Warriors and an Angel

In boxing, the little guys often upstage the big guys. It was never more evident than on these occasions:

Madison Square Garden, the undercard of the James Toney-John Ruiz heavyweight title fight. The WBA super featherweight title fight between Thai champion Yodsanan Nanthachai (3-K Battery) and Panama’s Vicente Mosquera could be fight of the year if not for Castillo and Corrales.

Nanthachai had not lost a fight since 1994. He was dropped in the first round but fought back gamely. He dropped Mosquera in the third but Mosquera returned the favor before the round could end. Mosquera would drop the champ one more time before winning the title via unanimous decision. Much of the contest was waged toe-to-toe.

Part 2 – Atlantic City, the prelude to the Wladimir Klitschko-Samuel Peter main event was a bout between Miguel Cotto and Ricardo Torres. They reminded us why we became boxing fans in the first place.

They entered the fight with a combined record of 52-0 with 46 knockouts. Each of the seven rounds either had a knockdown or a fighter staggered. It looked like Torres would pull out the upset early. But Cotto, who weathered tremendous blows in the first few rounds, had enough left to end the fight in the seventh round. The action rarely ceased.

So long good friend. In November, Charlie Gellman died. He was a club fighter in the 1930s best known for sparring with James J. Braddock. After retiring from boxing he became a hospital administrator and never turned his back on a fighter. For decades he made sure every boxer who came his way received proper medical treatment. (For more on Gellman, see my July profile on TheSweetScience.com).

I am very fortunate to have written about many great fighters and famous athletes. But the articles that I have written about Gellman are the ones I will make my children read first.

Robert Cassidy Jr. writes for Newsday and The Sweet Science. To read more of his work