Category: Fighting

Dog Days of January Grab Bag Blog – 1.28.2021

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“Dog Days” is a term generally used for summer and I believe (completely assumed with zero context or sources) is a reference to a dog’s preference to just kind of lie there when it gets unbearably hot in the summer; a practice humans enjoy taking on as well. However I feel like that sort of mood applies to the January/February time-frame as well. It’s cold out. You don’t really want to go anywhere. Sometimes there’s a global pandemic you want to avoid. You’re wearing comfy clothes and relaxing on your preferred comfortable chair/couch. It’s just a lazy time of year.

With that said the blog don’t sleep, so Joey B. can’t rest. There’s a number of things worthy of touching on in the sports world and beyond. So let’s do just that, perhaps over a cup of hot cocoa.

Conor McGregor Dominated By Dustin Poirier

There are six COMMON outcomes for an MMA fight. Not total, but common. Each fighter can win by decision, KO/TKO, or submission (3×2=6). Going into last Saturday’s main event I would have said “Poirier-KO/TKO” would have been the fifth most likely outcome, only edging out McGregor by sub. Boy howdy was I wrong. He threw hard calf kicks to McGregor’s lead leg and he threw them often. He was flowing with his boxing and beating McGregor up. The Irishman never looked comfortable and didn’t seem totally sure of himself. This all culminated in a finish in Rd2. A big question before the fight was what Conor McGregor’s next would move be if he lost? Now that we’ve arrived at that scenario the answer is all the more fleeting. Speculators like myself have long said the third Nate Diaz fight would always would be there. I guess it is, but after watching the unsure, rigid version of McGregor we saw last Saturday, it just doesn’t seem as exciting of a prospect. The man himself angled for a third fight with Poirier, and somewhere down the line that has to happen. McGregor dominated the first, Poirier dominated the second. But in the immediate future Poirier gets to call his shot, be it a “money” fight with Nate Diaz or a title fight, for Khabib Nurmagomedov’s presumably vacated belt, against Charles Oliveira. Re-matching a man he just soundly defeated and is 3-3 in his last six MMA fights and 1-1 at 155lbs in the UFC doesn’t make any sense. It is a tricky conundrum indeed at this time to determine a match up could keep McGregor at the top of a PPV card while not finding him the vast underdog.

Deshaun Watson Officially Wants Out

As reported by Adam Schefter today, Deshaun Watson has officially asked for the fuck out of Houston and the Realm of Littlefinger Jack Easterby. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean his time in Houston is definitely over, but I can’t be the only one that feels like there is no turning back for the team or the player. This begs the question of what kind of package Houston wants for Watson. A lot of folks on twitter are saying it’s going to take an absolute haul of picks + talent from the trade partner + possibly some extra bodies for cap/contract reasons. That does indeed make sense. But what I don’t think can be overlooked is what Houston is losing here: their starting QB. What that makes me wonder is whether or not the Texans see some value in, or quite possibly were once enamored with pre-draft, a few of the young QBs that have fallen out of favor with their current team. There will be an unprecedented, to say the least, amount of starting/starting caliber QB movement this off-season. It’s not just Deshaun Watson seeking a new home. So rather than just looking at usual suspects when evaluating who may go after Watson, think of teams that may have both an interest in the Clemson product and a player to offer who could possibly take a shot at replacing him: Chicago (Mitch Trubisky), Denver (Drew Lock), New York-B (Sam Darnold), San Francisco (Jimmy Garoppolo), Philadephia (Carson Wentz). You get the idea.

Bradley Beal Becomes First Player To Lose Ten Straight 40-Point Games

What a brutal fucking stat and reality. I’m not the most gigantic hoops fanatic, but I’ve felt for awhile that Bradley Beal was a phenomenal player playing in the wasteland that is D.C. His talent is completey overshadowed by the ineptness of his franchise. Yesterday simply put an exclamation point on the end of that sentence. Ten straight games of scoring an absurd amount of points only to fucking lose. That just has to hurt. And we know it hurts, because it has become one of the internet’s favorite things to get a laugh out of poor Bradley Beal’s body language. Just head in his hands on the bench, thinking “what the fuck did I do to deserve to be here?” This has of course brought on heaps of trade speculation and knowing the Wizards he’ll probably get moved. Let’s hope the man can find some greener pastures. And some happiness.

Nerds On Reddit Defeated And Possibly Ended A Couple Of Hedge Funds In The Name Of GameStop

I don’t know nor care as much about this as I should but I’d be a dick if I didn’t mention it so here we are. Basically, a couple of large hedge funds (boutique investment firms that take big risks HEDGED (wink wink) by betting other money elsewhere in the investment world….or something like that) bet huge money that GameStop’s stock would tank. That makes sense because GameStop is failing and has lost money for something like 12 consecutive quarters. However betting that this will happen actually causes the stock to drop because, stock market. In comes Reddit and the whole crowdfunding thing and “investors” all over started betting ON GameStop, both to be dicks to the Wall Street dicks and also because if they could get the GameStop stock to go up so that THEY’D make money instead of the hedge funds. And Reddit won. One of the hedge funds might even have to close shop which is hilarious. Overall just a chaotic, wacky thing to have happen. Lots of nerds and woke people saying THIS IS WHY THE STOCK MARKET IS BAD. (Calm Down). It’s kind of like playing poker against someone who has no idea what they’re doing. You should be able to wipe them but with ignorance of the game comes their inability to know what a bluff is etc. and they kill you, much to you and your liver’s chagrin.

Drake Pushes Back Album Release Due To Torn ACL

I have no idea why I am so fascinated by this story. There will be no touring for the foreseeable future so it isn’t like Drizzy was smartly avoiding a loss of income. Was he going to celebrate the release of “Certified Lover Boy” on a trampoline? Has having a home gym + quarantine brain actually made him believe he’s a pro-athlete? I’m not sure. I just know that with the fluidity with which music is created and release these days it doesn’t make sense that Wheelchair Jimmy had to delay his album release for a bum knee.

-Joey B.

You Are Watching a Master at Work in Vasyl Lomachenko

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If records are made to be broken, what is history for? Color commentators, play-by-play announcers and analysts of all sports use the cliché often; “We are watching history.” What is sports history? Record breaking nights on the diamond? A back and forth NFL playoff game? Do we ever really know what will be dubbed “history” when it is happening? Aside from the obvious legendary moments like the 2004 ALCS series between the Red Sox and the Yankees, can we always pinpoint a certain moment or game or series as “history?”

An individual such as Michael Jordan had some pretty iconic moments throughout his career, a 60 point playoff game with the flu, monumental trash talk backed up by superb game stats. Did we know the most viewed moment of Jordan’s career would be a jump shot over Craig Ehlo in a playoff game 5 against the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1989? No way! So when I watch Vasyl Anatoliyovich Lomachenko fight, how do I know we are all watching boxing history? His fight IQ, his unorthodox training methods, and the compu-box numbers say so.

To the hardcore boxing fan Vasyl Lomachenko is already the greatest featherweight and lightweight in boxing’s history. While I refuse to pull the trigger on such a massive statement, I will concede that in only 12 (11-1) professional bouts he is the best of my generation, BY FAR! Yes only a dozen fights to pick through and being considered a great is totally unheard of but just like Slater from Dazed and Confused said: “It’s quality not quantity, man!” He was talking about the women he had been with, I am speaking on the strength of Loma’s record, it’s on steroids.

Lomachenko has fought seven current champions out of twelve career fights. Only one of his opponents had more than three career losses. Astoundingly the combined record of Loma’s first twelve opponents is 352-30. Yup, read that again. On top of that he has already won three different world titles: WBO feather and lightweight championship and he is the newly crowned WBA Lightweight champion. Whether he is defending or fighting the current champion a belt is usually on the line for “Hi-Tech.” In achieving all of this he has become the fastest fighter to hold a belt in three different weight classes, by eight fights! Compare that to the other boxing great of this generation Floyd “Money” Mayweather, whose first twelve opponents combined record was a puny 96-84, also he did not fight for a belt in those first dozen either. Excited yet?

From a “sweet science” standpoint the Ukrainian does everything perfect. His hand speed is second to none, his footwork is unlike anyone’s we have ever seen in boxing before or since, the angles and openings he creates and uses to set up combinations is godly. There is no comparison in the last 100 years to Vasyl Lomachenko, he is one-in-a-billion. The boxing unicorn. Coming into his most recent fight against Jorge Linares he had made his previous four opponents quit before the 8th round, all former champions. Not from the beating being too severe but because Loma has mastered the old boxing golden rule of hitting and not being hit. Annoying his opponents into submission, every older brothers dream. His training methods are strange but clearly effective, all of which are usually made by his father Anatoly Lomachenko. He trains his mind as much as his body and that is where he separates himself from the rest of the pack, or in his case, history.

 

The answer that boxing has been looking for since the downfall of Mike Tyson in the mid 1990s is here. He is the most exciting fighter to watch since Muhammad Ali danced like a butterfly into living rooms across the country and stung like a bee against his foes. A soft spoken, average sized man who moves like a dancer and thinks like a mathematician. Loma makes fraction of a second decisions in half the time needed and seems to always apply the correct technique and counter for every fight situation presented to him across his entire career. A career as a pro that I listed above is preceded by his two Olympic gold medals and his ridiculous 396-1 record as an amateur boxer. So where does a generational great go after only a dozen fights against champion after champion?

To the Mount Rushmore of his weight class course. Boxing is always good for knocking on the door of a retiree to remind them how old they are and offer them an offensive amount of money to try to derail a recently steaming hype train. In fact when generational greats square off, if the young fighter isn’t named Mayweather, the older fighter usually wins. For Loma the older fighter looks as if it is going to be fan favorite Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao. Both camps have been in serious talks for Manny to challenge Lomachenko for his WBO featherweight championship. Many fans want this fight but I would rather watch CSPAN for 16 straight hours.

This is a lose, lose, lose/promotion – company win type of fight. Both fighters and the fans lose if this fight is made. For Vasyl Lomachenko this is not good for his career because Pacquiao is 5-4 in his last nine fights and currently holds no championships which would make “Pacman” a giant step back from the strong fighters Loma has fought thus far in his career. Manny Paciquiao isn’t on the same boxing or athletic level as Loma, even in his prime. This fight hardly has the allure that it would if Loma fought other active fighters closer to his age and current skill level such as Terrance “Bud” Crawford or Gervonte Davis. Nonetheless its seems as though the 39 year old Pacquiao is going to be next to step into “The Matrix” that is Vasyl Lomachenko’s ability.

At his best “PacMan” was a forward pressing power puncher and the style that fares the worst against Loma happens to be a forward pressing power puncher. Even if Pacquiao somehow has a technical revelation occur to his game he still has too many holes against a sniper like Vasyl. When Pac retreats he goes straight back instead of moving laterally, it has cost him more than one fight in his career and that bad habit would be where Loma will do most of his damage to the older fighter. Midway through the second round I can see Loma learning the timing and finding a rhythm against Manny’s persistent in-and-out power punching. Through frustration of being hit by Loma and not being able to return fire, Pac will overextend himself during the middle rounds which will either lead to a stoppage or cause the elder man to severely slow down if the fight were to somehow make it to rounds 9-12. “Hi-Tech” by 6th round KO or unanimous decision.

The only man who has a chance at stopping Loma within the next 2 years (yes, that short time frame) is Floyd Mayweather Jr. Otherwise Lomachenko has a clear and easy path to Living Legend status.

Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez said it best:

“Heroes get remembered but legends never die.”

Who do you think can stop Loma?