number1contender.net

Showtime ShoBox Recap

December 13, 2008

Boardwalk Hall-Atlantic City, New Jersey

Timothy Bradley, Jr. has been positioned prominently at ringside for this event, and will do some color commentary during the main event. Bradley is scheduled to face the winner of the main event in a 140-pound title unification match.

1. NABF Junior Middleweight (154 pounds) 10-Round Championship Match:

Yuri Foreman (26-0, 8 KO's, 154 pounds)(c) vs. James Moore (16-1, 10 KO's, 153.5 pounds)

Foreman took this championship from Andrey Tsurkan via 10-round split decision on December 6, 2007 at the Paradise Theatre in Bronx, New York. The Brooklyn, New York resident is making the second defense of this title.

The champion started boxing at 7-years-old in the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union fell, his family like many other Jewish families in the former USSR immediately immigrated to Israel. (There are numerous cultural and legal reasons why there was a mass exodus of Jews form the former USSR to Israel. I will be happy to answer emails explaining the situation.) There Foreman became one of the country's top amateur boxers capturing 3 national amateur championships. Finally, Foreman moved to Brooklyn and captured the 2001 New York Golden Gloves Championship before turning pro.

Foreman's last match was a 10-round unanimous decision over Vinroy Barrett on October 18,2008 at this same building as part of the undercard of the Kelly Pavlik vs. Bernard Hopkins pay-per-view. Foreman took every round on the way to winning an easy decision.

Foreman is unranked by The Ring magazine and the number 12 ranked boxer in the world at 154 pounds by boxrec.com.

Moore had a good amateur boxing career that peaked when he took home the bronze medal at 152 pounds for Ireland at the 2001 Amateur World Championships.

Following that tournament, Moore moved to New York City, New York and has based his pro career out of the United States. All of Moore's professional matches have been within easy driving distance of New York City.

Moore's last match was an 8-round unanimous decision over Christian Joseph on August 6, 2008 at the B.B. King Blues Club in New York City, New York.

Moore is unranked by The Ring and the number 119 ranked boxer in the world at 154 pounds by boxrec.com.

At 28-years-old, Foreman is 2 years younger then the 30-year-old Moore. Both boxers stand 5' 11" tall. Foreman has the reach advantage with a 74" wingspan, compared to the 72" wingspan of Moore. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available. However, they appear to be roughly the same weight in the ring, but Moore is a bit soft around the middle and may susceptible to body punches. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance. (Foreman is training to be Rabbi, and what other stance would an aspiring Rabbi use?)

New Jersey's version of the unified rules of boxing are in effect for this event. Two of the official judges keeping score of this match from ringside are from New Jersey and the other is from Puerto Rico. The referee is the dangerously incompetent Randy Neumann.

Foreman lands numerous clean right hands to take round 1, 10-9. The champion landed such hard punches in round 1, that the thudding sound of his gloves making impact with Moore's face was drowning out the commentators. Foreman takes round 2, 10-9. The champion appears much faster and stronger then the challenger. That means Moore is in for a very bad night. Foreman is constantly moving defensively, so Moore cannot figure out where to punch. Then when Moore attempts to punch Foreman has already dodged and opened up a path to land a clean punch of his own. Foreman wins round 3, 10-9. The champion wins round 4 in dominating fashion, 10-9. Moore has not made any adjustments to negate Foreman's superiority. That is probably, because Moore cannot do anything that would work against Foreman. Moore is going to have to hope that Foreman runs out of gas. Considering Foreman is used to going the distance and always has plenty of energy for a long match contested at a good pace, that is slim hope. Foreman leads on my scorecard after 4 rounds, 40-36.

During a clinch in round 5, Foreman winked at the Showtime announcers to show he was having fun in the ring. Foreman easily wins round 5, 10-9. Moore is not on the verge of being knocked out. However, at some point soon his trainer may want to start thinking about stopping this match. Moore has taken a lot of hard punches that are going to accumulate and will be hopelessly behind on the scorecard with no chance to score a come from behind knockout victory. This referee, Neumann, has a seemingly sadistic disregard for boxer safety and will wait for a boxer to die before stopping a match. (Neumann nearly got Arturo Gatti and Alfonso Gomez killed by not stopping their matches in time, and forced other state officials to do it.) Foreman wins round 6, 10-9. With 1:58 to go in round 7 the action is halted, because Foreman's mouthpiece has fallen out of his mouth. The clock does not stop until 1:49 is left in the round and Foreman has made it to his corner. After 10 more seconds of delay, Foreman's mouthpiece is replaced and the action is resumed. The boxers clinch when the action is resumed and a Moore right hand in that clinch knocks out Foreman's mouthpiece, again. Foreman complains the punch was a cheap shot. It appears the right that knocked out Foreman's mouthpiece was landed after the referee told the boxers to break. The referee picked up Foreman's mouthpiece with 1:41 to go in the round and did not call time to have it replaced. Therefore, when the action resumed there was only 1:27 to go in the round. The pro-Moore crowd has been booing Foreman throughout this whole mouthpiece ordeal. Again, the boxers clinch after the action is resumed, and again when they are told to break Moore hits Foreman late. This time the referee caught Moore throwing 2 right uppercuts on the break. Neumann then lectures both boxer to not hit in the clinches. Foreman dominates Moore to take round 7, 10-9. The champion leads on my scorecard after 7 rounds, 70-63.

In round 7, Foreman caught Moore with a punch behind the right ear and Moore's corner was icing that spot following the round. That means Moore could be having equilibrium problems. A powerful combination from Foreman sent Moore back into the ropes and the ropes may have saved a knockdown with 30 seconds to go in round 8. When Moore hit the ropes, he spit out his mouthpiece. The boxers clinch causing a lull in the action, meaning with 19 seconds to go in round 8 the referee calls time so Moore can have his mouthpiece replaced. Moore gets 10 seconds to recover and have his mouthpiece replaced before the action is resumed. Round 8 is a borderline, 10-8, round, because Foreman was so dominant. However, Foreman will probably only win round 8, 10-9. Moore got a terrible cut over his left eye in round 9. The referee has ruled the cut was opened by a punch. The champion wins round 9, 10-9. Foreman had Moore badly hurt, again at the end of round 9. If this were a scheduled 12-round match, Moore's corner would need to stop this match. With only 3 minutes to go in the match, they can justify sending their charge out there for 1 more round. The boxers get tangled up and Foreman shoves Moore to the canvas with 2:12 to go in round 10. The referee rules it an obvious slip and the match resumes with 2:08 to go in the round. With 11 seconds to go in the final round of the match, the referee calls time, because Foreman's mouthpiece has fallen out, again. However, the timekeeper did not get the clock stopped until there were 6 seconds to go in the match. Nothing of note happens in the final 6 seconds, once the match is resumed. Foreman wins round 10, 10-9, and the match on my scorecard, 100-90.

The official decision courtesy of "Gentleman" Joe Antonacci is that the judges have scored the match: 99-90, 100-90, 99-91, all for the winner by unanimous decision, still undefeated and still the NABF Junior Middleweight Champion, Yuri Foreman. The win moves Foreman to 27-0 with 8 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

Foreman was completely dominant in this match. He could be more entertaining if he went for knockouts. However, what he does produces victories and there is no reason Foreman should stop doing that. His next match should be for a title. Foreman's people are looking to have him challenge Daniel Santos for the Puerto Rican's 154-pound belt in his next match.

Moore was out-classed in every way in this match. He may be a good boxer, but did not appear to be a television quality boxer in this match. A lot of this may be because Foreman made Moore look bad. However, Moore will need to take some rebuilding matches against softer opposition before he is ready to face an opponent in the top 20 range.

Between matches they aired a video package of the top sports moments on Showtime this year, which was quite humorous. Especially since, a lot of the footage was EliteXC stuffthat aired on CBS. It was also fun to see Hulk Hogan prominently in the background as the Seth Petruzelli knock out of Kimbo Slice was replayed several times. Generally, secret stipulation matches that kill companies are not put on year end highlight reels. This piece did a great job marketing people who will never be on Showtime, again. It also reminded people that Mauro Ranallo is a great man and his presence on American television will be greatly missed.

2. WBO Junior Welterweight (140 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Kendall Holt (24-2, 13 KO's, 140 pounds) (c) vs. Demetrius Hopkins (28-0-1, 11 KO's, 140 pounds)

Holt won this title in his last match, an exciting knockout victory at 1:01 of round 1 over Ricardo Torres on July 5, 2008 at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. That 61 seconds was the best round of the year. Holt was knocked down twice in the opening 32 seconds of the match. However, Holt came back 10 seconds after he got off the canvas for the second time with a combination capped by a right hand that knocked Torres out cold to end the match. Torres dropped to the mat in a kneeling position reminiscent of the statue "The Thinker". The referee was delayed stopping the match, because the way Torres felldid not allow the referee to see the boxer was already unconscious. However, in a match that had been billed as "No Excuses" there were still some after this seemingly demonstrative finish. Holt began the combination that put Torres down with a head butt. Torres may have never been knocked out had he not been struck with the illegal blow. The full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/12/19/recap-of-kendall-holt-vs-ricardo-torres-ii.html Holt is making his first defense of this title.

Holt had a modest amateur boxing career where he won the New Jersey Golden Gloves Championship 3-times.

The champion was scheduled to rematch Torres on this show. However, Torres withdrew from this match a week before it was scheduled due to illness. Torres had contracted a virus in the weeks leading up to the match. The Colombian said he could not make weight after taking in lots of fluid to deal with the virus.

The Paterson, New Jersey resident had 1 more unexpected change coming into this match. Holt's manager who acts as the assistant trainer in his corner during his matches will not be available for tonight. Henry Cortes was arrested last week in New Jersey for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Cortes is currently being held in jail on $500,000 bail and does not appear to be getting out anytime soon.

All of this has Holt seeming to be in a bad space mentally. Holt bristled when Showtime's Al Bernstein asked about Cortes and said he was only there to talk about boxing. The champion said he was very angry that Torres had dropped out of the match. Furthermore, he was upset at the choice in replacement. Torres is an aggressive boxer with little defense,and is being replaced with a slick defensive minded Bernard Hopkins style boxer. (That makes sense, since Demetrius is Bernard's nephew.) The exact opposite style of opponent Holt has spent the better part of a year training to defeat.

Holt is The Ring's number 6 contender at 140 pounds to their championship in the weight class, Ricky Hatton.

Hopkins had a solid amateur boxing career that culminated when he won the National Golden Gloves Championship at 141 pounds. Bernard Hopkins' nephew defeated Holt on the way to winning that amateur championship.

The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania resident was scheduled to face Germaine Sanders on the undercard on this event. Therefore, he is in shape despite being a last minute replacement for Torres. However, Hopkins was scheduled to face Sanders at the catch-weight of 145 pounds and had to adjust to make an unexpected additional 5 pound weight cut in the last week. Hopkins said losing the extra wight was no problem. Unlike mixed martial artists, boxers do not usually come from a wrestling background where weight cutting is a big part of the sport. For a lighter weight boxer to add 15 pounds after a weigh-in is rare, where in MMA that is expected. Hence, Hopkins was probably walking around at about 155 pounds. That means Hopkins should have been able, with a little extra dieting and exercise to take the weight off and make 140 pounds without draining his body of all its energy.

Hopkins' last match was a 10-round unanimous decision over Enrique Colin on November 17, 2007 at the Borgata Hotel Casino in Atlantic City. Hopkins has been inactive for over 12 months, because of a falling out with his uncle Bernard, an executive with Golden Boy Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions itself. When Demetrius left Golden Boy Promotions, he had a deal on the table to face Junior Witter for a belt at 140 pounds. (That is the belt that is now wrapped around Timothy Bradley's waist.) After a prolonged legal battle Demetrius is resuming his boxing career with Top Rank.

Hopkins is unranked by The Ring and the number 9 ranked boxer in the world at 140 pounds by boxrec.com.

At 27-years-old, Holt is 1 year younger then the 28-year-old Hopkins. Hopkins has the height advantage standing 5' 11" while, Holt stands 5' 9" tall. The challenger has the reach advantage with a 74" wingspan, compared to the 71" wingspan of the champion. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available. However, it is safe to assume that Hopkins will be the heavier boxer in the ring. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance.

The official judges keeping score of this match are from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The referee is Allan Huggins.

In the first 32 seconds of Holt's last match, there had been 2 knockdowns. In the first 32 seconds of this match, there have been 2 total punches thrown between the 2 boxers. Holt wins a close and very deliberately paced round 1, 10-9. The boxers get tangled up and Holt throws Hopkins to the mat with 2:01 to go in round 2. The referee correctly rules it a slip and the action is quickly resumed. Holt wins a boring round 2, 10-9. There are brief flurries of punches. However, it seems like there are never ending periods where the boxers just circle each other and do not punch. Holt wins a decent round 3, 10-9, and leads on my scorecard after 3 rounds, 30-27.

Hopkins may have won round 4, 10-9. A lot of the best Hopkins punches were reminiscent of his uncle Bernard, in that they were dirty punches. Multiple times in the round 4, Hopkins got behind Holt as if he were setting up for a German suplex. From that position, Hopkins would wrap up Holt with his left arm and throw right hooks to the side of the champions face. They were not powerful punches, but more the style of punch a mixed martial artist would throw in that position trying to set up an opponent for the rear naked choke. However, some of them were quality punches. Hopkins may have won a very close round 5, 10-9. Round 5 was the first round in which Hopkins came forward on the attack, but Hopkins was going backwards for the majority of the round. Holt may have won a very close round 6, 10-9. After 6 rounds, Holt leads on my scorecard, 58-56. However, the judges' scorecards could be all over the place. Scoring any of the 6 rounds for either boxer would be fine, because neither boxer is doing enough to win the rounds decisively.

Holt had Hopkins hurt in the first 10 seconds of round 7. That alone was enough for the champion to win round 7, 10-9. Holt wins round 8, 10-9. This match is very boring. Hopkins is doing very little offensively and Holt is spending the 3 minutes chasing Hopkins and missing with punches. Therefore, very few punches are being thrown and fewer are being landed. This is a bad heavyweight match being done by smaller boxers. This match is so action packed that Holt smiles and starts talking to a person in the crowd during a clinch with 1:30 to go in round 9. Holt nearly got himself knocked down attempting and failing to pull off a piece of defensive showmanship that Pernell Whitaker used to do. Whitaker is one of the best defensive boxers ever and the best defensive boxer of the last 25 years. Holt has historically been at best adequate defensively. This failure resulted in Hopkins landing several clean punches to Holt's head. This may have cost Holt the round on some of the judges' scorecards. However, Holt wins round 9 on my scorecard, 10-9, and leads after 9 round, 88-83. Both commentators for Showtime have the match scored for Holt after 9 rounds, 87-84.

Holt may have won a close round 10, 10-9. Neither boxer did anything to deserve winning a lackluster round 10, but to avoid giving an evenround, Holt takes it on champion's advantage. Hopkins wins round 11, 10-9. The challenger is somewhat effective when he comes towards Holt landing his jab. However, Hopkins has boxed almost all of this match in reverse and been completely ineffective. Holt wins a close round 12, 10-9. The champion takes the match on my scorecard, 117-111. Again, because of how close the rounds were the judges' scorecards could legitimately be all over the place. Both of Showtime's commentators scored the match for Holt, 116-112, but gave different rounds to Hopkins. Getting to hear the promo Bernard would cut on his nephew following Demetrius' terrible performance in this match would be far moreenjoyable then watching thismatch was.

The final decision courtesy of Joe Antonacci is that the judges have scored the match: 115-113 for Hopkins, 116-112 for Holt and 117-111 for the winner by split decision and still WBO Junior Welterweight Champion of the World, Kendall "Rated R" Holt. The win moves Holt to 25-2 with 13 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

Hopkins said in his post match interview that he thought he won. The vanquished challenger said he did experience some ring rust (Hopkins is no Trish Stratus) and could have been more active.

Holt said in his post match interview that he followed the game plan to be aggressive and land left hooks to the body.

Bradley is now in the ring to have a face-to-face interview with Holt and promote their upcoming match. Wearing an impressive gray suit with orange shirt and tie ensemble, Bradley said he was impressed with Holt's performance. Holt responded by saying that Bradley is a similar pressure style boxer to the opponents he is used to facing.

Holt was fine in this match. He is going to use a completely different style against Bradley. Therefore, there is very little that can be taken from this match and used to assess how Holt will perform against Bradley. Holt's defense was good against a boxer who did nothing offensively. Bradley is an aggressive power punch, who should give Holt a lot of problems. That match is scheduled for April 4, 2009 on Showtime. No venue has been announced for the show, other then that it will be held in the United States.

Hopkins was bad in this match. He did nothing offensively. The split decision was more a result of Holt, also doing nothing. Hopkins will probably get an untelevised match against a top 50 opponent in his next outing. He is still probably a year away from seriously challenging fora belt at 140 pounds.

This show is one to avoid. The first match was an average one-sided match. The main eventwas horrifically boring.The time can be better spent listening to Bryan whine about snow. There are hours of that up for members at f4wonline.com and it is seemingly growing by the minute.

Abbreviated Awards Ballot:

Boxer of the Year: Manny Pacquiao

Match of the Year: Israel Vazquez vs. Rafael Marquez III: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/12/24/recap-of-israel-vazquez-vs-rafael-marquez-iii.html Round of the YearRound 1 of Kendall Holt vs. Ricardo Torres II: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/12/19/recap-of-kendall-holt-vs-ricardo-torres-ii.html

Knockout of the Year: The best one this year probably happened on ESPN. However, my recent favorite from this year would be Shane Mosley'sknockout of Ricardo Mayorga, because of the drama: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/12/24/recap-of-shane-mosley-vs-ricardo-mayorga.html

Upset of the Year: Timothy Bradley, Jr. defeats Junior Witter: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/12/24/recap-of-timothy-bradley-jr-vs-junior-witter.html

Event of the Year: The Dream Match: De La Hoya vs. Pacquiao: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/12/15/hbo-ppv-recap.html

News and Notes: In light of the recently released BALCO grand jury testimony, the WBC is considering overturning Shane Mosley's 2003 victory over Oscar De La Hoya. The WBC is going to gather more facts and hold a vote of its 29 member board to decide Mosley's punishment. Mosley may be heavily fined or they could take no action at all. The WBC is the most corrupt major sanctioning body in boxing. The sanctioning body is based out of Mexico and has shown a ridiculous bias in favor ofMexican boxers. It is nearly guaranteed to fine Mosley, because they would get some of that money. With a high profile Mexican-American involved the chances of the result of that match getting changed are relatively even. Had De Le Hoya been the boxer that cheated, the WBC would not do anything more then issue a modest fine, if they did that.

Bernard Hopkins is referred to as one of the savviest boxers in the sport by using many for his use of veteran/dirty tricks to win. The great Eric Cartman on South Park explained why athletes like Hopkins are called savvy instead of cheaters when he was talking about New England Patriot's Head Coach Bill Bellichick, who was caught illegally taping other teams signals during NFL games. People who cheat and lose are called cheaters. People who cheat and win are called savvy. Hence, Hopkins is savvy and Andrew Golota is a cheating dirty fighter.

Following his PPV with Roy Jones, Jr. doing terrible business, Joe Calzaghe joined the chorus of people saying boxing is dying. However, 2009 appears to have a loaded television schedule. There are going to be fewer PPV's and weekly shows in 2009. That means, networks are going to load up the quality of the shows they do run on free television. Boxing fans are going to get better free shows in 2009 with fewer good borderline matches being put on PPV and all of the good matches being stacked onto fewer shows. It also means the PPV's that do happen in 2009, will actually be big events. It appears the days of Manny Pacquiao vs. David Diaz as a PPV main event are over for the foreseeable future.

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. has offered to come out of "retirement" to rematch Ricky Hatton. Mayweather said the move was spurred on by the fact he saw on the crawl on ESPNEWS that Ricky's father, Ray, had said a Mayweather representative had contacted them. According to Mayweather, no one on his team had talked to the Hatton's, but the fact people are constantly calling him out is forcing him out of "retirement". Mayweather decided to face Hatton the first time after the American became infuriated watching the Englishman call him out after a victory on HBO. According to ESPN.com, Mayweather has kept a low profile in boxing circles since his June "retirement". However, Mayweather watched Hatton's match with Malignaggi and the Pacquiao vs. Oscar De La Hoya match. It appears even with Floyd Mayweather, Sr. in his corner, Junior is highly motivated to face Hatton. Junior was asked about taking a tune-up match and says he is only doing mega-events from this point forward. The man calls himself "Money" and exhibition matches are unlikely to land Mayweather the $25 million payday he has made for each of his last 2 matches.

However, Hatton is on the verge of signing to defend his Ring Championship at 140 pounds against Manny Pacquiao. The match will be in Las Vegas on May 2, 2009. It will be held at either the MGM Grand or Thomas & Mack Center. The winner of Pacquiao-Hatton will theoretically face Mayweather in the big December PPV.

Juan Manuel Marquez has signed to defend his Ring Championship at 135 pounds against Juan Diaz. The match will be February 28 on HBO at the Toyota Center in Diaz' hometown of Houston, Texas. The winner of this match will be positioned to face the either of the boxers in the Pacquiao-Hatton match-up. Steve Luevano is probably going to defend his 126-pound title against mandatory challenger, Houston's Rocky Juarez, in the other televised match on this card.

Antonio Tarver has invoked his rematch clause and will face Chad Dawson again on March 14. After Showtime had done a greatjob for over a year building up the Tarver-Dawson feud, the rematch is going to be carried on HBO. No location for that match has been announced.

Robert Guerrero from Gilroy, California, home of the excellent Gavilan Hills Academy (where I went to elementary school), has won his court case and is no longer under a promotional contract with Dan Goosen. Guerrero has been held out of action for over 10 months, because of this legal dispute. He is expected to sign with Golden Boy Promotions soon and resume his career at a new weight of 130 pounds. Guerrero, who had become the top ranked boxer at 126 pounds, but said he was beginning to struggle to make the weight.

Evander Holyfield lost to Nikolai Valuev via majority decision on Saturday in Zurich, Switzerland in his attempt to capture yet another heavyweight championship. According to most reports, Holyfield deserved to win the match. That is not so much a credit to Holyfield, but a sign of how bad Valuev was. Valuev did very little offensively in the entire match. The Ring's heavyweight rankings were altered following this match. Valuev was dropped from being the number 4 contender to the number 5 contender, with Alexander Povetkin assuming the 4 spot. However, Holyfield did not enter the rankings. Holyfield's reported purse for this match may not cover his child support payments for 2009 (seriously). He has at least 11 children by 7 different women he has to pay for and alimony to 2 ex-wives. The fear in boxing is that this performance and the boxer's desperate need for money may lead Holyfield to continue boxing. He is reportedly around $10-$12 million in debt. Unfortunately, this match said more about how bad Valuev and today's heavyweight division is then how much Holyfield has left in the tank. Holyfield who was heavily cheered by the crowd said he is going to make adjustments and go for another run at uniting the heavyweight championship. The hypocritical Holyfield said he wanted to do it the right way, the way God would want it done. That is strange, because most of Holyfield's accomplishments have come by cheating through the use of performance enhancing drugs. Sadly, Holyfield's next likely opponent is Riddick Bowe in a race to their own destruction match.

Now for my 2008 year end thank you's. This has been the best professional year of my life and I owe that to a lot of people. I need to thank Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez for continuing to give me the opportunity to work here and even promoting me. Thank you to Mike Sempervive. No one has been more helpful in forwarding my writing career then him. I am not sure I would still be doing this without the help and support of Mike. In that same vain, I need to thank Todd Martin. Todd has subtly given me a lot of good advice on how I can develop as a journalist. I need to thank Derek Burgan and TNA's Ross Foreman. They gave me the critical contacts that allowed the video game coverage to progress. A thank you to Midway's Reid Druck and the ESA's Dan Hewitt for finally making E3 happen. I would also like to thank THQ's Jaime Jensen. I hope to have a quality long term working relationship with Reid and Jaime. Also, I would like to thank all of the people I have met at the different video game events. They have been very nice to me when they did not have to be. I need to thank Holly and especially, Kyle Warneck. They have worked with me for countless hours to make me a better writer. Finally, I want to thank everyone who reads my articles and recaps and especially those of you who sent me feedback. I am a bit verbose and you are the people who let me know this job is worth doing.

The next recap will come out on January 18 covering the previous night's HBO event. However, there is going to be alot of stuff from me between now and then. In the near future, my long promised written review of the XBOX 360 version of SmackDown! vs. Raw 2009 will be finished. January 6-10 I will be submitting articles from CES in Las Vegas. The goal is to be live blogging from the Microsoft keynote that starts at 6:30 PM Pacific Standard Time on January 7. Check back at number1contender.net for details. Additionally, I should be on the Bryan and Vinny show again before my next recap to preview WWE Legends of WrestleMania and UFC Undisputed 2009. The target date for that is January 15.