by James Carlos Blake – Reviewed by Mike Keeler (4 Stars out of 5)
What do you think of when you hear the name Stanley Ketchel?
For the young crowd, and I have asked some young people what they think of Ketchel, most don’t have any opinion of him at all. For the most part the people that do have an opinion on Stanley Ketchel only know him as a name in a record book. They just don’t think about him. He’s a vague reference at best, shrouded in the mystery of almost a century of time passed.
Even mentioning that Title ‘The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’ makes that Sergio Leone theme music begin playing in my head. But here, I’m actually going to point out, in this order, some of The Ugly, The Bad and The Good of Boxing. Since the world seems to be so screwed up lately, I do want to end on a positive note as hard as that seems sometimes.
First, the Ugly:
Recently you witnessed hopefully what was the last fight of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s career. I did not buy it. Time and money are valuable, so I am careful how I spend both. For me Mayweather’s fights have not been worth my money or time for a very long while.
Happy Days might be here again… if he stays retired.
Happy Days because finally the Boxing Press and sports media in general will be forced to focus on one of the other Pound 4 Pound best fighters, who are far more entertaining in the ring than Mayweather has been for many years.