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The fighter had just won a WBO flyweight title bout. From AP-
SEOUL, South Korea - A South Korean boxer who lost consciousness after winning his WBO intercontinental flyweight bout was in a coma with a brain injury.
Choi Yoi-sam was rushed to a hospital shortly after Tuesday’s fight against Indonesian challenger Heri Amol. The 33-year-old South Korean was knocked down in the final round of the 12-round fight, but it was not known whether that caused him to pass out.
“Choi’s condition is very bad. He is in a coma,” Lee Mi-jong, a spokesman at Soonchunhyang University Hospital in Seoul, said Wednesday.
The boxer had surgery Tuesday to stop the swelling of his brain, he said.
“Even if he survives, it’ll be difficult for him to continue his boxing career,” Lee said.
It is just a little 25 years since the famous Ray Mancini-Duk Koo Kim title bout. Like Choi, Kim was South Korean. Duk Koo Kim died five days after his match with Mancini, from head injuries suffered during that fight. Lets pray Choi doesn’t meet a similar fate.
It was for actions the flyweight boxer took in a title fight last week.
TOKYO - Japan’s boxing commission on Monday suspended Daiki Kameda for one year after the 18-year-old breached regulations during his defeat to champion Daisuke Naito in a WBC flyweight title match.
Kameda repeatedly grabbed Naito in Thursday’s bout, lifting the champion up and throwing him to the canvas in a scene that resembled a wrestling match.
“He has lost the trust of fans,” said JBC director Shinichi Saito.
Kameda’s father and trainer Shiro, who was working the corner during the bout, was hit with an indefinite suspension from the ring, the JBC said.
Naito was in control throughout the match and successfully defended his title on a unanimous decision after Kameda had three points deducted for violations that included lifting the champion and throwing him down in the 12th round.
What Kameda did was inexcusible, and he deserved a suspension. A year may seem harsh, but I don’t know enough of the boxer’s background or seen the incident in question. The Kamedas have been involved in other incidents, there is also this video of a knockout that looks a little fishy. The fighter on the deck smiling afterwards.
Boxing has had a long history of colorful characters and alleged fight fixing. The little glimpses of boxing I’ve seen of late, make it resemble pro wrestling to me. I don’t think that’s good for the sport or that big title fights today are available mostly through pay per view.(The PPV match I recently paid for cost over $70 to watch when tax and added charges were all added up) The sheer brutality of the sport probably creates enough of a fan base to survive financially, its those with who aren’t die hard fans that will lose interest and eventually stop watching.
Hat tip- Japundit who notes that Kameda’s popularity is as strong as ever in Japan.
This was the first boxing match I watched in over ten years.
LAS VEGAS (AFP) - Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao continued his mastery over Marc Antonio Barrera Saturday with unanimous 12-round decision in their super featherweight fight.
It was a rematch of their 2003 bout which was also won by Pacquiao who dominated Barrera with superior hand speed and harder punches.
All three judges gave the decision to Pacquiao by a wide margin with Glenn Trowbridge scoring it 118-109.
The 28-year-old Pacquiao (45-3-2, 35 KOs) was the more aggressive of the two trading blows with the underdog Barrera in the centre of the ring and often beating the 33-year-old Mexican veteran to the punch at the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino.
Barrera, who plans to retire after the bout, tried to engineer a tactical fight but looked slower and more awkward. But unlike 2003 when his corner threw in the towel, this time Barrera hung on to remain standing at the end of the final round.
Barrera did nothing to impress the judges. He fought a tactical fight, but appeared scared or wary of Pacquiao who battered him four years earlier.
How did I come about watching a fight for the first time in many years? It was all due to my Philippine born wife. Leonita was talking to her family last night and they told her about the fight. So we ordered Pay-per-view.
Talking about Pay-per-view and DirectTV. We get high definition as part of our satellite package. If we wanted to see the bout in HD, Directv wanted 10 daoolars more than the $49.95 regular price. In addition, Directv wanted $5 for letting us view the bout on all the televisions in our house. That was unless we ordered it off the internet.
All of this makes me pretty reluctant to order any further bouts in the future. I used to follow boxing, but as the sport concentrated more and more on first cable(Anyone besides me remember watching Muhammad Ali fight in prime-time on Network television in the 70’s?) and eventually Pay-per-view my interest in boxing waned and then disappeared entirely. Other than Pacquaio I couldn’t name one WBA, WBC or IBF title holder at the moment. While Pay-per-view may be more lucrative, I think it could in the end kill interest in the sport. That’s just my humble opinion.
Guillermo Rigondeaux and Erislandy Lara were in Brazil for the recent Pan American games. From the Nuevo Herald-
Guillermo Rigondeaux and Erislandy Lara, who went to Brazil for the recently completed Pan American Games, were being held by police in a hotel in Rio de Janeiro. News reports say the Brazilian government plans to return them to Cuba.
Their failure to turn up for weigh-ins during the Pan American games last month shook the amateur boxing world because of their star status. The bantan-weight Rigondeaux, 26, was Olympic champion in 2000 and 2004, and Lara, 24, was a promising welterweight.
An article in the Brazilian daily O Globo said the two boxers claimed to have been duped by German-Turkish promoter Ahmet Oner and his aides, who — the boxers said — drugged them and removed them from the Pan American Village.
But just days after the boxers disappeared, Oner stated publicly that he had signed the pair for five years and was keeping them in a protected place. Oner, who heads Arena Box Promotions, added that he had spent about $500,000 to assist in the Cubans’ escape.
*****
Cuban boxing trainer Roberto Quesada, who coaches Gamboa, said the Cuban boxing careers of Rigondeaux and Lara are ruined.
”I very much doubt that they’ll ever climb in a ring again if they return to Cuba,” he said.
*****
Rigondeaux and Lara were found in a hotel in a resort town close to Rio de Janeiro. According to Brazilian media reports, they had been celebrating and had run up a large bill.
The reports added that both fighters expressed remorse to the authorities at the time of their detention and said they were willing to return to Cuba, apparently hoping they could resume their sports careers.
The same article said Rigondeaux has a wife back in Cuba. Both boxers probably have left family behind who are almost certain to suffer reprisals. Rigondeaux and Lara’s return to Cuba is almost certain not to change anything if past history has taught us anything. Defectors have often been killed and or tortured if they changed their minds and came home.
Sadly a few last vestiges of the Cold War live on. Even after Fidel Castro’s death, I don’t expect any immediate change in Cuba.
Former boxing great Hector “Macho” Camacho has been given a suspended sentence after a burglary conviction.
 Hector “Macho” Camacho was sentenced to the maximum seven years in prison Monday for burglary, but the eight-time world champion could avoid spending time in a cell.
Harrison County Circuit Judge Steve Simpson suspended six years of the sentence and said Camacho could serve one year under house arrest if authorities in Puerto Rico agree to monitor him. That would be followed by two years’ probation. The deal would allow the 44-year-old Camacho to continue working. But if he violates any of the conditions set at sentencing, he would have to serve the entire seven years.
“I am deeply sorry,” Camacho said to the judge and offered apologies to boxing fans and the people of Mississippi, according to story posted on The Sun Herald’s Web site.
Camacho was a premier fighter during the last days when boxing was a sport with mass appeal. It’s a shame he has fallen so low.
Former lightweight boxing champ Diego “Chico” Corrales has been killed in a motorcycle accident.
 Diego “Chico” Corrales, who won titles in two weight classes and was involved in one of the most memorable fights in recent times, died Monday in a motorcycle accident, his promoter said. He was 29.
Gary Shaw said Corrales was driving his motorcycle at a high rate of speed when he ran into the back of a car about 10 miles west of the Las Vegas Strip on Monday night. “He’s laying there as we speak with a helmet on his head under a sheet,” Shaw said. “It appears he was thrown a great distance.”
Shaw said Corrales, whose career had faltered in recent fights, had recently bought a racing motorcycle, which he was apparently riding at the time he was killed. “He fought recklessly and he lived recklessly,” Shaw said. “That was his style.”
Las Vegas police spokesman Jose Montoya said the victim in the accident was wearing a helmet, and it was not known if drugs or alcohol was involved. “No tests have been done. We’re still investigating,” Montoya said.
The lanky Corrales, who stood 5-10 1/2 but fought most of his career at 130 pounds, was a big puncher best known for getting up after two 10th-round knockdowns to stop Jose Luis Castillo in one of the most thrilling fights ever. The fight took place May 7, 2005, exactly two years from the night he died. It was named by the Boxing Writers Association of America and numerous boxing publications as the fight of the year.
Corrales, though, was knocked out by Castillo in the rematch and lost a big payday when he failed to make weight for his next fight. He lost his last three fights, including his last fight on April 7 against Joshua Clottey in Springfield, Mo. He had moved up two weight divisions to welterweight for that fight, but dropped a decision.
Sad news.
According to the Los Angeles Times (via Orlando Sentinel):
HBO boxing announcer Jim Lampley was arrested late Wednesday afternoon by San Diego County sheriff’s deputies on suspicion of domestic violence and other counts, authorities said.
A brief news release from the Sheriff’s Department indicated that Lampley, 57, also was being held on suspicion of violating a restraining order and dissuading a witness.
Update: The accuser says Lampley was drunk, high and violent. Lampley says he is innocent.
For the last two years at my regular blog, I’ve made predictions for the coming year. I thought I would do that here but concentrating on sports only.
Here we go-
1- The Miami Dolphins have a losing season
2- The Florida Marlins have a winning season
3- Tiger Woods wins at least one major on the way to being Player of the Year again.
4- Ernie Els returns to form.
5- Se Ri Pak completes the women’s Grand Slam by taking the Kraft Nabisco
6- Bobby Bowden retires.
7- Roger Clemens retires but this time for good.
8- Charges are totally dropped in the Duke Lacrosse case.
9- Nick Saban leaves the Miami Dolphins to be the head coach at Alabama.
10- The Miami Heat and Florida Panthers both miss the 06-07 season playoffs.
11- Chicago defeats New England in the Super Bowl.
12- Michelle Wie wins an LPGA tournament.
13- Mike Tyson gets arrested.
14- 2007 is Joe Torre’s last season as manager of the Yankees.
15- Bill Cowher quits coaching the Pittsburgh Steelers
16- The Buffalo Sabres win the Stanley Cup
17- Bill Parcells, Marty Schottenheimer and Joe Gibbs all retire or are fired from their present coaching jobs.
18- Bret Favre retires.
19- The Chicago White Sox win the World Series
20- More than half the above predictions are wrong.
We’ll check back at the end of 2007 and see how I did.
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PoliBlog’s Deportes: A PoliBlog Sideblog linked with 2007 Sports Predictions: Crystal Ball Time
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2007 LPGA Season begins today linked with OTB Sports
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PoliBlog’s Deportes: A PoliBlog Sideblog linked with 2007 LPGA Golf season opens today
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PoliBlog’s Deportes: A PoliBlog Sideblog linked with Dwyane Wade out indefinitely with shoulder injury
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Carmelo Anthony heads the list of NBA players suspended after Saturday night’s melee at Madison Square Garden.
The Denver Nuggets were the bigger losers Monday after the NBA handed out penalties in the fight that broke out near the end of Saturday night’s game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Denver’s Carmelo Anthony, the NBA’s leading scorer, was suspended 15 games for sucker-punching the Knicks’ Mardy Collins. Denver teammate J.R. Smith and New York’s Nate Robinson also received stiff penalties from the league — 10-game suspensions.
“It is our obligation to take the strongest possible steps to avoid such failures in the future and to make a statement to all who follow the game of basketball that we understand our obligations and take them seriously,” NBA commissioner David Stern said in a statement.
But there was no separate penalty for Knicks coach Isiah Thomas, who had warned Anthony not to go into the lane before the mayhem started Saturday night. There was speculation Thomas would be penalized for his comments to Anthony. Stern acknowledged hearing about it, but said he relied only on “definitive information” when handing out punishments.
The NBA, still trying to repair its image after the brawl between Indiana Pacers players and Detroit Pistons fans two years ago, also fined the Nuggets and Knicks $500,000 apiece. Stern said the fines to the organizations are meant to show he is serious about cleaning up the game. “It’s a more general message that I’m going to start holding our teams accountable,” Stern said.
Collins, whose hard foul of Smith was the flashpoint for the fight, was suspended for six games. Knicks forward Jared Jeffries was suspended for four games, and New York’s Jerome James and Denver’s Nene were hit with one-game penalties for leaving their respective benches during an on-court altercation.
Thomas had a discussion with Anthony about 20 seconds before Collins delivered an arms-around-the-neck foul on Smith on a breakaway basket. Though Thomas acknowledged telling Anthony not to go into the paint, he said he meant it not as a threat but as a lecture on sportsmanship.
“I don’t regret fouling him as hard as I did, I just regret that the whole thing escalated the way it did,” Collins said Monday. “I was out there competing and I didn’t want the guy to get a layup and I was basically trying to stop him from going in the air. That’s why I fouled him that hard, so he wouldn’t get hurt.”
After the game, which Denver won 123-100, Thomas and Knicks players were angry that the Nuggets had four starters on the floor with 1:15 to play. And while Thomas wouldn’t say if Denver coach George Karl was trying to embarrass the Knicks, he again stressed that starters shouldn’t have been in the game. “I can’t speak for him, but he put his players in a tough position,” Thomas said. “I think he put his players in a very bad position.”
All 10 players on the floor were ejected after the brawl.
Frankly, while the $500,000 fines are substantial, the League has fired Mark Cuban more than that for things far less detrimental to the game’s image. And a six game suspension for a cheap shot that could have seriously injured another player is light, indeed.
Trevor Berbick was murdered Saturday.
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Former heavyweight champion Trevor Berbick was found dead in a church courtyard Saturday with chop wounds to his head in a suspected homicide.
 Berbick, who was believed to be 52 and was beset by legal problems after his retirement from the ring, lost his heavyweight title to Mike Tyson and was the last boxer to fight Muhammad Ali.
Berbick’s body was discovered about 6:30 a.m. in his hometown parish of Portland, constable Beverly Howell said. He was pronounced dead by a local doctor in the courtyard. Police are treating Berbick’s death as a homicide, Inspector Victor Henry said. Police had no word on what kind of weapon was used or how many people were involved in Berbick’s death, Howell said.
After beating Ali in 1981 in a unanimous decision in the Bahamas, Berbick went on to win the WBC heavyweight title four years later in a decision over Pinklon Thomas. His reign was short, however, as a 20-year-old Tyson knocked Berbick out in the second round of their bout on Nov. 22, 1986, to become the youngest heavyweight champion in history.
A shame. As noted in “Pulp Fiction,” there’s no old-timers’ game in boxing. Once they’re done with you, they’re done, unless you’ve got the charisma of a Muhammad Ali or George Foreman.
From Reuters-
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Panamanian Celestino Caballero stripped naked on Tuesday to avoid missing out on a shot at the world title.
Caballero stunned reporters by removing his underwear at the weigh-in for his WBA super bantamweight fight with champion Somsak Sithchatchawal of Thailand.
The challenger’s bold move paid off when he safely made the weight limit of 55.3-kg (122 pounds) for Wednesday’s fight.
Thai media reports said last week that the 30-year-old Caballero was struggling to shed weight and had considered calling the fight off.
I’m sure the boxing officials could have done without Caballero’s show and tell. Still I agree with Caballero’s actions, why should a boxer’s clothing count towards his weight.
A new trend for boxing weigh-ins may have begun.
My how a sports great has fallen:
Some crowded around the ring with cell phone cameras in hand. Others sat at a bar not 20 feet away drinking beer. Still others ignored it all and smoked cigarettes and played slot machines.
Mike Tyson used to put on displays. On this day, he was just on display.
Down the street, tourists watched lions and dolphins between breaks at the slot machines. In the Aladdin hotel, they didn’t need to move from their seats at the bar to see another curiosity in a makeshift ring.
The former baddest man on the planet has been reduced to this — just another freak show on the Las Vegas Strip.
The signs said he was in training, and that was enough to lure a few hundred people to the makeshift ring set up just outside the casino’s buffet restaurant. Training for what was a question better left unanswered.
Tyson once made $35 million for one fight and more than $300 million in his career before blowing it all. Now he’s a casino sideshow, trying to make a few bucks the only way he knows how in a sport he no longer can stand.
Exhibition bouts might be in Tyson’s future. It’s like Rocky with the never-ending sequels. What pro wrestler will Tyson take on?
Evander Holyfield, one of the most charismatic heavyweight champions of the modern era, is making yet another comeback.
The “Real Deal” is returning. Former four-time heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, 43, is coming back from a 21-month layoff to face journeyman Jeremy Bates in a 10-round bout Aug. 19 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. “I’m very excited about it,” Holyfield told ESPN.com on Wednesday. “Being able to finish what I’ve started means a lot. I was sidetracked lately, but I am getting back on the path.” A news conference to announce the fight is scheduled for Thursday afternoon at the American Airlines Center, event organizer Lester Bedford said.
Holyfield (38-8-2, 25 KOs) has lost three in a row and is 2-5-1 in his last eight fights. He hasn’t fought since dropping a lopsided unanimous decision to Larry Donald on Nov. 13, 2004, in New York. After the Donald fight, Holyfield was indefinitely suspended by the New York commission for “poor performance,” meaning he couldn’t fight anywhere in the United States until the suspension was lifted. However, Holyfield protested and, after passing a series of medical tests more than a year ago, New York boxing officials changed his suspension from a medical one to an administrative one, which allowed him to seek licenses elsewhere. Last week, Holyfield was granted one in Texas.
“I still want to be the undisputed heavyweight champ of the world,” Holyfield said, repeating the mantra he has preached for the past several years. “There is no reason to fight if that was not my goal. Everything I have ever done was with that goal in mind. If my goal wasn’t to be the undisputed heavyweight champ of the world then there would be no reason to get back in it.”
Sad.
Floyd Patterson, who came back from an embarrassing loss to become the first boxer to regain the heavyweight title, died Thursday. He was 71. Patterson died at his home. He had Alzheimer’s disease for about eight years and prostate cancer, nephew Sherman Patterson said.
Patterson’s career was marked by historic highs and humiliating lows. He emerged from a troubled childhood in Brooklyn to win the Olympic middleweight championship in 1952. In 1956, the undersized heavyweight became at age 21 the youngest man to win the title with a fifth-round knockout of Archie Moore. But three years later, Patterson was knocked down seven times in the third round in losing the title to Ingemar Johansson at the Polo Grounds in New York City.
Patterson returned with a vengeance at the same site in 1960, knocking out Johansson with a tremendous left hook to retake the title. “They said I was the fighter who got knocked down the most, but I also got up the most,” Patterson said later.
Despite his accomplishment, he was so humiliated when he lost the title on a first-round knockout to Sonny Liston in 1962 that he left Comiskey Park in Chicago wearing dark glasses and a fake beard. Patterson again was knocked out in the first round by Liston in 1963.
Patterson got two more shots at winning the title a third time. Battered and taunted for most of the fight by Muhammad Ali, Patterson was stopped in the 12th round in 1965. He lost a disputed 15-round decision to WBA champion Jimmy Ellis in 1968.
Overall, Patterson finished 55-8-1 with 40 knockouts. He was knocked out five times and knocked down a total of at least 15 times. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.
After retiring in 1972, Patterson remained close to the sport. He served twice as chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission.
Patterson retired right before I became aware of the sport.
Bill Jempty has thoughts on his passing.
Muhammad Ali has sold the rights to market his name, for a cool $50 mil.
 Muhammad Ali, one of the world’s most recognized people, has sold 80 percent of the marketing rights to his name and likeness to a firm for $50 million. The 64-year-old former heavyweight champion, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, will retain a 20 percent interest in the business. The new venture will be operated by a company called G.O.A.T. LLC, an acronym for “The Greatest of All Time.”
Ali and wife Lonnie are expected to work with CKX, Inc. to market his interests around the world. The deal includes trademarks owned by the boxing great. “This relationship with CKX will help guarantee that, for generations to come, people of all nations will understand my beliefs and my purpose,” Ali said in a statement issued Tuesday by the company. “I am honored to be able to partner with CKX as they continue to grow.”
CKX has concentrated primarily on entertainment and holds the rights to the IDOLS television brand, which includes the show “American Idol.” It also holds the rights to Elvis Presley’s marketing, and has an interest in the operations of Graceland, Presley’s Memphis, Tenn., home.
Elvis and Muhammad Ali are a pretty good combo, I guess. Still, this somehow seems wrong.
And how does one sell eighty percent of one’s name, anyway? Eighty percent of the profits, sure. But either Ali has a veto power over how his name is sold, in which case he effectively owns at least 51 percent of it, or not, in which case he effectively owns none of it.
Update: I hope they don’t change his name to “Enron Field.” That would really suck. Although, if they changed it back to “Cassius Clay,” it’d be kind of funny.
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