Here’s the video of what many consider to be the fight of the year. I’ve included 2 videos in this post (both videos are the exact same thing). So if one of them doesn’t work, simply press play on the other.

 Loading ...

Mike Tyson has enough self-inflicted damage to last him three lifetimes, but somehow that just isn’t enough for some people. Between the rape charge, ear biting incident, and cocaine bust, you would think that the media doesn’t need any extra reasons to pile on…. but they do.

I witnessed two cases of unwarranted Tyson bashing tonight that irked me… just a little.

Over at Yahoo! Sports boxing blog, theres an entry titled “Taebo, a huge diamond & death threats … must be a Tyson story”.

The story centers around a man who once bought a mansion from Mike Tyson 9 years ago, and is now being investigated by the feds. The new mansion owner tried to re-sell the mansion (and a huge diamond) to undercover federal agents who let him know they were using drug money. The problem with this story is that it has absolutely nothing to do with Mike Tyson, yet it’s being ran in the “Sports” section and bears his name in the title.

Do you think you’ll ever see Yahoo! running an article that says “Man who once shook hands with Rocky Marciano murders child”?? Probably not.

————–
————–

The second instance was during tonights telecast of Margarito vs. Cotto, Mike Tyson was sitting in the crowd with two of his kids enjoying the fight. Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant gave Tyson a shout out as he appeared on the big screen, and the crowd gave Tyson an applause when they seen his image on the jumbotron. Lampley went on about how it was good to see a dad and his kids watching boxing, and that Mike was a brilliant student of the game.

Being the cynic that I am, I KNEW somebody was going to say something to completely ruin the warm and fuzzy moment. My fears were confirmed when Max Kellerman blurted out something to the effect of “considering some of Tyson’s rocky past, seeing him in this capacity is good to say the least”. Kellerman didn’t exactly say anything over the line, but it’s wack that Mike can’t even enjoy an honest night with his kids without someone making reference to his past. That tiny comment is almost saying “hey hey wait a minute, don’t forget he’s a bad guy…”.

Even the good deeds will be followed with a sly comment for all eternity.

“WOW, Mike Tyson saved that poor kids life! It’s a good thing he didn’t rape him and bite his ear… you know, because he DID do that in the past”.

“Almost” like I predicted yesterday, Antonio Margarito defeated Miguel Cotto in a TKO victory. Margarito’s insane amount of pressure built as the bout wore on and eventually wilted Cotto in round 11. By the time the fight ended, Cotto had already been to the floor once and his face was very bloodied. The camera panned over to Miguel’s wife and child who were sitting ringside, and they were both crying… so that gives you an idea of the amount of punishment he took in the last round.

Cotto was originally winning the fight through the first six rounds, he easily outboxed the slower Margarito and continually beat him to the punch. However, Margarito was like a war tank….everything Cotto threw seemed to bounce right off of him. Antonio charged forward for 11 straight rounds until Cotto simply couldn’t take it anymore.

One thing that seemed interesting is that when Max Kellerman asked Margarito if he would take a rematch with Paul Williams, the man who defeated him last year, Margarito seemed more interested in boxing Oscar De La Hoya.

Is he dodging Paul Williams? Or simply chasing a big money fight with the Golden Boy?

Madden 2009 will hit shelves in a little over two weeks from now, it’s probably a good idea to warn your girlfriend in advance that shes going to be a little lonely.

EA Sports released this vid of some of the TD celebrations that are in the game. It’s too bad Merton Hanks retired like eight years ago, his “chicken man” dance was the greatest thing in NFL history. I tried looking on YouTube for Merton’s dance and came up empty. If anyone knows where footage can be found online… hook me up.

Also, if any Sportaphile readers plan on playing Madden online via Playstation 3, hit me up.

I came across this CBS Sportsline article of the Top 50 Jerks In Sports. The list is mostly crap, but they did have an interesting and funny tidbit on Albert Belle.

This remains one of the best written descriptions of pure jerkiness ever conceived. It comes from former New York Times baseball writer Buster Olney:

“It was a given in baseball circles that Albert Belle was nuts. … The Indians billed him $10,000 a year for the damage he caused in clubhouses on the road and at home, and tolerated his behavior only because he was an awesome slugger. … He slurped coffee constantly and seemed to be on a perpetual caffeinated frenzy. Few escaped his anger — on some days he would destroy the postgame buffet … launching plates into the shower … after one poor at-bat against Boston, he retreated to the visitor’s clubhouse and took a bat to teammate Kenny Lofton’s boom box. Belle preferred to have the clubhouse cold, below 60 degrees, and when one chilly teammate turned up the heat, Belle walked over, turned down the thermostat and smashed it with his bat. His nickname, thereafter, was ‘Mr. Freeze.’”

Naturally, after reading this I went to Wikipedia to see if I could dig up any other “Crazy Al” stories. I came up empty for the most part, but I DID find out he plead guilty to stalking a hooker in 2006.

In February 2006, Belle was arrested on suspicion of stalking a woman who was identified in court as a former licensed escort. He was again arrested in charges related to the same case on May 17, 2006. On July 27, 2006, Belle plead guilty to one count of stalking and he was sentenced on August 24 to 90 days in jail and five years supervised probation. Belle had attached a GPS tracking device onto her car and obtained her phone records. Belle issued an apology to the woman stating, “I have made mistakes in my life, but I have admitted my mistakes and learned from them to be a better person.”

The great ones are always a little wonky in the head.