Ortiz vs Berto II: Fight Could Move to June 23 at Staples Center
Lance Pugmire of the LA Times reports that Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer is trying to finalize a new date and venue for the postponed Victor Ortiz vs Andre Berto rematch, with June 23 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles the new target. The bout was originally set for February 11 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, but was canceled when Berto suffered a bicep injury.
Schaefer says that the May 19 fight in Las Vegas between Lamont Peterson and Amir Khan prompted him to try moving this rematch to Los Angeles:
One might question whether or not Los Angeles deserves major fights, since the last two Golden Boy-promoted events in the area were utter flops at the gate.
Chavez vs Rubio: Team Rubio Files Official Protest, Demands No-Contest Ruling
Marco Antonio Rubio's team has filed the official protest they promised with the WBC, claiming that the sanctioning body broke their own rules repeatedly, and demanding that the bout be annulled. Chavez defeated Rubio via decision on February 4 in San Antonio.
Jake Donovan at BoxingScene.com reports that the Rubio camp has two major concerns:
- They speculate that the WBC never bothered to do their safety check weigh-ins on Chavez. The 30-day weigh-in would have had Chavez at no more than 176 pounds by WBC rules. When Chavez was arrested for a DWI in California two weeks before the fight, he was listed at 175. So either he lost a pound in two weeks and then basically crashed down (which might have happened, to be fair), or the WBC never checked. The Rubio camp seems to feel they never checked -- which is also a reasonable speculation. This part will be almost impossible to prove, since why wouldn't they just lie if they didn't do it, but they're saying it anyway.
- The lack of post-fight drug testing. Texas, because it's a commission run by the criminally ignorant, does not require post-fight drug testing. It's 2012, and this is a commission hosting major fights, not requiring even the bullshit urinalysis that any dummy who has a shred of a clue what he's doing can cheat and beat. The WBC, however, does require post-fight drug testing for title fights. All of them. Except this one, apparently. The WBC blamed Texas, and Texas blamed themselves, but nobody's really buying any of it.
Boxing Scoring: An Alternative to the 10-Point Must System
With another recent scoring controversy in the books (Cloud vs Campillo), Ryan Bivins returns to BLH today with another look at what can be done to improve the way boxing is scored.
As previously discussed in "Robbery or Close Fight? - The Failings of the 10 Point Must System", boxing scoring still leaves a lot to be desired. Close fights can produce shutout scorecards and dominant wins can produce close scorecards. The reluctance to score even rounds along with only having 10 points to work with per round makes this possible. Currently the narrowest margin a judge can give, which isn't even, is 10-9, effectively a 10% difference. If there were more points to work with, that difference reduces.
A scorecard is essentially a statistical analysis of a fight. Anyone who has ever studied statistics would know the results are more revealing when the data pool increases. For example, when you flip a coin there's a 50% chance it lands on head or tails. But, if you flip it 10 times you could easily end up with 7 heads and 3 tails. However if you flip it 100 times achieving 70/30 would be virtually impossible. You're going to get closer to 50/50. Likewise, if you score rounds out of 100 points, the scores are more likely to represent how close rounds actually were. It's not an opinion, it's just math.
Klitschko vs Chisora Rematch Won't Happen, Says Bernd Boente
Even though Vitali Klitschko has a gnawing, ego-driven desire to rematch Dereck Chisora in order to punish him and knock him out a second time around, Klitschko manager Bernd Boente has ruled out the possibility:
"A rematch is absolutely inconceivable and won't happen," Boente said. "Of course, Vitali has been affected emotionally, but a fight is not up for discussion and we will not offer Chisora a further platform."
Klitschko (44-2, 40 KO) is planning a September return to the ring following some rehab for a shoulder injury suffered in the fight, and at 40 may be in his final year of boxing, particularly if he becomes Mayor of Kiev in the election this year, as he's said he won't do both a political career and boxing, probably because he plans to actually be a real politician.
Floyd Mayweather's Manager Responds to Dana White Calling Floyd Racist
Last night we discussed UFC president Dana White calling Floyd Mayweather racist for his comments about Jeremy Lin. It didn't take too long for Mayweather, or at least a Mayweather representative to fire back.
Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports with the words:
"He needs to shut the [expletive] up and mind his own business, stay in his own lane and keep on taking advantage of the UFC fighters, while underpaying them," Ellerbe told Yahoo! Sports after learning of White's rant. "If he keeps on running his mouth, we may decide to give a free seminar to all of the UFC fighters on how the pay-per-view revenue should be distributed. This is typical Dana, who is always prone to ignorant outbursts. He should be the last person to try to judge someone else."
After learning of Ellerbe's response, White sent a text to Yahoo! Sports directed to Ellerbe.
"Just for the record, shut the [expletive] up [because] I wasn't talking to you," White said by text. "I was talking to Floyd. We're doing something amazing. We're building a sport while you guys are destroying one. "
Gavin Rees to Defend Title Against Anthony Mezaache
Gavin Rees is set to defend his European lightweight title against Anthony Mezaache in Paris on March 23, with the fight being shown live on Sky Sports.
Rees, now 31, won the vacant title in June when he defeated Andy Murray in Cardiff. The Welshman's first defence ended up a draw after his opponent Derry Matthews sustained a broken nose after a clash of heads in the fourth round.
Rees' trainer Gary Lockett said:
"Gavin has been in the gym on and off since the Matthews fight. The Gavin Rees of old is long gone, he's grown up a lot and he knows that being out of the gym when you haven't got a fight is not my way. So he's been training hard and he looks in fantastic shape - I wish the fight was this week really as he looks superb. But we will be very ready for March 23rd and it's going to be a great occasion to fight in France.
Dana White on Floyd Mayweather: "Yes, Floyd, You're Racist" For Jeremy Lin, Manny Pacquiao Comments
Here's UFC's Dana White with his "Presidential Address" from UFC Tonight on Fuel TV, addressing Floyd Mayweather's recent comments about Jeremy Lin, and past blatantly racist comments about Manny Pacquiao:
"First of all, what he said I think is racist, he's made a couple racist comments, and yes, Floyd, you're racist with the stuff that you said.
"First of all, Jeremy Lin gets all this credit because he's an Asian player in the NBA, that African-Americans never get? Yeah, he's getting all his praise because he's an Asian guy playing in the NBA. And you say that African-Americans don't get it? Really, Kobe Bryant doesn't get any praise? Michael Jordan never got any praise? The list goes on and on of guys who completely get praised for being great NBA basketball players.
AFTERMATH: Stevenson-Gonzales, Williams-Ishida, Dulorme-Ambriz, Gonzalez-Lyell
Still, boxing is the Dark City of Second Chances, and if Stevenson has emerged from its back alleys to reinvent himself as a successful prizefighter, then he deserves to go about his business the same way anybody else does. No one, it seems, ought to dispute that, except, of course, the holiest among us. Illogic and boxing go hand to hand like vultures and carrion, but one thing the whole Dereck Chisora-David Haye brouhaha has revealed in its wake is an upside down pseudo-morality—strange even for the madhouse pursuit known as prizefighting—where cracking bottles over the noggin of a fellow athlete at an industry event is "exciting" and driving while intoxicated is worth condemning. From The Cruelest Sport









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