Sunday, June 15, 2008 Quijano: Brandon needs to learn 'The Kimbo' By Jingo Quijano Last Round
MY INBOX felt alive. Something was screaming to be let out and so I hurriedly fumbled through the keyboards and logged on.
I immediately rummaged through my e-mails searching for the one that seemed to be pulsating, screaming with indignity at its confinement.
After trolling though a ton of spam that a published e-mail address like mine gets on a daily basis, I finally found it.
“Brandon Vera was robbed!” screamed Last Rounder Ronald Coloyan in his e-mail. “He didn’t even warn Vera who was defending himself completely. That guy (Dan Miragliotta) should go on and become a bouncer where he could stop fights which are not yet starting. He’s good at early stoppages and lame at refereeing.”
Well, Ronald I fully agree with you that Vera was defending himself quite ably. Both of his arms were covering his face and he was deftly moving his head from side to side. Some blows were landing (of course), but generally, Vera was not in a situation where he was hurt and/or incapable of defending himself intelligently.
STUDY IN CONTRASTS. Curiously, Miragliotta is the very same referee who a few weeks ago, stopped the Kimbo Slice-James Thompson match in the third round after the latter was nailed and stunned by Kimbo while they were both standing up.
But in the second round with more than 30 seconds left, Miragliotta refused to intervene when Thompson was raining more than 20 unanswered elbows on Slice while the latter was pinned helplessly on the ground, his exposed head being pummeled continuously.
Miragliotta defended his non-stoppage of that fight at that point by stating that Kimbo was giving him the thumbs-up sign. C’mon Dan, a great white shark could be eating his way through half of Kimbo’s torso, and he would still be flashing the thumbs-up sign.
MEMO TO BRANDON VERA. Next time when you’re on your back being mounted by your opponent with his saliva dripping down his mouth eager to knock your ass into next week and you espy Dan Miragliotta hovering over you eager to do his job (or so he thinks) remember the following points:
1.) Never cover your face and move your head from side to side. Based on Miragliotta’s sentient reasoning, you are just not intelligently defending yourself;
2.) The better way is to do a Kimbo: Just lie down there and take the beating. Throw a thumbs up every few seconds or so, while you are drifting off to semi-consciousness and hope the timekeeper doesn’t practice Filipino time;
DAN CAN DISH IT OUT TOO. I know you are disappointed with Dan Miragliotta Robert, but if ever you see the guy, remember he is 6-foot-5, and almost 300 pounds. Please don’t do what some crazed fan did before UFC 83 featuring Mat Serra vs. George St Pierre II.
The jackass fan jumped the barrier and went after Miragliotta. Just a few moments later he was on his back while Miragliotta applied a rear naked choke on him. Belle Security Centre stepped in before he could do anymore damage. Ouch!!
GO CONDES. The Last Round wishes the best of luck to our very own IBF minimum weight world champion Florante Condes, who today defends his crown against Mexican challenger Raul Garcia Hirales at the Araiza Palmira Hotel in Las Paz, Baja California Sur.
Make us proud Florante!
THE LAST ROUND. I wear a lot of hats. By day, I am an attorney advocating for a client’s cause in a courtroom or poring over numerous documents and pleadings. Twice a week, I am your trusty boxing columnist hunched over my laptop trying to beat a deadline.
On weekends when Your Honor comes over to visit, I am the fussy hubby. But the hat that I enjoy wearing the most is being a doting dad to my two little girls Julia and Jenya, a trait that I could only have learned from my equally loving father, Atty. Froilan V. Quijano.
Take a bow dad, and to all of you dads out there, this last round’s on you. Cheers!
