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Klitschko-Chisora: Better Be Better Than Pac Man or Money
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This might be the only blow Chisora lands, if Vitali enters the ring in Munich in a mood to destroy. (Photo courtesy KMG)
FROZEN RINGPOSTS – There should be a lot of added pressure on Vitali Klitschko this Saturday evening in Munich, where the beer is somewhat warm and the air is somewhat frozen, andeach can snap yourbobbing head back.
For Klitschko, the medicine ball was already in his court tokeep the K2promotional juggernaut rolling. Now after DereckChisora'sblindside slap at Friday's weigh in,many people will be watching just to see if thesupremely composed but obviouslyfumingKlitschko can and will become the type of wrecking machine that once upon a time made heavyweight boxing special.
There should also be a lot of added pressure on Chisora, who wants a piece of the big paydays pie and looks willing to go to any extreme to get it.
Really though, the addedpressure should be on both Klitschko and Chisora not as autonomous opponents butas a performing pair, beyond the single scope of their scheduled 12 rounds. There should be pressureto do everything they can toregain respect for their weight division.
Klitschko – Chisoramight be a pretty big fight in this part of civilization, but it isn't really significant to mainstream, present day sportingimpact. The fighters and their teamsneed to aknowledge this. When a guy used to say he'd rather get knocked out than stink out the joint before booing fans, it was the kind of attitudethat made boxing a more popular distraction.
This fight should be about more than just Klitschko, Chisora and related bragging rights. This fight should spotlight the entire division, recognizing current inadequacies in relation to the fans.
This fight should announce the return of the giants. The return of blood, sweat, tears and inspiration, XXL sized.
Within the next 30 days, the heavyweights have a chance to regain at least a fair portion of lost glory.That means both Klitschkos, Chisora, Alexander Povetkin, Marco Huck and even generallydismissed long shot Jean Marc Mormeck should feel a sense of obligation to their livelihoods.A recovery mission at all costs.
Financial dataon boxing paydays is more hard to come by around here than in the States, but there's no doubt that Klitschko, Chisora and the restarecollecting some prettygood euros, pounds or bucks. Let's hope they earn as much newfound respect.
Style wise, the heavyweight fights should guarantee more splattering sprawls and highlight reel thuds than either Manny Pacquiaoagainst Timothy Bradley or FloydMayweather against Miguel Cotto. There's no reason that by mid-June, the 200 plus pounders shouldn't have taken a big step back toward respectability.
First up this Saturday, before a sell out crowd of over 12,000, Klitschko and Chisora will try and do their parts. Vitali may be unspectacular in his approach, but hehas been so effective overall that every performance from now on is further evidence of hissolid historical status, debated not all that often these days but probably soon to be.
There is probably not afoe Vitali hasclobbered latelywho didn't enter with decent skills and a decent plan. There is probably not a man among thatgroup whose plan didn't start getting altered after the first or second overhand right slammed in, usually by the end of the first frame.
Consistent aggression is definitely the requisite starting point. Based on recent form, Chisoraseems torate pretty high on the scale of proven pluck. That won'tcount for muchunless he backs it up with an effective attack, but at least it gives hima fighting chance.
Whether he can prove more effectivethan Arreola or Tomasz Adamek, other boxers of similar size and strategy, is the question.
If Chisora, around a 4 – 1 underdog,somehow triumphs in any manner, the bout becomes a much bigger story and Chisora's low grade antics will be elevated toeffective cunning. If he gives Klitschko trouble but gets stopped early, Chisora will still be looked at favorably and with marketability. Klitschkoneeds to cream Chisora or explain what happened.
A week later, Povetkin and Hucktake the baton in a fight that widely favors Povetkin, but the swarm in Stuttgart won't care because Huck will press the action until it presses him.
On March 3rd,Wladimir Klitschko should promise to stop Mormeck within 5 rounds or donate a quarter of his purse to charity.
This is an election year in the US, once and maybe again somedaya lucrative market for heavyweight boxers. Any global heavyweightmulling around the K2/EU watering holeshould elect to let the punches flowmore freely and regain abandoned territory in the public consciousness.This three weekend stretch is likelythe division's biggest chance to shine in years.
What else”should” happen isobvious.
The pressure should be shared, not only to win, but to go for it. Spectacular knockout or out onthe crackedshield.
Never throw fewer than a hundred punches a round.
There's much more to it than just showing up in shape and going the distanceif you want fans to return. Still, rumbling redemption for the heavyweights could be closer than many critics claim.
Remember, although the Kbros actualy battling in aserious competition beyond game boards is beyond doubtful, they did go throughsparring motions togetherduring a workout, feinting and shadowboxing from a safe distance that didn't illustrate much in regard to an actual matchup.
It was only a training exercise, but they were in the ring, throwing punches, however restrained. That's already more thanPacquiao and Mayweather are likely to doin the same ring anytime soon.
The Klitschkos may never equal Mayweather's fluidity or Pacquiao's propulsion, but that doesn't mean they can't be inequally or evenmore exciting contests.
Chisora may lack class as a citizen, but he'sperforming at a first class level of boxingand backed up some previous boasts.At least he tries towalk the walk.
Chisora's slap at the weigh in was a cheap shot. Unfortunately, it may also besymbolic of the type wake up call heavyweight boxing needs.
Perhaps the immediate future will provide a tellingmicrocosm of the division for 2012 and beyond, better or worse.
If the next three weekends don't see significant strides by the big boys, they have nobody but themselves to blame. Ongoing audience derision, or worse, continued indifference, wouldcertainlybe deserved.
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The Challenge of Playing Muhammad Ali
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There have been countless dramatizations of Muhammad Ali’s life and more will follow in the years ahead. The most heavily marketed of these so far have been the 1977 movie titled The Greatest starring Ali himself and the 2001 biopic Ali starring Will Smith.
The Greatest was fictionalized. Its saving grace apart from Ali’s presence on screen was the song “The Greatest Love of All” which was written for the film and later popularized by Whitney Houston. Beyond that, the movie was mediocre. “Of all our sports heroes,” Frank Deford wrote, “Ali needs least to be sanitized. But The Greatest is just a big vapid valentine. It took a dive.”
The 2001 film was equally bland but without the saving grace of Ali on camera. “I hated that film,” Spike Lee said. “It wasn’t Ali.” Jerry Izenberg was in accord, complaining, “Will Smith playing Ali was an impersonation, not a performance.”
The latest entry in the Ali registry is a play running this week off-Broadway at the AMT Theater (354 West 45th Street) in Manhattan.
The One: The Life of Muhammad Ali was written by David Serero, who has produced and directed the show in addition to playing the role of Angelo Dundee in the three-man drama. Serero, age 43, was born in Paris, is of Moroccan-French-Jewish heritage, and has excelled professionally as an opera singer (baritone) and actor (stage and screen).
Let’s get the negatives out of the way first. The play is flawed. There are glaring factual inaccuracies in the script that add nothing to the dramatic arc and detract from its credibility.
On the plus side; Zack Bazile (pictured) is exceptionally good as Ali. And Serero (wearing his director’s hat) brings the most out of him.
Growing up, Bazile (now 28) excelled in multiple sports. In 2018, while attending Ohio State, he won the NCAA Long Jump Championship and was named Big Ten Field Athlete of the Year. He also dabbled in boxing, competed in two amateur fights in 2022, and won both by knockout. He began acting three years ago.
Serero received roughly one thousand resumes when he published notices for a casting call in search of an actor to play Ali. One-hundred-twenty respondents were invited to audition.
“I had people who looked like Ali and were accomplished actors,” Serero recalls. “But when they were in the room, I didn’t feel Ali in front of me. You have to remember; we’re dealing with someone who really existed and there’s video of him, so it’s not like asking someone to play George Washington.”
And Ali was Ali. That’s a hard act to follow.
Bazile is a near-perfect fit. At 6-feet-2-inches tall, 195 pounds, he conveys Ali’s physicality. His body is sculpted in the manner of the young Ali. He moves like an athlete because he is an athlete. His face resembles Ali’s and his expressions are very much on the mark in the way he transmits emotion to the audience. He uses his voice the way Ali did. He moves his eyes the way Ali did. He has THE LOOK.
Zack was born the year that Ali lit the Olympic flame in Atlanta, so he has no first-hand memory of the young Ali who set the world ablaze. “But as an actor,” he says, “I’m representing Ali. That’s a responsibility I take very seriously. Everyone has an essence about them. I had to find the right balance – not too over the top – and capture that.”
Sitting in the audience watching Bazile, I felt at times as though it was Ali onstage in front of me. Zack has the pre-exile Ali down perfectly. The magic dissipates a bit as the stage Ali grows older. Bazile still has to add the weight of aging to his craft. But I couldn’t help but think, “Muhammad would have loved watching Zack play him.”
****
Twenty-four hours after the premiere of The One, David Serero left the stage for a night to shine brightly in a real boxing ring., The occasion was the tenth fight card that Larry Goldberg has promoted at Sony Hall in New York, a run that began with Goldberg’s first pro show ever on October 13, 2022.
Most of the fights on the six-bout card played out as expected. But two were tougher for the favorites than anticipated. Jacob Riley Solis was held to a draw by Daniel Jefferson. And Andy Dominguez was knocked down hard by Angel Meza in round three before rallying to claim a one-point split-decision triumph.
Serero sang the national anthem between the second and third fights and stilled the crowd with a virtuoso performance. Fans at sports events are usually restless during the singing of the anthem. This time, the crowd was captivated. Serero turned a flat ritual into an inspirational moment. People were turning to each other and saying “Wow!”
****
The unexpected happened in Tijuana last Saturday night when 25-to-1 underdog Bruno Surace climbed off the canvas after a second-round knockdown to score a shocking, one-punch, sixth-round stoppage of Jaime Munguia. There has been a lot of commentary since then about what happened that night. The best explanation I’ve heard came from a fan named John who wrote, “The fight was not over in the second round although Munguia thought it was because, if he caught him once, he would naturally catch him again. Plus he looked at this little four KO guy [Surace had scored 4 knockouts in 27 fights] the way all the fans did, like he had no punch. That is what a fan can afford to do. But a fighter should know better. The ref reminds you, ‘Protect yourself at all times.’ Somebody forgot that.”
photo (c) David Serero
Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book – MY MOTHER and me – is a personal memoir available at Amazon.com. https://www.amazon.com/My-Mother-Me-Thomas-Hauser/dp/1955836191/ref=sr_1_1?crid=5C0TEN4M9ZAH&keywords=thomas+hauser&qid=1707662513&sprefix=thomas+hauser%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-1
In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
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L.A.’s Rudy Hernandez is the 2024 TSS Trainer of the Year
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L.A.’s Rudy Hernandez is the 2024 TSS Trainer of the Year
If asked to name a prominent boxing trainer who operates out of a gym in Los Angeles, the name Freddie Roach would jump immediately to mind. Best known for his work with Manny Pacquaio, Roach has been named the Trainer of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America a record seven times.
A mere seven miles from Roach’s iconic Wild Card Gym is the gym that Rudy Hernandez now calls home. Situated in the Little Tokyo neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles, the L.A. Boxing Gym – a relatively new addition to the SoCal boxing landscape — is as nondescript as its name. From the outside, one would not guess that two reigning world champions, Junto Nakatani and Anthony Olascuaga, were forged there.
As Freddie Roach will be forever linked with Manny Pacquiao, so will Rudy Hernandez be linked with Nakatani. The Japanese boxer was only 15 years old when his parents packed him off to the United States to be tutored by Hernandez. With Hernandez in his corner, the lanky southpaw won titles at 112 and 115 and currently holds the WBO bantamweight (118) belt. In his last start, he knocked out his Thai opponent, a 77-fight veteran who had never been stopped, advancing his record to 29-0 (22 KOs).
Nakatani’s name now appears on several pound-for-pound lists. A match with Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue is brewing. When that match comes to fruition, it will be the grandest domestic showdown in Japanese boxing history.
“Junto Nakatani is the greatest fighter I’ve ever trained. It’s easy to work with him because even when he came to me at age 15, his focus was only on boxing. It was to be a champion one day and nothing interfered with that dream,” Hernandez told sports journalist Manouk Akopyan writing for Boxing Scene.
Akin to Nakatani, Rudy Hernandez built Anthony Olascuaga from scratch. The LA native was rucked out of obscurity in April of 2023 when Jonathan Gonzalez contracted pneumonia and was forced to withdraw from his date in Tokyo with lineal light flyweight champion Kenshiro Teraji. Olascuaga, with only five pro fights under his belt, filled the breach on 10 days’ notice and although he lost (TKO by 9), he earned kudos for his gritty performance against the man recognized as the best fighter in his weight class.
Two fights later, back in Tokyo, Olascuaga copped the WBO world flyweight title with a third-round stoppage of Riku Kano. His first defense came in October, again in Japan, and Olascuaga retained his belt with a first-round stoppage of the aforementioned Gonzalez. (This bout was originally ruled a no-contest as it ended after Gonzalez suffered a cut from an accidental clash of heads. But the referee ruled that Gonzalez was fit to continue before the Puerto Rican said “no mas,” alleging his vision was impaired, and the WBO upheld a protest from the Olascuaga camp and changed the result to a TKO. Regardless, Rudy Hernandez’s fighter would have kept his title.)
Hernandez, 62, is the brother of the late Genaro “Chicanito” Hernandez. A two-time world title-holder at 130 pounds who fought the likes of Azumah Nelson, Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr., Chicanito passed away in 2011, a cancer victim at age 45.
Genaro “Chicanito” Hernandez was one of the most popular fighters in the Hispanic communities of Southern California. Rudy Hernandez, a late bloomer of sorts – at least in terms of public recognition — has kept his brother’s flame alive with own achievements. He is a worthy honoree for the 2024 Trainer of the Year.
Note: This is the first in our series of annual awards. The others will arrive sporadically over the next two weeks.
Photo credit: Steve Kim
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A Shocker in Tijuana: Bruno Surace KOs Jaime Munguia !!
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It was a chilly night in Tijuana when Jaime Munguia entered the ring for his homecoming fight with Bruno Surace. The main event of a Zanfer/Top Rank co-promotion, Munguia vs. Surace was staged in the city’s 30,000-seat soccer stadium a stone’s throw from the U.S. border in the San Diego metroplex.
Surace, a Frenchman, brought a 25-0-2 record and a 22-fight winning streak, but a quick glance at his record showed that he had scant chance of holding his own with the house fighter. Only four of Surace’s 25 wins had come by stoppage and only eight of his wins had come against opponents with winning records. Munguia was making the first start in the city of his birth since February 2022. Surace had never fought outside Europe.
But hold the phone!
After losing every round heading into the sixth, Surace scored the Upset of the Year, ending the contest with a one-punch knockout.
It looked like a short and easy night for Munguia when he knocked Surace down with a left hook in the second stanza. From that point on, the Frenchman fought off his back foot, often with back to the ropes, throwing punches only in spurts. Munguia worked the body well and was seemingly on the way to wearing him down when he was struck by lightning in the form of an overhand right.
Down went Munguia, landing on his back. He struggled to get to his feet, but the referee waived it off a nano-second before reaching “10.” The official time was 2:36 of round six.
Munguia, who was 44-1 heading in with 35 KOs, was as high as a 35/1 favorite. In his only defeat, he had gone the distance with Canelo Alvarez. This was the biggest upset by a French fighter since Rene Jacquot outpointed Donald Curry in 1989 and Jacquot had the advantage of fighting in his homeland.
Co-Main
Mexico City’s Alan Picasso, ranked #1 by the WBC at 122 pounds, scored a third-round stoppage of last-minute sub Yehison Cuello in a scheduled 10-rounder contested at featherweight. Picaso (31-0-1, 17 KOs) is a solid technician. He ended the bout with a left to the rib cage, a punch that weaved around Cuello’s elbow and didn’t appear to be especially hard. The referee stopped his count at “nine” and waived the fight off.
A 29-year-old Colombian who reportedly had been training in Tijuana, the overmatched Cuello slumped to 13-3-1.
Other Bouts of Note
In a ho-hum affair, junior middleweight Jorge Garcia advanced to 32-4 (26) with a 10-round unanimous decision over Uzbekistan’s Kudratillo Abudukakhorov (20-4). The judges had it 97-92 and 99-90 twice. There were no knockdowns, but Garcia had a point deducted in round eight for low blows.
Garcia displayed none of the power that he showed in his most recent fight three months ago in Arizona and when he knocked out his German opponent in 46 seconds. Abudukakhorov, who has competed mostly as a welterweight, came in at 158 1/4 pounds and didn’t look in the best of shape. The Uzbek was purportedly 170-10 as an amateur (4-5 per boxrec).
Super bantamweight Sebastian Hernandez improved to 18-0 (17 KOs) with a seventh-round stoppage of Argentine import Sergio Martin (14-5). The end came at the 2:39 mark of round seven when Martin’s corner threw in the towel. Earlier in the round, Martin lost his mouthpiece and had a point deducted for holding.
Hernandez wasn’t all that impressive considering the high expectations born of his high knockout ratio, but appeared to have injured his right hand during the sixth round.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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