It’s a very exciting day for ol’ Ken. I finally got to check the BOXING category box in WordPress for SEO purposes. I’ve become such a creature of habit checking the ENTERTAINMENT and MOVIES boxes. It’s nice to switch things up for a change.

Anyways, enough about me. Let’s talk CREED III. What a movie. It’s easily rivals the original CREED and finds itself firmly in the Top-5 All-Time Rocky Cinematic Universe movies–a fact you could not have convinced me of prior to seeing it. If you know me well, you know I believe two things very firmly: 1. I believe the original ‘ROCKY’ is a masterpiece (it’s my favorite film of all time) and 2. Sylvester Stallone was robbed of an Oscar for his performance in CREED back in 2015. So knowing that Sly was going to “Milford Man”-it for CREED III did not sit well with me. Luckily, all of those fears subsided after about 20 minutes; CREED III had me roped in completely.

So are you on the fence about whether or not to see CREED III? Here are 3 Big Things to consider:

1. Jonathan Majors is outstanding.

I announced this to the other CineBoiz via text, and I’ll officially announce it here; I’m running for president in 2024. My platform? PUT JONATHAN MAJORS IN EVERY MOVIE. I truly believe it will fix whatever you feel is ailing the United States of America. Jonathan Majors is possibly (with the exception of Adam Driver) the best young actor currently working. His performance here as Diamond Dame Anderson only confirmed that sentiment for me. It’s authentic, heart-breaking, menacing and magnetic. He has proven himself to be a generational talent with a relatively small sample-size of work. He absolutely steals the show.

So far this year we’ve gotten remarkable performances from him in two blockbuster films, and its only March. Between those and his buzzworthy performance in the upcoming MAGAZINE DREAMS, 2023 is shaping up to be the year of Jonathan Majors.

2. Some of the dialogue and delivery is a bit much

To be fair, this complaint isn’t exclusive to CREED III. This is probably my biggest complaint across every Creed and Rocky film. At this point, you could almost say it’s a franchise tradition to have some of the cheesiest dialogue and line-delivery. For how unique and well told this story is, there are still certainly lines of dialogue that made me absolutely cringe. In particular, a scene with Adonis Creed joining First Take to talk with Stephen A. Smith had me squirming.

The good news though, much like with 2015’s CREED, for every rough line or over-the-top delivery there are about twenty well written and well acted moments to make up for it. I’ll stop gushing over Jonathan Majors for a minute to also praise Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson’s performances as well. These characters continue to grow and develop in an organic way that keeps on making us want more of them…but maybe we can tone-down the cheese factor a bit for CREED IV.

3. This is the Michael B. Jordan show now, and we’re in GREAT hands.

Perhaps you didn’t hear, but CREED III is MBJ’s directing debut. Furthermore, you already know from my previous trepidation that Sylvester Stallone is no where to be found in this movie. No cameo, no explanation–barely any mention is made of Rocky Balboa. That is now 100% ok with me. The story being told here is Adonis Creed’s and it is a unique departure from anything we seen from the ROCKY franchise. It takes some BIG SWINGS both with the story and technical aspects, but it completely works. I don’t see that happening without Michael B. Jordan and his vision for these characters. I think it is very likely that we will get a CREED IV, and my advice to Michael B. Jordan is to keep swinging for the fences.

VERDICT: 4 out of 5 Stars

So what do you think? Be sure to let us know how you feel on Twitter (@korkedbats; @thecineboiz) and Instagram (@korkedbats2; @thecineboiz). Also, be sure to follow Korked Bats on YouTube and The Cineboiz on Twitch to catch us live, and subscribe to The CineBoiz Podcast wherever podcasts are found!

The post 3 Big Things on ‘CREED III’ – A SPOILER-FREE Review appeared first on Korked Bats.

Endeavor Group Holdings Inc., the powerful owner of UFC and the WME talent agency that was on the ropes a year ago, appears to be staging a Hollywood comeback.

About a month after going public, Endeavor posted a profit of $2.4 million in the first quarter, compared with a staggering loss of $51.3 million a year earlier.

The Beverly Hills company’s business got a big boost from its sports properties segment, where revenue grew 22% to $283.5 million in the quarter, due to more events and higher media rights and sponsorship fees at mixed martial arts circuit UFC. Endeavor said it also had net proceeds of about $1 billion related to its IPO in April and private placements.

“The past year has been by far one of the most challenging, but also one of the most rewarding for our company,” Chief Executive Ari Emanuel said in an earnings call with investors Wednesday. “We were tested in every possible way, and our teams rose to meet every challenge.”

Sure, they’re on the up and up, I guess? But this article reads like a journalistic favor to help put shareholders at ease. Plus, anytime the parent company of UFC loses $51 million, we’re gonna make this face.

I’m not one to celebrate anyone’s shortcomings……….. unless that person or company had our Instagram account deactivated. In that case, I will root for your company’s demise. Petty? Of course. It’s been almost a month since our Instagram account was taken down and we have no idea when/if we will get it back. Our Instagram account was a big part of what we do from a content standpoint. And now, with each passing day, we only get angrier and angrier having it unaccessible to us.

And the funny thing is, maybe UFC’s parent company would make a little more money if they allowed blogs to share their content to grow the exposure of what is already an extremely niche sport. It’s funny how MLB reversed their stance and unclenched their butt cheeks when it came to people sharing their highlights and content and, oh, wow. Would ya look at that? They’re posting one of their best ratings year in over a decade. Funny how that works. It’s also funny how the NBA has never had any sort of policy for people sharing their highlights and clips on social media and they just so happen to be the second most popular sport on the planet. Huh, weird. Maybe UFC could learn a thing or two. Until then, screw UFC. Screw their parent company. And screw that fat-faced Mr. Clean, Dana White, too.

Rest assured, if we ever get our account back, we will never share a shred of UFC content ever again. Unless of course the sport ever folds or Dana White publicly shits his pants.

#FREEKORKEDBATS

P.S. — While we got you here, if you or anyone you know work at Instagram, please contact us. We want to resolve this and get our account back. We’re not into sharing content unaccredited and we’re definitely not into sharing content that isn’t meant to be shared.

The post UFC’s Parent Company Lost Over $51 Mill Last Year & Since They Shut Our Instagram Down, We Just Hate To See It appeared first on Korked Bats.

LOS ANGELES — Mike Tyson said he smoked marijuana right before he fought Roy Jones Jr. Saturday night in his celebrated return to the boxing ring at the age of 54.

“Absolutely, yes,” he said during his post-fight press conference.

Tyson and Jones fought to a draw in an eight-round exhibition match at Staples Center as scored by three former WBC champions.

After the bout, Tyson indicated he smoked another joint, apparently before he met with the media to discuss his first fight in 15 years.

“Listen, I can’t stop smoking,” he said. “I smoked during fights. I just have to smoke, I’m sorry. I’m a smoker. … I smoke everyday. I never stopped smoking.”

This fight was all anyone could talk about over the weekend because it featured Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. boxing at the dinosaur ages of 54 and 51, respectively. And now Tyson is now making headlines for his pre-fight routine.

Apparently, Tyson knocked out a fat joint right before the fight.

Should we be surprised by Iron Mike’s doobie snack before the fight? Probably not. Weedmaps was the sponsor for the fight and Snoop Dogg was commentating, I’d say they go hand-in-hand. I wouldn’t be surprised if Snoop and Tyson were taking tokes of the marijuana smoke together before the fight. Tyson founded a cannabis company in 2017 called Tyson Ranch. So The Baddest Man On The Planet is not only growing his own but he’s smoking his own.

After hearing that, you would probably say it’s the least surprising thing of 2020. Let alone the fact that Mike Tyson even entered the ring again. The part of the story I can’t get over is this:

Wait……WHAT??? Is this article implying that Tyson would use cocaine before fights in the past? Is that considered a performance-enhancing drug? Did Iron Mike give up cocaine to return to the ring professionally?

But honestly, we aren’t here to judge at Korked Bats. We are all a little superstitious in our own ways. Even though athletes sometimes take superstition to a whole new level.

• Michael Jordan would wear his UNC shorts underneath his Bulls shorts.
• Wade Boggs would eat chicken before every game.
• John Henderson would have trainers slap him in the face.

• Serena Williams would wear the same pair of socks throughout an entire tournament .
• Brian Urlacher would eat 2 chocolate chip cookies while listening to country music prior to a game.
• Caron Butler would drink Mountain Dew before games and at halftime.
• Wayne Gretzky would put baby powder on his hockey stick before face-off.
• Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd would use crack cocaine “every damn day.”
• Jason Giambi had a “golden thong” that he would wear anytime he was in a batting slump. Yes, an actual thong. Again, we don’t judge here at Korked Bats.
• Nomar Garciaparra’s batter’s box routine every time he was up to bat.

But perhaps one pre-game ritual that Iron Mike Tyson can relate to is Marshawn Lynch:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ESPN (@espn)

This is straight out of a page from ESPN’s Playmakers.

ESPN had to cancel Playmakers after 1 season due to pressure from the NFL for being “too real.” Well, maybe, JUST MAYBE, there’s some truth to the show being too real. Just ask Marshawn Lynch. We all have our own superstitions and pre-game routines, and honestly, more power to them. You smoke that joint Mike Tyson, you wear that thong Jason Giambi, and you get slapped in the face John Henderson. But for the final time, we don’t judge here at Korked Bats. If it works it works. And as the age-old saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

The post Mike Tyson Smoked Weed Before His Jones Jr. Fight, Adding Him To The Pregame Ritual Hall of Fame appeared first on Korked Bats.

Mike Tyson goes ahead and skips the line to drop what some people are calling, “Wait… what?” Yup, the star of Hangover 2 has dropped a new EDM track, and it is fire. Although, I’m not sure if it’s more of the emoji kind or the dumpster kind. Give it a listen for yourself.

But pretty bold of Iron Mike to drop a Skrillex-sounding sound about 8 years after the height of Skrillex-sounding music. I mean, not to sound like a dude in his 30’s, but are people still listening to EDM music? We still doing that whole thing? It’s fine, if so. I’d just like to know.

Now, I’ll admit. It’s catchy. I’ve found myself walking around saying “I’m Mike Tyson. I’m Mike Tyson.” And the artistic choice to have Mike Tyson fight Street Sharks rather than, ya know, actual boxers which he did for his entire career was truly a tug at my nostalgic heartstrings.

So I guess this is where we’re at as a society now? If you’re famous for anything you can hop into a studio and drop a new track no matter how good or bloody-ear painfully bad it is? Now, I’ll admit. I never probably would’ve seeked out this Tiki Lau banger on my own had it not had Mike Tyson tied to it. So mission accomplished, I guess? But the question is, did we need this? العاب تربح فلوس حقيقية

Sure, I might holding a double standard here, since I already declared Vin Diesel’s new jam with Kygo as a the song of the fall. But now that Mike Tyson is dropping bangers, who’s next? J.K. Rowling? Andy Dick? Bob Vila?

I think we as a society need to put our foot down. It was funny (and kinda so bad, it was good) when Dom did it. شرح لعبة الروليت But now that Iron Mike has hopped into the ring – much like in boxing – I think it’s time we all get out.

This had been the year of Mike Tyson prior to this. He had gotten back in shape, and looking like he could maybe get a few more rounds in.

But now, like that Clippers shirt he’s wearing, he blew a proverbial 3-1 lead with this EDM song. C’mon, Mike. We were rooting for you.

With that said, I’m Mike Tyson. العاب الروليت I’m Mike Tyson.

P.S. – Here’s that Vin Diesel banger:

The post Step Aside Vin Diesel, Mike Tyson’s The Newest Random Celebrity To Drop A New Song appeared first on Korked Bats.

As someone from Philly, I love Rocky. Every time I’m at a game and they play the Rocky song (Gonna Fly Now), I get a special kind of hyped. The blood starts pumping. There’s a tingle in my toes. I start punching frozen meat. The franchise will always be one of the greatest stories to take place in Philadelphia. However, and you might want to sit down for this, the Rocky story is not real.

Philadelphia has one of the richest boxing histories in the country, and the one boxer that everyone associates with our great city is not a legend like Joe Frazier or Bernard Hopkins, but a movie character.

The Rocky Statue was commissioned by Sylvester Stallone before the filming of Rocky III in 1982. Stallone then had it installed on top of the famous Philadelphia Art Museum steps. In the years that followed, representatives of the Art Museum had the statue moved to the a grassy patch to the right of the bottom of the steps, before eventually moving the statue outside of the Spectrum (RIP in peace) because the piece was not art but instead a “movie prop.” The statue was then moved back to the grassy patch by the city in 2006 with former Mayor Street declaring it one of the city’s biggest tourist attractions.

I’ve seen every single Rocky movies multiple times – including Rocky V which (spoiler alert) literally ends with him fighting his would-be protege Tommy Gunn in the streets of South Philly in front a television crew. In Rocky IV, Rocky gives an all-time great speech after Defeating Ivan Drago in Moscow on Christmas day simultaneously avenging Apollo Creed’s memory and pretty much ending the Cold War. Less than a year later he’s having a street brawl with a teenager while neglecting his young son who is dying for fatherly affection. Wild stuff.

The Rocky movies tell great stories, but they do this city’s rich boxing history a great disservice. Joe Frazier, an Olympic Gold Medalist in 1964, Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World from 1970-1973, and Muhammad Ali’s #1 rival, only had a tiny plaque underneath the 52nd St. stop of the Market/Frankford Line for 40 years before he was recognized with a statute in front of “Xfinity Live!” the huge drink hall located in the heart of the Stadium Complex.

Having the Rocky statue in such a prominent position in the city subtracts from this city’s very real boxing history. This is why I propose moving the statue from the Art Museum and replacing it with a statue of another Philadelphia son, Bernard Hopkins. More specifically the sculpture will depict him knocking out Oscar De La Hoya. This way, we can show we are a city that celebrates our real-life heroes before fictional ones. The city could also promote a local artist by commissioning him/her to create the sculpture. It’s a win-win for the city!

I’m not advocating destroying the Rocky Statue completely (even that’s the “in” thing to do these days), but instead moving it within the city. When in the city of Philadelphia, the Rocky movies primarily take place in South Philadelphia. If you watch the training montage from the original Rocky that ends with him climbing the steps, you’ll notice that most of the scenes take place in South Philadelphia (Italian Market, Mickey’s Gym, the Meat Freezer, etc). The statue should be moved to the Italian Market, as it is truly the section of the city represented in Rocky. With the move, tourists could now visit the Rocky Statue in the Philadelphia portrayed by the movies.

In the same breath, the prime real estate that is outside of the Art Museum is perfect for spreading the history of an absolute legend in Bernard Hopkins. Hopkins’ boxing career spanned 20 years which included him being named IBF Middle-Weight Champion for over 10 years, and the undisputed Middle-Weight Champion of the World from 2001-2005. During his reign as undisputed champ and pound-for-pound best boxer in the world, Hopkins defended the title 7 times with his last win coming as a 9th round knockout against the heralded Oscar De La Hoya- the subject of my proposed sculpture.

All I’m saying is moving the Rocky statue from the Art Museum to the Italian Market only makes sense. The Art Museum, could replace the “movie prop” with a commissioned sculpture, tourists would get a more authentic Rocky experience when visiting the statue, and the story of a true Philly boxing great would be amplified. It’s only fair for a city with such a rich boxing history that the actual history not be confused with the story told in theaters. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

The post If We’re Tearing Down Statues, It’s Time Philly Gets In On The Action: The Rocky Statue Must GO! appeared first on Korked Bats.

Have you ever seen Muhammad Ali try to do what Howard Cossell does? Or even vice versa? This man somehow pulled it off. لعبة الروليت في الكازينو He both fought in an commentated his own street fight. This dude got off work, got in a fight, walked home, then spliced it all together for the greatest boxing movie since Southpaw (don’t sleep on Southpaw – Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, even 50 Cent was solid in it).

WEAVE!

This video has so many great moments.

WEAVE!

He literally hit us with a *record scratch* [freeze frame] “You’re probably wondering how I got here…” moment in the middle of the video. The same moment the video started with. Great movie making in my opinion. It starts with a foreshadow, and then ultimately you see the story play out to see how you got there. betway He’s the Tyson, the Costas, and the Scorsese.

WEAVE!

And he did the whole thing in Crocs. I got mad respect. Not for the fact that he was wearing Crocs – those are the ugliest shoes man has ever put on their feet. I have respect more so for the fact that he actually fought in Crocs. That’s like trying to sprint on ice. But somehow my man was not only able to knock his opponent down, but he was ultimately able to walk away. And I mean, that when I say it. He respectfully walked away. He did not run (as he points out), which is an important distinction.

Look, I don’t know who this guy is, but he needs to be ringside for the next big pay-per-view. العاب لربح المال الحقيقي Hell, put him in the ring too. Mic him up, and let’s have him go at it again.

The post This Guy Commentated His Own Street Fight And It’s Easily The Funniest Thing Of The Week appeared first on Korked Bats.

UFC superstar Jon Jones was arrested for DWI and a gun charge in New Mexico Thursday morning, TMZ Sports has confirmed.

Cops say they responded to reports of gunfire in Albuquerque at around 1 AM — and when they arrived at the scene, they found Jones inside a 2019 Jeep with the engine running and the car in park.

Jon denied firing a gun — but officers say he appeared intoxicated (bloodshot, watery eyes and reeked of booze) and conducted a field sobriety test, which he allegedly bombed.

He also took a breathalyzer, twice, and registered over the legal limit both times.

During a subsequent search of the vehicle, cops say they found a black handgun and a half-empty bottle of tequila behind the passenger seat.

Who among us hasn’t had a few too many and wanted to go pop some shots off in the dry heat of an Albuquerque morning?

Do things the right way, Mr. Bones. Dust off the gaming console of your choice, pop one of the wonderful installments of Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, or many others and DO BEERS in the safety of your home.

One of my favorite things to do when I feel like getting tipsy and popping shots off is playing Rockstar Games’ 2018 offering Red Dead Redemption on the old PS4. I jump on my trusty White Arabian Grito IV and head to the saloon in Blackwater to drink my cares away. Might even run into my old friend Lenny. RIP LENNY.

-grit

The post Jon Jones Arrested for Grand Theft Auto Cosplay appeared first on Korked Bats.

What a guy. The Gypsy King is a fair and just ruler. تنزيل العاب اندرويد

Before Tyson Fury, the only Gypsy I knew about was the folk hero Mickey O’Neil played by the six-pack factory Brad Pitt in Guy Ritchie’s Snatch.

I planned on writing more, honestly had a pretty good 200£ lobster joke, but now I’m watching Snatch for the 300th time. Sorry for your loss. Anyways here’s the best of Mickey O’Neil.

The post Tyson Fury Paid 200 Euros For Lobsters To Save Them From Being Cooked appeared first on Korked Bats.