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TALKIN BOXIN
by Howie Reed
January 5, 2003
"So ya missed me?" ONE of the joys of doing this column weekly as
my many critics point out correctly, is that sometimes someone actually
agrees with me. In the business that is called "reader
feedback." When someone actually agrees with something that I’ve
written, stolen or just flat found----It’s called validation. Consider me
validated on at least a couple of subjects.
"Howie, how are you pal? Two topics. 1. Oscar De La Hoya: is one
of the best fighters in the last decade---very underrated by most boxing
folks; never ducked anyone ever, just fought them when he felt it benefited
him, but fought them all, none the less; beat the s--t out of Trinidad
but got screwed bad because he coasted the last three rounds even though he
won nine out of the 12! AND to boot, Trinidad acted like he really won it
even though he kept asking his dad between rounds, if he was doing
okay---he knew he wasn’t..Oscar did beat Mosley. It made me sick to hear
the moron press tell everyone who would listen that Mosley was another Sugar
Ray Robinson! Holy Crap, I still can't believe it. He stinks now that he got
his butt whipped twice by Forrest, weak minded. I don’t think he'll
ever come back to where he "thought" he was . 2.Mayweather:
Another Roy Jones, has all of the tools, but won't fight like a fighter
should--pot shots here and there. Afraid to mix it up like Robbie and Ali
use to. I don't know why, they are so quick they wouldn't get hit. Anyway,
boring...boring. I wish that the press would tell it like it is (can you
hear Cosell?)" Thanks William. Can I hear Cosell? "The New
York Football Giants of Wellington Mira". Yea got it. At least he
wasn't a Howie.
An e-mail from Tualand, that would be New Zealand for those of you that no
habla Ingles, "Dear Howie, Merry Christmas from your S. Hemisphere fan
club. Thank you for all the no-holds-barred, determined and occasionally
insightful articles. If the fighters would only fight with the ferocity of
your pen... Soon to be in business. Have put a deposit on a vegetable market
that I'm turning into a fish market. It'll be called, "The Fresh
Chef." Have a Happy New Year and keep on swingin' away. Kia ora,
Jack". I think "Kia ora" means "Cheers mate and how
about a plug for my new market ? ". Done deal. When I make that visit
to the Land of Tua, sheep and nervous sheepherders, I’ll have free fish
and maybe even a date. . Yea right. Count on Kia Ora Jack giving something
away..
Another e-mail dealt with my reoccurring problems with the English language.
Minor things like spelling, punctuation, hanging modifiers and dangling
prepositions. "The accomplished journalist you are should know, that a
preposition is a bad work to end a sentence with. Your boss." How right
you are, as always. Oh Wise One who do seeith that may bank account doesn’t
slip below the Mendoza Line..
I will honestly admit that I was never a fan of Zab Judah’s. Naw even
before he stole Brandy away from me. I consider him a lout of the highest
order. Which is worse than just your run of the mill every day lout. Was
going to use the word common cause he’s dam sure that. Whilst we were on
hiatus he got his "punk bottom" hauled into Family Court in New
York. The New York Post’ Dareh Gregorian picks up the story from here.
"A former boxing champ was knocked for a loop in Manhattan Family Court
yesterday, when he was arrested for stiffing (rather bad turn of phrase
there Dareh. Upon reflection I think you would agree it was the
"stiffing" that started the trouble in the first place.) the
mother of one of his infant daughters - as he left a child-support
proceeding for the mother of another of his infant daughters. (and they say
timing is everything.) Zab Judah was there for a hearing for Tyisha Layne,
the mother of his 15-month- old daughter, Zabriah. An arrest warrant had
been issued for the IBF's ex-junior welterweight champ by a Queens Family
Court judge because Judah allegedly dodged his last two court appearances
there. He's being sued in Queens by Natasia Wright, mother of his
8-month-old daughter, Amisia. Judah, 25, also has a 17-month-old daughter,
Destiny, with his live-in girlfriend, Meda Leacock.."
OK enough is enough you get the picture. The guy is a bum but then anyone
that follows boxing knows that. I have one question that has never been
asked. "Where in the hell did he come up with names like Zabriah and
Amisia?" He ought to be in jail if for no other reason than coming up
with those
God Awful names. Heck Houston Hartwell is bad enough. Although I work with a
delightful lady named D’Shelia. (Pronounced "Dah Shelia".) One
day I asked her, "How did you get your name? NO, don’t tell me I bet
I know. When you were born, cute little devil that you were, your Father was
asked, "What are you going to name her?" He replied , "Dah…Shelia".
IT has been written, said and pontificated on that there is never an off
season for boxing. That is pure 100% bologna. The last month has been a
barren wasteland and it will continue uninterrupted except for WBC/WBA/IBF
Champion Kostya Tszyu’s defense against erstwhile challenger -Jessie James
Lejia on the 18th of the month from the Land Down Under. Which is Australia
and not New Zealand. There is a difference. No nervous sheepherders in
Aussie, they’re proud. Showtime to televise on the same day.
There are a couple of fights underneath that hopefully Showtime will show.
Muhammad Abdullaev (10-0) was a champion at the last Olympics with a
spotless record as a pro. He gets his first shot at a former big time pro in
Phillip Holiday (38-5-1). Holiday’s record is a little deceiving since his
last 5 have gone 2-2-1 with Camacho Jr. being the only recognizable name. At
one time Holiday was one heck of a champion. He held the IBF Lightweight
title beating the likes of Ivan Robinson and Jeff Fenech before running into
Shane Mosley in 1997 and loosing a UD. He doesn’t have what he use to but
will be a good class test for the youngster who is under the wise guidance
of Kenny Adams. Ruslan Chagaev (5-0-1) is a young heavyweight also under the
Adams tutelage while learning the pro trade. He gets David Vedder (21-22-5),
aka "King", whose record belies the fact that he’s tough to hit,
gives 100% and probably should have been fighting light heavyweights for 18
of his 22 losses.
MUCH was made last year, mostly by me, that many sports people had said that
"Boxing is no longer a major sport." I now have to admit that they
were and are correct. Boxing not only is no longer a major sport but on the
very fringes of sport in general. In America they’re right up there with
Track & Field, Swimming , Bowling and Horse Racing. They’re still
ahead of skeet shooting, lawn bowls and darts but losing ground daily. .
There are pockets of general boxing interest in the USA but those are few
and far between. In countries where there is no football(real stuff not the
short pants, red card, lady’s game), baseball, NASCAR, basketball , Tiger
Woods or ice hockey boxing still holds an important place in the culture.
Regardless of that fact it makes little or no difference to Americans. We
have never been a country assimilating into the culture fads of other
countries. We don’t adopt hero’s from other countries we raise our own.
When Bob Arum made the statement that the future of boxing is in the
Hispanic community he was doing two things. He was stating what he believed
to be true and if he’s right he was relegating boxing to the back burner
of American Sports. This has nothing to do with discrimination or bias
against Hispanics. It’s all about numbers. Any sport who’s future is in
the hands of less than 20% of the population has no where to go. If you
check the TV listings there is plenty of boxing produced for the Latin
Market (Telefutura, HBO Latin and Fox Sports World) but nary a regular
series for the non-Hispanic audience. What should be a TV bonanza, Mike
Tyson-Clifford Etienne on February 22, is being shown live on Showtime (3
hour delay on the West Coast) and on PPV. The PPV Hook? The debut of Tonya
"The Hub Cap" Harding. It’s a freak show that even John Ringling
North wouldn’t touch. Before the ear bite a Tyson fight meant major
networks and mega bucks. Now it’s just mega bucks from Showtime but with
no real appeal.
It’s too easy to place blame for the demise on greedy Promoters. That
would be unfair because like Meatloaf , "They’re just giving the
public what it wants." That is not 100% true as they are in the
business of giving the public what they (the promoters) think the public
wants. They have an obligation to their stable of fighters to make them
money. It’s not how but how much. With a few exceptions Promoters couldn’t
promote December 25th as Christmas. One recent example was the Heavyweight
title fight in Las Vegas between Klitschko and McCline when the promoter
said, "These are two of the best three heavyweights in the world."
As my favorite writer penned after the fact, "If that’s true then the
sports in trouble." Promoters have a very easy time, one would guess,
of fooling Casino’s in Nevada, Ct.(had to use the initials CT. cause I can’t
spell Connecticut) and New Jersey but the public can no longer be fooled.
Now when a promoter asked, "Who are you going to believe, me or your
lying eyes", the public answer’s "My lying eyes".
With the one possible exception there is only one fighters today that can
command interest in boxing. Oscar De La Hoya. Like Tiger Woods he cross’s
all barriers, is charismatic, articulate and has learned to say the right
things. He is someone you’d invite to your house with out the fear that he
would either steal the furniture, spit on the floor or rape your dog. Rather
than play to the lowest common dominator boxing would do well to play to the
highest. For managers/promoters it might be wise to invest in assisting the
fighters with outside the ring activities rather than catering to the meal
ticket while taking the money and running. They take the natural resources
of the sport, strip it barren and then move on to their next conquest.
Except as time has evolved there is no next conquest. The land have been
plundered, the land striped barren, and left to rot. In the words of Bill
Lankhof of the Toronto Sun, "The wheels are spinning but the hamsters
dead"
AND finally. To end this on an up note. I want to wish a belated very Happy
Birthday to one of the finest gentleman in the sport of boxing. I don’t
toss the term gentleman around lightly. He is a classic southern gentleman.
Always soft spoken but carrying the big stick of knowledge and authority. In
the list of great boxing referee’s he has to be listed in the top 5 or 10.
Anyone that knows a lick about boxing would mention his name before the
count of 5. Along with an infinite knowledge of the sport he has a degree of
integrity that is and never would be questioned. If you look up the word
honest in the dictionary there would be his picture in a short sleeved blue
shirt, snap on bow tie, black beltless slacks filled at the wasteline by his
love of food, a full head of wavy black hair accentuated by the sliver skunk
streak in the front. In the ring you would see someone comfortable with what
he is and the knowledge of who he has. He doesn’t run around trying to
make believe that the paying public came to see him referee. He allows the
fighters center stage but make no mistake, he’s the boss inside the ropes.
Whoa be it to any fighter, manager or promoter that fails to realize that
fact. In the ring there are two rules. "I am the boss."
Rule 2 ? See rule one.
Boxing Announcer Mark Berrio calls him "Elegant Elmo". The very
best, Jimmy Lennon Jr., " calls him Elmo Addoff.". Me ? I call him
my greatest reward for covering boxing. The knowledge that I had the
opportunity to meet and become good friends with Elmo Adolph. The best
friend a person could have.
(Opinions and editorials of
HotBoxingNews.com is the opinion of those writers and may not be the
opinion of HotBoxingNews.com)
Want to make contact or comments to Howie Reed
Go Here! mailto:reed@hotboxingnews.com
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