Remembering a legend that almost but never was...

The post on Floyd is coming, in the meantime, the 1984 US boxing team is the most celebrated Olympic team of all time, with 9 gold medals. Meldrick Taylor was the youngest, and probably the rawest, but certainly the most talented. Handspeed to blind you, footspeed to run circles around you, power enough to put you away if he was committed to doing so. This year is the 20th anniversary of his first fight with the Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez. Who'd have thought 2 seconds would carry so much infamy?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/bryan_armen_graham/03/17/meldrick.taylor/index.html

Very good SI article. I'm usually not impressed with their coverage of boxing, but this one had very good depth on Meldrick Taylor.

Edit: A link to the career highlights of Meldrick Taylor. Truly a supernova that ended up burning out too quickly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=porsK2f9emo

Part I: Some words for Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao

Manny: Congratulations on your latest win. You beat an immovable object in Joshua Clottey, a man who was not weight drained, had a good chin, taller, bigger, a shell of a defense, and good infighting skills. It was a decent consulation prize for those of us who wanted to see you take on a fresh opponent and wanted to see an underrated challenger like Clottey get a shot on the big stage against the biggest star in boxing. However I gotta say my friend, since the Miguel Cotto fight you have been disappointing me a little. This may be a hangover to the fact that like the rest of the world, I had been enthralled by your improvement, out of the ring personality, and the Taz devil mentality you fight with. Some of it's not your fault at all, it's your fans who will answer any boxing related question with "Manny's the GOAT", or "how dare you question" this that and the other about your boxing abilities or integrity outside the ring. BUT, I wish you had not dropped out of the Floyd fight for two reasons, one inside the ring and one outside the ring.

To start, we have not yet seen you go up against a slick defensive fighter who's able to move away from your attack. The last guy who comes remotely close to that that you fought was Juan Manuel Marquez, and there's an argument to be made that you have not yet beaten him in two fights. I believe you won the first because of that monster first round you had, but the second one I think he edged you man. I think you've improved enough to where now you would beat him, even if it was at 130 again, but it would still be a difficult fight. You had a couple of those guys calling your name, Joan Guzman and Nate Campbell, but your team ignored them. If you had fought and beaten Floyd, you would get no argument from me as being the best all around fighter since Shane Mosley was a lightweight. Now I understand Oscar, Hatton, and Cotto were the big money fights, so I don't blame you for taking those, but at the same time you need to tell your fans to chill on saying you're better than Sugar Ray Robinson or Henry Armstrong, cause your skillset and resume both fall way short of those two guys.

The outside the ring reason of course being the fact that they drummed up some ridiculous accusations that you're doping. I'm in the camp that says show me some solid evidence or witnesses and then I'll listen, but you have to realize that in the public eye you're guilty until innocent, and even if not, people are still going to talk about this issue until you make it go away with a random blood test protocol. If people are STILL gonna talk about it after, then you just gotta let it be, but not until you've done all in your power to quiet them.

This is not to say I don't acknowledge your greatness as a fighter. Definitely to go division hopping like you did and dominate some of the better fighters each division had to offer you have proven your ability and that you'd be a threat to beat anyone south of 154, but by doing that you have been able to avoid a lot of different styles without anyone calling you out on it. I know that you yourself are not afraid to face anyone as long as the negotiations line up right, but it doesn't change the fact that there's some guys out there that we would like to see you face.

Part II will have words for Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr.

Pacquiao-Clottey

Since it is fresh in my mind still, I will take some time to talk about this phenomenon known as Manny Pacquiao taking on the Ghanaian hardman Joshua Clottey. Unfortunately it went about the way I expected it to. Joshua Clottey came in with his force-field defense and seemed like an armored vehicle against the machine gun shots from Manny. The first half eight rounds of the fight was essentially Clottey blocking, and occasionally sliding a straight right hand or left uppercut between Manny's guard. Although from my observation Manny looked worse for wear after 6 rounds, breathing harder in the corner and showing more markings on his face. But the consensus was that Clottey was not winning a single round, although I felt like he was winning plenty of moments and exchanges. Clottey was his usual cautious self though he seemed especially defensive against Manny because he did not want to get caught with a "shot out of the sky" as Teddy Atlas would put it. Clottey blocked the majority of pacquiao's shots and made MP look vulnerable in a bunch of moments, but did put on a frustrating passive display when he needed to be exchanging. MP showed good strength and stamina to continue to hit a brick wall and opened Clottey up a little bit in the late rounds, though Clottey also pursued and hit MP cleanly more often late as well. The crowd cheered every punch Manny threw, and would go quiet when Clottey connected. The general consensus was that Manny won every round. I would have given Clottey the 2nd and 11th rounds, and maybe round 1 as well. Manny's star continues to rise with the conquest of another larger foe, this time a full fledged dangerous welterweight who's never been beaten without a question in any previous fight until this time. Manny won the crowd, though he did this before throwing a single punch, and he won the judges by keeping the compubox guys busy by going to work on Clottey's arms, shoulders, and gloves. Because Manny outthrew Clottey by so much, the punch trackers probably felt more obligated to try to count Manny's punches. It was clear to me though that Manny probably woke up more sore today than Clottey. That being said, Manny took this fight by outworking Clottey.

I need to take some time to talk about this phenomenon that is Manny Pacquiao. He is doing some great things by becoming a new Oscar De La Hoya, but to me, he is far from an all time great. There are those who will use his every passing win to say that he is a pound-for-pound all timer, but the body of work is too small. He has beaten guys of all the same style, coming forward or nothing moving away from him, and he has also, like Floyd, been selective of styles, the only difference being his selected opponents are bigger (although two of them Floyd had already beaten, so even then not really). Manny is fast, powerful, and mixes punches well, but we saw from Clottey that he does not have a good defense without simply burying his opponent in punches, and he does not pursue his opponents very well which he showed against a burnt out Cotto. With these kind of obvious flaws, I don't think you can put him above even a prime Sugar Shane Mosley. If Pacquiao had run into a prime Vernon Forrest, he would have lost by a wide decision too, same with Winky Wright, who is similar to Clottey but quicker and more active, and bigger.

Although I know why people are pushing this, is because boxing needs a real mainstream crossover star that people can hold us as the noble hero, especially in light of Floyd playing the (immature and spoiled) villain. People loooove to talk about how athletes are spoiled and how all they care about is money, and here comes a guy (Manny) who is all about the people, God, and honor. Forgive me if I call cow manure on that one. If Manny wasn't about money, he would not care about contract negotiations. If he was all about God, he would not refuse to take blood tests for the Mayweather fight out of fear of making him weak, since he would believe God would protect him, and if he was all about honor, he would honor his countrymen by not allowing critics to taint them as a country that provides PEDs, however ridiculous the accusations may seem. Manny is still a human who lets his personal pride and money steer this thinking and actions, and there is nothing unusual about that. In that way, he is more of an everyman than being someone who's seemingly indestructible and only cares about fighting for his people.

First post

At the behest of a friend, starting this blog will be my new way of pouring my energy into getting my thoughts out in writing about various topics. I believe this could be the start of something fun, fulfilling, and stimulating.