By now you've no doubt become familiar with the controversy surrounding Torres-Holt I, held last year in Colombia. The ring was pelted with bottles, cans and liquids, with the American challenger saying he was hit with a can during the fracas.

The refereeing was also quite bad, the environment was positively unsafe for a pro boxing affair (the event was anything but professional, honestly), and this rematch is deserved.

Torres says there was no controversy. Of course he does.

But even better than all of that is the fact that this is a good matchup, a puncher (Torres) against a boxer (Holt). Holt has a habit of running when he's not on his game, but when he's going good, he can really fight. Torres is a tough son of a gun with big power that went toe-to-toe with Miguel Cotto a few years ago in one of Cotto's best fights.

The undercard bout will see Lamont Peterson, brother of the recently-seen Anthony "Fwah!" Peterson, going up against veteran Rogelio Castaneda, Jr. Not much of a step up at all for Peterson. In fact, it is generously a step sideways. Neither has much power, so don't expect a knockout.

The show starts at 11pm from Planet Hollywood in Vegas, live on Showtime.

Quick blurb:

Felix Sturm jabbed his way to a lopsided decision over American Randy Griffin on Saturday and earned a fourth successful defense of his WBA middleweight title.

The German, whose victory comes 8 1/2 months after the two fought to a draw in October, repeatedly used his left jab from the opening seconds and won 116-113, 116-112 and 118-110.

Griffin was upset with the decision, saying he felt this fight was more a draw than their first encounter. But his own corner was telling him by the eighth rounded that he needed a knockout, so Griffin might not be, erm, right.

Sturm is now 30-2-1 (13), while Griffin falls to 24-2-3 (12).

via Patrik Stollarz/Bongarts/Getty Images

7:05 :: MASN2 :: 79° E 5 MPH :: Rain: 50%

	Today's Starting Pitchers	GS	IP	ERA	WHIP	BAA	HR	BB	K	W-L
	Scott Feldman - RH - #39	12 (14)	78.0	4.38	1.29	.251	10	27	39	2-3
	Brian Burres - LH - #56	15 (17)	86.2	5.09	1.55	.299	12	30	42	6-5

I bet today's the day that Burres starts exercising the knowledge of how to "step it up." Standing in his way is Scott Feldman, a man whose skin is touched by the sun and giving it the appearance of porcelain. Also, he has a little kid bully movie name.

Source: The Grand Rapids Press (via MLive.com)

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is having his retirement celebrated in downtown Grand Rapids, his hometown. Despite that Grand Rapids is only about an hour away, I think I'll abstain.

Floyd also, according to himself, should be a "billionaire" if all things go right. Of course, I think that's probably a ridiculous claim, or else he's a better gambler than we're aware of, but there's no doubt he's done well for himself.

Floyd should be happy. Content. He's not. He's still talking. He'll never stop.

"Even a guy like Jim Lampley, he praises Kelly Pavlik -- who has won some good fights, he beat Jermain Taylor twice, we have to give him credit for that -- but they talk about Kelly Pavlik, a white fighter, like he's the second coming Or they go crazy over Manny Pacquiao. But I'm a black fighter," Mayweather said. "Is it racial? Absolutely. They praise white fighters, they praise Hispanic fighters, whatever. But black fighters, they never praise.

"I've noticed it for a long time but I couldn't say anything because I had to do business with them. I'll still do business with them, but I'm done holding my tongue. I think HBO is great. But their announcers are full of s--t."

Whoa. Now...listen.

You know why Pavlik and Pacquiao and guys like Barrera and Morales might have gotten more praise than Floyd from the HBO broadcasters? Because their fights are exciting. Nobody on HBO ever said that Floyd wasn't a great fighter. But how many times were his fights less than pleasing to watch? It really doesn't go beyond that, but you also have to consider that Floyd didn't care if his fights were "exciting." He just wanted to win. And he did. Every time. That's great and all, but there's a WHOLE OTHER SIDE to why broadcasters and fans will praise those guys more than they do Mayweather. And it has nothing to do with race. When it's not just white or just Hispanic or just anything else, but white, Hispanic, Filipino, and "whatever" else, then maybe you should look past race is all I'm saying.

Hopkins also had boring fights. Roy Jones, meanwhile, RAN HBO in the 1990s because he was so dynamic and exciting.

"Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant, Emanuel Steward, they're always talking about the negative things in my life," Mayweather said. "But I've seen Jim Lampley in the same strip club as me before. They always want to talk about me going to strip clubs, but they don't want to talk about that.

Mayweather, the Grand Rapids native who returned home this weekend to host a holiday carnival and entertainment festival, was convicted on four counts of misdemeanor assault, and pleaded no contest to another, earlier in his career.

The convictions often proved fruitful topics for television one-liners.

"He caught a court case himself, too. But when they catch a case, all they do is take them off the air a couple weeks, then it's over."

Well, there's no doubt that Lampley would be a pot calling the kettle black at this point if he goes after anyone's court records, which I frankly can't remember him doing since that whole mess he had with the restraining order that put him on three years' probation -- and that's no coincidence.

Also, there are a lot worse records outside of boxing within boxing than that of Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

He said HBO should return to a format in which a prominent former boxer serves as an analyst. Sugar Ray Leonard, George Foreman, Lennox Lewis, Roy Jones and Kevin Kelley are among the former champions who have served on the network's telecasts in years past.

 

"There aren't any fighters commentating on boxing, that's the problem," Mayweather said. "They need to go to gyms, really learn what they're talking about. I'm not going to comment on stuff I don't know."

This is a prevailing thought among a lot of athletes in every sport, but the truth is that most athletes-turned-broadcaster stink at the job and provide little-to-no insight. Lennox Lewis compared Andre Dirrell's jog-and-jab stinker performance last year to Muhammad Ali, which was one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. Foreman served no real great purpose outside of arguing with Larry Merchant. Jones was good.

Does Floyd really think that Emmanuel Steward has a problem understanding boxing? I mean, come on.

Source: Dan Rafael's must-read weekend notebook

Will HBO go back-to-back with Saturday pay-per-views in September? Dan Rafael says that even though the network isn't keen on the idea, that just might be the case.

With September 13 housing the Casamayor-Marquez showdown that almost nobody would really think to throw on pay-per-view, we're now looking at another 40-50 bones on our cable or satellite bills the following week, because Roy Jones, Jr., and Joe Calzaghe are insisting on fighting September 20th.

According to Rafael, the light heavyweights want to stay as far away from Hatton-Malignaggi as possible. That junior welterweight championship bout will take place on either November 15 or the following Saturday, with most reports being November 22. The Calzaghe-Jones organizers (Calzaghe and Jones, essentially) don't want to pile on to UK PPV buyers.

What about US PPV buyers? Back-to-back 50 dollar Saturdays? Give us a break.

The HBO feeling is that the shows are directed at different audiences. They're not. They're directed at the boxing audience. The Casa-JMM show will have a higher latino demographic buying, I'd guess, but who is the Calzaghe-Jones show aimed at in America? Jones' fans from way back? Most of them don't actively follow the sport anymore. Roy wasn't exactly pulling in big bucks for those PPVs with Prince Badi Ajamu and Anthony Hanshaw.

And I know this might sound like hatred if you don't read it correctly, so read it correctly. In the mind of most casual American fans -- that's the Roy Jones demographic, really -- Joe Calzaghe is a lot closer to Ajamu or Hanshaw than he is Felix Trinidad. Yes, Jones-Tito sold well. Those are two of the biggest stars of the 90s/early 2000s, carried by the insane Puerto Rican allegiance to Tito, the fact that it was Tito's comeback, and I really don't think Jones was higher than third on the totem pole of reasons that fight sold well.

Calzaghe is not a ratings-grabber in the States. Calzaghe-Kessler did awful ratings and Hopkins-Calzaghe generated buzz only among those of us that really cared in the first place -- though Hopkins has never been a great draw himself.

Can Calzaghe-Jones sell on PPV in the States? We'll see, but I get the feeling that everyone involved is going to come away disappointed on the business side.

There are shows I do not mind paying for. Pavlik-Taylor II was one of them, Pacquiao-Marquez II was one of them, Barrera-Marquez was one, Floyd-Hatton and Floyd-Oscar (even though not great fights, they were great events) were another couple, Cotto-Mosley was one, even Pacquiao-Barrera II, which wound up being a real letdown.

And while the "gotta buy it" PPV schedule this year has been pretty manageable for your budget (Jones-Tito, Pavlik-Taylor, Marquez-Pacquiao, Diaz-Pacquiao), we're now starting to see where it's all going.

Cotto-Margarito, Casamayor-Marquez, Calzaghe-Jones, Oscar's December fight, Pacquiao-Valero -- these fights are all coming. That's roughly $250. And that's assuming you don't pick up a Latin Fury card or anything, or that your PPV buck doesn't occasionally head over to a UFC card or even a WWE show.

So, yeah, I hate the decision. I also hate it because I wish there was some real thought put into whether or not a particular fight needs to be a PPV headliner, because I don't think either of these two fights really fit the bill. Of course, I'm one of the mooks that will dish out $100 in September to see these cards, so the joke's more on me than those that pick one, the other, or neihter.

UP YOURS!!!

Bynum with three RBIs, Fahey and Jones with two each, another good start from Guts though his QS was given away by Ryan Bukvich (who needs a ticket to Norfolk post-haste), and everyone except Melvin Mora gets a hit.

Happy 4th, everyone!

4:35 :: MASN :: 85° NW 6 MPH :: Rain: 50%

	Today's Starting Pitchers	GS	IP	ERA	WHIP	BAA	HR	BB	K	W-L
	Vicente Padilla - RH - #44	17	104.2	4.13	1.39	.261	19	40	71	10-4
	Jeremy Guthrie - RH - #46	18	115.2	3.50	1.20	.239	15	34	74	4-7

Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world, and you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. "Mankind" -- that word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests.

Perhaps it's fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom. Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution. But from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist.

And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared, in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight!" We're going to live on! We're going to survive!

Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!

IN THE WORDS OF MY GENERATION...

UP YOURS!!!

	Rangers	AB	AVG	OBP	HR	RBI
1	Ian Kinsler - 2B	353	.323	.381	13	50
2	Michael Young - SS	347	.288	.339	7	45
3	Josh Hamilton - CF	334	.308	.364	19	82
4	Milton Bradley - RF	247	.320	.437	17	51
5	David Murphy - LF	319	.266	.306	10	52
6	Frank Catalanotto - DH	172	.291	.368	2	10
7	Chris Davis - 1B	19	.316	.381	3	7
8	Jarrod Saltalamacchia - C	125	.216	.333	3	17
9	Ramon Vazquez - 3B	188	.314	.380	5	28

	O's	AB	AVG	OBP	HR	RBI
1	Freddie Bynum - SS	99	.192	.238	0	5
2	Nick Markakis - RF	319	.288	.390	12	41
3	Aubrey Huff - DH	315	.283	.349	17	52
4	Ramon Hernandez - C	242	.252	.295	7	32
5	Luke Scott - LF	247	.271	.348	14	33
6	Melvin Mora - 3B	298	.228	.296	10	40
7	Kevin Millar - 1B	292	.236	.335	11	44
8	Adam Jones - CF	297	.276	.317	4	33
9	Brandon Fahey - 2B	38	.211	.231	0	4

via www.baltimoresun.com

Aubrey Huff has had a fine first half of 2008 for us, in my mind erasing an erratic and pretty lame 2007 and his offseason motormouthing exploits.

Seems like all of us have turned around on Huff, who has shut up this season and done nothing but play as well as could possibly be expected.

So have we officially, totally forgiven Aubrey Huff? Is it water under the bridge? Is it safe to say, "I'm an Aubrey Huff fan"?

Team Ruiz press release:

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (July 3, 2008) – The World Boxing Association ruled today at its Directory Meeting that WBA heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev will be considered “champion in recess” due to an injury and that he has until June 26, 2009 to fight for the title.
 
Negotiations have started between representatives of the WBA’s top two rated heavyweights, ex-WBA champion Nikolai Valuev and former two-time WBA title-holder John “The Quietman” Ruiz  (43-7-1, 29 KOs), respectively, to fight for the WBA “regular” heavyweight championship belt. The Valuev-Ruiz will be obliged to fight Chagaev by June 26, 2009.
 
“We’re happy to get an opportunity to fight for the WBA title again,” Ruiz said from Argentina.
 
The Puerto Rican-American Ruiz, living in Las Vegas, is the first and only Latino heavyweight champion of the world. He has fought in 10 world championship fights, defeating three world heavyweight champions -- Evander Holyfield, Hasim Rahman and Tony Tucker – in addition to beating top contenders such as Andrew Golota, Fres Oquendo, Kirk Johnson and Jameel McCline during his 15-year pro career.

I cannot help but at least smile at the idea of Fres Oquendo, Kirk Johnson and Jameel McCline as "top contenders," though I guess at the time Ruiz fought them they were.

So who's pumped for this mega rematch? Valuev beat Ruiz via majority decision in 2005 to capture the WBA's title in a fight that no one could possibly call any less than "compelling" or "jaw-dropping."*

One viewer remarked, "It was an adrenaline-fueled thrill ride from start to finish."**

* Qualifying viewers must have never escaped an empty basement in their entire lives.

** And I make another joke.