THE SQUARE RING Nov.17, 2011

by Howie Reed
Exclusive for www.keeppunching.com

People that write about boxing do so for any number of reasons. Some for money. Some for press credentials. Some love boxing while some are just too lazy for real work. No problem. Then there are some that like to call themselves journalist as if that gives them creditability. It’s a “rare bird” that can combine all factors. One will usually get you by if you mention a lot of names and act like you know what you’re talking about..

The task of covering boxing becomes increasingly difficult if the spotlight is on a particular fight which the columnist, in this case me, hasn’t seen. A columnist, according to various unwritten rules, has the option of an opinion. “No es problemo Senior”. Jack Fiske was a well known boxing writer for the San Francisco Chronicle (nee Comical) for more than 40 years. He did a twice weekly column, his work won wide acclaim but he rarely attended a fight. Like some of the brethren today he took press releases, covered his pals, worked the phone, kept advertisers happy and went about his merry way. Seeing him at a fight was as rare as seeing a wedding ice sculpture outdoors in Death Valley in July.

The spotlight now is on the fight between Pacquiao-Marquez . From all account it was “one hell of a fight.” For those that missed it they can catch it Saturday night (November 19th) on HBO as part of a double dip card from Mexico. With a distrust of boxing scribes, who always seem to take a firm “neutral stance”, still it’s necessary to use their accounts to reach a self imposed deadline. Readers of TSR, who actually saw the fight, have also pitched in.

By all accounts the crowd of more than 16,200 lustily booed the majority decision win by Pacquiao. Checking every credible news account, along with some that are less credible, the consensus is that it was a controversial result. Those that had it a draw, were the AP, Bob Papa of HBO After Dark, ESPN news clicker at the bottom of the screen person, AP sports columnist Tim Dahlberg and Yahoo’s Kevin Iole. The latter pair, according to the Review Journal’s gossip good guy Norm, got showered with beer that rained down on the ring after the decision was announced. Shades of Julio Cesar Chavez- Kostya Tszyu back in “ought—ought”. That fight in Phoenix brought Chavez fans storming the ring while tossing beer and other “very warm yellow stuff” when Chavez was stopped in 6.

The judges scored the fight , Dave Moretti 115-113, Glenn Trowbridge 116-112 while judge Robert Hoyle had it a draw at 114. After the bout Marquez opined, “ For me the best judges are the audience and you see how they responded. I don’t know what type of performance I need to give. It was a robbery once again.” Little about the fans and how some organizations handle them. . Just prior to the PPV Pacquiao-Marquez fight the UFC, Ultimate Fighting Championship, had their first “free” major network show. In that one Junior dos Santos stopped Cain Velasquez in 64 seconds. When fans complained UFC President Dana White told the fans, “For anyone to (expletive) about this fight……shut up.” Take that fans. Translation ? “Go far away and multiply with yourself,” as spoken by the late John Markovitch.

To set the record straight, as boxing scribes don’t have want to do, the first Pacquiao-Marquez fight that was scored a draw. It wasn’t. One judge miss scored the first round at 10-7 when it should have been by Nevada rule 10-6. Pacquiao won that fight.

A cardinal rule in covering boxing is never criticize the boxing judges by name. In general question everything about them but never “name-names”. They are protected from criticism because as oppose to the howling liquor fueled crowd judges are smart, highly trained, sober and understand the nuances of boxing. The crowd on the other hand thinks that the guy that beats up the other guy wins. Foolish knaves.

Ed Graney is a sports columnist for the Las Vegas Review Journal. He did the unthinkable writing “ I will never understand how NFL referees so badly miss that pass interference penalty, never understand how Major League Baseball umpires miss so many calls at home plate, never understand how supposedly professional boxing officials miss scoring fights in such ridiculous fashion. It's comical. The boos raining down were justified here late Saturday night, but instead of showering them upon Manny Pacquiao, they should have been pointed at those who awarded him a majority decision victory against Marquez.” So far he’s safe. No names.

But then he cross’s the line when he continued, “Marquez offer before Saturday was that he hoped those scoring rounds would offer him a fair shake. I guess word never reached the trio. (The judges). It absolutely didn't reach judge Glenn Trowbridge. Dave Moretti scored is 115-113 for Pacquiao and that's sketchy enough to check what was in his water. But to offer Trowbridge's card, to call it 116-112 for Pacquiao and declare him the winner of eight of the 12 rounds, is beyond laughable.” At this point you loyal columnist , “Moi”, has to inject a “Butt monkey”.

“Butt”. One of the means by which judges are judged, whether fair or not, is to compare the score cards. A study of the scorecards from Pacquiao-Marquez indicates that Trowbridge was the minority in scoring only round and that the 12th which he gave to Marquez. Over the 12 full rounds Trowbridge was in the majority for 11. Robert Hoyle , who had it a draw, saw 3 rounds going against the grain while Dave Moretti was in the minority for 2 rounds. There was disagreement among the judges scoring for the last 5 rounds ? What does all that mean ? NO EYE DEAR.

Pacquiao’s trainer Freddy Roach saw it as a “very close fight that could have gone either way.”

Some put all their “logical” eggs in the Compubox figures. Using that as the end all Pacquiao landed 578 pinches to 436 for Marquez. Graney has an answer for that. “I stopped taking Compubox statistics seriously long ago. They're about as legitimate as Glenn Trowbridge.” Graney closed with “The only clear thing was that two of three judges didn't watch it. Pass interference. Calls at the plate. Boxing judges. Comical.”

THE SQUIRE, a FROG, a Major, a Dr., and the Lord of the Manor

The Squire Sid, formally out of England who now works in Asia, reacted to a day before the fight one hour interview with Manny Pacquiao, Trainer Freddy Roach and promoter Bob Arum on Piers Morgan TV Chat Show. Morgan the irritating Brit was, I’m sure, sent here by the Queen Mother as reprisal for the cheesy boxed set of Obama DVD’s she was given. He replaced Larry “Are My Teeth In” King and knows nothing about boxing. He may not have a clue. “We have here the greatest boxer of all time in Manny Pacquiao, the greatest trainer of all time in Freddy Roach and the greatest promoter of all time in Bob Arum.” Calling anyone the “greatest” ever in boxing is a stretch of credulity. All the people named are very good but the best ever? I think not. The Squire Sid opined in an email, “I agree with your sentiments. Bob Arum is not the greatest promoter ever - Manny P not the greatest fighter ever - Roach not the greatest trainer ever. Reminds me of what my history teacher once told me of The Holy Roman Empire:

1) It was not holy
2) It was not Roman.
3) And it was certainly not an empire

Squire on the fight. “For merit it was a great fight. I think Pacquiao has never really figured out Marquez's style. I personally thought a draw would be a good result. Then when the 3rd judge called it 116-112 I guessed they must have recruited Blind Pew from the 19th century novel Treasure Island. But after thinking on it I remembered that American judges also give credence to the aggressive fighter, and certainly Pacquiao went forward most of the fight.”

Sir Frog croaking from the lily pad had a similar view. “ Close call for Manny but he was in offence boxing all the time. Marquez in defense. I think that made the difference for the judges to give the win to Manny. My result was a 114-114, 114 -114- 115-114 for Manny. (Editors note: Sir Frog hears things so three scorecards is not unusual for one person. He also talks to his motorcycle so maybe one card is from his Harley.)Maybe the last 3 rounds were more convincing for Manny. Marquez was very careful and waited to counter punch, fighting with Manny would made him loose with KO, very smart move from him. The KO fighting plan from Manny didn't work cause of the good Marquez defense.” The penultimate opinion of the fight comes from Pablo. Pablo doesn’t gives a Rat’s Rump about boxing. “I saw it a draw but give it to the champ Manny.”

William Major, who the absent Jeeves referred to a William Manor, is never short on opinions. He saw the fight different. “Manny won as far as I’m concerned. Marquez didn’t take it to Manny. Waited for the counter mostly. I think Pacquiao was too cautious. Marquez also. Judges had it right except the 114 to 114. Manny took more rounds threw more punches. WTF ( which doesn’t mean “With That Final”) do they want from him ? He was in an auditorium full of Mexicans. Marquez used it to whine like a bitch , kinda like Chavez at the end of his career lol (which is either “Laugh Out Loud” or “Lot of Love”).”

The Doctor in this case is Dr. Jose’ Sulaimán the President of the World Boxing Council.

As reported by TSR he opined prior to the fight “This is not a prediction, as anything can happen in boxing. It is plainly a warning to the boxing fans not to let them be misguided, especially in a city of gambling, just to make them aware that if Juan Manuel Márquez defeats Manny Pacquiao, it will be one of the greatest deeds of boxing today.” Dr. Jose was just echoing what most boxing fans and all sports book’s though. The odds at fight time were 7 or 8-1 in Pacquiao’s favor. As reported by fightnews.com “Sulaimán stated it would be “a miracle” if Marquez is victorious. That’s not accurate but close enough for them.

Arum then opened his post fight press conference with. “Any media from Mexico here yet ?” A few raised their hands. “"Tell the president of the WBC what an asshole he is. Tell him that I called him that. Juan Manuel Marquez is a great fighter. He doesn't know what he is talking about".

Dr. Sulaimán eloquently answered the gutter slur that got at least one reader of TSR fired from a job. In part he wrote, “I think of Bob Arum is one of the greatest Promoters that my eyes have seen, but also that he has no class, has no idea of what a gentleman is, and if he would be subjected to an open heart surgery, the doctors would find no heart.” Dr. Sulaimán closed with “About 40 years ago, the immortal promoter George Parnassus told me : “José, if some day the Atomic bomb destroys the world and only Robert Arum and you remain on earth ,,,,,,,,, don’t you dare to give him your back; Perhaps it took me this long to understand what my hero George Parnassus meant.” Why would Arum react to an opinion and an opinion that was shared by most fans in such a manor ? Because a snake does what a snake does. Pet or befriend him at your own peril.

The Lord of the Manor just days before the fight got a phone call from a boxing insider that knows boxing and boxers. “Marquez is the most devastating counter-puncher in the history of boxing. Sometimes when a boxer comes back to the corner he’s told ‘you have to get off first. You have to punch more. The boxers is thinking ‘every time I hit the guy he hits me back. It hurts’”. When you watch that may explain why in some minds “Marquez held back.” The LOM also made a prediction. “The truth is that this fight in itself will be a modern day upset as it will be a real fight which on recent PPV would make it “rare as hens teeth”. Gee wonder what Bob Arum will call the LOM ? Regardless it was a hell of a fight so . “Cheewit dee Khrup”.