A bloody joke

This extract from Dan Rafael's report on the Hopkins v Dawson fight basically says it all about why professional boxing has become such a shambles:

If you're a big boxing fan and support pay-per-views you have now been conned out of roughly $130 in the past month. You got ripped off with the crappy way the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Victor Ortiz fight ended Sept. 17 and now this monstrosity. And people wonder why boxing is so troubled? It's because the fans -- those of us who pour our hard-earned cash into the sport and allow it to exist -- are taken for granted by promoters, fighters, managers and networks.

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/7114210/fans-bernard-hopkins-left-crying-debacle

More of my thoughts on this to follow...

Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin

It’s been a long-held maxim in boxing that it’s impossible to add muscle to the chin. In other words, fighters who have a glass-jaw are stuck with this limitation for their entire (often relatively short) careers. However, two boxers are beginning to make me question the validity of this notion. I saw Wladimir Klitschko get brutally knocked out in 2003 and 2004, and to be quite frank, he looked like a bum. Having barely survived three knockdowns against Samuel Peter in 2005, Klitschko has now won 11 world title fights in a row. I was sure if David Haye caught him on the chin, Klitschko would fall, but Haye definitely landed at least two big right hands and Klitschko didn’t crumble. Admittedly, he didn’t land a full Hayemaker (the broken toe prevented that), and perhaps the defensive style Klitschko has adopted since those mid-career wobbles, has successfully prevented anyone from properly testing his chin. Certainly the current paucity of the heavyweight division has helped in this regard. But what about Amir Khan? How has he gone from having the most suspect chin in British boxing to being on the verge of dominating the 140 pound division (with talk of moving up to welterweight and challenging the likes of Floyd Mayweather)? Every time these fighters step into the ring – especially against dangerous punchers – I’ll still be thinking ‘maybe this time’. But how many world championship defences must a fighter make before one has to stop considering him ‘chinny’?

The Penney Drops

He's a rubbish manager - always has been, always will be:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/bristol_rovers/9417489.stm

And the winner is...

My 'alternative' fighter of the year award, The Fran, goes to Bernard Hopkins. His performance earlier this month, just a few weeks shy of his 46th birthday, emphasised once again what a phenomenal fighter he is. Although he was robbed of victory by the judges - as he always seem to be in close fights - in reality he hasn't suffered a defeat since his loss to the great Roy Jones in 1993. Quite simply amazing.

Never too old?

A great weekend for 'old timers' - Phil Taylor at the age of 50 finally received some of the recognition he deserves at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards, whilst Bernard Hopkins, 46 next month, outboxed a 27-year-old champion in his prime. Still, it would have been nice to see both of these legends declared the winners - they were clearly robbed.

Yes Khan do?

Great victory by Amir Khan on Saturday. The lad appears to have defied the old boxing adage, and actually added muscle to his chin. We should find out in the next year just how good a fighter he really is, but the signs are starting to look promising. Despite the astonishing improvement in his chin, I still suspect he may remain susceptible to being caught cold at the beginning of a fight...

It is now...

Or perhaps not. Ah well, there's always 2030 - the hundreth anniversary of the tournament, so an appropriate time to host it at 'the home of football'TM