Welcome to Magno’s Monday Rant, the only boxing column that promises to have an axe to grind with everyone and everything evenly…
— Want to see an example of star power? Look at Saturday night’s Saul Alvarez-Matthew Hatton bout. We all knew that this was a bogus title fight, we all knew that Hatton was overmatched, and we all knew what the outcome would be from the moment the bout was signed. Yet, more than 11,000 fans still filled the Honda Center and, deny it all you want, it was an entertaining fight.
Part of it is that both fighters, despite the obvious gap in talent, came to fight. But a bigger factor is that Alvarez is a likable, earnest young man with real star power. It’s not necessarily the red hair and freckles. It’s the fact that, when he’s fighting, he demands your attention. Few fighters are blessed with that “must watch” factor.
Now, whether Golden Boy can guide Alvarez properly and help him develop into a world class fighter, is another question. Given the fact that they’ve already decided to cash a check without funds in the bank by pressing this fight to be for a “world” title, I wouldn’t bet on “Canelo” being anything more than an entertaining fringe fighter under their guidance.
But, having said that, let’s resist the urge to crucify the kid just because bashing Golden Boy is the latest fad in boxing journalism. Alvarez has faced a solid level of opposition for a fighter of his age and experience–even better than what guys like Pacquiao and Mayweather were facing at the same age. Alvarez, himself, will tell you that he is a work in progress and not ready for the top fighters yet.
Let’s forget that Golden Boy will be pushing him as a pound for pound star and just view him for what he is now: A young, sincere fighter with a fan friendly style who has the potential to be much more.
— On the other hand, HBO should lose Adrien Broner’s phone number until the Cincinnati native shows some interest in actual fighting. It’s OK to be a slick counter-puncher, but you have to fight as though the decision wasn’t in the bag all along.
Broner was lazy and unmotivated in his smugness against a fighter in Daniel Ponce de Leon, who is made to be countered.
With a nit-picky jab and a counter hook that looked like he was playing badminton at the country club, Broner is a big loss waiting to happen. Personally, I was very high on the kid, but I have to say that maybe it was all due to the low level of opposition he was facing prior to the Ponce de Leon bout. On Saturday, he didn’t strike me as someone who particularly even wanted to be a boxer.
But I did like the hair-brushing routine before the fight. I guess if all else fails, Broner could move to Vegas and start a Morris Day and The Time tribute band.
— The world seems to be abuzz about EA Sports’ Fight Night Champion, a boxing video game that, apparently, is the best thing since free internet porn. I’m not much of a “gamer” myself, but never let it be said that I can’t follow the trend of many of boxing’s top columnists by totally lifting other writers’ ideas. Also, when gaming I am prone to using warzone hacks to get me to the next level. With that said, here’s a review of the last boxing video game I played– one which is surely new to most of you: Activision’s Boxing for the Atari 2600:
“Boxing for the Atari 2600” is a state of the art (for the early 80’s), ground breaking boxing game which brings fans into the rough and tough world of two-dimensional stick figure fighting. With 3 modes of play, (Easy, Medium, Hard) there is something for all fans to enjoy.
Activision went all out with this dynamic game, adding fine touches of realism such as a punch counter AND a round timer as well as different color fighters so the gamers could tell who’s who. The black and white motif brings one to imagine all sorts of historically significant match-ups like Robinson-LaMotta, Holmes-Cooney, Ali-Wepner and, for the movie buffs, Rocky Balboa-Apollo Creed.
The flimsy Atari 2600 joysticks add an extra realistic touch to this boxing game, breaking easily and leaving your fighter paralyzed, as if suffering an actual life-threatening injury in the ring.
Personally, I’m giving Activision’s Boxing for the Atari 2600 two spit buckets way up!
You can email Paul at paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com, follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/boxing BTBC and catch him at Charlie Sheen’s house “winning” or tune into his podcast guide to Branson, Missouri’s cheapest eateries. Paul is a full member of the Burger King Kid’s Club.
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