Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Guys You Can Root For

I've always had a hell of a lot of respect for Miguel Cotto. He shows up in shape, fights hard and is a tremendous boxer. In the ring, he's everything you want a boxer to be. Skills, power, speed and heart.

Out of the ring, he's fairly guarded. It's tough to get a sense of his personality. However, he used to train at a gym owned by a family member of mine who reported that Cotto and his entire camp were very professional and a pleasure to be around.

Yuri Foreman, as you know, has a great story. I was rooting for him against Cotto, because of that story and also due to sharing the same ethnicity. Let's face it. Jewish boxing fans don't get to root for one of our own very often.

Foreman was taken to school. Cotto was brilliant. But how can you not have become a Yuri Foreman fan after that fight? When he went down with the knee injury the first time, he could easily have quit and no one would have thought any less of him. He wears a knee brace and everyone saw him blow out his knee. If he doesn't have movement, he doesn't have his best weapon. Foreman would have been better off breaking a hand than tearing his meniscus.

He had several opportunities to shut it down, yet he continued to fight despite being way behind. Would Floyd Mayweather have done the same thing? Vitali Klitschko? Well, we know the answer to that one.

Foreman was as brave as any fighter I've seen recently. I can't wait to see him again.

Speaking of guys easy to root for, this week we've got two of them on the show. Andre Ward is as good a guy as you'll find in boxing. And he can fight too. Hasim Rahman was the ultimate Cinderalla story a few years ago. He's got a great personality and I'm looking forward to having him back on the show. Unless of course, some other radio show gives him a suit case full of cash to do their show instead.

Talk to you Thursday night.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

The Spinks Jinx

Cory Spinks is truly jinxed. The poor guy has now gone through two training camps, lost a ton of weight, prepared for a 12 round fight at his own expense, only to have the fight scrapped the week before because the promoter couldn't get it done.

I know Cory isn't the most popular fighter in the world, but the kid can flat out box. And he should be allowed to fight and defend his title.

We'll talk to him on Through the Ropes this week to discuss his situation. I'm sure he'll have some choice words. I hope my producer has his finger on the drop button. We'll also have some fun with Fightnews' managing editor Flattop.

Tune in Thursday night at 9 p.m. ET.