72-year old former boxer Frank Corti thwarted a knife-wielding burglar with his bare hands near Oxford, England. (via i.dailymail.co.uk)

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Maybe there should be a new saying: Don't bring a knife to a fistfight with a 72-year old ex boxer. If you do, you might wind up looking like Greg McCallum did after he attempted to rob Frank Corti near Oxford, England.

Despite boxing being one of my favorite things on earth and the fact that I'm an MMA fan as well, and I grew up watching pro wrestling and still love a good action or horror movie (and oft times a bad one, too), I'm not a violent guy. But if you're the type of guy to go after a 72-year old, unarmed man with a knife and he winds up beating the left side of your face into hamburger mush with his bare hands, you pretty much had it coming.

The blows were so powerful that McCalium, who had just lunged at Mr Corti with the knife, was left looking like he had been in 'a car accident'.

The pensioner then restrained him until police arrived. He was jailed for four and a half years yesterday after a judge told him he had 'got what he deserved'.

...

Recorder Angela Morris said: 'Luckily, Mr Corti was an able-bodied 72-year-old who was able to defend himself.

'The jury might well have concluded you got what you deserved when you entered that property and took a swipe at him with that weapon.

'The elderly and vulnerable people are entitled to demand the protection of courts from people like you who decide to take matters into your own hands and enter a property with a weapon.'

 

Mr Corti, a retired car worker, added: 'If needed to, I would do it again.'

That last line is some John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn or Gran Torino Clint Eastwood stuff.

• UFC stars Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir, who will meet for a second time at UFC 100 this month, talked some boxing recently and...well, they tried, let's put it that way. Mir confuses Juan Manuel Marquez and Marco Antonio Barrera at one point. Mir then ends with this line: "The UFC put the nail in the coffin on boxing, which shot itself in the foot. I tell some of my friends, who are huge boxing fans, 'Don’t blame the UFC for boxing's decline, blame what you’ve done to yourself." Hey, if it helps him sleep better at night...
• Hey, look at that, Jose Sulaiman and the WBC favors Mexican fighters again. The sanctioning body said it will return Antonio Margarito to its welterweight rankings despite the fact that he's currently suspended by the California State Athletic Commission, which everyone else is taking to heart. Margarito says he's going to fight in September in Mexico, but his promoter Bob Arum has said recently (if I recall, to ESPN.com's Dan Rafael) that he won't promote him until the suspension is lifted.
• Golden Boy chief Oscar de la Hoya is just one of the many around the world and around boxing mourning the loss of Alexis Arguello, the great former champion and Hall of Famer who died of a suspected suicide at the age of 57. "The Golden Boy" sent out a press release calling Arguello his "idol," and recalling nice times spent with him before and after Oscar's 2008 fight with Steve Forbes. Side note: Not to be mean at the wrong time, but does anyone else recall Oscar calling Julio Cesar Chavez his idol at one point?
• Guess who else sent out a press release? "The Quiet Man" himself, John Ruiz. Ruiz got wind of Chris Arreola fighting in September against a former champion, according to Dan Goossen, and now he's decided he should be that man. Not that I think Arreola has the pure, one-shot power of David Tua, but I don't think Ruiz would fare so well against Arreola.