ledgling. Joshua wouldnt be the first relative novice to be flu

I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster, drank pi?a coladas. At sunset, we made love like sea otters. That was a pretty good day. Why couldnt I get that day over and over and over ? -- Bill Murray, Groundhog DayBecause you cant, thats why. Because it wouldnt be good for you, just like eating steak and chocolate cake for every meal wouldnt be good for you, or never being told no.So, no, Victor Espinoza, you may not have a day like last Saturday over and over and over again. You had it once, so count your blessings, and thank your lucky charms that everything came up green clovers and pink hearts.Six mounts, four wins, three of them in Grade 1 events, all three of them aboard horses who should figure big time in Breeders Cup races a month from now. Thats what I call dancing with the stars.California Chrome dominated in the $300,000 Awesome Again, and Stellar Wind certainly was no surprise when she beat Beholder on the square in the $300,000 Zenyatta. Gormley, on the other hand, was a fat 10-1 when he separated himself from the West Coast 2-year-olds in the $300,690 FrontRunner Stakes while leading from start to finish to beat the heavily favored Klimt.Gormley? Klimt? What is this, MOMA West or a horse race? Gustav Klimt everyone knows -- he painted with real gold! -- while the winner of the FrontRunner is named for the English artist Antony Gormley, whose imposing Angel of the North steel sculpture is the largest in England.Ive tried to buy something of Gormleys for years and never could get it done, said Jerry Moss, who owns the colt with his wife, Ann. Hes a tremendous guy, and its nice theres a horse like this named after him.Fittingly, the FrontRunner was an exercise in abstract expressionism from the start. Thats where the Doug ONeill-trained Secret House left the gate like a shot, but without Santiago Gonzalez, who had apparently begun to dismount just as the latch was sprung. Assistant trainer Leandro Mora, who at this time last year was recovering from a mild, stress-related stroke, was glad he took his meds.Before I saw the video and talked to the jock, I wanted to kill the starter, Mora said. The next day, I apologized to him.After Gonzalez debriefed him in their native Spanish, Mora got a clear enough picture to write off the incident as bad communication.The rider said the horse touched the doors, and once that happened, he thought the veterinarian would want to look at him, Mora said. But the rider never let the starter or the vet know he was getting off the horse, and just as he stepped off, the button was pushed.A riderless horse is like a kid waving a loaded gun: Youre lucky if nothing terrible happens.In his first start after winning the 2012 Breeders Cup Classic, Fort Larned dropped Brian Hernandez at the start of the Gulfstream Park Handicap and led the field all the way around, then pulled up like a pro.In the 1967 Hollywood Gold Cup, OHara bolted into the guide rail while leaving the chute and dumped Milo Valenzuela, after which he pestered the favored Pretense just enough to give Native Diver an uncontested lead. OHara ended up finishing first, a length in front of Native Diver.The most poignant loose horse in racing history was Please Me, who went to the post at Santa Anita on a January afternoon in 1946 with George Woolf in the saddle. Woolf fell off on the first turn in a diabetic faint and was killed. Please Me continued on, as he was trained to do, and crossed the finish line first.Secret House was not quite so disciplined. Instead of rounding the first turn with the field, he bore out, taking the speedy Straight Fire with him. With the other speed horses eliminated, Gormley found himself on an unaccosted lead -- including three-quarters in 1:11.48 -- and took it from there, winning by three lengths.By contrast, the other Espinoza wins were played out with guns blazing from the start. Stellar Wind pressed Beholder through six furlongs of the 1-1/16-mile Zenyatta in 1:09.75 to win by a neck. California Chrome put a dead-game Dortmund away after six furlongs of the nine-furlong Awesome Again in 1:09.28 and won by 2-1/4 lengths, throttled down. Bob Baffert, Dortmunds trainer, had his own take.You were going easy, Baffert told Espinoza, describing California Chromes pace.Easy? Victor replied. In 1:09?Yeah, but you had nobody behind you, Baffert countered, referring to the distance theyd put on the rest of the field.Nobody? Espinoza said. I had Dortmund behind me!They were both right. California Chrome was going easily, in a fast 1:09, and kept going, the way horses like Ghostzapper, Cigar, and Precisionist discouraged opponents in the past.So, maybe Espinoza will turn the Breeders Cup into his own version of Groundhog Day after all. With Espinoza aboard, Gormley is 2 for 2, Stellar Wind has beaten Beholder twice in a row, and California Chrome has won his last six. It just keeps happening, over and over and over again. Layvin Kurzawa Jersey . Klitschkos management company says the bout will be the Ukrainian fighters 25th world championship fight. The 1.83-meter (6-foot) Leapai defeated the previously unbeaten Denis Boytsov in November to become the WBOs mandatory challenger. 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After slipping from the summit during the week, the Gunners overcame struggling Crystal Palace 2-0 on Sunday thanks to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlains second-half brace. Look what Tyson Furys mental health break hath wrought -- a massive mismatch in Manchester, an unexceptional affair in Auckland and boxings latest tease of better things to come.Former heavyweight champion Fury likes to poke fun of the mad scramble he created when he decided, probably correctly, to take a breather while he tries to pull himself together. Thankfully, British boxings best standup comedian this side of Ricky Hatton has retained his subtle sense of humor.Its getting embarrassing the amount of bums they find!!! Fury tweeted after Saturdays transcontinental double-dip of heavyweight hype.Furys assessment aside, nobody should confuse Anthony Joshuas knockout of Eric Molina and Joseph Parkers decision over Andy Ruiz Jr. with championship-level boxing. At best they were necessary evils on the road to the nitty-gritty.When a reigning heavyweight champion abdicates, a messy state of affairs is frequently the consequence. Sometimes its like a gold rush, with damn near every heavyweight with two functioning arms jockeying for a chance to hit pay dirt. In other incidences its a fait accompli, the two contestants selected before the retiring champion officially hangs up his gloves.One of the earliest examples goes all the way back to the turn of the century, back when boxers still tied their colors around the waist and everybody wore black boxing boots. It was also the time when an unremarkable boxer by the name of Marvin Hart became a crucial link in the chain of heavyweight championship lineage.Jim Jeffries, the undefeated and long-reining champ, had run out of challengers (white challengers, anyway) and a more bucolic life on his alfalfa farm beckoned. Of course, the last thing he wanted was Jack Johnson to take his place, so Jeffries handpicked Hart to be his successor.Leaving nothing to chance, Jeffries also picked the opponent, washed-up former light heavyweight champion Jack Root. The old Boilermaker even refereed the fight to underscore his endorsement.Hart knocked out Root as expected but was in turn displaced by Canadian Tommy Burns six months later. Burns spent the next three years leading Johnson a merry chase. When the man soon to become the first black heavyweight champion finally caught up with poor little Tommy in 1908, it gave boxing renewed continuity, plus an iconic champion who became larger than the sport. It just took a while.Although not a template, thats pretty much how it goes when theres a vacancy at the top of boxing pantheon. Sometimes it is one and done. But more often than not, it takes a series of fights before things shake out and the natural order is restored.Boxing is like nature. Its almost impossible to control, a force that doesnt easily bend to mankinds will. When the WBA launched an eight-man elimination tournament in 1967, it was sure it would produce a successor to Muhammad Ali.His exile had left a gaping hole in the soul of the sport but at the same time provided opportunity for the also-rans to make some decent money for a change. As is usually the case in boxing, things didnt go exactly as planned.Joe Frazier, who was invited to be part of the WBA power grab but declined, won universal recognition as champion by knocking out tourney winner Jimmy Ellis. Again, the sports capricious disposition came down on boxings side and gave us mighty Smokin Joe. It just took a little time.And now, Deontay Wilder, Joshua and Parker all have belts, and Luis Ortiz is trying to get one. But none of them represents the true championship. The last to hold that distinction was in attendance at the Manchester Arena last Saturday, a troubled giant with a thinning hairline and an expanding waist. All the proxies have are pieces of the shell that shattered when Fury fell off the wall.Putting the pieces back together again wont be easy. It never is, but at least Molina and Ruiz who, with all due respect, should never really have been under consideration, have been eliminated. Unless I miss my guess, Parker wont be too far behind. He looked capable of doing more but played it safe and settled for less.Something good could come of all this, but the ceaseless palaver about a resurgent heavyweight division coming from HBO and Showtime, and paarroted much of the media, is disingenuously premature.ddddddddddddFrustrated fan Michael Kronenberg might have been closer to the truth when he Tweeted: Klitschkos washed up. Ortiz overblown. Wilder & Joshua fought stiffs. Fury gone.Its difficult to find fault with his hard-boiled analysis, but if theres hope for the near future it comes from Wilder and Joshua, a pair of fresh talents from opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean eager to unify the title. They might not be the greatest but theyre probably the greatest we have right now, and thats all that counts for the time being.Wilders last fight was a one-sided thrashing of Chris Arreola in July, a used-up fringe contender who usually takes a beating, even when he wins, which isnt very often anymore. Since his impressive defeat of Bermane Stiverne in January 2015, Wilder has taken a step backward in term of opponent quality.True, he suffered a hand and biceps injury beating up Arreola that interrupted his schedule. But when the Bronze Bomber returns to action early next year, it needs to be against a meaningful opponent. Not some mismatch mandatory from parts unknown. It has to be somebody fans have heard of and respect, somebody capable of giving him a demanding fight.Joshua is selling out large venues in the U.K whenever he fights, regardless of whos in the other corner. Molinas chief selling point was that hed managed to rattle Wilder once on his way to being stopped in the ninth. There was also much talk about his heavy right hand, and thats all it turned out to be, talk.Molina seemed to have decided as soon as the opening bell rang that he was in too deep. And when Joshua connected with one of his devilishly straight right hands in the third, it was easy to see why. Molina flew backward into the turnbuckle padding and slid to the floor, where sat for a beat or two, looking like a man whos fallen out of bed and couldnt quite figure out where he was.It was more a demonstration of AJs concussive punching power than a fight, which was just fine with the 20,000 faithful that packed Manchester Arena. Its doubtful, however, it did much for the wildly popular Englishmans progression as fighter. Molina proved just about as tough a soggy bag of fish and chips.By far the best news of the weekend came when Wladimir Klitschko entered the ring afterward, without aid of a crutches or a walker, and confirmed an April 29 date with Joshua. Lets hope his seemingly endless series of training injuries doesnt reoccur and the fight actually takes place as scheduled.Klitschko will be 41 when he enters the ring at Wembley Stadium, edging inevitably toward the point of no return. Maybe Joshua will be the first to finish Dr. Steelhammer inside the distance since he melted against Lamon Brewster in 2004. It would certainly put him one up on Fury.Who knows? Maybe Klitschko just had an off night against Fury, and has enough left to schools Watfords 18-bout fledgling. Joshua wouldnt be the first relative novice to be flummoxed by the ultra-conservative approach that has served Wlad so well for so long.Unlike the limitations of Parker-Ruiz or the inevitability of Molinas quick exit, Joshua-Klitschko feels like the first positive step toward finding that next champion capable of lifting the sport and making heavyweight boxing fun again.If Joshua beats Klitschko in a pleasing fashion, a showdown with Wilder could become the hottest fight in the division since the new millennium. There hasnt been a lot of competition along those lines, but thats one of the things that makes the match so enticing.The wild card in all of this is Fury, a realm in which he feels right at home. He probably doesnt know whats next, but odds are the self-proclaimed Gypsy King will be back in the ring eventually. Hopefully with his demons banished and head screwed back on -- but not too tightly. After all, where would he be without at least a dash of lunacy?With boxings reigning wild man back in the heavyweight picture, anything could happen, a credo that has sustained boxing since the start. Even if it sometimes takes a little time. ' ' '