It’s been a while but BoxingInsider.com columnist and leader of the band DOWN Philip H. Anselmo rolled into New York City on September 11 to perform at the completely sold out Nokia Theater in Times Square and of course before and after the live set, the topic of boxing was discussed backstage. Present for the occasion through the spectacular show and into the wee hours were top promoter Lou DiBella, Boxing Digest Editor-in-Chief Sean Sullivan, fight film historian Ray Poplawski, Tattoo artist Paul Booth, Phil’s longtime partner Kate, and a special guest appearance by Biohazard’s Evan Seinfeld. Since the evening was a bit more complex than the norm and influenced by several outside factors, our chronicles may be a bit disorganized, but you still will enjoy. We pick up this roundtable in mid-flow…
Philip H.: “…Both Cotto and Pacquiao have the speed and ability to hurt their opponents.”
Ray Pop: “I think Cotto’s damaged goods.”
Scoop: “No no no, he looked great vs. Clottey, Clottey gives anyone trouble.”
Philip H.: “Loaded gloves or not (vs. Margarito) that mother****** took a terrific beating. Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez beat the living shit out of each other for 24 rounds, nobody folded.”
Ray Pop: “Pacquiao carries that power.”
Scoop: “Cotto nullified Mosley’s speed, he can nullify Pac’s.”
Lou: “I’m sick of this shit I work at. I don’t want to talk about it. And to hear this kind of passion about it, it’s really cool.”
Scoop: “Phil knows boxing as well as anybody I know.”
Lou: “And he’s a historian.”
Scoop: “Emanuel Steward has asked him for technical advice.”
Kate: “That’s why Emanuel calls him, (he says) I don’t know who I can talk to.”
Lou: “He’s a legit historian.”
Scoop: “Team Klitschko called Phil for strategic advice, that’s a fact.”
Philip H.: “I wrote a piece on Wlad (the infamous “Open Letter To Wladimir Klitschko” last year). Berating and praising him at the same time. And pushing him to do certain things against Tony Thompson because…”
Lou: “Vitali is gonna knock the shit out of Arreola.”
Scoop: “It’s an amazing story, the camp wanted to read Phil’s Open Letter to Wladimir.”
Philip H.: “Emanuel e-mailed back and he did read it. And it was very interesting how similar the fight went.”
Scoop: “I remember editing it and then the way the fight went it was like they followed your game plans, Don’t wait three rounds to throw the right, throw the rights early, go to the body. That’s exactly what they did.”
Lou: “The most intelligent fighter I have I cant get a fight for him.”
Philip H.: “Who’s that?”
Lou: “Sergio Martinez.”
Philip H.: “What weight?”
Lou: “154. He’s great.”
Scoop: “Mayorga couldn’t make weight?”
Lou: “No, I wanted to get Martinez in with Paul Williams.”
Ray Pop: “What happened?”
Lou: “They don’t want to fight my guy. They’d rather fight Kelly Pavlik.”
Ray Pop: “I don’t blame them.”
Lou: “I just called HBO today, I said make Clottey and Sergio.”
Scoop: “Clottey’s supposed to fight Mosley isn’t he?”
Lou: “No, no by the way. HBO rejected it.”
Philip H.: “That shit you told me about Mayorga (referring to El Matador’s hilariously unorthodox sleeping and training habits, as one of his trainers recently shared.)”
Lou: “I had a fight in Reno, this guy (Mayorga’s) like five pounds heavy the night before the weigh in. He’s in the sauna in a rubber suit, smoking unfiltered Camels. I never saw anything like it in my life. He’s in the rubber suit sweating out the weight and he’s pulling on unfiltered Camels. This is two days before a major fight.”
Ray Pop and Philip H.: “Which fight?”
Lou: “It was his first fight with Vernon Forrest.”
Philip H.: “Jesus Christ.”
Lou: “He sat there and smoked half a pack in the sauna.”
———————–
Lou: “I couldn’t sleep last night. I was watching a bunch of those UFC shows in a row on SPIKE. I’m sorry but when a mother****** is on the ground with his head on the floor and the other guy is holding him down and like elbowing him, what’s that about? That just don’t appeal to me.”
Kate: “Where’s the skill?”
Lou: “There’s no skill and it looks like ugly violence.”
Philip H.: “I did a signing with fans and they came up to me wearing UFC shirts and the dude is like, We used to be boxing fans, but boxing just doesn’t make the fights where the best fight the best. The UFC does…”
Evan Seinfeld suddenly appears backstage after the show, he enters with his teenaged son Sam…
Philip H.: “HEY BRO!! We’re talking with Lou DiBella.”
Lou: “When did you get so skinny?”
Evan: “Trying to make weight.”
Philip H.: “That’s Scoop Malinowski, Sean Sullivan, Ray Pop…”
Lou: “Did you ever see any of the Oz guys?”
Evan: “I see a lot of the Oz guys all over the place. I saw (blank) at the mall in LA. I didn’t even know you were playing, I flew into LA to see you.”
Philip H.: “You mean New York [laughter].”
Evan: “New York!”
Unfortunately that brings a close to this edition of Philip H. Anselmo’s Boxing Roundtable as the night became a foggy, crazy, cloudy mess after this point, at least for one roundtable member anyway [smile]. Some other noteworthy comments made during the evening were the idea of a possible Sirius radio show including Lou, Philip and a possible active boxer as co-host. The advent of a new televised boxing series called “Beats and Beatdowns” with a live musical performer who will also assist in ringside TV commentary. The tales of one former world champ who’s training regimen consisted of consuming for two month’s Tony Montana’s favorite stock in trade – to cut weight – before beginning training camp. The astonishing story about what happened when a big talking ducking dodger cut ties with James Prince. WHOA, it was straight out of a gangster movie. And the inside info of which veteran boxing personalities and icons can party as consistently hard as any rock star. That’s all she wrote, until the next roundtable, keep your hands up, chin tucked, and keep reading BoxingInsider.com!