Spiro Zavos's Contributions

Bob Jones, the NZ multi-millionaire and boxing authority (he was a friend of Angelo Dundee and ran boxers himself in the quest for a world championship, Rex Redden being a standout) has declared that SBW can't box his way out of a paper bag. I know Bob well. I respect his judgment on fighters. He knows a lot about the game and he knows the history of boxing probably better than anyone else in Australasia these days. So it will be interesting to see whether he is right or not, or perhaps Tilman will be one of the 'bum a month' fighters that Joe Louis was confronted with on his march to the top. From what I have seen in clips of SBW, he is a correct fighter, rather mechanical. This may reflect his inexperience in the ring as nothing is natural for him there, it is all learned experience. But he does seem to lack a real killer punch. His punches are more slaps or cuffs rather than real, heavyweight shots that can drop a big man in one go. But let's see ...

Sonny Bill Williams vs Clarence Tillman III: Live updates, blog [video]

8 Feb 2012

For years I have argued, unavailingly, that Stephen Hoiles should be playing at number 7. He has (had?) the pace, the right size and the athleticism to be a world class fetcher. Why his coaches played him at number 8 where he was (is?) too small is beyond me. So Loges pass this on to your mate. Tell him to insist on playing number 7 from Randwick and then play so well that the Rebels or the Force or even the Waratahs (if they can see sense for once) should make him an offer he can't refuse.

Hoiles eyeing return in 2012

7 Feb 2012

My point, audacious as it is, is that the generic title for the team at the 1908 Olympic Games was Australasia. If a New Zealander in that team had won a medal, and none did as far as I know, then the medal would have been attributed to the Australasian tally. The Australasian Davis Cup tennis team of Wilding (NZ) and Brookes (Australia) was just that, an Australasian side. As your note pointed out, a Cornwall side (the county champions) represented Great Britain. There were no Scots or Welsh players in the team but as Cornwall was the Great Britain nominee team the silver medal was won by Great Britain, not Cornwall. By a similar reasoning, as the Wallabies were the Australasian nominees, the gold medal was won by Australasia. This is, of course, merely a debating point. The Wallabies are and presumably will be for for ever the only southern hemisphere side to win a gold medal for 15-a-side rugby. This is the reason why I called my history of the Wallabies, The Golden Wallabies (Penguin 2000) with pp 104 - 123 on the 1908 Wallabies and Australian rugby in an Olympic Games context. Getting back to the main point of the article, Sharminator is correct about the investment that many countries are putting into their Sevens Rugby sides. Brazil is a case in point. They will have a team at next week's IRB Sevens Rugby tournament at Las Vegas. The investment in Sevens is paying off for Brazil in the 15-person game. They could easily have a Sevens team at the Rio 2016 Olympics and a 15-person side at the 2015 RWC tournament.

How the Australian Sevens side can live up to its ‘Aussie Thunderbolts’ nickname

6 Feb 2012