Boxing Blog – TSS Tidbits

To be perfectly honest, I’m not quite sure what the ESPY Awards really mean. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. Like many events that are created solely for television, the show has no cultural purpose other than to serve pop culture itself. But on the positive side, it offers some betting propositions, and one of them involves boxing. ESPN gives an award to the “Best Boxer” for the year…….well, actually that’s not too clear. I’m imagining that the period for which the nominees are judged ends when the voting ends. How else would wins in the last few months be included in the “criteria” ESPN is using on its website to justify the nominations?

There are only four nominees in this category – lightweight champion Diego Corrales, welterweight titleholder Zab Judah, middleweight king Bernard Hopkins, and former junior middleweight champ Winky Wright. A couple of odd things here – three of the nominees are “unified” world champions, while the fourth isn’t – at least at the moment – a world champion at all. Also, Glen Johnson, who unified the light heavyweight title with wins over the last two fighters to win the ESPY – Roy Jones Jr. and Antonio Tarver – failed to get a nomination (who knows if his rematch loss to Tarver counts for this particular period of recognition).

This is my line on the winner:

WINKY WRIGHT
Doesn’t Win -150
Does Win +130

– Ironic that my favorite is the guy who doesn’t hold a belt. Among this group, it appears to me as if Wright has made the greatest strides in the general landscape of his sport, not necessarily as a box-office smash, but in terms of where he stands among the best the game has to offer. Think of it this way – it was just a few years ago that Shane Mosley and Felix Trinidad were considered by many (mostly those who didn’t like Roy Jones) as the top two “pound-for-pound” fighters in the world. Wright has more or less taken them out of that kind of consideration – most likely for good. In the fight with Trinidad, he was an underdog and won every round of the fight. He sits in an interesting position right now; though not someone the public demands to see, he is nonetheless an opponent that would be important for people like Hopkins (if he beats Jermain Taylor) and Oscar De La Hoya to face if they wish to add to their “legacy.”

DIEGO CORRALES
Doesn’t Win -190
Does Win +170

– With his stoppage wins over Acelino Freitas and Jose Luis Castillo, Corrales is an outstanding nominee, and arguably the most spectacular. There was nothing wrong with Corrales’ performances; it’s just that his wins had a little less cachet attached to them than those of Wright.

BERNARD HOPKINS
Doesn’t Win -380
Does Win +320

– Hopkins scored the most high-profile win of this group – the knockout of Oscar De La Hoya – and also beat Howard Eastman, but in those fights, did he do anything more than he was supposed to do? He’ll get some support from the fans, and the publicity from the upcoming fight with Taylor helps, but how much?

ZAB JUDAH
Doesn’t Win -500
Does Win +450

– One reference in boxing that is often overused by the media involves a fighter “transforming his style” from boxer to puncher or puncher to boxer (e.g., the mischaracterization of Arturo Gatti, and we saw what happened when he fought someone). Most of the time, the world-class guys are boxer-punchers who adapt to the situation. In Judah’s case, he learned that for him, speed could mean power, and he has set down on his punches more, with devastating results. After the embarrassment of the loss to Kostya Tszyu, Judah has rehabilitated himself to where he is a position to fight Floyd Mayweather, De La Hoya, or whoever.

* The ESPY’S will be televised on ESPN on Sunday, July 17, at 8 PM ET.

In case you didn’t catch it, this past Thursday the family of Bradley Rone, a heavyweight who collapsed and died in Cedar City, Utah in July of 2003, filed suit in Salt Lake City against the Utah Athletic Commission and its executive director, Richard Weinsoft. Top Rank was also named as a defendant, as were Sean Gibbons, Pete Susens and Cornelius Boza-Edwards, who work for Top Rank; FKF Productions, and its owner, Eddie “Flash” Newman, who promoted the fight card at which Rone died Here is the story in the Salt Lake Tribune.

The thrust of the suit is that Rone was not fit to fight and should not have been clearance to do so, and that the defendants knew it.

Right now I don’t want to venture too extensively into the specifics of the argument, since I might wind up involved in the case on some level, but if you follow this thing as it plays out, you’re going to see a very harrowing tale of neglect by regulators, who seemed to have a reckless disregard for their own rules and regulations, with very little understanding of the potential damaging effects of not following those rules until it was too late. ALL commissions should be watching this thing closely, as should the Association of Boxing Commissions, which appeared to go out of its way to legitimize Utah’s chief regulator (Weinsoft) after this tragic incident – oddly reminiscent of what they did for Jack Kerns, the chairman of the Kentucky commission, whose negligence contributed to Greg Page suffering permanent brain damage after a knockout loss in 2001.

I’ll say this much: if the doctor appointed by the Utah commission did NOT examine Rone prior to entering the ring (and thus far the state has not produced any documentation that he did so), there’s going to be a whole lot of additional trouble for everyone involved.

Jennifer Weaver, a reporter for The Spectrum in Cedar City, filed a series of reports surrounding Rone’s death that provide an excellent and comprehensive background. Here you can find a list of them through the archives. I wrote an analysis of my own findings – “Utah…..And All That Jazz” here on The Sweet Science last December 31. It illustrated some of the very serious problems with Utah’s boxing regulators and how those problems could easily lead to tragedy in the ring, and won a “Barney” award from the Boxing Writers Association of America.

In the latest of my many marathon discussions with legendary boxing historian Hank Kaplan, he happened to mention reports he had heard of a recent upsurge on the club show circuit. I told him it would great news if it were true, but that I hadn’t seen any overwhelming evidence to that effect.

We both agreed on one thing – the re-establishment of the club show as a major boxing staple is going to be critical if boxing is to pull itself out of the doldrums and gain some ground on other sports to which it has lost market space over the last few decades.

Neophytes, whose only contact with boxing is through shows they see on television, are generally under the impression that the sport is thriving because they see so much of it on the tube. “Those people are going to feel that way about boxing, because they don’t really have anything else to compare it to,” said Hank.

Certainly I concur. Whenever I hear an argument insinuating that the boxing economy is “booming,” I respond the same way. I will consider it a barometer that the business is completely healthy when two things happen: 1) Significant fights – even world title fights – can be held on a semi-regular basis here in the U.S. without a television or casino subsidy. In other words, they can turn a profit by virtue of LIVE ticket sales; and 2) Every major city in the United States has at least one club fight promotion that can run regularly at a profit. That means no Ponzi schemes, no “angels,” no borrowing Peter to pay Paul.

THAT’S the only way you’re going to see a real turnaround.

You see, a healthy club show circuit provides a “foundation” in so many ways. It is populated by promoters who recognize that their customers are not the networks and casinos, but the fans, making it much more likely that the needs of the fans will be served first. More promotions would mean more choice for fighters in terms of which promoter to align with. It creates more interest in the media. It fosters more local interest in local fighters. It cultivates a fan base for the bigger promotions, building it from the ground up.

Of course, because of all this it offers a platform by which fighters can be developed. For example, if you’re an aspiring pugilist in St. Louis, and there are no regular promotions going on there, you’d have to go out of town – possibly far away – to get any fights. Invariably it results in less work. Fighters in that situation start to pack it in. That, among other things, leads to the deterioration of the infrastructure.

The healthy conditions I describe don’t exist in boxing now. So, you may ask, why is our company making such an investment in the game now?

Because we know there’s room for hope. The decline of boxing coincided with the explosion of television. Less fans wanted to see the local club show when they could turn on the TV and see, in most cases, better fighters without having to buy a ticket. There were great parallels between boxing and minor league baseball; after all, if you lived in Little Rock, and could see the Dodgers and Cardinals on television, there was less of a chance you’d want to go see the local minor league team, the Arkansas Travelers. Club shows were more or less the “minor leagues” of boxing.

But minor league baseball is in the midst of a comeback. Why? Well, partly because team operators understand that in a competitive world, they are in the entertainment business and as such have to make their event more fun to attend. They’ve got to improvise, adapt, promote and innovate. Boxing needs more promoters who can think “outside the box” rather than follow the same tired old formula. On the horizon, I can see the potential for such a thing happening (obviously this is a subject for a much longer essay), and our every intention is to help fuel a resurgence in any way we can.

We know it’s a long haul, but I wouldn’t bet against us.

CJ

“We’d like to wish a happy Fourth of July to all boxing fans, with a reminder that the REAL fireworks will be happening twelve days from now, when Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor square off for the world middleweight title, live on pay-per-view.”

That’s the kind of thing I would likely have written in my early days as a publicity agent for promoters. Sure, it’s a little corny, but there is a part of the media that really eats up that kind of thing, and wants more and more of it. Of course, they’ll eat most anything, if it’s free………

We’re in an age where if you have a computer, a modem, and a copy of Dreamweaver or Microsoft Front Page, you too can be a publisher and get free passes to fights.

Joe Rein described this scenario quite well in his CJ Award-winning story, “What a Tangled Web We Weave,” based on his observations at the Hopkins-Taylor press conference in Los Angeles:

“There was a clear caste system among the media. The beat writers for the dailies were well-groomed and nondescript. The Internet was represented by bloused shirts, sneakers and baseball caps off to one side. They looked pleased to be grazing at the buffet table; eating better than they normally would and getting validated parking.”

That’s funny, and it contains a great deal of truth, too. Honestly, I would have laughed a whole lot harder had I not actually been one of those people way back when. Hey – everybody’s got to start somewhere, right? When I was 20 or 21 years old I was running around, trying to hawk a newsletter, happy as hell to be let into any press conference, and even happier to get press seating at a fight. Would someone like myself, who was without leverage then, have stroked some promoter with a softball interview because I was honored to be sharing the same press table as the guy from Sports Illustrated or the Associated Press? Yeah, I probably would. And I probably did.

Naturally, when you start to mature a little, you’ve got to move to the next level. Some do; some don’t. I like to think I’ve progressed somewhat; after all, those writers from Sports Illustrated and the Associated Press (Pat Putnam and Ed Schuyler, respectively, who still have a lot of creative juice left in them) now spin their magic for me here at The Sweet Science.

But 20 years ago, while I was surveying the chicken wings from some spread at a Miami Beach press conference, there was probably no way to forecast that was ever going to happen.

A word of enlightenment to all promoters, managers, or even fellow members of the media – the “twerp” with no readers who’s slobbering all over himself at the buffet or asking the silly question of someone on the dais might very well be the same guy you’re relying on heavily for an objective opinion a few years from now. So extend as much courtesy as you possibly can.

I know there are promoters who have instituted policies in which they evaluate the “most important” internet outlets and shut everyone else off from media credentials. All I ask is that there is some examination as to which of the online press are in it strictly for the freebies and which are sincere about supplying a product or service for the reader. I say this not because we have that kind of problem at The Sweet Science (fortunately we do not), but because it must not be forgotten that the internet people represent a grassroots interest in the game and many of them will one day become writers with a bigger audience, whether it’s electronically or in print.

Also, when you deny access to someone who’s really working at this thing, and do it out of hand, you’re basically telling them they have no value whatsoever to you. Human nature being what it is, that is usually going to be remembered by anyone with some self-respect, and it will come back to haunt you. And this sport needs all the support it can get. So be courteous, and also be judicious at the same time.

CJ

Boxing writer and veteran observer Rein wins CJ Award for May — Abramson, Smith are runners-up, with special mention to Graham

Talented freelance boxing writer Joe Rein has a style all his own. And that style now manifests itself in his being named over an accomplished field of candidates as winner of the May 2005 CJ Award, bestowed by TheSweetScience.com

Rein’s award-winning story, “What a Tangled Web We Weave,” covered a Los Angeles press conference along the promotional trail for the upcoming middleweight title fight between Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor, and did so with such lyricism as to separate itself from the level of reporting one usually sees from these self-serving events.

“What a wonderful surprise to hear I’ve won the CJ Award,” said Rein, upon hearing of the honor. “It’s especially gratifying, considering the talent on the site.”

Rein got a #1 vote from all panelists, a first for the CJ Award.

“In another era, a writer like Joe Rein would be known by everyone interested in boxing,” said Robert Ecksel, editor of The Sweet Science. “His quirky, idiosyncratic style elevates his work from pure ‘journalese’ and his boxing background gives his work an authenticity often lacking from the work of his equally enthusiastic but less experienced colleagues. This was an unusual bit of work from an unusual boxing columnist not beholden to any conventions.”

“My only approach to this article, as with everything I write,” says Rein, “is to have the reader experience it, painting the most vivid picture possible.”

Rein, who currently teaches television production at UCLA, is a former amateur boxer who trained at the Fifth Street Gym on Miami Beach and fought for the University of Miami at a time when the sport was more commonplace on the collegiate level. He has contributed to a number of websites over the years and has an essay in the book “Shadow Boxers,” which is now in release.

Runners-up for May were Mitch Abramson for “The Life and Rhymes of Don Majeski,” and Greg Smith for “Ezzard Charles: Subtle Greatness.”

Abramson, a New Yorker who has written for the New York Times and Village Voice among others, addressed the career of one of boxing’s intriguing “underground” characters – the peripatetic Majeski, who is one of the sport’s most influential behind-the-scenes operators.

“This story went below the surface, exploring a subject the average fan doesn’t know very much about,” said Charles Jay, editor-in-chief of The Sweet Science. “And it was extremely well-crafted. As such, it’s an ideal CJ Award candidate.”

Smith’s story about Ezzard Charles, the former heavyweight champ, was long overdue, in Jay’s opinion. “Ezzard Charles may have been, at one time or another, the best middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight in the world, or very close to it,” he said. “Precious few fighters can say that. Yet he is not recognized enough by history, and certainly not by this generation of fight fans.”

Special mention went to Tim Graham, boxing writer for the Buffalo News, who also writes a weekly column at The Sweet Science. Although none of Graham’s stories received enough individual consideration for the award, each member of the voting panel put a different Graham entry into nomination.

“That is a testament to the depth and breadth of Tim’s ability,” Jay says. “He’s versatile and professional, possessing a pundit’s mindset and a reporter’s work ethic. He’s a heavy hitter for us.”

Graham won a first-place “Barney” award from the Boxing Writers Association of America last year for his coverage of the Mike Tyson-Danny Williams fight, which appeared on The Sweet Science. It was one of four “Barney” awards the website captured – more than any other media outlet.

The CJ Award is a monthly honor named for Jay, an acclaimed boxing scribe whose “Operation Cleanup” books are regarded as the most hard-hitting look at boxing from the inside. It is the only award for boxing writers that is accompanied by money – the winner of each month’s prize receives $300, with the runners-up receiving $100 apiece.

CJ Award winners are determined by the editorial board of The Sweet Science, a group of people involved with the sport that, aside from Jay, includes editor Robert Ecksel, web editor Chris Gielty, and Dino daVinci, founder of the International Brotherhood of Prizefighters (IBOP). Editorial board members and officers of TheSweetScience.com or IBOP are ineligible to win the CJ Award.

The Sweet Science sets the gold standard for boxing journalism. Updated on a daily basis, it includes hundreds of features, interviews, columns, predictions, odds, angles and more. Anyone interested in boxing will find a treasure trove at The Sweet Science, located at http://www.thesweetscience.com. More details about the CJ Award, as well as links to the award-winning stories, can be found at http://www.thesweetscience.com/cj-awards.php.