Clyde wrote:-I also can't shake the feeling that Marquez is on steroids of EPO or something.The LA Times wrote:Boxing has no standard for drug testingLAS VEGAS ” The erratic state of drug testing in boxing is perhaps best revealed in the absence of scrutiny faced by Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez before their Saturday fight.Neither boxer has submitted a blood or urine sample.http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/05 ... g-20121206

I think the hesitation element you're talking about is possible, but Manny knew that punch was in the question. He was careless and he knows it. He had that punch on film and he walked into it. Victor Conte's twitter has been screaming that Marquez was taking some questionable measures and being evasive on the testing. The fact that Pacquiao/Roach didn't make a big deal of it is also suspicious in and of itself. I've been enjoying Pacquiao fights for the last few years. It's been a fun string, especially when my mom's friends put on a big party with a ton of Filipino food. But I knew this one was coming in some form, just not expecting this kind of KO. I didn't go out for it, I didn't even follow the round by round commentary on Twitter. I just had a horrible feeling about it. Manny got to where he is through his work ethic. You could see it slack as his celebrity profile and his entourage swelled. He was still good enough to coast for a while, but this almost had to happen.

40 years today since the Rumble in the Jungle. I've been reading about it all morning.http://fightland.vice.com/blog/the-rumb ... y-years-onhttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/galler ... dary-boxer

Jack Slack is a fabulous combat sports analyst. Very solid break-downs. His habit of using illustrative gifs is super helpful.

moonman wrote:40 years today since the Rumble in the Jungle. I've been reading about it all morning.http://fightland.vice.com/blog/the-rumb ... y-years-onhttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/galler ... dary-boxerNot as good as the Thrilla in Manila, but still an all-time classic for hype and drama.Truth is, though, if you watch the fight, Ali was in control through almost the whole bout. He came out and almost decoyed by going with the lead right, which scored a couple of times, before he settled into the Rope-a-Dope. At the end of each round he would come out of hiding and land a fe blows. He dismantled Foreman, who was frustrated and seemed uninterested after a point. One of the most cerebral fights between two bears I have ever seen -- at least on Ali's part. If you attend to the tone and narrative of When We Were Kings, you would think Foreman had Ali in trouble. The fight was actually pretty much in hand and Ali works Forman thoroughly.The Thrilla was the best fight I have ever seen (followed by Pryor-Aguello I), and about the only one where the winner pulled up a chair in the ring to announce with heart-felt awe that his opponent was a damned great fighter.

Great post, Yuri. Let's go shoot pool again sometime soon.

Yeah, Golovkin is on a rampage, he's incredible. Murray's corner should gotten him out of that fight, he could have lasting damage from a beating like that. He was incredibly brave, if crazy to stay in there. Golovkin is the closest thing to Tyson that I've seen in regards to punching power and intimidating his opponents, if not the entire middleweight division.

Did anyone catch the Golovkin/Murray fight on Saturday? Excellent fight, and as much as I've liked Golovkin for a while now, my respect for both fighters went up after that match. Murray has heart.

There is nobody right now at 160 or lower who can beat Golovkin. At 168 I think he beats everybody but Andre Ward pretty easily. Against Ward he'd be a live underdog, not too shabby considering he'd be going up a division to fight the second best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Murray deserves massive props for hanging in there as long as he did and never giving up but those last few rounds may have ruined him as a top fighter. He also loses some points for using Whitesnake as his ring entrance music.

Another guy punched in the head for eleven rounds, put on the stretcher, diagnosed with a brain hematoma, operated, put in the coma -- now dead. And people condole and mourn and wish the best to his wife and son, but the fact is, they watched him getting beaten to death and had a jolly good time.I'm starting to believe the 'unlike the fighting dogs or corrida bulls, human fighters agree to do it' line of thought has its limits in justifying something this barbarian and dangerous. I'm sure Dadashev knew the risks, but I'm almost sure that if he knew he was gonna be another one to die young, he would simply do something else. So formally, fighters are aware of the worst possible outcome, but that does not mean they agree to get beaten to death and they're okay with it when it happens.