A Sunrise and Sunset for the Duva's

A Sunrise and Sunset for the Duva's
15 Rounds by Steve Kim (Sunday Apr 29, 2001)

For Lou Duva, one of boxing's Runyon-esque characters, it was the best of times and the worst of times — all within the span of a half-hour — this past Friday night in Lake Tahoe, California.

Duva, had just seen his greatest charge ever, Pernell Whitaker, close the final chapter of his illustrious career in humiliating fashion as he had to call it a day (and a career) when he suffered a broken clavicle early on against Carlos Bojorquez. It's not the way Hall-of-Fame careers should end, but sadly, it's the way they often do.

But less than 30 minutes later, Duva was in the corner of the young and vibrant Oscar Diaz out of San Antonio, Texas. Diaz dispatched of Juan Deocal impressively in two rounds.

It was symbolic in many ways, 'Sweet Pea' was the last remnants of the Duva families ties to Main Events (which the Duva family had an acrimonious split with last year), Diaz is one of the first fighters to sign with their new venture Duva Boxing. Out with the old, in with the new.

"I was talking about this with my daughter and son," said Duva, the patriarch of Main Events who managed/trained Whitaker throughout his professional career and now manages Diaz. "We're retiring one guy and it looks like the start of something big with another kid- Oscar Diaz. He's such a good kid."

But Lou makes it clear he will never forget the impact Whitaker had on the Duva family and business.

"Y'know, I had good kids like Rocky Lockridge and Johnny Bumphus, those kinds of kids," he said. "But you talk about the word 'loyalty', and as far as that you couldn't beat this guy. He was with the Duva family when he started and we were with him at the end."

It was evident from looking at Whitaker's soft look at 154 pounds, that Father Time had caught up to the elusive one. Once, world class pugilists couldn't touch Whitaker in a phone booth, now he was getting touched up by the Carlos Bojorquez' of the world. Whitaker's shoulder ailment only pointed out the obvious — his time had passed.

"It was a freak accident," Duva said the day after. "He turned his left shoulder funny, it's in traction right now and they're going to do an MRI as soon as he gets home and all that. Everything was OK outside of that.

"It looks like 'Pete's' going to retire. We gave him a shot, he wanted a shot and now he's going to come work with us."

Duva's son Dino, who promoted the show, believes Whitaker got the message from a higher source.

"Last night when he got back from the hospital, the first thing [Whitaker] said was, 'This is a message from the man upstairs, he doesn't want me to do this anymore,'" he said. "I think he realizes that his age has caught up with him and it's time to move on to different things within our business and with us. We're looking forward to him being with us forever."

It's not clear yet what Whitaker's role will be, but the Duva family patriarch has an idea.

"I think the primary direction will be to have him speak in schools, " said Duva. "Being there, talking about what it means to have an education and what it means to screw up and stuff. He should be an expert on that."

It was widely known that Whitaker has had problems with substance abuse the past several years.

It wasn't a storybook ending for Whitaker, but it wasappropriate that he ended his career with the Duvas.

"I think it's special," Dino Duva said. "I think it goes to show what a special person he is. It shows a lot about his loyalty. He never questioned anything, never cared about contracts or business or anything like that.

"Pernell's a loyal guy and from day one, he said he was part of our family. Back in 1983 when they first started working with him for the Olympics and now it's 2001 — 18 years later and he's still with the family."

On the opposite end of the spectrum is Diaz, who raised his mark to 2-0 by showing good solid
fundamental skills along with a punishing body attack that had ringside ESPN2 commentator Teddy Atlas comparing him style-wise to a young Julio Cesar Chavez.

Duva, who signed Diaz several months ago, met young Oscar several years ago at Joe Souza's San Fernando Gym in San Antonio, while the youngster was still in the midst of his amateur career.

"One day, he told me he wanted to be a pro and I said, 'Fine, the first thing you have to do is graduate high school,'" recalled Duva. "He graduated high school at 17-and-a-half years old and we waited awhile. The last six months we've really picked it up with him.

"I subsidized this kid, made sure he could fight, made sure he was taught how to fight and I think he's going to be another Chavez. This kid can fight."

Diaz, who had been in camp recently with Whitaker and other Duva youngsters Dante Craig and Demetrius Hopkins, looks like a prospect to look out for with his clean cut looks and crowd pleasing style.

ANOTHER EXECUTIONER?

Last week while one Duva protégé, Dante Craig, was getting stunned in front of his hometown audience in Cincinnati, another Duva prospect Demetrius Hopkins opened a few eyes with his continued development with an impressive knockout win.

"I think he is our most promising prospect," stated Dino Duva, whose company promotes him, while his father has the managerial duties. "He's one of our first fighters we signed up for Duva Boxing with our new company back in March of 2000, and I tell ya, he's really starting to progress.

"In Cincinnati, he looked strong. He's really starting to mature physically and the way he's fighting into the pro style. I think he is maturing into a potential world champion."

Hopkins has the right bloodlines, his uncle is the IBF/WBC middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins.

Young Demetrius is now 8-0 and Duva echoes his son's thoughts.

"I like the way he's coming on, the way he's settling down, boxing and punching," he said. "Before he ran just a little bit too much like an amateur. But the way he fought last week in Cincinnati, I really believe this kids going all the way."

Hopkins, who Duva says has made the biggest jump among all his young fighters, had several nip-and-tuck affairs with eventual Olympian silver medalist Ricardo Williams in the amateur ranks.

It may have been the homecoming for Craig and Williams, but it was Hopkins who had the breakthrough.

JULIO, NO LONGER JUST A 'KID'

A secret we out here in the West Coast have known for awhile is out, Julio Diaz is the best fighter in his family (with all due respect to Antonio, who's a world class jr. welter in his own right).

Diaz, who has been astutely brought up by Top Rank on their Univision shows, in addition to several ESPN2 undercard appearances, burst onto the scene with a dismantling of fellow undefeated prospect Justo Sencion.

While older brother 'Tono' is a steady grinder, 'the Kid' has that extra gear, ability to change speeds and finesse that Antonio lacks.

It says here, that the younger Diaz is at least even money with any of the current 135 pound belt holders right now and will be a substantial favorite by the end of the year as he matures.

KO NATION KONTINUES

Well, it's nice to see 'KO Nation' has toned it down a notch, but seriously their new additions did well in their debuts in place of the dearly departed Ed Lover. Geez, who would have thought it took two people to replace Ed Lover?

One question though. Why 'Ring Announcer Jones'? Isn't he 'Discombobulating'?

MORE HBO

HBO showed a graphic of the highest KO percentages of the active champions. On top of that list was Acelino Frietas. No problem except that 'Popo' is the WBO jr. lightweight king, and HBO has long shunned the WBO.

Could they be setting the stage to start recognizing Wladimir Klitschko as a heavyweight 'champion'?

Also interesting was the interview by Fran Charles with the real heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman. Good to see the folks at Time Warner aren't using their telecasts as a forum for negotiations to nail down Rahman-Lewis II.

That was sarcasm for those who didn't get it.

RECOMMENDED READING

Unlike most other websites/publications/writers we here at MaxBoxing.com actually attribute things and such. After all, 'game' recognizes 'game'. Not just re-write it and take it as our own.

In Sunday's edition of the Boston Globe, Ron Borges wrote a must-read piece on the ongoing Rahman/Lewis/HBO/Showtime/Main Events/Cedric Kushner saga.

For one thing, it explained to me why when I asked Shelly Finkel about which rematch scenario was true (as to when a Lewis-Rahman rematch must take place: either within 150 days or signed within 150 days, as had been reported the past week), Finkel's reply was "Neither."

Again, it's a must-read penned by Borges. To make things easier, just go to TotalAction.com and go to the fight-page. The story is titled: 'Division is Top-Heavy in Static'.

FIGHT-OF-THE-YEAR

Mayweather-Corrales? No. Hopkins-Holmes? Not even close. De La Hoya- Gatti? Uh,uh. Has to be Gonzalez-Letterlough right? Nope? Rahman-Lewis? Close but no cigar. Showtime-HBO? Maybe, but not quite yet.

'Crazy Cabbie' vs. 'Angry Black' on the Howard Stern Show.

Seriously, what other fight had the attention of the American public like this match-up of titans? Best thing was that it was also a throwback to a past era, not only was it broadcast on radio, it could also be seen on free network TV. Don Dunphy is smiling somewhere.

The 'fight' was eventually called a draw, but I thought with 'Angry Black' scoring a knockdown and 'Crazy Cabbie' being penalized for dirty tactics (figures, Bernard Hopkins was training him), that 'Angry' edged 'Crazy' by a point or two.

LASTLY

I must be sick. On a night when my hometown Lakers and Kings were playing crucial playoff games, I was at the Hollywood Park Casino for a night of boxing, which was promoted by IGM Boxing, this past Thursday night.

(Note: I'm not really a hockey fan, but if the gutty, underdog Kings get past the Colorado Avalanche, I will certainly jump on the bandwagon and will be sporting my retro Marcel Dionne jersey everywhere I go.)

Young welterweight prospect Jose Celeya improved to 9-1 with a six round TKO of Manuel Coronado. And well-worn veterans, Joseph Kiwanuka and Hector Quiroz, who have seen better days, posted W's.

Good luck to IGM (a group of good guys from what I've seen), these local promoters are doing there best to keep boxing alive and well in Southern California with the demise of Forum Boxing.

FINAL FLURRY

Just one, so it's not 'flurries', it shouldn't be that hard to fill the void of Forum Boxing, since at the end of it's run I started calling it 'Bore-um' Boxing... the fights were lackluster and I could only take so many NABO-title bouts at a time.

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