In this case, when one door opened, another closed. With his responsibilities to- Fox Sports Net with ’Top Rank Live’ on Saturday nights, doing his show on Sunday mornings would be improbable if not, impossible.
"I thought about it almost as soon as it was offered," Marotta told Maxboxing on Wednesday. "When they first began talking to me about a month before the end of last year and I thought it was going to be difficult, but it’s always been my hope and dream to get back, once again, more or less a regular series. Like when we had the ‘Prime Ticket’ fights and for ‘Fox with the Forum,’ their fight of the month, ’Sunday Night Fights’, etc. And this was just too great an opportunity. I was really happy about it and I was thinking, ’I’m wondering if I can do it, the boxing show at the same time?’ I didn’t know how much travel- or bad travel- would ensue. I had to see if I could work it out and then realized it just wasn’t going to be."
Marotta tried to make it work for a few weeks but found out quickly that, logistically, it simply wasn’t going to work. ‘The Neutral Corner’ had been on since 2000, in various time slots and, for the better part of a decade, covered the sport in-depth and had on almost every major boxing personality. Time and time again, the show was bounced around and pre-empted, but Marotta kept at it.
"It was a labor of love; I always figured it was my baby. This was my baby. I could do it the way I wanted. We do a service for boxing fans and for boxing. We had our regulars; we had our new listeners along the way," he pointed out. "I really thought it was an important thing for boxing. I love boxing; it’s my favorite sport. Always has been and it was very important for me because boxing gets such a lack of mainstream media attention, to give it some mainstream attention on a major station, like we had here in Los Angeles. So I was always excited about it and I always wanted it to be a first-rate show. We didn’t like mailing it in and we always made sure it was a show that was national and worldwide in its orientation than just a local L.A. show. So we wanted to get all the big names, cover all the big fights and do a service to our local people, as well."
During the stretch when their main sponsor was the Mandalay Bay, “The Neutral Corner” was a regular presence for all the big Vegas fights, airing full two-hour shows on Saturday mornings from the Mandalay Bay sports book. Promoters, writers, managers, television commentators and trainers were all guests on “The Neutral Corner” but it was talking to boxers that was the backbone of this program.
Marotta says, "My favorite part of doing the show, without question, talking to the fighters themselves. I believe that boxers are the greatest athletes to deal with. I have found this, through the years, that they have been the most accessible; they have been the friendliest, they have been the kind of people that don’t say no to you and so, interviewing the fighters has been what is most important and it has been the most enjoyable. And, especially, the foreign fighters, the fighters from Mexico, or England, or Africa, who are invariably respectful and polite and willing to do almost anything that you ask, in terms of interviews and participation on the show or interaction with fans. That, to me, has been a great thrill."
So now, this Sunday morning, they embark on the last episode.
"It’s going to be pretty interesting," says Marotta. "It’s going to be nostalgic and I’m hoping to have some of the people who have been really important to us through the years. We’ve had some great guests; some have been regulars. I’ve had some real favorites down through the years. James Toney, because we never knew what to expect from him; it could be explosive, it could be crazy, funny, whatever. Freddie Roach; I loved to have Freddie on. We had him on often. Y’know why? Because he never lies. You ask him anything, he gives you the straight scoop; he gives you a straight answer. Kelly Pavlik, for example, over the past few years, he used to come on the day of his fight for several years and that’s really unusual for boxers to do something like that. But on all those Saturdays that we were doing it beforehand, Kelly would come on the day of the fight. So I hope to have some of those people on.
"Also we’re going to have Michelle Corrales on because Diego Corrales was probably our all-time favorite, down through the years. Diego loved to come on the show and we used to have a two-hour show and he would always insist on coming on for the full two hours. He didn’t want to just do a segment. So he would come into the studio, whether we were doing a show in Los Angeles or we were doing it on the road in Vegas, where he lived. He would come on, but he wanted to be there at the beginning and do the whole show so he could interview fighters or other personalities that we’d have on, as well. He just had a great time.
Marotta continued on by saying, "I think it’s going to be a nostalgic-type of show and I’m going to probably sit in the last segment and just talk with James Wimberly, my producer, about it and our experiences."
Through the years, Wimberly has been every bit the presence that Marotta has been behind the scenes, organizing the show and booking guests. Wimberly says, "I’m going to miss the show because the fact of being an ex-boxer and loving the sport of boxing. I’m going to miss doing the show and being able to be on the inside and involved in boxing. That’s what I’m going to miss the most, putting the show together, interviewing fighters and bringing something to the average boxing fan that they couldn’t get anywhere else but on our show."
Marotta and Wimberly aren’t just working partners, but long-time friends.
"The thing about Rich and I, we go back 30 years. Rich used to be my manager when I first started boxing and it’s come full-circle, as far as producing his boxing show, then before that, was the producer of the Raider pre- and post-game show for five or six years with Rich and Jim Plunkett. So we’ve gone full-circle," said Wimberly, who like Marotta, wasn’t doing this for paycheck. "I wasn’t getting paid a lot of money, but it was the fact that anytime you like doing something you like, it’s not even about the money at the end of the day. Anytime you like doing something, as far not getting paid a lot of money, you do it because of the passion for it. I enjoyed the fight game as an ex-fighter. I loved being around the gym, I loved going to Vegas for the fights. It was just a part of me. I loved it.
Wimberly says he will still help out the station when they do live remotes from the big fights and he adds, "I’m going to get back in the game some kind of way."
But for now, his Sundays have been freed up.
"One thing is going to be good; I’m not going to have to get up early in the morning anymore, driving up to Burbank. It’ll allow me not to have to rush back going back to church every Sunday morning," said Wimberly, who lives in Rancho Cucamonga.
While the show was placed on the weekends, it still served as an important ambassador for a sport that is virtually ignored on terrestrial radio. Now, without that show, Los Angeles- one of the world’s largest media markets- has lost its last full-time program devoted to professional boxing, which does bothers Marotta.
"It’s really distressing and I don’t think there’s much hope for there to be much mainstream coverage in terms of radio," he opines. "But I have seen, I think, a little bit of a resurgence in newspaper coverage in the last couple of years, a little more interest being show by the newspapers, once again, in boxing. So I’m not giving up completely on mainstream coverage. I have found that, the way sports talk has morphed, that most of the sports talk show hosts- there are some exceptions- are not really converse in boxing. They’re not really interested in boxing.
"So that’s to the sports detriment and to the detriment of sports talk radio, overall."
HATS OFF
Having once done a regular boxing show on the radio a looooong time ago, I can relate to many of things Rich Marotta has had to endure. Bottom line, boxing, is Rodney Dangerfield to the folks who run radio. Through it all, Marotta did it with class and aplomb. I am honored to say that I was asked many times to be a guest on “The Neutral Corner.” To have any specialty show last as long as it did, speaks volumes about the job they did.
My hats off to everyone that made “The Neutral Corner” what it was. It will be missed.
OMISSION
In a Maxboxing story on Tim Bradley, earlier this week, I forgot to mention that the WBO junior welterweight titlist is co-promoted by Thompson Boxing Promotions, alongside Gary Shaw. It was brought to my attention by their fine matchmaker Alex Camponovo, whose company actually started off Bradley and developed him as a young prospect out of the amateurs.
It is duly noted and my apologies are humbly extended. They do a great job over there (as they also cultivated the career of IBF bantamweight titlist, Yonnhy Perez) and their work should not be overlooked.
WEEKEND FLURRIES
Episode three of “Fight Camp 360” premieres on Showtime this Monday at 8:30 PM, ET/PT...Speaking of the “Super Six,” the April 17th doubleheader that has Carl Froch-Mikkel Kessler and Andre Ward-Allan Green has been moved to April 24th...Speaking of that date, I’m told that the heavyweight clash between Chris Arreola and Tomasz Adamek is “98-percent done” as is the junior middleweight bout between Alfredo Angulo and Joel Julio, which will open up the HBO broadcast from the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, Ca...Speaking of Bradley, I’m told that Zab Judah has turned down the opportunity to face “The Desert Storm” on June 5th. Seriously, will anyone out there face him? Where have you gone, Terrence Alli?...Martin Honorio defends his NABO lightweight belt on March 5th versus Wilton Hilario as the headliner on ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights” from the Pechanga Resort and Casino...The fourth season of “Friday Night Lights” was a masterpiece. Do yourself- well, really, me- a favor and catch it when it comes on NBC later on this year. They give me a fifth season and I’m good. I won’t beg for anymore after that...The latest edition of “The Main Event” features Bob Arum and Glen Johnson...Any questions or comments can be directed to k9kim@yahoo.com...And did you know that Maxboxing now has a Facebook page? You can click on our new icon at the Maxboxing home page or find it right here: facebook.com/MaxBoxing...Follow me at Twitter.com/stevemaxboxing...
