Big News and Big Plans

Just a few quick notes on some upcoming news for the blog/podcast and a little promotional note as well.

We start with my appearance with Ramon Malpica on his Prizefighter Podcast.
I love doing Ramon's show as it gives me time to offer opinions on the fight game without the constraints of being the host.
Ramon having me on his show,I've noted in the past,was the impetus for the beginnings of our podcast,so give it a listen and see what you think!

I'm also looking forward to our newest feature for the podcast that I'm hoping will start on Sunday as a weekly feature (usually) will be named "Chasing Cardboard".
Brad Adams will be a regular on the show and we will have other people on the show during the baseball season.
The plans for the show will be to tell stories from the autograph chasing game,who's signing and who's not with other items from the trail.
I'm excited about it and I hope you'll make it a regular part of your week,,,

I also wanted to add another stop on this year's ballpark tour as another new park might be stamped on my ballpark passport as Fred and Michael Landucci have graciously invited me to add the home of the West Virginia Power in July as the Power takes on the Augusta Greenjackets.
Augusta does not visit Hagerstown this year (the only SAL team not to do so),so this trip not only adds a ballpark,it gives me a chance hit a team loaded with prospects including first round pitcher Phil Bickford,assuming Bickford lasts that long before being promoted.
I'm looking forward to that!

I'm in the middle of a brutal 72 hour stretch complete with trainings and meetings,so if my head is clear enough,I plan on either a blog or podcast on the recent passings of country music legend Merle Haggard and pro wrestling star Blackjack Mulligan.....

Boxing Rankings-Part Two

Part two of our first ever boxing rankings consists of Lightweights under as our three man committee made our votes.
I decided to stop at the flyweight division and institute a top five under the flyweight limit for our next ratings in July.
Thanks to Ramon Malpica and Vincent Samano for taking the time to vote....

Lightweights
1) Jorge Linares WBC Champ 15 pts
2) Terry Flanagan WBO Champ 8 pts
3) Dejan Zlaticanin 7 pts
4) Anthony Crolla WBA Champ 6 pts
5) Rances Barthelemy 4 pts
Also Received Votes:Emilio Marsilli,Ismael Barraso,Yuriorkis Gamboa

Junior Lightweights
1) Takashi Uchiyama WBA Champ 15 pts
2) Francisco Vargas WBC Champ 10 pts
3) Takashi Miura 5 pts
     Nicholas Walters
5) Rocky Martinez WBO Champ 4 pts
Also Received Votes: Orlando Salido,Javier Fortuna

Featherweights
1) Vasyl Lomachenko WBO Champ 15 pts
2) Leo Santa Cruz WBA Champ 12 pts
3) Gary Russell WBC Champ 8 pts
4) Jesus Cuellar 7 pts
5) Lee Selby IBF Champ 2 pts
Also Received Votes:Joseph Diaz

Junior Featherweights
1) Guillermo Rigondeaux 15 pts
2) Carl Frampton IBF Champ 11 pts
3) Scott Quigg 8 pts
4) Nonito Donaire WBO Champ 7 pts
5) Genesis Servania 2 pts
Also Received Votes:Juan Ceja,Hugo Ruiz

Bantamweights
1) Juan Carlos Payano WBA Champ 14 pts
2) Shinsuke Yamanaka WBC Champ 13 pts
3) Jamie McDonell 6 pts
4) Anselmo Moreno 5 pts
5) Lee Haskins IBF Champ 4 pts
Also Received Votes:Rau'shee Warren,Marlon Taples

Junior Bantamweights
1) Naoya Inoue WBO Champ 15 pts
2) Carlos Cuadras WBC Champ 12 pts
3) Kohei Kono WBA Champ 9 pts
4) McJoe Arroyo IBF Champ 4 pts
5) Omar Narvaez 3 pts
Also Received Votes:S.S.Runguisi

Flyweights
1) Roman Gonzalez WBC Champ 15 pts
2) Kazuto Ioka 11 pts
3) Juan Francisco Estrada WBA/WBO Champ 10 pts
4) Amnat Ruenroung IBF Champ 5 pts
5) Brian Viloria 2 pts
Also Received Votes:Giovanni Segura, N.P Chockchai



 

Podcast:Different thoughts on guns and one and dones..

We offer some different thoughts and theories on a mobile mini-cast.

I offer some thoughts on guns and the people that use them without discussing gun control legislation in the aftermath of the death of former Buckeye Will Smith.

I also look at a not thought of theory of how being a 18 or 19 year old NBA player can affect a players career longevity and peak along with how this could affect the Cavaliers...

Pacquiao decisions Bradley,Joshua destroys Martin-Boxing Challenge

The boxing challenge rolled on with four big fights Saturday.
I added eight points over the day to R.L.Malpica's six and moved the overall lead to 31-22.

The glamour fight of the weekend might have involved Manny Pacquiao,but we might look back in time at this evening and realize that that the most newsworthy bout of the day was Anthony Joshua's two round demolition of Charles Martin to win the IBF Heavyweight title.

Joshua knocked Martin down twice in round two on his way to ending the title reign of arguably the least deserving heavyweight champion ever.
Martin,who won a vacant title when his opponent (Czar Glazkov) tore his ACL (knee) in the third round,deserves some credit for going to the UK to fight the former Olympic gold medalist and for being a good businessman for cashing in,was clearly out of his league against Joshua,who may still need some polishing,but has the most talent in a suddenly interesting heavyweight division.
Joshua will likely make his first defense against another talented prospect-New Zealand's Joseph Parker,who needs to get through a title eliminator against Carlos Takam first and with a win has options against David Haye in a huge fight for the UK,Tyson Fury in a bout to unify three of the four titles in an even bigger UK bout and maybe even down the road-American Deontay Wilder,should he keep his belt after a tough fights vs Alexander Povetkin.
R.L and I each earned two points for the Joshua win.

Lee Selby defended his IBF featherweight title on the Joshua undercard with a unanimous decision over Eric Hunter.
Selby was knocked down in the second,but controlled the rest of the fight and gave Ramon and I two more points...

In the glamour pay per view fight,Manny Pacquiao took a unanimous decision over Timothy Bradley in the unwanted third fight between the two.
Pacquiao knocked Bradley down in the seventh and ninth in cruising to the win.
Pacquaio claims this was his last fight and it may be,but I'm not sure it's because of that,but a lack of bigger fights for him.
Most of the talent in the division seems to be on the Al Haymon side of the ledger and unless Top Rank wants Pacquiao against Jessie Vargas (WBO champ and only champ promoted by T.R),which might have less buzz than this one,Pacquiao might be better suited to take time and see what opens up..
R.L.and I each added two more points.

Gilberto Ramirez won every round on the co-feature to win his first world title with a unanimous decision over Arthur Abraham for the WBO Super Middleweight title.
Ramirez is expected to be the latest star for Top Rank and was the first ever Mexican fighter to win a title heavier than 160 pounds.
The Ramirez win gave me two points,while R.L. picked Abraham.

Boxing Challenge

The Boxing Challenge returns after a hiatus from action and a missed date as far as picks go.
A PPV offers two big bouts and Showtime has another with a title bout on the undercard.

The biggest bout is the bout nobody wanted as Manny Pacquiao takes on Timothy Bradley in what is supposed to be his final fight
Top Rank bets on what it thinks will be a future star as Gilberto Ramirez goes after his first world title against Arthur Abraham and the IBF heavyweight belt is on the line in London with Charles Martin defending vs Olympic gold medalist Anthony Joshua.

I currently lead the challenge over R.L.Malpica 23-16.

Welterweights. 12 rds
Manny Pacquiao vs Timothy Bradley
Both:Pacquiao unanimous decision

WBO Super Middleweight title.12 rds
Arthur Abraham vs Gilberto Ramirez
R.L;Abraham split decision
TRS:Ramirez unanimous decision

IBF Heavyweight title.12 rds
Charles Martin vs Anthony Joshua
R.L;Joshua KO 4
TRS:Joshua KO 6

IBF Featherweight title.12 rds
Lee Selby vs Eric Hunter
Both:Selby unanimous decision

Our First Ever Boxing Ratings

Our first boxing ratings start today as we release part one of our quarterly rankings.
Part two of the ratings of the lightweights and under should go up next week....
The three person panel of myself,Ramon Malpica and Vincent Samano have worked on these.
I'd like to add two more voters for the next rankings,so let me know.
The ratings are determined as every voters ranks the top five with the top fighter getting five points down to the fifth fighter getting one...
I didn't give a clear criteria for the rankings,but my rankings balance overall ability with a big emphasis on quality victories..
Without further ado-here is part one of the first ever TRS boxing rankings

Heavyweight
1) Luis Ortiz 12 pts
2) Tyson Fury WBA/WBO Champ 11 pts
3) Wladimir Klitschko 9 pts
     Deontay Wilder WBC Champ
5) Alexander Povetkin 2 pts
    Anthony Joshua

Cruiserweight
1) Krzystof Glowacki WBO Champ 14 pts
2) Denis LeBedev WBA Champ 12 pts
3) Marco Huck 10 pts
4) Gregor Drozd 6 pts
5) Illunga Makubu 2 pts
Also received votes;Oleksander Usyk

Light Heavyweight
1) Sergei Kovalev WBA/IBF/WBO Champ 15 pts
2) Adonis Stevenson WBC Champ 10 pts
3) Andre Ward 9 pts
4) Artur Beterbiev 7 pts
5) Andrzej Fonfara 6 pts

Super Middleweights
1) James DeGale IBF Champ 13 pts
2) Gilberto Ramirez 12 pts
3) Arthur Abraham WBO Champ 11 pts
4) Badou Jack WBC Champ 5 pts
5) Andre Dirrell 2 pts
    Callum Smith

Middleweights
1) Gennady Golovkin WBA/IBF Champ 15 pts
2) Canelo Alvarez WBC Champ 12 pts
3) Daniel Jacobs 8 pts
4) Miguel Cotto 7 pts
5) Billy Joe Saunders WBO Champ 2 pts
Also received votes;David Lemieux

Jr Middleweights
1) Erislandy Lara WBA Champ 14 pts
2) Demetrius Andrade 10 pts
3) Jermall Charlo IBF Champ 7 pts
    Julian Williams
5) Jermell Charlo 5 pts
Also received votes;Austin Trout

Welterweights
1) Kell Brook IBF Champ 14 pts
2) Manny Pacquiao 11 pts
3) Timothy Bradley 9 pts
4) Keith Thurman WBA Champ 7 pts
5) Danny Garcia WBC Champ 3 pts
Also received votes:Shawn Porter

Junior Welterweights
1) Terence Crawford WBO Champ 15 pts
2) Viktor Postol WBC Champ 12 pts
3) Lamont Peterson 7 pts
4) Lucas Matthysse 6 pts
5) Adrien Broner 3 pts
     Ruslan Provodnikov

Hope you enjoyed this feature!!

Cleaning Out the Inbox

Time to clean out the inbox with a few notes of interest...

We will have more soon on the podcast or here on this,but this obit on the late Merle Haggard,who died yesterday at the age of 79 by Malcolm Jones is about as good of a tribute as you can get....
As a long time fan of Hag,it's a massive loss.....




Two different takes on the Boston Braves from Boston University and the Providence Journal.
The Journal piece is a little more basic and the BU article is far more detailed.
The BU article also focuses more on the home stadium of the Braves-Braves Field,which is now known as Nickerson Field.
The right field bleachers as seen in the photo are the only part of the seating that still stands to this day.
Nickerson Field was also the home for the one year existence of the USFL's Boston Breakers.
I'm always a huge mark for the stories from the teams no longer with us and you will (and have) see a lot of this type link through the years....

As a long-time and avowed SCTV fan,I had to add this article from the New Yorker on former SCTV stars Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara.
The pair currently star in Schitt's Creek,which is a Canadian television series,which can be seen here on the POP network.
I'd give it a chance,if it was on any other network.
POP is formerly the Tv Guide channel and only shows their programming on half the screen while scrolling the television schedule for the provider of choice as the program air.
That's incredibly annoying to me and maybe I'll find another venue to try the show as I have noted-I've been a fan of the two for years....

I haven't done very many games of daily coverage of the Devils this season,but I will be doing a season in review.
The best place to go for Devils info for years has been Tom Gulitti and the Bergen Record.
Gulitti's work on the Fire and Ice blog has been the first place that I have went for any Devils transactions,news etc and made my life much easier for what I write about the Devils.
Gulitti will be moving to Washington and writing for NHL.com,so someone else to be named will be taking over the Devils beat for the record next year.
He will be missed..

CNN.com looks at the final days of Al-Jazeera's American venture.
It's very interesting in the look behind the scenes at the mistakes,issues and problems that led to the demise of the network.
Nicole Mitchell,who long time readers will remember doing an extensive interview with us here,offers some comments for the piece.
I know the stigmas that come with the network,but I actually liked their network.
People that gave it a chance (and that was the hard part) found it very even handed and straightforward with none of the nonsense that passes for news on other networks...

That cleans things up for now.
More to come!