Boxing Challenge: Opetaia outslugs Nyika in four

     The boxing year kicked off in Broadbeach, Australia, with an exciting fight and a vicious conclusion. Jai Opetaia knocked out David Nyika in the fourth round to retain his IBF cruiserweight title.

The combatants swapped power shots for the first three rounds, with Opetaia having the advantage. Still, Nyika also landed his share of strong punches, notably wobbling Opetaia near the end of the second round.

Opetaia's class showed up in the fourth when he dropped Nyika and after the fight resumed, crushed Nyika with a right hand that left the New Zealander prone on the mat for several minutes.

Opetaia and promoter Eddie Hearn commented after the fight on their desire for Opetaia to meet WBA and WBO champion Gilberto Ramirez, which is expected to happen sometime this year, and a possible future trip to the heavyweight division to challenge Oleksandr Usyk in 2026.

Opetaia and Ramirez would be meeting for three of the four cruiserweight titles and are the best two fighters in the division, so a matchup would be very interesting indeed.

As for the previously unbeaten Nyika, who accepted the fight on three weeks' notice, he was impressive in his loss and could be a future force in the division, assuming he can move on after losing for the first time,

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 2 Pts 

TRS: 2 Pts

Vince Samano: 2 Pts

Boxing Challenge

     January is usually a slow month for boxing, especially in the first part of the month but the year starts in the AM with the top cruiserweight in the world defending his title.

IBF champion Jai Opetaia was originally scheduled to face his mandatory challenger, unknown Huseyin Cinkara before Cinkara pulled out of the fight with an ankle injury.

The unbeaten but thirty-nine years old Cinkara's resume is dreadful to be generous and this may be a rare case of the replacement being an upgrade over the original opponent as unbeaten David Nyika of New Zealand, a former Olympian, will be stepping in to meet Opetaia.

Nyika has two decent wins on his slate, knocking out unbeaten Michael Sietz and veteran Tommy Karpency last year, and adding the always-interesting angle of Australia vs New Zealand to the fight has improved the anticipation for this one from Australia's Gold Coast.

In his last fight, Opietaia battered England's Jack Massey into submission in October, forcing Massey's corner to toss the towel in round six.

Opetaia has made noise about moving up in weight soon. However, it's more likely to see the Australian meet WBA and WBO champion Gilberto Ramirez in a unification bout before that would happen.

IBF Cruiserweight Title. 12 Rds 

Jai Opetaia vs David Nyika

Ramon Malpica: Opetaia KO 7
TRS: Opetaia KO 5
Vince Samano: Opetaia KO 2

Orlando Cepeda

    Most fans think of Orlando Cepeda as a San Francisco Giant and Cepeda played most of his career with the Giants but I'll always think of the Hall of Famer as a St.Louis Cardinal and a long-time favorite of mine.

I think most of that is because of his 1967 Topps card but some also is due to the picture to the left, a 1968 (I think) Topps poster from a series that Topps inserted into each pack that year.

The 1958 Rookie of the Year, Cepeda was the San Francisco Giants' first breakout young star after the team's move to California. At the time, if not forever, it was Cepeda who was the most popular player on the team as San Francisco fans regarded Cepeda as "theirs" compared to Willie Mays "belonging" to the team's former home in New York City.

Cepeda would lead the National League in homers and RBI in 1961 but the Giants had a big problem in the first half of the sixties- they had two players that could play first base well and struggled in every attempt to fit both players at other positions to allow both big hitters into the lineup.

Both players were destined for the Hall of Fame-Cepeda and Willie McCovey.

Cepeda began having knee problems with the Giants and would barely play in 1965 before returning to the lineup early in the 1966 season. This showed that Cepeda was healthy enough to attract interest from the St.Louis Cardinals, who traded pitcher Ray Sadecki to the Giants straight up for Cepeda.

Cepeda hit .303 in over one hundred twenty games for the Cardinals in 1966, winning the Comeback Player of the Year award.

The stage was set for 1967, the best season in " The Baby Bull's" career.

Cepeda was unanimously named MVP after leading the Cardinals to the world championship, defeating Boston in seven games.

Cepeda hit .325 with 25 homers and a league-leading 111 RBI for the pennant winners and his numbers dipped as all batters did in 1968, "The Year of the Pitcher" but it still came as a surprise when the Cardinals traded Cepeda one for one for Joe Torre in 1969.

Both players had issues with their previous teams (Cepeda for reporting late for spring training without permission, Torre holding out for a new contract) but rarely are two terrific players swapped for each other without any other considerations.

Atlanta and St. Louis each have a case for who "won" the trade.

Cepeda gave the Braves two excellent seasons in 1969 and 1970 (.305, 34 homers, and 111 RBI in 1970) and helped them to the 1969 National League Western Division title before his ailing knees held him to only seventy-one games in 1971.

Torre played longer with the Cardinals (playing in St. Louis through 1974), and won the 1971 National League MVP but the Cardinals didn't win a division during Torre's tenure and his final three seasons in St.Louis saw a drop in performance, particularly in the power department, so I'd say the trade was pretty even.

Cepeda appeared ready for retirement after his continuing battle with his knees allowed him to play only thirty-one games in 1972, twenty-eight with Atlanta and three with Oakland but in 1973, the American League instituted the Designated Hitter and it was Cepeda who was named the top DH after he hit .289 with 20 homers and 89 RBI for the Boston Red Sox.

But Cepeda had reached the point of immobility, and it was difficult to play him despite his hitting abilities. As Bill Lee wrote in his book "The Wrong Stuff," if Cepeda singled, it would take three hits to score him because he couldn't move up two bases on a base hit.

Cepeda's career was over in 1974 after thirty-three games with the Kansas City Royals, finishing with a career batting average of .297 with three hundred and seventy-nine homers and over 1,300 RBI at the age of thirty-six.

An eleven-time All-Star, Cepeda should have been an easy selection for the Hall of Fame within a few times of appearing on the ballot. Still, a conviction for drug possession and ten months in prison hurt Cepeda's candidacy.

Cepeda would fall nine votes short of induction in 1994, his final year of ballot eligibility but was elected by the Veterans Committee in 1999.

Cepeda's number thirty was retired by the Giants in 1999 and was honored with a statue outside the Giants home stadium in 2008. 

Browns whipped by Ravens, Fire Ken Dorsey

     A miserable season ended Saturday in Baltimore as the Cleveland Browns were rolled over by the Baltimore Ravens 35-10 in Baltimore.

Bailey Zappe received the start as the Browns' fourth starting quarterback of a long season and threw two interceptions along with the Browns only touchdown to Jordan Akins.  

The Browns finished a pathetic 3-14. The bigger news would come off the field on Sunday as the remainder of the league finished their campaigns as Cleveland announced the firings of offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey and Andy Dickerson and with the New England Patriots defeating the Buffalo Bills moved up one sport in the draft to pick second overall.

I'm planning some special Browns material over the next few weeks, so I'm saving some of that for those posts but I'll be writing just as much about the off-season in this post as recapping the final loss.

Brownie Bits

1)  Bailey Zappe certainly didn't place his name in contention for the 2025 season as the starter but considering the play of Dorian Thompson-Robinson during his time, Zappe was an upgrade.

Zappe can return next year as a possible third quarterback but shouldn't be in consideration for the starting role.

2) Zappe threw a pick-six in the first quarter to Baltimore's Nate Wiggins and his other interception could have been a touchdown return by massive defensive tackle Michael Pierce, who decided to slide down rather than try to truck the ball down the sideline in what was admittedly hilarious to watch.

3) Dorian Thompson-Robinson played one series of five plays in the first half in one final attempt to "see what they have in DTR".

4) The battered running back position for the Browns forced the team to play Jacob Kibodi for portions of the game after signing him from the Saints practice squad.

Kibodi rushed five times for twenty-four yards and caught a pass for fourteen yards.

5) Jerry Jeudy caught six passes for sixty-three yards, which broke Ozzie Newsome's record, giving Jeudy the team record for receptions with ninety.

Jeudy was the main focus in the second half as the Browns attempted to get Jeudy the football to allow him to reach the record.

6) The Browns now focus on the future and while the team will retain Kevin Stefanski as the head coach and Andrew Berry as the head of the front office, the team will make other changes.

I can live with Stefanski but I am wary of keeping Berry since his drafting has been questionable and handing Berry the keys to another draft is concerning.

7)  The Browns released offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey and offensive line Andy Dickerson following the defeat in Baltimore.

I think both decisions are correct.

Dorsey's preferences never meshed with Kevin Stefanski. And while any offensive line coach is going to pale compared to Bill Callahan, one of the best offensive line coaches ever, Dickerson's work was so bad that Mike Vrabel was the de facto line coach!

8) The Browns did win on Sunday without taking the field as the New England Patriots, who started rookie backup quarterback Joe Milton, surprised the Buffalo Bills, who rested several starters and tumbled from picking first to fourth with the win, moving the Browns to second in the draft.

We'll see how that works for the Browns but I'll take the higher pick every time over an insignificant final-game win with various obscure QBs.

9) In the final three games after the Browns benched Jameis Winston, the Browns scored two touchdowns.

Say what you will about Jameis Winston and his interception propensity, Winston was the one quarterback of the four starters this season that made the Browns fun to watch, and the one that gave them a chance to win.

10) Premature TRS choice for the Browns in round one, assuming they don't trade down?

Colorado two-way starter Travis Hunter or Penn State defensive end Abdul Carter would be my choices.

Why not a quarterback such as Miami's Cam Ward or Colorado's Shedur Sanders?

You'll have to wait until the future Browns series to answer those questions.

PPM

  Football's regular season finishes in the NFL as the college season moves on in the CFP. 

need two CFP and Gator

Last Week: 12-9

Overall: 162-89

College 

First Responder Bowl 

Texas State over North Texas 28-24

Duke's Mayo Bowl

Virginia Tech over Minnesota 27-24

Bahamas Bowl

Liberty over Buffalo 31-21

NFL

Ravens over Browns 27-7

Games of the Week

Lions over Vikings 35-32

Bengals over Steelers 24-14

Ohio State roasts Oregon 41-21, Texas next

     The Ohio State Buckeyes impressed when they bounced back from their season-ending defeat to Michigan with a resounding win over Tennessee but were the Buckeyes back to top form? 

Or was Tennessee outgunned and Ohio State able to take advantage of cold weather and home field?

Unbeaten top seed Oregon promised a true test in the Rose Bowl/CFP quarterfinal and the answer would come early from Ohio State, who scored the first thirty-four points of the game and cruised to a 41-21 win over the Ducks, which advanced them to the semi-finals next Friday in Dallas against the Texas Longhorns.

Will Howard threw for over three hundred yards and three touchdowns, two to Jeremiah Smith, who finished with seven catches and one hundred eighty-seven yards.

Olentangy Offerings

1) Jeremiah Smith had posted on social media for Oregon to play man coverage, he would make the Ducks pay and he did just that.

Smith's first half was flawless and left no doubt that as good as Smith was when the two teams played earlier this season, his progression has shown such improvement that he's almost a different player and that says a lot!

2) What Ohio State managed to do in the Rose Bowl that they didn't dodge in their other big games (Oregon, Penn State, and Michigan) was the big turnover at the wrong time.

Ohio State never turned the ball over and committed only two penalties for fourteen yards.

When you have the talent that Ohio State possesses, most games are decided by not handing the opponent easy ways to stay close.

3) I do feel bad for Oregon and their fans, having to face the one team that had the best chance to beat them in the quarterfinals due to the CFP's decision not to re-seed following each round.

Considering the draw involved Oregon would have been better suited to lose the Big Ten title game to draw SMU at home and a rematch against Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl as Penn State did than winning the game only to face Ohio State.

It wasn't fair to Oregon after their singular undefeated season and hopefully, it will be corrected in future playoffs.

4) The Buckeye pass rush never reached Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel in the first matchup but the Ohio State defense never stopped harassing Gabriel, finishing with eight sacks.

Even Gabriel made something happen for the Ducks, it was on the run, avoiding charging defenders and throwing the ball, hoping for the best.

5) The voters for the defensive player of the game had an extremely difficult choice between Cody Simon and Jack Sawyer.

Simon finished with seven solo tackles, a tackle for loss, two sacks, and a pass defended while Sawyer sacked Gabriel twice, two of his three solo tackles were for losses and Sawyer batted down three passes.

Simon won the award but I thought Sawyer would have also been a solid choice.

6) Ohio State struggled to run the ball in the first game but even in the second half with the Ducks expecting the run, Ohio State still ran the ball well.

TreVeyon Henderson ran for two touchdowns, including a sixty-six-yard jaunt, and Quinshon Judkins pounded his way to eighty-five yards.

Ohio State averaged 5.8 yards per rush.

7) Give the oft-criticized Ryan Day and Chip Kelly credit for learning from their conservatism in the Michigan loss.

Day has always been better as an aggressive coach than a passive one and the way Ohio State has attacked both Tennessee and Oregon put both teams in reverse from the start, building a lead that was impossible to lose.

Hopefully, Day and Kelly will continue this aggressiveness against Texas next Friday night.

8) Jeremiah Smith's yardage set an OSU record for a freshman in a game, breaking a record held by Cris Carter in the 1985 Rose Bowl against USC.

Yet another erasing of Cris Carter from the Ohio State record book.

9) The offensive line was a topic discussed often during the waning weeks of the regular season but they played very well against Oregon as the Ducks were held without a sack.

Combine that with the running game and the offensive line quietly did their job after so many were concerned by season's end.

10) So it's onto Dallas and the Texas Longhorns, which doesn't seem fair but it is what it is.

From what I saw of both teams, Texas looks awfully beaten up physically and I'm not sure they can deal with the OSU speed.

Still, don't take the Horns lightly, they are more than capable of winning should Ohio State slip up.

Happy New Year

    Happy New Year, Everyone as we enter another year at TRS!

Enjoy the Holiday and Go Bucks as Ohio State attempts to avenge their defeat to Oregon!