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This is one of the more bizarre sports video you’ll see all year.

Jesse Titsworth bends down and kisses his opponent behind the ear during their boxing match, and Jesse Vargas reacts by punching him in the face while the ref is breaking them apart.

The commentators (Jim Lampley, Max Kellerman, and Lennox Lewis) made it even more interesting with their discussion….. Lampley breaks the traditional straight-laced-analyst-role by saying “Vargas knocked the shit out of him” and Kellerman makes fun of the name “Titsworth”

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.

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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”.

Floyd Mayweather is momentarily retired, and he’s using his newfound freedom to vent about HBO’s treatment of black fighters. There is no secret that although Floyd was the best boxer in the world, HBO NEVER threw roses at his feet. He was never treated like the king of boxing, the announcers never fawned at his performances, and he thinks it’s because he’s black.

“They talk about Kelly Pavlik, a white fighter, like he’s the second coming. Or they go crazy over Manny Pacquiao. But I’m a black fighter,” Mayweather said. “Is it racial? Absolutely. They praise white fighters, they praise Hispanic fighters, whatever. But black fighters, they never praise.

“I’ve noticed it for a long time but I couldn’t say anything because I had to do business with them. I’ll still do business with them, but I’m done holding my tongue.”

HBO responded with the typical corporate drivel press release “Floyds statements were unfortunate…blah blah … we love Floyd blah blah”.

I think Floyd was never really praised because he was too talented for his own good. Think about the guys Mayweather mentioned, Kelly Pavlik, Manny Pacquiao… those are mortal boxers. Pavlik is a slugger who gets in there and mixes it up, and the same goes for Manny. Pavlik nearly had his head taken off by Jermain Taylor in the first fight, and that made for exciting television.

On the other hand, Floyd Mayweather is SO good that his opponents can rarely get a clean hit on him, let alone knock him to the mat. Excellent boxing skill doesn’t always translate to well in terms of exciting television. You can’t be considered a “great boxer” by the media until someone beats your ass and then you get up.

Oh yeah, and I have to include this quote….because it’s so damned funny.

“Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant, Emanuel Steward, they’re always talking about the negative things in my life,” Mayweather said. “”Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant, Emanuel Steward, they’re always talking about the negative things in my life,” Mayweather said. “But I’ve seen Jim Lampley in the same strip club as me before. They always want to talk about me going to strip clubs, but they don’t want to talk about that. They always want to talk about me going to strip clubs, but they don’t want to talk about that.

Wait… so does this mean Jim Lampley goes to black strip clubs? Oh the comedic material this provides…