EMAIL us your comments, insights or whatever

  • NOISportsblog@gmail.com

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Calzaghe: ESPN relishes the victory

After Joe Calzaghe survived certain death (with the help of a low blow that seemed to sap the energy of Hopkins), the judges reported a split decision.

Calzaghe's hand was raised in victory. And boxing lost more respect.

Interestingly enough, on the same night that boxing was busy falling deeper into WWE territory, MMA's UFC put on a card that drew a record crowd and further opened the gap between the directions of the sports.

Perhaps most troubling about the aftermath of the boxing debacle was ESPN's reporting of the incident.

ESPN.com boxing guru, Dan Rafael, seemed to take a journalistically dangerously inappropriate joy in Calzaghe's gift of victory.

"And in taking the title, Calzaghe stuffed Hopkins' own racist words down his throat. "

Rafael, in an effort to distract white boxing fans from the horrendous judging, chose to flat out slam the race card on the table.

We've already established that it was Calzaghe's greed and dubious negotiation tactics that forced the racial elements introduced into the fight build up. Yet, Rafael felt compelled to delight in, and to further the controversy of Hopkins benign statements.

Rafael went further. Openly mocking Hopkins in his reporting, the column read as if it were some sort of white supremest literature.

Hopkins loudly declared in front of the media that he would "never let a white boy beat me. Never." Well, the white boy from Wales did exactly that, letting his fists do the talking. Calzaghe never answered Hopkins' nasty taunts throughout the promotion, instead laughing them off and calling Hopkins a buffoon.

Rafael never makes mention of the difficult position that Hopkins was put in in trying to make the fight. Additionally, he condones Calzaghe's open disdain and avoidance of Hopkins comments. And even condones Calzaghe's use of the word 'buffoon' to describe Hopkins. We wonder if 'buffoon' was the actual word used. We believe that Calzaghe's Welsh brogue possibly could have masked his usage of the word 'baboon'. No matter, Rafael certainly would have had no problem with such a racially derogatory characterization of Hopkins.

"A low blow in the 10th sent Hopkins down to the canvas, where he grimaced in pain, even if it appeared he may have been doing a bit of acting. "

Rafael's effort to mitigate the effects of a blow to Hopkins' Original Man Parts only supports the growing contentions that we are exposing in this post.

"Calzaghe didn't seem to care. He raised his arms to the crowd, which responded with ear-shattering cheers. "

Seems Calzaghe and the crowd took as much pleasure in the illegal punch as Rafael did. Their disdain for Original privates was virtually terrifying.

It's a shame that ESPN and Rafael, instead of exposing the poor judging and criticising the direction boxing has been going, chose to make this fight a white versus Negro affair.

Clearly, as long as Negro fighters lace up their gloves and don boxing trunks, every time they enter the ring they will be fighting two opponents:

The boxer they signed to fight.

And the racism that is embedded in this society.

We salute Bernard Hopkins.

Though he may have been denied a boxing victory; his stand for civil rights in the face of racism proves he is the true champion.

17 comments:

RighteousReasoner said...

Sirs, I already took care of this issue in a previous post...you are repeating my words of wisdom.

But where, may I inquire, is the Frank Thomas post?! This Righteous Negro stood up in the face of cracker management and showed his disdain for their mistreatment of him and other Negro athletes, and they responded by unjustly cutting him. Mutual consent? Yeah right. Thomas was cut because of one thing: his dark, melanin-rich skin pigmentation. I salute Brother Frank for standing up for all of us against the injustices of the white devil.

Malcom Hex said...

"Sirs, I already took care of this issue in a previous post...you are repeating my words of wisdom. "


actually, the only similarity between nois' post and your comments was that you both mentioned calzaghe and hopkins.

other than that...nothing similar.

not on the same level. at all.

Dave the Wave said...

Nois, you nappy dipshit.

You berate ESPN and Dan Rafael, but you didn't mention that Rafael said that ESPN scored the bout 114-113, in favor of Hopkins.

RighteousReasoner said...

Sir, Mr. Hex,

You are a clever one, that's for sure. Fight on righteously my Brother.

Gern said...

You guys need to hire someone to spell check. It seemed to me that previously you paid attention to such things. What changed?

nation_of_islam_sportsblog said...

"You guys need to hire someone to spell check."

Sir, please point out our spelling errors, and we will have them corrected.

Thank you in advance.

ZEKE said...

"What changed?"

nothing.

nois is still an illiterate moonbeam.

censored said...

But where, may I inquire, is the Frank Thomas post?! This Righteous Negro stood up in the face of cracker management and showed his disdain for their mistreatment of him and other Negro athletes, and they responded by unjustly cutting him.

It is obvious that the person writing the NOIS blog entries is not the same as in the past..the writing is lame and unimaginative...but you, righteousreasoner, bring a new level on stupidity. I imagine the Blue Jays organizational disdain for negro athletes is what led them to give their negro center fielder the largest contract in franchise history last year...if anything they have showed love to the negro athlete by giving the mediocre Vernon Wells so much money.

censored said...

And NOIS you missed the point again...the reason Hopkins was not able to win was because his ancestors were slaves...it had nothing to do with calzaghe.

Stale Variety said...

You've got a pretty thick skull, censored

Unknown said...

More vindication for NOIS:

Calzaghe today admits that he punched Brother Hopkins in his originals intentionally.

RighteousReasoner said...

Although he didn't say it explicitly, it can be righteously reasoned that Calzaghe punched Hopkins below the waist for the sole reason that Hopkins is a Negro. As we have proven before, Calzaghe hates Negroes and is taking out his pent up, race baiting anger on innocent Brother Hopkins.

We must fight against this injustice. Stand united, worthy members of the Nation.

Nathan said...

The 'Nation of Islam' is Not Islam



There is a great deal of confusion about the group known as the Nation of Islam, currently led by Louis Farrakhan. Although the group's name implies that it is part of the Islamic religion, its beliefs diverge so greatly from Islam that most Muslims consider it to be a different religion.

Don't let the name fool you. I could start a group and call it "The Christian Church of Jesus" but unless my beliefs matched those of Christianity, the name wouldn't mean anything. It's the same with the Nation of Islam.

Below are some links to articles by Muslims about the Nation of Islam, including point-by-point comparison of NOI beliefs and Islamic beliefs to show that the two are mutually contradictory. I hope this will help clarify the issue, God willing.

The Nation of Islam should be understood as an independent religious tradition that has adopted Islamic elements rather than as an Islamic sect.



'Nation of Islam' or Nation of Kufr?, from Nida'ul Islam

Abusing the Word Islam: The Nation of Islam, from Muslim Students Association, University of Southern California

Comparison Between Islam and Farrakhanism, by the Institute of Islamic Information and Education

Farrakhanism, a collection of articles

Farrakhanism and the Nation of Islam, a collection of articles

How Louis Farrakhan Has 'Duped' the Muslim World, from TROID Publications

Islam is Not Nation of Islam, a collection of articles

Regarding the 'Nation of Islam', by Moiz Amjad

The 'Nation of Islam' Exposed, by A. Idris Palmer

The Nation of Islam: Fact or Fraud?, from The Islamic Garden

The Problem with the 'Nation of Islam', by Michael Young

see also:

Nation of Islam is Not Islamic, by Scott Allen Miller



Once we stop confusing the Nation of Islam and its beliefs with orthodox Islam, we can look at it as an independent religious tradition. Viewed that way, it provides a new perspective on the African-American experience. Here are some articles that trace the history of the NOI and how various black nationalist movements have adopted Islamic elements to enrich their culture.

A Brief Look at the Roots and Development of The Nation of Islam, by Bradley Price Roderick

Black Gods of the Inner City, Prince-A-Cuba

Early Black Nationalist Movements, by Norman H. Coombs, Ph.D.

East of the Sun (West of the Moon): Islam, the Ahmadis, and African America, Moustafa Bayoumi

Islam in the Mix: Lessons of the Five Percent, thoughts on an NOI offshoot group by Ted Swedenburg

Islam, a traditional and growing spiritual point, by African American Registry

Religious Movements Homepage: Nation of Islam, from the University of Virginia

nation_of_islam_sportsblog said...

"Nathan said...
The 'Nation of Islam' is Not Islam
"


Dear friend,

You have eaten too much pork and your mind is diseased.

We pray for you.

Dice said...

What a laugh. Hopkins got punked by some Welsh guy no one has ever heard of. And Russians hold all the heavyweight belts. Whitey's a lot tougher when he's not been raised to think blacks are superior affaletes, huh?

Matt said...

You do realize that buffoon is taken by the world at large to mean clown(ish) and in the context of Calzaghe's quoted comments is entirely appropriate to describe Hopkins' unfortunate choice of words. To surmise that because this word rhymes with "baboon" Calzaghe really meant to call Hopkins one betrays your own presumtions about a person of whom you know nothing and sounds suspiciously like the racism you denounce. I guess racism and pre-judging is only acceptable when indulged in by a member of a governmentally recognized (and therefor subsidized) "victim culture"? Thank heavens you are here to tell the world what a man really meant by something he didn't say.

nation_of_islam_sportsblog said...

"You do realize that buffoon is taken by the world at large to mean clown(ish) and in the context of Calzaghe's quoted comments is entirely appropriate to describe Hopkins' unfortunate choice of words. To surmise that because this word rhymes with "baboon" Calzaghe really meant to call Hopkins one betrays your own presumtions about a person of whom you know nothing and sounds suspiciously like the racism you denounce. I guess racism and pre-judging is only acceptable when indulged in by a member of a governmentally recognized (and therefor subsidized) "victim culture"? Thank heavens you are here to tell the world what a man really meant by something he didn't say."

Sir, we general take it completely to heart when a reader scolds us for something -- in this case, 'telling the world what a mean really meant by something he didn't say' -- and then goes ahead and does the exact same thing to us.

Your simple mind. You unevolved outlook. And your rudimentary communication skills normally would force us to brutalize you with our superiour intellect and logic.

But, it would seem you are so dense that it would be a waste of energy to point all this out...