Oscar in Esquire + Riddick's Manicure

I've been thinking for a couple of days about the piece in the September Esquire, the one where Chris Jones calls Oscar De La Hoya "the last boxer." I'm not sure exactly what that means. I guess it's about De La Hoya being the last big star in boxing, and about the idea that his fight with Floyd Mayweather was more promotion than action -- and thereby symbolic of the fading sport. That's sort of a story we've seen before, in the regular boxing press and some mainstream media, even amid all the "Can this bout save boxing?" stupidness.

Jones says boxing has lost its luster because it isn't brutal enough anymore. "Boxing was doomed," he writes, "because it now lacked all of the things that it had once offered in abundance: first and foremost, the chance that someone might get killed." In a sidebar, he suggests the sport could get back its thrill by making championship fights 15 rounds again. But he trumpets the popularity of mixed martial arts, which is known for quick stoppages; the Chuck Lidell - Quinton Jackson UFC match that, he says, fight fans left boxing behind for, lasted less than two minutes and basically ended on one punch.

Boxing is a mess. But no one who watched the recent wins by Michael Katsidis and Israel Vazquez can honestly (or even metaphorically) say that De La Hoya is the last boxer, or that those bouts needed 15 rounds to be completely brutal.

Chronicle of Riddick: Yes, Riddick Bowe is contempalting coming back, again, having just turned 40. His planned fight against the very unsuccessful boxer Paul "Rocky" Phillips may or may not happen. This story in the Dayton Daily News focuses instead on a trip by Bowe and Phillips to get manicures and pedicures together. Talk about brutal. One thing is certain: the nail salon is a safer place for either of them than in the ring.

Also in the news: Bernard Fernandez in the Philadelphia Daily News looks at the forthcoming season of The Contender, which will feature guys in the 170-pound neighborhood. He focuses on Camden/Philly light heavyweight Max Alexander. Other notables in the cast include David Banks, Sakio Bika, Jaidon Codrington, and Sam Soliman.