Antonio Margarito and Javier Capetillo's Licenses Revoked

By Gabriel Montoya

Originally printed on Maxboxing.com February, 10 2009

Daniel Jacobs: “Even the greatest lost. All you can do is come back.”

By Gabriel Montoya

Maxboxing.com

It’s been nearly three months since Brooklyn-born American middleweight contender Daniel “The Golden Child” Jacobs, 20-1 (17), suffered two losses in the span of a week. The first was the more devastating when, on the Monday before the biggest fight of his life against Dmitry Pirog for the WBO middleweight title, Jacobs’ grandmother, Cordelia Jacobs, affectionately known as “Lady Bird”, passed away after a battle with cancer. The 23-year-old Jacobs was understandably devastated. Any other fighter in this day and age might have backed out of the title fight. Many might not have even blamed Jacobs but like a true fighter, Jacobs pressed onward to the following Saturday and entered the ring with “Lady Bird” emblazoned on his trunks, vying in Cordelia’s honor for his first world title against a largely unknown but very tough fighter in Pirog. It was not to be. Jacobs suffered a knockout loss to Pirog when a right hand came from nowhere to put him on his back in the fifth round. He would try and rise but would be stopped when the referee, Robert Byrd, waved the fight off at the count of five.

Backlash ensued. Many said Jacobs was exposed. Others felt he was rushed to a title shot. Even more still hailed Pirog as the next pound-for-pound king off the win. Through all of this, Jacobs remained silent.

Last week, Jacobs agreed to speak with me about the loss, his grandmother and what lies ahead.

An Undefeated World                                                                                            

By Gabriel Montoya

Maxboxing.com

“Sports do not build character. They reveal it.” ---John Wooden

I published an interview with Brooklyn born middleweight contender Daniel “The Golden Child” Jacobs this week. His record stands at 20-1 with 17 KOs. In boxing terms, just a 23 year old baby with a nice amateur background, a good support team of Golden Boy Promotions and adviser Al Haymon, and HBO who loves the kid. In July of 2010, Jacobs suffered his first loss. Some say he was exposed, others accept that he was mentally shot after the death of a loved one the week of the fight. After the article was printed I received an email from a reader who basically asked why am I still writing about Jacobs? Stop wasting ink and readers’ time, he implored, because the way he sees it, Jacobs will never win a big fight. Then, the reader cracked me up by saying “But then we always have Floyd Mayweather, Jr out there for you geniuses to tell us how great he is.”

The question and the reaction in general got me to thinking what would happen if we discarded a fighter after one loss? What would an undefeated boxing world look like? How utterly boring could that possibly be?

“American: The Bill Hicks Story” an original about an original.

“I’m Chomsky with dick jokes.” – Bill Hicks

I had the pleasure of seeing the film of the life and tragic death of natural born comedian, free thinker, and iconic figure William Melvin “Bill” Hicks (December 16, 1961 – February 26, 1994), “American: The Bill Hicks Story” directed by Paul Thomas & Matt Harlock. The film, shown as the opener to the Downtown L.A. Film Festival, tells the story of Hicks, an outsider comedian’s comedian born in Valdosta,Georgia but raised ultimately in Houston, TX. Hicks showed a proclivity for comedy early on and began performing at age 14 in front of a paying audience in Texas comedy club. His act grew from observations and characters that pulled from themes like family, traditional American values, and growing up in America into a much angrier, politically aware and existentially questioning confrontational approach as he aged. The through line is the story of an incredibly funny man doing what he was born to do.