Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. If Hunter S Thompson had been alive this weekend he would have found the material for a sequel to his iconic novel right back here in Sin City.
The ingredients are much the same as half a century ago when the founding father of what called Gonzo journalism explored the sordid underworld which lies beneath the myth of the American dream. Drugs, gambling, greed, corruption, robbery, deadly weapons, rival gangs menacing each other, the final battle of a bitter turf war looming and money. Lots and lots of money.
The difference in 2018 is that this conspiracy is seething around the f****** mother of all boxing rematches, as Thompson might well have put it.
Gennady Golovkin (right) and Canelo Alvarez (left) at a press conference on Wednesday
Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin meet again this Saturday night still shouting the odds as to whether the convicted Mexican drug abuser stole the victory which should have gone to the Kazakh killer-puncher at the conclusion off their first encounter.
During the 12 months since Canelo was gifted a Mexican-border draw in the desert town for which he is a cash cow, the two best middleweights in the world and their minders have disputed fiercely which of them should be grasping the thickest end of a multi-million dollar purse.
Canelo and Triple G have also traded insults and threats concerning Alvarez copping a plea for ingesting a prohibited substance while still protesting his innocence on the grounds that two positive tests for stamina-enhancing clenbuterol resulted from unknowingly consuming contaminated meat.
Golovkin defends his middleweight titles when they meet in Las Vegas on Saturday night
'He's a liar and a cheat,' says Golovkin. 'I know what he's become. I have lost respect for him and his team because they have disrespected the sport, the public and myself. I badly want to beat him. Although it's not personal for me. It's business. He ran in the first fight but if he comes to fight like a Mexican this time I will knock him out.'
Alvarez, irked as he is by the suspicions which persist in swirling around him, fired back: 'I am angry about what he keeps saying. I'm getting this from someone who is really only in it for the money. Now I want not only to beat him but to really hurt him. For me it is personal.'
This not the usual trash talking. This is seriously bad blood.
Both fighters have submitted to numerous tests of that red stuff in their veins. Canelo partly so that his plea bargained six-month suspension from the ring would be over in time for this super-rich super-fight. Maybe not coincidentally, his brief sentence opened the door for thrill-seeking high rollers to come flood the coffers of the Vegas casinos.
The smart money, by the way, is on GGG. Not only because the vast majority of the punters believe that the reigning world champion won the first fight by the length of the Strip but because he should be less vulnerable to being robbed again. If not completely protected from ambush.
The middleweight pair's first fight, in September 2017, was controversially scored a draw
The skirmishes in the last days of the build up have been as feudal as the second collision in the ring threatens to be.
The all-Nevada panel who refereed and judged the travesty last September have been replaced by a mixed group, mostly from out of state.
Golovkin's promoter Tom Loeffler has argued successfully for a New Jersey referee, Benjy Esteves. Two of the judges' seats will be filled by Steve Weisfield, also from New Jersey, and Connecticut's Glenn Feldman.
The Nevada State Athletic Commisson do not like importing officials. But with the motives for their appointments being scrutinised and questioned - especially that of judge Adalaide Byrd who scored the first fight 118-110 to Canelo - they have replaced all but one of their own. And the survivor is Dave Moretti, the only judge who saw Golvkin as the winner first time around.
Alvarez has been refused, also, permission to wear a pair of gloves so newly designed for him in Mexico that they have yet to be used in a championship fight.
The pair have traded insults and threats over Alvarez, 28, failing two drugs tests
Loeffler, suspecting they may be more thinly padded than previous gloves, was even more determined to win that heated argument because the Commission rejected another of his objections.
Alvarez has his hands wrapped, not by one long continuous bandage as per usual but with the layering of several strips of cloth. This method, known as stacking, is deemed legal only in Nevada and Texas.
In all other states this is banned as it can solidify into concrete-like slab which puts opponents in greater jeopardy of major harm.
Yes, fists are a boxer's weapon but many regard such wrapping as making them more deadly.
Thompson might have been askng whatever happened to those old horseshoes fabled to have been secreted in gloves in the bad old days. The fires have been fanned still further by Canelo's Golden Boy promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, accusing Golovkin of fighting only for himself, not his country.
'I will knock him out to bring a great victory,' the Mexican sensation Canelo claimed
The Kazakh demanded that his country's national anthem as well as those of Mexico and the United States be sung before the start of the first bout on Saturday evening's programme, not immediately prior to the big fight.
'That's unpatriotic,' says De La Hoya, by way of waving a red flag at an opponent not only naturally bigger than his man but powerful as a bull.
How Thompson would have wallowed in all this. Although whether the Great Gonzo would have lived up to his journalistic philosophy has to be doubtful.
He described his reporting style as the insertion of the writer into events as they happen, not only to watch but to take part.
Since he took his own drugs, gambling and booze fuelled life when the addictions became too hard to bear, it is difficult to believe he would have jumped into the ring at the T-Mobile Arena to mix it with two steel-hardened, brutally trained fighters hell-bent on destroying each other with the fists which are held in law to be lethal weapons.
Stand by for fear and loathing and a violent moment of truth in Las Vegas.
*Golovkin v Alvarez will be televised live this Saturday night on BT Sports Box Office
Link article
https://hienalouca.com/2018/09/13/fear-and-loathing-in-las-vegas-as-alvarez-and-golovkin-swap-insults-and-threats-before-grudge-match/
Main photo article Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. If Hunter S Thompson had been alive this weekend he would have found the material for a sequel to his iconic novel right back here in Sin City.
The ingredients are much the same as half a century ago when the founding father of what called Gonzo journalism...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Sport HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1/2018/09/12/21/4268548-6161151-image-a-9_1536785319183.jpg
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий