Ross Tossed (Okay, She Asked to Leave)

Veteran boxing judge C.J. Ross has been granted a leave of absence by the Nevada State Athletic Commission amid continued controversy surrounding her scoring of Floyd Mayweather’s recent defeat of Saul Alvarez.

Ross scored the Saturday night fight as a 114-114 draw, resulting in a majority-decision victory for the fighter known as ‘Money.’  The two other judges that scored the 12-round bout, which more resembled a technical demonstration by Mayweather, saw it as 117-111 and 116-112 for the winner.

Despite initially standing by her scorecard and telling TMZ, “I stand behind my decision,” Ross later asked to step down after 22 years of judging.  Keith Kizer, the executive director of the Athletic Commission, told KLAS-TV that Ross did, “.. not want to take away from the story.”

But to correct his statement, Ross became a sizable part of the story.

For full disclosure, I am not a boxing judge -- I'm a hack writer and PR guy.  However, by the words of boxing analysts and what I saw with my eyes, it could be argued Alvarez won one, maybe two rounds at most.  But what didn’t occur was a draw.  Mayweather clearly won the contest, and most fans or pundits wouldn’t have argued if the judges scored every round for Mayweather.

Floyd, what did you think of Ross' scoring?  Bieber is still dazed.

Mayweather, regarded as the pound-for-pound best in boxing, peppered Alvarez with the jab at will and deftly dodged most every punch from ‘Canelo.’  The volume of precise, speed punches from ‘Money,’ who arguably remains the fastest man in boxing at the age of 36, won the fight -- except on the scorecard of Ross.

Unfortunately, this is the second scoring controversy in as many years for questionable official.

In 2012, Ross judged the oft disputed Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley fight.  While Pacquiao landed considerable more punches, appeared to control most rounds and even hurt Bradley at times, Ross and fellow judge Duane Ford scored the fight 115-113 for Bradley.  Only Jerry Roth gave the fight to ‘Pacman’ (115-113).

In both cases, Ross scored in favor of the underdog when the majority of the boxing world watched the favorite dominate.  At least with the Bradley fight, another judge was on her side.  However, a post-fight review by the World Boxing Organization saw five independent judges all score the fight for 'Pacman.'

The scorecards from the Mayweather vs. Alvarez fight.

Ross’ decisions only feed into preexisting stereotypes about boxing and beg sports fans to ask questions about the integrity of the sport.  (And while Ross had nothing to do with this, Mayweather’s dominance also begs questions about matchmaking and hype in boxing for casual observers.)

Leading up the fight, the odds on a prop bet for a draw went from 30-1 to 8-1, suggesting a large amount of money being bet on said draw.  Coincidentally, Ross scored the fight a draw.

I don’t think Ross was paid off for her ruling as Teddy Atlas suggested on ESPN.  But it also provides great circumstantial evidence for conspiracy theorists.  I also don’t know enough boxing history to know if Ross is the Angel Hernandez of boxing judges, but it sure seems like it.

By stepping down it appears Ross is admitting something improper happened on Saturday night, which seems to be the right thing to do.   And at least in this fight the winning fighter actually won.

(And despite all my desire to watch a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight, I think I managed to write that without bias.)

By the way, what did you think of Ross' scoring, Floyd:

Images courtesy ESPN.com, For The Win and USA Today.

The Greatest (Comic) of All Time

The fine folks over at Deadspin’s The Stacks recently put together a post on a pop culture time capsule, a 1978 DC comic featuring Superman and Muhammad Ali.

The famed comic, entitled Superman vs. Muhammad Ali, was a 72-age oversize edition that was also reissued in 2010 in a hardcover form.  Part of a collectors’ series issues by DC, the comic included a wrap-around cover featuring the likenesses of many stars of the day -- and despite being a literary piece, it still strikes me as odd that Kurt Vonnegut was included, but he was a big deal.

Interestingly, at the time of its delayed release in 1978, Ali had lost the world heavyweight boxing title to Leon Spinks.

In addition to providing the backstory behind the famed comic images from its pages, The Stacks’ post also includes two embedded YouTube links -- a clip from the original production of the comic (below) and a recent interview with DC Comics artist Neal Adams.

Here is a link to a Wikipedia entry specifically about the 1978 comic and follow this link to check out the Deadspin post.

Image courtesy DeadSpin.

Welcome to the Sci-Fi State

If you heard that ‘I told you so,’ it arose from the grave of the nearest deceased Sci-Fi writer in response to the recently leaked National Security Administration surveillance program.

With the advent of great technology comes the opportunity to use technology.  And in the case of the United States government, technology and rubber stamp courts have provided the opportunity to monitor the private actions of citizens in the name of security.

As reported by the Guardian and Washington Post, a program named PRISM is now the largest info aggregate for raw intelligence used by the NSA.  Through PRISM, the U.S. government is intercepting and cataloguing consumer data from online giants and telecom companies for use in surveillance activities.

Since the program’s revelation on June 6, there was a bit of outrage, understandably, but the reaction has been strikingly subdued.  Sure, some people were upset, but this scandal feels a bit highbrow and we are fighting Terrorism, right?  So can we get back to Benghazi?

Libertarians will tell you such sweeping surveillance should be a Clear Violation of our Guaranteed Constitutional rights.  And they’re right:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized

So where are the Protectors of Constitutional Rights?  Many politicians that recently called to Arms to protect to Constitution stand markedly quiet as the Fourth Amendment is endlessly bludgeoned in the name of security.  The Irony isn’t lost here.

But is it doing its job?  Even with a tip from a foreign government and seemingly unlimited surveillance ability, how do attacks like Boston, or even Fort Hood, continue?

The government is data mining its citizenship.  What else can they use that data for?

Some will tell you the program has had results.  Others will claim it hasn’t done enough.  But the government is clearly willing to ignore Constitutional Rights.  With the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court rubber stamping and supposed oversight functions comatose, the surveillance state has been born.

Welcome to the real life Sci-Fi novel.

Image via Wikipedia.

The Reactionary Art of Prognostication

The Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers series sits tied and the pundits are swinging wildly for the fences.

Following an enthralling game one victory in the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals by the Heat -- one that came in overtime and left experts questioning Pacers head coach Frank Vogel -- the prognosticators sang the praises of the defending champions from Miami.

On ESPN’s flagship basketball program, its four-member panel of experts questioned if the Heat would decimate the Pacers at home in Game Two and would go on to sweep the series.

And then the Pacers won, guided by budding superstar Paul George and the human skyscraper Roy Hibbert.  Whoops.

Now, the analysts are singing the Pacers’ song and putting the team on the precipice of winning the title.  They toss about stats -- the Heat’s role players are shooting 16 percent and Shane Battier is yet to make a shot.  And the experts expect that to continue?  C’mon. 

Can we just settle down a bit?  I think we’re all pretty sure Battier will make a shot or two in the series.  And I think we all know the Heat are the better team.  So why are we so quick to swing predications?

I'm certainly no expert when compared to Magic Johnson and the like, but the Heat were in nearly this exact position last year when down 2-1 to the Pacers in the Semifinals.  The Pacers are a better team this year, but the Heat also won 27-straight games this year.

I'm still taking the Heat.

Image courtesy Business Insider.

Kobe Didn't End My Fantasy Season

Kobe Bryant’s season-ending injury crushed the title hopes of many fantasy team owners.

I didn’t flinch.  And no, I don’t have nerves of steel or a cupcake matchup.  I play in the league that should not be.

Filled with nonexistent owners, minimal competition and a free agent pool abundant with opportunity, this fantasy basketball league is very pathetic.  But it allows me to recover quickly from what should be a devastating injury.

I’ve consistently played fantasy football and baseball for many years, but I’m a relative novice in basketball.  I joined a 10-team league in 2011-12 that was competitive and fun.  But for the 2012-13 season, only six players joined and we were unable to rally to eight or 10 prior to the draft.

Because of this, each team made the playoffs before we even drafted.   Two teams coasted through the regular season as their managers made minimal moves.  Two others checked in from time-to-time to stay competitive.  And my friend Dan and I dominated the regular season and post-season to meet in the championship.

Actually, Dan and I seem to meet regularly in many fantasy postseason matchups and always have close games -- and we’re currently facing off in a 16-category baseball league where we sit tied at eight after seven days.  But now it’s rematch time after Dan stole the 2011-12 basketball championship.

Not Kobe Bryant.  At All.

Before advanced imaging could reveal the full extent of Bryant’s Achilles injury, I dropped the superstar.  And because of the lack of teams in the league and resulting deep player pool, I managed to snag the surging Raymond Felton (88 percent owned Yahoo) to fill the void.

Felton can’t match the frenetic pace Bryant has maintained of late to carry the Lakers.   But I play in a daily league, so I’ve also been dropping and adding players each day to stuff the stats.  With the depth available, I’ve added the likes of Greivis Vasquez (81%), Andrei Kirilenko (72%), Jimmy Butler (36%) and Corey Brewer (31%) to my team.

The results have been promising.  In our two-week championship, I currently lead Dan by a score of six-to-three.  Our categories favor stat stuffing, so I’m going to continue add/dropping players in an effort to win.

Provided I focus on maintaining high percentages in field goals and threes, I should be able to win points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks.  That alone should give me a win, plus I currently lead both percentage categories.  I’ll likely lose turnovers, where I currently have less, and threes may be unreachable.  But a seven-to-two win may be possible, and gives me enough leeway to buy into the stat stuffing strategy.

Bryan’t injury should cripple my team, but I still see a road to my first fantasy basketball championship.

Images Courtesy:  LA.RawSignal.com; and ESPN.com.

TUF 17 Finale: Boy Wonder Wins Split Decision

TUF season 17 reached its conclusion on Saturday night with a card punctuated by spectacular fights and surprising results as the season champion was crowned in Las Vegas.

The TUF Finale Fight
Kelvin Gastelum was eager to throw blows with Uriah Hall, who seemed content to allow the smaller fighter chase him around the ring.   Kelvin began scoring with takedowns, but Hall turned the corner in the second round when he started reversing position on Kelvin and scoring on the smaller fighter -- including a stunning suplex late in the five-minute period.   Hall started pushing the pace more in the third round, but Kelvin secured a few takedowns and avoided any significant damage.

Despite being heavily favored, Kelvin appeared to win the fight -- and two judges acted in kind by scoring the bout 29-28 for Kelvin.  Surprisingly, one judge gave the fight to Uriah by the same score.

With his victory, Kelvin became the youngest winner in TUF history and did so as the last pick by his Coach, Chael Sonnen.  Harley-Davidsons are in order for the champs!

The Best of the Rest

Uriah Faber (28-6) def. Scott Jorgensen (21-7)
'The California Kid' won a fight that featured a blistering pace by securing a rear naked choke in the fourth round.  The bout was an entertaining fight between two friends and Jorgenson appeared to rebound and control the fight in the third, but Faber regained momentum in the fourth and secured the win by submission, his 16th-career win by tapout.

Faber likely deserves another bantamweight title shot following the win, but he will have many detractors gunning his direction that still have ammunition -- including five loses in title fights dating back to 2008 -- that will argue others are more deserving, including Michael McDonald and Bibiano Fernandes, among others.

Cat Zingano (8-0) def. Miesha Tate (13-4)
Tate controlled the majority of the fight from the opening bell when she surged at her opponent.  But Zinagno survived multiple takedowns and submission attempts through two rounds and won with a flurry of knees in the third period.

With the win, Zingano will join UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey -- Kelvin’s favorite training partner -- as a coach on the next season of TUF ( and we have a TUF-related surprise below!).

Travis Browne (16-1-1) vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (14-7)
The pre-fight talk seemed to side with Gonzaga and then Browne claimed the first round knockout in spectacular fashion.  While defending a single-leg takedown against the cage, the towering heavyweight fighter dropped a series of elbows to the side of Gonzaga’s head that collapsed his opponent to the mat.

Bubba McDaniel (21-6) def. Gilbert Smith (5-2)
Bubba and McDaniel delivered a solid bout between two TUF contenders, but Bubba’s experience began to show as the bout advanced.  Bubba showed a number of skills against Smith, including a technical sweep from his back, and ended the contest with a triangle armbar in the third round.

And In addition to the aforementioned fights, a number of other TUF 17 contenders fought on the undercard, including:

Josh Samman (10-2) def. Kevin Casey (8-3) (TKO, round two)
Luke Barnatt (6-0) def. Collin Hart (4-2)(unanimous decision)
Dylan Andrews (16-4) def. Jimmy Quinlan (3-1) (TKO, round one)
Clint Hester (8-3) def. Bristol Marunde (12-8) (TKO, round three)

Final Thoughts
Where the hell was the Uriah Hall from the regular season?  Was this a body double?  Uriah looked content gliding and dancing, almost in a rope-a-dope-type manner.  He consistently retreated in an attempt to draw Kelvin in, but never showed his killer instincts that allowed him to dominate his early fights.  But, the runner-up certainly deserves a UFC contract and should be a future force in the middleweight division.

And who was this Bubba?  The training partner of Coach Jon Jones in Albuquerque, N.M. showed why he was favored entering the TUF season and was impressive in his fight with Gilbert Smith.   Apparently, the TUF season was difficult for Bubba, a rather large middleweight, as he had to maintain a low fighting weight during the filming because of the short period between fights.   He showed up at full strength on Saturday.

As impressive as the Cat Zingano and Miesha Tate bout was -- and it was my favorite fight of the evening, a non-stop battle between two driven competitors -- I couldn’t help but think that neither can match up with Ronda Rousey.  Zingano seemed overwhelmed by Tate’s early pace and exploded in the third with superior cardio, but Rousey will likely have the advantage in both pace and cardio in their anticipated matchup.

‘Bones’ Jones was awkward in an interview with Sonnen, who may seriously cut better promos than Ric Flair.  Jones was aloof and detached as talked distantly over Sonnen and the reporter, a fact the reporter pointed out.  Meanwhile, Sonnen just did his thing:  “My name is on the marquee and I'm a bigger draw than Rocky.  I'm soon to be champ and they call me Chael P.”

Oh, by the way, in a surprise announcement from the Big Boss Man Dana White, the next TUF with ‘Rowdy’ Rousey and Zingano will be aired on Fox Sports 1, the network’s new flagship sports channel.  In most regards, this is a big deal.  MMA wil l continue to be an important element of FOX’s future broadcasts and the show should have an opportunity to grow its ratings if the channel succeeds, as many think it may.

And, Kelvin.  Well done.  The youngest ever fighter on TUF has become the youngest champion of the show.  I doubted the young fighter every step of the way.  In fact, I still do because experience is often a significant factor in fighting.  Yet, I’m a fan of Jon Jones, the youngest ever champion, so paint me a hypocrite.   Kelvin impressed every step of the way and proved he was more than a wrestler, in addition to meeting every challenge head on -- which, rather strangely, couldn’t be said about every fighter on TUF 17.   A big congratulations are in order for the unassuming and inspirational young man.

Images Courtesy:  MMAfighting.com; another awesome GIF from FanSided.com; BloodyElbow.com; and NYPost.com.

TUF 17 Ep. 12: Expect the Unexpected, and Expected, to Make the Finale

We quickly started the episode with a giant plug for Harley-Davidson as the coaches and fighters visited a local dealership to customize motorcycles that the winning coach and fighter will receive.

With two fights on the docket, the action quickly transitioned to the first bout between Josh Samman (9-2) and Kelvin Gastellum (5-0).

Josh appeared confident, but the younger fighter opened the fight by controlling the ring on his feet -- and then taking the Team Jones fighter to the ground.  Kelvin continued to ride Josh on the mat and control the top position, but was struggling to land significant strikes.

As the round advanced, Josh attempted to move to his feet, which allowed the wrestler to take his back.  After a few moments of positioning, Kelvin was able to sink in a surprisingly easy rear naked choke for the victory.

After a brief session of tomfoolery -- including a cursing Dana White impression by Dylan Andrews -- the episode maneuvered to the second fight between Coach Jones’ Dylan (16-4-1) against the TUF 17 favorite Uriah Hall (7-2) from Chael Sonnen’s team.

The first round began with both fighters dancing to feel each other out, but Uriah began peppering Dylan with hard jabs.  Dylan attempted to stalk Uriah from the center of the ring, but appeared slow and intimidated and threw a minimal amount of strikes.  While it didn’t appear Uriah landed any outrageously strong punches, the Kiwi left the first round with a swollen face from repeated jabs.

The second round started by mirroring the first as Dylan controlled the center of the ring, yet appeared hesitant to strike -- and gave Uriah continued opportunities to attack.  However, Dylan managed a takedown and secured top position, but the Team Sonnen fighter immediately fought for a kimura and neutralized Dylan’s attack.  With less than a minute to go, Uriah released Dylan’s right arm and began striking from his back before reversing position and securing a ground-and-pound victory.

The results set up a finale between the heavily favored Uriah against the upstart Kelvin in a battle or brawlers on Saturday, April 13.

While the penultimate episode lacked spectacular fights and ancillary action, the TUF 17 season was of the most interesting in recent memory and featured an impressive array of fighters -- and many will be featured on the TUF finale card.