Hey guys Lefty inspired me with his magnificent feedback. I wrote a few pieces and because they are mine I figure I can share them. Don't mind some of the formatting errors, I don't have the originals on this computer so I pulled it from the site where I wrote it... which cannot be named.
This piece is on Zab Judah. What do you guys think? Hope you enjoy I will post a few more.
My name for this is D Simon and the name of this piece is Zab Judah: Gatekeeper and the fight for brooklyn cred.
- Boxing is nothing without traditions. Two guys fighting each other in a yard, even when one of the guys is Kimbo Slice, a decent sort and a gentleman�.amounts to little more than violence with a few provisions.
image
When Cus laid out the relationship between the real estate value of the square circle and homicide he had a twinkle in his eye� Like Enki the Mesopotamian trickster, Cus was using skillful means to make Iron Mike a means to the most coveted title in all of boxing, the heavyweight champion of the world.
Often the most intelligent people don’t make the connection: Boxing truly became itself when Plebian and Patrician alike decided that the Marquis of Queensbury rules held sway. The squared circle became more than a court of last resort to resolve the unresolvable�.it was magically transformed with proper rituals and participants into a venerable tradition amounting to much more than a fistfight with witnesses…….
Prior to the instruction of James Figg and the Marquis,under false pretenses, many men with no sense of honor paid a fee to learn how to kill with a sword. These men used provisions traditionally the recourse of the aristocracy, to settle disagreements deemed unresolvable, in the most vile and plebianof ways. These murderers, masquerading as honorable men, made the work of the Marquis of Queensbury worthy of a Noble Peace Prize. With formal boxing procedures men could settle a disputewithout recourse to murder.
Eventually men, being creative by nature extended this procedure to the role of “seconds.� Originally a second was a substitution. A second could sit in for the aggrieved party if the individual was not combat able. Groups could find a “second� that would represent them in the ring�.Mike Tyson claims that the distinction between the Blue ********s and the Red **********s started out of a Blue and Red corner�.each allowed to pick a fighter to represent them in the ring to decide who held sway.
The heavyweight champ of the world became a virtual “second� vis a vis a stand in for every man struggling to get something against the odds dealt him. The socio-economic intimacy between the working man and boxing was great enough to challenge even racism. When Louis fought Schmelling all Americans were behind him. The value of these traditions are sacred. I cringed watching Ronda Rousey turn the female UFC championship into a *****fest, more about her issue with her opponent, than creating a venerable tradition and offering her hand to Meisha Tate. How many men had to die, or kill, when challenged because of petty grudges like those offending Rousey? Settling differences constructively (in the ring) with no grudge when the fighting was done, became in itself, a means of universally expressing excellence (in combat) as opposed to the antiseptic and antisocial act of taking life because of a perceived slight. T
Traditions in boxing have evolved and are openly embraced. Instead of everyone needing to right a wrong, everyone wants to be a champ! We now seem to have more championship titles than fighters. Some traditions in boxing are a counterpoint to all that is good�.The cheater who loads gloves, the whiner, the quitter, the fight fixers and the greedy self serving promoters are a few examples of these
villains. Some traditions are narratives that have developed with the sport�.The cagey veteran, the prospect becoming a legitimate contender, the technician, the killer in the ring are all examples of
labels we put on fighters that draw upon familiar narratives. One of these labels is that of the gate keeper. “Gate keeper� is not a role relished by a fighter. It usually implies a “has been� relegated to the
role of spoiler for the up and comer.
image
During the fight between Zab Judah and Paul Malignaggi Zab made the fight about bragging rights claiming Brooklyn as the prize. Brooklyn New York is one of those places where fighters are born and bred�.back in the day to have sway in places like Brooklyn, Philadelphia, or before that London…meant something! Being a champion in one’s own back yard has always meant representing people from your neck of the woods. In some primordial way these bragging rights can be more important than whether one was a champion and especially if one was considered a gatekeeper.
Zab is a gatekeeper. More than JUST a gatekeeper I would argue that Judah is the consummate gatekeeper�.a fighter who has made the role of gatekeeper a meaningful one that extends beyond simply a veteran who has seen better days. Zab’s challenge to Paulie suggests that Zab has a healthy respect for his role�.Guarding the gates of Prospect Park, keeping Flatbush Avenue real, the fight between Zab Judah and Paulie Malignaggi was for more than a mere alphabet soup title�.it was for
bragging rights as the gate keeper, i.e. as the Catcher in the Rye, ensuring that Brooklyn maintained its reputation as a breeding ground for the Sweet Science.
Today fight sports and fighters train in many scattered places in states like California. Many of these fighters have a generic and wholesome look, hardly the look of a Jake Lamotta, Tony Galento, Roberto Duran, George Foreman, James Toney or Mike Tyson. Other parts of the world have caught up years ago and bring fighters into the professional ranks with their own narratives. Under these conditions the Judah Malignaggi fight was a pleasant anachronism� it hearkened to a simpler time when the East coast was one of the main crucibles out of which fighting men were formed. Both guys got into the narrative and both guys had the street cred to represent Brooklyn.
Malignaggi is the consumate over achiever. He was never going to knock them down, Malignaggi became boxing’s version of baseball immortal Wee Willie Keeler the man who famously “hit em where
they aint.� Willie’s preference for hitting for accuracy and not power is much the same as Malignaggi's strategy of moving and punching accurately. Paulie has maximized this strategy and used his homespun
brand of Brooklyn smaats to become a commentator and all round boxing pundit. But Paulie could never be mistaken for a guy who had the natural talent of Zab Judah. So how is it that Judah became
the consummate gatekeeper?
There is a certain school of thought that says of all the great attributes a fighter can ask for perhaps the most important one is luck. When a team starts to move a young fighter? Any little mistake can become a huge disaster…Trainer Barry Robinson’s admonition rings true here “small things, all things.� I remember when Fernando Vargas was being moved along perfectly until he ran into a guy named Trinidad and never really was the same after that fight. Was it a mistake to put him in that fight? Especially after moving him up so carefully? People used to use the same twenty twenty hindsight when questioning how Cotto came along. Cotto is finally getting the respect for his achievements that he deserves. When a fighter experiences what Bronner did against Madianna, it is always a concern, will the guy ever come back?…Just ask Jeff Lacey.
And on the highway where luck is none� the road is littered with guys like Oliver Mccall who had tremendous potential yet couldn’t bottle it. Very rarely does a fighter with the athletic finesse of a Roy Jones come along. Zab Judah is a fighter who started out with that kind of speed and potential. Judah was going to become boxing royalty and nothing was going to stand in his way.
image
Most knowledgeable boxing people recognize that the fight between Judah and Kostya Tszyu did something to Zab that exposed him. I do not use this term flippantly. The gravitas of this seminal event in Zab’s career was such that he was destined not to live up to his physical potential. What separates Zab from so many other fighters who had a similar experience, including many very talented fighters, is that Zab Judah still managed/manages to fight for championships and get fights at the elite level. If you look around at the mid weight classes quite a few guys had to beat Zab Judah to get to the next level. Garcia, Kahn are just a few of the most recent guys
to kick it with Zab�.According to many Mayweather, the top of the boxing pyramid, hit the canvas when fighting Judah!
Yet, like another true Brooklyn institution, Ralph Kramden of the HoneyMooners (“the great one� RIP Jackie Gleason), ultimately Zab always finds a way back to a central narrative of being foiled again. Judah just seems to stop. It never appears he is physically tired, nor does he ever, in the first few rounds of a fight look outclassed or outgunned. Yet as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow one can expect to see Yoel Judah yelling, imploring his son to throw hands. Yoel Judah must have the patience of a saint!
Despite the characteristics that have held him back in his career I can’t remember how many times Zab has fought for the championship. He has even won it a few times! One might say, to be the consummate gatekeeper one must be approachable. In Boxing this quality comes with safety through predictability. One must be as certain as possible with a young up and comer that the challenge will seem real, but not truly be capable of causing a real problem! With Zab there are no suprises. Glen
Johnson, an incredibly good fighter who should have had his hand raised many more times�.is a horrendous gate keeper!
image
Many who thought getting by the Road Warrior would be a relatively hard
hike in the park, wound up hiking Everest in a snow storm! Just ask Roy Jones who took on Johnson, to regain some of what he lost with Tarver. By comparison with Judah? If you make it by the first 4 rounds or so, the rest of the fight is a piece of cake. Judah’s habitual ring behavior, antics and actions are all good reasons to schedule a fight with him. His
self promotion, his social escapades�.like crap games that turn to beat downs, and his insistence that “this fight will be different� all bring fans out to the event. Brooklyn in the house baby!
When Judah and Malignaggi made their fight about Brooklyn it highlighted the destiny of both men. Neither guy was risking a career, both guys were in the twilight of their fighting careers and no championship was at stake. Yet both guys shared some similar characteristics: Both guys could be mistaken for a Spike Lee character in Sal’s Pizza parlor eating a slice. Both guys are often maligned. People resent Paulie because of his light punching power, with Zab people resent what they perceive as a lack of effort. Both guys have been successful in spite of people’s opinions. Paulie has been a champion, could have easily been declared the winner in his fight with Broner and has tremendous learned skills in the ring.
Zab has won championships, gets fights and is considered a guy that one has to beat to be taken seriously. Philly touts Danny Garcia as having the goods to represent in the square circle. Danny still has a little way to go…many people feel as though he is hyped and his dad is toxic with a big chip on his shoulder. But Brooklyn has, among others, two guys who have earned the right to represent.
One of those guys, Zab Judah has become the consummate gate keeper, the go to guy to test one’s skill and luck on the climb to boxing fame.
This piece is on Zab Judah. What do you guys think? Hope you enjoy I will post a few more.
My name for this is D Simon and the name of this piece is Zab Judah: Gatekeeper and the fight for brooklyn cred.
- Boxing is nothing without traditions. Two guys fighting each other in a yard, even when one of the guys is Kimbo Slice, a decent sort and a gentleman�.amounts to little more than violence with a few provisions.
image
When Cus laid out the relationship between the real estate value of the square circle and homicide he had a twinkle in his eye� Like Enki the Mesopotamian trickster, Cus was using skillful means to make Iron Mike a means to the most coveted title in all of boxing, the heavyweight champion of the world.
Often the most intelligent people don’t make the connection: Boxing truly became itself when Plebian and Patrician alike decided that the Marquis of Queensbury rules held sway. The squared circle became more than a court of last resort to resolve the unresolvable�.it was magically transformed with proper rituals and participants into a venerable tradition amounting to much more than a fistfight with witnesses…….
Prior to the instruction of James Figg and the Marquis,under false pretenses, many men with no sense of honor paid a fee to learn how to kill with a sword. These men used provisions traditionally the recourse of the aristocracy, to settle disagreements deemed unresolvable, in the most vile and plebianof ways. These murderers, masquerading as honorable men, made the work of the Marquis of Queensbury worthy of a Noble Peace Prize. With formal boxing procedures men could settle a disputewithout recourse to murder.
Eventually men, being creative by nature extended this procedure to the role of “seconds.� Originally a second was a substitution. A second could sit in for the aggrieved party if the individual was not combat able. Groups could find a “second� that would represent them in the ring�.Mike Tyson claims that the distinction between the Blue ********s and the Red **********s started out of a Blue and Red corner�.each allowed to pick a fighter to represent them in the ring to decide who held sway.
The heavyweight champ of the world became a virtual “second� vis a vis a stand in for every man struggling to get something against the odds dealt him. The socio-economic intimacy between the working man and boxing was great enough to challenge even racism. When Louis fought Schmelling all Americans were behind him. The value of these traditions are sacred. I cringed watching Ronda Rousey turn the female UFC championship into a *****fest, more about her issue with her opponent, than creating a venerable tradition and offering her hand to Meisha Tate. How many men had to die, or kill, when challenged because of petty grudges like those offending Rousey? Settling differences constructively (in the ring) with no grudge when the fighting was done, became in itself, a means of universally expressing excellence (in combat) as opposed to the antiseptic and antisocial act of taking life because of a perceived slight. T
Traditions in boxing have evolved and are openly embraced. Instead of everyone needing to right a wrong, everyone wants to be a champ! We now seem to have more championship titles than fighters. Some traditions in boxing are a counterpoint to all that is good�.The cheater who loads gloves, the whiner, the quitter, the fight fixers and the greedy self serving promoters are a few examples of these
villains. Some traditions are narratives that have developed with the sport�.The cagey veteran, the prospect becoming a legitimate contender, the technician, the killer in the ring are all examples of
labels we put on fighters that draw upon familiar narratives. One of these labels is that of the gate keeper. “Gate keeper� is not a role relished by a fighter. It usually implies a “has been� relegated to the
role of spoiler for the up and comer.
image
During the fight between Zab Judah and Paul Malignaggi Zab made the fight about bragging rights claiming Brooklyn as the prize. Brooklyn New York is one of those places where fighters are born and bred�.back in the day to have sway in places like Brooklyn, Philadelphia, or before that London…meant something! Being a champion in one’s own back yard has always meant representing people from your neck of the woods. In some primordial way these bragging rights can be more important than whether one was a champion and especially if one was considered a gatekeeper.
Zab is a gatekeeper. More than JUST a gatekeeper I would argue that Judah is the consummate gatekeeper�.a fighter who has made the role of gatekeeper a meaningful one that extends beyond simply a veteran who has seen better days. Zab’s challenge to Paulie suggests that Zab has a healthy respect for his role�.Guarding the gates of Prospect Park, keeping Flatbush Avenue real, the fight between Zab Judah and Paulie Malignaggi was for more than a mere alphabet soup title�.it was for
bragging rights as the gate keeper, i.e. as the Catcher in the Rye, ensuring that Brooklyn maintained its reputation as a breeding ground for the Sweet Science.
Today fight sports and fighters train in many scattered places in states like California. Many of these fighters have a generic and wholesome look, hardly the look of a Jake Lamotta, Tony Galento, Roberto Duran, George Foreman, James Toney or Mike Tyson. Other parts of the world have caught up years ago and bring fighters into the professional ranks with their own narratives. Under these conditions the Judah Malignaggi fight was a pleasant anachronism� it hearkened to a simpler time when the East coast was one of the main crucibles out of which fighting men were formed. Both guys got into the narrative and both guys had the street cred to represent Brooklyn.
Malignaggi is the consumate over achiever. He was never going to knock them down, Malignaggi became boxing’s version of baseball immortal Wee Willie Keeler the man who famously “hit em where
they aint.� Willie’s preference for hitting for accuracy and not power is much the same as Malignaggi's strategy of moving and punching accurately. Paulie has maximized this strategy and used his homespun
brand of Brooklyn smaats to become a commentator and all round boxing pundit. But Paulie could never be mistaken for a guy who had the natural talent of Zab Judah. So how is it that Judah became
the consummate gatekeeper?
There is a certain school of thought that says of all the great attributes a fighter can ask for perhaps the most important one is luck. When a team starts to move a young fighter? Any little mistake can become a huge disaster…Trainer Barry Robinson’s admonition rings true here “small things, all things.� I remember when Fernando Vargas was being moved along perfectly until he ran into a guy named Trinidad and never really was the same after that fight. Was it a mistake to put him in that fight? Especially after moving him up so carefully? People used to use the same twenty twenty hindsight when questioning how Cotto came along. Cotto is finally getting the respect for his achievements that he deserves. When a fighter experiences what Bronner did against Madianna, it is always a concern, will the guy ever come back?…Just ask Jeff Lacey.
And on the highway where luck is none� the road is littered with guys like Oliver Mccall who had tremendous potential yet couldn’t bottle it. Very rarely does a fighter with the athletic finesse of a Roy Jones come along. Zab Judah is a fighter who started out with that kind of speed and potential. Judah was going to become boxing royalty and nothing was going to stand in his way.
image
Most knowledgeable boxing people recognize that the fight between Judah and Kostya Tszyu did something to Zab that exposed him. I do not use this term flippantly. The gravitas of this seminal event in Zab’s career was such that he was destined not to live up to his physical potential. What separates Zab from so many other fighters who had a similar experience, including many very talented fighters, is that Zab Judah still managed/manages to fight for championships and get fights at the elite level. If you look around at the mid weight classes quite a few guys had to beat Zab Judah to get to the next level. Garcia, Kahn are just a few of the most recent guys
to kick it with Zab�.According to many Mayweather, the top of the boxing pyramid, hit the canvas when fighting Judah!
Yet, like another true Brooklyn institution, Ralph Kramden of the HoneyMooners (“the great one� RIP Jackie Gleason), ultimately Zab always finds a way back to a central narrative of being foiled again. Judah just seems to stop. It never appears he is physically tired, nor does he ever, in the first few rounds of a fight look outclassed or outgunned. Yet as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow one can expect to see Yoel Judah yelling, imploring his son to throw hands. Yoel Judah must have the patience of a saint!
Despite the characteristics that have held him back in his career I can’t remember how many times Zab has fought for the championship. He has even won it a few times! One might say, to be the consummate gatekeeper one must be approachable. In Boxing this quality comes with safety through predictability. One must be as certain as possible with a young up and comer that the challenge will seem real, but not truly be capable of causing a real problem! With Zab there are no suprises. Glen
Johnson, an incredibly good fighter who should have had his hand raised many more times�.is a horrendous gate keeper!
image
Many who thought getting by the Road Warrior would be a relatively hard
hike in the park, wound up hiking Everest in a snow storm! Just ask Roy Jones who took on Johnson, to regain some of what he lost with Tarver. By comparison with Judah? If you make it by the first 4 rounds or so, the rest of the fight is a piece of cake. Judah’s habitual ring behavior, antics and actions are all good reasons to schedule a fight with him. His
self promotion, his social escapades�.like crap games that turn to beat downs, and his insistence that “this fight will be different� all bring fans out to the event. Brooklyn in the house baby!
When Judah and Malignaggi made their fight about Brooklyn it highlighted the destiny of both men. Neither guy was risking a career, both guys were in the twilight of their fighting careers and no championship was at stake. Yet both guys shared some similar characteristics: Both guys could be mistaken for a Spike Lee character in Sal’s Pizza parlor eating a slice. Both guys are often maligned. People resent Paulie because of his light punching power, with Zab people resent what they perceive as a lack of effort. Both guys have been successful in spite of people’s opinions. Paulie has been a champion, could have easily been declared the winner in his fight with Broner and has tremendous learned skills in the ring.
Zab has won championships, gets fights and is considered a guy that one has to beat to be taken seriously. Philly touts Danny Garcia as having the goods to represent in the square circle. Danny still has a little way to go…many people feel as though he is hyped and his dad is toxic with a big chip on his shoulder. But Brooklyn has, among others, two guys who have earned the right to represent.
One of those guys, Zab Judah has become the consummate gate keeper, the go to guy to test one’s skill and luck on the climb to boxing fame.