Cleaning out the Inbox: Passings

     Time for another recurring post of tributes to people who have recently left our Earth.

Goodbye to Mike Patrick at the age of 80. 

Patrick is best known for his work on college football, the NFL, and college basketball for ESPN, but to me, Patrick will always be the voice of ACC basketball in the eighties on the Raycom/Jefferson Pilot network.

Patrick called the famous "Len Bias" game when Maryland upset North Carolina in overtime to hand the Tar Heels their first-ever defeat in the "Dean Dome", among many outstanding ACC clashes.

Patrick was also the sports anchor at WJLA in Washington as one of arguably the three best sports anchors in one market with WUSA's Glenn Brenner and WRC's George Michael.

Before moving to Washington, Patrick worked in Jacksonville with one of his jobs as the play-by-play voice of the WFL's Jacksonville Sharks.

Goodbye to Tommy Helms at the age of 83.

The 1966 National League Rookie of the Year, Helms was named to two All-Star teams (1967 and 1968) and won two Gold Gloves at second base in 1970 and 71 for the Cincinnati Reds.

Helms's best seasons were with the Reds, but he (along with Lee May) was the key players who were traded to the Houston Astros in 1972 in the famous trade that saw Joe Morgan, Cesar Geronimo, and Jack Billingham join the Reds.

Helms had four solid seasons with Houston before finishing his career with Pittsburgh and Boston in 1977.

Goodbye to Joey Archer at the age of 87.

The slick-boxing middleweight contender in the 1960s, Archer, overcame his lack of power (only eight knockouts in his 45 wins) to defeat fighters such as Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, middleweight and light heavyweight champion Dick Tiger, and defeated the great Sugar Ray Robinson in what would be the final fight of Robinson's career.

The Robinson win would be the last of Archer's career; he would lose a split decision to contender Don Fullmer and two close decisions to middleweight champion Emile Griffith before announcing his retirement.

Archer was named to the Boxing Hall of Fame despite never winning a championship in 2005.

Goodbye to Lupe Sanchez at the age of 63.

Sanchez was a standout defensive back for UCLA before signing with the USFL's Arizona Wranglers in 1984 and moving to the Orlando Renegades in 1985.

Sanchez would play for the Pittsburgh Steelers for three seasons as a defensive back and special-teams standout, intercepting four passes as a Steeler.

Goodbye to Stan Love at the age of 76.

The father of Kevin Love, Stan Love was the first round pick (ninth overall) of the then-Baltimore Bullets and signed with the Bullets over the ABA's Dallas Chapparals.

Love would play four years of pro basketball with the Bullets, Lakers, and the then-ABA's San Antonio Spurs, averaging six points per game for his career.

Love, the brother of the Beach Boys' Mike Love, would serve as a bodyguard and caretaker for another member of the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, after his basketball career.

 

Boxing Challenge: Inoue saves the weekend

   In the original Star Wars film, Princess Leia appeared as a damaged hologram in an attempt to contact Obi-Wan Kenobi, repeatedly commenting, "Obi-Wan Kenobi, you are our only hope."

That scene came to mind after the two dreary events previously over the weekend with a paraphrase "Naoya Inoue you are our only hope".

Naoya Inoue came through, but the mild surprise came from Ramon Cardenas, who didn't read the script and floored Inoue in the second round.

Inoue wasn't seriously hurt from the left hand that knocked him down, but he began to turn the tide in the fourth, and after round four, Inoue controlled the action despite Cardenas having his share of success in exchanges.

In the seventh, the Monster stung Cardenas, and it became clear the end was near, which Inoue's inner radar realized, jumping on Cardenas to start the eighth round, driving him into the ropes with authority with a series of punches that forced referee Harvey Dock to stop the fight.

I had Inoue slightly ahead at the time of the stoppage 67-66.

For Inoue, he'll be facing the top challenger in the division, former WBA and IBF champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev this September in what should be an interesting fight.

Inoue has now been dropped twice in his last three fights (Cardenas and Luis Nery) by similar punches, a counter left, and Akhmadaliev is a skilled counterpuncher, so it will be interesting to see if Inoue works on fixing a flaw before that match.

As for Cardenas, he has made a name for himself after an energetic and valiant attempt to dethrone Inoue and he's earned the chance for high-visibility fights in the future.

In the co-feature, Rafael Espinoza retained his WBO featherweight title over Edward Vazquez in a strong outing for the champion.

Vazquez tried hard but his light punching power wasn't enough to stun Espinoza and with the physical advantages held by the 6'1 champion, Vazquez couldn't use his usual game to outbox him from a distance.

Vazquez was dead game and tried to win but this was a bad style match for him, and the fight ended similarly as the main event with Espinoza pouring it onto a battering challenger along the ropes in round seven.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 68 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 65 Pts (3)

Vince Samano:30 Pts  (2)

Cavaliers surprised by Pacers in Game One

     The Indiana Pacers started fast and finished strong. 

And for the first time, the Cleveland Cavaliers missed the injured Darius Garland as the Pacers upset the Cavaliers in game one of the Eastern Conference semi-finals 121-112 in Cleveland.

Donovan Mitchell led the Cavaliers with thirty-three points, and Evan Mobley scored twenty points with ten rebounds.

Game two will be in Cleveland on Tuesday as Cleveland will attempt to tie the series at one game apiece.

Swashbucklings

1) Donovan Mitchell scored 33 points, but he shot the ball thirty times (13 of 30) and hit only one of his eleven shots from three-point land.

2) I know Mitchell is the focus of the offense with Darius Garland injured, but Cleveland works best when Mitchell takes fewer shots, not more.

It's not Mitchell's fault that the shots from Garland need to be replaced somewhere, but it showed that Mitchell cannot be the be-all and end-all for the Cavaliers to be effective.

3) Indiana likes to force a faster pace, and it seemed the Cavaliers wore down as the evening progressed.

It's fair to wonder if the pace will be a factor if the series goes six or seven games.

4) Indiana shot 53 percent from the floor and 52 percent from three-point distance while Cleveland shot 45 percent overall and a pitiful 23 percent from three.

5) A scary point came when DeAndre Hunter took a huge bump on the floor and appeared fortunate to avoid injury.

Hunter continued to play, but for a minute, it looked very ugly.

6) It's one loss, and even though the loss of home-court advantage (for now) is concerning, the bigger concern is Darius Garland.

When will Garland return, and how effective will he be when that happens?

For all that Ty Jerome has delivered this season, he isn't quick defensively (making Tyrese Haliburton even more effective for Indiana), and Indiana took advantage of Jerome's defense.

7) Cleveland didn't look sharp off a week's layoff, but Indiana wasn't active either, and it didn't affect them.

Game two at home is now a must-have.

Boxing Challenge: Wake me when it's over

     Riyadh Season Promotions have made some things happen in boxing that wouldn't have happened without them, which is good.

However, their back-to-back cards this weekend, Times Square and Riyadh, were an absolute disaster with boring fights, the defeat of Ryan Garcia, and it was the first setback for the promotion.

Throwing money at stars isn't always the answer; hopefully, they will learn their lesson.

In the main event, Canelo Alvarez regained the IBF super middleweight title that he never lost with a unanimous decision over the stuck-in-reverse William Scull.

Once again, Alvarez holds all four titles in the division. After the win, a fall fight with Terence Crawford was announced in the ring, and that was the only good thing from the main event.

Scull ran (I tweeted this during the fight), Canelo plodded after him, few punches landed, none of those significant, and it was dreadful to watch.

As bad as this was, and it was bad, I'm not going to rip Scull as many are currently.

This was his best chance to win- stink the joint out and hope the judges value his "work".

Scull won a few rounds on my card (117-111 for Canelo), and you might say that if he were more active and took more chances, he might have won ( official cards 119-109, 116-112, and 115-113) against the cement shoes of Canelo.

I'd disagree, as taking those chances would have placed him in front and gotten him knocked out.

It made an awful match, and you can blame Scull for the tedium, but he took his only chance to win, as slim as that was.

The best fight of the weekend wasn't Holyfield-Qawi I, but it was a solid cruiserweight fight as Badou Jack retained his WBC cruiserweight title with a majority decision over Noel Mikeaelin.

Both fighters did their share of good work, and it was entertaining in its own way.

Jack earned the decision by scores of 115-113 times two and 114-114.

I had Mikaelin winning 115-113, but this was a very close fight, and I'd like to see a rematch.

Jaime Munguia won his rematch with Bruno Surace by unanimous decision and regained some of his stature in the super middleweight division that he lost when Surace knocked him out with one punch in December.

However, it was a more reticent Munguia that boxed more and didn't get hit as much, although less entertaining, You could see the changes in Munguia from his change in trainers to Eddy Reynoso.

Munguia mentioned the names Caleb Plant and Edgar Berlanga after the fight; either would be welcomed as potential foes.

Munguia won by scores of 117-111 times two and 116-112, with my score agreeing with the latter.

Efe Ajagba and Martin Bakole batted to a majority draw in their heavyweight opener.

Ajagba controlled the fight from a distance for most of the early fight, Bakole rallied late, hurting Ajagba in the seventh, and I think if the fight was a twelve-rounder, Bakole would have gotten the nod.

Official scores of 96-94 for Ajagba and two of 95-95, I scored Ajagba a 96-94 winner.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 65 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 62 Pts (4)

Vince Samano: 28 Pts (3)

Boxing Challenge: Garcia rolled by Romero

      The Ring magazine card in Times Square appeared to be a good idea initially, but various problems with the city of New York and its zoning rules turned the crowd into a quiet crowd of high rollers.

That was before the fights began, when they were rewarded with thirty-six rounds of less-than-exciting action and a likely loss in one of the more anticipated fights in the game.

In the main event, Rolando Romero pulled a huge upset by winning a unanimous decision over Ryan Garcia and perhaps losing the much-anticipated rematch between Garcia and Devin Haney.

Romero didn't exactly dazzle in victory, but he scored the only knockdown of the evening when he dropped Garcia in the second round with a left hook and did his job well enough to win a WBA minor title, which should earn him a bigger fight eventually.

Garcia fought as poorly as one could remember in an awful performance as a prohibitive favorite, and it's reasonable to wonder how much of his win over Devin Haney may have been due to his use of PED's.

That's how bad Ryan Garcia looked, and he looked like a fighter who may have blazed past his prime without stopping at Go.

Romero did enough to win (118-109 and 115-112 x 2, my score 117-110), but let's not fool ourselves, we didn't see a new star born in Times Square, and if I have a solid welterweight right now, I'm gunning for Rolly Romero.

The co-feature was equally dull as Devin Haney dominated Jose Ramirez, but he did that as tediously as you could have imagined.

Haney moved, Ramirez lumbered, and it was this for twelve long rounds.

The less said about this, the better, but Haney did his part by winning his fight for the Ryan Garcia rematch, as dreadful as it was.

Haney won by scores of 119-109 x2 (and my score) and 118-108.

Teofimo Lopez showed his skills in a workmanlike victory over Arnold Barboa with a unanimous decision victory.

Lopez's speed was too much for Barboza, who won a few rounds but generally was a step behind Lopez.

Lopez won on the scorecards 118-110 and 116-112 times two, the same as my score.

Lopez retained his WBO junior welterweight title in the win, but without a marquee opponent in the division ( champions Alberto Puello, Richardson Hitchins, and Gary Antuanne Russell), Lopez talked of a rise to the welterweight division for a challenge of WBA and IBF champion Jaron "Boots" Ennis after the bout.

The idea of a live card in Times Square was an audacious attempt, but in actuality, the card lacked atmosphere and reminded me more of the post-COVID "Bubble" cards than a raucous live crowd.

Points for effort, but overall, I'd be fine without a return.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 63 Pts (2)
Ramon Malpica; 58 Pts (2)
Vince Samano: 25 Pts (2)

Boxing Challenge: And it's Huge!

  It's a huge boxing weekend.

For emphasis-HUGE as several of the top stars in the sport will be in action over the Friday through Sunday stretch!

Nine fights in this week's challenge, and while most of the top matches have favorites, almost all of the underdogs have a reasonable to good chance of pulling a surprising upset.

DAZN pay per view (weren't they the people that said pay per view was dead?) will be the place for the first two shows and number one is from a very odd location- Times Square in New York City.

Friday evening, Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney will face recognizable foes, but ones that they are expected to vanquish and advance to a lucrative rematch late this year.

Garcia will meet Rolando Romero for another one of those WBA minor titles that were supposed to go away in the welterweight division.

The title may be a joke as Garcia hasn't fought in a year and never (officially) as a welterweight, and Romero hasn't fought at the weight either, to go with losing two of his last four (and should have been three with the travesty of his win over Ismael Barroso).

Romero is wild, and is perfect for Garcia, who I see knocking Romero out, and possibly in spectacular fashion.

Haney also hasn't fought since his fight with Garcia and on paper, his opponent, former WBC and WBO junior welterweight champion Jose Ramirez is the more difficult of the two but Ramirez looked slow and uninspired in his last fight, a decision loss to Arnold Barboza, and looks like he's more interested in a payday rather than a victory.

If Haney is in his typical form, I think he controls Ramirez and wins a wide decision.

WBO junior welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez meets Arnold Barboza in a grudge match that has been long-awaited by many.

Lopez hasn't impressed in his two most recent fights, a close decision win over Jamaine Ortiz and an easy win over overmatched Steve Claggett, while Barboza is coming off his two best wins, a unanimous decision win over Jose Ramirez and a split decision win over talented Jack Catterall in Catterall's native England.

Barboza fits the suit in style as a fighter who would trouble Lopez, and Lopez fights his best when motivated against elite fighters (Vasyl Lomachenko and Josh Taylor).

The question is this: Is Lopez motivated and prepared to fight a good opponent with a style that troubles him?
If there is a major upset this weekend, this is my choice.

Saturday, it's onto Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for another DAZN PPV with the main event storyline centering around Canelo Alvarez's attempt to return the title taken from him by the IBF and hold all four belts in the super middleweight division for a second time.

Alvarez refused to fight his IBF mandatory, unknown William Scull, and was stripped of the title.

Scull then won a controversial decision over Vladimir Shishkin in a boring bout and "earn" this fight.

The only question in this one appears to be, Will Canelo stop Scull? Alvarez hasn't stopped an opponent since his 2021 KO of Caleb Plant and has had six fights since stopping Plant.

The co-feature will see Jaime Munguia attempt to avenge his sixth-round knockout loss in his hometown to an unknown Bruno Surace.

Munguia was ahead on the scorecards when Surace, who entered the fight with only four knockouts in his twenty-five wins, ended the fight with one right hand.

Was the punch a fluke? Or has Munguia suffered permanent damage to his psyche and chin?

A delayed heavyweight bout will happen as big punchers Martin Bakole meets Efe Ajagba.

Bakole was near the top of the heavyweight rankings before replacing Daniel DuBois on two days' notice to face Joseph Parker in February.

Parker knocked out an understandably out-of-shape Bakole in two rounds, but Bakole was promised to receive the same payday and opponent that he would have faced- Ajagba, win or lose.

Since he lost, the fight is no longer a heavyweight title eliminator, but everything is the same.

Ajagba hasn't fought since a split decision win over Guido Vianello in April 2024.

Badou Jack and Noel Mikaelian will clean up a mess over the WBC cruiserweight title that started when Jack was going to attempt to win the silly bridgerweight title, Mikaelian won the vacant title, Jack became the champion in recess, and then was given the title as champion.

It's a mess that will finally be cleared up unless the fight ends in a draw.

Sunday night, the Monster returns to America as the undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue will defend his four titles against Ramon Cardenas.

Inoue stopped Ye-Joon Kim in four rounds in January, while Cardenas won his biggest fight in his last outing with a unanimous decision over then-unbeaten Bryan Acosta.

Cardenas is a solid top ten contender but Inoue makes even the best look bad, so a Cardenas win would be the upset of the decade.

In the co-feature, Rafael Espinoza defends his WBO featherweight title against Edward Vazquez.

Espinoza stopped Robiesy Ramirez in six rounds in December to win their rematch, while Vazquez has two losses, both controversial: a split decision loss to Raymond Ford, who eventually became a world champion, and a majority decision to Joe Cordina in November 2023 for Cordina's IBF junior lightweight title.

Espinoza is the heavy favorite, but Vazquez has the potential to surprise the champion.

Boxing Challenge

Welterweights, 12 Rds 

Ryan Garcia vs Rolando Romero

Ramon Malpica: Garcia KO 4
TRS: Garcia KO 3
Vince Samano: Garcia KO 7

Welterweights 12 Rds

Devin Haney vs Jose Ramirez

All: Haney Unanimous Decision

WBO Junior Welterweight Title 12 Rds

Teofimo Lopez vs Arnold Barboza

R.L and TRS: Barboza Split Decision
V.S: Barboza KO 9

Unification WBA/WBC/WBO-IBF Super Middleweight Titles.12 Rds

Canelo Alvarez vs William Scull

R.L and V.S.: Alvarez Unanimous Decision

TRS: Alvarez KO 8

Super Middleweights 12 Rds

Jaime Munguia vs Bruno Surace

R.L: Munguia Unanimous Decision
TRS: Munguia KO 10
V.S.: Surace Unanimous Decision

Heavyweights. 12 Rds

Martin Bakole vs Efe Ajagba

R.L: Bakole KO 6
TRS: Bakole KO 9
V.S.: Bakole KO 7

WBC Cruiserweight Title. 12 Rds

Badou Jack vs Noel Mikaelian

R.L and TRS: Mikaelin Unaninous Decision
V.S.: Jack Unanimous Decision

World Junior Featherweight Title. 12 Rds 

Naoya Inoue vs Ramon Cardenas

R.L: Inoue KO 5
TRS: Inoue KO 6
V.S.: Inoue Unanimous Decision

WBO Featherweight Title. 12 Rds

Rafael Espinoza vs Edward Vazquez

R.L and V.S:Espinoza Unanimous Decision

TRS: Espinoza Split Decision

Cleveland DFA's Triston McKenzie

     I don't write often about baseball anymore, but one of my favorite people whom I met when traveling to minor league baseball games and autographing was Cleveland pitcher Triston McKenzie.

I never saw McKenzie be rude to anyone, signed when asked, and was very kind to anyone who spoke to him.

I always collected variations and oddball items of McKenzie because he made it so easy to be a fan of his.

Once I tweeted to him that I had a few cards for him to sign and would give him a few unique ones before a game in Harrisburg.

McKenzie saw me that night and grinned, saying, "Oh, you're the guy trying to buy me off" as he took the Sharpie and signed what I had for him.

I bought the low-number Heritage inserts with a nickel and a quarter coin cards from 1968, the season in which that year's Heritage sets were based.

I had Triston sign one of them in person, and he commented that he had never seen one.

A few weeks passed, the other coin card arrived, but Triston's team at the time (Akron Rubber Ducks)
wasn't returning to Harrisburg, so I sent it to Brett Shaw in Altoona, who was hosting Akron before the season concluded.

Brett told me that when Triston signed the card, he said, "I've only ever seen one of these before," with Brett responding, "In Harrisburg".

Triston replied, "Yeah, I think so." Brett's response? "Yep, this is for the same guy!"

That's why I was disappointed to see McKenzie's struggles and the Guardians designating him for assignment.

McKenzie was the team's first-round pick in the 2015 draft and struck out ten batters in his 2020 debut.

McKenzie finished 2022 with an 11-11 record with a 2.91 ERA in thirty starts, striking out 190 batters in 191 innings, and was mentioned by many as a potential top-of-the-rotation star for 2023.

McKenzie would struggle with shoulder and elbow problems in 2023, pitching only sixteen innings as he decided against Tommy John surgery and tried to fix the problems through rest and rehab.

McKenzie struck out seventy-four batters in seventy-five innings last season, but his ERA was over five, and he rarely threw the curveball and slider that helped make him so effective in 2022.

McKenzie's velocity is reported to be improved this season, but he's still reluctant to throw anything else. In four appearances (5.2 innings) from the bullpen this season, he allowed seven runs and walked seven.

The DFA designation means Cleveland has seven days to trade McKenzie, place him on waivers, if a team is willing to pick up McKenzie's contract, and should he clear waivers, Cleveland could then send him to the minors, most likely AAA Columbus, but possibly AA Akron.

Editor's Note: McKenzie did clear waivers after I wrote this piece and was assigned to AAA Columbus.

While I'd rather McKenzie stick with the Guardians and try revitalizing his career, he might be better suited to a new organization that could bring a new philosophy or direction to his game.

No matter how his career plays out, I'll always think fondly of McKenzie. He seems like a person who is more than baseball and one who is more accommodating than most athletes to the fans who help them earn a lucrative livelihood.