F--- boxing

No. A few years ago I was covering a card being carried by UniMas featuring Jose Ramirez fighting near his hometown. Broadcast started at 8 local time with an early knockout, so I figured, OK, get the main event going and we can go home early. No. Sat in a semi-dark arena for about half an hour. They were showing a fight from earlier in the undercard to fill time.
Finally the main event begins. Opponent was another tomato can. First knockdown was practically in my lap (Lee Samuels made sure I was not only ringside, but could touch the mat from my location). The second knockdown was on the other side of the ring maybe 40 seconds later, right where our shooter was set up. RSC.

The features in advance make sense for Showtime (and did for HBO) since they have no commercial obligations, but a commercial network like ESPN or UniMas? Not for spectators.

 

The latest round of updates on Adonis Stevenson are all dated Dec. 6th or thereabouts.

"Stable but critical"

Adonis Stevenson undergoes surgery after 'severe traumatic brain injury'

 

You know I don't want to slight Douglas' victory. Tyson had his issues but those were mostly with Robin Givens. He was in condition that night and got caught. It happens. So yeah I'd say from 86 until after the Ruddock fights when he went to prison.

 

What are you rambling' about? Who said anything about Mitch Green being as good as a Klitschko?

 

Showtime could definitely go long from time to time although they have gotten a lot better.

HBO was a TIGHT broadcast. Even if both fights went the distance that never got outside their time window.

 

So how do you guys rank your p4p top five boxers?

 

Azrael mentioned three guys Tyson beat who were all 6'4 or taller. All it proves is Tyson could beat tall guys who were not good.
He didn't beat any tall guys who were very good. He is overrated by a lot of people because he was a powerful puncher and had a lot
of highlight reel knockouts.

 

Sorry, but I cannot call the youngest heavyweight to ever win a world title overrated.

His last few years were not great by any means, however, what he completed in the 80s/90s is mighty impressive.

 

On most lists he's rated ahead of Bowe and sometimes ahead of Holyfield. Bowe won two out of three
against Holyfield. And the third one was Holyfield's worst beating by far, not counting any fights when
he was over 40 and pretty much shouldn't have been allowed to fight.

 

The more fights on the card, the greater the opportunity to screw up. Showtime was more prone to overload their undercards.

That's what was so crazy about last night. What was it, 3 fights?2 fights? Inexcusable.

What's been interesting to me about these PBC primetime fights is how well they fit into a one-hour time slot.

 

Three fights, one lasted 44 seconds. That's a classic case of the promoter running the broadcast over the network. HBO TV schedules were very fluid. I remember looking at a schedule and they made it clear that if the final fight didn't start at exactly a certain time or before, they held the right to withhold their broadcast fees to the promoter. I'm guessing it was in contract.

And there were times, I think one time when Bernard Hopkins fought Howard Eastman that Hopkins was being particularly deliberate and they just canceled the undercard fight or did something to make sure his fight fit in their time window and he had no more excuses to stall.

 

Hard not to get a little emotional when Lampley chokes up here.