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TALKIN BOXIN
July 15, 2003
by Howie Reed
IT was a "ring tail rootin' tootin' slam bang
son-of-a-gun talked about your cowboys from Alabama all time box fight".
Johnny Horton’s 1959 hit "The Battle of New Orleans" (which recounted the
Battle of New Orleans that ended the War of 1812) had nothing on the battle
of New Orleans circa July 12, 2003. The song, by-the-by, was written by
Jimmy Driftwood a high school principle from Snowball, Arkansas.
(Could be the
preverbal "Snowball in Hell"?) Driftwood’s real last
name was Morris for those cramming for a revival of
"Name That Tune". Horton's recording catapulted him
into national prominence . To that point Horton’s
claim to fame was that he married Hank Williams widow.
Horton died the next year, 1960, in a car crash
just
as his "North To Alaska" was climbing the charts. He’s
buried in Bossier City, Louisiana, so my house guests
from Bossier City have informed me. How about that?
Back to the battle of Orleans (2003). It was something
that boxing fans dream of the way a drunk dreams of
the sign "Free Beer". The beer wasn’t free but at
$4.50 a Pop it wasn’t bad. (I only had one and that
cost me $11.00 cause my pal "X" did the cocktail
service on the condition that I wouldn’t tell his wife
that he was drinking. Smitty your secret is safe with
me.)
Even the pre-fight press conference with Don
King
was worthwhile. Of course, I got the "very Important
Phone call" so I had to leave after I had won my bet
with trainer Kenny Adams in regard to the "over and
under" for the length of time King would talk. Most at
the table set the "over / under" at one hour and
thirty minutes. "El Pigeon" Kenny Adams, he doesn’t go to a lot of Don King
press conferences, set the time
at 30 minutes. I eagerly took the over, won and left
after lunch.
The guys on Friday nights ESPN2 picked Mayorga-
Forrest as the fight they wanted to see. That
and
Holyfield-Toney led the list of fights to see in the
second half of the year. The latter card on October
4th got even more attractive with the addition of
Diego Corrales-Joel Casamayor as the semi-main. But
enough of that stuff. Let her roll Bubba and let’s get
to the fight.
Before an almost packed house at the new
Arena at the Orleans Casino the fans were streaming in two hours before the
main event. For many of them they though they’d showed up for the Marti Gras
the day after. The supporting fights left a stench like
Bourbon Street on the day after. Any day after.
Zab Judah (29-1) was booed roundly as he got a
majority (112-115, 115-112, 115-112) over WBO jr.
Welter champ DeMarcus Corley (28-2-1). The mystery is how Corley’s
management found 28 fighters he could beat. He couldn’t have broken an egg
with a ten pound sledge. "He showed up in Vegas just a couple of days before
the fight. He never got acclimated to the
heat", said a member of his team. On Friday and
Saturday the Vegas temp. hit 116 on the strip and up
to 120 elsewhere. Judah has loads of talent but
doesn’t have a clue on how to utilize it. He’s got
lots of "street cred" which makes him a bore to anyone
that doesn’t write with crayons, weara a "do rag" under
a hat worn side ways (and doesn’t that look smart) and
can actually finish a sentence without "you know" or
"whatever".
The flip side is Ricardo Mayorga (26-3-1) who has no
tools of the boxing trade but a sack full of heart and
try. He’s fun to watch. He proved that his win over
Vernon Forrest (35-2) earlier in the year was no fluke
with a majority decision (114-114,115-114,116-112).
Talkin Boxin had Mayorga winning 115-113 so that makes it official. It’s
hard to understand where the Vernon Forrest was that beat Shane Mosley
twice. He wasn’t at the Battle of the Orleans. Forrest trained hard, never
spoke to the press and appeared to be taking care of business. It didn’t
work as Forrest was "sucking wind" in the first couple of rounds which might
indicate he was over-trained.
"I proved the first fight with Vernon was not a
fluke," said Mayorga. "I proved I could take a punch
and go 12 rounds...I put my hands down because Vernon hits like a sissy and
doesn't punch that hard,"
exclaimed Mayorga. "I would have looked better if he
would have traded with me and I didn't have to chase
him." After the decision was announced made it out of
the ring like a cat with battery acid on his butt. One
of the place he wasn’t headed was to the post fight
press conference. Forrest was a no-show at most
pre-fight publicity events, dodged interviews and made
just a cameo appearance at the pre-fight press
conference, did not attend the post-fight conference
nor make any statements. Regardless fight fans can now lick their lips
waiting for Mayorga-De La Hoya early next year.
Somewhere, somehow, since my last efforts brought
forth the e-mail, "Give’em hell howie" the boxing card
headed by Ricardo Mayorga (25-3-1) - Vernon Forrest
(35-1) and DeMarcus Corley (28-1-1) - Zab Judah
(28-1) has slipped under the radar of America’s
sporting public. How the heck that happened, I haven’t
the foggiest. (Although watching Judah-Corley I have
an idea.) There are cruel folks out there that claim,
with some history, that the list of things that I
haven’t the foggiest about would stretch around the
world. I disagree. It might but it would depend
entirely on which way one traveled. That aside what is
it that didn’t have newspapers, TV, radio and just
normal folks talking about a fight card that was, in
the words of Sam the Man, "Jam up and jelly tight?"
During the week we had Kobe Bryant being "allegedly"
accused of "sexual battery", another NBA player caught with "wacky tobaccy"
, the Cubs manager Dusty Baker being battered from pillar to post for
"stating" his opinion, Brittany admitting that she had done the "deed" and
me entertaining British TV star (and sometimes contributor to this column)
Sky TV’s Phil Jones. Then of course there is the unraveling of
Cumolot in New York. The latter was true fun. (I
include this bit because loyal reader Jack from New
Zealand is trekking in the Green Hills of the USA with
Ethan Allan whose name I remember being affixed to a
chain of Furniture Stores. Upon further review I don’t
think he’s with Ethan Allen cause I think he’s dead.
Ethan Allen not Pal Jack.. I did have a friend that
owed Ethan Allen Stores, that would be John "Apple
Pan" Doughty, but he wasn’t into trekking. ) The
e-mail said something to the effect, "Please add some
International stuff to your column as I’ll be
trekking. I could probably get the Times (New York)
but you’re more accurate"
I had hopped for a better rating than "more accurate"
than the Times (NY) but will take what I can get. Back
to the Cumolot Affair, for Jack. Andrew Cumo
(pronounced "COO MO", as Mr. J. Jackson does)
married Kerry Kennedy who is the daughter of the late
Robert Kennedy. Good folks like my Pal Jack saw this
"coupling" as one that would probably produce a
political dynasty. Them folks needs names for stuff so
they liked to think it as a re birth of Camelot. Us
bad guys of course scoffed ("Scoff…scoff") and called
it Cumolot. Now all is in the trash bin. If you didn’t
know about Mayorga-Forrest maybe you also didn’t know about the breakup of
Cumolot. Here’s the deal. Kerry (the female) was "allegedly" doing the
horizontal
mambo with a married "restaurant polo playing" old
geezer about her age. She was smitten. Andrew (the
male guy) found out about it and "allegedly" caught
them doing the "deed". "I say. Are you doing the
horizontal mambo" ?, he asked.
Kerry "allegedly" pledged un dying love, which is
less serious than dying love, to her "polo playing
lover", she told Andy to "ride the road Jack" and was
ready to fly into the arms of "the love of her life."
Slight problem. "Polo playing married lover" says, "I
love my wife". No deal. Well with that Kerry flew into
the arms of Uncle Senator Teddy Kennedy which is not a good move at the best
of times. "Safe arms"
associated with Uncle Teddy is a relative term. Andy
hid out, polo playing married lover hid out and bad
guys like me made sport of this bunch of boobs. Now
that’s why I think the best fight in year’s flew under
the radar scope. But then it’s just my opinion.
A story crossed the wires just a week ago about
Evander "The real deal" Holyfield marrying a young
woman. I think she was 24 or 25 with the moniker of
Candy. As fate would have it on almost the very same
day a pal forward me some information on the "Real
Deal." I use it cause it agrees with my thoughts about
Holyfield. I think he is one of the greats of all time not the fraud Lewis.
Oh yes, Lennox, the Imperial One, according to one local (Las Vegas) boxing
writer
is finally "coming out to the press." "I’m not arrogant. I just know my
abilities." First word from Lewis is one word too many. How can anyone be
given any credence when he says, "I wasn’t tired and would
have knocked him out", in regard to the Klitschko
fight. Horse doodle. Lewis was dead on his feet from
the middle of round one. Lewis has turned down 25
million to fight Roy Jones for a rematch with Klitschko.
Back to "The Real Deal". His record is 38-6-2. His
opponents record is an amazing 1199-159-16. That’s
over an 80% win rate. In addition he’s only fought
fighters with losing records twice and that was very
early in his career. Name one fighter in the
heavyweight division he’s ducked ? Try none. My pal
that sent this information ended with " this is super
stuff I would bet my ***** no other boxer ever came
close to this kinds of opposition with the numbers to
prove it." What was the gentleman betting ? Let’s put
it this way. If he lost the bet you could say about
him like you could about Funny side prior to the last
leg of the Triple Crown, "besides being gelded he’s
had a pretty good year." No Kenny Mayne (ESPN and
former UNLV QB) gets credit for that.
I think maybe like the "old sourdough" trudging
through the foothills of Northern California in the
mid 1800’s, I’ve found the Mother Load. It came to me
not as a euphony but while listening to a caller on a
talk radio show. The caller was explaining how Kobe
Byrant’s "situation" will boost his "Street Cred".
"What I be saying is that like Kobe didn’t have like
"Street Cred" . He don’t stand up to the man that keep
us down. When he get pushed out on the court like man he’s got to keep it
real." If I may I would like to
try and transcribe this to English a language that is
slowing dying a painful death in the USA.
"Street Cred" is short for "Street Credibility" which
is very "necessary cause some marketing guy on Madison Avenue found how much
it means to us. It’s like keeping it real." Keeping it real is Alan Iverson
being involved in a shooting. It’s being a "ganstre"
and not forgetting the "hood". This "Street Cred"
means that when scum go out to steal, rob and beat
they do so wearing your shoes. "It’s like man Kobe he
be white. He don’t connect. Like he got married too
young and didn't know how to handle women that’s what you learn on the
street". So now that Kobe has been accused of "sexual battery" he now has
Street Cred. He keeps it real. I would point out to the high intellect
individual that made the call that his guys with
"Street Cred" are taking the NBA down the toilet. It’s
TV rating have never been lower since the game was
being played in New York in the 89th Street Armory.
Maybe the NBA will catch on cause boxing still hasn’t
figured it out. We have fighters that talk "crap", "Be
keeping it real" , are paid millions from stupid TV
Cable networks and can’t put ass’s in the seats. Floyd
Mayweather Jr., Zab Judah, Fernando Vargas come to
mind. They’re bums. They got lots of "Street Cred"
but that doesn’t help the gate. The "Bro’s in the hood
that admire those with Street Cred find it hard to
steal a seat for a fight." It’s not wonder that a
really great fight like Mayorga-Forrest hurts at the
gate. Most sports fans have turned the sport off. We
got "Street Cred" up the "yang yang" what we need is
to get folks back in the Arena’s. About 10 more
Mayorga’s wouldn’t hurt.
THIS is almost a "Who would have thunk it" with
apologies to Barry Thompkins. Scott Harrison was
riding high after his win of Wayne McCullough. He and
his promoter, Frank Warren, were readying the assault
on the USA. Harrison was going to be the fighter that
would break the stranglehold on Latin fighters and
the featherweight division. Whoops. As the final
tuneup for that venture Warren booked a fight with
"old warhorse" Manual Medina. His 75 fights
certainly justifies the title "warhorse". Prior to the
fight Harrison was quoted in the Standard (Scotland)
as saying, "I’ll retire him." As was said in America a
couple of years ago, "One minute President Gore."
The four-time IBF featherweight champion Manuel
Medina laid a whipping on Mr. Harrison and becomes a champ again. This time
the WBO version. Not only did Medina win but did so not in Mexico City, Las
Vegas or LA but in Harrison hometown of Glasgow, Scotland. Medina won
a majority decision (118-113,116-112,113-115). Care to guess where the judge
that had it 115-113 for Harrison came from? Naw too easy. Way to go
Manuel.. Word from the Land of Haggis and nervous sheep (kilts don’t have
zippers) is that Harrison was out of gas early in the fight.
Back to the drawing board. AND finally. THE END.
(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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