The Blue Moon Descends

"I'm so sorry. I'm not a quitter and wanted a challenge. I wanted to prove something but this is so heartbreaking"

Ricky Hatton

A body shot to end it all couldn't have been more fitting given the circumstances. The crowd in Manchester Arena was absolutely rabid. One can only imagine what pubs filled with fight fans around England and North America were like. Much like Ricky we were all getting a bit worn down. Ricky was worn down because he was at times swinging at his opponent with reckless abandon, wanting to gives us all a show. Typical Ricky. We were getting worn down because you could see him deteriorating in front of your eyes, leaving himself open to bigger and bigger shots. And then like that, the air went out of everything. Surely Rick is going to get up, right? There's no way he can stay down, right? It doesn't all end like this again, right?

Hector Camacho versus Bazooka Limon

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In 1983, Bobby Chacon and Hector Camacho were scheduled to battle it out for Chacon's WBC Super Featherweight title. Chacon refused to make the trip to Puerto Rico for the fight, perhaps sensing that an already tough fight could only be made even tougher by fighting in front of a rabid crowd of Boricuas. In stepped Bazooka Limon, Chacon's fabled nemesis. If you've ever watched a Limon fight you have probably put together he was afraid of very little. He was also one of the best in his division at the time. Camacho showed absolutely no fear, taking on a vastly more experienced opponent only 22 fights into his career. He made him look very, very bad. It was the start of an impressive career spanning four decades and seven different weight classes. His passing, last Friday, was yet another major loss to the sweet science. Always entertaining, never intimidated, Camacho will be sorely missed by fans of all ages.

For The Suits Label Guide: Unity, Part 1

Bunny Lee is a bad man. There isn't too much more too it. After getting into the recording business in 1967 "Striker" went on to record a string of hits throughout the ever changing world of Jamaican music for the next 3 decades, but important for us is his output during the rocksteady and early reggae era many of which saw release in the UK on the Unity label. Lee wasn't the only producer for the label but he produced some of its biggest hits. But we can't forget the work of cats like Harry Robinson and the legendary Derrick Morgan. So let's delve a little deeper into the label and see what gems we can find for ourselves.

First Cut: Camel

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We're on a bit of a roll as of late, now aren't we? One of our personal favorite tracks and guaranteed to get a play out, the Camel label started out in style with a Winston Riley produced track of the highest order. "Who You Gonna Run To", although credited to The Techniques, is actually performed by The Shades. Now we're not 100% sure of all the members of The Shades but Bruce Ruffin was certainly a member of both The Techniques and The Shades. It's likely the track ended up credited to The Techniques because of Riley's production credits. Nonetheless, this track is early reggae gold and set the standards high for a label that would go on to feature productions from Lee Perry, Alvin Ranglin, Lloyd Charmers and Glen Adams to name but a few. "History" by Harry and Radcliffe might be the best track put out on the label. It might be one of the best skinhead reggae tracks ever as well. And the label is beautiful as well. All around winner.

West Ham 1 Tottenham 3

Well, if we played the first 75 minutes the way we played the last 15 it would have been a competitive match. Sadly that wasn't the case though. West Ham hung on in the first half, a spectacular goal from Jermain Defoe giving Tottenham the advantage heading into the half time break. After half time it all changed though with Tottenham bossing the game around and West Ham left to chase the ball around as a strike from Gareth Bale and then a brace from Jermain Defoe put us out of the game. Andy Carroll did manage to connect with a Matt Jarvis cross, heading the ball across goal and bagging his first in a number of months near the end of the match. It seemed to liven West Ham up and they started to attack with real vigor. Alas it was too little too late. Carroll had been a nuisance all match long, winning a good chunk of his aerial battles. Jarvis replaced a lackluster Modibo Maiga within the first half hour. Whether it was down to injury or just Maiga's poor form we don't know yet. Kevin Nolan was also substituted off, looking absolutely gutted. You get the feeling the lad doesn't like being beaten like that and wanted to stay on the pitch and battle it out the whole way. But we've got Man Yoo on Wednesday, so perhaps Big Sam figured the game was gone and Nolan should be kept fresh. Not really the performance you want heading into a showdown with United.

FNF: Ricky Hatton versus Kostya Tsyzu

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We figured on the eve of Ricky Hatton's return to the ring, what better Friday Night Fight choice than the highest point in Ricky's career. In our, and many others, opinion that was this fight against Kostya Tsyzu. At this moment in time Tsyzu was considered to be one of the best pound for pound fighers in the world. Ricky was an up and coming fighter out of Britain. But he had the hometown advantage, fighting in front of tens of thousands of rabid Mancunians. A lot of has been made of Ricky's fan base and just how dedicated they are. It's because Ricky is the definition of a lad. He loves his football club with a passion few can relate too. He palled around with the Gallagher brothers. His favorite after fight ritual was to get a load of drinks in with the lads. He's one of us. Here's to wishing Ricky a successful return to the ring, we'll have our eyes clued to the tube for this one.

Roger Rivas, Organ Boss

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It feels almost sacrilegious to claim that any modern day organ player can match the heights of cats like Winston Wright, Ansel Collins, Jackie Mittoo or Glen Adams. But Roger Rivas, of the Aggrolites and the Bullets, is that cat. The man alternates between mashing the thing and tickling the keys like a goddamned virtuoso with ease. And now he's decided to start putting out some tunes on his own label, Rivas. If you head over to rivasrecordings.com you'll, hopefully for you, be able to pick up the first tune released on the label "First Attack". It's advertised as reminiscent of a lost Winston Wright or Dynamites track. We think it might be better, the track is a chune of the highest order. You can't miss it. The flip ain't so bad either. Now it's time to start anticipating the next release.

First Cut: Duke

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It's a toss up to whether Pat Kelly's voice has ever sounded quite so sublime as it does in The Techniques cover of "I Wish It Would Rain", the first cut for the Duke label. Now, technically, the first cut for this label was The Bubbles "The Wasp" which was released in 1960. But only two other singles would be released between 1960 and 1961 on the label before it was left to lay dormant. Then in 1968, with the popularity of the Trojan label starting to pick up steam in the UK, the label was revived as a showcase for the productions of the legendary Duke Reid. Hence Duke, get it? For the rest of 1968 the label would release some absolutely beautiful rocksteady cuts before going on in 1969 to release some skinhead reggae classics. We've stated it before in our Techniques and Pat Kelly profiles, but there really hasn't been anyone that better filled a spot like the one Slim Smith left open in the Techniques in quite the manner Pat Kelly did. The man has one of the most beautiful voices in the history of Jamaican music. Combine that with the harmonies provided by Winston Riley, Franklyn White and Frederick Waite and throw in the kind of top shelf muscianship Reid featured on all his products and we're back on a roll for the First Cut Friday series.

The Greatest That Never Was

In an era of black heavyweight contenders having few chances at the World Heavyweight Championship, it might be one of the greatest injustices that Joe Jeanette was to never receive one. Alongside Jack Johnson he was surely one of the greatest black fighters of his day, yet he never received the acclaim so often heaped upon Johnson as the first ever black World Heavyweight champion. Just another hard luck chapter in Jeanette's hard luck life one would suppose.

What's Wrong with Kev?

He has more goals than any other member of the England squad. He's been a consistent performer in all eleven matches in the EPL he's competed in so far. He's also proven himself capable as a provider. And he doesn't have a single England call up. So, what's wrong with Kev?

West Ham 1 Newcastle 0

Kevin Nolan's been at it again! In a game which Nolan and Andy Carroll were both having homecomings of sorts it was Nolan in the right place at the right time once again to tap in the only goal in a closely fought game. It was Joey O'Brien smashing the ball across the goal area that led to Nolan's strike, as O'Brien's blast looked to have got away from him. How Nolan has still been left out of the England squad is baffling, and Joey Barton has gone on record saying as much. Juusi Jaskelainen may have had his best game between the sticks for West Ham on Sunday, with a heart stopping clearance off the line probably the best of the bunch. The center of the park was bossed around by Momo Diame once more. The lad has tricks for days, although he was guilty of the occasional muck up throughout the course of the match. Bottom line, he's like a bulldozer once he gets possession of the ball. And with the victory we now sit above Arsenal, Liverpool and most importantly Spurs. Still early days but I don't think many, us included, that we'd be anywhere near this good at the start of the season. We also played some beautiful football at times, linking up some intricate passes from time to time. Welcome relief for those who like to moan about the long ball.

A Suedehead Manifesto

Why even bother being a suedehead? It's sure to be a question asked of anyone who decides to mark themselves with this distinction. By most accounts the cult only existed for a couple of months and then disappeared, London youths moving onto the next thing. Sure it was revived by Hoxton Tom of 4-Skins fame during the late 70's. But even then you don't hear about a massive suedehead revival the same way skinheads and mods popped up after the advent of Oi and release of Quadrophenia respectively. So why bother?

Farewell, Carmen.

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It's been a tough couple of years for boxing losing some of it's greatest ever fighters and personalities. Unfortunately we've lost yet another one, with Carmen Basilio having passed away. We've written far too many tributes and obituaries over the course of doing this site, and it's only coming up on a year since we started it. Sometimes it's nice just to remember the good times, rather than focusing on a loss. So here we have Carmen taking on world welterweight champion Tony DeMarco in their first meeting. Maybe the finest moment in Basilio's in ring career and a great fight to boot.

FNF: Joe Frazier versus Jerry Quarry I

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1969. The summer of love for many but for thousands of working class kids around England a very different time. Sometimes at For The Suits we have sudden epiphanies, where we can;t understand why we've been ignoring something for so long. This was one of them folks. The Ring Fight of the Year for 1969. Muhammad Ali was in exile, no state commission willing to give a war dissenter a boxing license and risk the wrath of the American government. Joe Frazier was one of the sports rising stars, a heavy handed cat with a hammer for a left hand. Jerry Quarry was a 198lb heavyweight afraid of no one. He had already fought some of the best in the game at this point, never afraid of a challenge. Well Frazier was the man to provide it. This is one of them phone booth fights, and it's incredible to think either man could take the punishment of it for a prolonged period of time. But you always put a little bit something special into your effort when you fight at Madison Square Garden.

First Cut: Ackee

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Well we had to make up for last weeks disappointment, now didn't we. Ackee isn't the most sought after of skinhead reggae labels although a few tunes on it, namely "Skinheads Wrecking the Town", are prized pieces for any hardcore collector. Perhaps it's because the producers weren't quite the household names that other producers were, and it's limited output during the key years of 1969 and 1970 certainly didn't help. Either way the first tune put out on the label and produced by Junior Lincoln was an absolute stormer. Skinhead reggae at it's finest here folks. Lovely instrumental and a bit of toasting throughout all combine to make "Death In The Arena" by Rupie Martin's All Stars one to seek out.

West Ham 0 Manchester City 0

How disappointing was that? On a day when many in the press, as well as fellow supporters, figured we should be happy to get any points going into the match we were blatantly robbed of a victory over the defending Premier League champions by the end of it. Kevin Nolan was at his best once again, slotting home a ball dropped in courtesy of a Mark Noble free kick only to have it ruled offside. Well Kev wasn't, and there is no debating that. West Ham played remarkably well in the first 20 minutes of the match with Momo Diame and Yossi Benayoun also coming within inches of goals of their own. Manchester City took over for much of the remainder of the game, with resolute defending being supplied by the team as a whole. James Collins turned in one of his best performances of the season, barring his re-debut against Aston Villa and Winston Reid removed any doubts in our minds over whether he or James Tomkins should be regularly starting alongside Collins. And Carlos Tevez, a cult icon at Upton Park, had another homecoming. Carlos and the love he has for the club and its fans makes one forget about all the bad things in the modern game, even if he'[s occasionally been part of the problem. Oh, and Big Andy nearly scored the goal of the season with a beautiful bicycle kick attempt. It'll come Andy, don't ya worry.