Boxing Challenge

Photo Credit: Danny Moloshok

A big weekend in the boxing challenge with matches on Fox, Showtime and another quarterfinal in the World Boxing Super Series.

Fox shows two featherweight fights as Leo Santa Cruz
(TRS #1)defends his WBA title in a squash match vs Chris Avalos and Abner Mares (TRS #5) faces Andres Gutierrez.
The WBA mandated a Santa Cruz-Mares fight in a rematch of their 2015 fight, but in typical PBC fashion instead of giving people what they want- take nine months off and give them something that they don't want.
Santa Cruz against Avalos is a mismatch with Avalos losing more than he wins of late and while Mares-Gutierrez looks good on paper and Gutierrez has just one loss (a decision loss to Cristian Mijares) but to the only name fighter on his record.
In other words-it's a card that never needed to happen.
Undefeated junior welterweight Eddie Ramirez will open the show against former lightweight champion Antonio DeMarco in Ramirez's first real test.
DeMarco holds a knockout win over Jorge Linares but has looked a bit shopworn of late.

PBC has a far more interesting card on Showtime Saturday night with three of the four junior middleweight titles on the line in Brooklyn.
The most anticipated of the triad has WBC champion Jermell Charlo (TRS #2) defending against highly regarded prospect Erickson Lubin (TRS #5).
Both Charlo and Lubin are thought to have a lot of promise, but in this fight, both champion and challenger have faced not even good competition with this fight being the first test for both.
I think this could go either way and could even end via knockout because we just don't know very much about either guy when the going gets tough.

WBA champion Erislandy Lara (TRS #1) is the only solid favorite on the evening as the Cuban ex-patriot will defend against former U.S. Olympian Terrell Gausha.
Lara is known for his smooth boxing ability that rarely excites against good opponents, so even in defeat, we will find out much about the undefeated Gausha, who hasn't fought anyone of note.
Lara, who likes to call out big names and then shrink behind the big coat of manager Al Haymon, might have a vulnerable chin if someone can land a big shot, so Gausha does have hope.

The opening bout has IBF titlist, Jarrett Hurd (TRS #4), putting his belt up vs veteran Austin Trout.
Trout, who has a win over Miguel Cotto in 2012, has fought only once in the last two years in a loss to Jermall Charlo and hasn't beaten recognizable competition since the Cotto fight still might be a small favorite over Hurd, who is extremely talented, but owns just one win over a top 20 opponent (Tony Harrison, in his winning of the vacant belt).
Are we noticing a trend with PBC's younger fighters?
Four of them on this card (Lara and Trout are veterans in their 30's) are still looking for fights against good opposition-let alone championship level challengers.
This only hurts their fighters, but that's their way of doing business.

From London, we have George Groves (TRS #4) defending his WBA super middleweight title against Jamie Cox as the top seed in the World Boxing Super Series in perhaps the weakest bout in both brackets of the WBSS.
Groves, who fought plenty of top opponents in his career with wins over James DeGale, Martin Murray and his title win last out vs Fedor Chudinov, is still vulnerable as he has lost his share as well with defeats against Badou Jack and two losses to Carl Froch takes on Cox, who is undefeated against unknown opponents.
The winner will fight Chris Eubank Jr. coming off his impressive quarter-final KO of Avni Yildirim in the semi-finals.

I lead the challenge over Ramon Malpica 137-126..

WBA Featherweight Title. 12 rds
Leo Santa Cruz vs Chris Avalos
R.L:Santa Cruz Unanimous Decision
TRS: Santa Cruz KO 6

Featherweights. 12 rds
Abner Mares vs Andres Gutierrez
Both: Mares Unanimous Decision

WBA Junior Middleweight Title.12 rds
Erislandy Lara vs Terrell Gausha
Both:Lara Unanimous Decision

WBC Junior Middleweight Title.12 rds
Jermell Charlo vs Erickson Lubin
Both:Lubin Unanimous Decision

IBF Junior Middleweight Title. 12 rds
Jarrett Hurd vs Austin Trout
R.L: Hurd Unanimous Decision
TRS: Hurd Split Decision

WBA Super Middleweight Title/World Boxing Super Series Quarter-Final. 12 rds
George Groves vs Jamie Cox
R.L: Groves Unanimous Decision
TRS: Groves KO 9

Cavaliers trade Richard Jefferson,Kay Felder...

Photo Courtesy: David Liam Kyle/NBAE/GettyImages

The Cleveland Cavaliers needed to do something to make the 15 man limit with the season starting next week and they tried several different ways to make it to the limit before finally being able to make a deal.

Cleveland moved salary and lost money on another player as they shipped veteran Richard Jefferson and second-year man Kay Felder to the Atlanta Hawks for the rights to two Euro players that I don't know much about and two trade exceptions.
The Cavaliers also included two future second-round draft picks and three million dollars to cover the salaries of Jefferson and Felder.
Atlanta is expected to release both players, which mildly surprises me as I would think the Hawks, who are starting a rebuilding process, wouldn't at least take a look at Felder.

The 37 year old Jefferson averaged just under six points a game last season for the Cavaliers after arriving before the 2005-06 season as a free agent from Dallas.
Jefferson was used as the defensive stopper off the bench and was the main defender against Kevin Durant in the 2017 NBA Finals.
Jefferson's days were likely numbered when Dwyane Wade was signed as Wade is a better offensive player at a similar position and Wade is younger as well.
The question that I have is will Jefferson even play anymore as he considered retiring after the Cavaliers championship so he may decide to retire or at least take some time and wait to see if you catch on with a contender later in the season.

Felder was a second-round pick from Oakland that the Cavaliers acquired before last season, paying 2.4 million to the Hawks ironically and averaged four points in 42 games in a season that saw Felder spend time with both Cleveland and Canton of the "D League".
Felder was the player that the Cavaliers appealed to the league to be allowed to sign one of the new "two-way" contracts between the NBA and D League, but the league turned it down since Felder was already signed.
Cleveland wanted to keep Felder but after that decision Felder was going to be caught up in a numbers game after bringing in Isaiah Thomas, Derrick Rose, and Jose Calderon all during the last off-season, the Cavaliers simply couldn't carry four guards at the point, if they didn't have the ability to move Felder up and down from Canton, where he was ready if needed, but could have used the everyday playing time for his game.
Felder averaged 29.9 (That's not a typo!) points per game for the Charge in eleven games in Canton.

This is what I know about the two European players that the Cavaliers received the rights to.
Dimitrios Agravanis is a 22 year old,6'10 Greek center that averaged four points and three rebounds for his Greek league/Euroleague teams last season.
Sergiy Gladyr is a 28 year old, 6'5 shooting guard from the Ukraine that played in the French league last season and averaged nine points per game.
I wouldn't bet very much (about a penny maybe) that either of these two ever spend a minute in Cleveland.

PPM

Back to the PPM for this weekend's game.

Last Week:10-3
Overall:46-19

College
Ohio State over Nebraska 36-16
West Virginia over Texas Tech 45-37
Ohio over Bowling Green 30-16
Houston over Tulsa 40-19
Middle Tennessee State over UAB 27-24
San Diego State over Boise State 38-34
Washington over Arizona State 35-14
Games of the Week
Oklahoma over Texas 39-31
Stanford over Oregon 27-17

NFL
Texans over Browns 31-13
Saints over Lions 33-30

Games of the Week
Packers over Vikings 28-17
Chiefs over Steelers 30-23

Devils drop 1st game.

Ed Mulholland | USA TODAY Sports

The New Jersey Devils couldn't win them all as the visiting Washington Capitals took advantage of a Devils team that seemed to be a step slower than their opponents in a 5-2 defeat in Newark.
Devils goals to Taylor Hall (1 power play) and Kyle Palmieri (1).
The Devils return tomorrow night against the Rangers at the Garden.
No coverage here as we have Ohio State and boxing.

Hell Raisers

1) Play that swung the game?
Pavel Zacha's third period high stick that drew blood from Karl Eller and that led to a four-minute man advantage for Washington, who responded with two goals and turned a close game into one that was conclusively decided.

2) Both Devils goals were goals that made New Jersey fans happy in defeat.
Nice to see Kyle Palmieri back in the lineup and his goal on a breakaway started by Damon Severson was a pretty one.
I wondered how much time Palmieri would miss after the injury in the season opener and it was good to see him perform well in his return with a goal and an assist on Taylor Hall's goal.

3) And what about Taylor Hall, who scored his first goal of the year off a nice pass from Kyle Palmieri.
The Devils are counting on a big year from Hall, so it's good to see him score number one before things spiral too far out of control.

4) Blake Coleman beat the crap out of Andrei Burakovsky after Burakovsky instigated a fight, which was after Coleman was called for boarding a Capital.
As Craig Laughlin breathlessly screamed that Burakovsky had never fought before, Coleman pounded him.
Coleman paid later in the period when Washington's thumper Tom Wilson whipped Coleman handily.
I miss the days of big bombing fighters like Wilson.
They are a liability today, but I still miss them.

5) The Devils will be starting Keith Kinkaid tomorrow against the Rangers.
John Hynes has said he wants to do more of splitting the goalies up on nights with back to back games.
Good to see Hynes living up to his word.
It'll keep Cory Schneider fresher and it will also be good for Keith Kinkaid as well.

6) Annual whine about the awful Washington announcers led by the world's worst color man in Craig Laughlin.
Joe Beninati isn't exactly Doc Emrick, but Laughlin brings the worst of Beninati.
With the exception of any game done by Gus Johnson, getting stuck with these two for Devils games vs Washington are my least favorites in sports.

You'll see a few posts over the next 24 hrs with the PPM, boxing challenge picks, Ohio State vs Nebraska, more boxing with the results from the weekend and the Cavaliers trade of Richard Jefferson, if I can squeeze that in.
Busy, Busy!!

Cleaning out the inbox-More Non-Sports

Photo Courtesy: Eliza Relman Business Insider

I still have enough in the inbox for three inbox cleanings (2 non-sports and a sports version), so I wanted to get started before it gets too full.
This will be more of a political and media cleaning since I had enough to do a theme version.

We start with an article from Business Insider on Fox and Friends anchor Ainsley Earhardt.
The South Carolina native was always a TRS favorite in the days before she got the "big gig" because she seemed so real-which isn't always the case for people in the media.
Ainsley sent me a signed photo for the collection years ago and enclosed a note thanking me for asking.
Earhardt wears her religion and beliefs on her sleeve, yet it doesn't come off as overbearing and I'm fine with that because it seems authentic.
I don't agree with her on everything and I do think she is far too soft on Donald Trump, but as long as you are honest and that's who you are it's all good.
It's pretty difficult to watch their show or read this article and dislike Ainsley Earhardt.
Full disclosure-I don't watch Fox and Friends mainly because I cannot stand the two "gentlemen" anchors with her.
Now THEY are overbearing!!

We all have various levels of concern in our dealings with North Korea and I find it interesting to look at the way of life there with the propaganda from the regime as a constant presence in daily life.
Two articles from the inbox on this topic as Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times writes about the country, its people and political solutions to this situation.
Evan Osnos of the New Yorker pens a similar article that deals with the political side a bit more.
Both articles are interesting in getting to know a possible future adversary and how they think.

Salena Zito of the New York Post writes about Youngstown, Ohio and the day that sowed the seeds for Donald Trump.
The day in question was September 19,1977 and 5,000 workers lost their jobs at Youngstown Sheet and Tube and the slide was on with U.S Steel and numerous others closed factories that would send that area into a canyon that they have yet to recover from even today.
It is more about Black Monday and the people of Youngstown than Trump, but it relates as the beginning of Democrats leaving the party and turning to the GOP and that would eventually lead to the would-be millionaire populist....

A goodbye to Stanislav Petrov at the age of 77.
Who was Stanislav Petrov?
Only the guy that might have saved the world in 1983.
Petrov was the Soviet military officer that received a false alarm that the United State had launched five nuclear missiles that were on their way to Moscow and chose not to retaliate with Soviet missiles that would have just about destroyed everything known to man.
Sometimes the biggest heroes are the people you don't know...

It's over- Cleveland's Soul Crushing Game Five loss

A tremendous season came to a crushing end as Didi Gregorius hit two homers off Cleveland starter Corey Kluber in the first three innings and the New York Yankees won game five of the ALDS 5-2 in Cleveland, taking the series with them to Houston to play the Astros.
The Indians would cut the lead to 3-2 in the fifth on consecutive RBI singles by Roberto Perez and Giovanni Urshela but would threaten no more against the Yankee bullpen.
Back with more soon from the Hot Stove.

Smoke Signals

1) Not a lot of excuses, but there were some reasons for this loss.
It really did come down to two balls hit in game three.
The Yankees Greg Bird's hit left the ballpark and stayed out.
Francisco Lindor's left the park, but Aaron Judge brought it back in.
Difference between moving on and moving out.

2) Now, I cannot explain how Corey Kluber pitched so well all season and then came up very short in his two playoff starts.
Kluber just didn't have it when they needed him and I'm not sure why.
I can give Kluber a mild pass for game two on somewhat short rest, but Kluber had no such excuse on this day.

3) The Indians did score twice and had the tying run on second with just one out in the fifth.
Francisco Lindor then banged into a double play and that essentially ended the Cleveland offense/

4) Cleveland just wasn't patient at the plate as they swung way too early in the count and allowed Joe Girardi to stick with just David Robertson and Aroldis Chapman from the bullpen.
Yankee pitchers threw 130 to Indian pitchers 177 and the difference was most glaring in the Yankee ninth when Brett Gardner wore Cody Allen down before singling home one run with the final run scoring on the same play on an error on an overthrow.

5) Top three hitters in the Indians lineup for the series-Francisco Lindor .111, Jason Kipnis .182 and Jose Ramirez .100.
Tough time of the year to have the top of your lineup get that cold and other than Lindor's homer in game two, the Indians received next to nothing from those players.

6) It didn't have an effect on the game, but what in the world when you are down to your final five outs and the season is on the line, why is lefty hitter Jason Kipnis being allowed to face the fearsome lefty Aroldis Chapman?
Chapman predictably dispatched Kipnis easily.
Not on Kipnis, being placed in that situation is on Terry Francona.

7) So many are now wondering about the record-setting winning streak contributing to the loss and I'd hesitate to blame that completely, but I would say this, sometimes it is possible for a team to use things up.
Not like karma or anything like that, but players are streaky and in an unusual run such as that, several Indians played great and all players have their good runs and bad runs.
Sometimes it's as simple as you are due.

8) And sometimes, there are no explanations other than the other team was better.
Maybe it's just that simple this time- The Yankees were the better team over five games.

9) And this is sour grapes of course, but this is one of the reasons that I hate the Wild Card among many.
I hate the Wild Card, to begin with, but baseball makes it far too easy for the Wild Card to overcome any obstacles.
I was talking about how to fix things after baseball inevitably moves to 32 teams with Fred Landucci and I think the best way is 4 four-team divisions in each league and punt the wild card.

10) I might be doing a pre-Hot Stove series for the Indians, Giants and Pirates, but for now- here are the Indians free agents. We'll see who stays and who goes.
Hitters: Jay Bruce, Carlos Santana, Austin Jackson, Michael Brantley
Pitchers: Bryan Shaw, Joe Smith, Craig Breslow, Boone Logan
Brantley and Logan are team options.
Logan is unlikely at seven million, if picked up with a one million buyout.
Brantley is a maybe at eleven million and it might depend on who they can keep of Bruce and/or Santana.

Connie Hawkins

Sad news from the basketball world as former NBA and ABA star Connie Hawkins passed away at the age of 75.
Hawkins had been in bad health recently and was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2007.

Connie Hawkins was the bridge to how the game was played from era to era.
It was Hawk that connected to Julius Erving that led to Michael Jordan with the showmanship (as shown in the picture to the right) and the high-wire attack through the air that only Elgin Baylor had a game similar of that to Hawkins at the time.
Sadly, we never saw the true best of Connie Hawkins, who was banned from his commitment to Iowa and the NBA for having his name mentioned in a point-shaving scandal in 1961 despite there being no proof of participation or Hawkins even playing in any of the mentioned games.

Banned from the only pro league at the time, Hawkins played for the Harlem Globetrotters before spending time in the short-lived ABL winning the only league championship with the Pittsburgh Rens.
Hawkins would then be the dominant player in the first three seasons of the ABA with the Pittsburgh/Minnesota Pipers, winning the league title and the MVP in the league's first season.
During this time, Hawkins (and others including Roger Brown, who took the settlement, but chose to stay with the ABA ) sued the NBA for their unfair ban and before the case could get to trial, the NBA settled with Hawkins, paying him 1.3 million dollars and assigned him to the Phoenix Suns.
The Suns had won just 16 games before Hawkins in their inaugural season, but with Hawkins in the lineup won 39 games, made the playoffs and pushed the Lakers of Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and Wilt Chamberlain to a surprising seven-game series before losing.
Hawkins battled knee injuries thereafter and even though he was able to maintain his numbers for the most part in Phoenix, they played a part in Hawkins being traded to the Lakers, where his skills declined before ending his career in 1976 in Atlanta with the Hawks.

I have three personal stories relating to Connie Hawkins.
In the early 70's, Hawkins and author David Wolf, who would later become a boxing manager and agent for Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini worked on his autobiography "FOUL", that ended with some of Hawkins years with the Suns making the book.
I found a used copy of this at a book sale and it was a regular part of my sports book rotation that went to school a lot and tended to satisfy teachers that I was reading (like that was tough to get me to do) much more than magazines did.
I haven't read FOUL in years, but it's in the attic somewhere, battered and beaten, but well loved in its day.

Another Hawkins story was his cameo appearance on early Saturday Night Live, where he "lost" a one on one game to the diminutive singer Paul Simon at a New York schoolyard in a skit for the show.
I must have been seven or eight and hanging out with my dad late night and just was amazed that an NBA player that I watched on tv lost to the little guy that sung "Kodachrome"?
I remember just babbling about this great upset before after a while, Dad explained to me that it wasn't "real" and Hawkins "let" Simon win for the laughs!

A televised one on one game is my final memory of Hawk.
In 1972-73, the NBA's television contract was in its final year with ABC and with ABC being the "third network" in ratings at the time (their time was just a few years away), the NBA often was given prime or at least preferred time games.
At halftime of their games, ABC held a one on one tournament that was taped well before the season and shown during halftime of their games.
I remember faintly seeing Hawkins taking on younger star Spencer Haywood at my old house shortly after moving back here.
As in, I watched it at my old house, they didn't come over play there!
I have never seen that tournament since that day long ago and it's not even on Youtube, which is really amazing to me since about everything is on Youtube it seems!
I don't even remember the winner, I just remember my dad letting me stay up on a school night to watch before trudging up the stairs for bed.

Back tomorrow with Indians-Yankees game five!