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Could Being Good Be Bad For Manny Pacquiao?

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Pacquiao breaks camp 120604 003aReligion isn't my thing. I grew up Catholic, not because I wanted to, but because my parents set it up that way. I attended church, but was bored by it. I drifted off mentally when at mass, thought about the next Little League game, scanned for the cute girls in attendance. I found the customs involved in the whole deal strange–men in sci-fi garb, and such– and that much stranger as I got older, and read stories in the newspapers of cases involving priests' misdeeds.

I found it hard to conceive that any human being could successfully pledge their full-allegiance to an unseen deity, and rebuff internal urges to procreate, or fornicate. Year after year, I sipped the Kool Aid dutifully, trying to develop a taste for the Godstuff…and periodically, I will still try a thimble full here or there, whisper a prayer while lying in bed. But all in all, it ain't for me.

I try to keep an open mind for those who are believers; after all, knowing what we know about the world, anything that works as a salve, as long as it isn't a self-destructive substance, people should have access to it. And bless 'em if they find something that works.

But in many cases–maybe it's the journalist in me, the part of me that searches for the contradictions, the elements that can be fixed, for the betterment of the masses, not the uppermost classes–I tend towards the mildly jaded and cynical when it comes to those who worship overtly. Quiet reverence is one thing; a grandma who goes about her business, but pops into church every AM for some contemplation and devotion time, as she sends hopeful messages to a higher power, so that her grandkids lead a full and healthy life, and her sciatica disappears and her friend Bertha's cancer is removed, who the hell am I to say anything about? But those that worship, and proselytize, who feel a need to spread the good word, incessantly, in any context, well, the cynic in me often silently judges. Why the need to testify and try to sway wayward souls into the flock? I'm an each to his own guy, again, as long as your behavior doesn't affect others. You want to build an altar in your living room, and sip grape juice and pretend it's the blood of someone or another, really, that's your business. But if you're out and about, as a public figure, and you spend a bunch of your time extolling the virtues of your movement, and work like the dickens to sell us on that movement, a movement which I believe, all due respect, condones sexism and bigotry, against women and homosexuals…then I got a bit of a problem with that. Even if you are a person who seemingly believes fully and deeply that what you are spouting is the truth. Even if I sense that you aren't one of these folks who uses the “word of God” as a weapon, who uses your religious beliefs as a salve but also as a weapon, as a rationale to justify your views on same-sex marriage, or birth-control, or abortion, or other matters which are in my mind purely no one's business but your own, and certainly not the business of an elected government official to impact, or a church leader to influence.

Over the years, when coming across stories that hinted, or outright stated that Manny Pacquiao was a man of severe contradictions, that his humble, affable public persona hid another side, one that gave in temptation, and behaviors which impacted his loved ones negatively, I found myself looking past them. I found myself justifying them, glossing over them. When I heard about drinking, gambling, cockfighting, and so many “where there's smoke there's got to be fire” rumors about marital infidelity, I found myself looking past them. When Floyd and company alleged that many got help via PEDs, I frankly dismissed that grenade out of hand. Rightly, I think, because we've seen no proof of that, but wrongly, perhaps, because I took a shine to his personality. Manny doesn't come off as someone who would cheat, I thought to myself. I think regular readers know that I've been trying to come to grips with that of late, that I've tried to hash out in my brain if we, the press, have treated Pacquiao, because of that humility and affability, more favorably than, say, a less humble person, like Floyd Mayweather.

With Pacquiao's recent full-on immersion into his religion, his almost Born Again status, I have found myself looking at him with a new set of eyes. Or, perhaps, a new bias. Because of my personal belief that religion is too often a misused opiate of the masses, too often used as a tool of destruction, rather than what it could and should be, a means to achieve a measure of serenity and contentment that is difficult to attain, and a blueprint to aid man in overcoming his inherent selfishness, and move towards selflessness, I have looked and listened as Manny preached with a sense of detachment and even slight skepticism. When the Pacquiao-Ampong same-sex marriage flap erupted, I admit, my view of the Congressman took a slight dive. I see marriage as an issue of love, not gender, and dismiss the viewpoint that sees it as anything but as a biased one. I believe–and please get back to me in 20 years on this–that history will bear out my stance in coming decades, just as it did on the subject of the right of women and blacks to vote, for instance. Yet, I didn't scorn Manny because of his biases the same way I do some of the US politicians who portray themselves as good Christians..and then vote to reduce food stamps to needy children, or deny the right of two people who love each other to get married. Why? I guess because I sensed his faith, his recent immersion, was genuine. But…I don't know if it is. Nobody really does except for Manny. After all, before recent fights over the years, we heard about how he was in the best shape of his life, that he was training as hard as could be. Now, we learn that he was sometimes up all night partying, and showing up to the gym as fresh as Charlie Sheen mid-bender. Yes, yes, I know that the boxing business is one where promotion is instrumental in success. But sue me; I tend to believe, oftentimes, people at face value. When a boxer says he is coming to the ring looking to do damage, and then like David Haye fights like a scared Golden Glover, I feel cheated. That's naivete, you could argue. I don't fight it, because it shows I haven't tipped towards full-on veteran reporter cynical.

I am still trying to hash out how I feel about the new Pacquiao. Part of me feels duped, like I was sold some BS about the old Manny. But that is my issue, and, frankly, more germane to me personally, and my attempts to figure out my existence and the ways of the world, than it is to TSS. What is germane to TSS, though, is how Manny's conversion will affect him in the ring on Saturday night, against Timothy Bradley. Colleague Ron Borges wrote about how Bradley is something of a skeptic on “new Manny.”

“I knew sooner or later all the distractions would catch up with him,’’ Bradley said of Pacquiao’s chaotic public and private lives to Borges. “He’s here. He’s there. He’s fornicating. Now he’s got his religion in place? I want to finish the job.’’

Good for Bradley, for articulating what too many of us are afraid, or unwilling, for whatever reasons, to voice. He is questioning the veracity of Manny's newfound faith. He's thinking that it only came about, to this degree of devotion, because it was forced upon him. Bradley, or so it has appeared as we've watched him these last two months, seems to possess a genuine faith in a higher power, and seems to actually walk the walk in his personal life as well. Unless it emerges later that we've been conned, it seems to me that he is reverent towards his wife Monica and kids, and doesn't need to fill any vacuums with drinking or screwing around or massive gambling. So, I'm left to wonder, will that true-blue devotion and seeming serenity manifest itself in the ring, and propel Bradley to an upset win on Saturday over Pacquiao?

I asked Pacquiao about the faith issue before the Ampong thing popped up. I wanted to know if the newly bolstered faith would impact him as a boxer. Why, I asked, did you indulge in untoward activities?

“I read the Bible, it's my manual for life,” Pacquiao told me. “Before (my conversion) I pray, I always pray. I believed in God's dream to follow,” he said, but that he wasn't sure how exactly to follow the directions to be “good.” That, he said, is why he indulged in “gambling and girls” and the like. “I read the bible now to follow the commandments of God.”

I asked Manny what Bible verses in particular spoke to him. Matthew 5:48, he said, is favorite: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Another is John 8:47, Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” I admit, that second especially throws me, as it seems to be a diss on those who don't follow God as Manny and members of his particular flock see him. If a person is good, and does good acts, I frankly don't give a hoot if he belong to the Church of the Potted Plant. He's doing good, being a benefit to society, and that's all that matters, to me. But I digress…

So, will the heavy duty faith keep you from trying to knock Bradley's head off?

“In the ring I get to entertain people,” Pacquiao told me. “I want the people to be happy.”

Trainer Freddie Roach also told me that the new faith level won't diminish his skills as a boxer. “Manny gave up all distractions, now it's just one distraction,” he said. “It's not too hard reading the Bible. Now, he's not going away, not going to cockfights or casino. He hasn't drank in over a year. He's given up all that's bad for him. He realized his mistakes, him and his wife are getting along great. His life is less confusing for him and all of us.”

Me, I'm of the Freddie school on religion, I think. (I bet he grew up a Massachusetts Catholic, as I did, lol.) But I wondered, has Manny yanked him into the flock?

“Manny hasn't invited me yet to Bible study. I'm waiting for that to happen. I'm not a religious person, but it won't kill me.”

So, will Manny still go for the kill, or feel pity for the fool, if he gets Bradley buzzed?

“I worried at first,” Roach told me. “I wanted to see his work ethic. He still beats the s–t out of me. He says “sorry,” and hits me again. I was a little worried about that, not wanting to hurt people, but it's the oldest sport in the world. Maybe God was into boxing too. I'm not worried at all about him being soft, he's the same fighter, just no more distractions and vices… except for Bible, and that's a pretty good vice in my book.”

You might recall George Foreman went through a conversion himself. He lost to Jimmy Young in Puerto Rico on March 17, 1977 (UD12). He went to his dressing room and was reborn. “I died in the dressing room and had my vision of Jesus Christ being crucified,” he said after. “God wanted me to lose that fight so that I could lose my life. That's not an excuse; that's the truth…I walked out of that dressing room with peace of mind for the first time in my life.” Foreman left the sport, became a preacher, and then re-entered the ring a decade later. His faith held steady, to this day. I reached out to Big George, to help get a better sense of the Pacquiao conversion, and ask if the infusion of faith will help or hurt the Filipino in the ring.

Has he been following the Pacquiao-is-reborn storyline?

“I've been kind of watching it,” Foreman told me. “It seems to be sincere. That's what you want.”

Foreman said he met Pacquiao at the birthday bash for Muhammad Ali in January. “We sat and talked religion,” the ex heavyweight champion said. “He is sincere.” Foreman said being the man is hard, that there is nobody surrounding you when you are out and about to tell you no, that isn't a good idea. “I was right and rich,” he said of his pre-conversion days, “and who's going to tell me I can't say or do that?”

I did for the benefit of disclosure admit to Foreman my own stance on religion, by the way, so he could know where I was coming from. And, interestingly, without me mentioning Pacquiao's same-sex marriage flap, he touched on the issue of religious figures judging others and using Bible passages to justify it. “Just because you find religion,” Foreman said, “you shouldn't shut the door on thinking. The Bible is the truest love letter.” Foreman said we should give Pacquiao time, let him grow into the faith, and we will see if his actions match his words. “Like Mother Theresa, she went out and demonstrated her beliefs. You can't get tangled up in deeds. Show me how religious you are by the deeds you do. Those people that do the Meals on Wheels, I'd rather see that than preaching on the street or praying for five hours. If Manny has extra money, he can donate it to the Meal on Wheels program. That's full-time Holy Ghost religion.”

Foreman agrees with Roach, that the new religiosity won't affect Pacman's ability to finish a foe. But he might be stung, Foreman said, if the cheers turn to boos. “If you're religious, and you get hit, and they go crazy, it's the most lonely feeling in the world,” he said. “Pacquiao will have to deal with that.”

All in all, Foreman stresses that we should be patient with Pacquiao. “We never wait and see. It will take time. It took me thirty years to figure out that I was not called to preach against anyone and anything, but to tell people how great God is. Because once you say it out of church, it's no longer religious, it's politics.”

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With Valentine’s Day on the Horizon, let’s Exhume ex-Boxer ‘Machine Gun’ McGurn

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With Valentine’s Day on the Horizon, let’s Exhume ex-Boxer ‘Machine Gun’ McGurn

Feb. 14, which this year falls on a Friday, is Valentine’s Day, more formally St. Valentine’s Day. It’s a day identified with romance, but for students of organized crime, it summons up an image of a different sort. On Valentine’s Day in 1929, at a warehouse in the Lincoln Park district of Chicago, seven men were lined up against a wall and murdered in cold blood by four intruders with machine guns and shotguns. The infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre was the most sensational news story during the Prohibition Era when many of America’s cities, most notably Chicago, were roiled by deadly turf wars between rival bootlegging factions.

It shouldn’t surprise us that a former boxer was one of the alleged perpetrators. During the Prohibition years, bootleggers were well-represented among the ranks of boxing promoters and managers. Philadelphia’s Max “Boo Boo” Hoff reportedly had the largest boxing stable in the country. In New York, Owney Madden was purportedly the brains behind the consortium that controlled future heavyweight champion Primo Carnera.

That brings us to Jack McGurn, but first a little context. Prohibition was the law of the land from 1920, when the Volstead Act took effect, until 1933 when the ill-conceived law was repealed. Prohibition did not fetter America’s thirst for alcoholic beverages but arguably encouraged it. Confirmed beer drinkers didn’t stop drinking beer because it was illegal. Restaurateurs at high-end establishments didn’t stop selling cognac and brandy; they just did it more discreetly. Speakeasies became fashionable.

Big money awaited entrepreneurs willing to risk arrest by flouting the law, either by opening distilleries and breweries or importing alcohol with Canada the leading supplier.

In Chicago and environs, circa 1929, two of the kingpins of the bootlegging trade were “Scarface” Al Capone and George “Bugs” Moran. They were bitter rivals. The warehouse at which the seven men were assassinated housed some of Moran’s delivery trucks. The victims were members of his gang.

Al Capone wasn’t directly involved. On Feb. 14, he was in Florida where, among other things, he was finalizing arrangements to host a bevy of A-list sportswriters at his lavish Miami Beach estate; the scribes were coming to town to cover the heavyweight title eliminator between Jack Sharkey and Young Stribling. But the hired guns, who stormed into Moran’s warehouse at 10:30 on a snowy Valentine’s Day morning, were presumed to be working for Capone and the one henchman whose name stood out among the usual suspects was Jack McGurn. He had purportedly saved Capone’s life on two occasions by intercepting would-be assassins out to kill his boss and shooting them dead. Of all his underlings, Capone was said to be especially fond of McGurn.

Maching Gun McGurn

Machine Gun Jack McGurn

It had long been the custom of Jewish and Italian boxers to adopt Irish-sounding ring names. McGurn was born Vincenzo Gibaldi in 1902 in the Sicilian seaside city of Licata and lived in Brooklyn before moving with his widowed mother to Chicago. He had his first documented prizefight in 1921. The bout was held on a naval training ship, the U.S.S. Commodore. Prizefighting was then illegal in the Windy City, a residue of the malodorous 1900 fight between Terry McGovern and Joe Gans, but the ship was docked outside the Chicago city limits.

McGurn would have five more documented fights, the last against Bud Christiano on a strong card in Aurora, Illinois. Their six-round bout was the semi-windup. The main go was a 10-round contest between bantamweights Bud Taylor, the Terre Haute Terror, and Memphis Pal Moore, both of whom are enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

By law, these were no-decision fights with wagers resting on the opinion of one or more ringside reporters. McGurn really had no business in the same ring with Christiano, an 84-fight veteran who had won two of three from future world lightweight title-holder Jimmy Goodrich. He took the worst of it, but was still standing at the final bell. And that was that. After only six pro fights, he hung up his gloves to pursue other endeavors and, in time, when his name appeared in the newspapers, it invariably appeared as Machine Gun Jack McGurn, the reference to the newfangled Thompson Machine Gun, colloquially the Tommy Gun, a tool with which McGurn was said to be very proficient.

The police found McGurn holed up in a Chicago hotel where he was staying with his girlfriend, Louise Rolfe, a 22-year-old “professional model and cabaret entertainer” with a 5-year-old daughter from a previous relationship that was being raised by her mother.

Louise testified that on the day of the massacre, they were in bed until noon. She said that she and McGurn had seldom left the room during their 13-day stay, having their food brought up from the hotel’s kitchen.

Louise held tight to her story and the police never did have sufficient evidence to charge the ex-boxer in connection with the crime. However, whenever the authorities were frustrated in sending a perp to prison, they had other weapons at their disposal to get their pound of flesh.

In the case of Scarface Al Capone, it was the 1913 law that authorized a federal income tax. The feds had enough circumstantial evidence to show that Al hadn’t been paying his fair share of taxes and succeeded in removing him from society. (After serving almost eight years in federal prisons, mostly Alcatraz, Capone returned to civilian life a sick man and passed away in Florida at age 48.)

In the case of Machine Gun Jack McGurn and his paramour, later his wife, the wedge was the Mann Act of 1910.

The Mann Act, most famously used to waylay heavyweight champion Jack Johnson, was aimed at brothel-keepers and immigrant flesh peddlers but was worded in such a way that it could be deployed when there was no commerce involved. It prohibited the interstate transportation of “any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.” (The law remains on the books but has been watered-down to decriminalize sexual activity between consenting adults.)

The feds spent thousands of hours digging up evidence to show that the couple had violated the Mann Act. They eventually got hotel receipts showing that they had registered as Mr. and Mrs. under assumed names at hotels in Florida and Mississippi during a motor trip down south. Jack was sentenced to two years in Leavenworth and Louise to four months in the county jail, but their convictions were later overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court.

What comes around, goes around, goes the saying, and it figured that Machine Gun Jack McGurn would die a violent death. The ex-boxer met his maker at 1 a.m. on Feb. 15, 1936, at a second-floor bowling alley in Chicago where he was fatally shot by two gunmen who opened fire as his back was turned. There were at least 20 people present said the story in the Chicago Tribune, but “the wall of silence, traditional among the gangsters and the people who know them, was erected high and tight.”

Was McGurn’s murder retaliation for the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre? The answer appears to be a resounding “yes.” Had the deed happened before the stroke of midnight, it would have happened on a St. Valentine’s Day, the seventh anniversary of the infamous event.

The police found a crumpled comic Valentine’s card next to McGurn’s body. On the front of the card were the figures of a man and a woman in their underwear. The verse inside read:

You’ve lost your job, You’ve lost your dough;

Your jewels and cars and handsome houses;

But things could still be worse you know

At least you haven’t lost your trousers.

Was this card intentionally left there by the assassins? We don’t know, but the view from here (pardon the wisecrack) is that if one were to receive a card on Valentine’s Day bearing this poem, perhaps it would be best not to leave the house.

Postscript #1: Jack McGurn’s wife, the former Louise Rolfe, routinely referenced in the press as his blonde alibi, continued to have her name pop up in the news after he died. In February of 1940, police found a gun used in a burglary in a drawer in her apartment. In 1943, she was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct after police found her in the company of a 25-year-old Army deserter.

Postscript #2:

Al Capone refused to pose for photographs, but made an exception for his friend Jack Sharkey, the future heavyweight champion. Sharkey is pictured on the right next to Capone in this 1929 photo.

****

The Mob Museum, officially the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, opened 13 years ago on Feb. 14, 2012 in an old three-story building in downtown Las Vegas that was originally a federal courthouse. So, each Valentine’s Day is a special occasion at the Mob Museum, an anniversary celebrated with special events, free admission for Nevada residents, and steep discounts for tourists. (On other days of the year, a single admission during peak hours is $34.95, but there are always discounts available on-line.)

A permanent display is a reconstructed portion of the wall where the seven victims were murdered.  The garage where the killings happened was demolished in 1967, but before it was torn down a collector rescued many of the bricks, some with blood-stained bullet holes, which the Mob Museum acquired. Other artifacts on display this Friday will be the two Tommy Guns used in the assault, a one-day loan from the Berrian County Sheriff’s Department in Michigan which recovered the weapons from the home of a bank robber.

For the record, there is also a mob museum, called the Gangster Museum of America, in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

A recognized authority on the history of prizefighting and the history of American sports gambling, TSS editor-in-chief Arne K. Lang is the author of five books including “Prizefighting: An American History,” released by McFarland in 2008 and re-released in a paperback edition in 2020.

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More ‘Dances’ in Store for Derek Chisora after out-working Otto Wallin in Manchester

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Tonight’s fight at Co-op Live Arena in Manchester between Derek Chisora and Otto Wallin bore the tagline “Last Dance.” The reference was to Chisora who at age 41 was on the cusp of his last hurrah. However, when the IBF went and certified the match as an eliminator, that changed the equation and, truth be told, Chisora would have likely soldiered on regardless of the outcome.

The UK boxing fans have embraced Chisora, an honest workman, never an elite fighter, but always a tough out. They certainly hope to see him in action again and they will get their wish. Tonight, he made more fans with a hard-earned, unanimous decision over 34-year-old Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin who went to post a small favorite.

Chisora came out fast, pressuring the Swede while keeping his hands busy. He was comfortably ahead after five rounds, but was seemingly ripe for a comedown after cuts developed above and below his right eye. Fortunately for him, he had the prominent Canadian cutman Russ Amber in his corner.

Chisora scored two knockdowns before the fight was finished. The first came in round nine when Chisora caught Wallin with a punch that landed high on his temple. In a delayed reaction, Wallin went flying backward, landing on his butt. Wallin recovered nicely and had his best round in the next frame.

Wallin appeared to be winning the final round when Chisora put the explanation point on his performance just as the final bell was about to ring, catching the Swede off-balance with a cuffing right hand that sent him to the floor once again. If not for that knockdown, there would have been some controversy when the scores were read. The tallies were 117-109, 116-110, and 114-112, the latter of which was too generous to Wallin (27-3).

“I love the sport and I love the fans,” said Derek Chisora (36-13, 23 KOs), addressing the audience in his post-fight interview. His next bout will likely come against the winner of the match between Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker happening later this month in Saudi Arabia.

Semi-wind-up

Stoke-on-Kent middleweight Nathan Heaney disappointed his large contingent of rooters when he was upset by French invader Sofiane Khati. The 35-year-old Heaney, who was 18-1-1 heading in, started well and was slightly ahead after six frames when things turned sour.

Both landed hard punches simultaneously in round seven, but the Frenchman’s punch was more damaging, knocking out Heaney’s mouthpiece and putting him on the canvas. When he arose, Khati, a 6/1 underdog, charged after him and forced the referee to intrude, saving Heaney from more punishment. The official time was 1:08 of round seven. It was the sixth win in the last seven tries for Khati (18-5, 7 KOs) who, akin to Chisora, is enjoying a late-career resurgence.

Other Bouts of Note

Lancashire junior welterweight Jack Rafferty was an 18/1 favorite over Morecambe ditch digger Reece MacMillan and won as expected. MacMillan’s corner tossed in the towel at the 1:08 mark of round seven. Rafferty’s record now stands at 25-0 (16 KOs), giving him the longest current unbeaten run of any British boxer. It was the second loss in 19 starts for MacMillan.

In a lackluster performance, Zach Parker, now competing as a light heavyweight, improved his record to 26-1 (19) with a 10-round decision over France’s Mickael Diallo (21-2-2) who took the bout on five days’ notice after Parker’s original opponent Willy Hutchinson suffered a bad shoulder injury in sparring and had to withdraw. The scores were 98-92, 98-93, and 97-94.

Parker’s lone defeat came in a domestic showdown with John Ryder, a match in which he could not continue after four rounds because of a broken hand. The prize for Ryder was a date with Canelo Alvarez. Mickael Diallo has another fight booked in four weeks in Long Beach, California.

Also

Featherweight Zak Miller scored the biggest win of his career, capturing a pair of regional trinkets with a 12-round majority decision over Masood Abdulah. The judges had it 115-113, 115-114, and 114-114.

Heading in, Miller was 15-1 but had defeated only one opponent with a winning record. It was the first pro loss for Abdulah (11-1), an Afghanistan-born Londoner.

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 313: The Misadventures of Canelo and Jake Paul (and More)

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 313: The Misadventures of Canelo and Jake Paul (and More)

Boxing news has taken a weird arc.

For the past 20 years or so, social media has replaced newspapers, radio and television as a source for boxing news.

And one thing is certain:

You cannot truly rely on many social media accounts to be accurate. Unless they are connected to actual reputable journalists. There are not that many.

Claims of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Jake Paul reaching an agreement to fight each other this year were rampant on social media sites. No contracts had been signed between the two parties, but several social media accounts claimed the fight was happening. One claimed: “it was official.”

It is not happening as of Friday Feb. 7. 10 a.m. Pacific Time.

A statement by Most Valuable Promotions was sent Friday Feb. 7, to various boxing publications that emphasized the Canelo-Paul fight is not official.

“MVP was deep in negotiations for a blockbuster fight between Jake Paul and Canelo Alvarez on Cinco de Mayo weekend in Las Vegas…This situation is a reminder not to believe everything you read.”

The past few days numerous social media accounts were posting erroneously that Paul and Canelo Alvarez were fighting on a certain date and place. It was jumped on by other social media accounts like Piranhas and gobbled up and spit out as actual verified news.

Fake news is happening more and more. I hate that term but it’s becoming more common.

Many accounts on social media sites are not trained journalists. They don’t understand that being the first to spit out news is not as important as being accurate.

Also, there is no such thing as using the term “according to sources” without naming the source. Who made the claim?

Third, verification of a fight comes from the promoters. They are the most reliable methods of verifying a pending fight. It’s their job. Don’t rely on a fighter, a trainer or somebody’s friend. Call the promoter involved and they will verify.

Otherwise, it’s just rumor and exaggeration.

There are social media accounts with trained journalists. Find out which social media accounts are connected to actual news media sources and established by trained journalists. A real journalist verifies a story before it is published.

R.I.P. Michael Katz

Recently, a highly respected journalist, Michael Katz, passed away. He wrote for various newspapers including the New York Times and for various boxing web sites such as Maxboxing.com and a few others.

Katz covered prize fights beginning in 1968 with the heavyweight fight between Floyd Patterson and Jimmy Ellis. Read the full story in www.TheSweetscience.com by Arne Lang.

I first came across Katz probably in 1994 when I began covering boxing events as a writer for the L.A .Times. During media press conferences Katz was one of the more prominent writers and very outspoken.

The New York-bred Katz could tell you stories about certain eras in boxing. I happened to overhear one or two while sitting around a dinner buffet in the media rooms in Las Vegas. He always had interesting things to say.

Boxing writers come in waves during each era. Today this new era of boxing writers has dwindled to almost nothing. Writing has been overtaken by boxing videographers. The problem is during an actual fight, videographers cannot record the fight itself. The media companies sponsoring the fight cards don’t allow it. So, after a fight is completed, very few descriptions of a fight exist. Only interviews.

Written journalism is shrinking due to the lack of newspapers, magazines and periodicals. The only sure way to know what happened is by seeing the fight on tape. You won’t see many stories on a bulletin board at a boxing gym because there are fewer boxing writers today. The written history of a championship fight has shrunk to almost nothing.

Katz was one of the superb writers from the 1960s to the 2000s. It’s a shrinking base that gets smaller every day. It’s a dying breed but there are still some remaining.

Fights in SoCal

All Star Boxing returns with two female fights on the card on Saturday Feb. 8, at Commerce Casino in Commerce, Calif.

Stephanie Simon (1-0) and Archana Sharma (3-2) are scheduled to headline the boxing card in a super lightweight main event. Others on the boxing event include Ricardo De La Torre, Bryan Albarran and Jose Mancilla to name a few.

Doors open at 6 p.m. No one under 14 will be admitted. For more information call (323) 816-6200.

Fights to Watch

Sat. DAZN 10:30 a.m. Derek Chisora (35-13) vs Otto Wallin (27-2).

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