B-Hop, Winky, Beckham, and The Crooks

Bernard Hopkins (left) and Winky Wright are no longer the fighters they used to be.

And I'm back. I was burned out like Tarik Glenn last week, but I have returned, refreshed and ready to wax unpoetically. Got some catching up to do.

Caught the Hopkins-Wright fight Saturday night on HBO PPV. It was pretty boring, two old guys grabbing and holding each other all night in a very close match between two even boxers. Two things I'll take away from the fight: Number one, I used to think Hopkins was just a saavy veteran who knew all the tricks and used them to his advantage at every turn, which I have no problem with. But after a B-Hop headbutt in the third round opened up a gash over Winky's left eye, Jim Lampley and Co. made him sound (at least to me) like a flat-out dirty fighter who just knows how to be sneaky. Almost like boxing's version of John Stockton. Made me lose a little respect for him. Number two, I was almost outraged that the judges scored the fight by such a wide margin. One judge gave Hopkins eight rounds, the other two nine. There's no excuse for a professional judge to score that fight that lopsided. I'm just some schmo who who sits up eating cherry turnovers and drinking pink lemonade all day, and even I did a better job of scoring that fight. From my couch, I had it 116-114 Hopkins, six rounds too four with two rounds even. I know it's unpopular to score a round even once in a fight, let alone twice, but that was the kind of fight this was. Nearly impossible to call. Most of the rounds could have gone either way (although I definitely think B-Hop controlled the "championship" portion of the fight, he was clearly the better conditioned boxer, had more in the tank at the end ), and if Winky had gotten the decision, I would have had no problem with that at all. Really, the most fitting conclusion would have been a draw. There was no definitive winner in this fight, contrary to what the judge's scorecards indicated.

Looking forward, those were two future Hall-of-Famers in the ring Saturday, but both of them were obviously past their primes. Hopefully, they'll see the writing on the wall and hang it up now rather than later. Of course, that's not gonna happen. Never does with boxers. The writing will have to jump off the wall and start yelling and screaming at them before they get the picture.

A year from now, we'll see Winky in the ring again, being outclassed by Jermain Taylor in an ill-advised rematch. We'll be shelling out another $49.95 (+fees/taxes) to watch B-Hop get pummeled by some young light heavyweight, as a despondent Lampley calls the action, everyone just hoping that the corner steps in before he ends up irrevocably damaged. And that still won't be enough. With boxers, you gotta bang the point home over and over and over again.

That Team USA scrimmage was pretty competitive. And Durant looked good (22 points on 9-of-14 shooting). Put him down for 22-24 a night next year, he's gonna be better right away than people expect.

David Beckham has come to America...I don't care. He's playing for the hometown Galaxy...I don't care. He made his debut this past weekend...didn't watch it. For him to make soccer important important in this soccer in this, he'd have to be equal to Pele as a player...he's not. Not even remotely (my buddy Marlon said he isn't even one of the ten best players in the world). Look, apparently this Beckham guy is a good soccer player and the most famous athlete in the world. And he seems like a nice guy. But nobody in this country knows him or cares about him. He's not relevant here.

Now, on to the criminals:

Mike Vick = bad man. Allegedly. And now ESPN is reporting that he has been banned from training camp by Roger Goodell. Congratulations, Falcons fans: Joseph Harrington is your new starting quarterback. You must be ecstatic.

I think it's good that dogfighting has been brought to light, now that it's been exposed maybe we can put an end to it. I've read some terrible things about it. Did you know that they starve the dogs to make them more aggressive, or that they kill the losers by hanging, electrocuting, and shooting them, among other methods? It's the highest form of animal cruelty.

And I don't know what to make of this whole Tim Donaghy thing. At the very least, he's totally compromised the integrity of the league. People always joked about the league fixing games and complained about the shaky officiating; this is the worst thing that could have ever happened to David Stern's league. It's gonna hang over every poorly officiated big playoff game like a black cloud for years to come. Look what you've done, Tim Donaghy. I hope you get life in prison.