Not a tiger but a cheetah

The fact that Tiger Woods did not even consider withdrawing from the Masters, let alone actually do it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/golf/22139762

suggests that golf has now become like pretty much every other professional sport - winning has become the only thing that matters. If you have to cheat to do so, well no problem. A far cry from the days when Bobby Jones, after being congratulated by journalists for calling a foul on himself which ultimately cost him the US Open, famously commented: "You may as well praise a man for not robbing a bank".

That'll learn you

Boxer deals with Twitter troll by going round to his house!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/mar/12/english-boxer-curtis-woodhouse-twitter-troll

Kick it out

So BBC Radio 5 Live pundit Pat Nevin says that Eden Hazard was correct to kick the Swansea ball boy who antagonised him? Well I agree. And Eric Cantona was equally right to kick the hooligan who shouted personal abuse at him. The FA must apologise to Eric immediately and repay the £20,000 he was fined. Either that or, to be consistent,  Hazard should be banned for an equivalent period of nine months.

New year, same old story

Last night Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor once again became world darts champion. There simply aren't enough superlatives to describe this man.  I’m not even sure which is my favourite Taylor stat – 16 world titles, the highest ever three dart average in a match (118.66), his world championship semi-final record (played 19, won 19) or the fact that, out of 82 major final appearances, he has lost only eight. Surely the next BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award (an accolade which has previously been given to Frank Bruno) must go to Taylor - the greatest living Briton.

And the winner is…

I’m sure most pundits will be giving their fighter of the year accolade to Juan Manuel Márquez following his scintillating destruction of Manny Pacquiao earlier this month  However, in effect I pre-empted that by honouring Márquez at the end of last year (after he’d been robbed – once again - in the 3^rd Pacquiao fight: http://floatlikeabutterflysting.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/and-winner-is.html)

Instead, my 'alternative' fighter of the year award (aka The Fran) for 2012 goes to Andre Ward. At the very end of 2011 he dished out a one-sided beating to the very capable Carl Froch, winning the ‘Super 6’ tournament and proving he is far and away the best super middleweight in the world. Now, I’m generally not a huge fan of the ‘intermediate’ divisions – super this and junior that. However, in his only fight of 2012, Ward completely outclassed the light heavyweight champ Chad Dawson (in his first fight since defeating the legendary Bernard Hopkins – in my mind Hopkins’ only legitimate defeat in almost 20 years). So Ward is effectively the undisputed light heavyweight king – without actually having ever fought at 175 pounds. Not only is he deserving of The Fran, he may well be the best (active) fighter, pound for pound, on the planet.

Khan he change?

A friend of mine bumped into Freddie Roach, former trainer of Amir Khan, at JFK airport a few months ago. During their conversation, Roach hit the nail on the head when he explained Khan’s problem:  “he stays in the pocket too long”. Fans of the NFL will know that quarterbacks who hang around in the pocket tend to end up flat on their backs – precisely what has happened to Khan on more than one occasion.  He now has a new trainer, Virgil Hill, and claims to have developed a more defensive style, which he plans to display in Los Angeles on Saturday night.  He probably won't be troubled by his opponent Carlos Molina, a lightweight stepping up a division who is four inches shorter than Khan and doesn't carry much of a punch. Should he win that fight (and if he doesn’t he may as well retire), the caliber of opponent Khan will need to face in the future will necessitate the kind of defensive skills which have generally been lacking amongst British fighters. New style or not, what is certain is that eventually he will take one on the chin – even the greats get hit sometimes. And as I’ve stated before, it’s rare for any fighter to be able to add muscle to that particular part of their anatomy.

That's the way to do it

After falling victim to three dubious decisions, Marquez decided to take the judges out of the equation - congratulations to him:

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/8728470/juan-manuel-marquez-knocks-manny-pacquiao-6th-round

Bet Pacquiao now wishes he'd taken that fight with Mayweather when he had the chance...