Mus Mus Tail

New Deal

Mus Mus Tail supports the trend of boxers seeking public office, and will even go so far as to say that only boxers should be considered for any high-ranking positions in global politics.

Just Outstanding

How seldom does one hear of a forward-thinking idea in boxing? Everybody who likes boxing, or even liked it at one point but now feels like it's hard to care, should be watching World Series Boxing on the Vs. network. It's league boxing: five matches in a night, two teams sending one fighter for each five-round bout; the team with the most wins at the end of the night wins the match.

This is an outstanding idea, and should be supported by anybody who likes boxing. It has the crackling energy of Saturday afternoon club fights. You may not see the next champion of any class in these bouts, but you will see hungry dedicated fighters putting on a fantastic show with that extra added incentive of representing a team. Do yourself a favor and keep track of it.

Twenty Bucks

2010 is going to have to work pretty hard to come up with a better headline than this.

Uh-uh

Nevada declines to reissue Margarito's license. So should California. Nobody should get into the ring with a guy who's been caught loading his gloves. In a world where the ambiguities outnumber the sure things, we have here what guys in fedoras used to call a lead-pipe cinch.

Surprise Surprise

Stevens vs. Brinkley, fight of the year? There's 11 months to go, but...who expected this?

Good Luck

You'll need it.

Right On

Nobody who likes boxing these days ever gets tired of lamenting the sorry state of the heavyweight division, but from this point forward, I refuse to say anything bad about Vitali Klitschko. Vitali Klitschko is a class act. (news item via The Queensbury Rules)

Puro Michoacan

Just caught bantamweight Abner Mares on The Finest Network Working aka the Vs. Network, where he made efficient if not quite short enough work of Carlos Fulgencio. The decisive body blow was a darkly pretty piece of inside poetry. There's a lot to like about Mares. His backstory's inspirational. He boxes out of a compact stance in an always-busy style and he thinks on his feet. All he bigger punches are immediately followed by enough head movement to miss the counters. He prefers the combo to the showpiece. He fights often. He represents Hawaiian Gardens. Importantly, he cuts a completely wicked figure coming into the ring. I wish he was fighting again tomorrow; I'd watch that fight too.

Hawaiian Punch

Is Brian Viloria for real? This fight will not tell us. 25-2 vs. 15-5-5, on Viloria's home turf, against a guy who'll be fighting abroad for the first time. This is a tune-up, I guess, if we're looking at a half-full glass. I'd like to see Viloria vs. Giovanni Segura, but that's mainly because I have a soft spot for Bell Gardens. Really, though anybody from between the #2 and the #14 slots on this list will do, followed by a series of unification bouts. Why? Because if there's one thing I think we can all agree on, it's that if Brian "the Hawaiian Punch" Viloria got massively famous by unifying the minimosca division, the world would be a much better place, and the general sporting scene would be vastly improved. Sometimes I think I missed my calling, but I understand that the competition climbing the ladder to the top of the independent boxing promoters ladder is fierce and occasionally dangerous.

Master Class

Just watched Miguel Vazquez expose the highly favored Breidis Prescott on ESPN. It was like watching a surgical student ace a practicum. Keep your eye on Vazquez. He's something else.

Sad News

Alexis Arguello, mayor of Managua and one-time near-household name, is dead at 57, probably by his own hand. Of the several appreciations I've read since I heard the news, Bill Gallo's is the best; take a moment to remember or learn about a fighter whose story is worth hearin:. 81-7, 65 knockouts, no draws. Men retire having fought fewer total bouts than Arguello won by KO. At rest now.

Double Take

My first response, like yours, probably, was: "how sad." And then I thought, you know, the glass is half full. Every time that chicken plays tic-tac-toe in the future, he'll think to himself: "Win or lose, I can say I stood in with the best. I played Hearns to a draw. How many other chickens can say that?" Regarding this last imagined question, however, only time will tell.

Insider Trading

Keep an eye on this guy. I don't just say that because I love his nick, either.

Full Picture

Mayweather knocks Hatton out in the 10th. Everybody who's always hollering about Mayweather not being "classy" enough: did you guys watch the post-fight press conference? Did you hear Mayweather give Hatton his propers for having knocked out Castillo, which Mayweather'd been unable to do? Did you not see the class, and the respect, and as much humility as you can reasaonbly expect from a dude who just knocked out a previously undefeated fighter? News flash, people: pre-fight taunting occurs because smart fighters and managers know you have to put asses in seats, and that pay-per-view's been sagging badly in recent years. Mayweather does his job, which includes being the heavy. Congratulations from Mus Mus Tail to Mayweather for remaining undefeated, and to Ricky Hatton for ten hard rounds.

Long Shot

So, they ask me, they do. "John," they say, "do you like Mayweather or Hatton?" And because la casa del Mus Mus ain't got no cable, we usually answer "when the hell is that fight, anyway?" But even the profoundly unconnected know it's soon now, because the pitch is going into its final-hours whine. People who hadn't even heard of Ricky Hatton last month have an opinion about him now (not that there's anything wrong with that - you gotta start somewhere).

Mus Mus Tail would like to senselessly boast that we got on the Hatton train a while back. Hatton v. Tszyu? We took pleasure in watching the boxing pundits eat humble pie. Hatton v. Maussa? We called that fight and were only off by one round. And whatever things Manchester may or may not have to answer, umm, for, its boxing history isn't one of them. Its traditions are the stuff of legend. But Mayweather isn't Maussa, or Tszyu; Mayweather beat De La Hoya, and Zab Judah the Giant-Killer. People use the phrase "best pound-for-pound" like it was his middle name.

My head tells me this fight goes to whichever fighter has a greater horror of losing, and I suspect that's Mayweather. But Hatton has shown a remarkable instinct for rising to an occasion. If the fight were in Manchester, I'd call it Hatton by knockout. In Vegas, where the oddsmakers unanimously favor Mayweather, it'll be a lot tighter. Dudes in Vegas don't know Salford from Cincinatti. Still. I like a dark horse, and I don't mind being wrong every once in a while. Hatton by decision.