With his superior r each
and much ballyhooed punching power,
Willis has been the second-best light-heavyweight in the world over the last two years.
Tomorrow night, could he become the best?
Mike Greenwey is live at Bally's Park Place in Atlantic City. Mike?
-- We'r e out. -- Two minutes back.
Mike: We're at Bally's Park Place in Atlantic City for tomorrow night's highly...
-- What's this? -- Left jab.
-- What's this? -- It's a left jab.
-- Huh, what's this? -- Left jab -- you gonna throw any?
-- What's this? Oh! -- That's a straight right, is what it is.
Lulled you to sleep with the left jab,
knocked you out with the crushing right.
-- [ Exhales sharply ] -- What the hell was that?
It's a haymaker.
-- That's a haymaker? -- Yeah.
-- I never knew that. You know why? -- Why?
'Cause no one throws a haymaker.
Steven Gr een does --
Who's Steven Green?
Kid who beat me up in third grade.
-- He thr ew a haymaker? -- Yeah.
-- Gave me a f at lip. -- With a haymaker?
Yeah.
-- You should have seen it coming. -- He also kicked,
and you know ther e's no def ense f or that.
-- Dan, did you see tomorrow's r evised schedule? -- No.
-- I put it on your desk. -- I'll take a look at it.
-- We'r e gonna pr ep the pr e-fight coverage at 4 :00. -- I'll take a look at it.
And we'r e gonna do a supplemental rundown at 5 :00. That's gonna be --
-- Natalie? -- Yeah?
-- Ther e's a schedule on my desk? -- Yeah.
-- I'll look at it. -- Thank you.
That girl generates a lot of paperwork.
I heard that.
You generate a lot of paperwork, maybe too much.
-- Natalie, ar e we ther e? -- Yeah.
These guys know everything they'r e supposed to know?
They'r e gonna be hot tomorrow night?
-- Sur e. -- I'm asking, are they ready?
If they'r e not, they only have themselves to blame.
That may be so, but I have you to blame,
-- so make sur e they ar e in gear. -- Yeah.
-- Who knows mor e than we do about boxing? -- Box ers.
Besides them.
Boxing experts.
Besides them.
Boxing f ans.
Besides them.
No one.
Damn straight.
30 seconds in.
-- We'r e gonna nail this. -- Okay.
-- We ar e gonna stick the landing. -- Sound on one?
-- Sound. -- Thank you.
-- You know why? -- Why?
'Cause we ar e game-day players, like gladiators of old.
-- Okay. -- Ow!
-- What? -- Eh, paper cut.
You all right?
Yeah, I'll play through it.
Okay.
I play with pain.
In 3...2...
We'r e back.
Dad.
Hey, Danny.
Was ther e traffic?
I took the Deegan to the Cross Bronx. I was fine.
Say, they order ed a bunch of pizzas.
Can you stay around a little bit?
-- I'm double-parked down ther e. -- Okay.
You know, I don't think you've been her e
since we moved into the new studio.
I think I have.
This one's, like, twice as big as the old one, Dad.
The old one was like cable access.
[ Chuckles softly ]
See, all these people
wouldn't normally be working her e today.
This is just f or the special coverage.
For what?
For the fight.
Dad, come on. I told you about this.
Oh, I'm sorry, Danny.
It's a very big deal. It's an expensive match,
and it's the kind of thing that put --
our ratings ar e tracking right now at a 4.1 .
that's, like, twice our usual numbers.
That's, like, 4 1/2 million households, Dad.
4 1/2 million isn't that many, is it?
It's a lot f or cable.
Don't the big shows get about 20 million?
-- Those shows ar en't on cable. -- Bef or e you said you weren't on cable.
That's cable access. That's something diff er ent.
Listen, Danny, I'm double-parked downstairs.
Oh, sur e.
Okay, sorry, f orgot.
O-kay.
These'll get you into everything.
Ther e's a V.I.P. pr e-fight party thing
I thought you might like, and ther e's a post-fight party
wher e, if you want, you can watch me on television.
-- These ar e ringside. -- That's right.
I don't need to sit that close.
What, ar e you kidding me?
I like to sit f urther back.
-- Danny... -- Oh, Dad, these ar e gr eat seat--
I don't need to go strutting around and showing off like I'm a big shot.
It's not showing off, Dad.
These ar e the seats they gave me, and...
I'm a f airly important person in sports tonight.
Can you see if they can trade these, if they can move them back?
Oh, yeah, sur e, we'll see if we can scar e somebody up
who wants to sit ringside.
Danny, you don't have to get smart-ass with me.
I wasn't, Dad.
Listen, thanks f or the tickets.
You shouldn't wear your hair so short.
You'r e starting to look a little bit gay.
Well, thanks f or the f ashion tip, Dad.
Coming f rom you, that's r eally something.
I'm double-parked.
Okay.
If the fight goes eight rounds or longer,
we'r e fine.
Any less than that, Dan and Casey have to fill.
So Dan and Casey fill.
I'm saying they can fill
if it goes mor e than eight rounds. Under that --
Under that, they'll fill longer.
You'r e being pr etty casual about this.
I trust Dan and Casey.
Okay... [ Chuckles nervously ]
Well, while you trust Dan and Casey,
I'll be over her e doing my job.
-- Dana? -- Mmm, yes?
Tim Turner is sick. He can't work tonight.
-- He's sick? -- Yeah.
How sick?
Sick enough that he can't work tonight.
Who's the r eplacement?
A guy I've never heard of, which is saying something.
-- Does he have a name? -- Yes.
Mmm, what is it?
Who car es? I haven't heard of him.
-- Jeremy... -- Chuck Kimmel.
Chuck Kimmel?
[ Laughing ] You'r e kidding.
No. Who is he?
The Cut Man.
The Cut Man?
The Cut Man.
Well, he was alr eady in Atlantic City.
I'm assuming drunk and asleep at the slots.
As a matter of f act, he was. Who's the Cut Man?
Claims he was a corner man f or Rocky Marciano.
He's never met Rocky Marciano.
He gave himself the name Cut Man.
You can't give yourself a nickname.
-- Don't I know it. -- All right, moving on --
You don't think I'd like to be called "The Hammer"?
Isaac...
I would, Dana. I'd like to be called "The Hammer."
You know why I'm not?
You can't give yourself a nickname.
Okay.
-- Also, that one's taken. -- That's right.
Hank Aaron.
The supplemental rundown.
Hammerin' Hank.
Yes.
Nickname -- taken.
You could be another tool, Isaac.
Like what?
Phillips Head Scr ewdriver?
No, I don't know.
Pliers.
-- Natalie... -- Okay!
Tell you what --
why don't we str etch our legs and do this in half an hour?
-- Should I be talking to Kimmel? -- Please.
Go and make sur e Dan and Casey
ar e doing what they'r e supposed to be doing.
Sur e. How about Hammer?
Natalie...
Wait, no, that one's taken.
It is.
Go.
I'll tighten up the rundown.
I'll show it to you in an hour.
-- Dana? -- Yeah?
This is a big night f or us. I need your best show.
What's that mean?
Whatever's bothering you, leave it outside.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Dan: See? Casey: Yeah.
See how he's taking him to the ropes?
And that lowers his center of gravity?
And that's important 'cause he's giving up, like, 12 pounds.
Let's talk about that tonight.
Yeah.
When's your dad coming?
-- My dad? -- Yeah, when's he stopping by?
Oh, he was her e alr eady.
I'm sorry I missed him.
He was, too.
Is he psyched about the fight?
Yeah.
He psyched you're covering the fight?
Yeah, he's a huge fight f an, so me covering this fight's like...
he can die happy now.
That's gr eat.
-- Hello. -- Hey.
This you'r e gonna love.
This is maybe the most important piece of boxing writing ever done.
What with all the important pieces of boxing writing to choose f rom.
The Marquess of Queensberry rules.
-- Marquee. -- Quess.
-- Really? -- Yeah.
Could be Marquez.
It's Marquess. The Marquess of Queensberry rules, written by...
The Marquess of Queensberry?
No, boxing boy. John Graham Chambers.
Then why is it called the Marquess of Queensberry rules?
-- It's a mystery. -- That'll keep me up at night.
Read the book bef or e tonight.
The rules of boxing.
You know how many rules ther e ar e in boxing?
12.
Ther e ar e 12.
I suppose it's not the most complicated sport in the world.
Not complicated, but complex.
You know, my f ather and I used to have this thing
when we watched boxing.
He'd sit in his chair, and I'd sit on the floor next to him.
-- You didn't have a chair? -- No.
What about your mom's chair?
This wasn't "All in the Family," Casey.
Ther e was a chair, and ther e was a couch.
Why wouldn't you sit on the couch?
I had a root beer.
I had root beer, and he had r egular beer,
and we both had them in mugs.
You didn't want to sit on the sof a because you might spill the root beer.
Yeah, I was little then, and, you know, the mug was...
Anyway, it's gr eat that you made him happy today.
Yeah, he's psyched.
"Before beginning real work, every man should take
mild doses of physic to work on the bowels."
What?
That's what this says. It's f rom prof essor Michael J. Donovan,
who was the third middleweight champion
and the first to capture the public's imagination.
Later he became the boxing instructor at the New York Athletic Club,
and his essay on fight pr eparation --
pr etty much consider ed the gold standard.
"Before beginning real work, every man should take
mild doses of physic to work on the bowels."
That's the gold standard.
Yeah, I thought you could work it into the post-fight interview.
-- Oh, you think? -- "Champ, that was a heartbr eaking loss.
"Do you think the outcome would have been any diff er ent
if, bef or e starting, you'd taken mild doses of physic to work on your bowels?"
-- Hey, elucidate is spelled with two L's, right? -- One.
-- Really? -- Yeah.
Inter esting.
By the way, no Tim Turner tonight.
-- Yeah? Who do we have? -- A guy I've never heard of.
-- Chuck Kimmel? -- Yeah, but you're supposed to call him Cut Man.
-- I'm not calling him Cut Man. -- He wants to be called Cut --
I'm not calling him Cut Man.
He trained Rocky Marciano.
Yeah, and I made sweet love to Ava Gardner in Paris.
That ruins Ava Gardner f or me.
-- I love Ava Gardner. -- Casey slept with her in France.
-- While she was doing "Gr een Acr es"? -- That's Eva Gabor.
-- I thought they wer e twins. -- That's Zsa Zsa Gabor.
Which one did you sleep with in France?
-- Natalie, I actually never -- -- Let me.
Ava Gardner is dead.
Eva Gabor was on "Gr een Acr es."
Zsa Zsa Gabor is her sister.
Casey never slept with anybody in France.
Thank you. Can I talk to you a second?
-- Yeah. -- Here's another one.
"When you return to your quarters,
"strip in a room f r ee of drafts.
"Let two men rub you gently with soft Turkish towels.
-- Jer emy... -- "Then they should rub you with coarser towels
to quicken the circulation and harden the skin."
-- Jer emy! -- Ther e's a joke to be made ther e.
I just couldn't get the bat off my shoulder.
Maybe you can work on it outside, sweetie.
I'd like to talk to Casey.
Okay. Wait...no.
You got the word on --
-- I'm not calling him Cut Man. -- Suit yourself.
What's on your mind?
You can't just do this, Casey.
If you'r e br eaking up with her,
you have to br eak up with her.
-- Natalie... -- Casey...
I was never going out with her.
You know what I'm talking about.
No, I don't know what you're talking about, Natalie. I honestly don't.
I never went out with her, not once,
and hardly f or lack of trying,
so I don't think I do need to br eak up with her.
And I don't think I need either one of you telling me what's good f or me anymor e.
So you'r e br eaking up with me now.
[ Sighs ]
Look, we've all behaved ridiculously,
-- and I'm moving on. -- Casey...
I've got the punch line.
No.
Jer emy, let's get back to work.
10 seconds live.
Stand by sound 4, 5, and 6A.
Show me Bally's.
Loading one, two, and effects two.
In 3...2...
Good evening! From New York City,
I'm Dan Rydell alongside Casey McCall
f or this special CSC pr esentation.
Rivera, Willis, the battle by the boardwalk.
A 12-round bout
f or the light-heavyweight championship of the world.
Dan's talking about the entire world --
Asia. Everybody.
We'r e moments away f rom the bell,
so let's go to Bally's Park Place in Atlantic City
wher e Chuck Kimmel will be with us
throughout the r est of the evening.
Chuck, you ther e?
Chuck?
[ Snaps fingers ] Natalie?
Casey.
Cut Man.
Hello, Casey.
I'm right her e at ringside at Bally's,
wher e the br eakf ast buff et is $3.95,
the slots ar e loose,
and the showgirls ar e f an-tastic.
Oh, my God.
No, I've been ther e. It's true.
And how about a pr ediction?
Well, when it comes to the sweet science,
I'm not much on pr edictions, Casey,
but I will say this -- one of these fighters
is gonna win this bout tonight,
and the other will almost sur ely not.
Cut Man going out on a limb.
-- Hey. -- Chuck?
Casey!
Cut Man?
Yes, sir?
How many rounds?
12 rounds in the bout, Casey.
Yes, I meant how many of those do you think they're actually
gonna have to -- h-how long's the fight gonna be?
It's gonna go the distance, Casey.
You think so?
-- Absolutely, Casey. -- I'm Dan.
So strap yourselves in, folks.
We're in for the night.
12 rounds f rom her e at Bally's Park Place,
just a stone's throw down the boardwalk
f rom where a new Miss America
was crowned just a f ew months ago.
Miss Rochester, I believe it was.
Okay, well, uh, Rochester's not a state,
but we'll have somebody look that up.
-- I'll go. -- Sit down.
Rivera's looking good.
-- What are you looking at? -- The fight.
The fight hasn't started yet.
I meant in his robe.
-- It's a nice robe. -- It really is.
You want a robe like that, pumpkin?
To tell you the truth, I --
Shut up about the robe.
No, it's a city, Cut Man, in Upstate New York.
Contestants in the Miss America pageant
have to come f rom one of the 50 states.
[ Laughs ] Well, I hate to corr ect you on your own show, Casey,
but ther e's 52 states with Alaska and Rhode Island.
Okay.
Though I'm no college prof essor, you see.
That's almost hard to believe, Cut Man.
Thank you, Casey.
Hey, Cut Man,
you see that television monitor under your camera?
Yes, sir.
I'm Dan. He's Casey.
We'r e ringside at Bally's Park Place,
and the voice in my ear says we'r e r eady to go right now.
Go.
Is this guy drunk or a moron?
[ Laughing ] Like ther e's no chance he could be both?
Casey, what the hell was that?
We'll be fine.
No, I mean, what the hell was that?
Hey, I wasn't the one who picked this guy, Dana.
Eight years on television, you couldn't help him out?
-- What ar e you talking about? -- How much time wer e you gonna spend
on the Miss America pageant?
Dana, it was f unny. It was good television.
It's fight coverage, Casey. You'r e not doing Letterman right now.
What the hell --
I'm going in and watching the fight.
This is an important night.
Get it together.
You know she knows about --
Good so f ar.
-- Really? -- Yeah.
-- Wer e you watching? -- Not r eally.
-- You know she knows about -- -- Yeah.
What do you want to do about it?
I want to watch the fight.
All right.
Miss Louisiana, by the way.
You looked it up?
Saw the pageant.
Her e we go.
[ Bell rings ]
Let me tell you what's gonna happen now.
They're gonna start out slow --
a touch her e, a jab ther e.
They'll dance, f eel each other out.
They'll look in each other's eyes.
The hunt is long and r equir es patience.
It is the unsophisticated pugilist who comes --
[ Crowd roars ]
Oh, my God.
-- Get up. Jeremy: He's down.
-- Get up. -- I don't think he's getting up.
Get up!
Fight's over.
Announcer: 9, 10 --
[ Bell rings ] It is over!
We'r e in the studio in 60 seconds.
-- I need animation. -- Stand by, all systems.
-- I need it now. -- Animation's up.
This isn't happening to me.
-- Seven seconds. -- Yes.
The fight lasted seven seconds.
The fight game is complex.
The fight game sucks.
What should we talk about?
The analysis.
The fight lasted seven seconds, Casey.
We'r e gonna have to go back to counting states.
Dave: 15 seconds.
-- How much wer e we blocked f or her e? -- 18 minutes.
-- And how much do they have to fill? -- An hour and a half.
In 3...2...
Well, welcome back.
Dan Rydell alongside Casey McCall.
In a match that served as a fine example
of just how good this sport can be,
Henry Rivera sent Clayton Willis to the mat
in just seven seconds into round one.
We'll br eak the fight down nanosecond by nanosecond
and have a word with the once and f utur e champ, Henry Rivera,
but first we've got Chuck Kimmel standing by live.
Chuck?
Danny.
Cut Man.
-- Casey... -- Dan.
I'll just say this --
that was a hell of a bout.
-- Yes, indeed. -- What do you suppose happened ther e?
First round knockout, Dan.
-- What the hell's going on her e? -- Isaac...
I was taking a nap. I told you to wake me bef or e the fight started.
-- We f orgot. -- You f orgot?
She's not your nanny, Isaac.
I've been looking f orward to this fight f or a week.
I like to see it f rom the beginning.
Uh, Jer emy, what have I missed so f ar?
The whole time, he was talking to you two. Why do I have to answer that question?
-- What did I miss?! -- You missed the fight, Isaac.
What ar e you talking about?
Rivera knocked him out in seven seconds.
Give me sound on f our.
The fight's over?
Yeah.
The fight's over?
The fight was 7 seconds, Isaac. We'r e on the air another 88 minutes.
I have a hunch we'r e gonna be able to r eplay it a couple of times.
Dana: Casey, ask him what kind of punch he threw.
What did he throw, Cut Man?
It was a right hook with a bit of a jab.
A jabbing right hook.
That's right, Casey.
And he did it with his left hand.
This fighter's got r emarkable skills.
He's not to be trifled with, Casey.
-- I thought they wer e supposed to be pr epar ed, Natalie. -- Dana...
Let me see some of that homework you'r e supposed to have done, Casey.
Cut Man, this has to be a heartbr eaking loss f or Clayton Willis.
Do you think the outcome would have been any diff er ent
if Willis had taken mild doses of physic
to work on his bowels?
No doubt about it, Casey.
Bowels, Jer emy?
Who the hell gave that question to Casey?
-- Sit down. -- Okay.
10 seconds to commercial.
Cut Man?
Yes, Dan?
Uh, no, it's still Casey.
We'r e going to take a short commercial br eak,
after which, believe it or not, we'r e gonna talk about this some mor e.
Stay tuned.
Dave: We're out. -- Thr ee minutes back.
I'm gonna kill them.
Isaac: Dana...
Let me do my job, Isaac.
They'r e making it work. They'r e having f un.
They'r e turning this into a joke.
Wher e else ar e they supposed to go with it?
Ex cuse me.
Can I talk to you outside?
Yes.
Casey, r emember, it's a good idea to get naked
and have two men rub you down with soft Turkish towels.
And that's to harden the skin?
-- Yes, sir. -- Okay.
Well, you got to figur e this --
at least my dad will beat the traffic.
[ Both chuckle ]
Look, your dad can't blame you f or the fight.
Why not? Dana's blaming you f or the fight.
That's a f air point.
He wasn't psyched at all, Casey.
He doesn't car e what I'm doing. He thinks I'm a jackass.
I don't think he does. I think he just acts like he does.
It doesn't make a diff er ence.
-- Well, it should. -- It doesn't.
-- Someday it might. -- You think?
-- Yeah. -- Soon?
Actually, yeah...soon.
90 seconds back.
Hello.
Can I talk to you a second?
Sur e.
Listen --
Dana, we ar e doing the very best we can.
Now, it has nothing to do with lack of pr eparation.
It has everything to do with the 7-second contest
and a color man who has no business being on the air,
and whom it was not my job to get.
I'm not mad at you.
Okay.
You've been f unny tonight.
You both have.
We've got a long night to go,
but you'r e doing gr eat.
Thank you.
I stopped being mad at you.
I think you know that the other night,
I went to look f or you,
and Jack said that you'd gone off with --
Yeah.
And I was mad at you
because, well...
I was jealous, obviously,
but -- and it's not like I hadn't taken that into account
when I came up with the brilliant plan
in the first place.
It was never my intention to make you f eel
like ther e was something wrong with you
that needed to be fix ed.
It was r egr ettable that I did that.
Well, the thing is,
ther e's been 15 years of it f rom you, Dana,
and f rankly, f rom my marriage, too,
and I know you don't deserve the bill f or that,
but, uh...
Well, I just want to move on.
Yeah.
Dave: 30 seconds back.
I gotta go back.
Okay.
Casey?
If I wer e to ask you out tonight,
would you say yes? [ Chuckles nervously ]
No.
But ask me again another time.
Okay.
-- You all right? -- Yep.
-- You sur e? -- Yeah, let's have some f un.
In 10.
Everything all right?
Yep.
Ar e you sur e?
It's over.
In 3...2...
Welcome back.
I'm Casey McCall alongside Dan Rydell,
sending out the good vibe to his f ather, Jacob,
who's sitting and watching his son on television right now,
whether he says so or not.
We've got Chuck "The Cut Man" Kimmel in Atlantic City,
and f or those of you still watching at home,
please give us a call and tell us why.
CSC's coverage of the big fight continues.