Boxing Challenge: Usyk repeats win

    It wasn't as dramatic as their first match but it was probably a better fight as Oleksandr Usyk repeated his win from the spring with a unanimous decision over Tyson Fury in Riyadh Saudi Arabia.

It was similar to the first match as Fury banked some early rounds and Usyk slowly wore the much larger man down winning most of the final two-thirds of the bout.

The problem that Tyson Fury has with Oleksandr Usyk is this- all of the skills that have made Fury an excellent champion are skills that Usyk possesses and better.

All three judges scored Usyk a winner 116-112, the same as mine, and I think this is the consensus score.

If you give every remotely close round to Fury, you might get to a draw but even that feels wrong.

Usyk was challenged by IBF champion Daniel DuBois after the fight and it came off especially classless, especially since Usyk knocked out DuBois last year and DuBois has a difficult title defense in February against Joseph Parker on tap.

Fury can always fight Anthony Joshua for a big payday and draw a stadium-sized crowd in the UK, so I wouldn't think his career is over.

In the other challenge bouts, promising heavyweight Moses Itauma impressively mowed down Demsey McKean in one round, and junior middleweight Serhii Bohachuk defeated Ishmael Davis when Davis's corner stopped the fight after the end of the sixth round.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 190 Pts (6)

Ramon Malpica: 186 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 116 Pts (0)

Bengals claw Browns 24-6

     Jerome Ford raced sixty-six yards on the Cleveland Browns' first offensive play to the Cincinnati Bengals eleven-yard line.

Alas, Don'ta Foreman fumbled before he reached the end zone to end the drive and the Browns would finish the first half with a little over twenty yards of offense (other than Ford's run) for the first half in a 24-6 loss to the Bengals.

Jerome Ford finished with ninety-two yards rushing and the Browns only touchdown to lead the Cleveland offense, which started Dorian Thompson-Robinson and was rewarded with a Watsonesque one hundred fifty-seven passing yards and two interceptions.

Cleveland slips to 3-12 in defeat and will play their final home game next week against the 7-8 Miami Dolphins.

Brownie Bits

1) During the CBS broadcast, sideline reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala reported that she had spoken with Jimmy Haslam before the game and that Haslam was overwhelming in his praise towards Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry and that the Browns won't be making any front office changes.

2) When you watch something this dreadful in such a painful season and that's the news that breaks?

It's just head-shaking in how utterly lost this franchise currently is.

3) Myles Garrett's sack of Joe Burrow was number one hundred for his career, which gave Garrett the honor of being the youngest player to reach that number.

Earlier this year, Garrett became only the second player (Lawrence Taylor) ever to finish with over ten sacks for five consecutive seasons.

4) I'm not against the Browns starting Dorian Thompson-Robinson in the final two games of the season.

The Browns need to earn draft position and then pray that Andrew Berry is somehow unable to reach the draft room in any capacity to do anything smart but the first step of the journey is be as bad as you can 

5) Can we please dispose of the narrative that the Browns "Need to see what they have in DTR" now?

It's not hard to see what they have- a strong runner without a good arm, slight frame, gets knocked around easily, and tries to make plays with his legs which often results in turnovers.

DTR is the type of player that dazzles in pre-season against lesser talented opponents but his shortcomings are glaring when he plays in regular season games and with his style, I'm fine with him as a third quarterback if your wagon is hitched to a DeShaun Watson type passer.

If you don't use that type of quarterback, DTR, I hear Winnipeg is lovely at this time of the year.

6) The Jerome Ford run on the Browns first offensive play for sixty-six yards was over three times the number of yards the Browns would gain for the remainder of the first half.

7) Don'ta Foreman fumbled the football inches away from crossing the goal line to ruin the first Browns drive.

Interesting note on Foreman, he's been healthy and Cleveland had used him on the inactive list for the previous five games.

8) The constant talk about Jerry Jeudy's leap in production should now cease as Jeudy finished with only two catches for twenty yards but the takeaway for me was that Jeudy was only thrown to three times.

The common thread? No Jameis Winston.

9) The off-season extension to Dustin Hopkins continues to age poorly.

Hopkins, who was given last week off to work on his mechanics, had one attempt in Cincinnati and he missed an extra point.

10) The Browns did have one chance to get back into the game as Dorian Thompson-Robinson scored a touchdown on a scramble but Jordan Akins was called for holding to negate the score.

Thompson-Robinson was hit as he threw later in the drive, tossed up a floater that softly fell into the waiting arms of the Bengals Jordan Battle.

11) I'm looking for positives and I found one in the Browns pass rush as they sacked Joe Burrow four times but the real positive was the play of Michael Hall and Isaiah McGuire, who each collected a sack.

Hall had personal problems after Cleveland drafted him in round two this past draft and only now reaching the field with regular snaps while McGuire was a player I really liked after the Browns took him in round four of the 2023 draft.

Hopefully both will receive lots of playing time in the final two games.

12) Finally from the That's So Browns department.

The Browns have stopped the Bengals late in the first half and the Bengals are running the punt team onto the field, figuring Kevin Stefanski will call a timeout.

Stefanski doesn't and runs the time down to a few seconds.

Now the Bengals have nothing to lose on the last play of the half and send in Cade York (Yes, THAT Cade York) to attempt a fifty-nine yard field goal, which of course York nails.

That's so Browns when Cade York connects from fifty-nine yards and the guy the Browns extend misses his only kick on an extra point.

Ohio State hammers Tennessee in CFP Opener

        The Ohio State Buckeyes may not receive a second chance to defeat the Michigan Wolverines this season. Still, they will have a revenge opportunity against the Oregon Ducks, as Ohio State dusted off the Tennessee Volunteers in the first round of the CFP 42-17  at the Horseshoe in Columbus.

Will Howard threw for over three hundred yards and two touchdowns to Jeremiah Smith (six catches for 103 yards) to lead the passing attack and TreVeyon Henderson ran for two scores and eighty yards on ten carries.

Ohio State will meet Oregon in the "Rose Bowl"/ CFP Quarter-Final on New Year's Day.

Olentangy Offerings

1) This game wasn't as close as the final score which says a lot.

Ohio State scored touchdowns on their first three possessions for a 21-0 lead and were on their way to another score before Will Howard's only interception of the game in the end zone. 

2) I wasn't worried even as Tennessee closed the gap to 21-10 at halftime.

It took a few bad calls and breaks for Tennessee to score those points and their drives were so long that I didn't think the Volunteers were capable of multiple drives to cut into the lead further.

3) The call on the end zone interception by Tennessee's Will Brooks was questionable on two fronts.

The first is that Jeremiah Smith was clearly interfered with and should earned a penalty for pass interference.

The other is that I don't think Brooks had full control of the football when he landed with his foot in bounds.

Those are minor quibbles after a 42-17 win but they didn't feel minor at the time.

4) Tennessee's only touchdown drive of the first half, Ohio State appeared to have snuffed out the drive on an interception by Davison Igbinosun before a very light roughing the passer penalty on Kenyatta Jackson allowed the drive to continue.

Just a terrible call on that one.

5) Ohio State played looser and with abandon and it was easy to see from the start as the play calling was aggressive and kept hammered on Tennessee, no matter the situation.

Ryan Day coaches better when he is aggressive rather than timidly and it's my biggest complaint with Day.

6)  Jeremiah Smith became the first Ohio State freshman to exceed one thousand receiving yards in the win.

More players will achieve this goal as seasons lengthen, so it was nice that Smith took this in twelve games.

7) Ohio State's offensive line had been maligned throughout the season but they bullied a Tennessee defense that was expected to stuff the Buckeye ground game.

Ohio State outrushed Tennessee 156-152 beating the Vols at the game that was expected to be their best chance at victory.

8) TreVeyon Henderson ran for eighty yards and caught four passes for fifty-four yards as he continued his late-season push to surpass Quinshon Judkins as Ohio State's lead back.

Henderson's career started with so much promise but injuries caused a downturn in production.

Henderson's late-season play has revitalized his career and I bet he will be starting for someone in the NFL next season.

9) Jack Sawyer and J.T Tuimoloau dominated the Tennessee offensive line with Tuimoloau and Sawyer combined for three and a half sacks.

These two are playing the best football in their career at the right time for both the Buckeyes and the players just as they are ready to move to the pros.

10) Tennessee brought an estimated 30,000 fans to the game as Ohio State's ticket department had their discount code leaked early. Volunteers fans scooped up tickets happily as disgruntled fans from the Michigan loss were too slow to get started.

That combined with a drivable distance (357 miles) gave the visitors a major presence in the Horseshoe.

Give Tennessee's crew credit for their craftiness and for coming out but OSU caused much of that.

11) As happy as I am with the win, it's frustrating to think of just how easily this team could have cruised past Michigan had they played half as well on offense as they did vs Tennessee.

As hard as it is to accept that, the title is in reach and the Buckeyes will be motivated against Oregon.
Should be a good one.

Boxing Challenge

      The boxing challenge will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The main event will feature the three titles in the heavyweight division that Oleksandr Usyk was allowed to keep after his split decision win over Tyson Fury earlier this year. 

Usyk held the WBA, IBF, and WBO crowns and added the WBC held by Fury with the victory but the IBF stripped Usyk about thirty seconds after the win for taking the lucrative Fury rematch rather than face Daniel DuBois, who Usyk knocked out in 2023. 

Fury dominated the early rounds but was fortunate to survive the eighth round after Usyk knocked him down and had Fury staggering around the ring.

Usyk controlled the late rounds and deserved the decision but it was close enough to make a rematch intriguing.

Fury was thought to be the harder puncher of the two, yet it was Usyk who scored the fight's only knockdown. Fury never really used his larger bulk to try to wear down the naturally smaller fighter, so one can see how Fury could turn the tables and win the rematch, much as he did against Deontay Wilder in their second fight after a first-fight draw.

Still, I'd favor the more versatile Usyk against Fury, who may have been a little overrated as a boxer because he outboxed opponents who couldn't cope with Fury's skills but might have been outboxed by many top heavyweights.

The undercard isn't as dazzling as the usual cards from Riyadh Season with the co-feature a junior middleweight bout between Serhii Bohachuk and late replacement Ishmael Davis in which the winner will be the mandatory challenger for WBC champion Sebastian Fundora.

Bohachuk was originally scheduled to face former WBA champion Israil Madrimov but Madrimove dropped out when given a chance to face Vergil Ortiz in February.

Bohachuk lost a majority decision to Ortiz in his last fight despite dropping Ortiz twice in the match and a fight with Madrimov was highly anticipated but instead faces Davis, who lost his first fight in September to Josh Kelly by majority decision.

The remaining challenge bout is in the heavyweight division with talented prospect Moses Itauma battling Demsey Mckean in a ten-rounder.

Itauma won impressively in his last fight, stopping trialhorse Mariusz Wach in two rounds, and is thought of by many as the best prospect in the division.

McKean hasn't fought in sixteen months after losing for the first time in his career, being stopped by Filip Hrgovic in the twelfth round.

Boxing Challenge

WBA/WBC/WBO Heavyweight Titles. 12 Rds 

Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury

Ramon Malpica: Fury Split Decision
TRS: Usyk Unanimous Decision

Vince Samano: Fury Unanimous Decision

Junior Middleweights 12 Rds

Serhei Bohachuk vs Ishmael Davis

R.L: Bohachuk Unanimous Decision

TRS: Bohachuk KO 10

V.S: Davis Unanimous Decision

Heavyweights, 10 Rds

Moses Itauma vs Demsey McKean

R.L: Itauma Unanimous Decision
TRS: Itauma KO 3
V.S: McKean KO 6 

PPM

 The bowls continue, the CFP begins and the NFL hits the final stretch as teams jockey for playoff berths and seeding position.

Last Week: 6-3

Overall:141-72

College

CFP Playoffs

Ohio State over Tennessee 24-14

Notre Dame over Indiana 31-21

Penn State over SMU 24-17

Texas over Clemson 41-24

Cure Bowl

Ohio over Jacksonville State 33-26

Gasparilla Bowl

Florida over Tulane 24-21

Myrtle Beach Bowl

Coastal Carolina over UTSA 37-32

Potato Bowl

Fresno State over Northern Illinois 27-21

Hawaii Bowl

San Jose State over South Florida 29-21

Game Above Bowl

Toledo over Pittsburgh 27-23

Rate Bowl

Kansas State over Rutgers 38-19

Ventures Bowl

Bowling Green over Arkansas State 28-17

Armed Forces Bowl

Oklahoma over Navy 24-21

Birmingham Bowl

Georgia Tech over Vanderbilt 33-24

Liberty Bowl

Texas Tech over Arkansas 44-37

Holiday Bowl

Syracuse over Washington State 29-24

Las Vegas Bowl

Texas A&M over USC 35-21

NFL

Bengals over Browns 24-10

Games of the Week

Ravens over Steelers 20-14

Eagles over Commanders 33-27

Lefty Driesell

      He was a program builder, a showman, a recruiter, and a salesman.

Lefty Driesell was all of those plus many other adjectives and adverbs and the Hall of Fame coach's recent passing at the age of ninety-two brought lots of memories back to me (perhaps even more if I hadn't somehow lost the first version of this).

Lefty Driesell was the originator of Midnight Madness, a master recruiter who landed the top player in the country three times (although Moses Malone turned pro with the ABA Utah Stars), and a man so beloved by his fanbase that the Maryland band would play "Hail to the Chief" when he walked onto the floor with Lefty returning the V for Victory sign.

Lefty came to Maryland in 1969 from Davidson, where he had reached the Elite Eight in the previous two seasons, vowing to turn the Terrapins into the "UCLA of the East".

Driesell may have fallen short of that prediction but he turned the DMV into a basketball area and set the stage for some of the best basketball that this area has seen.

Under Lefty, Maryland won its second ACC Tournament (1984) in program history, won its only NIT (1972) in the days when the NIT was more than a consolation prize, took Maryland to its only Elite Eight appearances (1973 and 1975) before the Gary Williams Final Four teams in 2001 and 2002, won the first two ACC regular season titles (1975, 1980) in program history, and won twenty or more games on ten occasions.

Driesell recruited the top player in the nation to Maryland three times. Tom McMillen and Albert King played for Maryland, and Moses Malone committed to the Terrapins before signing with the Utah Stars of the ABA.

Driesell also coached nine first-round picks in the NBA draft, including John Lucas (first overall in 1976), Len Bias (second overall in 1986), and Buck Williams (third overall in 1981).

Driesell also indirectly played a part in the gradual expansion of the NCAA Tournament when his 1973-74 Terrapins were a top-four team but due to the NCAA"s one team per conference rule, were unable to participate when they lost their classic 103-100 overtime game in the 1974 ACC tournament final to the eventual NCAA champions in N.C. State.

Lefty is also the only coach in college basketball history to win one hundred games at four schools, Davidson, Maryland, James Madison, and Georgia State, and to take each of those teams to the NCAA tournament.

Lefty wasn't known as a great X and O coach and that was a major criticism about him through the years as his teams lost more than their share of big games in crunch time.

Lefty finally won the title that he wanted most in 1984 when the second-seeded Terrapins caught a break when unbeaten (in conference) regular season champion North Carolina was upset in the semi-final round by Duke, allowing Maryland to play the Blue Devils in the ACC Tournament final, emerging with a 74-60 victory with Len Bias as tournament MVP as a sophomore.

While I can understand how Juan Dixon could be considered to be the greatest player in program history with Dixon as the star of the only national championship team, I'd make the argument that Len Bias was the best player with two ACC Player of the Year awards and it was Lefty Driesell who recruited him to Maryland.

Lefty Driesell's reign may not have been as successful as Gary Williams's as Williams won the school's first and only national title but some of his seventies teams might have won a national title if those tournaments played with sixty-four teams and it was the success of the Driesell era that is the foundation of the tradition of Maryland basketball.

I wonder if Lefty would have been elected to the Hall of Fame earlier had the Len Bias tragedy not occurred.

Maryland was still a consistent NCAA tournament participant under Driesell and my guess is he would have been at Maryland for another ten to fifteen years, so the numbers would have been large enough at the top level of the sport that they couldn't have been ignored.

And there are the memories I have of Lefty and his Terrapins that are so meaningful to me today because it was Maryland basketball that I shared with my father.

We rooted for different teams in sports except for Maryland basketball and those childhood memories of watching Lefty's coaches show on winter Saturday mornings and ACC battles with my dad or telling him the next morning of a game that he missed because he worked second shift the night before.

The highs and lows of Maryland basketball (and sports in general) were something that I could share with my dad to find common ground in a relationship that didn't have many common interests aside from sports and I always smile thinking of those twelve years of childhood rooting for Maryland with my dad.

From the crushing defeats to North Carolina and N.C. State to the euphoric wins over some of the best teams in the country, Lefty Driesell, and his teams helped me fall in love with basketball and share that with my father.

I'm sure Lefty would have rather raised a national championship trophy but somehow turning an entire region into a basketball-crazed area is a nice consolation prize.

I'm sorry this is being posted ten months after Lefty's passing.

I had an entire post written and ready over the summer but a snafu just before uploading caused the original to be lost.

Boxing Challenge: Munguia Vaporized!

    The boxing weekend appeared to have a few interesting bouts, mainly to keep contenders in action, but one right hand from the sky felled a contender and became the star of the weekend.

Unbeaten and unknown Bruno Surace of France hadn't beaten anyone of note and had only fought a few ten-rounders before he traveled to Tijuana, Mexico to face super middleweight contender Jaime Munguia.

Few gave Surace a chance, and even if you thought Surace had a chance, with only four knockouts in his twenty-five wins, no one thought Surace could stop the durable Munguia. After the expected Munguia win, he would face Christian Mbilli in a WBC-ordered eliminator, which would be sure to be a crowd-pleaser.

Surace was better than advertised and despite losing most of the first five rounds and being knocked down in the second round by a Munguia hook, Surace was hanging around in a fight that he appeared to be overmatched.

That was before Surace bounded off the ropes with a pulverizing right hand that dropped Munguia to the floor.

Munguia bravely beat the count but couldn't continue as the fight ended as what will likely be named the upset of the year for 2024.

Munguia vs Mbilli will be delayed as Munguia will likely look for a chance to redeem himself against Surace as quickly as possible.

Monte Carlo was the site of the first of DAZN's two cards with their main event featuring former WBA and IBF junior featherweight champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev, who knocked Ricardo Espinoza down three times in the third round before the referee stopped the fight in that round.

Akhmadaliev is the best fighter in the division that has yet to meet the undisputed champion, Naoya Inoue, and in winning a WBA minor title,  Akhmadaliev will hopefully receive his chance at "The Monster" sometime in 2025.

In the evening DAZN program, welterweights Alexis Rocha and Raul Curiel swapped punches for twelve exciting rounds with the judges deciding on a majority decision draw.

Rocha banked the early rounds by boxing a bit and keeping Curiel at bay from the outside but began to exchange more often, which made the fight more fan-friendly but took away Rocha's tactical advantage.

The scorecards were 116-112 for Rocha and two at 114-114, which is how I saw the fight.

Both fighters seemed amenable to a rematch; considering this fight, a rematch would be well received.

Unbeaten junior middleweight Charles Conwell continued his march to a title shot with a dominating seventh-round knockout of Gerardo Vergara.

Conwell should be in line for either a title chance or a final title eliminator next year.

On Sunday, heavyweight contender Dillian Whyte won a surprisingly entertaining slugfest over Ebenezer Tetteh when Tetteh's corner ended the fight after the seventh round.

Tetteh's only loss entering the fight came to Daniel DuBois via first-round knockout and most expected Tetteh to look for a way out as soon as Whyte hit him but showed plenty of heart in exchanging with Whyte throughout the fight.

Whyte hurt Tettah badly in both the sixth and seventh rounds and the fight was stopped at the right time.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 184 Pts(5)

TRS: 184 Pts (5)

Vince Samano: 116 (1)