“Zute” For Thought: Ali Vs Young Armed Robbery, Adrien Broner has 99 Problems & Looks Like he Found Another One, Shawn Porter AKA the Battering Ram, Joshua Destroys Klitschko & “The Boss” As In Bruce Springsteen!

By Anthony “Zute” George

Now that Shawn Porter has fouled his way into a rematch with Keith Thurman, and a chance to win the WBC welterweight title, the question to be asked is does Thurman take that fight right away? If you were managing Keith, would you put him in there again with the billy goat, football player, aww shuks I am so sorry for headbutting you Porter, or would you rather take a fight with the winner of Kell Brook Vs Errol Spence, JR.? The former is most likely to occur first. The latter is what I hope for.

In hindsight with 20/20 vision, Thurman’s victory over Porter has to be seen as a masterful performance. While it was a close fight, it was a clear victory for “One Time”. He completely neutralized the bullying of Porter. You have to be in great shape, be a polished boxer and a pretty tough dude to etch out such a performance against that style of fighter. Keith may have to do that Two Times.

Speaking of masterful performances, am I the only one who has watched Vasyl Lomachencko’s dismantling of Jason Sosa about six times already? A talent like this does not come along too often. Instead of worrying about who Lomachenko is compared to, we should just sit back and enjoy him, preferably without the taunting next time. However, the simple fact is that he has chased Nicholas Walters and Jason Sosa; two very good fighters, out of the ring. Nobody is taking Willie Pep’s credentials away from him by recognizing similar skills from a boxer in 2017. Such comparisons never doomed the sport before, it will not now.

Speaking of Willie Pep, I would stop bragging about the fact that he once won a round without throwing a punch. Instead, I would ask why the official rewarded him for not fighting was not fired. Poor officiating. I mention this because I have seen a disturbing trend on social media where fans praise boxers who do not like to engage and ridicule fighters who like to bring it.

Yes, the sweet science is to be hit and not got hit. I realize this. But it is still a fight. I would much rather watch Mike Tyson, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Alexis Arguello and Julio Cesar Chavez (just to name a few) version of hit and not get hit, over Hugo Corro, Bernard Hopkins, Winky Wright and Floyd “Money” Mayweather, JR. (“Pretty Boy” Floyd was brilliant to watch). If neither fighter is willing to engage, such as Pep was not in that infamous round, it would not be boxing it would be square dancing. I do not like to watch square dancing.

Speaking of poor officiating, April 30th marks the anniversary of the one of many gifts awarded to Muhammad Ali. Ali was awarded a decision over Jimmy Young. The three incompetent officials, who probably had their scorecards filled out before the opening bell, were referee Tom Kelly and judges Larry Barnett and Terry Moore. Ali always had that mystique that allowed him to win rounds that most other boxers would lose. Boxing scribe Michael Marley once told me that he gave Ali three rounds just for showing up. Now, he was joking, but when paid officials do such a thing is it not a crime?

This card was also memorable because the undercard featured Ken Norton knocking out Ron Stander and Larry Holmes decisioning Roy Williams. Two fights worth watching. The Holmes Vs Williams fight was once a very sought after fight for collectors. It is still rare, but much more obtainable today. It sits proudly in my collection. The holy grail for fight collectors is still Ray Leonard Vs Randy Shields. If anyone has that fight, I am willing to pay primo dollars for it.

Speaking of Jimmy Young, is there a more underrated heavyweight in the 1970’s? We are talking about a pugilist who beat George Foreman, Ron Lyle twice, should have beat Ali for the title and could have beaten Ken Norton for the title; he lost a split decision that could have easily went his way. Of course, it all went downhill for Jimmy after the Norton fight, but when he was on and focused he competed with the best the decade had to offer and gave a good account of himself. Also, how different would have his career been had the Ali fight been scored properly? For starters, he would have been a world champion.

Young’s victory in the rematch with Lyle sits proudly in my boxing collection as well (considered on the rare side) and it is a beautiful display of boxing. Lyle, a pretty underrated guy when he was focused, had no answer for Young’s diverse jab and defensive prowess. Now that is the art of hit and not get hit executed to perfection.

Speaking of my boxing collection, I have watched a lot of Anthony Joshua fights as of late. Unless Wladimir Klitschko can manage to turn back the clock, he is in primo trouble.

Speaking of primo trouble, what is going on with Adrien Broner? Again. Reports of him getting arrested and being involved in some kind of shootout has surfaced over the past week. Broner was not shot and it does not appear that he did any shooting; he was actually in Brooklyn for the Berto Vs Porter fight. So, I do not want to indicate this incident was something that it was not.

With that said, Broner has been in trouble before and appears to be squandering his talent once again. “The Problem”, however, is back doing what he thinks he does best, talking. He recently called Timothy Bradley an Uncle Tom. I guess that is his way of trying to sell the fight. I recall another prominent boxer doing the exact same things years ago. I cannot quite get his name though. Oh yeah, here is a hint, April 30th.

Speaking of Berto Vs Porter, I was astounded to see some of the reports on this fight, as well as post fight comments on social media. One report stated Porter’s superior conditioning was the factor in the fight. Really? On social media, Berto was being ridiculed, comments of him being washed up, and he got what he deserved for trash talking. There was even one post concentrated on the belief that Porter was so disrespected for being on the B side in this fight. I suppose everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but the normalizing of Porter’s tactics is troublesome.

Speaking of opinions, I prefer Lost in the Flood over Jungleland. Oh wait, Bruce Springsteen has nothing to do with boxing. I guess it is time to stop writing. Speaking of Springsteen, his song The Hitter is a great interpretation of boxing.

Okay now I am done…

Zutes Boxing Talk & Zutes MMA Talk are podcasts that bring you the world of combat sports straight up with no twists. In each episode, “Zute” calls upon the best boxing & MMA minds in the business to talk about the current state of the fight game, and interviews some of the best fighters in the world of combat sports. Carlos Palomino, Mikey Garcia Sergey Kovalev, Shonie Carter and Jeremy Horn are among the guests that have been featured on the podcast.

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