Articles of 2002

DEALING WITH FALSE ADVERTISING IN BOXING

Published

22 years ago

June 13, 2002

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As I look at the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, I see notations about disclosures that promoters are required to make – disclosures to the boxers, disclosures to the commissions. But conspicuously, I don't see too much in there addressing disclosures to the PUBLIC.

And inasmuch as it can be agreed that false disclosures are indeed contrary to the public interest, I think it might be appropriate to address this matter of considerable concern a bit further, as it applies to reforming the world of professional boxing.

It occurs not just to me, but to anyone who reads the Ali Act with any sense of scrutiny, that the constituency the legislators are primarily concerned about is that of the fighters. And I'm sure a lot of that is well-intentioned. But consumers drive boxing, just like they do any other business-for-profit. And if you're going to propose to put together boxing legislation that has any impact at all, you have to ensure that the public, and not just pro boxers, gets afforded the proper protection from deceptive business practices on the part of promoters.

Yes, I know there are laws governing false advertising in every state. But I think we may have to take a slightly different step here.

What has to be understood is that a boxing promotion must be distinguishable from other products or services. It's not like the sale of a item on display in a supermarket. The “shelf life” of the product is certainly very finite, and the characteristics – the “ingredients”, if you will – of the product can very easily and abruptly change at any time during the product cycle.

Let's say I'm promoting a show, and the main event pits Fighter A against Fighter B, with Fighter C versus Fighter D in the semi-main event, and I've sold a healthy number of tickets, bought by people who want to see all four fighters. Then, a couple of days before the fight card is to take place, Fighter B pulls out with an injury, while the next day, for whatever reason, Fighter D doesn't pass his physical at the weigh-in.

Obviously I have stopped printing posters, and I am not producing any new radio spots. But someone may walk into a bar and see my poster, call up TicketMaster, buy a ringside seat, and show up the night of the event, only to see that we have different competitors in place. Am I advertising falsely?

Maybe I am, according to the laws written in some states. But if you look at it from a boxing point of view, it can be demonstrated that these kinds of things are somewhat common in their occurrence, and that they are indeed unforeseen.

The best way to protect myself would be to sign my fighters to bout contracts; with the preliminary approval of the state boxing commission, I can substantiate that I advertised in good faith, and that in fact those performers who appeared in my advertisements were indeed those who were scheduled.

I may not be engaging in any deceptive acts, but I'm still not completely out of the woods, in some places. In the state of Florida, for example, if the fight card changes in any material way, the revised card must be displayed in plain sight at the venue, and even then, the consumer is entitled to a refund if he/she so requests. On the commission's website that is made very clear in the “Information for Promoters” section.

Of course, if I DO NOT take enough care to sign fighters before I put their names and pictures on a poster, then there is no way I could legally guarantee they have agreed to a fight. And it can be argued that I had no right to advertise the appearance of those fighters in the first place.

It follows that if I use a fighter's name to sell tickets, when there is no reasonable expectation established that the fighter (or fighters) would have been on the show, then I AM advertising falsely. This can be extended to include the names of non-participants as well. I don't know about you, but I've gone to fight cards where a special appearance by some celebrity, from the world of boxing or otherwise, was advertised, and the celebrity never showed. It may not be a fighter, but it's still a fight card, and you're still selling tickets to the public, so doesn't a situation like that have to be addressed?

In Georgia, a signed document guaranteeing the appearance of a “celebrity” is required before a promoter can do any advertising or promotion to that effect. Sounds like a pretty good idea to institute everywhere – that is, if you've got some concern for the consumer.

Let's take this a step further – if I know one of my fighters has pulled out of the show, and continue to promote that the fighter will be appearing, whether it be through the press, or through radio advertisements than run well past the time of a “pullout”, and at the same time I have the understanding that the fighter was an important, marketable component of my event, then I certainly am misrepresenting my product to the public, aren't I?

Another egregious case of false advertising involves a promoter who puts a fighter's name on a poster, for example, with a record of 15-6, while in reality that fighter might be 2-12. I can almost guarantee you something like this is happening SOMEWHERE in this country. In situations like this the promoter should most certainly know better, and cannot plead ignorance, especially as the records for each fighter must be compiled through the boxing registry – in this case, Fight Fax, and submitted to the commission in order to get fights approved.

I would think the inclusion of blanket regulations covering these scenarios is something any rational piece of boxing legislation should have. If such provisions were included in a Federal bill, it would become the law of the land for ALL boxing commissions, regardless of whether the state boxing laws say, and would serve to supplement the laws that are on the books in each state that apply to false advertising and misrepresentations in marketing.

Of course, false advertising of ANY kind should not be tolerated. After all, a lie is a lie is a lie. So naturally, if, for example, you're advertising a television blackout that does not exist, you should be subject to penalty, at the very least by the boxing commission that has jurisdiction over the event.

Speaking of blackouts, let's now talk about the fiasco where the false announcement of such on the part of SRL Boxing took place in Buffalo, for the April 5 card featuring heavyweight hopeful Joe Mesi, and of laws that are already in place – not necessarily those of the commission specifically but the ones which apply to businesses in the state of New York.

There are two sections of the State of New York General Business Law that serve to protect consumers from deceptive acts and practices.

Sections 349 and 350, Chapter 20, of the law provide that deceptive acts and practices and/or false advertising “in the conduct of any business, trade or commerce or in the furnishing of any service in this state are hereby declared unlawful.”

And it explains that any person injured as a result of misleading advertising “may bring an action in his own name to enjoin such unlawful act or practice.”

Moreover, it has been held that plaintiffs need not demonstrate specific dollar injury, or any pecuniary injury at all; nor that the deceptive practice even be intentional or fraudulent in nature. And plaintiffs also do not have to prove any particular degree of reliance on the defendant's deceptive practices and/or false advertising in order to substantiate an action.

I concede that class action lawsuits are probably impractical, since it would not be reasonable to expect large groups of paying customers to a fight could be gathered together without a substantial amount of expense and legwork; however, in interpreting the actions that are allowable under Sections 349 and 350 of New York's General Business Law, EVERYONE who bought a ticket to SRL Boxing's April 5 fight card in Buffalo could conceivably petition for a refund, whether they relied on the false proclamation of a “blackout” or not.

If you registered a complaint about this incident in the state of New York, it would likely be dealt with by the Attorney General's office. You may never get ultimate satisfaction, but just be thankful it won't go through the Inspector General's office, where it would most likely wind up on the “cutting room floor”, as they say. That's because it just might have to come across the desk of a certain agent – guy by the name of Jack Mesi.

Yup – he's Joe's dad.

fightpage@totalaction.com

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Articles of 2002

$*%@#!

Published

22 years ago

December 31, 2002

Rick Folstad

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.

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Articles of 2002

New Year's Resolutions

Published

22 years ago

December 31, 2002

Steve Kim

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.

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Articles of 2002

Dream Fights of 2003

Published

22 years ago

December 27, 2002

Steve Kim

Hey, we can all dream, right? Isn't it our God-given right as boxing fans to think about fights that should happen – but often times don't?

And not just fights that have the highest profile or the biggest names – because sometimes those fights, like Lewis vs. Tyson – are nothing more than high-profile mismatches. I'm talking about fights that are evenly matched between the game's best and are the most intriguing inside the ring.

Here are some fights I'd pay to see in the upcoming year; full well knowing that most of these fights are pipe dreams as the business end of the sport would bog these fights down quickly. But hey, we can dream right?

* Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Erik Morales or Marco Antonio Barrera: Name me another fighter that has never won a world title belt that is better than Marquez? You can't and this guys been ducked and dodged long enough. On February 1st he takes on Manuel Medina for the vacant IBF featherweight title and it says here that he should face one of the game's best known 126-pounders, either Morales or Barrera. Marquez is a master boxer with great counter-punching skills and his hand-speed would give either one of his Mexican compatriots fits. There are some in the industry who have been saying for a while that Marquez is already the game's premiere featherweight; I'm not inclined to disagree that strongly.

CHANCES OF HAPPENING?: With Barrera, not good, as Ricardo Maldonado sees no real upside in this match-up and would most likely take an easier fight on HBO for about the same amount of money he could make facing Marquez.

With Morales, the logistics are much less complicated. Both of them are promoted by Bob Arum and there is some talk that they could face each other in May if a Morales-Barrera III isn't made.

* Bernard Hopkins vs. Roy Jones: Not only because it's a match-up of two of the very premiere fighters in the world, but Hopkins needs to resume his career with some meaningful fights and Jones should be fighting guys like 'the Executioner' instead of participating in novelty acts like his proposed bout with John Ruiz.

And don't think for one minute that this would be a blowout. Jones couldn't blowout a green Hopkins in 1993 and won't be able to do it now. Hopkins, unlike most of Jones' opponents, isn't in total awe of Pensacola's finest.

CHANCES OF HAPPENING?: Not good, Sharon and Arafat will find a common ground regarding the Middle East before these two proud and stubborn men find one in contract negotiations.

* Oscar De La Hoya vs. Vernon Forrest: For fans of pure boxing and strategy this is a fight that can't be missed. Both men have strong jabs and match-up well physically. 'The Golden Boy' has the better left hook and 'The Viper' has a more effective right hand. Between these two well-schooled boxers you can expect a tense and tight boxing match with subtle momentum swings round by round.

CHANCES OF HAPPENING?: For 2003, not very good because it looks like Oscar will be fighting once in the upcoming year – a September rematch against Shane Mosley – and Bob Arum has stated that Forrest simply brings nothing to the table promotionally. This can be interpreted as another way of saying that he's not Latin, too dangerous or just another black fighter who can't sell a ticket. The bottom line seems to be that unless Forrest raises his profile in the upcoming years, De La Hoya will be facing guys that make economic sense.

* Floyd Mayweather vs. Kostya Tszyu: This would be a face off of the sport's premier lightweight against the game's best jr. welterweight. 'The Pretty Boy' would bring speed, quickness and boxing ability to the dance. While Tszyu would bring a decided edge in strength, size and punching power. They say styles make fights and you have two contrasting ones here.

CHANCES OF HAPPENING?: Not likely. This is for a couple of reasons. First, Vlad Wharton who promotes Tszyu, is seemingly deathly afraid to take any risks with Tszyu, who's basically his cash cow. Secondly, Mayweather got a reality check from his two bouts with Jose Luis Castillo, who at 135 pounds was able to muscle him throughout their 24 rounds they fought in 2002. And Tszyu is faster, sharper and just as strong as Castillo. I'm not sure Mayweather is in any rush to make the move up to 140-pounds.

* Lennox Lewis vs. Wladimir Klitschko: The industry is always better off when there is action in the heavyweight division. So why even mess around by having Lewis take on 'the other' Klitschko or knock out Tyson again; getting right in there with the man most pundits are claiming is the heir to his throne in Wlad Klitschko?

The time is now, Lewis is getting up there in age and really doesn't have that much left in his gas tank anyway and it would be prudent for him to face Klitschko now before he gets any better. Remember, that's the tact they took in facing Michael Grant when they did – but it has to be noted that Klitschko is much better than Grant.

Lewis would have the advantages in experience and savvy, but for one of the few times in his career he would be facing a disadvantage in size and perhaps power. The two best big men on the planet squaring off, what else could you ask for?

CHANCES OF HAPPENING: Actually pretty good, since Lewis himself has stated his plans to take on both Klitschkos in between his rematch with Tyson. But with Don King now making a full court press to garner the services of Lewis, who knows what direction he goes to now.

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