TALKIN BOXIN 
by Howie Reed 
May 25, 2003

WITH the month of May now in the record books, it’s
time to move on into summer. "Time out. How can May
be in the record book when it’s only the 25th ?" That
my friend is a very good question and one that I will
not shy from answering.. We’ve had the Derby (no I
did not have Funny Cide) with My Old Kentucky Home,
The Indy 500 with Jim Nabors brining a tear to the eye
with "Back Home Again in Indiana", it is now OK to
wear white pants in Vegas and that friends is what the
month of May is all about. Can’t very well write
rapturous about June, unless your wife/girlfriend (may
they sometimes be the same) happens to be named June.

Then everyday it’s June this -June that along with yes
June.. In the 1960 the San Francisco Giants use to
engage in a June Swoon. They’d be leading the NL in
April and then take the gas pipe in June. "How can you
tell it’s June in San Francisco ?" "It’s colder at
night, the fogs in and Giants fans are saying "Wait
until next year."

The only sports song next month is the "Side Walks of
New York" or "New York" (which no one should be
allowed to sing now that Frank has gone to the
nightclub in the sky or the lounge down below) before
the running of the Belmont where Funny Cide will
become the first Triple Crown winner since the last
one. He’s the darling of the NAGS (National
Association of Gals). Funny Cide is, in their
opinion, what every male should be. He’s the way it
should be. Goes through life wearing blinkers with the
ultimate male equipment change. We get through June
and then July is pretty neat. "Baseball, Mom and
Apple Pie." The 4th of July, which is still our
national holiday, where we celebrate freeing
ourselves from British Oppression, King George, warm
beer and black pudding.. Now there is something to
celebrate.

July is a big month for baseball the sport that
dominated my "Ute" growing up in Oakland California.
We played morning, noon and night during the summer.  We didn’ t know that we had a "love" of the game we just recognized that we would rather play baseball than do anything else. This was before we discovered Doctor and Nurse. In a pinch we’d play a little football (winter) or even shoot a few hoops but
baseball was it. We played it one on one with one of
those practice plastic golf balls with holes which
are now sold as wiffale baseballs. We though of it
first.. The official park for "holy golf ball baseball" was the Hunts front Lawn. We played ball in the street with a ball covered with black tape and even on the various playgrounds of Oakland. We played at E. Morris Cox, Elmhurst Jr. High, Castlemont High School, The East Oakland Boy’s Club and Babe Ruth League. We played at Diablo Valley College and after college we played softball in various league in and around San Francisco. Looking back, as old codgers do,
it’s hard to remember that last game. Probably it
just ended in some bar league in Contra Costa County.
What is not hard in remembering is the joy of playing.

Super Jerk Ricky Henderson probably feels the same
thing. Here is a veteran of 19 year’s in the major
leagues trying to get in one more year in the bigs by
playing for Newark of an Independent league. A sure
bet for the Hall of Fame he claims, "I just want to
play. Every youngsters wants to play in the Major
Leagues. I still have that dream." Sounds good. Except
with Henderson there’s always a flip side. For 19
year’s he was a pain in the ass for every team he
played for. There had to be special rules or he’d
pout. What brought this to mind was wondering if there
were any in boxing that "just loved the game". Very
seldom do you hear anyone say (in Ernie Banks
fashion), "Let’s play two." I think maybe I’ve found
the guy.

Randell Bailey held two world titles (WBO/WBA 140LB).  He was known as a KO Artist because of his 26 wins, up until a week or so ago, all W’s came via that route. He lost the WBA Title to Diosbelys Hurtado 140 34-2-0 and the WBO to DeMarcus Corley (27-1-1). That was back on January 4. Off since then he decided he needed to jump back in so choose Reggie Strickland. Bailey got a decision over Mr. Strickland for his first decision win. One wire service called Strickland a "legendary midwest campaigner. They understated the obvious. Reggie Strickland loves the game. His record indicates that. He’s 50-248-15 for a total of 327 fights since 1987. Here’s a person that has had a tad of adversity doing what he likes to. He’s had a couple of 20 in a row losing streaks and at one
stretch went 6-37-1, 1998, which included the 2o loss
streak. There have been some ups also. In May and June of 1994 Reggie went 4-0-1 for his best record without a lose. The previous year in was four and nil. Unlucky that. After the 4th win, two days later, the win
streak was snapped. So the next time we’re saluting
American hero’s don’t forget Reggie Strickland. As the
late Russ Hodges use to say about Jimmy Marshall, ‘he came to play." Here’s to you Mr. Strickland.

IF Reggie Strickland is the American Hero then the
"Lop Eared Camel Jockey" (aka Prince Naseem) would be the anti-hero. He got taken to the woodshed by Marco Antonio Barrera o in April of "Ought 1" and hasn’t really been seen since. He did win a minor title (WBO 9 Stone. 9 Stone? Yep that would be 14.5 pounds. You do the math.) in his only fight against journeyman Spaniard Manuel Calvo but that’s it. Reports of a comeback have circulated mostly by those that don’t know much. Like boxing writers. Now though Promoter Frank Warren thinks the Prince is done. "I don't think he'll fight again. I don't think his heart's in it. He's comfortable. He's made a lot of money, spent a lot of time, as I understand, with his family. He doesn't need to fight." I’m going to take a different approach. I agree that his heart isn’t in it. But
disagree with the reason. His heart isn’t in it cause
he knows that there are 10 fighters out there that
would kick his butt.

Hamed never had any heart. His heart size was no
bigger than a pea. Once he got beat, he tucked his
goat under his arm and headed back to the friendly
confines of England. MY favorite writer once opined,
"The first Mexican that fights him like a black
fighter will whip him soundly. He’ll hit and hit and
hit. He’ll do all the "dirty" stuff that Hamed does
and then add some new twists. He’ll keep coming
forward." The guy that wrote that is a budding genus.
Prior to Marco Antonio Berrera Mexican fighters just
kept coming forward without tossing punches. Barerra
figured it out.

"At one stage, he was the most exciting fighter I've
ever been involved with.", said Warren. " At one
stage, early in his career he could have gone and been
one of the great fighters. But it all started to go
wrong when he didn't fight regularly enough and he
started cutting corners in training and that doesn't
work out for any fighter." That may be true. It also
started to come apart when he actually though his
stupid entrance was something special. It wasn’t and
he wasn’t. A run of the mill camel jockey who can now
go back to being a corner news agent As Grandma Reed would say, Good riddance to bad rubbish." Grandma Reed was tough.

It’s been said that in the Spring a "Young man’s fancy
turns to love". I’ve also heard the saying , " That
in the Spring a Young Man’s fancy turns to what a girl
has been thinking about all winter." Regardless
Denver’s Stevie Johnston and his "romantic" partners
has some "esplainin" to do. Johnston was in line for
a WBC lightweight eliminator with Juan Lazcano. Now it
looks like all he’ll be in line for is chow at a State
Institution not of his choosing. The very prolific Mr.
Johnston has fathered 4 children by three different
women. Not in the class with Evandler Holyfield but
getting there. Seems Johnson has a problem paying the court required amount. He spent 6 months in jail, had a fight in Vegas and turned over the $136,000 from
that for a back amount. . Since then nothing. The
court ordered him to appear last week but Johnston was a no show. When he does show up he’ll be entitled to another scholarship in a Colorado State Institution.  Probably too late to make the ultimate male equipment change. He’s learning the hard way that "Free Love" was just a propaganda slogan.

Also not faring well in the courts is champion whiner
Joel Casamayor. Joel and his Team Freedom (named as they all came over from Cuba) sued the World Boxing Organization (WBO) to force them to make Casamayor the "mandatory challenger" for Champ Acelino Freitas’. The WBO has said that Casamayor must first fight Jorge Barrios. The court concurred with the WBO. "In boxing terms, we scored a knockdown in the first round, and the referee almost stopped the contest," stated WBO president Francisco Valcárcel. "The Honorable Judge John G. Koeltl was in accordance with our position and agreed." Not a good week for fighters in court.

WHAT is a Don King press conference without Don King but with great food and the introduction of a brand
spanking new venue ? "A great free lunch that doesn’t
last until supper." Before you jump into the "What’s
he on about mode" , allow me to esplain. Last Tuesday
the Orleans Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas held a "Don
King" press conference to "officially" announce their
first "major" boxing event in the "new" Orleans Arena.
The fight scheduled for July 12 will feature three
world championship fights. On Top is Ricardo Mayorga
(25-3-1) against Vernon Forrest (35-1) in a rematch
for the title that Forrest won against Mosley then
lost by getting his fanny spanked by Mayorga. At this
writing the Books in vegas are giving away money. They have Forrest the favorite. Bet the ranch on Mayorga.

Part of any "press conference" are the "obligatory "
words from various almost empty suits or in the case
of Vegas "shirts and ties". (That pass’s for being
dressed up with the Vegas cool.) "This, with all due
notice of the September 13 fight, may well be the
fight of the year in Las Vegas." "Not too tough a
tasks", said a luncheon mate photo type guy, "we
haven’t had a good fight all year." I agree on all
counts.

The other top spots are filled with WBA & WBC
Welterwweight Champ DeMarcus Corley (28-1-1) against Zab "The baby" Judah (28-1) and ( WBO Jr.
Welterweight Champ Vivian Harris (22-1-1) against a
frog named Souleymane M’Baye (27-0) who is probably the ultimate protected European fighter. Meaning? He can’t fight. Did I mention that HBO will do the  telecast? Have now paid for the "Free Lunch", which as we know there is none. If the name Orleans Casino doesn’t ring a bell you’ve not been reading Talkin Boxing the way you should. I’m a big fan of them and what they’ve done for the average boxing fan. They have a monthly show where for $20.00 a fan gets a full night of boxing, cheap beer and nearly nekked lady’s walking around with numbers over their heads. Many don’t know that they carry numbers.

"We have not forgotten our loyal fans. Thanks to Don
King and HBO we will have tickets that start at $35.00
dollars for this Great Attraction. In fact we will
have 5,000 seats under $50.00." OK let’s just stop
here for a minute. For those of you that play bridge
you recognized the "Vegas jump shift." First the
gentleman talked about $35.00 tickets then added
"we’ll have 5,000 tickets under $50.00". Somehow,
somewhere Casino PR’s guys have gotten the notion that people are really stupid. Especially sports writers.
"Just tell us how many $35.00 dollar tickets you have
and cut the BS" The Arena itself is compact probably
seating for boxing 10,000 or so. There can’t be a bad
seat. I did wonder why as it was built from ground up
they decided on a horseshoe shape. The bottom of the
shoe being a blank wall. I axed one of the minimum
wage red coated persons that were awaiting the press
to steer them in the right direction. Why the
horseshoe ? "There’s a loading dock at the end." The
answer satisfied the redcoat so I guess responding
with "So" would have been out of the question.

LET’S toss out a few kudos’ to the good folks that are
doing their darnest to make the June 21 show at the
Staples Center in LA a "BFD". The promoter had to
scramble after Mike Tyson decided that he wanted no
part of the Lennoix "The Prince" Lewis-Kirk "Maybe
"I’ll Throw Punches This Time " Johnson heavyweight
title match. The first alternate plan was to add
Vitali Klitschko which did absolutely nothing as most
fans know he’s as bogus as a Bill Clinton promise.
But help may be on the way. Part of the problem was
that it was impossible to fight for the WBC
Heavyweight Crown cause Vitali was suing. That
roadblocks now out of the way. The useless
Ruskie/German/Beverly Hills guy has dropped the suit
and will now get a shot at Prince Lennox next. The
caveat is that they both win on the 21.

Undercards don’t sell PPV but they do help sell
tickets. Added this week were a couple of chick fights
one of which shows some promise. The Garbo like
recluse Lucia Rijker, so it is rumored, is going to
fight Mia "Thank God for An Air Brush" St. John.
When writing anything about Rijker who have to write
"rumored". Word in the gym’s is that there are few
tests for "substances" that she can pass. Maybe she’s
found a new masking agent. Regardless her return to
the ring where once she was though to be the "berry
best" would be a plus. The other "Chick Fight" is
interesting if for nothing more than name value.
Laila Ali and Valerie Mahfood (Pronounced Man Food)
are scheduled for a rematch of their fight last year
in Vegas. Mahfood doesn’t believe in tossing body
punches so the results should be about the same.
Another win for the foul mouth-trash talking Fox
called Laila Ali.

FAIR is fair. Last week I happily lambasted HBO and
Showtime for showing what could have been 2 good
boxing cards at the same time which could do nothing
more than split a viewing audience. Case of the sport,
with an assist from cable, of shooting itself in the
foot. Well low and behold the same thing happened here in Las Vegas last Friday night. The Orleans casino has for the last couple of years held monthly "popularly priced" boxing cards. IT became the fans place to go, have fun without feeling that you’d been violated without a drink before and a cigarette after.

A couple of months ago the Aladdin Hotel Casino got
into the act with their own version of the of
reasonable Friday night shows. The Orleans dates are
scheduled a year in advance. Last Friday night the
Aladdin went head-to-head. The question is why ? I’ll
give you an answer. A greedy promoter (Gary Shaw),
Television (CSI) although it’s not their fault and a
hotel whose stupidly explains why they filled
bankruptcy and are looking for someone to bail them
out. The real looser here is the sport and fans that
support it. I attended the Aladdin card cause a couple
of "amigo’s" were doing the TV and I never miss a
chance to assist them in their chosen careers. Smitty
has a new "Boxing Magazine" ready for syndicated TV
and Benny Ricardo is just about everything I’m not.
He’s got hair, a beautiful wife and talent. Got to try
and bring them down to my level. Speaking of Ricardo
he’s also a "standup" comic if some renown. Here
comes the shameless plug, "If you’re visiting Vegas
June 13-14 he’ll be appearing at the SunCoast one of
the bright new Casinos that dot the Vegas landscape."
Ricardo wrote that it was the Southcoast but then he
speaks five languages and English wasn’t the first.

THE question is, "Would you pay $49.95 to watch James Toney (66-4-2) fight Bernard Hopkins (42-21) for the cruiserweight title ?". Exactly what I said. "No way
Jose’. Not me." Then upon further review I decided on
a "no" but answer. I would not pay $49.95 but for free
I would. This could be one heck of a fight. Consider
that at an age when most are opting for rocking
chairs, pipe and shippers Toney looked about as good
as ever when he beat Vassiliy Jirov. Consider that
when Hopkins beat a joke named Morrade Hakkar (29-3) last out there wasn’t a heck of a lot left to fight.
That of course is silly, had there been anyone to
fight he wouldn’t have fought Morrade "The Horrible"
Hakkar. This fight makes sense for both fighters. Now
you’re probably axing, "Didn’t they fight once before
?" No. The dates for the encounter are August 2,9
or16. One not all of those dates. If they fought three
times in a three week period then I’d really have a
story.

"You say Bernard Hopkins is one of the great
middleweight champions of all time, but he can't be
considered great when all he's done is fight a series
of bums," Toney said. "I fought the best middleweights
who were out there when I was the champ. Look in the
record books and you'll see I fought all the tough
guys there were, not a lot of these second-rate guys
like Antwun Echols or Robert Allen who he's fought."
Interesting.

The aforementioned Mr. Antwun Echols got himself shot last Wednesday night. He was casually walking on the 1300 Block of Gains Avenue in Davenport Iowa when he took a round in his arm. Echols was not seriously hurt and is recovering. Iowa ? Doesn’t hit the boxing news often. Twice in one week. Twice ? This is just once.  Read on McDuff.

SHORTLY after moving to Las Vegas I had occasion to
cover a David Tua fight. (Who if I may digress ….."So digress already", is trying to line up a fight with Cory Sanders (39-2). Doubt it will happens as Sanders has a mandatory against Lemon Bewster, then Wlad" No Heart" Klitscho (40-2) so Tua’s at the end of a long line. There’s also the problem about taking the likable Tua seriously after his sorry performance against Rahman (35-4-1) where he got a "gift draw". Enough of this digress stuff.)  Following that fight a group of boxing guys were indulging in a little liquid refreshment at the ‘FREE" bar. A gentleman came up, started talking to the others and in general was pleasant. When he left I asked, "How as that? Seems like a nice guy." That’s Michael Nunn and he’s a piece of "-h-t".

We now know that the gentleman in question was spot on as Michael "Better Than " Nunn plead guilty to
conspiring to distribute cocaine if the reports of the
AP are true. 9The AP part is a little dodgy. They
misquoted Vijay Singh and all hell broke loose.) He
did this last week in a Des Moines courtroom. The
guilty pleas covers the time frame of 1993 to 2002
when he got busted trying to buy a kilogram from an
undercover officers. "In a Des Moines, Iowa courtroom
on Friday, the story was revealed of a man who had
great boxing talent and earned millions of dollars in
the ring but preferred a life of crime to the life of
a champion. Michael Nunn pleaded guilty to conspiring
to distribute cocaine, according to the Associated
Press." He’ll probably get 5 years. Nunn in the ring
was darn good holding the middleweight title until
upset by James Toney. He was the Super Middle weight WBA champ from 1992 to 1994 when he lost to Steve Little. This is the same time that he decided that
being a "Drug dealer" was better than being a world
champion. The gentleman was right, Nunn is a piece of
ofal.

AND finally. On the off chance that you’re been held
incommode the last 10 days allow me to bring you up to date. Maybe you were kidnapped by "nubile maidens"  intent of having their way with you. Here’s what happen. For the last 10 days, he typed opening another Fosters, the American Sporting public has been held hostage. They’ve been held hostage by most members of the media, left wing politically wacho’s and NAG’s to a national organisms which if a person weren’t cynical would guess that it was sponsored either by Fruit of the Looms or Jockey ("One size fits all"). Annika  Sorestram the best women golfer in the world LAST YEAR was going to play in a men’s tournament, the Colonial Open. Please notice that she was the best player LAST YEAR. She’s not really setting the LPGA Tour on fire in 2003. She wanted to play cause she wanted to play. Good for her.

What happened was a nation group organism that knew no bounds. Most in the media echoed the views of the Eastern Establishment. ‘ It’s great for women’s
sport" intoned a Mush Mouth Beth Mowins who somehow has found work at ESPM doing women’s hoops and softball. "Tonight Julie Foudy will be on Nightline  talking about title IX, we have the women’s softball college world series and Serina Williams and Annika Sorestram are on the cover of Sports Illustrated. It’s a great week for women." Check your woodies at the door men. Horse Doodle. 99% of the women in American couldn’t give a rats ass about Golf, Annika or the softball world series. I did a little research on Friday night after covering a fight in Vegas. Went into a bar and sat just two stools from two women. ‘I can’t wait til Payday. I’m going to get a big tattoo and then we can go do tequila shots." So much for woman celebrating.

ON Friday USA Today blared in it’s headline, "Why all
the fuss when a women beats a man ?" The story begins, "A second-Tier golf tournament." Stop it right there. "A second tier tournament." This was a "short" course that hosted a "second tier PGA Tournament." Gone were Tiger Woods, Mark O’Meara, David Duvall, Ernie Ells from the entry list. Whoops forgot Vijay Singh who said , "If I miss the cut I hope she does too." Except the AP misquoted him to say, "I hope she misses the cut." As he won the week before in Dallas (Byron Nelson) he said, "Bye now" and went home without playing. Good for him.

Vijay was ridden unmercifully by the "press". Tony
"Cheap Shot" Kornhauser called Sighn "a coward" for
not playing. Never a word about the AP misquoting
Singh. Kornhauser also said, "If she had just made a
couple of putts she’d have been right in there." Dah,
what the hell was he auditioning for Dumber and
Dumber. "A couple of putts and she’d have been rght
there ." Dolt. Now least someone thing that I’m anti
women stop it right there. I love’em. Take away
college football, cold beer and a good cigar and
they’re on the top of my list of things I love. Prejudice against Foreigners, which Ms. Sorestram is?
Annika is my second favorite Swede. (My favorite is
a drinking pal, the Lord of Stockholm, who owes me a
night on the town in Pattaya after America beat
Sweden in the last World Cup.) I once skied on the
same slope, at Lake Tahoe, as Annika.

She is a great women golfer. She is grace and style.
She is special. That aside she was a total failure in
the golf tournament. After two days she had beaten 9
golfers from a field of 125. That is not a celebration. She got her butt kicked. She knew it.
When asked if she would play on the PGA Tour again she said, "No I’m going back where I belong." Annika has a style and grace that is so missing in women’s boxing with but a few exceptions. Ms. Sorestram has more class than the American press. That shouldn’t
surprise anyone.

And finally. Why did the chicken cross the road ? So
he could finish his column, watch the Indy 500 and
wish everyone a Happy Memorial Day. With special
thanks to those that have given so much to America.
It’s because of you that we're here. Thanks.
 

(Opinions and editorials of HotBoxingNews.com is the opinion of those writers and may not be the opinion of HotBoxingNews.com)

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