Boxing Blog – TSS Tidbits

OLN and Top Rank hit the small screen tonight

A couple years ago, there was widespread worry that television boxing coverage was going to fall by the wayside. The hardcore missed their USA fix and it looked like ESPN was going to back off boxing, and reduce their fight budget to a mere pittance.

Fast forward to today, with the debut of Bob Arum’s boxing series on the OLN (Outside Life Network), and it is clear that anyone but the most obsessed fan has more than enough weekly content on the tube to keep them occupied.

OLN will come out of the gates with a Kelly Pavlik-Bronco McKart main event taking place at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut. A live broadcast starts at 9 PM (Eastern).

The telecast will also feature junior middleweight contender Anthony “The Messenger� Thompson, who takes on Mohammad Said.

If you tune in to OLN before the fight to get a taste of the network at 8:30 PM you will be transfixed by an episode of “Expedition Safari.” After boxing, the net will show “Ruger’s Hunting Adventure,” at 11 PM. Does this seem like a logical home for the sweet science? Maybe not now, but in September, OLN, which is owned by cable giant Comcast, will change its name to “Versus,” and ditch the outdoor “sports” angle.

“As OLN transitions to Versus, we continue to seek out and add sports that fortify the competitive core of the new brand,” said Gavin Harvey, President of OLN. “Boxing is the ultimate statement of man vs. man and is an exciting addition to our expanding portfolio of competitive genres.”

The revamp has been ongoing for a stretch, as the net secured the rights to “Survivor” repeats in 2005. They hoped to get a piece of the MLB and NFL pie, but ESPN blocked the baseball pitch, and the NFL Network will show their own fare.

The OLN boxing strategy is essentially a two-year deal with Bob Arum’s Top Rank organization. The contract will also give Comcast the rights to carry classic fights for its video-on-demand offerings on its cable systems.

Twelve live fights will be shown during the first year of the deal, and Bob Papa will describe the action with Wally Matthews providing colorful analysis.

The following Thursday after live bouts, 10 “classic archive” shoes will run, with footage chosen from the 6,000-hour Top Rank library, that includes bouts with Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns and Alexis Arguello.

Pavlik, 24-years-old, is currently ranked #2 by the World Boxing Council (WBC), #3 by the World Boxing Association (WBA), and #4 by the World Boxing Organization (WBO).

McKart, 35-years-old, is a former world champion and six-time world championship contender. Pavlik enters the ring with a 27-0 record and 24 knockouts. McKart, a southpaw, enters with a record of 48-6 and 31 knockouts. He’s 3-3 in his last six outings.

The match is scheduled for 12 rounds.

ShoBox middleweight box-off Friday night

The Showtime super middleweight box-off kicks off tomorrow night at 11 PM, so set your DVR if you’re going to be out and about on the town and want to see the action.

There are eight fighters in the contest, which will culminate in the tournament finale on Jan. 5.

The opening round, from the PFTC Sports Center in Las Vegas, features Jean Paul Mendy of France, (21-0, 11 KOs) against Dallas Vargas of Ohio, (21-2, 15 KOs) while Henry Buchanan of South Carolina (13-0, 11 KOs) will meet Lucas Green-Arias of Costa Rica (11-0, eight KOs).

On Aug. 4, Anthony Hanshaw of Ohio (19-0, 13 KOs) will take on Esteban Camou of Mexico, (18-1, 15 KOs) and Sakio Bika of Cameroon, (20-1-2, 14 KOs) will square off against Jose Luis Herrera of Colombia (14-1, 14 KOs).

At 32 years old, Jean Paul Mendy is the oldest of the tournament participants. The southpaw, who turned pro in 2000, recently relocated to Las Vegas will be fighting in the States for only the third time. The Frenchman has fought truly anonymous competition, so his pedigree is still TBA…

Vargas, age 29, is most notable for his disability; he was born hearing impaired. He’s fought more than 300 amateur fights and turned pro in 2001. His opposition to this point has been comparable to Mendy’s. Vargas is the older brother of 2004 U.S. Olympic team captain Devin Vargas. His nickname is “Deaf Pride,” and the proud eyes of his hometown, Toledo, Ohio, will be fixed upon him tomorrow.

The Maryland native Buchanan, nicknamed (yuck) Sugar Poo, turned pro on March 27, 2004. He doesn’t have as much pro experience as one would hope to have at 27, so Buchanan should be motivated to move forward in the tourney.

The Costa Rican Green-Arias is also a relative greenie. His nickname is priceless: he’s called “El Pirata,” or “pirate cabbie.” This will be his first time fighting outside of Costa Rica, so he’s another wild card.

Me, I’m rooting for “El Pirata,” based on nothing more than the fact I think he has the coolest nickname…

Zab Judah 60 grand in arrears

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Zab Judah’s resume just got another black mark on it.

The Brooklyn welterweight, who just got dumped by his promoter, Don King, and fined by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for his role in the April melee at the Thomas and Mack Center, was arrested because he owes $60,000 in back child support.

The fighter was snagged Sunday by Johnny Law after playing in a charity basketball game at Madison Square Garden, the NY Post reports. On Monday, he went to court, where a judge chastised him for not showing up for previously scheduled court dates. He was help in a cell for two days after and finally made bail ($20,000).

So who’s owed the dough? One Natashia Wright, the Post says, is the aggrieved party who resorted to stern measures to get Judah to do the right thing, and send money for their daughter, Annesia, age 4.

Perhaps Judah can plead “Amnesia” the next time he stands before a judge and pleads his case on why he hasn’t ponied up…

Why do I get the feeling that a Zab Judah fight will be forthcoming, in some locale, in the very near future…

Is Laila Ali S.A.’s pugilistic yoyo?

South African boxing officials want to lure Laila Ali back to the country after a scheduled fight card was scuttled because the promoter didn’t come up with promised funds when promised.

Ali returned to the United States two days ago after it became apparent that promoter Joe Manyathi wasn’t coming through with necessary funding as promised.

“The main thing in this whole issue was that there was a lot of mistrust… the main sponsor withdrew financial support so the Laila Ali camp became nervous,” Boxing SA spokesperson Loyisa Mtya said to Rueters.

A new sponsor had been identified, the new report says, and officials put the word out to Ali that they’d love for her to get back on a plane for another 20 hour ride and fight Gwen O’Neil on Aug. 5, as originally planned.

They’ll have to do better than a pack of peanuts and a soda to get her back, IMO…

“As of now everything is looking positive,” Mtya said.

So says he.

Ali, if she has any common sense left, will not be lured back for another round of idiocy.

Judah’s year from hell gets a little hotter

Zab Judah’s year from hell just got that much worse.

The former welterweight champion Zab Judah was arrested Sunday on a Family Court warrant after a celebrity basketball game in New York.

Judah, age 28, was held overnight at a police station after his arrest at Madison Square Garden and then made an appearance in Queens Family Court on Monday, UPI and the New York Post reported.

Police would not give details about the warrant, saying only that it involved a “financial dispute,” the UPI report said, but the Post said the bust came about from an accusation from one of Judah’s exes.

Bruce Silverglade of Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn defended the boxer, who melted down during his April loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and was then dumped by promoter Don King.

“I’ve known Zab his whole life,” Silverglade told the Post. “He’s trained here since he was 7 years old. He’s a really good guy. He doesn’t get into trouble — he likes women, and he’s had some kids, but that doesn’t make you a bad person.”

Judah (34-4) was fined $250,000 after the Mayweather debacle, in which he engaged in a wild melee with the Mayweather camp after starting the tiff with blatant rulesbreaking tactics.

Jack and Joe Mesi frown and blow off Cape Town

He smelled it in one nostril, then another. Then he felt it in his gut, and finally, the truth of the matter came crashing down on Jack Mesi. The former cop had an inkling that things in South Africa weren’t kosher about two weeks ago when travel arrangements promised by promoter Joe Manyathi weren’t panning out.

His son Joe Mesi was supposed to fight on the same card as Laila Ali on Aug. 5 in Cape Town, South Africa, but it was not to be. The plug was pulled yesterday on the whole card, and the elder Mesi feels for Ali.

“She went there, and has to come back empty-handed,” he said. “It’s nineteen or twenty hours in the air.”

The Mesis never got on a plane, and the father/manager chalks up the experience to another lesson learned.

“We weren’t burned that bad, mostly time and sweat,” he said.

Mesi dealt with not Manyathi but a US-based emissary who he doesn’t want to name because the US partner, he feels, cannot be lumped in with the South African dealmaker/breaker.

The father looks to get his son another fight in August, but doesn’t have a specific date yet.

Eric Esch gets a kick out of Muay Thai

Watching the 300-plus-plus-plus-pounder lift his legs to attempt Muay Thai knee strikes is sort of amusing to the viewer, but likely not for the recipient of Butterbean’s blows.

The megaweight boxer, known to friends and family as Eric Esch, has been trying his hand at mixed martial arts lately, and will get in an octagon on Aug. 12 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He will face Michael Fritz in the co-main event, the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette reports.

“Fort Wayne has become really big as far as MMA is concerned,” promoter Jim Logan said. “A lot of people think MMA is violent. Some don’t consider it a sport. There are rules. There’s no eye-gouging. You can’t knee or kick someone in the head when they are on the canvas. The refs are all qualified. We have judges. Physicians are at ringside. The same things are required for boxing events. This has really gotten big. It’s passed boxing.”

Former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes will also appear, signing autographs and posing for pictures, the paper says.

“That was one reason why we brought him in,” Logan said. “We want to make this a huge sports event. I want to get the biggest names possible.”

“Butterbean has a huge fan base. He’s moved over to MMA. This is his fifth or sixth cage match,” Logan said.

The thought of Butterbean mounting some poor sap and dropping elbow strikes down on his noggin is enough to make me shudder…

Keeping track of The Contender

The Gold Team, down 0-2, looked to Rhode Islander Gary Balletto to right the ship after Philadelphian Aaron Torres chose the New Englander to fight in the third episode of the Contender’s second season.

After a recap that showed Norby Bravo, at 34 ten years older than his opponent, getting his hand raised over Rudy Cisneros, a smack talk sesh went down.

Vinroy Barrett and Grady Brewer weren’t seeing eye-to-eye, and some other guys I haven’t yet nailed down the identity of jawed at each other.

Aaron Torres then made it clear he’d be more than happy to do the honors for the boys in blue, and he’d like to invite Balletto to tangle. The Rhode Islander, who I saw starting out on the circuit when he fought in Boston, was in an obliging mode.

There was much talk about Balletto’s KO pop as the whole crew is well aware that “Tiger” has 25 early stops in 29 wins.

Torres admitted that he had his lunch money taken from him on the schoolyard in North Philly, where he was the only Hispanic clutching the brown bag at noon.

He also admits that he’s been unlucky in love; after getting married, he and the old lady separated after four months. Lots of people back home, he said, have given up on him, which is too bad, because he’s only 26. At 26, I was…lord, I was quite the lou. Don’t sweat it too much, Torres, I’d argue. There’s plenty of time to get on the winning path, as long as you’re still ambulatory.

In the Contender housing area, we see the Balletto brood, three kids and the wifey. I remember her back in Boston, clapping loudly when her man would celebrate wins over iffy competition by walking a handstand in the ring. It was a highlight of many of those crappy Cappiello cards, no offense Used Cars…

Balletto brought his boy, age 11, a cake for his b-day and then he smothered his 5-month-old with smooches, as well he should’ve. This was pure Burnett “Adrian factor” time, a bone for the ladies whose guys are not handing over the remote control. Gets me every time, and this occasion was no exception. I ran into the bedroom with the missus after hitting pause on the TiVo and requested that we start our own brood, like Balletto’s…

After that three minute break, we saw Torres’ pop, and replacement love interest. Dad loves the boy but hopes he won’t get too cocky and take his eye off the prize. Torres says that he has more to lose than Balletto, who has a nice house, job and family to go home to. Sure that makes Torres Sr. and the new SO very pleased…

Balletto’s birthday boy worries that dad will get hurt and is acting scared, so pop cheers him up. “Don’t worry, I’ll knock him right out,” dad tells the boy…He could’ve said something like “We’ll both try hard and do our best and exit the ring healthy” but hey, he tried…

The fight starts and Torres makes Balletto look foolish, slipping everything as Balletto does his Arturo Gatti imitation. He loads up on everything and practically sends Torres an email and IMs him before he throws a shot…

In the second, Torres slows down a tad and the Rhodie gets his range.

In the third, it looks like an even round in the snippet we see. Tommy Gallagher slaps Torres after the round, tells him to smarten up. Next time turn over on the hook, Tommy G…

In the fourth, Torres is all over Balletto, and almost has him out, when he slips and hits the deck. Balletto gets a reprieve.

The fifth sees a ton of toe-to-toe trading, and the joint looks hot. My missus says she hasn’t seen trading like that. I tell her I bet Torres and his ex probably brawled like that…

The cards are tallied and the scores are in: one judge goes for Balletto, 48-47. The next arbiter sees the same score, for Torres. The tiebreaker: 48-47 for the Rhode Island veteran, Balletto.

He doesn’t do a handstand, not that I see…

Torres feels robbed initially but quickly realizes he fought his tail off and has nothing to be ashamed about. “I’m proud of myself, man,” he admits, as goosebumps break out all over me for the fourth time. “I didn’t let anyone down, especially myself.”

He admits to the SO, though, that he hopes his effort isn’t for naught. “I just hope it opens up doors,” he said.

Solid ep: could’ve used more in-ring action of course.

So why doesn’t ESPN put the whole fight on the web so arseholes like me will shut up about that?

S.A. shenanigans deep-six Ali fight

You’ve got to pay to play, and since promoter Joe Manyathi didn’t pay, Laila Ali isn’t going to play.

The daughter of The Greatest packed her bags and jetted from South Africa after it became clear that she wasn’t going to get the purse promised to her.

The website Playfuls.com reported the exit, attributing the development to South African TV.

Ali, age 28, was to have faced off against Gwendolyn O’Neill on Aug. 5, but the last several days have been a swirl of rumors, charges and countercharges.

The 28-year-old light-middleweight champion arrived in the country last week to prepare for the fight against O’Neill, a 36-year-old mother-of-five.

In an interview with the e-tv television station on Tuesday, Damon Bingham of the Ali camp said that the bout was off. Ali, he said, had left the building, and for that matter, the country.

Boxing South Africa, the regulation commission that oversaw the promotion, insisted that the fight had merely been “postponed.”

Promoter Rodney Berman offered to give Ali a chance to fight on his card to salvage the whole debacle but it was not to be…