TALKIN BOXIN
by Howie Reed 
September 22, 2003

Deja Vu, again. Or as Yogi said, “It’s deja vu all
over again.” If you believed that either Oscar
De La Hoya beat or drew with Shane Mosley as 74% of you did, then the new IBF heavyweight Champion is Fres Oquendo (24-2). Them good old judges would of course tell you again that you didn’t know beans about
scoring a fight.   Last night Chris Byrd (37-2)
successfully defended his IBF title for the first time
with a easy unanimous decision. The scoring
115-113,116-112,117-111 indicates that the fight
wasn’t even close. Talkin Boxing had it 114-114. “This
was a tough fight. I kind of underestimated Fres
Oquendo. You watch us box, and I think I'm the
superior guy...and I'm the champ...and I try to come
forward...and this was a true chess match. I tried to
be a little more aggressive. I watched Shane Mosley
the other week, and I was kind of surprised he won,
but he came forward, and that's the same with me”,
were the words of Byrd after the fight. The fight had
all the depth and interest of my ex wife personality.

WHY is it that I seem like I’m living the life from
the silver screen. “Every time I try to get out they
pull me back in.” This time it’s the really fun stuff
that was happening after the recent DeLaHoya-Mosley
fight of a week removed. As a fan of King of the Hill
I found myself in a time warp. While walking through
Vonn’s I heard has Chuck Mangione “Feels So Good”
wafting from the not quite state of the art sound
system. For a few moments there I could swear that I
was walking through the "Megalo-mart in Arlen Texas.
“You can be a real reporter. This is your wakeup
call,” a voice said. Then it happened for some
unexplained reasons Peggy Hill, reporter, took over my
body. I would report on the incidents of De La Hoya-Mosley. Everyone would love me, I’d win prizes. So I typed…

Finally saw the fight Saturday night as a part of the
Oquendo-Byrd HBO telecast but first as Irene Maude
Reed use to say, “Let’s take a step back before we
move forward.” She use to say that a lot. “Howard (She
always called me Howard, never Howie. Now at almost 6 and 5 I understand why the words Howie never passed her lips.

Nothing sillier than an old Geezer with a first name that ends in “i.e.”, “I” or “Y”. Howie came upon the scene in college along with “The Beach” which I won’t go into. Once when home on a laundry and a good meal run the phone rang. “Hello”, Mother said, “No there’s no Howie here. Dad someone just called for a Howie”) The step back in this case is the history leading up to Mosley-DelaHoya Dos. Both grew up in the Los Angeles area. Oscar was the local hero and Olympic Champion. One problem. Mexicans didn’t and don’t like him.

Those in the LA Mexican community didn’t think he’s Mexican enough. “Oscar has nothing in common with most of the Mexican community. He doesn’t need jumper cables, he has auto insurance and doesn’t have or need a green card”. That was written by one of the most brilliant sports writers in America. His name escapes me at the moment. Oscar was
a little too slick for the locals. LA was not Oscar’s
place even though he was the guy that grew up in the
barrio and made his way out. In some parts of the city
he was about as popular as a pork chop in Israel. (Of
course in that country if you call ham “rare roast
beef” and get away with it. ) One of the e-mail’s I
got from a new reader pretty much confirms that
position.

“Hi Howie. (There’s that name again). U have some
interesting insights to the fight. Most L.A. people
think it was an okay decision; Dan” DeLaHoya also
angers people just because he’s Oscar. He’s a master
at telling the writer or TV interviewer exactly
what’s needed. He has sincere in a can turning. Yea
like Whoop Ass” but with a different label. He turns
it on and off with the mere flip of a switch. He is
one “Smooth Operator” which of course is the big hit
song for SADE. That’s pronounced “SA DAY” and Sadie.

Oscar also has a bit of a whine in him. This trait was
mentioned in last weeks column. When he first fought
Mosley and lost he fired everyone. At that time he
unleashed an extremely bitter tirade against then
promoter Bob Arum in the Spanish language newspaper La Opinion. “I’m smarter than the smartest Jew that every went to Harvard.” A direct reference to Bob Arum.  Later of course De La Hoya could claim, “I was misquoted”. He jumped back in Arum’s arms, tossed a bucket full of money and all was forgiven. (At these times I wish I was better versed on Shakespeare. I’m sure there’s a Merchant of Venice connection here.)  I was misquoted has to be the “out shot” for every person that either says something stupid or what they really mean. The best was Sir Charles Barkley who claimed he was misquoted in his autobiography. But that’s Sir Charles. The next Governor of Alabama.

SHANE Mosley is completely different story. He also
grew up in Southern California and has always been
popular. Mosley is truly a nice guy. His father Jack
is truly a nice guy. In fact almost everyone around
Mosley is a nice guy. They are just nice people.
Mosley’s problem as that he grew up in Oscar’s shadow whether it was in the Olympics or amateur boxing. In the ring “experts” have raved about the skills of Shane Mosley. The problem was the public couldn’t have cared less. He would win a fight but he was never a crowd pleaser especially when in with someone good.. I remember back in my “UTE”. Frank Sinatra , who was the ultimate authority on what was cool, said that “Vic Damone has the best pipes in the business. I’d pay to see him.” The public ? The would have paid to see Frank pay to see Vic.

That is one of the reasons that any conspiracy theory
against De La Hoya and in favor of Mosley doesn’t make any sense. Not that these theories have to make sense but it does help. (To the Dale Gribble’s of the world everything is a conspiracy. Well everything but the fact that John Redcorn slides in and out of his window and his son looks surprisingly like John Redcorn. No connection there, Sug.) DelaHoya is the cash cow that fuels boxing today. (Almost a million paid $49.95 to watch the fight at home.) That would account for HBO’s trio of “experts” having him winning the fight if one were into a conspiracy mode. They lose him and they’re left with Oquendo-Bryd and Chicken Roy Jones which is penthouse to the outhouse in a hurry. On Friday night fights Teddy Atlas, in my humble opinion, lost a lot of his creditability. “I watched the fight live at home. I had Oscar winning 116-112. Then during the week I went to the new York Daily News and watched it with no sound. I had Mosley winning.” There you have it all you folks out there that watched it on TV and had Oscar winning. It was HBO’s Jim Lamply, George Foreman, Larry Merchant and Harold Lederman that made you do it. Horse hocky.

That is not to write that there isn’t enough funny
stuff out there to be troubling. Remember there is
just one round difference. If DeLaHoya gets one more
round from each judge then it’s a draw. 114-114.
Looking at the official scorecards there is something
that jumps out straight away. There are no even
rounds. None, zero, zip , nada. This in a fight where
everyone has said, “There were a lot of close rounds.”
Yet there were no rounds that could have been even ?
.( I had 9th and the 12th even.) The Nevada
Commission goes into a tornado when one of it’s judges scores a round even. These were not Nevada judges save for Duane Ford.

Another fact that jumps out from the official
scorecards is that with the exception of the 4th round
the judges never agree on the scoring of a round until
the last four which they all mark the 10 for Mosley.
The scorecards mean nothing but as all you good
democrats out there know according to former house
leader Tom Foley “We have no evidence therefore we
must investigate.” Whether he’s was right or wrong
that’s what the DeLaHoya camp called for. Bad ideara.
For TV viewers you saw the Jack Mosley telling his son and fighter, “You’re losing the fight. Pick it up. You
just gave that round away.” That last quote was sin
reference to the 9th which all judges gave to Mosley.
Go figure. This is explained away by Max “The Genus”
Kellerman as a brilliant form of motivation. Nice try
but ring up no sale. There is also the situation that
when the decision was announced Mosley had to be told twice by his folks that he won. There is little
question but that Team Mosley though they’d lost the
fight. Even if true that doesn’t point to any conspiracy.

LETS go back to the night of the fight. First Bob Arum
(Top Rank) announces, “"They say I'm a sore loser, but
they're not going to see my ass anymore. I am through.  After this freaking outrage, I'm out of this mess.  Boxing is the garbage can of sports." His announced retirement of course brought cheers which, as it turned out, were premature. On Monday he backed off his pledge of Saturday to retire, but said he is still not inclined to promote again in Nevada. Top Rank has no Nevada fight scheduled at this point for the rest of the year so that threat will have little effect.
Arum left the door open to coming back to Nevada
(“Come back Bob” a teary eyed boxing establishment
called) if Nevada investigates his charges which at
this time no one has any idea what the hell they are.
"I love Las Vegas and I love living in Las Vegas and I
know what big fights mean here. I just can't keep
doing them and get disrespected and treated the way I
am here." Am I the only one that thinks that Boomhauer makes more sense drinking beer in the ally than Arum has lately? Bob it’s not disrespect. It’s loathing.  No one likes a lying whining officious jerk. Well yes unless they happen to be the 42 President of the USA then they love him cause he’s “slick”. Arum did become a little more specific.

His charges, such as they are, are directed at Dr.
Flip Homansky who has become the expert on everything about boxing in Nevada. Flipper had plans to be the chairman last time out but Luther Mack stopped him in his tracks. It’s funny on the sideline watching
Arum-Homansky feud. It’s almost like “My Temple is
better than your Temple.” The fight was for both the
WBC and WBA championships. In a situation like this
each organization submits a list of judges to the
Nevada commission. The commission says , “I’d like
“X”. X is appointed as a judge. Remember here that
three judges ( Duane Ford, Stanley Christodoulo and
Anek Hongtongkam) all had the fight 115-113. One judge doesn’t make any difference no matter how he would have scored the fight. The commission hasn’t handled this all that well as their statement when held to the light of day seem to give some degree of credence to Arum’s claims. His claim was that Stanley Christodoulo was appointed as the “WBA” judges and was not on their list. Hardly a “What would you like for your last meal” offense.

Little side note here. Dr. Flipper is merely a member
of the commission. He is neither the Chairman or Vice
Chairman. The Executive Director is Marc Ratner who
works at the discretion of the commissioners. Ratner
is sharp as a tack. His skills were honed at the Sig
Rogish PR factory. Rogish runs the state of Nevada
for gaming, unions and mining interests. He also
“alleged” to have the first and last say on
appointments to the State Athletic Commission. In an
radio interview Monday Ratner was asked, “Marc you
were ringside, who do you think won the fight ?” ‘Well
I really can’t say. I have so many duties at ringside
that it’s impossible to watch all the action in the
ring. I could really say.” If he doesn’t see all the
action then how is it possible for him to critique
every judge after every fight ? Magic. He’s a great
tap dancer when it comes to not answering a question.
He should go down in history with Fred Astair, Ray
Bolger, Bojangles and the late Gregory Hines. He’s
that good. The best at the non answer…answer.

At this point the commission got it’s act together
somewhat. In a letter to Arum, Commission Chairman
Mack wrote, "(your) accusations wherein you allegedly
impugn the integrity of the commission by accusing the commission, its members, its executive director and its officials of inappropriate conduct and question
the results of the fight. Because the commission takes
such accusations very seriously, particularly when
they come from a licensee, we believe that it is
important to allow you an opportunity to provide the
commission with all of the evidence you relied upon in
making the accusation." The hearing will be October
15.

When the letter arrived Arum said “my statements
were “unfortunate” and “inappropriate”. No Bob they
were neither. They were the ramblings of a bitter old
man. As your Pal Don King said, “The lights are dim in
Arumville.” Arum has played the weasel he is, Oscar
issued a “CYA” statement (no investigation) and the
Nevada Commission with “huff and puff “ and do
nothing. No story. Drat. So here I am left drinking
Alamo Beer in the alley of my mind with Bill,
Boomhauer and Dale as Kahn shakes his head as my son Bobby tries on Kahn jr. (Connie) new clothes. I worry about that boy.

THERE is still a lot of bad feelings out there. The
danger is that the “casual fan” that boxing hasn’t
lost is now gone for good. What of the true boxing fan
? “Howie I can’t believe what I saw last night, or
maybe I can. When I saw 115-113 I figured the judges
had it closer than I did but that DeLaHoya still won
the fight. Was I wrong !! basically I’m sick over it.
I’m at the point that I don’t ever want to watch
boxing anymore. I’m afraid that the judges have
finally succeeded in turning me completely off from
boxing. These guys (the boxers) work so hard, more
than any other sport That I know, and continued to
receive this kind of treatment. It’s sickening and I’m
sick of it ! guys like you have access to the press or
are the press need to speak out which I know you will
do. Thank God, George Foreman, Jim Lampley and even Larry (somewhat) spoke out, but that is not enough, I hope De La Hoya does file a protest which he didn’t). 

it’s about time. And for Mosley I can’t believe he
accepted the belt, I guess when you’re a two time
looser you’re desperate, and that throws out Your
Honor. Best Bill”. He’d probably soften those words a
week after. Regardless it is a problem. Maybe the
judges should judge the fight on TV. 90% of the money
in boxing comes from TV. If that’s the case and the
overwhelming number of TV viewers through Oscar won
maybe boxing should accommodate the fans. As Meatloaf said, “Give the people what they want.”

WONDER what the guy on the street is saying ? That is if the guy on the street is named “The Hawk” and lives in Tennessee. “ Hey Howie, thanks for the mention. I enjoyed your writing. Everyone that I have talked to about the fight said that Oscar got screwed, what's wrong with boxing any more?....Especially when its fixed........boxers we were use to fixing fights in
the past, and now its "Judges"?.....How much was their take?..... A good source here said that boxing has become an absolute shame, when good people pay good money (50 bucks) only to have the judges already know who is going to win even before the first punch is thrown. Because of this disgrace in the judging end,  they no longer are interested in paying another dime to watch what they believe to be a great fight. They can say all they want about the so called great next fight, but we have all lost all hopes of ever seeing another great fight....who is going to be doing the next fixes...hotdog venders?......beer venders? ......... I've had enough of this and I'm sure a lot of other fans of boxing feel the same way. I can remember when Tyson's fights only last a few seconds
at time, and we paid good money to watch only to lose
our money at the twitch of an eye.....BUT that's boxing
and we take our chances....and the right call was
made......but ....Oscar got SCREWED.....I believe, for
boxing to revive itself it needs someone like Mosley
to come forward and admit he lost......this will never
happen, but if it did.....boy would Boxing get an
earful. What they use to do in the old days was tar
and feather the bad guys...(the judges).....now they
should never ever be aloud to step in as a judge ever
again and perhaps pay back the thousands that they got paid in bribes. The judging was inexcusable.... what an atrocity (did I spell that right)....this was and
is unacceptable and something has to be done and soon in order to save the sport of boxing. I really hope
there is a justice found..and soon. THE HAWK”

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