of other boxers that have all those qualities at a high level; Davis, Inoue and Crawford. I know some might disagree with my assertion that Lopez belongs on that list but before he became electric Lopez and was dynamic Lopez, he was definitely on that list. Lopez is, maybe now we can say was but can still be again, hopefully, an elite boxer. He, along with the other fighters mentioned, were, some still are, must see fighters. For Lopez to be considered that again, he must win and if he wins in impressive fashion, then he just joined that list once again. Lopez has his work cut out for him due to Taylor’s height and reach, sort of, 1 inch advantage. The first thing that has to happen is that dynamic Lopez has to show up and not electric Lopez, but that’s not something he can control. Then Lopez must must be quick and show lateral movement and get the angles, keep turning Taylor to make his jab useless. Then he has to take out the body, chop down the tree, and then go on top. He can’t get hyper focused on the chin of Taylor because the Scotsman is quick and slick. The obviously funny thing about my assessment, that I stole from the real pros, is that dynamic Lopez did all those things, the electric Lopez comes out too fast and tries to take out his opponent with one punch and then just stands there and takes unnecessary punishment or leaves himself open for counters. In all honesty, the best version of Taylor, even the uhhh… supremely confident and best prepared version of Taylor, would not be able to beat dynamic Lopez and would most likely get knocked out. The latest version of Lopez, electric Lopez, will most likely lose to Taylor. So for Lopez, the fight hinges on electricity… and dynamics.

Best of Luck to both combatants and may the best man win.

On a side note… some reporter was outraged at Lopez’s statement of “I’m going to Kill Taylor”. Well, I believe that Taylor’s goal was to decapitate Lopez, which he didn’t bring up, so, somehow, decapitation isn’t as bad as killing someone, because I guess you can just pick your head up afterwards and sew it back on? The selective outrage by the reporter is unnecessary and shouldn’t have been reported on. If you gave me a dollar every time a boxer used the hyperbole of making their opponent deceased in one form or another, then I would be hanging out with Elon Musk or Bill Gates or Steve Jobs… not Steve Jobs, he is actually deceased. He stated it was the worst thing he ever heard a fighter say… ridiculous, this must be the first fight he ever covered.

UPDATE: Dynamic Lopez showed up. It was a really good fight. Taylor gave a good showing but Lopez was too young, too quick, too slick, too strong and too much for Taylor on this night. The one thing I did notice is that Taylor was hurt on a couple of occasions and Lopez backed off. There is no doubt that the criticism levied at him about his comments by some reporters made him pause when he should have stepped on the gas. It is worse to take prolonged punishment then to take one shot that knocks you down. Lopez shouldn’t worry about knocking someone out, his concern should be for him not to get hurt and to win in emphatic manner if at all possible and secure a good payday for him and his family. His opponent knows the risks and is trying to do the same thing thing, win in an emphatic manner. I will say that at the end of the 12th, Lopez backed off with about 5 seconds left after he hurt Taylor with a good right hand, maybe was an alright move if he didn’t think he could get the knock down. But as the scores showed, that round decided the fight and if he could have gotten the knock down and decided to back off because of some asinine comment by a reporter and they gave Taylor that round, Taylor would have went home the Champ by majority decision draw. I would also like to say that both fighters were classy at the end of the fight. Taylor made no excuses and Lopez gave Taylor his props. You see, all the disparaging remarks by both fighters was just hyperbole, like in every other fight ever made. I’m disappointed at how this was reported prior to the fight… I’m going to go eat a honey bun. Big ups to the broadcasting, they were on point.

And just to harp on it some more…. what do you call that instinct? The one when you have someone hurt and you go in for the knockout? It’s called the killer instinct and all great fighters have or had it. What the hell did I do with that honeybun, that’s my killer instinct.