Hopkins Becomes Oldest to Win Title

In a weekend of accomplishments by aged athletes, Bernard Hopkins becomes the oldest fighter to win a championship belt in boxing history:

Hopkins -- with guile, grit and a fighting spirit still going strong at age 46 -- won a unanimous decision against Jean Pascal to win the light heavyweight championship and become the oldest man in boxing history to capture a world title.

"I didn't feel like I was 46 tonight. I felt closer to 36," Hopkins said. "I can say I am a great fighter. It was exciting. I think everybody enjoyed themselves.

"It feels great. I set out to do exactly what I wanted to do, which was to break this record. I knew it was going to be a tough fight, but I wasn't going to be denied."

Pacquiao Wins Easily Over Mosley

ESPN:

Manny Pacquiao caught Shane Mosley early, then chased him the rest of the night. Not much more he could do against an aging fighter who seemed only to want to survive. Pacquiao won a lopsided 12-round decision Saturday night, retaining his version of the welterweight title in a fight that was roundly booed over the late rounds because Mosley refused to trade punches.
Pacquiao won every round on two ringside scorecards in extending the remarkable run that has made him the most exciting fighter in the sport.

I went in to town to see if any of the sports bars was carrying the fight, but they weren't.  A bartender at one of the bars told me that it would cost them $1500 to buy the fight on pay-per-view.  I thought $54.95 was a lot for somebody to order at home, but $1500?  It seems like a shame to me that boxing has kind of priced itself out of the general sports market.  I haven't caught a championship fight in a long time, and I really like boxing.  Hopefully Floyd Mayweather and Pacquiao will be able to reach an agreement and have a title fight soon.

Chessboxing

From PRI's The World:

Chessboxing has 11 rounds; six four-minute rounds of speed chess, alternating with five three-minute rounds of boxing. You win by either a knockout, checkmate or in the case of a draw, on points.
The loudspeaker announces Mark Hickey’s match. Hickey climbs into the ring, pumping the air with his fists. His opponent steps in soon after. Both men take their seats at the chess table. The gloves, necessarily, are off so they can grasp the pieces.
Four minutes later, the board is carefully lifted out of the ring and the gloves go on. Mark comes out swinging. But he’s swinging a bit too much, apparently. Before the first round is over, Mark is cradling his right arm. He is hurt, and the bout is all over.
Since most people here know boxing better than chess, Malcolm Peine has one of the toughest jobs of the night. Peine does a sort of play-by-play for the chess rounds, trying to make it all exciting and understandable.
“You tend to find that after they finish the boxing, the first move they play in the chess is usually awful,” Peine said. “Often, it’s a pretty bad move because the adrenaline is pumping from the chest and it’s hard to get yourself in chess mode.”

When I was in college, I participated in intramural boxing each winter.  I was terrible.  The first year, I fought one of the best boxers in the program and the fight was stopped in the second round.  That year a doctor was running a study checking mental acuity after the fights.  When we got our prefight physicals a week or two before the fight, the doctor gave us a couple of tests.  One asked us to write down as many words as we could think of in 2 or 3 minutes that began with the letter C.  The other was a sheet of random single-digit numbers, and we were to circle all of the 6's we could find in a minute.  Within 10 or 15 minutes of the end of the fight, we were tested again.  All I remember was that I was punchdrunk, and when I circled the 6's, I only got about 60% as far as at the physical, and when they told me to stop, I noticed that I had missed at least 2 or 3 of the 6's in the portion I completed.

I was concerned that they might cancel the boxing on account of my terrible performance.  Luckily, I never heard anything more about that test.  So I can understand how difficult it would be to play chess after receiving a number of blows to the head.  I have a hard enough time playing chess with a clear head.

Pryor vs. Arguello

One of the greatest fights of all-time. Cincinnati's own Aaron Pryor and Alexis Arguello go into the 14th round of toe-to-toe slugging. Here's the first round, the rest of the fight is much of the same. If you come across the fight on ESPN Classic, it is worth watching.