Okay, this story has a tenuous link to the sport of boxing, yet you know everyone is talking about the “punch” or, if you prefer (and are probably more accurate in your description) the “bitch slap” a certain Will Smith threw at a certain Chris Rock during last night’s Oscar’s party. The brief assault Smith laid on the comedian went viral instantly and millions upon millions of people have seen the “punch” or “slap” since.
Dana White was even moved to tweet, stating how “Chris Rock has a chin.”
Another creative fan wrote how Smith has now been “put at number-two in the WBO rankings.”
Rock, who handled the situation well, was heard to remark backstage how he “got punched by Muhammad Ali and I didn’t get a scratch.” Smith of course played the role of The Greatest in the Michael Mann movie “Ali.” Yet where last night were all the months of learning how to fight, how to punch, how to get into a proper stance? Smith we know went through a gruelling, TWO YEAR regimen in research for the part of Ali, yet last night, when apparently angrier than ever, he threw “that punch?”
Smith seemed to enjoy Rock’s jokes, until he looked at his wife, the subject of one of Rock’s quips, and, seeing his missus was not amused, Smith then went at Rock. The actor used some choice language after sitting back down after failing to budge Rock an inch, this with his best shot. It may all have been an arranged act designed to boost failing Oscar ceremony viewing figures. Who knows?
But Smith has come across as the bad guy here, no doubt. Ali would have been ashamed for having thrown such a pathetic punch, even in joking fashion.
But wait, things could get even worse. Reports say Jake Paul is offering the sum of $30 million for Smith and Rock to duke it out on the under-card of his upcoming August bout.
May God help us all.