Andy shoots 65 and doubles up at the Caddy Shack

IPGC golf from The Caddy Shack

Tuesday, April 4, the Crystal Bay A & B course was the venue for a Medal competition. The cut was made at 16 and above and in Division 2, Andy Li took the honors with a fabulous net 65; Paul Davies took second with net 69 and Ian Grout was in third with a net 71. Division 1 saw Mike Allidi, Keith Smithson and Al McGrory all shoot net 71 but one shot ahead and on the winner’s podium was Bob Philp with a net 70.
The only “two” of the day came courtesy of Keith Smithson whilst the ‘Bananas’ were awarded to Al McGrory for arguing with his caddy on the first hole and she subsequently walked off and demanded to be replaced.
Thursday, April 6 saw the golfers from The Caddy Shack visit The Emerald for a Stableford competition. Again, the cut was at 16 and above and in Division 1, Keith Smithson went one better than Tuesday and took the winner’s mantle with 36 points whilst Mike Allidi took second spot with 35 points. The Division 2 honors went to Andy Li with his 40-point haul; two better than his nearest rival Ben Findon.
The “twos” were shared between Mike Allidi and Ben Findon whilst Angus was the lucky recipient of the ‘Bananas’, to keep him company on his flight home.

Caggiano has a storming day at Plutaluang

PSC golf from The Café Kronborg

Thursday April 6, Plutaluang, Stableford
Firstly let me tell you about the golf on Monday The 3rd. Well the boys trundled up the 331 and played a couple of holes, then the storm hit. The lightning was so bad that they had to abandon the day and return to Pattaya. I am told that of recent days one of the caddies has been hit by lightning, so that was a very wise decision.
So to the golf on the Thursday and we had a good turnout to play at this course. True to form, my group was behind a 6 ball, which only let us through after 10 holes, but the next group was nearly one hour behind. Remind me not to play on a holiday again.
Now to the good part: the shower after, in the new changing room was worth all the hassle on the course, and up in the restaurant we were plied with beer and food at a price you will not find anywhere else.
When all were in it was obvious the course had won with only two players breaking their handicap. In the A Flight, 0 to 18, that steady player Ted Morris won with a fine round of 37 points ahead of Rob Brown in second with 35 points and Bill (The Memory Man) Platt in third on count back, courtesy of Kevin Dunne. When you get older the memory tends to go.
In the B Flight, 20 up, we had the best score of the day when Dick Caggiano stormed in with 38 points, miles ahead of Pierre Bietry on 31 points and Alan Currie on 29 points.
T.T.F.N.

Dougie heads for a date with the ‘Axeman’

PSC golf from Three Sisters Bar

Dougie Powell did it again - he brought home the bacon. The fact is that he got the whole pig. Doug smashed the field with an astonishing 48 points. Last week he won with 41 points and this week he did it 7 strokes better. It was a no contest as the second place finisher was 9 strokes back. The axe will be out with a sharp edge - Chop! Chop!

Tully tries to serenade double winner Doug Powell

Coming in second place was our picture taker, Dick Kerr. He shot a good score coming in with 39 points. Dick has had his ups and downs finishing at the top and also flirting with the cellar. He had a good day today.
Following the leaders were the bandits Bob Benda and Sus Ige, both in with 38 points each. Next in line were Dale Murphy and George Bell with 37 points each. Good games but far short of the leader.
Kenny Mau had a terrible day and gave Tully a run for the cellar. Due to age and a deteriorating swing, Tully again held up the group. He is waiting for Rollie Weese and Marvin Smith to get back from the U.S.A. to help him with the load.

Iizumi & Jones stun the field

IPGC Pattaya Golf Society at the OK Corral

The Pattaya Golf Society’s first event of the month is always something different. Forget the rigours of medal or stableford play and just have fun! So it was on Tuesday, April 4, when the golfing troops left the OK Corral for Eastern Star and a two-person better-ball tournament.
The teams took their place on the tee high in optimism for a good day and they were not to be disappointed. The windy conditions were a big leveller and picking a pre-match favourite was fraught with problems. Surely the in-form pairing of Riley and Chaiyanont? What about the low handicapped team of Andersson and Hancock? Who were the dark horses?
As the day panned out it became clear that it might not be going to form. Sure, five teams had already broken par or better, but the locker room was abuzz with rumours of a low score for the team of Dale Shier and John Mason. Their net 67 had to be the standard others should match. Indeed, it was matched, nay bettered, by that of Joe McArdle and Gerry Hannon and their net 65 stood proud at the top of the leaderboard.
The day’s best kept secret was about to be revealed however, as Len Jones and Masashi Iizumi presented their card, bearing a score of 63. Their golf had been solid and accurate, making a mockery of their status in the group and had the hallmark of good pairs play. If a partner is having a bad hole keep your poise and consolidate. Don’t play the course, play golf!
So it was then that Masashi and Len astounded the field to take an excellent victory. Spice was added with the absence of a birdie two and the Booby Bevy was enjoyed by the high scoring duo of Dave Corrigan and Kris Pinyoun, for whom the day had begun badly with a two flight fall in his condo. Kris was not the only one who came down to earth with a bump that day.
Parkinson takes driving seat
On the hottest day of the year so far the Pattaya Golf Society left Soi Rungland for a stableford competition at distant Noble Place. The large field was cut at twenty-two and under, taking on the challenge of the “A” and “B” nines.
All players found the oppressive humidity a problem and in division one Bill Hewitt and Tony Duthie perspired to 32 points each to share third place, whilst a relaxed Basil Foley continued his consistent game, scoring 34 points for second place. New Zealander David Thomas chose the occasion to mark his first victory with the PGS, firing a quality gross 79 to give him 36 points and the top-flight prize.
In division two Rob Dolan returned after an absence of a few weeks to hit the podium again with a grafted 33 points, one behind the score of Tony Kitchen, who was obviously cooking with gas in the middle of his fine round, as he posted a score of 34 to take second place. Lording it on the day was chirpy Jim Parkinson, the celebrity’s chauffeur, who cruised to yet another win with the day’s best score of 37 points. His five-point haul on “B”4, a tough par five, was the secret to his round. It is such a shame that by the time he reads this he will be on his way back to UK, only dreaming of golf here with the PGS!
Bill Hewitt nabbed the day’s pair of birdie twos to take a handsome rolled-over pot and newbie Ray Thirtle played his first round of golf in Thailand with a generous beam on his face throughout and thoroughly deserved the Booby Bevy after posting the highest gross of the day. It had been another excellent week with the Pattaya Golf Society.

Peter and Vincent take the spoils at Eastern Star

PSC golf from Tropical Bert’s

Chris (The Gofer) with Tuesday’s winners

Tuesday April 4, Eastern Star, Stableford
What a fine course, and even better now they seem to have got to grips with the problems on the greens. This has always been one of the courses that if you play to your handicap you know you have played really well.
So off we went and what a fine day it turned out to be; the course was in great shape and the greens are now fast and tricky. The weather as usual was hot and humid and in these conditions, it was a relief that Eastern Star is not the most difficult course to walk.
Golf over and back at Bert’s, Tim was road testing Bert’s food to see if it was ok, and of course it passed the Tim Test. Then we got down to the presentation, and Tim declared Vincent Smyth as winner of the A Div with Ian Colvill in second. Peter Ring won the B Div by a street with Dick Warberg in second. Then, as usually happens at Bert’s, it was time test the cold ones.
T.T.F.N.
Near Pin: Brendan Devlin, Jackie MacPherson, Ian Edwards, Maurice Kelly, Frank Kelly (2), Stu Thompson
Long Put: Ian Colvill, Alan Pearce, Mike Wing, Dick Warberg, Toy Theobald

Seaboard FC suffers first home defeat of the season

MBMG International League 2005 - 2006

Seaboard FC went into Saturday’s game against Les Gaulois at Horseshoe Point knowing that only a win would be good enough to keep their league title aspirations alive. Seaboard manager Rick Bryant was faced with a major selection headache for this fixture with some of his key players unavailable. He was however able to welcome back Lee Homer into his defence for what would surely be a tough afternoon trying to marshal the leagues current top scorer David Serene.
The game kicked off with Seaboard making the early running and produced their first effort on goal on 2 minutes, when a corner was headed back across the goal by Homer for Gary Munro to get in a shot at full stretch that went wide of the upright. Two minutes later a short free kick from Homer to Dave Brown saw Brown curl in a delightful cross for Francis Taku to out jump the French defence but his powerful header just cleared the crossbar.
Seaboard were to come close to opening the scoring on 7 minutes when a delightful free kick from John Campbell found Paul Derbyshire and his neat turn inside produced an opening but his shot was wide of the mark.
The French did not get their first opening until the ninth minute when Serene turned neatly but shot well wide of the target. The visitors finally started to come into the game and on 13 minutes Mark Coombs in the Seaboard goal was called upon to make his first save of the afternoon, low to his right.
Seaboard were still in control of the game and some excellent interplay between Munro and Kirrill Giyasov produced an opening for Munro to shoot just over from 18 yards. Seaboard continued to press and finally took the lead on 23 minutes when Paul Derbyshire dispossessed a French defender and used his strength to get to the bye line to produce a powerful cross that the French goalkeeper failed to hold and Taku was on hand to hammer home the rebound from close range.
Seaboard’s lead was to be short lived however, when a French free kick from 25 yards eluded everybody including the Seaboard keeper with the ball creeping in at the near post. Three minutes later it was to get worse for Seaboard as they failed to deal with a through ball, and with the keeper slow to react the French forward nipped in to put the visitors ahead against the run of play.
Seaboard rallied quickly and were unlucky not draw level before the break with a fierce drive from Craig Banks just clearing the bar and a strong header from Homer cleared off the line.
Half Time Score - Seaboard FC 1 Les Gaulois 2.
Seaboard appeared early for the second half and straight from the restart took the game to the French, with Derbyshire clearly being brought down in the box only for the referee to adjudge it was outside. After a lot of arguing from both sets of players Homer stepped up to smash an unstoppable shot into the top corner of the net with the keeper rooted to the spot. Seaboard having drawn level looked the better bet to go on and win the match, however the French had different ideas and slowly managed to fight their way back into the game and were rewarded midway through the half when a French forward was allowed space and time on the edge of the box to drive the ball past Coombs in the Seaboard goal.
Six minutes later Seaboard were dealt another blow when a wicked cross from the left deflected off the head of Banks into his own net. Worse was still to come four minutes from time when the French broke down the right and the ball was squared back to an onrushing French forward who calmly side footed the ball into the corner of the net.
The French were still not finished and Seaboard realized it was not their afternoon when a harmless free kick deflected off the head of Campbell into the corner of the net.
The final whistle was soon to follow with a dejected Seaboard team leaving the field -losers in a game that they had given themselves every opportunity to win.
Final score - Seaboard FC 2 Les Gaulois 6.
Manager Bryant was also very disappointed at the end having seen his side play with good shape and dominate large periods of the game but still end up losing. He was confident that his team would bounce back in a couple of weeks time for the next match of their MBMG International League campaign.
Seaboard’s next fixture is an away game against the Winking Frog at Patana School in Bangkok on Saturday 22nd April Kick Off 4:30pm. Seaboards next home game at Horseshoe Point is on Saturday 29th April against the league leaders the Dubliner kick off 4:00pm.

The Beautiful Game?: Football brightens a wet weekend

If you’re thinking of hiding away from Songkran this weekend (and who could blame you), you’ll be pleased to hear that a feast of football awaits. That’s assuming, of course, that you’re brave enough to run the gauntlet of water pistols to reach the relative sanctuary of your nearest beer bar.
You should make the effort, for the Premiership race will surely be decided this weekend. Chelsea head to Bolton Wanderers tomorrow for what should be an awkward tie, even though Bolton have managed to lose their last four games. On Easter Monday another round of fixtures awaits, most sides playing their second game in three days. This time the Blues host a resurgent Everton side who may cause problems for the West Londoners, but if Chelsea can pick up six points over this weekend surely that will be that.
An excellent performance against West Ham United on Sunday will have boosted confidence at Stamford Bridge. Trailing 1-0 and down to ten men in the early stages of the match, Chelsea’s comeback to spank an off-colour Hammers outfit 4-1 will surely be one of the defining moments of the season should Mourinho and his men clinch the title. Alan Pardew’s side can be forgiven for having one eye on their upcoming FA Cup semi-final, perhaps, but neutrals all over the world will have been disappointed to see them roll over so meekly.
“Every single player was amazing,” said Mourinho. “As a team the performance was incredible. It was a great performance under very difficult circumstances. It is not normal to win 4-1 after you are losing 1-0 with 10 men. We played with 10 but it looks like we had 12.”
Pardew’s disappointment was obvious. “Chelsea are an excellent team,” he said. “We knew we faced a tough challenge here. There has been a lot of criticism at their door, some of it unfair, and they answered the critics here - unfortunately we got the brunt of it.”
Sir Alex Ferguson will have been hopping mad to see Chelsea’s comeback, but the Scotsman still managed to rally his troops into a spirited 2-0 defeat of Arsenal at Old Trafford, courtesy of Wayne Rooney and Park Ji Sung.
Ferguson began his famous mind-games after the victory. “Do you think Bolton will lose five games in a row? Because I don’t think so. Remember, too, that Chelsea have to go to Blackburn, which is another tough game, and then they play at Newcastle on the last day of the season when it will be Alan Shearer’s last game for the club. So we have several things in our favour.
“We need them to drop points. In fact, we need a collapse but it can happen, as we have seen in the past. Chelsea have some tough away games coming up. It happened to us in 1992 when we lost three games and drew one over Easter and lost the title to Leeds United.
“We believe we are capable of going all the way and that, if we win our remaining games, it will give us an outstanding chance. We’ve got to go to Stamford Bridge [on April 29] and win but we’ve still got a great chance, absolutely. The game at Chelsea will be the title decider.”
Wishful thinking from Sir Alex, perhaps, but full marks for optimism. Meanwhile defeated Arsenal begin a crucial week on Wednesday as they take on Villareal at Highbury in the Champions League. More on Arsenal next week, but for now here’s to a dry, enjoyable, football-packed Songkran. Or at least one of the above.
Football Italia is rubbish!
It’s not just the British media that fret over the exit of its teams from European competition. Italian newspapers were thrown into turmoil over Juventus’ Champions League exit to Arsenal, prompting some harsh analysis of Serie A. Inter Milan crashed out to unfancied Villareal who are currently eighth in the Spanish League, whilst only two goals in the last five minutes against Lyon saw a lucky AC Milan scrape through to face Barcelona in the other semi-final.
More soul-searching is ahead for the Italians, and in particular for Juventus. The ‘Old Lady’ is running away with Serie A and yet the team of stars were unable to break down Arsenal’s defence over two legs. The side were booed by their own ranks in Turin, fans unfurling a huge banner at the Stadio Dello Alpi that said, simply, “Show your balls.”
The club’s general director Luciano Moggi announced earlier in the week that Juventus would not allow any of the players to speak to the media. “This is a time for reflection,” he said. “It will help us rediscover the tranquillity that is needed. We are saddened by the verbal assault we have suffered. You can say anything you want about the side but don’t say they showed no balls.”
Showing your balls can sometimes get you into trouble, of course. Staying in Italy, as recently as two months ago Serie A small-timers Livorno were sitting in fifth place and on the cusp of qualifying for a European place. After a few bad results owner Aldo Spinelli told Italian television that he was preparing to sack manager Roberto Donadoni, the former AC Milan and Italy star who was on the verge of perhaps his most amazing achievement in football. On hearing the news Donadoni quit the club, and Spinelli said “This team’s beginning to slip and I don’t want to lose my European dream.”
Back to the present, and after the club’s fifth successive defeat under new manager Carlo Mazzone, Spinelli has had a rethink. “With the benefit of hindsight, perhaps losing Donadoni was a mistake. But that was a difficult moment and I had to do something for the team.”
So what next for little Livorno? Another new boss? No, says Spinelli. “Unfortunately, we go on with Mazzone,” said the owner, giving his current manager a fantastic confidence boost ahead of the side’s Serie A conclusion.
World Cup Blitzkrieg ahead
Anyone out in Pattaya thinking of heading to Britain to hire a camper van any time in June had better rethink your summer holiday plans (alright, alright, that’ll be none of you, but bear with me). Every single available motorhome is booked out, most of which will be heading to Germany for the World Cup.
‘We’re fully booked in June because of the World Cup, and are turning away six people a day,’ Peter Maynard of Elite Motorhomes told The Observer. ‘Our entire fleet of 37 vehicles is already booked and there’s no availability at all for motorhome rental across the UK in June.’
A Football Association spokesman said: ‘England fans always travel to tournaments in huge numbers and show remarkable creativity in finding means of transport to get there.’

Café Kronborg moves into first and Grape Vine in second

Pattaya Sports Club Friday Bowling League

200 Bowlers - Somrak, Ooy, Mio, Jon & Tue

Café Kronborg won three points from Friends and Grape Vine took three from Shenanigans and they remain in first and second respectfully. House of the Golden Coin remains in third after taking two and one half points from France who are in fourth place. Domicil managed to move up the ladder after taking all four points in their match against Café Ole. Mai’s Thai Restaurant is also on the move as they won three and one half points from Jack & Tar. VFW Post 9876 got three points from Montana and Brother D won three from Three Sisters in the remaining two matches. Tue with Grape Vine bowled the best series of the day with a 591 pin count, games of 213, 187 and 191.

League Table (Week 12)
Team	Points	Standings
Café Kronborg	3 - 1	32.5 - 15.5
Grape Vine	3 - 1	31 -17
House of the Golden Coin	2.5 - 1.5	30 - 18
France	1.5 - 2.5	25.5 - 22.50
Friends	1 - 3	25 - 23
Jack & Tar	0.5 - 3.5	24.5 - 23.5
Three Sisters	1 - 3	24 - 24
Montana	1 - 3	24 - 24
Mai’s Thai Restaurant	3.5 - .5	22.5 - 25.5
VFW Post 9876	3 - 1	21 - 27
Domicil	4 - 0	21 - 27
Shenanigans	1 - 3	19.5 - 28.5
Brother D.	3 - 1	16.5 - 27.5
Café Ole	0 - 4	16 - 32

Aussies discover ‘golf’ is ‘flog’ backwards

The AustCham charity golf tournament

In conjunction with the recent AustCham networking evening at the Marriott Resort and Spa, the chamber also hosted a charity golf competition, with a new BMW up for grabs, courtesy of AA Insurance Brokers (who were well insured against this calamity). This was enough to bring the men from Down-under out in force, and there were many tales of near misses at the evening’s function later in the day.

Martin Hoffie and Ivor Sewell from Deborah Services, contemplating their next strategy to attempt to drive home in a BMW rather than a golf buggy.

Paul Wilkinson from AGS Four Winds Movers, organized the charity golf tournament in conjunction with Tony Emmett (AustCham’s Eastern Seaboard director) and Gerry Carpenter from Pattaya Sports Club, with the money raised going to the Camillian Center at Rayong.
AGS Four Winds Movers were very busy that evening, being also the event sponsor of the Seaboard Sundowners held at the Marriott. Being an Aussie night, the Marriott’s kitchen guru, Dennis Barton, was very pleased to mingle amongst his countrymen.
The networking evening was the usual success that the Aussie Chamber organizes, with the 80 attendees enjoying the friendly banter that is the norm in Australian gatherings. Also enjoying himself was Alan Valtas, the Consul-General from the Australian Embassy who came down for the event.
There were some worries with Keith Wilson from Water Engineered Technologies who met up with Steve Johnson from Water Technologies, but they sportingly decided to have a duel with water pistols during Songkran, and continued on enjoying the Australian wines in the meantime.
The prizewinners for the ‘Nearest the Keg’ were Andrew Durieux and Duncan Miller, sponsored by Shenanigans. The shortest drive, sponsored by Manpower, was gloriously won by Kevin Bird. Nearest the Pins (sponsor Global Turf Consultants) went to Khun Siripen and John Pollard, while the Fosters Longest Drives went to May Bird and Tomi Ruegsegger. The Team event winners of the AustCham ESB Golf Tournament 2006 were Sam Peebles and Ian Morrison

Frank and Tony score well at The Emerald

PSC golf from The Grapevine

Thursday, April 6, The Emerald
Despite some concerns about the condition of some fairways, tee boxes, and greens, the Grapevine golfers headed to The Emerald course with high expectations on a very hot day, which made playing conditions quite testing.

L to R: Donald Pendry, Frank Kelly, Don McPherson.

Frank Kelly prevailed on the day, winning B Flight (18 - 36) with 42 hard-earned points. Don McPherson with 36 points, and Keith Hodges with 30 points took the minor placings. In A Flight (0 - 17), Tony Oakes scored 39 points ahead of Donald Pendry who had 33 points, and Frank Pilkington who had 31 points.
It is claimed that a golf ball with some type of braking device would have improved scores to no end on this day, particularly around the greens, as well as offering a financial boon to some budding inventor. We realize US PGA rules prevent such enterprise, however, this could be a “local rules” condition?
Long putts were won by Donald Hendry, Keith Avery, Fred Duffy, and Peter Harris - well done, gents. NTP’s were collected by Tony Oakes (2), Donald Pendry (2), Peter Harris, Don McPherson, Mike Wing, and Frank Kelly.
As we enter a brief interlude from golf at The Grapevine, we thank our many patrons for their support, and we wish you good golfing in the future weeks. Ladies and gentlemen, please remember that your best friend is a zip lock bag at this time of year. Please note that on Thursday, 20th April, our Monthly Tankard will be played at Treasure Hills, subject to possible Songkran date changes for Pattaya. Don’t forget to come down and sign up. Hope you all have a wonderful Thai New Year!

The Square Ring

by Howie Reed

No I do not miss being in Land of Smiles during Songkran. Like those that have stayed inside during the annual water toss and highway demolition derby it proves that age does sometimes bring intelligence.
That’s something that can’t be said for a former world champion boxer. Looks like the “Lop Eared Camel Jockey”, (that would be former world champion Naseem Hamed), is headed to the “Monkey House”. He pleaded guilty to “dangerous driving” which caused a serious accident. Some friends of The Square Ring in the UK have suggested that there was a lot more involved then just a driving incident. Why would I think he’s going to be living for a time in the Monkey House? The judge in Sheffield said when he accepted the guilty plea, “Do not take bail as any indication that you will receive anything other than a custodial sentence.”
During his career one of the hallmarks of former heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko was that when the going got tough he got going. In this case “he got going” actually meant, “I quit.” The wrap on him was probably unfair but then boxing, like life isn’t fair. The “tag” was attached after his April 2000 contest with Chris Byrd. Well ahead on all cards after 9 rounds, (89-82, 88-83, 88-83) he tossed in the towel with a “hurt” shoulder. Someone wrote and many thought at the time; “The shoulder is a long way from the heart.”
Following his retirement Klitchko decide that he’d run for mayor of Kiev. In pre voting Klitschko and incumbent Oleksandr Omelchenko were running one and two. On election day both finished behind Leonid Chernovetskiy, who had been trailing by 8 points. Early on election evening Klitschko tossed in the towel. “It is important to know how to win and how to lose”, said Vitali. It seems Klitschko did learn something from boxing after all. He also got KO’d from the national legislature when his party failed to get 3% of the total vote. Bummer. Brother Wladimir gets a shot at the IBF title against Chris Byrd on Sunday April 23 in Mannheim.
Yank Ex-Pats will remember the anti war crowd of the 60’s parroting the mantra, “What would happen if they threw a war and no-one came?” Those were almost the thoughts of The Square Ring when it was announced that Floyd Mayweather (35-0) was going to do battle with Zab Judah (34-3). It boggled the mind that Judah who looked so lousy in losing to Carlos Manuel Baldomir in January got this fight. In that one Judah lost his WBC welterweight title in a performance that was sorry at best. But that loss somehow qualified him to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. for the IBF welter belt. The explanation from lead promoter Buffalo Bob Arum was that “the public demanded it.” That is pure ‘horsedoodle’
Buffalo Bob is big on ‘horsedoodle’ when it comes to promoting a fight that started out slow with the TV networks and then went nowhere. On the other hand the fight was almost a sell out at the venue so give a pat on the back to the promoters. Guess some folks will believe anything.
“Like what”, I hear you say? Well how about the following: Arum rates Mayweather Jr. behind only ‘The Greatest’ himself, Muhammad Ali. Here’s what Arum had to say:
“There are a number of aspects that make a great fighter. One is speed. [Floyd’s] speed is phenomenal. The way he throws punches, phenomenal. The way he is conditioned, phenomenal. I mean, he’s the entire, whole package... other than Ali he’s the most intelligent fighter that I have ever seen. I mean, Floyd, this is no bull, Floyd can see a punch coming before the other guy knows he’s going to throw it. Do you understand that? I mean, I have never seen such ring intelligence that Floyd demonstrates. So he’s the whole package, and you know, Ray Leonard was a great fighter, Marvin Hagler was a great fighter, Duran certainly was great, Oscar had a couple of years where he was very good, but there’s nobody that is a whole package like Floyd.”
Buffalo Bob left out the fact that a Mayweather Jr. fight can’t sell tickets as long as he continues to duck any legitimate boxer. It’s doubtful that after Mayweather’s one-sided decision last weekend his stock will raise any, as Judah was never in the fight.
One ringsider wrote, “Judah got off to a good start over the first four rounds.” That fact wasn’t reflected in the final scoring by Judge Glen Hamada (119-109), Judge Dave Moretti (116-112) or Judge Jerry Roth (117-111).
The most exciting round was the 10th when Judah, reverting to his thug tactics, hit Mayweather with a low blow and then followed up with a punch to the back of the head. Mayweather Jr’s. uncle Roger, who went 59-13 as a pro, jumped in the ring and started a “donny brook” that brought members from both corners into the ring. Referee Richard Steele summarily ejected Roger from ringside for the infraction.
It was a nice payday for Mayweather while Judah walks away with almost nothing. He lost his IBF Title, which he should have lost in January whilst his purse money will go to Don King and the Government for back taxes.
With Mayweather’s win there’s the possibility of an interesting fight on the horizon. News out of ‘Aussie land’ is that Kostya Tszyu has said he can no longer make the weight at junior welter: “If I do fight again it would be as a welterweight, maybe against the winner of Sunday’s fight between Floyd Mayweather and Zab Judah. I don’t think it would be easy or wise for me to fight at junior welterweight again.”
Not that anyone asked me but it wouldn’t be wise for Kostya to fight Mayweather Jr. either. He’d get his butt kicked.
Thailand’s lightweight Sirimongkol Singwangcha, (53-2, 32 KOs) is one of the more accomplished boxers from the ‘Land of Smiles’. Consider that as a bantamweight he held the WBC title in 1997 and defended it four times before losing. In 2002 he won the vacant WBC super bantam title and defended it once before losing to Jesus Chavez in Austin Texas.
The talented Thai gets another chance at another title when he takes on Japan’s Chikashi Inada, (19-2, 14 KOs) for the interim WBC lightweight title on May 21. The bout will be part of the supporting card for the Marco Antonio Barrera - Rocky Juarez title bout at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Don’t know too much about Inada except that he’s described as “an elongated speedster with good footwork.” Guess that means he’s tall and dances.
At the recent Calzaghe - Lacy fight, former champ Naseem Hamed reportedly had a long chat with WBO President Paco Valcarcel. The Ole’ ‘Lop Eared Camel Jockey’ said he would like to get a shot at the winner of the WBO 130 pound title fight between Jorge Barrios (43-2) and Hungarian Janos Nagu (23-0). That fight will also be part of the Barrera - Juarez card in Los Angeles.
“The doors of the WBO will always be open for the Prince,” stated Valcarcel. Wanna bet that the doors of the “Old Nick” get him first? Now there’s something to drink to.
Jeeves! Jeeves? Where the heck has that confounded Jeeves gone? Whoops, almost forgot, Jeeves is out tossing water and being silly. Leave it to the English. The Master will have to serve himself a couple of refreshing beverages. Difficult to get dependable help these days. The curse of the upper class!