EVIL~! alkeiper

There's a couple of good fights from 1978-85. We've got Holmes-Norton, Holmes-Cooney, Weaver-Tate. And of course there's the Holmes/Cobb fight to cover.

Ali beat Shavers. Do you mean Leon Spinks?

It wasn't AS bad, because they at least could agree on who should fight for the title. They can't even create a title fight today.

As the 1940s began, Joe Louis' "Bum of the Month Club" hit full throttle. Four title defenses in 1940, followed by seven defenses in 1941. Louis' first fight ended in a controversial split decision against Arturo Godoy. Louis KO'd Godoy in a rematch four months later. Louis KO'd Johnny Paychek and Al McCoy. 1941 saw Louis kick off the year with KO's of Red Burman, Gus Dorazio, Abe Simon and Tony Musto. Louis then defeated Buddy Baer by DQ in a controversial bout. Baer's manager claimed that Louis hit Baer after the bell. Louis-Baer I One month later, Louis made his most famous defense against light heavyweight champ Billy Conn. Conn led on two cards coming into the 13th round, before Louis caught up with him. Louis knocked out Lou Nova in his next bout. In 1942, Louis KO'd Buddy Baer in the first round to erase any doubts, and KO'd Abe Simon again. With the world at war, Louis and the title went on hiatus. Louis fought a quasi-exhibition in 1944. He retured to action in June 1946, KO'ing Billy Conn in a much easier bout. Louis KO'd Tami Mauriello in August. Louis next fought a year later, defeating Jersey Joe Walcott by split decision. Louis was knocked down twice, and thought he lost the fight. Louis came back to KO Walcott in a rematch. In March of 1949, Louis announced his retirement. Louis-Walcott I Louis-Walcott II Following Louis' retirement, Walcott met Ezzard Charles for the vacant crown. Charles won via a unanimous decision. While Charles did not enjoy unanimous recognition, he was certainly the best fighter of the time. Charles was a devestating light heavyweight puncher. While his final record looks terrible, he was 59-5-1 heading into the Walcott bout. Walcott KO'd Gus Lesnevich and Pat Valentino to finish the decade. While few legitimate challengers existed, Joe Louis would step out of retirement in 1950 and attempt to reclaim his crown.

What does that even mean? You obviously haven't read your posts in the TWIB thread involving the final game at Yankee Stadium. I just did. I said something you disagreed with and the argument ran less than a page. Hardly worth getting worked up over.

Facing Agent is a tough task. Usually I skate by on close wins til the final four, but not this year I think. There's not much I can say in my support and against Agent. He's a good guy. I'd like to state for the record though that the Somali Privateer thread is the most obnoxious piece of crap on TSM I've had to read in quite some time.

The thirties kicked off with a vacant heavyweight championship. The top two ranked heavyweights met on June 12, 1930 in Yankee Stadium. Schmeling won the championship on a fourth round foul, the only time the title has changed hands in such a manner. Schmeling defended the title just once in 1931, a 15th round KO of hard punching Young Stribling. Sharkey received his rematch in '32 and bested Schmeling via a 15 round decision. Unfortunately for Sharkey, he dropped the title in his first defense, a sixth round KO loss to Primo Carnera. Carnera was a mob controlled fighter; not terribly talented. Could Sharkey have thrown the fight? I have heard little beyond speculation. It is certainly not unheard that a huge boxer like Carnera would land a big shot. Carnera defeated Paulino Uzcudun and Tommy Loughran in decision victories. Uzcudun was well past his prime. Tommy Loughran was a career light heavyweight with a few heavyweight victories on his record. Though came, he was outweighed by nearly 100 lbs. Carnera encountered a slightly tougher challenge in Max Baer. Max Baer in three years had produced an impressive string of victories. He defeated five top ten fighters, including Johnny Risko, Ernie Schaaf, King Levinsky, Tully Griffiths and Max Schmeling. He had just knocked out Carnera and did it by knocking him down eleven times. He looked every bit the dominant champion. So of course he lost to Jim Braddock in his first defense. I assume most of you have seen Cinderella Man. The movie was substantially accurate with the exception that the actual fight was dull. Luckily for the heavyweight division a truly great fighter emerged. Joe Louis had knocked out Sharkey, Carnera and Baer. Despite a KO loss to Max Schmeling, Louis earned a shot at the heavyweight title. Louis followed up his title win with defenses against Tommy Farr, Nathan Mann and Harry Thomas. Brits take pride that Tommy Farr simply lasted the fifteen rounds. Take your victories wherever you can find them. Next Louis met the only man to defeat him, Max Schmeling. Schmeling had KO'd Louis in the twelvth run of their previous encounter. The second fight in Yankee Stadium is one of the most iconic fights in boxing history. Louis knocked out John Henry Lewis in his next fight. Lewis was a Hall of Fame light heavyweight, collecting one big payday before retirement. Louis followed his first round KO streak with a victory over Jack Roper. Louis then stepped in against Tony "Two Ton" Galento. Louis ended the decade with a win against Bob Pastor. Already Louis had defended the heavyweight championship eight times. He was not even halfway done.

There are some real bargains on the market though. Right now one of the frustrating traits of the Phillies is they already have 25 players who are out of minor league options.

Rock stole the belt the previous month.

Nobody else is even close. How about losing your lefty setup man for 50 games, your MVP having hip surgery, losing a franchise player, losing a draft pick when you signed a more expensive replacement, and thinking Chan Ho Park can succeed outside Dodger Stadium? The Brewers aren't in a bad spot because they still have their great lineup, Yovani Gallardo is returning and they have a buyer's market to play with. I think Hughes is on the verge of a breakout season.

With Romero out and Utley hurt, it is going to be a rough six weeks for the Phillies to start the season.

HA!

Links used from dailymotion.com instead of embedded video when I found better footage. The 1920s kicked off with Jack Dempsey a newly established champion. Dempsey defended the title just once in 1920, a twelveth round KO of Bill Brennan. 1921 saw the biggest gate attraction at that time in boxing history. Dempsey battled Georges Carpentier, the World's Light Heavyweight champion. Adding to the attraction was Carpentier's status as a French war hero, whereas Dempsey was seen as a draft dodger. The fight drew 80,000 fans to Jersey City and drew boxing's first million dollar gate. Though game, Carpentier was overmatched and fell to a fourth round KO. http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/searc...arpentier_sport It took Dempsey two years to take his next serious fight, a decision win over Tommy Gibbons that bankrupted the town of Shelby, Montanta. Two months following that debacle, Dempsey stepped into the ring with big, raw Luis Angel Firpo. The damnest four minutes of boxing followed. http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/searc...-14091923_sport While Dempsey drew huge purses, most of his attractive fights took place against smaller foes. Gibbons at his peak was a light heavyweight. Carpentier had won titles as far down as welterweight! Dempsey took three years off after the Firpo fight before he took the challenge of Gene Tunney in Philadelphia. The fight could not take place in New York City as the NY commission refused to sanction any title bout not involving Harry Wills. Wills had beaten Sam Langford and taken the measure of Luis Firpo in a no-decision bout. Tunney easily defeated Dempsey in a ten round decision to take the title. Meanwhile, Harry Wills lost to Jack Sharkey on a foul when behind on points. With Wills conveniently out of the picture, Dempsey KO'd Shawkey to earn a rematch at the title. You may have noticed in the Willard and Firpo fights that Dempsey would stand over his fallen opponents, hitting them as soon as they arose from a knockdown. This created the rule that a fighter should go to a neutral corner during a knockdown sequence. The "Long Count" followed. If anyone has a useable clip of these, feel free to post it. I was surprised not to find anything on Youtube. My own personal take on the controversy is that if Dempsey had Tunney on the canvas for a knockout, he should've damn well put him away anyway. Dempsey was outclassed the rest of the fight, he did not deserve to win. Tunney knocked out Tom Heeney in the eleventh round of his next fight, and announced his retirement. For the first time in history, boxing's heavyweight championship suffered a clean break in its lineage.

They've got the "on deck" series the Friday and Saturday preceding Opening Day in Citizens Bank Park. Two years for Burrell, at a cheaper salary than Ibanez? God fucking damn it. Good luck to Burrell in Tampa though.

I bet if Epstein offered a free stadium, the Marlins (and Loria) would take it.

Manager Jack Kearns claimed it was plaster of paris, but a boxing magazine ran an experiment and found it wouldn't work. I think it was legit. Dempsey clocked Willard because he was able to hit him as soon as both knees left the canvas.

I've tended not to use too many descriptions of the clips, but check out Jim Flynn trying to launch his head at Jack Johnson. Not the finest moment in fight history.

1910s Going into the 'teens, Jack Johnson reigned as heavyweight champion. The audacity of a black fighter holding the crown caused outrage in sporting America, with writer Jack London calling for retired champion Jim Jefferies to come out and restore white pride. Jefferies, overweight and living on his alfalfa farm, eventually relented and trained to return to the ring. Jefferies and Johnson met on July 4, 1910. The fight sparked race riots throughout the country. Johnson vs. Jefferies It was two years before Johnson took another fight. Here he fights Fireman Jim Flynn. Johnson vs. Fireman Jim Flynn Johnson fought a bad fight against Battling Jim Johnson, defeated Frank Moran by decision and knocked out Jack Murray. At the age of 37, he took a fight against the latest Great White Hope, huge Jess Willard. This is a short clip of the 26th round KO. Of particular note is that this bout was co-promoted by Jess McMahon, grandfather of the WWE chairman. Johnson vs. Willard Did Johnson throw the fight? I doubt it. If Johnson had thrown the fight, why would he have waited 26 rounds to do it? Johnson did shield his eyes, but KO'ed fighters have done odd things. I recall one boxer throwing punches on his back. Mike Tyson attempted to put in his mouthpiece backwards while attempting to rise from the Douglas knockdown. Willard defended the title once, in a ten round no-decision bout against Frank Moran. Four years after winning the title, Willard stepped into the ring against Jack Dempsey. What followed was utter destruction. Willard vs. Dempsey While Johnson was one of the greatest fighters of all time, his style was not exciting and the crop of white fighters in his era was weak. The best fighters such as Sam Langford, Joe Jeannette and Sam McVey never challenged for the title. Willard barely fought as champion, leading to an entire decade devoid of good heavyweight bouts. Dempsey ushered in a new era of a fighting champion fighting exciting bouts in hugely marketed events.

Is it a bad thing? It depends on your perspective. It's possible it could lead to the destruction of the industry. That's unlikely, but how would you react?

Since Shawn eliminated 'Taker last time, it requires 'Taker to return the favor. Should it come during the middle of the match like last year so that the heat doesn't take away from the ending or near the end to really put over the build towards WM? Taker eliminated Shawn in '07. I think a double elimination this time. And it probably should come near the end, as that would allow both characters to show frustration over coming close and missing.

Honestly, I don't see this being a big problem for WWE. Everyone knows professional wrestling has a steroid problem. It has been a running joke for upwards of 30 years now. The problem is that the general public simply does not care. There is no pressure on Congress to do anything. And if they did, they would encounter several problems. The main problem is that enacting a policy of steroid testing would require the creation of a Federal sporting commission. This is something that boxing has resisted fiercely in the past. Would the general public encourage Congress to spend more money in this economy on something seemingly as unimportant as professional wrestling? Quite the opposite. We all want to see wrestling make changes. But Congress getting involved is not a good thing.

To set up Shawn/Taker, both wrestlers would need to LOSE the Rumble. That's where the storyline comes from, both guys having huge interactions in '07 and '08.

Love that Roberts rumor. It clearly states it's just a Baltimore writer's rumination, nothing more. I think it's too early for fans to panic. A LOT of free agents are still on the market.

Let's see... -Had a six month relationship. Didn't work out but we're still good friends. Worth the time. -Still working full time. Oh yeah. -PHILLIES WORLD PHUCKING CHAMPIONS~!!!!!!!!!!!

What about Fontenot? Is he a candidate for the second base job?