We'll start with a few words on the joke that was the Showtime/Golden Boy card from Brooklyn shortly,but I wanted to say thanks for the all nice emails,tweets and messages on Facebook about yesterday's post about my dad.
It is always nice to have people like your work,but here I get a special kick out of people liking the non-sports posts.
Thanks again for spreading the word on that for me,it was truly appreciated.
As far as Dad goes,he managed to talk the hospital in releasing him today.
It was a day earlier than they really wanted to,but he has a way about him sometimes that allows him to get his way.
Now the wait is on for the return of the tests that will tell the tale of whether this is a short term issues that surgery has resolved or has the long term war just begun?
Thanks for the wishes and prayers,those too are appreciated...
The Showtime card from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn was simply put a sad joke on boxing.
Danny Garcia's second round knockout over undersized and outgunned Rod Salka was a disgrace.
Now first,allow me to say this,Non-title fights go back as far as I can remember and I vividly remember WBC Featherweight Champion Juan LaPorte dropping a decision to clubfighter Gerald Hayes in the mid 80's,so these aren't always gimmes,but Gerald Hayes was likely a top 25-30 fighter,so Hayes putting all together on one night could happen.
Rod Salka on his best day wasn't top 100 and against the best junior welterweight in the world,you could see that this was a mismatch.
Shame on Showtime for agreeing to this farce.
The co-main was a little better,if only understandable as Lamont Peterson stopped Edgar Santana in the 10th to keep his IBF Jr.Welterweight belt.
Santana,while being more qualified than Rod Salka,was still untested against world class fighters and it showed.
I could live with this as a showcase bout for a Garcia-Peterson bout,if anyone was clamoring for that fight.
Yes,Peterson owns the only belt that Garcia didn't,but his third round KO at the hands of Lucas Matthysse and the subsequent Matthysse close decision loss to Garcia devalued Peterson's title until he proved otherwise.
The Santana win and his previous defense over the qualified Dierry Jean haven't quite done that,so I'm happy that Garcia-Peterson might happen to unify all the belts,but Garcia is the true champion and I'm not sure anyone is really excited about the bout.
When premium cable (HBO and Showtime) show such dreck,they show a disrespect for the paying customer and hurt the game and their boxing program.
HBO and Showtime customers pay for the programming that they provide and many (me included) have their channel just for boxing.
To have such a card is disrespectful to their consumers and the sport.
This card would have not been any better had it been televised on Fox Sports 1 (a GBP Partner),but it would have been understandable due to the lesser rights fees that would have been paid.
2014 has been a bad year in boxing,Last Saturday night,it got worse....
We wrap up with a few words on the 32nd anniversary of the car wreck that cost the great Salvador Sanchez his life in the midst of a great 126 pound title reign.
Sanchez's biggest win over Wilfredo Gomez is shown above,but the wreck cost boxing so much-a move up in weight that could have seen an eventual match vs the great Alexis Arguello,but especially the match that never was Sanchez and his nine defenses of the WBC belt against Panama's Eusebio Pedroza and his 19 defenses of the WBA title in the days of just two ruling organizations.
What a great fighter and what a loss for our sport.
Look for a Forgotten Superstars down the road on Salvador Sanchez.
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