Road Trip: Getting There

     My trip to Omaha with Cherie was the longest trip that I've ever taken and the longest time that I've ever been away from home at one time as well.

I decided to leave at 4 AM or so but since I couldn't sleep, we left town at 2:30 with the plan in mind to make a few stops in particular and see how far we could drive before we began to tire.

The planned first stop was a return to Jungle Jim's International Market, which I've written about in the past as a grocery store/market where one could spend multiple hours shopping, especially if you aren't a regular shopper at Jungle Jim's.

Jungle Jim's caters to not only the local area but also foods from around the world and has to be seen to be truly believed.

Cherie and I spent two hours there buying things for friends, hot sauces for me, and items for our hotel such as snacks and drinks with a special gift for Posey.

If you are ever in the Cincinnati area, check out one of their two locations!

We stopped at their suburban store in Fairfield because Cherie had discovered a toy store there a few months ago and it was only a few stoplights down the highway.

I had timed things so we wouldn't have to kill a lot of time when the Toy Dept. opened at eleven o'clock and things were on track but we had passed a Roosters restaurant after we got off at our exit.

I had raved to Cherie about Roosters since my last visit to Ohio and their delicious chicken, so we doubled back to beat the lunch rush and then travel to the Toy Dept.

Based mostly in Ohio and Kentucky (there is one store each in Indiana and West Virginia), Roosters allows you to pick two sauces to spin your chicken and my sandwich (Hot and Garlic sauce), and just as in my last visit, I was very pleased.

Cherie enjoyed hers as well and noted the picture by our table of one of her favorite TV shows "WKRP in Cincinnati!

We stopped by the Toy Dept. next and surprisingly I didn't buy anything!

The store was large and filled with items but only one figure (1980's Super Powers DeSaad) was needed for the collection and even though the price was fair, it wasn't a steal and I didn't want to start the trip tossing money around unless it was a bargain!

Our next stop was Knightstown, Indiana for an anticipated visit!

Hoosiers is one of my favorite films and might get the nod as my choice for best sports drama ever, so when I discovered that the home gym for the "Hickory Huskers" was open to the public, it was an easy choice for a visit.

Knightstown is a small town and Hoosiers Gym's architecture looks very regal and distinctive of its time (1921) and rolling through Knightstown gave the feel of "Norman Dale" heading into Hickory.

Walking into the building gave me the feel of stepping into the film and a very nice gentleman (I really wish I could remember his name) told me that the gym was closed after one of his high school years in 1966.

He asked if we would like a tour and we were happy to see the gym, locker room, and the famous door that Gene Hackman walked through before Hickory's first game and uttered "Welcome to Indiana basketball".

We were told several stories about the renovation of the gym, how often it is used (over 100 times per year), the tradition that sees teams that play on the floor leave a signed jersey, and how the team picture that ends the film was possessed by someone from the film for many years before the gym was asked if it would be interested in having it.

The tour was almost completed and another person came into the building, so we thanked our host and I decided to try to redeem myself for a lousy job of shooting at the Basketball Hall of Fame (I'm not sure I made a shot that wasn't a layup) with a better outing at the Hoosier Gym.

I was having a blast when I nailed my first shot, and almost hit my second before a bad miss on my third.

I started thinking about ending the day but instead, I hit my next two and started feeling a little rhythm going before Cherie signaled she needed a drink and it's always a good thing to finish on a made shot!

I'll take my three for five happily!

We stopped in the gift area before we left with Cherie getting a Hickory Husker T-shirt (I loved the design, too bad not in my size) and I bought a Hoosier Gym mini-basketball.

If you love the film or even just basketball, I highly recommend Hoosier Gym.

The plan was to drive as far as we could and stop when I was tired, we moved across Indiana and through Illinois and decided to try a Holiday Inn inside the Illinois-Iowa line.

The clerk was very kind in finding us a room that overlooked the Mississippi River, which Cherie adored looking at through the window, and it was very pleasant to watch the barges move down the river.

We both enjoyed the hotel so much that we remarked that if we ever made this trip again, we were hopeful that we could stay there again.

I'm going to try to tell the remainder of the story in installments when I can because this post took a decent amount of time to write but I'm looking forward to writing more about the road.

Boxing Challenger: Espinoza stops Chirino,Undercard theft

       Top Rank's Friday night card from Las Vegas on ESPN+ saw a title retained and a contender moving towards a title shot win a decision that he didn't deserve after missing weight before the fight.

Rafael Espinoza made the first defense of his WBO featherweight title a successful one as Espinoza knocked Sergio Chirino down three times before the referee stopped the fight in the fourth round.

Chirino was knocked down in the waning moments of both the first and second rounds but Espinoza didn't have enough time to finish the job in either round.

That wasn't the case in the fourth after another knockdown with the referee waving the bout off.

Espinoza came into prominence in the fight that made him a champion as an unknown challenger to then-champion Robeisy Ramirez and rallied from a knockdown to drop Ramirez in the final round to win the title by majority decision in a great battle.

The original plan was for an immediate rematch but Espinoza requested making an optional defense first and should Ramirez defeat Brandon Benitez next Saturday, the rematch will be scheduled in the fall.

The travesty was in the co-feature as undefeated junior lightweight contender Andres Cortes missed weight at the weigh-in and then after being outpunched by veteran Abraham Nova, was given an unpopular unanimous decision.

Nova threw more, landed more, and was the better fighter, all of which wasn't enough for the judges who somehow scored Cortes the winner 97-93 x2 and 96-94.

Nova's best round was the ninth, when he threw over one hundred punches and backed Cortes into a corner, and blasted away but one judge scored the round for Cortes anyway.

Cortes called out division champions after the fight but between blowing the scales and winning such a controversial decision, I'd think a Nova rematch would be a better idea.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 91 Pts (3)

TRS: 76 Pts (4)
Vince Samano: 48 Pts (2) 

Boxing Challenge

      Due to time constraints, tonight's ESPN+ card for the boxing challenge is picks only.

WBO Featherweight Title. 12 Rds 

Rafael Espinoza vs Sergio Chirino

Ramon Malpica: Espinoza Unanimous Decision
TRS: Espinoza KO 10

Vince Samano: Chirino Unanimous Decision

Junior Lightweights. 10 Rds

Andres Cortes vs Abraham Nova

All; Cortes Unanimous Decision

Devils trade for Jacob Markstrom

       The New Jersey Devils had one major positional weakness to fix before the team could legitimately look at their 2023-24 backslide as an aberration and look forward to potential contention in 2024-25.

Tom Fitzgerald moved to the player that was targeted at the trade deadline and was unable to land but this time, Fitzgerald landed his man as the Devils acquired goaltender Jacob Markstrom from the Calgary Flames to cure the Devils issues in net.

New Jersey traded young defenseman Kevin Bahl and the Devils 2025 first-round draft pick to Calgary for Markstrom, which seems to be a pretty good price for a quality goaltender.

Markstrom turns thirty-five during the upcoming season and played well for a non-playoff team last year winning twenty-three of forty-eight games with a 2.78 GAA and a .905 save percentage.

Markstrom was incredible in 2021-22, finishing second in the voting for the Vezina Trophy but tailed off badly in 2022-23 before bouncing back last season.

It's a bit concerning at his age that perhaps Markstrom could be inconsistent, so the Devils are hoping that Markstrom has returned to form and 2022-23 was simply an off year.

New Jersey will use veteran Jake Allen, who the Devils were able to acquire at last year's trade deadline as the backup, going with a two-veteran group after last year's disaster with younger goaltenders Akira Schmid and Nico Daws as the backups to Vitek Vanacek.

Markstrom is under contract for two more seasons and Calgary will be paying for thirty percent of Markstrom's salary, helping the Devils with cap space.

The Devils also retained their first-rounder this season (tenth overall) by sending their 2025 first-rounder and there is added protection as the Devils would keep the pick in the event of the choice falling in the top ten.

The Devils traded Kevin Bahl to Calgary and the twenty-three-year-old defenseman played in all eighty-two games last season, scoring one goal with ten assists and finished with a plus one Plus/Minus.

Bahl has the size (6'6 230 pounds) to be a solid stay-at-home blueliner but his play was inconsistent in his first full season in the league and the Devils are solid at defense in both veterans and young players, so I can understand why Bahl was the selection to move to Calgary.

I can't be disappointed with what the Devils gave up for Jacob Markstrom.

They kept a top-ten pick, and protected their 2025 from the top ten, and while I like Kevin Bahl, I would have been more disappointed with losing other young players.

At thirty-four, Jacob Markstrom is not going to solve the Devils problems over the long term but hopefully, Markstrom can bridge the gap to an eventual long haul mainstay.

Boxing Challenge: Benavidez wins, Upsets abound

       In Satirday's co-feature from the PBC card in Las Vegas, David Benavidez won a unanimous decision over Oleksandr Gvozdyk in his debut in the light heavyweight division.

Benavidez was solid and workmanlike in the easy victory over the former WBC champion but never dazed Gvozdyk and despite winning a minor title, Benavidez may be better suited (and he said he is considering this at the post-fight press conference) returning to super middleweight for the time being and hoping Canelo Alvarez will eventually decide to face him.

Benavidez won on scorecards of 119-109, 117-111, and 116-112, my score agreeing with the middle score.

In two fights that I have yet to watch, one title was retained and an undefeated contender was surprised with his first loss.

Carlos Adames retained his WBC middleweight title with a unanimous decision over Terrell Gausha.

Adames doesn't really have a big fight in the division, so look for Adames to have a few of these fights against Gausha types that aren't quite good enough to win a title.

Scores of 119-11 and 118-110 times two for Adames.

Gary Antuanne Russell was a big favorite to win a minor junior welterweight title against former WBA champ Alberto Puello and set himself up for bigger things in the future.

Instead, Puello survived an eighth-round holding deduction to pull a surprise split decision win for the minor title.

Russell has all the talent in the world but like his brother and trainer, former WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell, he doesn't fight more than once a year, and at the top level fighting that infrequently will eventually cost you in sharpness.

Scores for Puello were 114-113 and 115-112 and for Russell 118-109.

PBC and boxing observers have been glowing in their reviews on middleweight prospect Elijah Garcia and his potential but Garcia hit a roadblock in his fight against veteran Kyrone Davis, with Davis winning a deserved but surprising split decision.

Davis couldn't miss with his right hand and while Garcia was persistent with his aggression, Davis held serve until the final two rounds when Garcia rallied and perhaps if this fight were a twelve-rounder, Garcia could have snatched victory.

Scores for Davis at 97-93 x2 (same as mine) with an awful score for Garcia of 98-92, which is beyond terrible in my opinion.

In Puerto Rico, a huge upset occurred as Australia's Liam Paro upset Subriel Matias in the homecoming fight for Matias and took away the IBF junior welterweight title.

Paro lost a point in the seventh round for hitting behind the head and while Paro's move, jab, and grab offense wasn't exciting, it was very effective against Matias, who rallied down the stretch but ran out of time.

Scores for Paro 116-111 and 115-112 x2, I had it closer for Paro 114-113.

In London from Boxxer/Peacock, Chris Billam-Smith avenged his only loss and retained his WBO cruiserweight title with a unanimous decision outdoors at the home field of Crystal Palace.

This fight wasn't as exciting as their first fight and Riakporhe didn't throw enough punches to overcome the more active Billam-Smith.

Riakporhe lost a point in the final round for headbutting but that had no effect on the scorecards- all for Billiam-Smith 116-111 (same as mine) and 115-112.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 88 Pts (8)

TRS: 72 Pts (4)

Vince Samano: 46 Pts (3)

Boxing Challenge: Davis Flattens Martin

  

    The boxing weekend was centered in Las Vegas for the latest Amazon/PBC pay per view and while the card saw two upsets, the fights at the top of the slate played out as expected.

Frank Martin boxed well at the start of the fight but slowly became more stationary and when you are in punching range of Gervonta Davis, a fighter is always in the danger zone.

I had Martin slightly ahead at 67-66 after seven rounds but he wouldn't see another scored round as Davis landed a crunching uppercut followed by a left that knocked Martin down and out in round eight for the conclusive ending.

Davis retained his WBA lightweight title with the knockout and he called out the remaining three champions in the division after the win.

WBC champion Shakur Stevenson becomes a promotional free agent after his next fight which would be the biggest fight but would Stevenson accept the likely B-side payday for such a fight?

IBF champion Vasyl Lomachenko (Top Rank) is unlikely and Top Rank also holds options (I believe) on WBO boss Denys Baranchyk, who would likely leap at a career-best payday otherwise.

Davis's problem is that unless he willingly works with promoters outside the PBC brand, his list of potential opponents is small.

Martin's resume wasn't bulked with top names and he was the best PBC fighter at Davis's weight.

Should Davis move to 140, a rematch with WBA champion Isaac Cruz might have some mild appeal as the best option.

At 29, it's time for Gervonta Davis to decide what he wants his legacy in the sport to be.

Does he want to bank lots of money (which he has done and will continue to do) and add to a career that is filled with spectacular knockouts against good opponents who aren't the elite?

Or does he want to face the best and take a chance of losing with the upside of winning and being remembered as the best of his era?

The comparison is the career of another PBC performer- Deontay Wilder.

Like Davis, Wilder notched spectacular knockouts against average competition, accumulating a high quantity of wins rather than quality (Wilder's best wins in his career are his decision win over Bermane Steverne in their first fight and his two wins over Luis Ortiz) before finally stepping up for his first fight against Tyson Fury.

Wilder finished 0-2-1 in his three fights against Fury and if not for a one-round squash match KO of Robert Helenius, Wilder hasn't won a fight since November 2019.

Wilder falls just short of the Hall of Fame in my opinion and while Davis still has plenty of time for the legacy-setting fights, his best wins to date are over Isaac Cruz (a win that looks much better now than it did when the two squared off) with other good wins that all have asterisks beside them.

Ryan Garcia, who unwisely agreed to weight demands and essentially quit, an undersized and overrated Leo Santa Cruz, and Jose Pedraza, who has lost to the best that he has fought as well.

I'll give Davis credit for the Pedraza win as that was when Pedraza was at the top of his game and his opposition is better than Wilder's but it still lacks that signature victory that comes to mind when a great fighter's name is brought up in conversation.

Deontay Wilder would eventually take the chance against better opposition and it might be argued that had he made the decision earlier in his career, his career could been even better (I could see Wilder landing the right hand and taking out Anthony Joshua when both were unbeaten heavyweight champions), will Davis wait too long to make his move as well?

I think Gervonta Davis could beat any of the three other champions (could, not will).

The question is when will he take the risk?

I'll have the rest of the boxing weekend tomorrow.

Boxing Challenge

     This is the premiere weekend of the month with several titles defended and a major PPV from PBC on tap for Saturday.

The biggest fights of the weekend headline the PBC/Amazon PPV with Gervonta Davis defending his WBA lightweight title and David Benavidez deciding to move to light heavyweight rather than wait for a disinterested Canelo Alvarez.

Gervonta Davis will face slick boxing Frank Martin, who is skilled but didn't look great in winning a close unanimous decision last July over Artem Harutyunyan, and that along with a decision over Michel Rivera are the best victories that Martin possesses.

Davis hasn't fought for over a year, since his knockout win over Ryan Garcia, so there could be some rustiness involved but Davis usually takes a few rounds to get revved up.

I think Martin will have his moments and build a lead in the first half of the fight but Davis's superior punching power wears Martin down to stop him late or win a clear decision.

In the co-feature, David Benavidez moves to light heavyweight rather than continue waiting for Canelo Alvarez as he faces former WBC champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk for a minor title.

Benavidez broke down former junior middleweight and middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade in his last fight while Gvozdyk has fought lesser competition since returning from a retirement after his only career defeat- a knockout loss to Artur Beterbiev in a title unification match,

This fight could be very similar to Gvozdyk's fight with Beterbiev in which Gvozdyk fights well but is unable to keep Benavidez from grinding him down in the late rounds.

A minor junior welterweight title is on the line with Gary Antuanne Russell facing former WBA champion Alberto Puello.

Puello won the vacant WBA title in 2022 but failed a test for PEDs and was stripped of the title, fighting just once since in an eight-round bout.

Russell has stopped all seventeen of his opponents including two former world champions in Vikor Postol and Rances Barthelemy but he has fallen into the trap of his older brother, Gary Russell, by not fighting very often, fighting only four times in the last four years.

Recently promoted WBC middleweight champion Carlos Adames defends that title for the first time against veteran Terrell Gausha.

Adames was promoted from his minor title when the WBC finally made a stand after Jermall Charlo sat on the title for close to three years but it was his recent arrest that was the final straw for the WBC.

Adames has fought just twice in the last two years with a ninth-round knockout of Julian Williams last June in his most recent fight.

Gausha, a longtime fringe contender at 154 pounds, has fought just once at middleweight and isn't deserving of a title chance under most conditions but in a very weak division, it's tough to rail against Gausha too much.

Unbeaten middleweight Elijah Garcia opens the show against veteran Kyrone Davis in a ten-rounder that will gauge where Garcia is at this stage of his career.

Davis hasn't won against the top opponents in his career but is a solid opponent for Garcia and should test him a bit.

Matchroom/DAZN will be in Puerto Rico for punishing banger Subriel Maitias's IBF junior welterweight championship defense against Australia's Liam Paro.

Matias has broken two talented fighters that I picked to defeat him in Jeremiahs Ponce and Shohjahon Ergashev and his physical fighting style is expected to wear down Paro, who other than his December stoppage of Montana Love has fought lesser competition.

Peacock and Boxxer has Saturday afternoon to itself, as Chris Billam-Smith and Richard Riakporhe hook up in a rematch of their entertaining 2019 fight that saw the unbeaten Riakporhe hand Billiam-Smith his only loss via split decision.

Five years later, Billam-Smith holds the WBO cruiserweight title with Riakporhe as the mandatory contender.

Billam-Smitht won the title last year with a major upset of Lawrence Okolie and defended against Mateusz Masternak in December.

Riakporhe stopped former WBO champion Krzystof Glowacki in four rounds in January 2023 for his biggest win and earned the mandatory position.

Boxing Challenge

WBA Lightweight Title, 12 Rds 

Gervonta Davis vs Frank Martin

Ramon Malpica: Davis KO 8
TRS: Davis Unanimous Decision
Vince Samano: Martin Split Decision

Light Heavyweights 12 rds

David Benavidez vs Oleksandr Gvozdyk

R.L: Benavidez KO 10
TRS: Benavidez KO 7
V.S:  Gvozdyk Unanimous Decision

WBC Middleweight Title. 12 Rds

Carlos Adames vs Terrell Gausha

R.L and TRS: Adames Unanimous Decision
V.S: Gausha Split Decision

Junior Welterweights 12 Rds

Gary Antuanne Russeell vs Alberto Puello

R.L: Russell KO 6

TRS: Russell KO 8
V.S: Puello Unanimous Decision

Middleweights 12 Rds

Elijah Garcia vs Kyrone Davis

R.L and TRS:Garcia Unanimous Decision

V.S: Davis Unanimous Decision

IBF Junior Welterweight Title.12 Rds

Subriel Matias vs Liam Paro

R.L: Matias KO 7
TRS: Matias KO 5

V.S: Paro Split Decision

WBO Cruiserweight Title. 12 Rds

Chris Billam-Smith vs Richard Riakporhe

R.L: Billam-Smith Unanimous Decision
TRS: Riakporhe Unanimous Decision
V.S: Riakporhe Split Decision