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MAGNO'S BULGING MAIL SACK: TEO'S SCHEDULE, THE TANK DAVIS DOUBLE STANDARD, MORE...

By Paul Magno | July 08, 2021
MAGNO'S BULGING MAIL SACK: TEO'S SCHEDULE, THE TANK DAVIS DOUBLE STANDARD, MORE...

Welcome to another Thursday edition of Magno's Bulging Mail Sack-- The only online boxing mailbag column that mixes crude references to the male anatomy with sissy-hurting hard truths. This week, we have comments/questions regarding Teofimo Lopez’s schedule, the Tank Davis double standard, and more...

Slow Brandon vs. Magno’s Integrity

Maybe you're a Mayweather fan boy, maybe you just wrote for the slant of the website itself that's Pro-Mayweather, Pro-PBC. which is cool, I don't ever intend to stand in between a man and his meal (paycheck), but you present yourself as a reputable unbiased writer always pointimg to your track record, but you're a hypocrit and a hater of the highest order. Did GGG sleep with your wife or girlfriend? Why are you so butt hurt behind this man. You're critical of people critiquing Tank Davis when you hate on GGG every chance you get? And yes In House is the angle every promotional company tries to play. It is smart, what people dislike Mayweather for is being STRATEGIC about his match making yet pounding his or Tanks chest like they are the greatest. Boxers should milk the game for every dollar is worth because lord knows boxing or the fans will love them or be there was they hang them up. But people A) are entitled to their opinion when they smell the BS that comes out of these men's mouths. And we should stop pushing Race at the narrative when it's truly the HYPOCRISY that most hate, not the man in Mayweather or the promotional company in PBC. The sport lacks honorable men and obviously honorable writers and that's what pisses people off! Because we are so Proud of Tank for winning another interim title from the wildly POPULAR Barrios, but we will make sure to steer clear of the unknown UNIFIED CHAMPION of the division. Again, never to stand in between a man in his paycheck but some people do read your articles because the would respect and do hope for a writer that is a straight shooter and not just another stooge and company man. All the best and please do better because because you are better than these Mayweather PBC fluff pieces you call a mail bag.

P.S. Everyone wants to fight Tank, so his slim resume is again, strategic and by choice!!! Noone wanted to fight GGG, Yet is slim resume you seem to want to make his fault. But then two sentences later have no problem with Tank padding his record with over matched opponents because that's how the game is played? I'm confused? pick a lane and stay in it. The writers that uphold this BS are just as liable as the promoters and fighters you have SELECTIVE disdain for. Remember that!

-- Brandon Isaac

Hey Brandon.

You make all of these assumptions based on shit you don't even really know, dealt entirely from a boxing media you admit is slanted and untrustworthy. Everyone was scared of Golovkin, No one wanted to fight him? Really? How do you know that? You read that in the media, written by media members based off info pushed to them from those representing Golovkin. How about AFTER he became a star and could fight anyone he wanted? Everyone's still afraid of him? The thing is this-- You don't REALLY know anything about what goes on behind the scenes when it comes to anyone in the business. Yet you get "butt hurt" by someone like me who holds everyone accountable for the black and white reality of who they did and didn't fight. That's really, really dumb on your part. I don’t care if people criticize Gervonta Davis. I care that they are not consistent with their criticisms. I said Gervonta's resume is slim and that it would be wise to hold our horses in giving him any legend treatment. When Golovkin was fighting a lesser level of opposition, he was already getting written up as an ATG and a do-no-wrong monster. I am not saying anything of the kind about Gervonta. I'm saying he's a very good, fan-friendly fighter with still a lot to prove-- the exact same thing I said about Golovkin when he was coming up. But the same media and fans that venerated Golovkin before his time are all, not surprisingly, suddenly being very conservative with giving Tank the GGG treatment. THAT is hypocrisy. THAT is what needs calling out. 

So, this is what it boils down to (because you seem too dense to recognize this in yourself)-- You're not angered about me being biased, you're angered by me not being biased against the "right" target. You're clearly the one holding grudges against Mayweather, PBC, etc. Re-read what you wrote-- including the lame-brained, ignorant take on how this site is run and how I do my work. Me holding everyone to equal standards seems like bias from that angle. I don't care about playing to any of these people. My job-- unlike these media sources you apparently believe whole-heartedly, who are actually FUNDED by promoters-- doesn't depend one bit on any “sides” I take. Anyone who knows anything about my career knows just how much shit I've taken about the independent stances I take and how nobody else, really, would hire me because of my unwillingness to "play the game"...except for FightHype, which has made ZERO demands, suggestions, or even subtle implications about what I write or who's toes I step on. 

Think before you speak. Learn before you believe. You don’t know shit about anything you’ve spewed in your email. Please, YOU do better.

Tank and Racial Bias

Magno, if I read between the lines correctly, you’re saying that Gervonta Davis is somehow being held back by racism. You’re saying that he doesn’t get the recognition he deserves because he’s not a white, European fighter? That’s ridiculous. What the hell would anyone have to gain from keeping Gervonta down and not giving him his just due? This idea that black fighters are somehow held back by racism in a sport where they’re the top money earners is a bunch of crap and people like you who try to push this fake news are the worst. Maybe fans and media like who they like and like fighters who challenge themselves by taking on the best, not jumping around, cherry picking beatable opponents, like Gervonta Davis does. 

– Mark Morris

Hey Mark.

It’s not about having “anything to gain” from diminishing a fighter like Davis. It’s about an in-built prejudice that creates these double standards about how certain fighters are treated. I’m even willing to concede that almost all of this double standard and prejudice is at the subconscious level. I don’t think anyone’s sitting around, saying “I’m going to stick it to the black fighter” or “let’s promote the hell out of this white Euro fighter because he’s white.” 

But if you look at the media-created narratives, you see that their bar for greatness is much lower for a white European than it is for an African American. All you have to do is look at how gaga the media (and certain pockets of fandom) went for guys like Lomachenko and Golovkin and how willing they were to push them to stardom and acclaim with just “eye test” proof and no real legacy ring tests to justify their “greatness.” Meanwhile, these same people are nothing but critical when it comes to certain fighters, forever reserving judgment based on depth of resume. If a guy like Davis doesn’t fight someone, he’s  “ducking” and “cherry-picking.” If the media-friendly white European doesn’t fight someone, it’s probably because the other guy’s “chicken.” Sorry if it hurts your feelings, but the bias is obvious. 

African American fighters are at the top of the food chain because they’ve earned that spot (despite the hyped Soviet Bloc and British “takeovers”) and, to a great degree, boxing IS a meritocracy, competitively. But when a white fighter comes along who might have the ability to get to a top spot, these people go all-out in making sure he gets hyped to the very top. 

I don’t even care if a guy like Gervonta Davis gets the Loma/GGG treatment. Actually, I’d prefer fighters NOT to get that kind of fawning deference. I just want fighters to be treated fairly. It’s frustrating to see someone like Jermell Charlo, for instance, not get credit for what he’s done at 154 or the junior middleweight division, in general, not getting any love for the everyone-fighting-everyone dynamic going on there. A lot of good, young, American prospects (who are mostly African American) also don’t get the kind of attention mid-30’s Ukranian Olympians-turned-pros get from media and pockets of the fandom.

If there’s not some kind of subconscious (or conscious) bias in play when it comes to all of this and some other explanation is more reasonable, please clue me in. 

Teo’s Lost Year

I read the Underground this past Monday and read that Lopez/Kamboses might be pushed back to October. The very next day Tank announces he's fighting in October and so is Quez and Cotto. There is much competition there. It looks like he won't be fighting until next year.

-- Robert "Big Moe" Elmore

Hey “Big Moe.”

Well, that big December pay-per-view will definitely be out of the question for Teo now. Triller, too, is going to take a big money loss for a Lopez-Kambosos fight they paid $6 million for and now can’t firmly reschedule. They also, clearly, won’t be able to make it a profit-turning main event pay-per-view as planned. 

I went into all of this in my Teofimo article on Monday (“How Teofimo’s Win-Win Became a Lose-Lose”), but this screw-up is all on Lopez. He should’ve taken care of himself when it comes to Covid-19. He could’ve gotten vaccinated or isolated himself during training camp to limit the chance of infection. He didn’t do any of that, so now he suffers the consequences (and everyone associated with his fight also suffers the consequences). There’s nothing to do now but wait and try to wedge Lopez-Kambosos into the schedule before the end of the year.

Got a question (or hate mail) for Magno’s Bulging Mail Sack? The best of the best gets included in the weekly mailbag segment right here at FightHype. Send your stuff here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com.

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