● ?uestlove ● Dr. Cornel West ● Naomi Campbell ● Tavis Smiley

At Madison Square Garden on Friday night, there came five important lessons in as many bouts.

1. 165-pound novice division: Frank Galarza vs. Allen Brunner. Allen Brunner has a classic boxer's build: long arms and a lean, muscular body. Frank Galarza, a tattooed 24 year-old with a modest mohawk, stood a few inches shorter, with a shorter reach. The fight, it seemed, was Brunner's to lose. But after the bell rang, Brunner (who "trains full time," surprisingly) revealed a Gumby-like style devised by a crackhead and executed by a fighter who was not, alas, Superman. When he came in, he held his hands low, and gave the impression of [...]

John Duddy is the fightingest Irish guy in New York. This, as historic stereotypes go, is right up there with being the chop suey-cookingest Chinese guy in San Francisco. Duddy, furthermore, fights with a fists-forward style that lends him a certain resemblance to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish mascot, minus the jaunty little suit.

This is all for the best. John Duddy is a boxer, and boxing is the world's last respectable cauldron of bloodthirsty racial pride. Soccer is for patriots; boxing is for tribes.