By Rusty Rubin
Word is that the ticket sales remain poor for the Vargas – Mosley match. Can’t say I’m surprised. Both Vargas and Mosley are pretty much over the hill, although the contrast in styles can make this an interesting fight to watch. Is it worth paying for? That’s the question. As of now, the answer appears to be ‘no.’
You can add Brian Villoria, Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito to the short list of fighters worth a PPV buy. Ivan Calderon also looks like he will be around for a long time, although constantly fighting 12-rounders can’t be easy.***
Word comes that Bernard Hopkins is going to get back into the ring again, this time against the heavier Antonio Tarver, on June 10th. BHop is always in shape, but this move up in weight at this stage of his career, when he’s looking for retirement, may not be a very smart move.***
Picking Margarito by KO over Miguel Gomez was easy, but I wasn’t expecting it that early. Top Rank seems to have some pretty good young fighters in their stable now.
This week it’s Vargas vs. Mosley. As in my last column, little has changed. We’ll skip the rationale, as it was given last week. Vargas by late TKO. Mosley cannot run forever. However with aging fighters, nothing is a given. Vargas has slowed up, but Mosley has really slowed down and his legs should allow Fernando to catch him and nail him late in the bout to cause the stoppage.
Agree or disagree, we’d like to hear from you. (Rngsportsr@aol.com).
Prayers once again for fight manager/friend Gary and Patty Brandenburg. Patty has been admitted to the hospital again.
Let’s say a prayer for the father of Eva Futch, a great friend, and the widow of legendary trainer Eddie, who passed away in 2001. Eva’s father’s cancer has returned and needs all the support we can give him, and please pray that Eva has the strength to cope with this difficult challenge she faces at so close to her having lost her esteemed husband.
Prayers needed for Elise Brown, grand daughter of Ringside Products head honcho and good boxing guy John Brown. Young Elise has heart problems.
Prayers have also helped but continue to be needed for Dennis Wilcox, brother of boxing scribe David Wilcox, who is in an Oregon hospital suffering from Leukemia. The family and everyone at Glove2Glove ask for your prayers for his total recovery.
Prayers for the return to health of Audrey Talmo, wife of Ed, a long-time boxing fan who cares about our sport.
Prayers needed for the return to health of Alfonso Luna, father of our outstanding photographer Ray Luna, who has taken ill in Southern California.
Please say prayers for the return to health of Helen Wambolt, wife of our East Coast World Boxing Hall of Fame writer Danny Wambolt. Cards will also be most welcome.***
Please say prayers for the return to health of Orazio Esposito, father of our photographer Richard Esposito.***
Prayers for the return to health of Don Donelson, father of writer Tom, and Gene Sebastian, brother of former middleweight champ Billy Soose. Both are suffering from congestive heart disease.
Please say prayers for Phill Grazide of Santa Rosa, CA. a big supporter of amateur boxing, who is suffering the crippling effects of rheumatoid arthritis.***
Needless to say we need prayers for the return to health of both former champs Greg Page and Gerald McClellan, both confined to wheelchairs.***
Glove2Glove is a non-denominational group set up to aide those boxing folks and their relatives in need of prayers and cards. We accept no money and only contact our members when someone is in need. It’s free to join. Simply send us your e-mail address. And even if you’re not a member, feel free to contact us if you are aware of some boxing person in need.***
Touching on politics briefly: What the hell are the priorities of our Government? We all know that America has been sold (out-sourced) for many years, under many administrations.
Out-sourcing jobs is one thing, but selling control of six of our ports to a foreign country is obscene, and the fact that it’s a Muslim nation, in this dangerous time, certainly doesn’t make any of us feel safer.
Yes, Dubai has been a proven friend. Has anyone asked what happens if a terrorist regime takes control over there? Also wouldn’t it be best to let Americans get the needed jobs and guard their own Country? Retired CIA or FBI agents would be my choice.
When will this giveaway of America end? Maybe we should give Texas, the Southwest and California back to Mexico, Louisiana back to the French and the original 13 Colonies back to England. If this stupidity on our government’s part goes much further, these Countries would be wise to reject their return, or better still to charge us for taking them back.
If we allow this stupidity to take place, then we need a team of proctologists going to Washington to find out how many of our representatives have head in butt disease (those who do not openly oppose this deal). And we all know the cure for that, vote the jerks out of office.
To those in the White House who seem to be going along, enough is enough! The Americans get little to nothing out of this ‘deal’ and a Muslim nation gets a major foothold with six major East Coast ports.
Racist? I prefer cautious. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.
Personally, I’m sick and tired of America appeasing the rest of the World in order to be politically correct. Haven’t we learned that no matter what we do to keep them happy, many of these people are going to hate us anyway? We have truly become and remain the ‘Ugly American’, and for no other reason then being born and live in the greatest Country in the World.
When will our President, or any President, learn that giving our Country away is not going to make them feel any differently towards us? Helping out with humanitarian aide in various crisis situations doesn’t seem to have helped, although as Americans and human beings, it is the correct thing to do.
And this President, in all his infinite wisdom, or lack of, has threatened to veto any legislation to allow this port takeover to happen. Nero, like our current President, allowed Rome to burn, or may have started the fire himself.
Doesn’t this remind us of one of the reasons the Rome fell? It should!
Predictions: The President will veto the actions of Congress. Congress will override the veto. The United Arab Emirates, based in Dubai, will pull out of the deal to protect U.S. ports in order to allow President Bush to save whatever face he has left.
Does anyone think that our elected leader would have put us in this mess if he were up for re-election? Fortunately most of Congress is. However, Therein lies the problem of term limits.
It used to be ‘Remember the Alamo’. Then it was ‘Remember the Maine’ and now it should be Remember 9/11’. America’s future as a sovereign nation may well depend upon it.***
Agree or disagree, I’d like to hear from you. I respect everyone’s opinion.
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