I thought this (HBO.com: Boxing: Hopkins vs Hakkar & Tua vs Rahman) might have been a decent night of boxing. This exchange between Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant during the Hopkins fight summed up the evening.... Lampley: "Well, this is amusing..."
Mechant: "Yeah, like watching someone rip the wings off a butterfly." The Tua/Rahman fight was good as far as recent Heavyweight bouts go, but still rather uninspired. Following the script, it ended in a controversal draw. I found it interesting that the ring side announcers often credited the wrong boxer with winning an exhange. I used to think I just didn't know any better, and that they had a better view. But now armed with the Tivo, I confirmed that more often than not I saw the fight correctly. On several occasions where it looked like Tua got a good shot in, he only landed a glancing blow and got tagged by Rahman. The Hopkins / Hakkar fight was a joke. I have to give Hakkar credit for taking 8 rounds of abuse, but he punched like 160lbs of feathers... And he was supposedly a #1 contender. He was still in pretty good shape when his corner called the fight. I guess I keep watching because the few good fights I've seen were so good they gave me goosebumps. It's a damn shame the sport is so poorly managed that these fights are so rare. To rub it in HBO ran the story of the Hearns/Hagler fight after tonights spectacle.