TALKIN BOXIN
by Howie Reed 
August 25, 2003

She was the “Coal Miners Daughter” but for just a
few weeks shy of 15 years Christy Martin mined gold
from the Hills of Boxing. With a record of 44-3-2
Martin’s name was synonymous with women’s boxing.
Martin was the standard by which other women boxers
were judged. “Can they beat Christy”

 “Time and tide” waits for no man or women. Saturday night in the ring of the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Boloxi the tiara was passed to a new queen. ‘You can’t teach height, speed, reach or youth”. In the end Laila Ali (16-0) had all the uncoachables and Martin had none. Outweigh by more than 20 pounds Martin came out swinging as did Ali. It was a good idea gone bad. Ali rocked Martin at the end of the first. Martins assault
looked like it was having some success in the second.
That thought was dispelled in the third when Ali
“drove” Martin to her knees. The ending came quickly,
:48 seconds, in the 4th when Ali relentless punches
again send Martin to the canvass and the referee said,
“8,9,10”. Alia said before the fight that “it wouldn’t
go past 5 “. It didn’t.

One of the boxing “nitwits” and we have more than our
share wrote, “This fight is good for women’s boxing.”

“Why?” I ax. Let’s say that 15,000 thousand paid to
see the event live in Boloxi. Add in three times that
many on PPV. How is that going to help women’s boxing putting on a fight that few and will be lost in the
last page of American Sports for the week ?

Tiz always a great day when someone like “Moi”, who
guess’s a lot, is actually correct. Remember the Gllf
on TV stuff from JR Smith. That would be JR Smith,
The Prophet of Paddock Bowl in Pacheco Califonria.
The Prophet Smith can be seen holding court, meeting
with the enlighten on most afternoons discussing
stuff. There are even times that the “enlightened”
includes Bob Lauer one of the original NADS, (The
Original NADS are the Dart team that skyrocket it’s
Captain, “MOI”. to world wide stardom.). The server at
times is Captain Dan who only became a NAD later in
his career. The Prophet Smith in this case should not
be confused with the Prophet Smith that made the locus disappear in Utah. They do share some “ideas”. This Prophet Smith is the final authority on all things
sport. I printed, from the Prophet Smith. I added
with a final shot across the bow that “ Golf on TV
without “Tiger” was a Saturday morning fishing show.”

The ratings are in. Last weeks PGA ratings ? Down
41%. The US Open’s ? Down 45%. All sports are having a difficult time with ratings. Ratings equal people watching. This neither the time or place to go over plowed ground again. Sports that are relying on TV money for their existence are in deep trouble. For
once maybe boxing has done something correct. They
became wedded PPV, HBO and Showtime some time ago. As long as they keep them guys fooled then everything is “peachy keen” with promoters. But what the heck is going to happen when they actually have to promote fighters that actually fight. Bad deal. Without
getting too technical NASCAR is doing well on TV but
that’s because the rights fee’s were under valued.
With most other sports the reverse is true. Speaking
of NADCAR there were more meaningful blows struck
between drivers Jimmy Spencer and Kurt Bush than in
the last two HBO boxing specials. “What a revolting
development that is.”

I WAS lucky this week in that I received another
epistle from “O”. I’m going to ride his talent as long
as I can. During the next 3,000 words you’ll read
references to “O”, aka “ the Original”. “Well, I have
arrived home from the city that never sleeps. But she
managed to close her eyes for a few days. But you cant go through the parking lot of life without hitting a
speed bump can you? I think the worse thing about the
blackout was ... NO ESPN! I don't know how I lived
without it. But alas, the sports world continued to
turn. To start things off, if I hear another person
tell me that Tiger Woods is in a "slump" I am going to
manually deploy my airbag! The guy at OTB that has to sell 40 pints of blood before the 3rd race at Dover
Downs goes off. Now that's a slump. (Been there done
that.) Shame on you press world. You anointed him God of the Golf Kingdom and when he doesn't answer yours (or your sponsors) prayers for high ratings, you
quickly want to knock him off of his throne and tell
the world of his demise. You want slumps, hello Rich
Beem, the "next one." Who's slump would you rather
have? His? Or Tigers?” Just to add my 2 cents. Tiger
in a slump ? He makes 50 million dollars a year and
has a girlfriend that is a 99 on a scale of 10 and
it’s a slump. “Please Oh Lord give me a Tiger slump.”
He’s 100% right. We jerks in the press make someone a hero and then do everything we can to tear him down.  Unfortunately it’s the American way.

I DID mention that one of the nicest people in the
world, forget boxing, Hedgmon Lewis was inducted into
the World Boxing Hall of Fame Saturday night in Los
Angeles. Dean Juipe, Las Vegas Son, did the definitive
piece on Lewis. “Unfailingly agreeable and cordial,
Hedgemon Lewis has made a lifetime of friends in and
out of boxing. A staple at the Nevada Partners gym, he
routinely greets fighters and acquaintances alike with
a warm hug and genteel handshake. But even those who know him fairly well and appreciate his personable
traits are unlikely to realize the degree and depth of
his wide and varied experiences.” That has got to go
down as one of the understatement of all time. In his
time in the ring Lewis would win 56 from 64 bouts
including three world championship fights.

"I've done the best I could in boxing. I've had fun.
I've had a ball. I got to travel and I met a lot of
people. I was born in Alabama and was just a ghetto
boy from Detroit.” At 20 he was discovered by the
late Eddie Futch who was looking for a heavyweight for
Actors Ryan O’Neal, Bill Crosby and Robert “National
Anthem” Goulet. Time out here. Lest you forget Robert
Goulet was hired to sing the National Anthem prior
the Muhammad Ali (20-0-0) rematch with Sonny Liston
at St. Dominic’s Hall in Lewiston ME. Goulet forget
the words to the song which was to set the stage for
what was to follow. Ali was credited with a one round
KO. That tells only part of the story. From the Boxing
archive. “Referee Jersey Joe Walcott apparently lost
the count along the way and went over to the
time-keeper, while Liston slowly got back to his feet.
Ali then tried to punch Liston more before Walcott
came back over and gently pushed Ali away, waving him off, and "ending" the bout. It wasn't a TKO by referee stoppage, but commentators of the day all agree Liston had been floored a little over 17 seconds.” The attendance was 2,434 and we thank you.

Back to Lewis. “Here I was living in Hollywood and
hanging with these big stars. I'd go to the clubs on
Sunset Boulevard, like the Roxy, with Ryan. We'd get
into the private part of the club upstairs ... it was
always great fun.  I had a condo in Malibu and was on top of the world. I was just a fighter trying to be the best I could be and doing what I wanted with my life, and there were lots of other interesting things going on. Those were great times ... they don't get much better. .My mother never knew I was a fighter until someone told her, 'I saw your son fight and he's pretty good,' " Lewis said. "When I was a kid and training at the local rec center in Detroit, I'd come home from school and get my boxing stuff that I hid under the bed. "My mother would ask me, 'Where are you going?' and I'd say I was going to study even though I was going to the gym. When she found out I was a boxer, let's just say she 'allowed' me to do it," he said. "But really, there's nothing she could have done to stop me. I was going to do it. But I made a commitment to her that I would quit when I turned 30."

Lewis had his first title fight against Jose Napoles’
(77-7) December of 1971 at the Forum in LA. Lewis
would loose a 15 round decision to Napoles’ who has
never received the “great”, as in “The Great
Champion” that he was. Napoles’ would loose the
welterweight tile to Carlos Monzon (81-3-9) a REALLY
all time great. "There weren't any knockdowns but it
was a good fight. I could have won and it was close,
close enough that it eventually led to a rematch."
Here Mr. Juipe takes up the story. “The rematch, Aug.
3, 1974 in Napoles' native Mexico City, had its
clandestine characteristics. The fight was supposed to
be in Acapulco, which is at sea level," Lewis said.
"About a week before the fight I was still in LA
training when a guy came in and said the fight had
been moved to Mexico City, which is at (a higher)
altitude. “So we get down there on one week's notice
and I weigh-in at 141 pounds (for a fight with a
147-pound limit). I couldn't believe I was so light. I
was thinking I had to be sick or something.
"Napoles weighed 147 and then put on some weight by
fight time, but I still weighed 141. I wasn't as
strong as I should have been." Lewis lost that fight
by ninth-round knockout.

Lewis got a draw against slugger Carlos Palomino.
That led to a title fight with England's John
Stracey, who had beaten Napoles in 1975. "I lost that
fight and was 30 years old, so I kept my commitment to my mother and quit," Lewis said. Lewis sold a little
real estate, promoted some boxing and generally live
in Southern California. "I came up to Vegas with Ryan
for a movie he was doing in 1984," Lewis said. "I
stayed about a month and really enjoyed myself. I won
some money at craps and ran into Eddie (Futch), who
was living here and going it alone. I loved Eddie; he
was like a father, a grandfather. And I thought, 'I
kind of like it here,' so I stayed." If there is one
thing about Lewis is that he isn’t a “ME” guy. "Ryan
had hooked me up with his accountant and I'd bought a
couple of apartment buildings and had my real-estate
license, so things were fine," he said of the
background circumstances in his life as he moved to
Las Vegas.  Once here, he became Futch's right-hand man and assisted as the renowned trainer worked with such prominent champions as Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Michael Spinks, Larry Holmes, Mike McCallum, Virgil Hill and Riddick Bowe. "It was through the roof," Lewis recalled. "Things couldn't have been better.  It was crazy, a different kind of life. Eddie was a fabulous guy who had a tremendous amount of knowledge and we were having so much fun."

There is nothing in this world more fun than having a
Non Diet Miller Genuine and chewing the fat with
Hedgmon Lewis while he drinks orange juice. He says
more with a “I don’t know” than all the books every
written on boxing. Modern fighters ? "Well, it's just
not the same," he said without a trace of indignation.
"They're not as committed as we were. But you see
what the trouble is: They don't have an Eddie Futch.
They don't have the kind of guys you can trust and
love as a grandfather. And I'm not that guy either."
Yes he is.

AS the NADS did for me maybe I can return the favor to “O”. “Talk about slumps, its college football season
and with respect to Howies San Jose State (We beat
Grambling Saturday…..how about them
apples ?), hello Temple University (home of Bill
Cosby) the team is so bad that I went to a game and
sat in the front row and ended up going 7-12 for 103
yards in the 4th quarter. College Football also brings
out the fraud Notre Dame fans who couldn't find South
Bend on a map of Indiana. Nothing brings me more joy
then sitting down on a Saturday night and watching
COPS and seeing them bring out a drug dealer wearing a Fighting Irish T-shirt!

But I must pay my respects. If it wasn't for a paragraph attributed to that college I wouldn't be sitting here in my University of North Carolina Tar Heel shirt.” Besides being brilliant writers “O” and I have something else in common. I don’t own a Carolina Blue T-shirt but I do root for them in memory on one of my dearest friend Chris Corr who lost the battle to cancer. Chris was a great fight fan. I’ve seen the photo of a very young Chris Corr ringside with his Dad at the 1951 Madison Square Garden fight between Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano. Marciano with a 8th round KO would end the comeback of the Great Louis. The photo appeared in Sports Illustrated. While at North Carolina Chris was the roommate of basketball start Billy Cunningham. He’s gone but his memory lives on and on and on.

O brings up a great point. Boxing unlike other sports
doesn’t have a “proper” season. That means that to be
effective with the sports public boxing has to be
wedged in between other major sports. A good argument can be made that the peak of the Boxing season is Spring and Fall. I won’t make the argument but will agree with the theory. Spring is pretty much “open territory” with the exception of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. The Fall bring both Pro and College football fighting for the sports dollar and room on the sports pages.. There are some very interesting
fights coming up. The first of those Fall fights was
Laila Ali (15-0) - Christy Martin (45-2-2) on Saturday
night. Even this early start faced a “maybe of
interest” college football game in San Jose –Grambling
& Kansas State-Cal on ESPN.

The Fall Boxing seasons really kicks off on September
13 with what Las Vegas, the MGM and Top Rank hopes will be the hit of the year. That’s Oscar De La Hoya (35-2) vs. Shane Mosley (38-2) in a rematch of the  June 2000 fight that Mosley won with a SD
(116-112,115-113,113-115). Late breaking news. STOP
THE PRESS’S. DeLahoya has hurt his paw. Those around him say “it’s no big deal.” Oscar says, “It hurts like hell.” Max Kellerman thinks it’s just DeLaHoya’s way of setting up an excuse if he loses. Me ? I think it
hurts like hell. There are those out there in boxing
land that are of the opinion that Mosley has had two
decent fights since Oscar. Both against Vernon Forrest and both loses. These loses should become even more devastating considering Forrests two sorry performance against Ricardo Mayorga. That aside this PPV is expected to rock the charts. It dodges the college football bullet as only Oklahoma-Florida State are on the national stage. The “Semi Holes” are expected to have a down year so DeLayHoya-Mosley gets a free ride. 


Did you ever notice that “REALLY BIG FGHTS” are
always on Saturday? I did. Of course that’s why I get
the big bucks as I’m able to pick up the subtle
nuances that escape others. Most fights in the Fall
won’t be so lucky. They will have to battle football
for space on the sports pages and the “discernable
sports dollar”. If boxing is ever to get back into
the “mainstream” in sport and shed it’s “niche’” image
it must somehow find the ability to compete. Might be
a job of Mr. Phelps.

With The Imperial One on the sidelines it’s time for
someone to take charge, As has already been discussed, add nausea, Pollo Grande’ Roy Jones has no intention of stepping to the plate in the “real” heavyweight division. So tiz left for others. IBF Champ Chris Byrd (36-2) vs. Fres Oquendo (24-1) on HBO on
September 20? probably not. The October 4th match up between Evandler Holyfield-James Tony has a chance but only because of Evandler. Problem here is it’s PPV so 99.9% of the USA won’t see it. If my mind isn’t playing games on me, yes it does happen, I seem to remember that the first Saturday in December is always a time for a big fight. Last week it was announced that Vitali Klitschko (32-2) will fight live in HBO on December 6. His opponent? . ”Now that we have agreed on the date and the live broadcast on HBO, it won’t be difficult to find a high-class opponent for Vitali”, said Kohl. “It’s got to be a top-ranked fighter
because in the Lewis fight Vitali has proven he is one
of the best heavyweights overall” Horsediddle. The
Lewis fight either proved that Lewis is washed up or
that Klitashcko couldn’t KO an out of shape champ
that had been KO’d twice before in that condition or
both.

First you know that “no top ranked fighter” is going
to be found. They all hold titles. Second Herr Kohl is
going to have to be very careful of Vitali or he’ll
get KO’d just like his brother. That aside it’s on
almost free Tv so that’s a plus. Then comes the
announcement that Tyson is back and will fight on
December 6 in Louisville. That after we had heard that
he would fight on a K-1 card, join a wrestling troupe
or take up neddlepoint. In this case, as of this
week, we can check “No of the Above” If reports are
true Tyson has rid himself of Shelly Finkle (what a
flipping fraud.), has new management and is ready to
fight PPV on Showtime. Here’s the deal with that date.
First the Klitschko fight for FREE. Then there’s the
little matter of a couple of REALLY big football
games. December 6 is the date of the following college
football games, Army-Navy (4:30), SEC Championship
game (7:30) and the Big 12 Championship Game (8PM) not to mention USC-Oregon State (“O S U are hats are off to you”) and not to be forgotten ( can’t forget that Idaho market) Boise-Hawaii.

To borrow from My Cousin Vinnie. “Let’s see do I watch Klitschko on HBO, Football for free or pay for Tyson ?” Of course fans of the greatest movie ever made know that what Vinnie said was, “Let me see. Either you kick my ass or I collect $200 dollars. How about this? I kick your ass and collect $200 dollars?”

THE day that I throw my lot in with a promoter is a
sad day in sport. Sometimes it just has to be done.
Imagine doing what’s right. Roy Jones Jr. had the
window of opportunity to actually do something that
was right but being “Roy Jones jr.” that was
impossible. When Jones beat Ruiz there was a chance to to put a shot of viagra into boxing. Out there for
Jones was Holyfeld, Sanders, Tyson, Byrd, Tua,
Klitschko’s a pair and even the Imperial One Lennox
Lewis. Who does he opt for ? Antonio Tarver(21-1) and
the unified light heavyweight championship. They’ll
fight on November 8th in a fight that will barely
cause a ripple in the world of sport. Sanders manager
said of Jones, “I will put it on record, Roy Jones, Jr
is a scared little boy. He will fight a slow
heavyweight like a (John) Ruiz but he will never fight
a real heavyweight like Corrie Sanders. Roy Jones Jr.
is a chicken and he will not fight Corrie Sanders if
you put 100 million dollars in front of him with a
winner take all.” Amen, Awomen and A Miller Genuine.

If you caught the ESPN 2 Friday night fights you saw
IBF #1 jr middleweight Kassim Ouma survived a rocky
start to score a TKO over Carlos Bojorquez in 8th.
Referee Timmins (I think that was his name but who’s
to know the difference) stopped the fight after the
ring Doctor looked at a cut “way” under Bojorquez
right eye. “I have never seen a referee stop a fight
for a cut under the eye”, said Teddy Atlas. How about
this ? I think the referee stopped the fight because
Bojorques was defenseless. Ouma took control to
completely dominate the fight. Good for you Mr.
Referee. The night also was the return of ring
announcer, and really good guy, Mark Berrio. Some may remember he had temporary blindness do to the effects of diabetes. He’s back using a cue card the size of table picture book that no one reads. Good for you Mark. Welcome back…

“Howie: So, don't fight in Texas. What's the best
state for boxing? Nevada.” That question came from OD in Pismo Beach. after reading the following in the
Pattaya Mail by the number 2 boxing writer in Asia.
“In 1836 the “wily” Mexicans lured a force of “Texans”
into defending and making a last stand at the Alamo.
As history reflects all those inside were killed
including David Crockett and Jim Bowie (Bowie of the
Bowie Knife). In the year of 2003, August 15, it shall
be noted that to WBC Jr. lightweight Champ Sirimongkol Singmanasak was lured to Austin Texas to defend his title. Bad career move. While Crockett and the boys at the Alamo only had a bunch of liquored up Mexicans to fight (no back door was the key here), Singmanasak had a referee who’s Daddy got him the job (Larry Cole),  three judges whose “bread was buttered” by the WBC (A Mexican organization) and a challenger (Jesus Chavez)
who was tougher than a pole hangers heart.”

Good question . I have a good answer. New York, New
Jersey, The Injun State in New England (Conn.),
Mississippi, Florida, Nevada and California have
commissions that while politically appointed aren’t as
bad as others. They actually try. IT would be somewhat ludicrous to make a general statement to cover all boxing venues. Most States are judged on the quality of their referee’s which is what prompted the question from OD. Texas is a dictatorship run by Dickie Cole for the purpose of playing God and ensuring that his incompetent son (Larry) referee’s every major fight.  In Louisiana you have total incompetence on the part of the commission and their referee’s. The same is true of most of the states in the mid west for the simple reason that they host few fights. One of the advantages of New York, California, New Jersey and Nevada is that they host a large number of “smaller” cards when all officials have the opportunity to learn and make errors. Those that learn become good. One watch of the ESPN2 or FO X fights should make it very plain that good referee’s are a rare breed. When one gets to the International scene the talent pool gets very shallow.

EVERY writer regardless of talent wants to be
remembe4ed. Even if it’s only, “Remember that guy that wrote……?” In boxing “Down Goes Fraizer…Down Goes Fraizer” is the boxing contribution. In general Budd Schulberg has written about the sport (The Harder They Fall) with more passion than all others put together.

Even his great works pale in comparison to Grantland
Rice classic. “Outlined against a blue-gray October
sky the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore
they are known as Famine, Pestilence, Destruction and Death. These are only aliases. Their real names are: Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of South Bend cyclone before which another fighting army team was swept over the precipice at the Polo grounds this afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down upon the bewildering panorama spread out on the green plain below."

“It doesn't get any better than that. But then again I
will forever search for that perfect paragraph. Its
out there.” You’re correct “O” I just can’t find the
dam thing. Maybe next life.


(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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