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Boxing From an Odd Angle
by Marty Mulcahey (May 13, 2003)
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It was another week of boxing as usual. There were more boxing related lawsuits appearing in court rooms than superstar boxers ducking between the ring ropes. Maxboxing is no longer looking to hire experienced boxing writers. Instead, we are seeking seasoned Court TV correspondents. I was so desperate for boxing on Saturday night that I watched a 'Heavyweight Explosion' card. After two hours, I came to a horrifyingly vivid judgment about the series. It should have it's name changed to 'Man-Boob Explosion'. Not even a mammographer at a retirement community could endure so many sagging, shapeless, jiggly breasts in a two hour period. Cedric Kushner can expect a bill from my mental health professional within the week.
No truth to the rumor that Wonderbra is the chief sponsor for next year's 'Heavyweight Explosion' series.
I laughed out loud (not a good idea when you are accompanying your wife bikini shopping) at HBO's press release last week, trying to explain away the fact that the Lennox Lewis vs. Kirk Johnson bout will be televised on regular HBO. Remember, this was originally planned as an HBO PPV when Mike Tyson was part of the event. Head of HBO sports, Ross Greenberg stated, "As we looked at the Heavyweight Championship fight between Lennox Lewis and Kirk Johnson, we asked the promoters if we could televise the fight live on HBO. We felt this would be an outstanding event to bring to our subscribers live on the network." For those of you without a diploma in B.S., let me translate. 'Not even HBO PPV is shameless enough, and we brought you De La Hoya vs. Campas and Barrera vs. Kelley, to charge boxing fans for this wholly uninteresting match. In fact, we are having a hard time giving this fight away. We will probably show this fight on a free HBO weekend, so even non-HBO subscribers can view it. Anything to avoid Nielsen ratings dipping into the negatives for that two hour time slot.'
Speaking of Lennox, King Lennox is making news again..... of course not for his activity in the ring. Instead, we get to read about his ever expanding collection of litigation papers. In Lennox's 385 million dollar suit, filed last week, he alleges that Don King made death threats, offered bribes, and also conspired in torturous interference against him. Well duh! Lewis is missing the big picture. This should be a class action lawsuit, since a thousand other heavyweights can probably make the same alleged claims against Don King.
I was a supporter of Lennox Lewis until two years ago. I even wrote that he would defeat Riddick Bowe when they were to have fought back in 1993. However, since he started to throw around lawsuits more than his straight right hand, Lennox has left me with a negative vibe towards him. It is time for Lennox to understand that no one, in any of the ten countries he claims nationality from, likes lawyers. Running to lawyers more often than a four year old turns to his mommy for reassurance that people love him is getting on everyone's nerves.
As if Mike Tyson does not have enough to worry about, he is now getting hit by another lawsuit from a woman. Fightnews.com reported that a certain Wanda Graves is claiming that Mike Tyson fathered her 12 year old son during the course of a rape. O.K., I will admit that I am no legal genius ( the law stopped existing for me when the Judge Mills Lane court show was cancelled). But shouldn't this lady be seeking a jail sentence for Mike Tyson instead of money? Representing the woman is lawyer Raoul Felder, who is the same man who shook Tyson down for millions of dollars when he successfully argued for Robin Givens in her divorce from Tyson. Felder also represented a third woman who claimed Tyson fathered one of her children. This lawyer is making a cottage industry out of suing Iron Mike. It is no wonder Felder does not want Mike in jail. Tyson would then be prevented from making money which Felder could sue him for in the future.
It looks like the Europeans could bring about the end of the Mexico City based WBC. Italian Gianluca Branco is filing a lawsuit this Thursday with the European High Court of Justice. In it, Branco asks for a restraining order against the WBC, preventing it from sanctioning fights in any European country until his mandatory title shot at Kostya Tszyu is granted. The very next day, the lawyers for Branco are going to file a similar suit in New York City, hoping to prevent the WBC from sanctioning bouts in America. All this comes on the heels of Graciano Rocchigiani winning a 31 million dollar lawsuit against the WBC which has put it in chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. If Rocchigiani & Branco can bring about the end of the WBC they would enter the Pantheon of Gods - right beside the man who invented the TV remote control.
As infinitesimal a chance as I believe Branco has of defeating Tszyu, you have to credit the Italian for going after his dream. He is not looking for step aside money, or a bogus interim title belt. Gianluca wants to fight, and defeat the best. For that, he deserves a lot of credit......... and a hike of his life insurance premium.
Here is another beef I have with the WBC, and a perfect example of how the WBC bends it's own rules to suit their needs. Why, oh why, is Javier Castillejo an 'interim' champion at 154 pounds? There is obviously nothing preventing Oscar De La Hoya from getting into the ring with Castillejo. After all, Castillejo is the number one contender according to the WBC. Shouldn't Oscar have been forced by the WBC to fight Castillejo (he has not defended the WBC title since winning it two years ago, when he is mandated by WBC rules to defend the title against the number one contender at least once a year), instead of Javier getting a worthless belt for which he has to pay sanctioning fees? Granted, I do not want to see Oscar fight Castillejo a second time, but it could not have been any less competitive than the Campas fight. Betting on buildings in Tokyo to defeat Godzilla would have gotten you better odds in Vegas.
Speaking of Las Vegas, did you see that the Las Vegas casinos have already grabbed 50% percent (7,581 tickets, and sale to the public did not start until after the 50% were dolled out) of the available tickets for the Oscar De La Hoya vs. Shane Mosley fight? Of course, these tickets will be given away to their high rollers. First, Oscar charges his fans $50.00 to watch a mismatch against Yory Boy Campas, now their chances of seeing him perform live, in a competitive fight, have dropped fifty percent. Way to look out for your 'regular' fans Oscar.
While we are discussing that bout, could I plant just one seed of thought among boxing fans about the upcoming bout? Who has Oscar faced in the last.... oh let's say three years that even comes close to matching Shane's handspeed? Mind you, I still favor Oscar ever so slightly, but the fact that Oscar has not been matched against anyone with above average handspeed is a troubling oversight.
Final thought on the WBC. One down, three to go.
The Shelby City (in honor of the city that went bankrupt financing the Dempsey vs. Gibbons heavyweight title fight) bad promotion award goes to the money men behind the May 17th Pay Per View featuring Mauricio Pastrana, Alex Gonzalez, and Emanuel Augustus. What are they thinking? On the same day as their PPV, there will be three different boxing events televised for free, and all but one features better talent as well. HBO has Spadafora vs. Dorin, Showtime has Sharmba Mitchell vs. Ben Tackie, NBC will feature Nate Campbell & Kermit Cintron, and
Telefutura airs a bout as well. Boxing fans will be in the midst of a left hook overdose before the opening bell of their PPV. Meanwhile, last Saturday you only had NBC airing live boxing on the Saturday afternoon. Looks like they are a week late, and because of it, many dollars short.
I sincerely hope HBO PPV releases the names of the 300,000 people that bought the De La Hoya vs. Campas PPV two weeks ago. I have some beachfront property in Kansas I would like to sell them.
For the past six months, I have been suggesting in this column that Showtime expand their championship boxing crew to three men. It looks like they have listened......, kind of. I was campaigning for Steve Farhook.... ooops Farhood, to be made a permanent addition to their championship boxing team, while someone like Nick Charles replaces stagnant Steve Albert. Instead, Showtime is adding veteran analyst and fan favorite Al Bernstein as the third man for their Championship boxing team. Bernstein will work with Bobby Czyz (when he returns to the show) and Steve Albert to form their three man crew. At least this proves that Showtime is not satisfied with the status quo, and is looking to upgrade it's flagship show. Bernstein is a fine choice, and I hope it is the beginning of a challenge to HBO's status as the king of the boxing networks. Yeah, I know, the buildings in Tokyo have a better chance of unseating HBO as the number one boxing network.
The May 17th fight card features Sharmba Mitchell fighting Ben Tackie in the main event. Mr. Mitchell made noise by again attacking Kostya Tszyu verbally. Mitchell stated "Champions clean up their messes and fight other champions. I wish we could go back to the old days when champions fought the top contenders, not the number 18 ranked fighter." Since Kostya is too composed & humble a man to retort, I will take a swing at this comment. I decided to look up Sharmba's title defenses since he claims 'old school' roots. Who did Sharmba fight while the WBA champion? Sharmba had to go 12 rounds in defeating Felix Flores, Elio Ortiz, Reggie Green, and Pedro Saiz.....hardly a murderers row. Not to mention that Kostya Tszyu currently rates third (behind Roy Jones at 14, and Oscar De La Hoya at 13) in the amount of current or former champs he has defeated with 12. How many current or former champs has Mitchell defeated? An aging Vince Phillips this year. Maybe Kostya should hold Mitchell to Tsyzu's standards, and not fight him until he has defeated at least 10 current or former champions.
Showtime returned with another installment of ShoBox last week. It was an admittedly weak card, but did stick to it's stated programming objective, which is to feature young prospects in the first true tests of their boxing lives, to see how they cope with the new challenges. Already, boxers like Leonard Dorin, Emmanuel Lucero, and Kermit Cintron have emerged as champions, contenders and future title challengers through this series, while boxers like Ebo Elder, Martin O'Malley, and China Smith have failed their tests. I continue to implore boxing fans to tune in. The career drama is real.
On the last show, we discovered that Russian prospect Ivan Kirpa was not up to the challenge. His good looking 18-0 record was exposed by an equally young, but battle hardened, Bradley Pryce. Kirpa's style was too straight forward & basic, and Ivan did not have the speed to overcome his own predictability. Bradley Pryce should be brought back. He has a decent bag of tricks that should test any over hyped product. If he defeats another good prospect, he might get himself in line for minor title honors. In the main event, Welsh prospect Gary Lockett proved that winning a fight in this series does not make you a future contender for world honors. Sure he has some decent skills, but he is as bland as
English cuisine.
ESPN2 presented an all heavyweight lineup on Friday night, which I generally dread. It makes 'exploring relationship issues' with the wife seem like a pleasant diversion. However, I was marginally surprised by the action the sextet of heavies provided in the ring. Nothing magnificent was on display, but all tried hard and gave 100 percent. Which you cannot say of the majority of heavyweight bouts below the top 25.
Wasn't it ironic that ESPN & Teddy Atlas continually harped on how Sedreck Fields had, in his opinion, lost fights in Europe because of bad judging? Only to have Fields lose that night's fight on ESPN2 by decision (which most felt he should have won & Atlas scored in Fields favor by two points)......... in New Jersey! Where was the outrage after the cards where announced? Did the judges have German surnames? Or was this acceptable since it was Americans taking a win from fellow American?
I believe the majority of boxing fans thought that the Jameel McCline vs. Charles Shufford fight was stopped too early. What made the stoppage
frustrating was that Shufford had shown more willingness to fight, and take chances, than in any previous fight I have seen him in. Still, I believe Jameel would have worn down and prevailed in the end. Plus, it is hard to root against the intelligent and extremely likeable McCline.
In the 'toe to toe' segment of the telecast, Teddy Atlas showed why he is an excellent analyst for ESPN. Atlas can succinctly boil down a boxer or situation to one concise sentence. When describing Oscar's new style, Atlas stated, "Oscar is punching to the target. Not through the target anymore." It would take many boxing writers three paragraphs, and a bottle of Excedrin to explain how Floyd Mayweather Sr. has influenced Oscar's method of boxing. Atlas did it in eleven words.
ESPN did have a minor screw up by showing an erroneous graphic before the McCline fight. It alleged to have listed 'The Ring' magazines top 10 heavyweight rankings. I began to have my doubts when I saw Chris Byrd was not in the top 10, and Vitali Klitschko was ranked as the number one contender. While Lamon Brewster & Sinan Samil Sam cracked the top ten. They, obviously, showed the WBC rankings by accident. Either that or I am canceling my subscription to The Ring.
NBC presented a nationwide audience with boxing for the second weekend in a row, and this show probably earned boxing many new fans. Francisco Bojado, Juan Diaz, Eleazar Contreras, and William Adamyan all deserve a hardy thanks from boxing fans. While none of the fights were spectacular, they all featured momentum changes which enhanced the fast paced rounds. Even the knockdowns came garnished with a bit of blood. Just what the non boxing fan who happened to tune to NBC, while looking for the NBA playoffs, likes to see.
Francisco Bojado opened the show, and dealt with a nasty cut (which bleed freely throughout & made Bojado look more ferocious than usual) by his eye well after his corner reassured him that he could continue to press the action. Just as it looked like Adamyan, a lanky boxer, was going to last the distance, Bojado caught him with a precise straight left hand, after which Bojado showed why he has such great fan appeal, by displaying his abundant killer instinct. Bojado's finishing flurry was capped by a rocket of a uppercut which landed dead center on Adamyan's chin. Those 10 seconds of fury, are the kind that convert regular sports fans to the kind of die hard boxing fans we have all become.
I am not sure what bothered Bojado more, the blood dripping in his eyes, or the strands of hair that hung down from his modified Beatles moptop?
Credit NBC's Jessie Losada (the third man on the broadcast crew) for getting into Bojado's corner for an interview with Bojado's cut man in a matter of seconds after the cut had appeared. Very well done, and something other broadcasts could emulate.
Juan Diaz's fight with Eleazar Contreras gave us momentum changes, knockdowns, combination punches, and simultaneous flurries. Diaz will not turn into the next Marco Antonio Barrera, but he will be consistently fun to watch. It was also good to see him remain in tactical control of the bout after a sixth round knockdown (and he took other good shots flush, throughout the fight, without blinking) and finish the fight strong. Not bad for a nineteen year old. If he can gain some pop in his fists as his body matures, Diaz will have a good chance to win and retain a world title.
Our weekly boxing good guy award goes to Cedric Kushner, a man who is not shying away from talking about his obesity and the gastric bypass surgery and counseling he is undergoing to get it under control. In a fascinating article at secondsout.com, Kushner tells the world about a problem which many mock or choose to ignore, but is a serious problem for tens of thousands of people. To read his story, and perhaps, gain encouragement from Mr. Kushner check out this link
http://www.secondsout.com/usa/news_51841.asp
Thanks for speaking out, and hopefully helping out others who might be in a similar position Mr. Kushner.
For Questions or Comments
E-Mail Marty Mulcahey at fivedogss@msn.com
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