TALKIN BOXIN
 May 18, 2003
by Howie Reed

THERE were two major fights (major cause they were on TV only) Saturday Night on Television. One on Showtime (Sharmba Mitchel-Ben Tackie) and one on HBO ( WBA Leonard Dorin-IBF Champion Paul Spadafora). In the air of disclosure I will admit that I saw neither. I write this with no shame and no sorrow. Before going into a long explanation it should be noted that Dorin-Spadafora boxed to a flat footed draw. (115-113 Dorin, 115-114 Spadafora, 114-114). From news reports it was a good fight. Of some interest is that prior to the fight Dotin’s folks had complained about the fight using two California judges. In the end one favored
Dorin and the other called it a draw. The WBA judge
had it for Spadafora.

The Showtime fight was "kinda" a title eliminator to
see who wasn’t going to fight Kostya Tszyu for the
second time. Both Mitchel and Tackie had miserable
performances against Tszyu first time out and there is
no reason to believe that a second time would be any
different. Sharmba (and no I have no idea what the
hell kind of stupid name Sharmba is. Probably means
"he who has big mouth, average talent." There are
probably those that would say the same about Houston Hartwell Reed II. Go for it.) won a very easy
unanimous decision (118-109,119-108 twice). The scores would indicate that Tackie, as he did against Tszyu got the "walk arounds" , did nothing but tie his shoes and get in the ring. He’s good at that.

As I mention, at any asking, there are many things I
don’t know. There are many things that I’m not even
aware of. But one thing I do know is that for
something to be seen on television it must be
presented at the best time to ensure that someone will
see your product. . Time for a little "bone fides"
check here. Spent a number of year’s as a big time
media buyer for a couple of major advertising
agency’s. It was my job to evaluate television
programming and "estimate" what type and size of
audience a given program would produce. Later I turned
mercenary to sell television time to advertisers. So
unlike writing about boxing, I’m actually writing
about something that I know "something" about.

Both fights were programmed for 10PM on a Saturday
Night. First what in the name of all that’s holy were
HBO and Showtime thinking ? Let’s say, for argument
sake, there are one million people in the USA that
would like to watch both fights. The fight’s are on
at the same time, so scratch half the audience for
each. Secondly by delaying the telecast for the West
Coast anyone that cares already knows who won. Basic concept about sports that both HBO and ShowTime seem to have missed, "It’s about winning and losing." If you know what’s going to happen few give a rats body part about watching. The lone exception to this rule is viewing porn for educational purposes.

Secondly. Why delay the fight until 10PM? Is there
something that was so important that it couldn’t have
been shown at 10PM or on another night. HBO had
"Enough". "A women (Jennifer Lopez) empowers herself to battle her abusive husband." Great lead in that.  Eliminates all the T-Shirt "shot and a beer set".
Showtime had "Harts War" that seems to have been on everyday for a month. What the folks at the two cablegiants seem to have forgotten is that people on the West Coast won’t stay up til 10PM to watch something they already know who won. Even more questionable with Funny Cide winning the second leg of the Triple Crown on Saturday and New Yorkers downing a few to celebrating. Two points here. The cable guys cut their audience in half and made it hard to watch either fight.

What is sad that if either fight was really good if
shown at a earlier it might have converted new fans.
What the sports needs is not more 10PM fights( forget
it with the Show Box 11:15PM Thursday night bit or
HBO’s after Dark and should be called "After
Everyone’s in Bed") that no one watches but more
fights in prime time. I’ll bet anyone a Fosters that
more people watched the Saturday afternoon fights on
NBC (Jr. lightweights Nate Campbell (23-1-1) and Edelmiro "Tiger" Martinez (20-2-1) fought to a draw) then saw either of the night time fight. "Fosters ?" "Yep. Was walking through the local super market singing alone with Bobby Vinton ("Rose’s are red my love……..your sisters are too") when I saw Fosters $10.99 for 12.  What a deal. Almost makes up for the fact that the Burger King Whopper is no longer 99 cents. ("Why did they call the Indian Chief’s daughter 99 cents?"  "Cause she was always under a buck.") So I saw, I bought and I drank but not while watching boxing cause it was on at 10PM and by that time I was in the Arms of Morphous.

TWO of the lessor known world champions are WBA
lightweight champion Leonard Dorin and IBF lightweight Paul Spadafora. The 135LB division is dominated by Floyd Mayweather Jr.T It’s no wonder that these to appear usually as "oh by the way" champions. They got it on Saturday in what promised to be either a good fight or a lousy fight. It was good we’re told. The pre fight hype was concerned with judges (The Dorin camp didn’t like’em) and Spadafora’s boxing ability. As is in vogue now (that’s a term that will throughout this column. "Vogue Now".)  Spadafora said that he will use his slick boxing style to show Dorin "angles". "I have to be ready physically 100%. The judges are not my problem, that’s other people problems. I’ll do what I have to do." But Leonard what about the "angles"?  "Let him show me angles then. I’ll show him my fists!" Guess both fighters were correct.

THE sports pages lately have been full of story’s
about college coaches getting caught and sent to the
woodshed for what the 42 President of the USA did and is proud of. My God the scandal of a coach drinking with "students" and even kissing a young female coed. Wanna bet had he been caught locking lips with a young make coed he’d be a hero to the "It’s his rights set."   Then there’s the case of the Alabama Football coach, Mike Price, waking up after a few adult beverages and pulling an Honest Abe Lincoln. "I did what." (Time out. The question has been advanced as to "why men got to strip clubs?" They go to see nekked women who do not have to be ironed before viewing. Period end.) One could argue that the former President did much worse than an Alabama football coach. He kept his job.  Right. Just proves that Alabama Football has higher standards for a football coach than democrats do for the president. Now the scandal has hit boxings’ John Jackson who is also a UNLV assistant football coach.

Jackson is the front man for Forum Boxing that
promotes boxing in Loa Angels and Las Vegas. Jackson has long been associated with Forum. UNLV is investigating the use of university phone credit cards
to the tune of $10,000 for long distance calls. The
confidential telephone access code that was used
belongs to Jackson. "I’ve been told to say nothing as
there’s a investigation under way." Should the results
be negative for UNLV it could spell the death penalty
for UNLV’s football program. SMU had a similar penalty some time ago and hasn’t been heard from since. This is not the first time that Jackson has had his "whatever in the ringer." Last year he left a football
game with UNLV ahead to preside over a Marco Antonio Barrera fight. Wyoming scored to forced the game to overtime. UNLV finally won but Jackson got a letter of reprimand in his file. BFD.

IS it possible that there’s a story brewing at NBC ?
Could be. With the Saturday afternoon fight series
concluding on Saturday the rating have been "GANG
BUSTERS". Now I don’t mean "Gang Busters" as in "Holly Smoke" or "Who Nelly" but darn good when one considers that NBC sports is pretty much in the dumper after losing NFL, The NBA and Major League Baseball.  They’ve tried everything from "inventive sports" to the Arena Football league. Take away the occasional golf tournament, The Triple Crown and 1.2 of NASCAR and their sports lineup is dreadful. Now comes boxing on a Saturday afternoon. For the first two weeks the ratings were 1.4 and 1.6. Not to Chablis. It’s not naked chicks wrestling over a Miller Lite but like the lady’s respectable. That equates to about a 1,100,000 views which is OK. To put that in
perspective the good folks at Top Rank are looking for
400,000 PPV from the deLahoya exhibition. (Note here
they were looking for 500,000 and now 400,000. They
haven’t released the number so maybe even 400,000 is a stretch.)   If that equates to three viewers per sale
that still falls short of Saturday afternoon’s boxing
audience on NBC. NBC and Main Events are negotiating to extend the series. Or so it is written.

WHEN it comes to e-mails I’ll take quality over
quantity anytime. Not that there was choice. The first
communication comes from a boxing official in the
State of California or as we call it New
York/Massachusetts East. Explain ? Like those two
states on the East Coast they still live in the past,
believing that everyone gives a rats posterior what
they do. They all live on past glories. Like the
French and the Germans (whose economy California is
bigger than) they have become irrelevant to everyday
life. Number one draft choice in the NFL draft, Carson
Palmer, was born and raised in the "Golden State of
California." When drafted by Cincinnati he said, "I’m
glad to be going to Cincinnati and getting away from
California. I was born and raised here and frankly I’m
tired of it." NO the words are not exact but darn
close. Alas I digress.

From a boxing official in California comes the comment
in regard to my agreement to the statement that
deLaHoya is undefeated. "If you think he De la Hoya
beat Mosley you have a problem. Trinidad I will
agree." I explained to the gentleman that I have lots
of problems. I’ve learned to live with them. In the
great book a difference of opinion on a fight is not
at the top of my list of problems. Maybe if we got by
old, fat, bald, no talent and just ran out of MGD it
would rank as "somewhat important".

Pal in New Zealand opines. "Howie, I've noticed that
you've been quoting Gertrude Stein lately. The
correct passage is: "A rose is a rose, is a rose."
Cheers mate.  Jack PS Pro boxing is coming to Northland on May 31st. Why not drop by? I'm sure they could use a professional ring announcer from Las Vegas." A correction is a correction is a correction. Glad I’m straight on that. IN regard to an announcing gig in New Zealand. I appointed Jack my manager. I’m giving him 50% commission. After all 50 of nuttin is ? Or Nuttin is a Nuttin, is a nuttin...

THERE’S a story out there that either does or does not
need to be reported. In the words of President Ronald
Reagan, I would hope you don’t yell, "There you go
again." Last week in Las Vegas Jimmy Hoffa Jr.,
President of International Brotherhood of Teamsters,
met with Boxers ( represented by JAB) to discuss the
two joining together. A union for boxers ? Well maybe.
As a former union member (Labors 301, Teamsters 324, Bartenders #816 and Operating Engineer’s #3) I can see that a union might well be helpful for those boxers at the bottom end of the sport. Unions do "NOTHING" for the top end of any organization. As full disclosure is the vogue of the day, I’ll state that my Dad served as President of a Teamsters Local (#324 at a dollar a year) and as Business Agent for the Building Trades Council from 1939 until his passing in 1971.

JAB (Joint Association of Boxers) was represented by
for world champion and top notch trainer Eddie
Mustafa Muhammad along with co-founder Walter Kane. The 40 boxers that attended the Vegas meeting voted unanimously to join the Teamsters. "It was always in the back of my head," said Muhammad. "There are only a handful of us who really make it, not only being champions, but by making a significant amount of money to sustain ourselves. At the end of the day, you see boxers who don't make it. You see guys who are down and out. I just felt it was time to do something about the situation. The purpose of the union is to engage in collective bargaining with promoters so boxers can receive a benefits package, including a pension plan and a medical plan. We were trying to affiliate ourselves with the best union in the world," Muhammad said. "At this time, it's the Teamsters."

The organization FIST, which sounds very much like the organization named in the Stallone movie about Hoffa senior) is associated with the AFL-CIO but is more a support group than a union. "The union is now
official," Muhammad said. "We hope there are no more
sad stories. There shouldn't be any more fighters
falling on hard times because of this union I formed.
"If you don't make it in the fighting industry and you
are still paying your dues, there may be a job at the
end of the line with the Teamsters. You'd have a job,
you'd have a pension, you'd have benefits. Any
promoters who would be against this, they're not for
boxers." There in lies the kicker. So far only
promoter Cedric Kushner has showed any interest.
Saying, "Thanks but no thanks are Don King and Bob
Arum." IT will be very difficult for the union to take
hold in any significant sense. If the union for some
kind if minimal dues could provide health care that
would be a big plus. If that was the only goal and
they succeeded then they will have advanced the sport.

A union in the form of the traditional unionism will
never work. Unions in baseball, Football and
Basketball are coming close to making their sports
irrelevant . The work stoppages in those sports are
still having their effects. Union membership in
American is only about 12% of the work force which
means that support for any type of "pro active"
action will have no broad based support. Additionally
fighters can’t withhold their services cause there’s
always someone else ready to step in. Nice idea. Wish them the best.

HOOKS, jabs and thing that go bump in the night.
Finally someone reads something here and takes action.  Few weeks ago I wrote that "Aussie piece of ofal Anthony Mundane" was in line for a fight against
Antwun Echols on ERSPN over July 4th. At the time I
axed ESPN, "What the heck ?" Had they forgotten that
Mundine had said that Americans deserved 9/11? Guess not. Fight will now be in Australia sometime in July.  For the WBA belt if anyone cares. Thanks ESPN.

Vaia "Lil Darlin" Zaganas (9-1) (aka Vaia pronounced
Via..no I don’t know why) headlines the May 24
heavyweight explosion in Reno. "Time out baldy. A 103
pounder headlines a Heavyweight Explosion Show in Reno?" You bet. Mainly cause most the rest of the card is made up of fat heavyweight (oxymoron there) that can’t fight.. Vaia (pronounced Via) takes on Luz (1-3-1) (pronounced Loose) Rodriguez and that’s as far as I’m going with that. This will be a rematch of the Lil
Darlin’s first fight where she lost a split decision,
"I thought I won the fight", opined the Lil Darlin. .
I ask the men out there, "Have you ever seen a fight
that a women didn’t think she won ?" Case closed. The
Lil Darlin gets another pelt to nail to the wall.

AND FINALLY. Was suppose to be a big sports weekend in the UK. The final of the FA Cup in football (which all enlightened people of the world call soccer.) The team I support is called Arsenal. The Gunner’s. With that as a backdrop I axe our two UK correspondence "who one the FA Cup?" First English joe having just return from as nice pint or 20. " hiya howie, the gunners (there gonna do this, there gonna do that) won it 1-0,,,,,,,,,,,, very boring match, l only
watched bits of it. things are quiet on the boxing
scene here speak soon, your pal joe. arsenal beat
southampton., (the worst team to come out of there
since the crew of the titanic !!!! )

The second view of events sent across the pond by
English TV Presenter Phil Jones. "Well pal as you
probably know by now....The Gooners won the cup in
what was the most disappointing and boring final in
many years...but its goals that count in the win
column and Arsenal got 1...it took so many ricochets
before it nestled in the net that a 56 year old
grandmother from Swansea is claiming an 'assist'...To
sum it up it was 90 minutes that would have been
better spent at the dentists....How much to have all
my teeth out - 50 dollars - here is a dollar, loosen
em up a bit...Phil" PS. " Immediately after the final
I painted my front door and watched the paint
dry...loved it...far more action." My pal here Phil is
telling a Porky. There are a couple of things that
send fear into Mr. Jones. On is the term "No Host Bar"
and the other is "Physical Labor."


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