Every Thursday here at Fight Hype, we make room in between the video content for a good old-fashioned written word, taken from the depths of my bulbous, bulging sack. So, get ready for some of that infamous sticky, salty, and sometimes NSFW truth from Magno-rific. This week, we have comments/questions on the Tony Weeks/NSAC/GBP debacle and a Fighter of the Year prediction.
Tony Semanas/NSAC
Hello Magno.
What do you think of this Tony Weeks controversy where he says Frederick Lawson’s brain scan showed signs of an aneurysm, but he was then cleared to fight after another scan said otherwise? He appears to be using this as justification for his quick stoppage of Lawson against Vergil Ortiz. The Nevada State Athletic Commission later issued a statement saying Lawson was cleared to fight, something Weeks also said. But the statement did not address whether Weeks’ other claim was true or not. Am I wrong to think this is a much bigger story than how his favorite boxing media handled it? Either Weeks took it upon himself to break up a fight where he knew in advance that one of the fighters was in danger, or the commission and Golden Boy found a way to get a physically vulnerable fighter into a fight where he had a good chance of resulting. permanently injured. or even killed. Or maybe Weeks made it all up to cover his own ass after another bad refereeing job? What do you think?
–Dennis from Boston
Hello Dennis.
Well, none of this would have happened if Golden Boy hadn’t put a young, bubbling middleweight monster+ Ortiz against a career welterweight whose punch resistance is clearly lacking and whose skills/ability suggest he was going to be friends in the water . So there’s that, first and foremost.
I should post an article here on FightHype.com this week at some point (maybe it’s already posted?) about this mess. But to sum this up, are we surprised in the least that neither the commission nor the promotion nor the wrestler in question nor Weeks himself are all that forthcoming with real answers? And are we the least bit surprised that the boxing media hasn’t gotten to the bottom of any of this or that their investigation into the matter appears to have ended with vague generic statements from the NSAC and Golden Boy?
Please. You know as well as I do that we will never get to the bottom of this. And we’ll never get to the bottom of any boxing mess now that traditional journalists have completely abandoned covering the sport and what’s going on. Seriously, look who we have covering the sport: a cast of shills, would-be shills, convenient idiots and the hopelessly lost. There is no real reporter or journalist among them. That is why it is certain that reform through journalistic efforts is a lost cause. Boxing media is a dead industry.
What worries me most about this Weeks/Lawson/GBP/NSAC debacle is precisely the general lack of accountability and general disinterest in following up on stories that can be difficult to handle, frustrating to discuss, and generally unhelpful. attractive to publish. . Equally worrying is the public’s disinterest in forcing the media to do its job.
What more can I say? It is what it is.
Fighter of the year, 2024?
Hi, Pablo.
The year is just beginning, so what better time to force yourself to make a binding prediction where all the chess pieces are still on the table. Who do you see winning Fighter of the Year honors at the end of 2024? Who has that kind of path to glory and overall greatness ready to go down the year?
– Dean
Hello dean.
There are many factors that go into predicting something like this, especially so far at the beginning of the year. Who will be in the right place at the right time to get the really big fights needed? They have to be in a deep division or have plans to gain or lose weight. They must also have the right commercial links behind them to facilitate the making of those big fights. Then, of course, there is skill and talent and whether you have the mentality of a fighter willing and eager to conquer. Public perception also plays a role, as the media votes for Fighter of the Year, who are nothing more than influenceable and malleable by appearance and public opinion.
So, with all that in mind… My pick is Terence Crawford. Many say (including me) that he deserved Fighter of the Year this year, but the sticklers insisted that having only one fight in the year kept him from serious consideration, even if that fight was by far the biggest and most impressive performance of the year. . year. Enough Fighter of the Year voters at the end of 2024 will make up for that snub at the end of 2023 and show deference to him in the vote. At his 147-154 weight range, Crawford also has a wide variety of quality opponents available to him, so he will have the bodies there upon which he can build his case for year-end honors. And of course, we all know that he has a true conqueror mentality when it comes to who he faces in the ring. So as long as he fights at least twice, he beats one or two high-level names at 147 or 154, I think he’ll be named Fighter of the Year. If he fights and beats Canelo at 168, he will be named Fighter of the Decade…and maybe rightly so. But I see him achieving at least two quality wins against welterweights and/or junior middleweights and that will be enough to earn him honors. Also, he doesn’t sleep on David Benavidez, Gervonta Davis, Devin Haney, Artur Beterbiev, Bam Rodríguez, Oleksandr Usyk and Teófimo López when it comes to Fighter of the Year possibilities.
Do you have any questions (or hate mail) for Magno’s bulging mailbag? The best of the best is included in the weekly mail segment here on FightHype. Send your stuff here: [email protected].
