Combat Sports on TV - Assault in the Ring on HBO Tonight

by Brent Brookhouse on Aug 1, 2009 2:02 PM EDT in News Comment 39 comments

I just wanted to remind all of our readers that the boxing documentary Assault in the Ring debuts tonight at 10:00pm Eastern on HBO. The documentary covers the Billy Collins vs. Luis Resto fight that took place in 1983. This fight may sound a little familiar and if so it is because I talked about it on this site when discussing the Shane Mosley/Antonio Margarito fight when a plasterlike substance was found on Margarito's gloves.

I covered a lot of the story in the above linked article but without having watched the film yet I still think it is safe to say it will be a combination of sad, frustrating, enraging, and tragic. As a combat sports fan this is the kind of story we need to familiarize ourselves with for the future. We can always hope that something like this will never happen in MMA but we've all heard stories in the past of glove and wrap tampering and it is all but assured that we will see something of this nature happen somewhere down the road. It is just a sad truth of the fight game that there will always be someone looking for an advantage and eventually someone goes to an unbelievable extreme.

This is a story worth checking out and I hope as combat sports fans you take the time to watch it.

Trailer for the film (at this point it was still titled Cornered before HBO purchased the rights):

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There is also live boxing on Showtime tonight...

but I don’t think it will be anything that appeals to non-boxing fans. Should be good fights though.

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by Brent Brookhouse on Aug 1, 2009 2:03 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I hope Bradley destroys Campbell.

by gunranger on Aug 1, 2009 3:10 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

so you think Bradleys gonna win,I am not sure myself I think its a tough fight. But cambell is an old school straight from the getto badass.

by TLAoutlaw on Aug 1, 2009 3:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

My wallet hopes you're wrong

Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

by Brent Brookhouse on Aug 1, 2009 4:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Added a trailer in the extended entry

Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

by Brent Brookhouse on Aug 1, 2009 2:14 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Everytime I’m reminded of that story its even sadder.

I truly hope nothing like that ever happens in MMA. That might be too big a thing to hope for, but at least the UFC can monitor behavior enough to make it less likely to ever happen in the big show.

Also, this is the sort of story that makes me want to punch Lampley in the nose whenever he talks about the nobility and whatever of boxing.

by Foxskinrug on Aug 1, 2009 2:28 PM EDT reply actions 5 recs

This should be green

Ditto. Lampley is a bloward.

by FredPancake on Aug 1, 2009 2:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

What do a few fucked up individuals have to do with the nobility of boxing?

by TLAoutlaw on Aug 1, 2009 3:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I have no clue either. These guys are just reaching

by gunranger on Aug 1, 2009 3:10 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

What makes boxing more noble than
any other combat sport, or any other sport for that matter?

I don’t think they’re actually going to let him kill me... And if he does kills me, book sales will really go up. Boom…win-win, bitch.- Forrest Griffin on Anderson Silva

by ufc4 on Aug 1, 2009 3:23 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

Who said that?

by TLAoutlaw on Aug 1, 2009 3:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Lampley says that all the time.

I dislike Matt Hughes and Twidder.

by MonkeyCHops on Aug 1, 2009 3:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yes I guess he does, thats his opinion he works for HBO boxing after all .Maybe he thinks that because you can trace boxing back to 688 BC and then to 1743( Londen prize fighting rules) and then 1867( marquis of queensberry rules) that bo.xing has a much deeper history. I dont necessarily believe that myself and I am sure that MMA can be traced back as well I am just trying to give some perspective to his view points.

by TLAoutlaw on Aug 1, 2009 3:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Just because something is old does not mean it is noble. To criticize MMA as he often does for being brutal and then invoke a history of bare knuckle prizefighting with little to no rules as a noble history is exactly the kind of hypocrisy that makes me hate that arrogant fuck.

I dislike Matt Hughes and Twidder.

by MonkeyCHops on Aug 1, 2009 4:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Lampley is an arrogant women-beater (allegedly)

BOOSH

by Farthammer on Aug 1, 2009 4:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Lampley just called me because he was so upset about what you guys said .He would really like an aplogy

by TLAoutlaw on Aug 1, 2009 4:27 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

He would not like that typo. He is a stickler for that kind of thing.

I dislike Matt Hughes and Twidder.

by MonkeyCHops on Aug 1, 2009 4:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Because boxing handles itself with more class than MMA. MMA is marketed as extreme tough guy sport with hard metal, energy drinks, and trite gladiator themes. MMA needs to treat itself like a sport before people treat it with respect.

by gunranger on Aug 1, 2009 5:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Out of respect...

for Collins I’m going to ask that we not turn this thread into a boxing vs. MMA debate. anything further along this line of discussion will be deleted. Please stick to the topic of the post

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by Brent Brookhouse on Aug 1, 2009 5:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

What is essentially MMA can be traced...

back to the very first Olympics in 776 BC. I just read a book on ancient Greek civilization that said that the wrestling event was a “combination of modern-day wrestling, judo, and kickboxing.” Sounds like MMA to me.

by Jiiri on Aug 1, 2009 6:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Abe Lincoln was NWA Champ!

Tony Schiavone said so!

by RipeTide on Aug 1, 2009 7:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Not wrestling, my bad…I meant to say the ancient sport of pankration that was full-contact fighting was essentially MMA. Apparently all of the Greeks in the pan-hellenic games (there were 4 events that were held each year and attended by all greeks, the Olympics and 3 other events) participated in pankration, with some rules such as no biting, hair-pulling, nut-kicking, etc. It turns out that the Spartans, badasses that they were, lifted those rules for themselves, believing them to be too limiting.

by Jiiri on Aug 1, 2009 7:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Check out this awesome story from the Wikipedia entry for pankration:

In an odd turn of events, a pankration fighter named Arrhichion (Ἀρριχίων) of Phigalia won the event despite being dead. His opponent had locked him in a chokehold and Arrhichion, desperate to loosen it, broke his opponent’s toe (some records say his ankle). The opponent nearly passed out from pain and submitted. As the referee raised Arrhichion’s hand, it was discovered that he had died from the chokehold. His body was crowned with the olive wreath and taken back to Phigaleia as a hero.

Wow.

by Jiiri on Aug 1, 2009 7:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Assault

Not assualt.

by joerogansvnecktee on Aug 1, 2009 2:54 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

^ beat me to it

When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are in a confederacy against him. - Jonathan Swift

by subo on Aug 1, 2009 2:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah...didn't check my own title...

I suck

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by Brent Brookhouse on Aug 1, 2009 4:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

thanks for the reminder brent

by nitro on Aug 1, 2009 3:00 PM EDT via mobile reply actions 0 recs

Who wraps fighters' hands now-a-days?

Themselves, a team member, or an impartial third-party?

by MMAInFeRioRiTy on Aug 1, 2009 3:19 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Team member...

with the athletic commission supervising.

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by Brent Brookhouse on Aug 1, 2009 4:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think in the UFC you have the option of having Stitch or one of the other cut men do it.

by TLAoutlaw on Aug 1, 2009 4:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Wow. I just read up on this and it’s disgusting. Resto was pretty much hitting Collins with rocks is what the article said.

'Ello G'vnor!

by IHateMMA on Aug 1, 2009 3:27 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I cant wait to watch this. Such a sad sad sad story. I get this feeling in my stomach like its about to just explode anything I see anything from it. I almost have to look away. But I cant wait to see it for some reason. Will probably DVR it and then watch it off an on.

by ufcstinks on Aug 1, 2009 3:46 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs