Sports Illustrated scribe inaccurately heaps praise upon himself

Published:July 28th, 2008
Comments:No Comment
Category:Uncategorized, User`s Boxing Prediction/Talk

You gotta love the media. For every correct prediction we deliver on, we probably miss on five. It's odd though, you'll never see a story headlined, 'I'm an idiot.' SI.com's boxing writer Chris Mannix was in self-congratulatory mode after Antonio Margarito's victory over Miguel Cotto.

"Ever since I first learned about Miguel Cotto-Antonio Margarito, I've felt alone on an island. Why? Because I think I'm the only one who believes Margarito can win. 'I think you are,' said Ed Keenan, one of the PR coordinators for this event, in the press room a few hours before the fight. 'Everyone out here seems to like Cotto.'

I wouldn't quote Mr. Keenan as the research king of boxing. I love the guy but I've talked to Ed dozens of times at events, it's 50-50 if he gets my name correct!

Chris was definitely in the minority with his selection but if he checked the local Las Vegas paper or walked around radio row, he would have seen that he wasn't alone.

In Saturday's Las Vegas Review Journal media poll seven of 27 media folks chose the 'Tijuana Tornado.' Here are the seven who nailed Margarito: Dave Cokin - ESPN1100, Octavio Gallegos - ESPN Deportes, Nat Gottlieb - HBO.com, Steve Cofield - ESPN1100/Yahoo! Sports, Robert Morales - LB Press Telegram, George Willis - N.Y. Post and Steve Kim - Maxboxing.com.

Plus Yahoo! Sports posted a story about MaxBoxing's Kim, the leader of the Margarito brigade. Steve picked a Margarito KO and nailed the way it would come down.

"With the style and physical matchup, Margarito can do some things in the second half of the fight that other guys weren't able to (against Cotto). I think he's going to be relentless, heavy-handed and has a great a chin. Unlike a Shane Mosley, who's a little older, Margarito is going to come at a steady pace and build momentum."

My radio partner, Cokin has stated on the air just about everyday for four weeks that he was picking Margarito. And he also did the unheard of from the brass-balled media, he put his money down on Margarito as well. Aside from the lack of research on the fight picks, Mannix did a nice job on his fight blog. He turned in some funny lines.

11:03 p.m. -- Obligatory Make Fun of Michael Buffer Comment: I see Buffer went with the white suitcoat tonight. I'm also told he went with L'Oreal instead of Maybelline. I swear, I've dated women who use less makeup.

I love it. Buffer drives me nuts. Lazy radio guys turn to him for guest spots as if he's some sort of boxing expert. The ringcard girls are at every fight too, let's turn to them for analysis.

11:14 -- Stephen A. Smith in the house. I mention that because that seems to be the only "celebrity" in attendance tonight. Apparently, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates thought last night's USA-Canada exhibition was a better ticket

I will say SAS's seat sucked. He was two rows behind me in the media section. You lose out to Cofield in the seat lottery, that's a slap in the face.