Thread: ESPN Outside The Lines: Magomed Abdusalamov

BOXING TRAGEDY: OUTSIDE THE LINES -
MAGOMED ABDUSALAMOV, Sunday, 9 AM ET on ESPN
OTL Correspondent, John Barr sits down with Bakanay Abdusalamov (wife of injured boxer, Magomed Abdusalamov who is in the fight of his life).



Yup, you read that correctly. ESPN is going to talk up how dangerous boxing/other contact sports are while at the very same time they rake in money from programming which features.....anyone want to guess?


CONTACT SPORTS!!!


This is another fucking soap box moment for ESPN and I am sick of their bullshit. "Don't bully players", "Let's everyone be gay and play sports", "Why can't women play football?"....you know if contact sports are so fucking horrible why is ESPN pushing for gays and women to play?

Magomed got in bad shape, but every single fighter knows boxing isn't a game you "play", he was a warrior but now ESPN will turn him into a martyr and that sickens me.

It'd probably help your moral stance if you didn't denigrate gay people while on your soap box.

Originally Posted by Ron Swanson

It'd probably help your moral stance if you didn't denigrate gay people while on your soap box.

I don't denigrate gay people, I think sports especially professional sports should be merit based and that's all that matters.

To me it doesn't matter if someone is gay or a female or a certain race or religion it's 100% about can they play the sport. Example, Michael Sam, he's just come out, he was just Co-defensive player of the year in the SEC he's going to get drafted and he's going to get a chance to play because he earned it with his PLAY, the gayness is erroneous to how he plays the game. Another example is Robbie Rodgers, American soccer player, he retired, then came out, then unretired....point is his sexual preference means jack shit on the pitch, he's a solid MLS player regardless of what he does in his own bedroom. Another example, Jason Collins, now he's 35, just recently came out and is having a hard time finding a team that will sign him...which would be an issue if he was a solid player, but he's just another 7 footer who rides the pine and doesn't provide great offense or defense, he's just average AND he's 35 his skill level is not where it needs to be for him to get his contract. That said the Nets are looking in to signing him.


Is it so difficult to understand? I don't care about if someone is gay or a female or whatever if they can play the sport is what I care about when it comes to sports. SKILL > Superfluous bullshit that has no impact on sport, that is my view.



My point is that if you can play, then you can play. If you're handing out special try outs or making special rules for people who are this or that or what have you then you're doing a disservice to those who have put the work in and have the skill. There's plenty of straight athletes that aren't worth a damn either, but nobody says "put those guys on the field"

I read this earlier... seems the boxer might have the boxing authorities by the balls here and win this lawsuit.

Can only be news good for the wellbeing of fighters in future bouts.

To be honest this shouldn't be happening still.

Maybe its time all fighters have a brain scan by law immediately after the bout and with a neuro specialist with equipment on hand just incase.

Would completely stop all this stuff and maybe the governing bodies owe it to the fighters to foot the bill

Originally Posted by El Kabong

Magomed got in bad shape, but every single fighter knows boxing isn't a game you "play", he was a warrior but now ESPN will turn him into a martyr and that sickens me.

Every boxer that climbs in the ring deserves respect for having the cojones to do so. What annoys me is people that lack the courage to box themselves try to ridicule & insult those that do.
Mago was treated DESPICABLY by everyone involved. Anyone with a modicum of sense could see the man was seriously hurt. But he was pushed back in by his corner & allowed to do so by the doctors. The fact that a doctor supposedly examined him after the fight & said he was Ok is beyond belief. The fact NYAC & the garden allowed him to leave & then have to hail a taxi to take him to hospital is attrocious.
Since then where are the NYAC The promoters, His manager & corner team ?? Not to mention the Klitschko brothers. when the man needs help they all seem to dissappear. This whole scenario is yet another black eye for the sport of boxing

Originally Posted by C.J.Rock

Originally Posted by El Kabong

Magomed got in bad shape, but every single fighter knows boxing isn't a game you "play", he was a warrior but now ESPN will turn him into a martyr and that sickens me.

Every boxer that climbs in the ring deserves respect for having the cojones to do so. What annoys me is people that lack the courage to box themselves try to ridicule & insult those that do.
Mago was treated DESPICABLY by everyone involved. Anyone with a modicum of sense could see the man was seriously hurt. But he was pushed back in by his corner & allowed to do so by the doctors. The fact that a doctor supposedly examined him after the fight & said he was Ok is beyond belief. The fact NYAC & the garden allowed him to leave & then have to hail a taxi to take him to hospital is attrocious.
Since then where are the NYAC The promoters, His manager & corner team ?? Not to mention the Klitschko brothers. when the man needs help they all seem to dissappear. This whole scenario is yet another black eye for the sport of boxing

Mago gets my respect, but I told you guys after having watched him that he got hit too much and had 0 defense.

What do the Klitschko's have to do with this? Sampson Lewkowicz of Sampson Boxing was Mago's promoter.

Originally Posted by C.J.Rock

Originally Posted by El Kabong

Magomed got in bad shape, but every single fighter knows boxing isn't a game you "play", he was a warrior but now ESPN will turn him into a martyr and that sickens me.

Every boxer that climbs in the ring deserves respect for having the cojones to do so. What annoys me is people that lack the courage to box themselves try to ridicule & insult those that do.
Mago was treated DESPICABLY by everyone involved. Anyone with a modicum of sense could see the man was seriously hurt. But he was pushed back in by his corner & allowed to do so by the doctors. The fact that a doctor supposedly examined him after the fight & said he was Ok is beyond belief. The fact NYAC & the garden allowed him to leave & then have to hail a taxi to take him to hospital is attrocious.
Since then where are the NYAC The promoters, His manager & corner team ?? Not to mention the Klitschko brothers. when the man needs help they all seem to dissappear. This whole scenario is yet another black eye for the sport of boxing

Could not agree more! ESPN should be all over the idiot referee, the moronic and heartless corner men, the stupid know nothing doctor and any other boxing official at ringside. It really was an outstanding display of indifference.

Well we will see I guess whether ESPN cares to actually do some reporting or whether they want to go with their agenda which is "All contact sports are bad for you"


I will say it is a shame John David Jackson did not stop that fight, I know that no call will haunt him.

And don't ask me why ESPN is pushing the "all contact sports are bad for you" agenda when for so long it put money in their pockets and built their media empire. I have no clue how they can on one hand denounce the NFL, NHL, etc for "forcing" people to get CTE and then on the other hand show not only football but extreme sports too which can cause even worse injuries.


It is mind boggling how and why ESPN has taken the stance they have...I just don't understand it.

People always bring up the "contact sports" thing (citing that brain damage can easily occur in sports like football, hockey, ect as well, which is true). I don't really buy into that argument and I don't see how it's hypocritical of ESPN because boxing isn't a "contact sport", it's a fight sport (along with MMA) where the sole purpose is to give your opponent a brain injury.

Too many times us boxing fans want to look at boxing with rose colored glasses and focus only on the glamorous things in the sport, but in the end it's a very nasty sport that has lead many men to an early grave, or at the very least a horrible quality of life after they retire.

You gotta take with the good with the bad. Abdusalamov's injury was a real tragedy, so you can't blame people for telling his story. His story should be told, it's a reminder of how dangerous boxing really is.

What pisses me off about the magomed situation is that hbo was jizzin their pants while he was prividing entertainment but they could not be bothered to cover his medical bills which are chumo change to them

ESPN are being open, honest and fair minded, I do not blame them for running this agenda. I do not know why it would upset you so much?

GTFO Lyle, ESPN has tried to shut OTL down already by moving them to the timeslot of death. It's fan and ombudsman chastising that has prevented them from completely doing so. It's the best journalism on ESPN and it's presented with the least slant. Outside of the Real Sports on HBO, OTL is the best video journalism the television industry has. The OTL "agenda" and ESPN's don't match up and that's been made clear in the past year. It's good, honest journalism that we should be lucky to have.