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TALKIN BOXIN
by Howie Reed
January 25, 2004
THE jinks is over. Tell Red Sox fans that the “Curse
of the Bambino” will soon be lifted. In Chicago
Brother Hughes (super scout for the Cubs) can forget
about getting more offense “The Curse of the Goat” is
on the way out. No longer will a the cover of Sports
Illustrated doom the career of it’s subject. The
“Cures of Howie Reed” has ended. Last Friday nights
ESPN fight between Scott Pemberton and Omar Sheika was a barn burner. I
wrote, “BUT first I want to shill for what should be a great fight next
Friday Night on ESPN2, Scott Pemberton (26-3-1) vs. Omar Sheika
(23-5)…. DO NOT MISS IT.” It was a knock down, slam bam, no holds barred ,
Pier 9ers like the days of old when fighters were bold. Pemberton was down
in the 2nd and referee Gary Rossato called a standing 8 n the 6th. Of course
there is no standing 8 at the Injun
fighting place in Mashantucket CT. but the fight was
so good why quibble. In the 9th Sheika was a serious
trouble from a plethora of unanswered punches.
Pemberton got the knockdown in the 10th with the gutty Sheika making it up
at 8. The referee allwed the fight to continue for a short time longer
before stepping
in. he might have done it a little earlier but he
didn’t.
“There is no fighter under 190 lbs. in the World that
could beat Roy Jones…ever”, Max Kellerman. “Dear Mr. Kellerman. You are full
of stuff. You have made a lot of stupid statements but this one takes the
cake, ice cream and gets you the honor of pinning the tail on
the donkey who looks like to a certain boxing guy. To
say that Roy Jones is the best fighter ever under 190
is BS. How about the “ole Mongoose” Archie Moore ? How about Ezzard Charles
or Rocky Marciano ? Mr. Kellerman do you actually believe that Roy Jones
would beat Rocky Marciano at anything ? The Rock fought at anywhere between
184-189. he would have killed Jones.
Now if you still believe that Jones is the best ever
under 190 you risk the danger of being arrested for
impersonating a boxing expert.” Of course Jones
wouldn’t face any of these guys. He would have dropped down to 155-160 and
got clocked by Ray Robinson, Marcel Cerdan or Randy Turpin.
IT’S that time again kids for your weekly does of
“Mob Life’s Viva Las Vegas.” Of course we know there
is no Mob in Las Vegas but that begs the question. Why is it that we as a
people love to kick some folks when they’re down while we let others slide ?
Easy. We find a delicious delight (which wouldn’t be a bad name for an Adult
Pleasure Place. “Welcome to the Delicious Delight”. The motto ? “Our
pleasure is yours”) in landing with both feet on those that belong to the
elite. As Irene Maude use to say, “Oh how the mighty
have fallen.” We love to see the “goody-two shoes”
among us take the fall. With me growing up it was the
little “perfect” kid that did the Wonder Bread
commercials. Every hair in place. Always squeaky
clean. You just wanted to push him in the nearest mud
puddle. Grownups today have the same visceral reaction to Martha Stewart or
anyone involved with either Enron or Global Crossing. (The exception with
the Global Crossing hate list is the Chairman of the “un” democratic party
who made about 32 million which no one cares about. This is called
“selective indignation”.)
Saturday night Evander Holyfield was to spend 12
rounds with John Ruiz for the heavyweight title. The
night before was the Austin-Johnson fight. There was
not a lot of interest for this night before the big
fight event. I’m guessing that “lots” of tickets were
distributed to folks that don’t normally attend a
boxing match. I came to this conclusion about the
fifth round of the Austin-Johnson fight. Here’s what
happened beside about 10 $5.00 drafts. Both fighters
worn red trunks, both fighters looked alike, neither
fighter had any writing on the trunks, both fighters
worn the same shoes and both fighter fought the same.
The only difference was the shoe laces. An
inexperience crowd also takes sides. They see fights
on TV and figure that’s what fights are for. Drink
beer, smoke cigars and yell. The fans didn’t know who
to root for or against. The silence was deafening.
Here was a pretty good crowd in a venue that was way
too big and it was more like a crowd at the opera. On
top of that the Paris Las Vegas, like all major
casino, has more layers of “empty suites” than the
DMV. They wouldn’t let the people in until they got
the “word” from the boss. The boss was not available
prior to Saturdays card. He was out doing something
important. So the fans waited. There is your Paul
Harvey moment. “The rest of the story.” Nothing
underhanded just stupidly it runs unchallenged
sometimes in Vegas.
WAS taken to task for writing that if ESPN exits its’
weekly boxing show there will be no weekly boxing show on TV. “What about
Fox ?” Good question. Don’t have the answer. Last time I talked with “my
sources” the fate of the weekly Fox Boxing Show was “still to be
decided.” “I have no idea what they’re going to do.”
That’s what the man did say. Santos Perez writes
boxing for the Miami Herald. “At least the talk about
Lewis, Tszyu and Trinidad helped take attention from
what was a brutal two weeks for the sport in the wake
of the ongoing FBI investigation into promoter Bob
Arum's Top Rank and fight-fixing allegations.” It
appears that Mr. Perez is guilty (no standard
sentencing guidelines. “Thank God for small favors.”)
of a tab bit of hyperbolical activity. “Senior Perez,
I find you guilty of hyperbolical activity.. Do you
understand ?” “Yes your honor.” He claims that our
attention was diverted from a “brutal two weeks for
the sport in the wake of the FBI investigation, ect,
ect.” No way Jose’. For the most part, lead by the Las
Vegas media, the “investigation” has been ignored.
It’s been ignored with darn good reason. Nothing’s
happening. There was the chance that the exploits of
the “undercover cop”, Big Frankie, would have been
interesting. He’s gone back undercover. When he was
operating here in Vegas he gave out business cards
with ‘BIG FRANKIE’ and listed his company as YGJ, Inc. The YGJ stood
for “You’re Going to Jail.” Love that
Feds sense of humor.
Both the devotee’s of Talkin Boxin didn’t know that
Lennox Lewis “May” be coming back. Interviewed for a
boxing web sit Jim Lampley of HBO said of Lewis, “He
ought to crap or get off the pot.” What Jim doesn’t or
can’t understand is that Mr. Imperial One thinks that
the world of boxing hangs on what is going on in his
life. He has never understood nor will he that “no one
cares”. I’ve written that before and promise not to do
so again. There are some indication that Lewis will
give Klitschko a rematch with HBO holding the April 24
date open. If he does fight Klitschko the results will
be the same with the whining no talent pea hearted
Ruskie losing again. But what do I know.
Indication are good that Felix Trinidad will be back.
He will be back to fight Oscar in his first fight,. It
will not be on the March PPV date with Don King
promoting from Puerto Rico. Rumor now has the fight in September. Rumor also
has Howie Reed and Jennifer Aniston caught in a lovers hideaway by her
husband Brat Pitt. Statistics prove that 50% of rumors are true. It’s said
that both Felix and Oscar will walk
away with 15 million. Good stuff that. Two boxers that
won’t be getting 15 million each are Shane Mosley and
Ronald “Winkey” Wright. They lace’em up March 13 in
Las Vegas. Here’s two guys that are living proof that
boxers should attend the Warton School of Business or at least read “Econ
for Dummies”.. Mosley turned down 12.5 million for a third DeLaHoya fight
because Oscar was getting more. (“Howard”, my Dad always called me Howard,
”Never worry about what the other guy makes. Worry about what you make.”
That’s what he did say.) Instead Mosley gets Wright for under 4 million.
Winky could have fought Mosley a couple of years ago for more money than
he’s getting. “The time wasn’t right. I could have made more money but
the timing was bad. I took this fight for less than I could have gotten.”
Winky you do something really stupid, and turning
down more money is stupid, don’t say anything to
anyone. Just maybe no one will notice so that when
your career is over you might get a trainee job at a
“food service” operation of your choosing..
It will now become the “Not” big fight of the year.
First Kostya Tszyu injured his shoulder which caused
the cancellation of his fight with Sharmba Mitchell in
Moscow. The fight would have been half of a February
7th double header on Showtime. Rumor said not to
worry Mitchell would be added against Lovemore
N'dou. By the way what the hell kind of name is
“Sharmba “ ? Now that entire card from Las Vegas is in
Jeopardy . “Yea Alex I’ll take injured fighters for
$500.” “You are a multiple world champion with a
recent win over Evandler Holyfield. You were training
for a fight in Las Vegas on February 7 and torn your
Achilles tendon. “. “Who is James Toney ?” “You’re
right on top of things.” With Toney’s fight with
Jameel McCline off best guess is that the card will be
cancelled. (It was) Promoter Dan Goossen is looking
for a replacement for Tony but Jameel McCline couldn’t
draw fly’s in Vegas if he was a tuna can on the Strip
the July 4th. Ditto Mr. Mitchcell. Showtime saved
the date by matching Mitchell-Omar Weis. Ho Hum.
Why would I typed “Ho Hum” ? Mainly because a Omar Weis-S. Mitchell fight
for the “IBF interim” 140 world title doesn’t me “jack squat”. That’s really
not true as it means something to the IBF as they’ll get a cut. That aside
the 140 pound world champions abound like opinions on next weeks Super Bowl.
Kostya Tszyu (IBF,WBA super,WBC emeritus), Zab Judah (WBO), Vivian Harris (WBA
regular), Arturo Gatti (WBC regular) and then the Weis-Mitchcell winner.
STUPID. Kostya has got to be thrilled as he’s a “super champ” and
“emeritus”. Be still my heart. I type one more time. “Ho Hum”
If you wanted to improve the image of boxing the
first step would be to not report anything that a
promoter, manager , agent or lawyer said about a
fighter or a fight. They are practicing morons that
never get hit. Practicing is probably the wrong word.
They don’t need to practice they got it down perfect.
James Toney ducks no one at any time. He is the post
card for the old “bring’em on” which has nothing to do
with Brigham Young who said, “if you bring’em… bring’em young”, If Toney’s
hurt then he’s hurt. Along comes Mike Borao, McCline’s attorney, “Jameel
told me a long time ago that Toney would never step into the ring with him."
Here’s a quote from the web. “McCline's disappointed manager (He missed a
payday), Allen Wartski wants an independent doctor to verify Toney's injury.
"Toney would have an ankle problem anyway with 270 pounds of Jameel McCline
leaning on him.” Borao finally got something right. Big Fat McCline leaning
on Toney. That’s about the big stiff can do.
If you wanted to improve the image of boxing the first
step would be to not report anything that a promoter,
manager , agent or lawyer said about a fighter or a
fight. They are practicing morons that never get hit.
Practicing is probably the wrong word. They don’t need
to practice they got it down perfect. James Toney
ducks no one at any time. He is the post card for the
old “bring’em on” which has nothing to do with Brigham
Young who said, “if you bring’em…bring’em young”, If
Toney’s hurt then he’s hurt. Along comes Mike Borao,
McCline’s attorney, “Jameel told me a long time ago
that Toney would never step into the ring with him."
Here’s a quote from the web. “McCline's disappointed
manager (He missed a payday), Allen Wartski wants an independent doctor to
verify Toney's injury. "Toney
would have an ankle problem anyway with 270 pounds of Jameel McCline leaning
on him.” Borao finally got
something right. Big Fat McCline leaning on Toney.
That’s about the big stiff can do.Anyone that
remembers his sorry performance against Wladimir
Klitschko December of 02 knows what a stiff he is.
Funny incident before the fight. At the final press
conference Bob Arum, who somehow was involved, said, “These are the
four greatest heavyweights in the
world.” He was speaking of the Brothers Klitschko and
McCline and some other stiff. And that boys and girls
is why we shouldn’t allow attorney’s, managers, agents (aka Blood Suckers),
fathers or promoters to talk. If allowed to talk no one should report it.
Whoops didn’t mention why fathers should be allowed to talk and if they were
not reported ? Sorry about that.
For months and months we have been reading the crap
abut Felix Trinidad being retired. “Gee here’s someone
that retired from boxing and really meant it.”
Remember “all that glitters is not gold.” Well seems
that Tito and Papa Trinidad were just waiting for the
right time.
AND finally there may not be a column next week. It’s
the Super Bowl. That time of year when men are out to
prove their testosterone. Well not all men. Just the
ones that don’t go mushy over the latest power tools.
I have some advice for the lady’s out there. Don’t
under any condition ask, “Do you love me more than
football ?” Not a fair question. I had a great friend
who’s passed on. Gil Travers was the best with a quip
that I ever heard. He loved baseball and football. In
my formative years , age 25-35, he and I would take
his kids (he had 7 which means he also had other
hobbies) to games when I scored free tickets which I
did a lot. One evening his long suffering wife (That
would be Jean) said, “You love baseball and football
more than you love me”. “yes I do but you’re ahead of
table tennis and bowling.” Have a great Super Bowl if
we don’t chat before then. Take Carolina on the money
line to the overs.
(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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