Irish Boxing

I'm going to sky+ it!

 

yeah I am too but I don't want to be broke before I watch it! Although, I got 3 trays of tins in earlier when we went grocery :deal shopping earlier. Now the only problem is avoiding the results before i get home!

 

Stephen Ormond is back in the home country and starting to do a wee bitta trainin with Joe Pasquale Collins.

 

You not going to mention what Conlon said then! Saving it for PPV : Slappy v Conlon

 

Aye - what did Conlon say?

Bam Bam - I have decided against the first round stoppage. Got to give Pryce some credit - he is evasive.

 

a lads thats a private email so should stay between the two of us! confidentiality and all that!!!

**** him!!!

Leonard,
I'm sorry to disappoint you, hope I didn't put you off the Sunday dinner!

A few points. Manny Pacquiao isn't from America either but where does he perform? The boxing industry in America is teeming with fighters from all over the world, especially from the Hispanic countries, and they are there because that's where the money is, the coaching and the TV networks. America is the powerbase of the industry and if it's not, tell me which country is?

When I said the silence was deafening, I meant the silence from the industry over there. HBO didn't come calling after the Cordoba fight, neither did Showtime and neither did the management teams behind the top super bantamweights. I don't recall reading even the rumour of a story linking him to a match-up with the likes of Caballero, Vasquez or Marquez. I'm still amazed actually that he didn't land even one big money-spinning fight in the States.

I didn't see the Adrian Valdez fight. I read three separate accounts on boxing websites from reporters who were ringside. All three said he was lucky to get the decision (he was a Sugar Ray boxer on a Sugar Ray promotion). One of them described it as "a crooked decision". Why would these observers be "haters" of Dunne. And why would they be "jealous". I'll take your word for it if you say he won it fair and square. The point is that he struggled to overcome a fighter who had a very modest career in the game.

The European title. It's not even the equivalent of an Irish athlete getting a medal, say in the 10,000m, at the European championships. It's an admirable achievement, I wouldn't knock it, but everyone knows that any long distance running competition has a credibility problem if the Africans aren't competing. Ditto a boxing title without the Americans or Central Americans involved.

I didn't criticise boxing supporters for being parochial, I criticised the sports media for being parochial. It's our job to keep some perspective on the country's sporting heroes, put their achievements in context and not to lose sight of the bigger picture.

Thanks for taking the time to write, I do appreciate it, and good luck to Cavan this year - assuming you are a Cavan man!

Tommy Conlon.

(Cavan man! Cavan man! I thought I was able to string a sentance together - so how could he call me a Cavan man!)

 

Joe Joyce

Patrick Doherty

Johnny Coyle

 

i started off this week thinkin that neil maybe had a few too many miles on the clock for this format but readin the thread all week iv gone and put a double on paddy power for him to beat pryce and win the whole thing, you ****ers better not be deluding yourselves and me in the process?!

 

Quality Leonard.

WTF is he talking about the networks didnt come calling after the Cordoba fight. Sure it was on RTE - the UK had to watch it on a stream. Take Amir Khan and all his publicity over the last number of years - he still isnt headlining Vegas.....I could go on....but I am off to bed..

 

Slappy, if you want to stick that e-mail up his arse you could do the following (in order that I read his 'points' in the mail) let him know that

1) For every world title fight in the US that grosses $100ml there is a small (relatively speaking) hall show (a la Vasquez-Marquez at the start) for a legit world title. And that Bernard packing out the Point for EBU shots and his world title fights was massive. A huge amount of world titles (95%ish) are not fought for in front of multi-million dollar PPV audiences. And also a huge amount of world titles are not fought for in the USA.

2) Using Pacquaio as a comparison show was a lazy and untalented **** he is. No one ever in a million years mentioned Bernard as being in the same league as Pacquiao. No one ever mentioned him being in the top 50 P4P rankings nevermind the top 10 P4P. So drawing PacMan comparisons is intentioanlly taking things out of context. Either that or its an admission of his own ignorance.

3) The silence was deafening and he didn't read stories about a matchup with Caballero, Vasquez and Marquez. Again, it shows Conlon is a lazy **** who has little or no real interest in boxing and doesn't follow the game. I read quotes from Caballero stating his willingness to avenge his countrymans loss and get it on with Dunne. Same as I read quotes directly from Vasquez stating he'd love to fight Bernard in the states IF Bernard could get through his mandatory defence.

4) He admits never seeing the Valdez fight. Any writer worth is salt would never reference a fight he hasn't seen they way Conlon did without admitting he hadn't laid eyes on it.

Matched against a rugged Mexican named Adrian Valdez, Dunne was cut in the first round and ended the bout in what would become a familiar sight: his face a mess of blood and bruises. The pyramid of boxing talent in the States is wide and deep; Valdez was rated a mediocre pro there but, according to some ringside witnesses that night, he was too good for Dunne who was deemed fortunate to get the points decision. It was his last fight on American soil: how long he would have lasted there remains an open question.

The fight isn't hard to get. If you want to watch it you can find it quite easily. But why do that when you can be a lazy, untalented **** who doesn't bother about letting the facts get in the way of a good story.

5) The European title reference. Its not the equivalent of an Irish athlete getting a gold at the 10,000m in the European Championships? Yeah and a helicopter is nothing like a banana either. Whats his point there? There is just no ****ing comparison.

Boxing has no credibility without Americans or Central Americans involved? I think he needs to check his weight divisions (not that he would with him being a lazy **** who knows **** all about boxing but you think he could at least make the pretence he knows what hes talking about and go on boxrec or something) and if, IF, he did then he'd know that this is patently untrue. Especially at lower weights where its more Asian and Central/South American fighters ruling the roost.

If EBU titles were easy to win then we'd have had a lot more than the 11 (i think its 11 now anyway) we have had to date. The fact is 99% of boxers can only dream of ever achieving that level of success. But sure if you don't understand the game even at its most basic level then its easy to take for granted. And oh boy, didn't auld **** face Conlon do that.

6) He accuses Irish sports media of being parochial. Pot. Kettle. Calling black.

The piece shows how desperatley Conlon wanted to stick the boot into Bernard and cut him down for sins that a) weren't committed and b) even if they had been were not Bernards own sins.

The Irish sports media is terrible. I agree with that wholeheartedly. You have charlatans, bigots, imposters and those who benefit from nepotism and other such practices. The stanard of journalism is shite. The general understanding of a given sport of the average hack who gets paid to report on it is shite.

However, in this case, I don't think Bernard was ever made out to be more than he was. I don't think I ever read an article that said he was about to dominate boxing and rule the world for the next half decade. If he had a win maybe sometimes it was a little exaggerated. Nothing too extreme though. I don't think anyone wrote about him being the best in the world after wins against the likes of Jauilov or anything.

It was always more tenative. More like, our boy is doing well and he has our following now, looks like hes heading up in the world and lets hope he can do it.

Conlon is the personification of the lazy **** sports journalist who thinks he knows what hes talking about because he gets paid to do it. His opinions (for the guts of the article in question) have no factual basis. He's a lazy sham who thinks having his name in a paper makes him an authority. When clearly, to anyone who knows the slightest thing about boxing, its easy to see hes a waste of column inches.

Bernard Dunne always carried himself with class and dignity. He went out on his own terms and at the right time. The spot on the Tubridy show was not gratuitous, it wasn't overdone. He hadn't overstayed his welcome. He came on, said his piece and slipped away without any great drama.

Conlon can only dream of having such tact, dignity and grace. And only in his wildest dreams can he hope to come close to mastering the art of sports journalism the way Bernard mastered the art of boxing.

Conlon is the journalistic equivalent of a neanderthal bangin rocks together trying to draw attention to himself

Whereas Bernard doesn't need an analogy. He was a European and World Champion. The best in Europe and then the best in the World. I doubt Conlon is the best writer in his postcode.

 

sinky predicting 3 wins 3 KOs....u gotta luv his confidence:good

 

Was tempted to email him man!

 

SBW you might want to attach this to your reply

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:happy:happy:happy I love the way you got the word "****" in there at every opportunity