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TALKIN BOXIN
by Howie Reed
JANUARY 12, 2003
TAPIA IN CRITICAL CONDITION. With his no holds bared style in and outside of
the ring the odds were good that Johnny Tapia would suffered if not a sudden
end then anything but a smooth road. With him the road is never smooth. As
sad as it is to write that end may be closer than anyone believed. What
caused Johnny Tapia to slip into a coma early Saturday morning is still a
mystery. What is known is that events took on a life of their own starting
on Friday when he was involved in an incident with police in which he was
charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. "When Johnny arrived
home (Las Vegas) from Friday's incident in Arizona, Teresa Tapia thought her
husband to be depressed but otherwise healthy. At about 12:05am this morning
(Sat.), Teresa called 911 after Johnny fell backward and lapsed into
unconsciousness. He has since not regained consciousness and remains in
intensive care." That report was issued Saturday evening by Team Tapia.
You really got to appreciate Bob Arum (Top Rank) when’s he’s at working.
He can really spread come stuff. There is no secret of the fact that his
favorite person in the world is not Don King. It’s like the old line, (Howie
don’t you know any new lines? Ye..... but them I steal from my very own
self.) "There is nothing that Bob Arum wouldn’t do for Don King and
there is nothing that Don King wouldn’t do for Bob Arum. There you have
two guys who would do nothing for each other." On the other hand they
will do whatever possible to see that the other doesn’t have an easy road
to travel. They’re like two little kids fighting. Tiz fun to watch from
the sidelines.
What brought this to mind, at least the part of the mind not damaged by
Demon Rum, is the announcement that Oscar De La Hoya may have a fight
before his September contest with Shane Mosley. The announcement, actually
"news leak", of the May fight in Tokyo (which was false) came on
the same day that Don King and his merry band of jesters hit Los Angeles
beating the drums for the John Ruiz-Roy Jones jr. fight in March. As this is
written (Wednesday) I’ve been told that there is a big deal press
conference being held at an upscale trendy grub place today in Las Vegas. As
Park Place Entertainment got conned for the sponsorship of Ruiz-Jones,
"there’s one born ever minute" said old PT Barnum, I was not
invited to any of the festivities in regard to the fight. Nor of course will
I be attending the fight. A Park Place Vice President for PR (Public
Relations, oxymoron there) called me at home some time back to say, in
effect, "Never darken the doors of any Park Place property. If I see
you with a credential I’ll rip it off your neck and have you escorted
out." He also tossed in that he "didn’t consider me a
journalist." Boy the latter makes him a member of a large club.
"We think Howie writes drivel." The gentleman in question, yes as
to being a gentleman is among other questions left unanswered, did to his
credit not threaten to have my reproductive organs altered. He must have
known that an ex wife took care of that long ago.
But I digress. As Mr. King is out beating the drums for a fight that may or
not be worth a darn, Arum announces that DeLaHoya will fight in May, maybe.
Then each day arrives, Arum announces a new fighter that will be on the
card. First Eric Morrales and then Eric Morel. Both world champions, both
popular with the Mexican press and the latter from Puerto Rico where Ruiz
claims to be from even though he was born in Massachusetts (which some
consider Third World) and lives in Las Vegas. The AP had a couple of quotes
that are kinda fun. "My point is not to become a legitimate
heavyweight, just to take that one challenge for the most coveted crown in
sports," said Jones. Shouldn’t be a big problem for "Moi",
Mr. Jones as I would never consider you a legitimate heavyweight or a rather
long list of other legitimate things. When Jones was asked why he’s
fighting Ruiz he said "Why not. I live to fight" HORSE HOCKEY.
"It’s the money stupid." He’s reportedly getting 10 million up
front. Ya Gotta love it.
AFTER all the buildup by Arum, for a DeLaHoya fight, then the announcement
comes on Friday and it’s anti climatic to write the least. ( Which of
course I never do as I get paid but the word.) The WBC/WBA super
welterweight champion Oscar de la Hoya is going to fight former IBF 154lb
champion Luis "Yori Boy" Campas (80-5, 68 KOs) on May 3 in Las
Vegas. Am I excited ? As Adam said to Eve, "Better back up darling we
don’t know how big this thing may get." This is a big time fight ?
No. According to the press release it’s a "tuneup". That at
least is true. It’s a tuneup by Oscar and promoter Bob Arum to see how
much "dummies" will actually pay for a PPV of a fight that will
NOT be competitive. Arum will point out in the buildup that Campas is ranked
high by the WBC. Not a difficult hill to climb getting the WBC to grab their
ankles. The well respected computer ranking "Box Rec" has him #14.
Time out ! The howling about the lack of a quality opponent only took to
days to sink in. Now comes plan three. It was announced that maybe Oscar
would fight someone other than Yori "Ole Boy" Campas. Other
possible opponents are Carlos Bojorquez, Alex Bunema and even IBF titlist
Winky Wright. Oscar will fight Winky Wright when the latter agrees to fight
him for $100,000 and the T shirts concession at a nudist colony . Yes it’s
time for "High Diddle Diddle the Cat and the Fiddle".
With WBC Champ Erik Morales and Bobby Boy Velardez on the card…the
equation doesn’t change. The only winners here are DeLaHoya for a paid
workout, Top Rank who gets all their house fighters working and real boxing
fans who will save the price of PPV. Royce Feour of the Las Vegas Review
Journal broke the story. He has some quotes from Arum. "We are looking
at this as part of a real Cinco de Mayo festival with bands, flags and all
of that sort of stuff," Arum said. "It will blow out this
town." The only thing that "blows" is the obvious packaging
of a "horsedoodle fights in a Green Bag from Harrods."
Actually the first "really" big fight of the year comes up next
Saturday night. Put in perspective as it’s only the second week of a new
year that’s probably not a big deal. True but whenever Kostya Tszyu’s
laces on the gloves is an event if for no other reasons than that he fights
only a couple of time a year. He’s been a pro since 1994 with only 30
fights so he’ll never have to take any medication for being hyper active.
That aside Kostya Tszyu (29-1-1) is one of the International stars of
boxing. Of course now that I’ve written about him his stardom is
validated. Many boxing fans would like to see Kostya in a rematch of his
amateur win over Vernon Forrest. Asked about that loss Forrest said, "Kostya
was a better fighter then. But now is now."
One of only three undisputed world champions in boxing, can you name the
other two ? Kostya Tszyu will be fighting at his adopted mailing address of
Australia for the first time in nearly five years. Jesse James Leija
(43-5-2) gets the invite to Melborne’s Telstra Dome for a chance to fight
for another title and a BIG payday. At this stage in Leija’s career both
are important although money probably comes first as Jesse was the WBC 130
pound champ after he beat Azumah Nelson on May 7, 1994. He fought Nelson 4
times going 2-1-1 against the future Hall of Famer. Not too Chablis. Leija
has met five other current or former world champions, including Oscar De La
Hoya. Leija has said, "I’m expected to loose so there is not pressure
on me. All the pressure’s on Tszyu." Love the old Tommy Lasorta line
about pressure. "Pressure is something you try to do for which you’re
not ready." Doubt that there is ever pressure on Tszyu cause he’s
always ready. Showtime will telecast at 10PM. Delay on the West which means
that I’ll see the fight in the newspaper. Too late for someone that needs
their beauty sleep. And boy do I need it. Oh yes for those that care the
fight is for the (WBC/WBA/IBF) 140-pound titles.
The next Kostya Tszyu may also be on the telly that night. Muhammad
Abdullaev (10-0, 8KO’s) gets a prime time shot against aging former
champion Phillip Holiday (38-5-1). They’ll fight for the WBO
Intercontinental jr. welter title which is about as important as Al Gore’s
opinion on anything. IRRELEVANT. That aside Adbullaev has a come forward
style that is exciting the way real fighters are exciting. He doesn’t need
a lot of hype, a fancy nickname or some loud mouth promoter telling anyone
that will listen what a great fighter he is. His actions do all that.
Holiday is on the steep slop down to the bottom of the food chain in boxing.
he started that trip down the hill after losing a 12-round decision to Shane
Mosley on Aug. 2, 1997. That aside could be the best fight of the evening.
Then again?
NEW members to The International Boxing Hall of Fame and Museum were
announced last week. The actual ceremony will take place in Canastota, N. Y
during Hall of Fame Weekend June 5-8.The living inductees are Big George
Foreman, welterweight king Curtis Cokes, junior welterweight champion
Nicolino Locche, 3-division champion Mike’ "Mi Amigo" McCallum,
journalist Jack Fiske (San Francisco Chroncle) and author/screenwriter Budd
Schulberg. Bet you a dollar to a donut that you’re saying "Who the
hell is Nicolino Locche ?" Heck I did and I’m Mr. Boxing.. He is one
of the most remarkable fighters of the almost modern era. "Tell us
more," he readers panted. He was a pro from 1958 to 1976. In that time
he compiled a record of 117-4-14 with only 14 KO’s. He won the WBA jr.
lightweight championship in 1968(10 round TKO of Paul Fuji in Tokyo) and
lost the title in Panama City to Alfonso Frazer (26-4) in 1972. Now it’s
Paul Harvey time for the "Rest of the Story".
As Nicolino had almost no knockout punch, 14 KLO’s from 135 fights, he
fought a lot of rounds. This was also the era of the 15 round title fights.
"How many rounds did he fight , Howie ?" Consider his record from
1961 to 1968. In that time he had 83 fights, went 73-1-9 and fought a total
of 856 rounds. There are entire division of boxing today that won’t do
that in a lifetime. In 1967 Nicolino had the ungodly total of 16 fights,
16-0-1, and a staggering 151 rounds. In his entire career he fought only
four times outside the friendly confines of Argentina (Japan, Panama,
Venezuela and Uruguay). His favorite town ? Easy Mendoza Argentina with 49
appearances (44-1-3- 1 NC). In the words of Archie Bunker, "Them were
the days."
TWO other inductees that are of particular interest. The first is Jack Fiske
the former boxing writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. His twice a week
column was a highlight of the old "Sporting Green". "Sporting
Green " Yep the sports section was printed on Green paper. No longer
the case as like the old "Lucky Strike Green" package that went to
World War II and never came back, the old Sporting Green is but a memory.
"An excellent reporter Fiske also was know as a master of the concise,
pull-no-punches writing style" writes a former colleague. . "He
was the voice of boxing for the West Coast", said trainer Emanuel
Steward. "Jack Fiske was a brilliant writer", said now retired
referee and Hall of Famer Arthur Mercante. "He was one of the great
boxing columnist of our time. He was good for boxing", said Angelo
Dundee
Fiske cut his teeth on boxing when it was some kind of big deal in Northern
California and Oregon. There would be fights in Oakland, San Francisco,
Richmond, Sacramento, Modesto, Fresno, San Jose, Stockton as well as
Portland sometime two at each venue per month. It was a Golden Era. When it
died and TV took over as a form of entertainment the scene changed. Fiske
was forced out after 40 years of twice a week columns. Hell of a way to say
"Thanks but what have you done for me lately."
Probably no one out there under 50 years of age knows the name Budd Wilson
Schulberg. That’s opposed to those out there under 50 who us old timers
figure know nothing. I first was introduce to him in a Mass Communications
class in the fall of 1960 at San Jose State. The Professor was Richard
"Call Me Professor" Elliott. ( We called him "Dick". He
was too. Also had a class from him in TV Writing. The final test involved
writing a one hour TV script. As War TV Shows were in vogue and not being
very original I wrote a War Drama. Used all the Professor’s in the
Department as characters. Terribly clever. Got a B+. When I went to collect
the paper I was told, "It got lost." The next fall I found my
paper on TV on "Battleground" written by Richard Elliot. Yes I was
a one hit wonder but he died so we’re probably even.)
In was in that Mass Communication class that I was introduced to Budd
Schulberg through one of his short stories. That lead to reading "What
Makes Sammy Run" a novel written in 1941 about Hollywood which became
the standard by which all Hollywood novels were judged. None has ever
equaled it but some have gotten close. (Day of the Locus by Hanthaniel
West.) Schulberg did the screen play for On the Waterfront (1947)and then in
1956 the ultimate fight movie. "The Harder They Fall" examined the
mob influence in the fight game. The movie and TV version of his script
predated the breakup of the IBC and the jailing of Jim Norris and the Mod
leaders in New York and Philly. The 1956 movie starred Humphrey Bogart, Rod
Steiger, Max Baer and Jersey Joe Walcott. Playhouse 90 did the TV version
with Jack Palance in the starring role with Kennen and Ed Wynn.
If I might digress for a moment. The period of late 50’s to early 60’s
has, in retrospect, become a chronicle of fight movies. (That excludes The
Champion with Kirk Douglas which set the stage) Rod Serling is best know for
his TV series "The Twlight Zone." Serling wrote a short story for
the "T Zone" which later became Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)on
Playhouse 90 starring Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason and Mickey Rooney.
Schulberg was the ultimate fight fan He loved the sport for the pure
challenge that it presented. He wrote two series of short stories about
boxing. "Sparring with Hemingway and other Legends of the Fight
Game" and "When Boxing was a Jewish Sport.". Now retired at
88 he lives in the Hampton’s and occasionally is seen at major fights. He
is a part of boxing that somehow has been lost. Where once it was gentleman
of the arts that adopted the sport and chronicled it’s progress that task
has been turned over to parole officer’s, suede shoe siding salesman and
the low life’s of every description. Schulberg wrote about a sport that
all would do well to learn and emulate. Should someone send this to Budd,
tell him thanks for everything from a hack writer in Las Vegas.
HOOKS and jabs and other things that go bump in the night. Don King no
slouch in the match making department may have come up with a winner. On
March 29 Bernard Hopkins is going to defend, if he gets his legal troubles
under control, in Philadelphia. Anyone that caught Bernards performance on
Friday Night Fights has got to wonder if he’s gone all the way around the
bend. As we were writing about history a few paragraph back, the history of
Don King and Hopkins has been strained.. "I will never fight for Don
King." Now Hopkins has too, he’s alienated almost everyone else.
Another case of a million dollar airport with a 10 cent control tower. King
will have David Tua mixing it up with Hasim Rahman on the undercard. Well
done. Of course the "Coupe in the Grass", for King, will be if he
makes Ruiz-Jones a big winner. He takes two guys, Ruiz-Jones, that can’t
sell tickets and can’t sell PPV. He matches them. Talk about a high wire
act with no net,. Of course when you’ve got a gullible casino laying out
cash up front some of the risk is negated.
Ray Oliveira (43-8-2) and . Golden Johnson (22-7-2) were suppose to be
engaged in a big time box fight Saturday night in Providence RI. Slight
problem No Golden Johnson. He pulled a George Jones. That would be the old
George "No Show" Jones. Stepping in was Lorenzo Smith. Smith
(34-3-1, 14 KOs) who has been inactive since 2001 but at least he showed up
so that’s probably a plus. (One service said of Smith, "He’s been
inactive since 2001 but has been looking for fights." Close enough.)
The fight was to have been for the NABF Title that Johnson holds. One
service reported Jimmy Burchfields (Oliver’s promoter) comments. .
"It is very disappointing and you can be sure that there will be legal
ramifications from this. We advanced Golden money on Thursday because he and
his manager expressed the need for this. I have dealt with Nick Garone in
the past and had no problems sending the advancement. Now that will have to
be paid back and obviously we will be looking for the sternest suspension
under Rhode Island law. This is disgusting and I hope other promoters take
note and don't even bother trying to work with Golden Johnson." Johnson
manager Garone said, "He never got on the plane. I haven’t heard from
him." Recreational drugs my ass.
If the rumors are true then WBO Heavyweight Chump, Wladimir Klitschko, will
next defend against either Fres Oquendo or Kirk Johnson. The fight will be
Matrch 8 somewhere in the Third Reich and hopefully won’t be shown in the
USA. If the promoters and cable networks want people to again take the sport
seriously then "S—T Can" opponents like Oquendo and Johnson.
Where is it written that a heavyweight champ gets to fight a tomato can
every other fight ? This is boxings version of the pro footballs
"prevent defense". These fights prevent sports fans from taking
the sport with any degree of seriousness. Lets cut to the chase. Bring on
Nekked Chick’s in Olive Oil. Did you know that if you’ve had a lot of
Miller Genuine and say "Dixie Chicks" real fast you’re in
serious trouble?
Finally some statement from Dr. Jose’ Sulaiman of the WBC in regard to the
31 million dollar judgment against his organization. "During his annual
January reunion on last Tuesday morning with more than 100 members of the
Mexican media, WBC President Jose Sulaiman stated, "The World Boxing
Council will not disappear, nor declare itself bankrupt as has been
presumed. It would be like betraying the WBC itself, after having achieved
so many great feats in sports medicine and the protection of the boxers
world-wide. The WBC has never seen together, in its 40 years of existence,
the $31 million that were determined by a judge in favor of German boxer
Graciano Rocchigiani. I will put all my effort so the WBC continues alive
because we know in our conscience that we have not committed any fault, and
I keep my faith that justice will prevail in the end." Now no longer
under house arrest Rocchigiani vows to fight again and win a world
championship. It may come down to collecting his 31 million from the WBC or
a world championship. As he’s isn’t going to collect the 31 million the
World Championship looks like a better bet.
AND finally: Three old pilots walking on the ramp.First one says,
"Windy, isn't it?" Second one says, "No, its Thursday!"
Third one says, "So am I. Let's go get a drink."
(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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