I’m sure you heard of the saying “daddy’s little girl,” that

is the common phrase used to express the connection that most fathers and

daughters share. For this National Black Family Month, what better way to

celebrate then to discuss the importance of this special bond?

 

Little girls are important. They’re future wives and

mothers – two very important roles in every family. Many women look to their

fathers as the guide to how they should be treated by men.

 

Fathers can help build your confidence, often tell you

you’re beautiful and give you the mind set that you are a princess. Simple phrases

and signs of affection can ultimately make a difference in a budding girl’s

life.

 

As a young woman, I can attest to how important it is to

have a father in your life. Since I was a little girl, my father had a great occupation

out of the country, which kept him far from our family. I was usually the first

one crying – it was always rough to see my dad go off, because I knew that I

wouldn’t see him from quite some time. I know it was hard for him as well, but

at the same time, this is what he needed to do to take care of his family.

 

Through his actions, he taught me the proper necessities,

which included courage and believing in all my dreams. As I’ve grown into a

woman, I see many of the great qualities he has, manifesting inside of me. I do

not know what it feels like not to have a father, but there are way too many

women that do.

 

We got a chance to talk to award-winning television

journalist Ed Gordon, the host of the nationally syndicated show Our World with Black Enterprise. We

spoke about his important project, the release of his new book, and the

importance of the father-daughter relationship.

 

AllHipHop.com: Tell us about this new project your working

on, Daddy’s Promise.

 

Ed Gordon: It’s a national initiative that celebrates the

special relationship between and the importance of the father-daughter

relationship. It really stems from an article I did which appeared in Essence Magazine. I wrote about the

relationship that I have with my daughter Taylor, and the response I received

from the article was really overwhelming. So much so, that I wanted to do

something else, so we created this initiative. 

 

AllHipHip.com: Can you explain the type of responses you received

from the article?

 

Ed Gordon: Well, I knew that Essence was like the bible for Black women, so I knew that it would

be seen by many people. The amount and various people that came up to me and

said “oh my god I saw the article and it really touched me or it reminded me of

the relationship that I have with my father.”

 

One woman, when Taylor and I were out shopping for a dress, literally

ran across the floor screaming. She said, “I read your article and often I read

articles in magazines and I wonder if people are talking about stories that may

not be true, it’s so good to see you guys.” So once I saw that kind of response,

I felt that I needed to do a little bit more.

 

AllHipHip.com: You recently launched a national outreach

campaign at the100 Black Men of America’s annual Conference. Can you tell us

about that?

 

Ed Gordon: Yes, that’s where we made the official

announcement in the sense of the event that we held. We had a panel which included

Judge Glenda Hatchett, whose father passed away, but she had a fantastic

relationship with him and she constantly talks about the difference he made in

her life. Will Downing was on the panel, he wrote a song a couple of years ago

that appeared on his album Emotions, it’s

called “Beautiful to Me.”

It was dedicated to his daughter, and he’s allowing us to use it as our theme

song.

 

Roland Martin, a CNN journalist, and George Curry, also a journalist,

were the four panelists. We had a very candid discussion with the audience

about this relationship, about the Black family and what we have to do. It was

a wonderful kick off for us.

 

AllHipHop.com: Now what is the exact plan of Daddy’s

Promise?

 

Ed Gordon: Well we have a number of plans in terms of what

we hope to do with our partner 100 Black Men, our sponsors the Ford Motor

Company and Bounty; we are going to be doing great things through media

projects and events. The first thing I must say, we really need to awaken

people of the importance of this relationship.

 

AllHipHop.com: Presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama

also mentioned something about the Black fathers…

 

Ed Gordon: Yes, on Father’s Day, it’s truly something that

needs to be addressed in our community. We hear about fathers who aren’t there,

who aren’t doing the right thing… this father-daughter relationship is a touchy

situation. I always knew there were a lot of men out there doing the right

thing, but it never got attention. We are never shown those images and they never

were saluted. So we’ll deal with those that aren’t and we want to salute those are,

and that’s the first thing.

 

AllHipHip.com: I’m really close to my father as well, and I

do notice different things in some women that do not have their fathers around.

What are some things that you have noticed or things that some people have told

you about?

 

Ed Gordon: Sometimes you see women who haven’t had

relationships with their fathers having difficulty in dealing with men, and

they may have a chip on their shoulder with men in general. Many women, and

many accomplished women who’ve gone on to have wonderful careers and doing well

in college, have said to me, “You know I feel a void in my life because I did

not have a male presence. I don’t know if this is how a man should treat me

because I have nothing to see and compare it to.”

 

You hear this all the time, whether its a single mother

living in the projects with three kids or more accomplished ones who have a

great professional career, but a poor private life because she made bad choices

with men. A lot of that stems from the idea that daddy wasn’t around, so we have

to understand the importance of being in these young ladies’ lives. One of the

things that we are going to try and do, for many of the young ladies that do

not have fathers in their lives, is partner them up with men that have great

relationships with their daughters.

 

AllHipHip.com: That is a beautiful thing! Can you tell us

about the website that you launched with this initiative?

 

Ed Gordon: It’s www.daddyspromise.com.

On the website we have a national photo album of 300 or more photos, its fun to

see the beautiful pictures that people are submitting. We have celebrities

including Beyoncé and Solange Knowles with [their] father, and a beautiful

picture of Ludacris and his daughter. Its one of those things, this is a

personal way to say to people, “Hey you know we’re out here, and here are the

Black men we’re getting ready to stand up to the world.”

 

AllHipHip.com: You also have a book coming out titled Daddy’s Promise; can you talk a little

bit about that?

 

Ed Gordon: Yes, were shooting for Father’s Day of ‘09, that’s

when we hope that this book will be out. I’m in the midst of doing interviews

for it right now, we hope that by then everything would have been in full swing

for a year. In the book I’ll be talking to a number of Hip-Hop artists in terms

of this whole question of misogynistic lyrics or images, how that’s affecting,

where we draw the line and what we have to start doing.

 

AllHipHip.com: I know that I may be thinking far ahead into

the future, but do you think this might be the beginning of something that

could potentially include mothers and sons?

 

Ed Gordon: Right now this is my avenue, fathers and

daughters. If someone else comes up with that I would certainly love to be in

their corner to help and assist them in anyway.

 

AllHipHip.com: Finally, can you tell us one thing that you

try to tell your daughter, one thing you try to instill in her?

 

Ed Gordon: You know, the one thing that I’m trying to make

her understand is that you get your confidence from you! You don’t get it from

anybody else, and you see this lot in girls. Often I think women, no matter how

accomplished, need that signal that a man has to validate you and “ok” things

for you, no matter who you are.

But I try to tell her, “As accomplished,

successful, smart and right on as you believe you are, if you believe, all of

those things will occur – and you don’t need a man, or anyone else for that

matter, to get you there. Daddy and mommy are trying to give you the tools, but at

the end of the day it’s up to you.” I don’t have lack of much self

confidence – I’m hoping that I can instill a little bit of that in her, and then

she’ll be able to find her way and know herself as a person. 

 

There were many questions as Antonio Margarito and

Miguel Cotto made their way to the ring on Saturday July 26. Which force was

stronger, Cotto’s higher skill or Margarito’s relentless pressure? Was it

Antonio’s size or Miguel’s ability to fight off the backfoot? In the end, it

was Margarito who used all his tools to systemically break down Cotto for a

decisive and dramatic stoppage in the 11th round.

 

As many predicted, Cotto came out in round one

boxing well of the backfoot. Using quick lateral movement, the WBA champion

bounced quick hook flurries off Margarito’s head. The challenger was showing

cautious respect early, and Cotto used that and his quickness to double up left

hooks to Antonio’s head along with a hard straight right. Still, Margarito

showed signs of things to come by landing two left uppercuts.

 

Round two saw the Tijuana Tornado pick up the

pace. He walked through hook bombs to corner Cotto and strafe him with

uppercuts and hooks to the body. Seeking to gain space and respect, Cotto

immediately fired back with hooks and uppercuts of his own to the head before

backpedaling straight into a long right from Antonio. Forced to fight, Cotto cracked a hard left hook off Margarito’s head, who still pressed forward. He repeated the feat again to close out the round. Cotto paid a price for his stand, returning to his corner with a bloody nose and a cut on his left eyelid.

In round three Cotto went back to using his

superior lateral movement to counter off the ropes with hooks and then move

away. However, Margarito continued pressing, this time behind the jab to punish

Cotto against the ropes with body shots. While the punches weren’t landed flush

and flashy like Cotto’s, the challenger’s punches downstairs were landing with

heavy authority. Possibly seeking to buy time, Cotto complained twice of low

blows from Margarito, which resulted in a warning from referee Kenny Bayless.

 

Rounds four and five saw much of the same pattern.

Early on Cotto outboxed Margarito safely and scored heavy with clean counters

hooks to the head from outside.  In the

fifth, Margarito caught Cotto with an overhand right, causing the Puerto Rican

star to retaliate with an uppercut. Not done, he followed up with a short

flurry before landing a left hook and another snapping uppercut. Showing good

defense, Cotto picked off two hard shots from Margarito against the ropes

before twisting his body to dodge three successive overhand shots to conclude

the fifth.

 

Margarito’s corner chastised him for waiting too

much, and implored him to set up his shots better and not focus on the one

knockout punch. Heeding those words, the challenger started the

sixth more composed, even after getting caught early with a right-left hook combo

to the head. Bullying Cotto to the ropes, Margarito exclusively worked the body

and particularly scored with a painful left hook that was ignored by the HBO

team. Here, the effect the punches were having of each fighter became more

pronounced. Margarito remained unfazed while Cotto’s face started to show

discouragement as he continued trying to fend off the unwavering body attack.

 

Margarito smelled blood and came on even stronger in round seven. Cotto’s movement began to labor, and Magarito continued his excellent hook body attack against the ropes. Now Cotto’s hands began to drop, which allowed the challenger to badly hurt the WBA champion with three left and one right uppercut.

 

Cotto attempted to fight off his attacker like he

did so many times before against the likes of Ricardo Torres and Zab Judah, but

Margarito would not move and punished Cotto with more uppercuts and hooks to

the body. Switching southpaw, clinching and throwing sporadic combos saved

Miguel from tasting the canvas as the round ended.

 

Now bleeding from the nose and mouth, Cotto

started the eighth by boxing and staying away from Antonio’s power. With his

lateral movement returning, Cotto was very successful and snapped Margarito’s

head back with counters between Margarito’s punches. In a psychological tactic,

Margarito would gingerly trot towards Cotto after getting hit to emphasize he

wasn’t being hurt.

 

In round nine Margarito was more than happy to

trade punches, but it was Cotto who did his best to retreat and try to create

space. Tired, Cotto began going straight back allowing the Tijauna Tornado to

do more great work in the corners to Miguel’s body and head. Now, the champion

was noticeably being moved physically by the damage of punches. Sensing Cotto

was weakening, Margarito’s corner stressed to him to pick up the speed of his

punches going into the championship rounds.

 

At the start of round ten Cotto looked to fight in

spurts and run out the clock, with Margarito in hot pursuit. For the majority

of the round, Cotto successfully maintained distance at mid-range to land

thudding combinations to the head of Margarito. But the challenger’s constant pressure again gave dividends at the :11 second mark when a flurry of hooks and

uppercuts again badly hurt Cotto. Only a wise clinch and the time running out

saved the champion from being stopped.

 

Now debilitated to the point where he could no

longer move, Cotto began making his last stand in the eleventh with powerful

straight rights and left hooks that Margarito barely blinked at. The challenger

continued his non-stop punching and caught Cotto with a left and right uppercut

causing him to take a knee with 1:39 remaining.

 

An absolute bloody mess, Cotto bravely rose

immediately to take an eight count and face his fate. He landed the best hooks

he could muster, and clinched when he saw once again they had no effect. Completely spent, he backed up from the pursuing Magarito and took another knee before getting hit again, prompting his corner to throw in the towel with :55 seconds remaining.

 Antonio Margarito proved many wrong, including

myself, who thought Cotto could weather the late storm to eek out a decision.

This was a great win for Antonio, who slowly broke down the former champion and

showed that his chin is absolute granite. Nothing Cotto threw all night hurt

him.

 

Margarito is already being praised on message boards for his constant pressure and non-stop punching, but he should also get credit for his great defense to the body. Cotto, a great body puncher, could find no openings to Margarito’s torso due to the new champ’s elbows being tucked

tightly and his long arms. Occasionally in the fight you saw Cotto pushed

forward looking for the body shot only to realize there weren’t any openings.

 

In the post-fight interview, Margarito called out

Oscar De La Hoya, as everyone does. While it would be a great fight, I doubt

Oscar would want such a taxing fight to end his career, especially since the

possibly of a loss would be very high. Still, the Golden Boy has taken on most

of the biggest challenges available to him, so it remains to be seen.

 

Years ago, Floyd Mayweather bluntly told Margarito

he was making smart decisions, and that the Mexican vet should follow his lead.

He also promised that if Margarito kept winning he would get a shot as the

potential fight between them would be bigger down the road.

What Floyd said made sense, but the only problem

now is that Money May is retired. Could the buzz from Margarito’s performance

be enough to entice Mayweather out of retirement? We’ll have to wait until the

PPV numbers come back.

 

And let’s not forget Paul Williams, who recently

regained his WBO title and outpointed Margarito last year. An obvious

unification bout should be a top agenda for both their promoters.

 

As for Miguel Cotto, let’s not start with the

cries of overrated and that he quit. The man fought his heart out to the best

of his boxing ability, offensively and defensively. He deserves a lot of

respect for his effort. However, the HBO team went overboard by acting is if a

funeral had just occurred. The shots of Cotto’s crying wife and son, along with

the ending montage and Jim Lampley holding back tears was a little much.

 

Lacy

Escapes with Decision, Decides to Retire

 

Last Wednesday July 23 former champion Jeff Lacy

returned for what was supposed to be an exhibition bout against journeyman

Epifanio Mendoza. Instead, the fight was a life and death war with Lacy nearly

being KO’d in the second and eighth rounds despite scoring a knockdown in the fourth.

After escaping with an unpopular majority decision, Lacy announced his

retirement due to what he considers unfair terms in a potential fight with

Jermain Taylor. For his last fight, Lacy received a purse of $550,000. For the

proposed Taylor bout, he was offered $500,000.

 

“What do I look like fighting a fight of that

caliber for $500,000 when I have more to risk that anything,” Lacy fumed to the

Tampa Tribune. “I feel like Taylor needs me more than I need him and what do I look like fighting that fight for $500,000 and risking my life in there like I did Wednesday night because the referee is not on top of this guy hitting me in the back of the head.”

 

It seems Lacy forgot to mention that it was more

so the repeated uppercuts on the inside over ten rounds that really hurt him in

that bout. Watching that fight, it’s clear the combination of the torn rotator

cuff on his left arm, the inactivity, and the Calzaghe beating have robbed the

former rising star of his abilities. His balance, punching power, and stamina

were all fell short in that fight. It’s probably best we don’t see Lacy in

there with Taylor. Watch the full fight and judge for yourself:

 

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

 

Judah-Clottey

on Tap for August 2

 

This Saturday HBO has a promising matchup between

Zab Judah (36-5, 25 KOs) and Joshua Clottey (34-2, 20 KOs) for the IBF

welterweight title. Due to Zab’s documented history of fading and losing focus

in the second half of fights, Clottey will be the favorite. But, if Zab can

keep his focus he has a shot of pulling this off since he has a marked speed

advantage.

 

Then again, haven’t we been saying that for the

past couple years about Zab? Prediction here is the more durable Clottey by

decision. On Showtime, Vic Darchinyan (29-1-1, 23 KOs) will look to get back

into title contention by defeating Dimitri Kirilov (29-3-1, 9 KOs).

 

Those who create popular art often characterize their creations as being a “reflection of reality,” a mirror image that reflects the world around us. I’ve always thought that description was somewhat misleading. Popular art doesn’t so much reflect “reality” as it reflects what we as a society believe to be real – or what we think is real.  

 

When it comes to human beings, everything is based on perception. The creative minds behind our popular art forms are still human. The art an artist creates is largely informed by how he perceives the world around him. Perception often varies from person to person. We all have our own way of seeing the world. However, there are constants and similitudes. These similarities are what popular artists often zero in on.

 

Movies, in particular, have always been plugged directly into our collective Id. They don’t reflect our reality so much as they reflect what we, as a society, have on our minds, our desires and our perceptions. Most intriguing though, is what the movies reveal about how we see each other. Over the years, films like Do The Right Thing, Crash and Babel have given us an artistic glimpse of the narrow perceptions people often have of each other, and the ways we view each other in terms of labels and categories.

 

Nothing is wrong with these labels in and of themselves. The problems occur when we are unable to see past these labels and put them in their proper context. We begin to see each other as types, a set of predetermined characteristics that fit neatly into a box. No form of art reflects this tendency in human beings more than the movies.

 

It is important to note that we, as a society, tend to be selective in terms of what stereotypes we will or won’t allow. For example, Black folks tend to rail against hood flicks and rap videos that promote stereotypical images, only to applaud so-called “positive” black films and shows that also contain stereotypical images.

 

The films and plays of Tyler Perry are chock full of stereotypes and caricatures, but are given a pass because they promote “positive” and Christian messages. In my mind, a stereotype is a stereotype. They all lend themselves to limited thinking, and make it easier to place those who are different from us into a box. 

 

It’s kind of silly to get mad at our popular artists for reflecting these tendencies back to us, but I’m sure we will continue to do so. Here are a few upcoming films that are sure to offend someone in the coming months: 

 

Tropic Thunder (August 13)

 

In this action/comedy directed by Ben Stiller, three self-indulgent movie stars (Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr.) are cast in an expensive epic film about the Vietnam war. The production team decides to abandon the troublesome trio in the jungle when their diva-like behavior becomes too much to bear. The actors themselves are completely unaware of their predicament. They still think they are filming a war movie, when in fact they are in the middle of a real war. Hilarity ensues.

 

Robert Downey Jr. plays actor Kirk Lazarus. Lazarus is cast in the role of Sgt. Osiris, a character who was originally written as African-American. Being the consummate method-actor, Lazarus decides to play the role as written. He even goes so far as to dye his skin in order to play the part “convincingly.”

 

I’ll start off by admitting that I find the basic idea behind the Kirk Lazarus to be quite amusing. The guy obviously takes himself and his craft way too seriously. As described, he comes off as the very embodiment of pretense. This is the kind of thing that can go either way. It will either be the funniest performance in quite some time, or the 21st century version of Soul Man. 

 

For Robert Downey Jr.’s sake, I hope it’s the former instead of the latter. He has generated a substantial amount of goodwill via his star-making turn as Tony Stark in Iron Man. I’d really hate to see him squander that so

soon.

T######## (August 15)

 

Jasinda, a young Arab Girl, is sent to live with her strict Lebanese father in a small Texas town. This living situation forces her contend with a number of social issues that cause her personal turmoil. She is confronted with racism both inside and outside her home. Her neighbors and classmates harbor prejudices against Arabs, and her Lebanese father disapproves of her Black boyfriend. As if all of this weren’t enough, Jasinda is trying to understand her budding sexuality and raging hormones.

 

Wow! This is such a potential powder keg… I don’t know where to start. The movie has already made quite a splash at the Sundance and Toronto film festivals. This film contains a number of issues that Americans have a hard time dealing with, not the least of which is a 13-year-old girl coming to grips with her sexuality. That alone is more than enough to send the more conservative audiences into a panic.

 

The film also examines how foreigners sometimes take on the bigoted attitudes of Americans not out of malice, but simply out of a desire to fit in. Jasinda’s fathers’ racism is motivated by his concern for his daughter. How will she be accepted in American society if she dates a Black man?

Lakeview Terrace (September 19)

 

Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington play Chris and Lisa Mattson, an interracial couple who have just moved into their dream home. Their next door neighbor, LAPD Officer Abel Turner (Samuel L Jackson), doesn’t approve of interracial marriages. He starts harassing the Mattsons on a regular basis, and as it escalates into outright terrorism, the young couple has no choice but to retaliate.

 

Again, one cannot avoid parallels to an older film. In this case it would be 1992’s Unlawful Entry, in which Ray Liotta played a mentally disturbed cop who begins stalking a rich couple after

responding to a break in at their home. That film was something of a guilty

pleasure in its day, as essentially a well made B-movie. With the backing of Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment, Lakeview Terrace looks to be very much in the same vein, only this time the antagonist is Black. Could that be considered a sign of progress? 

 

Maybe, on some level, I guess it’s good that Hollywood now sees its way clear to allow Black actors to portray villains in B-Level thrillers. The motivation of the Abel Turner character is also interesting. Now, Black villains are allowed to be just as hateful as their white counterparts.