Dinner Was Delicious, Thank You

Caught the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather fight Saturday night in a rather unique setting: a boxing gymnasium transformed into what an associate aptly described as something of a “boxing speakeasy.” For $30, an individual received a seat (some of which were actually inside a boxing ring), unlimited Corona and tequila, and free Mexican cuisine, which was exceedingly tasty even though some of it ended up dribbling onto our shirt at one point.

The fight itself never quite dribbled onto our shirt, but we also never felt compelled to describe it as “delicious” (as we did for the chicken and rice heaped onto our styrofoam plate). This isn’t to say that it was a bad fight – on the whole, we were definitely on the plus side of neutral about the whole experience. But much of that had to do with the environs and atmosphere and not the actual fight itself. After a time it became clear that De La Hoya really had no chance to win if he didn’t knock Mayweather out, and since he couldn’t get a clear shot at his head, it was obvious this wasn’t going to happen.

So while Oscar may have made Floyd wizz blood later in the evening by repeatedly bludgeoning his kidneys, if the “beating” Mayweather took was unpleasant, he definitely wasn’t showing it – he spent much of the time smiling at De La Hoya’s wild flurries of punches (you almost got the sense that he was smiling at the pro-De La Hoya crowd’s excited reaction, as if to say, “I find it hilarious that you all think he’s actually hurting me.”)

While we wouldn’t profess to be anything close to a boxing aficionado, it was clear that Mayweather perfectly manipulated the rules of the sport by taking less shots but landing way more of them to win by split decision. It was an impressive if unspectacular performance, one that left us glad we’d spent $30 on beer, food and a unique view of a big screen but also pleased that we don’t devote more than approximately 52 minutes per calendar year thinking and writing about the sport of boxing.

--------------------

In case you missed it:

-- Apparently the bridge of the nose is an area that tends to bleed quite a bit when it runs into Tony Parker’s face. And, apparently, the best that NBA medical staffs can do for severe lacerations in the closing minutes of NBA games is to throw a sticky bandage on them and hope for the best. Extremely disappointing for anyone who likes entertaining basketball that the Spurs managed to hold off the Suns in Game 1 in Phoenix. Though we will admit that the notion of the Spurs making Steve Nash “ugly” (a la Ed Norton’s character in 25^th Hour) pretty aptly sums up what San Antonio hoops is all about. Not particularly pleasing to look at but ultimately pretty effective.

-- Also, let it be known that from this day forth, all future important announcements pertaining to the Yankees organization will be made from the owner’s box – by Roger Clemens himself. Later this afternoon, The Rocket will be announcing a 2 p.m. early release for Memorial Day weekend.