Boxing Challenge: Spence handily defeats Garcia

 Saturday night in Arlington, Texas quite a few issues were clearly resolved, but the biggest question of all still remains- Who is the best welterweight in the world, Errol Spence or Terrence Crawford?

Spence stated his case for that spot with a lopsided unanimous decision over former junior welterweight and welterweight champion Danny Garcia in retaining his WBC and IBF welterweight titles that only lacked a stoppage to prove about all one could prove in a victory.

Spence had been out of the ring since his September win over Shawn Porter due to a bad car accident and everyone wondered how that would affect the champion with some giving Garcia a better chance than usual to pull an upset because who knew how Spence would return to the ring.

The answer was simple- Spence was as sharp as ever in a win that couldn't have been much easier in defeating a top-five level opponent after time away from the game.

Spence's win over Garcia was far more conclusive than Garcia's other two (official, I'll never forgive the judges for giving Garcia the win over Mauricio Herrera) defeats against Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter and no one is going to want to see a rematch.

Spence never seriously hurt Garcia, but he used a thudding jab to swell Garcia's left eye and cheekbone that didn't allow Garcia to get any type of offensive attack moving.

Garcia was unable to counter Spence, yet didn't attempt to initiate often and even though Garcia did a reasonable job in making Spence miss, Garcia was never able to gain the respect of Spence with anything coming back at the Texan.

I scored Spence a 118-110 winner, which was a little wider than the official cards (116-112 twice and 117-111), but the victory was a definitive one and gave boxing followers one fact- We may not know who is the better welterweight in the world right now, but we know that there is a sizable drop from the top two to the next level of welterweight with Shawn Porter, Garcia, Keith Thurman, and Manny Pacquiao.

Spence didn't seem very excited about facing Crawford next and I'm not sure I blame him.

Spence is thought to be the stronger fighter and bigger puncher, but against Garcia who is better at 140 pounds than 147, he never hurt him, and against Shawn Porter, while he did knock Porter down in the eleventh round, it may be that Spence is a very strong fighter and not a huge puncher although a very good one.

If Spence isn't the power puncher that he is reputed to, he might have to use his physical strength on the leaner Crawford to try to win a potential battle and I'm not sure Spence has the quickness in his feet to stay with Crawford.

While the matchup would pit the best two welterweights in the world and this comes from a fan of both fighters, Errol Spence might have a difficult time matching up against Terence Crawford from a style perspective and that could be the most insurmountable obstacle of all in getting the fight everyone wants to see in the ring.

As for Danny Garcia, he simply didn't throw enough punches and confirmed the opinion that while he was an elite fighter at junior welterweight, he's merely very good at 147 pounds, and might have seen his peak years behind him.

That's not saying that Garcia is done by any means or even that he doesn't have some top wins still in him, but he may have passed the day that he is going to be really competitive against the elite in the division.

In the co-feature, 6'5 junior middleweight Sebastian Fundora knocked late replacement, Habib Ahmed, around the ring for a round and a half before referee Lawrence Cole stopped the mismatch.

This was a WBC title eliminator, so Fundora may be in line for another eliminator in the future for an eventual title shot against three-title champion Jermell Charlo down the road.

Fundora has been impressive in his last two wins and seems to be transitioning to more of a puncher rather than using his massive height and reach to outbox opponents.

I'll be interested in seeing how he fares in his next step up in competition...

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica four to two to stretch my lead to 167-154.

Buckeyes stomp Spartans 52-12

  Ohio State managed to squeeze their game in against Michigan State and despite three missing starters on the offensive line and others on defense, Ohio State scored the first thirty-five points and easily dispatched the Spartans 52-12 in East Lansing.

Justin Fields threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more, while Trey Sermon topped 100 yards in rushing while Chris Olave did the same in receiving yards.

The now 5-0 Buckeyes are scheduled to play Michigan next Saturday, but the Wolverines canceled their game with Maryland on Saturday and may not be able to play next week either.

Ohio State may be able to play another game if someone has an opening or they can hope the Big Ten changes their edict on teams needing to play six games to be eligible for the Big  Ten title game in two weeks.

Olentangy Offerings

1) This one is shorter than usual after a crazy day and more Ipad problems, but rumblings have begun that should Michigan not be able to play and Ohio State finishes 5-0 that the Buckeyes may be allowed to play in the Big Ten title game after all.

2) Justin Fields showed lots of poise in a situation that begged for poise to be lost, but what was most impressive was as simple as concentrating on getting the snap.

Harry Miller's snaps often weren't on the money, forcing Fields to move around to get the football like a shortstop roaming the infield.

3) Haskell Garrett's tip and grab of a Rocky Lombardi pass in the first half in the end zone was a score that when you know about Garrett's offseason has to make you feel good for Garrett.

Garrett was shot in the face while breaking up a fight and it wasn't sure that Garrett would be able to play this season at all, let alone at a high level.

4) Trey Sermon's day was paced by a long run of sixty plus yards, but Sermon showed that he has the breakaway speed to keep defenses honest.

Sermon has been a mild disappointment since arriving from Oklahoma as a grad transfer, but he seems to be rounding into form at just the right time.

5) The offensive line played well for missing both starting tackles and their center and shows one thing above all others- Recruit well and emergency situations become far easier to handle.

Ohio State was plugging in backups that most schools would be thrilled to see as starters and yet didn't really miss a beat.

6) Guard Wyatt Davis did play but was injured in the fourth quarter.

Davis limped off the field, but no word on how serious the injury is.

7) Larry Johnson might finish his career as a head coach at 1-0 as he replaced Ryan Day for the game with Day sidelined by Covid.

I get the feeling that Johnson might have been an excellent head coach for someone and that they missed out on quite a coach.

8) I don't know if Ohio State will play Michigan next week, Northwestern in the Big Ten title game, or the winner of next week's Iowa-Wisconsin game in the Big Ten showdown Saturday game, but the Buckeyes will have to be impressive to keep their playoff hopes alive..

However, the victory will come first and I'm starting to think that the one scenario that could damage the Buckeyes most would be a Clemson ACC title win over Notre Dame and a Florida upset of Alabama in the SEC championship.

Clemson is likely to do the former, Florida is unlikely to do the latter and of the remaining teams, the only possible team to worry about would be if the SEC pushes one-loss Texas A&M for the 4th slot.

If it is the Aggies or the Buckeyes, I think Ohio State is OK.

Boxing Challenge: Saunders dances past Murray

     London was the scene for an easy defense for Billy Joe Saunders of his WBO super middleweight title as Saunders defeated veteran Martin Murray via unanimous decision in a dominant performance.

Murray was expected to try to maul Saunders as his best chance to win, but surprisingly the aging Murray's corner changed his tactics and by trying to show Saunders a different look, Murray took away his only chance to win as Saunders was able to control the fight from the outside with Murray unable to land from distance and waiting to try to rough Saunders up on the inside.

I agreed with two judges with Saunders a 120-108 winner and there were times that Saunders did attempt to step up the attack and stop Murray, but the game veteran managed to survive to the final bell in what should be his final fight.

Martin Murray ends his career as arguably the best fighter of his time not to win a world title in the four championship era, but the time is right for him to leave the sport.

Murray might have enough left to win some fights, but not at the world class level and at his age, why continue to take punishment if you aren't going to be a threat to win a world title?

As for Billy Joe Saunders, he looked very sharp in this victory, but how much of that was Saunders and how much was it the advanced age of Martin Murray?

It certainly does keep him very viable as a unification opponent for the Callum Smith-Canelo Alvarez winner and I'd like to see him back in the ring again before the spring to be ready for a big fight when it eventually arrives.

Saunders could also fight Gennady Golovkin, since Canelo Alvarez seems to have no interest in a third fight with Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs, who looked awful last week against Gabriel Rosado, or Demetrius Andrade in a fight that almost happened before Saunders failed a PED test.

Should Saunders be motivated and sharp, he could win any of those fights,

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each added two points to move the total to 163-152.

PPM

 The PPM keeps rolling towards the end as the bumps of Covid-19 continue to be in the road.

Ohio State has traveled to East Lansing for tomorrow's scheduled game with the Spartans, but I'll believe that gets played when the game starts!

Last Week: 7-1

Overall: 77-28

College

Ohio State over Michigan State 34-17

Boise State over UNLV 42-23

Texas Tech over Kansas 50-32

N.C. State over Georgia Tech 30-21

Florida Atlantic over Georgia Southern 28-24

Bowling Green over Akron 17-15

Alabama over LSU 39-21

Game of the Week

Coastal Carolina over BYU 45-43

Pro

Titans over Browns 27-14

Saints over Falcons 30-21

Game of the Week

Cardinals over Rams 32-28

Boxing Challenge

   The boxing challenge is light this week, but two of the three fights are important in setting up bigger fights for 2021.

The biggest fight is the long-awaited return of one of the best fighters in the sport and depending on your opinion, either the best or second-best welterweight in the world as WBC and IBF champion Errol Spence defends those titles against former junior welterweight and welterweight champion Danny Garcia.

This will be Spence's first fight since unifying his two titles with an exciting decision win over Shawn Porter and it's also his first fight since a horrendous car accident that saw Spence lucky to escape with his life.

Spence isn't taking a warmup fight in his return in Danny Garcia, who has only two close losses (although I'll go to my grave screaming about his "win" over Mauricio Herrera being one of the worst decisions ever) to Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter on his ledger.

Garcia lost close decisions in those fights and despite winning the WBC title over Robert Guerrero (it was vacated by Keith Thurman), Garcia lacks a win against an elite fighter as a welterweight with his best win a very close decision over Lamont Peterson, which was technically at welter but was held at a catchweight.

Give Errol Spence plenty of credit here for avoiding the usual PBC M.O. of waiting for a good not great fight with a squash match or two and moving right to a fighter of Danny Garcia's quality after suffering such serious injuries.

At the risk of losing a few safe paydays, Spence knows this- If he's the same fighter as before the accident, then Spence is a cut above Garcia- the difference between an elite fighter and a top five/six fighter in their division.

However, if Spence has lost anything, even as small as moving from elite to very good, then Danny Garcia is good enough to pull the upset. 

We'll know a lot more about the welterweight division after this fight than we know right now.

The undercard is just terrible and I deliberated before selecting the co-feature for the challenge, a title eliminator at junior middleweight between Sebastian Fundora and Habib Ahmed.

The 6'5 Fundora was known more for his freakish height in the 154-pound division than for his wins in the ring, but he looked very good in his last fight in notching his biggest victory over veteran gatekeeper Nathaniel Galimore via a sixth-round knockout.

Ahmed is a late replacement for Jorge Cota, who tested positive for Covid-19 and has fought outside of Ghana on only three occasions with a sixth-round KO loss to Gilberto Ramirez his only fight in the U.S. scheduled for over eight rounds.

I can excuse Ahmed for being a late replacement under the circumstances, but Jorge Cota wasn't a world-beater for Fundora to face, so PBC still deserves some eye rolls for presenting this as a co-feature on PPV.

Friday from London, Billy Joe Saunders defends his WBO super-middleweight title against the Harold Stassen of professional boxing, Martin Murray in a fight that many aren't thrilled with, but I don't feel is a bad fight at all.

Saunders is a talented, if not exciting, boxer and I'd give him a chance against anyone on the right night with his skills and style.

Those skills and style are precisely why few top fighters wish to face him as you won't look good against him and he might beat you.

Saunders is very much like Erislandy Lara, he's just not worth the risk for the small reward.

However, Saunders hasn't beaten a top fighter in three years when he dominated David Lemieux in a masterpiece performance and I wonder if we'll ever see just how good Saunders can be.

A win would keep Saunders in the running for a shot at the Callum Smith-Canelo Alvarez winner later this month in what would be a title eliminator.

As for Martin Murray, Murray is taking his fifth shot at winning a world title and if you don't know who Harold Stassen is, try Murray as this generation's Yaqui Lopez or Oba Carr as the best fighter never to win a world title.

Murray received a draw against Felix Sturm in Germany, one of what seems to be 100 guys that were given draws or losses in Germany against Sturm, could have dethroned Sergio Martinez in Argentina in a fight that could have gone either way, fought Gennady Golovkin at Golovkin's peak and lasted eleven rounds, and lost another split decision to a German in Germany against Arthur Abraham.

While I'd love to see Murray pull this one out, he's 38 now, didn't look great in his last loss in 2018 to former WBO middleweight champion Hassan N'Dam, who is a slick boxer and isn't nearly as slick as Saunders.

I'm rooting for him and he'll give his all as he always does, but this is going to be a tough one to win.

In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 161-150

WBO Super Middleweight Title. 12 Rds

Billy Joe Saunders vs Martin Murray

Both: Saunders Unanimous Decision

WBC/IBF Welterweight Titles. 12 Rds

Errol Spence vs Danny Garcia

R.L;  Spence KO 10
TRS: Spence Unanimous Decision

Junior Middleweights. 10 Rds

Sebastian Fundora vs Habib Ahmed

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

Cavaliers sign Dameyon Dotson, trade with Utah

   I missed a few notes from Cavalierland, so I'll use this as my catch-up post for the Cleveland moves and another thought on things with the Cavaliers after the break...

Cleveland signed Dameyon Dotson away from the New York Knicks to a two-year contract worth two million per year.

The 6'5 shooting guard averaged 6.7 points in 48 games with the Knicks last season, shooting 41 percent from the floor and 36 percent from three-point range.

Dotson played better in the previous season when he averaged 10.7 points a game and played twenty-seven minutes a game which was over ten minutes a game more than he would play in 2019-20.

The 26-year-old was the Knicks second-round choice in the 2017 draft and had spent his entire three-year pro career with the Knicks in Gotham.

Dotson is expected to be battling to be part of the second unit backcourt with Kevin Porter Jr. with Dante Exum and Matthew Dellavedova in training camp.

Speaking of Dellavedova, he signed a one-year contract to remain with the Cavaliers for the veterans'

minimum contract.

The 30-year-old point guard averaged three points and three assists in just under fifteen minutes a game for Cleveland and likely will receive the same amount of playing time this season in the role of good locker room leader, fan-favorite, and running the point off the bench.

The Cavaliers also continued to add to their stockpile of future second-round picks with two separate trades that added no players to the roster and didn't cost them any talent as well.

The Cavaliers acquired a second-round selection in the 2025 draft in return for Cleveland's waiving of any protections of the Bucks 2022 first-rounder which the Cavaliers own.

It took me a few times of going over this before I figured out why the Cavaliers added a pick for taking away the lottery protection of a pick that they already have.

Basically, Milwaukee needs Cleveland to use the 2022 pick in case they would need to make trades in futures years during their window of contention while they still have the prime years of Giannis Antetokounmpo and if that pick has restrictions, Milwaukee wouldn't be able to trade either their 2021 or 2023 first-rounders.

Cleveland adds the pick for their help.

Cleveland also picked up a future second-round pick for their help, this time a 2027 selection for helping the Utah Jazz save some money under the salary cap.

Utah sent the pick and second-year player Rajon Tucker to the Cavaliers for 'cash considerations".

Tucker played in twenty games for the Jazz last season, averaging about eight minutes a night, but 

Cleveland made the swap for the future pick and released Tucker, who quickly signed with Charlotte as a free agent.

Cleaning out the inbox: Passings

     Time for a long-overdue post of tributes to the recently passed and even though this doesn't eliminate the backlog, it is a good start...

Goodbye to Juan Domingo Roldan at the age of 63.

The Argentine middleweight contender of the 1980s lost only three times after two losses early in his career with all three in world title attempts against Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, and Michael Nunn.

The rugged brawler was always an action fighter with his fights filled with slugging outbursts with plenty of back and forth exchanges.

Roldan badly hurt Thomas Hearns twice before Hearns knocked Roldan out in the fourth round and is the only fighter to officially knock down Marvin Hagler, although it was more of a cuff and push down than a knockdown.

Roldan earned his title shot against Hearns with a ninth-round knockout win over James "The Heat" Kinchen and his first chance against Hagler was secured after a highlight reel sixth-round knockout over Frank "The Animal" Fletcher in a title eliminator on the undercard of Hagler's title defense against Roberto Duran.

Goodbye to Tracy Smothers at the age of 58.

Smothers best years were with Smoky Mountain Wrestling as their top "babyface", but also team with Steve Armstrong in WCW as the "Southern Boys/Young Pistols", the latter name coming after management wanted the product to seem less southern, which would have worked splendidly in today's times, but at that time it seemed silly to change their gimmick and hometown considered Smothers and Armstrong were well-known in the south as local products.

Smothers also became part of the comedy act in the original ECW with the FBI (Full Blooded Italians) in which Smothers was announced as wrestling out of "Knoxville, Italy" complete with dancing and behavior right out of a really bad Mafia film.

Goodbye to Tom Kennedy at the age of 93.

Kennedy, over three decades (the 60s, 70s, and 80s), hosted several different game shows with the most notable being "Name That Tune" for seven years from 1974-1981.

Kennedy also was the replacement for Allen Ludden after his passing as the host of "Password Plus" for the final three seasons of that game show and was the nighttime host of "The Price is Right" in 1985 and 1986.

Kennedy also was an actor when time permitted around his game show duties with guest appearances on several shows in the seventies.

Goodbye to Tony Lewis at the age of 62.

Joe Plum sends word of the loss of Lewis, who was the lead singer of The Outfield, who released a multi-platinum album in 1985 in "Play Deep".

The album gave the group three top twenty hits including "Your Love" and "Say it isn't so", and was the high point of the band and Lewis's career, although the next two albums did have a few notable successes.

Lewis released a few solo albums without a hit but toured with the band for years inside the U.K where they were never as successful as they had been in the United States.

Goodbye to Leanza Cornett at the age of 49.

Cornett was the 1993 Miss America and a correspondent for a time for "Entertainment Tonight" along with several guest appearances in various television shows.

Cornett was remembered most by me for her long-time work in hosting dog shows for Animal Planet and USA Network.

And finally, Goodbye to Jack Murray.

Who was Jack Murray?

Jack Murray was a man that worked at the Williamsport Post Office when I worked there and ranks with the funniest men that I've ever met.

Jack also owned a service station in Williamsport and I used to play video games at times in the game room there when I was in junior high.

Jack was part of Williamsport and I cannot imagine Williamsport without him.

My favorite Jack Murray story is one that wouldn't mean much to anyone else, but it always kills me.

Rachel was a toddler when I worked at USPS and she was toddling around the office holding a stuffed Elmo.

Jack asked her "What's this fellow's name" and Rachel answered.

Jack's response was "Well, nice to meet you, Elmer" and Rachel laughed and laughed and said, "It's ElmO"!

Jack winked at me and said to her "I thought you said, Elmer!".

I've never been able to see Elmo since without thinking of Jack Murray.

He was quite a guy...