The “Beret’s Inaugural Boxing Article with Questions from Boxing Fans
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By Brian “The Beret” Young
Welcome to my first question and answer article for RSR. I ask at the end of all my pieces for you, the fans and readers of this great site, to write in with questions for me, and I have to say, you are letting me down friends. So, far I have only received 1 question from our readers. However, I also get questions asked on Facebook and Twitter (follow me on Twitter at @BoxingGuyBrian, and on Facebook thru Ringsidereport’s page). Even with only 1 question from RSR I decided to go ahead with the feature using questions asked of me via other social media outlets and in person that I feel you may enjoy. So let’s go!
Don from Michigan wrote saying “Hello Beret, I notice you said your hero was Larry Holmes, how do you think he would compete with today’s heavyweights?”
Well Don, that is a great question since the current crop of heavyweights are so much bigger than the men of Holmes’ era, but I still think Holmes would be a champion, maybe not unified but I am pretty sure he would have claimed at least one alphabet title. Holmes was actually pretty big for his day at 6’4, granted he wasn’t as solid as the Klitschko’s or Lennox Lewis or Anthony Joshua, but with today’s training and dietitians he would be. Or if they fought back then they wouldn’t be as solid (well maybe Lewis would have been). Holmes was also very fast with both feet and hands and that jab would keep any heavyweight of any time off balance. Boxing politics would keep him from unifying the title but I believe Holmes would still be an all-time great. Thanks Don!
These questions came from Facebook; I will only use first names for these questions.
Frank asked: “How the hell did you score the fight for Wilder over Fury?”
Ok, to be fair, I was asked that question MANY times and let me explain my reasoning now. First, I agree Fury out boxed Wilder for much of the fight, especially the 2nd half. However, in that 2nd half Fury was knocked down twice, giving Wilder two 10-8 rounds. I did score the other 4 2nd half rounds for Fury, so for the last 6 rounds my card was 56-56, even. Now for the first half of the fight I scored 4 of the first 5 rounds for Wilder because, let’s be honest, very little happened in those rounds and I tend to score close rounds with little action for the aggressor. I can understand why anyone else wouldn’t and would score the better defensive fighter, that is the sad reality of boxing scoring, it is subjective. I wouldn’t tell, for instance, our Publisher for RSR “Bad” Brad he was wrong for scoring those rounds for Fury, he picked the defensive winner. So I had the first half of the fight 4 rounds to 2 for Wilder, making my card 58-56 Wilder, making my final tally 114-112 Wilder in what turned out to be a great fight and this one I am looking forward to a rematch!
Geoff asked “What current fighters do you go out of your way to watch?”
Well Geoff, I am a boxing junky so I watch everything I can, but my favorites to watch now are:
• Danny Garcia, I don’t think he has been in a bad fight. Even his losses have been close and he always brings it.
• Errol Spence, JR. Spence, JR. is as close to must see TV the sport has now.
• Deontay Wilder. He is explosive and unorthodox, and just thrilling, something we haven’t seen in a heavyweight in way too long.
• Srisaket Sor Rungvisai an all action fighter who will you be reading about in a new article from me very soon!
• Claressa Shields, as if you couldn’t tell from my last article about her (and if you haven’t read it, what’s wrong with you? Go read it now!!!). “T-Rex” is an inspiration and is helping women’s boxing gain national TV attention.
And the last question for this month comes from Amy who asked “What is the best fight you ever saw live?”
Well Amy, the best fight that I had the privilege to be in the arena for was Erik Morales Vs Manny Pacquiao 1 back on March 13th 2005 (was it really almost 14 years ago?) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV. The crowd was so loud you couldn’t hear yourself think. There were wild applause for both fighters after every round and when the fight ended my brother turned to me and said “120-120 no doubt!” The final was 115-113 on all three cards with Morales winning the unanimous decision, but it could have been 120-120 as far as I am concerned!
Well, that’s my Q&A for this month, I would love more questions from our readers so please send in questions/comments or suggestion to me, Brian “The Beret” Young thru the forum box below.
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