Random Howlings on Mayweather Jr, Hatton, Bon Jovi, CSI and much more


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Random Howlings on Mayweather Jr, Hatton, Bon Jovi, CSI and much more

By Coyote Duran (Nov 28, 2007) Doghouse Boxing

You've requested it...you've wanted it...you've turned it into a media icon...you've probably even forgotten about it and decided to watch old VHS-taped episodes of Cop Rock instead...but it's back! Random Howlings! All that’s fit to howl about is here and how and wow. Let’s talk CSI (again?!), Floyd Mayweather Jr., Ricky Hatton, Bon Jovi, the TV writers’ strike and atheists who suck. Read on, Howlers and, yes, I know I watch waaaaayyyyyyy too much TV. So save your e-mails for requests for my sausage and penne recipe (It's simple, inexpensive and oh, so good!). Allez Cuisine!

I couldn't help but feel sorry for Fernando Vargas after losing via majority decision to former Undisputed Welterweight Champion Ricardo Mayorga last Friday in a super middleweight clash with nothing on the line but pleasing fans, a little extra dough in the pockets and pride. What makes the sorrow dissipate is that Vargas, a little late in doing so, is retiring and will be able to live a long, prosperous, well-to-do, fat and jolly life from here on out. No more fighting. No more suffering to make weight. From here on out, it's all about enjoying his youth, which at 29 years of age, is still there in abundance. For the once-angry, young man, there should be nothing but happiness and rest for the beloved "Aztec Warrior."

The last television writers’ strike happened 19 years ago and lasted 154 days. 154 DAYS?! That’s more than ¼ of a year, for crying out loud. And experts are saying that negotiations won’t kick in until July of 2008. Late-night talk shows have already taken a beatdown and it won’t be long until prime-time shows and ultimately, movies follow. All I can think about is that if ‘CSI’ and ‘CSI: Miami’ go belly up for half-a-season, I’m gonna be real f***king hard to live with (Just kidding, Deb. ;) )

Speaking of super middleweights, it's logical to refer to Joe Calzaghe as the Undisputed Super Middleweight Champion. After beating Jeff Lacy for the IBF title, thus granting Calzaghe genuine world champion status with The Ring Magazine, Calzaghe would vacate the belt, ultimately facing who I, frankly, considered the best super middleweight in the world, Mikkel Kessler. Well, we all knew who won that one and who also took the WBA (not the crap strap that Anthony Mundine carries around) and WBC belts in the process. That being said, who else is there for Calzaghe to face? Without question, Calzaghe is the best 168-pound fighter in the world. I mean, he could grant Kessler the rematch but would the result differ any? Two suggestions: Carl Froch or current IBF titlist Lucian Bute. Unless World Light Heavyweight Champion Bernard Hopkins drops to a comfortable 168 and challenges Calzaghe or Calzaghe jumps to 175 to challenge Hopkins, there’re no other challenging defenses for the champion. Mind you, he doesn’t have to but knowing that Calzaghe’s willing to take on the best of the best, no matter how few deserving souls there are at super middle, should be comforting to fans here and abroad. Even if he never leaves home to do it.

And can ‘CSI’ and ‘CSI: Miami’ get any better? It’ll be a shame if either of these mega-entertaining shows takes a sleep due to said strike. With Sara Sidle having come apart at the seams and leaving everyone in Vegas, most importantly, love-of-her-life, Dr. Gil Grissom, and ‘Miami’s’ commercials indicating a metaphorical (perhaps?) pair of Horatio Caine’s shades with a bullet hole through the right lens, we crime scene-crazy fans are just dying to find out whether or not Las Vegas’ or Miami-Dade’s finest will make it out of their respective seasons intact. Tim Speedle (Rory Cochrane) already came back as an Eric Delko head injury-induced hallucination and Horatio found out he had a son, Kyle Harmon. Hopefully, viewers will see Speedle return in Delko’s dome but odds are, something bad will wind up happening to Kyle. Since everything bad that could ever happen to a man has ever happened to Caine, making him the tragic hero he is, don’t be surprised if Kyle bites the big one at season’s end. Whenever that may be. And maybe that’s what Horatio’s busted shades really represent.

And speaking of the aforementioned Jeff Lacy, he’s scheduled to face ‘Contender’ alum and fellow Calzaghe victim Peter Manfredo Jr. on the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Ricky Hatton undercard. I’d like to say that this one’s easy money to pick but I’d be lying. I got nothing on this one. I suppose you could make a bland assessment about ‘Left Hook’s’ chances and say that with his strength and tenacity, he’ll pound ‘The Pride of Providence’s’ bones into dust. But that’s just an assessment and not a terribly educated one at that. Odds are that, just like in his last fight, Lacy will come in rusty and pull off a tougher than average workman-like decision victory and probably make Manfredo look much better the fighter for it. What? Did you think I was gonna say that Lacy was gonna lose?

More and more these days, it seems like ‘emo’ and ‘scene’ kids are popping up like weeds in the hopes of either depressing the hell out of everyone around them or making everyone else that dresses and acts like them think they’re edgy and unique. Now everyone has had their adolescent quirks and, dare I say, styles (Chuckle…), but most ‘emos’ and ‘scenes’ seem to enjoy being vacuous and pitiful. It’ll pass in time but it’s annoying as all get out right now.

Regarding Mayweather Jr.-Hatton, it’s a fight fan’s treat to be able to witness two champions at the top of their careers going head-to-head. No matter what you think about either man, their personalities, strengths, flaws or willingness to take on the best fighters possible, it’s all moot. Two champions, one legitimate championship on the line, thousands of happy fans. And I can’t help but disagree with Emanuel Steward when during the Miguel Cotto-Shane Mosley fight, he questioned Max Kellerman’s willingness to still regard Mayweather as World Champion if Mayweather chose not to face Cotto. With all due respect to Steward, a very smart man and an incredible trainer, his rebuff of Mayweather’s status defies sensibility. We can’t degrade a champion’s status because he might not be taking on the best challenges in his weight class. If he won the belt, he won the belt and that’s it. And that’s part of the trappings of an alphabet-based title distribution structure. Since Mayweather also holds the WBC welterweight strap as well as The Ring Championship, it’s easy for Steward, a trainer first and a commentator second to easily hand off championship status to another titlist. It just helps that Cotto is exciting and dominant and just beat a fighter that Mayweather should’ve faced. Remember: Mayweather beat Carlos Baldomir who beat Zab Judah who beat Cory Spinks who beat Ricardo Mayorga who beat Vernon Forrest. The bottom line is Floyd Mayweather Jr. is the champion and Miguel Cotto is not. If you think Cotto is the best welterweight in the world, no sweat. I can see where you’re coming from. But also remember: I thought Mikkel Kessler was the best super middleweight in the world before facing the REAL champion Joe Calzaghe. In saying that, I was wrong and right at the same time. Today, when I say that Calzaghe is both in one, I’m just right.

But if anything can be said about these ‘emos’ or ‘scenes’ or whatever they metamorphose into, it’s that some of the music they listen to ain’t half-bad. Consider My Chemical Romance’s ‘Teenagers’ which has a tight tip of the hat to Small Faces. Based on the swaggering guitar solo alone, there’s a definite respect for the classics. Fall Out Boy’s ‘This Ain’t A Scene (It’s An Arms Race) and ‘Thnks Fr Th Mmrs’ are far better than their whiny single ‘Sugar, We’re Going Down.’ Actor Jared Leto’s band, 30 Seconds To Mars, has a pounding mastery of driving rock best displayed in ‘The Kill.’ What’s funny is that these artists are hardly as moody and/or self-centered as their most devoted fans.

As I said before, Floyd Mayweather Jr. should’ve faced Shane Mosley. Now, if Mayweather beats Ricky Hatton, I believe Mayweather will climb the walls for a showdown with ‘Sugar Shane.’ Why? Mosley, in Mayweather’s eyes, looks vulnerable and odds are, Mayweather will spin a proposal that Cotto’s style wasn’t right for Mosley and that Cotto’s style isn’t right for Mayweather and that if he faced Cotto, it would make for a boring fight or whatever…the hell…it means. Christ, I just lost myself. Long story short, Mayweather will make a case that Mosley’s still dangerous (Strategic assessment. Mosley is indeed still dangerous.) and that this’ll be a purist’s fight. And if Mosley beat Cotto two Saturdays ago? Well, Mayweather simply would’ve turned around the argument. “Styles make fights. Mosley’s style is just like mine. It’ll make for a boring fight.” “I’m the draw and I’m not getting stuck promoting this fight.” See where this is going?

Musically speaking, one would think today’s pre-pubescent pleasing pop stars (and that’s what they are) couldn’t hold the Stratocasters of an established rock unit. But its almost seems like some acts slowly decline in their approach to staying relevant. Bon Jovi comes to mind. It’s one thing to pay homage to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, but when you emulate to the point to where your own music becomes formulaic and cliché, then it’s time to reformulate. I didn’t think ‘Who Says You Can’t Go Home?’ was very good because it was a basic Springsteen rip-off complete with Springsteen-y lyrics. I gave ‘Lost Highway’ a chance but it’s the same clichéd formula. You know the one: Grab your keys and jump in the car. We’ll drive to somewhere we don’t know but we’ll be free nonetheless. Basically, it’s ‘Born to Run 2007.’ And, frankly, I can’t stand ‘Born to Run’ to begin with. I’m not saying that ‘Slippery When Wet’ was sublime songwriting but at least from ‘New Jersey’ to ‘Crossroads’, there was a style that fit the older, more mature rockers. Do yourself a favor, Howlers. If you can find ‘em, look up Jovi axe-man Richie Sambora’s solo works from 1991 and 1998, ‘Stranger in This Town’ and ‘Undiscovered Soul’, respectively and you’ll find out how much better a lead vocalist Sambora is than Jon Bon Jovi. This is real roots/blues rock. It’s just too bad Sambora’s sense didn’t cross over in knowing how to keep a really great wife.

So now that Cotto’s beaten Mosley, what can we look forward to for the Puerto Rican titlist? Hey, that’s not entirely up to Cotto. As mentioned before, the possibility of Floyd Mayweather Jr. facing Cotto is less likely than Ann Coulter scraping the frost from her unmentionables so we have to look elsewhere for our next contestant. Well, take your pick, Howlers. The best fight for Cotto right now? Damned if it ain’t IBF titlist Kermit Cintron. Cintron’s last test was Jesse Feliciano. It was easily assumed that Cintron would’ve done away with ‘Rayo’ in a quickness but the truth indicated nothing but a resurgence of vulnerability in Cintron that Cotto can easily capitalize on. Ditto for WBO titlist Paul Williams. And speaking of the welters, how would a Luis Collazo-Alfonso Gomez, Collazo-Joshua Clottey or Clottey-Gomez bout play out? Any one of ‘em would be sweet.

And don’t ever let any kid tell you that Green Day, Good Charlotte or Hawthorne Heights are ‘punk.’ If you encounter the young and misinformed, just remind them who Black Flag, The Dead Kennedys, The Sex Pistols and The Angry Samoans were. Real punk pioneers. And I apologize for leaving out any and I know I did.

As for Shane Mosley, there’s no ‘Sugar Shame’ at all in coming up short against Miguel Cotto. For a man of 36 to put a 27-year old titlist in reverse after making a competitive stand is nothing short of respectable and something Mosley should be nothing but proud of. Does Mosley still have a future? Of course. I still consider him a very serious contender at 147 but how he feels is a different story altogether. What could make Mosley hang up the gloves once and for all is frustration. Frustration in not getting the fights he wants and frustration that fans and promoters alike might think he doesn’t deserve that one last shot at greatness. Well, as far as I’m concerned, he’s been there and had it and if he wants, can do it again one last time, if he pleases. It’s not that hard to fathom. Zab Judah got chance and chance again (once defending a phony title and another, a shot at Cotto), post-Baldomir. But if Floyd Mayweather Jr. doesn’t think Mosley’s worth it and that’s the only fight Mosley will get up in the morning for, then it’s all up to Shane. No one’s gonna bitch. And compared to other fighters who have retired with padded records or retired far too late to shine, Shane Mosley will walk away knowing that even though he lost his last fight, he still went out on the very top.

‘Our job isn’t to find out where evil comes from. Our job is to find evil and stop it. Let somebody else do that job. Our’s is tough enough.’ was what enigmatic FBI Agent Dave Rossi (played by the excellent Joe Mantegna) told Derek Morgan (the equally excellent Shemar Moore) in the most recent episode of CBS’ ‘Criminal Minds’, one of the best damn shows on television today. I honestly thought that when equally, equally excellent Mandy Patinkin suddenly departed the show due to supposed ‘creative differences’, (taking his character, uber-profiler Jason Gideon into Nowheresville) ‘Minds’ would massively suffer for it. Not true. As Mantegna’s agent-with-a-secret-obsession, Rossi, there’s a new passion for findings killers that doesn’t lurk under a brooding empathy but brings out a smirking friendliness with no less passion for finding killers. If you haven’t watched this show, please do me a solid and catch it while new episodes last.

So…what if Hatton beats Mayweather? Jeez. Whaddya do? I mean, when Miguel Cotto was a junior welterweight, a Hatton-Cotto fight for Hatton’s Ring Championship would’ve been the perfect throwdown between hard-hitting pressure artists with a penchant for sick-ass left-hooking to the body. ‘Fight of the Year’ potential? Yep. And if Hatton beats Mayweather, Cotto is THE fight to take at welterweight. If Cotto were to beat Hatton, then his WBA belt would have the concrete validation that The Ring’s belt would bring to it. Then again, any alphabet strap is made by the fighter, not the inverse. And this is all hypothetical, naturally. As much as I’m a fan of Ricky Hatton, the fighter and the person, I don’t see Mayweather losing. Sorry. Will I root for Hatton? Yep.

An open message to Robert Sherman, the self-proclaimed ‘Best Known Atheist Activist in the Midwest’: From one atheist to another, grow up, pick your battles and stop being such a whiny little Mary. Sherman, who also hosts a radio talk show on AM 1530 WJJG in Chicago, is suing (on a federal level) Township High School District 214, Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich and Buffalo Grove High School third-period teacher Binh Huynh (Sherman’s daughter, Dawn, 14, attends his class) for advocating a ‘moment of silence’ each day for personal reflection and/or prayer. Look, I’m against prayer in schools but a moment of silence isn’t a forced or even suggested recognizance of religion. It’s what YOU want to do with it. It’s not tooled for Christians, but for everyone. If you want to pray to yourself, so be it. If you want to think about your 19-year old cousin who passed away in the Gulf, so be it. But for this zealot to try and stomp on anyone for his or her own PERSONAL use of a moment of silence, well, that not just takes away from those who are religious, but atheists themselves. Look, we don’t sit around in meetings and discuss what religious institutions we want to bring down over coffee. Most of us do respect purveyors of organized religion. And there are many religions in this world to recognize. For the record, I’ve never said I was right. I just have a belief. And I refuse to tell you you’re wrong. As for Sherman, in 1998, he beat his teenaged son, Ricky, for refusing to babysit his younger sister resulting in his own tardiness to his own radio show and then refused to attend domestic violence classes. Some paragon of virtue. Don’t raise your flag and expect me to salute it, dirtbag.

I’ve gotta tell ya, if I were any less faithful in The Ring’s Championship policy, I would think that Joel Casamayor isn’t deserving of the title of world champion at lightweight. But he is because just as Mayweather had for the welterweight championship, ‘El Cepillo’ did the same for the lightweight crown in beating Diego Corrales over a year ago. But if there was any kind of justice in boxing (Duh. It’s boxing. What’s justice?), Jose Armando Santa Cruz would be the World Lightweight Champion (Ditch that WBC ‘interim’ garbage. That makes about as much sense as Ricky Hatton carrying around the WBC international belt he won AFTER successfully defending his World Junior Welterweight Championship against Jose Luis Castillo.). A message to one and all, blind judges or fans: Yes, The Ring’s belt is about integrity and respect and when the right guy doesn’t win it, it gives all of The Ring’s most vociferous critics fuel to stoke their fires of vitriol, therefore downgrading everything a real championship is all about. And that makes the solution to the problem an even bigger problem in the eyes of the doubtful. And if you think that Juan Diaz is the real champion, well, keep waiting. He’ll get his chance and be the real champion is probably less than a year.

Quiet Riot's Kevin DuBrow is dead at 52. Damn, that takes me back. I remember my cousin David introducing a 12-year old me to "Metal Health" and me being just scared sh**less over that image on the album cover of DuBrow in a strait-jacket and that steel mask, eyes bulging out and peering into my very being. I was astounded by Quiet Riot, man, from their biggest single "Cum On, Feel The Noize" to the video for "Mama Weer All Crazee Now", which featured a hapless teen stuck in his room battling with an oversized stereo gone rogue. Their peak was short but they could blow some doors off. And if there's an afterlife, Randy Rhoads is probably waiting at the door to let Kevin in.

And yes, David Haye is the real champion at cruiserweight and you’d better believe he deserved it in beating the two-time World Champion, Jean-Marc Mormeck. It’s just a shame that ‘Hayemaker’ probably might not stick around long enough to defend it. Hey, what’s good for Evander Holyfield is good enough for Haye who had a helluva time making the 200-pound max. to fight for the belt. But if there is something concrete to follow in ‘The Real Deal’s’ pattern, it’s that Haye will make a damn decent comfortable heavyweight. And speaking of which, who else would love to see a Haye-Alexander Povetkin fight?

Sunday night, a legend in Chicago broadcasting passed away after a five-year battle with ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) more widely known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. John Drury retired in 2002 after a second stint with ABC 7 News which lasted 18 years and entered homes with not just the delivery of the nightly local news, but the promise that he’d always make you feel like you were in the loop and that you were the only person in the room. Drury was an everyman and a gentleman and, as a child going into my teen years watching Drury work alongside Joel Daly, Fahey Flynn and Bill Frink, I feel (along with Bill Kurtis, formerly of Chicago’s CBS 2, now of A&E) that Drury was a huge influence in my life and shaped the kind of professional person I wanted to be in my own delivery of news, being boxing or whatever. Sure, many times I don’t get it right (“Random Howlings” is proof of that), but other times, I sit back and think, “What would Bill or John do?” I only wish I could be that way all the time but it’s just too much fun being me. And that professionalism and humility is what made John Drury one of a kind. Weekend anchor Ravi Baichwal (another top-notch anchor, in my book) referred to Drury as "having lost his battle with ALS." I don't agree. As Drury physically degenerated, he and his wife, Ann, still took it upon themselves to raise awareness about the crippling syndrome and also supported the Brain Research Foundation. John Drury didn't lose the battle. It's still being fought. John Drury, welcome to The Howl Of Fame. We, in Chicago and its suburbs, will miss you terribly.

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