The ground is dry,
Calling for rain,
Cracks like wrinkles,
I'm in so much pain,
honey,
Ripped my heart from inside my cage,
Infuriated,
Sick with rage,
Look at you,
That smile on your face,
I don't laugh at all these days,
No fruit grows on my trees,
Dry, tasteless, lightning,
Puts me on my knees,
Nothing can bring you back,
honey,
Days remembered with a sick fondness,
Me, you, us,
Gone,
Turned to dust,
Like desert skin.
30/06/2008
21/06/2008
Calzaghe Reigns Supreme in Las Vegas
Joe Calzaghe achieved his American Dream yesterday and cemented his legacy as the best British boxer of his generation as he defeated Bernard Hopkins on a split points decision in front of 14,000 fans at the Thomas and Mack Centre in Las Vegas. It was a spectacular victory considering it was Calzaghe's first fight in the US, and his first as a light-heavy weight. The fact that Calzaghe had to rise from the canvas after just ninety seconds makes this victory all the more impressive. Hopkins unleashed a vicious right hook mid-way through the opening round that toppled Calzaghe for only the third time in his forty-five fight career as a professional. Calzaghe looked stunned, but in the fashion of a true champion, he was able to rise to his feet, and outbox the 'Executioner' Hopkins, particularly in the latter rounds to claim victory on two of the judges score cards and secure the most prestigious win of his illustrious fifteen year career.
There is no doubt that this was certainly Calzaghe's toughest fight to date. He struggled to cope with Hopkins’s tactic of fighting on the inside, and was unable to make use of either his left jab, or his famed hand speed. Hopkins is a defensive master, and he frustrated his Welsh opponent throughout the contest by refusing to come forward, instead preferring to attack on the counter. Calzaghe dropped his hands in an attempt to draw the 'Executioner' into a boxing fight, but Hopkins was far more savvy that any of Joe's previous opponents and remained on the back foot, throwing accurate punches and landing the cleaner shots throughout. ‘I didn't box as well as I could, it was bit messy’, Calzaghe said ‘Hopkins was very dirty on the inside. But I fought at a new weight for the first time, got put down and still managed to win. I'm very proud, I came to America to fight, and to win’.
In defeating Hopkins in front of a star-studded audience, Calzaghe won the much respected world light-heavy-weight title as recognised by the Ring magazine, and is now just four victories short of Rocky Marciano's forty-nine victory record. The Newbridge boxer is Britain's longest reigning world champion. Recently awarded BBC Sport's Personality of the Year, he is at last winning the accolades and respect he deserves. Acknowledged as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, Calzaghe entered the ring as heavy favourite. But he couldn't have got off to a worse start. Disaster struck when Hopkins landed a heavy right to Calzaghe's nose in the second minute of the bout. Calzaghe was cut, and visibly shaken. In his first fight in the Nevada desert, Calzaghe was too relaxed during the opening exchanges, he dropped his hands, and got too close to Hopkins, who was able to catch the Welshman with a wicked right hand that sent him crashing to the canvas. Hopkins was unable to take proper advantage however. His forty-three years prevented him launching an onslaught after the knockdown that may have prevented the dazed and confused Calzaghe continuing. Instead, Hopkins was only able to throw one more decent shot in the opening round. Nevertheless the judges scored the first round 10-8 to Hopkins.
Rounds two and three told similar stories. Hopkins continued to hold Calzaghe when they got close in an attempt to slow the fight down, and prevent Calzaghe operating at a fast tempo. Hopkins continually fought on the back foot inviting Calzaghe to fight up close, which allowed him to demonstrate his greater strength in the grappling that ensued and dominated the opening rounds. Despite the ''Wales, Wales'' chants that echoed around the arena at the end of the third, Calzaghe looked subdued as he trounced back towards to his father, and trainer, Enzo, in his corner.
The fourth round was very scrappy, and Hopkins continually led with his head, which forced a warning from the referee, Joe Cortez. But, this was a better round for Calzaghe who was able to land a good left jab in the last ten seconds, and raised the volume in the crowd by lifting his arms into the air on the bell. Calzaghe's confidence was markedly growing, and he landed his best punch of the fight, a hard left during the opening exchanges in the fifth. Even at this early stage, Hopkins looked to be tiring, and it was Calzaghe who was controlling the tempo of the fight. Despite losing the sixth round, Calzaghe came back in the seventh with some good combinations to the torso of Hopkins. However, a frustrated Calzaghe was still unable to fight at a pace that suited him and Hopkins continued to grapple in the middle of the ring thereby continually decreasing the tempo of the fight.
The Welsh National anthem welcomed Calzaghe as he exited his corner at the beginning of the eighth, the liveliest round of the fight. Calzaghe was able to land a clean right, but Hopkins retaliated with a great right of his own, and Enzo could be heard warning his son that he needed to up the tempo and land more combinations of punches. By the ninth, Hopkins was visibly becoming tired. His mouth gaped wide open as he gasped for oxygen under the mass of blurry lights above his head, and Calzaghe was finally able to break through Hopkins marvellous defence, and hurt his opponent for the first time in the contest. With two rounds remaining, the American Hopkins showed off his talent for gamesmanship and claimed a phantom low blow. Despite TV replays indicating that the shot was fair, the referee allowed Hopkins over four minutes to recover. The infuriated crowd taunted Hopkins with growls of ''cheat cheat'' as he returned to action in a stand off with Calzaghe in the centre of the ring. The recovery time afforded to Hopkins enabled him to take a breather away from the action and he looked rejuvenated, landing a flurry of blows to Calzaghe’s chin that enabled him to nick the tenth. The eleventh and penultimate round was dramatic, and Hopkins claimed another low blow. This time the referee justifiably ignored it, before Calzaghe landed an accomplished right at the end of the round.
In a gripping final round, Calzaghe threw more punches than his exhausted opponent, and looked far more energetic and active as he moved around the ring. Hopkins stood back as he had done all fight, and invited Calzaghe forward. As the final bell sounded, both fighters became engaged in a brawl in the middle of the ring, before raising their arms to claim victory.
Although Calzaghe’s performance was scrappy, it would have been an injustice if he had not been awarded victory. He out boxed his opponent, and threw over a hundred more punches over twelve disjointed rounds. The man from Newbridge finished the stronger, and made sure of his victory by upping his work rate in the final rounds. Sweaty, bruised, but relieved, Calzaghe said ''after six or seven rounds I felt him struggling. He couldn’t handle the pace so he took a rest and the referee allowed it. I feel very proud of what I've achieved. When I turned pro with my dad as my trainer people laughed. But now we've shown them''. This was Calzaghe's night. Victory in America is a dream no longer.
There is no doubt that this was certainly Calzaghe's toughest fight to date. He struggled to cope with Hopkins’s tactic of fighting on the inside, and was unable to make use of either his left jab, or his famed hand speed. Hopkins is a defensive master, and he frustrated his Welsh opponent throughout the contest by refusing to come forward, instead preferring to attack on the counter. Calzaghe dropped his hands in an attempt to draw the 'Executioner' into a boxing fight, but Hopkins was far more savvy that any of Joe's previous opponents and remained on the back foot, throwing accurate punches and landing the cleaner shots throughout. ‘I didn't box as well as I could, it was bit messy’, Calzaghe said ‘Hopkins was very dirty on the inside. But I fought at a new weight for the first time, got put down and still managed to win. I'm very proud, I came to America to fight, and to win’.
In defeating Hopkins in front of a star-studded audience, Calzaghe won the much respected world light-heavy-weight title as recognised by the Ring magazine, and is now just four victories short of Rocky Marciano's forty-nine victory record. The Newbridge boxer is Britain's longest reigning world champion. Recently awarded BBC Sport's Personality of the Year, he is at last winning the accolades and respect he deserves. Acknowledged as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, Calzaghe entered the ring as heavy favourite. But he couldn't have got off to a worse start. Disaster struck when Hopkins landed a heavy right to Calzaghe's nose in the second minute of the bout. Calzaghe was cut, and visibly shaken. In his first fight in the Nevada desert, Calzaghe was too relaxed during the opening exchanges, he dropped his hands, and got too close to Hopkins, who was able to catch the Welshman with a wicked right hand that sent him crashing to the canvas. Hopkins was unable to take proper advantage however. His forty-three years prevented him launching an onslaught after the knockdown that may have prevented the dazed and confused Calzaghe continuing. Instead, Hopkins was only able to throw one more decent shot in the opening round. Nevertheless the judges scored the first round 10-8 to Hopkins.
Rounds two and three told similar stories. Hopkins continued to hold Calzaghe when they got close in an attempt to slow the fight down, and prevent Calzaghe operating at a fast tempo. Hopkins continually fought on the back foot inviting Calzaghe to fight up close, which allowed him to demonstrate his greater strength in the grappling that ensued and dominated the opening rounds. Despite the ''Wales, Wales'' chants that echoed around the arena at the end of the third, Calzaghe looked subdued as he trounced back towards to his father, and trainer, Enzo, in his corner.
The fourth round was very scrappy, and Hopkins continually led with his head, which forced a warning from the referee, Joe Cortez. But, this was a better round for Calzaghe who was able to land a good left jab in the last ten seconds, and raised the volume in the crowd by lifting his arms into the air on the bell. Calzaghe's confidence was markedly growing, and he landed his best punch of the fight, a hard left during the opening exchanges in the fifth. Even at this early stage, Hopkins looked to be tiring, and it was Calzaghe who was controlling the tempo of the fight. Despite losing the sixth round, Calzaghe came back in the seventh with some good combinations to the torso of Hopkins. However, a frustrated Calzaghe was still unable to fight at a pace that suited him and Hopkins continued to grapple in the middle of the ring thereby continually decreasing the tempo of the fight.
The Welsh National anthem welcomed Calzaghe as he exited his corner at the beginning of the eighth, the liveliest round of the fight. Calzaghe was able to land a clean right, but Hopkins retaliated with a great right of his own, and Enzo could be heard warning his son that he needed to up the tempo and land more combinations of punches. By the ninth, Hopkins was visibly becoming tired. His mouth gaped wide open as he gasped for oxygen under the mass of blurry lights above his head, and Calzaghe was finally able to break through Hopkins marvellous defence, and hurt his opponent for the first time in the contest. With two rounds remaining, the American Hopkins showed off his talent for gamesmanship and claimed a phantom low blow. Despite TV replays indicating that the shot was fair, the referee allowed Hopkins over four minutes to recover. The infuriated crowd taunted Hopkins with growls of ''cheat cheat'' as he returned to action in a stand off with Calzaghe in the centre of the ring. The recovery time afforded to Hopkins enabled him to take a breather away from the action and he looked rejuvenated, landing a flurry of blows to Calzaghe’s chin that enabled him to nick the tenth. The eleventh and penultimate round was dramatic, and Hopkins claimed another low blow. This time the referee justifiably ignored it, before Calzaghe landed an accomplished right at the end of the round.
In a gripping final round, Calzaghe threw more punches than his exhausted opponent, and looked far more energetic and active as he moved around the ring. Hopkins stood back as he had done all fight, and invited Calzaghe forward. As the final bell sounded, both fighters became engaged in a brawl in the middle of the ring, before raising their arms to claim victory.
Although Calzaghe’s performance was scrappy, it would have been an injustice if he had not been awarded victory. He out boxed his opponent, and threw over a hundred more punches over twelve disjointed rounds. The man from Newbridge finished the stronger, and made sure of his victory by upping his work rate in the final rounds. Sweaty, bruised, but relieved, Calzaghe said ''after six or seven rounds I felt him struggling. He couldn’t handle the pace so he took a rest and the referee allowed it. I feel very proud of what I've achieved. When I turned pro with my dad as my trainer people laughed. But now we've shown them''. This was Calzaghe's night. Victory in America is a dream no longer.
18/06/2008
Boxing is far better than playing Cricket
Recently I had an argument with a friend. He is a cricketer. He had a very serious expression of disappointment on his face when I claimed that cricket was not a sport, but in fact, simply a game. And not a very good one at that. I shuffled backwards when I thought he was going to hit me, which led to me inform him that boxing is a better sport. He scoffed in a very cricket-like way when I said this. And, so I told him I would prove it by writing it down.Every Saturday morning (only in the summer of course, and when it isn't raining and the weather man comes on TV with his smiley face and promises it definitely won’t be raining) he strolls down to the local cricket field where he puts on multiple layers of white/beige clothing. He wears white trousers that look like they are made of cheap imitation silk. And he puts on a thick white woolly jumper. It is so thick a whole sheep has definitely been used in the process of making it. He only puts on his trousers after he has carefully placed a white (of course) plastic box over his groin area. This I am told is to protect his crown jewels from the solid red circular piece of wood, in the shape of a ball, that they 'bowl' at each other. He then covers his face in factor two-hundred and fifty, and folds wraparound sunglasses over his eyes. A Royal Marine in Iraq wears less protection during an ambush.I have watched him play once. I arrived at the ground early in the morning. The sun's rays were strong, but the woolly jumpers prevailed. A team of men and boys ranging from the ages of 14 and 144 jogged onto the pitch. As far as I could tell, at least fifty per cent of the 'fielding' team were clinically obese. And whilst watching the game I understood why. Nobody moved. Every player just stood still absolutely motionless, admiring the aeroplanes overhead, occasionally watching the bowler throw a ball towards the stumps strategically positioned behind the batsman (donned in white jumper and metal helmet of course). I couldn't help thinking 'what is the point of this?...Do these guys actually find this fun?...Do the spectators enjoy spending their weekends watching amateur cricketers stand around as if they forgot to move when someone told them the grass was being covered with tarmac, picking their noses, day dreaming about what else they could be doing on a sunny day in august?'. Surely even 'Country Life is more exciting'? But, then it became obvious. These guys don't actually enjoy watching or playing cricket. They enjoy the male company that comes with being part of a team, or spectators of the local cricket team. It is often asserted that there are no homosexual footballers. This always seemed very strange to me, since one in ten men are apparently gay. But, now it makes sense. They all play cricket. They bat for the other team. On Saturday mornings.There are no women at cricket games. Even the 'tea-lady' was male. I think. Every one who plays is normally very middle class. It is after all a gentleman's game. They are all white, and are balding (even the twenty-year olds). I don't like cricket. And I don't love it either. It is one of those British pastimes that claims sport stattus, one that we invented, but aren't any good at. That only a handful of countries around the world bother to play is testament to its pathetic nature. Secretly, including those that play it, nobody really enjoys cricket. Even commentators sigh at having to pretend to be excited watching a bunch of homesexual South Africans stand around on a field, occasioanlly screaming 'He's out', and then hugging each other when a piece of wood falls over.Boxing, on the other hand is a true and popular sport. Boxing fans really do appreciate its uniqueness and the skills involved. Nobody comes to watch boxing to drink tea and chat about the weather. Boxing as we know it today has emerged, but not changed much from the London Prize Ring Rules of the late eighteenth century. Admitedly, after a dull patch in the last couple of years, it is a sport that has experienced a recent surge in popularity especially in Britain, in part due to the successes of excellent British boxers like Joe Calzaghe, David Haye, and in particular the very likeable Ricky Hatton. It has also managed to fend off rival sports in the US, including MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) and cemented its position as the number one combat sport in the world. In Mexico, Mexican boxers are treated like Gods. In America, boxers are saluted in their home states as heroes, and in the Philippines, Manny Pacquiao is more popular than God.I like boxing, because it promotes respect. Ask anybody who has stepped into a ring if it has taught him or her to respect an opponent and they will answer in a firm toned, straight-eyes, very positive single syllabed ‘Yes’. Once you have been beaten up in the ring, you immediately find yourself to be a more humbled homosapien. You begin to respect everyone, teachers, parents, peers, no matter where they are from, regardless of colour, religion or creed. I have a cousin who boxes in Northern Ireland. The first thing he learned was that there was no sectarianism in the boxing gym. Any segregation that existed in the fractious communities in Belfast didn’t exist in the West Belfast Boxing gym. Boxing enabled black men in 50s and 60s America to achieve success and superstar status in a racist, divisive community. Joe Louis, the first African-American Heavy weight Champion of the World became a national hero, and cememnted his legendary status by representing his country, when he didn't have to, in World War Two.Boxing also promotes physical fitness. 'Super-fit' is about the only word capable of describing a boxer primed for a fight. Unlike cricketers, boxers train endlessly in an attempt to be at their peak level of fitness come fight night. To be anything less than at full fitness not only reduces your chances of success in the ring, but can lead to inury too. That is not to say boxing is a dangerous sport. It isn't. Protective head gear and the excellent training and supervision offered by dedicated coaches up and down the country mean boxing is as safe, if not safer than other sports.As a spectacle boxing is far superior to cricket in terms of enjoyment and entertainment. I can honestly say that I have never sat down and watched a cricket game and then come away enthralled at what I have just witnessed. It is almost a chore having to watch a game of cricket. It cannot provide the same sort of enjoyment or arouse passionate emotions like a boxing fight can. I genuinely can't count the number of times I have sat and watched a boxing fight, unable to remain calm and seated on my chair. The emotions it arouses watching two men at the peak of their sport challenge each other in the ring. It is as Roy Keane once exclaimed, 'the pinnacle of sport - one on one combat, with nobody to help you in there, except yourself'.Recently I was lucky enough to find myself in Las Vegas to watch Joe Calzaghe defeat one of the greatest boxers of his generation, Bernard Hopkins. The atmosphere in the Planet Hollywood arena was electric. With every punch thrown, the crowd ooed and awed, appreciating the skill and technique on display. Calzaghe won in front of a star-studded audience and we all (with the exception of Hopkins) went home happy and satisfied.My friend, boxing is certainly better than cricket.
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