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Hungry Like A Wolf: Jaron Ennis Likens Opponent Thomas Dulorme To A Thanksgiving Turkey
Asked to rank the world’s top five welterweights, Jaron Ennis listed himself — all five times.
But he was joking (mostly).
Then the unbeaten 24-year-old nicknamed “Boots” listed himself No. 1 ahead of undefeated left-handed IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol “The Truth” Spence, his unbeaten switch-hitting, three-division WBO counterpart Terence “Bud” Crawford, two-time title winner “Showtime” Shawn Porter, and WBA “super champion” Yordenis “54 Miracles” Ugas.
This time, Ennis was serious.
After that top five, Ennis said during an interview with Zenger on Wednesday, “you can throw [former champions] Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia and [WBA ‘regular’ champion] Jamal James in there.”
Standing 5-foot-10 with a 74-inch reach and an amalgam of speed, double-fisted power and finishing skills, the switch-hitting Ennis (27-0, 25 KO) will pursue his 18th straight knockout on Oct. 30 against Puerto Rican stalwart Thomas Dulorme (25-5-1, 16 KOs) at Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas.
“I’m like a wolf, and [Dulorme’s] like a turkey or a Cornish hen on Thanksgiving, which is right around the corner. I’m feeling really dangerous right now,” Ennis said. “I’m hungry, and after this next fight, I feel like a world title shot in 2022 is right there for me.”
If he is victorious over Dulorme, Ennis, if given his choice, would fight “Spence, [Crawford], Ugas, Porter or Keith Thurman,” in that order. “I’m not ‘The Future’ of the welterweight division; I’m most definitely ‘The Now’ of the welterweight division. Right now, I’m on a different level. I can’t wait to put on a show with a highlight-reel knockout.”
Ennis-Dulorme is happening on the undercard of a main event featuring the 6-foot-2-inch James (27-1, 12 KOs) in his initial defense against Radzhab Butaev (13-0, 10 KOs) on Showtime (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT).
“Right now, I’m young, hungry and talented and I work hard,” Ennis said. “I’m a whole different animal than all of those other guys, and all I see is myself being victorious and coming home with a big knockout.”
“Boots” Ennis returns amid a sizzling four months of activity at 147 pounds, being preceded in August by a unanimous decision by Ugas (27-4, 12 KOs) over eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao, and preceding a Nov. 20 clash between Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) and Porter (31-3-1, 17 KOs).
“I’m looking forward to all of those battles, starting with guys like Boots and [Eimantas] Stanionis, so please let the madness commence,” said boxing analyst Ray Flores of Premier Boxing Champions, TGB Promotions and Triller. “I’m looking forward to Boots’ next fight, and, ultimately, seeing him challenging the current generation of the Spences, the Crawfords, the Porters and the Ugas’ of the world.”
Spence (27-0, 21 KOs) owns victories over Porter and Garcia, but is recovering from an eye injury that forced him to pull out of the clash with Pacquiao and to be replaced by Ugas.
James earned his crown in August 2020 by unanimous decision over Dulorme, a 31-year-old title challenger who was TKO’d in the sixth-round by Crawford in April 2015, lost a decision to Ugas in August 2017 and battled to a draw with two-division title winner Jessie Vargas in October 2018.
“I feel like I’m in the perfect position to showcase my talents in spectacular fashion,” Ennis said. “I wanna go in there, get a highlight-reel knockout, and then, one of those guys will have to see me. I’m not sure which one, but they’ll have to see me.”
Ennis’ last fight in April was a sixth-round KO of former champion Sergey Lipinets, who entered at 16-1-1 (12 KOs) and was knocked out for the first time in his career. Ennis both stopped Lipinets in his tracks and lifted him off his feet with a hybrid left-hook/uppercut that deposited him flat on his back as the referee waved an end to their bout.
“The uppercut is my favorite shot, along with the jab. Right now, those are my favorite punches to throw,” Ennis said. “I did it my way, having a lot of fun in there and showing the type of level that I’m on. My mindset is more technical.”
Lipinets was 3-0-1 (2 KOs) since being dethroned in March 2018 by Mikey Garcia, who earned his fourth crown in as many divisions with a unanimous decision victory. Lipinets had battled to a draw with unbeaten Custio Clayton in October 2020, which followed a 10th-round TKO in March 2019 over former champion Lamont Peterson, who retired after their fight.
“Jaron is a vicious punisher yet a classy finisher,” Flores said. “I truly love how much he continues to grow and evolve and believes in himself, and I believe that we’ll see that again against Dulorme.”
Dulorme’s last outing in April was a unanimous decision loss to Stanionis of Lithuania, who improved to 13-0 (9 KOs).
“I think in the Stanionis fight I demonstrated that I am still at the top level. A lot of people told me I won that fight, and I thought I did, too,” said Dulorme, whose previous bout before Stanionis was against James. “I’m excited to face Ennis because he’s a good fighter, but he hasn’t fought anyone like me.”
Prior to the Lipinets bout, Ennis had gone as far as six rounds twice in his career, including a sixth-round TKO of Juan Carlos Abreu in September 2020. The other time was a sixth-round TKO of Marcus Beckford in his eighth bout in December 2016.
Before the Abreu fight, Ennis had scored first- and third-round knockouts in 2019 of Franklin Mamani (August) and Demian Daniel Fernandez (October) followed by a fourth-round TKO of Bakhtiyar Eyubov in January 2020. Fernandez entered at 12-1 (5 KOs), and Eyubov at 14-1 (12 KOs). Eyubov and Abreu were knocked out for the first time in their careers.
“If Jaron continues to do what he’s doing, believe me, he’ll be the headliner in Las Vegas for years to come,” Flores said. “There are some guys who are born to be prizefighters, and it’s great to be able to watch him grow.”
Born into a pugilistic legacy in boxing-rich Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Ennis has been training in gyms since he was in diapers. He is trained by his father and manager, Derrick “Bozy” Ennis, who fought professionally before retiring in 1984 at 4-2 (3 KOs). Older siblings, Derek “Pooh” Ennis and Farah “The Quiet Storm” Ennis retired in 2014 and, 2015, respectively.
“My dad has me working on some new things to get better, having me be more relaxed, using my jab, going to the body a lot more, staying sharp and alert,” Ennis said. “I never look for the knockout. I just go in there and do what I’m supposed to do. I let the knockout come to me, which it usually does.”
Ennis turned professional as an 18-year-old, going 8-0 (7 KOs) in 2016, 9-0 (8 KOs) in 2017, and 5-0, all knockouts, in 2018. “Boots’” first trio of professional bouts in 2016 were stoppages in 42-, 23- and 20-seconds of Cory Muldrew, Luis Ramos and DeShawn Debose in April, May and June.
“Jaron is really special. He’s a mesmerizing fighter with his movement in regard to how and when he throws,” Flores said. “When he boxes, it’s beautiful to watch. When he bangs, you’re almost waiting on the edge of your seat like, ‘This guy is going to throw a hammer at their head.’”
At 22-0 (20 KOs) while fighting between 141 and 151 pounds, Ennis had gone as far as four rounds seven times and six rounds twice, his route-going victories being a four-round unanimous decision over Eddie Diaz (September 2016), a sixth-round TKO of Marcus Beckford (December 2016) and a six-round unanimous decision over James Winchester (March 2017).
Ennis scored nine knockdowns in seven rounds over his final three fights of 2018 comprising a two-knockdown, second-round TKO of former contender Mike Arnaoutis (June), a four-knockdown, third- round TKO of Armando Alvarez (July) and three knockdowns during a second-round KO of Raymond Serrano (November).
The 6-foot-1 Alvarez was 18-0 with 12 knockouts and stoppages in six of his previous seven fights before being dismantled by Ennis, who scored his 12th straight stoppage against Serrano, out-landing him 13-0 in jabs and 31-4 in power shots.
In succession, Ennis floored “Tito” Serrano with a right hook to the temple out of the southpaw stance, a right hand while orthodox, and, finally, a hybrid-uppercut-right hand along the ropes.
Ennis scored a combined seven knockdowns during his next four victories (all knockouts) to improve to 26-0 (24 KOs), including one each against Mamani Fernandez.
Edited by Matthew B. Hall and Stan Chrapowicki
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Nazi End: Artist Murdered By Third Reich Gets A Fitting Tribute
The works of Austrian artist Ida Maly, who was murdered by the Nazis in 1941, are on exhibit through Sept. 1, 2022, at the Lentos Art Museum in Linz, Austria.
Maly was an Austrian impressionist and modern artist born in Vienna in 1894. The Lentos exhibition marks the 80th anniversary of her death at the hands of the Nazis at Hartheim Castle. The castle was “one of six gassing installations for adults established as part of the ‘euthanasia’ program,” according to the U.S. Holocaust Museum. It is where German authorities carried out the last gassing of inmates.
Maly was diagnosed as schizophrenic and committed to a psychiatric hospital in 1928.
“The life and work of … Maly were shaped in equal measure by the political, social and artistic turmoil of her times.” the Lentos museum website says. “She began her studies in Graz and Vienna. In 1918 she escaped from the narrow confines of her native country to live in Munich, Berlin and Paris, where she absorbed all the latest influences. She was keen on amateur sports and worked as a freelance artist.
“In the 1920s her love of freedom was increasingly overshadowed by uncertainty and precarious living conditions. At the same time, Maly created a multifaceted oeuvre brimming with promising new aspects of the arts in the interwar period.”
Her time at the psychiatric hospital “did not signal the end of her work as an artist,” the museum said.
“She made pencil portraits of fellow inmates, which gave her subjects that dignity and individuality the inhumane psychiatry of the 1930s conspired to deny them.
“The exhibition at the Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz features a selection of her works. Retracing the trajectory of the artist’s life, it demonstrates how successfully she negotiated the stylistic maze of her times to arrive at her own unmistakable artistic language.”
The Nazi government instituted the “Law for the Prevention of Progeny with Hereditary Diseases” on July 14, 1933.
“This law, one of the first steps taken by the Nazis toward their goal of creating an Aryan ‘master race,’ called for the sterilization of all persons who suffered from diseases considered hereditary, such as mental illness, learning disabilities, physical deformity, epilepsy, blindness, deafness and severe alcoholism,” the Holocaust Museum’s website says.
The government increased its propaganda, labeling people with disabilities “useless eaters” and a burden upon society.
“Just a few years later, the persecution of people with disabilities escalated even further,” the Holocaust Museum said. “In the autumn of 1939, Adolf Hitler secretly authorized a medically administered program of ‘mercy death’ code-named Operation T4, in reference to the address of the program’s Berlin headquarters at Tiergartenstrasse 4.”
The Germans killed more than 200,000 individuals as part of Operation T4, the majority of them mentally and physically disabled patients. Alongside ‘euthanasia’ victims, some 6,000 prisoners from Mauthausen, Gusen, and Dachau were also gassed at the facility, the Holocaust Museum says.
Edited by Judith Isacoff and Kristen Butler
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2021 Gaming World Championship In Israel To Feature Record 85 Countries
By Naama Barak
Game on!
The global eSports market in 2021, valued at just over $1.08 billion, an almost 50 percent increase from the previous year, according to Statista data, is turning its attention to the next world championship.
This fall, the southern Israeli city of Eilat is set to host the world’s very best gamers when it becomes the playing ground of the Esports World Championship.
The international video games contest, slated for Nov. 14-20, will see 500 gamers from 85 countries vie for the top spots. The gamers beat some 10,000 hopefuls who spent recent months competing in playoffs around the world that were viewed by millions of people online.
The contestants will compete in four games: Dota 2 (groups), Counter-Strike (groups), TEKKEN 7 (singles) and eFootball PES 2021 (singles).
The eSports industry’s global market revenue is forecast to grow to as much as $1.62 billion in 2024, according to Statista. “Asia and North America currently represent the largest eSports markets in terms of revenue, with China alone accounting for almost one fifth of the market.”.
“The eSports market has boomed in recent years with more and more viewers tuning in to watch their favorite games being played by some of the best gamers in the world. By 2024, there are expected to be 577.2 million viewers of eSports worldwide, a large increase from the 397.8 million in 2019,” Statista data shows.
Israel will be represented by the Overwolf Israel team, which in turn represents the Israeli Esports Association.
As of May 2021, according to Statista, Team Liquid, founded in the Netherlands but currently located in the United States, was the leader on the list, with total prize money won throughout the team’s career adding up to more than $36 million. Team Liquid gained second place at The International 2019.
The Esports World Championship is the International Esports Fderdation’s flagship competition and serves as the world’s only multi-game Esports tournament that features national teams,” the organization’s website says.
This year’s contest will be the 13th international competition; last year’s contest attracted around 1.5 million viewers worldwide. It will be the first time that Israel is hosting.
“It’s a great honor to host in Israel the Esports World Championship, which garners great global exposure. I thank the Prime Minister’s Office, the Tourism Ministry, Eilat Municipality and Maccabi World Union for their contribution to the organization of the competition in Israel,” said Ido Brosh, head of the Israeli Esports Association.
Produced in association with Israel21C.
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Ex-vangelical YouTuber Brenda Marie Davies Preaches Progressive Faith To Next Generation
By Paige Hagy
NEW YORK — Brenda Marie Davies, a 38-year-old former model, remembers dancing to the thunderous bass in Berghain — a 24-hour nightclub in Berlin known for its decadence, hedonism and Funktion-One sound system — when a strange sentiment filled her soul.
A tattooed and pierced bouncer enforced a mysterious door policy for the club located in a former power plant, Davies said. Berghain’s main dance floor is above a male sex club, Lab.Oratory. One of Berghain’s multiple floors resembled the façade of a church. The DJ booth sat where the priest would stand at an altar. Perhaps those visuals helped stir the sentiment.
Davies had stopped attending church for more than five years earlier and had just left an abusive relationship, she said. This trip was her first solo excursion. She was in what she now refers to as her “trampage,” a season when she was knee-deep in hookup culture, rebelling from religion and searching for meaning and identity.
The crowd reeked of sexual energy, but she was set on being alone that night. She was mentally “hyper-present” as she gyrated with the crowd, she said, sweating in her black leather pants and giant fur coat — and she was thinking of Romans 8:38-39:
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
In an interview with ReligionUnplugged.com, Davies said: “I remember having this really profoundly beautiful moment where I was dancing so freely, and I was so with God and in that zone with divinity. I really acknowledged for myself for the first time all these things that I really wanted in life.”
She realized she wanted to make a positive influence on the world, wanted to tell people about God, wanted love, wanted family, wanted a child — all the things she wished for as a little girl, but had lost sight of in the growing pains of life.
At that moment, she said she prayed for God’s forgiveness, encountering Him in the truest sense all over again while, ironically, dancing on top of a sex dungeon.
“I always told people, ‘I’m a Christian but not like that,’ and I always meant ‘I’m a Christian, but I don’t hate gay people,’ or ‘I’m not going to judge you for x, y and z.’”
She lacked the proper language and terms to describe her faith back then, but what she meant was that she is a progressive Christian.
An Exodus from Evangelicalism
In a March survey by Gallup, researchers found only 47% of Americans said they belonged to a church in 2020, down from 70% in 1999. Christians are not attending church less often, but rather, there is a lesser share of the population identifying as Christian today, particularly millennials and younger generations.
Pew Research reported that only 49% of millennials identified as Christian in 2019, in contrast to 67% of Generation X, 76% of baby boomers and 84% of the silent generation.
Others are drawn to new expressions and iterations of Christianity, some more progressive and some manifesting in new forms of celebrity culture and social media. Examples range from Justin Bieber on Instagram, Chris Pratt in Hollywood and Davies on YouTube.
Progressive Christians like Davies aim to be more affirming of postmodernism and accepting of the epistemological — relating to the nature, origin and limits of human knowledge — ideas and methods that continue to be produced, according to the Rev. Lydia Sohn, a progressive Christian writer and pastor ordained by the United Methodist Church.
As a result, they have historically been more open to evolving modern Western worldviews, such as the validity of science and the changing notions of equality, sex and gender. Progressive Christianity is politically and socially liberal as it seeks to amplify all voices — especially minority groups — and tends to focus on social justice action more than intrapersonal piety.
Davies often critiques conservative evangelical theology but said: “It’s never about the people. I always want to make the disclaimer that I’m calling out theology that has rotten fruit.” By “rotten fruit,” Davies said she means theologies that she believes perpetuate harm, such as patriarchal attitudes in churches that celebrate men and shame women. She argues that such doctrines and cultures can foster shame and guilt, turning young people away from faith.
Still, the dichotomy between progressive and conservative evangelicalism is not as clear-cut as it may appear. There are some conservative evangelicals, like Beth Moore and Preston Sprinkle, who are theologically conservative but culturally liberal. Many conservative Christians today also use science and reason to craft arguments against abortion or gender theories.
And like evangelical culture, progressive Christianity is a dispersed movement — lacking named leaders, defined tenets of faith and clear connections to a specific denomination — which makes it difficult to define.
Benjamin White, assistant professor of biblical studies at The King’s College in New York City, asserts that progressive Christians largely focus on living well and using current human and cultural knowledge to modify traditional Christian beliefs and practices. But while White admires their desire for relevance, he has concerns about how far some are willing to go.
“In trying to reach people who are outside the Christian faith, they’re sometimes not thinking enough about the history of the faith,” White said. “Any movement or institution can only bend so much before it becomes something new. For extreme progressives, you have to ask: Are they converting to Christianity or something else?”
Rather than modernizing Christian belief, White suggests that progressives would do better to recover traditional Christian positions that conservatives often overlook: caring for the poor, identifying with the marginalized and preaching justice.
God is ‘Grey’
Davies started a YouTube channel three years ago called God is Grey, which has now gained more than 136,000 subscribers. Her podcast of the same name averages 5,000 to 7,000 listeners per episode. More than 53,000 accounts follow Davies on Instagram.
She begins all of her podcasts with the precursory statement: “Although I believe as a Christian that God resides in absolute truth, in black and white, we as people are stuck here on planet Earth, contending with the gray.”
In her introductory YouTube video, she similarly explained: “I myself have had a difficult time fitting into the cookie-cutter mold of a Christian because the older I got, the more I learned about sexuality, relationships, science, history, politics and the Bible, the more I saw these gray areas. I believe that to earnestly seek God is to honestly and fearlessly look at the gray.”
Still, Davies acknowledges she is not a pastor or a theologian. She is just the girl stirring the conversation, she said. It was with the development of her social-media presence that she discovered the progressive Christian community.
Davies grew up in the evangelical church, but said her experience was spent contending with all the binaries — the black and white.
“In that space, I was really empowered to read the Bible on my own, to feel like I could be a powerful woman of God that was really encountering the Creator in a genuine way.”
But with that came the binaries she said she struggled with: pure or impure, straight or gay, man or woman and so on.
“So many things were counterintuitive to the way I really felt at the core of my being, but I was always told to swallow it,” Davies told ReligionUnplugged.com.
Being constantly told her flesh was evil, but her spirit was good, “I really started disembodying and learning how to distrust myself for the first time in my life,” Davies said.
Now on her YouTube channel and podcast, “God is Grey,” Davies dives into the grays, attacks the conservative evangelical church’s idolization of purity, speaks out against theologies she believes perpetuate harm, and stirs conversations about Christianity.
Even though “God is Grey” began as a personal, therapeutic project by which she could tell the story of how she was profoundly hurt by the church, it transformed into a catalyst, prompting others to step out and publicly share their stories.
Davies now lives in Los Angeles as a single mom with her 2-year-old son. She has written a book called “On Her Knees: Memoir of a Prayerful Jezebel,” which “chronicles Brenda’s spiritual journey over the course of a decade in L.A., through marriage, divorce, unlikely friendship and sexual exploration.”
Produced in association with Religion Unplugged.
Edited by Fern Siegel and Kristen Butler
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Canelo Alvarez Vows To Become Mexico’s First Undisputed 168-Pound Champ With KO Of Caleb Plant
Canelo Alvarez rose two weight classes in November 2019 to challenge then-WBO 175-pound titleholder Sergey Kovalev, vowing to become a four-division champion.
The Mexican superstar did so sensationally, knocking the “Crusher” literally to his knees, senseless, out cold and sagging against ring ropes that held him up. It was a bitter end to a match for a highly unpopular fighter.
“It was nice to see Canelo do us all a favor and hit Kovalev so hard that he banished him from the stratosphere of being a world-class fighter at the elite level,” said boxing analyst Ray Flores of Premier Boxing Champions, TGB Promotions and Triller.
“That was a vicious and apropos clock cleaning of Kovalev, who, in my opinion, is a bad guy based on his track record. At some point, someone may test Canelo, but on that night, it was like, ‘This guy is done being an elite fighter’ because Canelo’s blowing everybody out of the water.”
It has been nearly two years since Kovalev was pummeled by Alvarez, who is predicting an early knockout of undefeated Caleb Plant during their unification bout on Nov. 6 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Alvarez, 31, is determined to become the first undisputed 168-pound champion from Mexico by adding Plant’s IBF crown to his WBA/WBC/WBO versions.
“I’m sticking with my prediction of a knockout before round eight,” said Alvarez, also a winner of titles at 154, 160 and 175 pounds. “The first couple of rounds will be difficult, but as the fight progresses, I am going to be able to get him out of there.”
Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KOs), whose bout against Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) will be his fourth fight in 11 months, is hoping to vanquish an undefeated rival for the eighth time in his career at the MGM Grand. Plant, 29, will battle Alvarez, 31, on Showtime Pay Per View (9 p.m. ET).
“This is the most important fight in Canelo’s career. As a prizefighter there is nothing bigger than unifying a division,” said Alvarez’s manager and trainer, Eddy Reynoso.
“That’s why we’re training so hard. Our focus is to make sure we show everyone that Mexican boxing is No. 1. If we’re able to get this victory and unify the division, we will really be making a big mark in the sport.”
Alvarez is 14-0-1 (8 KOs) since a majority decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September 2013, a bout that dethroned the then-23-year-old as WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion.
“Canelo” (Cinnamon for his red hair) is rocketing toward the legendary status of countrymen such as three-division champions Julio Cesar Chavez and Marco Antonio Barrera, four-division title winners Juan Manuel Marquez and Erik Morales and long-reigning Salvador Sanchez and Ruben Olivares.
“Canelo’s speed and power against Kovalev was impressive, further showing his progression since the fight with Mayweather. I rank him top five behind Chavez, Olivares and Salvador Sanchez, maybe right there with Marquez, Barrera, Morales and Carlos Zarate,” said Showtime boxing commentator Raul Marquez, a former junior middleweight champion.
“Canelo has matured, developing into a much better fighter. He’s stocky, strong, has a big back, legs, and that’s where his natural power comes from. His balance allows him to leverage his punches, maximize his power, particularly on his body shots, by transferring his weight back and forth from one side to the other.”
That cerebral prowess and two-fisted punching power teams with an impressive resume, which makes Alvarez the sport’s best pound-for-pound boxer, according to Flores.
“Canelo is precise, economical and we’re starting to see more wrinkles in his game as he grows exponentially in the footwork, head movement, feints and the way he parries shots,” Flores said. “Oh, and by the way, he hits like a Mack truck, which makes him the most complete fighter we’ve seen in a long time. Canelo’s the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and it’s not even close.”
At a pre-bout press conference last month, Alvarez and Plant wound up trading blows during their staredown. Goaded by a push from Alvarez, Plant swung and missed. Alvarez landed on Plant. A brief scuffle ensued before the men were separated, with Plant being cut over one of his eyes.
“I’ve never been involved in anything like what happened at the first press conference between me and Caleb,” Alvarez said. “I delivered the message I had to at our press conference. I don’t have to say anything else to Plant. I’m just going to prepare to face him in the ring on Nov. 6.”
Alvarez earned his first crown in March 2011 by unanimous decision over Matthew Hatton, dominating nearly every minute for the WBC’s vacant 154-pound title and improving to 36-0-1 (26 KOs).
Alvarez made six title defenses before falling to Mayweather, capped by a unanimous decision unification victory over southpaw Austin Trout in April 2013. The victory added Trout’s WBA crown to Alvarez’s WBC title. Alvarez earned his second crown in as many divisions via unanimous decision that dethroned Puerto Rican four-division title winner Miguel Cotto (November 2015) as WBC middleweight champion.
Alvarez earned his third crown in as many divisions in December 2018, his four-knockdown, third-round TKO of WBA “regular” 168-pound champion Rocky Fielding coming against a fighter who entered at 27-1, 15 KOs).
“I don’t want to compare myself to great Mexican champions of the past, but this [Caleb Plant] fight is very important for my country of Mexico. This is one of the most important fights of my life,” Alvarez said. “I’m taking it very seriously, and a win means a lot to me. I just want to go out and make my own history. In the end, I want to be considered one of the best along with the legends who came before me.”
Another major triumph was Alvarez’s majority decision unification victory over then-undefeated WBA/WBC titleholder Gennady Golovkin (September 2018) in a rematch of their draw in September 2017.
“Canelo” also owns unanimous decisions over three-division champion and two-time Oscar De La Hoya-conqueror “Sugar” Shane Mosley (May 2012), former champion Chavez (May 2017), ex-titleholders Daniel Jacobs (May 2019) and Callum Smith (December 2020), and a split-decision over left-handed Cuban two-division champion Erislandy Lara (July 2014).
Alvarez’s knockouts of former champions include a sixth-round stoppage of Carlos Baldomir (September 2010), a one-knockdown, fifth-round TKO of Kermit Cintron (November 2011), a 10th-round TKO of Alfredo Angulo (March 2014), a sixth-round knockout of Amir Khan (May 2016) and a three-knockdown, ninth-round KO of Liam Smith (September 2016).
The Smith siblings were unbeaten before falling to Alvarez, Liam, 33, at 23-0-1 (13 KOs), and Callum, 31, at 27-0 (19 KOs).
Alvarez last fought in May, winning by eighth-round stoppage of southpaw Billy Joe Saunders, who entered at 30-0 (14 KOs). Alvarez added Saunders’ WBO title to the WBA and WBC belts he already owned.
“It’s unreal when you look at his resume and consider the guys that he’s beaten, which is unreal,” said Flores, also mentioning a third-round TKO of left-handed title challenger James Kirkland in May 2015.
“I never thought that anyone could mean what Chavez has meant to Mexican fight fans, but Canelo is so young and has a desire to really claim his legacy, being so adamant about being undisputed.”
Canelo Alvarez’s Top 15 victories
1) Gennady Golovkin (MD 12, Sept. 15, 2018)
2) Sergey Kovalev (KO 11, Nov. 2, 2019)
3) Miguel Cotto (UD 12, Nov. 21, 2015)
4) Shane Mosley (UD 12, May 5, 2012)
5) Erislandy Lara (SD 12, July 12, 2014)
6) Daniel Jacobs (UD 12, May 4, 2019)
7) Austin Trout (UD 12, April 20, 2013))
8) Rocky Fielding (TKO 3, Dec. 15, 2018)
9) Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (UD 12, May 6, 2017)
10) Billy Joe Saunders (RTD 8, May 8, 2021)
11) Amir Khan (KO 6, May 7, 2016)
12) Callum Smith (UD 12, Dec. 19, 2020)
13) Liam Smith (KO 9, Sept. 17, 2016)
14) Matthew Hilton (UD 12, March 5, 2011)
15) Carlos Baldomir (KO 6 Sept. 18, 2010)
Canelo Alvarez’s Top 10 Knockouts
1) Sergey Kovalev (KO 11, Nov. 2, 2019)
2) Rocky Fielding (TKO 3, Dec. 15, 2018)
3) Billy Joe Saunders (RTD 8, May 8, 2021)
4) Amir Khan (KO 6, May 7, 2016)
5) Liam Smith (KO 9, Sept. 17, 2016)
6) Carlos Baldomir (KO 6 Sept. 18, 2010)
7) Alfredo Angulo (TKO 10, March 8, 2014)
8) James Kirkland (KO 3, May 9, 2015)
9) Kermit Cintron (TKO 5, Nov. 26, 2011)
10) Josesito Lopez (KO 5, Sept. 15, 2012)
Edited by Stan Chrapowicki and Matthew B. Hall
The post Canelo Alvarez Vows To Become Mexico’s First Undisputed 168-Pound Champ With KO Of Caleb Plant appeared first on Zenger News.
Running Out: Can Fast Food Favorites Beat Supply Shortages?
Things are running out of stock seemingly everywhere. Even fast food companies are facing increased pressure due to shortages of key supplies.
McDonald’s pulled milkshakes for several weeks this summer from its 1,250 stores in the U.K. because a shortage of truck drivers meant the fast food giant couldn’t get ingredients. McDonald’s also struggled to supply bottled beverages.
Taco Bell told customers this summer that it was out of several key ingredients, including chicken and beef, which took some of the chain’s most popular items off the menu.
Starbucks has also been hit hard. An internal memo this summer said that up to 25 products could be pulled from retail shelves due to supply chain issues affecting chai tea bags, toffee nut syrup, green iced tea, hazelnut syrup and even some food products.
“We are experiencing temporary supply shortages of some of our products in the U.S,” Starbucks spokesperson Nicholas Sampogna said. “Specific items vary by market and store, and some stores will experience outages of various items at the same time. These supply chain disruptions are industry-wide, and Starbucks is not immune.”
Meanwhile, consumers the world over are dealing with the unavailability of staple items on store shelves.
“It is difficult to get the shipment of raw goods from other parts of the world because of COVID and shortages of shipping containers and delays in the shipping industry,” said Andrea Sordi, academic director for the executive MBA in global supply chain management at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
“Adding on to that, the world had a huge increase in their consumption. With lockdowns, people were not going to restaurants and eating out. There has been a huge increase in demand of ready-to-eat and pickup food,” Sordi said.
In addition to foodstuffs, fast food companies and small businesses are also running out of paper bags, takeout containers and straws. Sales of paper used to make takeout bags were up 12 percent in 2020, according to the American Forest and Paper Association, largely due to the closing of in-store dining during the height of the pandemic and the related rise in takeout orders.
Grocery stores are also struggling to stock staple food items, including soup and canned or frozen vegetables. This is due to a spike in demand for products with a long shelf life in addition to supply chain shortages.
Kroger, the nation’s largest supermarket retailer, states on its website that “extensive supply chain is constantly evolving to meet the needs of our customers and communities,” and in June offered its blueprint for business for other retailers to use.
“While changes occur rapidly, positioning yourself to partner with third parties as needed can limit your risk and ensure minimal impact to your supply chain,” Kroger said, with a list of tips to consider.
Challenges surrounding supply chain management, which is tied to logistics, increased significantly with the worldwide shutdowns ordered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Shortages of food and other items continue as the supply chain seeks to recover from disruptions exacerbated not only by the pandemic, but also by wildfires in the U.S., floods in Europe and China, and drought in South America.
A Gallup poll in August 2021 found that 60 percent of U.S. adults say they have been unable to get a product they wanted in the past two months because of shortages, and 57 percent have experienced significant delays in receiving a product they ordered. Seven in 10 Americans overall have had at least one of these issues, while 46 percent have had both.
“The same poll finds that 83 percent of adults have experienced ‘significant price increases’ in the past two months, another byproduct of the COVID-19-related economic disruptions to manufacturing, shipping and labor supply.
“As would be expected, given the systemic nature of today’s supply chain problems, similar percentages of Americans in all regions of the U.S. report having each of the three challenges tested in the survey,” the Gallup organization said.
How companies meet the challenges
In the U.K., retailers and their suppliers are working to minimize disruption, said Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium. “Retailers are increasing pay rates, offering bonuses and introducing new driver training schemes, as well as directly supporting their suppliers in the movement of goods.”
U.S.-based Progresso Soup has reduced its product offerings from 90 products to 50 in an effort to keep up with demand on its more popular items.
“Coupled with supply realities, any demand spikes or drop-offs will create opportunities and challenges for consumer packaged goods,” a 2020 report by consulting firm McKinsey & Company says.
“Even as companies work nonstop to stabilize their business, we believe it is critical to allocate significant time to planning for the post-crisis phase. It can be as simple as executives spending a few hours every week thinking ahead, or as committed as assigning a specific team responsibility for creating RGM [revenue growth management] plans for 2021 and beyond,” the report says. “To succeed at RGM in the next normal, consumer packaged goods companies need to focus on consumers, shoppers and customers, and define scenarios for each.”
Some companies are simply asking their customers to be patient. Taco Bell, for example, recently posted this message on its website: “Sorry we can’t feed your current crave.”
Some big fast food chains, including McDonald’s and Jersey Mike’s Subs, have been forced to increase prices as supplies dwindle and inflation creeps up. Consumer prices for food away from home jumped 4.7 percent last year and prices for food at home increased 3 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index.
Lesson from the top
Supply chain is as much, if not more, dependent on technology (warehouse management, tracking inventory and cargo, identifying bottlenecks, and more) as on transportation.
Technology research firm Gartner in May announced its annual list of “Supply Chain Top 25.”
“The top performers offer valuable lessons in supply chain excellence,” Gartner said.
“After a year in which supply chains had to demonstrate unprecedented levels of agility and flexibility to rise to the challenges of the pandemic and other macroeconomic factors, we found that today’s differentiated supply chains go beyond just efficient logistics; they deliver on their organization’s purpose by: understanding customer value, investing in technology that drives resilience, agility and innovation, and promoting innovation and celebrating successes against ESG [environmental, social and governance] targets.”
For the second year in a row, Cisco Systems topped the list.
Some supply chain disruptions will take longer to fix
Even after pandemic-related squeezes on the supply chain ease, there will still be problems that will take longer to address.
In the U.K., where McDonald’s ran out of shakes and there may be future shortages, the Road Haulage Association says the truck driver shortage is the result of longstanding issues that pre-date the pandemic and Brexit. While there are pandemic and Brexit-related issues (although Europe is also facing a shortage), the trade group points to the ineffectiveness of recruiting and apprenticeships, the loss of training and testing, low pay, government regulations and other issues for creating a shortage of 100,000 drivers.
Earlier this year, the U.K. trucking group surveyed its members and others in the industry. After 616 responses, it released a report and a 12-point plan, “to tackle the driver shortage and to liaise with government in order to help solve this crisis.”
In the U.S., 68 percent of freight is driven on highways, and there are similar issues resulting in a truck driver shortage, according to the American Trucking Association and others.
In the long-term, autonomous trucking may provide a solution.
President Joseph R. Biden Jr. announced on Oct 13 that the two major ports in Lost Angeles will now operate 24/7.
Edited by Judith Isacoff and Bryan Wilkes
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Just Like George Jetson: Fly To Work On Your Electric Plane
By Brian Blum
The morning news is reporting terrible traffic into the city. Waze has no workaround, and you’re needed in the office for an important client meeting.
“No problem,” you smile. “I’ll just fly to work.”
Literally.
That’s the promise of the AIR ONE from Israeli startup AIR, which began taking pre-orders this week for its eVTOL – electric vertical takeoff and landing car.
Most other eVTOL makers, like fellow Israeli flying carmaker Urban Aeronautics,have targeted more commercial functionality, such as emergency medical response, for their initial deployments.
eVTOL is the technical term for what mobility fans have been anticipating since the early 1960s, when TV’s George Jetson commuted to his animated push-button job at Spacely Sprockets.
This is a flying car powered by the same batteries used in today’s electric cars. It will charge from the same infrastructure used for the Chevy Bolt or electric Ford F-150. In contrast, Urban Aeronautics’ CityHawk will be powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
AIR’s big reveal follows four years of development. The company’s initial model will be a two-seater that can fly for 110 miles at 155 miles an hour. Early adopters can plunk down a symbolic fee to be first in line when AIR ONE is released.
Becoming an eVTOL pilot
Unfortunately, a working vehicle isn’t expected to be ready until 2024. So why announce now when the reality is still a few years away?
“We wanted to prove that it’s doable,” AIR CEO and co-founder Rani Plaut said.
“And we wanted to start a relationship with customers now, to look for feedback. The pre-orders are not as much for the money but for proving that there is a viable market out there. The big hurdle is more about adoption and less about regulation.”
By regulation, Plaut is referring to rules by aviation authorities such as the FAA that determine where an eVTOL can fly and what licensing will be required.
“There are several levels of pilot licenses,” Plaut said. “We would like the lower level and we’re working with the FAA to approve it.”
The lower-level licensing Plaut is seeking is more like getting a driver’s license than a traditional pilot’s certification, requiring just 15 hours of practice and five hours of solo flying. The cost for this kind of training, Plaut says, is a few thousand dollars.
Fly-by-intent
AIR ONE’s software and hardware are designed to make flying as simple as driving a car.
“Most aircraft use ‘fly-by-wire,’” Plaut said. That’s where there is a mechanical connection between, say, the vehicle’s “steering wheel” and the wings and rotors.
AIR One uses what Plaut calls “fly-by-intent.” All the navigation is done by sending digital signals to the motor controllers and other elements. There’s no mechanical connection.
Going digital also allows AIR to build in some serious smarts. “We’re designing the left-hand turn in the best way possible,” Plaut said, “a designed and fabricated perfect left turn, the way the best pilot would have done it.”
Is that artificial intelligence?
“It’s the opposite,” he said. “AI goes up the scale in complexity. We’re going the other way. Our core components keep the aircraft stable and in the right position. This simplifies a lot of functions and allows the craft to make the perfect left-hand turn based on innate, reflex-based functions.”
Still, even with the smartest software there will be safety concerns.
“People asked the same question in the 1920s about cars,” Plaut said. “In London, at the turn of the century, if you owned a car, you needed to have a person walking in front!”
Plaut has a simple answer for what will make the difference: “Time.”
Going to the third dimension
There’s no lack of competition in the eVTOL space — from single-person hobbyist crafts to sophisticated $4 million air taxis — but Plaut isn’t too worried.
He believes that every new eVTOL “will contribute to people feeling comfortable about going into the third dimension” — the sky.
To put your mind somewhat at ease, AIR ONE has a built-in parachute so that, if there is a disaster in the air, you’ll reach the ground safely.
Beyond the software, AIR’s other big innovation is about scale. Other flying-car makers can produce 20, 50, maybe even 100 craft a year because the process is mostly handcrafted, Plaut says, unlike automated car production.
“Our aircraft are designed to automotive-level production quality,” Plaut says. AIR aims to manufacture tens of thousands of its flying cars every year.
Secret superpower
AIR was founded by Chen Rosen, a long-time aviation and UAV enthusiast, in part to address road congestion by moving some of the daily commute into the air, Plaut said.
Yet initial users will probably not be city-dwellers.
“I prefer the first customers to use it in rural areas or to land at the edge of the city and take an Uber in to work,” Plaut said. “You could use it to go sightseeing or on a picnic with friends.”
AIR ONE, with its 150-mile range, is not suitable for a vacation jaunt from Tel Aviv to Eilat and back… at least not yet, although range and functionality will undoubtedly improve.
Parking is another reason AIR ONE may not be applicable for urban environments. “The vehicle is large,” Plaut said, like two cars parked with a substantial amount of space between them.
However, AIR ONE has a secret superpower: It’s foldable. When folded, it will measure about the size of a single Ford F-150 pickup truck.
The vehicle has collapsible landing gear and power wheels to get into a tight spot. “You can’t drive it on the road; it’s too slow,” Plaut said, but it is drivable.
“If we lower the bar and don’t fly into cities or over congested areas in the beginning, then the question is: Are you willing to spend your money on a vehicle that costs the same as a car and will you trust my technology to take you from point A to B?” Plaut said.
“The future of mobility is in the sky, but to get there we need to build consumer confidence in eVTOLs as a legitimate mode of everyday transport and develop vehicles on a mass-scale to bring that vision to life.”
Personal transportation
Plaut contrasts AIR ONE with building a complete air taxi system, “which is more like a mini-airport. You need commercial pilots, operators, landing spaces.”
Going the more personal route allows AIR to gauge the market before scaling up.
“The essence of the company is to have something resembling a Tesla,” he said. Plaut anticipates selling AIR ONE direct to consumers via showrooms, ala Tesla.
Keeping with the Tesla analogy, Plaut notes that “the first Teslas didn’t go more than 170 miles.” But even 100 miles of range covers “enough of your life for most tasks including commuting.”
AIR ONE’s price will be similar to the cost of a Tesla Model S, Plaut said. Currently, that Tesla model sells for just under $90,000.
As for the pre-order fee, Plaut said the company will work with each customer on a case-by-case basis. “We want some level of commitment, but it will be a small amount.”
The company’s vision is “to make something as easy as a car with a practical range and a practical price. If we can do that, I think we can make a real difference.”
Future is in the sky
It’s still very early days for personal flying cars
“There are over 80 million cars sold a year. We are at zero,” said Plaut.
And there’s plenty of infrastructure to build — not lanes in the clouds or exit ramps off the skyway, but rather software limiting where the aircraft can go.
“Flying cars are [already] a reality. The aviation technology exists, and early-stage regulatory review is underway in both the U.S. House and the Senate to bring eVTOLs to market,” writes Nimrod Golan-Yanay in TechCrunch.
“What doesn’t exist is a place to land them. Decades from now, city infrastructure will look very different. ‘Vertiports’ within the city that can accommodate eVTOLs of all sizes and distance capabilities will be commonplace in the modern metropolis.”
At which point, a near-future George Jetson might call out, upon arrival from his personal AIR ONE flying car, “Jane, I’m home!”
For more information, click here. ​
Produced in association with Israel21C.
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VIDEO: World’s Oldest Crab Nips Out After 100 Million Years Trapped In Amber
Trapped in amber for more than 100 million years, the most complete and oldest non-marine crab ever discovered was found inlaid in jewelry up for sale in a Chinese market in 2015.
Javier Luque got a tip while he was a University of Alberta Ph.D student about checking out the unusual jewels. A professor contacted Luque, who is an expert in crab evolution and worked on the discovery of the 95- to 90-million-year-old Callichimaera perplexa, known as the platypus of crabs.
“When I saw [the crab in amber] for the first time I could not believe my eyes,” Luque, now a research associate at Harvard University, gushes. “This spectacular crab looks so modern, like something you may find in British Columbia flipping rocks, but it is actually quite old and different from anything seen before, fossil or alive.”
Non-marine crabs live in freshwater rivers all over the world, or on land, like the Christmas Island red crabs that live in the mountains of Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.
Luque explained that the molecular record, which is built by DNA and RNA analysis, predicts that non-marine crabs split from marine crabs more than 125 million years ago.
“However, the fossil record on non-marine crabs, which consists of only tiny bits and pieces of claws, indicated that marine crabs conquered land and freshwater much later, somewhere between 75 and 50 million years ago,” Luque said. “So we’ve had this gap between the predicted molecular time of the split of non-marine crabs and the known fossil record of about 50 million years.”
Until now. The latest find is not only the oldest non-marine crab ever described, it’s also the most complete crab fossil of any type.
It’s named Cretapsara athanata, “the immortal Cretaceous spirit of the clouds and waters,” as it likely lived near a coastal environment during the Cretaceous period 100 million years ago.
Luque, along with a team of international scientists, reported their findings in Science Advances.
“This crab is telling us a very interesting story about the tree of life of crabs,” Luque said. “There is a lot of excitement about crab evolution because evolution has produced crab-like forms, known as carcinization, many times independently.”
Luque says this discovery shows that crabs have split off for land and fresh water more than 12 times since the “Cretaceous crab revolution” began, when crabs diversified and started evolving their characteristic body forms.
“It’s not an ancestor to the modern crab, but rather a distant cousin,” Luque said.
“It seems like evolution loves making crabs,” he said. “Crabs are doing something well, so nature is sorting them out and selecting for those forms over the less crabby relatives.”
Edited by Richard Pretorius and Kristen Butler
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U.S. Is The New Crypto Mining Capital After China’s Ban
China pulled the plug on a nearly decade-long cryptocurrency boom by banning Bitcoin and all crypto-related transactions, sending the virtual currency tumbling and putting the United States in the position to dominate the crypto market.
The government will “resolutely clamp down on virtual currency speculation … to safeguard people’s properties and maintain economic, financial and social order,” the People’s Bank of China said in a statement.
The bank said in announcing the ban that cryptocurrency was “resulting in criminal activities including money laundering, illegal fundraising, fraud and pyramid schemes.”
The government’s move comes after years of Chinese regulators’ crackdown measures on the cryptocurrency industry. In 2013, the People’s Bank of China banned banks from handling bitcoin transactions, calling the cryptocurrency a “special virtual commodity.” The national bank halted local crypto trading in 2017, leading to an increase in overseas trading using virtual private networks (VPNs) to conduct transactions.
The ban includes transactions based outside of China, meaning that Chinese citizens can no longer bypass the government’s controls on foreign transactions by trading cryptocurrency overseas.
“Maybe a decade ago, China was really open to cryptocurrency. They invited cryptocurrency companies, said: ‘Hey, there’s lots of energy available, lots of coal-powered plants available, energy’s cheap, come and set up your mining operations here,’” Ian Khan, director of the documentary “Bitcoin Dilemma,” told Zenger.
Mainland China had a 75 percent share of the world’s hashrate (a measure of the computational power used to mine cryptocurrency) in September 2019. As of July 2021, China’s share was down to zero.
“What China has done in the past few years now is they’ve started experimenting with a digital form of their own currency to convert their own currency, the yuan,” Khan said.
China began testing a digital state-backed version of the yuan called the Digital Currency Electronic Payment in April. It doesn’t require an internet connection to make transactions, is similar to Apple Pay and is expected to be used as a primary payment method.
The United States now has 35 percent share of the global hashrate, which is sure to increase as cryptomining’s high usage of electricity indicates that American states with the lowest electricity prices are the most attractive to miners looking to set up shop.
States with open space and a deregulated energy grid, such as Texas, may become top contenders for cryptocurrency miners moving out of China.
“It’s a real boost to the United States in a few ways. One is that much of the cryptomining that was occurring in China is now happening in the United States. And that means that new crypto generated from the mining process will be generated in the United States,” Martin Chorzempa, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told Zenger.
“And that means that the U.S. is going to be the source of liquidity for the cryptocurrency space in a way that China was before. And to the extent that these Bitcoin mines are profitable, create employment, that could be something very useful.”
Although Bitcoin recorded its highest prices ever this week, the popularity of virtual currency has a dark underbelly. Cryptocurrency is decentralized via blockchain technology, which records every digital transaction made in a public forum. However, blockchain enables transactions to be made anonymously, as it only records a wallet identity. The anonymity of cryptocurrency has made it ideal for use on the black market.
“I think what China is doing is dangerous because they’re forcing people to go down this path instead of creating a clear regulatory regime. … Now you’re forcing people to the black market, which is just gonna make crypto more nefarious, and it’s going to force a different type of person to go do it,” Jordan Fried, CEO of Immutable Holdings, a blockchain holding company, told Zenger.
“I’m very against the Chinese ban. But I do think it presents a very interesting opportunity for the United States,” he said.
Edited by Richard Pretorius and Kristen Butler
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