GarageGabs

 
Quick, tell me who these guys are….Oleg Maskaev, Rusian Chaqaec, Wladimir Klitschko,and Shannon Briggs.  Hmmm, how about these guys: Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, Royce Gracie, and Ken Shamrock.  Chances are, you’ve heard of a couple guys from the first group.  If you are an avid fan of boxing, you’ve probably heard of all 4 of them.  However, if you are a casual UFC fan (like myself) you know all the guys from the second group.  This is what’s wrong with boxing.  The first 4 guys are each heavy-weight champions in each of boxings 4 organizations.  Out of the 4 of them, I’ve seen Klitschko fight….one time.

Anyway, back to saving boxing.  Supposedly, this past weekends huge pay per view even between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. was going to save boxing.  Long story short….it didn’t.  Ok, I admit, I was pulling for Oscar.  Even so, this fight wasn’t worth going out of your way to watch.  Yeah, I saw the punch count numbers, Mayweather supposedly out-landed Oscar 207-122.  I also saw that Oscar was often times throwing wildly, while not hitting much.  However, Mayweather just didn’t do ANYTHING.  He danced around, threw the occasional combo, stuck his jab in there from time to time….he never came anywhere CLOSE to actually hurting De La Hoya nor did he ever push the issue.  Mayweather flashed sarcastic smiles whenever Oscar would push the issue…you know, those “You didn’t hurt me” smiles…..but honestly, this fight wasn’t a laughing matter.  Rather than retaliate to De La Hoya’s flurries with smiles, how about throw some punches?  How about come out of the corner swinging….make the fight somewhat entertaining.  I’ll tell you why: That is the only way he loses the fight.  Mayweather knows he can sit back and tactically pick apart any fighter….as they relentlessly slug away at him.  It’s a winning mentality, but it’s a boring one as well.  It’s also why I’ll never pay for another Mayweather fight….assuming there is one.

As for Saturday night’s fight, I didn’t have to pay for that one either.  Just so happened that several of my buddies and myself were in Wilmington, NC this weekend.  We looked around town for a place to watch the bout and finally happened upon the “Boars Breath” Saloon.

My group of friends was pretty diverse….a few white guys, a Guatemalan, a black guy, and an Indian.  An odd collection to say the least, but well represented.  The Boars Breath was the exact opposite.  This place consisted of about 100 flaming rednecks.  Not a big deal to us, we just wanted to watch the fight.  We had a little trouble with our table because 2 kids were throwing darts right by our heads….I thought it was strange that anyone would bring 12 year olds into this environment, but what are ya gonna do?  Anyway, as the fight started, something strange happened.  The karaoke  kept going.  I’ve been to a lot of karaoke joints, but this was by far some of the worst American Idol tryouts I’ve ever heard.  Drunk old women crooning “I’m a redneck woman” and some VERY STRANGE kid that kept attempting to turn groups like Pearl Jam into death metal.  It was hideous.  At one point we noticed a woman singing while holding a puppet….using the puppet to mouth the words to the song.  Anyway, they kept the karaoke going strong and the volume to the fight down.

As we moved into the middle rounds of the fight, it became clear that the majority of the Boars Breath was NOT pulling for Mayweather.  They also weren’t the most educated fight crowd.  “Do somethin!”, “Don’t stop hittin him!”, “Kick him in the balls!”, and “Go white guy!” were all heard.  It quickly became clear that this crowd was pulling for De La Hoya….not because of his fighting skill….but because he wasn’t black.  Soon after we realized this one of the patrons made it dreadfully clear.  A man sitting about 2 seats from our group began to talk about Mayweather wearing a sombrero when he entered the ring.  I’m paraphrasing, but it went something like this:  “He wore a sombrero into the ring to try and disrespect a Mexican….and he’s a (insert N word), a damn (insert N word).”  When this guy let the first N word fly, a few people sitting around him sorta gasped, as to say: “watch out Billy Bob, there be some non-white folks in here”, but this guy went on to say it again.  He said it loud enough so that anyone within 30 feet could have heard him….the karaoke was in between songs, there was no volume on the fight.  My friend Ronald, who is black, got up out of his chair and walked outside.  I followed him out and we semi discussed what had happened.  I went back in, took care of my tab and was able to catch the guy by himself on my way out.  I told him he had disrespected us etc., to which he offered a hand-shake and an apology.  I told him I wouldn’t shake his hand nor accept an apology to which he told me he could get some of his redneck friends to join us.  I made it clear I wasn’t interested in going to jail over this and walked outside.  As I waited outside with Ronald all the other rednecks began gathering at the window staring out at the white guy that took offense to a racist comment.  They appeared to be gathering for something….maybe they thought we were waiting for them, I’m not sure.  The rest of my friends soon made their way out and we left.  I did see the entire fight, only from outside.

So, that’s my “Boar’s Breath” story.  I wish my website was ESPN popular so I could ruin this hole in the wall redneck establishment, but honestly, it probably isn’t the bar, just it’s patrons.  In fact, our waitress was outstanding and the wings were off the chain.  I really believe there was some in-breeding going on amongst the patrons though.