Brian Minto vs Vinny Maddelone 2 - HBO PPV 10-1-2005
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00:00What an awesome show! What a great, great fight!
00:30Welcome to Tampa, Florida for one of the most intriguing fights of the year, Antonio Tarver
00:49against Roy Jones for the third time. In November 2003, Jones won the first fight by the slimmest
00:56of margins. Tarver emphatically won the rematch with a second-round one-punch knockout. Tonight,
01:02after much debate, the rubber match. But before our main event, we have a three-fight undercard,
01:07starting with heavyweights. Vinny Madelone against Brian Minto. Minto won their first
01:13meeting by a tenth-round knockout. Then we have up-and-coming pro Andre Ward, who won an Olympic
01:18gold medal in 2004, facing Glenn Laplan. And just before our main event, it's Almazbek Remkulov,
01:26also known as Kid Diamond, fighting Nate Campbell. Tarver vs. Jones 3 is brought to you by HBO
01:32Pay-Per-View, the best in pay-per-view entertainment, brought to you by HBO. And a special announcement
01:38from the Red Cross. To help victims of Hurricane Katrina, call 1-800-HELP-NOW, or log on to
01:45RedCross.org. Well, it's called the St. Petersburg Times Forum, but we're in Tampa,
01:56Florida, which is the hometown these days of Antonio Tarver, though he grew up in Orlando.
02:01Roy Jones, also from the state of Florida, Pensacola. It may be Tarver's home turf,
02:06there will be plenty of Jones rooters here tonight, and so too with us tonight is Max
02:11Kellerman. Hi everybody, I'm Bob Costas. We'll join Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant,
02:14and Emanuel Stewart for the call of the undercard on the main event in just a moment. It still
02:19seems to be, despite the fact that Antonio Tarver is a 9-to-5 favorite, first time in
02:25Roy Jones' entire career that he has been the underdog, it still seems to be more about
02:29Roy Jones in the mind of the public than it is about Tarver. So let's start with Roy Jones.
02:35What have the two defeats to Tarver and Glenn Johnson done to his reputation? Clearly damaged
02:41it. I mean, Roy was being mentioned as one of the greatest fighters ever, and the greatest
02:46fighters ever don't get knocked unconscious in two consecutive fights. Roy is really in
02:51a catch-22 here. If he loses, clearly that's not good. If he wins, there will be those
02:57who say, look, sandwiched between wins over John Ruiz and Antonio Tarver. In other words,
03:03when Roy Jones was still good, he was knocked out twice. That does not look good on the
03:08all-time list. Now Antonio Tarver is saying, look, I'm sick of all this. When will you
03:13be convinced that it's my time? This is about me now, not Roy. It's not that he was overrated.
03:19It's that I was underrated. So what does Tarver gain even with a victory if in fact there's
03:25a catch-22 aspect here? Well, Tarver's also in a catch-22. If he loses, he's lost to a
03:32shot fighter. If he wins, so what? He beat a shot fighter. They should have built this
03:38fight catch-44, Bob. What has going up some 20-plus pounds in weight and muscle to fight
03:47John Ruiz for a heavyweight belt and then coming back down to light heavy at 175, actually
03:52he'll weigh 173 for tonight, what has that done to Roy Jones? Well, I think melting off
03:5725 or 18 or however many pounds of muscle he did, it was all muscle. I think that changed
04:02Roy Jones. I'm a bit of a Jones apologist. And so the only explanation, look, he wasn't
04:08just struggling against Tarver in the first fight, knocked out in the second fight, dominated
04:13for nine rounds and knocked unconscious for five minutes against Glencoff Johnson. But
04:18this is coming after a career where against great fighters like Hopkins and Tony, good
04:22ones like Montel Griffin and Reggie Johnson, underrated ones like Clinton Woods and Eric
04:27Luca and Richard Hall. He'd never really come close to losing. All right. Much more
04:33conversation and speculation about the main event. But first, let's get to the undercard.
04:37We start with a pair of heavyweights, Brian Minto from Butler, Pennsylvania, former inside
04:42linebacker at Slippery Rock State Teachers College, former construction worker. He's
04:47about to get into the ring against Flushing, New York's Vinnie Madelone, the former minor
04:51league pitcher for the Adirondack Lumberjacks of the Independent Northern League. They take
04:56it to the ring and we go ringside with Jim Lampley. Jim. All right. Thank you very much.
05:01Thank you very much, Bob Costas. A rare visit here at HBO to the club fighting district
05:07of the heavyweight division. A couple of glorified clubbers in Madelone and Minto. This could
05:12be a tremendously entertaining fight in the sense that both guys hit and get hit. You
05:18can see that Minto is one year younger. He's a former college football player, just as
05:22Madelone was a college baseball player prior to the minor league experience, to which Bob
05:27referred. Three-inch height advantage for Madelone, the former pitcher. Arm length is
05:32equal between the linebacker and the pitcher. That's measured from the armpit to the end
05:36of the fist. And as you can see, Madelone is 11 and a half pounds heavier at 1224 at
05:41the weigh-in yesterday. He actually looks bigger than that. Rules of the bout with our
05:45unofficial ringside scorer, Harold Lederman. The Vinnie Madelone, Brian Minto fight is
05:50scheduled for 10 rounds, non-title, using the rules of the Florida State Athletic Commission.
05:55The three knockdown rule is in effect. Only the referee can stop the fight. In case your
05:59card is closed by an accidental headbutt, we go to the scorecards if the four rounds
06:03have been completed and you cannot be saved by the bell in any round, including the tenth
06:08and final round. Jim. All right, thank you, Harold. As the fight begins, you'll hear from
06:13Larry Merchant and Harold Lederman. Right now, let's go up to ring announcer Michael
06:16Buffer for the pre-fight introductions. Ladies and gentlemen, good evening and welcome to
06:23the St. Pete Times Forum here in Tampa, Florida, where tonight Joe DeGuardia's Star Boxing
06:32and Square Ring Promotions in association with HBO Pay-Per-View and the American Red
06:39Cross Hurricane Relief Fund are proud to present an evening of professional world-class boxing
06:45for your entertainment. All bouts sanctioned by the Florida State Boxing Commission. This
06:50first contest also presented in association with DUVA Boxing. At ringside, the three judges
06:56who will be scoring this contest, Bill Ray, Mike Ross, and Rocky Young. And inside the
07:04ring, your referee in charge of the action, James Waring. And now, ladies and gentlemen,
07:10in rounds of boxing, this is in the heavyweight division. Introducing first, fighting out
07:20of the blue corner, Waring White with Black. Official weight, 212 and one-half pounds.
07:26His professional record, 20 victories, including 11 knockouts with only one defeat. From Butler,
07:33Pennsylvania, Brian The Beast Minto. And his opponent across the ring, fighting out of the
07:44red corner, Waring White, trimmed with green. His official weight, 224 pounds. Professional
07:51record, 25 victories, including 18 knockouts with only two losses. From Queens, New York City,
07:58Vinny Madalone. Fighters, let's go. Fighters, let's go. Let's go over here, guys. Okay,
08:18right here. It's low, okay? Right here, it's low right here. You understand? You guys got
08:24to step back. Al Serdo, the colorful trainer of Madalone, says that when he'd get nailed,
08:35he'd get nailed when you missed him. So that's the kind of fight we're looking for. And I mentioned
08:45Larry and Harold, thereby neglecting, of course, the very great Emmanuel Stewart, who sits here
08:50just a few inches away from me. And by the way, Emmanuel, congratulations on your big win in a
08:56highly significant heavyweight fight with Vladimir Klitschko last week. Thank you very much, John.
09:00Now here we get a chance to see a couple of the kind of heavyweights you haven't trained on your
09:06way to 15 wins in 16 significant heavyweight title fights. Madalone against Minto. Minto
09:11wants to get into the pocket eventually here and fight Madalone from inside Madalone's longer arms.
09:18You know, listening to both guys at the fighters meeting, they both were saying,
09:22we're going to fight a much more intelligent fight this time. We're going to box. That's
09:26not going to happen. The only thing these guys both know how to do is just to punch,
09:30just like they're doing now. And we can expect that all the way until the fight ends.
09:34Previous fight was won by Madalone. Minto says, I made big mistakes. I know I'm a better fighter
09:40than he is. And I will prove it in this fight. So it's a revenge fight for Minto,
09:45the former Slippery Rock State linebacker. Madalone, for his part, says that the condition
09:52in which he finds himself now is significantly superior to that in which he pitched minor league
09:59and college baseball. As he said, there's no comparison. In those days, I could drink all
10:03the beers I wanted. Minto with a crisp right hand inside. Madalone chases, trying to land
10:20something big back in return immediately. Already, there is redness outside the left
10:26eye of Vinny Madalone, one of those fighters who threatens to bleed on his way to the ring.
10:30Well, Jim, his eye was cut five or six weeks ago in a fight. Against Shannon Miller. Against
10:37Shannon Miller. And Minto promised to make it a target. And he has. And not only that,
10:43it's Madalone's cut, but also his trunk is even bust on the left shoulder. Oh, that's right.
10:49All the way down to the thigh. Left leg, left thigh. Unfortunately, he's wearing something
10:53black underneath there. Minto landing shots from outside. Madalone kind of grins and comes
11:00forward. Both guys have landed some stuff here in the first round, but it's Minto whose punches
11:05are crisper and whose contact seems more significant right now. Well, they're starting off early.
11:11At this pace here, I can't see this fight going ten rounds. At this pace here, I can't see this
11:17fight going five rounds. Minto wants to make sure it doesn't go one round. There's blood all over
11:26Minto. That's Madalone's blood. Blood that feels good to him, I imagine.
11:31Madalone's face looks like somebody threw a plate of tomato sauce on it. And this is just the first
11:44round. Well, I told you it'd be exciting. Straight punches, Vinny. Come on, baby. Sit down.
12:00Give me another towel. Don't worry about the mouthpiece. Clean his mouthpiece.
12:18Anytime there's a distance between you, I want you to get off first with the jab. You use the jab
12:31first. Don't wait for him. You get off with the jab and he throws something haymaker.
12:35In their first fight, Madalone knocked Minto down in the first round. That right hand staggered
12:43Madalone. CompuBox numbers in round one. Vinny Madalone, 14 out of 48. Brian Minto had a field
12:50day. 38 out of 66, including landing 27 out of 41 power shots. If Minto can keep that up,
12:57Madalone won't last long in the fight. Incidentally, the referee, James Warring,
13:01is a former cruiserweight titlist in the sport. He looks like the cruiserweight version of George
13:05Foreman, Emmanuel. Yeah, he's a big guy. It's hard to believe he was a cruiserweight. Got the
13:10Foreman haircut. As a matter of fact, when I first saw him when I came in, I thought George
13:14was. Same experience. I walked in and said, wait a minute, I was with you last week. At this stage,
13:31Minto is showing more boxing skills and I think that's been the biggest difference in the fight.
13:35Madalone is just still fighting his regular club fighting style and Minto seemed to be
13:40cheating tonight. He's actually boxing a lot, jabbing, slipping and doing things that he
13:44shouldn't be doing. He said he was going to cheat in that regard. He was going to get inside,
13:48be in the pocket, use his greater skills. You can see he's got a better jab. Now there's
13:53bleeding under the eye, however, of Brian Minto. So Madalone seems to have gotten even in the blood
13:59category here in round two. You heard Madalone's corner asking him to throw straighter punches.
14:03It's not in the cards. He's going to wing from outside. Madalone's a physically bigger guy and
14:08he's steadily putting pressure. Even though he's being outclassed, he's steadily coming in and
14:12220-something pounds steadily moving into you all the time. It wears you out if you're not in good
14:16shape. Left hook landed on the temple and staggered Madalone once again. Madalone ice skating in
14:28there, trying to find traction with his feet. Minto scoring, but not able to land another big
14:33follow-up shot after the left hook. A lot of time left in this round. Brian Minto just closed on a
14:53new house in York, Pennsylvania, excuse me, Butler, Pennsylvania Thursday. He wins this fight. He
15:01thinks he can look down the road toward maybe buying a bigger house in a couple of years.
15:04Well, but in the life is unfair department, despite the fact that he won their first fight,
15:09he's getting $20,000 and Madalone's getting $40,000. How's that for incentive? But both of
15:16them have sold their backs for commercials and presumably will be picking up a few more bucks
15:23from that. Round two of a heavyweight brawl between glorified clubbers Brian Minto and Vinnie
15:45Madalone is punctuated by a hard Minto right hand. The promoters here tonight are doing everything
15:51they can to support victims of Hurricane Katrina. With an eye toward that, let's look at this word
15:56for the American Red Cross. Hope is more powerful than a hurricane. Help victims of Hurricane
16:24Katrina and thousands of other disasters across the country each year. Call or visit RedCross.org.
16:29How you feeling Vinnie? Madalone tells the story of trying to throw a warning pitch at a batter
16:48when he was in the minor leagues. He missed the batter and then he charged the batter. So he
16:57thinks he's the only pitcher in history that ever charged the batter rather than vice versa. And
17:03that's how he fights. Charging the hitter. He's a very rough guy physically. His body movement
17:15seems to show that he's taking a lot of blows to the head. He's very stiff, but he's a very tough
17:21guy to be in that weather. The trainer who's working with Vinnie Madalone, Al Certo, may be
17:27familiar to you from past involvements. He was briefly with heavyweight Andrew Gulotta. They
17:33had a stormy relationship and he is best known as the guy who trained Buddy McGirt throughout
17:38Buddy's professional career. And of course, Buddy McGirt has gone on to basically greater heights
17:43as a trainer in the wake of his professional fighting career than he achieved even as a
17:47fighter. And Buddy was a world champion under Certo. So Certo can work with extremely good
17:53boxers. I asked him if he tried to teach Vinnie to box and he giggled. Well, but in his other life,
18:00Jim, he's a tailor and apparently some of his handiwork has come undone in Madalone's trunks.
18:09So it isn't a good night for the Madalone team so far. I was talking to Al yesterday after the
18:17meeting and we were laughing about the fight when Gulotta fought Mike Tyson. He said,
18:22Gulotta comes back at the end of the round and he jumps in and takes his mouthpiece out. And
18:27Gulotta said, you can have it because where I'm going, I won't need it. I'll be into the locker
18:30room. There's been a lot of wishful thinking over the years surrounding Andrew Gulotta. Yeah,
18:42he's been known for quitting in a lot of fights. Al's not the only guy who fell for the mystique
18:47just for a little while. Minto landed a couple of huge shots on Madalone early in the round to get
18:54the blood flowing again from the cut under Vinny Madalone's left eye. You heard Madalone after
19:00round one telling his corner, it's nothing. It doesn't mean anything. Minto has had little
19:09trouble demonstrating his technical superiority over Vinny Madalone in the first three rounds here.
19:25When Madalone tries to box with Minto, he doesn't have a chance. You know, he's got to brawl and be
19:32very aggressive and push his body weight all the time, even when he's in the clinch, just keep
19:36pushing forward instead of standing in his spot. Come on, guys. Come on, guys. Come on, guys. Stop.
19:44Come on, stop, stop, stop. Let's go.
20:00Hey, come on. Start doubling up the jab. You got him out of there. How do you feel?
20:07You feel good? You got a fucking champ. Okay. Well, of course, we know that. We know that.
20:12Now, you got to really start chopping down the tree. Believe what I tell you.
20:15Start really chopping it down. You understand? Because, listen.
20:28Combination. You got to throw the right hand, left hook. Keep throwing it.
20:33You got it. All right, now give me a mouthpiece. There we are.
20:45Watching these two heavyweights trade shots offers at least a vague and distant reminder that
20:52today's the 30th anniversary of the Thrilla in Manila, third fight in the trilogy between
20:57Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Harold Lederman, how'd you score the first three rounds here
21:01between Madelon and Minto? Brian Minto. You know, I got to tell you something, Jim. Brian
21:10Minto's got real good skills. Now, when you see a heavyweight who can double a jab, throws
21:14combinations, every time he lets his hands go loose, very often he throws more than one punch.
21:19I mean, he's had a beautiful fight. I mean, speed kills. He's got the quicker hand speed,
21:24getting in that jab, carving up Madelon, winning this on aggressive, effective aggressiveness
21:28and punching. But in that second round, you certainly could have got 10-8 because he staggered
21:32Vinny. Three to nothing, Minto. Come on, guys. Come on, guys. And you heard Minto comment to
21:40his corner between rounds on Madelon's chin, to which Minto's trainers kind of chuckled and said,
21:47well, we knew that. Bring it up. Bring it up, son. Bring it up, son. Hit him with a two by four.
21:52Let go of his hand. Let go of his hand. Or so it appears.
22:08Vinny Madelon in the colors of Italy and Brian Minto in
22:11white with black trim. Quicker hands for Minto.
22:13Quicker hands and straighter punches. Yeah, he's better all the way around. But
22:24Madelon is still coming in. The way his face is looking and based on what's just happened recently
22:29in boxing and quite a few events, you know, it wouldn't surprise me for the doctor to stop this
22:34fight in a couple of rounds if it continues to go the way it's going. Well, the gore underneath
22:39Madelon's left eye is grotesque, although, of course, with the cut being under the eye instead
22:45of above the eye, there's no evidence yet that it affects Madelon's vision. Now, incidentally,
22:50Madelon appears to be bleeding under the right eye as well. And he just spat a lovely stream of
22:56blood, saliva and various other fluids, I'm sure, onto the carpet as he continued fighting Minto.
23:09Left hook Minto. The big left hook to the body. Madelon lands a counter shot upstairs.
23:39Four rounds in the books. Scheduled 10 between Minto and Madelon almost one hour ago.
23:55World Light Heavyweight Champion and the favorite in tonight's main event, Antonio Tarver,
24:00arrived in the building. So arriving at 827, probably two and a half hours or more in advance
24:10of the time at which he would enter the ring. Tarver will have plenty of time to get to know
24:14this arena. Heck, he could see every inch of it if he wanted to prior to tonight's fight. Long time
24:21in the dressing room, long time spent tuning up and mentally preparing for the fight. Emmanuel,
24:26what do you like early? What do you like about this? Get there early or get there later?
24:30Well, it depends on the individual. I think in Tarver's case, he's so confident in his fight,
24:35he just wants to get there and get it on. He wants to get to the arena, get relaxed, get set up.
24:39And he's probably too hyper, just says, let's go. Let's just pack up everything. Let's go. He
24:42didn't want to stay at the hotel. Still to come later on tonight, the fourth of the four fights
24:48on this card, Antonio Tarver against Roy Jones for the third time. Power shots through four.
24:53Madelon, 23 out of 83, 28%. Minto, 75 out of 125. I'm not sure when CompuBox will have counted a
25:02heavyweight fight in which one guy lands 60% of his power punches, but that's what's happening
25:07for Minto so far. Well, he's got a target that cooperates with him and makes sure that his
25:16percentage of contact is up very high. CompuBox czar and creator Bob Canobio tells us that he
25:36thinks perhaps in the early career of Mike Tyson, CompuBox might have counted some situations in
25:43which Tyson had landed 60% of his power shots, but that would be the only other occasion on
25:48which he might've seen a heavyweight do what Minto is currently doing against Madelon.
25:58And incidentally, you heard the discussion from Manuel Stewart and you saw the picture of
26:02Antonio Tarver having arrived here at 827. Roy Jones isn't in the building yet. That was a big
26:10left hook that Minto landed and Madelon wobbled for a second, but then leaned right back in.
26:16He has some skills, Emmanuel. You think that off of what we've seen so far,
26:22Minto is capable of fighting on a slightly higher level?
26:25I think so. That's a good point because he's did a lot of very impressive things and
26:29especially when you consider where he lives and trains at up in Butler, Pennsylvania,
26:34where he doesn't have any other really good quality heavyweights too much to train with.
26:38So I think he, considering what the heavyweight division is today, he could compete on a pretty
26:43decent level. One thing's for sure, he won't have to fight Vinny Madelon again for less than half
26:47the money. No. $20,000 as opposed to the more than $40,000 that Madelon is being paid for the fight.
26:57Larry Merchant pointed that out in round two. The referee's going to seriously have to think
27:03about stopping this fight right here because this guy's face is cut up both sides. He's hopelessly
27:08behind points. He's still getting hit with clean punches. I mean, that's why his contact
27:13percentage is so high because of the opponent. Waring can't, Waring hasn't made a decision to
27:19stop it yet. James Waring is looking in, looking in, looking in. But the doctor himself. Yeah,
27:24that's where this decision would seem to most likely come from, would be from a doctor between
27:28rounds, taking a look at the surgery that is being done on an ad hoc basis on Madelon's face.
27:40Many fighters are oblivious to cuts. And I'm sure Vinny Madelon will tell you he's one of them.
27:47But it's just not right to allow a guy's face to be sliced to ribbons for the sake of a prize
27:52fight. And even though he still stands the risk of, I mean, the hope of landing the one punch
27:57is not really worth it.
28:27You got it. You're not throwing punches. You're getting there left and right.
28:34Keep using the jab. That's what's making everything happen. You're popping the jab,
28:38you understand? Okay. Ryan Minto with a record of 20 and 1. 11 KOs coming in. Vinny Madelon,
28:4925 and 2. 18 KOs. Minto trained by Tom Iancello, whom you've seen before as
28:55trainer advisor to former lightweight champ Paul Spadafora.
29:08Now, was it Minto who was defeated by the 48-year-old Tony Tubbs? Yes, that's true.
29:18Well, Tony Tubbs is still a very tricky character, you know, and he knows how to
29:22do all of the tricks in a game, and he's physically a big guy. So,
29:25Tubbs could upset a lot of the young fighters coming up. Still.
29:30This fight, very different from Minto's first fight with Madelon, in which Minto was trailing
29:34on all the scorecards when he knocked Madelon out in the 10th. As he said,
29:38I made a lot of mistakes that night. Going to the body now. Come on, guys.
29:45We're going to see if pounding away at the body will get Madelon out of there
29:48any more quickly than slicing up his face did. Yeah, he seems to take punches to the
29:52body just as well as he does to the head. So, his body has a good chin.
30:00You got to watch out for Madelon's old right hand. He still has that old club and wild right
30:04hand that he can land at any time if you don't stay alert and watch out for it.
30:08Well, Minto's totally on his game tonight, though. He seems utterly focused and out of
30:15harm's way from Madelon's wilder stuff. That left hook to the body seems to have
30:21bothered Madelon.
30:38Watch your head. You're going to head first, okay? Watch your head. Let's go.
30:55You'll see guys in the sport who can take a big, clean shot to the jaw and just stand and look at
30:59you. You don't see too many guys who can take a hard body shot flush without feeling its effects.
31:06But more so than just taking a punch is the fact this guy just cut up so much. He's got about five
31:10cuts, which makes it almost impossible for the cut man to actually properly treat all those
31:15cuts inside of about 45 seconds of actual work time. Now, there's a big crowd response going
31:20on here because we're in the middle of the sixth round, the first fight of our four fights on the
31:25card this evening, and Roy Jones has walked into the arena. He is not walking through the tunnel
31:32to go to his dressing room. Rather, he is in the crowd. And this is quite unusual.
31:43Occasionally, you'll see a fighter seated in the crowd long before he's to enter the ring,
31:48but not normally a guy who's fighting in the main event of a big pay-per-view card. It is
31:53extremely unusual to see Roy Jones in the situation in which he just presented himself
31:58walking through the crowd 30 seconds ago while action was going on in the ring.
32:05Here's Roy Jones walking into the arena after having incidentally avoided much of the publicity
32:12contact which was involved in promoting the fight in the last several weeks going into this.
32:18Larry, what do you make of that? I don't know, Jim. Who can figure Roy Jones out?
32:28Uh, one reason he may be happy to, uh, mix in with the crowd is that Antonio Tarver isn't there
32:38because that's who he has been avoiding up to now.
32:44Incidentally, the full beard which Jones has been sporting for the past couple weeks is gone. That
32:51was to be expected. Nobody thought that the Florida Commission was going to allow Jones to
32:55enter the ring with full growth on his chin, above his whisker, I mean, above his teeth,
33:01et cetera, et cetera. Harold, how do you have it through six rounds here? Okay, Jim.
33:09Six rounds to nothing, Brian Minto. You know, Jim, I gotta tell you something. The only thing
33:14in the scoring about this fight is whether you should score some of these rounds 10-8. I mean,
33:18Brian Minto really, in rounds two and five, won them very, very big. Now, my criteria is this.
33:24If the opponent punches back, I tend to go 10-9, and Vinny Mantelloni certainly punched back in
33:30rounds two and five when he was staggered in both those rounds, so I did score him 10-9 in favor of
33:34Minto as opposed to 10-8. So, six to nothing, Minto. But you're saying it could conceivably
33:44be 62-52 on another card. Without question. And incidentally, James Warring here, uh,
33:50is refixing the tape, or having the tape re-affixed to Vinny Mantelloni's glove. Minto
33:56had his slowest round of the fight in the last round. Maybe both Minto and
34:00Mantelloni were distracted by the crowd response to Jones. Let's go, let's go.
34:06If the buzz around the hotel, and in the streets, and the restaurants, and the night clubs of Tampa
34:23is any indication, this crowd will be heavily pro-Roy Jones. Heavily. This despite the fact
34:31that Tarver has lived for many years here in Tampa. Oh, massive left hook by Minto.
34:41Mantelloni getting hammered with shot after shot. Why not stop it here? And Warring does.
34:48Very good idea. Dominating, punishing, brutal victory for Brian Minto over Vinny Mantelloni.
34:56Minto's second win over Mantelloni. I mentioned the revenge factor earlier. The revenge factor
35:01attached, of course, to the greater burst that was being paid to Mantelloni here tonight,
35:05despite the fact that Minto had beaten him once before. Great performance. Very happy for himself.
35:12That was a step up in performance class for Brian Minto, who moves his record to 21 and 1.
35:20Not a step up in opponent class, but a step up in performance class. Great step up in this
35:24performance at SEPTA, but I think that this right here really will give him much more confidence,
35:29and I think they will probably consider moving him up to fight a better class of opponents,
35:33and I think he'll do very well. Because? Because of the caliber of the heavyweight division,
35:39for the most part, and I think his confidence level is up there. I was impressed the fact that
35:44he is not too exhausted, even though he threw a lot of punches and everything, and he still
35:49seemed to have good stamina. Here's another look at the end. That was the big left hook
35:54that put Mantelloni on queer street. Here's the series of punches that followed.
35:59Referee James Warring, any moment here will do. Series of hooks. And he does.
36:04Left hook, left hook, left hook, left hook, left hook. I like that. Oh, I mess around with
36:11a straight right hand when the same punch lands over and over and over and over and over and over
36:17and over and over and over and over. And now it's over.
36:25Brian Minto, former Slippery Rock State inside linebacker.
36:31Let's go to ring announcer Michael Buffer for the official particulars on the TKO.
36:36Ladies and gentlemen, referee James Warring steps in and calls a halt to the bout.
36:41The official time, one minute, 21 seconds of round number seven. The winner by TKO victory
36:50from Butler, Pennsylvania, Brian, The Beast, Minto.
36:56Total punches in this statistical wipeout. Minto landing nearly four times as many punches
37:15as Mantelloni, throwing 177 more and landing at a nearly 50% connect percentage.
37:22Emanuel Stewart offering some compliments to the guys in the ring.
37:27And total power punches. Mantelloni shook Minto 37 times and Minto ripped Mantelloni 118 times
37:35in return. So he lands 81 more power punches. He throws 74 more, excuse me, 94 more.
37:43And he lands at almost double the connect percentage. 84 more. I knew I'd get it right.
37:51Let's go back up to Bob Costas who gets everything right.
37:56Well, at least we hope so, Jim. Vinny Mantelloni, the former pitcher, did a whole lot more catching
38:01than he did throwing. In the first bout of our undercard, still to come ahead of Tarver and Jones.
38:11Andre Ward, light heavyweight gold medalist at last year's Athens Olympics against Glenn
38:17Caveman LaPlante. That's coming up next. And then Kid Diamond versus Nate Campbell
38:24in a lightweight fight. And that brings us to Tarver versus Jones. And as we await Ward
38:31and LaPlante, we greet once again Max Kellerman upstairs with us. In a general sense, what
38:37scenario yields a Roy Jones Jr. upset, which seems strange to say, but he is the 9-5 underdog.
38:44What scenario yields Tarver retaining his belt? Well, I think conventional wisdom is that Roy
38:50needs to keep the fight in the middle of the ring. Because in the first fight against Tarver,
38:54he did very well. And against Glenn Johnson, when he was on the ropes, Roy was pummeled.
38:59However, in the second Tarver fight, Roy kept the fight in the middle of the ring,
39:03was spectacular in the first round, caught and knocked cold in the second. A lot of
39:08times fighters like to go to the ropes because it's easier to see the punches coming.
39:12I think Roy has to not get hit in order to win. We saw Wladimir Klitschko avoid getting hit almost
39:19entirely against Sam Peter a couple weeks ago. But Wladimir Klitschko is a very skilled fighter,
39:24Sam Peter isn't. Tarver seems far too schooled for Jones to be able to make him not hit him
39:31the entire fight. Antonio Tarver, as put it this way, and he is a quote machine, as you know,
39:37one of his many utterances this past week is that the mere sight of me nullifies Roy's confidence.
39:44He believes he's the only guy throughout Roy's entire career who truly has had his number,
39:50not just in the ring, but psychologically. Is he right? Well, it felt like Rocky III
39:55in the press conference after the Ruiz fight, the way Tarver called Roy Jones out. It was dramatic.
40:00Yeah, I think he has gotten under Roy's skin. The crowd going wild. I think Roy may have made
40:07an appearance. Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan has just made an appearance as a spectator and shown
40:14on the big screen. And there he is, dapper as always. Roy, one of Michael's athletes.
40:29We'll elaborate on that point. Roy Jones Jr., where he is now, is what we're about to find out
40:35in the evening's main event. But when he was without question the best pound for pound fighter
40:40in the sport, he was so good that the comparisons went beyond boxing. And the question was,
40:46where does he rank among the world's great athletes? When I used to watch Roy Jones in his prime,
40:52I thought to myself, I may never live to see something like this again. This may be the
40:59greatest fighter I will ever see in person. And I called Roy Jones Jr. damaged goods in our last
41:06telecast. He was very angry at me about that. He took great, great offense. Great umbrage. However,
41:10what else could you think when a guy who never struggled against any fighter he ever fought as
41:15a professional suddenly can't win a round against Glencoff Johnson? Now, just a minute. Michael
41:21Jordan is in the house, resplendent in that pinstripe suit. Therefore, this must be adjusted.
41:27You cannot have the bow tie askew under these circumstances. By the way, I have a confession
41:32to make everybody else in formal attire. This is about as far as I am going tonight. The black suit
41:37coming as close to a tuxedo as possible. And I have always wondered why the one sport,
41:42which is the most brutal and at times the most corrupt, is the one which forces its announcers,
41:51which makes it mandatory for the announcer to dress up. Unless he's Bob Costas. Evidently.
41:56Costas. I'm going my own way here. It's the juxtaposition, Bob. I'm going my own way. Why
42:01the best literature in sports has always been about boxing, boxing and baseball and golf
42:05probably are are the three sports that have yielded the best sports writing, which has little
42:10to do with Tarver and Jones. But we'll get back on topic now. And it's this is Jones in this brutal
42:17sport. Some have said this and written it this week. As great as he has been, they are saying
42:22what is the legitimate reason for this? And is he running a risk not just to his reputation,
42:27but to his health? Well, I think it's personal with Roy. He doesn't want to go out. He doesn't
42:31want the last image that people see of him to have his head cradled in someone's hands as he
42:36was unconscious from the fist of Glenn Johnson. I don't think Roy is as imperiled as some people
42:42seem to think he is, because if in fact Roy is not responding to punches correctly and well anymore,
42:48if there's something physiologically wrong with him, if he's sort of a concussed fighter
42:52like Meldrick Taylor was against Julio Cesar Chavez in their rematch, Manny Stewart worked
42:56Chavez's corner. Taylor looked great for three to four rounds, was hit once and then his legs went.
43:01If Roy is in that state, he's in less of he's less of a danger to himself than if his chin is good,
43:06because he's more likely to be knocked out by one punch and less likely to sustain punishment
43:11over a long period of time. All right. Ward and Laplante are ready. So too is Jim Lampley. Jim.
43:17All right. Thank you very much, Bob and Max. That was fascinating. And here now, Andre Ward,
43:23who may be in the eyes of many in the sport, the next Roy Jones,
43:27the next cosmic talent who elevates the sport in.
43:34One star fighter to.