Walk the dog, stroll through the park, have a picnic at the lake.
There are safer things for IBF cruiserweight champ Vassily Jirov to do this month than defend his title against James “Lights Out” Toney.
Barbecue, play softball, fish, visit the zoo. Thank his lucky stars.
Jirov, who lives in California, won’t be fighting Toney on HBO on Jan. 25.
Something to do with his insides.
Ask Toney why Jirov pulled out of their fight and he’ll tell you it was Jirov’s heart that let him down, his backbone that went soft, not his banged-up ribs. Ask Toney and he’ll tell you about heartbreak and lies and revenge and fighting anybody in the universe if it means another title. Jirov claims he suffered the damage while sparring. Maybe. But it’s the fourth time Jirov has found a reason not to fight Toney. How many times you got to be told to go home before you realize the guy doesn’t want to come outside and play? How many times you got to be bit by the same dog before you realize it wants to be left alone? Jirov has more excuses than a politician caught with a hooker on his lap.
In his own eloquent way, Toney recently described how disappointed he was in the cancellation of their title fight on the undercard of the Vernon Forrest – Ricardo Mayorga welterweight title fight.
“The @#%$%*&#@,’’ Toney said after learning of the postponement on Christmas Eve. “Jirov can @&%$#% and then he can @%$#@#$. He’s nothing but a #$%#@#.’’ That said, it doesn’t brighten up the New Year in the Toney household.
“I’m done with it,’’ said Toney, sounding like a guy who finally gets tried of being stood up by the same girl.
As of Dec. 30, there was still no word of an opponent for Toney, though he’s still making regular trips to the gym.
Merry Christmas, James. Have a Happy New Year.
“Bah, humbug,’’ said Toney’s promoter Dan Goossen. “We didn’t have much of a Christmas. I got the news on Christmas Eve. But you just have to bounce back.’’ Funny thing about fighters. Some make excuses, some fight through them. You get the feeling Toney could have cracked five ribs and his right tibia and still climbed into the ring against Jirov.
It raises a lot of questions. What’s Jirov got against fighting? After a busy 2001, he hasn’t fought since last February. How do you hold a title after you’ve gone into retirement? Just who is this guy and why does he like to hide? Is there really a Vassily Jirov out there, or is he a creation of the IBF, a shadowy figure who won the title and decided it was too big a risk to keep defending it? The bottom line is, Toney may be left with a lot of unexpected free time on his hands if they don’t find him another fight, though he knew better than to mark the date on his calendar in ink. There are no promises in boxing. When dealing with a guy like Jirov, all bets are off. But Toney can still hope. The name O’Neil Bell – the WBC’s No. 1 challenger – has been knocked around, and Toney said he doesn’t care what contender or champion he knocks out on Jan. 25. “#@#$%$#,’’ Toney said.
You can say that again.

A new year is upon us, which means it's time for new years resolutions. Yeah, never mind that most resolutions are broken, oh, around the third week of January; everybody still makes them.

Here are my resolutions that I'd make for some of the luminaries in the sport of boxing.

* Floyd Mayweather: No more excuses. Anyone else sick of listening to 'the Pretty Boy' whine about what ailments he came into the fight with? Whether it's his fragile hands, a bum shoulder or his squabbles with his promoter Bob Arum, he always has an alibi. Hey Floyd, nobody cares, you get paid plenty to perform and those that buy tickets don't care that you might have a hangnail; they want nothing but the best effort out of you.

Mayweather reminds me of former Los Angeles Dodger slugger Mike Marshall, who's second home seemed to be the disabled list. The bottom line is this guy is lucky to be a boxer where he only has to perform once every 6 months- he simply couldn't handle the rigors of an NBA, NFL or baseball season. Ask any athlete if they are ever 100-percent healthy after the first day of training camp or spring training and they'll laugh at you.

Injuries and ailments are a part of the job, overcoming them is what makes a true professional. Mayweather still hasn't grasped that concept.

* Jim Gray: Respect. I guess this little weasel is whom Aretha Franklin was talking about in her song. Think about it, have you ever seen a guy be so disrespectful to fighters in post-fight interviews like this guy. Don't even mention HBO's Larry Merchant- he isn't afraid to ask the tough questions like a true journalist and he's consistent. Gray looks at boxing as a secondary gig and looks down on boxers in general.

Don't believe me? Just compare and contrast his softball interviews that he does for NBC and the hatchet jobs he does on Showtime.

* Max Kellerman: No more over-hyping New York boxers. Look, I get along and respect Max, but when you look up the term 'East Coast Bias' in Webster's, his picture may be used as the definition of it. From Zab Judah to James Butler and to Tokumbo Olajide, he'll have you enshrined in Canastota if you come out of the Big Apple.

What's worse are the excuses he'll come up with for his New Yorkers when they fall on their faces. Max is great for boxing but he's gotta realize New York hasn't been a player on the boxing scene for at least 20 years.

* Crocodile: A new catchphrase. You know Crocodile, right? He was Mike Tyson's hype-man for all these years…the guy with the menacing shades and the army fatigues who used to scream, “GUERILLA WARFARE” at the top of his lungs over and over again.

I've heard that enough and it's about as played out as 'Whoop, there it is' and it's time he came up with a new one. All the great ones can add to their repertoire.

* HBO: Admit they acknowledge the titles. Stop being the Hypocritical Boxing Organization and just stop saying that you don't recognize these organizations. The latest example of their double-talk? Well, for years they dogged John Ruiz and his WBA title, suddenly Roy Jones challenges Ruiz and HBO is hyping this up as some sort of historic challenge of a light heavyweight trying to capture a heavyweight title.
Yeah, the same title they had basically trashed for years.

* Joe Cortez: No more over-officiating. His line is that,' He's firm but he's fair'. I'd argue about that the last couple of years but my biggest gripe with him is that he seems to make himself waaaaay too visible during fights and gets too involved. Nobody is there to watch him and he should just let the fighters fight.
Too often I see these fights with Cortez lose their flow as Cortez continually interrupts the action with his admonishments and warnings. Joe, take a step back and let us watch what we came to see.

* Don Turner: Stop living off of Holyfield-Tyson I- If you ever talk to this guy, he'll talk as though he invented boxing. And his big coup was co-training Evander Holyfield against Mike Tyson. 'The Real Deal' upset Tyson and suddenly Turner was being hailed as the new Chappie Blackburn and he became a media darling.

My question is this, did he suddenly teach Holyfield how to fight 35 fights into his career? Also, I contend that my mother and I could work Holyfield's corner and he would whip Tyson everyday of the week and twice on Sunday. And ask yourself this, when was the last time he was in the winning corner for a big fight?

* Newspaper writers: Start crediting the Internet. Ok, this is a sore subject with me, but too many times I've seen stories from the major newspaper scribes who amazingly have stories that are eerily similar to stories that I've read on the internet (or that I've written myself) and use quotes that I got in one-on-one interviews and they don't attribute their sources- the internet.

When I take quotes or info from a story I make a point to give credit where it's due. Now, I just wish these guys would do the same.

* Roy Jones: no more hip-hop entrances. Roy, you're a magnificently gifted prizefighter, you can also play just a bit of hoops, but your rhyming skills are that of Shaquille O'Neal. In other words, you're doing street nursery rhymes not Nas.

Please, oh please, stop embarrassing yourself and the sport with your cheesy as nacho's attempt to become a hip-hop performer. His last entrance/performance reminded me of one of those really bad Sir-Mix-Alot videos of the early 90's.

* Panama Lewis: an exit out of the game. You remember Lewis right, the guy who gave Aaron Pryor the mysterious white bottle before the 14th round of his bout against Alexis Arguello, which seemed to give 'the Hawk' a sudden burst of energy that enabled Pryor to brutally KO Arguello. Afterwards, Pryor would skip out on his post-fight drug test.

Then there was the fight with Luis Resto, where he would tamper with his gloves between rounds, and bearing the brunt of this tomfoolery was Billy Collins who's faced was turned into a bloody mess. Collins, in the aftermath of this brutality committed suicide. For this, Lewis was banned permanently from working a corner. But that doesn't mean that he can't go into the gym and train fighters and even attend fights.

The bottom line is simple, this man has no place in the game of boxing and boxing shouldn't tolerate him in any way.

* Cedric Kushner: no more gimmicks. This guy has tried everything from the disastrous 'ThunderBox' to one-day $100,000 heavyweight tournaments- and all have failed miserably.

He can put on a boxing version of 'Survivor' or 'Real World' if he wants but the reality is, boxing fans want good fights and interesting fighters, nothing more, nothing less.

Stop with the shenanigans and stop with the junk.

The 10th Round

The following letter was sent to the membership of the Association of Boxing Commissions by its president, Tim Luckenenhoff, on November 14, 2002:

I fully expect this to show up in the Charles Jay File (totalaction.com), that is why I am writing to the entire membership. It seems as though one or more of our members has been providing Mr. Jay with emails which were sent to the ABC membership as a way to keep them updated. I have always tried to keep the membership apprised of activity regarding the ABC. But, I am getting tired of seeing my email on Mr. Jay's webpage.

The actions of one or more of the ABC members providing this information has caused me to become more guarded in the information that will be provided to the membership as a way of keeping you dated. Sadly, most of the membership will suffer due to your actions.

I am certain this email will be forwarded as the others. I am certain the person(s) responsible are not professional enough to admit and tell me (us) why they would do such a thing. If you are doing this to hurt me that is one thing, but you have to realize you are hurting the entire association.

Thank Tim

Tim Lueckenhoff
Chief Investigator
Division of Professional Registration

Administrator
Missouri Office of Athletics
573/751-0243 Work
573/751-5649 FAX

End of story, right?

Wrong.

Not only should Lueckenhoff NOT be supressing information from his fellow ABC members, he shouldn't be supressing it from ANYONE. And it can be argued that, by law, he actually can't.

That's because Lueckenhoff performs all of his duties as president of the ABC out of the offices he occupies in the Missouri Office of Athletics, where he is the chief administrator. That is the address, phone and fax number that is listed for him on the letterhead of the ABC. In effect, a state office has become the working headquarters of the ABC, to the point where the phone number to Lueckenhoff's commission office is listed as the contact number of the ABC on its official website. Lueckenhoff does not receive compensation for his role as ABC president. But he performs all his duties on state time, from state offices, using state phones, and while he is being paid a state salary.

In addition, all his e-mail correspondence with ABC members, including the above letter warning about me, was sent through his state e-mail address – tluecken@mail.state.mo.us, being carried over state e-mail servers. In fact, if you notice Lueckenhoff's signature file, he identified himself as a state official – “Chief Investigator, Division of Professional Registration — Administrator, Missouri Office of Athletics”.

As such, everything Lueckenhoff does, and has done, as president of the Association of Boxing Commissions – that means his correspondence with various boxing commissions, memoranda regarding the implementations of federal law, any official documents or records relating to ABC business; in short, anything that exists on paper as a result of his duties with the ABC that may have originated from, or come into, his state offices, might very well fall under the scope of the “Missouri Sunshine Law”, because Lueckenhoff's ABC activity becomes more or less an extension of his state activity.

The part of that law which would concern Lueckenhoff is summarized in the following way on the state's website:

“PUBLIC RECORDS — 610.010, 610.023, 610.024 Unless otherwise provided by law, records of a public governmental body are to be open and available to the public for inspection and copying. The governmental body may charge a reasonable fee for providing access to or copies of public records. The fee is not to exceed actual cost of the document search and duplication. Upon request, the governmental body shall certify in writing that the cost does not exceed that body's actual cost.

Each public governmental body appoints a custodian for the records. The Sunshine Law requires that each request for access to a public record be acted on no later than the end of the third business day following the date the request is received by the custodian. If access is denied, the custodian must explain in writing and must include why access is denied, including the statute that authorizes the denial.

If only part of a record may be closed to review, the rest of the record must be made available.”

Any member of the general public can fill out a public records request from the state of Missouri, and the burden presumably would be on a public official (like Lueckenhoff) to demonstrate just cause as to why something should remain secret. There are exemptions to the law, but none would likely be justified in this case.

Keep in mind that the same thing applies to other members of the ABC, most, if not all of of whom, as state employees, have their own public records laws to comply with.

I bring all this up not because Tim sent that letter – in fact, I found that e-mail sort of comical. Rather, I wish to illustrate that the same organization that would seem to demand accountability from managers, promoters and sanctioning bodies would not feel it incumbent upon themselves to adhere to the same spirit and principles of disclosure.

In point of fact, they're actually hiding behind certain provisions in the federal law in order to hold back information that rightly should be accessible by fighters, when it suits the purposes of some special interest. That's simply wrong. And it's certainly something we're going to be exploring in a lot greater detail as “Operation Cleanup 2” progresses.

I don't know – maybe I shouldn't be taking Lueckenhoff's recent communication with his colleagues too lightly. Tim is very, very familiar with what I do – in fact, if you've followed what we've done all along, you know that the original nucleus for “Operation Cleanup” came from a collection of suggestions for federal regulations that I compiled at his request.

Over the course of time, as the ABC has shown itself to be generally weak, ineffectual, and even hypocritical at times, we have seen fit to expose various things – one of the latest, which evidently hit a nerve, involved the inappropriate handling of a situation regarding confiscation of WBA sanctioning fees by the California commission and supported by the ABC – detailed in Chapter 72 of “Operation Cleanup”. In the process we re-posted letters from Lueckenhoff to WBA president Gilberto Mendoza (copied to California commission director Rob Lynch), and U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Throughout the last seven months, I may not have been subtle in getting my point across, but at all times I wrote what I believed to be true and accurate. None of what was done was intended with a mean spirit. And it's all in the best interests of boxing.

Yet it appears that Tim is intent on keeping me – and in turn,YOU –  in the dark, to the extent that he has threatened to only selectively inform his ABC constituents of matters they should be apprised of. Think about it for a second. The idea that public accountability would be “hurting the entire association”, as Lueckenhoff put it, has got to send a message loudly and clearly. And I can assure you, that message is not something that is good for boxing in general.

Consider this – quite obviously, somebody from within the ABC membership has felt it absolutely necessary for me – and the public – to be aware of what is going on there, right?

Thank God for THAT.

It's just a shame that the guy who actually runs the organization takes the opposite view.

(P.S. — I heard some ABC members might pass around our paid content to each other as a way of extracting a little “revenge”. All I can say is that it would be quite amusing to cause some embarassment for commissioners within their state governments as they're caught pirating intellectual property.)

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