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“If There's A Rematch, Bradley Will Dominate Pacquiao”

There's no doubting its impact within the boxing fraternity. The recent showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley is the most talked about boxing event of recent times. “The decision,” as it's been aptly named, is well on its way to becoming the most infamous decision announced by three judges since Pernell Whitaker was declared to have been the equal of Julio Cesar Chavez back in 1993. Heck, it may have even eclipsed that, placing it on a pedestal alongside the decision that was Leonard versus Hagler of 1987…..I think you get the idea.
Having only touched on the subject very briefly in my last two short pieces for TSS, and as a result of many of our regular readers -and some new-taking the time to comment on some of my recent statements -which I feel were not in any way outlandish-I thought I'd take this time to go into a little more detail explaining myself regarding my views on the fight that was, and also in the event of a possible rematch between our two men of the hour.
Allow me to make one thing perfectly clear. In a crowded house on fight night, surrounded by a talkative family and blessed with a Primetime feed that just so happened to glorify everything Pacquiao did {I'm English remember, so no slick HBO for me!} I initially felt Pacquiao won the fight, by a margin of around eight rounds to four. The following day however, with a clear head and no sound to diminish or enhance an opinion, I re-watched the fight and found it to be of a close nature. Eventually, having obtained a high definition version of the fight, I decided to score it for myself.After yet another viewing, again minus the sound, I scored the fight 6 rounds apiece…even… a draw. It's a score that I've now settled on after achieving the same result multiple times after repeated viewings {I must have watched it five or six times now…. I need to get out more, I know}. The point being, at no time did I ever declare that Timothy Bradley won the fight. In all honesty, I don't have a problem with those who think Bradley won the fight, nor do I have a problem with the vast majority of people who felt Pacquiao did. What I do have a problem with though, is those who saw it as a one-sided massacre in Pacquiao's favour. Scores of 119-109 for Pacquiao are, quite frankly, absurd to say the least. To suggest Bradley only won a single round in this fight is ridiculous. It was close and it was competitive.
Here is my round by round breakdown:
Round 1: Bradley
Round 2: Bradley
Round 3: Pacquiao
Round 4: Pacquiao
Round 5: Pacqiuao
Round 6: Pacquiao
Round 7: Bradley
Round 8: Pacquiao
Round 9: Pacquiao
Round 10: Bradley
Round 11: Bradley
Round 12: Bradley
As you can see, I viewed it as an extremely close fight where the decision could have gone one way or the other. Of the twelve rounds I scored, I felt only two of them were decisive. I believe only two rounds out of the twelve could have been scored by a boxing novice, those being round four for Pacquiao and round ten for Bradley.Apart from round seven,which was close and could very well have been reversed, I considerd the rest of the rounds to have been closely contested in which there was a winner, but not by a huge margin.
Now, moving onto the comments that seemed to have ignited hellfire and brimstone, namely Pacquiao being figured out and Bradley being able to dominate the rematch.By looking at my scorecard, you will see a pattern that does not frequently occur -Bradley won the first two rounds on my scorecard, then did not win consecutive rounds until the tenth round of the fight. In my eyes, this is a clear indication of something out of the ordinary that took place during the fight, which was Bradley's early foot injury. Here's why:
Rounds 1-2~
During the first two rounds -unlike some of Pacquiao's more stationary welterweight opponents- we saw Bradley utilising a lot of movement. As Pacquiao was advancing, Bradley clearly made a point of moving to his left. Pacquiao's offense in the first two rounds -his right hand followed by his left straight, or his straight left lead- was met with Bradley sliding off to Manny's right, and away from the left hand. Regardless of what many think {yes I'm talking to “three big booms” Lampley here}Pacquiao only landed his straight left hand once in the first round. At least cleanly. To sum up, I thought Bradley isolated Pacquiao's ambushes in the first two rounds using his feet. The blueprint looked to be set in stone for him -a counterpunching strategy that used Pacquiao's aggression against him.
Rounds 3-9~
Disaster struck for Bradley. With the injury to his foot {or feet} Bradley could no longer replicate what he was able to achieve in rounds one and two. Instead, we saw Bradley having to stand in range with Pacquiao, where he was forced to exchange with some of the fastest hands in all of boxing. Bradley, due to the pain which was evident on his face, was no longer able to use his legs to motor himself out of Pacquiao's range. Apart from the seventh, Pacquiao swept rounds three through nine.
Rounds 10-12:
With the pain seemingly under control, Bradley began neutralizing Pacquiao's lunges again with his feet. Using his jab -which seemed to go completely unnoticed- and his footwork, Bradley kept Pacquiao off balance by pivoting off of his front foot in a clockwise motion, away from Manny's back hand.
Because I felt Bradley won rounds one, two, ten, eleven and twelve -rounds where he was not in pain and could use his footwork- I think barring his injury in the second round, Bradley may have won this fight decisively. I had my doubts over Bernard Hopkins' shoulder injury against Chad Dawson,as did I with David Haye's broken toe and the alleged pain he was under during his twelve rounds with Wladimir Klitschko. There is no doubt in my mind however, as to how legitimate Tim Bradley's injuries were, nor is there any doubt as to how much pain he was in. There he was, in the biggest fight of his life, unable to use his legs for seven rounds against a fighter in which footwork and mobility is the key to unlocking him. Bradley was clearly suffering from the third to the ninth round.However, it was during those seven rounds,where Bradley had to go to plan B and plan C -you could clearly see it, and because of that, we got an idea of just how versatile Bradley is. Something, I believe, that does not bode well for Manny in the rematch.
I'm a firm believer that Bradley is one of boxing's finest technicians, even though many seem to disagree with the notion. Agreed, his punches do not flow like that of Juan Manuel Marquez' nor do his opponent's deflect off of him like Floyd Mayweather. Bradley's best asset in my eyes though, his boxing brain, is vastly underrated. Lets just forget about Bradley's injuries for a moment and ask yourself this. After the fourth round, did Pacquiao's left hand land with any regularity, if at all? I don't think it did. And it's because of the subtle adjustments Bradley made. After the fourth round {a round in which Bradley admitted to being hurt in} Pacquiao's left hand -regardless of what Primetime or HBO said- did not land clean again for the remainder of the fight -that's eight rounds where Pacquiao was unable to land his primary weapon -his only fight ending weapon- and five rounds in which Bradley was a wounded animal yet Pacquiao still couldn't hunt him down to a finish.If you look at the film again, you will see four adjustments Bradley made to negate Pacquiao's left handed attack throughout the fight.
Pre Injury: Initially, Bradley's footwork was his primary evasive action. Moving to his left, thus eliminating any left hand threat.
Foot injury: Unable to move, Bradley went to plan B, which was to use his blocking skills. Pacquiao throws two types of left hands at two different ranges. The first, in close, is swept around the guard and aimed towards the right side of an opponent's head, and the second, thrown at mid-range, is thrown straight down the middle, towards the centre of an opponent's chin. Bradley negated the first by getting inside and covering the side of his head with the outside of his right glove, and the second by bending at the waist and covering his chin with an open glove which he used to parry Pacquiao's left hand. Bradley adjusted his guard depending on Pacquiao's angle and range. Another look at the film, and you will see Bradley continually catching Pacquiao's left hand with an open mitt.
Bradley also negated the left hand through head movement. As Pacquiao lunged in, Bradley simply dipped low enough, so that Pacquiao's momentum would allow him to land on top of Bradley's back, thus forcing the official to call break.
Post foot injury: Moving again, Bradley was able to use a counter left hook as he slid off to his left. This -along with his jab- was Bradley's most effective evasive action. As Pacquiao leaned in with the straight left hand, Bradley was off to the side, throwing a well timed left hook over Manny's right shoulder. Don't be fooled by Bradley's aesthetics, only a technician learns and adapts during a fight.
Within the last batch of comments at the end of my last article, one of our TSS readers made a good analogy when he suggested the rematch could go like Lewis-Rahman. Suggesting that Pacquiao, like Lewis did, may have learned his lesson, and will be able to adapt and win a rematch in spectacular fashion. I have to respectfully disagree with that analogy. And here's why. Lennox Lewis, unlike Pacquiao, was the technician between him and Rahman. In their first fight, an underprepared Lewis was brutally stopped by a heavyweight puncher. In the rematch, Lewis did his home work. He knew that Rahman, a one-dimensional slugger, blocked a jab by flailing his arms out and moving to his left. knowing this, Lewis walked Rahman onto a right hand, and the rest was history. Lewis, an astute student of boxing, knew how to tailor his style to suit an opponent.As I've said before, I consider Pacquiao to have one of the best A games in boxing. His “in and out” offensive attack is usually enough to get the job done against most opponents and in particular, those who opt to stand right in front of him within punching range. Nevertheless, I believe Pacquiao struggles to adapt and adjust if things are not going his way.I question Pacquiaio's -and Freddie Roach's for that matter- ability to come up with a plan B or C during a fight.
In my last piece, I referenced the Lewis-Holyfield scenario {their first fight was a disputed draw, in which Lewis clearly won and the second was closer but Lewis was awarded the decision} as how the Bradley-Pacquiao rematch may go down. Point being, Bradley may actually dominate the rematch, but judges, feeling Pacquiao was harshly treated last time, may actually award Pacquiao the decision {I believe we are in for another twelve rounder, more on that in a moment}.
A better analogy however, is the Jean Pascal-Bernard Hopkins fights. During their first fight, Hopkins, a technician, was stunned and hurt early by Pascal, who is a superior offensive fighter, with better athleticism. Pascal though, can be considered one dimensional. After Hopkins figured him out during the fifth round, he never lost a round for the rest of the fight. This carried into the rematch as Hopkins was able to neutralize Pascal from the get go. Despite the first fight being a draw, Hopkins dominated the rematch. I consider Bradley to be in a similar situation to Bradley. In my eyes, Pacquiao won the first half of the fight, but Bradley, after recuperating from his leg injury and making subtle adjustments, won the second half of the fight. This to me, suggests that Bradley has figured something out -remember,Pacquiao barely landed his left hand after the fourth round.
One of the most common perceptions I've heard and read is that Pacquiao will be able to get the knockout in the rematch. Look, I don't mean to rain on Manny's parade or anything like that, truth is I'm a bigger fan of Pacquiao's than I am of Bradley's, but I just don't see him being able to get the knockout in the rematch. Pacquiao's last six fights, in case you've forgotten, have all gone the full twelve rounds. Pacquiao's vaunted power at welterweight,I'm afraid to say,is vastly overrated. Pacquiao hit Bradley flush in the fourth round. Bradley was able to recover and claim Kendal Holt hit harder. I also don't buy into Shane Mosley saying Pacquiao's power is something else. If Pacquiao's power really was something else, then Mosley wouldn't have been there mythologizing fables. Did Thomas Hearns' opponents stand there at the end of the fight telling the world how hard he hit? No, they were being scraped off the canvas. That's how we knew Hearns was a hitter at welterweight. With Pacquiao not having scored a stoppage in his last half dozen fights and with his primary fight ending weapon not landing with any regularity since the Antonio Margarito fight, I think the Rubik's cube that was Pacquiao, is now something far less complicated, especially since he's started his inevitable decline.
Pacquiao, like Roy Jones, Naseem Hamed and Muhammad Ali did, relies heavily on his physical gifts like speed, athleticism and explosiveness. Look at Pacquiao against Oscar De la Hoya. You will see a fighter who has clearly lost a step in speed, reflexes and most notably, stamina. When was the last time Pacquiao was ever outworked throughout a twelve round fight before Bradley threw more punches than him last time out? Try never. It's obvious to me, that Pacquiao was performing that old Ray Leonard trick of trying to catch the the judges eye by turning it on for the last minute of every round. A clear indication that he is no longer capable of re-producing his frenetic pace of his featherweight days. Without volume, Pacquiao just isn't the same fighter. It's why haven't seen vintage Pacquiao since 2009.
Consequently, I think a rematch with Bradley would be a bad decision for Pacquiao. Bradley, to me, looked to have figured out Pacquiao's attack pattern -namely his side to side head movement, followed by a right hand….right, straight left combination. It became a case of rinse and repeat as the fight went on as Pacquiao seemed to lack any variation in his attack. One thing I did notice during the last fight, was the rare occasions when he threw it, Pacquiao seemed to have some success with the uppercut. Maybe that's something Pacquiao and Roach could pick up on if there's a rematch. On the other hand, it's not hard to imagine Bradley, just as he eventually did with Pacquiao's straight left, to figure the shot out and adjust accordingly. Again, I consider Bradley to be a boxing chameleon. Only a technician can adapt and re-adjust to the situation at hand.
I stand by my belief that if there's to be a rematch, Timothy Bradley will dominate. Pacquiao, who does not seem to be able to adjust during a fight, struggles against moving targets. The direction of Pacquiao's attack becomes lineal against fighters who are not overly aggressive and who counter movement with movement, fire with fire. Look at Pacquiao's attack angles against David Diaz, Oscar De La Hoya, Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto, then contrast his angles against Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez, Shane Mosley and Timothy Bradley -you will notice Pacquiao becomes a pressurizing stalker against the latter group, yet against the former, Pacquiao was like a wasp, moving in, out and around his stationary targets.
A fully fit Bradley will be moving off at angles, not allowing Pacquiao to launch his four-five-six punch combinations that we've become accustomed to seeing him throw against his more stationary opponents {whom Pacquiao is a killer against}. I'm of the opinion, just as Bernard Hopkins did with Jean Pascal, that Timothy Bradley has a clear understanding on how to neutralize Manny's best weapons -his left hand, movement and angles-heading into the rematch.
And yet, having said all this,I would not be at all suprised if Pacquiao was given the decision, as a result of how the first fight was deemed a robbery. I hope I'm proved wrong, but the recent re-judging by the WBO has, I feel, only but enhanced my logic.
I look foward to hearing your response, TSS Universe. Thanks for reading.
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Avila Perspective, Chap. 323: Benn vs Eubank Family Feud and More

Next generation rivals Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr. carry on the family legacy of feudal warring in the prize ring on Saturday.
This is huge in British boxing.
Eubank (34-3, 25 KOs) holds the fringe IBO middleweight title but won’t be defending it against the smaller welterweight Benn (23-0, 14 KOs) on Saturday, April 26, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. DAZN will stream the Matchroom Boxing card.
This is about family pride.
The parents of Eubank and Benn actually began the feud in the 1990s.
Papa Nigel Benn fought Papa Chris Eubank twice. Losing as a middleweight in November 1990 at Birmingham, England, then fighting to a draw as a super middleweight in October 1993 in Manchester. Both were world title fights.
Eubank was undefeated and won the WBO middleweight world title in 1990 against Nigel Benn by knockout. He defended it three times before moving up and winning the vacant WBO super middleweight title in September 1991. He defended the super middleweight title 14 times before suffering his first pro defeat in March 1995 against Steve Collins.
Benn won the WBO middleweight title in April 1990 against Doug DeWitt and defended it once before losing to Eubank in November 1990. He moved up in weight and took the WBC super middleweight title from Mauro Galvano in Italy by technical knockout in October 1992. He defended the title nine times until losing in March 1996. His last fight was in November 1996, a loss to Steve Collins.
Animosity between the two families continues this weekend in the boxing ring.
Conor Benn, the son of Nigel, has fought mostly as a welterweight but lately has participated in the super welterweight division. He is several inches shorter in height than Eubank but has power and speed. Kind of a British version of Gervonta “Tank” Davis.
“It’s always personal, every opponent I fight is personal. People want to say it’s strictly business, but it’s never business. If someone is trying to put their hands on me, trying to render me unconscious, it’s never business,” said Benn.
This fight was scheduled twice before and cut short twice due to failed PED tests by Benn. The weight limit agreed upon is 160 pounds.
Eubank, a natural middleweight, has exchanged taunts with Benn for years. He recently avenged a loss to Liam Smith with a knockout victory in September 2023.
“This fight isn’t about size or weight. It’s about skill. It’s about dedication. It’s about expertise and all those areas in which I excel in,” said Eubank. “I have many, many more years of experience over Conor Benn, and that will be the deciding factor of the night.”
Because this fight was postponed twice, the animosity between the two feuding fighters has increased the attention of their fans. Both fighters are anxious to flatten each other.
“He’s another opponent in my way trying to crush my dreams. trying to take food off my plate and trying to render me unconscious. That’s how I look at him,” said Benn.
Eubank smiles.
“Whether it’s boxing, whether it’s a gun fight. Defense, offense, foot movement, speed, power. I am the superior boxer in each of those departments and so many more – which is why I’m so confident,” he said.
Supporting Bout
Former world champion Liam Smith (33-4-1, 20 KOs) tangles with Ireland’s Aaron McKenna (19-0, 10 KOs) in a middleweight fight set for 12 rounds on the Benn-Eubank undercard in London.
“Beefy” Smith has long been known as one of the fighting Smith brothers and recently lost to Eubank a year and a half ago. It was only the second time in 38 bouts he had been stopped. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez did it several years ago.
McKenna is a familiar name in Southern California. The Irish fighter fought numerous times on Golden Boy Promotion cards between 2017 and 2019 before returning to the United Kingdom and his assault on continuing the middleweight division. This is a big step for the tall Irish fighter.
It’s youth versus experience.
“I’ve been calling for big fights like this for the last two or three years, and it’s a fight I’m really excited for. I plan to make the most of it and make a statement win on Saturday night,” said McKenna, one of two fighting brothers.
Monster in L.A.
Japan’s super star Naoya “Monster” Inoue arrived in Los Angeles for last day workouts before his Las Vegas showdown against Ramon Cardenas on Sunday May 4, at T-Mobile Arena. ESPN will televise and stream the Top Rank card.
It’s been four years since the super bantamweight world champion performed in the US and during that time Naoya (29-0, 26 KOs) gathered world titles in different weight divisions. The Japanese slugger has also gained fame as perhaps the best fighter on the planet. Cardenas is 26-1 with 14 KOs.
Pomona Fights
Super featherweights Mathias Radcliffe (9-0-1) and Ezequiel Flores (6-4) lead a boxing card called “DMG Night of Champions” on Saturday April 26, at the historic Fox Theater in downtown Pomona, Calif.
Michaela Bracamontes (11-2-1) and Jesus Torres Beltran (8-4-1) will be fighting for a regional WBC super featherweight title. More than eight bouts are scheduled.
Doors open at 6 p.m. For ticket information go to: www.tix.com/dmgnightofchampions
Fights to Watch
Sat. DAZN 9 a.m. Conor Benn (23-0) vs Chris Eubank Jr. (34-3); Liam Smith (33-4-1) vs Aaron McKenna (19-0).
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Floyd Mayweather has Another Phenom and his name is Curmel Moton

Floyd Mayweather has Another Phenom and his name is Curmel Moton
In any endeavor, the defining feature of a phenom is his youth. Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper was a phenom. He was on the radar screen of baseball’s most powerful player agents when he was 14 years old.
Curmel Moton, who turns 19 in June, is a phenom. Of all the young boxing stars out there, wrote James Slater in July of last year, “Curmel Moton is the one to get most excited about.”
Moton was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. His father Curtis Moton, a barber by trade, was a big boxing fan and specifically a big fan of Floyd Mayweather Jr. When Curmel was six, Curtis packed up his wife (Curmel’s stepmom) and his son and moved to Las Vegas. Curtis wanted his son to get involved in boxing and there was no better place to develop one’s latent talents than in Las Vegas where many of the sport’s top practitioners came to train.
Many father-son relationships have been ruined, or at least frayed, by a father’s unrealistic expectations for his son, but when it came to boxing, the boy was a natural and he felt right at home in the gym.
The gym the Motons patronized was the Mayweather Boxing Club. Curtis took his son there in hopes of catching the eye of the proprietor. “Floyd would occasionally drop by the gym and I was there so often that he came to recognize me,” says Curmel. What he fails to add is that the trainers there had Floyd’s ear. “This kid is special,” they told him.
It costs a great deal of money for a kid to travel around the country competing in a slew of amateur boxing tournaments. Only a few have the luxury of a sponsor. For the vast majority, fund raisers such as car washes keep the wheels greased.
Floyd Mayweather stepped in with the financial backing needed for the Motons to canvas the country in tournaments. As an amateur, Curmel was — take your pick — 156-7 or 144-6 or 61-3 (the latter figure from boxrec). Regardless, at virtually every tournament at which he appeared, Curmel Moton was the cock of the walk.
Before the pandemic, Floyd Mayweather Jr had a stable of boxers he promoted under the banner of “The Money Team.” In talking about his boxers, Floyd was understated with one glaring exception – Gervonta “Tank” Davis, now one of boxing’s top earners.
When Floyd took to praising Curmel Moton with the same effusive language, folks stood up and took notice.
Curmel made his pro debut on Sept. 30, 2023, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on the undercard of the super middleweight title fight between Canelo Alvarez and Jermell Charlo. After stopping his opponent in the opening round, he addressed a flock of reporters in the media room with Floyd standing at his side. “I felt ready,” he said, “I knew I had Floyd behind me. He believes in me. I had the utmost confidence going into the fight. And I went in there and did what I do.”
Floyd ventured the opinion that Curmel was already a better fighter than Leigh Wood, the reigning WBA world featherweight champion who would successfully defend his belt the following week.
Moton’s boxing style has been described as a blend of Floyd Mayweather and Tank Davis. “I grew up watching Floyd, so it’s natural I have some similarities to him,” says Curmel who sparred with Tank in late November of 2021 as Davis was preparing for his match with Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz. Curmell says he did okay. He was then 15 years old and still in school; he dropped out as soon as he reached the age of 16.
Curmel is now 7-0 with six KOs, four coming in the opening round. He pitched an 8-round shutout the only time he was taken the distance. It’s not yet official, but he returns to the ring on May 31 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas where Caleb Plant and Jermall Charlo are co-featured in matches conceived as tune-ups for a fall showdown. The fight card will reportedly be free for Amazon Prime Video subscribers.
Curmel’s presumptive opponent is Renny Viamonte, a 28-year-old Las Vegas-based Cuban with a 4-1-1 (2) record. It will be Curmel’s first professional fight with Kofi Jantuah the chief voice in his corner. A two-time world title challenger who began his career in his native Ghana, the 50-year-old Jantuah has worked almost exclusively with amateurs, a recent exception being Mikaela Mayer.
It would seem that the phenom needs a tougher opponent than Viamonte at this stage of his career. However, the match is intriguing in one regard. Viamonte is lanky. Listed at 5-foot-11, he will have a seven-inch height advantage.
Keeping his weight down has already been problematic for Moton. He tipped the scales at 128 ½ for his most recent fight. His May 31 bout, he says, will be contested at 135 and down the road it’s reasonable to think he will blossom into a welterweight. And with each bump up in weight, his short stature will theoretically be more of a handicap.
For fun, we asked Moton to name the top fighter on his pound-for-pound list. “[Oleksandr] Usyk is number one right now,” he said without hesitation,” great footwork, but guys like Canelo, Crawford, Inoue, and Bivol are right there.”
It’s notable that there isn’t a young gun on that list. Usyk is 38, a year older than Crawford; Inoue is the pup at age 32.
Moton anticipates that his name will appear on pound-for-pound lists within the next two or three years. True, history is replete with examples of phenoms who flamed out early, but we wouldn’t bet against it.
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Arne’s Almanac: The First Boxing Writers Assoc. of America Dinner Was Quite the Shindig

The first annual dinner of the Boxing Writers Association of America was staged on April 25, 1926 in the grand ballroom of New York’s Hotel Astor, an edifice that rivaled the original Waldorf Astoria as the swankiest hotel in the city. Back then, the organization was known as the Boxing Writers Association of Greater New York.
The ballroom was configured to hold 1200 for the banquet which was reportedly oversubscribed. Among those listed as agreeing to attend were the governors of six states (New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Maryland) and the mayors of 10 of America’s largest cities.
In 1926, radio was in its infancy and the digital age was decades away (and inconceivable). So, every journalist who regularly covered boxing was a newspaper and/or magazine writer, editor, or cartoonist. And at this juncture in American history, there were plenty of outlets for someone who wanted to pursue a career as a sportswriter and had the requisite skills to get hired.
The following papers were represented at the inaugural boxing writers’ dinner:
New York Times
New York News
New York World
New York Sun
New York Journal
New York Post
New York Mirror
New York Telegram
New York Graphic
New York Herald Tribune
Brooklyn Eagle
Brooklyn Times
Brooklyn Standard Union
Brooklyn Citizen
Bronx Home News
This isn’t a complete list because a few of these papers, notably the New York World and the New York Journal, had strong afternoon editions that functioned as independent papers. Plus, scribes from both big national wire services (Associated Press and UPI) attended the banquet and there were undoubtedly a smattering of scribes from papers in New Jersey and Connecticut.
Back then, the event’s organizer Nat Fleischer, sports editor of the New York Telegram and the driving force behind The Ring magazine, had little choice but to limit the journalistic component of the gathering to writers in the New York metropolitan area. There wasn’t a ballroom big enough to accommodate a good-sized response if he had extended the welcome to every boxing writer in North America.
The keynote speaker at the inaugural dinner was New York’s charismatic Jazz Age mayor James J. “Jimmy” Walker, architect of the transformative Walker Law of 1920 which ushered in a new era of boxing in the Empire State with a template that would guide reformers in many other jurisdictions.
Prizefighting was then associated with hooligans. In his speech, Mayor Walker promised to rid the sport of their ilk. “Boxing, as you know, is closest to my heart,” said hizzoner. “So I tell you the police force is behind you against those who would besmirch or injure boxing. Rowdyism doesn’t belong in this town or in your game.” (In 1945, Walker would be the recipient of the Edward J. Neil Memorial Award given for meritorious service to the sport. The oldest of the BWAA awards, the previous recipients were all active or former boxers. The award, no longer issued under that title, was named for an Associated Press sportswriter and war correspondent who died from shrapnel wounds covering the Spanish Civil War.)
Another speaker was well-traveled sportswriter Wilbur Wood, then affiliated with the Brooklyn Citizen. He told the assembly that the aim of the organization was two-fold: to help defend the game against its detractors and to promote harmony among the various factions.
Of course, the 1926 dinner wouldn’t have been as well-attended without the entertainment. According to press dispatches, Broadway stars and performers from some of the city’s top nightclubs would be there to regale the attendees. Among the names bandied about were vaudeville superstars Sophie Tucker and Jimmy Durante, the latter of whom would appear with his trio, Durante, (Lou) Clayton, and (Eddie) Jackson.
There was a contraction of New York newspapers during the Great Depression. Although empirical evidence is lacking, the inaugural boxing writers dinner was likely the largest of its kind. Fifteen years later, in 1941, the event drew “more than 200” according to a news report. There was no mention of entertainment.
In 1950, for the first time, the annual dinner was opened to the public. For $25, a civilian could get a meal and mingle with some of his favorite fighters. Sugar Ray Robinson was the Edward J. Neil Award winner that year, honored for his ring exploits and for donating his purse from the Charlie Fusari fight to the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund.
There was no formal announcement when the Boxing Writers Association of Greater New York was re-christened the Boxing Writers Association of America, but by the late 1940s reporters were referencing the annual event as simply the boxing writers dinner. By then, it had become traditional to hold the annual affair in January, a practice discontinued after 1971.
The winnowing of New York’s newspaper herd plus competing banquets in other parts of the country forced Nat Fleischer’s baby to adapt. And more adaptations will be necessary in the immediate future as the future of the BWAA, as it currently exists, is threatened by new technologies. If the forthcoming BWAA dinner (April 30 at the Edison Ballroom in mid-Manhattan) were restricted to wordsmiths from the traditional print media, the gathering would be too small to cover the nut and the congregants would be drawn disproportionately from the geriatric class.
Some of those adaptations have already started. Last year, Las Vegas resident Sean Zittel, a recent UNLV graduate, had the distinction of becoming the first videographer welcomed into the BWAA. With more and more people getting their news from sound bites, rather than the written word, the videographer serves an important function.
The reporters who conducted interviews with pen and paper have gone the way of the dodo bird and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A taped interview for a “talkie” has more integrity than a story culled from a paper and pen interview because it is unfiltered. Many years ago, some reporters, after interviewing the great Joe Louis, put words in his mouth that made him seem like a dullard, words consistent with the Sambo stereotype. In other instances, the language of some athletes was reconstructed to the point where the reader would think the athlete had a second job as an English professor.
The content created by videographers is free from that bias. More of them will inevitably join the BWAA and similar organizations in the future.
Photo: Nat Fleischer is flanked by Sugar Ray Robinson and Tony Zale at the 1947 boxing writers dinner.
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