Boxing writer Frank Lotierzo joins Eddie Goldman to review Manny Pacquiao's demolition of Miguel Cotto, the corrupt politics of boxing, and how they may interfere with a Pacquiao, Mayweather mega showdown.
Lotierzo is particularly critical of Mayweather and suggests Pacquiao is far more accomplish, and far more wiling to fight top competition. But a recent point made by Mayweather in a Skysports interview reminds us of the slave mentality many fighters, like Pacquiao, have. Remember when at the post fight press conference Pacquiao was asked if he'd like to fight Mayweather? Floyd Mayweather correctly observed that Manny Pacquiao referred us to his promoter, Bob Arum. Is he allowed to have his own desires? This is a major problem in combat sports. Fighters don't want to take the reigns of the horse. Imagine asking a football player if he wanted to win the Superbowl and he replied "ask the owner of the team." It sounds preposterous because it is.
I don't think Mayweather has ducked anyone of note. We must try to remember the context in which he fought those he did. If he beats Pacquiao, people may again excuse it for some reason, afterward. For several reasons he has a more difficult time cementing his legacy than other fighters. It's what happens when a fighter acts on behalf of himself. If fighters like Pacquiao started doing the same perhaps we'd have less corruption in boxing, and in combat sports in sum.
How do you watch Cotto, Pacquiao? In this latest NHB with Goldman and MySpace Boxing Forum founder Jacqui Snow we find out. The show is further heightened by its criticism of the fatcats that will unfairly profit this weekend.
"Brock Lesner pulls out three weeks before he's scheduled to fight because he's sick. Give me a break."
Let’s make something clear. DSE went down and zuffa went up. If you subtract one and add one, you’re back to where
What makes zuffa so deplorable, however, is not their basic incompetence and inability to produce MMA; it is rather that they ruin their employees lives. One of the lives they’ve ruined is Mikey Burnett’s.
Randy Couture, shamelessly stupid, not only acted as a zuffa schemer to get Burnett to fight a lesser opponent in Din Thomas but he also broke Burnett’s neck while filming the zuffa game show, “The Ultimate[ly bad] Fighter.” Zuffa as a whole worked to cover up the fatal injury by editing the show to make it seem as if Burnett broke his own neck by running into a wall. This is old fashioned Italian scheming. It didn’t work against Mozart, and it won’t against us.
Today, (with zuffa still refusing to pay Burnett’s medical costs) thrown to the trash by his health insurance provider AIG, Burnett suffers inexorably. When he wakes up, he can’t always feel his limbs. This is your zuffa, folks. This is the monster so many of you support.
Where’s the coverage “HDNET Fights”? Where are you Dave Meltzer? Jerking off to your dana white poster, the one that replaced your chris benoit one.
The infamous zuffa mouthpiece, dana white, had his own choice words for Burnett (the cowardly way) on facebook. He more or less told Burnett that he’s a loser that’s never done a thing in his life. I suppose white still thinks hanging off the ferrtittas balls makes him accomplished, while the fertittas still think falling out of their mother’s vagina makes them special.
Kill zuffa: what else can I say?
Listen to Bob Carson’s latest interview with the tragic Burnett here.
Adoria Entertainment's Art of War 15 will take place November 28. The website has be re-designed somewhat, and it appears that the producers of the event are re-focusing their promotion. First of all, you'll notice more Chinese fighters on the card.
Sidenote: It is time to start calling Adoria to implement playoffs. Find out who your best are. Every serious promoter needs to do that, and we simultaneously need to take the promoter out of the picture altogether.
Why do the the promoters pay the judges? What impact will this have on the judges' decisions? Any? Consider Why is Manny Pacquiao such a heavy favorite this weekend.
Why are so many major boxing competitions so costly? Why are many of the biggest fights in the sport placed on PPV and not network tv? Goldman ponders these points and is joined by Charles Farrell to discuss who has the best shot of winning. This is critical commentary, the same sort of which Goldman and Peretti which suggesting MMA needs. There are more people with less of a reason for existence involved in MMA reporting, but we'll still here more about Miguel Cotto's tattoos and Manny Pacquiao's marital relations from most of the boxing media than anything technical. People like Larry Merchant take critical stances but he's far too concerned basing his grumpiness on whether a fighter is marketable.
A different look at boxing from Goldman and Farrell that you don't have to share in. But why should it stop you from looking?
Kevin Jackson, former MMA fighter, world champion freestyle wrestler, and Olympic gold medalist, sits down with Goldman to discuss his new position as head of the Iowa State wrestling program.
In the first of three NHB updates, follow the link to hear Goldman's contribution to the Joey Reynolds Show, the radio broadcast for which he serves as boxing analyst.
John Perretti's critique reminds us of a few things. You'll expect me to reject all criticism of the "Fedor vs. Rogers" event, but what Perretti and Goldman highlight is that zuffa's way of presenting MMA (their commentary) has become a bit of a standard---a disgusting standard that made its way into the huge MMA event this past Saturday. Fedor Emelianenko had a broken nose and not one commentator (narrator) noticed. This for the two combat sports veteran observers is a giant sign of incompetence. They don't have anyone "that is in real time; it's all about hype and glory," argues John Perretti. A legit criticism that I don't necessarily agree with wholly. The problem, as I see it, is that that the commentators learned from WWE actors often called commentators, such as JIm Ross. People rarely identify these actors as such, even as they mimic them in analyzing the sport of MMA. Maybe we're making the same arguments?
You'll have to listen to Perretti's further criticism of Jake Sheilds. It is, as Goldman reflects, controversial. Essentially he says the match was designed to highlight what Sheilds is good at without him ever being threatened by what his opponent is capable of. He didn't need to try to win, so the argument goes. Matchmaking, so he says, should not go like this. We should not have a clue who will win. I would counter that matchmaking should not exist. I wonder how Perretti thinks to this.
In his most controversial statement, Perretti calls Fedor and Rogers in horrible shape. He observes they were both huffing and puffing after a few minutes. Didn't he state, only a few minutes before, that Fedor had a broken nose? Would this not have impacted his breathing? I'm no cheerleader here. I'm just putting his argument to the test.
Coming out of their criticism of Fedor and Rogers was the jab at these two heavyweight's striking. I'll provide a minor retort. Goldman and Perretti both agree that the striking was of a lower level than what you'll witness in a boxing event. Let's have the counterpoint then: I believe that the possibility of a takedown completely changes what striking is in MMA, and therefore what striking can be considered good. That is, not worrying about the takedown allows Floyd Mayweather to learn things he would not be permitted to learn as an MMA competitor. This is not a way to excuse tough-man striking, however. What I notice in most zuffa events is not striking geared for MMA and it's specifics, but instead for rabid, ignorant fans who want a first blood, WWE match-up.
I think we have to be careful comparing boxing's striking to MMA's, or at least re-think why sloppy technique may be a misnomer, in light of the takedown. But Goldman and Perretti continue their argument, suggesting that since the television networks view MMA as entertainment, we have less criticism of what could potentially be bad technique. This is a stronger argument. If Goldman and Perretti had of been invited to commentate, if they were always a part of the narrative picture, athletes may concern themselves less with being actors or something, and more with being the best fighters possible. I doubt other arguments like Chris Arreola could learn how to sprawl in two months and KO Fedor hold water. Why would it not take years for him to learn such a thing? Is he devaluing what it takes to learn wrestling? Let's go ahead and think about it. What we do know is in fighting, one punch can make anyone on earth the best, especially if that fighter is signed with zuffa and kevin iole's writing the promo about him.
(If Goldman and Perretti had of been invited to commentate, if they were always a part of the narrative picture, athletes may concern themselves less with being actors or something, and more with being the best fighters possible, I repeat.)
Some of what Perretti does is try to bring his own history to prominence (it should be, but what is history and what is nostalgia?). Some of the criticism is thus misguided, especially in regards to Fedor's conditioning---sure, Fedor could do more sit-ups; at the same time, this isn't a modeling contest on "Raw is War." Why don't we try to get Goldman and Perretti into the picture, though? We need critics, not cheerleaders. They have my support. Anyone who wants to save MMA from the UFWWE has my support.
It was boring but it had to be. Eddie Goldman invites Charles Farrell to review the title fight which saw David Haye take a heavyweight championship from Nikolai Valuev. Maybe, at least, we've finally gotten the Russian giant out of the picture.
After last night's "Fedor vs. Rogers" event there's one question I must pose to my few readers: why does zuffa still exist. The arguments for its existence are no longer audible. MMA doesn't need them. I'll say we never did. But now, certainly, we don't.
Kill zuffa, that's all.
Links
The Official Blog of the MMAFA
Rob and host Bob Carson discuss the need for fighters to ...
Rob and host Bob Carson discuss the need for fighters to ...
"Eddie Goldman is my favorite journalist—period. Eddie i...
