**** Kirks Championships 2014 ****

novoa tko7 proksa ud adamek ud

 

I kind of love it when Bernard goes off like this

Not because I necessarily agree with him, but because of the uncomfortable conversations he starts. For the record, I do think Bernard would be more popular if he were white, but I have no idea the magnitude.

I will say this... Bernard raises some interesting questions regarding how minority entertainers are sold to the public in America. It seems obvious that in most endeavors, minority entertainers are most successful selling to people of their own background. But how does a minority crossover to the larger white public? Being the best is the most straightforward way, and that’s easy to say when there’s a single winner as we see in most sports. It’s easier to sell a singular winner like Michael Jordan or LeBron James or Usain Bolt. But what about more subjective fields? We would say that Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio are superstars and fine actors. What would it take for Chewitel Ejiofor to crossover? Or Ken Watanabe?

Bernard is an all time great in his field, but he’s not the best in his field right now in the way that we have Mayweather or Pacquiao. Very few people have Bernard in their top 10 pound for pound right now. But what he’s doing is extraordinary and unprecedented in that he’s sustained a world-class level of performance well past the age it was deemed possible. And that to me is more the mark of a great artist than an athlete. He’s like Philip Roth writing in his 60s, or Clint Eastwood making movies in his 70s. As a minority performer, how do you sell THAT to the public? How do you sell "he’s not quite the best, but he’s still excellent and he’s doing it at an age when it shouldn’t be possible"? I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it done before. Paul McCartney is still selling out stadiums, but no one’s booking arenas for Chuck Berry anymore.

I can think of one example.....Stevie Wonder.

 

Wanheng defeated Navaoa by 9th round TKO, in a fight that apparently is another FOTY contender.

 

Chudinov TKO
Proksa TKO
Adamek UD
Stieglitz UD
Abregu TKO
Kovalev TKO

 

I hate that country, so much.

1-4pm in the afternoon local?!?! WEIRDOS!

(also, they do it on purpose, so that sweltering midday heat, which their guys train in, will disadvantage the visitor...as it sounds like may have occurred in this one even though Novoa comes from a warm clime himself...)

I actually made the attempt to set my alarm for half past midnight to do a RBR, but my body said no (got a cold). 1-4am EST? :-(

If they just staged their shows at night like the rest of the damn world, it would be fine, they'd be on about the same time as Japanese cards usually are (or even a couple hours later, since Japan's time zone is +2 from theirs), which just means getting up at the crack of dawn. 1-4am is literally the least convenient time possible. Even the Australian cards start around 4 or 5am EST.

...that, and records padded up against debutants, and the whole "naming ourselves after gas station convenience stores and gymnasiums and other random sponsors" - I'm getting really sick of Thai boxing in general! :fire

(just a damn shame they have too much talent on the island to be irrelevant)

 

Proksa KO
Adamek KO
Stieglitz UD
Luis Carlos Abregu KO
Kovalev KO

 

Proksa KO
Adamek KO
Stieglitz UD
Luis Carlos Abregu KO
Kovalev KO
Rabchenko UD
Cuadras TKO
Melindo UD
Nietes UD

 

Stieglitz ud. Abregu tko. Kovalev tko.

 

stieglitz ud abregu tko7 kovalev ko5

 

Proksa KO
Adamek KO
Stieglitz KO
Luis Carlos Abregu KO
Kovalev KO

 

Proska TKO
Adamek TKO
Stieglitz UD
Abregu TKO
Hopkins UD

 

Proska TKO
Adamek TKO
Stieglitz UD
Abregu TKO
Kovalev KO

 

Proska KO
Sturm UD
Adamek KO
Abregu KO
Hopkins UD

 

Proska ud
adamek ko
Kovalav tko
Abregu ko
Stieglitz tko

 

I like that you're alternating your alternatives, between leagues.