Boxing Challenge

     There is only one bout in the boxing challenge this weekend, and it's a bout between two aging heavyweights with little mobility that could make an entertaining affair.

Joe Joyce and Derek Chisora both are in need of a victory and each may have picked an opponent that will give them the best chance for a W.

Joyce looked headed for a title shot after knockout wins over Daniel DuBois and Joseph Parker, both victories looking better today than they did at the time but was stopped twice by Zhilei Zhang in 2023.

Joyce stopped unheralded Kash Ali in the tenth round in his last outing but didn't look terrific winning and despite only an eighteen-fight career, it's fair to question Joyce's future at age thirty-eight.

Chisora has taken some beatings in his career and fights in spurts now but he usually makes things somewhat entertaining and if matched properly, can deliver some fun fights.

Eighteen months ago, this would have been considered a mismatch but Joyce's last three fights have raised questions and a much more interesting fight.

If Joyce is in top form, his size and power should prove too much for Chisora but if his recent form continues, this may be a much closer fight.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: Joyce KO 7 

TRS: Joyce KO 10

Vince Samano: Joyce Unanimous Decision

56

     It's that time of year again to reflect on another victory over father time with the "Bulldog" of Ball Four fame, Jim Bouton, receiving the honors to represent 56.

It's been a different year since last July.

My work issues were settled in my favor but I've had a few changes in schedule since then, and while I really enjoy the new schedule as far as time off, I can't say I don't miss the solitude of the overnight shift.

I don't travel like I did previously because most of my autographing days are finished.

Baseball doesn't play on Mondays in the minors, and I work Fridays and Saturdays now, which makes me unavailable for those nights.

I miss the camaraderie of the group but I've found that I don't miss netting around the field, overly officious club employees right out of college, and I don't miss players that act more like businessmen than baseball players.

I still go on the occasional trip but they have to be planned even more now than in the past and when I do go, I find myself having more fun doing anything but going to the game!

My family has gone through a change or two but I'll save most of that for the road trip series that I am in the middle of writing.

I still have the love of my life happy and healthy, who always takes care of me and asks for next to nothing in return.

I'm blessed to have Cherie here with me and our crazy dog, Posey, brings so much joy to my life.

Rachel is doing her work with video editing and YouTube and is doing very well with her job.

Ryan lives in Omaha, Nebraska and while I miss him, I'm lucky enough to live in an age where I can talk to him for free anytime I wish.

Sometimes, I think we all wish for the simplicity of times past and there is much to be said for those days.

However, when you have family and friends around the country, the current technology allows almost the contact and everyday comfort of living a few miles away.

I couldn't be prouder of either of my kids, I worry as all parents do but I couldn't be prouder.

I still enjoy sports and writing about them but my time is limited compared to what it once was and it has affected the blog a little.

I worry like everyone else about the everyday things that affect us all and as we all age, our aches and pains that used to come and go now come more frequently and take longer to leave.

I worry about my weight and wonder how this got to this point yet I move around like a far smaller man and I feel fortunate for that.

I am a fortunate person with family and friends who care about me as I care for them.

Could things be better?

Of course but most of the things that could be better aren't life-changing, they just make life a little easier and a little more fun

Thanks to all of you and I wish I could name everyone but it's getting late and I really want to finish up.

When you think about it that way, life at 56 isn't so bad.

Boxing Challenge; Ennis shines in title defense

     The boxing weekend took a blow when IBF and WBO middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly was forced from his title defense due to dehydration but two bouts remained on the week, both with world title ramifications.

From Philadelphia. Matchroom/DAZN presented Jaron "Boots" Ennis in his Matchroom debut as well as his first defense of his IBF welterweight title against David Avanesyan, a replacement for Cody Crowley, who was forced to drop out with an eye injury.

Avanesyan was stopped in six rounds by Terence Crawford in December 2022, so there was some interest in comparing Crawford and Ennis to their fights against Avanesyan.

Ennis took only five rounds as the fight was stopped in the corner after round five and Ennis definitely impressed with his smooth offensive style battering Avanesyan throughout the fight.

Ennis knocked Avanesyan down in the fifth and was landing loads of punches after the knockdown.

Avanesyan survived the round on unsteady legs and the corner did the right thing by ending the fight.

Ennis looked great and while many would love to see him against Terence Crawford, that fight isn't happening, and the available unifications might not be easy to make or overly exciting (Eimantas Stanonis WBA and Mario Barrios WBC are with PBC and soon-to-be promoted to WBO full champion Brian Norman is associated with Top Rank), so it's possible that Ennis may have to move to junior middleweight before we find out just how good he is- And my suspicions are that he is excellent.

After the late fall-out from Janibek Alimkhanuly, lightweight contender Raymond Muratalla's fight with former IBF junior lightweight champion Tevin Farmer was moved to the ESPN+/Top Rank main event from Las Vegas.

And for seven rounds, Farmer was on the verge of a major upset and was slightly leading on my card.

But Farmer was deducted a point for holding in round eight ( a questionable call in my opinion) and was badly hurt in the final round as part of a three-round sweep for Muratalla to pull out a unanimous decision.

Scores were 97-92, 96-93, and 95-94 for the unbeaten contender, my card agreeing with the 96-93 version.

Muratalla called out WBO champion Denis Baranchyk after the fight and that would be an easy fight to make promotionally but William Zepeda (the top contender in all four organizations) is rumored to see Baranchyk as the easiest of the four champions and may select the WBO title as the fight that Zepeda will fight for, which means Muratalla will have to wait.

As for Farmer, the veteran looked very good when you consider his recent inactivity and he could be in the title picture, should he be able to repeat his performance on Saturday.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 107 Pts (4) 

TRS: 95 Pts (4)
Vince Samano: 50 Pts (1)

Boxing Challenge

   The boxing weekend isn't filled with intriguing matchups but two fighters who may only need a big fight to become stars at the next level are in action on Saturday.

In Philadelphia, Jaron "Boots" Ennis will make the first defense of his IBF welterweight title that Terence Crawford vacated against an opponent that Crawford defeated, David Avanesyan. 

Crawford knocked out Avanesyan in six rounds in December 2022, so it will be interesting to compare Ennis's outing against him with that of Crawford's.

Ennis has been off for a year since his tenth-round stoppage of Roiman Villa and Avanesyan is a somewhat late replacement for Cody Crowley, who was originally the organization's mandatory challenger before failing an eye exam.

The fight will be the first for Ennis with Matchroom Boxing and can be seen on DAZN.

ESPN+ and Top Rank will be in Las Vegas for the first unified title defense for IBF and WBO middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly as he faces a literal unknown in Andrei Mikhailovich. 

Alimkhanuly won his second title (IBF) when he stopped Vincent Gualtieri in six rounds in what may have been the most anonymous title unification fight ever.

Mikhailovich is Russian-born but fights out of New Zealand and has fought no one you have heard of before.

Mikhailovch's one win that stands out is a 2023 fifth-round knockout of Edisson Saltarin, who I've also never heard of but was 16-0 entering the fight in which both fighters were knocked down.

Unless Mikhailovich is much better than I anticipated, this should be another Alimkhanuly showcase bout.

Editor's Note: This fight has been canceled after Alimkhanuly was hospitalized with dehydration.

The co-feature is in the lightweight division with young contender Raymond Muratalla facing former IBF junior lightweight champion Tevin Farmer in a ten-rounder.

Muratalla was average in his last fight, winning a unanimous decision over Xolisani Ndongeni while Farmer will be fighting his first contender since losing his title in 2020 to Joseph Diaz.

Farmer has always been a slick boxer but I don't think he has the strength to hold off the larger and stronger Muratalla.

Boxing Challenge

IBF Welterweight Title 12 Rds 

Jaron Ennis vs David Avanesyan

Ramon Malpica: Ennis KO 7
TRS: Ennis KO 4
Vince Samano: Ennis Unanimous Decision

IBF & WBO Middleweight Titles. 12 Rds

Janibek Alimkhanuly vs Andrei Mikhailovich

R.L: Alimkhanuly Unanimous Decision
TRS: Alimkhanuly KO 6
V.S: Alimkhanuly KO 8

Lightweights. 10 Rds

Raymond Muratalla vs Tevin Farmer

R.L: and TRS: Muratalla Unanimous Decision

V.S: Farmer Unanimous Decision

Cleaning out the Inbox: Non-Sports Passings

      This is an especially sad tribute edition, devoted to the non-sports world.

Goodbye to Joe Flaherty at the age of 82.

Flaherty was part of the SCTV ensemble cast from 1976-84 as both a writer and a performer, creating classic characters such as station owner Guy Caballero, talk show host Sammy Maudlin, news anchor Floyd Robertson, late-night horror star Count Floyd, and many others.

Flaherty worked steadily after SCTV, including the co-starring role with John Candy in "Going Berserk", portraying the father "Harold Weir" in the one-year run of 1999's "Freaks and Geeks", and as "Donald The Heckler" in "Happy Gilmore" who heckles the title character at the direction of "Shooter McGavin".

Goodbye to Dabney Coleman at the age of 92.

Often cast as the heel in "9 to 5". "Tootsie", and "War Games" to name a few, Coleman was a versatile actor who was equally adept in comedy and dramatic roles.

Coleman played the lead "Bill Bittinger" in "Buffalo Bill" the 1983-84 series that would receive my vote for the best comedy that never got a break from the network (I wrote about Buffalo Bill here) and was canceled well before it should have been.

Coleman was nominated for a Golden Globe for Buffalo Bill and won one in 1987 for his other series leading role "The Slap Maxwell Story", a role in which Coleman won an Emmy.

Goodbye to M. Emmett Walsh at the age of 88.

A longtime character actor, Walsh is credited with acting in over 220 films and television programs.

Walsh's memorable roles were as the assassin attempting to kill Steve Martin in "The Jerk", sportswriter Dickie Dunn in "Slap Shot". the head of the booster club in "Best of Times, the diving coach in "Back to School", and the voice of  Earl Stutz in the animated film "The Iron Giant".

Goodbye to Alice Stewart at the age of 58.

Stewart started her career as a weekend anchor for a Little Rock, Arkansas television station before transitioning to politics. She was part of five different campaigns attempting to win the Republican Presidential nomination, all of whom fell short in the attempt.

Stewart joined CNN as a conservative commentator in 2016 and served in that role with the network until her passing.

Goodbye to Bill Anders at the age of 90.

The lunar module pilot on Apollo 8 was part of a mission without a lunar module but still was part of the three-man crew that circled the moon on Christmas 1968.

Anders is the person who took the famous photo "Earthrise" on the Apollo 8 mission, which has been named as one of the one hundred most important photos of the twentieth century.

Anders worked for NASA after the mission but never flew into space again, was the U.S. ambassador to Norway for a year, and became a multi-millionaire for his work as the CEO of General Dynamics. 

Cleaning out the Inbox

       I keep attempting to catch up with the inbox and try to write about my most recent trip but I keep running in place!  

Pluto's "heart" (now named Sputnik Planitia)  was most likely caused by a giant impact but the interesting unanswered question is this- Could the item that slammed into Pluto still be on the planet covered under its nitrogen ice? 

Sky and Telescope discuss the matter here. 

Washingtonian writes of the closing of the Crystal City Underground mall which will occur in October.

Dubbed the DC Area's strangest mall since its opening in 1976, Crystal City is literally underground (technically street level) in Arlington, Virginia, and catered to office workers and commuters going through Crystal City to get somewhere elsewhere.

The Athletic writes about the conditions at the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium which were anything but pristine.

The article discusses the paper-thin clubhouse walls that fans could see the players through, the tiny clubhouse that wasn't capable of holding the entire team after September callups, the awful post-game food spread, and the only batting cage in the entire facility.

Three Down Nation notes that CTV (Canadian Television) will return to televising the CFL later in the season (the CFL season has currently started) on Saturdays along with playoff action.

CTV is the largest Canadian network and last televised the Canadian Football League in 1986 when it shared the league's television rights with CBC.

KETV writes of the discovery of a pet donkey, who had been missing for five years in California, has been discovered by a video taken by a hunter in the area.

Diesel ran away from his owners near Sacramento in 2019 and hadn't been seen since until spotted on a video but the catch?

It appears Diesel is the leader of a pack of elk, which is a surprise to me until you discover that donkeys often protect livestock and it would make sense that a wild donkey could fill the role of protector with a pack of any animal.

Fox Business wraps this edition with word of Build-A-Bear and their recent offering of West Virginia's Mothman having sold out almost instantly and is currently unavailable.

The Mothman was the topic of the 2002 film "The Mothman Prophecies" and was visited by me and my friends on a 2017 Road Trip. 

Road Trip: Kansas City, here we come!

     I planned from the beginning that the second day was the best opportunity to squeeze in a day trip before the real business started, I wanted to visit both the Truman and Eisenhower libraries before returning home.

I decided to visit the Truman Library first for two reasons- the first is that the Truman Library was closer to Omaha than the Eisenhower Library and the other is if plans changed ( and they often can), if I had to choose one or the other, I preferred the Truman library. 

We left in the morning for the two-and-a-half-hour drive to Independence, Missouri, which is a suburb of Kansas City.

I was a little surprised at the condition of Independence as we entered town.

There was some road work being done but many closed stores with barred windows and it seemed to be very run-down.

Pulling up to the Truman Library, the front grounds were more expansive than I expected, and from my time watching programs on and from the library were the most familiar to me.

However, the most recent renovation placed the entrance at what formerly was the rear of the building.

I didn't realize this until we were touring the building for sure as the mural that used to be the first thing that visitors saw when entering, now was near the end of the building's tour.

The main difference is the new entrance has the feeling of being in a residential area with houses that were likely around when the library was built (it opened in 1957) and a cozier area than the previous entrance which looked like a looming colossus!

When entering the building, we passed an elderly woman and someone who called her "grandma'.

As I took the photo at the top of the page, this guy began to act strangely and began making odd remarks to the elderly lady, which made me wonder what his deal was.

When entering the museum, we saw another life-size statue of Truman and more noise from this guy and when we entered the first stage, the guy started to holler and make strange noises.

We never heard from or saw him again, so my best guess is that security walked him out.

What I really liked about the Truman Library was how wide the building is and the center area with the President's and First Lady's graves and the President's office area.

Everything seems so modern which is amazing with the building nearing seventy years of age!

I enjoyed going to the basement of the building and seeing various vehicles that were used by the family during the White House years and I loved watching some of the films that the museum featured.

As we hit the gift shop on the way out, I bought a few magnets for the fridge (I really liked one that was based on the cover of the book Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure) and my biggest decision came down to which Truman item I wished to buy for me.

The library had an awesome Swiss Army Knife from Victorinox with a facsimile autograph of Truman available in blue or white.

I love Victorinox's products and a similar-sized knife that looks like Swiss cheese that my mother-in-law bought for Christmas a few years ago is a staple on my key ring.

A Truman bobblehead had some appeal too and to my surprise, the knife was a few dollars cheaper.

I decided on the knife and the other items before leaving the museum.

For a facility of its age, the Truman Library through its renovations and design has given a modern and fresh look and feel to the building, which I would highly recommend to anyone in the area.

We began the drive to Omaha, looking for a place for lunch.

I had originally considered Kansas City's barbeque staple Arthur Bryant's but while we were close enough to see the Kansas City skyline, it would have been going out of the way to get there and we were beginning to see the rush hour traffic as a possibility, so I wanted to get ahead of that, if I could.

As we hit the fringes of the KC metro area, I saw a sign for Whataburger, the Texas-based burger chain that I visited once in Florida, and instantly decided on Whataburger so Cherie could try it.

It turns out that Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who grew up in Texas and attended Texas Tech, wanted Whataburgers in the Kansas City area and is a member of a partnership that owns franchises in the Kansas City and Wichita areas.

This store placed a signed Mahomes jersey in the lobby as part of the decor.

Whataburger ranks with Five Guys (I've never had the West Coast staple In and Out) as the best of the higher chain burger joints and if you have the chance to stop at one- do so!

After leaving Whataburger, we stopped at WD Pickers in Platte City, Missouri and while they had many things that I would have loved to have purchased, their prices were a bit high and they didn't have anything that I had to have at those prices.

Still, I'd return there on another trip, if I was in the area.

We also stopped in St. Joseph MO and the Jesse James antique market, named after the outlaw who died in St.Joseph.

It was large with two buildings but I didn't purchase anything there either.

We finally rolled back into Omaha and one thing I consistently notice that is different than the East Coast is the distance between gas stations, restaurants, etc.

In the East, they are all over the place, even smaller or rural areas, and in the Midwest, there are far fewer.

We then met Ryan and his family for an orchestra recital, which proved to be interesting, mainly because the youngsters played six pieces that all sounded the same despite the director calling out the song titles before each piece.

A stop at a local supermarket (Family Fare) for some supplies for the hotel concluded the day out other than a food trip next door to the hotel for dinner.

I'll get into more detail on that establishment as we move on in this series.

Next time on Road Trip- The reason we traveled to Omaha.