Cleaning out the Inbox

     Time to clean the inbox and post some articles that have piled up.

Awful Announcing writes of the San Francisco Giants announcing team of Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow's recent appearance on the Starkville podcast.

The duo, who I believe is the best pair in the game, discussed their health issues from recent years, how long they plan on continuing to call games, and how they plan on exiting the scene when the time arrives.

The Ring The Damn Bell blog writes of the downfall of the 1980s tag team "The New Breed".

Sean Royal and Chris Champion appeared to be on the horizon of becoming stars and champions before a car accident put the brakes on their rising career.

The momentum slowed after their return and soon after, the Breed were finished as a team.

The post talks to Sean Royal about the team, the accident, and how Royal tried to end the team before the comeback due to his bitterness towards Champion.

The Athletic writes of the Minnesota Timberwolves' decision to start veteran reserve Joe Ingles in a game against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Ingles is the father of an autistic son who couldn't last more than a minute or two watching a game, but on the first night, he was able to watch the entire game. Ingles, who is a seldom-used reserve, didn't play.

The game against the Pelicans was the final game of the year for the Ingles family, who were returning to their home in Florida after the contest.

Coach Chris Finch decided to make sure Ingles would play by starting Ingles.

Ingles didn't score in six minutes of play, but Minnesota won, stopping a losing streak.

I'm not sure how many of you remember Pro Beach Hockey from 1998-2000, the made-for-television roller hockey league from ESPN, but Winnipeg Jets goaltender Chris Driedger's injury in 2022 led to  Driedger discovering the PBH and developing a soon-to-be-released documentary on the league.

The league, originally conceived by the man who brought you the Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling, David McLane, was shown afternoons on ESPN after the season had been taped and featured a ball rather than a puck, ramps behind each net, a two point shot for goals shot from a certain distance and of course played on roller skates.

Boxing Challenge: Saturday Bloody Saturday

    Saturday's boxing was quite a bloody one, with fights involving plenty of the red stuff left in the ring.

The first fight of the day came from Japan, where the lower-weight's "King of the Upset" pulled another one as IBF junior flyweight champion Masamichi Yabuki rose to the flyweight division and knocked out unbeaten champion Angel Ayala in the final round to take Ayala's IBF title.

Yabuki dropped Ayala in each of the first two rounds. While Ayala won some rounds, Yabuki led by a wide margin entering the final round when Yabuki scored one final knockdown to end the fight.

Yabuki made his name by upsetting Kenshiro Teraji and taking Teraji's WBC title by knockout before losing the rematch, and in his most recent fight before beating Ayala, he knocked out Sivenathi Nonthshinga to win the light flyweight title.

Yabuki will have one week to decide which of the two titles he will keep, and it's expected to be the flyweight championship as it would set up a lucrative third match against WBA and WBC champion Kenshiro Teraji with three of the division's titles at stake.

On ESPN from Las Vegas, Mikaela Mayer was too active for Sandy Ryan, and that made the difference in the fight as Mayer retained the WBO welterweight title that she won from Ryan in another exciting battle.

Ryan landed the higher percentage, but Mayer's output and punches landed allowed her to win the justified decision by scores of 97-93 x2 and 98-92.

I had the match a little closer for Mayer at 96-94.

Brian Norman was dynamite in the co-feature as he retained his WBO welterweight title by a third round knockout of Derrieck Cuevas.

Cuevas landed well in round one, but Norman hurt Cuevas in round two, and after a third round knockdown, Cuevas had little interest in fighting on.

Bruce Carrington stopped Jose Vivas in the third round of a featherweight eliminator and is expected to fight for a title in his next fight.

Carrington scored a second-round knockdown before the finish in the third round in his impressive victory.

DAZN and Golden Boy were in Cancun, Mexico, for the lightweight rematch between top contender William Zepeda and former IBF junior lightweight champion Tevin Farmer.

Zepeda won an arguable split decision in the first fight, and although the rematch was closely contested, Zepeda was the deserving majority decision victor.

Zepeda dominated the first half of the match, Farmer charged back in rounds eight through twelve but Zepeda built enough of a lead to win on my card 115-113 with the official cards reading 116-112 and 115-113 for Zepeda, along with a score of 114-114 on the final card.

Zepeda should finally receive his title shot in his next fight, while Farmer, after another tough-luck defeat, deserves another attempt to upend a contender.

Oscar Collazo retained his WBA and WBO strawweight titles with a fifth round knockout of Edgar Cano after a vicious bodyshot.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 44 Pts (10)

Ramon Malpica: 37 Pts (7)

Vince Samano: 20 Pts (2)

Boxing Challenge

     The boxing challenge may not have a marquee bout, but several intriguing matches are over the weekend.

Golden Boy and DAZN will be in the honeymoon paradise of Cancun, Mexico, for the lightweight rematch between number one contender William Zepeda and former junior lightweight champion Tevin Farmer.

Zepeda survived a knockdown in their November fight to win a split decision that could have been given to either man.

Farmer's style is very effective against a come-forward/throwing lots of punches style that Zepeda uses, but something tells me that Zepeda may not have been as prepared for their first fight as he will be for this one.

Oscar Collazo will defend his WBA and WBO strawweight titles in the co-feature against Edwin Cano.

Collazo was impressive, adding the WBA title in his most recent appearance, stopping CP Freshmart in seven rounds.

Cano is a relative unknown, as most of the division currently is, so who knows what he will bring to the ring?

Las Vegas will be the site for an ESPN/Top Rank card with a main event that is a must-see as Mikaela Mayer defends the women's WBO welterweight title against the woman from whom she won the title, England's Sandy Ryan.

Mayer won a majority decision in one of the best fights of 2024, but the bigger story was before the fight when Ryan had paint thrown on her as she left her hotel.

This should be another action fight and considering the backstory. This has all the markings of another great one.

Brian Norman will defend his WBO welterweight title for the first time against Derrieck Cuevas.

Norman was an underdog last May against then-unbeaten Giovani Santillan before surprising Santillan and Top Rank, stopping the favored fighter in the tenth round.

Cuevas has lost only once but hasn't faced any notable opponents, so Norman should be a heavy favorite,

In a WBC eliminator at featherweight, undefeated Bruce Carringron will meet Jose Vivas.

Carrington is one of the more talented prospects in the game, and Vivas has lost in his three attempts against world-class opponents, so this looks like a showcase bout for Carrington.

An untelevised bout from Japan will pit Angel Ayala defending the IBF flyweight title for the first time against IBF light flyweight champion Masamichi Yabuki.

Ayala has wins over former champions Felix Alvarado and Cristofer Rosales before winning the vacant title in his last fight.

Yabuki has the only win over unified flyweight champion Kenshiro Teraji and knocked out Sivenathi Nontshinga last fall to win a light flyweight title for the second time.

Ayala is unbeaten, but Yabuki has shown twice that he can pull massive upsets and has the homecourt advantage, so the ingredients are there for a surprise.

Boxing Challenge

Lightweights 12 Rds

William Zepeda vs Tevin Farmer

Ramon Malpica and TRS: Zepeda Unanimious Decision

Vince Samano: Farmer Unanimous Decision

WBA and WBO Strawweight Titles. 12 Rds

Oscar Collazo vs Edwin Cano

R.L: Collazo Unanimous Decision
TRS: Collazo KO 5

V.S: Cano Unanimous Decision

WBO Female Welterweight Title. 10 Rds

Mikaela Mayer vs Sandy Ryan

All: Mayer Unanimous Decision

WBO Welterweight Title. 12 Rds

Brian Norman vs Derrieck Cuevas

R.L and TRS: Norman Unanimous Decision

V.S: Cuevas Unanimous Decision

Featherweights. 10 Rds

Bruce Carrington vs Jose Vivas

R.L: Carrington Unanimous Decision
TRS: Carrington KO 8

V.S.: Vivas Unanimous Decision

IBF Flyweight Title 12 Rds

Angel Ayala vs Masamichi Yabuki

R.L; Yabuki Unanimous Decision

TRS: Yabuki Split Decision

V.S.: Ayala KO 8

Goodbye to the "Buffalo Soldier" Livingstone Bramble

    George Foreman was a much more famous name of the two recent deaths from the boxing world but in his own way, in my small existence, former WBA lightweight champion Livingstone Bramble's passing at the age of sixty-four is just as large.

Livingstone Bramble was one of my favorite boxers. It's hard not to like a guy with a dog named Snake and a snake named Dog, after all..

I was such a fan of Bramble that I named a dog after him when I brought an abandoned puppy home from the mall.

Bramble's peak wasn't a long period, but for that time, Bramble was an excellent boxer who had a way of making himself interesting and one that rarely lacked a quote or a story for the media.

Coming from the Virgin Islands, not exactly known for its massive production of boxing champions, Bramble made his first step into the boxing spotlight in June 1981 when he outslugged early ESPN darling Kenny "Bang Bang" Bogner in seven rounds of an excellent action fight to mark Bramble as a lightweight to keep tabs on but only two months later, Bramble was outboxed by slick boxing Anthony Fletcher over eight rounds in dropping a majority decision.

Bramble recovered from the defeat to Fletcher with a series of victories highlighted by wins over hard-bitten journeyman Jerome Artis and over two former world title challengers in Canada's Gaetan Hart (who challenged Aaron Pryor) and Bubba Busceme (a loser to Alexis Arguello) before a January 1984 title eliminator against undefeated Panamanian Rafael Williams.

A victory over Williams would assure a title try against WBA lightweight champion Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, after Bramble's unanimous decision win over Williams, Bramble would receive the chance to dethrone Mancini as a 4-1 underdog that most looked at as a showcase fight for Mancini's potential fights against either Aaron Pryor or more likely Hector "Macho" Camacho.

Bramble's chances against Mancini were considered so unlikely that the Buffalo-based card (that would include Gene Hatcher upsetting unbeaten WBA junior welterweight champion Johnny Bumphus) wasn't televised by any major network and was sold to syndicated networks around the country.

Bramble put together a mental game plan to infuriate Mancini before the bout with "voodoo spells" from his "witch doctor", who was later discovered to be Bramble's amateur basketball coach, and other statements crafted to anger the champion and change his pathway to victory.

Having grabbed the mental advantage over Mancini, Bramble then crafted the physical map for the evening to use the hard-charging aggressiveness of the champion against him, as Bramble anchored his elbows in front of his ribs in a high guard that would nullify any bodywork that Mancini could use to break Bramble down.

As Mancini attacked, Bramble's straighter punches drove through the roundhouse shots of Mancini, and Bramble used the uppercut to drive Mancini out of his stance.

When Bramble changed to fighting lefthanded midway through the fight, he began to back Mancini up and moved ahead on the scorecards, stopping him in the fourteenth round with a helpless Mancini taking blows along the ropes.

After a non-title fight against fringe contender Edwin Curet, Bramble would face Ray Mancini in an anticipated rematch from Reno, Nevada on HBO in February 1985.

The rematch was better than the first fight in action, competitiveness, and on the scorecards, with Bramble squeaking out a narrow but unanimous decision to retain his title over the battered but brave Mancini.

The Mancini victories are the biggest of Bramble's career, but his final title defense in his next fight could have been his best.

Tyrone "The Butterfly" Crawley was a staple of ESPN's Top Rank Boxing, and his pure boxing skills dazzled number one contender "Rockin'" Robin Blake in a decision win that cost Blake his mandatory contender position.

Some were picking Crawley to surprise Bramble due to his skills, and Bramble had been out of the ring for exactly one year since his win over Ray Mancini.

Instead, Bramble delivered arguably the best performance of his career as he cut the ring off on Crawley and chopped him down in the thirteenth round to keep his WBA title.

The boxing world was stirring with the potential of a unification fight with Bramble facing WBC boss Hector Camacho, and HBO attempted to build to that fight with a card from Miami entitled "The Preamble to Bramble with Camacho facing former junior lightweight champion Corneilus Boza-Edwards and Bramble against former two-time lightweight champion Edwin Rosario.

Rosario ruined those plans when he crushed Bramble in two rounds, taking his title, the Camacho fight, and Bramble never challenged for the title again.

After the Rosario defeat, Bramble fought many contenders, occasionally winning (a second-round KO of Harold Brazier) but usually losing competitive bouts to opponents such as welterweight contender Oba Carr, whom Bramble was robbed of the decision, future and former champions such as Kosyta Tszyu, Buddy McGirt, and Roger Mayweather, and contenders Freddie Pendleton, Charles Murray, Darryl Tyson, and Santtos Cardona.

Bramble's career declined as he began to lose to fighters who were far below the level of the fighters above, losing the final six fights of his career and nine of his last eleven, finishing with a career record of 40-26-3 to give the illusion that Bramble's career was mediocre.

The end may have been, but Livingstone Bramble had a run of brilliance that few fighters have at any point in their career, with memorable victories and a character that is just as memorable.

 

Boxing Challenge: Fundora throws the Book at Chordale

  An uninspiring PBC on Prime main event lived down to expectations as Sebastian Fundora retained his WBC and WBO junior middleweight titles in Las Vegas, stopping Chordale Booker in four rounds.

Fundora had been inactive since his title win over Tim Tszyu last March and Booker was looked at as an opponent to get some work for the champion.

Fundora's reach kept Booker in retreat and it was clear that Booker was on borrowed time before Fundora scored a knockdown in round four and with follow-up shots landing along the ropes, the referee stepped in.

This fight served its purpose for Fundora, who mentioned unification possibilities but was more likely to face Jesus Ramos, who won on the undercard, or WBO mandatory challenger Xander Zayas.

In San Bernadino, California, Lester Martinez won a battle of unbeaten super middleweights with a fourth-round knockout of Joeshon James on a ProBox card.

James started strong and tried to take the fight to Martinez and won the first two rounds on my card.

However, Martinez scored a spectacular knockdown in round three, I was surprised to see James get off the floor and barely make it to the bell.

Martinez finished the very game James off with another knockdown in round four and while James deserves credit for the effort, Martinez's punches were simply too much for James.

I'm looking forward to seeing Martinez when he makes his next step up the ladder in opposition.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 34 Pts (5) 

Ramon Malpica: 30 Pts(2)

Vince Samano; 18 Pts (0)

 

At least the Turkey Salad was Good--

     When the best thing you have going for you for close to two weeks is a few good turkey salad sandwiches, there haven't been many good things happening.

I wish I had snapped a photo of the actual turkey salad ( the image is a stock version) but such is life.

I worked my regular shift on Saturday, came home, and went to bed early because I was attending the Maryland vs Iowa game on Sunday afternoon.

I was excited because I had never been to a Maryland game since they left Cole Field House.

I wanted to be rested so I could enjoy the day but after only a few hours of rest, I woke with bad stomach pain that wouldn't go away.

I was worried that it might be pancreatitis or appendicitis because of where the pain was located.

After hours of pain, I had to reluctantly beg off the game, which was the right thing to do as I wouldn't have had any fun in my condition and spent most of Sunday in bed in an attempt to get myself together.

Cherie was working on me to check things out at a local Urgent Care and Monday morning, I agreed to do so, figuring it would be a few pills and moving things along.

After a few tests, the doctor came in and told me that there was an issue, that needed to be addressed immediately did Cherie and I prefer to have the ambulance take me to the hospital, or would Cherie rather drive me there?

We didn't have time to stop at our house, so I didn't have my laptop for the stay, resulting in the lack of TRS updates.

I didn't spend much time in the waiting room but I spent hours taking various tests while hooked up to an IV, sitting in a hallway with Cherie, who was so caring and patient with me.

I'm doing all this and thinking (in my dazed mind) that I just need to get through these and go home.

I mentioned this to Cherie and she said "Shawn, I don't think you are going home today".

The issue would be my gall bladder and almost all of it would be removed.

She was right and they decided to admit me with the only question being would the surgery be tonight or the following day?

It would be tomorrow and other than a turkey salad sandwich, it would be one of the longest evenings I've ever spent.

At midnight, I wasn't allowed food and water with the surgery scheduled for the early morning, so I was without that and the surgery wound up happening in the early afternoon, which made me grouchy.

That only added to my unease because I had never had surgery in my life.

That's a long time to never have had surgery and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at all concerned.

My Mom was never the same after coming out from an anesthetic from a routine surgery and since I've never had surgery, it was a bit disconcerting.

The surgery would be okay but when I woke up, I had trouble communicating.

I couldn't connect the word that I wanted to speak that I "saw" in my mind with the word that I would say.

For example, if I tried to say "Salt Shaker" and would come up with "Orange Glass" it was more than a little scary for me.

I had never seen so many nurses and doctors running around and I was quickly taken for testing for a possible problem called "Aphasia".

I was concerned as they wheeled me around the hospital to the testing site ( That was exactly as I have seen on television and film, looking up at the lights was pretty neat!) but I cleared the test fortunately, and even though the problem didn't completely leave, it was enough to know that there wasn't a neurological issue. 

Ryan decided to come in from Nebraska after that adventure and he would be around for the remainder of my stay and a few days after I came home.

However, the problems weren't gone as the surgery needed some touchup work on the "hinges" (I really don't want to get too specific or too graphic), so with that needing to be fixed, it was time for surgery two to clean things up a bit.

However, that couldn't happen yet because my heartbeat was out of rhythm or "AFib" and they couldn't do anything further until that was under control.

That happened naturally because I didn't do anything or notice until my first nurse, Kalie, noticed and let the right people know.

Kalie was terrific and I didn't have a chance to tell her how great she was because I was moved to another room and floor on her off day, so I wouldn't see her again.

The worst pain of the week was yet to come and this is the one note that is hard to write about.

I had fallen asleep after dinner and we (Cherie stayed the night with me this evening) had been told before the first surgery that they tried to avoid the older style surgery that would leave me with a longer scar and that now they used three small incisions that they used a type of gas to help them do what they needed and then would sew me up but did warn that some times all the gas didn't dissipate right away, and could rise painfully.

I woke up with incredible pain in my right shoulder and saw the clock read 12:50 AM.

The pain was directly on my shoulder bone, was about the size of a dime or nickel, and the pain felt like a power saw was cutting my shoulder off!

I screamed for what the nurse's notes would later state was an hour (I'm not sure if that was too long or even too short, time was irrelevant to me at that stage) and drug my IV cart to the door as a horrified Cherie watched and begged for some help, in which the attending CNA asked what my pain level was.

I felt bad later for yelling "10" at her but I'm not sure I can express the pain that I was feeling and the follow-up of "We will have to take your blood pressure" didn't help things any!

Finally, my nurse for the evening Lisa came in with pain pills and a morphine drip that she told Cherie wasn't going to take the pain away but would make it easier for me to handle and would help me sleep, which was true, eventually ending one of the longest periods of my life.

The pain was still there with an MRI scheduled for the next morning that would take about an hour.

I told my technician that I would hang in there for as long as I could and I made it until the final five minutes when she said that she had finished.

I returned to my room, fell asleep, and when I woke up the pain was gone and never returned.

I've never felt such pain before and I felt so small during it.

Even now, it's difficult just thinking of it.

There were two problems during my stay that just drove me nuts.

The first was that my tests and surgeries were often decided (time) without me knowing it so I wouldn't have eaten and then the time to not eat before the event would kick in, so later I would become very grouchy.

Then often, it was "Well, you can't have this or that yet", so I'd get some cold broth or other liquid-based item which didn't satisfy me and only made me grouchier.

My room was located across the hall from the manager of the floor and we could look into each other's room." I wanted some real food, so I decided to do something about it.

I walked over and started talking to her and told her I was going to start singing songs until I could receive some non-liquid food.

She laughed and said "Let me help you" and found some music online.

I don't think she thought that I would sing and she was singing along with me as I "performed" (a word I use very loosely) four songs- Surf City by Jan and Dean, Hotel California by the Eagles (not an Eagles fan at all), Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne, and a fourth that I can't remember at this writing and just then Cherie walked down the hallway and pulled me out of the office.

It didn't get me any real food but it was fun anyway and it was nice getting my mind off things for even a little while!

The other issue happened throughout my stay as the IV would start this relentless beeping that would just drive me nuts and it wouldn't stop until the nurse could reset the machine.

I was just one of several patients for each nurse, so this could go on for quite a while until they had the chance to take care of it.

Eventually, a nurse showed me how to shut the machine off but this was a temporary fix as two minutes later (legitimate number, I checked it) the noise would resume.

Ryan would take care of this as he talked to the on-duty nurses before he would leave and ask them to keep an eye on the beeping as I would be very quiet and keep to myself unless that machine started going off!

During the final few days of my stay, the nurses were far quicker to get to the machine and my aggravation dimmed thanks to Ryan and the nurses for that!

Once I was able to get through surgery two, the stay became more of a grind and less about pain.

Constant testing, bloodwork, and check-ups were how I spent my day and finally, I was able to get the call to be released.

At the end of nine days and eight nights, I was going home but not without one more turkey salad sandwich that Cherie brought me from the cafeteria.

Cherie brought me up a few of those when she could and they were so enjoyable that I tried the tuna salad one night for dinner.

Sadly, that was so terrible that I didn't get through one bite before tossing that one!

I'm still recuperating and have a bit under three weeks before I am allowed to return to work.

In some ways, I feel fine and in others not so much but I'm hoping that is part of the process since I've never been through surgery before.

I've tried to shorten some of the details of this for privacy reasons and because this has taken well over a week to finish but I wanted to thank my family, Cherie, Ryan, Rachel, Jeff, and my dad, who visited me often and helped keep me on the track to recovery.

Ryan and Cherie did so much for me both inside and outside the hospital in dealing with all the minutia that comes with these things and I cannot thank them enough for all of their help and extra work.

Words can't express how grateful I am for everything from my family and friends for all they have helped me with,

I didn't tell many people about this until I came home because I didn't want people to worry about me or feel like they needed to keep me active but to those of you who did talk to me while I was there, thank you for entertaining me and keeping my mind off things.

Finally, I have very few things to complain about my treatment at Meritus Center, other than what most patients would gripe about.

I was pleased with my care and treatment and a special thanks to Kalie and Lisa, wherever you are as well as Willow, who worked with me one night and then I recognized her as Jeff's girlfriend!

In the end, I'm mortal after all, which comes with its own reflections and thoughts on the past and the future- a future that I am making changes (physical and mental) to move toward positively to learn from this experience.

Thanks for reading this jumbo-sized post and if you decide to see me sometime, I hear Meritus makes a hell of a turkey salad sandwich. 

Boxing Challenge: Kambosos decisions Wyllie

     George Kambosos desperately needed a victory in his 140-pound debut and he got it but worked much harder than expected in a unanimous decision victory over countryman Jake Wyllie in Sydney, Australia.

Kambosos had struggled with three losses in his last four fights and needed to win this for a possible IBF championship chance against Richardson Hitchins later this year.

Wyllie, the Australian champion, took the fight on less than a week's notice when original opponent Daud Yordan dropped out due to illness and performed well under the circumstances, especially over the second half of the fight when Kambosos slowed after a headbutt sliced the former lightweight champion over his right eye.

Kambosos won by scores of 117-111 times two ( and my score) and a close tally of 115-113 but even though he clearly deserved the decision, I'm not sure Kambosos showed enough that I would give him a decent chance against the bigger and smoother Hitchins, especially considering the limitations of Wyllie, who was given a contract with the event promoter, Matchroom Boxing, after the fight for his valiant effort.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 29 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica:  28 Pts (2)

Vince Samano:  18 Pts (0)