Category — Squared circle

When was the last time you saw two fighters face each other in a ring or a cage who truly hated each other’s guts, who genuinely wanted to inflict serious and lasting pain on each other?  This question came to mind while reading a few eulogies for Joe Frazier. When Frazier and Muhammad Ali fought for the third time, the epic 14-round slugfest dubbed the Thrilla in Manilla, it was a battle fraught with racial overtones, with bile and baiting, lies and venom and vilification. When they finally stepped into the ring,  they were truly trying to bash each other’s brains out. Frazier and Ali hated each other in a way few other rivals ever have. Sportsnet’s Stephen Brunt is entirely correct when he says that, for better or worse, the “slickly-packaged bloodletting of the UFC” is nothing compared to watching “one man try to kill another man because he so despises him.”

Indeed, no UFC rivalry can compare to Ali-Frazier. Not Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz, not Ortiz and Ken Shamrock, Wanderlei Silva and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, not Matt Hughes and Frank Trigg, not Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn, not Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir, not Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva (and common sense), not the Diaz brothers and everybody else. Sure, fighters will say they hate each other, fighters will claim a desire to kill each other, but don’t be suckered — it’s all for show (well, it’s mostly all for show; I’m not sure about Nick and Nate Diaz). There’s no rage in the octagon, no hatred in the hearts of the fighters, and probably that’s a good thing. But when the match-ups are pulled from Dana White’s hat and the feuds are as contrived as any in professional wrestling, well, that’s a bad thing.

No, I’m not expecting or even hoping for an Ali-Frazier level of genuine animosity in a fight. That was a fight very much indicative of the time and place in American culture involving two fighters who symbolized more than merely boxing. That can never be repeated.

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A lot of words have been written about “Smokin’” Joe Frazier in the days since it was revealed he was battling cancer, and in the hours since his death, at the age of 47. But there’s nothing to be said, really, about the Olympic gold medalist and heavyweight boxing champion, that can’t be witnessed in his fights, and particularly his epic trilogy with Muhammad Ali, the one of the two or three most-culturally significant sports rivalry of the 20th century. It’s impossible to imagine any MMA fight having the same importance and impact on a level beyond fighting. The documentary Thriller in Manilla, which I watched for the first time just a few days ago, explains the Frazier-Ali rivalry expertly and is mandatory viewing for any fan of fighting, as is Frazier’s 1969 battle with Jerry Quarry, one of the greatest heavyweight bouts ever.

I’d like to say I’m surprised that Jake Shields lost to Jake Ellenberger on Saturday, that a knee to his face followed by his face on the mat after just 53 seconds wasn’t predictable.

Yes, it was the first time Shields has been stopped in 11 years, but it comes just a month after the death of his father and I’m sure that must have had a devastating effect on his training camp and his emotional state leading up to and during the fight. Yes, Shields chose to fight and that’s admirable, but there’s no way that Shields was 100 percent and the loss will only be a speed bump in his career. Not to take anything away from Ellenberger, who came in, did what he needed to do and is now a win (or so) away from a shot at the welterweight title.

Of course, few people are really talking about Shields’ loss or Saturday’s UFC generally, not when Floyd Mayweather Jr. upstages everybody with a sucker-punch victory POW! over Victor Ortiz to retain his title, his ranking as the best pound-for-pound boxer and his reputation as the biggest dick in the sport.

The display of dickery comes after Ortiz nails Mayweather with an illegal head butt, for which he was docked a point. Ortiz leans in to apologize, and the two seem about to hug it out when Mayweather pops Ortiz with a left and right – you can clearly see Mayweather mouth “Pow” with the first shot – while the referee, who did a piss-poor job restarting the fight, is looking elsewhere. It was clearly retaliation for the head butt, clearly a cheap shot, and he can talk about “protect yourself at all times” all he wants, it doesn’t make him less of a dick. But I guess that’s Chinatown.

On Facebook a couple of weeks ago, Revolution MMA’s Joel Gerson posted the video of his famous victory over Japanese Shooto legend Rumina Sato. Within hours, good-natured comments about the Jewish fighter and the stunned Japanese crowd appeared.

It got me thinking: In today’s world, the Jewish fighter is an anomaly. Once upon a time, though, Jewish fighters were the norm, not the exception.

The stereotype of the North American Jew tends to be one of intellectual might, not athletic prowess. I am as guilty of thinking this way as anyone else.  When I think Jew, the image is more likely to be of starving Holocaust survivors and Woody Allen, than of a boxer or Bugsy Siegel. The Holocaust has left us with the impression of Jews as victims, meekly walking, without protest, to their deaths. This amounts to little more than cultural and historical amnesia on the part of the Jewish community and society as a whole.

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To shift gears momentarily from the UFC to boxing, there’s a great piece in the New York Times on Manny Pacquiao and his Bruce Lee-inspired fighting style:

Growing up in the Philippines, Pacquiao studied Lee, watching his movies on endless loops. He still often views his collector’s set. “Enter the Dragon” is his favorite. His conditioning coach, Alex Ariza, says he believes Pacquiao built his baseline movement off Lee’s template, the continual attacking, the feet drummed in and out.

“Bruce Lee jumped around and kicked his feet and shook his head and shoulders,” Ariza said. “His feet moved in concert with his hands. He could be choppy, but he was rhythmic. Manny does the same thing. It comes from that.”

That’s just an excerpt. The whole story is a detailed and engaging look at Pacquiao’s unique approach to boxing, how he built himself up after the David Diaz bout and became the best boxer in the world. Good stuff.

James Toney has taken a beating lately, starting even before his embarrassing yet entirely predictable submission loss to Randy Couture at UFC 118 on Saturday. The pile-on reached epic proportions immediately after the bout, as though he had robbed MMA fans of something. It was not as though the fight was ever going to decide which was superior, MMA or boxing, despite how it was billed (promos pegged it as “UFC vs. Boxing“). All that was proven was that Toney, a once-great boxing champion, is now well past his prime and possessing of zero takedown defence or grappling skills. That’s it. But he’s still deserving of our respect, as Sherdog’s Jake Rossen quite ably describes:

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The more I watch boxing champ James Toney in interviews, the more I hope he shocks everyone and knocks Randy Couture out at Saturday’s UFC 118. There’s something about his over-blinged, marble-mouthed, thug-parody personality, it’s like some weird performance art that I can’t look away from.

Anybody? I’m just wondering how much of a fight Shane Mosley is going to be able to put up. And whether Floyd Mayweather will show up to box or to dance around and avoid boxing.

A couple of points. I still can’t fathom UFC president Dana White signing boxing’s biggest blowhard given how soundly, directly and publicly James Toney has trashed the UFC, it’s fighters and the sport of MMA in general. I guess White just wants an easy buck and perhaps to see the attitude choked out of Toney in the cage. Second, is there a clearer case for the cumulative brain damage caused by the repeated blows boxers absorb than to listen to James Toney talk, especially when you compare his early career speech to today?

It’s no secret that boxer James Toney fancies himself the next UFC champion. Like the most-persistent Washington lobbyest, he’s hounded UFC president Dana White for months to get a contract. Ambushing him at press conferences, making taunting videos, calling him a “straight up ho.” Basically, he’s been stalking and trash talking the UFC. And it’s actually worked.

Five Ounces of Pain has the exclusive: the 41-year-old Toney has signed a multi-fight deal with the promotion. No word on when or who he might fight first.

So how will a pure boxer fair in MMA? And who will he face first? The answer to the first question depends an awful lot on the answer to the second. If he’s pitted against a grappler who can get the fight to the ground, well, I don’t have to spell it out for you. If it’s a striker he faces, then it comes down to all those things Toney hasn’t been training – kicks, knees, elbows, clinching, cage control, etc. (Although apparently, he’s been working with Quinton”Rampage” Jackson’s former trainer, Juanito Ibarra.)

And the UFC could go either way – test him with a submissions guy (unlikely as that would probably result in an Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites-style snorefest) or a puncher a la Kimbo Slice. Although who knows what weight Toney will want to compete at. After all, he’s a former middleweight, super-middleweight and cruiserweight boxing champion and currently holds the NABO and IBA heavyweight titles.

And for the record, he’s not all hype when it comes to his skills in ring. He’s got a 72-6 record (plus three draws and two no contests), and he’s knocked out 44 opponents.