Boxing Challenge

   As the boxing year closes, there are three world title defenses this weekend but the undercards are all lacking a bit, so the boxing challenge will only showcase those title battles.

The biggest of the weekend is from Matchroom/DAZN PPV from San Francisco as Regis Prograis defends his WBC junior welterweight title against lightweight champion Devin Haney, who kept three of his titles for the time being but vacated his WBC version to take this fight against Prograis.

Prograis has lost only to Josh Taylor and looked great two fights ago in winning his title by buzzing through Jose Zepeda to win the WBC belt vacated by Taylor.

However, Prograis looked disinterested in winning a decision over Danielito Zorrila earlier this year and that dull outing may have helped Prograis in landing a fight against Devin Haney, who may have seen some vulnerabilities in the bigger fighter.

My question about Prograis is this, is he as good as he looked against Zepeda? 

Or did he look better than he is because Zepeda was starting a downhill slide and Prograis was the beneficiary of his decline? 

As for Haney, he's always going to be a fighter who is more effective than exciting and any fighter that consistently leaves things up to the judges will get screwed over sooner or later, although he did receive the benefit of the doubt in his last fight against Vasyl Lomachenko in a fight that I scored even.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the bigger Prograis win by bullying Hnaey but I suspect Haney is the better fighter and finds a way to win in a fight that may not be all that entertaining.

On ESPN from Top Rank, Robeisy Ramirez defends his WBO featherweight title against Rafael Espinoza in Pembroke Pines, Florida.

Ramirez was strong in winning his first title defense in Japan via fifth-round knockout over Satoshi Shimizu in July and is showing the form that won him two Olympic gold medals as an amateur.

The unbeaten Espinoza has knocked out eighteen of his twenty-one victims but hasn't faced anyone who is a contender let alone a boxer of Ramirez's quality, so he is an unknown quantity.

On Sunday, Peacock presents a Boxxer card from Bournemouth, England with a main event that will see WBO cruiserweight champion Chris Billam-Smith defend against his mandatory challenger Mateusz Masternak.

Billam-Smith upset Lawrence Okolie in May by majority decision in what was a surprise to almost everyone to win the title and was expected to defend against Okolie in a rematch but the WBO stepped in to require a match against Masternak first.

Billam-Smith is an action fighter and his fights before upsetting Okolie were generally fun ones to watch, especially his two battles with Tommy McCarthy, so if Masternak engages this could be a interesting match.

Masternak has been stopped only once in his five defeats and he does own a win over former cruiserweight champion Jean-Marc Mormeck.

The problem is it was the last fight of a faded Mormeck's career and it was nine years ago.

Otherwise, when Masternak has stepped up in class, he's been defeated by Yuniel Dorticos, Grigory Drozd, and Tony Bellew.

Boxing Challenge

WBC Junior Welterweight Title. 12 Rds 

Regis Prograis vs Devin Haney

Ramon Malpica: Progais KO 10
TRS: Haney Unanimous Decision
Vince Samano: Prograis KO 11

WBO Featherweight Title. 12 Rds

Robeisy Ramirez vs Rafael Espinoza

R.L: Ramirez Unanimous Decision
TRS: Ramirez KO 8
V.S: Ramirez KO 10

WBO Cruiserweight Title 12 Rds

Chris Billam-Smith vs Mateusz Masternak.

R.L: Billam-Smith KO 8

TRS: Billiam-Smith Unanimous Decision
V.S: Masternak Unanimous Decision

Cleaning Out the Inbox: Non-Sports Passings

 The non-sports passings start with an underrated actor and move on from there.

Goodbye to Burt Young at the age of 83.

The veteran actor is best known for his supporting role in the Rocky films as "Paulie" Adrian's (Rocky's wife) brother and Rocky's best friend.

Young was nominated for an Academy Award for the role for the first Rocky film and along with Sylvester Stallone, Tony Burton, and Stu Nahan are the only actors to appear in each of the first six films in the series.

Young also was an author and painter with several paintings in galleries worldwide.

Goodbye to Ken Mattingly at the age of 87.

Mattingly might be remembered by more people for the Apollo mission that he didn't fly than for the one that he did.

Mattingly was pulled from Apollo 13 days before launch when he tested positive for exposure to Rubella, which he would never develop and played a key role in the successful return of the crippled craft home.

Mattingly was portrayed by Gary Sinise in the film "Apollo 13" and the film established Mattingly for not being part of the mission more than his mission to the moon as the command module pilot on Apollo 16. 

Mattingly would later fly two Space Shuttle missions in 1982 and 1985 and was one of two people (John Young) to fly to the Moon and a Space Shuttle mission.

Goodbye to Frank Borman at the age of 95.

Borman was the commander of Apollo Eight, the first manned mission to the Moon in December of 1968.

Borman's mission is remembered for the reading from the Book of Genesis on Christmas Eve as the craft orbited the Moon and the famous "Earthrise" photo taken by crewmate Bill Anders.

Borman also flew into space with Apollo crewmate Jim Lovell on the Gemini Seven mission and was the key NASA investigator on the Apollo One fire that cost the lives of Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee.

Borman testified in front of a Congressional committee on the fire. His testimony is credited as a key part of getting through the committee and continuing the program.

Goodbye to Shane MacGowan at the age of 65.

The lead singer of the Irish punk band The Pogues, MacGowan is perhaps most remembered for co-writing the Christmas tune "Fairytale of New York" which MacGowan performed with the late Kirsty MacColl and with various others through the years after MacColl's tragic passing in 2000.

MacGowan was dismissed from the band in 1991 for unprofessional behavior but returned in 2001 through 2014.

Goodbye to Marty Krofft at the age of 86.

Part of the brother duo that that brought so many bizarre memories to children in the 1970s, Marty Krofft was involved in other television projects as well including arguably the worst television idea ever in the 1976 Brady Bunch Variety Hour.

The Krofft brothers also once started an amusement park in Atlanta in an eight-story building that featured their characters but lasted less than a year before the building then called "The Omni" as part of the facility that housed the Atlanta Flames and Hawks was sold and stands today as CNN Center.

The brothers first hit success with their Saturday morning programs such as "H.R Pufnstuff" and "The Bugaloos" on NBC and moved to ABC with the "Krofft Supershow".

ABC also used the Krofft puppets and production team with the Brady Bunch Variety Hour and a much bigger hit in the variety genre' with Donny and Marie Osmond and a later hit with NBC with Barbara Mandrell and her sisters, Louise and Irlene.  

Cleaning out the Inbox: Passings

     Two very big names lead off this edition of tributes to stars that have recently left us.

Goodbye to Walter Davis at the age of 69.

The silky-smooth scorer from North Carolina, Davis starred for the Tar Heels from 1973-77 for Dean Smith and won an Olympic Gold for Smith in 1976 in the Montreal Games.

Davis was taken fifth overall by Phoenix in the 1977 NBA Draft and averaged twenty-four points a game as a rookie, good enough to win him the Rookie of the Year award.

Davis averaged 18.9 points per game for his career and is still the career leader in points scored for the Suns franchise.

Davis made the All-Star game on six occasions in his eighteen seasons and still holds an NBA record that will be difficult to break.

In 1983, Davis made his first fifteen shots and hit all four of his free throws before missing a shot with under a minute to play, scoring thirty-four points before missing his first shot.

Goodbye to Frank Howard at the age of 87.

The 6'7 man mountain was an All-American in both baseball and basketball at Ohio State and was good enough at hoops to have been drafted in the third round by the Philadelphia Warriors.

Howard won the National League Rookie of the Year for the Dodgers in 1960 and won a World Series ring for them in 1963 but his career didn't truly flourish until his trade to the Washington Senators after the 1964 season.

Known as "the Washington Monument" and "Capital Punishment", Howard's power feats were just about the only positive points to watching the expansion version of the Senators (only one winning season in their existence from 1961-71).

Howard clubbed 235 homers in his seven years in Washington, hit forty or more homers in three of those years, and led the American League twice in homers, although his career high of forty-eight in 1969 did not lead the AL.

In a twenty-game span in 1968, Howard smashed ten homers and set a still-standing record for home runs in one week.

After his playing career ended in 1974 with an injury with the Seibu Lions in the first and only game that Howard would play in Japan, Howard would spend several years as a coach as well as brief stints managing the Mets and Padres.

Goodbye to Dick Drago at the age of 78.

Drago was the best starter for the expansion Kansas City Royals, winning eleven games or more in four of the Royals' first five seasons, peaking with a 17-11 record with a 2.98 ERA in 1971.

Boston acquired Drago before the 1974 season and converted him to a reliever with Drago leading the 1975 American League champions in saves with fifteen before being traded to the Angels after the season.

Drago returned to Boston in 1978, collecting twenty-three more saves over three seasons before retiring after spending 1981 with the Mariners.

In 1976, Drago allowed the final home run of Hank Aaron's career, ending with 755 homers.

Goodbye to Bobby Ussery at the age of 88.

A Hall of Fame jockey, Ussery won the Kentucky Derby in consecutive years but would only receive credit for one victory.

Usseery crossed the finish line first with Proud Clarion in 1967 and aboard Dancer's Image in 1968 but Dancer's Image was later disqualified for having the now-legal but then banned drug Bute in his system and moved to last place.

Usserry won 3,611 races in his career before his retirement in 1974 and was an inductee into the Hall of Fame in 1980.

Goodbye to Ken Squire at the age of 88.

The long-time voice of NASCAR, it was Ken Squire who pushed for CBS to attempt to broadcast a live NASCAR race in its entirety.

NASCAR was fortunate enough for that race to be the famous 1979 Daytona 500, which introduced the country to racing with the East Coast stuck inside with a heavy snowstorm, and that resulted in the final lap crash with the Allison brothers and Cale Yarborough slugging it out in the infield around their wrecked vehicles with Richard Petty holding off Darrell Waltrip for the win.

That race was the match that lit the NASCAR fire in the country and it was Ken Squire at the microphone calling all the resulting craziness.

Squire called CBS's NASCAR races from 1979 to 1997 and worked for the Turner Networks from 1983 to 1999 with a colorful flair that combined descriptive language with a love for the product.

Squire also appeared in both films in the 1980s that featured racing of some sort- Cannonball Run, which was about a cross-country illegal race, and Stroker Ace, a film that featured NASCAR races.

Boxing Challenge: Garcia Stops Duarte

  The boxing weekend was a bit light but it did showcase the return of Ryan Garcia, who fought for the first time since his knockout loss to Gervonta Davis.

Oscar Duarte fought well at times and Garcia on occasion looked tentative but when Garcia finally hurt Duarte, he quickly ended the evening in the eighth round.

Garcia fought a bit like Floyd Mayweather with some attempts at using the shoulder roll and did enough to lead the fight on my card at 58-56 at the time of the stoppage and give him credit for finishing the fight as soon he had a good chance. Still, he didn't fight as aggressively as usual and it does seem that he has some residual damage from the Davis defeat as he didn't seem anxious to engage with Duarte as he did in the past.

There may have been some damage done to Ryan Garcia that we might only see once he fights someone better than Oscar Duarte but time will tell.

Earlier in the afternoon from Belfast Northern Ireland, two veterans with questions to answer about how well their chins would hold up battled in a featherweight scrap that answered the questions for one of those aging battlers as Jordan Gill knocked out Michael Conlain in the seventh round.

The fight was even after six rounds with both fighters having their share of advantages with the biggest coming in the second round when Gill knocked Conlan down which was the difference on my card after six rounds at 57-56 for Gill.

Gill badly hurt Conlan in the seventh and the referee ended the affair then and there.

Conlan still has his skills but the knockout loss to Leigh Wood damaged his ability to take a good blow and he should consider retirement at this stage of his career.

Gill will move on but with his own chin problems will likely be sacrificed to an up-and-coming prospect ready to make their next step.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 179 Pts(2)

Ramon Malpica: 163 Pts (3)
Vince Samano: 118 Pts (3)

Kyle McCord to enter Transfer Portal

     The transfer portal in college football is always a hectic and often controversy-filled time but the start of the portal for 2024 immediately initiated that process when Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord announced his intentions to enter the portal and seek a new home for 2024.

Ryan Day was asked during his most recent press conference about the quarterback position for the Buckeyes' appearance in the Cotton Bowl against Missouri and for next season, and Day was non-committal about the position or McCord having an advantage in holding down the spot for 2024.

This apparently led to some ill feelings about the situation and as soon as the portal officially opened this morning, McCord filed his name into the system for the right to shop his services.

McCord was solid but not excellent in his only season starting for Ohio State, throwing for 3,170 yards, and completing sixty-five percent of his passes with twenty-four touchdowns against six interceptions but may be remembered most for leading the game-winning drive in South Bend to defeat Notre Dame and throwing the interception that snuffed out the final possession in a six-point loss to Michigan.

McCord did play through much of the season with an ankle injury that made him less mobile than the usual Ohio State quarterback and he did seem to lack chemistry with the receivers other than Marvin Harrison Jr. and maybe Cade Stover but Ohio State lacked the explosiveness that they possessed under C.J. Stroud with the same star skill position players around McCord, so the only assumption to make is some of that (at least) had to be placed on McCord.

Ryan Day had to be a little disappointed with McCord's play, especially with the constant comparisons to Michigan's J.J. McCarthy, who wanted to attend Ohio State but Day chose McCord instead as his quarterback of choice in that recruiting class, and when you consider the pressure under Day and the program entering next season, it's not unfair for Day to re-open the competition between McCord, Devin Brown, Lincoln Kienholz and incoming freshman Air Noland to attempt a clean break from a underwhelming offensive season.

McCord's decision leaves Ryan Day with an interesting opportunity for the Cotton Bowl to give Devon Brown and Lincoln Kienholz significant playing time against a good team in Missouri.

I'd even go as far as to give each player two quarters of play as the Cotton Bowl is basically an exhibition game anyway.

I don't think that this will hurt Ryan Day in the future with quarterbacks, if anything it may help him as a quarterback who may not want to sit behind a starter, particularly one not playing well (past or present) will now know that Day won't hesitate to play the best player and not adhere to loyalty as Urban Meyer had been known to do.

Ohio State now could play in the portal itself for a one-year stopgap at the position with Riley Leonard, formerly of Duke, and Will Howard, formerly of Kansas State, as the biggest portal prizes available as of now.

In the end, Kyle McCord was a good quarterback who played in the shadow of three of the best quarterbacks in program history.

McCord and Ryan Day are finding out that when you don't beat Michigan for three seasons in a row, good will never be good enough at Ohio State. 

Late Implosion bumps Browns in LA

         The Cleveland Browns had plenty of chances to defeat the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday but meltdowns in the fourth quarter were wide-spread from the offense, defense, special teams, and coaching as the Rams grabbed a 36-19 decision far closer than the final score indicates.

Joe Flacco finished with 254 passing yards and two touchdowns but his fourth-quarter interception led to the Rams pocketing the win.

Jerome Ford and Harrison Bryant caught touchdown passes with Bryant's five receptions leading the receivers.

Cleveland falls to 7-5 with the loss and while the Browns are still in the playoffs as of this writing, the Browns return to Cleveland and the waiting 8-3 Jacksonville Jaguars.

Brownie Bits

1) Joe Flacco's first start at quarterback was as good as one could expect except for his late-game interception and the Browns looked like an NFL offense that was interested in taking chances downfield rather than the offenses piloted by Dorian Thompson-Robinson and P.J.Walker.

2) That said, the weaknesses of Flacco make it imperative that the Browns not fall behind, which allowed the Rams to tee off on the immobile Flacco.

Both of the Rams sacks in the game occurred on the Browns final drive, including Flacco being dumped in the end zone for a safety in a final indignity.

3) The offensive line did keep the Rams from beating Flacco up during most of the game but the Browns running game continues to be a concern.

While Kareem Hunt carried twelve times for forty-eight yards for a solid four yards a crack and Pierre Strong carried twice for twenty, Jerome Ford's struggles continued with a meager nineteen yards on nine attempts.

4) Amari Cooper had caught three of five targets from Joe Flacco including a twenty-two-yard shot which was a refreshing change, and looked very comfortable catching the ball from the veteran passer.

That all changed when he was forced from the game with a concussion and will be considered unlikely to play against Jacksonville unless he passes the league's concussion protocol.

That's unlikely, as only a few players have been able to enter that program and then play the following week this season.

5) Cooper's loss would further weaken a pass-catching group that is already in question as the season has progressed.

Flacco did hit former Jets teammate Elijah Moore for a forty-two-yard gain but Moore caught only four of twelve passes, so Moore didn't do very much with the increased workload other than the long catch.

6) Harrison Bryant caught five passes, one for a touchdown, and even more important, caught all five passes thrown to him.

Bryant was drafted by the Browns as a pass-catching threat but have used him only sporadically in that role, and with Bryant eligible for free agency, I wonder how much that is playing into the Browns' thoughts about their willingness to pay Bryant.

7) I know the defense is battered and Myles Garrett is playing through a painful shoulder injury but this is the third time in a road game that the defense needed a stop late in the game and couldn't get it accomplished.

There are reasons for that but great defenses nail those situations and this one hasn't always been able to do that.

8) Denzel Ward missed his second game with a shoulder injury and he's clearly missed as most Pro Bowl-level players would be but Ward's absence takes away so much from the defense in both the passing game and the trickle-down from what he brings even down to the run support game.

If Ward misses the Jacksonville game next week against Calvin Ridley, I'd be very concerned about the teams' chances in attempting to avoid a three-game losing streak.

9) Anthony Walker is often touted as the Browns solid veteran leader at linebacker that doesn't make mistakes.

Walker made a blunder with a ridiculous hit out of bounds, and that's not the kind of play that "veteran leaders" make.

10) A word about the Rams young receiver Puka Nacua, who ripped off a thirty-one-yard run and caught a seventy-yard touchdown pass but even more impressive was a second-quarter catch that was key in keeping a drive alive.

Nacua took a hit that sent him to the locker room with announcers Kevin Kugler and Mark Sanchez speculating about Nacua's status for the season, not the game!

Yet, Nacua returned to play in the second half and caught two more passes.

Nacua was picked by the Rams in the fifth round and is the type of under-the-radar late-round draftee that other teams seem to find and the Browns never come up with in their drafts.

11) I included coaching in the introduction mainly for a silly challenge by Kevin Stefanski on a late-game Rams reception that cost the Browns a timeout that didn't matter in the end anyway but shows that Stefanski can be rattled in late-game situations.

DeMarcus Robinson caught the ball and took three (and almost four) steps before moving out of bounds and yet Stefanski challenged, costing a valuable late-game timeout.

This play was so clear, that the referee was annoyed by the time spent replaying it when he announced the replay result, he stated "The receiver CLEARLY was in the field of play while making the catch".

12) The Browns hoped to earn a split of the West Coast games and they didn't so despite holding a playoff spot at 7-5 Cleveland isn't able to relax.

At 7-5, the Browns are one of four teams for three spots (the Houston Texans are the odd team out at this time) and even though the Browns are at home against Jacksonville, the Jaguars are 8-3 although they will be traveling on a short week after a Monday night game against Cincinnati.

This game is important for several reasons in the playoff race but the biggest reason might be for the state of mind.

The schedule is lighter for the final four games after Jacksonville (Chicago and the Jets at home, Houston and Cincinnati on the road) but a loss would mean three losses in a row and a dread that the Browns are rolling downhill without any brakes.

A loss wouldn't end the season but it would put the Browns in a position of perhaps (over the final month) not having as much control over their own destiny.

Boxing Challenge

    The boxing weekend became a little lighter when Ohara Davies's fight for the WBA junior lightweight title against Ismael Barroso was postponed due to visa problems for Davies.

Still, DAZN will have two fight cards on Saturday with the main events from both events as this week's challenge bouts.

The biggest fight is the return of Ryan Garcia, who spent most of his fight week verbally sparring not with his opponent but with his promoter Oscar De La Hoy and Golden Boy Promotions.

Garcia is fighting for the first time since his seventh-round knockout loss in April to Gervonta Davis and his opponent, Oscar Duarte seems to be tailor-made for Garcia to make a spectacular return, assuming that the young bomber is in a mental state to perform at his best.

Duarte can crack with 21 knockouts in his 26 wins against one loss, has won eleven in a row since that defeat ( a 2019 split decision to Adrian Estrella), and holds a win over former WBA junior lightweight champion Roger Gutierrez but hasn't fought anyone of Garcia's quality in those wins.

Duarte is a half-inch taller than Garcia, which may give Garcia a few problems but Duarte will likely have to come to Garcia, making him vulnerable to the superior pop of Garcia.

Earlier in the day on DAZN, two veteran fighters in desperate need of a win, face each other in Belfast Northern Ireland with Michael Conlan making his Matchroom debut against Jordan Gill.

Conlan has suffered his first two losses in the last two years, both by devastating knockouts in losses to Leigh Wood and Luis Alberto Lopez in title attempts.

Gill was knocked out in his previous outing in October 2022 when aging former champion Kiko Martinez dropped Gill four times before finishing him in the fourth round.

This could be a fun fight for as long as the bout lasts with both fighters willing to engage and both having vulnerable chins at this stage of their careers.

Boxing Challenge

Junior Welterweights. 12 Rds 

Ryan Garcia vs Oscar Duarte

Ramon Malpica; Garcia KO 6

TRS: Garcia KO 3

Vince Samano: Garcia KO 5

Junior Lightweights.12 Rds

Michael Conlan vs Jordan Gill

TRS: Conlan KO 6

R.L & V.S: Gill Unanimous Decision