A round up of the week’s sporting action.
Football
Quite a boring week really. Both local derby’s in the Premier League resulted in stalemates.
Leeds United has a new manager. He seems to have been employed for his looks according to Massimo Cellino. Joking apart one news story coming out of Leeds United really wound me up. The new manager stated that Cellino would have a say in team selection. If Cellino wants to do this why not save your club some compensation and do the whole thing yourself. Leeds had been on a good run, but that came to an end yesterday. I give the new guy till Christmas.
Rugby League
The semi-finals for the Grand –Final will see St. Helens take on Catalan, whilst Wigan will face Warrington.
Pool
As I am writing the final of the 9-ball World cup of pool is being held in Portsmouth. England A will be up against Holland.
Tennis
Well done to Andy Murray who won his first tournament in a while today. The other news story that wound me up this week was Andy apologising for his tweet. I’m sorry but he is Scottish and if he wants to support their independence then he can. So Andy you have nothing to apologise for and the people who want to abuse you for it, GET A LIFE.
Boxing
I went to bed last night in utter disbelief. Paul Smith challenged Arthur Abraham for a version of the Super-Middleweight World Championship. The fight was held in Germany and is a place notorious for some strange results. Macklin vs Sturm and Murray vs Sturm. Boxing over the years has had some very controversial decisions. Lewis vs Holyfield 1, the two mentioned above and Burns vs Beltran to name a few. Last night’s however was the worse I have ever seen. The judges who were Dick Turpin, William Plunkett and Joseph “Blueskin” Blake a bunch of highway men who wore masks and robbed people. The scores of 117-111 twice and 119-109 were a complete disgrace. Did Paul Smith do enough to win? Let’s put it this way did someone who boxed for a maximum of 45 seconds out of 3 minutes a round deserve to win?
After 3 rounds I had the score 29-28 to Abraham. After 5 rounds 49-46 to Abraham. The 6th round I split so after half the fight my scorecard read 59-56 to Abraham. The next 4 rounds saw Abraham blowing and I had Smith winning all 4. My card read 95 Abraham to 96 Smith. The 11th I again shared so going into the last I had Smith 1 point ahead 106 to 105. Abraham won the last so I had it a draw.
I am no boxing expert but Smith at least deserved a draw. If he had lost by 1 round maybe it wouldn’t be controversial but the scores that were given made a joke of the fight.
Some websites have spoken about how Abraham dominated the fight. What I say to these people is look up the word dominated. Then watch Calzaghe vs Lacy that is a dominant performance.
Even watching the replays between the rounds, Abraham could only throw 3 or 4 punches as he was tiring so much and if you watch closely 2 out of 3 hit the gloves.
All week armchair fans were saying Smith didn’t deserve the shot he would be blasted out, well looking on websites where these comments were written, there is nothing on them today, not even a well done lad you were robbed.
There is no way that Abraham will fight Smith again, in fact his promoter knew they had got out of jail, even when he was saying he won by 5 rounds you could tell he was just saying that.
For me Smith performed like a Champion during the fight, and after the fight he spoke so well and even though it must have hurt he spoke like a Champion.
I would love to see him get a rematch but I can’t see it happening. I also don’t want to see him drop down a level and get beat because he couldn’t get up for it, as he doesn’t deserve that.
I know this wouldn’t happen as he is a true professional and is someone that is a real role model in a brutal sport.
The WBO should be ashamed of what happened last night, and maybe all World title fights should be fought in a neutral venue so home advantage cannot happen.
He got his shot; he took it and was not rewarded for an amazing performance. Well done Paul Smith you showed what a Champion you are in and out of the ring.
Golf
A great 3 days golf this week, with another amazing Ryder Cup. Europe again won, but the tournament itself won, with amazing golf and an amazing atmosphere.
Across the pond
The NFL players this week have kept out of the news and this week sees the game on this side of the pond with the Raiders vs Dolphins at Wembley.
The MLB is coming towards the end of its regular season with the final play-off spots up for grabs. The main news is that in Derek Jeter could not help the Yankees gain a play-off spot in his final season. One of the modern day greats is finally calling it a day, and I’m sure he will be a 1st ballot hall of famer.
Andrew Huddlestone
@ahuddlestone77