Off The Cuff II

The sweat was up and flying several times during the Giovani Segura-Ivan Calderon clash, but "Iron Boy" should have been flying around the ring and not trading with an awesome puncher like Segura.

Now that Labor Day is fast approaching here in the States, it’s time to labor through another round of rapid-fire thoughts about our beloved Sweet Science:

.

## Watching the recent Tomasz Adamek-Michael Grant fight, I have to say that there was nothing there that made me think the Polish heavyweight could beat either Kitschko brother. Sure, it was a gutty, gritty performance against Grant, who looks like he should be playing linebacker in the NFL rather then boxing, but it sure wasn’t a cakewalk. Grant had Adamek hurt a couple of times during the fight, and may have won had Adamek not swept the first six rounds. Grant is nowhere near as busy or accurate at Wlad or Vitali, and if Grant can do that kind of damage, Ukranian’s Finest might end the night early for Adamek. Then again, it’s not like the Klitscko’s have been ending much of anything early lately except my interest level.

.

## I had to laugh during the fight when Integrated Sports PPV play-by-play nutcase Col. Bob Sheridan kept repeating that Adamek was “just not going to be intimidated by the imposing Michael Grant!” All I could think of was the fact that no one else in the heavyweight division has been intimidated by Grant since about 1999, either. But give Sheridan credit for trying.

.

## Seriously, I could write a whole column about Col. Bob’s constant trips to Bonkersville every time he does a fight, and we’ve had two of them to pour over in consecutive weeks. For those not properly trained in Sheridan-Speak, here’s what you need to know:

1. Every fight is the greatest of all time (remember Jacqui Frazier-Laila Ali?).

2. Every fighter is a true warrior, and this is the best division in boxing.

3. The Integrated Sports PPV (or whomever he’s working for at the time) team is just amazing, and it’s simply amazing they haven’t yet cured cancer.

4. If there’s an inconclusive or controversial ending to a fight, every theory from the shooter in the grassy knoll to Machiavellian scheming by Don King’s barber will be put forth until we learn that, yeah, it was just a close fight.

So we need to forget the fact that the good Colonel had Adamek out on his feet in the twelfth round when he wasn’t even close, or the fact that Adamek was putting American heavyweights back on the map (uh, Adamek is POLISH!). He’s just a roller coaster ride, so you just have to go with it at times.

.

## Just as any Col. Bob Batman needs his Robin, Benny Ricardo fills the bill nicely as the chief second on the Integrated announce team. His best highlight was in the sixth round of the Giovani Segura-Ivan Calderon flyweight championship fight Saturday, when he said, “These guys don’t even know how to hold!” just as they were, you guessed it, holding. Still, he had one of the funniest lines I’ve ever heard during the same fight, as they panned to bantamweight Fernando Montiel sitting in the crowd with two attractive women on either side of him: “He is the WBO & WBC bantamweight champion. I guess when you’re a champion of two divisions, you get two women like that!” Now that was funny…

.

## Speaking of that fight, I can’t for the life of me figure out why in the world Calderon stopped moving in the fourth round and started trading with Segura. Maybe it had something to do with “Iron Boy” fighting in front of his native Puerto Rican crowd, but Calderon had been dominating the fight up until that point. While Segura’s attack was relentless, he wasn’t really connecting until Calderon inexplicably quit moving and, worst of all things he could have done, started to back up instead of going side to side. I’ve heard all the chatter about Calderon being 36 and slowing down, but I still think it came to some bad decision making in the ring that cost him in this one. We’ll see if he does the same in a rematch.

.

## It was really refreshing to hear Ring magazine flyweight champion Ponsaklek Wonjongkam show some honesty from a fighter for once when talking about his surprise loss to Diasuke Naito in their third fight. “I had become complacent,” he said, “and I took Naito for granted. Never again.” Maybe that’s what spurred him on to turn a surprise of his own when he shocked undefeated Koki Kemada earlier this year, likely putting him in Canestota. Contrast that with motormouth 140-pounder Hank Lundy on Friday Night Fights last week trying to make every excuse in the book for his loss to John Molina on that same show last month. He was sick that night, the ref messed up, the lights were too bright, the dog ate his homework, whatever. As a fan, you just get sick of it after a while.

.

## As for Friday Night Fights, it wrapped up another season Saturday. Even though Teddy Atlas can grate on me and sometimes the matchups aren’t stellar, it really is the best boxing show around. I miss the heck out of Atlas, Brian Kenney and Joe Tessitore, and it makes me actually want freezing January to get here so they can start up again.

.

## Yeah, so James Toney got killed in his MMA fight with Randy Couture. Anyone surprised? Yeah, me neither. And for those MMA idiots (just the idiots, not the fans who truly respect ring sports) who say that this proves MMA’s dominance, just keep in mind that Couture beat a guy who hasn’t been a boxing factor in years, didn’t bother to train himself into shape and didn’t train in any of the other fighting disciplines needed to become a good cage fighter. Toney is no more a legit MMA fighter than Kimbo Slice is going to be as a boxer. This was a sideshow, nothing more, and I bet Couture knows that, too.

.

## And just to show you MMA isn’t the only place to find complete idiots, I can sure do without stodgy boxing writers denigrating MMA every time they forget to take their Prozac. Jeff Ryan’s constant assertions in the pages of Ring magazine that MMA fighters can’t take a punch is just stupid and petty. I wonder how many of today’s boxers would have great chins if boxing switched to four-ounce gloves like MMA? I bet a six round fight would be considered long. Both disciplines are incredibly challenging, and great athletes and fighters abound in each, and neither is going away. Just deal with it.

.

## So Texas gave Antonio Margarito a license to fight Manny Pacquiao. Color me shocked. When there’s promotional greenbacks involved, Jack the Ripper would probably get a license. From the same commission that gave us the first Juan Diaz-Paulie Malignaggi screwjob, I’m not surprised.

.

## Anyone else hoping that Pac-Man lays a massive beatdown on Margacheato?

.

## So, now that Pacquiao has a dinner date for later this year, any surprise that Floyd Mayweather has climbed out of his cave and seems interested in another fight all of the sudden? I thought “Money” was busy enjoying his summer, but I guess when your rival that you ought to be fighting one-ups you and actually fights, insecurity just won’t let you continue to relax by the pool. It’s almost hilarious if it wasn’t so sad.

.

## Oh, and just for the record, the Sam Peter fight with Wlad actually does have me interested. Keep in mind that whenever Peter has been in shape, he’s been pretty dangerous, and he’s been in shape recently. We’ll see what kind of shape the younger Klitschko brother is in after that fight is over.