REST IN PEACE, BUTCH LEWIS

Published

12 years ago

July 24, 2011

Ron Borges

The first time I met Butch Lewis it was so long ago he was wearing a shirt.

Butch was as loud that day as he grew to be when he was at the peak of his promotional career but by then his trademark was what he called his ‘’Chocolate Tuxedo,’’ an odd fashion statement that would only fit in the world of boxing.

Lewis’ crowning promotional moments came in the 1970s and ‘80s, when he would be regularly found in the ring wearing a bow tie, collar, cuffs with cuff links, a splendid tux…and no shirt. Don King had his hair. Butch Lewis had a hairless chest.

Sadly, boxing lost another character sometime in the late hours of Friday night or the early ones of Saturday morning when the 65-year-old Lewis suffered a massive heart attack at his home in suburban Delaware and died. Although Lewis had little to do with boxing in recent years, turning most of his energy to promoting a record label and several singers, his connection to boxing remained unbroken because he was unique.

That is not simply because he rose to prominence without a shirt. It was because he was loyal to his fighters in a way seldom seen in the sport.

Although he seemed to leave the stage the same time former light heavyweight and heavyweight champion Michael Spinks did nearly 15 years ago, Butch Lewis was not a man you forgot. At least not if you had ever spent some time with him.

Originally Lewis worked as a Philadelphia car salesman at his father’s Volkswagen dealership and there is no better training ground for a boxing promoter than to be a car salesman. Promoting fighters is like selling cars in many ways, not the least being that the truth is not always helpful in either endeavor.

Lewis got into boxing through his friendship with Joe Frazier, at whose side he often was found in the years Frazier dueled with his great nemesis, Muhammad Ali. Like most promoters, Lewis eventually ended up on both sides of that fence and remains one of the few people to have worked for the sport’s two biggest promoters: Bob Arum and Don King.

Once a vice-president of Top Rank, Arum’s highly successful promotional company, Lewis eventually went off on his own. Briefly, he and King formed a promotional company aptly called “Dynamic Duo’’ but the fact is there was no arena quite big enough for both King’s hair and Lewis’ shirtless chest.
Not once during their time together or later did Lewis call King by his name. In later years he would say “Don’’ with some respect but in those days King was always “Bushy’’ to Lewis, an example of his irreverent wit and impish manner.

But to underestimate Butch Lewis as a promoter was a grave mistake. King and HBO found that out when they tried to create a heavyweight title unification series that would include Spinks.

Initially, Lewis agreed but when he got the opportunity for an easier payday of comparable numbers against Gerry Cooney, he took it. Spinks destroyed Cooney and refused to participate in HBO’s series as Tyson stormed through the tournament while HBO sued Lewis to try and force Spinks’ inclusion.

Lewis prevailed but during a deposition hearing I was called in as an expert witness and questioned by lawyers from the two sides. Lewis was on speaker phone from Philadelphia when one of his lawyer’s asked me about an interview I had done with Spinks and Lewis as Spinks trained in the Poconos.

When asked how I was sure Lewis was there I said, “He paid for lunch. If you check his taxes I’m sure he wrote it off.’’

You could hear Lewis cackling through the speaker phone.

In the end Lewis stared down HBO and landed one of the biggest guarantees in boxing history, $13.5 million for Spinks to risk life, limb and the IBF version of the heavyweight title. Then HBO Sport president Seth Abraham was furious with Lewis, who he believed had gone back on his word, but admitted reluctantly that Lewis had advocated well for his fighter.

That was true until fight night. As Spinks sat nervously in his locker room, Lewis – shirtless and bombastic as always – stormed into Tyson’s and demanded his hands be re-wrapped. As the controversy grew, Tyson sat seething while staring a hole through Lewis’ bare chest.

When the wraps were finally okayed, Tyson got up and punched a whole in the wall of his trailer. Soon after he did the same to Spinks, knocking him into retirement in 91 seconds.

While perhaps it might have been wiser for Butch to have brought Tyson a Coke rather than get him riled up, he’d done his job. Michael Spinks had enjoyed one of the biggest paydays in boxing history and did not have to wade his way through a number of dangerous heavyweights to get to Tyson after having first won the heavyweight title by twice outpointing Larry Holmes.

Lewis also promoted Spinks’ brother Leon when he won the heavyweight title from Muhammad Ali in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history and co-promoted a rematch in which Spinks lost to Ali in front of 63,350 at the Louisiana Superdome, the largest indoor crowd for a fight in boxing history.

Lewis once believed he had found the new Ali in Greg Page, a big, fast-moving heavyweight in the Ali mold. King stole Page away but Lewis sued him and won him back. Unfortunately for Lewis, Page never quite lived up to expectations and soon was back in the King fold.

In later years Lewis move into music promotions and movie production, his biggest event being the comeback concert of James Brown after he was released from prison, but it always seemed the place where he belonged was promoting a big fight.

Butch Lewis was the kind of guy you find less and less in sports today. He was an original. He talked the talk and walked the walk, a man unable to give his fighters the shirt off his back because he didn’t wear one but one who gave them what they needed most – a loud and loyal advocacy.

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Ron Borges

Mercito Gesta Victorious Over Jojo Diaz at the Long Beach Pyramid

Published

2 days ago

March 19, 2023

David A. Avila

Mercito-Gesta-Victorious-Over-Jojo-Diaz-at-the-Long-Beach-Pyramid

LONG BEACH, CA.-Those in the know knew Mercito Gesta and Jojo Diaz would be a fight to watch and they delivered.

Gesta emerged the winner in a super lightweight clash between southpaws that saw the judges favor his busier style over Diaz’s body attack and bigger shots and win by split decision on Saturday.

Despite losing the main event because the star was overweight, Gesta (34-3-3, 17 KOs) used an outside method of tactic to edge past former world champion Diaz (32-4-1, 15 KOs) in front of more than 5,000 fans at the Pyramid.

The speedy Gesta opened up the fight with combination punching up and down against the peek-a-boo style of Diaz. For the first two rounds the San Diego fighter overwhelmed Diaz though none of the blows were impactful.

In the third round Diaz finally began unloading his own combinations and displaying the fast hands that helped him win world titles in two divisions. Gesta seemed stunned by the blows, but his chin held up. The counter right hook was Diaz’s best weapon and snapped Gesta’s head back several times.

Gesta regained control in the fifth round after absorbing big blows from Diaz. He seemed to get angry that he was hurt and opened up with even more blows to send Diaz backpedaling.

Diaz targeted his attack to Gesta’s body and that seemed to slow down Gesta. But only for a round.

From the seventh until the 10^th each fighter tried to impose their style with Gesta opening up with fast flurries and Diaz using right hooks to connect with solid shots. They continued their method of attack until the final bell. All that mattered was what the judges preferred.

After 10 rounds one judge saw Diaz the winner 97-93 but two others saw Gesta the winner 99-91, 98-92. It was a close and interesting fight.

“I was expecting nothing. I was the victor in this fight and we gave a good fight,” said Gesta. “It’s not an easy fight and Jojo gave his best.”

Diaz was surprised by the outcome but accepted the verdict.

Everything was going good. I thought I was landing good body shots,” said Diaz. “I was pretty comfortable.”

Other Bouts

Mexico’s Oscar Duarte (25-1-1, 20 KOs) knocked out Chicago’s Alex Martin (18-5, 6 KOs) with a counter right hand after dropping him earlier in the fourth round. The super lightweight fight was stopped at 1:14 of the round.

A battle between undefeated super welterweights saw Florida’s Eric Tudor (8-0, 6 KOs) emerge the winner by unanimous decision after eight rounds versus Oakland’s Damoni Cato-Cain.

The taller Tudor showed polished skill and was not bothered by a large cut on his forehead caused by an accidental clash of heads. He used his jab and lead rights to defuse the attacks of the quick-fisted southpaw Cato-Cain. The judges scored the fight 80-72 and 78-74 twice for Tudor.

San Diego’s Jorge Chavez (5-0, 4 KOs) needed less than one round to figure out Nicaragua’s Bryan Perez (12-17-1, 11 KOs) and send him into dreamland with a three-punch combination. No need to count as referee Ray Corona waved the fight over. Perez shot a vicious right followed by another right and then a see-you-later left hook at 3.00 of the first round of the super featherweight match.

Photo credit: Al Applerose

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Jojo Diaz’s Slump Continues; Mercito Gesta Prevails on a Split Decision

Published

3 days ago

March 18, 2023

Arne K. Lang

Jojo-Diaz's-Slump-Continues-Mercito-Gestra-Prevails-on-a-Split-Decision

At age 30, Jojo Diaz’s career is on the skids. The 2012 U.S. Olympian, a former world title holder at 126 and 130 pounds and an interim title holder at 135, Diaz suffered his third straight loss tonight, upset by Mercito Gesta who won a split decision at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, CA.. The scoring was strange with Gesta winning nine of the 10 rounds on one of the cards and only three rounds on another. The tie-breaker, as it were, was a 98-92 tally for Gesta and even that didn’t capture the flavor of what was a closely-contested fight.

Originally listed as a 12-rounder, the match was reduced to 10 and that, it turned out, did Diaz no favors. However, it’s hard to feel sorry for the former Olympian as he came in overweight once again, having lost his 130-pound title on the scales in February of 2021.

Diaz also has issues outside the ropes. Best elucidated by prominent boxing writer Jake Donovan, they include a cluster of legal problems stemming from an arrest for drunk driving on Feb. 27 in the LA suburb of Claremont.

With the defeat, Diaz’s ledger declined to 32-4-1. His prior losses came at the hands of Gary Russell Jr, Devin Haney, and William Zepeda, boxers who are collectively 83-2. Mercito Gesta, a 35-year-old San Diego-based Filipino, improved to 34-3-3.

Co-Feature

Chihuahua, Mexico super lightweight Oscar Duarte has now won nine straight inside the distance after stopping 33-year-old Chicago southpaw Alex Martin in the eighth frame. Duarte, the busier fighter, had Martin on the deck twice in round eight before the fight was waived off.

Duarte improved to 25-1-1 (20). Martin, who reportedly won six national titles as an amateur and was once looked upon as a promising prospect, declined to 18-5.

Other Bouts of Note

New Golden Boy signee Eric Tudor, a 21-year-old super welterweight from Fort Lauderdale, overcame a bad laceration over his right eye, the result of an accidental clash of heads in round four, to stay unbeaten, advancing to 8-0 (6) with a hard-fought unanimous 8-round decision over Oakland’s Damoni Cato-Cain. The judges had it 80-72 and 78-74 twice. It was the first pro loss for Cato-Cain (7-1-1) who had his first five fights in Tijuana.

In the DAZN opener, lanky Hawaian lightweight Dalis Kaleiopu went the distance for the first time in his young career, improving to 4-0 (3) with a unanimous decision over 36-year-old Colombian trial horse Jonathan Perez (40-35). The scores were 60-52 across the board. There were no knockdowns, but Perez, who gave up almost six inches in height, had a point deducted for a rabbit punch and another point for deducted for holding.

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‘Big Baby’ Wins the Battle of Behemoths; TKOs ‘Big Daddy’ in 6

Published

3 days ago

March 18, 2023

Arne K. Lang

Big-Baby-Wins-the-Battle-of-Behemoths-TKOs-Big-Daddy-in-6

Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne weighed in at a career-high 277 pounds for today’s battle in Dubai with Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller, but he was the lighter man by 56 pounds. It figured that one or both would gas out if the bout lasted more than a few stanzas.

It was a war of attrition with both men looking exhausted at times, and when the end came it was Miller, at age 34 the younger man by nine years, who had his hand raised.

Browne was the busier man, but Miller, whose physique invites comparison with a rhinoceros, hardly blinked as he was tattooed with an assortment of punches. He hurt ‘Bid Daddy’ in round four, but the Aussie held his own in the next frame, perhaps even forging ahead on the cards, but only postponing the inevitable.

In round six, a succession of right hands knocked Browne on the seat of his pants. He beat the count, but another barrage from Miller impelled the referee to intervene. The official time was 2:33. It was the 21^st straight win for Miller (26-0-1, 22 KOs). Browne declined to 31-4 and, for his own sake, ought not fight again. All four of his losses have come inside the distance, some brutally.

The consensus of those that caught the livestream was that Floyd Mayweather Jr’s commentary was an annoying distraction that marred what was otherwise an entertaining show.

As for what’s next for “Big Baby” Miller, that’s hard to decipher as he has burned his bridges with the sport’s most powerful promoters. One possibility is Mahmoud Charr who, like Miller, has a big gap in his boxing timeline. Now 38 years old, Charr – who has a tenuous claim on a WBA world title (don’t we all?) — has reportedly taken up residence in Dubai.

Other Bouts of Note

In a 10-round cruiserweight affair, Suslan Asbarov, a 30-year-old Russian, advanced to 4-0 (1) with a hard-fought majority decision over Brandon Glanton. The judges had it 98-92, 97-93, and a more reasonable 95-95.

Asbarov was 12-9 in documented amateur fights and 1-0 in a sanctioned bare-knuckle fight, all in Moscow, entering this match. He bears watching, however, as Glanton (18-2) would be a tough out for almost anyone in his weight class. In his previous fight, at Plant City, Florida, Glanton lost a controversial decision to David Light, an undefeated Australian who challenges WBO world title-holder Lawrence Okolie at Manchester, England next week.

A 10-round super featherweight match between former world title challengers Jono Carroll and Miguel Marriaga preceded the semi-windup. Carroll, a 30-year-old Dublin southpaw, overcame a cut over his left eye suffered in the second round to win a wide unanimous decision in a fairly entertaining fight.

It was the sixth straight win for Carroll (24-2-1, 7 KOs) who elevated his game after serving as a sparring partner for Devin Haney. Marriaga, a 36-year-old Colombian, lost for the fourth time in his last five outings, declining to 30-7.

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