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The Most Dangerous Game
Jack Dempsey would have approved of the work of both Salido and ref Ramirez on this night in Puerto Rico.
By stopping Juan Manuel Lopez in a sequel to their first thriller in April 2011, Orlando Salido gave Mexico yet another victory over national nemesis Puerto Rico. He did it in San Juan while 10,000 Puerto Rican fans surrounded his wife, and three judges were on schedule to rob him of a decision.
He did it after unhinging Lopez from his senses in the eighth round.
Somewhere up there, Jack Dempsey dropped a harp and burst into applause. Dempsey correctly believed that punchers are made, not born. His theories were published way back in 1950 in a book that explained just how it was that he demolished 49 men and toppled a giant off the heavyweight throne. No mention was made of iron bolts or plaster of Paris and none was necessary; Dempseyâs secrets were of the scientific, not the criminal type. Much of them were written in longhand on 384 pages when he was a half-starved journeyman in fleabag hotel rooms. With Championship Boxing: Explosive Punching and Aggressive Defense, Dempsey proved that he was serious about self-improvement long before he began attending tea parties with Hollywood dandies.
Real power âthe kind that dents chins and topples giantsâ is a product of âfast-moving body weight.â Gravity, Dempsey theorized, not only gives motion to weight by causing it to fall, it increases its force. He came up with something called the âfalling stepâ where a boxer becomes a puncher by using forward motion and gravity to increases the force of a blow in much that same way that small objects become lethal when dropped from a building.
Salido put these theories into practice on Saturday night. I know not whether Dempseyâs book was translated into Spanish and found its way into his training camp, but I know of what I see and I saw Dempseyâs theories applied in blazing color.
âThe hook is the perfect whirling punch,â said Dempsey, âitâs pure.â He distinguished shovel hooks (where the elbow is held tight to the body to shoot upwards in close) from the usual outside hooks. Salido did both. In fact, his left shovel hook was a potent counter against Lopezâs jab while his outside hooks came from not only the left, but the right, which is unusual for an orthodox fighter. In fact, three right hooks were landed one after another in the second round and the last one was enough to convince Lopez to back off.
Dempsey backed off from Sam Langford. Like Dempsey, Langford had his own theories of pugilism though his were of the down-home variety. How to win? âWhatever that other man want to do, donât let him do it.â So, even as Salido used physics to increase the force of his body-head combinations, he confused âthat other manâ with strange sights like counter-uppercuts and right hooks. Lopez wasnât allowed to do much of anything because his head was ringing.
Had Lopez recognized his true enemies through the fog, he might have cursed the memory of Dempsey and Langford. Instead he placed his faith in a more recent ring general and mirrored his style. But Floyd Mayweather couldnât help him. Mayweather weathers storms and looks for counter shots, but itâs hard to weather a storm that whirls in from both sides and throws unexpected shots; and itâs hard to counter a man whose torso is a helical spring. Whatâs more, Lopez insulted Mayweather by being offensive instead of defensive when his back was on the ropes, and so demonstrated the vanity of students who try to amend tried-and-true theories of their betters.
Then came that check hook in the fifth round that dropped Salido and almost made a jerk out of Dempsey.
There was irony in it. Lopez only landed it because he momentarily forgot himself and began to think strategically, like a Hollywood dandy working the floor. Instead of meeting the rushing Salido like a blood-stained warrior, he stepped back and off the perimeter. As Salidoâs slashing hooks whizzed by, he countered with straight lines and moved. It was a short right hook that caught Salido blind; and things were suddenly looking up, including Salido.
Former welterweight king Felix Trinidad watched what had happened from ringside and tried to explain it to those around him. Finally, he began tapping the left side of his chin. It takes patience to explain to Boricuas how a man moving backwards can accomplish anything at all.
In rounds six and seven, his tormentor was whirling again and Lopez was spending perilous moments on the ropes. Mayweatherâs dirty tricks âan elbow to the face and a forearm on the back of the neck proved useless. Lopez was scurrying backwards with a glove pressing down on Salidoâs onrushing head but could hold him off no more than a pedestrian can hold off a pit bull. By round eight, Salido was feeling safe enough to get conventional. He began fighting the southpaw like the textbooks say he should, with lead rights.
One minute was left in the round when his punches unhinged Lopez from his senses.
Round nine, they say, is a candidate for âRound of the Year.â That may be so, but Lopez wonât be talking much about it to his grandchildren because he wonât remember it. He wasnât there âhe was floating above the ring on Cloud nine watching his automatic arms repeat combinations drilled into him at the Caguas Gym. While Salido was purposefully falling into his punches, Lopez was falling onto Salido and punching with no purpose whatsoever.
The one-minute rest at the end of the ninth was not enough for Lopez to become whole again. It was just enough for his brain, jarred again in the opening seconds of the tenth, to send a message to his legs. The message said âcollapse, because this guyâs pride is gonna kill us both.â But pride isnât easily swallowed anywhere in Latin America and the only anatomy that matters in the end looks like two boxing gloves.
Thatâs why Lopez got up.
Referee Roberto Ramirez Sr. had to distinguish between that pride and the very real prospect of a ring tragedy. He had a momentous decision to make and only seconds to make it. Luckily, he understood his responsibilities. He deftly continued the standing-eight count even while side-stepping the stumbling Lopez. He turned a deaf ear to the roaring thousands in the Coliseum and peered deeply into the glazed eyes of a defeated fighter.
Then he stopped the fight.
Somewhere up there, Jack Dempsey dropped his harp and burst into applause again. Like Ramirez, Dempsey was the third man in the ring in over 250 professional bouts. Like Ramirez, he was accused of having an inappropriate gambling interest in the outcome of one of them. And despite his affinity for offense and his brutal past, he didnât flinch when he stopped 48 contests that had become one-sided beatings.
Dempsey knew what Ramirez knows. No one enters the ring without first suppressing the instinct of self-preservation to some degree, and some are willing to reverse that instinct into something suicidal. The referee protects boxers from their own spirits and reminds us all that boxing is still a sport.
Count on this: Had Ramirez not understood his responsibilities on Saturday night, Salido-Lopez II would have degenerated into an attrition fight âthe kind that ends on a stretcher. Roy Gillespie, Jimmy Doyle, Jackie Darthard, Sam Baroudi, Jody White, Duk Koo Kim, and Francisco âPacoâ Rodriguez are only a few of the hundreds with spirits that soared so high they went up through the rafters and left loved ones behind to pick up the pieces.
The good sense of Ramirez would have saved many of them.
You can bet on that.
____________________________
Springs Toledo can be contacted at scalinatella@hotmail.com.
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R.I.P. IBF founder Bob Lee who was Banished from Boxing by the FBI
âThe image some people have of me is disappointing,â said Bob Lee in a 2006 interview, âbut I also feel I had a positive impact on the sportâŠâ
Lee, the founder of the International Boxing Federation who died yesterday (Sunday, March 24) at age 91, spoke those words to Philadelphia Daily News boxing writer Bernard Fernandez who was the first person to interview him when he emerged from a federal prison in 2006. Lee served 22 months on charges that included racketeering, money laundering, and tax evasion.
Born and raised in northern New Jersey and a lifelong resident of the Garden State, Lee, a former police detective, founded the International Boxing Federation (henceforth IBF) in 1983 after a failed bid to win the presidency of the World Boxing Association. At the time, there were only two relevant sanctioning bodies, the WBA, then headquartered in Venezuela, and the WBC, headquartered in Mexico. Both organizations were charged with favoring boxers from Spanish-speaking countries in their ratings at the expense of boxers from the United States.
Bob Leeâs brainchild, whose stated mission was to rectify that injustice, achieved instant credibility when Marvin Hagler and Larry Holmes turned their back on the established organizations. Haglerâs 1983 bout with Wilford Scypion and Holmesâ 1984 match with Bonecrusher Smith were world title fights sanctioned exclusively by the IBF, the last of the three extant organizations to do away with 15-round title fights.
Leeâs world was rocked in November of 1999 when a federal grand jury handed down an indictment that accused him and three IBF officials, including his son Robert W. âRobbyâ Lee Jr., of taking bribes from promoters and managers in return for higher rankings. The FBI, after a two-year investigation, concluded that $338,000 was paid over a 13-year period by individuals representing 23 boxers.
The governmentâs key witness was C. Douglas Beavers, the longtime chairman of the IBF ratings committee who wore a wire as a government informant in return for immunity and provided video-tape evidence of a $5000 payout in a seedy Virginia motel room. Promoters Bob Arum and Cedric Kushner both testified that they gave the IBF $100,000 to get the organizationâs seal of approval for a match between heavyweight champion George Foreman and Axel Schulz (Arum asserted that he paid the money through a middleman, Stan Hoffman). In return, the IBF gave Schulz a âspecial exemptionâ to its rules, allowing the German to bypass Michael Moorer who had a rematch clause that would never be honored. (In a sworn deposition, Big George testified that he had no knowledge of any kickback).
After a long-drawn-out trial that consumed four months including 15 days of jury deliberations, Bob Lee was acquitted on all but six of 32 counts. His son, charged with nine counts, was acquitted on all nine. The jury simply did not trust the veracity of many that testified for the prosecution. (No surprise there; after all, they were boxing people.) But neither did the jury buy into the argument that whatever money Lee received was in the form of gifts and gratuities, a common business practice.
The IBF was run by a court-appointed overseer from January of 2000 until the fall of 2003. Under its current head, Daryl Peoples, who came up from the ranks, assuming the presidency in 2010, the IBF has stayed out of the crosshairs of federal prosecutors.
As part of his sentence, Bob Lee was prohibited from having any further dealings with boxing and that would have included buying a ticket to sit in the cheap seats at a boxing card. This was adding insult to injury as Leeâs passion for boxing ran deep. As a boy working as a caddy at a New Jersey golf course, he had met Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson, two of the proudest moments of his life.
As for his contributions to the sport, Lee had this to say in his post-prison talk with Bernard Fernandez: âWe instituted the 168-pound [super middleweight] weight class. We took measures to reduce the incidence of eye injuries in boxing. We changed the weigh-in from the day of the fight to the day before, which prevented fighters from entering the ring so dehydrated that they were putting themselves at risk. All these things, and more, were tremendously beneficial to boxing. Iâm very proud of all that we accomplished.â
Bob Lee was a tough old bird. Diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 1986, he was insulin-dependent for much of his adult life and yet he lived into his nineties. Although his coloration as a shakedown artist is a stain that will never go away, many people will tell you that, on balance, he was a good man whose lapses ought not define him.
Thatâs not for us to judge. We send our condolences to his loved ones. May he rest in peace.
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Australiaâs Nikita Tszyu Stands Poised to Escape the Long Shadow of His Brother
They held a confab for the boxing media last week at the spacious Las Vegas gym where WBO super welterweight champion Tim Tszyu has been training for his forthcoming match with Sebastian Fundora. Tim was there, of course, as were many of the fighters in the supporting bouts plus Timâs younger brother Nikita who was inconspicuous in this gathering.
Nikita Tszyu isnât on Saturdayâs card and so was never spotlighted, but itâs likely that most of the media-types there knew nothing about him. Had they been Aussies, he wouldn’t have been able to blend into the scenery as the Sydneysider is already a major sports personality in the Land Down Under. More than that, he is seemingly on pace to become as big a star as his older brother who has been called the face of boxing in Australia.
In his last start, Nikita wrested the Australian 154-pound title from previously undefeated (10-0) Dylan Biggs. Their bout in the Australian harbor city of Newcastle headlined a pay-per-view telecast.
Nikita was down in the first 45 seconds of the contest and was buzzed in the third, but had Biggs in dire straits in the fourth and ended matters in the next frame with a wicked left hook to the liver. Biggs somehow made it to his feet, but the bout was waived off seconds later as Biggsâ corner was throwing in the towel.
It improved Nikitaâs record to 8-0 (7 KOs) and burnished the reputation of the Tszyu dynasty. Collectively, the three Tszyuâs â his Hall of Fame father Kostya, his bother Tim and Nikita â are 48-0 in Australian rings.
Outside the squared circle, Nikita Tszyu, who is 26 years old and looks younger, comes across as thoroughly unspoiled. Talking with him, what started as a formal interview quickly became a relaxed chat between two old souls (as Nikita described himself) enjoying each others company. And as prizefighters go, he sure is different. A college grad, Nikita cited gardening, of all things, when we inquired if he had any hobbies.
As amateurs, Nikita had a deeper background and was more decorated than Tim. But in 2017, he turned his back on boxing to pursue a degree in architecture. He was away from boxing for five years before deciding to give the sport another fling.
âI wanted to be the first person in my family to be smart,â he says tongue-in-cheek when asked how he could abandon a sport that was seemingly in his blood. âMy mom wanted one of us to get a college degree,â he says, elaborating. âWhen it wasnât going to work out for Tim, it fell on my shoulders.â
As is well known, Nikitaâs parents divorced (Nikita was then just starting high school) and his dad then returned to his native Russia and started a new family. But the brothers and their father remain on cordial terms â they speak on the phone periodically â and they are close to Kostyaâs parents (their paternal grandparents) who live near Nikita in the Sydney area and are currently watching Nikitaâs three dogs, a husky, a French Bulldog, and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. âI canât imagine a life without them,â says Nikita who, unlike his brother, has no special lady living under his roof.
The family tie extends to the brothersâ trainer Igor Goloubev who is married to their aunt (Kostyaâs sister). Uncle Igor, a training partner of Kostya Tszyu in the old days, came to Sydney in 1997 with a touring Russian amateur team and, unlike the famous boxer, never left.
During the lull between the two generations of fighting Tszyus, Igor Goloubev founded a construction company that he still owns. While working for an architectural firm (working remotely because of Covid), Nikita was able to work part-time for his uncle which was good hands-on experience for a future architect.
When Goloubev counsels one of the brothers between rounds, the old becomes new again and this blast from the past doesnât stop there. The brothers are managed by Newcastle NSW businessman Glen Jennings who formerly managed Kostya, widely considered one of the two or three best junior welterweights of all time. (Jennings says that as a boxer Nikita is more like his dad whereas Tim is more of a pressure fighter.)
This is Nikita Tszyuâs second trip to Las Vegas. He was here last year when Tim was preparing for a match with Jermell Charlo. When that match fell out, Nikita used the occasion for a little holiday, the highlight of which was a hike through Northern Californiaâs Redwood Forest, home to the worldâs tallest trees.
âYour national parks are the coolest things about America,â he says. As for the food? âToo much fat,â he says, wrinkling his nose, but thatâs a moot point as Team Tszyu now travels with its own chef.
Nikita Tszyu will defend his Australian title on April 24th. At this writing, the opponent is uncertain. Three leading candidates fell by the wayside, two because they lost a fight they were supposed to win, ruining their credibility, and another because he got injured. Finding good opponents may prove to be a recurrent hassle in part because Nikita, unlike his brother, is a southpaw.
Coming up the ladder, Tim Tszyu looked forward to fighting at the MGM Grand where his father won his first title (TKO 6 over Jake Rodriguez in 1995) and had one of his most memorable fights, a second-round stoppage of Zab Judah in 2001. The T-Mobile Arena didnât exist back then, but sits on MGM Grand property, so Saturdayâs fight is a dream come true for the older Tszyu brother.
Looking down the road, itâs easy to envision Nikita becoming a headline attraction here too.
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Dalton Smith KOs Jose Zepeda and Sandy Ryan Stops Terri Harper in England
Dalton Smith KOs Jose Zepeda and Sandy Ryan Stops Terri Harper in England
England showed off its talent in Sheffield.
Super lightweight prospect Dalton Smith advanced into the championship level and Sandy Ryan proved to be not just another world titlist on Saturday.
Dalton Smith (16-0, 12 KOs) faced the venomous punching power of Jose âChonâ Zepeda (37-5, 28 KOs) and eliminated him with a body shot knockout that left the world title challenger gasping for air at Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, England.
âI had to be on my game. He (Zepeda) puts people to sleep,â said Smith.
If any questions existed on Smithâs ability to compete at the championship level, the 27-year-old answered emphatically with a clinical and professional-style win.
Smith walked into the prize ring realizing that southpaw slugger Zepeda could end the night with a single punch. He carefully measured the California-based fighterâs movements and punching power before stepping on the gas from the second round on.
âHeâs a great fighter,â explained Smith of Zepeda. âThatâs what made me train harder.â
During the first several rounds the two hard-hitting punchers were able to score. Zepeda clipped Smith with quick rights and occasional lefts but discovered that the British fighter has a chin. That seemed to allow Smith to open-up slightly more with one-two combinations.
After Smith gained serious momentum in the third and fourth rounds, Zepeda shortened up his stride and looked to put on more pressure. In the fifth round Zepeda moved closer into firing range and ran into a right cross to the belly that took the strength out of his legs. Down went Zepeda for the count at 1:25 of the fifth round.
âI was hitting him with clean shots and it wasnât doing anything,â said Smith of his head attack.
Apparently, the body shot was the answer.
Sandy Ryan Wins Battle of Champions
WBO welterweight titlist Sandy Ryan won the battle between British champions with a pile-driving stoppage of Terri Harper who, after dropping down a weight division but was unable to be competitive.
Ryan (7-1-1, 3 KOs) walked into enemy territory and quieted the pro-Harper (14-2-2, 6 KOs) crowd with a riveting attack at Sheffield Arena. There was no stopping her on this night.
âIâm just happy,â said Ryan, 30, of Derby England.
After spending months in Las Vegas, Nevada living and training away from her home in England, the tall slender fighter Ryan finally was able to lure a fellow British world champion in the boxing ring.
âI was away from family and friends for so long,â Ryan said.
A close first round between the two female champions saw Ryan open up the second round behind a riveting left jab and body shots that made Harper hesitant and gun shy to counter.
Ryan seemed to sense early that she was in control and opened up with five- and six-punch combinations. And when Harper retaliated, Ryan returned fire again almost daring her rival to engage in a free-for-all.
Harper clinched several times in the third round to stymie Ryanâs constant attack, but it was not enough. The WBO titlist seemed even more eager to win by knockout and opened up with little concern of Harperâs counters.
In the fifth round it was obvious that Ryan was in complete control, the only question was if she could maintain the frenetic pace. Again, she opened up with punishing combinations as Harper looked for a solution. Instead, rights and lefts pummeled the super welterweight titlist until the end of the round.
Harperâs corner decided to end the fight, Referee Marcus McDonnell declared Ryan the winner at the end of the fifth round by technical knockout.
âI felt her fading,â said Ryan.
The win by Ryan sets her up for a rematch against Jessica McCaskill who holds the WBA and WBC welterweight titles. Their first encounter ended in a split draw after 10 rounds last September in Orlando, Florida.
Ryan expressed a desire to face any champion.
âAny big fight. All the big names,â Ryan said.
Other Results
Ishmael Davis (13-0) defeated Troy Williamson (20-3-1) by unanimous decision after 12 rounds for a regional middleweight title.
James Flint (14-1-2) handed Campbell Hatton (14-1) fis first defeat as a pro by unanimous decision after 10 rounds in a super lightweight match.
Photo credit: Mark Robinson / Matchroom
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