First, for the Knick Ledger:

 Capital Region fighters were successful, though narrowly, at Ares Promotion’s “Fight Night IX” at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center Saturday night. The event was hampered by some last minute changes that took two of its major stars off the card, but still provided some of the most closely contested local bouts in recent memory.

read more:
Near Sweep for Capital Region Fighters as Miller, Kuhn, Williams Victorious at ARES Fight Night IX

And for more thought, see my blog post from late Saturday evening.

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And my latest for Spike MMA & Sports on how the previous weekend’s two major fight cards, UFC on FX 3 and Pacquiao vs. Bradley, were indicative of a larger problem in combat sports: Athletic Commission incompetence.

As if the scores weren’t maddening enough, one of [the judges of Pacquiao vs. Bradley] actually tried to redefine what “aggression” means; in short, that it can actually be when a guy is running away. That’s either some very deep Eastern philosophy or, as Inigo Montoya once said, “you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

But the problems with judging isn’t just limited to boxing, and the issue is bigger than just the judging itself.

read more:

Athletic Commission Ineptitude Is Killing Boxing And MMA

Omar Artis reels from a right hook from Schenectady, NY’s Markus Williams during the main event of ARES Promotion’s Fight Night IX at The Egg Convention Center.

Really interesting night of fights at ARES Promotions’ Fight Night IX. I filed with the Knick Ledger and the article should be up on their site tomorrow morning. I’ll let you all know when it’s posted.

Crowd was about 3/4ths capacity. Mike Faragon was supposed to headline, but injured his ankle. From what I’ve heard he’s going in next week to find out if he’ll need surgery on it (which would be a real bummer). Javi Martinez was a late scratch from the card when his opponent pulled out for unspecified reasons.

Miller’s opponent was a replacement for an 8-0 undefeated 168 pound prospect. They had contracted to meet at a catch weight, but the New York State Athletic Commission wouldn’t approve it, even though the guy in question has routinely fought fighters who have come in between 170-175 pounds. Very strange turn of events.

RESULTS:

Jr. Welterweight bout, 4 rounds: Gabriel Diaz (1-1-1) def. Ray Velez (2-2, 1 KO) by Split Decision (39-36, 37-39, 39-36)
My card: 38-38 Draw
It quickly turned into a fast-paced technical affair and a very, very close fight. There was a bit of controversy in the first when Velez tripped and fell during an exchange. Referee Paul Brown immediately started an eight count, which drew boos from the audience. Brown, though, was literally right next to the fighters when it happened, so from his vantage point Velez got hit and went down. We could see the trip at ringside, but Brown literally would have had to have been staring directly down at Velez’s feet to know he had tripped.

Heavyweight bout, 6 rounds: Kimdo Bethel-Boykin def. Raymond Lopez by TKO (1:28 of Round 6)
Weird change of pace considering what we had just seen. Kimdo just owned him the entire fight and really laid into him. Lopez didn’t seem to know what to do. He made a Hell of a comeback in the fourth, but it was short-lived. Lopez protested when referee Ken Ezzo waved it off, but he was taking a bad beating.

Welterweight bout, 6 rounds: Sarah Kuhn (5-2-1, 1 KO) def. Adelita Irizarry (8-6-0, 2 KO) by Majority Decision (58-56, 58-56, 57-57)
My card: 57-57 Draw
Another really close one. I think Kuhn got it here because her punching was crisper and technically much more sound. But man, Irizarry was just relentless. Just when I thought she was fading and Kuhn was about to start dominating, she got this second wind out of nowhere in the 4th and stole the round. Fight of the night, IMO.

Light Heavyweight bout, 6 rounds: Shawn Miller (8-1-1, 4 KO) def. Richard Starnino (9-9-2, 1 KO) by Unanimous Decision (60-54 x 3)
My card: 60-54 for Miller
Only fight that went to a decision that wasn’t close. Starnino, to his credit, is a very aggressive fighter who overcomes a smaller height with a bullish (his nickname is “Bobo the Bull”) style. And he hits hard. But Miller was just too damn good with utilizing his reach tonight, and didn’t let Starnino’s head movements and fakes frustrate him too much.

Middleweight bout, 8 rounds: Markus Williams (10-2-0, 1 KO) def. Omar Artis (3-4-1, 2 KO) by Unanimous Decision (78-74, 77-75, 77-75)
My card: 76-76 Draw
Williams took a few rounds to really get started; hence why I had it scored a draw with Artis taking the first two. But man, once he got started, it was a war. The last two rounds in particular were great.

Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s request that he be released from jail because the low-quality food and water have threatened his health was denied by a Las Vegas judge who says he should eat and drink what is being given to him behind bars.

 

Read more (Sports Illustrated)

“But judge,” the argument goes, “he’s going to not be in peak physical condition and likely won’t be in any condition to fight immediately after being released from prison! It is unfair, as well as unprecedented, for a person upon release from jail to not just immediately resume their lives as if they were never in jail at all.”

“Well,” the judge would reply, “then he shouldn’t have beat up his ex-girlfriend in front of their kids.”

To which the prosecutor added “seriously, Floyd, what the fuck?”

Prosecutor Lisa Luzaich scoffed at the complaints during a court hearing Tuesday.

 

“It’s jail,” Luzaich told the court. “Where did he think he was going? The Four Seasons?”

Serious answer? No. Here’s what I bet he expected: to be treated like mob bosses you see in movies that just hold court over everyone in jail and are served fine dining and never EVER would introduce their lips to things water unless it was in a bottle. He didn’t expect to be treated like a convicted criminal and be given things like tap water and prison food, just like he didn’t expect his ex to press charges and for someone to put him on trial and convict him for his crime.

The problem isn’t that, as his lawyers noted in their plea, that all he’s ever known is boxing. The problem is that for the last fifteen years (give or take), Floyd has not known the word “no.” He hasn’t wanted for anything or faced consequences. He crafted a persona around an artificially inflated ego, but at some point he stopped letting the people around him in on the persona and, eventually, he forgot that it was all a lie. A precarious, spectacular, and unsustainable lie.

Wait, where was I? Oh, yeah. Saturday night came and all Hell broke loose with Pacquiao/Bradley, which will likely dominate all combat sports coverage this week.

For those still interested in MMA’s own problems and issues, Mike Chiapetta has that covered over at MMAfighting. Give it a read. Quite a few boxing aficionados and people involved more directly in boxing have made the comment to me that this doesn’t just signal the end of boxing and tip fans towards MMA, it knocks the scale off the fulcrum. But MMA has its own problems, and it’s for the most part these very same judges. More on that later.

But first, more fallout from Saturday.

Bob Arum is doing what he can to make sure he’s not included in any conspiracy theories by demanding an investigation into the judging. It would certainly be apt given the severity of the situation and will likely show up on the docket for Thursday’s meeting of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, barring insurmountable ineptitude. Then again, this is NSAC we’re talking about here. The last time there was judging this bad in boxing the judges were immediately suspended. But that was in New Jersey, which has the historically more competent and reputable Athletic Commission (the same one that also literally wrote the rules for MMA).

Arum also said that the case for Pacquiao is so convincing that there isn’t likely to be a rematch until an investigation is conducted (same article as above). So much for Bradley and his people hyping that November 10th date, which he actually started doing before the fight even started in anticipation of losing a contested decision against a distracted Pacquiao. What’s that they say about best laid plans?

And for those of you who haven’t separated your shoulders from throwing your hands up in the air over the course of the last two days, judge Duane Ford, who gave the fight to Bradley, gave an equally absurd defense of his scoring to Kevin Iole:

“If this were ‘American Idol’, without a doubt, Manny Pacquiao would have won. But it was not. I gave an honest opinion. I had Pacquiao up 4-2, I think, at the end of six rounds.  I thought he hurt Bradley a couple of times early in the fight. But when the bell rang to end that round, it was over and what happens in one round doesn’t carry over to the next round. They’re separate units. In the second half of the fight, Pacquiao picked off a lot of punches to the head, but Bradley landed some hard body shots. That hurt Pacquiao. I don’t mean it hurt him in the sense of it physically hurting him, but in terms of scoring and piling up points. Bradley did an excellent job standing his ground as a boxer. Remember, it’s a boxing match and Bradley demonstrated his ability to box expertly.”

It needs to be pointed out, again, that CompuStrike stats show that Bradley was literally outpunched in all but one round in terms of both volume and power. So what Ford is basically saying is that he isolated some moments Bradley had and chose to ignore everything else, which is certainly possible but also betrays a certain level of ineptness.

Taking this argument further, Bradley was not the more aggressive fighter. Nor was he the better ring general; Pacquiao dictated the course and direction of that entire fight. Nice enough guys have made the argument (which I won’t link to because I don’t want to embarrass them) that Bradley might have won on defense for blocking some of Manny’s shots. Which is to say that he should be given rounds for not getting his ass kicked more than he already was.

Oh, but then there’s this, again, from Ford:

“In pro boxing, you look for damage, and if the punches are equal and the damage is equal, you are looking for effective aggression, and that does not necessarily mean the guy going forward,” Ford said. “Effective aggression can be a guy going back. And then you look at ring generalship, and that’s all about control.”

…wow. Well, there you go.

I’m not trying to be dismissively cynical when I say that it’s bad everywhere you look. I just say that to accentuate the point that this is a problem in all of combat sports.

It’s not just something where we should just shrug and say “well, them’s the breaks,” because there are very specific peoples, places, and organizations one can point to and say that there needs to be reform and education. NSAC and its executive director Keith Kizer, for starters, and also Florida as shown on Friday’s UFC on FX 3 card.

There are also common denominators in both sports, particularly when it comes to judging, which in MMA often employs the same boxing judges who don’t seem to be able to accurately and consistently judge their own sport.

For MMA it might actually be easier, in that some of it could be remedied by tweaking the defined scoring criteria and evaluating the application of the ten-point must system. For example, arguments could be made that going with strict 10-9s may not be the right way to go in a sport with fewer and longer rounds. In boxing, however, it seems to be a more complicated issue of widespread incompetence.

I don’t have any answers, but those in positions to make changes have to start asking questions.

The judges at ringside: dumber than Jim Lampley's Ridiculous Glasses.

Making the performance of Florida officials on Friday night’s UFC on FX 3 card look competent would be a tall order for any Commission, but the Nevada State Athletic Commission was apparently up for the challenge.

In case you don’t know already, last night’s bout between Manny Pacquaio and Tim Bradley ended in a controversial split decision. And by controversial, I mean batshit crazy. After doing everything but taking out a gun and shooting Bradley point blank in the head for twelve rounds, two of the three judges gave it to the fighter that was outstruck in every round in regards to both volume and power.

The tempered reactions I’ve read have almost exclusively come from people who didn’t see that fight. If you didn’t see it, I don’t think you can appreciate exactly how bad this decision was.

The official scorecards (Sports Illustrated)

Let me put this into a personal context: anyone who knows me and is a fan of combat sports knows that I’m not one to launch into hyperbole after a close decision. Quite the opposite, in fact, as I’ve gotten into some disagreements with people who have labeled a decision they did not agree with a robbery.

But in this instance, there’s no question. I have only two of the twelve rounds to Bradley, and I was being generous. The other ten weren’t even close.

I have never, ever, seen a worse decision, and I don’t think I ever will.

After the fight, Bob Arum dumped some dirt onto the fire by speaking out against the decision and announcing that the rematch in November wouldn’t take place in Nevada but would instead occur in a “non-tax” state. Likely Texas, as Kevin Iole speculated.

Iole also states that the controversy will only help, not hurt, boxing. I have to respectfully disagree. Particularly with fighters like Pacquaio and Mayweather who are likely to go the distance in their fights. If fans know they won’t see a finish by KO, they’re less likely to drop sixty dollars on a fight that they know will be better off left to the flip of a coin than in the hands of judges. It particularly hurts other cards, which were already suffering from a dwindling hardcore fanbase.

Between this and the absolutely ludicrous Therapeutic Use Exemptions being granted so fighters like Chael Sonnen can compete while using steroids, it’s been an embarrassing year for the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Their spectacular ineptness and speculated corruption is unprecedented. Something has to give here.

Fight Opinion has a collection of some of the reaction. The outrage here is warranted, folks.

They’re taking advantage of a loophole that New York State unveiled last January after it was sued by the UFC that allows amateur MMA bouts.

Cage Wars 13 is currently scheduled to go down August 11th. The time, venue, and ticket information has not yet been released.

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And on a boxing note, don’t forget that next Saturday, June 16th is ARES Fight Night IX at The Egg. Doors open at 7pm and tickets are $40.

The card includes:

• Markus Williams (9-2, 1KO) vs. Wilkins Santiago (6-0, 1KO)
• Sarah Kuhn (4-2-1, 1 KO) vs. Adelita Irizarry (8-5, 2 KOs)
• Javy Martinez (3-0, 1 KO) vs. Jeff Lentz (2-0)
• Shawn Miller (7-1-1, 4KO) vs. TBA

NOTES:

Shawn Miller has an opponent but I didn’t get the name. The Commission wouldn’t approve his original opponent, undefeated Super Middleweight Lane Staal (8-0). The move surprised both camps, who had agreed to a catchweight bout. What makes the decision even stranger and more infuriating for both fighters is that Staal has fought and defeated two other fighters above that weight, including making his pro debut against a fighter who weighed in at 172.

Sarah Kuhn‘s opponent has a really, really impressive resume. Should be a good fight.

Mikey Faragon was scheduled to be on this card but had to pull out due to an injury.

From Kevin Iole:

A contract sent on Dec. 11, 2009, by Golden Boy Promotions on behalf of Mayweather to Top Rank on behalf of Pacquiao proposed a 50-50 financial split between the sides for a fight that would have been held March 13, 2010.

 

The eight-page agreement is so detailed that it indicates which of the two fighters would step onto the scale first at the weigh-in (Pacquiao), who would walk to the ring first (Pacquiao), who would be introduced first (Mayweather) and who had first choice of the locker room (Mayweather).

 

…

 

Pacquiao’s side declined the 2009 contract offer because Pacquiao objected to Mayweather’s request for the drug testing. Though Pacquiao has subsequently agreed to Mayweather’s demands for random blood and urine testing, the sides have not been able to reach agreement on a deal.

Not mentioned in Iole’s piece but reported by numerous journalists including Dave Meltzer is that Pacquaio’s side claimed at the time that he wouldn’t submit to the testing because he was “scared of needles.”

In the years since, there’s been more BS that has gotten in the way, including but not limited to politics, money, and Mayweather’s legal troubles. Well, what do you expect? That’s boxing for you.

But it’s time for fans to face facts: you may like Pacquaio more than Mayweather, but he ducked legitimate drug testing.

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Ring TV reported over the weekend that Shane Mosley has announced his retirement.

Mosley ends his career with a 46-8-1 record (dropping five of his last seven) and titles in three different weight divisions. It’s a little late, but not too late to preserve his legacy. It’s always better to go out on top, but that didn’t happen. At least now he will and should go down as one of the better fighters of the last few decades.

Kenny Florian

Florian, as I mention in today’s article for Spike MMA & Sports (coming later today), is one of those fighters who has plenty of reasons not to get punched in the face for a living. He’s a smart guy, a coach, and has found quite a bit of success in the broadcast booth, which is where he’ll likely stay.

A nine year career and being the only fighter to win in four different weight classes in the UFC is nothing to sniff at. In my mind, he’s the best fighter to never win a championship. It’s a dubious distinction that I’m sure people will scoff at, but considering who was in his way (GSP at Welterweight, BJ Penn at Lightweight, Jose Aldo at Featherweight), there’s absolutely no shame in it.

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Also, today is the day Floyd Mayweather starts his 87 day jail sentence for domestic abuse. He’ll likely be out at the end of August, pending good behavior.

Mayweather maintains his innocence, but his personal history doesn’t make anyone doubt the veracity of the charges and he didn’t exactly put up a fight in court.

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And earlier this week, WWE announced that Randy Orton was suspended for sixty days effective immediately due to his second Wellness Policy violation. They specifically cited a drug test failure. The first time it was marijuana metabolites, so speculation is that it’s likely the same this time. It’s unlikely to be steroids, particularly since if anything Orton’s been noticeably smaller the last couple years. Certainly possible, mind you. Just not likely.

Unlike legitimate sports, the WWE performs its own drug testing. While guys have been suspended in the past for weed, I’m skeptical that they automatically suspend a guy every time he pops a positive for it, since it’s really not a problem unless the guy shows up high and in no condition to perform (i.e. Jeff Hardy some time ago at that TNA pay-per-view).

This couldn’t come at a worse time for him. He was on the verge of being given another major push in the company. And just recently, he was replaced by The Miz as the star of the next installment of WWE films’ “The Marine” franchise due to the military’s refusal to cooperate with the project; Orton had been given a bad conduct discharge from the Marine Corps and served thirty-eight days in a military jail for going AWOL.

His troubled past and propensity for self-destruction is a regular obstacle for the WWE to overcome, which is why he’s been pushed near the top but never been given the ball to run with. And he likely never will. Even if he does stay on the straight and narrow the next two to three years, he’ll never be given the level of exposure that John Cena has because of the dirt that would eventually be dug up.

Also, for those who missed the event, here’s my real-time live blogging of the event. Trust me, it’s a quicker read than you’d think.

And the post-fight press conference.

Firstly, this needs to be said: it was a great card from top to bottom. I don’t know why so many people griped about the fights on the first card back in February, except to say a lot of them probably just don’t like boxing enough to tolerate a full night of it. Which, given the long absence of boxing in this area, is to be expected. Still, in terms of fight quality, I thought this card blew the previous card out of the water. And I thought the previous card had some good fights on it.

Unfortunately and despite the presence of ESPN2, the attendance dropped. Badly.

I know I’ll get shit for this again, and likely there’ll be more than a couple folks stomping their feet about it and generally making themselves look like assholes. But attendance was nowhere near 3,500 for the first event (click HERE and HERE if you want to revisit that debacle), and to say it only dropped by about fifty people as is being reported elsewhere is…okay, I’ll be more diplomatic this time around and say they’re being generous.

This time, though, I thought enough to take some pictures. Things to keep in mind: these were all taken after the event started. People didn’t “start trickling in”halfway through the card. This isn’t Vegas, LA, or any of those other markets where people only show up for the last two fights. In a place like Albany, people pay for a show and they come for the entirety of it.

That said…

…not 3,500. Sorry. Even less so this go around.

Joe DeGuardia, to his credit, neither attempted to make it out to be something it wasn’t nor did he seem deterred. For him, he claims, it’s still a money-making venture. I don’t have any reason to doubt that TV and endorsements offset poor attendance. But don’t get it twisted: attendance was still very, very poor.

There was absolutely no buzz heading into this event despite the fact that it’s been the only thing of note in this area recently that was on cable television throughout the nation. Is that poor PR and promotion? Possibly. Or it just could be that boxing isn’t what it used to be and is less of a draw in smaller markets like Albany. There was a complication with the broadcast that was comically analogous to this: between the opening bout and the first televised bout, the crowd sat for fifty-five minutes waiting for a college softball game to end. That’s right – boxing had to wait for college softball to end on ESPN2.

In terms of mainstream prominence, boxing in the last twenty years has taken a huge hit from the proliferation of big-men team sports like football and basketball. The money division for boxing has always been heavyweights, and there are few legit North American heavyweights because big kids with any semblance of athleticism are pushed into and/or gravitate towards team sports, football especially. Of course there are other factors, such as the alphabet soup title situation and promoter politics preventing big fights from happening, that have made a public first skeptical then apathetic towards the sport.

There’s still hope, though. I think the Fight community is strong enough in this area to support boxing. ARES Promotions, which has a card themselves on June 10th at the Egg, draws a really good crowd for their room and the enthusiasm is incredible. Their success is due largely to their focus on local fighters and the charisma of fighters like Javi Martinez, Shawn Miller, Mikey Faragon, and Sarah Kuhn. I think Star Boxing, in a similar vein, can grow and expand in the coming year(s). So long as DeGuardia retains his optimism and knows – as I suspect he does – that they’re in it for the long game.

Anyway, you guys should really make it out to these cards. It’s a good time. Trust me.

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Joining him are NABO Jr. Welterweight Champion Karim Mayfield, challenger Tito Serrano, Jason Escalera, and Nick Brinson.

Story filed with the Knick Ledger; will post when available.

Other links:

• Live play by play from earlier tonight (Mixed Marshall Arts)
• Will King’s insights
• Mayfield stops Serrano in fifth to retain NABO title (Associated Press)