TalkingBoxing Articles
Apology to Brian Kenny
MON February 20, BUSTER PARIS -
Let me get this out of the way first and then let me explain - I want to say directly to Brian Kenny – I’m sorry. I was absolutely wrong in my assessment of you and for jumping to conclusions – and for that I am sorry.
I was wrong about a couple of things I said in last weeks article titled - Mayweather: Time For Some Respect – and I judged way too soon without all the information.
As a writer I should know better, hell, as a human being I should have known better and it’s bothered me all week.
All the chatter out there about Brian Kenny vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. (February 10 - ESPN Friday Night Fights) has been everywhere. The aftermath of support for Brian has been amazing and no matter where you turn you’re assaulted with “way to go Brian” and “Kenny was right! – he took Floyd to school”.
Even the conversations in chat rooms and with my fellow writers of TalkingBoxing.com has turned into political debate about the validity of all the alphabet groups that govern boxing and there’s a feeling of revolution in the air with Ring Magazine’s rating system wearing the beret of Che Guevara.
All the unwavering support and cheers for Brian Kenny are like my own private Tell-Tale Heart. There’s been no escaping it – the thumping beat of kudos and agreement are everywhere boxing junkies like me go and I’m unable to move on to other subjects until I answer for this.
For this week – I had a couple of great ideas for an article. My goal was to write about the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Carlos Molina fight on Saturday February 18th – great fight, Julio looked really good and Molina has a great future ahead of him if he gets some help and support…
Thump thump – thump thump.
I also considered writing about Antonio Margarito vs. Manuel Gomez. Margarito needed to make a very big statement and boy did he come up huge. The fact is punctuated with 1st round KO - Margarito can longer be ignored. He is a force to be reckoned with in the Welterweight division…
Thump thump – thump thump.
Two great stories - these fights and the things that surround them and that came out of them are the things writers dream about.
Thump thump – thump thump.
Stupid conscious.
Thump thump – thump thump.
Let’s look at where I was wrong:
“They [ESPN] showed a clip of an interview where an aggressive and disrespectful Brian Kenny is all over Floyd regarding his upcoming April 8th bout against “Super” (cough) Zab Judah - and like everyone else has been doing Kenny attacked the validity of the fight.”
Brian wasn’t aggressive. He was actual pretty even keeled, genuinely interested and somewhat cheerful.
Brian wasn’t disrespectful either. He was challenging Floyd on the merits of the upcoming April 8th bout – not attacking it and not attacking Floyd.
I originally thought that Kenny was coming from a smarmy place – that ‘I’m smarter and better than you – you silly boxer’, but he wasn’t coming from there at all. He was an interviewer interviewing an athlete – and, truth be told, doing a great job of it.
Again – let me say directly to Brian Kenny - I’m sorry. My assessment of events and of you were completely wrong and I stupidly jumped to false conclusions.
If you haven’t seen the interview - you can go to ESPN.com, check out the interview and judge for yourself.
All that being said there are two points that I am sticking by – the first point is that I think Mayweather vs. Judah is something special. I think it has the potential to be one of the best fights of 2006 and it’s one of those boxing “what if’s” that needs to be answered. It’s going to be a great fight and will be the biggest challenge faced (to date) by both of these fighters – and I hope this issue of “title fight” doesn’t muddy up the beauty of what is going to happen on April 8th.
The second point:
“…You may not like the alphabet represented, but this one’s for the IBF Welterweight Championship. So technically – it is for a title, but…”
I do stand by the factual point here - this technically is a title fight.
Is it to be taken seriously?
That’s the $64,000 question and once again has forced into light the sordid issues of boxing organizations, ratings, titles and championships.
This debate is nothing new as it has gone on for years in boxing, builds steam and then loses it’s momentum, but there’s something unique this time around - there’s something different.
The Ring Magazine’s ranking system is far more respected now than in years past and there’s a clamoring and developing culture out there for it to be the only true ranking vehicle.
Also there’s a battle cry now - a saying that is morphing into a movement and has been growing like a giant shadow across boxing’s landscape – or has been blowing as the sweet winds of change – all depends on what side you’re on.
The rallying cry of:
“Who beat Kostya Tszyu? - Who beat Kostya Tszyu?”
2006 is already shaping up to be a great year in and for boxing. It’s going to be interesting to see if this revolution takes root and takes hold.
Maybe Hatton vs. Mayweather will be boxing’s version of Woodstock.
Buster Paris can be reached at: bparis@talkingboxing.com - and always enjoys receiving your thoughts, comments and questions
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