Music

The Deep End

Hard Knocks at the Hard Rock

By Jonathan Zwickel 

Palm Beach County has Don King as its overly verbose, residentiary pugilistic promotator. Now Broward can claim its own fight night major-domo in a low-key dude known as Loki. "I have two loves," Loki says, "hip-hop and boxing. So I wanted to bring a new twist on the MC battle." That twist is a war of words like you never heard, with rappers going mano a mano like Tony Soprano. It's a tête-à-tête for street respect known as Lyrical Boxing.

Other types of MC battles abound but, Loki says, don't really live up to the hype. "You got the 30 seconds, you got the 60 seconds, you got three rounds," he says. "But to me, that doesn't show the true skills a person has. I don't give a person a lot of time to think. The more time you give 'em to think, the more time they have to come up with something rigged. I only give them ten seconds, which is equivalent to four bars. That way makes for a lot more creativity." Indeed, New Times reported on the first Lyrical Boxing match last fall and was impressed with the split-second reaction time and verbal dexterity showed by the contestants. The final bout came down to Lauderdale's native son Pluzwun versus spunky upstart Raven; Pluz took the belt in a match that went down to the final syllable. Both fighters will return to this event, which will feature 14 other MCs and be staged inside an actual squared circle, complete with leggy ring girls between rounds. And like any true prime-time boxing event, this one will be held at a casino. Let's get ready to rrrrrrumble!

Lyrical Boxing will take place at 10 p.m. Sunday, February 26, at Legends Theater at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, 1 Seminole Way, Hollywood. Tickets cost $10. Call 954-792-7777, or visit lyrical-boxing.com.