Watching the PPV Spence vs. Crawford Fight with an App -- the Perils, Thrills and Takeaways7/30/2023 By Juan C. Ayllon LAS VEGAS, NV--It was five years in the making but, finally last Saturday, these two undefeated rulers of the red-hot welterweight division were set to collide. From Mike Tyson to Mario Lopez, everyone was talking about this fight. That night in Las Vegas' jam-packed T-Mobile Arena, Terrence "Bud" Crawford dominated, savaged, and stopped Errol Spence Jr. in nine rounds. In the process, three division champion Crawford become the first undisputed welterweight champion in this era of four belts by adding Spence's IBF World, WBA Super World, and WBC World Welterweight titles to his WBO World Welterweight trinket in this Showtime Pay Per View event presented by Premier Boxing Champions. And although I paid the $84.95 PPV fee in advance, when it came time to watch it with friends, we nearly missed it due to technical difficulties! Belle and I have been cutting costs since I retired from the Illinois Public School System two years ago and began teaching in nearby Wisconsin for a few more years. We downsized to a smaller house and cut our cable service; nowadays we stream Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix and DAZN (a boxing app). Slashing further, we dropped HBO and Showtime and, frankly, that hurt! Losing HBO was easier after they canceled their boxing programs, but quitting Showtime was downright painful! It was almost like losing a family member (well, not like a losing a sibling, child, parent, or even a dog--but maybe a hamster or a chatty cockateel). But by canceling Showtime, I not only missed their boxing events, I lost out on shows like Ray Donovan, that ruggedly cool fixer played by Liev Schreiber (though in retrospect, the explicit raunch was a bit much). Nowadays, I catch boxing on ESPN, ESPN+, and other channels available on Hulu, as well as DAZN and YouTube replays. However with DAZN, I've found some broadcasts glitchy. When viewed in our smaller 65" flat screen TV in our living room with our Roku player, the video stutters, and when viewing it on our 75" flat screen in our basement family rom, it sometimes freezes, leaving me staring for stretches at a spinning circle--or ceases working altogether, citing technical difficulties and inviting me to try again later. It's horribly frustrating. Shopping, Sisyphus, and Buffering Fast forward to last weekend's event. After the mega fight was finally set, we decided to host a watch party. Now boxing isn't Belle's thing, so our guest list was small, consisting of several friends and volunteers from the church worship team with whom I serve monthly on the soundboard. Altogether, they were 10 in total--and mostly men. We kept it simple and inexpensive; Belle was preparing shredded pork and spiced ground beef for tacos, tortillas, black beans, three layered dip, a salsa chip platter, and fruit. We also provided soda and limited drinks. Beyond that, it was Bring Your Own Bottle. I ordered the PPV, followed up on RSVPs, vacuumed, tidied up, and went shopping; Belle dusted, cleaned, mopped, chopped, trimmed, slow-cooked, polished, and preened. She made a shopping list, and I was off! Armed with her list, I was Sisyphus pushing an immense shopping cart up miles of aisles in a superstore the size of a small city. I struggled finding items like flame roasted tomatoes hidden in successive rows of shelves teeming with thousands of types and permutations of canned and packaged goods. My head hurt. However, I persevered, I triumphed--and had to return later for some items I'd missed! Finally, the night was here. I poured tortilla chips and fresh salsa into a Raku glazed blue and brown ceramic chip and dip bowl. The cooking complete, Belle set the food out and lit some candles. Teamed up with her scent diffusers and wall fresheners, they bathed arriving guests in a bewitching bouquet of Bed Bath & Beyond meets Taco Truck. I took the men downstairs and treated them to select cuts of jazz, blues, and rock on my prize Usher Audio ML-802 loudspeakers. Powered by the Pass Labs X150.8 amplifier with its blue lit meter and massive, machined, brushed aluminum chassis with heat fins, they impressed! Soon it was start time. Tapping the Showtime app I'd downloaded on my iPhone, I hit play on the PPV show, then toggled the small Chromecast button icon--a rectangle with a series of repeating curves in its bottom left corner mimicking signal sent to a TV--at the top of the playback screen, to cast it to my 75" Vizio M Series Quantum Smart TV. We had lights! We had action and sound! The guys eased back in their chairs to watch. Suddenly, then the screen froze. And then that annoying spinning circle appeared. "When you see that spinning circle, it means that it's buffering," an ostentatious student once announced in a computer lab. Rising from my past, that memory taunted, almost as if to say, "Just be patient--it's simply buffering!" as 10 men anxiously awaited the fights to resume. A half dozen tries later, Belle texted, "Dinner is ready!" We marched upstairs, where I was able to play the broadcast just fine on the smaller TV in our living room via a linked Roku player that featured Showtime in its menu (the newer Vizio downstairs did not). I toasted tortillas directly over a flame on our stove with tongs as guests lined up and served themselves. "This is delicious!" said David, an affable Jamaican programmer who serves on worship team as an audio-visual technician. Belle's tacos, black beans, and triple layer dip were a hit, and with the live fights now on screen, the guests were happy. However, Belle wanted us to return to the basement so she could watch a show with the girls. Besides, I really wanted to experience this momentous fight night over the much larger and better sounding system down below. So plate and drink in hand, I traipsed downstairs and tried again. However, I could not get the broadcast to load! As it turns out, they did not allow the simultaneous viewing of the PPV broadcast on both TVs. After changing the channel upstairs, we were able to reload the fight broadcast downstairs. We then got good picture and sound, but it froze up some 20 seconds later. After several more false starts and stops, I thought I'd ditch the iPhone and try making the connection with my MacBook Pro. Using its internet browser, I navigated to the Showtime.com website, logged into my account, selected the PPV show, and when the live show appeared on my Mac, I clicked the Chromecast icon, and watched the show reappear on my 75" TV seconds later. We had live boxing once again! However, after another 20 seconds, it froze, and once again, we had the spinning circle! I refreshed my page and tried again. And again. An Epiphany Then, I recalled that previous problems I'd experienced with Google Chromecast often occurred during peak viewing hours, and it occurred that I just might avoid this casting issue by simply hardwiring the MacBook Pro directly to the TV via HDMI cable (the broader, flatter headed digital link connecting a Blu Ray Player or other digital device to a smart TV) and mirror the MacBook's screen onto it. Stressed, I struggled to recount the steps to mirroring my laptop's screen, but Mike, a burly corrections officer who plays guitar at worship and also uses a MacBook, stepped forward and helped jog my memory. Clicking on the apple icon at the top left corner of my Mac's screen, I selected System Settings on the drop down menu, followed by "Displays", then "Use as" and toggled "Mirror for M75Q6-J03" (my Vizio model). Then, I went back to Select "Sound" in settings, then Output, and clicked on M75Q6-J03 HDMI for my audio output. Houston, We Have Lift Off! Suddenly, we were transported to the T-Mobile Arena together with the screaming 19,990 attendees and the estimated 770,000 PPV buyers! Generating over $50 million in revenues, the bouts were electrifying. We watched the 40 year old four division champion, Nonito Donaire (42-8, 28 KOs), fall short in his bid to win the vacant WBC Bantamweight crown versus Mexico’s Alejandro Santiago,(28-3-5, 14 KOs), who used superior speed to out-point his Filipino rival with scores of 116-112 twice and 15-113. “I was trying to counter so much and put so much power into it,” said Donaire, who was gracious in defeat. “I tried to fight like a warrior, which was something we didn’t train to do.” Vichiel, a Filipino, came downstairs with her husband, Joe, and their toddler, Seth, to check on her countryman, Donaire, who's a celebrated hero in the Republic of the Philippines. “It is so hard to explain this moment right now,” said Santiago, 27. “All the work we put in for just this moment. It’s amazing just to win this title.” Next, we enjoyed a thrilling fight between Mexican assassin Isaac "Pitbull" Cruz (25-2-1, 17 KOs) and the rock-jawed Giovanni Cabrera (21-1, 7 KOs) for the WBC and WBA Lightweight Title Eliminator. Cruz, who was deducted a point in round eight for head butting, won the bout by scores of 115-112 and 114-113, with one judge scoring the action 114-113 for Cabrera. Now Cruz gave WBA World Champ Gervontae Davis a run for his money in losing a close decision back in December 2021, but tonight was often wild in landing the larger volume of impressive blows--which Cabrera took well. Still that last judge's score favoring Cabrera seemed suspect, but, that's not unusual in the sport of boxing! “I was superior tonight, but I do respect all of my opponents, and he was very good today,” Cruz said. “I was frustrated a little. He thought it was my birthday because he was hugging me all night.” "I waited a little too long waiting to see how much he had,” Cabrera offered. “Then I started turning up my punches when I saw that was all he had. I thought I took control at the end of the fight, but I don't make any excuses." And then came the main event: coming out aggressive in first round, Spence jabbed and attacked Crawford’s body. Crawford, a switch hitter, fought primarily as a southpaw and scored his first knockdown in round two with a powerful right jab that dropped Spence on the seat of his trunks for the first time in his career. “We practice that,” Crawford said. “Normally in camp we do a flick and jab. But we knew that wasn’t going to work with Errol Spence because he’s durable, he’s strong. So we had to practice a strong firm jab. The jab hit him and stopped him in his tracks.” “He was just throwing the hard jab,” said Spence. “He was timing with his jab. His timing was just on point. I wasn’t surprised by his speed or his accuracy. It was everything I thought.” Although he had a few bright moments, even when Spence landed his power shots, Crawford seemed set and unfazed. Throughout the fight, he demonstrated a decided edge in speed--which, in boxing, kills. The great Muhammad Ali often used superior speed to trounce stronger opponents, and after narrowly defeating the quicker Doug Jones in 1963, his trainer, Angelo Dundee allegedly swore off pitting "The Greatest" against speedier opponents. In fact, failing to heed this dictum led to his being knocked out by the 37 year-old Texas Light Heavyweight Champ, Elmo Henderson in an exhibition bout held in San Antonio, Texas in 1972 (you can read that HERE). Spence attacked in the third round throwing bludgeoning blows, and landed a left hook flush early in the round. However, Crawford weathered his pressure and delivered a crunching counter right which staggered Spence. “Errol Spence is a tremendous talent and he’s got a great jab,” Crawford noted. “We were worried about the jab coming in because that’s how he sets up all of his shots. Our main focus was the jab. You take away his best attribute. The rest is history.” Crawford dropped Spence twice in round seven, courtesy of a right uppercut early and, later, with a right hook. Then in round nine, a fusillade of hooks by Crawford forced referee Harvey Dock's hand as he terminated the action at the 2:32 mark. "There are quite a few people claiming the ref was too late in stopping the Spence/Crawford fight," former middleweight and super middleweight contender, Michael Olajide Jr., posted afterwards on Facebook. "Respectfully, I think the ref stopped the fight at the absolute right time. If Crawford was allowed to square up and throw just one more punch, it would've been ugly." The Evening's Takeaways From an A/V standpoint, for me, it's abundantly clear that a hardwired connection trumps casting from a smart phone or computer to a TV. Whether here at home or on vacation at my mother-in-law's in Tampa, Florida, I've had way too much inconsistency with Chromecast and Apple Play when it came to listening to music or watching boxing (this past July, I had the same issues trying to cast a DAZN event on my mother-in-law's living room TV and ended up watching it on my laptop in her home office next to the router). At very least, it's good to have a backup plan and some handy HDMI cable! And if you're using a newer MacBook Pro, an Apple USB-C Digital Multi-Port adapter is indispensable (don't go with the cheaper versions from hardware stores--they just don't work!). For Belle, who dealt with constant interruptions as she and her friend, June, tried to watch their movie, then later struggled to remain awake as the party ran late, her takeaway was more succinct. June and her husband, Mike, had hosted us at their yacht on Lake Michigan the week before, and when asked what she'd like to do next time, Belle chimed, "I'll go to your house!" In all fairness, it was a lot of work for her, and having a more relaxing evening away with her friends when I have a guys boxing night might not be a bad idea. And from a boxing standpoint, it's clear after years of delays between Crawford and Spence, that the welterweight division finally has a definitive king in Crawford. It's been far too long. However, it's no time to get complacent. As George Foreman once responded when asked if he was the baddest man on earth, there's always someone better out there. And, in this case, there's a young lion named Jaron Ennis who at 38-0 and 28 knockouts, poses a serious threat and is now the mandated challenger for Crawford's IBF World Welterweight belt. Whether Terrence fights him after a proposed rematch versus Spence at 154 pounds in December, or abdicates the crown to move up a weight division remains to be seen. But, either way, fight the fights, don't make the fans wait so long, and let the best man win!
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