It’s been a crazy week that started even before Rahman and Toney threw a punch, before there was a single word written about what it means to boxing when its premier division is down in the dumps.
Light heavyweight champion Antonio “Magic Man� Tarver and his opponent Bernard “The Executioner� Hopkins met the New York press at Tavern on the Green in Central Park Tuesday morning.
I prefer being ringside for a fight…the sound of the crowd, witnessing the excitement in the ring firsthand. The mist of blood, sweat and water that flies through the air and wets your clean notebook paper. Never have I missed it more than during the James Toney/Hasim Rahman heavyweight battle.
Saturday’s heavyweight title fight from Boardwalk Hall in A.C. between Hasim Rahman and James Toney was the bout that was finally going to right some of the wrongs plaguing boxing’s marquee division, but the heavyweights seem as star-crossed as ever, as snake-bitten as the fight game itself.
In anticipation of tonight’s fight between WBC champ Hasim “The Rock� Rahman and his challenger James “Lights Out� Toney live from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City (HBO), members of the boxing press are weighing in on this heavy matter.
New York fans and media were anxious to see Irish middleweight Matthew Macklin at the Garden on Thursday. Trained by Manchester, England’s Billy Graham, the 16-1 Macklin is on a collision course with John Duddy.
He looks so…naked without his pal, his cheerleader, his right-hand man, Stoney. But there was John Ruiz at the MSG Theater on Thursday evening, looking quite comfortable with the training wheels off the bike.
The HBO play-by-play man, Jim Lampley, was in Turin doing Olympics coverage for NBC but he kept one eye peeled for the latest boxing developments. He’ll be back in the fold with Larry Merchant and Emanuel Steward calling the James Toney/Hasim Rahman bout from Atlantic City (10 PM EST).
My prediction is tempered by the fact I was able to witness Rahman in camp, while I haven’t seen Toney. What I do know is Rahman is in tremendous shape and that he can slug.
There’s an episode of Seinfeld in which George Costanza decides he’s been making the wrong choices in life because he always says and does what he thinks. When he chooses opposite of what he normally would choose, he has amazing success.
