The Most Exciting Nine Minutes In Boxing History

Awesome footage from Portland

Butch Miller cuts a five star promo.

25 Year Ago This Month

I've listened to several good wrestling announcers over the years, but Frank Bonnemma was the best

I finally did it .......you tube

Funny 1985 promo with Buddy Rose and Ed Wiskowski

Calzaghe vs Kessler

I was a huuuge boxing fan growing up. I would go to Fleenors with my mother and while she grocery shopped I would read ring magazine. I memorized all the champions in each division and would day dream about what would happen if fighter A fought fighter B. The great thing about that time period was that great fights were shown on network T.V. So you new from experience that when Alexis Arguello fought Aaron Pryor or when Ray Leonard fought Thomas Hearns that you were likely to witness something special.

I was out of the loop when it came to boxing for about twelve years. In the early nineties boxing began to disappear from network T.V. and basic cable featured no names and has beens. To be knowledgeable about the sport you have to have premium cable(Showtime and HBO) and I never bothered to get either until about a year ago.

I decided to in invest in the movie tier on our cable package because Dawn Loves watching Movies and I Like watching good fights. This has turned out well as Dawn has indeed enjoyed the movie selection and I have seen some excellent boxing matches.

The story of boxing in 2007 is a double edged sword, the heavyweight division is horrible, but the lighter divisions are filled with fighters who are both talented and crowd pleasing. I have had the pleasure of watching gifted young stars like Chad Dawson, Paul William, Mikkel Kessler and Kelly Pavlik with my HBO and Showtime package.

The highlight of the year so far was last months Taylor vs Pavlik middleweight title fight. This bout really encompassed everything you watch sports for. Two competitors from different backgrounds and vastly different styles bring out the best in each other and providing the fans with a compelling fight that took fans on a roller coaster ride of action and emotion. Taylor dominated the first two round using his superior athleticism and quickness flooring Pavlik 90 second into the second round. The last 90 second of round two resembled a Rocky movie as Pavlik fought on instinctand heart while the champ got carried away and blew his chance to finish the fight. Over the next four rounds the tide turned with Pavlik gaining confidence and the Champion Taylor slowly fading. Finally in the seventh round it happened Pavlik landed a three punch combination that floored the champ making Pavlik the new middle weight champion of the world.

It might get even better this weekend!

The two best fighters I have seen in the last year in my opinion are Mikkel Kessler and Joe Calzaghe. Much to my delight they are going to square off this weekend in a Super middle weight title unification bout. As with Pavlik and Taylor as well as Hearns and Leonard 26 years ago I am expecting something really special. All the elements are in place to provide a memorable event, two great undefeated champions in their prime competing in a soccer stadium in Cardiff Wales in front of 50,000 fans. The icing on the cake is that this is not a pay per view it on regular HBO.

If you are interested in seeing what is right with boxing. Why it has endured through 100+ years of shenanigans and corruption, why in days gone buy everyone who was anyone was seen at the big fight and people would gather around the radio to hear the action, I would highly recommend you watch the Kessler vs Calzaghe bout this Saturday November 3rd at 6pm pacific on HBO.

UFC 74

Before I get to UFC 74.

I never did do a blog entry about my UFC 73 party back in July. I have been purchasing occasional UFC PPV's for the last four years, but I had never had A PPV party until UFC 73 . We put out a great food spread and were joined by four of our neighbors as well as two of Dawn's brothers. It turned out to be enjoyable evening.

For UFC 74 I went back to my normal PPV habit of just enjoying the show with Dawn.

This show was a good example of why I enjoy the sport of Mixed Martial Arts as the fights provided a good combination of athleticism, technique and fast paced action.

The highlight of the night was Randy Couture. He will be 45 in a couple of months and continues to perform at a ridiculously high level.

The story of Randy Couture in the sport of MMA has been two steps forward and one step back. Couture started in the UFC 10 years ago in his mid thirties as a one dimensional Greco Roman wrestler. For every step couture has lost to father time he has added two steps forword by continually improving his technique and fight IQ.

Couture has continually refined his greco roman skills so that they are effective in the octagon while at the same time adding boxing, kickboxing, judo, and jujitsu skills to his arsenal.

Couture's continued improvement is an example of a true martial artist. Continually refining your old technique while you gradually adding new skills.

Portland Wresling 1970's PBS Documentary

I have found a lot of cool old wrestling stuff on you tube, but these clips may win the prize. These are from a PBS documentary in the 1970's featuring Jimmy Snuka, Dutch Savage, Jesse Ventura, Iron Sheik, and Apachee Bull Ramos.

The Dutch savage promos are terrific, The Jesse Ventura interview is interesting.
and the interviews with the crowd members are priceless.

Part 1

part 2

part 3

here's an article that talks about the glory days of Portland wrestling

here

The Benoit Tragedy

Pro Wrestler Chris Benoit murdered his wife and seven year old son and then killed himself. This horrfic tragedy is hard for anyone to wrap their brain around. It's almost impossible if you're a wrestling fan.

I have been a pro wrestling fan since I was a preschooler spending weekends at my grandparents house(I will be 36 this month). I have watched a genre that I love to follow evolve (or devolve) into a T.V. product that I find virtually unwatchable.

Dawn Marie enjoys watching a show call Top Chef. I often see challenges where they ask the competitors to take a traditional dish, reinterpret it, put a modern spin on it and make it even better. This is how I viewed Chris Benoit. Benoit captured the essence of the pro wrestling I watched as a kid while at the same time performing the
"nifty" modern high flying, high impact moves that are prevalent today. Benoit could do it all in a ring and he did it with an intensity and authenticity that no one else could match. Benoit was the best in ring performer I have seen in all my years of watching pro wrestling.

What caused one of the most respected men in the industry to snap?

I believe The drive that led Benoit to be a pro wrestling virtuoso also led to his downfall. Years of taking prescription drugs to enhance his physique and to reduce pain along with multiple head injuries, deaths to many of his close friends a deteriorating marriage and numerous other factors caused Benoit to drift into insanity. I am not absolving Chris Benoit, because ultimately he is responsible for what happened. I do think that the pro wrestling lifestyle helped create the perfect storm that led Chris Benoit to commit these heinous acts.

Can anything good come of this?

I do believe that the WWE cares. I just don't think they get it. They have done some good things adding drug testing and a wellness program as well as reduced the number of days on the road. Yet, in the last week I have tuned into their programming and I've seen that the most hyped performer is a body builder that has virtually no ability in the ring or behind a microphone. This send a dangerous message and shows to me they truly don't get it.

A couple of days after the tragedy Vince McMahon was on the today show. Meridith Vierra asked him about the high mortality rate (she mentioned 40 deaths If I remember correctly) of pro wrestlers before the age of 45 in the last 25 years. McMahon said he could only talk about those that died while under contract to him (which was 5) and that Vierra's numbers might have been excessive (in reality her numbers were low). McMahon went on to say that these events were so far remove from what the WWE was about which was "putting smiles on peoples faces".

My reaction?

Over the years I have acquired over 50 hours of classic Portland Wrestling 1977-85 If I am sad or mad I put in those DVD's and they instantly put a smile on my face. If I need something to put a smile on my face in the future I will reach for my Portland collection and I will stay away from WWE programming. From this point forward I will not spend another minute or dollar on the WWE. As far as my blogs Walla Walla Barer and TV Time Limit I will no longer have WWE content.

Vincent K. McMahon as far as I am concerned,,,,You're Fired!

Four Hours of Fisticuffs

I watched the Hatton vs Castillo fight on HBO Saturday night. Then I watched the finals of the Ultimate Fighter 5 on Spike T.V. Here are some thoughts on the participants.

Ricky Hatton: Hatton is a charismatic fighter. I would love to see him fight Miguel Cotto. Which means it will probably never happen. Hatton would be a good for Floyd Mayweather style wise. So that match up is more likely.

Jose Luis Castillo: Catillo looked like a shot fighter. It was interesting he weighed
in at 140 the day before the fight and 153 the day of the fight.
Which means he weighed three pounds more than Floyd Mayweather did when he won the junior middle weight title which is two weight
divisions higher.

B.J. Penn: Penn is considered one of the most talented fighters in the sport of MMA,
The UFC would like him to fight for the title at 155 , but Penn wants to go back up to 170. If Penn does go back up to 170 I want to see
him against either Karo Parysian or Diego Sanchez.

Season 5 of the Ultimate Fighter: This season was good for the UFC in that it gave
exposure to several guys who will be around for a while. Lauzon, Miller, Diaz, Maynard, Wiman, and Emerson are all solid fighters who can add some excitement to a card. All of them are at a gate keeper status, good enough to be their but not ready to beat top contenders.It's a young group so they all have time to improve. Manvel Gamburyan is the most talented right now, but his shoulder injury might end his career. Corey Hill has the most potential of the group and could be a top contender in a couple years.

More Hidden You Tube Gems: Roddy Piper

Roddy Piper Takes on one of the Northwest's biggest stars from the sixties"Tough" Tony Borne. This is a fun little match. My favorite part is Frank Bonnemma talking about all the Elks club members from Milwaukie Or who were in attendance to cheer on Tony. CLICK HERE

Roddy Piper in 1978 promoting a big match at the Cow palace in San Francisco vs Lonnie Mayne. Mayne and Tony Borne were arguably the two biggest draws on the northwest circuit in the late sixties and into the early 70's. Classic "Rowdy" Roddy HERE

YouTube Classic Pro Wrestling and Boxing 77-78

Portland Big Time Wrestling battle royal from October 1977 HERE

One of the best final rounds in heavyweight boxing history 1978
Larry Holmes vs Kenny Norton here

RIP "Dandy" Sandy Barr

Sandy Barr was the the referee On Portland big time wrestling through the 70's and 80's.
Sandy played his part well.

I found a nice article About Sandy Barr here

UFC 71

I watched UFC 71 this Saturday night.
here are my thoughts

Kalib Starnes/ Chris Leben: Leben has the willingness but is a bit flintstonian in his skills and Starnes is much more technical but sometimes you wonder if he really wants to be fighting. These are two good, but not great fighter who had a good but not great fight. They are both what I would call gate keepers. A top contender should be able to handle either one these two.

Terry martin: Terry Martin defeated Ivan Salaverry. Martin dropped down from 205 and still looks chubby. You get the feeling this guy easily could make 170 and maybe 155.
He obviously has punching power and wrestling skills. It will be interesting to see how far that will take him in the 185 pound weight class.

Karo: Karo has been my favorite fighter to watch since I first saw him at UFC 44. Karo has added to his game by greatly improving his striking. When you add his striking skill too his sambo infused judo stylings he can be competitive against anyone at 170. Karo asked for a title shot after the bout.. he is going to have to be patient With
Serra fighting Hughes at the end of the year and the winner facing the winner of the Koscheck/ ST Pierre bout, Karo will be lucky to see a title shot by the fall of 08.

Houston Alexander: Some people have ko power Mr. Alexander has it, wether he has the other skills to be successful in the UFC over the long hall we will have to wait and see.

Chuck liddell: DON'T BACK UP WITHOUT COVERING UP. Liddell moved back dropped his hands and left his chin sticking out. Quinton Jackson's right hand connected with Lidell chin and ended Liddell's title reign. Chuck needs to realized that their are some fighters you can't fight with your hands down at your waist.

Quinton Jackson: Quinton Jackson fought everyone at 205 in pride and was fading towards the end of his time in japan. It's cool to seem him regroup and become champion. He's put in the blood sweat and tears in the sport and he fought a smart fight.

Down the road:

Quinton Jackson VS Dan Henderson: Styles make fights and these two have styles that complement each other. Jackoson like to dominate his opponents with ground and pound but Dan although smaller is a far superior wrestler. Jackson is technically a better striker but has problems when people take the fight to him when standing.. which is Dan's style. So the bout between these two has the potential to be very good.

Karo: Has is not going to be getting a title shot any time soon, Hopefully he doesn't let that bother him. He can have exciting bouts with any of the top contenders in the division

Oscar De La Hoya

I watched the replay of the Mayweather/ De La Hoya bout Saturday night on HBO. It was kinda what I figured it would be. It held my attention, but sure wasn't a fight I would go out of my way to see.
Interestingly the fight set the all time PPV record with 2.1 million buys. It makes you wonder what Ali/ Fraizer would have done if they had PPV in that era.

I have mixed feelings about Oscar De La Hoya as a fighter.De LA Hoya was the last of an era: of guys who won Olympic medals and then got exposure early in their career on network TV, It annoyed me when everybody talked about how great he was and I thought he was vastly overrated. When he moved up to welterweight my feeling was, I would consider him great if he could run the table in the division and unify the title. He was able to win one version of the belt, but then lost his title to Shane Mosley. Now I grew up watching Ray Leonard when he lost to Roberto Duran he got an immediately rematch and got his title back. De La Hoya lost to Mosley and didn't bother trying to get his title back. He moved up a weight division and won the junior middleweight title beating Fernando Vargas. In the following weeks I herd two or three people in casual conversation bring up DE La Hoya and mention they had seen his recent fight and that he was and all time great because he had one all these titles in all these different weight divisions. And I am thinking yea, but what about Shane Mosley, Who? Ya no the guy he lost to. Well DE La Hoya finally did fight Mosley again almost three years latter as Mosley was considered washed up after loosing back to back fights. What happened De La Hoya lost again.

DE La Hoya's popularity seems to transcend wins and loses. I guess I should be happy for him. He may turn out to be a rare boxing success story. DE La Hoya seems set to transition into retirement as he owns his own boxing promotional company. Interestingly two of the fighters that beat him Shane Mosley and Bernard Hopkins fight under DE LA Hoya's promotion banner. It will be very interesting to see what the future holds for Oscar DE LA Hoya.

De La Hoya/ Mayweather 24/7

Tonight I watched the series of HBO documentaries hyping the big fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather. I really enjoyed watching the series... I am still not going to buy the fight.

Styles make fights:I don't see these two having a great fight. An interesting fight a somewhat intriguing fight maybe, but a great fight?...I have a hard time seeing it. Mayweather specializes in boring whitewash decisions (that's a credit to his talent, by the way) while De La Hoya has a history of enigmatic performances.

Who's on the undercard : I have purchased UFC events on Pay Per view when I have had little interest in the main event, but two or three bouts on the undercard have captured my attention. With all the hype about Oscar vs Floyd I have seen absolutely nothing about the rest of the card. Boxing promoters need to understand that if they are going to get $50 of my money they are going to have to provide me with three hours of quality action.

Classic Portland Wrestling Disc 1: Part 2

This is a famous match because it is the impetus for the legendary Rose/Piper feud.

4/7/79 8 man tag elimination match:The heels, Buddy Rose, Ed Wiskowski. Tim Brooks, and Roddy Piper vs the baby face team of Hector Guerrero, George Wells, Ron Starr and Adrian Adonis:
Roddy Piper plays the bagpipes to rile up the fans. The bout starts with Roddy Piper
and Hector Guerrero in the ring(these two were familiar with each other from Pipers days in Southern California) The two lock up, Guerrero executes a hip toss and a rolling head scissors, Piper rolls out of the ring to regroup. Piper gets in and tries to return the favor he gets the hip toss, but misses the rolling head scissors. Guerrero takes over. Guerrero splashes Piper off the ropes and then applies and arm bar. Guerrero then tags in George Wells. Wells works on the arm with a couple of leg drops and then tags in Starr who continues the attack on the arm. Starr tags in Adrian Adonis Who comes in with a flying elbow drop off the top rope on too Pipers arm(these two would meet almost exactly 8 years later in front of 90,000 fans at Wrestlemania III). Adonis Tags Starr back in who continues the psychology of working on Piper's arm, Piper eventually is able to reach over and tag Buddy Rose. Starr executes three arm drags on Rose then Rose tags out to Wikowski. Wiskowski and Starr exchange punches. Star gets the better of the exchange. Wiskowski regroups and lands a knee and tries to whip Starr into the corner but Starr's Partner cushions his impact and Starr bounces out of the corner with a drop kick that floors Wiskowski, Starr then tags in George Wells. George wells does a leg drop on the arm. Wiskowski stumbles into the corner and Guerrero does some more work on the arm. Wells then applies an arm lock,but Wiskowski is able to make a tag to Piper who grabs a headlock and tries to punch Wells, but Wells no sells it and gives Piper a punch of his own that floors send him to the canvas. Piper finds himself in the wrong corner and receives punishment from Adonis and Starr. Starr tags in and lands a leg drop and a body slam, but Piper turns the tables with a thumb to the throat and then tags in Killer Brooks. Brooks throws Starr into the turnbuckles then does a snap mere and a leg drop and the applies a chinlock then he tags in Wiskowski who applies the same hold. The four heels then take turns tagging in and doing one offensive move then tagging out. Finally Brooks is back in the ring applying the chinlock. Starr fights out of the chinlock, but Brooks reaches Piper for a tag. Piper gets in some punishment but Starr reverses with a takedown and some punches but Piper is able to punch back and make a tag to Wiskowski who stomps on Starr. Starr gets up to his feet and the two exchange punches Starr wraps up Wiskowski in a cradle for a two count. Wiskowski gets up and tags in Rose. Starr gets a foot sweep and an arm drag on Rose and makes the HOT TAG two George Wells who starts to beat on the playboy, Piper tries to run in and help Wells knocks him out of the ring, Brooks runs in and get thrown out, Wiskowski runs in and get dropped kicked out, Brooks runs back in and gets dropped kicked out. Wells grabs Rose and lands a series of head butts executes a body slam and a splash off the ropes and goes fore the pin, but Wiskowski nails a flying head but off the second turnbuckle that knocks Wells silly and allows Rose to make the pin. This gives the heels the first fall and eliminates Wells for the evening.
Second fall: Not near as much back and fourth action in the second fall Rose and Adonis lock up Adonis ends up in the heel corner and gets pummeled. then their is a long heat segment on Adonis as all the heels tag in and beat on him as he periodically tries to drives threw his opponent into his corner. Finally he makes the HOT TAG to Hector Guerrero who cleans house on the heels and Pummels Piper until he goes for a pin, but he is to close to the heel corner and Brooks makes the save and pulls Guerrero into the heel corner where he takes a beating. From that point on Piper and Brooks tag in and out and beat on Guerrero until They double team him by throwing him into the air dropping him across their knees. Guerrero team tries to interfere to buy him some time but it's to no avail, he is still pinned by Piper.The fearsome foursome takes the second fall and Guerrero is done for the evening.
Third fall:Frank Bonnemma reminds us that this bout is too a TV TIME LIMIT. The fall starts with Roddy Piper and Ron Starr locking up. Starr gets in some punches, but Piper brushes them off and whips Starr into the ropes. Starr comes off the ropes and does a sunset flip for two. Piper tags in Brooks. Starr Greets Brooks with some hard punches. Killer Brooks stumbles into the wrong corner. Adonis Grabs Brooks while Starr executed and flying shoulder block. Then Starr executes a sunset flip and tags in Adonis. Adonis comes in and cleans house landing drop kics on every body. Brooks gets back up and Adonis and Brooks exchange elbows. adonis lands a chop and whips Brooks into the rope. Starr tags in and tries to back flip Brooks, Brooks grabs Starr's uppper body and pulls him down(I have never seen that before,I don't know if that was planned or a botched move) Brooks rolls over and ends up on top of Starr. Adonis retains the advantage for the babyface team as he is in with an elbow.Starr is back up and lands a couple punches and goes for a pin and get a two count.He then pick up Brooks and does a snap mere and tags in Adonis who whip Brooks into the ropes Brooks tries to come off with a drop kick but misses. Adonis goes for a spinning toe hold, but Piper breaks it up. Starr recovers and land some punches on Brooks followed by a side Russian leg sweep. Starr goes for the pin.
Wiskowski sails off the top rope trying to repeat the finish from the first fall. This time the baby face team get out of the way and Wiskowski knocks out his own partner. Starr quickly goes for the pin and gets the three count. Now there is dissension in the ranks. Brooks attacks Wiskowski as Rose goes after Piper. Rose throws Piper out of the ring. Wiskowski and Rose then do a streacher job on Brooks as
Rose hold Killer Tim while Wiskowski does a knee drop off the second rope onto Brook's neck. While Brooks is being carried out of the ring. Rose and wiskowski go to the interview area and complain that no one can get along with Piper and Brooks.
Then they say they are not going out for the next fall. Next We see Adonis and Starr in the ring Stirring up the crowd as Rose and Wiskowski reiterrate that they are not going back into the ring and are not going back to the dressing room where Roddy Piper is. Sandy Barr rings the bell and Rose and Wiskowski get counted out.

Interestling I find that Pro Wrestling is similar to other "real" sports like pro basketball. I see many NBA basketball player who are dynamic athletes, they can do amazing high flying rim rattling 360 slam dunks, but they can't execute simple passes that make thier team better. I see the same thing in Pro wrestling, guys who are tremendous athlete who can do spectacular eye popping moves, but can't do basic thing like throw punches and kicks that look credible. While their are exceptions to the rule, many of today stars are unable to transition from one move to the next in a way that makes sense

What makes the bout above great is not just the Roddy Piper turn. The fans add to the atmosphere buy constantly buzzing and being into the action all the way though. All 8 wrestlers work their tuchuses to put on a good show. Everyone in the bout had the ability to throw punches and kicks that looked credible. More importantly everyone involved did the little things that advanced the storyline and made themselves and their opponents look good.

If anyone out there is interested in seeing this classic action email Rich at
musicguy64@yahoo.com. Rich is a great guy to deal with.

Classic Portland Wrestling Disc 1 : Part 1

This footage was recorded by Buddy Rose in the 1970's on a format that predates Beta called the Quasar Great Time Machine. The footage was headed for the trash basket when local portland wrestling fan Rich convinced Rose to give him the tapes to see if he could restore or salvage some of the classic footage. Rich ran into several problems. The first was finding a machine to play the tapes back on.
He finally found a couple on the east coast that needed to be repaired. He was able to repair one. The next problem was that the tapes were covered with mold and other gunk. This caused the machine to continually break down. After several years and over a thousand dollars Rich Salvaged 26 hours worth of classic 1970's Portland wrestling.

It is an era that is long gone. The days of the local weekend wrestling show died for the most part by the late 80's. Thanks to Rich and Buddy Rose I am now able to relive those childhood memories. I am really enjoying watching this old footage.

3/31/79 interview:Buddy Rose and Ed Wiskowski are in the crows nest with the tag team title belts from San Francisco. They are claiming that they are the world tag team titles belts and that they will be defending them Monday in Texas?? They go on to promote the lady wrestlers coming in April. Wiskowski say that he and Rose are better looking than the lady wrestlers and that they have more finesse(ok). Buddy Rose says that women don't belong in wrestling.

3/31/79 interview: Latter in the same show Rose and Wiskowski are joined in the crows nest by Roddy Piper and Killer Tim Brooks. They have a wheel barrow With five Title belts Piper and Brooks are the northwest tag team champions, Rose and Wiscowski and the SF tag belts and Piper has the nw title belt. The four brag about having all the belts and controlling the NW territory.

4/7/79 interview: Rose, Piper, Wiskowski and Brooks are in the crows nest.Sometime in the previous week Rose and Wiskowski have lost the SF titles and Piper and Brooks have lost the NW titles to Adrian Adonis and Ron Starr. Piper talks about taking on Ron Starr on the next card while Wiskowski talks about a match with former wwwf champion Stan Stasiak.

The UFC on ESPN

I started realizing pro wrestling was a work when I was very young because they did not show pro wrestling highlights on the local sports news.

Fast forward 25 years, the Ultimate fighting championships were getting significant tv ratings, had tremendous athletes and was very real and was getting no main stream sports coverage.

That has changed now. Last night ESPN showed a short highlight of Matt Serra winning the ufc welterweight title from Georges St Pierre.

Not to long ago Mike Tyson had a "big fight" 4 or 5 customers during the day started discussing the bout with me. I explained that I wouldn't watch Mike Tyson if he were boxing In my backyard. I then went on to say I was a big fan of mixed martial arts. When I would try to explain the sport to them they would look at me like I was some kind of a nut.
Nowadays customers come in and their all excited and they will ask me my opinion on this or that fighter.

So to help you be conversational when the subject of the UFC comes up around the water cooler here are the ufc champions.

Heavyweight (205-265): Randy "the natural" Couture
Light heavyweight(186-205):Chuck "the ice man" Liddel
Middleweight (171-185: Anderson "the spider" Silva
Welterweight(156-170): Matt "the terra" Serra
lightweight(under 155): Sean "the Muscle shark" Sherk

And as a public service to my brother who asked me the other day.
Here are the (4) heavyweight boxing champion

Wladimir Klitchko
Nicolai Valuev
Oleg Maskaev
Shanon Briggs

Back to reality: Ladies first!: Gina Carano and Laila Ali

Womens mixed martial arts and womens boxing are both fortunate to have star that are both highly skilled and extremely marketable.

The star of womens Mixed Martial Arts is Gina Carano.
Ms. Carano has been the show stealer on every card she has appeared on.
Including the debut of mixed martial arts on showtime back in February.

Showtime's excellent video profile of Gina Carano Here

Gina Carano's fight of the night with Julie Kedzie HERE

Laila Ali is the daughter of Muhammad Ali. So far she has lived up to her fathers legacy, remaining undefeated in boxing. I recently saw her doing in studio commentary on Friday Night Fights. She spent more time talking about Dancing With The Stars then she spent talking about boxing. Never the less she is very talented.

Laila Ali in a very cute Adidas commercial with her dad HERE

Laila Ali on Dancing With The Stars HERE

Oh Yea she can fight too, here she is knocking out Valerie Mahfood HERE

WWE Hall of fame on USA

What i enjoyed:The inductions of Jim Ross, Dusty Rhodes, and the late Curt Hennig"Mr. Perfect"provided genuine emotion.

what I didn't like: They chose William Shatner to introduce Jerry "the king" Lawler.
Shatner was awfull as he read from a script and his eyes never looked up.

here are some clips from you tube that capture the essence of these performers who were being honored.

Jim Ross: Ross was fired by WTBS for sounding to southern. they have tried to replace him in the WWE three different times but the fan have always demanded that they bring him back.
The WWE put together a very nice video package here

Jerry Lawler:here are a couple of famous Jerry lawler clips
with Andy Kaufman on Letterman here
versus Hulk Hogan in Memphis here

Dusty Rhodes: I Never much like Dusty in the ring, but he was great on interviews
classic Rhodes clips here and here

Curt Hennig:One cool thing about this blog is that I have a link where you can see Hennig
in the ring with the Dynamite kid and now I have a link where you can see Hennig in with Chris Benoit here

Nick Bockwinkle: heres a Nick Bockwinkle clip from the early 60's. here

A Busy month

The WWE has wrestle mania tomorrow headlined by the Donald Trump vs Vince McMahon toupe match.Even though I will not be watching Wrestlemania it really should be a good show as it's the 20th anniversary of the famous wreslemania III sellout at the pontiac silver dome.

I will try to catch the WWE hall of fame inductions on USA if things work out.

April will be a huge month in the UFC. In just the next week we will see.

ultimate fight night 9 on 4-5. I will watch this event and review it on this blog
The debut of the new season of the Ultimate fighter on Spike. This season has all the making for both great drama and exciting bouts. I will try to follow this show on the blog as well.
Ufc 69 will be on PPV next Sauturday. Like wrestlemania I will not purchase the card but it should be a good show. The Koscheck vs Diego Sanchez bout should provide tremendous fireworks.

On Saturday 4-21 the UFC will be showing UFC 70 on a same day tape delay on Spike TV. This show has a very good line up. I would recommend fans take the opportunity to watch this card because it is a show I would seriously consider buying on PPv, but because the UFC could not reach an agreement with HBO you can now see this show for free on spike TV.

Time to say hello to the shut ins: Remembering Ron Morrier

It's Saturday morning in the late 1980's I am 7 years old lying in bed waiting for the signal. What was the signal?
It was my grandparents turning on KONA radio at which point I would jump out of bed run into their bedroom and pile into bed with them. Shortly after grandmother would get up and start breakfast while grandfather would do calisthenics culminating in a brisk set of twenty push ups counted out in Japanese.

Then we would go down stairs and watch Vancouver B.C. All Star Wrestling. The program was hosted by a man named Ron Morrier. Morrier like his counterpart in Portland Frank Bonnema
was a talented pro broadcaster who enhanced the show without insulting your inteligence or bashing you over the head with over promotion. Morrier would Always take the time to say hello to the shut ins at the beginning of the program.

profile here

Ron Morrier on you tube with Roddy Piper and Rick Martel Here

Howard cosell's tribute to Muhammad Ali

You'll laugh /you'll cry (really!)

click here

Football and Wrestling Great Ernie "The Big Cat" Ladd passed away Saturday

Career retrospective here

classic interview circa 1978 en re: Andre the Giant

The combination of Ernie Ladd and Andre the Giant was box office gold throughout the country during the 1970's.

According to Dave Meltzer's book Tributes II.
"perhaps his(Andre's) biggest opponent during the 1970's, was Ernie Ladd, a 6-9 320lb
former pro football lineman whom he drew many big gates with in battles of the giants.
Ironically, because Ladd had achieved so much fame in football before wrestling, his real height
was known, promoters never tried to exaggerate his height as would normally been the case
in those days. It was funny because Andre at the time was billed at 7-5, yet the the two were roughly the same height."

Buddy Rose

Classic Portland Wrestling footage from 1983.
One of the best wrestling story lines I have seen in the last thirty years.
Perfectly constructed and superbly executed. After seven years of being
the #1 heel/badguy in the NW Buddy Rose became a fan favorite. This
could never happen in modern pro wrestling because guys go back and
forth every other month. What makes this clip even better is the supporting
cast . The Dynamite Kid (one of the best in ring performer I have ever seen who achieved tremendous success in the WWF 1/2 of the British Bulldogs tag team), Curt Hennig (another very good Wrestler who became a big star in the late eighties and early nineties), and then their is Billy Jack Haynes who could have been the biggest star of them all if he wasn't so difficult to get along with. TheIcing on the cake is Rose inviting the fans to jump in the ring. What fan hasn't dreamed of having that opportunity?

Randy Couture

The first UFC Pay Per View I purchased featured a main event of Randy Couture vs Tito Ortiz.
Tito Ortiz had been the champion in the 205 lb division for three years and dominated everyone he had faced. Randy couture the former heavyweight champion had recently turned 40 and been kocked out in two of his last three fights, few gave him a chance of unseating the invincible champ.

The main event of ufc 44 was classic story of the old master vs the young hotshot bully. The fairy tale version ,where the old master has enough gas left in his tank to take the arrogant young guy to the woodshed and teach him a lesson. This bout was magical as Couture dominated the seemingly unbeatable 28 year old champion. In the prefight video package Ortiz spoke in hyperbole while Couture simply said "he's no slouch, but everything he can do I feel I can do just a little bit better. For 25 minute Couture proved his point schooling Ortiz in all facets of the fight game both kick boxing and wrestling. I was completely amazed that a fourty year old could perform at that level and even more amazed he could keep it up for 5 five minute round.

Couture had a two year run at the top of the 205 division until he was knocked out twice by UFC posterboy Chuck Liddle. Couture was now 42 and had been ko'd twice. To no ones surprise he annouced his retirement. Then a couple months ago it was annouced that Couture at the age of 43 was coming out of retirement to take on the reigning ufc heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia.
Sylvia a 6'7 monster who has to cut weight to make the ucf's 265 pound weight limit was obviusly a very dangeroug opponet for the 43 year old 6'0 220 Couture.

I decided not to buy the Pay Per View. I did not begrudge Couture for taking the fight .
Pay days for UFC main eventers have gone from 50,000 to over a million dollars. I also understood why the UFC made the bout. They had a champion who was not marketable and needed some one they could put him against who would lure pay per vier buyers. I did not think the 43 year old Couture had a reasonable chance of winning and I did not want to see him get hurt.

I have never been more happy to be proven wrong. I followed the fight on the internet.
The first site I went to crashed in the second round, due to to much traffic. the next two sites I visited had the same problem. Finally the dust settled and I was able to get the result. Randy Couture had shocked everyone again. He had duplicated his effort from the Ortiz fight,but this was even more remarkable. By all accounts the 43 year old Couture used his quickness!! to out box Sylvia, he also demonstrated his world class wrestling skills effortlessly throwing around the 265+ champion like a rag doll. Absolutely amazing!

ROYCE GRACIE AND THE SPORT OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS

I practiced Karate consistently for seven years. The two most common questions I was asked by people were how high can you kick and how many boards can you break.
my answer:
1. If you can kick some one in the groin thats more then high enough.
2. I have never been attacked by a tree (although I had nightmares after watching H.R. puffnstuff as a small child) so I have never had to break a board.

My point in all this is that people have misconceptions about martial arts. When people think of self defense they think of kicking and punching.

This is where the UFC cames in. The UFC was created for two reasons
1. Make money
2. To popularize the grappling arts, specifically Gracie/Brazilian Jujitsu.

The Gracie's strongly believed that their style was far superior to any art that featured strikes.
The thought being that once the grappler closed the distance and brought the fight to the ground the striker would be helpless.

Royce Gracie's brother Rorion was one of the originators of the UFC. His idea was to have a tournament where people of different styles would meet. The ultimate goal would be to prove Gracie Ju Jitsu was the most effective martial art.

Royce was chosen to compete even though he was not the most talented of the Gracie brothers
That honor belonged to Royce's older brother Rickson. I think they chose Royce for two reasons.

1. Royce Gracie at 6'1 and 176lb was not impressive to look at. This made it that much more remarkable when he would defeat some monster.

2. They didn't want to risk having the star of the family loose.

The first two UFC tournaments served their purpose perfectly(virtual infomercials for Gracie Jujitsu). Royce Gracie easily defeated three opponents in one night at ufc 1. Four months latter, Gracie cruised to a tournament victory this time defeating 4 men in one night. Gracie defeated seven men who represented a variety of styles and varied in size from 170 minoki Ichiarra t 260 pound Remco Pardoel. Gracie''s formula was simple close the distance clinch and bring the fight to the ground. Once the fight was on the ground it was only a matter of time before Gracie secured an armlock or a choke and forced his opponent to submit.

To start of my series I am going to look at Gracie's bouts in the first UFC.
11-12-93
Royce Gracie VS Art Jimmerson
Art Jimmerson was a pro boxer who had some success in boxings cruiserweight division in the early nineties then saw his career crash in the late nineties. Maybe Jimmerson thought he was going to a Michael Jackson concert because he entered the ring wearing one glove. I am serious this guy had a boxing glove on his left hand and no glove on the right hand. Unfortunately(or fortunately) we never got to see what Jimmerson's game plan was.
fight recap:
first minute: fighters circle with Gracie landing one glancing leg kick.
second minute: Gracie executes a double leg takedown. Jimmerson spends 30 seconds holding on for dear life and contemplating his next move. then Jimmerson spent 30 second flailing like a fish as Gracie did nothing but hold him down. Then Jimmerson tapped(submited). Yes, Art Jimmerson tapped before Gracie threw a punch or even tried to execute a submission move.

Royce Gracie vs Ken Shamrock
Differences between Royce Gracie and Ken shamrock
1. Shamrock weighed 215 while Gracie weighed 176
2. Shamrock had dabbled in submissions while submission grappling was Gracie's life
3. Shamrock wore his red pro wrestling trunks while Royce Gracie wore his traditional Gi
uniform.
the fight:
Gracie dove in for a take down Shamrock blocked it and flung Gracie on his back. Shamrock then went for a leg lock (the leg lock had worked against a kickboxer earlier in the evening but it was a no-no against an experienced grappler like Royce Gracie) and lost his top position. Now Gracie was on top and working for even better position. Shamrock tried to Grapple his way back on top but Gracie blocked his attempt and while the were stalled in that position Gracie executed a Gi choke causing Shamrock to tap out emphatically (the screwball ref missed the tap but shamrock admitted that he had given up).


Royce Gracie Vs Gerard Gordeau
Gordeau had knocked out his two previous opponents that night. With the first ko being very spectacular. At the start of the fight Gracie waisted no time diving in for a take down. Gordeau blocked the initial attempt but the two fighters ended up in a clinch. After about 20 seconds of effort Gracie got the take down. Gordeau held on to a headlock from the bottom for 15 to 20 seconds then Gracie slipped out. Gordeau immidiaetly rolled to his stomach to avoid being punched in the face. Then Gracie easily secured a rear choke hold that forced Gordeau to tap out. Royce Gracie was UFC 1 tournament champion.

UFC 2
3-11-94
Royce Gracie Vs Minoki Ichiara
Ichiara a well respected karate practitioner from Japan Suffered the same fate as Gracie's opponents from UFC 1. He quickly found himself on the the ground with Gracie on top of him. To his credit Ichiara was able to last longer then any of the Gracie's opponents from ufc 1. For almost 5 minutes Ichiara held on and tried to escape. At the five minute mark an exhausted Ichiarra looked like he had reversed the situation, but it was a trap as Ichiara manuvered himself right into a nifty gracie submission manuver an armbar gi choke combo that bafffled and bedazzled the commetators( a long article could defintely be written about the commentating at the early UFC's). 5:08

Royce Gracie vs Jason Delucia
Jason Delucia was a ninja. No really Delucia was a practitioner of ninjutsu. Delucia had also had some experience in real fights in Japan. Delucia quickly put Gracie on his back. Gracie quickly reversed. Delucia tried to quickly reverse back, as he pushed Gracie away Gracie latched on to delucia arm as they were rolling and applied a beautiful arm lock. Gracie from the ground submitted a standing Delucia. 1:02

Royce Gracie vs Remco Pardoel
Remco Pardoel a Dutch jujitsu practitioner out weighed Gracie by over 80 pounds. Pardoel had also authored one of the most vicious ko's in UFC history earlier in the evening. What had worked for Padoel earlier in the evening ended up being his undoing in his bout with Gracie. Padoel would trap his opponents arm and execute a hip throw then he would follow his opponent to the ground and use his back to pin them while he threw elbows. The strategy worked to perfection earlier in the evening but it was an absolute no-no against a grappler of Royce Gracie's caliber. Gracie easily blocked Pardoel throw and then found himself in perfect position to execute a rear gi choke. the bout would only last 1:26.

Royce Gracie vs Pat Smith
Pat Smith a kick boxer who weighed around 225 had looked invincible in winning three fights earlier in the evening. One fight being against another "ninja" Scott Morris. Morris tried to follow the Royce Gracie playbook and quickly get to a clinch but he just kind of bounced of Smith who followed him to the ground and unleashed a barrage of punches and elbows that left Morris a bloody mess ( and would latter lead Senator Mccain to pressure the cable companies to remove the UFC). A good game plan only works when you have the skills to execute it.Royce GRacie had the skills that Scott morris didn't. Gracie charged across the ring against smith and was not able to get the intitial take down but got to a clinch and was able to persist and put Smith on his back. As with many of the competitores in the early UFC Smith the lion quickly turned into a lamb when out on his back. It would only take a few week punches from Gracie and Smith quickly tap the mat.
Royce Gracie was ufc 2 champion.

The Sport:
Royce Gracie had definitely demonstrated the importance of ground Grappling in ufc's 1 an 2. Things got tougher for Gracie in UFC 3.4 and 5 although no one was able to beat him (he did forfeit one match before it started due to injury). After a draw with Ken shamrock at UFC 5 Gracie would take a 11 year hiatus from the octagon.
Upon Gracie's return at UFC 60 he found a much different sport. Gone were the days of a karate guy versus a judo guy. Replaced by the modern mixed martial arts competitor who is a world class athlete who cross trains in boxing, kickboxing, wrestling and Ju jitsu. When Royce Gracie returned to the octagon in 2006 his opponent was Matt Hughes a former all American collegiate wrestler who had seven years to integrate Ju jitsu(submission grappling) in with his world class wrestling skills. Royce Gracie went from being completely dominate in the early UFC's to totally helpless against Hughes at UFC 60.

What I really enjoy about watching Mixed martial arts is seeing how the sport continually evolves. I have seen world class wrestlers like Matt Hughes and Matt Lindland come into the sport with very flintstonian standup skills and slowly evolve into very competent kickboxers. . I've seen these same wrestlers greatly refine their grappling skills improving their ability to defend themselves in all positions and their ability to end fights with very technical submissions.

The sport of MMA and it's evolution would not have been possible without Royce Gracie. His success in those early UFC's the laid the foundation for what the sport has become today.

THE UFC

On New Years Eve the Ultimate fighting Championships(UFC) promoted a mixed martial arts card featuring a main event bout between Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell. The bout did over 1 million Pay Per View(PPV) buys. This made the Ortiz/Liddell bout the # 1 selling PPV of 06' surpassing all boxing and wrestling events during the year. After all the numbers were tabulated the Ortiz/Liddell bout sits at number ten on the all time PPV list trailing nine boxing matches,

I have followed the UFC since it's inception in 1993 and I have been what one would call a "hard core fan" since 2003.

I am planning a series of articles looking at how the UFC has evolved as a sport(Mixed Martial Arts) and how it's grown as a business. I also want to examine how the media has covered the UFC throughout it's existence.

Even if you are not a fight fan I think many people will find the history of the UFC fascinating.
Please come back in the coming months and give me your comments and suggestions.
Thanks for reading.

Thank you Mike And Daniel.

Fight Night

I have had February 10th circled on my calender for a month in anticipation for the fights on Saturday night. It was a double header with HBO championship boxing presenting a card featuring "sugar" Shane Mosley while showtime debuted their new mixed martial arts promotion elite extreme combat.

I flipped on HBO at seven just in time to catch the start of the preliminary bout featuring Vivian Harris and Jose Lazcano.

In the first two rounds this bout looked like a mismatch as Harris used his reach and superior quickness to make Lazcano look like and amature. For Some reason in third round Harris decided to fight in close quarters with Lazcano. This was a tactical mistake as Lazcano was by far the better inside fighter as he did a good job of going to the body and working is way up to the head with effective combinations. The weird thing about this fight is that Harris seemed to be the one who decided where the fight too place. You would think he would keep the fight at a distance where he had the advantage . Yet, in several rounds he would choose to get in close with Lazcano and in effect give away the round. In the end Harris did enough boxing to win a close decision, but the fight really left me scratching my head. Why was this guy with a huge advantage in reach and quickness continually not playing to his strength. We never really got the answer to that during the telecast. At least Harris's strategic blundering made the bout entertaining.

Mosley VS Collazo:

Shane Mosley was the favorite going into this fight, but may hard core fans were picking Collazo. Mosley is thirty five(which further endears his to me because i am thirty five) Collazo is twenty five and an up and coming contender. Many thought the young Collazo would be to much for the aging veteran Mosley. This was not the case.

Shane Mosley fought a beautiful fight displaying tremendous hand speed and stamina as he out classed and out worked the younger Collazo in route to a convincing 12 round decision.

Shane Mosley is a rarity in boxing today in that he fights above his natural wait class and takes on all comers. Theirs a lot not to like about boxing these days but Shane Mosley is definitely one of the bright lights in a sport that definitely needs positive stories.

I enjoyed tonights broadcast of HBO boxing. I am not a huge fan of their broadcast team, but tonight that were not nearly as annoying as they usually are. And I got to see one of the best in the sport display his greatness. All in all a good night.

10:00 Elite Extreme Combat.

Elite Extreme Combat is Showtimes attempt to capitalize on the success of the ultimate fighting Championship and the growing acceptance of the sport of mixed martial arts.

Charles "Crazy horse " Bennett vs KJ Noons.
This fight is short as Bennett lands a crushing right hand that end the bout three minutes in.
Bennett portrays himself as a "street fighter" after the bout he did two back flips of the top of the cage and did an interview that sounded very pro wrestlingish as he he came across as a bad guy.

Gina Carano vs Julie Kedzie

This is the first time a bout between two women boxers or Mixed martial artists has appeared on Showtime.This bout stole the show. Gina Carano was recently profiled an MSNBC warior nation series.
Ms. Carano is a very talented fighter who happens to look like the cute girl next door (much like Danica Patrick in auto racing). Going in to this card their has been a buzz surrounding Carano because of her looks and talent as well as the fact that her recent fights have been show steelers. This night was no different as Carano and kedzie showed tremedous skill and heart in a fast paste fight that drew a standing ovation from the crowd. Carano Displayed beautiful Muay Thai kickboxing and Kedzie showed that she had a hard head as she took several hard blows and never stopped moving forward and actually managed to win the third and final round. These two ladies put on an awesome show and also did a wonderful job portraying women fighters as the two also displayed wonderfull sportsmanship to go along with their tremendous talent.

David Loiseau vs Jose Villasenor
This was a bout between an overachiever Villasenor and an underacheiver loiseau. For three round the hard working Villasenor imposed his will on Loiseau. Mr. Loiseau either needs to retire or find a good sports psychologist.

Antonio Silva vs Wesley Correria
Silva is a scary guy at 6'4 296 pounds the guy has virtually no body fat and moves like a cat.
Silva squashed Mr. Corriera is short order finishing him off with a jumping muay thai knee.

Frank Shamrock Vs Renzo Gacie
This bout was a tremendous disappointment as shamrock was dq'd in the second round due to an illegal knee to the back of Gracies head.
Leading to an unfortunate ending to an otherwise good debut for showtimes new promotion..

Going into the evening I was going to try and pick a winner between the two shows. I would have to call it a draw as both shows provided excellent cards leaving me the winner.

Grandfather

My grandfather was an amazing man. He retired in his mid 60's and lived to be 99 (he passed away in January 2006).
During his retirement he traveled the world extensively. He also was an accomplished gardener who had one of the most beautiful gardens in town with numerous flowers and an impressive Bon Sai collection. He also studied and was conversational in Japanese.

From 1976-1981 if grandfather and grandmother weren't traveling I would spend Friday night at there house and stay until Saturday evening. I have numerous memories that will last the rest of my life of all the different activities I did with grandmother and grandfather.

One thing Grandfather and I both loved to watch was Pro wrestling.

Every Saturday morning Grandfather and I would watch Vancouver Allstar Wrestling on the Canadian channel. On Saturday afternoon we would watch Portland Big Time Wrestling on KEPR out of the Tri Cities.

While I followed many "real" sports (in fact I could be considered a sports fanatic) nothing quite grabbed my attention like those old wrestling shows.

This blog will try to capture the spirit of those care free Saturday afternoons where wrestlers like Jimmy Snuka and Roddy Piper and boxers like Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler captured my imagination and provided me with lifelong memories.