First things first......We had a chock full of boxing this past weekend to get to and it was a classic case of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The Good; there was an excellent match up of junior welterweight champions in a unification bout featured on HBO this past Saturday that saw WBO champion Tim Bradley against WBC champion Devon Alexander. The Bad was that Alexander is a southpaw and Bradley is bald which for some reason always adds up to a fight chock full of headbutts. Add to that the old styles makes fights adage which prevented these two guys from creating an entertaining fight for the fans which was strange since Bradley is a scrappy boxer-puncher and Alexander a boxer with power, you would think their styles would add up to action but it didn't. One day in a separate column I will explore why is it that fights involving bald fighters seem to always loom with the threat of heads colliding. Head butting in fights involving southpaw fighters is almost always a given because of the awkward footwork that leads to the frequent head smashing but its a mystery to me why bald fighters seem to induce almost as much head collisions as the left handed boxers.

The fight was tactical from the start as Bradley assumed the role of the bull and Alexander the matador. The 'bull' was getting the better of the matador in this encounter as the shorter Bradley waded in with short hooks (and at times his head) to get in close to Alexander and negate his offense. Bradley landed the cleaner more eye popping shots and put constant pressure on Alexander who did manage to get in a few counterpunches but nothing big enough to sway the judges to his side. Eventually an accidental head butt would open a nasty cut over the right eye of Alexander that forced his corner to stop the fight on the advice of the ringside doctor who could not get Alexander to open his eye for him to check. The judges cards were added up giving Tim Bradley the win and pick of the litter in the junior welterweight division.

What was billed to be a classic in the making between these two undefeated fighters turned into a dud, which was unfortunate for those who wanted to turn people onto boxing expecting these two good, young undefeated boxers to showcase the sport. But Alexander is young enough to recover and learn from this defeat and Bradley should provide some good fights now with Amir Khan, Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather Jr. who are all now on his radar based on this big win for him.

Now to the Ugly.... Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., the son of the man considered to be the greatest boxer to have ever come out of Mexico fought this weekend against a journeyman named Billy Lyell with a record of 22-9 and won a unanimous ten round decision.......on pay per view!

Chavez with a record of 42-0 has only John Duddy as a name fighter on his resume and yet has been fighting on pay per view almost his entire career. Far be it from me to deny any boxer a pay day but I feel that this type of promoting devalues the whole system of pay per view and is a complete sham on those foolish enough to pay for the event which is basically an undercard fight. Chavez himself is being hurt with the matchmaking as he is not being tested as a boxer in the usual way. The usual way involves early match ups with fighters with varying degrees of skill, that in order would rank like this: fighters with losing records, fellow novices, veteran fighters past their primes, gate keepers, former world champs, contenders, then the champs. Chavez Jr has faced a steady diet of brawlers with losing records who have no power and even then one of them managed to pull out a draw against Chavez. This has stunted his growth as a fighter and has kept him at one level. There is talk of Chavez challenging Sebastian Zibik of Germany for the WBC middleweight belt or WBA junior middleweight champ Miguel Cotto. I don't believe he is ready for either man, here is hoping that he proves me wrong.

The Calm versus the Storm.....

I recently attended the New York press conference at BB King's in Times Square announcing the March 12th showdown between WBA junior middleweight king Miguel Cotto and former two time champ Nicaraguan wild man Ricardo Mayorga. For every negative thing you may read about Ricardo Mayorga and his promoter Don King you have to believe me when I tell you that the boxing media loves those two guys. This was a highly anticipated press conference on the boxing calendar and its not because of Cotto who is a true gentleman and champion but its Mayorga and King that make it a must see event. Mayorga is known for trying to do whatever it takes to rile up his opponents during the promotion of every fight and the things he says border between the tasteless and the outlandish. GOOD! Ask yourself what do you prefer, hearing Mayorga question his opponents manhood while threatening to knock them out or hearing how Alex Rodriguez respects every member of the Boston Red Sox?

It pains me to read or listen to folks who complain that guys like Mayorga shame the sport of boxing with their antics, those people miss the point of sports in my book, sports after all is a form of entertainment. Entertainment is the key word people and no one entertains better than Mayorga and King in the sport of boxing. Some gems offered by Mayorga; "As a human being I respect you but as a fighter I have never liked you. I will retire you. Even your fat friend will be happy" about Emmanuel Steward, Cotto's trainer who was laughing at Mayorga's barbs the whole time; " I see you have a new girlfriend. Your perfect together. Two losers." and then this; "Puerto Rico will be wearing black on March 12th because it will be your funeral".


Don King is simply a walking, breathing, always talking neon sign. Now in his 70s and with a little bit less hair he is still a dynamo who really did not need a microphone as his voice could be heard all over BB King's. He carried what seemed to be a flag for every country in the world so he could wave that flag at the right time. He spoke about the rivalry he's had with Cotto's promoter Bob Arum and how he loves it when his fighters beat an Arum fighter which Mayorga has vowed to do for him. King and Mayorga definitely added to this promotion that would otherwise come off as a public service announcement.

Mayorga's taunts even brought the usually stoic Cotto to life who, while maintaining his cool, stepped up to the podium and in a very animated way accused Mayorga of being a clown who has failed in every big fight. Cotto's best line referred to Mayorga being a one hit wonder by saying ; "After the upset of Vernon Forrest, Ricardo Mayorga was no more."

Now to assess the fight itself. Many boxing fans and members of the media have criticized this match up as a soft touch for Miguel Cotto suggesting that Sergio Martinez should be the one to fight the Puertorican champion. I am not among those detractors. Miguel Cotto has served boxing honorably and has been through some of the most hellacious wars in the past few years. You can trace it back to the pounding he got from Antonio Margarito in which we will never know if Margarito used loaded gloves or not. After an easy comeback fight against speedster Michael Jennings, Cotto was once again matched tough against Joshua Clottey. The African hurt Cotto but failed to put forth enough punches to win the decision on the judges cards in a fight that was supposed to be the set up for the Manny Pacquiao fight! Once Cotto faced the Filipino fighter he was no longer the same boxer who was running through the welterweight division and he was stopped in that fight. I see no problem with Cotto being matched up easier to rebuild his confidence.

That being said, Mayorga is no walk in the park for anyone. To suggest that he is a steppingstone will only fuel the usually volatile Mayorga's fire some more. The man still carries power to hurt his opponents and was able to push Shane Mosley to the limit a few years ago before being stopped in the last seconds of their fight. If Cotto wins, his promoter is looking at possible rematches with Margarito and Pacquiao. If Mayorga wins, his career will be rejuvenated and he will get himself back into the big fight mix. Emmanuel Steward will have Cotto ready for sure and Cotto is professional enough to not overlook Mayorga but nothing can prepare the body to absorb what it can no longer absorb. Mayorga believes Cotto is shot and will look to test his chin and his heart. I believe Cotto is up to the test and regardless of who wins, this fight has excitement written all over it. Its a winner in my book.

The Blackeyed View's movie review of THE FIGHTER

Its been my personal tradition for the past fifteen years to try to see all the Oscar nominated films each year which has since become a burden on the wallet due to their expansion from five films to seven to now ten films. So I was happy to see that THE FIGHTER was nominated because it suddenly bonded two of my favorite things; boxing and the movies. The film tells the true story of New England boxer Mickey Ward, he of the famed Gatti-Ward boxing trilogy, and his rise to prominence in the face of adversities which take shape in the form of his mother and brother who threaten his boxing career and love life thru mismanagement. I went into the film not expecting much in the way of accurate fight choreography (in my opinion there hasn't been a decently choreographed fight film since Rocky 1 & 2) but had high hopes for the acting due to the strong cast starting with Christian Bale in the role of Dicky Englund the drug addicted ex fighter brother of the main character Mickey Ward (played by Mark Whalberg). I ended up being surprised on both ends.

This film offered the most accurate fight sequences of any boxing film I have seen to date. Mark Wahlberg does not look like Mickey Ward but he obviously worked hard to perfect Ward's left hook to the body. I have seen all of Ward's big fights and its uncanny how on the money Wahlberg is with his version of that left hook. The fights in the movie had an added piece of authenticity as the original HBO commentary and digital effects where incorporated into the film. The fights themselves played out on film exactly as they did in real life. To prove this all you have to do is look on youtube. The climactic fight in the end between Ward and Shea O'Neary in England went down exactly on film as it did in that ring in England years ago and the actor they got to play O'Neary was his exact twin. The attention to boxing detail in this film gets the utmost high marks from me.

But the man who threatened to steal the movie was actor Christian Bale who portrayed the part of Dickey Englund, Ward's older brother a former boxer himself who was once the pride of New England turned trainer who also suffers from drug addiction. Dickey's drug problems lead to a series of bad business decisions that threaten Ward's growth as a fighter. Bale lost a lot of weight for this role, looking nothing like the Bruce Wayne he plays in the Batman movies, and he makes the Dickey Englund character a polarizing focal point for both the audience's sympathy and revulsion. His character's downfall and ultimate redemption is as much a major part of the plot of this movie as Ward's story. Bale's efforts have been recognized in the form of Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for best supporting actor and if he wins that prize it will be well deserved.

The movie is filled with enough family drama to fill a week's worth of Maury Povich and Jerry Springer shows. This along with an accurate look at the behind the scenes look at a boxer's existence from the training end to the business end makes it a thoroughly entertaining package.

I'm giving THE FIGHTER ......lets see what I will go with, can't go with thumbs up, can't go with apples, and I could only give two black eyes sooooo......I will give THE FIGHTER out of a possible 5 left hooks, 4 left hooks. Go see it!