Louis' greatest opponent was the IRS.  As a result of poor
management and governmental idiocy, Louis was deeply in debt, so much so
that he was on a treadmill--the more he fought the more he earned, the
more he earned, the more he owed.

        Louis fought two matches during WWII in which he donated all his
proceeds to the war effort.  The checks were made out to him, whereupon
he signed them over to the government.  The IRS insisted that since the
checks were made out to him, he owed income tax on them.

        Joe Louis reached bottom when he was touring on the pro wrestling
circuit.  While there, he received an injury that would later wreak havoc
on his heart.

        Louis' last wife (a lawyer, I believe) finally told the
government to kiss her ass in such a way that the champ was able to live
his final days without that spectre hanging over him.  

(Provided, of course, he is a King fighter...)

I really enjoyed to see the match between WBO super featherweight champion  
Regilio Tuur from the netherlands and german/canadian Tony Pep.

beeing usually not a fan of figths in very light weightclasses, I now  
understood once more that many of you prefer them (Melanie, you read this?  
;-))

it was a fine, very entertaining and nice to watch fight between two quick  
and technical enabled fighters, with the champ being about half a head  
shorter than the challenger. both impressed me with their footwork and  
their quickness. first of all Tony, although he clearly lost - also  
because of the fact, that he got a problem with his right hand after the  
4th round. I name him "jumping-left-jab-Tony" because of his speciality,  
I've never seen by any boxer before. he has a great speedy and accurate  
jab and sometimes, after he through it a few times, dancing to his left  
side, he jumps with both feeds from the floor and throws one jab in a  
"flying position". very unorthodox and very beautifull.

while Tuur was dominating in the first rounds, he lost his condition when  
the fight got into the second part of the 12 rounds. I'm sure, that Tony  
could have won the fight by making more pressure in the last 5 rounds, but  
obviously his right hand was hurting too much to use it. so he throw  
combinations of more than 4 left hands in continue (left jab, left hook,  
left uppercut, left bodyshot). but of course it wasn't enough to hold the  
champ back.

a clear point decision for Regilio was the result.

I really would like to see Tony (who is with 1,80 Meter - 6 feet - one of  
the biggest superfeatherweights in the history) with two healthy hands in  
another title fight against one of the other 3 superfeatherweight  
champions.

Fab.

It was an incredible comeback, but was only made so because Kelley just doesn't
have it anymore. By the end of the fight, he had been dropped once, slipped
once, and had his nose smashed all over his face.

In short, Kevin please retire before it is permanent next time.

Kevin Kelley came back from the very edge of disaster to KO
much-better-than-
expected opponent Ricardo Rivera in 9 rounds tonight...but 1st some other
results...

Hector Camacho W10 Verdell Smith, Welters

Jr. Middle Aaron Davis won a bout against no one of significance recently

Tracy Harris Patterson KO3 Jose Luis Madrid (not sure of the weight class,
as
Patterson last competed as a Featherweight and Madrid was last seen KOing
Jaime
Garza at Lightweight)...

Also, in the 1st fight of the PPV card tonight, Marco Antonio Barrera was
having his
way w/Daniel Jimenez, really brutalizing him. Barrera was butted and
bleeding, but
appeared on his way to a big win...

Back to the Kelley fight on ESPN tonight...Kelley was interviewed
beforehand and
he displayed a good attitude about the loss he experienced against
Alejandro
Gonzalez in Jan. Rivera, 12-2-1 (4) had never faced any world class comp
and didn't
figure to be much of athreat to Kelley. He had also been off for 6 months.
Round 1
began much as expected w/Kelley on the attack, and the much taller Rivera
on a
bike. The Opponent quickly showed that he had good skills, though, and
landed his
right w/frequency. But Kelley looked too experienced for him, luring him in
and
firing off flurries. It looked as if Rivera would be taken to school on
this night. An
odd side note is that Rivera's people said they didn't prepare for a
southpaw, that
they figured no matter what Kelley brought to the match, they could counter
it.
Kelley took the 1st round 10-9, but Rivera showed that his height was
allowing him
to punch down w/maximum leverage and he showed no ring rust after the long
lay-
off...

Round 2 began like the former, but Kelley was taking quite a few shots. He
responded every time, until he took a right flush on the nose and he was
down.
Kelley got up and looked to be hurt, but he effectively crowded Rivera and
dodged
further punishment.  Rivera's round, 10-8. At rounds end his right eye was
already
swelling. I knew when he went down that his fight plan should have been
less
brawling and more jabbing and moving. Also, between rounds it seemed to me
that
he talks too much in the corner. When he should be listening to advice, it
seemed
like a debate was going on in the corner. Not that he was arguing w/his
trainer, but
just too much jabbering on his part. Take a cue from Marvin Hagler, Kevin
-- The
Marvelous One never said a word in the corner, and always went out and
perfectly
executed what he was told to do...

In round 3 commentater Dave Bontempo made an astute comment: "Kelley needs
to jab his way in, not lunge. He's only looking to land power shots." When
Kelley
would lunge in, Rivera was tying him up on the inside. Kelley was also
headhunting, when he should have been mixing up his attack to include
bodywork
on his taller, lanky opponent. Rivera was landing still, but Kelley was
actually
landing more, and mostly power shots (Rivera had a tremendous chin). Rivera

landed a big shot that wobbled at the end, but it wasn't enough to take the
round.
Kelley, 10-9...

The 4th featured Kelley's usual porous defense. He really seemed off a step
tonight,
though he was more effective than announcers Bontempo and Al Bernstein were

saying. Rivera landed the more effective shots this round and took it
10-9...

Round 5 began w/blood steaming out of Kelley's nose. He elected to box this
round,
but he found Rivera too be even more effective w/his huge height and reach
advantages. Kelley must have been incredibly frustrated because nothing was

working. When he landed, he took punishment for it and this guy had a great
chin
as well. He looked at his corner and at the announcers w/that look of
hopelessness.
What he needed to do was move to his right -- he kept standing in front of
Rivera's
right hand that was doing so much damage. Also, I think Kelley squares up
too
much, making him almost look like he's fighting right-handed at times --
but what
he's doing is providing a bigger target. He was effective at the end of the
round,
turning up the heat and landing some good shots, but it wasn't enough.
Rivera, 10-
9...

Kelley was hurt almost immediately in the 6th as a ressult of, what else, a
right and
was on the ropes. He was reeling across the ring and the ref issued a
standing 8.
Blood poured out of his obviously broken nose and he was in great pain. It
looked
like it could be over and Bernstein said, "I don't expect this to last much
longer."
Memories of the Gonzalez fight...At the end of the count, it was evident he
was hurt
but he fought back. With Rivera coming on and landing more shots, the ref
was
looking closely and the end appeared very near. But Kelley came on in the
last
minute, pouring it on and hitting Rivera repeatedly w/clean shots. He
dominated
the last minute so thoroughly that I closed Rivera's score to 10-9. What an
amazing
comeback...

Between rounds, Kelley's trainer told him to "kill him w/ every punch" and
that's
what Kelley tried to do, taking it to Rivera from the bell. Blood was all
over the
place, but to Kelley's good fortune, Rivera appeared tired. Kelley really
attacked like a
man crazed and hurt Rivera, landing loads of clean shots w/no response. He
was
dominating, landing 54 shots to Rivera's 8 (he threw only 27). This was an
AMAZING comeback and the one-sidedness of the round made it 10-8 Kelley...

The 8th featured a rested Rivera trading w/Kelley and forcing him to the
ropes.
Kelley fought the 1st 2 minutes of the round w/his back to the ropes, but
he
continually exploded w/flurries. Unfortunately for him, Rivera was landing
w/
power shots, and causing Kelley's left eye to swell. In the last minute,
though, Kelley
came on and landed clean punches to a now-tired Rivera. He landed w/hard
punch
after hard punch and stole the round, 10-9...

The 9th began w/Kelley showing that he is all heart. He came blasting out
of his
corner and soon landed a flush left that put Rivera down. He rose at 9, but
the ref
called it. A SPECTACULAR FIGHT. Bernstein called it the most amazing
comeback
he'd seen on ESPN in his 15 years there.

Some post-fight notes...

After 9 back-and-forth rounds, I had it even at 75-75...

Rivera looked GREAT, and I think exhaustion played as much in his KO as the

straight left Kelley nailed him w/. I hope he gets back in the ring against
a good
opponent soon and doesn't disappear on us. He's only 20, and w/his skills,
he could
win a title...

The ref was covered in blood at the end. Kelley finished w/a broken nose
and 2
swollen eyes...

My thought at the end was that he needs to take some time to fully recover
and rest
and heal. At the end, he said that he should not have fought so soon after
the
Gonzalez fight. He also said that he fought a bad fight as far as strategy
goes...again.
I'd concur, and I give him the benefit of the doubt, but once more and I'll
start
calling him the Tommy Morrison of the 126 pounders...

A GREAT fight. Man, Kelley has been in more exciting fights than anyone
else I can
think of. Hopefully he'll get all healed up and return to the spotlight
soon...

...But doesn't this belong on alt.desperate-male or somewhere?

;)